NASA: Mars Curiosity Rover’s Labs Are Back in Action “NASA’s Curiosity rover is analyzing drilled samples on Mars in one of its onboard labs for the first time in more than a year.” “‘This was no small feat. It represents months and months of work by our team to pull this off,’ said Jim Erickson, project manager of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, which is led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion […]

NASA OIG: NASA’s Management and Development of Spacesuits, NASA OIG “NASA continues to manage an array of design and health risks associated with the EMUs used by ISS crew. In addition, only 11 of the 18 original EMU Primary Life Support System units – a backpack-like structure that performs a variety of functions required to keep an astronaut alive during a spacewalk – are still in use, raising concerns that […]

Orbital ATK Sues DARPA Over MDA’s SSL GEO Satellite Servicing Contract, SpaceQ “The days of on-orbit servicing, or satellite servicing, living in obscurity are over. On February 7, Orbital ATK, Inc. and their subsidiary Space Logistics LLC, filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Virginia to stop the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from awarding Space Systems Loral (SSL), a subsidiary of Canada’s MDA, a contract to […]

NASA OIG: Audit of the Mars 2020 Rover Project “The largest risk to the Mars 2020 schedule is the Project’s Sample and Caching Subsystem (Sampling System), which will collect core samples of Martian rocks and soil and place them on the planet’s surface for retrieval by a future robotic or human mission. At Preliminary Design Review (PDR), three of the Sampling System’s critical technologies were below technology readiness level (TRL) […]

NASA FISO Presentation: The SmallSat Revolution – Your World Now Now available is the October 26, 2016 NASA Future In-Space Operations (FISO) telecon material. The speaker was Peter Wegner (Spaceflight Industries) who discussed “The SmallSat Revolution: Your World Now!” Note: The audio file and presentation are online and available to download. Related: NASA to Hold Media Call on New Small Satellite Missions to Study Earth “NASA will host a teleconference […]

NASA FISO Presentation: An ISS Space Ambulance Based on X-37B Technology Now available is the October 19, 2016 NASA Future In-Space Operations (FISO) telecon material. The speakers was Steve Robinson (UC Santa Cruz) who discussed “An ISS Space Ambulance Based on X-37B Technology.” Note: The audio file and presentation are online and available to download. Marc’s note: An interesting concept. Is there a future commercial application for this concept should […]

NASA iTech Fosters Technology Needed for Journey to Mars “NASA is seeking innovative technology for the agency’s future exploration missions in the solar system and beyond, including the Journey to Mars, from other U.S. government agencies, academia, the aerospace industry and the public through the new iTech initiative.” “NASA’s iTech initiative is a yearlong effort to find innovative ideas through a call for white papers that address challenges that will […]

NASA FISO Presentation: NASA Collaboration with SpaceX’s Red Dragon Mission “Now available is the September 21, 2016 NASA Future In-Space Operations (FISO) telecon material. The speakers was Philip McAlister (NASA HQ) who discussed “NASA Collaboration with SpaceX’s Red Dragon Mission”. Note: The audio file and presentation are online and available to download. NASA to have limited role in SpaceX’s planned Mars campaign, Spaceflight Now “Expertise, input and advice from seasoned […]

NASA FISO Presentation: Low-Latency Teleoperations for the Evolvable Mars Campaign “Now available is the September 7, 2016 NASA Future In-Space Operations (FISO) telecon material. The speakers were Mark Lupisella, Jack Bleacher and Michael Wright of NASA GSFC who discussed “Low-Latency Teleoperations for the Evolvable Mars Campaign“. Note: The audio file and presentation are online and available to download.

NASA FISO Presentation: Telerobotics from Mars Orbit – Lessons from Robotic Exploration for Human Missions to Mars “Now available is the August 31, 2016 NASA Future In-Space Operations (FISO) telecon material. The speaker was Jim Bell (ASU) who discussed “Telerobotics from Mars Orbit – Lessons from Robotic Exploration for Human Missions to Mars“. Note: The audio file and presentation are online and available to download.

NASA FISO Presentation: NASA Space Portal – A Framework for Space Exploration and Development in the 21st Century? “Now available is the August 17, 2016 NASA Future In-Space Operations (FISO) telecon material. The speaker was Dan Rasky (NASA ARC) who discussed “NASA Space Portal – A Framework for Space Exploration and Development in the 21st Century?” Note: The audio file and presentation are available online and to download.

NASA FISO Presentation: The Deep Space Network – The Next 50 Years “Dr. Leslie J. Deutsch is the Deputy Director of the Interplanetary Network Directorate at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This Directorate provides information services to spacecraft exploring the solar system and beyond. The Directorate’s facilities include NASA’s Deep Space Network, the giant antennas used to communicate with these spacecraft.” Note: The audio file and presentation are available online and […]

NASA FISO Presentation: Design Space for Space Design – Cybernetics, Human-Centered Design “Tibor Balint is a researcher at the Royal College of Art, School of Design, finalizing his second PhD in Innovation Design Engineering. He spent 4 years at NASA-HQ as the Senior Technical Advisor; the Program Executive for GCD at STMD; and a Senior Technologist at OCT. At JPL he worked for 8 years as a mission architect and […]

NASA FISO Presentation: The Film Evaporation MEMS Tunable Water Microthruster Array “Miniaturization of satellite systems provides potential for reduced launch and operations costs – Small sats i.e. micro, pico, nanosats are emerging technologies. – Cubesats (4 inches cube) are low cost alternative for some applications. Propulsion systems resist miniaturization – Viscous losses at small scale – Low mass fraction due to power processing mass – Excessive power demands for small […]

NASA FISO Presentation: Near Real-Time State Models – a Foundational Technology for Space Automation and Robotics, SpaceRef “Now available is the June 22, 2016 NASA Future In-Space Operations (FISO) telecon material. The speaker was Gary Barnhard of Xtraordinary Innovative Space Partnerships, Inc. (XISP-Inc) who discussed Near Real-Time State Models – a Foundational Technology for Space Automation and Robotics.” Includes: Presentation and audio recording of the telecon.

Keith’s note: According to the last page of NASA INNOVATIVE ADVANCED CONCEPTS (NIAC), PHASE I APPENDIX NNH15ZOA0001N-NIAC_A3“, 21 August 2015: “7. NIAC Virtual Q&A Forum NASA will host a virtual forum that will address key aspects of this Appendix. The date targeted for this forum is tentatively Wednesday, September 9, 2015. Specific details for the forum will be posted on the following website: http://www.nasa.gov/niac.” Despite the language in the Appendix, […]

NASA – Lunar IceCube to Take on Big Mission From Small Package “In what scientists say signals a paradigm shift in interplanetary science, NASA has selected a shoebox-size mission to search for water ice and other resources from above the surface of the moon.” Marc’s note: CubeSats for deep-space exploration is an exciting new aspect of space exploration. It opens space exploration to more participants at a much lower cost. […]

NASA FISO Presentation: Inflatable Antenna for CubeSats “Now available is the May 6, 2015 NASA Future In-Space Operations (FISO) telecon material. The speaker was Alessandra Babuscia (NASA JPL) who discussed “Inflatable Antenna for CubeSats”. Marc’s note: Harley Thronson of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Dan Lester of the University of Texas, to their credit, have been holding almost regular weekly “Future In-Space Operations (FISO) Working Group Presentations” since 2006. […]

Super-Black Nano-Coating to Be Tested for the First Time in Space, NASA “An emerging super-black nanotechnology that promises to make spacecraft instruments more sensitive without enlarging their size will be tested for the first time on the International Space Station within a year.”