Credit: Laura Seward
The new space shuttle Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex was opened on Friday night with a gala VIP reception. Parabolic Arc contributor Laura Seward was there and took these photos. (more…)
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Doug Messier
Expedition Six Flight Engineer Donald Pettit uses a chemical/microbial analysis bag to collect water samples from the Potable Water Heater in the Zvezda Service Module on the International Space Station. (Credit: NASANASA PR) — Staying clean in a world full of germs is an important part of our daily lives. We regularly wash and bathe—knowing that these rituals help keep us healthy and prevent illness from spreading. But we still host millions of tiny organisms all over our bodies all the time, and they’re not all bad either.
NASA PR — Staying clean in a world full of germs is an important part of our daily lives. We regularly wash and bathe—knowing that these rituals help keep us healthy and prevent illness from spreading. But we still host millions of tiny organisms all over our bodies all the time, and they’re not all bad either.
These microscopic creatures, called microbes, are constant companions to every part of our Earth. Many microbes play important roles in the delicate balance of different biological environments, or ecosystems. An ecosystem can be a part of a person (like the gastrointestinal tract), the entire body or many people living together. It can be a speck of dirt or an entire planet. Every ecosystem, big or small, creates a new opportunity for microbes to live, die, multiply or change and to impact its fragile environment.
The microbial ecosystems on the International Space Station are no different. Some microbes were inhabitants from the time the station was assembled. Some join each time a new crew member or payload arrives. People, their habits, their physiological reactions to their emotional states, and their physical environment are all variables that have the potential to continue to alter microbe systems on the space station. With the potential to affect future space exploration missions, researchers funded by NASA’s Human Research Program plan to gather and analyze biological samples to study better the space station’s Microbiome—the ever-changing microbe environment that can be found on the space station and its inhabitants.
Just seen SABRE -a rocket engine that cools air from 1000 degrees to -150 in fraction of a second.We’re backing the future with £60m funding — George Osborne (@George_Osborne) June 27, 2013 That’s the equivalent of $91.28 million. Please follow Parabolic Arc on Facebook and Twitter.
HOUSTON, TX (Ad Astra PR) – After more than a year of planning and preparation, a team of Ad Astra engineers and physicists, along with NASA engineers participating as part of a technical interchange, completed the company’s first formal preliminary design review (PDR) of the VF-200 engine. The 200 kW “proto-flight” is the company’s first engine planned to be tested in space. The review was conducted on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at Ad Astra’s research facility near Houston, TX.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, June 27, 2013 (FundRazr PR) — The crowdfunding innovators at FundRazr are proud to announce they are powering PayPal Galactic’s partnership with SETI Institute to crowdfund life on earth, and search for ET (extraterrestrial) life beyond it.
SETI’s Curiosity Movement crowdfunding campaign (https://seti.org/curiositymovement) is changing the way scientific research is funded and completed; FundRazr’s platform is making the exploration of these new frontiers possible.
Duane Ratliff
The following originally appeared on NASA’s A Lab Aloft blog.
In today’s A Lab Aloft, our guest blogger, CASIS Chief Operating Officer Duane Ratliff, shares the secret to success in doing business with the International Space Station.
“How do I get my research into space?” It is easily the most common question I receive when travelling across the country to support the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) at meetings and targeted events. After all, many scientists have been conditioned to think that microgravity research is expensive, complicated and, frankly, a mystery.
Wall Street Journal Opinion: The Countdown to Private Spacecraft XCOR Aerospace COO Andrew Nelson on the stunning advances in America’s private space industry. Please follow Parabolic Arc on Facebook and Twitter.
The Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida. (Credit: NASA)
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (June 28, 2013) — Today, NASA announced the selection of Space Florida to maintain and operate the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). This historic 15,000 ft. long, 300 ft. wide launch and landing strip hosted 78 Shuttle landings over the past 30 years and provides a unique resource for growing commercial aerospace businesses that may have interest in operating from Florida.
United Launch Services LLC, Littleton, Colo., has been awarded a $1.088 million contract for seven launches of U.S. Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) satellites. The launch vehicles include: AF Atlas V 401 AF Atlas V 501 NRO Atlas 401 NRO Atlas 541 AF Delta IV 4.2 AF Delta IV 5.4 NRO Delta IV 5.2. ULA will be paid $525 million out of the Fiscal Year 2013 procurement budget. […]
Doug Shane
MOJAVE, Calif. (VG PR) — Virgin Galactic today announced the appointment of Doug Shane as Executive Vice President and General Manager of The Spaceship Company (TSC). Shane joins the company after a 31 year career at Scaled Composites LLC (Scaled), where he served as that company’s President for five years. He will report directly to George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic and TSC.
As the company progresses through its successful test flight program and approaches the start of commercial service with SpaceShipTwo, Virgin Galactic has tapped Shane to oversee its manufacturing company, TSC, which has already begun the construction of the second set of SpaceShipTwo spaceships and WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft. TSC began as a joint venture between Virgin and Scaled, until 2012, when Virgin Galactic acquired full ownership of the venture.