Five Reasons It's Time to Retire the Space Shuttle

Mission managers have set Space Shuttle Atlantis’ last launch for July 8, 2011. Atlantis’ last flight will also bring to an end the 30 year shuttle program. President Bush decided in 2004 to cancel the program after the loss of Columbia and her crew. While many are questioning this decision now, it was the right thing to do. Here are 5 reasons why.

#1 Safety: The Shuttle is a dangerous vehicle to fly. Historically it has about 1 chance in 67 of a catastrophic failure on any given flight. It has no launch escape system for the crew. If the shuttle keeps flying it’s just a matter of time until there’s another serious accident.

#2 Expense: It’s very expensive to fly and maintain the shuttle fleet, around $4 billion a year. Within its current budget NASA can’t afford to keep the shuttle flying, operate the ISS and develop the next generation of manned spacecraft.

#3 Age: The shuttle fleet is getting old. The vehicle and the ground infrastructure were designed and built in the 1970’s. The newest orbiter is nearly a quarter of a century old. Sure, there have been a lot of upgrades, but the fleet is way past it’s prime.

#4 ISS is complete: The purpose of the shuttle was to construct the Space Station. That’s complete now and there’s nothing else on the horizon that requires the shuttle’s unique capability. Yes, it would be nice to have the shuttle make a couple of cargo runs to the ISS each year, but there are other ways to get cargo up there.

#5 LEO Only: The Shuttle is only capable of reaching low earth orbit. Within the next few years there will be numerous craft capable of ferrying cargo and crews to and from there. It’s time for NASA to lead the way into deep space. They can’t do this and operate a delivery service to low earth orbit at the same time.

Dawn Nears Start of Year-Long Stay at Giant Asteroid

Dawn Nears Start of Year-Long Stay at Giant Asteroid - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA's Dawn spacecraft is on track to begin the first extended visit to a large asteroid. The mission expects to go into orbit around Vesta on July 16 and begin gathering science data in early August. Vesta resides in the main asteroid belt and is thought to be the source of a large number of meteorites that fall to Earth.

"The spacecraft is right on target," said Robert Mase, Dawn project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "We look forward to exploring this unknown world during Dawn's one-year stay in Vesta's orbit."



After traveling nearly four years and 1.7 billion miles (2.7 billion kilometers), Dawn is approximately 96,000 miles (155,000 kilometers) away from Vesta. When Vesta captures Dawn into its orbit on July 16, there will be approximately 9,900 miles (16,000 kilometers) between them. When orbit is achieved, they will be approximately 117 million miles (188 million kilometers) away from Earth.

After Dawn enters Vesta's orbit, engineers will need a few days to determine the exact time of capture. Unlike other missions where a dramatic, nail-biting propulsive burn results in orbit insertion around a planet, Dawn has been using its placid ion propulsion system to subtly shape its path for years to match Vesta's orbit around the sun.

Images from Dawn's framing camera, taken for navigation purposes, show the slow progress toward Vesta. They also show Vesta rotating about 65 degrees in the field of view. The images are about twice as sharp as the best images of Vesta from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, but the surface details Dawn will obtain are still a mystery.

"Navigation images from Dawn's framing camera have given us intriguing hints of Vesta, but we're looking forward to the heart of Vesta operations, when we begin officially collecting science data," said Christopher Russell, Dawn principal investigator, at UCLA. "We can't wait for Dawn to peel back the layers of time and reveal the early history of our solar system."

Rover may tackle Kilimanjaro-sized mound on Mars

A mound of sedimentary rock rises nearly 5 kilometres high inside Mars's Gale crater (Image: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems)
New Scientist is reporting that the list of possible landing sites for the Curiosity Mars rover has been narrowed to two.

Rover may tackle Kilimanjaro-sized mound on Mars

"Talk about a tough road to climb. On 24 June, mission scientists endorsed two landing sites for NASA's next Mars rover from a shortlist of four. One of the two would see Curiosity tackle a mound of rocks nearly as high as mount Kilimanjaro.

Where to land the $2.5 billion robot, due to blast off in November, has been debated for years. NASA will now mull over the mission scientists' recommendations but is not obliged to follow either of them.

One pick is the 150-kilometre-wide Gale crater (pictured), which hosts a 5-kilometre-high mound. The mound contains clays and sulphate minerals that require water to form, suggesting it was laid down in layers as sediment when water filled the crater over a period of a few hundred million years, beginning about 3.8 billion years ago."

Neutron Star Bites Off More Than It Can Chew

ESA
Neutron star bites off more than it can chew

ESA’s XMM-Newton space observatory has watched a faint star flare up at X-ray wavelengths to almost 10 000 times its normal brightness. Astronomers believe the outburst was caused by the star trying to eat a giant clump of matter.

The flare took place on a neutron star, the collapsed heart of a once much larger star. Now about 10 km in diameter, the neutron star is so dense that it generates a strong gravitational field.
The clump of matter was much larger than the neutron star and came from its enormous blue supergiant companion star.

“This was a huge bullet of gas that the star shot out, and it hit the neutron star allowing us to see it,” says Enrico Bozzo, ISDC Data Centre for Astrophysics, University of Geneva, Switzerland, and team leader of this research.

ESA
The flare lasted four hours and the X-rays came from the gas in the clump as it was heated to millions of degrees while being pulled into the neutron star’s intense gravity field. In fact, the clump was so big that not much of it hit the neutron star. Yet, if the neutron star had not been in its path, this clump would probably have disappeared into space without trace.

Space Station Crew Shelters in Orbital Debris Scare

NASA
Collision scare clears International Space Station - msnbc.com

A piece of space junk zoomed uncomfortably close by the International Space Station today (June 28), so close that the outpost's six-man crew had to take shelter in Russian space capsules in case of a collision.

The space debris made its closest approach to the space station at 8:08 a.m. EDT (1208 GMT), coming within 850 feet (260 meters) of the space station, where it posed a slim chance of hitting the station. However, the debris passed by the station without incident and the spaceflyers were able to re-enter the station after about a half hour.

Editors note: The ISS is about 109 meters wide along the truss that holds the solar arrays.  The orbital debris came within about 2 1/2 times (260 meters) the width of the ISS. Somehow NASA's "slim chance of hitting the station" comment doesn't seem to comforting.

Editors note June 29: The New York Times states that there is an estimated 1 in 5 chance over the 10 year lifespan of the ISS that an orbital debris hit will cause it to be evacuated.

New Animation Depicts Next Mars Rover in Action

New Animation Depicts Next Mars Rover in Action

Although NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will not leave Earth until late this year nor land on Mars until August 2012, anyone can watch those dramatic events now in a new animation of the mission.

Curiosity's landing will use a different method than any previous Mars landing, with the rover suspended on tethers from a rocket-backpack "sky crane."

The new animation combines detailed views of the spacecraft with scenes of real places on Mars, based on stereo images taken by earlier missions.



Juno Blanket Check

NASA
Juno Blanket Check

As the Juno spacecraft is elevated by a rotation fixture, a technician at Astrotech's payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., examines the installation of blankets on the aft deck. The image was taken on June 16, 2011.

Juno is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Aug. 5. The solar-powered spacecraft will orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere and investigate the existence of a solid planetary core.

Small Asteroid to Whip Past Earth on June 27, 2011

NASA
Small Asteroid to Whip Past Earth on June 27, 2011 - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Near-Earth asteroid 2011 MD will pass only 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) above the Earth's surface on Monday June 27 at about 9:30 EDT. The asteroid was discovered by the LINEAR near-Earth object discovery team observing from Socorro, New Mexico. This small asteroid, only 5-20 meters in diameter, is in a very Earth-like orbit about the Sun, but an orbital analysis indicates there is no chance it will actually strike Earth on Monday. If a rocky asteroid the size of 2011 MD were to enter Earth's atmosphere, it would be expected to burn up high in the atmosphere and cause no damage to Earth's surface. The accompanying diagram gives a view of the asteroid's trajectory from the general direction of the Sun. This view indicates that 2011 MD will reach its closest Earth approach point in extreme southern latitudes (in fact over the southern Atlantic Ocean). The incoming trajectory leg passes several thousand kilometers outside the geosynchronous ring of satellites and the outgoing leg passes well inside the ring. One would expect an object of this size to come this close to Earth about every 6 years on average. For a brief time, it may be bright enough to be seen even with a modest-sized telescope.

Shuttle workers prepare Discovery for museum duty

SpaceFlightNow
Spaceflightnow.com reports on work being done to Space Shuttle Discovery to prepare her for museum display.

Spaceflight Now | STS-133 Shuttle Report | Shuttle workers prepare Discovery for museum duty

"Technicians preparing the shuttle Discovery for public display say the retired spaceship will be ready to leave the Kennedy Space Center in February for its new home at a Smithsonian museum annex near Washington."

Gale Crater on target to become next Mars landing site : Nature News

NASA
According to Nature News, Gale Crater has emerged as the top landing site candidate for the next Mars rover.

Gale Crater on target to become next Mars landing site

"Gale Crater, a 150-kilometre wide depression named after an Australian banker-turned-amateur astronomer, has emerged as the preferred destination for the next spacecraft to set wheels on Mars.  The proposed landing site, which includes a tantalizing 5-kilometre-high mound of ancient sediments, may have once been flooded by water. 


Nature has learned that it rose to the top last month following a secret ranking of four candidate sites by co-investigators working with NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, a 900-kilogram rover dubbed 'Curiosity' set to launch later this year."

Dawn Nears Start of Year-Long Stay at Giant Asteroid

NASA
Dawn Nears Start of Year-Long Stay at Giant Asteroid - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA's Dawn spacecraft is on track to begin the first extended visit to a large asteroid. The mission expects to go into orbit around Vesta on July 16 and begin gathering science data in early August. Vesta resides in the main asteroid belt and is thought to be the source of a large number of meteorites that fall to Earth.

"The spacecraft is right on target," said Robert Mase, Dawn project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "We look forward to exploring this unknown world during Dawn's one-year stay in Vesta's orbit."

ESA - Robotic Exploration of Mars: ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO)

Credit:ESA
"The 2016 ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter is the first in a series of Mars missions to be undertaken jointly by the two space agencies, ESA and NASA. A key goal of this mission is to gain a better understanding of methane and other atmospheric gases that are present in small concentrations (less than 1% of the atmosphere) but nevertheless could be evidence for possible biological or geological activity."

ESA - Robotic Exploration of Mars: ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO)

Mars or Bust in 2016: New Unmanned Mission to the Red Planet

Credit: ESA
On the deep space road trip, the latest collaboration between the European Space Administration (ESA) and NASA, the space agencies will send an orbiter and a descent and landing module to brave the red planet's harsh dust storms in 2016 and then again in 2018.

They'll study the atmosphere and conditions on the planet, hunt for signs of life -- and possibly return Martian samples to Earth.



NASA's next rocket should keep hope alive

Credit: NASA
With the final space shuttle launch just days away, NASA may not be bumped from its first place in space.

After months of reviews and more reviews, and after executive-level arguments between Congress and the White House that kept America’s space program essentially stalled, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden has stepped forward with a decision that sets his agency's future course.

NASA's next rocket should keep hope alive - Technology & science - Space - msnbc.com

Huge Heat Shield Has Huge Task: Protecting NASA's Next Mars Rover

Credit: LM
When NASA's newest Mars rover dives into the Martian atmosphere next year, it will be cocooned in the largest "beat the heat" system ever sent to the Red Planet.

To ensure that the nuclear-powered rover — called the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), or "Curiosity" for short — survives its fiery entry and reaches a pinpointed landing spot, it will have a huge heat shield and back shell that together form a protective aeroshell.

Huge Heat Shield Has Huge Task: Protecting NASA's Next Mars Rover - Space.com

Curiosity Rover

Credit: NASA/JPL
Recently the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, has been in a space-simulation chamber at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Tests inside the 25-foot-diameter chamber (7.6-meters) put the rover through various sequences in environmental conditions resembling Martian surface conditions. After the chamber's large door was sealed, air was pumped out to near-vacuum pressure, liquid nitrogen in the walls dropped the temperature to minus 130 degrees Celsius (minus 202 degrees Fahrenheit), and a bank of powerful lamps simulated the intensity of sunshine on Mars.

Curiosity Rover

Cassini Captures Ocean-Like Spray at Saturn Moon

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has discovered the best evidence yet for a large-scale saltwater reservoir beneath the icy crust of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The data came from the spacecraft's direct analysis of salt-rich ice grains close to the jets ejected from the moon.

Data from Cassini's cosmic dust analyzer show the grains expelled from fissures, known as tiger stripes, are relatively small and predominantly low in salt far away from the moon. But closer to the moon's surface, Cassini found that relatively large grains rich with sodium and potassium dominate the plumes. The salt-rich particles have an 'ocean-like' composition and indicate that most, if not all, of the expelled ice and water vapor comes from the evaporation of liquid salt water. The findings appear in this week's issue of the journal Nature.

Cassini Captures Ocean-Like Spray at Saturn Moon: 

ESA Portal - ESA’s high-thrust engine takes next step

Credit: ESA
The new main engine to power Europe’s successor to its Ariane 5 space launcher was brought a step closer today when ESA signed a €60 million contract with a propulsion consortium at the Paris Air & Space Show.

ESA is preparing the NGL Next-Generation Launcher to meet Europe’s institutional needs and safeguard its guaranteed access to space into the long term, ensuring it will continue to have effective and economic launchers at its disposal.

ESA Portal - ESA’s high-thrust engine takes next step

NASA Hosts Preview of Visit to Large Asteroid

Credit: NASA/JPL

NASA will host a news briefing at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT) on Thursday, June 23, to discuss the Dawn spacecraft's year-long visit to the large asteroid Vesta. The mission is expected to go into orbit around Vesta on July 16 and begin gathering science data in early August.

The event will be held at NASA Headquarters in Washington and will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv . In addition, the event will be carried live on Ustream, with a live chat available, at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 .

Dawn's visit to Vesta will be the first prolonged encounter with a main belt asteroid and the first trip to a protoplanet, a large body that almost became a planet. Observations will help us understand the earliest chapter of our solar system's history.


NASA - NASA Hosts Preview of Visit to Large Asteroid

Energia not to produce Soyuz spaceship for space tourists.

Credit: Unknown
The Energia aerospace corporation will not produce another piloted spaceship Soyuz-TMA for space tourists, the chief of the Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) Vladimir Popovkin told reporters the 49th Paris Air Show here on Tuesday.

“New space tourists cannot be put into space onboard the Soyuz spaceship in the near future. The Energia aerospace corporation has a very intensive schedule of piloted flights. We do not see any opportunity to produce more spaceships,” Popovkin said.


ITAR-TASS : Energia not to produce Soyuz spaceship for space tourists.

ESA, NASA Discuss Joint Manned Missions

NASA

The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA are discussing plans to build a joint U.S.-European spacecraft based on existing designs that could ferry astronauts to the International Space Station and one day carry humans beyond low Earth orbit.

Speaking at the Paris air show June 20, ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain said the space agencies are hashing out a plan that would combine the service module of ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) – a spacecraft built by EADS Astrium that is used to haul cargo to the orbiting complex – with NASA’s Multipurpose Crew Vehicle, a space capsule based on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle that Lockheed Martin Space Systems has been developing for NASA over the past six years.


ESA, NASA Discuss Joint Manned Missions | AVIATION WEEK

ESA reentry vehicle on track for flight in 2013

Credit: ESA
 Europe’s ambition for a spacecraft to return autonomously from low orbit is a cornerstone for a wide range of space applications, including space transportation, exploration and robotic servicing of space infrastructure.
This goal will be achieved with IXV Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, planned for launch in 2013.

Launched into a suborbital trajectory on ESA’s small Vega rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, IXV will return to Earth as if from a low-orbit mission, to test and qualify new European critical reentry technologies such as advanced ceramic and ablative thermal protection.

ESA Portal - ESA reentry vehicle on track for flight in 2013

MESSENGER Provides New Data about Mercury

Credit: NASA
After nearly three months in orbit about Mercury, MESSENGER's payload is providing a wealth of new information about the planet closest to the Sun, as well as a few surprises.

NASA - MESSENGER Provides New Data about Mercury

Cassini Captures Ice Queen Helene

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has successfully completed its second-closest encounter with Saturn's icy moon Helene, beaming down raw images of the small moon. At closest approach, on June 18, Cassini flew within 4,330 miles (6,968 kilometers) of Helene's surface. It was the second closest approach to Helene of the entire mission. 



Cassini Captures Ice Queen Helene - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Has NASA Decided on a Shuttle Replacement?

Sources are reporting that NASA is on the verge of selecting a replacement for the Space Shuttle.

...NASA has tentatively selected a vehicle design featuring solid-fueled, side-mounted boosters that eventually could be replaced with liquid-fueled engines, according to U.S. industry and congressional sources.

--MSNBC