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NASA selects 4 Utah students for research grants

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Four Utah graduate students have a chance to make their marks on space exploration as part of the latest class of NASAs Space Technology Research Fellowship.

The program selected 65 students whose research shows potential for use in NASA missions.

"The program is about engaging academia," said program executive Claudia Meyer. "Universities have long been held up as centers of innovation in our country. The program aims to tap into that."

The program has already awarded 128 grants since 2011, including to four Utah students.

"Ive been working toward an award like this, trying to get into a prestigious fellowship, for 3 years," said Thomas Hardin, a Brigham Young University student chosen to receive a grant. "It was a big goal achieved."

Hardin is researching how the properties of metal change when the material is bent to make products like spoons and cars. His findings would help NASA predict how durable their machines will be in space.

Hardins interest in space predates his grad school years. In high school, he worked with the flight simulation machine at the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center in Pleasant Grove.

"I honestly think thats why NASA wanted me [for the fellowship], because of my space background," Hardin said. "My research isnt all that space-oriented."

Hardin is joined by BYUs Ezekiel Merriam, University of Utah student Joe Brink and Utah State Universitys Daniel Merkley.

Grant recipients are matched with a NASA researcher who will help them with their projects. Students then conduct their research on campus and in U.S. non-profit and NASA labs.

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NASA selects 4 Utah students for research grants

X-15 Remotely Controlled Drop Model Tests (+ 2nd Advanced Drop Model) circa 1960 NASA Langley – Video

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X-15 Remotely Controlled Drop Model Tests (+ 2nd Advanced Drop Model) circa 1960 NASA Langley
more at http://scitech.quickfound.net/ "Tested conducted on Langley Air Force Base which is adjacent to NASA langely Research Center. Researchers from the 20...

By: Jeff Quitney

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X-15 Remotely Controlled Drop Model Tests (+ 2nd Advanced Drop Model) circa 1960 NASA Langley - Video

NASA aims to reduce asteroid threat

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Deep impact: An artist's impression of a huge meteorite striking Earth 65 million years ago, sending the dinosaurs and many other life forms into extinction. Photo: Reuters

Add this to your worry list: orbiting somewhere near Earth are an estimated 13,000 asteroids big enough to possibly level a country and NASA has no clue as to when, where or whether they might strike.

Worse, astronomers think their sky maps might still be missing an additional 50 to 100 asteroids so massive roughly a kilometre across or larger that they could end civilisation if they hit Earth.

With those cosmic threats in mind, the Obama administration on Tuesday unveiled a "grand challenge" that would redouble efforts by NASA and challenge amateur astronomers to catalogue every asteroid near Earth that's large enough to cause significant damage. NASA also is being asked to lead a new campaign to figure out how to defend Earth from doomsday rocks.

"We want to prove that we are, in fact, smarter than the dinosaurs," said NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver, referring to the massive asteroid or comet that scientists think killed the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.

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Though her example was dramatic, Ms Garver didn't have to reach that far back to show what a space rock can do to Earth. Just this February, an asteroid 17 metres in diameter exploded over Russia, injuring more than 1000 people. And car-sized asteroids enter and burn up in the atmosphere almost weekly.

As it stands, NASA has located about 95 per cent of the asteroids big enough to annihilate everyone on Earth and none poses any immediate danger of hitting the planet. But they are a lot less certain about where to find the smaller ones.

NASA scientists estimate that about 13,000 asteroids larger than 140 metres which have the potential to level a country remain undiscovered. And there could be millions more that are close in size to the Russian asteroid.

"We have done a very good job on the big ones. It's the smaller ones that could be a potential threat and where we have a lot of work to do," said Jason Kessler, of NASA's chief technologist office.

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NASA aims to reduce asteroid threat

Mars beyond reach without NASA budget boost

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NASA

A notional concept of a solar-electric-powered spacecraft, designed to capture a small near-Earth asteroid and relocate it safely close to the Earth-moon system so astronauts can explore it.

By Miriam Kramer Space.com

If NASA continues to be funded at its current levels, a manned mission to Mars could be permanently beyond reach, space industry experts say.

When asked how soon astronauts could potentially set foot on Marsunder NASA's current budget constraints, Thomas Young, the former executive vice president of Lockheed Martin, says the outlook is bleak.

"With the current budget, bear with me, I would probably say never," Young said during a meeting of the U.S. House of Representative's space subcommittee Wednesday. [Boldest Mars Missions of All Time]

Steven Squyres, the principal investigator for NASA's Opportunity rover now exploring Mars, agreed. Squyres, an astronomy professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., also gave testimony before the House subcommittee.

Young said that if the public and government officials treat a mission to Mars with the importance of the first mission to the moon, it is possible to put boots on the Red Planet in a little more than a decade from now.

"Mars is harder; there are a lot of significant issues to resolve before going to Mars," Young said. "But I think that if we had the same national commitment to it (as we did to going to the moon), I would say by 2025, we could land on Mars."

The current draft of NASA's budget produced by the House asks the space agency to develop a roadmap that will define the technical capabilities needed to send humans to Mars sometime in the future.

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Mars beyond reach without NASA budget boost

NASA wants your help lassoing an asteroid

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NASA has issued The Asteroid Grand Challenge, an effort to solicit ideas for how to capture an asteroid and, later, send humans to asteroids.

NASA wants our help snagging an asteroid.

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On Tuesday, NASA announced anAsteroid Grand Challenge that solicits the publics help in proposing asteroid-wrangling strategies for the agencys Asteroid Initiative.

"NASA already is working to find asteroids that might be a threat to our planet, and while we have found 95 percent of the large asteroids near theEarth's orbit, we need to find all those that might be a threat to Earth," said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, in a press release. "This Grand Challenge is focused on detecting and characterizing asteroids and learning how to deal with potential threats. We will also harness public engagement, open innovation and citizen science to help solve this global problem."

NASAs Asteroid Initiative includes the capture and redirection of a 500-ton near-Earth asteroid into a stable orbit as well as missions to send astronauts to asteroids. According to the initiatives current timeline, NASA will assess asteroid candidates until 2016, launch a mission to the asteroid in 2017, capture the asteroid in 2019, and send it into trans-lunar orbit in 2021. Throughout that timeline, NASA will test the unmanned Orion spacecraft, in hopes of sending a manned mission aboard the craft in 2021.

That timeline is ahead of the presidents goal to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and a manned mission to Mars by the 2030s. Efforts to develop the technology to deflect asteroids have become particularly meaningful since a meteor plunged to the earth near the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February, killing no one but reminding us of our vulnerability here on Earth.

The space agencys outline for how it will capture an asteroid is still vague and thats why it wants the publics help.

The Asteroid Grand Challenge is an effort to develop collaborations with government agencies, international partners, industry, and academia, as well as citizen scientists. At the same time, NASA has also put out a Request for Information, which will be open for 30 days for the agencys potential partners to submit their asteroid-grabbing ideas.

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NASA wants your help lassoing an asteroid

NASA Langley joins Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing

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PARIS, June 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --PARIS AIR SHOW-- NASA Langley Research Center and the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) today announced that NASA will join CCAM as a government member.

The move will create opportunities for joint participation in research and development of new surface engineering technologies and manufacturing systems.

NASA's expertise, combined with the manufacturing capabilities of CCAM members, will speed the process of bringing novel technologies to market sooner. These developments will have applications in the aerospace industry, space exploration, satellite system development, consumer products and beyond.

"Throughout history NASA Langley has been a pioneer in innovation," said Armand F. Lauzon Jr., chairman of the CCAM board. "With its vast expertise and guidance, and the CCAM industry partners' manufacturing and technology leadership, we are poised for new developments in the core CCAM areas of manufacturing systems and surface technologies."

"These developments will have broad ranging impacts critical to NASA and industry, including the ability to strengthen composites and fortify alloys and metals, and improve manufactured fuselages, space vehicle equipment, satellite components and other equipment."

Lesa Roe, NASA Langley's director, said, "Our collaboration with CCAM will combine the strengths of NASA in basic science and applications critical to aeronautics and space exploration, with the proven advanced manufacturing engineering and technology capabilities of the CCAM membership. This combination is critical in translating new ideas into commercial practice as quickly and cost-effectively as possible."

CCAM is a public-private partnership between dozens of industry partners and the University of Virginia, Virginia State University and Virginia Tech.

Dr. Michael Beffel, CCAM president and executive director, called the collaboration "significant for the future of materials and manufacturing and extremely beneficial to both NASA and industry."

Research and development will take place at the CCAM center near Richmond, Va., and at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., as collaborative work between NASA, CCAM researchers and industry and university members.

CCAM industry members include Canon Virginia Inc., Chromalloy, Newport News Shipbuilding, Rolls-Royce, Sandvik Coromant, Siemens, Sulzer Metco, Aerojet, Hermle Machine Co., Mitutoyo, TurboCombustor Technology Inc., Buehler, Cool Clean Technologies, GF AgieCharmilles, and Blaser Swisslube.

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NASA Langley joins Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing


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