International Space Fellowship

Station Crew Preps for New Arrivals

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:23:17 +0000

The Expedition 31 crew of the International Space Station focused Tuesday on preparations for the arrival of three new crewmates currently making their way to the orbiting complex aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:01 p.m. EDT on Monday (9:01 a.m. Tuesday, Kazakhstan time), beginning a two-day flight to the International Space [...]

A Supernova Cocoon Breakthrough

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:21:49 +0000

Observations with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have provided the first X-ray evidence of a supernova shock wave breaking through a cocoon of gas surrounding the star that exploded. This discovery may help astronomers understand why some supernovas are much more powerful than others. On Nov. 3, 2010, a supernova was discovered in the galaxy UGC 5189A, located about 160 million light years away. Using data from the All Sky Automated Survey telescope in Hawaii taken earlier, astronomers det [...]

Kepler Mission Manager Update

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:19:27 +0000

April was a momentous time for the mission! The team received approval for a mission extension through fiscal year 2016, based on a recommendation from NASA’s 2012 Senior Review of Astrophysics Missions. In addition to Kepler, eight other missions were approved. The 2012 NASA Senior Review report is available here. The extended mission will begin in October 2012. The team has been busy preparing a transition plan to carry the mission through 2016. The extended mission paradigm will be to op [...]

The numbers add up in Arianespace’s latest commercial launch success with Ariane 5

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:07:44 +0000

Ariane Flight VA206 Arianespace provided another on-time Ariane 5 launch tonight by orbiting a pair of telecommunications spacecraft at the service of Asian region operators, on a mission that included multiple numerical milestones for the company and its customers. According to Arianespace Chairman & CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall, this flight also enabled his company to surpass the 300th mark for the total number of primary satellite passengers launched in its operations from French Guiana [...]

Three New Crew Members En Route to Station

Klaus Schmidt — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:16:30 +0000

NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:01 p.m. EDT on Monday (9:01 a.m. Tuesday, Kazakhstan time), beginning a two-day flight to the International Space Station. Less than 10 minutes after launch their Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft reached orbit, and its antennas and solar arrays deployed. Also onboard with the crew, was a small Smokey Bear plush serving as the tradi [...]

NASA Modifies Launch Service Contract To Add Falcon 9 Rocket

Klaus Schmidt — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:43:02 +0000

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA has announced a modification of its NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., to add an additional configuration of the Falcon 9 rocket to its fleet. The SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 launch service will be available to the agency's Launch Services Program to use for future missions in accordance with the on-ramp provision of NLS II. The NLS II on-ramp provision provides an annual opportunity for new launch s [...]

NASA's Marshall Center Completes Wind Tunnel Testing for Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser Space System

Klaus Schmidt — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:38:53 +0000

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., successfully completed wind tunnel testing for Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) Space Systems of Louisville, Colo. The test will provide aerodynamic data that will aid in the design of the new Dream Chaser Space System. During tests at Marshall’s wind tunnel facility, a scale model of SNC's Dream Chaser orbital crew vehicle was mounted on a scale model of the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V launch vehicle. Over 400 d [...]

Amateur astronomers boost ESA’s asteroid hunt

Klaus Schmidt — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:35:51 +0000

A partnership with the UK’s Faulkes Telescope Project promises to boost the Agency’s space hazards research while helping students to discover potentially dangerous space rocks. ESA’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme is keeping watch over space hazards, including disruptive space weather, debris objects in Earth orbit and asteroids that pass close enough to cause concern. This month, the UK’s Faulkes Telescope Project will become the latest team to formally support th [...]

This Week On The Space Show

Klaus Schmidt — Mon, 14 May 2012 03:27:27 +0000

The Space Show, hosted by David Livingston under www.TheSpaceShow.com, will have the following guests this week: 1. Monday, May 14, 2012, 4-5 PM PDT (23-0 GMT) DR. HAROLD ROSEN comes to the show. Dr. Rosen is often considered the father of the geostationary satellite. Dr. Harold A. Rosen has earned worldwide recognition for his pioneering work in the field of communication satellites and is widely recognized as the “father of the geostationary satellite.” Dr. Rosen began his caree [...]

Station Residents Await Launch of Crewmates

Klaus Schmidt — Sat, 12 May 2012 06:34:18 +0000

The three Expedition 31 crew members aboard the International Space Station focused on science experiments and cargo transfers Friday while awaiting Monday’s launch of three additional crew members. After beginning the day with a routine check of the station’s air quality, Flight Engineer Don Pettit participated in several experiments studying the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body. For the Integrated Cardiovascular experiment he downloaded data from a Holter m [...]

Mojave Desert Tests Prepare for NASA Mars Roving

Klaus Schmidt — Sat, 12 May 2012 06:31:35 +0000

Team members of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission took a test rover to Dumont Dunes in California's Mojave Desert this week to improve knowledge of the best way to operate a similar rover, Curiosity, currently flying to Mars for an August landing. The test rover that they put through paces on various sandy slopes has a full-scale version of Curiosity's mobility system, but it is otherwise stripped down so that it weighs about the same on Earth as Curiosity will weigh in the lesser gravit [...]

IBEX Reveals a Missing Boundary At the Edge Of the Solar System

Klaus Schmidt — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:20:30 +0000

For the last few decades, space scientists have generally accepted that the bubble of gas and magnetic fields generated by the sun – known as the heliosphere – moves through space, creating three distinct boundary layers that culminate in an outermost bow shock. This shock is similar to the sonic boom created ahead of a supersonic jet. Earth itself certainly has one of these bow shocks on the sunward side of its magnetic environment, as do most other planets and many stars. A collection of n [...]

NASA Dawn Mission Reveals Secrets of Large Asteroid

Klaus Schmidt — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:14:24 +0000

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Dawn spacecraft has provided researchers with the first orbital analysis of the giant asteroid Vesta, yielding new insights into its creation and kinship with terrestrial planets and Earth's moon. Vesta now has been revealed as a special fossil of the early solar system with a more varied, diverse surface than originally thought. Scientists have confirmed a variety of ways in which Vesta more closely resembles a small planet or Earth's moon than another asteroid. Res [...]

Cygnus-X: the cool swan glowing in flight

Klaus Schmidt — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:11:05 +0000

Chaotic networks of dust and gas signpost the next generations of massive stars in this stunning new image of the Cygnus-X star-nursery captured by ESA’s Herschel space observatory. Cygnus-X is an extremely active region of massive-star birth some 4500 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan. Using Herschel’s far-infrared eyes, astronomers can seek out regions where dust has been gently heated by stars, pointing them to dense clumps of gas where new generati [...]

SpaceX and Bigelow Aerospace Join Forces to Offer Crewed Missions to Private Space Stations

Klaus Schmidt — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:20:43 +0000

Hawthorne, CA, and Las Vegas, NV– Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Bigelow Aerospace (BA) have agreed to conduct a joint marketing effort focused on international customers. The two companies will offer rides on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, using the Falcon launch vehicle to carry passengers to Bigelow habitats orbiting the earth. According to Bigelow Aerospace’s President and Founder, Robert T. Bigelow, “We’re very excited to be working with our colleagues at SpaceX to pr [...]

HIFiRE Scramjet Research Flight Will Advance Hypersonic Technology

Klaus Schmidt — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:18:06 +0000

A team that includes NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is celebrating the successful launch of an experimental hypersonic scramjet research flight from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. NASA, AFRL and Australia's Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) are working with a number of partners on the HIFiRE (Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation Program) program to advance hypersonic flight -- normally defined as [...]

Science, Cargo Transfers for Station Crew; Launch Preps for New Crew Members

Klaus Schmidt — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:15:36 +0000

The Expedition 31 crew members living and working aboard the International Space Station Thursday focused on a variety of science experiments and transferred cargo from docked resupply vehicles. Flight Engineer Don Pettit worked with the Capillary Flow Experiment, which takes a close look at how fluids flow across surfaces in a weightless environment. The results will be used to improve computer models used to design fluid transfer systems and fuel tanks on future spacecraft. Kuipers a [...]

NASA Continues J-2X Powerpack Testing

Klaus Schmidt — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:13:25 +0000

NASA conducted a long duration test of the J-2X powerpack, 340 seconds total, at the Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi on May 10, marking another step in development of the next-generation rocket engine that will carry humans deeper into space than ever before. The powerpack is a system of components on the top portion of the J-2X engine, including the gas generator, oxygen and fuel turbopumps, and related ducts and valves. On the full J-2X engine, the powerpack system feeds the t [...]

SLS Carries Deep Space Potential

Klaus Schmidt — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:09:52 +0000

The Space Launch System is on track to give America the launch vehicle it will need to send humans deeper into space than ever before, the program's manager said May 8. Speaking to the National Space Club during a luncheon near NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Todd May, SLS program manager, said an uncrewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft in 2014, SLS mission in 2017 and a 10- to 14-day mission with astronauts going to the moon and back in 2021 will leave the nation in a position t [...]

NASA's Juno Spacecraft Images Big Dipper

Klaus Schmidt — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:01:31 +0000

In England it is known as the "Plough," in Germany the "Great Cart," and in Malaysia the "Seven Ploughs." Since humanity first turned its eyes skyward, the seven northern hemisphere stars that compose the "Big Dipper" have been a welcome and familiar introduction to the heavens. "I can recall as a kid making an imaginary line from the two stars that make up the right side of the Big Dipper's bowl and extending it upward to find the North Star," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of NAS [...]

NASA Spacecraft Detects Changes in Martian Sand Dunes

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:29:05 +0000

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed that movement in sand dune fields on the Red Planet occurs on a surprisingly large scale, about the same as in dune fields on Earth. This is unexpected because Mars has a much thinner atmosphere than Earth, is only about one percent as dense, and its high-speed winds are less frequent and weaker than Earth's. "This exciting discovery will inform scientists trying to better understand the changing surface conditions of [...]

Station Residents Await New Trio

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:26:20 +0000

The three Expedition 31 crew members onboard the International Space Station are working on cargo transfers and science. They await three new crew members who are in Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, as their Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft is being prepared for launch. Flight Engineer Don Pettit continued transferring cargo and trash back and forth from Europe’s “Edoardo Amaldi” Automated Transfer Vehicle-3. The resupply vehicle is planned to undock in August and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere [...]

Opportunity Rolling Again After Fifth Mars Winter

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:23:19 +0000

PASADENA, Calif. -- With its daily supply of solar energy increasing, NASA's durable Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has driven off the sunward-tilted outcrop, called Greeley Haven, where it worked during its fifth Martian winter. Opportunity's first drive since Dec. 26, 2011, took the rover about 12 feet (3.67 meters) northwest and downhill on Tuesday, May 8. The rover operations team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., received confirmation of the completed drive late [...]

Overfed Black Holes Shut Down Galactic Star-Making

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:20:52 +0000

PASADENA, Calif. -- The Herschel Space Observatory has shown galaxies with the most powerful, active black holes at their cores produce fewer stars than galaxies with less active black holes. The results are the first to demonstrate black holes suppressed galactic star formation when the universe was less than half its current age. Herschel is a European Space Agency-led mission with important NASA contributions. "We want to know how star formation and black hole activity are linked," [...]

ESA declares end of mission for Envisat

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:18:14 +0000

Just weeks after celebrating its tenth year in orbit, communication with the Envisat satellite was suddenly lost on 8 April. Following rigorous attempts to re-establish contact and the investigation of failure scenarios, the end of the mission is being declared. A team of engineers has spent the last month attempting to regain control of Envisat, investigating possible reasons for the problem. Another scenario is a short circuit, triggering a ‘safe mode’ – a special mode ensuring [...]

ATK Announces Complete Liberty System to Provide Commercial Crew Access

Klaus Schmidt — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:14:23 +0000

Liberty System Includes Spacecraft, Launch Vehicle, Ground and Mission Ops LOS ANGELES and ARLINGTON, Va. -- ATK (NYSE: ATK) announced today it has developed Liberty into a complete commercial crew transportation system, including the spacecraft, abort system, launch vehicle, and ground and mission operations, designed from inception to meet NASA's human-rating requirements with a potential for the first test flight in 2014 and Liberty crewed flight in 2015. The company also announced Loc [...]

NASA Commercial Partner SpaceX Completes Crew Accommodations Milestone

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:03:46 +0000

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has finished an important evaluation of a prototype Dragon spacecraft designed to carry people into orbit. This key milestone is part of SpaceX's partnership with NASA under a funded Space Act Agreement to advance the design of crew transportation vehicles. The primary goal of the tests was to determine whether the layout will allow astronauts to maneuver effectively in the vehicle. Several veteran space shuttle astronauts and N [...]

NASA Conducts Tests on Orion Service Module

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:01:49 +0000

Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center are testing parts of the Orion service module to ensure the spacecraft can withstand the harsh realities of deep space missions. To date, Marshall has completed two structural loads tests, and another is under way. Structural loads tests prove the structural performance or material behavior of a design as weight is applied to it. Most of the time, the allowable weight is exceeded to test the material at extreme conditions to verify the toleran [...]

TDRS-4 Mission Complete; Spacecraft Retired From Active Service

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 09 May 2012 05:57:46 +0000

The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite 4 (TDRS-4) recently completed almost 23 years of operations support and successfully completed end-of-mission de-orbit and decommissioning activities. TDRS-4's operational life span was well beyond its original 10-year design. Launched on March 13, 1989, from onboard Space Shuttle Discovery, TDRS-4 operated in geosynchronous (GEO) altitude at more than 22,000 miles above the Atlantic Ocean region. As part of the spacecraft's end-of-mission activities, its [...]

NASA's Spitzer Sees the Light of Alien 'Super Earth'

Klaus Schmidt — Wed, 09 May 2012 05:54:46 +0000

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light emanating from a "super-Earth" planet beyond our solar system for the first time. While the planet is not habitable, the detection is a historic step toward the eventual search for signs of life on other planets. "Spitzer has amazed us yet again," said Bill Danchi, Spitzer program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The spacecraft is pioneering the study of atmospheres of distant planets and paving the way for NA [...]

Station Crew Performs Medical Experiments, Cargo Transfers, Arrival Preparations

Klaus Schmidt — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:50:56 +0000

Aboard the orbiting International Space Station Monday, Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Don Pettit worked with the Integrated Cardiovascular (ICV) experiment. He participated in an ambulatory monitoring session and, with the assistance of Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers, an echocardiogram with the Ultrasound 2. ICV researches the extent of cardiac atrophy and seeks to identify its mechanisms. Kuipers also packed some items for transfer to the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that will arrive at the orbi [...]

This Week On The Space Show

Klaus Schmidt — Mon, 07 May 2012 06:23:29 +0000

The Space Show, hosted by David Livingston under www.TheSpaceShow.com, will have the following guests this week: 1. Tuesday, May 8, 2012, 9:30-10:30 AM PDT (16:30-17:30 GMT) This Space Show program is a recorded program from the Reinventing Space Conference. It will be live for conference attendees. As soon as possible it will be archived on the website for the Space Show audience. As soon as you see it on the website and the blog, it is ready for play. 2. Friday, May 11, 2012, 9:30- [...]

Russia Develops Revolutionary Ammonia Rocket Engine

Klaus Schmidt — Sun, 06 May 2012 08:03:02 +0000

Power engineering manufacturer Energomash has started development of a new rocket engine which could vastly reduce the cost of rocket launches and avoid the need to produce hydrogen for fuel, the makers say. The new rocket, which will be around 30 percent more efficient than exising designs, works on a completely novel fuel mixture of acetylene and ammonia (atsetam). “A mixture of acetylene and ammonia is 20 times cheaper than hydrogen as a kilogram of hydrogen costs about 2 thousand rub [...]

‘The Astrosociological Imagination’: An Anthology.

Klaus Schmidt — Sat, 05 May 2012 07:15:26 +0000

‘The Astrosociological Imagination’ is a collection of humanist Sociology papers by researcher Stephanie Lynne Thorburn that seeks to engage the imagination of the space community and academic orthodoxy alike. When perceived through the mundane, vernacular confines of politics and everyday life, our modern world has presented us with a range of seemingly insurmountable challenges. Despite improvements in technology and communications, there is still a prevalent ‘closed world’ view of [...]

NASA Issues Statement on New SpaceX Launch Date

Klaus Schmidt — Sat, 05 May 2012 07:08:06 +0000

WASHINGTON -- In response to today's SpaceX announcement finalizing a new target date for the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, NASA issued the following statement from William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at the agency's Headquarters in Washington: "After additional reviews and discussions between the SpaceX and NASA teams, we are in a position to proceed toward this important launch. The teamwork provided by these teams is ph [...]