NASA Goes Ikea to Test Inflatable Annex for Space Station

Posted on by

The International Space Station is getting an inflatable spare room.

The first-of-its-kind habitat built by Bigelow Aerospace LLC weighs 3,000 pounds and is made of a Kevlar-like material to withstand space debris and radiation. It looks more like a giant propane gas tank than a kids moon bounce and will be attached to a port on the space station.

It will rocket into space in 2015 with the blessing of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which last week awarded the firm a $17.8 million contract to demonstrate the technology. Eventually, Las Vegas hotelier Robert Bigelow wants to build separate stations that might be used as research laboratories orbiting Earth or to establish a permanent presence on the moon or Mars.

Ultimately, hes hoping to build hotels in low-earth orbit and have that be one of the up-and-coming space businesses -- this will give him more credibility, said Marco Caceres, a senior space analyst with Teal Group Corp. in Fairfax, Virginia. Theres a lot of people out there that say, Oh cmon, hotels in low-earth orbit -- thats a fantasy right? I believe he has the tools to do it.

The challenge will be finding customers, Caceres said in a phone interview. Bigelows primary focus is on corporations and governments interested in developing astronaut programs or doing research. Space tourism is secondary, and the company has tried to steer away from the space hotel label.

NASAs willingness to back the mission is a seal of approval, the company has said.

We look at this as a stepping stone with expandable technologies, Robert Bigelow, 68, said today during a press conference at his companys headquarters, about 10 miles north of the Las Vegas strip. We have ambitions to go to the moon someday.

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver echoed Bigelows enthusiasm for the project.

Its really our first commercial real estate in space, Garver said.

Bigelow plans to introduce a stand-alone station that can accommodate as many as 12 people by 2016, the company said. A flight to the planned Alpha Station would cost from $26.3 million to $36.8 million for a 60-day stay, depending on the taxi selected, according to the firm.

The rest is here:

NASA Goes Ikea to Test Inflatable Annex for Space Station

International space station to receive inflatable module

Posted on by

The international space station is getting a new, inflatable room that resembles a giant spare tire, NASA is set to announce Wednesday.

Slated to launch in 2015, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, will fly to space deflated before being puffed into a 13-by-10-foot cylinder.

Rather than providing new living space for astronauts, the module will test whether inflatable habitats have a future as orbiting laboratories, lunar outposts or living quarters for deep-space missions.

And its arriving at a bargain price: NASA is paying Bigelow Aerospace of Nevada $17.8million for the module.

This is a great way for NASA to utilize private-sector investment, and for pennies on the dollar expand our understanding of this technology, said Lori Garver, the agencys deputy administrator.

Station astronauts will periodically enter the BEAM to check whether its thick yet flexible walls, which include layers of Kevlar, adequately block the twin hazards of space travel: radiation and micrometeorites traveling faster than bullets.

The plan is to have the hatch closed most of the time, with the crew going in and out a few times a year to collect data, Garver said. The module will stay attached to the station for up to two years.

Astronauts on long missions will need more room than afforded by the traditional aluminum-can-like modules of the space station, said Michael Gold, director of D.C. operations for Bigelow. Regardless of whether NASA wants to go back to the moon or even to Mars, expandable habitat technology is a virtual necessity, he said.

NASA developed the concept of inflatable habitats in the 1990s for a possible trip to Mars. After abandoning those plans, the agency licensed the idea to real estate and motel magnate Robert Bigelow.

Bigelow has sunk several hundred million dollars into his inflatable space habitats. In 2006 and 2007, his company successfully tested two small inflatable satellites launched by re-purposed Russian ballistic missiles.

Originally posted here:

International space station to receive inflatable module

Balloon-like dwelling to be tested on Int'l Space Station

Posted on by

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - A low-cost space dwelling that inflates like a balloon in orbit will be tested aboard the International Space Station, opening the door for commercial leases of future free-flying outposts and deep-space astronaut habitats for NASA.

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, nicknamed BEAM, will be the third orbital prototype developed and flown by privately owned Bigelow Aerospace.

The Las Vegas-based company, founded in 1999 by Budget Suites of America hotel chain owner Robert Bigelow, currently operates two small unmanned experimental habitats called Genesis 1, launched in 2006, and Genesis 2, which followed a year later.

BEAM, about 13 feet long and 10.5 feet in diameter when inflated, is scheduled for launch in mid-2015 aboard a Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon cargo ship, said Mike Gold, director of operations for Bigelow Aerospace.

"It will be the first expandable habitat module ever constructed for human occupancy," Gold said.

A successful test flight on the space station would be a stepping stone for planned Bigelow-staffed orbiting outposts that the company plans to lease to research organizations, businesses and wealthy individuals wishing to vacation in orbit.

Bigelow has invested about $250 million in inflatable habitation modules so far. It has preliminary agreements with seven non-U.S. space and research agencies in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, Japan, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates.

"The value to me personally and to our company is doing a project with NASA," Robert Bigelow said. "This is our first opportunity to do that. We do have other ambitions."

NASA, which will pay Bigelow Aerospace $17.8 million for the BEAM habitat, also is interested in the technology to house crew during future expeditions beyond the space station, a $100 billion research complex that flies about 250 miles above Earth.

"Whether you're going to the surface of the moon or even Mars, the benefits of expandable habitats are critical for any exploration mission," Gold said.

See original here:

Balloon-like dwelling to be tested on Int'l Space Station

NASA ISS Longeron Challenge Introduction – Video

Posted on by


NASA ISS Longeron Challenge Introduction
NASA is hosting an out of this world Open Innovation Algorithm challenge! Think you #39;ve got the "right stuff"? Want to help power the International Space Station with YOUR innovative algorithmic solution? Watch the video and join this amazing competition that has a total prize purse of $30000 today!!! For more details please see http://www.TopCoder.com/ISS

By: TopCoderInc

See more here:

NASA ISS Longeron Challenge Introduction - Video

NASA SDO – Frantic Loops January 9 – 15, 2013 – Video

Posted on by


NASA SDO - Frantic Loops January 9 - 15, 2013
Tracking our Active Region AR1654 from January 9 through January 15 across the Earth facing solar disk, we can see a frantic coming and going of coronal loops. This Extreme Ultraviolet view shows us temperatures of about 1000000 degrees K, which is about 1800000 degrees F. Coronal loops are found around sunspots and in active regions. These structures are associated with the closed magnetic field lines that connect magnetic regions on the solar surface. Many coronal loops last for days or weeks but most change quite rapidly. Credit: NASA SDO

By: Camilla Corona SDO

Continued here:

NASA SDO - Frantic Loops January 9 - 15, 2013 - Video

Europeans to build key piece of NASA spaceship

Posted on by

ESA

An artist's conception shows ESA's service module directly below NASA's Orion crew capsule.

By Alan Boyle

NASA and the European Space Agency have signed an agreement calling for the Europeans to provide the service module for the Orion space capsule, the U.S. space agency's crew vehicle for exploration beyond Earth orbit.

The hardware would provide the Orion withpropulsion, power, thermal control and basic supplies such as water and breathable air. ESA said the design will be based on that of the ATV supply ships that are currently being sent to the International Space Station.

"ATV has proven itself on three flawless missions to the space station, and this agreement is further confirmation that Europe is building advanced, dependable spacecraft," Nico Dettmann, head of the ATV's production program, said in an ESA statement.

The Orion's first test flight is scheduled for 2014, using a test service module built by Lockheed Martin. That unmanned launch would send the Orion to an altitude of 3,600 miles (5,800 kilometers). The European-built service module would get its first in-space tryout along with the Orion capsule and heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket in 2017, during an unmanned test flight that would go around the moon and back.

"This is not a simple system," Orion program manager Mark Geyer said in a NASA statement. "ESA's contribution is going to be critical to the success of Orion's 2017 mission."

The first flight with astronauts aboard would follow a round-the-moon route in 2021, and ESA will provide components for that flight as well.

NASA's current exploration plan calls for the Orion-SLS system to send humans to a near-Earth asteroid in the mid-2020s, and to Mars and its moons in the 2030s. Meanwhile, the task of sending cargo and crew to the International Space Station would be left to commercial spaceship providers.

See more here:

Europeans to build key piece of NASA spaceship

NASA images show extent of China’s choking pollution

Posted on by

Sam Wood, PHILLY.COM Posted: Wednesday, January 16, 2013, 2:40 PM

NASA today released satellite images documenting the off-the-charts pollution that has blanketed Beijing with thick smog.

The abysmal air quality in the Chinese capital has led the government to order factories to reduce emissions and issue warnings to residents to stay inside.

The pictures from NASA's Terra satellite, taken January 14, show the choking haze enveloping most of northeast China.

The wave of pollution peaked Saturday. Expected to last through Tuesday, it was the severest smog since the government began releasing figures on PM2.5 particles, among the worst pollutants, early last year in response to a public outcry.

"Really awful. Extremely awful," Beijing office worker Cindy Lu said of Monday's haze as she walked along a downtown sidewalk. But she added: "Now that we have better information, we know how bad things really are and can protect ourselves and decide whether we want to go out."

"Before, you just saw the air was bad but didn't know how bad it really was," she said.

Air pollution is a major problem in China due to the country's rapid pace of industrialization, reliance on coal power, explosive growth in vehicle ownership and disregard for environmental laws, with development often taking priority over health. The pollution typically gets worse in the winter because of an increase in coal burning.

When image was captured on Monday, the air quality index (AQI) in Beijing was 341, NASA reported. An AQI above 300 is considered hazardous to all humans, not just those with heart or lung ailments. AQI below 50 is considered good, said NASA scientists.

More:

NASA images show extent of China’s choking pollution

NASA's Original Inflatable Space Station

Posted on by

This week, NASA announced that crews aboard the International Space Station will soon test an inflatable space module in orbit. The balloon-like module prototype will be manufactured by Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace and its scheduled for a 2015 launch aboard a SpaceX cargo run to the station.

The technology certainly has exciting implications imagine being able to launch a full habitat to the moon on a single rocket! but its not a novel idea. The Bigelow Aerospace design has its roots in the inflatable NASA concept TransHab developed (and ultimately canceled) for living on the space station, but designs for inflatable space habitats go even further back than that. NASAs Langley research center originally considered an inflatable space station as a jumping off point for lunar missions in 1959.

In the late 1950s, most proponents of space exploration was an Earth orbiting station as a necessary step on the way to deep space missions. Engineers at the Langley research center were no exception, formally entering the space station game in the spring of 1959. On April 1, NASA created a Research Steering Committee for Manned Space Flight led by Harry Goett. The Goett Committee as it became known included representatives from all NASA centers who met to discuss the agencys future on May 25. Representatives from Langley wasted no time, jumping into a presentation on the merits of a space station.

Called the Advanced Man in Space AMIS program, Langleys vision proposed a station with a type of shuttle vehicle that could take astronauts to distant points in the solar system. The station itself would help NASA study the psychological and physiological effects of extended spaceflight on astronauts and at the same time train crews for future demanding missions. It would also be a test bed for the new technology the space agency would no doubt have to develop to explore the Cosmos.

After a series of concept studies, Langley engineers settled on a self-deploying inflatable design for its space station. Noninflatable configurations had been systematically passed over: a cylindrical module attached to a boosters upper stage was dynamically unstable; a modular concept would need too many launches; and hub-and-spoke designs, basically big orbiting Ferris wheels, were expected to have disorientating and nauseating effects on a crew.

Langleys winning design was an inflatable torus astronauts would basically live inside a giant orbiting doughnut designed with the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation. Properly called the Erectable Torus Manned Space Laboratory, Langleys ideal torus was a flat design 24 feet in diameter that could be packed snugly inside a rocket for protected on its ride through the atmosphere to orbit. Once inflated, the inner habitable volume could provide astronauts with varying strengths of artificial gravity anywhere between O and 1 G, and ports on the outside of the torus could accept incoming and launch outgoing shuttles.

But there was one major problem with the inflatable aspect it was extremely vulnerable. Meteorites and micrometeorites posed the greatest and most immediate danger, but it wasnt the only worry. Some engineers worried that astronauts moving vigorously inside the torus could somehow rip through the structure and shoot themselves out into space. Goodyear built a research model out of a lightweight three-ply nylon cord held together by butyl elastome, a sticky, rubber-like material. This strengthened the torus, but it wasnt enough. It would still be vulnerable during a meteoroid shower.

Stability issues cropped up, too, again from the crews expected vigorous movements. Some engineers thought it was possible for astronauts to move around with enough force that the torus would start wobbling. A wobble, even a slight one, could make the station an unstable (and nauseating) place to be.

To address these strength and stability problems head on, Langley built a 10-foot-diameter elastically scaled model of the torus. The model was finished and ready for testing in the summer of 1961. But by then the torus was out of fashion, passed over in favor of a more rigid hexagonal design, also lightweight and foldable, and also from Langley.

But the bigger problem facing the space stations was NASAs new commitment to the moon. Benefits of spending the time in orbit to prepare men for the two-week trip from to the moon couldnt outweigh the need to get there first. Space stations, both inflatable models and their more rigid offshoots, were shelved.

Read the original here:

NASA's Original Inflatable Space Station

NASA, Europeans uniting to send space capsule to moon, flights targeted for 2017 and 2021

Posted on by

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASA is teaming up with the European Space Agency to get astronauts beyond Earth's orbit.

Europe will provide the propulsion and power compartment for NASA's Orion crew capsule, officials said Wednesday. This so-called service module will be based on Europe's supply ship used for the International Space Station.

- NASA's human exploration chief, Bill Gerstenmaier

Orion's first trip is an unmanned mission in 2017. Any extra European parts will be incorporated in the first manned mission of Orion in 2021.

Space has long been a frontier for international cooperation as we explore, said Dan Dumbacher, deputy associate administrator for Exploration System Development at NASA Headquarters in Washington. This latest chapter builds on NASAs excellent relationship with ESA as a partner in the International Space Station, and helps us move forward in our plans to send humans farther into space than weve ever been before.

NASA's human exploration chief, Bill Gerstenmaier, said both missions will be aimed at the vicinity of the moon. The exact details are being worked out; lunar fly-bys, rather than landings, are planned.

NASA wants to ultimately use the bell-shaped Orion spacecraft to carry astronauts to asteroids and Mars. International cooperation will be crucial for such endeavors, Gerstenmaier told reporters.

The United States has yet to establish a clear path forward for astronauts, 1 1/2 years after NASA's space shuttles stopped flying. The basic requirements for Orion spacecraft are well understood regardless of the destination, allowing work to proceed, Gerstenmaier said.

"You don't design a car to just go to the grocery store," he told reporters.

Getting to 2017 will be challenging, officials for both space programs acknowledged. Gerstenmaier said he's not "100 percent comfortable" putting Europe in such a crucial role. "But I'm never 100 percent comfortable" with spaceflight, he noted. "We'll see how it goes, but we've done it smartly."

Here is the original post:

NASA, Europeans uniting to send space capsule to moon, flights targeted for 2017 and 2021

Europeans to build key NASA spaceship piece

Posted on by

ESA

An artist's conception shows ESA's service module directly below NASA's Orion crew capsule.

By Alan Boyle

NASA and the European Space Agency have signed an agreement calling for the Europeans to provide the service module for the Orion space capsule, the U.S. space agency's crew vehicle for exploration beyond Earth orbit.

The hardware would provide the Orion withpropulsion, power, thermal control and basic supplies such as water and breathable air. ESA said the design will be based on that of the ATV supply ships that are currently being sent to the International Space Station.

"ATV has proven itself on three flawless missions to the space station, and this agreement is further confirmation that Europe is building advanced, dependable spacecraft," Nico Dettmann, head of the ATV's production program, said in an ESA statement.

The Orion's first test flight is scheduled for 2014, using a test service module built by Lockheed Martin. That unmanned launch would send the Orion to an altitude of 3,600 miles (5,800 kilometers). The European-built service module would get its first in-space tryout along with the Orion capsule and heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket in 2017, during an unmanned test flight that would go around the moon and back.

"This is not a simple system," Orion program manager Mark Geyer said in a NASA statement. "ESA's contribution is going to be critical to the success of Orion's 2017 mission."

The first flight with astronauts aboard would follow a round-the-moon route in 2021, and ESA will provide components for that flight as well.

NASA's current exploration plan calls for the Orion-SLS system to send humans to a near-Earth asteroid in the mid-2020s, and to Mars and its moons in the 2030s. Meanwhile, the task of sending cargo and crew to the International Space Station would be left to commercial spaceship providers.

Follow this link:

Europeans to build key NASA spaceship piece

NASA, Europeans uniting to send spaceship to moon

Posted on by

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) NASA is teaming up with the European Space Agency to get astronauts beyond Earth's orbit.

Europe will provide the propulsion and power compartment for NASA's new Orion crew capsule, officials said Wednesday. This so-called service module will be based on Europe's supply ship used for the International Space Station.

Orion's first trip is an unmanned mission in 2017. Any extra European parts will be incorporated in the first manned mission of Orion in 2021.

NASA's human exploration chief, Bill Gerstenmaier, said both missions will be aimed at the vicinity of the moon. The exact details are being worked out; lunar fly-bys, rather than landings, are planned.

NASA wants to ultimately use the bell-shaped Orion spacecraft to carry astronauts to asteroids and Mars. International cooperation will be crucial for such endeavors, Gerstenmaier told reporters.

The United States has yet to establish a clear path forward for astronauts, 1 years after NASA's space shuttles stopped flying. The basic requirements for Orion spacecraft are well understood regardless of the destination, allowing work to proceed, Gerstenmaier said.

"You don't design a car to just go to the grocery store," he told reporters.

Getting to 2017 will be challenging, officials for both space programs acknowledged. Gerstenmaier said he's not "100 percent comfortable" putting Europe in such a crucial role. "But I'm never 100 percent comfortable" with spaceflight, he noted. "We'll see how it goes, but we've done it smartly."

The space station helped build the foundation for this new effort, he said.

Former astronaut Thomas Reiter, Europe's director of human spaceflight, said it makes sense for the initial Orion crew to include Europeans. For now, though, the focus is on the technical aspects, he said. NASA will supply no-longer-used space shuttle engines for use on the service modules.

Go here to read the rest:

NASA, Europeans uniting to send spaceship to moon

NASA-European Partnership on Deep-Space Capsule a First

Posted on by

For the first time, NASA is reaching out to a foreign space agency for help building a vehicle to launch astronauts into deep space.

NASA has teamed up with the European Space Agency (ESA) on its Orion spacecraft, a new capsule to carry people beyond Earth orbit to the moon, an asteroid, and to Mars. While NASA and its contractor Lockheed Martin will continue building the crew capsule of Orion, the spacecraft's service module will be taken over by Europe. The service module is a vital component that provides the power, thermal and propulsion systems for the Orion capsule.

The spacecraft is designed to be launched by a NASA heavy-lift rocket called the Space Launch System, which is also under development now.

"We are opening a new page in transatlantic cooperation, [with] ESA being involved in the building of a U.S. space transportation system," Thomas Reiter, a former ESA astronaut and director of the agency's human spaceflight office, said today (Jan. 16) in a NASA briefing. "We are very much aware that a lot of difficult and complicated work is still ahead of us, but that is very inspiring and I think all of us are looking forward to this fantastic endeavor." [Graphic: Orion Explained]

Won't be easy

NASA and ESA already have a long history of cooperation on the International Space Station. The $100 billion orbiting laboratory is a joint project of 15 different countries represented by the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan.

"With space station we've learned the real meaning of cooperation," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations. "It's actually giving up a piece of the work you're going to do, and actually counting on your partner to deliver."

Gerstenmaier admitted that the novel situation will likely prove challenging.

"I'm a realist and I know that this won't be easy," he said. "It's not 100-percent comfortable, but I'm never 100-percent comfortable, so it's okay, and we're doing it smartly."

One of the chief sources of difficulty will be managing the integration of the two spacecraft elements into one working vehicle. Gerstenmaier said the two space agencies had devoted significant thought to choosing the best meeting points and interfaces between the Orion crew capsule and service module to enable the elements to work together seamlessly.

Read the original:

NASA-European Partnership on Deep-Space Capsule a First

A chat with Ira Bennett and Jamey Wetmore from Center for Nanotechnology in Society, ASU – Video

Posted on by


A chat with Ira Bennett and Jamey Wetmore from Center for Nanotechnology in Society, ASU
Facilitating conversations on the science museum floor: Engaging visitors in the social aspects of science and technology Ira Bennett and Jamey Wetmore from the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University have been working with the US Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net) to develop approaches and tools for facilitating conversations on museum floors about science and society. They are currently in Europe to learn about how issues relating to science, technology society are approached and practised in museums here, and will be running an interactive workshop designed to reflect on and share their experiences to date, and to learn about the UK context.

By: genomicsnetwork

Read this article:

A chat with Ira Bennett and Jamey Wetmore from Center for Nanotechnology in Society, ASU - Video