3D Printing Could Aid Deep-Space Exploration

Technological advances are bringing down the cost of space research and exploration, with 3D printing poised to provide a transformative leap, NASA chief Charles Bolden says.

During a tour of the space agency's Ames Research Center here Friday (May 24), Bolden lauded the scientific potential of PhoneSats, tiny and inexpensive spacecraft based on off-the-shelf smartphones and he singled out 3D printing as a promising key enabler of humanity's push out into the solar system.

"As NASA ventures further into space, whether redirecting an asteroid or sending humans to Mars, we'll need transformative technology to reduce cargo weight and volume," Bolden said.

"In the future, perhaps astronauts will be able to print the tools or components they need while in space."

US Military's Secretive Robot Space Plane: X-37B Mission Passes 5-Month Mark

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center image shows on-orbit functions for the reusable X-37 space plane, now under the wing of the U.S. Air Force. 

CREDIT: NASA/MSFC

The U.S. Air Force's robotic X-37B space plane has quietly passed the five-month mark on its latest secret mission in Earth orbit.

The unmanned X-37B spacecraft launched into space atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Dec. 11, 2012, kicking off a mission whose objectives and payloads are classified.

The winged craft is known as Orbital Test Vehicle-3 (OTV-3), since it is conducting the third mission of the Air Force's X-37B program.

What OTV-3 is up to on its confidential cruise remains unknown.

However, a network of vigilant skywatchers is monitoring the mission as it progresses.

"It’s certainly important not to forget about these programs," said Ted Molczan of Toronto, a leader in the worldwide community of satellite trackers.

"Careful observation over a long time may provide the clues to finally solve the mystery."

Molczan said that, even then, he suspects that any breakthrough in knowledge regarding X-37B’s orbital missions will more likely result from leaks by insiders to journalists.

"Hobbyist observations can provide corroboration and some interesting, even useful details, but seldom are sufficient to expose the big picture…especially with new programs," he reported. "With X-37B, we can only watch and wait."

Battlestar Gallactica Simulator - Video

This flight simulator modeled from the Viper spacecraft featured in the Battlestar Galactica television show can flip and spin completely in any direction.

NASA Kepler: Big weather on hot Jupiters

This exoplanet weather map shows temperatures on a hot Jupiter known as "HAT-P-2b". 

Among the hundreds of new planets discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft are a class of exotic worlds known as "hot Jupiters." 

Unlike the giant planets of our own solar system, which remain at a safe distance from the sun, these worlds are reckless visitors to their parent stars.

They speed around in orbits a fraction the size of Mercury's, blasted on just one-side by starlight hundreds of times more intense than the gentle heating experienced by Jupiter here at home."

Meteorologists watching this video are probably wondering what kind of weather a world like that might have.

Heather Knutson

The short answer is "big." Heather Knutson of Caltech made the first weather map of a hot Jupiter in 2007. "It's not as simple as taking a picture and—voila!—we see the weather," says Knutson.

These planets are hundreds of light years from Earth and they are nearly overwhelmed by the glare of their parent stars.

"Even to see the planet as a single pixel next to the star would be a huge accomplishment." Instead, Knutson and colleagues use a trick dreamed up by Nick Cowan of Northwestern University.

The key, she explains, is that "most hot Jupiters are tidally locked to their stars. This means they have a permanent dayside and a permanent night side.

Nick Cowan

As we watch them orbit from our vantage point on Earth, the planets exhibit phases—e.g., crescent, gibbous and full.

By measuring the infrared brightness of the planet as a function of its phase, we can make a rudimentary map of temperature vs. longitude."

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is the only infrared observatory with the sensitivity to do this work.

Since Knutson kick-started the research in 2007, nearly a dozen hot Jupiters have been mapped by astronomers using Spitzer.

Nikole Lewis

The most recent study, led by Nikole Lewis, a NASA Sagan Exoplanet Fellow working at MIT, shows a gas giant named HAT-P-2b.

"We can see daytime temperatures as high as 2400 K," says Lewis, "while the nightside drops below 1200K. Even at night," she marvels, "this planet is ten times hotter than Jupiter."

These exoplanet maps may seem crude compared to what we're accustomed to on Earth, but they are a fantastic accomplishment considering that the planets are trillions of miles away.

NASA Mars Opportunity discovers clays favourable to Martian biology

The pale rock in the upper center of this image, about the size of a human forearm, includes a target called “Esperance,” which was inspected by NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.

Data from the rover’s alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) indicate that Esperance’s composition is higher in aluminum and silica, and lower in calcium and iron, than other rocks Opportunity has examined in more than nine years on Mars. 

Preliminary interpretation points to clay mineral content due to intensive alteration by water. 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona 

Now nearly a decade into her planned 3 month only expedition to Mars, NASA's longest living rover Opportunity, struck gold and has just discovered the strongest evidence to date for an environment favourable to ancient Martian (organic) biology – and she has set sail hunting for a motherlode of new clues amongst fabulous looking terrain.

Barely two weeks ago in mid-May 2013, Opportunity's analysis of a new rock target named "Esperance" confirmed that it is composed of a "clay that had been intensely altered by relatively neutral pH water – representing the most favorable conditions for biology that Opportunity has yet seen in the rock histories it has encountered," NASA said in a statement.

The finding of a fractured rock loaded with clay minerals and ravaged by flowing liquid water in which life could have thrived amounts to a scientific home run for the golf cart sized rover!

"Water that moved through fractures during this rock's history would have provided more favorable conditions for biology than any other wet environment recorded in rocks Opportunity has seen," said the mission's principal investigator Prof. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

Opportunity accomplished the ground breaking new discovery by exposing the interior of Esperance with her still functioning Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) and examining a pristine patch using the microscopic camera and X-Ray spectrometer on the end of her 3 foot long robotic arm.

The robot made the discovery at the conclusion of a 20 month long science expedition circling around a low ridge called "Cape York" – which she has just departed on a southerly heading trekking around the eroded rim of the huge crater named "Endeavour."

"Esperance was so important, we committed several weeks to getting this one measurement of it, even though we knew the clock was ticking."

Esperance stems from a time when the Red Planet was far warmer and wetter billions of years ago.

Close-Up of ‘Esperance’ After Abrasion by Opportunity 

This mosaic of four frames shot by the microscopic imager on the robotic arm of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows a rock target called “Esperance” after some of the rock’s surface had been removed by Opportunity’s rock abrasion tool, or RAT. 

The component images were taken on Sol 3305 on Mars (May 11, 2013). 

The area shown is about 2.4 inches (6 centimeters) across. 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/USGS

NASA - Soyuz TMA-09M ISS Shuttle craft to the Launch Pad

The Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft is rolled out by train to the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad, Sunday, May 26, 2013, in Kazakhstan.

Expedition 36/37 Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, and Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg of NASA, are set to launch to the International Space Station Tuesday night Eastern U.S. time, Wednesday in Kazakh time. 

Yurchikhin, Nyberg, and, Parmitano, will remain aboard the station until mid-November 2013.

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Bigelow Aerospace interested in building International Moon base

Vision of an international research base on the Moon. Credit: ESA

Two months ago NASA commissioned Bigelow Aerospace to conduct a survey of the corporate sector to learn about private enterprise plans for space exploration.

While the report has not yet been completed, Bigelow president Robert Bigelow and NASA's head of space operations William Gerstenmaier held a teleconference with reporter's to discuss findings thus far.

Bigelow told those on the line that he and his company have surveyed approximately 20 of the biggest names in aerospace, including some foreign entities.

He says the major area of interest for aerospace companies right now is in establishing a permanent presence on the moon.

William Gerstenmaier 

Gerstenmaier responded by suggesting NASA would welcome such a development as it would work well with the agency's future plans.

NASA plans to lasso an asteroid sometime early on in the next decade and drag it into orbit around the moon.

Robert Bigelow

Following that, the plan is to send manned missions to the captured asteroid—initially to learn more about its makeup—then later to work with private businesses in developing mining operations.

That would be a lot easier of course if private companies had already built a lunar base from which to operate.

Bigelow reported that private businesses have expressed interest in space exploration for a variety of reasons, ranging from pharmaceutical development via an Earth orbiting facility to lunar based projects based mostly on mining operations.

The moon is considered important both for its material composition and as a jumping off point for other ventures.

NASA, for example, has indicated in the past that it envisions sending spacecraft on deep space missions using the moon as a construction base and departure point. Its low gravity makes getting into a space a lot easier.

The initial draft of the report created by Bigelow is to be delivered to NASA in the next few weeks. A second report, due in the fall is to more specifically detail private sector plans for space exploration.

Gerstenmaier pointed out on the call that his agency is taking a different approach than usual with its request to Bigelow.

Normal protocol calls for the agency to develop its internal strategy then reach out to the private sector for help in achieving its goals.

This time around, NASA is looking to see what the private sector is up to, and then will make decisions about its own plans based on what is found.