The moon rising over Half Moon Bay, California on Halloween 2009. (Credit: Douglas Messier)
NASA will host a media teleconference at 12:30 p.m. EST Monday, Jan. 27, to discuss the Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (Lunar CATALYST) initiative.
If Parabolic Arc’s readers had their way, the NASA Ames Research Center would be renamed after starship captain James Tiberius Kirk. The legendary Star Trek commander topped our poll of possible fictional captains for renaming the venerable NASA facility in Mountain View, Calif. Kirk was light years ahead of the competition, with interstellar screw-up Zapp Brannigan of Futurama coming in a distant second place. One wonders how Brannigan would explain […]
Engineers prepare Orion’s service module for installation of the fairings that will protect it during launch this fall when Orion launches on its first mission. The service module, along with its fairings, is now complete. (Credit: NASA)
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — The second of three major parts of the spacecraft that will launch into orbit on Orion’s first mission this fall is complete.
Work has been progressing steadily on all three main parts of Orion – the service module, the crew module and the launch abort system – and this month the service module joined the launch abort system in crossing the finish line.
Historical photographs were taken of the ant habitat facility by an Expedition 38 crew member. The study examines the behavior of ants by comparing groups living on Earth to those in space. (Credit: NASA)
ISS Science Highlights
Week of Jan. 13, 2014
by John Love, Lead Increment Scientist
Expedition 37/38
Expedition 38 Commander Oleg Kotov and NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio performed the SPHERES Zero Robotics competition from the International Space Station. On Jan. 17, teams from across the United States and abroad gathered at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge and virtually for the fifth annual challenge. NASA uploaded software developed by high school students onto the spherical free-floating SPHERES satellites.
Video Caption: The third free flight of a Morpheus prototype lander was conducted Jan. 16, 2014 at the north end of the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 57-second test began at 1:15 p.m. EST with the Morpheus lander launching from the ground over a flame trench and ascending about 187 feet. The lander then flew forward, covering about 154 feet in 20 seconds before […]
An update from Tethers Unlimited: TUI Successfully Demonstrates Novel Tech for On-Orbit Manufacturing of Space Structures: Under a Phase I NASA SBIR, TUI has successfully demonstrated in the laboratory a novel “Trusselator” device that uses additive manufacturing techniques to enable on-orbit fabrication of high-performance carbon-fiber truss structures. The Trusselator technology is a key element of TUI’s “SpiderFab” architecture, which will enable on-orbit fabrication of huge antennas, high-power solar arrays, and […]
Atlas V launches a TDRS spacecraft into orbit. (Credit: ULA)
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., Jan. 23, 2014 (ULA PR) – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket successfully launched NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-L) payload at 9:33 p.m. EST today from Space Launch Complex-41. This was the first of 15 ULA launches scheduled for 2014 and the 78th ULA launch for ULA in just over seven years.
Tom Bower, who wrote a critical biography of Richard Branson nearly 15 years ago, is back with a new book looking at the British mogul’s most recent activities, including his nearly decade-long quest to launch himself and other wealthy individuals into space. Being that Branson called Bower’s previous book a “foul” piece of work that offended him on every level, I can’t imagine this one is going to be any […]
Dream Chaser (Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation)
Sparks, Nev., Jan. 23, 2014 – Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announces that it has confirmed that the first orbital flight of its Dream Chaser® Space System will occur on November 1, 2016. Dream Chaser will be brought to orbit on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket that is being built in Decatur, Alabama and will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
During SNC’s press event at the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), which was carried live on NASA TV, Mark N. Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of Sierra Nevada Space Systems also unveiled the plans for Dream Chaser flight operations and vehicle processing in Florida through a detailed multi-part presentation.
Video Caption: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory tested its G-FOLD divert algorithm experimental landing system on September 20, 2013 at the Mohave Air & Space Port in Mojave, Calif. G-FOLD, which stands for Fuel Optimal Large Divert Guidance Algorithm, enables a rocket to select an alternate landing site, autonomously. The test was performed aboard a Masten Xombie rocket.
