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NASA announces winner in Z-2 spacesuit contest

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The votes are in with NASA announcing the winner of its Z-2 spacesuit design challenge. For the challenge, the public was invited to choose one of three alternative designs for a new prototype spacesuit with the Technology option winning with 233,431 votes, or about 63 percent of the total vote. The Technology design will now be used in the completed Z-2 suit as part of NASAs project to create a new spacesuit for the exploration of Mars.

The Z-2 is that latest in the Z-series of spacesuit prototypes created for NASAs Advanced Exploration Systems Division. The goal is to develop a new suit, through a number of iterations, that can be used for a manned mission to Mars. The Z-2 is not itself a flightworthy suit and will not be sent into space because it lacks the specific high-performance materials and design details needed for working outside the Earths atmosphere.

The challenge allowed the public to vote for one of three versions of the Z-2 cover layer, each of which was designed by Philadelphia University and the primary suit vendor, ILC Dover. Each of these designs highlighted a mobility characteristic, as well as including electroluminescent wiring, which has never been used on a spacesuit before. NASA hopes that the wiring will help in space crew identification.

The contest allowed the public to vote for one of three designs (Image: NASA)

The cover layer is the outermost layer of a spacesuit that protects the lower layers and spacesuit components from snagging and abrasion. In a fully operational spacesuit, the layer also protects the astronaut against micrometeorites, heat, cold, and radiation. NASA also admits that it makes the suit look better.

According to NASA, the Z-2 has a number of improvements over the earlier Z-1, which has been the subject of two years of evaluations. The Z-2 has a hard composite upper torso for greater durability, the shoulder and hip joints are more mobile, and the boots are more like those that would be found on a space-ready suit. In addition, the Z-2 can withstand a full-vacuum during testing.

The winning Technology design, as the name implies, harkens back to more conventional spacesuits, but with some sci-fi elements added, such as Luminex wire and light-emitting patches for crew identification. It also has exposed rotating bearings, collapsing pleats for mobility and highlighted movement, and abrasion-resistant panels on the lower torso.

NASA says that the Z-2 will be completed by November and will be tested at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, which simulates weightless conditions using a swimming pool, then on a simulated Martian surface. The engineers will evaluate the Z-2s mobility, comfort and performance, as well as subjecting it to multiple vacuum chamber tests with pressures down to that of a full vacuum. The results of the tests will then be used in designing the Z-3.

Source: NASA

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NASA announces winner in Z-2 spacesuit contest

Trampoline To Space Russian Official Tells NASA To Take A Flying Leap – Video

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Trampoline To Space Russian Official Tells NASA To Take A Flying Leap
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, a target of U.S. sanctions sparked by the Ukraine crisis, said Tuesday that those sanctions would boomerang against America #39;s space effort and...

By: Nirvana News

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Trampoline To Space Russian Official Tells NASA To Take A Flying Leap - Video

From Buzz Lightyear to Tron, this is NASA’s new prototype spacesuit: 90 Seconds on The Verge – Video

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From Buzz Lightyear to Tron, this is NASA #39;s new prototype spacesuit: 90 Seconds on The Verge
NASA let the internet choose the design of its next Z-2 prototype spacesuit, and the internet chose Tron... or maybe it #39;s Daft Punk #39;s bodyguard... or the Hunchback of Alpha Centauri... or a...

By: The Verge

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From Buzz Lightyear to Tron, this is NASA's new prototype spacesuit: 90 Seconds on The Verge - Video

Is This An Alien Grey? Strange Alien Creature Spotted In NASA Enceladus Image – Video

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Is This An Alien Grey? Strange Alien Creature Spotted In NASA Enceladus Image
Strange Alien Creature In Cocoon Spotted in NASA Enceladus Image. Is This An Alien Grey? Or is this a glimpse of a different kind of Alien ? Saturn moon anomaly. The original image is high...

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Is This An Alien Grey? Strange Alien Creature Spotted In NASA Enceladus Image - Video

NASA announces partners for lunar lander program

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NASA has announced the selection of three US companies to develop a lunar lander to deliver payloads to the Moons surface. The three companies, Astrobotic Technology, Masten Space Systems, and Moon Express, wont be receiving any funds, but will negotiate with the space agency for a partnership to exchange technical expertise and help promote the private space sector.

The partnerships are part of NASAs Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (Lunar CATALYST) initiative. Like the Commercial Crew Program (CCP), where NASA called on private industry to come up with a replacement for the Space Shuttle to carry crews and cargo to the International Space Station, the CATALYST initiative is a way for the agency to get around shrinking budgets or lack of government interest by teaming with private partners.

The Moon Express MX-1 Lander (Image: Moon Express, Inc)

Operated under the Advanced Exploration Systems Division of NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, Lunar CATALYSTs goal is to develop a reliable and cost-effective commercial robotic lunar lander for carrying cargo to the lunar surface. The idea is that these landers would be used for commercial purposes, such as mining helium-3, cryogenic manufacturing, solar power generation or spacecraft refueling, while helping out NASA and other researchers on scientific missions, such as sample returns, prospecting, and technology demonstrations.

Astrobotic Technologys Griffin lander (Image: Astrobotic Technology)

Under the partnership agreement, NASA will provide the three companies with technical expertise, access to test facilities, and the loan of equipment and software for three years to help with lander development.

"NASA is making advances to push the boundaries of human exploration farther into the solar system, including to an asteroid and Mars, and continues to spur development in the commercial space sector," says Jason Crusan, director of the Advanced Exploration Systems Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Robotic missions to the moon have revealed the existence of local resources, including oxygen and water, which may be highly valuable for exploration of the solar system. The potential to use the lunar surface in partnership with our international and commercial partners may allow these resources to be characterized and used to enable future exploration and pioneering."

Source: NASA

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NASA announces partners for lunar lander program

NASA Carbon-Counting Satellite Arrives at Launch Site

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A NASA spacecraft designed to make precise measurements of carbon dioxide in Earths atmosphere is at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., to begin final preparations for launch.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 arrived Wednesday at its launch site on California's central coast after traveling from Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Satellite Manufacturing Facility in Gilbert, Ariz. The spacecraft now will undergo final tests and then be integrated on top of a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for a planned July 1 launch.

The observatory is NASA's first satellite mission dedicated to studying carbon dioxide, a critical component of Earths carbon cycle that is the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in Earth's climate. It replaces a nearly identical spacecraft lost due to a rocket launch mishap in February 2009.

OCO-2 will provide a new tool for understanding both the sources of carbon dioxide emissions and the natural processes that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and how they are changing over time. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution more than 200 years ago, the burning of fossil fuels, as well as other human activities, have led to an unprecedented buildup in this greenhouse gas, which is now at its highest level in at least 800,000 years. Human activities have increased the level of carbon dioxide by more than 25 percent in just the past half century.

Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, trap the sun's heat within Earth's atmosphere, warming it and keeping it at habitable temperatures. However, scientists have concluded that increases in carbon dioxide resulting from human activities have thrown Earth's natural carbon cycle off balance, increasing global temperatures and changing the planet's climate.

While scientists understand carbon dioxide emissions resulting from burning fossil fuels and can estimate their quantity quite accurately, their understanding of carbon dioxide from other human-produced and natural sources is relatively less quantified. Atmospheric measurements collected at ground stations indicate less than half of the carbon dioxide humans emit into the atmosphere stays there. The rest is believed to be absorbed by the ocean and plants on land.

But the locations and identity of the natural "sinks" absorbing this carbon dioxide currently are not well understood. OCO-2 will help solve this critical scientific puzzle. Quantifying how the natural processes are helping remove carbon from the atmosphere will help scientists construct better models to predict how much carbon dioxide these sinks will be able to absorb in the future.

The missions innovative technologies will enable space-based measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide with the sensitivity, resolution and coverage needed to characterize the sources of carbon dioxide emissions and the natural sinks that moderate their buildup, at regional scales, everywhere on Earth. The mission's data will help scientists reduce uncertainties in forecasts of how much carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere and improve the accuracy of global climate change predictions.

In addition to measuring carbon dioxide, OCO-2 will monitor the "glow" of the chlorophyll contained within plants, a phenomenon known as solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, opening up potential new applications for studying vegetation on land. NASA researchers, in collaboration with Japanese and other international colleagues, have discovered that data from Japan's GOSAT (Greenhouse gases observing SATellite, also known as Ibuki in Japan), along with other satellites, including OCO-2, can help monitor this signature of photosynthesis on a global scale.

The observatory will fly in a 438-mile (705-kilometer) altitude, near-polar orbit in formation with the five other satellites that are part of the Afternoon, or "A-Train" Constellation. This international constellation of Earth-observing satellites circles Earth once every 98 minutes in a sun-synchronous orbit that crosses the equator near 1:30 p.m. local time and repeats the same ground track every 16 days. OCO-2 will be inserted at the head of the A-Train. Once in this orbit, OCO-2 is designed to operate for at least two years. This coordinated flight formation will enable researchers to correlate OCO-2 data with data from other NASA and partner spacecraft.

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NASA Carbon-Counting Satellite Arrives at Launch Site

NASA Selects Partners for U.S. Commercial Lander Capabilities

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NASA announced Wednesday the selection of three U.S. companies to negotiate no-funds exchanged partnership agreements with the agency to advance lander capabilities that will enable delivery of payloads to the surface of the moon, as well as new science and exploration missions of interest to NASA and scientific and academic communities.

The selected companies are: -- Astrobotic Technology, Inc., Pittsburgh -- Masten Space Systems, Inc., Mojave, Calif. -- Moon Express, Inc., Moffett Field, Calif.

NASA made the selections following a January solicitation for proposals. The agency now will negotiate no-funds exchanged Space Act Agreements with the companies as part of the agency's Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (Lunar CATALYST) initiative. NASA's contributions for an estimated three-year period may include technical expertise, access to agency test facilities, equipment loans and/or software for lander development and testing.

"NASA is making advances to push the boundaries of human exploration farther into the solar system, including to an asteroid and Mars, and continues to spur development in the commercial space sector," said Jason Crusan, director of the Advanced Exploration Systems Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Robotic missions to the moon have revealed the existence of local resources, including oxygen and water, which may be highly valuable for exploration of the solar system. The potential to use the lunar surface in partnership with our international and commercial partners may allow these resources to be characterized and used to enable future exploration and pioneering."

Commercial lunar transportation capabilities could support science and exploration objectives such as sample returns, geophysical network deployment, resource prospecting, and technology advancements.

The Advanced Exploration Systems Division of NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate manages Lunar CATALYST. Advanced Exploration Systems pioneers new approaches for rapidly developing prototype systems, demonstrating key capabilities and validating operational concepts for future human missions beyond Earth orbit.

As NASA works with U.S. industry to develop the next generation of U.S. spaceflight services, the agency also is developing the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration. Designed for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS and Orion will expand human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration across the solar system, including to a near-Earth asteroid and Mars. For more information about the Lunar CATALYST initiative, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/lunarcatalyst

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NASA Selects Partners for U.S. Commercial Lander Capabilities

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover captures UFO’s Flying Docking Refuelling – Video

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NASA #39;s Curiosity Mars Rover captures UFO #39;s Flying Docking Refuelling
Curiosity has really done it !! Clear images of UFO docking, possibly refuelling while others are in the air above. Music is by Hypnocat - Blackout - used with permission Source http://mars.jpl.na...

By: Sapa Holliday

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NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover captures UFO's Flying Docking Refuelling - Video

Mars Rover Curiosity at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory – Nerdy Jobs with Matt Bennett – Video

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Mars Rover Curiosity at NASA #39;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Nerdy Jobs with Matt Bennett
Join Matt Bennett as he takes you behind the scenes of some of the coolest Nerdy Jobs on the planet. This episode Matt gets a hands on look at the inner working of NASA #39;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory...

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Mars Rover Curiosity at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Nerdy Jobs with Matt Bennett - Video

NASA's Orion spacecraft tested in anticipation of maiden flight

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NASA has successfully completed the latest series of tests for its next-generation Orion Spacecraft, currently housed at the Kennedy Space Center. The latest trials focused on vibration-testing the spacecraft, simulating the stress that Orion will be subjected to during its maiden test flight scheduled to take place in December.

Orion is due to serve as NASA's go-to vehicle for both low-Earth orbit and manned deep space missions. NASA boasts that Orion will be the most advanced and safest spacecraft ever designed, allowing manned spaceflight to reach hitherto impossible destinations, including missions to near-Earth asteroids, and in the longer term, a trip to Mars.

The most recent set of tests, carried out between April 17-24, was conducted by NASA scientists alongside a team from Lockheed Martin, in order to simulate the high levels of stress that the prototype spaceship will be subjected to during its maiden test flight. Orion was placed in a specialized vibration stand, isolated from the floor and ceiling, with sensitive components such as the spacecraft's windows, thrusters and parachutes covered and cantilevered in order to protect them from the jarring ordeal.

The Orion spacecraft mounted in a vibration stand, ready to undergo stress testing (Photo: NASA/Daniel Casper)

Twin electromagnetic shakers were fitted to either side of the spacecraft's hull, each of which was capable of simulating 4,000 pounds of force. Once one area of the craft was stress-tested, the shakers were removed and attached to another segment of the hull, continuing the process until Orion was fully tested. As the shakers were operational, readings were taken from accelerometers and strain gauges placed throughout the crew compartment, informing the team whether any elements of the design had failed to perform within expected parameters. Following each stage of stress testing, the hull of the spacecraft was thoroughly checked by system specialists for flaws that may have been exposed under pressure.

"It was a great accomplishment for the test team in preparation for the Exploration Flight Test-1 later this year," states Orion Program Test and Verification lead scientist Rafael Garcia. "Following months of preparations and pretest analysis, the multi-point random vibration test was conducted without any major issues and was completed two days ahead of schedule."

Orion's first test flight, due to take place this December, will take the form of the uncrewed spacecraft being launched into space to test critical systems whilst being subjected to punishing pressures. Once in space it will complete one full orbit, and before its return to Earth it will fire its thrusters one more time, pushing the spacecraft to a height of 3,600 miles (5,794 km) above the Earth.

This will be done in order to increase the pressure upon re-entry. At that time, at a speed of around 20,000 mph (32,187 km/h) and withstanding temperatures of 4,000F ( 2,204C), the spacecraft's heat shield will be put under extreme pressure. This is a vital test, required to determine whether the craft could adequately protect a human crew on a return mission from outer space. The maiden voyage will come to an end with the craft deploying its parachutes, and coming to rest in the Pacific Ocean.

The video below displays a computer simulation of the maiden test flight.

Source: NASA

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NASA's Orion spacecraft tested in anticipation of maiden flight


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