| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- Lane Closure: Outside Lane, Westbound, Avenue B
- Environmental Responsibilities for JSC Employees
- Shuttle Knowledge Console (SKC) v7.0 Release - Organizations/Social
- Money, Parenting and the Holidays
- Starport Spinning Workshop -- MS 150 Training
- Starport's Run to Excellence - Jobs and Training
- Extended TDY FedTraveler Live Lab - Dec. 18 - Community
- Judges Needed for CCISD Science Fair - Jan. 13 |  |
| Headlines - Lane Closure: Outside Lane, Westbound, Avenue B
The outside lane of the westbound side of Avenue B, between 5th and 2nd Street, will be closed from 7 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 19, to 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 20. The inside lane will remain open for traffic. - Environmental Responsibilities for JSC Employees
Did you know that JSC's Environmental Excellence Policy lists sustainability as a key goal? Have you taken the required Environmental Responsibilities for all JSC Employees course on SATERN? Every employee is required to take this 30-minute course within 90 days of hire and every two years after that. Upon completion of this course you will be able to identify the JSC Environmental Excellence Policy, the various details of the Environmental Management and Compliance Programs and your role in those programs. These details are important for every employee to know. Log onto SATERN to find out more about the course. Please contact the Environmental Office if you have any questions. - Shuttle Knowledge Console (SKC) v7.0 Release
The JSC Chief Knowledge Officer is pleased to announce the seventh release of SKC. This release includes: - WebPCASS - Millions of records from the production and maintenance of Space Shuttle Program (SSP) parts
- Space Meteorology Group mission binders, including the STS-51L weather maps
- USA Materials and Processes PRT Bulletin Board (BBS) files
- Shuttle Flight Data Handbooks
- The U.S. Human Spaceflight Continuity and Stability Case Study
Additional scanned documents. To date, 2.57TB of information, with 5.80 million documents of SSP knowledge, has been captured. Click the "Submit Feedback" button located on the top of the site navigation and give us your comments and thoughts. Organizations/Social - Money, Parenting and the Holidays
Worrying about money is one of the major parenting stressors all year round, but it deals a double whammy during the holidays. The increased level of advertising to children and adults for all those shiny objects combines with memories of better Christmases in the past. The temptation is huge to ignore your present reality and just put everything on a credit card ... and worry about it later. Despite the temptations of holiday spending, come learn what actions will keep your financial situation from getting worse or putting it off until January. Discover the importance of changing how you look at money and the lessons you can teach your children about money and values during the holiday season. Please join Anika Isaac, MS, LPC, LMFT, NCC, CEAP, LCDC, on Dec. 17 from noon to 1 p.m. in the Building 30 Auditorium for a presentation on "Money, Parenting and the Holidays." - Starport Spinning Workshop -- MS 150 Training
Starport is thrilled to offer a special eight-week training workshop based on the "periodization" approach to training that will prepare you for the MS 150 or a multi-day/long-distance event such as a triathlon or marathon. Each spinning class and training ride will be taught by our phenomenal certified instructors. Register at the Gilruth information desk. Thursday rides/workshops (5:30 to 6:30 p.m.): - Feb. 6 to April 3
Sunday distance rides (1.5 to 2.5 hours): - To be announced
Price per person - Early registration - $99 (Jan. 13 to 24)
- Regular registration - $110 (Jan. 25 to Feb. 6)
Take your skills to the next level and sign up today! - Starport's Run to Excellence
Starport's Run to Excellence Half-Marathon Training -- make 2014 unforgettable! Are you ready to take your training up a notch? The time is now for you to accept the fitness challenge and train for a half marathon! Starport's Run to Excellence program is for anyone who wants to run, walk or run-and-walk a half marathon. The group meets from 6 to 8 a.m. on Saturday mornings for long-distance sessions. Each member will get a training log and an awesome Run to Excellence tech shirt. Take that step towards doing something healthy, empowering and successful. This 10-week program will get you to places you've never been! Registration: • Early Registration - Dec. 23 to Jan. 10: $90 • Regular Registration - Jan. 11 to Feb. 1: $110 The program begins at 6 a.m. on Jan. 18 at the Gilruth outdoor facilities (Building 208). Jobs and Training - Extended TDY FedTraveler Live Lab - Dec. 18
Do you need some hands-on, personal help with FedTraveler.com? Join the Business Systems and Process Improvement Office for an Extended TDY FedTraveler Live Lab tomorrow, Dec. 18, any time between 9 a.m. and noon in Building 12, Room 142. Our help desk representatives will be available to help you work through Extended TDY travel processes and learn more about using FedTraveler during this informal workshop. Bring your current travel documents or specific questions that you have about the system and join us for some hands-on, in-person help with FedTraveler. If you'd like to sign up for this Extended TDY FedTraveler Live Lab, please log into SATERN and register. For additional information, contact Judy Seier at x32771. Community - Judges Needed for CCISD Science Fair - Jan. 13
The district science fair is coming up quickly -- it's on Monday, Jan. 13 -- and they are still about 70 judges short! Please check your calendars to see if you can spend the afternoon with our future scientists. Your participation is vital for this fair! The website contains fair information, including last year's winners. Again, we hope you will join us at the Clear Creek Independent School District (CCISD) district science fair on Monday, Jan. 13! Free lunch is included with your participation. Then, be sure to register on the CCISD website so they know you will be coming to the campus. | |
| |
| 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. |
NASA and Human Spaceflight News
Tuesday – December 17, 2013
HEADLINES AND LEADS
NASA still searching for the right asteroid; scratch 2009 BD off the list
Joel Achenbach - Washington Post's Achenblog (Dec. 13)
In the first story of our NASA series The Washington Post detailed the genesis of the controversial Asteroid Retrieval Mission, later renamed the Asteroid Redirect Mission, or ARM. We called that first article "NASA's Mission Improbable," because, for a number of reasons, it is difficult to imagine that this asteroid mission as described by NASA will ever actually happen.
A small step for Mars settlement, but a giant leap of funding required
Jeff Foust – The Space Review
There's no shortage of audacious ideas for sending humans to Mars, particularly by the private sector. For much of this year, attention has been focused on Inspiration Mars, the nonprofit venture announced in February that proposed sending a married couple on a Mars flyby mission launching in early 2018. Last month, though, Inspiration Mars changed course, still seeking to carry out that crewed Mars flyby mission, but with the technical and fiscal support of NASA.
NASA to decide soon on spacewalks to repair ISS
James Dean – Florida Today
NASA could order spacewalks as soon as Thursday to repair a coolant loop problem that has the International Space Station operating with limited power.
NASA debates space station repairs or restocking
Marcia Dunn - AP
Spacewalk or space delivery? That's the question facing NASA as space station flight controllers try to revive a crippled cooling loop.
Dream Chaser test flight found to have met goals
Greg Avery - Denver Business Journal (Dec. 13)
The experimental Dream Chaser spacecraft met all its NASA test-flight goals in a computer-guided flight Oct. 26, and its landing gear malfunction during landing appears to have been a mechanical issue not a design flaw.
Dream Chaser receives CCDev-2 green light from NASA
Chris Bergin – NASA Space Flight
As had been expected, Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser ETA (Engineering Test Article) spacecraft successfully passed the final NASA Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev-2) milestone requirement, despite her tumble at the end of what was an impressive debut free flight in October.
NASA's 9 challenges for 2014 include International Space Station's fate and Huntsville's big rocket
Lee Roop – Huntsville Times
NASA has a lot on its plate for 2014, but the government inspectors who serve as watchdogs on the agency put the International Space Station's future at the top of the list. The NASA Office of the Inspector General issued its report on NASA's top challenges today. There are 9 in all.
NASA Inc.: Current Woes Don't Mean Disaster
Jeffrey Kluger - TIME
The agency that could once do no wrong (that would be NASA — back in the glory days) has for a long time now been the agency that can barely put its sneakers on without tripping over the laces. The unmanned space program continues to be a bright spot, with smart, nimble, surprisingly affordable spacecraft dispatched all over the solar system. But the manned program? Well, let's start with what manned program? Since the last shuttle was mothballed in 2011, we've had no way even to get our own astronauts up to our own International Space Station (ISS), relying instead on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Without our old space-race rivals, we'd be grounded.
Editorial | A Space Policy Success Story
Space News Editor – Space News
The launch Dec. 3 of the SES-8 telecommunications satellite atop a Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket put an exclamation point on NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, which had already succeeded in its original goal of spurring development of commercial logistics services to the international space station.
Space Week aims to intrigue future scientists
James Dean – Florida Today
Until Monday, Bryce Valverde had only seen a space shuttle on TV. Inside the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, the Suntree Elementary sixth-grader was struck by the size of the retired orbiter Atlantis, and eager to learn more.
__________
COMPLETE STORIES
NASA still searching for the right asteroid; scratch 2009 BD off the list
Joel Achenbach - Washington Post's Achenblog (Dec. 13)
In the first story of our NASA series The Washington Post detailed the genesis of the controversial Asteroid Retrieval Mission, later renamed the Asteroid Redirect Mission, or ARM. We called that first article "NASA's Mission Improbable," because, for a number of reasons, it is difficult to imagine that this asteroid mission as described by NASA will ever actually happen.
It has just gotten more difficult, as I'll explain.
Some background: The ARM, announced last spring as part of President Obama's 2014 budget request, came as a big surprise to much of the space community. The notion is that NASA will build a robotic spaceship that will travel to a small asteroid 7 to 10 meters in diameter, swallow it in a bag-like contraption and haul it back to lunar orbit. Then two astronauts will journey in the new Orion capsule, launched by the new Space Launch System rocket, to rendezvous with the captured asteroid and take samples. NASA said this could happen in 2021 on the first crewed flight of Orion.
This is an elaborate and ambitious mission, and the robotic-capture portion alone would cost $1 billion, never mind the human space flight portion. NASA had several motives in putting this together. First, the president had instructed NASA to send humans to an asteroid. He obviously meant an asteroid in its natural orbit, but NASA lacks the hardware to do that (it would take hundreds of days minimum, and NASA would need to build a new habitat module for the astronauts — something for which there's no money). NASA administrator Charles Bolden told The Post that a visit to a captured asteroid would meet the president's goal: "He said humans to an asteroid. There are a lot of different ways to do that. There are probably thousands of ways. I think we have come up with the most practical way, given budgetary constraints today. We're bringing the asteroid to us."
The mission had other attractive elements: It could be described as part of the effort to identify potentially hazardous asteroids and develop means for redirecting them. The robotic portion would offer a demonstration of solar-electric propulsion, a NASA priority. Perhaps most important, the bagged asteroid would also provide the new SLS rocket and Orion capsule a destination in space. These are programs that, if carried out, would funnel tens of billions of dollars to aerospace contractors. Right now it's not entirely clear what NASA would do with the new rocket and capsule (reformers argue that NASA should just go with cheaper, commercial spacecraft being developed by companies such as SpaceX). The default plan for Orion, absent a visit to a captured asteroid, is to go into orbit around the moon, something NASA first accomplished with Apollo 8 in 1968. (The astronauts can't land on the moon because NASA is not building a lunar lander.)
NASA conducted two feasibility studies — at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at Johnson Space Center — and concluded that the mission was technically doable. But there was an important element missing in all this: a target rock. That's why we began our first story with the sentence, "NASA is looking for a rock." And it's why, soon after floating the concept, NASA started saying it was also considering a Plan B, in which it would send a probe to break a chunk off of a much larger, well-characterized asteroid.
There are enormous numbers of rocks out there, and there are some already listed as "candidates" for the mission. But for a candidate to become a true target it has to be characterized and studied. There are lot of requirements. It can't be spinning too rapidly. It can't be too big, or else it couldn't be bagged. And it can't be too small, because it would look silly to have astronauts climbing around an asteroid the size of a sofa. (You don't want to bring to mind the miniature-Stonehenge scene in "This Is Spinal Tap.")
When NASA did the feasibility studies, it had a "reference" rock, an asteroid named 2009 BD that fit the mission requirements in terms of its basic orbital dynamics. No one could be sure that 2009 BD was the right size, though. The plan was to take a closer look this fall with the Spitzer Space Telescope, an infrared telescope that is in an Earth-trailing orbit of the sun and that would be in position in October to examine 2009 BD as it passed nearby.
While at the AGU meeting in San Francisco I learned what happened.
A team of scientists headed by Michael Mommert of Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff) aimed the Spitzer telescope at 2009 BD over the course of 25 hours of observation time.
But saw nothing.
The Spitzer never detected 2009 BD.
The asteroid exists (it didn't suddenly evaporate, presumably), but it is must be quite small. The scientists [who have submitted to The Astrophysical Journal a paper titled "Constraining the Physical Properties of Near-Earth Object 2009 BD"] think it's less than five meters in diameter, and perhaps only half that size. That would seem to suggest that it's too small for the ARM. Nor would you want to build a mission around capturing an object that's not carefully characterized (it could be a rubble-pile asteroid, or a smaller, more compact object).
There are other candidate rocks out there, and in February the Spitzer will take a look at one named 2011 MD.
Maybe that one would work. Or maybe NASA will go to its Plan B. But the NASA 2015 budget is currently being put together by OMB, and it's possible that the ARM could become a casualty of the mission's uncertainties.
Here's the official statement provided to me by NASA:
NASA continues ARM concept studies along two major approaches – return of an entire small asteroid or a boulder picked off a larger asteroid. The studies are exploring the advantages and challenges involved in these two approaches to arrive at a decision on which approach to pursue by Fall 2014.
The viable asteroid targets for the mission will then of course depend on which approach is chosen, but there have already been several potential candidates identified for each approach as proof of existence of a viable target once the decision is made.
One of those potential candidates, a small asteroid designated 2009 BD, was the subject of Spitzer observations last October but not detected, which implies that it is smaller than expected. Meanwhile the NEO Program will continue to search for even better potential targets for the ARM as part of its effort to find asteroids hazardous to the Earth and destinations for future robotic and human exploration.
A small step for Mars settlement, but a giant leap of funding required
Jeff Foust – The Space Review
There's no shortage of audacious ideas for sending humans to Mars, particularly by the private sector. For much of this year, attention has been focused on Inspiration Mars, the nonprofit venture announced in February that proposed sending a married couple on a Mars flyby mission launching in early 2018. Last month, though, Inspiration Mars changed course, still seeking to carry out that crewed Mars flyby mission, but with the technical and fiscal support of NASA.
Inspiration Mars's plans, though, pale in comparison of those by another nonprofit organization, Mars One. The Dutch-based venture seeks to send people to Mars, but rather than a flyby, Mars One would land them there—permanently, in the hopes of establishing a permanent settlement whose initial missions would be funded, in part, by selling media rights and with an astronaut selection process that has parallels to reality television shows. Some consider it visionary; others, insane.
While discussion of the viability of such missions continues, Mars One took a small step last week towards its goal of humans on Mars. At a lightly-attended press conference in on a snowy Tuesday morning in Washington, Mars One announced it had issued contracts to two leading space companies to study concepts for an initial robotic mission that would launch in 2018.
That mission, as currently planned, will consist of two spacecraft. Lockheed Martin will study concepts for a lander based on the same hardware used for the Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft that successfully landed on Mars in 2008, as well as for the upcoming InSight Mars lander mission. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) will study designs for an orbiter that would serve as a communications relay from the Martian equivalent of geosynchronous orbit.
The lander, Mars One CEO and co-founder Bas Lansdorp said, will serve primarily as a technology demonstrator. Its payload will include an experiment to test the production of liquid water and another to test a thin-film solar panel proposed for Mars One's later crewed missions. Calls for proposals for those two experiments will be issued in the first half of next year. In addition, a camera will provide live continuous video of the Martian surface during the day, relayed back to Earth via the communications orbiter.
In addition, Lansdorp said Mars One plans a "worldwide university challenge" where students can propose experiments to fly on the lander, as well as science education competitions for younger students that would incorporate payloads of some kind on the mission. He said Mars One is in discussions with a number of potential partners to sponsor those competitions, as well as unspecified "very exciting, very exclusive PR events."
"There missions are the first step in Mars One's overall plan of establishing a permanent human settlement on Mars," Lansdorp said. "We believe we are in very good shape to make this happen."
Lockheed Martin has already started studies of the proposed lander, said Edward Sedivy, chief engineer for civil space at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. That work is looking how to integrate the lander with the orbiter on the same (as yet unselected) launch vehicle, and how to provide the maximum flexibility for the suite of payloads the lander could carry. "It's a great opportunity," he said. "We are really excited about a few aspects of this mission," such as the fact that is a private mission with international collaboration, as well as the educational outreach potential it has.
"We're just as excited as our colleagues at Lockheed Martin," said Sir Martin Sweeting, executive chairman of SSTL, speaking via videoconference from his offices in the UK. "It's been a dream for us at Surrey for many years." SSTL has made a name for itself in the space industry as a pioneer and leading developer of small satellites, and plans to leverage that experience for the communications orbiter. In particular, he said SSTL would draw upon its experience developing the GIOVE demonstration satellite for the Galileo navigation system, as well as its joint work with German company OHB-System to build the first 22 operational Galileo satellites.
For now, the two companies have signed contracts only to perform mission concept studies, not for the spacecraft themselves. Lansdorp said those studies should be done by the middle of 2014, "and after that we will take the next steps with those companies." He said the contract with Lockheed Martin is valued at a little more than $250,000, while the SSTL contract is worth €60,000 ($82,000).
From a technical standpoint, there's little doubt that either company can develop the spacecraft Mars One proposes to send to Mars, given the experience the two companies have and the plans to make use of heritage hardware, such as the lander that, in the one illustration provided by Mars One, looks strikingly similar to the Phoenix lander. The bigger question whether Mars One can afford those missions.
For now, few doubt Mars One's ability to pay for the study contracts. While Lansdorp would not disclose how much money Mars One has raised to date, he did say that the organization had received "just over" $200,000 in donations. (According to the Mars One web site, the organization has raised, though donations and merchandise sales, $183,870 through the end of October.) In conjunction with the mission announcement, Mars One also started a crowdfunding campaign to raise $400,000 to support mission development. As of early Monday, December 16, the campaign had raised a little more than $55,000.
That crowdfunding campaign, a Mars One official said, is designed as much to demonstrate public interest in the project as it is to directly raise money. "It will help us fund part of this mission, but also it will show our partners, sponsors, and investors that this is something that actually the whole world wants to happen and wants to contribute to," said Suzanne Flinkenflögel, director of communications for Mars One, at the press conference.
Just how much those missions will cost, and how Mars One will raise the money, remain unclear. Lansdorp said at Mars One had a "ballpark figure" in mind for the mission cost, but declined to share it publicly; mission cost estimates would come out of the concept studies Lockheed and SSTL will perform. After the press conference, Lansdorp said he estimated the total mission cost would be less than NASA's InSight mission, which, as part of the agency's Discovery program, is capped at $425 million plus launch costs.
As for raising the money for the mission, Lansdorp was similarly vague. "We're having really good discussions with partners," he said, citing in particular interest in the planned university payload competition. "There are a lot of companies interested in associating themselves with that." Such partners would be the primary source of funding for the mission, he later said.
Mars One has delayed the mission by two years, to 2018, in part to give it more time to line up partners for the mission. A robotic precursor mission was, in the original Mars One architecture, planned for launch in 2016. "This new schedule allows for time for the development of the two spacecraft, for finding subcontractors for the experiments we will fly on the spacecraft, and to organize a number of competitions that Mars One wants to implement around these first missions," Lansdorp said.
That two-year delay will percolate through the rest of Mars One's overall schedule, pushing back the first human mission to no earlier than 2025. Mars One will go ahead with the next major step in selecting the crew for that mission soon despite that delay. "We promised our applicants know that we would let them know by the end of 2013 if they passed on to round number two or not," Lansdorp said. "That's still our plan." Lansdorp said in August he expected between 10 and 30 percent of the applicants to make it to the next round.
Lansdorp said that Mars One received "more than 200,000 applications" when the deadline for applications passed at the end of August. However, as noted in the past, the number of completed applications eligible for consideration for the next round may be significantly smaller than that. One part of the application process required people to provide a brief video explaining their interest in the Mars One mission. The Mars One website has fewer than 2,650 such applicant videos online. Even if a large fraction of applicants elected to make their videos private—a somewhat odd choice for a mission whose crew selection process will later feature televised competitions—it suggests that the number of applicants eligible for selection to the next round is on the order of several thousand, not 200,000.
As that astronaut selection process continues, the challenge facing Mars One will be to demonstrate that it can carry out a robotic mission that, while nowhere near as expensive or difficult as a human mission, will be neither cheap nor easy. Last month, Inspiration Mars founder Dennis Tito estimated he could raise a few hundred million dollars for a human Mars flyby mission, with NASA picking up the rest of the cost. Mars One will need to raise a similar amount of money for its robotic mission, but without the cachet of sending people there on that mission. If it can't do that, raising the billions for one-way human missions would be out of the question.
NASA to decide soon on spacewalks to repair ISS
James Dean – Florida Today
NASA could order spacewalks as soon as Thursday to repair a coolant loop problem that has the International Space Station operating with limited power.
Engineers are still working on a potential fix from the ground that would enable a different valve to help regulate coolant temperatures, in place of one that failed last Wednesday.
This morning Kenny Todd, NASA's station operations integration manager, said there has been some success pulling that off, but it's not clear if it will be enough to power back on systems that have been shut down to prevent overheating.
Managers have not ruled out the possibility that a robotic resupply mission could launch from Virginia as soon as Thursday evening. Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket and Cygnus freighter are scheduled to roll to their Virginia launch pad early Tuesday.
Meanwhile, NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio have been checking spacesuits and reviewing procedures in case they are needed later this week to replace the ammonia pump module with the faulty valve.
A NASA TV commentator said a decision on how to proceed was expected within a day or two.
The six-person crew is not in danger, but NASA does not want the station operating long with only one of its two external coolant loops. That configuration limits science research and leaves the outpost more vulnerable to other system failures.
NASA debates space station repairs or restocking
Marcia Dunn - AP
Spacewalk or space delivery? That's the question facing NASA as space station flight controllers try to revive a crippled cooling loop.
Half of the International Space Station's cooling system shut down last Wednesday because of a bad valve that made the line too cold. NASA is using a different valve to try to control the temperature, with some success, Kenny Todd, a space station manager said Monday.
"Whether or not it will be enough ... we can't tell yet," said Todd.
The two American astronauts on board, Rick Mastracchio and Michael Hopkins, may need to make spacewalking repairs, beginning Thursday. That's the same day an unmanned rocket is supposed to hoist a space station cargo ship from Wallops Island, Va.
Spokesman Josh Byerly said NASA expects to decide Tuesday which should take priority — repairs or restocking.
Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Cygnus cargo ship already has been delayed a couple days because of the cooling problem in orbit.
The space station cooling system, which runs ammonia through the lines, is critical for dispelling heat generated by on-board equipment. Nonessential equipment was turned off following the breakdown, and some science experiments were put on hold to keep the heat load down.
NASA estimates two or three spacewalks would be needed to replace the pump that holds the bad valve. If deemed necessary, the spacewalks would occur on Thursday, Saturday and, possibly, next Monday. The two U.S. astronauts checked their suits Monday, just in case, and even tried them on.
The pump replacement would be put off until early next year, Todd said, if engineers determine that the flawed cooling line can "limp along" until then.
Six men are aboard the orbiting outpost: two Americans, three Russians and one Japanese. NASA has said from the start that the station is not in danger and the astronauts are comfortable.
Dream Chaser test flight found to have met goals
Greg Avery - Denver Business Journal (Dec. 13)
The experimental Dream Chaser spacecraft met all its NASA test-flight goals in a computer-guided flight Oct. 26, and its landing gear malfunction during landing appears to have been a mechanical issue not a design flaw.
Louisville-based Sierra Nevada Corp. Space Systems and NASA have finished reviewing the test flight and expect to formally announce the conclusions Monday.
"It was a very, very successful flight," said Mark Sirangelo, head of Sierra Nevada Corp. Space Systems. "The data shows the vehicle flew beautifully. Eight years of thinking about and working on that design came together in that one minute."
The space plane flew for a minute above Edwards Air Force Base in California that Saturday. The craft was piloted by on-board computer, testing for the first time the plane's body design and its automated piloting. The plane skidded off the runway upon landing, however, when one of its landing gear failed to deploy.
NASA and Sierra Nevada Space Systems studied flight data recorded during the mission and have determined the test achieved everything it was meant to, Sirangelo said. The success of the flight triggers an $8 million milestone payment from NASA to the project.
It appears that what kept Dream Chaser's landing gear from deploying was contamination in the gear's hydraulic lines, not a design issue that would slow development of the spacecraft, Sirangelo said.
Dream Chaser is being developed by the company, a division of Sparks, Nev.-based Sierra Nevada Corp., to fly NASA astronauts to the International Space Station and for commercial space flight.
Dream Chaser receives CCDev-2 green light from NASA
Chris Bergin – NASA Space Flight
As had been expected, Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser ETA (Engineering Test Article) spacecraft successfully passed the final NASA Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev-2) milestone requirement, despite her tumble at the end of what was an impressive debut free flight in October.
Dream Chaser Progress:
One of the three main contenders to regain American independence for domestic crewed launch capability, Dream Chaser stands alone as the only lifting body design that has the capability to land on an airstrip.
She is in competition with two capsules, namely SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's CST-100, under the funded Commercial Crew Program (CCP) drive to remove the reliance on the Russian Soyuz as the only means of crewed transportation into space for NASA astronauts heading to the International Space Station (ISS).
Although a painful downselect may take place in 2014, all three cotentenders – along with the wildcard Blue Origin option – are making good progress in their drive to be certified to transport American astronauts, a domestic capability lost since the final mission of the Space Shuttle Program (SSP), when Atlantis landed to conclude her STS-135 mission.
There's a large amount of synergy between Dream Chaser and her since-retired Aunties, with the SNC vehicle often described as a "baby orbiter" by nature of her design and appearance.
However, their cross range capability and ability to glide into a runway is a tactical advantage, thanks to their lifting body designs, allowing for astronauts and downmass cargo to roll to a stop on the end of a preselected landing strip.
At the same time, being able to safely re-enter, glide to the runway and land safely is a challenge in itself, with the Dream Chaser ETA having to earn her wings when she was cut loose from her safety line during the October test.
She had been in the air before – both in the open air of her Colorado base, and again several times during her Californian working holiday at the Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC).
These Captive Carry tests allowed SNC and NASA engineers to check out how the vehicle performed with the wind in her hair, as the practise runs mimicked the final approach to the runway.
However, the real test would come when the harness connected to noisy partner was severed, allowing her to fly on her own for the first time.
On October, 26 – at 11:05am local time – and after several final passes over the test range, the command of "release" was given over the loop.
The ETA began her flight at 12,500 feet, flying for real to prove her design. A failure at this point would have been a serious blow to her career, but it was a real risk, given it had been decades since a vehicle of this nature had been tested.
Following release, the ETA dove into a steep down angle of around 50 degrees in order to pick up speed, before her autonomous flight computer system broke the dive, as her nose started to rise and Dream Chaser began to fly proudly.
Following that key objective, the next 30 seconds involved the ETA refining her approach to the runway in preparation for landing. The vehicle showed no difficulties in the air and smoothly approach to the runway, firing test data back to engineers as she continued towards landing.
Heading towards Runway 22L at Edwards Air Force Base, the ETA flared up her nose and lowered her air speed to 160 knots, mirroring the familiar final segment of flight observed by the Shuttle orbiters.
Sinking towards the landing strip, the ETA then commanded for her gear to deploy, following data from her onboard ground radar altimeter.
Both the nose skid and the starboard gear deployed as planned. However, the port landing gear door remained closed, later understood to be the result of contamination in the hydraulic fluid used to power the system.
Notably, the landing gear were donated parts from a fighter jet, as opposed to the actual gear she will eventually conduct missions with in the future.
The ETA had no option but to continue towards landing, aiming down the centerline of the runway, touching down on her right MLG.
Despite holding her form during the opening seconds of touchdown, she began to lean to the left, as the weight on her port side found there was nothing but air between the structure and the runway.
As her port airframe touched the runway, she began to skid off the strip, heading into the sandy surroundings of Runway 22L, before the vehicle structure dug into the ground, causing her to go for a tumble, surrounded by dust, debris and her imitation Thermal Protection System (TPS) tiles flying off in all directions. She came to rest in the upright position.
Thankfully, the damage was not as bad as that feared by those observing the landing, with her scars mainly of the cosmetic nature, as opposed to structural. It was later revealed that had there been a crew on board, they would have "walked away" from the accident.
While that provided SNC with an unscheduled test of Dream Chaser's strength during such an incident, the focus was soon switched back towards what were numerous successes during her first free flight.
The objective of the test milestone under CCDev-2 focused on the ability for Dream Chaser to fly and approach the runway. As such, SNC were confident NASA managers would provide a green light to class the test as complete.
Although it took over a month, that confirmation recently arrived, allowing for SNC to tick off the remaining box on their CCDev-2 requirements.
"SNC is pleased to begin flight testing and to have successfully completed the CCDev2 agreement," said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of SNC's Space Systems.
"Having the Dream Chaser flight exceed our expectations on its first autonomous flight was an extraordinary accomplishment for SNC, its team of industry, government and university partners and all those who worked on the NASA heritage HL-20."
In reviewing the performance of the ETA, all expected trajectory and flight data – including the nominal glide slope and other aerodynamic data – were successfully demonstrated and collected in-flight. The vehicle's performance during flight exceeded predictions and requirements.
"A spacecraft that lands on runways provides unique benefits for commercial spaceflight, but also presents unique development challenges," added Phil McAlister, NASA's director of Commercial Spaceflight Development.
"This flight of the Dream Chaser's full-scale atmospheric flight test vehicle considerably improves confidence in the Dream Chaser's design and Sierra Nevada Corporation's ability to overcome engineering development challenges."
The confirmation of the successful milestone came after extensive post-flight analysis by NASA, resulting in SNC receiving the full award value.
We thank NASA for the tremendous support we have received over the life of the CCDev2 agreement and look forward to continuing our strong working relationship in building the next-generation crew transportation vehicle," added Mr. Sirangelo.
"Our goal is to restore America's leadership in human spaceflight and completing CCDev2 was a critical step along that path."
SNC now move into a busy period of pressing towards their upcoming CCiCAP milestones, as they press ahead into what could be a 2016 flight into space via a future Dream Chaser.
Dream Chaser has also attracted interest from Europe – namely the Germany space agency, DLR – in using the vehicle in several capacities, with a future article set to outline the vehicle's American and overseas aspirations.
NASA's 9 challenges for 2014 include International Space Station's fate and Huntsville's big rocket
Lee Roop – Huntsville Times
NASA has a lot on its plate for 2014, but the government inspectors who serve as watchdogs on the agency put the International Space Station's future at the top of the list. The NASA Office of the Inspector General issued its report on NASA's top challenges today. There are 9 in all.
The space station was originally supposed to finish its life in 2020, but most people in and out of NASA want to see that extended until 2028. NASA hasn't officially said it will go for 8 extra years, but the inspector general's office wants the decision made next year.
Going for the extra orbits will be good news for scientists trying to decide whether it's worth their time to design and build experiments for space and for the commercial companies that want to haul equipment and astronauts to and from the station. But with a partially broken cooling system exposing the challenges of the ever-aging station just this week, a decision to fly for 14 more years will commit NASA and the nation to what could be an expensive proposition.
The second challenge in the OIG report is continued progress on the Space Launch System (SLS) and its component programs. SLS is the new heavy-lift rocket being developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center for deep-space missions to asteroids, the moon or Mars. The component programs include the Orion space capsule and the ground improvements needed at Kennedy Space Center to launch the big new rocket for the first time in 2017.
What are the other 7 challenges?
- Securing Commercial Crew Transportation Services
- Maintaining Cost and Schedule for the James Webb Space Telescope
- Ensuring Continued Efficacy of the Space Communications Networks
- Overhauling NASA's Information Technology Governance Structure
- Ensuring the Security of NASA's Information Technology Systems
- Managing NASA's Infrastructure and Facilities
- Ensuring the Integrity of the Contracting and Grants Processes
NASA Inc.: Current Woes Don't Mean Disaster
Jeffrey Kluger - TIME
The agency that could once do no wrong (that would be NASA — back in the glory days) has for a long time now been the agency that can barely put its sneakers on without tripping over the laces. The unmanned space program continues to be a bright spot, with smart, nimble, surprisingly affordable spacecraft dispatched all over the solar system. But the manned program? Well, let's start with what manned program? Since the last shuttle was mothballed in 2011, we've had no way even to get our own astronauts up to our own International Space Station (ISS), relying instead on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Without our old space-race rivals, we'd be grounded.
NASA's solution? Outsource, of course. If the government can't get its own rockets off the ground, why not let the free market — with its vaunted invisible hand — sort things out? The prison system is doing it, military security is doing it. So how 'bout the space program?
If you're thinking that there are about 12,000 things that can go wrong with a let-the-other-guys-handle-it plan like this, your suspicions seemed confirmed this week. The ISS is on the fritz, with a failed cooling loop forcing the astronauts to power down operations to just the essentials while NASA scrambles for a software fix. Meantime, astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Michael Hopkins are preparing for a space walk — always the least desirable and most dangerous option — in the event that they have to go outside and get under the hood themselves.
And while all that is happening, a resupply booster idles on the pad at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, scheduled for an unmanned Dec. 19 run to the ISS, but only if the station is ready to receive it. The rocket, known as Antares, was designed and built by Virginia-based Orbital Sciences, one of the companies competing for NASA's manned and unmanned business. Orbital has yet to prove it can even do this kind of work and was hoping to win some credibility with this mission, but if the station is busted, the booster stands down, and NASA once again fumbles on its own line of scrimmage. Meanwhile China, which has launched five manned missions since 2003 and this weekend successfully landed a rover on the surface of the moon, is rapidly establishing itself as the world's leading space power.
But go beyond the headlines and it starts to look like NASA may be slowly finding its groove. First of all, the ISS was always going to be a bear to keep running. Assembled from more than a dozen different modules with as much habitable space as the interior of a 747 and a solar-panel array that could cover a football field, the station has required 132 rocket launches to build and maintain so far, not to mention 174 space walks spanning a collective 46 days. In a system that massive, stuff breaks down.
The vehicles built to shuttle back and forth to the station — whether they're upright expendables like Antares or a reusable rocket plane like the shuttle — are not nearly as complex as the ISS but far less tolerant of error. When you're moving fast and burning lots of fuel, stuff that's breaking down can quickly turn into stuff that's blowing up. Liftoffs have been plagued by delays and scrubs since the dawn of the space age and always will be. Trying to synchronize two complex systems — the station in the sky and the launch operation on the ground — so that both are ready to work together multiplies the complexity exponentially. So give NASA a pass on the current delay.
What's more, assuming Antares does get where it's going, it won't be the first time Orbital has visited the ISS. In September, the company conducted a successful test flight, docking its Cygnus cargo vehicle with the ISS, a flight that earned it the shot at the pending mission. Its leading competitor, California-based SpaceX, run by master-of-most-everything-he-surveys Elon Musk, has already pulled off three such flights and has a fourth scheduled for February. So successful has SpaceX been that NASA is in negotiations with the company for leasing rights to its fabled pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, site of Apollo, Skylab and shuttle launchings for more than four decades.
That likely deal has at least one competitor fuming: Blue Origin, based in Kent, Wash., and owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, filed a protest, arguing that the bidding was uncompetitive, but the Government Accountability Office slapped him down. As Bezos has taught publishers, bookstore owners and no end of other competitors over the years, business ain't beanbag, and in this case he's the one learning that lesson.
Both Orbital and SpaceX are also in the running to launch astronauts to the station, and their ability to build and design pressurized modules (Cygnus, in the case of Orbital, and Dragon, in the case of SpaceX) positions them well — so far — to succeed. Other companies in the game include Houston-based Paragon Space Development, Nevada-based Sierra Nevada, Boeing and Blue Origin.
By no means does any of this truly qualify as private enterprise in the way NASA would like it to seem. SpaceX and Orbital Sciences snagged contracts with the space agency that together exceed $3 billion before they had proved they could do the work at all. The other companies are openly referred to by NASA as "partners" and development money has flowed to them under government contracts too.
Still, it's safe to say that to the extent the space biz was ever a top-down, government-run operation, those days are gone. NASA is continuing to run the show with its deeper-space unmanned program — to the moon or an asteroid or elsewhere — though there's no telling if those efforts will ever bear fruit. But for the rest of the space-travel biz, the pioneers these days are less John Glenn and Neil Armstrong than Adam Smith. At the moment at least, things are more bullish than not.
Editorial | A Space Policy Success Story
Space News Editor – Space News
The launch Dec. 3 of the SES-8 telecommunications satellite atop a Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket put an exclamation point on NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, which had already succeeded in its original goal of spurring development of commercial logistics services to the international space station.
Technically, COTS concluded several weeks earlier with the successful delivery of supplies to the space station by Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Cygnus capsule, which was launched by that company's new Antares rocket. The SES-8 launch, as Falcon 9's first purely commercial mission, extended the benefit of COTS beyond the space station, and in doing so solidified its legacy as an unqualified success story in U.S. civil space policy.
In that regard, COTS stands out in stark contrast to the nation's continued lack of a cohesive long-term human spaceflight strategy.
COTS was hatched by the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush to leverage the private sector's willingness to invest in new rockets and capsules to reduce U.S. dependence on Russia for space station resupply services following the retirement of NASA's space shuttle. It was one of the few elements of Mr. Bush's space policy that was fully embraced by his successor, President Barack Obama, who took it a big step further by adopting a similar approach to restoring U.S. astronaut crew launching capabilities.
For a taxpayer investment of $850 million, NASA now has two operational space station cargo delivery systems. SpaceX successfully completed its COTS flight demonstration program in 2012 and has since carried out two of a planned 12 flights to station under the follow-on Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA; Orbital is scheduled to conduct its first post-COTS resupply mission in December.
Meanwhile, notwithstanding questions surrounding the long-term availability of Antares, the U.S. government has at its disposal two new and potentially lower-cost launch vehicles that probably wouldn't have been developed without COTS. For its part, SpaceX is competing for a contract to launch astronauts to station aboard Falcon 9 and also is angling for a piece of the national security launch business currently monopolized by United Launch Alliance.
COTS is not without its critics, who point out that the program took longer and cost more than expected to get the desired results. But traditionally managed government space programs of this scale rarely come in on time and budget, and fewer still offer such direct ancillary benefits both for the government and commercial sector. SpaceX has amassed an impressive backlog of commercial missions while offering a dual-launch option for a new class of lightweight electric-propulsion satellites that could change the economics of the satellite telecommunications industry.
The success of COTS has encouraged NASA to explore whether a similar government-industry co-financing model can be successfully applied to other civil space endeavors. The agency issued a solicitation in June and is reviewing industry ideas in areas that range from lunar exploration to communications, although it remains to be seen what agency activities and missions might lend themselves to a COTS-like approach.
The Commercial Resupply Services program is still in a relatively early phase, and there are bound to be some hiccups as SpaceX and Orbital execute on their contracts. But having successfully completed their COTS flight demonstrations, the companies are already well on their way to securing the program's legacy as a winner for both government and industry.
Space Week aims to intrigue future scientists
James Dean – Florida Today
Until Monday, Bryce Valverde had only seen a space shuttle on TV.
Inside the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, the Suntree Elementary sixth-grader was struck by the size of the retired orbiter Atlantis, and eager to learn more.
After all, he might be at the controls of a future crew module someday.
"It's very interesting learning about space and science and learning the history about space exploration, because we are the future," he said. "The students are the future in exploration, so it's important for us to learn about it."
More than 5,000 Brevard Public Schools students got that chance during the past two weeks.
Sixth-graders spent a day at the Visitor Complex as part of Brevard Space Week, a program that aims to get kids excited about science, technology, engineering and math study and careers by making connections with space programs launched from their backyards.
"Anybody who goes into science and technology had someone inspire them, and that's what we're looking at this to do," said Kathy Nelson, a retired elementary school teacher helping out Monday who has worked with the program since it began 11 years ago. "This might be the inspiration for them."
Members of the National Space Club Florida Committee pledged a minimum of $25,000 to help fund the event, a total the Brevard Schools Foundation matched.
This year was the first students could see a real shuttle orbiter at the Visitor Complex and participate in related experiences at the $100 million Atlantis exhibit, which opened last summer.
Angelina Stahl, another Suntree student, marveled at the orbiter's texture and the ingenuity of its heat shielding.
Something new also caught her attention: a 50-foot robotic arm critical to many space shuttle missions for everything from moving payloads to conducting heat shield inspections to performing spacewalks.
"I didn't know that they could carry astronauts," she noted.
Soon, Valverde and Stahl were winding through a course of S-curves mimicking the path a shuttle flew to bleed off speed during its descent, culminating with the sound of twin sonic booms familiar to any local shuttle watcher.
Then they shot down a slide sloped at the same 22-degree angle at which an orbiter plummeted toward KSC's runway, before commanders pulled up the nose just before touchdown.
No, the event isn't all games and slides.
Each student carried an Explorer's Logbook — what educators call the activities' "accountability piece" — with questions about various exhibits, including math problems. (Example: ratio of payload bay width to length of Atlantis.)
"They're busy writing. They're busy learning — but what an exciting place to learn," said Nelson, standing near Atlantis. "You can't bring this into the classroom."
The logbook closes with a scenario on Mars and as good a guess as any about when such a mission might take place: May 1, 2045, when today's sixth-graders will be just over 40, ideal for astronauts.
Monday's crop of students heard first-hand experiences from four-time shuttle astronaut Don Thomas.
They also were challenged to design and build a space station truss with K'NEX blocks. Students assumed different roles on five-person teams, from Structural Engineer to Demolition and Cleanup Supervisor.
"They get to check out what space is all about," Suntree teacher Andrew Bayard said. "They learn about engineering. They learn about technology. It's just a way to get kids involved and interested outside the classroom, and that's really what kids respond to."
END
More detailed space news can be found at:
No comments:
Post a Comment