PC Magazine: It Took More Than 50 Years, But NASA Proves That Einstein Was Correct
NASA's six-year Gravity Probe B (GP-B) mission has confirmed two major predictions from Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.
The four ultra-precise gyroscopes used by GP-B measured the hypothesized geodetic effect, or the warping of space and time around a gravitational body, and frame-dragging, which is the amount a spining object pulls space and time with it as it rotates.
To do this, GP-B was pointed at a single star, IM Pegasi, while in orbit around Earth. NASA said that if gravity had no effect on space and time, the gyroscopes on GP-B would point in the same direction indefinitely while in orbit. However, researchers found that the gyroscopes experienced very small changes in spin direction as Earth's gravity pulled at them, confirming Einstein's theories.
"The mission results will have a long-term impact on the work of theoretical physicists," said Bill Danchi, senior astrophysicist and program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Every future challenge to Einstein's theories of general relativity will have to seek more precise measurements than the remarkable work GP-B accomplished."
"Imagine the Earth as if it were immersed in honey. As the planet rotates, the honey around it would swirl, and it's the same with space and time," Francis Everitt, GP-B principal investigator at Stanford University, said in a statement. "GP-B confirmed two of the most profound predictions of Einstein's universe, having far-reaching implications across astrophysics research. Likewise, the decades of technological innovation behind the mission will have a lasting legacy on Earth and in space."
The GP-B experiment launched in 2004 and completed its data collection by December 2010. But it is actually one of the longest running NASA projects ever, with the idea first suggested in 1959. Several years later, NASA received funding to develop a relativity gyroscope experiment, which eventually led to the development of technologies that allowed airplanes to land by themselves and help determine the universe's background radition, among other things. The measurement also helped NASA physicist John Mather develop the Bing Bang Theory, for which he earned a Nobel Prize, NASA said.
GP-B also aided in the development of a drag-free satellite concept, which has helped develop the most precise satellite photos ever.
More than 350 college and four dozen high school students have worked on the GP-B project, including Sally Ride, who eventually became the first American woman in space.
GP-B was a joint effort between NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Stanford University, and Lockheed Martin, which designed the space vehicle.
Thursday, meanwhile, also marks the 50th anniversary of Alan Shepard's historic flight, making him the first American in space.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
NASA Considering Gas Stations in Space
Fox News: NASA Considering Gas Stations in Space
Any road trip requires a pit stop or two. Soon, trips to space could be no different.
NASA has quietly put out feelers for what the space agency calls an “In-Space Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer Demonstration.” It sounds far more interesting in civilian speak, however -- gas stations in space.
Since the beginning of manned space flight, NASA has utilized the “one-stop shop” approach; both the Apollo missions of the '60s and '70s and the more modern space shuttles carry all the fuel they need for the duration of a mission. But it would be next to impossible for a vehicle to carry all the fuel it would need on a venture into deeper space, said Chris Moore, deputy director of advanced capabilities division for NASA.
“Instead of sending the rockets fully fueled to asteroids or to Mars, we would launch them partially fueled to get more payload into orbit,” Moore told FoxNews.com. “Then we’d top off the propellant by docking with depots in lower Earth orbit."
The system would be set up ahead of time, he said, with depots drifting idly through the blackness while waiting for a rocket to dock. "All the fuel and the propellant depots would be launched before the human mission left for the asteroids or for Mars,” Moore said.
He envisions large arrays of propellant tanks all joined together, with tanks that can be added or removed depending on the length of the deep-space mission.
To establish these zero-gravity way stations, NASA must overcome a number of obstacles. The propellant used for space flight requires extremely cold temperatures, and any solar flares or fluctuations in temperature could cause it to evaporate. So finding a means of maintaining the propellant is a top priority.
Engineers also need to come up with ways to transfer the propellant to the space flight vehicles upon docking. And plans also need to be made on how to get the gas up there in the first place -- which is potentially where private space companies could step in.
“We would launch propellants from Earth on expendable rockets,” Moore told FoxNews.com. “A commercial market could be established where companies could launch propellant into space to the depot. Then NASA could purchase propellant from those companies."
"We could create a small space economy in propellants and refueling,” he suggested.
Private companies such as SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have already launched rockets into lower Earth orbit and could potentially step up to the task of transporting gas to these hypothetical stations. Neither company would comment on future plans.
But private spaceflight companies have weighed in in the past. Boeing proposed it in 2007, for example. "If there were a fuel depot available on orbit, one capable of being replenished at any time, the Earth departure stage could, after refueling, carry significantly more payload to the Moon," reads one slide from a presentation the company made at a spaceflight conference.
Space policy advocates say that this idea has been a long time coming, noting that NASA entertained the concept as early as the '70s. James Muncy, a space policy consultant with PoliSpace, says space depots will soon become the norm when it comes to future space travel.
“We have to think of it in terms of setting up an infrastructure and looking for long-term efficient approaches,” Muncy told FoxNews.com. “People who think of space as a frontier say we should separate the idea of carrying propellant from that of carrying the spacecraft and people.”
Muncy goes so far as to say the concept is common sense, claiming the road trip analogy isn’t too far-fetched.
“Your car isn’t designed to carry 100 gallons of gas. We don’t design vehicles to do that anymore,” Muncy told FoxNews.com. “If we want to keep exploring forever, it has to be affordable and sustainable.”
“We will need the technologies eventually anyway,” added Muncy. “We can’t go to Mars without them.”
Any road trip requires a pit stop or two. Soon, trips to space could be no different.
NASA has quietly put out feelers for what the space agency calls an “In-Space Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer Demonstration.” It sounds far more interesting in civilian speak, however -- gas stations in space.
Since the beginning of manned space flight, NASA has utilized the “one-stop shop” approach; both the Apollo missions of the '60s and '70s and the more modern space shuttles carry all the fuel they need for the duration of a mission. But it would be next to impossible for a vehicle to carry all the fuel it would need on a venture into deeper space, said Chris Moore, deputy director of advanced capabilities division for NASA.
“Instead of sending the rockets fully fueled to asteroids or to Mars, we would launch them partially fueled to get more payload into orbit,” Moore told FoxNews.com. “Then we’d top off the propellant by docking with depots in lower Earth orbit."
The system would be set up ahead of time, he said, with depots drifting idly through the blackness while waiting for a rocket to dock. "All the fuel and the propellant depots would be launched before the human mission left for the asteroids or for Mars,” Moore said.
He envisions large arrays of propellant tanks all joined together, with tanks that can be added or removed depending on the length of the deep-space mission.
To establish these zero-gravity way stations, NASA must overcome a number of obstacles. The propellant used for space flight requires extremely cold temperatures, and any solar flares or fluctuations in temperature could cause it to evaporate. So finding a means of maintaining the propellant is a top priority.
Engineers also need to come up with ways to transfer the propellant to the space flight vehicles upon docking. And plans also need to be made on how to get the gas up there in the first place -- which is potentially where private space companies could step in.
“We would launch propellants from Earth on expendable rockets,” Moore told FoxNews.com. “A commercial market could be established where companies could launch propellant into space to the depot. Then NASA could purchase propellant from those companies."
"We could create a small space economy in propellants and refueling,” he suggested.
Private companies such as SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have already launched rockets into lower Earth orbit and could potentially step up to the task of transporting gas to these hypothetical stations. Neither company would comment on future plans.
But private spaceflight companies have weighed in in the past. Boeing proposed it in 2007, for example. "If there were a fuel depot available on orbit, one capable of being replenished at any time, the Earth departure stage could, after refueling, carry significantly more payload to the Moon," reads one slide from a presentation the company made at a spaceflight conference.
Space policy advocates say that this idea has been a long time coming, noting that NASA entertained the concept as early as the '70s. James Muncy, a space policy consultant with PoliSpace, says space depots will soon become the norm when it comes to future space travel.
“We have to think of it in terms of setting up an infrastructure and looking for long-term efficient approaches,” Muncy told FoxNews.com. “People who think of space as a frontier say we should separate the idea of carrying propellant from that of carrying the spacecraft and people.”
Muncy goes so far as to say the concept is common sense, claiming the road trip analogy isn’t too far-fetched.
“Your car isn’t designed to carry 100 gallons of gas. We don’t design vehicles to do that anymore,” Muncy told FoxNews.com. “If we want to keep exploring forever, it has to be affordable and sustainable.”
“We will need the technologies eventually anyway,” added Muncy. “We can’t go to Mars without them.”
Space Sensor Helps Produce 'Greener' Glass
Red Orbit: Space Sensor Helps Produce 'Greener' Glass
What has making glass in common with space exploration? The special technology to measure oxygen atoms outside space vehicles is now being used in the glass industry to produce super-efficient energy-saving windows.
With modern architecture featuring large glass facades, it has become important to improve the insulating characteristics of glass.
The windows must protect the interior against heat loss during cold weather and against overheating on warm summer days.
“By using sensor technology from space this has been possible,” explained Frank Hammer, founding member of the German company ESCUBE, which developed the special instrument initially for spaceflight.
Through MST Aerospace, the German technology broker of ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme, contacts were established with a glass manufacturer.
Today, the sensor is mounted outside the International Space Station and used in a German glass factory.
“For space, the sensor was developed to measure atomic oxygen, known for its erosion effect and for degrading optical surfaces,” said Mr Hammer.
“In the glass industry the technology is now used to control the industrial glass-coating process to obtain improved insulating properties.”
The complex coating procedure requires reliable and precise monitoring to control the process.
“The gas sensor developed to handle the harsh space environment turned out to be the right solution to handle the difficult glass-production conditions of high temperatures and reactive gasses,” added Mr Hammer.
Started with reentry space vehicles
It all started back in 1993 when ESA asked the University of Stuttgart to develop ceramic gas sensors to measure the atomic-oxygen levels around reentry craft under extreme test conditions.
Further miniaturized by the University of Dresden, the Flux-(Phi)-Probe-Experiments (FIPEX) were flown on several space experiments, including the Russian Inflatable Reentry and Descent Technology research capsule.
In 2008 FIPEX was launched on the STS-122 Shuttle mission and mounted outside ESA’s Columbus laboratory module on the International Space Station.
“Part of the European Technology Exposure Facility outside Columbus, FIPEX helps to understand the atmospheric environment in low orbit by measuring the highly aggressive corrosive atomic oxygen around the Station,” explained Martin Zell, Head of ESA’s Research Operations Department.
“The people from the University of Dresden and ESCUBE developed a very efficient sensor fulfilling our requirements for space, with reduced size, weight and power consumption.
“I can see the same sensor technology could provide advantages in many applications on Earth as well, compared to existing similar sensors.”
Owing to its miniaturization, low power consumption and other technical benefits, considerable interest arose from industry for terrestrial use of the sensors in medicine, environmental research and vacuum applications.
ESCUBE was set up in 1999 to introduce this innovative space technology in non-space markets.
Based on FIPEX and the specific glass-industry requirements, ESCUBE developed the new VacuSen sensor for vacuum and plasma applications, providing easy, low-cost, time-resolving process control for industrial processes such as a magnetron reactive gas sputter plant for float-glass coating.
“The goal was to optimize the coating process and enhance the quality of the coating,” added Mr Hammer.
Space technology helped produce ecological glass products
Peter Hennes from ESCUBE partner company iSATT added, “With ESCUBE’s sensor it is today possible to offer new types of glass."
"Their surfaces not only take into account economic and ecological criteria but also fulfill aesthetic criteria, saving energy by the low overall heat transfer coefficients.
“With the new coating the overall heat transfer coefficients have been reduced to about a third of what they were in the 1980s, while maintaining light transmittance at 80%.
“The light passing through is almost the same as standard glass, but the heat loss during winter and the heat gain during summer have been reduced significantly.”
What has making glass in common with space exploration? The special technology to measure oxygen atoms outside space vehicles is now being used in the glass industry to produce super-efficient energy-saving windows.
With modern architecture featuring large glass facades, it has become important to improve the insulating characteristics of glass.
The windows must protect the interior against heat loss during cold weather and against overheating on warm summer days.
“By using sensor technology from space this has been possible,” explained Frank Hammer, founding member of the German company ESCUBE, which developed the special instrument initially for spaceflight.
Through MST Aerospace, the German technology broker of ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme, contacts were established with a glass manufacturer.
Today, the sensor is mounted outside the International Space Station and used in a German glass factory.
“For space, the sensor was developed to measure atomic oxygen, known for its erosion effect and for degrading optical surfaces,” said Mr Hammer.
“In the glass industry the technology is now used to control the industrial glass-coating process to obtain improved insulating properties.”
The complex coating procedure requires reliable and precise monitoring to control the process.
“The gas sensor developed to handle the harsh space environment turned out to be the right solution to handle the difficult glass-production conditions of high temperatures and reactive gasses,” added Mr Hammer.
Started with reentry space vehicles
It all started back in 1993 when ESA asked the University of Stuttgart to develop ceramic gas sensors to measure the atomic-oxygen levels around reentry craft under extreme test conditions.
Further miniaturized by the University of Dresden, the Flux-(Phi)-Probe-Experiments (FIPEX) were flown on several space experiments, including the Russian Inflatable Reentry and Descent Technology research capsule.
In 2008 FIPEX was launched on the STS-122 Shuttle mission and mounted outside ESA’s Columbus laboratory module on the International Space Station.
“Part of the European Technology Exposure Facility outside Columbus, FIPEX helps to understand the atmospheric environment in low orbit by measuring the highly aggressive corrosive atomic oxygen around the Station,” explained Martin Zell, Head of ESA’s Research Operations Department.
“The people from the University of Dresden and ESCUBE developed a very efficient sensor fulfilling our requirements for space, with reduced size, weight and power consumption.
“I can see the same sensor technology could provide advantages in many applications on Earth as well, compared to existing similar sensors.”
Owing to its miniaturization, low power consumption and other technical benefits, considerable interest arose from industry for terrestrial use of the sensors in medicine, environmental research and vacuum applications.
ESCUBE was set up in 1999 to introduce this innovative space technology in non-space markets.
Based on FIPEX and the specific glass-industry requirements, ESCUBE developed the new VacuSen sensor for vacuum and plasma applications, providing easy, low-cost, time-resolving process control for industrial processes such as a magnetron reactive gas sputter plant for float-glass coating.
“The goal was to optimize the coating process and enhance the quality of the coating,” added Mr Hammer.
Space technology helped produce ecological glass products
Peter Hennes from ESCUBE partner company iSATT added, “With ESCUBE’s sensor it is today possible to offer new types of glass."
"Their surfaces not only take into account economic and ecological criteria but also fulfill aesthetic criteria, saving energy by the low overall heat transfer coefficients.
“With the new coating the overall heat transfer coefficients have been reduced to about a third of what they were in the 1980s, while maintaining light transmittance at 80%.
“The light passing through is almost the same as standard glass, but the heat loss during winter and the heat gain during summer have been reduced significantly.”
Monday, May 2, 2011
HP bags $2.5bn services contract from NASA
CBR IT Services: HP bags $2.5bn services contract from NASA
NASA employees to collaborate in a secure computing environment
HP enterprise services has been awarded a single-award firm-fixed-price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract worth up to $2.5bn by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Under the contract, which consists four-year base period with two three-year option periods, HP will provide end-user desktop services and devices that will increase NASA's efficiency and allow its employees to collaborate in a secure computing environment.
In addition, as a part of NASA's Agency Consolidated End-User Service (ACES) Program, HP will modernise NASA's entire end-user infrastructure by delivering a full range of personal computing services and devices to more than 60,000 users, said the company.
HP will also provide a variety of computing seat, Tier 2/3 service desk support and collaboration services to manage NASA's end-user infrastructure at all NASA sites across the US.
HP said that the computing seat and cellular seat services are designed with security and collaboration capabilities to help the NASA team safely share information.
HP enterprise services US public sector senior vice-president and general manager Dennis Stolkey said the ACES contract will help evolve NASA's IT environment to a centralised, adaptable IT infrastructure to enable economies of scale, agency-wide visibility and improved management and security.
"HP will build on our deep industry, infrastructure and end-user services expertise to support this significant work for the agency that is pioneering the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research," Stolkey said.
HP will be teaming with other small businesses to meet NASA's small business participation guidelines and diverse mission needs.
NASA employees to collaborate in a secure computing environment
HP enterprise services has been awarded a single-award firm-fixed-price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract worth up to $2.5bn by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Under the contract, which consists four-year base period with two three-year option periods, HP will provide end-user desktop services and devices that will increase NASA's efficiency and allow its employees to collaborate in a secure computing environment.
In addition, as a part of NASA's Agency Consolidated End-User Service (ACES) Program, HP will modernise NASA's entire end-user infrastructure by delivering a full range of personal computing services and devices to more than 60,000 users, said the company.
HP will also provide a variety of computing seat, Tier 2/3 service desk support and collaboration services to manage NASA's end-user infrastructure at all NASA sites across the US.
HP said that the computing seat and cellular seat services are designed with security and collaboration capabilities to help the NASA team safely share information.
HP enterprise services US public sector senior vice-president and general manager Dennis Stolkey said the ACES contract will help evolve NASA's IT environment to a centralised, adaptable IT infrastructure to enable economies of scale, agency-wide visibility and improved management and security.
"HP will build on our deep industry, infrastructure and end-user services expertise to support this significant work for the agency that is pioneering the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research," Stolkey said.
HP will be teaming with other small businesses to meet NASA's small business participation guidelines and diverse mission needs.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Six Planets Now Aligned in the Dawn Sky
YahooNews: Six Planets Now Aligned in the Dawn Sky
If you get up any morning for the next few weeks, you’ll be treated to the sight of all the planets except Saturn arrayed along the ecliptic, the path of the sun through the sky.
For the last two months, almost all the planets have been hiding behind the sun, but this week they all emerge and are arrayed in a grand line above the rising sun. Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter are visible, and you can add Uranus and Neptune to your count if you have binoculars or a small telescope.
This sky map of the six planets shows how they should appear at dawn to observers with clear weather and an unobstructed view.
Astrologers have always been fascinated by planetary alignments, and the doomsayers of 2012 have been prophesying a mystical alignment on Dec. 21, 2012.
The modern tools of astronomers, such as planetarium software, show otherwise: absolutely no alignment at any time in 2012. But they also reveal a beautiful alignment visible during the month of May this year.
Six planets at one time
While astrologers view planetary alignments as foretellers of disasters, modern amateur astronomers look forward to them as nothing more than grand photo ops.
If you go out any morning for the next four days, you’ll be treated to a view of the crescent moon and all but one of the naked eye planets.
Because the moon moves rapidly from one morning to the next, it will only be part of the lineup for the next four mornings, but the four naked-eye planets will be there for the next few weeks.
Venus is, as always, the brightest and most visible of the planets, and it can be your guide to spotting the others. About half way between Venus and the rising sun is Jupiter, the second brightest planet.
Mars will be a tiny speck just above Jupiter, and Mercury another tiny speck about half way between Jupiter and Venus. Uranus is slightly more than one binocular field above and to the right of Venus, and Neptune is much farther to the right, about 40 degrees away in Aquarius. The Moon will be just above Venus on Saturday morning, and just above Jupiter and Mars on Sunday morning.
How to photograph the planets
Capturing a photograph of this gathering of the planets couldn’t be easier.
Just about any camera will do, though a camera with a telephoto lens setting will be better. Let the camera’s exposure meter be your guide, though a slight underexposure will help bring out the colors of the dawn sky.
Try to place the silhouette of some foreground object to lend depth to the scene. The best pictures will be on the next few mornings, while the crescent moon is part of the grouping.
This article was provided to SPACE.com by Starry Night Education, the leader in space science curriculum solutions. Follow Starry Night on Twitter @StarryNightEdu.
Endeavour's first commander reflects on shuttle's final mission
CNNNEws.com: Endeavour's first commander reflects on shuttle's final mission
Kennedy Space Center, Florida (CNN) -- As Space Shuttle Endeavour gears up for its 25th and final mission, its first commander is nostalgic but hopeful about the prospects of space exploration.
"I will have a good size lump in the throat on Friday, if not a tear," Capt. Daniel Brandenstein said.
Few outside the space community know Brandenstein, who was the commander on Endeavour's first flight in 1992.
"The vehicle on its maiden voyage performed flawlessly," he said.
Endeavour, which was built as a replacement for the Challenger that exploded after liftoff in 1986, was sent to repair an ailing satellite.
Brandenstein knows his shuttles; he flew four missions for NASA on four different vehicles.
"The vehicles are very similar on purpose, so you could train on one and move to the next one without a lot of retraining," he said.
Endeavour has logged more than 103 million miles in space, blasting off 24 times, but its 25th flight will be its last.
Brandenstein says it's too early to retire the spacecraft and believes it has many good years left.
"You got a vehicle that's only used up about 25 percent of its lifetime, and it's going to end up on a post," Brandenstein said, referring to the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where Endeavour will be displayed to the public.
He learned it's not easy to watch a retiring shuttle when Discovery landed for the final time last month.
"I'm not a very emotional guy, but I kind of got choked up on that," said Brandenstein who was the commander on a Discovery mission in 1985.
Watching his company make cutbacks when the 30-year shuttle program ends this summer will be hard, he said.
Brandenstein is the chief operating officer for United Space Alliance, an aerospace company that is contracted to manage the space shuttle program.
The company has announced it will layoff at least 2,600 of its 5,600 employees after the last shuttle flight.
Brandenstein, who spent 14 years at NASA and was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame, says he had one ritual before his four shuttle missions.
"The night before, I would go out and run and get dehydrated, and I wouldn't drink anything until I got in orbit," he said.
Going to the bathroom once suited up and inside the shuttle, meant doing it without leaving the seat.
"Unfortunately, the commander has to get in first and spends the most time on his back in those uncomfortable suites," he said.
Brandenstein says after grueling months of training in Houston, he enjoyed coming to Florida to spend the final days before a launch.
"If you planned your mission right and trained it right, it's really a time to unwind and it's time to relax and go fly," Brandenstein said.
Brandenstein believes the current Endeavour commander, Mark Kelly, will do the same.
Kelly is an experienced astronaut flying his fourth and final shuttle mission. His wife, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, is there to watch the liftoff. The Arizona congresswoman was shot in the head less than four months ago.
"Flying in space is a very difficult thing to give up," Kelly said. "I've got to figure out a way to get back into space again."
As the shuttle prepares for a scheduled 3:47 p.m. ET. launch, Brandenstein says Mars should be the next target.
"We got lower Earth orbit pretty well covered now, so we ought to move beyond that," he said.
Despite the nostalgia over Endeavour's final mission, the man who logged almost 800 hours in space is counting his blessings.
"I got to fly a spaceship, it doesn't get any better than that." Brandenstein said.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
US Space Program Goes Commercial
VoA.com: US Space Program Goes Commercial
This Friday, the U.S. space shuttle Endeavor is scheduled to lift off on its last voyage to the orbiting International Space Station. And on June 28, barring any last minute complications, Alantis will become the last space shuttle ever to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center. Both missions mark the end of NASA’s 30-year space shuttle program. But it is not the end of America’s space ventures.
Fifty years after a Redstone rocket carried the first American astronaut, Alan Shephard, into space, NASA is getting out of the business of sending astronauts on missions using its own spacecraft. Instead, the U.S. space agency will rely on privately designed and owned rockets to ferry cargo and crew to the orbiting International Space Station.
The commercially built space vehicles are expected to be every bit as powerful and reliable as those operated by NASA, but they’ll cost American taxpayers far less. One company, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, has signed a $1.6 billion deal with NASA for 12 unmanned delivery flights to the space station.
SpaceX says the deal should lower the cost of launching cargo to about $1,000 per half kilogram - less than one-tenth of what it costs NASA to get a payload into outer space on the shuttle.
President Barack Obama is asking Congress to approve $850 million to aid the development of private rockets to service the orbiting scientific outpost. NASA administrator Charles Bolden says the budget will support a public-private partnership in space.
"We must have safe, reliable and affordable access to it for our astronauts and their supporting equipment. That’s why this budget boosts funding for our partnership with the commercial space industry," Bolden said.
The private sector’s role in unmanned space operations - such as the manufacture of satellites and robotic spacecraft -- is nothing new. So says former NASA executive Alan Stern, now with the Southwest Research Institute, which offers technical assistance to the aerospace industry.
Stern says the private sector is promising to conduct space missions for a fraction of what they have traditionally cost NASA. For example, SpaceX says it can reduce the cost of a launch, depending upon the rocket, to between $50 million and $100 million compared to the $1.5 billion price tag for each space shuttle mission.
Stern says this savings of dimes on the dollar benefits the private sector as well as the public.
"That’s a huge reduction in cost that’s going to allow us to have multiple space lines, and to be able to afford that. and to be able to do more things in space than we could in the past," Stern said.
Last year, SpaceX became the first commercial aerospace company to successfully launch, place into orbit and retrieve a spacecraft -- the Falcon 9, carrying an unmanned capsule called the Dragon.
The Dragon is being built as part of NASA’s $1.6 billion deal with SpaceX. Company founder and CEO Elon Musk says the space agency has been pressing it to complete testing of the capsule, so it can go to the space station on a resupply mission at the end of this year. However, news reports have quoted a top official in Russia’s manned space program as saying Russia will not allow the SpaceX rocket to dock with the space station until more extensive safety testing has been completed.
Safety is a big concern for the private rocket builders, too. Alan Stern says the companies are not cutting corners to keep costs down or to meet tight deadlines. He says they have a lot to lose if there are accidents.
"If the rockets fail or the capsules have problems, that’s going to affect their future business pretty strongly; in fact it could put them out of business. And that’s a very strong motivation for any private concern," Stern said.
But there have been problems. Orbital Sciences Corporation, which has a contract with NASA to deliver supplies to the space station, tried but failed in March to launch a climate satellite aboard its Taurus (XL) rocket. The $424 million payload was lost when the clamshell-like structure designed to protect the satellite enroute to orbit failed to open.
It was an exact replay of the company’s 2009 mishap, when a nosecone failure doomed a $270 million carbon-observing satellite. Both Orbital Sciences and NASA are investigating the twin accidents.
In the meantime, the company is continuing work on its Taurus II, an expendable medium class rocket that’s designed to deliver cargo to the International Space Station from a launch pad at NASA’s Wallops Island Facility in Virginia.
Recently, SpaceX announced plans for a demonstration flight of its new heavy lift vehicle, called the Falcon Heavy, at the end of 2012 from NASA’s Cape Canaveral, Florida facility.
Company CEO Elon Musk says the Falcon Heavy will be one of the biggest rockets ever built.
"175,000 pounds (53 metric tons) is more than a fully loaded Boeing 737 with 136 passengers, luggage and fuel in orbit. So that is really humongous," Musk said.
Founder Elon Musk believes the rocket will be powerful enough to carry the Dragon capsule to the moon and possibly even Mars.
NASA has just awarded four contracts totaling $270 million to four companies to develop manned space flight capabilities. In the past, private aerospace companies built spacecraft and other hardware to NASA’s design specifications, with the space agency at the forefront of every decision.
Now, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, Ed Mango, says space vehicles will be designed and owned entirely by the commercial sector, with safety input from the space agency.
"In the end, we will pay that company a certain price to purchase a seat, if you want to look at it this way, purchase a ticket, in order to fly to get our crew from the surface of the Earth to the space station," Mango said.
Mango says those ‘tickets’ won’t be available until the middle of the decade. Until then, NASA will pay Russia $750 million for a dozen round trip seats aboard the Soyuz spacecraft to ferry astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station.
This Friday, the U.S. space shuttle Endeavor is scheduled to lift off on its last voyage to the orbiting International Space Station. And on June 28, barring any last minute complications, Alantis will become the last space shuttle ever to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center. Both missions mark the end of NASA’s 30-year space shuttle program. But it is not the end of America’s space ventures.
Fifty years after a Redstone rocket carried the first American astronaut, Alan Shephard, into space, NASA is getting out of the business of sending astronauts on missions using its own spacecraft. Instead, the U.S. space agency will rely on privately designed and owned rockets to ferry cargo and crew to the orbiting International Space Station.
The commercially built space vehicles are expected to be every bit as powerful and reliable as those operated by NASA, but they’ll cost American taxpayers far less. One company, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, has signed a $1.6 billion deal with NASA for 12 unmanned delivery flights to the space station.
SpaceX says the deal should lower the cost of launching cargo to about $1,000 per half kilogram - less than one-tenth of what it costs NASA to get a payload into outer space on the shuttle.
President Barack Obama is asking Congress to approve $850 million to aid the development of private rockets to service the orbiting scientific outpost. NASA administrator Charles Bolden says the budget will support a public-private partnership in space.
"We must have safe, reliable and affordable access to it for our astronauts and their supporting equipment. That’s why this budget boosts funding for our partnership with the commercial space industry," Bolden said.
The private sector’s role in unmanned space operations - such as the manufacture of satellites and robotic spacecraft -- is nothing new. So says former NASA executive Alan Stern, now with the Southwest Research Institute, which offers technical assistance to the aerospace industry.
Stern says the private sector is promising to conduct space missions for a fraction of what they have traditionally cost NASA. For example, SpaceX says it can reduce the cost of a launch, depending upon the rocket, to between $50 million and $100 million compared to the $1.5 billion price tag for each space shuttle mission.
Stern says this savings of dimes on the dollar benefits the private sector as well as the public.
"That’s a huge reduction in cost that’s going to allow us to have multiple space lines, and to be able to afford that. and to be able to do more things in space than we could in the past," Stern said.
Last year, SpaceX became the first commercial aerospace company to successfully launch, place into orbit and retrieve a spacecraft -- the Falcon 9, carrying an unmanned capsule called the Dragon.
The Dragon is being built as part of NASA’s $1.6 billion deal with SpaceX. Company founder and CEO Elon Musk says the space agency has been pressing it to complete testing of the capsule, so it can go to the space station on a resupply mission at the end of this year. However, news reports have quoted a top official in Russia’s manned space program as saying Russia will not allow the SpaceX rocket to dock with the space station until more extensive safety testing has been completed.
Safety is a big concern for the private rocket builders, too. Alan Stern says the companies are not cutting corners to keep costs down or to meet tight deadlines. He says they have a lot to lose if there are accidents.
"If the rockets fail or the capsules have problems, that’s going to affect their future business pretty strongly; in fact it could put them out of business. And that’s a very strong motivation for any private concern," Stern said.
But there have been problems. Orbital Sciences Corporation, which has a contract with NASA to deliver supplies to the space station, tried but failed in March to launch a climate satellite aboard its Taurus (XL) rocket. The $424 million payload was lost when the clamshell-like structure designed to protect the satellite enroute to orbit failed to open.
It was an exact replay of the company’s 2009 mishap, when a nosecone failure doomed a $270 million carbon-observing satellite. Both Orbital Sciences and NASA are investigating the twin accidents.
In the meantime, the company is continuing work on its Taurus II, an expendable medium class rocket that’s designed to deliver cargo to the International Space Station from a launch pad at NASA’s Wallops Island Facility in Virginia.
Recently, SpaceX announced plans for a demonstration flight of its new heavy lift vehicle, called the Falcon Heavy, at the end of 2012 from NASA’s Cape Canaveral, Florida facility.
Company CEO Elon Musk says the Falcon Heavy will be one of the biggest rockets ever built.
"175,000 pounds (53 metric tons) is more than a fully loaded Boeing 737 with 136 passengers, luggage and fuel in orbit. So that is really humongous," Musk said.
Founder Elon Musk believes the rocket will be powerful enough to carry the Dragon capsule to the moon and possibly even Mars.
NASA has just awarded four contracts totaling $270 million to four companies to develop manned space flight capabilities. In the past, private aerospace companies built spacecraft and other hardware to NASA’s design specifications, with the space agency at the forefront of every decision.
Now, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, Ed Mango, says space vehicles will be designed and owned entirely by the commercial sector, with safety input from the space agency.
"In the end, we will pay that company a certain price to purchase a seat, if you want to look at it this way, purchase a ticket, in order to fly to get our crew from the surface of the Earth to the space station," Mango said.
Mango says those ‘tickets’ won’t be available until the middle of the decade. Until then, NASA will pay Russia $750 million for a dozen round trip seats aboard the Soyuz spacecraft to ferry astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station.
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