NASA ORION Space capsule: Recovery test in ocean suspended after issue

This Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014 photo released by NASA shows crews testing a test version of Orion's forward bay cover, NASA's next-generation space capsule. 

NASA and the Navy suspended the test Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014 off the coast of San Diego after a problem was discovered. 

AP Photo/NASA

A training exercise designed to showcase the government's ability to recover a space capsule at sea was scrubbed after NASA ran into trouble off the Southern California coast, the space agency said Friday.

Crews had difficulty tying down a mock-up of the Orion capsule aboard an amphibious warship off the shores of San Diego.

NASA said cables attached to the capsule weren't strong enough to handle turbulence and snapped off twice while it was in the well deck of the USS San Diego before it could be moved out to sea on Thursday.

With the Orion mock-up still on the Navy ship, teams could not practice fetching the spacecraft from the ocean.

"Even though the testing didn't go as we had planned, we're learning lessons that will help us be better prepared to retrieve Orion," Bill Hill of NASA headquarters said in a statement.

Engineers were troubleshooting the problem, and it was not clear when the test would be rescheduled.

NASA has been developing a next-generation spacecraft to carry astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit, possibly to an asteroid or Mars.

Orion, which will make its first unmanned test flight this fall, is being designed to travel to deep space and return at speeds of 25,000 mph (40,232 kph) by splashing down into the Pacific.

This Wednesday Feb. 19, 2014 photo released by NASA shows a test version of the Orion spacecraft, tethered inside the well deck of the USS San Diego prior to testing between NASA and the U.S. Navy. 

NASA and the Navy suspended the test Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014 off the coast of San Diego after a problem was discovered. AP Photo/NASA

The water landing is a throwback to the 1960s and 1970s when Navy ships routinely tracked and recovered Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft after re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

With the space shuttle fleet retired, NASA has decided to go with an ocean splashdown.

Unlike in the past, when helicopters would hoist astronauts after a mission, the new plan calls for an amphibious transport ship to dispatch divers and small boat teams to recover Orion and its crew.

Last year, NASA and the Navy practiced recovering the Orion in the calm waters of the Elizabeth River in Virginia with no problem.

Before the latest test was called off, NASA said crews successfully retrieved parts of the spacecraft, including the parachute and a protective covering.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was supposed to visit the test site Saturday, but his appearance was cancelled.

Astrophysicist suggests life existed shortly after Big Bang?

Time Line of the Universe. Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team

Theoretical astrophysicist Abraham Loeb of Harvard University  suggests that conditions shortly after the Big Bang may have been just right for life to appear in some parts of the universe—for just a short time.

Loeb notes that according to theory, 15 million years after the Big Bang, the entire universe would have been warm enough to support life due to the cooling of superheated gases that eventually led to what scientists believe is cosmic microwave background (CMB).

Abraham Loeb

Today, it's very cold of course, (2.7 Kelvin), but not long, relatively speaking, after the Big Bang, the temperature would have been closer to 300 Kelvin—more than warm enough to support life if there were a place for it to appear.

Loeb suggests that it might have been possible as well. He notes that it would have been possible for rocky planets to have existed at that time too—in places where matter was exceptionally dense.

Because of that, he believes it's possible that all of the pieces necessary for the appearance of life might have been in place in some parts of the universe, for approximately two or three million years—enough time for the initial brewing that could have led to the development of microbes of some sort.

Of course, if it did happen, that life would not have lived long enough (2 to 3 million years) to evolve into anything complex—it would have been snuffed out as the CMB cooled—happening as it would have before stars would have had enough time to form and emit heat of their own.

Thus, no evidence would have been left behind, which means Loeb's theory can never be proven. If it could, that might upset another principle regarding the universe—the anthropic principle—which suggests that all of the things that needed to happen in the universe for us to be here today to observe them, exist because we are here to observe them.

If life existed and died out before we arrived, it would not have been sophisticated enough to know that it existed, much less observe conditions in the universe that led to its existence.

And that would mean the anthropic principle might just be an idea that exists because we have nothing better to explain how and why we are here.

More information: The Habitable Epoch of the Early Universe, arXiv:1312.0613 [astro-ph.CO] arxiv.org/abs/1312.0613

NASA JUNO Mission: Falls into Safe Mode after Earth Fly-by

This 2010 artist's rendering depicts NASA's Juno spacecraft with Jupiter in the background. 

NASA's Jupiter-bound spacecraft will swing by Earth for one last visit Wednesday Oct. 9, 2013 before speeding to the outer solar system. 

Wednesday's flyby allows the Juno spacecraft to gather the momentum it needs to arrive at Jupiter in 2016. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL, File)

NASA's Jupiter-bound spacecraft hit a snag Wednesday soon after it used Earth as a gravity slingshot to hurtle toward the outer solar system, but mission managers said it's on course to arrive at the giant planet in 2016.

Juno emerged from Earth's shadow in safe mode, a state that spacecraft are programmed to go into when there's some trouble.

Despite the problem, "we believe we are on track as planned to Jupiter," said project manager Rick Nybakken of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $1.1 billion mission.

Engineers continued to diagnose the issue, which occurred after Juno whipped around Earth in a momentum-gathering flyby.

Up until Wednesday, Juno had been in excellent health. While in safe mode, it can communicate with ground controllers, but its activities are limited.

Previous missions to the outer solar system have used Earth as a celestial springboard since there's no rocket powerful enough to make a direct flight.

The Galileo spacecraft buzzed by Earth twice in the 1990s en route to Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet located 484 million miles from the sun.

Launched in 2011, Juno flew beyond the orbit of Mars, Earth's closest planetary neighbor, before looping back toward our home planet for a quick visit.

Wednesday's rendezvous boosted Juno's speed from 78,000 mph (125,523 kph) relative to the sun to 87,000 mph—enough momentum to cruise past the asteroid belt to Jupiter, where it should arrive in 2016.

During the swing past Earth, Juno snapped pictures. The solar-powered, windmill-shaped spacecraft slipped into Earth's shadow as planned, but engineers were puzzled by the too little data it sent back afterward.

At closest approach, it hurtled 350 miles above the ocean off the coast of South Africa.

NASA said skywatchers with binoculars or a small telescope might have seen it streak across the sky, weather permitting.

Ham radio operators around the globe were encouraged to say "Hi" in Morse code—a message that might be detected by Juno's radio.

By space mission standards, Juno's Earth rendezvous was low-key compared with the Curiosity rover's nail-biting landing on Mars last year, which drew crowds. Since flybys have been executed before, project managers predicted a smooth flight.

The unexpected problem causes "a moderate level of concern," Nybakken said.

Despite a government shutdown that has prevented NASA from updating its website or tweeting, the space agency's missions continue to operate. Earlier this week, NASA's newest spacecraft, LADEE, slipped into orbit around the moon.

Since the 1970s, spacecraft have circled or flown past Jupiter including the Voyagers, Pioneers, Galileo, Ulysses, Cassini and, most recently, the New Horizons barreling toward Pluto.

Missions have beamed back stunning views of Jupiter's trademark Great Red Spot, a raging hurricane-like storm, and its many moons.

Juno promises to inch closer to Jupiter than previous spacecraft, orbiting the planet for at least a year and studying its cloud-covered atmosphere and mysterious interior to better understand how the giant planet formed.

Russia grounds Proton rocket launches after accident

Image taken on December 5, 2010 shows a Proton-M rocket blasting off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. 

Russia is suspending the launches of Proton rockets after an unmanned rocket carrier exploded on takeoff this week, a source on the cosmodrome said Thursday.

Russia is suspending the launches of Proton rockets after an unmanned rocket carrier exploded on takeoff this week, a source on the Russian Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan said Thursday.

"The investigation commission that is looking into the causes of the accident on July 2 has made a decision to stop the preparations for the planned Proton rocket launches from Baikonur," the source told Interfax news agency.

The next launch was set for July 20, he said, but the rocket, as well as the Briz-M upper stage rocket and the satellite Astra 2E that was to be carried into space were on Thursday being moved to storage.

"Due to the accident the launches will be pushed back to later dates and will resume only after the commission finishes its work and after its recommendations are put to use," the source added.

Other Proton launches this year were scheduled for the American radio satellite Sirius FM6 on August 14, Russia's Kosmos military satellite on September 5, Russian communications satellite Ekspress AM5 in October and Turkish Turksat 4A in November, he said.

The Proton rocket is Russia's most popular for unmanned commercial launches and analysts have said that Tuesday's accident, in which a Proton-M rocket fell apart mid-air, was a major blow that could lead businessmen to look for alternative carriers.

Astra 2E was manufactured by EADS to provide broadcast and broadband services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The website of SES satellite operator gave its launch date as July 21.

On Tuesday, the ill-fated carrier rocket veered off its vertical trajectory and dramatically erupted into a ball of fire before falling to the ground a couple of kilometres from the launchpad. Locals were told to stay indoors due to the danger of noxious fumes from the rocket's toxic fuel.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said after the accident that "harsh decisions" will be taken and that "Russia's rocket and space industry cannot continue to exist in its current form."

Boeing 787 Dreamliners Grounded after Japan Airline Battery Incident

All of Boeing's 50 flagship 787 Dreamliners have been temporarily taken out of service amid safety concerns.

The US and European aviation agencies said planes should be grounded while safety checks are carried out on their lithium ion batteries.

They are worried that the batteries could leak, corroding vital equipment and potentially causing fires.

Boeing said it stood by the integrity of the Dreamliner, which has been in service since October 2011.

Grounding aircraft on this scale over safety concerns is rare. The last time the FAA ordered a general grounding of an aircraft model was in 1979, when McDonnell Douglas DC-10s were grounded following a fatal crash.

Cairo Tries to Save Face after H1N1 Pig Slaughter Disaster

Cairo and Egypt are claiming to be able to turn trash into treasure, and at the same time keeping it green in Cairo.

In an attempt to help curb the city's stifling pollution and meet their energy needs too, a few Cairo families have begun to recycle waste by generating biogas from rubbish.

Recovery from disaster

This is felt to be a face saving gesture following a disasterous decision to slaughter all the nation's pigs, on the pretext that they were a threat to public health. The pigs were wholly owned by the zabaleen, a Coptic Christian sect that, for generations had used them to consume and clean up the city's garbage.

It is an ambitious project that is still in its infancy but may just catch on in this teeming city of 18 million people, currently obscured in a dirty grey veil of haze produced by the fumes from millions of car exhausts.

American sponsored solution
The initiative to transform organic waste into alternative energy, not in itself a new idea, was started by an American, Thomas Culhane, in east Cairo's Manshiet Nasser slums, which are known locally as Garbage City.

He runs Solar Cities, a non-governmental organisation that looks to design and develop technologies that aim to solve very local problems.

Following a grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2007, he has been installing solar panels to produce hot water for families in Garbage City.

The Christian zabaleen

This is where thousands of zabaleen, freelance trash collectors, hand-sort through tons of rubbish collected from the streets of the megalopolis and then sell recyclable material. In the past, the pigs consumed the edible waste material and in turn the zabaleen would eat the pigs and sustain their families.

Muslim acceptance

The Solar Cities idea was well received and began to spread to the neighbouring mainly Muslim area of Darb al-Ahmar, prompting Culhane and Hanna Fathy, a Manshiet Nasser resident involved in the scheme, to offer families "biogas digesters."

Simple solution

Made from two simple plastic tanks and tubes, the digesters convert organic matter into biogas through a process in which bacteria decompose the matter to produce methane for cooking and fertiliser which can then be resold.

"One man's garbage is another man's gold mine. One woman's trash is another woman's treasure," Culhane said.

The alternative would be that "I would be throwing this garbage out in the streets, there would be rats, flies, cats and dogs."

Spend money to save

The solar panels allow a family of 10 to save around 30 Egyptian pounds (5.4 dollars) a month, and biogas trims a further 10 pounds monthly.

This can mean valuable savings in Egypt, where the average household salary is around 100 dollars a month.

So far, however, Solar Cities has installed just 30 solar panels and seven biogas digesters.

The main hurdle is cost. Solar panels cost up to 2,400 Egyptian pounds and the digesters cost 700 Egyptian pounds, in a country where gas and fuel are heavily subsidised by the government.
"It's a very good system which has a future here, especially now that they have killed our pigs," insists Fathy, who says he remains optimistic about the project despite the obstacles.

Unnecessary Pig Slaughter
In May, Egypt ordered the slaughter of the nation's 250,000 pigs as part of swine flu prevention measures, even though the World Health Organisation said that taking such a drastic measure was not scientifically justified.

The pigs, which ate the teeming city's organic waste, were already involved in a recycling process that provided revenue and food for their owners.

"In the past they fed the organic waste to the pigs but even the pigs could not eat it all," Culhane said.

"Now the pigs are gone and there is nothing to transform Cairo's organic waste into safe products except biogas digesters."

"I miss the sound of the pigs," Fathy said, gesturing to the slum's rooftops where the zabaleen have now taken to raising goats and chickens.

"These animals can't swallow what the pigs use to," he said.

"We don't have big goals, we just want to be catalysts, to spread seed by seed a garden of solutions that make sense," Culhane said.

If the systems were applied on a large scale, he said, "we could solve 50 percent of Egypt's pollution problem and eliminate mechanically the organic garbage problem."

Russia successfully launches US satellite after 24 hr delay

Russia launched a US Intelsat-15 telecommunications satellite from Kazakhstan after a 24-hour delay for unspecified technical reasons, Interfax news agency said Tuesday.

"The launch went as planned," an official from Russia's Roskosmos space agency was quoted as saying, adding that the Zenit rocket took off at precisely 2100 GMT.

The Intelsat-15 satellite, produced by US-based Orbital Sciences Corporation, is due to provide communications service for customers in the Middle East and Russia.

Heart Attacks Down 17% After Smoking Ban

Smoking bans have an immediate and dramatic effect on reducing heart attacks, according to two new analyses of laws in the USA, Canada and Europe.

Two separate analyses released Monday each found that heart attack rates fall 17% within a year after smoking bans take effect.

One analysis, which included 13 studies, appears in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. A second analysis, which considered 11 studies, appears in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Cigarette smoke can trigger a heart attack in people with underlying heart disease by causing clots or spasms in the blood vessels, says David Goff, a spokesman for the American Heart Association who wasn't involved in either study.

Given that there are about 920,000 heart attacks every year, the studies suggests that public smoking bans could prevent more than 150,000 of these, according to the Cardiology paper.

Taken together, the findings provide strong, consistent evidence that the country should enact more smoke-free laws, Goff says.

"This is a huge, huge effect for a very, very low cost," says Stanton Glantz of the University of California-San Francisco, co-author of the Circulation study.