Happy wet and cold Tuesday all. Hopefully the rain will clear for Thanksgiving day here in Houston as the weathermen are promising.
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- Dr. Stofan (Chief Scientist) Visit Cancelled - Organizations/Social
- Get Ready to Mingle During the Season of Jingle
- Starport Book Fair - Building 3 Café
- Starport Jewelry Fair Next Week
- INCOSE TGCC Habitat for Humanity Holiday Dinner
- Presale - Set of Space Shuttle Mission Lapel Pins
- Starport's After Thanksgiving Sale - All Week Long - Jobs and Training
- Lockout/Tagout - Dec. 3; Building 20, R205/206
- Pre-Retirement for CSRS
- Pre-Retirement for FERS
- Thrift Savings Plan Training - Enroll Today - Community
- Holiday Safety Tips
- Subject Matter Experts Needed for Webinars
- Volunteers Needed to Advise/Mentor Reduced Gravity |  |
| Headlines - Dr. Stofan (Chief Scientist) Visit Cancelled
NASA Chief Scientist Dr. Stofan's visit to JSC has been cancelled. Event Date: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 Event Start Time:8:00 AM Event End Time:5:00 PM
Event Location: JSC
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Joan W. Homol x37337
[top] Organizations/Social - Get Ready to Mingle During the Season of Jingle
The JSC National Management Association (NMA) will host a Holiday Social on Monday, Dec. 9, from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in the Gilruth Alamo Ballroom. The admission price for all is one new, unwrapped toy for donation to Toys for Tots. For each toy donation, you will receive a ticket for our door prize drawings. Appetizers will be served, and we'll be serenaded with holiday music by the JSC Child Care Center kids. Members and non-members are welcome to this mingling, jingling event, but please RSVP by 3 p.m. on Dec. 4 if you'd like to attend. - Starport Book Fair - Building 3 Café
Come and enjoy the Books Are Fun book fair held at the Building 3 café on Tuesday, Dec. 10, and Wednesday, Dec. 11, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Search through over 250 great titles in children's books, cookbooks, general-interest books, New York Times bestsellers, stationary and scrapbooking, music collections and more -- all at unbelievable prices. These make great holiday gifts! Click here for more information. - Starport Jewelry Fair Next Week
Jewelry is Fun will be out on Dec. 4 and 5 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Building 3 café selling $5.99 jewelry. Enjoy great savings on jewelry and accessories! Click here for more information. - INCOSE TGCC Habitat for Humanity Holiday Dinner
INCOSE's Texas Gulf Coast Chapter invites you to our December Habitat for Humanity dinner featuring guest speaker Gene Kranz, former NASA flight director and author of "Failure Is Not an Option." The event is open to the public, so join us at Bay Oaks Country Club on Dec. 12 from 7 to 10 p.m. - Presale - Set of Space Shuttle Mission Lapel Pins
Starport is proud to bring this special purchase opportunity to you for a limited time: Full set of Shuttle Mission Lapel Pins, available bagged for just $425 ($540 when sold separately), or beautifully framed for those serious collectors for just $835. Also available is the Historic Shuttle Frame for just $95. Order now for Christmas delivery. Presale orders are accepted in Buildings 3 and 11, or order online here to have your frames sent directly to you house. - Starport's After Thanksgiving Sale - All Week Long
The Starport Gift Shops will offer special savings all week long: Monday, Dec. 2, to Friday, Dec. 6, in Buildings 3 and 11. Toddler hoodies - $20; Sport-Tek polos - $40. And, enjoy 15 percent off toys and select T-shirts and hats; 20 percent off colored NASA glassware; 25 percent off select globes; and many more specially priced items. Starport is the place for your holiday shopping needs, where you will find unique space-themed items for your family and friends. Stop by today and save. Jobs and Training - Lockout/Tagout - Dec. 3; Building 20, R205/206
The purpose of this course is to provide employees with the standards, procedures and requirements necessary for the control of hazardous energy through lockout and tagout of energy-isolating devices. OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.147, "The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)," is the basis for this course. A comprehensive test will be offered at the end of the class. Event Date: Tuesday, December 3, 2013 Event Start Time:8:30 AM Event End Time:11:30 AM
Event Location: Bldg. 20 Room 205/206
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Shirley Robinson x41284
[top] - Pre-Retirement for CSRS
Are you prepared to retire? This Pre-Retirement Seminar is designed to help you effectively manage today's realities as you begin to explore retirement possibilities. Retirement is often looked upon as a financially based decision. Although the financial aspects are important, many other concerns need to be addressed. This seminar is designed to help effectively deal with today's realities as you begin to explore retirement possibilities. Topics covered include life-style planning, health maintenance, financial planning, legal affairs planning, and more. Who should attend: Federal employees interested in learning more about the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) with 5-10 years or fewer until retirement eligibility. Course Length: 16 hours Pre-Retirement for CSRS Date: Jan.6 to 7 Time: 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Location: Teague Auditorium - Pre-Retirement for FERS
Are you prepared to retire? This Pre-Retirement for Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) Seminar is designed to help you effectively manage today's realities as you begin to explore retirement possibilities. Retirement is often looked upon as a financially based decision. Although the financial aspects are important, many other concerns need to be addressed. This seminar is designed to help effectively deal with today's realities as you begin to explore retirement possibilities. Topics covered include life-style planning, health maintenance, financial planning, legal affairs planning, and more. Who should attend: Federal employees interested in learning more about the FERS with 5-10 years or fewer until retirement eligibility. Course Length: 16 hours Pre-Retirement for FERS Date: Jan. 8 to 9 Time: 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Location: Teague Auditorium Registration via SATERN: - Thrift Savings Plan Training - Enroll Today
Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a retirement savings plan for civilians who are employed by the United States Government and members of the uniformed services. The TSP is one of three components of the Federal Employees Retirement System and is designed to closely resemble the dynamics of private sector 401(k) plans. What you'll learn: This is an overview of the Federal Investment Program and covers the nuts and bolts of the TSP. Topics Covered: - The basics of the TSP
- Defined Contribution Plan
- Tax-Savings Features
- Investment Options
- Loan Program
- Withdrawal Options
- Open Seasons and Inter-fund Transfers
Who should attend: Federal employees interested in learning more about the TSP. It is also open to employees covered under the older Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). Date/Time: Session 1: Jan.10, 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Session 2: Jan. 10, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Where: B2, Teague Auditorium REGISTER Via SATERN: Session 1 - Session 2 - Event Date: Friday, January 10, 2014 Event Start Time:9:30 AM Event End Time:4:30 PM
Event Location: Teague Auditorium
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Nicole Hernandez x37894
[top] Community - Holiday Safety Tips
There is always time to be safe over the holidays. Click the link for some great holiday safety tips from the Houston Police Department. - Subject Matter Experts Needed for Webinars
National Community College Aerospace Scholars and Texas Community College Aerospace Scholars are looking for subject-matter experts in Mars geology. These are one-hour-session webinars using blackboard collaborate. The dates are below: Mars Geology: Dec. 17, 2:45 to 4 p.m. Mars Geology: Feb. 4, 2:45 to 4 p.m. Sign up for this opportunity by going to V-CORPs. - Volunteers Needed to Advise/Mentor Reduced Gravity
The Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program is looking for JSC scientists, engineers and technical experts of all levels who would like to advise and mentor flight teams for our 2014 program. Teams can be composed of college undergraduate students or K-12 teachers. Preference will be given to individuals who are currently working as scientists and engineers and are familiar with the type of experiments appropriate for reduced-gravity flight. All interested mentors should visit V-CORPs to create an account and see all the opportunities available. | |
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| JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters. |
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NASA and Human Spaceflight News
Tuesday – November 26, 2013
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Russian Progress M-21M heading to the ISS
A Russian Soyuz-U rocket has launched the next resupply ship for the International Space Station (ISS), with the Progress M-21M en route for its rendezvous with the orbital outpost. The Russian vehicle launched at 20:53 UTC on Monday, ahead of its November 29 arrival at the Station.
SpaceX scrubs satellite launch after problem with first stage
Lee Roop – Huntsville Times
SpaceX scrubbed the planned launch of a satellite on its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket today with less than 4 minutes remaining on the countdown. There was a problem with the first stage, a webcast announcer said, and technicians did not have time to assess or fix it within the launch window. The next attempt will come Thursday, Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
SpaceX Postpones First Commercial Mission to GTO
Amy Svitak – Aviation Week
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has postponed the Falcon 9 v1.1's first mission to geostationary transfer orbit until Nov. 28, as mission managers sort out a liquid-oxygen pressurization issue on the rocket's first stage.
Falcon 9 launch scrubbed; SpaceX targeting Thanksgiving Day
James Dean – Florida Today
A rocket launch could spice up Thanksgiving Day traditions this year on the Space Coast.
SpaceX is targeting a 5:38 p.m. Thursday launch of a commercial communications satellite, after Monday evening's first attempt scrubbed.
SpaceX launch delayed by technical snags
William Harwood – CBS News
Launch of an upgraded SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a commercial communications satellite was delayed Monday by unexplained technical snags late in the countdown. Company officials said the next launch opportunity is Thursday, assuming engineers can resolve the problem and the Thanksgiving day weather cooperates.
NASA under fire for bonus payments to contractors
Whether work was done was never checked, IG says
Phillip Swarts – The Washington Times
The internal watchdog for NASA says the nation's space agency has doled out tens of millions of dollars in bonus money to its contractors — without even first making sure whether they had done the work well or not.
How fruit flies will get us to Mars
Elizabeth Barber – The Christian Science Monitor
Studying fruit flies in space could provide NASA with the know-how to keep astronauts healthy during long space flights, such as during the 16-month travel time to and from Mars.
________
COMPLETE STORIES
Russian Progress M-21M heading to the ISS
A Russian Soyuz-U rocket has launched the next resupply ship for the International Space Station (ISS), with the Progress M-21M en route for its rendezvous with the orbital outpost. The Russian vehicle launched at 20:53 UTC on Monday, ahead of its November 29 arrival at the Station.
Progress M-21M:
Following its liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome atop a Soyuz-U booster, Progress M-21M will spend several days in orbit, unlike a number of its predecessors that have been using the well-practiced four-orbit fast rendezvous with the ISS, conducted over a period of around six hours.
The fast rendezvous approach was detailed in a Russian document describing the new rendezvous profile, which was seen by NASASpaceflight.com, with the purpose of the maneuver aimed at shortening the time it takes between launches and dockings of Russian vehicles to the ISS, which usually stands at about 50 hours. While the primary driver for this capability is to cut down on the amount of time that crews must spend inside the cramped Soyuz spacecraft between launch and docking, the maneuver was first being tested out with a few Progress vehicles in order to prove the concept, and demonstrate that it can be performed safely and successfully.
Progress vehicles can also benefit from the faster rendezvous however, as it allows time-critical biological payloads to reach the ISS very soon after launch, as other vehicles, such as Japan's HTV and Europe's ATV, can take up to a week to reach the ISS following launch.
The speedy process has since become standard for both Progress and Soyuz vehicles heading to the Station – allowing new crewmembers to become part of the ISS expedition without having to spend two days inside the small capsule.
However, the uncrewed Russian resupply spacecraft – loaded with almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies for the six Expedition 38 crew members aboard the ISS – will revert back to the longer route to the ISS, allowing for the test of an upgraded rendezvous system.
In fact, the trip will be even longer, involving four days on orbit, allowing for flybys of the Station to test the new system.
Unlike recent Progress vehicles that used the 2AO-VKA and AKR-VKA antennas of Kurs-A system, M-21M is sporting a AO-753A antenna of the Kurs-NA system instead.
Once the Progress reaches its preliminary orbit, it will conduct a series of automated engine burns to put it on track to fly within one mile of the station on Wednesday, allowing for the test of the lighter, more-efficient Kurs automated rendezvous system hardware for upgraded Soyuz and Progress vehicles.
After it finishes its flyby, the Progress will loop above and behind the station, returning Friday for a docking.
The antenna system was last in the news for an unrelated reason, namely with Progress M-19M, when its KURS-A antenna did not deploy after separation during its April trip to the Station.
With Russian controllers uploading a software patch to aid the KURS approach – and the manual TORU system on standby, in case of a KURS failure – the teams pressed on towards a docking with the ISS, aimed with a large amount of documentation to cover numerous docking scenarios.
As Progress approached the ISS, TV cameras on the Station provided the first view of the antenna, which appeared to be restricted by the docking collar.
With NASA teams also analyzing the situation from the Johnson Space Center (JSC) ahead of its arrival at the orbital outpost, the main area of concern related to the potential for damage on the ISS, as the Progress docked with the antenna out of its nominal configuration.
The expansive notes showed a level of caution from the NASA teams, such as the potential for contact between the off-nominal KURS hardware and an antenna on the ISS in the location of the docking port – to the point an EVA would be required to repair it after Progress departs.
"KURS antenna could collide with the high gain antenna (ОНА) pin-locking assembly and the (4АО-ВКА) antenna on the SM. This could result in damage to the (4АО-ВКА) antenna," added a specific L2 section on the Progress M-19M situation.
"External inspection of the (4АО-ВКА) antenna will also be required when the Progress vehicle undocks. If the test is failed or there are comments during the external inspection, EVA will be required to repair or replace the (4АО-ВКА) antenna."
However, the veteran ship docked without issue, allowing for soft dock, the docking probe to be retracted, followed by hard dock 10 minutes later.
Once the tests have been completed on this latest Progress (M-21M) docking will allow for the delivery of 1,763 pounds of propellant, 48 pounds of oxygen, 57 pounds of air, 925 pounds of water and 3,119 pounds of spare parts and experiment hardware.
The ship will be docked to the aft port of the Zvezda service module.
SpaceX scrubs satellite launch after problem with first stage
Lee Roop – Huntsville Times
SpaceX scrubbed the planned launch of a satellite on its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket today with less than 4 minutes remaining on the countdown. There was a problem with the first stage, a webcast announcer said, and technicians did not have time to assess or fix it within the launch window. The next attempt will come Thursday, Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
SpaceX is trying to lift a telecommunications satellite into geosynchronous orbit around the Earth. This will be the company's first placement of a satellite in the higher orbit.
"We observed unexpected readings with the first stage liquid oxygen system, so we decided to investigate," SpaceX spokeswoman Hannah Post said in a statement later Monday night. "The launch vehicle and satellite are in great shape and we are looking forward to the next launch opportunity Thursday at 5:38 p.m. Eastern time."
Liquid oxygen is one of the Falcon 9's two first stage propellants. The other is rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1).
SpaceX Postpones First Commercial Mission to GTO
Amy Svitak – Aviation Week
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has postponed the Falcon 9 v1.1's first mission to geostationary transfer orbit until Nov. 28, as mission managers sort out a liquid-oxygen pressurization issue on the rocket's first stage.
The planned Nov. 25 mission was to carry the Orbital Sciences Corp.-built SES-8 satellite to a supersynchronous transfer orbit of 295 km x 80,000 km altitude and an inclination of 20.75 deg. for Luxembourg-based SES, the world¹s second largest commercial fleet operator by revenue.
The first stage pressurization anomaly was among a series of what appeared to be minor technical setbacks during a 66-min. launch window that opened at 5:37 p.m. EST at SpaceX's Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla.
The Falcon 9 v1.1 and its SES-8 payload are now slated to launch at 5:38 EST Nov. 28. If successful, the mission would give SpaceX entree to the commercial launch market and position the company to unseat United Launch Alliance (ULA), a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture that holds a virtual monopoly on NASA, U.S. Air Force and intelligence community missions.
"We're hoping to provide a forcing function for increased competitiveness in the launch vehicle industry and potentially for improving the technology across the board," SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk stated in a pre-launch conference call with reporters Nov. 24, adding that SpaceX competitors will have to quickly catch up or risk losing "significant market share" to the Falcon 9.
"They are now going to need to improve their rocket technology in order to compete, and that¹s a good thing for the future of space," Musk says.
About two minutes before the launch window opened at 5:37 p.m. EST, SpaceX said engineers were troubleshooting a first-stage liquid-oxygen vent anomaly, and the countdown was set to a launch target of 5:54 p.m. EST.
At T-6:11, mission managers stopped the clock as the vehicle's first stage transitioned to an internal power supply. At 6 p.m. EST, the clock was once again reset to T-13 minutes as engineers changed telemetry limits on the power supply.
At 6:12 p.m., with the power-supply issue resolved, the launch was recycled to 6:30 p.m. It was then put on hold at T-3:41 owing to a problem raising the strongback support into position. Minutes later the launch was scrubbed owing to a liquid-oxygen ullage on the first stage.
SpaceX says despite the anomalies, the Falcon 9 v1.1 could launch SES-8 Nov. 26. But it says that the mission must be postponed until Nov. 28 due to FAA airspace restrictions associated with heavy traffic in the days leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Falcon 9 launch scrubbed; SpaceX targeting Thanksgiving Day
James Dean – Florida Today
A rocket launch could spice up Thanksgiving Day traditions this year on the Space Coast.
SpaceX is targeting a 5:38 p.m. Thursday launch of a commercial communications satellite, after Monday evening's first attempt scrubbed.
Weather cooperated, but a series of technical issues cropped up with the 224-foot Falcon 9 rocket, delaying and then twice aborting the countdown at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 40.
The countdown got within four minutes before the final abort. The 66-minute launch window closed at 6:43 p.m.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said later on Twitter that engineers saw pressure fluctuations in the rocket's first-stage liquid oxygen tank.
"Want to be super careful, so pushing launch to Thurs.," he said.
Musk had said before Monday's try that launch attempts were not possible today or Wednesday.
They are two of the busiest travel days of the year, and the Federal Aviation Administration would not close the air space because too much air traffic would need to be rerouted.
"So if it doesn't happen (Monday), it's probably going to happen maybe at the end of the week," he said. "Thanksgiving is a possibility."
The mission is an important one for SpaceX and Luxembourg-based SES, which operates a fleet of 54 satellites.
It is SpaceX's first launch from Florida of its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket, and its first launch of a commercial communications satellite headed for a geostationary orbit 22,300 miles over the equator.
SES wants to get its SES-8 spacecraft in service to help beam high-definition TV channels to homes in India and Southeast Asia, a fast-growing market.
SpaceX launch delayed by technical snags
William Harwood – CBS News
Launch of an upgraded SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a commercial communications satellite was delayed Monday by unexplained technical snags late in the countdown. Company officials said the next launch opportunity is Thursday, assuming engineers can resolve the problem and the Thanksgiving day weather cooperates.
SpaceX has high hopes for its Falcon 9 booster, which was redesigned and extensively modified to enable launches of heavy communications satellites in a bid to capture a share of the lucrative commercial launch market.
Launch of the company's first communications satellite payload was targeted for 5:37 p.m. EST (GMT-5) Monday from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, but the countdown was interrupted by a series of technical snags that were not immediately explained.
At T-minus 13 minutes, the countown was halted because of apparent problems with a first stage valve. There was subsequent talk on the countdown network about a telemetry issue with a power supply.
The countdown then was reset for a 6:30 p.m. launch try, but another unexplained problem cropped up inside of four minutes to liftoff.
A company commentator at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., mentioned a possible problem with the first stage liquid oxygen pressurization system, but that could not be immediately confirmed.
"Unfortunately, given the length of the window today, we won't be able to recycle and attempt another launch (try) today," he said. "So that's going to bring an end to our activities."
Later, the company released an update saying "we observed unexpected readings with the first stage liquid oxygen system so we decided to investigate. The launch vehicle and satellite are in great shape and we are looking forward to the next launch opportunity on Thursday at 5:38 p.m. Eastern time."
Rocket companies typically get at least two days in a row for launch attempts but in this case, company officials said the Federal Aviation Administration did not want to shut down commercial air traffic along the Florida "space coast" during two of the heaviest travel days of the year.
The goal of the mission is to boost a communications satellite into orbit for SES World Skies, a Luxembourg-based company that operates a fleet of 54 relay stations in a globe-spanning network.
The SES-8 satellite aboard the Falcon 9 is a state-of-the-art communications station that will join another SES comsat already in orbit to provide direct-to-home television, broadband internet and other services to India and southeast Asia.
The launching is seen as a major milestone for both SpaceX and SES, an attempt to shake up the status quo in the commercial launch sector with low-cost assembly-line rockets built with state-of-the-art technology and non-traditional management.
"I think it's going to have a pretty significant impact on the world launch market and on the launch industry because our prices are the most competitive of any in the world," SpaceX founder Elon Musk told reporters Sunday.
But Stephane Israel, chief executive of the European consortium Arianespace, the leading commercial launch provider, downplayed SpaceX's impact in an interview published Monday in the French newspaper Les Echos.
"No, it's not an upheaval," he said. "SpaceX's ambitious objectives have been known for the last decade. ... If today's launch is successful, that will just confirm that we have another competitor."
Along with its commercial space aspirations, SpaceX already holds $1.6 billion in NASA contracts to launch unmanned cargo ships to the International Space Station. The company hopes to use the Falcon 9 for eventual manned space flights to the station using an upgraded version of its Dragon cargo ship.
NASA under fire for bonus payments to contractors
Whether work was done was never checked, IG says
Phillip Swarts – The Washington Times
The internal watchdog for NASA says the nation's space agency has doled out tens of millions of dollars in bonus money to its contractors — without even first making sure whether they had done the work well or not.
NASA officials are sharply disputing the findings of the agency's own inspector general's office about a standoff over how the agency handled nearly $70 million in awards to contractors.
"We identified incorrect payments and questioned costs totaling $69.7 million," Inspector General Paul Martin wrote in the report released late last week. "We also concluded that NASA expended approximately $7.4 million to administer performance evaluations on contracts for which performance objectives were undefined, determinations that an award-fee contract was the most beneficial type of contract were not made, and relevant management information for informed decision-making was not gathered."
The dispute centers on so-called "award-fee contracts," which are meant to be provide an incentive for businesses that complete jobs by meeting specific objectives or doing them under budget and ahead of schedule.
The agency has been criticized for similar wasteful spending before, but investigators found that even supposed fixes are still wasting money. The IG said that in response to bad press and scrutiny from watchdogs, NASA implemented a system of step-by-step payments to incrementally reward businesses along the course of a contract, followed by a final payment if the product is acceptable.
But any money the contractor didn't earn along the way is instead being lumped into the payment at the end, investigators said, undercutting any efforts to provide incentives to contractors since they know they'll get the full sum eventually.
The practice "promotes a philosophy that as long as a mission provides good science data, the agency will overlook cost and schedule overages," the IG said.
"NASA contracting officers incorrectly calculated provisional and interim award-fee payments in more than half of the contracts we reviewed," investigators said. "This occurred because the mathematical formulas they are required to use to calculate the payments are overly complex."
But the agency itself says that the IG has misunderstood the process, and that no money is being paid out during these periodical evaluations.
"The contractor does not 'earn' award fee during an interim evaluation," a response from NASA said. "Interim evaluations allow the government to assess the contractor's performance prior to final delivery of the end-item. The interim evaluations provide valuable feedback to the contractor on their performance."
Officials pointed to a separate evaluation in March by the Government Accountability Office that found no problems with NASA's award-fee spending.
"The [IG] report mistakenly creates the impression that NASA overpaid contractors by approximately $66.4 million, which is not the case," the agency said.
Investigators, however, said NASA is violating federal regulations that prevent "rollover" of unearned funds into future payments for businesses.
"NASA's current practice for end-item contracts permits exactly that because it gives contractors a second chance to receive money the agency initially determined their interim performance did not warrant," the IG said.
And inspectors are concerned problems could persist in the future. The agency hasn't been tracking data on the award fees to see if they're actually motivating contractors, they said.
" NASA's failure to ensure the quality of data entered has impaired its ability to measure the effectiveness of current award-fee contracts and reduced its ability to correct deficiencies thereby adversely affecting the quality of future contract sourcing decisions," investigators said.
That didn't stop officials from spending $7.2 million on evaluations that "did not gather relevant management information," the IG said.
The dispute has left both sides parsing the exact meanings of "earned" and "unearned" award money, with likely little agreement in sight unless an outside group — like Congress — gets involved.
How fruit flies will get us to Mars
Studying fruit flies in space could provide NASA with the know-how to keep astronauts healthy during long space flights, such as during the 16-month travel time to and from Mars.
Elizabeth Barber – The Christian Science Monitor
NASA has announced plans to launch a Fruit Fly Lab to the International Space Station in 2014, as part of its long-term goal to assess how fruit flies – and, by extrapolation, humans – fare during long-duration space flights. Research on how well fruit flies weather spending most, if not all, of their lives in the cosmos is expected to help the space agency better understand the challenges that prolonged space travel, perhaps to destinations as far-flung as Mars, will present to humans.
"That fly you're about to swat is a pretty valuable research tool," says Sharmila Bhattacharya, principal investigator for the Fruit Fly Lab and a scientist in the Space Biosciences Division at NASA's Ames Research Center.
The announcement follows a 2011 report from The National Research Council that identified assessing the effects of long-term space travel on human health as a top goal for future NASA research. No wonder: NASA has said that it will send a manned mission to Mars as early as 2021. That gives the agency less than a decade to assess how astronauts' will manage, both physiologically and emotionally, during the eight-months-long trip there – and then on the eight-months-long trip back.
Several research projects have been launched to that end. An experiment this summer tested how humans might manage the culinary challenges of big distance space travel, while other experiments, some wrapped-up and some planned, have tested the psychological toll that long-term confinement with other people might put on the future Mars-bound. Ongoing experiments also test astronauts' vitals during and after space flight.
But another good way to test how humans will manage long-term space flight is to look not at humans at all, but at fruit flies.
Fruit flies, or Drosophila melanogaster, at much like us: They struggle to sleep well as they get older. They'll get aggressive – even spiteful – when put off from their goals. Sleep-deprived fruit flies become stressed and, when they do, they make mistakes. Male fruit flies will treat emotional bruises from romantic flops with alcohol. It all sounds all too human.
Scientists have also known for decades that fruit flies resemble us not just in behavior but at the genetic, cellular, and biological systems levels. About 77 percent of our disease-associated genes have an equivalent in fruit flies; their cardiovascular and immune systems, among other systems, function much as ours do.
But fruit flies are also not at all like us in that their bodies are much less complex than ours, which means that modeling them and inferring from those models is also much simpler than is trying to draw conclusions from human bodies.
"There are so many questions you can ask," says Dr. Bhattacharya. "You can learn a lot from a fruit fly."
These flies, already well suited for biomedical research, are especially well suited for biomedical research in space, says Bhattacharya. That's because even thousands of fruit flies take up little room, which is important since space is – oddly – at a premium in space, where lots of research projects vie for room in the International Space Station. Plus, an analysis of thousands of almost anything packs a lot of statistical might.
And one of the biggest advantages of using fruit flies is their attenuated life cycle, says Bhattacharya. Fruit flies reproduce in just two weeks, and live for about one and a half months. So, it's possible to assess the impacts of space conditions on a fly's wellbeing over the course of its entire life, as well as to trace space-induced changes in the insects over multiple generations. It's then possible to extrapolate from those results how human bodies might weather prolonged space flight.
"Everything is compressed in the lifetime of a fly," says Bhattacharya.
For these reasons, not-all-fruit-fly-sized hopes have been pinned on what these insects might teach us about how humans do in space. Fruit flies were first launched into the cosmos 66 years ago in a confiscated Nazi V-2 rocket. The ride lasted three minutes and 10 seconds, and the high-flying flies were recovered via a parachute landing. The Americans who sent the flies up there wanted to know if the high-altitude radiation would kill them. It didn't.
The Fruit Fly Lab is expected to launch for the International Space Station in 2014 aboard the SpaceX Dragon Capsule. It will build on previous fruit fly research in space in allowing scientists to cart more flies into the cosmos: the first experiment will send up about 200 fruit flies, and about 10,000 insects will come home. It will also allow for an in-space control group where the fruit flies will be exposed to the same gravitational pull as exists on Earth, while the experimental groups are housed in fractional and micro-gravity. Previous experiments have had a control group back on Earth but not one in space, says Bhattacharya.
The first mission will follow-up on a 2006 experiment aboard the Discovery Space Shuttle, the results of which were published in a 2011 PLOS ONE paper, that found that fruit flies reared in space had compromised immune systems, says Bhattachayra, who is an author on that paper.
The second mission, launching in 2015 and coordinated through Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., will assess how fruit flies' cardiovascular systems hold up in space. NASA also has an open call out for researchers to submit proposals for future projects using the fruit fly facilities, says Bhattachayra.
Not all the fruit flies that have been to space have had starring roles there. Sometimes, their roles are supporting ones: hunting game for lab spiders. When NASA put the first two spiders in space in 1975 – garden spiders Arabella and Anita – it also sent 702 fruit flies with them. Not all the flies got to come home. Two years ago, a video of a space-faring, golden orb spider leaping upon fruit flies and spinning them into fiber bundles, like a murderous ballerina, was a YouTube hit. None of the fruit flies in Fruit Fly Lab will be fed to spiders, says Bhattachayra.
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