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This is not a NASA Website. You might learn something. It's YOUR space agency. Get involved. Take it back. Make it work - for YOU.
nasawatch@spaceref.com | Voice +1.703.787.6567 | RSS Feed | Twitter | Advertising | Important Disclaimer
Keith's 17 Jun note: Have a look at the speakers at the upcoming Space Frontier Foundation New Space Conference. This organization claims to be at the forefront of space exploration. If so then the future will be run by males currently in their 50s.
"New" Space? looks more like "old" space to me.
What about everyone else?
Keith's 24 July update: They have added a little more diversity to their speakers list in the past month but this is still a conference where mostly middle age white males (like me) are the ones talking about the future of space. How depressing.
Announcing the ISEE-3 Interplanetary Citizen Science Mission
"After a successful reawakening the venerable ISEE-3 spacecraft is about to begin the first interplanetary citizen science mission. We will be beginning the "ISEE-3 Interplanetary Citizen Science Mission" on 10 August 2014 as the spacecraft flies by the Moon. We have a functional space craft that can do science and is already returning new data. All of our original citizen science objectives remain unchanged and are ready for implementation. In fact, we'll be announcing some new partnerships shortly that will serve to turbocharge our efforts in this regard."
Categories: ISEE-3
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Sunshield Stacks Up to Test, NASA
"The Sunshield on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is the largest part of the observatory--five layers of thin membrane that must unfurl reliably in space to precise tolerances. Last week, for the first time, engineers stacked and unfurled a full-sized test unit of the Sunshield and it worked perfectly."
Categories: Space & Planetary Science, Technology
NASA Seeks Proposals for Commercial Mars Data Relay Satellites, NASA
"NASA has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to investigate the possibility of using commercial Mars-orbiting satellites to provide telecommunications capabilities for future robotic missions to the Red Planet.
"We are looking to broaden participation in the exploration of Mars to include new models for government and commercial partnerships," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "Depending on the outcome, the new model could be a vital component in future science missions and the path for humans to Mars."
Categories: Commercialization"NASA also faces challenges integrating existing hardware that was not originally designed to fly on SLS. For example, SLS is using solid rocket boosters from the Constellation program, but integrating a new non-asbestos insulating material into the booster design has proven difficult and required changes to the booster manufacturing processes."
AGU: Voyager Spacecraft Might Not Have Reached Interstellar Space, AGU
"In 2012, the Voyager mission team announced that the Voyager 1 spacecraft had passed into interstellar space, traveling further from Earth than any other manmade object.
But, in the nearly two years since that historic announcement, and despite subsequent observations backing it up, uncertainty about whether Voyager 1 really crossed the threshold continues. There are some scientists who say that the spacecraft is still within the heliosphere - the region of space dominated by the Sun and its wind of energetic particles - and has not yet reached the space between the stars."
NASA Responds: NASA Voyager Statement About Solar Wind Models
"A paper recently published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters describes an alternate model for the interaction between the heliosphere -- a "bubble" around our planets and sun -- and the interstellar medium. It also proposes a test for whether Voyager 1 has, indeed, left the heliosphere.
NASA's Voyager project scientist, Ed Stone of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, responds."
Related: Voyager 1 stories on SpaceRef
Categories: Space & Planetary Science
Landsat's Global Perspective Over 40 Years, NASA
"On July 23rd, 1972, the first Landsat spacecraft launched into orbit. At the time, it was called "Earth Resources Technology Satellite," or ERTS, and was the first satellite to use a scanning spectrophotometer.
...
Celebrating this anniversary, this video is a "greatest hits" montage of Landsat data. Throughout the decades, Landsat satellites have given us a detailed view of the changes to Earth's land surface."
Categories: Earth Science
NASA Planetary Science Review To Be Released Soon, Space News
"The planetary senior review, from a scientific report standpoint, has just been completed," said Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, in a presentation at the NASA Exploration Science Forum at NASA's Ames Research Center here. NASA is now drafting "letters of direction" to the various missions covered by the review, he said."
Categories: Space & Planetary Science
Audit of the Space Network's Physical and Information Technology Security Risks, NASA OIG
"With regard to physical and IT security, we found NASA has not ensured security controls are in place on certain wide area network infrastructure, needs to clarify waiver requirements for IT security controls and mitigations, and should take additional steps to ensure that long-standing physical security risks are addressed. We also found that the Space Network is not using NASA's Agency Consolidated End-User Services (ACES) contract to obtain administrative computers and associated end-user services and therefore may be spending more than necessary for equipment and services without realizing the operational and security benefits of systems provided through ACES."
Categories: IT/Web
SpaceX Releases ORBCOMM First Stage Return Video, SpaceRef Business
"Following last week's successful launch of six ORBCOMM satellites, the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage reentered Earth's atmosphere and soft landed in the Atlantic Ocean. This test confirms that the Falcon 9 booster is able consistently to reenter from space at hypersonic velocity, restart main engines twice, deploy landing legs and touch down at near zero velocity."
Categories: Commercialization
Republicans Prep Short-Term Funding to Keep Government Open Through Election Day, National Journal
"Abandoning all pretense of the House and Senate agreeing on appropriations bills on time, House GOP leaders are tentatively planning to vote next week on a resolution keeping the government temporarily funded at current levels beyond the Oct. 1 start of the new fiscal year--and probably past Election Day."
Marc's note: Here we go again. Thanks to Jeff Foust for the tip.
Categories: Budget, Congress
VIDEO: Russian Cargo Ship Departs the International Space Station
"Three months after delivering 2 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the Expedition 40 crew, the unpiloted Russian ISS Progress 55 cargo ship undocked from the International Space Station July 21."
Categories: ISS News
VIDEO: NASA Renames Historic Facility in Honor of Neil Armstrong, NASA
"During a ceremony at Kennedy Space Center on Monday, July 21, NASA renamed the center's Operations and Checkout Building in honor of late astronaut Neil Armstrong, who passed away in 2012."
Categories: Apollo
SpaceWorks Releases Global Launch Vehicle Market Assessment Report for Nano and Microsatellites, SpaceRef Business
"SpaceWorks has released a mini-study "Global Launch Vehicle Market Assessment, A study of launch services for nano/microsatellites in 2013". The reports aims to capture the growing number of future nano/microsatellite missions requiring a launch."
Marc's note: I received an email from Spaceworks to clarify that is not their annual assessment but rather a mini-study they conducted.
Categories: Commercialization
NASA Releases Space Commerce Monograph
"NASA has released a new monograph "Historical Analogs for the Stimulation of Space Commerce" in the Monographs in Aerospace History series (no. 54)."
Categories: Commercialization, History
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NASA ISS Space to Ground Weekly Report - 25 July 2014 
NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.
