Don't forget to join us at Hibachi Grill this Thursday at 11:30 for our monthly NASA retirees luncheon!
| Headlines - New Contacts to Reserve Teague Begins Today
If your organization needs to reserve the Building 2S Teague Auditorium and/or lobby, send an email request to the primary contact, Stephanie M. Lee, or alternate contact, Scott J. Collins. If there is a problem contacting these action officers, contact the facility manager at 713-501-1719 or 281-244-1336. JSC External Relations Office x35111
[top] - See New JSC Video on Flash Infrared Thermography
Researchers at the JSC have developed a IR Contrast Method for Flash Infrared Thermography as a means of Non-Destructive Test Evaluation (NDE). A great marketing video explains how NASA's innovative technology offers three complementary contrast tools that provide characterization of flaws and anomalies in nonmetallic composite structures using flash infrared thermography. See it here! The method can detect smaller flaws and provide quantitative and qualitative information about the shape, size, depth and location of anomalies. NASA's designed methods assist the operator in defining the boundaries of flaws. For industries interested in NDE of composite materials, this technology can be integrated with existing infrared thermography hardware systems. IR Contrast Method for Flash Infrared Thermography is a patented technology available for commercial technology licensing. For more information about Flash Infrared Thermography and other technology license opportunities, click here. Sonia Hernandez x31752
[top] - Recent JSC Announcements
Please visit the JSC Announcements (JSCA) Web page to view the newly posted announcements: JSCA 14-024: Communications with Industry Procurement Solicitation for the International Space Station Commercial Resupply Services 2 Contract at NASA Johnson Space Center JSCA 14-025: Key Personnel Assignments - George Gafka, Nathan Vassberg, George Deckert and Kevin McClam Archived announcements are also available on the JSCA Web page. Linda Turnbough x36246 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/DocumentManagement/announcements/default.aspx
[top] Organizations/Social - Photography Techniques: Hurry and Sign Up Today
Would you like to learn how to take professional-looking pictures with your digital camera? Starport has the perfect Photography Techniques class series for you! This five-week class series introduces you to the proper techniques needed to take great digital photos. You will learn the art of focus, composition, exposure and basic lighting techniques. Following the techniques you'll learn in these easy and fun classes, you will be on your way to taking better pictures in no time! Classes start Tuesday, Oct. 14, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Discounted registration: Regular registration: All classes are held in the Gilruth Center Long Star Room. Shericka Phillips x35563 https://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/en/programs/specialty-classes/photography
[top] - Today: Understanding Anger
Ever notice what a polarizing emotion anger is? Some of us will go to great lengths to suppress our own anger and avoid anger in others, while others use anger to meet needs and establish control. How we navigate anger, in ourselves and others, determines the success or failure of our interpersonal relationships. Knowing how to process anger in a productive way is essential to constructive communication and healthy relationships at work and at home. This workshop will teach you how anger is a vitally important emotion that can be useful under the right circumstances, and how anger can be a "scorched earth" that destroys teams and families. You will also learn what is always at the heart of anger. Please join Jackie Reese, MA, LPC, director of JSC Employee Assistance Program, as she presents "Understanding Anger." Event Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 Event Start Time:12:00 PM Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium
Add to Calendar
Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Occupational Health Branch x36130
[top] - ABWA Energy Express Network
Join us to discover the benefits of the American Business Women's Association (ABWA). In these challenging times, professionals are searching for a place to belong, a place to connect and a place to learn and grow. Whether you are a busy corporate professional, business owner, individual, student or retiree looking for a second career, the ABWA is the place to find the essential elements of business knowledge and community as defined by Peter Block: belonging, conversing, convening, achievement and expectations. Build your network today so support is there when you need it. The $30 meeting fee includes a light-fare meal and speaker. Click here to reserve your space now! Event Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2014 Event Start Time:5:30 PM Event End Time:7:30 PM
Event Location: Hyatt Regency, 1200 Louisiana St, Houston 77002
Add to Calendar
Kirsten Beyer 281-235-2271 http://www.abwaenergyexpress.org
[top] - Massage Special at Starport - Last Day
Starport's $55 for 60 Minutes massage special is coming to a close TODAY! Schedule yours now. Monday through Thursday only: Schedule a 60-minute massage for only $55 online. The massage must be scheduled online by MIDNIGHT TONIGHT and must take place at the Gilruth Center by Oct. 31. This deal cannot be combined with any other discounts or offers. Anette, Starport LMT - Mondays and Wednesdays Click HERE to schedule. Marj, Starport LMT - Tuesdays and Thursdays Click HERE to schedule. Don't miss out on this great discount. Schedule your massage before September ends! Steve Schade x30304 https://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/en/programs/massage-therapy
[top] Jobs and Training - CGE Travel System Live Lab - Oct. 1
Do you need some hands-on, personal help with the Concur Government Edition (CGE) Travel System? Join the Business Systems and Process Improvement Office for a CGE Travel System Live Lab tomorrow, Oct. 1, any time between 9 a.m. and noon in Building 12, Room 142. Our help desk representatives will be available to help you work through your travel processes and learn more about using the CGE Travel System during this informal workshop. Please feel free to bring any travel documents to be worked. This is real-time help, not a training class. Please click on the direct SATERN link below to register and receive SATERN credit. For additional information, please contact Judy Seier at x32771. SATERN direct registration link: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_... Gina Clenney x39851
[top] - Engineer to Entrepreneur
The Houston Technology Center is pleased to host a 10-week lunch-and-learn course series entitled "Engineer to Entrepreneur." If you've ever thought about launching your own business, this is the program for you. You will learn how to establish a corporate entity, develop a business strategy, pitch your strategy and market your products. Join us for a fun-filled program instructed by some of Houston's most accomplished business executives. Classes will be held for 10 consecutive Thursdays from Aug. 21 to Oct. 30 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Building 45, Room 451. For enrollment information, contact Evelyn Boatman at 281-244-8271. Evelyn Boatman x48271
[top] Community - Are You a Stargazer?
JSC will be hosting an exhibit at the 2014 Astronomy Day on Saturday, Nov. 8, at the George Observatory. We could use a few volunteers to work at the exhibit and share their knowledge of NASA activities with the public. Volunteers are needed from 2 to 7 p.m. Sign up in V-CORPs for this wonderful opportunity! The George Observatory is located in the Brazos Bend State Park. Looking for something sooner? Check out these opportunities in V-CORPs: Find Your Path Career Day – Oct. 1 at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Additional volunteers are needed to staff a booth in the afternoon and engage with some 5,000 students who are anxious to learn more about NASA and your career. IASP Virtual Symposium – is an event happening at Space Center Houston (SCH) over the next few weeks. They need speakers to cover a several topics—one that is surely your area of expertise. SCH is looking for a speaker to talk about rocketry on Oct. 2. On Oct. 16, the topic is commercial spaceflight. SCH Exploration Academy – is another series of events! Here are the topics and dates that you could help out with: Oct. 14, 15 - atmosphere/gas science; Nov. 11, 12, 13 – renewable energy. You can find all of this and MORE on the V-CORPs calendar. Questions? Contact your friendly V-CORPs administrator. V-CORPs 281-792-5859
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| JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters. |
NASA and Human Spaceflight News
Tuesday – September 30, 2014
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Gerstenmaier on commercial crew contract awards: they "roughly" fit within the budget
Eric Berger - Houston Chronicle's SciGuy
Shortly after sunrise last Friday morning I caught up with Bill Gerstenmaier, who oversees NASA's human spaceflight programs. Gerst, as he's known in the spaceflight community, did not appear to be in a great mood. I chalked it up to fatigue. We were in a small theater in downtown Baikonur, Kazakhstan. About six hours earlier we'd watched the launch of a Soyuz rocket to the space station, and we'd pretty much been up the entire night.
The Safe Decision, but Wise?
Donald Robertson – Space News
In choosing Boeing Co. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. for contracts to deliver astronauts to the international space station, NASA made the safest commercial crew decisions possible. There are good reasons for these choices. Boeing is developing a conservatively designed capsule called the Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100. The CST-100 is a relatively simple spacecraft that will be launched on the extremely reliable Atlas 5 rocket. It meets NASA's minimum requirements and has the backing of a large corporation with great financial, technical and institutional resources.
Protest over contract award to delay work on NASA space taxi
Irene Klotz – Reuters
Work on a pair of U.S. commercial spaceships to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station will be delayed after a losing contender protested the NASA awards, agency Administrator Charles Bolden said on Monday.
Runner-Up In NASA's Space Taxi Contest Will Fight Decision
Loren Grush – Popular Science
With the recent retirement of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, NASA has been in desperate need of some space taxis -- vehicles designed to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station. For the past three years, the space agency has had to rely on Russia's Soyuz rocket to fulfill this need, which hasn't been cheap or ideal. But rather than build these spacecraft in house, NASA decided to outsource the problem, soliciting private American companies to come up with their own designs for ferrying NASA astronauts to lower Earth orbit. SpaceX, Boeing, and Sierra Nevada Corporation were the three top contenders for the coveted contract, and on September 16, NASA announced it would fund both SpaceX and Boeing's designs. The two companies received a combined sum of $6.8 billion to build, test, and operate their own space taxis, which will hopefully be transporting astronauts by 2017.
Delta IV Heavy rocket, capsule move closer to launch
James Dean, Florida Today
A rocket and spacecraft this week are moving closer to launch of an important NASA test flight in December. The Delta IV Heavy rocket that will launch the $375 million Exploration Flight Test-1 mission was scheduled to roll to its Cape Canaveral Air Force Station pad as soon as Monday, weather permitting.
IAC2014 Day One: Camraderie, But Where Were Russia and China?
Marcia Smith – Space Policy Online
The 2014 International Astronautical Congress (IAC2014) kicked off in Toronto, Canada today (September 29). The highlight was a panel of space agency heads from around the world, but the biggest space policy news was the absence of representatives from China and Russia. The printed program included Xu Dazhe, Administrator of the China National Space Administration, and Denis Lyskov, Deputy Head of Russia's Roscosmos (representing Roscosmos Head Oleg Ostapenko) as participants in a "Heads of Agencies" panel discussion this afternoon. Instead, the panel included representatives only of the U.S., European, Japanese, Canadian, Indian and Mexican space agencies.
Editorial: U.S., China Should Cooperate In Space
Aviation Week
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson once flabbergasted an aide when he read in his maverick FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, on some bit of strategy. Why in the world would the president want that troublemaker in on this the aide asked. LBJ replied, "It's probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in."
That is not bad advice when it comes to international space cooperation. The upsides can be significant. The downsides can be managed. And holding spacefaring rivals at arm's length often does nothing but engender resentment.
'Drill, Baby, Drill' replaces 'Drive, Drive, Drive' as Curiosity Gets First Taste of Mount Sharp Foothills
Ken Kremer
'Drill, Baby, Drill' has replaced 'Drive, Drive, Drive' as the Curiosity Mars rover teams new mantra ever since the six wheeled behemoth pulled up to the foothills of Mount Sharp to begin the systematic layer-by-layer investigation of the humongous mountain that was envisioned years ago when it was selected as the landing site on the Red Planet. A few sols (days) ago, NASA's Curiosity successfully bored into a rock formation representing Mount Sharp for the first time during the rover's existence on Mars since the nail-biting landing more than two years ago in August 2012. The car sized rover is now working in the extended phase of the mission.
Filmmaker, TV network take small steps to Neil Armstrong biopics
collectSPACE
September 29, 2014 — The life story of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, has taken not one, but two small steps towards landing on both the big and small screens.
A newly-acclaimed director and a television network have each reportedly turned their attention to the late Apollo 11 moonwalker as the inspiration for a feature-length film and TV miniseries, respectively.
COMPLETE STORIES
Gerstenmaier on commercial crew contract awards: they "roughly" fit within the budget
Eric Berger - Houston Chronicle's SciGuy
Shortly after sunrise last Friday morning I caught up with Bill Gerstenmaier, who oversees NASA's human spaceflight programs. Gerst, as he's known in the spaceflight community, did not appear to be in a great mood.
I chalked it up to fatigue. We were in a small theater in downtown Baikonur, Kazakhstan. About six hours earlier we'd watched the launch of a Soyuz rocket to the space station, and we'd pretty much been up the entire night.
I wanted to ask Gerstenmaier about the commercial crew contract NASA had awarded to Boeing and SpaceX to develop space taxis to the International Space Station. NASA will give $4.2 billion to Boeing and $2.6 billion to SpaceX to complete development of their spacecraft, and begin flying as soon as 2017.
My understanding was that NASA had about $4 billion to award, so i was surprised when it gave $6.8 billion in awards. I asked Gerst, who made the final decision on the contract awards, about this and here was his response:
The thing that's kind of confusing in the contract structure is that's the maximum value of the contracts. That includes six flights for each one of the offers, and some of that is in the crew transportation language in the ISS. So when you look at that and you spread it out over the entire duration it kind of roughly fits within the budget. We've still got some details to do, some phasing to do, but that's where it is.
Essentially I think he's saying that the contracts are longer than originally anticipated, and instead of covering three flights they cover six flights.
It wasn't until late Friday night that I found out why Gerst might have been unhappy. That's when the losing bidder, Sierra Nevada Corp., filed a legal challenge against NASA saying it improperly awarded the contracts.
Sierra Nevada contends that its bid was $900 million less than Boeing's, and that on technical merits the bids were of equal value. If that's the case, the legal challenge could get interesting.
However such legal challenges to government contracts are fairly common, and usually don't amount to much. Still, it will be interesting to watch.
Unless you're Bill Gerstenmaier, of course.
The Safe Decision, but Wise?
Donald Robertson – Space News
In choosing Boeing Co. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. for contracts to deliver astronauts to the international space station, NASA made the safest commercial crew decisions possible.
There are good reasons for these choices. Boeing is developing a conservatively designed capsule called the Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100. The CST-100 is a relatively simple spacecraft that will be launched on the extremely reliable Atlas 5 rocket. It meets NASA's minimum requirements and has the backing of a large corporation with great financial, technical and institutional resources.
SpaceX's crewed version of the Dragon capsule and its Falcon 9 launch vehicle are both based on the successful Dragon freighter: a great deal of SpaceX's technology and hardware is already flying. In spite of the Dragon capsule's greater capabilities and complexity — and the company's relative newcomer status — SpaceX likely represents the lowest technical risk.
Picking two contractors ensures competition and the best chance to achieve assured access to space for U.S. astronauts. CST-100 and Dragon have few components in common.
In today's safety-obsessed country and NASA, the most likely choices were either Boeing and SpaceX, or just Boeing. If NASA's only goal is to deliver astronauts, Boeing and SpaceX are clearly the best choices. However, especially since Boeing's potential award is so much larger than SpaceX's ($4.2 billion versus $2.6 billion), the safe decision is not necessarily the wise decision. Expensive single-purpose spacecraft and the safest course are no ways to explore the solar system. That is going to require flexible, capable yet inexpensive spacecraft; companies willing to take chances; and a great deal of risk.
In purely financial terms, Boeing has shown no obvious intent to put what former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin called "skin in the game," by which he meant money. Boeing has stated it would not continue without an award of NASA funds. Arguing that each contractor got the subsidy it needed instead of splitting the money evenly, NASA indirectly acknowledged Boeing's lack of financial commitment.
Griffin started the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) project to help two competitors develop commercial freighters able to deliver cargo to the international space station. When he did so, Griffin argued that investment of substantial private or corporate financial resources should be a key determinant of who would win the COTS awards.
By any measure, COTS was an extremely successful program. For a remarkably low public investment of about $1 billion, COTS gave NASA access to two brand-new medium-class launch vehicles and two Earth-to-orbit freighters, one of which can return cargo to Earth. All of them are now fully operational and earning money for their corporate investors.
Griffin was right, and the "skin in the game" policy should also have applied to the commercial crew contracts. Boeing is happy to accept money from NASA to provide a service, but not to invest more than the minimum required to win the award. This is contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of the COTS model that worked so well to develop cargo services to the space station.
Win or lose, with or without additional NASA money, SpaceX said before receiving the award that — although it might need to move more slowly if it lost — it would continue to invest in what it believes is cheaper and better transport of astronauts to orbit. More importantly, SpaceX intends to move beyond the commercial crew awards to deep-space transportation. Its past behavior makes this a believable claim.
The first part of SpaceX's extraordinarily ambitious private endgame — to land astronauts on Mars, leading toward settlement — is identical to NASA's endgame of a human landing on Mars. SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk has not taken the company public so that its income can be reinvested into his long-term goals, without having to answer to shareholders. Musk is willing to put his money where his mouth is, and NASA is right to support this ambitious company. SpaceX has already brought commercial launches back to the United States, an industry the country had all but abandoned.
The third announced contestant, Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) Space Systems, while losing the commercial crew award, still has long-range plans and significant skin in the game. It has reserved an Atlas 5 launch vehicle for an automated test flight. In spite of laying off 9 percent of its work force in the wake of the loss, the company has indicated it will go forward.
As the dark-horse candidate, SNC has consistently taken the greatest risks. It got the smallest subsidy for research and development, yet made apparently great progress. When it became clear that NASA might not be leaning SNC's way, it lined up international support. Announced partners include the European Space Agency; the German Aerospace Center, DLR; and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency; as well as Lockheed Martin in the United States. The overseas development partners might become international customers, helping the project survive.
SNC's spacecraft is more ambitious than the other contestants': a reusable, winged lifting-body spaceplane called the Dream Chaser. It is comparable to a smaller version of the space shuttle, less complex but more aerodynamically advanced.
The space shuttle demonstrated the operational utility and flexibility of a winged vehicle; in low Earth orbit, the Dream Chaser would be a more versatile spacecraft than the capsules. Like the shuttle, it would be able to support satellite repair, maintenance and refueling. It would land more gently, with relatively short notice and at many airports, exposing both cargo and astronauts to a less-stressful environment. The Dream Chaser could have military and commercial markets beyond the reach of the capsules NASA chose.
It is easy to second-guess difficult decisions like the selection of commercial crew winners. Picking the risk takers, SNC with SpaceX, would have been anything but safe. In the long term, it would have been wise.
NASA would have gained two partners willing to take financial, institutional and technical chances, which Boeing clearly is not prepared to do. The agency would have gained an operational replacement for the space shuttle, as well as a capsule. As it is, the agency will have two capsules, one of which is technically conservative and very expensive but has little demonstrated hardware and can do little beyond delivering astronauts. It might not have a future beyond the space station.
SNC, meanwhile, plans to move forward, albeit at a slower pace. SpaceNews reporter Jeff Foust quoted SNC spokeswoman Krystal Scordo as stating, "We are aggressively pursuing commercial and international paths for our program. SNC has made the decision to continue the development of the Dream Chaser to flight."
When the company is done licking its wounds, let us hope its stays the course and weathers the financial and technical storms sure to come. Without quite making a commitment, Scordo strongly implied that the company would bid on the next commercial cargo award with an automated version of the Dream Chaser.
Scrappy SNC did not win an award to deliver astronauts to the space station, and nothing should be done now to try and change that. Nonetheless, NASA should do everything in the agency's power to help the company succeed. Unlike space shuttles, capsules are a technology other nations have mastered. The United States' technological and operational lead in space may depend on SNC and the Dream Chaser.
Protest over contract award to delay work on NASA space taxi
Irene Klotz – Reuters
(Reuters) - Work on a pair of U.S. commercial spaceships to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station will be delayed after a losing contender protested the NASA awards, agency Administrator Charles Bolden said on Monday.
The U.S. space agency awarded contracts worth up to $6.8 billion to Boeing and privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, to finish designs, build, test and ultimately fly crews to the station, a $100 billion research laboratory that orbits about 260 miles (418 km) above Earth.
The awards, announced on Sept. 16, culminate a four-year program to restore U.S.-based human spaceflight services following the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011.Since then, NASA has been dependent on Russia to fly station crewmembers, a service that currently costs the United States about $70 million per seat.
In addition to Boeing and SpaceX, privately owned Sierra Nevada Corp bid to continue development of its Dream Chaser spaceplane under NASA's so-called "Commercial Crew" program. The contracts include up to six operational missions.
Boeing's award is for $4.2 billion. SpaceX offered to do the work for $2.6 billion. On Friday, Colorado-based Sierra Nevada formally protested the awards, saying its proposal would cost $900 million less than Boeing's.
"NASA's own Source Selection Statement and debrief indicate that there are serious questions and inconsistencies in the source selection process. SNC, therefore, feels that there is no alternative but to institute a legal challenge," the company said in a statement.
The protest, filed with the Government Accountability Office, will temporarily keep NASA from moving forward with the next phase of its Commercial Crew program, NASA's Bolden told Reuters.
NASA has 30 days to respond to Sierra Nevada's challenge. GAO is expected to issue its ruling by Jan. 5, 2015.
Bolden was in Toronto for the opening of the week-long International Astronautical Congress.
Runner-Up In NASA's Space Taxi Contest Will Fight Decision
Loren Grush – Popular Science
With the recent retirement of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, NASA has been in desperate need of some space taxis -- vehicles designed to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station. For the past three years, the space agency has had to rely on Russia's Soyuz rocket to fulfill this need, which hasn't been cheap or ideal.
But rather than build these spacecraft in house, NASA decided to outsource the problem, soliciting private American companies to come up with their own designs for ferrying NASA astronauts to lower Earth orbit. SpaceX, Boeing, and Sierra Nevada Corporation were the three top contenders for the coveted contract, and on September 16, NASA announced it would fund both SpaceX and Boeing's designs. The two companies received a combined sum of $6.8 billion to build, test, and operate their own space taxis, which will hopefully be transporting astronauts by 2017.
While the decision was mostly met with enthusiasm and praise from experts, not everyone was so pleased with the big announcement – notably, the "loser" of the competition, the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC). Their Dream Chaser vehicle, which many experts thought was on par with SpaceX's Dragon V2 capsule and Boeing's CST-100, was overlooked for inclusion in the program. And they're not letting it go without a fight.
On Friday, SNC filed a formal bid protest with the Government Accountability Office over NASA's decision, claiming that one of the newly awarded contracts would "result in a substantial increased cost to the public despite near equivalent technical and past performance scores." SNC says that extra cost will be upwards of $900 million, to be exact. The press release also calls into question NASA's rationale for making their choices, which has been somewhat of a mystery. The space agency said it would publish an official Source Selection document, detailing how the decision was made, but a date for that release hasn't been set.
As of now, all we know is that when NASA solicited proposals for CCtCap, they placed a lot of emphasis on safety, reliability of the vehicles, and cost-effectiveness. SNC claims that their Dream Chaser fulfills the requirements of the first two criteria, but that the company can build and operate their vehicle for cheaper than one of the contract winners' vehicles. "SNC's Dream Chaser proposal was the second lowest priced proposal in the CCtCap competition," the press release claims. "SNC's proposal also achieved mission suitability scores comparable to the other two proposals."
It depends on how passionate NASA is about whether or not it made the right decision.
In order to make an official protest with the GAO, companies must either be challenging the solicitation or the reward of a government contract. Most disputes are in regards to the latter situation, and when that's the case, the protesting company must write in detail all the reasons their proposal was better.
SNC has already listed out their grievances, so the ball is in NASA's court now. According to the GAO, NASA has to "answer" SNC's claim within the next 30 days. That means for the next month, NASA is required to put together all of the documents that are relevant to the selection decision that they made. Those documents include their original solicitation document, which lays out all the ground rules and priorities that they valued for the program, as well as its secretive Source Selection document.
"All of those documents will be provided to us and to SNC and probably to the two winning companies that will intervene," Ralph White, the head of the GAO's bid protest division, tells Popular Science. "I would imagine both Boeing and SpaceX will participate in the protest process," though they are not involved just yet.
Once SNC gets those documents, the company has an additional 10 days to respond and file its comments on the report. After that, all sorts of things can happen. The protest could get amended, the GAO could conduct an alternative dispute resolution (somewhat like an out-of-court settlement), or the office could ultimately act as a referee, hearing both sides of the argument and ruling in favor of SNC or NASA. If that happens, the GAO is legally required to have a decision within 100 days of the protest being filed, which is January 5.
However, White says the chances of the GAO actually having to make a decision are low. He notes that about four out of five protests are usually dismissed, "meaning a lot of agencies pull the plug on the protest instead of continuing to litigate it," he says. It's usually the case that the defending company will acknowledge one of the protestor's complaints and fix the problem rather than fight it.
So really, it depends on how passionate NASA is about whether or not it made the right decision. And unless NASA and SNC figure out an alternative solution outside of the protest process, it's possible that NASA will be forced to choose Dream Chaser over one of the other contract winners. That burden of proof, however, relies on SNC. Essentially, the company has to prove that its vehicle not only meets the criteria of the original solicitation, but that that Dream Chaser is a better option than what was picked. And as White noted, it seems unlikely that Boeing and SpaceX will want to let that happen.
Unlike the teardrop-shaped design of the Dragon V2 and CST-100, the Dream Chaser has an appearance similar to a miniature Space Shuttle, having been based off NASA's HL-20 spaceplane concept. SNC claims the design provides the Dream Chaser with "a wider range of capabilities and value including preserving the heritage of the space shuttle program through its design as a piloted, reusable, lifting-body spacecraft."
Delta IV Heavy rocket, capsule move closer to launch
James Dean, Florida Today
A rocket and spacecraft this week are moving closer to launch of an important NASA test flight in December.
The Delta IV Heavy rocket that will launch the $375 million Exploration Flight Test-1 mission was scheduled to roll to its Cape Canaveral Air Force Station pad as soon as Monday, weather permitting.
Storms delayed a planned morning rollout from a hangar to the service tower at Launch Complex 37, and teams hoped to start by early evening.
Once at the pad, the rocket will be lifted into a vertical position and readied for the mid-November arrival of NASA's Orion capsule.
A fueled Orion on Sunday moved to its last stop before reaching the pad, entering a Kennedy Space Center facility where a launch abort tower will be installed on top of the spacecraft's crew and service modules.
NASA's Orion capsule notches another milestone
Targeting a Dec. 4 launch, the uncrewed test flight will be Orion's first trip to space. It will send the capsule as high as 3,600 miles above the planet, farther than a spacecraft designed to carry people has flown in more than 40 years.
The two-orbit flight will test Orion's heat shield as it reenters the atmosphere at 20,000 mph, about 80 percent of the speed of trip back from the moon.
NASA hopes to launch another uncrewed Orion from KSC by 2018, on the first test flight of the agency's new Space Launch System rocket. A first mission with astronauts on board is planned by 2022.
IAC2014 Day One: Camraderie, But Where Were Russia and China?
Marcia Smith – Space Policy Online
The 2014 International Astronautical Congress (IAC2014) kicked off in Toronto, Canada today (September 29). The highlight was a panel of space agency heads from around the world, but the biggest space policy news was the absence of representatives from China and Russia.
The printed program included Xu Dazhe, Administrator of the China National Space Administration, and Denis Lyskov, Deputy Head of Russia's Roscosmos (representing Roscosmos Head Oleg Ostapenko) as participants in a "Heads of Agencies" panel discussion this afternoon. Instead, the panel included representatives only of the U.S., European, Japanese, Canadian, Indian and Mexican space agencies.
When asked how the panel could discuss international cooperation when two of the major space nations were missing, moderator Berndt Feuerbacher, a past president of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), emphasized that it was not what organizers had planned. Both countries were unable to attend because of visa problems, he indicated. During a later press conference, Walter Natynczyk, President of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), said he had no details on the nature of the visa problems. He only learned about it 48 hours in advance, he added, and was not provided with any details from Canada's foreign ministry, which handles such matters.
IAF is one of the three organizations that sponsors the annual IAC, which also includes the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL). The IAF, IAA and IISL presidents jointly proclaimed the beginning of IAC2014 after a two-hour opening ceremony that included three Canadian government astronauts and Cirque du Soleil performers. Cirque du Soleil is a Canadian company whose founder, Guy Laliberté, is Canada's first "spaceflight participant" or space tourist. He flew to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2009 and is jokingly referred to as the "first clown in space" for wearing a clown's nose during portions of the mission. He appeared in a pre-recorded interview. Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield, now retired, who rose to fame due to his social media outreach and rendition of David Bowie's Space Oddity while aboard the ISS, rallied the troops at the end of the morning event.
During a press conference following the afternoon "Heads of Agencies" panel session, reporters attempted to elicit information from NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden on Sierra Nevada's protest of the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCAP) contract and whether the protest could affect work by Boeing and SpaceX, the two companies selected for the contract. Bolden answered firmly that he was not allowed to comment while the protest is underway.
A few news tidbits did emerge from the panel discussion and press conference. Noaki Okumura, President of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), said in response to a question that the Japanese government will not decide until 2016 whether to agree with NASA's proposal to extend the life of the ISS to 2024. CSA's Natynczyk said the Canadian government has agreed to funding through 2020. CSA's focus now is to maximize life sciences research on ISS and will examine the value proposition of that research before asking the government for an extension. Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), said that ESA is still deciding on NASA's previous request to extend operations to 2020, a topic that will be on the agenda of ESA's December 2014 ministerial meeting. Only once that decision is formally made by ESA's member states will it consider the new request.
Also on the agenda of ESA's December ministerial meeting is what new launcher ESA should build. Dordain stressed that, in his opinion, ESA needs a family of launchers, but exactly what ESA will do is a decision to be made by the member states, not by him. When asked whether the decisions on extending ISS and on a new launcher might conflict, with the ministers choosing one or the other, Dordain said no, they are not in competition with each other. It is not an a la carte menu, he joked, but "cheese AND dessert."
Dordain indicated that ESA cooperation with Russia has not been impacted by sanctions imposed on Russia by European countries because of Russia's actions in Ukraine. Bolden added that ISS demonstrates that countries can cooperate together in space even when geopolitical tensions on Earth flare.
Bolden was asked about recent comments by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin that Russia is planning to spend $8 billion on ISS through 2025 and whether that is a signal that Russia is, in fact, committed to extending ISS. Bolden replied that 2025 is the end of their budget cycle and a budget request for that cycle has been submitted to Russia's Duma. That is all. "You shouldn't read too much into it," he cautioned.
K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was awarded the IAF's prestigious Allan D. Emil Award at the opening ceremony this morning, and received accolades during the panel session for ISRO's successful Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), which entered orbit around Mars last week. Four of MOM's five scientific instruments already have been switched on, he said, and images are being returned from MOM's camera. Radhakrishnan spoke of the broad array of space activities ISRO is planning for the remainder of the decade, including space science, but India's main focus continues to be space applications including navigation and communications.
Francisco Javier Mendieta Jimenéz, Director General of the recently established Mexican Space Agency, spoke enthusiastically about Mexico's plans in space, which will focus in the near term on earth observation for disaster management. Stressing that Mexico is an emerging economy, he explained that three crucial elements of the Mexican space program will be technology transfer, training, and capacity building. Mexico will host the 2016 IAC.
Editorial: U.S., China Should Cooperate In Space
Aviation Week
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson once flabbergasted an aide when he read in his maverick FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, on some bit of strategy. Why in the world would the president want that troublemaker in on this the aide asked. LBJ replied, "It's probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in."
That is not bad advice when it comes to international space cooperation. The upsides can be significant. The downsides can be managed. And holding spacefaring rivals at arm's length often does nothing but engender resentment.
Unthinkable during the race to the Moon, cooperation between the U.S. and Russia began nevertheless in the midst of the Cold War with the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. The activity has ebbed and flowed over the decades. But among space professionals on both sides, the cooperation is universally regarded as positive and successful. And despite serious tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine and some blustering about the export of rocket engines, joint operations of Soyuz and the International Space Station continue smoothly.
As we say on the cover and explain in a special report (see page 36), these are indeed turbulent times for space cooperation. That is all the more reason to keep it going and expand it to China.
To say China is not a model world citizen is an understatement. The government conducts large-scale industrial spying and countenances the widespread theft of intellectual property. In space, its 2007 shootdown of a defunct satellite is the most egregious explosion of dangerous orbital debris in history, and China has continued to conduct anti-satellite testing. The U.S. military must continue its work to protect the edge it has in space assets and capabilities.
The chief objection to cooperating with the Chinese civil space program has been that it is a fundamentally military operation. Yet cooperation with the Chinese military is exactly what is needed to promote good relations, and if that cooperation is in a field that is an intense source of national pride like space, then all the better. The troglodytes in the military are ones the West needs to persuade to act more responsibly. It is absurd that the U.S. Navy can conduct joint exercises with the Chinese navy but Congress bars NASA from working directly with Chinese engineers and scientists.
The U.S. and Russia have remained partners in space because each knows how difficult and expensive it is to achieve each advance. The Chinese are intent on becoming a space power on a par with them. For many reasons, it is time to bring the Chinese—carefully—inside the tent.
'Drill, Baby, Drill' replaces 'Drive, Drive, Drive' as Curiosity Gets First Taste of Mount Sharp Foothills
Ken Kremer
'Drill, Baby, Drill' has replaced 'Drive, Drive, Drive' as the Curiosity Mars rover teams new mantra ever since the six wheeled behemoth pulled up to the foothills of Mount Sharp to begin the systematic layer-by-layer investigation of the humongous mountain that was envisioned years ago when it was selected as the landing site on the Red Planet.
A few sols (days) ago, NASA's Curiosity successfully bored into a rock formation representing Mount Sharp for the first time during the rover's existence on Mars since the nail-biting landing more than two years ago in August 2012. The car sized rover is now working in the extended phase of the mission.
Mount Sharp was always Curiosity's primary mission destination. The layered mountain dominates most of the Gale Crater landing site and towers 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) into the Martian sky and is taller than Mount Rainier.
"We're putting on the brakes to study this amazing mountain," said Curiosity Deputy Project Manager Jennifer Trosper of JPL, in a NASA statement. "Curiosity flew hundreds of millions of miles to do this."
After departing the treacherous dunes of "Hidden Valley" and canceling the potential fourth drill campaign at "Bonanza King" in August for safety reasons due to an unstable rock formation, Curiosity's handlers altered her traverse route and resumed the trek to the mountains base in search of a scientifically interesting new drill site.
The team decided to aim for the "Pahrump Hills" which is a section of the mountain's basal geological unit, called the Murray formation.
"These features on the Murray formation mudstones are the accumulations of resistant materials. They occur both as discrete clusters and as dendrites, where forms are arranged in tree-like branching. By investigating the shapes and chemical ingredients in these features, the team hopes to gain information about the possible composition of fluids at this Martian location long ago," according to NASA.
Curiosity arrived at an enticing outcrop at "Pahrump Hills" on Sept. 19 to start evaluating its feasibility as the rovers 4th drill site. Three days later the team settled on a spot named "Confidence Hills" to conduct a "mini-drill" operation, basically a shallow test hole, to further assess the target rock's suitability for drilling.
"Confidence Hills" passed the mini-drill test with flying colors and no noticeable instability, unlike the slippery rocks at "Bonanza King." So the engineers gave the go-ahead for full scale interior drilling.
They also determined that the rock is softer than any of Curiosity's three previous sample drilling/analysis targets at "John Klein", "Cumberland" and "Windjana."
Curiosity's percussion drill located at the end of the robotic arm successfully "chewed about 2.6 inches (6.7 centimeters) deep into a basal-layer outcrop on Mount Sharp and collected a powdered-rock sample" late in the Martian day on Sept. 24, 2014, Sol 759, according to a NASA press release.
"This drilling target is at the lowest part of the base layer of the mountain, and from here we plan to examine the higher, younger layers exposed in the nearby hills," said Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of JPL, in the NASA statement.
"This first look at rocks we believe to underlie Mount Sharp is exciting because it will begin to form a picture of the environment at the time the mountain formed, and what led to its growth."
The sampling hole is approximately 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter and was imaged up close with the high resolution MAHLI color camera on the arm.
"The Sol 759 drill hole looks good," reported science team member Ken Herkenhoff in a post-drill mission update.
The "Confidence Hills" hole is also being studied by the other rover's other science instruments on the Mast and arm to fully assess whether it's truly suitable to feed into Curiosity's two onboard chemistry labs – SAM and CheMin – for detailed chemical compositional analysis and determination of any inorganic and organic molecules.
After collecting the rock powder it is temporarily held within the sample-handling mechanism on the rover's arm.
At week's end, the next step was to be the planned delivery of the rock-powder sample into the tiny scoop on the rover's arm. But the transfer from the sample mechanism to the scoop was delayed a few days by "a problem with one of the rover's gyroscopes," noted Herkenhoff.
The powder transfer to the scoop is expected soon. Whenever it does happen, the drill tailings inside the open scoop will be imaged by the Mastcam color camera to determine the powder's texture. The tailings will also be examined by the APXS and ChemCam instruments.
The team will also assess whether "it is safe for further sieving, portioning and delivery into Curiosity's internal laboratory instruments [SAM and Chemin] without clogging hardware. The instruments can perform many types of analysis to identify chemistry and mineralogy of the source rock," according to NASA.
In the meantime, Herkenhof said Curiosity will be put to good use. The team has commanded the 1 ton rover's SAM instrument to "heat a sample from the previous drill target "Windjana" ( still held in a sample cup) and measure evolved noble gases overnight on Sols 763 and 764."
The lower reaches of Mount Sharp are the rovers ultimate driving objective because the sedimentary layers are believed to hold caches of water altered minerals based on high resolution mapping measurements obtained by the CRISM spectrometer aboard NASA's powerful Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) – soaring overhead.
Such minerals could possibly indicate locations that sustained potential Martian life forms, past or present, if they ever existed.
"Exploring the mountain will be like traveling backwards in a time machine," Dr. Jim Green, NASA's Director of Planetary Sciences at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, told me in a recent exclusive interview with AmericaSpace.
During Year 1 on Mars, Curiosity accomplished her primary objective of discovering a habitable zone on the Red Planet that contains the chemical ingredients and a chemical energy gradient necessary to support microbial life forms in the ancient past, if they ever existed.
Curiosity found the Martian habitable zone while exploring a more than three billion year old ancient riverbed near her landing site at an area known as Yellowknife Bay.
During 2013, Curiosity conducted the first two drill campaigns at the "John Klein" and "Cumberland" outcrop targets inside Yellowknife Bay. They were both mudstone rock outcrops and the interiors were markedly different in color and much lighter compared to the third drill site at "Windjana" into a slab of red, sandstone rock during 2014.
So far Curiosity's odometer totals over 5.5 miles (9.0 kilometers) since landing inside Gale Crater on Mars in August 2012. She has taken over 191,000 images during 763 Sols of exploration.
Meanwhile MAVEN, NASA's newest Mars orbiter successfully entered Mars orbit barely a week ago on Sept, 21. Read my MAVEN articles here, here and here.
Stay tuned here for continuing updates.
Filmmaker, TV network take small steps to Neil Armstrong biopics
collectSPACE
September 29, 2014 — The life story of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, has taken not one, but two small steps towards landing on both the big and small screens.
A newly-acclaimed director and a television network have each reportedly turned their attention to the late Apollo 11 moonwalker as the inspiration for a feature-length film and TV miniseries, respectively.
Damien Chazelle, who directed the upcoming jazz drama "Whiplash," is in talks to direct "First Man," a biopic about Armstrong for Universal Studios.
Meanwhile, the tv network TNT has dusted off its plans for "One Giant Leap," an almost ten-year-old project to adapt Armstrong's life as a four-hour miniseries.
Neil Armstrong, who died in August 2012 at age 82, was a Naval aviator and NASA research pilot prior to becoming an astronaut in 1962. Three years before he walked on the moon in July 1969, Armstrong commanded the Gemini 8 mission, achieving the world's first-ever docking between two spacecraft.
Penetrating character study
News of Chazelle's interest in directing "First Man," which was first broken by The Hollywood Reporter, comes just a couple of weeks before the limited release of "Whiplash," the filmmaker's new drama. The movie, which stars actors Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons as a young jazz drummer and his mentor, took the top awards at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
"Damien Chazelle's new film caused a sensation not just at the Sundance Film Festival, but everywhere it has been previewed," said historian James Hansen, who penned the authorized biography "First Man" on which the Armstrong feature film will be based. "When the rest of us get to see ['Whiplash'] and start to appreciate what a brilliant young filmmaker that Chazelle is, the excitement about how he will handle 'First Man' should really explode."
Universal originally optioned Hansen's "First Man" (Simon & Schuster, 2005) in 2008 after it was briefly considered by Clint Eastwood for Warner Brothers. A screenplay was written but the project stalled until earlier this year, when Chazelle expressed interest in directing. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Josh Singer ("The Fifth Estate") has been tapped to write a new script.
"Space enthusiasts need to know that it is not going to be an "Apollo 13" or a "From the Earth to the Moon," Hansen told collectSPACE.com. "It is going to be sharply-edged, penetrating character study."
"I am going to be deeply involved in this film, especially as the screenplay is written, and I will do everything I can to make it an honest story," he added.
Producing "First Man" for Universal will be Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen of Temple Hill Entertainment ("Twilight: New Moon," "The Maze Runner").
Small screen, 'Giant Leap'
Preceding the news about "First Man" by a few days, TNT confirmed to Deadline Hollywood that it was again picking up development of its miniseries about Armstrong.
Al Reinert, who co-wrote the script for Universal Studios' 1995 feature film "Apollo 13," has been attached to TNT's "One Giant Leap," based on the book by the same title by Leon Wagener (Tom Doherty Associates, 2004). Reinart also penned two episodes of Tom Hanks' HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon," including one focusing on Armstrong and the Apollo 11 mission, as well as directed the 1989 moon landing documentary "For All Mankind."
EOne Television ("Hell on Wheels" on AMC and "Haven" on SyFy) will produce "One Giant Leap" for TNT.
The only full-body photograph of Neil Armstrong taken outside on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969. (NASA)
Target release dates for either "One Giant Leap" or "First Man" are not yet known.
"It has been 45 years since Apollo 11 and it is time for the story — particularly Neil's story — to be presented to the younger generations," Hansen said.
END
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