11 January 2013
NASA, Bigelow Officials to Discuss Space Station Expandable Module
NASA has awarded a $17.8 million contract to Bigelow Aerospace to provide a new addition to the International Space Station. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module will demonstrate the benefits of this space habitat technology for future exploration and commercial space endeavors. More details will be given during a media event at 1:30 p.m. EST (10:30 a.m. PST) Wednesday, 16 January at Bigelow Aerospace facilities
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11 January 2013
SpaceX sets March 1 for launch to ISS
U..S. commercial space company SpaceX says it has picked March 1 for the next launch of its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. The company requested the date from the Cape Canaveral, Fla., spaceport it uses for launching its Falcon rockets.
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11 January 2013
NASA Selects High-performing Interns As Student Ambassadors
NASA has inducted 86 top-performing interns into the 2013 NASA Student Ambassadors Virtual Community, a vital component of the agency's ongoing effort to engage undergraduate and graduate students in science, engineering, mathematics and technology (STEM) research and interactive opportunities. This fifth group of student ambassadors, Cohort V, includes interns from 32 states and 70 different universities. "The NASA Student Ambassadors Virtual Community will serve as an outreach vehicle to the nation's students as well as a way to engage exceptional NASA interns, fellows and scholars," said Mabel Jones Matthews, director of the Infrastructure Division in NASA's Office of Education. "This innovative activity is a leading effort to help NASA attract, engage, educate and employ the dynamic next generation."
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11 January 2013
Simulated Mars mission reveals body's sodium rhythms
Clinical pharmacologist Jens Titze, M.D., knew he had a one-of-a-kind scientific opportunity: the Russians were going to simulate a flight to Mars, and he was invited to study the participating cosmonauts. Titze, now an associate professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University, wanted to explore long-term sodium balance in humans. He didn't believe the textbook view - that the salt we eat is rapidly excreted in urine to maintain relatively constant body sodium levels.
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related:
10 January 2013
Mars500 project - salt balance of the Mars 'astronauts'
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10 January 2013
Simulated mission to Mars reveals critical data about sleep needs for astronauts
In the first study of its kind, a team of researchers has analyzed data on the impact of prolonged operational confinement on sleep, performance, and mood in astronauts from a groundbreaking international effort to simulate a 520-day space mission to Mars. The findings, published online-first in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, revealed alterations of life-sustaining sleep patterns and neurobehavioral consequences for crew members that must be addressed for successful adaption to prolonged space missions.
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11 January 2013
AXE to Send 22 persond to Space with New Apollo Campaign
AXE is going where only few have gone before by giving guys the ultimate out-of-this-world experience: a trip to space. To recruit persons for this once-in-a-lifetime epic journey, AXE is creating the AXE Apollo Space Academy (A.A.S.A) with one of the first men to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin.
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09 January 2013
Company test pilots slated for first commercial space flights
The first American rockets and spacecraft to fly in the wake of the shuttle's retirement will be crewed by company test pilots - not NASA astronauts - in part to give space agency managers better insight into flight readiness and safety, officials said Wednesday.
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08 January 2013
India scales down experimental flying payloads for exploring Mars
India has scaled down its flying experimental payloads for exploring the Mars by reducing the payload from 25 kg to 15 kg, local media reported on 6 January. The Mars Orbiter Mission, expected to be launched in mid- October this year, will carry five experimental payloads with a total weight of 14.49 kg, according to Press Trust of India.
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08 January 2013
Space Trash May Make Radiation Shields
Researchers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are evaluating small tiles made of space trash to find out whether they can be stored aboard spacecraft safely or even used for radiation shielding during a deep-space mission.
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07 January 2013
Captain's log: real space chat for Star Trek crew
Fact and fiction blurred this week when a real-life astronaut boldly went where no man has gone before and conversed from orbit via Twitter with the crew of television's "Star Trek: Enterprise." It started with a message from actor William Shatner, who starred as Captain Kirk in the cult sci-fi series, asking the commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield: "Are you tweeting from space?"
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07 January 2013
Russia develops new rocket fuel
Specialists from Russian scientific-production association Energomash have developed a state-of-the-art high-efficient fuel, news reports said on Thursday. According to Energomash chief executive Vladimir Solntsev, the Atsetam fuel will help increase the efficiency of rocket engines by at least one third in the future.
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04 January 2013
Station Spinal Ultrasounds Seeking Why Astronauts Grow Taller in Space
It is a commonly known fact that astronauts living aboard the International Space Station grow up to 3 percent taller while living in microgravity. Studying the impact of this change on the spine and advancing medical imaging technologies are the goals of the Spinal Ultrasound investigation. "Today there is a new ultrasound device on the station that allows more precise musculoskeletal imaging required for assessment of the complex anatomy and the spine," Scott A. Dulchavsky, principal investigator for the station study said. The research could help with developing exercises for better crew health and guiding improved rehabilitation techniques when astronauts return to Earth. Understanding how changes to the spine occur in real-time response to life in space also will help crews prepare for future long-duration missions.
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04 January 2013
Stanford researchers develop acrobatic space rovers to explore moons and asteroids
Stanford researchers, in collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have designed a robotic platform that could take space exploration to new heights. The mission proposed for the platform involves a mother spacecraft deploying one or several spiked, roughly spherical rovers to the Martian moon Phobos. Measuring about half a meter wide, each rover would hop, tumble and bound across the cratered, lopsided moon, relaying information about its origins, as well as its soil and other surface materials.
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04 January 2013
Congress Approves Bill Supporting Human Space Exploration
The House of Representatives has unanimously approved a Senate amendment to H.R. 6586, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chairman Steven Palazzo (R-MS) that extends a risk-sharing and liability regime to support American commercial space transportation operators against catastrophic losses suffered by the uninvolved public.
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03 January 2013
For Sale: NASA Space Shuttle Stuff
Now that the US space shuttle program is defunct, NASA is leasing and selling some of its facilities and equipment at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to private companies and entrepreneurs. Among the items being sold, according to the Orlando Sentinel: Launch Pad 39A, where shuttles blasted off into space, the Vehicle Assembly Building, the launch control center, a parachute-packing plant, and the world’s longest runway, a 15,000 foot (4,572 meter) landing strip.
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02 January 2013
ARCA will test the parachutes for the ExoMars spacecraft
ARCA and the European Space Agency (ESA) signed a 1,1 mil. $ contract for the ExoMars, High Altitude Drop Test - Balloon Flight Services Program (HADT-BFS). During the contract, ARCA will contribute to the 2016 ExoMars spacecraft program by testing its parachutes, that will allow it to safely land on Mars.
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01 January 2013
The toughest animal on Earth...and in space!
An animal that can live without water, resist extreme temperatures and strong radiation, and has survived the vacuum of space; that is a basic description of a Tardigrade. More commonly called the 'water bear', this tiny creature opens up fascinating new perspectives on the process of dehydration, which could be used to preserve food, but also vaccines and blood.
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31 December 2012
House passes bill to rename NASA facility for Armstrong
The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday passed a bill that would rename NASA's aeronautics facility at Edwards Air Force Base in California after Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon.
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07 January 2013
Separation of powers battle continues over the Code of Conduct
The Defense Department authorization bill, signed into law last week, included a provision dealing with any efforts by the Obama Administration to negotiate an international code of conduct for space activities. Michael Listner explains how this continues a battle between the White House and Congress on who has the authority to enter into such an agreement.
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07 January 2013
Storm preparations
As the Sun approaches the peak of its 11-year activity cycle, there’s renewed awareness, and concern, about the effects space weather can have on society, including disrupting communications and the power grid. Jeff Foust reports some people remain worried about the ability to predict such storms and to prepare for them.
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07 January 2013
Open source smallsats in Russia
Small satellites are capturing the attention of scientists and engineers around the world. Igor Afanasyev describes one successful effort in Russia to fly a small satellite utilizing open source technology.
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07 January 2013
Review: Mirror Earth
The search for extrasolar planets is driven in large part by the search for planets around other stars with similar masses, orbits, and compositions as the Earth, and thus potentially hospitable to life. Jeff Foust reviews a book that examines the state of exoplanet research and the personalities of the “exoplaneteers” seeking those other Earths.
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