Bigelow Aerospace Closed Volume Spacecraft Simulation Crew Members This is a part time position. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Duty Location: North Las Vegas, Nevada Bigelow Aerospace seeks mature, well adjusted adult individuals with backgrounds in the social, psychological, behavioral, biological, nursing, engineering or crew systems sciences for astronaut-in-space simulation studies. Qualifications: Demonstrated expertise in detailed report […]
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Doug Messier
A Russian Soyuz 2-1v lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Saturday, successfully orbiting a satellite and two calibration spheres in the first launch of the new booster. The “light” launch vehicle, which is designed to lift small payloads, is a significantly modified version of the venerable Soyuz launch vehicle that has been a mainstay of Soviet and Russian space programs since 1966.It maintains a similar outward appearance, but it […]
The heat shield for the Orion spacecraft has been placed on a work stand inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Credit: NASA/Mike Chambers)
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — Orion’s first mission, Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1, is less than a year away now, and the team building the spacecraft is meeting milestones left and right as they prepare the vehicle for its debut.
The Orion crew module that will fly 3,600 miles above Earth on the spacecraft’s first mission is continuing to come together inside the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Since the heat shield that will protect it from temperatures near 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit was delivered to Kennedy in early December, the Orion team has been preparing it for installation. They’ve placed it on a work stand and begun drilling the holes necessary to attach it to the module. The heat shield is scheduled be put in place in the spring.
Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio captured this view of spacewalkers Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy working outside the International Space Station and posted it to Twitter. (Credit: NASA)
Two cosmonauts set a new Russian spacewalk record on Friday but the two cameras they installed on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS) failed to send telemetry to flight controllers on the ground, NASA announced today.
Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy spent 8 hours and 7 minutes outside of the station with the primary objective of installing a pair of cameras provided by UrtheCast of Vancouver, Canada. The cameras — one high-definition, one medium-resolution — are part of a commercial venture designed to give continuous live coverage of the Earth as ISS circles the planet.
In an effort to make the United Kingdom more competitive in space, the UK government is moving forward with a plan to cap third-party liability for spacecraft operators at €60 million ($99 million) for the majority of space missions.
Under the Outer Space Act of 1986, operators must purchase at least €60 million ($99 million) of third-party liability insurance for a satellite’s launch and orbital operational phases in most cases. However, they must indemnify the UK government for an unlimited amount of damages above the insurance limit.
On 22 October 2013, NASA’s Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD), on board the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft, made history using a pulsed laser beam to transmit data over the 400 000 km between Earth and the Moon at a record-breaking download rate of 622 megabits per second (Mbps). (Credit: NASA)
GREENBELT, MD (NASA PR) — The completion of the 30-day Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration or LLCD mission has revealed that the possibility of expanding broadband capabilities in space using laser communications is as bright as expected.
Hosted aboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer known as LADEE, for its ride to lunar orbit, the LLCD was designed to confirm laser communication capabilities from a distance of almost a quarter-of-a-million miles. In addition to demonstrating record-breaking data download and upload speeds to the moon at 622 megabits per second (Mbps) and 20 Mbps, respectively, LLCD also showed that it could operate as well as any NASA radio system. “Throughout our testing we did not see anything that would prevent the operational use of this technology in the immediate future,” said Don Cornwell, LLCD mission manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Mayo Clinic PR) — Abba Zubair, M.D., Ph.D., believes that cells grown in the International Space Station (ISS) could help patients recover from a stroke, and that it may even be possible to generate human tissues and organs in space. He just needs a chance to demonstrate the possibility.
He now has it. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), a nonprofit organization that promotes research aboard the ISS, has awarded Dr. Zubair a $300,000 grant to send human stem cells into space to see if they grow more rapidly than stem cells grown on Earth.
A false color infrared image of the Antares launch. (Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)
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By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
It has been a busy year for American rocket companies, with 19 successful missions flown by the nation’s three launch providers. The U.S. space transportation fleet became more diverse as three boosters and a cargo vessel made successful maiden flights in 2013.
Launch highlights for the year include a number of significant missions and firsts:
- Orbital Sciences Corporation debuted its new Antares launch vehicle with two flawless flights in April and September;
- Orbital’s new Cygnus freighter made a successful demonstration flight to the International Space Station (ISS), paving the way for commercial cargo deliveries and successfully closing out NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program;
- SpaceX successfully debuted an upgraded version of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle in September;
- On the same flight, SpaceX succeeded in a controlled re-entry of a Falcon 9 first stage, a crucial step toward its goal of making the rocket reusable;
- Two month later, SpaceX launched a commercial communications satellite into geosynchronous orbit for the first time;
- Orbital’s Minotaur V made a successful maiden flight in September by sending NASA’s LADEE orbiter to the moon;
- United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Atlas V launched the space agency’s MAVEN probe to Mars two months later;
- ULA increased its launch tempo, with 11 flights of the highly reliable Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles;
- The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) in Virginia came into its own in 2013, with three orbital launches and the LADEE mission to the moon;
Launch Pad 39A with the space shuttle Endeavour. (Credit: NASA)
By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
NASA selected SpaceX to lease Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center because it had a firm manifest of launches while rival Blue Origin’s plan to transfer the former space shuttle launch pad into a multi-user facility lacked actual users, according to the space agency’s selection statement.
“Blue Origin’s multi-use approach involved uncertainty regarding the extent other users would use the pad,” wrote NASA selection official Richard J. Keegan, Jr. “In contrast, SpaceX’s approach for exclusive use and its proposed manifest was specific, firm and included customers on contract.
“I determined the certainty and number of launches associated with SpaceX’s proposal outweighed the potential benefits associated with Blue Origin’s multi-use approach. I had a high level of confidence that SpaceX was very likely to successfully achieve its near term manifest,” he added.
Gossamer deorbit sail. (Credit: University of Surrey)
PARIS (ESA PR) — When satellites reach the end of their working lives, they may pose a threat to other spacecraft as they continue to orbit in a dormant state for many decades. But now a new way to deorbit ageing satellites in a safe manner is nearing its first test in space.
In the future, satellites might carry a packaged ultra-lightweight ‘gossamer sail’ to open as they head towards retirement. The increased aerodynamic drag would pull the craft out of orbit to burn up in the high atmosphere, reducing the risk of catastrophic collisions and creating a sustainable space environment for future generations.