NASA OIG: JSC Mismanaged $42.7M Energy
Contract (Source: NASA Watch)
"We found that Johnson mismanaged its $42.7 million energy contract.
Specifically, Johnson officials did not require Honeywell to submit
annual savings verification reports and accepted a flawed report for
the first year, did not consider the effect of renovations to or
demolition of facilities on the guaranteed savings rate, and added work
to the contract without ensuring that energy savings would cover the
additional costs." (4/8)
The Uneasy State of NASA's Human Space
Exploration Program (Source: Space Review)
Next week marks the third anniversary of President Obama's speech
calling for a human mission to an asteroid, but many people, including
some within NASA, still have trouble accepting that goal. Jeff Foust
reports on that perceived lack of enthusiasm and whether a new proposal
to retrieve an asteroid could change people's minds. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2275/1
to view the article. (4/8)
Move Over NASA and Make Room for the
TVA of Space (Source: Space Review)
NASA has been taking steps to promote commercial space development, but
that is neither the only nor the highest agency priority. Three authors
argues that a federally-chartered corporation modeled on the Tennessee
Valley Authority could accelerate commercial space development in the
US and worldwide. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2274/1
to view the article. (4/8)
Revisiting Exoplanets and Dark Matter
(Source: Space Review)
Two of the biggest topics in astronomy today are the search for
extrasolar planets and the composition of dark matter. Jeff Foust
updates some recent reports on those topics with news on new exoplanet
missions and results from an experiment on the ISS. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2273/1
to view the article. (4/8)
The Mystery of Shackleton Crater
(Source: Air & Space)
Though unremarkable in appearance compared to the roughly 4,000 craters
on the Moon in its size range, the 20 km diameter crater Shackleton has
been the source of relentless scientific controversy for the past 20
years. Shackleton is located at the south pole of the Moon;
indeed, its near side rim is the precise location of the geographic
pole itself. Its location makes observation by Earth-based telescopes
difficult and it was not well photographed by the Lunar Orbiter series.
That all changed in 1994 with the flight of the joint DoD-NASA mission
to the Moon, Clementine. Clementine carried cameras that globally
imaged the Moon in eleven visible and near-infrared wavelengths. In
addition, it mapped the surface and lighting of the poles of the Moon
at uniform resolution over the course of almost three lunar days (74
Earth days).
When the Science Team first saw the south polar mosaic, the extent of
darkness in the map was striking. Because the Moon’s spin axis is close
to perpendicular to the ecliptic plane, the Sun is always at the
horizon at the lunar poles. Instead of rising and setting, the Sun
circles around the poles at or near the horizon. Because of this
grazing incidence, an area in a topographic depression may be in
permanent shadow. Click here.
(4/8)
Need for Space 'Rules of Road' Grows
(Source: On Orbit Watch)
The future ability of nations and companies to utilize space will be at
grave risk in the absence of multinational cooperation and the
establishment of “rules of the road” governing activities in the
increasingly crowded orbital environment, a senior U.S. State
Department official warned. Frank A. Rose, deputy assistant secretary
of state for space and defense policy, voiced his concern during the
National Space Symposium.
“Space is being increasingly contested in all orbits,” he said. “Unless
the international community adopts pragmatic and constructive measures
to avoid accidents and respond to the danger of irresponsible behavior
in space, the environment around our planet will become increasingly
hazardous to both human and robotic spaceflight.” (4/8)
Space Environment and Liabilities
(Source: Satellite Pro)
“The reliability of launch vehicles and of satellite performance are
important factors. And while the capital values in space assets are
large, it is nothing compared to the values of terrestrial assets.
Thirdly, the widespread distribution of satellites around the GEO ring
is a positive factor. In addition, there is data sharing amongst major
commercial operators of GEO satellites.
“One undeniable positive is the rarity of collisions involving space
objects, the absence of financial default on the part of the commercial
operator and the availability of adequate and affordable liability
insurance. In many cases, there is a scheme of state sponsored legal
liability.” Click here.
(4/6)
Satellite Servicing Efforts Grapple
with the Business Case (Source: Space News)
Industry and government advocates of on-orbit satellite servicing
remain optimistic about the long-term potential of this technology to
revolutionize the satellite industry but acknowledge the near-term
challenges of building a business case and attracting customers. “The
technology exists today to do on-orbit servicing, even though the
client base we’re talking about is not prepared for servicing,” said
NASA's Benjamin Reed.
That assessment, Reed said, is based on the demonstration of servicing
technologies performed by his group’s Robotic Refueling Mission, an
experiment mounted on the international space station. In a series of
experiments performed through January, engineers have used the
station’s Dextre manipulator to demonstrate the ability of a robotic
servicing system to refuel a spacecraft.
NASA’s Robotic Refueling Mission experiment is one of several efforts
in satellite servicing that range in complexity from spacecraft that
dock with spacecraft and take over propulsion to the Defense Advanced
Research Project Agency’s Phoenix program, which seeks to repurpose
components from defunct satellites and perform on-orbit assembly of new
satellites. All, though, face the challenge of finding customers for
their systems. (4/8)
NASA Chief: Commercial Crew Safe from
Sequester, for Now (Source: Space News)
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said the budget for the agency’s
Commercial Crew Program, an effort to send astronauts to the
international space station aboard privately owned spacecraft by 2017,
is safe from sequestration — for now. “So far, we see no significant
impact the rest of this fiscal year,” Bolden said recently. “But our
projection is that if we are not able to get out of this condition, it
may slow progress on commercial crew.”
It is not yet clear what alternative to sequestration Congress might
approve. Dueling 10-year budget plans passed by the House and Senate
last month serve as a starting point for negotiations. Meanwhile, the
White House is set to weigh in April 10, when it will at last transmit
its 2014 budget request to Congress. Budget requests are usually made
public in February.
Bolden has gone to bat for the White House’s commercial crew request
many times, but Congress has never signaled a willingness to fund the
administration’s signature human spaceflight effort at that level. His
latest plug for a bigger Commercial Crew Program budget was during a
March 20 hearing of the House Appropriations commerce, justice, science
subcommittee. “If we aren’t able to get up to the $800 million level,
then I will have to come back and officially notify the Congress that
we cannot make 2017 for availability of commercial crew,” Bolden said.
(4/8)
Wing Adopts New Space Surveillance
Mission (Source: AFSPC)
The 21st Operations Group assumed the Cobra Dane Radar mission at
Eareckson Air Station, Shemya Island, Alaska, April 1. Eareckson AS is
located on the western tip of Alaska's Aleutian islands. The radar has
the ability to detect objects about 2,000 miles away, and provides data
for the Space Surveillance Network and the Ballistic Missile Defense
System. Cobra Dane will continue to be operated by a contract
workforce, and no military personnel will be assigned to the unit at
Eareckson AS. (4/5)
Remaining Martian Atmosphere Still
Dynamic (Source: NASA JPL)
Mars has lost much of its original atmosphere, but what's left remains
quite active, recent findings from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity
indicate. Rover team members reported diverse findings today at the
European Geosciences Union 2013 General Assembly, in Vienna. Evidence
has strengthened this month that Mars lost much of its original
atmosphere by a process of gas escaping from the top of the atmosphere.
Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument analyzed an
atmosphere sample last week using a process that concentrates selected
gases. The results provided the most precise measurements ever made of
isotopes of argon in the Martian atmosphere. Isotopes are variants of
the same element with different atomic weights. "We found arguably the
clearest and most robust signature of atmospheric loss on Mars," said
Sushil Atreya.
SAM found that the Martian atmosphere has about four times as much of a
lighter stable isotope (argon-36) compared to a heavier one (argon-38).
This removes previous uncertainty about the ratio in the Martian
atmosphere from 1976 measurements from NASA's Viking project and from
small volumes of argon extracted from Martian meteorites. The ratio is
much lower than the solar system's original ratio. (4/8)
Somebody's Selling a Hubble Telescope
Control Console on eBay (Source: io9)
For sale: a two-person control console for the Hubble Space Telescope.
Buy it now price is 75 grand, and shipping's just $1,500. But wait –
there's more! Included with the control console is a "Vehicle Power
Interface Console," which was originally offered last year by the same
seller. Nobody bought it (apparently 75 grand is asking a little much
for a one-of-a-kind piece of space memorabilia like a Power Interface
Console for the HST), so the seller paired it with the console. (4/8)
Sex in Space (Source:
Space Law Librarian)
Now that the title of this post has your attention, what this post is
actually going to discuss are the rights to reproduce in space. Seems
like it this would be a no brainer. So much of a no brainer that a
special suit has been developed to facilitate the "process." In a
recent op-ed Laura Woodmansee, author of the book Sex in Space,
questioned the ethics of reproduction in an environment where gravity,
or lack of, affects the formation of cells.
A study at the University of Montreal found that "intracellular traffic
flow is compromised under hyper-gravity conditions and that both hyper
and microgravity affect the precisely coordinated construction of the
cellular envelope in the growing cell." What this means is that when
the sperm and egg meet the new life will not grow as it does under
Earth's gravity.
Does the knowledge that a fetus will be malformed if conceived in space
create an ethical obligation to not conceive in outer space? Who is
going to prevent people from attempting? Can the government prohibit
this private, recreational act? These are all good questions and as in
most legal questions the answer depends. Click here.
(4/8)
Spaceflight Is At A Crossroads
(Source: Aviation Week)
Launch costs continue to be the main hurdle to be surmounted before the
human economy moves off the planet. But launch is only the first
hurdle; there must be other reasons to travel in space beyond the
accomplishment itself. In its latest report on the worldwide space
industry, the Space Foundation offers more evidence that spaceflight is
moving away from a government-based activity driven largely by
scientific and political objectives, toward a true, self-sustaining
marketplace. It is not there yet, but it appears to be gaining momentum.
In 2012 what the Foundation’s analysts call the “global space economy”
grew by almost 7%, to a record $304 billion. “As in previous years, the
vast majority of this growth was in the commercial sector, which now
constitutes nearly three-quarters of the space economy, with government
spending making up the rest,” the 2013 Space Report states. Click here.
(4/5)
Roskosmos Suggests Two Scenarios of
Operations at Baikonur (Source: Tengri News)
Russia may bring its operations at the Baikonur cosmodrome close to
zero as early as by 2020, according to Russia’s Izvestia. “Given the
tensions over Baikonur in late 2012, Russia’s Roskosmos National Space
Agency has submitted suggestions on formulating a new Federal Program
to develop cosmodromes in 2016-2025”, the article published April 8
reads.
According to Roskosmos, along the crisis scenario, Baikonur
infrastructure will only be supported after 2021 to accommodate
individual launches. The scenario envisages that “after 2020 there
might be legal, organizational and social conditions, wherein operation
of launches from Baikonur will be hardly possible”.
“Higher pace of developing infrastructure at the Russian Vostochny
cosmodrome is the major feature differing the crisis scenario from the
basic one. Additional investments are also expected to be channeled to
Plesetks cosmodrome”, according to Izvestia. (4/8)
SpaceX Presentation Set for Tuesday
Near Texas Site (Source: Valley Morning Star)
The Brownsville-South Padre Island Chapter of the AEM, the Asociacion
de Empresarios Mexicanos, will host a presentation Tuesday on SpaceX at
the Rancho Viejo Resort and Country Club. SpaceX is considering
building a launch site in Texas and the area near Boca Chica beach is
on the list of possible sites. The AEM wants to inform its members and
non-members about the SpaceX project; thus, it is hosting the
presentation in hopes of garnering additional interest in the project,
officials said. (4/7)
Back to the Moon? Not Any Time Soon,
Says Bolden (Source: Space Politics)
A week from Monday marks the third anniversary of President Obama’s
speech at the Kennedy Space Center where he formally announced the goal
of a human mission to an asteroid by 2025. While that is an official
goal of NASA’s human space exploration program, there remains some
opposition or, at the very least, lack of acceptance of the goal by
many people. “Since it was announced, there was less enthusiasm for it
among the community broadly,” Al Carnesale said of the asteroid mission
goal. “The more we learn about it, the more we hear about it, people
seem less enthusiastic about it.”
Charles Bolden, who showed no sign of accepting Carnesale’s advice to
refocus on the Moon. He noted that a number of nations have expressed
interest, to varying degrees, in human lunar exploration. “They all
have dreams of putting human on the Moon,” he said. “I have told every
head of agency of every partner agency that if you assume the lead in a
human lunar mission, NASA will be a part of that. NASA wants to be a
participant.”
However, he made it clear NASA has no plans to lead its own human
return to the Moon under his watch. “NASA will not take the lead on a
human lunar mission,” he said. “NASA is not going to the Moon with a
human as a primary project probably in my lifetime. And the reason is,
we can only do so many things.” Instead, he said the focus would remain
on human missions to asteroids and to Mars." (4/7)
Fixed-Base Operator Selected for
Spaceport America (Source: El Paso Inc.)
Tyler Francis and his company, Francis Aviation, have taken over at
Santa Teresa Airport where they’ll be supplying aviation and jet fuel
to customers. But in the not too distant future, he expects to be
pumping rocket fuel to a very different kind of customer as the first
fixed-base operator at Spaceport America north of Las Cruces, N.M.
Francis responded to a request for bids put out by the state of New
Mexico to become the exclusive fixed-base operator and runway manager
for the Spaceport America facility. He won the subcontract.
“I am so excited,” he said. “I worked very hard to win the bid. The
impact is going to be huge from a business perspective. Looking to the
future, it’s just spectacular. “Once Virgin Galactic starts operation,
we will be fueling the White Knight with jet fuel.” “Based on their
projections of phasing in to full operations over the next few years,
we’ll be flying from here to there with our staff to do the runway
preps, all the aircraft preps and to get everything set up so when they
do begin operation, everything‘s ready to go,” Francis said. “Once
there are full-scale operations going on, we’ll be looking at two
launches a week minimum to take people into space,” he said. (4/7)
NASA Announces Next-Generation
Exoplanet Hunter (Source: EarthSky)
NASA announced it has selected the Transiting Exoplanet Survey
Satellite (TESS) project at MIT as the next-generation Earth-orbiting
exoplanet hunter. Exoplanets are planets that move in orbit around
distant stars. TESS’ launch – planned for 2017 – will be funded by a
$200 million grant to an MIT-led team of space scientists and engineers.
The premiere Earth-orbiting exoplanet hunter currently is the Kepler
Space Telescope, which – as of January 2013 – has spotted 2,740
candidate exoplanets. TESS will look for exoplanets in the same way
that Kepler does. It will seek the tiny dip in starlight that occurs
when, as seen from Earth, a distant planet passes in front of its star.
Of course, Kepler is not the only planet-hunting technique. There’s a
good explanation of others in this post.
Today, there are 861 confirmed exoplanets, according to the most recent
update from exoplanet.eu on March 25, 2013. Bottom line: NASA said on
April 7, 2013 that it has selected the Transiting Exoplanet Survey
Satellite (TESS) project at MIT as the next-generation Earth-orbiting
exoplanet hunter. The launch is planned for 2017 and is funded by a
$200 million grant to MIT. (4/7)
Exoplanet Missions (Source:
Astrobiology)
It’s fair to say there is some disappointment in this community that we
don't have a clear plan for the kinds of mission a TPF, a Terrestrial
Planet Finder-like mission, on the books that this community so
desperately wants. Obviously it seems that exoplanets have maybe fallen
through the cracks. We have a Planetary and we have a Astrophysics
Decadal process. And when we didn't have exoplanets, which was true for
the previous Decadal, that worked fine. Planets were studied by
planetary people and astrophysicists studied other things.
But now all of sudden, planets are mostly not in the solar system and
maybe our mechanisms for dividing the turf of the cosmos and how we
fund those efforts are not adequate. ...If you want to look for
Earth-size planets at one AU around a solar-type star, I don't think we
have a good enough understanding to make the investment to build that
primary mirror yet. ...Let's do the M star planets now. They are
accessible to discover them, some of them from the ground. James Webb
could hopefully observe them. And we invest in technology that can find
the Sun-like stars. Click here.
(4/7)
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