The International Space Station. Credit: NASA
Monday, July 9, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Sunday, July 1, 2012
HOUSTON WORKSHOP: FINDING WAYS TO EXPLORE THE RED PLANET
Photo: The Famous Face On Mars. Credit: NASA.
FROM: NASA
WASHINGTON -- A recent workshop conducted for NASA by the Lunar and
Planetary Institute (LPI) in Houston, marked a key step in the
agency's effort to forge a new Mars strategy in the coming decades. A
report that summarizes the wide range of cutting-edge science,
technology and mission concepts discussed is available online.
Held in Houston June 12-14 and attended by scientists and engineers
worldwide, the meeting was held to seek ideas, concepts and
capabilities to address critical challenge areas in exploring the Red
Planet. Discussions provided information for reformulating NASA's
Mars Exploration Program (MEP) to be responsive to high-priority
science goals and the challenge of sending humans to Mars orbit in
the 2030s.
Participants identified a number of possible approaches to missions
that can be flown to Mars in the coming decade that would make
progress toward returning Martian samples -- a top priority of the
Planetary Science Decadal Survey -- and make significant advances in
scientific understanding of the planet, developing key technologies
and advancing knowledge necessary for human exploration on and around
Mars.
NASA's Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG), tasked with developing
options for a reformulated MEP, will consider the workshop inputs in
addition to budgetary, programmatic, scientific and technical
constraints.
"Scientists and engineers came together to present their most creative
ideas for exploring Mars," said John Grunsfeld, an astronaut,
astrophysicist and associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Great ideas come
from challenging the best and brightest and igniting their passion
and determination to succeed."
The MPPG reports to Grunsfeld, who chairs the agency-wide Mars
reformulation effort along with William Gerstenmaier, NASA's
associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Mission
Directorate, Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati and Chief Technologist
Mason Peck. The official draft MPPG report is expected to be
delivered to NASA for review at the end of the summer.
Concepts put forth tapped into significant benefits that could be
gained from technology investments by NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate,
and Office of the Chief Technologist. The participants also stressed
the importance of establishing international collaboration early in
the planning process and sustaining it throughout future missions.
"Future Mars exploration missions will require new concepts and
technologies," said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA's Space
Technology Program. "There were many innovative and transformational
concepts presented at the workshop. With continued investments in
cutting-edge technology, these will lead to increased capability,
reduced mission risk and lower mission costs."
Workshop attendance included almost 200 scientists, engineers and
graduate students from academia, NASA centers, federal laboratories,
industry, and international partner organizations. More than 1,600
people participated online as the workshop proceedings were streamed
live on the Internet.
"The LPI workshop provided a broad set of ideas for Mars exploration,
including synergies between science, human exploration and technology
development," Gerstenmaier said. "The number of workshop participants
demonstrates the broad interest in Mars exploration."
The workshop provided a forum for broad community input on near-term
mission concepts. Ideas for longer-term activities will be used to
inform program architecture planning beyond the early 2020s. Workshop
results represent individual perspectives from members of the
scientific and technical community.
"The scientific and technical community has given us quite a range of
ideas to consider in reformulating the Mars Exploration Program,"
said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program at
the agency's headquarters. "Many concepts presented are highly
relevant to the challenges the MPPG must address."
NASA will land its most advanced rover, Curiosity, on the surface of
Mars in August. This mobile science laboratory will assess whether
the past or present environment on Mars could support life. In 2013,
NASA will launch the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution orbiter,
the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper
atmosphere.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
NASA SPACECRAFT REVEALS ICE IN LUNAR SOUTH POLE CRATER
FROM: NASA
Elevation (left) and shaded relief (right) image of Shackleton, a 21-km-diameter (12.5-mile-diameter) permanently shadowed crater adjacent to the lunar south pole. The structure of the crater's interior was revealed by a digital elevation model constructed from over 5 million elevation measurements from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter. Credit:NASA/Zuber, M.T. et al., Nature, 2012
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has
returned data that indicate ice may make up as much as 22 percent of
the surface material in a crater located on the moon's south pole.
The team of NASA and university scientists using laser light from
LRO's laser altimeter examined the floor of Shackleton crater. They
found the crater's floor is brighter than those of other nearby
craters, which is consistent with the presence of small amounts of
ice. This information will help researchers understand crater
formation and study other uncharted areas of the moon. The findings
are published in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature.
"The brightness measurements have been puzzling us since two summers
ago," said Gregory Neumann of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md., a co-author on the paper. "While the distribution of
brightness was not exactly what we had expected, practically every
measurement related to ice and other volatile compounds on the moon
is surprising, given the cosmically cold temperatures inside its
polar craters."
The spacecraft mapped Shackleton crater with unprecedented detail,
using a laser to illuminate the crater's interior and measure its
albedo or natural reflectance. The laser light measures to a depth
comparable to its wavelength, or about a micron. That represents a
millionth of a meter, or less than one ten-thousandth of an inch. The
team also used the instrument to map the relief of the crater's
terrain based on the time it took for laser light to bounce back from
the moon's surface. The longer it took, the lower the terrain's
elevation.
In addition to the possible evidence of ice, the group's map of
Shackleton revealed a remarkably preserved crater that has remained
relatively unscathed since its formation more than three billion
years ago. The crater's floor is itself pocked with several small
craters, which may have formed as part of the collision that created
Shackleton.
The crater, named after the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, is
two miles deep and more than 12 miles wide. Like several craters at
the moon's south pole, the small tilt of the lunar spin axis means
Shackleton crater's interior is permanently dark and therefore
extremely cold.
"The crater's interior is extremely rugged," said Maria Zuber, the
team's lead investigator from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in Cambridge in Mass. "It would not be easy to crawl
around in there."
While the crater's floor was relatively bright, Zuber and her
colleagues observed that its walls were even brighter. The finding
was at first puzzling. Scientists had thought that if ice were
anywhere in a crater, it would be on the floor, where no direct
sunlight penetrates. The upper walls of Shackleton crater are
occasionally illuminated, which could evaporate any ice that
accumulates. A theory offered by the team to explain the puzzle is
that "moonquakes"-- seismic shaking brought on by meteorite impacts
or gravitational tides from Earth -- may have caused Shackleton's
walls to slough off older, darker soil, revealing newer, brighter
soil underneath. Zuber's team's ultra-high-resolution map provides
strong evidence for ice on both the crater's floor and walls.
"There may be multiple explanations for the observed brightness
throughout the crater," said Zuber. "For example, newer material may
be exposed along its walls, while ice may be mixed in with its
floor."
The initial primary objective of LRO was to conduct investigations
that prepare for future lunar exploration. Launched in June 2009, LRO
completed its primary exploration mission and is now in its primary
science mission. LRO was built and is managed by Goddard. This
research was supported by NASA's Human Exploration and Operations
Mission Directorate and Science Mission Directorate at the agency's
headquarters in Washington.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
U.S. AIR FORCE ANNOUNCE ATLAS V LAUNCH
FROM: U.S. AIR FORCE
Air Force Officials Announce Milestone Atlas V Launch
By Amaani Lyle
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 20, 2012 - As part of the Defense Department's ongoing efforts to maintain assured, affordable access to space through 2030, the Atlas V rocket successfully lifted off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Florida's Cape Canaveral, Air Force officials said.
"This is an exciting time for the U.S. space launch community, said Scott Correll, the program's executive officer. "From today's successful launch of the 50th EELV to the recent success of Space X's support to NASA with their Falcon 9 is clear the commercial space transportation industry is making notable strides."
The EELV program replaced the existing fleet of launch systems with two families of launch vehicles -- the Boeing Delta IV and Lockheed Martin Atlas V -- built and operated by the DOD's prime contractor, United Launch Alliance, Correll said.
An official from the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base explained that the Atlas V is a critical part of a spectrum of government missions.
"Atlas V launches space-based infrared systems, global positioning systems, the defense meteorological satellite program, and the advanced extremely-high frequency system satellites," said Air Force Col. Bob Hodgkiss, director of the launch systems directorate. "I'm pleased to report that this year we have also already launched the wideband global sat-com IV aboard a Delta IV, and the Navy's mobile user objective system satellite 1 aboard Atlas V."
Because of considerable program costs, which can run as high as several billion dollars per launch, quality assurance and the development of a competitive market are paramount, Air Force officials said.
"Since the Air Force must by law self-indemnify, we do a very rigorous evaluation of the physical, electrical and radio frequency interfaces between the rocket, the satellite and the ground systems," Hodgkiss said of the process to determine flight readiness. "My team is the government's insurance policy, so we need to be sure we have the highest probability of success in one of the riskiest activities the Air Force does."
On the business side of the program, Hodgkiss said, the program's primary users, the Air Force, NASA, and the National Reconnaissance Office are developing strategies to infuse competition into space launch as a cost reduction measure.
"We are balancing the commitment we will make to ULA with the potential to reintroduce competition to the program when one or more commercial launch companies have demonstrated to the Air Force they are reliable launch providers," the colonel said.
Correll asserts that certifying new entrants will potentially enable competition, thereby lowering costs and creating innovation in government payloads such as communications, navigation, weather satellites, and science and national security missions.
"The framework offers multiple paths to on-ramp potential new entrants and part of this strategy requires an entrant to demonstrate at least one launch of a vehicle configured as an EELV class national security space launch," he said.
ULA's next launch and the NRO's next mission, the Delta IV NROL-15, is scheduled for June 28.
"Our soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, Coast Guardsmen and intelligence community are dependent upon the warfighting capabilities we enable," Correll said. "Our priority and focus remain mission success first while controlling costs in this constrained fiduciary environment."
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