Fwd: NASA and Human Spaceflight News – Feb. 13, 2014 and JSC Today

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: February 13, 2014 11:16:10 AM CST
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: NASA and Human Spaceflight News – Feb. 13, 2014 and JSC Today

Beautiful sunny day here in the Houston Metro area today.   Happy Flex Friday eve.    Break out your short sleeve shirts for tomorrow.   ….expecting sunny 70 degree weather tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow  to you all!

 

________________________________________

Thursday, February 13, 2014       Read JSC Today in your browser

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                    JSC TODAY CATEGORIES

1.            Headlines

-  Joint Leadership Team Web Poll

-  Expedition 36/37 Crew Debrief & Awards Ceremony

-  Orion Monthly Trivia Contest Winner

-  Orion Lunch & Learn With Julie Kramer-White TODAY

-  Badging Offices Closed Feb. 17

-  Tiny Bubbles for Science

-  Improvements to NASA TechPort

-  Do You Sleep Shift? Help NASA's Latest Study

2.            Organizations/Social

-  Save the Date: Don Thomas Book Signing - May 7

-  Parenting Series - Teen Dating Violence

-  Starport Zumba for Kids - Starts Friday

-  Salsa/Latin Dance - Early Registration Ends Friday

3.            Jobs and Training

-  Save the Date for the Project Management Forum

-  Professional Engineering Ethics Seminar

-  System Safety Fundamentals: June 9, Building 20

4.            Community

-  Do You Heart Volunteering? Here's Your Chance!

Set of NanoRacks CubeSats Deployed From International Space Station

 

 

   Headlines

1.            Joint Leadership Team Web Poll

You like the idea behind the mall area Airstream and are encouraged that the center is trying new things. Stay tuned, more to come. You also think Custer was a tad overconfident when he experienced the most lopsided defeat in history. Probably right on that. This week Center Operations rolled out a new home page with a lot of info about the center on it. Take a gander at it at http://centerops.jsc.nasa.gov/ and see if you can find what's NOT on it in question one. Raccoon pics? Energy dashboard? Office space? Question two is about where you'd like to live. If you remember, we took over Saddam's palace in Iraq a while back. If you could take over someone's evil lair, whose would it be?

Zuul your Gatekeeper on over to get this week's poll.

Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/

 

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2.            Expedition 36/37 Crew Debrief & Awards Ceremony

TONIGHT - the International Space Station Expedition Special Event featuring Chris Cassidy, Expedition 35/36 flight engineer; Karen Nyberg, Expedition 36/37 flight engineer; Pavel Vinogradov, Expedition 35/36 commander; Alexander Misurkin, Expedition 35/36 flight engineer; Fyodor Yurchikhin, Expedition 36 flight engineer and Expedition 37 commander; and Luca Parmitano, Expedition 36/37 flight engineer, will be held tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the Space Center Houston Theater. The event will consist of awards, slides, a video presentation and question-and-answer session. This event is free and open to JSC employees, contractors, friends, family members and public guests.

Event Date: Thursday, February 13, 2014   Event Start Time:6:30 PM   Event End Time:8:30 PM

Event Location: Space Center Houston

 

Add to Calendar

 

Samantha Nehls x27804

 

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3.            Orion Monthly Trivia Contest Winner

The winner of the Orion Monthly Trivia Contest drawing is: Keelan A. Hamilton

February Trivia Question:

Where will the Orion spacecraft land after its first mission, Exploration Flight Test-1?

* The correct answer:

The Orion spacecraft will land in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 600 nautical miles south of Naval Base San Diego, California, after its first mission, Exploration Flight Test-1.

Congratulations, Keelan, and thanks to all contest participants. The next trivia contest question will post on the second Tuesday in March. Join the fun! You could be the next winner of the Orion Monthly Trivia Contest!

Orion Communications Office http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/mpcv/

 

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4.            Orion Lunch & Learn With Julie Kramer-White TODAY

The Orion Program is very pleased to announce a Lunch and Learn today, Feb. 13, at 11:30 a.m. in the Building 3 collaboration area. The Lunch and Learn will feature Julie Kramer-White, the Orion chief engineer who advises program managers, provides technical resources and ensures that all engineering products meet technical standards.

Kramer-White will be talking about the Orion spacecraft and its upcoming mission Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission, which launches this fall. She will answer questions from those in attendance. Or, you may also send questions in advance of the event.

Event Date: Thursday, February 13, 2014   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM

Event Location: Building 3 Collaboration Area

 

Add to Calendar

 

Orion Communications Office 281-792-7457 http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/mpcv/

 

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5.            Badging Offices Closed Feb. 17

All badging offices will be closed Monday, Feb. 17, in observance of Presidents' Day. Normal working operations will resume Tuesday, Feb. 18, as listed below.

o             Building 110: 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

o             Ellington Field: 7 to 11 a.m.

o             Sonny Carter Training Facility: 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Tifanny Sowell x37447

 

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6.            Tiny Bubbles for Science

RaDI-N2 "bubble detectors" are deployed around the International Space Station (ISS) and are designed to characterize the neutron radiation environment inside the ISS. The results of this investigation will be used to define the risk to ISS crew members' health and in the development of advanced protective measures for future spaceflights. You can read more here.

Liz Warren x35548

 

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7.            Improvements to NASA TechPort

NASA TechPort is a Web-based software system that provides the NASA community with a single, integrated, comprehensive resource for locating information about NASA-funded technologies. Users can find a variety of information about technologies, such as descriptions, images, funding organization(s), locations where work is being performed and associated technology areas (aligned to the Technology Roadmaps).

TechPort has made changes to the website to enhance the user interface, expand the search capabilities and improve the way users can create their own reports and share information from the system. In 2014, the system will make part of its data public to comply with our Open Data Policy and recommendations from the National Research Council.

For general questions and assistance accessing and using TechPort, you may call the NASA Enterprise Service Desk at 1-877-677-2123 for immediate assistance, or email.

Tracy Bierman 321-867-2345

 

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8.            Do You Sleep Shift? Help NASA's Latest Study

Does your job or hobby require significant overseas travel or shift work? Here's an opportunity for you to learn more about sleep medications and how they could affect your performance while also informing NASA about the potential impacts of sleep medications on astronaut performance if there is a spacecraft issue that requires emergent awakening.

You can participate in this NASA-sponsored research study, concluding in the next six months, if you are a current or former flight controller, flight surgeon, flight director, cap com, astronaut or astronaut candidate, medical resident or medical student on NASA rotation, or a NASA/contractor-employed University of Texas Medical Branch physician. Now is the time to sign up for February through April!

Pam Baskin 281-212-1360

 

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   Organizations/Social

1.            Save the Date: Don Thomas Book Signing - May 7

Starport is proud to host a book signing for Don Thomas, veteran astronaut of four space shuttle missions and recipient of numerous NASA awards. His new book, Orbit of Discovery, provides a firsthand account of the 1995 all-Ohioan Discovery mission, highlighting the state's contributions to NASA space program. Written by Thomas with the assistance of journalist Mike Bartell, the book is a lively and entertaining must-read for individuals who want to experience a ride into space. Books must be purchased at Starport for autographs. Mark your calendar today and pre-order your book at the Starport Gift Shops in Buildings 3 or 11, or order online.

Cyndi Kibby x47467

 

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2.            Parenting Series - Teen Dating Violence

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. There's a lot you can do as a parent to prevent teen dating violence and abuse. Almost one in 10 teens have reported being physically abused by a boyfriend or girlfriend in the last year. One of the most important things you can do is keep the lines of communication open with your kids. Join Anika Isaac, LPC, LMFT, CEAP, NCC, LCDC, with the JSC Employee Assistance Program, to learn more ways you can help prevent teen dating violence and recognize the beginning warning signs that could lead to teen dating violence.

Event Date: Wednesday, February 26, 2014   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM

Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium

 

Add to Calendar

 

Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Occupational Health Branch x36130

 

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3.            Starport Zumba for Kids - Starts Friday

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.

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.

Shericka Phillips x35563 https://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/en/programs/familyyouth-programs/zumba-for...

 

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4.            Salsa/Latin Dance - Early Registration Ends Friday

Latin Dance Introduction: Feb. 28 from 8 to 9 p.m.

This class is mostly an introduction to Salsa, but it also touches on other popular Latin dances found in social settings: Merengue, Bachata, and even a little bit of Cha-Cha-Cha. Emphasis is on Salsa and then Bachata.

This class is for first-time student or those who want a refresher course. You will go over basic steps with variations and build them into sequences.

Discounted registration:

o             $40 per person (ends Feb. 14)

Regular registration:

o             $50 per person (Feb. 15 to Feb. 28)

Salsa Intermediate: Feb. 28 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

This class continues teaching salsa beyond that taught in the introduction class. You should be comfortable and confident with the material from the introduction class before moving on to the intermediate class. This is a multi-level class where students may be broken up into groups based on class experience.

Shericka Phillips x35563 https://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/en/programs/recreation-programs/salsalatin...

 

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  Jobs and Training

1.            Save the Date for the Project Management Forum

The Project Management Forum will be held on Thursday, Feb. 27, in Building 1, Room 966, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. At this forum, Chuck Campbell will give a Project Overview on Supersonic Retropropulsion (SRP). In addition, Eddie Merla from Duende Project Management Services will be sharing seven key strategies for enhancing your presentation power.

Eddie Merla, PMI-ACP, PMP®, is the founder and owner of Duende Project Management Services. He is a PMP® preparation instructor and a speaker and trainer on project management and leadership topics. He has over 25 years of project management experience, including seven years leading international consulting engagements and projects.

All civil servant and contractor project managers are invited to attend.

The purpose of the Project Management Forum is to provide an opportunity for our project managers to freely discuss issues, best practices, lessons learned, tools and opportunities, as well as to collaborate with other project managers.

Event Date: Thursday, February 27, 2014   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM

Event Location: Building 1, Room 966

 

Add to Calendar

 

Danielle Bessard x37238 https://oasis.jsc.nasa.gov/sysapp/athena/Athena%20Team/SitePages/Home.aspx

 

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2.            Professional Engineering Ethics Seminar

Under the Texas Engineering Practice Act, each engineer licensed in the state must spend at least one professional development hour each year reviewing professional ethics and the roles and responsibilities for engineers.

The JSC Safety Learning Center invites JSC engineers to attend this one-hour Professional Engineering Ethics Seminar.

In this seminar, the student will …

o             Review portions of Chapter 137, "Compliance and Professionalism," and Chapter 139, "Enforcement," of the Texas Engineering Practice Act and Board Rules

o             Review some of the recent disciplinary actions taken by the Texas Board of Professional Engineers to enforce the Practice Act

o             Participate in class discussion regarding specific ethical questions

This seminar meets The Texas Engineering Practice Act yearly one-hour ethics requirement for continuing education.

Date/Time: March 10 from 9 to 10 a.m.

Where: Safety Learning Center - Building 20, Room 205/206

Registration via SATERN required:

https://satern.nasa.gov/plateau/user/deeplink.do?linkId=SCHEDULED_OFFERING_DE...

Aundrail Hill x36369

 

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3.            System Safety Fundamentals: June 9, Building 20

This course instructs the student in the fundamentals of system safety management and hazard analysis of hardware, software and operations. Types and techniques of hazard analysis are addressed in enough detail to give the student a working knowledge of their uses and how they are accomplished. Skills in analytical techniques are developed through the use of in-class practical exercises. This course establishes a foundation for the student to pursue more advanced studies of system safety and hazard analysis techniques while allowing students to effectively apply their skills to straightforward analytical assignments. Note: This course is a combination of SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0008 (System Safety Workshop) and SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0015 (System Safety Special Subjects). Students who have taken either of these classes should discuss taking this class with the NASA Safety Learning Center management staff.

Target Audience: Supervisors and technical/non-technical personnel who perform safety analysis and/or manage system safety programs.

Use this direct link for registration.

https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Event Date: Monday, June 9, 2014   Event Start Time:8:00 AM   Event End Time:4:00 PM

Event Location: Building 20 Room 205/206

 

Add to Calendar

 

Shirley Robinson x41284

 

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   Community

1.            Do You Heart Volunteering? Here's Your Chance!

We are in need of volunteers to help with a LOT of events, but here are two that need volunteers ASAP!

Do you LOVE to share what you are doing here at JSC with interested students? The Texas Council of Alpha is hosting a Career Fair this Saturday, Feb. 15, at the Westchase Marriott Hotel from 2 to 4 p.m. and would ADORE having you be a part of their event!

Or, do you have a clever, really cool way of showing off how nifty science or technology can be? The Clear Creek Independent School District is having their district-wide Science Night for intermediate schools on Thursday, Feb. 27, from 6 to 10 p.m. They are looking for folks to give demos or have hands-on activities to show how fun science can be. Registration is needed by Feb. 18.

The clock is ticking, so visit V-CORPs NOW to sign up! Questions? Contact your friendly V-CORPs administrator.

V-CORPs 281-792-5859 http://nasajsc.force.com/vcorps

 

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JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles.

Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters.

 

 

 

NASA and Human Spaceflight News

Thursday – Feb. 13, 2014

In response to a Slate article titled "What is NASA For?", Twitter space fans began using the hashtag #WhatIsNASAFor to show their support for NASA's missions and programs. Here are some of the results of the hashtag in one week:

·         3,994 tweets

·         39 million potential views

·         16 million potential unique views

·         1,676 contributors

 

NASA TV: www.nasa.gov/ntv

11:05am Central: On-console interview from Mission Control in Houston will be conducted with the Digital Learning Network

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Curiosity Rover Conquers Martian Sand Dune (Video)

Mike Wall – Space.com

 

A new video shows NASA's Mars rover Curiosity playing dune buggy, clambering over a drift of sand on its way toward a big Red Planet mountain.

The Curiosity rover video, which is comprised of nine images captured by the robot's rear hazard-avoidance camera, shows the six-wheeled explorer climbing up and over a sand dune on Feb. 6.

 

Down but not out: Jade Rabbit comes back from the dead

Euan McKirdy - CNN

 

Hong Kong (CNN) -- Reports of Jade Rabbit's demise may have been premature. China's first lunar rover had stopped functioning, state media reported Wednesday, but signs are emerging that Yutu, as it is known in Mandarin, may be up and running again. Following technical malfunctions Xinhua said that the lunar rover had lost communication with mission control but on Thursday the state news agency said that the rover was "fully awake" and had returned to its normal signal-receiving status.

 

China's Moon Rover Is Still Working - So Far

Forbes

Last month, China announced that its "Yutu" lunar rover had suffered some mechanical problems that could potentially keep the rover from completing its mission. That was just before it was to enter its hibernation period before the lunar night fell. While the moon was in its two weeks of darkness, Chinese scientists weren't able to do much for the rover, as there was no sunlight to power its solar cells. Various media reports earlier these week provided some indications that the rover was lost forever. However, this may not be the case. "Yutu has come back to life," a spokesperson for China's space program told Xinhua.

 

Space Station to Get a 'Laser Cannon'

David Dickinson – Universe Today

 

What's a space station without a laser cannon? The International Space Station will be getting its very own laser at the end of 2014. And unlike the planet-smashing capabilities of the Death Star of Star Wars fame, this laser will to be enlisted for the purpose of science. It's called CATS, and no, it isn't the latest attempt to put feline astronauts in space. CATS stands for the Cloud Aerosol Transport System. The goal of CATS is to study the distribution of tiny particles of dust and air contaminants known as aerosols.

 

House OKs bill restricting spaceport tax money

Associated Press

 

SANTA FE >> The House has approved a proposal that would stop Doña Ana and Sierra counties from supporting public school operations with part of the money from a local tax that helped finance New Mexico's commercial spaceport. The measure cleared the House on a 40-26 vote Wednesday and goes to the Senate for consideration.

 

Billionaire Musk Gets Brownsville to Pay for SpaceX       

Darrell Preston and Laura Tillman – Bloomberg

 

In a glass-walled conference room at the California headquarters of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk told Texas officials he was interested in building the world's first commercial rocket launchpad in their state -- if the state could compete. In the months after the 2011 meeting, state and local officials gave Musk, a billionaire, what he and his lobbyists sought: about $20 million of financial incentives, laws changed to close a public beach during launches and legal protection from noise complaints.

 

'No' to Shiloh launch site, speakers urge

James Dean – Florida Today

 

TITUSVILLE — Endangered species pushed to extinction. Communities and historic treasures wiped out by catastrophic explosions. Tourists and jobs driven away by frequent road, waterway and beach closures. Speakers during a public hearing Wednesday evening overwhelmingly opposed the state's proposed Shiloh commercial launch complex in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, warning of dire consequences.

 

What Is NASA For? Space Enthusiasts Fight For Agency's Reputation On Twitter

Elizabeth Howell – Universe Today

 

A week ago today, Slate published an article asking "What Is NASA for?" After the author opened the article comparing the United States' space agency to a panda, he described a sort of loss of direction that fell upon NASA after the moon landings concluded in 1972. He then cited a litany of concerns he has about the agency, including human spaceflight scientific results not appearing in top journals, and the cost of the International Space Station.

 

Why I signed up for a one-way trip to Mars (Opinion)         

Heidi Bemmer – CNN

 

(CNN) -- I signed up to volunteer for a one-way trip to Mars. Yep, one-way.

 

Mars One, a Dutch nonprofit organization, aims to establish the first human settlement on Mars in the coming decades. I am one of 1,058 people chosen from around the world to be in round two of Mars One's astronaut application pool. The next few rounds will narrow the field until at last 24 candidates will be picked to begin 10 years of training for the mission.

 

Interview with NASA frequent flyer and Astronaut Hall of Fame inductee – Jerry Ross

Spaceflight Insider

 

After the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs ended, the public pretty much lost track of who was who in the astronaut corps. The shuttle program was amazing, but with frequent missions and seven astronauts going up at once, there have been too many for people to know or remember.  By the end of the Shuttle program, two astronauts, Drs. Jerry Ross and Franklin Chang-Diaz, gained the distinction of being seven-time Space Shuttle frequent flyers. With Ross poised to enter the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, we'd like to share a recent interview with him.

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Curiosity Rover Conquers Martian Sand Dune (Video)

Mike Wall – Space.com

 

A new video shows NASA's Mars rover Curiosity playing dune buggy, clambering over a drift of sand on its way toward a big Red Planet mountain.

 

The Curiosity rover video, which is comprised of nine images captured by the robot's rear hazard-avoidance camera, shows the six-wheeled explorer climbing up and over a sand dune on Feb. 6.

 

"At the start of the drive, the rover's right-front wheel was already at the crest of the 3-foot-tall (1-meter-tall) dune, with the rover still pointed uphill," NASA officials wrote in a description of the video, which was released Tuesday (Feb. 11). "By the last three images in the series, the rover was headed downhill."

 

Curiosity crossed the dune to find a relatively smooth route to the foothills of Mount Sharp, which rises 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) into the Red Planet sky. Mission scientists want the robot to climb up through the mountain's lower reaches, reading a history of Mars' changing environmental conditions as it goes.

 

The 1-ton Curiosity rover landed in August 2012 to determine if the Red Planet could ever have supported microbial life. It has already answered that question, finding that a spot near its landing site called Yellowknife Bay was indeed habitable billions of years ago.

 

Curiosity departed the Yellowknife Bay area for Mount Sharp last July and is slated reach the mountain's base around the middle of this year, mission team members have said.

 

Topping the dune was a big milestone, and the rover notched another one shortly after leaving the feature in its rearview mirror — 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) traveled on the Red Planet surface.

 

"Cue 'Chariots of Fire'! (No slo-mo required.) I just rolled over the 5 km mark on Mars," NASA officials announced today (Feb. 12) via Curiosity's official Twitter account, @MarsCuriosity.

 

The long haul to Mount Sharp should vault Curiosity past NASA's Spirit rover, which covered 4.8 miles (7.7 km) of Martian ground between 2004 and 2010. But Curiosity will have to keep roving for a long time to catch Spirit's twin, Opportunity, whose odometer reads 24.07 miles (38.73 km) and counting.

 

Opportunity, which is still alive and well, is the American record-holder for off-planet distance driving. But the overall mark belongs to the Soviet Union's remote-controlled Lunokhod 2 rover, which logged 26 miles (42 km) on the moon in 1973.

 

Down but not out: Jade Rabbit comes back from the dead

Euan McKirdy - CNN

 

Hong Kong (CNN) -- Reports of Jade Rabbit's demise may have been premature.

 

China's first lunar rover had stopped functioning, state media reported Wednesday, but signs are emerging that Yutu, as it is known in Mandarin, may be up and running again.

 

Following technical malfunctions Xinhua said that the lunar rover had lost communication with mission control but on Thursday the state news agency said that the rover was "fully awake" and had returned to its normal signal-receiving status.

 

"Jade Rabbit has fully resurrected and is able to receive signals, but still suffers a mechanical control abnormality," China's lunar program spokesman Pei Zhaoyu told Xinhua.

 

"The rover entered hibernation while in an abnormal state. We were worried it wouldn't be able to make it through the extreme cold of the lunar night. But it came back alive. The rover stands a chance of being saved as it is still alive."

 

READ MORE: China's moon landing

 

Xinhua also posted a screenshot of the Chang'e-3 Moon Probe's Sina Weibo account, which, at 8.49am Thursday morning local time, asked: "Is anyone out there?"

 

The rover has over 300,000 followers on the Chinese Twitter-like social media site, some of whom celebrated the lucky robot's resurrection.

 

One Weibo user said that the rabbit was "waking up for the [Chinese lantern] festival" which starts on Friday.

 

Another took a cynical view, commenting that some countries would "be disappointed" at China's space program's ability to come back from the dead.

 

An amateur website dedicated to monitoring radio signals from space also reported on its Twitter account that it had detected "pretty good signals" from the device.

 

The lunar rover's end seemed near when it signed off at the end of January with a poignant message: "Goodnight humanity."

 

READ MORE: China's moon rover launched successfully

 

The device had been out of action for two weeks following a technical malfunction, and media around the world filed its obituary late on Wednesday after a short statement on Chinese state media alerted the world to its apparent terminal failings.

 

"China's first lunar rover, Yutu, could not be restored to full function on Monday as expected," the report stated.

 

However, the robot has given its fans in China and around the world hope that it will resume its planned three-month mission and continue examining the moon's surface for potential resources.

 

The deputy chief designer of the Chang-e probe system told China National Radio the technical team is still trying to determine the source of problem and work on the plan for repair.

 

Should Jade Rabbit make a full recovery, it would cap another success for space exploration, which has seen NASA's Opportunity Mars rover, currently exploring the red planet, far outlast its expected lifespan.

                    

China's Moon Rover Is Still Working - So Far

Forbes

Last month, China announced that its "Yutu" lunar rover had suffered some mechanical problems that could potentially keep the rover from completing its mission. That was just before it was to enter its hibernation period before the lunar night fell.

While the moon was in its two weeks of darkness, Chinese scientists weren't able to do much for the rover, as there was no sunlight to power its solar cells. Various media reports earlier these week provided some indications that the rover was lost forever. However, this may not be the case.

"Yutu has come back to life," a spokesperson for China's space program told Xinhua.

Scientists in China have been able to contact the Lunar rover, but it appears that the mechanical problems with the rover remain. However, with contact restored, there's a chance that repairs might be able to be made.

"The rover stands a chance of being saved now that it is still alive," the space program spokesperson said.

 

Space Station to Get a 'Laser Cannon'

David Dickinson – Universe Today

 

What's a space station without a laser cannon?

 

The International Space Station will be getting its very own laser at the end of 2014. And unlike the planet-smashing capabilities of the Death Star of Star Wars fame, this laser will to be enlisted for the purpose of science.

 

It's called CATS, and no, it isn't the latest attempt to put feline astronauts in space. CATS stands for the Cloud Aerosol Transport System. The goal of CATS is to study the distribution of tiny particles of dust and air contaminants known as aerosols.

 

Developed by research scientist Matt McGill at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland, CATS is slated to head to the International Space Station later this year on September 12th aboard SpaceX's CRS-5 flight of the Dragon spacecraft. CATS will be installed on the Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility (JEM-EF) and will demonstrate the utility of state-of-the-art multi-wavelength laser technology to study aerosol distribution and transport in the atmosphere.

 

Such knowledge is critical in understanding the path and circulation of aerosols and pollutants worldwide. When the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in Iceland back in 2010, many trans-Atlantic flights were grounded as a precaution. These measures are necessary as several flights have suffered engine failures in the past due to encounters with volcanic ash clouds, such as the four engine failure of KLM Fight 867 in 1989 and the British Airways Flight 9 incident over Southeast Asia in 1982. Knowing where these dangerous ash clouds are is crucial to the safety of air travel.

 

To accomplish this, CATS will emit 5,000 1 milliJoule laser pulses a second at the 1064, 532 and 355 nanometer wavelengths.  This represents a vast improvement in power requirements and thermal capabilities over a similar instrument currently in service aboard the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) Earth remote sensing spacecraft.

 

And it's that third 355 nanometer wavelength that will make CATS stand out from CALIPSO. This will also allow researchers to differentiate between particle size and measure the horizontal and vertical distribution of aerosol particles in the atmosphere. CATS will also be capable of measuring the number of individual photons being reflected back at it, which will provide a much better resolution and understanding of current atmospheric activity.

 

"You get better data quality because you make fewer assumptions, and you get, presumably, a more accurate determination of what kind of particles you're seeing in the atmosphere," McGill said in a recent press release.

 

The International Space Station also provides a unique vantage point for CATS. In a highly inclined 51.7 degree orbit, the station passes over a good swath of the planet on 16 orbits daily on a westward moving ground track that repeats roughly every three days. This will assure CATS has coverage over a large percentage of the planet, including known pollutant transport routes across the northern Pacific and down from Canada over the U.S. Great Lakes region.

 

While the first two lasers will operate in the infrared and visual wavelengths, said third laser will work in the ultraviolet. And while this will give CATS an enhanced capability, engineers also worry that it may also be susceptible to contamination.  "If you get contamination on any of your outgoing optics, they can self-destruct, and then your system is dead. You end up with a very limited instrument lifetime," McGill said.

 

Still, if CATS is successful, it may pave the way for larger, free-flying versions that will monitor long-range atmospheric patterns and shifts in climate due to natural and man-made activity. And the ISS makes a good platform to test pathfinder missions like CATS at low cost. "In our current budget-constrained environment, we need to use what we already have, such as the [station], to do more with less," McGill said.

 

The advent of a LiDAR system aboard the ISS has also generated a spirited discussion in the satellite tracking community concerning prospects for spotting CATS in operation from the ground. The CALIPSO LiDAR has been captured by ground spotters in the past. However, CALIPSO fires a much more powerful 110 milliJoule pulse at a rate of 20 times a second. Still, the lower power CATS system will be firing at a much faster rate, delivering a cumulative 5,000 milliJoules a second.  CATS won't be bright enough to show up on an illuminated pass of the ISS, but it just might be visible during darkened passes of the ISS through the Earth's shadow. And, unlike CALLIPSO — which is part of the difficult to observe A-Train of Earth-observing satellites — the ISS passes in view of a majority of humanity. At very least, activity from CATS will be worth watching out for, and may well be seen either visually or photographically.

 

We'll soon be adding CATS to the long list of outstanding science experiments being conducted aboard the International Space Station, and the sight of this "fully armed and operational battle station" may soon be coming to a dark sky site near you!

 

House OKs bill restricting spaceport tax money

Associated Press

 

SANTA FE >> The House has approved a proposal that would stop Doña Ana and Sierra counties from supporting public school operations with part of the money from a local tax that helped finance New Mexico's commercial spaceport.

 

The measure cleared the House on a 40-26 vote Wednesday and goes to the Senate for consideration.

 

Supporters said if cities and counties use local tax revenue to support school operations it will undermine New Mexico's system of distributing state aid to equalize educational opportunities in all 89 school districts.

 

Democratic Rep. Bill McCamley of Las Cruces said the legislation would hurt students in Doña Ana and Sierra counties.

 

He said Las Cruces schools receive a grant from Doña Ana County to help train students in math, science and technology.

 

Billionaire Musk Gets Brownsville to Pay for SpaceX       

Darrell Preston and Laura Tillman – Bloomberg

 

In a glass-walled conference room at the California headquarters of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk told Texas officials he was interested in building the world's first commercial rocket launchpad in their state -- if the state could compete.

 

In the months after the 2011 meeting, state and local officials gave Musk, a billionaire, what he and his lobbyists sought: about $20 million of financial incentives, laws changed to close a public beach during launches and legal protection from noise complaints. SpaceX, as the company is known, hasn't said whether the Texas site, near Brownsville, the poorest metropolitan area in the nation, will be selected over locations in Florida, Georgia and Puerto Rico.

 

State and local governments often fall into bidding wars for jobs, offering tax breaks and sweeteners amounting to $70 billion annually, according to Kenneth Thomas, a political science professor at the University of Missouri in St. Louis.

 

"You've got to make sure you're providing what everybody else is providing for tax incentives and tax breaks," said John Baldacci, who was governor of Maine from 2003 to 2011 and regularly received requests for tax breaks.

 

Three years of discussions among Texas officials and SpaceX representatives culminated with the incentive offers, according to interviews. SpaceX hired lobbyists and flew a key lawmaker to its offices. Musk gave about $12,000 in campaign contributions.

 

Luring Boeing

 

Emily Shanklin, a SpaceX spokeswoman, declined to comment on incentives. Texas officials said they're necessary to lure jobs sought by many other states.

 

The state stepped up its corporate blandishments in 2003 by creating a dedicated fund. It was two years after Boeing Co. decided to locate its headquarters in Chicago instead of Dallas.

 

The issue of government subsidies drew national attention in January as states from California to South Carolina offered billions to land production of Boeing's 777X aircraft. Officials in Louisiana last year agreed to as much as $257 million in incentives for Johannesburg-based Sasol Ltd. to build a plant to convert natural gas to diesel fuel and other products. Rental-car company Hertz Global Holdings Inc. agreed in 2013 to move its headquarters from New Jersey to Florida after being offered $85 million in incentives.

 

For Texas, the second-most-populous state, where unemployment is 6 percent and 252,400 positions were created last year, SpaceX would represent a blip in the economy.

Photographer: Bruce Weaver/AFP via Getty Images

 

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida on October 7, 2012.

 

Left Behind

 

The employment potential -- including about 600 directly employed by SpaceX -- is more significant for the local economy. In the region near the launch site, at Boca Chica Beach in the state's southernmost tip, two of five residents live in poverty. Leaders of the historically impoverished border town are seeking to make it as well known for space travel as Houston, home of NASA's Johnson Space Center.

 

Some current and former Texas lawmakers say the state shouldn't give away revenue in exchange for jobs.

 

"A lot of money is given to people that doesn't benefit but a few people," said A.R. "Babe" Schwartz, a lobbyist who served in the legislature for 26 years until 1981. "It's good for whoever got the money and for the lobbyists who got it."

 

The Texas negotiations started with SpaceX's telling Republican Governor Rick Perry's staff of its interest in early 2011, said Josh Havens, an aide to Perry at the time.

 

Perry's office called Gilberto Salinas, executive vice president of the Brownsville Economic Development Council, which recruits businesses, as he was on his way to dinner to celebrate his son's birthday.

Billionaire Founder

 

Three weeks later, Salinas and four other people from Brownsville met with Musk, who also started PayPal, the Internet payment system, and Tesla Motors Inc., an electric car company, at the company's Hawthorne, California, headquarters, Salinas said. Musk, 42, has a fortune of $9.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

 

He founded SpaceX in 2002 to build and launch rockets to serve the International Space Station. The company has conducted launches at the Kennedy Space Center to supply the space station under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and in December won the right to lease a launch pad there.

 

During the meeting, Musk described his dream to take people to Mars, Salinas said. He also said Texas needed to compete with other states.

 

"They told us, 'You're one of quite a few locations we're looking at,'" Salinas said.

 

Salinas said he concluded the project would transform the region.                  

 

Hiring Lobbyists

 

"It made me want the project," Salinas said. "I thought, 'If we're not going to go all out for this project, which one will we go all out for?'"

 

In downtown Brownsville, 350 miles (560 kilometers) south of Austin, aging buildings and small homes share the landscape with shaggy palm trees and oxbow lakes. The area has the lowest median household income of any metropolitan area in U.S. states, about $32,000, compared with a national average of about $53,000, according to the Census Bureau.

 

Economic development officials began selling the project to skeptical residents, said Salinas. At one meeting with residents to discuss the project, Salinas was mocked as Buzz Lightyear, after the character in "Toy Story" who thinks he's a real astronaut.                                                                                          

 

Buying Land

 

The company started buying undeveloped land at the proposed site, a sandy prairie with grass and an occasional cactus.

 

SpaceX increased spending for lobbying. The company had one lobbyist starting in November 2011. By the end of 2012, it was paying five between $95,000 and $200,000 in aggregate, according to state records, which require that the company report only a range of expenditures.

 

Company lobbyists and lawyers opened discussions with state Representative Rene Oliveira, a Brownsville Democrat. They laid out what the company wanted from state and local officials, including changes in the law and incentives, he said.

 

SpaceX wanted the government to cover the cost of building electric and water lines to Boca Chica Beach, the proposed launch site, near where the Rio Grande empties into the Gulf of Mexico, said Oliveira.

 

In 2012, before the biennial legislative session, Musk and a trust in his name donated $1,000 to Representative Jim Pitts, a Republican who is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, $1,000 to Oliveira and $3,000 to Senator Eddie Lucio Jr., a Brownsville Democrat.

 

California Trip

 

Pitts and his then-chief of staff, Aaron Gregg, visited SpaceX's headquarters in January 2013. The company spent $6,803 on the three-day trip, including bills for a hotel steps from the Santa Monica beach, according to state records.

 

SpaceX won Pitts's support, which was key to getting incentives approved, said Oliveira.

 

He "was very helpful in obtaining the commitment to spend $15 million," Oliveira said.

 

Requests to interview Pitts were referred to his chief of staff, Victoria Weber, who didn't respond to written questions. Gregg declined to comment.

 

As the legislative session was under way, Oliveira said he told Musk to "plant the flag" by meeting with lawmakers.

 

States Competing

 

Musk heeded the advice. On March 8, he appeared at a hearing before Pitts's committee, which oversees spending, at the Capitol in Austin. Oliveira and a SpaceX lobbyist appeared with him.

 

"Any support Texas can offer would be helpful," Musk said at the hearing. While Texas was the leading candidate, "We are absolutely looking at other locations."

 

Oliveira said Texas had to compete with other places. He told lawmakers that Florida had $20 million this fiscal year to recruit space-related companies.

 

Tina Lange, a spokeswoman for Space Florida, the state's aerospace economic development agency, declined to comment on the value of possible incentives. Officials in Puerto Rico and Georgia aren't publicly discussing any.

 

"For us to be competitive with other states, we have to make this attractive," Oliveira told committee members. "We've heard numbers from other states that are pretty aggressive."

 

By the end of the 2013 legislative session in May, lawmakers approved everything the company wanted, including changes to the law and $15 million for infrastructure.                                             

 

Tax Breaks

 

Approval of incentives by the local officials is pending a final decision by the company, according to Salinas. Cameron County, where the beach is located, plans to offer tax breaks that could save SpaceX $2 million over 10 years, said County Judge Carlos Cascos, the top elected official.

 

The company likely will receive $3 million in incentives from the Brownsville Economic Development Council, which receives government funding, according to a person familiar with the negotiations who asked not to be identified because no final decisions have been reached.

 

State and local officials said they hope the incentives they put together will close the deal.

 

"We've moved forward over the past three years and done everything they've asked of us," said Tony Martinez, mayor of Brownsville. "We were competitive with whatever Florida was putting together."

 

'No' to Shiloh launch site, speakers urge

James Dean – Florida Today

 

TITUSVILLE — Endangered species pushed to extinction. Communities and historic treasures wiped out by catastrophic explosions. Tourists and jobs driven away by frequent road, waterway and beach closures.

 

Speakers during a public hearing Wednesday evening overwhelmingly opposed the state's proposed Shiloh commercial launch complex in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, warning of dire consequences.

 

"We the people demand, 'No Shiloh,' " Bob Gross, a past chairman of the Brevard County Historical Society, repeated three times to boisterous applause.

 

Officials estimated more than 400 people attended the hearing in the gym at Eastern Florida State College's Titusville campus, which was the second of two this week hosted by the Federal Aviation Administration.

 

Roughly 500 attended Tuesday's meeting at New Smyrna Beach High School, where speakers' opinions were more evenly divided.

 

The FAA, which regulates commercial spaceports and launches, is overseeing an environmental review of Space Florida's proposal to build one or two launch pads, each able to support 12 launches a year, on up to 200 NASA-owned acres near the Brevard-Volusia border.

 

The Shiloh citrus community was located there before NASA seized the property in the 1960s to support the Apollo moon program, which led to the refuge's establishment.

 

The proposed launch complex is an attempt to keep SpaceX, and possibly other companies, from moving launches of commercial satellites – and jobs – to Texas, Georgia or other places.

 

The United States used to dominate those launches, but they have moved overseas.

 

Launch providers and satellite operators say they want a site independent of federally controlled installations such as Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, whose first priority is to support national security and exploration missions.

 

"We need to give them the capability of launching in an area that they can control, that doesn't compete with national security issues, that isn't judged by the priorities of the NASA launch schedule," said J.B. Kump, a longtime Titusville area resident and retired Air Force officer. "We've proven that we can launch and we can coexist with the environment."

 

Kump, who is chairman of the Titusville Area Chamber of Commerce, was one of just two out of nearly 40 speakers to support the Shiloh proposal.

 

Most of the rest said it made no sense to dig up the refuge if there was room inside Kennedy Space Center's secure area south of State Road 402.

 

NASA says its new master plan contemplates a new pad in that area, but details about its proximity to other pads and the environmental conditions at the potential site have not been released.

 

Space Florida says it searched exhaustively from the Keys to the Georgia border for a site that met safety requirements and industry needs, and Shiloh is the one that emerged.

 

Caitlin Mitchell, associated with the Coastal Conservation Association, was not sympathetic.

 

"I encourage them to look harder," she said. "If it comes down to this, I applaud their efforts, but go somewhere else."

 

Fewer attendees than at New Smyrna Beach were seen wearing red that signified support for the launch complex.

 

The FAA is expected to release a draft Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, by early next year.

 

It will include the agency's opinion on whether environmental issues at Shiloh are insurmountable or can be mitigated. Public comment will be accepted on the draft.

 

A final study that could be released in the summer of 2015 would contribute to the FAA's decision on whether or not to award Space Florida a license to operate the Shiloh commercial spaceport.

 

Public comments may be submitted through Feb. 21.

 

What Is NASA For? Space Enthusiasts Fight For Agency's Reputation On Twitter

Elizabeth Howell – Universe Today

 

A week ago today, Slate published an article asking "What Is NASA for?" After the author opened the article comparing the United States' space agency to a panda, he described a sort of loss of direction that fell upon NASA after the moon landings concluded in 1972. He then cited a litany of concerns he has about the agency, including human spaceflight scientific results not appearing in top journals, and the cost of the International Space Station.

 

Then Twitter space fans responded with a flurry of tweets under the hashtag #WhatIsNASAFor (3,994 tweets and retweets according to this graph cited by NASA Watch). Participants included NASA officials, journalists, industry and people who follow NASA and space exploration as a hobby. Several people also wrote essays in longer form (such as Deep Space Industries' Rick Tumlinson, who argued the agency is in the middle of a paradigm shift). Below, we've collected some of the most interesting responses from Twitter.

 

Predicting climate change

Virginia's Angela Gibson, who says in her profile that she has attended NASA Socials in the past, points to NASA's ability to do scientific work to better understand climate change. She pointed to this animation of 2013′s warming trend as an example.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scientific inquiry and the human spirit

As always, Bad Astronomy's Phil Plait writes an eloquent essay talking about the benefits of NASA, which range from real-time observations of the Earth's immediate environment to the longer-term goals of promoting scientific research.

 

NASA Socials

Frequent NASA Social attendee Charissa S. talks about the first NASA launch tweetup, STS-129, as a part of why NASA means so much to her. (Full disclosure: this article's author also attended the tweetup as a reporter.)

 

International collaboration

We at Universe Today frequently write about the stunning images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). The HiRISE social media feeds are, thanks to volunteer effort, available in many languages, something they highlighted in a tweet.

 

Then there's also the technical potential of nations working together, as feed OH, Star Stuff points out.

 

Career potential

NASA spokesperson Trent Perrotto talked about a long-ago trip to NASA Johnson that made him see the possibilities of working in space.

 

And speaking of human potential, the Challenger Center's Libby Norcross has perhaps the best retort ever by way of Tsiolkovsky.

 

Why I signed up for a one-way trip to Mars (Opinion)         

Heidi Bemmer – CNN

 

(CNN) -- I signed up to volunteer for a one-way trip to Mars. Yep, one-way.

 

Mars One, a Dutch nonprofit organization, aims to establish the first human settlement on Mars in the coming decades. I am one of 1,058 people chosen from around the world to be in round two of Mars One's astronaut application pool. The next few rounds will narrow the field until at last 24 candidates will be picked to begin 10 years of training for the mission.

 

The process is very competitive. In my application, I highlighted my strengths, including adaptability, resiliency, curiosity and leadership skills. I am ready to accept all the hard challenges of going to space and living on Mars.

 

My passion for Mars and space exploration began in 1997 when I was 8 years old. NASA had been sending humans to space for several decades, but it began to push new frontiers by sending the first rover to Mars. The Sojourner rover landed on the Red Planet on July 4, 1997, and gave humans a glimpse of the rust-colored Martian surface.

 

Seeing the images ignited a passion inside. For most people, perhaps the desolate landscape of Mars is uninviting; for me, it was the future -- the next frontier. I remember telling myself then that the only way we will find the answers locked inside our solar system would be to send humans to Mars; and I wanted to go.

 

When I was a senior in college, I was selected to be the executive officer and chief geologist of Crew 99 at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. Much like the astronauts on the International Space Station learn to live and work in space, the Mars Society's MDRS outpost teaches us how to live, work and solve problems on Mars. My crew consisted of five other students from across the country and we lived at a Martian analogue station for two weeks. We learned how to conduct daily missions, maintain our habitat, take quick showers and utilize recycled water systems.

 

Although our two-week stay is relatively short compared to Mars One's lifelong expedition, it is scientific research like this that is going to help us find a way to adapt to living on other planets.

 

Once the Mars One crew arrives on Mars the members will begin living their lives as Martians. A majority of their time will be spent conducting scientific experiments, exploring the surroundings, maintaining and improving their habitat. They will also stay connected with the world they left through e-mail and video messages. They will live like the scientists at MDRS and spend their days learning how to adapt to a foreign environment.

 

The opportunity the Mars One project presents is extraordinary. Humans have always dreamed of living on another planet. The technology to send us to the surface of a planet like Mars exists; it has been available for more than 20 years. But limited funding and unknown health risks have put a brake on our desire to try to settle on other planets.

 

Because Mars mysteriously lost its atmosphere and oceans millions of years ago it is important for us to find out why. By sending humans there, we can find answers to Mars' past and future, and ultimately, maybe find answers to the future of Earth.

 

Of course, there are concerns about whether it makes sense to start a human settlement on such a cold and harsh planet. In an article in The Times, astronauts and physicians acknowledge that the human body isn't equipped for long-term space travel. Risks include extended exposure to radiation and cosmic rays. Even at low and acceptable levels, they may cause health problems.

 

Luckily, it does not take a lifetime to travel to Mars. In fact, it may only take 210 days to reach the Red Planet. This is a mere 30 days longer than a normal crew rotation on the International Space Station.

 

While we know about the negative toll of prolonged space living on the human body, astronauts returning to the gravitational force of the Earth recover from their stay in space. Although research is still being done on the loss of bone mass, most other effects felt during space missions subside after physical therapy and treatment.

 

Mars is also a much smaller planet than Earth. This means the gravity felt on the surface is one-third what we feel on Earth. Once the settlers arrive on the surface after a seven-month space journey, their bodies will eventually adapt to the surface of Mars.

 

Obviously, there will be unforeseen challenges in such a huge endeavor. But they shouldn't deter us from the attempt. If we never put our collective efforts together to do this, the human race will never fulfill its dream of living on another planet. We owe it to future generations, who will be left with the problems of Earth, to try to find new homes throughout the solar system. As long as there are volunteers like me willing to make the sacrifice, we will find ways to survive in space and beyond.

 

Interview with NASA frequent flyer and Astronaut Hall of Fame inductee – Jerry Ross

Spaceflight Insider

 

After the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs ended, the public pretty much lost track of who was who in the astronaut corps. The shuttle program was amazing, but with frequent missions and seven astronauts going up at once, there have been too many for people to know or remember.  By the end of the Shuttle program, two astronauts, Drs. Jerry Ross and Franklin Chang-Diaz, gained the distinction of being seven-time Space Shuttle frequent flyers. With Ross poised to enter the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, we'd like to share a recent interview with him.

 

The Explorers Club's Director, Jim Clash, interviewed Dr. Ross for his "Exploring Legends" series at the club's New York City headquarters just a few months ago. Dr. Ross shared his experiences and anecdotes, which included beautiful descriptions of the Earth from space, somber stories of Columbia, and some uproariously funny moments.

 

Dr. Ross applied to the first class of astronauts to do so under the space shuttle era (there were some 10,000 applicants) and came very close to being selected. But, like all good things, he would have to wait.

 

He settled in Houston, and served as an Air Force officer helping to integrate military payloads to the shuttle. After a year and a half, he successfully applied for the next round of selections to become one of 19 astronauts selected from a pool of 6,000.

 

Out of the eight times Ross "sat on top of the fuel," he flew on seven successful missions (one was aborted). At one time his crew was assigned to the fateful Columbia STS-107 mission, but those plans were changed. Some of Ross' friends were amongst the Columbia crew members.

 

After the Columbia disaster came the big decision about Ross' own future career as an astronaut. He talked with his wife and children and they all agreed that it would not be good for the future of our country's space program for all of the astronauts to quit. Dr. Ross stayed with the program, dedicating himself to supporting the Columbia families and making the shuttle safer for future flights.

 

On whether or not launching into space gets old:

 

"I felt like a kid in a candy shop on all my flights… Literally, on my seventh flight, I still felt just as alive and excited about flying in space, and the preparations for it, as I did on the first one…  I never took it for granted and I always felt that the knowledge I had up here (pointing to his head) was going to help the crew and myself come home, and to be that much more capable in making sure that the mission was successful."

 

The view from space:

 

"It's unfortunate that they send engineers who can't describe things in good words, but I would have to tell you that I don't think a writer or a poet or an artist would do much better. We've had several artists in space, astronauts who had quite decent artistic skills, and they have tried to capture that in paintings and sketches.

 

The best way I can describe it is if you can take every picture that you've ever taken of a beautiful sunrise or a beautiful sunset, or a beautiful flower garden, or mountains at sunrise, or a baby in a cradle, or a bride as she's all ready to go walk down the aisle, rainbows, whatever it is – every beautiful picture that you've looked at in a magazine or you've taken by yourself and go, 'Wow, that's beautiful!' Take those pictures and glue them side by side on a long roll. Now roll that thing up, and speed it past your eyes pretty quickly, and you're trying to capture a glimpse of each of those and go 'Wow! Wow! Wow!'

 

In every sunrise and sunset you see multiple layers like a torch of color. And each one of those layers is distinct, and it's a different color, and they're just beautiful, and they're changing continually because you're going around the world at 5 miles a second and the sun is either rising or lowering itself with respect to the horizon, continuously."

 

Memories of Neil Armstrong:

 

"He was incredibly talented, thoughtful…Many people thought that he was reclusive, that he was not friendly. He was a very warm person, and he was a very fun person to be around, but he did not like the limelight, he did not like the fact that he was famous because of what he got to do and what he endeavored to do throughout his career. But at the same time, he did have a great sense of humor and he was a lot of fun to be around once you got to know him."

 

End of the shuttle era:

 

Dr. Ross was pleased with the close of the shuttle program, as plans were to replace it with Constellation. The Constellation was going to have a new capsule – a safer way to get there and back – and larger rockets, which could take us to the Moon and Mars. The government did not approve funding in time. The schedule slipped, and cost grew, and the plans for Constellation were scrapped.

 

"Right now we are in a quagmire of nowhere. We don't have a good plan, we don't know what we want to do, we don't know when we're going to do it, and it's very, very frustrating." Photo Credit: Stacey Severn

 

The Commercial Crew program:

 

"Commercial crew is a bogus term, because 85 percent or more of the money that's being used by the contractors to build their vehicles comes from the NASA budget.  None of them have a viable business plan that says that they can make ends meet and make a profit unless NASA is the prime user of their vehicle and pays them very well for what they're going to do for us, potentially. And because we're giving them all that money, that drains the money out of the NASA pocket to be able to continue building our programs at the pace that we want to do. It's very frustrating."

 

Despite frustration with the current state of NASA, Dr. Ross expressed that if he was offered a ride in the Soyuz tomorrow, he'd be ready.

 

Directly to Mars or to the Moon first?

 

Dr. Ross stated a belief that it is part of our destiny that humans step foot on Mars, and it's just a matter of time before we do:

 

"I am of the camp that we need to go to the Moon first. It's three days away, it's not nine months away under current technologies. There are a lot of things we need to further develop and understand and be capable of doing before we commit to the Mars mission. We need to understand how to use the water ice on the moon to manufacture water that we can drink, bathe with, use to make our meals, that we might be able to grow crops with, that we might ultimately use to manufacture other things including rocket fuels, and maybe even use the gaseous oxygen and hydrogen to make electric power. A lot of reasons to go up there to understand how you can live for longer periods of time on foreign bodies. A lot of it has to do with just frankly being able to design and make systems that will last for extremely long periods of times with minimal maintenance, minimal spare parts, low energy levels, and will require minimal crew involvement in terms of the time to maintain them and keep them going. So I'm of the camp that we ought to go to the moon and develop those capabilities, and as soon as we think we've got them ready, then we ought to press off toward Mars."

 

Although Ross was pleased that the shuttle program has ended, he expressed concern and doubt about the current direction that NASA is on.

 

When asked if he thinks the first person to go to Mars has already been born, Dr. Ross said he certainly hopes so. He also pointed out that the first Mars mission does not have to be to the Red Planet itself. Going to one of the moons of Mars would be easier in a lot of ways, taking a lot less energy to travel to and away from them.

 

The conversation continued about Mars, propulsion, and then turned back to Columbia. Dr. Ross' recollections were detailed and poignant, and left many with moist eyes. Clash decided to end the interview on a lighter note, one which had everyone in attendance laughing:

 

Clash: Everybody wants to know, has anybody had sex in space?

 

Ross: "You know I'm a married man, right?"

 

Clash: I do, I'm not saying personal experience…

 

Ross:  "None to my knowledge. If you've seen the interior of the Space Shuttle there isn't a whole lot of room in there!"

 

END

 

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