Posted on by Ian O'Neill

Ares V Rocket Gets an Upgrade: It will be Bigger and Stronger for 2020 Moon Mission (Video)

The future of space travel - Artist impression of Ares V on the launchpad (NASA)

NASA announced on Wednesday that the original Constellation project’s principle rocket, the Ares V, will need to be designed to carry a larger payload for manned missions to the Moon by the year 2020. This means the original concept will need to have a length extension of 20 feet (6 metres) and will need to use six main engines at its base, rather than the current five. This upgrade will be capable of sending far more instrumentation into space, an extra 15,600 lb (7,000 kg, or the equivalent mass of a male African elephant)…

When the Shuttle is retired in 2010, there is going to be a five-year gap before the Constellation Program prepares its first Ares launch. There can therefore be little room for setbacks in the design phase of the Ares rocket system as there are already concerns for the US dependence on Russia to provide access to space between 2010 and 2015.

In a move to make the heavy-lift vehicle more robust (predicting an increased launch thrust requirement) to send four astronauts, a lunar lander plus supplies, NASA has announced the Ares V rocket will be “beefed up” to cater for our future needs to get man back to the Moon. This huge vehicle is now designed to carry payloads of over 156,600 lb (71,000 kg), some 15,600 lb (or 10%) more than the original concept. Ares V was originally designed to be approximately the same length as the original Saturn V lunar rocket (361 feet or 110 metres long), but to accommodate an extra booster engine and extra payload volume, Ares V will be 381 feet (116 metres) long. That’s the height of a 38-story building. This increased capability will obviously be of huge benefit to the future lunar and Mars missions.

These design alterations were announced after a nine-month study to investigate whether NASA could succeed in its goal to be ready for a return mission to the Moon in 2020, and a manned mission to Mars afterwards. Constellation program manager Jeff Hanley is upbeat about the study’s findings. “This extensive review proves we are ready for the next phase: taking these concepts and moving forward,” he said.

The Constellation Program will use a two-step method for getting man and machine into space. The Ares V will launch heavy payloads, using its superior power, whilst the smaller Ares I will be used as a general low-mass/manned transit vehicle. For large missions, both Ares V and Ares I launch vehicles will be used, allowing astronauts to dock with their equipment in space before travelling to the Moon and beyond.

View the excellent NASA visualization of what it will be like to see the Ares V and Ares I rockets launch and enter Earth orbit and dock before beginning their mission »

All I know is, whether Constellation is completed on time or not, I’ll be at the launch to watch the awesome Ares V lift off from Cape Canaveral…

Source: Space.com

Posted on by Ian O'Neill

US Senator: NASA Job Losses Could Generate Jobs for Russian Space Program

Could the Shuttle launch after 2010? (NASA)

It’s not good news, but it could be worse. On Monday, NASA announced that it anticipates shedding 3,000-4,000 jobs in two years once the Space Shuttle fleet is retired to make way for the Constellation Program. This is obviously terrible news for the staff, scientists and engineers and their families, but it is in improvement on previous estimates that up to 8,000 personnel could have lost their livelihoods. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin confirmed that about 3,000 jobs would be saved by filling positions in the new space program that will build spaceships to supply the International Space Station and eventually take man to the Moon and Mars. However, the early Shuttle retirement and late Constellation completion will increase the dependence on Russia to provide access to space…

In April, Nancy reported that NASA could cut 8,000 jobs mainly around the Kennedy Space Center where the Shuttle launches are administered. Although job losses were to be expected during the Shuttle-Constellation handover, this high figure will have come as a shock, not only to NASA’s workforce, but the whole space exploration community. Today’s announcement will come as a relief as although 6,000-7,000 Kennedy Space Center employees will be lost, around 3,000 will be relocated to the new exploration program, most likely based at Cape Canaveral.

This news has surfaced from a two-hour hearing at Port Canaveral, on the doorstep of the space center where officials, residents and protesters attended. About 1,000 people had gathered earlier in the day for an outdoor rally before the morning meeting.

“America – one small step, one giant voice”
“America the place for space”
– Slogans written on rally protester’s banners this morning.

Protesters this morning (Canaveral Port Authority)

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, chairman of the space subcommittee and ex-astronaut who flew on Columbia in 1986, organized the hearing so concerned employees could have direct communication with NASA officials. Although the news was still tough to swallow, Nelson was upbeat about Griffin’s announcement. “I can’t say it’s good news, but it’s certainly news that’s a step in the right direction,” he said. The Senator also suggested that the forthcoming presidential elections may be fruitful when trying to find a change in policy for space exploration funding.

For now, workers at the site will have to wait until 2009 until a clearer picture emerges. In 2010, NASA has been instructed by the government to wind up Shuttle operations so a new focus can be set on Moon launches.

Nelson voiced concerns that these cutbacks at NASA will have the effect of “generating jobs in Russia to accomplish the same mission,” as once the Shuttle is retired there will be a dependence on the Russian space agency for access to space. Griffin responded by saying the situation was “unseemly in the extreme” but ultimately unavoidable. More NASA funding would be required to bring the new Constellation program into operation to fill the 5-year gap (from 2010 to 2015) in US launches to the space station. Nelson has also voiced his concern that the area could be economically damaged during this time through job lay-offs, identical to the situation in the 1970’s when Apollo was decommissioned and the Shuttle made its first flight in 1981.

Sources: Link to Launch, Associated Press

Posted on by Ian O'Neill

Disney-Pixar and NASA Join Forces to Explore Space with WALL-E (Video)

Promo image of WALL-E (© Disney-Pixar)

Disney-Pixar and NASA have embarked on a project to promote science and technology amongst school children. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is gearing up for the premier of their new animated space adventure WALL-E on June 27th, and NASA has signed a Space Act Agreement to use this event as an opportunity to promote educational-based projects to build kids interest in space exploration. The collaboration sounds like an excellent chance to communicate NASA’s endeavours in space, plus the movie and possible NASA spin-offs look very cool (besides, WALL-E looks like a very cute Mars rover)…

It sounds like a film I’ll definitely be watching at the theatre. With some great timing, this Disney creation features an animated robotic rover not too dissimilar to NASA’s Mars Expedition Rovers Spirit and Opportunity (minus the binocular, expressive eyes) currently trundling around on the Red Planets surface. Plus we saw the robotic lander Phoenix touch down only a couple of weeks ago. If there’s a time to release a film about the last rover-robot on Earth exploring space, this would be the time to do it! Apparently there are quite a few similarities between the movie’s plotline and NASA’s actual work with robotics, propulsion and astrophysics. Seems like a great time for NASA to communicate with the young minds that will shape the next generation of space explorers.

“Great ideas for future exploration of the universe start with the imagination. We hope that with the help of our new robot friend WALL-E, NASA can encourage young people to learn about science and technology and become the explorers of tomorrow.” – Robert Hopkins, chief of strategic communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

WALL-E (© Disney-Pixar)

The team at Disney-Pixar have already produced a 30-second promotional video announcing the Disney-NASA partnership which also promotes NASA’s TV channels and NASA’s website. It is hoped this campaign will draw a younger audience to NASA’s Kids’ Club pages. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is using this time to showcase their current Phoenix mission and the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory mission. WALL-E will be showing from June 27 to August 27 in the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood and NASA will be hosting a special display of imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope at the location, so the audience will have a real entertaining visit.

“All of us at Disney are delighted to be working with NASA in their educational and public outreach efforts to teach schoolchildren about space exploration, robot technology, and the universe they live in. WALL-E is one of the most lovable and entertaining characters that Pixar ever has created, and he is the perfect spokes-robot for this program. Disney-Pixar’s WALL-E takes moviegoers on a thrilling and imaginative journey into outer space, and now the film’s title character will be able to stimulate imaginations further through these efforts.” – Mark Zoradi, President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group

See the 30 second WALL-E/NASA trailer »

Source: SpaceRef.com

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

University Returns $3 Million in Savings to NASA

Here’s something you don’t read everyday: The University of Colorado at Boulder returned nearly $3 million in cost savings to NASA for the SORCE mission, the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment, which studies how the sun’s variation influences Earth’s climate and atmosphere. The university designed, built and controls the mission. Tom Woods, principal investigator of SORCE said the cost savings were the result of a small, efficient management team, thorough pre-launch testing of prototype instruments and tight schedule adherence during the development phase. “We have a long history at LASP (Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, in Boulder) in mission and instrument development and spaceflight management and operations, and our experience clearly showed here,” said Woods. “We didn’t cut any corners, we made the best use of the available budget, and we are extremely pleased to be able to return this substantial cost savings back to NASA.”

The SORCE mission was launched by NASA in 2003. Its total budget of $100 million from 1999 to 2008 included the design and development of the satellite’s five instruments, as well as five-and-one-half years of operations, and did not include launch costs. A $2,997,000 check for the cost savings from SORCE development and operations was presented to NASA officials on June 17.

According to Woods, the cost savings during flight operations were largely due to the “sharing” of Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) personnel who also operate three other NASA satellites — ICEsat, QuikSCAT and AIM — from the CU Research Park in Boulder.
According to NASA, CU-Boulder is the single largest recipient of NASA university research dollars in the nation. In fiscal year 2007, CU-Boulder received $46.9 million from NASA and an additional $3 million in federal funds for space research from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

SORCE is part of NASA’s Earth Observing System and has greatly expanded measurements of the sun’s radiation, covering wavelengths from soft x-ray bands and ultraviolet light through the visible and near-infrared wavelengths, said Woods. Accurate measurements of solar variation are essential for predicting the sun’s influence on climate and the atmosphere and quantifying how humans are changing the environment, he said.

The SORCE mission was recently extended through 2012, providing LASP with an additional $18 million for satellite operations and data analysis. NASA ranked the SORCE mission as excellent across the board for quality, timeliness, cost and leadership, a ranking achieved by only 4 percent of all NASA missions.

Original News Source: PhysOrg

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

The Latest in Space Fashion from NASA

NASA unveiled a new design of spacesuits for the Constellation program today. Astronauts will be donning the new suits on the first flights of the Orion spaceship, scheduled for 2015, on trips to the International Space Station, with additional EVA suits ready for the first missions to the moon, scheduled for 2020. The spacesuits feature rear entry, enhanced shoulder mobility and modular, interchangeable parts. The spacesuits will be designed and produced by Oceaneering International Inc. of Houston, Texas, which received a contract worth $183.8 million for 2008-2014.

NASA required two spacesuit system configurations for the Constellation program. The first type of spacesuit (Configuration One) will be used for launch and landing operations, as well as inside the spacecraft during an emergency like loss of pressurization of the Orion crew compartment.


Configuration Two will build upon Configuration One and will support lunar surface operations. While preparing to walk on the moon, the astronauts will be able to build their own personal Configuration Two spacesuits by replacing elements of Configuration One with elements specialized for surface operations.

Suits and support systems will be needed for as many as four astronauts on moon voyages and as many as six space station travelers. For short trips to the moon, the suit design will support a week’s worth of moon walks. The system also must be designed to support a significant number of moon walks during potential six-month lunar outpost expeditions. In addition, the spacesuit and support systems will provide contingency spacewalk capability and protection against the launch and landing environment, such as spacecraft cabin leaks.

Video of the new Constellation spacesuits.

Video of spacesuit tests.

Pdf. file for more info on the new spacesuits and the contract award.
Original News Source: NASA Press Release

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Congress Considering Additional Shuttle Flight and More Science Funding

A bill directing NASA to fly an additional space shuttle mission to deliver the $1 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station cleared the House Science and Technology space and aeronautics subcommittee. The NASA Authorization Act of 2008 (H.R. 6063) was quickly approved sent on to the full committee for consideration. The bill also authorizes a $19.2 billion budget for NASA for 2009, or about $1.6 billion more than the White House is requesting. Additionally, it would authorize an additional $1 billion in 2009 to accelerate development of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle and Ares I launcher. Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), the subcommittee’s chairman, introduced the legislation five days ago, stating concerns about the five-year gap between when the shuttle is retired to when the Orion vehicle will be ready to transport crew and supplies to the ISS.

The legislation would still put NASA on pace to return to the Moon around 2020. But it also would provide more funds for climate monitoring satellites, such as a new Landsat satellite, and Glory, which would gather data on aerosols and black carbon in Earth’s atmosphere. The additional shuttle flight to bring the spectrometer science payload to the ISS would ease concerns of the international partners and reverse a controversial cut to the ISS’s science capabilities.

If you are a US citizen and agree with these appropriations, consider contacting your congressmen to encourage their support of this bill.

Text of full bill.

Original News Source: Yahoo News

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Lower Gravity Will Help Lunar Dust Get Deep Into Astronaut Lungs

Lunar dust covering astronaut Eugene Cernan. Image credit: NASA



Dusting the house might be a chore here on Earth, but when astronauts return to the Moon, they’ll need to be neat freaks. Their lives might depend on it! According to researchers at the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, the health of lunar astronauts will depend on how well they can keep the fine lunar dust out of the air.

During the Apollo lunar missions in the 1960s and 1970s, astronauts realized how much this lunar dust was a hassle to their exploration of the Moon. The tiny particles clung to everything, and when the astronauts returned to their lander, it made a real nuisance. By the end of their missions, the astronauts said there was so much dust in their vehicles that they could smell it.

There are no known illnesses associated with the dust today; but the astronauts just weren’t exposed to it long enough. But scientists studying it back on Earth found that the dust was very similar to fresh-fractured quartz, which is highly toxic to humans. When astronauts return to the Moon in the next decade, they could be on the Moon for months, and exposed to much larger quantities of the dust.

And there’s another problem. Because of the reduced gravity on the Moon, and the tiny size of the dust particles, our respiratory system might not be able to handle the particles as well as we do on Earth. Here’s Dr. Kim Prisk, an adjunct professor in the Department of Medicine at the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego:

“In the moon’s fractional gravity, particles remain suspended in the airways rather than settling out, increasing the chances of distribution deep in the lung, with the possible consequence that the particles will remain there for a long period of time.”

To conduct their research, the scientists are taking participants on NASA’s Microgravity Research Aircraft. This is a special aircraft that flies on a parabolic path. At the height of each arc, people on board the aircraft experience a brief period of low gravity, or even weightlessness.

When the gravity is lowered to the same as the Moon, the participants breath in small particles, which the researchers then study as they move down the airways. They want to know how many end up in the lungs. The deeper the dust goes into the lungs, the more dangerous it’ll be.

Again, here’s Dr. Prisk:

“With the reduced-gravity flights, we’re improving the process of assessing environmental exposure to inhaled particles. We’ve learned that tiny particles (less than 2.5 microns) which are the most significant in terms of damage, are greatly affected by alterations in gravity.”

The next step will be to figure out how to limit the amount of exposure to the dust. The more dangerous the dust is, the more complicated an engineering task it will be to keep it all out.

Original Source: NSBRI News Release

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Solution to NASA’s Glove Problem

Damage is occurring to NASA’s spacesuit gloves during spacewalks at the International Space Station. In fact, in August of 2007, astronaut Rick Mastracchio was ordered back into the the space station’s airlock when he noticed a hole in his spacesuit glove. Damage had also been found on previous EVAs, prompting NASA to call for routine glove checks during spacewalks, which led Mastracchio to find the damage on his left thumb. Holes and extreme wear is occurring to the outer portion of the palm side of the glove. The folks at NASA’s Johnson Space Center have been working on the problem, and a newly re-designed glove will be tested during the upcoming STS-124 mission, scheduled to launch May 31. Their solution?


Super-duper patches. Two pairs of gloves will be tested during upcoming spacewalks with these patches on the index finger and thumb (the grey stripe on the finger and thumb.) Those tend to be the high-wear areas, said Brandi Dean at NASA’s Public Affairs Office at Johnson Space Center. The patches are made of the same protective material already used in the glove, Vectran, but the weave of the material is tighter in the patches, which improves its resistance to damage. There’s also an extra strip of the rubbery material used on the palm of the glove to improve grip.

The gloves have several layers. The layer that’s been damaged is just the top, protective layer. The bladder layer that actually keeps the suit pressurized hasn’t been damaged. “But,” said Dean, “we still take damage to that protective layer seriously, because once that layer is damaged, that area of the bladder doesn’t have the amount of protection we want to have.”

If everything works well during the flight test of these new gloves, the updated gloves will be used on the following space shuttle mission in October that goes to the Hubble Space Telescope.

But if the patches don’t work, maybe they can try something like this:


Ironman, Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Rumor Mill Churns With NASA’s Upcoming Announcement

This past Wednesday, NASA announced they have scheduled a press conference for next Wednesday, May 14, at 1 p.m. EDT, to reveal the discovery of an object in our galaxy that astronomers have been hunting for more than 50 years. This gives everyone an entire week to speculate, ruminate and in some cases go off the deep end about what the announcement will entail. On the internet the conjecture goes from logical (intermediate or supermassive black holes) to wacko (aliens, Planet X, or something to do with the Mayan calendar) to hilarious (the Death Star or socks lost in the dryer.)

NASA says the finding was made by combining data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory with ground-based observations, so some of those are obviously wrong (are socks visible in X-ray?).

We’re an impatient species, always wanting to know a secret and know it now, so NASA may have erred in giving us so much time to wonder. And surely, the news will leak out before the 14th because we’re also a species that likes to spill the beans.

To pass the time until the 14th, if you’d like to take a stab at what the announcement might be, post a comment. Intelligent and non-conspiracy theory guesses only, please.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

NASA Flips for Petaflops

NASA is collaborating with Intell and SGI to create one of the world’s fastest supercomputers whose power will be measured in petaflops. By 2009 the US space agency wants to develop a computational system that will be able to do 1,000 trillion calculations per second. And by 2012 it hopes to have boosted the power of this machine to 10 petaflops, to help with modelling and simulation. NASA’s Advanced Supercomputing Division is calling the new project Pleiades, and it will be installed at the Ames Research Center in California, the site of its current supercomputer, Columbia, pictured here. The new computer would put NASA on the list of the top five fastest number crunchers in the world.

“Throughout its history, NASA has sought to explore the most compelling questions about mankind, Earth, and the worlds that await our discovery,” said Robert “Bo” Ewald, chief executive officer of SGI. “These groundbreaking new systems powered by SGI and fueled by the latest multi-core Intel processors, offer a platform for new discoveries that will help us all achieve the most promising future for the human race. This effort is important to everyone on this planet.”

NASA uses its current supercomputer to examine the performance of hypersonic aircraft, simulate lander deployments and model fabrics for future spacesuits.

“This additional computational performance is necessary to help us achieve breakthrough scientific discoveries,” said Pete Worden, Director at Ames.

Currently, the most powerful supercomputer on Earth is BlueGene/L which has a top speed of 478.2 teraflops.

Columbia was turned on in 2004 and has a theoretical peak of 88.88 teraflops. This makes it the 20th most powerful supercomputer on the planet, according to the Top 500 Project which compiles a list of the relative performance of these machines.

Petaflop computers are expected to debut in the next release of the Top 500 list which is due in June.

Quasi-supercomputing, where multiple computers are used using the BOINC platform has already achieved petaflop status. Folding@home, reported nearly 1.3 Petaflops of processing power in late 2007.

The largest BOINC project, SETI@home, reported processing power of over 450 teraflops through almost 350,000 active computers.

Original News Sources: BBC, NASA