UNL science teams 'walking on air'

Jordan Pascale NEWS NET Nebraska - UN Lincoln - Soaring 24,000 to 34,000 feet high and then screaming back down at a 45-degree angle, all in about a minute.

It's the closest thing to outer space without leaving the Earth's atmosphere, and this month, 11 UNL students and two professors will get to experience it.

The men and women earned a trip on NASA's "Weightless Wonder" C-9 aircraft. They will work on scientific experiments while on the flight.

Yet they can't help but relish what they expect will be the sheer joy of escaping gravity.

Team leaders Jack Mondry, 21, a senior from Orlando, Fla., and Brett Schlueter, 22, a senior from Hastings, Neb., plan to do their fair share of back flips and one-handed push-ups.

"I can't imagine what weightlessness will feel like," Schlueter said. "When you push everything out of your head about testing and designing and think about being weightless, it's going to feel amazing walking onto that plane, knowing what's going to happen."

Two teams from UNL were among 10 college teams from across the country chosen for NASA's Microgravity University, which gives college students the opportunity to work and play in a space-like weightless environment.

The plane's ascents and dives create 18 to 25 seconds of ‘"parabolic reduced gravity," approximating lunar gravity, which is one-sixth of that found on Earth.

That means a 180-pound person would feel as if he or she had shed 150 pounds.

Read the story HERE.

CM's Ross Finman wins Goddard Scholarship

Carnegie Mellon University's Ross Finman will receive the prestigious Robert H. Goddard Memorial Scholarship at the 52nd annual Goddard Memorial Dinner, April 17 in Washington, D.C.

"I am thrilled to win this award because it is a great example of how the unique Carnegie Mellon environment allows motivated and driven students to pursue their technical aspirations," said Finman, 19, a junior in electrical and computer engineering.

The National Space Club Award of $10,000 is given each year to stimulate the interest of talented students to advance scientific knowledge through space research and exploration. Award recipients must be pursuing or have the intention of pursuing studies in science or engineering during their university career. It is also given in memory of Robert H. Goddard, America's rocket pioneer.

"I could not think of a more deserving awardee," said the Fredkin University Research Professor William "Red'' Whittaker. "Ross is a jewel. He is a phenomenal leader and very engaging. He drives himself to lead and pulls his team along with him," said Whittaker, who heads the university's team attempting to win the $20 million Google Lunar X-Prize for landing a robot on the moon, driving it at least 500 meters on the lunar surface and transmitting images back to Earth. "He is an extremely hard worker and is very serious about working in the field of space technology."

For Finman, space is literally the final frontier. "I came to Carnegie Mellon interested in robotics but I am now hooked after being involved with our amazing X-Prize team," said Finman of Nashua, N.H., who is also involved in a separate team challenge to build an autonomous dirt-digging robot for a NASA competition.

Finman says he is a winner because he is surrounded in an environment of winners. "I have learned so much from my collaborative, problem-solving team experiences at Carnegie Mellon, and that is exactly why I came to this research university," Finman said.

The energetic Finman admits to taking a few college-level courses at both Harvard and Johns Hopkins when he was only 16. "But only at Carnegie Mellon could I really get to sink my teeth into some novel research and be respected at such a young age," he said.

"Ross Finman is the kind of student that chooses Carnegie Mellon because our environment nurtures and inspires innovation," said Ed Schlesinger, head of the university's top-ranked Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "We celebrate his creativity and his ability to translate the fundamentals into practical technology."

A rocket enthusiast since childhood, Finman is an avid skydiver, rock climber, mountain biker and skier.

Chriss Swaney, CMU

Odyssey Moon plans Lunar greenhouse partnership

Tackling the challenge In Situ Resource Utilization head on, Odyssey Moon is apparently planning a partnership with Paragon Space Development Corporation, "focused on delivery of a biological greenhouse to the Moon’s surface."

The story is picked up by Rocketeer.co.uk via Space Coalition Blog, "thanks to Parabolic Arc."

Haley Space Law papers archived at Ol Miss

Historians working on the professional papers of the late Andrew G. Haley, considered the world's first Space Law attorney, have found letters from John Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Arthur C. Clarke and international leaders, as work beginning last year is underway archiving Haley's papers online.

Haley's papers for the National Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi law school, are being virtually "housed," HERE.

Forty-two boxes of files were donated by Haley's son Andrew Haley Jr. to the late Stephen Gorove, after Haley died in 1966. Gorove, who taught at Ole Miss Law School from 1965 to 1988, was also among the world's first Space Law attorneys.

http://www.spacelaw.olemiss.edu/archive/haleyarchive.htm

LOIRP's "Pictures of the Century"

Dennis Wingo has fired up today's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference presentation on the Origin and Evolution of the Moon with LOIRP's latest "Picture of the Century," a 1-meter per pixel resolution restoration of Lunar Orbiter II's famous oblique view of the interior of Copernicus. Detail from the Lunar Orbiter Image Restoration Project (LOIRP) is breathtaking, and can be seen at LOIRP's Moonviews website.

Wingo is presenting his abstract Monday. Recent breakthroughs in restoring remastered data from the forty-three-year-old Lunar Orbiter project have caused an appropriate sensation, offering up what amounts to a new lunar mission. He co-leads LOIRP, funded by NASA's Exploration Mission Systems Directorate and NASA's Innovative Partnership's Program, with support from Odyssey Moon, Skycorp Inc., SpaceRef Interactive Inc., ACES, and the NASA Lunar Science Institute, and is housed at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffet Field.

The project utilized original analog data and restored tape drives to digitize original Lunar Orbiter project imagery using technology unavailable when were originally photographed (and developed by the Orbiters) producing images greatly exceeding the resolution as first seen in 1966 and 1967.

Lunar Pioneer Networks is presenting direct links to those studies related to the Moon on this blog presented this week at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2009), which runs through Friday in The Woodlands, Texas.

An excellent lay summary of Shackleton situs

Christian Science Monitor via
KIVI-TV Boise

Moon base: Location, location, location

If, as planned, the United States eventually establishes a lunar base in 2020, one of the most tempting patches of moonscape is Shackleton Crater at the south pole.

There may be water ice for drinking or converting to rocket fuel, the nearly constant sunlight at the rim is ideal for solar power, and the temperature is relatively bearable.

But perhaps the most compelling reason is something far more primal: surviving the lunar night, which lasts 14 Earth days and can hit temperatures so cold that oxygen turns to liquid.

Amid the many challenges that face America's bid to send four astronauts to inhabit a moon base for 180 days at a stretch, the lunar night is among the hardest to unravel - and for now, scientists think the rim of Shackleton Crater might be the best place to find solutions.

"If you want to explore the moon, you have to start with the first requirement: surviving a lunar night," says James Head III, a planetary geologist at Brown University.

The goal to return humans to the moon by 2020, first established under President Bush, appears to have President Obama's approval. Between his fiscal 2010 budget proposal and the stimulus package passed by Congress, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is slated to get roughly $2.4 billion more than it received in 2008. The 2010 deadline for retiring the space shuttles remains intact. So does the lunar-exploration program, with its rockets to replace the shuttles.

But for all its attractiveness as a steppingstone from Earth to Mars, the moon is one nasty place, explains Narayanan Ramachandran, an aerospace engineer who heads the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Space Colonization Technical Committee.

The allure of Shackleton Crater is that it is relatively hospitable and practical. Explorers perched on its rim would experience a night of only 2 Earth days and 4 hours. The crater's proximity to the moon's day-night boundary - called the terminator - also makes it an ideal place to test technologies and find out what works and what doesn't in both environments.

The difficulties to overcome are many. Solar storms and cosmic rays bombard the daylight half of the moon with charged particles dangerous to humans. Cosmic rays continue the onslaught throughout the night. And the particles smack the lunar surface with enough energy to knock neutrons loose and send them speeding upward - another form of radiation.

Lunar dust is another serious problem. On Earth, dust gets tumbled around, rounding its edges, and moisture in the atmosphere makes it easier to clean off. On the moon, however, those processes do not exist, meaning the grains of the surface soil, or regolith, remain jagged. And with no moisture to prevent static electricity from building up on the grains, they provide the ultimate example of static cling - on everything from spacesuits to rover batteries.

Yet during a recent conference for firms interested in building the lunar outpost, a significant amount of attention turned to surviving the lunar night. Satellites in the right orbit could gather sunlight, convert it to microwaves, then beam the microwaves to a facility on the surface that would convert the beams into electricity. Other groups touted small nuclear reactors whose heat would be converted to electricity required for heating and other needs.

But the cost of getting such big-ticket items to the moon, as one expert puts it, is "one followed by too many zeros."

This has led some engineers to explore a live-off-the-regolith approach - taking advantage of the positive side of lunar dust: It stores heat.

Specifically, the top four inches of the regolith absorbs sunlight and heats up. Lunar explorers could harvest this material and fashion it into large bricks. Using special lenses, they could intensify the sunlight striking the bricks, heating them to temperatures far higher than they could reach with sunlight alone. Then the heated bricks could be kept insulated and used for heating habitats during the long night.

But habitats aren't the only pieces of hardware that must be warmed. Robotic rovers and their batteries also need to survive. "We have a hard time keeping ... trucks working in Siberia," Dr. Ramachandran says. "We have no experience working at minus 150 degrees."

The solution could be a "wadi" - a patch of lunar surface somewhat larger than a rover and covered with what is in effect a reflective tent. During the day, lenses would heat these strategically spaced wadis. As night nears, hardware would extend a reflective cover over the area - like tin foil over a turkey, shiny side down.

Engineers calculate that wadis would be warm enough to prevent lubricants from freezing and batteries from dying. The concept also could be applied to habitats on wheels, which would allow astronauts to explore.

And a fair lay overview of ISRO's Chandrayaan

Chandrayaan and India’s space odyssey
Khabrein.info

Today, India is one of the very few countries that have significant achievements to their credit in the arena of space. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has designed, developed and built a variety of satellites. And, it has successfully launched many of them into their intended orbits. More importantly, the country has used its satellites for the rapid expansion of its national infrastructure including telecommunications, TV broadcasting, weather monitoring, education, public health, agriculture and rural development. More recently, India has provided many space-based services including launch services to foreign customers on a competitive basis. With ample experience and many successes in Earth orbit, ISRO took up Chandrayaan-1, its first bold step beyond Earth orbit into deep space.

Chandrayaan-1: The Goals

The primary objectives of Chandrayaan-1 are:
1. To expand scientific knowledge about the moon
2. To upgrade India's technological capability
3. To provide challenging opportunities for planetary
research to the younger generation of Indian scientists
Chandrayaan-1 aims to achieve these well defined objectives through high resolution remote sensing of the moon in the visible, near infrared, microwave and X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. With this, preparation of a 3-dimensional atlas of the lunar surface and chemical mapping of entire lunar surface is envisaged.

Chandrayaan-1: The Payloads
Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft carried 11 payloads (scientific instruments) to achieve its objectives. The instruments were carefully chosen on the basis of many scientific and technical considerations as well as their complementary/supplementary nature.

Of them, five instruments were entirely designed and developed in India, three instruments from European Space Agency (one of which was developed jointly with India and the other with Indian contribution), one from Bulgaria and two from the United States. Thus, Chandrayaan-1 is a classic example of international cooperation that has characterised the global space exploration programmes of the post cold war era.

The Indian payloads are:
1. Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC): The aim of this instrument is to completely map the topography of the moon. The camera works in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum and captures black and white stereo images. It images a strip of lunar surface which is 20 km wide and resolution of this CCD camera is 5 m. Such high resolution imaging helps in better understanding of the lunar evolution process as well as in the detailed study of the regions of scientific interest. When used in conjunction with data from Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI), it can help in better understanding of the lunar gravitational field as well. TMC was built by ISRO's Space Applications Centre (SAC) of Ahmedabad.

2. Hyperspectral Imager (HySI): This CCD camera is designed to obtain the spectroscopic data for mapping of minerals on the surface of the moon as well as for understanding the mineralogical composition of the moon's interior. Operating in the visible and near infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum, it images a strip of lunar surface which is 20 km wide with a resolution of 80 m. The instrument splits the incident radiation into 64 contiguous bands of 15 nanometer (nm) width. HySI will help in improving the already available information on mineral composition of the lunar surface. HySI was also built by SAC.

3. Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI): This instrument aims to provide necessary data for determining the accurate altitude of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft above the lunar surface.It also helps in determining the global topographical field of the Moon as well as in generating an improved model for the lunar gravity field. Data from LLRI will enable understanding of the internal structure of the moon and the way large surface features of the moon have changed with time. The infrared laser source used for LLRI is Nd-YAG laser wherein Neodimium atoms are doped into a Yittrium Aluminium Garnet crystal. The wavelength of the light emitted by LLRI is 1064 nm. LLRI was built by ISRO's Laboratory for Electro Optic Systems (LEOS) of Bangalore.

4. High Energy X-ray Spectrometer (HEX): This is the first planetary experiment to carry out spectral studies at 'hard' X-ray energies using good energy resolution detectors. HEX is designed to help explore the possibility of identifying polar regions covered by thick water-ice deposits as well as in identifying regions of high Uranium and Thorium concentrations. Knowledge of the chemical composition of the various solar system objects such as planets, satellites and asteroids provides important clues towards understanding their origin and evolution. HEX uses Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors and is designed to detect hard X-rays in the energy range of 30 kilo electron Volts (keV) to about 270 keV. HEX was built jointly by Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) of Ahmedabad and ISRO Satellite Centre of Bangalore.

5. Moon Impact Probe (MIP): The primary objective of MIP was to demonstrate the technologies required for landing a probe at the desired location on the moon. Through this probe, it was also intended to qualify some of the technologies related to future soft landing missions. This apart, scientific exploration of the moon at close distance was also intended using MIP.

The 34 kg Moon Impact Probe consisted of a C-band Radar Altimeter for continuous measurement of altitude of the Probe above lunar surface and to qualify technologies for future landing missions, a Video Imaging System for acquiring images of the surface of moon from the descending probe and a Mass Spectrometer for measuring the constituents of extremely thin lunar atmosphere during its 25 minute descent to the lunar surface. MIP was developed by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre of Thiruvananthapuram.

Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft carrying 11 scientific instruments weighed about 1380 kg at the time of its launch and is shaped like a cuboid with a solar panel projecting from one of its sides. The state of the art subsystems of the spacecraft, some of them miniaturised, facilitate the safe and efficient functioning of its array of scientific instruments.

The spacecraft structure was mainly built using composites and Aluminium honeycomb material. The Thermal subsystem consisting of paints, tapes, multi layer insulation blanket, optical solar reflectors, heat pipes, heaters and temperature controllers, ensures the proper functioning of the spacecraft by keeping its temperature within acceptable limits. The Mechanisms subsystem of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft took care of the deployment of its solar panel and the steers of the dual gimballed antenna.

The spacecraft is powered by a single solar panel generating a maximum of 700 W. A 36 Ampere-Hour (Ah) Lithium ion battery supplies power when the solar panel is not illuminated by the sun. The Telemetry, Tracking and Command subsystem of Chandrayaan-1 working in S-band takes care of radioing the detailed spacecraft health information, facilitating the knowledge about spacecraft's position in space and allows the reception and execution of commands coming from Earth by the spacecraft.

Sun and star sensors as well as gyroscopes provide the orientation reference for spacecraft in space. The Attitude and Orbit Control subsystem, essentially the brain of Chandrayaan-1, consisting of a Bus Management Unit (BMU), reaction wheels and thrusters, ensures the proper orientation and stability of the spacecraft as well as in changing its orbit during different phases of its flight.

To make Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft to escape from orbiting Earth and to travel towards the moon, its liquid apogee motor (LAM) was used. Liquid propellants needed for LAM as well as thrusters were stored onboard the spacecraft.

Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft's Communications subsystem transmits the precious information gathered by its scientific instruments to Earth in 'X-band' through its Dual Gimballed Antenna.

Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was built at ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore with contributions from ISRO/Department of Space (DOS) establishments like Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) and ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU) of Tiruvananthapuram, Space Applications Centre (SAC) and Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) of Ahmedabad and Laboratory for Electro-optic Systems (LEOS) of Bangalore.

The launch of Chandrayaan-1 took place at 6:22 am Indian Standard Time (00:52 UT) on October 22, 2008 from the Second Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, Sriharikota in the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh state. Sriharikota is situated at a distance of about 80 km to the North of Chennai.

Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft began its journey from Earth onboard India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11) and first reached a highly elliptical Initial Orbit (IO). In the Initial Orbit, the perigee (nearest point to Earth) was about 255 km and apogee (farthest point from the Earth) is about 22,860 km.

After circling the Earth in its Initial Orbit for a while, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was taken to five more elliptical orbits whose apogees were progressively higher a 37,900 km, 74,715 km, 164,600 km, 267,000 km and 380,000 km respectively. This was done by firing the spacecraft's Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) at opportune moments when the spacecraft was near perigee. During this phase of the mission, the Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC), which is one of the eleven payloads of Chandrayaan-1 carried by spacecraft, was successfully switched ON and it took the pictures of the Earth and Moon. Additionally, Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM), another payload of Chandrayaan-1, was also switched ON.

As it approached the apogee of its final Earth Bound Orbit at 380,000 km, the spacecraft passed at a distance of about 500 km from the Moon on November 8, 2008 since Moon had arrived there in its journey round the Earth.

At that time, the spacecraft's LAM was again fired. This slowed down the spacecraft sufficiently to enable the gravity of the moon to capture it into an elliptical orbit whose periselene (nearest point to the moon's surface) was at 504 km and whose aposelene (farthest point to the moon's surface) was at 7,502 km.

Following this, the height of the spacecraft's orbit around the moon was reduced in four steps. As a result of this, the periselene was reduced from 504 km to 200 km, and then to 182 km and finally to 100 km while the aposelene was reduced from 7,502 km to 255 km and then to 183 km and finally to 100 km. Thus, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft reached its intended operational lunar polar orbit of about 100 km height from the moon's surface on November 12, 2008. After this, TMC sent excellent images of the lunar surface.

On November 14, 2008, the Moon Impact Probe (MIP), carrying the painting of Indian tricolor on its sides, was separated from the spacecraft and after a 25 minute journey, impacted the lunar surface near the South polar region of the moon at around
20:31 Indian Standard Time (15:01 UT). Following this, the switching ON of the remaining nine payloads began. By mid December 2008, all the payloads had been switched on and tested.

PSLV-C11, chosen to launch Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, was an uprated version of ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle standard configuration. Weighing 320 tonnes at lift-off, the vehicle used larger strap-on motors (PSOM-XL) to achieve higher payload capability.

PSLV is the trusted workhorse launch Vehicle of ISRO. During September 1993- April 2008 period, PSLV had twelve consecutively successful launches carrying satellites to Sun Synchronous, Low Earth and Geosynchronous Transfer Orbits. On October 22, 2008, its fourteenth flight launched Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft.

By mid 2008, PSLV had repeatedly proved its reliability and versatility by launching 29 satellites into a variety of orbits. Of these, ten remote sensing satellites of India, an Indian satellite for amateur radio communications, a recoverable Space Capsule (SRE-1) and fourteen satellites from abroad were put into polar Sun Synchronous Orbits (SSO) of 550-820 km heights. Besides, PSLV has launched two satellites from abroad into Low Earth Orbits of low or medium inclinations. This apart, PSLV has launched KALPANA-1, a weather satellite of India, into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).

PSLV was initially designed by ISRO to place 1,000 kg class Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into 900 km polar SunSynchronous Orbits. Since the first successful flight in October 1994, the capability of PSLV was successively enhanced from 850 kg to 1,600 kg. In its ninth flight on May 5, 2005 from the Second Launch Pad (SLP), PSLV launched ISRO's remote sensing satellite,1,560 kg CARTOSAT-1 and the 42 kg Amateur Radio satellite, HAMSAT, into a 620 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit. The improvement in the capability over successive flights has been achieved through several means. They include increased propellant loading in the stage motors, employing composite material for the satellite mounting structure and changing the sequence of firing of the strap-on motors.

PSLV-C11 is 44.4 metre tall and has four stages using solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately. The first stage, carrying 138 tonne of propellant, is one of the largest solid propellant boosters in the world. Six solid propellant strap-on motors (PSOM-XL), each carrying twelve tonne of solid propellant, are strapped on to the first stage. The second stage carries 41.5 tonne of liquid propellant. The third stage uses 7.6 tonne of solid propellant and the fourth has a twin engine configuration with 2.5 tonne of liquid propellant.

The 3.2 metre diameter metallic bulbous payload fairing protects the satellites and it is discarded after the vehicle has cleared dense atmosphere. PSLV employs a large number of auxiliary systems for stage separation, payload fairing separation and so on. It has sophisticated systems to control the vehicle and guide it through the predetermined trajectory. The vehicle performance is monitored through telemetry and tracking. The main modification in PSLV-C11 compared to its standard configuration is the use of larger strap-on motors (PSOM-XL) containing more propellants.

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, designed and developed PSLV-C11. ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU) at Thiruvananthapuram developed the inertial systems for the vehicle. Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), also at Thiruvananthapuram, developed the liquid propulsion stages for the second and fourth stages of PSLV-C11 as well as reaction control systems. SDSC SHAR processed the solid motors and carries out launch operations. ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) provides telemetry, tracking and command support during PSLV-C11's flight.

National Space Club announces award winners

National Space Club - Washington - The aerospace industry's premier awards were announced today by the National Space Club. Awardees are listed below and will be recognized by their colleagues from across government, industry and academia at the prestigious 52nd annual Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner, to be held this year on Friday, April 17 at the Hilton Washington. Awards are presented to a number of outstanding individuals for accomplishments in spaceflight, engineering, science, management and education.

* The pinnacle award, the Robert H. Goddard Trophy, will be presented to The Honorable Dr. Michael Griffin, former NASA Administrator, voted the individual who made the most significant contribution to space activity in the previous year. Dr. Griffin spearheaded NASA during a time of increasing demands, new directions and flat budgets, and has received industry-wide accolades for outstanding leadership, commitment and dedication to NASA and our nation's civil space program.

* The Dr. Joseph Charyk Award will be presented to Mr. Ralph S. Haller, Principal Deputy Director, National Reconnaissance Office, for distinguishing himself by his architecture and implementation of a comprehensive transformation in the history of the National Reconnaissance Office, achieving key goals and objectives of that organization's strategic vision and addressing national security and space mission challenges.

* The NOAA David Johnson Award will be presented to Mr. William J. Blackwell, Member of the Technical Staff, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, for his innovative and outstanding contribution to the improved performance of integrated hyperspectral infrared and passive microwave sounders on meteorological satellites.

* The Olin E. Teague Memorial Award will be presented to Alexander Rilee, High Performance Computing with Graphics Cards, Eleanor Roosevelt High School for his parallelizing phase retrieval running on a general purpose graphics card with a unified device architecture provides an inexpensive method for faster, more efficient scientific computing, essential in assessing and correcting misalignment and optical flaws in the James Webb Space Telescope.

* The Space Educator Award will be presented to Mr. Michael Weiss, Teacher, Yarmouth High School, Yarmouth, ME, for his work in inspiring, educating and developing the next generation of students in space science through creative programs, competitions and extensive participation of him and his students in NASA and other space education programs

* The Astronautics Engineer Award will be presented to Mr. Stephen C. Doering, Associate Program Manager, Constellation Program, NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, for his personal leadership as the manager of the NASA Johnson Space Center's extravehicular programs involved with the Space Shuttle and International Space Station as well as for his work on the next generation of space flight. He now leads all NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's non-launch vehicle exploration efforts.

* The Goddard Scholarship will be awarded to Mr. Ross Finman, Student, Carnegie Mellon University for his commitment to excellence and desire to explore and develop space robotics technologies and systems to allow future exploration of the Moon and other planets.

* The Nelson P. Jackson Award for outstanding contributions to the missile, aircraft and/or space field. will be presented to the MESSENGER Spacecraft joint NASA and team. The MESSENGER (Mercury Surface Space Environment Geochemistry and Ranging) spacecraft was launched September 2004, flew by Mercury twice, January and October 2008, andwill fly by a third time in September, and then aim for a year long orbit of Mercury beginning March 2011. The mission is to gather information on the density, magnetic fields, geological makeup, volatile materials and take other measurements to better understand the structure and history of this inner-most terrestrial planet.

* The Press Award will be jointly presented to Jay Barbree, Correspondent for NBC News and Lon Rains, former editor-in-chief, Space News and director of communications for Northrup Grumman's Space Technology Sector, both for dedication and enthusiasm for the aerospace industry.

The Goddard Dinner is held each year to celebrate the anniversary of the first successful flight by Dr. Goddard of a liquid-fueled rocket. This black tie event brings together 2,000 members of the government, industry and educational space community.

Robotics teams goes for 'lunacy' in LA

William S. Hart Union High School District
Santa Clarita Valley, CA

The robotics team from West Ranch High School journeyed to Long Beach March 13 and 14 to compete in the Los Angeles Regional FIRST Robotics Competition.

Following a "lunacy" theme, 61 high school teams from Southern California, Arizona, Brazil and Chile challenged each other on a "lunar crater" roughly the size of a tennis court, scoring points by launching balls called "moon rocks," "empty cells" and "super cells" into the containers of the opposing teams' robots.

The West Ranch team placed 13th among 62 schools and made it to the first round of the elimination playoffs.

ESA's smallest, most precisely controllable engine ever built for space

European Space Agency researchers are preparing to test what they describe as the smallest, yet most precisely controllable engine ever built for space. It’s designed to be sensitive enough to counteract the force of sunshine.

Measuring 10 centimeters (4 inches) across and making a faint blue glow as it runs, the Field Emission Electric Propulsion, or FEEP, engine produces an average thrust equivalent to the force of one falling hair. But its thrust range and controllability are far superior to more potent thrusters, holding the key to future success of an ambitious mission of the agency, researchers declare.

“Most propulsion systems are employed to get a vehicle from A to B,” explained Davide Nicolini of the agency’s Scientific Projects Department, in charge of the engine research. But with this one, “the aim is to maintain a spacecraft in a fixed position, compensating for even the tiniest forces perturbing it, to an accuracy that no other engine design can match.”

Watching how objects behave when separated from all outside influences is a long-time ambition of physicists, but it can’t be done within Earth’s gravity field. So a next-decade mission called Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, or LISA, Pathfinder is to fly 1.5 million km (900,000 miles) to a place called Lagrange Point 1. There, the Sun and Earth’s gravities cancel each other out, so that the behavior of a pair of free-floating test objects can be precisely monitored.

But to detach the experiment fully from the rest of the Universe there will still be some remaining perturbations to overcome, most notably the slight but continuous pressure of sunlight itself. That’s where FEEP comes in. It operates on a basic principle followed by other so-called ion engines: the application of an electric field serves to accelerate electrically charged atoms, producing thrust.

But FEEP’s performance is measured using units called micronewtons, which are one-thousandth the size of the already small units used for other ion engines. The engine has a thrust range of 0.1—150 micronewtons, with a resolution capability better than 0.1 micronewtons and a time response of one-fifth of a second or less, according to project engineers.

The engine employs the liquid metal cesium as propellant. Through capillary action—a phenomenon associated with surface tension—cesium flows between a pair of metal surfaces that end in a razor-sharp slit. The cesium stays at the mouth of the slit until an electric field is generated. This causes tiny cones to form in the liquid metal, which have charged atoms shooting from their tips to create thrust.

Twelve thrusters would be mounted on the hull of LISA Pathfinder. Working together with a separate NASA-designed propulsion system, the thrusters should yield directional control at least 100 times more accurate than any spacecraft before it—down to a millionth of a millimeter, project engineers assert.

“We are overseeing the work here because we have previous knowledge of FEEP technology,” said Pierre-Etienne Frigot of ESA’s Propulsion Laboratory.

LISA involves three satellites up to five million km (three million miles) apart and linked by lasers, orbiting the Sun. The aim is to detect ripples in space and time known as gravitational waves, predicted by Einstein’s spectacularly successful theory of general relativity but so far undetected. The waves would cause tiny variations in the distance measured between the satellites.

Once proven, the FEEP technology has been earmarked for a broad range of other missions, including precision formation flying for astronomy, Earth observation and drag-free satellites for mapping variations in Earth’s gravity.

Barack Obama's Quest for a NASA Administrator

Opinion/Editorial from Mark Whittington - who asks...

Is Obama Being Rolled by Bill Nelson?

President Barack Obama has been having problems staffing his government and has had a number of embarrassments of nominees who have had to withdraw for various reasons, some having to do with nonpayment of taxes.

No greater illustration of President Obama's continuing woes can be seen than his quest to find a new NASA administrator.

Engage in speculation HERE.

Students photograph Earth from Balloon

Maybe the Romanian Google X-Prize team, ARCA, that reportedly wants to launch their entrant lunar rover from balloon, are on to something.

From FoxNEWS and the Daily Telegraph, this evening, comes news that the Meteotek team of IES La Bisbal school in Catalonia, Spain completed an "incredible experiment" at the end of February. Using $140 in equipment, the teens lofted a camera over 100,000 feet, over 20 miles into the lower stratosphere and, if you can believe your eyes, photographed the better part of Earth's atmosphere from the edge of space.

Of course, though they are being credited with having taken pictures from Outer Space itself, they are two-thirds shy of the official boundary of 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, but, none-the-less, it is no small achievement. It shows, at the very least, that bringing down the cost of one pound of material to the Moon or even into low earth orbit might be possible, some day, by and by.

After all, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. paid plenty to attain achievements like this one sixty years ago. Then again, the "cheap" CCD digital camera, radio control, the materials that made up the balloon, etc., would not have been available were it not for the expensive attainment of such everyday technology during the Apollo Era and afterward.

The story from The Telegraph

LCROSS brings divergent passions together

John Marmie, deputy project manager for LCROSS at NASA Ames
Photo: NASA Ames Research Center

MOFFETT FIELD, CA – Growing up in the rural Appalachian foothills of the Ohio Valley, John Marmie developed a passion for music. When he combined that passion with his enthusiasm for space exploration, he was inspired to write an original song, 'Water on the Moon.'

As the deputy project manager for the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, Marmie is helping spearhead America's return to the moon. Scheduled to launch later this year, the LCROSS mission is designed to search for water by impacting one of the moon's permanently shadowed craters. Marmie's goal is to not only help write history with LCROSS, but also to inspire others.

"I learned in my early 20s about the power of music," said Marmie. "It entertained, it opened social doors, it inspired and music allowed me to relax, escape and to dream."

Knowing a career in music might be financially unstable, Marmie wanted a career path where he could be creative and still support his passion for music. Higher education opened doors and guided his path.

Marmie set out on his journey at the University of Ohio where he earned a Bachelors degree in electrical and computer engineering and a masters in electrical engineering with a concentration in computational electromagnetics. His hard work got him noticed by NASA. Contemplating a move to the home of country music, Nashville, Tenn., Marmie’s plans changed when he received an offer to work at NASA's Ames Research Center in Northern California. A new passion was born.

"When the opportunity to work for NASA was presented, I just couldn’t turn it down," he said "To this day, I still ask myself, 'how did I end up at NASA?’ It must have been divine guidance."

Read more HERE.
Watch the Video HERE.

Lunar lander Altair office opened in Houston by Lockheed-Martin

With design competition underway to win the lion's share of the contract to build the long-sought successor to the Apollo lunar module, the Constellation Altair, defense and aerospace giant Lockheed-Martin is making an attempt to demonstrate their seriousness.

The company has announced the location of its Altair program office conveniently in Houston, in "it's bid to provide support for the next-generation human lunar lander system for NASA." Lockheed-Martin "submitted its proposal to NASA last month for the Altair Conceptual Design Contract and the agency is expected to award several contracts for the first phase of the program later this spring."

The announcement, by way of PR Newswire, reiterates the role Altair must eventually play, first as heavy-lift cargo, flying on-board the Ares V (probably) to rendezvous with a crewed Orion command-service module prior to Tran Lunar Injection. Lockheed-Martin is obviously anxious to be awarded the next phase in Altair's design, if not a bit transparent in the perhaps-premature gesture of opening an office so close to the Johnson Space Center.

"We recognize that locating key expertise and program management support in Houston adjacent to NASA's Johnson Space Center, where the Constellation Program and Altair Project offices are located, allows us to provide responsive and comprehensive support to NASA on the Altair Conceptual Design Contract," said Brian Duffy, vice president and program manager of the Altair Lunar Lander program for Lockheed Martin. "Utilizing the existing facilities and our experienced human space flight team in the Houston area provides significant synergy that we are bringing to bear for NASA's next-generation lunar missions."

Duffy, a four-time Shuttle astronaut and commander of two of the missions, executed four rendezvous maneuvers with other spacecraft and docked with the International Space Station. He also participated in the development and testing of displays, flight crew procedures, and computer software to be used on Shuttle flights, all of which have given him unique and valuable expertise that will be useful in assisting NASA in designing the elements of a new generation of Altair lunar spacecraft and successful lunar missions in the future.

Lockheed-Martin then reminds news writers and readers everywhere that the company is already prime contractor for the Orion CEV, schedule to take its first manned flight in 2015.

"Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 146,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2008 sales of $42.7 billion.

EETimes Power Engineer - video interview with Ken Mattingly

You do not want to miss the multi-media opportunity presented by EETimes, put together by George Leopold, featuring modest giant of Apollo fame Admiral Ken Mattingly.

You may know him as the man played by Gary Sinese in Ron Howard's film Apollo 13 who "worked the problem" on the ground, tediously and repeatedly, to get Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise back to Earth, searching for the last fraction of voltage from the crippled spacecraft to save the crew or the command module, but not both.

In the end, of course, he found the sequence that did save both, in April 1970, when trips to the Moon somehow became "routine." (Except for certain 13-year-old entusiasts who cried bloody murder when prime time was not interrupted for that last, casual trans-lunar coast television opportunity, minutes before all hell broke loose.)

In the course of explaining how he helped save the crew of Apollo 13, Ken Mattingly mentions, as an aside, that "in the process of going through all this [power-up procedures for the command module], somebody noticed that we could take any residual power we had in the [lunar module] batteries and run it backwards" to the Apollo command module. This was accomplished using a small-capacity power cable designed to provide power to the lunar module from the command module.

"We actually believe we topped off the [command module] batteries," Mattingly noted with understandable pride during an extended interview at his office here in mid-January

That "somebody" might have been Mattingly, and the estimated 4 amps of additional power provided by this kluge, along with a detailed power-up procedure developed by one of NASA's "steely-eyed missile men," John Aaron, allowed the Apollo 13 astronauts to restart a frozen command module that was their only means of getting home.

The off-handed manner in which Rear Adm. Thomas K. Mattingly, 73, presented this nugget of information is typical of his understated style, his modesty and his consummate ability as an engineer. These, along with the astronauts' dead-certain belief in their ability to overcome any technical hurdle, were precisely the traits that defined the Apollo program.

Referring to the painstaking development of the sequencing procedure needed to power up the hibernating Apollo 13 command module, Mattingly said, "You don't get technical answers by playing around."

The Apollo astronaut and Space Shuttle commander will be a keynote speaker on March 31 at the Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley 2009 (March 30-April 2) in San Jose, Calif.

Mattingly never got to walk on the Moon, and he acknowledged that every Apollo astronaut burned to do just that. "Everybody wants to go to the Moon. That means, go land on the Moon," Mattingly said. Hence, being a command module pilot was a bit like being a "bridesmaid."

Read the story HERE.

Direct Link to Video, Courtesy EETimes

Olympian on the Canadian Shortlist

Peter Giles, Physicist, Olympian, and now on the shortlist of 15, narrowed down from 5,300 applicants, of Canadians hoping to be among the next class of the Canada Astronaut Corp.

John Gillis, staff reporter for the Chronicle-Herald, offers an interesting backgrounder on Giles, "who along with his brother Steve was part of Canada's canoe-kayak team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

"Reached in Toronto, the 38-year-old, who now lives in Hammond Plains, said he was having a pretty good day."

"I've dreamed about that for a long time," he said. "If you're interested in a career in science and technology, I kind of think if it as the pinnacle of that career. What could be more inspiring to other Canadians in terms of the power of science and the power of technology than manned spaceflight?"

Mr. Giles, who has a B.Sc. in physics from Dalhousie University and masters and doctoral degrees from Stanford, works as a systems engineer with General Dynamics in Dartmouth.

He said in that role, he has learned about the operations of military and naval vessels, skills that would be valuable as an astronaut.

The selection process, which began last May, is geared toward choosing people well-suited to fly to the International Space Station for extended periods.

Read the article HERE.

Webb Sunshield has SPF of 1.2 million

Wolfgang Gruener of TGDaily reports NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will be fitted with a new sunshield Northrup Grumman claims has the equal to 1.2 million Sun Protective Factor.

NG recently completed a preliminary design review of the sunshield membrane that's the size of a tennis court and shaped like a beach umbrella.

The shield is designed to block solar radiation and help the observatory operate at cryo temps. Schedule for launch in 2013. JWST should detail those galaxies that formed at the end of the Cosmic Dark Age, 300 million years after the Big Bang.

With its resolution of electro-magnetic frequencies largely unabsorbed by clouds and dust, JWST should solve enduring questions as to the true extent of extra-galactic dust, and why ground and space measurements of very energetic cosmic rays indicate less attenuation and more cosmic rays than there should be.

Exploring the region between the Cosmic Background heat and the emergence of galaxies, the so-called Dark Ages, awaits the radio quiet and large baselines possible for telescopes astronomers hope to build on the Moon's Far Side.

China Party Line - People's Daily says 'Space industry critical to global economic growth'

International space industry grows vigorously despite the sluggish global economy. Intensive space activities, particularly since March this year have repeatedly made headlines in global international media: China's lunar probe Chang'e-1 ended its 16-month mission with a controlled crash onto the moon; the US launched Kepler space telescope designed to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars; Russian and US astronauts completed a five-hour spacewalk; European Earth Gravity Field and Ocean Circulation Explorer will be launched soon…

Russia intensifies space exploration

Russia has put more efforts in its space programs in recent years, including the research and development of new transport tools such as carrier rockets and spaceships, as well as the construction of a space launch centre in Far East region. By the end of 2012, Russia will hopefully finish the spaceship that is specially designed for space travelers.

Russia's Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov said that Russia will remain a leader in the international space industry in spite of the global financial meltdown. The Russian government has made it clear that Russia will continue to take on responsibility in international cooperation and the planning and operation of GLONASS will be completed within the year. It is reported that there will be 39 space launches this year, much more than in previous years.

EU pours 10 billion euros for space exploration

European Space Agency (ESA) will be busy this year. Three Earth probe satellites that will explore ice layers in the arctic areas, Earth gravity field and ocean circulation, soil moisture and salinity of oceans will be launched. Additionally, EAS also plans to send two scientific explorers into space, one for observing space radiation fields and the other for researching the formation of planets and galaxies.

ESA will also take part in the research and construction of the International Space Station (ISS). There will be six staff members in the space station by the end of this year. ESA will invest 10 billion euros for space exploration over the next few years and launch major projects including a manned spaceship and searching for life on Mars.

US increases budget on space exploration

US president Barack Obama raised the budget for NASA after he took office early this year. According to the fiscal budget for 2010, NASA will get a budget worth of 18.7 billion US dollars. If the one billion US dollars bonus from the government stimulus package is accounted, the total budget this year will be 2.4 billion, more than the previous year's level. The new budget aims to ensure US's leading position in the field of Earth and space research.

NASA plans to launch six spacecrafts to complete the missions of; sending provisions to ISS, repair Hubble space telescope, launch solar dynamics observatory, and search for the safe landing space for manned spaceship and so on. According to the original plan, US’ Irion spacecraft will be launched in 2015.

Japan puts forward the idea of manned space mission

Japan made substantial progress in the space industry last year, namely, Japan's Lab in ISS has been formed; Japan passed the Basic Law on Space on May 21, 2008, which laid the foundation for further development of its space industry.

The main purpose of Japan's space program is to monitor natural disaster and climate change, explore the mystery of space, and develop reliable and competitive technology. The Japanese government put forward the idea of sending robot and human beings to the moon by 2020 and 2030 respectively.

India researches into manned spacecraft

Indian Space Research Organization has sent its first unmanned lunar probe with a homemade carrier rocket on Dec.22 last year, which marked the beginning of India's lunar exploration. According to India's lunar project that has been made public, the south Asian country plans to launch the second unmanned lunar explorer by 2012 and the manned space mission by 2015. India is expected to complete its first space walk in 2020.

Currently, the manned space project in India has been helped by Russia’s Space Agency. Russian spacecraft Soyuz will carry Indian astronauts into space in 2013. Moreover, India also plans to launch an unmanned Mars observer in 2012.

ROK vows to be a power in space development

ROK sets the year 2009 as the beginning for the development of its space industry. ROK will send the homemade carrier rocket KSLV-I, a 100-kg little satellite into space in the second quarter this year. If successful, ROK will be the tenth country in the world that has launched the satellite.

ROK president LEE Myung Bak said after the first South Korean astronaut had gone into space the ROK was going to be one of the world’s top seven in space exploration. ROK plans to achieve this by sending astronauts into space with an ROK-made spacecraft in 2020.

International space industry develops by leaps and bounds

Yuan Minhui, director of Beijing Space Science and Technology Information Institute pointed out that the space industry points the way for economic development. According to statistics from US Space Foundation, the scale of global space industry hit 251 billion US dollars in 2007. The commercialization process of satellites such as telecommunication, navigation and remote sensing will be further accelerated.

International cooperation in the field of space exploration has further deepened and expanded. So far nine countries have inked a lunar probe deal. China has made great contribution in this regard. Cooperation between China and other countries and regions such as Brazil and Europe on satellite research and development facilitates as well as the development of related technology has improved.

By People's Daily Online

Surface Habitat Systems: JSC Tech 2009

2009 JSC Biennial Research and Technology Report
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
JSC Focused Investment Group
Surface Habitat Systems

Kriss J. Kennedy, Surface Habitat Systems FIG Lead
Johnson Space Center
Systems Architecture & Integration Office Engineering Directorate

The Surface Habitat Systems (SHS) Focused Investment Group (FIG) is part of the NASA Johnson Space Center effort to provide a focused direction and funding to the various projects that are working on human surface habitat designs and technologies for the planetary exploration missions.

The overall SHS-FIG effort focuses on directing and guiding those projects that: 1) develop and demonstrate new surface habitat system concepts, innovations, and technologies to support human exploration missions, 2) improve environmental systems that interact with human habitats, 3) handle and emplace human surface habitats, and 4) focus on supporting humans living and working in habitats on planetary surfaces. The activity areas of the SHS FIG described herein are focused on the surface habitat project near-term objectives as described in this document.

The SHS-FIG effort focuses on mitigating surface habitat risks (as identified by the Lunar Surface Systems Project Office (LSSPO) Surface Habitat Element Team; and concentrates on developing surface habitat technologies as identified in the FY08 gap analysis. The surface habitat gap assessment will be updated annually as the surface architecture and surface habitat definition continues to mature. These technologies are mapped to the SHS-FIG Strategic Development Roadmap. The Roadmap will bring to light the areas where additional innovative efforts are needed to support the development of habitat concepts and designs and the development of new technologies to support of the LSSPO Habitation Element development plan. Three specific areas of development that address Lunar Architecture Team (LAT)-2 and Constellation Architecture Team (CxAT) – Lunar habitat design issues or risks will be focused on by the SHS-FIG.

The SHS-FIG will establish four areas of development that will help the projects prepare in their planning for surface habitat systems development. Those development areas are the 1) surface habitat concept definition, 2) inflatable surface habitat development, and 3) autonomous habitat operations, and 4) cross-cutting / systems engineering. In subsequent years, the SHS-FIG will solicit a call for innovations and technologies that will support the development of these four development areas. The other development areas will be assessed yearly and identified on the SHS-FIG’s Strategic Development Roadmap. Initial investment projects that are funded by the Constellation Program Office (CxPO), LSSPO, or the Exploration Technology Development Projects (ETDP) will also be included on the Roadmap. For example, in one or two years from now, the autonomous habitat operations and testbed would collaborations with the Integrated Systems Health Management (ISHM) and Automation for Operations ETDP projects, which will give the surface habitat projects an integrated habitat autonomy testbed to test software and systems.

The SHS-FIG scope is to provide focused direction for multiple innovations, technologies and subsystems that are needed to support humans at a remote planetary surface habitat during the concept development, design definition, and integration phases of that project. Subsystems include: habitability, lightweight structures, power management, communications, autonomy, deployment, outfitting, life support, wireless connectivity, lighting, thermal, etc.

Download the (pdf) Report/Study HERE.

Russia officially aims for manned moon missions

For only the second time since the disintegration of the Soviet Union the Russian Federation is preparing to choose a new booster design, a heavy lift designed to carry 25 tons into Earth orbit and man-rated to ferry cosmonauts to Earth's Moon.

The only true heavy-lift boosters presently in operation are ESA's high-performiance Ariane V and the Space Shuttle, now only eight missions away from a scheduled retirement in late 2010.

According to a report from the Anatoly Zak, science reporter for BBC News, "Russian space officials say the yet-to-be-named rocket should carry its first manned spacecraft in 2018.

In 2008, Roscosmos finally started quietly soliciting proposals from the industry to develop a brand-new rocket which could support lunar expeditions. All major Russian space firms reportedly vied for the government contract to build the vehicle.

While Roscosmos had never publicised details of the bidding process, a number of Russian space officials hinted that they were close to choosing a winner at the beginning of 2009.

On 14 March, Alexander Chulkov, head of the rocket and launch facilities directorate at Roscosmos, told BBC News that the agency would pick a winner by March 25.

"We have a bidding procedure, under which we made a request for proposals and now will be reviewing those proposals to determine a prime developer, based on the most interesting project from the cost-effectiveness point of view," Mr Chulkov said.

Read the BBC Report HERE.