Spectacular Predawn Liftoff of Space Shuttle Discovery this morning (April 5) at 6:21 AM EDT from Launch Pad 39 A at the Kennedy Space Center on the STS 131 mission bound for the International Space Station with crew of 7 astronauts. My view with other onlookers from the famous Countdown Clock at the Press Site at KSC about 3 miles away from the pad at T Plus 4 Seconds ! Credit: Ken Kremer
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(Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is at the Kennedy Space Center for Universe Today covering the flight of Discovery)
Today the astronauts completed the crucial inspection of the orbiters heat shield but cannot beam the video views back to analysts waiting in Houston because of a communications glitch.
Shortly after achieving orbit, the crew discovered a significant malfunction with the orbiters Ku-Band Antenna which the crew uses to transmit and receive information at high speed back and forth with the ground through the orbiting Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRSS) system.
The dish shaped antenna failed to complete its standard activation sequence. Troubleshooting and power cycling efforts by the astronauts and engineers on the ground have been unsuccessful thus far in resolving the problem.
In the Orbiter Processing Facility, the Ku-band communications antenna is stowed in the payload bay of Discovery before the bay's doors are closed. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
The antenna is used for high data rate communications with the ground such as transmission of voice and video data and files including television. The shuttle’s radar system also uses the dish antenna during rendezvous operations with the station.
Loss of the antenna is not expected to affect the objectives or safety of the 13 day flight of STS 131. Discovery can safely rendezvous and dock with the ISS using several alternate communications systems – such as the S-band and UHF – and back up capabilities for the radar, all of which are functioning normally. The ISS is also equipped with a Ku-Band antenna that can transmit video of the docking including the belly flop on final approach.
NASA Kennedy Space Center spokesman Allard Beutel told me that, “We’re going to pretty much work with the idea that we will not get the Ku antenna back for this mission so teams are working plans accordingly.”
Inside the Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, space shuttle Discovery's payload bay doors are closing. Seen at center is the Ku-band antenna which is used on orbit to transmit and receive information from the ground through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite system. The Ku-Band antenna has failed initial activation tests on the STS 131 mission. Voice and data can be transmitted by multiple alternate communications systems. Credit: NASA/Chris Rhodes
Today (April 6), the astronauts completed the now standard inspection of Discovery’s heat shield with the Orbiter Boom Sensing System (OBSS) on the shuttles robotic arm to carefully scrutinize the thermal protection system for any signs of damage. This critical task is essential to confirm the complete integrity of the heat shield which protects the orbiter and human crew from the scorching heat generated during re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere and ensures a safe landing back at KSC at the conclusion of the flight.
Normally, the video of the heat shield inspection data is quickly beamed back to the ground via the Ku-Band antenna for a rapid analysis by imagery experts at Mission Control in Houston. Due to the malfunctioning antenna, the crew recorded the data on five or six 40-minute tapes that will be down linked after docking on Wednesday, using the stations Ku-Band system. The Damage Assessment Team review will be delayed, but this issue will not affect the quality of data it reviews.
According to Flight Director Richard Jones the detailed examination of Discovery’s heat shield and nose cap went well and a preliminary review found no problems or areas for concern.
Docking to the ISS is set for Wednesday, April 7 at 3:44 AM
Predawn Liftoff of Space Shuttle Discovery this morning (April 5) at 6:21 AM EDT at the Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Alan Walters for Universe Today. See awaltersphoto.com
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(Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer and Alan Walters are at the Kennedy Space Center for Universe Today covering the flight of Discovery)
Space Shuttle Discovery blasted to orbit this morning (April 5) precisely on time at 6:21 AM EDT in the predawn skies at the Kennedy Space Center. Hints of sunlight cracking through the horizon were discernible in the last minutes before liftoff.
The rumbling thunder from the spectacular liftoff was felt for miles around. Folks in the surrounding counties of Florida reported experiencing shockwaves.
Personally, I can say it was the loudest and most magnificent Shuttle liftoff I have witnessed from the Press Site at KSC which is located about 3 miles away from the launch pad. Many members of the media and NASA officials I spoke with said it was one of the best ever.
Liftoff of Space Shuttle Discovery on April 5 at 6:21 AM EDT for the 8 ½ minute climb to orbit. Credit: Alan Walters for Universe Today. See awaltersphoto.com
The blazing fire from 7 million pounds of thrust created by the twin shuttle solid rocket boosters (SRB’s) and three main engines turned night into day for the days first dawn. Eventually our sun rose about 45 minutes later just as expected, for this days second incredible dawn and thus exposing clear blue skies. I clearly saw the SRB’s being jettisoned after burnout about 2 minutes into the flight.
Fifteen minutes before blast off, everyone was treated to fabulously bright overhead view of the ISS that coincidentally passed directly in front of the moon in a north easterly pass that lasted over 3 minutes
Bill Gerstenmaier, NASAs Associate Administrator for Space Operations, hailed the launch of Discovery on the STS 131 mission as a “Great success and a great start to a great mission” and was a tribute to the team at Kennedy that got the vehicle ready to fly. This is the second of the final five planned flights until the space shuttle program is retired at the end of 2010. Only 3 more launches remain on the manifest.
The crew of seven astronauts aboard are in for the ride of a lifetime on the 13 day flight to the International Space Station which will include three spacewalks. Discoveries cargo bay is packed with the Leonardo resupply module that is loaded with numerous science experiments and instrument racks, spare parts, food and sleeping quarters.
Discovery is set to dock to the orbiting outpost at 3:44 a.m. on Wednesday, April 7 after a two day pursuit.
Credit: Alan Walters for Universe Today. See awaltersphoto.comCredit: Alan Walters for Universe Today. See awaltersphoto.comCredit: Alan Walters for Universe Today. See awaltersphoto.comSTS-131 crew heads out to the launchpad. Image: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the rotating service structure, or RSS, rolled back Sunday morning revealing space shuttle Discovery ready for launch. The rollback is in final preparation for Discovery’s scheduled 6:21 a.m. EDT liftoff Monday, Apr. 5 on the STS-131 mission.
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(Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is at the Kennedy Space Center for Universe Today covering the launch of Discovery)
It was a glorious Easter Sunday morning here at the Kennedy Space Center as Space Shuttle Discovery was unveiled to the clear blue skies of the heavens above. The Rotating Service Structure (RSS) was rolled back this Sunday morning at 9:30 AM to reveal Discovery in anticipation of launch on Monday morning, Apr. 5 at 6:21 AM EDT The rollback of the giant cocoon like structure takes about 25 minutes.
This evening the Shuttle Mission management team gave the “GO” to begin the fueling of the cryogenic propellants. Over a half million pounds of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen is being loaded into the shuttle’s huge orange colored External Tank as of 9:28 PM tonight !
The loading of fuel takes about three hours.
Final preparations are underway for the STS 131 mission which is scheduled to last 13 days and includes 3 spacewalks. The crew of 7 astronauts will deliver the Leonardo re-supply module loaded with tons of food, spare parts and science equipment.
Live launch coverage will kick off on NASA TV and on NASA’s Launch Blog at 1:15 a.m. Monday. The Launch Blog can be found at www.nasa.gov/launch and NASA TV at www.nasa.gov/ntv.
Credit: Alan Walters for Universe Today. See awaltersphoto.comCredit: Alan Walters for Universe Today. See awaltersphoto.comLone bird stands guard protecting Discovery from the media horde of a few hundred photo journalists today at Launch Pad 39 A at KSC. Credit: Ken KremerKen Kremer and Shuttle Discovery on April 4 at the Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Alan Walters for Universe Today. See awaltersphoto.comAlan Walters and Shuttle Discovery on April 4 at the Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Alan Walters for Universe Today. See awaltersphoto.com
In an extremely rare media photo opportunity with Discovery poised at the top of Pad 39 A, the massive Rotating Service Structure (RSS, at left) had been retracted the day before my visit on March 19. I stood in absolute awe right beneath Discovery and the RSS and the just delivered payload canister. The enormous canister containing ‘Leonardo’ resupply module had just been hoisted by crane and attached to the RSS. Credit: Ken Kremer
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(Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is at the Kennedy Space Center for Universe Today covering the flight of Discovery)
At the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, the countdown clock is ticking towards blast off for the STS 131 assembly mission of Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station. Discovery is slated to lift off on Monday, April 5 at 6:21 AM.
Mike Moses, chairman of NASA’s Mission Management Team at KSC announced a “Unanimous Go for Launch” at the KSC pre-launch news briefing today, April 3. “This is one of the most heavily packed shuttle missions with science equipment and will position the ISS very well for science in the future”
The weather forecast is 80 % Favorable.
The international crew of seven astronauts arrived at the Shuttle landing strip at KSC on a Gulfstream II jet at 7 AM on Thursday morning (April 1). They were greeted by KSC Director Bob Cabana and the media including myself.
“The crew’s ready to go and we’re looking forward to our mission to the International Space Station. It’s a complex 13-day mission. It’s main mission is resupply. We also have three very challenging EVAs,” said Shuttle Commander Alan Poindexter.
Discovery crew arrives at the Shuttle Landing Strip at the Kennedy Space Center on April 1. The 7 person crew is led by Commander Alan Poindexter (at right). Jim Dutton (at mic) will serve as the pilot. Mission Specialists (from left) are Clay Anderson, Naoko Yamazaki of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Stephanie Wilson, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger and Rick Mastracchio. Credit: Ken Kremer
Pre-launch operations have been on-going for several months. I had the opportunity to participate in media tours to inspect her primary cargo, the Leonardo resupply module, inside the Space Station Processing Facility at KSC and take a quite rare and absolutely thrilling visit to witness Discovery close up from directly on top of Launch Pad 39A as her giant payload canister was delivered to the massive pad structure on March 19, 2010.
Nestled inside Discovery’s cargo bay is the ‘Leonardo’ Multi-purpose logistics module (MPLM) and a 3800 lb Ammonia cooling tank. Leonardo weighs over 27,000 pounds and is jam packed with16 science and stowage racks including the 3rd MELFI low temperature science freezer, the 4th crew personal quarters and the WORF space science imagery experiment which features Klingon inscriptions for future visitors.
STS-131 will be the 33rd shuttle mission to the station and the 131st shuttle mission overall. This will be the penultimate voyage for Discovery.
Mosaic of the area adjacent to ‘Home Plate’ where Spirit remains stuck as 4th Martain winter experienced by Spirit approaches. Spirit has entered hibernation as of March 30, 2010 due to tripping a low power fault as a result of declining sunlight. Mosiac shows smooth area, foreground, that concealed slippery water related sulfate material where rover became stuck. Will Spirit survive the extremely harsh bone chilling cold temperatures of winter ? Credit: Kenneth Kremer, Marco DiLorenzo, NASA/JPL/Cornell/Spaceflight Now
[/caption]The Mars rover Spirit has entered her long anticipated low power hibernation mode according to a statement released by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory late Wednesday (March 31). Spirit skipped her scheduled downlink on Sol 2218 (March 30, 2010) via the Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) relay through the Mars Odyssey orbiter from her location on the Martian surface at Gusev crater. No telemetry was received from Spirit and there was no evidence of a UHF signal.
“Well, we knew it was coming… in fact, I’m surprised it didn’t happen earlier”, Steve Squyres told me today, April 1. Squyres is the Chief Scientist for the Mars rover twins, Spirit and Opportunity.
Energy production from the solar arrays had dropped to only 134 watt-hours on March 22. So, the most likely explanation for the missing downlink is that Spirit did go into that low-power fault taking her batteries off-line, sometime between the last downlink on Sol 2210 (March 22, 2010), and Sol 2218 (March 30, 2010).
Mosaic of microscopic images of Spirit underbelly on Sol 1925 (June 2009) showing the predicament of being stuck at Troy with wheels buried in the sulfate-rich martian soil. The sulfate deposits formed by aqueous (water-related) processes when this area dubbed “Home Plate’ was volcanically active. This false color mosaic has been enhanced and stretched to bring out additional details about the surrounding terrain and embedded wheels and distinctly show a pointy rock perhaps in contact with the underbelly. Spirit fortuitously discovered extensive new evidence for an environment of flowing liquid water at this location on Mars adjacent to ‘Home Plate’, an eroded over volcanic feature. Credit: Marco Di Lorenzo, Ken Kremer - NASA/JPL/Cornell
In hibernation mode, Spirits master clock keeps on ticking, but communications and other activities are suspended in order to channel all available energy into powering the critical survival heaters necessary to save the rovers electronics as well as to try to recharge the batteries and attempt to wake up. When the battery charge is adequate, the rover attempts to wake up and communicate on a schedule it knows.
“Components within the rover electronic module (REM) inside the rover’s warm electronic box (WEB) are experiencing record low temperatures,” says Doug McCuistion, the director of Mars Exploration at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, in an interview about Spirit’s predicament. “So far, the coldest temperatures recorded within the REM by one reached a low temperature of -41.5 degrees Celsius (-42.7 degrees Fahrenheit)”. This occurred just prior to the loss in communications.
“The REM electronics rack is located inside the WEB and is about a half meter cube in size”, McCuistion told me. “The expectation is for the REM hardware to reach -55C at the coldest part of the winter. We have tested the REM down to -55C”.
“Spirit’s lowest power production during a single sol (so far) was during a dust storm in November of 2008. For that one sol, Spirit’s solar arrays produced only 89 watt-hours of energy,” McCuistion said.
“We may not hear from Spirit again for weeks or months, but we will be listening at every opportunity, and our expectation is that Spirit will resume communications when the batteries are sufficiently charged,” said John Callas of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who is project manager for Spirit and Opportunity.
Spirit has been stuck at a place called ‘Troy’ since becoming mired in a sand trap of soft soil in April 2009. While driving on the western edge of ‘Home Plate’, she unknowingly broke through a hard surface crust (perhaps 1 cm thick) of water related sulfate materials and sank into hidden soft sand beneath. At Troy she made a great science discovery by finding evidence of the past flow of liquid water on the surface of Mars.
Felix Baumgartner during a test flight. Credit: Red Bull Stratos
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The speed of sound — historically called the ‘sound barrier’ – has been broken by rockets, various jet-powered aircraft and rocket-boosted land vehicles. Felix Baumgartner wants to break the sound barrier with his body, in freefall from the edge of space. He will travel inside a capsule with a stratospheric balloon to 36,500 meters (120,000 feet) step out and attempt a freefall jump targeted to reach – for the first time in history – supersonic speeds.
“After years of training with my team of dedicated Red Bull Stratos experts, I’ll be going on a journey that no one has ever done,” Baumgartner told Universe Today in an email message. “If I succeed, I will be the first person to break the sound barrier, alone. That will be a record for all eternity. As such, a piece of me will become immortal. That excites me.”
Baumgartner, left with Joe Kittinger. Credit: Red Bull Stratos
Back in 1960, a US Air Force captain named Joe Kittinger made aerospace history by making a jump from 31,000 meters (102,800 feet). His jump contributed valuable data that provided ground work for spacesuit technology and knowledge about human physiology for the US space program. There have been several attempts to surpass Kittinger’s record, but none have succeeded, and people have given their lives for the quest.
Sometime during 2010, Baumgartner will make an attempt in his “Red Bull Stratos” mission — named after the energy drink company that co-created the program with the Austrian skydiver. Red Bull Stratos team members say the mission will explore the limits of the human body in one of the most hostile environments known to humankind, in the attempt to deliver valuable lessons in human endurance and high-altitude technology.
“This is the biggest goal I can dream of,” Baumgartner said. “If we can prove that you can break the speed of sound and stay alive I think that is a benefit for future space exploration.”
If Baumgartner is successful, the Red Bull Stratos mission will break four world records: the altitude record for freefall, the distance record for longest freefall, the speed record for fastest freefall by breaking the speed of sound with the human body, and the altitude record for the highest manned balloon flight. Baumgartner during a test flight. Credit: Red Bull Stratos
How fast will Baumgarter need to go to beat the speed of sound? Sound travels at different speeds through the atmosphere (as well as through different mediums), depending on atmospheric density and temperature. For example, at sea level, in average conditions of about 15 degrees C (59 degrees F), sound travels at around 1,223 kph (760 mph). But at higher altitudes, where the air is colder, sound travels more slowly.
Researchers with the Red Bull Stratos mission anticipate Baumgartner could break the sound barrier at about 30,480 meters (100,000 feet) above sea level, in temperatures of -23 to -40 C (-10 to -40 F) where sound travels at about 1,110 kph (690 mph) or roughly 304 meters per second (1,000 feet per second).
So, he’ll have to go faster than those speeds – or Mach 1 — to be supersonic.
While there is no literal “barrier,”the transition to supersonic speeds can cause problems for aircraft as transonic air movement creates disruptive shock waves and turbulence. Data obtained from Chuck Yeager’s first supersonic flight in 1947 allowed for changes in design of supersonic aircraft to avoid problems. Still, some aircraft still experience problems, and going supersonic has been attributed to some air disasters.
And the human body isn’t designed for supersonic speeds.
“Our biggest concern is that we don’t know how a human unencumbered by aircraft is going to transition through this,” said the project’s Medical Director Dr. Jonathan Clark, a flight surgeon for six space shuttle missions (and husband of astronaut Laurel Clark who died in the Columbia disaster in 2003), who has researched numerous aerospace disasters. “But it’s also exactly what we’re hoping to learn, for the benefit of future space flights.”
Documents provided by the Red Bull Stratos mission say that the data obtained from the mission will be shared with the scientific community, and Clark notes that he expects long-awaited medical protocols to be established as a result.
At the low temperatures and tenuous atmospheric conditions that Baumgartner will experience, he could suffer from hypothermia, the bends –if he gains altitude too fast during ascent –, or he could experience ebullism – the infamous condition where gas bubbles can form in the blood, and the blood basically “boils.” Baumgartner wearing the David Clark Company suit. Credit: Red Bull Statos
That’s why his spacesuit is so important.
“I have absolute confidence the suit is going to work,” said Daniel McCarter, Program Manager for the David Clark Company, the same company that made Kittinger’s suit back in 1960, as well as full pressure suits for NASA astronauts and military pilots flying in aircraft that can reach the edge of the atmosphere. “Every time someone jumps a suit system like this there is something to learn. We learn knowledge for future systems.”
Art Thompson, the mission’s Technical Project Director, added, “We are ultimately risking life. Felix realizes that his life is on the line. Our job is to do everything we can from an engineering and technical point of view to keep him safe.”
The suit Baumgartner will use is custom-made for him, so there should be no pressure points caused by the suit that would make him uncomfortable, but any pressure suit restricts mobility and dexterity. He will have to avoid movements that could cause him to go into an uncontrollable spin.
Baumgartner is not new to jumping. He owns several world records for B.A.S.E. jumping and is well known for skydiving across the English Channel in 2003. He is also a parachutist, stunt coordinator and a commercial helicopter pilot.
“I think I’ve always been one of those guys who wanted to be in the places where no one has been before. It’s inside your body or brain,” Baumgartner said in a video on the Red Bull Stratos website. “When I was a kid, I liked to climb up trees –I always wanted to be on top of something.”
This will definitely be an attempt to go where no one has gone before.
Expedition 23 crew members Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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The Russian built Soyuz space TMA-18 capsule blasted off today (Good Friday, April 2) at 12:04 AM EDT (8:04 AM Moscow time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with a Russian American crew for a 2 day trip through space that will carry them to the International Space Station (ISS) for a docking on Easter Sunday.
Soyuz TMA 18 launchOn board the capsule are an American female NASA astronaut on her 2nd trip to space, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and two male Russian rookies, cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko.
soyuz TMA 18 launch with russian american crew on April 2, 2010 bound for the ISSUpon arrival at the ISS, this new space crew will restore the ISS to its full complement of six residents to complete the on orbit staffing of ISS Expedition 23. There is currently only a crew of three space flyers on board comprising Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, NASA’s T.J. Creamer, and Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. They arrived aboard their Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft on Dec 22 as Santas helpers bearing Christmas gifts.
Expedition 23 launches aboard the Soyuz TMA-18. Credit: NASA TVLess than 10 minutes after launch, the Soyuz reached orbit and its antennas and solar arrays were deployed. The crew arrives at the ISS on Easter Sunday April 4, orbiting some 200 miles above Earth. They will dock at the Poisk module.
Soyuz TMA 18 launchIt was from this historic launch pad that Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin blasted into space in 1961 on mankind’s first manned space flight. The Soyuz crew capsule has been in use by Russia since 1967.
This mosaic assembled from Phoenix images shows the spacecraft's three landing legs and patches of water ice exposed by the landing thrusters. Splotches of Martian material on the landing leg strut at left could be liquid saline-water. Larger version on Spaceflightnow.com .Credit: Kenneth Kremer, Marco Di Lorenzo, NASA/JPL/UA/Max Planck Institute and Spaceflightnow.com.
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Well my original thought for this piece was, “Last Chance for Phoenix”, since the third and final chance for NASA to reestablish radio contact with the long silent Phoenix Mars Lander was coming up soon on April 5 to 9.
Instead I was pleasantly surprised to just learn from the director of NASA’s Mars Program that NASA is seriously entertaining the idea of extending the listening campaign for Phoenix into May 2010. NASA’s first two listening campaigns in January and February 2010 failed to detect even a hint of a radio signal from the hugely successful Phoenix lander.
“NASA is considering the possibility of adding one final campaign, right around the summer solstice for the northern hemisphere of Mars, which occurs on May 13,” says Doug McCuistion, the director of Mars Exploration at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. “This would offer the best possible power/thermal conditions”, McCuistion told me in an interview.
“A final decision regarding this additional campaign will be made after completion of the April 5-9 campaign”, McCuistion said.
The 2010 listening campaign was timed to coincide with the onset of springtime and disappearance of ice at her location in the martian north polar regions. Theoretically the return of plentiful sunlight impinging onto the power producing solar arrays would reawaken the long dead robotic explorer.
“NASA has completed two campaigns of listening for the Phoenix Lander with the Odyssey orbiter – the first in January and the second in February”, McCuistion explained to me.
“During the five-day period of the second campaign of Feb 22-26, Odyssey passed over the Phoenix site 60 times, configuring its UHF relay radio to listen for any transmission from the surface”.
“In the unlikely event that the lander had returned to an operational, energy-positive condition after the Martian winter, it would have been in a state where it would awaken periodically and transmit to any orbiters in view, with a very high likelihood that one of those transmissions would have occurred during one or more of the 60 Odyssey overflights,” according to McCuistion.
“A third campaign is scheduled for early April (5-9), with improved power/thermal conditions as we approach summer in the northern hemisphere of Mars. For this third campaign, the sun will be continuously above the horizon at the high-latitude Phoenix site, corresponding to the solar illumination conditions just prior to Phoenix arrival at Mars as well as around sol 64 (within the primary 90-sol mission)” said McCuistion.
Phoenix set down successfully on the northern martian polar regions on May 25, 2008. During over five months of operations on top of the martian arctic plains, she made breakthrough science discoveries by finding patches of water and nutrients that could possibly sustain past or current martian life forms, if they exist.
Orion Crew Module Forward Cone Assembly of the Ground Test Article being transported at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, La. in the same factory that developed Apollo's Saturn launch vehicles and the external tank for the space shuttle fleet. The 5 meter diameter cone weighs about 650 lbs. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the Orion crew module. Credit: NASA
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Just three crucial welds remain to complete the structural assembly of the very first pathfinder Orion manned capsule – the Crew Module – known as the Ground Test Article (GTA) at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
Yes, America’s Orion Crew Module program really is that close to achieving this key assembly milestone on the road to a US human spaceflight replacement and successor to the soon to be retired Space Shuttle. That fact is quite evident in the new NASA photos I obtained especially for this story. The GTA functions as a production pathfinder to validate production processes and tools for the actual human rated flight vehicle to follow.
Lockheed expects to complete the close out advanced technology welds for the GTA by May 2010 according to senior Lockheed officials I contacted. Structural proof testing of the Orion GTA vehicle will commence shortly thereafter.
Beyond that, John Karas, the Lockheed VP for Human Spaceflight told me in an interview that “Orion can be ready for crewed flights to low Earth orbit as early as 2013”.
Meanwhile, in the face of a rising chorus of harsh bipartisan Congressional criticism of the cancellation of Project Constellation and America’s Orion Crew Vehicle, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden continues to insist at multiple venues that, “There is no Plan B for Space Exploration. I strongly support the priorities and the direction for NASA that the President has put forward. I did not ask anybody for an alternative to the President’s plan and budget”.
The headline photo and others below illustrate the advanced status of the three major segments. The upper and lower module segments are to be robotically welded together by May 2010 using friction stir welding to create the structural framework of the first Orion pathfinder.
Orion Crew Module Aft Assembly in the 5505 weld fixture. The 5 meter diameter Aft Assembly weighs 1,885 lbs. Credit: NASA
At the moment, Lockheed is pressing forward with the Orion capsule utilizing the Congressionally approved NASA funding still available in the current fiscal budget as well as hundreds of millions more dollars committed by Lockheed and its partners, Karas said to me. “Over 4000 people are working on the Orion Project. Those jobs are at risk.”
Soon, the Orion and Constellation contractors will face tough decisions on whether to continue with testing and development of new science and technology breakthroughs … or begin massive personnel layoffs and abandon the wide ranging work in progress in order to preserve the remaining funds for shutdown activities.
“All work on Orion is proceeding according to the current contract schedule,” said Lockheed spokesman Kevin Barre.
The three major components of the Orion Crew Module GTA to be mated together are comprised of the Forward Cone Assembly, the Aft Assembly and the Crew Module Forward Bay Assembly and Tunnel. “These structural elements comprising the Orion GTA have undergone the meticulous application of strain gauges in preparation for loads and development testing”, says Barre. Hundreds of gauges have been placed in various positions to measure the overall vehicle strain during GTA testing.
“Inside the GTA is a backbone which resembles a stringer on a boat. That backbone will be installed in April before initial testing of the GTA begins at Michoud in May,” Barre amplified.
Orion Crew Module Tunnel and Forward Bulkhead comprise the Forward Assembly, minus the outer thermal protection system. The tunnel is to be mated to the top of the Cone Assembly. Astronauts will enter the Space Station through the tunnel after docking. The Forward Assembly and Tunnel weighs 370 lbs. Credit: NASA
After the testing for structural integrity, the crew module will be outfitted with the thermal protection systems and internal components necessary for subsequent static vibration, acoustics and water landing loads testing in flight-like environments. Environmental support components – similar in mass and volume to the flight articles – will also be installed. These internal components are being built both at Michoud and at other contractor work sites around the country. The testing results will be used to correlate sizing models for all subsystems on the vehicle and finalize the design.
Lockheed achieved another key technology milestone when the fabrication of the Orion composite heat shield was completed in February 2010. The 5 meter (16.4 ft) diameter Orion heat shield is the world’s largest heat shield structure ever built, and larger in size than the Mars Science Lab (MSL) and Apollo heat shields. It will be attached to the GTA in June 2010 upon completion of acceptance testing.
The cutting edge heat shield is critical to the protection of the spacecraft and crew from the extreme temperatures experienced during re-entry. See photo below of the heat shield – which seems to hover like a flying saucer – after its removal from the mold where it was fabricated in Denver.
The Orion composite heat shield structure appears to hover above its layup mold during removal. It is the world’s largest heat shield ever built and is 5 meters in diameter. Credit: Lockheed Martin
Final testing of the Orion Ground Test Article at Michoud is set to begin in the September 2010 timeframe.
Work has not yet begun on the service module which supports the GTA with life support supplies.
Orion is a frustum shaped vehicle, dubbed “Apollo on Steroids” by the previous NASA Administrator Mike Griffin due to its obvious similarity to the Apollo Command Module. At a diameter of 5 meters and measuring 3.3 meters tall, Orion would have 2.5 times the interior volume of Apollo.
Of course the continuation of all this high technology work and the fate of thousands of US jobs associated with it, is threatened by President Obama’s decision to cancel Orion at this advanced stage of development after $9 Billion has already been spent by NASA and the taxpayers on Project Constellation since 2004. At least another $2.5 Billion will be required just to shut down the program. It’s quite possible that even more money will be required as contractors assess their full shutdown costs.
The Constellation program comprises the Orion Crew Vehicle and the Ares 1 and Ares 5 booster rockets designed to return humans to the Moon, Mars and Beyond for the first time since the Apollo program ended in 1972.
The debate on why humans should or should not return to the Moon has been ongoing for years. Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to hear astronautRon Garan speak eloquently on a subject he is passionate about, water sustainability on planet Earth. Subsequently, I read an essay Garan wrote about the importance of returning to the Moon. Although Garan originally wrote this essay before the cancellation of the Constellation program was announced, he has amended his thoughts to reflect the likelihood that the US won’t be returning to the Moon anytime soon. With Garan’s permission, we are re-publishing his essay in its entirety.
The Importance of Returning to the Moon
(The 8th Continent)
By Ron Garan
NASA Astronaut
On May 10th, 1869, a golden spike joined two railways at Promontory Point, Utah, and the first transcontinental railroad was completed. On January 14th, 2004, a new vision for our Nation’s space exploration program was announced that committed the United States to a long-term human program to explore the solar system starting with a return to the moon. On February 1st 2010, those plans to return to the moon were put on hold. Although our Nation has decided to postpone a return to the moon it is still important to acknowledge the moon’s relevance to life on Earth.
There is no doubt that the railroad changed the world. It opened up frontiers to discovery, settlement, and commerce. The railroad was the backbone for the industrial revolution that provided the largest increase in life expectancy and improvement in quality of life in history. Just as the industrial revolution brought about unprecedented improvements in quality of life so can a new age of space exploration and development, but this time with a positive impact on the environment. To begin a period of sustainable space exploration, both the public and private sectors of our Nation must seize the opportunity and continue on a path to the moon. Artist impression of humans on the Moon. Credit: NASA
Since the Vision for Space Exploration was announced in 2004, there has been an on-going debate about the importance of taking the next step in space exploration, a return to the moon. The reasons for making this the next step include: fulfilling a compelling human need to explore; gaining a foothold on the moon to prepare for journeys to other worlds; easing the world’s energy problems; protecting the planet from disasters; creating moon-based commercial enterprises that will improve life on Earth, conducting scientific research; inspiring young people toward higher education, and utilizing space resources to help spread prosperity throughout the world.
We should not return to the moon for any one of these reasons, but for all of them and more. By first establishing the basic infrastructure for a transportation system between the Earth and the moon and a sustainable, semi-autonomous, permanent human settlement, we will open the door to significant benefits for all. Of course, any permanent lunar base must be economically and politically sustainable and therefore must provide tangible benefits and a return on investment. Ron Garan ready for an EVA in June 2008. Credit: NASA Exploration: Great nations accomplish extraordinary endeavors that help to maintain their leadership in the world. America’s history is built on a desire to open new frontiers and to seek new discoveries. NASA’s vision for space exploration acknowledges that, “Mankind is drawn to the heavens for the same reason we were once drawn into unknown lands and across the open sea. We choose to explore space because doing so improves our lives and lifts our national spirit.”
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Establishing a lunar infrastructure will challenge us to improve the reliability of space transportation and allow us to demonstrate exploration systems and concepts without leaving the relative safety of near-Earth space. Testing systems and concepts at a location that’s a three-day journey from Earth is a logical step before we make the leap of a six-month journey to Mars. Establishing a permanently occupied lunar base also will open the way to detailed study and use of lunar resources, which likely are significantly more economical than lifting all required exploration resources from the Earth’s surface.
Energy: Today, about 1.6 billion people on the Earth don’t have access to electricity. The World Bank estimates that 1.1 billion people live in extreme poverty which leads to 8 million premature deaths every year. In developed countries, higher quality of life is achieved only through a high rate of energy use. Increased energy supply is needed for economic and social development, improved quality of life, and to grow enough food to provide for the citizens of the developing world.
Unless something is done soon, the world will be faced with a crisis of enormous proportions. The United Nations estimates that world population will be approximately 9.1 billion by 2050 with virtually all growth in the 50 poorest countries. The choices that the global society makes to provide for future energy needs will have a profound effect on humanity and the environment.
The moon can supplement Earth-based renewable energy systems to meet future energy demand. Ample energy from the Sun reaches the moon and is not interrupted by weather, pollution or volcanic ash. Solar energy farms on the moon can “beam” limitless clean energy down to where it is needed on Earth or to satellites for relay to the Earth. There are also other potential sources of energy including platinum for fuel cells and an isotope called helium-3, which could be used in fusion reactors of the future.
Supplying energy from the moon will enable us to help provide the Earth’s energy needs without destroying our environment. Artists impression of an asteroid flying by Earth. Credit: NASA Protect the Planet from Disasters: There is a real risk to the Earth’s inhabitants from asteroid impacts and super-volcano eruptions. If a large object the size of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 that recently slammed into Jupiter were to hit the Earth, civilization could be destroyed. Much smaller asteroids could cause tremendous damage and loss of life. The moon is a superb location for early detection systems.
A super-volcano eruption is a geologic event of enormous explosive power to affect the global climate for years. Scientists estimate the last such eruption happened 74,000 years ago, and was 10,000 times more powerful than Mount St. Helens. Tremendous amounts of rock and ash were ejected into the air causing a six year long volcanic winter and a 1,000-year instant Ice Age, massive deforestation, disastrous famine, and near extinction of humankind. Scientists estimate that such a super-eruption will occur about once every 100,000 years.
The systems and technology that will be developed for life and work on the moon can be used to develop habitats and systems that could preserve Earth’s inhabitants in the event of a devastating eruption. These systems will also improve our ability to live in extreme environments and can be used to learn how to overcome limited resources and other environmental issues. Astronaut Ron Garan takes a moment to pose for a picture during training for his April 3-20 stay inside the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. Credit: NASA Moon-Based Commercial Enterprises: When the early pioneers headed west and expanded our Nation, they did not carry everything with them that they would need for their journey. They “lived off the land” and we will also need to use those resources available to us along our journey, starting with the moon.
There are numerous moon-based commercial activities that could significantly offset the cost of a moon base. Just a few of these are lunar refueling or servicing stations for satellites, lunar mining and space tourism. These commercial activities would allow us to return national treasures from space and provide a significant return on our space investment.
Scientific research: The moon offers an incredible opportunity to further human understanding and discovery. Since the moon’s ancient surface is relatively undisturbed, study of its geology can help us better understand the geological history of Earth. Further, the moon’s vacuum environment can’t be duplicated on the Earth or in low-Earth orbit, and could lead to new materials, advanced alloys, medicines and innovative ways to deal with limited resources on Earth. Radio telescopes on the far side of the moon would be shielded from all radio signals (noise pollution) from Earth, allowing tremendous sensitivity increases and telescopes pointed at the Earth could identify and predict weather and climate changes.
If we return to the moon just for science and exploration then activities will be limited by the amount of money our nation is willing to devote. But, if we establish a sustainable, economically viable lunar base then our science and exploration will be limited only by our imagination.
Education: Our children are our best investment for the future, and our space program is a tremendous motivator. Our Nation has seen a steady decline in the number of students studying math and science. The space program can help turn this trend around. I can personally attest to the ability of the space program to encourage students based on the fact that I enrolled in math and science courses and began the pursuit of an engineering degree the day after the first space shuttle mission landed. The creation of a permanent lunar base will inspire millions of young people toward higher education and help maintain our Nation’s technological leadership. Astronaut Ron Garan, STS-124 mission specialist, participates in the mission's first EVA in June 2008. Credit: NASA Resources and Other Benefits: Since we live in a world of finite resources and the global population continues to grow, at some point the human race must utilize resources from space in order to survive. We are already constrained by our limited resources, and the decisions we make today will have a profound affect on the future of humanity.
Using resources and energy from space will enable continued growth and the spread of prosperity to the developing world without destroying our planet. Our minimal investment in space exploration (less than 1 percent of the U.S. budget) reaps tremendous intangible benefits in almost every aspect of society, from technology development to high-tech jobs. When we reach the point of sustainable space operations we will be able to transform the world from a place where nations quarrel over scarce resources to one where the basic needs of all people are met and we unite in the common adventure of exploration. The first step is a sustainable permanent human lunar settlement. Artist concept of the Orion capsule in orbit around the Moon. Credit: NASA
How should we go about this important undertaking? A good analogy to look at is the U.S. railroad system. The greatest obstacle for the first railroad developers was financial risk. Purchasing right of way, paying wages for large workforces and buying materials and equipment were prohibitively expensive. But the federal government stepped in, orchestrating massive land grants and other incentives. Once initial government investment was assured, enterprising developers invested enormous sums to bridge vast valleys and tunnel through enormous mountains.
Today we are faced with similar obstacles in the development and use of space for the benefit of humanity. Potential space developers face enormous up-front costs for high-risk, long-term returns on investment. To capitalize on the tremendous moon-based opportunities, our nation should establish the basic infrastructure for a transportation system between the Earth and the moon and a sustainable human settlement on the moon. Once this initial investment is made, commercial revenue-generating activities can be established. Just as our investment in the railroad, interstate road system, hydro-electric dams and other large federal projects have been paid back many times over by increased productivity and quality of life, so will our investment in lunar infrastructure.
We are poised on the doorstep of an incredible opportunity to benefit all of humanity. We have the technology and the ability to make this a reality — we need only the will to see it through. We need to choose a course toward the utilization of space to increase our available resources, global prosperity, quality of life, technological advancement, and environmental stewardship. Just as we look back and thank those before us for developing things most of us take for granted such as railroads and highways, the generations to come should be able to look back and thank us for committing to sustainable space exploration.
