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GOES Satellite Video of Snowstorm in the U.S. at Feb. 12, 2014 #NASA #NOAA #GOES – Video

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GOES Satellite Video of Snowstorm in the U.S. at Feb. 12, 2014 #NASA #NOAA #GOES
A new NASA video of NOAA #39;s GOES satellite imagery shows three days of movement of the massive winter storm that stretches from the southern U.S. to the north...

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GOES Satellite Video of Snowstorm in the U.S. at Feb. 12, 2014 #NASA #NOAA #GOES - Video

Human space flight prog: HAL hands over crew module assembly to ISRO

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Bangalore, Feb 13:

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has handed over the first Crew Module Structural Assembly for the Human Space Flight Program to ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).

The first crew module will be further equipped with systems necessary for crew support, navigation, guidance and control systems for experimentation in the forthcoming GSLV-MK3 launch.

HAL takes pride in Indias space programmes and our aerospace division has produced this crew module in record time to meet the requirements of ISRO, said Dr R. K. Tyagi, Chairman, HAL.

HAL has contributed to Indias space programmes, including ISROs mars mission, by providing the satellite structure, propellant tankages and supplied 13 types of riveted structural assemblies, seven types of welded propellant tankages, which include the cryogenic liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks and cryogenic stage structures, for the GSLV D5.

(This article was published on February 13, 2014)

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Human space flight prog: HAL hands over crew module assembly to ISRO

SpaceX Prepares for Mid-March Launch to Space Station

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Juggling flight delays and busy skies with the skill of seasoned air traffic controllers, International Space Station managers have approved the launch date for SpaceX's next cargo resupply mission for March 16.

Liftoff from Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad is set for 4:41 a.m. EDT (0841 GMT), the time when Earth's rotation brings the space station's flight path over the Space Coast, NASA announced last week.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo carrier will make the company's third commercial logistics delivery to the space station under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA. The deal calls for 12 missions through 2016.

The Dragon spacecraft will chase the space station for two days, with final approach set for March 18 under the guidance of high-tech laser mapping sensors.

The outpost's crew, scheduled to be three-strong at the time of the Dragon capsule's arrival, will grapple the free-flying spacecraft with the space station's Canadian-built robot arm. The crane-like appendage will move the food- and experiment-toting Dragon to a parking port on the lab's Harmony module for a one-month stay. [The Rockets and Spaceships of SpaceX (Photos)]

The astronauts will unpack the Dragon spacecraft's pressurized cabin, about the size of a large walk-in closet, of several tons of supplies, including government, commercial and student experiments. Then the crew will reload the spaceship with an array of cargo tagged for return to Earth, including biological samples, equipment requiring repair, and other unnecessary gear.

Quiz: How Well Do You Know SpaceX's Dragon Spaceship?

The spaceflight company SpaceX is one of several firms building private space taxis and cargo ships to launch astronauts and supplies into space. But there's more to SpaceX than meets the eye. Test your SpaceX know-how here.

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Quiz: How Well Do You Know SpaceX's Dragon Spaceship?

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SpaceX Prepares for Mid-March Launch to Space Station

Peter J. Salerno, NASA engineer

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Peter J. Salerno, a senior electrical systems engineer for NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., for 30 years, died Jan. 6 at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Md. He was 53.

He had a heart attack and complications from diabetes, his mother-in-law, Dorothy Boerner, said.

Mr. Salerno, a resident of Calverton, Md., worked in Goddards flight microwave and telecommunications systems branch. He helped develop radio-frequency communications and was part of a team that helped service the Hubble Space Telescope in the 1990s.

Peter Joseph Salerno was born in Washington and grew up in Rockville, Md. He was a 1977 graduate of Richard Montgomery High School and received a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland in 1983.

He served on design review boards at Goddard and received a 30-year service award from NASA in 2013.

Mr. Salerno enjoyed hunting and judged competitions for the Potomac Chapter of the National Association of Versatile Hunting Dogs of America and the D.C. Chapter of the Weimaraner Club of America. He was an amateur radio operator and a member of the American Radio Relay League. He also was a member of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, a conservation group.

Survivors include his wife of 28 years, Susan Boerner Salerno of Calverton; his parents, James and Elizabeth Salerno of Rockville; two sisters, Ann Gervasio of Herndon, Va., and Joanne Salerno of Portland, Ore.; and a brother, Robert Salerno of New Windsor, N.Y.

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Peter J. Salerno, NASA engineer

New US Military Space Plane Aims for 2017 Liftoff

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The United States military is making progress toward developing a new unmanned space plane, which it aims to begin flight-testing in 2017.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to award the first design contracts for the vehicle project known as Experimental Spaceplane, or XS-1 in May or thereabouts, officials said. Current schedules call for the vessel to get off the ground for the first time in late 2017 and make an orbital test flight the following year.

DARPA has high expectations for the XS-1 program, which it hopes can eventually launch 3,000- to 5,000-lb (1,361 to 2,268 kilograms) payloads to orbit for less than $5 million per flight and to do it at least 10 times per year. [Space Planes: Evolution of the Winged Spaceship (Infographic)]

"The vision here is to break the cycle of escalating space system costs, enable routine space access and hypersonic vehicles," XS-1 program manager Jess Sponable said Feb. 5 during a presentation with NASA's Future In-Space Operations (FISO) working group. (Hypersonic flight is generally defined as anything greater than five times the speed of sound.)

"We're interested not just in launch, but also in seeing if we can find a way to enable more affordable, more routine, simpler hypersonic vessels," he added.

Changing the cost equation

DARPA first announced the ambitious XS-1 program last September. It's viewed as complementary to another agency effort known as ALASA (Airborne Launch Assist Space Access), which seeks to launch 100-lb (45 kg) satellites to orbit for less than $1 million apiece using traditional airplanes outfitted with expendable upper stages.

DARPA officials laid out their broad vision of the robotic XS-1 vehicle in a press release issued in September:

"XS-1 envisions that a reusable first stage would fly to hypersonic speeds at a suborbital altitude," they wrote. "At that point, one or more expendable upper stages would separate and deploy a satellite into low-Earth orbit. The reusable hypersonic aircraft would then return to earth, land and be prepared for the next flight."

But DARPA is leaving the specifics of the XS-1 system which aims to provide routine, aircraft-like access to space up its potential builders, Sponable said.

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New US Military Space Plane Aims for 2017 Liftoff

Space Programme Can Improve Health Care: Ex-ISRO Chief

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India's versatile space programme has potential to significantly improve health care through tele-medicine and gene therapy which will go a long way in providing affordable treatment to large section of people, former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan said today.

Delivering the 13th Dharma Vira Oration organised by Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, the eminent scientist, who had steered ISRO's space programme as its head from 1994 to 2003, said spin offs from satellite technology can be used extensively to enhance the health care sector in a big way.

"The experience from human space flight has led to several interesting ground based application such as artificial heart, kidney dialysis, invisible braces, sun glasses as well as other bio-medical instruments," Kasturirangan said while explaining possible applications of space technology in the health care sector.

Noting that tele-medicine could be a potential tool for improving the health care facilities across the country, he said it will cut the cost of medical treatment and at the same time ensure quality services, particularly to people in rural areas.

Kasturirangan, who is a member of the Planning Commission, said ISRO has provided connectivity to nearly 400 rural hospitals with 60 super specialty hospitals in the country so far.

Elaborating on the use of various satellite-related innovations in health sector, Kasturirangan said space imaging techniques can be helpful for early detection of cancer, cardiovascular disease and heart surgery.

He said continuous monitoring of astronaut's heart in space can be of great help to similar needs on the ground.

Ashok Chandra, Chairman of Sir Ganga Ram Trust Society paid tributes to Dharma Vira, saying his vision of involving doctors in the day to day running of the hospital have paid rich dividends.

"We are trying to fulfil his dream by providing quality, affordable health care to all sections of our society," said D S Rana, Chairman of Board of Management of the hospital said.

In his address titled 'Space: An Innovative Tool for Serving Human Kind' Kasturirangan also outlined some futuristic developments involving the 'bio-capsules' to reduce the effect of high radiation levels, treating diabetes and brain cancer as well as their use in gene therapy.

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Space Programme Can Improve Health Care: Ex-ISRO Chief

SpaceX on pace for mid-March launch to space station

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Juggling flight delays and busy skies with the skill of seasoned air traffic controllers, International Space Station managers have approved the launch date for SpaceX's next cargo resupply mission for March 16.

Photo of a previous Dragon spacecraft arriving at the International Space Station in March 2013. Photo credit: NASA Liftoff from Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad is set for 4:41 a.m. EST (0841 GMT), the time when Earth's rotation brings the space station's flight path over the Space Coast, NASA announced last week.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo carrier will make the company's third commercial logistics delivery to the space station under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA. The deal calls for 12 missions through 2016.

The Dragon spacecraft will chase the space station for two days, with final approach set for March 18 under the guidance of high-tech laser mapping sensors.

The outpost's crew, scheduled to be three-strong at the time of the Dragon capsule's arrival, will grapple the free-flying spacecraft with the space station's Canadian-built robot arm. The crane-like appendage will move the food- and experiment-toting Dragon to a parking port on the lab's Harmony module for a one-month stay.

The astronauts will unpack the Dragon spacecraft's pressurized cabin, about the size of a large walk-in closet, of several tons of supplies, including government, commercial and student experiments. Then the crew will reload the spaceship with an array of cargo tagged for return to Earth, including biological samples, equipment requiring repair, and other unnecessary gear.

The robotic removal of a pair of payloads stowed inside the Dragon spacecraft's unpressurized trunk is also on tap during the vehicle's visit. A laser communications terminal developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be mounted to a payload platform on the space station's main truss, and a package of four commercial high-definition video cameras will begin filming from an attach point on the European Columbus module.

Dragon's departure from the space station is tentatively set for April 17, with splashdown several hours later in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Southern California.

Officials delayed the flight from a previous target launch date of Feb. 22, and poor weather prevented the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage from being delivered to Florida in time to be ready for a launch attempt in early March, according to a senior NASA space station official.

The Falcon 9's first and second stages, along with the Dragon spacecraft, are now at Cape Canaveral for launch processing, a SpaceX spokesperson said.

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SpaceX on pace for mid-March launch to space station

As space commercializes, where does Houston fit?

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HOUSTON -

With two corporations, SpaceX and Orbital Sciences, already delivering supplies to NASA's International Space Station, a golden age may be at hand for private space firms.

Late this year, Virgin Galactic may launch its first suborbital flight, opening space to non-astronauts. And private companies are beginning to announce dates by which they'll be ready to fly astronauts into orbit, a venture that until now has been solely the province of governments.

"We're seeing a democratization of access to space," said Michael Lopez-Alegria, a four-time astronaut who now leads the industry group Commercial Spaceflight Federation, told the Houston Chronicle.

The rise of commercial space raises questions about the future of Houston as Space City, which for the entire history of U.S. spaceflight has been responsible for training and managing the flights of U.S. astronauts. Houston is racing to reinvent itself this decade as other parts of the country seek to chip away at its pre-eminence as the home of human spaceflight.

For now, Johnson Space Center will continue to be the home of NASA astronauts, but it's not clear what role the center will have in working with astronauts who fly on privately-built commercial vehicles to space.

NASA, for example, chose to establish its office overseeing the development of private spacecraft that will eventually carry U.S. astronauts to the space station at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, instead of at the Houston-based center.

The Houston region has not been oblivious to the rise of commercial space and its implications for the city's traditional hegemony in human spaceflight.

"Houston is being very proactive," said David Alexander, director of the Rice Space Institute.

Texas A&M recently held a commercial space workshop with Rice and industry partners to discuss a commercial space strategy for Houston and Texas. Universities, governments and industry partners will need to work together to ensure the vibrancy of Houston's space presence, Alexander said.

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As space commercializes, where does Houston fit?

Space Flight Mission Critical Systems Personnel Reliability Program: Removal of Obsolete Regulations

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[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 26 (Friday, February 7, 2014)] [Rules and Regulations] [Pages 7391-7392] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 2014-02591]

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

14 CFR Part 1214

[Docket Number: 2014-0002] RIN 2700-AD87

Space Flight Mission Critical Systems Personnel Reliability Program: Removal of Obsolete Regulations

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

ACTION: Direct final rule.

SUMMARY: This direct final rule makes nonsubstantive changes by removing a regulation that is obsolete and no longer used. The revision to this rule are part of NASA's retrospective plan under Executive Order (EO) 13563 completed in August 2011.

DATES: This direct final rule is effective on April 8, 2014. Comments due on or before March 10, 2014. If adverse comments are received, NASA will publish a timely withdrawal of the rule in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be identified with RIN 2700-AD87 and may be sent to NASA via the Federal E-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Please note that NASA will post all comments on the Internet with changes, including any personal information provided.

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Space Flight Mission Critical Systems Personnel Reliability Program: Removal of Obsolete Regulations


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