Category Archives: Space Travel

In just less than two years, NASA is slated to launch the most powerful space telescope thats ever been built. Its the James Webb Space Telescope, of JWST, and its being hailed as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that is currently in orbit around Earth. Theres a key difference, though, between the spacecraft. Whereas Hubble sees the Universe in mostly visible light, JWST will observe the cosmos in the infrared a type of light that cant be seen but is associated with heat emission. The JWST will capture this kind of light using a segmented mirror more than 20 feet across, allowing the observatory to look deeper into the Universe, and further back in time, than ever before.

At the end of last year, NASA celebrated the completion of the optics portion of the JSWT

At the end of last year, NASA celebrated the completion of the optics portion of the JSWT the mirror and instruments the telescope will use to study the most distant galaxies and star systems. Now, the space agency is putting the JWST through a series of tests to make sure the spacecraft will be able to handle its launch into space on a European Ariane 5 rocket in October 2018.

As NASA gets the JWST ready for space travel, one of the agencys astrophysicists, Amber Straughn, will give an update on the telescopes progress. Straughn, the associate director of the astrophysics science division at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, studies the Universes most puzzling phenomena from supermassive black holes to the evolution of galaxies. Tonight, during a lecture at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, she will talk about the development of JWST and what the completed spacecraft will teach us about the Universe.

The lecture begins at 7PM ET. People can participate in the conversation on Twitter by tweeting at Perimeter or using the hashtag #piLIVE.

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Watch an astrophysicist explain how NASA's next space telescope will help us time-travel through the Universe - The Verge

FSU Dean of the College of Human Sciences and Professor Michael Delp

NASA-Funded Project to Examine Vision, Cardiovascular Problems

A Florida State University researcher will lead a joint U.S.-Russia project that will examine the effect of space travel on astronauts vision, an ongoing problem that NASA has been eager to solve.

The issue of vision impairment is very important to NASA, said Michael Delp, dean of the College Human Sciences and the lead investigator on the project. When astronauts go into space, they lose bone density and muscle mass, but thats mostly preventable or recoverable. The vision may not be, and not everyone is willing to risk their sight.

The work will be funded by a $750,000 grant from NASA.

In recent years, NASA has spearheaded research into vision problems experienced by astronauts returning from space. On shorter trips, astronauts have often experienced minor vision changes that eventually self-corrected. But longer trips to space have caused more structural changes to the eye that have permanently altered astronauts ability to see.

Delp and colleagues at the Russian Academy of Sciences previously collaborated on a study that found space travel may diminish the bodys ability to regulate blood flowing to the brain, which could contribute to temporary or permanent changes in vision for astronauts.

For this study, researchers will send male mice into space on a SpaceX rocket in August 2017. The mice will live at the International Space Station for 30 days and then return to Earth to be recovered by the U.S. Navy off the California coast.

Scientists will then examine changes to the lymphatic and vascular functions to see how that may affect vision.

Were looking at cerebral arteries, cerebral veins and the lymphatics that drain the brain to see if vascular function in any of those areas are changed with micro gravity, Delp said. Were also looking at the blood brain barrier. So if the vessels become leaky and allow fluid out into the brain, that might be another reason were seeing vision problems in astronauts.

Delps research has been funded by NASA for several decades. Prior to becoming dean of the College of Human Sciences in 2013, he worked as a professor at the University of Florida, West Virginia University and Texas A&M University. He received his doctoral degree from University of Georgia.

The grant will fund three graduate students and one postdoctoral researcher at Florida State University, as well as scientists and graduate students from Texas A&M University.

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FSU researcher to lead US-Russia project on health, space travel - Florida State News

NASAs fingerprints were all over the Academy Awards, with key members of the associations history gaining particular recognition.

Amid a troubling political landscape, and the controversial execution of the Best Picture prizeat last nights Academy Awards (26 February), NASAs high achievers received some serious recognition at the event.

NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, one of the many women that helped to drive the space race in the 1950s-60s and inspire the blockbuster movie Hidden Figures, took to the stage and received a standing ovation for her achievements.

Although the movie failed to take the top prize, Johnsons appearance on stage was something that NASA was particularly proud of.

Movies about the lives of men and women in the history books have long been a staple of storytellers. Sometimes, the names and deeds are the heroes, and their names are known to all, said actress JanelleMone.

Co-star Taraji P Henson, who played Johnson in Hidden Figures, added: We were honoured to be in an inspiring film about three such women.

Johnson, now 98, was escorted onto the stage by NASA astronaut Yvonne Cagle, before thanking everyone in attendance.

A physicist, space scientist and mathematician, Johnson was integral to early crewed space flight. She carried out the calculations for Alan Shepards flight (which made him the first American in space). She also verified the calculations made by an electronic computer for John Glenns orbit at Glenns request and for Apollo 11s trajectory to the moon.

In 2016, NASA named a building at the Langley Research Center after Johnson, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014.

Elsewhere, engineer and astronaut Anousheh Ansari who self-funded her way to becoming the first ever Iranian in space and former NASA scientist Firouz Naderi accepted the Best Foreign Language Film award for The Salesman on behalf of director Asghar Farhadi.

Farhadi chose notto attend the event after US president Donald Trumps move to bar Iranian visa-holders from entering the US.

Oscar figurines. Image: 360b/Shutterstock

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Stars align for space travel at memorable Oscars ceremony - Siliconrepublic.com

Launching things into space is expensive really expensive. A rocket costs more than a commercial jet. But unlike jets that make thousands of trips before being retired, rockets are used only once because of the extreme stress and temperatures involved in leaving and re-entering the atmosphere.

SpaceX wants to change that. Founder Elon Musk believes that reusable rockets will eliminate the prohibitive cost of space travel and allow space travel to become commonplace.

Most modern rockets are multi-stage, built of multiple parts that each have their own engines and fuel. When each stage runs out of fuel, it falls back to Earth, and the next stage begins burning its propellant. The lighter mass makes it easier to accelerate the payload to escape velocity. This system works well for getting things into space, but isnt very efficient or cost-effective. The jettisoned rocket stages essentially become trash, cluttering Earths orbit or polluting its oceans. New rockets are then constructed for tens of millions of dollars.

SpaceXs rockets dont operate this way. After separating from the payload, instead of falling back to Earth, the first stage rocket decelerates itself with bursts of fuel and uses fins to steer onto a landing platform. When reusable rockets become commonplace and are more widely adopted, according to Musk, these landing platforms will be autonomous pods floating in the ocean. The first successful landing of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was in December 2015. However, the first successful rocket water landing was in April 2016. This week, a Falcon rocket was the first private rocket to launch from the historic NASA launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The idea behind reusable rockets seems simple enough, so why is this concept just now being tested? Traditional launch systems are designed to maximize performance and reliability. Government designers and engineers prioritize the safe completion of the intended mission on the first try over sustainability or efficiency. As former NASA administrator Alan Stern explains, [The Department of Defense] doesnt care whether it costs $100 million or $300 million ... what they want is a guarantee its going to work. And these systems do work. The Atlas V launch vehicle, sometimes called the worlds most reliable rocket, uses a different type of rocket for each stage, with up to three different kinds of propellant. This made the rockets extremely powerful and precise, but largely expensive to manufacture and fuel.

The Falcon rocket is designed to minimize cost a liberty SpaceX can take as a private company. All its engines are the same kind, running on liquid oxygen and RP1, a fuel made from refined kerosene.

The Falcons two stages are the same diameter and made from an aluminum-lithium alloy. The use of the same material for each stage reduces manufacturing costs. SpaceX also keeps costs down by manufacturing its own engines in-house. The Merlin engines designed for the Falcon use a needle-like device called a pintle to inject propellant to the combustion chamber.

According to Tom Mueller, SpaceX propulsion chief, its cheaper than typical rocket engines, which use a spray instead, and also less likely to cause explosions or other combustion-related accidents. The company also developed its own reusable, cost-effective heat shield technology, PICA-X, with help from NASA.

PICA-X, Merlin engines, and every other component of the Falcon rockets are designed to be as durable as possible to withstand reuse for trips back to Earth, journeys to the moon, and travel beyond. Musks ultimate goal is to use his rockets to settle humans on Mars by 2030. This will only be a possibility with quick innovation.

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SpaceX's reusable rockets make space travel much cheaper - CMU The Tartan Online

Space lovers around the country should start marking their calendars now in preparation for the 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing, because they might have the opportunity to see artifacts from the historic Apollo 11 mission at a city museum near them.

The Smithsonian Institution announced on Wednesday that it will send its Apollo 11 Columbia command module, normally housed in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., on a four-city tour in December as part of its new Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission traveling exhibition.

Scheduled to culminate in Seattle, Wash., in 2019, the exhibit will celebrate the historical significance and technological achievement of the Apollo 11 mission while prompting visitors to also contemplate the future of space exploration.

The Apollo programis one of the greatest American achievements, Smithsonian Secretary David J. Skorton told a crowd of press and staff gathered in the restoration hanger at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly. When Apollo 11 landed on the moon and humans first stepped on another celestial body, it changed the way we saw ourselves.

The Columbia command module and the other objects featured in Destination Moon will first go to Space Center Houston in Texas, on Dec. 14. The exhibition will then move to the St. Louis Science Center in Missouri in April 2018 before going to Pittsburgh, Pa., where it will be housed at the Senator John Heinz History Center.

The exhibition will make its final stop in March 2019 at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, where it will be for the Apollo 11 missions 50th anniversary in July of that year.

Because the command module and other artifacts need to be in a well-regulated environment for conservation purposes, technical requirements, such as room temperature and security measures, as well as the amount of available space dictated which cities would get the exhibition, according to Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) director Myriam Springuel.

SITES has been organizing traveling tours for Smithsonian collections since 1952 and was responsible for arranging Destination Moon.

In addition to ensuring that they would be able to accommodate the exhibition, Springuel and her team wanted to focus on the 215 Smithsonian affiliate museums around the country.

According to its website, the Smithsonian works with affiliate organizations in more than 45 states to share exhibits and collections, collaborate on research projects, and develop educational strategies.

It really meant that we were looking at some of our leading science centers and history museums across the country, Springuel said of selecting the museums that would get the Apollo exhibition.

Houston stood out as a fitting location to launch the tour, since it is home to the Johnson Space Center, where the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) trains astronauts and conducts flight control.

For the exhibitions conclusion, SITES chose a city that Springuel calls the home of space exploration today.

Seattle has emerged as a hub for the commercial space industry, boasting the headquarters of companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX, and the city hosted the first-ever NewSpace conference in June 2016 to highlight the role of aerospace technology in the regions economy.

Its a huge honor for us, and weve been partners with the Smithsonian for a long time, so we really appreciate them deciding that, Museum of Flight president and CEO Douglas King said. Its an incredible historic opportunity to share with people who werent alive what was probably one of the great events [of the 20th century].

Launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 spacecraft transported astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Buzz Aldrin on a journey to the moon that lasted a total of eight days and traversed nearly 1 million miles.

The astronauts landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, and an estimated 530 million people watched Armstrong become the first person to stand on the lunar surface, according to NASAs website.

Vaguely resembling a rusty lamp shade, the Columbia command module weighs 13,000 pounds, including its display mount. The capsule that served as the astronauts living quarters is more than 10 feet tall and 13 feet in diameter.

In addition to seeing the module itself unobscured by the plastic that normally encloses it at the National Air and Space Museum, attendees of the Destination Moon exhibit will be able to explore an interactive, three-dimensional model of the Columbia that offers a closer look at its cockpit.

The exhibition will also feature Aldrins helmet and the gloves he wore during the first moon walk, a box that contained the first lunar rock samples ever collected, an ejector plate from one of Apollo 11s engines, and medical and survival kits that were onboard the spacecraft.

National Air and Space Museum senior curator Michael Neufeld was responsible for creating the text that will accompany the exhibits artifacts. He included a timeline of NASAs space program, including the original Mercury and Gemini missions, as well as background on the Cold War and the space race between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

My co-curator [Alan] Needell and I felt it was necessary to set up the context for why America went to the moon in the first place, Neufeld said.

After the traveling tour concludes in September 2019, the Columbia and the other artifacts will return to the National Air and Space Museum for a permanent Destination Moon gallery scheduled to open in 2020.

Smithsonian staff have been organizing that permanent exhibit since 2010, but they decided to launch a traveling exhibition first when they realized that the permanent version would not be ready in time for the Apollo 11 missions 50th anniversary.

While the region will not be involved in the traveling exhibition, residents and visitors in the Washington, D.C., area can instead get a behind-the-scenes look at the conservation work that goes into maintaining the Air and Space Museums collections.

The restoration hanger at the Udvar-Hazy Center, normally closed off to the public, will have an open house on Mar. 4 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., allowing visitors to meet conservation staff and see some of the objects that will be in the Destination Moon exhibition.

Apollo fundamentally has the appeal that this is a great American accomplishment, Neufeld said. [But] space in general has been a subject associated with the futureIt remains fascinating to a large number of people, and theyre still looking for us to keep going into space and doing something new.

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The history of space travel encapsulated - Fairfaxtimes.com

Cape Town - A movie featuring the action hero likes of Taraji P Henson, Octavia Spencer and Kevin Costner might not immediately strike one as being of inspiration to young maths and science boffs.

However, a film about black female scientists who put the first astronauts into space is another matter.

Last Sunday, the computer training institute, Africa Teen Geeks, and City Press co-hosted students from Soweto and Belfast, Mpumalanga, at a screening of the film blockbuster (and Oscar awards contender), Hidden Figures.

Hidden Figures tells the story of three black women who had to overcome massive racial and gender prejudice in their quest to be recognised as scientists.

As a result of these womens ground-breaking engineering and mathematical skills, Nasa was able to send the first astronaut, John Glenn, into orbit around the earth in 1962 and bring him back safely to earth.

The young audience really got emotionally involved in the movie, with spontaneous cheering and clapping breaking out every time these women scientists broke down another cultural barrier.

The screening took place at The Zone @ Rosebank. Prior to screening, a panel discussion of experts tackled various aspects that would be addressed by the film.

The panel consisted of: Thabo Molekoa, CEO Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (Sub-Saharan Africa); Toby Chance, DA shadow minister for small business development; Dr Ntombi Khumalo, Johannesburg mayoral committee member (MCM) for corporate and shared services; and Dr Mpho Phalatse, Joburg MCM for health and social development.

The facilitator was Mitchell Hughes, Wits departmental head of Information Systems. The young students were encouraged by all the panellists to think positively and to chase their dreams.

I think its important for young girls to believe in themselves, said Khumalo.

We must be comfortable with who we are, commented Phalatse.

Molekoa urged men to play their part in inspiring young girls to choose Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) careers.

The panel, all high achievers in their own right, agreed that their physical and biological features had never affected their career choices or their performances.

Thando Chabula, who brought his son along, said: I would like to see more township kids seeing such movies.

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The black women who pioneered space travel - Channel 24

ESA astronaut Homas Pesquet tweeted this image of the Dragon spacecraft hovering just below the space station Thursday. Credit: Thomas Pesquet/ESA/NASA

Running a day late after aborting a rendezvous to resolve a navigation glitch, SpaceXs Dragon cargo craft made a smooth final approach to the International Space Station on Thursday, floating in range of the research labs robot arm for capture to deliver 2.7 tons of supplies and research experiments.

The Dragon spacecraft took four days to travel to the complex after blasting off from the Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A on Sunday, hauling food rations, space station repair equipment, and science investigations designed to monitor Earths ozone layer, study lightning and test out new automated navigation tools for a future satellite servicing mission.

The 23-foot-long (7-meter) Dragon supply ship approached the space station from below, pausing at predetermined hold points to allow for status checks by ground controllers. Mission control centers in Houston and at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, gave a green light for the spacecraft to move to a capture box around 10 meters, or 33 feet, beneath the outpost.

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet unlimbered the space stations Canadian-built robotic arm to grapple the Dragon cargo carrier at 5:44 a.m. EST (1044 GMT), a few minutes earlier than projected in Thursdays timeline.

Capture of the SpaceX-owned supply vessel occurred as the space station sailed over the northwest coast of Australia.

Looks like weve got a great capture, radioed space station commander Shane Kimbrough, who assisted Pesquet. Thomas did a great job flying it.

Great job with Dragon capture, and sorry about the delays, responded astronaut Mike Hopkins from mission control in Houston. Now the real work starts.

The mission delivered a record payload of scientific hardware for a SpaceX resupply mission, a manifest that includes 40 mice researchers will study to learn about bone healing in microgravity, a field that might have applications for victims with catastrophic bone injuries and patients with osteoporosis.

Were trying to understand what happens in the body as the bones start healing, said Rasha Hammamieh, the rodent research projects chief scientist from the U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research.

The military is co-sponsoring the bone health experiment, with an eye toward learning lessons that could help injured soldiers.

Up in space, you lose bone, said Melissa Kacena, co-investigator for the bone experiment and an associate professor of orthopedic surgery, anatomy and cell biology, and biomedical engineering at Indiana University. In fact, astronauts lose about 1 to 3 percent of their bone density in a month. Someone with advanced osteoporosis loses closer to 1 percent per year.

Kacena added that scientists want to test drugs on rodents that might be able to rebuild your bone systematically, so it could have applications not only for bone healing, but also for osteoporosis.

Astronauts on the space station will euthanize the mice and return them to Earth for comparison with a control group that remained on the ground.

Bacterial and stem cell researchers also have a stake in the mission.

We are excited to put MRSA, which is a superbug, on the International Space Station and investigate the effects of microgravity on the growth and mutation patterns of these bugs, said Anita Goel, chairman and science director of Nanobiosym, which developed the experiment with the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space.

I have this hypothesis that microgravity will accelerate the mutation patterns. If we can use microgravity as an accelerator to fast forward and get a sneak preview of what these mutations will look like, then we can esssentially build smarter drugs back on Earth.

The stations robotic arm placed the Dragon spacecraft on the Earth-facing port on the Harmony module a few hours later, and bolts drove closed to create a firm connection. Station astronauts planned to verify no leaks between the station and Dragon spacecraft, then open hatches leading into the supply ship later Thursday to begin unloading time-sensitive specimens and research payloads.

Dragon has now officially arrived at ISS, Pesquet said. Were very happy, indeed, to have it on-board and very much looking forward to the goodies, and the tons of science of cargo it carries.

Thursdays capture marked the 10th time a Dragon spaceship has reached the space station, counting a demonstration flight in 2012.

The Dragon spacecraft automatically aborted an attempted rendezvous Wednesday due to an incorrect value in the capsules relative GPS navigation system. SpaceX engineers fixed the problem in time for another approach Thursday.

While astronauts unpack Dragons pressurized cabin, the stations robotic arm will pull two research experiment platforms and a mounting base out of the ships external payload bay for placement on the outposts huge structural truss.

One of the payloads is NASAs $92 million Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment 3, or SAGE 3, an ozone monitor that comes with a separate ESA-built hexapod mounting plate designed to point the instrument at Earths limb, or horizon, at sunset and moonset.

The sunlight and moonlight passing through the layers of the upper atmosphere will help tell scientists about the condition of the ozone layer and allow researchers to track pollutants and particles suspended high above Earth.

SAGE 3, developed by NASAs Langley Research Center in Virginia, is the latest in a series of ozone measurement sensors developed by NASA since 1979. Previous space missions studying ozone showed a decline in the distribution of the gas over Earths poles, and researchers tied the ozone depletion to chlorofluorocarbon, a chemical used in cleaning agents, refrigeration and air conditioning.

An international treaty called the Montreal Protocol that went into force in 1989 banned chlorofluorocarbons, and scientists have observed the depletion stop and watched the ozone layer begin to recover.

How does SAGE 3 fit into that? Were going to make measurements from the space station that show the recovery is on track, said Michael Cisewski, SAGE 3 project manager at NASA. I think that, from a science perspective, it doesnt get any better than that.

SAGE 3 will also measure other important stratospheric gases and atmospheric aerosols, which are components of pollution that also impact the radiation balance of our planet, said Michael Freilich, director of NASAs Earth science division.

The other experiment package carried inside the Dragon capsules external bay is sponsored by the U.S. militarys Space Test Program, hosting more than a dozen investigations for NASA and the Defense Department.

Among STP-H5s investigations are NASAs Raven autonomous space navigation demonstration designed to support future satellite servicing missions and NASAs Lightning Imaging Sensor.

The Raven payload is made up of three sensors optical, infrared and laser trackers to autonomously follow visiting cargo vessels arriving and departing from the space station.

Benjamin Reed, deputy director of NASAs satellite servicing program at Goddard Space Flight Center, called Raven a three-eyed instrument.

The Raven module will be observing visiting vehicles as they approach in all three wavelengths, Reed said. We will be generating range, bearing and pose estimates of those visiting vehicles on-board with sophisticated algorithms and on-board processing, based on the input that the sensors are receiving.

Raven is a follow-up to a NASA experiment that tried out satellite refueling techniques using a boilerplate test panel outside the space station.

The satellite servicing demonstrations will refine the technologies needed for future robotic missions to refuel, refurbish, upgrade and reposition satellites, beginning with NASAs Restore-L spacecraft in development for launch in 2020 to gas up the aging Landsat 7 environmental observatory in orbit.

Raven will try out the navigation equipment needed for Restore-L, and missions like it, to approach another object in orbit without any input from the ground and latch on to it, even if the target was never designed for a docking.

Landsat 7 was launched in 1999 before any such refueling mission was ever proposed, so it is not equipped with markings or a docking port.

These technologies are quite difficult, and that is why NASA is taking the lead, pushing the envelope, (and) doing the hard work first, Reed said. Once we have developed it on missions like Raven, we will then transfer that technology to U.S. industry that is interested in taking this on commercially.

The Lightning Imaging Sensor, managed by NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in partnership with the University of Alabama in Huntsville, will take pictures and log lightning strikes from the space stations perch nearly 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth.

Based on a spare camera made for the U.S.-Japanese Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, the instrument cost $7 million to refurbish and will detect lightning day and night in a belt between 56 degrees north and south latitude.

Lightning actually occurs somewhere on Earth some 45 times every single second, Freilich said. Understanding the processes which cause lighting and the connections between lightning and subsequent severe weather events like convective storms and tornadoes are keys to improving weather predictions and saving lives and property in this country and throughout the globe.

The Dragon spacecraft will remain at the space station for around 30 days, detach in late March and re-enter the atmosphere for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, bringing home blood and urine specimens, the euthanized mice and other hardware needed back on Earth.

The Dragons arrival is the first of three resupply missions going to the space station in the next month.

A Russian resupply ship launched early Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on track for an automated radar-guided docking with the station early Friday.

Meanwhile, an Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo vessel is being prepared for blastoff March 19 atop an Atlas 5 booster from Cape Canaveral with another supply delivery.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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SpaceX supply ship completes journey to space station - Spaceflight Now

After NASAs discovery of seven Earth-size planets orbiting around a single star, weve all been reinvigorated with extra terrestrial excitement. One of these planets might have life on it, or at the very least be suitable for life, and thats truly a crazy next step as we make sense of the universe around us.

It comes at a good time, because NASA has announced their iTech Cycle 2, a challenge to innovators of any stripe to come up with a solution or an idea that NASA can use to further their quest in space exploration.

The initiative is open to small and large businesses, universities, non-profits, U.S. Government organizations and individual inventors. All theyhave to do is submit is a five-page white paper with theireureka moment written down.

The iTech Cycle 2 is focusing on five key areas: Autonomy, Big DataData Mining and Machine Learning, Medical Systems and Operations, Radiation Protection and Mitigation, and X-Factor Innovationsany solution out of the box that NASA hadnt taken into account.

The submissions will be reviewed by a panel of experts and whittled down to ten finalists based on relevance to the proposed topics and potential impact on them. The finalists will then present their ideas to NASAs chief technologists, space industry leaders and potential investors at the 2017 NASA iTech Forum taking place at NASAs Langley Research Center July 10-14.

The finalists of last years initiative were Aequor, Liberty Biosecurity, and InnaMed.The iTech Cycle 2 will be open for submissions from February 23 to April 7 to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. NASA will not claim any intellectual property rights for a submitted idea.

Lets all give a cheer forthese groundbreaking innovators. After all, its one of the only things for which we can come together as a planet.

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NASA Looking for Bright Ideas to Help With Space Travel - Tech.Co

GETTY

A newly passed Spaceflight Bill will allow spaceports to be built across the UK, some of which could allow commercial flights.

The space travel industry is set to be worth 25billion in the next 20 years, and the UK is hoping to get its slice of the pie.

The Department for Transport said: Next steps involve government encouraging business and industry to come forward with specific proposals for space launches.

In addition, the government is inviting commercial space businesses to bid for funding to help create a space launch market in the UK.

GETTY

Together the new powers and funding will potentially allow a commercial spaceflight from a UK spaceport by 2020.

Science minister Jo Johnson said the Bill would cement the UKs position as a world leader in this emerging market, giving us an opportunity to build on existing strengths in research and innovation.

She added: From the launch of Rosetta, the first spacecraft to orbit a comet, to Tim Peakes six months on the International Space Station, the UKs space sector has achieved phenomenal things in orbit and beyond.

GETTY

Katherine Courtney, CEO of the UK Space Agency, said: With our partners across government we continue to create a supportive environment for commercial innovation and cutting-edge science.

Together, we are working to embrace the emerging small satellite launch market to capture a share of the 25 billion global opportunity.

GETTY

Im confident that 2020 will see the first launches from British soil, and were working hard to make that a reality.

Glasgow has already become a frontrunner in the bid to build the first spaceport and hopes to get a spaceport up and running by 2020.

Richard Jenner, Spaceport director for Glasgow Prestwick Airport, said: We believe that dedicated legislation will help to move this forward at pace.

NASA

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STS-66 launched at the Kennedy Space Center on November 3, 1994.

Glasgow Prestwick Airport fulfils much of the essential criteria for a spaceport such as infrastructure, favourable weather conditions and relatively clear airspace.

And, as such, we believe that our airport is able to move at pace with the legislative process, and we are equipped to become the UK and Europes first space launch site with minimal investment.

We are confident we can help the government to meet its commitment to have space launch in the UK by 2020.

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Commercial space travel WITHIN THREE YEARS on flights to launch from BRITAIN - Express.co.uk

Hello Again,

I have always enjoyed history. Todays young folks dont seem to be too interested in studying history. They are more interested in the here and now and not how we got here.

The history of this country is an unfinished tapestry woven through time by people from all walks of life with incredible stories.

It has been my privilege to contribute to FSA Andy during Black History Month for many years now, and I will be forever grateful for having had this opportunity.

When the movie, Hidden Figures, came out I had no idea what it was about but when a friend told me I had to look at the history behind this story.

Katherine Johnson was born Aug. 26, 1918, and raised in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and while she is the main character in the movie, the story is much greater.

By the age of 13 she was attending high school on the historically black campus of West Virginia State College.

When 18, she enrolled in the college itself, and made quick work of the schools math curriculum. She graduated with highest honors in 1937, and took a job teaching at a black public school in Virginia.

In 1939, West Virginia quietly decided to integrate its graduate schools, and it was then that West Virginia States president, Dr. John W Davis, selected Johnson and two male students as the first black students to be offered spots at the states flagship school, West Virginia University.

Johnson left her job and enrolled in the graduate math program. At the end of her first session, she decided to leave school to start a family with her husband.

She returned to teaching when her three daughters got older, but it was not until 1952 that a relative told her about positions opening at the all-black West Area Computing section at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Langley laboratory, headed by fellow West Virginian Dorothy Vaughan.

Johnson and her husband decided to move the family to Newport News, to pursue the opportunity, and she began work at Langley in 1953. After just two weeks on the job, Director Vaughan assigned Johnson to a project in the Maneuver Loads Branch of the Flight Research Division and her position soon became permanent.

The next four years would be spent analyzing data from flight tests and investigating the crash of a plane caused by wake turbulence.

The launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik in 1957 would change history and Johnsons future. In 1957, she had provided some of the math for the 1958 document Notes on Space Technology, a compendium of a series of 1958 lectures given by engineers in the Flight Research Division and the Pilotless Aircraft Research Division.

Engineers from those groups formed the core of the Space Task Force Group, the NACAs first official foray into space travel. Johnson, who had worked with many of them since coming to Langley, came along with the program as NACA became NASA later that year.

She did trajectory analysis for Alan Shepards May 1961 mission Freedom 7, Americas first human spaceflight. In 1960, she and engineer Ted Skopinski coauthored Determination of Azimuth Angle at Burnout for Placing a Satellite Over a Selected Earth Position, a report laying out the equations describing an orbital spaceflight in which the landing position of the spacecraft is specified.

This was the first time a woman had received credit as an author of a research report. In 1962, in preparation for the orbital mission of John Glenn, Johnson Johnson was called upon to do the work she would become most known for.

The complexity of the orbital flight required the construction of a worldwide communications network linking tracking stations around the world to IBM computers in Washington, D.C., Cape Canaveral, and Bermuda.

The computers had been programmed with the orbital equations that would control the trajectory of the space capsule in Glenns Friendship 7 mission from liftoff to splashdown but the astronauts were wary of putting their lives in the care of the electronic calculating machines which were prone to hiccups and blackouts.

As a part of the preflight checklist, Glenn asked the engineers to get the girl Johnson Johnson to run the same numbers through the same equations that had been programmed into the computer, but by hand, on her desktop mechanical calculating machine.

If she says theyre good, Johnson remembers the astronaut saying, then Im ready to go.

Of course, Glenns mission was a success and marked the turning point in the competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in space.

When asked what her greatest contribution to space exploration was Johnson talks about the calculations that helped synch Project Apollos Lunar Lander with the moon-orbiting Command and Service Module.

She also worked on the Space Shuttle and Earth Resources Satellite and authored or coauthored 26 research reports. Johnson retired in 1986, after thirty-three years at Langley.

In 2015, at the age of 97, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Here at FSA, the time seems to be flying by so we want to remind you of another important deadline fast approaching. For vegetable producers, many spring planted NAP crops have a sales closing date of Feb. 28.

This includes soybeans for any county that does not have crop insurance coverage for soybeans. As always contact your local FSA office for details.

Thats all for now,

FSA Andy

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Katherine Johnson led African American efforts in space travel ... - Farm and Dairy