Category Archives: Space Exploration

program at NASAs Kennedy Space Center

The Chroniclers, a program at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, Florida, recognizing those who helped spread news of American space exploration, will soon have six new names on its wall of fame. (NASA image)

BREVARD COUNTY KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA The Chroniclers, a program at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, Florida, recognizing those who helped spread news of American space exploration, will soon have six new names on its wall of fame.

Five of the 2017 Chroniclers are retired, and one is deceased. They represent TV and print journalism, as well as NASAs public affairs office.

A selection committee chose the six on March 22 from among broadcasters, journalists, authors, contractor public relations representatives and NASA public affairs officers who, while still working, excelled at sharing news from Kennedy with the world.

This years honorees are, in alphabetical order:

Bruce Hall, a veteran CBS News and NBC News correspondent and producer who covered space for more than 20 years, starting with the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975 and continuing through the early years of the shuttle program, the Challenger accident and NASAs recovery, and the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Scott Harris, Orlando TV reporter and anchor for more than 40 years, and widely regarded for his live coverage of space shuttle launches from Kennedy. Harris worked both the first shuttle launch in April 1981 and the liftoff of the final shuttle mission in July 2011, one month before his passing at age 64.

Bill Johnson, NASA Public Affairs professional whose career at Kennedy spanned more than 45 years. Longtime chief of Media Services, responsible for dissemination of NASA news from and operation of the Kennedy Space Center newsroom and Press Site, Johnson was an awardee of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.

Warren Leary, science writer and correspondent for the Associated Press and The New York Times for more than 35 years. An award-winning journalist, Leary covered spaceflight, technology, engineering, aeronautics, and medical science, as well as the investigation into the cause of the 2003 Columbia accident.

Robert B. (Bob) Murray, NASAs first videographer to provide live, airborne TV coverage of space shuttle launches and landings. For more than 23 years, Murrays primary aerial imagery was seen on television networks and stations, as well as in publications worldwide.

Phil Sandlin, a photographer for UPI and then AP, covered the U.S. space program beginning with the Apollo moon shots and continuing with the shuttle program until his retirement in 2011. Sandlin was winner of the National Press Photographers Associations prestigious Joseph Costa Award in 2016.

The six honorees, each of whom covered the U.S. space program at Kennedy for 10years or more and are no longer working full time in the media, were selected by a committee of working broadcasters, journalists, public relations professionals, and present and former representatives of NASA Kennedys Office of Communication.

The committee considered a total of 20 nominees for this years awards.

Past honorees include Walter Cronkite of CBS News, Jules Bergman of ABC News and two-time Pulitzer winner John Noble Wilford of The New York Times.

Brass strips engraved with each awardees name will be added to The Chroniclers wall in the Kennedy Space Center newsroom at the Press Site during a ceremony at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 5, 2017, the 56th anniversary of Alan Shepards historic flight as Americas first human in space.

Coincidentally, it was Shepard from whom the first Chronicler honorees received their award certificates in 1995.

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NASA Announces 2017 'Chroniclers,' Recognizing Those Who ... - SpaceCoastDaily.com

LOWELL, Mass. Astronauts, scientists, NASA officials and entrepreneurs will come to UMass Lowell this month to explore the next frontiers in exploration, including space travel, humans ability to live on other planets and research that benefits life on Earth.

Space Exploration in the Upcoming Decade: The Domestication of Space, will unite astrophysicists, researchers, students and industry leaders from around the world to share their work and navigate new challenges. The conference, which celebrates the 60th anniversary of the start of the Space Age, will be held on Friday, April 21 and Saturday, April 22 and is open to the public.

The event is presented by the UMass Lowell Center for Space, Science and Technology (LOCSST) and the Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium. Keynote speakers include:

Before the conference gets underway on Friday, April 21, participants will have a chance to see Valkyrie, NASAs life-sized, humanoid robot, which is housed at UMass Lowells New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation (NERVE) Center. One of only four such robots in the world, Valkyrie is at UMass Lowell so researchers can work to develop its capabilities to assist NASA in space exploration, including missions to Mars.

Subjects of conference sessions include exploring how space travel continues to benefit life on Earth, along with forging new university and industry partnerships to spur research. The event will also feature a competition among students who will present their ideas to design and build miniature cube satellites.

The UMass Lowell Center for Space, Science and Technology is led by renowned researcher Supriya Chakrabarti, physics professor and associate dean of UMass Lowells Kennedy College of Sciences. The center advances humankinds understanding of space and provides research opportunities for UMass Lowell students, training the next generation of scientists, teachers, business leaders and policymakers. In February, the centers researchers saw the successful launch of their Limb-Imaging Ionospheric and Thermospheric Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrograph (LITES) to the International Space Station where it is transmitting images of different wavelengths of ultraviolet light. By studying these images, scientists hope to improve how satellites and GPS navigational tools function by learning how irregularities in the Earths upper atmosphere affect radio signals.

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Space Exploration Experts Look to Next Frontiers at Event - UMass Lowell

Under a plan proposed by Stephanie Thomas of Princeton Satellite Systems, Inc., NASA could be returning to Pluto. (Image: NASA/JPL/New Horizons)

Earlier today, NASA announced funding for 22 projects as part of its Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. From a planet hopping laser-driven sail and a solar powered Venusian weather balloon to an autonomous rover on Pluto, the future of space exploration looks incredibly bright.

To keep the pipeline moving for space exploration concepts, NASA regularly entertains pitches via its NIAC program. For a concept to receive final approval and funding, it has to go through two phases of attrition. Teams granted Phase I status receive $125,000, and theyre given nine months to refine their designs and explore various aspects of implementing their crazy-ass schemes. A peer review process vetts these proposals, and a lucky few get to reach second base. Phase II teams receive as much as $500,000 to embark upon two-year projects, allowing them to further develop their plans. Phase II plans are then chosen according to their demonstrated feasibility and benefit.

Today, NASA announced 15 new Phase I concepts and seven new Phase II concepts (we provided the complete list at the end of this article). Here are a few that grabbed our attention.

NASA has given the greenlight to not one but two Phase I concepts that could set the stage for interstellar space travel. Of note is the Interstellar Precursor Mission headed by NASA JPL scientist John Brophy. His idea would see the construction of an orbiting 100 megawatt laser array with a diameter of six miles (10 km). The array would convert the massive laser power into electrical energy, generating enough power to enable long-distance travel of a conventionally-sized spacecraft on a reasonable timescale.

We propose a new power/propulsion architecture to enable missions such as a 12-year flight time to 500 AU [where 1 AU equals the average distance of the Earth to the Sun]...with a conventional (i.e., New Horizons sized) spacecraft, explains Brophy at his project page. This architecture would also enable orbiter missions to Pluto with the same sized spacecraft in just 3.6 years. Significantly, this same architecture could deliver an 80-metric-ton payload to Jupiter orbit in one year, opening the possibility of human missions to Jupiter.

Armed with similar technology, NASA could start to roll out laser-based propulsion systems that could travel to nearby stars, but were getting a bit ahead of ourselves.

Other interesting phase I concepts include a plan to detoxify Martian soil for agriculture, a system that would literally tether a spacecraft to Mars moon Phobos, and a plan called Solar Surfing, which presumably involves a light-driven spacecraft.

Among NASAs chosen Phase II concepts is the Venus Interior Probe project spearheaded by Ratnakumar Bugga, also with NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This proposed probe would drift through Venus clouds while tethered to a balloon, collecting valuable data on temperature, wind speed, and atmospheric pressure. Conventional batteries would allow for a scant one to two hours of life, but under this plan, the probe would continually recharge its batteries using solar energy.

Excitingly, under a Phase II plan envisaged by Stephanie Thomas of Princeton Satellite Systems, Inc., NASA could be returning to Pluto. But unlike the whiplash New Horizons flyby mission, this plan calls for a stop at the dwarf planet.

Using a game changing Direct Fusion Drive (DFD), a spacecraft would travel to Pluto equipped with an orbiter and a lander. Under the plan, the craft would arrive at Pluto in just four to five years (it took New Horizons nearly a decade to make the same journey). A major challenge will be in figuring out a way to decelerate the spacecraft once it gets to Pluto, where it will release its 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg) worth of cargo.

Since DFD provides power as well as propulsion in one integrated device, it will also provide as much as 2 MW of power to the payloads upon arrival, says Thomas at her NASA project page. This enables high-bandwidth communication, powering of the lander from orbit, and radically expanded options for instrument design. She added: The data acquired by New Horizons recent Pluto flyby is just a tiny fraction of the scientific data that could be generated from an orbiter and lander.

Sadly, not all of these concepts will be approved. The Pluto plan, for example, may be too technologically demanding given the hypothetical nature of the fusion drive. For those plans that are approved, it could still take ten years or more before the projects are complete and ready for liftoff.

Here are all the projects approved by NASA today:

The selected 2017 Phase I proposals:

The selected 2017 Phase II proposals:

[NASA]

George is a contributing editor at Gizmodo and io9.

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These Are the Wildly Advanced Space Exploration Concepts Being Considered by NASA - Gizmodo

Yulong Tian, secretary-general of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), speaking April 5 at the 33rd Space Symposium. Credit: Tom Kimmell

COLORADO SPRINGS China is pushing forward on a number of space fronts, including milestone-making robotic missions to the moon, as well as scoping out an automated Mars sample-return mission by 2030.

Yulong Tian, secretary-general of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), spoke here April 5 during the 33rd Space Symposium.

CNSA is the governmental organization of Peoples Republic of China responsible for the management of space activities for civilian use and international space cooperation with other countries.

Yulong reviewed major elements of Chinas 2016 Space White Paper a sweeping outline for the next five years of robotic and manned spaceflight, Earth and space science, and an emerging, new thrust in commercial space.

China is currently making policy for commercial space activities, Yulong said.

Concerning Chinas Beidou navigation system, by 2020, 30 satellites can provide services for global users, Yulong said.

Yulong said China plans to orbit more than 30 meteorological, ocean- and land-monitoring spacecraft in the coming decade.

In reviewing Chinas interest in working with other nations, Yulong said that the country has signed more than 100 space-cooperation agreements with 30 countries and space agencies, and in the future intends to cooperate with governments around the world, in climate change research, disaster prevention, space safety, and deep space exploration.

China is developing plans for deep space exploration over the next decade that will involve Jupiter, Venus, and asteroid exploration.

On Chinas manned space program agenda, Yulong said a cargo supply ship is being readied for launch aboard a Long March 7 rocket this month. It will auto-dock with the Tiangong-2 space lab currently orbiting Earth unoccupied, but the mission is a step forward in building and resupplying a larger space station in 2022, he said.

Yulong said that work remains underway to ready the Change-5 lunar probe for an end of November liftoff from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern Chinas Hainan Province. The moon-bound probe will be boosted by a heavy-lift carrier rocket, the Long March 5.

Change-5 is Chinas first automated moon surface sampling mission and consists of four parts: an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner.

The lander will place samples of the moon in the ascender, which then departs the lunar surface to dock with the moon-circling orbiter and the returner. The samples are to be transferred to the returner for a journey back to Earth.

Also on Chinas Moon exploration agenda, Yulong said, is the Change-4 thats slated to be launched in 2018. That probe is targeted to achieve the first-ever soft-landing on the far side of the moon, Yulong said.

Yulong said that China approved in 2016 a robotic Mars lander to be launched in 2020. A second step is a return sample from Mars by 2030, he said.

Asked about the challenges ahead in lobbing Mars samples back to Earth, Yulong expressed confidence.

The Mars exploration for Chinawe have solved all the technical problems, Yulong told SpaceNews.

Were on track, he said, but added that the investment in the Mars sample effort is still being pursued.

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CNSA boss outlines China's space exploration agenda - SpaceNews - SpaceNews

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The Pros And Cons Of Privatizing Space Exploration Forbes What are the pros and cons of privatizing space exploration? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Robert Frost, Instructor and Flight ... and more »

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The Pros And Cons Of Privatizing Space Exploration - Forbes

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23:25 04.04.2017 Get short URL

"One ofthe goals is toreach new level ofcooperation," Komarov stated. "Many countries and nations coming tothis market and the field ofspace exploration.

Komarov explained that numerous countries ofAsia inparticular have shown "huge interest" tojoin space exploration.

"[O]ne ofour tasks and goals is toget them involved inthe space exploration," he pointed out.

Komarov also said such an approach will create opportunities not only forthe interested countries, butalso forRussia interms ofraising funds and creating additional opportunities.

"We are very active inAsia inparticular," he added. "We have good cooperation withour traditional partners and new countries that appear something likeBRICS Brazil, South Africa, India, China. We see the huge potential fordevelopment inthis sphere and sector, and we are very optimistic."

The Space Symposium inColorado Springs brings together representatives ofthe world's space agencies, commercial space businesses aswell asmilitary, national security and intelligence organizations todiscuss and plan the future ofspace exploration.

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Russia Aims to Develop New Cooperation in Space Exploration - Sputnik International

This week in science is a review of the most interesting scientific news of the past week.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter swept past its 50,000th orbit this week

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is NASA's most data-productive spacecraft already sent to Mars, and it has achieved the 50,000th orbit-sweeping mark this week. MRO is currently responsible for science observations of Mars, by using its Context Camera (CTX), and for communications-relay service for two active Mars rovers, Curiosity and Opportunity.

CTX has already taken about 90,000 images since late 2006, the time it started operating. Until early 2017, it has surpassed 99 percent coverage of the entire planet, as can be seen in the image above. According to Michael Malin, CTX Team Leader:

"Reaching 99.1-percent coverage has been tricky because a number of factors, including weather conditions, coordination with other instruments, downlink limitations, and orbital constraints, tend to limit where we can image and when."

But MROs CTX has also observed 60.4 percent of the planet more than once, which helps scientists to create topographic maps of those regions. Those maps can be used to study possible landing sites for future missions to the red planet, what was the case for NASA's next mission to Mars, the InSight lander, as can be seen in the image above.

Source: Phys.org

We finally have a winning potato variety for future agriculture on Mars

As we have already covered here, the International Potato Center (CIP, in Spanish) has developed the Potatoes on Mars project, which is a series of experiments to determine if potatoes can grow under Mars' atmospheric conditions. By using their CubeSat environment, which is hermetically sealed to avoid interference from the outside environment, and is constantly monitored by sensors to maintain the Martian conditions, they have finally determined a winning potato variety.

The winning variety is called "Unique", and according to Julio Valdivia, an astrobiologist who is working on the project:

"It's a 'super potato' that resists very high carbon dioxide conditions and temperatures that get to freezing."

Now, scientists will build three more simulators to grow more potatoes under extreme conditions. Among those is a planned increase in the carbon dioxide concentrations, approaching those in the Martian atmosphere.

Source: Phys.org

NASA selects mission to study the chaotic "interstellar medium"

As already covered here at Neowin this week, NASA has selected the Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO) mission to conduct the first study of the interstellar medium. This medium contains lonely dust and gas particles that drift between stars. In the case of the Milky Way galaxy for example, the medium accounts for around 15% of the total mass of our galaxy.

The mission is expected to kick-off with the launch of an Ultralong-Duration Balloon carrying a $40 million dollar telescope over Antarctica in 2021.

Source: Neowin

SpaceX has successfully launched its first recycled rocket into space

We have covered here at Neowin the first time ever a recycled rocket returned to space, a milestone achieved this week by SpaceX. As stated by Elon Musk, the company's CEO:

"It means you can fly and re-fly an orbital class booster, which is the most expensive part of the rocket. This is going to be, ultimately, a huge revolution in spaceflight."

The Falcon 9 rocket first stage took four months of inspections and refurbishments before being launched again. According to SpaceX's website, the final goal of the development of reusable rockets is to deliver highly reliable vehicles at radically reduced costs. Finally, the company aims to launch five more pre-flown Falcon 9 rockets this year, which could transform space exploration as we know it.

Source: Neowin

The latest on human brain implants

A pilot trial by scientists from the Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Functional Electrical Stimulation Center was successful in restoring movement to William Kochevar, who has a major spinal cord injury and is paralyzed from the shoulders down.

Scientists have implanted two chips into Kochevars brain, which were used to measure the electrical signals sent by neurons whenever he thought about moving his right arm. Those signals were then analyzed by an algorithm, and transmitted to the electrodes in Kochevars upper and lower arm. According to Kochevar:

At first I had to think really hard to get it to do stuff. Im still thinking about it, but Im not recognizing that Im thinking about it.

Kochevar's movements are still slow and limited, and the brain implants are expected to stop recording in one to four years. Such a short-life for the brain implants is still a huge problem for patients, and scientists still have to work on increasing it. But such an issue hasn't stopped Elon Musk from announcing his latest venture this week: Neuralink.

As already covered here at Neowin, Neuralink wants to implant human brains with computing devices as a way for humans to remain relevant in the coming age of machine automation and AI. According to Elon Musk, humans face an upcoming "existential risk" that will be brought by those technologies, particularly AI.

Source: MIT Technology Review, Neowin

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This week in science: space exploration developments and the ... - Neowin

Jason Rhian

March 30th, 2017

The Falcon 9 with SES-10 soars skyward. This was the first launch of a reused first stage booster. Photo Credit: Vikash Mahadeo / SpaceFlight Insider

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Up until now, Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has only recovered first stages from missions it has sent aloft. That all changed at 6:27 p.m. EDT (22:27 GMT) March 30, 2017, when the company reused a first stage that had been used to fly a previous mission.

In short, the company did something today that has not been done since the first rockets ventured into the black of space at the start of the Space Age. Before todays history-making mission, rockets were single-use. Their multi-million dollar engines were left to plummet down into an ocean or the Kazakh Steppe below.

Photo Credit: Michael Deep

We had an incredible day today, Elon Musk, SpaceXs founder and CEO said moments after the landing. The first re-flight of an orbital-classbooster did this mission perfectly. [It] dropped off the second stage, came back and landed on the drone ship right on the bullseye. Its an amazing day, I think, for space [and], as a whole, for the space industry. It means you can fly and re-fly an orbit-class booster, which is the most expensive part of the rocket.

SpaceX, since its inception in 2002, has been working to change this paradigm by having the first stage of its Falcon 9 rockets either return close to their launch site or out at sea on one of the NewSpace companys Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ships (ASDS). The latter would be positioned out in either the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans.

Its been 15 years to get to this point, Musk said. Its taken us a long time. [] Im just incredibly proud of the SpaceX team for being able to achieve this incredible milestone in the history of space. [] Its a great day not just for SpaceX but [also] for the space industry as a whole in proving that something can be done that many people said was impossible.

When the company originally releasedan animation in 2011 of what it was planning to do, it was met with derision from aerospace insiders. It is likely those insiders arent laughing anymore. With SpaceX able to provide launch services at a much lower cost than either International Launch Services or Arianespace, SpaceX has drawn many potential and current customers away from traditional launch service providers.

While the companys innovations might be partly responsible for this, the low price tag for launch, listed as being $62 million, is likely the chief determining factor. This alone has been enough to create shock waves among their competitors and, given that SpaceX has publicly stated that a reusable Falcon 9 could potentially cost around $5 million to $7 million range, the companys impact cannot be overstated.

Even before todays flight, SpaceX has managed to corner a large portion of the launch service market, including the lucrative payloads flown for the U.S. Department of Defense.

According to a release issued by SpaceX, the company currently has more than 60 missions on its launch manifest representing over $7 billion under contract.

As Mir Juned Hussain noted, while SpaceX has encountered two very public accidents in a 14-month time span, this has not dampened interest in the company that was the first to make the following achievements:

The March 30, 2017, SES-10 mission adds yet another entry in SpaceXs list of firsts.

In fact, another first was possibly revealed by SpaceX board member Steve Jurvetson when he said thatSpaceX plans to attempt a fairing recovery during the SES-10 launch. If that is successful, it would mean that the only part of the Falcon 9 booster that wasnt recovered from the launch of SES-10 would be the second stage (Elon Musk later announced at a post-launch news conference that the payload fairing had landed).

Tonights launch got started at 6:27 p.m. EDT (22:27 GMT) when the nine Merlin 1D rocket engines, arranged in an Octaweb formation at the base of the Falcon 9s first stage, roared to life, lifting the slender cylinder of the rocket and its SES-10 satellite payload off the historic Launch Complex 39A and on its way into the sky.

At about one minute and 13 seconds into the flight, the Falcon 9 hit Mach 1, with the amount of thrust the rocket was unleashing estimated by SpaceFlight Now at being around 1.7 million pounds (7,500 kilonewtons) of thrust.

Some eight seconds later, the rocket had reached an area of maximum dynamic pressure, known asmax-Q. Here, the rockets speed conspired with the pressure of the air to place the vehicle under the greatest amount of stress during the flight.

Photo Credit: Michael Deep

Some 2 minutes, 38 seconds after the Falcon 9 had left 39A, main engine cutoff (MECO) occurred and the first and second stages separated about three seconds later, leaving the formerto conduct its second landing on the Of Course I Still Love YouASDS positioned out in the Atlantic.

After sending SES-10 toward space, the pre-flown first stage of the Falcon 9 made its second landing on SpaceXs drone ship. Photo Credit: SpaceX webcast

After stage separation, the second stage ignited its lone Merlin 1D engine at a mission elapsed time of 2 minutes, 49 seconds and continued to burn for approximately six minutes.

One minute after the second stages engine had ignited, the payload was free of enough of Earths atmosphere that the payload fairing (which acted as SES-10s shield during ascent). The roughly 17-foot (5-meter) diameter payload fairing was thenjettisoned and left to fall back to Earth.

The payload fairing itself is an impressive structure, comprised of carbon fiber and aluminum it stands some 43 feet (13 meters) in height.

Meanwhile, some six minutes after it had left Kennedy Space Center, the Falcon 9s first stage initiated its entry burn, beginning the journey home. Then, about eight-and-a-half minutes since it had launched, completed staging and reoriented itself, the Falcon 9s first stage touched down safely on the ASDS.

This particular first stage was first used to launch the CRS-8 Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station on April 8, 2016. Just like today, upon successfully delivering the cargo freighter to orbit under the $1.6 billion agreement that SpaceX has with the space agency, it touched down on the ASDS and was readied for its next flight.

High above, the second stages engine cut off, as planned, 8minutes, 34 seconds into the flight. At this point in the mission, the stage and SES-10 payload were in a parking orbit where it coasted for about 18 minutes.

Twenty-six minutes, 29 seconds after leaving the launch site, the second stage restarted its engine for a burn lasting about one minute to place the spacecraft into a geostationary transfer orbit with a low point of 135 miles (218 kilometers) and a high point of 22,000 miles (35,400 kilometers) with an inclination of 26.2 degrees from the equator.

Spacecraft separation took place at about 32 minutes, 3 seconds after leaving Florida.

Over the next couple weeks, the spacecraft will use onboard thrusters to circularize its trajectory into a geostationary orbit some 22,000 miles (35,000 kilometers) above Earth. Its final orbital location will be at the 67 degrees West longitude.

Video courtesy of SpaceX

Tagged: core 1021 Falcon 9 Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A Lead Stories SES-10 SpaceX Urgent

Jason Rhian spent several years honing his skills with internships at NASA, the National Space Society and other organizations. He has provided content for outlets such as: Aviation Week & Space Technology, Space.com, The Mars Society and Universe Today.

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The game has changed! SES-10 mission redefines space flight - SpaceFlight Insider

Following a new National Aeronautics & Space Administration's (NASA) bill that Congress passed in March authorizing $19.5 billion spending for space exploration in 2017, manned missions to Mars are closer to reality than ever before.

As both public and private enterprises gear up for a return to the moon and the first human footsteps on the red planet, there is a renewed focus on keeping people alive and productive in these extreme environments.

Plants, and specifically crop plants, will be a major component of proposed regenerative life-support systems as they provide food, oxygen, scrub carbon dioxide and aid in water recycling all in a self-regenerating or "bioregenerative" fashion. Without a doubt, plants are a requirement for any sufficiently long-duration (time- and distance-wise) human space exploration mission.

There has been a great deal of research in this area research that has not only advanced agriculture in space but has resulted in a great many Earth-based advances as well (e.g., LED lighting for greenhouse and vertical farm applications, new seed potato propagation techniques, etc.).

A recent article by Dr. Raymond M. Wheeler from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, now available open access in the journal Open Agriculture, provides an informative and comprehensive account of the various international historical and current contributions to bioregenerative life support and the use of controlled-environment agriculture for human space exploration.

Covering most of the major developments of international teams, it relates some of this work to technology transfer, which proves valuable here on Earth.

The idea of using plants to keep people alive and productive in space is not new in concept or in scientific inquiry. The article covers a large portion of the historical international research effort that will be the foundation for many of the trade studies and mission design plans for use of artificial ecosystems in space.

Research in the area started in 1950s and 1960s through the works of Jack Myers et al., who studied algae for oxygen production and carbon dioxide removal for the U.S. Air Force and NASA. Studies on algal production and controlled-environment agriculture were also carried out by Russian researchers in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, beginning in the 1960s, including tests with human crews whose air, water and much of their food were provided by wheat and other crops.

NASA initiated its Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) Program in the early 1980s, with testing focused on controlled-environment production of wheat, soybean, potato, lettuce and sweet potato. Findings from these studies paved the way to conduct tests in a 20 sq. m, atmospherically closed chamber located at Kennedy Space Center.

At about the same time, researchers in Japan developed a Closed Ecology Experiment Facilities (CEEF) in Aomori Prefecture to conduct closed-system studies with plants, humans, animals and waste recycling systems. CEEF had 150 sq. m of plant growth area that provided a near-complete diet, along with air and water regeneration for two humans and two goats.

The European Space Agency MELiSSA Project began in the late 1980s and pursued ecological approaches for providing gas, water and materials recycling for space life support and later expanded to include plant testing.

A research team at the University of Guelph in Ontario started a research facility for space crop research in 1994. Only a few years later, they went on to develop sophisticated canopy-scale hypobaric plant production chambers for testing crops for space and have since expanded their testing for a wide range of controlled-environment agriculture topics.

Most recently, a group at Beihang University in Beijing, China, designed, built and tested a closed life support facility (Lunar Palace 1), which included a 69 sq. m agricultural module for air, water and food production for three humans.

As a result of these international studies in space agriculture, novel technologies and findings have been produced; this includes the first use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) for growing crops, one of the first demonstrations of vertical agriculture, use of hydroponic approaches for subterranean crops like potato and sweet potato, crop yields that surpassed reported record field yields, the ability to quantify volatile organic compound production (e.g., ethylene) from whole crop stands, innovative approaches for controlling water delivery, approaches for processing and recycling wastes back to crop production systems and more.

The theme of agriculture in space has contributed to and benefited from terrestrial, controlled-environment agriculture and will continue to do so into the future. There are still numerous technical challenges, but plants and associated biological systems can and will be a major component of the systems that keep humans alive on the moon, Mars and beyond.

The original review article appeared within the special issue dedicated to agriculture in space and is available for free to read, download and share in on De Gruyter Online.

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Space exploration benefits Earth-bound ag - Feedstuffs

Monroe High graduate enjoys working as SpaceX engineer.

Not too many people go to work and have a 14-story-tall rocket sitting outside the front door. Blair Gagnon sees this every day at his office in Los Angeles.

An avionics systems integration engineer, he has been employed with SpaceX, a California-based company specializing in aerospace technology, for the past 3 years.

A 2009 graduate of Monroe High School, he works on the SpaceX capsules used to supply the International Space Station atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The capsule flights, called Dragon, are spacecraft flown on critical resupply missions to the space station.

Mr. Gagnon is responsible for ensuring all Dragon avionics subsystems are adequately tested and functioning prior to flight.

Even after long days of tests, the 26-year-old graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) likes what hes doing.

Its very challenging, but one of the most interesting things you can do, he told The Monroe News last week. Some days I spend 12 hours at work. But at the end of the day, you look at the rocket and its super interesting its what gets me up every day.

The space station is home to one Frenchman, two Americans and three Russians. The 18th and latest SpaceX capsule returned to Earth March 19 with a full load of science samples from the space station. Astronauts had set it free from the station just 5 hours earlier.

The Dragon flew to the station more than a month ago from the same Florida launch pad used for NASAs Apollo moon missions. It took more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and brought back just as much in completed experiments and used equipment, according to the Associated Press.

He got a full ride to MIT, where he earned a degree in mechanical and electrical enginering.

SpaceX hired him right away and sent him to its Los Angeles office to start immediately. Two summers ago, the firm landed its first space capsule booster on dry land. Since then, he has worked on every one of the 10 Dragon missions, including the eighth flight in 2016 that he served as primary engineer and had the most involvement in. He works with an aviation integration team of about a half-dozen engineers that handles any issues with tests, electronics, data and systems. They have been busy preparing and improving other capsules for flights to the space station.

This company is a very young company, said Mr. Gagnon, the son of Jill St. Pierre-Gagnon and John Gagnon of Monroe. There are over 100 engineers. Every one of them contributes to the mission. A good chunk of them are in their 20s and early 30s. Ive only been here 3 years, but when you reach five years, youre a veteran.

Besides Florida, the company also has launch sites in California and Texas.

A good portion of our work is with any issues that pop up weve gotten a lot better with each vehicle, he said. We deal with all of the electrical currents, computers, transmitters and radios.

The list of other responsibilities includes:

nTroubleshooting Dragon avionics issues throughout production and during in-space flight.

nAnalyzing and presenting vehicle data in SpaceX and NASA reviews for vehicle milestones.

nDesigning vehicle test equipment and procedures used in verifying the functionality of Dragon.

Another flight is anticipated to launch this spring from the Florida site.

Each morning he reports to work, he walks within five feet of the rocket outside the office.

I look up the entire length of the rocket, he said.

As the current cargo-only version of Dragon reaches the end of production, he will be transitioning to working on the Crew Dragon version that will take astronauts as well as cargo to the space station, he said.

Among his personal goals are working on the first manned space flight to Mars.

It would be really cool if I stuck around long enough to work on future vehicles that would take loads beyond Earths orbit, he said. Im proud to be here. Its very interesting work. I almost never do the same thing every day.

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Navigating Space Exploration - Monroe Evening News