Tuesday, September 30, 2014

X37C----get it built !!!!!!

I am very pro military. Russia and China and North Korea and a few others are NOT OUR FRIENDS, PERIOD!

Its Time for the Pentagon to Build 4 of the X-37C. Two would be in SPACE at the Same Time. Its Mission would be to Gather Global Intelligence Any Way it Can, Using the Latest Technologies that we have on the Shelf. These Craft would be Unmanned and would Stay up to 600 Days in Space Collecting all Sorts of Information in Low Earth Orbit.

This would be a GREAT Asset to the USAF and to the US NAVY. Its Mission is to Collect Data Any Way it can, and Do the Best Job doing it in Low Earth Orbit. These X-37C could be lifted by an Atlas 5 or a Delta 4 or by SpaceX Heavy. We Need this X-37C NOW, and not 10 years from Now! The Pentagon should Fund it and Yes the X-37C would be Designed for 135 Missions. Yes they would be Upgradable when the Need is Required!

Lets Get this Baby Built or I FEEL We are going to have Another 9-11 Attack on OUR HANDS. I DO NOT WANT THAT to HAPPEN AGAIN. It is MUCH BETTER to BE SAFE THAN SORRY!!! Build this X-37C RIGHT NOW!!!

WE as a Country HAVE GOT TO STOP PLAYING GAMES With OUR ADVERSARIES!!!!.

CHINA and RUSSIA and North Korea, and IRAN would LOVE TO DESTROY the USA and that is NO JOKE!! WAKE UP AMERICA!!


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Is The Air Force's Secret Shuttle The Key To Russia-Free ISS Trips?

http://jalopnik.com/is-the-air-forces-secret-shuttle-the-key-to-russia-fre-1537894602


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Fwd: Curiosity Gets First Taste of Mount Sharp Foothills



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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: September 30, 2014 7:58:47 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Curiosity Gets First Taste of Mount Sharp Foothills

 

 

AmericaSpace

AmericaSpace

For a nation that explores
September 29th, 2014 

'Drill, Baby, Drill' replaces 'Drive, Drive, Drive' as Curiosity Gets First Taste of Mount Sharp Foothills

By Ken Kremer

 

NASA's Curiosity rover conducts 4th drill campaign at 'Pahrump Hills' rock outcrop on Sol 759, Sept. 24, 2014, at the foothills of Mount Sharp seen in the distance.   Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

NASA's Curiosity rover conducts 4th drill campaign at 'Pahrump Hills' rock outcrop on Sol 759, Sept. 24, 2014, at the foothills of Mount Sharp seen in the distance in this composite photo mosaic. Navcam camera raw images stitched and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

'Drill, Baby, Drill' has replaced 'Drive, Drive, Drive' as the Curiosity Mars rover teams new mantra ever since the six wheeled behemoth pulled up to the foothills of Mount Sharp to begin the systematic layer-by-layer investigation of the humongous mountain that was envisioned years ago when it was selected as the landing site on the Red Planet.

A few sols (days) ago, NASA's Curiosity successfully bored into a rock formation representing Mount Sharp for the first time during the rover's existence on Mars since the nail-biting landing more than two years ago in August 2012. The car sized rover is now working in the extended phase of the mission.

Mount Sharp was always Curiosity's primary mission destination. The layered mountain dominates most of the Gale Crater landing site and towers 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) into the Martian sky and is taller than Mount Rainier.

"We're putting on the brakes to study this amazing mountain," said Curiosity Deputy Project Manager Jennifer Trosper of JPL, in a NASA statement. "Curiosity flew hundreds of millions of miles to do this."

After departing the treacherous dunes of "Hidden Valley" and canceling the potential fourth drill campaign at "Bonanza King" in August for safety reasons due to an unstable rock formation, Curiosity's handlers altered her traverse route and resumed the trek to the mountains base in search of a scientifically interesting new drill site.

The team decided to aim for the "Pahrump Hills" which is a section of the mountain's basal geological unit, called the Murray formation.

"These features on the Murray formation mudstones are the accumulations of resistant materials. They occur both as discrete clusters and as dendrites, where forms are arranged in tree-like branching. By investigating the shapes and chemical ingredients in these features, the team hopes to gain information about the possible composition of fluids at this Martian location long ago," according to NASA.

This image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the first sample-collection hole drilled in Mount Sharp, the layered mountain that is the science destination of the rover's extended mission.  Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

This image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the first sample-collection hole drilled in Mount Sharp, the layered mountain that is the science destination of the rover's extended mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Curiosity arrived at an enticing outcrop at "Pahrump Hills" on Sept. 19 to start evaluating its feasibility as the rovers 4th drill site. Three days later the team settled on a spot named "Confidence Hills" to conduct a "mini-drill" operation, basically a shallow test hole, to further assess the target rock's suitability for drilling.

"Confidence Hills" passed the mini-drill test with flying colors and no noticeable instability, unlike the slippery rocks at "Bonanza King." So the engineers gave the go-ahead for full scale interior drilling.

They also determined that the rock is softer than any of Curiosity's three previous sample drilling/analysis targets at "John Klein", "Cumberland" and "Windjana."

Curiosity's percussion drill located at the end of the robotic arm successfully "chewed about 2.6 inches (6.7 centimeters) deep into a basal-layer outcrop on Mount Sharp and collected a powdered-rock sample" late in the Martian day on Sept. 24, 2014, Sol 759, according to a NASA press release.

"This drilling target is at the lowest part of the base layer of the mountain, and from here we plan to examine the higher, younger layers exposed in the nearby hills," said Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of JPL, in the NASA statement.

"This first look at rocks we believe to underlie Mount Sharp is exciting because it will begin to form a picture of the environment at the time the mountain formed, and what led to its growth."

This southeastward-looking vista from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop and surrounding terrain seen from a position about 70 feet (20 meters) northwest of the outcrop. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

This southeastward-looking vista from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop and surrounding terrain seen from a position about 70 feet (20 meters) northwest of the outcrop. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The sampling hole is approximately 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter and was imaged up close with the high resolution MAHLI color camera on the arm.

"The Sol 759 drill hole looks good," reported science team member Ken Herkenhoff in a post-drill mission update.

The "Confidence Hills" hole is also being studied by the other rover's other science instruments on the Mast and arm to fully assess whether it's truly suitable to feed into Curiosity's two onboard chemistry labs – SAM and CheMin – for detailed chemical compositional analysis and determination of any inorganic and organic molecules.

After collecting the rock powder it is temporarily held within the sample-handling mechanism on the rover's arm.

At week's end, the next step was to be the planned delivery of the rock-powder sample into the tiny scoop on the rover's arm. But the transfer from the sample mechanism to the scoop was delayed a few days by "a problem with one of the rover's gyroscopes," noted Herkenhoff.

The powder transfer to the scoop is expected soon. Whenever it does happen, the drill tailings inside the open scoop will be imaged by the Mastcam color camera to determine the powder's texture. The tailings will also be examined by the APXS and ChemCam instruments.

The team will also assess whether "it is safe for further sieving, portioning and delivery into Curiosity's internal laboratory instruments [SAM and Chemin] without clogging hardware. The instruments can perform many types of analysis to identify chemistry and mineralogy of the source rock," according to NASA.

NASA's Curiosity rover abandons drill campaign at 'Bonanza King' rock outcrop after hammer test (inset at right) determined it was unsuitable as potential 4th drill site  in this photo mosaic view captured on Aug. 20, 2014, Sol 724.  Note the background of sand dune ripples and deep wheel tracks inside Hidden Valley that forced quick exit to alternate route forward. Navcam camera raw images stitched and colorized.  Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

NASA's Curiosity rover abandons drill campaign at 'Bonanza King' rock outcrop after hammer test (inset at right) determined it was unsuitable as potential 4th drill site in this photo mosaic view captured on Aug. 20, 2014, Sol 724. Note the background of sand dune ripples and deep wheel tracks inside Hidden Valley that forced quick exit to alternate route forward. Navcam camera raw images stitched and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

In the meantime, Herkenhof said Curiosity will be put to good use. The team has commanded the 1 ton rover's SAM instrument to "heat a sample from the previous drill target "Windjana" ( still held in a sample cup) and measure evolved noble gases overnight on Sols 763 and 764."

The lower reaches of Mount Sharp are the rovers ultimate driving objective because the sedimentary layers are believed to hold caches of water altered minerals based on high resolution mapping measurements obtained by the CRISM spectrometer aboard NASA's powerful Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) – soaring overhead.

Such minerals could possibly indicate locations that sustained potential Martian life forms, past or present, if they ever existed.

"Exploring the mountain will be like traveling backwards in a time machine," Dr. Jim Green, NASA's Director of Planetary Sciences at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, told me in a recent exclusive interview with AmericaSpace.

During Year 1 on Mars, Curiosity accomplished her primary objective of discovering a habitable zone on the Red Planet that contains the chemical ingredients and a chemical energy gradient necessary to support microbial life forms in the ancient past, if they ever existed.

Curiosity found the Martian habitable zone while exploring a more than three billion year old ancient riverbed near her landing site at an area known as Yellowknife Bay.

During 2013, Curiosity conducted the first two drill campaigns at the "John Klein" and "Cumberland" outcrop targets inside Yellowknife Bay. They were both mudstone rock outcrops and the interiors were markedly different in color and much lighter compared to the third drill site at "Windjana" into a slab of red, sandstone rock during 2014.

This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the "Bradbury Landing" location where it landed in August 2012 to the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop where it drilled into the lowest part of Mount Sharp.  Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the "Bradbury Landing" location where it landed in August 2012 to the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop where it drilled into the lowest part of Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

So far Curiosity's odometer totals over 5.5 miles (9.0 kilometers) since landing inside Gale Crater on Mars in August 2012. She has taken over 191,000 images during 763 Sols of exploration.

Meanwhile MAVEN, NASA's newest Mars orbiter successfully entered Mars orbit barely a week ago on Sept, 21. Read my MAVEN articles here, here and here.

Stay tuned here for continuing updates.

Ken Kremer

 

 

Copyright © 2014 AmericaSpace - All Rights Reserved

 


 

Fwd: Construction of Texas launch site to begin next year



Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: September 30, 2014 7:57:25 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Construction of Texas launch site to begin next year

 

 

 

Construction of Texas launch site to begin next year
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW

September 28, 2014

BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- SpaceX broke ground on a new commercial spaceport Sept. 22 on the shores of South Texas, committing to the construction of the world's first privately-owned satellite launch pad scheduled to be operational as soon as late 2016.


Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Texas, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Texas Gov. Rick Perry break ground on the South Texas spaceport. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now
 
The ceremonial groundbreaking, attended by more than 100 state and local officials, SpaceX employees, and media representatives, marked the end of a nationwide search for a location to build a new launch base for SpaceX's Falcon rocket family.

"This is just the first initial groundbreaking," said Elon Musk, CEO and chief designer at SpaceX. "It's going to take several years to build out the spaceport. This is going to be quite a significant building endeavor."

SpaceX initially plans up to a dozen launches of its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets from the facility at Boca Chica Beach, a remote stretch of shoreline about three miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border at the mouth of the Rio Grande River.

Situated where a little-traveled two-lane highway dead-ends at the Gulf of Mexico about 20 miles east of Brownsville, the South Texas launch site beat out proposed locations in Florida, Hawaii and elsewhere.

"We looked all through the country, we looked at all possibilities," Musk said. "And I have to say we thought this was the best place to put it."


http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1409/28brownsville/musk_brownsville.mp4

SpaceX CEO and chief technology officer Elon Musk speaks with reporters following the Sept. 22 groundbreaking in South Texas. Credit: Spaceflight Now
 
Texas lured SpaceX to the Rio Grande Valley with commitments of public funding and legislation to tweak laws that could impede launch operations at the site.

The state offered $15.3 million in incentives to support SpaceX's development of a South Texas spaceport, and the Texas legislature passed a law permitting the closure of public beaches on launch days.

"We put into account various factors, and one of the biggest factors -- maybe the biggest -- was the willingness of the state and local governments to support such an endeavor," Musk said. "Do they truly really want it? We want to be in a place where we're truly wanted."

The University of Texas at Brownsville and SpaceX are partnering to develop a ground communications station to support launches from the area.

The Federal Aviation Administration will license SpaceX's rocket launches from South Texas, holding responsibility for public safety. The U.S. Air Force does that job at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

The FAA gave a green light to the commercial launch base in July after a review of its impacts to the environment.

"We actually began environmental studies on a few different locations, but I think the fundamental point that swayed SpaceX on Boca Chica was the tremendous outpouring of support from local residents," Musk said.

"Elon ... we thank you for having the vision to see that this is where you needed to be and wanted to be," said Texas Gov. Rick Perry. "This is just another one of those signals to the rest of the world that this is a state that is making a difference -- making a difference in a powerful way."


Artist's concept of the SpaceX launch pad in South Texas. Credit: SpaceX
 
Officials hope the SpaceX launch base will revitalize South Texas, an agglomeration of border towns with an economy primarily based on agriculture, tourism and maritime services.

"When you think about this project and what it means for the state of Texas, for the nation, and frankly for the world, then we start to see just how important Texas and the Rio Grande Valley is in that makeup," Perry said.

"In terms of SpaceX, in the three-to-four year timeframe, we expect to spend on the order of about $100 million," Musk said. "But in the long term, say in 10 or 20 years, it's probably in the several hundred million dollar range because we'll be expanding the facility, and there will be other companies that will locate here to support SpaceX. There will be an ecosystem of companies that will move in to support the anchor tent -- in this case, a commercial launch pad for commercial satellites."

The FAA approved up to 12 launches from the South Texas spaceport annually, including two flights of SpaceX's larger Falcon Heavy rocket. Most of the launches must occur in daylight, according to the FAA, with a possibility of one night launch per year.

While the FAA reviewed environmental concerns and state officials put together an incentive package, legislators rewrote laws to bring SpaceX to Texas.

"The issue that we would close Texas beaches for any private venture was against the laws of the state of Texas," said Rene Oliveira, who represents Brownsville in the Texas House of Representatives. "We have an Open Beaches Act, and that had to be modified.

The new law prohibits beach closures -- and launches -- on holidays and weekends in the summer.

"What we did is we'll close the beaches for hopefully one time a month," Oliveira said. "It did not allow that our friends at SpaceX could launch on holidays, which was very important, particularly to our culture. They like their beach and they're going to have their beach on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day. But it will be closed for one launch per month for 15 hours."

SpaceX plans to build a launch pad, a rocket integration hangar, propellant tanks, a launch control center, and a satellite processing clean room at the Boca Chica site.

Musk said preliminary work will begin soon, but major construction will not start until the second half of 2015, once SpaceX's launch site development team finishes modifications to Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A, which the company leased from NASA in April.

"We're expecting the Cape site to be done in approximately nine months, and we'll do some advanced preparation work here at Boca Chica, but we'll probably start with more significant activity in the third quarter of next year," Musk said.


SpaceX plans to build its launch pad on the left (south) side of Texas State Highway 4 in this view from the beach. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now
 
The first launch from South Texas could occur as soon as late 2016, according to Musk, who added SpaceX wants to base commercial communications satellite launches into geostationary transfer orbit from the Boca Chica facility.

"Our preference is to try to move particularly the commercial GTO (geostationary transfer orbit) missions to the Boca Chica launch site as soon as we can because there's a significant benefit by being south," Musk said.

Geostationary transfer orbit -- an elliptical orbit with a high point typically about 22,300 miles above Earth -- is a common drop-off point for large communications satellites.

Communications satellites use on-board thrusters to circularize their orbits at geostationary altitude -- 22,300 miles -- and move over the equator, where their orbital velocity matches the speed of Earth's rotation, causing the spacecraft to hover over a fixed location on the planet.

Rockets launching into such orbits receive a performance boost from launch pads at lower latitudes because of the faster spin of Earth closer to the equator. Launching closer to the equator allows rockets to use less fuel to put satellites in orbit.

"We're two-and-a-half degrees south of Cape Canaveral, and those two-and-a-half degrees are actually helpful for GTO missions," Musk said. "We have a strong incentive to try to get Boca Chica active as soon as possible."

The Boca Chica launch site lies at about 26 degrees north latitude, while Cape Canaveral sits at approximately 28.5 degrees.

SpaceX's rockets will launch to the east from Boca Chica Beach, flying over the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Straits between the Florida Keys and Cuba to avoid flying over land en route to geostationary transfer orbit with commercial satellites.

Musk said SpaceX will continue using its launch pads at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California primarily for U.S. government missions.

"I think this is really going to be a new kind of spaceport that's optimized for commercial operations," Musk said. "Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg are great launch sites, but they are military launch sites, so they're optmized more for defense of the country and that kind of thing.

"What's important for the future of space exploration is to have a truly commercial launch site, just as we have commercial airports," Musk said. "When you travel somewhere, from Dallas to New York or London, you're always landing at a commercial airport."

Musk said commercial astronaut crews could blast off from South Texas in the future, too. But NASA astronauts, such as crews heading for the International Space Station, will fly from SpaceX's facility at the Kennedy Space Center, he said.

"This is not in any way a knock on Cape Canaveral or [Kennedy Space Center]. That's a great spaceport that they've got there," Musk said. "It will continue to be used heavily as far into the future as one can imagine, but what we see is a level of demand in terms of launches that even Cape Canaveral could not support, so we needed another great launch site in order to support the flight rate that we expect."  

 

© 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.

 


 

Fwd: Assembly Completed on Powerful Delta IV Rocket Boosting Maiden Orion Capsule Test Flight



Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: September 30, 2014 7:59:23 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Assembly Completed on Powerful Delta IV Rocket Boosting Maiden Orion Capsule Test Flight

 

Inline image 1

Assembly Completed on Powerful Delta IV Rocket Boosting Maiden Orion Capsule Test Flight

by Ken Kremer on September 28, 2014

A United Launch Alliance technician monitors the core booster elements of a Delta IV Heavy rocket after being integrated in preparation for Exploration Flight Test-1 at Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

A United Launch Alliance technician monitors the core booster elements of a Delta IV Heavy rocket after being integrated in preparation for Exploration Flight Test-1 at Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL – Assembly of the powerful Delta IV rocket boosting the pathfinder version of NASA's Orion crew capsule on its maiden test flight in December has been completed.

Orion is NASA's next generation human rated vehicle that will eventually carry America's astronauts beyond Earth on voyages venturing farther into deep space than ever before – beyond the Moon to Asteroids, Mars and other destinations in our Solar System.

The state-of-the-art Orion spacecraft is scheduled to launch on its inaugural uncrewed mission, dubbed Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), in December 2014 atop the Delta IV Heavy rocket. It replaces NASA's now retired space shuttle orbiters.

The triple barreled Delta IV Heavy is currently the most powerful rocket in America's fleet following the retirement of the NASA's Space Shuttle program.

Engineers from the rocket's manufacturer – United Launch Alliance (ULA) – took a major step forward towards Orion's first flight when they completed the integration of the three primary core elements of the rockets first stage with the single engine upper stage.

These three RS-68 engines will power each of the attached Delta IV Heavy Common Booster Cores (CBCs) the will launch NASA's maiden Orion on the EFT-1 mission in December 2014.   Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

These three RS-68 engines will power each of the attached Delta IV Heavy Common Booster Cores (CBCs) that will launch NASA's maiden Orion on the EFT-1 mission in December 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

All of the rocket integration work and preflight processing took place inside ULA's Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF), at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Universe Today recently visited the Delta IV booster during an up close tour inside the HIF facility last week where the rocket was unveiled to the media in a horizontally stacked configuration. See my Delta IV photos herein.

The HIF building is located at Space Launch Complex 37 (SLC-37), on Cape Canaveral, a short distance away from the launch pad where the Orion EFT-1 mission will lift off on Dec. 4.

"The day-to-day processing is performed by ULA," said Merri Anne Stowe of NASA's Fleet Systems Integration Branch of the Launch Services Program (LSP), in a NASA statement.

"NASA's role is to keep a watchful eye on everything and be there to help if any issues come up."

The first stage is comprised of a trio of three Delta IV Common Booster Cores (CBCs).

Side view shows trio of Common Booster Cores (CBCs) with RS-68 engines powering the Delta IV Heavy rocket resting horizontally in ULA's HIF processing facility at Cape Canaveral that will launch NASA's maiden Orion on the EFT-1 mission in December 2014 from Launch Complex 37.   Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

Side view shows trio of Common Booster Cores (CBCs) with RS-68 engines powering the Delta IV Heavy rocket resting horizontally in ULA's HIF processing facility at Cape Canaveral that will launch NASA's maiden Orion on the EFT-1 mission in December 2014 from Launch Complex 37. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

Each CBC measures 134 feet in length and 17 feet in diameter. They are equipped with an RS-68 engine powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants producing 656,000 pounds of thrust. Together they generate 1.96 million pounds of thrust.

This past spring I visited the HIF after the first two CBCs arrived by barge from their ULA assembly plant in Decatur, Alabama, located about 20 miles west of Huntsville.

The first CBC booster was attached to the center booster in June. The second one was attached in early August, according to ULA.

"After the three core stages went through their initial inspections and processing, the struts were attached, connecting the booster stages with the center core," Stowe said. "All of this takes place horizontally."

The Delta IV cryogenic second stage testing and attachment was completed in August and September. It measures 45 feet in length and 17 feet in diameter. It is equipped with a single RL10-B-2 engine, that also burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant and generates 25,000 pounds of thrust.

"The hardware for Exploration Flight Test-1 is coming together well," Stowe noted in a NASA statement.

"We haven't had to deal with any serious problems. All of the advance planning appears to be paying off."

This same Delta IV upper stage will be used in the Block 1 version of NASA's new heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS).

Be sure to read my recent article detailing the ribbon cutting ceremony opening the manufacture of the SLS core stage at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, LA. The SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built by humans, exceeding that of the iconic Saturn V rocket that sent humans to walk on the surface of the Moon.

Wide view of the new welding tool at the Vertical Assembly Center at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Sept. 12, 2014.  Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com

Wide view of the new welding tool at the Vertical Assembly Center at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Sept. 12, 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com

The Delta IV rocket will be rolled out to the SLC-37 Cape Canaveral launch pad this week.
Assembly of the Orion EFT-1 capsule and stacking atop the service module was also completed in September at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

I was also on hand at KSC when the Orion crew module/service module (CM/SM) stack was rolled out on Sept. 11, 2014, on a 36-wheel transporter from its high bay assembly facility in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building.

NASA's completed Orion EFT 1 crew module loaded on wheeled transporter during move to Launch Abort System Facility (LASF) on Sept. 11, 2014 at the Kennedy Space Center, FL.  Credit: Ken Kremer - kenkremer.com

NASA's completed Orion EFT 1 crew module loaded on wheeled transporter during move to Launch Abort System Facility (LASF) on Sept. 11, 2014, at the Kennedy Space Center, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com

It was moved about 1 mile to its next stop on the way to SLC-37 – the KSC fueling facility named the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHFS). Read my Orion move story here.

The two-orbit, four and a half hour EFT-1 flight will lift the Orion spacecraft and its attached second stage to an orbital altitude of 3,600 miles, about 15 times higher than the International Space Station (ISS) – and farther than any human spacecraft has journeyed in 40 years.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Orion, SLS, Boeing, Sierra Nevada, Orbital Sciences, SpaceX, commercial space, Curiosity, Mars rover, MAVEN, MOM and more Earth and planetary science and human spaceflight news.

Ken Kremer

NASA's Orion EFT 1 crew module departs Neil Armstrong Operation and Checkout Building on Sept. 11, 2014 at the Kennedy Space Center, FL, beginning the long journey to the launch pad and planned liftoff on Dec. 4, 2014.  Credit: Ken Kremer - kenkremer.com

NASA's Orion EFT 1 crew module departs Neil Armstrong Operation and Checkout Building on Sept. 11, 2014 at the Kennedy Space Center, FL, beginning the long journey to the launch pad and planned liftoff on Dec. 4, 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer – kenkremer.com

Space journalists including Ken Kremer/Universe Today pose with the Delta IV Heavy rocket resting horizontally in ULA's HIF processing facility at Cape Canaveral that will launch NASA's maiden Orion on the EFT-1 mission in December 2014 from Launch Complex 37.   Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

Space journalists including Ken Kremer/Universe Today pose with the Delta IV Heavy rocket resting horizontally in ULA's HIF processing facility at Cape Canaveral that will launch NASA's maiden Orion on the EFT-1 mission in December 2014 from Launch Complex 37. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

 


 

Fwd: Cheap hydrogen, no rare metals; Key to California drought; Uncertainty improves math models



Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kent Castle <kent.d.castle@hotmail.com>
Date: September 30, 2014 5:05:06 PM CDT
To: Reason Marilou <loganlou55@yahoo.com>, Bogan Carole <bcbogan@earthlink.net>, Astrology Valkyrie <astrogoddess@valkyrieastrology.com>, Madsen Ron <ronstar@pdq.net>, Patterson James <w8ljz@aol.com>, Martin Bobby <bobbygmartin1938@gmail.com>, Choban Peter <peter.s.choban@aero.org>, Baird Darren <darren.t.baird@nasa.gov>, Bentz Jerry <bentz@sbcglobal.net>, Heidel TQ <bheidel@highland.net>, Schwering Suanne <suannesch@mac.com>, Naftzger George <inntiqui@ffni.com>, Stringer Suzan <suzan.f.stringer@nasa.gov>, Leach Larry <ljleach@tds.net>, Lozano Marianne <kemahsabe@comcast.net>, Carman Gilbert <gil77546@sbcglobal.net>, Smith Harold <ke5gsk@gmail.com>
Subject: FW: Cheap hydrogen, no rare metals; Key to California drought; Uncertainty improves math models


 

From: reply@mail.rdmag.com
To: KENT.D.CASTLE@HOTMAIL.COM
Subject: Cheap hydrogen, no rare metals; Key to California drought; Uncertainty improves math models
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 13:31:47 -0600

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Electrical engineers in Germany have demonstrated a new kind of building block for digital integrated circuits. Their experiments show that future computer chips could be based on 3-D arrangements of nanometer-scale magnets instead of transistors. In a 3-D stack of nanomagnets, the researchers have implemented a so-called "majority" logic gate, which could serve as a programmable switch in a digital circuit.


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Vacuum System Simulations

This free webinar will:
• discuss the theory underlying the Molecular Flow interface in COMSOL
• show models of various vacuum flow processes
• also discuss approaches to modeling other types of rarefied gas flows.

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VIDEO

Cheap hydrogen fuel from the sun, without rare metals

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Michael Grätzel's laboratory in Switzerland is producing hydrogen fuel from sunlight and water. By combining a pair of solar cells made with a mineral called perovskite and low cost electrodes, scientists have obtained a 12.3% conversion efficiency from solar energy to hydrogen, a record using earth-abundant materials as opposed to rare metals.


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NEWS

Adding natural uncertainty improves mathematical models

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Mathematicians from Brown Univ. have introduced a new element of uncertainty into an equation used to describe the behavior of fluid flows. Ironically, allowing uncertainty into a mathematical equation that models fluid flows makes the equation much more capable of correctly reflecting the natural world, including the formation, strength, and position of air masses and fronts in the atmosphere.


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2015 Laboratory Design Conference

Share your laboratory design expertise with your colleagues.

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NEWS

New discovery approach accelerates identification of potential cancer treatments

Researchers at the Univ. of Michigan have described a new approach to discovering potential cancer treatments that requires a fraction of the time needed for more traditional methods. They used the platform to identify a novel antibody that is undergoing further investigation as a potential treatment for breast, ovarian and other cancers.

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VIDEO

California drought linked to climate change

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The atmospheric conditions associated with the unprecedented drought currently afflicting California are "very likely" linked to human-caused climate change, according to Stanford Univ. scientists. The team used a combination of computer simulations and statistical techniques to show that a persistent region of high atmospheric pressure hovering over the Pacific Ocean was likely to form from modern greenhouse gas concentrations.

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EVENT

2nd Annual Pharma Data Analytics Conference

The 2nd Annual Pharma Data Analytics Conference will enable senior-level analytics professionals to improve the bottom line of their business through utilizing the potential of big data. Driven by single-track case study presentations from Pfizer, Celgene, Novartis, Merck and many others, this program will explore recent trends in the pharmaceutical environment, including the influence of analytics in the commercial space, data visualization tools and techniques and methodologies for forecasting across multiple business units.

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ARTICLE

Making the Connection

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Wireless technology is already widespread in the research laboratory and industrial settings, where solutions are supported by WiFi and the advent of smartphones and tablets. Dedicated wireless platforms for scientific instruments, however, are more unusual. The reason for this is economies of scale.

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ARTICLE

The Preferred Method for Electronic Test

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Oscilloscope technology is developing at a fast pace with more features packed into smaller and less expensive packages, providing engineers with more choices in the expanding marketplace. Recent market analysis from TechNavio notes the global oscilloscope market will grow at a 20% CAGR through 2016.

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PRODUCT

Particle Size Imaging Accessory

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At Powtech 2014, Malvern Instruments launched Hydro Sight, an imaging accessory for the Mastersizer 3000 particle size analyzer, that allows quicker and easier development and application of robust particle sizing methods. In addition, Malvern launched the Hydro SV, a new wet dispersion unit for the Mastersizer 3000.


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PRODUCT

Pure Sine Wave Inverter System

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Schaefer Inc. has unveiled new turnkey inverter systems using its Series IT of single or three-phase switch mode inverter systems with a power range from 6 kVA to 90 kVA. These highly reliable, fully-customizable "built-to-project" dc/ac pure sine wave inverters are fully isolated, using a switch mode inverter with a rectifier at input and a transformer at the output.


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