Ice Rich Crater At The Moon's North Pole

"NASA Radar returns first high-resolution view of an unusual crater near Moon's north pole Mini-RF, a synthetic aperture radar on board NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, recently imaged a potentially ice-rich crater near the north pole of the Moon. Located at 84°N, 157°W, this permanently shadowed crater, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) in diameter, lies on the floor of the larger, more degraded crater Rozhdestvensky (110 miles, or 177 kilometers in diameter). With no sunlight to warm the crater floor and walls, ice brought to the Moon by comets or formed through interactions with the solar wind could potentially collect here."

Spending Panel: Unclear Direction of Manned NASA Flights Adds to Uncertainty, Science

"So far, there doesn't appear to be any sign of compromise between the White House and opponents of the Administration's plan in Congress, who believe that canceling Constellation and investing in the development of commercial space flight to enable future space missions is a bad idea. As it is, it's unlikely that Congress will complete the budget-approval process--for NASA and most other agencies--before the congressional elections in November, which means that the budgets for most agencies will likely be determined by a continuing resolution."

House Appropriators Look to Authorizers for NASA Direction, Space News

"In the absence of authorization legislation, "this subcommittee has no business in appropriating even more funding for uncertain program outcomes," Mollohan said. "Accordingly, this bill makes the funding for human space exploration available only after the enactment of such authorization legislation."

Statement of Chairman Alan Mollohan Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee June 29, 2010

"For NASA, the bill provides a total of $19 billion, an increase of $276 million over last year's level, including significant and long needed new investments in science and education. For Human Space Exploration, the bill provides $4.2 billion, as requested and $498 million above 2010, but takes no position on the President's proposed new direction for the program."

First Directly Imaged Planet Confirmed Around Sun-like Star, Gemini Observatory

"A planet only about eight times the mass of Jupiter has been confirmed orbiting a Sun-like star at over 300 times farther from the star than the Earth is from our Sun. The newly confirmed planet is the least massive planet known to orbit at such a great distance from its host star. The discovery utilized high-resolution adaptive optics technology at the Gemini Observatory to take direct images and spectra of the planet."

Obama space policy: Share the sandbox, Nature

"The most striking emphasis to me is something that is not at all new: a continued push to get the government out of the rocket business. Commercial space has been a clear focus of the new NASA ever since the presidential budget was released in February. But what's not clear is if it will end up happening, given Congressional intransigence."

White House Space Policy: Good News For Greens, Time

"NASA junkies continue to howl at the Obama administration's plans for human space exploration, and with good reason: there's just no there there."

Obama reverses Bush's policy on space, NY Times

"The Obama administration Monday unveiled a space policy that renounces the unilateral stance of the Bush administration and instead emphasizes international cooperation, including the possibility of an arms-control treaty that would limit the development of space weapons."

Obama Backs Away from Intergalactic Domination, Wired

"Space: to President Obama, it's an opportunity for nations to join gloved hands and perform a glorious multinational spacewalk, all for the good of science. But he's not ready to rule it out as a potential battlefield, either." W.H. releases National Space Policy, Politico

"NASA was not part of the press conference. Pavel said the space agency was just one of "a couple of dozen departments around the table," including the State Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Department of Energy, meeting to develop a policy that "reflected the president's priorities."

Commercial Spaceflight Federation Welcomes Newly Released National Space Policy

"Bretton Alexander, President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, stated, "The National Space Policy reinforces the President's new plan for NASA, particularly the use of commercial providers for transport of crew and cargo to the International Space Station. The National Space Policy recognizes the benefits of a robust commercial space industry and lays down a series of clear policies to enable further growth of this sector."

The National Space Policy is not a plan.  I think the rumor-mongering and anticipation leading up to its release yesterday show just how disconnected most of us in the technical world really are from how policy is made and what it actually is.  I even saw one person say on Twitter that there was a rumor going around that SpaceX was going to get a sole-source, non-competitive contract for US launches out of it.

The National Space Policy is an outline for the goals, objectives, and guiding principles of all US government activity in space.  It is a high-level executive document that is intended to bring together the various disparate elements under a single framework that generally explains the Administration’s thought process.  Nothing more, nothing less.

As the newspapers and many other bloggers have already reported, the Obama Administration’s document largely returns to the language of Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton with its focus on collaboration and eschews the “no one else can tell us what to do” language of Bush II.  Instead of rehashing the boilerplate verbiage, I’d instead like to examine the various elements of the National Space Policy that stand out to me.

First, the very Introduction gives attention to the increasingly inter-related nature of space activities.  In particular, the problem of space debris is mentioned.  I find this interesting in light of recent articles that suggest the Kessler Syndrome may be closer than we realize and, especially after the Iridium-Cosmos collision, the powers-that-be are taking the issue much more seriously.  By putting this topic front-and-center, the Administration seems to be telling the space community that we have to recognize the impact of our activities and shape the way we work to be more conscientious and sustainable.

The section on Intersector Guidelines reads pretty blandly, at first.  At least, it did until I got to the part on “International Cooperation.” It lists “space nuclear power to support space science and exploration” as a potential area for international cooperation.  That caught my attention given our country’s tenuous relationship with nuclear power.  We haven’t really embraced it like some other industrialized countries, but I think it’s increasingly being seen as an alternative in an era where we’re trying to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

“Preserving the Space Environment” directs NASA, the Department of Defense, and other related agencies to work together to prevent conjunction events, minimize the creation of debris, and devise measures to “mitigate and remove” the orbital debris that’s already there.  I think this is likely to be a significant growth opportunity for entrepreneurs and innovators.  It’s going to take some very creative thinking to tackle the problem of orbital debris in a cost-effective manner.  Sadly, there’s plenty of work to be done on the problem, too.

“Space Nuclear Power” does, in fact, get its own section.  The direction is reasonably unambiguous, too.  “The United States shall develop and use space nuclear power systems where such systems safely enable or significantly enhance space exploration or operational capabilities.”  This is a serious commitment at the policy level, as lightweight nuclear reactors developed for space exploration could be just as useful for helping address America’s concerns about meeting base power load needs while reducing fossil fuel emissions.

I think it’s encouraging that the Department of Energy is specifically directed to “Maintain the capability and infrastructure to develop and furnish nuclear power systems for use in United States Government space systems.”  For the time being, I’m sure most of that effort will be focused on maintaining our radioisotope thermoelectric generator capabilities, but this also means DoE has an explicit directive to work with NASA if the agency determines space nuclear power systems are a key element for Beyond Earth Orbit exploration.

As we move into the Sector Guidelines, the first section is on “Commercial Space Guidelines”.  More or less, it says that the US Government should develop its own space systems only when there is overriding national interest and there is no existing or adaptable commercial service that is suitable.  This is very much consistent with the Space Act that governs NASA, but now a standing policy directive across the Executive Branch.  Unlike what was suggested in the rumor mill, the policy encourages prizes, competitions, and innovative, nontraditional methods of acquiring services.

The “Civil Space Guidelines” largely cover NASA’s area of responsibility. NASA is chartered to set the exploration milestones, with direction to begin crewed exploration of asteroids by 2025 and to Mars and back by the mid-2030s.  The blogosphere is largely reading what they want to in this statement, but I find it interesting more in what it doesn’t say.  It doesn’t say NASA can’t do these things sooner.  To me, they read more like “No Later Than” dates than “No Earlier Than” dates.

The subsection on Near-Earth Objects also catches my attention because it doesn’t just address the issue of hazard mitigation.  I think that’s important in and of itself, but the National Space Policy takes this a step further and recognizes the potential for asteroid mining.  Some studies have shown that a single metallic asteroid could have more recoverable rare earth metals, nickel, and iron than have been mined in the history of all civilization.  Given growing concerns over China’s dominant market position with the rare earth metals that are essential to modern technology, this could become an increasingly attractive prospect.

The National Security Space Guidelines are fairly boilerplate. I suspect the really interesting bits are in the classified annex that most of us will never see.

While the National Space Policy is neither the blueprint that some were hoping for or the travesty that some expected, I do think there are nuggets in there that suggest we have an opportunity to make American activity in space more sustainable, more widespread, and more relevant to national interests.  The question before us is whether we are willing to take advantage of this opportunity or not.  We now have the policy directives to do it.

Briefing by Senior Administration Officials on the President's National Space Policy Via Teleconference

"SENIOR ADMINSTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: No, no. What it does is it sets up best practices for things like transparency, confidence building measures. I don't know if my colleagues want to add anything more on that.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL TWO: No, I don't have anything to add.

SENIOR ADMINSTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Yeah, it is not an arms -- a legally binding arms control agreement. What it is, again - is, again, set up best practices how responsible space-faring nations would act. And it would be politically binding, not legally binding. That is a confidence in transparency building measure. And I think in the near term that's where the focus of the Administration's efforts will be."

Keith's note: Yesterday, the space media got a 6 minute warning by email that White House officials were going to have a media telecon to discuss the new space policy. NASA PAO only found out at the last minute and did their best to alert us. Yesterday, the State Department also had a stealth press briefing - by telecon - about space and NASA apparently did not get a heads up - ergo no media advisory for the space media. But in addition to no advanced notice, no one at the State Department was willing to use their name or allow comments to be attributed to them. I am trying to decide if this is attributable to arrogance or cowardice. It is probably safe to assume both.

But the most post hypocritical part of this entire stealth exchange is when "Senior Administration Official One" and "Senior Administration Official Two" start to talk about "best practices for transparency." What could these two people possibly know about "transparency"? They won't even use their own name in an official State Department activity, a transcript of which is posted on an official website.

House spending panel punts on NASA policy, Orlando Sentinel

"A key congressional committee today sidestepped a potential vote on NASA's future, opting to take "no position" on White House plans to scrap NASA's moon rocket program and replace the space shuttle with commercial rockets. The House subcommittee with oversight of NASA's budget did, however, agree unanimously to withhold funding for the agency's human exploration program until Congress authorizes a plan for the agency -- a move that normally could cause headaches for the administration. But because Congress is unlikely to move this spending bill -- or any 2011 spending bill -- until after election season, the prohibition essentially is rendered moot. With that procedure aside, much of the rest of the two-hour hearing turned into a debate about NASA should do after the shuttle era."

Aderholt's bill tells NASA to stop Constellation cuts, Huntsville Times

"Aderholt's bill, titled the Protecting Human Spaceflight Act of 2010, would require NASA to stop downsizing or canceling Constellation projects. It was introduced in the House shortly after 5 p.m. CDT Monday. The legislation would also require the space agency to spend 90 percent of the remaining funds appropriated for Constellation this year."

NASA MSFC Internal Email: Procurement Sensitivity for Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) NNM10ZDA001K

"The BAA NNM10ZDA001K will be released to industry in the near future for the Heavy Lift and Propulsion Technology Systems Analysis and Trade Study acquisition at NASA/MSFC. Effective immediately, all MSFC employees will cease communications with industry concerning this procurement. This 'blackout' period of communication with industry will continue until proposals have been received and evaluated, the contract is awarded, and the BAA Evaluation Team is released from its responsibilities."

NASA Issues Broad Agency Announcement For Heavy Lift Studies

"NASA has issued a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) seeking proposals and industry input on heavy-lift system concepts and propulsion technology."

Keith's note: The Facebook Group Huntsville Space Professionals is tracking workforce issues, layoffs, etc. in the Huntsville area.

Tesla Motors shares surge in 1st day of trading, Business Week

"Shares of Tesla Motors Inc. surged in their first day of trading on Tuesday, gaining more than 20 percent after the company raised more than expected in its initial public offering of stock. Investors snapped up shares of the electric car maker even as the broader markets took a beating. Tesla shares were up $4.10, or 24 percent, to $21.10 in afternoon trading after hitting a high of $21.50 earlier in the session. Tesla's performance was a feat in a sour market that has forced many companies looking to raise funds through IPOs to accept lower prices to get deals done. The IPO came on a day when U.S. stocks fell more than 2 percent -- following Asian and European markets lower -- on worries that the economy is slowing. The offering appealed to investors, raising $226.1 million after selling 13.3 million shares for $17 apiece. It had earlier expected to price 11.1 million shares at $14 to $16 per share.

Subcommittee Markup: Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee - FY2011 Bill

The Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science will meet today at 3:30 ET to start the markup of its FY11 appropriations bill. This will be an opportunity to see any changes in dollar amounts and conditions for NASA's budget.

The End of the Apollo Era - Finally?, John Logsdon, Space News

"I interpret the new space strategy set out by the White House Feb. 1 to be at its foundation a proposal to move from the 20th century, Apollo-era approach to human spaceflight to a new approach consistent with 21st century national and international realities and future exploration and other strategic space objectives. It is not surprising that those with positive memories of Apollo and with vested interests in continuing the space status quo have been so strong in their opposition to the new approach; they are defending a space effort that to date has served them well. These critics have been met with a -- literally -- incoherent defense of the new strategy by its advocates inside and outside of the government. U.S. President Barack Obama confused the situation even further in his April 15 speech at the Kennedy Space Center. The result has been a polarized debate unprecedented in my more than four decades of close observation of space policymaking."

NASA's Last Two Space Shuttle External Tanks Are Being Built at Michoud, Ken Kremer

"The last two Space Shuttle External Tanks (ET's) likely to be produced in history are entering their final closeout assembly operations at the NASA-owned Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans as the shuttle program draws ever closer to its looming retirement date, now reset to early 2011. These two final tanks are destined for the last scheduled flight of the shuttle program - STS 134 - and what's currently base lined as the Launch-On-Need (LON) rescue mission (STS 335), respectively. They are designated as tanks ET-138 and ET-122. STS 134 is currently scheduled to lift off on Feb. 28, 2011."

NASA Ames Research Center Helps Underserved School Receive Used Computers

"Times are tough, but none more so than for schools and their students. To promote equal opportunity for all children, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., recently helped Park Avenue Elementary School in the Yuba City Unified District, receive 24 used computers and servers for data storage. It was a perfect match. NASA had surplus computers and equipment that it wanted to give away, and Park Avenue Elementary School needed more computers for its 563 student population, which is 86 percent Hispanic."

Editor's note: Dennis Wingo and Ken Zin are part of the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) team. LOIRP make frequent use of old NASA computers and surplus hardware. It is through this experience that Dennis and Ken became familiar with all of the potentially useful equipment sitting around waiting for someone to think of something to use it for. They found a use for it.

Keith's note: It has been a week. Where is the NASA Wallops press release about the launch? Was the rocket recovered? Did students get their payloads back? What was the reaction of students to having this unique experience? There is nothing on the Wallops website except an old notice that is several weeks old. NASA Wallops PAO simply does not care. Nor does NASA's Education Office - since there is still no mention whatsoever on their website. What a great way to kick of the "Summer of Innovation": ignoring a NASA mission that actually put student experiments into space.

- NASA Continues To Ignore RockOn! Launch, earlier post
- Yet Another Stealth Launch at Wallops, earlier post

New National Space Policy Conciliatory, not Confrontational, Spacepolicyonline.com

"Whenever it is formally released, President Obama's new national space policy will have a very different tone than his predecessor's. Rumors remain rampant that the new policy will be released on Monday, but some of those in the know say that it more likely will be later in the week. Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley intimated on Wednesday that it might even be longer than that. Nevertheless, a one page summary of the policy's "Top Level Messages," dated June 25, is making the rounds. It says that the two major principles of the policy are "responsible use of space" and "nurturing the U.S. space industry."

New Space Policy Calls for Global Cooperation, Wall Street Journal

"The Obama administration as early as Monday is expected to call for significantly greater international cooperation than ever before in outer space, covering a wide range of civilian and national-security programs. The new policy, according to industry and government officials familiar with the details, also endorses the pursuit of verifiable arms-control proposals for space. And it envisions stepped-up U.S. government efforts to bolster domestic rocket and satellite manufacturers, making them more economically viable and competitive overseas."

Keith's note: OK, so the White House makes all sorts of budgetary and contractual changes to NASA programs with little or no advanced warning, questionable pre-coordination, bad rollout - all with no cogent space policy in evidence. Chaos ensues. And then they fiddle with it. Now they are going to actually release a space policy - but only after all of their earlier efforts at NASA have run into brick walls (Congress). Is this going to clarify things - or just make things even more confusing? Stay tuned.

Malice, Mischief and Misconceptions, Paul Spudis, Air & Space

"The space community has fractured since the disastrous roll out of NASA's "new direction." Preceding the administration's budget announcement, endless delays and rampant speculation about administrators, rockets, and program design and direction kept people guessing. The current trench warfare is not a pretty sight, but it is not unexpected given the lack of a clear direction. Word has it that more detail will come out early next week, adding yet another layer to this growing space onion. The undirected, unfocused, unproductive spin cycle NASA (and the entire space community) has twirled around in for the last 18 months is instructive. It is real time, 20/20 insight on how the new direction will play out during the proposed five-year study hall being scheduled for NASA to find their "right stuff."

Roy Estess, Clarion-Ledger

"Roy Simmons Estess of Carriere, Mississippi passed away Friday evening at his residence in Tylertown, Mississippi. He was 71 years of age. Visitation will be held at Tylertown Baptist Church on Tuesday, June 29, 2010 from 12 Noon until 2 P.M. Funeral services will immediately follow with the Reverend Dr. Raymond Leake and Reverend Wayne Ward officiating. Interment will be at Tylertown Cemetery."

Former Stennis director Estess dies at 71, Sun Herald

"From the cafeteria worker to the test-stand operator, workers loved him, she said. "I don't know anyone who didn't consider it a privilege and a pleasure to work for him," she said. "I never heard a negative word about him. He had a special gift for making others feel appreciated."

Tribute to Roy Estess (Senate - July 29, 2002)

NASA and International Space Agencies Meet to Discuss Human and Robotic Space Exploration

"NASA senior managers met with their counterparts representing other space agencies at the National Harbor, Md., on June 23, to discuss globally-coordinated human and robotic space exploration. The meeting participants agreed that significant progress has been made since the joint release of The Global Exploration Strategy (GES) in May 2007. They agreed steps should be taken to coordinate a long-term space exploration vision that is sustainable and affordable."

Lawmakers will try to force NASA to fund Constellation program

"U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama, is leading a group of lawmakers that will try to force NASA to continue funding the Constellation rocket program for the rest of the fiscal year. Aderholt will introduce a bill in the House later today titled the "Protecting Human Space Flight Act of 2010." It would require NASA to spend 90 percent of the remaining funds on the program in this last quarter of the fiscal year. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden would also be barred from terminating or shrinking any Constellation contract."

U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt Tries To Stop Constellation Cuts, WHNT

"At least four other Congressman have co-sponsored the bill, including Rep. Lincoln Davis, Rep. Spencer Bachus, Rep. Parker Griffith, Rep. Jo Bonner and Rep. Mike Rogers. Aderholt says he sees support for Constellation on both sides of the aisle. "I would say 90% or more of Congress right now believes that Constellation is a good program, it's a program that Congress should be investing in, or we don't see a sign of letting up," said Aderholt."

Houston region continues national fight to urge leaders to save NASA's Human Space Flight Capabilities

"The Greater Houston Partnership and the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership today urged the Obama administration to reconsider the retirement of the space shuttle and cancel its plan in the FY2011 NASA budget to eliminate the Constellation program - in favor of "hoped for" commercially developed capabilities that are still up to seven years away, assuming there are no further setbacks. Continuing the prevision plan to retire the Space Shuttle while also terminating the Constellation program in the face of such a long gap before the commercial industry can carry U.S. astronauts safely into low earth orbit would deal a severe blow to Houston and the nation, and compromise America's leadership in space."