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ARCHIVE
Month: March 2011
Congress Grows Tired of NASA's Foot Dragging

Subcommittee Democrats Urge Clarity and Realism in NASA’s Exploration Plans “NASA’s Douglas Cooke said that NASA understands the direction provided by the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 and is honoring those requirements. And while the agency has not yet finalized its development plans for the Space Launch System and Multipurpose Crew Vehicle, Mr. Cooke told the Subcommittee that NASA “is working expeditiously to ensure it has a credible and integrated […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 31, 2011
Using Commercial Launchers and Fuel Depots Instead of HLVs

Near Term Space Exploration with Commercial Launch Vehicles Plus Propellant Depot, Dr. Alan Wilhite and Dr. Douglas Stanley, Dale Arney and Chris Jones, GRAs Georgia Institute of Technology/ National Institute of Aerospace “The Propellant Depot Hypotheses * Large in-space mission elements (inert) can be lifted to LEO in increments on several medium-lift commercial launch vehicles (CLVs) rather than on one Heavy Lift Launch Vehicles (HLLVs) * The heavy in-space transportation […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 30, 2011
Twittered Photo From Space Wins Award

Wheelock photo “Moon from Space” chosen for Real-Time Photo of the Year “NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock was honored with a Shorty Award for an image of the moon he took and posted to his Twitter account, @Astro_Wheels, while living aboard the International Space Station last year. The awards ceremony was held at the TimesCenter in New York City on Monday, March 28.”

  • NASA Watch
  • March 30, 2011
MESSENGER's First Orbital Image of Mercury

First MESSENGER Image of Mercury From Orbit “Early this morning, at 5:20 am EDT, MESSENGER captured this historic image of Mercury. This image is the first ever obtained from a spacecraft in orbit about the Solar System’s innermost planet. Over the subsequent six hours, MESSENGER acquired an additional 363 images before downlinking some of the data to Earth. The MESSENGER team is currently looking over the newly returned data, which […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 30, 2011
NASA Open Source Summit

NASA To Host Open Source Summit March 29-30 In California “NASA will host a summit about open source software development on March 29-30 at the agency’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT on both days. NASA’s first Open Source Summit will bring together engineers, policy makers and members of the open source community. Participants will discuss the challenges within […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 30, 2011
NASA OIG: Facilities and Spacecraft Vulnerable to Attack

NASA OIG: Inadequate Security Practices Expose Key NASA Network to Cyber Attack “The OIG review found that six computer servers associated with information technology (IT) assets that control NASA spacecraft and contain critical data had vulnerabilities that would allow a remote attacker to take control of or render them unavailable. Moreover, once inside the Agency-wide mission network, the attacker could use the compromised computers to exploit other weaknesses we identified, […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 30, 2011
Photo of a Photo On-orbit

Keith’s note: This photo was taken during the STS-133 mission. Shuttle and ISS crew members pose with a printout of one of the photos taken of the Discovery’s ascent into space by the Robonaut-1 balloon flown by Quest for Stars in collaboration with the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. Larger view. – Video: Robonaut-1: Time Lapse View: Entire flight from Liftfoff to Touchdown – Educational Balloon Provides Space Shuttle […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 29, 2011
Airplanes Fueled With NASA Chicken Fat

Chicken Fat Studied by NASA as Eco-friendly Jet Fuel “It’s made out of chicken fat, actually,” said Langley’s Bruce Anderson, AAFEX II project scientist. “The Air Force bought many thousands of gallons of this to burn in some of their jets and provided about 8,000 gallons (30,283 liters) to NASA for this experiment.” Anderson and his team will test a 50-50 mix of biofuel and regular jet fuel, biofuel only, […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 29, 2011
House Hearing Summary

Skeptical House Science Committee Reviews FY 2012 NASA Budget Request “The central focus of a hearing earlier this month of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee was whether NASA’s FY 2012 budget request was a path forward for the space agency. Echoing comments heard a year ago, many committee members are unconvinced that the Administration’s plan to use commercial transportation services to fly American astronauts to the space station […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 28, 2011
Make a Wish From Space

Make a Wish From Space – Tohoku-Kanto Earthquake in Japan “In honor of those affected by the Tohoku-Kanto Earthquake in Japan, Russian cosmonaut and Expedition 27 commander Dmitry Kondratyev (center), European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman are pictured with paper cranes (origami craft), which they folded to be placed in the Kounotori2 H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-2). The HTV2 is scheduled to undock from the International […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 28, 2011