SPACE Science innovation BUSINESS NEWS
NASA Selects Top 20 Space Robotics Challenge Teams for Final Stage of Competition
Eligible teams will be awarded $15,000 and advance to the final Virtual Competition, which will take place in June.
The Top 20 teams, in alphabetical order, are:
Felipe Valdez is Completing his Internship at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center
Many students move away from home when they start college. While some move to a new city or state, NASA intern Felipe Valdez moved to a new country. In 2007, Felipe made the difficult decision to leave his home in Mexico and move to the United States to pursue his education and career. At the time, his life was at a crossroads. He could stay in Mexico, leave school and find a full-time job, or he could move to the U.S. and have the opportunity to continue his education.
After moving to California, Felipe started his sophomore year at River Valley High School in Yuba City, about an hour outside Sacramento. Despite the challenge of integrating into a new culture and learning a new language, Felipe excelled in all his courses and graduated with an excellent GPA. Click here for full article
NASA and South Korea Sign Space Agreement (Source: Guepardt Daily)
South Korea might be one step closer to putting a man or a woman on the moon.Seoul said Monday it had reached an agreement with the United States on space cooperation, Yonhap reported. For South Korea, the agreement is the first of its kind, and joint projects could include explorations of the moon and Mars, a strategy that could segue with U.S. space program objectives.
The agreement with South Korea could attract investment into U.S. space programs and give Seoul in turn an opportunity to work with U.S. space technology and at the same time providing an opportunity for South Korea's students to participate in educational programs like the KSC International Academy's International Journey of Science & Technology.
Congress Wants NASA to Build a Deep Space Habitat (Source: TIME)
NASA received $55 million from Congress to develop living quarters for future missions into deep space. The 2016 government appropriations bill supports the space agency’s efforts to develop a habitation augmentation module, Space News reports. NASA intends to develop a more comfortable living facility for astronauts who will embark on long journeys into deep space, specifically Mars, where officials hope to go in the 2030s.
“NASA shall develop a prototype deep space habitation module within the advanced exploration systems program no later than 2018,” a report accompanying the spending bill says. The space agency has not provided exact details for the habitation module, but it has awarded contracts to several outside companies under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP program. (12/30)
NASA Uncertain How to Proceed in Developing Deep Space Module (Source: Examiner)
One of the provisions of the new NASA spending bill, which provided a hefty $1.3 billion boost to the space agency’s budget, is a mandate to build a prototype habitation module for deep space exploration by 2018. Space News suggested on Monday that NASA is uncertain how to proceed with this sudden largess. Quite some time has passed since the space agency has gotten more money than expected and been told to speed up the development of an item of hardware. Usually, the opposite happens, with accompanying delays and increases in overall costs.
Thus far it had been funding a number of studies by private companies. “Under its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP, program, NASA awarded study contracts in March to Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Orbital ATK to study habitat designs. It also awarded contracts to Dynetics, Hamilton Sundstrand and Orbital Technologies Corp. for specific module technologies, such as life support systems.”
The contracts, each worth $1 million, were let out in March 2015 and were due to last a year. Then NASA planned to use the results of the studies to move forward to the next phase. That next phase could mean having commercial companies build prototypes. The space agency could even build the prototype in house. What Congress is thinking by speeding up the development of a habitation module is unclear. Click here. (12/30)
NASA Will Have a Big Year Thanks to Congress (Source: Houston Press)
Things just keep improving for NASA. First they pulled off the first launch of the Orion spacecraft in 2014 and then they followed up by discovering water on Mars and giving us unprecedented images of Pluto in 2015. Now it looks like things are going to get even better in 2016.
Why? Well, for one thing, Congress has finally given NASA's budget a hefty increase. After years of getting by on a shoestring, NASA is starting 2016 with something that hasn't been seen at the federal space agency in years: proper funding. In December Congress passed a bill giving NASA $19.3 billion for 2016, an increase from 2015 of more than $1 billion and $750 million more than President Barack Obama had even requested.
The timing couldn't be better. NASA is intent on getting astronauts back to cislunar space by the 2020s and landing them on Mars by the 2030s. While that may sound like a long way off, NASA has a ton of things to get done this year to make the ultimate goal of reaching the Red Planet a reality. Click here. (1/1)
Europe Is Reaching for a Moon Base by the 2030s (Source: Space.com)
There is growing interest in Europe to prioritize the moon as humanity's next deep-space destination. The moon, supporters say, can serve as a springboard to push the human exploration of the solar system, with Mars as the horizon goal. So Europe is ratcheting up what it sees as the strategic significance of the moon by pushing forward on lunar-exploration missions that would involve both humans and robots.
Calling the effort a "comeback to the moon," European space planners envision a series of human missions to the lunar vicinity starting in the early 2020s. Those missions, according to the plan, will include coordination between astronauts and robotic systems on the lunar surface. Robots would land first, paving the way for human explorers to set foot on the moon later. (12/30)
European Space Agency Just Gave Itself a Moon Base Deadline: 2040 (Source: Inverse)
The European Space Agency has been fairly vocal about its big vision for bringing people back to the moon at some point in the future. Last July, ESA chief Johann-Dietrich Woerner expressed his desire to build a “moon village,” a research station built and operated by both space agencies and private companies. Now, he’s following up. The ESA is dedicating time and energy to this goal and plans to have Woerner taking in Earthrises daiquiri in hand by the end of the 2030s.
Those intentions were the focus of the ESA’s two-day symposium entitled, “Moon 2020-2030 – A New Era of Coordinated Human and Robotic Exploration,” held at the European Space Research and Technology Center in Noordwijk, Netherlands. Over 200 scientists and agency experts from 28 countries gathered over December 15 and 16 to discuss exactly what how the ESA and the world ought to treat moon exploration and research over the course of the next decade.
Instead of sending astronauts to Earth straight from Mars, we could build infrastructure on the surface of the moon as well keep active facilities operational in cislunar space and lunar orbit. We wouldn’t have to stock a spacecraft with everything it needs for the trip all at once. Those resources - like food and more importantly fuel — could be picked up at the moon to lighten the load.
Russia Not Canceling Moon Plans (Source: Sputnik)
Russia's deputy prime minister said the country is not backing away from plans for human missions to the moon. Dmitry Rogozin said Russia was not dropping plans for such missions, and that reports of the program's demise were "greatly exaggerated." Russian media reported earlier in the week that the revised 10-year plan for the nation's space program suspended work on vehicles and other technologies needed for human lunar missions, pushing them back until perhaps the late 2020s. Rogozin added that Russia has also started work on an "ultra-heavy rocket" but offered no additional details.
South Korea Joins Hands with NASA to Launch Lunar Exploration Next Year (Source: Business Korea)
The South Korean government deliberated and voted for the “Stage 1 Lunar Exploration Development Plan.” In a bid to reduce the trial and error associated with the nation’s first lunar exploration and strengthen its space exploration technology competence, it will also promote technological cooperation with NASA.
The ministry will provide some space inside of a test orbiter to NASA, and it will receive technology assessment on the development of data processing systems such as lunar orbiter trace and deep space navigation, deep space network establishment and lunar images, and consultation support from NASA.
In order to build trust for lunar exploration technological cooperation between the two countries, they are planning to enter into an international agreement on cooperation details and role assignment between the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and NASA by the first half of 2016. (12/31)
Canadian Space Agency Looks Toward Mars, Deep Space Missions (Source: Global News)
The Canadian Space Agency is taking some initial small steps toward an eventual contribution to humanity’s giant leap back into deep space. The CSA posted a call for tender this week on the government of Canada’s main procurement website, asking for the private sector’s help in drafting mission contribution studies for “Beyond LEO Exploration.”
Beyond LEO, in this case, means beyond “low Earth orbit,” the zone that the International Space Station (ISS) currently inhabits just above our planet. No human being has left this zone and ventured out into deeper space since 1972. The procurement website states that the CSA is looking for help dreaming up an “advanced crew medical system” that would function beyond low Earth orbit, a beyond-LEO navigation system, and deep-space exploration robotics
Speculation Mounts Over Elon Musk’s Plan for SpaceX’s Mars Colonial Transporter (Source: GeekWire)
In the wake of SpaceX’s successful rocket landing, some of the company’s most ardent fans are guessing at the shape of the biggest thing to come: the Mars Colonial Transporter. The MCT is a crucial piece in SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s grand plan to send tens of thousands of colonists to the Red Planet, potentially starting in the next decade or two.
Such a venture would mark a giant leap toward establishing a second cosmic home for humanity. Musk believes that’s a must if we’re to guard against extinction due to pandemics, asteroid strikes or other planet-wide catastrophes.
Early this year, Musk promised to unveil his architecture for Mars colonization by the end of 2015 – but in a recent GQ interview, he said the big reveal was more likely to come in early 2016. “Before we announce it, I want to make sure that we’re not gonna make really big changes to it,” he said. Click here.
Bezos Dreams of 'Millions of People Living and Working in Space’ (Source: Tech Insider)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is known for his dream of colonizing Mars, but he isn't the only tech tycoon with big plans for humanity. Jeff Bezos — Amazon's founder and CEO of the rocket company Blue Origin — has ambitions for the human race that are nearly as lofty as Musk's.
"Our ultimate vision is millions of people living and working in space," Bezos said during a press conference in September, right after he announced that Blue Origin would build a new rocket factory in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Blue Origin's coming space tourism business is the starting point of Bezos' grander vision.
Billionaire Space Club (Source: Geekwire)
When Jeff Bezos welcomed SpaceX to the rocket landing “club” last week, it set off a round of twittering over whether Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture and fellow billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX were really in the same league. What kind of club was Bezos talking about? Click here.
Space: The Visionaries Take Over (Source: Washington Post)
Fractured and divided as we are, on one thing we can agree: 2015 was a miserable year. The only cheer was provided by Lincoln Chafee and the Pluto flyby (two separate phenomena), as well as one seminal aeronautical breakthrough. Space travel has now slipped the surly bonds of government — presidents, Congress, NASA bureaucracies. Its future will now be driven far more by a competitive marketplace with its multiplicity of independent actors, including deeply motivated, financially savvy and visionary entrepreneurs. Click here.
24 Florida Launches on Initial Manifest for 2016 (Source: SPACErePORT)
After 17 missions launched in 2015, the Cape Canaveral Spaceport is currently expected to accommodate 24 launches in 2016. (24 were also expected for 2015. Annual manifests are famously subject to change, with substantial reductions due to technical problems with the launch vehicles, launch pads, payloads, and range safety systems.) This initial manifest will include 12 Falcon missions (two of the Falcon-Heavy variety), nine Atlas-5 missions, and three Delta-4 missions (one of the Delta-Heavy variety). Click here for a worldwide manifest.
SpaceX Should Soar Without Taxpayer Subsidies (Source: Orange County Register)
Despite its technological accomplishments, we wish SpaceX had avoided subsidies from taxpayers. According to the Los Angeles Times, SpaceX “cut a deal for about $20 million in economic development subsidies from Texas to construct a launch facility there.” We recently also have criticized the tax subsidies going to Mr. Musk’s Tesla electric cars.
SpaceX's First Reusable Rocket is Back in its Hangar (Source: Engadget)
Now the rocket is back in its hangar at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport and after showing no damage from its trip, is "ready to fire again." Click here.
Eligible teams will be awarded $15,000 and advance to the final Virtual Competition, which will take place in June.
The Top 20 teams, in alphabetical order, are:
- BIT PLEASE - Cypress, Texas
- Coordinated Robotics - Newbury Park, California
- Mingo Mountain Robotics - Kettle Falls, Washington
- MITs - Tokyo, Japan
- Mystic - The Woodlands, Texas
- Nevermore - Jersey City, New Jersey
- Ring of the Nibelungs - Medford, Massachusetts
- Sirius - South Hadley, Massachusetts
- SpaceBucs - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Space Weavers - San Jose, California
- Team AL v.2.0 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Team Olympus Mons - Barcelona, Spain
- Team Olrun - Evansville, Indiana
- THE HUMANZ ARE DEAD - Boston, Massachusetts
- Walk Softly - Erie, Pennsylvania
- Whalers - Nantucket, Massachusetts
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute Humanoid Robotics Lab – Worcester, Massachusetts
- WV Robotics Team – Fairmont, West Virginia
- Xion Systems – Fresno, California
- ZARJ – St. Paul, Minnesota
Felipe Valdez is Completing his Internship at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center
Many students move away from home when they start college. While some move to a new city or state, NASA intern Felipe Valdez moved to a new country. In 2007, Felipe made the difficult decision to leave his home in Mexico and move to the United States to pursue his education and career. At the time, his life was at a crossroads. He could stay in Mexico, leave school and find a full-time job, or he could move to the U.S. and have the opportunity to continue his education.
After moving to California, Felipe started his sophomore year at River Valley High School in Yuba City, about an hour outside Sacramento. Despite the challenge of integrating into a new culture and learning a new language, Felipe excelled in all his courses and graduated with an excellent GPA. Click here for full article
NASA and South Korea Sign Space Agreement (Source: Guepardt Daily)
South Korea might be one step closer to putting a man or a woman on the moon.Seoul said Monday it had reached an agreement with the United States on space cooperation, Yonhap reported. For South Korea, the agreement is the first of its kind, and joint projects could include explorations of the moon and Mars, a strategy that could segue with U.S. space program objectives.
The agreement with South Korea could attract investment into U.S. space programs and give Seoul in turn an opportunity to work with U.S. space technology and at the same time providing an opportunity for South Korea's students to participate in educational programs like the KSC International Academy's International Journey of Science & Technology.
Congress Wants NASA to Build a Deep Space Habitat (Source: TIME)
NASA received $55 million from Congress to develop living quarters for future missions into deep space. The 2016 government appropriations bill supports the space agency’s efforts to develop a habitation augmentation module, Space News reports. NASA intends to develop a more comfortable living facility for astronauts who will embark on long journeys into deep space, specifically Mars, where officials hope to go in the 2030s.
“NASA shall develop a prototype deep space habitation module within the advanced exploration systems program no later than 2018,” a report accompanying the spending bill says. The space agency has not provided exact details for the habitation module, but it has awarded contracts to several outside companies under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP program. (12/30)
NASA Uncertain How to Proceed in Developing Deep Space Module (Source: Examiner)
One of the provisions of the new NASA spending bill, which provided a hefty $1.3 billion boost to the space agency’s budget, is a mandate to build a prototype habitation module for deep space exploration by 2018. Space News suggested on Monday that NASA is uncertain how to proceed with this sudden largess. Quite some time has passed since the space agency has gotten more money than expected and been told to speed up the development of an item of hardware. Usually, the opposite happens, with accompanying delays and increases in overall costs.
Thus far it had been funding a number of studies by private companies. “Under its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP, program, NASA awarded study contracts in March to Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Orbital ATK to study habitat designs. It also awarded contracts to Dynetics, Hamilton Sundstrand and Orbital Technologies Corp. for specific module technologies, such as life support systems.”
The contracts, each worth $1 million, were let out in March 2015 and were due to last a year. Then NASA planned to use the results of the studies to move forward to the next phase. That next phase could mean having commercial companies build prototypes. The space agency could even build the prototype in house. What Congress is thinking by speeding up the development of a habitation module is unclear. Click here. (12/30)
NASA Will Have a Big Year Thanks to Congress (Source: Houston Press)
Things just keep improving for NASA. First they pulled off the first launch of the Orion spacecraft in 2014 and then they followed up by discovering water on Mars and giving us unprecedented images of Pluto in 2015. Now it looks like things are going to get even better in 2016.
Why? Well, for one thing, Congress has finally given NASA's budget a hefty increase. After years of getting by on a shoestring, NASA is starting 2016 with something that hasn't been seen at the federal space agency in years: proper funding. In December Congress passed a bill giving NASA $19.3 billion for 2016, an increase from 2015 of more than $1 billion and $750 million more than President Barack Obama had even requested.
The timing couldn't be better. NASA is intent on getting astronauts back to cislunar space by the 2020s and landing them on Mars by the 2030s. While that may sound like a long way off, NASA has a ton of things to get done this year to make the ultimate goal of reaching the Red Planet a reality. Click here. (1/1)
Europe Is Reaching for a Moon Base by the 2030s (Source: Space.com)
There is growing interest in Europe to prioritize the moon as humanity's next deep-space destination. The moon, supporters say, can serve as a springboard to push the human exploration of the solar system, with Mars as the horizon goal. So Europe is ratcheting up what it sees as the strategic significance of the moon by pushing forward on lunar-exploration missions that would involve both humans and robots.
Calling the effort a "comeback to the moon," European space planners envision a series of human missions to the lunar vicinity starting in the early 2020s. Those missions, according to the plan, will include coordination between astronauts and robotic systems on the lunar surface. Robots would land first, paving the way for human explorers to set foot on the moon later. (12/30)
European Space Agency Just Gave Itself a Moon Base Deadline: 2040 (Source: Inverse)
The European Space Agency has been fairly vocal about its big vision for bringing people back to the moon at some point in the future. Last July, ESA chief Johann-Dietrich Woerner expressed his desire to build a “moon village,” a research station built and operated by both space agencies and private companies. Now, he’s following up. The ESA is dedicating time and energy to this goal and plans to have Woerner taking in Earthrises daiquiri in hand by the end of the 2030s.
Those intentions were the focus of the ESA’s two-day symposium entitled, “Moon 2020-2030 – A New Era of Coordinated Human and Robotic Exploration,” held at the European Space Research and Technology Center in Noordwijk, Netherlands. Over 200 scientists and agency experts from 28 countries gathered over December 15 and 16 to discuss exactly what how the ESA and the world ought to treat moon exploration and research over the course of the next decade.
Instead of sending astronauts to Earth straight from Mars, we could build infrastructure on the surface of the moon as well keep active facilities operational in cislunar space and lunar orbit. We wouldn’t have to stock a spacecraft with everything it needs for the trip all at once. Those resources - like food and more importantly fuel — could be picked up at the moon to lighten the load.
Russia Not Canceling Moon Plans (Source: Sputnik)
Russia's deputy prime minister said the country is not backing away from plans for human missions to the moon. Dmitry Rogozin said Russia was not dropping plans for such missions, and that reports of the program's demise were "greatly exaggerated." Russian media reported earlier in the week that the revised 10-year plan for the nation's space program suspended work on vehicles and other technologies needed for human lunar missions, pushing them back until perhaps the late 2020s. Rogozin added that Russia has also started work on an "ultra-heavy rocket" but offered no additional details.
South Korea Joins Hands with NASA to Launch Lunar Exploration Next Year (Source: Business Korea)
The South Korean government deliberated and voted for the “Stage 1 Lunar Exploration Development Plan.” In a bid to reduce the trial and error associated with the nation’s first lunar exploration and strengthen its space exploration technology competence, it will also promote technological cooperation with NASA.
The ministry will provide some space inside of a test orbiter to NASA, and it will receive technology assessment on the development of data processing systems such as lunar orbiter trace and deep space navigation, deep space network establishment and lunar images, and consultation support from NASA.
In order to build trust for lunar exploration technological cooperation between the two countries, they are planning to enter into an international agreement on cooperation details and role assignment between the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and NASA by the first half of 2016. (12/31)
Canadian Space Agency Looks Toward Mars, Deep Space Missions (Source: Global News)
The Canadian Space Agency is taking some initial small steps toward an eventual contribution to humanity’s giant leap back into deep space. The CSA posted a call for tender this week on the government of Canada’s main procurement website, asking for the private sector’s help in drafting mission contribution studies for “Beyond LEO Exploration.”
Beyond LEO, in this case, means beyond “low Earth orbit,” the zone that the International Space Station (ISS) currently inhabits just above our planet. No human being has left this zone and ventured out into deeper space since 1972. The procurement website states that the CSA is looking for help dreaming up an “advanced crew medical system” that would function beyond low Earth orbit, a beyond-LEO navigation system, and deep-space exploration robotics
Speculation Mounts Over Elon Musk’s Plan for SpaceX’s Mars Colonial Transporter (Source: GeekWire)
In the wake of SpaceX’s successful rocket landing, some of the company’s most ardent fans are guessing at the shape of the biggest thing to come: the Mars Colonial Transporter. The MCT is a crucial piece in SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s grand plan to send tens of thousands of colonists to the Red Planet, potentially starting in the next decade or two.
Such a venture would mark a giant leap toward establishing a second cosmic home for humanity. Musk believes that’s a must if we’re to guard against extinction due to pandemics, asteroid strikes or other planet-wide catastrophes.
Early this year, Musk promised to unveil his architecture for Mars colonization by the end of 2015 – but in a recent GQ interview, he said the big reveal was more likely to come in early 2016. “Before we announce it, I want to make sure that we’re not gonna make really big changes to it,” he said. Click here.
Bezos Dreams of 'Millions of People Living and Working in Space’ (Source: Tech Insider)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is known for his dream of colonizing Mars, but he isn't the only tech tycoon with big plans for humanity. Jeff Bezos — Amazon's founder and CEO of the rocket company Blue Origin — has ambitions for the human race that are nearly as lofty as Musk's.
"Our ultimate vision is millions of people living and working in space," Bezos said during a press conference in September, right after he announced that Blue Origin would build a new rocket factory in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Blue Origin's coming space tourism business is the starting point of Bezos' grander vision.
Billionaire Space Club (Source: Geekwire)
When Jeff Bezos welcomed SpaceX to the rocket landing “club” last week, it set off a round of twittering over whether Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture and fellow billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX were really in the same league. What kind of club was Bezos talking about? Click here.
Space: The Visionaries Take Over (Source: Washington Post)
Fractured and divided as we are, on one thing we can agree: 2015 was a miserable year. The only cheer was provided by Lincoln Chafee and the Pluto flyby (two separate phenomena), as well as one seminal aeronautical breakthrough. Space travel has now slipped the surly bonds of government — presidents, Congress, NASA bureaucracies. Its future will now be driven far more by a competitive marketplace with its multiplicity of independent actors, including deeply motivated, financially savvy and visionary entrepreneurs. Click here.
24 Florida Launches on Initial Manifest for 2016 (Source: SPACErePORT)
After 17 missions launched in 2015, the Cape Canaveral Spaceport is currently expected to accommodate 24 launches in 2016. (24 were also expected for 2015. Annual manifests are famously subject to change, with substantial reductions due to technical problems with the launch vehicles, launch pads, payloads, and range safety systems.) This initial manifest will include 12 Falcon missions (two of the Falcon-Heavy variety), nine Atlas-5 missions, and three Delta-4 missions (one of the Delta-Heavy variety). Click here for a worldwide manifest.
SpaceX Should Soar Without Taxpayer Subsidies (Source: Orange County Register)
Despite its technological accomplishments, we wish SpaceX had avoided subsidies from taxpayers. According to the Los Angeles Times, SpaceX “cut a deal for about $20 million in economic development subsidies from Texas to construct a launch facility there.” We recently also have criticized the tax subsidies going to Mr. Musk’s Tesla electric cars.
SpaceX's First Reusable Rocket is Back in its Hangar (Source: Engadget)
Now the rocket is back in its hangar at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport and after showing no damage from its trip, is "ready to fire again." Click here.
