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ARCHIVE
Month: July 2005
What They're Reading In Outer Space These Days

Editor’s note: As some of you may recall I have a habit of prowling through images from the ISS looking for strange things the crew has floating around. If you look closely at this Flight Day 4 image [lo res][hi res] You can see a magazine next to astronaut Steve Robinson.By rotating the image and distorting it a bit, and then doing a web search, I discovered that this is […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 31, 2005
Space Cargo Physics 101

Do cargo-hauling astronauts really lift 15 tons?, MSNBC“Counting the containers as payload makes about as much sense as the post office charging you postage for the weight of the mailbox, or an airline assigning the weight of your seat to your baggage allowance. Its probably not a deliberate deception, but the figures do border on the bogus.”

  • NASA Watch
  • July 31, 2005
Orbiter Status

NASA May Try Shuttle Repair – Reentry Hazard Is Feared From Fillers on Shield, Washington Post“NASA hopes to decide Monday whether to order an unrehearsed spacewalk to make the first exterior “repair” of the space shuttle in orbit. An astronaut would try to eliminate a potential reentry hazard by removing two protruding bits of heat shielding on the belly of the shuttle Discovery.”Cloth Protrusions on Discovery May Constitute a Threat, […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 31, 2005
Griffin et al Meet The Press

Michael Griffin, Eileen Collins, James Kelly, Charles Camarda, David Broder, John Harwood, Kate O’Beirne and Eugene Robinson, Meet The Press, 31 July 2005 Editor’s note: Mike Griffin did a very good job today.Transcript“DR. GRIFFIN: Discovery is the cleanest bird we’ve had on orbit in recent memory. We have–so we think Discovery is safe to bring home, so that’s not a decision. We have approximately one-sixth the number of scars on […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 31, 2005
Sneak Preview of Moon/Mars Architecture

NASA outlines plans for moon and Mars, Orlando Sentinel“Those and other specifics of NASA’s ambitious plans for a new era of human space travel are outlined in a set of internal briefing charts on the agency’s recent Exploration Systems Architecture Study. A copy of those briefings, parts of which are scheduled to be made public next month, was obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.”

  • NASA Watch
  • July 31, 2005
Foam Update

For NASA, Misjudgments Led to Latest Shuttle Woes, NY Times“Last Tuesday morning, NASA’s contention that it had produced the safest fuel tank in shuttle history was shattered two minutes into the Discovery’s mission to the International Space Station.”

  • NASA Watch
  • July 30, 2005
Yet Another Exploration Solicitation Cancelled

Cancellation: Exploration Systems Mission Directorate – Innovative Partnerships Program – Trechnology Transfer Transformation“The Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) is hereby canceling the Technology Transfer Transformation (TTT) Request for Proposal (RFP). An internal Agency review was conducted of the Technology Transfer program. We have concluded that the RFP no longer reflects the Agency’s requirements.”

  • NASA Watch
  • July 30, 2005
Yet Another Big KBO

Astronomers Find a New Planet in Solar System, NY Times“It is guaranteed bigger than Pluto,” said Michael E. Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy at Caltech, who led the team that made the discovery. “Even if it were 100 percent reflective, it would be larger than Pluto. It can’t be more than 100 percent reflective.”Planetary Scientists Discover Tenth Planet“A planet larger than Pluto has been discovered in the outlying regions […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 29, 2005
Waiving Safety Margins

Ex-NASA engineer: Waiving safety margins ‘crazy’, CNN[Bob Daugherty] “You never throw away a margin while you’re sitting on the ground in comfort. Those things are designed for when you’re flying. This is an aging vehicle. Those failures and unknowns are probably there because it’s an aging vehicle, and you’re crazy to throw away that safety while you’re sitting there on the ground.”

  • NASA Watch
  • July 29, 2005
Big KBO Discovered

New world may be double Pluto’s size, New Scientist“An object possibly twice the size of Pluto has been found – hiding in plain sight. The discovery could be the biggest world in the Kuiper belt of rocky objects that orbit the outer reaches of the solar system.”– Near Infrared Spectra from Mauna Kea of the New Brightest Kuiper Belt Object (abstract), 37th DPS Meeting, 4-9 September 2005–BrightTrans-Neptunian Object, CSIC– 2003 […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 29, 2005