Diamondbacks.com: Researchers compete for NASA space exploration
A university researcher's spacecraft design could soon be exploring the face of comets if chosen as the winner of a NASA competition.
If selected as winner of NASA's 12th Discovery Competition, senior research scientist Jessica Sunshine's project — which was among three finalists selected out of 28 proposals submitted to NASA last September — would fly to a comet to study its evolving composition and better understand how the universe formed.
The $420 million project, Comet Hopper, is an automated capsule-like spacecraft no larger than a person, designed to withstand a comet's low gravity by slowly drifting to different areas on the icy structure, Sunshine said.
"It's designed to land on a comet multiple times to explore both the composition and physical differences across a comet," said Sunshine, who has been studying comets for 14 years.
If selected to move forward in the competition, Sunshine said Comet Hopper — which has already received $3 million from NASA for placing in the final three — would launch in December 2016 to land on the Wirtanen comet. Once landed, it would study the comet's physical changes, like melting ice, as it makes its two-and-a-half year journey toward the sun.
"The comet kind of comes alive," Sunshine said. "Ice evaporates as it approaches the sun, and materials come off it."
The information collected from Comet Hopper could provide a unique window into studying comets, which Sunshine said are diverse and made of the most primitive materials in the solar system — likely the same ingredients used to form the planets.
"If we can understand what these building blocks are like, it can help us understand how planetary formation started," Sunshine said. "It ultimately comes back to how did we get here as human beings?"
Project co-investigator Tony Farnham said Comet Hopper would be a breakthrough project because it would better explore the broad variety of materials present on a comet, which vary by area.
"This will be the first mission we have where we can sample the surface of a comet in many different regions," Farnham said.
The project could stand out from past comet exploration missions because Comet Hopper could stay on the comet long enough to study how it continuously evolves, Sunshine said. The comet would be actively monitored for about 100 days.
"All of our existing cometary exploration has been flybys relatively close to the sun," Sunshine said. "We see snapshots of material coming off [comets], but we have no idea how it evolves."
Although Comet Hopper wouldn't be guaranteed to launch into space if it was selected as the winning project next June, lead Discovery programs scientist Michael New said the project would be expected to soar into the cosmos eventually.
"The anticipation is whatever we select we will launch," New said.
Sunshine said Comet Hopper being selected as a NASA finalist further builds on the university's successful relationship with NASA for comet exploration, picking up from where past university-led missions like Deep Impact — another space mission to a comet led by a university professor — have left off.
"The fact that NASA came back with us is in no small measure to how well we did with Deep Impact," Sunshine said. "This is clearly the next step."
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Iran to launch 3 more satellites
Xinjuanet.com: Iran to launch 3 more satellites
TEHRAN, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Head of Iranian Space Agency (ISA) said that Iran will launch three more satellites in space by the end of Iranian calendar year, ending on March 20, the state IRIB TV website said on Thursday.
Iran, on Wednesday, announced that it "successfully" put the Rasad (surveillance) satellite in the orbit to render images to the stations in the country.
Three satellites will be put in the space in August, in October and in February respectively, said ISA Head Hamid Fazeli.
He also added that Iran plans to launch its domestically-built satellite carrier, Kavoshgar 5 (Explorer5), into space in two months, the English language satellite Press TV reported on Thursday.
Kavoshgar 5 weighs 285 kg and will be launched at an altitude of 120 kilometers suborbital, he was quoted as saying.
Iran's Defense Minister, General Ahmad Vahidi, said Thursday that Iran plans to construct bigger and heavier satellites and satellite carriers in the future, semi-official Mehr agency reported.
The Rasad satellite launched on Wednesday, weighs 15.3 kilograms and has been designed to be launched at 260 kilometers above the earth and will circle the earth 15 times in every 24 hours.
The Rasad satellite project was the result of cooperation between the aerospace organization and Malek Ashtar University both affiliated to Iran's ministry of defense and Iranian Space Agency, Press TV said.
The Rasad, the country's first imaging satellite, has all the features of big satellite despite its small dimensions under the category of micro-satellites.
The major part of the subsystems of a large satellite are found in this micro satellite, among which the subsystems for power management, the solar panels, the situation control devices, the optical loads, the GPS, the on-board input and command management system, the onboard receiver and transmitter, the ranging transmitter, and the temperature control system can be mentioned, said the official IRNA news agency on Thursday.
All the procedure of designing, construction, testing and preparations to launch the satellite was conducted domestically by Iranian experts, Iran announced on Wednesday.
Iran in March launched a new bio-capsule into space with its Kavoshgar 4 (Explore 4) rocket, to study the performance of the system and the sub-systems of programming.
The capsule was also developed to conduct some important scientific experiments, including the test of the launch pad, engine of the rocket, electronic and telemetry systems, separation system of engine from the prow, sensors, parachutes, ranging and heating systems.
In April, Fazeli said that Iran intends to design and build a remote sensing satellite jointly with the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) member states.
"Iranian scientists have always taken part in APSCO meetings," Fazeli told semi-official ISNA news agency adding that, "designing and building a remote-sensing satellite is one of the fields for cooperation."
TEHRAN, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Head of Iranian Space Agency (ISA) said that Iran will launch three more satellites in space by the end of Iranian calendar year, ending on March 20, the state IRIB TV website said on Thursday.
Iran, on Wednesday, announced that it "successfully" put the Rasad (surveillance) satellite in the orbit to render images to the stations in the country.
Three satellites will be put in the space in August, in October and in February respectively, said ISA Head Hamid Fazeli.
He also added that Iran plans to launch its domestically-built satellite carrier, Kavoshgar 5 (Explorer5), into space in two months, the English language satellite Press TV reported on Thursday.
Kavoshgar 5 weighs 285 kg and will be launched at an altitude of 120 kilometers suborbital, he was quoted as saying.
Iran's Defense Minister, General Ahmad Vahidi, said Thursday that Iran plans to construct bigger and heavier satellites and satellite carriers in the future, semi-official Mehr agency reported.
The Rasad satellite launched on Wednesday, weighs 15.3 kilograms and has been designed to be launched at 260 kilometers above the earth and will circle the earth 15 times in every 24 hours.
The Rasad satellite project was the result of cooperation between the aerospace organization and Malek Ashtar University both affiliated to Iran's ministry of defense and Iranian Space Agency, Press TV said.
The Rasad, the country's first imaging satellite, has all the features of big satellite despite its small dimensions under the category of micro-satellites.
The major part of the subsystems of a large satellite are found in this micro satellite, among which the subsystems for power management, the solar panels, the situation control devices, the optical loads, the GPS, the on-board input and command management system, the onboard receiver and transmitter, the ranging transmitter, and the temperature control system can be mentioned, said the official IRNA news agency on Thursday.
All the procedure of designing, construction, testing and preparations to launch the satellite was conducted domestically by Iranian experts, Iran announced on Wednesday.
Iran in March launched a new bio-capsule into space with its Kavoshgar 4 (Explore 4) rocket, to study the performance of the system and the sub-systems of programming.
The capsule was also developed to conduct some important scientific experiments, including the test of the launch pad, engine of the rocket, electronic and telemetry systems, separation system of engine from the prow, sensors, parachutes, ranging and heating systems.
In April, Fazeli said that Iran intends to design and build a remote sensing satellite jointly with the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) member states.
"Iranian scientists have always taken part in APSCO meetings," Fazeli told semi-official ISNA news agency adding that, "designing and building a remote-sensing satellite is one of the fields for cooperation."
Shuttle crew preps for launch and a shuttle-less future
Khou.com: Shuttle crew preps for launch and a shuttle-less future
HOUSTON -- The final four astronauts of the space shuttle program are 21 days and counting to what they say should be a celebration of a 30-year success story, not a funeral for an historic program coming to an end.
“I'm not quite sure how everybody's going to feel,” said STS-135 Commander and retired Navy Captain Chris Ferguson of his reaction when Shuttle Atlantis rolls to a stop at the end of its 12-day mission. “I think it will be an emotionally challenging time."
“You always hate to lose your first airplane. I can remember the first airplane I ever flew. I hated to stop flying it because I really like it and the space shuttle is no different,” he said.
Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to lift-off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 8th. The 135th and final mission of the shuttle program will deliver supplies to the International Space Station.
Ferguson’s crew includes Pilot and USMC Colonel Doug Hurley, and Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus, PhD, and Colonel USAF Ret. Rex Walheim.
Thursday the STS-135 crew members completed one of their final launch and ascent simulations at Johnson Space Center, then spoke with reporters inside the Shuttle Flight Control Room at Mission Control.
"It hits home again what a spectacular work force we have,” said Magnus about the thousands of NASA employees and contractors who continue preparing Atlantis for the final flight, even though many of those employees know it could also be the end of their NASA careers. “And it’s just unfortunate that our transition is taking place in such a way that we're going to lose such good people."
Possibly people like flight controller Holly Griffith, who doesn't know where her NASA career will lead next.
"It’s going to be sad,” said Shuttle Flight Control team member Holly Griffith, who has worked on the shuttle program for the last seven years. “It’s going to be hard to hand the vehicle over to KSC (Kennedy Space Center) at the end of the day and realize we're not going to come back and do it again."
But as the crew members prepare for the final shuttle resupply mission to the International Space Station, they are trying to focus on what, they say, should be a celebration, not a funeral. The 30-year shuttle program has logged more than 537 million miles, conducted more than 2,000 experiments, launched and repaired the Hubble Space Telescope, served as the primary lift vehicle for the International Space Station, and inspired a generation of science and engineering students.
"When a person retires after 30 years of a magnificent career you have a big celebration. You talk about what they did,” said Walheim.
"In this community we're all family,” said STS-135 Flight Director Richard Jones when asked about how NASA employees are dealing with the loss of the shuttle program and thousands of jobs.
He said he continues to be impressed by the professionalism of employees committed to one final successful flight.
“And we're all going through the same thing. And again it's just neat to see,” he said.
HOUSTON -- The final four astronauts of the space shuttle program are 21 days and counting to what they say should be a celebration of a 30-year success story, not a funeral for an historic program coming to an end.
“I'm not quite sure how everybody's going to feel,” said STS-135 Commander and retired Navy Captain Chris Ferguson of his reaction when Shuttle Atlantis rolls to a stop at the end of its 12-day mission. “I think it will be an emotionally challenging time."
“You always hate to lose your first airplane. I can remember the first airplane I ever flew. I hated to stop flying it because I really like it and the space shuttle is no different,” he said.
Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to lift-off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 8th. The 135th and final mission of the shuttle program will deliver supplies to the International Space Station.
Ferguson’s crew includes Pilot and USMC Colonel Doug Hurley, and Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus, PhD, and Colonel USAF Ret. Rex Walheim.
Thursday the STS-135 crew members completed one of their final launch and ascent simulations at Johnson Space Center, then spoke with reporters inside the Shuttle Flight Control Room at Mission Control.
"It hits home again what a spectacular work force we have,” said Magnus about the thousands of NASA employees and contractors who continue preparing Atlantis for the final flight, even though many of those employees know it could also be the end of their NASA careers. “And it’s just unfortunate that our transition is taking place in such a way that we're going to lose such good people."
Possibly people like flight controller Holly Griffith, who doesn't know where her NASA career will lead next.
"It’s going to be sad,” said Shuttle Flight Control team member Holly Griffith, who has worked on the shuttle program for the last seven years. “It’s going to be hard to hand the vehicle over to KSC (Kennedy Space Center) at the end of the day and realize we're not going to come back and do it again."
But as the crew members prepare for the final shuttle resupply mission to the International Space Station, they are trying to focus on what, they say, should be a celebration, not a funeral. The 30-year shuttle program has logged more than 537 million miles, conducted more than 2,000 experiments, launched and repaired the Hubble Space Telescope, served as the primary lift vehicle for the International Space Station, and inspired a generation of science and engineering students.
"When a person retires after 30 years of a magnificent career you have a big celebration. You talk about what they did,” said Walheim.
"In this community we're all family,” said STS-135 Flight Director Richard Jones when asked about how NASA employees are dealing with the loss of the shuttle program and thousands of jobs.
He said he continues to be impressed by the professionalism of employees committed to one final successful flight.
“And we're all going through the same thing. And again it's just neat to see,” he said.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Cross Plains man's career in rocketry got launched in childhood
ReporterNews: Abiliene: Cross Plains man's career in rocketry got launched in childhood
CROSS PLAINS — Pat Gordzelik was 9 when blew up his grandmother's bathroom.
It was the mid-1960s, and Mary Stewart, who had recognized in her grandson an interest in science, bought him a chemistry set. What captures the imagination of a 9-year-old in possession of a chemistry set?
"Energetic materials," Gordzelik said. "They're things that go 'boom' or 'roar.'"
America was in the midst of the Space Race and Gordzelik was caught in the excitement of the time.
It was like he had his own space program there in Clayton, N. M., Gordzelik recalled, smiling. The principal of his school in Sedan, N.M., even invited him to demonstrate the rocket propellants he had formulated in his "laboratory."
"After we did that, we went outside and launched one of my rockets out in the yard," he recalled. "I mean, the whole school, all 42 of us, three teachers and a janitor, all got out there and chased this rocket down."
Just like at NASA, success in young Gordzelik's own space program balanced failures.
During a propellant test, his twin brother Mike volunteered to light the fuse. He was to simply light it, throw it into a steel barrel and run away.
"Well, he doesn't run," Gordzelik said. "He puts his fingers in his ears and he kneels down beside the barrel. It's got a fuse on it and it's lit, I'm yelling, 'Mike, no!' and boom!"
The rising sun silhouetted the barrel and he could see small holes appearing in the steel. Fear clenched his chest as Gordzelik watched his brother.
"Mike jumped up and ran right by me," he said. "He ran into the house and I'm thinking, A) he's hurt or, B) he's going to go tell Grandma on me. I didn't think about C) — he comes running back out the house with a pump BB gun and he's shooting at me!"
Gordzelik began to laugh, saying his brother escaped physical injury but his pride was another matter.
"He chases me out to the pasture, all the way to the tank and back, he shot me about six times with that BB gun," he said, and pantomimes firing a rifle while making shooting sounds. "Ptow! Ptow! I'm yelling, 'I'm sorry! I'm sorry! You were supposed to run!'"
In 1969, after his family moved back to Amarillo, he and a friend decided they were going to launch a small-scale replica of the Saturn V booster, the rocket that would take the astronauts to the moon.
Loading the device with black-powder rocket motors, the two boys launched it. The Saturn V lifted off, then — arching with the wind — flew directly into a nearby two-story house, the motors cutting out seconds before the rocket hit the wood shingle roof. Made of balsa and cardboard, the ship didn't do any damage, but it certainly made a noise.
"This woman came running out of the house and she was angry. In fact, she was the wife of an attorney there in Amarillo," he said, laughing and shaking his head at the memory. "She was yelling at us, 'Y'all will never amount to anything!'"
Gordzelik drifted away from rocketry as he got older. He started a power tool and fastener company with stores in five cities across Texas and New Mexico. Then one day his sister asked him to help her boys with a Boy Scout rocketry project. It rekindled his old science flame from long ago.
Rocketry had certainly changed in the years since he had experimented with it as a child. Gordzelik joined the Tripoli Rocketry Association and eventually became the group's vice president. A few years ago, he sold his business and moved down to Cross Plains with his wife, Lauretta, turning his attention to rockets full time.
In recent years, he has partnered with Texas Tech University to teach high-powered rocketry classes to educators who will take that knowledge to their own classrooms.
"They, in turn, use what they learn to spike an interest in our youth, using rocketry as a tool, to get involved in the engineering disciplines," he said. "In America today, we are losing people with interest in engineering at a rapid rate."
This weekend, Gordzelik will host the 2011 CanSat Competition at his ranch. About 128 engineering students from the United States and around the world will bring science packages to be lifted into the sky in one of Gordzelik's rockets. Safety will be a primary concern, and Gordzelik already has received burn ban and Federal Aviation Administration waivers.
Each student's project must fit into a soda can, which is ejected when the rocket reaches apogee at around 2,500 feet. The contest prize is money for furthering the winner's education.
"The projects do different things," Gordzelik said. "I've had some students deploy a parachute that was radio-controlled, where they could make spot-landings using a transmitter and then, when it landed, it deploys little legs and walks off somewhere."
Despite the predictions of the outraged woman in Amarillo, Gordzelik probably has amounted to something. He said he knows his friend Rick Husband did. Husband was commander on the space shuttle Columbia in 2003, when the spacecraft broke up over Texas during re-entry.
"Rick decided he was going to get into rockets in a big way," Gordzelik said, his voice turning hoarse with emotion. "In my high school annual, he signed, 'I'll send you some pictures from space.'"
Amarillo renamed its airport after Husband. At the dedication, Gordzelik was greeted by the woman whose home he and Husband had flown a rocket into.
"She said, 'I've been wrong about a lot of things in my life, but I was never more wrong about you two,'" he said with a laugh, wiping at a tear.
CROSS PLAINS — Pat Gordzelik was 9 when blew up his grandmother's bathroom.
It was the mid-1960s, and Mary Stewart, who had recognized in her grandson an interest in science, bought him a chemistry set. What captures the imagination of a 9-year-old in possession of a chemistry set?
"Energetic materials," Gordzelik said. "They're things that go 'boom' or 'roar.'"
America was in the midst of the Space Race and Gordzelik was caught in the excitement of the time.
It was like he had his own space program there in Clayton, N. M., Gordzelik recalled, smiling. The principal of his school in Sedan, N.M., even invited him to demonstrate the rocket propellants he had formulated in his "laboratory."
"After we did that, we went outside and launched one of my rockets out in the yard," he recalled. "I mean, the whole school, all 42 of us, three teachers and a janitor, all got out there and chased this rocket down."
Just like at NASA, success in young Gordzelik's own space program balanced failures.
During a propellant test, his twin brother Mike volunteered to light the fuse. He was to simply light it, throw it into a steel barrel and run away.
"Well, he doesn't run," Gordzelik said. "He puts his fingers in his ears and he kneels down beside the barrel. It's got a fuse on it and it's lit, I'm yelling, 'Mike, no!' and boom!"
The rising sun silhouetted the barrel and he could see small holes appearing in the steel. Fear clenched his chest as Gordzelik watched his brother.
"Mike jumped up and ran right by me," he said. "He ran into the house and I'm thinking, A) he's hurt or, B) he's going to go tell Grandma on me. I didn't think about C) — he comes running back out the house with a pump BB gun and he's shooting at me!"
Gordzelik began to laugh, saying his brother escaped physical injury but his pride was another matter.
"He chases me out to the pasture, all the way to the tank and back, he shot me about six times with that BB gun," he said, and pantomimes firing a rifle while making shooting sounds. "Ptow! Ptow! I'm yelling, 'I'm sorry! I'm sorry! You were supposed to run!'"
In 1969, after his family moved back to Amarillo, he and a friend decided they were going to launch a small-scale replica of the Saturn V booster, the rocket that would take the astronauts to the moon.
Loading the device with black-powder rocket motors, the two boys launched it. The Saturn V lifted off, then — arching with the wind — flew directly into a nearby two-story house, the motors cutting out seconds before the rocket hit the wood shingle roof. Made of balsa and cardboard, the ship didn't do any damage, but it certainly made a noise.
"This woman came running out of the house and she was angry. In fact, she was the wife of an attorney there in Amarillo," he said, laughing and shaking his head at the memory. "She was yelling at us, 'Y'all will never amount to anything!'"
Gordzelik drifted away from rocketry as he got older. He started a power tool and fastener company with stores in five cities across Texas and New Mexico. Then one day his sister asked him to help her boys with a Boy Scout rocketry project. It rekindled his old science flame from long ago.
Rocketry had certainly changed in the years since he had experimented with it as a child. Gordzelik joined the Tripoli Rocketry Association and eventually became the group's vice president. A few years ago, he sold his business and moved down to Cross Plains with his wife, Lauretta, turning his attention to rockets full time.
In recent years, he has partnered with Texas Tech University to teach high-powered rocketry classes to educators who will take that knowledge to their own classrooms.
"They, in turn, use what they learn to spike an interest in our youth, using rocketry as a tool, to get involved in the engineering disciplines," he said. "In America today, we are losing people with interest in engineering at a rapid rate."
This weekend, Gordzelik will host the 2011 CanSat Competition at his ranch. About 128 engineering students from the United States and around the world will bring science packages to be lifted into the sky in one of Gordzelik's rockets. Safety will be a primary concern, and Gordzelik already has received burn ban and Federal Aviation Administration waivers.
Each student's project must fit into a soda can, which is ejected when the rocket reaches apogee at around 2,500 feet. The contest prize is money for furthering the winner's education.
"The projects do different things," Gordzelik said. "I've had some students deploy a parachute that was radio-controlled, where they could make spot-landings using a transmitter and then, when it landed, it deploys little legs and walks off somewhere."
Despite the predictions of the outraged woman in Amarillo, Gordzelik probably has amounted to something. He said he knows his friend Rick Husband did. Husband was commander on the space shuttle Columbia in 2003, when the spacecraft broke up over Texas during re-entry.
"Rick decided he was going to get into rockets in a big way," Gordzelik said, his voice turning hoarse with emotion. "In my high school annual, he signed, 'I'll send you some pictures from space.'"
Amarillo renamed its airport after Husband. At the dedication, Gordzelik was greeted by the woman whose home he and Husband had flown a rocket into.
"She said, 'I've been wrong about a lot of things in my life, but I was never more wrong about you two,'" he said with a laugh, wiping at a tear.
NASA to launch robotic gas station into orbit
TGDaily.com: NASA to launch robotic gas station into orbit
http://www.tgdaily.com/space-features/56612-nasa-to-launch-robotic-gas-station-into-orbit.
NASA plans to send components of a robot gas station into space on the shuttle Atlantis, slated for departure on July 8th.
When a satellite is launched into orbit, it has all the fuel it needs to carry out the entire mission. Once the fuel runs out, the mission is over. That means it’s basically “game over” for older satellites that suffer problems or may have drifted into the wrong orbit therefore requiring additional fuel.
As part of its Robotic Refueling Mission, NASA engineers plan to send the gas station components to the International Space Station. The mission marks the last launch to the space station before the 30-year orbiter program is retired.
The gas station components will be attached to the Atlantis shuttle like an external shelf. Much like a normal gas station, the robots will be able to fill ‘er up and perform minor repairs to orbiting satellites.
The gas station’s first employee will be Canadian-built Dextre robot who will check the gas station’s functionality on board the orbiting space station. The refueling test hardware will include simulated caps, valves, external thermal blankets, and ethanol fuel.
"Due to how these satellites were initially assembled, the nature of this mission is very complex," said Benjamin Reed, NASA's deputy project manager of the Space Servicing Capabilities Project. "If this works out, whenever a satellite goes through this process, not only will it be refueled, it will also be modified so that now it can be refueled more readily."
If the tests go smoothly, the body shop’s first mission will be to repair a satellite running low on fuel. If the orbiting gas station is unable to refuel the weather satellite, it will be decommissioned for good, NASA officials said.
Atlantis is scheduled to launch on July 8 at 11:40 a.m. EDT with three astronauts on board including Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim.
http://www.tgdaily.com/space-features/56612-nasa-to-launch-robotic-gas-station-into-orbit.
NASA plans to send components of a robot gas station into space on the shuttle Atlantis, slated for departure on July 8th.
When a satellite is launched into orbit, it has all the fuel it needs to carry out the entire mission. Once the fuel runs out, the mission is over. That means it’s basically “game over” for older satellites that suffer problems or may have drifted into the wrong orbit therefore requiring additional fuel.
As part of its Robotic Refueling Mission, NASA engineers plan to send the gas station components to the International Space Station. The mission marks the last launch to the space station before the 30-year orbiter program is retired.
The gas station components will be attached to the Atlantis shuttle like an external shelf. Much like a normal gas station, the robots will be able to fill ‘er up and perform minor repairs to orbiting satellites.
The gas station’s first employee will be Canadian-built Dextre robot who will check the gas station’s functionality on board the orbiting space station. The refueling test hardware will include simulated caps, valves, external thermal blankets, and ethanol fuel.
"Due to how these satellites were initially assembled, the nature of this mission is very complex," said Benjamin Reed, NASA's deputy project manager of the Space Servicing Capabilities Project. "If this works out, whenever a satellite goes through this process, not only will it be refueled, it will also be modified so that now it can be refueled more readily."
If the tests go smoothly, the body shop’s first mission will be to repair a satellite running low on fuel. If the orbiting gas station is unable to refuel the weather satellite, it will be decommissioned for good, NASA officials said.
Atlantis is scheduled to launch on July 8 at 11:40 a.m. EDT with three astronauts on board including Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Russia's Mission Control raises ISS orbit by 19.2 km
RiaNovosti: Russia's Mission Control raises ISS orbit by 19.2 km
Russia's Mission Control has adjusted the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) by raising it 19.2 kilometers (11.9 miles) to 364.6 km (226.5 miles), a spokesman for the Mission Control said.
Europe's ATV-2 Johannes Kepler, which docked with the ISS on February 24, fired its engines twice on Sunday night for a total of one hour and 16 minutes to move the station to the desired working orbit.
"The adjustment was carried out with the help of thrusters of Europe's ATV-2 Johannes Kepler space freighter," the spokesman said.
The ATV-2 is scheduled to undock from the orbital station on June 21 and burn up as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, disposing of unneeded items from the space station.
The current ISS crew comprises Russian cosmonauts Sergei Volkov, Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev, NASA's astronauts Mike Fossum and Ronald Garan, and Japan's astronaut Satoshi Furukawa.
MOSCOW, June 13 (RIA Novosti)
Russia's Mission Control has adjusted the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) by raising it 19.2 kilometers (11.9 miles) to 364.6 km (226.5 miles), a spokesman for the Mission Control said.
Europe's ATV-2 Johannes Kepler, which docked with the ISS on February 24, fired its engines twice on Sunday night for a total of one hour and 16 minutes to move the station to the desired working orbit.
"The adjustment was carried out with the help of thrusters of Europe's ATV-2 Johannes Kepler space freighter," the spokesman said.
The ATV-2 is scheduled to undock from the orbital station on June 21 and burn up as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, disposing of unneeded items from the space station.
The current ISS crew comprises Russian cosmonauts Sergei Volkov, Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev, NASA's astronauts Mike Fossum and Ronald Garan, and Japan's astronaut Satoshi Furukawa.
MOSCOW, June 13 (RIA Novosti)
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Unique 'nose-art' to adorn space shuttle Atlantis on its final flight
InternationalBusinessTimes: Unique 'nose-art' to adorn space shuttle Atlantis on its final flight
When the space shuttle Atlantis launches on July 8 in its final mission, it will be adorned with a "nose-art" painting on its fuel tank paying tribute to the shuttle's 30-year legacy, along with the United States flag and the NASA logo.
Based on the old tagline "The Gem of the Galaxy" when NASA's first shuttle was launched in April 1981, the new logo depicts the shuttle with a diamond-shaped background.
The logo was designed by Blake Dumesnil, an engineer at Johnson Space Center in Houston, and was painted on the door by Lockheed Martin graphic artist Jon Irving, who works at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where the tank was built.
Dumesnil said the emblem reflects "an innovative, iconic gem in the history of American spaceflight."
The logo shows the U.S. flag and two sets of stars -- 14 in memory of the astronauts killed in Challenger and Columbia shuttles and five symbolizing the five space shuttles including Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis. Besides it, an inscription reads "Space Shuttle Program 1981 - 2011", the years of space shuttle program undertaken by NASA.
The design was hand-painted on tank access door by Irving, who had painted similar logo on Endeavour. However, the tank is not retrievable and will be lost in the atmosphere when the shuttle returns.
It is the second time in 135 NASA missions that an external tank will feature artwork, following ET-122, which flew with shuttle Endeavour in May.
ET-138’s ‘nose art’ was finalized after the NASA Space Shuttle Program Commemorative Patch contest
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