Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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September 18th, 2014
The MIT BioSuit is a skintight spacesuit that offers improved mobility and reduced mass.
Credit: Photo-illustration: Jose-Luis Olivares/MIT
It’s a tight fit – but if you’re sauntering around on Mars that’s a fashion statement.
Space designers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are stitching together plans for shrink-wrapping spacesuits. So much so that spacesuits of the future may resemble a streamlined second skin.
The MIT BioSuit is a skintight spacesuit that offers improved mobility and reduced mass compared to modern gas-pressurized spacesuits.
The skintight, pressurized suit would not only support the astronaut, but would give the space traveler much more freedom to move during planetary exploration.
To take the suit off, the wearer would only have to apply modest force, returning the suit to its looser form.
A flyable first: second skin
Master space suit designer at MIT is Dava Newman, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems researchers.
She and her colleagues are one step closer to engineering an active, “second-skin” spacesuit: active compression garments that incorporate small, spring-like coils that contract in response to heat. The coils are made from a shape-memory alloy – a type of material that “remembers” an engineered shape and, when bent or deformed, can spring back to this shape when heated.
The idea is that an astronaut may don a lightweight, stretchy garment, lined with tiny, muscle-like coils. That person would then plug in to a spacecraft’s power supply, triggering the coils to contract and essentially shrink-wrap the garment around the person’s body.
Close-up view of a 3-D-printed shape memory alloy (SMA) cartridge that packs 24 SMA actuators into a 1-inch-wide structure designed specifically for active compression garments.
Photo: Jose-Luis Olivares/MIT
Mobility for planetary exploration
The coil design was conceived by Bradley Holschuh, a postdoc in Newman’s MIT lab.
“Ultimately, the big advantage is mobility, and a very lightweight suit for planetary exploration,” said Newman in a MIT press statement.
According to Holschuh , while the suit team is concentrating mostly on applications in space, the suit design and active materials may be used for other purposes, such as in athletic wear or military uniforms.
This research was funded by NASA and the MIT Portugal Program.
The MIT Portugal Program is an international collaboration seeking to demonstrate that an investment in science, technology and higher education can have a positive, lasting impact on the economy by addressing key societal issues through quality education and research in the emerging field of engineering systems.
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The 4M mission is dedicated to Manfred Fuchs who died early this year. 4M stands for the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission.
Credit: OHB/LuxSpace
European space technology company, OHB AG, is conducting a private satellite mission to the Moon, due to be launched at the end of October 2014.
The mission is a lunar flyby with the small satellite getting a ride into space via the last stage of a Chinese booster.
The 4M mission is dedicated to OHB founder, Manfred Fuchs, who died early this year. 4M stands for the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission.
OHB founder, Manfred Fuchs, who died early this year.
Credit: OHB
The technical management of the mission — as well as the manufacturing of the probe – is being done by LuxSpace of Luxembourg, an affiliate of OHB AG.
LuxSpace chiefly develops micro satellites and actively participates in the OHB System-led Small GEO initiative.The spacecraft trajectory will be a lunar flyby and return to Earth, with 90 percent chance of re-entry in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The nominal mission duration is 196 hours: 8.17 days.
The nominal lunar flyby will occur on Oct 28, 2014, with the spacecraft slipping over the Moon’s surface at roughly 8,000 miles (13,000 km) distance.
The mission will carry a small number of small scientific instruments: a radio amateur beacon that permits the sending of messages while testing a new approach to locate the spacecraft.
4M spacecraft – a private mission to the Moon.
Credit: OHB/LuxSpace
An additional instrument is onboard to yield radiation measurements throughout the satellite’s trajectory around the Moon. The RAD experiment is a special chip from iC-Málaga (Spain) that is able to accurately measure the radiation dose rate.
Further moon missions including landing are planned within the next few years.
For more information, go to:
NASA Inspector General report appraises U.S. space agency’s NEO program.
Credit: ESA – P.Carril
NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released an informative report that looks at the space agency’s efforts to identify and mitigate near-Earth object (NEO) hazards.
Inspector General Paul Martin released the report that assesses NASA’s efforts to identify and mitigate potential dangers caused by comets and asteroids that approach or enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
This review examines NASA’s NEO Program and assesses the Agency’s progress toward meeting statutory and other Program goals. Specifically, the OIG has taken a hard look at NASA’s allocation and use of resources and plans for the future of the NEO program.
One key finding is that, “even though the Program has discovered, categorized, and plotted the orbits of more than 11,000 NEOs since 1998, NASA will fall short of meeting the 2005 Authorization Act goal of finding 90 percent of NEOs larger than 140 meters in diameter by 2020. We believe the Program would be more efficient, effective, and transparent were it organized and managed in accordance with standard NASA research program requirements.”
Take a read of the full report, here:
http://oig.nasa.gov/audits/reports/FY14/IG-14-030.pdf
Also, take in this video about the report that features OIG’s Ray Tolomeo, Director, Science and Aeronautics Research, Office of Audits, at:
http://oig.nasa.gov/Video/Tolomeo_091514.html
Special thanks to Marcia Smith for flagging the availability of this report on her website: SpacePolicyOnline.com News.
Thanks to military spacecraft, scientists are getting more data on the threat of incoming space objects.
Credit: NRC
Here is a new story from me on something I consider very important:
By Leonard David, Space.com’s Space Insider Columnist
September 15, 2014 04:48pm ET
Site J is located on the head of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. An inset showing a close up of the landing site is also shown.
The primary landing site was chosen from five candidates during the Landing Site Selection Group meeting held on September 13-14, 2014.
Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
The European Space Agency has picked a spot for the Philae lander touchdown on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
According to ESA, Site J offers unique scientific potential, with hints of activity nearby, and minimum risk to the lander compared to the other candidate sites.
Site J is on the ‘head’ of the comet. The backup landing zone, Site C, is located on the ‘body’ of the comet.
To be released on November 11 by the Rosetta spacecraft, the 220 pound (100 kg) lander will perform in-depth measurements to characterize the comet nucleus.
Following a decade of travel, ESA’s Rosetta arrived at the comet on August 6. By August 24, using data collected when Rosetta was still about 60 miles (100 km) from the comet, five candidate landing regions had been identified for detailed study.
Since then, the spacecraft has moved to within 19 miles (30 km) of the comet.
Site J close-up for a lander going down!
Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Stephan Ulamec, Philae Lander Manager at the DLR German Aerospace Center said in an ESA press statement: “None of the candidate landing sites met all of the operational criteria at the 100 percent level, but Site J is clearly the best solution.”It will take around seven hours from the time Philae separates from the ESA Rosetta mother craft until, for the first time ever, a lander will be on the surface of a comet.
When the Philae lander touches down on 11 November 2014, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko will have a landing site waiting for it with a varied but not too rugged landscape offering good solar illumination and hardly any steep slopes.
What name shall be given to Site J?
There will be a public naming competition announced soon.
So get your thinking caps on!
Meanwhile, check out this video showing the landing day that’s ahead:
http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2013/12/Philae_touch_down
The 27th Planetary Congress of the Association of Space Explorers in Beijing, China has brought together space travelers from around the globe.
Credit: CMSE
Space travelers from around the globe are taking part in the 27th Planetary Congress of the Association of Space Explorers in Beijing, China.
The theme of the Congress is “Cooperation: To Realize Humanity’s Space Dream Together.” The program has been underway from September 10-15.
Yang Liwei, deputy director of China Manned Space Agency – and that country’s first astronaut – opened the airlock for other nations to take part in its space station efforts.
Yang Liwei, deputy director of China Manned Space Agency – and that country’s first astronaut.
Credit: CMSE
“We reserved a number of platforms that can be used for international cooperative projects in our future space station when we designed it,” said Yang. “In addition to collaboration in applied experiments, we also designed adapters that can dock with other nations’ spacecraft,” he said.
China intends to loft the core module of its space station in 2018 to test related technologies and engineering issues. According to Yang, the full space station will become fully operational around 2022.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield discusses essentials of space engineering to Chinese students.
Credit: CMSE
This is the first time that China has hosted the ASE’s planetary congress. The ASE is an international nonprofit professional and educational organization of nearly 400 astronauts from 35 nations.
Yang also announced that the infrastructure construction on China’s new Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in the southern island province of Hainan has been completed – work that began in 2009.
The Long March-5 rocket system, China’s most powerful rocket that is under development, is to be flown from Wenchang.
Female space travelers all (left to right): Former NASA astronauts, Mary Ellen Weber and Susan Helms, private space explorer and entrepreneur, Anousheh Ansari, and China’s Wang Yaping. They were awarded the Shenzhen exchange ambassadors title.
Credit: CMSE/ Maosi Qian
Former NASA astronaut, Bruce McCandless, shares his spaceflight experiences. He made the first ever untethered free flight using the Manned Maneuvering Unit in 1984.
Credit: CMSE
Credit: NASA/JPL
NASA has announced that the Mars Curiosity rover has reached the Red Planet’s Mount Sharp, a Mount-Rainier-size mountain at the center of the vast Gale Crater. That’s the rover mission’s long-term prime destination.
Curiosity’s trek up the mountain will begin with an examination of the mountain’s lower slopes.
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, on September 9, 2014, Sol 744 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 13:57:44 UTC.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
In late 2013, the Curiosity team realized a region of Martian terrain littered with sharp, embedded rocks was poking holes in four of the rover’s six wheels.
This damage accelerated the rate of wear and tear beyond that for which the rover team had planned.
In response, the team altered the rover’s route to a milder terrain, bringing the rover farther south, toward the base of Mount Sharp.
This image shows the planned route (in yellow) of NASA’s Curiosity rover from “Pahrump Hills” at the base of Mount Sharp, through the “Murray Formation,” and south to the hematite ridge further up the flank of Mount Sharp.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Credit: ESA
Decision time is nearing!
The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on August 6.
Scientists and engineers are on the prowl to find a suitable location for the comet lander, Philae.
Five candidate touchdown spots were announced on August 25 for further investigation.
By September 14, the five possible sites will have been assessed and ranked, leading to the selection of a primary landing site and a backup.
The final two sites, along with their operational challenges and scientific expectations, will be presented during an ESA briefing on 15 September 15th – so stay tuned!
Credit: ESA
You can do so by watching live as the target for Rosetta’s lander is announced at ESA Headquarters on September 15.
The streaming starts at 0900 GMT / 1100 CEST.
The press briefing will be live-streamed at:
and
www.livestream.com/eurospaceagency
The Aquarius underwater habitat and laboratory.
(Credit: NOAA’s Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina Wilmington)
It’s called a “science splashdown.”
The undersea environment is the closest analogue on Earth to a gravity-weak environment like that of asteroids, the moons of Mars or Mars itself.
Therefore, other than being in outer space, going to inner-space is the best place to test relevant exploration concepts.
The NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, known as NEEMO, sends groups of astronauts, engineers, doctors and professional divers to live in Aquarius.
Aquarius is an underwater habitat located about 60 feet (19 meters) below the surface, some 3 miles (5.6 kilometers) off Key Largo in the Florida Keys.
NEEMO 19 is a 7-day mission that started September 7 and will focus on the evaluation of tele-mentoring operations for the European Space Agency (ESA).
NEEMO team
NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik will command this mission that ends on September 14.
Bresnik is joined by Canadian Space Agency astronaut, Jeremy Hansen, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, and Herve Stevenin, ESA’s Head of Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Training at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany.
Also part of the team is James Talacek, Habitat Technician, Florida International University, and Ryan LaPete, Habitat Technician, Florida International University.
Owned and operated by the Florida International University (FIU), the Aquarius system has three elements: a life-support buoy at the surface, the habitat module and a base plate that secures the habitat to the ocean floor.
Habitat facts
The Aquarius habitat has about 37 square meters of living and laboratory space. This size is similar to that of the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station, which has served as the living quarters for Expedition crew members.
Floorplan of Aquarius
Credit: Florida International University
The habitat itself, a steel cylinder nearly 10 feet (3 meters) in diameter by a little over 45 feet (14 meters) long, provides 11 cubic meters of living and laboratory space for a six-person crew. The lab is equipped with computers networked to shore, internet, telephones, radios and videoconferencing equipment.
A live feed of the NEEMO 19 mission can be found here:
Accion Systems founder and CEO is Natalya Brikner, a Ph.D. student at MIT.
Credit: MIT Sloan School of Management
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a constant hotbed of creativity and cultivation central for startup companies.
One such firm that’s attracting attention is Accion Systems, developing liquid ion sources for micro-propulsion systems in satellites.
The target for Accion propulsion is to keep ultra-small satellites – CubeSats — in orbit for far-longer periods of time.
Accion Systems founder and CEO is Natalya Brikner, a Ph.D. student at MIT.
The company’s MAX-1 propulsion module churns out over 100 micro-newtons of thrust.
Tiny and scalable electric propulsion systems.
Credit: Accion Systems
Time for a change
Speaking at the MIT Sloan Women in Management (SWIM) Conference earlier this year, Brikner said:
“The engines that are flying on satellites today were designed before the first handheld calculator was invented,” Brikner said, according to a MITSloan School of Management news statement.
It’s time for a change and the key is scalable electric propulsion systems, Brikner said.
Accion’s systems would cost $1 million, compared to $15 million for current systems, and would significantly increase the life and operability of small satellites, Brikner said.
“Tipping” the scales of propulsion.
Credit: Accion Systems
Molten salt
According to Accion Systems: Need more thrust? Arrange more tiles next to one another. Need thrust in a different direction? Put tiles anywhere on the satellite.
Bolt-on modules simplify and shorten satellite development and integration.
The propellant used is an ionic liquid, a molten salt at room temperature. A high voltage is applied between a sharp tip that has ionic liquid on it and an extractor aperture positioned directly above.
The tip intensifies the electric field, the liquid rises up to a point which further intensifies the field strength, and ions are extracted from the propellant surface. The ions accelerate through the upstream extraction aperture, exiting the spacecraft and providing thrust.
The thrust level scales with the number of tips, so hundreds, thousands, or even millions of tips can be used to achieve the desired thrust level.
The target for Accion propulsion is to keep ultra-small satellites – CubeSats — in orbit for far-longer periods of time.
Credit: Accion Systems
MEMs
Compactness is achieved through the use of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, or MEMS, fabrication techniques – similar to those used in the fabrication of microchip components.
“Our systems are lighter, smaller, and more efficient than existing systems and our product line is infinite…customers can put thrusters anywhere they want on a satellite,” Brikner adds. “Advances in integrated circuits and semiconductors have allowed small satellites the size of softballs to carry advanced communications, but currently there are no propulsion systems available to them.”
“We want to change that,” Brikner concludes.
For a video short course, Brikner describes the concept during the 2014 MIT Sloan Women in Management (SWIM) Conference.
Go to:
http://mitsloan.mit.edu/newsroom/2014-swim-pitch-competition.php
For more information on Accion Systems, go to:
