Oz Minister wants telcos to wear undies on heads

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Australia's Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Stephen Conroy has bragged of his unfettered power to command local telcos, saying it gives him the power to compel them to wear red underpants on their collective heads.

Conroy's remarks were made at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information conference in the USA last week. The context for the comment was Australia's imminent spectrum sale, which like others around the world will be conducted as an auction.

Conroy's speech saw him point out that Australia's auction rules differ from those in other nations, because the Minister has executive power to set the rules for the sale, to the extent that:

If I say to you, everyone in this room, that if you want to bid next week in our spectrum auction, you had better wear red underpants on your head, I have got news for you: you'll be wearing them on your head. I have unfettered legal power.

Inevitably, someone with a camera in the audience recorded the speech posted the results to YouTube.

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The reportedly teetotal Conory is not generally gaffe-prone, but has acquired many fierce critics thanks largely to his backing of a policy to create a national internet filter for Australia. The antipodean nation has also recently tabled data retention proposals that have earned the ire of civil libertarians and the attention of Anonymous.

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Oz Minister wants telcos to wear undies on heads

Conroy's 'red underpants' comment made sense: US analyst

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Summary: Communications Minister Conroy's boast about his power over the Australian telecommunications industry may not have been far off the mark, according to one US analyst.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's comments about having "unfettered legal power" to make spectrum bidders wear red underpants on their heads made sense in the context, according to one US telecommunications analyst.

Conroy made the comment in New York last week at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information Conference, boasting about the power that he wields in Australia.

"We are in the fortunate position that the regulation of telecommunications powers in Australia is exclusively federal," he said at the time.

"That means I am in charge of spectrum auctions, and if I say to everyone in this room, 'if you want to bid in our spectrum auction, you'd better wear red underpants on your head', I've got some news for you. You'll be wearing them on your head."

Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull accused Conroy of being a "control freak" in response.

But according to US telecommunications analyst Fred R Goldstein, posting on Australian telecommunications analyst Paul Budde's blog, the comments were "taken out of context" in a similar way to US President Barack Obama's comments about building road infrastructure , which were taken out of context to suggest that governments build businesses.

Goldstein said that in the US, power over telecommunications law is split between the federal government, the states, and the courts, so Conroy's statement was a good explanation.

"Conroy was noting that in [Australia], there is no state regulation for him to contend with, and he's not kowtowing to the [International Telecommunication Union] either. So it's all federal regulation. That was meant to reassure people that the ITU wasn't going to mess things up for Oz. So in context, he was right, and it was perfectly reasonable for him to introduce a bit of jocularity," he said.

"It would not surprise me, then, if an Australian Linux distro called Red Underpants came out."

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Conroy's 'red underpants' comment made sense: US analyst

Water May Have Been Deposited On Vesta Asteroid Long Ago

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September 26, 2012

Image Caption: The shadowy outlines of the terrain in Vesta's northern region are visible in this image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The image comes from the last sequence of images Dawn obtained of the giant asteroid Vesta as it departed the giant asteroid. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Astronomers suggest that water may have been delivered to Vesta through a build-up of small particles during an epoch when the Solar System was rich in dust.

The team presented their research at the European Planetary Science Congress in Madrid on Wednesday, offering up a radically different hypothesis from the way in which hydrous materials are deposited on other cosmic objects.

Using data from NASAs Dawn mission, the team found that Vestas surface shows distinct areas enriched with hydrated materials.

These regions are not dependent on solar illumination or temperature, as we find in the case of the Moon, De Sanctis, of the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Planetology in Rome, said in a press release. The uneven distribution is unexpected and indicates ancient processes that differ from those believed to be responsible for delivering water to other airless bodies, like the Moon.

The team studied data from Dawns visible and infrared (VIR) mapping spectrometer, showing large regional concentrations of hydroxyl clearly associated with geological features like ancient, highly-cratered terrains and the Oppia crater.

Hydroxyl on the surface of the Moon is thought to be created by the interaction of protons from the solar wind with the lunar regolith, or extraterrestrial soil.

Highest concentrations are found in areas near the lunar poles, and in permanently shadowed craters where it is cold.

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Water May Have Been Deposited On Vesta Asteroid Long Ago

Dawn suggests special delivery of hydrated material to Vesta

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ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2012) The mechanism by which water is incorporated into the terrestrial planets is a matter of extensive debate for planetary scientists. Now, observations of Vesta by NASA's Dawn mission suggest that hydrous materials were delivered to the giant asteroid mainly through a build-up of small particles during an epoch when the Solar System was rich in dust.

This is a radically different process from the way in which hydrous materials are deposited on the moon and may have implications for the formation of terrestrial planets, including the delivery of the water that forms Earth's oceans. Maria Cristina De Sanctis and the Dawn team will present the scenarios at the European Planetary Science Congress in Madrid on Sept. 26.

De Sanctis, of the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Planetology in Rome, said, "Vesta's surface shows distinct areas enriched with hydrated materials. These regions are not dependent on solar illumination or temperature, as we find in the case of the Moon. The uneven distribution is unexpected and indicates ancient processes that differ from those believed to be responsible for delivering water to other airless bodies, like the Moon."

A team led by De Sanctis studied data from Dawn's visible and infrared (VIR) mapping spectrometer. Analysis showed large regional concentrations of hydroxyl -- a hydrogen and an oxygen atom bound together -- clearly associated with geological features including ancient, highly-cratered terrains and the Oppia crater.

Hydroxyl on the surface of the Moon is thought to be created continuously by the interaction of protons from the solar wind with the lunar regolith. Highest concentrations are found in areas near the lunar poles and in permanently shadowed crater where it is very cold. By contrast, the distribution of hydroxyl on Vesta is not dependent on significant shadowing or unusual cold temperatures. It is also stable over time, so its origin does not appear to be due to short-term processes.

The hydroxyl-rich regions on Vesta broadly correspond to its oldest surfaces. Around relatively large and young impact craters, hydroxyl detections are weak or absent, suggesting that the delivery of hydroxyl is not an ongoing process.

The evidence from VIR suggests that much of Vesta's hydroxyl was delivered by small particles of primitive material, less than a few centimeters in diameter, over a time-limited period. This period may have occurred during the primordial solar system, around the time it is believed water was accreted on Earth, or during the Late Heavy Bombardment, when collisions would have produced a significant amount of primitive material dust.

However, this is not the whole story of hydrous materials on Vesta. The Oppia Crater is hydroxyl-rich, but not covered with the primitive material. This suggests that there is more than one mechanism at work for depositing hydroxyl on Vesta's surface.

De Sanctis said, "The origin of Vesta's hydroxyl is certainly complex and possibly not unique: there could be various sources, like formation of hydroxyl actually on Vesta, in addition to the primordial impactors. Vesta is providing new insights into the delivery of hydrous materials in the main asteroid belt, and may offer new scenarios on the delivery of hydrous minerals in the inner Solar System, suggesting processes that may have played a role in the formation of terrestrial planets."

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Dawn suggests special delivery of hydrated material to Vesta

Swastika-Bearing Buddhist Statue Was Chiseled From a Meteorite

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Call it a blast from the past. Uncovered by Nazis in Tibet, an ancient Buddhist sculpture turns out to have been carved from a meteorite.

(Related pictures: "Three Thousand Ancient Buddhas Unearthed in China.")

Known as the "Iron Man," the 22-pound (10-kilogram) figure is likely a Buddhist god. Seated, he wears a large swastika on his midsectiona good-luck symbol in Buddhism.

In 1938 a team of Nazis traveling in Tibet came across the statue andpossibly intrigued by the familiar bent-armed crossbrought it back to Germany. There, the "Iron Man" remained in a private collection in Munich until 2007, when the statue became available for study.

Since then, Elmar Buchner of the Planetology Institute at Stuttgart University has been analyzing the Buddhist statue, which is thought to hail from 11th-century Tibet. Buchner says the statue was carved from a meteorite that landed somewhere between Mongolia and Siberia roughly 15,000 years ago.

Among the clues is the sculpture's telltale mineral content and structure, which give it away as a kind of meteorite called an ataxite. "It is rich in nickel, it is rich in cobalt. Less than 0.1 percent of all meteorites and less than 1 percent of iron meteorites are ataxites ... It is the rarest type of meteorite you can find," Buchner told the BBC.

No doubt the figure was dear to the artist who sculpted it, but what is it worth today? Its status as the only known human figure carved from a meteorite may give it a value of $20,000, according to Buchner. But, he said in a statement, "if our estimation of its age is correct and [the sculpting] is nearly a thousand years old, it could be invaluable."

More: "'Nazi Twins' a Myth: Mengele Not Behind Brazil Boom?" >>

The new study, "Buddha From Space," appears in the September issue of the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science.

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Swastika-Bearing Buddhist Statue Was Chiseled From a Meteorite

Dawn Suggests Delivery of Hydrated Material to Vesta

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The mechanism by which water is incorporated into the terrestrial planets is a matter of extensive debate for planetary scientists. Now, observations of Vesta by NASA's Dawn mission suggest that hydrous materials were delivered to the giant asteroid mainly through a build-up of small particles during an epoch when the solar system was rich in dust. This is a radically different process from the way in which hydrous materials are deposited on the Moon and may have implications for the formation of terrestrial planets, including the delivery of the water that forms Earth's oceans. Maria Cristina De Sanctis and the Dawn team will present the scenarios at the European Planetary Science Congress in Madrid on Wednesday 26th September.

De Sanctis, of the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Planetology in Rome, said, "Vesta's surface shows distinct areas enriched with hydrated materials. These regions are not dependent on solar illumination or temperature, as we find in the case of the Moon. The uneven distribution is unexpected and indicates ancient processes that differ from those believed to be responsible for delivering water to other airless bodies, like the Moon."

A team led by De Sanctis studied data from Dawn's visible and infrared (VIR) mapping spectrometer. Analysis showed large regional concentrations of hydroxyl -- a hydrogen and an oxygen atom bound together -- clearly associated with geological features including ancient, highly-cratered terrains and the Oppia crater.

Hydroxyl on the surface of the Moon is thought to be created continuously by the interaction of protons from the solar wind with the lunar regolith. Highest concentrations are found in areas near the lunar poles and in permanently shadowed crater where it is very cold. By contrast, the distribution of hydroxyl on Vesta is not dependent on significant shadowing or unusual cold temperatures. It is also stable over time, so its origin does not appear to be due to short-term processes.

The hydroxyl-rich regions on Vesta broadly correspond to its oldest surfaces. Around relatively large and young impact craters, hydroxyl detections are weak or absent, suggesting that the delivery of hydroxyl is not an ongoing process.

The evidence from VIR suggests that much of Vesta's hydroxyl was delivered by small particles of primitive material, less than a few centimeters in diameter, over a time-limited period. This period may have occurred during the primordial solar system, around the time it is believed water was accreted on Earth, or during the Late Heavy Bombardment, when collisions would have produced a significant amount of primitive material dust.

However, this is not the whole story of hydrous materials on Vesta. The Oppia crater is hydroxyl-rich, but not covered with the primitive material. This suggests that there is more than one mechanism at work for depositing hydroxyl on Vesta's surface.

De Sanctis said, "The origin of Vesta's hydroxyl is certainly complex and possibly not unique: there could be various sources, like formation of hydroxyl actually on Vesta, in addition to the primordial impactors. Vesta is providing new insights into the delivery of hydrous materials in the main asteroid belt, and may offer new scenarios on the delivery of hydrous minerals in the inner solar system, suggesting processes that may have played a role in the formation of terrestrial planets."

Images

http://www.europlanet-eu.org/outreach/images/stories/epsc2012/vesta-hydratation-map1-ver2.jpg This map from NASA's Dawn mission of the giant asteroid Vesta indicates the presence of hydrated minerals in white. The data were obtained by VIR, Dawn's visible and infrared mapping spectrometer, in August 2011 from an altitude of 2700 meters. The data included in the map are from Survey and are limited to 30 degrees north latitude because of the poor illumination condition above that latitude (Vesta winter season). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/INAF

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Dawn Suggests Delivery of Hydrated Material to Vesta

Asteroid Expert To Give Free Public Talk At Planetary Science Meeting In Reno

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More than 600 astronomers from all over the world will convene in Reno, Nevada, in mid-October for the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS). They'll share their latest discoveries about the solar system not only with each other, but also with the general public. At 7:30 p.m. PDT on Monday evening, October 15th, Dr. Patrick Michel will give a presentation entitled "The Fascinating Quest of Asteroids: Remnants of Planetary Formation." Dr. Michel, an asteroid expert at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France, is the 2012 recipient of the DPS Carl Sagan Medal, which recognizes excellence in public communication by an active planetary scientist. He'll speak in the Grand Ballroom at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino, 2500 E. Second St., Reno, NV 89595. Admission is free.

Dr. Michel began his advanced education with a degree in aeronautical engineering and space techniques in 1993, after which he moved to the study of asteroids. He received his PhD in 1997 for a thesis titled "Dynamical Evolution of Near-Earth Asteroids." He leads the planetology group at CNRS and is a participant in several international robotic space missions to asteroids, including Europe's MarcoPolo-R, Japan's Hayabusa 2, and NASA's OSIRIS-REx. In 2006 he received the Young Researcher Award from the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Scientific sessions at the DPS meeting are scheduled Monday, October 15, through Friday, October 19. The DPS offers complimentary press registration to bona fide working journalists and public-information officers, and news briefings will be held during the lunch break Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday; please contact DPS Press Officer Dr. Vishnu Reddy (dpspress@aas.org) for details. More information about the DPS annual meeting: http://www.psi.edu/dps12

The American Astronomical Society (AAS), established in 1899 and based in Washington, DC, is the major organization of professional astronomers in North America. Its membership of about 7,000 also includes physicists, mathematicians, geologists, engineers, and others whose research interests lie within the broad spectrum of subjects now comprising contemporary astronomy. The mission of the AAS is to enhance and share humanity's scientific understanding of the universe.

The Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) is the largest organization of professional planetary scientists in the world. The DPS was formed in 1968 as a sub-organization within the AAS devoted to solar system and extrasolar planet research. Today it is the largest special interest division of the AAS.

SOURCE American Astronomical Society

CONTACT: Dr. Vishnu Reddy, DPS Press Officer, +49 555 697 9246, dpspress@aas.org; or Dr. Rick Fienberg, AAS Press Officer, +1-202-328-2010 x116, rick.fienberg@aas.org

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Asteroid Expert To Give Free Public Talk At Planetary Science Meeting In Reno

Ancient Buddhist statue made of meteorite, new study reveals

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ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2012) An ancient Buddhist statue which was first recovered by a Nazi expedition in 1938 has been analyzed by a team of scientists led by Dr. Elmar Buchner from the Institute of Planetology, University of Stuttgart. The probably 1,000-year-old statue, called the "Iron Man," weighs 10 kilograms, portrays the Buddhist god Vaisravana and is believed to originate from the pre-Buddhist Bon culture of the 11th Century. Geochemical analyses by the German-Austrian research team revealed that the priceless statue was carved from an ataxite, a very rare class of iron meteorites.

It sounds like an artifact from an Indiana Jones film: a 1,000-year-old ancient Buddhist statue which was first recovered by a Nazi expedition in 1938 has been analyzed by scientists and has been found to be carved from a meteorite. The findings, published in Meteoritics and Planetary Science, reveal the priceless statue to be a rare ataxite class of meteorite.

The statue, known as the Iron Man, weighs 10kg and is believed to represent a stylistic hybrid between the Buddhist and pre-Buddhist Bon culture that portrays the god Vaisravana, the Buddhist King of the North, also known as Jambhala in Tibet.

The statue was discovered in 1938 by an expedition of German scientists led by renowned zoologist Ernst Schfer. It is unknown how the statue was discovered, but it is believed that the large swastika carved into the centre of the figure may have encouraged the team to take it back to Germany. Once it arrived in Munich it became part of a private collection and only became available for study following an auction in 2009.

The first team to study the origins of the statue was led by Dr Elmar Buchner from Stuttgart University. The team was able to classify it as an ataxite, a rare class of iron meteorite with high contents of nickel.

"The statue was chiseled from an iron meteorite, from a fragment of the Chinga meteorite which crashed into the border areas between Mongolia and Siberia about 15.000 years ago. "While the first debris was officially discovered in 1913 by gold prospectors, we believe that this individual meteorite fragment was collected many centuries before," said Dr Buchner.

Meteorites inspired worship from many ancient cultures ranging from the Inuit's of Greenland to the aborigines of Australia. Even today one of the most famous worship sites in the world, Mecca in Saudi Arabia, is based upon the Black Stone, believed to be a stony meteorite. Dr Buchner's team believe the Iron Man originated from the Bon culture of the 11th Century"The Iron Man statue is the only known illustration of a human figure to be carved into a meteorite, which means we have nothing to compare it to when assessing value," said Dr Buchner. "Its origins alone may value it at $20,000; however, if our estimation of its age is correct and it is nearly a thousand years old it could be invaluable."

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Ancient Buddhist statue made of meteorite, new study reveals

Buddhist Statue Made of Meteorite, New Study Reveals

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Buddhist Statue Made of Meteorite, New Study Reveals

An ancient Buddhist statue which was first recovered by a Nazi expedition in 1938 has been analysed by a scientist team led by Dr. Elmar Buchner from the Institute of Planetology, University of Stuttgart. The probably 1000 years old statue, called the Iron Man, weighs 10kg, portrays the Buddhist god Vaisravana and is believed to originate from the pre-Buddhist Bon culture of the 11th Century. Geochemical analyses by the German-Austrian scientist team revealed that the priceless statue was carved from an ataxite, a very rare class of iron meteorites.

It sounds like an artifact from an Indiana Jones film; a 1000 year-old ancient Buddhist statue which was first recovered by a Nazi expedition in 1938 has been analysed by scientists and has been found to be carved from a meteorite. The findings, published in Meteoritics and Planetary Science, reveal the priceless statue to be a rare ataxite class of meteorite.

The statue, known as the Iron Man, weighs 10kg and is believed to represent a stylistic hybrid between the Buddhist and pre-Buddhist Bon culture that portrays the god Vaisravana, the Buddhist King of the North, also known as Jambhala in Tibet.

The statue was discovered in 1938 by an expedition of German scientists led by renowned zoologist Ernst Schfer. It is unknown how the statue was discovered, but it is believed that the large swastika carved into the centre of the figure may have encouraged the team to take it back to Germany. Once it arrived in Munich it became part of a private collection and only became available for study following an auction in 2009.

The first team to study the origins of the statue was led by Dr Elmar Buchner from Stuttgart University. The team was able to classify it as an ataxite, a rare class of iron meteorite with high contents of nickel.

The statue was chiseled from an iron meteorite, from a fragment of the Chinga meteorite which crashed into the border areas between Mongolia and Siberia about 15.000 years ago. While the first debris was officially discovered in 1913 by gold prospectors, we believe that this individual meteorite fragment was collected many centuries before, said Dr Buchner.

Meteorites inspired worship from many ancient cultures ranging from the Inuits of Greenland to the aborigines of Australia. Even today one of the most famous worship sites in the world, Mecca in Saudi Arabia, is based upon the Black Stone, believed to be a stony meteorite. Dr Buchners team believe the Iron Man originated from the Bon culture of the 11th CenturyThe Iron Man statue is the only known illustration of a human figure to be carved into a meteorite, which means we have nothing to compare it to when assessing value, said Dr Buchner. Its origins alone may value it at $20,000; however, if our estimation of its age is correct and it is nearly a thousand years old it could be invaluable

Paper URL:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2012.01409.x/abstract

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Buddhist Statue Made of Meteorite, New Study Reveals

NASA | Simulations Uncover ‘Flashy’ Secrets of Merging Black Holes – Video

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27-09-2012 12:00 According to Einstein, whenever massive objects interact, they produce gravitational waves -- distortions in the very fabric of space and time -- that ripple outward across the universe at the speed of light. While astronomers have found indirect evidence of these disturbances, the waves have so far eluded direct detection. Ground-based observatories designed to find them are on the verge of achieving greater sensitivities, and many scientists think that this discovery is just a few years away. Catching gravitational waves from some of the strongest sources -- colliding black holes with millions of times the sun's mass -- will take a little longer. These waves undulate so slowly that they won't be detectable by ground-based facilities. Instead, scientists will need much larger space-based instruments, such as the proposed Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, which was endorsed as a high-priority future project by the astronomical community. A team that includes astrophysicists atNASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., is looking forward to that day by using computational models to explore the mergers of supersized black holes. Their most recent work investigates what kind of "flash" might be seen by telescopes when astronomers ultimately find gravitational signals from such an event. To explore the problem, a team led by Bruno Giacomazzo at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and including Baker developed computer simulations that for the first time show ...

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NASA | Simulations Uncover 'Flashy' Secrets of Merging Black Holes - Video

NASA 2012 Hispanic Heritage Month Profile – Cassandra Rodriquez – Video

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28-09-2012 13:49 Cassandra Rodriquez is an Operations Support Officer (OSO) in the International Space Station Flight Control Room at Johnson Space Center's Mission Control. Cassandra, also an astronaut trainer has been involved with nearly every Shuttle mission and ISS Expedition since 2004. Her duties as an OSO include being responsible for all Intra-Vehicular Activity (IVA) maintenance performed on the Space Station and also the mechanisms that keep the modules together and berth visiting vehicles to the Station. She is currently working on a project with the Robotics System Technology Group to develop training and operational products to upgrade the Robonaut onboard the station with legs.

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NASA 2012 Hispanic Heritage Month Profile - Cassandra Rodriquez - Video

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds Old Streambed on Mars – Video

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27-09-2012 15:59 NASA's newest Mars rover has found evidence that a stream once ran vigorously across the area on the Red Planet where the rover is now driving. The finding is a different type of evidence for water on Mars than ever found before. Scientists are studying Curiosity's images of rocks containing ancient streambed gravels. The sizes and shapes of stones cemented into a layer of conglomerate rock are clues to the speed and distance of a long-ago stream's flow.

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Dragon Awaits on This Week @NASA – Video

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28-09-2012 13:59 October 7 is the launch date for SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft on the first commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. This will be the first of 12 contracted flights by SpaceX to resupply the space station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract and will restore an American capability to transport cargo to and from the orbiting laboratory. Also, Curiosity Finds Streambed; New ISS Crew; Endeavour in LA; Extreme Hubble; Webb's Mirrors; Milky Way's Halo; and more!

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Dragon Awaits on This Week @NASA - Video

NASA Wallops Engineering Services Contract

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Synopsis - Oct 01, 2012

General Information

Solicitation Number: NNG13374674R Posted Date: Oct 01, 2012 FedBizOpps Posted Date: Oct 01, 2012 Recovery and Reinvestment Act Action: No Original Response Date: N/A Current Response Date: N/A Classification Code: A -- Research and Development NAICS Code: 541712 Set-Aside Code: Total Small Business

Contracting Office Address

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Wallops Flight Facility, Code 210.W, Wallops Island, VA 23337

Description

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has a follow-on requirement for Engineering Services (WESC) to support the Applied Engineering Technology Directorate (AETD) at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility (WFF). NASA Wallops Flight Facility enables low-cost aerospace-based science and technology research by enabling scientific research through the development and deployment of low-cost, highly capable suborbital and orbital research carriers; enabling aerospace technology advances supporting NASA's Mission Directorates through advanced technology deployment and testing; enabling education, commercial development of Space and other innovative partnerships.

To fulfill these responsibilities and achieve our mission, NASA must acquire a wide range of engineering services to support activities at the GSFC WFF.

The principal purpose of WESC is to provide engineering support services and related work in the following areas: Technology Development, Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Guidance, Navigation and Control Systems, Safety Engineering, Metrology, Project Management and Support and Facilities Engineering. Support shall be provided for WFF activities including the Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate, Suborbital and Special Orbital Projects Directorate, Sciences and Exploration Directorate, Facilities Management Branch and Ground Network activities.

The Government does not intend to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12. This procurement is a total small business set-aside. The NAICS Code and Size Standard are 541712 and 1000 employees respectively. All responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency.

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NASA Wallops Engineering Services Contract

NASA Plan to Build Space Station Beyond the Moon Criticized

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NASA's proposal to build a small space station at the Earth Moon Lagrange Point-2, which is where the gravity of the Earth and moon cancel out 38,000 miles from the far side of the moon, is coming under some criticism.

The EMLP-2 station proposal

According to the Orlando Sentinel, NASA officials made a presentation to the White House for a space station to be built at the EMLP-2 point using left over International Space Station modules. The station would be serviced by the Orion Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle launched by the heavy lift Space Launch System. A near term purpose for the EMLP-2 station would be for astronauts to teleoperate robotic explorers on the lunar surface, with one mission mentioned a lunar sample return. Later the station could be used as a way station and refueling depot to support deep space missions, to the asteroids and eventually to Mars.

Problems with the EMLP-2 station

The Orlando Sentinel suggests that there are two problems with the NASA proposal. First, because of the great distance the station would be from Earth, problems of resupply and even rescue in case of disaster would be more difficult than with the ISS in low Earth orbit. Also, since the station would be beyond Earth's magnetic field, radiation shielding would be a major issue.

EMLP-2 station a make work project

Paul Spudis, a planetary geologist who writes frequently on space issues, offers a critique of the near term stated purpose of the EMLP-2 station. He suggests that positioning astronauts 38,000 miles from the moon would provide little if any advantage to controllers on Earth where it comes to teleoperating robots on the lunar surface. Spudis suggests that such a station would make sense if it were part of a larger cislunar transportation infrastructure that included a fuel depot supplied, by preference, by rocket fuel refined from lunar ice known to lay in the permanently shadowed craters at the moon's north and south poles.

EMLP-2 station a plot to justify Orion/SLS

John Strickland, a space advocate and a member of the National Space Society Board of Directors, suggests in the Space Review that building what is in effect a smaller version of the ISS at an Earth Moon Lagrange Point is a scheme by NASA to justify the expense of the Orion and Space Launch System. Currently Orion/SLS have a limited number of destinations. Without a lander, astronauts cannot access the lunar surface. Without a long duration habitation module, astronauts cannot visit Earth-approaching asteroids. A station in empty space in the cislunar system is about the only place that the Orion/SLS can go.

Strickland, like Spudis, favors a space station at one of the EMLPs if it could serve as a fuel depot. But he suggests that building such a space station is pointless until reusable launch vehicles and space craft are developed to service such a facility and take advantage of its capabilities to explore further into the solar system.

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NASA Plan to Build Space Station Beyond the Moon Criticized

"Hubble Psychology” Causing NASA Program Cost Overruns?

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Last week, NASA Inspector General Paul Martin released the results of an investigation that looked into why the U.S. space agency has had long-standing problemsaka challengesin meeting its programs cost, schedule and performance goals (pdf).

For instance, in 2009, it was estimated that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) would cost US $2.6 billion to develop and launch by 2014. At latest count, the tab has now ballooned toover $8 billion for development(not including $940 million contributed by international partners) and another $800 million for five years of operational costs. The huge cost overrun on JWSTas well as many other projectshas not helped win the friends in Congress that NASA needs in order to maintain its funding in these lean times, to say the very least.

The inspector general's report focuses on NASAs culture of optimism, which Martin accepts is essential to overcoming the extraordinary technological challenges inherent in the development of unique, first-of-their-kind space systems. However, this optimism unchecked also "leads managers to overestimate their ability to overcome the risks inherent in delivering such projects within available funding constraints. This in turn leads to overly optimistic cost and schedule estimates, the report states.

Technical complexity is also identified in the report as a driver of poor cost and schedule estimates. It acknowledges that if you are working on something unprecedented, it is hard to be accurate in your estimates of how much the effort will take or its final cost.

Making estimation even harder is that Congress keeps changing program funding, which often requires a program re-planning exercise and new technical approach. Of course, some of this funding volatility is self-inflicted: any government program that is massively overrunning its budget cant expect Congress to keep its budget axe sheathed.

There is also the lack of experience by those making program cost and budget estimates. NASA, like many defense and aerospace companies, is starting to lose to retirement (pdf) its cadre of most experienced program managers who have a lot of hands-on experience. There is not that much opportunity anymore at NASA (or elsewhere for that matter) for junior personnel to gain the proper experiential scarring needed to produce realistic budget estimates. That said, however, it may not really matter.

One of the primary causes of NASA cost/schedule problems is what the inspector general calls the "Hubble Psychology" that is common among the organization's managers.

Many project managers we spoke with mentioned the Hubble Psychology an expectation among NASA personnel that projects that fail to meet cost and schedule goals will receive additional funding and that subsequent scientific and technological success will overshadow any budgetary and schedule problems. They pointed out that although Hubble greatly exceeded its original budget, launched years after promised, and suffered a significant technological problem that required costly repair missions, the telescope is now generally viewed as a national treasure and its initial cost and performance issues have largely been forgotten.

How pervasive is this psychology? The reported noted that, when asked whether their projects had been successful, every project manager we interviewed answered in the affirmative, regardless of the projects fidelity to cost and schedule goals.

Of course, this same psychology permeates program and project managers at the U.S. Department of Defense as well. If a weapon system works well in combat, no one remembers how much it overran its budget or schedule. DoD managers, however, are in a better position to get away with this behavior than NASA managers.

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"Hubble Psychology” Causing NASA Program Cost Overruns?

International Ultraviolet Association Co-Sponsors NASA Space Science Day for STEM Students and Educators

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WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - Oct 1, 2012) - The International Ultraviolet Association (IUVA) is partnering with NASA Johnson Space Center's Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Educational group for a Space Science Day. The event is free with advanced registration required. Teachers may register online and download sign up sheets for classes. Students may also register online.Space Science Day will be held at the Blackburn Center at Howard University in Washington D.C. Students will attend on November 2, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Teacher Resources and Learning will occur on Saturday, November 3 from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Charlie Galindo, NASA lead scientist, says, "This collaboration brings an experiential learning program, NASA Space Science Days, to the DC metropolitan area. It exposes local high school students and teachers to NASA hands on activities designed to ask scientific questions and find the answers by combining science and engineering activities.Teachers will also receive certification to borrow lunar and meteorite education disks to use in their classroom."

The IUVA is working closely with Science Technology Engineering and Math(STEM) students in high school and college. Deborah Martinez, Executive Director of the IUVA says, "The IUVA presents educational seminars for STEM students to discover the ever evolving options becoming available in their respective fields."

The IUVA was recently spotlighted in Diverse Issues in Higher Education, which focuses on minority advancement in education. Students from diverse ethnic and socio economic backgrounds who show promise in STEM fields are encouraged to pursue their educational and career objectives with the help of IUVA's worldwide membership.

Another IUVA educational initiative is a recent partnership with http://www.MentorNet.net, a national organization that matches mentors to students. "My vision is to build a program with them that emphasizes UV technologies and its applications in water and wastewater disinfection, cleaning air and water for aquatics. These are exciting, well-paying jobs that utilize cutting edge technology, with even more possibilities opening in the future," said Martinez.

IUVA's mission is to advance the science, engineering and applications of ultraviolet technologies to enhance the quality of human life and to protect the environment. Founded in 1999, it is a 501(c)3 educational association of more than 500 members in 35 countries. IUVA is recognized as the leading knowledge-base and voice for UV technologies through its varied conferences and programs.Visit iuva.org.

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International Ultraviolet Association Co-Sponsors NASA Space Science Day for STEM Students and Educators

NASA Mulls Deep-Space Station on Moon's Far Side

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There appears to be support within NASA to position astronauts at an Earth-moon libration point to bolster the space agencys plans of pushing beyond low-Earth orbit with its Orion spacecraft design.

Anchoring hardware and a crew at the Earth-moon L2 "gateway" would offer many benefits, advocates say. One of them is building on multinational cooperation honed at the International Space Station (ISS).

Under review is use of Russian-supplied hardware at the L2 point, according to insiders contacted by SPACE.com. Surplus space shuttle gear and ISS-flight-ready spares are also in the mix.

Regarding the use of Russian space hardware, both the Multipurpose Laboratory Module and the Scientific-Power Module are new modules being developed in Russia. Both will add new capabilities to the ISS. A proposal on the table seeks to use a similar Russian-provided Scientific-Power Module in cislunar space as a base of operations for exploration missions. [Gallery: Visions of Deep-Space Station Missions]

NASA space planners have been sketching out an exploration strategy that would make use of the Lagrange points. For one, by exploring and working beyond the Earths radiation belts, more can be learned about space radiation protection. Additionally, the Lagrange points provide unique perspectives of the moon, sun and Earth. Sojourns to the Earth-moon L2 would take humans farther than they have ever been from Earth.

Done deal?

A recent Orlando Sentinel newspaper story kick-started the perception that NASA officials have picked a leading candidate for the agencys next major mission: creation of a "gateway spacecraft" parked at the Earth-moon libration point 2, also known as EML-2.

Indeed, NASA has spotlighted the fact that, as crewed missions extend farther from Earth and for longer periods of time, they will require new capabilities to enable safe and sustainable habitation and exploration.

As reported by SPACE.com earlier this year, a Feb. 3 memo from William Gerstenmaier, NASAs associate administrator for human exploration and operations, noted that a team would be formed to develop a cohesive plan for exploring the EML-2 spot in space.

Libration points, also known as Lagrangian points, are places in space where the combined gravitational pull of two large masses roughly balance each other out, allowing spacecraft to essentially "park" there.

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NASA Mulls Deep-Space Station on Moon's Far Side

Nasa captures solar eruption

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irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Tuesday, October 2, 2012, 14:10

Nasa has released spectacular high definition video of a solar flare breaking away from the surface of the Sun.

The coronal mass ejection, captured by Nasas Solar Dynamics Observatory, shows a filament that had been hovering in the sun's atmosphere, the corona, erupting into space at nearly 1500 kilometres per second.

The eruption happened at 8.36pm (Irish time) on August 31st this year and was large enough to engulf the Earth many times over.

The associated coronal mass ejection passed by Earth on the night of Monday, September 3rd, connecting with Earth's magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, causing aurora to appear.

The video, shot in 1080p high definition, shows the filament from several different angles allowing viewers to observe how the solar flare behaved.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory is a Nasa mission tasked with understanding the Sun's influence on Earth and near-Earth space. The obervatory, which is observing the Sun over a five-year period, is part of a larger programme which aims to develop scientific understanding of the connected SunEarth system that directly affects life and society.

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Nasa captures solar eruption