Record-Setting 33 Tiny 'Cubesats' Launched From Space Station

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A record release of 33 CubeSats from the International Space Station ended Friday after a methodical series of deployments of miniature Earth imaging satellites for San Francisco-based Planet Labs Inc.

The CubeSat constellation, released in pairs over a 17-day period, included 28 satellites for Planet Labs and five spacecraft for private engineering research firms and institutions in Lithuania and Peru.

The deployments began Feb. 11 as the CubeSats sprang out of pods mounted on the end of the space station's Japanese robotic arm.

The CubeSats were launched to the orbiting complex in January inside an Orbital Sciences Corp. Cygnus cargo craft. Astronauts transferred the payloads, sealed inside more than a dozen NanoRacks deployers, to the space station's Kibo laboratory and through an airlock to the vacuum of space. [Tiny Satellites Launch From Space Station (Photos)]

NanoRacks LLC, a Houston-based company providing commercial research opportunities on the space station, sponsored the CubeSat deployments for Planet Labs and other customers. Spaceflight Inc., a firm specializing in launch services for small satellites, partnered with NanoRacks to provide the CubeSat launch opportunities.

"This is the beginning of a new era in space commerce," said Jeff Manber, NanoRacks CEO, in a press release. "We're helping our customers get a two year head start in space. They don't have to wait around for a dedicated launch to space but can instead catch the next rocket to space station. We want to thank NASA and JAXA for being wonderful partners, as well as Spaceflight Inc., for their help with customers. Without these organizations, this couldn't have happened."

The 28 CubeSats for Planet Labs will return imagery of Earth with a resolution between 3 and 5 meters, or between 10 and 16 feet. Planet Labs constructed the satellites, each about the size of a loaf of bread, at the company's San Francisco headquarters.

The Planet Labs constellation, known as Flock 1, will monitor natural disasters, deforestation, agricultural yields and other environmental changes. The company says the satellites will allow scientists and the public to track changes to Earth's surface at an unprecedented frequency.

It is the largest fleet Earth observation satellitesever launched.

Because the satellites were deployed from the International Space Station, the Flock 1 constellation is limited to observing Earth between 52 degrees of the equator.

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Record-Setting 33 Tiny 'Cubesats' Launched From Space Station

Refueling in space could extend satellites lives and spacecrafts travels

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5 hours ago Mar. 7, 2014 - 12:11 PM PST

Just as with a car, regular maintenance will extend a satellites lifetime and ensure that a problem like running out of fuel doesnt cut its usefulness short.But reaching a satellite to deliver much-needed services can be difficult and expensive when a satellite is orbiting the Earth.

NASA is testing a few tools that would make it much easier to repair and refuel satellites even those that were never designed to receive maintenance. The agency just successfully tested a robotic arm refueling system on the ground and is now gearing up to bring it to the International Space Station for further tests.

With more than 400 satellites in space that could benefit from robotic servicing, we thought a refueling test was the best place to start, NASA Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office associate director Frank Cepollina said in a NASA post. We wanted to demonstrate technologies that build life-extension capabilities and jumpstart a discussion about new ways to manage assets in space.

NASA tests its robotic refueling arm on Earth. Photo courtesy of NASA.

NASA names extended human exploration as one inspiration for the project. If we refuel spacecraft once theyve left Earth, it could help them travel farther than theyve ever traveled before. Like the satellites, their use wouldnt be limited by how much fuel they can pack into their hull.

MIT expanded on that idea this week with a proposal to store extra rocket fuel in space. Researchers there focus on spacecraft traveling between the Earth and moon, where they could meet up with a refueling depot to pick up an extra tank of fuel. Ships heading back to Earth could drop off any extra tanks for future ones to pick up. The tanks would be transferred by a robot or astronaut.

That kind of flexibility could help lunar exploration missions visit more remote parts of the moon, which earlier lunar missions passed up due to the larger amount of fuel that would have been needed.

Daisy-chaining fuel depots even farther into space could allow missions to venture much farther than they do today and ease travel to planned destinations like Mars.

Whatever rockets you use, youd like to take full advantage of your lifting capacity, MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics professor Jeffrey Hoffman said in the release. Most of what we launch from the Earth is propellant. So whatever you can save, theres that much more payload you can take with you.

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Refueling in space could extend satellites lives and spacecrafts travels

NASAs Marshall Center Enhances Dream Chaser Agreement with Sierra Nevada Corporation

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NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center and Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) will host a news conference on Tuesday, March 11, to announce a newly expanded Space Act Agreement. Under this new agreement, Marshall will provide technical expertise to SNC as it plans for integration of on-orbit science payloads on its Dream Chaser spacecraft. Teledyne Brown Engineering, which will provide support to SNC under a Teaming Agreement, will also participate.

The news conference will be held in the Marshall Center press room, Building 4200, on Rideout Road at 10 a.m. Media that cannot attend in person may join the news conference via telephone by calling 800-619-2655, passcode: SierraNV

News conference participants are:

- Paul Gilbert, deputy manager of the Flight Programs and Partnerships Office, NASA Marshall - Mark McEylea, chief of the Advanced Planning and Integration Office for Marshalls Mission Operations Laboratory - Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of Sierra Nevada Corporations Space Systems, Louisville, Colo. - Rex Geveden, executive vice president of Teledyne Technologies, Thousand Oaks, Calif.

News media interested in attending should contact Janet Anderson in Marshall's Public & Employee Communications Office at 256-544-0034 no later than 4 p.m. CDT Monday, March 10.

Media must report to the Redstone Arsenal Visitor Center at Gate 9, I-565 interchange at Rideout Road/Research Park Boulevard at 9 a.m., Tuesday, March 11 for escort.

For more information about Marshall Space Flight Center, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/home/index.html.

For more information about Sierra Nevada CorporationsDream Chaser, visit:

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NASAs Marshall Center Enhances Dream Chaser Agreement with Sierra Nevada Corporation

NASA Looks To Robots To Refuel And Repair Satellites In Orbit

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March 7, 2014

Image Caption: Located at the Kennedy Space Center but commanded from Goddard, the RROxiTT industrial robot mimicked how future space robots could transfer oxidizer to a satellite valve. Credit: NASA

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

NASA is using the International Space Station (ISS) as a test bed for technologies that could refuel and repair existing satellites in orbit.

The space agency said it is preparing another round of demonstrations on the space station to test the new technology. This testing will focus on real-time relative navigation, spacecraft inspection and the replenishment of cryogens in satellites that were not initially built for in-flight service.

The experiments are part of another initiative to equip robots and humans with tools and capabilities needed for spacecraft maintenance and repair, which could be useful for extended manned missions to places like an asteroid or Mars.

The Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office (SSCO) has been ongoing at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland since 2009.

With more than 400 satellites in space that could benefit from robotic servicing, we thought a refueling test was the best place to start, Frank Cepollina, veteran leader of the five servicing missions to the Hubble Space Telescope, and associate director of SSCO, said in a statement. We wanted to demonstrate technologies that build life-extension capabilities and jumpstart a discussion about new ways to manage assets in space. We never planned to stop there, however. It was only the first step.

SSCOs Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) and follow-up tests have demonstrated that remotely controlled robots could work through the caps and wires on a satellite fuel valve and transfer fluid into existent satellites.

NASA conducted a demonstration called the Remote Robotic Oxidizer Transfer Test (RROxiTT) last month where a robot remotely controlled from Goddard successfully transferred corrosive satellite oxidizer into a mock satellite tank located at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Now that this test is over, NASA said SSCO is broadening its portfolio to include xenon transfer technology.

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NASA Looks To Robots To Refuel And Repair Satellites In Orbit

Review: '300: Rise of an Empire' celebrates excessive, pointless violence

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300: Rise of an Empire is a bloodbath and not much else.

Heads are bisected and decapitated. Swords and spears plunge through bodies, setting off slow-motion gushes of deep red, time and time and time again. Ships collide, hundreds of bodies sink to the bottom of the sea.

Youve heard the expression Heads will roll. In this movie heads roll all over the place.

Why exactly theyre rolling is never quite clear. Most likely to make audience members glad their own heads are intact. Beyond that, its hard to find a point to Rise. Its pretty much blood for bloods sake.

Rise is, of course, a sequel to the hugely successful 300; and it, too, is filled with rippling muscles, brave-if-misguided warrior-speak and massive battle scenes. But while 300 had at least a modicum of political intrigue, this film is just full-on mayhem.

Part of it actually takes place at the same time as 300. A massive Persian army under the command of the self-anointed man-god Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) is attacking Greece at two points. At one, the 300 brave-if-not-particularly-bright Spartans make a stand and are wiped out. End of that movie.

At the other point, the fleet of Athens, led by the legendary Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton), sails against the much bigger fleet of the Persians, which is led by the thoroughly evil and smoking hot Artemisia (Eva Green).

For a while, Themistokles and the Athenians hold their own, leading to a meeting between the Athenian leader and Artemisia, which devolves into a ludicrous sex scene. But then its back to battle, where it soon becomes clear enough the Athenians are plain outnumbered no matter how hard they fight.

So Themistokles puts out a call to all the other cities of Greece, including his traditional enemies the Spartans, to join in the battle.

The result? Blood, blood, blood and more blood. Director Noam Murro likes nothing better than a slow-mo impaling that near-freezes for a second, then speeds back up to normal just in time to slow down again as a sword crosses through someones neck, spraying the screen. Then more, more, more.

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Review: '300: Rise of an Empire' celebrates excessive, pointless violence

Creek Wood girls basketball beats Dyersburg, heads to state semifinals

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Thursdays final game during the opening rounds of the TSSAA Class 2A high school girls basketball state tournament pitted two of the Volunteer States top teams against each other.

The Creek Wood Lady Red Hawks had the most wins of any team in the tournament, and they were rewarded with the late game of day one - a matchup against the highly touted Lady Trojans of Dyersburg.

On the line was a Friday night matchup against Fulton, who advanced in the tourney due to a convincing 67-49 win against Cannon County.

It will be the Lady Red Hawks (34-3) that will be advancing to that match-up tomorrow night, thanks to a 63-50 win that featured one of Rachel Bells strongest performances yet.

Dyersburg (31-4) took the early lead, with a three pointer from Christina Moore at the 7:22 mark, but Bailee Anthony would answer with a three on the next possession, knotting the game up at 3-3. It would not stay tied for long, as Rachel Bell scored from downtown on Creek Woods next series, giving them a 6-3 lead.

The Vandy signee and Brianna Spicer both were successful on their next shots, helping CW head coach Tom Mullinicks squad take an 11-7 advantage. Dyersburg was not about to be put in the rear view mirror early, however.

Kim Tates jumper pulled the Lady Trojans to within 11-9 with 3:49 left to play in the first. A 13-6 run by the team from Jones Creek enabled the Lady Red Hawks to widen the lead to 24-15 at the end of the first eight minutes.

Shakaila Smith opened up the second with a three for Dyersburg, but Bell was seemingly on a roll. The senior continued to add to her point total in the second, as Creek Wood pushed the lead out to 39-25 with 1:29 left before halftime thanks to Bell and some nice shooting from long range from Leah Grubb. Randy Coffmans squad would end the quarter on a 7-0 run, courtesy of Myah Taylor, Chari Swift, and Smith to go in the locker room down by seven at the half, 39-32.

Points would be at a premium for both teams in the early part of the third quarter with both teams only adding one basket in the first four minutes of the third, but things would change as the quarter went along. Swift and Bell would trade baskets for their respective teams, before a technical called on the Lady Trojans would send Bell to the free throw line, where she was one of two and the lead was once again a nine-point edge, 45-36 with 2:29 remaining in the third.

Still, the Lady Red Hawks could not put any further distance between themselves and their opponent, as Christina Moore nailed a three with 1:13 on the clock to narrow the gap to 45-39.Grubb would end the quarter with a three that would send her squad into the final quarter with momentum and a 48-39 lead.

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Creek Wood girls basketball beats Dyersburg, heads to state semifinals

NASA Picks Small Business Tech Proposals for Development

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NASA has selected 108 research and technology proposals from U.S. small businesses that will enable NASA's future missions while benefiting America's new high technology-driven economy right here on Earth.

The selected proposals now will enter into negotiations for contract awards as part of Phase II of the agency's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The selected aerospace technology and innovation projects have a total value of approximately $87 million, supporting 99 U.S. firms in 26 states.

"NASA's future successes depends on the innovative capacity of American small businesses, and their ability to bring new technology to bear on the problems NASA tackles," said Michael Gazarik, associate administrator for space technology at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We see the benefits of small businesses and their SBIR-funded technology working for us every day, whether here on Earth in our air traffic control systems, or on the surface of Mars and the technology behind NASA's Mars Curiosity rover. Small businesses are bringing innovation to the marketplace while creating new products, new jobs, and strengthening our economy."

Under the general element, NASA chose 98 proposals worth approximately $73.5 million. Under the select element, NASA chose 10 proposals worth approximately $13.5 million.

NASA's SBIR Program is a competitive awards-based program that encourages U.S. small businesses to engage in federal research, development and commercialization. The program also enables businesses to explore technological potential, while providing the incentive to profit from new commercial products and services. Small businesses create about two out of every three jobs in the U.S. each year, and roughly half of working Americans either own or work for a small business.

Innovative research areas among these selected proposals address the challenges NASA is facing as the agency continues to pursue exciting missions of exploration and discovery.

Selected proposals from these small businesses will develop efficient energy and power systems for human and robotic spacecraft; new concepts for in-space propulsion; advanced telescope technologies to enable a new class of critical observatories; next generation sensors for the study of Earth; and robotic technologies for the exploration of other planets.

Small businesses working under NASA's SBIR program are also developing new technology to monitor astronaut health, and creating new materials and the manufacturing processes that support them. Additional work includes building new simulation environments to reduce the cost and complexity of future space missions.

This year's NASA SBIR Phase II selections support two program elements: a general element sought proposals in response to a broad range of research and technology topics, while a second select element focused on a small group of topics of particular interest to NASA.

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NASA Picks Small Business Tech Proposals for Development

NASA Experts And Exhibits At SXSW Interactive In Austin, Texas

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Image Caption: Visit the NASA booth at the Gaming Expo at SXSW in Austin, Texas on March 6-9. Credit: NASA

NASA

At SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas, attendees will find out how NASA is answering the tough questions such as: Is there life on other planets? Are we smarter than the dinosaurs? What are astronauts studying on the International Space Station?

Panels

NASA will lead five presentations and panel sessions during the SXSW Interactive festival, which are open to SXSW Interactive badged participants.

Live from Space! Talk with Astronauts in Orbit Sat, Mar 8; 11:00am, Omni Downtown, Capital Ballroom

John Yembrick, NASAs social media manager, will lead a discussion about how technology has evolved the way the agency connects with the public. Just a few short years ago, only a select few were able to talk to astronauts in space. Today, all you need is to be on the Internet. At SXSW, audience members can ask questions directly to astronauts Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio from 250 miles away in space.

You dont have to go to the movies to feel connected to human spaceflight, Yembrick said. Every day on social media astronauts on the International Space Station are sharing their experience with us down here on Earth. The station is not only an outstanding test bed for future space exploration, but also at providing us the human perspective of looking back at our home planet from orbit. Like never before, we can live vicariously through the eyes of the astronauts.

Thats Hot: Visualizing NASA Climate Science Data Sat, Mar. 8; 12:30pm, Omni Downtown, Lone Star Room

NASA has a fleet of spacecraft studying every aspect of our home planet with five new missions launching in 2014. This panel will demonstrate how NASA is using mobile applications, interactive websites, near real-time visualizations and social media to deliver meaningful and understandable Earth science data in some cases just hours after its collected. Representatives from JPL on this panel include Michael Green, manager for public engagement formulation, Doug Ellison, visualization producer, and Veronica McGregor, media relations manager.

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NASA Experts And Exhibits At SXSW Interactive In Austin, Texas