December 1 News Items

To The Moon! (In a Minivan) (Source: Fast Company)
The essential technology America's space-shuttle astronauts depend on, which almost no one outside NASA knows about, is paper. Not just a file folder of vital checklists but actual piles of paper--stacks and stacks of it. Every minute of flight, every experiment, every space walk, is scripted. The routines are rehearsed in advance, manuals in laps, over and over. The loose-leaf sheets--called FDFs, or flight data files--are organized into functional sets, held together with three metal rings. When the day comes to pull on the orange go-to-space suits, the paper goes too--250 pounds of it.

The United States is long overdue for a new spaceship. The last time NASA's engineers sat down to design one--the space shuttle--it was 1974, and George W. Bush hadn't yet received his MBA from Harvard, or met Laura; the IBM Selectric was the dream office machine; a microwave oven was found in just 4% of U.S. kitchens. Almost everything that matters in the world of technology and flight has changed since then: computing power, materials science, electronics, communications.

Yet for NASA and Lockheed Martin, the principal contractor for designing America's next spacecraft, the goal is simplicity, not razzle-dazzle. The nation's new spaceship is called Orion. In shape, it looks like a big version of a 1960s-era Apollo craft--a cone-shaped crew capsule atop a cylindrical service module. "This is not a Ferrari, like the space shuttle," says Skip Hatfield, NASA's project manager for the capsule. "It's more like a minivan. It's more of a vehicle to go to the grocery store in." Visit http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/121/to-the-moon-in-a-minivan.html to view the article.

NASA: Atlantis Cleared for Thursday Launch (Source: AP)
NASA has cleared Atlantis for a Thursday launch, one month after the last space shuttle flight and a flurry of work since then getting the space station ready for a new laboratory. Shuttle managers confirmed the launch date following a daylong meeting Friday. The fact that Discovery returned from the space station in early November in "almost pristine shape" helped keep Atlantis on track, shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said.

Atlantis Crew to Support Station Rotary Joint Repair (Source: AP)
Atlantis will have enough electricity and supplies to remain at the space station two extra days. That will enable the astronauts to add a fourth spacewalk and perform a detailed inspection of a malfunctioning joint that controls the movement of one set of solar wings. The rotary joint has been used sparingly ever since steel grit was discovered inside it during the last shuttle visit. NASA still does not know what parts are grinding and causing damage. A spare part for the joint will fly aboard Atlantis, with extra bearings and cleanup tools going up on another shuttle next year. NASA says it will be a major, labor-intensive job to fix and clean the joint, and will not be attempted until next year.

Editorial: On With the Shows: Satellite Radio Merger Deserves Approval (Source: Washington Post)
Criticism was immediate and fierce when the proposed merger of Sirius and XM Satellite Radio was announced this year. Opponents argued that a marriage of the only two providers of satellite radio service would eliminate competition, drive up prices for satellite radio and reduce choice for consumers. XM and Sirius shot back that a combined -- and thus financially healthier -- company would offer consumers a variety of programming options they can't get through regular broadcast stations. In truth, neither side can say definitively whether its approach would help or hurt consumers. And both sides use the welfare of consumers to mask their real concern: their own bottom line. But XM and Sirius have the stronger case when they argue that the merger should be approved.