New York, Jan 13:

NASA has signed a $ 17.8 million deal to attach an inflatable private module to the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA will pay the hefty amount to the Nevada-based private spaceflight firm Bigelow Aerospace for the companys Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which will be affixed to the orbiting lab as a technology demonstration.

This partnership agreement for the use of expandable habitats represents a step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably, and heralds important progress in US commercial space innovation, NASA Deputy Chief Lori Garver said.

NASA said Garver and Bigelow founder and President Robert Bigelow will discuss the BEAM programme at a media event on January 16, Space.com reported.

BEAM is likely to be similar to Bigelows Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 prototypes, which the company launched to orbit in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Both Genesis modules are 4.4 by 2.5 meters, with about 11.5 cubic metre of pressurised volume.

NASA said that BEAM could be on orbit about two years after getting an official go-ahead. The module is likely to be launched by one of the agencys commercial cargo suppliers, California-based SpaceX or Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp.

The company also intends to launch and link up several of its larger expandable modules to create private space stations, which could be used by a variety of clients.

Tenants could get to orbiting Bigelow habitats in several different ways. The company has set up a partnership with SpaceX for use of its Dragon spacecraft and another one with Boeing, to use the aerospace giants CST-100 capsule.

Bigelow is also eyeing a possible outpost on the moon, for which the company envisions using its BA-330 modules. Several BA-330 habitats, along with propulsion tanks and power units, would be joined together in space and then flown down to the lunar surface.

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NASA buys private inflatable room for ISS

A multi-year NASA airborne science mission is on its way to California to help scientists better understand how to measure and forecast air quality globally from space. Two NASA aircraft equipped with scientific instruments will fly over the San Joaquin Valley between Bakersfield and Fresno in January and February to measure air pollution. One aircraft will fly within 1,000 feet of the ground.

The aircraft are part of NASA's five-year DISCOVER-AQ study, which stands for Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality. Its researchers are working to improve the ability of satellites to consistently observe air quality in the lowest part of the atmosphere. If scientists could better observe pollution from space, they would be able to make better air quality forecasts and more accurately determine where pollution is coming from and why emissions vary.

A fundamental challenge for space-based instruments monitoring air quality is to distinguish between pollution high in the atmosphere and pollution near the surface where people live. DISCOVER-AQ will make measurements from aircraft in combination with ground-based monitoring sites to help scientists better understand how to observe ground-level pollution from space.

"DISCOVER-AQ is collecting data that will prepare us to make better observations from space, as well as determine the best mix of observations to have at the surface when we have new satellite instruments in orbit," said James Crawford, the mission's principal investigator at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. "NASA is planning to launch that satellite instrument, called TEMPO, in 2017."

Because many countries, including the United States, have large gaps in ground-based networks of air pollution monitors, experts look to satellites to provide a more complete geographic perspective on the distribution of pollutants. A fleet of Earth-observing satellites, called the Afternoon Constellation or "A-train," will pass over the DISCOVER-AQ study area daily in the early afternoon. The satellites' data, especially from NASA's Aqua and Aura spacecraft, will give scientists the opportunity to compare the view from space with that from the ground and aircraft. "The A-Train satellites have been useful in giving us a broader view of air pollution than we've ever had before," said Kenneth Pickering, DISCOVER-AQ's project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. "DISCOVER-AQ will help scientists interpret that data to improve air-quality analysis and regional air quality models."

Test flights are scheduled to start January 16 with science flights continuing through mid-February. A four-engine P-3B turboprop plane from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, VA, will carry eight instruments. A two-engine B200 King Air aircraft from Langley will carry two instruments. Sampling will focus on agricultural and vehicle traffic areas extending from Bakersfield to Fresno. The flight path passes over six ground measurement sites operated by the California Air Resources Board and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

The 117-foot-long P-3B will fly spiral flights over the ground stations. These flights will be from an altitude of 15,000 feet to as low as 1,000 feet. They will sample air along agricultural and traffic corridors at low altitudes between the ground stations. The smaller B200 King Air will collect data from as high as 26,000 feet. The plane's instruments will look down at the surface, much like a satellite, and measure particulate and gaseous air pollution. The two airplanes will fly from NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, CA.

(Images courtesy NASA)

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Major NASA Air Pollution Study To Fly Over California

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- News conferences, events and operating hours for the news center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are set for the launch of Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-K, or TDRS-K, aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket Jan. 29. The 40-minute launch window extends from 8:52 to 9:32 p.m. EST. Liftoff will occur from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Launch commentary coverage, as well as prelaunch media briefings, will be carried live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

TDRS-K is the first of three next-generation satellites designed to ensure vital operational continuity for NASA. Each of the new satellites has a higher performance solar panel design for more spacecraft power to meet the growing S-band communications requirements. The TDRS system provides critical support from several locations in geostationary orbit for an array of science and human exploration missions orbiting Earth. These include the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station.

Prelaunch News Conference

A prelaunch news conference on NASA TV will be held at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Press Site at 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 28.

Briefing participants are:

-- Badri Younes, deputy associate administrator, Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, Washington

-- Tim Dunn, NASA launch director Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

-- Vernon Thorp, program manager, NASA Missions United Launch Alliance, Denver, Colo.

-- Jeffrey Gramling, NASA TDRS-K project manager Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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NASA Sets TDRS-K/Atlas V Launch Events Coverage

NASA is preparing to launch the eighth observation satellite in the Landsat remote sensing program that has chronicled changes in the Earths land cover for four decades.

Landsat 8, set for a Feb. 11 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, will be equipped with instruments capable of more sensitive data collection than its predecessors. This will be the best Landsat satellite ever in terms of quality and quantity, said NASA project scientist Jim Irons.

The satellite will circle the Earth about 14 times a day, 438 miles above the planet, recording observations in different wavelengths along a 115-mile-wide swath and orbiting over the same point every 16 days. Information from the sensors, which will generate about 400 images a day, are used to map vegetation, soil moisture and heat emitted from the Earths surface.

Started in 1972 with the launch of its first satellite, Landsat is jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. The program has amassed a vivid record of global land changes such as tropical deforestation, the explosive growth of Las Vegas and the recovery of the landscape surrounding Mt. St. Helens after the Washington volcano erupted in 1980.

Landsat 5, launched in 1984, was retired last month. Landsat 7, launched in 1999, remains in operation although with gaps in its data collection.

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NASA to launch new Landsat earth observation satellite

Image Caption: This artist's concept shows a scene from the upcoming refueling demo aboard the International Space Station. The Robotic Refueling Mission, or RRM, Multifunction Tool (right) removes a cap from the RRM module (left). Credit: NASA

NASA

In mid-January, NASA will take the next step in advancing robotic satellite-servicing technologies as it tests the Robotic Refueling Mission, or RRM aboard the International Space Station. The investigation may one day substantially impact the many satellites that deliver products Americans rely upon daily, such as weather reports, cell phones and television news.

During five days of operations, controllers from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency will use the space stations remotely operated Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or Dextre, robot to simulate robotic refueling in space. Operating a space-based robotic arm from the ground is a feat on its own, but NASA will do more than just robotics work as controllers remotely snip wires, unscrew caps and transfer simulated fuel. The team also will demonstrate tools, technologies and techniques that could one day make satellites in space greener, more robust and more capable of delivering essential services to people on Earth.

Why Fix or Refuel a Satellite?

Every satellite has a lifespan and eventual retirement date, determined by the reliability of its components and how much fuel it can carry, explains Benjamin Reed, deputy project manager of NASAs Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office, or SSCO.

Repairing and refueling satellites already in place, Reed asserts, can be far less expensive than building and launching entirely new spacecraft, potentially saving millions, even billions of dollars and many years of work.

The RRM demonstration specifically tests what it would take to repair and refuel satellites traveling the busy space highway of geosynchronous Earth orbit, or GEO. Located about 22,000 miles above Earth, this orbital path is home to more than 400 satellites, many of which beam communications, television and weather data to customers worldwide.

By developing robotic capabilities to repair and refuel GEO satellites, NASA hopes to add precious years of functional life to satellites and expand options for operators who face unexpected emergencies, tougher economic demands and aging fleets. NASA also hopes that these new technologies will help boost the commercial satellite-servicing industry that is rapidly gaining momentum.

Besides aiding the GEO satellite community, a capability to fix and relocate ailing satellites also could help manage the growing orbital debris problem that threatens continued space operations, ultimately making space greener and more sustainable.

Excerpt from:

NASA Takes Next Step In Advancing Robotic Satellite-servicing Technologies

LONG BEACH, Calif. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope the notoriously over-budget new space observatory slated to launch in 2018 is on time and still within its new budget, the project's chief said Wednesday (Jan. 9).

Our budget still stands and the schedule remains the same, Eric Smith, the space telescope's program director, told astronomers here at a town hall meeting during the221st meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

Smith also outlined the future of theJames Webb Space Telescopeprogramin 2013 and discussed its turbulent year in 2012.

With an$8.8 billion dollar price tag, JWST is destined to be one of the largest and most expensive projects in NASA history. Set to replace the venerableHubble Space Telescopeonce it is launched, JWST will take infrared images of distant galaxies, probing the cosmos for hints and signals left behind fromthe Big Bang.

Of the four science instruments responsible for investigating those mysteries aboard the spacecraft, two were delivered to NASA in 2012. The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) the instrument responsible for taking Hubble-like images of distant galaxies, comets and other heavenly bodies was sent last year by the European consortium that built it. [Photos: The James Webb Space Telescope]

The Canadian Space Agency has also delivered its instrument: the Fine Guidance Sensor/Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (FGS/NIRISS) that will also take high-quality images of other bodies in space.

NASA is still awaiting two more contributions: the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) from Lockheed Martin and the University of Arizona, and the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) from the European Space Agency, which is still in its early testing phases. Both instruments measure light on the infrared spectrum. All of the science instruments are set to be integrated by the end of 2013, officials say.

The telescope's tennis court-size sunshield is in the early stages of testing as well. The sunshield itself is too large to launch in an unfurled state, creating a unique problem for JWST scientists to solve. Instead of launching the telescope with the sunshield in place, NASA is planning to unroll the shield once the craft is in orbit. At one-third of the way complete, NASA scientists are now starting to practice rolling and unrolling the shield to see how it might unfurl in space after launch.

Once all four instruments are finished, researchers will combine them to test JWST as one cohesive unit. While final testing on the ground should begin in 2015, simulation testing using Optimal Trajectories by Implicit Simulation a space telescope tester that mimics the temperature and environment of a space telescope in Earths orbit wont start until 2017, a year before launch.

JWST is also going to investigate a few objects a little closer to home.

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NASA's Next Flagship Space Telescope Back on Track ... and on Budget

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) Dyer Brainerd Holmes, director of manned space flight for NASA when Americans were making their early forays into space in the early 1960s, has died.

Holmes' stepson, Pierce Ledbetter, said Holmes died at Baptist Memorial Hospital East in Memphis on Friday at age 91. Holmes died from complications from pneumonia, Ledbetter said.

Holmes, who was born in New York in 1921, was an influential figure in the aeronautics and aerospace industries during a career that lasted more than 40 years.

He joined NASA as director of manned space flight in October 1961, according to the NASA History Office. He resigned in June 1963.

During Holmes' time at NASA, John Glenn became the first U.S. astronaut in orbit on Feb. 20, 1962 on Mercury-Atlas 6.

Scott Carpenter followed Glenn by riding Mercury-Atlas 7 into space on May 24 of the same year. Walter Schirra became the fifth American in space on Mercury-Atlas 8 on Oct. 3, 1962.

Holmes also helped lay the groundwork for the Apollo program and America's ambitious venture to the moon. He was featured in a Time Magazine cover story on Aug. 10, 1962, which had the tag line "Reaching for the Moon."

NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs said Holmes took over the Office of Manned Space Flight for NASA during a critical time for the agency.

"NASA was still relatively young and senior administrators wanted to beef up leadership and management experience at headquarters in Washington," Jacobs said in an e-mailed statement. "Holmes' expertise in electrical engineering and management was seen as essential to not only study problems but to offer solutions as NASA began to focus its attention on the Apollo program and the race to the moon."

After leaving NASA, Holmes joined Raytheon Company as a director. He was later named president of Raytheon, which produced radar and communications systems as well as the Sparrow, Patriot and Sidewinder missiles. He retired in 1986.

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Ex-NASA manned spaceflight director Holmes dies

NASA has officially signed a deal to attach an inflatable private module to the International Space Station, space agency officials confirmed today (Jan. 11).

Under the new deal, NASA will pay $17.8 million to the Nevada-based private spaceflight firm Bigelow Aerospace for the company's Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which will be affixed to the orbiting lab as a technology demonstration.

"This partnership agreement for the use of expandable habitats represents a step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably, and heralds important progress in U.S. commercial space innovation," NASA deputy chief Lori Garver said in a statement.

Today's announcement confirms reports thatsurfaced earlier this week. Garver and Bigelow founder and president Robert Bigelow will discuss the BEAM program at a media event Jan. 16 at Bigelow Aerospace facilities in North Las Vegas, NASA officials said.

BEAM is likely to be similar to Bigelow's Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 prototypes, which the company launched to orbit in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Both Genesis modules are 14.4 feet long by 8.3 feet wide (4.4 by 2.5 meters), with about 406 cubic feet (11.5 cubic m) of pressurized volume.

NASA officials have said that BEAM could be on orbit about two years after getting an official go-ahead. The module will likely be launched by one of the agency's commerical cargo suppliers, California-based SpaceX or Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp.

Bigelow's dreams don't stop at the International Space Station. The company wants to launch and link up several of its larger expandable modules to create private space stations, which could be used by a variety of clients.

Tenants could get to orbiting Bigelow habitats in several different ways. The company has set up a partnership with SpaceX for use of its Dragon spacecraft and another one with Boeing, to use the aerospace giant's CST-100 capsule.

Bigelow is also eyeing a possible outpost on the moon, for which the company envisions using its BA-330 modules (so named because they offer 330 cubic meters of usable internal volume). Several BA-330 habitats, along with propulsion tanks and power units, would be joined together in space and then flown down to the lunar surface.

Lunar dirt would be piled over the modules to protect against radiation, thermal extremes and micrometeorite strikes. Then clients be they explorers, scientists or tourists could move in and set up shop on the moon.

Excerpt from:

NASA Buys Private Inflatable Room for Space Station

Parting Moon Shoots from NASA #39;s GRAIL Mission
Likie: http://www.facebook.com This video of the moon was taken by the NASA GRAIL mission #39;s MoonKAM (Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students) camera aboard the Ebb spacecraft on Dec. 14, 2012. At the time the images were taken, the spacecraft was about 6 miles (10 kilometers) above the northern hemisphere of the moon #39;s far side, in the vicinity of the Jackson impact crater. This imagery was acquired as part of a final checkout of spacecraft equipment prior to its planned impact on a mountain near the moon #39;s north pole on Dec. 17. The first video clip, taken by the forward-facing camera head aboard the Ebb spacecraft, is made up of 931 individual frames. The second video clip was taken by the rearward-facing camera head. It is comprised of 1498 individual frames. The playback occurs at six times the rate of the spacecraft #39;s true orbital motion. Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech / MIT / SRS

By: SpaceLibrary

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Parting Moon Shoots from NASA's GRAIL Mission - Video

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA and industry partners on Wednesday touted progress they've made developing private spacecraft that could fly astronauts from Florida to the International Space Station by 2017.

Soon after the briefing at Kennedy Space Center, NASA's independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel released a report confirming progress while identifying several concerns with the agency's Commercial Crew Program.

"The ASAP is pleased to see that progress has been made with the CCP over the last year, but many challenges remain that will require resolution at the earliest possible time," the panel's 2012 annual report said.

NASA has committed about $1.5 billion to develop commercial crew systems since 2010, with most of that awarded last year to The Boeing Co., Sierra Nevada Corp. and SpaceX.

Those three companies hope to complete system designs in 2014 and could launch crews on test flights as soon as 2015 or 2016.

Among the safety panel's concerns is the possibility that NASA could ask its commercial partners to fly orbital test flights with their own crews before NASA astronauts board the new vehicles.

The optional tests, the report says, raise questions about who would certify their safety and whether NASA could be seen as "irresponsible in its sponsorship/facilitation or tacit acceptance of a high-risk activity."

NASA has told the panel it has no plan to exercise those flights.

Ed Mango, manager of the Kennedy-based commercial crew program, said Wednesday that the commercial crew program's goal was to develop and certify systems that could fly NASA crews to the space station and also enable commercial flights to other destinations.

As such, the agency wanted companies to say when they would be ready to put their own crews at risk.

Originally posted here:

NASA: Commercial-crew flights on track to start in 2017

Jan. 10, 2013 Advanced propulsion researchers at NASA are a step closer to solving the challenge of safely sending human explorers to Mars and other solar system destinations.

By using an innovative test facility at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., researchers are able to use non-nuclear materials to simulate nuclear thermal rocket fuels -- ones capable of propelling bold new exploration missions to the Red Planet and beyond.

The Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage team is tackling a three-year project to demonstrate the viability of nuclear propulsion system technologies. A nuclear rocket engine uses a nuclear reactor to heat hydrogen to very high temperatures, which expands through a nozzle to generate thrust. Nuclear rocket engines generate higher thrust and are more than twice as efficient as conventional chemical rocket engines.

The team recently used Marshall's Nuclear Thermal Rocket Element Environmental Simulator, or NTREES, to perform realistic, non-nuclear testing of various materials for nuclear thermal rocket fuel elements. In an actual reactor, the fuel elements would contain uranium, but no radioactive materials are used during the NTREES tests. Among the fuel options are a graphite composite and a "cermet" composite -- a blend of ceramics and metals. Both materials were investigated in previous NASA and U.S. Department of Energy research efforts.

Nuclear-powered rocket concepts are not new; the United States conducted studies and significant ground testing from 1955 to 1973 to determine the viability of nuclear propulsion systems, but ceased testing when plans for a crewed Mars mission were deferred.

The NTREES facility is designed to test fuel elements and materials in hot flowing hydrogen, reaching pressures up to 1,000 pounds per square inch and temperatures of nearly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit -- conditions that simulate space-based nuclear propulsion systems to provide baseline data critical to the research team.

"This is vital testing, helping us reduce risks and costs associated with advanced propulsion technologies and ensuring excellent performance and results as we progress toward further system development and testing," said Mike Houts, project manager for nuclear systems at Marshall.

A first-generation nuclear cryogenic propulsion system could propel human explorers to Mars more efficiently than conventional spacecraft, reducing crews' exposure to harmful space radiation and other effects of long-term space missions. It could also transport heavy cargo and science payloads. Further development and use of a first-generation nuclear system could also provide the foundation for developing extremely advanced propulsion technologies and systems in the future -- ones that could take human crews even farther into the solar system.

Building on previous, successful research and using the NTREES facility, NASA can safely and thoroughly test simulated nuclear fuel elements of various sizes, providing important test data to support the design of a future Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. A nuclear cryogenic upper stage -- its liquid-hydrogen propellant chilled to super-cold temperatures for launch -- would be designed to be safe during all mission phases and would not be started until the spacecraft had reached a safe orbit and was ready to begin its journey to a distant destination. Prior to startup in a safe orbit, the nuclear system would be cold, with no fission products generated from nuclear operations, and with radiation below significant levels.

"The information we gain using this test facility will permit engineers to design rugged, efficient fuel elements and nuclear propulsion systems," said NASA researcher Bill Emrich, who manages the NTREES facility at Marshall. "It's our hope that it will enable us to develop a reliable, cost-effective nuclear rocket engine in the not-too-distant future."

Link:

NASA researchers studying advanced nuclear rocket technologies

On July 12, 2011, spacewalking astronauts Mike Fossum and Ron Garan successfully transferred the Robotic Refueling Mission, or RRM, module from the Atlantis shuttle cargo bay to a temporary platform on the International Space Station's Dextre robot. (NASA)

In mid-January, NASA will take the next step in advancing robotic satellite-servicing technologies as it tests the Robotic Refueling Mission, or RRM aboard the International Space Station. The investigation may one day substantially impact the many satellites that deliver products Americans rely upon daily, such as weather reports, cell phones and television news.

During five days of operations, controllers from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency will use the space station's remotely operated Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or Dextre, robot to simulate robotic refueling in space. Operating a space-based robotic arm from the ground is a feat on its own, but NASA will do more than just robotics work as controllers remotely snip wires, unscrew caps and transfer simulated fuel. The team also will demonstrate tools, technologies and techniques that could one day make satellites in space greener, more robust and more capable of delivering essential services to people on Earth.

Why Fix or Refuel a Satellite?

"Every satellite has a lifespan and eventual retirement date, determined by the reliability of its components and how much fuel it can carry," explains Benjamin Reed, deputy project manager of NASA's Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office, or SSCO.

Repairing and refueling satellites already in place, Reed asserts, can be far less expensive than building and launching entirely new spacecraft, potentially saving millions, even billions of dollars and many years of work.

The RRM demonstration specifically tests what it would take to repair and refuel satellites traveling the busy space highway of geosynchronous Earth orbit, or GEO. Located about 22,000 miles above Earth, this orbital path is home to more than 400 satellites, many of which beam communications, television and weather data to customers worldwide.

By developing robotic capabilities to repair and refuel GEO satellites, NASA hopes to add precious years of functional life to satellites and expand options for operators who face unexpected emergencies, tougher economic demands and aging fleets. NASA also hopes that these new technologies will help boost the commercial satellite-servicing industry that is rapidly gaining momentum.

Besides aiding the GEO satellite community, a capability to fix and relocate "ailing" satellites also could help manage the growing orbital debris problem that threatens continued space operations, ultimately making space greener and more sustainable.

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NASA's Robotic Refueling Demo Set to Jumpstart Expanded Capabilities in Space

Humans produce trash just about everywhere they go, including space, which will pose a problem for astronauts on long voyages to other planets. But scientists have found a way to transform this space detritus into something useful: a radiation shield.

Since flinging garbage out the door is not an option, engineers at NASA are testing how a novel on-board trash compactor could give new life to discarded water bottles, clothing scraps, duct tape and other waste on deep-space missions.

The space trash compactor is not like the giant one on the Death Star that nearly squashed Luke Skywalker and the gang in the first "Star Wars" film. This one is smaller, producing circular tiles of trash 8 inches (20 centimeters) wide and a half-inch (1.3 cm) from a single day's worth of garbage. The discs then could be stowed away, or even used for radiation shielding to protect a spacecrafts crew, NASA officials said.

"One of the ways these discs could be re-used is as a radiation shield because there's a lot of plastic packaging in the trash," Mary Hummerick, a Qinetiq North America microbiologist at Kennedy Space Center in Florida working on the project, said in a statement. "The idea is to make these tiles, and, if the plastic components are high enough, they could actually shield radiation."

Beyond low-Earth orbit, astronauts are bombarded with harmful cosmic rays, which can boost the risk of certain diseases like cancer and neurological damage. And the longer one spends in space, the greater the risk. The dangers radiation are especially of concern given NASAs plans for a manned mission to an asteroid by 2025, and then on to Mars by the mid 2030s the round trip to the Red Planet alone could take at least two years.

Trash tiles could, for example, bolster the space radiation shielding around the astronauts' sleeping quarters or perhaps a small area in the spacecraft that would be built up to serve as a storm shelter to protect crews from solar flare effects, NASA officials said.

Devised by engineers at NASAs Ames Research Center in California, the compactor heats the trash for 3.5 hours to between 300 and 350 degrees Fahrenheit (148 and 176 degrees Celsius), melting the garbage, but not incinerating it. The process reduces the trash by at least 10 times the original size and squeezes out water that could be recycled.

Hummerick said strips containing bacterial spores are being embedded in test tiles to see if the heating and compaction process is effective in killing bacteria. Her team at Kennedy is expecting to get back a new batch of compacted tiles from Ames soon and will next test if the discs remain sterile in long-term storage.

"They are achieving sterilization for the most part," Hummerick said. "What we don't know is, can a few possible surviving bacteria go inert and then grow back?"

NASA mission planners need to think about how to handle trash to make use of limited resources during long journeys and to prevent spacecraft from becoming filled with garbage. Trashed tossed out of a spaceship could potentially threaten to contaminate other worlds, and NASA policy dictates that such pollution should be avoided.

Continued here:

NASA Turns Astronaut Trash Into Space Radiation Shield

NASA announced today (Jan. 10) the upcoming launch of a new satellite, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), to monitor Earth's landscape and the changes to it.

The new satellite, scheduled to launch Feb. 11, will take the place of the Landsat 5 satellite, which is to be decommissioned in the coming months, the U.S. Geological Survey reported in December.

LDCM carries two new instruments, the Operational Land Imager and the Thermal Infrared Sensor. These will allow it to create better images than any previous Landsat mission and make it "more sensitive to changes in land surface over time," said Jim Irons, LDCM project scientist, during a news conference today.

The satellite is 19 feet (6 meters) long and weighs about 6,000 pounds (2,720 kilograms), making it the size of a large SUV, said Ken Schwer, LDCM project manager based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., along with Irons. LDCM's size is relatively large for an Earth-observing satellite, Schwer said.

LDCM will orbit 438 miles (705 kilometers) over the Earth's surface, and follow the same track as Landsat 5, to pick up where the old satellite leaves off, Schwer said. [Amazing Astronaut Images of Earth]

The satellite has already been transported to the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where it will be launched. Afterward, it will be renamed Landsat 8, and will be operated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). It will circle the Earth about 14 times daily and return over each location on Earth every 16 days as its orbit moves over different latitudes, according to NASA.

The data the satellite collects will be free to the public and used for a variety of purposes. It will help monitor tropical deforestation, urban expansion, impacts of natural disasters and glacial melting, Irons said. As has been the case during the Landsat program's 40-year history, information collected will help make informed decisions regarding land use for urban areas and agriculture, and to help manage natural resources such as forests and fresh water, he said.

"I don't think it's hyperbole to suggest that all 7 billion of us will benefit from the LDCM," Irons said.

The LDCM will collect more and better data than the Landsat 5, but can only hope to last as long, scientists said. Landsat 5 is the longest-operating Earth-observing satellite mission in history, according to the USGS. Launched in 1984 with a three-year design life, it has been taking images and recording changes on the Earth's surface ever since. The satellite almost failed several times, but engineers brought it back to life. However, the recent failure of a gyroscope (which helps satellites maintain their orientation) left no option but to end the mission, the USGS said in its release.

"Any major event since 1984 that left a mark on this Earth larger than a football field was likely recorded by Landsat 5, whether it was a hurricane, a tsunami, a wildfire, deforestation or an oil spill," USGS Director Marcia McNutt said in the statement. "We look forward to a long and productive continuation of the Landsat program, but it is unlikely there will ever be another satellite that matches the outstanding longevity of Landsat 5."

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NASA Announces Launch of New Earth-Observing Satellite

Solar Eruption on the Sun Captured by NASA , 31 Dec 2012
A solar eruption gracefully rose up from the sun on December 31, 2012, twisting and turning. Magnetic forces drove the flow of plasma, but without sufficient force to overcome the sun #39;s gravity much of the plasma fell back into the sun. This four--hour event occurred from 10:20 am to 2:20 pm EST and was captured by NASA #39;s Solar Dynamics Observatory in extreme ultraviolet light shown here at a high cadence of an image every 36 seconds. Source by Nasa

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Solar Eruption on the Sun Captured by NASA , 31 Dec 2012 - Video

NEW SHOCKING NASA UFO FOOTAGE
WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE 9/11/2013!!! church-of-illumination.com please pray for me because i rejected god for so long and now that the end is near i regret my sins. warn everyone you know that satan is coming 9/11/2013

By: XSTRAIGHTEDGE4EVERX

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NEW SHOCKING NASA UFO FOOTAGE - Video

FLOWER ON MARS - NASA CURIOSITY, MARTIAN FLOWER, ARE THERE REALLY FLOWERS ON MARS? NASA BANNED VIDEO
Flower On Mars - NASA CURIOSITY, Martian Flower 7/1/2013 This has been reported by various news outlets but this is a Flower found on the surface of Mars by the Curiosity Rover in SOL 132. The flower which is transparent and highly reflective is smooth on the sides and has the appearance...

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FLOWER ON MARS - NASA CURIOSITY, MARTIAN FLOWER, ARE THERE REALLY FLOWERS ON MARS? NASA BANNED VIDEO - Video

PROOF NASA Would Let You Die from 2ndSun Brown Dwarf
The 2nd Coming Of Christ Is Happening Sooner Than You Think: church-of-illumination.com Please donate to their site to help warn the world about the atrocities that are about to occur on 9/11/2013. Repent for your sins or risk the fires of hell. Donate as much as you can. Money will soon become irrelevant. All that matters is your soul in the eyes of the lord. Prove your love for him and warn your brothers and sisters. Amen.

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NASA has selected eight large-scale integrated technology demonstrations to advance aircraft concepts and technologies that will reduce the impact of aviation on the environment over the next 30 years, research efforts that promise future travelers will fly in quieter, greener and more fuel-efficient airliners.

The demonstrations, which are part of by NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project, will focus on five areasaircraft drag reduction through innovative flow control concepts, weight reduction from advanced composite materials, fuel and noise reduction from advanced engines, emissions reductions from improved engine combustors, and fuel consumption and community noise reduction through innovative airframe and engine integration designs.

The selected demonstrations are:

The Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project was created in 2009 and is part of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate's Integrated Systems Research Program. During its first phase, engineers assessed dozens of broad areas of environmentally friendly aircraft technologies and then matured the most promising ones to the point that they can be tested together in a real world environment in the second phase. Those experiments included nonstick coatings for low-drag wing designs, laboratory testing of a new composite manufacturing technique, advanced engine testing, and test flights of a remotely piloted hybrid wing body prototype.

Key to ERA research is industry partnerships. Each of the demonstrations, which are scheduled to begin this year and continue through 2015, is expected to include selected industry partners, many of which will contribute their own funding. "ERA's research portfolio provides a healthy balance of industry and government partnerships working collaboratively to mature key technologies addressing ERA's aggressive fuel burn, noise and emission reductions goals for tomorrow's transport aircraft," said Ed Waggoner, director of the Integrated Systems Research Program.

ERA is one of many NASA aeronautics research efforts to develop technologies to make aircraft safer, faster, and more efficient and to help transform the national air transportation system. That research is being conducted at NASA Langley, NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

For more information about NASA aeronautics programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics

Provided by NASA

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