Well, this topic has really run away on its own at this point. I can no longer keep track of all the things that have been said. I find Chad Orzel's thread the best, because it really gets into a lot of the baffling reactions, many of which amount to saying, "this oped omits X" -- even though X is to be found in the longer paper, or in the American Academy's lengthy transcripts which I was asked to summarize. So I really feel that the people who are making this argument about omissions, without even mentioning the longer work, are being unfair. An example would be Evil Monkey--here criticizing the Post piece without mentioning the longer paper, and yet nevertheless saying "I've already done more than Mooney. I've made a couple concrete suggestions for how the problem needs to be addressed"; here glossing over that omission by saying the prior post "was directed at the Op-ed, which was pedantic and useless, if not counterproductive." Look: Everybody knows that one has to pare a topic down in order to write shorter articles, especially for mass media outlets rather than specialized ones. I've really seen nothing raised as an alleged omission in my Washington ...
New Horizons Adjusts Course
Course Correction Keeps New Horizons on Path to Pluto
"A short but important course-correction maneuver kept New Horizons on track to reach the "aim point" for its 2015 encounter with Pluto. The deep-space equivalent of a tap on the gas pedal, the June 30 thruster-firing lasted 35.6 seconds and sped New Horizons up by just about one mile per hour. But it was enough to make sure that New Horizons will make its planned closest approach 7,767 miles (12,500 kilometers) above Pluto at 7:49 a.m. EDT on July 14, 2015."
Progress 38P Docks With ISS
NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 4 July 2010
"At 12:17pm EDT, Progress M-06M(38P) docked successfully to the SM (Service Module) aft port under KURS autopilot control, followed by a final DPO post-contact thrusting burn, docking probe retraction and hook closure ("sborka") after motion damp-out while the ISS was in free drift for ~20 min (12:17pm-12:37pm). At "hooks closed" signal, the SM returned to active attitude control, maneuvering the ISS to LVLH TEA (local vertical/local horizontal Torque Equilibrium Attitude) at ~12:37pm."
Progress 38 Has Telemetry Glitch
Progress 38 Docking With Space Station Delayed Due to Loss of Telemetry
"Docking for the ISS Progress 38 has been delayed due to a loss of telemetry. Flight controllers have reported the resupply craft flew past the International Space Station. Managers are working to determine the next course of action before resuming docking activities."
Charlie Bolden: Stealth Middle East Diplomat?
"Bolden: I am here in the region - its sort of the first anniversary of President Barack Obama's visit to Cairo - and his speech there when he gave what has now become known as Obama's "Cairo Initiative" where he announced that he wanted this to become a new beginning of the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world. When I became the NASA Administrator - before I became the NASA Administrator - he charged me with three things: One was that he wanted me to re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, that he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with predominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering."
Question: Are you in some sort of diplomatic role .. to win hearts and minds?
Bolden: NO NO, not at all. Its not a diplomatic anything. What it is - is that it is trying to expand our outreach so that we get more people who can contribute to the things that we do - the international Space Station is as great as it is because we have a conglomerate of about 15 plus nations who have contributed something to that partnership that has made it what it is today ..."
Editor's note: I have shut off comments on this post. I am tired of reading hate language that people have been trying to post. This will not be tolerated on NASA Watch.
On Orbit Photo Caption Needed
From Astro_Wheels: "Best Caption Contest - I am floating through the transfer hatch to my position in the Soyuz capsule, all suited and ready to take 'Olympus' for a spin around the block for re-docking. Would love to hear your ideas for a caption, maybe "Did you guys see the keys"?..."
Submit your suggestion here
New Launch Dates for STS-133 and STS-134
NASA Updates Shuttle Target Launch Dates For Final Two Flights
"NASA is targeting approximately 4:33 p.m. EDT on Nov. 1 for the launch of space shuttle Discovery's STS-133 mission and 4:19 p.m. EST on Feb. 26, 2011, for the liftoff of shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 flight from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The target dates were adjusted because critical payload hardware for STS-133 will not be ready in time to support the previously planned Sept. 16 launch. With STS-133 moving to November, STS-134 cannot fly as planned, so the next available launch window is in February 2011."
Hutchison Pleased with Short-Term Shuttle Extension to 2011 - Calls Move "An Important First Step"
"Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Ranking Member on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today said she was pleased to see NASA delay the launch of the space shuttle Discovery to November 1, 2010, and push back the scheduled launch of space shuttle Endeavour to February 26, 2011. Senator Hutchison has consistently stated that the President's NASA proposal should include a short-term stretch out of the shuttle program's remaining flights in order to protect the nation's $100 billion investment in the International Space Station."
Kosmas Statement on the Extension of Shuttle Program into 2011
"Today, following NASA's decision to extend the Space Shuttle program until at least February 2011, Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas (FL-24) issued the following statement: "Today's news that the Shuttle program has been officially extended until at least February of next year is a welcome development that will help preserve jobs and ease the transition for the Space Coast. The extension shows the importance of our successful efforts to eliminate the hard deadline for Shuttle retirement, which would have ended the Shuttle program in September of this year."
Why Aren’t We Hearing More About JSC’s Project-M?
"This video is of NASA Project M Lander free flight test at Armadillo Aerospace outside of Dallas. The lander launched on June 23rd 2010. This is the prototype of the lander that will launch a version of Robonaut on future exploratory missions."
Keith's note: This is an interesting project, to be certain - and Armadillo's involvement is innovative and is to be commended. But I am wondering how or why this project is being funded (and is building hardware) at a time when other ESMD lunar surface activities are grinding to halt (Altair etc.). Given that NASA has yet to decide what places it is (or is not) going to - with the Moon no longer being the core focus, it is a bit curious that JSC is planning to land something on the Moon in 2013 and refers to this hardware as something that "will launch" Robonaut. Not "might launch" or "could launch" or "if approved ..."
Also, it is a little weird that it is rather difficult to find anything detailed on this project at NASA.gov unless you happen to look at the Robonaut page at NASA JSC which has a link to a document titled "Landing a Humanoid Robot on the Moon in a 1000 Days "ProjectM". Curiously, this white paper is not even hosted at NASA.gov but rather is posted here at Scribd.com. You can also download it as a PDF here at SpaceRef.
It is also a little unusual that the NASAProjectM YouTube page is not listed as a channel on NASA's Official YouTube page. This is cool stuff - and you would think that the NASA.gov home page would be featuring it and that press releases would be issued each time that a successful test launch is completed.
NASA’s New AA for Public Affairs
Keith's note: NASA's New AA for Public Affairs is David Weaver. He starts work on 19 July at NASA HQ. Details to follow.
ZeroG Responds to OIG Report
"It is important to note that the report highlights that the cost-effectiveness of maintaining the operations-ready status of the C-9 and currency of its crew has never been assessed. Since the primary threat to ZERO-G's service continuity to NASA is its own insufficient demand, NASA may be a contributor to this risk and should assess the benefit of continuing to invest in the C-9 versus restructuring the current contract with ZERO-G. To date, ZERO-G has invested over $1.5 million to improve its baseline commercial capability to meet NASA's requirements. Total net revenue from the past two years has not allowed ZERO-G to recoup its initial investment."
NASA OIG is Not Pleased With ZeroG, earlier post
More Water Ice Found On The Moon
Ice Rich Crater At The Moon's North Pole
"NASA Radar returns first high-resolution view of an unusual crater near Moon's north pole Mini-RF, a synthetic aperture radar on board NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, recently imaged a potentially ice-rich crater near the north pole of the Moon. Located at 84°N, 157°W, this permanently shadowed crater, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) in diameter, lies on the floor of the larger, more degraded crater Rozhdestvensky (110 miles, or 177 kilometers in diameter). With no sunlight to warm the crater floor and walls, ice brought to the Moon by comets or formed through interactions with the solar wind could potentially collect here."
Get Ready For The Continuing Resolution
Spending Panel: Unclear Direction of Manned NASA Flights Adds to Uncertainty, Science
"So far, there doesn't appear to be any sign of compromise between the White House and opponents of the Administration's plan in Congress, who believe that canceling Constellation and investing in the development of commercial space flight to enable future space missions is a bad idea. As it is, it's unlikely that Congress will complete the budget-approval process--for NASA and most other agencies--before the congressional elections in November, which means that the budgets for most agencies will likely be determined by a continuing resolution."
House Appropriators Look to Authorizers for NASA Direction, Space News
"In the absence of authorization legislation, "this subcommittee has no business in appropriating even more funding for uncertain program outcomes," Mollohan said. "Accordingly, this bill makes the funding for human space exploration available only after the enactment of such authorization legislation."
"For NASA, the bill provides a total of $19 billion, an increase of $276 million over last year's level, including significant and long needed new investments in science and education. For Human Space Exploration, the bill provides $4.2 billion, as requested and $498 million above 2010, but takes no position on the President's proposed new direction for the program."
Directly Imaged Extrasolar Planet Confirmed
First Directly Imaged Planet Confirmed Around Sun-like Star, Gemini Observatory
"A planet only about eight times the mass of Jupiter has been confirmed orbiting a Sun-like star at over 300 times farther from the star than the Earth is from our Sun. The newly confirmed planet is the least massive planet known to orbit at such a great distance from its host star. The discovery utilized high-resolution adaptive optics technology at the Gemini Observatory to take direct images and spectra of the planet."
More Space Policy Reaction
Obama space policy: Share the sandbox, Nature
"The most striking emphasis to me is something that is not at all new: a continued push to get the government out of the rocket business. Commercial space has been a clear focus of the new NASA ever since the presidential budget was released in February. But what's not clear is if it will end up happening, given Congressional intransigence."
White House Space Policy: Good News For Greens, Time
"NASA junkies continue to howl at the Obama administration's plans for human space exploration, and with good reason: there's just no there there."
Obama reverses Bush's policy on space, NY Times
"The Obama administration Monday unveiled a space policy that renounces the unilateral stance of the Bush administration and instead emphasizes international cooperation, including the possibility of an arms-control treaty that would limit the development of space weapons."
Obama Backs Away from Intergalactic Domination, Wired
"Space: to President Obama, it's an opportunity for nations to join gloved hands and perform a glorious multinational spacewalk, all for the good of science. But he's not ready to rule it out as a potential battlefield, either." W.H. releases National Space Policy, Politico
"NASA was not part of the press conference. Pavel said the space agency was just one of "a couple of dozen departments around the table," including the State Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Department of Energy, meeting to develop a policy that "reflected the president's priorities."
Commercial Spaceflight Federation Welcomes Newly Released National Space Policy
"Bretton Alexander, President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, stated, "The National Space Policy reinforces the President's new plan for NASA, particularly the use of commercial providers for transport of crew and cargo to the International Space Station. The National Space Policy recognizes the benefits of a robust commercial space industry and lays down a series of clear policies to enable further growth of this sector."
Are Engineering Shortages a Hoax?
Those who employ engineers always complain of shortages, but what's the job situation for engineers at your utility? Various studies say engineers are retiring from the power industry, students are not pursuing engineering degrees, and the power industry might be facing a job crisis in the future. D
Is This News You Can Use?
For a break from Gulf of Mexico news, we turn to the top 10 stupid environmental stories recently compiled by Environmental Science & Technologies. The ability of Icelandic volcanic ash to ground European air traffic, Michigan blaming Illinois for the Asian carp invasion of the Great Lakes, and
Should Cell Phones be Registered for Security?
One high tech advantage that criminals have today is the cell phone. With it they can communicate virtually anonymously, with great mobility and little fear of being detected. To counter this advantage, the Mexican government has started a program to register every cell phone in the country linking
Collaboration: Good or Bad?
A recent article noted the large number of students caught cheating in introductory computer science courses. But much of this involves students sharing each others code on homework assignments, not on tests. Some see this as a major ethics problem that could potentially become an ethics problem in
Designing the Car of the Future
Having survived a devastating recession, the auto industry is now racing to pinpoint what consumers want in tomorrow's cars, studying such factors as technical advances, changing behavior, and cultural trends. Should the auto be a mobile office, an entertainment center, or a flexible cargo platform
Helium Balloon: Newsletter Challenge (07/06/10)
This month's Challenge Question:
You're in your car at a stoplight, with a helium-filled balloon pressed up against the center of the ceiling. When the light turns and you accelerate, what does the balloon do and why?
The Answer will be posted right here on CR4 on August 3rd.