| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- JSC 2.0 Website Revamped
- Miss the All Hands? Catch the Replay
- Jan. 30: Day of Remembrance & Tree Planting
- Get the Latest ISS Updates on 'Space to Ground'
- JSC Knowledge Online (JKO) for 2014
- JSC Has Rechargeable Battery Recycling - Organizations/Social
- Tom Jones Book Signings - Save the Date
- Today: Emerge Monthly Meeting
- Don't Let Your Gilruth Membership Expire
- 7th Annual NASA Golf Tourny -- Reg. Opens Feb. 3
- Starport Run to Excellence Half Marathon Training
- Beginners Ballroom Dance: Jan. 28 and 30
- Starport League Sports - Jobs and Training
- Project Call for Summer 2014 Interns
- JSC Library Booth in Building 45 Lobby Today
- Job Opportunities
- Fire Warden Orientation Course - Community
- Saving Lives in the Developing World |  |
| Headlines - JSC 2.0 Website Revamped
The JSC 2.0 website has been completely redone and now features blogs that showcase success stories of 2.0 around JSC - the changes happening in different organizations as a result of JSC 2.0 and its mission to make JSC more sustainable, affordable, adaptable and agile. The first blog from JSC's Deputy Center Director Kirk Shireman will give you more information about the site updates and purpose. Other blogs about CenterOps 2.0 and NASA@Work are featured as well. We want to hear about 2.0 changes, large or small, from every organization, so check out the site, read and comment on the blogs, and submit your own blog. Check out the blog archive for all blogs. JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
[top] - Miss the All Hands? Catch the Replay
If you missed the All Hands on Jan. 15 featuring JSC Director Ellen Ochoa, NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot and NASA Deputy Associate Administrator Lesa Roe, you still have an opportunity to watch the replay today, Jan. 21, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. JSC, Ellington Field, Sonny Carter Training Facility and White Sands Test Facility employees with wired computer network connections can view the replay using the JSC EZTV IP Network TV System on channel 402 (standard definition) or Video on Demand. Please note: EZTV currently requires using Internet Explorer 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. JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
[top] - Jan. 30: Day of Remembrance & Tree Planting
On Thursday, Jan. 30, NASA will commemorate the men and women lost in the agency's space exploration program by celebrating their lives, their bravery and advancements in human spaceflight. All employees are encouraged to observe a moment of silence at their workplace or the commemorative tree grove located behind and adjacent to Building 110 to remember our friends and colleagues. At 10 a.m., we will honor the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia. Following will be a tree-planting ceremony for C. George Fullerton, former NASA astronaut. A T-38 flyover is planned during the remembrance in the grove as tribute to the heroes who lost their lives serving our nation's great space program. These astronauts and their families will always be a part of the NASA family, and we will continue to honor their contributions. Our Day of Remembrance commemorates not only the men and women lost in NASA's space exploration program and their courage, but celebrates human space exploration since then. Apollo 1 (Jan. 27, 1967): Astronauts Roger B. Chaffee, Virgil "Gus" Grissom and Edward H. White Jr. Challenger (Jan. 28, 1986): Astronauts Francis R. "Dick" Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka, Gregory B. Jarvis and S. Christa McAuliffe Columbia (Feb. 1, 2003): Astronauts Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel B. Clark and Ilan Ramon C. Gordon "Gordo" Fullerton (Aug. 21, 2013): Fullerton, a U.S. Air Force test pilot and later NASA astronaut, logged more than 16,000 of flight time in 135 different types of aircraft. As an astronaut, he accumulated 382 hours in space. Fullerton served on the support crews for the Apollo 14, 15, 16 and 17 lunar missions. In 1977, he was assigned to one of the two flight crews that piloted the space shuttle prototype Enterprise during the Approach and Landing Test Program. Fullerton was pilot of STS-3 and capped off his spaceflight experience as the commander of the STS-51F Spacelab 2 mission. Event Date: Thursday, January 30, 2014 Event Start Time:10:00 AM Event End Time:11:30 AM
Event Location: Memorial Tree Grove, adjacent to Building 110
Add to Calendar
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
[top] - Get the Latest ISS Updates on 'Space to Ground'
NASA's "Space to Ground" is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. Got a question or comment? Use #spacetoground to talk to us. "Space to Ground" is available every Friday on NASA.gov, the JSC home page and our social media accounts. We encourage you to share it with your friends and family. This week's edition features science brought up by the latest Cygnus launch including SPHERES Slosh and AES-1. JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
[top] - JSC Knowledge Online (JKO) for 2014
New collections of training videos are now offered on the "Leadership and Learning" tab of the JKO. Initially produced and presented by Human Systems Integration and the Human Systems Academy, example lectures include: Changes in Postural Stability after Spaceflight; Effects of Space on the Control of Locomotion; and Exploration Medical Capabilities. Many engineers will be interested in the Structures and Dynamics Series, also available in the "Leadership and Learning" tab. Examples include: Laminate Composites; Design Process Physiology; Beam Bending; and 2D Element Mapping. Newly released information sets from the Apollo Program era are also available from the "Historical Records" tab. Check back to this expanding group of program-era information. Thanks to all involved in the hard work and collaboration involved in keeping valuable knowledge available for JSC! - JSC Has Rechargeable Battery Recycling
Do not throw your rechargeable batteries into the trash! JSC has a recycling program for different types of rechargeable batteries (i.e., lead acid, nickel cadmium, lithium ion, etc.). This recycling program helps JSC increase waste diversion rates, meet NASA sustainability goals and ensure that rechargeable batteries are handled according to regulatory requirements. If you have spent rechargeable batteries, please make sure to put them in a registered Satellite Accumulation Area for waste accumulation. Alkaline batteries can be thrown in the trash. Together, we can help make JSC more a more sustainable place to work! Organizations/Social - Tom Jones Book Signings - Save the Date
Join us for a breakfast and book signing with veteran astronaut and author Tom Jones on Feb. 21 from 8 to 10 a.m. in the Building 3 Collaboration Center. Or, bring your family and friends for the second book signing, accessible to the public at the Gilruth Fitness Center, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Books must be purchased at Starport. There is "Sky Walking" (soft cover only) for $15.99; "Planetology" for $35; and "Hell Hawks" for $24.95. Pre-order your books today in the Buildings 3 and 11 Starport Gift Shops, or order online (shipping charges applicable). - Today: Emerge Monthly Meeting
Join Emerge, the Employee Resource Group for JSC's "next generation," at their monthly meeting today, Jan. 21, from noon to 1 p.m. in Building 12, Room 134. Emerge's Onboarding committee will be hosting this meeting, and we want your input in creating a welcome packet for new employees, as well as a potential new employee orientation class. Bring your lunch and a co-worker! - Don't Let Your Gilruth Membership Expire
Need to renew your Gilruth Center membership to ensure another year of good health? We've made it fast and easy to renew. Simply visit the Starport website and follow the prompts. Memberships will expire on Jan. 31, so don't delay! If this will be your first time to join JSC's fitness center or your membership has lapsed, simply stop by the Gilruth Center. Our helpful staff will assist you with your membership needs. Don't forget, all JSC civil servants and employees at Starport Partner companies receive a FREE MEMBERSHIP. Not sure if your company is a Starport Partner? A list of partners can be found on the Starport website, or check with your Human Resources benefits specialist. Make 2014 your healthiest year yet - at the Gilruth! - 7th Annual NASA Golf Tourny -- Reg. Opens Feb. 3
Golfers, it's time to get your team ready! The Seventh Annual NASA Golf Tournament will be the biggest and best one yet! Due to popular demand, the tournament will now have TWO dates for you to choose from. Tournament Date 1: - Thursday, April 10
- 8 a.m. shotgun start
- Early registration opens Feb. 3 - $500 per team
- Magnolia Creek Golf Club
-- OR -- Tournament Date 2: - Friday, April 11
- 8 a.m. shotgun start
- Early registration opens Feb. 3 - $500 per team
- Magnolia Creek Golf Club
The silent auction will be back for BOTH days! Registration fee includes green fees, driving range, 2014 NASA golf polo, breakfast bar, lunch, participant bag, silent auction entry, drink tickets, tournament awards, door prizes and more. Registration starts in less than two weeks. Don't miss out on this great event! - Starport 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 toward doing something healthy, empowering and successful. This 10-week program will get you to places you've never been! Registration: - 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). Sign up today! - Beginners Ballroom Dance: Jan. 28 and 30
Do you feel like you have two left feet? Well, Starport has the perfect spring program for you: Beginners Ballroom Dance! This eight-week class introduces you to the various types of ballroom dance. Students will learn the secrets of a good lead and following, as well as the ability to identify the beat of the music. This class is easy, and we have fun as we learn. JSC friends and family are welcome. Regular registration: - $110 per couple (Jan. 17 to 28)
Two class sessions available: - Tuesdays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. - starting Jan. 28
- Thursdays from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. - starting Jan. 30
All classes are taught in the Gilruth Center's dance studio (Group Ex studio). - Starport League Sports
Come join the Starport Athletics adult sport leagues. We offer a plethora of leagues that range from men's and co-ed softball to even dodgeball. Come check us out! Right now we are offering a discounted rate for our whole spring season registration. Hurry and take advantage of this great deal. Jobs and Training - Project Call for Summer 2014 Interns
If you would like an intern to support a project in your organization this summer, be sure to enter it in the One Stop Shopping Initiative (OSSI) now so students can apply directly to your project. Students can apply directly to projects up until March 1. The summer session will run from May 19 to July 25 (10 weeks). For additional details, please contact Missy Matthias at x27844 or via email. To log into OSSI, click here. - JSC Library Booth in Building 45 Lobby Today
The Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Center "mobile librarians" bring all the same great library resources to JSC users in their own work environment. Librarians can provide research assistance and group or one-on-one training on library resources via Lync or in person. The STI Center strives to promote easy access to its online resources -- thousands of online journals and e-books, as well as millions of NASA documents, videos and images. Flyers and other items describing library resources and services will be available at the booth. Look for the booth in the Building 45 lobby between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. today. To learn more about the JSC libraries and the Video and Imagery Repositories, click here or call 281-483-4245. - Job Opportunities
Where do I find job opportunities? To help you navigate to JSC vacancies, use the filter drop-down menu and select "JSC HR." The "Jobs" link will direct you to the USAJOBS website for the complete announcement and the ability to apply online. If you have questions about any JSC job vacancies, please call your HR representative. - Fire Warden Orientation Course
This four-hour course satisfies the JSC training requirement for newly assigned Fire Wardens from JSC, Sonny Carter Training Facility and Ellington Field. This course must be completed before assuming these duties. Topics covered include: duties and responsibilities of a Fire Warden; building evacuation techniques; recognizing and correcting fire hazards; and types and uses of portable fire extinguishers. Fire Wardens who have previously attended this four-hour orientation course and need to satisfy the three-year training requirements may attend the two-hour Fire Warden Refresher Course now available in SATERN for registration. Date/Time: Feb. 19 from 8 a.m. to noon Where: Safety Learning Center, Building 20, Room 205/206 Registration via SATERN required: Community - Saving Lives in the Developing World
The JSC chapter of Engineers Without Borders invites you to come see Doug Schuler, Ph.D., discuss his work on sterilization of medical instruments in the developing world tomorrow, Jan. 22, from noon to 1 p.m. in Building 7, Room 141. Schuler traveled in May 2013 to Sierra Leone to work on a sterilization project for a district hospital that does not have electricity. At this hospital, a reported 100 percent of patients having surgery experience some form of post-operation infection, likely due to poor sterilization. Schuler is working with Rice University Engineering students to design and build a self-contained sterile processing system. Come hear about this interesting work being done right here in the Houston area. No RSVP is required. | |
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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
Tuesday – Jan. 21, 2014
- NASA TV Programming today (time is Central):
12 p.m. - TDRS-L Pre-Launch News Conference - KSC (All Channels)
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Rosetta comet-chasing spacecraft wakes up after 2.5-year hibernation
William Harwood – CBS News
After hibernating for 31 months in the cold of deep space, the European Space Agency's solar powered Rosetta probe, finally returning to the light and warmth of the inner solar system, woke itself up and phoned home Monday, a major milestone in a $1.7 billion attempt to orbit a comet and place an instrumented lander on its icy surface.
Rosetta comet-chasing spacecraft 'wakes up' on schedule after record 957 days in hibernation
Lee Roop – Huntsville Times
The Rosetta comet-chasing spacecraft "woke up" today on schedule after a record 957 days of hibernation. The first communication was received by a ground station in Goldstone, Calif., home of NASA's Deep Space Network.
NASA, China Meet On Possible Cooperation
Frank Morring, Jr. – Aviation Week
Top NASA officials took advantage of the recent gathering of space agency chiefs in Washington to look for ways to broaden cooperation with China, including rare direct talks with Chinese space leaders.
NASA's leader sees bright future for Glenn Research Center
Grant Segall – The Plain Dealer
The day after a budget boost, NASA's leader visited the Glenn Research Center Friday and said, "The future of Glenn is bright."
President Obama signs $17.6 billion NASA budget
Stephen Clark – Spaceflight Now
President Barack Obama signed a budget measure Friday giving NASA more than $17.6 billion for the year, fully funding the space agency's heavy-lift Space Launch System and Orion exploration capsule while falling short of NASA's request to pay for commercial space taxis.
The amazing story we ignore
By Bob Greene, CNN Contributor
No Googling allowed:
Who are Koichi Wakata, Oleg Kotov, Mike Hopkins, Mikhail Tyurin, Rick Mastracchio and Sergey Ryazanskiy?
A New Conversation — A Shared Voice
Rick Tumlinson – Space News
A few months ago, I walked away from the battle between those pushing for what I helped label as the "Senate Launch System" and those fighting to build commercial space transportation systems. After helping birth the baby of commercial spaceflight and then protecting it from those who felt threatened by its promise, I saw it actually not just begin to stand on its own two feet, but take flight — literally.
Ex-NASA Officials Endorse ISS Extension
Dan Leone – Space News
When the White House announced it was throwing its weight behind a four-year extension of the international space station's mission to 2024, it prompted an outpouring of support from the space community, including from former NASA officials once told the agency could not afford to operate the outpost past 2016.
NASA Forgets Key Lesson from Columbia Accident
Vance Brand – Space News
It is imperative that NASA successfully rebuild America's ability to launch astronauts into space and catch up with the Russians and Chinese who routinely launch astronauts to low Earth orbit. This U.S. administration canceled the program making progress toward replacing the space shuttle before ending space shuttle flights. The United States is now entirely dependent upon the Russians for U.S. crew access to the international space station.
NASA's Morpheus lander set for liftoff Tuesday
James Dean – Florida Today
A moon-inspired field of dreams beckons NASA's Morpheus lander at Kennedy Space Center.
COMPLETE STORIES
Rosetta comet-chasing spacecraft wakes up after 2.5-year hibernation
William Harwood – CBS News
After hibernating for 31 months in the cold of deep space, the European Space Agency's solar powered Rosetta probe, finally returning to the light and warmth of the inner solar system, woke itself up and phoned home Monday, a major milestone in a $1.7 billion attempt to orbit a comet and place an instrumented lander on its icy surface.
More than 400 million miles from the sun, Rosetta's flight computer responded to a countdown timer that signaled the end of hibernation, triggering a complex sequence of events to slow the spacecraft's spin and warm its star trackers so it could determine its position and orientation in space.
About six hours after the initial wakeup, Rosetta was programmed to re-orient itself to aim its high-gain antenna back at Earth for the long-awaited call home.
The signal was expected anytime between 12:30 p.m. EST (GMT-5) and 1:30 p.m. For 45 minutes, there wasn't a peep. Then, at 1:18 p.m., huge antennas in NASA's Deep Space Network picked up Rosetta's broadcast, prompting wild applause and raucous cheers at the Rosetta control center in Darmstadt, Germany.
"We made it! Yes, yes! We can definitely see the signal from Rosetta," exclaimed Andrea Accomazzo, Rosetta spacecraft operations manager. "This is a big success for everybody."
The $1.7 billion mission, launched by an Ariane rocket on March 2, 2004, spent the past decade following a convoluted trajectory to reach Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, discovered in 1969. The comet's 6.5-year orbit carries it beyond Jupiter and then in between the orbits of Earth and Mars before it returns to deep space.
Assuming the spacecraft endured its long hibernation with no ill effects, Rosetta will carry out a series of carefully choreographed maneuvers in the months ahead, slipping into orbit around the nucleus of 67P, flying lower and lower until it reaches an altitude of just six miles or so in September.
After carefully studying the comet's surface, mission managers will select a landing site and if all goes well, a small lander named Philae will be released to land on the nucleus in November.
Comets like 67P are "time capsules, they are remnants of the birth of the solar system and they go back to the beginning of the solar system more than 4.6 billion years ago," said Mark McCaughrean, senior scientific advisor with ESA's Directorate of Science and Robotic Exploration.
"When the solar system was forming out of gas and dust, it formed the planets, the one we live on today, it formed asteroids and it formed the comets. And the comets are a remnant, therefore, something we can investigate about the very earliest phases of the evolution and the birth of our own solar system."
Of particular interest is the ice found in comets, which can "give us great clues to the origin not only of our own solar system, but potentially even life," McCaughrean said. "Because we know that comets also contain organic molecules, the building blocks of even DNA and RNA. We know that there are amino acids in comets, for example. So comets play a key role in our understanding of the cycle of star formation, planet formation, perhaps life formation."
To rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta flew past Earth a year after launch and then past Mars in February 2007, using the gravity of both planets to increase its velocity and adjust its trajectory.
After a second Earth flyby in November 2007, Rosetta flew past an asteroid and returned to the vicinity of Earth in November 2009 for a third gravity-assist flyby. The spacecraft flew past a second asteroid in July 2010 and then went into extended hibernation on June 8, 2011.
"We came to such a distance from the sun that even our large solar arrays, even our high technology solar cells, were not enough to keep the full spacecraft active," Paolo Ferri, head of mission operations, told reporters late last year. "What we had to do in June 2011, we had to switch off most of the systems, spin up the spacecraft and leave it alone.
"Since the 8th of June 2011, we have no signal form the spacecraft. This was planned. It's not something we liked doing, but this is really what the last two-and-a-half years were about."
While 67P will generate streams of icy debris as it responds to solar heating, it "is never going to be bright, it's not going to be visible to the naked eye," said McCaughrean. Even so, "it's a superb comet to go visit and do science. But we won't be able to see it with the naked eye."
Scientists do not yet know enough about 67P to plan Rosetta's close approach or pick out any potential landing sites. But as the spacecraft closes in, its cameras will capture sharper and sharper views, unveiling the comet's surface in extraordinary detail.
"We have cameras in the visible, the infrared, the ultraviolet and at millimeter wavelengths to investigate the surface structure and the temperature and the materials the comet's made of by looking from a distance," McCaughrean said. "We're going to measure the particles in the coma, the material flowing away from the comet, we're going to be able to measure the masses, the materials that the gas and dust are made out of that's flowing away."
Rosetta also will analyze the dust that hits the spacecraft and "we're going to be able to take microscopic images of the dust in the coma," he said. "We're also going to conduct a lot of experiments on the plasma, the ionized gas flowing away from the comet."
When the Philae lander descends to the nucleus in November, it will use a variety of techniques to anchor itself to a body with just 20 millionths the gravity of Earth. On-board cameras will document the journey, followed by a panorama from the surface "all the way around, 360 degrees, in stereo of the surface and then looking downward, doing microscopy, looking in high resolution at the surface of the comet," McCaughrean said.
"We're then going to have a number of little laboratory experiments that will measure the gas and the dust, the organic material and the plasma coming away," he said. "And then we're actually going to drill beneath the surface to look at material just under the surface and melt some of that material, we'll dig (it) up and bring into the spacecraft." The lander and Rosetta mothership will work together in another investigation, beaming radio signals back and forth that will "go through the comet and measure it's inside, we'll actually be able to measure the internal structure of the comet through a form of tomography."
Scientists also plan to precisely measure the time delay of signals sent from Rosetta to Earth to map out the comet's gravity.
"This mission's been going on for more than 10 years, but the exciting phase takes place now," McCaughrean said. "This time capsule has been locked away for 4.6 billion years. It's time to unlock the treasure chest."
Rosetta comet-chasing spacecraft 'wakes up' on schedule after record 957 days in hibernation
Lee Roop – Huntsville Times
The Rosetta comet-chasing spacecraft "woke up" today on schedule after a record 957 days of hibernation. The first communication was received by a ground station in Goldstone, Calif., home of NASA's Deep Space Network.
Rosetta is headed toward comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko . Its mission is to use its 25 instruments to observe the comet close-hand for months. The comet is heading into the Solar System and will climb back out over 16 months. During that time, NASA says it will transform "from a small, frozen world into a roiling mass of ice and dust, complete with surface eruptions, mini-earthquakes,basketball-sized ice particles and spewing jets of carbon dioxide and cyanide."
"We are going to be in the cometary catbird seat on this one," Claudia Alexander, project scientist for U.S. Rosetta from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. , said in a NASA press release. "To have an extended presence in the neighborhood of a comet as it goes through so many changes should change our perspective on what it is to be a comet."
NASA is cooperating on the mission with the mission-leading European Space Agency. The three instruments NASA is contributing will begin working this summer.
NASA, China Meet On Possible Cooperation
Frank Morring, Jr. – Aviation Week
Top NASA officials took advantage of the recent gathering of space agency chiefs in Washington to look for ways to broaden cooperation with China, including rare direct talks with Chinese space leaders.
More than 30 agency heads met under the auspices of the U.S. State Department and the International Academy of Astronautics Jan. 9-10 to discuss deep-space exploration. The multilateral setting allowed representatives of the U.S. space agency to speak to their Chinese counterparts without violating the U.S. law that forbids cooperation in space between the two countries.
The law was drafted by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) on national security and human rights grounds. But NASA has cooperated with China on space projects in the past, and Administrator Charles Bolden visited China's human-spaceflight launch site on an official tour that he was unable to reciprocate after Wolf's law was enacted as a provision of a NASA appropriations measure.
"We are looking for ways in time to find different ways we can be a partner to them," Bolden said at the end of the heads-of-agency meeting. "Human spaceflight is not something that's going to happen with U.S. [and] China in the foreseeable future, because we are forbidden from doing that by law, so let's just get that out there … That's not going to change; not today, anyway."
Wolf, who chairs the House appropriations subcommittee that oversees NASA funding, has said he will not seek re-election this year.
Bolden noted that China is already among the 80-plus nations that "participate" in International Space Station activities, including the cutting-edge science program represented by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Launched on the final space shuttle mission, the AMS uses Chinese superconducting magnets as part of its search for evidence of dark matter from its perch atop the ISS starboard truss. However, it is unlikely that China — which is working toward assembly of its own Mir-class space station in 2018-22 — will be invited to join the ISS partnership of NASA and the space agencies of Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe. Nor will India or other spacefaring nations not already in the partnership become ISS partners.
None of the existing station partners wants to reopen the treaties that set up the partnership to allow new members in, according to Bolden. Drafting them was "painful," the NASA administrator said, and "nobody wants to do that again." However, "each member organization is encouraged to reach out and involve other nations as participants," he told reporters.
Two Chinese space agencies attended the Washington summit – the China National Space Administration (CNSA), a civilian organization that deals primarily with robotic missions, and the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), a branch of the People's Liberation Army that controls the Shenzhou crew vehicles and the Tiangong space station development. Bolden met with Xu Dazhe, the newly named CNSA administrator, but not Wang Zhaoyao, director general of the CMSA.
NASA's leader sees bright future for Glenn Research Center
Grant Segall – The Plain Dealer
The day after a budget boost, NASA's leader visited the Glenn Research Center Friday and said, "The future of Glenn is bright."
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, former combat pilot and astronaut, extolled Glenn's work, and so did two Democratic lawmakers on hand, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur.
Said Toledo's Kaptur, "If you want to see the new world, come to Cleveland, come to Brook Park, come to this NASA facility."
Said Brown of Cleveland, "My mission and Congresswoman Kaptur's mission is to make NASA Glenn bigger in terms of its reach into the community."
After last year's dramatic sequester, Congress quietly approved a budget Thursday that gives NASA $17.647 billion for the current fiscal year, almost as much as the $17.7 billion President Obama sought. Obama's request included $684 million for Glenn, up from the $609 million spent in fiscal 2013. Glenn's director, James Free, said it will take time to work out how Congress's slight cut in the requested budget will trickle down to Glenn.
But Friday's visitors to Glenn's Electric Propulsion Laboratory promised big things. Said Bolden, "Our path to capturing an asteroid runs through NASA Glenn."
The agency has ambitious plans to tug a small asteroid into low orbit and land astronauts there. Glenn is helping, partly by developing solar electric propulsion for that job and more. Engineers say solar power should be cheaper and its equipment lighter than traditional fuel power.
Bolden stressed Glenn's down-to-earth payoffs. "Glenn remains a focal point to support industry and academia," he said.
President Obama signs $17.6 billion NASA budget
Stephen Clark – Spaceflight Now
President Barack Obama signed a budget measure Friday giving NASA more than $17.6 billion for the year, fully funding the space agency's heavy-lift Space Launch System and Orion exploration capsule while falling short of NASA's request to pay for commercial space taxis.
The space agency's top line budget is $17.65 billion in the spending bill, which runs until the end of September and was passed by Congress earlier this week. The $1.1 trillion budget covers the entire federal government.
The appropriations bill has its roots in a framework budget compromise reached by House and Senate leaders in December. Lawmakers ironed out the details of the budget over the last month before unveiling the document Monday night.
Congress gave NASA a funding level just shy of the White House's request of $17.72 billion, but the appropriation pads the space agency's deep space exploration programs, setting the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle's budget at $1.2 billion and the Space Launch System's funding line at $1.6 billion, more than $200 million more than NASA said it needed to meet a 2017 launch date for an unmanned test flight.
The Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System are the centerpieces of NASA's plans for human missions to an asteroid and eventually Mars.
In a legislative report accompanying the budget, Congress refused to commit to NASA's proposed asteroid redirect mission to retrieve a 500-ton rock from solar orbit, guide it around the moon with a robotic spacecraft, then send astronauts to visit it aboard Orion crew capsules. Lawmakers wrote that NASA needs to justify the asteroid initiative and provide detailed cost estimates before winning congressional support.
The extra money for SLS will "maintain critical forward momentum" on the program, legislators wrote in the budget report.
A loser in the budget is the commercial crew program, which began funding industrial partners in 2010 and aims to develop a privately-owned rocket and spacecraft to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station in low Earth orbit by the end of 2017.
After the space shuttle, NASA is turning to the private sector for crew and cargo transportation to the space station, while the government focuses on missions beyond Earth orbit.
NASA asked Congress for $821 million, a figure NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said last year is required to keep the commercial crew program on track to support an operational transport service in 2017.
The fiscal year 2014 budget calls for $696 million in commercial crew funding, above last year's $525 million budget but short of what NASA requested. The bill directs NASA to hold $171 million of the $696 million in reserve until officials complete an independent cost-benefit analysis of the commercial crew program taking into account the total U.S. government investment in the project and the expected operational life of the space station.
NASA is pursuing the commercial spaceflight program as a public-private partnership in the mold of the agency's development of private cargo vehicles to resupply the space station.
Boeing Co., SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp. are currently in funded Space Act Agreements with NASA worth $1.1 billion. Under the cost-sharing arrangement, NASA approves monetary awards to each company upon the completion of preset milestones, such as flight tests, engine firings, or design reviews.
This summer, NASA plans to select one or more companies to complete development of their crew spacecraft and fly demonstration missions to low Earth orbit before the vehicle is certified for NASA astronauts.
Since its inception, the commercial crew program has received less funding each year than requested by NASA.
The rest of NASA's divisions receive funding near requested levels, except for the agency's space technology directorate, which gets $576 million. That is $167 million less than NASA wanted.
Space operations, which includes the International Space Station, receives $3.78 billion in fiscal year 2014 and NASA's science programs get $5.15 billion. Both figures are within a few percent of NASA's request.
The amazing story we ignore
By Bob Greene, CNN Contributor
No Googling allowed:
Who are Koichi Wakata, Oleg Kotov, Mike Hopkins, Mikhail Tyurin, Rick Mastracchio and Sergey Ryazanskiy?
If you're stumped by the question, don't feel bad. You're not alone.
Most people almost certainly wouldn't know the answer. Although it would be nice if we did.
Those six men are people of great accomplishment, rigorous education and training, and astonishing courage.
Right this moment, they are taking part in something so thrilling that it's hard to believe the world has become so indifferent to it.
They are the six inhabitants of the International Space Station. Living together hundreds of miles above the surface of the Earth, they circle the globe every 90 minutes. They travel at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour every second of every day.
But except when there is a potential crisis on the Space Station, such as the problem with the cooling system over the holidays, most people are barely aware that they are up there.
Their mission is like something Ian Fleming would have dreamed up in an old James Bond novel:
Five different space agencies from nations across the Earth, cooperating to populate and support a self-contained outpost -- a colony the size of a football field -- that circles endlessly above us at unimaginable velocity.
An international team of intrepid explorers living in space, conducting experiments and research and gazing through the blackness toward the rest of us. The International Space Station has been continuously occupied by different teams of astronauts and cosmonauts for more than 13 years.
Americans once knew by heart the names of the original astronauts. Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Gus Grissom and their colleagues were as celebrated as any baseball heroes had been in generations that preceded theirs.
Life on Earth came to a complete, pulse-pounding standstill when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first stepped onto the surface of the moon.
The fascination somehow faded during the space shuttle years. Unless there was a tragedy, as happened with Challenger and Columbia -- and with the exception of the shuttle mission on which Glenn, at age 77, became a crew member -- most of the shuttle flights drew little more than a national glance or two.
It may have had to do with the fact that in an age when television images were king, the shuttles, for all the dangers they presented to their dedicated crews, on TV appeared more like giant commercial airliners than exotic spacecraft as they returned to make their landings. The very name -- "shuttle" -- sounded deceptively routine, although the missions were anything but.
Whatever the reason, it seemed more difficult, during the space shuttle era, to get the public especially interested.
The International Space Station, for all its jaw-dropping technological capabilities, and for all the bravery of its resident astronauts, has faced an even bigger hurdle in attracting the attention of the constantly distracted people of Earth. Because the space station has been up there so long, people seldom pause to consider the wonder of it all.
In recent days, though, it has been in the news.
NASA announced this month that the space station will continue circling the Earth for at least four years beyond its previously planned splashdown in 2020. Now, it will be inhabited until at least 2024.
And last week the six occupants of the space station finally received their Christmas gifts. The presents from their families, along with crates of supplies, were supposed to be delivered last month, but were delayed.
The cooling system breakdown had held things up, and then there was an explosion on the sun that unleashed particles that could have caused problems during the transport. (And you think you had a creative excuse for being late to work.)
The gifts and supplies that eventually made it to the station, by the way, were delivered not by NASA but by a for-hire private company. Two such companies, Orbital Sciences Corp. and SpaceX, are contracted to fly supplies to the International Space Station.
Even that fact plays into the misguided perception down on Earth that the space station is, if not ho-hum, then not the stuff of tingling drama. There are already plans for privately owned "space taxis" to take future astronauts to and from the station, a far cry from the breathless years of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.
When the unmanned courier craft arrived last week, the space station residents belatedly opened their Christmas presents. (Incidentally, included in that cargo delivery was a container of live ants. Eight hundred or so of them. It has something to do with an experiment about weightlessness. Just what you would most like to unwrap when you're in a confined area in space, right? Ants.)
One measure of the public's attentiveness toward the astronauts of today can be seen in the audience for the Twitter feed of Mastracchio, one of the two Americans up there.
He does, indeed, tweet -- circling the Earth, he sends down messages and descriptions so citizens of the world (those with a computer, smartphone or tablet), can in real time and for free be kept up on what is transpiring aboard that miraculous mission. It is a way of instant and intimate communication from space that wouldn't even have been dreamed of not so long ago.
He has 36,300 Twitter followers.
For comparison's sake, Justin Bieber has 48.7 million followers for the Twitter account of his daily doings.
LeBron James has 11.2 million.
Katy Perry has 49.5 million.
We can get used to just about anything, or so it seems, but it's instructive that we have gotten so used to even this: humans from different countries living in harmony as they hurtle perilously through the dark void so far from Earth.
Walter Cronkite is no longer around to tell a breathlessly waiting world of such exploits in space. But if astronaut Mastracchio wants more people to know about the astounding things he is seeing and experiencing up there, perhaps he can prevail upon Justin Bieber to retweet him.
A New Conversation — A Shared Voice
Rick Tumlinson – Space News
A few months ago, I walked away from the battle between those pushing for what I helped label as the "Senate Launch System" and those fighting to build commercial space transportation systems. After helping birth the baby of commercial spaceflight and then protecting it from those who felt threatened by its promise, I saw it actually not just begin to stand on its own two feet, but take flight — literally.
Aside from being exhausted, and needing to pull the arrows out of my front (and back), I decided to "create a clearing for a new conversation" with those who I had seen as enemies before — a conversation about what is possible if we learn from our battles and what we can accomplish if we work together to apply these lessons to our future. And it is working. I am talking to people who I once excoriated, they are talking to me, and guess what, we share a lot of the same goals — if not the same ideas on how to achieve them. But it is a start. And if I can do it, and they can do it, so can you.
Those on the front lines know, on both sides, just how tough a battle it has been to transform the U.S. government space program to a shared activity with both the government and private sector taking on new and often uncomfortable roles. Yet we are seeing it happen, in many small ways and some that are highly visible, such as our shared success in getting Space Exploration Technologies and Orbital Sciences berthed to the space station, and companies like NanoRacks and Bigelow at last working in a productive relationship with NASA. After more than 25 years of political trench warfare, re-education and demonstration, we are at last beginning the transition from a government-run command economy in human spaceflight to the beginnings of an industrial/commercial enterprise.
And yes, even though we can see with our own eyes that U.S. companies can do the job of flying supplies and eventually people to and from space, the battles aren't over. There are still those in Washington who think that national rockets are the only way to open space, that government employees are the only ones qualified to "do" space, and that despite all evidence to the contrary Congress is somehow better equipped to micromanage our future on the frontier than those both in NASA and the private sector who must do the job. Fine. As they say here in Texas, the commercial horse is out of the barn, and the government will either have to ride it, hitch a wagon to it or try and shoot it as it runs past and ahead.
I know where my bet is placed, but now I have other things to do.
To quote Robert Heinlein: "Once you get to Earth orbit, you are halfway to anywhere in the solar system." Well, I hereby leave the orbit part to others. I am focused on the anywhere.
My first mission will be to bang some heads together in our own space community. As for right now we are our own worst enemy. It has to stop or we will all face failure. We are like a group of maniacal subdivisions of a church — all true believers, yet each with our own definition of heaven, our own way of getting there, and armed with ammo belts full of facts we can unleash on anyone who has the temerity to assume he or she has a viable idea, approach or destination worth considering.
I know whereof I speak. As I have been guilty of doing just this (and if I may say so myself, I am pretty good at it). And while I am not suggesting some sort of Rodney King "Can't we all just get along?" lament, I am suggesting right now is the time to at least begin to try and find commonalities, areas of agreement, and to seek at least at the highest level some sort of unity in what is to me clearly and easily the most important undertaking in the history of humanity — if not life itself.
That may sound grandiose and overstated, but it isn't. And anyone reading this who "gets it" knows what I mean. Whether you are working on or support Orion or Dragon, the international space station or Bigelow, whether you spend your days in a Loral cleanroom or soldering a cubesat in your garage, whether you are a staffer in Washington or bring doughnuts for the local space society meeting, whether you are an astronaut or just nuts about astronomy, you at some level understand the import and possibility of what is out there — or you wouldn't be doing what you are doing.
So let's for a moment put down our flags, quit stomping on each other's footprints and work on a unified vision that will support all of our dreams, yet allow all of us to do our own thing, do it in our own way and go to those places we each want to go.
In the next year or two we have a huge opportunity, and we cannot blow it. Here's why I say this:
We are exactly between presidential elections, as close to a calm period as there might be in terms of politics.
The first citizens are about to start flying into space — including many high-wealth, high-profile opinion makers.
American companies are at last about to bring the flying of astronauts back home to the United States from Russia.
The first credible humans-to-Mars plans are starting to weave together in public-private partnerships. In fact I can say with some authority this will also be the case in terms of the Moon and asteroids as well. As government and private-sector desires for mega-missions and projects collide with budget realities, it will at last become clear they must work together to achieve their own goals — be it science, profit or glory.
Throw in pressures to respond to Chinese and Indian initiatives on the Moon and Mars and we have many of the elements and pressures needed to do something important — if we don't blow it — as we have done so many times before.
So what can we do to leverage these (and the many other opportunities I don't have room to list here) in a way that will enable us all to do this important work and at the same time realize our own dreams?
Simple (and of course damnably hard for some).
First, we must all agree that our goal is to explore and open the frontier of space to humanity and life.
Second, we must create a shared agenda that will make this happen as quickly as possible, and not only as cheaply as possible, but also maximizing our investments in capital and taxes by the amount of knowledge and wealth we return to Earth, and the chance for participation available to everyone, in this country and the world.
Then, we need to use the voices and volume once dedicated to pronouncing our own individual solutions to communicate this shared top-level set of goals and the agenda we agree upon to the rest of the world — including those people who are buying tickets into space and watching on the Net and TV, those in Washington who have yet to "get it" when it comes to this revolution, and those out there who, based on old precepts, ideas and ignorance, need to be educated about the amazing and incredible future that lies just above and ahead of us.
Look, I may be many things, but I am by this time not naive. I am not telling you to give up your own dreams, or assuming the battles over who's got the biggest Internet service provider or baddest PowerPoint will end by sprinkling magic space dust over everyone (could that be a market?). Heck, that's what makes some of this fun. I am just suggesting we agree to disagree on the details and destinations, base the winners on the merits, and focus on agreeing why we are doing this, and how we can all do it together so everyone wins.
So what will you do? Do we rise together, or hang out there under a canopy of stars we will never reach, alone?
Ex-NASA Officials Endorse ISS Extension
Dan Leone – Space News
When the White House announced it was throwing its weight behind a four-year extension of the international space station's mission to 2024, it prompted an outpouring of support from the space community, including from former NASA officials once told the agency could not afford to operate the outpost past 2016.
"I completely support the extension to 2024," former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin wrote in a Jan. 10 email to SpaceNews. "I believe that in the near future the commitment to ISS should be indefinite; it should be kept operational as long as it is possible to do so. Properly supported, ISS could function for decades, and should."
The White House Office of Management and Budget was sending a different signal toward the end of Griffin's four years as NASA administrator. President George W. Bush's final budget proposal, sent to Congress in 2008, showed NASA's space station commitment ending in 2016 — a budget posture consistent with the Bush administration's plan to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020 without significantly boosting NASA's budget.
When President Barack Obama took office in 2009 calling for a review of the Constellation human lunar exploration program, experts testified that NASA likely could not afford to build the Ares family of rockets, Orion crew capsule and lunar lander without deorbiting the space station around the middle of the decade to free up funds.
Obama canceled Constellation in 2010 but Congress saved Orion and ordered NASA to use Ares and space shuttle hardware and designs to build the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket the agency is working on now for future deep-space missions. These programs remain in NASA's budget, competing for funding with the $3 billion-a-year international space station, and the Commercial Crew Program that aims to send astronauts to the orbital outpost by late 2017 using privately designed spacecraft.
Meanwhile, aside from Russia, no international partners have yet committed to a space station mission through 2024. The United States and Russia say they can operate the station alone through 2024, but that they would rather not.
The European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), both of which have made investments in space station modules and supplied the outpost with cargo, are still figuring out how they will support the outpost through 2020. Only after that puzzle is solved will those agencies contemplate participation through 2024, senior officials said.
JAXA has arranged its barter agreement with NASA only through 2015. Japan will supply the space station with cargo using its H-2 Transfer Vehicle.
"However, any time beyond that, until 2020, we are still in negotiations with the United States as to what kind of barter agreement we are going to conclude," JAXA President Naoki Okumura said in a Jan. 10 press conference here following a meeting of the International Academy of Astronautics. "That discussion is going on and we would like to reach that decision as soon as we can."
The European Space Agency is in a similar spot.
At the same Jan. 10 press conference, Thomas Reiter, director of ESA's Human Spaceflight and Operations Directorate, said European leaders would determine how to support their commitment to the space station through 2020 at a December ministerial conference.
"I think I don't need to stress that in this current economic condition, this is not an easy task," Reiter, a German astronaut who has lived aboard ISS and Russia's Mir space station, told reporters. "Having said that, it's clear that ESA made a huge investment in the international space station. And I'm sure in the discussions that are ahead of us, this will be considered."
Whatever else happens to the space station, there probably will not be any additional international partners coming aboard to support the project financially or operationally.
The partnership "is a treaty," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a Jan. 10 press conference following a meeting here of the International Academy of Astronautics.
"It is highly unlikely that any of us are going to be willing to go through the process of increasing the partnership by going back and opening up the treaty," Bolden told the press.
Bolden, a former astronaut who commanded his final shuttle mission in 1994, said he was not around when the international space station partnership was formed, "but I am told it was painful."
NASA Forgets Key Lesson from Columbia Accident
Vance Brand – Space News
It is imperative that NASA successfully rebuild America's ability to launch astronauts into space and catch up with the Russians and Chinese who routinely launch astronauts to low Earth orbit. This U.S. administration canceled the program making progress toward replacing the space shuttle before ending space shuttle flights. The United States is now entirely dependent upon the Russians for U.S. crew access to the international space station.
NASA's proposed solution is the Commercial Crew Program, "stimulating" American companies to develop new boosters and spacecraft to transport astronauts to and from the space station. However, our nation's return to spaceflight could be irreparably threatened by fatally flawed provisions in the new solicitation for the final phase of Commercial Crew development.
NASA is ignoring the main lesson learned in 50 years of spaceflight and from the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia accidents: Astronaut safety must be the single highest priority in human spaceflight.
For reasons that are hard to understand, NASA has chosen in the Commercial Crew Program to blatantly ignore a top recommendation of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, which investigated the causes of the Space Shuttle Columbia's 2003 breakup during re-entry that resulted in seven astronaut deaths. The board's report devoted a large section to stressing that the next human spacecraft should have major emphasis on the safety of astronauts.
NASA's new contract solicitation establishes three evaluation criteria, in order of importance: Price, Safety/Mission Suitability, and Past Performance. "Mission Suitability," which includes safety, is the term used for the technical value of each company's proposal. With these priorities, safety is less than 25 percent of the overall evaluation of the contractor and his proposed design. For the first time, "Price" trumps "Safety/Mission Suitability." This inverted prioritization is unprecedented for NASA human spaceflight. It is unacceptable.
Safety/Mission Suitability has always been and always should be of the highest priority in these and all competitions. Safety was a prime consideration in the NASA-subsidized Commercial Cargo development, which resulted in a services contract for delivery of supplies to the space station. NASA is saying the safety of toothpaste, food, underwear and other supplies is more important than human lives.
While reducing costs is important to sustaining space exploration, the lessons of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia teach that savings must not be achieved at the expense of safety.
Another troubling shortcoming in this solicitation is that NASA has waived the certified cost or pricing data that is normally required by Federal Acquisition Regulations in NASA contracts and also by Department of Defense contracts. Why? The result is that neither NASA nor Congress can have accountability or oversight of billions of taxpayer dollars to be spent in this program.
Without certified cost accounting and pricing, there is no real gauge to validate the proposed price in this proposal process. The NASA contract will put the risk on contractors to complete this contract in the event that costs exceed the proposed fixed price. If costs exceed what contractors can or are willing to cover, this program and the space station itself will be put in jeopardy.
The real danger is that once NASA and the companies realize success cannot be achieved for what was originally bid in the proposal, either safety will be compromised or NASA will have to find the additional money to fix the problem.
NASA will not even have the ability to perform the necessary oversight to foresee these cost issues coming. NASA will presumably bail out the companies under these circumstances, thereby encouraging cheap and unsafe proposals.
When looking at the entire history of the space program, modifications to existing systems are inevitable, necessary and expensive. The tendency of human spaceflight costs to escalate beyond initial estimates will make cheap and unsafe bids a huge problem.
If NASA does not act quickly to change course and reinstate the traditional emphasis on safety, it is all too likely that rather than the supposed revolutionizing of human spaceflight, the Commercial Crew Program will be added to the long list of failed NASA programs. Or worse, we will witness a tragedy due to a cheap proposed price. Not only would a preventable accident be unfathomable, but it would also be a national setback in human spaceflight and counterproductive to the original cause of saving money (at the expense of safety).
We must ask ourselves, how is it possible that this is even being allowed to happen?
Throughout the history of the space program, it has been an assigned responsibility for the astronauts to be a "line of defense" to assure safety and good spacecraft designs. Furthermore, it is a personal priority for each of us to look out for our fellow space explorers. The Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia accidents, with the loss of close friends, are tragic reminders of our priorities and responsibilities. Along with several of my colleagues who have also experienced human spaceflight, including Gene Cernan (Gemini 9A, Apollo 10 and 17), Jim Lovell (Gemini 7 and 12, Apollo 8 and 13), Dave Scott (Gemini 8, Apollo 9 and 15), Dick Gordon (Gemini 11, Apollo 12), Alan Bean (Apollo 12, Skylab 3), Walt Cunningham (Apollo 7), Al Worden (Apollo 15), Jack Lousma (Skylab 3, STS-3), Scott Horowitz (STS-75, 82, 101 and 105) and John Creighton (STS-51G, 36 and 48), we are compelled now to speak out on this dangerous inversion of priorities — cost over safety — while it can still be corrected.
NASA's Morpheus lander set for liftoff Tuesday
James Dean – Florida Today
A moon-inspired field of dreams beckons NASA's Morpheus lander at Kennedy Space Center.
Named for the Greek god of dreams, the prototype lander plans to lift off for a fourth time today at KSC and descend into the "hazard field" strewn with boulders and craters north of the former shuttle runway.
It's as close as the four-legged vehicle defined by four silver, spherical propellant tanks will ever get to another celestial surface, but hints at the possibilities its "green" propulsion system and advanced landing sensors hold.
Jon Olansen, the project's leader from Johnson Space Center, said seeing Morpheus touch down in the simulated lunar landscape conjures an "otherworldly" sensation.
"It does give you that sense that we are making progress in things that will allow us to eventually set foot on other planets," he said.
The KSC flights are an early step toward that goal, testing technologies that could prove useful to robotic or human exploration.
The initial focus is a rocket engine powered by liquid methane and liquid oxygen.
The non-toxic, or "green," propellants could land or move a Morpheus-like vehicle on the moon, an asteroid or Mars. Methane fuel, which is easier to store in space than hydrogen, could also contribute to power and life-support systems.
Later, Morpheus will demonstrate a sensor package that can scan the ground below in any lighting conditions, rank the best available landing sites and change course if the targeted site looks dangerous.
Such a precision landing capability "opens up a lot of areas of scientific interest that currently we cannot approach, just because of the hazards that exist there," said Olansen.
Morpheus must prove its flight-worthiness over several more tests before adding the sensors known as ALHAT, for Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology, which are worth more than the vehicle itself.
Having spent about $13million over four years, not counting the cost of a 40-person civil servant team, Morpheus is considered a "lean" development project that limits costs by accepting more risks.
That reality was on full display during the project's first visit to KSC in August 2012. If Morpheus inspired dreams then, they were nightmares.
Seconds after lifting off on its first free flight, Morpheus lost navigation data, pitched over and crashed with an explosion that made national news.
To the engineers, it was an unfortunate, but still useful, experience.
"There are good tests and there are good tests," Olansen said. "We learned a lot from that."
A replacement vehicle, Morpheus "Bravo," was built for $750,000 and includes more than 70 upgrades, including to the ground systems prepared by KSC personnel.
Morpheus now lifts off over a flame trench embedded in its mobile launch pad, to reduce noise vibrations believed to have contributed to the 2012 failure.
At 1:15p.m. today, Morpheus will attempt to climb 305feet, fly down range 350feet and descend to a concrete landing pad inside the hazard field, doubling its peak speed from the previous test.
Measuring about 10 feet tall and 10 feet wide, Morpheus and its blue exhaust plume likely won't be visible from a distance, but the tests are streamed live online.
Memories of the crash add tension to the flights lasting less than under two minutes.
Three successful flights since December have built confidence, but the Bravo vehicle still has numerous systems for which a single failure could result in more pyrotechnics.
"There is a potential every time we fly that we have a problem," said Olansen. "That keeps the cost down. But because of that, there is a little bit of anxiety, I guess, as we go fly."
Morpheus flies itself. Once it is off the ground, engineers in a control center at the base of the shuttle runway's tower can only watch, or order an abort if necessary for safety reasons.
After today, the launch pad will be moved farther away for two flights, then moved again for the final series of four tests with the landing sensors installed. Those are planned in March and April.
By the end, Morpheus will hover above the hazard field composed of recycled river rock from the shuttle crawlerway and busted up chunks of concrete.
The sensors will scan 311 rock piles, 24 craters and two steep slopes — arranged to mimic an actual section of the moon — then override a programmed landing site and guide Morpheus to a pad hidden by fine river rock particles.
If the tests are successful, future missions may incorporate the new technologies, but the Morpheus project's future is undetermined.
The low-budget tests are a small diversion from KSC's primary responsibility to prepare for a test launch of NASA's massive new human exploration rocket, possibly in 2017.
But they recall the type of operations for which the center once prided itself. Since the last shuttle mission in 2011, Morpheus is the only NASA vehicle to rocket from KSC and land there.
Gregory Gaddis, KSC site manager for the Morpheus tests, said center director Bob Cabana and others were "excited about having smoke and fire back at Kennedy Space Center."
END
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