Recently in Space & Planetary Science Category

Bright Explosion on the Moon, NASA Science News

"The 40 kg meteoroid measuring 0.3 to 0.4 meters wide hit the Moon traveling 56,000 mph.  The resulting explosion1 packed as much punch as 5 tons of TNT."

Keith's note: C'mon guys. Pick one system of measurement and stick with it - or show both systems for all measurements.

Oh yes, then there's this statement: "U.S. Space Exploration Policy eventually calls for extended astronaut stays on the lunar surface."

Huh? Has the author (Tony Phillips) been reading the news lately? NASA is not sending people to the Moon again per White House policy.

Asteroid 1998 QE2 to Sail Past Earth 9 Times Larger than Cruise Ship

"On May 31, 2013, asteroid 1998 QE2 will sail serenely past Earth, getting no closer than about 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers), or about 15 times the distance between Earth and the moon. And while QE2 is not of much interest to those astronomers and scientists on the lookout for hazardous asteroids, it is of interest to those who dabble in radar astronomy and have a 230-foot (70-meter) -- or larger -- radar telescope at their disposal."

Keith's note: NASA PAO just loves to make puns with their press release headlines. The asteroid was not actually named after the QE2. Given that the popular impression of cruise ships these days is that they are disease-ridden floating toilets, I suppose someone will inevitably connect recent news about Earth's water coming from asteroids (meteorites) and a giant cruise ship in space and ...

Keith's 10:03 am EDT note: Kepler is in safe mode again. Studies are under way. While Kepler's main mission may now be at an end, there is still a lot of life left in the spacecraft. Stay tuned.

Kepler has a telescope with 0.95 meter aperture and a wide field of view. It is in an Earth-following, heliocentric orbit. Although its fine pointing ability may no longer be available, the spacecraft still has other potential uses. One obvious use is NEO (asteroid) detection. Ideas?

NASA Hosts Kepler Spacecraft Status Teleconference Today

"NASA will host a news teleconference at 4 p.m. EDT, today, May 15, to discuss the status of the agency's Kepler Space Telescope."

Keith's 1:25 pm EDT update: The Kepler spacecraft has entered Safe Mode yet again. It is unlikely that the spacecraft will be able to resume its original extrasolar planet detection mission. NASA has uploaded Point Rest State software to the spacecraft. The Kepler spacecraft is currenty stable in Thruster-Controlled Safe Mode. In this mode it has several months of fuel available. If the spacecraft can be put into Point Rest State then the spacecraft has several years of remaining fuel. Post-prime mission options for use of the spacecraft are being pursued including NEO detection.

Keith's 4:25 pm EDT update: The New York Times (who claimed credit via Twitter for breaking the story 6 hours after it was broken here on NASA Watch) claims that Kepler is "crippled". When asked if he agreed with this characterization, SMD AA John Grunsfeld called this "odd" and said that he did not agree that Kepler is "crippled" given that there are still options and other science that can be done.

NASA Kepler Mission Manager Update 15 May 2013

"With the failure of a second reaction wheel, it's unlikely that the spacecraft will be able to return to the high pointing accuracy that enables its high-precision photometry. However, no decision has been made to end data collection."

Three X-class Solar Flares in 24 Hours

The sun emitted a third significant solar flare in under 24 hours, peaking at 9:11 p.m. EDT on May 13, 2013. This flare is classified as an X3.2 flare. This is the strongest X-class flare of 2013 so far, surpassing in strength the two X-class flares that occurred earlier in the 24-hour period.

Activity Continues On the Sun

"Solar activity continued on May 14, 2013, as the sun emitted a fourth X-class flare from its upper left limb, peaking at 9:48 p.m. EDT."

NASA Operating Plan for FY 2013 to Target Planetary Overall, Cuts Research and Completed Missions, Planetary Exploration Newsletter

"In his FY13 budget request, President Obama proposed the NASA Planetary budget be cut by more than 20% from its FY12 level (From $1.5B to less than $1.2B). Under the initial Continuing Resolutions covering the first half of the fiscal year, the Administration chose to operate NASA Planetary at this reduced level. Congress restored more than $222M of the President's cut in its FY13 appropriation passed on March 21 and signed into law by the President. Congress's action is now being reversed by NASA and others in the Administration through the preferential application of rescission and sequestration cuts of more than 15% to the NASA Planetary Science budget."

Planetary Scientists Casting Doubt on Feasibility of Plan to Corral Asteroid, Science (paywall - sorry)

"Asteroid scientists are also a bit miffed that NASA left them out of its planning. They had heard presentations on the concept, but "we just couldn't take it seriously," [Mark] Sykes says. By early February, after realizing that NASA was indeed taking it seriously, he offered headquarters the services of its Small Bodies Assessment Group to help evaluate the idea. He got no response. NASA's Green says that "this is just the start. We will get them more involved." Although it falls outside their expertise, asteroid scientists have one more complaint about NASA's latest plan. The whole point of astronauts going to an asteroid had been to gain experience for long-duration missions far from home, such as a trip to Mars. But "if you bring the asteroid to the astronauts instead of the other way around," Harris says, "you really aren't sending humans into deep space, or for that matter cutting any new ground over ... circling the Earth in the [International Space Station]." So other missions would be needed to gain the necessary deep-space expertise."

Rep. Schiff and Senator Feinstein Call on NASA to Not Gut Planetary Science

"Today, Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) sent a letter to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Administrator Charles Bolden calling on him to keep any operating plan for the fiscal year consistent with the funding levels and allocations directed to it by Congress earlier this year. There have been reports that the FY 2013 NASA Operating Plan will slash funding from the Planetary Science programs. Schiff and Feinstein were joined by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Representative John Culberson (R-TX) in sending the letter today."

Kepler-62 Has Two Water Worlds Circling in its Habitable Zone

"In our solar system, only one planet is blessed with an ocean: Earth. Our home world is a rare, blue jewel compared to the deserts of Mercury, Venus and Mars. But what if our Sun had not one but two habitable ocean worlds? Astronomers have found such a planetary system orbiting the star Kepler-62."

New Earth-like Planets Found, CIW

"Theoretical modeling of the super-Earth planets, Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f, suggests that both could be solid, either rocky--or rocky with frozen water."

NASA's Kepler Discovers Smallest 'Habitable Zone' Planets to Date, NASA

"The Kepler-62 system has five planets; 62b, 62c, 62d, 62e and 62f. The Kepler-69 system has two planets; 69b and 69c. Kepler-62e, 62f and 69c are the super-Earth-size planets."

GAO Report: NASA: Assessments of Selected Large-Scale Projects

"The performance of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) portfolio of major projects has improved in the areas of cost and schedule growth since GAO's first assessment in 2009. Average development cost growth and schedule delay for the current portfolio have decreased to about a third of their 2009 levels. These figures exclude the cost and schedule growth of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), NASA's most expensive science project, in part because of its disproportionate effect on the portfolio average. Including the JWST in the calculation would increase the 2013 portfolio's average development cost growth from 3.9 percent to 46.4 percent and would double the average launch delay, from 4 to 8 months and obscure the progress the rest of the portfolio has made toward maintaining cost and schedule baselines."

NASA Hosts Media Briefing to Discuss Kepler Planetary Discovery

"NASA will host a news briefing at 2 p.m. EDT, Thursday, April 18, to announce new discoveries from the agency's Kepler mission. The briefing will be held in the Syvertson Auditorium, Building N-201, at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., and be broadcast live on NASA Television and on the agency's website."

Keith's note: Not that this has any indiciation of what will be announced but Lisa Kaltenegger's Kepler-related publications all focus on small, habitable extrasolar planets and moons. (search). Thomas Barclay's papers also focus on Kepler and extrasolar planets. (search). These papers (by other authors) "The detectability of habitable exomoons with Kepler" and "Where to Find Habitable "Earths" in Circumbinary Systems" were submitted to astro-ph last week.

Editorial: Who Is Minding Planetary Research?, Planetary Exploration Newsletter

"The Administration and both houses of Congress openly support the planetary research programs, as demonstrated by proposed and appropriated budgets. It is PSD management that undermines their intent. Stop treating planetary research as a slush fund."

Tell Congress To Support Planetary Exploration at NASA, Planetary Society

"The White House has doubled down on its efforts to cut Planetary Science at NASA. It's proposing a cut of over $200 million, despite the fact that Congress rejected a similar cut for last year. This will prevent any mission to Europa. It delays for years efforts to send small spacecraft throughout the solar system, and will have long-lasting repercussions on the scientific and engineering community. We know Congress supports planetary exploration, but they need to hear from you."

NASA's Planetary Doublespeak, Planetary Society

"NASA went on an unusual tweet-binge praising planetary science today, saying that the struggling division "thrives" and highlighting various missions mainly developed in better times. NASA made five tweets in a row about planetary science over the course of two hours. Maybe NASA feels bad for its Planetary Science Division after the release of the 2014 Budget proposal? The budget doubles down on cuts to Planetary Science, crippling the future of the program. The proposed amount, $1,217.5 million, is about $200 million less than Congress approved the previous year."

NASA Budget Priority: Asteroid Defense, Wall Street Journal

"Once again, NASA likely faces a stiff fight over its desire to ramp up funding to $820 million annually to help subsidize work on private taxis to transport astronauts to the orbiting space station. Congress has kept a lid on such appropriations at around $500 million. While seeking to increase investment in cutting-edge spacecraft propulsion and on-orbit refueling, NASA would lose nearly one-third of its current funding to foster interest and education in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. The proposed cuts are part of a governmentwide bid by the White House to consolidate so-called STEM education in three other agencies."

NASA mulls asteroid capture mission, eventual manned visits, CBS

"I hope it goes forward," said Rusty Schweickart, a former Apollo astronaut who helped found the B612 Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to building and launching a privately funded space telescope to search for threatening asteroids. "Asteroids are a very, very interesting area," he told CBS News in a telephone interview. "They're a hell of a resource, and I think the potential for long-term resource development for use in space is going to be a very big thing. And this is sort of step one. It's a baby step in a way, but it should be very interesting."

Keith's note: This is how the Twitter account @Camilla_SDO describes itself: "I am Camilla SDO, NASA SDO's Mission Mascot. I help with Education & Public Outreach and I train to fly to Space." This twitter account is actualy run by Romeo Durscher, a financial management analyst at Stanford. @Camilla_SDO recently tweeted "@JeriLRyan Have my 1st red carpet event this month. Had a small role in Space Warriors with Josh Lucas. So excited. I'll stick to being me!"

I simply do not understand. First NASA cuts EPO across the agency to meet sequester constraints. Now the FY 2014 budget totally guts EPO at SMD - essentially setting it to $0.00. NASA cuts important education and public outreach projects conducted by education professionals - yet the agency still officially supports and encourages a rubber chicken mascot with a NASA logo to travel to a Hollywood premiere - with a financial analyst? Apparently the rubber chicken and its handler/analyst have a special waiver.

NASA Lunar Science Forum 2013 Will be a VIRTUAL Conference With NO "In-Person" Component This Year

"Due to the recent government restrictions on travel, The NASA Lunar Science Institute will broadcast the annual NASA Lunar Science Forum (LSF) as a virtual conference the week of July 15-19, 2013. The conference will be broadcast between the hours of 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. PDT, Monday-Friday, to accommodate a wide spread in time zones. Presentations will be delivered using a combination of Adobe Connect and a telecom line for participation. Adobe Connect can host 500 combined domestic and international logins to the presentations. Any number of individuals can gather at their home institutions and connect as a group, but the total number of individual connections cannot exceed 500."

NASA Asteroid Capture Mission: First Real Step in Utilizing Extraterrestrial Resources

"NASA is about to get a chance to try something totally new: instead of just visting or landing on things in space, it is going to go grab something huge and bring it back to Earth. Details will be formally announced on 10 April 2013 when the new budget is rolled out. The fact that we are now capable of going out and grabbing an asteroid and moving it to a place that we have chosen signals the first major step in the utilization of extraterrestrial resources by human civilization. We are embarking on the rearrangement of our solar system to better suit human needs. That's a paradigm shift folks."

The Eighth International Conference on Mars Postponed Until 2014

"The impacts of sequestration on the Federal budget have led to new travel policies that severely constrain the participation of NASA center employees, including JPL, and other government employees (e.g., the U.S. Geological Survey) in scientific conferences, including the planned 8th International Mars Conference set for July 15-19 on the Caltech campus. The current fiscal environment is sufficiently restrictive that we, the organizers of the conference, have decided to delay the meeting for one year, holding it instead in June/July of 2014."

AGU: Voyager 1 has left the solar system, sudden changes in cosmic rays indicate

"In the GRL article, the authors state: "It appears that [Voyager 1] has exited the main solar modulation region, revealing [hydrogen] and [helium] spectra characteristic of those to be expected in the local interstellar medium." However, Webber notes, scientists are continuing to debate whether Voyager 1 has reached interstellar space or entered a separate, undefined region beyond the solar system."

NASA Voyager Status Update on Voyager 1 Location

"It is the consensus of the Voyager science team that Voyager 1 has not yet left the solar system or reached interstellar space."

Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project: how you can help save historic space data, Boing Boing

"The LOIRP team managed to obtain original tape drives from the 1960s (covered in dust in a farmer's barn) and a full set of original Lunar Orbiter analog data tapes (threatened with erasure) containing all images sent back to Earth by the five spacecraft between 1966-67. None of this had been functional or usable since the late 1960s. From the onset the project has been run on a shoestring budget. The LOIRP effort is housed in an abandoned McDonalds burger joint at Moffett Field, California (also known as "McMoons"). The LOIRP folks used spare parts bought on eBay, discarded government equipment, new hardware reverse-engineered from math equations in 50 year old documentation, modern laptops, the expertise of retired engineers and scientists, and the dedication of young students."

What Do Star Trek and Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project Have in Common?

"As you will recall Kirk, Spock and McCoy go back in time to the 1930s. At one point Spock has to hack his 23rdcentury tricorder with early 20th century electronics to get data off of it. In our case, we used early 21st century electronics to hack mid 20th century electronics to gain access to 45 year old data."

Copernicus Crater Mosaic, NASA Lunar Science Institute

"This mosaic of the floor of crater Copernicus was created by combining the following 24 high resolution images taken by Lunar Orbiter V on 16 August 1967. By comparing old images of the Moon to recent images, LOIRP offers a time machine of sorts, whereby changes in the lunar surface over the past half century can be identified. LOIRP has also done original science by comparing their highest resolution images with the latest high resolution lunar images to look for changes that could indicate quakes, meteor impacts, or volcanism. But more work remains to be done."

Keith's note: Please Support Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) at RocketHub

Curiosity Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars

"An analysis of a rock sample collected by NASA's Curiosity rover shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon -- some of the key chemical ingredients for life -- in the powder Curiosity drilled out of a sedimentary rock near an ancient stream bed in Gale Crater on the Red Planet last month. "A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "From what we know now, the answer is yes."

Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project Seeks Public Support To Retrieve Apollo Era Moon Images

"The Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) is seeking support from the public as it continues its efforts to recover and enhance Moon images from the 1960s using modern technology. The LOIRP was started with funding by several volunteers in 2008. The original volunteer effort was followed by financial support from NASA which has now been exhausted. Five Lunar Orbiter missions were sent to the Moon between 1966-67 to map the lunar surface to help select landing sites for Apollo human missions.

The LOIRP managed to obtain original tape drives from the 1960s (covered in dust in a farmer's barn) and a full set of original Lunar Orbiter analog data tapes (threatened with erasure) containing all images sent back to Earth by the five spacecraft. None of this had been functional or usable since the late 1960s. From the onset the LOIRP has been run on a shoestring budget. Housed in an abandoned McDonalds restaurant at Moffett Field, California, the LOIRP team used spare parts bought on eBay, developed new hardware reverse-engineered from math equations in original documentation, modern laptops, the expertise of retired engineers and scientists, and the dedication of young students."

House of Representatives Honors Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project, Congressional Record

"As with the Lunar Orbiter's images themselves, the efforts of those who have devoted themselves to this project should not go unnoticed or unrecorded. Although space exploration is a vast, complicated enterprise, it ultimately relies on individuals who have the vision and imagination to move us forward. The Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project is an example of that kind of vision and imagination, and those who have contributed to the Project and to preceding efforts surely deserve our gratitude."

Keith's note: A number of us have been donating time and money to this project since 2008. Thanks to your generosity, the LOIRP has already raised enough to order a tape drive head to be refurbished. Please support the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project at RocketHub as our team works to finish this project.

Mars Curiosity Rover Enters Safe Mode

"The ground team for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has switched the rover to a redundant onboard computer in response to a memory issue on the computer that had been active. The intentional swap at about 2:30 a.m. PST today (Thursday, Feb. 28) put the rover, as anticipated, into a minimal-activity precautionary status called "safe mode." The team is shifting the rover from safe mode to operational status over the next few days and is troubleshooting the condition that affected operations yesterday. The condition is related to a glitch in flash memory linked to the other, now-inactive, computer."

"We are looking for people to help us complete the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP). We call this technoarchaeology - mining the past to support science in the future. Between 1966 and 1967, NASA sent five Lunar Orbiter missions to the Moon. Their mission was to photograph the lunar surface to help identify future Apollo mission landing sites. The spacecraft carried 70mm photographic film which was developed automatically in lunar orbit aboard the spacecraft. The developed film was then scanned with a light beam and this modulated a signal which was sent back to Earth." More at RocketHub

Dr. David S. McKay Has Passed Away

"Our friend and colleague, Dr. David S. McKay, passed away peacefully in his sleep in the early morning hours yesterday, 20 February 2013. David had been battling serious health problems for some time, especially cardiac issues this past year or so. He was 77. .. Of course, he was the lead author on the 1996 paper in Science on the ALH84001 martian orthopyroxenite, arguing that it contains evidence for life on Mars. Although that claim was highly controversial, there can be no question that the appearance of that paper sparked significant changes in martian and planetary science, shaped the direction of the Mars Exploration Program to the present day, and prompted the establishment of the NASA Astrobiology Institute."

NASA: Red Planet looks a little gray inside, USA Today

"This is the first time any robot has drilled into a rock on another planet," says mission sample chief Louise Jandura of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif."

Luna 16, WIkipedia

"At perilune at 05:12 UT on 20 September [1970], the main braking engine was fired, initiating the descent to the lunar surface. ... Less than an hour after landing, at 06:03 UT, an automatic drill penetrated the lunar surface to collect a soil sample. After drilling for 7 minutes, the drill reached a stop at 35 centimeters depth and then withdrew its sample and lifted it in an arc to the top of the spacecraft, depositing the lunar material in a small spherical capsule mounted on the main spacecraft bus."

Keith's note: So, is this JPL statement about the whole (increasingly pointless) "planet" Vs "moon" or a "rock Vs "soil (regolith)" definition issue - or are they actually unaware of what Luna 16 (and 20) did 40+ years ago?

Curiosity Rover Drilling Debate, earlier post

Keith's note: NASA has decided who is on their Mars 2020 rover Science Definition Team. No press release however. Isn't it a bit odd that SMD uses a bull horn to tell everyone who was not selected, but can't be bothered to tell the public who was selected. I have to wonder if SMD actually has a PAO strategy these days. I have seen little evidence thereof these days.

NASA SMD Uses a Bullhorn to Say 'No Thanks', Earlir post

"NASA SMD sent this "thanks but no thanks" email to everyone who offered their services to the 2020 Mars rover Science Definition Team - but were turned down. SMD made sure to let everyone on the list see everyone else's name/email addresses. Class act."

NASA MEPAG #27 Cancellation Notice

"However, the 2020 Rover Science Definition Team is just now being formed and will not be far enough into its deliberations to give a meaningful out-brief in February."

Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) Meeting

"Delays in the federal budget process prompted us to cancel the two-day physical meeting previously scheduled February 26-27 for the Washington, DC area and to replace it with this half-day electronic meeting."

Rocket Launch Colors the Sky Red With Lithium (with photos)

"NASA successfully launched a Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital rocket at 5:50 p.m. EST this evening from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. During the flight, two red-colored lithium vapor trails were produced. Reports from those viewing the launch or vapor trails came from as far away as the Outer Banks, N.C.; eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey."

Let NASA Pursue a Balanced Planetary Exploration Program, Planetary Society

"We must also emphasize that the serious budget cuts to NASA's Planetary Science Division have not been averted. The new rover mission is conceived to fit within the already reduced budget environment proposed by the Obama Administration in February 2012, which, if fully implemented, would result in deep cuts across the entire planetary exploration program. Likely outcomes include early termination of ongoing missions, including the Cassini orbiter at Saturn and the MESSENGER orbiter at Mercury; delays of future missions in the Discovery and New Frontiers programs; and reductions in basic research grants that fund current and future scientists. It also precludes a mission to Europa, long-considered one of the most compelling and scientifically rich destinations in the solar system. A strategic mission to Europa is prioritized as a close second to a caching mission to Mars in the Decadal Survey. We find the shift in budgetary priority deeply troubling. Namely, it represents a step backwards from our nation's long commitment to exploration and the pursuit of answers to the big questions of "where do we come from?" and "are we alone?"

American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences Issues Statement on Mars 2020 Program

"In summary, we support the decision by NASA to pursue a 2020 Mars rover mission as long as it fits within the specific recommendations of the Decadal Survey, which include both scientific and cost-cap guidance, and is part of a balanced exploration portfolio. We urge Congress and the Administration to maintain NASA's leadership in planetary science by restoring the division's budget to FY12 levels of $1.5 billion per year."

Keith's note: NASA SMD sent this "thanks but no thanks" email to everyone who offered their services to the 2020 Mars rover Science Definition Team - but were turned down. SMD made sure to let everyone on the list see everyone else's name/email addresses. Class act.

"From: "Schulte, Mitch (HQ-DG000)"
Subject: 2020 Mars rover Science Definition Team
Date: January 20, 2013 10:51:50 AM EST
To: [DELETED] -- Everyone (more than a hundred) who volunteered but were turned down
Cc: "Meyer, Michael A. (HQ-DG000)", "Tahu, George (HQ-DG000)", "Beaty, David W", John Mustard

Dr. Mitch Schulte
Program Scientist, Mars 2020"

NASA Finally Responds To Simple Questions About the New Horizons Mission to Pluto

"Three months ago I asked the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) some simple questions regarding possible changes to the New Horizons encounter with Pluto based on recent data indicating debris in the region. I was told that I'd get a prompt reply. SMD PAO finally got around to responding to me today after three months of silence. One would think that these answers would be simple to provide - and based on standard mission operating procedures. Guess not."

- NASA Remains Silent on New Horizons Issues (Update)
- Will NASA Have To 'Bail Out' On Close Pluto Encounter?, earlier post

NASA Kepler Mission Update 17 January 2013

"Earlier this month during a semi-weekly contact with the spacecraft, the team detected an increase in the amount of torque required to spin one of the three remaining reaction wheels. This increase in friction occurred before the Jan. 11, 2013 quarterly roll, and persisted after the spacecraft roll and several momentum desaturations of the reaction wheels. Increased friction over a prolonged period can lead to accumulated wear on the reaction wheel, and possible wheel failure. To minimize wheel friction, the team implemented several mitigations including increased operating temperatures, higher spin rates, and bi-directional operation following the failure of reaction wheel #2 in July 2012."

Keith's note: If a second reaction wheel fails, the mission is over.

Mars Rover Curiosity's Team to Receive Space Foundation Award

"JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl , http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl."

Keith's note: Why does NASA spend money to maintain three different MSL websites - websites that do not even link to one another? I can (sort of) understand if there is a turf war of sorts going on (there is) but this press release admits by default that NASA is incapable of coordinating its websites. At a time when Congress is looking for examples of taxpayer dollars being wasted, this is just begging to be investigated - especially when NASA advertises the fact that it is maintaining 3 websites simultaneously. I hear constant complaints from within NASA that they do not have enough funds to maintain their websites. When I see ongoing nonsense like this, those complaints begin to ring hollow. It looks like NASA has more than enough website money.

Oh yes - There's also http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ which is the same as http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. That makes 4 website addresses - one of the multiple websites actually has a duplicate. Why?

To summarize: JPL runs two MSL websites that overlap/duplicate one another but don't cross link - and JPL has an extra copy of one of these sites for good measure. Yet none of these JPL sites interact with the site at NASA HQ - and yet they all cater to the same audience. According to formal NASA policy, this is not supposed to happen. But it still does. NASA enacts NPDs and other policies and then ignores these same policies. Why bother having procedures if they are simply ignored?

- Why does NASA need multiple websites for the same mission?, earlier post
- NASA's Tangled Human Spaceflight Web Presence, earlier post
- NASA's Sprawling Web Presence, earlier post
- NASA's Inability To Speak With One Voice Online, earlier post

James Webb Space Telescope squeezing budget, NASA official says, LA Times

"We are operating in a zero sum game right now," [Paul] Hertz said. The talk comes as James Webb's $8.8-billion price tag - up by $3.1 billion - has squeezed the astrophysics division's budget, taking up more than expected by the priority-setting 2010 decadal survey of astronomy and astrophysics. Though NASA's overall astrophysics budget is predicted to rise slightly in the coming years, the James Webb telescope is set to take up roughly half it by fiscal year 2014, Hertz said. Thus, the slice of money for all other astronomy and astrophysics missions has thinned somewhat. "It's not that our budget has gone down, it's that we're spending more on James Webb than we had planned on at the time the decadal survey was done," Hertz said."

At Least One in Six Stars Has an Earth-Sized Planet

"The quest for a twin Earth is heating up. Using NASA's Kepler spacecraft, astronomers are beginning to find Earth-sized planets orbiting distant stars. A new analysis of Kepler data shows that about 17 percent of stars have an Earth-sized planet in an orbit closer than Mercury. Since the Milky Way has about 100 billion stars, there are at least 17 billion Earth-sized worlds out there."

NASA'S Kepler Mission Discovers 461 New Planet Candidates

"NASA's Kepler mission Monday announced the discovery of 461 new planet candidates. Four of the potential new planets are less than twice the size of Earth and orbit in their sun's "habitable zone," the region in the planetary system where liquid water might exist on the surface of a planet. Based on observations conducted from May 2009 to March 2011, the findings show a steady increase in the number of smaller-size planet candidates and the number of stars with more than one candidate."

Earth-Size Planets Are Common in Our Galaxy, University of California Berkeley

"An analysis of the first three years of data from NASA's Kepler mission, which already has discovered thousands of potential exoplanets, contains good news for those searching for habitable worlds outside our solar system. It shows that 17 percent of all Sun-like stars have planets one to two times the diameter of Earth orbiting close to their host stars, according to a team of astronomers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa."

15 New Planets Hint at "Traffic Jam" of Moons in Habitable Zone

"Volunteers from the Planethunters.org website, part of the Oxford University-led Zooniverse project, have discovered 15 new planet candidates orbiting in the habitable zones of other stars. Added to the 19 similar planets already discovered in habitable zones, where the temperature is neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water, the new finds suggest that there may be a "traffic jam" of all kinds of strange worlds in regions that could potentially support life."

Planet Hunters. V. A Confirmed Jupiter-Size Planet in the Habitable Zone and 42 Planet Candidates from the Kepler Archive Data, astro-ph

NASA mulls plan to drag asteroid into moon's orbit, New Scientist

"Researchers with the Keck Institute for Space Studies in California have confirmed that NASA is mulling over their plan to build a robotic spacecraft to grab a small asteroid and place it in high lunar orbit. The mission would cost about $2.6 billion - slightly more than NASA's Curiosity Mars rover - and could be completed by the 2020s. .. Robotically bringing an asteroid to the moon instead would be a more attractive first step, the Keck researchers conclude, because an object orbiting the moon would be in easier reach of robotic probes and maybe even humans."

Keith's note: This study has not been released yet so we don't know what is in it. All we hear is how to go get an asteroid and bring it back to Earth - but not why. If the idea is to study an asteroid close up, I would think that you could send a swarm of satellites, large antennas, etc. based on existing hardware to an asteroid and allow high fidelity telepresence capability for the same/less cost and less complexity than using brute force to bring it to Earth. The only possible rationale for bringing an asteroid back to Earth would be to use the materials in it. I have yet to see any mission statement that charters NASA to mine asteroids. Indeed, the White House doesn't even support the more modest L2 station that Charlie Bolden (sometimes) wants to build using traditional engineering.

The last time I checked, one of the main reasons why the White House tasked NASA to send humans to an asteroid in the first place was to test out long duration deep space human capabilities as a prelude to sending humans to Mars. Bringing their asteroidal destination to Earth sort of defeats that initial intent. Who knows: maybe Charlie Bolden wants to bring Mars closer to Earth to cut down on travel time.

Keith's update: the original report has indeed been released previously. But the specific mission proposal that NASA has sent to the White House has not been released - nor will it be any time soon since this is all "predecisional" stuff.

Lunar Orbiter 3 Image 3121_H1 - Tsiolkovskiy Crater

Keith's note: This newly retrieved high resolution image, frame 3121_H1, was taken by Lunar Orbiter 3 on 19 February 1967 at 19:22 GMT. The prominent feature in this image is Tsiolkovskiy, a large impact crater located on the far side of the Moon. We'll be posting a total of 4 recently retrieved Lunar Orbiter 3 images of the Tsiolkovskiy region this week at the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project.

Changes in the Management of the NASA Mars Exploration Program

"With the retirement of Doug McCuistion, Director of the Mars Exploration Program (MEP) at the end of December, I would like to announce the following:

Acting MEP Director: James Green
Lead MEP Program Executive: Lisa May
Lead MEP Program Scientist: Michael Meyer"

Editorial on NASA Planetary R&A Programs, Mark V. Sykes, Planetary Science Institute

"At a minimum, this year's decline needs to be reversed to ensure that selection rates are improved to stop the imminent loss of the younger generation of planetary scientists as well as many seasoned researchers. The cost is frankly small and demands high priority. Multi-year budget planning is essential. We also face significant negative consequences from the effective collapse of the Discovery program combined with the termination of the Mars Scount program."

- NASA SMD Responds to Community Budget Priority Concerns, earlier post
- Losing a Generation of Planetary Scientists, earlier post
- Independent Look at NASA Planetary Science Budgets, earlier post

Keith's note: In October NASA SMD PAO was caught totally off guard when the New Horizons team announced that debris in the vicinity of Pluto might force them to "bail out" (their term) of the original encounter. I submitted the following questions to NASA SMD PAO on 16 October and was told that a reply was being prepared. It has been 2 1/2 months and I still haven't heard anything back from them. My questions:

"- Will there be a formal statement from NASA regarding debris issues in the vicinity of Pluto and how it will affect mission plans?
- Will NASA be spending additional funds for additional telescope observations of Pluto? If so how much will these observations cost, what budget pays these costs, what telescopes/spacecraft will be used, and how long will these observations be conducted?
- When will contingency plans for changing the trajectory of New Horizons at Pluto be finalized?
- Who (Individual, agency) makes the final decision as to whether New Horizons continues on its original trajectory or if that trajectory is modified?
- When was NASA notified by New Horizons mission team that the original flight trajectory was in jeopardy due to debris concerns?"

Will NASA Have To 'Bail Out' On Close Pluto Encounter?, earlier post

NASA Planetary Division Management Responds to Community Concerns, Planetary Exploration Newsletter

"Contrary to statements being made by some individuals in the science community, the recent announcement of the Mars 2020 rover has nothing to do with the current R&A selection rates nor has it impacted the current or projected amounts to be spent in the R&A program. The Mars 2020 rover will be designed to "conduct mobile surface-based science at a site selected for its ability to preserve evidence of life, and prepare for the future return of samples per the NRC Planetary Decadal Survey."

Keith's note: I find it to be a little odd that Jim Green would wait until Christmas Eve to send out his official NASA response - and only send it to one newsletter - not to the rest of the media via PAO. It is sort of hard to reach the space science community using this approach.

NASA Chief Scientist Abdalati Returning to University of Colorado

"Gale Allen, associate chief scientist for Life and Microgravity Sciences, will serve as acting NASA chief scientist until a successor is named. Allen joined the Office of the Chief Scientist in 2011 from the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) at Headquarters, where she was director of Strategic Integration and Management. Before joining ESMD, Allen was deputy for Bioastronautics in the Office of Biological and Physical Research."

Editorial: U.S. Planetary Program Poised to Lose a Generation of Scientists, Planetary Exploration Newsletter

"National Research Council reports have long recognized these programs as fundamental to US solar system exploration efforts. The recent NRC planetary decadal survey gave them high priority, independent of the fiscal situation (the worse the fiscal climate, the more important these programs are to sustaining national capabilities in this area). Unfortunately, policy decisions by NASA leadership have resulted in selection rates for competitive proposals plummeting to historic lows with negative impact."

@NASAVoyager2 END MAYACAL BTUN 12.19.19.17.19 SHUTDOWN:UNIV(12) BEGIN BTUN 13.0.0.0.0 BOOT:UNIV(13)

NASA Solicitation: Science Definition Team for the 2020 Mars Rover

"The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) invites scientists, technologists, and other qualified and interested individuals at U.S. institutions and elsewhere to apply for membership on the Science Definition Team (SDT) for the 2020 Mars science rover mission (hereafter Mars-2020). Mars-2020 is a strategic mission sponsored by NASA's Planetary Science Division, through the Mars Exploration Program, all of which are part of the Science Mission Directorate (SMD)."

NASA's GRAIL Lunar Impact Site Named for Astronaut Sally Ride, NASA

"NASA has named the site where twin agency spacecraft impacted the moon Monday in honor of the late astronaut, Sally K. Ride, who was America's first woman in space and a member of the probes' mission team. Last Friday, Ebb and Flow, the two spacecraft comprising NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, were commanded to descend into a lower orbit that would result in an impact Monday on a mountain near the moon's north pole."

China's Chang'e-2 Does Close Flyby of Asteroid Toutatis (with image), CNSA

New milestone for China: Probe snaps close-ups of asteroid Toutatis, MSNBC

"China's official news agency is reporting that the country's Chang'e 2 deep-space probe made an amazing flyby of the asteroid Toutatis this week, snapping a series of pictures as it passed just 2 miles away. The achievement signals China's entry into yet another exclusive space club. Only four of the world's space efforts have managed close encounters with asteroids: NASA (with NEAR Shoemaker and Dawn, for example), the European Space Agency (with Rosetta), Japan (with Hayabusa) -- and now China with Toutatis."

NASA Planetary Science Division Research and Analysis Programs - An Assessment, Editorial, Mark V. Sykes Planetary Science Institute

"Despite high priority in the recent Planetary Decadal Survey and prior NRC reports, NASA Planetary Science Division Research and Analysis programs continue to suffer from uncertain budgets and low selection rates, undermining US solar system exploration. I have written a report, with the above title, on the budget history and status of these programs."

NASA Announces Robust Multi-year Mars Program - New Rover to Close Out Decade of New Missions

"Building on the success of Curiosity's Red Planet landing, NASA has announced plans for a robust multi-year Mars program, including a new robotic science rover set to launch in 2020. This announcement affirms the agency's commitment to a bold exploration program that meets our nation's scientific and human exploration objectives. The future rover development and design will be based on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) architecture that successfully carried the Curiosity rover to the Martian surface this summer."

NASA's John Grunsfeld Speaks With Media About New Mars Mission

"Grunsfeld will host a media briefing on these plans at 7 p.m. EST (4 p.m. PST) today at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco."

Cowing: "When will NASA actually try and find evidence of life on Mars? Viking tried in 1976 but since then NASA has gone out of its way to state that each and every one of its missions cannot actually "detect life" but rather that the hardware can only detect things that might point to the possibility - that maybe there might be something that might hint at life - maybe."

Grunsfeld: "I side with Keith on this. I think it would be interesting to send a mission to a location where there could be extant life on Mars. There would be some planetary protection issues. On the original ExoMars proposal the UK had a life detection experiment planned. During the MPPG the UK wanted to put it on a new lander. All of these things are on the table. The Science Team should evaluate all of these things. I think that this would be a very exciting thing to do."

James Webb Space Telescope: Actions Needed to Improve Cost Estimate and Oversight of Test and Integration

"The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has provided significantly more time and money to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) than previously planned and expressed high confidence in the project's new baselines. Its current cost estimate reflects some features of best practices for developing reliable and credible estimates."

Curiosity Analyzes First Martian Soil Samples

"We have no definitive detection of Martian organics at this point, but we will keep looking in the diverse environments of Gale Crater," said SAM Principal Investigator Paul Mahaffy of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. ... SAM tentatively identified the oxygen and chlorine compound perchlorate. This is a reactive chemical previously found in arctic Martian soil by NASA's Phoenix Lander. Reactions with other chemicals heated in SAM formed chlorinated methane compounds -- one-carbon organics that were detected by the instrument. The chlorine is of Martian origin, but it is possible the carbon may be of Earth origin, carried by Curiosity and detected by SAM's high sensitivity design."

Plastic beads on Mars: The short life of a NASA spoof site, MSNBC

"Update for 10:30 p.m. ET: Veronica McGregor, who manages the news and social media office at JPL, sent me an email that filled in most of the remaining gaps in the story. "What I know about the site is, the manager/owner was contacted," she wrote. "The content on the site was not a concern, in fact we've truly enjoyed all of the spoofs out there. As you mentioned, it was the use of the page design, name and logos --and the possibility of confusion-- that was the concern. ... We didn't think people would be confused over the beads, just the page design."

Keith's note: Veronica McGregor only wants nice pro-JPL things out there. When a parody appears that strikes too close to home and intrudes on JPL's comfort zone she suddenly gets nervous and pulls out the rule book. Funny how all of the parodies out there that make overt use of NASA imagery, personal likelnesses (haircuts), etc. that make the Curiosity team look good are not only tolerated - JPL actually assists in their production - sometimes on-site.

Undisclosed Finding by Mars Rover Fuels Intrigue, NY Times

"Guy Webster, a spokesman for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., which operates Curiosity, said the findings would be "interesting" rather than "earthshaking." Mr. Webster noted that "a really big announcement," if one should occur, would most likely be made at NASA headquarters in Washington and not at an academic conference."

NASA's "History Book"-Worthy Discovery Is Really Just a Big Misunderstanding, Slate

"While it's a little odd that NASA's communication team didn't manage to quickly quash the rumor after the original report aired, Veronica McGregor, NASA's news and social media manager for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told The Slatest late Tuesday night that they did their best to set the story straight."

Update Set in San Francisco About Curiosity Mars Rover

"Rumors and speculation that there are major new findings from the mission at this early stage are incorrect. The news conference will be an update about first use of the rover's full array of analytical instruments to investigate a drift of sandy soil. One class of substances Curiosity is checking for is organic compounds -- carbon-containing chemicals that can be ingredients for life. At this point in the mission, the instruments on the rover have not detected any definitive evidence of Martian organics."

JPL director: Mars rover Curiosity may have found organic compounds, clue in search for life, Denver Post

"The Curiosity rover may have found organic compounds on Mars, Jet Propulsion Laboratory director Charles Elachi said in Rome on Wednesday, according to multiple reports. "Perhaps Curiosity has found simple organic molecules," Elachi said at La Sapienza University, according to La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno. "It's preliminary data that must be checked (on) organic, not biological, molecules." The statement figures to set off a new round of speculation and excitement about the possibility of life on Mars. Elachi, however, made clear that Curiosity cannot find life."

Keith's note: This is just hilarious. NASA JPL PAO has had more than a week to deal with misquotes, parsing, and "what he really meant to say" in connection with John Grotzinger's NPR interview. But only today do they finally admit that all the speculation was incorrect. They could have put this all to bed last week and avoided all of the needless arm waving, speculation, and stories on the evening news.

Keith's update: NASA JPL PAO just tweeted via @MarsCuriosity "Everybody, chill. After careful analysis, there are no Martian organics in recent samples. Update Dec 3". Alas JPL PAO is not allowing offsite media to ask questions at an event that involves the formal release of data obtained by a government space mission. This is a break with NASA PAO practice since Curiosity landed. Offsite media access was not mentioned in the JPL press release (as is always the case). Oddly JPL can't do a standard media dial-in for the MSL event at AGU but theyo ffer a standard dial-in for the Voyager media event - also at AGU - just 2 hours later. NASA SMD PAO refuses to reply to a simple question on this topic. So much for being open.

Keith's update: NASA SMD PAO has still not responded to my question about media access to this event. But if you find this link at AGU you learn that offsite media (and anyone from the public) can only ask questions remotely via a chat function in a box on the webcast once it has started. A teleconference might be set up - but that will ony happen if the webcast is broken - and again anyone can call in - public and media alike. There does not seem to be any way to distinguish what they call "working media" from all other viewers since you can sign up using any name you want. In other words: if you are not in the room, your chance of asking a question as a member of the news media is rather low. Oh well.

AGU says that "Working members of the media may ask questions by emailing them to news@agu.org." but they do not exactly explain how you are granted status as "working members of the media" If you register as "working media" online or in person you need to send them 3 articles you have written, provide a press badge etc. But if you register as "media" for this webcast you only have to use your real name.

NASA Request for Information: Concepts for Applications of Large Space Optics

"NASA is soliciting broad community inputs in support of a study activity focused on utilization of large flight qualified optical systems recently transferred to NASA from another Government Agency."

Keith's note: "Another Government Agency"? Who writes this stuff? This is just goofy. Everyone knows that the NRO gave NASA hardware that was supposed to have been used in spy satellites. Specifically, the hardware came from the Future Imagery Architecture (FIA). Wikipedia notes that the New York Times called the FIA "perhaps the most spectacular and expensive failure in the 50-year history of American spy satellite projects.". Any questions?

- NRO Gives NASA Two Hubble-Class Telescopes (Shh!), earlier post
- Are NASA's New Telescopes NRO Future Imagery Architecture Leftovers?, earlier post
- How Much Will the Free NRO Space Telescopes Cost?, earlier post
- NASA Seeks Members for NRO Hardware Study Group, earlier post

Keith's note: Last week NASA PAO was telling the media that there would be an announcement (of what they did not know) of MSL results at the AGU meeting tomorrow next week. It has been a week since this story broke - one that spoke of results that would be "Earthshaking" and "one for the history books". Since then NASA has tried to unspin those characterizations but has said nothing officially (no media advisories, etc.) It would seem that no one at NASA knows what will be announced - or if anything will be announced - and that they do not care about telling the public - or the media - what is going on.

Given NASA SMD's recent botched PR efforts with regard to life in the universe i.e. "Arsenic-based life" and "Earthlike planets", yet another false alarm or flurry of unsubstantiated arm waving and hype followed by spin control would really undermine SMD's credibility.

Press Conference: Mars Rover Curiosity's Investigations in Gale Crater

"Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco, California Monday, 3 December 9:00 a.m."

Keith's update: NASA has not made any statement about this event - nor have they said whether the press briefing will be webcast/televised or if media who are not at the meeting will be able to participate.

MSL Results: "Earthshaking ... one for the history books" Or Not?, earlier post

Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now, NPR

"The exciting results are coming from an instrument in the rover called SAM. "We're getting data from SAM as we sit here and speak, and the data looks really interesting," John Grotzinger, the principal investigator for the rover mission, says during my visit last week to his office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. That's where data from SAM first arrive on Earth. "The science team is busily chewing away on it as it comes down," says Grotzinger. SAM is a kind of miniature chemistry lab. Put a sample of Martian soil or rock or even air inside SAM, and it will tell you what the sample is made of. Grotzinger says they recently put a soil sample in SAM, and the analysis shows something earthshaking. "This data is gonna be one for the history books. It's looking really good," he says."

Keith's 20 Nov note: NASA SMD PAO has confirmed that Grotzinger will make an announcement at the AGU meeting next Wednesday. Given that he repeatedly uses phrases such as "Earthshaking" and "one for the history books" when talking to the media (clearly with zero NASA PAO guidance) one had better hope that his news will indeed be of that importance. Of course, while everyone seems to be thinking that SAM may have found something important in terms of organic compounds, it could well be that it has found absolutely no sign of organics. I suppose both extremes could be considered "Earthshaking" and "one for the history books". Given NASA SMD's recent botched PR efforts with regard to life in the universe i.e. "Arsenic-based life" and "Earthlike planets", yet another false alarm or flurry of unsubstantiated arm waving and hype would really undermine SMD's credibility.

Keith's 21 Nov 10:07 am EST update: Now NASA PAO and others are finally being dragged into the viral discussion. Perhaps if Grotzinger coordinated his message and choice of words (in advance), things would calm down a little. Given that everyone at NASA is either on vacation or about to go away for a long Thanksgiving weekend, I suspect this flurry won't really diminish. All too soon the UK tabloids will be proclaiming that Curiosity has (once again) "found life" on Mars.

Dcouverte historique pour Curiosity : le vrai, le faux, Ciel & Space

VIA Google Translate: "A "buzz" unjustified "None of that!" Insists the French Michel Cabane, Co scientific instrument Sat "We do not understand what is happening. We have absolutely no news to announce glowing!"

A Mars Announcement 'for the History Books'? Not So Fast, Time

JPL spokesman Guy Webster made just this point today in an e-mail to TIME: "As for history books, the whole mission is for the history books," he wrote. That's not to say he rules out the possibility of truly big news. "It won't be earthshaking," he said in a later phone call, "but it will be interesting."

Keith's 21 Nov 2:46 pm EST update: According to Mars Curiosity's Facebook page: "What did I discover on Mars? That rumors spread fast online. My team considers this whole mission "one for the history books." This is just bizarre.

First Grotzinger, the mission's Co-I gets quoted on a national news outlet saying some rather provocative things. Then NASA PAO refuses to make any statement either confirming or denying what Grotzinger said (indeed they have decline to dispute these comments when asked). Then someone at JPL takes to a Facebook page to try and cast doubt on Internet rumors. Between Grotzinger's comments, and lack of PAO clarification, it is obvious that no one really cares if these rumors continue - or if they are inaccurate - and also, that no one is really in charge of public relations for this mission.

Keith's 23 Nov note: Yes, when you listen to the audio, its the journalist who uses the word "Earthshaking". And then Grotzinger agrees with the word (there is no evidence from the tape that he denied that this word was accurate in any way). When you ask NASA PAO if they dispute the characterization of Grotiznger's comments as stating that the new data is "Earthshaking" NASA PAO says "No".

If this announcement is not "Earthshaking" then why does NASA repeatedly pass on repeated inquires from the media when they offer NASA a chance to dispute the accuracy of the term or to distance themselves from its use in this specific context?

NASA GRC Solicitation: Curiosity Rover Scale Models

"NASA/GRC has a requirement for two (2) high quality 1/10th scale models and one (1) 1/5th scale model of the Curiosity Rover. NASA/GRC intends to purchase the items from Scale Model Company on a sole source basis due to the proprietary restrictions on drawings."

Keith's note: "Proprietary restrictions on drawings"? Gee, I wonder were this company got the data for the drawings of Curiosity in the first place? (Likely) answer: one way or another it all comes from NASA - even if the company did additional work on the drawings for their own uses. Too bad NASA has to spend lots of money on these models. There is little, if any, incentive at NASA to find cheaper ways to procure things like this since the expensive way is the way things have always been done. I wonder how much they are paying for these models? If I ask NASA PAO what the models cost they will almost certainly refuse to tell me and will make me file a FOIA request.

More or less every NASA center has 3-D printers these days and is experimenting with 3-D printing of satellite and rocket engine components. Why not take NASA's Curiosity drawings and make them open source? There's a large, growing DIY / "Maker" community who'd just love to do this for free. Then anyone (including NASA) can just print the models out - at a variety of scales - in a variety of materials - on an as-needed basis. Not only would this provide a huge audience with a chance to get a more intimate understanding of how these rovers work, it would also end up costing less money to make these models that NASA just loves to spend money on.

That said, I am sure the ITAR enforcers will find reasons why you can't release things like this - even if the schematics simply show the outside of components - not their internal design. Yet nothing stops a company like Scaled Model Company from producing a model on their own - one of sufficient fidelity that NASA itself wants to buy it.

- 3-D Printing and Space, NASAHackspace
- 3D Printed CubeSat, Fabbaloo
- PrintSat - An Amateur Radio 3D Printer CubeSat, Southgate
- 3D Printing of cubesat structure, YouTube
- NASA 3D prints rocket parts -- with steel, not plastic, ExtremeTech

Space telescope to get software fix, Nature

"Long-standing but little-publicized software problems, and insufficient memory in one of the detectors, have clouded the vision of the world's leading -ray telescope to the highest-energy -rays. The flaws do not seriously threaten the satellite's observations at low energies. But they have hampered studies at energies greater than 10 billion electronvolts (GeV), which could yield clues to dark matter and the powerful stellar explosions known as -ray bursts, says particle physicist Bill Atwood at the University of California, Santa Cruz, a member of the Fermi team who helped to design the craft's instruments."

Doubt cast on Fermi's dark matter smoking gun, New Scientist

"The team first had to reprocess their data from the galactic centre to account for a glitch caused by a damaged instrument on the telescope. That revealed that the signal had shifted from 130 to 135 GeV, Albert told the Fourth International Fermi Symposium in Monterey, California, on 2 November. What's more, that signal had faded to statistical insignificance. "The feature's gotten a little smaller," she says. "It hasn't gone away completely, but we do not see it to be very significant. At this point, we have to cast doubt on this being a dark matter line."

Fermi Observations of Dwarf Galaxies Provide New Insights on Dark Matter

"Scientists working with data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have looked for signals from some of these hypothetical particles by zeroing in on 10 small, faint galaxies that orbit our own. Although no signals have been detected, a novel analysis technique applied to two years of data from the observatory's Large Area Telescope (LAT) has essentially eliminated these particle candidates for the first time."

NASA Hosts Nov. 2 Teleconference About Mars Rover Progress

"NASA will host a media teleconference at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) on Friday, Nov. 2, to provide an update on Curiosity's studies of the Martian atmosphere."

Curiosity set to weigh in on Mars methane puzzle, Nature

"NASA has announced that Grotzinger's team will discuss atmospheric measurements at a briefing on 2 November. If the rover has detected methane at sufficiently high concentration, or exhibiting temporal variations of the kind that suggests microbial activity, then it will surely motivate a desire to identify and map the sources."

Keith's note: Up until now, NASA has been rather quiet about the characterization of methane distribution by Curiosity ...

Watch LIVE

Keith's update: Press conference statement: "How much methane did we see? So far we have no definitive detection of methane. We have no detection of methane but we will keep looking in the month ahead."

NASA'S Curiosity Rover Provides Clues to Changes in Martian Atmosphere

"Methane is clearly not an abundant gas at the Gale Crater site, if it is there at all. At this point in the mission we're just excited to be searching for it," said SAM TLS lead Chris Webster of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "While we determine upper limits on low values, atmospheric variability in the Martian atmosphere could yet hold surprises for us."

Marc's note: I've added the complete recording of today's telecon with reporters questions to the above press release.

Keith's 29 Oct note: The @NASA_SDO twitter account just noted "Due to the impact of Hurricane #Sandy @NASA_Goddard the @NASA_SDO website is down. Sorry for the inconvenience We will have it up again ASAP".

This is baffling. The most weather we have here in the DC/Baltimore area right now is steady rain. No hurricane effects are being felt yet. But none the less a GSFC website is offline? I wonder what would happen during a solar storm when the website is actually needed. Hasn't NASA learned how to prepare for such simple contingencies i.e. placing its websites (or at least a back up mirror) in the cloud? Maybe if the SDO folks spent a little more time on routine web support and less time on their dead rubber chicken mascot this wouldn't happen.

But wait: since NASA is incapable of having one official SDO website (due to a chronic organizational inability to adopt a simple website plan) there is another official NASA SDO website online here but it has nothing to do with this equally official SDO website here (which is offline) except that it loads images from the site that is offline right now.

Keith's 30 Oct update: It has been 24 hours. The hurricane is gone. All of NASA's websites seem to be working just fine - none seem to have been knocked offline - except for the SDO website at GSFC which was taken offline. The other (competeting) official NASA SDO website that relies on this downed GSFC server for images shows blank space where the "Latest SDO AIA Image" should be.

Keith's 31 Oct update: The website is back online. What is really odd is this notice they posted:

"The SDO Website is Down Mon, 29 Oct 2012 Due to anticipated power grid problems caused by Hurricane Sandy the SDO website has been shutdown. We regret the inconvenience. The website should return tomorrow. All SDO data is sent to the ground and stored at the data centers."

Think about this for a second. They posted this notice on 29 October on a website that no one could see on 29 or 30 October. Who did they expect to read this notice? You would have had to actually be able to see the website in order to see the notice that the website was offline. Only at NASA.

Keck Observations Bring Weather of Uranus Into Sharp Focus

"In 1986, when Voyager swept past Uranus, the probe's portraits of the planet were "notoriously bland," disappointing scientists, yielding few new details of the planet and its atmosphere, and giving it a reputation as a bore of the solar system. Now, however, thanks to a new technique applied at the Keck Observatory, Uranus is coming into sharp focus through high-resolution infrared images, revealing in incredible detail the bizarre weather of the seventh planet from the sun."

Jupiter - Turmoil from Below, Battering from Above

"Jupiter, the mythical god of sky and thunder, would certainly be pleased at all the changes afoot at his namesake planet. As the planet gets peppered continually with small space rocks, wide belts of the atmosphere are changing color, hotspots are vanishing and reappearing, and clouds are gathering over one part of Jupiter, while dissipating over another."

Earth-Mass Planet Found Orbiting Alpha Centauri B

"European astronomers have discovered a planet with about the mass of the Earth orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri system -- the nearest to Earth. It is also the lightest exoplanet ever discovered around a star like the Sun. The planet was detected using the HARPS instrument on the 3.6-meter telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. The results will appear online in the journal Nature on 17 October 2012."

NASA Statement On Alpha Centauri Planet Discovery

"The following is a statement about the European Southern Observatory's latest exoplanet discovery from NASA's Science Mission Directorate Associate Administrator, Dr. John Grunsfeld. "We congratulate the European Southern Observatory team for making this exciting new exoplanet discovery. For astronomers, the search for exoplanets helps us understand our place in the universe and determine whether Earth is unique in supporting life or if it is just one member of a large community of habitable worlds. NASA has several current and future missions that will continue in this search."

Pluto's Moons and Possible Rings May Be Hazards: New Horizons and the Gauntlet it may Encounter in 2015, SwRI

"Although we'd prefer to go closer, going farther from Pluto is certainly preferable to running through a dangerous gauntlet of debris, and possibly even rings, that may orbit close to Pluto among its complex system of moons. ... We may not know whether to fire our engines on New Horizons and bail out to safer distances until just 10 days before reaching Pluto, so this may be a bit of a cliff-hanger. Stay tuned."

Keith's note: That there are conditions surrounding this distant world - ones that are just being discovered - should not be unexpected. That's why we go to such great lengths to explore these worlds in the first place. But these discoveries about Pluto and its environs are not being made by the New Horizons spacecraft - but rather by Earth- and space-based telescopes we've had for a long time - before New Horizons was even launched. But now (oops) 7 years after launch and this potential show stopper pops up. Perhaps some better pre-launch recon was in order prior to departure.

As for use for the phrase "bail out", I wonder what PR genius approved that quote - it makes it sound like NASA did not do its home work first and may eventually have to make a drastic decision as a result.

Also, it is rather odd for NASA not to be announcing a potential threat to one of its spacecraft and a serious departure i.e. "bail out" from its prime mission. What's up with that? Waiting for NASA to reply. I am told a reply is being formulated to the questions I submitted to SMD PAO:

"- Will there be a formal statement from NASA regarding debris issues in the vicinity of Pluto and how it will affect mission plans?
- Will NASA be spending additional funds for additional telescope observations of Pluto? If so how much will these observations cost, what budget pays these costs, what telescopes/spacecraft will be used, and how long will these observations be conducted?
- When will contingency plans for changing the trajectory of New Horizons at Pluto be finalized?
- Who (Individual, agency) makes the final decision as to whether New Horizons continues on its original trajectory or if that trajectory is modified?
- When was NASA notified by New Horizons mission team that the original flight trajectory was in jeopardy due to debris concerns?"

Sen. Coburn: "Washington is set to spend at least $3.6 trillion this year while running a $1.3 trillion deficit. The waste is overflowing and it's time to take out the trash. This coming Tuesday, October 16, we'll be releasing our annual Wastebook 2012 edition."

Download link (Now online)

Keith's note: This year's cover includes the Planet Mars and Darth Vader.

Senator Tom Coburn's Annual Waste Book 2012 - NASA Excerpts

"Imagine pizza so out of this world, you would have to travel to Mars to have a slice. That is the goal of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Advanced Food Technology Project, which has already developed a recipe for pizza and about 100 other foods that could be served some day on Mars. Of course, NASA no longer has a manned spaced fleet and no current mission plans for human space flight to Mars, but some are hopeful a trip to the red planet could possibly be taken in the mid-2030s at the earliest. Even this goal is optimistic, however, due to budget constraints that have reduced the appetite for costly space missions. Yet, NASA spends about $1 million annually "researching and building the Mars menu."This year, NASA also awarded $947,000 to researchers at Cornell University and the University of Hawaii to study the best food for astronauts to eat on Mars."

B612 Foundation Forms Independent Sentinel Special Review Team (with full Space Act Agreement text)

"The SSRT will provide technical advice and assistance during the development and operations of the Sentinel Space Telescope mission. Members include scientists and aerospace experts independently selected by the B612 Sentinel leadership, and members assigned by NASA, which is providing technical support through a Space Act Agreement."

The telescopes that came in from the cold, Nature

"Some astronomers, however, are questioning whether the value of the free hardware-- each NRO telescope is worth at least US$250 million-- can compensate for the extra costs entailed in going from a 1.3-metre mission to a 2.4-metre mission, which will require a larger rocket and a larger camera. Although the WFIRST mission was expected to cost $1.5billion, one NASA estimate puts the NRO option at $1.75billion."

- NRO Gives NASA Two Hubble-Class Telescopes (Shh!), earier post
- Are NASA's New Telescopes NRO Future Imagery Architecture Leftovers?, earier post

More evidence that Voyager has exited the solar system, Houston Chronicle

"New data from the spacecraft, which I will discuss below, indicate Voyager 1 may have exited the solar system for good. If true, this would mark a truly historic moment for the human race -- sending a spacecraft beyond the edge of our home solar system."

Voyager Recent 6 Hour History

Voyage Cosmic Ray Subsystem (Data Graphic)

NASA's Curiosity Rover Checks-In on Mars Using Foursquare

"NASA's Curiosity Mars rover checked in on Mars Wednesday using the mobile application Foursquare. This marks the first check-in on another planet. Users on Foursquare can keep up with Curiosity as the rover checks in at key locations and posts photos and tips, all while exploring the Red Planet. "NASA is using Foursquare as a tool to share the rover's new locations while exploring Mars," said David Weaver, associate administrator for communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This will help to involve the public with the mission and give them a sense of the rover's travels through Gale Crater."

Keith's note: What PAO hasn't explained is why Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity hasn't already checked in on Foursquare. After 8 years it should be the mayor of Mars.

Remnants of Ancient Streambed Discovered on Mars

"NASA's Curiosity rover mission has found evidence a stream once ran vigorously across the area on Mars where the rover is driving. There is earlier evidence for the presence of water on Mars, but this evidence - images of rocks containing ancient streambed gravels - is the first of its kind. Scientists are studying the images of stones cemented into a layer of conglomerate rock. The sizes and shapes of stones offer clues to the speed and distance of a long-ago stream's flow."

U.S., Europe Won't Go It Alone in Mars Exploration, Space News

"Let me say this clearly, because we hear all the time that NASA has 'abandoned' ExoMars," Bolden said. "We have not abandoned ExoMars, and the Electra payload is an example of our continuing high interest in the mission."

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, NASA.gov

"NASA will not be moving forward with the planned 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions that we had been exploring with the European Space Agency. Instead, we will develop an integrated strategy to ensure that the next steps for Mars exploration will support science as well as human exploration goals."

Keith's note: Note: Electra is a UHF radio/relay on MRO. It is already in orbit at Mars. As such, it doesn't take much "high interest" on NASA's part to allow ExoMars or any other mission to use it - as long as it still works.

NASA Hosts Teleconference on Status of Mars Program Options

"NASA will host a media teleconference 3 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 25, to provide details of a summary report provided by the Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG). The MPPG was established to aid with planning for the agency's future Mars Program within available future budgets. The summary report will be posted an hour before the teleconference on NASA's MPPG webpage."

NAS Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science (dial-in/webcast)

"10:15 a.m. PDT (1:15 pm EDT) Report of the Mars Program Planning Group - Orlando Figueroa"

Mars Program Planning Group Summary of Final Report

NASA And Motorola Poke Fun At iOS 6, Learn How To Get Google Maps Back On Your iOS Device

"This isn't the only company making fun off iOS 6 though. NASA's own Curiosity Rover claimed that he was updated to iOS 6 and was now in Norway! What a terrible coincidence. Here's the CuriosityRover's entire tweet: NASA HAVE UPDATED ME TO iOS 6. APPARENTLY I'M NOW IN NORWAY."

Keith's note: There is clear confusion between the official NASA Twitter account @MarsCuriosity and the spoof Twitter@MarsCuroisity - this author attributes a tweet from the parody Twitter to one made by NASA's official Twitter account. Between a slight change in spelling and nearly identical design, its easy to be confused - at first - until you actually read the tweets, that is. Some of the stuff is funny. Too bad they have to use the F-word in almost every tweet - rather lazy and uncreative.

NASA to Brief NRC on Its New Mars Plan Next Week, SpacePolicyOnline

"Orlando Figueroa will brief the National Research Council's Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science (CAPS) next week on the results of his Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG) effort. Figueroa is scheduled to brief the committee on Tuesday at 10:15 am PT (1:15 pm ET) at the NRC's Beckman Center in Irvine, CA. The NRC plans to webcast the meeting."

Jaylee Mead dies: NASA astronomer was a cultural benefactor in D.C., Washington Post

"Jaylee Mead and her husband, Gilbert, came, in some ways, from different universes. Gilbert was an heir to the riches of Consolidated Papers in Wisconsin -- one of the largest papermakers in North America -- while Jaylee was the daughter of a general store owner in rural North Carolina. They worked together for years at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, he as a geophysicist and she as an astronomer, one of the few women of her generation to pursue a career in astrophysics."

NASA Cooperative Agreement Notice Draft Announcement for a Joint SMD and HEOMD Science and Exploration Institute and Request for Comments

"NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) intend to release a Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) for the NEW NASA science and exploration institute (name to be determined) no earlier than October 2012. The new institute will retain the successful structure of the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI), consisting of new peer-reviewed and competitively selected teams managed by the current small central office located at NASA Ames Research Center. The new institute will be a virtual research organization that leverages knowledge and expertise from the science and exploration communities and supports NASA's goals in lunar and planetary science and human exploration of the solar system. It is anticipated that approximately seven teams will be selected in response to the proposed CAN."

Keith's note: NASA just repeated this tweet to its 2.9 million followers: "In 1 hour, join @NASA and @SBAgov in a Google+ hangout to celebrate #smallbiz contributions to @MarsCuriosity http://go.nasa.gov/QllNLZ". OSTP (the White House) host posted multiple tweets for its 300,000+ followers such as yesterday's tweet "Tomorrow join @NASA & @SBAgov for Google+ Hangout w/ ATA Engineering, a small business that helped land @MarsCuriosity" and posted something on its official blog.

I have looked back over a week of Tweets by @MarsCuriosity. No mention whatsoever of this event was made to its 1.1 million followers. I did not see anything from JPL PAO on this event either. No mention is made on any of the missions multiple official websites either. It is rather odd that the White House and NASA Headquarters go out of their way to highlight the @MarsCuriosity mission - and bring in the SBA so as to emphasize the economic value/impact of space exploration - and yet JPL PAO can't even be bothered to tell people about it?

NASA Administrator Bolden and SBA Administrator Mills "Hangout" with Curiosity Small Business ATA Engineering

"NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills highlighted the contributions of small businesses to the success of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars during a Google+ Hangout Wednesday with ATA Engineering, headquartered in Herndon, Va. ATA Engineering partnered with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) team to test and analyze the entry, descent and landing of the rover, specifically the wheels, actuators and thermal control systems."

If the Mars rover finds water, it could be H2 ... uh oh!, LA Times

"On Nov. 1, after learning that the drill bit box had been opened, Conley said she had the mission reclassified to one in which Curiosity could touch the surface of Mars "as long as there is no ice or water." Conley's predecessor at NASA, John D. Rummel, a professor of biology at East Carolina University, said, partly in jest: "It will be a sad day for NASA if they do detect ice or water. That's because the Curiosity project will most likely be told, 'Gee, that's nice. Now turn around.' " If water is found, Curiosity could still conduct tests from a distance with instruments including a laser and spectrometers."

Mars Rover May Be Contaminated with Earth Microbes, NPR

"... what we would do is we would take a step back, and we would convene a panel of scientific experts to review the whole procedure, look at the amount of ultraviolet light that might've been hitting the drill bit that would be burning, you know, giving all those organisms sunburn. There are a small number of organisms on the rover, many, many fewer than there are on the palm of your hand. But there are a few. So we would convene this panel of experts. We'd look at the conditions at Gale Crater. We'd consider what the characteristics of this potential water or ice might be, and then that panel would decide how we should proceed with the potential to study that."

Hearing: The Path from LEO to Mars, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

"Sep 12 2012 2:00 PM"

NASA to Host Mars Curiosity Rover Progress Teleconference

"September 12, 2012 2 p.m. EDT"

Keith's note: Why is NASA SMD PAO scheduling a media event on MSL at the exact same time as a Senate hearing that includes MSL Project Scientist John Grotzinger and Fuk Li, Director of JPL's Mars Exploration Directorate? You'd think that there'd be a little more coordination on these things within SMD.

Save Planetary Science, AGU

"The time has come for us to again stand up and fight for the future of our science. In part due to you making your voices heard, the US Congress continues work to restore a large portion of the serious cut to the FY 2013 NASA Planetary Science budget. Although the final budget won't be enacted for some months due to the election, planning in both houses of Congress looks positive. Now we must turn our attention to the source of the President's budget - the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP)."

NASA's WISE Survey Uncovers Millions Of Black Holes

"Images from the telescope have revealed millions of dusty black hole candidates across the universe and about 1,000 even dustier objects thought to be among the brightest galaxies ever found. These powerful galaxies that burn brightly with infrared light are nicknamed hot DOGs. "WISE has exposed a menagerie of hidden objects," said Hashima Hasan, WISE program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington."

NASA's Kepler Discovers Multiple Planets Orbiting a Pair of Stars

"NASA's Kepler mission has discovered multiple transiting planets orbiting two suns for the first time. The system, known as a circumbinary planetary system, is 4,900 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. Coming less than a year after the announcement of the first circumbinary planet, Kepler-16b, this discovery proves that more than one planet can form and persist in the stressful realm of a binary star."

Building Blocks of Life Found Around Young Sun-like Star

"The astronomers found molecules of glycolaldehyde -- a simple form of sugar -- in the gas surrounding a young binary star, with similar mass to the Sun, called IRAS 16293-2422. Glycolaldehyde has been seen in interstellar space before, but this is the first time it has been found so near to a Sun-like star, at distances comparable to the distance of Uranus from the Sun in the Solar System. This discovery shows that some of the chemical compounds needed for life existed in this system at the time of planet formation."

Column: Manned missions to Mars aren't just sci-fi, opinion, Lou Friedman, USA Today

"Human travel to Mars is inevitable. Human journeys beyond Mars will be virtual. This makes Mars the ultimate destination for humans, in body at least. Once we realize that, the context of robotic missions like Spirit, Opportunity and, now, Curiosity changes. President Obama may actually understand this; he is the first president to announce that human expeditions to Mars (he said by the mid-2030s) is the goal of America's space program. The president may understand it, but his administration doesn't. It has cut out most future Mars plans in NASA. That disconnect needs fixing."

Keith's note: I simply do not agree with Lou Friedman when he suggests that personal, physical human exploration is going to be limited to Mars - with no human venturing beyond in person. This is narrow, defeatist thinking in the extreme. Friedman talks about the potential amazing technological advances in on sentence (electronics) for future robotic spacecraft - right after he says that human life support technology is stuck in the 1960s and apparently is immune to similar technological advances. He's already given up and decided what is hard and what is not.

Alas, Carl Sagan spoke for decades about humans inside starships. Not everyone sees Mars as the "utlimate destination" as Friedman does. Rather, many see Mars as just a first step - one of many steps to be taken by human boots - accompanied by robots.

But I do agree with Friedman on one point: if you are going to set a goal i.e. sending humans to Mars, then the monetary resources to build up to that capability need to be in place to enable the development of that capability - now.

As for being Friedman's statement that Presient Obama "is the first president to announce that human expeditions to Mars (he said by the mid-2030s) is the goal of America's space program." I guess Lou missed this 2004 statement from President Bush: "With the experience and knowledge gained on the moon, we will then be ready to take the next steps of space exploration: human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond.". This was immediately followed by the President's Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond. In 1989 his father said that America would be "sending humans back to the Moon, and ultimately sending astronauts to Mars". I was at both events and clearly heard the word "Mars" both times.

First Earthrise Photo Taken 46 Years Ago Today

"46 Years ago today, on 23 August 1966, Lunar Orbiter 1 snapped the first photo of Earth as seen from lunar orbit. While a remarkable image at the time, the full resolution of the image was never retrieved from the data stored from the mission. In 2008, this earthrise image was restored by the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project. We obtained the original data tapes from the mission (the last surviving set) and restored original FR-900 tape drives to operational condition using both 60s era parts and modern electronics."

NASA Mars Rover Begins Driving at Bradbury Landing

"NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has begun driving from its landing site, which scientists announced today they have named for the late author Ray Bradbury. Making its first movement on the Martian surface, Curiosity's drive combined forward, turn and reverse segments. This placed the rover roughly 20 feet (6 meters) from the spot where it landed 16 days ago."

Keith's note: The other name under consideration by NASA for this location would have honored astronaut Sally Ride.

>Notice of Intent to Solicit Science Definition Team for National Reconnaissance Orbiter Optical Hardware via Dear Colleague Letter

- NRO Gives NASA Two Hubble-Class Telescopes (Shh!), earlier post
- NASA's Stubby Hubbles and Fumbled PR
- Are NASA's New Telescopes NRO Future Imagery Architecture Leftovers?, earlier post

Keith's 20 Aug note: According to this NASA notice, "NRO" stands for either "National Reconnaissance Observatory" or "National Reconnaissance Orbiter". Nice way to say thank you to NRO.

Keith's 21 Aug update: They fixed it.

Notice of Intent to Solicit Science Definition Team for National Reconnaissance Office Optical Hardware via Dear Colleague Letter

"NOTE added August 21, 2012: This community announced is being reissued to (a) clarify the nature of the parallel coronagraph study, (b) correct the export-control driven eligibility requirement from U.S. citizens to U.S. persons, (c) announce a wider survey for potential uses of the telescope assets that will be undertaken later in 2012, and (d) correct some typographical errors (including what NRO stands for)."

Keith's note: Sources report that NASA has selected JPL's InSight mission to drill on Mars. Given that this is based on Mars Phoenix which, in turn, heavily utilized Mars Polar Lander designs, you can rest assured that NASA will never be able to tell you how much this mission really cost or how much was "saved" by using existing designs.

- JPL's InSight: Ignoring The Real Costs - and its MPL Heritage, earlier post
- Confusion About Future NASA Landers on Mars, earlier post

Keith's note: Telecon note: If you look at the NASA JPL website and other related materials there are frequent references to InSight's design heritage i.e. "The InSight mission is similar in design to the Mars lander that the Phoenix mission used successfully in 2007 to study ground ice near the north pole of Mars. The reuse of this technology, developed and built by Lockheed-Martin Space Systems in Denver, CO, will provide a low-risk path to Mars without the added cost of designing and testing a new system from scratch."

When I asked how much money was saved by re-using this design NASA (Jim Greene) could not answer. He said that NASA only looked at the current design and not at any previous mission. When I asked how it is that NASA can cite the cost saving/risk reduction from using a previous mission design in one location but then say that it is not relevant in another situation i.e. that this sounded contradictory, Green's reply was confusing and did not answer my question. I guess I will have to listen to the replay to see if it makes any sense the second time around.

SMD AA John Grunsfeld did make a good point that InSight is designed to last for several years in a more equatorial location whereas Phoenix had a limited life due to its polar location.

Likely footprint of spiky dinosaur has NASA's Md. campus on cloud nine, Washington Post

"A scalloped mini-crater with four pointy toe prints pressed into ruddy rock, the putative dinosaur track juts out from a scruffy slope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center..."

NASA's Nodosaur Track, Smithsonian

"Officials at the NASA campus are already moving to protect the fossil, and they plan to bring in paleontologists to look for other dinosaur tracks. The NASA scientists want to keep the site a secret, Vastag reports, but ultimately want the public to be able to see the track."

Keith's note: Too bad NASA couldn't take this opportunity - one so close to its facilities - to treat this excavation as if it were a scientific endeavour using robotics i.e. practice for work on Mars or elsewhere. Besides, what things do kids like the most? Dinosaurs and outer space. This is a twofer.

Keeping the location "secret" is a wise precaution to take when there is no security to protect sites like this from looters. But this site is located inside a NASA field center with what one would hope is a secure perimeter. Does NASA think people might break in to GSFC and chip the footprints out of the ground? Or do they not trust Goddard employees? Given the immense value of other things lying around at GSFC, one would think that the agency would trust its employees enough to honor a "do not disturb" sign just like they do every other notice they encounter. Photos anyone? We'll post them anonymously.

Keith's update: NASA GSFC Has posted an Update on this story. They still will not reveal the exact location inside this secure Federal facility. i.e. "Goddard Facilities Manager Alan Binstock said the agency considers the footprint and its location "sensitive but unclassified."

Read the increasingly desperate tweets of Martian rock N165 as it is zapped by Curiosity

"Poor little N165. It never really had a chance. As soon as the Curiosity rover warmed up its rock-vaporizing laser, it was certain to be used as target practice. But thanks to the miracle of social media, that Martian rock has a voice, and it's not happy."

@N165Mars (the first of many Mars rocks to twitter)

Keith's note: N165 isn't alone. NASA has attacked helpless Mars rocks before. Curiosity and Spirit ground holes in lots of them. Ray (a NASA Watch reader) and I were both reminded of a historical precedent, of sorts: the 1967 attack on a Horta by Kirk and Spock. If you will rceall the Horta was associated with small round mineralized spheres (like super-sized Mars "blueberries") that were its eggs. They may look like plain old rocks to us. I'm just sayin' ...

NASA Curiosity Rover's Laser Instrument Zaps First Martian Rock

"Today, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity fired its laser for the first time on Mars, using the beam from a science instrument to interrogate a fist-size rock called "Coronation."

Keith's update: Looks like they changed N165's name.

Photo: First Laser-Zapped Rock on Mars

NASA Request for Information for a Mission of Opportunity to Aid in the Detection of Very-Near Earth Asteroids

"NASA HEOMD and SMD, through the Joint Robotic Precursor Activity (JRPA) office, are interested in instrument concepts for a mission of opportunity to be hosted on a US Government or commercial spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit that will be capable of detecting and tracking asteroids in orbits very similar to Earth's, including Earth-trojan asteroids. "Very-Near Earth asteroids" are envisioned as a set of asteroids to be discovered, in an orbit very similar to Earth's, that offer low delta-V solutions for human exploration missions. This RFI solicits information from potential sources for an instrument that can be delivered for flight as soon as 2016."

New National Research Council Report Presents Research Program for Solar and Space Physics Over the Next Decade

"A new report from the National Research Council presents a prioritized program of basic and applied research for 2013-2022 that will advance scientific understanding of the sun, sun-Earth connections and the origins of "space weather," and the sun's interactions with other bodies in the solar system. This second decadal survey in solar and space physics -- the product of a 18-month effort by more than 85 solar and space physicists and space system engineers -- lays out four scientific goals for the next 10 years along with guiding principles and recommended actions."

NASA Dawn Mission Status Report 14 August 2012

"During a planned communications pass on Aug. 9, the team learned that the reaction wheel had been powered off. Telemetry data from the spacecraft suggest the wheel developed excessive friction, similar to the experience with another Dawn reaction wheel in June 2010. The Dawn team demonstrated during the cruise to Vesta in 2011 that, if necessary, they could complete the cruise to Ceres without the use of reaction wheels."

Click on image to enlarge. Source: The Internet.

Transcript of Remarks by President Obama to the Mars Science Lab Team at NASA JPL

"I understand there's a special Mohawk Guy that's working on the mission. (Laughter.) He's been one of the many stars of the show last Sunday night. And I, in the past, thought about getting a Mohawk myself -- (laughter) -- but my team keeps on discouraging me. And now that he's received marriage proposals and thousands of new Twitter followers, I think that I'm going to go back to my team and see if it makes sense. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: It does sound like NASA has come a long way from the white shirt, black dark-rimmed glasses and the pocket protectors. (Laughter.) You guys are a little cooler than you used to be. (Laughter.)"

Ocean Optics Spectrometers Land Safely on Mars

"Three Ocean Optics instruments have completed their eight month journey to Mars to study soil composition as part of the ChemCam mission. The company's modular Jaz spectrometer scaled Mt. Everest with a team that included NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski to measure solar irradiance at extreme altitude."

Using a Tricorder on Mount Everest

"If you've ever seen a Starfleet away team beaming down to a new planet, you know that the first thing they do is whip out their tricorder and scan everything. Many of NASA's astrobiologists want one. Well, Scott and I had one at Everest."

Keith's note: I carried this cool device up to Everest Base Camp and then Scott carried it up the mountain. Its not unusual for people to trek into Everest with the latest high tech gear on display but every time I pulled this thing out people stopped to watch me go through my procedure. I took this promo photo of Scott using the Jaz unit while we were standing next to our tents at Everest Base Camp. An instant later we heard a loud noise coming from the icefall. I quickly switched my camera from still to video and shot this video since I was literally pointed at the exact right spot already. This was one of the largest avalanches in recent seasons.

Had I not been taking the PR shot of Scott and the Jaz unit I'd have missed most of this avalanche. (More details in comments below). Now I see that our good friends at Ocean Optics have hardware on Mars. How cool - especially since I had 4 little Moon rocks in my chest pocket when I shot these pics and video - and our Moon rocks are now on the ISS.

Curiosity Image: Good Morning Mars

"This image was taken by Navcam: Left A (NAV_LEFT_A) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol2 (2012-08-08 07:11:08 UTC) . Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech"

Keith's 7 Aug note: In its 30 July press release listing all MSL media activities and opportunities, no mention is made by NASA that offsite media would be allowed ask questions during press briefings - other than the vague "Two-way question-and-answer capability will be available for some of the news briefings from participating NASA locations". Yesterday (Tuesday) a number of media asked questions by telephone. Yet no formal media advisory was sent out by NASA noting that this was an option and how/where to participate. So early yesterday afternoon I sent a request for dial-in/off-site procedures to multiple people at JPL PAO, SMD PAO, and HQ PAO. No one from PAO ever replied.

Keith's 8 Aug update: JPL PAO sent me dial-in information 14 minutes before the press briefing began. A minute after I got this email I also got a general email from JPL PAO to news media alerting us of a dial-in capability. This was the first such note they sent out. Several other space media colleagues had told me that they were unaware of the dial-in option - until they saw my note or got this email. Annoying - its not as if JPL PAO has never done this before.

NASA's 7 Minutes of 'Mohawk Guy' Goes Viral, PC Magazine

"Meanwhile, the Mohawk Guy puzzle may have been solved, but there were other curiosities in the JPL's Curiosity broadcast that have yet to surrender their mysteries. We'll leave you with this: Embedded below is the video showing the reaction at mission control when Curiosity's landing was confirmed. Ferdowsi is there, of course, but see if you can also spot Old Hippy Guy and Jump-the-Gun-Celebration Guy."

Keith's note: Word has it that the head of Mars TSA (picture to the right) has been fired after allowing Mars Curiosity and its laser to land on Mars undetected. Speaking of mohawks ... if you watched *any* MSL landing coverage you saw Internet nerd icon "the Mohawk guy" (Bobak Ferdowsi) sitting at his console. You can follow him at @tweetsoutloud .

JPL folks are notoriously open about expressing their emotions and individuality during landings at mission control (think back to the Pathfinder landing) yet they do things as equally amazing as are done from JSC and KSC. Yet you'd never see a mohawk in MCC or LCC. Why is that?

Can NASA keep public's curiosity piqued?, Houston Chronicle

"Paul Spudis, a senior scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, said Curiosity's success doesn't change the fact that the agency is still looking for a vision. "It's tangential to the agency's fundamental problem - where is it going and why?" Spudis asked. "Since (2010) NASA has been floundering in strategic aimlessness and national irrelevance. Only the momentum of existing programs started long ago, like the International Space Station and Mars Science Laboratory, are keeping it alive at all."

Editorial: Curiosity rover critics shortsighted, USA Today

"Those who would slash space program budgets apparently haven't learned history's lessons and don't see the great possibilities that the future presents -- possibilities reflected in every image transmitted back from the rover."

Editorial: NASA scientists nail gold medal Mars dismount, Ventura Star

"President Barack Obama, who has been accused by Republicans of being insufficiently ardent about "American exceptionalism," called the landing an "unprecedented feat of technology that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future."

Video: Curiosity's Descent To Mars

"The Curiosity Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) captured the rover's descent to the surface of the Red Planet. The instrument shot 4 fps video from heatshield separation to the ground."

Image: Mars Curiosity Front Hazcam on Sol 0

"This image was taken by Front Hazcam: Left A (FHAZ_LEFT_A) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 0 (2012-08-06 06:23:34 UTC) . Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech."

Statement by the President on Curiosity Landing on Mars

"Tonight, on the planet Mars, the United States of America made history. The successful landing of Curiosity - the most sophisticated roving laboratory ever to land on another planet - marks an unprecedented feat of technology that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future. It proves that even the longest of odds are no match for our unique blend of ingenuity and determination."

Bobby Braun: President Obama's Policies Bringing Continued Progress To Space Exploration, BarackObama.com

"The President's plan for NASA also enables continuous manned operations of the International Space Station, development of the critical space transportation building blocks required for our deep space exploration future, and investment in a suite of innovative space technology research efforts to enable bold science and exploration missions in the future. Such a concerted effort of robotic and human exploration is essential to capture the spirit, imagination and creativity of the world, and will yield lasting economic, national security and societal benefits."

Viewpoint: U.S. Must Remain Leader In Planetary Exploration, Bobby Braun, Aviation Week

"Mars surface missions do not all need to be multi-billion dollar efforts; in fact, Curiosity is the only surface mission in the past two decades to cost more than $1 billion. I am confident that a cost-effective surface mission can be developed that is capable of following up on the discoveries to be made by Curiosity, and advances our readiness for an eventual sample return effort."

Rep. Schiff Cheers Curiosity Landing at JPL Tonight, Renews Call to Fully Fund Mars Program

"This success must reinvigorate our efforts to restore funding for planetary science and future Mars missions. While we have restored some of the funding -- almost $100 million so far -- much work remains to return the Mars Program to health. Without the certainty of future missions and support, we will find it impossible to maintain the most specialized workforce on earth -- the brilliant engineers and scientists who made this mission possible."

Keith's note: According to Presidential science advisor John Holdren speaking at the post-landing press briefing: "There is a one ton automobile-sized piece of American ingenuity sitting on the surface of Mars"

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Sends Back Image of Curiosity Rover Descent, SpaceRef

"NASA released an image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter which was taken during the descent of the Mars Science Laboratory with the Curiosity rover and shows the deployed parachute and the spacecraft as it prepares to land."

NASA Lands Car-Size Rover Beside Martian Mountain

"NASA's most advanced Mars rover Curiosity has landed on the Red Planet. The one-ton rover, hanging by ropes from a rocket backpack, touched down onto Mars Sunday to end a 36-week flight and begin a two-year investigation. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft that carried Curiosity succeeded in every step of the most complex landing ever attempted on Mars, including the final severing of the bridle cords and flyaway maneuver of the rocket backpack."

Video: Relive the Mars Curiosity Rover Landing on Mars , SpaceRef

"In a technological feat never before tried the Mars Science Laboratory with the Curiosity Rover landed on Mars on time with apparently no apparent glitches and because the Odyssey orbiter was in a good alignment, a few pictures came in right away."

NASA's New Mars Rover Sends Higher-Resolution Image

"About two hours after landing on Mars and beaming back its first image, NASA's Curiosity rover transmitted a higher-resolution image of its new Martian home, Gale Crater. Mission Control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., received the image, taken by one of the vehicle's lower-fidelity, black-and-white Hazard Avoidance Cameras - or Hazcams."

Planetary Exploration Newsletter Editorial from Mark Sykes: Mars Science Laboratory

"MSL lands this evening, but our community will not be "forever changed." I disagree with Jim Green, NASA Planetary Science Division Director ... We are weakened by bad policy recommendations and decisions of the past ten years, crippling the former workhorse Discovery program and canceling the Mars Scout program, while backroom deals are pursued to allocate yet more resources to large, uncompeted projects. The greatest challenge facing U.S. solar system exploration is making the transition from an adolescent focus on firsts to rebuilding our foundational programs and embracing science as "the endless frontier."

Note from James Green, Director Planetary Science, NASA on Mars Curiosity Rover Landing, earlier post

Keith's note: NASA just flashed this Mars scoreboard graphic again in an effort to lower expectations about MSL's landing chances and to give everyone an appreciation as to how hard it is to land something on Mars. One problem: NASA did not really explain the numbers "Earth: 15 Mars: 24". The U.S. has not tried to send 15+24 or 39 missions to Mars. Not even close. NASA is referring to all missions sent - by everyone - to Mars over the past half century. But they say "we" when they show the chart and refer to previous NASA missions. If you look at this Wikipedia page you can see that 17 or so of the failures were USSR/Russian missions in the 60s and 80s i.e. 30 to 50 years ago. What do half-century-old primitive Soviet Mars probes - many of which never even left Earth - have to do with 21st Century missions? Somewhat misleading to say the least.

'Seven minutes of terror': Mars rover landing will be a nail-biter, Christian Science Monitor

"Humanity's track record for Mars missions isn't stellar, James Green, NASA director of planetary science, suggested ... Since 1960, when the first attempt at a Mars flyby was made by the Soviet Union, "the historical success rate at Mars is only 40 percent," he wrote. That figure, however, includes all space-faring nations, such as Russia, pre- and post-Soviet collapse, which is 0 for 19, most recently with the loss of last year's Phobos-Grunt mission to study the moons of Mars. Out of the 18 mission NASA lists with Mars as the destination or as the main target for a flyby, the agency has a batting average of .730. Of the attempts at landing spacecraft on the surface, beginning with the Viking missions in 1975, the agency is six for seven."

Note from James Green, Director Planetary Science, NASA on Mars Curiosity Rover Landing

"As you may already know, the historical success rate at the planet Mars is only 40%. Although our landing percentage odds are higher (100%), successful landing with an unproven, next generation, landing system...well, that will be a white-knuckle- experience to say the least."

Keith's note: Jim, how can you say that NASA has 100% landing rates when Mars Polar Lander and DeepSpace 2 crashed into Mars? I guess a "crash" = a "landing" at NASA (who knew). If that's the case we're doing even better than 100% since Mars Climate Orbiter crashed (I mean "landed") on Mars - and it wasn't even supposed to be a lander!

Note from James Green, Director Planetary Science, NASA on Mars Curiosity Rover Landing

"One week from today, our community will be forever changed, one way or the other, no matter what. The landing of the Mars Curiosity Rover at Gale Crater occurs at 1:31 AM (Eastern Time) and it will be a history event. Curiosity is our latest flagship mission and it demands all of our attention. This feat represents the most difficult entry, descent, and landing (what is known as EDL) of a planetary science rover ever attempted, anywhere. As you may already know, the historical success rate at the planet Mars is only 40%. Although our landing percentage odds are higher (100%), successful landing with an unproven, next generation, landing system...well, that will be a white-knuckle- experience to say the least."

NASA Mars Odyssey Repositioned to Relay Mars Science Laboratory Landing Data

"NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has successfully adjusted its orbital location to be in a better position to provide prompt confirmation of the August landing of the Curiosity rover. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft carrying Curiosity can send limited information directly to Earth as it enters Mars' atmosphere. Before the landing, Earth will set below the Martian horizon from the descending spacecraft's perspective, ending that direct route of communication. Odyssey will help to speed up the indirect communication process."

NASA's retreat from Mars, Opinion, USA Today

"While the Obama administration is the one lowering the priority of Mars exploration, presidents going back to Richard Nixon have all reduced their funding of NASA, relative to other federal programs."

Letter: NASA's Mars program remains strong, John Gunsfled, USA Today

"While we have great respect for Marc Kaufman's expertise as a space journalist, his Wednesday Forum piece, "NASA's retreat from Mars" leaves a false impression. ... Far from retreating, we're advancing our best talents toward exploring the Red Planet with Curiosity and forging the path for future human Mars exploration."

Comparing Moon Boulders: Lunar Orbiter (1967) Vs LRO (2012)

"[Left] image taken on 11 August 1967 by Lunar Orbiter 5 [Right] Image taken of the same location by LRO in 2012. Lighting angles for both images are almost identical. When looking at higher resolution imagery it is obvious that the dynamic range of the LOIRP-retrieved Lunar Orbiter image is comparable to that presented in the LRO image - especially in bright regions. When comparing LOIRP-retrieved imagery with USGS previously scanned versions of the same image the increase in resolution and dynamic range is even more pronounced."

NASA's Mars rover may be in for blind landing, Reuters

"NASA's new Mars rover is heading for a risky do-or-die touchdown next month to assess conditions for life on the planet, but the U.S. space agency may not know for hours whether it arrived safely, managers said on Monday."

NASA's Car-sized Rover Nears Daring Landing on Mars

"Those seven minutes are the most challenging part of this entire mission," said Pete Theisinger, JPL's MSL project manager. "For the landing to succeed, hundreds of events will need to go right, many with split-second timing and all controlled autonomously by the spacecraft. We've done all we can think of to succeed. We expect to get Curiosity safely onto the ground, but there is no guarantee. The risks are real."

Keith's note: Funny how NASA never bothers to include minor details in these press releases such as having a satellite failure impede its ability to monitor the landing of Curiosity. So this whole "7 minutes of terror" campaign that NASA has been mounting for the MSL landing is probably inaccurate and may be much longer than "7 minutes".

Three Weeks Before Curiosity Rover Lands on Mars, SpaceRef (With video of the news conference)

Solar storm incoming: Federal agencies provide inconsistent, confusing information, Washington Post

"If NOAA's right, and the ensuing geomagnetic storm is minor, it's no big deal. It means the high latitudes could be treated to some brilliant auroras over the weekend with few, if any, negative effects on earth-orbiting satellites or the power grid. On the other hand, if NASA's right, and the geomagnetic storm is strong to severe, Earth-orbiting satellites could get disoriented and the electrical grid, according to NOAA, could experience "widespread voltage control problems" among other issues. Aurora could be seen as far south as Alabama and northern California."

Keith's note: As for who has more accurate information: Well, NASA has something that NOAA does not: a goofy official mascot for the Solar Dynamics Observatory - a rubberized version of a chicken corpse in a NASA flight suit named "Camilla" (identical to what you see in a slaughterhouse) who often tweets odd things such as:

this: "After two Slurpees I always get sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia - which is actually a fascinating sensation." ; this: "Timmy - how about we go to the Milano Fashion Week together? We'd steal the show!"; This: "Well, real Emmentaler must have holes! The rest of our cheese should not.", and this: "I usually don't take my clothes off until Return of the Jedi... ;-)"

NASA spends money flying this rubber chicken and its handler around - and yet PAO and SMD seem to have little if any contol over what the rubber chicken says. Often times it posts things that NASA PAO or SMD do not post - so a lot of people are getting their NASA space weather news from a dead chicken. Maybe this is why there is some difference between NOAA and NASA. If this is how an official NASA mission mascot spends scarce agency resources then I think I will take my space weather advice from NOAA - they are poultry-free.

Solar activity alerts are available on Twitter via @spaceweather.

Keith's note: Early this morning the @NewHorizons twitter posted "RT @AlanStern: Just announced: Pluto has new company-- We've discovered a 5th moon using the Hubble Space Telescope!". Why did the New Horizons PI get totally out ahead of everyone - his own team, NASA, STScI, even the IAU?

A NASA spacecraft, operated using NASA funds, was used to observe the target for another NASA mission, and discovered a new moon billions of miles away. Yet when I asked for the official press release early this morning, NASA PAO was unaware of this discovery. No press release has yet to be issued by NASA, STScI, JHU, or SwRI (I sent a request to all of them hours ago). Apparently NASA-funded discoveries can now be announced by anyone - in any fashion they so desire - without giving NASA a heads-up. Yet another example as to how NASA SMD PAO is in need of a tune up.

Keith's 12:00 pm update: Scientists at SwRI even gave one publication advance notice of the discovery even though SwRI refuses to respond to a media request for a press release sent hours ago. Meanwhile, STScI posted a release at 11:30 am but have not even bothered to send it out to the media - posting at NASA.gov only occurred a short while ago - again with no media notice.

According to an email from J.D. Harrington at NASA PAO: "The Institute posted a news release, Goddard posted a web feature, and HQ put it on the NASA home page promptly at 11:30 a.m. after confirming the IAU circular announcing the finding was published. We didn't want to get out in front of them. It's also been heavily promoted on our social media forums..." The initial Tweet was posted at 3:39 am - but not by NASA. NASA waited 6 hours. Isn't this just a just a little odd - that NASA has to go use an IAU circular to confirm things discovered with its own spacecraft? Who informed the IAU? Aren't the people who make these discoveries using NASA hardware required to inform the agency of things like this? Guess not.

And of course if you try to actually read the IAU circular (IAUC 9253) about this discovery made using NASA funds - you can't - at least not without a user name or password.

Simulated Space 'Terror' Offers NASA an Online Following, New York Times

"As part of the educational program for the James Webb Space Telescope, the planned successor to Hubble that has been troubled by delays and cost overruns, NASA created a game in which players create their own space telescope, but to underwhelming reviews. "Too bad this game is not totally realistic so as to let people play with schedule and cost," wrote Keith Cowing, a frequent critic of the space agency, on his Web site NASAWatch.com. "This way they'd REALLY learn how NASA satellites are built (or not built)."

Build It Yourself: Satellite! Game, NASA

B612 Foundation Announces First Privately Funded Deep Space Mission

"In a press conference at the California Academy of Sciences Thursday morning, the B612 Foundation unveiled its plans to build, launch, and operate the first privately funded deep space mission - SENTINEL - a space telescope to be placed in orbit around the Sun, ranging up to 170 million miles from Earth, for a mission of discovery and mapping."

Now Everyone Can Build a Satellite Like NASA: Online!

"Make your game choices carefully and you could build a satellite very similar to NASA's next-generation James Webb Space Telescope, the original inspiration for this game. ...Build It Yourself: Satellite" gives everyone a chance to be an engineer and an astronomer by learning about the different instruments that can go on different kinds of space-observing satellites, and seeing what kind of cosmic discoveries they might make. Hopefully it will inspire someone to become a real engineer or a space scientist."

Keith's note: Too bad this game is not totally realistic so as to let people play with schedule and cost. This way they'd REALLY learn how NASA satellites are built (or not built). Another useful feature would be the ability of one game to affect other user's games when costs go up to mimic the ability of Webb to suck money out of other projects. What SMD should have chosen for emulation is one of the Mars Science Rovers - THAT is good spacecraft design - one worthy of use in inspiring the next generation - not the bloated and tardy Webb.

Printing The Moon, Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project

"As clever as we thought we were, we were not the first team to tackle the issue of generating high resolution imagery. Someone tried to do much of what we were doing today - but did so with technology available in the 1960s. We were recently contacted by someone who had seen our project's Facebook page. His name is Joe Watson and he worked on a project that used computer printers that worked like giant electric typewriters - but using varying sizes of squares instead of letters. With this system and a lot of creativity, Watson and his team created immense high resolution versions of Lunar Orbiter images from which topographic maps were made."

Ice Found in Shackleton Crater on the Moon, NASA

"NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has returned data that indicate ice may make up as much as 22 percent of the surface material in a crater located on the moon's south pole."

Researchers Find Evidence of Ice Content at the Moon's South Pole, MIT

"If humans are ever to inhabit the Moon, the lunar poles may well be the location of choice: Because of the small tilt of the lunar spin axis, the poles contain regions of near-permanent sunlight, needed for power, and regions of near-permanent darkness containing ice -- both of which would be essential resources for any lunar colony."

White House and Agencies Focus on Space Weather Concerns, EOS

"[Tamara Dickinson, a senior policy analyst with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)] said that there has been an increased awareness about space weather in the White House and that President Barack Obama recently has requested briefing memos on the topic. She highlighted several efforts the administration is taking related to space weather, including a forthcoming national Earth observation strategy, which could be released in July and will include an assessment of space weather. She explained that the strategy document will be part of the fiscal year 2014 presidential budget request and that it will be updated every 3 years."

Keith's note: Given our civilization's ever-expanding reliance upon space-based assets, a sprawling terrestrial power and communications grid, and plans for human travel in (and beyond) low Earth orbit, this makes a lot of sense and is long over due.

You can track news and space weather reports on Twitter at @spaceweather

"NASA is sponsoring a three-day workshop to actively engage the technical and scientific communities in the early stages of a longer-term process of collaboration that bridges the objectives of the sponsoring NASA organizations. This workshop will be held June 12-14, 2012, at the Lunar and Planetary Institute."

Meeting website with Livestream feeds of sessions.

For NASA's Huge Mars Rover, Stakes High for Landing Success, Space.com

"There's no doubt that the MSL rover is a high-stakes Mars mission. As one high-ranking NASA Mars mission leader recently said: "We know it will land ... but the only question is how fast will it be going?"

NASA MSL Teleconference

"NASA will host a media teleconference at noon EDT, June 11, to provide a status update on the Aug. 5, 2012, landing of the most advanced rover ever to be sent to Mars."

Keith's note: MSL has been in the development pipeline for a long time. Indeed it was supposed to have flown 2 years ago but cost overruns/delays forced a postponemnt. In other words, NASA Has had a lot of time to think ahead beyond MSL - and what to do if something goes wrong. When I asked NASA SMD a few months back if they had a plan for what to do if MSL does not make a sucessful landing, the answer was "there is no plan". No back up. No Plan B.

Keith's update: Contrary to what SMD has told me before, Dave Lavery says that a contingency plan is being put in place for a variety of scenarios that MSL might have to encounter- including mission failure. PAO says that they will try and release some of that plan. It a little odd that they are still working on this plan will MSL is en route to Mars given how close they were to launching MSL several years ago. Also, Michael Meyer said that if MSL is lost that "certainly a second MSL (maybe not identical) should be built an flown since having a mobile laboratory on the surface of Mars is very important" to future missions including sample return.

- NASA's Out of Date Search for Life on Mars, earlier post
- MSL Was Launched WIth Incomplete and Flawed Software, earlier post
- JPL's Overruns and Gutting Mars Exploration, earlier post

NRO Gifts NASA Two Leftover Space Telescopes, SpacePolicyOnline

"The CAA's response to the newswas rather muted. The reaction was surprisingly flat for a community that received a fairly valuable gift. At a media teleconference later in the day, NASA's Michael Moore, deputy astrophysics division director,estimated thatabout $250 million in mission costs could be avoided by using one ofthe NRO telescopes. He added that the telescopes cost about $75,000-$100,000 to storeat the manfacturer's (ITT Excelis) facilities in Rochester, NY. In response to a question atthe media teleconference, Hertz said he thought CAA members were "excited at the possibilities," while Dressler acknowledged that some people "need to have a lot more time" to consider the situation. This is a "sharp right turn," he added, compared to what was recommended in NWNH."

'Free' spy telescopes come to NASA with a cost, Nature

"But on Tuesday, NASA was still keeping relatively quiet about the apparent windfall. "We're not pushing this information like we normally do," said Michael Moore, NASA's acting deputy director for astrophysics."

Keith's note: OK. So the status quo seems to be grumpy, cautious, etc. about another means to accomplish THEIR expensive long term astronomy plan without any sudden "right turns". Are there not other uses that this hardware could be put to - ones that have minimal involvement with these stuffy folks who are all set in their high-cost way of doing business? Every time I have tried to engage NASA's representatives about out-of-the-box thinking about alternate ways to use these telescopes from NRO they quickly retreat into their shells saying "its too early to discuss this". Well gee, they have had a chance to talk about this among themselves for a year and a half! If this behavior persists I am afraid that NASA will simply be spending the equivalent of someone's college education every year storing the stuff in Rochester, New York. Remember Triana aka 'Goresat'? Where is it now?

Its interesting how NASA's human exploration programs all seek a "flexible path" as they structure their programs and missions, yet NASA's space science programs seem to lack that capability - or any interest in emulating it.

Spy agency gives NASA two spare Hubbles, Washington Post

"I'm told by a government engineer with knowledge of the new instruments that they're "a successful part of an otherwise failed program on the NRO side."

NASA has a mission for grounded spy telescopes, SpaceflightNow

"But the 94-inch aperture on the NRO optical system will permit Hubble-class resolution over a wide field-of-view - imaging a swath of the sky 100 times larger than Hubble can see in a single exposure."

U.S. Launches Costly Overhaul of Spy Satellites, LA Times (1995)

"It's like looking at the world through a soda straw," said one defense industry consultant of the existing spy satellites. The 8X program would redress that shortcoming by covering roughly 800 to 1,000 square miles in each photograph, with roughly the same resolution as the existing satellites..."

In Death of Spy Satellite Program, Lofty Plans and Unrealistic Bids, NY Times (2007)

"The panel reported that the project, called Future Imagery Architecture, was far behind schedule and would most likely cost $2 billion to $3 billion more than planned, according to records from the satellite agency, the National Reconnaissance Office. ... It took two more years, several more review panels and billions more dollars before the government finally killed the project -- perhaps the most spectacular and expensive failure in the 50-year history of American spy satellite projects. The story behind that failure has remained largely hidden, like much of the workings of the nation's intelligence establishment. ... The team also wanted an optical system that could take wide-angle images, showing large areas on the ground, as well as tightly focused, detailed pictures of small objects. The goal, to use an oversimplified analogy, was a revolutionary zoom lens. "

8 June Update

Donated Space Telescopes are Remnants of Failed NRO Program, Space News

"Among Boeing's subcontractors on the canceled program was a division of Eastman Kodak of Rochester, which for years had built the mirror assemblies for the nation's spy satellites. That division was sold to ITT Exelis in 2004. In an email, ITT Exelis spokeswoman Irene Lockwood confirmed that her company built the hardware. "Since developing and building the two partial telescope assemblies in the late 1990s-early 2000s, ITT Exelis has stored the hardware in one of our Rochester facilities. As the future space missions for the telescopes evolve, ITT Exelis will work with NASA to determine how best they can be used."

NASA's Stubby Hubbles and Fumbled PR

"Moore said that the hardware had been "declassified" so that NASA could use it. So, I asked, since it was "declassified", what the names of these telescopes were and if we could have photos of the hardware. Moore declined to provide the names of the telescopes - or of anything NRO was providing, said that we could not have photos (because things were classified), and that we should go talk to the NRO's public relations office. For starters, telling someone to talk to the NRO public affairs office is like suggesting that I find the nearest brick wall to talk to. What had me a bit baffled was why NASA could not provide photos of declassified hardware - suggesting that it was not really declassified at all. So which is it - declassified or not?"

Keith's note: But wait. This image was posted on MSNBC captioned "A redacted photo shows one of the telescopes transferred from the National Reconnaissance Office to NASA." and the source is "A. Dressler via National Academies". NASA refuses to issue images to the media but they give the same imagery to the NAS and they release it to the media? But NASA can't?

Keith's update: J.D. Harrington at NASA PAO tells me "I'm told that this is an old picture of the Hubble Space Telescope in its ground handling fixture being moved in the clean room during integrated testing and is not related toany classified hardware. It was included by the author of the CAA presentation yesterday to provide some levity to his somewhat dry science discussion." Dressler was on the media telecon yesterday when NASA refused to provide photos. So.... a senior representative of the National Academies of Science (Dressler) is issuing photos that they either claim are authentic and/or know are not authentic - and do so after hearing that NASA cannot/will not release them.

NASA is holding a semi-stealth media telecon - but only for selected media - and I got 13 minutes advanced notice. Alas, NASA claims that they are not holding "media telecons" about the NRO telescopes and they tell this to media during a "media telecon". Goofy.

NASA gets two military spy telescopes for astronomy, Washington Post

"The U.S. government's secret space program has decided to give NASA two telescopes as big as, and even more powerful than, the Hubble Space Telescope. Designed for surveillance, the telescopes from the National Reconnaissance Office were no longer needed for spy missions and can now be used to study the heavens. They have 2.4-meter (7.9 feet) mirrors, just like the Hubble. They also have an additional feature that the civilian space telescopes lack: A maneuverable secondary mirror that makes it possible to obtain more focused images. These telescopes will have 100 times the field of view of the Hubble, according to David Spergel, a Princeton astrophysicist and co-chair of the National Academies advisory panel on astronomy and astrophysics."

NASA Offers Guidelines To Protect Historic Sites On The Moon

"NASA and the X Prize Foundation of Playa Vista, Calif., announced Thursday the Google Lunar X Prize is recognizing guidelines established by NASA to protect lunar historic sites and preserve ongoing and future science on the moon. The foundation will take the guidelines into account as it judges mobility plans submitted by 26 teams vying to be the first privately-funded entity to visit the moon."

Iconic Lunar Orbiter Image of Copernicus Re-released, LOIRP

"Today an iconic image from the initial exploration of the Moon is being re-released showing detail that could not have been seen using technology available at the time the photo was taken. This image features a dramatic view inside the majestic crater Copernicus - a view that left millions in awe when it was first released. This image is being announced at the First Global Space Exploration Conference, co-sponsored by the AIAA and IAF, in Washington, DC."

NASA Lends Galaxy Evolution Explorer to Caltech

"NASA is lending the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, where the spacecraft will continue its exploration of the cosmos. In a first-of-a-kind move for NASA, a Space Act Agreement was signed May 14 so the university soon can resume spacecraft operations and data management for the mission using private funds."

Keith's note: Wow. Is NASA going to adopt this approach for the reuse of other spacecraft? This could be very interesting.

NASA Will Not Fly Next Mars Rover Until 2020, Aviation Week

"But the fact remains that "the train has left the station," as NASA Planetary Science Director Jim Green said when asked if more funding would allow NASA to resume joint Mars exploration work with the European Space Agency. ESA has shifted to partnering with Russia for Mars exploration after NASA's bailout. [Orlando] Figueroa, heading the Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG) as it drafts a downscoped, go-it-alone Mars exploration program, told planetary scientists on the NASA Advisory Council May 8 the $700-800 million that will be available for robotic Mars exploration by 2018 under the new NASA budget request will not support a rover. "A stationary lander may be possible in 2018," Figueroa says. "A mobile lander, a rover, doesn't fit the budget we have available, so we need to jump one opportunity to generate enough funds to be able to do it."

Keith's note: Well, it sounds like the career NASA SMD bureaucrats have already made up their minds as to what they want NASA to do, what they want you think NASA cannot do, and who cares what anyone else thinks. So why bother going through the Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG) proceess? Let's face it: people like Figueroa, Green et al are fresh out of ideas, focused simply on lowering expectations, and content upon doing routine Powerpoint presentations for meetings where nothing of importance is ever decided.

Poor NASA. It has already forgotten how to do low-cost, out-of-the-box Mars missions like Sojourner, Spirit, and Opportunity rovers. Very depressing. Is this any way to explore the solar system?

- NASA's Out of Date Search for Life on Mars, earlier post
- NASA's Mars Program Planning Group: Same Old Answers or Open To New Ideas?, earlier post

NASA Administrator Announces Webb Telescope Management Change

"NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced today that Geoff Yoder will assume leadership responsibilities for the James Webb Space Telescope, serving as program director at the agency's headquarters in Washington, effective June 30, 2012. He succeeds Rick Howard, who retires on that date."

Figueroa Rules Out Another NASA Mars Rover Before 2020, Space News

"Figueroa reiterated previous statements that his team will consider only missions that contribute in some way to an eventual Mars sample-return mission, which is the U.S. planetary science community's top priority for flagship-class Mars exploration endeavors."

Keith's note: This is a mindset ripe with old thinking. Even without the budget cuts, the costs for a Mars sample return mission have steadily increased over the decades that NASA has planned for it. NASA needs to head down a new path (or series of paths) wherein basic questions regarding the presence of current or previous life on Mars are addressed through more advanced and focused technologies - ones that can be used in situ. Instead, Figueroa et al are simply tied to old ways of thinking that make answering these questions move further into the future rather than making them move closer - all because the sample return mantra is etched into their brains from decades of repeating it among themselves.

It has been nearly 40 years since the twin Viking landers were sent to Mars. This is the last time NASA tried to do in situ testing for the presence of life on Mars. It is rather embarassing that NASA has not tried to do this again in the ensuing four decades or that it apparently won't try to do in the coming decade.

Sander van den Berg: "The footage in this video is derived from image sequences from NASA's Cassini and Voyager missions. I downloaden a large amount of raw images to create the video."

Looking For Life on Mars - Without Fiddling Around

"We really want to address the big questions on Mars and not fiddle around," says Dirk Schulze-Makuch, whose earlier proposals have included an economical one-way trip to the red planet. "With the money for space exploration drying up, we finally have to get some exciting results that not only the experts and scientists in the field are interested in but that the public is interested too."

U.S. Astronomers Make Case for Science on Capitol Hill

"Fifteen members of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) are traveling to Washington, DC, April 24-25 to thank Congress for recent appropriations in the fiscal year 2013 spending bill and to express the need for continued federal funding of research and development (R&D) programs, which are critically important to American economic growth."

House Panel Wants NASA to Plan Mars Sample Return

"If an NRC review of NASA's mission concept concludes that it will not lead to a sample return, the bill directs the agency to spend the $150 million on developing a mission to orbit Europa, one of Jupiter's icy moons. That would be in line with the priorities laid out in the NRC's planetary science decadal survey, released in March 2011."

Senate Bill Good News for NASA Mars Missions, Science

"It's not clear yet if this restored funding--if the bill should become law--will in fact restore components of the 2016 and 2018 Mars missions that NASA had originally intended to undertake in collaboration with the European Space Agency."

NASA Planning Group Takes Key Steps for Future Mars Exploration

"Starting today, the scientific and technical community across the globe can submit ideas and abstracts online as part of NASA's effort to seek out the best and the brightest ideas from researchers and engineers in planetary science. Selected abstracts will be presented during a workshop in June hosted by the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston."

Concepts and Approaches for Mars Exploration

"While we hope to accommodate all possible concepts, the workshop venue is limited to roughly 185-200 participants. If the number of submitted abstracts exceeds this limit, a NASA-designated program panel will review the abstracts and develop the final workshop attendee list. In order to encourage broad participation, industry and government laboratories (including NASA Centers) will be asked to limit participation to individuals presenting ideas/concepts. University research groups are encouraged to send principal investigators as their representatives, and to recognize that the number of attendees will be limited."

Keith's note: At today's media telecon NASA representatives stressed that this review process and this meeting were going to be "transparent and open" and that people from outside NASA would be encouraged to attend. This does not synch with the meeting description that has been posted. It sounds like NASA is going to limit attendees and presentations. Moreover, instead of trying to encourage new ideas (younger participants) the older PIs are the ones who will attend. All too often these "independent" NASA activities are just the same old faces engaged in choir practice and Powerpoint generation. I asked if this event would be webcast in its entirety and Doug McQuiston said "yes". I wonder if NASA will allow remote participation - you know, like everyone in the real world can now do. Stay tuned. Will this MPPG activity be yet another slow motion exercise resulting no real change in the status quo other than lowered budget reactions or will NASA really think outside the box this time?

Viking Data Suggests Life?, Universe Today via NASA's Astrobiology Magazine

"Researchers from universities in Los Angeles, California, Tempe, Arizona and Siena, Italy have published a paper in the International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences (IJASS) citing the results of their work with data obtained by NASA's Viking mission."

Is it Snowing Microbes on Enceladus?, Science.nasa.gov

"There's a tiny moon orbiting beyond Saturn's rings that's full of promise, and maybe -- just maybe -- microbes. In a series of tantalizingly close flybys to the moon, named "Enceladus," NASA's Cassini spacecraft has revealed watery jets erupting from what may be a vast underground sea. These jets, which spew through cracks in the moon's icy shell, could lead back to a habitable zone that is uniquely accessible in all the solar system."

Keith's note:I am a biologist. Back in the day I ran many NASA peer review panels for exobiology research and helped plan NASA's initial astrobiology program. I run astrobiology.com and would absolutely love this story to be true i.e. microbes raining on Enceladus but ... its not true - at least no one has proved it. Dr. Porco's guesses are imaginative and inspired and are not without some strong supporting data but they are just guesses - and Cassini does not have any way to prove that there is anything alive in these plumes. So yes, "let's go back".

NASA Astrophysics Urged To Slim Down, Aviation Week

"The SRC strongly urges the HST to consider all possible avenues, vigorously pursuing ways to accelerate cost reductions without compromising mission safety even if some science is not enabled," the panel cautioned the Hubble team in the April 4 report that included the Kepler extension recommendation. "To keep HST operating while maintaining the overall balance of NASA's astrophysics program, it will be necessary to seek further cost reductions, even at the expense of some observing efficiency."

NASA Extends Kepler, Spitzer, Planck Missions

"NASA is extending three missions affiliated with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. -- Kepler, the Spitzer Space Telescope and the U.S. portion of the European Space Agency's Planck mission -- as a result of the 2012 Senior Review of Astrophysics Missions. The 2012 NASA Senior Review report, which includes these three missions and six others also being extended, is available at: https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/2012-senior-review."

Impact of Delays in Selection and Funding of Research and Data Analysis Program Awards, PSI

"Consequences include: The personal assumption of research expenses by scientists, the potential loss of students, funding instability or inadequacy for postdocs, undermining funded research, general loss of efficiency in programs and research, a sense of overall lack of support for these foundational programs that underpin our solar system exploration efforts, and the potential loss of scientists from planetary science."

Second Life for Failed Russian Satellite?, Science Magazine

"Sixteen hours of continuous broadband coverage would certainly be a big boost, particularly for scientists working at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, which currently gets just a few hours a day of coverage. And while the South Pole Station's communications problems are the most acute, communications for the entire continent have been a problem for many years. Wingo describes it as a cyclical problem: The small Antarctic community "doesn't have sufficient market potential to justify the construction of a $150 to $200 million dedicated satellite to cover the area," he says--but once such a satellite is in place, there will be "an explosion of demand that would prove the market." Bringing in Express-AM4, he suggests, would be the necessary band-aid."

- Express-AM4: Repurposing Space Assets For Exploration, previous post
- Saving Express-AM4 and Using it to Serve Antarctic Research, previous post

NASA considering space station as dry run for 500-day Mars trip, would test human endurance, Washington Post

"The International Space Station may provide the setting for a 500-day pretend trip to Mars in another few years. NASA said Tuesday that consideration is under way to use the space station as a dry run for a simulated trip to and from Mars. It would be patterned after Russia's mock flight to Mars that lasted 520 days at a Moscow research center."

Let's Stop Going in Circles - And Go Somewhere (2002), SpaceRef

"Re-dedicating the International Space Station to the specific task of flight certifying humans for travel to Mars - on a fixed schedule - and then holding to that schedule would bring a long absent focus and general direction to this meritorious but meandering program."

Keith's note Its about time NASA decided to do this. I think they should have been doing this from the moment that the first crew arrived.

Launch of NASA's NuSTAR Mission Postponed Due to Launch Vehicle Software Issues

"The planned launch of NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission has been postponed after a March 15 launch status meeting. The launch will be rescheduled to allow additional time to confirm the flight software used by the launch vehicle's flight computer will issue commands to the rocket as intended. The spacecraft will lift off on an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket, which will be released from an aircraft taking off from the Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands."

Life on Mars? Funds to Find Answer Fade, NY Times

"In a letter sent March 5, a group of Mars scientists that provides feedback to NASA said it was "appalled" by the proposed budget cuts. "Among the many dire impacts, the cuts threaten the very existence of the Mars exploration program which has been one of the crown jewels of the agency's planetary exploration," wrote David J. Des Marais, a scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center in California and chairman of the group."

Researchers Call for Continued Exploration of Mars

"A new position paper by researchers at the Planetary Science Institute calls for sustaining NASA funding for the exploration of Mars. Concerned by the administration's budget proposal to scale back and effectively bring to an end what has been a spectacularly successful program, the paper's authors have outlined a path to continue and benefit from a robust American effort to explore Mars."

NASA GSFC Solicitation: High Power Uplink (Near Earth Objects Characterization)

"NASA/HQ has a requirement to provide high resolution, high power uplink capability at Ka-band for the use in characterizing Near Earth Objects (NEOs), orbital debris, and to fill knowledge gaps in space situational awareness. In fiscal year 2012 NASA will begin to build on its three element interferometer testbed consisting of 12m dishes to demonstrate: 1) uplink arraying with real time characterization and correction of atmospheric turbulence, 2) significant power and gain increases enabling high resolution object imaging and 3) real-time continual system phase control eliminating the need for costly, highly stable components."

Appropriators Blocking Mars Mission Move, Aviation Week

"This proposal represents a significant deviation from the robotic exploration program plan as it was approved by Congress in NASA's fiscal year 2012 appropriations, and the committee believes that so radical a change in policy needs and deserves to be fully considered by a process that is more rigorous and more inclusive than" the reprogramming notification, Wolf writes."

Rep. Schiff Applauds Decision to Reject NASA Request to Divert Mars Funds

"I want to thank Chairman Wolf for rejecting this reprogramming request by NASA," said Schiff."NASA's effort to mothball the Mars program is a disaster for America's leadership in planetary science, and I'm glad this first step has been rejected by the committee. Thanks to the brilliant scientists at JPL, we have the unique capability to design, fly and land sophisticated robotic spacecraft on our planetary neighbor, and this is not a talent pool NASA should abandon."

GAO Summary: Cost Overruns, Schedule Delays, Ongoing Technical Problems With Mars Science Laboratory

"The project has additional concerns regarding the spacecraft's software that enable its functionality once it arrives at the landing site. Project officials stated that the basic software for landing and traversing exists, but it needs to be upgraded in order to achieve full capability. The project plans to release updates and test its flight software for entry, descent, and landing (EDL) and software for surface operations during the spacecraft's 9-month cruise phase to Mars."

Proposed Mars Mission Has New Name

"A proposed Discovery mission concept led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., to investigate the formation and evolution of terrestrial planets by studying the deep interior of Mars now has a new name, InSight."

JPL's InSight: Ignoring The Real Costs - and its MPL Heritage, earlier post

"The highly successful Mars Phoenix is (logically) mentioned as a way to claim cost savings. But when Phoenix was proposed the cost savings from heavy reuse of failed Mars Polar Lander heritage hardware were cited - but never fully explained. If this mission is approved there is no doubt that JPL and SMD PAO will once again try and claim massive cost savings and simultaneously not mention the money spent to develop the hardware for previous missions."

Keith's note: Oddly, NASA SMD leadership present at the MEPAG meeting cast considerable doubt on having a lander heading for Mars until 2018 - at the earliest (if then). Indeed, they were far more certain that whatever might fly to Mars in 2018 would be an orbiter - not a lander.

Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler, III: Analysis of the First 16 Months of Data

"New transiting planet candidates are identified in sixteen months (May 2009 - September 2010) of data from the Kepler spacecraft. Nearly five thousand periodic transit-like signals are vetted against astrophysical and instrumental false positives yielding 1,091 viable new planet candidates, bringing the total count up to over 2,300. Improved vetting metrics are employed, contributing to higher catalog reliability. Most notable is the noise-weighted robust averaging of multi-quarter photo-center offsets derived from difference image analysis which identifies likely background eclipsing binaries."

Architecture of Kepler's Multi-transiting Systems: II. New investigations with twice as many candidates

"Having discovered 885 planet candidates in 361 multiple-planet systems, Kepler has made transits a powerful method for studying the statistics of planetary systems. The orbits of only two pairs of planets in these candidate systems are apparently unstable. This indicates that a high percentage of the candidate systems are truly planets orbiting the same star, motivating physical investigations of the population."

Scientists See Red on NASA Cuts of Mars Missions, AP

"To scientists, the message from the White House seems simple: Bye-bye, Mars. On Monday, upset Mars researchers are meeting with NASA officials to figure out how to reboot the program beyond the 2013 mission. If Obama's budget sails through as outlined, "in essence, it is the end of the Mars program," said Phil Christensen, a Mars researcher at Arizona State University. It's like "we've just flown Apollo 10 and now we're going to cancel the Apollo program when we're one step from landing," he said."

- Second International MEPAG (Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group) Meeting (with WEBEX instructions)

- Live tweeting from this morning's session at @NASAWatch hashtag #MEPAG

Keith's MEPAG Observation: despite the fact that the Mars community is facing budget cuts all they can think about is more expensive missions to Mars. No interest in alternate approaches to sample return i.e. in situ characterization. FAIL.

NASA Official Announces Chair of New Mars Program Planning Group

"NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, John Grunsfeld, has named former veteran NASA program manager Orlando Figueroa to lead a newly established Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG) tasked to reformulate the agency's Mars Exploration Program. Figueroa's first assignment is to develop a draft framework for review by March 15."

Scientists see red on NASA cuts of Mars missions, AP

"NASA said it does not quite know what a reconfigured 2018 mission would look like, but it would be cost-capped at $700 million and it will not be landing. If it is lucky, it may orbit Mars. After Curiosity lands in August, the next NASA Mars surface mission probably is close to a decade away, Grunsfeld said. To scientists, the message from the White House seems simple: Bye-bye, Mars."

Mars, Europa missions battle for scarce NASA funding, SpaceflightNow

"NASA's statements about resuming Mars missions later this decade irked some scientists promoting voyages to the outer planets, who said that if the flagship Mars rover was canceled, the decadal survey explicitly prioritized a Europa mission over other, less-ambitious Mars projects.
A mission to closely observe Europa has been on scientists' wish list for more than a decade."

NASA Raids Outer Planets Budget To Fund Fast Start on Mars Reboot, SpaceNews

"Meanwhile, with the funding changes described in the operating plan, NASA will now be spending only $9 million on outer planets programs in 2012. Those funds will all go toward studies for missions to the planetary science community's highest-priority outer-solar-system destinations: Jupiter's icy moon Europa, the gas giant Uranus and faraway Neptune. A concept study for a mission to Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, is planned for 2013."