Traffic at the International Space Station

This has been a busy weekend on the International Space Station (ISS), where the amazing has become mundane. 

First, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft delivered three new crew members to the station - US astronaut Robert Shane and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko.  One could even argue a fourth crew member accompanied them - the relics of Saint Seraphim of Sarov.  

Second, Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo ship also arrived at the ISS.  Orbital ATK knows these missions are not mundane having lost a rocket and Cygnus cargo ship two years ago.

Someday we may see such traffic heading to the Moon and Mars as well.  However, the Orbital ATK mishap, SpaceX rocket explosions, and recent ExoMars lander failure shows that the space industry is still facing enormous risks. Fortunately, all of the missions just named did not involve human passengers. That adds a whole new level of risk and related risk management. 

Image Credit:  The photo at the top from NASA shows the new six-member Expedition 49 crew gathers in the Zvezda service module. The three newest arrivals (front row from left) Andrey Borisenko, Sergey Ryzhikov and Shane Kimbrough talk to family members and mission officials back on Earth. In the back row from left are, Kate Rubins, Anatoly Ivanishin and Takuya Onishi. The bottom photo shows the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship arriving at the ISS and is also from NASA.

Lander Debris Spotted on Mars

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has identifies debris from the European Space Agrency's ExoMars lander.  NASA noted:

This comparison of before-and-after images shows two spots that likely appeared in connection with the Oct. 19, 2016, Mars arrival of the European Space Agency's Schiaparelli test lander. The images are from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Separately, NASA provided its own statement on the lost lander, pointing out the difficulty of landing on Mars:

ESA and its international team have added an important achievement to the exploration of Mars by putting the Trace Gas Orbiter into orbit around the Red Planet as a platform for science investigation and communication infrastructure...Landing a spacecraft on Mars is extremely challenging. We admire the initiative and development of the teams that worked on the Schiaparelli lander that was part of the ExoMars mission.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Musk May Be Our Only Hope for Mars

I was reading a piece in ARS Technica about the potential pivot of a Clinton administration back to the Moon rather than Mars.  Physicist Neal Lane, who was a science advisor to Bill Clinton and may informally advising Hillary, recently stated:

We’ve been to the Moon but we didn’t stay very long...So the US really ought to consider, in my view, leading international expeditions back to the Moon and to other bodies in the Solar System, and perhaps eventually Mars, and work[ing] with other countries to ensure free access to space. I think the new president could find this to be a real opportunity for leadership.

This is somewhat disappointing, though we already have an administration that chose an asteroid over the Moon and Mars.  I was hoping we could do both the Moon and Mars between NASA and the private sector.

SpaceX's Elon Musk provided a better vision the other week with his mission to Mars.  Maybe the private sector needs to take on Mars with NASA stays local (a reverse of expected roles, but an increasingly plausible scenario).

Boeing appears to agree, and seems to be calling for a private sector space race.  Boeing's Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg made the following statement at a Chicago meeting:

I’m convinced the first person to step foot on Mars will arrive there riding a Boeing rocket.

Boeing may be more tied to NASA's apron than Musk, but both will need the support of NASA to make it to Mars. 

Let the space race begin!

New Images of Jupiter from Juno

Juno has sent back additional images showing Jupiter up close.  It includes the "never-before-seen perspective" on Jupiter's south pole, shown below.  Go here for more from NASA. 

SpaceX Statement on Rocket Explosion

SpaceX released this statement yesterday regarding Thursday's rocket explosion in Florida:

SpaceX has begun the careful and deliberate process of understanding the causes and fixes for yesterday's incident.  We will continue to provide regular updates on our progress and findings, to the fullest extent we can share publicly.

We deeply regret the loss of AMOS-6, and safely and reliably returning to flight to meet the demands of our customers is our chief priority.  SpaceX's business is robust, with approximately 70 missions on our manifest worth over $10 billion.  In the aftermath of yesterday's events, we are grateful for the continued support and unwavering confidence that our commercial customers as well as NASA and the United States Air Force have placed in us.

Overview of the incident:

 - Yesterday, at SpaceX's Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, an anomaly took place about eight minutes in advance of a scheduled test firing of a Falcon 9 rocket. 

- The anomaly on the pad resulted in the loss of the vehicle.

- This was part of a standard pre-launch static fire to demonstrate the health of the vehicle prior to an eventual launch. 

- At the time of the loss, the launch vehicle was vertical and in the process of being fueled for the test.  At this time, the data indicates the anomaly originated around the upper stage liquid oxygen tank.  Per standard operating procedure, all personnel were clear of the pad.  There were no injuries.

To identify the root cause of the anomaly, SpaceX began its investigation immediately after the loss, consistent with accident investigation plans prepared for such a contingency.  These plans include the preservation of all possible evidence and the assembly of an Accident Investigation Team, with oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration and participation by NASA, the United States Air Force and other industry experts.  We are currently in the early process of reviewing approximately 3000 channels of telemetry and video data covering a time period of just 35-55 milliseconds. 

As for the Launch Pad itself, our teams are now investigating the status of SLC-40.  The pad clearly incurred damage, but the scope has yet to be fully determined.  We will share more data as it becomes available.  SpaceX currently operates 3 launch pads – 2 in Florida and 1 in California at Vandenberg Air Force Base.  SpaceX's other launch sites were not affected by yesterday's events.  Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base is in the final stages of an operational upgrade and Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center remains on schedule to be operational in November.  Both pads are capable of supporting Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches.  We are confident the two launch pads can support our return to flight and fulfill our upcoming manifest needs.

Again, our number one priority is to safely and reliably return to flight for our customers, as well as to take all the necessary steps to ensure the highest possible levels of safety for future crewed missions with the Falcon 9. We will carefully and thoroughly investigate and address this issue.

SpaceX Rocket Explodes

Bad news for SpaceX and therefore NASA - a Falcon rocket exploded in Florida earlier today in preparation for a commercial satellite launch this weekend. Luckily, no one was hurt, but the rocket and satellite were destroyed. 

I am sure we will learn much more in the days to come. 

Update:  Mark Zuckerberg is not happy he just lost a $200 million Israeli satellite that was to assist Africa with the Internet.  On his Facebook page he stated:

As I'm here in Africa, I'm deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX's launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent.

Fortunately, we have developed other technologies like Aquila that will connect people as well. We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided.

A Year in Hawaii

Who could argue with an itinerary that puts you in Hawaii for a year? Add a nice secluded location with beautiful views. And then throw in a few companions who can enjoy it all with you.

This is what you would get, according to one "tourist":

 It is kind of like having roommates that just are always there and you can never escape them so I'm sure some people can imagine what that is like and if you can't then just imagine never being able to get away from anybody.

That tourist is NASA mission commander Carmel Johnston as quoted in a BBC article.  She and her five teammates (three men and three women) have just completed a year on the northern slope of Mauna Loa in Hawaii replicating the harsh realities of living on the surface of Mars.  It is all part of a NASA program called Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS). It represents the longest period of time a US-sponsored team has tested the human conditions on Mars.  Russia had its own similar experiment years ago that lasted longer

While NASA still has plenty of spacecraft and equipment issues to resolve before a real mission to Mars, it is important to understand the human element before we set out.  We already know robotic rovers can last for years on the Martian surface.  But how about humans? The results of HI-SEAS are encouraging, yet just the beginning.

Juno Completes First Jupiter Flyby

NASA reported that the Juno spacecraft completed its first of 36 planned flybys of Jupiter.

Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, stated:

We are getting some intriguing early data returns as we speak...It will take days for all the science data collected during the flyby to be downlinked and even more to begin to comprehend what Juno and Jupiter are trying to tell us.

The image above is the first of many coming our way. 

Great Image: Martian Landscape

NASA's Curiosity recently provided us with another impressive view of the Martian surface.  Here is the story from NASA:

This 360-degree vista was acquired on Aug. 5, 2016, by the Mastcam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover as the rover neared features called "Murray Buttes" on lower Mount Sharp. The dark, flat-topped mesa seen to the left of the rover's arm is about 50 feet high and, near the top, about 200 feet wide. 

A Sad 30 Year Anniversary

This week marks the 30th anniversary of the Challenger Shuttle disaster - January 28, 1986.  Seven crew members lost their lives when the shuttle broke apart about a minute into its ascent.  Their names will forever stand as a testament to the price we will be asked to pay as we reach for the stars:

- Gregory Jarvis,
- Christa McAuliffe,
- Ronald McNair,
- Ellison Onizuka,
- Judith Resnik,
- Dick Scobee, and
- Michael J. Smith.

As Ronald Reagan stated on that tragic day,

There's a coincidence today. On this day three hundred and ninety years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it." Well, today, we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.

Extended NASA Missions

Earlier this month NASA extended nine space missions via the 2016 Senior Review of Operating Missions, which area provided below in alphabetical order:

-Dawn;

-Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO);

-Mars Atmospere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN); 

-Mars Odyssey orbiter;

-Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO);

-New Horizons;

-the Opportunity and Curiosity Mars rovers; and

-support for the European Space Agency’s Mars Express mission.

That is quite an investment in Mars, but let's not forget ongoing missions as well such as Cassini around Saturn and Juno orbiting Jupiter. 

Unfortunely, Dawn is done exploring the asteroir belt. While a visit to another asteroid (145 Adeona) was proposed, the panel decided to keep the spacecraft in orbit around Ceres to learn more about the dwarf planet. 

Luckily, New Horizons will continue to explore the outer reaches of the solar system. The panel approved a mission to Kuiper Belt Object MU69 by 2019. So the exploration continues. 

Something to Ponder on the Fourth of July

The Wall Street Journal had an enlightening article this weekend titled "Fleeing the Czars, Defying Gravity: A Fourth of July Immigrant Tale."  It leads up to the career of astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman, pictured above, who was part of the missions to keep the Hubble Space Telescope operating properly.  Hoffman retired from NASA in 1997 and is now a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. You can read more about his career here.

Fire Prevention in Space

This week NASA has set fire to a Cygnus space capsule after it departed from the International Space Station as part of its SAFFIRE mission (or Spacecraft Fire Experiment). The space agency hopes to learn more about fire safety in space.

Yes, 4,000 pounds of dirty laundry are burning in space. Okay, it's not the whole craft since more experiments will be conducted with the same spacecraft.

Speaking of the mission, David Urban, SAFFIRE’s principal investigator, stared:

In spacecraft, we’ve never had the opportunity to burn anything larger than approximately an index card…We really don’t know what the fate of a fire is. So our building of future spacecraft is based on one-G understanding and extrapolation of very small, short-duration experiments.

Better now as an experiment than later as an event.

Juno Approaches Jupiter

I remember a lot more excitement about New Horizions approaching Pluto, yet the Juno mission to Jupiter is also an impressive feat.

On July 4th we will have another reason to look up into the sky and celebrate as Juno goes into orbit around Jupiter after a trip that lastest five years. Juno will orbit the planet for about 20 months. 

The goal of the mission is to

...understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter, look for solid planetary core, map magnetic field, measure water and ammonia in deep atmosphere, [and] observe auroras.

That's quite a list of duties and a good reason to stay connected to the mission. So remember to celebrate on the 4th.

Congress Ponders Travel to Alpha Centauri

SpacePolicyOnline has put together a summary of the latest NASA bill from the House Appropriations Committee covering FY 2017 funding priorities.  Some of the highlights include:

• Rejection of the White House's plan to capture an asteroid and instead a new focus on a manned mission to the Moon;
• Continued support for a robotic mission to Europa;
• Continued support for the SLS and Orion spacecraft; and
• Support for a 2069 mission to Alpha Centauri using propulsion that is 1/10th the speed of light.

I had not heard of the Alpha Centauri mission earlier.  Here is the language from the committee report:

The Committee encourages NASA to study and develop propulsion concepts that could enable an interstellar scientific probe with the capability of achieving a cruise velocity of 0.1c. These efforts shall be centered on enabling such a mission to Alpha Centauri, which can be launched by the one-hundredth anniversary, 2069, of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Propulsion concepts may include, but are not limited to fusion-based implementations (including antimatter-catalyzed fusion and the Bussard interstellar ramjet); matter-antimatter annihilation reactions; multiple forms of beamed energy approaches; and immense ‘sails’ that intercept solar photons or the solar wind. At the present time, none of these are beyond technology readiness level (TRL) 1 or 2. The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program is currently funding concept studies of directed energy propulsion for wafer-sized spacecraft that in principle could achieve velocities exceeding 0.1c and an electric sail that intercepts solar wind protons. Over the past few years NIAC has also funded mission-level concept studies of two fusion-based propulsion concepts. Therefore, within one year of enactment of this Act, NASA shall submit an interstellar propulsion technology assessment report with a draft conceptual roadmap, which may include an overview of potential advance propulsion concepts for such an interstellar mission, including technical challenges, technology readiness level assessments, risks, and potential near-term milestones and funding requirements.

It is odd that we are going back to the Moon while also planning for travel to another star.  Yet the Moon is seen as a better way to get us to Mars.  Here is the committee report on that point:

...the Committee believes that neither a robotic nor a crewed mission to an asteroid appreciably contribute to the over-arching mission to Mars. Further, the long-term costs of launching a robotic craft to the asteroid, followed by a crewed mission, are unknown and will divert scarce resources away from developing technology and equipment  necessary for missions to Mars, namely deep space habitats, accessing and utilizing space resources, and developing entry, descent, landing, and ascent technologies.
Toward that end, no funds are included in this bill for NASA to continue planning efforts to conduct either robotic or crewed missions to an asteroid. Instead, NASA is encouraged to develop plans to return to the Moon to test capabilities that will be needed for Mars, including habitation modules, lunar prospecting, and landing and ascent vehicles. Further, the Committee is supportive of NASA’s efforts to use the International Space Station (ISS) to conduct research necessary to enable long-term human spaceflight, or ‘‘Earth-reliant’’ technology development; cis-lunar space activities, or ‘‘proving ground’’ efforts such as Orion flights on SLS in the vicinity of the Moon, and deployment and testing of deep space habitation modules; and finally, NASA’s ‘‘Earth independent’’ activities which include using cis-lunar space as a staging area, mapping potential human exploration zones and caching samples on Mars as part of the Mars Rover 2020 mission.

It makes sense to me.  Returning to the Moon may not excite some out there, yet if we sell it as a testing ground for Mars it may gain greater support.  We may be joining the Chinese and Russians on the surface as well, but if it takes a space race to get us to the Moon and Mars then so be it.  

Early Report: BEAM Not Inflating

This week NASA started to inflate the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) while attached to the International Space Station. It should have looked like the image above, but early reports indicate the pressurization has not gone well.

NASA has a press conference at noon ET today to discuss the status of BEAM.  We shall learn more, yet I am not surprised with a few glitches at the start of a new approach to space habitation. Overall, I expect Bigelow's habitat will be a solid addition to the space program. 

Update:  Per NASA:

NASA and Bigelow Aerospace will make a second attempt at 9 a.m. EDT Saturday, May 28, to expand the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), currently attached to the International Space Station. NASA Television coverage will begin at 8:45 a.m.

Second Update:  All is well. Yesterday the BEAM successfully inflated (as shows below).  Engineers believe the 15 months of storage may have made the pressurization process more difficult. 

Exoplanets: The Count Increases

NASA announced this week that scientists analyzing 2015 data from the refurbished Kepler space telescope, now called K2, has discovered another 1,284 exoplanets. This doubles the number of planets discover by the telescope since it was put into operation.

Among these newly discovered exoplanets, 550 are rocky like Earth and 9 are within their sun's habitable zone. As a result, the Kepler mission has discovered a total of 21 exoplanets that appear to be similar to Earth.

This is goods news as K2 continues its mission while other space telescope missions are being planned to help with the search in the near future.

Mercury's Transit of the Sun

Don't go blind today trying to watch Mercury transit the Sun because it cannot be seen with the naked eye anyway. NASA has it covered with a live video here. The transit will started at 7:15 EST and last a little over seven hours. This event happens only 13 times a century and scientists are using it to study Meecury's exo-atmosphere. Yes, as with exoplanets, such transits in front of a sun are very informative.

A Beautiful Planet - Blue Planet Part II

You may remember the IMAX film Blue Planet from 1990.  It was an fascinating adventure with views of the Earth from the NASA space shuttle missions.  It also provided plenty of warnings about what we needed to do to protect the planet. 

The latest IMAX film A Beautiful Planet is more or less an update of that earlier film 26 years later, but this time focusing on views from the International Space Station (which was a good choice since we now lack a space shuttle program). 

The IMAX film premiered yesterday and can be seen across the nation at IMAX theaters. 

NASA Was Worried About Crew Morale

A Slate story discussing women in space shared this earlier perspective from a 1970s NASA paper:

It is possible that woman, qualified from a scientific viewpoint, might be persuaded to donate her time and energies for the sake of improving crew morale. 

I am glad they threw in that "scientific viewpoint" so this astronaut could understand her crewmates in various ways.

The article is about how the space agency is coming to terms with "female needs," which seemed to be the lesser concern years ago. You can read about fears of "menstrual disturbances" and more.

I hope no one brings this up at a committee hearing. I really do not want to hear a male Senator try to wrap his head around the issue. The next thing you know we will be discussing separate bathrooms on the space station. 

Note: In case you are wondering, everyone uses the same toilet on the space station. The toilet below is on the Zvezda Service Module.