The House Science and Technology Committee has announced the witnesses for its hearing on Thursday, November 19, 2009, on “The Growth of Global Space Capabilities: What’s Happening and Why it Matters.” The hearing is at 10:00 am in 2318 Rayburn House Office Building. The witnesses are:

• Mr. Marty Hauser, Vice President, Washington Operations, Research and Analysis, The Space Foundation
• Mr. J.P. Stevens, Vice President, Space Systems, Aerospace Industries Association
• Dr. Scott Pace, Director, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University
• Dr. Kai-Uwe Schrogl, Director, European Space Policy Institute
• Dr. Ray A. Williamson, Executive Director, Secure World Foundation

Update 2

The shuttle has separated from the External Tank and is in orbit. It is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station on Wednesday.

Update

The space shuttle lifted off on time and the SRBs have burned out and been jettisoned.

Original Story

STS-129 remains on schedule for launch at 2:28 pm EST this afternoon. Spaceflightnow.com has live coverage and commentary.

Space Shuttle Atlantis remains on track for launch on Monday at 2:28 pm EST. The STS-129 mission will deliver spare parts to the International Space Station (ISS). Only five more shuttle flights remain after this one and NASA wants to get as many spare parts aboard the ISS as it can while it still has the “upmass” capability of the shuttle. Once the shuttle is terminated, only much smaller spacecraft (Russia’s Progress, Europe’s ATV and Japan’s HTV) will be available to take parts, equipment, supplies, and experiments up to the ISS. Only Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft will be able to bring anything back to Earth; Progress, ATV and HTV are not designed to survive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. The Soyuz will be used to ferry astronauts back and forth, but with three astronauts in the Soyuz only about 50 kilograms of other cargo can be accommodated.

The following events next week may be of interest. Check our calendar on the right menu for further details or click on the links below. Congressional schedules and space shuttle launch schedules are always subject to change. Check the websites of the House, Senate, relevant congressional committees, or NASA for up-to-date information.

During the Week

No conference committee meetings have yet been announced for either the Department of Defense (DOD) or Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bills, but could be scheduled during the week.

Monday, November 16

• Scheduled launch of STS-129 Space Shuttle Atlantis, 2:28 pm EST

Monday-Wednesday, November 16-18

• NRC Planetary Science Decadal Survey Steering Committee meeting, Irvine, CA. Some sessions of this meeting are closed.

Tuesday, November 17

• Space and Security: Transatlantic Issues and Perspectives, sponsored by the European Space Policy Institute and George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute, 9:30 am -1:30 pm EST, 1957 E Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.

Wednesday, November 18

• Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on Nomination of Erin Conaton to be Under Secretary of the Air Force, 9:30 am EST, 216 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.
• Senate Commerce Committee Hearing on Nomination of Philip Coyle to be Associate Director for National Security and International Affairs at the Office of Science and Technology Policy (and other nominations), 2:30 pm EST, 253 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

Thursday , November 19

• House Science and Technology Committee hearing on “The Growth of Global Space Capabilities: What’s Happening and Why it Matters,” 10:00 am EST, 2318 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.
• Senate Commerce Committee markup of Satellite TV Extension and Localism Act (and other legislation), 10:00 am EST, 253 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

Thursday-Friday, November 19-20

• Space, Telecommunications and Cyber Law in the Transatlantic Arena: Comparison, Competition & Cooperation.” Sponsored by the University of Nebraska Law School. Washington Court Hotel, 525 New Jersey Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C.
• NRC Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space: Panel on Human Behavior and Mental Health, Irvine, CA. Some sessions of this meeting may be closed.

“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.”

The House Science and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics will hold a hearing on “The Growth of Global Space Capabilities: What’s Happening and Why It Matters.” The hearing will be held on November 19 at 10:00 am in 2318 Rayburn House Office Building. Witnesses have not been announced.

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.

The Associated Press is reporting discouraging news about what domestic agencies, like NASA, can expect for FY2011:

“The Obama administration has alerted domestic agencies to plan for a freeze or even a 5 percent cut in their budgets, part of an election-year push to rein in record deficits that threaten the economy and Democrats’ political prospects next fall.”

The American Institute of Physics (AIP) and the John and Jane Mather Foundation for Science and the Arts are initiating a public policy internship for physics undergraduates. Dr. John Mather, senior astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for his precise measurements of the primodial heat radiation of the Big Bang.

The AIP Mather Public Policy Intern Program is funded by the Mather Foundation, which itself is funded by the Nobel award money, and expands upon the existing Society of Physics Students intern program that is administered by the AIP. According to the AIP press release: “Dr. Mather hopes that this internship program will ‘get students interested when they still have an opportunity to learn about government process in their formal education; grad schools tend to expect their technical students to concentrate on technical things.'”

Russia’s new “Poisk” module is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS). The module was launched today and is scheduled to dock with the ISS on Thursday. Its primary purpose is as another docking port, though some scientific experiments also could be conducted there.

This is the fourth Russian-built ISS module. The first, Zarya, was the very first ISS segment in orbit. Launched in 1998, it provided guidance, navigation and control for the ISS until other segments were launched. Though built in Russia, it was paid for by the United States and therefore officially is a U.S. segment. In 2000, the Russian-built, Russian-owned Zvezda module joined the space complex after a two-year delay primarily caused by funding problems in the Russian space program. Zvezda is the main crew quarters. In 2001, the Russian Pirs docking port was added.