Australia used both black and white and multispectral satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe satellites shot on March 16 to search for the purported wreckage of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. A source familiar with the issues said DigitalGlobe supplied several types of imagery other than the black and white satellite photos. The Australians used multispectral but not hyperspectral imagery. Hyperspectral imagery might allow analysts to identify the material comprising the floating materials. (3/20)
NASA T-38 Coming to Aviation Heritage Park (Source: Bowling Green Daily News)
A NASA T-38 Talon airplane is on its way from Arizona to Bowling Green, where it is expected to arrive Saturday as the latest acquisition for the Aviation Heritage Park. “We are incredibly excited that we’re getting this aircraft,” said Bob Pitchford, vice president of the park. (3/20)
KSC Visitor Complex Offers Public Viewing of Atlas Launch (Source: KSCVC)
Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex guests can experience the breathtaking sights and sounds of the launch of an Atlas V rocket as it lifts off onMarch 25. Visitors may enjoy a front row seat to view the launch from the Apollo/Saturn V Center, the closest possible public viewing area, and from viewing areas at the Visitor Complex. Launch viewing is included in daily admission. The rocket will blast off from Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport with the launch scheduled for 2:48 p.m. EST. (3/20)
'Shrapnel' Risk to Future Moon Surface Missions (Source: BBC)
The "shrapnel" generated by small space rocks that periodically hit the Moon may pose a larger risk to lunar missions than was previously believed. A number of countries and private consortia have stated their plans to send robotic and crewed missions to the lunar surface in the coming decades. A relatively small impact on the Moon last year hurled hundreds of pieces of rocky debris out of the crater.
Many were travelling at the speed of a shotgun blast. The meteoroid strike sprayed small rocks up to 30km from the initial impact site, said Professor Mark Robinson. Prof Robinson and his team found a fresh 18m-wide crater, punched by a 0.3-1.3m-wide space rock. The crater is surrounded by typical "ejecta" deposits - the continuous blanket of rock and soil heaved out when the meteoroid thumped into the lunar surface.
However, they also saw 248 small "splotches" extending up to 30km from the primary crater. This was further than the typical extent for continuous ejecta deposits from a lunar crater. Prof Robinson interprets these surface splotches as relatively low velocity, secondary impacts into the lunar soil by material flung out in different directions by the primary impact. (3/20)
Worries Over Russia Spur Calls for Faster Action on Commercial Crew (Source: Examiner)
Some lawmakers are urging accelerated funding for NASA's commercial crew program, worried that the Russia-Ukraine crisis might mean the U.S. needs to break dependence on Russia's Soyuz taxi service faster. "We've got to properly fund and support commercial space flight so we can keep our space program alive and well, no matter happens with Russia," said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-FL., who, along with some other members of Congress, wants additional funding for the NASA program. (3/18)
Japanese Bacteria To Go on Science Mission to Space (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Yakult Honsha Co.2267.TO -2.73%, which makes a yogurt-like food from fermented milk, said Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency under which pots of Yakult are set to boldly go where no Yakult has gone before–the International Space Station.
The Tokyo-based company said its goal was to study the effects of so-called probiotic foods in the near gravity-free environment of the space station. In the six-year study, Japanese astronauts will be asked to consume Yakult daily for a month at a time. Stool, saliva and blood samples will be tested to determine the effects on the astronauts’ constitutions. (3/20)
Successful Knight’s Arrow Bybrid Engine Test (Source: Parabolic Arc)
On March 6th 2014, the Autodiverse team conducted the first live test firing of its new ‘Knights Arrow Bybrid © ‘ rocket engine. The test was conducted in the ‘J1′ test bay, at Westcott UK, under the direction and with the assistance of ‘Airborne Engineering’, whose facility it is.
This is an entirely novel bi-propellant engine with an extremely simple but very efficient propellant injection and cooling methodology. It is the next engine in the development sequence that was begun with the Knights Arrow kerosene wick engine, which gave excellent performance but waslimited in its possible applications, as it lacked significant duration and required rebuilding between firings. (3/20)
Houston Airport System Eyes Space as Destination in Near Future (Source: Examiner)
Houstonians are able fly farther than ever, and the list of destinations could include the near reaches of space in the not-so-distant future, the city’s aviation director told business and community leaders last week. In his 2014 State of the Airports address, Mario Diaz, director of the Houston Airport System, said the city will submit its FAA application late this year in hopes of becoming the nation’s ninth licensed commercial spaceport.
That means Houston could be home to the assembly of aircraft/spacecraft, launching of micro satellites, zero-gravity experimentation, astronaut training and even space tourism,” Diaz told a sold-out crowd of about 430 persons at the Greater Houston Partnership luncheon. If all goes as planned, Diaz expects the city to have its commercial spaceport license by June 2015. In the meantime, it is seeking private partners to help build the facility at Ellington Airport and make it operational by 2016-2017, he said. (3/20)
Orbital Delays to May 6 Next Cygnus Mission to the ISS From Virginia (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The next launch of Orbital’s Cygnus spacecraft has been targeted for a No Earlier Than (NET) launch target of May 6. The CRS-2/ORB-2 mission will be launched by the company’s Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA Wallops in Virginia – the fourth launch of Orbital’s new medium class rocket, providing the ride uphill for Cygnus’ third trip to the orbital outpost. (3/20)
Sewing Machine Potentially Caused CRS-3 Dragon Contamination (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
A sewing machine, used to stitch the cloth shields that are used to protect payloads in Dragon’s trunk, is understood to be the root cause of the “oil lubricate contamination” that resulted in a postponement to the CRS-3/SpX-3 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The oil is believed to have found its way on to the cloth’s threads, which holds the potential of outgassing in a vacuum – a threat to the optics on two of Dragon’s payloads. (3/20)
Mysterious New Gully Spotted on Mars (Source: WIRED)
A new gully has appeared on a sloped crater wall on Mars. The channel, which was absent from images in November 2010 but showed up in a May 2013 photo, does not appear to have been formed by water. Exactly what caused this Red Planet rivulet remains a mystery. The winding gully seems to have poured out from an existing ribbon channel in a crater in Mars’ Terra Sirenum region.
The leading hypothesis on how the gully formed is that debris flowed downslope from an alcove and eroded a new channel. Though it looks water-carved, the gully is much more likely to have been formed when carbon dioxide frost accumulated on the slope and grew heavy enough to avalanche down. Click here. (3/20)
Where Are The shuttles Now? (Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer)
In 2011, NASA chose three public locations for its retiring shuttles (the Enterprise, retired since 1985, was moved from the Smithsonian outside Virginia to the Intrepid Museum in New York City). Here's where the shuttles are now: Atlantis, which flew from 1985-2011, is at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; Discovery, which flew from 1984-2011, is at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia; Endeavour, which flew from 1992 to 2011, is at the California Science Center in Los Angeles; and Enterprise, built in 1976 but never launched into space, is at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. (3/20)
Dayton's Air Force Museum Creates Compelling Shuttle Exhibit (Sans Shuttle) (Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer)
This is not a place for the claustrophobic. You think of the space shuttle as a mammoth, high-flying hauling machine. And, at 122 feet long by 57 feet high, it is. But peering into the flight deck of the new space shuttle exhibit at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, you see the living area for its human inhabitants — onboard for as many as 16 days — is a tiny part of the vehicle.
Shut out of the shuttle sweepstakes was Dayton's Air Force museum. But as a consolation prize, it received a crew compartment trainer, where hundreds of astronauts over three decades drilled before strapping into the real thing. Inside, they simulated take-offs, practiced using controls, even learned how to use the escape hatch in case of an emergency. (3/20)
Orbital Drops Antitrust Lawsuit Against ULA (Source: Space News)
Orbital Sciences Corp. is dropping an antitrust lawsuit filed in June against United Launch Alliance alleging that the Denver-based rocket maker illegally prevented Orbital from buying the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine, according to a statement filed March 20 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The parties will now undertake to negotiate a business resolution for Orbital’s access to the RD-180 rocket engine, subject to all necessary approvals from the U.S. and Russian governments,” Orbital said in the filing. “If a mutually agreeable resolution is not reached, Orbital will have the option to refile its lawsuit.” (3/20)
Scuba Diving Trumps Surfing on Saturn's Titan Moon (Source: Space.com)
There was a lot of hubbub this week among space geeks about the first spotting of waves on the freaky methane lakes that cover much of Titan, perhaps the most Earth-like spot outside of the real deal in our solar system. The images taken by Cassini between 2012 and 2013 showed something abnormal on the surface of Punga Mare that could be waves, or more accurately, ripples, given that the disturbances were calculated to be no more than a few centimeters high. (3/20)
Move Over Heavy Metal, There's A New Tank Coming To Town (Source: NASA)
For more than 50 years, metal tanks have carried fuel to launch rockets and propel them into space, but one of the largest composite tanks ever manufactured may change all that. This spring, that tank--known as the composite cryotank--is set to undergo a series of tests at extreme pressures and temperatures similar to those experienced during spaceflight.
The 18-foot-diameter (5.5 meter) composite tank just completed final assembly at the Boeing Developmental Center in Tukwila, Wash. Soon it will be loaded onto NASA's Super Guppy, a large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft, that will carry it on a two-day journey to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., where it will be filled with extremely cold, or cryogenic, hydrogen propellant and undergo a series of tests throughout the summer. (3/20)
Brilliant Fireball Over Canada Sparks Meteorite Hunt (Source: Space.com)
Scientists are rushing to the site of a possible meteorite impact in Canada's southwestern Ontario after a bright fireball lit up the skies over that region Tuesday. The basketball-sized fireball was spotted at 10:24 p.m. local time in seven all-sky cameras operated by Western University's Southern Ontario Meteor Network. Two other camera systems in Ohio and Pennsylvania operated jointly with NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office also spotted the fireball. (3/20)
NASA Statement on Sustainability Study (Source: NASA)
The following is a statement from NASA regarding erroneous media reports crediting the agency with an academic paper on population and societal impacts. "A soon-to-be published research paper 'Human and Nature Dynamics (HANDY): Modeling Inequality and Use of Resources in the Collapse or Sustainability of Societies' by University of Maryland researchers Safa Motesharrei and Eugenia Kalnay, and University of Minnesota’s Jorge Rivas was not solicited, directed or reviewed by NASA."
"It is an independent study by the university researchers utilizing research tools developed for a separate NASA activity. As is the case with all independent research, the views and conclusions in the paper are those of the authors alone. NASA does not endorse the paper or its conclusions." (3/20)
Eilieen Collins: Privately Funded Scientific Research - Can You Get Involved? (Source: LinkedIn)
Of course, traditional government research will go on. But it is troubling to me that our government chooses to decrease public funding of scientific research, while at the same time manages an annual budget that increases every year, and feeds a national debt of almost $17 trillion. I don’t see a long-term plan to solve this problem.
Meanwhile, in my area of experience: spaceflight, there are opportunities for researchers to partner with NASA. In my opinion, partnerships of public and private money are certainly going to be available in the future, and may even increase. The Space Act Agreement (SAA) is NASA’s method of partnering with private organizations to further technical goals of both (with some regulatory relief). On average, NASA engages in SAAs with approximately 125 private organizations each year.
According to NASA: “These initiatives constitute a grassroots open invitation to individuals and entities of all types to contribute their creative ideas for technologies that can be used in NASA missions.” If you are a creative entrepreneur, and your goals are in line with NASA’s mission of space exploration, you may be a candidate for this joint partnership with NASA. (3/20)
No comments:
Post a Comment