Franklin Chang Diaz’s proposed VASIMR rocket engine could create very versatile spacecraft. Not only does the plasma-fueled rocket have the potential to make a trip to Mars in just over a month, it could also help clean up space trash in Earth orbit. “Our goal is to be able to have a garbage truck that will be picking up all of these objects at various orbits,” astronaut Chang Diaz said in an article in the Global Post. The debris could put into an “orbital graveyard,” he added, “or we could actually launch them to the sun and drive them to the sun, which is kind of the ultimate, cosmic dump.”
Image plot of space junk. Image credit: NASA
Space debris is becoming a growing problem. The number of non-operating satellites in orbit has increased, as well as debris from spacecraft explosions and, as happened earlier this year, collisions between satellites.
“The Earth has become virtually a beehive,” Chang Diaz said. “The number of satellites orbiting the Earth, we’re talking hundreds of thousands of these objects. Some of them are just junk that’s floating there simply because these satellites have run out of fuel and they just remain in orbit dead.”
The rocket, called the VASIMR for “variable specific impulse magnetoplasma rocket,” uses a high-power technology initially studied by NASA that turns argon into plasma. Propelled by an exhaust gas at temperatures close to that of the sun, the VASIMR VX-200 engine would have the ability to change orbits and accelerate and decelerate in order to pick up space debris.
In September, Chang Diaz’s company, Ad Astra, tested the rocket and achieved a milestone. During the a test on in a vacuum chamber on Earth, the engine cranked at just over 200 kilowatts, becoming the world’s most powerful electric rocket. Possible uses for the VASIMR rocket. Credit: Ad Astra
VASIMR is not suitable to launch payloads from the surface of the Earth due to its low thrust to weight ratio and its need of a vacuum to operate. It would, however be ideal to function as an upper stage for cargo, drastically reducing the fuel requirements for in-space transportation.
Ad Astra has also signed an agreement with NASA to test a 200-kilowatt VASIMR engine on the International Space Station in 2013 to help keep it in orbit. ISS boosts are currently provided by conventional thrusters, which consume about 7.5 tons of propellant per year. By cutting this amount down to 0.3 tons, Chang-Diaz estimates that VASIMR could save NASA millions of dollars per year.
Other uses of the plasma rocket engine would be lunar cargo transport, human missions to Mars or other destinations, and in-space refueling.
The first attempt to send a rocket to the Moon via balloon hit a snag on Monday. The first test of the Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association’s (ARCA) balloon-launched rocket (or “rockoon”) ended in failure when the “inflation arms” used to fill the balloon became entangled in the balloon itself. The arms had to be cut, and the operation – which required the use of a large naval frigate — was curtailed. ARCA hopes to compete in the Google Lunar X PRIZE, and intends on using their unusual rocket system to send an equally unique spherical lunar lander to win a $30 million prize.
Rockoons were tried and then abandoned by the US in the 1950s because they blew off course in windy conditions.
ARCA’s European Lunar Explorer (ELE) is a simple design. The super-huge balloon carrying a system of three rockets will soar to about 11 miles (18 km) up. Then the first two rocket stages will fire and boost the system into low Earth orbit, and use the final stage to boost it to the Moon. The ELE will then travel to the moon and deploy its Lunar Lander, which resembles a knobby rubber ball that uses its own rocket engine to ensure a soft landing. Watch their video of how it all will work below: (If nothing else, watch it for the great music!)
On Monday, the Romanians loaded their prototype moon-balloon rocket onto the a large Romanian naval frigate, the Constanta, which took the entire crew out to the launch site in the Black Sea.
But as the balloon started to inflate, the inflation mechanism arms got tangled, and the entire operation had to be abandoned. The giant black balloon collects heat from the sun instead of using burners like hot-air balloons normally use, so it needs to launch during the day.
The Google Lunar X PRIZE challenges participants to construct a delivery system that will get a rover to the Moon, where the robot has to drive for about 500 meters, take high-resolution pictures of its surroundings, and then send them back home.
Moments after 2:28 PM EST blast off of Space Shuttle Atlantis and six person crew on 16 November 2009 from pad 39 A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer
(Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is in Florida for Universe Today covering the launch of Atlantis.)
Space Shuttle Atlantis and her six person crew roared into space on Monday precisely as planned at 2:28 PM EST from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The yellow exhaust flames grew into a nearly blinding intensity as Atlantis ascended off the pad on a trail of crackling fire and smoke. For what felt like an eternity, it seemed like Atlantis would be engulfed in a rapidly expanding inferno emanating from her tail in mid air. The time span was in reality perhaps 5 seconds. Atlantis then dove straight upwards, arced over and finally looked like she would return back to Kennedy on a big circular loop directly through the wake of the exhaust plume. In fact that sight was just an optical illusion but the feeling was shared by other media I conversed with here at the KSC Press site.
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As Atlantis rose on 7 million pounds of liftoff thrust following ignition of the 3 space shuttle main engines and twin solid rocket boosters we saw her rotate about her vertical axis. Atlantis swiftly rising exhaust trail was clearly visible for about three minutes as she ascended northwards up the east coast of the United States for her trek into the orbital plane of the International Space Station (ISS) and carefully choreographed link up in 2 days time.
Gloomy early morning skies which were completely overcast had threatened to delay the launch. At a post-launch briefing, even senior Shuttle manager Mike Moses related how he awoke to the unexpected turn in the weather and said “What the heck happened!”.
Ken Kremer met up with a group of lucky Tweeters at the KSC press center a few minutes after Atlantis blast off. Back dropped by the world famous countdown clock, pad 39 A and US Flag, they appear to be celebrating their good fortune to be invited by NASA to witness the drama first hand and instantly transmit their experiences across all earth’s continents. Do you think they are having a blast? Credit: Ken Kremer
Perhaps an hour before launch the thick cloud layer at last dissipated and Atlantis punched through the deep blue skies, thrilling everyone at KSC including the over 100 tweeters allowed onto the press site for the very first time, some of whom I met and expressed utter joy at having the best seat in the house.
STS 129 is carrying 15 tons of critical spare parts to guard against the fast approaching day when the shuttle is retired from service in about 1 year. The shuttle is a true spaceship whose vital role and capability to transport large components and replacement equipment to the ISS will remain unmatched for decades to come.
“We appreciate all the effort making this launch attempt possible. We are excited to take this incredible vehicle for a ride to another incredible vehicle, the ISS,” Commander Charlie Hobaugh said shortly before launch.
During three spacewalks, astronauts will install two platforms to the station’s truss, or backbone which will be used to store the spare parts brought aloft and also known as Orbital Replacement Units, or ORU’s. The six person crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis walk out from crew quarters at 10:38 AM to greet the cheering crowd of media and NASA officials and then head out to pad 39 A to strap in for space launch with hours. Credit: Ken Kremer
Hobaugh is joined on Atlantis’ STS-129 mission by Pilot Barry E. Wilmore and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Randy Bresnik, Mike Foreman and Bobby Satcher. Atlantis will return with station resident Nicole Stott, marking the final time the shuttle is expected to rotate station crew members. Wilmore, Bresnik and Satcher are first-time space fliers. All future ISS residents will ride aboard Russian Soyuz rockets. I visited the huge Tweet Up Tent which NASA set up for the first time at the Kennedy Space Center Press center so that ordinary folks from around the world could observe a shuttle launch and share it globally straight away as events unfolded. This reminded me of a high tech command center. Credit: Ken Kremer
If you don’t quite have the right stuff, but always thought being an astronaut would be cool, here’s a way for you to contribute to the US space program. Go to bed. With NASA. “I would absolutely recommend it. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life,” said Heather Archuletta, who has participated in three different studies for the Human Test Subject Facility (HTSF) at the Johnson Space Center. These ongoing studies use long-term bed rest to simulate the effects of micro-gravity an astronaut would experience during extended space flight. “This is a great opportunity for the general public to help NASA with their scientific research,” said John Foster, who works for Solitaire Creative Services, a company that promotes the studies.
“This is one of NASA’s biggest barriers for sending humans to Mars,” Archuletta told Universe Today. “If they can find a way around bone demineralization, wow, that would really boost the possibilities for human spaceflight.”
NASA is planning a series of studies that support the scientific needs of the space program. The studies will be conducted over the next ten years, and currently, NASA is looking to fill spots in 87-day bed rest studies and a lunar analog feasibility study. Participants in a NASA bed rest study. Credit: NASA
For the bed rest study, participants are placed in bed with the head of the bed tilted down at a minus-six-degree incline. The Lunar Analog Feasibility Study is a 21-day study to demonstrate if it is possible to simulate 1/6 G lunar gravity using bed rest.
“Participants are compensated for their time and expenses,” said Foster. “For example, a participant who completed a 60-day study was paid approximately $13,800.”
“I know they desperately need more healthy females,” Archuletta said. “It seems people think only guys can do these studies, so it seems harder to get women.”
Archuletta, who is also known as the “Pillow-naut” from her blog about her experiences, Pillow Astronaut, said amazingly, the studies simulate very well what astronauts experience in space. “You wouldn’t think that something as simple as tilting the body would mimic what astronauts experience, but it affects your vestibular system the same way and you get the same exact fluid shift where all the blood pools in your head. You get a little bit of muscle atrophy and some bone mineral loss, and they see the same exact lowering in plasma volume and lower heart rate. Almost everything that happens in space they can do with tilting the bed. That was major news for me.”
She said the first week of being in bed is the hardest part of the study. “When they put you in the head-down position, it kind of messes with the inner ear and your equilibrium,” Archuletta said. “They warned me about it, but I didn’t give it much credence, because I thought, ‘you’re lying down, how hard can it be?’ But you get a blood rush to the head, so my teeth were throbbing and I had a headache.” During the 90-day bed rest study, participants do everything in bed, from showering to eating to socializing with other participants. Image Credit: NASA
She also would get dizzy when she turned her head quickly, which again, mimics what many astronauts experience in space. “I have been able to talk with two different astronauts and they both said, yes, the first few days you are on orbit, the veteran astronauts tell them not to turn their head quickly because when you are weightless it messes with the vestibular system.”
Those symptoms passed in about a week, Archuletta said. “It is amazing what the body can adapt to. All of a sudden my body just said, ‘OK, this is our new reality and we’ll deal with it.’ Within a couple of weeks I felt normal and actually getting up was the hard part. You get used to lying down and it actually starts to feel normal.”
But the benefits of participating outweighed any discomforts she went through. “You have tons and tons of free time. I tore through about 30 books. You have your own room but there is a common room where we can play games and talk, but I worked a little while I was there,” said Archuletta, who works as a consultant for an IT company and also is a freelance writer. “But mostly it was nice just to catch up on a lot of things I’d wanted to do for a while.”
But don’t expect to be chosen to participate if you plan to just play video games for three months. “They are really looking for people who come in with goals,” Archuletta said, “such as one person there learned Spanish, I learned sign language, and another person brought their guitar and wrote songs. They want people who have ideas about how to keep themselves busy because they will be less likely to get restless.”
Archuletta said the question she gets asked most often is if she got bored. “Absolutely not,” she said. “It is a very busy testing schedule when you first come, so you go through a lot of physical exertion before the bed rest phase; they keep you very busy. Once you are in bed you do get a lot of free time, but you are being monitored. They take vitals a couple of times a day, and make sure you are doing OK. You stretch a couple times a day so you don’t get blood clots, but you can’t outright exercise. But you get a massage every other day – that’s definitely one of the good parts! I don’t think the astronauts get that in space!” Archuletta doing isokinetics exercises. Courtesy Heather Archuletta
The studies are done at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Participants will live in a special research unit for the entire study and be fed a carefully controlled diet. The first 11-15 days of the 87-day study, participants undergo tests, but are not on bed rest. The next 60 days participants are constantly in bed, (except for limited times for specific tests) with their head tilted downward slightly. Then there are 14 days to recover, to allow the body to get back to normal.
Participants must be nonsmokers who are in good health with no history of cardiovascular, neurological, gastrointestinal, or musculoskeletal problems.
Monkeys have made contributions to spaceflight before, and NASA plans to start using them again to test the effects of radiation exposure on their performance of various tasks. With renewed efforts to send humans to the Moon and Mars – which exposes them to radiation from the Sun and galactic cosmic rays – NASA wants a better idea of exactly what the effects of this radiation will be on the cognitive performance of astronauts. A research proposal on the effects of radiation in primates is just one of twelve studies that NASA has chosen to fund through its Human Research Program grants for space radiobiology research.
The study, proposed by Jack Bergman, who is an Associate Professor of Psychobiology at Harvard Medical School’s McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, will test how the exposure to radiation of 18-28 rhesus monkeys will effect their performance at trained tasks. They will be subjected to a single dose of radiation that is equivalent to what an astronaut would encounter on a three-year mission to Mars. After the exposure, the monkeys will be monitored as to how they perform tasks which they have been trained to do on a computer touch screen.
“The beauty of this is that we can assess at different time points after exposure, so not only do we get a sense of rather immediate effects, but then we can look again at longer time points. That kind of information just hasn’t been available,” Bergman told Discovery News.
The aim of such research is to see exactly how radiation exposure will alter the performance of astronauts on a long-term mission to Mars. Radiation exposure has been shown in mice and rats to effect their overall cognitive performance, but little is known as to what effects will occur in humans at such radiation levels. This is why the study will be done on primates, which are much closer in biological makeup to humans.
The monkeys will not be killed after the experiment ends, and will remain at the McLean hospital for care during the remainder of their lives.
NASA has enlisted rhesus monkeys before, in the 1940s into the 1960s, to study the effects of launch and re-entry into space. A number of rhesus and squirrel monkeys were launched into space, and many did not survive the re-entry. These experiments paved the way for human spaceflight, and gave NASA information as to what was needed to protect the astronauts from the inherent danger of going into space.
The decision by NASA to fund this experiment has of course raised concerns about the ethical nature of such experiments. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine sent an appeal to NASA administrator Charles Bolden, charging that the experiments are in violation of the Sundowner Report, guidelines set by NASA regarding the ethical treatment of animals used in research.
When the experiments are to begin is still unclear, as the research proposal is still pending approval by the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, where the actual irradiation research will take place.
(Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is in Florida for Universe Today covering the current launch attempts of the space shuttle and Atlas)Image caption: The Atlas 5 will orbit the commercial Intelsat 14 communications satellite. This photo shows upper portion of rocket and umbilical cord connections leading from mobile launch platform to the decaled 4 meter wide white colored payload fairing and Centaur upper stage. The flight is designated as tail number AV-024. Credit: Ken Kremer
Shortly after midnight on Saturday November 14 the launch of an Atlas 5 rocket poised at Complex 41 and bathed in xenon lights was suddenly halted when engineers discovered a power dropout with the ORCA, or Ordnance Remote Control Assembly.
Atlas 5 rocket sits atop mobile launch platform at launch pad at Complex 41, Cape Canaveral, Florida on a cloudless day just a few hours prior to the scheduled post midnight launch on 14 November 2009. Note lightings masts at left and Vertical Integration Facility at right where rocket components are assembled. Credit: Ken Kremer
The Atlas was due to blast off at 12: 48 AM EST into the cloudless and calm sky above Cape Canaveral, Florida carrying the commercial Intelsat 14 communications satellite into orbit. I was observing from the Kennedy Space Center press site along with other media representatives as weather conditions were near perfect and gremlins intervened. My vantage point at KSC provides a clear and direct view to the base of the Atlas rocket and launch pad.
The scrub was called less than half an hour before the scheduled liftoff time and after propellant loading of the first and second stages had been successfully completed. Engineers will need to troubleshoot the cause of the temporary power interruption to the ORCA electronics component which is used to control the critical flight events on the Atlas booster.
Technicians must obtain access to the electronics box within the rocket and remove it for further investigation of the technical glitch. Since there is no access at the pad to gain entry and accomplish this task, the Atlas vehicle must be rolled back off the pad about 1800 feet and into the 30 story tall Vertical Integration Facility. Therefore the launch team executed the standard detanking of propellants to safe the rocket following the scrub. Atlas 5 rocket at sunset surrounded by 4 lightening masts at pad 41. Multiple tanks of compressed gaseous nitrogen at 4800 psi in foreground. A technical glitch with the ORCA electronics unit critical for flight control forced a scrub for what would have been the 19th flight of an Atlas 5. Credit: Ken Kremer Atlas 5 rocket at sunset surrounded by 4 lightening masts at pad 41. Multiple tanks of compressed gaseous nitrogen at 4800 psi in foreground. A technical glitch with the ORCA electronics unit critical for flight control forced a scrub for what would have been the 19th flight of an Atlas 5. Credit: Ken Kremer
The launch is being conducted for Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services by United Launch Alliance (ULA). A new launch date has not been set at this time, a ULA spokesman told me. As a result of the postponement and rollback, the STS 129 flight will proceed without delay as the countdown clock is ticking towards blast off on November 16 according to NASA officials.
Just hours before the planned Atlas liftoff, I visited pad 41 on a special media tour for close-up photography and remote camera set up. The twilight sun was setting to the west behind the mighty bronze colored rocket topped by a white colored nose cone which protects the valuable satellite payload from aerodynamic forces as it pierces through the atmosphere. Ken Kremer with the Atlas launch vehicle at Pad 41 which will fly in the 431 configuration with 3 solid rocket boosters attached to the first stage and a single engine white colored Centaur upper stage. The Atlas 5 was rolled out to launch pad on Nov 12. Note tracks at center. The Intelsat satellite is encapsulated in a 4 meter wide extra extended payload fairing. A similar Centaur stage impacted the moon as part of the LCROSS mission. Ken Kremer with the Atlas launch vehicle at Pad 41 which will fly in the 431 configuration with 3 solid rocket boosters attached to the first stage and a single engine white colored Centaur upper stage. The Atlas 5 was rolled out to launch pad on Nov 12. Note tracks at center. The Intelsat satellite is encapsulated in a 4 meter wide extra extended payload fairing. A similar Centaur stage impacted the moon as part of the LCROSS mission. See my LCROSS photos here.
The next space shuttle mission STS-129, slated to launch next Monday Nov. 16, is a “spare parts and stock-up” mission. And the needed extra parts and supplies delivered to the International Space Station by Atlantis will mean spare years on the station’s life once the space shuttle fleet is retired. The mission is a landmark of sorts — not sure if it is a good landmark or bad — but STS-129 is scheduled to be the last space shuttle crew rotation flight. From here on out, crew rotation will be done by the Soyuz and any future commercial vehicle that may come online. Besides the crew, a payload of spiders and butterfly larvae will be on board Atlantis for an experiment that will be monitored by thousands of K-12 students across US. Find out more about the flight with a video preview of the mission, below.
STS-129 will be commanded by Charlie Hobaugh and piloted by Barry Wilmore. Mission Specialists are Robert Satcher Jr., Mike Foreman, Randy Bresnik and Leland Melvin. Wilmore, Satcher and Bresnik will be making their first trips to space. The mission will return station crew member Nicole Stott to Earth.
The crew will deliver two control moment gyroscopes and other equipment, plus the EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 1 and 2 to the station. The mission will feature three spacewalks.
Upcoming commercial space flights are no longer only about rich, adventure-seeking space tourists. Researchers hope to capitalize on the prospect of quick, low-cost and frequent access to the micro-gravity environment of sub-orbital space. “We’ve got these great vehicles coming online and most of the discussion about them so far have centered on the tourism market,” said Erika Wagner, member of SARG – the Suborbital Applications Researcher Group. “As researchers we felt this was a fantastic opportunity to do both science and education, as well.”
SARG was chartered by the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, and consists of around a dozen scientists and researchers from across the spectrum of the different sciences. Led by Alan Stern who formerly headed NASA’s science directorate, the group has sponsored three different workshops for scientists in Boston, Houston and Los Angeles, with another upcoming in Boulder Colorado (Feb. 18-20, 2010). “We want to inform researchers on this opportunity,” Wagner told Universe Today,” and find out how they want to use the vehicles and any constraints they might have, and feed that back to the vehicle designers and flight providers.”
About a year ago, SARG started surveying scientists, as well as getting the word out to NASA and other funding agencies that scientists were excited about sub-orbital space. “We’ve started to build some momentum now with the Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research program,” Wagner said, “and NASA has put up $2.6 million to support suborbital research in 2010. We’re putting everything in place to get everything structured to make this a viable research platform.” Erika Wagner at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight. credit: ISPCS
Sub-orbital science appears to be a win-win situation for both scientists and the nascent commercial spaceflight companies. For researchers, the flights represent cheaper and more frequent access to space than anything NASA can provide with the space shuttle, parabolic flights or sounding rockets. For companies like Armadillo Aerospace, Blue Origin, Masten Space Systems, Virgin Galactic, and XCOR, adding science to their payloads represents the possibility of an additional $100 million a year in fares — roughly equivalent to the fares that would be paid out by 500 passengers.
Wagner said this new sub-orbital realm represents an entire new dimension for scientists. “The researchers hadn’t thought about it much before,” she said. “Mostly the research being done now is on the space shuttle and space station and is geared towards long duration flights. But the idea of how we use 3 or 4 minutes of microgravity is a real paradigm shift.”
“They would be able to do anything that requires being above the atmosphere but doesn’t require a Hubble Space Telescope,” Wagner continued,” or planetary science measurements, or atmospheric measurements as you go up and down. There’s a whole area that is called the “ignorosphere” – the part of the atmosphere that is too thin for planes to fly in but too thick for satellites to fly through, which has been pretty much ignored by the scientific community. But the suborbital vehicles go right through it.”
Then there’s basic fluids research- how do bubbles and fluids interact, which has implications for designing spacecraft engines –, particulates research, studying how the human body adapts to space, and other medical investigations.
Trajectory of the Vomit Comet, the KC 135 flights. Credit: NASA
“Several years ago researchers developed techniques for CPR in microgravity in case they ever need it on the space station,” Wagner said. “They tested in on the Vomit Comet, (parabolic flights) and you have only 20-30 second bursts, and it’s really hard to develop procedures for that, or especially for minor surgery or emergency procedures in that amount of time. 3-4 minutes gives you an opportunity to practice them and do training.”
Wagner, who works in life science research at MIT said what she finds most exciting is that sub-orbital opens up much more broadly the range of people that can be sent into space.
“Of the 450 or so astronauts that have been to space, all have been between 25-50 year of age, been very healthy and well trained,” she said. “Soon, there will be thousands of people who will be going into space which means we can begin to study the differences between men and women, young and old, and open it up to people who never would have been eligible to fly with NASA. Then we could study the effect of microgravity for someone who has a chronic heart condition or diabetes, or people who are on medication. For me that is the most interesting.”
A recent market analysis predicts there could be a demand for 13,000 passengers a year for commercial spaceflight, and SARG predicts there could be demand for over 1,000 flights a year for researchers.
“Down the line, we see 1,000 flights a year,” Wagner said.” Right now we have just a small handful of vehicle developers that have actual hardware in hand, and double that that are in earlier stages. Virgin Galactic is talking about one flight a day or several flights a day, so eventually we can see reaching that flight volume but it will be probably be several years.” Space science on the space station. Credit: NASA
Early flights could include small payloads bolted to a rack or strapped down in the back of the vehicle, as well as passive data collection. “But once tourists start flying we can say, ‘Hey, would you mind if we took your blood pressure before the flight or would you be willing to wear an EKG harness?'” Wagner said, “– some easy things, which also might makes it more exciting for the tourists who can say they were part of an experiment on their flight.”
Later on, Wagner predicts researchers will be able to fly themselves to do hands-on science. “Does this mean that we are going to fly every scientist with his or her own payload or are there going to be a new class of payload specialists that emerge as commercial operators for science?” said Wagner. “It will be interesting to see how this develops.”
There’s plenty of potential for education, too. “Perhaps we can engage students in the work that is going on, and fly small payloads for students and actually allow them to get involved in science again,” Wagner said. “It’s been awhile since NASA has flown student payloads on the space shuttle, and these vehicles with higher flight frequency and lower costs are just custom made for getting students engaged. If commercial vehicles are flying every week, suddenly you can go end-to-end in a senior design project or have a master’s thesis where you’ve used the space environment for testing. Or you can design things that might fit in a tourist’s pocket, such as handheld sensors or iPhone apps and start to engage K-12 kids.” Alan Stern at ISPCS. Credit: ISPCS
Wagner and Stern recently spoke at a panel session at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in Las Cruces, N.M, where Wagner said the question she was asked most often was how suborbital science can contribute to the goal of humans living and working in space on a larger basis.
“For me it’s about opening the doors to the general population,” she said. “Right now if we were going to talk about sending people to Mars, it would be government astronauts — well selected, very fit, very healthy individuals. But if we are going to talk about a longer term vision of the future, where we open up that bottle and send the average Joe and Jane, now we can start to understand what might happen to you or I in space and what we need to do to support the general population – all ages, all genders, all nationalities, all health statutes. The opportunity to blow that wide open is really great.”
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A new module for the space station blasted off today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan at 9:22 a.m. EST. The Poisk (which means “explore” in Russian) is a combination docking module/airlock/future research module. It will meet up with the ISS on Thursday at 10:44 am. Poisk is the first permanent pressurized module to be added since May of 2008, when the Japanese “JEM” research module became part of the ISS, and is the first major Russian addition to the station since the Pirs docking compartment was launched in 2001. The new module will be used as an additional docking port for Russian vehicles, as an airlock for Russian-based spacewalks and as a platform for external science experiments.
The new module is almost identical in size to Pirs, at 2.5 meters (8 feet wide) and about 4 meters (13 feet) long. Its first use will be as a docking port during the relocation of a Soyuz crew vehicle in January.
About 1,800 pounds of cargo is loaded into Poisk’s pressurized compartment for delivery to the space station.
A companion module, the Mini Research Module-1, will be carried to orbit on space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-132 mission, targeted to launch in May 2010. That module will be robotically attached to the station’s Zarya module.
Latest look at Apollo 11 site from LRO. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
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Here are the first images of the Apollo 11 landing site since the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter dropped into its 50 km mapping orbit. The sun is almost straight overhead on this image so there’s no real shadows visible. What’s great about this image is that we can actually see the footpads on the Lunar Module from which Armstrong made his giant leap for mankind! See the closeup below for more details. The other great thing about this top image is that we get a good look at West Crater, which is the rocky area that Neil Armstrong saw as the LM neared the surface. The computer trajectory would have taken them right in the middle of that boulder field, so Armstrong flew manually to change the flight plan to fly westward to find a safe landing spot. This image is 742 meters wide (about 0.46 miles). North is towards the top of the image.
Enlargement of area surrounding Apollo 11 landing site. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
At this altitude, very small details of Tranquility Base can be discerned. The footpads of the LM are clearly discernible, and components of the Early Apollo Science Experiments Package (EASEP) are easily seen, as well. Very cool.
