NASA released images today of several of the Apollo lunar landing sites taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). They are totally awesome! Check ’em out.

The National Research Council’s (NRC’s) interim report reviewing the 14 technology roadmaps created by NASA’s Office of Chief Technologist (OCT) is generally supportive. The NRC study committee reviewing the roadmaps suggested substantial changes to only one of the 14 roadmaps. However, it also found that more focus on the needs of the commercial sector is warranted.

NASA Chief Technologist Bobby Braun developed the roadmaps for technology developments ranging from launch and in-space propulsion to entry, descent and landing systems. He then asked the NRC’s Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board to review them. The NRC issued an interim report last week.

The NRC agreed with most of NASA’s “technology area breakdown structures” (TABS) for each of the 14 areas. The exception was the area of Robotics, TeleRobotics and Autonomous Systems. The NRC found that a complete rewrite of that TABS is needed. The NRC also found that the roadmaps need to be updated in light of two recent NRC Decadal Surveys released since the roadmaps were developed. Those Decadal Surveys are on life and microgravity sciences in space and planetary science.

In light of the Obama Administration’s focus on commercial space activities, perhaps the most interesting observation in the report is that “the content of the draft roadmaps could be improved by giving more consideration to the needs of the commercial sector.” Specifically, the NRC committee said that NASA’s contribution to encouraging and facilitating a commercial space sector, as mandated in the 2010 National Space Policy, would be “enhanced” by a program that identifies how the commercial sector would benefit from advanced technologies, appropriately develops pre-competitive technology for the commercial space sector, and transfers advanced technologies to U.S. industry.

The NRC’s final report is expected in early 2012.

UPDATES: Two NASA media events on Friday were added, but one has now been cancelled, so hence another update.

The following events may be of interest in the coming week. For more information, see our calendar on the right menu or click the links below. The House and Senate both return from their August break this week (President Obama is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress on Thursday, September 8, at 7:00 pm EDT). Times and dates for congressional activities are always subject to change; check the relevant committee’s website for up to date information.

Tuesday, September 6

• NASA press conference on GRAIL lunar mission, whose launch is scheduled for September 8, Kennedy Space Center FL (watch on NASA TV), 1:00 pm EDT
• Senate Appropriations Energy-Water subcommittee, markup of FY2012 Energy-Water appropriations bill (includes Department of Energy funding to restart production of Pu-238 for NASA missions), 192 Dirksen Senate Office Building, 2:00 pm EDT

Thursday, September 8

• HASC hearing on The Future of National Defense and the U.S. Military Ten Years After 9/11, 2118 Rayburn House Office Building, 10:00 am EDT
• Joint Deficit Reduction Committee (the congressional “supercommittee” created by the debt limit/deficit reduction deal), organizational meeting, 2123 Rayburn House Office Building, 10:30 am EDT
• House SS&T Committee hearing on LightSquared, 2318 Rayburn House Office Building, 2:00 pm EDT

Thursday-Friday, September 8-9

• National Research Council workshop on Solar Variability and Climate, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO

Friday, September 9

• CANCELLED: NASA news conference on International Space Station National Lab Award, Kennedy Space Center, FL, 9:30 am EDT, watch on NASA TV
• NASA media teleconference on UARS Reentry, 11:00 am EDT, listen at http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio
• Planetary Society lunch seminar on achievements and future of planetary science, 2325 Raybutn House Office Building, 12:00 – 1:30 pm EDT, RSP required to tpscma@planetary.org
• Joint meeting of NASA International Space Station Advisory Committee and NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Committee, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 1:00-3:00 pm EDT

A new report from the National Research Council (NRC) asserts that using “reasonable assumptions,” the orbital debris environment has reached a “tipping point” where debris will “continually collide with itself” creating more debris. The report calls on NASA to develop a strategic plan for its programs that address the problem.

The NRC report, “Limiting Future Collision Risk to Spacecraft: An Assessment of NASA’s Meteoroid and Orbital Debris Programs,” was written in response to a request from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) via NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance. A workshop was held as part of the NRC study committee’s deliberations and a report of that workshop was published separately.

The NRC stresses in the new report that its study committee was not asked to comment on “the degree of the threat posed by meteoroids and debris, nor was the committee asked to determine which technology or path is best suited for the remove of debris from orbit.” Instead, “this study is more a review of NASA’s meteoroid and orbital debris programs than an attempt to solve the threat posed by meteoroids and orbital debris.”

With its task so delineated, the NRC praised many aspects on NASA’s ongoing programs in what the agency calls micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD). It notes that NASA does not have a single MMOD program, but “numerous program elements spread across NASA mission centers,” and recommends that NASA review the management structure of these activities to “achieve better coordination, provide improved central decision making, and establish a framework for setting priorities.” Its overarching recommendation is that NASA “develop a formal strategic plan that provides the basis for prioritizing the allocation of funds and effort over various MMOD program needs.”

The NRC also found that removal of space debris would cross “crucial national and international legal thresholds” and therefore NASA’s MMOD programs should engage NASA’s General Counsel’s Office and the State Department “regarding the legal requirements and diplomatic aspects of active debris removal.”

NASA has scheduled a media teleconference for tomorrow, September 1, to provide an update on the Mars rover Opportunity.

Opportunity recently reached the edge of the Endeavour crater on Mars. The briefing is at 12:30 pm PDT (3:30 pm EDT) and will be streamed at http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio.

The teleconference participants are:

— Dave Lavery, program executive, Mars Exploration Rovers, NASA Headquarters, Washington
— Steve Squyres, principal investigator, Mars Exploration Rovers, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
— Ray Arvidson, deputy principal investigator, Mars Exploration Rovers, Washington University in St. Louis.
— John Callas, project manager, Mars Exploration Rovers, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif.

UPDATE 3: But the speech will be at 7:00 pm EDT instead of 8:00 pm so it will be over before the NFL pre-game coverage begins. Hardly ideal, since it will be only 4:00 pm on the West Coast when people are still at work, but this is, after all, the art of compromise.

UPDATE 2: Boehner wins. Obama will address Congress on Thursday, September 8.

UPDATE: House Speaker John Boehner has declined the President’s request to address a joint session of Congress on September 7, suggesting the next night as an alternative according to The Hill newspaper, which points out that September 8 is the opening night of the NFL season.

President Obama has sent a letter to Congress asking for permission to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, September 7, to talk about jobs and the economy.

The address would begin at 8:00 pm EDT, exactly the same time as one of the Republican presidential debates. The New York Times commented that while it was expected that Obama would make a speech next week, “it is remarkable that he would choose to do so in such an elevated setting, and at the same time that Republican candidates for president will be laying out their own vision for how to get the country out of the economic doldrums.” It adds that September 7 is actually the third date for this debate, having first been scheduled for May 2, then changed to Sept. 14, and then to Sept. 7.

Florida’s Senators, Bill Nelson (D) and Marco Rubio (R), joined forces to write to President Obama about funding for facilities at Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

The letter was written to clear up what the two Florida Senators believe was a “misunderstanding” in a letter written to President Obama by five Senators from Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi on August 15.

One of the complaints in that letter was that NASA’s FY2011 operating plan would transfer money from the congressionally-mandated Space Launch System (SLS) to KSC to pay for facility upgrades.

The new letter from Nelson and Rubio seeks to clarify that there are funds in separate parts of NASA’s budget for facilities at KSC. They emphasize their support for the SLS, but argue that ground systems for a new launch vehicle like the SLS are just as necessary as the “design and build phase.” They point to a difference between NASA’s budget categories for “21st Century Ground Systems” that are part of the SLS budget and “21st Century Launch Complex” that is part of “general construction updates” at KSC. Their bottom line is that they support the “continued use of SLS funds to develop a complete heavy-lift rocket, including the KSC projects in question.”

Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) said that the contingency plans being drawn up for International Space Station (ISS) operations underscore the need for NASA to develop a new crew space transportation system as required by the 2010 NASA Authorization Act.

In a press statement today, the Senators said:

“This is a very serious situation that bears close attention. Obviously, we must satisfy ourselves that the problem with the Russian rocket is identified and corrected as soon as possible. Perhaps the problems can be resolved quickly. But the very fact that NASA must make contingency plans for reducing the size or evacuating the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) if the Russian Soyuz cannot return to flight by November, is a compelling illustration of the urgent need to comply with the law and proceed immediately with the development of alternative and backup launch capabilities. Failure to take this action undermines U.S. leadership in space and jeopardizes our huge investment in the ISS.”

NASA and its Russian counterpart, Roscosmos, are developing contingency plans for ISS operations following the failure of a Soyuz U launch vehicle last week that doomed a Progress cargo spacecraft destined for the ISS. NASA ISS program manager Mike Suffredini outlined the possibilities at a press conference earlier today.

The International Space Station (ISS) management team is preparing contingency plans in the wake of the failure of Russia’s Progress M-12M spacecraft to reach orbit last week. Under one set of assumptions, it might be necessary to operate the ISS without a crew beginning in November.

The Progress M12-M cargo-carrying spacecraft was aboard a Soyuz rocket that is very similar to the type used to launch Russia’s crew-carrying Soyuz spacecraft. Thus, the Soyuz rocket failure affects launches of both crews on Soyuz spacecraft and cargo on Progress spacecraft.

NASA’s ISS program manager, Mike Suffredini, said at a press conference today that the return of three of the current ISS crew members probably will be delayed for a week, to mid-September, because the launch of the next Soyuz spacecraft with their replacements is delayed indefinitely. Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency reported that Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, said it would be September 16. The next Soyuz crew launch had been scheduled for September 21 CDT (September 22 at the launch site).

Russia continues to investigate what caused the third stage of the Soyuz U rocket to fail during ascent. Progress M-12M (called “Progress 44” by NASA because it is the 44^th to go to the ISS), filled with cargo for the ISS, crashed into a remote area of Siberia. Russia continues to search for remains of the spacecraft, but bad weather and difficult terrain have slowed those efforts. Russia announced today that they would increase the number of aircraft involved in the search, but they expect that the spacecraft broke into many pieces.

Until more is known about the failure, the Russians cannot set a date for launching the next ISS crew. However, Itar-Tass said that preparations are continuing for the possible launch of the next Progress spacecraft – Progress M-13M – in October.

With the termination of the U.S. space shuttle, Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft is the only way to get crews to and from the ISS. Suffredini stressed that the six crew members aboard the ISS are in no danger. The Soyuz spacecraft that are needed to bring them back to Earth are already attached to the ISS, and the ISS was thoroughly stocked with supplies by the final space shuttle mission, STS-135, last month.

However, the Soyuz spacecraft that are attached to the ISS have a limited on-orbit lifetime, approximately 200-210 days. For safety reasons, there can only be as many crew aboard ISS as can be returned to Earth in an emergency. Each Soyuz spacecraft has three seats, and with two docked at the ISS, that allows six crew members to be aboard.

With the roughly 6-month orbital lifetime of a Soyuz spacecraft, crews therefore rotate on a 6-month schedule, and the lifetimes of the two Soyuz that are attached are ending.

Other considerations are ensuring that landings can take place in daylight, which is dictated by orbital dynamics, and to not plan landings during the winter when weather conditions in the landing area are problematical at best. With all of those considerations, the ISS management team is currently planning to return three of the crew in mid-September and the other three in mid-November.

Thus, how many crew – if any – will be aboard the ISS after that is dependent on when Russia can certify that the Soyuz rocket is ready to launch a crew. Suffredini said that if the Soyuz is not flying by mid-November, the ISS would have to be destaffed. NASA has continually warned about problems that could develop if the ISS is left in an unoccupied condition for a lengthy period. Suffredini reiterated that today.

These contingency plans could also impact the scheduled test flight of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. NASA and SpaceX are considering combining SpaceX’s next two test flights such that the next Falcon 9/Dragon mission would involve berthing Dragon to the ISS. However, a crew needs to be aboard ISS to conduct the berthing operation using the Remote Manipulator System. Without a crew, that operation could not take place. November 30 is the currently planned date for the SpaceX launch.

The key is what went wrong with the Soyuz rocket last week. Until Russia makes that determination and fixes it, the fate of ISS operations will be in limbo.

UPDATE: Here is a link to a YouTube video of Griffin’s remarks in Huntsville. Thanks to the reader who sent it in.

Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin has put down in writing what he was reported as saying during a panel session in Huntsville last week.

In an op-ed for today’s Space News, Griffin blasts the Obama Administration’s handling of the U.S. human spaceflight program. He accuses President Obama of having no interest in human spaceflight until during his campaign for President he “realized that he had to win Florida” and “changed his tune.” Thus it should be no surprise, Griffin argues, that, once elected, Obama cancelled the Constellation program and has repeatedly ignored laws passed by Congress to build a new Space Launch System (SLS) and Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) instead.

Griffin initiated the Constellation program during his tenure as NASA Administrator under President George W. Bush to implement Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration. Its goal was to return humans to the Moon by 2020 and someday send them to Mars. President Obama proposed cancelling Constellation in February 2010. Following months of intense debate, Congress agreed, but only after Obama agreed to replace it with the SLS/MPCV program.

Griffin attacks virtually every aspect of Obama Administration’s management of the human spaceflight program, especially what he calls a “smear campaign” against SLS. Charging that the Administration “is focused on killing human spaceflight by the death of a thousand cuts,” he nevertheless hails “some true heroes at NASA who are clearly focused on affordability and sustainability” and “should be commended for their innovation and their approach, which is closer to what Congress approved and the president signed into law.”

Griffin was quoted by the Huntsville Times last week as making similar comments during a panel discussion moderated by Huntsville mayor Tommy Battle. Griffin is currently Eminent Scholar and Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Alabama, Huntsville.

In his op-ed, Griffin icily rejects a claim published in the Orlando Sentinel that the SLS would cost $38 billion. Although the headline of that Orlando Sentinel article did assert that $38 billion “could be” the cost for the “new moon rocket,” the text of the story was about SLS and MPCV combined. Regardless, Griffin claims that such data would be available only to NASA’s leadership and releasing it was an example of “the tiresome Washington game of leaking a highly biased story in order to set the terms for an upcoming debate.” He ends his commentary by saying “Let the games begin.”

The Senate has subpoenaed NASA documents relating to the SLS program because NASA has not provided them voluntarily. The House Appropriations Committee marked up the FY2012 appropriations bill that includes NASA in July and increased the amount of funds that would be available for SLS and MPCV compared to what the President requested. It cut the amount for the commercial crew program that the Obama Administration champions. The full House has not acted on the bill yet, nor has the Senate.