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Endeavour is 'go' for Tuesday launch

Mon, 10/03/2008 - 20:07 by MT Bureau

Washington -- The U.S. space agency said all systems were "go" for the launch of space shuttle Endeavour and its STS-123 mission to the International Space Station.

The shuttle is to lift off at 2:29 a.m. EDT Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle's seven astronauts will, among other things, deliver the first section of the Japanese-built Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency's two-armed robotic system called Dextre.

At 6 a.m. Monday, the rotating service structure that provides access and weather protection for Endeavour was retracted, clearing the way for loading about 500,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants into the shuttle's external fuel tank Monday evening.

NASA said the weather forecast called for a 10 percent chance that atmospheric conditions would delay the launch, although meteorologists said they were concerned about the slight chance of a low cloud ceiling around Kennedy at launch time.

ESA launches automated spacecraft

Mon, 10/03/2008 - 12:47 by MT Bureau

Kourou, French Guiana -- The European Space Agency launched its first-ever automated supply ship from French Guiana Sunday to rendezvous with the International Space Station.

Named after the French science-fiction genre pioneer, Jules Verne, the automated transfer vehicle entered a low Earth orbit to eventually dock with the ISS on April 3, the European Space Agency said in a release.

The launch occurred early Sunday morning from the Space Center in South America using a specially-adapted Ariane rocket to handle the 20-ton payload.

The resupply vehicle will dock with the space station automatically, deliver fuel and other supplies, and leave the station in August burning up in the atmosphere upon its descent.

Copyright 2008 by United Press Internati

NASA ponders future without shuttles

Sat, 08/03/2008 - 18:08 by MT Bureau

WASHINGTON -- U.S. space officials are concerned that NASA will have to rely on other countries to carry astronauts into space after its three space shuttles are retired.

NASA plans to retire its aging space shuttles in 2010 because of their high cost and safety concerns, with nothing scheduled to replace them until at least 2015, the Washington Post reported. That means there will be no way to transport astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station without having to pay another country to do it.

Right now, Russia is the only country that can fly humans to the space station.

"We will be largely dependent on the Russians, and that is terrible place for the United States to be. I'm worried, and many others are worried." NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told the newspaper.

EU spaceship prepares for launch

Sat, 08/03/2008 - 17:34 by MT Bureau

KOUROU, French Guiana, -- The European Space Agency's Jules Verne has been cleared for launch on its maiden voyage from French Guiana to the International Space Station.

The 22-ton unmanned Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) will carry almost 8 tons of equipment, spare parts food, fuel and oxygen when it launches Saturday from ESA's launch site along the northern coast of South America, NASA said in a release.

The cargo carrier will will ride atop an Ariane 5 rocket. A high-precision navigation system will be used to guide the craft to a rendezvous with the station, where it will dock automatically.

NASA said the Jules Verne will remain at the ISS until August, when it will be repacked with trash and returned into Earth's atmosphere. The craft will then burn up over the Pacific Ocean, NASA said.

NASA's MRO Photographs Avalanche on Red Planet

Tue, 04/03/2008 - 18:13 by Shubha Krishnappa

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which is designed to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit, snapped the first-ever picture of a massive slide of snow occurring near the planet's north pole that is covered by a cap of ice, scientists said Monday.

NASA Awards $47.5M Contract to Lockheed

Tue, 04/03/2008 - 12:56 by MT Bureau

Washington -- The U.S. space agency has awarded a $47.5 million contract modification to the Lockheed Martin Corporation for space shuttle external fuel tanks.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the modification "aligns and extends all activities associated with the production contract to include final assembly of one tank, partial manufacture of a tank and the acquisition of the component parts for one additional tank to serve as spares."

NASA said the modification supports its priorities of safely flying the space shuttle, completing construction of the International Space Station and the long-term plan to return astronauts to the moon.

The cost-plus-award, fee-incentive contract ends Sept. 30, 2010, and takes the total value of the contract -- initially awarded in October 2000 -- to $2.93 billion.

NASA OKs Endeavour launch

Sat, 01/03/2008 - 15:32 by MT Bureau

Cape Canaveral, Fla. -- U.S. space officials set March 11 as the official launch date for the space shuttle Endeavour on its mission to the International Space Station.

The launch date was announced Friday after the conclusion of a two-day flight readiness review in which NASA assessed the risks associated with the mission and determined the shuttle's equipment, support systems and procedures are ready for flight, the space agency said in a release.

The crew, led by shuttle commander Dominic Gorie, will deliver and install the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory as well as Dextre, the Canadian Space Agency's two-armed robotic system.

The 16-day mission is scheduled to include five spacewalks.

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Jules Vern Moves to its Launcher

Fri, 29/02/2008 - 00:26 by MT Bureau

Paris -- The European Space Agency's first automated transfer vehicle, the Jules Verne, has been placed on top of an Ariane 5 rocket for launch from French Guiana.

The Jules Verne -- encapsulated in a huge container on top of the launcher with a total mass of about 21,000 tons -- will become the largest payload ever launched by Ariane 5. The historic mission with the first European space supplier for the International Space Station is scheduled for a night-time launch March 8 from the ESA spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

During the next week all connections -- electrical, pyrotechnical and fluid interfaces -- will be checked on the ATV and Ariane 5, the ESA said. One week before liftoff, all launch teams and different control centers around the world will simulate a full 10-hour countdown.

NASA Awards Constellation Contract

Thu, 28/02/2008 - 23:56 by MT Bureau

Washington -- The U.S. space agency has awarded SGT Inc. of Greenbelt, Md., a contract for support services for the Constellation Program.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the program focuses on developing spacecraft to travel beyond low Earth orbit. The Constellation fleet includes the Orion crew vehicle, the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles and Altair human lunar lander.

NASA said the three-year, small business cost-plus-award-fee contract, with a potential value of $60 million with options, requires SGT to provide program planning and control services supporting the Constellation Program. Those services include the program's business management, configuration and data management, requirements analysis and integration, schedule management and integration and technology protection.

NASA shows off a moon robot

Thu, 28/02/2008 - 20:02 by MT Bureau

Denver -- The U.S. space agency is exhibiting a lunar robot rover equipped with a drill, designed to find water and oxygen-rich soil on the moon.

The robot, designed to explore the moon's craters, is being demonstrated in Denver this week during the third Space Exploration Conference.

The rover must operate in continual darkness in extremely cold conditions with little power, NASA said, noting lunar soil -- known as regolith -- is abrasive and compact, so any ice the rover encounters would likely have the consistency of concrete.

Engineers demonstrated a drill capable of digging samples of regolith last year. That demonstration used a laser light camera to select a site for drilling, then commanded the four-wheeled rover to lower the drill and collect three-foot samples of soil and rock.

NASA views possible lunar landing site

Thu, 28/02/2008 - 19:34 by MT Bureau

Washington -- The U.S. space agency has obtained the highest-resolution terrain mapping to date of a possible landing site at the moon's south polar region.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the new images, containing a resolution to about 66 feet per pixel, were obtained using the Goldstone Solar System Radar located in California's Mojave Desert.

NASA said the imagery has been incorporated into animation depicting the descent to the lunar surface of a future human lunar lander and a flyover of Shackleton Crater.

The data indicates Shackleton Crater is much more rugged than previously understood, NASA said, noting the crater's rim area is considered a candidate landing site for a future human mission to the moon.

Doug Cooke, deputy associate administrator for NASA's exploration systems mission directorate, said the imagery shows the lunar south pole has peaks as high as Mount McKinley and crater floors four times deeper than the Grand Canyon.

NASA presents quality business awards

Wed, 27/02/2008 - 22:00 by MT Bureau

Daytona Beach, Fla. -- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration presented its highest honor for quality and technical performance to four U.S. companies.

NASA's George M. Low Award, given in recognition of innovative management, process quality and customer service, was presented Tuesday during the space agency's fifth annual Project Management Challenge Conference in Daytona Beach, Fla.

The winners, each receiving a trophy with a medallion alloyed with material flown to the moon on Apollo 11, were Lockheed Martin Mission Services of Houston; Sierra Lobo Inc. of Milan, Ohio; Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Inc. of Canoga Park, Calif.; and the ASRC Aerospace Corp. of Cape Canaveral, Fla..

The award is named for George M. Low, NASA's deputy administrator from 1969-76 and a leader in the early development of U.S. space programs.