Posted on May 20, 2012, at 6:36 am .
New results from NASA's NEOWISE survey find that more potentially hazardous asteroids, or PHAs, are closely aligned with the plane of our solar system than previous models suggested. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — Observations from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have led to the best assessment yet of our solar system’s population of potentially hazardous asteroids. The results reveal new information about their total numbers, origins and the possible dangers they may pose.
Potentially hazardous asteroids, or PHAs, are a subset of the larger group of near-Earth asteroids. The PHAs have the closest orbits to Earth’s, coming within five million miles (about eight million kilometers) and they are big enough to survive passing through Earth’s atmosphere and cause damage on a regional, or greater, scale.
The new results come from the asteroid-hunting portion of the WISE mission, called NEOWISE. The project sampled 107 PHAs to make predictions about the entire population as a whole. Findings indicate there are roughly 4,700 PHAs, plus or minus 1,500, with diameters larger than 330 feet (about 100 meters). So far, an estimated 20 to 30 percent of these objects have been found.
Continue reading ‘Killer Asteroids: A Lot More Than We Thought’
Posted on May 19, 2012, at 9:42 am .
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL. (CASIS PR) – Today, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit organization managing research on the International Space Station (ISS), announced the unveiling of a new website (
www.iss-casis.org) that will serve as a portal for researchers, businesses, educators and students to discover the unique opportunities available to them on board the ISS U.S. National Laboratory.
Continue reading ‘CASIS Unveils New Website’
Posted on May 18, 2012, at 9:15 am .
NASA TV Coverage
SpaceX Dragon Demonstration Mission to ISS
Watch NASA TV
May 18, Friday
- 1 p.m. – SpaceX/Falcon 9 Dragon Pre-Launch Briefing – KSC (All Channels)
May 19, Saturday
- 3:30 a.m. – SpaceX/Falcon 9 Dragon Launch Coverage Begins (Launch scheduled at 4:55 a.m. EDT) – KSC (All Channels)
- 5:10 a.m. – Update from Mission Control Houston – JSC (All Channels)
- 5:25 a.m. – Launch Replays – KSC (All Channels)
- 8:30 a.m. – SpaceX/Falcon 9 Dragon Post-Launch News Conference – KSC (All Channels)
May 21, Monday
- 2:30 a.m. – SpaceX/Dragon Fly-Under of the ISS Coverage – JSC (All Channels)
- 10 a.m. – SpaceX/Dragon Mission Status Briefing – JSC (All Channels)
- 11 a.m. – ISS Update – JSC (All Channels)
May 22, Tuesday
- 2 a.m. – SpaceX/Dragon Grapple and Berthing Coverage – JSC (All Channels)
- 1 p.m. – SpaceX/Dragon Mission Status Briefing – JSC (All Channels)
May 23, Wednesday
- 5:30 a.m. – SpaceX/Dragon Hatch Opening Coverage – JSC (All Channels)
- 10:40 a.m. – ISS Expedition 31 New Conference – JSC (All Channels)
- 11 a.m. – ISS Update – JSC (All Channels)
Posted on May 18, 2012, at 8:36 am .
Students Paige and Max of Chaminade College Preparatory in West Hills, Calif. run preliminary variations of their experiment in the laboratory. Image Credit: SSEP
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — When SpaceX’s Dragon capsule launches in spring 2012, a very special payload will be on board: 15 student experiments from the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. The big deal is that those experiments from “SSEP Mission 1 to ISS” will be part of space history. Dragon will become the first commercial vehicle to dock to the International Space Station, and these student experiments have the distinction of being the only payload on board.
The launch of SpaceX’s Dragon not only marks the beginning of a new approach to U.S. space access — it clearly demonstrates that students still have an opportunity to explore in the post-shuttle era. The first two rounds of SSEP experiments were carried to the station in 2011 aboard space shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis on their final missions, STS-134 and STS-135, respectively. The set of SSEP Mission 1 experiments, called Aquarius, was originally slated to fly aboard the Soyuz 30. But in an interesting twist of fate, the experiments were re-manifested on the maiden voyage of the SpaceX Dragon. Aquarius not only becomes part of a historic first but also allows the space station to remain an out-of-this-world platform to engage students in STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Continue reading ‘Student Experiments to Fly Aboard Dragon Spacecraft’
Posted on May 17, 2012, at 10:09 am .
Image above: A technician guides a cargo bag into the Dragon spacecraft at the SpaceX facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. (Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann)
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (NASA PR) – The Dragon spacecraft built by SpaceX will head to the International Space Station with about 1,200 pounds of cargo during its demonstration mission, including commemorative patches and pins, 162 meals and a collection of student experiments.
Since the company’s rocket and spacecraft are conducting a test flight, the manifest attests to important goods for the station’s crew of astronauts and cosmonauts, but not mission-critical items.
A successful flight, due to liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.,at 4:55 a.m. EDT on May 19, is expected to lead to regular cargo missions that will carry a wider range of goods to the orbiting laboratory. Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, is also deep into the work required to make Dragon suitable to carry people into orbit.
The mission is a landmark because it is the first time a privately built spacecraft will head to the International Space Station. The flight, which includes no crew members other than those already on the station who will guide Dragon’s arrival, carries enormous challenges and involves numerous individual evaluations.
Continue reading ‘Dragon to Carry Equipment, Food and Student Experiments to ISS’
Posted on May 16, 2012, at 8:25 am .
HOUSTON (ISPS PR) – Innovative Space Propulsion Systems (ISPS) has passed another critical milestone in their progress toward the launch of their NOFBX™ green propulsion demonstration to the International Space Station (ISS). ISPS is working toward demonstrating their high-performance, non-toxic and environmentally-benign propulsion technology on the ISS under an award from the NASA ISS National Laboratory program. In April, ISPS passed NASA’s ISS Payload Safety Review Panel phase 1 review.
Continue reading ‘Green Propellant Passes ISS Safety Review’
Posted on May 16, 2012, at 5:06 am .
Todd May, SLS program manager, details the program's status during a session of the National Space Club's Florida Committee. (Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett)
By Steven Siceloff
NASA Kennedy Space Center
The Space Launch System is on track to give America the launch vehicle it will need to send humans deeper into space than ever before, the program’s manager said May 8.
Speaking to the National Space Club during a luncheon near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Todd May, SLS program manager, said an uncrewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft in 2014, SLS mission in 2017 and a 10- to 14-day mission with astronauts going to the moon and back in 2021 will leave the nation in a position to explore as far as it wishes.
“By that point, you’ll have the capability to go anywhere in the solar system people want to go,” May said. May leads a team of engineers and designers at NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala. “The ultimate goal is to put human boots on Mars.”
Continue reading ‘NASA: SLS to Return Americans to Deep Space’
Posted on May 15, 2012, at 12:02 pm .
WASHINGTON D.C.(CSF PR) – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation will hold a press conference call on Thursday May 17th, at 2:00 PM EDT with CSF President Michael Lopez-Alegria, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, and XCOR Aerospace CEO Jeff Greason to discuss the state of the emerging commercial spaceflight industry. With the next COTS cargo demonstration flight coming up this weekend, this is a great moment to take stock of the commercial spaceflight industry, and the ways NASA and the industry are cooperating to expand our presence in space and bring space closer to all Americans.
Posted on May 15, 2012, at 10:50 am .
Dream Chaser cockpit simulator. (Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation)
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (NASA PR) – NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., successfully completed wind tunnel testing for Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) Space Systems of Louisville, Colo. The test will provide aerodynamic data that will aid in the design of the new Dream Chaser® Space System.
During tests at Marshall’s wind tunnel facility, a scale model of SNC’s Dream Chaser orbital crew vehicle was mounted on a scale model of the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V launch vehicle. Over 400 data runs were performed at subsonic, transonic and supersonic speeds to study the effects of how air moves past the model. Nine full-stack configurations were tested over a Mach range of .4, or 304 miles per hour at sea level, to Mach 5, or 3,800 miles per hour at sea level, at various launch vehicle roll angles.
Continue reading ‘NASA Marshall Completes Wind Tunnel Tests on SNC’s Dream Chaser’
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