NASA launches mission to Mars

From Government Executive: NASA launches mission to Mars
NASA and its commercial space partner, the United Launch Alliance, launched a new rover to Mars on Saturday morning - a mission the agency hopes will answer two questions: whether life ever survived on Mars, and what the future of U.S. space exploration will look like.

The Atlas V rocket carrying the Mars Science Laboratory lifted off right on time from Cape Canaveral, Fla., shortly after 10 a.m. After achieving Earth orbit a second burst from the upper stage pushed it out of orbit and onto its 352-million-mile trajectory to Mars.

It will take the spacecraft nine months to reach Mars and if all goes well, the car-sized Curiosity rover will be parachuted to the planet's surface next August.

NASA has been struggling to keep its budget and define its relevance with the end of the space shuttle program this past summer. It escaped big cuts in the latest round of appropriations in Congress but is under pressure to perform.

The space agency is relying on public-private partnerships such as this one, with United Launch Alliance.

Curiosity is much larger than the spectacularly successful rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which crept around the surface of Mars for years longer than planned. Spirit was declared dead in May after lasting six years.

"It will go longer. It will discover more than we could ever possibly imagine," Colleen Hartman, assistant associate administrator, NASA Science Mission Directorate, told a news conference earlier this week.

"Mars really is the Bermuda triangle of the solar system. It is the death planet. And the United States is the only nation in the world that has landed and driven robot explorers on the surface of Mars."

The one-ton rover has a robotic arm, a drill, video cameras and other equipment for collecting and analyzing rocks and soil in search of evidence of past or present life.

New Cosmodome: focus on virtual space exploration

A Press Release from MarketWatch: New Cosmodome: focus on virtual space exploration
LAVAL, QC, Nov. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Countdown to lift-off: 17 days Book your seat for a trip to the Moon, Mars or the outer limits of our galaxy!

"The Cosmodome wants to spark young people's interest in space exploration. They're the ones who will be the pioneers of the Red Planet! The first person who will set foot on Mars is currently living on Earth."

Sylvain Bélair, Executive Director Cosmodome, Member of NASA Space Exploration Board

"I'm convinced the creators of the new Cosmodome will inspire young people to consider a career in aerospace. Who knows? Maybe the astronauts of tomorrow will discover their interest in space after visiting the Cosmodome."

David Saint-Jacques, Canadian Space Agency Astronaut, Jury Member, Cosmoclub Contest

The Cosmodome's transformation [insérer ici un lien pour l'ouverture du PDF de la fiche Renouvellement, version anglaise] will soon be completed, making it a centre that will stimulate interest in space adventure and spark enthusiasm for space. On December 15, it will open the door to a new and unusual concept: a virtual experience of space and methods of space exploration. Unique in Canada, this museum dedicated to astronautics will present three interactive space missions that are scientific, educational and entertaining. During their 60-minute virtual experience, visitors will take part in a mission of their choice: reliving the conquest of the Moon, embarking on the perilous journey to Mars, or discovering the mysteries of the cosmos by launching a probe.

Everything has been designed to immerse the participants in a space station atmosphere. Most of the Cosmodome has been transformed to accommodate a boarding platform that leads to 17 futuristic modules, where the visitors can take part in scenarios that provide a wealth of information and interaction. This new concept was developed in association with gsmprcto, a firm with cutting-edge expertise in audiovisual, interactive and multimedia museum technologies.

The redevelopment of the program for the museum portion of the Cosmodome was launched in 2009, with extensive prior planning by the centre's management. It was completed within the projected budget of $10.5million, which included grants of $7million from the Government of Quebec and $3.5million from the Ville de Laval, owner of the Cosmodome building and the land on which it sits. In addition to the three virtual space missions, the Cosmodome has also updated its permanent exhibition of artefacts from the conquest of space and still offers its Space Camp for budding astronauts.

"The Cosmodome has been updated to reflect advances in space exploration and new museum practices that will capture the interest of our primary target audience: visitors aged nine to 15, who are fascinated by anything experiential. Of course, we are also targeting families, school groups and even corporate groups. The images, anecdotes and scientific facts presented and the virtual experiences the participants will enjoy have been validated by a scientific committee. With the introduction of this new concept, we intend to double our attendance in 2012 and have set ourselves a goal of more than 150,000 visitors," said Sylvain Bélair, the Cosmodome's Executive Director.

Michelle Courchesne, Minister responsible for Government Administration, Chair of the conseil du trésor and Minister responsible for the Laval region, was delighted with her government's support for the transformation [insérer ici un lien pour l'ouverture du PDF de la fiche Renouvellement, version anglaise] of the Cosmodome: "The Quebec government is proud to have supported this original transformation, the only one of its kind in Canada. We hope it will spark an interest in space and science among its young visitors. The Cosmodome is very important for Quebec, from both a recreotourism and educational perspective. The province is home to one of the world's largest aerospace clusters, and several of its companies make a significant contribution to space exploration."

Innovation and 'democratization' of space exploration

Laval's Mayor, Gilles Vaillancourt, stressed the scientific innovation deployed at the new Cosmodome: "The Cosmodome introduces innovation and is positioned as a high-level museum that will 'democratize' space exploration and make it literally accessible to everyone. It promises to become a world-class scientific recreotourism destination and will spearhead recreotourism in the Laval region. This is a remarkable contribution to the youth of Laval and young people from all over."

Canadian Astronaut David Saint-Jacques took part in the news conference via video. He was one of the jury members for the Cosmoclub Contest to select the first young crew to participate in the Red Planet virtual mission. Their experience will take place on December 3 during the Journée nationale des Débrouillards, an event organized by the CLSM, the Conseil pour la Relève Scientifique (Conseil du loisir scientifique de la région métropolitaine), at the Cosmodome.

About the new Cosmodome www.cosmodome.org

The Cosmodome is Canada's only museum dedicated to the understanding of space exploration. It is recognized as one of five metropolitan recreotourism facilities in Greater Montreal. The Cosmodome seeks to be an educational reference and to stimulate interest in scientific culture, space sciences and astronautics among visitors of all ages, from here and further afield. Visitors can take part in three educational interactive missions that will make them travel and literally live space. The Cosmodome also features a permanent exhibition of artefacts of space travel as well as the Yuri Gagarin Documentation Centre. They can also attend Space Camp, a franchise of the US Space Camp, for apprentice astronauts. The Cosmodome offers a series of workshops, activities and events for the general public, and school and corporate groups.

Located in Laval at the intersection of highways 15 and 440, the Cosmodome can be easily accessed from the Montmorency metro station. To explore the Cosmodome virtually, prepare for a visit or find the latest information on space and astronautics, visit the new website at www.cosmodome.org or the Facebookpage at www.facebook.com/Cosmodome .

Amendments Call for Tighter Scrutiny of EELV Program

From Space.com: Amendments Call for Tighter Scrutiny of EELV Program
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department’s primary satellite launching program would be subjected to tighter internal and congressional scrutiny under an amendment to the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 that was added Nov. 18.

A related amendment, to be considered as early as Nov. 28, directs the U.S. Air Force to document plans to implement the recommendations of a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that urged the service to rethink its current launch vehicle procurement strategy, which calls for block buys of Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets.

Both amendments pertaining to the Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program were authored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which drafted a new version of its National Defense Authorization Act Nov. 15. The measure updates legislation that previously was introduced in June, but would reduce overall Pentagon spending by an additional $21 billion above the $27 billion target set in the Budget Control Act of 2011, according to a press release issued Nov. 15 by the committee leadership.

The McCain amendments come at a time of heightened congressional concern over the cost of the EELV program, which launches the vast majority of operational military and intelligence satellites. United Launch Alliance of Denver, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture, is the EELV prime contractor, manufacturing and providing launches on its Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rocket families.

EELV program costs have grown significantly in recent years, due in part to a combination of low rocket production rates and rising propulsion costs. The retirement of NASA’s space shuttle has contributed to the latter by forcing contractors that had worked on both programs to shift more overhead costs to the EELV effort.

The Air Force’s plan to stabilize EELV costs, referred to as the block buy strategy, calls for buying up to 50 Atlas 5 and Delta 4 booster cores over a five-year period. But some U.S. lawmakers believe there might be a better answer in the form of competition from companies like Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., which has set its sights on breaking United Launch Alliance’s virtual monopoly on the Pentagon launch market.

The first of McCain’s two amendments, now a part of the Senate’s bill, directs the secretary of defense to change EELV’s status from an ongoing sustainment program to a “major acquisition program,” a move that would subject it to more stringent reporting requirements. Under current law, the military services must alert Congress when one of their acquisition programs incurs cost growth above a certain threshold, and in severe cases must provide a justification for the program’s continuation.

In lieu of making that change, the defense secretary would be required to “provide to the congressional defense committees all information with respect to the cost, schedule, and performance of the program that would be required” if the EELV were designated as a major acquisition program. In addition, the program would have to provide the Pentagon’s top acquisition official with quarterly cost and status reports that would give advance warning of brewing problems, the amendment says.

The second amendment would direct the Pentagon to include in the documentation supporting its 2013 budget request a description of how the current EELV procurement strategy complies with each of the recommendations of the recent GAO report on the program. That report, dubbed “Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle: DOD Needs to Ensure New Acquisition is Based on Sufficient Information” and dated Sept. 15, said pressing ahead with the proposed block buy strategy could result in the Air Force buying more rockets than its needs at prices that might be too high.

The Air Force plans to initiate its block procurement next year, but the GAO urged the service to wait until it has better information about what the vehicles should cost. The report said the Air Force does not have adequate insight into EELV costs and that NASA’s impending announcement of a heavy-lift rocket procurement plan could impact the cost of Atlas 5 and Delta 4 propulsion systems.

NASA has since unveiled plans for a heavy-lift Space Launch System that would utilize a derivative of the space shuttle main engine, built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne also produces the main engine for the Delta 4 and the upper stage for both that vehicle and the Atlas 5.

The Air Force fully concurred with all of the GAO’s recommendations with the exception of the recommendation that it reassess its block buy strategy. In partially concurring with that recommendation, the service said it would balance its decision on the number of rockets to be procured over what time period against the price, its satellite-launching requirements, “budget realities and the potential for new entrant competition.”

McCain’s proposed amendment says that for those GAO recommendations that are not implemented, the Defense Department must explain how it is otherwise addressing the issues cited in the report. The amendment further directs the U.S. comptroller general to review the requested EELV information and report back with its own assessment within 60 days of when it is received on Capitol Hill.

Meanwhile, the bill follows the lead of House authorizers, who in a bill drafted in April approved the Air Force’s plan to simultaneously procure Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites Nos. 5 and 6 under a fixed-price contract. The Senate bill caps the cost of the two satellites at $3.1 billion — excluding certain plans, support costs, and support for component obsolescence studies — provided incrementally over a six-year period. That cost cap can be raised with written notification if the program incurs cost growth as a result of newly enacted laws, economic inflation or the insertion of new technology that either reduces the life-cycle cost of the satellites or is required to address an “emerging threat that poses grave harm” to U.S. national security.

The bill directs the Air Force to submit reports documenting the savings to be realized by the dual satellite procurement. The Air Force should not enter into the fixed-price contract for two satellites unless doing so results in cost savings of 20 percent over procuring the satellites separately, the bill says.

SpaceX Expanding Florida Facilities To Meet Launch Demand

From Space News: SpaceX Expanding Florida Facilities To Meet Launch Demand
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space Exploration Technologies, the startup rocket company developing cut-rate launch services, is expanding its Florida base, with additional hangars to prepare its Falcon 9 rockets and customer payloads for flight.

The firm, owned and operated by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, has more than 40 flights worth about $3.5 billion on its manifest from the U.S. government, commercial and international customers.

About 40 percent of that business is for NASA, which has hired the company, also known as SpaceX, to fly cargo to the international space station beginning next year. A demonstration flight is scheduled for launch in January.

Falcon 9s fly from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40, which previously was used by the now-retired Titan rocket program. Currently, only one vehicle can be processed at a time at a hangar adjacent to the launch pad.

To accommodate an expected flight rate of 10 to 12 launches per year, SpaceX is building a 16,000-square-meter addition to Space Launch Complex 40 and taking over an old Delta 2 processing building called Hangar AO. Space Florida, a state-funded agency focused on expanding space-related business in Florida, is providing $7.3 million toward the upgrades.

“We’ll be able to integrate three rockets at a time instead of one,” Scott Henderson, SpaceX’s director of mission assurance, said at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association conference in Cocoa Beach earlier this month.

The upgrade includes a clean room, a hazardous hypergolic fueling facility and enough volume to encapsulate a payload in a fairing in a vertical position.

The company also plans to either upgrade Pad 40 or add another launch pad to support its planned Falcon Heavy rockets. That would be in addition to the West Coast Falcon Heavy launch complex under construction at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

“We can do it on Launch Complex 40; technically it’s not a challenge. The problem is how you do that while not breaking up your revenue stream as you’re launching Falcon 9, so you’ve got a challenge there,” Henderson said.

The company, which is based in Hawthorne, Calif., currently has about 1,600 employees, including about 70 in Florida.

“We will never, as a small, commercial, lean, agile company, win the job-creation battle,” Henderson said, referring to the political push for companies to replace jobs lost by the retirement of NASA’s space shuttles.

“It doesn’t really match the commercial model. What we’re really trying to do is increase launch rate, because if you increase launch rate you bring in new customers to Florida, they bring in suppliers, bring in people to watch launches, and all boats lift on the rising tide,” he said.

SpaceX faces what likely will be a keen competition for NASA funds to continue work on a passenger version of its Dragon capsule. A cargo Dragon made its debut flight in December 2010 and is targeted for a second demonstration flight, including possibly berthing at the space station, Jan. 7.

SpaceX currently shares a pool of $316.2 million in NASA funds with Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp. and Blue Origin for space taxi development and work on related technologies. The White House had requested $850 million for 2012. Congress budged $406 million.

NASA has not yet announced how the cut would impact the number of contractors, the scope of the work or the timing for the next phase of the program. A solicitation was expected to be released before the end of the year.

Cape Canaveral hopes to launch space-themed CRA

From Florida Today: Cape Canaveral hopes to launch space-themed CRA
CAPE CANAVERAL — Space exploration and the arrival of NASA are intertwined with the history of this 1.9-square-mile beachside city, which celebrates its 50th birthday in 2013.

Unfortunately, many of Cape Canaveral’s homes and commercial buildings date to the dawn of the space program, City Manager David Greene said — particularly the non-waterfront properties.

That’s why Greene and others want to create a community redevelopment district across roughly half the city, or 600 out of 1,200 acres, along the State Road A1A corridor.

The goal: Try to stimulate economic growth by capturing tax-increment financing for street improvements and infrastructure upgrades. Someday, Greene hopes the distrct will resemble a space-themed Baldwin Park, an upscale neighborhood in Orlando, or Celebration.

“By and large, those areas of the city are very dated. We want to create a very strong brand and a strong sense of place for Cape Canaveral, a strong identity,” Greene said.

“Missiles and rockets have been launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station since the ’50s. We just need to clearly recognize our place in the world — and present ourselves accordingly,” he said.

An Orlando consulting firm is drafting an initial report that will delineate proposed borders and state a legal case for creating a district and a community redevelopment agency to oversee it. Barry Brown, planning and development director, hopes this document will go to the Cape Canaveral City Council next month.

Cape Canaveral is 93 percent developed, Brown said. Much of this construction occurred from the 1950s to ’70s, he said — and “it’s got a well-worn look.”

To try to spur new construction, Brown proposes these CRA-related steps:

Rezone about 300 acres along State Road A1A (from where North Atlantic Avenue splits to Port Canaveral) and ease restrictions on the city’s 45-foot building-height limit, parking, landscaping and architectural-design standards.

Join Florida’s state-funded brownfield program, which offers developers fiscal incentives for job creation and cleanup of potentially contaminated sites.

Offer mixed-use development, which blends residential and commercial uses at the same site — such as a storefront with second-floor apartments.

Earlier this month, voters in neighboring Cocoa Beach approved mixed-use development across 24 downtown square blocks to try to rejuvenate vacant shops and closed restaurants.

Cocoa Beach officials created a CRA in 2009. West Melbourne leaders are in the process, and Merritt Island officials are expanding their CRAs.

In Cape Canaveral, the Columbia Commercial Complex on A1A is roughly half-vacant. One of the tenants is Whiskerz Pet Grooming and Boarding, and owner Valkyrie Flores grimaced while describing the appearance of some of the surrounding properties.

“The better we can make Cape Canaveral look, the better the economy we can get. If it looks trashy, nobody’s going to want to move here,” Flores said while clipping Chewbacca, a black-and-white shih tzu.

“Get this place looking good, and bring in more tourists,” she said.

Russia 'makes first contact' with stranded Mars probe

From Yahoo News: Russia 'makes first contact' with stranded Mars probe
Russia on Thursday announced its scientists had for the first time made contact with its stranded Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, a day after the European Space Agency said it had received a signal.

"A signal from the probe has been received and some telemetry data. At the moment our specialists are working on this information," the Interfax news agency quoted Russian space agency spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov as saying.

Interfax said the signal was received at a Russian station at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday afternoon.

The European Space Agency said its ground station in Perth, Australia made contact with the probe at 2025 GMT on Tuesday, the first sign of life from Phobos-Grunt since it got stuck in Earth orbit after launch on November 9.

Russian officials had cautioned earlier this week that the chances were very small of saving the mission, which would require reprogramming the probe to send it off on its trajectory to Mars before the window for its journey closes.

The probe had the unprecedented mission to land on the Martian moon Phobos and bring a sample of its rock back to Earth, as well as launch a Chinese satellite into Martian orbit.

ESA said in a statement on its website that the Perth tracking station had also managed to receive a second signal from the probe.

"The signals received from Phobos-Grunt were much stronger than those initially received on 22 November, in part due to having better knowledge of the spacecraft's orbital position," said Wolfgang Hell, ESA's manager for Phobos-Grunt.

One of the main concerns after the failed launch is the risk of an uncontrolled descent back to Earth. Officials have said gravity will pull Phobos-Grunt down within months as its orbit slows and becomes lower.

The spokesman for Russia's military space forces, Alexei Zolotukhin, said Thursday that it was expected that fragments of the probe would fall to Earth in January or February although the exact date would depend on external factors.

One expert said that its surprise show of life had generated hope that the probe could be brought down back to Earth safely, rather than any real prospect that it could be moved out of orbit towards Mars.

"If we are not only able to hear Phobos-Grunt but it is also able to hear us then there is a real chance of ensuring it can make a managed descent from orbit and its fragments plunged into the ocean," said Yury Karash of the Russian Academy of Comonautics.

He told Interfax a managed descent would minimise the risk of the probe hitting a populated area on land.

But he said there was hardly any chance that the probe could fulfil its original mission of going to Mars as its window was essentially closed and it did not have sufficient fuel left.

Russia May Join NASA-European Mars Mission After Probe Loss

From Bloomberg Business Week: Russia May Join NASA-European Mars Mission After Probe Loss
Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Russia may accept an invitation to join U.S.-European space missions to Mars after suffering the “heavy blow” of losing a $163 million space probe bound for the second-closest planet to Earth.

Russia is talking to NASA and the European Space Agency about participating in two Mars expeditions, in 2016 and 2018, according to Vladimir Popovkin, who heads Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos. It may send exploration equipment along with the missions, or assist with the rocket that launches the ships into space, he said yesterday in an interview in Moscow.

“Missions to distant planets will become more and more international,” Popovkin said. “We’ll see what degree of participation we’re offered. We prefer the first option.”

Europe’s debt crisis is weighing on global growth, cutting funding for space projects in the U.S. and giving Russia “a window of opportunity” to join international missions, according to Yuri Karash, a member of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics.

As well as this month’s malfunction to the Mars-bound Phobos-Grunt probe, Russia lost its most powerful telecommunications satellite and a cargo-supply ship destined for the International Space Station in August.

Mars Mission

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the ESA are working on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission to be launched in 2016 for arrival at Mars nine months later. The mission aims to demonstrate entry, descent and landing technologies for future trips to the planet.

Russia and Europe may also launch an unmanned expedition to Jupiter by 2020, Popovkin said. Russia continued talks on cooperation with the ESA after the Phobos probe, built by Moscow-based NPO Lavochkin, got stuck in low-Earth orbit following its Nov. 9 launch, he added.

Russia will welcome help from NASA and the ESA to bring Phobos into a higher orbit, Popovkin said, adding that a window of opportunity to send the craft to its destination ended Nov. 19 and will re-open in about two years.

An ESA ground station in Perth, Australia, received a radio signal from Phobos early today, Popovkin’s spokeswoman, Anna Vedishcheva, said by phone. “That gives us hope of regaining control over the probe,” she said.

China Partnership

Russia may also team up with China on manned space exploration in five to seven years, Popovkin said. For now, it’s working to create a craft for a crew of six people that will cost more than 10 billion rubles ($319 million) to develop and should be ready by 2020.

The new vessel may benefit from increased investment in space exploration. Russia may spend 2 trillion rubles on its program between 2016 and 2025 as it eyes a manned mission to the moon, Popovkin said. Spending in 2012 should rise by 50 percent to 150 billion rubles an may double by 2015.

Unlike 50 years ago, when beating the U.S. into space marked a geopolitical victory in the Cold War, Russia is focusing on the commercial, technological and scientific aspects of space travel. President Dmitry Medvedev has named aerospace among five industries the government plans to nurture to help diversify the economy of the world’s largest energy supplier away from resource extraction.

Over the next decade, Russia will focus on the moon, with a manned mission planned for 2020-2025, Popovkin said. A manned Mars expedition may be possible after 2030, he added.

Deep Space

“The only way for Russia to develop state-of-the-art space technologies and keep its competitiveness in space is to focus on deep-space exploration,” said Karash, from the Academy of Cosmonautics.

The commercial space market totaled $267 billion in 2010, according to Popovkin, who said Russia may increase its share to as much as 20 percent by 2015 from 3 percent now.

“This will be telecommunications satellites, remote sensing, cartography and surveying services,” he said.

Russia is seeking to diversify its commercial space activities, which mainly involve transporting satellites and equipment for others. It controls 40 percent of the market for space launches, Popovkin said. By year-end he estimates Glonass, a rival to the U.S. Global Positioning System, will be fully operational, with 24 satellites.

Popovkin was appointed this year by President Dmitry Medvedev, who fired his predecessor after a Proton-M rocket failed to deliver three navigation satellites into orbit for Glonass.

Replica Red Planet rover built in garage

From TBO.com: Replica Red Planet rover built in garage

THONOTOSASSA -- The Mars Science Laboratory rover, NASA's next major mission, won't blast off from Cape Canaveral until later this week, but a full-size replica — built in a Thonotosassa garage — has already landed at New York City's premier history museum.

Unlike the spacecraft scheduled to launch between Friday and Dec. 18, the 600-pound homegrown version is the creation of one man: Bruce Olds. Obsessed with America's space program since reading "Chariots for Apollo" in 1999, the 51-year-old has several Mercury 7 capsule replicas on public display.

His reproduction of the capsule piloted in 1961 by Alan Shepard, the first American in space, has been on exhibit at Tampa's Museum of Science & Industry since 2002. Since 2009, a different reproduction has been displayed at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, N.H.

Another of his capsules was purchased for $40,000 in 2008 by Tommy Bartlett Exploratory, Wisconsin Dells, Wis., home to 150 interactive exhibits on a range of activities, including space travel.

Olds' latest compact-car-size creation was completed in October and trucked to the 142-year-old American Museum of Natural History for an exhibition that opened Saturday celebrating manned and unmanned missions, "Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration."

Nicknamed "Curiosity," the NASA rover is engineered to roam Mars' rough surface and gather rocks for on-the-spot analysis. Discovery of organic compounds could provide clues to Martian history and environment. According to mission scientists, discoveries might even answer the age-old question: Could the Red Planet have harbored — or still harbor — life?

The nuclear-powered craft is equipped with a robotic arm, a laser capable of vaporizing rocks and high-resolution cameras that transmit photos to Earth.

For Olds, the mission began five months ago when the bid by his one-man company, Spacecraft Exhibits, was accepted by the New York museum to build the rover replica.

The contract allowed a relatively short time to build the replica, and Olds worked on it every day, including after church on weekends.

Friends and family viewing the six-wheeled rover under construction in his garage asked: "How can you tell somebody, 'Yeah, I can do that,' because you've never done it?" Olds "never thought much about it until they started saying it," he said.

"There were challenges; everything's a challenge. The greatest part of that was really surmounted because (the museum) gave me plans that actually showed dimensions. Without that I couldn't have done it," he said. Mere photographs would not have allowed for an accurate representation of the 1-ton, $2.5 billion Curiosity, he said, the largest and most complex rover ever placed on the surface of another planet.

While NASA's rover will travel 354 million miles aboard an Atlas V rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center, Olds drove his replica the 1,100 miles to New York. Assisted by a museum crew, he spent a full day setting up the rover on the exhibit's tilted red sand dune.

Michael Walker, spokesman for the museum that last year drew 5 million visitors, said Olds' rover replica features prominently in the Mars section of the exhibit.

The exhibit remains on view until Aug. 12, the same month Curiosity is scheduled to land on Mars and begin its two-year search for life.

Kids intrigued by astronomy lecture

Kids intrigued by astronomy lecture
Dr. Louise Edwards, assistant professor of physics at Mount Allison University, gives a presentation aimed at kids about galaxy filaments at the Free Meeting House as part of the Moncton Museum's current exhibit, Conquest of Space in Images and Canada's Stellar Space Achievements.

From Times & Transcript: Mt. A prof shows how cool space study can be
Do you know why Pluto was demoted of its planet status in 2006?

What's the name of the closest galaxy to our Milky Way?

These are some of the questions that Dr. Louise Edwards posed to a couple dozen kids and their families Saturday during her lecture on galactic astronomy, geared for both children and adults, at the Moncton Museum.

Some of kids were keeners in the subject, knowing a few of the answers that Dr. Edwards posed. When one young boy stated that Pluto was demoted because of "something to do with its orbit," which was in part correct, the adults were pretty surprised.

Edwards explained that the International Astronomical Union got together to decided what were the criteria for the definition of a planet.

"They say that it must be a round shape, it must orbit the sun, and must be strong enough to pull its little moons surrounding out of their orbit of the sun," she said. "It was discovered that Pluto didn't meet that last point."

Edwards, an assistant physics professor at Mount Allison University, based her hour-long talk the way humans observe outer space. She emphasized the use of telescopes, from small hand-held binoculars, to some of the largest telescopes in the world, used by scientists and astronauts.

She really wowed the audience with the next big project that astronomers from all over want to accomplish.

"We want to build a ground telescope with the lense measuring 30 meters across in about 10 years or so," she said. "It would need about 100 pieces of mirror put together and would be the world's largest ever."

She showed them photos of the ground Gemini telescope in Chile, and drawings of the James Webb telescope, which will be launched into space in about six years.

"The most important advantage of telescopes is to see really far into the universe and give us information that would be impossible to know otherwise," Edwards explained.

Near the end of her presentation, she invited everyone to come out to Sackville in a few weeks to use the Mount Allison telescopes for an evening.

"If it's a clear night, you'll be able to see things you couldn't see with the naked eye."

The kids seemed to be pretty excited about this and a few hands shot up to ask questions.

The last came from Jacob Jones, belonging to a group of about seven Beavers at the presentation with a few of their leaders.

"What's a naked eye?" he said, which was followed by chuckles from the crowd.

Jones asked a few great questions about space during the presentation. He said that he liked how Edwards could answer all of them.

Nancy Garner, known to the Beavers as Sunshine, said that while they don't earn merit badges until they reach Cubs and Scouts, the lecture was a great experience for the kids.

"They can tell the rest of the group all about this at our next meeting," she said.

Beaver Gracie Agnew enjoyed the talk about astronomy and says it's one of her favourite subjects.

"I love the planet Saturn because of its rings," she said.

Edwards, who studied in California and received her PhD at Laval University in Quebec, enjoys speaking to children because it may foster future scientists.

"If these lectures capture an interest in science at all for the kids then I've done my job," she said. "We need engineers, astronomers, all types of scientists so maybe they'll want to know how I know of these things and will go on to study in those fields."

Saturday's lecture was part of the Moncton Museum's current space exhibit, open every Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.

New Crew Aboard The International Space Station

From Red Orbit, Nov 16: New Crew Aboard The International Space Station

Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut docked successfully with the International Space Station (ISS), in the first manned Russian mission in more than five months, and the first for the US since the retirement of NASA’s shuttle program.

“The ship docked at 09:24 Moscow time. Everything went ahead normally,” a Russian space agency spokesman told AFP.

The rocket launched from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday in snowy weather, quickly disappearing in the low clouds and reaching orbit safely. The docking of Soyuz TMA-22 went smoothly, boosting Russia’s confidence in its space program.

BBC News’ Daniel Sandford in Moscow said the launch and progress of the Soyuz, designed in the 1960s, was a nervous moment for both NASA and the Roscosmos, after the failure of the Progress cargo rocket that crashed back to Earth in August.

That crash led the Russian space agency to halt human space flight until they could investigate the problem. After determining the problem was an “isolated” glitch caused by a fuel pipe blockage, they resumed space program activities.

A spokesman for US space agency NASA said the Russian team had done a “tremendous job getting the launch and the docking ready.”

“The process of the approach and docking was carried out in an automatic regime under the supervision of mission control center and the crew,” Russia’s mission control center outside Moscow said in a statement on its website.

The Soyuz capsule carried NASA astronaut Dan Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin to the ISS’s Poisk mini-research module, with the hatch opening at 2:39. EST on Wednesday. Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum of NASA and Flight Engineers Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov welcomed the new crew for their four-month stay on the space station.

The six crew members will have a little less than a week together before the Expedition 29 crew of Fossum, Furukawa and Volkov head home on Monday aboard Soyuz TMA-02M, which brought them to the station on June 9. Their departure will mark the beginning of Expedition 30 for Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin. A formal change of command ceremony is planned for Sunday.

Three additional Expedition 30 flight engineers — NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers — are scheduled to launch to the ISS on December 21.

This is Burbank’s third visit to the ISS. Both of his previous missions to the station were aboard space shuttle Atlantis. On his last visit to the station, Burbank conducted a 7-hour, 11-minute spacewalk.

This is the first spaceflight for both Shkaplerov and Ivanishin.

FICTION: From the Earth to the Moon, Ch 7: THE HYMN OF THE CANNON-BALL

CHAPTER VI
THE HYMN OF THE CANNON-BALL
The Observatory of Cambridge in its memorable letter had treated the question from a purely astronomical point of view. The mechanical part still remained.

President Barbicane had, without loss of time, nominated a working committee of the Gun Club. The duty of this committee was to resolve the three grand questions of the cannon, the projectile, and the powder. It was composed of four members of great technical knowledge, Barbicane (with a casting vote in case of equality), General Morgan, Major Elphinstone, and J. T. Maston, to whom were confided the functions of secretary.

On the 8th of October the committee met at the house of President Barbicane, 3 Republican Street. The meeting was opened by the president himself.

"Gentlemen," said he, "we have to resolve one of the most important problems in the whole of the noble science of gunnery. It might appear, perhaps, the most logical course to devote our first meeting to the discussion of the engine to be employed. Nevertheless, after mature consideration, it has appeared to me that the question of the projectile must take precedence of that of the cannon, and that the dimensions of the latter must necessarily depend on those of the former."

"Suffer me to say a word," here broke in J. T. Maston. Permission having been granted, "Gentlemen," said he with an inspired accent, "our president is right in placing the question of the projectile above all others. The ball we are about to discharge at the moon is our ambassador to her, and I wish to consider it from a moral point of view. The cannon-ball, gentlemen, to my mind, is the most magnificent manifestation of human power. If Providence has created the stars and the planets, man has called the cannon-ball into existence. Let Providence claim the swiftness of electricity and of light, of the stars, the comets, and the planets, of wind and sound— we claim to have invented the swiftness of the cannon-ball, a hundred times superior to that of the swiftest horses or railway train. How glorious will be the moment when, infinitely exceeding all hitherto attained velocities, we shall launch our new projectile with the rapidity of seven miles a second! Shall it not, gentlemen— shall it not be received up there with the honors due to a terrestrial ambassador?"

Overcome with emotion the orator sat down and applied himself to a huge plate of sandwiches before him.

"And now," said Barbicane, "let us quit the domain of poetry and come direct to the question."

"By all means," replied the members, each with his mouth full of sandwich.

"The problem before us," continued the president, "is how to communicate to a projectile a velocity of 12,000 yards per second. Let us at present examine the velocities hitherto attained. General Morgan will be able to enlighten us on this point."

"And the more easily," replied the general, "that during the war I was a member of the committee of experiments. I may say, then, that the 100-pounder Dahlgrens, which carried a distance of 5,000 yards, impressed upon their projectile an initial velocity of 500 yards a second. The Rodman Columbiad threw a shot weighing half a ton a distance of six miles, with a velocity of 800 yards per second— a result which Armstrong and Palisser have never obtained in England."

"This," replied Barbicane, "is, I believe, the maximum velocity ever attained?"
"It is so," replied the general.

"Ah!" groaned J. T. Maston, "if my mortar had not burst——"

"Yes," quietly replied Barbicane, "but it did burst. We must take, then, for our starting point, this velocity of 800 yards. We must increase it twenty-fold. Now, reserving for another discussion the means of producing this velocity, I will call your attention to the dimensions which it will be proper to assign to the shot. You understand that we have nothing to do here with projectiles weighing at most but half a ton."

"Why not?" demanded the major.

"Because the shot," quickly replied J. T. Maston, "must be big enough to attract the attention of the inhabitants of the moon, if there are any?"

"Yes," replied Barbicane, "and for another reason more important still."
"What mean you?" asked the major.

"I mean that it is not enough to discharge a projectile, and then take no further notice of it; we must follow it throughout its course, up to the moment when it shall reach its goal."

"What?" shouted the general and the major in great surprise.

"Undoubtedly," replied Barbicane composedly, "or our experiment would produce no result."

"But then," replied the major, "you will have to give this projectile enormous dimensions."

"No! Be so good as to listen. You know that optical instruments have acquired great perfection; with certain instruments we have succeeded in obtaining enlargements of 6,000 times and reducing the moon to within forty miles' distance. Now, at this distance, any objects sixty feet square would be perfectly visible.

"If, then, the penetrative power of telescopes has not been further increased, it is because that power detracts from their light; and the moon, which is but a reflecting mirror, does not give back sufficient light to enable us to perceive objects of lesser magnitude."

"Well, then, what do you propose to do?" asked the general.

"Would you give your projectile a diameter of sixty feet?"

"Not so."

"Do you intend, then, to increase the luminous power of the moon?"

"Exactly so. If I can succeed in diminishing the density of the atmosphere through which the moon's light has to travel I shall have rendered her light more intense. To effect that object it will be enough to establish a telescope on some elevated mountain. That is what we will do."

"I give it up," answered the major. "You have such a way of simplifying things. And what enlargement do you expect to obtain in this way?"

"One of 48,000 times, which should bring the moon within an apparent distance of five miles; and, in order to be visible, objects need not have a diameter of more than nine feet."

"So, then," cried J. T. Maston, "our projectile need not be more than nine feet in diameter."

"Let me observe, however," interrupted Major Elphinstone, "this will involve a weight such as——"

"My dear major," replied Barbicane, "before discussing its weight permit me to enumerate some of the marvels which our ancestors have achieved in this respect. I don't mean to pretend that the science of gunnery has not advanced, but it is as well to bear in mind that during the middle ages they obtained results more surprising, I will venture to say, than ours. For instance, during the siege of Constantinople by Mahomet II., in 1453, stone shot of 1,900 pounds weight were employed. At Malta, in the time of the knights, there was a gun of the fortress of St. Elmo which threw a projectile weighing 2,500 pounds. And, now, what is the extent of what we have seen ourselves? Armstrong guns discharging shot of 500 pounds, and the Rodman guns projectiles of half a ton! It seems, then, that if projectiles have gained in range, they have lost far more in weight. Now, if we turn our efforts in that direction, we ought to arrive, with the progress on science, at ten times the weight of the shot of Mahomet II. and the Knights of Malta."

"Clearly," replied the major; "but what metal do you calculate upon employing?"
"Simply cast iron," said General Morgan.

"But," interrupted the major, "since the weight of a shot is proportionate to its volume, an iron ball of nine feet in diameter would be of tremendous weight."
"Yes, if it were solid, not if it were hollow."

"Hollow? then it would be a shell?"

"Yes, a shell," replied Barbicane; "decidely it must be. A solid shot of 108 inches would weigh more than 200,000 pounds, a weight evidently far too great. Still, as we must reserve a certain stability for our projectile, I propose to give it a weight of 20,000 pounds."

"What, then, will be the thickness of the sides?" asked the major.

"If we follow the usual proportion," replied Morgan, "a diameter of 108 inches would require sides of two feet thickness, or less."

"That would be too much," replied Barbicane; "for you will observe that the question is not that of a shot intended to pierce an iron plate; it will suffice to give it sides strong enough to resist the pressure of the gas. The problem, therefore, is this— What thickness ought a cast-iron shell to have in order not to weight more than 20,000 pounds? Our clever secretary will soon enlighten us upon this point."
"Nothing easier." replied the worthy secretary of the committee; and, rapidly tracing a few algebraical formulae upon paper, among which n^2 and x^2 frequently appeared, he presently said:

"The sides will require a thickness of less than two inches."

"Will that be enough?" asked the major doubtfully.

"Clearly not!" replied the president.

"What is to be done, then?" said Elphinstone, with a puzzled air.
"Employ another metal instead of iron."

"Copper?" said Morgan.

"No! that would be too heavy. I have better than that to offer."
"What then?" asked the major.

"Aluminum!" replied Barbicane.

"Aluminum?" cried his three colleagues in chorus.

"Unquestionably, my friends. This valuable metal possesses the whiteness of silver, the indestructibility of gold, the tenacity of iron, the fusibility of copper, the lightness of glass. It is easily wrought, is very widely distributed, forming the base of most of the rocks, is three times lighter than iron, and seems to have been created for the express purpose of furnishing us with the material for our projectile."

"But, my dear president," said the major, "is not the cost price of aluminum extremely high?"

"It was so at its first discovery, but it has fallen now to nine dollars a pound."
"But still, nine dollars a pound!" replied the major, who was not willing readily to give in; "even that is an enormous price."

"Undoubtedly, my dear major; but not beyond our reach."

"What will the projectile weigh then?" asked Morgan.

"Here is the result of my calculations," replied Barbicane. "A shot of 108 inches in diameter, and twelve inches in thickness, would weigh, in cast-iron, 67,440 pounds; cast in aluminum, its weight will be reduced to 19,250 pounds."

"Capital!" cried the major; "but do you know that, at nine dollars a pound, this projectile will cost——"

"One hundred and seventy-three thousand and fifty dollars ($173,050). I know it quite well. But fear not, my friends; the money will not be wanting for our enterprise. I will answer for it. Now what say you to aluminum, gentlemen?"
"Adopted!" replied the three members of the committee. So ended the first meeting. The question of the projectile was definitely settled.

NASA Leaders Testify on Future of Human Space Exploration

From CSpan.com: NASA Leaders Testify on Future of Human Space Exploration
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and other top officials discussed the space agency's broad goals and how they plan to collaborate with the private sector and international community before a Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science and Space.

Now that the space shuttle program has ended NASA is dependent on Russian Soyuz rockets to carry astronauts to the international space station until private contractors take over the job. Meanwhile NASA is developing its own new human spaceflight system.

Subcommittee chairman Bill Nelson (D-FL), himself a former astronaut, heard testimony from Administrator Bolden and the directors of the three main NASA centers tasked with implementation of the new exploration program.

The center directors from Kennedy Space Center, Johnson Space Center, and Marshall Space Flight Center also appeared on the second panel.

The Future of Human Space Exploration

From University Observer Online: The Future of Human Space Exploration

As the funding for the various international space agencies is maintained despite astronomical costs, Conor O’Nolan writes about some of the recent work in the field

Human space exploration has been an iconic feature in the history of the last few decades. Recently, massive progress has been made towards what is recognised to be one of the main targets in space exploration: Mars. However, it is unlikely that anyone will set foot on Mars for, at the very least, a decade and a half.

Earlier this month, after just over five hundred days, six men emerged from a locked windowless shed in a Russian research facility. They were involved in an experiment as part of research regarding the feasibility of a manned mission to Mars. Their only contact with the outside world was a phone and Internet connection with a twenty-minute delay.

The men were continuously monitored for psychological stress and fatigue. It was only really after the halfway point of the mission that any vaguely serious problems arose. After they had spent three days performing geological research on a simulated version of the surface of “Mars” (i.e. a warehouse with red sand in it), serious boredom began to set in. Their goal had been completed but they still had nearly another two hundred and fifty days to go.

It is clear from this experiment that one of the most serious problems for astronauts going any further than the moon is passing the time. The astronauts involved spent at least an hour a day exercising, which in space is very important because low gravity environments can cause muscle degradation. The crew also had a Wii fit board and Guitar Hero with them to help get through the days. Every so often a simulated emergency would happen, such as a fire on their ‘ship’, which forced the crew to work together. Overall, they made it through the entire mission without any major upset, clearly demonstrating that given the right group of people, tasks involving sending people on extremely long journeys in very close quarters can be achieved quite successfully.

China has been making progress in building its own space station after being repeatedly turned away from their attempts to join the other sixteen nations involved in the International Space Station (ISS). Their most recent success was getting two sections of unmanned spacecraft to dock together. Although their program is significantly behind any other nation’s space program, it marks significant progress in China’s aim to have a functioning space lab by 2016.

While NASA retired their iconic shuttle program this summer, they still have numerous missions planned. Last year NASA’s funding was approved up until 2013; plans have been made for the development of exploration technology for human spacecraft, as well as the development of the American lab on the ISS and the continuation of its use until 2020. Plans for a permanent base on the moon were recently abandoned after budget cuts caused by the global recession. President Barack Obama gave a directive to NASA which laid out plans to land on an asteroid by 2025. Landing on an asteroid would help lay all the foundations for a mission to land on Mars. MIT professor in aeronautics Ed Crawley stated that “if humans can’t make it to near-Earth objects, they can’t make it to Mars”. Missions to Mars have been plagued with misfortune, even earlier this month a Russian probe due to collect soil samples from one of Mar’s moons ‘Phobos’ got stuck in the Earth’s orbit when some of its engines failed to fire.

Despite the interest in space science that manned-voyages generate, and the colossal technical feat in actually launching a spacecraft, it is often asked whether there is any actual value in sending people into space. The late Nobel prizewinner Richard Feynmann was of the opinion that man’s journeys to space had never really contributed to any major scientific discovery. Ultimately, he is right; we have learnt incredible things from projects such as the Hubble Space Telescope, but what we’ve learned from people being in space is, beyond how they behave or react in completely different environments, fairly minimal. The work that is being done now may as well be thought of as an investment for future generations, who will hopefully have the resources for much grander missions and goals. It is unlikely that any of us will ever be affected by any research that is being carried out, but we can always dream.

NASA budget plan saves telescope, cuts space taxis

From Reuters.com: NASA budget plan saves telescope, cuts space taxis
(Reuters) - A compromise spending plan for NASA preserves the over-budget replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope and halves President Barack Obama's request for money to spur development of commercial space taxis, officials said on Tuesday.

Overall, the U.S. space agency would receive $17.8 billion for the fiscal year that began October 1 - $924 million less than the White House requested and $684 million less than it received this year.

The compromise, approved by a House and Senate conference committee, is part of a "minibus" appropriations bill that also includes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation. The full House is expected to consider the bill on Wednesday.

The spending plan, which was posted on a Congressional website on Tuesday, authorizes $3.8 billion for human space exploration programs, including $1.9 billion for a proposed heavy-lift rocket and $1.2 billion for a deep space capsule to fly astronauts to the moon, asteroids and other destinations in the inner solar system as a follow-on program to the International Space Station.

A House bid to cancel NASA's over-budget James Webb Space Telescope, a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, was scuttled, though the compromise bill caps spending on the program at $8 billion.

Overall, NASA's science programs would receive $5.1 billion, about $155 million more than its 2011 budget. About $530 million of that amount would go toward the Webb telescope.

NASA has said it would delay other science programs to keep the telescope on track for launch in 2018.

The bill cuts Obama's request for $850 million to speed up development of commercial passenger spaceships to $406 million.

"We're always appreciative of whatever dollars the appropriators appropriate to us," Kathy Nado, a manager at NASA headquarters, said at the American Astronautical Society meeting in Houston. "Whatever dollars they give us we will be able to effectively spend."

The agency is currently funding space taxi development work at Boeing and three privately held companies - Space Exploration Technologies, Sierra Nevada Corp., and Blue Origin. It had hoped for enough money to keep at least two and possibly three teams working on spaceships that could ferry astronauts to the space station, a $100 billion laboratory that flies about 240 miles above Earth.

Since the space shuttle program ended this summer, the United States has been dependent on Russia to fly crews to the station, at a cost of more than $50 million per person. NASA had hoped for a U.S. alternative by 2016.

Nado declined to say how the shortfall would affect NASA's spending on space taxis.

The bill adds $470 million to NASA's budget to cover costs of terminating a pension fund for workers who were employed by prime shuttle contractor United Space Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin Corp.

Budgeting woes could derail U.S. role in space exploration

From the Washington Times: Budgeting woes could derail U.S. role in space exploration
The days of U.S. leadership in space exploration could be coming to an end, as lawmakers expressed growing fears at a Capitol hearing Tuesday that the nation’s fiscal mess could derail two highly anticipated Mars missions.

NASA continues to plan for joint endeavors with the European Space Agency (ESA), the first in 2016 and another in 2018, in the hopes the money will be there. But the White House Office of Management and Budget has yet to confirm that funding for those missions will be available, and experts told the hearing they fear that European allies could soon abandon preparations for a joint effort and strike out on their own, or join forces with the Russian space program.

The ESA is expected to hold off on a decision until February, when the Obama administration unveils its fiscal 2013 budget. But if the European agency doesn’t have a clear answer by then, it could walk away.

“Science in this nation would suffer because we would no longer have the ability to do cutting-edge research,” said Steve Squyres, a Cornell University scientist and chairman of the Committee of Planetary Science Decadal Survey, a blueprint of the nation’s long-term goals in space exploration.

Members from both parties on the House Science, Space and Technology subcommittee expressed anger and bewilderment at the possibility of the U.S. ceding control of Mars exploration to Europe or Russia.

Mr. Squyres and others pointed a finger directly at the White House, charging that the Obama administration’s unwillingness to commit to the partnership with ESA is putting both missions in serious jeopardy.

OMB officials were invited to the hearing but did not attend. A spokesman for the agency said such an appearance would be “highly unusual” because the budget process is ongoing and no final decisions have been made.

But NASA and its European partners need financial assurances soon to begin preparing for the first mission, the launch of a satellite in 2016. The 2018 mission is viewed as even more critical and would put a robotic rover on the Red Planet and eventually return soil samples to Earth - samples needed by researchers who believe microscopic life could have once existed on or beneath the planet’s surface.

In the past, delaying the missions for financial reasons would not have been a death knell for the projects. But since NASA’s space shuttle program was put out to pasture earlier this year, the agency is reliant on other nations for transport, making cooperation and coordination in the years leading up to the launch much more important.

“We need each other more than ever before. This is a long-term partnership,” Jim Green, NASA’s planetary science division director, told the subcommittee.

Mr. Green stressed that the administration has not formally informed NASA that the missions will be scrapped, and the agency continues to operate under the assumption they will be carried out on schedule. But he and others realize that with the federal government searching for ways to cut costs, multibillion-dollar Mars missions could be jettisoned.

The OMB decision could be a make-or-break moment for NASA. Rep. Steven Palazzo, Mississippi Republican and chairman of the space subcommittee, said the agency’s credibility likely will take a major hit if it is forced to back out.

“If not resolved quickly, I am deeply worried that NASA will be viewed by our international partners as an unreliable, schizophrenic agency,” he said. “NASA could be left to fly its own missions. Meanwhile, other international space agencies will collaborate, and in time, they may well be able to fly space missions that were once the domain of NASA.”

FICTION: From the Earth to the Moon, Ch 6: PERMISSIVE LIMITS OF IGNORANCE AND BELIEF IN THE UNITED STATES

CHAPTER VI --PERMISSIVE LIMITS OF IGNORANCE AND BELIEF IN THE UNITED STATES
The immediate result of Barbicane's proposition was to place upon the orders of the day all the astronomical facts relative to the Queen of the Night. Everybody set to work to study assiduously. One would have thought that the moon had just appeared for the first time, and that no one had ever before caught a glimpse of her in the heavens. The papers revived all the old anecdotes in which the "sun of the wolves" played a part; they recalled the influences which the ignorance of past ages ascribed to her; in short, all America was seized with selenomania, or had become moon-mad.

The scientific journals, for their part, dealt more especially with the questions which touched upon the enterprise of the Gun Club. The letter of the Observatory of Cambridge was published by them, and commented upon with unreserved approval.

Until that time most people had been ignorant of the mode in which the distance which separates the moon from the earth is calculated. They took advantage of this fact to explain to them that this distance was obtained by measuring the parallax of the moon. The term parallax proving "caviare to the general," they further explained that it meant the angle formed by the inclination of two straight lines drawn from either extremity of the earth's radius to the moon. On doubts being expressed as to the correctness of this method, they immediately proved that not only was the mean distance 234,347 miles, but that astronomers could not possibly be in error in their estimate by more than seventy miles either way.

To those who were not familiar with the motions of the moon, they demonstrated that she possesses two distinct motions, the first being that of rotation upon her axis, the second being that of revolution round the earth, accomplishing both together in an equal period of time, that is to say, in twenty-seven and one-third days.

The motion of rotation is that which produces day and night on the surface of the moon; save that there is only one day and one night in the lunar month, each lasting three hundred and fifty-four and one-third hours. But, happily for her, the face turned toward the terrestrial globe is illuminated by it with an intensity equal to that of fourteen moons. As to the other face, always invisible to us, it has of necessity three hundred and fifty-four hours of absolute night, tempered only by that "pale glimmer which falls upon it from the stars."

Some well-intentioned, but rather obstinate persons, could not at first comprehend how, if the moon displays invariably the same face to the earth during her revolution, she can describe one turn round herself. To such they answered, "Go into your dining-room, and walk round the table in such a way as to always keep your face turned toward the center; by the time you will have achieved one complete round you will have completed one turn around yourself, since your eye will have traversed successively every point of the room. Well, then, the room is the heavens, the table is the earth, and the moon is yourself." And they would go away delighted.

So, then the moon displays invariably the same face to the earth; nevertheless, to be quite exact, it is necessary to add that, in consequence of certain fluctuations of north and south, and of west and east, termed her libration, she permits rather more than half, that is to say, five-sevenths, to be seen.

As soon as the ignoramuses came to understand as much as the director of the observatory himself knew, they began to worry themselves regarding her revolution round the earth, whereupon twenty scientific reviews immediately came to the rescue. They pointed out to them that the firmament, with its infinitude of stars, may be considered as one vast dial-plate, upon which the moon travels, indicating the true time to all the inhabitants of the earth; that it is during this movement that the Queen of Night exhibits her different phases; that the moon is full when she is in opposition with the sun, that is when the three bodies are on the same straight line, the earth occupying the center; that she is new when she is in conjunction with the sun, that is, when she is between it and the earth; and, lastly that she is in her first or last quarter, when she makes with the sun and the earth an angle of which she herself occupies the apex.

Regarding the altitude which the moon attains above the horizon, the letter of the Cambridge Observatory had said all that was to be said in this respect. Everyone knew that this altitude varies according to the latitude of the observer. But the only zones of the globe in which the moon passes the zenith, that is, the point directly over the head of the spectator, are of necessity comprised between the twenty-eighth parallels and the equator. Hence the importance of the advice to try the experiment upon some point of that part of the globe, in order that the projectile might be discharged perpendicularly, and so the soonest escape the action of gravitation. This was an essential condition to the success of the enterprise, and continued actively to engage the public attention.

Regarding the path described by the moon in her revolution round the earth, the Cambridge Observatory had demonstrated that this path is a re-entering curve, not a perfect circle, but an ellipse, of which the earth occupies one of the foci. It was also well understood that it is farthest removed from the earth during its apogee, and approaches most nearly to it at its perigee.

Such was then the extent of knowledge possessed by every American on the subject, and of which no one could decently profess ignorance. Still, while these principles were being rapidly disseminated many errors and illusory fears proved less easy to eradicate.

For instance, some worthy persons maintained that the moon was an ancient comet which, in describing its elongated orbit round the sun, happened to pass near the earth, and became confined within her circle of attraction. These drawing-room astronomers professed to explain the charred aspect of the moon-- a disaster which they attributed to the intensity of the solar heat; only, on being reminded that comets have an atmosphere, and that the moon has little or none, they were fairly at a loss for a reply.

Others again, belonging to the doubting class, expressed certain fears as to the position of the moon. They had heard it said that, according to observations made in the time of the Caliphs, her revolution had become accelerated in a certain degree. Hence they concluded, logically enough, that an acceleration of motion ought to be accompanied by a corresponding diminution in the distance separating the two bodies; and that, supposing the double effect to be continued to infinity, the moon would end by one day falling into the earth. However, they became reassured as to the fate of future generations on being apprised that, according to the calculations of Laplace, this acceleration of motion is confined within very restricted limits, and that a proportional diminution of speed will be certain to succeed it. So, then, the stability of the solar system would not be deranged in ages to come.

There remains but the third class, the superstitious. These worthies were not content merely to rest in ignorance; they must know all about things which had no existence whatever, and as to the moon, they had long known all about her. One set regarded her disc as a polished mirror, by means of which people could see each other from different points of the earth and interchange their thoughts. Another set pretended that out of one thousand new moons that had been observed, nine hundred and fifty had been attended with remarkable disturbances, such as cataclysms, revolutions, earthquakes, the deluge, etc. Then they believed in some mysterious influence exercised by her over human destinies-- that every Selenite was attached to some inhabitant of the earth by a tie of sympathy; they maintained that the entire vital system is subject to her control, etc. But in time the majority renounced these vulgar errors, and espoused the true side of the question. As for the Yankees, they had no other ambition than to take possession of this new continent of the sky, and to plant upon the summit of its highest elevation the star- spangled banner of the United States of America.

China space success, blessing to globe

From XinjuaNetEnglish: China space success, blessing to globe
BEIJING, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Mastery of know-how is not always solid until proven by repeated experiments.

With a string of sophisticated maneuvers, docking, de-linking and re-docking, as part of its current Shenzhou-8 space mission, China has laid a solid stepping stone for deep space exploration.

The autonomous docking know-how now enables China to build space stations, re-supply them, transfer astronauts and rescue them.

As the capacity of carrier rockets increases and space docking technologies mature, mankind may consider travel to planetary destinations much farther than the moon.

No single country can unilaterally fulfill that ambition.

The Chinese space feat coincides with two latest Russian launches -- one failed to catapult a Chinese Mars probe into orbit and the other is transporting Russian and American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

It has been more than half a century since the Soviet Union sent its first satellite into the heavens, ushering in the space age. Space adventure requires cooperation and collaboration among all spacefaring nations, and such cooperation was even seen in the harshest years of the Cold War.

Nowadays, the increasing complexity and cost of human space programs require more collaboration among countries, especially against the backdrop of the continuing global financial crisis. Huge expenses and complex missions, such as a Martian expedition, would probably be beyond the resources of any one country or even one regional bloc.

Although China has been denied access to the ISS for two decades, Chinese technologists designed an androgynous docking system that allows any two similarly equipped spacecraft to dock with each other. Tiny adjustments could make the Chinese docking mechanism compatible with the ports of the ISS and U.S. space shuttles.

As part of its first space docking mission, China allowed Germany to conduct biological experiments in the Chinese vehicle -- the first instance of international cooperation since the beginning of China's manned space program.

China's future space station will weigh about 60 tonnes and is set to be assembled in space around 2020, in time for the likely retirement of the ISS. It will offer more opportunity for collaboration among nations, with room for international experiments and possibly space for foreign astronauts.

At the same time, China needs advanced space technologies from other countries. For example, China's transmission of scientific data and live communication from deep space to earth might largely rely on Russian and European space monitoring networks.

China is now joining the global efforts to build such infrastructure.

The concept of a "space race" is now obsolete. International cooperation is the future trend and rivalry between so-called space powers will inevitably give way to more friendly cooperation.

An already tech-savvy China is ready to make further contributions to space exploration, not only for its own, but also for the sake of the entire world.

Soyuz crew bound for International Space Station after successful launch

From The Guardian: Soyuz crew bound for International Space Station after successful launch
Three astronauts blasted off to return a full crew to the International Space Station.

A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying an American and two Russians has blasted off successfully from Kazakhstan on a mission to the International Space Station.

It is the first flight of a Nasa astronaut in the post-space shuttle era and is a welcome success for the Russian space programme. Last week a Russian Mars probe failed to leave Earth's orbit – it is expected to burn up in the atmosphere by 26 November unless it can be reactivated. In August an unmanned Progress cargo ship bound for the space station crashed – the rocket that failed was the same kind used by the Soyuz.

The Soyuz TMA-22 lifted off as scheduled at 8.14am local time (4.14am GMT) on Monday from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It is carrying Nasa astronaut Dan Burbank and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, and is due to dock at the station on Wednesday.

The launch had been postponed for two months due to the Progress failure causing concerns about crew safety.

Monday's launch followed a rigorous inspection of all Soyuz rockets and a successful launch of a Progress ship last month. Technicians found that the earlier Soyuz probably failed due to contamination in fuel lines.

Analysts have said that despite Russia remaining the only nation capable of regular manned space launches, the country's programme is struggling, reliant on obsolete technology propped up by equipment bought from other countries. The Phobos-Grunt probe that failed on 8 November shortly after launch would have been its first mission beyond Earth's orbit in more than 20 years.

FICTION: From the Earth to the Moon, Ch 5: THE ROMANCE OF THE MOON

CHAPTER V --THE ROMANCE OF THE MOON
An observer endued with an infinite range of vision, and placed in that unknown center around which the entire world revolves, might have beheld myriads of atoms filling all space during the chaotic epoch of the universe. Little by little, as ages went on, a change took place; a general law of attraction manifested itself, to which the hitherto errant atoms became obedient: these atoms combined together chemically according to their affinities, formed themselves into molecules, and composed those nebulous masses with which the depths of the heavens are strewed. These masses became immediately endued with a rotary motion around their own central point. This center, formed of indefinite molecules, began to revolve around its own axis during its gradual condensation; then, following the immutable laws of mechanics, in proportion as its bulk diminished by condensation, its rotary motion became accelerated, and these two effects continuing, the result was the formation of one principal star, the center of the nebulous mass.

By attentively watching, the observer would then have perceived the other molecules of the mass, following the example of this central star, become likewise condensed by gradually accelerated rotation, and gravitating round it in the shape of innumerable stars. Thus was formed the Nebulae, of which astronomers have reckoned up nearly 5,000.

Among these 5,000 nebulae there is one which has received the name of the Milky Way, and which contains eighteen millions of stars, each of which has become the center of a solar world.

If the observer had then specially directed his attention to one of the more humble and less brilliant of these stellar bodies, a star of the fourth class, that which is arrogantly called the Sun, all the phenomena to which the formation of the Universe is to be ascribed would have been successively fulfilled before his eyes. In fact, he would have perceived this sun, as yet in the gaseous state, and composed of moving molecules, revolving round its axis in order to accomplish its work of concentration. This motion, faithful to the laws of mechanics, would have been accelerated with the diminution of its volume; and a moment would have arrived when the centrifugal force would have overpowered the centripetal, which causes the molecules all to tend toward the center.

Another phenomenon would now have passed before the observer's eye, and the molecules situated on the plane of the equator, escaping like a stone from a sling of which the cord had suddenly snapped, would have formed around the sun sundry concentric rings resembling that of Saturn. In their turn, again, these rings of cosmical matter, excited by a rotary motion about the central mass, would have been broken up and decomposed into secondary nebulosities, that is to say, into planets. Similarly he would have observed these planets throw off one or more rings each, which became the origin of the secondary bodies which we call satellites.

Thus, then, advancing from atom to molecule, from molecule to nebulous mass, from that to principal star, from star to sun, from sun to planet, and hence to satellite, we have the whole series of transformations undergone by the heavenly bodies during the first days of the world.

Now, of those attendant bodies which the sun maintains in their elliptical orbits by the great law of gravitation, some few in turn possess satellites. Uranus has eight, Saturn eight, Jupiter four, Neptune possibly three, and the Earth one. This last, one of the least important of the entire solar system, we call the Moon; and it is she whom the daring genius of the Americans professed their intention of conquering.

The moon, by her comparative proximity, and the constantly varying appearances produced by her several phases, has always occupied a considerable share of the attention of the inhabitants of the earth.

From the time of Thales of Miletus, in the fifth century B.C., down to that of Copernicus in the fifteenth and Tycho Brahe in the sixteenth century A.D., observations have been from time to time carried on with more or less correctness, until in the present day the altitudes of the lunar mountains have been determined with exactitude. Galileo explained the phenomena of the lunar light produced during certain of her phases by the existence of mountains, to which he assigned a mean altitude of 27,000 feet. After him Hevelius, an astronomer of Dantzic, reduced the highest elevations to 15,000 feet; but the calculations of Riccioli brought them up again to 21,000 feet.

At the close of the eighteenth century Herschel, armed with a powerful
telescope, considerably reduced the preceding measurements. He assigned a height of 11,400 feet to the maximum elevations, and reduced the mean of the different altitudes to little more than 2,400 feet. But Herschel's calculations were in their turn corrected by the observations of Halley, Nasmyth, Bianchini, Gruithuysen, and others; but it was reserved for the labors of Boeer and Maedler finally to solve the question. They succeeded in measuring 1,905 different elevations, of which six exceed 15,000 feet, and twenty-two exceed 14,400 feet. The highest summit of all towers to a height of 22,606 feet above the surface of the lunar disc. At the same period the examination of the moon was completed. She appeared completely riddled with craters, and her essentially volcanic character was apparent at each observation. By the absence of refraction in the rays of the planets occulted by her we conclude that she is absolutely devoid of an atmosphere. The absence of air entails the absence of water. It became, therefore, manifest that the Selenites, to support life under such conditions, must possess a special organization of their own, must differ remarkably from the inhabitants of the earth.

At length, thanks to modern art, instruments of still higher perfection searched the moon without intermission, not leaving a single point of her surface unexplored; and notwithstanding that her diameter measures 2,150 miles, her surface equals the one-fifteenth part of that of our globe, and her bulk the one-forty-ninth part of that of the terrestrial spheroid—not one of her secrets was able to escape the eyes of the astronomers; and these skillful men of science carried to an even greater degree their prodigious observations.

Thus they remarked that, during full moon, the disc appeared scored in certain parts with white lines; and, during the phases, with black. On prosecuting the study of these with still greater precision, they succeeded in obtaining an exact account of the nature of these lines. They were long and narrow furrows sunk between parallel ridges, bordering generally upon the edges of the craters. Their length varied between ten and 100 miles, and their width was about 1,600 yards. Astronomers called them chasms, but they could not get any further. Whether these chasms were the dried-up beds of ancient rivers or not they were unable thoroughly to ascertain.

The Americans, among others, hoped one day or other to determine this geological question. They also undertook to examine the true nature of that system of parallel ramparts discovered on the moon's surface by Gruithuysen, a learned professor of Munich, who considered them to be "a system of fortifications thrown up by the Selenitic engineers." These two points, yet obscure, as well as others, no doubt, could not be definitely settled except by direct communication with the moon.

Regarding the degree of intensity of its light, there was nothing more to learn on this point. It was known that it is 300,000 times weaker than that of the sun, and that its heat had no appreciable effect upon the thermometer. As to the phenomenon known as the "ashy light," it is explained naturally by the effect of the transmission of the solar rays from the earth to the moon, which give the appearance of completeness to the lunar disc, while it presents itself under the crescent form during its first and last phases.

Such was the state of knowledge acquired regarding the earth's satellite, which the Gun Club undertook to perfect in all its aspects, cosmographic, geological, political, and moral.

FICTION: From the Earth to the Moon Ch 4: REPLY FROM THE OBSERVATORY OF CAMBRIDGE

CHAPTER IV -- REPLY FROM THE OBSERVATORY OF CAMBRIDGE

Barbicane, however, lost not one moment amid all the enthusiasm of which he had become the object. His first care was to reassemble his colleagues in the board-room of the Gun Club. There, after some discussion, it was agreed to consult the astronomers regarding the astronomical part of the enterprise. Their reply once ascertained, they could then discuss the mechanical means, and nothing should be wanting to ensure the success of this great experiment.

A note couched in precise terms, containing special interrogatories, was then drawn up and addressed to the Observatory of Cambridge in Massachusetts. This city, where the first university of the United States was founded, is justly celebrated for its astronomical staff. There are to be found assembled all the most eminent men of science. Here is to be seen at work that powerful telescope which enabled Bond to resolve the nebula of Andromeda, and Clarke to discover the satellite of Sirius. This celebrated institution fully justified on all points the confidence reposed in it by the Gun Club.

So, after two days, the reply so impatiently awaited was placed in the hands of President Barbicane.

It was couched in the following terms:

The Director of the Cambridge Observatory to the President of the Gun Club at Baltimore.

CAMBRIDGE, October 7.
On the receipt of your favor of the 6th instant, addressed to the Observatory of Cambridge in the name of the members of the Baltimore Gun Club, our staff was immediately called together, and it was judged expedient to reply as follows:

The questions which have been proposed to it are these--

"1. Is it possible to transmit a projectile up to the moon?

"2. What is the exact distance which separates the earth from its satellite?

"3. What will be the period of transit of the projectile when endowed with sufficient initial velocity? and, consequently, at what moment ought it to be discharged in order that it may touch the moon at a particular point?

"4. At what precise moment will the moon present herself in the most favorable position to be reached by the projectile?

"5. What point in the heavens ought the cannon to be aimed at which is intended to discharge the projectile?

"6. What place will the moon occupy in the heavens at the moment
of the projectile's departure?"

Regarding the first question, "Is it possible to transmit a projectile up to the moon?"

Answer: Yes; provided it possess an initial velocity of 1,200 yards per second; calculations prove that to be sufficient. In proportion as we recede from the earth the action of gravitation diminishes in the inverse ratio of the square of the distance; that is to say, at three times a given distance the action is nine times less. Consequently, the weight of a shot will decrease, and will become reduced to zero at the instant that the attraction of the moon exactly counterpoises that of the earth; that is to say at 47/52 of its passage. At that instant the projectile will have no weight whatever; and, if it passes that point, it will fall into the moon by the sole effect of the lunar attraction. The theoretical possibility of the experiment is therefore absolutely demonstrated; its success must depend upon the power of the engine employed.

As to the second question, "What is the exact distance which separates the earth from its satellite?"

Answer: The moon does not describe a circle round the earth, but rather an ellipse, of which our earth occupies one of the foci; the consequence, therefore, is, that at certain times it approaches nearer to, and at others it recedes farther from, the earth; in astronomical language, it is at one time in apogee, at another in perigee. Now the difference between its greatest and its least distance is too considerable to be left out of consideration. In point of fact, in its apogee the moon is 247,552 miles, and in its perigee, 218,657 miles only distant; a fact which makes a difference of 28,895 miles, or more than one-ninth of the entire distance. The perigee distance, therefore, is that which ought to serve as the basis of all calculations.

To the third question.

Answer: If the shot should preserve continuously its initial velocity of 12,000 yards per second, it would require little more than nine hours to reach its destination; but, inasmuch as that initial velocity will be continually decreasing, it will occupy 300,000 seconds, that is 83hrs. 20m. in reaching the point where the attraction of the earth and moon will be in equilibrio. From this point it will fall into the moon in 50,000 seconds, or 13hrs. 53m. 20sec. It will be desirable, therefore, to discharge it 97hrs. 13m. 20sec. before the arrival of the moon at the point aimed at.

Regarding question four, "At what precise moment will the moon present herself in the most favorable position, etc.?"

Answer: After what has been said above, it will be necessary, first of all, to choose the period when the moon will be in perigee, and also the moment when she will be crossing the zenith, which latter event will further diminish the entire distance by a length equal to the radius of the earth, i. e. 3,919 miles; the result of which will be that the final passage remaining to be accomplished will be 214,976 miles. But although the moon passes her perigee every month, she does not reach the zenith always at exactly the same moment. She does not appear under these two conditions simultaneously, except at long intervals of time. It will be necessary, therefore, to wait for the moment when her passage in perigee shall coincide with that in the zenith. Now, by a fortunate circumstance, on the 4th of December in the ensuing year the moon will present these two conditions. At midnight she will be in perigee, that is, at her shortest distance from the earth, and at the same moment she will be crossing the zenith.

On the fifth question, "At what point in the heavens ought the cannon to be aimed?"

Answer: The preceding remarks being admitted, the cannon ought to be pointed to the zenith of the place. Its fire, therefore, will be perpendicular to the plane of the horizon; and the projectile will soonest pass beyond the range of the terrestrial attraction. But, in order that the moon should reach the zenith of a given place, it is necessary that the place should not exceed in latitude the declination of the luminary; in other words, it must be comprised within the degrees 0' and 28' of lat. N. or S. In every other spot the fire must necessarily be oblique, which would seriously militate against the success of the experiment.

As to the sixth question, "What place will the moon occupy in the heavens at the moment of the projectile's departure?"

Answer: At the moment when the projectile shall be discharged into space, the moon, which travels daily forward 13@ 10' 35'', will be distant from the zenith point by four times that quantity, i. e. by 52'' 41' 20'', a space which corresponds to the path which she will describe during the entire journey of the projectile. But, inasmuch as it is equally necessary to take into account the deviation which the rotary motion of the earth will impart to the shot, and as the shot cannot reach the moon until after a deviation equal to 16 radii of the earth, which, calculated upon the moon's orbit, are equal to about eleven degrees, it becomes necessary to add these eleven degrees to those which express the retardation of the moon just mentioned: that is to say, in round numbers, about sixty-four degrees. Consequently, at the moment of firing the visual radius applied to the moon will describe, with the vertical line of the place, an angle of sixty-four degrees.

These are our answers to the questions proposed to the Observatory of Cambridge by the members of the Gun Club:

To sum up--

1st. The cannon ought to be planted in a country situated between 0@ and 28@ of N. or S. lat.

2nd. It ought to be pointed directly toward the zenith of the place.

3rd. The projectile ought to be propelled with an initial velocity of 12,000 yards per second.

4th. It ought to be discharged at 10hrs. 46m. 40sec. of the 1st of December of the ensuing year.

5th. It will meet the moon four days after its discharge, precisely at midnight on the 4th of December, at the moment of its transit across the zenith.

The members of the Gun Club ought, therefore, without delay, to commence the works necessary for such an experiment, and to be prepared to set to work at the moment determined upon; for, if they should suffer this 4th of December to go by, they will not find the moon again under the same conditions of perigee and of zenith until eighteen years and eleven days afterward.

The staff of the Cambridge Observatory place themselves entirely at their disposal in respect of all questions of theoretical astronomy; and herewith add their congratulations to those of all the rest of America.
For the Astronomical Staff,
J. M. BELFAST,
Director of the Observatory of Cambridge.

NASA spills last details of Mars space truck trip

From The Register.com.uk: NASA spills last details of Mars space truck trip
NASA Mars Science Laboratory is buttoned up into its fairing atop its Atlas booster, ready for liftoff on November 25 with touchdown scheduled for August of next year – a reentry and landing that will have NASA space boffins biting their nails.

"Any entry, descent, and landing on Mars is a place where you take pause and bite your nails a little bit," said MSL project manager Pete Theisinger at a NASA press conference on Thursday. "It's not a risk-free environment."

The main nail-biting aspect of the landing will be that it will not be done using the air-bag cushioning scheme perfected in previous Mars missions – the Pathfinder mission with its Sojourner rover, and the the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity of 2003.

NASA's Phoenix lander used a no-airbag landing system, but it was far less complex – and risky – than the MSL, in that it had no rover to deliver.

The MSL rover, Curiosity, is far larger than previous Mars rovers, and will be delivered to its landing site in the Gale Crater by a thrust-based lander from which it will be lowered and placed on the Martian surface by what NASA refers to as a "skycrane"

Curiosity is about twice as long and five times as heavy as previos rovers, weighing in at about 900 kilograms (2,000 lbs.) and standing about six feet tall. Like its predecessors, it has six wheels – but unlike previous rovers, should one wheel's motor fail, it will be able to be set to freewheel, and thus not need to be dragged along as was the failed wheel on Spirit, which was stuck for three years.

Creating an airbag landing system for Curiosity was not an option. "When the agency decided the objectives for this mission and the suite of instruments that would be required to perform the science, and we saw that we had to develop a very large rover," said Theisinger, "it was very clear that that was beyond the scale of airbags to be able to land successfully."

And so NASA decided to go with a propulsive lander. "If you think about it," Theisinger continued, "there's only two ways to land a rover propulsively on the planet: that's to put the rover on top of the propulsion system or put the rover under the propulsive system."

If the rover sat on top of the propulsion system, there's an obvious problem: how to get a 900 kilogram rover off the top of the system and down to the surface. "That was a daunting, daunting thing to do," Theisinger said.

He also noted that the MSL already has built-in landing gear: Curiosity's six wheels. "So the challenge is simply – and I shouldn't say simply – is to put it there softly enough," he said.

Hence the skycrane. "We went to a lot of non-NASA control specialists – the people who actually fly helicopter skycranes, we got them in the game – to talk about not only was this an achievable design system, but whether or not we could put together a test program that would verify it adequately enough."

Although he expressed great confidence in the skycrane system, Theisinger admitted that some uncertainties remain. "You can't do the test in an end-to-end sense," he said, "because you can't land on Mars on the Earth."

Should Curiosity land successfully, there will be plenty for it to do. As explained by MSL Deputy Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada, "What really dominates the design of this rover is the fact that it has the ability to sample rocks and soils on Mars for the first time."

That sampling will be done, he explained, using a drill on the end of Curiosity's six-foot robotic arm. The rover can survey its surroundings and pick tasty samples to, well, sample, both with HD cameras and with a laser that can determine the chemical composition of terrain within twenty feet.

Curiosity also has its own weather station, the ability to sound below itself to determine if there are any minerals below that contain water, and a detector for natural high-energy radation. "This kind of radiation is critical to measure for the day when we do send humans to Mars," Vasavada said.

On the tip of the arm is what Vasavada described as "the meat and potatoes" of the MSL: a "whole bunch of sensors", including a magnifying-glass camera, a sensitive chemical detector, and the aforementioned drill.

The drill will dig into the rock and deliver samples to Curiosity's two internal labs for analysis, "which we've never done before on Mars, and that's really where the science will come from." One of those labs will measure the mineral content of the rocks, and the other, as Vasavada explained, "looks element by element, which chemical elements are there, and looks for any organic material that might be present."

As might be guessed, MSL's landing site has been carefully chosen: Gale Crater and the three-mile-high mountain in its center. "That mountain inside the crater is what caught the eye of the scientists that have been studying Mars for the last decade, and resulted in it being chosen for this mission."

Gale Crater is about 160 kilometers miles wide, and the landing area is 20 kilometers in diameter – which may sound like it offers a high margin for error, but it's by far the tightest landing zone of any previous Mars mission: previous targets were in the 100-kilometer range.

The great opportunity provided by the mountain – which Curiosity will drive towards at its safe-and-sane speed of one-tenth of a mile per hour – is that it has a layered composition, with both ancient and newer rock open for examination.

The entire history of Mars in one mountain

"Probably the entire early history of Mars is here for us," Vasavada said. The goal is to sample and lower levels, then drive up the mountain.

One tremendous advantage that Curiosity has over earlier rovers – in addition to its size and more-sophisticated instrumentation – is its cooperative relationship with the Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter, which is able to do 30-centimeter photography of the surface, both guiding Curiosity to interesting sampling sites and determining promising routes for it to follow to and up the mountain.

Curiosity's mission is scheduled to last two years, but all of its equipment, Theisinger said, has been tested to "three times its normal life," and there are no life-limiting consumables onboard – its nuclear power source will last for many years – and he says that the rover is both less susceptible to dust and better able to handle winter than the Mars Exploration Rovers.

With all its capabilities, Curiosity is not on a mission to determine if there's life on Mars, but rather to examine if the conditions are conducive to life, and to gather information that will support efforts to eventually land humans on the Red Planet.

"It's important to know that this mission has the purpose of setting us up for the day when we'll go to Mars and do the life-detection experiments," Vasavada said. "It turns out that those are pretty hard to do, and you actually need to know a lot about Mars to understand where to go to do those experiments."

MSL will provide information about habitable environments, but its follow-on missions – such as the joint NASA–European Space Agency ExoMars rover planned for 2018 – will explore those environments after they have been identified.

Although that NASA-ESA collaboration may be hobbled by budget constraints, NASA's Mars Project Director Doug McCuistion said that MSL and Curiosity are fully funded.

"MSL is an incredibility important flagship mission for this agency," he said. "It's as important to this agency – personal opinion, a little biased, maybe – as Hubble. The funding for MSL is stable."

Even if budget-cutters should try to pull the plug, McCuistion said, the money for MSL has already been set aside. "If there are funding reductions in the 2012 budget once it gets passed by Congress – and in the current budget uncertainties, who knows. But if there are, the MSL operations funding is safe." ®
Bootnote

Tuesday's NASA event came one day after Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mars expedition came a cropper. When asked if NASA were helping the Russian space agency jumpstart their balky probe, McCuistion said, diplomatically: "We have offered assistance, and if they need it, we will provide [it] to the best of our ability with our space communications network."