Keith's 6 Oct. note: NASA Watch sources report that this upcoming trip to China and then Indonesia is Charlie Bolden's idea first and foremost. The White House did not ask him to go to either country - nor do they want him to go.  But he is going anyway.  The trip to Saudi Arabia was similarly unrequested and unsanctioned as far as the White House was concerned. This begs the question in the White House and elsewhere as to why Bolden is focusing his energy on foreign trips at a time when NASA's domestic support is sagging. Moreover, there is growing concern within the White House as to why Bolden is not getting the message that the White House has been sending to him. Bolden's recent gaffs in the Middle East and ethics issues with Marathon Oil haven't exactly helped his relationship with the White House.  Stay tuned.

Human Spaceflight on Agenda for Bolden's China Trip, Space News

"But it remains unclear whether Bolden is making his trip at the behest of the White House or on his own initiative. White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro declined to comment on Bolden's China visit and referred media queries to NASA. When asked about Bolden's trip NASA spokesman Michael Cabbage referred to last November's joint U.S.-China communique that calls for expanded discussions on human spaceflight cooperation. Cabbage said the trip "is being coordinated with all appropriate government agencies," even as a senior Republican lawmaker requested a security briefing on the visit before it happens."

U.S. Lawmaker Balks at NASA Chief's China Visit, space.com

"In an Oct. 5 letter to the NASA chief, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said he strongly opposes any partnership with Beijing that involves human spaceflight, including efforts to involve China in the international space station. "I need not remind you that no such planning or coordination has been approved by the Congress," wrote Wolf, the ranking member on the House Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee that oversees NASA spending. "In fact, several recent NASA authorization bills have explicitly sought to place strict limitations on coordination with China."

Keith's 9 Oct. update: That's rather odd. The White House is normaly much more forthcoming on commenting on matters such as this given that a senior government official such as Bolden is going to China (and Indonesia and Viet Nam). Unless, of course, as is the case with this trip, this is not their idea and they'd rather that he not go on the trip in the first place. Relations between the U.S. and China are rather frosty right now. As such, you don't really want someone prone to public gaffs making a highly visible trip with media dogging him the entire time. Stay tuned.

U.S. Lawmaker Balks at NASA Chief's China Visit, Space News

"NASA Administrator Charles Bolden's plan to visit China this month for high-level talks about possible cooperation on human spaceflight has prompted a senior Republican appropriator to request a security briefing on the trip before it happens. In an Oct. 5 letter to the NASA chief, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said he strongly opposes any partnership with Beijing that involves human spaceflight, including efforts to involve China in the international space station."

Make Magazine: 10 Do-It-Yourself Space Projects

"MAKE blasts into orbit and beyond with our DIY SPACE issue. Put your own satellite in orbit, launch a stratosphere balloon probe, and analyze galaxies for $20 with an easy spectrograph! We talk to the rocket mavericks reinventing the space industry, and renegade NASA hackers making smartphone robots and Lego satellites. Of course, as usual, we've got a full payload of other cool DIY projects, from a helium-balloon camera that's better than Google Earth, to an electromagnetic levitator that shoots aluminum rings, to a simple stroboscope that takes the most amazing freeze-frame photos.

Plus: party-pleasing automated photo booth that prints out photo strips, MythBusters' Adam Savage teaches you hard-shell moldmaking, and much more. MAKE Volume 24, on sale October 26.

Short listing of articles: ..."

"The Open Government Community Summit Series is an inter-agency collaborative event hosted by a different agency each month. Several working groups have formed out of previous workshops, and the focus for the final two workshops of 2010 is to actually build-- not just talk about-- the infrastructure (i.e. collective knowledge resources and standard operating procedures) necessary to sustain the open government community over the long haul. This month's summit is generously hosted by NASA and facilitated by the Open Forum Foundation."

Scientists Demand Retraction From Gov't Attorney In NASA Privacy Case, space.com

"A group of scientists has demanded that the U.S. Attorney General's office immediately retract remarks made by a government attorney during arguments before the Supreme Court over privacy concerns with NASA background checks. The scientists said they want the attorney general to retract a statement made by acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal during his opening statement, which at one point addressed how easily employees at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., could access sensitive areas and facilities using a new security badge."

JPL scientists demand retraction in Supreme Court privacy case, Pasadena Star News

"Jet Propulsion Laboratory employees Thursday accused the federal government's lawyers of lying to the U.S. Supreme Court when the justices heard arguments this week in a legal battle involving new security background checks."

hspd12jpl.org

Previous HSPD-12 News

Conspiracy Theorists Confident: Altered Image a NASA Cover-Up, Fox News

"The person responsible for the manipulation, Emily Lakdawalla, told a forum of excitable theorists that she made the changes because of the way Cassini takes photos. "Cassini takes color pictures by snapping three sequential photos through red, green and blue filters," she said. "In the time that separated the three frames, Dione moved, so if I did a simple color composite I would be able to make Titan look right, but not Dione; or Dione look right, but not Titan." "So I aligned Dione, cut it out, and then aligned Titan," Lakdwalla explained, "and then had to account for the missing bits of shadow where the bits of Dione had been in two of the three channels."

Keith's note: Truth be known, Emily's covert job is to cover up any and all evidence of life in the universe. In this case it is the existence 2 billion aliens that live on Dione that she's hiding. You'll note that the original photo on the left shows the lights from their many cities. But thanks to Photoshop, they have all disappeared. This cover-up has been going on for years. Back in 1998 I uncovered evidence of sophisticated construction work on Mars - that is, until Emily got hold of the image and scrubbed all of the evidence away using Photoshop. I managed to save a copy of the original image. The truth is out there.

Anna Chapman waves off space rocket in Kazakhstan, Guardian

"The already improbable Anna Chapman saga took another surprising twist today when the 28-year-old former Russian spy resurfaced in Kazakhstan to wave off a space rocket. Chapman, who was one of 10 Russian agents to be deported from the US in July, became a tabloid sensation after sultry pictures of her were published in newspapers around the world. Early today, however, Chapman arrived at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to see off a US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts bound for the International Space Station. She appeared at the farewell ceremony for the space crew and was quickly moved to a guest house near the launch pad accompanied by a guard who blocked reporters. She made no public comment."

Anna Chapman, glamorous Russian spy, bids farewell to astronauts, Christian Science Monitor

"Clad in a hot red jacket and tight-fitting black slacks, Ms. Chapman was today spotted smiling and waving at the former Soviet space launch center Baikonur, in Kazakhstan, as she attended an exclusive farewell ceremony for Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka and American astronaut Scott Kelly."

Glamorous spy sees Russian rocket blast off for ISS, AFP

"Russian media reports said she has been working as an advisor for a bank that is involved in the Russian space programme but officials at Russia's space agency Roskosmos were quick to deny it was involved in her visit. "Roskosmos has nothing to do with Anna Chapman's visit. As far as we know, she came here as a private individual on the invitation of an executive of a commercial bank," a Roskosmos official said. "Miss Chapman neither met with the Roskosmos leadership nor with members of the Soyuz crew," the official told the Interfax news agency."

Titan's haze may hold ingredients for life, University of Arizona

"In an experiment exploring the chemical processes that might be going on in the hazy atmosphere enshrouding Saturn's largest moon, a University of Arizona-led team of scientists discovered a variety of complex organic molecules - including amino acids and nucleotide bases, the most important ingredients of life on Earth."

Water discovered on second asteroid, may be even more common, University of Central Florida

"This discovery suggests that this region of our solar system contains more water ice than anticipated," said University of Central Florida Professor Humberto Campins. "And it supports the theory that asteroids may have hit Earth and brought our planet its water and the building blocks for life to form and evolve here."

Enceladus May Keep Oceans Liquid with Wobble, NASA

"Saturn's icy moon Enceladus should not be one of the most promising places in our solar system to look for extraterrestrial life. Instead, it should have frozen solid billions of years ago. Located in the frigid outer solar system, it's too far from the sun to have oceans of liquid water -- a necessary ingredient for known forms of life -- on its surface."

Astrobiology News on Twitter

Chasing Augustine, Wayne Hale

"A couple of months later I was notified that I would receive a Group Achievement Award for helping with the [Augustine] committee. I told them I did not want the award and would not accept it. They didn't know how to handle that request. I boycotted the awards presentation but they still sent me the certificate in the mail. My first impulse was to burn it. I still may. A fair question to ask is what about the committee's work so thoroughly upset me? There were a number of factors, far more than I can explore in one short post. So I will deal with the #1 reason: the committee was snookered by OMB."

Suborbital research hitches a ride on commercial space cruisers, Physics Today

"The promise of frequent, relatively inexpensive flights to suborbital space has attracted a growing number of researchers who are poised to send, or even accompany, experiments on multi-use commercial spaceships. The fledgling commercial space sector is now testing manned and unmanned rockets that could cruise for three or more minutes in a steady-state, low-vibration microgravity environment at altitudes around 100 km. Commercial space vehicles can take an experiment to space and bring it back at far less cost than conventional unmanned, single-use NASA rockets or a trip to the International Space Station, if one can even be arranged."

Obama Space Adviser Leaves White House, Space News

"Peter Marquez, director of space policy for the White House National Security Council, stepped down Sept. 27 to pursue new opportunities. Marquez, who was appointed to the post in 2007 by then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, played a central role in shaping U.S. President Barack Obama's new national space policy issued by the White House in June."

Hutchison: NASA Bill Provides Clear Direction and a New Path Forward for America's Space Agency

"Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Ranking Member on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today said the NASA reauthorization bill, which the president is expected to sign into law, provides clear direction and a new path forward for America's space agency. The bill was approved by the Senate in August and by the House in September."

Hutchison lauds NASA reauthorization bill, The Hill

"The bill, which passed the Senate in August and the House in September, significantly alters the landscape of America's space program by moving resources away from the space shuttle program and toward the commercial space industry. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law this week. "

Keith's 7 Oct note: Today's dumb press release title comes from UC Berkeley: "NASA mission asks why Mars has no atmosphere". DUH, last time I checked Mars most certainly has an atmosphere. If it did not have one, then the parachutes that have been used to slow down spacecraft would not work, there would be no dust devils, clouds, sand storms, etc. Indeed, if Mars "has no atmosphere", how can MAVEN study it? Indeed, why send an atmosphere-studying spacecraft to a planet that "has no atmosphere"? Oddly, the press release itself says "MAVEN will carry three instrument suites, totaling eight instruments, to probe the Martian atmosphere and its interactions with the sun."

Time to get a new editor guys.

Keith's 8 Oct update: UC Berkeley added the word "almost" to the ress release title on this page. Here's what it originally looked like before the fix.

You might think a wind turbine would have more in common with a plane’s propeller than an aircraft wing, but wind blades actually behave a lot more like wings than props. This fact has enabled a valuable spinoff from aerospace to wind energy involving the first software that NASA ever allowed to be commercialized as part of the Agency’s ongoing effort to transfer technology to U.S. business and industry.

WASHINGTON -- Media representatives are invited to participate in a teleconference at 11 a.m. EDT, Oct. 11, for reaction to Monday's anticipated signing of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010 by President Barack Obama.

The President is expected to sign the bill later this afternoon after it was passed overwhelmingly by Congress last week. It provides bipartisan support for NASA's new direction in space exploration.

Participants in the media teleconference include:

* NASA Administrator Charles Bolden
* NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver
* U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, Florida
* U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, Florida's 24th District
* Former Augustine Committee member, physicist, and former astronaut Sally Ride

Media representatives who want to participate in the teleconference should contact Katherine Trinidad either by telephone at 202-281-8171 or email at katherine.trinidad@nasa.gov. The teleconference also will be made available on the Internet at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov

Keith's note: The news media got 90 minute advance warning about this. Today is a Federal holiday. Why not wait until tomorrow when everyone is around - and so that people can actually participate?

Keith's update: I was unable to participate in this telecon due to its last minute scheduling. However I have spoken/exchanged email with multiple media participants who did. Mr. Bolden made a brief statement and then left. He was therefore not available to answer questions from the media. How anyone can characterize this as "participation" in a media teleconference baffles me.

Mr. Bolden seems to be uninterested in playing a personal role in the agency's engagement with the media, the public, or his workforce. First he schedules foreign travel of dubious value to the agency at a time when thousands of his employees are being laid off and critical congressional battles are being fought. Then he goes out of his way not to make himself available to the media after the President signs this critical legislation into law. How much longer is this going to continue? Phoning in and doing flyby appearances is not what the agency needs right now.

Oh yes, this bill passed the House and Senate with bipartisan support - often times with Republicans being more supportive of the legislation than members of the President's own party. Yet were there any Republicans participating in this media telecon? No.

To Design Miners' Escape Pod, NASA Thought Small, AOL

"Clinton Cragg is a NASA engineer on a troubleshooting safety team set up in the wake of the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. He had spent much of his professional life in the Navy, where he served as a submarine captain, accustomed to living in confined space. So when the Chilean rescue authorities settled on a plan for reaching the 33 miners trapped 2,400 feet below a desolate desert, but needed a contraption to bring them to the surface, Cragg would become the perfect man to pitch in. It had to be the smallest possible vehicle for the job, a capsule that would fit into a hole the size of a bicycle tire, with no wasted space for luxury, no elbow room for comfort."

Trapped Chile Miners Eat NASA Diet, Aspirin to Prepare for Coming Rescue, Bloomberg

"The 33 miners in Chile will spend the next few days in tunnels almost half a mile underground eating a special diet recommended by NASA and doing exercises designed to aid their rescue by midweek."

VSS Enterprise Completes First Manned Glide Flight

"10th October 2010, Mojave, CA. Virgin Galactic, the US company developing the world's first commercial manned space flight system and tourism business, is delighted to announce the successful completion today of the first piloted free flight of SpaceShipTwo, named the VSS Enterprise. The spaceship was released from its mothership at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13,700 metres). During its first flight the spaceship was piloted by Pete Siebold, assisted by Mike Alsbury as co-pilot. The two main goals of the flight were to carry out a clean release of the spaceship from its mothership and for the pilots to free fly and glide back and land at Mojave Air and Space Port in California."

Commercial Spaceflight Federation Congratulates SpaceShipTwo Team for Milestone First Glide Flight

NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 16 August 2010

"Stage EVA-17 by FE-4 Doug Wheelock & FE-2 Tracy Caldwell-Dyson was completed successfully in 7hr 20min, fully accomplishing its objective of installing the spare ETCS (External Thermal Control System) Loop A PM (Pump Module) plus additional tasks. The PM has been checked out and is functioning nominally. Loop A will be fully in service later this week. This was the third contingency spacewalk to replace the Loop A ammonia pump."

"NASA's first Information Technology (IT) Summit will bring together government and industry leaders to explore the outer reaches of information technology. The summit, which takes place August 16-18 at the Gaylord National Harbor in Maryland, will gather 750 participants and more than 100 expert presenters with themes on collaboration, social networking, innovation, infrastructure, operations and IT security and privacy."

Information, agenda, and live webstream. You can follow the summit tweets via the hash tag #nasait on Twitter Search.

Keith's note: So far the meeting has gone well. The event was very well organized and ran like clockwork. That said, some curious things emerged rather quickly as I observed the sessions and the audience. First of all, the 1,190 registered attendees are overwhelmingly white males aged 40-60. Second, although half of the audience was, at any given time, fiddling with their cellphones (and a few with laptops), only a dozen or so attendees were actually Twittering from/about the meeting. Given the discussion about future trends, social media, and new populations of stakeholders (audiences) this was rather troubling.

Also, unless someone else signed in on the media list, I was the only media representative in attendance. I assume that is what prompted Charlie Bolden to give me a shout out from the podium ("Is Keith here?"). Also, other than IT manager Brian Dunbar and photographer Bill Ingalls, I saw no one else from PAO in attendance. Nor did I see any education and outreach or social media staff from the mission directorates.

Keith's 17 Aug note:

This morning, before anyone spoke, NASA Deputy CIO James Williams said that no sessions can be recorded. This was rather startling given that no prohibition whatsoever was made prior to this. Nor did NASA PAO inform me of this prohibition. No mention is made in the event's printed program. I find this to be the height of hypocrisy on NASA's part. It is also baffling. On one hand they profess their support for Open Government yet they turn around and prohibit attendees at a taxpayer-funded, publicly attended meeting - one webcast live - from recording the presentations.

Heads up to the meeting organizers: I fully intend to violate this recording ban at several sessions today.

Keith's 17 Aug update: NASA just twittered "Just to clarify: Attendees free to record #nasait proceedings with exception of the 1:30 general session at the request of the speaker." Yet if you go to this NASA CIO page you will see "The following speakers will be streamed live from this webpage ... 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 17, 2010 Jack Blitch, Vice President & General Manager Walt Disney Imagineering-FL"

This is quite a "clarification". It is also goofy - I can sit at home, watch and record Blitch speaking via a webcast at a taxpayerfunded meeting open to the public, but I cannot record him in person? This makes no sense whatsoever. I intend to violate this ban.

Keith's 17 Aug update: Well, the Disney presentation was interesting. They are certainly a bunch of creative people. As far as what was so sensitive about the presentation such that recording was prohibited, I guess its the news that the interior cabins on their cruise ships which lack an actual porthole will now have a virtual porthole created by using a plasma screen and a live image taken outside the ship. Must be some ITAR issue, right?