CASIS Seeking New Proposals for Enabling Technologies at ISS; Cancer Cell Research in Zero G

Two

First, an interesting story regarding the observation that certain tumor cells which grow aggressively and are difficult to treat on Earth, appear to be a bit more docile in the environment of Zero-G.  The discovery gives scientists a possible window into devising new methods of understanding, and ultimately destroying some cancers.

Having only received its first delivery of sponsored experiments with the recent arrival of  Orbital Science’s Cygnus cargo vessel in December, CASIS is just now getting fully underway. Along those lines,  it issued the following Request for Proposals this week:

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL. (February 26, 2014) – The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) today issued a solicitation for proposals supporting enabling technologies onboard the International Space Station (ISS).

CASIS is the nonprofit organization responsible for managing research onboard the ISS U.S. National Laboratory. The Request for Proposals (RFP) seeks to solicit flight projects that develop tools and/or techniques that will enable improved and expanded use of the ISS National Lab; increasing return on U.S. investment in the ISS National Lab and enhancing the value of the ISS research platform.

Specifically, CASIS is interested in proposals for enabling technologies in one or more of the following areas:

1) Scientific instruments and data collection;

2) Materials, structures, and manufacturing;

3) Operational procedures that advance the capacity of the ISS U.S. National Laboratory as a research and technology development platform to benefit life on Earth.

Commercial Crew Update

Still Making Progress
Credit : NASA

NASA today released the following update regarding the Commercial Crew program. To a great extent, the fate and timing of the program are going to depend on whatever final budget emerges for FY 2015.  So far, the program’s budgeting history has not been a happy one.

The process will formally get underway on Tuesday, March 4, at 2 pm EST when NASA releases its FY 2015 budget request.

Today’s press release is here, but this exert pretty much sums it up, with the final sentence detailing the real action to expect in 2014.

“All four of NASA’s industry partners continue to meet their established milestones in developing crew transportation systems and are preparing for several more. Blue Origin is preparing to complete its two remaining milestones under an unfunded Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) initiative extension. Later this year, NASA will review the company’s propellant tank assembly and subsystem interim design. The primary structure design of Boeing’s CST-100 will go through a critical design review that will determine if the spacecraft as a whole is ready for manufacturing. SNC is preparing for a review of data from numerous wind tunnel tests, which will further mature the Dream Chaser Space System design. In the coming months, SpaceX will host increasingly detailed reviews of the company’s integrated systems and progress on its ground systems. SpaceX also will conduct two flight tests of Dragon’s launch abort systems, powered by two SuperDraco thrusters that will push the spacecraft into the sky rather than pulling it up, as previous launch abort systems have done.”

Meteorite Helps Build the Case for Ancient Life on Mars

Yamato 000593
Credit: JPL

For those who remember, the discovery of possible signs of ancient microbial life on Martian meteorite ALH 84001 sparked enormous debate in 1996,  temporarily convincing a great many people that we had at last found conclusive evidence of life on Mars.

As the years rolled on, alternate explanations appeared to answer the questions raised by the team of David McKay, Everett Gibson and Kathie Thomas-Keprta.  Throughout it all, the team remained resolute. It appears to be paying off.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced today the results of an investigation by members of the same team into another meteorite, Yamato 000593, and while not absolutely conclusive, they clearly help to build the case that Mars once harbored simple forms of life.

According to the release:

“The rock was found on the Yamato Glacier in Antarctica by the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition in 2000. The meteorite was classified as a nakhlite, a subgroup of Martian meteorites. Martian meteoritic material is distinguished from other meteorites and materials from Earth and the moon by the composition of the oxygen atoms within the silicate minerals and trapped Martian atmospheric gases.

The team found two distinctive sets of features associated with Martian-derived clay. They found tunnel and micro-tunnel structures that thread their way throughout Yamato 000593. The observed micro-tunnels display curved, undulating shapes consistent with bio-alteration textures observed in terrestrial basaltic glasses, previously reported by researchers who study interactions of bacteria with basaltic materials on Earth.

The second set of features consists of nanometer- to-micrometer-sized spherules that are sandwiched between layers within the rock and are distinct from carbonate and the underlying silicate layer. Similar spherical features have been previously seen in the Martian meteorite Nakhla that fell in 1911 in Egypt. Composition measurements of the Y000593 spherules show that they are significantly enriched in carbon compared to the nearby surrounding iddingsite layers.

A striking observation is that these two sets of features in Y000593, recovered from Antarctica after about 50,000 years residence time, are similar to features found in Nakhla, an observed fall collected shortly after landing.”

The full release is here, and it is definitely worth a read.

Note: Unless a new meteorite happens to fall out of the sky and come crashing through the roof into a sterile lab, it is always going to be possible to challenge meteorite based evidence on the grounds that it could be contaminated by life on Earth. There are two steps to resolving this debate. The first is a Mars Sample Return Mission, and the second is to go there and see for ourselves.

Can NASA Find its Way With Inspiration Mars ?

Still Going Nowhere
Credit: Inspiration Mars

When Dennis Tito went to Washington last fall to lobby Congress to engage NASA in his Inspiration Mars concept for the 2018 crewed flyby of the Red Planet, the reception was cool at best.

Hoping to salvage something from the idea, which had started off as a private mission concept using commercial hardware but quickly morphed into a NASA centric project using SLS and Orion, Tito and company pointed out than in addition to the 2018 free return trajectory, another slightly less advantageous opportunity awaits in 2021 as well.

Today, the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology held a hearing on the 2021 concept, which oddly enough took testimony from four individuals, none of whom currently work for NASA, or were directly involved in putting together the original Inspiration Mars proposal. (One witness, former NASA Associate Administrator Doug Cooke, is a consultant to IM.) The hearing charter is here.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the hearing was long on calls for the U.S. to adopt a direction for space exploration, but almost completely devoid of facts, or even “guestimates” for what the subject at hand, a 2021 Mars flyby using SLS and Orion, might cost. However, everyone involved was also studiously careful to never mention the potential for a mission architecture other than the one both Congress and the experts wanted to talk about.

The problem never really addressed, is that with a first crewed launch for the mega booster not scheduled until 2021, and expected by some, including the former NASA Deputy Administrator, to slip, the odds of NASA making the substantial and necessary modifications to both SLS and Orion elements in time for a hard and fast launch date determined by celestial mechanics are exceedingly unlikely. Absent an Apollo-like commitment of resources, which is even more unlikely, it simply isn’t going to happen, and everyone involved had to know that going in.

So what was this really all about?

Perhaps it stemmed from a genuine frustration with the seeming ambivalence coming from NASA and the Administration regarding America’s long term ambitions in space. As several participants pointed out, a 2021 Mars flyby would definitely attract a great deal of attention, and possibly motivate the agency and the policy making apparatus which guides it to concentrate on a defined set of goals and capabilities.

On the other hand however, if the hearing had been a serious one,  then someone would have asked the question of whether or not with three more years to prepare, could the mission be accomplished with type of commercial hardware which made up the original proposal for 2018. For all the talk about the various “trades” necessary to examine a Mars flyby, each discussion starts with a false assumption that the hardware has to be SLS and Orion.

Maybe, for some forlorn reason, that will turn out to be the case, but it is hardly a proven one.  The next time Congress wants to talk about a Mars flyby, it needs to be about commissioning an independent, cost benefit analysis which does not pre-suppose the necessity of SLS/Orion, when other options are likelier to be available sooner and at far less expense.

GPM Lifts Off Aboard Japan’s H-IIA Booster

Liftoff of GPM
Credit : NASA

The joint NASA/JAXA GPM Core Observatory lifted off today from the Japanese Space Agency’s Tanagashima Launch Complex, successfully deploying from its carrier rocket moments later.

Today’s launch took place aboard the H-IIA rocket, which is built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The H-II family consists of two boosters, the H-IIA and the larger and more powerful H-IIB. Both are cryogenic, with first and second stages fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, and the principle difference being that somewhat wider and slightly longer H-IIB features two, rather than one first stage LE-7A engines. Both can be equipped with a mix and match set of solid fueled boosters which come in two sizes.

Although Japan intended the H-II family to become a regular provider of commercial launch services, it has never been able to get pricing to a competitive level, despite recent cost reduction measures which saw most responsibilities shift from JAXA to prime contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

With the entrance of SpaceX and the much lower priced Falcon 9 into commercial service, as well as increased marketing by China of its own Long March family of boosters, Japan seems to realize the odds of the H-II family  achieving commercial relevance appear to be fading as quickly as tonight’s rocket shot into the sky. As this press release indicates however, Japan may be about to embark on a program to design a new, more competitive launch vehicle.

NASA Mishap Investigation Report on Leaking Spacesuit

Credit : NASA

Yesterday NASA held a media telecon to announce the preliminary findings of the Mishap Investigation Board which was convened to analyze the leak which nearly overwhelmed Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano during a spacewalk outside ISS on July 16. The incident took place early in the spacewalk when water began flooding his helmet, forcing an end to the walk, and a temporary restriction on further U.S. spacewalks.

Although the ultimate source of the leak has not been conclusively determined and the investigation, as well as an entirely separate engineering analysis will likely go on for some time, it appears problem was caused “when aluminum silicate debris clogged a water pipe and forced liquid into the suit’s ventilation system.”

The Mishap Investigation Board report (here) identified five issues which cannot help but remind us of other, even more serious failures.

1: Program emphasis was to maximize crew time on orbit for utilization

2: ISS Community perception was that drink bags leak

3: Flight Control Team’s perception of the anomaly report process as being resource intensive made them reluctant to         invoke it.

4: No one applied knowledge of the physics of water behavior in zero-g to water coming from the PLSS vent loop

5: The occurrence of minor amounts of water in the helmet was normalized 

Taking a longer term view, the spacesuit near disaster can be considered a cautionary tale for those eager to head off planet and begin settling the solar system.  There is no substitute for extensive and repetitive experience in using the critical tools on which everyone’s lives will depend.

Equipment is inevitably going to break.  The key is knowing when and how that generally happens, how to fix it, and what repair components have to be readily available.  Nature doesn’t make things that easy however.  The more familiar we are with something, the easier it is to mistake the first indications of new failure modes for something we think we already understand.

GPM Core Observatory Ready for Thursday Launch

Ready
Credit: NASA HQ

Officials with NASA and the Japanese Space Agency JAXA have given the go ahead for tomorrow’s launch of the Global Participation (GPM) Core Observatory, a precipitation measuring satellite which will launch from Japan aboard a HII-A rocket.

Liftoff is scheduled during a one hour window beginning at 1:37 pm EST, 3:37 am Japan Standard Time, and will be covered on NASA TV and at JAXA’s website.

GPM is headed towards a 253 mile circular orbit at an inclination of 65 degrees, which will allow it to use its primary instruments, a microwave imager and duel frequency precipitation radar to study rain and snowfall across the globe from the edge of Artic Circle to the edge of Antarctic Circle, serving as the centerpiece of a suite of smaller satellites for which it will provide a calibration service.

Kepler Data Confirms 715 New Planets

715 New Planets and Counting
Credit : NASA

It is the biggest planet haul yet.

NASA announced today the discovery of 715 new exo-planets orbiting 305 star systems, bringing the total number of confirmed worlds outside of our solar system to almost 1,700.

The announcement is based on findings from data gathered during the first two years of the Kepler Space Telescope’s four year survey of a tiny swath of sky containing 160,000 stars. What is particularly compelling regarding the new findings is the fact that 94% of the new confirmed planets are the size of Neptune or smaller, with a large number in the Earth or Super Earth category. Most of the planets announced today are in tightly compacted solar systems orbiting in short periods around their stars.

Because these results are based on the first two years of observations, and Kepler uses the transit technique which measures the miniscule drop in a star’s brightness as a planet passes in front of it, it is quite likely that further analysis will reveal more planets in further orbits around the same systems.

Nevertheless, four of the 715 planets announced today are orbiting within the habitable zones of their stars.

The Kepler Space Telescope is still operational, but it is not actively being used, having lost two of its four reaction wheels, making it impossible to mainatin a steady lock to use its instruments.   Kepler managers are currently testing an innovative technique which would see the pressure of sunlight, combined with the two remaining wheels, used to “keep the camera” steady and subject stars in focus.  The extended mission, called “K2” is awaiting approval.

Stratolaunch Gets a New Executive Director

Stratolaunch

Although NewSpace companies are already revolutionizing some market segments such as the the smallsat industry, progress in other areas, notably launch systems, has been much slower, with the clear exception of SpaceX.

Two companies which harbor long term crew capable orbital ambitions, Virgin Galactic and XCOR, are on the threshold of beginning suborbital passenger flights, and both will soon be offering smallsat launch services as well, where they will be joined by Swiss Space Systems. Based on a recent FAA approval, Blue Origin  seems to be making progress, but in reality has made more news recently concerning what it does not want SpaceX to do (occupy KSC Pad 39A) than what it is actually has in the works.

That leaves Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch project as the only other notable NewSpace entrant actually developing hardware in support of medium lift or greater crew capable systems.  As a previous story on the venture examines, the selection of a fully expendable solid fueled booster from Orbital Sciences would appear to seriously negate any opportunity for the Stratolaunch system to change the economics of space launch. If SpaceX is successful in achieving first stage recovery and re-use with the Falcon 9 at any point, the business case for Stratolaunch is going to get even more difficult.

That is not to say there will not be one at all. The ability being offered by the company, to conduct a more affordable space launch from altitude and to almost any orbit will be a powerful draw for certain customers,  but it is difficult to see as a game changer.  Still, it is progress, and in the long run the giant, twin hulled carrier aircraft might be expected to be launching a very different booster than the one it is going to use for its initial operations. Into that environment steps a new Executive Director,  Charles Beames.

 

 

Tesla Model S Wins Consumer Reports Best Overall Car 2014

Top Pick
Credit: Consumer Reports

Tesla continues to do to the rest of the automotive world what SpaceX is doing to the aerospace industry; make us all wonder if everyone has just been dialing it in for far too long now.

Adding to its growing list of accomplishments,  the Tesla Model S has been named the Consumer Reports Best Overall Car for 2014.

It is the first time an American built car has ever won. (Trucks are another matter)

The reason why Innerspace.net regularly reports on Tesla is outlined in a number of previous posts such as this one, but a Bloomberg BusinessWeek story on the CR award sums it up nicely:

The top model ranking for the youngest U.S. automaker may further the profile of Palo Alto, California-based Tesla, which has said Model S deliveries should increase about 56 percent to 35,000 cars this year. Tesla could almost double its share of the global car market to 1 percent if it succeeds in lowering battery costs, said Adam Jonas, a Morgan Stanley analyst.

“If it can be a leader in commercializing battery packs, investors may never look at Tesla the same way again,” Jonas, who rates the shares overweight, wrote in a note to clients. “If Tesla can become the world’s low-cost producer in energy storage, we see significant optionality for Tesla to disrupt adjacent industries.” ”

If Tesla is successful, advances in energy storage will do some disrupting on more than one world.  Mars awaits.   Getting there will be a challenge, Entry, Descent and Landing will be akin to either a nightmare or the solar system’s most thrilling amusement park ride depending on your point of view, but when it comes to staying there, warm, basically safe and possibly even happy, it may all come down to the amount of available energy.  We know how to collect it. Storage is the key.