FF Energy: January 2013

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: January 25, 2013 7:18:55 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - January 25, 2013 and JSC Today

Happy Friday everyone.   Have a great and safe weekend.

Friday, January 25, 2013

JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            Save the Date -- Feb. 6 -- For All Hands With Ellen Ochoa and Steve Altemus
2.            Technology Transfer Strategies: Increasing the Impact of YOUR R&D Efforts
3.            Apollo Block I Spacesuit Development and Apollo Block II Spacesuit Competition
4.            Funding IT-Related Innovations: Q&A Session Next Tuesday
5.            Grocery Store Tour: Tuesday, Jan. 29, at 5 p.m.
6.            Starport January Massage Special -- $55 for 60 Minutes -- LAST CHANCE
________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY
" If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention than to any other talent. "

-- Isaac Newton
________________________________________
1.            Save the Date -- Feb. 6 -- For All Hands With Ellen Ochoa and Steve Altemus
JSC Director Ellen Ochoa, together with JSC Deputy Director Steve Altemus, will hold an all-hands event for JSC team members from 9 to 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 6, in the Building 2S Teague Auditorium.
Those unable to attend are encouraged to view the broadcast live on RF Channel 2 or Omni Channel 45. JSC team members with wired computer network connections can view the event using onsite IPTV on General Channel 402 - "JSC Events."
The event will also be recorded for playback the following Thursday, Feb. 7, and Tuesday, Feb. 12, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Those interested in sending questions for Ochoa and Altemus to address during the All Hands may send their inquiries directly to the JSC-Ask-the-Director email box in the Global Address Book.
All JSC team members are invited to attend.
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111

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2.            Technology Transfer Strategies: Increasing the Impact of YOUR R&D Efforts
The Human Systems Academy is pleased to announce a panel discussion entitled "Technology Transfer Strategies: Increasing the Impact of YOUR R&D Efforts." Through this campfire-style discussion, the panelists will convey their experiences with the technology transfer process, important technology transfer considerations, application to research and development at the agency, application of collaborations and commercialization while safeguarding intellectual property and real-world examples, including potential benefits to society. Space is limited, so register today!
For registration, please go to: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Event Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2013   Event Start Time:1:00 PM   Event End Time:3:00 PM
Event Location: B30 Auditorium

Add to Calendar

Cynthia Rando 281-461-2620 http://sa.jsc.nasa.gov/

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3.            Apollo Block I Spacesuit Development and Apollo Block II Spacesuit Competition
The EC5/U.S. Spacesuit Knowledge Capture series will host Jim McBarron's discussion of the Apollo Block I Spacesuit Development and the Apollo Block II Spacesuit Competition on Jan. 29 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
With the information McBarron has collected during his 40 years with the U.S. Air Force pressure suit and NASA spacesuit development and operations, he will share significant knowledge about the requirements and modifications made to the Gemini spacesuit, which were necessary to support the Apollo Block I Program. Also included will be an overview of the Apollo Block II Spacesuit competition test program conducted by NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center.
Location: Building 5S, Room 3102 (Entrance across from guard shack at the entrance of the Building 4/Building 4S/Building 5S parking lot. A public elevator is located past two sets of doors.)
SATERN registration is available - #67338 (search keyword "spacesuit").
Direct questions to Cinda Chullen (x38384), Vladenka Oliva (281-461-5681) or Rose Bitterly (281-461-5795).
Event Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2013   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Bldg 5-South, Room 3102

Add to Calendar

Rose Bitterly 281-461-5795

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4.            Funding IT-Related Innovations: Q&A Session Next Tuesday
IT Labs is the technology and innovation program for the NASA Chief Technology Officer for Information Technology (IT) and wants to fund your innovative ideas for IT-related solutions for use across all NASA centers. Proposals will be accepted during the IT Labs Fiscal Year 2013 project call slated for Feb. 4 through March 21. This is your chance to help solve challenging IT problems and introduce new technologies across the agency.
If you have an idea, coordinate with James McClellan, JSC Chief Technology Officer for Information Technology (CTO-IT) and submit a proposal on the IT Labs website between Feb. 4 and March 21. Project leads must be civil servants, but project teams can include contractors. IT Labs' review panel will evaluate all submissions and fund a select number of projects. The first question-and-answer session is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 29, at 10 a.m. CST. More information can be found here.
Event Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2013   Event Start Time:10:00 AM   Event End Time:11:00 AM
Event Location: WebEx

Add to Calendar

Allison Wolff x39589 https://nasa.webex.com/nasa/j.php?ED=1662638&UID=0&ICS=MI&LD=1&RD=2&ST=1...

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5.            Grocery Store Tour: Tuesday, Jan. 29, at 5 p.m.
Ever wonder why the fresh foods are along the outside areas of the grocery store and the processed foods are in the center isles? Do grocery store marketing tricks really work? Join the JSC Dietitian to learn more about the subtle ways grocery stores focus your attention on the foods they want you to buy. The tour will take approximately one-and-a-half hours. Family members are welcome! Pre-registration is required, and registration is limited. Class details will be provided to participants via email prior to class. Email Glenda Blaskey to sign up for this class today.
If you're working on improving your approach to healthy nutrition but can't attend a class, we offer free one-on-one consultations with Glenda Blaskey, the JSC Registered Dietitian.
Glenda Blaskey x41503

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6.            Starport January Massage Special -- $55 for 60 Minutes -- LAST CHANCE
So many of you have taken advantage of Starport's amazing massage special this month, but we want everyone to experience our great massage therapists.
Starport Massage - 55 for 60!
o             $55 for a 60-minute massage
o             Available: Jan. 26 to May 31
o             Massage must take place between Jan. 26 and May 31
Starport's Massage Therapists
Marj Moore, LMT
o             Tuesdays and Thursdays | 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
o             Every other Saturday | 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
o             Click here to book with Marj.
Anette Lemon, LMT
o             Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays | 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
o             Every other Saturday | 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
o             Click here to book with Anette.
This offer won't last, so book right now.
Steve Schade x30304 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/MassageTherapy/index.cfm

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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. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.

NASA TV: Noon Central (1 pm EST) – E34's Tom Marshburn & Kevin Ford with students at the Putnam Museum of History & Natural Science in Davenport, Iowa

Human Spaceflight News
Friday – January 25, 2013

HEADLINES AND LEADS

Robotic refueling test resumes on space station
Operations were stalled for a week because of a software glitch

Mike Wall - Space.com

An International Space Station experiment testing the ability of robots to repair and refuel orbiting satellites has resumed, after being stalled for a week by a software glitch. NASA's Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) resumed operations Tuesday after engineers finished analyzing loads and software limits for the space station's Dextre robot, agency officials announced in a Tuesday mission update.

Space Station Program Takes On Astronaut Vision Problems

Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily

NASA this spring plans to introduce its first systematic study of the vision problems that surfaced two years ago as an unanticipated ailment among some astronauts assigned to long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station. The Ocular Health investigation, which will use tonometry to gather regular measurements of intraocular pressures from astronauts, ultrasound scans of their eyes and intracranial physiology, is scheduled to begin with ISS Expedition 35 in late March. It will last two years.

Workers to add structural braces to Orion spacecraft

Stephen Clark – SpaceflightNow.com

Engineers plan to beef up the structure of the first space-bound Orion spacecraft after discovering cracks in testing last year, but officials say the extra work should not delay preparations for the capsule's first orbital test flight in 2014. Technicians will install a brace over the cracked area in parallel with normal work on the spacecraft, according to Mark Geyer, NASA's Orion program manager. NASA is developing the Orion spacecraft, also called the multipurpose crew vehicle, for future human voyages into deep space to destinations such as the moon, asteroids and Mars.

NASA testing vintage engine from Apollo 11 rocket

Jay Reeves - Associated Press

Like vinyl records and skinny ties, good things eventually come back around. At NASA, that means looking to the Apollo program for ideas on how to develop the next generation of rockets for future missions to the moon and beyond. Young engineers who weren't even born when the last Saturn V rocket took off for the moon are testing a vintage engine from the program.

That sound in Huntsville today? NASA test-firing piece of rocket history

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

NASA isn't leaving much untested as it works on building America's next big deep-space rocket, including parts of the legendary Saturn V engine that carried humans to the moon. On Thursday, the space agency test-fired in Huntsville a gas generator from an original Saturn V F-1 engine that had been stored at the Smithsonian Institution. The shaky video above shows a little of what it sounded and looked like at one of the "smoke and fire" tests conducted here by Marshall Space Flight Center propulsion engineers since the days of Wernher von Braun. The video is shaky because it was taken by a reporter using a smartphone on a metal viewing stand at Marshall's historic test area. A closer look is below.

Kazakhstan to continue cooperation with Russia on Baikonur cosmodrome

E. Kosolapova - Tengri News

Kazakhstan will not stop cooperation with Russia on Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrisov told Russian newspaper Kommersant. "Russia is a major space power. Therefore, any arguments and assertions regarding stopping cooperation are preposterous," Idrisov said.

NASA contracts North Las Vegas company to build space-station parts

Chris Ainsworth - Las Vegas City Life

Bigelow Aerospace sits on 50 acres of land in North Las Vegas, just a few miles south of the Craig Ranch Golf Course. I park in the small lot just inside the gate of the complex, where I am directed into the nearby security building. Several other journalists are already present, along with a guard. After examining and recording IDs, we're given badges and presented with the rules. No weapons allowed. No recording or photography outside the designated press areas. Keep your badge visible at all times, and always stay with an escort. The guard hands us each a map. Guest parking and press room are highlighted green, unauthorized areas, aka the rest of the complex, are bright red.

Why giant space balloons may prove to be the right stuff

Matt Gurney - National Post (Canada)

Most of us probably wouldn't want to live inside a balloon. For space explorers, however, expandable habitats may soon prove worth the long wait — NASA recently announced an agreement with Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace to deploy a small "expandable" module to the International Space Station (ISS). If successfully fielded, this technology could change the face of space exploration.

House Science Committee organizes for the new Congress

Jeff Foust – SpacePolitics.com

The House Science Committee held a brief organizational meeting Wednesday to formally confirm its membership, rules, and subcommittee assignments. The Subcommittee on Space (as it is now simply known; all the committee's subcommittees now have one-word names) is the committee's largest subcommittee, with 12 Republican and 9 Democrats…

Colonizing Mars: Q&A with Mars One Chief Bas Lansdorp

Mike Wall - Space.com

Mars One wants to land four astronauts on the Red Planet in 2023, and it's come up with a creative way to fund this ambitious undertaking. The Netherlands-based nonprofit plans to stage a global reality-TV event that follows the colonization effort from astronaut selection through the settlers' first years on the Red Planet. Mars One thinks revenues from broadcasting rights and sponsorships will cover most of the one-way mission's estimated $6 billion cost.

Hypersonic 'SpaceLiner' Aims to Fly Passengers in 2050

Jeremy Hsu - Tech News Daily (via Space.com)

A hypersonic "SpaceLiner" would whisk up to 50 passengers from Europe to Australia in 90 minutes. The futuristic vehicle would do so by riding a rocket into Earth's upper atmosphere, reaching 24 times the speed of sound before gliding in for a landing. Many challenges still remain, including finding the right shape for the vehicle, said Martin Sippel, project coordinator for SpaceLiner at the German Aerospace Center. But he suggested the project could make enough progress to begin attracting private funding in another 10 years and aim for full operations by 2050.

Who will you sue if your spacecraft crashes?

John Glionna - Los Angeles Times

So you're planning to blast off into outer space on a future commercial flight from New Mexico. What if things go south and you are injured or killed? Who do you or your survivors sue? New Mexico legislators have agreed to amend a state law that narrows who future space travelers can take to court if their venture goes ka-blooey. The new bill will protect spacecraft parts suppliers from damage lawsuits by passengers on space tourism flights launched from the state.

UH lands former astronaut to instruct engineers

Renée Lee - Houston Chronicle

Retired NASA astronaut and engineer Bonnie J. Dunbar has been appointed to lead the University of Houston's new science, technology, engineering and math center and to teach in the College of Engineering. The UH alumna is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. In April she will be inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Florida. Dunbar, who recently worked as a Seattle-based consultant on STEM education and spaceflight technology, officially started her new position Thursday.

Anderson to retire from NASA Jan. 31

John Huthmacher - Hastings Tribune

Nebraska's man in space has touched down for the last time. Clayton Anderson said he will retire at the end of this month, grounding a career at NASA that included 15 years as an astronaut and 15 as an engineer. The 53-year-old Omaha native first mentioned his intentions to retire publicly on his Twitter account Saturday. In a tweet, he said, "Calling all Tweeps. Guess u know now that I have decided to retire after 30 years w/NASA. It's been an awesome ride."

Robots and Astronauts Will Defend the Earth

Ray Villard - Discovery News

My colleague Ian O'Neill has described one of the most unique interplanetary missions in the history of space exploration, and I'd say also one of the most important technological steps in the evolution of the human species. The Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission to a binary asteroid will be the first precise test as to whether, sometime in the future, a deadly asteroid barreling toward Earth could be knocked off course by whacking it with a projectile. In addition to hitting an asteroid, the AIDA close encounter will provide valuable information on rotation, gravity, geology, and surface properties, around the pair of asteroids gravitationally embraced in a binary orbit.

NASA's First Disaster Happened on the Launch Pad

Amy Shira Teitel - Discovery News

In NASA's early years, the agency learned by doing; developing tests and procedures as programs wore on. One test developed and used in the Mercury program was the "plugs-out test," a prelaunch test of the spacecrafts systems through a simulated countdown on launch. It was never considered a dangerous test, but on Jan. 27, 1967, Apollo 1's plugs-out test claimed the lives of the crew.

Boeing 787's grounding highlights threat to innovation

Brad Stone & Susanna Ray - Bloomberg News

The grounding of the 787 was in many respects inevitable for a project marked by missed opportunities, narrowed visions, and, yes, dreams deferred. It's also a dispiriting example of the shrinking tolerance for risk among corporate executives and government regulators, which is stifling innovation and threatening America's competitive edge… After the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986, U.S. President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation from the Oval Office. Less than three decades later, NASA has pulled back from manned space exploration -- yet another sign of how the benefits of risky endeavors have been trumped by cost concerns and the fear of failure.
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COMPLETE STORIES

Robotic refueling test resumes on space station
Operations were stalled for a week because of a software glitch

Mike Wall - Space.com

An International Space Station experiment testing the ability of robots to repair and refuel orbiting satellites has resumed, after being stalled for a week by a software glitch.

NASA's Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) resumed operations Tuesday after engineers finished analyzing loads and software limits for the space station's Dextre robot, agency officials announced in a Tuesday mission update.

RRM calls for Dextre, which sits at the end of the orbiting lab's huge Canadarm2 robotic arm, to perform simulated refueling and repair tasks on a washing-machine-size platform affixed to the station's exterior.

The latest round of RRM experiments started Jan. 14 and was expected to last about 10 days, but a software glitch halted activities after just a day.

The RRM module, which consists of activity boards and tools necessary to demonstrate on-orbit refueling, launched to the station in July 2011 aboard the space shuttle Atlantis, which was making the last flight in the shuttle program's 30-year history.

The experiment's goal is to demonstrate technology that could someday fix and refuel orbiting satellites robotically, thereby extending their lives and potentially saving satellite operators billions of dollars over the long haul.

Such work can be challenging, since current satellites were generally not designed to be serviced.

The first RRM experiments began last year, when controllers on the ground used the two-armed Dextre to snip some wires with minimal clearance.

The latest round of activities will be more complex and involved, as Dextre will snip more wires, unscrew caps and pump simulated fuel, NASA officials have said.

Space Station Program Takes On Astronaut Vision Problems

Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily

NASA this spring plans to introduce its first systematic study of the vision problems that surfaced two years ago as an unanticipated ailment among some astronauts assigned to long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station.

The Ocular Health investigation, which will use tonometry to gather regular measurements of intraocular pressures from astronauts, ultrasound scans of their eyes and intracranial physiology, is scheduled to begin with ISS Expedition 35 in late March. It will last two years.

An estimated 20% of astronauts assigned to ISS missions, which can span four to seven months, report blurred vision linked to what space medical experts now term microgravity-induced visual impairment and intracranial pressure. The blurring typically disappears during the post-mission physical readaptation phase.

"This was a process that was not predicted by what we know about human health on Earth," said NASA ISS program scientist Julie Robinson, who summarized the research plan during a Jan. 17 briefing on upcoming space station activities. "We will be taking systematic measurements to really try and understand this process for the first time."

Researchers expect the long-running study to pay terrestrial dividends as well as address potential obstacles to the human deep-space missions that NASA is planning. Those include possible links between the blurred vision symptoms, cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure, Robinson said.

NASA astronaut Chris Cassady, who is training to launch to the ISS with two Russian cosmonauts on March 27, will be among the first to carry out the investigation and serve as a subject.

"This is very important data we will be collecting not only for our own health, but also as it translates to the whole planet for ocular health," said Cassady, who stressed that the need for careful data gathering is likely to require some trial and error to perfect. "We will be prepared to iterate the process until we deliver the right data," he said.

The National Space Biomedical Research Institute, a NASA-funded consortium of U.S. medical schools and health research organizations, launched eight new ground-based investigations into the vision issue in 2012.

Workers to add structural braces to Orion spacecraft

Stephen Clark – SpaceflightNow.com

Engineers plan to beef up the structure of the first space-bound Orion spacecraft after discovering cracks in testing last year, but officials say the extra work should not delay preparations for the capsule's first orbital test flight in 2014.

Technicians will install a brace over the cracked area in parallel with normal work on the spacecraft, according to Mark Geyer, NASA's Orion program manager.

NASA is developing the Orion spacecraft, also called the multipurpose crew vehicle, for future human voyages into deep space to destinations such as the moon, asteroids and Mars.

The first Orion spacecraft built for spaceflight is undergoing assembly and testing inside the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will launch in September 2014 on a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket, reaching a top altitude of 3,600 miles on an unmanned test flight to test the capsule's avionics, heat shield and other systems.

The Orion test flight, named Exploration Flight Test-1, will culminate with a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

In November, during a test of the capsule's pressure integrity, three small cracks appeared in the aft bulkhead on the lower half of the vehicle's pressure shell. The cracks materialized in three adjacent radial ribs of the aluminum bulkhead.

Technicians overseeing the pressure test stopped the procedure after hearing noises attributed to the cracking, according to Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations.

"It turns out there was an area in the crew module where we underestimated some things like shrinkage of the welds and behavior of some of the materials," Geyer said Jan. 16. "In that case, we didn't realize we were closer to the margins than we expected in one area of the vehicle. We had cracks that were maybe half of an inch big. They never penetrated the pressure vessel, but you don't want cracks and that's why we did the test."

Engineers have designed a "doubler" to place over the cracks to ensure the craft can sustain loads from pressure, launch and landing. Geyer said two of the structural aids, similar to devices regularly used on airplanes, could be added to the spacecraft.

"We've come up with a great plan to basically bridge over those cracks to distribute the load so we don't see any issues on orbit," Geyer said.

The fan-shaped doubler will distribute loads across a wider area of the spacecraft's structure. Workers will install the doubler ahead of a planned pressurization and loads test in mid-February, according to Geyer.

"We have the design," Geyer said. "We're finalizing the analysis now to make sure we're not making the stress load worse in other areas as we bolt these things on. That's normal when you do a doubler on an aircraft or spacecraft."

The February loads test will ensure the repair works before engineers add avionics boxes, parachutes, a heat shield and other systems later this year.

The schedule calls for the heat shield, which will cover the blunt end of the 16.5-foot-diameter Orion spacecraft, to be installed this summer. The first power-up of the capsule's avionics is also expected around the middle of the year, according to Geyer.

Workers are also fabricating a mock service module and a partially-inert launch abort system for the 2014 test flight.

Geyer said preparations are on track to complete assembly and testing of the Orion spacecraft by the end of 2013. There are several months of margin in Orion's schedule before the launch opportunity in September 2014.

"Toward the end of the year, we'll finish and get ready to deliver the element to the launch vehicle folks," Geyer said.

NASA testing vintage engine from Apollo 11 rocket

Jay Reeves - Associated Press

Like vinyl records and skinny ties, good things eventually come back around. At NASA, that means looking to the Apollo program for ideas on how to develop the next generation of rockets for future missions to the moon and beyond.

Young engineers who weren't even born when the last Saturn V rocket took off for the moon are testing a vintage engine from the program.

The engine, known to NASA engineers as No. F-6049, was supposed to help propel Apollo 11 into orbit in 1969, when NASA sent Neil Armstrong and two other astronauts to the moon for the first time. The flight went off without a hitch, but no thanks to the engine — it was grounded because of a glitch during a test in Mississippi and later sent to the Smithsonian Institution, where it sat for years.

Now engineers are learning to work with technical systems and propellants not used since before the start of the space shuttle program, which first launched in 1981.

Nick Case, 27, and other engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center on Thursday completed a series of 11 test-firings of the F-6049's gas generator, a jet-like rocket which produces 30,000 pounds of thrust and was used as a starter for the engine. They are trying to see whether a second-generation version of the Apollo engine could produce even more thrust and be operated with a throttle for deep-space exploration.

There are no plans to send the old engine into space, but it could become a template for a new generation of motors incorporating parts of its design.

In NASA-speak, the old 18-foot-tall motor is called an F-1 engine. During moon missions, five of them were arranged at the base of the 363-foot-tall Saturn V system and fired together to power the rocket off the ground toward Earth orbit.

Thursday's test used one part of the engine, the gas generator, which powers the machinery to pump propellant into the main rocket chamber. It doesn't produce the massive orange flame or clouds of smoke like that of a whole F-1, but the sound was deafening as engineers fired the mechanism in an outdoor test stand on a cool, sunny afternoon.

The device produced a plume that resembled a blow torch the size of two buses and set fire to a grassy area, which was quickly extinguished.

"It's not small," Case said. "It's pretty beefy on its own."

And just like during the Apollo days, people in north Alabama heard rockets thundering in the distance during tests at Marshall.

"My wife and daughter were in our front yard and she said they could hear it, which was pretty cool," Case said after an earlier test. "We live about 15 miles away."

A single F-1 engine can produce 1.5 million pounds of thrust using a fuel composed of liquid oxygen and refined kerosene, which was not used in the space shuttle.

The tests were conducted at Marshall in a project conducted with Dynetics Inc. and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, which are studying NASA's possibilities for deep-space missions years from now. The space agency plans to use commercial launches to reach low Earth orbit; larger rockets are required to escape the planet's gravity.

R.H. Coates, an engineer who works with Case in Marshall's liquid propulsion office, said young engineers can learn a lot from the work done by predecessors using slide-rules in the 1960s, but no one wants to simply rebuild the old Saturn V engine.

"This wouldn't be your daddy's F-1," Coates said. "We'd use new materials and try to simplify it, update it."

Case started at Marshall as a high school intern in 2002 and has been working there since graduating from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2008. He said today's technology allows things that weren't possible during the 1960s, but he has been impressed by what he learned taking apart the unused Apollo 11 engine.

Engine No. F-6049 didn't fit properly on the Apollo 11 rocket, but it is invaluable now as a testing tool. Coates said a total of 85 F-1 engines were used on 17 Apollo flights without a single failure.

About a dozen F-1 engines remain in Huntsville, Ala., home of NASA's main propulsion center, and others are located elsewhere. Most are on display. Case said engineers used engine No. F-6049 for the tests because it was the most complete.

"It is really an excellent booster," he said. "The guys in Apollo had it right."

That sound in Huntsville today? NASA test-firing piece of rocket history

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

NASA isn't leaving much untested as it works on building America's next big deep-space rocket, including parts of the legendary Saturn V engine that carried humans to the moon. On Thursday, the space agency test-fired in Huntsville a gas generator from an original Saturn V F-1 engine that had been stored at the Smithsonian Institution.

The shaky video above shows a little of what it sounded and looked like at one of the "smoke and fire" tests conducted here by Marshall Space Flight Center propulsion engineers since the days of Wernher von Braun. The video is shaky because it was taken by a reporter using a smartphone on a metal viewing stand at Marshall's historic test area. A closer look is below.

The gas generator, shown here generating 30,000 pounds of thrust from its fuel mixture of liquid oxygen and kerosene, was only used to drive the turbopump that actually fed the Saturn V engine. The F-1 itself could deliver 1.5 million pounds of thrust. The gas generator tests were heard around Huntsville, but when NASA tested the F-1s here in the 1960s, the ground shook for miles. Full-scale engine tests are conducted in rural south Mississippi now, partly because of the population growth around the Marshall center.

A new generation of young engineers spent seven weeks taking one F-1 engine completely apart -- a job that included building a custom wrench using Apollo-era drawings -- to get experience and ideas for future engines. Later, Huntsville company Dynetics will take over testing to see if it can validate its idea of using updated F-1s to power later versions of the new rocket being developed in Huntsville.

Propulsion engineer Erin Betts, 31, is one of those young professionals who dismantled one F-1 engine and took a gas generator off of a second one. She described the awe of seeing Apollo-era soot that had rested inside one engine's chambers. "You didn't want to sneeze," she said.

Thursday's test was the last of 11 conducted at Marshall in recent weeks, and a crowd including top military leaders at Redstone Arsenal and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, came out to see it. "This is symbolic," Brooks said after the test. Before long, he said, America will be sending astronauts back into space aboard its own rockets.

Kazakhstan to continue cooperation with Russia on Baikonur cosmodrome

E. Kosolapova - Tengri News

Kazakhstan will not stop cooperation with Russia on Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrisov told Russian newspaper Kommersant.

"Russia is a major space power. Therefore, any arguments and assertions regarding stopping cooperation are preposterous," Idrisov said.

Earlier Russia sent two official notes on Baikonur to Kazakhstan. The first note demanded to explain the statements of the head of Kazakh Space Agency Talgat Musabayev. In the second note Russia informed Kazakhstan it can stop working on all the joint projects if Astana will not permit all launches planned by the Russian party from the cosmodrome.

Idrisov said the statements of Talgat Musabayev were misunderstood by the journalists.

"You know, a complicated area requires specific knowledge. The comments of the journalists were so absurd that it was even hard for us to respond to them," the Minister said.

Musabayev said currently Kazakhstan and Russia should take common measures to exploit the potential of Baikonur fully and ensure its further technological development.

"The Presidents of our countries appreciate and cherish Baikonur as a symbol of our close and mutually beneficial cooperation. Cosmodrome is a project focusing on the future. I hope there will be no more unresolved issues in this sphere," Idrisov said.

Earlier Kazakhstan allowed Russia to launch only 12 Proton-M carrier rockets from Baikonur in 2013 instead of the 17 requested launches. The Kazakh party explains the restriction by negative environmental impact of the launches.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility. It is located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan. It is leased by the Kazakh government to Russia (currently until 2050) and is managed jointly by the Russian Federal Space Agency and the Russian Space Forces. Under the current Russian space program, Baikonur remains a busy space port, with numerous commercial, military and scientific missions being launched annually.

NASA contracts North Las Vegas company to build space-station parts

Chris Ainsworth - Las Vegas City Life

Bigelow Aerospace sits on 50 acres of land in North Las Vegas, just a few miles south of the Craig Ranch Golf Course. I park in the small lot just inside the gate of the complex, where I am directed into the nearby security building.

Several other journalists are already present, along with a guard. After examining and recording IDs, we're given badges and presented with the rules. No weapons allowed. No recording or photography outside the designated press areas. Keep your badge visible at all times, and always stay with an escort.

The guard hands us each a map. Guest parking and press room are highlighted green, unauthorized areas, aka the rest of the complex, are bright red.

We're shuffled back outside. An SUV idles nearby as another guard explains that we'll be following him to the interior parking lot. We get back into our cars and caravan a quarter-mile down a road called Warp Drive, into the sprawling complex.

In the summer of 1961, just months after Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth, a team of engineers at NASA and Goodyear Aircraft Corporation completed their two-year project: to develop and prototype a new design of a space station, a large inflatable donut that could be tucked within a rocket and launched into space, where it would then expand to a full diameter of 24 feet. Once pressurized, the rotating torus would serve as a way station for astronauts and transport vehicles as they journeyed to the moon and beyond.

But the proposed plan, alongside other 2001-style spinning habitats, nuclear-powered stations and massive orbiting spheres, never made it farther than the prototype stage. Serious consideration of an inflatable space station design was shelved.

With the development of the International Space Station in the 1990s, inflatable designs were back on the table. NASA proposed TransHab, an inflatable cylinder with a 27-foot diameter, intended to serve as a habitation module for crew based on the ISS. Unfortunately, cost overruns and controversy mired the project, and in 1999 the NASA Authorization Act banned the agency from further developing TransHab. But there was hope embedded in House Resolution 1654 — an explicit exception stated that, while NASA itself could not develop the inflatable station, it could lease such a model from commercial sources, provided the costs and safety risks were in line with previously established guidelines.

Enter Robert Bigelow.

After hearing of the failed project in 1999, Las Vegas native Bigelow, owner of the Budget Suites hotel chain and an avid space buff, reached out to NASA, eventually landing exclusive development rights to the technology. He brought on engineers from the NASA project to consult with his team, including TransHab lead developer William Schneider, and, bolstered by an eventual $250 million from Bigelow's own coffers (with an additional $250 million pledged), development of an inflatable space module was once again underway.

Bigelow Aerospace has signed a $17.8 million contract with NASA, insignificant money when compared to the cost of the overall project, but a huge win for the private company. It has taken more than a decade of development time and the launching of two test modules (the Genesis I and II, both still in orbit) for Bigelow Aerospace to gain the space agency's trust.

The milestone-based contract is for the roughly spherical 13-foot Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which in 2015 will be launched onboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, connected to Node 3 of the International Space Station, and expanded. There it will live for two years, undergoing environmental studies and experiments, serving as an uninhabited test bed for future module deployments and laying the groundwork for Bigelow Aerospace's next major project: its own commercial space station.

Recently, Bigelow Aerospace and Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX began a joint effort to secure customers for Bigelow's proposed 2016 Alpha Station, a space station comprised of two BA 330 inflatable modules, the big brothers of the BEAM module, each capable of supporting a crew of six. Private and national crews to the station will be ferried at costs between $25-36 million per seat, with a minimum stay of 60 days in orbit and access to the station's shared research facilities.

Beyond the Alpha Station, Bigelow Aerospace is in talks with NASA to make use of the BA 330 in ongoing ventures, and foresees a future where its inflatable habitats are used in lunar and even Martian exploration missions.

Some of us linger for a bit once the media advisory is complete, chatting with the engineers and NASA representatives, wandering around the spacious press room that serves as Bigelow's museum to the future, the floor filled with scale and full-size mockups of inflatable modules, capsules, space stations and terrestrial bases. It's amazing that this place is in Las Vegas. Most people have no idea that Bigelow Aerospace exists, let alone that its facility is only minutes from downtown. Why is that? I mean, hell, they're building space stations in there.

As Mike Gold, Bigelow's director of operations, admits, the company has been in heads-down mode for several years, and public awareness has not been a priority.

The Bigelow Aerospace website, framed within a model of a BA 330, is woefully outdated, and the company has played no visible role in the recent growth and portrayal of Las Vegas as an up-and-coming tech hub.

Unlike NASA and SpaceX, which have been incredibly successful with online outreach, Bigelow Aerospace does not maintain a Facebook page or any presence on Twitter.

Robert Bigelow himself is notoriously secretive, once claiming to have never sent an e-mail, instead preferring more direct (and secure) methods of communication. Until recently, he did not allow pictures of himself to be printed. Perhaps this sentiment is woven into the culture of his company, as well.

Still, Bigelow Aerospace is doing incredible things and deserves to be on your radar. In two years, when you see the news of the launch, when the module expands and inflates for the first time, revealing the red and blue Bigelow logo emblazoned across its side, remember one thing: That little piece of space station was born in Las Vegas.

Why giant space balloons may prove to be the right stuff

Matt Gurney - National Post (Canada)

Most of us probably wouldn't want to live inside a balloon. For space explorers, however, expandable habitats may soon prove worth the long wait — NASA recently announced an agreement with Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace to deploy a small "expandable" module to the International Space Station (ISS). If successfully fielded, this technology could change the face of space exploration.

Work on expandable (preferred to the flimsier sounding "inflatable") habitats began in the 1990s, driven by a basic reality of space travel: Rockets are skinny. Objects headed into space must not only be light enough to be lifted by the rocket, but capable of squeezing into narrow cargo holds. The now-retired space shuttles, for instance, could carry payloads up to 59 feet long, but only 15 feet wide.

This is problematic. If the total width of your vessel is limited to 15 feet, a strong hull, insulation, radiation shielding and all the equipment necessary to run the ship leaves little room left inside for anything else. The result: Extremely cramped living conditions have been an unavoidable fact of manned space exploration.

People can tolerate enclosed environments. But to really explore the solar system, a ship will require so much gear, and the crew so much storage space for supplies, that we need to build bigger than we ever have before. Not to mention the psychological benefit of being able to stretch one's legs on a mission that could last years or months.

That's where expandable habitats come in.

Rather than building traditional skinny vehicles, Bigelow has designed much larger vehicles that can be compressed to a fraction of their real size until they're in orbit. (See the illustration below, which contrasts a proposed Bigelow Aerospace design against an existing International Space Station module. The difference in the available space is enormous, but both could be launched using similar rockets.)

NASA originally developed the technology behind these expandable ships. The agency appreciated that the crew of the ISS (not to mention future deep space explorers) would need more room than traditional spacecraft designs would permit. It hoped to include a "TransHab" expandable module on the station. NASA worked to build hulls out of multiple layers of advanced flexible materials.

Progress was slower than hoped. In 2000, with the ISS already over budget, Congress ordered development work on expandable habitats stopped. NASA sold the TransHab patents to Robert Bigelow, a space enthusiast who'd made his fortune in real estate and hotels in the southwestern United States.

Bigelow is determined. Forbes reported in 2011 that he has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in turning NASA's patents into workable technology. His company launched two small, unmanned test ships into orbit on Russian rockets in 2006 and 2007. The tests were successful.

NASA's contract for a small module for the space station will study whether the technology works as part of a larger structure. It will also give NASA (and other space agencies) an opportunity to study expandable space modules in actual service. Bigelow Aerospace has claimed that the layers of materials that form their modules' hulls offer radiation and micrometeorite impact protection at least as good as traditional designs, if not better. That too will be studied.

Bigelow is convinced its technology will be validated. It already has plans to build its own space station, once investors are satisfied that the technology works. It has designed modules it calls the BA-330 — so named because they contain 330 cubic metres of habitable space. Two of those modules, linked together, would have three-quarters of the habitable volume of the International Space Station and require far fewer launches to assemble. Bigelow hopes to rent the station out, several months at a time, to countries or large corporations that have aspirations for space travel, but no access to the existing station.

It's far from certain that there's enough demand for that service to warrant the construction of a private space station. Bigelow is right to note that it's only now that such a venture is even possible — there's been little point in putting a station in orbit without the privately-operated space ships to ferry astronauts to and fro. That will soon be a reality, and could create a whole new market for orbital infrastructure. Time will tell.

But the utility of expandable habitat technology extends beyond any specific commercial venture. If the test on the International Space Station works as planned, expect expandable habitats to be part of any future space station and humanity's first manned deep-space exploration vessels. They may not be sleek, but space balloons have the right stuff to get us to the final frontier.

House Science Committee organizes for the new Congress

Jeff Foust – SpacePolitics.com

The House Science Committee held a brief organizational meeting Wednesday to formally confirm its membership, rules, and subcommittee assignments. The Subcommittee on Space (as it is now simply known; all the committee's subcommittees now have one-word names) is the committee's largest subcommittee, with 12 Republican and 9 Democrats:

Republicans
Democrats
Chairman Steven Palazzo (Mississippi)
Ralph Hall (Texas)
Dana Rohrabacher (California)
Frank D. Lucas (Oklahoma)
Michael McCaul (Texas)
Mo Brooks (Alabama)
Larry Bucshon (Indiana)
Steve Stockman (Texas)
Bill Posey (Florida)
David Schweikert (Arizona)
Jim Bridenstine (Oklahoma)
Chris Stewart (Utah)
Donna Edwards (Maryland) (Ranking Member)
Frederica Wilson (Florida)
Suzanne Bonamici (Oregon)
Dan Maffei (New York)
Joe Kennedy (Massachusetts)
Derek Kilmer (Washington)
Ami Bera (California)
Marc Veasey (Texas)
Julia Brownley (California)

Several NASA centers are represented in the subcommittee roster. Stephen Palazzo, returning as committee chairman, has Stennis Space Center in his district. Bill Posey comes to the committee after redistricting put Kennedy Space Center in his district (he previously represented Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, but not KSC itself), while Mo Brooks's district includes Marshall Space Flight Center. Steve Stockman, returning to Congress after serving a term in the House in the mid-1990s, has the Johnson Space Center just inside his new district; it previously had been in Rep. Pete Olson's (R-TX) district. Ranking member Donna Edwards's district surrounds the Goddard Space Flight Center on three sides.

Edwards, the new ranking member of the subcommittee, welcomed her appointment to the position in a statement yesterday. "Having worked years ago on NASA's Spacelab project, I look forward to the opportunity to develop a pioneering space policy that will uphold our international competitiveness, spur innovation in the United States, and build the jobs and workforce that have contributed so greatly to our economy, including in Maryland's 4th Congressional District," Edwards, representing Maryland's 4th district, said.

In his opening statement, full committee chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) included an new NASA authorization bill as a committee priority. "From reauthorizing NASA to advocating for robust research and development," he said, "we have much to do." The committee's oversight plan goes into more details, including NASA's human spaceflight program "it undergoes a period of uncertainty and transition following various Administration proposals." In space science, the plan calls out for special attention unspecified "programs that exceed cost estimates to ensure they do not adversely impact the development and launch of other missions," a possible reference to the James Webb Space Telescope. Other efforts "warranting further review" at NASA, in the eyes of the committee, "include costs associated with cancellation of the Constellation program, NASA's approach to develop and fund a successor to the Space Shuttle, and investment in NASA launch infrastructure."

Colonizing Mars: Q&A with Mars One Chief Bas Lansdorp

Mike Wall - Space.com

Mars One wants to land four astronauts on the Red Planet in 2023, and it's come up with a creative way to fund this ambitious undertaking.

The Netherlands-based nonprofit plans to stage a global reality-TV event that follows the colonization effort from astronaut selection through the settlers' first years on the Red Planet. Mars One thinks revenues from broadcasting rights and sponsorships will cover most of the one-way mission's estimated $6 billion cost.

The cameras will be turned on soon. Mars One released its basic astronaut requirements earlier this month — you must be at least 18 years old, intelligent, in good mental and physical health and committed to the project — and the televised astronaut-selection process will kick off later this year, officials say.

SPACE.com recently caught up via email with Mars One co-founder and general director Bas Lansdorp. Lansdorp talked about Mars One's business model, the major challenges facing the project and its long-term goals, which include landing new crews on the Red Planet every two years after the first pioneers touch down.

SPACE.com: How did you come up with the idea to fund a Mars colonization effort by staging a global media event?

Bas Lansdorp: It was triggered when I saw the revenue figures of the International Olympic Committee. When my co-founder Arno Wielders and I saw these numbers, we contacted Paul Römer, a well known Dutch media expert, and discussed the media value of putting humans on Mars. After that we talked to many different experts in the field, all of whom are convinced the media value is far greater than the cost associated with our mission to Mars.

SPACE.com: How long do you think people will continue to watch this effort? A few years? A few decades?

Lansdorp: The Mars One mission is of far greater effort and consequence than simply planting a flag. This is Earth's mission and it involves people from all over the world.

Anyone over 18 years of age can soon apply to be one of the first astronauts. After Mars One experts exclude unsuitable candidates, we will solicit the audience's help in democratically electing Earths first ambassadors to a new planet — the most important election in the history of our species.

The audience will remain engaged during the training of the elected candidates and will participate in their lives as they travel to and land on Mars through live telecasts and bi-directional communication. The astronauts, who are granted this incredible opportunity by the audience vote, will remain interactive with their supporters on Earth, sharing as much as possible what it is like to live on Mars.

Every year, new candidates for the Mars mission will be elected and every two years new crew members will arrive to Mars. Humanity will have become a multi-planetary species.

This is a story that people will follow for decades.

SPACE.com: What would you say to people skeptical that this business model can work?

Lansdorp: I would say: "Would you not watch humans walk on Mars?"

SPACE.com: How big a colony do you hope to eventually create on Mars?

Lansdorp: I would hope that at some point the colony is large enough to become self sustaining — but this will take many, many decades. Fortunately, Mars One will not be the only one working toward this goal. Several ventures, private and public, will play their roles in bringing humanity to a new planet.

To answer your question: I hope Mars One will establish a settlement of four people on Mars. The first group will be the hardest to accomplish, both from the technical and the financial point of view. I am convinced that once this first crew of four is there, many, many will follow.

SPACE.com: What is the biggest challenge Mars One will have to overcome to be successful?

Lansdorp: A human mission to Mars is one of the most ambitious projects that one could imagine. Three major challenges. In the short term: financing the funding gap between expenditures on the hardware and revenues from the the media event. In the medium term: successfully passing through phases where things do not go as planned — which there will be in a project of this magnitude.

In the long term: finding and training a crew that can successfully perform the first three years of the mission, between departure on Earth and the landing of the second crew.

SPACE.com: Have you already heard from a lot of people interested in becoming Mars One astronauts?

Lansdorp: In the first seven months after we announced our plan in June 2012, we received about 1,000 emails from people interested to go. In the last week we received another 1,000 emails and over 30,000 people subscribed to a mailing list that updates them on any news on the selection procedure.

SPACE.com: What would it mean to humanity if Mars One is successful in creating a Red Planet colony?

Lansdorp: I believe that it will truly change the outlook of our entire species. If humanity can send humans to Mars, is there anything that we cannot do?

I hope that the international approach of Mars One will bring the people of this planet a little closer together at a time when there is so much conflict and suffering. The Mars One mission will demonstrate how a diverse team of people from various backgrounds and countries can train for and then go on a challenging mission together. This endeavor will increase awareness of both cultural differences and similarities and with that, respect for who we are.

And if on Mars we do find life — that would change our entire perspective on the universe.

SPACE.com: Do you have any interest in going to Mars yourself?

Lansdorp: Yes, and 15 years ago I started my idea for Mars One because I wanted to go to Mars. But 15 years ago I was 20 years old. Now I have a wonderful girlfriend. I doubt she would ever leave Earth for Mars. But we'll see?!

I will certainly experience a strong mix of jealousy and joy when the first four people leave Earth on humanity's greatest expedition yet.

Hypersonic 'SpaceLiner' Aims to Fly Passengers in 2050

Jeremy Hsu - Tech News Daily (via Space.com)

A hypersonic "SpaceLiner" would whisk up to 50 passengers from Europe to Australia in 90 minutes. The futuristic vehicle would do so by riding a rocket into Earth's upper atmosphere, reaching 24 times the speed of sound before gliding in for a landing.

Many challenges still remain, including finding the right shape for the vehicle, said Martin Sippel, project coordinator for SpaceLiner at the German Aerospace Center. But he suggested the project could make enough progress to begin attracting private funding in another 10 years and aim for full operations by 2050.

The current concept includes a rocket booster stage for launch and a separate orbiter stage to carry passengers halfway around the world without ever making it to space. Flight times between the U.S. and Europe could fall to just over an hour if the SpaceLiner takes off — that is, if passengers don't mind paying the equivalent of space tourism prices around several hundred thousand dollars.

"Maybe we can best characterize the SpaceLiner by saying it's a kind of second-generation space shuttle, but with a completely different task," Sippel said.

SpaceLiner passengers would have eight minutes to experience the rocket launch before they reached an altitude of about 47 to 50 miles (75 to 80 kilometers). That falls short of the 62-mile (100-km) boundary considered the edge of space, but even a suborbital flight would allow SpaceLiner to glide back to Earth at hypersonic speeds of more than 15,000 mph (25,200 kph).

Relying on rocket power

The rocket-powered design stands out compared with other proposed hypersonic jets, which feature new air-breathing engine concepts. European aerospace giant EADS previously unveiled a hypersonic jet concept that would rely mainly upon air-breathing ramjets to reach cruising speeds of Mach 4 — faster than the supersonic Concorde's Mach 2 performances but far slower than the SpaceLiner's Mach 24 goal.

SpaceLiner's European project planners say their reliance upon proven rocket technology could allow their vehicle to fly sooner rather than later. They plan to use liquid oxygen and hydrogen rocket propellants so that the rocket engines leave only water vapor and hydrogen in the atmosphere.

"We will not try to improve the performance of the engine but would like to have it more reusable," Sippel told TechNewsDaily.

The empty rocket stage from SpaceLiner would return to Earth immediately after launch in preparation for reuse. An aircraft could grab the rocket stage in midair, tow it toward an airfield and release it for an autonomous gliding landing.

Chances of survival

But big challenges remain before SpaceLiner can take off. Researchers first must finalize a design shape capable of surviving the intense heat created by gliding at hypersonic speeds through the upper atmosphere. New cooling technologies and improved heat shielding for SpaceLiner's wing "leading edge" could help in that case.

Launching like a rocket rather than taking off like an aircraft means SpaceLiner would remain restricted to suitable launch sites with uninhabited areas down range. The SpaceLiner also would need a careful flight path during its final landing approach — the "sonic boom" shock that accompanies aircraft traveling faster than the speed of sound can damage buildings on the ground at low altitudes.

"The profile of the vehicle is very similar to a rocket-propelled vehicle," Sippel explained. "We only have a small corridor in which we can fly safely and economically."

SpaceLiner's design will make use of study results from a FAST20XX (Future High-Altitude High-Speed Transport 20XX) project funded by the European Union and backed by researchers from Germany, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Sweden. It can also draw lessons from upcoming efforts such as Project ALPHA by Aerospace Innovation GmbH — a space plane that aims to launch in midair from an Airbus A330 aircraft.

But future success ultimately depends upon the success of space tourism efforts by companies such as Virgin Galactic. If enough people prove willing to pay top dollar for suborbital flights as part of their travels around the world, Sippel envisions a fleet of SpaceLiners eventually making 10 to 15 flights per day.

Who will you sue if your spacecraft crashes?

John Glionna - Los Angeles Times

So you're planning to blast off into outer space on a future commercial flight from New Mexico. What if things go south and you are injured or killed? Who do you or your survivors sue?

New Mexico legislators have agreed to amend a state law that narrows who future space travelers can take to court if their venture goes ka-blooey. The new bill will protect spacecraft parts suppliers from damage lawsuits by passengers on space tourism flights launched from the state.

In coming years, Virgin Galactic plans to fly tourists into space from Spaceport America near the community of Truth or Consequences, for $200,000 a ticket. State officials said this week's agreement was vital for developing a commercial space travel industry at a state-financed spaceport in southern New Mexico.

The Space Flight Immunity Act, passed in 2010, protects Virgin Galactic from passenger damage lawsuits if the intrepid travelers had been informed of the risks of space travel. The amendment offers limited liability protection to suppliers and manufacturers of spacecraft parts and components as well.

Ray Vargas II, president of the New Mexico Trial Lawyers' Assn., told the Los Angeles Times that his group has fought for years against any blanket protection for businesses in the still-risky realm of commercial space travel.

"We've opposed blanket protections for two years, and this year we stood ready to oppose them again," Vargas said. "But lawmakers urged us to get together with Virgin Galactic officials to work something out."

Vargas says the agreement adds manufacturers of spacecraft parts and components to the list of operators with limited protection against liability. Under the new legislation, these businesses, like Virgin Galactic, could still be sued if plantiffs could prove that a firm was reckless or should have known about a parts defect.

Officials say space travel will one day become big business in New Mexico.

"Too much has been invested by both the state and Virgin Galactic to abandon this project," state Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez said in a statement. "It is in New Mexico's best interests that the spaceport project moves forward quickly, with as much consumer protection as possible."

Officials say suppliers and manufacturers involved in spaceflights will be required to carry $1 million in liability insurance coverage. That wouldn't go far in the event of a crash, however.

"This is a limited expansion of the Space Flight Immunity Act," Vargas told The Times. "It doesn't preclude people from filing lawsuits – far from it. We're behind this project, but not at the expense of safety."

UH lands former astronaut to instruct engineers

Renée Lee - Houston Chronicle

Retired NASA astronaut and engineer Bonnie J. Dunbar has been appointed to lead the University of Houston's new science, technology, engineering and math center and to teach in the College of Engineering.

The UH alumna is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. In April she will be inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Florida.

Dunbar, who recently worked as a Seattle-based consultant on STEM education and spaceflight technology, officially started her new position Thursday. Her recruitment is a part of President Renu Khator's continued efforts to raise the university's national profile and to solidify it as Tier One research institution.

Last year, Khator created a $30 million fund to hire 60 faculty members in STEM fields over the next two years. Dunbar's national and international experience will provide leadership in the development of the new center and build upon strong programs in several of the colleges, UH said in a news release.

Nationally, there are 160 STEM centers at universities.

"STEM is a very important initiative for the University of Houston," Khator said. "I was looking for someone who personifies the STEM in a comprehensive way. She, in my vision, personifies what a STEM education can do."

STEM also is an important issue for the Houston region as it works to attract and sustain high-tech industries.

"Developing a pipeline for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics will play a major role in the sustained growth and stability of the U.S. economy, and is a critical component to helping our nation win the future," Dunbar said in a statement.

A new STEM Center website is planned, and Dunbar will promote STEM education on social media. One of her goals will be to engage and support programs for K-12 education.

Dunbar logged more than 50 days in space as a NASA mission specialist and veteran of five spaceflights. Following her flight career, Dunbar served in the government Senior Executive Service for seven years, holding management positions at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., and at the Johnson Space Center.

Before working at NASA, she was a senior production operations research engineer with Rockwell International Space Division.

Anderson to retire from NASA Jan. 31

John Huthmacher - Hastings Tribune

Nebraska's man in space has touched down for the last time.

Clayton Anderson said he will retire at the end of this month, grounding a career at NASA that included 15 years as an astronaut and 15 as an engineer. The 53-year-old Omaha native first mentioned his intentions to retire publicly on his Twitter account Saturday. In a tweet, he said, "Calling all Tweeps. Guess u know now that I have decided to retire after 30 years w/NASA. It's been an awesome ride."

He confirmed that announcement during an interview at the Tom Osborne Leadership Award event at Lochland Country Club Wednesday hosted by Leadership Hastings. Anderson was honored as the third recipient of the award, named for the retired Husker football coach, congressional representative and University of Nebraska-Lincoln athletic director.

He said he and his wife, Susan, and their two children, Clayton and Marie, will remain in Houston for the time being but could return to Nebraska to reside at some point. Much like the majority of his career at NASA, his future plans are very much up in the air, he said.

"I'm looking forward to finishing the book I've been writing for several years, and I'll be doing some public speaking, but I really don't know specifically what I'll be doing in the future," Anderson said. "I'm looking forward to spending some time with my son and daughter, and maybe doing some honey-dos that my wife will have ready for me. But there's something else, something more.

"I truly believe that God has a bigger plan for me. I just have to figure out what it is. Anything is a possibility right now. No doors are closed."

Robots and Astronauts Will Defend the Earth

Ray Villard - Discovery News

My colleague Ian O'Neill has described one of the most unique interplanetary missions in the history of space exploration, and I'd say also one of the most important technological steps in the evolution of the human species.

The Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission to a binary asteroid will be the first precise test as to whether, sometime in the future, a deadly asteroid barreling toward Earth could be knocked off course by whacking it with a projectile.

In addition to hitting an asteroid, the AIDA close encounter will provide valuable information on rotation, gravity, geology, and surface properties, around the pair of asteroids gravitationally embraced in a binary orbit.

The tag-team of two spacecraft will help set the stage for an eventual human rendezvous with near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) as proposed by the Obama administration.

An asteroid visit by the first interplanetary astronaut team would allow for in-depth scientific surveys of a 4 billion year old primordial body. As with the Apollo lunar missions, astronaut EVAs on an asteroid's surface could collect different rock samples more efficiently than robots alone. This same paradigm holds true for sending humans to Mars, the rocky dwarf planet Ceres, or and other (survivable) body in the solar system.

To ensure a successful manned mission, a robotic spacecraft would first visit the target NEA. This asteroid exploration strategy is very similar to the unmanned Ranger, Lunar Orbiter, and Surveyor missions that reconnoitered the moon before the scientifically robust Apollo landings.

In 2000, NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Shoemaker spacecraft was the first man-made object to enter into an orbit about a NEA. NEAR circled the asteroid Eros for one year before making a soft landing.

Likewise, the precursor reconnaissance spacecraft would gingerly settle into and orbit about the potato-shaped body targeted for a human visit. The robot would test autonomous guidance and navigation for maneuvering in the NEA's weak gravitational field, fly in formation, and perhaps even landing.

The NEA's complex gravitational field could play havoc with an orbiting spacecraft and therefore must be mapped out by the reconnaissance probe. Because asteroids are not perfect spheres their gravity field warps space in complicated ways and makes a stable orbit problematic. What may at first seem like a safe orbit could wind up plunging a spacecraft into a head-on collision with the surface.

Once settled into orbit the probe would make three-dimensional maps of the NEA's topography, and photograph features as small as boulders. Thousands of reconnaissance photos would reveal the shadow play on the lumpy irregular surface. Without such detailed maps an astronaut crew might be challenged interpreting their view out of the window.

The precursor craft would nail down known the asteroid's precise spin rate. Its spectrographs and other sensors would scrutinize the asteroid's surface chemistry and look for any potential hazards to astronauts.

A key objective for the follow-on astronaut visit would do surface experiments to study the NEA's internal structure. This is critical to figuring out which deflection strategies are best for dealing with the marauder. Is the NEA pretty solid or is it more like a fragile flying rubble pile? This is further complicated by the fact that asteroids are collectively a mixed bag of objects shuttled in from all over the solar system.

Some asteroids may really be fragile, burned out comet nuclei. The initial astronaut visit would be a proof-of-concept for sending another crew to as asteroid deemed a high-probability collision hazard, like the asteroid Apophis. Such a mission might carry a transponder to anchor to the asteroid — reminiscent of the tracking device placed on the legendary great white shark in the 1975 film, Jaws.

Like it or not, interplanetary collisions are at the heart of the solar system's formation and evolution. They not only tell us about the past but also predict the future history of our solar system.

Sending astronauts deep into space not only to probe our remote past billions of years, but also provide insurance for Earth's future, is one of the biggest justifications for human interplanetary travel.

NASA's First Disaster Happened on the Launch Pad

Amy Shira Teitel - Discovery News

In NASA's early years, the agency learned by doing; developing tests and procedures as programs wore on. One test developed and used in the Mercury program was the "plugs-out test," a prelaunch test of the spacecrafts systems through a simulated countdown on launch. It was never considered a dangerous test, but on Jan. 27, 1967, Apollo 1's plugs-out test claimed the lives of the crew.

Typical for the first flight of a new program, the plan for Apollo 1 was a simple shakedown cruise. The crew – Mercury astronaut Gus Grissom, Gemini veteran Ed White, and rookie Roger Chaffee – would take just the Command and Service Module (CSM) into Earth orbit.

The plugs-out test started out routinely with the flight-ready spacecraft mounted on its unfueled Saturn IB rocket. The umbilical power cords that supplied power were removed — the plugs were out — putting the spacecraft on its internal batteries and the crew cabin was pressurized with 16.7 pounds per square inch of pure oxygen. As the crew entered the spacecraft around 1pm that afternoon, a full launch-day staff of engineers in mission control took their positions for the test. There was also a staff of men in the White Room; the room that gave the astronauts passage to the spacecraft remained attached to the vehicle.

For the first five hours, minor things interrupted the test. Grissom complained of a foul odor like sour buttermilk in his oxygen unit and at one point a high oxygen flow rate in the astronauts suits tripped an alarm. But these were minor problems compared to the persistent communications problems. Static made conversations between the crew and mission control nearly impossible. Grissom, frustration rising, remarked that they'd never get to the moon if they couldn't talk between two or three buildings.

Just after 6:31pm that evening, technicians monitoring the spacecraft from Mission Control noticed a sudden increase in oxygen flow and pressure inside the cabin. This irregularity in telemetry was accompanied by a garbled transmission: "Fire," someone said, then "they're fighting a bad fire — let's get out. Open 'er up" or "we've got a bad fire — let's get out. We're burning up." Because of the static, it wasn't even clear who was speaking.

Monitors showing a live video feed of the white room told the story: flames visible through in spacecraft's small window. Crews in the White Room tried to open the hatch, but no one could move the inward opening design against the pressure inside the spacecraft. Three seconds after the crew's first mention of a fire, the CSM's pressure reached a critical point. The hull ruptured, flames poured into the White Room. Telemetry and voice communication from Apollo 1 went silent.

It was a half hour before firemen and recovery personnel were able to remove the astronauts' bodies; Ed White was found turned around on his couch reaching for the hatch.

The accident investigation lasted a year. It took two months for technicians to disassemble the spacecraft; it was taken apart piece by piece with everything removed checked against another full Apollo CSM. The accident review board finally determined that a wire over the piping from the urine collection system had arced. In the pure oxygen environment, and with everything inside soaked in pure oxygen, that spark turned into a full fire easily. The pattern of damage suggested that the fire started below the crew's feet, a point out of their line of sight. The best estimates said it took about ten seconds for spacecraft to fill with flames. But it wasn't the fire that killed the crew. Autopsies showed they asphyxiated after their oxygen hoses were severed. They were gone less than a minute after reporting the fire.

The accident investigation focused on NASA's controversial decision to run a test with a spacecraft under high pressure with pure oxygen. The Apollo CMS' manufacturer, North American Aviation, had recommended NASA not test the spacecraft under pressure, warning of risks of fire, but NASA pressed on and ran the test as it had before all six Mercury flight and all ten Gemini missions. In retrospect, head astronaut Deke Slayton said, it was sheer luck that plugs-out tests in the McDonnell built Mercury and Gemini spacecraft hadn't ended in tragedy. It was an unfortunate oversight that the plugs-out test had never been classified as hazardous. That designation was reserved for tests involving fueled vehicles, hypergolic propellants, cryogenic systems, high pressure tanks, live pyrotechnics or altitude chamber tests.

The accident led to two significant changes in the Apollo spacecraft. The inward-opening hatch was replaced with a quick-operating, outward opening, lightweight design made of aluminum and fiberglass that could be opened in less that 10 seconds. NASA also changed the spacecraft's cabin atmosphere for pre-launch testing. The 100 percent oxygen was replaced with a mixture of 60 percent oxygen and 40 percent nitrogen, a mixture that was far less supportive of combustion though the astronauts' suits still fed them pure oxygen. After launch, the oxygen/nitrogen mix was gradually replaced with pure oxygen for the duration of the mission.

No crew ever flew on Apollo 1. The mission was redesignated Apollo 204 and manned missions continued with Apollo 7 in October of 1968. The plugs-out test was never reclassified as hazardous, but Apollo 7's plugs out test was run with the hatch open.

Boeing 787's grounding highlights threat to innovation

Brad Stone & Susanna Ray - Bloomberg News

By the standards of commercial airplanes, the Boeing (BA) 787 was supposed to be a modern marvel.

Its carbon-fiber body and new electrical system give it a reduced weight, which allows it to burn 20 percent less fuel than the midsize airplanes it's meant to replace.

The interior cabin features cathedral-like archways to reduce the sense of claustrophobia and enlarged windows that dim at the touch of a button. Because of the new, stronger composite materials, the cabin can also be maintained at higher pressure and humidity, so travelers feel fresher at landing.

The airplane even has a soaring name, the Dreamliner, the winning submission in a naming contest held on America Online 10 years ago.

Now the Dreamliner has turned into a nightmare for Chicago- based Boeing Co. and the airlines that paid a list price of more than $200 million per airplane. It suffered problems typical for new planes, ranging from brake malfunctions to computer glitches. On Jan. 16, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the fleet after the battery on a 787 that had just landed in Boston caught fire and another produced a fault that forced an emergency landing by an All Nippon Airways (9202) flight bound for Tokyo, with the passengers evacuating via inflatable slides.

The grounding of the 787 was in many respects inevitable for a project marked by missed opportunities, narrowed visions, and, yes, dreams deferred. It's also a dispiriting example of the shrinking tolerance for risk among corporate executives and government regulators, which is stifling innovation and threatening America's competitive edge.

Past 'Advances'

"I often wonder, if society existed as it does today with the media, politicians, and lawyers and managers focused on not missing earnings by two cents per quarter, whether we would have made the advances of the past," says Bob Bogash, who retired after a 30-year career at Boeing and now writes a blog about aviation, rbogash.com.

The skies have long been a showcase for America's genius for invention. More often than not, Boeing, founded in 1916 on the shores of Seattle's Lake Union by a lumberman named William Boeing, was right in the thick of it.

During World War II, the B-29 Superfortress had a pressurized cabin and remote-control guns. The 707 ushered the U.S. into the Jet Age in the 1950s, and the 747, introduced in 1970 as the world's first wide-bodied aircraft, revolutionized long-haul air travel. All of these efforts had teething problems even worse than the 787's.

747 Problems

"The 747's windshields used to crack so often that when I was based in Honolulu as a field service engineer I had two spares in my home garage, just in case," Bogash says.

And yet each time, Boeing made the necessary fixes and plunged ahead with the next big bet.

The Dreamliner was born out of the ashes of the Sonic Cruiser, a plane that was planned to fly near the speed of sound with twice as many passengers as the Concorde, until airlines squelched the idea, saying they couldn't afford to pay for that luxury in the post-9/11 era.

Boeing turned its sights to fuel efficiency, a worthwhile goal and not a particularly enthralling one which drove almost every design decision. Boeing decided to use carbon-fiber composites -- essentially plastic—for the body and wings -- and to reserve titanium and other heavy metals for the landing gear, engines, and some small parts.

New engines from Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc (RR/) and General Electric Co. (GE) were designed to give more thrust with less fuel. The lithium-ion batteries, the focus of so many of Boeing's current troubles, were selected because they could hold more energy and be quickly recharged.

Trimming Costs
The electrical system replaced the traditional pneumatic systems that used hot air off the engines, for a more streamlined approach that lowers maintenance costs.

During the Dreamliner's development, Boeing's board was focused on holding down costs. So it came up with a plan in which suppliers would become partners and would finance and produce entire sections of the 787, taking on greater risk as well as a larger share of revenue from each jet sold.

Half a dozen main suppliers were put in charge of building big sections of the plane that were to be flown, fully completed, to Boeing's factory in Everett, Washington, then snapped together in three days and delivered to customers. The plan was for Boeing to make 30 percent of each 787 and buy 70 percent.

Temporary Fasteners

How well did it work? Boeing executives scheduled the first aircraft for delivery in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. When the first 787 rolled out of the factory in July 2007, it was held together with temporary fasteners because the real ones had yet to be delivered. After the event, Boeing had to roll it back into the factory.

The company acknowledged three months later that it was behind schedule because of parts shortages and suppliers that weren't keeping up.

That setback was only the first of seven delays to the Dreamliner, which finally went into service in the fall of 2011. An attempt to reduce the financial risk associated with next- generation technology created a spiraling series of problems, all of which contributed to the issues that finally prompted the FAA to ground the fleet.

"Thanks to that overreliance on other people, you had these ridiculous delays, which meant there were too many planes built up front, and that was a recipe for defects," says Richard Aboulafia, a consultant with the Teal Group, an aerospace research firm.

SpaceX, Tesla

The Dreamliner's troubles reflect a wider trend. Innovation in mature economies such as America's seems stuck in a perpetual holding pattern.

Venture capitalist Peter Thiel has warned about this slowdown for years.

"There is so much incrementalism now," Thiel said in a recent interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. "Even back in the '90s there were companies like Amazon that were willing to do big things. That has gone out of fashion now."

Thiel points to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and the electric car company Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), both run by Elon Musk, as the rare examples of recent attempts to leap forward boldly. Yet Musk often gets portrayed as a quixotic dreamer.

"I think this reflects the insanity of our country, that anything non-incremental is seen as insane," Thiel says.

Who's responsible for this perceived downturn in innovation? One obvious target is overweening government. Some Boeing defenders have charged that the FAA wildly overreacted by grounding the Dreamliner.

'Risk-Averse'

"They are trying to make us too risk-averse," says Gordon Bethune, a retired airline executive who worked for Boeing and later ran Continental Airlines. "The FAA is teaching Boeing something. Are we sending the right signals to our innovators in automobiles, airplanes, appliances, that the heavy hand of God is going to come down on you if you have so much as one question wrong in a hundred-question exam?"

Yet an even more important factor than excessive regulation is that the public markets simply don't reward big risks. While going public theoretically should give companies more access to capital to finance research and development, it turns out that an initial public offering actually tends to discourage bold bets.

More than 20 years of patent citations show that on average in the five years after a company stages an IPO there's a 40 percent drop in the quality of innovation, says Shai Bernstein, an assistant finance professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, who has studied the trend.

Michael Dell

This happens partly because a company's best inventors tend to cash in their chips and head to smaller entities with more upside, and partly because managers become more inclined to pursue the incremental projects that won't spook investors.

Too often at a newly public company "suddenly everyone is mindful about bottom-line profits rather than just building a great company,"Bernstein says.

Consider the swooning PC maker Dell Inc. (DELL), which pioneered the selling of personal computers over the phone and the Internet. For years its founder, Michael Dell, openly taunted rivals that spent heavily on research and development.

While Wall Street loved Dell's lightweight, capital- efficient business model, when consumers moved away from desktops to mobile devices, the company stumbled and proved ill- equipped to come up with any new technology to meet changing tastes. The former Wall Street darling is now said to be in talks to go private.

Space Shuttle

After the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986, U.S. President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation from the Oval Office.

"I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen," he said. "It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave."

Less than three decades later, NASA has pulled back from manned space exploration -- yet another sign of how the benefits of risky endeavors have been trumped by cost concerns and the fear of failure.

The Boeing 787 will inevitably fly again; it may already be back in the skies by the time you read this. Still a future full of innovations braver than dimmable airplane windows remains just a dream.

END

FF Energy

Sunday, January 27, 2013

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Saturday, January 26, 2013

Abandoning USA Space Capability to others will Eliminate our Capability to Defend Ourselves

Friday, January 25, 2013

Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - January 25, 2013 and JSC Today

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