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July 26th, 2018
Artist’s view of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in space, up and operating tackling a full agenda of space science conquests.
Credit: Northrop Grumman
The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee finished a two-part hearing today on delays and cost increases for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), affectingly also known in some circles as the Just Wait Space Telescope.
Launch goal
“It is truly staggering to behold how this space telescope’s cost and schedule projections went from costing the same as a Space Shuttle mission—around half a billion dollars with an original launch goal in 2007—to now becoming an expenditure exceeding $9 billion with a new launch goal in March 2021,” said Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith. “That is nineteen times the original cost and a delay of fourteen years. It’s hard to get much worse than that.”
Independent Review Board (IRB) was chaired by Tom Young, a board that identified systemic problems in the management and execution of JWST. Credit: House Science, Space, and Technology Committee/Screengrab
Hurting other missions
Space Subcommittee Chairman Brian Babin pointed out that the additional costs for JWST are hurting other missions.
“The $803 million needed to fund the JWST cost breach could fund nearly every one of NASA’s science funding shortfalls from FY13 to FY16. These projects include Earth science and education projects greatly promoted by our Democratic colleagues on the committee.”
Babin said that “decisions made now can have long lasting implications on future missions. We need to know that there is not a systemic or fundamental management problem with how NASA plans and executes these larger strategic missions.”
Independent review
The hearing came shortly after an Independent Review Board (IRB), chaired by Tom Young, identified systemic problems in the management and execution of JWST.
That report identified five fundamental issues that contributed to the delay: human errors, embedded problems, lack of experience in areas such as the sunshield, excessive optimism, and system complexity.
“Our report contains 32 recommendations,” Young said at the hearing. “We believe the implementation of all 32 recommendations is required to maximize the probability of JWST success,” he told the Committee.
Lessons learned
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine provided testimony on the first panel and assured the Committee that NASA will be implementing the Independent Review Board recommendations.
“NASA also recognizes that the lessons learned here have similarities to other issues we are seeing around NASA’s development programs for large, complex space systems and it is imperative for NASA to not only internalize these messages to lasting effect on Webb, but also across all of NASA’s programs,” Bridenstine said.
On the hearing hot seat. Wesley Bush, CEO of Northrup Grumman, the primary contractor on JWST.
Credit: House Science, Space, and Technology Committee/Screengrab
Grumbles about Grumman
Wesley Bush, CEO of Northrup Grumman, the primary contractor on JWST, testified on the second panel and acknowledged that, “Northrup Grumman recognizes that we have contributed to some of the program’s challenges.”
Chairman Smith pressed the issue, saying that “the U.S. aerospace industry has the highest skilled workforce in the world. Their scientists, engineers, and technicians have built incredibly challenging and complex aerospace systems. So the workplace errors and lack of discipline, auditing, and quality control described by the IRB could lead us to believe that the real issue is with Northrop Grumman.”
Cost overruns
In questioning, Smith asked whether Northrup Grumman had taken responsibility for the problems listed in the Independent Review Board report.
“In Mr. Young’s report there were several instances of preventable human error that were pinpointed that led to millions of dollars in cost overruns. I’m wondering if those employees are still employed by Northrup Grumman,” Smith asked. Bush could not confirm that anyone had been fired as a result of the human errors that have delayed JWST.
JWST’s combined science instruments and optical element recently completed 100 days of thermal vacuum testing inside NASA Johnson Space Center’s Chamber A. Engineers are seen by the hardware shortly after it emerged from the huge test facility on December 1, 2017.
Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn
Smith asked if Northrup Grumman was planning to pay the $800 million in above-cap expenses, and the answer was also no.
“I wish that Northrup Grumman would take responsibility and show a little bit more good faith both for the taxpayer and for the cost overruns,” Smith said.
The JWST hearing panels are available to watch at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmAmcuDB8Q8
And also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkWd4OChlDg
Note: This story based largely on House Science, Space, and Technology Committee press statement.
Posted in 
New altitude record.
Credit: Virgin Galactic
From Virgin Galactic today:
Virgin Galactic test pilots broke Mach 2 this morning, as VSS Unity performed its third rocket-powered supersonic outing in less than four months.
After a clean release from carrier aircraft VMS Eve at 46,500 ft, pilots Dave Mackay and Mike “Sooch” Masucci lit the spaceship’s rocket motor, before pulling up into a near vertical climb and powering towards the black sky at 2.47 times the speed of sound.
White Knight carrier craft carries SpaceShipTwo aloft for high-altitude release.
Credit: Virgin Galactic
Into the ignorosphere
The planned 42 seconds rocket burn took pilots and spaceship through the Stratosphere and, at an apogee of 170,800 ft, into the Mesosphere for the first time.
This region — often referred to by scientists as the “Ignorosphere” — is an under-studied atmospheric layer because it is above the range of balloon flight and not accessible via circling satellites.
New record
Notes a Virgin Galactic statement: After a safe landing back at Mojave Air and Space Port, Chief Pilot Dave Mackay summed up the experience: “It was a thrill from start to finish. Unity’s rocket motor performed magnificently again and Sooch pulled off a smooth landing. This was a new altitude record for both of us in the cockpit, not to mention our mannequin in the back, and the views of Earth from the black sky were magnificent.”
Feathered SpaceShipTwo heads toward Earth.
Credit: Virgin Galactic
Sooch added: “Having been a U2 pilot and done a lot of high altitude work, or what I thought was high altitude work, the view from 170,000 ft was just totally amazing. The flight was exciting and frankly beautiful. We were able to complete a large number of test points which will give us good insight as we progress to our goal of commercial service.”
Cabin analysis
Every time VSS Unity is tested on the ground, or in the skies, Virgin Galactic reports that they gain invaluable experience and fresh data. This continuously improves our modeling and helps us optimize objectives and test points as we progressively expand the flight envelope. Today’s test, among other things, gathered more data on supersonic aerodynamics as well as thermal dynamics, according to a press statement.
As it has been on previous flights, Unity’s cabin was equipped to gather data vital to the future safety and experience of future astronaut customers.
Tarmac touchdown for third powered flight of SpaceShipTwo, Unity.
Credit: Virgin Galactic
These cabin analysis systems record a host of parameters that are designed to help us further understand the environment inside the cabin during powered flight – temperatures, pressures, humidity, acoustics, thermal response, vibration, acceleration and even radiation.
The carrier aircraft that let loose of SpaceShipTwo at altitude, VMS Eve, was piloted today by Todd Ericson and Kelly Latimer.
Go to this video of the flight at:
https://www.image.net/download/virgingalactic/false/599522370.599523131
Curiosity Front Hazcam Right B photo taken on Sol 2121, July 25, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2122 tasks.
Reports Rachel Kronyak, planetary geologist at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, the science team has selected a new drill target, “Ailsa Craig,” and spent time triaging the target with the rover’s contact science instruments: the Dust Removal Tool, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS).
Curiosity Navcam Left B image acquired on Sol 2121, July 25, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Drill time
The current plan spells out two sols of Curiosity work: Sol 2122 is devoted to drilling the target Ailsa Craig.
“We’ll collect some complementary observations to document our drilling activities,” Kronyak adds, using the robot’s Mastcam, MAHLI, and the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) cameras.
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) shows prepping of new drill site. Photo produced on Sol 2121, July 25, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Recharging
“We’ll spend most of Sol 2123 recharging, but we also managed to squeeze in a few additional science observations,” Kronyak notes, including two ChemCam Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS) analyses on nearby bedrock targets “Tolsta Head” and “Appin.”
Curiosity Mastcam Right image of dust busting brushes. Photo taken on Sol 2121, July 25, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“We’ll also use Mastcam to document two nearby crater features named “Taconite” and “Peterhead.” Finally, we’ll conduct some standard atmospheric tau and crater rim observations,” Kronyak concludes.
Destination Mars – Putting American Boots on the Surface of the Red Planet!
This July 25 hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness focused on NASA’s exploration priorities and is the first in a series of hearings in anticipation of a future NASA authorization legislation.
Floating to the top of questioning, Moon first, Mars second…or Red Planet priority as #1 objective?
Witnesses/written testimony
Mr. Tory Bruno, President and Chief Executive Officer, United Launch Alliance
Mr. Chris Carberry, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Explore Mars. Inc.
Dr. Dava Newman, Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Harvard-MIT Health, Sciences, and Technology
Dr. Peggy A. Whitson, former NASA Astronaut
Video of hearing starts at: 1:24:40
Go to archived hearing at:
https://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings?ID=75B8CE46-D9AC-4B0E-B2C0-FA540D2C00D1
Also, Commerce Ranking Member Bill Nelson Opening Statement is available at:
Curiosity Navcam Left B image acquired on Sol 2121, July 25, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now carrying out Sol 2121 tasks.
Reports Michelle Minitti, a planetary geologist at Framework in Silver Spring, Maryland, Mars dealt scientists a winning hand, yielding a sufficiently flat parking space after a recent short bump that allows Curiosity to proceed with a plan to drill in an area of the “Vera Rubin Ridge.”
Curiosity Mastcam Left photo taken on Sol 2120, July 24, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“Our current parking spot does not exhibit as strong a hematite signal from orbit as the site of our last drill attempt,” Minitti notes, “but it still importantly provides an opportunity to sample the ‘Pettegrove Point’ member of the Vera Rubin Ridge.”
Curiosity Mastcam Left photo acquired on Sol 2120, July 24, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Drill target
The focus of late has been almost solely on characterizing the drill target, melodiously named “Ailsa Craig,” using the robot’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) after brushing it with the rover’s Dust Removal Tool.
“The rover will also place the drill in contact with the target and push into it to test the target’s stability for drilling,” Minitti adds. If luck holds, Curiosity will soon attempt new drilling activities.
“The science team managed to squeeze one observation unrelated to drilling into the plan…a single image of the sky to monitor the dust in the atmosphere,” Minitti concludes.
New road map
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Meanwhile, a new Curiosity traverse map through Sol 2120 has been issued.
The map shows the route driven by NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity through the 2120 Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission on Mars (July 24, 2018).
Numbering of the dots along the line indicate the sol number of each drive. North is up. The scale bar is 1 kilometer (~0.62 mile).
From Sol 2119 to Sol 2120, Curiosity had driven a straight line distance of about 6.52 feet (1.99 meters), bringing the rover’s total odometry for the mission to 12.10 miles (19.47 kilometers).
The base image from the map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera (HiRISE) in NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Curiosity Mastcam Left photo acquired on Sol 2120, July 24, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity Front Hazcam Left B image acquired on Sol 2120, July 24, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now carrying out Sol 2120 tasks.
Reports Abigail Fraeman, a planetary geologist for NASA/JPL in Pasadena, California: “A weekend drive completed successfully and we have our next intended drill target attempt in the rover workspace.”
Curiosity Navcam Left B photo taken on Sol 2120, July 24, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Pitch and roll
However, Fraeman adds, a problem has cropped up. The combination of the rover’s pitch and roll makes future delivery of a drilled sample to the rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite via the new feed extended sample transfer (FEST) method impossible in the robot’s current orientation.
The plan has the rover making a “scooch” to put it in a more favorable position for drill sample delivery activities, Fraeman explains.
This small bump pushes Curiosity into a good drill position.
“We also managed to get some science in before the bump,” Fraeman points out.
Curiosity Mastcam Left image taken on Sol 2119, July 23, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Gauging dust fall
The plan calls for use of the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to photograph “Sgurr of Eigg,” a contact science target from almost 120 sols ago. Doing so allows scientists to gauge how much dust has deposited on it since the rover used its Dust Removal Tool (DRT) on the target.
Also planned Fraeman adds, is taking Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) passive spectra from another familiar target, “Appin,” and then a Mastcam multispectral observation of both Sgurr of Eigg and Appin.
Curiosity Mastcam Left image acquired on Sol 2119, July 23, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“We’ll finish out the morning science block with a Navcam dust devil survey and get some additional environmental science monitoring in the afternoon, including a tau observation and image of the crater rim to the north,” Fraeman concludes.
NASA Administrator, Jim Bridenstine, provides an overview of the space agency’s history and future plans.
Credit: CSIS/Screengrab
The Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) held an impressive gathering of past NASA leaders to discuss the space agency’s 60th anniversary – and future plans including the lunar gateway concept.
The discussion held on Monday, July 23, featured new NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, joined in a panel conversation with two of his predecessors: Sean O’Keefe and Charlie Bolden.
Bridenstine, joined in a panel conversation with two of his predecessors: Sean O’Keefe and Charlie Bolden.
Credit: CSIS/Screengrab
Bridenstine provided an overview of the agency’s future while honoring its decades-long history. The Administrator’s address by a panel discussion led by Todd Harrison, Director of Aerospace Security Project and Senior Fellow of the CSIS International Security Program.
To view a video of the event — starts at 36:48 – go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4605&v=uVrDHxyIf4M
NASA’s Galileo spacecraft took this Moon image on Dec. 7, 1992, on its way to explore the Jupiter system in 1995-1997. Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS
Two space researchers are suggesting that, while Earth’s Moon is uninhabitable today, there could have been life on its surface in the distant past.
They suggest that two early windows of habitability for Earth’s Moon might have been sufficient to support simple lifeform: shortly after the Moon formed from a debris disk 4 billion years ago and again during a peak in lunar volcanic activity around 3.5 billion years ago.
During both periods, the Moon was spewing out large quantities of superheated volatile gases, including water vapor, from its interior. This outgassing could have formed pools of liquid water on the lunar surface and an atmosphere dense enough to keep it there for millions of years.
That prospect has been outlined by astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch at the Technical University in Berlin, Germany and adjunct professor at Washington State University, along with Ian Crawford, a professor of planetary science and astrobiology at the University of London.
Sensitive analyses
The study is online today in the journal Astrobiology and draws on results from recent space missions and sensitive analyses of lunar rock and soil samples that show the Moon is not as dry as previously thought.
Credit: NASA
In 2009-2010, an international team of scientists discovered hundreds of millions of metric tons of water ice on the Moon. Additionally, there is strong evidence of a large amount of water in the lunar mantle that is thought to have been deposited very early on in the Moon’s formation, Schulze-Makuch and Crawford point out.
The early Moon is also likely to have been protected by a magnetic field that could have shielded lifeforms on the surface from deadly solar winds.
Cyanobacteria touchdown
The earliest evidence for life on Earth comes from fossilized cyanobacteria that are 3.5-3.8 billion years old. During this time, the solar system was dominated by frequent and giant meteorite impacts. It is possible that meteorites containing simple organisms like cyanobacteria, the researchers suggest, could have been blasted off the surface of the Earth and landed on the Moon.
“It looks very much like the Moon was habitable at this time,” Schulze-Makuch said in a press statement. “There could have actually been microbes thriving in water pools on the Moon until the surface became dry and dead.”
International Space Station.
Credit: NASA
Future research
Whatever the case, determining if life arose on the Moon or was transported from elsewhere can only be addressed by an aggressive future program of lunar exploration, the researchers add. A promising line of inquiry for any future space missions would be to obtain samples from deposits from the period of heightened volcanic activity to see if they contained water or other possible markers of life.
Also, experiments could be conducted in simulated lunar environments on Earth and on the International Space Station to see if microorganisms can survive under the environmental conditions predicted to have existed on the early Moon.
To view the research — Was There an Early Habitability Window for Earth’s Moon? — go to:
Curiosity Front Hazcam Left B image taken on Sol 2117, July 21, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now performing Sol 2117 duties.
According to Michelle Minitti, a planetary geologist at Framework in Silver Spring, Maryland, the robot made “great progress” across the “Vera Rubin Ridge” toward the site of our next drilling attempt at “Sgurr of Eigg.”
Weekend plan
A weekend plan has Curiosity collecting more data about the ridge materials around the rover, and the sky above the Mars machinery.
Curiosity Navcam Left B photo taken on Sol 2116, July 20, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This is to be followed by Curiosity embarking on a drive of roughly 40 feet (12 meters) to Sgurr of Eigg, Minitti adds.
“We drove back into the Torridon quadrangle, so the target names once again have Scottish flavor,” Minitti notes.
Bedrock science
The rover’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) has shot three targets, each with a different characteristic.
“Ben Stack” is a representative laminated bedrock target.
“Ben Avon” is bedrock with small nodular features throughout it.
“Ben Lawers” includes a thin, resistant layer jutting out above the laminated bedrock surrounding it.
Curiosity Mastcam Left image taken on Sol 2115, July 19, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) will also analyze a representative bedrock target, “Walsay,” but for reasons beyond just the normal chemical characterization of a target.
Calibration activity
Minitti explains that APXS will analyze Walsay at four different distances – from touching the bedrock surface to hovering 3 centimeters above it – to refine how distance to the target affects APXS data.
“There are instances when the bedrock is rough enough that APXS cannot be placed directly in contact with a desired target. By conducting this calibration activity at Walsay, we will be better able to understand and interpret APXS data acquired in just such a situation,” Minitti notes.
Curiosity Mastcam Left image taken on Sol 2115, July 19, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Sky-high monitoring
“The dust storm continues to envelop Curiosity, so our plan includes observations aimed at monitoring the amount of dust in the atmosphere at both early morning and midday times,” Minitti reports. “We planned a dust devil survey, and a pair of cloud movies aimed at the horizon and at the zenith. ChemCam also took aim at the sky with a passive spectral observation to monitor the aerosols and trace gases in the atmosphere.”
After the drive on Sol 2119, Minitti adds, “the rover will unstow her arm before imaging the workspace, providing the team with an unobstructed view of our next drill attempt site. Hopefully, we will be able to hit the ground running with our drill plan on Monday!”
Curiosity Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) produced on Sol 2115, July 19, 2018.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
The personal collection of Neil Armstrong, the first human to walk on the Moon, will be presented in a series of auctions beginning November 1-2, 2018 by Heritage Auctions.
The Armstrong Family Collection features never-before-seen artifacts from his momentous lunar landing to private mementos – including pieces of a wing and propeller from the 1903 Wright Brothers flight that Armstrong took with him to the Moon, a gold pin from Armstrong’s Gemini VIII mission, and historic correspondence about the planning that went into the Apollo 11 Moon mission.
Historical items
“There will be flown items, autographed items and items of historical significance,” said Mark Armstrong, son of the historic moonwalker. “There will be items that make you think, items that make you laugh and items that make you scratch your head.”
Fragment-of-Wright-Brothers-Flyer-Propeller-from-Armstrong-Family-Collection
Image credit-CAG.jpg
The auctions will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 mission.
Dallas-based Heritage Auctions has scheduled three auctions for the collection, the first time these personal items have been offered for sale: November 1-2, 2018; May 9-10, 2019; and November 2019.
For more information, go to:
