Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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July 13th, 2016
Credit: NASA
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness, convened a subcommittee hearing today titled “NASA at a Crossroads: Reasserting American Leadership in Space Exploration.”
The hearing asked witnesses to focus on the importance of ensuring consistency in policy to best leverage investments made in human space exploration.
Also, the hearing was intending to explore questions facing NASA related to the upcoming presidential transition.
Credit: NASA
Here’s is testimony given today:
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson Opening Statement
Good afternoon, and thank you, Senator Cruz, for calling this hearing. I greatly appreciate our coming together to work toward a bill that will keep NASA moving forward in an exciting and productive manner.
It’s notable that July 20th, one week from today, marks the 40th anniversary of the first landing on Mars by NASA’s Viking 1. And the legacy of that mission, and subsequent missions to the Red Planet, is that we now know that Mars was once warm and wet and may very well have supported life. There’s even evidence of flowing water at the surface of Mars today.
In 2010, we passed a bipartisan NASA Authorization Act calling on the agency to explore beyond the Earth’s orbit, with the long term goal of a human mission to Mars.
I recently visited Stennis Space Center and the Michoud Assembly Facility on the Gulf Coast, as well as the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, and I can tell that progress toward that goal is real. We also have Orion at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida being prepared for its first journey beyond the moon. We are going to Mars, and the rockets and engines and spacecraft that are the building blocks of that mission are being assembled and tested right now!
And if all continues to go well, by the end of next year, we will once again have American astronauts launching to space from Florida soil on American rockets, thanks to the partnerships NASA has forged with SpaceX and Boeing.
It is truly an exciting time for our space program.
This committee has always worked in a non-partisan manner, and I am pleased to be a part of continuing that tradition in this Congress as we work toward advancing and passing a NASA reauthorization.
Thank you all for being here, and I look forward to your testimony.
NOTE: Here’s the video of the hearing:
Testimony
— Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar, Executive Director, Coalition for Deep Space Exploration
— Professor Dan Dumbacher, Professor of Engineering Practice, Purdue University
— Mr. William H. Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator of Human Exploration and Operations, NASA
— Mr. Mike Gold, Vice President of Washington Operations, SSL
— Mr. Mark Sirangelo, Vice President of Space Systems Group, Sierra Nevada Corporation
Posted in 
Earth’s Moon as seen from the International Space Station taken by ESA British astronaut, Tim Peake.
Credit: NASA/ESA
A senior Harvard astrophysicist is waving a cautionary flag about a loophole in the United Nations Outer Space Treaty that allows nations to exploit the Moon’s resources.
In particular, the scientist sees a race to claim the lunar “Peaks of Eternal Light,” bathed in near-perpetual sunlight and thus ideal for a photovoltaic power station.
Martin Elvis, Harvard astrophysicist.
Credit: Martin Elvis
Martin Elvis, a Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) researcher is co-author of a recent paper that says provisions in the treaty allow nations to exploit resources, including through establishing research stations, and bar others from disrupting such endeavors.
Lunar South Pole, 4 peaks are identified which are illuminated more than 80% of the time.
Credit: JAXA
De facto ownership
In some cases, this could amount to de facto ownership, Elvis points out. As China and Japan plan Moon landings, and corporate leaders eye their own space ventures, the loophole has gained in importance, he says.
Alvin Powell, Harvard Staff Writer for the Harvard Gazette, interviews Elvis on his concerns, available here at:
Selfie taken earlier of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at a drilled sample site called “Okoruso.”
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is deep into Sol 1398, back on line and in full operations.
New imagery indicates that the Mars machinery is back in photo-taking mode, relaying new photos of its surroundings.
This image was taken by Curiosity’s Navcam Left B on Sol 1398, July 12, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Meanwhile, engineers continue to sharp shoot why the rover put itself into a safe standby mode on July 2. The rover team brought Curiosity out of safe mode on July 9.
According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Curiosity website: “The most likely cause of entry into safe mode has been determined to be a software mismatch in one mode of how image data are transferred on board.”
This Curiosity image was taken by Navcam Left B on Sol 1398, July 12, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Science activity planning for the rover is avoiding use of that mode, according to JPL, a mode that involves writing images from some cameras’ memories into files on the rover’s main computer. Alternate means are available for handling and transmitting all image data.
Senator Ted Cruz
Credit: Office of Ted Cruz
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness, will convene a subcommittee hearing tomorrow titled “NASA at a Crossroads: Reasserting American Leadership in Space Exploration.”
The hearing promises to focus on the importance of ensuring consistency in policy to best leverage investments made in human space exploration.
Also, the hearing is to explore questions facing NASA related to the upcoming presidential transition.
Ted Cruz, Republican senator from Texas, pokes his head into NASA’s Orion spacecraft while visiting the NASA Johnson Space Center. Orion program manager Mark Geyer (left) discusses the workings of the spacecraft with the lawmaker.
Credit: Lockheed Martin
Slated to start on Wednesday, July 13, 2016, at 2:30 p.m. the invited witnesses are:
— William H. Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator of Human Exploration and Operations, NASA
— Mary Lynne Dittmar, Executive Director, Coalition for Deep Space Exploration
— Mike Gold, Vice President of Washington Operations, Space Systems Loral (SSL), former Bigelow Aerospace
— Mark Sirangelo, Vice President of Space Systems Group, Sierra Nevada Corporation
— Dan Dumbacher, Professor of Engineering Practice, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.
Credit: NASA
Hearing Details
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
2:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Subcommittee Hearing
Senate Russell Building 253
Note: Witness testimony, opening statements, and a livestream will be available on:
China’s Tiangong-2 space lab undergoing checkout for September liftoff.
Credit: CCTV via China Spaceflight
It is an important year for China’s burgeoning human spaceflight program.
Chinese news agencies report that the country’s second orbiting space lab –Tiangong-2 — has been delivered over the weekend from Beijing by rail to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
According to a statement from China’s manned space engineering office, the vessel will undergo assembling and testing processes at the center, preparatory work for its mid-September launch.
China’s Shenzhou-11 piloted spacecraft being readied for launch later this year.
Credit: CCTV via China Spaceflight
As the second orbiting space lab for China, Tiangong-2 is to be visited by two astronauts onboard their Shenzhou-11 spacecraft.
Early next year, a Long March 7 will loft a Tianzhou supply ship to the Tiangong-2 space lab.
Also on tap this year is the maiden blastoff of China’s Long March 5. This booster is scripted to hurl into Earth orbit space station modules, as well as support robotic lunar sample return from the Moon, and toss a rover to Mars in 2020.
Check out these two videos on preparations of the Long March 2 F booster and Tiangong-2 for the upcoming launch:
http://www.cctvplus.com/news/20160710/8026553.shtml
http://www.cctvplus.com/news/20160711/8026573.shtml
Maiden flight last month of Long March 7 departing Wenchang coastal spaceport.
Credit: New China
Test capsule
Late last month, the first Long March 7 rocketed from the country’s new Kennedy Space Center-like Wenchang coastal spaceport.
The Long March 7 carried mini-satellites, as well as a sub-scale test capsule for future piloted space missions in low Earth orbit and deep space. That 2.6 metric ton (2,600 kilograms) reentry module parachuted to a landing in Badain Jaran Desert in north China.
Credit: js7tv.cn
Prior to the capsule’s landing, the reentry module spent about 20 hours in orbit.
Credit: js7tv.cn
Mars Research Facility by Matt Jennings.
The closing hours of a Kickstarter campaign are near a hand, an effort to raise funds to back a workshop on designing a sustainable city on Mars.
This unique workshop will be hosted at the University of Southern California (USC), on September 15-28th, 2016.
Wanted: thinkers and innovators
Workshop participants include competing finalists of a worldwide Mars City Design 2016 challenge, including teams from MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, Ares Astronautics, and others.
“It is not enough to just travel to Mars and survive,” explains Vera Mulyani, Founder & CEO of Mars City Design. To sustainably live on the Red Planet, “we call on a new generation of thinkers and innovators to make this a reality.”
Courtesy: Mars City Design
Off planet urbanism
Student category contestants come from MIT, CMU, Ballstate University, University of Virginia and University of Manchester in the UK, Math & Engineering School in Bucharest, and School of Urban Design in Turkey.
Also taking part in Mars City Design activities are professionals from different fields, such as agricultural, innovation, architecture, urbanism, math and engineering experts.
Another objective of the Mars City Design initiative is o build the winning prototypes, by 3D printing and testing them in their real scale in Mojave Desert, within the next 3 years.
Global community
Kickstarter is a global community built around creativity and creative projects. Over 10 million people, from every continent on Earth, have backed a Kickstarter project.
For more information on this Kickstarter project, go to:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/marscitydesign/a-city-on-mars
Credit: NASA image courtesy of the DSCOVR EPIC team.
The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) has snagged new and unique imagery of the Moon passing between the spacecraft and Earth.
DSCOVR is located at the Earth-Sun Lagrange-1 (L-1) point.
Onboard the spacecraft, NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) snapped the images over a period of about 4 hours on July 5th, 2016.
Backdrop Earth
Visible in photos is the far side of the Moon — never seen from Earth – as it passes by. In the backdrop, Earth rotates with Australia and the Pacific visible and some gradually revealing looks of Asia and Africa.
The DSCOVR spacecraft’s position gives EPIC a unique angular perspective that can be used in science applications to measure ozone, aerosols, cloud reflectivity, cloud height, vegetation properties, and UV radiation estimates at Earth’s surface.
Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR).
Credit: NOAA Satellites
Jupiter too!
On March 15, 2016, over a span of 5 hours, DSCOVR EPIC imaged Jupiter. This activity was done for purposes of instrument characterization, but also provides a unique view of our solar system’s largest planet and its moons.
Credit: NASA image courtesy of the DSCOVR EPIC team.
DSCOVR is a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA and the U.S. Air Force.
NOAA is operating DSCOVR from its NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Maryland, and is processing the space weather data at the Space Weather Prediction Center — part of NOAA’s National Weather Service — in Boulder, Colorado.
America’s first operational deep space satellite orbits one million miles from Earth. Positioned between the sun and Earth, it is able to maintain a constant view of the sun and sun-lit side of Earth. This location is called Lagrange point 1. (Illustration is not to scale).
Credit: NOAA
Warning system
Launched over one year ago, on February 11, 2015, DSCOVR — the nation’s first operational satellite in deep space — is now orbiting one million miles away and is America’s primary warning system for solar magnetic storms and solar wind data while giving Earth scientists a unique vantage point for studies of the planet’s atmosphere and climate.
Get a moving view of the Earth and Moon here:
http://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/galleries/lunar_transit_2016/vid.php
For single frames, go to:
Selfie of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at a drilled sample site called “Okoruso.”
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity is sitting on Mars, soaking up sun, deep into Sol 1395 since landing on the Red Planet back in August 2012.
But the Mars machinery early on Sol 1389 entered “safe mode” – likely due to a software problem that remains a challenge to engineers and software specialists here on Earth.
Six sols later, rover pictures of its surrounding landscape are no-shows.
Down time
I queried JPL’s spokesman, Guy Webster, on Curiosity’s overall status.
Is this the longest down time of the rover to date?
Webster advised Inside Outer Space:
Curiosity went from Sol 200 to Sol 215 without taking any images, after an unplanned computer side-swap on Sol 200. The rover didn’t really get back to science until Sol 222.
“I’m not sure whether that’s been the longest gap in image-taking — there may have been longer ones during conjunction periods — but it’s longer than the current stretch of concentrating on getting diagnostic information rather than new observations. There have been no new images taken since Curiosity entered safe mode on Sol 1389, so no new raw images to include in the downlinks this week.”
Last Picture Shows: Thumbnail Data Products – Front and Rear Hazard Avoidance Cameras (Hazcams) images for Sol 1388; Left and Right Navigation Cameras (Navcams) images for Sol 1388
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Fixes afoot?
So how’s it looking for Curiosity…in the big picture? Real trouble or are fixes afoot?
“Diagnostic work is proceeding, with all of the files identified as priorities now transmitted and received,” the statement from Webster explains. “The investigation so far has provided confidence that the cause of the anomaly does not represent a safety risk to the vehicle.”
Bottom line of the Webster communiqué: “Engineers are optimistic about resuming science observations and transmission of science data in coming days.”
Courtesy: VMMEPP
A special salute is being staged to celebrate 40 years on Mars – a retro-look at the pioneering work of men and women engaged in the U.S. Viking project – the effort that enabled the first U.S. surface mission to the Red Planet.
The event is to be held July 16th at Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Denver, Colorado.
This engaging reflection on the past and future of Mars exploration is made possible by the Viking Mars Missions Education & Preservation Project (VMMEPP).
Courtesy: VMMEPP
Veteran Viking members
From 10am to 4pm the public can meet veteran Viking Mission Team Members that served in roles from Science and Engineering to Testing and Mission Operations from the many institutes and NASA Centers that designed, built, and operated all three craft – the Titan IIIE booster, the Viking Orbiters, and the Viking Landers.
This writer along with author Andy Chaikin will be there to autograph books and share insights and reflections on Viking, the Mars Underground, and what’s ahead in Red Planet exploration.
Among other speakers, Jim Rice of Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity will talk about those missions including current findings, as well as Alejandro M. San Martin, JPL, Chief Engineer for Guidance and Control.
Courtesy: VMMEPP
Resources
This event is sponsored by Lockheed Martin in partnership with The Space Foundation and Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum.
VMMEPP is a 501©(3) nonprofit, preserving the history and artifacts from the Viking Mission, the first successful combined Orbiter and Lander Mars missions to Mars.
VMMEPP is partnering with institutions worldwide to share the educational and historical materials through exhibits, an online Viking Museum with original material for research, engineering, and historical documents and images, and presentations of current and Viking materials in person and through webcast events.
For more information on the July 16 event, go to:
http://wingsmuseum.org/event-calendar/viking-mars-missions-education-preservation-project/
For detailed information on VMMEPP, go to:
Panorama of the “Murray Buttes” shows a boulder that appears to be precariously balanced.
Curiosity Mastcam Right image taken on Sol 1387 July 1, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now in Sol 1393, recently experiencing an apparent software glitch that has placed it in “safe mode.”
According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, steps are underway to return the rover to full activity following a precautionary stand-down over the Fourth of July weekend.
Unexpected mismatch
“The rover put itself into safe mode on July 2, ceasing most activities other than keeping itself healthy and following a prescribed sequence for resuming communications,” notes a JPL update.
Curiosity has entered safe mode three times previously, all during 2013.
“Preliminary information indicates an unexpected mismatch between camera software and data-processing software in the main computer,” explains the JPL website on Curiosity. “The near-term steps toward resuming full activities begin with requesting more diagnostic information from Curiosity.”
Precariously balanced boulder
Meanwhile, Ken Herkenhoff of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona reports that rover activities planned for Sols 1387 and 1388 were completed successfully.
Lots of good data were returned, Herkenhoff says, including a stunning Right Mastcam panorama of the “Murray Buttes” toward the southwest.
Curiosity Mastcam Right image taken on Sol 1387 July 1, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“One of the images in this panorama shows a boulder that appears to be precariously balanced,” Herkenhoff notes. “No, we don’t plan to drive right up next to it, but we’ll probably get closer looks as the rover proceeds toward Mount Sharp.”
Suspended science planning
Early on Sol 1389, the rover entered safe mode, apparently due to a software problem that is still not fully understood.
“So the 3-sol plan did not execute but the rover and all subsystems are healthy<” Herkenhoff adds. “Science planning has been suspended while critical engineering data are returned to Earth and studied by software experts at JPL,” he reports, “but I’m anxiously following the tactical team’s progress in recovering from safe mode.”
