| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
- Today: MLK 'Day of Service' Feat. C-STEM Founder
- January NASA Tech Briefs Show Six JSC Technologies
- Space School Students Have an Experiment on ISS
- Add Your Two Cents - NASA ACES End-User Survey
- POWER of One: Nominate Your Peer Today - Organizations/Social
- Kinect Co-Lab Vid-Con With InfoStrat Advanced Tech
- JSC Employee Assistance Program Move
- Starport Zumba for Kids -- It's Back!
- Parent's Night Out at Starport - Jan. 24
- Beginners Ballroom Dance: Jan. 28 and 30
- Starport Financial Wellness: Avoiding ID Theft - Jobs and Training
- JSC Imagery Online Training - Jan. 28 - Community
- NASA Seeks Female High School Juniors for WISH
- Mentors Needed for Community College Students
- Share Your Passion for Mars |  |
| Headlines - Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
You feel fairly well informed of center activities according to last week's poll, so I'm sure you know we had an all-hands meeting with Lesa Roe, Robert Lightfoot and Ellen Ochoa. What was your impression of the presentations and material covered? Like it? Understand it? Think it will help? You also picked Denver as the eventual Super Bowl winner. So far, so good. Do you actually watch the game because you like football, or is there some other reason? Tell me why you watch the Super Bowl in question two. Half-time show? Commercials? Mariner your Rockies on over to get this week's poll. - Today: MLK 'Day of Service' Feat. C-STEM Founder
Today, Jan. 23, Dr. Regan Flowers, founder/ CEO of Challenge-Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (C-STEM), will speak to the JSC community in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and corresponding "Day of Service." The African-American Employee Resource Group is pleased to offer this event, as well as a performance by the WALIPPS-TSU Academy's Reader's Theatre. Mark your calendar to be inspired today in the Building 30 Auditorium from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Event Date: Thursday, January 23, 2014 Event Start Time:11:00 AM Event End Time:12:30 PM
Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium
Add to Calendar
Orlando Horton x46584
[top] - January NASA Tech Briefs Show Six JSC Technologies
To start 2014, six new technologies from JSC have been featured in the January issue of the NASA Tech Briefs magazine. These JSC advanced research and technology innovations include: Centering a DDR Strobe in the Middle of a Data Packet; Using Commercial Ethernet PHY Device in a Radiation Environment; Habitat Demonstration Unit (HDU) Vertical Cylinder Habitat; Method and Apparatus for Automated Isolation of Nucleic Acids from Small Cell Samples; Deployable Fresnel Rings; and Spacecraft Trajectory Analysis and Mission Planning Simulation (STAMPS) Software. Also, all of the NASA Tech Briefs that have been published can be found by going here. - Space School Students Have an Experiment on ISS
Launched on Orb-1, NanoRacks-Mission Discovery ISS Bio-Medical Experiments (NanoRacks-Mission Discovery) examines petri dish growth of slime mold utilizing the NanoRacks Microscopes Facility. Koichi Wakata has been performing microscopic analysis of the NanoRacks Module-38 Petri dishes. This experiments was designed by students as part of a competition sponsored by the International Space School Educational Trust (ISSET), under the direction of former ISS DOG instructor Michelle Ham. - Add Your Two Cents – NASA ACES End-User Survey
In an effort to improve Agency Consolidated End-User Services (ACES) products and services (e.g., government-provided computers, mobile devices, printers, etc.), ACES would like to understand your current experiences and satisfaction. The survey will close at midnight Friday, Jan. 24. Your responses are anonymous, and your feedback is critical to helping ACES find opportunities to enhance service to you. - POWER of One: Nominate Your Peer Today
The POWER of One Award has been a great success, but we still need your nominations. We're looking for standout achievements with specific examples of exceptional and superior performance. Make sure to check out our award criteria to help guide you in writing the short write-up needed for submittal. If chosen, the recipient can choose from a list of JSC experiences and have their name and recognition shared in JSC Today. Click here for complete information on the JSC Awards Program. Organizations/Social - Kinect Co-Lab Vid-Con With InfoStrat Advanced Tech
Please join us today, Jan. 23, at 11:30 a.m. in Building 30A, Room 2090, for an exciting video-conference with Joshua Blake and Josh Wall of InfoStrat Advanced Technology Group. They will be presenting on their company's work with the Kinect for Windows. Topics will include: Kinect Fusion, Multi-Kinect scenarios and Kinect 3-D video. There will be time for Q&A. More information is on our Kinect Co-lab discussion board. Come early, as seating is limited. - JSC Employee Assistance Program Move
The JSC Employee Assistance Program is relocating from Building 32, Room 132, to Building 45, Room 110, today, Jan. 23. If you need immediate assistance, please call the main number 281-483-6130, and we will return your call as soon as possible. - Starport Zumba for Kids -- It's Back!
Zumba for Kids is back by popular demand! This program is designed exclusively for kids. Zumba for Kids classes are rockin', high-energy fitness parties packed with specially choreographed, kid-friendly routines. This dance-fitness workout for kids ages 5 to 10 will be set to hip-hop, salsa, reggaeton and more. TRY A FREE CLASS ON FEB. 7! Five-week session: Feb. 14 to March 21 Fridays: 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. Ages: 5 to 10 Cost: $55 Register online or at the Gilruth Center. - Parent's Night Out at Starport – Jan. 24
Enjoy a night out on the town while your kids enjoy a night with Starport! We will entertain your children with a night of games, crafts, a bounce house, pizza, a movie, dessert and loads of fun. When: Friday, Jan. 24, from 6 to 10 p.m. Where: Gilruth Center Ages: 5 to 12 Cost: $20/first child and $10/each additional sibling if registered by the Wednesday prior to event. If registered after Wednesday, the fee is $25/first child and $15/additional sibling. - 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 Financial Wellness: Avoiding ID Theft
Join us for a free seminar presented by the JSC Federal Credit Union on Avoiding Identity Theft. Your identity can very easily be ruined if you do not take the proper precautions to maintain it. Identity theft is considered a serious crime, and while some identity-theft victims can resolve their problems quickly, others spend hundreds of dollars and many days repairing damage to their good name and credit record. Join us and learn how to outsmart the crooks and avoid becoming a victim. Feb. 5 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Building 29, Room 231 There is limited seating, and all attendees must RSVP. (The class may fill up, and you may be put on a waiting list.) A free lunch will be provided. RSVP by Feb. 3 to Shelly Haralson via email or at x39168. More information on financial wellness classes can be found here. Jobs and Training - JSC Imagery Online Training – Jan. 28
Need to find NASA images or locate International Space Station mission videos? Learn how during a webinar on Tuesday, Jan. 28, from 3 to 4:15 p.m. Mary Wilkerson, Still Imagery lead, will show users how to find NASA mission images in Imagery Online (IO) and the Digital Imagery Management System (DIMS). Leslie Richards, Video Imagery lead, will show employees the video functionality in IO. This training is open to any JSC/White Sands Test Facility employee. To register, go to this link. Community - NASA Seeks Female High School Juniors for WISH
Do you know a female high school junior with an interest in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM)? Give them a chance to explore their dream job with Women in STEM High School Aerospace Scholars! WISH is an interactive, online STEM learning experience for female high school juniors from across the United States. Based on success in the online coursework, students may be selected for a summer experience from Aug. 3 to 8 at JSC, where they will design a human mission to Mars. The deadline for the application is midnight CST on Jan. 30. - Mentors Needed for Community College Students
Are you looking for a great way to mold and inspire young minds? If you are, then Texas Community College Aerospace Scholars (CAS) is looking for you! CAS provides a unique opportunity for community college students to participate in a two-day on-site experience, where they get to interact with members of the NASA workforce and be part of a team designing a mission to Mars. As a CAS mentor, you'll have the opportunity to interact and lead a group of outstanding community college students from across the state of Texas through their project design challenge. You'll also have the opportunity to represent your division in an education outreach activity without leaving JSC. We are looking for full-time employees, co-ops and interns to serve as mentors during one of the following CAS sessions: - March 20 to 21
- March 26 to 27
- April 1 to 2
- Share Your Passion for Mars
Love Mars and all things related? Share your passion at annual Mars Rover Competition with elementary and middle school students. The next generation will participate in the design and construction of a model of a Mars rover to carry out a specific science mission on the surface of Mars at this event. The amount of volunteers required to be judges, tour guides and help with operations/logistics is vast. If you are interested in inspiring students, please sign up in V-CORPs; then register with the University of Houston so they will know you are planning to be there. | |
| |
| 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. 23, 2014
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Israel looking to send second astronaut into space
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The Israel Space Agency has contacted counterparts from other countries about sending an Israeli astronaut to the International Space Station.
PBS Orders More 'Women Who Make America'
MAKERS: Women & Space traces the history of women pioneers in the U.S. space program. Some, like aviators Wally Funk and Jerrie Cobb, passed the same grueling tests as male astronauts, only to be dismissed by NASA, the military, and even Lyndon Johnson, as a distraction. It wasn't until 1995 that Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot a spacecraft. The program includes interviews with Collins, as well as Sally Ride's classmates Shannon Lucid, Rhea Seddon and Kathryn Sullivan, and features Mae Jemison, the first woman of color astronaut, and Peggy Whitson, the first female commander of the International Space Station. The hour ends with the next generation of women engineers, mathematicians and astronauts—the new group of pioneers, like Marleen Martinez and Dava Newman, who continue to make small but significant steps forward. Produced and directed by Michael Epstein. The documentary is scheduled to air July 1, 2014.
Telescope spies water plumes on dwarf planet Ceres
Alicia Chang - Associated Press
The largest object in the asteroid belt just got more attractive: Scientists have confirmed signs of water on the dwarf planet Ceres, one of the few bodies in the solar system to hold that distinction.
Water vapor plumes raise question about life on dwarf planet Ceres
Will Dunham – Reuters
The dwarf planet Ceres, one of the most intriguing objects in the solar system, is gushing
water vapor from its unusual ice-covered surface, scientists said on Wednesday in a finding that raises the question of whether it might be hospitable to life.
TCA: 'Makers' on PBS puts women in their place -- in the sun
Jessica Gelt – Los Angeles Times
The Television Critics Ann. press tour in Pasadena ended on an upbeat note with PBS and its "Makers: Women Who Make America" documentary series. Former NASA Astronaut Urges Educators to Make STEM 'More Exciting'
Mae Jemison joined pharmaceutical executives in examining how to improve STEM education
Alan Neuhauser - US News & World Report
Top executives from the pharmaceutical industry gathered in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to prescribe a remedy to "reinvigorate" America's stagnating science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) sectors.
Atlas V, NASA satellite on pad for Thursday night launch
James Dean – Florida Today
An Atlas V rocket and NASA communications satellite have reached their launch pad for a planned 9:05 p.m. Thursday blastoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Astronaut: It really is an 'international' space station down to the music to food
Lee Roop – Huntsville Times
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, who spent 5 months on the International Space Station in 2013, stopped by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center today to brief NASA employees on his mission. Marshall's Payload Operations Center is where all of the science on board the station is coordinated, and controllers at Marshall are in contact with station crews 365 days a year. A stop in Huntsville to say thanks for the support is on astronauts' to-do list after every mission.
Next ISS Expedition Crew Approaches Launch, Answers Questions At JSC
Florian Martin – KUHF-FM
ISS Expedition 39 is scheduled to launch to the space station from Kazakhstan on March 25. The crew consists of NASA astronaut Steve Swanson and cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev of the Russian Federal Space Agency. All have been preparing for the mission at the Johnson Space Center here in Houston.
Private spaceflight industry set to take flight, federation president says
Alex Macon – Galveston Daily News
Privately owned orbital facilities and regular space tourism could be a reality by the end of the next decade, the president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation said Wednesday.
NASA Pressing Towards Fall 2014 Orion Test Flight – Service Module Complete
Ken Kremer – Universe Today
2014 is the Year of Orion.
Orion is NASA's next human spaceflight vehicle destined for astronaut voyages beyond Earth and will launch for the first time later this year on its inaugural test flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
COMPLETE STORIES
Israel looking to send second astronaut into space
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The Israel Space Agency has contacted counterparts from other countries about sending an Israeli astronaut to the International Space Station.
The contacts with the U.S., European, Russian and Chinese space agencies reported by the Israeli media come 11 years after Israeli Col. Ilan Ramon died in the explosion of the Columbia space shuttle.
Spots at the space station are booked for the next two years, but it takes several years to train a new astronaut.
The Israel Space Agency will hold a Space Week next week to include a memorial for Ramon. Space-related events will be held throughout the country.
Israel has been chosen to host the 2015 International Astronautical Federation convention. Some 3,000 to 4,000 experts in space science and technology are expected to attend.
PBS Orders More 'Women Who Make America'
MAKERS: Women & Space traces the history of women pioneers in the U.S. space program. Some, like aviators Wally Funk and Jerrie Cobb, passed the same grueling tests as male astronauts, only to be dismissed by NASA, the military, and even Lyndon Johnson, as a distraction. It wasn't until 1995 that Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot a spacecraft. The program includes interviews with Collins, as well as Sally Ride's classmates Shannon Lucid, Rhea Seddon and Kathryn Sullivan, and features Mae Jemison, the first woman of color astronaut, and Peggy Whitson, the first female commander of the International Space Station. The hour ends with the next generation of women engineers, mathematicians and astronauts—the new group of pioneers, like Marleen Martinez and Dava Newman, who continue to make small but significant steps forward. Produced and directed by Michael Epstein. The documentary is scheduled to air July 1, 2014.
The MAKERS project was founded by filmmaker Dyllan McGee. Executive Producers are Dyllan McGee and Peter Kunhardt. The documentary is produced by Kunhardt McGee Productions in association with Ark Media, Loki Films, Moxie Firecracker Films and WETA Washington. Major funding provided by: AOL, Simple Facial Skincare and Verizon. Foundation funding is provided by The Charles H. Revson Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Support is also provided by CPB and PBS.
MAKERS is produced in association with the Independent Television Service's (ITVS) Women and Girls Lead campaign and is presented by WETA Washington, D.C., the flagship public broadcaster in the nation's capital.
Telescope spies water plumes on dwarf planet Ceres
Alicia Chang - Associated Press
The largest object in the asteroid belt just got more attractive: Scientists have confirmed signs of water on the dwarf planet Ceres, one of the few bodies in the solar system to hold that distinction.
Peering through the Herschel Space Observatory, a team led by the European Space Agency detected water plumes spewing from two regions on Ceres.
The observations, published in Thursday's issue of Nature, come as NASA's Dawn spacecraft is set to arrive at the Texas-sized dwarf planet next year.
It's long been suspected that Ceres is water-rich, but previous detections have been inconclusive. This is the first definitive evidence of water on Ceres and confirms that it has an icy surface, said lead author Michael Kuppers of the European Space Agency.
"It makes Ceres a more exciting target" for exploration, he said.
The latest finding puts Ceres in a special class of solar system objects with active plumes of water, a key ingredient for life. The company includes Jupiter's moon Europa — where an underground ocean is believed to exist — and the Saturn moon Enceladus, where jets have been seen venting from the surface.
The source of the water plumes is still unclear. Scientists think there may be a layer of ice just below the surface that gets heated by the sun or the plumes could be spewed by ice volcanoes.
Dawn won't be in the best position to witness any water activity since it'll arrive at a time when Ceres is far from the sun. But the spacecraft carries instruments that can detect water and it will map the dwarf planet in detail, said Dawn deputy project scientist Carol Raymond, who had no role in the telescope discovery.
Launched in 2007 and powered by ion propulsion, Dawn is the first spacecraft to orbit two space rocks.
Ceres is different from Dawn's first target, Vesta, the second largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The zone is littered with rocks left over from the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago, allowing scientists to study how Earth and the other planets evolved.
Unlike Ceres, Vesta is dry and rugged. Its scars reveal it got whacked twice by smaller asteroids. Some of the debris was cast into space and rained on Earth as meteorites.
Water vapor plumes raise question about life on dwarf planet Ceres
Will Dunham – Reuters
The dwarf planet Ceres, one of the most intriguing objects in the solar system, is gushing
water vapor from its unusual ice-covered surface, scientists said on Wednesday in a finding that raises the question of whether it might be hospitable to life.
Using the European Space Agency's Herschel infrared space telescope, researchers spotted plumes of water vapor periodically spewing from Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt residing between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
The discovery comes just over a year before the scheduled arrival of NASA's Dawn spacecraft for a closer look at Ceres, a round body measuring about 590 miles (950 km) in diameter – less than a third of the size of the moon.
"This is the first time water vapor has been unequivocally detected on Ceres or any other object in the asteroid belt and provides proof that Ceres has an icy surface and an atmosphere," Michael Kappers of the European Space Agency in Spain, who led
the research published in the journal Nature, said in a statement.
The question is what is causing these plumes of water vapor from two locations on Ceres. One idea, according to scientists, is that the sun sometimes warms parts of the icy surface enough that water vapor emerges.
Another possibility, they say, is that there is liquid water under the frozen surface of Ceres and that vapor is shooting out of geysers or icy volcanoes. Dramatic geysers have been spotted on Enceladus, one of the innermost moons of the giant ringed planet Saturn.
Scientists think Ceres holds rock in its interior and is wrapped in a mantle of ice that, if melted, would amount to more fresh water than is contained on Earth.
Ceres was discovered in 1801, more than a century before the discovery in 1930 of the more famous - and more distant – dwarf planet Pluto. It is one of the few places in the solar system aside from Earth where water has been located.
A big question about the discovery of the water vapor on Ceres is what it means regarding the possibility of life.
"One of the things that's intriguing here is the possibility of there being liquid water as opposed to ice," Marc Rayman of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Dawn's chief engineer and mission director, said in a telephone interview.
"Certainly all life that we know depends on water. And so this is part of the larger question of where can life exist."
He said it is too early to declare that Ceres a good candidate for possible microbial life.
"I think that's a stretch," Rayman said. "Rather, I would say this indicates Ceres might be a good place to look to understand more about the places life could form - and perhaps
places that life has formed.
"There's a lot more than just water that's required for life. And whether Ceres has those other ingredients – which include, for example, a source of energy and all of the
nutrients that life requires, the rest of the chemistry - it's too early to say."
Rayman said scientists plan to use instruments aboard Dawn to map the surface of Ceres, measure its surface elevations, catalogue its minerals and study its interior structure. Dawn is due to arrive at Ceres in March or April 2015.
TCA: 'Makers' on PBS puts women in their place -- in the sun
Jessica Gelt – Los Angeles Times
The Television Critics Ann. press tour in Pasadena ended on an upbeat note with PBS and its "Makers: Women Who Make America" documentary series. The Makers initiative was founded by Dyllan McGee and features both the PBS television series as well as an online component in which hundreds of films about accomplished women are archived. There are plans to take the Makers initiative global by the end of the year.
This year will see the release of six new documentaries featuring women in space, Hollywood, politics, business, war and comedy.
Joining McGee on the panel promoting the series was outspoken comedian Kathy Griffin, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and exposed CIA operative Valerie Plame. The women spoke at length about what it was like to break into vocations that were traditionally unwelcoming of women. They also said that the sexism they had encountered along the way was often subtle, which in many ways is the most insidious kind.
"When I joined the CIA, I didn't join thinking, 'I'm going to be a female spy.' I didn't grow up thinking that espionage was a viable career path," said Plame. "The CIA definitely was — and is — an old boys' club, even though now there are two women at the head of four directorates. But that doesn't mean everything magically changes. It takes time."
McGee knows that, and it's part of why she is so passionate about the project. She doesn't just revel in telling the stories of the female stars we have all heard of, she enjoys telling the tales of the unknown women who are changing things on a daily basis.
When she first began, she simply wanted to make a documentary on legendary feminist Gloria Steinem. But Steinem said no. She told McGee that she couldn't tell the story of the women's movement through the life of one woman.
"Little did I know that that 'no' would launch me on a quest to tell the greatest assemblage of women's stories ever told," said McGee.
Those stories matter to people of all walks of life. McGee is happy to report that 50% of the traffic coming to the Makers site comes from men. The site also boasts more than 16 million video views.
"It takes a lot of time for change to happen," Whitson said. "I was really lucky in my field as an astronaut. Once I was selected, after 10 years of trying, I felt that I would be fine after I demonstrated that I could do the job. I was the first female commander on the International Space Station."
Griffin cracked a lot of jokes but on a serious note said that even though she's mouthy and powerful, she has lost many jobs speaking out against sexism.
"The sexism in stand-up comedy is rampant, and anybody who says it isn't, isn't telling the truth," she said, adding that she often does interviews with radio DJs who introduce her by saying things like, "I don't normally find women funny, but this woman is really funny."
When they say things like that, she'll say, "Do you say to an African American, 'I think you're lazy and shiftless and don't want to work hard'?"
That's an interview ender, Griffin said with a laugh.
On a more mundane level, what does Plame think of the TV series "Homeland"? "I think Claire Danes is amazing, but I think 'Homeland' has jumped the shark this season," she says. "You see things that make you roll your eyes, but it has to be entertainment, and it's certainly that."
Her biggest beefs:
"The fact that the character she plays is bipolar and nobody ever notices, and that they always use their cellphones inside headquarters. Your cellphone is like a tiny transmitter and GPS. That would never happen."
Former NASA Astronaut Urges Educators to Make STEM 'More Exciting'
Mae Jemison joined pharmaceutical executives in examining how to improve STEM education
Alan Neuhauser - US News & World Report
Top executives from the pharmaceutical industry gathered in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to prescribe a remedy to "reinvigorate" America's stagnating science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) sectors.
Joined by former NASA astronaut Mae C. Jemison, the first woman of color to go to space, the solutions were at once far-reaching and strikingly simple.
In short: "Demystify" the sciences to make them less intimidating, "revitalize" science education by making it "more exciting" and step-up outreach efforts to make sure more women and minorities enter STEM fields.
"The United States must invest in STEM education efforts," said John Castellani, president and CEO of the trade and lobbying group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. "It is a national imperative if we want to keep high-value, high-paying jobs in the United States."
High-school math and science scores have stagnated for the past 10 years, leaving the U.S. trailing at least 29 nations in math and 22 in science. Meanwhile, the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte reported last winter that 600,000 manufacturing jobs remained unfilled, mostly in skilled positions requiring a STEM background.
"Right now, as we all know, the United States is not supplying the highly-skilled STEM workers our economy needs," Castellani said.
The solution, he and the conference's eight other speakers argued, is to not merely help more students pursue STEM educations, but to also make every student "STEM literate."
"STEM tackles so many aspects of people's lives," said Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News & World Report, which organized Wednesday's conference with PhRMA and publishes an annual ranking of the top jobs in the country. "Nineteen of the top 20 of what we view as the best jobs require STEM skills."
As Jemison described, "We don't really need to get so into the research precisely – that's dear to my heart, it's really important. But [STEM] education goes across the societal platform.... Even hairdressers – you want your hairdressers to know about pH balance."
The key, she and others said, is to make every student at least "STEM literate," comfortable with using the scientific method – and technology – to generate ideas, test them, and then analyze and translate the results. And we need to start early.
"Allow children to experiment," Jemison said, from examining worms in the backyard to helping a parent in the kitchen.
"Baking is chemistry," she pointed out.
In fact, "It doesn't need to be anything you can touch," Jemison said. "What do all kids like? They like space and dinosaurs. It's abstract. Nobody's touched a dinosaur."
Carmela Mascio, a senior research associate at the company Cubist, also urged teachers to build relationships with their students to help breakdown expectations of what a scientist should look like.
"'What is a scientist to you? What does that mean?' Make it real to students. Make it possible," she said.
As Jemison argued near the close of her remarks, "It's not nicety. It's necessity."
Atlas V, NASA satellite on pad for Thursday night launch
James Dean – Florida Today
An Atlas V rocket and NASA communications satellite have reached their launch pad for a planned 9:05 p.m. Thursday blastoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The 192-foot rocket and its payload left a vertical processing tower around 10 a.m. today and rolled on rails about a quarter-mile to the pad at Launch Complex 41.
The mission aims to launch the second of three spacecraft updating the NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation.
The satellites orbiting 22,300 miles high keeps ground teams in round-the-clock communication with the International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope and other science and weather satellites operating in low Earth orbit.
Liftoff on Thursday is targeted for the opening of a 40-minute launch window, and there's a 90-percent chance of favorable weather.
After the United Launch Alliance rocket reached the pad, teams planned to pump highly refined kerosene fuel into its first stage.
Loading of supercold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen will follow a few hours before the launch attempt.
Astronaut: It really is an 'international' space station down to the music to food
Lee Roop – Huntsville Times
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, who spent 5 months on the International Space Station in 2013, stopped by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center today to brief NASA employees on his mission. Marshall's Payload Operations Center is where all of the science on board the station is coordinated, and controllers at Marshall are in contact with station crews 365 days a year. A stop in Huntsville to say thanks for the support is on astronauts' to-do list after every mission.
Cassidy took a few minutes out to talk to reporters about life and work about the International Space Station.
Next ISS Expedition Crew Approaches Launch, Answers Questions At JSC
Florian Martin – KUHF-FM
ISS Expedition 39 is scheduled to launch to the space station from Kazakhstan on March 25. The crew consists of NASA astronaut Steve Swanson and cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev of the Russian Federal Space Agency. All have been preparing for the mission at the Johnson Space Center here in Houston.
Swanson says there's still a lot of work to do before the launch on board the Soyuz rocket.
"For me, I have a little more than a week of training left here in the United States. And then I'm going to go to Germany for a week, come back for another week of training here. Then I'm going to go to Russia for the last six weeks. And when I go to Russia, I'm going to meet up with these guys and we're going to start our last set of sims for the preparatory last phase of the training when we have the exams in Russia. And then we get a week off and then down to Baikonur for two weeks and then the launch."
The three will join Richard Mastracchio, Koichi Wakata and Mikhail Tyurin on the ISS and replace three astronauts, who will be returning to Earth. Swanson says they will be working on more than 170 different scientific experiments while they're in space.
"What I like, because I did some physics back in school, and I like the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. The whole idea to me is very fascinating. The idea that we're trying to find, you know, is there any matter, is there dark matter out there, dark energy? And how did the universe actually begin? That kind of basic physics questions are quite intriguing to me and I think being able to find that out is going to be fantastic."
Swanson, who's a flight engineer, will be the commander of Expedition 40 when it begins in May. He was asked how he prepared for that role.
"It's not something you do, I think, just right at one moment. You've been doing it for most of your life. All the things you've done in your life help you prepare for something like this. As for NASA, I've had different jobs with different responsibilities that helped me out. But most of all it's just learning from other people how they do it, talking to them and just going through all the experiences we've had, I think, got me in that job."
Questions during the Q&A session were not only asked by journalists, but also by boys and girls from the Houston Track club. The kids came well prepared and wanted to know what it's like on the Moon, how astronauts stay fit in space or how long it takes their bodies to recuperate after a mission.
One of them wanted to know this:
"Hello, my name is Cameron and I want to be an astronaut, so what training do you need to become an astronaut?"
"Well, I guess one of the first things is schooling. Do well in school. Work on a science or math degree, something in that area. And at the same time I like to consider being well-rounded, like, do a sport like what you're doing. Do something like that, again, to keep yourself well-rounded in everything you do, because we do want to be physically fit also to be an astronaut."
Swanson, Skvortsov and Artemyev will stay on the ISS for six months and return to Earth in September.
Private spaceflight industry set to take flight, federation president says
Alex Macon – Galveston Daily News
Privately owned orbital facilities and regular space tourism could be a reality by the end of the next decade, the president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation said Wednesday.
Speaking to students at Rice University, Michael Lopez-Alegria compared the current state of the private space industry to the early days of commercial air flight.
The growing success of the industry will lead to the "democratization of access to space" and create thousands of jobs, he said.
The former astronaut and International Space Station commander, who holds NASA records for the longest spaceflight and cumulative spacewalking time, pointed toward the space agency's commercial cargo program, which has seen recent successes with orbital cargo deliveries conducted by SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp.
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation represents about 50 commercial space organizations, including SpaceX, Sierra Nevada and the Boeing Company, which are developing crafts to transport NASA astronauts to the space station.
"[NASA] can leverage the idea of competition, entrepreneurship, et cetera," to benefit space exploration, he said.
About 153 people have traveled to space. That number is likely to skyrocket in the future – about 1,000 people have already signed up for future flights on Virgin Galactic, which has developed the SpaceShip-Two craft intended to take tourists on suborbital flights, Lopez-Alegria said.
The prospect of near space tourism is also close to becoming a reality. In 2016, the Tucson, Ariz.-based World View Enterprises plans to take tourists on a balloon ride more than 18 miles above the Earth.
The company plans to charge about $75,000 a ticket, but that's to be expected at first.
"When you think about what people were paying in the 1930s for commercial air flight, it's not incomparable," Lopez-Alegria said.
The commercial space industry's role won't be limited to space tourism or government contracts, he said.
Bigelow Aerospace is developing its own space station, which it hopes to launch in coming years. Executives at other companies have expressed a willingness to move beyond NASA contracts and service other "sovereign clients."
Eight spaceports already exist in the U.S., with many more, including one at nearby Ellington Field, being proposed.
Economic growth created by the relatively new industry will be invaluable, he said.
Lopez-Alegria sees the commercial space industry providing a complementary role with NASA and international space agencies. As NASA focuses on deep space exploration and other goals, the role of private industry in space will become more prominent.
"The government's role is to be the point at the end of the spear – at the very end of the spear – with private industry filling in behind."
NASA Pressing Towards Fall 2014 Orion Test Flight – Service Module Complete
Ken Kremer – Universe Today
2014 is the Year of Orion.
Orion is NASA's next human spaceflight vehicle destined for astronaut voyages beyond Earth and will launch for the first time later this year on its inaugural test flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The space agency is rapidly pressing forward with efforts to finish building the Orion crew module slated for lift off this Fall on the unmanned Exploration Flight Test – 1 (EFT-1) mission.
NASA announced today that construction of the service module section is now complete.
The Orion module stack is comprised of three main elements – the Launch Abort System (LAS) on top, the crew module (CM) in the middle and the service module (SM) on the bottom.
With the completion of the service module, two thirds of the Orion EFT-1 mission stack are now compete.
LAS assembly was finalized in December.
The crew module is in the final stages of construction and completion is due by early spring.
Orion is being manufactured at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) inside a specially renovated high bay in the Operations and Checkout Building (O&C).
"We are making steady progress towards the launch in the fall," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden at a media briefing back dropped by the Orion service module inside the O&C facility.
"It's very exciting because it signals we are almost there getting back to deep space and going much more distant than where we are operating in low Earth orbit at the ISS."
"And I'm very excited for the young people who will have an opportunity to fly Orion," Bolden told me in the O&C.
Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for Orion under terms of a contract from NASA.
Orion is NASA's first spaceship designed to carry human crews on long duration flights to deep space destinations beyond low Earth orbit, such as asteroids, the Moon, Mars and beyond.
The inaugural flight of Orion on the unmanned Exploration Flight Test – 1 (EFT-1) mission is on schedule to blast off from the Florida Space Coast in mid September 2014 atop a Delta 4 Heavy booster, Scott Wilson, NASA's Orion Manager of Production Operations at KSC, told Universe Today during a recent interview at KSC.
Orion is currently under development as NASA's next generation human rated vehicle to replace the now retired space shuttle.
Concurrently, NASA's commercial crew initiative is fostering the development of commercial space taxi's to ferry US astronauts to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station (ISS).
The two-orbit, four- hour EFT-1 flight will lift the Orion spacecraft and its attached second stage to an orbital altitude of 3,600 miles, about 15 times higher than the International Space Station (ISS) – and farther than any human spacecraft has journeyed in 40 years.
The crew module rests atop the service module, similar to the Apollo Moon landing program architecture.
The SM provides in-space power, propulsion capability, attitude control, thermal control, water and air for the astronauts.
For the EFT-1 flight, the SM is not fully outfitted. It is a structural representation simulating the exact size and mass.
In a significant difference from Apollo, Orion is equipped with a trio of massive fairings that encase the SM and support half the weight of the crew module and the launch abort system during launch and ascent. The purpose is to improve performance by saving weight from the service module, thus maximizing the vehicles size and capability in space.
All three fairings are jettisoned at an altitude of 100 miles up when they are no longer need to support the stack.
On the next Orion flight in 2017, the service module will be manufactured built by the European Space Agency (ESA).
"When we go to deep space we are not going alone. It will be a true international effort including the European Space Agency to build the service module," said Bolden.
The new SM will be based on components from ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) which is an unmanned resupply spacecraft used to deliver cargo to the ISS.
A key upcoming activity for the CM is installation of the thermal protection system, including the heat shield.
The heat shield is the largest one ever built. It arrived at KSC last month loaded inside NASA's Super Guppy aircraft while I observed. The 2014 EFT-1 test flight was only enabled by the extremely busy and productive year of work in 2013 by the Orion EFT-1 team.
"There were many significant Orion assembly events ongoing on 2013" said Larry Price, Orion deputy program manager at Lockheed Martin, in an interview with Universe Today at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver.
"This includes the heat shield construction and attachment, power on, installing the plumbing for the environmental and reaction control system, completely outfitting the crew module, attached the tiles and building the service module which finally leads to mating the crew and service modules (CM & SM) in early 2014," Price told me.
Orion was originally planned to send American astronauts back to Moon – until Project Constellation was cancelled by the Obama Administration.
Now with Orion moving forward and China's Yutu rover trundling spectacularly across the Moon, one question is which country will next land humans on the Moon – America or China?
END
No comments:
Post a Comment