Monthly Archives: January 2014

UrtheCast’s Eye on the Space Station Can Finally See

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Scott Larson just survived a particularly stressful month during which the equipment he sent to the International Space Station sat in limbo.

His startup, the Canada-based UrtheCast, created special still and video cameras able to withstand space radiation and extreme temperatures in order to record earth from space in high resolution. The cameras arrived at the space station last fall, and after an eight-hour spacewalk on Dec. 27, they were installed. Only they didnt appear to work right, Larson says.

Courtesy UrtheCastUrtheCast High Resolution CameraSo the cameras were taken down. A station-related issue was fixed over several days, and the equipment was finally mounted during a six-hour spacewalk on Tuesday. There have been a lot of tense moments, says Larson, whose company raised $68 million for the project. Its space, and stuff happens in space, and you never quite know. There are always technical issues in any kind of engineering project. But because there are people out there, they can fix them. Thats been a huge asset.

From here on, UrtheCast hopes for smooth travels as the space station orbits the earth 16 times every day. The nearly 70-employee company will spend several weeks calibrating the cameras, which will send their first image back to earth in February. We hope its spectacular, we dont know what its going to be, Larson says.

Once initial tests are wrapped up, UrtheCast expects to start selling space imagery to clients in farming, urban planning, media, and other industries at the end of the second quarter. The company has already signed distribution agreements for $21 million annually, according to Larson, and will also begin streaming images onto the Web in the third quarterin effect challenging Google Earth with a free video-imaging service.

A 4.5-foot-long camera will record 90-second videos 150 times a day as the station circles the planet, Larson says, while a second camera will continuously snap still photos. Together, the stills will cover a 47.3-kilometer-wide swath of the planet and generate 2.5 terabytes of data a day, the equivalent of about 270 full-length movies. UrtheCasts engineers will condense and post the visuals to the companys website within a few hours.

I think everyone in the world will want to come to the website at least once, Larson says.

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UrtheCast's Eye on the Space Station Can Finally See

Space Station Astronaut Rick Mastracchio to Speak with SPACE.com Friday

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NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio has been living and working on the International Space Station since November. On Friday (Jan. 31), the veteran astronaut will speak with SPACE.com about his life in space, the 2013 Olympic Games and the upcoming Super Bowl from his post on the orbiting laboratory.

Mastracchio will connect with SPACE.com at 10:45 a.m. EST (1545 GMT) Friday, and the conversation will be streamed live. We'll find out what it's like to watch sports in space and if there are any friendly international rivalries that might crop up because of the upcoming Olympic Games. We'll also ask what team Mastracchio is cheering for in the Super Bowl. You can watch the cosmic conversation live via NASA TV.

But we also want questions from you, readers! What do you want to ask an astronaut floating through space more than 200 miles (322 kilometers) above the surface of Earth? We'll have about 10 minutes to ask Mastracchio questions, but we'll use some of that time to fit in as many reader questions as possible. Leave your questions in the comments below this story, or send them to Staff Writer Miriam Kramer via Twitter using @mirikramer or @SPACEdotcom. [See Amazing Photos from Rick Mastracchio on the International Space Station]

Mastracchio, 53, hails from Waterbury, Conn., and has flown on three previous space missions with NASA. He joined the space agency in 1987 and was selected for astronaut training in 1996. His first three spaceflights were all short-duration space-shuttle missions to the space station between 2000 and 2010. During those missions, he clocked nearly 40 days in space and ventured into the vacuum of space on six spacewalks.

This will be the second time a SPACE.com staff member has spoken with Mastracchio in a little more than a month. Managing Editor Tariq Malik chatted with Mastracchio on Dec. 13, 2013, about spacewalking and what it's like to be in space for Christmas.

Over the Christmas season, Mastracchio and fellow NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins completed two successful spacewalks to install a space ammonia pump module on the outside of the station, fixing a problem with the orbiting outpost's critical cooling system. Mastracchio now has 51 hours and 28 minutes of spacewalking time under his belt.

Mastracchio is set to fly back to Earth with fellow crew members Koichi Wakata, of Japan, and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin in May of this year. They are currently joined by Hopkins and cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy, who round out the Expedition 38 crew.

What do you want to ask Mastracchio? Leave your suggestions in the comments below.

Cosmic Quiz: Do You Know the International Space St...

The International Space Station is the largest structure in space ever built by humans. Let's see how much you know about the basics of this science laboratory in the sky.

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Space Station Astronaut Rick Mastracchio to Speak with SPACE.com Friday

Say cheese! Space station cameras now looking at us in high-def. (+video)

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After four spacewalks and a series of glitches, the International Space Station now sports a pair of cameras pointing at Earth.

The fourth spacewalk from Expedition 38, performed by Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy, wrapped up the installation of two high-definition cameras that experienced connectivity issues last month. A spacewalk on Dec. 27 tried to resolve the issue, but ongoing technical problems kept them from finishing.

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After exitingthe Pirs docking compartment, the men headed to the Zvezda service module, where they installed a high-resolution video camera and a medium resolution still camera to capture Earth imagery. The high-res camera checked out, but the medium-resolution camera again experienced telemetry issues.

Dr. Kotov and Dr. Ryazanskiy also retrieved scientific gear outside the stations Russian segment.

Their spacewalk lasted for 6 hours and 8 minutes, wrapping up at 3:08 p.m. EST yesterday (Jan. 27). The spacewalk a month before lasted two hours longer, clocking in at 8 hours and 7 minutes. Though they failed to complete the cameras' installation, they did set the record for the longest Russian spacewalk. The previous record-holders were Expedition 36 Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin, who conducted a 7 hour and 29 minute excursion on Aug. 16.

On Dec. 27, Kotov and Ryazanskiy installed the cameras, but then had to remove them when Russian flight controllers on the ground reported that they could not receive necessary telemetry information.

The cameras are part of a commercial agreement between a Canadian firm and the Russian Federal Space Agency. Their goal is to provide views of Earth from the ISS for Internet-based subscribers. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation notes that the still camera has a resolution of five square meters, and the video camera has a resolution of one square meter.

The spacewalkers also retrieved a cassette container attached to Pirs, part of a materials exposure experiment. They then removed a worksite interface adapter attached to a portable data grapple fixture on the Zarya cargo module. The adapter removal work should ensure that future operations with the Canadarm2 robotic arm will not be impeded.

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Say cheese! Space station cameras now looking at us in high-def. (+video)

Florida Space Day Taking Place on March 12, 2014

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL (January 28, 2014) - Representatives from Florida's aerospace industry will visit Tallahassee on March12, 2014, to participate in Florida Space Day and share with legislators the opportunities the industry brings to Florida and the nation's space program.

Former NASA astronaut Bob Crippen (image attached), pilot of the first orbital test flight of the Shuttle program and former NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Director, will be making scheduled appearances throughout the event. Space-related exhibits will be available on the third floor Rotunda of the Capitol.

"Home to more than 500 aerospace companies employing over 30,000 professionals, Florida must continue to retain, grow and diversify the business of space," said Patty Stratton, chair of Florida Space Day 2014. Florida has the third largest space industry in the nation.

This year's event is critical, as the state's space industry continues to expand and change to face the dynamic international marketplace. During Space Day, industry leaders and other aerospace supporters will meet with House and Senate members, as well as the Governor, to discuss the state's $9 billion space industry, and determine the best strategies for leveraging these markets for Florida's benefit in the years ahead.

With Florida's tested capabilities, it is poised to continue capitalizing on emerging aerospace opportunities as well as open new frontiers in exploration and discovery. Home to two of just eight commercially-licensed spaceports in the country, Florida is one of only three states conducting commercial orbital launches.

"Aerospace means business and that translates into high tech, high paying jobs for Florida," said Stratton. "We want Florida to continue its aggressive stance to create a robust atmosphere for space exploration and business."

Florida Space Day participants include Abacus Technology Corp, AECOM Government Technical Service, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, ASRC Aerospace Corporation, Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, Astrotech Space Operations, ATK, Bionetics, The Boeing Company, Blue Origin, Brazil-Florida Chamber of Commerce, Craig Technologies, D3 Air & Space Operations, Delaware North Companies, Dynamac Corporation, Earthrise Space, Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Exelis, Harris Corporation, InDyne Inc, Jacobs, Jacksonville Aviation Authority, LJT & Associates, Lockheed Martin, Millennium Engineering & Integration, QinetiQ North America, Space Coast Launch Services, Space Florida, SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and URS.

To learn more about Florida Space Day 2014, visit http://www.floridaspaceday.com, join us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/FloridaSpaceDay and follow us on Twitter at @FLSpaceDay.

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Florida Space Day Taking Place on March 12, 2014

Former Space Shuttle Commander Flies Virgin Galactic’s Private Spaceship for 1st Time

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Any test pilots hoping to match Rick "CJ" Sturckow's resume must now be feeling seriously discouraged.

The former NASA astronaut, who has four space shuttle missions under his belt, got behind the wheel of Virgin Galactic's private SpaceShipTwo spaceliner for the first time earlier this month, guiding the vehicle through an unpowered "glide flight" in the skies above California's Mojave Air and Space Port.

Friends and colleagues doused Sturckow with water on the runway to celebrate the successful Jan. 17SpaceShipTwotest flight, which marked his first spacecraft landing since bringing the space shuttle Discovery down safely in 2009.

"#SpaceShipTwo is back on the ground after another important glide flight, which proceeded as planned. Good job, team!" Virgin Galactic officials tweeted on Jan. 17.

Sturckow joined Virgin Galactic after a long and storied NASA career. For example, he served as pilot for the space shuttle Endeavour's STS-88 mission in 1998, which was the first shuttle flight to the International Space Station.

Sturckow also piloted Discovery on its STS-105 flight in 2001 and commanded the STS-117 and STS-128 missions, which were flown by the shuttles Atlantis and Discovery in 2007 and 2009, respectively.

The Jan. 17 SpaceShipTwo glide flight came just a week after the vehicle made its third-ever rocket-powered test flight, which saw it set a company altitude record of 71,000 feet (21,641 meters) and accelerate to 1.4 times the speed of sound.

The six-passenger SpaceShipTwo is designed to be lofted to an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,000 m) by a huge carrier aircraft called WhiteKnightTwo. At that point, the spaceliner is dropped and engages its rocket engine, which blasts the craft onward and upward to suborbital space.

Virgin Galactic expects SpaceShipTwo to become fully operational later this year. Passengers aboard the spaceliner will enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness and see Earth against the blackness of space, company officials say. The current ticket price for a ride aboard the vehicle is $250,000.

In addition to the three rocket-powered test flights, SpaceShipTwo has now successfully completed 29 glide flights. The Jan. 17 test also involved another pilot Pete Siebold, who works for SpaceShipTwo's builder, the aerospace firm Scaled Composites.

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Former Space Shuttle Commander Flies Virgin Galactic's Private Spaceship for 1st Time

NASA puts out the call for commercial lunar landers

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moon

Jan. 27, 2014 at 5:37 PM ET

NASA

NASA's Project Morpheus prototype lander blasts off during a free-flight test at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida on Jan. 16. The space agency is looking for commercial partners to develop the technologies for future lunar landers.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASA plans to provide free technical expertise, equipment, facilities and software to help selected companies develop lunar landers as part of a new program called Lunar Catalyst.

"The intent of this initiative is to stimulate and help commercialization," Jason Crusan, who oversees NASA's advanced exploration programs, said during a conference call with prospective bidders on Monday.

Development of commercial lunar landers would join a growing list of space transportation services that have attracted interest from U.S. companies, including the Boeing Co and Alliant Techsystems Inc.

NASA already has turned over cargo deliveries to the International Space Station to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. The companies hold NASA cargo resupply contracts worth a combined $3.5 billion.

NASA wants a balanced approach in which its contributions will help accelerate the development of industry projects, Crusan said during a follow-on conference call with reporters. "If a team came in and wanted everything from NASA and (wanted) us to build the landing service for them, that's not really much of a partnership," he said.

The space agency also is looking to buy rides commercially for its astronauts. At least three firms, SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corp., are in the running for NASA funding to help get their spaceships ready for test flights by the end of 2017.

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NASA puts out the call for commercial lunar landers

NASA plans to watch when comet passes close to Mars

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PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 28 (UPI) -- NASA says it plans to observe a comet that will buzz Mars this year,coming about 10 times closer than any identified comet has ever flown past Earth.

Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring will make its closest approach to the Red Planet, a distance of about 86,000 miles, Oct. 19, the space agency said Tuesday.

Spacecraft orbiting Mars might get a good look at the nucleus of the comet as it speeds past, but there is also a chance dust particles the comet nucleus sheds could threaten those spacecraft, NASA scientists said.

The level of risk won't be known for months, but NASA is already evaluating possible precautionary measures as it prepares for studying the comet, the scientists said.

"Our plans for using spacecraft at Mars to observe comet Siding Spring will be coordinated with plans for how the orbiters will duck and cover, if we need to do that," said Rich Zurek, Mars Exploration Program chief scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

The comet was discovered Jan. 3, 2013, by Australia's Siding Spring Observatory.

Its nucleus will come about as close to Mars as one-third of the distance between Earth and the moon, NASA said.

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NASA plans to watch when comet passes close to Mars

NASA Signs Mentor-Protege Agreement With AMRO Fabricating Corporation Near Los Angeles

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On Jan. 31, NASA will sign a Mentor-Protege agreement with The Boeing Company and AMRO Fabricating Corporation to work together in support of the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) -- a new rocket that will launch humans farther into space that ever before.

The NASA Mentor-Protege Program pairs large companies with eligible small businesses to enhance capabilities and enable them to successfully compete for larger, more complex prime contract and subcontract awards.

Media are invited to the event that begins at 10 a.m. PST at the AMRO facility, located at 1430 Adelia Avenue in South El Monte, Calif., 91733.

NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold, along with NASA, Boeing and AMRO officials, will be available for interviews. AMRO is a certified, small, minority woman-owned manufacturing company located near Los Angeles which specializes in the manufacturing of lightweight metallic structures for demanding environments on missiles, launch vehicles and spacecraft. AMRO currently supports Boeing core stage development by manufacturing the aluminum alloy panels that make up the large barrels of the stages.

In addition to the AMRO Mentor-Protege event, SLS is partnering with the Orion Program -- the spacecraft that will sit atop the SLS rocket and carry humans, cargo, equipment and science experiments into deep space -- to visit other institutions and companies in the southern California area that are providing support for the vehicles. The team will visit California State Polytechnic University at noon Thursday, Jan. 30, and speak to students there. This event is open to the public and the media.

SLS and Orion will expand our reach in the solar system, allowing astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft to explore multiple, deep-space destinations including an asteroid and ultimately Mars. Orion's first mission will launch later this year, and carry an uncrewed capsule farther into space than any spacecraft designed for humans has gone in more than 40 years, before returning to Earth at speeds of up to 20,000 miles per hour. SLS is scheduled to have its first test flight in 2017.

Media interested in covering the AMRO Mentor-Protege or the California State Polytechnic University event should contact Shannon Ridinger at Shannon.j.ridinger@nasa.gov or 256-541-7698. Additional interview opportunities with SLS and Orion representatives during the week are also available upon request.

For more information about progress on NASA's next human exploration launch vehicle and spacecraft, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/

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NASA Signs Mentor-Protege Agreement With AMRO Fabricating Corporation Near Los Angeles

Zettl awarded Foresight Feynman Prize in experimental nanoscience

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Richard P. Feynman (1918-1988)

Palo Alto, CA January 23, 2014 Foresight is pleased to announce the winners of the 2013 Foresight Institute Feynman Prizes for Nanotechnology Theory and Experiment.

The winner of the 2013 Feynman Prize for Experiment is Alexander K. Zettl, Professor, Condensed Matter Physics And Materials Science, U.C. Berkeley, and Senior Scientist, Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The award recognizes Prof. Zettl's exceptional work in the fabrication of nanoscale electromechanical systems (NEMS), spanning multiple decades and including carbon nanotube-based bearings, actuators, and sensors brought to fruition with cutting-edge nanoscale engineering. Making remarkable strides towards nanoscale integrated systems, Prof Zettl produced a reversible mass transport memory device which integrated a nanoparticle and a nanotube into a more complex functional device with external controllability, and most recently a loudspeaker incorporating a graphene diaphragm, demonstrating that high-performance, nanoscale materials can be engineered into usable products even before those materials are fully characterized. Additional accomplishments of his solid state physics research group include chracterizing electronic, magnetic and mechanical properties of diverse nanoscale materials.

The winner of the 2013 Feynman Prize for Theory is David N. Beratan, R.J. Reynolds Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Physics, Duke University. The award recognizes Prof. Beratan's development of theoretical approaches to understand the function of complex molecular and macromolecular assemblies and machines. The accomplishments of his research group range from formulating the first molecular-level descriptions of how charge flows through proteins and nucleic acids to designing molecular-scale memory devices. His research group established the electron tunneling pathway model for biological electron transfer to understand the molecular machines of bioenergetics, the "inverse design" approach to discover molecular structures with optimal properties, and the first simulations of how chiral information is transferred at the nanoscale through electronic and conformational imprinting..

The awards will be presented at the 2014 Foresight Technical Conference: Integration, to be held February 7-9, 2014 at the Crowne Plaza Cabana Hotel, Palo Alto, CA USA, where the winners will give lectures on their groundbreaking work to leading scientists in the field of nanotechnology.

In awarding the prizes, Ralph C. Merkle, Chairman of the Prize Committee, noted that "The work of these Feynman Prize winners has brought us one step closer to answering Feynman's 1959 question, 'What would happen if we could arrange atoms one by one the way we want them?' The ability to simulate and manipulate atoms advanced by the work of these Prize winners will enable us to design and build engineered molecular machinery with atomic precision. It will take us another step on the way to the development of revolutionary nanotechnologies that will transform our lives for the better."

The annual Feynman Prizes recognize significant advancements on the road to the award of the $250,000 Feynman Grand Prize, an incentive prize that will be awarded to the first researchers to make a nanometer-scale robotic arm and a nanometer-scale computing device, two critical components of an atomic scalemolecular manufacturing system.

The Foresight Feynman Prizes were established by the Foresight Institute in 1993 and named in honor of Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman whose influential essay, "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom" inspired the first work on nanoscale science. The Institute awards Feynman prizes each year to recognize researchersone for theoretical work and one for empirical researchwhose recent work has most advanced the field toward the achievement of Feynman's vision for nanotechnology: molecular manufacturing, the construction of atomically-precise products through the use of molecular machine systems.

For more information about the Foresight Feynman Prizes, past winners and the Feynman Grand Prize please see the information on the Foresight website at http://www.foresight.org. For more information about prizes and prize nominations please contact foresight@foresight.org.

This year's Foresight Institute Feynman Prizes in Nanotechnology were made possible, in part, by donations from Colleagues and Friends of Foresight, including:

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Zettl awarded Foresight Feynman Prize in experimental nanoscience

‘Queensland Great’ appointed Provost

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Nanotechnology researcher and globally respected academic leader Professor Max Lu has been selected as The University of Queenslands first Provost.

UQ President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Hj said Professor Lu was selected through an internationally competitive search which attracted candidates from upper levels of university senior management around the world.

Max's appointment will deliver a strategic approach that is informed by a deep knowledge of UQ, built on a journey of almost three decades at this wonderful institution, Professor Hj said.

He is known for his highly collaborative style, his integrity and his transparency in decision-making key values of UQ.

Professor Lu has been UQs Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) since 2009, and served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research Linkages) from 2008 to 2009. He begins as Provost on March 17.

Professor Hj said Professor Lus leadership of research strategy and targeted investment in key initiatives had contributed to UQs improved standing in all major global rankings.

Max has led the development of major global partnerships with industry, government and other universities.

He brings a strong commitment to research and teaching, as well as a strategic approach to international and industry engagement.

Professor Lu came to UQ from China in the late 1980s to study for his PhD, and then spent three years as a lecturer at Singapores Nanyang Technological University.

In 1994, he returned to UQ as senior lecturer, and progressed to Chair in Nanotechnology and Director of the UQ Nanomaterials Centre in the School of Chemical Engineering.

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'Queensland Great' appointed Provost