VIDEO: Orion's heat shield arrives at MSFC

March 23, 2015

Things are looking up for NASA's journey to Mars. (Credit: Reeves Smith Creative)

Christopher Pilny for redOrbit.com @NotRealChainsaw

Last week, redOrbit was afforded the (insane) opportunity to tour NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center. So, understanding you dont get many opportunities like this, we brought along our videographer who captured the entire thing. Well be rolling out the footage over the next few weeks.

One of the coolest aspects of the tourand really we were very fortunate to see it, thanks to a snow-induced-reschedulingwas the heat shield from Orions Exploration Flight Test-1. Launched on December 5th, 2014, it returned to Earth a few hours later after reaching an altitude of 3,600 miles and orbiting the planet twice. On its re-entry it reached temperatures of 4,000 degrees F, which is a lot, but is really thrown into light when you consider lava sits comfortably around 2,000 degrees F.

Re-entry is balmy, to say the least.

But enough from us: Check out the video to get all the Orion heat shield facts. And what the test flight meant for our #JourneyToMars moving forward.

And stay tuned for more from our visit to the Marshall Space Flight Center.

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VIDEO: Orion's heat shield arrives at MSFC

Ipswich students launch selfie-taking teddy bear Benjamin into space

10:04 23 March 2015

Benjamin Bear in the upper atmosphere

Archant

A teddy bear has been launched into space, going further than any of its kind before.

Members of Ipswich High School for Girls science club joined the Cambridge University space flight society to send Benjamin the bear up to 90,000ft using a helium weather balloon, as part of national science week.

The balloon, carrying Benjamin, a digital camera, GPS tracker and parachute, burst in the upper atmosphere, and its contents were picked up in Rutland. Head of Physics Marcus Gibbs said: We were thrilled the flight was a huge success. The girls were excited to be involved in the space mission, and over the moon that Benjamin took such a superb space selfie!

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Ipswich students launch selfie-taking teddy bear Benjamin into space

Wagan Land 3 NES Music Song Soundtrack – Space Flight Stage Theme [HQ] High Quality Music – Video


Wagan Land 3 NES Music Song Soundtrack - Space Flight Stage Theme [HQ] High Quality Music
Wagan Land 3 - SOS!! Paseri Jou NES Music Song and game Soundtrack OST Wagan Land 3 NES Dendy Nintendo High Quality Music Wagan Land...

By: Dendy Legend - NES Music and Soundtrack Collection

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Wagan Land 3 NES Music Song Soundtrack - Space Flight Stage Theme [HQ] High Quality Music - Video

Why is the ISS shaped so weirdly?

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com @BednarChuck

The International Space Station (ISS) has been in service for nearly 15 years, been visited by hundreds of astronauts, travelled well over 1.5 billion miles and provided invaluable scientific research. But have you ever stopped to wonder why it looks so odd?

[STORY: The moon got its shape from tidal forces]

Lets face it, as wonderful as the ISS is, it doesnt look near as badass as the orbital outposts that are depicted in science fiction (Star Treks Deep Space 9 or the Death Star, for example). So why did NASA and its international colleagues choose to give it such an unusual shape?

As it turns out, they didnt, according to Robert Frost, an instructor and engineer in the US space agencys Flight Operations Directorate and the author of a Quora article (reprinted by Gizmodo) that dishes the dirt on why the station lacks the sleek designs of its fictional counterparts.

Where a fictional spacecraft has the luxury of having its design dictated by style, real spacecraft are constrained by budget, tradeoffs, and practicality, Frost wrote. Every feature of the ISS can be explained by those words.

[STORY: Astronaut builds Lego ISS model in space]

We dont yet have the technology to do construction in space, so we have to assemble a large vehicle in space from launch-able components, he added. At the time of the ISS assembly, the two mechanisms for getting a large payload to space were the Space Shuttle Orbiter and the Russian Proton rocket. Those two sentences explain a lot of the ISS appearance.

Frost went on to explain that the ISS had to be assembled from pieces that were small enough to find in the space shuttles payload bay, or in the cargo compartment of a Proton rocket. As such, the maximum length and diameter of these components were limited, forcing crews to rely upon pieces that were primarily cylindrical in shape and able to be linked together.

Parts had to fly themselves

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Why is the ISS shaped so weirdly?

December 2, 1963 – Adlai Stevenson reaffirming John F. Kennedy’s joint US-USSR Space Flight Proposal – Video


December 2, 1963 - Adlai Stevenson reaffirming John F. Kennedy #39;s joint US-USSR Space Flight Proposal
On 2 December 1963, Ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson told the Political Committee of the U.N. that President Lyndon B. Johnson had instructed him to reaffirm the John F. Kennedy proposal for a...

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December 2, 1963 - Adlai Stevenson reaffirming John F. Kennedy's joint US-USSR Space Flight Proposal - Video

USA and UAE Space Agency on bilateral space cooperation

Joint Announcement by the United States of America and the United Arab Emirates Space Agency on Bilateral Space Cooperation

Media Note Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC March 20, 2015

Officials from several departments and agencies of the United States of America and the United Arab Emirates Space Agency met in Washington, D.C., during the week of March 16-20, 2015, to review a broad list of potential areas of space cooperation.

The United States and the United Arab Emirates officials discussed strengthening civil and national security space collaboration. They agreed on developing a strategic approach that would focus on building mutual confidence and understanding of space systems on which both countries rely for economic, environmental, security, and social well-being. Initial discussions focused on space policy and regulatory developments, long term sustainability of space activities, space security, space exploration, bilateral space science cooperation, weather monitoring, the use of satellite-based applications, and exchanges of best practices.

Areas of future conversations and collaboration may focus on important uses of satellite-based data and value-added applications such as: land and sea resource management; space situational awareness; earth observation; climate change research; meteorology; positioning, navigation, and timing; satellite communications; early warning; earth observation; space weather monitoring and opportunities for early discussions on new systems and future space-related missions. Additionally, discussions may explore opportunities for fair and open global trade and commerce for commercial space systems, ground-based capabilities, and managing the space environment to contribute to space flight safety by reducing the risks of collisions and damage by space debris.

Relevant agencies from the United States and United Arab Emirates will consult periodically to continue discussions on current and future space cooperation.

ENDS

Scoop Media

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USA and UAE Space Agency on bilateral space cooperation

NASA's Space Launch System Booster Passes Major Ground Test

The largest, most powerful rocket booster ever built successfully fired up Wednesday for a major-milestone ground test in preparation for future missions to help propel NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft to deep space destinations, including an asteroid and Mars.

The booster fired for two minutes, the same amount of time it will fire when it lifts the SLS off the launch pad, and produced about 3.6 million pounds of thrust. The test was conducted at the Promontory, Utah test facility of commercial partner Orbital ATK, and is one of two tests planned to qualify the booster for flight. Once qualified, the flight booster hardware will be ready for shipment to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the first SLS flight.

"The work being done around the country today to build SLS is laying a solid foundation for future exploration missions, and these missions will enable us to pioneer far into the solar system," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations.

"The teams are doing tremendous work to develop what will be a national asset for human exploration and potential science missions."

It took months to heat the 1.6 million pound booster to 90 degrees Fahrenheit to verify its performance at the highest end of the booster's accepted propellant temperature range.

A cold-temperature test, at a target of 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the low end of the propellant temperature range, is planned for early 2016. These two tests will provide a full range of data for analytical models that inform how the booster performs. During the test, temperatures inside the booster reached more than 5,600 degrees.

"This test is a significant milestone for SLS and follows years of development," said Todd May, SLS program manager. "Our partnership with Orbital ATK and more than 500 suppliers across the country is keeping us on the path to building the most powerful rocket in the world."

During the test, more than 531 instrumentation channels on the booster were measured to help assess some 102 design objectives. The test also demonstrated the booster meets applicable ballistic performance requirements, such as thrust and pressure. Other objectives included data gathering on vital motor upgrades, such as the new internal motor insulation and liner and an improved nozzle design.

When completed, two five-segment boosters and four RS-25 main engines will power the SLS on deep space missions. The 177-feet-long solid rocket boosters operate in parallel with the main engines for the first two minutes of flight. They provide more than 75 percent of the thrust needed for the rocket to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth.

The first flight test of SLS will be configured for a 70-metric-ton (77-ton) lift capacity and carry an uncrewed Orion spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit to test the performance of the integrated system. The SLS will later be configured to provide an unprecedented lift capability of 130 metric tons (143 tons) to enable missions farther into our solar system.

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NASA's Space Launch System Booster Passes Major Ground Test

Dawn Extended Mission: Pallas – Orbiter Space Flight Simulator 2010 – Video


Dawn Extended Mission: Pallas - Orbiter Space Flight Simulator 2010
Dawn was originally scheduled to depart Vesta on August 26, 2012. However, a problem with one of the spacecraft #39;s reaction wheels forced Dawn to delay its departure until September 5, 2012....

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Dawn Extended Mission: Pallas - Orbiter Space Flight Simulator 2010 - Video

Webb Conversations: James Webb Space Telescope Coming Together

This is the third installment in a four-part series of conversations with Paul Geithner Deputy Project Manager - Technical for Webb telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland about different aspects of the Webb.

The James Webb Space Telescope will gaze into the universe in infrared light and look farther back in time than previous telescopes, allowing scientists to look through cosmic dust to see stars forming. Paul discusses how the Webb telescope is coming together.

Q: The James Webb Space Telescope continues to come together, but what needs to happen between now and launch?

Paul: We plan to launch in 2018. There are still a lot of tests to be conducted, and many components will be traveling to different places between now and then as part of this testing and assembly process.

Q: What progress is planned for 2015?

Paul: The Webb telescope is being built-up and tested now, after many years of technology development and design. Now through the end of 2015, the actual telescope structure gets populated with mirror segments, and the instrument module, or the "heart" of the telescope, gets some work done on it, gets shaken on a big vibration table that simulates the rigors of launch, and goes into the vacuum chamber again for another roughly 4-month duration cold vacuum test.

In the meantime, the sunshield and spacecraft bus are being fabricated and assembled and tested, as are many large pieces of test equipment.

More specifically, the Webb telescope program's next big steps in 2015 include 1) change out of some key components of the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) prior to further testing, 2) start of assembly of the actual flight telescope, and 3) continued construction of the spacecraft bus and sunshield. The most prominent key components being changed-out on the instrument module are the near-infrared detectors in the three near-infrared instruments. Right now, the near-infrared instruments have been removed from the module and are having their detectors changed-out at Goddard.

The flight telescope structure will arrive at Goddard this summer and the flight mirrors will be installed on it the rest of 2015. Meanwhile, the spacecraft bus and sunshield continue to be put together at Northrop-Grumman in California. 4) Another significant set of activities in 2015 is testing of test equipment at Johnson Space Center in preparation for testing of the integrated telescope and instrument module in 2017.

Also a highlight at Goddard recently has been rehearsing telescope assembly using the prototype "Pathfinder" telescope, in prep for actual flight telescope assembly in 2015. The Pathfinder shipped to Johnson at the beginning of February and will be used in precursor tests leading up to OTIS (Optical Telescope Element plus ISIM) testing.

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Webb Conversations: James Webb Space Telescope Coming Together

NASA Womens History Month Profile Cecile Saltzman (Stennis Space Center) – Video


NASA Womens History Month Profile Cecile Saltzman (Stennis Space Center)
Ccile Saltzman is a Human Resources Specialist at NASA #39;s John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC) in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. She leads SSC employee relations, including the broad impact areas...

By: NASA

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NASA Womens History Month Profile Cecile Saltzman (Stennis Space Center) - Video

China plans 20 space launches this year including maiden flight of its own space shuttle

Chinese space authorities planning to send 40 different aircraft into orbit One of the ships will be 'space bus' which can launch 10 satellites at once Yuanzheng 1 - China's largest ever rocket - can restart its engine 20 times It became third country to launch manned space mission in October 2003 In 2013, 'soft-landed' first object on the moon since Soviet mission in 1976

By Jay Akbar For Mailonline

Published: 08:43 EST, 18 March 2015 | Updated: 08:53 EST, 18 March 2015

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China's space authorities have announced plans to launch over 40 different spacecrafts into orbit in 20 separate launches this year.

One of the vessels to be launched is the ground-breaking Yuanzheng 1 - also known as the 'space bus' - which can launch 10 different satellites at once.

2013 was a massive year for China whose scientists launched 16 spacecraft to firmly establish their cosmic credentials.

In October 2003, it became only the third country in history to independently launch a manned mission into space on the Shenzhou 5.

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China plans 20 space launches this year including maiden flight of its own space shuttle

NASA's RapidScat sees waning winds of Tropical Depression Bavi

IMAGE:RapidScat data showed Tropical Depression Bavi's strongest surface winds were northwest of the center at 17 m/s (38 mph/61 kph) and weaker around the rest of the storm.... view more

Tropical Cyclone Bavi weakened to a depression and NASA's RapidScat instrument measured its waning winds from space.

On March 17 the RapidScat instrument aboard the International Space Station (ISS) measured Bavi's surface winds from 01:28 to 3:01 UTC. RapidScat data showed surface winds were strongest winds in the northwestern quadrant. Sustained winds were near 17 m/s (38 mph/61 kph) and weaker around the rest of the storm.

On March 18 at 0000 UTC (March 17 at 8 p.m. EDT), the Joint Typhoon Warning Center noted that Bavi's maximum sustained winds dropped to 25 knots 28.7 mph/46.3 kph). It was located near 15.8 north latitude and 132.8 east longitude, approximately 489 nautical miles northwest of Yap, and was moving westward at 6 knots (6.9 mph/11.1 kph).

Bavi is moving west and weakening. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center expects Bavi to dissipate sometime on March 19.

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NASA's RapidScat sees waning winds of Tropical Depression Bavi