A SpacePolicyOnline.com summary of Wednesday’s hearing on Ensuring the Safety of Human Space Flight before the Space and Aeronautics subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee is now available. Look on our left menu under Hearing Summaries or simply click here.
In a televised media conference today, the 12 crew members onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and space shuttle Atlantis answered questions from reporters around the world and described their experience together very positively. STS-129 Shuttle crew members will part today from their colleagues in preparation for undocking tomorrow, after a successful mission delivering and storing space parts on the exterior of the station, crucial for its long-term operation. Frank De Winne, the first European commander of the ISS, said that “this is just the beginning of co-habiting in space” and “there is still a lot of work to do” for future space missions that he hoped would involve utilizing the ISS for 15 or 20 years more. De Winne will depart the station on a Soyuz on November 30, handing over the command of Expedition 22 to NASA astronaut Jeff Williams.
“We found water.” Anthony Colaprete, project scientist for NASA’s Lunar Crater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission, announced the news at a press conference today at NASA’s Ames Research Center.
On October 9, 2009, LCROSS and its empty rocket stage impacted the Cabeaus crater at the Moon’s South Pole. The rocket stage hit first, creating an ejecta plume that was studied by instruments on LCROSS before it also impacted the surface. Several other spacecraft and Earth-based observatories were also trained on the plume. Scientists had theorized that water might exist in permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles. LCROSS’s preliminary findings confirming the theory were announced just one month after the impact. At that time, project scientists had explained to impatient reporters that they needed more than three hours to collect and analyze the data.
According to Colaprete, the data suggest more significant amounts of water – in vapor and ice form – than expected: several “buckets-worth” instead of tablespoons. Today’s results were based on observations of the 10-12 kilometer diameter plume by a near-infrared spectrometer and an ultraviolet visible spectrometer that measured the wavelengths produced by different compounds in the plume. Several indicators – including hydroxyl signatures produced when water vapor comes in contact with sunlight – confirmed the presence of water as well as other substances.
Greg Delory, senior fellow of the Space Sciences Laboratory and Center for Integrative Planetary Sciences at the University of California at Berkley, provided context for these findings. He said that the lunar poles serve as “record keepers” of the lunar and solar system history. LCROSS’ discovery helps answer a question that arose 10 years ago when large amounts of hydrogen were observed at the Moon’s South Pole and first suggested the presence of water. Those data were not definitive, however, spurring the quest to confirm the finding. Today’s results present a new set of questions about the source of the water. Delory identified three possible sources: comets, solar wind, or the Moon itself. These findings provide an “exciting…surprising new picture of the Moon,” he added.
Alluding to the disappointment that characterized the press conference on the day of the impact, Michael Wargo, chief lunar scientist for Exploration Systems at NASA Headquarters said “you were frustrated that day, we were frustrated that day,” but explained that scientists wanted to have confidence in their findings before making any announcements. Beyond the scientific potential of this finding in the “dusty attic of the solar system,” he added that this water could prove to be a resource for future exploration missions, and “the key to sustainability.”
Combining the data from LCROSS with that of its companion, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which remains in lunar orbit, will allow scientists to provide more specific results on the composition, quantities, and sources of the water. Results from Earth-based observations are expected in the spring and should add to this new wealth of data. “We’re really not done yet and we’ll keep you informed,” said Wargo. In the meantime, scientists are working to understand this new image of the Moon, “it’s not Apollo’s Moon” said Delory, “it’s our Moon.”
NASA hosted a teleconference today to discuss attempts to free the Mars rover Spirit from sandy soil where the robot has been stuck for the past six months. On Monday, the team will resume attempts to extricate the rover, although chances of success are slim.
In what he called “a bittersweet press conference,” Director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters, Doug McCuistion, briefly described Spirit’s difficult journey since it landed on Mars with its counterpart Opportunity back in January 2004. Spirit has faced difficult issues – from software and “amnesia events” to one of its six wheels being broken – but it “may have met its match in this one,” said McCuistion. In April 23, Spirit’s wheels became imbedded in sandy soil after moving backwards on a site the team has named “Troy.”
Initial maneuvers demonstrated that the mix of rocks, uncovered sand, and tilted position of the rover led to “sinkage” that compromised its mobility. Since then, the rover team has undertaken an “ambitious ground test campaign to simulate the situation on Earth,” said John Callas, Project Manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He added that the plan on Monday is to attempt to move forward, retracing Spirit’s steps back north. Ashley Stroupe, one of the rover drivers at JPL, added that this may allow them to take advantage of the softer material and the relatively flat path, but that there is no guarantee that any strategy will successfully extricate the vehicle.
Fortunately, the last six months have proven fruitful. According to Ray Arvidson, deputy principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rovers at Washington University in St. Louis, the current site has proven to be a “geological treasure trove.” The discovery of soil with unexpectedly high sulfur contents point to exciting sources of data, even if this proves to be the last destination of the long-lived rover.
An annual senior review that will take place in February 2010 will likely be the first date when the future of Spirit will be reassessed. The team will have at least until then to try to liberate the rover and will be posting progress reports throughout the process. “I want everybody to be realistic,” said McCuistion, stressing that team members are aware that Spirit’s current predicament is much more serious than what either rover has faced before.
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission could suffer additional cost increases due to concerns over the integrity of the titanium used in the structure of the spacecraft, Spaceflightnow.com reported last week.
The website reported that NASA officials told the Planetary Science Subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council that there was a need to check the integrity of the metal used in the spacecraft due to concerns over “counterfeit” titanium – meaning it has not been subjected to the appropriate rigorous testing – a process that could add more cost to the already over-budget mission. The subcommittee met on October 16.
The MSL spacecraft is mostly built with titanium components, which makes it even harder to determine the amount and exact location of what Doug McCuistion, Director of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, called the “improperly treated non-conforming titanium” according to Spaceflightnow.com. Dr. McCuistion was further quoted as saying that the process of identification will take officials between one and two months: “we have to do some testing to determine what the risk of this material not being conforming is, whether it can still handle the pressures and the temperatures, whether it has the lifetime characteristics, whether it has the strength.” If found to be unsuitable to the mission requirements, replacement parts would need to be ordered, further delaying and increasing the costs of the mission.
The titanium reportedly was provided by Western Titanium Inc., a San Diego-based company that was indicted last December on fraud charges that include issuing false certifications on the quality of the titanium provided.
This incident recalls an issue raised earlier this year at a House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics hearing by then acting NASA Administrator Christopher Scolese. When asked about the sources of cost overruns in NASA missions, Scolese mentioned a variety of reasons, including that spacecraft sometimes contain counterfeit parts: “you find out about it when you’re in tests, or you find out about it when you’re sitting on top of the rocket, or worse, you find about it when you’re in space. And all of those have cost implications.” (minute 45:28 of the hearing webcast)
A SpacePolicyOnline.com summary of the Oct. 21, 2009 Senate hearing on “The Case for Space: Examining the Value of Space Exploration” is now available. The hearing was held by the Subcommittee on Science and Space of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Look for it on our left menu under “Our Hearing Summaries” or just click here.
The chairman of the Committee to Review U.S. Human Space Flight Plans, Norman Augustine, along with committee member, Ed Crawley, will hold a press conference at 1:00 p.m. EDT, on Thursday, Oct. 22 in the Zenger Room of the National Press Club, to release the committee’s final report. According to the NASA press release, copies of the report will be available during the press conference as well as online on the committee’s website.
A SpacePolicyOnline.com 1-pager summarizing the committee’s “summary report” released in September 2009 is available.
NASA will partner with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to develop a roadmap for the commercial reusable launch vehicle (RLV) industry, NASA announced Tuesday.
NASA and AFRL hope to plan ahead for the long-range needs of the budding commercial RLV industry by producing a technology roadmap with recommended government technology tasks, milestones for three different vehicle categories, as well as initial budget and resource estimates.
Lori Garver, Deputy Administrator of NASA, was quoted in the press release saying that the project follows “a natural evolutionary path from today’s emerging commercial suborbital RLV industry to growing and developing the capability to provide low-cost, frequent and reliable access to low Earth orbit.” Efforts to address the need of increased cost-effectiveness and reliability date back to the 1970s when reusability in launch systems was first advocated and the Space Shuttle program was being developed. In the 1990s, NASA partnered with Lockheed Martin on the X-33 program to build a commercial RLV called Venturestar, but without success.
The NASA press release also quoted Doug Comstock, director of NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program, who spoke of the wide ranging support that the RLV industry could provide to NASA activities in space and said the effort acknowledges “the great successes of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in stimulating the American commercial airplane industry nearly 100 years ago.” This NASA/AFRL study thus expands efforts towards increased reusability and ties in with NASA’s commitment to support the commercial space industry.
The roadmap study will begin at the Commercial and Government Responsive Access to Space Technology Exchange 2009, held in Dayton, Ohio from Oct. 26-29.
Amidst celebration of the successful landing of Soyuz TMA-14 yesterday, Alexei Krasnov, head of spaceflight operations at the Russian space agency Roscosmos, expressed confidence that the International Space Station (ISS) will be extended beyond 2015 during a news conference, Reuters reports. Referring to an expected meeting of ISS partners to be held in Japan in March 2010, Krasnov said “the main question to be raised is whether to extend the life of the ISS beyond 2015. I believe the issue will be approved.”
In light of the upcoming retirement of the U.S. Space Shuttle fleet, any extension of the ISS beyond the current 2015 deadline will continue reliance on Russian systems to service the station even when new U.S. systems become available. For now, Vitaly Lopota, General Director of RKK Energia, which manufactures the Soyuz capsules, told the press conference that Russia had doubled the number of crewed Soyuz launches this year (from two to four), and is increasing to six per year the number of cargo launches.
The Russian statements made on Sunday echo comments made by Roscosmos head Anatoly Perminov to the Augustine committee in June. Mr. Perminov and European Space Agency Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain held a teleconference with the committee and both expressed optimism about an ISS extension. The Augustine committee expressed strong support for extending ISS at least until 2020 in its Summary Report in order to increase its return on investment and to enhance relations between the United States and its international partners.
In a public teleconference held today, the Augustine Committee discussed updates to the scoring of the exploration strategy options outlined in its Summary Report. After reiterating that ranking the options themselves was beyond their mandate, committee members briefly explained the evaluation method and criteria they used to designate values between the options.
The committee’s task today was to assign scoring values to the baseline option (Option 3 – Program of Record with less constrained funding), which it had not done at its last public meeting. Three of the eight criteria in particular required additional discussion in order to ensure that all the options were evaluated on the same basis.
The committee members agreed to give a (-2) value on the Global Partnerships criterion since failure to extend the life of the International Space Station beyond 2015 would discourage further involvement from international partners. The baseline option was also assigned a (-1) value on the Mission Safety Profile criterion, taking into account the added risk associated with a Moon landing (the same value applied to any option that included lunar landings). The committee clarified that the parameters for risk assessment are based only on mission profile and do not include an evaluation of the risks associated with specific launch vehicles, for example Ares 1 versus an alternative. Finally, it was also decided to assign the baseline option a (-1) value on the criterion of National Skill, based on the impact of the “Shuttle-gap” between decommissioning of the Space Shuttle and the availability of a new system and the resulting inability to utilize the nation’s skilled space transportation workforce fully.
The committee also decided that the Science Knowledge criterion will include the ability for humans to service space-based science observatories, a beneficial capability that was highlighted in the August 5 presentation to the committee by Marcia Rieke representing the ongoing National Research Council astrophysics Decadal Survey (Astro2010).