Boeing will be the first commercial company to carry a NASA astronaut to space in July 2017 under a contract with the US space agency, followed by its competitor SpaceX.

NASA is funnelling billions of dollars to both companies so that they can replace American access to the orbiting International Space Station after the US space shuttle program was retired in 2011.

The announcement of US$4.2 billion for Boeing and US$2.6 billion for SpaceX was made in September 2014.

However, a legal challenge by Sierra Nevada - which was developing a space-shuttle-like vehicle called Dream Chaser and was closed out of the competition - meant that officials could not reveal many details until now.

The US Government Accountability Office denied the protest by Sierra Nevada earlier this month, allowing NASA and its partners to speak publicly about the contracts and future plans for test flights.

Commercial crew program manager Kathy Lueders said at a press conference in Houston, Texas that Boeing would be the first to make two contracted missions to carry NASA astronauts, since it has completed two milestones so far, and SpaceX just one.

"Our goal is to have two robust providers," Lueders added.

A NASA astronaut and a Boeing test pilot will make the first crewed test flight on the spacecraft called Crew Space Transportation-100, or CST-100 for short, in July 2017, said John Elbon, Boeing's vice president and general manager of space exploration.

"The first services mission then will begin in December of '17," he told reporters, referring to the first official trip to the International Space Station with crew on board.

SpaceX's upgraded Dragon crew vehicle is on track for an unmanned test flight in 2016, followed by a test flight including crew on board in early 2017, said vice-president Gwynne Shotwell, who did not give specific dates.

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NASA funds Boeing, SpaceX to carry US astronauts

American spacecraft systems testing followed by increasingly complex flight tests and ultimately astronauts flying orbital flights will pave the way to operational missions during the next few years to the International Space Station.

Those were the plans laid out Monday by NASA's Commercial Crew Program officials and partners as they focus on developing safe, reliable and cost-effective spacecraft and systems that will take astronauts to the station from American launch complexes.

According to Boeing, the company's schedule calls for a pad abort test in February 2017, followed by an uncrewed flight test in April 2017, then a flight with a Boeing test pilot and a NASA astronaut in July 2017.

SpaceX said they anticipate a pad abort test in about a month, then an in-flight abort test later this year as part of its previous development phase. An uncrewed flight test is planned for late 2016 and a crewed flight test in early 2017.

Speaking for the first time together since the awarding of the final development and certification contracts, officials from NASA's Commercial Crew Program, Boeing and SpaceX revealed some of the details of their plans to cross the chasm from spacecraft and launch system design to flight tests, certification and operational missions to the station.

"It's an incredible testament to American ingenuity and know-how, and an extraordinary validation of the vision we laid out just a few years ago as we prepared for the long-planned retirement of the space shuttle," said Charlie Bolden, NASA administrator, during the briefing at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

"This work is part of a vital strategy to equip our nation with the technologies for the future and inspire a new generation of explorers to take the next giant leap for America."

Boeing and SpaceX were selected in September 2014 to finalize their respective CST-100 and Crew Dragon spacecraft along with the rockets that will lift them into orbit and all of the ground and mission operations networks essential for safe flights. Both companies have worked with NASA's Commercial Crew Program throughout multiple development phases, continuing to advance their designs before being chosen to complete their systems, reach certification and then fly astronauts to the station.

The goal of NASA's effort is to provide an American launch vehicle and spacecraft capable of safely carrying astronauts to the station. Unlike other NASA spacecraft, though, this new generation of human-rated vehicles will be designed, built, operated and owned by the companies themselves, not NASA.

NASA will buy space transportation services from the companies for astronauts and powered cargo. It will be an arrangement like the one the agency uses already with the Commercial Resupply Services initiative that uses privately developed and operated rockets and spacecraft to deliver critical cargo to the station.

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NASA, Boeing, SpaceX Outline Objectives to ISS Flights

NASA and Microsoft Collaboration Will Allow Scientists to #39;Work on Mars #39; - IGN News
NASA and Microsoft have teamed up to work on a software called OnSight, which will allow scientists to work virtually on Mars via wearable technology. Read more here: http://www.ign.com/articles/2...

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Bientt un hlicoptre de la NASA sur Mars
Le JPL de la NASA vient de prsenter un projet d #39;hlicoptre qui assisterait les rovers sur Mars. L #39;article : http://www.sciences-mag.fr/2015/01/ils-veulent-envoyer-un-helicoptere-sur-mars/

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Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch Camera E 8 Footage RARE film of Historic Nasa Launch
Bringing you the BEST Space and Astronomy videos online. Showcasing videos and images from the likes of NASA,ESA,Hubble etc. Join me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spaceisamazing ...

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NASA HD + Sonic Elysium Faster, Higher, Stronger
Sonic Elysium Faster, Higher, Stronger.

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Houston, weve got a workforce problem.

NASA may be a vanguard ofaerospace engineering, but when it comes to management, it lags far behind your typical corporate bureaucracy.Innovation suffers at the U.S. space agency because employees stay in their jobs too long and dont work well with colleagues or industry peers,according toan article published (PDF) in Space Policy. What many successful companies have learned to masterthe art of collaboration and how to keep their workforce stocked with the fresh ideas that come with eager new recruitshas eluded the space agency.

The article's authors,Loizos Heracleous,a professor of strategy and organization at Coventry (U.K.)-based Warwick Business School, and Steven Gonzalez, a deputy in the Strategic Opportunities & Partnership Development Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center, explain that NASA'sworkforce has stagnated because younger talent has turned to more exciting opportunities. NASAs near-monopoly on space travel, the authors point out, has been eroded by competition from such private and government-sponsored organizations as Elon Musk's SpaceX and China's National Space Administration.Employee turnover is down to 1.7 percent a year (minus retirees) from 10 percent to 15 percent during its heyday in the 1960s. Consequently,the workforce has grown older: Some 58 percent of employees are age 45 to 59, up from 38 percent in 1993.

Human resources departments tend tolove low employee turnover, taking it as a sign that workers are happy and find their jobs rewarding. Besides, attracting and training new recruits is expensive and time-consuming. But a workforce that's too stable can bea sign that no one wants your employees because they're, well, not that good.

The researchers propose some ways toencourage careermobility and partnershipsat the agencymethods that private sector companies use to stay innovative and familiar with cutting-edge technologies. NASA, they suggest, should create job-exchange programs with other high-tech organizations while encouraging scientists to collaborate with companies that have better ideas.

Some companies and government agencies have madesmart efforts to keep workers from languishing in dead-end jobs. At Sandia National Laboratories, employees can leave to start companies or help other organizations, knowing they have a job in case they want to come back. A NASA scheme like this would allow brilliant scientists to not only accomplish great things in NASA but can facilitate technology transfer and exchange with industry and universities, the authors write.

An additional organizational advance that appears to have passed NASA by is the emergence of the networked organization, such as Google or Apple, that use a combination of technology and culture to make it easier for units across the company to collaborate, as well as team up with outside organizations. NASA has started moving in this direction by experimenting with open innovation and collaboration with the private sector, the authors say, but its space centers are still too silo-structured. Moreover, any partnerships must be weighed against national security concerns.

Maybe the much-mocked cubicle culture can offer some lessons to rejuvenate an organization that once captured our imagination and inspired generations of scientists and dreamers.

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What Corporate America Knows That NASA Doesn't

By Megan McDonough January 24

Milton W. Rosen, a rocket engineer and early NASA executive who led the United States first satellite venture, Project Vanguard, died Dec.30 at a retirement community in Bethesda, Md. He was 99.

The cause was complications from prostate cancer, said a grandson, Michael Shapiro.

Mr. Rosen began his career at the dawn of Space Age, conducting research on the development of radar and missiles at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington. At the end of 1945, he teamed with nuclear physicist Ernst H. Krause to establish the labs first rocket development program.

Until then, the United States was limited in its high-altitude experiments, using only a finite supply of captured German V-2 missiles to conduct research. Mr. Rosen believed the labs experience developing and researching missiles during World War II would be the ideal foundation for studying the utility, functionality and design of rockets.

Within months, he, Krause and other colleagues began to design and develop the multistage Viking rockets. The high-altitude rockets, which were launched between 1949 and 1955, helped demonstrate the potential of space exploration.

I feel its inevitable that our youngsters will see a lot more [of space] than we have, Mr. Rosen said in an interview on the early 1950s CBS television show Longines Chronoscope.

From 1947 to 1955, he served as the rocket programs chief engineer and supervised development of the research missiles.

Mr. Rosen later was the technical director of a successor space program, Project Vanguard. More funds and attention were available to space programs after the Soviet Union launched the first satellite to successfully orbit Earth, Sputnik, in October 1957. Explorer 1 became the first U.S. satellite to do so, in January 1958.

A few months later, after a succession of launch failures, Mr. Rosen oversaw the success of Vanguard 1, the first solar-powered satellite and the second U.S. artificial satellite placed in Earths orbit. It remains the oldest man-made satellite in orbit.

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Milton Rosen, rocket engineer and NASA executive, dies at 99

Pluto, get ready for your close-up.

After traveling nine years across more than 3 billion miles of space, a spacecraft the size of a grand piano is about to give humanity its first high-resolution view of the dwarf planet that's about two-thirds the size of our moon.

Nobody knows what the rendezvous will reveal. Pluto's icy surface may resemble an extreme version of Antarctica, with snow-capped mountains, steep crevasses and towering ice cliffs. The planet could be surrounded by rings of tiny ice particles, like its giant neighbor Neptune. There may even be evidence that an ancient ocean once sloshed beneath the frozen crust of its largest moon, Charon.

When it comes to Pluto, nothing is certain.

"Our knowledge of Pluto is quite meager," said planetary scientist Alan Stern, the principal investigator for the NASA mission known as New Horizons. "It is very much like our knowledge of Mars was before our first mission there 50 years ago."

New Horizons is poised to change all that. Sunday, the spacecraft's long-range cameras will begin snapping pictures of Pluto and its moons against a backdrop of stars. New Horizons has been taking detailed measurements of the dust and charged particles in the dwarf planet's environment since mid-January.

More data will be collected during the months leading up to the mission's big moment this summer: a close approach on July 14 that will take the spacecraft just 7,700 miles from Pluto's surface.

From that distance, New Horizons will be able to determine what the dwarf planet is made of, create temperature maps of its multi-colored surface, and look for auroras in its thin atmosphere. Scientists and the public will see the first high-definition images this summer.

Until now, the best pictures astronomers have managed to get consist of a few hazy pixels that were captured by the Hubble Space Telescope more than a decade ago. The resolution is so poor that if you looked at a comparable image of Earth, you wouldn't be able to distinguish the continents from the seas.

The instruments on New Horizons will take images so detailed that if they were pictures of Los Angeles, they would show individual runways at Los Angeles International Airport, said Stern, who is based at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.

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[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 15 (Friday, January 23, 2015)] [Notices] [Pages 3657-3658] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 2015-01115]

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[Notice (15-002)]

Notice of Intent To Grant Exclusive License

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

ACTION: Notice of intent to grant exclusive license.

SUMMARY: This notice is issued in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(e) and 37 CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i). NASA hereby gives notice of its intent to grant an exclusive license in the United States to practice the inventions described and claimed in U.S. Patent Applications Serial Numbers 12/ 571,049 and 14/168,830, Polyimide Aerogels With Three Dimensional Cross-Linked Structure, LEW-18486-1 and LEW 18,486-2; U.S. Patent Application Serial Number 13/804,546, Flexible, High Temperature Polyimide/Urea Aerogels, LEW-18825-1; U.S. Patent Applications Serial Numbers 13/756,855 and 61/594,657, Polyimide Aerogel Thin Films, LEW- 18864-1; U.S. Patent Application Serial Number 13/653,027, Novel Aerogel-Based Antennas (ABA) for Aerospace Applications, LEW-18893-1; and U.S. Patent Application Serial Number 61/993,610, Polyimide Aerogels with Polyamide Cross-Links, LEW 19,200-1, to FLEXcon Company, Inc., having its principal place of business in Spencer, Massachusetts. The fields of use may be limited to thin films in roll form in thicknesses ranging from 0 to 100 mils in the following industries: Aerospace, wire insulation, pipe insulation, variable printing labeling, automotive, electromagnetic electronics, thermal electronics, general insulation, large appliances, and wireless devices. The patent rights in these inventions as applicable have been assigned to the United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The prospective exclusive license will comply with the terms and conditions of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7.

DATES: The prospective exclusive license may be granted unless, within fifteen (15) days from the date of this published notice, NASA receives written objections including evidence and argument that establish that the grant of the license would not be consistent with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7. Competing applications completed and received by NASA within fifteen (15) days of the date of this published notice will also be treated as objections to the grant of the contemplated exclusive license. Objections submitted in response to this notice will not be made available to the public for inspection and, to the extent permitted by law, will not be released under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552.

ADDRESSES: Objections relating to the prospective license may be submitted to Intellectual Property Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel, NASA Glenn Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Rd., MS 21-14, Cleveland, OH 44135. Phone (216) 433-5754. Facsimile (216) 433-6790.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kaprice Harris, Intellectual Property Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel, NASA Glenn Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Rd., MS 21-14, Cleveland, OH 44135. Phone (216) 433-5754. Facsimile (216) 433-6790. Information about other NASA inventions available for licensing can be found online at https://technology.grc.nasa.gov.

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NASA GRC Notice of Intent To Grant Exclusive License: FLEXcon Company, Inc.

Nasa scientists in California are testing a concept Mars helicopter The small device would be launched to the red planet with another rover It would scout locations ahead for the rover to travel to and explore And it would be able to travel much greater distances than the rover Each day it could fly for up to three minutes and cover half a kilometre But it will have to contend with difficult conditions on the red planet Nasa has not revealed when the helicopter could go to Mars

By Jonathan O'Callaghan for MailOnline

Published: 13:35 EST, 26 January 2015 | Updated: 13:55 EST, 26 January 2015

Since July 2013, the Curiosity rover has travelled just over 23,300ft (7,100 metres) on the surface of Mars at an average of about 1,310ft (400 metres) per month.

But if a new Nasa project comes to fruition, future rovers could carry a small helicopter with them that could cover half a kilometre in just a single day.

The vehicle would perform daily flights to scout the surrounding area on Mars much faster than possible for ground based rovers.

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Nasa scientists in California are testing a concept Mars helicopter (illustration shown). The small device would be launched to the red planet with another rover. It would scout locations ahead for the rover to travel to and explore. And it would be able to travel much greater distances than the rover

The concept is currently being tested by scientists at Nasas Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.

It is designed to provide an alternative to the slow, methodical progress required by rovers in order to avoid obstacles and plot a safe route across the red planet.

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Nasa HELICOPTERS are headed to Mars

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 15 (Friday, January 23, 2015)] [Notices] [Page 3657] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 2015-01116]

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[Notice: (15-003)]

Notice of Intent To Grant Partially Exclusive Term License

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

ACTION: Notice of intent to grant partially exclusive term license.

SUMMARY: This notice is issued in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(e) and 37 CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i). NASA hereby gives notice of its intent to grant a partially exclusive term license in the United States to practice the inventions described and claimed in U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. US 61/771,149 Superelastic Ternary Ordered Intermetallic Compounds, LEW-19029-1; U.S. Patent Serial No. US 8,182,741 Ball Bearings Comprising Nickel-Titanium and Methods of Manufacture Thereof, LEW-18476-1; and U.S. Patent Serial No. US 8,377,373 Compositions Comprising Nickel-Titanium and Methods of Manufacture Thereof and Articles Comprising the Same, LEW-18476-2, to Puris, LLC, having its principal place of business in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia. The fields of use may be limited to additive manufacturing. The patent rights in these inventions as applicable have been assigned to the United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The prospective exclusive license will comply with the terms and conditions of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7.

DATES: The prospective exclusive license may be granted unless, within fifteen (15) days from the date of this published notice, NASA receives written objections including evidence and argument that establish that the grant of the license would not be consistent with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7. Competing applications completed and received by NASA within fifteen (15) days of the date of this published notice will also be treated as objections to the grant of the contemplated exclusive license. Objections submitted in response to this notice will not be made available to the public for inspection and, to the extent permitted by law, will not be released under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552.

ADDRESSES: Objections relating to the prospective license may be submitted to Intellectual Property Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel, NASA Glenn Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Rd., MS 21-14, Cleveland, OH 44135. Phone (216) 433-5754. Facsimile (216) 433-6790.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kaprice Harris, Intellectual Property Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel, NASA Glenn Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Rd., MS 21-14, Cleveland, OH 44135. Phone (216) 433-5754. Facsimile (216) 433-6790. Information about other NASA inventions available for licensing can be found online at https://technology.grc.nasa.gov.

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NASA GRC Notice of Intent To Grant Partially Exclusive Term License: Puris, LLC

Space Station Live: Biochemically Profiling Astronauts in Space
NASA Commentator Brandi Dean speaks with Dr. Scott M. Smith of the Biomedical Research and Environmental Sciences Division at NASA #39;s Johnson Space Center in Houston about his nutritional...

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Space Station Live: Biochemically Profiling Astronauts in Space - Video

A verse I wrote to the Underachievers N.A.S.A instrumental.
Yea you know the name call me mp, I #39;m a beast no relief once I hit the green, Mouthpiece is diseased to the negativity, What I seek is release all the demons caged beneath, When I speak they...

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IHMC NASA JSC X1 Exoskeleton Powered with UT-SEA Ankles
The Human Centered Robotics Laboratory at UT Austin has collaborated with IHMC and NASA to integrate the high performance UT-SEA actuator in the X1 Exoskeleton assistive exoskeleton. The high.

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Nasa prica o Zlatnoj svadbi

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Nasa prica o Zlatnoj svadbi - Video

NASA | Greenland #39;s Ice Layers Mapped in 3D
http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-data-peers-into-greenlands-ice-sheet/ Peering into the thousands of frozen layers inside Greenland #39;s ice sheet is like looking back in time. Each...

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NASA unveils stunning 100-millionth picture of the sun
An instrument onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory captured NASA #39;s 100-millionth image of the sun. Four telescopes work parallel to capture eight images of the sun and cycle through 10 different.

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NASA unveils stunning 100-millionth picture of the sun - Video

NASA Orion vs. SpaceX Dragon V2

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NASA Hiding UFOs by Cutting Live Space Station Feed?
NASA has been accused of hiding UFOs by cutting its live feed from the International Space Station every time a UFO hovers in site. This month, conspiracy theorists, including UFO watcher Toby...

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