Artist's impression of New Horizons' encounter with Pluto and Charon. Credit: NASA/Thierry Lombry
It’s going to be a really busy summer for the New Horizons team. While they’re checking out the newly awakened spacecraft to make sure it’s working properly for its close encounter with Pluto next year, NASA is already thinking about where to put it next: possibly towards a Kuiper Belt Object!
So now the Hubble Space Telescope (in Earth orbit) is scoping out icy objects beyond Pluto. Luckily for us, one of the team members — Alex Parker, a planetary astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, provided an entertaining livetweet of the process — even through a power failure.
So, the secret is out. On Friday, we were awarded the Hubble time to search for a @NewHorizons2015 KBO target!
There’s far more to Parker’s tweets than we are indicating here; his Twitter feed also has details about the collaborators, for example, so be sure to read through the entire exchange from yesterday. The survey is led by the Southwest Research Institute’s John Spencer.
What astronomers are doing now is a “pilot observation” where the space telescope looks at a spot in the constellation Sagittarius. Controllers will try to turn the telescope at the same rate as what a KBO would be orbiting around the sun. If the method works, stars will look like streaks and the KBOs will look like “pinpoint objects”, NASA stated.
A view of the Hubble Space Telescope from inside space shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-125 in 2009. Credit: NASA
“If the test observation identifies at least two KBOs of a specified brightness it will demonstrate statistically that Hubble has a chance of finding an appropriate KBO for New Horizons to visit. At that point, an additional allotment of observing time will continue the search across a field of view roughly the angular size of the full moon,” NASA said in a press release.
The reason for this step is Hubble is a high-profile telescope, receiving a lot of requests for observing time around the world. The agency wants to ensure that the telescope is being used for the best scientific return possible. NASA also noted the search might be difficult.
“Though Hubble is powerful enough to see galaxies near the horizon of the universe, finding a KBO is a challenging needle-in-haystack search. A typical KBO along the New Horizons trajectory may be no larger than Manhattan Island and as black as charcoal,” NASA stated.
This isn’t the first time the telescope has done a pinch-hit for Plutonian science. Four new moons have been found around Pluto, a discovery that involved Hubble time. The telescope has also looked for dust rings near the dwarf planet (to do a risk analysis for New Horizons’ approach) and done a map of the surface, to help controllers figure out where to target New Horizons.
Saturn's moon Atlas peeks out between the rings in this Cassini shot taken Jan. 23, 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
See that small pixel? That’s an entire moon you’re looking at! Peeking between the rings of Saturn is the tiny saucer-shaped moon Atlas, as viewed from the Cassini spacecraft. The image is pretty, but there’s also a scientific reason to watch the planet’s many moons while moving around the rings.
“Although the sunlight at Saturn’s distance is feeble compared to that at the Earth, objects cut off from the Sun within Saturn’s shadow cool off considerably,” NASA stated.
“Scientists study how the moons around Saturn cool and warm as they enter and leave Saturn’s shadow to better understand the physical properties of Saturn’s moons.”
And if you look at Atlas close-up, it looks a little like a flying saucer! The moon is only 20 miles (32 km) across, which is a bit shy of the length of a marathon. The Voyager 1 team spotted the moon in 1980 when the spacecraft zoomed through the system. You can learn more about Saturn’s moons here.
Cassini is still in excellent health (it arrived at Saturn in 2004, and has been in space since 1997), and scientists are eagerly getting ready for when Saturn gets to its summer solstice in 2017. Among the things being looked at is a hurricane at Saturn’s north pole.
Saturn’s moon Atlas. Left image: viewed from the side, at a scale of 0.6 miles (1 km) per pixel. Right image: the mid-southern latitudes, at 820 feet (250 m) per pixel. The images are composite views from the Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI
Opportunity Mars rover peers into vast Endeavour Crater from Pillinger Point mountain ridge named in honor of Colin Pillinger, the Principal Investigator for the British Beagle 2 lander built to search for life on Mars. Pillinger passed away from a brain hemorrhage on May 7, 2014. This navcam camera photo mosaic was assembled from images taken on June 5, 2014 (Sol 3684) and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com
NASA’s decade old Opportunity rover has reached a long sought after region of aluminum-rich clay mineral outcrops at a new Endeavour crater ridge now “named ‘Pillinger Point’ after Colin Pillinger the Principal Investigator for the [British] Beagle 2 Mars lander”, Prof. Ray Arvidson, Deputy Principal Investigator for the rover, told Universe Today exclusively. See above the spectacular panoramic view from ‘Pillinger Point’ – where ancient water once flowed billions of year ago.
The Beagle 2 lander was built to search for signs of life on Mars.
The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) team named the noteworthy ridge in honor of Prof. Colin Pillinger – a British planetary scientist at the Open University in Milton Keynes, who passed away at the age of 70 on May 7, 2014.
‘Pillinger Point’ is a scientifically bountiful place possessing both clay mineral outcrops and mineral veins where “waters came up through the cracks”, Arvidson explained to me.
Since water is a prerequisite for life as we know it, this is a truly fitting tribute to name Opportunity’s current exploration site ‘Pillinger Point’ after Prof. Pillinger.
See our new photo mosaic above captured by Opportunity peering out from ‘Pillinger Point’ ridge on June 5, 2014 (Sol 3684) and showing a panoramic view around the eroded mountain ridge and into vast Endeavour crater.
The gigantic crater spans 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter.
See below our Opportunity 10 Year traverse map showing the location of Pillinger Point along the segmented rim of Endeavour crater.
British planetary scientist Colin Pillinger with the Beagle 2 lander.
Pillinger Point is situated south of Solander Point and Murray Ridge along the western rim of Endeavour in a region with caches of clay minerals indicative of an ancient Martian habitable zone.
For the past several months, the six wheeled robot has been trekking southwards from Solander towards the exposures of aluminum-rich clays – now named Pillinger Point- detected from orbit by the CRISM spectrometer aboard NASA’s powerful Martian ‘Spysat’ – the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) – while gathering context data at rock outcrops along the winding way.
“We are about 3/5 of the way along the outcrops that show an Al-OH [aluminum-hydroxl] montmorillonite [clay mineral] signature at 2.2 micrometers from CRISM along track oversampled data,” Arvidson told me.
“We have another ~160 meters to go before reaching a break in the outcrops and a broad valley.”
The rover mission scientists ultimate goal is travel even further south to ‘Cape Tribulation’ which holds a motherlode of the ‘phyllosilicate’ clay minerals based on extensive CRISM measurements accomplished earlier at Arvidson’s direction.
“The idea is to characterize the outcrops as we go and then once we reach the valley travel quickly to Cape Tribulation and the smectite valley, which is still ~2 km to the south of the present rover location,” Arvidson explained.
Mars Express and Beagle 2 were launched in 2003, the same year as NASA’s twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, on their interplanetary voyages to help unlock the mysteries of Mars potential for supporting microbial life forms.
Pillinger was the driving force behind the British built Beagle 2 lander which flew to the Red Planet piggybacked on ESA’s Mars Express orbiter. Unfortunately Beagle 2 vanished without a trace after being deployed from the orbiter on Dec. 19, 2003 with an expected air bag assisted landing on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 2003.
In an obituary by the BBC, Dr David Parker, the chief executive of the UK Space Agency, said that Prof. Pillinger had played a critical role in raising the profile of the British space programme and had inspired “young people to dream big dreams”.
NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover captures sweeping panoramic vista near the ridgeline of 22 km (14 mi) wide Endeavour Crater’s western rim. The center is southeastward and also clearly shows the distant rim. See the complete panorama below. This navcam panorama was stitched from images taken on May 10, 2014 (Sol 3659) and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com
During his distinguished career Pillinger also analyzed lunar rock samples from NASA’s Apollo moon landing missions and worked on ESA’s Rosetta mission.
“It’s important to note that Colin’s contribution to planetary science goes back to working on Moon samples from Apollo, as well as his work on meteorites,” Dr Parker told the BBC.
Today, June 16, marks Opportunity’s 3696th Sol or Martian Day roving Mars – compared to a warranty of just 90 Sols.
So far she has snapped over 193,400 amazing images on the first overland expedition across the Red Planet.
Her total odometry stands at over 24.51 miles (39.44 kilometers) since touchdown on Jan. 24, 2004 at Meridiani Planum.
NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover captures sweeping panoramic vista near the ridgeline of 22 km (14 mi) wide Endeavour Crater’s western rim. The center is southeastward and the distant rim is visible in the center. An outcrop area targeted for the rover to study is at right of ridge. This navcam panorama was stitched from images taken on May 10, 2014 (Sol 3659) and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com
Meanwhile on the opposite side of Mars, Opportunity’s younger sister rover Curiosity is trekking towards gigantic Mount Sharp after drilling into her 3rd Red Planet rock at Kimberley.
Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Curiosity, Opportunity, Orion, SpaceX, Boeing, Orbital Sciences, MAVEN, MOM, Mars and more planetary and human spaceflight news.
Traverse Map for NASA’s Opportunity rover from 2004 to 2014 – A Decade on Mars
This map shows the entire path the rover has driven during a decade on Mars and over 3692 Sols, or Martian days, since landing inside Eagle Crater on Jan 24, 2004 to current location along Pillinger Point ridge south of Solander Point summit at the western rim of Endeavour Crater and heading to clay minerals at Cape Tribulation. Opportunity discovered clay minerals at Esperance – indicative of a habitable zone. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/ASU/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer
A 3-D printer from Made In Space Inc. gets put through its paces during a simulated microgravity flight on a Zero G airplane. Credit: Devin Boldt
A 3-D printer intended for the International Space Station has passed its NASA certifications with flying colors — earning the device a trip to space sooner than expected. The next Dragon spacecraft, scheduled to launch in August, will carry the Made In Space printer on board.
“Passing the final tests and shipping the hardware are significant milestones, but they ultimately lead to an even more meaningful one – the capability for anyone on Earth to have the option of printing objects on the ISS. This is unprecedented access to space,” stated Made In Space CEO Aaron Kemmer.
The device was originally supposed to launch not on this next Dragon flight, but the one after that. But it recently completed several tests looking at everything from vibration to human design to electromagnetic interference, and was deemed enough of a “minimal risk” to get moved up a slot.
A close-up of the 3-D printer made by Made In Space Inc. Credit: Made In Space
This 3-D printer will be the first to be used in orbit. Officials have already printed out several items on the ground to serve as a kind of “ground truth” to see how well the device works when it is installed on the space station. It will be put into a “science glovebox” on the International Space Station and print out 21 demonstration parts, such as tools.
“The next phase will serve to demonstrate utilization of meaningful parts such as crew tools, payload ancillary hardware, and potential commercial applications such as cubesat components,” Made In Space added in a statement.
Once fully functional, the 3-D printer is supposed to reduce the need to ship parts from Earth when they break. This will save a lot of time, not to mention launch costs, the company said. It could also allow astronauts to manufacture new tools on the fly when “unforeseen situations” arise in orbit.
Boeing unveiled full scale mockup of their commercial CST-100 'Space Taxi' on June 9, 2014 at its intended manufacturing facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The private vehicle will launch US astronauts to low Earth orbit and the ISS from US soil. Credit: Ken Kremer - kenkremer.com
Boeing unveiled full scale mockup of their commercial CST-100 ‘Space Taxi’ on June 9, 2014 at its intended manufacturing facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The private vehicle will launch US astronauts to low Earth orbit and the ISS from US soil.
Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
Story updated[/caption]
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Boeing unveiled a full scale mockup of their CST-100 commercial ‘space taxi’ on Monday, June 9, at the new home of its future manufacturing site at the Kennedy Space Center located inside a refurbished facility that most recently was used to prepare NASA’s space shuttle orbiters for missions to the International Space Station (ISS).
The overriding goal is restart our country’s capability to reliably launch Americans to space from US territory as rapidly and efficiently as possible.
The CST-100 crew transporter was revealed at an invitation only ceremony and media event held on Monday, June 9, inside the gleaming white and completely renovated NASA processing hangar known as Orbiter Processing Facility-3 (OPF-3) – and attended by Universe Today.
The huge 64,000 square foot facility has sat dormant since the shuttles were retired following their final flight in July 2011 and which was commanded by Chris Ferguson, who now serves as director of Boeing’s Crew and Mission Operations.
Universe Today was invited to be on location at KSC for the big reveal ceremony headlining US Senator Bill Nelson (FL) and Boeing executives including shuttle commander Ferguson, for a first hand personal inspection of the private spaceship and also to crawl inside and sit in the seats of the capsule designed to carry American astronauts to the High Frontier as soon as 2017.
“Today we celebrate this commercial crew capsule,” said Sen. Nelson at the unveiling ceremony. “This vehicle is pretty fantastic and the push into space the CST-100 represents is historic.”
“We are at the dawn of a new Space Age. It’s complemented by the commercial activities going to and from the space station and then going outside low Earth orbit [with Orion], as we go to the ultimate goal of going to Mars. There is a bright future ahead.”
US Senator Bill Nelson (FL) and NASA’s final space shuttle commander Chris Ferguson inside Boeing’s CST-100 manned capsule during unveiling ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida on June 9, 2014. Nelson is seated below pilots console and receives CST-100 briefing from Ferguson, who now directs Boeing’s crew effort. Nelson also flew in space aboard the Columbia shuttle in Jan. 1986. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
The purpose of developing and building the private CST-100 human rated capsule is to restore America’s capability to ferry astronauts to low-Earth orbit and the space station from American soil aboard American rockets, and thereby end our total dependency on the Russian Soyuz capsule for tickets to space and back.
Boeing’s philosophy is to make the CST-100 a commercial endeavor, as simple and cost effective as possible in order to quickly kick start US human spaceflight efforts. It’s based on proven technologies drawing on Boeing’s 100 year heritage in aviation and space.
“The CST-100, it’s a simple ride up to and back from space,” Ferguson told me. “So it doesn’t need to be luxurious. It’s an ascent and reentry vehicle – and that’s all!”
So the CST-100 is basically a taxi up and a taxi down from LEO. NASA’s complementary human space flight program involving the Orion crew vehicle is designed for deep space exploration.
US Senator Bill Nelson (FL) addresses crowd at unveiling ceremony for Boeing’s CST-100 manned capsule to the ISS at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida on June 9, 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
Read my exclusive, in depth one-on-one interviews with Chris Ferguson – America’s last shuttle commander – about the CST-100; here and here.
The stairway to America’s future human access to space is at last literally taking shape from coast to coast.
Sen. Nelson, a strong space exploration advocate for NASA and who also flew on a space shuttle mission on Columbia back in January 1986, was the first person to climb the steps and enter the hatch leading to Boeing’s stairway to the heavens.
“This is harder to get in than the shuttle. But the seats are comfortable,” Nelson told me as he climbed inside the capsule and maneuvered his way into the center co-pilots seat.
Nelson received a personal guided tour of the CST-100 spaceship from Ferguson.
The capsule measures 4.56 meters (175 inches) in diameter.
The media including myself were also allowed to sit inside the capsule and given detailed briefings on Boeing ambitious plans for building a simple and cost effective astronaut transporter.
The vehicle includes five recliner seats, a hatch and windows, the pilots control console with several attached Samsung tablets for crew interfaces with wireless internet, a docking port to the ISS and ample space for 220 kilograms of cargo storage of an array of equipment, gear and science experiments depending on NASA’s allotment choices.
The interior features Boeing’s LED Sky Lighting with an adjustable blue hue based on its 787 Dreamliner airplanes to enhance the ambience for the crew.
Boeing is among a trio of American aerospace firms, including SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp, vying for the next round of contracts to build America’s ‘space taxi’ in a public/private partnership with NASA using seed money under the auspices of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP).
Since 2010, NASA has spent over $1.5 billion on the commercial crew effort.
Boeing has received approximately $600 million and is on target to complete all of NASA’s assigned CCP milestones in the current contract phase known as Commercial Crew Integrated Capability initiative (CCiCAP) by mid-2014.
Boeing’s CST-100 crew capsule reveal on June 9 comes just two weeks after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s Hollywoodesqe glitzy live show on May 29 – pulling the curtain off his firms ‘Dragon’ crew vehicle entry into NASA’s commercial crew program.
NASA officials say that the next round of contracts aims at building a human rated flight vehicle to dock at the ISS by late 2017.
The next contract phase known as Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) will result in one or more awards by NASA later this summer around August or September .
Sen. Nelson expressed his hope that the competition will continue since Congress appears likely to finally approve something near the President’s CCP funding request of over $800 million in the Fiscal 2015 NASA budget.
“With about $800 million, that’s enough money for NASA to do the competition for at least two and maybe more,” said Nelson. “That of course is up to NASA as they evaluate all the proposals.”
NASA had hoped to fly the first commercial crew missions in mid-2015.
But repeated CCP funding cuts by Congress since its inception in 2010 has already caused significant delays to the start of the space taxi missions for all three companies contending for NASA’s commercial crew contracts.
In fact the schedule has slipped already 18 months to the right compared to NASA’s initial plans thus forcing the agency to buy more Soyuz seats from the Russians at a cost of over $70 million each.
The reusable capsule will launch atop a man rated United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket.
It was glorious to be seated inside America’s next spaceship destined to carry humans.
Boeing’s CST-100 project engineer Tony Castilleja describes the capsule during a fascinating interview with Ken Kremer/Universe Today on June 9, 2014 while sitting inside the full scale mockup of the Boeing CST-100 space taxi during unveiling ceremony at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
The next generation of US human spaceflight is finally coming to fruition after a long down time.
Read my exclusive new interview with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden explaining the importance of getting Commercial Crew online to expand our reach into space- here.
Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Boeing, SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, commercial space, Orion, Curiosity, Mars rover, MAVEN, MOM and more planetary and human spaceflight news.
It’s ‘Thumbs Up’ for unveiling of Boeing’s CST-100 Space Taxi at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on June 9, 2014. Florida’s US Sen. Bill Nelson (left), final shuttle commander Chris Ferguson (now Director of Boeing’s Crew and Mission Operations, center) and Ken Kremer/Universe Today pose in front of capsule with stairway leading to open hatch. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
Artist's impression of the IXS Enterprise, a warp ship. Credit: Mark Rademaker
“Let me take you on a little trip … we’re gonna travel faster than light,” the Kinks sang 42 years ago. Well, maybe this was the warp ship they were dreaming of.
Howard White (who we can confirm was a NASA employee as late as 2013) has a vision for a warp-drive ship that he’s been working on for a few years. White, whose biography describes him as the advanced propulsion theme lead for NASA’s engineering directorate, recently released his new vision of the spaceship in collaboration with artist Mark Rademaker. The result is gorgeous. More pictures below the jump.
As for how realistic his concept is, as non-physicists it’s tough for us to evaluate. Essentially, White is proposing some modifications to this warp drive concept by Miguel Alcubierre, which would create a zone of warped space time in front of and behind the spaceship to get it to move quickly. But White has been making the professional and media circuit in recent years touting his theories, and they are getting attention.
Artist’s impression of the IXS Enterprise, a conceptual warp ship. Credit: Mark RademakerArtist’s impression of the IXS Enterprise, a conceptual warp drive ship. Credit: Mark Rademaker
A screenshot from Planetary Resources' "The Trillion Dollar Market: Fuel in Space From Asteroids." Credit: Planetary Resources/YouTube (screenshot)
While we as a community love exploring space, we also recognize it can be expensive. Launch costs, manufacturing and keeping a mission going all take money, which is why NASA (for example) runs reviews every couple of years to figure out which ongoing missions are providing the best return.
Planetary Resources — one of the companies that wants to mine asteroids, and is searching for them with NASA — has produced a new video envisioning a solution to that problem: harvesting fuel from asteroids. Leaving the legal concerns aside, the company points out this could be a way of better opening up exploration of the solar system.
“In space one resource above all others is extraordinarily expensive and without cheap access to it, growth is limited…FUEL,” Planetary Resources wrote. “The catalyst for rapid expansion into every frontier in history has been access to cheap, local resources. And in space, access to rocket fuel is currently neither cheap, nor local.
“But on asteroids,” it continued, “abundant quantities of hydrogen and oxygen can be used to create rocket fuel, the same stuff used by the space shuttle. This allows companies like Vivisat fuel spacetugs that will be used to keep satellites in their Geostationary slots, or fuel up your spacecraft before zooming off to Mars. The possibilities are endless!”
The Orion crew module for Exploration Flight Test-1 is shown in the Final Assembly and System Testing (FAST) Cell, positioned over the service module just prior to mating the two sections together. Credit: NASA/Rad Sinyak
The Orion crew module for Exploration Flight Test-1 is shown in the Final Assembly and System Testing (FAST) Cell, positioned over the service module just prior to mating the two sections together. Credit: NASA/Rad Sinyak
Story updated[/caption]
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL- Engineers have begun stacking operations for NASA’s maiden Orion deep space test capsule at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) achieving a major milestone leading to its first blastoff from the Florida Space Coast less than six months from today.
The excitement is mounting as final assembly of NASA’s Orion crew vehicle into its launch configuration started on Monday, June 9, inside the Operations and Checkout (O&C) Facility at Kennedy.
Orion will eventually carry humans to destinations far beyond low Earth orbit on new voyages of scientific discovery in our solar system.
“Orion is the next step in our journey of exploration,” said NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot at a recent KSC media briefing.
“This mission is a stepping stone on NASA’s journey to Mars. The EFT-1 mission is so important to NASA.”
The main elements of the Orion spacecraft stack include the crew module (CM), service module (SM) and the launch abort system (LAS).
On Monday, technicians from Orion’s prime contractor Lockheed Martin began aligning and stacking the crew module on top of the already completed service module in the Final Assembly and System Testing (FAST) Cell in the O & C facility at KSC.
“Ballast weights were added to ensure that the crew module’s center of gravity can achieve the appropriate entry and descent performance and also ensure that the vehicle lands in the correct orientation to reduce structural impact loads,” according to Lockheed Martin.
Engineers will remain busy throughout this week continuing to work at a 24/7 pace to get Orion ready for the December liftoff.
Orion heat shield attached to the bottom of the capsule by engineers during assembly work inside the Operations and Checkout High Bay facility at KSC. Credit: NASA
The next steps involve completing the power and fluid umbilical connections between the CM and SM and firmly bolting the two modules together inside the FAST cell.
Orion crew capsule, Service Module and 6 ton Launch Abort System (LAS) mock up stack inside the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Service module at bottom. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
An exhaustive series of electrical, avionic and radio frequency tests will follow. The team will then conduct final systems checks to confirm readiness for flight.
The LAS will then be stacked on top. The entire stack will then be rolled out to the launch pad for integration with the Delta IV Heavy rocket.
The CM/SM stacking operation was able to move forward following the successful attachment of the world’s largest heat shield onto the bottom of the CM in late May. Read my prior story – here.
“Now that we’re getting so close to launch, the spacecraft completion work is visible every day,” said Mark Geyer, NASA’s Orion Program manager in a statement.
“Orion’s flight test will provide us with important data that will help us test out systems and further refine the design so we can safely send humans far into the solar system to uncover new scientific discoveries on future missions.”
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and science chief Astronaut John Grunsfeld discuss NASA’s human spaceflight initiatives backdropped by the service module for the Orion crew capsule being assembled at the Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
Orion is NASA’s next generation human rated vehicle now under development to replace the now retired space shuttle. The state-of-the-art spacecraft will carry America’s astronauts on voyages venturing farther into deep space than ever before – past the Moon to Asteroids, Mars and Beyond!
No humans have flown beyond low Earth orbit in more than four decades since Apollo 17, NASA’s final moon landing mission launched in December 1972.
The two-orbit, four- hour EFT-1 flight will lift the Orion spacecraft and its attached second stage to an orbital altitude of 3,600 miles, about 15 times higher than the International Space Station (ISS) – and farther than any human spacecraft has journeyed in 40 years.
One of the primary goals of NASA’s eagerly anticipated Orion EFT-1 uncrewed test flight is to test the efficacy of the heat shield in protecting the vehicle – and future human astronauts – from excruciating temperatures reaching 4000 degrees Fahrenheit (2200 C) during scorching re-entry heating.
At the conclusion of the EFT-1 flight, the detached Orion capsule plunges back and re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere at 20,000 MPH (32,000 kilometers per hour).
“That’s about 80% of the reentry speed experienced by the Apollo capsule after returning from the Apollo moon landing missions,” Scott Wilson, NASA’s Orion Manager of Production Operations at KSC, told me during an interview at KSC.
A trio of parachutes will then unfurl to slow Orion down for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
The EFT-1 mission will provide engineers with critical data about Orion’s heat shield, flight systems and capabilities to validate designs of the spacecraft, inform design decisions, validate existing computer models and guide new approaches to space systems development. All these measurements will aid in reducing the risks and costs of subsequent Orion flights before it begins carrying humans to new destinations in the solar system.
“We will test the heat shield, the separation of the fairing and exercise over 50% of the eventual software and electronic systems inside the Orion spacecraft. We will also test the recovery systems coming back into the Pacific Ocean,” said Lightfoot.
“Orion EFT-1 is really exciting as the first step on the path of humans to Mars,” said Lightfoot. “It’s a stepping stone to get to Mars.”
“We will test the capsule with a reentry velocity of about 85% of what to expect on returning [astronauts] from Mars.”
Two of the three United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV heavy boosters for NASA’s upcoming Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission were unveiled during a media event inside the Horizontal Integration Facility at Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on March 17, 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com
Concurrently, new American-made private crewed spaceships are under development by SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada – with funding from NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) – to restore US capability to ferry US astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and back to Earth by late 2017.
Read my exclusive new interview with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden explaining the importance of getting Commercial Crew online to expand our reach into space- here.
Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Orion, Orbital Sciences, SpaceX, commercial space, Curiosity, Mars rover, MAVEN, MOM and more planetary and human spaceflight news.
Still from the first Vine video from space showing the Sun never setting on the International Space Station. Video taken in June 2014. Credit: Reid Wiseman/Vine
Isn’t there something so soothing about watching the Sun go around and around in this short video? This is the first Vine video from space. Vine is a social website that publishes short videos (around six seconds), and it’s used to great illustration in this message beamed from the International Space Station.
Going around Earth usually takes the space station around 90 minutes, but NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman explained that at this time of year, it is flying parallel with the “terminator line” — the location where the Sun rises or sets on Earth.
This left the space station in 24-hour sunlight, providing some great marathon space station watching for those people wanting to wave at the guys from the ground. According to Universe Today writer Bob King, the marathon wraps up tomorrow, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the space station from your location.
Artist's conception of how the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) beams information from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA
What’s the first thing you would say to Earth if you were sending a message from space? Well, the old computer expression “Hello, World!” seems apt. That in fact was the content of the video message sent by laser from an experiment on the International Space Station that aims to speed up communications in space.
Laser could change communications with spacecraft forever. For half a century we’ve been used to puttering around with radio waves, receiving a few bits of information at a time, which makes transmitting images and videos from distant planets an exercise of patience.
Enter the OPALS (Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science) payload, which transmitted the video (which you can watch above) at a maximum of 50 megabits per second — the standard speed for many home Internet connections. The testbed technology could speed up comms about 10 to 1,000 times faster than traditional radio, which would definitely get science information to the ground faster. The tradeoff is you have to be extremely precise.
“Because the space station orbits Earth at 17,500 mph [28,200 km/h], transmitting data from the space station to Earth requires extremely precise targeting,” NASA stated. “The process can be equated to a person aiming a laser pointer at the end of a human hair 30 feet away and keeping it there while walking.”
OPALS did this by communicating with a laser beacon at the Table Mountain Observatory in Wrightwood, California. The transmission took 148 seconds, and the video message itself only took 3.5 seconds for each copy to come to Earth — compared with 10 minutes under traditional methods!
