Monthly Archives: March 2014

SpaceX delays Dragon cargo launch to space station until March 30

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The planned Sunday launch of a commercial Dragon space capsule packed with food and supplies for astronauts in orbit has been delayed until at least March 30, its SpaceX builders said Thursday.

SpaceX planned to launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the robotic Dragon spacecraft toward the International Space Station early Sunday, March 16, from Florida to mark the firm's third delivery mission for NASA under a $1.6 billion contract. But due to "remaining open items," SpaceX is now targeting a launch on March 30, with April 2 as a backup day.

"Both Falcon 9 and Dragon are in good health," SpaceX officials said in a statement announcing the delay. "Given the critical payloads on board and significant upgrades to Dragon, the additional time will ensure SpaceX does everything possible on the ground to prepare for a successful launch." [See photos from SpaceX's latest Dragon spacecraft mission]

SpaceX launches its Dragon missions to the space station from a pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It launched the first Dragon mission in 2010, and has flown two of 12 cargo missions under its NASA deal since then.

Sunday's mission, called the Commercial Resupply Services 3 (CRS-3) flight, was slated to launch at 4:41 a.m. EDT (0841 GMT) to begin a four-week trip to the International Space Station. The capsule was slated to return to Earth on April 17, if all went well.

The CRS-3 Dragon spacecraft is packed with about 4,600 lbs. of supplies and gear. That haul includes equipment for more than 150 experiments scheduled for the station's current Expedition 39 crew and its follow-on Expedition 40 increment.

The spacecraft is also expected to carry a prototype laser communications experiment, a new spacesuit to replace a leaky suit on the station, as well as prehensile legs for NASA's Robonaut 2 robot aboard the orbiting lab. Four tiny "cubesat" satellites will also launch as piggyback payloads on the mission.

The Dragon capsule, which is equipped with a heat shield, is expected to return about 3,600 lbs. of cargo, experiments and other gear back to Earth, SpaceX officials said.

SpaceX is one of two U.S. spaceflight companies currently launching delivery flights to the space station for NASA. The U.S. space agency also flies cargo to the space station on vehicles built by Russia, Europe and Japan.

The other U.S. firm with a NASA cargo delivery deal is the Dulles, Va.-based Orbital Sciences Corp., which launched its first cargo mission to the International Space Station in January. Orbital Sciences has a $1.9 billion contract for eight delivery flights using its own Cygnus spacecraft and Antares rockets, which launch from Wallops Island, Va.

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Space station to transmit video via laser

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Scientists at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Ca, USA, have developed a new method of transmitting video and large volumes of data from the International Space Station back to Earth.

A team of 20 researchers working on the labs Phaeton program, have developed the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) investigation, which is being prepared for a March 16 launch to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX-3 mission. Their goal is to achieve NASAs first optical communication experiment on the orbital laboratory.

Scientific instruments used in space missions increasingly require higher communication rates to transmit data back to Earth or to support high-data-rate applications, such as high-definition video streams.

"Optical communications has the potential to be a game-changer," said mission manager Matt Abrahamson. "Right now, many of our deep space missions communicate at 200 to 400 kilobits per second. OPALS will initially demonstrate up to 50 Mbit/s and future deep space optical communication systems will provide over 1 Gbit/s from Mars, he added.

"It will be like upgrading from dial-up to DSL," added project systems engineer Bogdan Oaida. "Our ability to generate data has greatly outpaced our ability to downlink it. Imagine trying to download a movie at home over dial-up. Its essentially the same problem in space, whether were talking about low-Earth orbit or deep space."

After the Dragon capsule docks with the station, OPALS will be robotically extracted from the trunk of the Dragon, and then manipulated by a robotic arm for positioning on the stations exterior. It is the first investigation developed at JPL to launch on SpaceX's Falcon rocket.

As the space station orbits Earth, a ground telescope tracks it and transmits a laser beacon to the OPALS. While maintaining lock on the uplink beacon, the orbiting instruments flight system will downlink a modulated laser beam with a formatted video. Each demonstration, or test, will last approximately 100 seconds as the station instrument and ground telescope maintain line of sight.

It will be used to study pointing, acquisition and tracking of the very tightly focused laser beams, taking into account the movement of the space station, and to study the characteristics of optical links through Earths atmosphere. NASA will also use OPALS to educate and train personnel in the operation of optical communication systems.

About OPALS

OPALS is a partnership between NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.; the International Space Station Program based at Johnson Space Center in Houston; Kennedy Space Center in Florida; Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and the Advanced Exploration Systems Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

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Space Flight – Answers.com – Answers – The Most Trusted …

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Experiments with rocketry progressed through the early 20th century. The first rockets to reach space were the German V-2 rockets of World War II. The first artificial satellite (Sputnik) was launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, followed by the US Explorer I in 1958.

The first manned flight was the Earth orbit by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on Apil 12, 1961. Manned flights by the US were by Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom, followed by the three-orbit flight of John Glenn on February 20, 1962.

The US space program under NASA culminated in six manned Moon landings between July 20, 1969 and December 14, 1972. Space exploration since that time has been almost entirely by unmanned probes, such as the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 missions to the outer planets from 1977 to 1989, and the Viking mission (and subsequent rovers) sent to Mars in 1975.

Manned space flight continued with Mir, Skylab, and the International Space Station. The Russian Soyuz flights are continuing, both manned and unmanned, while the US fleet of Space Shuttle orbiters (1977-2011) has now been retired.

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Space Florida Signs MOU With Swiss Space Systems

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (March 14, 2014) Today, aerospace company Swiss Space Systems (S3) inaugurates its new U.S. subsidiary, S3 USA Operations (Florida) Inc., at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). S3 has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Space Florida for future utilization the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) and associated infrastructure for its flight operations, which are slated to begin in 2015 with zero gravity flights. S3 will also evaluate the SLF as a main site for satellite launches beginning in 2018.

Swiss Space Systems currently has more than 60 employees in Switzerland, Spain and the U.S. S3s engineering team, supported by its industrial and academic partners, is steadily progressing on the research & development phase of an innovative small satellite launching system, the SOAR, based on an Airbus aircraft lofting the sub-orbital reusable shuttle on its back. S3 has already established an initial footprint at the Kennedy Space Center, leasing offices at Space Floridas Space Life Sciences Laboratory (SLSL) in Exploration Park. The establishment of this new subsidiary further reinforces S3s presence in the United States, after the creation of the S3 USA office in Washington DC.

Frank DiBello, CEO and President of Space Florida stated, We are pleased to welcome Swiss Space Systems to Florida. We believe strongly in the enormous potential of the markets they are pursuing including small satellites and suborbital operations. We look forward to working with S3 to enable their growth and expansion in our state.

Space Florida has been working with KSC and Cape Canaveral Spaceport to repurpose excessed government infrastructure for commercial use, providing a significant time and cost saving advantage to commercial operators. In 2013, Space Florida was selected by NASA to maintain and operate the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) for commercial use, the historic 15,000 ft. launch and landing facility previously utilized for the Space Shuttle Program.

For S3, Florida offers several major advantages, including a strategic geographic location, as well as access to key infrastructure and human resources, which will help to enable our success, stated Pascal Jaussi, Founder and CEO of Swiss Space Systems.

The Kennedy Space Center is one of the locations S3 will evaluate as a main site of operations for small satellite launches, starting in 2018. In the near term, S3 will propose zero gravity (Zero G) flights onboard its latest-generation Airbus carrier aircraft in Florida starting in 2015. These flights will enable passengers and payloads to experience weightlessness like astronauts do in space, during approximately 20 seconds per parabolic flight, with a basic flight mission consisting of approximately 15 parabolas during a 2-hour flight. Throughout 2015, S3 will conduct a world tour of Zero G flights, operating in more than 15 locations around the world, including the Kennedy Space Center.

Zero G flights will enable S3 to offer research institutes and universities, partners or clients the possibility to conduct extremely precise and demanding missions in various microgravity environments. However, we will also let the public live this one-of-a-kind experience through our online ticketing system for our flight campaigns around the world, as a way for us to democratize access to space, outlines Robert Feierbach, Head of S3 USA. We look forward to working with Space Florida as we establish our initial flight operations and evaluate opportunities for future expansion in the state, added Feierbach.

To learn more about S3 Zero G flights, visitzerog.s-3.ch

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FAQ – The Seasteading Institute | The Seasteading Institute

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Our first response to this question is the same things anyone else does, but maybe we dont get out enough. As long as seasteads have an Internet connection, it might take us a while to notice that we are on a small, isolated platform in the middle of the ocean. To be fair, not everyone plugs in this way.

Our the next-simplest response is to point out lifestyles similar to those found on land that would be compatible with life aboard a seastead. For example, vacationers will be able to do pretty much anything they can do on a cruise ship in addition to whatever unique activities might be offered aboard the seastead. Resort employees on a seastead will find it much like working on a cruise ship.

In terms of permanent residents, the seasteading experience will be more like that of people who live in isolated, rural areas, or live-aboard boaters. While such a life does not appeal to everyone, the people who like it rarely seem to be bored. Furthermore, permanent residents can always take a vacation on land if they crave a setting with more people. The closer a seastead is to land, the easier it becomes to visit to a nearby major city for a day or weekend. This opportunity makes seasteading even more like just living in the outback, and is one of many reasons a coaststead seems like a good place to start.

The key to success will be to leverage the uniqueness of seasteads. If that only appeals to a tiny fraction of the world, thats still plenty of people. Seasteads and islands will each have their own kind of romance. Each will appeal to a different set of peopleas long as we can find enough people who think seasteads are romantic, it doesnt matter if some prefer islands. Niche markets are not necessarily a bad thing in business, particularly if they arent served well by other options have a large enough customer base.

Also, since modular seasteads will be able to float and move, dynamic geography will be possible. Our central thesis about why societies on the ocean will work better than those on land is that freedom of movement of individual modules allows for the separation and merging of seasteading clusters, creating a process of continual improvement.

Finally, political and social institutions matter. There is a reason that most people who can afford it choose to live in the first world, even though oceanfront property in the third world, where institutions suffer many problems, is both cheaper and more beautiful. If we can provide an innovative society with efficient government services, productive people will flock to it as a place to live and work.

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Sydney's red-hot auction run heads into seventh week

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Antony Lawes's Hot Auctions: 9am. 155 Eastern Valley Way, Castlecrag $1,100,000+. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 3 car spaces. Three bidders are expected on Saturday, attracted by the property's lower price bracket for the North Shore. Inspect 8.30am. Agent Forsyth, 0425 337 011.

Will Sydney's autumn auction market continue its red-hot run this weekend by notching up the seventh straight clearance rate at or above 80 per cent?

Last weekend was the sixth consecutive weekend result of 80 per cent or more, and these record levels show no signs of slowing down.

What makes these numbers all the more remarkable is that it's not just buyers who are out in force. Auction numbers are also significantly higher so far this autumn as seller confidence soars. There were 1287 properties listed for auction in Sydney over the past two weekends, which is an increase of 392, or 43 per cent, on the 895 homes listed over the same two weekends last year.

Antony Lawes's Hot Auctions: 10am. 58 Forbes Street, Newtown $1,050,000+. 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 car space. Up to eight bidders are expected and most have plans to renovate this severely dated terrace house. Inspect 8.45am Agent Raine & Horne Newtown, 0406 751 631.

This weekend the trend continues with another strong weekend of offerings. There are 632 homes scheduled to go under the hammer, which is 38.6 per cent higher than the 456 that were listed over the same weekend last year.

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The inner west is the most popular region for auctions this weekend, with 110 properties listed. Next highest is the south with 87, followed by the upper north shore with 73, the city and east with 70, the lower north with 65 and the northern beaches with 55 auctions.

Mosman is the most popular suburb for auctions this weekend, with 12 listed. This is followed by Strathfield with 10, Blacktown and Greenacre with nine each, and Erskineville with eight.

Antony Lawes's Hot Auctions: 12.45pm. 9 Pentonville Parade, Castle Hill $1,200,000+. 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car spaces. Up to 10 parties are expected to battle it out for this luxurious five-year-old house. Inspect 12pm Agent McGrath Castle Hill, 0411 196 328.

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NASA's Latest Smartphone Satellite Ready for Launch

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NASA's preparing to send its fifth in a series of smartphone-controlled small spacecraft into orbit. PhoneSat 2.5 will ride into space as part of the SpaceX-3 commercial cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. SpaceX-3 is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 4:41 a.m. EDT Sunday, March 16. Once in Earth orbit, the tiny spacecraft will demonstrate the power of smartphone components to support space-based communications systems and survive the radiation environment of low Earth orbit -- as high as 220 miles above Earth. The technology demonstration mission also will pave the way for a constellation of cooperative small satellites scheduled to launch later this year. "If I showed PhoneSat to you, you'd ask, 'where's the phone?'," said Bruce Yost, program manager for NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "That's because although we buy a smartphone off the shelf, much like the one in your pocket or purse, we take it apart and repackage it to fit in the cubesat form and work in space. This differs from the first PhoneSat, that packed in the entire smartphone." Selected for launch as part of NASA's Cubesat Launch Initiative, PhoneSat 2.5 is a one-unit (1U) cubesat spacecraft measuring 10 centimeters square (approximately four inches on each side), using commercially available smartphones. The mission has three objectives: determine if a low-cost commercially available attitude determination and control system can work in space; verify if a smartphone can support space-based communications systems; and provide further confidence in the PhoneSat concept and components by investigating its ability to survive long-term in the radiation environment of space. "NASA is using these pioneering small spacecraft missions to gauge the use of consumer-grade smartphone technology as the main control electronics of a capable, yet very low-cost, satellite," said Andrew Petro, program executive for the Small Spacecraft Technology Program in the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, which funds the PhoneSat series. PhoneSat 2.5 is equipped with a higher-gain S-Band antenna, which serves as a pathfinder for future NASA missions, including the Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks (EDSN) mission scheduled to launch later this year. The EDSN mission plans to launch eight identical 1.5U cubesats (10-by-10-by-15 centimeters and 2.5 kilograms), based on the PhoneSat architecture, to demonstrate the concept of using many small spacecraft working together in a cooperative manner. EDSN will fly the cubesats in a loose formation. Each satellite will be able to cross-link communicate with the others so that engineers can study space-to-space communications and how small, low-cost, powerful satellites can perform space weather monitoring duties. In addition to the large memory, fast processors, GPS receivers, gyroscope and magnetometer sensors and high-resolution cameras commonly found in smartphones, the PhoneSat 2.5 also houses a low-cost commercial attitude determination and control system that contains reaction wheels that by slowing down or speeding up, can rotate the satellite. Engineers hope to determine if this control system can orient PhoneSat in space, a critical capability for satellites that may need to point towards a specific object of scientific interest like an asteroid, star or features on Earth. The missions also gather further information about the orbital lifespan of the smartphone components. "By advancing the price performance of nanosatellites using consumer electronics, we can make some of the more radical ideas become economically viable," said Jasper Wolfe, PhoneSat Control System lead at NASA Ames. PhoneSat 2.5 builds upon the successful flights of previous NASA smartphone satellites launched last year. PhoneSat 2.4 launched last November and achieved its primary mission objectives, demonstrating a smartphone can serve as an avionics controller. It also demonstrated the use of its magnetometer and an Ames-designed magnetorquer to actively align the satellite's orientation with Earth's magnetic fields. This was a first for Ames small satellites, which to date have used passive, permanent magnetic torque rods. PhoneSat 2.4 continues to transmit data, which means its solar arrays, battery charging circuit, Arduino watchdog and data router are still operating correctly. In early January, however, the Phonesat 2.4 smartphone began to experience recurring resets coinciding with a period of numerous solar flares. As a result, the satellite no longer executes flight application software. "We expect PhoneSat 2.5's orbital lifetime to be as long as six weeks" said Cedric Priscal, PhoneSat software lead at Ames. "This operation time will help us demonstrate that the system can survive being exposed to the doses of space radiation all satellites must endure in low Earth orbit, and help us gather data on the effects radiation has on the satellite." What kind of smartphone has a battery life of six weeks? NASA equipped the six sides of the PhoneSats with solar panels to help replenish the batteries and keep the spacecraft alive. PhoneSat 2.5 also includes a higher-gain two-way S-band radio communications capability. Engineers will test the radio's capability to send commands to the spacecraft and telemetry back to ground station on Earth, in preparation for NASA's Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks (EDSN) mission, scheduled for launch late this year. While orbiting Earth, ground station controllers at Santa Clara University in California, also will attempt to command PhoneSat 2.5 to transmit photographs of what it sees using the smartphone's camera to gather information for future low cost onboard camera systems and star trackers. "We're answering the question, how useful are consumer grade electronics for atmospheric or Earth science, communications, or other space-born applications," said Ken Oyadomari, PhoneSat communications lead at Ames. "The next step is to add a propulsion system to pave the way for cubesats to explore further into the solar system," said Oriol Tintore, PhoneSat mechanical lead at Ames. Though it's unlikely you'll find one of those on your smartphone anytime soon. The PhoneSat series of technology demonstration missions is funded by the Small Spacecraft Technology Program, in NASAs Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters and the Engineering Directorate at Ames. For more information about NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program and the PhoneSat series of cubesats, visit: http://go.usa.gov/KWRP

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NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Safe After Unplanned Computer Swap

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NASA's long-lived Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter put itself into a precautionary safe standby mode March 9 after an unscheduled swap from one main computer to another. The mission's ground team has begun restoring the spacecraft to full operations.

"The spacecraft is healthy, in communication and fully powered," said Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project Manager Dan Johnston of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We have stepped up the communication data rate, and we plan to have the spacecraft back to full operations within a few days."

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's science observations and its relaying of communications from NASA's two active Mars rovers have been suspended. The rovers continue to use NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter as a communications relay.

Entry into safe mode is the prescribed response by a spacecraft when it detects conditions outside the range of normal expectations. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has experienced unplanned computer swaps triggering safe-mode entry four times previously, most recently in November 2011. The root cause of the previous events has not been determined. The spacecraft has also experienced safe-mode entries that have not involved computer swaps.

Unlike any previous safe-mode entries experienced in this mission, the March 9 event included a swap to a redundant radio transponder on the orbiter. While the mission resumes operations with this transponder, engineers are investigating the status of the one that is now out of service.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter entered orbit around Mars eight years ago, on March 10, 2006. Since then, it has returned more data than all other past and current interplanetary missions combined. The mission met all its science goals in a two-year primary science phase. Three extensions, the latest beginning in 2012, have added to the science returns. The longevity of the mission has given researchers tools to study seasonal and longer-term changes on the Red Planet.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the orbiter and collaborates with JPL to operate it. For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mro and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/ .

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NASA Space Technology Grants for Early Career University Faculty

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NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate is seeking proposals from accredited U.S. universities on behalf of outstanding early career faculty members who are beginning their independent careers. The grants will sponsor research in specific, high-priority areas of interest to America's space program.NASA expects to award about five grants this fall, funded up to $200,000 each per year for as many as three years, based on the merit of proposals and availability of funds. Funded research will investigate unique, disruptive or transformational space technologies in areas such as soft machines for robotic mobility and manipulation, science-based digital materials and manufacturing, and low -size, -weight and -power lasers.The deadline to submit final proposals to the Early Career Faculty Appendix of NASA's Research Announcement "Space Technology Research, Development, Demonstration and Infusion 2014 (SpaceTech-REDDI-2014)" isMarch 14, 2014.For information on the solicitation, including specific technology areas of interest and how to submit notices of intent and proposals, visithttp://tinyurl.com/kcglhca.This solicitation is part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is responsible for innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in future missions. For more information about the directorate and Space Technology Research Grants Program, visithttp://www.nasa.gov/spacetech.Please email any questions about this opportunity to Bonnie F. James atHQ-STMD-SpaceTech-REDDI-2013@nasa.gov.

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NASA Needs Coders to Help Prevent Asteroid Armageddon

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Savvy coders can soon help NASA defend Earth against asteroid threats and win some cash prizes in the bargain. The U.S. space agency has joined forces with an asteroid-mining company to recruit programmers who can help identify asteroids in the slew of images taken by ground-based telescopes.

TheAsteroid Data Huntercontest scheduled for launch on 17 March will offer a total of US $35000 over the next six months to anyone with the coding chops to create new asteroid-hunting algorithms. Winning solutions must boost detection sensitivity, minimize false positives, overlook imperfections in the telescope imaging data, and run well on all computer systems. Such efforts could help NASA's sky surveys find even smaller asteroids that still pose a threat to human populations.

"For the past three years, NASA has been learning and advancing the ability to leverage distributed algorithm and coding skills through the NASA Tournament Lab to solve tough problems," said Jason Crusan, NASA Tournament Lab director, in apress release. "We are now applying our experience with algorithm contests to helping protect the planet from asteroid threats through image analysis."

NASA set up the crowd-sourced challenge in partnership withPlanetary Resources, an asteroid mining startup backed byHollywood director James Cameron and Google executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt. Planetary Resources will help contest participants access NASA-funded sky survey data and also review the contest results. NASA's role includes managing the contest and figuring out how to use winning solutions to improve asteroid survey programs.

Such a partnership provides a possible win-win for both public and private entities. NASA gets to learn more about Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) and track potential threats to Earth, whereas Planetary Resources gets to identify newasteroid mining targets for future missions to harvest space resources.

The new contest is part of NASA's Asteroid Grand Challengethat focuses on finding all asteroid threats to human populations and figuring out how to handle such threats. It also falls under the broader NASA Asteroid Initiative, whichincludes the U.S. space agency's proposal to send a robotic mission to capture a near-Earth asteroid for closer study.

NASA's asteroid-hunting efforts so far have helped find 95percent of near-Earth asteroids larger than 1kilometer within the last 15years. But the Asteroid Grand Challenge aims to find even smaller asteroids such as the Chelyabinsk meteor that exploded in the atmosphere over Russia last year. Researchers estimate they have found less than 10percent of asteroids smaller than 300meters in diameter, and less than 1percent of objects smaller than 100meters in diameter.

IEEE Spectrums general technology blog, featuring news, analysis, and opinions about engineering, consumer electronics, and technology and society, from the editorial staff and freelance contributors.

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Graphene Origami Boxes Store Hydrogen Fuel

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Researchers at the University of Maryland have demonstrated through computer modeling that graphene can be triggered by an electric field to fold itself into a nifty three-dimensional box that can serve as a container for hydrogen storage and then unfold itself.

The technique could greatly increase a fuel cell's ability to store and release hydrogen -- an advance that could improve the capacity of hydrogen fuel cells for powering cars.

The way in which the graphene folds up into a box has been dubbed hydrogenation-assisted graphene origami (HAGO) and involves cutting the graphene into a pattern and then functionalizing it by atomically attaching hydrogen to the carbon atoms of the graphene. The electric field that is used does not trigger the graphene to perform its origami but is used to unfold the structure and then repeat the trick.

First, a suitably functionalized and patterned graphene can spontaneously fold into a 3-D nanostructure.... No external electric field is needed, explained Teng Li, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at University of Maryland in an e-mail to Nanoclast. Second, an electric field can cause the polarization of the graphene, effectively reducing the graphene inter-layer adhesion, which causes the folded nanostructure to unfold. Upon turning off the electric field, the graphene folds up into a box spontaneously again. Such a process can be repeated many times.

In the research, which was published in the journal ACS Nano(Hydrogenation-Assisted Graphene Origami and Its Application in Programmable Molecular Mass Uptake, Storage, and Release), the graphene origami boxes demonstrated remarkable hydrogen storage capabilities. The researchers calculate that graphene origami boxes have a hydrogen storage capacity of 9.7 percent by weight, far exceeding targets set by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) -- 5.5 percent by 2017 and 7.5 percent by 2020.

It would seem that nanomaterials are exceeding DOE targets for fuel cells on a pretty regular basis now. However, nanomaterials have a somewhat checkered past with hydrogen storage. At one time, carbon nanotubes were touted as the next big thing in that field, with claims of greater than 50-percent storage capacity.

But it is now generally accepted that the figure is really closer to 1-percent. The problem was that the structures of both carbon nanotubes and fullerenes did not remain stable. This instability has not proven to be a problem with the HAGO boxes.

Much effort has been dedicated in this research to demonstrate the promising feasibility of the HAGO process, including its robustness to possible manufacturing defects and stability at room temperature, wrote Li. We will actively pursue collaborations with experimentalists to actually demonstrate.

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Nano Utica inspires students at local technology show

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Story Created: Mar 13, 2014 at 6:21 PM EDT

Story Updated: Mar 13, 2014 at 6:30 PM EDT

MARCY, N.Y. (WKTV) -- If you're into science and technology, it's an exciting time to be in Utica.

Middle and high school students from all over Upstate New York gathered to show off their technology projects at the 13th annual Technology Education Showcase at SUNY IT Thursday.

Students also took part in carbon dioxide car races and junkyard wars.

"A hands on approach to learning, critical thinking, problem solving, it's just an overall great event," said Chris Jensen, a technology instructor at Whitesboro High School.

Beyond team work and collaboration, SUNY IT's outreach coordinator says the tech show also stresses the importance of Science Technology Engineering and Math or rather, STEM-based learning.

"In Utica in particular STEM is going to be everyone's ticket for economic success and that's because for example, Nano Utica is going to bring so many jobs to this region," said Elizabeth Rossi, K-12 outreach coordinator at SUNY-IT.

At the tech show, students can see a small scale version of Nano Utica's cleanroom being built right at SUNY-IT. You can even step into a clean suit and feel what it would be like to work at Nano Utica. Many students at the tech show hope that may one day be reality.

"That's one of the reasons I want to go to SUNY IT- it's close to home and this big nano tech center. I want to become an engineer that's a big part of- civil, nano tech engineering, electrical engineering so they're going to be looking for so many people to work in that building," said Michael Palmieri, a senior at Whitesboro High School.

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Nano Utica inspires students at local technology show