Posted on by Jason Rhian

Falcon 9 Ready for Second Flight – Dragon for First

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft is set to launch from Cape Canaveral on Dec. 7. Image Credit: SpaceX

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Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is preparing to conduct the first demonstration launch for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, utilizing its Falcon 9 rocket. This first test flight appears to be holding solid for its targeted liftoff on Tuesday, Dec. 7. Launch will take place from the company’s launch site at Launch Complex 40 located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The launch window for this first demo flight extends from 9:03 a.m. to 12:22 p.m. EST. If it is required, launch opportunities are also open on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9 during the same general time frame. NASA TV will have coverage — you can watch it online at this link, or if you have it through your satellite or cable provider.

COTS 1, as this first flight has been dubbed, will be the first launch of the Dragon spacecraft, this will also mark the first commercial attempt to have their spacecraft reenter Earth’s atmosphere. The planned Dec. 7 flight is the first of three test launches currently envisioned in the Falcon 9 test flight series. This first flight is planned to check out important characteristics of both the Dragon spacecraft as well as the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Some of these include orbital operations, launch elements of the combined Dragon/Falcon 9 vehicle, descent, re-entry and splashdown (which will occur in the Pacific Ocean).

NASA established the COTS program to obtain commercial launch services to jump start the commercial space industry. Under the Obama administration’s plans for the space agency, NASA will utilize these private space firms to send cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). More to the point, it is hoped that these commercial space companies can reduce the hefty price tag associated with sending something into orbit.

There will be a press conference held before the launch, it is currently planned to be held on Monday, Dec. 6, at 1:30 p.m. The conference will be held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center press site, and will also be on NASA TV. Speakers during the press conference will include, Phil McAlister, acting director, Commercial Space Flight Development, Alan Lindenmoyer, manager, Commercial Crew and Cargo Program, Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX and Mike McAleenan, Falcon 9 Launch Weather Officer 45th Weather Squadron.

If everything goes off without a hitch, a press conference will be held about an hour after splashdown takes place. If this mission is a success it will go along way to reinforcing the success of the first launch of the Falcon 9, held this past June. More importantly it will prove the viability of the Dragon spacecraft.

Posted on by Jason Rhian

The Fall and Rise of ‘X’

As the X-37B ends its first mission and the X-34 program looks at a potential new start - are we at the dawn of a new age of 'X'? Photo Credit: NASA

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They are at the very edge of current U.S. technological capabilities; one is a supposedly mothballed technology test-bed, the other a super-secret space plane that is currently on orbit – but set to land soon. They are the X-planes, experimental spacecraft that are proving out concepts and capabilities whose beginnings can be traced to the dawn of the space age.

It would appear from amateur observers on the ground that the secretive U.S. Air Force X-37B space plane – will be landing soon. This prediction is based off the fact that the craft is dropping in altitude and the more basic fact that it is nearing the limit of its orbital capabilities and has to return to terra firma. According to the U.S. Air Force, the X-37B can remain on orbit for around nine months or 270 days at maximum, this means that the craft should be landing sometime in the middle of January.

The X-37B or Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Apr. 22, atop an Atlas V rocket. Not much is known after launch due to a media blackout imposed by the U.S. Air Force.

The Air Force remains mum about the details surrounding the landing and recovery of the X-37B. It is known that the spacecraft will land at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

In this image, the X-37B is being encapsulated in its fairing atop an Atlas V rocket. Photo Credit: USAF

In many ways the craft resembles the shuttle with stubby wings, landing gear and a powerful engine that allows the craft to alter its orbit (much to the dismay of many observers on the ground). When the X-37B does touch down, it will do so at a 15,000 foot-long runway that was originally built to support the shuttle program.

The X-37B is one-quarter the size of the space shuttle. It is about 30 feet long and roughly 10 feet tall, with a 15-foot wingspan. It has a payload bay much like its larger, manned cousin – but naturally whatever that payload was for this mission – it was classified. The space plane was constructed by the Boeing Phantom Works. It is operated out of Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado. Another launch of the craft may take place as early as this March.

The two X-34s were moved from their hangars at Dryden to the National Test Pilot School in California. Photo Credit: NASA

Meanwhile, as the X-37B is ready to head to the hangar, another X-craft appears to be given a new lease on life. Two of the X-34 spacecraft, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital), were moved from their hangars at Dryden Flight Research Center to the National Test Pilot School located in the Mojave Desert in California. These technology test-bed demonstrator craft will be inspected by the NASA contractor with the idea of flying them once again.

The roughly 60 foot-long spacecraft were put into mothballs back in 2001. If their flight status is renewed they would add to the growing fleet of robotic spacecraft that the United States appears to be building.

The ‘X’ craft have a long and storied history in American aviation and space exploration. One of the most famous of the “X’ planes – was the legendary X-15. None other than the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, flew in this program which tested out concepts that would be later employed in the space shuttle. As the X-37B prepares to end its first mission and the X-34 may be at the verge of a rebirth – could we be at the dawn of a new ‘X’-era? Only time will tell.

The X-37 can be seen to the left of this image with the X-34 at the right. Photo Credit: NASA
Posted on by Jason Rhian

Flawless Launch of STP-S26

NASA successfully launched its first 'FASTSAT' on Nov. 17, 2010. Image Credit: NASA

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While the U.S. Air Force unsuccessfully tried to get a Delta IV off the ground in Florida – things worked out far better for NASA at the Kodiak Launch Complex located in Kodiak, Alaska. Friday’s Minotaur 4 rocket launch successfully accomplished its mission of placing not one – but six satellites into orbit some 400 miles above the Earth.

The mission took off just before sunset from Launch Pad 1. After launch the $170 million flight turned southeast from its launch site going out over the Pacific Ocean. The launch took place under a clear sky with the moon lighting its way.

The payload for this flight was a rather mixed bag of NASA, military and university experiments. All six of the launch vehicle’s payloads were released right on time about 30 minutes after launch. The so-called ‘FASTSAT’ for Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite automatically switched itself on upon deployment. The project is a demonstration of ways to deploy experiments and other payloads cheaply and effectively to orbit.

Four of the satellites that were onboard the STP-S26 mission included the “ESPA-class:” STPSat-2, FalconSAT-5, FASTSAT-HSV01 and FASTRAC.

The FASTSAT program is NASA’s first microsatellite designed to provide multiple customers with access to orbit – at a lower cost. The main goal of the FASTSAT flight is to prove the viability of this capability to various government, academic and industry customers. The intent is to show that you do not have to invest millions of dollars into a single, large-scale satellite to conduct experiments on orbit.

The launch vehicle itself is also rather cheap as it is comprised of spare Peacekeeper missile tech. The STP-S26 mission was powered to orbit by a Minotaur IV launch vehicle, which was provided by the Rocket Systems Launch Program. The Minotaur IV is produced by Orbital Sciences Corporation.

One of the ‘firsts’ on this flight was the utilization of the Hydrazine Auxiliary Propulsion System (HAPS) to allow for dual-orbit capabilities. It is hoped, that in future flights this could be used to allow satellites to other orbits to give them far greater flexibility.
Another first employed on this mission was the first to use the Multi-Mission Satellite Operations Center Ground System Architecture. This center is capable of operating various satellites at the same time at a minimal cost. Indeed, the overriding theme of this launch would appear to be providing access to orbit – for less.

Posted on by Jason Rhian

Cassini Instruments Offline Until Nov. 24

Cassini-Huygens Mission
An artist illustration of the Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL

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NASA announced that the Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn will have its suite of scientific cameras offline until at least Nov. 24. Cassini is currently in safe mode due to a malfunction in the spacecraft’s computer. This shut down all non-essential systems to prevent any further damage happening to the spacecraft. This means that all scientific efforts on the mission have been suspended until the problem can be resolved.

Although these seem like severe issues, mission managers are relatively sure that they will have no serious long-term effects on the overall mission. Cassini entered safe mode around 4 p.m. PDT (7 p.m. EDT) on Tuesday, Nov. 2. Managers want to review what took place onboard Cassini, correct what they can and ensure that this doesn’t happen again. Programmers have already ascertained that the likely cause of the problem was a faulty program code line that made its way back to Cassini.

Cassini captured this startling image of Saturn's moon Hyperion. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL

Ordinarily when faulty code is sent from Earth to Saturn, Cassini would reject any coding that is deemed ‘bad.’ However, this did not happen in this case, causing the problem. Controllers are not totally convinced that a solar fare didn’t corrupt the code on its way out to the gas giant.

“The spacecraft responded exactly as it should have, and I fully expect that we will get Cassini back up and running with no problems,” said Bob Mitchell, Cassini’s program manager at JPL. “Over the more than six years we have been at Saturn, this is only the second safing event. So considering the complexity of demands we have made on Cassini, the spacecraft has performed exceptionally well for us.”

Cassini launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station back in 1997 atop a Titan rocket. In the thirteen years since that time it has entered ‘safe’ mode a total of six times.

Cassini discovered that Saturn's moon Enceladus is 'jet-powered' in the form of geysers erupting from the moon's surface into space. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL

The largest loss for Cassini’s planners is this will cost them a flyby of Titan, one of Saturn’s moons and the only moon in the solar system with an appreciable atmosphere. All is not lost however, as there are still some 53 possible flybys of the moon currently scheduled. The mission is currently planned to last until 2017.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative program managed between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) manages the Cassini program for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate located in Washington, D.C.

Posted on by Steve Nerlich

Eyes On The Solar System

Eyes on the Solar System - a 3d environment browser application that operates in real time, letting you see what our robot spacecraft are up to.

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NASA’s beta version of Eyes on the Solar System, built by JPL and Caltech, offers a neat way of tracking a range of current space missions – for example, as Nancy Atkinson mentioned yesterday, you can follow EPOXI’s flyby of comet Hartley 2. Reminiscent of Celestia, this browser application gives you a 3D environment running in real time and is updated regularly with NASA spacecraft mission data.

To get it operating, you can just click to the NASA link where you are prompted to install a Unity Web Player plug-in. This is fast and straight forward, from my experience. I did strike a problem with a certain small and squishy 64bit system that starts with X (where the menu text didn’t display correctly), but it ran fine on other systems. It is a beta version after all – and I feel obliged to note you should load at your own risk, yada, yada.

Anyhow, if you choose to proceed, you can then move around the solar system with left mouse click-hold and scroll wheel actions – or there’s the usual keyboard alternatives, or even on-screen controls. In default mode, a number of celestial bodies are shown and labeled, as are several spacecraft, which you can zoom over to by clicking on them. You can add more objects from the Visual Controls menu. Default settings have comets hidden, so you’ll need to add them to do an EPOXI-Hartley 2 encounter simulation.

There are some online tutorials you can take from the opening screen – which are short and useful – to get a quick run-through of the options available.

Eyes - in photo mode - showing EPOXI on approach to Hartley 2. If you're not a purist, you can also back-light an image. For example, to light up EPOXI in this image - where the Sun is not at the right angle to do it.

Like Celestia, you can speed up, slow down and move back and forth through time. This means you can replay EPOXI’s closest approach to Hartley 2 – or go right back to 1997 and zoom out to watch Cassini leave Earth and travel to Saturn via Venus and Earth flybys until it reaches Saturn in 2004 – all of which you can enjoy in about 5 seconds after cranking up the passage of time. You can also pick an ‘over the shoulder’ view to ride with Cassini through the F and G rings on its first approach to Saturn.

Unlike Celestia, because Eyes is mainly about spacecraft missions, its environment only covers the period from 1950 to 2050 and (curses) I couldn’t find any options to add in fictional spacecraft.

For a bit of edu-tainment you can access right-click controls which allow you to measure distances between objects – and monitor how those distances change as the objects move over time. For a bit of fun, you can also compare spacecraft to scale objects – with a choice between scientist, Porsche and football stadium. As one of the brief tutorials will explain, Voyager 1 is about the size of a Porsche.

Posted on by Jason Rhian

Discovery’s Final Mission Scrubbed 24 Hours Due to Weather

The crew of STS-133 will have to wait a little longer for their date with destiny - this time thanks to weather. Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

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Discovery’s final flight faced its first hurdle in the form of a fuel leak in its right OMS pod. This problem seemed solved, but using an over-abundance of caution mission managers had the seals around the affected flange replaced. Then unrelated leaks of hydrogen and helium pushed the launch back to Nov. 2 and then Nov. 3. With that problem resolved many thought Discovery’s problems were behind her – enter a voltage issue in the number three engine’s backup control system. This conspired to push the launch back to Nov. 4.

However, in the early morning hours of Nov. 4 it was obvious that Florida’s turbulent weather would not allow a launch on this day and mission managers scrubbed the launch for at least 24 hours. Weather for Friday shows a 70 percent chance of favorable conditions. If Discovery does launch tomorrow, it will take place at 3:04 p.m. EDT.

Discovery’s final mission, STS-133, will deliver the Leonardo Multipurpose Module (PMM) with its cargo – including the first humanoid robot to be sent into space – Robonaut-2 (R2). Also riding along on this mission is the Express Logistics Carrier-4 and spare parts. Like the other remaining shuttle flights, these new components and supplies are designed to leave the space station better prepared for when the space shuttles are retired next year.

The crew of STS-133 will be comprised of Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialists; Alvin Drew, Nicole Stott, Tim Kopra and Michael Barratt. All of these astronauts are space flight veterans.

Posted on by Jason Rhian

Discovery’s Final Mission Delayed Again

Discovery on the launchpad. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today

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UPDATE: Discovery has been cleared for a launch attempt on Nov. 4 at 3:29:43 p.m. EDT. After a review, NASA managers decided the electrical glitch that prompted a 24-hour delay was not a threat to flight safety. The only problem now is that the weather report calls for rain and clouds, and gave an 80% chance for conditions that would prohibit launch. We’ll keep you updated.

A power controller on space shuttle Discovery’s main engine number three failed to start during routine checks this morning causing shuttle managers to push the final launch of Discovery back at least 24 hours to Nov. 4. Engineers began troubleshooting the problem – when it appeared to correct itself. Circuit breakers have had problems like this before. However, NASA mission managers wanted to make sure they fully understood what was causing the problems.

“We make sure we truly understand the risk before we fly,” said Mike Moses, Mission Management Team Chair. “The problem is pretty simple and we wanted to make sure we’re not to aggressive on our response.”

Teams will work through the night and into Wednesday morning on this problem. To remove the affected circuit is a fairly invasive procedure and some of the circuits involved cannot be retested on the launch pad. If the launch does not occur Thursday NASA has until Sunday to launch before the launch window closes. Currently, Discovery is set to launch Thursday, Nov. 4 at 3:29 p.m. EDT.

From a crew perspective it made sense to take an additional 24 hours,” said Mike Leinbach, Shuttle Launch Director. “We’ll pick back up with our launch countdown on Thursday morning.”

Discovery is set to launch on her final, 11-day mission to the International Space Station on mission STS-133. The crew of Discovery consists of Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialists; Alvin Drew, Nicole Stott, Tim Kopra and Michael Barratt. The payload for this mission is the Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module which houses among other things the first humanoid robot to fly into space – Robonaut-2. Also onboard is the Express Logistics Carrier-4 and much-needed spare parts.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Best of Earth from the ISS

Fire scars in Australia are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 5 crewmember on the International Space Station (ISS). Bright orange fire scars show up the underlying dune sand in the Simpson Desert, Credit: NASA

The International Space Station has been orbiting the Earth every day for over 10 years, and the astronauts all say their favorite pastime is looking at the Earth. During the past 10 years, the crews have taken some great pictures of our planet, and these images provide a unique look at our world. These are just a few of the spectacular views of Earth from the space station.

Continue reading “Best of Earth from the ISS”

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

10 Years of the ISS: First Commander Reflects on Anniversary

Ten years ago today US astronaut Bill Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko arrived at the fledgling International Space Station, after launching in a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on October 31, 2000. This began a decade of continuous human habituation on board the station. The station’s first commander reflects on his mission and the past 10 years.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Human Spaceflight Briefs

Quite a few things going on in the human spaceflight world, so will just post a few briefs:

Of course top on the agenda is that space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to lift-off on its last flight ever, for the STS-133 mission. Launch is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 1 at 4:40 p.m. EDT from Launch Pad 39A. The faulty fuel line that threatened to delay the mission has been fixed, so everything is go for the oldest of the shuttle fleet’s final mission, a trip to the International Space Station to bring up Robonaut 2 and a new module. We’ll keep you posted for the latest on launch day.

Learn more about the mission from our previous preview articles here and here, or at NASA’s website.

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden took a trip to China (link to NASA’s website) in hopes of encouraging future cooperation between our two nations, but not sure if it did much good. Besides upsetting people who think he should be concentrating on the issues at home at NASA (from NASAWatch), a news report just came out that China says they are considering their own manned space station by 2020. (PhysOrg)

A Progress resupply ship launched to the ISS just yesterday, Oct. 27, and will meet up with the ISS in 3 days. It is carrying 2 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the Expedition 25 crew, and should dock at the Pirs Docking Compartment on Oct. 30. Watch the video of the launch below.

And here’s a “trailer” about Robonaut 2: