- SpaceX Successfully Launches DSCOVR Space Weather Satellite, but Skips Rocket Landing
- Research Team Explores Vision Complications for Astronauts
- ESA's IXV Experimental Spaceplane Completes Test Flight
- Very Large Array Finds Unexpected 'Storm' at Galaxy's Core
- NASA Celebrates SDO's Fifth Anniversary
- SpaceX's Dragon Spacecraft Splashes Down Ending CRS-5 Mission
- SpaceX and Air Force Sign First-ever Landing Pad Agreement at the Cape
- House Passes Bipartisan NASA Reauthorization Bill
- China Tests New Carrier Rocket's Power System
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Posted: 12 Feb 2015 05:24 AM PST
Just before sunset at 6:03 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Feb. 11, Falcon 9 lifted off from SpaceX’s Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, carrying the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite on SpaceX’s first deep space mission. The DSCOVR mission is a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA and the U.S. Air Force, providing real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities for NOAA's space weather alerts and forecasts. After delivering the satellite to space, the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage was initially expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere for a landing attempt on a SpaceX drone ship in the Atlantic. However, the attempt was called off because of extreme weather that caused massive waves.
Falcon 9’s nine Merlin engines burned for 2 minutes and 44 seconds, shutting down as expected just prior to separation of the first and second stages. Shortly thereafter, the second stage’s Merlin Vacuum engine ignited to begin the first of two burns for a duration of approximately 1 minute.
Following completion of its first burn, the second stage carrying the DSCOVR satellite coasted for the next 22 minutes. Approximately 30 minutes and 47 seconds into flight, the second stage ignited for its second burn to place the DSCOVR satellite in its parking orbit and at 35 minutes, the satellite was successfully deployed.
Ultimately, DSCOVR will be positioned at the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrangian point, 1,500,000 kilometers (930,000 mi) from Earth, more than four times farther than the Moon. SpaceX delivered DSCOVR to a parking orbit just under 200km, and the satellite will reach its final orbit 110 days after launch. It will take its place alongside NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) research satellite, replacing the 17-year old ACE as America’s primary warning system for solar magnetic storms headed towards Earth. Meanwhile, ACE will continue its important role in space weather research.
“DSCOVR is the latest example of how NASA and NOAA work together to leverage the vantage point of space to both understand the science of space weather and provide direct practical benefits to us here on Earth,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Vice Commander of Air Force’s 45th Space Wing, who also served as the Launch Decision Authority for this important launch, praised the work of all those involved in making this launch a success. "We congratulate NOAA, SpaceX and NASA on their successful launch and applaud the teamwork between Team Patrick-Cape and all our mission partners involved in making this mission a success," said Col. Shawn Fairhurst. "The operations conducted here at Cape Canaveral impact our global population and this mission will potentially help protect critical systems around the world. This is another significant reminder of why our No. 1 priority is 100% percent mission success," he said. "Great job Sharks!"
Data from DSCOVR, coupled with a new forecast model that is set to come online later this year, will enable NOAA forecasters to predict geomagnetic storm magnitude on a regional basis. Geomagnetic storms occur when plasma and magnetic fields streaming from the sun impact Earth’s magnetic field. Large magnetic eruptions from the sun have the potential to bring major disruptions to power grids, aviation, telecommunications, and GPS systems. “Located in line between the sun and the Earth, DSCOVR will be a point of early warning whenever it detects a surge of energy that could trigger a geomagnetic storm destined for Earth,” said Stephen Volz, Ph.D., assistant administrator for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service. “According to the National Academies of Sciences, a major solar storm has the potential to cost upwards of $2 trillion, disrupting telecommunications, GPS systems, and the energy grid. As the nation’s space weather prediction agency, when DSCOVR is fully operational and our new space weather forecast models are in place, we will be able to provide vital information to industries and communities to help them prepare for these storms.” NOAA will operate DSCOVR from its NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Maryland, and process the space weather data at the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) in Boulder, Colorado, one of NOAA’s nine National Centers for Environmental Prediction. SWPC will then distribute these space weather data to users within the United States and around the world. The data will be archived at NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center also in Boulder. While extreme weather prevented SpaceX from attempting to recover the first stage, data shows the first stage successfully soft landed in the Atlantic Ocean within 10 meters of its target. The vehicle was nicely vertical and the data captured during this test suggests a high probability of being able to land the stage on the drone ship in better weather. Credit: NOAA, NASA, spacex.com, patrick.af.mil  | ||||
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Posted: 12 Feb 2015 12:37 AM PST
An international partnership between Florida State University and a team from the Russian Academy of Sciences has found that space travel may severely impair the body’s ability to regulate blood rushing to the brain, which could contribute to the temporary or permanent vision problems experienced by astronauts. In a new paper published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, Florida State Professor Michael Delp and Russian colleagues Olga Tarasova and Olga Vinogradova delve into the complications that occur when humans travel to space and spend weeks to months in a weightless environment. In recent years, NASA has become interested in investigating vision problems observed in astronauts returning from space. On shorter trips, astronauts have often experienced minor vision changes that eventually self-correct. But longer visits to space have caused more substantial issues.
“What has happened is we’ve become much more aware of medical problems humans can face when staying in space for extended periods of time,” said Delp, who also serves as dean of the College of Human Sciences. “Astronauts are willing to make sacrifices of their body in order to go into space, but few are willing to compromise their vision.” For NASA, the issue is a top research priority, and a number of scientists around the world are working to solve the problem. Delp, a physiologist who studies the effects of microgravity on the cardiovascular system, began working on the issue of what happens to the body when people travel to space several years ago. To further the work, he and a group of researchers at the Russian Academy of Sciences who were studying similar issues formed a partnership. The Russian Federal Space Agency, with the help of NASA, assembled an international team of researchers to study mice sent into space for 30 days on a Russian satellite, the Bion-M1. When the satellite returned to Earth, the mice were whisked by ambulance to laboratories at the Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow, where the research team hunkered down for hours, investigating arteries that control blood flow to muscle, skin and the brain of the small creatures. They soon discovered that the brain held the most interesting responses to the spaceflight. “Without gravity pulling body fluids down toward the feet, fluid will rise toward the brain,” Delp said. “When spaceflight alters the function of arteries that precisely regulate blood flow to the brain, it could severely affect many things, including vision.” The issue remains how to solve that problem. Delp and his Russian colleagues are already setting the stage for future experiments that may yield more answers and possible solutions. In May, another group of mice will be sent to the International Space Station for observation. “It’s truly been a remarkable collaboration,” Delp said. “The Russian scientists are unbelievable partners.” Funding for the research was provided by NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the Russian Federal Space Agency, the Russian Academy of Sciences and M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University Program of Development. Florida State Professor of Biomedical Sciences Judy Delp contributed to the paper, as did Kansas State University Associate Professor Brad Behnke, who previously studied with Michael Delp at the University of Florida. Other co-authors are Delp’s former students John N. Stabley, Danielle J. McCullough, Joshua J. Maraj and Mina Hanna. In addition to Tarasova and Vinogradova, the Russian team consisted of Svetlana Sofronova, Dina Gaynullina and Anna Borzykh. Credit: fsu.edu  | ||||
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Posted: 11 Feb 2015 03:03 PM PST
An experimental vehicle to develop an autonomous European reentry capability for future reusable space transportation has completed its mission. ESA’s Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) flew a flawless reentry and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean just west of the Galapagos islands. The IXV spaceplane lifted off at 13:40 GMT (14:40 CET, 10:40 local time) on 11 February from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana atop a Vega rocket operated by Arianespace. It separated from Vega at an altitude of 340 km and continued up to 412 km. Reentering from this suborbital path, it recorded a vast amount of data from more than 300 advanced and conventional sensors. As it descended, the five-metre-long, two-tonne craft manoeuvred to decelerate from hypersonic to supersonic speed. The entry speed of 7.5 km/s at an altitude of 120 km created the same conditions as those for a vehicle returning from low Earth orbit. IXV glided through the atmosphere before parachutes deployed to slow the descent further for a safe splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. “IXV has opened a new chapter for ESA in terms of reentry capabilities and reusability,” said Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General. “ESA and its Member States, together with European space industry, are now ready to take up new challenges in several fields of space transportation, in future launchers, robotic exploration or human spaceflight.”
During post-launch comments from the mission control center, Arianespace Chairman & CEO Stéphane Israël offered his congratulations to the Italian space industry – which played a major role in development of the Vega launcher, as well as the IXV spaceplane. “Today’s flight, the fourth success of Vega in as many attempts, is one more confirmation of the Italian excellence in the field of launch vehicles,” said Israël, referring in particular to Vega prime contractor ELV S.p.A., a company jointly owned by AVIO and the Italian Space Agency.
IXV was designed and built by Thales Alenia Space Italy in Turin. The Vega light launcher used for this mission is built by the prime contractor ELV, a company jointly owned by Avio (70%) and the Italian space agency ASI (30%). In other words, this mission is a two-pronged success for the Italian space industry, spotlighting its technological excellence and overall expertise in space transport.
“The success of this mission is a source of great pride for us," said Elisio Prette, President and CEO of Thales Alenia Space Italy. "Thanks to the data collected during the flight, we are paving the way for the development of new-generation reentry vehicles in Europe, and our company, which designed and built the IXV, is now the European benchmark in this sector. Thales Alenia Space will further develop its expertise via the European program PRIDE, approved at the Ministerial Conference in December 2014, marking another significant step forward in the general understanding of enabling technologies for reentry systems.”
The Mission Control Centre at the ALTEC Advanced Logistics Technology Engineering Centre in Turin, Italy, closely monitored IXV during the mission, receiving flight and instrument data from the entire ground network, including the fixed ground stations in Libreville (Gabon) and Malindi (Kenya), and the station on the Nos Aries recovery ship in the Pacific.
Balloons are now keeping IXV afloat while the recovery vessel hurries to pick it up. It will be returned to Europe for detailed analysis in ESA’s technical centre, ESTEC, in the Netherlands.
Mastering reentry will open a new chapter for ESA. Such a capability is a cornerstone for reusable launcher stages, sample return from other planets and crew return from space, as well as for future Earth observation, microgravity research, satellite servicing and disposal missions.
The initial results from the flight are expected to be released in around six weeks.
The results will feed the Programme for Reusable In-Orbit Demonstrator for Europe, or Pride, which is being studied under funding decided at ESA’s last two Ministerial Councils. The reusable Pride spaceplane would be launched on Europe’s Vega light rocket, orbit and land automatically on a runway.
“This mission will teach us a lot about the technologies we need to apply in new launch systems, in particular when we think about reusable systems,” notes Gaele Winters, ESA Director of Launchers.
“This was a short mission with big impact,” notes Giorgio Tumino, IXV project manager.
“The cutting-edge technology we validated today, and the data gathered from the sensors aboard IXV, will open numerous opportunities for Europe to develop ambitious plans in space transportation for a multitude of applications.”
The launch also allowed the new Vega rocket to show its impressive capabilities, and to confirm its flexibility for a wide range of missions.
French Space Agency (CNES) President Jean-Yves Le Gall hailed this new accomplishment for Vega: “This is the fourth successful flight for Vega and I would like to congratulate all the teams who helped to make this launch a success at ESA, the Italian space agency ASI, Arianespace, Thales Alenia Space and of course at CNES. I also want to thank all of our European partners for their support for the launch services sector. Their actions, magnified by this latest success, are adding every day to the international reputation of the Guiana Space Centre and the family of launchers we operate there with Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega.”
Since its introduction in 2012, the launcher has reduced operational costs and delivered its first commercial customers into orbit, as well as demonstrating numerous capabilities such as dual payloads and different orbits.
Today’s mission was the first Vega payload to require an equatorial launch trajectory, instead of travelling northwards as on previous missions. It was also the heaviest payload so far.
In addition to being the fourth Vega flight overall, today’s success marked the first of 11 missions targeted in 2015 with a member of Arianespace’s launch vehicle family – which also includes the heavyweight Ariane 5 and medium-lift Soyuz. In addition, it was the second launch within the European Space Agency-managed VERTA (Vega Research and Technology Accompaniment) program to showcase Vega’s flexibility and versatility.
According to Israël, 2015 will be a “decisive” year for Vega – with three missions forecasted with the light-lift vehicle, each targeting different applications: space technology development, with today’s lofting of IXV; Earth Observation, with the orbiting of Sentinel 2A this spring as part of the European Union’s Copernicus program; and science, with the autumn launch of the European Space Agency’s Lisa Pathfinder.
The next flight of an Arianespace launch vehicle family member is scheduled for March 27 with Soyuz, which will loft two additional Full Operational Capability satellites for the European Galileo constellation.
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Posted: 11 Feb 2015 02:16 PM PST
Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA) found surprisingly energetic activity in what they otherwise considered a "boring" galaxy, and their discovery provides important insight on how supermassive black holes can have a catastrophic effect on the galaxies in which they reside. "It appears that a supermassive black hole is explosively heating and blasting around the gas in this galaxy and, as a result, is transforming it from an actively star-forming galaxy into one devoid of gas that can no longer form stars," said Chris Harrison, the lead-author of the study, from The Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy at Durham University in the UK.
Two major types of galaxies are spirals, rich in gas and actively forming stars, and ellipticals, gas-poor and with very little star formation. The massive ellipticals, astronomers think, started life as actively star-forming galaxies. Powerful jets and winds of material, powered by supermassive black holes at the galaxies' centers, are believed to remove or destroy the raw material needed for continued star formation.
"For many years, we've seen direct evidence of this happening in galaxies that are extremely bright when viewed through radio telescopes. These, rare, radio-bright galaxies harbor powerful jets, launched at the black hole, that plow into the surrounding gas," Harrison said. "However, to understand how all of galaxies in our Universe formed, we needed to know if these same processes occur in less extreme galaxies that better represent the majority. This was the focus of our study," he added.
As part of an ongoing investigation, Harrison and his colleagues used the VLA to study a galaxy labelled J1430+1339, also known as the "Teacup," because of its appearance. About 1.1 billion light-years from Earth, the galaxy had been identified as having characteristics typical of galaxies with a central black hole actively consuming material. Follow-on observations with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope also revealed evidence that the Teacup has the appearance of a elliptical-type galaxy, but is surrounded by gas that suggests it is still in the process of transforming from a star-forming galaxy.
The VLA observations showed that the galaxy has "bubbles" extending from 30,000 to 40,000 light-years on each side of its core, along with smaller jet-like structures, about 2,000 light-years in size. These jet-like structures are located at the position where visible-light observations indicate gas is being accelerated to speeds up to about 1,000 kilometers per second.
Alasdair Thomson, another Durham astronomer involved in the study, said, "These radio observations have revealed that the central black hole is whipping up a storm at the center of this galaxy, by launching powerful jets that are accelerating the gas in the host galaxy and are colliding with the gas on larger scales. This is the same kind of powerful process we'd previously seen in rare, extremely radio-luminous galaxies. The incredible capabilites of the VLA have allowed us to discover that these processes can occur in the more-common, radio-faint galaxies, as long as you look hard enough."
"This 'storm' in the 'Teacup' means that the jet-driven process in which a black hole is removing or destroying star-forming material may be much more typical than we knew before, and could be a crucial piece in the puzzle of understanding how the galaxies we see around us were formed," Harrison said. Harrison and his collaborators now have observed eight more such objects with the VLA and are analyzing their data to see if the others show similar characteristics.
Harrison worked with a team of astronomers from the UK, the U.S., and Chile. They presented their findings in the Astrophysical Journal.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
Credit: nrao.edu
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Posted: 11 Feb 2015 01:29 PM PST
February 11, 2015 marks five years in space for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory or SDO, which provides incredibly detailed images of the Earth-facing side of the sun 24 hours a day. Capturing an image almost once per second, SDO has provided an unprecedentedly clear picture of how massive explosions on the sun grow and erupt ever since its launch on Feb. 11, 2010. The imagery is also captivating, allowing one to watch the constant ballet of solar material through the sun's atmosphere, the corona. In honor of SDO's fifth anniversary, NASA has released two videos showcasing highlights from the last five years of sun watching. The first is a time lapse of the past five years. Different colors represent different wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light, ultraviolet light, and visible light, which in turn correspond to solar material at different temperatures. Additionally SDO returns solar magnetic field data that helps scientists study solar activity.
The second video showcases highlights from the last five years. Watch the movie to see giant clouds of solar material hurled out into space, the dance of giant loops hovering in the corona, and huge sunspots growing and shrinking on the sun's surface.
The imagery in both videos is an example of the kind of data that SDO provides to scientists. By watching the sun in different wavelengths – and therefore different temperatures – scientists can watch how material courses through the corona, which holds clues to what causes eruptions on the sun, what heats the sun's atmosphere up to 1,000 times hotter than its surface, and why the sun's magnetic fields are constantly on the move. SDO also measures fluctuations in the sun’s extreme ultraviolet output, which provides the majority of energy for heating Earth’s upper atmosphere.
"There have now been more than 2,000 scientific papers published based on SDO data," said Dean Pesnell, project scientist for SDO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "SDO has also led to wonderful international collaborations, with the data being shared and used all over the world."
Five years into its mission, SDO continues to send back tantalizing imagery to incite scientists' curiosity. For example, in late 2014, SDO captured imagery of the largest sun spots seen since 1995 as well as a torrent of intense solar flares. Solar flares are bursts of light, energy and X-rays. They can occur by themselves or can be accompanied by what's called a coronal mass ejection, or CME, in which a giant cloud of solar material erupts off the sun, achieves escape velocity and heads off into space. In this case, the sun produced only flares and no CMEs, which, while not unheard of, is somewhat unusual for flares of that size. Scientists are looking at that data now to see if they can determine what circumstances might have led to flares eruptions alone.
This mission has touched us on many levels; it evokes a sense of wonder when we see these beautiful images;” said Lika Guhathakurta, SDO program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. “It stokes our curiosity and it connects us personally to the deepest mysteries—from the warmth we feel on our skin when we walk outside on a sunny day to the distant reaches of the cosmos.”
Goddard built, operates and manages the SDO spacecraft for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. SDO is the first mission of NASA's Living with a Star Program. The program's goal is to develop the scientific understanding necessary to address those aspects of the sun-Earth system that directly affect our lives and society.
Credit: NASA
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Posted: 11 Feb 2015 12:41 PM PST
SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean about 7:44 p.m. EST Tuesday 259 miles southwest of Long Beach, California, marking the company’s fifth contracted cargo resupply mission (CRS-5) to the International Space Station (ISS). The Dragon spacecraft will be taken by ship to Long Beach, where some cargo will be removed and returned to NASA. Dragon will then be prepared for a return trip to SpaceX's test facility in McGregor, Texas, for processing. "The ability to resupply and return this critical research continues to be an invaluable asset for the researchers here on Earth using the International Space Station as their laboratory in orbit," said Kirt Costello, deputy chief scientist for the International Space Station Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The spacecraft returned about 3,700 pounds of NASA cargo and science samples from the ISS.
After stowing items tagged for return to Earth, the station crew closed hatches between the complex and the SpaceX supply ship Monday.
European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti released the Dragon capsule from the outpost’s 58-foot robot arm at 2:10 p.m. EST (1910 GMT) Tuesday, and the spacecraft performed three rocket burns to fly a safe distance from the space station.
“This is the end of a very, very successful Dragon mission,” Cristoforetti radioed mission control after the Dragon spaceship’s departure. “We’d like to think our guys for working hard on this, and of course the folks in Hawthorne (SpaceX headquarters). It’s a privilege working with Dragon, doing a bunch of science — lots of samples are coming back on it — and of course sending her on her way.”
Dragon’s navigation bay door closed later Tuesday, setting the stage for a 10-minute de-orbit burn beginning at 6:49 p.m. EST (2349 GMT).
Flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at Johnson robotically positioned Dragon safely away from its docking port earlier Tuesday, where it was released for its deorbit maneuver, sending it on its way to a parachute-assisted splashdown.
Among the returned investigations were printed parts and hardware from the first technology demonstration of 3-D printing in space. The 3-D printer demonstration used relatively low-temperature plastic feedstock on the space station. The test phase ended with a printed ratchet wrench made with a design file transmitted from Earth to the printer.
"Experiments like 3-D printing in space demonstrate important capabilities that allow NASA and humanity to proceed farther on the journey to Mars,” Costello said. “Other investigations such as those focused on protein crystal growth take advantage of the unique microgravity environment and offer us new avenues to investigate troubling diseases back on Earth."
Dragon also returned samples, hardware and data from several biology and biotechnology studies performed on the station. The Advancing Membrane Protein Crystallization by Using Microgravity investigation explored the production of high-quality crystals of the cystic fibrosis protein and other closely related proteins. Because many medically relevant proteins are difficult to crystalize on Earth, researchers attempt to grow them in space to help determine their shape and structure with the hope of improving drug therapies for cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that causes severe damage to the lungs and digestive system.
Samples from the Advanced Plant Experiments 03-1 will help scientists better understand the effects of microgravity on the development of roots and cells on plant seedlings. Researchers will conduct a detailed analysis of the returned plant samples to determine the molecular and genetic mechanisms that control plant development in microgravity. With this knowledge, scientists may be able to improve agricultural and bioenergy research on Earth, leading to crops that use resources more efficiently.
Dragon is the only space station resupply spacecraft able to return a significant amount of cargo to Earth. The spacecraft lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Jan. 10 carrying more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and elements to support 256 scientific investigations and arrived at the orbiting complex two days later on Jan. 12. The mission was the fifth of at least 12 cargo resupply trips SpaceX will make to the orbiting outpost through 2016 under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract.
Credit: NASA, spaceflightnow.
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Posted: 11 Feb 2015 12:09 PM PST
Brig. Gen. Nina Armagno, commander, Air Force's 45th Space Wing, recently signed a five-year leasing agreement with SpaceX that will allow for the creation of the first-ever "Landing Pad" at Launch Complex (LC) 13 at historic Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). SpaceX plans to repurpose the launch complex to successfully support their construction of a vertical-landing facility suitable for the return of reusable first-stage boosters of their Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles that are currently launched from LC 40 at CCAFS.
LC-13 was originally used for operational and test launches of the Atlas ICBM, and Atlas B, D, E and F missiles were also test launched from there. It was the most-used and longest-serving of the original four Atlas pads. Now it will be used in an amazing new way.
"The way we see it, this is a classic combination of a highly successful launch past morphing into an equally promising future," said Gen. Armagno.
"It's a whole new world, and the 45th Space Wing is committed to defining and building the Spaceport of the future," she said.
"For decades, we have been refining our procedures for getting successful launches skyward here on the Eastern Range. Now we're looking at processes on how to bring first-stage rockets back to earth at the first landing pad at the Cape," she said. "We live in exciting times here on the Space Coast."
Credit: patrick.af.mil
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Posted: 11 Feb 2015 10:50 AM PST
The House on Tuesday passed legislation by voice vote to reauthorize National Aeronautics and Space Administration programs for 2015. The measure would authorize $18 billion in funding for NASA programs, including $4.4 billion for space exploration and $3.8 billion for space operations. Members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee has praised House passage of the NASA Authorization Act of 2015, legislation intended to reaffirm Congress’s commitment to NASA as a multi mission agency with programs in science, aeronautics, exploration, and human spaceflight, and make clear that Mars should be NASA’s primary goal. The bill was introduced by Space Subcommittee Chairman Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.), and was also sponsored by House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), Space Subcommittee Ranking Member Donna Edwards (D-Md.), and Space Subcommittee Vice-Chair Mo Brooks (R-Ala.).
“The NASA Authorization Act of 2015 helps ensure that the United States will continue its proud tradition of being a world leader in space exploration. For more than 50 years, the U.S. has led the world in space exploration. The U.S. was the first nation to put a human on the moon. And NASA’s Voyager 1, an American space mission, was the first human-made object to enter interstellar space," Smith said. “Our astronauts are national heroes. Alan Shepherd, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Sally Ride are household names. And today’s astronauts inspire American students to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and to reach for the stars. Space exploration is an investment in our nation’s future - often our long-term future. This bill expresses bipartisan confidence in America’s space initiatives.”
The NASA Authorization Act of 2015 authorizes funding consistent with the Consolidated and Further Appropriations Act of 2015. The bill continues the consistent guidance Congress has given to NASA for nearly a decade by reaffirming a stepping stone approach to exploration. The bill focuses NASA’s efforts to develop a capability to access the International Space Station so that America can once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil. It also increases support for the Space Launch System and the Orion Crew Vehicle – systems being developed to take astronauts to deep-space destinations like Mars – in an attempt to keep the programs on schedule for a 2017 launch date.
“In a time of partisanship on Capitol Hill, both Republicans and Democrats came together to craft legislation that moves beyond congressional districts and parochial interests. I know many of our colleagues agree that American leadership in space is a matter of both national pride and national security. We are committed to once more launching American astronauts, on American rockets, from American soil," Palazzo said. “This bill provides clear and consistent guidance to NASA. It requires the agency to develop an exploration roadmap and provides a framework to build an executable plan for future exploration efforts. NASA must use this plan to find the most efficient and effective ways to build technologies and capabilities within constrained budgets.”
The bill also supports a healthy science directorate that reflects input from the scientific community and an aeronautics research directorate that contributes to our nation’s aerospace economy.
The House passed identical legislation in June 2014 by a vote of 401-2, but the Senate did not consider it before the end of the last Congress.
Credit: science.house.gov, the
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Posted: 11 Feb 2015 10:26 AM PST
Chinese scientists have completed a ground test on the power system of the country's next-generation carrier rocket which may fly as early as next year. Scientists test-fired the engines of Long March-5, which uses non-toxic and no-polluting liquefied propellant, on a ground facility to test "coordination and reliability" of the power system, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) said on Monday.
The Long March-5 rockets, designed for the final chapter of China's three-step -- orbiting, landing and finally returning -- lunar program, and for the launches of future space stations, will have a payload capacity of 25 tonnes to low Earth orbits, or 14 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit. The heaviest configuration of the rocket would consist of a 5.0-m diameter core stage and four 3.35-m diameter strap-on boosters.
Long March-5 is planned to roughly match the capabilities of American EELV sized vehicles such as the Delta IV, Atlas V, and Falcon 9.
A test flight for Long March-5 has been scheduled in 2016 from China's Hainan province, the SASTIND said.
The Long March-5 project was initially announced in February 2001, with initial development slated to begin in 2002 and the first versions of the vehicle to go into service by 2008. However, funding was only finally granted in 2007 as revealed by the developers during the Northeast China exhibition.
Credit: xinhuanet.com
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.jpg "IXV floating and waiting for recovery. Credit: ESA")
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