Differential Effects on Homozygous Twin Astronauts Associated with Differences in Exposure to Spaceflight Factors “NASA’s Human Research Program (HRP) has released solicited research response area NRA NNJ13ZSA002N-TWINS “Differential Effects on Homozygous Twin Astronauts Associated with Differences in Exposure to Spaceflight Factors” that solicits applied research in support of HRP goals and objectives. This response area is Appendix D of the Human Exploration Research Opportunities (HERO) NRA (NNJ13ZSA002N).” Funding Opportunity Description […]
Small Bodies Assessment Group FIndings “While the SBAG committee finds that there is great scientific value in sample return missions from asteroids such as OSIRIS-Rex, ARRM has been defined as not being a science mission, nor is it a cost effective way to address science goals achievable through sample return. Candidate ARRM targets are limited and not well identified or characterized. Robotic sample return missions can return higher science value […]
NASA Completes First Internal Review of Concepts for Asteroid Redirect Mission, NASA “In preparation for fiscal year 2014, a mission formulation review on Tuesday brought together NASA leaders from across the country to examine internal studies proposing multiple concepts and alternatives for each phase of the asteroid mission. The review assessed technical and programmatic aspects of the mission. “At this meeting, we engaged in the critically important work of examining […]
Senate panel approves NASA bill that conflicts with House version, Florida Today “A key Senate panel narrowly approved a bill reauthorizing NASA on Tuesday, setting up a showdown with the House over how much money the nation’s space program should get to carry out its missions and which ones it should be allowed to execute. The three-year bill, which now heads to the full Senate, would give the space agency […]
NASA Response to NASA Advisory Council Recommendations from April 2013 (Includes PDF), NASA “Dear. Sr. Squyres: Enclosed are NASA’s responses to the nine recommendations from the NASA Advisory Council meeting held April 24-25, 2013, at NASA Headquarters. Please do not hesitate to contact me if the Council would like further background on the responses. I appreciate the Council’s thoughtful consideration leading to the recommendations and welcome its continued findings, recommendations, […]
The Onion Predicts Real Life: Republicans Block NASA’s Asteroid Plan, Mother Jones “President Obama’s plan to have NASA lasso an asteroid, tow it toward Earth, place it into the moon’s orbit, and claim the space rock for the United States of America has hit a congressional snag. The New York Times reports:… …In a way, the Times got scooped on this story. By the Onion. More than two years ago:…” […]
Extracting Public and Stakeholder Opinions: Unusual Suspects Need Not Apply, ECAST “Public opinion in this country is everything,” stated President Abraham Lincoln in 1859. Fast-forward 154 years to the age of trending Twitter topics and 24-hour cable news. Public opinion seems to have a significant effect on social issues and in some cases, like the recent DOMA Act repeal, triggers changes in policy. However, its influence over science and technology […]
NASA defends Space Launch System against charge it ‘is draining the lifeblood’ of space program, Huntsville Times “NASA is defending its Space Launch System against a new analysis arguing that SLS is too expensive to fly and is “draining away the lifeblood – funding – of the space program.” “I understand the premise of the article,” NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development Dan Dumbacher told al.com and The […]
NASA suspects life-support pack in spacewalk emergency, Florida Today “NASA engineers are narrowing in on the cause of the dangerous spacesuit water leak that could have drowned Italy’s first spacewalker, officials said Monday. Meanwhile, Luca Parmitano and crewmates aboard the International Space Station started unpacking a Russian space freighter that hauled up three tons of supplies and a spacesuit repair kit over the weekend. Engineers “are looking at what steps […]
The Silicon Valley of space could be Silicon Valley, The Space Review “For nearly a decade, many have called the Mojave Air and Space Port the Silicon Valley of the entrepreneurial space, or NewSpace, industry, and understandably so. The spaceport is home to Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic’s The Spaceship Company, XCOR Aerospace, Masten Space Systems, Stratolaunch Systems, and others, filling the spaceport’s hangars and buildings to capacity. More recently, the […]