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NASA's New Orion Spaceship Makes a Splash in Ocean Tests

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SAN PEDRO, California NASA's next spaceship, the Orion capsule, has had a wet summer.

For a full week in August, NASA engineers and the U.S. Navy worked side by side to practice retrieving the new spacecraft from the Pacific Ocean after a water splashdown like the one that will end the capsule's upcoming test flight in December.

The tests were based from the USS Anchorage, an amphibious Navy transport that was temporarily assigned to NASA's Orion recovery exercises. Another round of sea trials is scheduled for September. [NASA's Orion Spaceship in Pictures]

"We ran six or seven different tests," said Mike Folger, who manages part of the Orion recovery operation from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, as the sea trials ended on Aug. 6. "First, we released it inside the well deck and make sure that we can control it the way we think we can."

The well deck is an area in the rear of the ship that opens to the sea, allowing water to flood inside. Normally, Marines use it to launch amphibious assault craft. For this first in a series of tests, the NASA and Navy teams simply allowed the capsule to wallow inside the back end of the Anchorage.

"Once we got comfortable with that, we released the test article behind the ship and sent a couple of Navy boats out with divers and a horse collar," Folger said. The horse collar loops around Orion, securing the craft to a winched cable that is used to tow Orion into the recovery ship.

Despite a few small hiccups, including one horse collar that began to come unstitched, the tests were successful.

"We did this in calm seas," Folger said. "Then we looked for seas that were a bit more riled up. We're not sure what the weather is going to be like in December in the Pacific, so we need to try it in a number of different conditions."

The first test flight of Orion is called Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1), and will be launched on a Delta 4 Heavy rocket in early December. [How NASA's First Orion Flight Will Work (Video)]

While Orion is a 21st-century spacecraft, its capsule may remind people of the smaller Apollo command modules from the 1960s. And indeed, much learning from that program has contributed to this vessel's testing.

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NASA's New Orion Spaceship Makes a Splash in Ocean Tests

NASA Invites Public to Submit Messages for Asteroid Mission Time Capsule

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NASA is inviting the worldwide public to submit short messages and images on social media that could be placed in a time capsule aboard a spacecraft launching to an asteroid in 2016.

Called the Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx), the spacecraft will rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu in 2019, collect a sample and return the cache in a capsule to Earth in 2023 for detailed study. The robotic mission will spend more than two years at the 1,760-foot (500-meter)-wide asteroid and return a minimum of 2 ounces (60 grams) of its surface material.

Topics for submissions by the public should be about solar system exploration in 2014 and predictions for space exploration activities in 2023. The mission team will choose 50 tweets and 50 images to be placed in the capsule. Messages can be submitted Sept. 2 - 30.

"Our progress in space exploration has been nothing short of amazing," says Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson. "I look forward to the public taking their best guess at what the next 10 years holds and then comparing their predictions with actual missions in development in 2023."

This event is the second of NASAs efforts to engage space enthusiasts around the world in the OSIRIS-REx mission, following the agencys January invitation to participate in Messages to Bennu, which asked the public to submit their names to be etched on a microchip aboard the spacecraft.

"It is exciting to think that some people may formulate predictions then have the chance to help make their prediction a reality over the next decade," said Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

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NASA Invites Public to Submit Messages for Asteroid Mission Time Capsule

NASA Astronaut Butch Wilmore Available for Interviews Before His Space Station Mission

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NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore, who is making final preparations for his launch this month to the International Space Station, will be available for live satellite interviews from6-7 a.m. EDT Monday, Sept. 8.

Wilmore will participate live from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City,Russia. The interviews will be preceded at5:30 a.m.by a video highlighting his mission training and previous spaceflight.

To schedule an interview time, reporters should contactSeth Marcantelat 281-792-7515 no later than3 p.m.,Friday, Sept. 5.

Wilmore hails fromMt. Juliet, Tennesseeand earned degrees fromTennessee Technological Universityand theUniversity of Tennessee. He is a captain in the U.S. Navy and has accumulated almost 7,000 flight hours and 663 carrier landings in tactical jet aircraft. He was selected as an astronaut in 2000 and piloted space shuttle Atlantis during the STS-129 mission inNovember 2009. The 10-day mission delivered 30,000 pounds of replacement parts and supplies to the space station.

Wilmore's crew mates are cosmonauts Alexander Samoukutyaev andElena Serovaof the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). The three will launch to the station aboard a Soyuz spacecraftSept. 25from the Baikonur Cosmodrome inKazakhstan. At the space station, they will join Expedition 41 astronautsReid Wisemanof NASA,Alexander Gerstof the European Space Agency and cosmonaut Maxim Suraev of Roscosmos, who launched to the station inMay 2014.

The crew will continue supporting several hundred experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science currently under way and scheduled to take place aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Wilmore will assume command of Expedition 42 in November when Expedition 41 returns home. He is scheduled to return to Earth with Samoukutyaev and Serova inMarch 2015.

Media participating in the live shots must tune to NTV-3. Satellite tuning information is available at:

http://go.nasa.gov/1pOWUhR

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NASA Astronaut Butch Wilmore Available for Interviews Before His Space Station Mission

NASA Opens Media Accreditation for Next Orbital Sciences Space Station Resupply Launch

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Media accreditation now is open for the launch of the third NASA contracted cargo resupply flight from Virginia to the International Space Station by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Virginia.

The Orbital-3 cargo resupply mission will launch no earlier than 12:10 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Oct. 14, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

International media without U.S. citizenship must apply by Monday, Sept. 15, for credentials to cover prelaunch and launch activities at Wallops. The application deadline is Thursday, Oct. 9, for media who are U.S. citizens. Journalists should send their accreditation request to Keith Koehler atkeith.a.koehler@nasa.gov.

This will be the third of eight planned cargo resupply missions by Orbital for NASA under the agency's Commercial Resupply Services contract with the company. Cargo resupply by U.S. companies ensures a national capability to deliver critical science research to the space station, significantly increasing NASA's ability to conduct new science investigations aboard the only laboratory in microgravity.

For information about Orbital Sciences, and its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/orbital

and

http://go.nasa.gov/1qLWDXB

For more information about the International Space Station and Commercial Resupply Services, visit:

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NASA Opens Media Accreditation for Next Orbital Sciences Space Station Resupply Launch

NASA Cassini Significant Events for 08/20/2014 – 08/26/2014

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Cassini is orbiting Saturn with a 31.9-day period in a plane inclined 44.6 degrees from the planet's equatorial plane. The most recent spacecraft tracking and telemetry data were obtained on Aug. 26 using one of the 34 meter-diameter Deep Space Network (DSN) stations at Canberra, Australia. The spacecraft continues to be in an excellent state of health with all of its subsystems operating normally except for the instrument issues described at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/significantevents/anomalies. Information on the present position of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on "Eyes on the Solar System":

http://1.usa.gov/1pEI4aQ

This week's highlight was the T-104 encounter with Saturn's enigmatic moon Titan early Thursday morning. During the close encounter, all the spacecraft's rotations and scientific observations executed with precision, commanded by the on-board S85 command sequence. The DSN captured every bit of the long-distance telemetry playback on the following day. Thanks to the DSN's exquisitely sensitive radiometric tracking, the Cassini Navigation team determined that the spacecraft had flown within 90 meters of its target. With such accurate targeting, Monday morning's opportunity to execute a post-encounter trajectory-cleanup rocket firing did not have to be used.

Wednesday, Aug. 20 (DOY 232)

Dutifully following Newton's and Kepler's laws, Cassini began slowing a bit while coasting up and away from yesterday's Saturn-orbit periapsis. Today the spacecraft rotated so that its telescopic instruments could begin their observations of Titan across the spectrum. From now until Friday, Titan came under the close scrutiny of the Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS), the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS), the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS), and the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS). At times, more than one instrument "rode along," acquiring data while another instrument had command of the ship's attitude.

In addition to the remote-sensing instruments' observations, Cassini's direct-sensing instruments made essentially continuous observations during this segment as well: the Magnetometer, the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument, the Radio and Plasma Wave Science instrument, and the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS).

Inbound to Titan today, CIRS focused on mid- and far-infrared nadir integrations to measure the abundances of carbon monoxide, water, and cyanide. ISS made a mosaic of southern latitudes on Titan's sub-Saturnian hemisphere, and VIMS took low resolution images while riding along with ISS. Observations covered latitudes between the equator and 60 degrees south, and included monitoring the south polar vortex.

Thursday, Aug. 21 (DOY 233)

RADAR operated in altimetry mode, and later made high-priority SAR-mode observations. INMS served as the spacecraft's primary instrument inbound near closest approach, commanding the best spacecraft attitude for ingesting and analyzing the content of Titan's ionosphere. Subsequently, INMS rode along while RADAR controlled pointing.

On the outbound leg after RADAR finished, VIMS became prime. It monitored the northern great lake Kraken Mare at the point where a specular reflection of infrared sunlight might be glimpsed. Catching one would help assess whether liquids are still present, and if still liquid whether winds create waves on the surface. VIMS also looked for clouds at high northern latitudes and mapped the north polar area to monitor the evolution of its lakes and seas. ISS acquired a mosaic of northern latitudes on Titan's trailing hemisphere.

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NASA Cassini Significant Events for 08/20/2014 - 08/26/2014

NASA to manage drone traffic?

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By Trevor Mogg

An Hovereye-Ex drone flies during an exhibition at Bretigny-sur-Orge, near Paris, May 14, 2014. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

Despite Amazons ongoing work with its Prime Air delivery-by-drone project, and the recent revelation that Google has been working on a similar drone program for the last two years, the commercial operation of drones is still prohibited in the US.

However, once the laws are ironed out and rules put in place, there could come a day when our skies are buzzing with swarms of these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) performing a range of tasksfor a huge array of businesses. And with news Monday that NASA is developing a traffic management system for the low-flying aircraft, that day could be closer than you think.

At Moffett Field in southern Mountain View only a few miles from Googles Silicon Valley HQ NASAis examiningways to manage and control drone flights in the skies above the US, according to a NY Times report.

Related: Amazon asks FAA for permission to test its Prime Air drones outdoors

Described as a separate air traffic control system for things that fly low to the ground around 400 to 500 feet for most drones, its implementation could bring order to potentially chaotic skies, increasing safety significantly.

The system, which is still in development, would monitor the skies for other low-flying traffic, and also keep tabs on changing weather conditions, with strong winds proving particularly challenging for drones.

Itd also serve to protect nearby buildings as well as people in and around them from the flying machines, with clearly defined no-fly zones issued to all companies utilizing the technology

Instead of air traffic controllers communicating with drone operators, NASAs system will be entirely computer-based, using carefully designed algorithms toautomaticallycontrol flights. The system could be implemented as early as next year, with applications including crop monitoring expected.

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NASA to manage drone traffic?

Flying Miata crash at Turn 1 in Road Atlanta 2014 NASA Championship – Video

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Flying Miata crash at Turn 1 in Road Atlanta 2014 NASA Championship
I am competing for the flying record on T1. Not a great start of the weekend; 2nd practice session I got distracted by a low brake pedal, hit the inside curb, over-corrected and headed straight...

By: Yiannis Tsiounis

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Flying Miata crash at Turn 1 in Road Atlanta 2014 NASA Championship - Video

NTVL: DFA, nangakong tutulungan ang Pilipinong nasa death row sa Vietnam – Video

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NTVL: DFA, nangakong tutulungan ang Pilipinong nasa death row sa Vietnam
News TV Live is GMA News TV #39;s breaking news segment. It airs several times throughout the day on GMA News TV Channel 11, in between regular programs. For more breaking news reports from News...

By: GMA News

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NTVL: DFA, nangakong tutulungan ang Pilipinong nasa death row sa Vietnam - Video

NASA approves massive Mars rocket: All systems are go for a 2018 launch (+video)

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NASA new mega-rocket, a towering booster designed for deep space missions, will be ready for its first test flight no later than November 2018, space agency officials announced Wednesday (Aug. 27).

It's possible that theSpace Launch Systemrocket test flight could launch as early as December 2017, but NASA officials have committed to having the rocket ready for flight be the end of 2018 to be safe. That extra wiggle room should let the space agency cope with scheduling and funding issues as they crop up in the future, NASA officials said in a teleconference with reporters.

The SLS will be the largest rocket ever constructed and it is designed to send humans deeper into space than ever before. The huge launcher which will stand at 400 feet tall (122 meters) in its final configuration could deliver NASA astronauts to an asteroid and even Mars sometime in the future. [See images of NASA's SLS rocket design]

"Our nation is embarked on an ambitious space exploration program, and we owe it to the American taxpayers to get it right," NASA associate administrator Robert Lightfoot, said in a statement. "After rigorous review, were committing today to a funding level and readiness date that will keep us on track to sendinghumans to Mars in the 2030s and were going to stand behind that commitment."

NASA expects that SLS will cost a total of $7 billion from February 2014 through November 2018. For its first test flight, SLS will fly out of low-Earth orbit with an unmannedOrion space capsule.

The SLS team just passed a major design review, which will allow the program to move forward with design plans.

The 2018 date is a reflection of modeling done by a review board, which suggested that the new date is likely more attainable, NASA officials said during a news conference today (Aug. 27). The review board looked at the SLS plan and brought up problems that could arise during the building of the rocket system, possibly causing a change in schedule.

"They're [the review board] telling us that if we don't do anything, we basically have a 70 percent chance of getting to that date," William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for the Human Explorations and Operations Mission Directorate, said during the news conference. "Our intent and the team's intent at Marshall [Space Flight Center] is to go look at those problems and see what we can do to mitigate those problems."

"There are probably some other problems that aren't even identified by the Standing Review Board that will come up," Gerstenmaier added. "Our job as a management team is to look at those problems, figure out ways to work those ahead of time, and proactively work those as they come about."

It's possible that the first SLS flight could occur before the 2018 target if the team works to head off any potential issues before they occur, according to Gerstenmaier.

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NASA approves massive Mars rocket: All systems are go for a 2018 launch (+video)


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