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Automated flight safety improving space access – SpaceFlight Insider

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

Bart Leahy

March 2nd, 2017

SpaceXs Falcon 9 touches down at 9:47 a.m. EST (14:47 GMT) Feb. 19, 2017, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Stations Landing Zone 1. With more rocket launches, and now rocket landings, the Eastern Range is working to automate flight safety systems in order to handle the growing demand of space access. Photo Credit: Mike Deep / SpaceFlight Insider

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. After supporting over 3,500 launches in the past 70 years, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) faces a busy 2017. With a scheduled flight manifest of some 30 launches, the Eastern Range is changing the way it handles flight safety to satisfy awider array of customers.

Every rocket launched has a feature onboard that can commanded the vehicle to self-destruct: a flight termination system. Until 2017, however, the actual command to destroy a rocket came manually from the Range Safety Officer on the ground.

SpaceXs CRS-10 Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lift off from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff occurred at 9:38 a.m. EST (14:38 GMT). Photo Credit: Mike Deep / SpaceFlight Insider

Now, however, a new device, the Autonomous Flight Safety System or AFSS, puts the control in the hands of a computer onboard the rocket.

AFSS was first demonstrated as a primary system on an operational flight during SpaceXs Feb. 19, 2017, CRS-10 launch from Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39A.

Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceXs President and Chief Operating Officer, explained that the company has been using autonomous flight safety systems for a while in shadow mode with the manual system being the primary.

The AFSS is a self-contained, independent system mounted to a launch vehicle. The systems computer determines if the launch vehicle poses an unacceptable hazard to people or property by using pre-established, programmed mission rules developed by range safety flight analysts. If the computer determines the rocket is a danger to public safety, it activates a series of controlled explosions to immediately stop the vehicles forward progress.

Up to now, these public safety decisions were made by individual human controllers on the ground. Kennedy Space Center Director and former astronaut Bob Cabana said the automated system is the wave of the future and it is where the range is going.

Cabanas reasoning for this is that, in some cases, human beings are more cautious than the computers and might initiate the flight safety system unnecessarily.

If done right, an autonomous system is safer than having a human in the loop, Cabana said.

The AFSS is configurable and uses software-based rules that rely on redundant flight processors usingdata from GPSand onboard sensors. The system also reduces the amount of customized hardware CCAFS must have on the ground to activateflight termination systems. This allows the range to improve its turnaround times usingtougher safety standards and fewer people on console while still reducing launch costs.

The end result is the automated system can ensure the Eastern Range can increase the number of customersseeking space access.

CCAFSs customer base has been steadily increasing, from NASA and the Air Force to United Launch Alliance (ULA) and SpaceX.

In the next few years, CCAFS will also support launches and landings by Blue Origin, crewed launches to the International Space Station by SpaceX, Boeing, and Sierra Nevada Corporation, as well as small launcher operations from KSCs Launch Complex 39C.

On Jan. 23, 2017, an Atlas V with SBIRS GEO-3 arcs out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station toward its designated orbit. Photo Credit: Michael Howard / SpaceFlight Insider

With more stakeholders requiringaccess to space, the Air Forces Eastern Range (the ocean east of CCAFS) and the Western Range (the area south of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California) have had to develop innovative solutions to launch rockets without compromising public safety. They are also coping with aging infrastructure and constrained resourcesin the face of increased flight rates.

In a recent media release, General Jay Raymond, Air Force Space Command commander, said the Air Force Space Command partners with industry in order to advance its space capabilities.

AFSS allows us to increase the pace of launch, reduce costly infrastructure and more rapidly build a resilient space enterprise, Raymond said. These benefits will be felt globally.

While reducing the number of controllers on the ground, AFSS also provides greater flight termination control further downrange than would be possible by activating the system remotely.

Because the controls are aboard the rocket, a flight termination command can also be issued more quickly. The onboard capability also means AFSS can operate over the horizon, so flight termination is no longer limited by ground equipment sending signals by line of sight.

Additionally, AFSS can support multiple objects in simultaneous flight, which is crucial for companies like SpaceX, which plans to land multiple first stage cores for its Falcon Heavy vehicle at nearly the same time.

Our role to ensure public safety during launches using this system is unchanged, said 45th Space Wing Chief Engineer Howard Schindzielorz. Our Flight Termination System requirements still apply for design, test, operational performance and reliability. We still develop the mission rules to provide public safety, but the system works with mission rule data files loaded into the on-board AFSS units. This essentially shifts the workload to the front-end of the launch process.

AFSS increases launch availability by reducing the amount of hardware needed on the ground. This includes eliminating the cost of hardware needed for non-AFSS launches, such as Uninterruptible Power Supplies, ground-system software, Independent Validation & Verification, and testing equipment.

The 45th Space Wing is pushing its systems to support a launch manifest of up to 48 launches per year early one per week by 2020.

Tagged: 45th Space Wing automated flight safety system Cape Canaveral Air Force Station CRS-10 Eastern Range Falcon 9 flight termination system SpaceX The Range

Bart Leahy is a freelance technical writer living in Orlando, Florida. Leahy's diverse career has included work for The Walt Disney Company, NASA, the Department of Defense, Nissan, a number of commercial space companies, small businesses, nonprofits, as well as the Science Cheerleaders.

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Automated flight safety improving space access - SpaceFlight Insider

Atlas V sends classified NROL-79 payload to space – SpaceFlight Insider

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

Derek Richardson

March 1st, 2017

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) lifts off from Space Launch Complex-3. Designated NROL-79, the mission is in support of national defense. Photo & Caption Credit: ULA

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket roared out of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. The NROL-79 mission lifted off at 9:49 a.m. PST (12:49 p.m. EST / 17:49 GMT) March 1, 2017, from Space Launch Complex 3E.

Laura Maginnis, vice president, Government Satellite Launch, said: I am so impressed by the incredible teamwork between the NRO, U.S. Air Force our industry partners and the ULA team that resulted in todays successful launch. The integrated mission team overcame many challenges this flow including delays associated with the Vandenberg Canyon Fire last year.

Tragically, Ventura County firefighter Ryan Osler lost his life en route to assist in fighting the fire. We are honored to dedicate todays mission to Ryan and his family. Thank you to all of the men and women who worked to deliver this critical asset for our nations security.

Atlas V / NROL-79 launch. Photo Credit: ULA

The weather for the launch was almost perfect. In fact, some six hours before launch, the probability of weather violation at the time of liftoff decreased to zero percent.

Col. Chris Moss, 30th Space Wing commander, the launch decision authority, said: This successful launch is the result of outstanding teamwork between members of the 30th Space Wing and our partners at the National Reconnaissance Office and United Launch Alliance. The combined team delivered an important capability for the nation today. It was an exceptional effort.

Using an Atlas V in the 401 configuration 4-meter fairing, zero solid rocket motors and a single engine Centaur upper stage the vehicle lifted off from the launch pad and began to turn toward the south.

The first stage, an Atlas common booster core, was powered by a single Russian-made RD-180 engine. Consuming rocket grade kerosene (RP-1) and liquid oxygen, it produced about 860,000 pounds (3,827 kilonewtons) of thrust. That increased to 933,000 pounds (4,152 kilonewtons) as the vehicle climbed out of Earths atmosphere and into the vacuum of space.

About 1 minute, 21 seconds into the flight, as the vehicle surpassed the speed of sound, the Atlas V began to push through the region of maximum stress on the rocket known as max Q.

About two-and-a-half minutes later, some four minutes into theflight, the Atlas common booster core was depleted of fuel and the RD-180 cut out as planned.

At 4 minutes, 9 seconds, the Atlas common booster core separated with the Centaur upper stage. Ten seconds later, its RL10C-1 engine ignited.

Consuming liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, the RL10C-1 engine provided about 22,890 pounds (101.8 kilonewtons) of thrust.

It being a classified mission, at 4 minutes, 27 seconds, once the payload fairing was jettisoned to reveal the payload to space, ULAs coverage of the mission concluded at the request of the NRO.

A launch like this requires thousands of hours of activity and practice to execute successfully, said Lt. Col. Eric Zarybnisky, 4th Space Launch Squadron commander. Engineers and technicians from my squadron work with members of the United Launch Alliance to ensure a successful launch like this one.

Not much is known about the classified payload or what orbit it was being placed in. There has been information suggesting the rocket was carrying a pair of Naval Ocean Surveillance Satellite (NOSS) spacecraft. This would be similar to those that were deployed on NROL-36 and NROL-55, the latter occurring in October 2015.

These spacecraft are also known by their code name of INTRUDER. Together, the pair weighs about 14,330 pounds (6,500 kilograms) and provide intelligence to the NRO and U.S. Navy.

This was the 70th flight of an Atlas V rocketand the 35 in the base 401 configuration since the first launch in 2002. It was the second West Coast launch of the year and ULAs second flight of 2017.

ULAs next launch is expected to occur on March 8, 2017, when it launches the Wideband Global SATCOM, or WGS 9, spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Stations Space Launch Complex 37.

The satellite being launched is a communications spacecraft that will serve the U.S. military. The rocket that will be employed for this flight will be a Delta 4 Medium+ (5,4) with a five-meter fairing and four solid rocket motors.

A National Reconnaissance Office payload on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches from Space Launch Complex-3, March 1, 2017, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Photo & Caption Credit: Senior Airman Ian Dudley / U.S. Air Force

Video Courtesy of SpaceFlight Insider

Tagged: Lead Stories National Reconnaissance Office NROL-79 Space Launch Complex 3E United Launch Alliance Urgent Vandenberg Air Force Base

Derek Richardson is a student studying mass media with an emphasis in contemporary journalism at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. He is currently the managing editor of the student run newspaper, the Washburn Review. He also writes a blog, called Orbital Velocity, about the space station. His passion for space ignited when he watched space shuttle Discovery leap to space on Oct. 29, 1998. He saw his first in-person launch on July 8, 2011 when the space shuttle launched for the final time. Today, this fervor has accelerated toward orbit and shows no signs of slowing down. After dabbling in math and engineering courses in college, he soon realized that his true calling was communicating to others about space exploration and spreading that passion.

China readying Kaituozhe-2A rocket for launch with experimental payload – SpaceFlight Insider

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

Curt Godwin

March 2nd, 2017

Image Credit: Peoples Republic of China

There are indications that the China National Space Administration (CNSA) is preparing to launch its Kaituozhe-2A (KT-2A) rocket on a mission to deliver an experimental satellite into orbit. The rocket maylift off as soon as March 3, 2017.

Scale model of the Chinese Kaituozhe-2A (KT-2A) launch vehicle. Photo credit: Gunters Space Page

Not much is known about the 114-foot (35-meter) tall launch vehicle. The vehicle is reportedly capable of lofting 4,409pounds (2,000 kilograms) to a 310-mile (500-kilometer) orbit.

Based on Chinas Dong Feng 31 (DF-31) intercontinental ballistic missile, the KT-2A sports a central core consisting of three stages along with two strap-onboosters. All stages, as well as the boosters, are solid fueled.

The launch, when it occurs, will be the first for this variant of the KT-2 family.

The intermediate-class rocket is set to launch on its maiden flight from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, located in far northwestern China, near Mongolia. This was the site of Chinas first successful domestic satellite launch, DFH-1, in 1970.

The launch center is well-positioned for high-inclination launches, such as those bound for sun-synchronous orbits. Pad 603 at the facility will likely play host for this mission, which may be the launch of an experimental satellite called Tiankong-1.

Jiuquanwas Chinas first spaceport. More Chinese launches have occurred here than anywhere else in the country. Additionally, all of Chinas crewed missions took off from this location as well as its two space stations, Tiangong 1 and 2.

Pad 603 is one of two atLaunch Area 4, also known as the South Launch Site. The other is called Pad 921. They became operational in 2003 and 1999 respectively.

Pad 921 has been used to launch the countrys crewed Shenzhou spacecraft and space station modules while Pad 603 has been used for most of the uncrewed launches from Jiuquan.

While rockets bound for Pad 921 are built in a vehicle assembly building and rolled out, rockets using Pad 603 are assembled vertically on the pad with a crane.

If KT-2A flies on March 3, it will be Chinas third mission of the year.A Long March 3B and Kuaizhou 1A were launched Jan. 5 and Jan. 9, 2017, respectively.

Another Chinese rocket is expected to fly by the end of March. It will be a Long March 2D and carry two communications satellites for CNSA.

Tagged: China Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center Kaituozhe-2A Lead Stories Tiankong-1

Curt Godwin has been a fan of space exploration for as long as he can remember, keeping his eyes to the skies from an early age. Initially majoring in Nuclear Engineering, Curt later decided that computers would be a more interesting - and safer - career field. He's worked in education technology for more than 20 years, and has been published in industry and peer journals, and is a respected authority on wireless network engineering. Throughout this period of his life, he maintained his love for all things space and has written about his experiences at a variety of NASA events, both on his personal blog and as a freelance media representative.

China readying Kaituozhe-2A rocket for launch with experimental payload - SpaceFlight Insider

OneWeb to break ground on Florida factory, merge with Intelsat – Spaceflight Now

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

Artists concept of the OneWeb factory at Exploration Park, Florida. Credit: OneWeb

Days before breaking ground on a new spacecraft assembly line near Cape Canaveral, OneWeb and Intelsat announced a proposed merger Tuesday that would couple a planned fleet of 900 broadband Internet satellites with a high-power communications network in geostationary orbit.

The share-to-share merger, if finalized, will be followed by a $1.7 billion investment in the combined company by Japans SoftBank. The merger and investment will reduce Intelsats debt by up to $3.6 billion, officials said, revitalizing Intelsat as it struggles with falling prices for broadband capacity and reduced business from the U.S. government.

Meanwhile, OneWeb is about take another step toward deploying the largest satellite fleet in history with the start of construction of the companys factory in Exploration Park, Florida, just outside the gates of NASAs Kennedy Space Center.

A groundbreaking ceremony was set for Friday, but officials said the event was postponed due to scheduling conflicts. The first satellites should be completed at the facility next year.

The merger of Intelsat and OneWeb is contingent on bondholder and regulatory approvals, officials said.

Assuming we can close this transaction, we think the Intelsat and OneWeb future advances the objectives of both companies, said Stephen Spengler, CEO of Intelsat, with headquarters in Luxembourg and McLean, Virginia. First, we create a global leader with the ability to provide consistent highly reliable broadband anywhere in the world, from a crowded city to the middle of the rainforest.

Spengler added the OneWeb fleet, which will consist of 900 satellites in low Earth orbit at an altitude of 745 miles (1,200 kilometers), will operate as a fully-integrated hybrid network with Intelsats 50-plus relay craft positioned in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) above the equator.

The OneWeb constellation will begin launching next year, building out a space network the company says will offer high-speed Internet with connection speeds comparable to ground-based service providers.

Greg Wyler, executive chairman and founding chairman of OneWeb, said the merger of large satellite fleets in low Earth orbit and geosynchronous orbit is a unique combination to support wide-scale broadband services.

OneWebs fleet in low orbit is 30 times closer to the Earth than geostationary satellites, cutting the systems latency, or the time it takes signals to travel between each spacecraft and the ground.

First of all, theres broadband with low-latency with a terrestrial quality, which is what were getting out of the OneWeb system, and then (were) adding a lot of other features that the GEO (geostationary satellites) offer for wide-scale video distribution, wide-scale upload of software, Wyler said Tuesday in a conference call announcing the merger. So the combination of the two companies gives us a really nice set of features that we can offer our customers not just stuff that people get today, but stuff that will be needed in the future.

Based in Arlington, Virginia, OneWeb aims to beam wifi and mobile data service to customers as soon as next year, reaching homes, businesses, hospitals, schools, oil rigs, ships, airplanes and trains. It works by broadcasting a signal to a hotspot that customers can install on their roofs.

Spengler said Intelsat and OneWeb envision developing fully interoperable ground terminals that can access both satellite fleets.

Were still going to be serving mobile operators and helping them with small cell expansion into remote rural areas, but well also have the ability to go direct to schools and into government offices, Spengler said Tuesday.

Intelsat was already an investor in OneWeb, planning to take charge of day-to-day operations for OneWebs satellites in orbit.

OneWeb plans to launch 648 satellites in the first phase of the constellation. The rest of the spacecraft will be spares pre-positioned in orbit or on the ground.

Wyler said OneWeb has raised $1.7 billion to date to fund the first phase of the program, with $1.2 billion coming from SoftBank under a previous fundraising agreement announced in December.

Airbus, Qualcomm, New Delhi-based Bharti Enterprises, Hughes Network Systems a subsidiary of EchoStar Corp. Coca-Cola and Totalplay, a company owned by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego, are also behind OneWeb.

The satellite fabrication plant on Floridas Space Coast will produce up to three 330-pound (150-kilogram) spacecraft per day in an assembly line fashion. Airbus Defense and Space is prime contractor for OneWebs satellite constellation, applying mass production techniques such as automation and robotics used in the companys airplane business to spacecraft.

The OneWeb factory will cover more than 100,000 square feet (more than 9,000 square meters), officials said.

This will be the worlds first fully-automated high-volume satellite assembly plant, Wyler said.

Space Florida, a state agency charged with luring commercial aerospace business to the Sunshine State, helped arrange $20 million in government incentives to bring the OneWeb factory to the Space Coast.

The factory will create around 250 direct jobs at Exploration Park, officials said.

OneWebs facility will be located across the street from Blue Origins rocket factory. Blue Origin aims to launch its first New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral by the end of the decade.

The bulk of the initial OneWeb constellation totaling up to 700 satellites will be launched by Russian Soyuz rockets under a contract signed in 2015 between OneWeb and Arianespace.

OneWeb ordered 21 Soyuz launches from up to four spaceports the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Vostochny and Plesetsk in Russia, and the European-run Guiana Space Center in South America to send up between 32 and 36 satellites at a time.

Airbus is building the first 10 OneWeb satellites at its facility in Toulouse, France. Those spacecraft will be launched to test their performance and functionality in early 2018, Wyler said.

Were starting with our first launch at the end of March of 2018, Wyler said. And then, several months after maybe five months after once we test out those satellites, we will be launching every 21 days, which sounds like a lot, but were using multiple launch pads to do that.

They are really a very high-volume launcher, even one time they launched twice in one day, Wyler said of the Soyuz. So they really have their act together, and we feel very confident about their capabilities.

Arianespace also secured optional orders from OneWeb for five more Soyuz launches and three flights of the next-generation Ariane 6 rocket.

Virgin Galactics air-launched LauncherOne vehicle, which is still in development and could fly by the end of 2017, was also awarded 39 launches by OneWeb to replenish the companys satellite fleet as old satellites stop working. LauncherOne will haul up one satellite at a time after dropping from a modified Boeing 747 carrier jet.

Wyler said OneWeb is set to start initial service by the end of 2019, with full global coverage available 12 to 18 months later.

As many as 2,000 more OneWeb satellites could be added to the network with sufficient demand, Wyler said.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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OneWeb to break ground on Florida factory, merge with Intelsat - Spaceflight Now

Kasturirangan for collaborative approach to human spaceflight – Outlook India

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

hyderabad, Mar 2 Veteran space scientist K Kasturirangan has favoured India to pursue a collaborative model in its proposed human spaceflight venture to undertake the mission early in a cost-effective manner by leveraging proven capabilities in the field internationally.

The former Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation noted that there is a programme to look at whats the model that would be applicable at this phase of the programme, both globally and nationally in the case of human spaceflight.

"So, they (ISRO) need to really work out multiple strategies by which the goal can be achieved, and in those strategies how much of it should be ourselves, how much we should do with international collaboration component, and whats the optimum way in which we can reach the goal as early as possible with minimal investment because these are all investment-intensive and also they take their own time," he told PTI.

Not just funds, resources in terms of human and infrastructure, quite a lot of investment is needed if India is to do the venture alone, pointed out the former Secretary in the Department of Space and ex-Chairman of Space Commission.

"But the world has already moved there in that direction (human spaceflight) and therefore in the world today we have got quite a lot of capabilities available across globally. Our political relations are quite good with many of these countries (having such space capabilities) and so I think we should be able to develop models where we can optimally design a system by which we can move fast into the human spaceflight," Kasturirangan said.

Asked if India should have an ambition to establish a space station, he said the country can now have any ambition because economically its getting stronger.

"Technologically and scientifically its capable; there is a will among the public to support this programme and so I see no reason why India will hesitate. I am sure these things are very much in the minds of planners and political system of the country," Kasturirangan added.

Hyderabad, Mar 2 Veteran space scientist K Kasturirangan has favoured India to pursue a collaborative model in its proposed human spaceflight venture to undertake the mission early in a cost-effective manner by leveraging proven capabilities in the field internationally.

The former Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation noted that there is a programme to look at what is the model that would be applicable at this phase of the programme, both globally and nationally in the case of human spaceflight.

"So, they (ISRO) need to really work out multiple strategies by which the goal can be achieved, and in those strategies how much of it should be ourselves, how much we should do with international collaboration component, and what is the optimum way in which we can reach the goal as early as possible with minimal investment because these are all investment-intensive and also they take their own time," he told PTI.

Asked if India should have an ambition to establish a space station, he said the country can now have any ambition because economically its getting stronger.

"So, they (ISRO) need to really work out multiple strategies by which the goal can be achieved, and in those strategies how much of it should be ourselves, how much we should do with international collaboration component, and what is the optimum way in which we can reach the goal as early as possible with minimal investment because these are all investment-intensive and also they take their own time," he told PTI.

Asked if India should have an ambition to establish a space station, he said the country can now have any ambition because economically its getting stronger.

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Kasturirangan for collaborative approach to human spaceflight - Outlook India

SpaceX to fly 2 people around Moon in 2018 – SpaceFlight Insider

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

Derek Richardson

February 27th, 2017

An artists rendering of a Crew Dragon in orbit. After SpaceX is certified to send acrew to the International Space Station, it will send two paying customers to fly around the Moon. This is expected to occur in late 2018. Image Credit: Nathan Koga / SpaceFlight Insider

SpaceX announcedon Feb. 27, 2017, that it will be sending two people on a free-return trajectory around the Moon in late 2018 using the companys yet-to-be-flown Crew Dragon spacecraft. The announcement came with less than 24 hours notice when the NewSpace companys CEO and founder Elon Musktweeted about it.

Click to enlarge. Image Credit: James Vaughan / SpaceFlight Insider

According to a news release from the company, SpaceX was approached by two private citizens for the trip sometime next year. The trajectory will be a long loop around the Moon, reaching about 400,000 miles (650,000 kilometers) from Earth with no landing on the surface. The two citizens will fly alone with no professional astronaut with them.

They have already paid a significant deposit to do a Moon mission, the announcement stated. Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind, driven by the universal human spirit of exploration.

SpaceX did not identify the individuals and said they will undergo health and fitness tests, as well as training, later this year. The company said other flight teams have expressed strong interest and it will release more information about them contingent upon their approval and confirmation of the health and fitness tests results.

In the press release, SpaceX thanked NASA, for, without the U.S. space agency, the company would not be as far along as they are now. The Commercial Crew Program provided most of the funding for the Crew Dragons development.

The mission will fly into space atop the also yet-to-be-flown Falcon Heavy rocket. Its debut mission is slated for sometime in Summer 2017. Once it launches successfully, it will be the most powerful vehicle to send payloads into space since the retirement of the Saturn V Moon rocket.

SpaceX stated Falcon Heavy will have 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, which is two-thirds the thrust of the Saturn V and over double that of the next largest launch vehicle currently in service.

If this mission flies on time in late 2018, it is entirely possible SpaceX may beat NASAs timeline of sending acrew to the Moon, even if a proposed acceleration of crewed flight is ultimately accepted. Musk, however, did not think it would be that big of a deal.

The famous Earthrise photo taken by Bill Anders on Apollo 8. Should the SpaceX mission occur as planned, the two paying customers will be the first humans to travel beyond low-Earth orbit since the end of the Apollo program. Photo Credit: NASA

I think what matters is really the advancement of space exploration and exceeding the high water mark that was set in 1969 by the Apollo program and just having a really exciting future, Musk said.

The first test flight of the companys Crew Dragon is expected to occur later this year. According to NASASpaceflight, the current plan calls for a two-week uncrewed demo flight from Nov. 11 to Nov. 25, 2017. During that period, the spacecraft will rendezvous and dock to the International Space Stations newly installed International Docking Adapter, which is located on the forward end of the Harmony module.

Following that mission, SpaceX will perform a launch abort test sometime in early 2018 before flying the second demo mission of the Crew Dragon. This time it will have astronauts aboard. The current schedule calls for the month-long flight to take place in May 2018.

Once operational Crew Dragon missions are underway for NASA, SpaceX will launch the private mission on a journey to circumnavigate the Moon and return to Earth, the press release stated.

The launch will take place from Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A). SpaceX signed a 20-year lease on the complex in 2014. It has since renovated the pad to be able to launch its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. The first flight from the pad took place onFeb. 19, 2017, sending a cargo variant of the companys Dragon capsule to the space station.

LC-39A not only saw the start of dozens of Space Shuttle missionsbut also nearly all of the Apollo Moon missions as well. The last flight to go to Earths nearest neighbor occurred in December 1972. Since then no human has traveled further away from Earth than a few hundred miles.

This presents an opportunity for humans to return to deep space for the first time in 45 years and they will travel faster and further into the Solar System than any before them, the press release noted.

UPDATE NASA released a statement regarding todays SpaceX announcement:

NASA commends its industry partners for reaching higher.

We will work closely with SpaceX to ensure it safely meets the contractual obligations to return the launch of astronauts to U.S. soil and continue to successfully deliver supplies to the International Space Station.

For more than a decade, NASA has invested in private industry to develop capabilities for the American people and seed commercial innovation to advance humanitys future in space.

NASA is changing the way it does business through its commercial partnerships to help build a strong American space economy and free the agency to focus on developing the next-generation rocket, spacecraft and systems to go beyond the moon and sustain deep space exploration.

Animation of Falcon Heavy launching. Video courtesy of SpaceX

Tagged: Crew Dragon Elon Musk Falcon Heavy Lead Stories Moon SpaceX

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SpaceX to fly 2 people around Moon in 2018 - SpaceFlight Insider

Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) to Develop Microsatellites for Greenhouse Gas Monitoring – Marketwired (press release)

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - March 02, 2017) - Space Flight Laboratory (SFL), a provider of complete microspace missions based at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), has been contracted by GHGSat Inc. of Montreal to develop the GHGSat-C1 and C2 greenhouse gas monitoring satellites. SFL will release details of the operational GHGSat microsatellite mission next week at the Satellite 2017 Conference in Washington, D.C.

"SFL is a world-class bus manufacturer with nearly two decades of experience developing and launching small satellites," said Stephane Germain, President and CEO of GHGSat Inc. "Working with SFL was a natural fit because we share a common microspace philosophy and culture important to us as we get our satellites launched efficiently and quickly."

Established in 1998, SFL specializes in implementing high-performance nano-, micro- and small-satellite missions at low cost on tight schedules. SFL served as prime integration contractor for the successful GHGSat-D demonstration satellite, known as CLAIRE, launched in June 2016. CLAIRE is a 15-kilogram, 20x30x40cm microsat based on SFL's space-proven Next-generation Earth Monitoring and Observation (NEMO) platform.

"GHGSat-D demonstrated that greenhouse gas emissions from point sources, such as power plants and industrial sites, can be accurately targeted and measured from space," said Dr. Robert E. Zee, SFL Director. "The precise attitude control and target tracking capability of our NEMO bus -- rare among satellite platforms of this size -- played a key role in the accurate pointing of the primary CLAIRE sensor."

SFL has begun development of the GHGSat-C1 and C2 satellites at its Toronto facility with planned launches in late 2018 and early 2019, respectively. Serving as GHGSat's first two commercially operating satellites, they will be identical to each other but contain incremental, yet significant, enhancements from the demonstration mission.

SFL's NEMO platform has been used on several other missions, including the NORSAT-1 and NORSAT-2 built for Norway by SFL for science, advanced ship tracking, and ship communication. The NEMO bus is also utilized in the upcoming HawkEye360 Pathfinder missions under development by SFL and Deep Space Industries of California.

SFL will release additional details on GHGSat and other upcoming SFL launches in booth #130 at the 2017 Satellite Conference and Exhibition (#SatShow) being held March 6-9 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. For conference details, visit http://2017.satshow.com/.

About SFL (www.utias-sfl.net)

SFL builds big performance into smaller, lower cost satellites. Small satellites built by SFL consistently push the performance envelope and disrupt the traditional cost paradigm. Satellites are built with advanced power systems, stringent attitude control and high-volume data capacity that are striking relative to the budget. SFL arranges launches globally and maintains a mission control center accessing ground stations worldwide. The pioneering and barrier breaking work of SFL is a key enabler to tomorrow's cost aggressive satellite constellations.

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Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) to Develop Microsatellites for Greenhouse Gas Monitoring - Marketwired (press release)

NASA funding crucial to Earth’s future – Virginia Tech Collegiate Times

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

Planet Earth is our home the only known location in the universe where humans can live unaided by sophisticated technology. Given the fact that we are the fruit of this worlds soil, it follows that we are also its caretakers. Whether or not life started here or hitched a ride on a comet from elsewhere is irrelevant. We evolved here. We call it Mother Earth for a reason.

Climate change is real, and it is caused by human actions. It has been reassuring to see the majority of politicians on both sides of the aisle endorse this statement. The Trump administration, however, has given indications that it will look to cut NASAs funding for research into environmental concerns like global warming.

This crusade against science is reminiscent of a dictatorship and comes at a critical time in the progression of climate change. At a certain point, it will become irreversible. In order to preserve our ecosystem, we must adapt our infrastructure and lifestyles. Humans are not wired to be long-term thinkers, but this is one situation in which we must overcome our basic instincts.

The problem is that climate change will not kill the Earth as such, though it will likely make her barren. The Earth as a celestial sphere is simply too massive to be affected by anything that humans can do, at least at this point in our technological development. However, it will surely make the planet unfit for human life.

In comparison to any other celestial body within a reasonable voyage, Earth is a veritable Garden of Eden, and we must not squander it.

One only has to look at Venus to visualize what the Earth would look like after a runaway greenhouse effect. The average surface temperature is 462 degrees Celsius and the atmosphere, made of poisonous carbon and sulfur dioxides, creates an average surface pressure of a whopping 90 Earth atmospheres. Venus is about as inhospitable as it gets in our solar system.

Mars, on the other hand, shows what the Earth would look like if it got too cold, where most of its atmosphere is frozen at the poles and in the soil itself. As a result, Mars has less than 1 percent of the atmosphere of Earth, and a human would have about a minute to live if exposed to it. Like Venus, Mars atmosphere is 98 percent carbon dioxide. Additionally, the average surface temperature is a balmy -63 degrees Celsius, and in places it can drop below -140 degrees Celsius. Thus, with the exception of Earth, this trend of less-than-ideal living conditions continues in our solar system.

While our two closest planetary neighbors would prove extremely difficult to colonize in their current states, they can offer insight into the workings of planetology and the cause and effect relationships of climatology that have proven so elusive to understand fully.

Interestingly, part of NASAs Earth science budget supports missions to these planets to study them, such as the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Exploration Mission (MAVEN). These data are then compared with data taken from our own planet, and suddenly there are three data points with which to extrapolate planetary trends instead of just one.

Any scientist would be able to appreciate that. In political science, for example, the prominent scholar Ken Waltz developed an international relations theory called neorealism. One of the largest criticisms of the theory is that most of its tenets such as the fact that a bipolar world system is the most stable are based on a single period of history. In this case, the Cold War was the only period where such a system existed. Such theories are very inconsistent when used to try to to predict the future.

Predicting the future reliably is an ability we must have when we are talking about the fate of the human race. Climate change is real, and it has very relevant consequences that will only get worse. According to NASA, the past three years have all set new global surface temperature records respectively and scientists observed record low total Arctic ice sheet areas. So far, 2017 seems to be continuing that trend.

Warmer temperatures are the most readily observed effects, but the problem is that we do not fully understand what those temperature changes will do to the fragile balance of our ecosystem. For example, some areas, like northern Africa, Brazil and, more recently, southern California, have experienced widespread droughts, threatening the viability of their water supply systems and draining their aquifers at unsustainable rates. In the past two years, Sao Paulo, South Americas largest city, experienced a drought that pushed it to the brink of a water crisis.

A contributing factor to these droughts is the troubling rate of rainforest clearing across the tropical zone. Rainforests are not only the largest producers of oxygen on the planet, but they also transpire huge quantities of water vapor into the atmosphere. Their deforestation for short-term economic benefits is utterly reckless.

While regions such as these are becoming more arid and deserts are expanding, other areas are quite literally drowning in excesses of water. Rising sea levels are threatening to erase some small island nations from the map, such as the Republic of Kiribati and the Maldives. Combined with storms of ever-increasing ferocity, coastal population centers are more and more at risk of catastrophic flooding, as we saw in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and in New York City after Hurricane Sandy.

In southern Asia, millions were displaced in the aftermath of Cyclone Komen in 2015 and there was widespread infrastructure collapse. Consider the devastation in New Orleans and the amount of time it took for the city and its population to recover, especially given the fact that the disaster occurred in the worlds wealthiest country. Now consider Bangladesh, a relatively poor country where most of the 150 million people live in and around the Padma (Ganges) River delta. The destruction there is unimaginable.

The answer to the question of whether or not the human race has the capacity to facilitate the reversal of these trends is an unequivocal yes. We have the knowledge and the technology. What is lacking is the political will and, in large part, the initiatives of individuals. Climate change seems so abstract that most people either are not aware of the true threat that it poses, or put it out of mind because that is easier and more pain-free. But if we want to preserve the habitability and cleanliness of our planet, everyone has to be on board.

There needs to be widespread consensus that action must be taken and a clear outline of what that action should be. For example, as a college student, turning off your power strip in your room when you arent there saves a great deal of power, and remembering to turn off the faucet when youre washing dishes or brushing your teeth does the same for water.

When youre making decisions in your daily life, consider your own impact on the environment and dont forget that you have the potential to make the world a better place through simple actions.

Analyzing the behavior of the Earth and her processes is absolutely critical to understanding the nature and progression of global warming. Removing the funding for NASA to carry out this research is like going into a boxing match blindfolded. It is completely idiotic and contrary to hundreds of years of respect for the scientific process. It also sends the message that science is not legitimate when it exposes the detrimental side of business practices and their effects.

Trump should leave the science to the scientists, which includes not telling them what they can and cannot research, and focus on the innumerable other problems he should be worrying about as the president of the United States.

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NASA funding crucial to Earth's future - Virginia Tech Collegiate Times

Women Of NASA To Be Immortalized In Lego Form – NPR

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

The Women of NASA set, submitted by Maia Weinstock, celebrates female NASA pioneers. Maia Weinstock hide caption

Five storied female NASA pioneers will soon grace toy-store shelves, in Lego form.

The Danish company announced on Tuesday that it would produce the Women of NASA set, submitted by science writer Maia Weinstock.

"Women have played critical roles throughout the history of the U.S. space program," Weinstock wrote in her project proposal. "Yet in many cases, their contributions are unknown or under-appreciated especially as women have historically struggled to gain acceptance in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics."

She said the set is meant to shed light on the rich history of women in STEM professions.

It beat out eleven other projects in the Lego Ideas competition, which each had to receive votes from 10,000 supporters to be eligible.

A Lego figure of mathematician and space scientist Katherine Johnson, whose story was featured in the recent film Hidden Figures. Maia Weinstock hide caption

The set features Katherine Johnson, the NASA mathematician whose story was featured in the recent film Hidden Figures. Johnson, who is now 98 years old, appeared on stage at the Academy Awards on Sunday. She was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

Other NASA women honored in Lego form are:

"Excited to be part of such a great group of women," Jemison tweeted after the announcement, "And even more jazzed about women in STEM!"

Lego says it is particularly excited about the "inspirational value" of the set. It is still determining the final product design the photos accompanying this story were part of the proposal submitted by Weinstock.

"I hope it sets a new example for both girls and boys," Weinstock told the BBC. "Girls, in that they can and should be engineers, scientists, and mathematicians, and boys, in that they internalise at an early age that these careers are for everyone, not only men."

A Lego spokesperson says Women of NASA is slated for launch later this year. Other projects that were vying for Lego production included depictions of the Addams Family Mansion and the Large Hadron Collider.

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Women Of NASA To Be Immortalized In Lego Form - NPR

NASA Moves to Extend Russian Space Contracts – Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

Wall Street Journal (subscription)

NASA Moves to Extend Russian Space Contracts
Wall Street Journal (subscription)
NASA's first big decision under President Donald Trump entails paying up to $373 million so Russia can continue flying U.S. astronauts into orbit potentially through 2019. The move reflects growing concerns that Boeing Co. and entrepreneur Elon Musk's ...
NASA buys up to five more seats on future Soyuz missionsSpaceflight Now
NASA buys two more seats to the International Space Station on Russia's Soyuz rocketThe Verge
Boeing strikes a deal to give NASA astronauts a lift to International Space StationWashington Post
SpaceNews
all 26 news articles »

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NASA Moves to Extend Russian Space Contracts - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Why NASA had to give back a bag of moon dust to Chicago woman – Christian Science Monitor

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

March 1, 2017 In 2015, Nancy Lee Carlson spotted an unusual auction item put up for sale by the US Marshals Service: a dusty, white bag with a small tear in it.

But this wasn't just any old sack. In fact, the object was a decontamination bag used to store rock samples collected by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 during humanitys first crewed mission to the moon.

I guess you could call her a little bit of a space geek, maybe a hobbyist. She has an interest in these types of things and she saw this and it interested her, Ms. Carlsons attorney Christopher McHugh told CBS Chicago.

Excited, Ms. Carlson quickly became the highest bidder for the bag at auction, winning the priceless piece of history for the relatively low price of $995. The next step was verifying its authenticity, so she sent it to NASA to find if the bag was real.The agency soon confirmed the bag was from Apollo 11 that the dust inside the container was indeed moon dust, and deciding the bag of such historic value was never meant to have been sold, refused to send it back to Carlson.After a tense legal battle from Carlson's subsequent lawsuit against the federal agency, a US federal judge ordered NASA to finally return the bag, making her the only private citizen to win legal ownership of a lunar object previously sold by the US government.

The bag found its way to auction after it was seized by the government during an investigation against Max Ary, a former president of the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center museum. In 2005, Mr. Ary was convicted of stealing and auctioning off hundreds of objects from the museum's collection on the black market.

Among the stolen items were two lunar bags, one from Apollo 11 and one from Apollo 17. But during the course of the investigation, a clerical error resulted in both pieces being given the same inventory identification number, and the Apollo 11 bag was accidentally auctioned off.

"This artifact wasnever meant to be owned by an individual," read a statement issued by NASA at the time of the lawsuit. "We believe [it] belongs to the American people and should be on display for the public, which is where it was before all of these unfortunate events occurred."

This was not the first time a moon-related object has found its way into auction without the approval of NASA.

"Millions of people are intrigued by space around the world," Joseph Gutheinz, a former special investigator for NASA who was one of the attorneys in the case, told the Chicago Tribune. "(Carlson) is one of them. She loves space. And she had the gumption not to back down."

As a result, he says, there is a sizable black market for moon rocks and similar items. He estimates that the US has given away more than 270 moon rocksto dignitaries and foreign nations over the decades, but many of these wind up illegally sold and have to be reacquired by the government through sting operations. He says that there are about 158 lunar objects that remain unaccounted for.

As far as Carlson is concerned, the bag will remain her own private property, but she has reportedly been considering the possibility displaying the container publicly, per NASA's wishes. She is expected to make an announcement to that end later this week.

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Why NASA had to give back a bag of moon dust to Chicago woman - Christian Science Monitor

Public tries to name 7 new planets after Nasa discovery- with chaotic results – Telegraph.co.uk

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

However, Nasa will not be collecting the names and theyrely on the IAUs process for the naming of these planets. So those hoping they will be named after Donald Trump will be sorely disappointed.

The seven Earth-sized planets are clustered around a single star. Three of the planets are located in the habitable zone, which is the area around the planet star where the planet is most likely to have water.

This sets the record forgreatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system.

Every planet in the cluster could have liquid water with the right atmospheric conditions.

This discovery could be a significant piece in the puzzle of finding habitable environments, places that are conducive to life, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Nasa's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Answering the question are we alone is a top science priority and finding so many planets like these for the first time in the habitable zone is a remarkable step forward toward that goal.

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Public tries to name 7 new planets after Nasa discovery- with chaotic results - Telegraph.co.uk

Watch an astrophysicist explain how NASA’s next space telescope will help us time-travel through the Universe – The Verge

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

In just less than two years, NASA is slated to launch the most powerful space telescope thats ever been built. Its the James Webb Space Telescope, of JWST, and its being hailed as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that is currently in orbit around Earth. Theres a key difference, though, between the spacecraft. Whereas Hubble sees the Universe in mostly visible light, JWST will observe the cosmos in the infrared a type of light that cant be seen but is associated with heat emission. The JWST will capture this kind of light using a segmented mirror more than 20 feet across, allowing the observatory to look deeper into the Universe, and further back in time, than ever before.

At the end of last year, NASA celebrated the completion of the optics portion of the JSWT

At the end of last year, NASA celebrated the completion of the optics portion of the JSWT the mirror and instruments the telescope will use to study the most distant galaxies and star systems. Now, the space agency is putting the JWST through a series of tests to make sure the spacecraft will be able to handle its launch into space on a European Ariane 5 rocket in October 2018.

As NASA gets the JWST ready for space travel, one of the agencys astrophysicists, Amber Straughn, will give an update on the telescopes progress. Straughn, the associate director of the astrophysics science division at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, studies the Universes most puzzling phenomena from supermassive black holes to the evolution of galaxies. Tonight, during a lecture at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, she will talk about the development of JWST and what the completed spacecraft will teach us about the Universe.

The lecture begins at 7PM ET. People can participate in the conversation on Twitter by tweeting at Perimeter or using the hashtag #piLIVE.

Watch an astrophysicist explain how NASA's next space telescope will help us time-travel through the Universe - The Verge

Juno spooks NASA, sends back wild images from Jupiter – seattlepi … – seattlepi.com

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

JAKE ELLISON, SPECIAL TO SEATTLEPI.COM

Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Roman Tkachenko

The Junocam is a color-imaging eye pointed at the Jovian planet. Its gaze is be mostly directed by the public via a public-voting platform. The camera then takes raw images of areas both directed by the public and scientists. Once the images are uploaded, citizens with little to read or watch or otherwise distract themselves with other than news about the new U.S. president are invited to modify the images and upload them to the NASA website. Here are some to enjoy.

Citizen image (NASA caption): NASAs Juno spacecraft skimmed the upper wisps of Jupiters atmosphere when JunoCam snapped this image on Feb. 2 at 5:13 a.m. PT (8:13 a.m. ET), from an altitude of about 9,000 miles (14,500 kilometers) above the giant planets swirling cloudtops. Streams of clouds spin off a rotating oval-shaped cloud system in the Jovian southern hemisphere. Citizen scientist Roman Tkachenko reconstructed the color and cropped the image to draw viewers eyes to the storm and the turbulence around it.

NASA caption: NASAs Juno spacecraft soared directly over Jupiters south pole when JunoCam acquired this image on February 2, 2017 at 6:06 a.m. PT (9:06 a.m. ET), from an altitude of about 62,800 miles (101,000 kilometers) above the cloud tops. From this unique vantage point we see the terminator (where day meets night) cutting across the Jovian south polar regions restless, marbled atmosphere with the south pole itself approximately in the center of that border.

NASA capiton: Cyclones swirl around the south pole, and white oval storms can be seen near the limb -- the apparent edge of the planet -- in this image of Jupiters south polar region taken by the JunoCam imager aboard NASAs Juno spacecraft.

Citizen image, title:in Landscape

NASA's Junocam project encourages the public to download the images of Jupiter and creatively modify them. This is one of those examples created by a citizen "artist-scientist."

Citizen image, title:in Landscape

NASA's Junocam project encourages the public to download the images of Jupiter and creatively modify them. This is one of those examples created by a citizen

Citizen image (NASA caption): This enhanced-color image of Jupiters south pole and its swirling atmosphere was created by citizen scientist Roman Tkachenko using data from the JunoCam imager on NASAs Juno spacecraft.

Citizen image, title: Artified Swirls

Citizen image, title: Dark Spot

Citizen image, title: Beyond the Clouds of Jupiter

Citizen image, title: Jupiter wallpaper 4

Citizen image, title: 2017-02-11 04:31 UT

Citizen image, title: The giant

Citizen image, title: Jovian

Citizen image, title: DeepDream Convolution: Latitude Coverage

Citizen image, title: Jupiter flow

Citizen image, title: The Mighty Winds of Jupiter

Citizen image, title: 2017-02-26 12:27 UT

Citizen image, title: Turbulence

Juno spooks NASA, sends back wild images from Jupiter

Risk averse NASA has decided to keep its spacecraft Juno on the looonnnggg orbit of Jupiter.

Earlier in February, the agency said it didn't want to risk firing the spacecraft's engines and bring it in for a closer zip around the mega-planet because of a slight glitch in two helium check valves. I know!

Yeah, NASA. Apparently the valves opened later than expected during a system charge and since they are "part of the plumbing for the spacecraft's main engine" ... well, better safe than sorry.

Faced with a new POTUS and some subtle give and take in the nation over the man and his executive orders, the agency was quick to point out the silver lining of the situation:

Juno's larger 53-day orbit allows for "bonus science" that wasn't part of the original mission design. Juno will further explore the far reaches of the Jovian magnetosphere the region of space dominated by Jupiter's magnetic field including the far magnetotail, the southern magnetosphere, and the magnetospheric boundary region called the magnetopause. Understanding magnetospheres and how they interact with the solar wind are key science goals of NASA's Heliophysics Science Division.

"Another key advantage of the longer orbit is that Juno will spend less time within the strong radiation belts on each orbit," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "This is significant because radiation has been the main life-limiting factor for Juno."

Meanwhile, one unique feature of the human-made object zooming around the largest planet in our solar system, of which nearly no conspiracy theories of alien life or government coverups exist (even fevered brains know it's too chaotic of a place for such things, though its moons are another thing all together ... ) is the Junocam.

The Junocam is a color-imaging eye pointed at the Jovian planet. Its gaze will be mostly* directed by the public via a public-voting platform. The camera then takes raw images of areas both directed by the public and scientists. Once the images are uploaded, citizens with little to read or watch or otherwise distract themselves with other than news about the new U.S. president are invited to modify the images and upload them to the NASA website.

In the gallery above, you can see images that NASA has produced from the camera, which are presumably representative of how the planet would look if you were floating just above it in the cold vacuum of space while being cooked by radiation.** And, just after those, you can see some of the images citizens have made of that rarest of vantage points.

* "Since the mission's beginnings, Junocam was intended almost entirely as a public outreach tool, in contrast to the spacecraft's other instruments that will address Juno's core science questions. Juno scientists will ensure Junocam returns a few great shots of Jupiter's polar regions, but the overwhelming majority of the camera's image targets will be chosen by the public, with the data being processed by them as well," NASA said.

** "Scientists believe that the combination of this metallic hydrogen along with Jupiter's fast rotation -- one day on Jupiter is only 10 hours long -- generates a powerful magnetic field that surrounds the planet with electrons, protons and ions traveling at nearly the speed of light. The endgame for any spacecraft that enters this doughnut-shaped field of high-energy particles is an encounter with the harshest radiation environment in the solar system," NASA wrote.

Jake Ellison can be reached at jakeellisonjournalism@gmail.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/Jake_News. Also, swing by and *LIKE* his page on Facebook. If Google Plus is your thing, check out our science coverage here.

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Juno spooks NASA, sends back wild images from Jupiter - seattlepi ... - seattlepi.com

Scientists can soon thaw cryopreserved human organs using nanotechnology – The Indian Express

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

By: AP | Published:March 2, 2017 6:42 pm Researchers call their approach nanowarming, and they reported that it safely and rapidly thawed larger amounts of animal tissue than todays tools can.(Source: AP)

Deep-freezing donated organs might one day help improve the transplant supply but scientists must first figure out how to thaw the delicate tissue without it cracking. Now researchers are taking a first step toward that goal, using nanotechnology to create super heaters for preserved tissue.

University of Minnesota researchers call their approach nanowarming, and they reported Wednesday that it safely and rapidly thawed larger amounts of animal tissue than todays tools can.

Watch all our videos from Express Technology

The trick: Bathe pieces of tissue in magnetic nanoparticles and then beam radiofrequency energy to activate them. The nanoparticles act like microscopic heaters, evenly warming the tissue surrounding them, concluded the research published in Science Translational Medicine.

Years of additional research are needed before attempting to thaw human organs. We are cautiously optimistic that were going to be able to get into a kidney or maybe a heart. But we are not, in any way, declaring victory here, said University of Minnesota mechanical engineering professor John Bischof, who led the research team.

Doctors have longed to create an organ bank much like sperm or heart valves can be frozen and preserved for long periods, and specialists say the new research is an important proof of concept. If you could pull this off, it would really be transformational, said Dr. David Klassen, chief medical officer at the United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the nations transplant system.

About 119,000 people are on the waiting list for an organ transplant, and last year there were 33,599 transplants performed. One of the many challenges is that organs cant be stored for long outside the body about four to six hours for a heart or lung, for example.

And theyre stored in a decidedly old-fashioned way for the race to a needy recipient, infused with a cold preservation solution and set with ice inside a cooler, Klassen noted. Thats cold enough to slow cellular activity but theyre not frozen. A kind of cryopreservation that uses such a fast, deep freeze that tissue looks glass-like potentially could allow organs to be stored for longer periods.

But todays thawing technology only works well with small or simple types of tissue. Try it in larger, more complex tissue and damaging ice crystals form, even cracking frozen tissue much like an ice cube cracks when its dropped into water, Klassen explained. Bischofs team turned to metallic nanoparticles iron oxide for their new approach. To keep the tissue stable, warming would have to be super-fast and evenly dispersed.

Also Read:Worlds first light-seeking synthetic nanorobot developed

The nanowarming could heat 10 to 100 times faster than previously attempted methods, Bischof said. After nanowarming, small samples of human skin cells and pig arteries were as healthy-looking as those thawed by todays standard heating. Larger samples of pig heart tissue too big for todays heating tools also were thawed by the new technology without signs of damage, the researchers reported.

Afterwards, the researchers were able to wash away the nanoparticles. Working with entire organs will require infusing the nanoparticles deeper into nooks and crannies. Already the researchers are testing the approach with frozen rabbit kidneys. A heart may be easier, Bischof said, because of its hollow chambers.

The research was partly funded by the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Army.

Size Matters – Georgia State University News (press release)

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

That means the titanium dioxide that is safe when you smear it on your nose as a sunblock could be dangerous when it is broken down into super tiny bits that can interact with the human body at a cellular level.

The impact could be greater for populations that are already vulnerable, such as people with inherited disorders, especially with long-term exposure.

In one study, Wright found that certain metal-based engineered nanoparticles, widely used in cosmetics and sunscreens such as zinc oxide, could cause DNA damage in human cells.

People who work in the recycling and waste disposal industries may also face an increased risk due to exposure to nanomaterials.

In a recent study, Wright found that high-temperature incineration, a common disposal method for thermoplastics that contain nanoparticles, can result in a nanofiller effect where higher toxicity was observed in the particles released during burning of nano-enabled plastics than particles emitted from burned regular materials (plastics containing no nanomaterials).

About 20,000 metric tons of nanocomposite materials (such as vinyl siding) are sent to U.S. recycling facilities, landfills or disposed of through incineration each year.

As with products sold directly to consumers, there is no requirement that these materials be labeled and no guidelines for safe disposal of nano-enabled products.

Were not trying to demonize any particular material, Wright said. There are numerous benefits of nanomaterials across various industrial and research sectors. However, by understanding the material properties and how they behave in biological systems, we can minimize adverse human health outcomes while capitalizing on their unique properties, thereby increasing sustainability of the nanotechnology industry.

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Size Matters - Georgia State University News (press release)

Top 3 Emerging Trends Impacting the Global Aerospace Nanotechnology Market from 2017-2021: Technavio – Business Wire (press release)

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Technavios latest report on the global aerospace nanotechnology market provides an analysis of the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2017-2021. Technavio defines an emerging trend as a factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline.

The research study by Technavio on the global aerospace nanotechnology market for 2017-2021 provides a detailed industry analysis based on applications (space and defense and commercial aviation) and geography (the Americas, EMEA, and APAC).

The global aerospace nanotechnology market size is projected to grow to USD 5.95 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of close to 6% over the forecast period. The use of nanotechnology or nanomaterial in aerospace components ensures operational superiority, enhances the physical properties of structural and non-structural polymers, and deliver efficient nano- and micro-sensors used in spacecraft.

Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=56727

Technavios sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more.

The top three emerging trends driving the global aerospace nanotechnology market according to Technavio aerospace and defense research analysts are:

Emergence of zero-fuel aircraft

Zero-fuel aircraft use photovoltaic panels to utilize solar energy to provide necessary thrust to the engines. The Solar Impulse 2, a solar-powered prototype had nano carbon fiber reinforced structural components to reduce the overall weight of the body, says Avimanyu Basu, one of the lead analysts at Technavio for aerospace research.

Currently, there is an increasing interest in the commercial and civil sectors for using zero-fuel aircraft in applications such as agriculture, aerial photography, 3D mapping, wildlife protection, and provision of internet access in remote places. The initiative is nurturing the global aerospace and defense industries to embrace a long-term development strategy of zero-fuel aircraft concept, thereby driving market growth.

Nanotechnology in maritime warfare systems

Many governments are emphasizing on employing nanotechnology to improve the capabilities of submerged and marine combat platforms. Nanotechnology provides freedom to the developers in terms of design and lets them produce micro-sensors that can be scattered on the ocean floor for detecting enemy submarines. Shortly, nanostructured materials will play a vital role in producing a new class of energetic materials and be a key enabler of most advancements that marine combat environment will experience in the coming two decades.

Advancements in stealth technology used in airborne platforms

Stealth technology promotes the use of passive electronic countermeasures to make aircraft, submarines, ships, missiles, and satellites less visible or undetectable by detection platforms. Currently, the most popularly used radar-absorbent material is the iron ball paint containing nanoscopic spares, says Avimanyu.

India is expected to enter into a co-development agreement with Russia to implement the design and development of fifth-generation stealth aircraft in the coming years. Similar R&D efforts towards the improvement of stealth platform during the forecast period will have a positive impact on the adoption rate of nanotechnology.

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Become a Technavio Insights member and access all three of these reports for a fraction of their original cost. As a Technavio Insights member, you will have immediate access to new reports as theyre published in addition to all 6,000+ existing reports covering segments like aerospace components, defense, and space. This subscription nets you thousands in savings, while staying connected to Technavios constant transforming research library, helping you make informed business decisions more efficiently.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, resellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

Top 3 Emerging Trends Impacting the Global Aerospace Nanotechnology Market from 2017-2021: Technavio - Business Wire (press release)

Nanomedicine provides HIV treatment alternative – Healio

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

Nanomedicine provides HIV treatment alternative
Healio
The results of two trials, which examined the use of nanotechnology to improve drug therapies for HIV patients, found that a new nanomedicine method has the potential to cut the dose of leading HIV treatment in half, according to new evidence presented ...

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Nanomedicine provides HIV treatment alternative - Healio

Nanobiotix reports jump in fourth-quarter and full-year revenues boosted by upfront payments from PharmaEngine – Proactive Investors UK

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

The Euronext-listed late clinical-stage company reported revenue of 517,738 for the three months to December 31, up from 58,556 in the third quarter.

Nanomedicine firm Nanobiotix SA () has reported a jump in fourth-quarter and full-year 2016 revenues boosted by upfront payments from Taiwan-based PharmaEngine.

The Euronext-listed late clinical-stage company, which is pioneering novel approaches for the local treatment of cancer, reported revenue of 517,738 for the three months to December 31, up from 58,556 in the third quarter.

The firm said the pro-rata share upfront payment from PharmaEngine is within the framework of the licensing contract signed in August 2012 for the development and commercialisation of the lead NanoXray product, NBTXR3 in the Asia-Pacific region.

The upfront payment totalled 810,640, generating revenue of 46,854 over the period.

The group said the invoicing of services and other sales respectively totalled 371,074 and 99,450 for the fourth quarter.

In total, Nanobiotixs 2016 revenues were 1.5581mln, which the firm said was fully in line with its expectations. In 2015, the groups revenues were 265,543.

Last years revenues included a milestone payment of US$1.0mln (890,472) from PharmaEngine in June 2016.

That payment was triggered by the first patient injection of NBTXR3 in Asia within Nanobiotixs Soft Tissue Sarcoma pivotal phase in the AsiaPacific region.

In December, Nanobiotix released positive results from Phase I/II trial evaluating NBTXR3 in liver cancers, with preliminary data showing feasibility and good safety of treatment with NBTXR3 at a 10% dose level.

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Nanobiotix reports jump in fourth-quarter and full-year revenues boosted by upfront payments from PharmaEngine - Proactive Investors UK

The Tiny Robots Will See You Now – IEEE Spectrum

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Danzig

Over the past week, weve highlighted a lot of big, impressive robots. Now its time to pay homage to their teeny, tiny counterparts.

Its science-fiction-turned-reality: Researchers are developing micro- and nanoscale robots that move freely in the body, communicate with each other, perform jobs, and degrade when their mission is complete. These tiny robots will someday have a major impact on disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, according to a new review in Science Robotics from a top nanoengineering teamat the University of California, San Diego.

The review highlights four areas of medicine where tiny robots have been successfully used in proof-of-concept studies: targeted delivery, precision surgery, sensing of biological targets, and detoxification. Of those, active drug delivery is primarily the most promising commercial application of medical microrobots, said paper co-author Joseph Wang, chair of nanoengineering at UCSD, in an email to IEEE Spectrum. In December, for example, researchers at ETH Zurich in Switzerland showed that a wire-shaped nanorobot could be wirelessly steered toward a location and then triggered by a magnetic field to release drugs to kill cancer cells.

To get to know these little machines better before we meet them in the doctors office, here are five things to know about micro- and nanorobots:

1. They are hard to moveand even harder to power.

Two of the key challenges of miniaturizing robots to the micro- and nanoscales are locomotion and power. You simply cant fit gears or a battery on these guys. Many of the robots employ a swimming strategy and are either chemically powered or externally powered by magnetic fields or other energies, including light, heat, or electricity. One of Wangs favorites is a nanorocket his team developed that propels itself in the stomach or gastrointestinal tract using gastric fluid as fuel and leaving a trail of bubbles in its wake. Still, the field continues to look for new energy sources that last longer that current sources and will work autonomously, without a technicians intervention.

2. They can perform surgery.

Robot-assisted surgery is now common, translating doctors hand movements to smaller, precise motions inside a patients body. Now, imagine that on the nanoscale. Scientists are developing nanodrillers, microgrippers, and other tools to be injected into the body, travel to particular areas in the body, and then capture or remove certain tissues, such as a clump of cells for biopsy. In one recent example, researchers constructed a tube-like microrobot that performed surgery, injecting a needle into the back of a living rabbits eye. The motion of the robot was controlled with magnetic fields.

3. Theyll cooperate via swarm intelligence.

Micro- and nanorobots arent expected to work alone; hundreds to thousands of units will cooperate to do a job. These microrobots can swarm into small schools to perform a collective action, says Wang. For that to happen, scientists will need to instill de-centralized communication called swarm intelligence. That can be done using group motion planning and machine learning, according to the paper.

4. Theyre designed to destroy themselves after completing a mission.

Lets be honestno one wants a bunch of nanobots sticking around inside of their body once the job is done, whether it be surgery, drug delivery, or something else. So scientists are constructing the robots out of biodegradable materials that stay in a patients body for a limited amount of time, and then are cleared or disappear once the job is completed.

5. Theyre being used in live animals.

Wangs nanorocket, mentioned earlier, was the first artificial micromotor to be tested in a live mouse model. Today, more labs are testing their tech in live animals, says Wang, including at ETH Zurich and the University of Montreal. If successful, this in vivo work should lead to clinical trials in humans, says Wang. Who wants to sign up first?

IEEE Spectrums biomedical blog, featuring the wearable sensors, big data analytics, and implanted devices that enable new ventures in personalized medicine.

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The Tiny Robots Will See You Now - IEEE Spectrum

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