Monday, January 6, 2014

Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - January 6, 2014 and JSC Today



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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: January 6, 2014 8:25:54 AM CST
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - January 6, 2014 and JSC Today

Hope everyone is safe and warm today ,,,,,it is freezing in many parts of the Metro Houston area today and tomorrow.  See you at Hibachi Grill this Thursday for our monthly luncheon at 11:30.

 

 

 

JSC Logo

 

 

 

 

   Headlines

  1. Climb Back in the Saddle: Jan. 10 at 9 a.m.

Join us as we fine-tune our focus in 2014 at our Back in the Saddle presentation.

Our special guest speaker is Jeff "Odie" Espenship, who will talk about "Target Leadership."

Details: Jan. 10 at 9 a.m. in Teague Auditorium

Target Leadership relates directly to each of us - we are the "fighter pilots." However, when pilots make mistakes, accidents happen, people get hurt, equipment is damaged, vehicles crash ... and there is often a failure or breakdown in human performance.

Being a leader in the workplace is not about having a title; leadership is about ATTITUDE! Target Leadership encourages each of us to embrace an attitude of pursuing perfection and achieving excellence on every job, every mission, every time.

Event Date: Friday, January 10, 2014   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:10:00 AM
Event Location: Teague Auditorium

Add to Calendar

Suprecia Franklin x37817

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  1. Proof That JSC Loves Co-Development and Partnering

Help JSC get the word out!

JSC has released 26 announcements looking for bold ideas for collaborative development to mature technologies required for NASA's future missions and to enhance life on Earth.

As a means to accelerate technology development and strengthen commercialization of federally funded research and development, JSC is looking to partner with other public agencies, private companies and academia on the development of broadly applicable technologies.

The 26 technologies can be found here.

Co-development partnerships will benefit not only NASA, but provide collaborators with access to JSC's facilities and expertise and the opportunity to grow or sustain their activities through technology development.

Mark Dillard x48640 http://go.nasa.gov/19qKXk0

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   Organizations/Social

  1. It's Time to Renew Your Gilruth Center Membership

The new year is here, which means it's time to get back into your fitness routine. Make sure you do it at JSC's fitness center, the Gilruth.

If you are simply renewing your membership, you can now do this online. It's fast and it's easy. Just visit the Starport website.

For new members, stop by the Gilruth Center. Our helpful staff will assist you with your membership needs.

Remember, all civil servants and employees with Starport Partner companies receive a free membership. What a great benefit! Not sure if your company is a Starport Partner? A list of partners can be found on the Starport website, or check with your Human Resources benefits specialist.

Make 2014 your healthiest year yet - at the Gilruth!

Joseph Callahan x42769 https://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

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  1. Last Chance for Autographed Chris Hadfield Book

Miss the chance to get a Chris Hadfield autographed book? Due to popular demand, Starport is offering another pre-sale opportunity to purchase an autographed copy of Chris Hadfield's book, "An Astronaut's Guild to Life On Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination and Being Prepared for Anything." (It's $28, hardcover.) Orders will be accepted until Jan. 6. Estimated pick-up date is late February. Place your order online now!

Cyndi Kibby x47467

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   Jobs and Training

  1. Admin Rights on NASA Computers

Previously, users at JSC had admin rights on their government-provided computers. This allowed users to install software and gave considerable control over Information Technology (IT) devices. To improve security and reduce risk to IT devices, NASA is implementing Managed Elevated Privileges (MEP). This means admin rights (elevated privileges) will be removed until they are needed. MEP will be deployed using a phased approach, with organizations receiving advanced notice. MEP deployment begins Jan. 14. A schedule has been released and can be found on the Elevated Privileges Sharepoint site (see link below).

ACTION: Complete the SATERN training required for short-term elevated privileges. This training is REQUIRED should you ever need to request short-term elevated privileges. Additional training is required for long-term or special elevated privileges (see link below).

SATERN course: Elevated Privileges on NASA Information System

For more information about MEP, training requirements and exceptions, click here.

Heather Thomas x30901 https://projects.jsc.nasa.gov/ep/SitePages/Home.aspx

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   Community

  1. Judges Needed for CCISD Science Fair - Jan. 13

The district science fair is coming up quickly -- it's on Monday, Jan. 13 -- and they are still about 70 judges short! Please check your calendars to see if you can spend the afternoon with our future scientists. Your participation is vital for this fair! The website contains fair information, including last year's winners. Again, we hope you will join us at the Clear Creek Independent School District (CCISD) district science fair on Monday, Jan. 13! Free lunch is included with your participation.

Sign up for this event in V-CORPs first. 

Then, be sure to register on the CCISD website so they know you will be coming to the campus. 

Event Date: Monday, January 13, 2014   Event Start Time:11:45 AM   Event End Time:4:00 PM
Event Location: Clear Falls High School

Add to Calendar

Terri Berry, CCISD Secondary Science Coordinator 281-284-0089 http://www.ccisd.net/departments/curriculum-instruction/science-fair

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  1. Save the date - Breakfast and Book Signings

Join us for a Breakfast and Book Signing with veteran astronaut and author Tom Jones on February 21st from 8:00 to 10:00 am in the Building 3 Collaboration Center. A second signing with public access will be hosted at the Gilruth Fitness Center from 4:30 to 6:30 pm. Feel free to invite your family and friends. Books must be purchased at Starport. Sky Walking (available in soft cover only) $15.99; Planetology $35.00 and Hell Hawks $24.95. Pre order your books today at Starport Gift Shop, Buildings 3 and 11. Or order online at www.shopnasa.com (shipping charges applicable).

 

Cyndi Kibby X47467

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

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

NASA TV: www.nasa.gov/ntv

  • 12:10 pm Central – ISS Expedition 38 In-Flight Event with the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams

 

Human Spaceflight News

Monday – Jan. 6, 2014

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

KSC lands secret X-37B space plane, jobs

Move could bring hundreds of employees to the Space Coast

 

James Dean – Florida Today

A secretive military space plane will move into a vacant former space shuttle hangar at Kennedy Space Center, potentially bringing hundreds of jobs, officials confirmed Friday.

 

Boeing to base X-37B spy plane at former KSC shuttle facility

 

Mark K. Matthews - Orlando Sentinel

WASHINGTON — A spy plane used by the U.S. Air Force is about to get a new home: a garage at Kennedy Space Center that once housed NASA orbiters during the space shuttle era.

 

Freezing forecast forces Antares launch delay

 

STEPHEN CLARK - Spaceflight Now

Orbital Sciences has pushed back next week's launch of a commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station by at least one day to Wednesday to dodge frigid temperatures expected on Virginia's Eastern Shore.

 

TDRS L readied for mid-January launch

 

Justin Ray -- Spaceflight Now

The next-generation NASA science-relay satellite is being prepped for shrouding in the bullet-shaped nose cone that will shield it during launch Jan. 23.

At the commercial Astrotech processing campus in Titusville, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite L, or TDRS L, is being readied to join NASA's constellation of communications satellites 22,300 miles above Earth.

 

Indian GSLV successfully lofts GSAT-14 satellite

 

William Graham – NASA Space Flight

 

India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) has ended a run of four consecutive launch failures by deploying the GSAT-14 communications satellite on Sunday, following launch at 10:48 UTC. The mission – from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre – was a realigned attempt, following the scrub and rollback for repairs on the rocket last year.

 

Astronauts Work to Make Water That Burns

 

Jason Major - Discovery

Here on Earth we can use water to put out most fires, both because it helps prevent easy contact with oxygen in the air and reduces heat via rapid evaporation. But astronaut researchers on board the International Space Station (ISS) are working to develop a special kind of water that actually makes things burn — except without the flame part.

 

In Defense of Beyoncé: Why the Challenger Disaster Belongs in a Love Song

 

Douglas Wolk - Wired News

Beyoncé Knowles' track "XO" from her new album Beyoncé begins with a six-second sample of NASA public affairs officer Steve Nesbitt's commentary immediately after the space shuttle Challenger exploded in January, 1986. "Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the situation… obviously a major malfunction," Nesbitt says in a monotone punctuated by the beep of a walkie-talkie. Then the song starts, never to return to that sample, or subject.

In the post-Christmas news vacuum, that brief sample provoked a trumped-up outrage. NASA press secretary Lauren B. Worley and June Scobee Rodgers, the widow of Challenger commander Dick Scobee, laid into Rodgers laid into Beyoncé for daring to refer to something that "should never be trivialized." Beyoncé responded with a meaningless but suitably reverential statement that she and co-writers Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic and Terius "The-Dream" Nash "included the audio in tribute to the unselfish work of the Challenger crew with hope that they will never be forgotten."

 

52 Russians Shortlisted For One-Way Mission to Mars

 

The Moscow Times

A non-profit organization preparing a one-way manned mission to Mars has shortlisted 52 Russians among the aspiring astronauts who want to become the first settlers to live and die on the red planet.

The Netherlands-based Mars One said it had picked 1,058 potential space travelers from a pool of 200,000 people from more than 100 countries who had applied for a spot on a flight that is expected to take off in 2024.

 

Asian powers open new chapter in space race

 

Chris Zappone -- Sydney Morning Herald

Towards the end of last year, a six-year-old aspiring astronaut from Colorado offered up the contents of his piggy bank to help support the chronically underfunded NASA. After learning that the US government body that once put a man on the moon was now cutting funding for its planetary science division, Connor Johnson pledged $US10.41 to help keep the NASA department in business.

 

A lot riding on today's SpaceX launch

Successful liftoff today could solidify upgraded Falcon 9 rocket as competitor for future missions

 

SpaceX's last launch signaled its arrival as a competitor in the market for launches of commercial satellites, which the United States has mostly lost to competitors overseas.

 

The company's next launch, scheduled to lift off at 5:06 p.m. today from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, reinforces that and has broader implications for government missions as well.

 

ESA Says It Is on Track To Reduce Its Station Costs by 30 Percent

 

Peter B. de Selding – Space News

 

PARIS — The European Space Agency (ESA) says that by late 2015, if not earlier, it will reduce its annual space station operating costs by 30 percent compared with 2010.

 

Nye: NASA's asteroid mission concept won't happen

 

Jeff Foust – Space Politics

 

Bill Nye, the CEO of The Planetary Society, is the subject of a rather positive profile by Mother Jones magazine published Thursday. In it, Nye identifies his top three "political passions": "Climate change, raise the standard of women around the world through education, [and] asteroids." The article describes his interest in search for, and finding ways to deflect, potentially hazardous asteroids. "Sooner or later we're going to have to deflect an asteroid," Nye says. "And we're the first generation that can do something about it."

 

__________

COMPLETE STORIES

 

KSC lands secret X-37B space plane, jobs

Move could bring hundreds of employees to the Space Coast

 

James Dean – Florida Today

A secretive military space plane will move into a vacant former space shuttle hangar at Kennedy Space Center, potentially bringing hundreds of jobs, officials confirmed Friday.

Use of the former shuttle hangar called Orbiter Processing Facility-1 will allow the Air Force's classified X-37B program "to efficiently land, recover, refurbish and re-launch" the unmanned system in Florida, according to The Boeing Co., which built and supports the program's two orbital vehicles.

The Air Force and Boeing would not comment further, and did not disclose the move's financial or jobs impact.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Friday that the program would mean "hundreds" of jobs, first to renovate OPF-1 and then from Boeing's engineering, technician and support team.

"This is significant for KSC because it is again additional space business, but diversification," said Nelson.

Space Florida records previously estimated the program could start with 200 employees, but it was not clear if those projections remained valid.

The state aerospace agency's board has approved spending up to $9 million provided by the state Department of Transportation to renovate two former shuttle hangars that are joined together, including the one Boeing said it will use for the X-37B.

Officials did not say how soon the military program could move to KSC, which has been seeking new users for facilities it no longer needs following the shuttle's retirement in 2011.

Modernization of a third shuttle processing hangar is nearing completion in preparation for its lease to Boeing for an unrelated program.

Under a deal announced in 2011, Boeing plans to build commercial crew capsules in the facility if it wins contracts to fly NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, potentially adding 550 jobs.

NASA is in negotiations with SpaceX to take over one of KSC's two launch pads, and with Space Florida to take over operations of the center's three-mile runway, where the X-37B would land just like a shuttle.

"We have long touted how attractive our unique infrastructure and work force are to both the private sector and the military, and we are excited that this project capitalizes on both of those strengths while laying the groundwork for future growth," said Lynda Weatherman, president and CEO of the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, one of the partners in the agreement led by Space Florida.

The EDC said it had joined a team 16 months ago to help put together "an attractive location package" for the X-37B program. The package's value was not released.

Measuring 29 feet in length with a nearly 15-foot wingspan, and weighing about 11,000 pounds at launch, the X-37B resembles a miniature space shuttle but does not carry people.

Speculation abounds about what it does carry, with Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office saying only that the system is a test platform for reusable spacecraft technologies in low Earth orbit.

Some believe the space plane's purpose may be to test advanced sensors for spy satellites. Others claim it is to perform surveillance, deploy weapons, track or disable satellites, or maybe just serve as a decoy to confuse adversaries.

"This is a program that is important to American national security," said Nelson, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "It's experimental in nature, but it will last."

Since 2010, the vehicles have launched three times from Cape Canaveral atop Atlas V rockets.

The last one to launch, in December 2012, was the first re-flight of apreviously flown X-37B and has been in orbit for more than a year.

The first two missions landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California after 224 days and 469 days in space, respectively, and that is where the vehicles were processed between flights.

The Air Force has said the third mission could land at KSC, and had acknowledged that it was studying potential cost savings that could result from consolidating X-37B operations in Florida.

 

Boeing to base X-37B spy plane at former KSC shuttle facility

 

Mark K. Matthews -- Orlando Sentinel

WASHINGTON — A spy plane used by the U.S. Air Force is about to get a new home: a garage at Kennedy Space Center that once housed NASA orbiters during the space shuttle era.

The move was announced Friday by Boeing, the Chicago-based company that built the X-37B spy plane and is in charge of repairing the spacecraft whenever it returns to Earth.

Previously, Boeing had refurbished the 29-foot-long spacecraft at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, but the company decided to relocate its fix-up shop in Florida, where the vehicle now launches.

In keeping with the secretive nature of the program, Boeing would not release funding or employment details. But any transfer of work to KSC is welcome news to an area that lost thousands of jobs when NASA retired the shuttle in 2011.

"This signals another increase in the number of space activities that will be taking place at or near Kennedy Space Center," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., in a statement. "I expect it will mean several hundred jobs as well."

Little has been disclosed about the X-37B since the first one launched in 2010, including its mission. Some details have become public, however. Built to resemble a miniature space shuttle, the vehicle is capable of staying in orbit longer than a year. Unlike traditional satellites, which don't have much mobility, the X-37B uses a small engine to zip around and can reach orbits as high as 500 miles above Earth.

Boeing has built two of the vehicles. One is in storage and the other is still on a mission that launched in December 2012.

This is not the first time that Boeing has taken advantage of old shuttle property for its current operations. In 2011, the company decided to use another shuttle garage, officially known as an orbiter processing facility, for assembly of its commercial manned space capsule.

 

Freezing forecast forces Antares launch delay

 

STEPHEN CLARK, Spaceflight Now

Orbital Sciences has pushed back next week's launch of a commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station by at least one day to Wednesday to dodge frigid temperatures expected on Virginia's Eastern Shore.

Liftoff of the privately-developed Antares rocket was set for Tuesday after a three-week delay from mid-December to make room for spacewalks to repair a problematic ammonia coolant loop on the space station, but the long-range forecast for early next week predicts freezing temperatures.

"The new target date was set due to the extreme cold temperatures that are forecasted for early next week, coupled with likely precipitation events predicted for Sunday night and Monday morning," Orbital Sciences said in a statement.

The company said it is preserving the option to launch Wednesday, Jan. 8, but it is more likely the launch will take place on Thursday, Jan. 9, because of a much improved weather forecast later in the week.

The National Weather Service forecast for NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, the Antares launch site, shows partly sunny skies expected for Thursday with a high temperature of 46 degrees Fahrenheit.

Temperatures must be above about 20 degrees Fahrenheit to launch the Antares rocket, according to Barry Beneski, an Orbital spokesperson. The forecast high temperature for Tuesday is in the mid-20s Fahrenheit.

The launch window Wednesday opens at 1:32:33 p.m. EST (1832:33 GMT) and extends for five minutes. The launch window Thursday begins at 1:10 p.m. EST (1810 GMT), according to Orbital Sciences.

Rollout of the Antares rocket is scheduled to begin around 8:30 p.m. EST Saturday. The rocket will make the one-mile trip from its horizontal integration facility to launch pad 0A riding a self-propelled motorized transporter.

Once at the launch pad, the 13-story Antares rocket will be hoisted upright on its launch mount by hydraulic pistons to begin several days of umbilical connections, vehicle closeouts and arming.

The Antares was already on the pad in mid-December awaiting a launch attempt. Technicians rolled the launcher back to the hangar Dec. 18 and removed the rocket's 12.8-foot-diameter nose shroud to access time-sensitive experiments and other cargo from the Cygnus spacecraft for refurbishment.

A launch readiness review is scheduled for Monday to give senior managers an opportunity to discuss any unresolved issues before proceeding with final launch preparations and the countdown.

The Antares rocket will put Orbital's Cygnus cargo freighter on course toward the space station. If the launch goes ahead Jan. 8, the unmanned resupply ship will arrive at the complex Jan. 12 after an automated rendezvous guided by GPS and laser navigation aids.

Once the visiting spacecraft gets to a point about 30 feet below the space station, astronauts will extend the lab's 58-foot robotic arm to grapple the Cygnus and maneuver it to a berthing port on the Harmony connecting node for several weeks of cargo transfers.

The mission is the first of eight Cygnus resupply flights to the space station under a $1.9 billion contract signed by Orbital Sciences and NASA in December 2008.

NASA and Orbital jointly financed development of the Antares and Cygnus vehicles. The space agency paid Orbital $288 million in a public-private partnership agreement that concluded with last fall's successful Antares and Cygnus demonstration mission to the space station.

 

TDRS L readied for mid-January launch

 

Justin Ray -- Spaceflight Now

The next-generation NASA science-relay satellite is being prepped for shrouding in the bullet-shaped nose cone that will shield it during launch Jan. 23.

At the commercial Astrotech processing campus in Titusville, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite L, or TDRS L, is being readied to join NASA's constellation of communications satellites 22,300 miles above Earth.

The craft will be encapsulated next Wednesday, Jan. 8 and then moved across the river to Cape Canaveral on Monday, Jan. 13 for mating to its Atlas-Centaur rocket.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 will carry the spacecraft on a two-hour flight to geosynchronous transfer orbit, the normal dropoff point for communications satellites. From there, TDRS L will maneuver itself into a circular orbit and undergo months of testing before being declared operational.

TDRS satellites date back to 1983 to establish communications with the space shuttle. The system has grown over the years to provide coverage to the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA's low-Earth orbiting satellite fleet and International Space Station.

 

Indian GSLV successfully lofts GSAT-14 satellite

 

William Graham – NASA Space Flight

 

India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) has ended a run of four consecutive launch failures by deploying the GSAT-14 communications satellite on Sunday, following launch at 10:48 UTC. The mission – from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre – was a realigned attempt, following the scrub and rollback for repairs on the rocket last year.

 

Indian Launch Preview:

 

This launch was set to take place in August of last year. However, several problems – not least during its August 19 countdown, when its second stage began leaking large amounts of hydrazine fuel over the launch pad.

 

A lengthy delay followed, not least because the entire vehicle had been contaminated by the leak. As a result, the vehicle was rolled back and dismantled. It now sports two new stages and refurbished boosters, while the second stage is now utilizing aluminium alloy tankage.

 

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, first flown in 2001, is the newest rocket in India's fleet, designed to place communications satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbits. It is the fourth rocket to be developed by India, following the Satellite Launch Vehicle, Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle and Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

 

India's first orbital launch attempt took place on 10 August 1979, with a Satellite Launch Vehicle carrying the Rohini Technology Payload, or RTP. This launch failed to orbit after the rocket's second stage thrust vector control system malfunctioned. The next launch on 18 July 1980 saw the SLV successfully orbit the Rohini RS-1 satellite.

 

Two more SLVs were launched; in May 1981 and April 1983, with Rohini RS-D1 and RS-D2 respectively. The 1981 launch was unsuccessful, with RS-D1 being placed into an unusable, rapidly decaying, low orbit, from which it reentered within nine days of launch. The SLV, which is also known as the SLV-3, retired from service with a record of two successes and two failures.

 

The SLV was replaced by the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle, which consisted of a similar core vehicle to the SLV-3, but with an additional first stage consisting of two more S-9 rocket motors. The S-9 was used as the first stage of the SLV, which became the ASLV's second stage, and is still used as a booster rocket on some PSLV launches.

 

The first ASLV launched in March 1987, carrying the SROSS-A, or Stretched Rohini A, satellite. The second stage failed to ignite, and as a result the rocket was unable to achieve orbit. The next launch, which occurred in July 1988, fared no better, with the rocket's attitude control system failing late in first stage flight.

 

The third ASLV reached low Earth orbit, however the incorrect spin stabilization of the rocket's fifth stage resulted in the orbit being lower than had been planned, and the SROSS-C satellite could only return limited data for less than two months of a planned six month mission.

 

The fourth and final ASLV launch carried a replacement for SROSS-C; SROSS-C2. On this mission the ASLV performed successfully, deploying the satellite into its target orbit. SROSS-C2 was able to operate for four years – more than eight times its design life. Following the fourth launch, which took place on 4 May 1994, the rocket was retired in favor of the PSLV, which had made its first test flight the previous year.

 

PSLV

The PSLV, or Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, remains the workhorse of India's space program. It has achieved 23 successful launches from 25 attempts since its maiden flight on 20 September 1993.

 

The maiden flight, which carried the IRS-1E satellite, remains the rocket's only outright failure; the rocket's attitude control system failed at second stage separation, with the vehicle unable to make orbit.

 

Following two successful launches, carrying IRS-P2 and IRS-P3 in 1994 and 1996 respectively, the PSLV was declared operational. The payload for the first operational mission was IRS-1D, which was destined for a sun-synchronous orbit.

 

PSLV C1, as the rocket was designated, lifted off from Sriharikota on 29 September 1997, however a fourth stage helium leak left the rocket unable to reach its target.

 

Instead, IRS-1D was placed into a lower-than-planned orbit. The satellite was able to reach a usable orbit, still somewhat lower than had initially been planned, at the expense of most of its own propellant supply.

 

The IRS-1D launch was the most recent failure of a PSLV; in the 20 launches since it has performed perfectly. Most of the PSLV's flights have placed remote sensing satellites into sun-synchronous orbit; however it has been used for other launches.

 

The seventh PSLV launch, in September 2002, carried the METSAT-1 weather satellite bound for geosynchronous orbit. METSAT-1 was later renamed Kalpana-1 after astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who was killed in the Columbia accident.

 

Two other launches have been made to geosynchronous transfer orbit; a communications satellite, GSAT-12, in 2011, and the IRNSS-1A navigation satellite last month. In October 2008, India used a PSLV to launch its first mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-1.

 

PSLV Launch

The first commercial PSLV launch took place in April 2007, carrying the AGILE gamma-ray astronomy satellite for the Italian space agency. The next launch, in January 2008, orbited Israel's TecSAR radar reconnaissance satellite. The PSLV has also launched two radar imaging satellites for the Indian military; RISAT-2 which was built with assistance from Israel, and later RISAT-1, which India developed independently.

 

A launch last year carried the SPOT-6 satellite for the French space agency, CNES, and two Franco-Indian scientific satellites, Megha-Tropiques and SARAL, have also been launched.

 

The most recent PSLV mission lofted the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) in November.

 

PSLV launches have carried a number of secondary payloads, including the SRE-1 satellite which was recovered after several days in orbit in 2007. In recent years, many CubeSats have found launch opportunities on the PSLV. One launch carried ten payloads – the most an Indian rocket has launched to date, although not the most of any launch by any country.

 

With the PSLV operational, India looked to develop a rocket capable of launching its communications satellites to geosynchronous orbit. While the PSLV has been able to launch geosynchronous satellites, it has only been able to place very small satellites into fairly low transfer orbits, whereas the GSLV can launch larger payloads into more typical, higher, transfer orbits.

 

GSLV Launch

The maiden flight of the GSLV was conducted on 20 April 2001, carrying an experimental communications satellite named GramSat-1, or GSAT-1. The first two stages performed well, however the third stage underperformed leaving the payload in a lower orbit than had been planned.

 

Despite attempts to recover the satellite, using its own propulsion system to make up the shortfall, a design fault stemming from the satellite having been partially constructed from spare parts led to it running out of fuel short of geostationary orbit.

 

After the initial failure, the next flight in May 2003 fared better, placing GSAT-2 into its planned transfer orbit. Following this, the GSLV was declared operational, and its third flight successfully orbited GSAT-3, also known as HealthSat in September 2004.

 

The fourth GSLV, launched in July 2006, was expected to place the INSAT-4C communications satellite into orbit. Before the rocket even launched, a thrust regulator in one of the four booster rockets failed, resulting in that booster producing more thrust than it was designed to withstand, which caused the engine to fail less than a second after launch.

 

The rocket flew on for around a minute before disintegrating as is approached the area of maximum aerodynamic pressure.

 

A replacement for INSAT-4C, INSAT-4CR, was carried by the fifth GSLV, F04, which flew in September 2007. This launch also failed to reach its target orbit – suffering a similar shortfall to the GSAT-1 mission, however unlike GSAT-1; INSAT-4CR was able to correct its own orbit.

 

The GSLV Mk.II, which features a new upper stage with an Indian-built engine, made its first launch in April 2010 with the GSAT-4 satellite as its payload.  While the first and second stages performed well, the new third stage engine failed 2.2 seconds after it ignited, and the rocket did not achieve orbit.

 

This failure has been attributed to a problem with the Fuel Boost Turbopump (FBTP), which appeared to lose speed a second after ignition. Following the failure, ISRO opted to conduct further tests on the new third stage, with two leftover GSLV Mk.Is flying in the interim.

 

GSLV Failure

The first of these rockets was launched on 25 December 2010 with GSAT-5P. Bound for geostationary transfer orbit, the rocket was destroyed by range safety 53 seconds after a loss of control.

 

An investigation determined that connectors in a Russian-built interstage adaptor had snapped, leaving the strap-on boosters uncontrollable, however Russian officials blamed a structural failure of the payload fairing.

 

It was later reported that problems with the connectors had occurred before – including one snapping during the launch of INSAT-4CR which was responsible for the underperformance of that launch.

 

Owing to the disagreement between India and Russia over the cause of the GSAT-5P failure, the final GSLV Mk.I has not yet flown. It is unclear whether it will ever be launched, or if ISRO will focus instead on the Mk.II. Because of these failures, currently the GSLV is statistically the least reliable rocket in service, with a success rate of 28.6%.

 

GSLV is a three-stage rocket, with four liquid-fuelled boosters augmenting the first stage. The first stage, or GS-1, is powered by an S-139 solid rocket motor, burning hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) propellant. The stage can deliver up to 4,800 kilonewtons (1.1 million pounds) of thrust.

 

The four L40H boosters, which are powered by Vikas engines burning UH25 – a mixture of three parts unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and one part hydrazine hydrate, which is oxidized by dinitrogen tetroxide. The Vikas engine is derived from the French Viking engine, which was developed for the Ariane family of rockets. Each booster provides 680 kilonewtons, or 150,000 pounds-force of thrust.

 

The second stage, designated the GS-2 or L-37.5H, also uses a Vikas engine; delivering 720 kilonewtons (160,000 lbf) of thrust. The third stage, or GS-3, is a CUS-12 powered by the Indian Cryogenic Engine, or ICE. Burning liquid hydrogen propellant with liquid oxygen as an oxidiser, the ICE will deliver 75 kilonewtons (17,000 lbf) of thrust.

 

The launch began with the ignition of the four boosters, 4.8 seconds ahead of the planned liftoff time. The solid-fuelled core stage ignited at T-0 and burn for 100 seconds. Once it completed its burn, the first stage remained attached as the boosters burn for slightly longer than it does. Around 149 seconds after launch, the booster engines shut down, with the second stage igniting half a second later, and stage separation occurring two seconds after cutoff.

 

The second stage burned for 139.5 seconds. About 75 seconds into the burn, fairing separation occurred, with the shroud which protects GSAT-14 during its ascent through the atmosphere separating from the nose of the rocket. Once the second stage completes its firing, it coasted for three and a half seconds before separating.

 

The third stage ignited a second after staging, beginning a 12-minute, 1.5-second burn to reach the planned geosynchronous transfer orbit.

 

Spacecraft separation, which targeted an orbit of 180 by 35975 kilometers (112 by 22,354 statute miles, 97 by 19,425 nautical miles) with an inclination of 19.3 degrees, occurred 13 seconds after the end of the third stage burn – seventeen minutes and eight seconds after liftoff.

 

Allowable error margins for the launch are plus or minus 5 kilometers (3.1 mi, 2.7 nmi) in perigee altitude, 675 kilometers (420 mi, 365 nmi) apogee altitude, and a tenth of a degree inclination.

 

Compared to previous launches, GSLV D5 incorporates several modifications intended to increase its reliability.

 

The interstage between the second and third stages was redesigned to allow it to handle greater loads, while the tunnel containing electrical connections between the stages has also been made more durable. The FBTP has been modified to allow it to perform better at the low temperatures it is expected to operate under.

 

The flight's aerodynamic profile and third stage ignition sequence were also adjusted. In addition, the rocket carried cameras for the first time, to record its operation.

 

GSAT-14GSAT-14 is a 1,982 kilogram (4,370 lb) satellite, which was constructed by ISRO and is based on the I-2K bus. It is equipped with six C and six Ku-band transponders, powered by twin solar arrays which generate up to 2,600 watts of power and charge lithium ion batteries. In addition to its communications payload, the satellite carries two Ka-band payloads which will be used for an investigation of how weather affects satellite communications.

 

GSAT-14 will be positioned at a longitude of 74 degrees east, and is expected to operate for at least 12 years. Most of its mass is fuel, much of which will be expended by maneuvers to raise itself from the initial transfer orbit into geostationary orbit. It has a dry mass of 851 kilograms (1,876 lb).

 

The Satish Dhawan Space Center, located in Sriharikota, India, has been the site of all of India's orbital launches. Originally known as the Sriharikota High Altitude Range, or Sriharikota Range, it was named after ISRO's second chairman, Satish Dhawan, following his death in 2002. The launch took place from the Second Launch Pad at the center.

 

The somewhat confusingly named Second Launch Pad (SLP) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre is actually the fifth launch complex to be built at the site – following a sounding rocket complex to the north, disused SLV and ASLV complexes to the south, and the nearby First Launch Pad.

 

The Launch CenterThe GSLV can launch from either the First Launch Pad, which was built in the 1990s for the PSLV, or from the Second Launch Pad. Since the completion of the Second pad, all GSLV launches have used it. D5 is the fifth GSLV and twelfth rocket overall to fly from the Second Launch Pad.

 

The Second Launch Pad was constructed in the early 2000s, and first used for a PSLV launch in May 2005, with the CartoSat-1 satellite. Like the First Launch Pad both the PSLV and GSLV can launch from it.

 

Rockets are assembled vertically in an integration building some distance from the pad, and then moved to the launch pad atop a mobile platform running on rails.

 

Astronauts Work to Make Water That Burns

 

Jason Major -- Discovery

Here on Earth we can use water to put out most fires, both because it helps prevent easy contact with oxygen in the air and reduces heat via rapid evaporation. But astronaut researchers on board the International Space Station (ISS) are working to develop a special kind of water that actually makes things burn — except without the flame part.

Cool Flames: Playing With Balls of Space Fire

Called supercritical water, this exotic substance is neither a solid, liquid, nor gas but rather a "liquid-like gas." Made by compressing ordinary liquid water to 217 times the air pressure found at sea level and heating it above 703 degrees Fahrenheit (373 degrees Celsius), supercritical water rapidly oxidizes any organic substance it comes in contact with — in other words, it burns it.

One specific use for supercritical water is to aid in waste disposal, both in space and on Earth. Burning via supercritical water breaks down harmful substances in liquid waste but doesn't produce particularly dangerous byproducts — mostly just water and carbon dioxide, which can easily be filtered out.

What Happens When You Wring a Washcloth in Orbit?

The unique microgravity environment of the ISS allows for investigation of better supercritical water applications, especially the control of residual salt that can corrode metal pipes and storage tanks. Check out the ScienceCast video above from Science@NASA for more on this latest high-flying research!

Visit science.nasa.gov for more information on space-based research that benefits life on Earth.

 

In Defense of Beyoncé: Why the Challenger Disaster Belongs in a Love Song

 

Douglas Wolk -- Wired News

Beyoncé Knowles' track "XO" from her new album Beyoncé begins with a six-second sample of NASA public affairs officer Steve Nesbitt's commentary immediately after the space shuttle Challenger exploded in January, 1986. "Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the situation… obviously a major malfunction," Nesbitt says in a monotone punctuated by the beep of a walkie-talkie. Then the song starts, never to return to that sample, or subject.

In the post-Christmas news vacuum, that brief sample provoked a trumped-up outrage. NASA press secretary Lauren B. Worley and June Scobee Rodgers, the widow of Challenger commander Dick Scobee, laid into Rodgers laid into Beyoncé for daring to refer to something that "should never be trivialized." Beyoncé responded with a meaningless but suitably reverential statement that she and co-writers Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic and Terius "The-Dream" Nash "included the audio in tribute to the unselfish work of the Challenger crew with hope that they will never be forgotten."

That's one way to spin it, the sort of thing said to smooth ruffled feathers without having to explain context. It didn't mention, for instance, that Beyoncé's music has drawn on the language of space flight for years. As Forrest Wickman noted at Slate, Beyoncé includes a song called "Rocket," she sang "Lift Off" on Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne, and she suggested her hometown relationship to NASA on 2011′s "Countdown" when she sang, London speed it up, Houston rock it. She even recorded a wake-up call for the crew of the final shuttle mission, STS-135:

What the "XO" sample does isn't irreverent, nor is it irrelevant to the rest of the song. It does what all samples do: It alludes, quickly, to something its ideal listeners are presumed to already know about. Nesbitt's quote on Beyoncé doesn't mention the Challenger or even the space shuttle: It makes no sense unless you know it's meant to signify something terrible. Even the term "major malfunction," which entered common parlance after Nesbitt's broadcast, almost immediately drifted away from its context (notably, it popped up in the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, set 20 years earlier).

"XO" is also far from the first time Nesbitt's commentary has been sampled. The first instance was Keith LeBlanc's "Major Malfunction," a dance track recorded only days after the Challenger exploded and released shortly thereafter — with a video featuring images of the catastrophe.

LeBlanc previously had been in the Sugar Hill Records house band, which backed the label's rappers in the early '80s, often replaying grooves adapted from other artists. Before the mid-'80s, the parts of older records featured in hip-hop usually were scratched in from vinyl; early digital samplers were too expensive for many musicians and could only handle very short clips. The distinctive stuttering hook of Paul Hardcastle's 1985 hit song "19," sampled from an ABC television documentary about Vietnam veterans, came about because the E-mu Emulator could sample no more than two seconds of sound. (By the way, ABC's Richard Richter told Billboard it was "totally inappropriate to take material as serious as that and put it in an entertainment form.")

The Akai S900, released in 1986, was cheap enough to make sampling available to a wider range of musicians. Consequently, sampling soon became a much bigger phenomenon. Tracks like Steinski & the Mass Media's 1987 landmark "The Motorcade Sped On" (below), a head-spinning collage revolving around samples of Walter Cronkite's 1963 broadcast of the JFK assassination, would have been unthinkable just a few years earlier. (By the way, 23 years passed between JFK's death and "The Motorcade Sped On." Compare that to the 27 years between the Challenger disaster and "XO," or, for that matter, the 32 years between the Hindenburg explosion and the burning airship's appearance on the cover of Led Zeppelin's first album.)

Steve Nesbitt's "major malfunction" speech has been sampled a few other times. The Australian alternative-rock group Ratcat used it in "Getting Away (From This World)" in 1991. One year later, it turned up in the title track of GWAR's America Must Be Destroyed.

Still, it's obviously a different matter when a pop star like Beyoncé — who, incidentally, was four years old when the Challenger blew up — samples Nesbitt on the lead single from a huge album. Or is it? "XO" is a love song, but it's a love song with the threat of mortality hovering over it; if you didn't know the title, you might well guess from the song's lyrical refrain that it was called "Lights Out." In that context, the six-second clip of Nesbitt that begins it isn't a non-sequitur or a trivialization. It's a memento mori: a swift, understated and brutal reminder that everything can go horribly wrong before anyone understands what's happening, and that the light could be extinguished at any moment.

 

52 Russians Shortlisted For One-Way Mission to Mars

 

The Moscow Times

A non-profit organization preparing a one-way manned mission to Mars has shortlisted 52 Russians among the aspiring astronauts who want to become the first settlers to live and die on the red planet.

The Netherlands-based Mars One said it had picked 1,058 potential space travelers from a pool of 200,000 people from more than 100 countries who had applied for a spot on a flight that is expected to take off in 2024.

The largest group of applicants who made the first cut comes from the U.S., with 297 people, followed by Canada, with 75 candidates on the shortlist, India with 62, and Russia with 52, CBS News reported.

The only eligibility requirement was to be over 18 years of age, leading to an avalanche of applications for the life-changing program.

"The challenge … is separating those who we feel are physically and mentally adept to become human ambassadors on Mars from those who are obviously taking the mission much less seriously," Mars One co-founder Bas Lansdorp said.

"We even had a couple of applicants submit their videos in the nude," he said.

The lucky 1,058 applicants who did pass the first round will face several selection phases in 2014 and 2015 with rigorous simulations which will test their physical and emotional capabilities, the program's chief medical officer Norbert Kraft said in a statement.

Mars One plans to launch the first unmanned mission in 2018 to place a communication satellite into a Mars orbit. That would be followed by a dispatch of rovers in 2020 to explore that planet and "find the best location for the settlement," Mars One said in a mission schedule posted on its website.

Before the first human crew takes off, robots would also build a "life-support system," to produce a breathable atmosphere in living units, a storage of oxygen and water, and a radiation shield, the organization said.

Mars One officials have said in the past that they plan to broadcast a reality television show to track the astronauts' selection and training process and raise funds for the mission.

The planet is a notoriously difficult one to reach, with fewer than half of all missions to Mars reaching their goal, Reuters reported.

 

Asian powers open new chapter in space race

 

Chris Zappone -- Sydney Morning Herald

Towards the end of last year, a six-year-old aspiring astronaut from Colorado offered up the contents of his piggy bank to help support the chronically underfunded NASA. After learning that the US government body that once put a man on the moon was now cutting funding for its planetary science division, Connor Johnson pledged $US10.41 to help keep the NASA department in business.

Barely a month later, China sent the Chang'e-3 mission, carrying the unmanned Jade Rabbit lander to the moon, raising the prospect that it will be China's taikonauts rather than US astronauts exploring space in the future. The mission put China in the select club of only two other nations – the US and Russia – to have landed moon rovers successfully.

At the time, China's space agency crowed that the successful mission showed "the new glory of China to scale the peaks in world science and technology areas".

But China is not just funding an unmanned moon lander and an eventual manned mission. It plans to have the Tiangong-3 or Heavenly Palace space station orbiting Earth by 2023 – just about the time funding for the US-backed International Space Station is scheduled to run out.

And China is by no means alone in its aspirations. In November India launched its Mangalyaan Mars orbiter which will explore the red planet's surface, mineralogy and atmosphere while testing deep space communication.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye recently announced plans to boost the share of government funding for science research and development. She pulled forward a deadline for a moon rover launch from 2025 to 2020 and flagged plans to create a new satellite launcher.

Japan, too, has sent a space craft to an asteroid and recently tested a "space cannon" to be used for mining on an asteroid this year.

The surge of Asian powers investing in space exploration has reshaped the nature of the pursuit – once the sole province of the US and the Soviet Union.

The urgency around Asia's space exploration can partially be explained by the economic growth in region.

"A lot of nations in Asia have a shorter history of industrialisation than the US or Europe and have advanced very rapidly," says Sydney-based space analyst Dr Morris Jones. "They are very keen to show power they have not had at their disposal for so long." While Asian countries are keen to show "that they're not peasant economies any more", there are scientific and technological justifications for space programs, too.

Space programs create spin-off technology that can aid mining, resource-processing, communications and imaging, which are useful for energy-hungry countries in natural disaster-prone areas – countries such as China, India and Japan. There is also nothing like a project of national significance to give focus to a country's scientific programs.

"If you don't engage the scientific community constructively, and try to look for newer horizons, you will never able to develop science and technology," says Ajey Lele, research fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in Delhi. Referring to India's Mangalyaan orbiter, he says: "It is not only the 'Mars moment' will give you results; the entire process of learning will give you a certain amount of development."

Another dividend of advanced rocketry and space technology is their military applications. In this way, competition in space reflects the political tensions between Asian countries.

"Space is a profoundly 'dual use' domain, meaning that many systems have civil and military uses and it's really hard to separate the two," says Canberra-based Brett Biddington, who has advised the Australian government on space programs.

That factor allows nations to use space missions "as a cover to develop and test systems that have direct military application – hiding in the open, so to speak".

The world got a reminder of the dual-use nature of a space technology in December 2012 when North Korea briefly put a satellite in orbit with a rocket that looked suspiciously like a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Advances in satellites can make missile technology more accurate – another example of dual-use technology.

While North Korea is arguably the most extreme example, there are numerous areas of tensions in Asia. Among the most vexing is the China's feud with Japan over the islands in the East China Sea known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese. The dispute flared again with China's imposition of an Air Defence Identification Zone over waters that include the islands in December. The South China Sea is another hotspot.

"I do not believe the nations of Asia would be investing so heavily in space flight without so much regional tension," Jones says.

And unlike during the waning days of the Cold War when space co-operation between the US and Soviet Union on the Apollo–Soyuz missions foreshadowed a thaw in countries' relations, Asian nations do not typically co-operate with each other on space exploration.

Dr Clay Moltz, of the Naval Postgraduate School in the US, who wrote the book Asia's Space Race, said: "At present, Asian military space programs remain highly secretive and countries have had few interactions aimed at reducing military tensions."

This competitive fear seems most pronounced "between China and India, but even in Japan", Moltz says. "South Korea is concerned about North Korea's intentions in space."

Even outside of the region there is distrust. Between the US and China there is no co-operation on space. In 2011, a budget bill barred NASA from co-operation with China's space program because of concerns of technology theft and China's human rights.

Yet the chill between the US and China – while China races ahead with its space program – has Americans wondering if the nation that took "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" can continue to lead in space.

Despite NASA's woes, there is no shortage of private sector space development in the US. Elon Musk's SpaceX has successfully tested a reusable rocket that can take off and land in one piece, just like the space craft imagined in the 1950s movies.

The US still leads the world in most areas of space programs, including planetary exploration, navigation and research.

NASA's priorities, however, remain unclear. In recent years the agency has shifted between plans for a manned Mars mission to a return to the moon to a visit to an asteroid. All the while, its budget remains a target for cost-cutting.

But the US is certainly watching China's success. Soon after China landed the Jade Rabbit, NASA tweeted a congratulations to China. Within days, editorials appeared in the US media lamenting the loss of momentum for the US space program.

As Houston-based space writer Mark Whittington wrote in USA Today, China was on track to put a man on the moon by 2020. "If and when that happens and if Americans are not on the moon to greet them, China becomes the world's space exploration leader and all that implies."

For Connor Johnson of Colorado, it would mean choosing another career to aspire to.

 

A lot riding on today's SpaceX launch

Successful liftoff today could solidify upgraded Falcon 9 rocket as competitor for future missions

 

SpaceX's last launch signaled its arrival as a competitor in the market for launches of commercial satellites, which the United States has mostly lost to competitors overseas.

 

The company's next launch, scheduled to lift off at 5:06 p.m. today from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, reinforces that and has broader implications for government missions as well.

 

A successful third flight, this time of a Thai broadcasting satellite, would certify SpaceX's upgraded Falcon 9 rocket as eligible to compete for launches of the Department of Defense's national security missions and NASA's high-value science satellites.

 

Now, only United Launch Alliance is certified to fly those missions on Atlas V and Delta IV rockets, but the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program is working to introduce competition in hopes of lowering launch costs.

 

"Competition for EELV launches benefits both the Air Force and the American taxpayer," said SpaceX spokeswoman Emily Shanklin. "SpaceX greatly appreciates the Air Force's ongoing support throughout the certification process and we look forward to providing the U.S. with highly reliable launch services for national security satellites."

 

The Air Force has not yet signed off on the first two launches of Falcon 9 "version 1.1," which at 224 feet is taller and equipped with more powerful Merlin engines, among other changes, than the rocket that launched three cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station.

 

Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX believes both a Sept. 29 test flight from California and a Dec. 3 launch from the Cape of a communications satellite for Luxembourg-based SES met all requirements.

 

The latter was SpaceX's first to deliver a commercial satellite to a geostationary orbit 22,300 miles over the equator, the same type of orbit planned for the satellite launching today for Thaicom Plc.

 

"We will observe the upcoming Thaicom launch and evaluate the flight data against the criteria agreed to by SpaceX," said Maj. Eric Badger, an Air Force spokesman.

 

It could be months before the first three missions are evaluated and certification is achieved.

 

Assuming that happens in the near future, Badger said the first potential EELV-class mission that SpaceX could win would be awarded in the 2015 budget year for a planned 2017 launch.

 

After four years with no commercial satellite launches from Cape Canaveral, today's mission would be the second in a month flown by SpaceX.

 

The Thaicom 6 satellite would be Thaicom's third in orbit.

 

Weighing about 7,300 pounds at liftoff and designed to last 15 years, the spacecraft built by Orbital Sciences Corp. will provide high-definition television service to parts of Southeast Asia and Africa.

 

The weather forecast calls for chilly and gusty conditions, but only a 20 percent chance that clouds or strong winds could ground the rocket during a more than two-hour launch window that closes at 7:08 p.m.

 

ESA Says It Is on Track To Reduce Its Station Costs by 30 Percent

 

Peter B. de Selding – Space News

 

PARIS — The European Space Agency (ESA) says that by late 2015, if not earlier, it will reduce its annual space station operating costs by 30 percent compared with 2010.

 

But the agency declined to provide details on where the savings would come from, what the total cost reduction will be and what effect they will have on science and industrial research at the international space station.

 

The agency also refused to confirm figures released by Europe's space station prime contractor, Airbus Defence and Space, the former Astrium, on the cost of station operations through 2014.

 

"No comment on financial figures; no comment on the remark by [Airbus]," ESA said in a written response to SpaceNews inquiries dated Dec. 18. "The reduction of 30 percent compared to 2010 is supposed to be achieved by the end of 2015 at the latest. This target will be met."

 

ESA is under pressure from its member states, especially Italy and France, to reduce the cost of operating the Columbus laboratory module, one of Europe's primary contributions to the orbital outpost. Ten of ESA's 20 member governments are supporting the station, which features similar laboratory and habitation modules provided by Japan, Russia and the United States. The last time they met to review the project, France and Italy — ESA's second- and third-largest station contributors after Germany — said they could no longer maintain their previous support levels, forcing Germany to make up the difference.

 

ESA has access to 51 percent of Columbus' capacity, which is equivalent to about 5.3 percent of the station's total experiment space, including external racks. NASA controls the remaining 49 percent of Columbus' experiment space.

 

ESA is paying NASA, which is the station's general contractor, in services rather than cash to cover Europe's 8.3 percent share of the common station resources — power, communications and astronaut time among them — available to the United States, Japan, Europe and Canada. Russia's space station resources are managed separately.

 

Europe's annual obligation to NASA is equivalent to about 150 million euros ($200 million).

 

ESA's latest barter deal with NASA is to provide at least one flight model, plus spares, of a propulsion system for NASA's Orion crew transport vehicle.

 

For the remaining charges, ESA has been negotiating two-year rolling contracts with Airbus. The first was signed in December 2011 but covered calendar years 2011 and 2012, and was valued at 233 million euros.

 

While ESA and Airbus did not sign their commitments until December 2011, they had agreed early that year on an Authorization to Proceed that limits the agency's liability to a fixed amount but permits work to begin without the formal contract signature.

 

At the time the December 2011 contract was signed, ESA officials said cost reductions were already in place for station operations during 2012, and that each succeeding year would witness further reductions until the 30 percent target was reached.

 

Airbus, which until Jan. 1 was operating under the Astrium name, on Dec. 16 said it had signed a new two-year commitment with ESA, this one covering 2013 and 2014, and valued at 195 million euros.

 

Airbus said the figure includes 44 million euros for spare-parts procurement and development of procedures "to maintain and improve the functional aspects of the European Columbus space laboratory."

 

ESA's statement said it would be "misleading" to compare the two contracts' top-line values because they cover different elements, and that the 30 percent reduction is only in costs associated with "core tasks of operations, and not spare parts and system development."

 

The latest two-year contract assumes, as did the previous one, that Europe remains a full space station partner through 2020, which is the tentative station retirement date. The station partners, led by NASA and Russia, are currently examining what would be required, in spare parts that may no longer be in production and in other station-maintenance issues, to operate the orbital complex to 2027.

 

Under the ESA contract, Airbus is responsible for training astronauts for certain functions at the Columbus module, and for procuring spare parts and financing the ground infrastructure needed to operate the Columbus laboratory.

 

Airbus also maintains the station's ground network, with major operations in Germany and France, and oversees the communications links allocated to Europe.

 

Airbus is managing about 40 companies in the 10 nations participating in Europe's space station program.

 

Bart Reijnen, head of orbital systems and space exploration at Airbus Defence and Space, said the industrial team "will be able to meet the target of reducing costs by 30 percent in 2014, rather than in 2016 as originally planned. We have made considerable efforts to reduce costs, while maintaining the accustomed high level of service."

 

Nye: NASA's asteroid mission concept won't happen

 

Jeff Foust – Space Politics

 

Bill Nye, the CEO of The Planetary Society, is the subject of a rather positive profile by Mother Jones magazine published Thursday. In it, Nye identifies his top three "political passions": "Climate change, raise the standard of women around the world through education, [and] asteroids." The article describes his interest in search for, and finding ways to deflect, potentially hazardous asteroids. "Sooner or later we're going to have to deflect an asteroid," Nye says. "And we're the first generation that can do something about it."

 

So that means he should be a fan of NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) concept, which seeks to shift the orbit of a very small asteroid into lunar orbit to be visited by astronauts, right? Not exactly. "I don't think it's a good value," Nye tells the magazine of the ARM plan. "I don't think it will happen."

 

Why Nye was speaking presumably just for himself, it is a little different position from what The Planetary Society published in May, when it offered conditional support for what was then called the Asteroid Retrieval Mission. "It's an intriguing idea," Nye said in the May statement. However, the organization added at that time that it was concerned "detailed goals, costs, and implementation plan for this asteroid mission are not yet well defined"—and arguably still aren't today.

 

END

 

 

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