NASA will pay Bigelow Aerospace $17.8 million to test this subscale inflatable habitat module at the International Space Station, using instruments and station crewmembers to study whether the technology will allow the housing of astronauts and their gear on their way to Mars.
HOUSTON — NASA’s Orion project will pursue an aggressive strategy to reduce the mass of the four-person capsule that serves as a centerpiece of U.S. efforts to develop a new human deep space exploration capability, according to participants in the first phase of a long-running integrated systems definition review of the multi-element initiative that kicked off this week.
Jesco von Puttkamer, a protégé of Wernher von Braun whose NASA career ranged from the Apollo manned lunar landing project to the International Space Station, died Dec. 27 of a flu-like illness. He was 79. At his death he was still active at the U.S. space agency, producing a daily online rundown of activities on the ISS.
LOS ANGELES — NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is poised to begin drilling on the planet’s surface for the first time following the selection of an area of flat rock containing a target-rich environment of fractures, veins and mineral concentrations. Drilling will provide samples that will be used to obtain detailed data about the mineral and chemical composition of the rocks as part of Curiosity’s main mission to investigate whether Mars ever offered an environment suitable for life.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee since 2009, does not plan to run for re-election in 2014. That will leave the committee with an open spot at the top, just after the departure of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), who resigned at the end of the 112th Congress. Rockefeller was a strong advocate for rural airports, resisting efforts by Republicans to scrap the Essential Air Service program.
INFLATING ISS: Bigelow Aerospace will provide a new addition to the International Space Station under a $17.8 million NASA contract. “The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module will demonstrate the benefits of this space habitat technology for future exploration and commercial space endeavors,” the company said in a statement. Bigelow has been developing inflatable orbital habitats for commercial and government applications.
Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center are collecting data on kerosene-fueled rocket engines by hot-fire testing a gas generator built from 40-year-old parts originally manufactured for the Saturn V Moon rocket. Testing in a modified stand is planned to feed work underway that could lead to a reprise of the old F-1 engine as the booster powerplant for the agency’s planned heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS).
Jesco von Puttkamer, a protege of Wernher von Braun whose NASA career ranged from the Apollo manned lunar landing project to the International Space Station, died Dec. 27, of a flu-like illness at home in Alexandria, Va. He was 79. At his death, von Puttkamer was still active at the U.S. space agency, producing a daily online rundown of activities on the International Space Station.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), were presented with a challenge at the start of 2012: get their parties to agree to cut $1.2 trillion from the budget and deal with a series of tax extensions. Failing meant a likely recession caused by inaction, and election-year inertia only raised the stakes.
Astronomers using NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sofia), a highly modified Boeing 747SP that carries a 100-in.-dia. IR telescope, have created a series of multiple exposures revealing a ring of gas and dust created in a burst of energy 4-6 million years ago at the center of the Milky Way.
NEW DELHI — India is on track to launch its first Mars orbiter in November of this year, a senior scientist in charge of the mission says. The unmanned satellite, christened “Maangalyaan,” will study the thin Martian atmosphere to determine the existence and sustainability of life and focus on climate, geology, origin and evolution of the planet, the scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said Jan. 10.
MUOS DELIVERY: Lockheed Martin has finally delivered the waveform needed to fully utilize the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access capabilities offered by the new Mobile User Objective System narrowband communications satellites. The waveform, which is roughly one year late, is needed to allow soldiers, including those on the move, to access voice, data and video communications from various terminals. Though the waveform has been delivered, the capability will not be deployed until the terminals, which are late, are approved for use by the National Security Agency.
