NASA Balloon Suffers Mishap in Australia, NASA

"Upon release, the balloon's payload hit the ground and was dragged approximately 150 yards before hitting a fence and sports utility vehicle. No one was injured. A mishap investigation board is being convened."

NASA balloon crashes on take-off in Australia, destroying telescope, USA Today

"A towering NASA science balloon bearing a gamma-ray telescope crashed on liftoff today in Australia, according to reports from the Outback. The gondola carrying the multimillion-dollar package overturned an SUV and narrowly missed several onlookers. The Nuclear Compton Telescope, which was developed by the University of California, was destroyed. The telescope "came off the launch vehicle badly and hit the ground several times as the abort completed," team member Eric Bellm, a graduate astronomy student at the UC-Berkeley, wrote on the mission's blog [now blocked]."

NASA LaRC Solicitation: Study of Deployable Secondary Structures for Expendable Volumes

"NASA LaRC is seeking an industry partner to study the integration, deployment and packaging of secondary structures within inflation deployed volumes. Secondary structures include any structure that is deployed during or after expansion of the primary volume, such as the floor and work surfaces, but which do not contain pressure loads. ... The ultimate goal of this research is to develop a system applicable to future habitation modules deployed on the lunar surface or in space."

NASA Announces Wednesday Media Teleconference About Search For Extraterrestrial Life

"NASA will hold a news media teleconference at 1:30 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, April 28, to discuss the status of agency-sponsored astrobiology research, including the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life and the study of how life began on Earth. Topics also will include the quest for evidence of life on Mars, the habitability of other celestial bodies, and future technology research."

Keith's note: I just love it when PAO waits until the last minute to announce something that it could have announced days in advance. And then they wonder why the media doesn't cover things such as this. "Avatar", an Astrobiology-themed movie, has earned more than $2 billion thus far. Clearly the public really digs Astrobiology. As such, NASA's shyness with regard to promoting its Astrobiology research is even more baffling.

NASA Ames Center Director Receives Arthur C. Clarke Award

"The director of NASA's Ames Research Center, S. Pete Worden, was recognized Tuesday by The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation for his leadership in space exploration. Worden has written or co-written more than 150 scientific technical papers in astrophysics, space sciences and strategic studies. He also served as a scientific co-investigator for two NASA space science missions. Before becoming Ames center director, he was a research professor of astronomy, optical sciences and planetary sciences at the University of Arizona. His primary research was on the development of large space optics for national security and scientific purposes, and near-Earth asteroids."

Chamber on an Ares mission, Huntsville Times

"At a reception Sunday evening, U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby - ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that determines funding for NASA - said he is doing everything he can to save Constellation, in which the government has already invested $9 billion to establish human presence on the moon and beyond. "If (Republicans) were in control of the Senate, I would tell you exactly what we'd be doing to save Constellation," Shelby said Sunday evening. "If Obama's plan goes through, I'm afraid it's a death march for NASA."

NASA plan: 'Cosmic bridge to nowhere', Huntsville Times

"Brian Hendricks is a staffer for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who also has substantial NASA interests in her state. Hendricks said Hutchison and Shelby have worked together to try to save Constellation and prevent other NASA changes, but thus far a fix hasn't been found. He expressed "profound anger" at Obama's decision, and he said the ability of the commercial world to achieve what NASA has achieved is "circumspect." "Spaceflight can't be a faith-based initiative," he said, adding that there is no support in Congress to abandon Constellation, which has "a lot of equity in it."

Bolden tries to raise spirits at JSC, Houston Chronicle

"But unlike the president's stop in Florida, where he offered to provide the work force there with $40 million in transition aid and made other concessions, Bolden announced no new initiatives that might benefit Johnson Space Center."

Houston Layoffs Not in NASA Plan ... Yet, My Fox Houston

"For you to go to members of Congress, the media and the American public with contradictory information about the road ahead and the need to move beyond the Constellation program isn't helping," said Bolden."

Bolden in Houston to discuss future of NASA, KTRK

"Reasonable people can agree to disagree," Bolden said in his speech, of which a copy was obtained by ABC13. "However, my friends, now is the time that we must pull together."... "If we flounder and lose out on this opportunity, it is unlikely that our nation will have a similar opportunity in our lifetime," Bolden said."

NASA May Stretch out Mars Missions to Save Money

"NASA is considering a plan to get around limited budgets set in Washington by stretching out missions to bring back samples from Mars, a researcher said on Wednesday. It may be possible to break down the complicated and expensive mission into three parts, said Steve Squyres, a Cornell University astronomer who leads the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. "It makes the program more affordable because it strings out the cost over time," Squyres told reporters in a telephone briefing. "It brings down the cost per year of doing such a thing."

'When we understand that slide, we'll have won the war:' US generals given baffling PowerPoint presentation to try to explain Afghanistan mess, The Mail

"Its coloured charts, graphs and bullet-points are supposed to make the most incomprehensible data crystal clear. But even the sharpest military minds in American were left baffled by this PowerPoint slide, a mind-boggling attempt to explain the situation in Afghanistan. 'When we understand that slide, we'll have won the war,' General Stanley McChrystal, the US and NATO force commander, remarked wryly when confronted by the sprawling spaghetti diagram in a briefing."

Keith's note: OK Folks, what would the NASA version of this chart look like - especially right now as the space policy food fight is fully engaged? How would you describe and interconnect the various feuding factions? Click to enlarge.

Reader note: "I can't resist sharing my personal favorite with you. From the old Lunar Architecture Team report" - Paul Spudis (Click to enlarge).

Funding for Orion Launch Abort System To Cease April 30, Space News

"Orbital Sciences Corp. is warning subcontractors supporting development of a launch abort system for NASA's Orion crew capsule that funding for the effort will cease April 30, according to industry sources and documents. In an April 20 letter to Minneapolis-based Alliant TechSystems (ATK), one of two companies developing motors for the Orion Launch Abort System, Orbital said Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver would restrict funding for the effort by the end of April."

Administrator Bolden to Speak to NASA Workforce from Johnson Space Center

"Please join Administrator Charlie Bolden as he addresses the entire NASA workforce during a brief program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Wednesday, April 28, at noon EDT. The administrator's remarks will be carried internally on NASA Television on Headquarters channel 76. The program also will be streamed internally over the Web to NASA Headquarters employees at: http://aquarius.hq.nasa.gov/ramgen/broadcast/hq.rm"

It's time to focus on America's future in space, editorial, Charles Bolden, Houston Chronicle

"To make this dream a reality, we must identify quicker and less costly ways to develop new launch systems. We must speed the acquisition process so it doesn't take a decade to make a new system operational. And we must work diligently with the commercial sector to help them succeed at providing safe, reliable, redundant access to low-Earth orbit while NASA develops futuristic capabilities to reach deep space. These changes will not be easy, but they are by no means impossible."

SpaceX's Elon Musk, Sen. Richard Shelby spar over Obama space policy, Huntsville Times

"The CEO of a company seeking to carry American astronauts into space says U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, is fighting a new national space plan that would bring billions into North Alabama. "I just don't understand what his beef is," Elon Musk, CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX) said in a telephone interview Friday night. "I don't really understand why Sen. Shelby is so opposed to commercial crew," Musk said, "given that Atlas and Delta are right there in Alabama, because no one's going to be a bigger winner in commercial crew than United Launch Alliance." Musk referred to the Boeing-Lockheed joint venture that builds Delta and Atlas rockets in Decatur for NASA, the military and commercial satellite customers. ULA and SpaceX are among the commercial companies wanting NASA contracts to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station if President Obama's space program is approved by Congress. "For ULA it's a certainty," Musk said of winning contracts. "For SpaceX it's much more a question mark."

- Shelby Goes Personal on Bolden
- Shelby: Obama Plan Would Destroy U.S. Space Supremacy
- Shelby: Gov't Spending is Bad - Except for Spending on NASA, earlier post
- Shelby Was For The Private Sector Before He Was Against It, earlier post
- Alabama Political Donations Go National, earlier post

Change in Experiment Will Delay Shuttle's End, NY Times

"A $1.5 billion seven-ton cosmic-ray experiment scheduled to be carried aloft July 29 on the space shuttle Endeavour won't be ready until August, according to the experiment's leader, Samuel Ting of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, delaying the end of the 29-year-old shuttle program. NASA officials acknowledged that there would be a delay but said they had not yet decided when the final launching would be. The experiment, known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, was to be installed on the International Space Station as one last scientific errand before the final shuttle launching, of the Discovery, now scheduled for Sept. 16."

Space, the designer's frontier, Boston Globe

"Ideas asked four graphic designers to come up with a new emblem for the 21st-century space agency, to conjure a vision of NASA that fits the present."

Keith's note: I still like my "wormball" logo concept.

NASA Solicitation: Enabling Support Equipment and Services for International Space Station As A National Lab

"NASA seeks to increase the utilization of the ISS by other federal entities and the private sector. To facilitate and increase such utilization of the ISS, NASA is providing access to the ISS for the conduct of basic and applied research, technology development and industrial processing (collectively, R&D) to U.S. federal, state and local government entities, and to U.S. private entities (including, but not limited to, commercial firms, non-profit institutions, and academic institutions) as part of the national laboratory."

Administrator Unveils Future Vision and a Renewed Journey of Learning, 12 April 2002

"The new NASA vision for the future is:

To improve life here,

To extend life to there,

To find life beyond

The NASA mission is:

To understand and protect our home planet

To explore the Universe and search for life

To inspire the next generation of explorers
. . . as only NASA can"

Keith's note: Do these words still work? If so, could they be re-adopted by NASA? The NASA Advisory Council Education and Public Outreach Subcommittee had a spirited and supportive discussion on this today. What do you think?

NASA ESMD Managers Information Packet: A New Space Enterprise

"On Feb. 1, 2010, the President released the FY 2011 Budget Request. The budget proposes several exciting new programs that seek to foster a sustainable human space exploration enterprise. Although our philosophy and approach to exploration will change, our fundamental goal remains the same: to send human explorers into the solar system to stay. We invite you to read below about the study teams that have been formed to develop strategies for the proposed new programs. Plans will continue to evolve with the next step of House and Senate appropriations. In addition, the President's speech outlined the addition of an initial Orion build to be used as a crew rescue vehicle at ISS. We are working diligently now to incorporate this exciting news into our plans."

Machinists in Houston Rally to Save Space Program Jobs, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

"It's time to let Congress know that American astronauts deserve better than a heavily outsourced space program that relies on Russian, Japanese and even Chinese contractors to provide transportation to the International Space Station (ISS)," said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger. "If NASA and the Obama administration have their way, American astronauts will be reduced to hitchhiking to the ISS." Speaker after speaker called on President Obama to reconsider his plans to terminate the Constellation program and commercialize the shuttle program. More than 20,000 direct and indirect jobs in Texas, Florida and other states are associated with the two programs."

Humans on Mars? Forget it, opinion, Simon Ramo, LA Times

"But is this a worthy goal? It appears increasingly doubtful that an astronaut could accomplish something useful on Mars not already being done by robots at far less cost and with little danger to humans."

Proceedings from the NASA Administrator's Symposium: "Risk and Exploration: Earth, Sea and the Stars", NASA Administrator's Symposium, September 26-29, 2004
Session Three: The Stars (PDF)

Pages 178-179 [Mars Exploration Rover PI Steve Squyres] "I'd like to finish this on a slightly lighter note by telling you a story. We had a lot of discussion yesterday about humans versus robots. And as the robot guy here, I want to tell a story about the experience that I had that really taught me a lot about that particular topic. We were at first trying to figure out how to use a set of rovers on Mars to really do scientific exploration. The technology folks at JPL [Jet Propulsion Laboratory] built a wonderful little vehicle called FIDO. And FIDO was a great test rover - you could take it out in the field and you didn't worry about getting a few scratches in the paint.

We took it out to a place called Silver Lake in the Mojave Desert about 1997. And we went out there and it was the first time I had ever been out in the field. So I went out there with my team - a bunch of really high-priced geologic talent - some serious field geologists. And we got the rover out there and, of course, the rover breaks down. First time I've ever been out in the field, it's dusty, it's dirty, you know, the rover's not working. So okay, what am I going to do with all these bored geologists I've got on my hands? So I said, "Look, let's go on a geology walk. Let's go on a little field trip." So everybody got their boots and their rock hammers and their hand lenses and everything. And I picked up a notebook and a stopwatch. And we walked out to a nearby ridge where I knew there was some interesting geology exposed and we sat down - or rather I sat down - and they went off and they started geologizing.

And I started timing them. You know, how long does it take for Andy Knoll to walk over to that rock? How long does it take Ray Arvidson to pick that thing up and break it open with his rock hammer and look at it with a hand lens? And they were doing a lot of things that our rovers couldn't do, but I focused on the things they were doing that our rovers could do. And, you know, I did it as quantitatively as I could - this was hardly a controlled experiment. And when I looked at the numbers afterwards, what I found was that what our magnifi cent robotic vehicles can do in an entire day on Mars, these guys could do in about 30 - 45 seconds.

We are very far away from being able to build robots - I'm not going to see it in my lifetime - that have anything like the capabilities that humans will have to explore, let alone to inspire. And when I hear people point to Spirit and Opportunity and say that these are examples of why we don't need to send humans to Mars, I get very upset. Because that's not even the right discussion to be having. We must send humans to Mars. We can't do it soon enough for me. You know, I'm a robot guy. I mean, I love Spirit and Opportunity - and I use a word like "love" very advisedly when talking about a hunk of metal.

But I love those machines. I miss them. I do. But they will never, ever have the capabilities that humans will have and I sure hope you send people soon."

NASA program: Ares I backers work to save rocket despite White House wishes, Orlando Sentinel

"The day after President Obama visited Kennedy Space Center last week to unveil his new vision for NASA, the manager of the moon program that Obama wants to kill told his team to draw up plans in case Obama fails to win congressional support. In an e-mail sent April 16, NASA's Constellation program manager, Jeff Hanley, instructed his managers to "prioritize" all the resources they have at their disposal under this year's budget to plan for test flights of prototypes of the troubled Ares I rocket that Obama aims to cancel. Hanley also orders them to look at ways to shrink the Constellation program in such a way that it can fit in a tighter rocket-development budget backed by the White House. The move comes as some members of Congress have pledged to stop Obama and save Ares. "This direction," Hanley wrote in the e-mail, "remains consistent with ... policy to continue program execution and planning in the event that the program or parts thereof will continue beyond [this financial] year."

Former Secretary of Transportation Mineta Praises Obama's NASA Plan For Jump-Starting Commercial Spaceflight

"Norman Mineta, who served as Secretary of Transportation under President George W. Bush and as Secretary of Commerce under President Bill Clinton, and who represented Silicon Valley in Congress for more than 20 years, has published an op-ed stating, "With Russia, China and India close on our heels, the only way we can maintain our hard-won leadership in space transportation is by employing America's unique entrepreneurial strength. Obama's new plan for NASA does exactly that."