Hope to see you at Hibachi Grill today at 11:30 for our monthly Retirees Luncheon.
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- Cygnus Launch Today on NASA TV
- Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
- Join Us for a JSC All Hands on Jan. 15
- JSC Technologies Make Dec. Tech Briefs Publication
- Battling the Cyber Bully - Organizations/Social
- RSVP Now for January JSC NMA Luncheon
- Env. Brown Bag: New Green Space for Clear Lake
- Walk Yourself into a Healthy New Year at JSC
- Wear NASA 55th T-Shirt - Get 10% Off at Starport
- JSC CSF Safety & Health Excellence Awards - Jobs and Training
- JSC Academic Fellowship Information Sessions
- JSC-SLC-FLS Train-The-Trainer for Forklift Cert.
- Train-the-Trainer Aerial Platform Certifying
- Train-The-Trainer for Crane Operations and Rigging - Community
- NASA-Johnson Space Center: 'Through Our Eyes' |  |
| Headlines - Cygnus Launch Today on NASA TV
Orbital Sciences has confirmed it will proceed with a 12:07 p.m. CST launch attempt of the Orbital-1 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) today, pending closeout of all remaining pre-launch reviews and tests. NASA Television coverage of launch will begin at 11:45 p.m. A post-launch news conference would follow at approximately 1:30 p.m. A Thursday launch would result in the Cygnus spacecraft arriving at the ISS on early Sunday, Jan. 12. NASA TV coverage of rendezvous and berthing will begin at 4 a.m. for a 5:02 a.m. capture. Coverage of installation of Cygnus will begin at 6:00 a.m. Orbital conducted a comprehensive review of data related to the radiation environment in space, further reviews and modeling of the rocket's avionics systems, and the forecast for favorable terrestrial weather conditions at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va. Upon a deeper examination of the current space weather environment, Orbital's engineering team, in consultation with NASA, has determined that the risk to launch success is within acceptable limits established at the outset of the Antares program. JSC, Ellington Field, Sonny Carter Training Facility and White Sands Test Facility team members with wired computer network connections can view NASA TV using the JSC EZTV IP Network TV System on channels 404 (standard definition) or 4541 (HD). Please note: EZTV currently requires using Internet Explorer 32bit on a Windows PC connected to the JSC computer network with a wired connection. Mobile devices, Wi-Fi connections and newer MAC computers are currently not supported by EZTV. If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367. - Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
You rated last year as a B/C kind of year. That's not bad, but here's to hoping for an A+ year for JSC in 2014. This week we are just returning from our holiday vacations. Do you find yourself recharged and ready to go? Tired? Ready to go back on vacation? Good health won out in question two as the most prized gift you could receive. That's nice, and I hope an honest answer. This week we have been tormented by brutally cold conditions. It's even been below freezing for a little while. When I'm this cold I hope I'm doing something a little more fun. What do you wish you were doing in the cold? Skiing? Olympics? Sochi your Russia on over to get this week's poll. - Join Us for a JSC All Hands on Jan. 15
Join JSC Director Ellen Ochoa and JSC Deputy Center Director Kirk Shireman as they welcome Robert Lightfoot, NASA associate administrator, and Lesa Roe, NASA deputy associate administrator, to JSC for an all-hands meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at 8:30 a.m. in the Teague Auditorium. Lightfoot and Roe will talk about the Technical Capabilties Assessment Team (TCAT) and how NASA will align to ensure we have the right skills and facilities to execute our missions to keep the United States a world leader in space. Also hear how the agency's goals will benefit from our JSC 2.0 effort to become lean, agile, innovative and adaptive to change to advance human spaceflight. JSC team members can watch the event live in the Teague Auditorium. After the All Hands, the panel will take questions from the audience. If you would like to submit a question for consideration in advance or during the All Hands, please email it to: Those unable to attend in person can watch the All Hands on RF Channel 2 or Omni 3 (45). JSC team members with wired computer network connections can view the All Hands using the JSC EZTV IP Network TV System on channel 402. Please note: EZTV currently requires using Internet Explorer 32bit on a Windows PC connected to the JSC computer network with a wired connection. Mobile devices, Wi-Fi connections and newer MAC computers are currently not supported by EZTV. If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, please contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367. - JSC Technologies Make Dec. Tech Briefs Publication
To close out 2013, five new technologies from JSC were featured in the December issue of the 2013 NASA Tech Briefs magazine. These JSC advanced research and technology innovations include: David Norman Jr.'s CFD Extraction Tool for TecPlot From DPLR Solutions; Sugoto Chakrauarty, Dianhui Shu and George E. Fox's RECOVIR Software for Identifying Viruses; Mark Matney, Paula H. Krisko, Yu-Lin Xu and Matthew Horsman's Orbital Debris Engineering Model (ORDEM) v.3; Steve Abel's Electric Machine With Boosted Inductance to Stabilize Current Control; and Brian A. Daniel, Garret R. Fitzpatrick, Dustin M. Gohmert and Rick M. Ybarra's Advanced Hybrid Spacesuit Concept Featuring Integrated Open Loop and Closed Loop and Closed Loop Ventilation Systems. Also, you can review all the NASA Tech Briefs published here. - Battling the Cyber Bully
The latest issue of the agency's Information Technology (IT) newsletter, "IT Talk," aims to get cyber bullying under control. Aside from tips for parents on how to deal with this tough issue, in this issue you'll also learn more about: - JSC's new Chief Information Officer (CIO) and director of JSC's Information Resources Directorate (IRD), Annette Moore
- 2014 IT resolutions from the agency CIO
- How JSC is working with other centers to lowers costs while providing employees secure and immediate access to data via "the cloud," along with the challenges they face
- NASA's "Spot the Station" service's first anniversary
- Updates on 2014's International Space Apps Challenge
- And more!
See what others are talking about. To find previous issues of "IT Talk," go to Office of the CIO home page. "IT Talk" is a quarterly publication that highlights Office of CIO IT innovations, initiatives and programs across NASA centers. Organizations/Social - RSVP Now for January JSC NMA Luncheon
The JSC National Management Association (NMA) invites you to a luncheon featuring Scott Langum, United States Coast Guard Air Station Commander, who will speak on "Leading Through Adversity" on Jan. 22 at 11:30 a.m. in the Gilruth Alamo Ballroom.
When: Wednesday, Jan. 22
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom
Cost for members: FREE
Cost for non-members: $20
Attendees can select from three great menu options: - Grilled chicken salad
- Cheese manicotti with two sauces
- Brown sugar rubbed pork loin
Desserts include double chocolate mousse cake and Italian cream cake.
RSVPs are required by 3 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 15, so don't delay. RSVP now! - Env. Brown Bag: New Green Space for Clear Lake
Exploration Green is a new public green space providing a 200-acre flood control, conservation and recreation facility in the heart of the Clear Lake area. The long-term project will turn the former Clear Lake Golf Course into a large floodwater detention area that has about 80 acres of water and wetlands; native trees, shrubs and grasses; hike/bike trails and athletic fields; and environmental education programs. In partnership with the Galveston Bay Foundation, Exploration Green will be protected from non-environmental development. You can visit the area for hiking and biking now on a six-mile trail, and you can volunteer in many ways, including care for young native trees and plants. Come to Building 45, Room 751, on Tuesday, Jan. 14, from noon to p.m. to hear how this new space will benefit you. - Walk Yourself into a Healthy New Year at JSC
Looking for a convenient way to get active and have fun? If so, join us outside the Building 3 café for JSC Wellness Walks each Tuesday and Thursday at 11 a.m. The walks are suitable for all fitness levels and last 30 minutes. No reservations are required. Just show up ready to have fun and get fit. Bring a friend and get fit together! JSC Wellness Walks are led by a member of the Starport Wellness team. - Wear NASA 55th T-Shirt - Get 10% Off at Starport
Wear your NASA 55th Anniversary T-shirt on Fridays and receive a 10 percent discount in the Starport Gift Shops from now through February. Standard exclusions apply. Tickets, stamps, Hallmark, special order and presale merchandise are not eligible for discounts. Shop Starport and save while showing your support for NASA! - JSC CSF Safety & Health Excellence Awards
It is time to start planning for the JSC Contractor Safety & Health Forum (CSF) Safety and Health Excellence Awards. The 2013 awards application and 2013 CSF, CASC and JSC Safety and Health Action Team meeting attendance lists are now posted on the JSC Safety and Health website under Safety, Health and Environment - Safety Links - Committees - CSF. The awards application is due to be completed by Friday, Feb. 7. The JSC CSF Safety & Health Excellence Awards Ceremony is scheduled for Tuesday, March 18, at 9 a.m. in the Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom. Please contact Pat Farrell at 281-335-2012 or via email with any questions or if you need additional information. Jobs and Training - JSC Academic Fellowship Information Sessions
Are you a JSC civil service employee interested in or already pursuing a master's or doctorate degree? If so, the JSC Academic Fellowship, or JSC Fellowship at NPS, may be for you. We are now accepting program applications for the 2014-2015 academic year. The AH3 deadline for applications is Jan. 30. Contact your organization's training coordinator for directorate-specific deadlines. To learn more about these development opportunities and to access the applications, click here. Want more information before submitting your application? Join us for an informational overview on the application format, eligibility, funding expectations and more. Event Title: JSC Academic Fellowship Program Information and Q&A Sessions Date: Jan. 14 Time: 2 to 3 p.m. Location: Building 12, Room 136 Date: Jan. 16 Time: 1 to 2 p.m. Location: Building 12, Room 136 Date: Jan. 21 Time: 10 to 11 a.m. Location: Building 12, Room 136 Event Title: JSC Academic Fellowship at NPS Information and Q&A Session Date: Jan. 21 Time: 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Location: Building 12, Room 134 - JSC-SLC-FLS Train-The-Trainer for Forklift Cert.
In order to assist with the transition of responsibility for certifying lift operators to line organizations, the Safety Learning Center is offering training for forklift-certifying officials. This class is a train-the-trainer class for those certifying operators for forklifts. JSC line organizations and contractors are now responsible for ensuring their lift equipment operators are certified in accordance with the NASA Standard for Lifting Devices and Equipment 8919.9. The operators will need to be certified by individuals who are qualified and approved as lift-certifying officials. Qualifications for both operators and lift-certifying officials are listed here. Certifying officials need only to be approved for the lift types for which they certifying operators. Date/Time: Jan. 21 from 1 to 4 p.m. Location: Safety Learning Center, Building 20, Rooms 205/206 Registration via SATERN required: - Train-the-Trainer Aerial Platform Certifying
In order to assist with the transition of responsibility for certifying lift operators to line organizations, the Safety Learning Center is offering training for aerial platform-certifying officials (three-hour course). Date/Time: Jan. 20 from 8 a.m. to noon Location: Safety Learning Center, Building 20, Rooms 205/206 This class is a train-the-trainer class for those certifying operators for aerial lifts. JSC line organizations and contractors are now responsible for ensuring their lift equipment operators are certified in accordance with the NASA Standard for Lifting Devices and Equipment 8919.9. The operators will need to be certified by individuals who are qualified and approved as lift-certifying officials. Qualifications for both operators and lift-certifying officials are listed here. Certifying officials need only to be approved for the lift types for which they certifying operators. Registration via SATERN required: - Train-The-Trainer for Crane Operations and Rigging
In order to assist with the transition of responsibility for certifying lift operators to line organizations, the Safety Learning Center is offering training for lift-certifying officials. Date and Time: Jan. 21 from 8 a.m. to noon Location: Safety Learning Center, Building 20, Rooms 205/206 This class is a train-the-trainer class for those certifying operators for crane operation and rigging safety. JSC line organizations and contractors are now responsible for ensuring their lift equipment operators are certified in accordance with the NASA Standard for Lifting Devices and Equipment 8919.9. The operators will need to be certified by individuals who are qualified and approved as lift-certifying officials. Qualifications for both operators and lift-certifying officials are listed here. Certifying officials need only to be approved for the lift types for which they certifying operators. Registration via SATERN required: Community - NASA-Johnson Space Center: 'Through Our Eyes'
Since the dawn of the Space Age, NASA has produced some of the most iconic photographs in history. NASA's astronauts have a unique perspective to capture photographs of unparalleled value. Each NASA center staffs professional photographers who create unique perspectives that contribute to record NASA's history. JSC's team of photographers rely on talented eyes behind the lens, as well as on a creative team that processes each image the public sees online and in print. A sampling of photographs captured by NASA JSC photographers and astronauts will be featured at Space Center Houston from Jan. 17 through Feb. 9. Many photographs will feature a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how the image was captured--a mini lesson in capturing the perfect shot. Please visit Space Center Houston to view NASA-Johnson Space Center: "Through Our Eyes" | |
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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. |
NASA and Human Spaceflight News
Thursday – Jan. 9, 2014
11:15 a.m. Central – Video B-Roll Feed of Orbital Sciences Antares/Cygnus Launch Processing
11:45 a.m. – Coverage of the Orbital Sciences/Cygnus-1 Launch (Launch scheduled at 12:07 p.m. CST)
1:30 p.m. – Orbital Sciences/Cygnus-1 Post Launch News Conference (time subject to change)
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION:
NASA announced yesterday that the administration will extend the International Space Station until at least 2024. Check out a blog coauthored by NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy John P. Holdren here.
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Misbehaving sun delays space station supply flight
Marcia Dunn – AP
A strong solar storm is interfering with the latest grocery run to the International Space Station. On the bright side, the orbiting lab has won a four-year extension, pushing its projected end-of-lifetime to at least 2024, a full decade from now.
Station cargo mission delayed one day by space weather
William Harwood – CBS News
Launch of an Orbital Sciences Antares rocket carrying an unmanned Cygnus cargo ship bound for the International Space Station was scrubbed Wednesday because of concern about high space radiation levels in the wake of a major solar flare earlier this week. After a detailed analysis, however, company officials decided to press ahead for a launch try Thursday.
Huge Solar Flare Delays Private Rocket Launch to Space Station until Thursday
A huge solar flare unleashed by the sun has delayed by 24 hours today's (Jan. 8) planned launch of a private cargo ship to the International Space Station due to worries over space weather radiation.
NASA, White House push to extend ISS service to 2024
James Dean – Florida Today
The International Space Station should continue to serve as a research platform and astronaut destination for at least another 10 years, the White House and NASA announced Wednesday.
NASA: International space station operation extended by Obama until at least 2024
Joel Achenbach – The Washington Post
The international space station received a significant boost Wednesday when the Obama administration vowed to keep the laboratory in orbit at least until 2024, a four-year extension, NASA officials said Wednesday.
Watchdogs hit NASA for spending $352 million in Mississippi on test stand already in Huntsville
Lee Roop – Huntsville Times
Federal watchdogs today criticized NASA for spending $352 million to refurbish a Mississippi test stand for critical upcoming tests on the Space Launch System when cheaper test stands were available faster in Huntsville and California. NASA responded by admitting it didn't follow its own rules and agreements, but "is confident it made the right decision."
China's moon mission captivates scientists
Data from the Chang'e mission, which landed in an unexplored area, could shed light on the moon's history and facilitate other space expeditions.
Julie Makinen – Los Angeles Times
When China landed its first lunar rover on the moon last month, many Americans reacted with a shrug. After all, the U.S. sent men to the moon more than 40 years ago, and the Soviets landed a rover there too.
Dream Chaser program partners with European space agencies
Kristen Leigh Painter - The Denver Post
The Dream Chaser program has gone global, announcing new partnerships Wednesday with the European Space Agency and the German Aerospace Center to support development of Sierra Nevada Corp.'s space plane.
COMPLETE STORIES
Misbehaving sun delays space station supply flight
Marcia Dunn – AP
A strong solar storm is interfering with the latest grocery run to the International Space Station.
On the bright side, the orbiting lab has won a four-year extension, pushing its projected end-of-lifetime to at least 2024, a full decade from now.
"This is a big plus for us," said NASA's human exploration chief, Bill Gerstenmaier.
On Wednesday, Orbital Sciences Corp. delayed its space station delivery mission for the third time.
Another launch attempt will be made Thursday afternoon.
The company's unmanned rocket, the Antares, was set to blast off from Wallops Island, Va., with a capsule full of supplies and science experiments, including ants for an educational project. But several hours before Wednesday afternoon's planned flight, company officials took the unusual step of postponing the launch for fear that solar radiation could doom the rocket.
Orbital Sciences' chief technical officer, Antonio Elias, said solar particles might interfere with electronics equipment in the rocket, and lead to a launch failure.
After evaluating the situation all day Wednesday, Orbital Sciences decided to aim for Thursday at 1:07 p.m. EST.
The solar flare peaked Tuesday afternoon and more activity was expected, but the company determined that the space weather was within acceptable risk levels. The sun is at the peak of a weak 11-year storm cycle.
Although the solar storm barely rated moderate, some passenger jets were being diverted from the poles to avoid potential communication and health issues. GPS devices also were at risk.
But the six men aboard the space station were safe from the solar fallout, NASA said, and satellites also faced no threat. The Cygnus cargo ship aboard the rocket, for example, is built to withstand radiation from solar flare-ups.
The storm also will push the colorful northern lights farther south than usual to the northern U.S.
The Cygnus was supposed to fly in December, but a breakdown in the space station's cooling system required repairs by spacewalking astronauts. The repair job, which was completed on Christmas Eve, bumped the supply mission to this week. Then frigid temperatures forced a launch delay from Tuesday to Wednesday. Then came the sun — at full force.
Frank Culbertson, an executive vice president for Virginia-based Orbital Sciences, said the delays can be frustrating, but he pointed out there's nothing wrong with the rocket itself.
"All we're really delaying is the success that's going to come when we execute this mission," he told reporters.
NASA is using two private companies — Orbital Sciences and the California-based SpaceX — to keep the space station stocked. The space agency turned to private industry for help following the space shuttle program; the last shuttle flight was in 2011.
Russia, Europe and Japan also periodically launch supply ships.
Russia corners the space station market, though, on astronaut travel.
NASA astronauts are hitching rides on Russian Soyuz capsules until American companies are ready to launch human crews. Gerstenmaier said that should happen by 2017. NASA will evaluate the proposals again this spring before deciding whether to buy more Soyuz seats for that year and beyond, he said. Each seat costs many tens of millions of dollars.
The White House, meanwhile, is poised to announce an extension of the space station's lifetime until at least 2024, according to NASA. The previous end-of-life date was 2020.
That's good news for scientific research aboard the orbiting lab, Gerstenmaier said.
The first space station piece rocketed into orbit in 1998. Construction ended the same year the shuttle program did, allowing inhabitants to concentrate on research.
The major partners in the station are the U.S., Russia, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency.
Station cargo mission delayed one day by space weather
William Harwood – CBS News
Launch of an Orbital Sciences Antares rocket carrying an unmanned Cygnus cargo ship bound for the International Space Station was scrubbed Wednesday because of concern about high space radiation levels in the wake of a major solar flare earlier this week. After a detailed analysis, however, company officials decided to press ahead for a launch try Thursday.
"This is a little bit like global warming, that is, concern about these issues is relatively recent," Antonio Elias, Orbital's executive vice president and chief technical officer, told reporters in a morning teleconference.
"A few years ago, neither ourselves nor others would really bother to look at space weather as a launch constraint," he said. "So this is an enhanced sensitivity that is kind of part of the overall trend in the industry to improve reliability."
In a statement early Wednesday, the company said the scrub was ordered "due to an unusually high level of space radiation that exceeded by a considerable margin the constraints imposed on the mission to ensure the rocket's electronic systems are not impacted by a harsh radiation environment."
The flare poses no threat to the Cygnus cargo ship or the International Space Station's electrical systems, and NASA said the lab's six-man crew was not in any danger.
"I want to emphasize we're looking at a range of particle energies which are of unique interest to launch vehicles," Elias said. "In terms of particles that are of concern to satellites, this is really a non event."
The two-stage Antares rocket had been scheduled for liftoff from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island at 1:32 p.m. EST (GMT-5) to kick off Orbital's first operational space station resupply mission. Wednesday evening, the flight was re-targted for 1:07 p.m. Thursday.
"Upon a deeper examination of the current space weather environment, Orbital's engineering team, in consultation with NASA, has determined that the risk to launch success is within acceptable limits established at the outset of the Antares program," Orbital said in an on-line update.
It will be the first of seven commercial station cargo flights planned for 2014, three by Orbital Sciences' Antares/Cygnus vehicle and four by SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon cargo ships. SpaceX has launched two operational resupply missions to date with a third on tap in late February.
This is Orbital's first operational mission following a successful test flight last September.
The Cygnus awaiting launch is packed with 3,220 pounds of research equipment, spare parts and crew supplies, including 23 experiments involving more than 8,600 elementary, junior high and high school students in the United States and Canada. Also on board: 33 small "cubesat" satellites and an experiment for students to study how ants behave in the weightless environment of space.
The flare earlier this week originated in a coronal mass ejection above one of the largest sunspots of the past decade.
"Giant sunspot AR1944 is directly facing Earth and crackling with solar flares," Spaceweather.com reported on its website. "Yesterday, Jan. 7th, an X1-class explosion in the sunspot's magnetic canopy hurled a CME in our direction. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras on Jan. 9th when the cloud is expected to arrive. NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of polar geomagnetic storms."
Satellites typically are equipped with radiation-hardened components that are designed to shield sensitive circuits from the effects of high-energy particles from the sun. But Orbital officials wanted to make sure the Antares launch vehicle could withstand predicted levels of space radiation without encountering any glitches.
"We are concerned about mission failure," Elias said. "The particles can produce a number of effects -- (integrated circuit) latchups, single-event upsets, (they can) affect memory in some components. And the impacts of those phenomena are different for a satellite that essentially can take its time recovering than a launch vehicle.
"So we're looking at a variety of electronic systems, such as gyros that are installed throughout the rocket, as well as other electronic cards. We're looking essentially at the probability of failure and seeing if the number we come up with is one we would accept to take a risk of launching or not."
The only other launch delay in recent memory that was blamed on space radiation occurred in 2001 when a powerful solar flare prompted mission managers to scrub the launch of an Athena rocket from the Kodiak Launch Center in Alaska.
"At Orbital, we want to make sure our operations are visible to everybody," said Frank Culbertson, Orbital executive vice president and a former shuttle commander. "We also think in the aerospace industry it's important to let folks know what's going on because we all share information in this very complex world that we live in." Huge Solar Flare Delays Private Rocket Launch to Space Station until Thursday
A huge solar flare unleashed by the sun has delayed by 24 hours today's (Jan. 8) planned launch of a private cargo ship to the International Space Station due to worries over space weather radiation.
The first major solar flare of 2014 erupted from a massive sunspot seven times the size of Earth on Tuesday (Jan. 7) after a series of mid-level sun storms in recent days. The event occurred as the commercial spaceflight company Orbital Sciences was preparing to launch a landmark cargo delivery flight to the space station today with its Antares rocket and robotic Cygnus spacecraft.
"We are concerned about mission failure," Orbital's Chief Technical Officer Antonio Elias told reporters in a teleconference today. The company is evaluating the extent of Tuesday's flare and the potential for solar radiation to interfere with critical systems like gyroscopes and avionics, he added.
Elias said Orbital's Cygnus spacecraft is designed to withstand space weather events like Tuesday's flare during its weeks-long mission at the space station, so the vehicle isn't vulnerable to the same radiation concerns as its Antares rocket.
Late this afternoon, Orbital officials confirmed that they will attempt to launch the Cygnus on Thursday (Jan. 9), with the liftoff window opening at 1:07 p.m. EST (1807 GMT).
Space weather delay
Orbital Sciences has been monitoring space weather since Sunday, when the company began tracking an uptick in solar activity. But it was Tuesday's huge solar flare, which registered as an X1.2-class sun storm — the strongest class of solar flares the sun experiences — that led to today's delay. It occurred just hours after an intense M7.2-class solar flare earlier in the day.
The Antares rocket was awaiting a 1:32 p.m. EST (1832 GMT) launch today from a pad here at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility when the decision to delay was made. It is the latest delay for the mission, which was initially delayed from a mid-December liftoff when astronauts on the station had to perform emergency cooling system repairs, and later postponed a day due to the sub-freezing temperatures affecting the United States this week.
Sometimes, you just don't get off the ground when you want to," Orbital Sciences executive vice president Frank Culbertson told reporters in a teleconference today. "This isn't a failure in the system, it is a delay. But all we're really delaying is the success that's going to come when we execute this mission."
After deliberating for much of Wednesday, Orbital Sciences officials have decided to attempt a Thursday launch.
"#Antares launch team decides to move forward with #Orb1 mission tomorrow for @NASA from @NASA_Wallops. 1:07 pm (EST) targeted lift-off time," the company wrote Thursday via Twitter.
The solar flare currently poses no threat to the six astronauts and cosmonauts currently living on the International Space Station. The crew will not have to any measures to shelter themselves from the solar flare's space radiation, NASA spokesman Rob Navias, of the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston, told SPACE.com in an email. Giant sunspot spouts solar flare
By coincidence, the Jan. 7 solar flare occurred at 1:32 p.m. EST — exactly 24 hours before today's launch target times— from an active sunspot region known as AR1944. The sunspot facing Earth from the middle of the sun, as viewed from Earth, and is "one of the largest sunspots seen in the last 10 years," NASA officials said in a statement Tuesday.
"The solar flux activity that occurred late yesterday afternoon resulted in an increasing level of radiation beyond what the Antares engineering team monitored earlier in the day," NASA officials added in a separate statement today. "Overnight, Orbital's engineers conducted an analysis of the radiation levels, but the Antares team decided to postpone the launch to further examine the potential effects of the space radiation on the rocket's avionics. The Cygnus spacecraft would not be affected by the solar event."
The sun is currently in an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle. The current cycle, known as Solar Cycle 24, began in 2008.
Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft had a 95-percent chance of good weather for today's planned launch. That weather forecast deteriorates as the week progresses, with cloudy conditions dropping it to 75-percent chance of favorable weather on Thursday, and a 30-percent chance of good launch conditions on Friday. Rain is expected on Saturday, Culbertson said.
Orbital Sciences officials said they are closely monitoring the fallout from Tuesday's solar flares.
Orbital has a $1.9 billion contract with NASA to launch 40,000 lbs. of supplies to the International Space Station by 2016 using its Antares rockets and disposable Cygnus spacecraft. The first Antares and Cygnus test flights launched in 2013, with today's launch expected to mark the first official cargo delivery for Orbital.
For the delivery flight, called Orb-1, the Cygnus spacecraft is carrying 2,780 pounds (1,260 kilograms) of gear for the International Space Station. That haul includes a space ant colony, 33 small cubesat satellites and 23 other experiments designed students from across the country.
The Dulles, Va.-based Orbital Sciences is one of two companies with a NASA contract to deliver supplies to the space station. The other company is SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif., which has launched two of 12 planned delivery missions for NASA under a $1.6 billion agreement. The third mission in SpaceX's schedule is expected to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Feb. 22.
Visit SPACE.com today for complete coverage of Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo launch to the International Space Station. SPACE.com partner Spaceflight Now is also offering updates via its Cygnus Mission Status Center. NASA, White House push to extend ISS service to 2024
James Dean – Florida Today
The International Space Station should continue to serve as a research platform and astronaut destination for at least another 10 years, the White House and NASA announced Wednesday.
The Obama Administration confirmed its support for extending the orbiting complex's life to 2024, four years beyond its currently budgeted expiration date.
NASA said the decision would enable the $100 billion outpost to return valuable science, solidify the market for commercial space systems that will fly crews and cargo there — with many of those flights planned from the Space Coast — and lay the groundwork for exploration farther out in space.
Having at least 10 more years "opens up a large avenue of research on board space station," said Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA's human spaceflight operations. "We're starting to see a lot of benefits on space station that have direct applications to folks here on the Earth."
Continuation of the roughly $3 billion-a-year program beyond 2020 will require approval from Congress and the next president as budgets are evaluated each year.
And it's not yet known if NASA's international partners — Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada — are also on board.
Gerstenmaier said he believes they will be, but commitments may take several years and the U.S. would proceed even if some drop out.
"I fully intend our partners to see the benefit, and they will be there with us in the future," he said. "We're prepared to do what we have to do if the partners choose to take a different path."
Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, said Wednesday's announcement provided helpful U.S. leadership and some "breathing room" for those negotiations to continue.
He believes Congress will support a longer life for ISS.
"I think there's bipartisan interest in maximizing utilization of the station now that it's been built," he said. "They want to see utilization given a fair shake."
Station assembly began in 1998 and was completed with the final shuttle flights in 2011.
NASA: International space station operation extended by Obama until at least 2024
Joel Achenbach – The Washington Post
The international space station received a significant boost Wednesday when the Obama administration vowed to keep the laboratory in orbit at least until 2024, a four-year extension, NASA officials said Wednesday.
The decision is not a shocker, because the alternative would involve putting the ISS through a controlled de-orbit just six years from now. The $100 billion, nearly 1 million-pound laboratory — which took 13 years, more than 100 rocket and shuttle launches, and 160 spacewalks to construct — would crash into the vast open space of the South Pacific.
But the extension is a relief for NASA, which spends about $3 billion a year on the space station. It shores up the marketability of the ISS as a platform for scientific research and commercial operations, which can require many years of planning.
This is also good news for the private launch companies SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp., which have contracts to supply cargo to the station and could compete for future contracts. SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada are interested in launching crews to the station by 2017, and the extension makes the competition for a contract look like a better investment of time and energy.
"What a tremendous gift the administration has given us," said William H. Gerstenmaier, the head of NASA's human spaceflight program. "That really changes the way folks see their investment, especially the commercial side. It also changes the research side."
There is unlikely to be much resistance to the decision in Congress, where the station has bipartisan support.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said the move will bolster the labor force on Florida's Space Coast, which has been suffering since the decision to retire the space shuttle.
"This means more jobs at the Kennedy Space Center as we rebuild our entire space program," Nelson said in a recorded statement. "Now, with 10-year extended life on the station, we process those payloads at KSC, we have the commercial rockets take both humans and cargo to the station."
John Abney Culberson (R-Tex.) said the extension of the station was a foregone conclusion, citing national security.
"It's inevitable and I'm delighted that NASA understands the value of ensuring that America continues to hold the high ground," said Culberson, a member of the House appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA. He said that abandoning the station "would be like General Meade handing over Little Round Top voluntarily." He added, "To the Chinese."
NASA and its contractors are in the process of confirming that the station's components are spaceworthy through at least 2028. "We see no technical show stoppers," Gerstenmaier said.
He had been pushing for months for a commitment from the White House to keep the station flying past 2020. Still to be determined is whether the international partners, including Russia, Japan, Canada and the European Space Agency, will want to continue their involvement. Gersteinmaier said it could be several years before those agencies decide.
If necessary, he said, NASA will go it alone.
Watchdogs hit NASA for spending $352 million in Mississippi on test stand already in Huntsville
Lee Roop – Huntsville Times
Federal watchdogs today criticized NASA for spending $352 million to refurbish a Mississippi test stand for critical upcoming tests on the Space Launch System when cheaper test stands were available faster in Huntsville and California. NASA responded by admitting it didn't follow its own rules and agreements, but "is confident it made the right decision."
NASA is spending the money to upgrade the B-2 test stand at the John C. Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi, according to a report released today by NASA Inspector General Paul Martin. The stand will be used to test the core stage of NASA's new heavy lift rocket called the Space Launch System. That core stage includes the rocket's liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuel tanks, subsystem hardware and avionics, and four engines.
NASA didn't follow its own policies or its agreement with the Department of Defense (DOD) to share rocket facilities where possible to save tax dollars, Martin's report said. Further, Martin said NASA couldn't justify its decision "given that refurbishing the B-2 stand will be more costly and take longer than two other possible options: an Air Force test stand at Edwards Air Force Base in California and a test stand at the Marshall Space Flight Center."
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville is leading development of the Space Launch System for NASA and is in charge of testing at Stennis.
Martin issued several recommendations for changes in NASA policies, and his press release says NASA has agreed or partially agreed to his suggestions. But the agency is "confident it made the right decision" considering all the risks to the core stage and the SLS program.
China's moon mission captivates scientists
Data from the Chang'e mission, which landed in an unexplored area, could shed light on the moon's history and facilitate other space expeditions.
Julie Makinen – Los Angeles Times
When China landed its first lunar rover on the moon last month, many Americans reacted with a shrug. After all, the U.S. sent men to the moon more than 40 years ago, and the Soviets landed a rover there too.
But among lunar scientists, the Chang'e 3 mission has generated considerable interest. They say the lander and the rover, equipped with ground-penetrating radar, cameras, a telescope and spectroscopic instruments, could gather significant new information, especially relating to the chemical composition and depth of the lunar soil.
Such data, they say, could shed light on the history of the moon and, by extension, Earth. It could also help humans design equipment to mine the lunar surface for oxygen and other elements.
In addition, experts say, the Chinese mission is testing new equipment and technology that could be useful for future missions — manned or unmanned — not only to the moon but also to Mercury or Mars.
"The parts of the moon that have been explored are so minuscule," said Leroy Chiao, a former NASA astronaut and International Space Station commander. "It's like saying you sent probes to the Earth, you looked at small areas of California and New York and now you know everything there is to know. That's not the case." Stephen Mackwell, director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, noted that the Chang'e 3 mission landed in an area — the right eye of the "Man in the Moon" — distinctly different from previous U.S. and Soviet landing sites.
In the years since Americans and Soviet crafts visited the lunar surface, he said, orbiters launched by Europe, Japan, the United States and others have gathered extensive data about the moon's structure and composition. Now, the Chinese rover may help validate and refine that data, giving detailed information about the concentrations of elements such as titanium, aluminum, iron, potassium and sodium.
Scientists are also watching closely to see how the lander and the Jade Rabbit rover survive the frigid lunar night, which lasts about two weeks. The lander and rover went into "hibernation mode" on Dec. 25 and 26, respectively, and will have to endure temperatures dipping perhaps as low as minus 292 degrees. The vehicles are supposed to endure two such long, cold nights during the course of the mission.
"This is very important for planning other missions, like one to Mercury, which could use a lander just like this one," said G. Jeffrey Taylor, a researcher at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology. "Once you get down to minus 80 or 90, the electronics may not survive. They must be in containers with little radioactive heating units to keep things up to a certain temperature so they don't get damaged."
Chang'e 3 also carries an extreme ultraviolet camera, which is to be used to monitor Earth's plasmasphere, and a near-ultraviolet telescope to observe galaxies and stars. Proponents of a lunar telescope say the moon's thin atmosphere and slow rotation will allow for long, uninterrupted observations of a target.
"This [telescope] is another great test," said Taylor. "Some people have said a telescope on the moon would be useful, others say it's not useful and that we should do them all in free space like Hubble and Keppler. It's been a debate. So now we'll find out if we can do observations from the moon really effectively or it's easier to do it another way."
The Chang'e 3 landing came more than two months after NASA's LADEE probe entered lunar orbit in early October. Initially, some American scientists had been concerned that the Chang'e 3 landing would displace a lot of material into the exosphere, perhaps impeding LADEE's mission to gather detailed information about the structure and composition of the lunar atmosphere.
As it turns out, Mackwell said, LADEE seems to have had enough time to gather some baseline measurements and can monitor the changes in the atmosphere caused by the Chinese craft's landing.
"We don't understand a lot about the chemistry of the atmosphere, the residence time for the dust, how various chemicals move around," he said. "So in a way, this Chinese mission has given LADEE a lot of interesting stimuli to understand the lunar exosphere."
Mackwell and others said they were optimistic that the Chinese will share the findings of the Chang'e 3 mission. Some experts said that when China hosted the International Astronautical Congress in Beijing in the fall, Chinese researchers were transparent about the results of the previous Chang'e 1 and 2 missions and their plans for the rover. "I went to a conference a few years back and the Chinese were very guarded. They were very cautious. Heck, when they first launched a man into space [in 2003], they didn't even announce it until the guy was up there," Chiao said.
"Compared to that, this year's gathering was night and day. They had a big exhibition, there were big talks about their plans for a space station, they were openly courting other countries to come join them in research and also in having their astronauts come and train with them and fly with them. I think they will share their results to show their scientific ability and what they were able to discover."
Although NASA is barred by U.S. law from working with China, academics from the U.S. and around the world have been exchanging questions and information about the Chang'e 3 in various forums.
One is a popular Listserv group for lunar scientists; just hours after the Dec. 14 landing, Dr. Zheng Yongchun of the National Astronomical Observatories of China posted a message to the group, saying the rover and the lander had taken pictures of each other.
"The most interesting results for us are both the footprint of the Lander (weight about 1000 kg) and the wheelmarker of the Jade Rabbit (weight about 140 kg) are much more shallow than prospected," he wrote. "Maybe the lunar surface soil is much [more] compact. The surface can support much heavier payloads than ever. Anyway, it is good news for the future lunar surface exploration."
In 2010, the Obama administration quashed NASA's Constellation program, which aimed to return astronauts to the moon by 2020. The move was a disappointment for researchers such as Angel Abbud-Madrid, director of the Center for Space Resources based at the Colorado School of Mines, who are interested in exploiting the resources on the moon, either to use on Earth or to support further space exploration. The Chinese lander and rover, he said, can answer questions related to prospecting, or discovering what's on the moon; excavation; and processing.
"For excavation, you need to know … how deep can you penetrate with a drill? Is the soil very compacted, or is it easy to move around? Is it electrically charged?" he said. "There's a lot you need to know to design your excavator."
Although some may downplay the Chang'e 3 landing as been there, done that, Abbud-Madrid said such naysayers are missing the larger point of China's "very systematic approach" to the moon, including its eventual goal of landing humans on the surface.
"By the time they get there, it may be 50 years since we did it, and that may not be a big deal. But once you develop a system like this, once you have all the infrastructure, you are just increasingly raising your complexity," he said.
"You get rovers, then you send back samples, and once you send humans, you're going to want to spend more than three days there. Then you're going to figure out, maybe we can generate some oxygen on the moon. Then you can really start moving ahead from what was previously achieved.
"Hopefully between now and then, we can talk about collaboration."
Dream Chaser program partners with European space agencies
Kristen Leigh Painter - The Denver Post
The Dream Chaser program has gone global, announcing new partnerships Wednesday with the European Space Agency and the German Aerospace Center to support development of Sierra Nevada Corp.'s space plane.
Louisville-based Sierra Nevada's Space Systems is building the Dream Chaser vehicle in a NASA-sponsored competition to spur innovation in human transport to low-Earth orbit.
The primary goal is to ferry astronauts to the international space station by 2017.
Sierra Nevada is still vying for that final NASA contract, but Wednesday's announcement signals that the Dream Chaser program has reached a stable position that is less reliant on government funding.
"Whatever happens with the U.S. government budget in the future, we are now at a place of maturity that we can move forward regardless," said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of Sierra's Space Systems.
The program structure gives NASA the opportunity to buy a service — the use of the vehicles — while the companies maintain ownership to use the vehicle as they see fit.
Sirangelo said "there is a basket of significant technologies" that the European agency and the German center offer, particularly their experience in re-entry systems.
The German center has developed lighter materials that could be used on the Dream Chaser and conducted air-traffic-control research for integrating space planes into the same airspace as commercial aviation, said Johann-Dietrich Wörner, chairman of the executive board at the center, known by its German acronym DLR.
The Europeans see the partnership as beneficial for future access to space.
The United States lost the capability of transporting astronauts to the space station when it retired the space-shuttle program in 2011.
The only way to send American astronauts to the space station currently is aboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, an expensive ride — rising from $55.6 million per seat in 2014 to $71 million a seat by June 2017.
In 2010, the U.S. space agency began the Commercial Crew Development program designed to provide technical and monetary support for private U.S.-based companies as they develop space vehicles.
Sierra has received more than $337 million in awards from NASA to continue developing the spacecraft.
While still committed to those programs, as a private company it is multitasking its opportunities.
The partnership with the European agencies is a step toward the commercial market that is considered the greatest future growth area in the spaceflight industry.
NASA recently released its request for proposals for the next phase of the Commercial Crew Development competition and plans to announce one or more contract winners in September.
In addition to Sierra Nevada, aerospace behemoth Boeing Co. and Elon Musk's startup SpaceX are the companies remaining in the competition.
END
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