James Webb Space telescope passes a Critical Design Review milestone

Artist's impression of the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: Northrop Grumman

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has passed its first significant mission milestone for 2014, a Spacecraft Critical Design Review (SCDR) that examined the telescope's power, communications and pointing control systems.

"This is the last major element-level critical design review of the program," said Richard Lynch, NASA Spacecraft Bus Manager for the James Webb Space Telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Richard Lynch

"What that means is all of the designs are complete for the Webb and there are no major designs left to do."

During the SCDR, the details, designs, construction and testing plans, and the spacecraft's operating procedures were subjected to rigorous review by an independent panel of experts.

The week-long review involved extensive discussions on all aspects of the spacecraft to ensure the plans to finish construction would result in a vehicle that enables the powerful telescope and science instruments to deliver their unique and invaluable views of the universe.

Eric Smith

"While the spacecraft that carries the science payload for Webb may not be as glamorous as the telescope, it's the heart that enables the whole mission," said Eric Smith, acting program director and program scientist for the Webb Telescope at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

"By providing many services including telescope pointing and communication with Earth, the spacecraft is our high tech infrastructure empowering scientific discovery."

Goddard Space Flight Center manages the mission. Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, Calif., leads the design and development effort.

Scott Willoughby

"Our Northrop Grumman team has worked exceptionally hard to meet this critical milestone on an accelerated schedule, following the replan," said Scott Willoughby, Northrop Grumman vice president and James Webb Space Telescope program manager in Redondo Beach, Calif.

"This is a huge step forward in our progress toward completion of the Webb Telescope."

The James Webb Space Telescope, successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, will be the most powerful space telescope ever built.

It will observe the most distant objects in the universe, provide images of the first galaxies formed and see unexplored planets around distant stars.

The Webb telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

NASA Mars orbiter passes big data milestone

Artist concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has overhauled understanding of the Red Planet since 2006, has passed 200 terabits in the amount of science data returned.

The data returned by the mission alone is more than three times the total data returned via NASA's Deep Space Network for all the other missions managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., over the past 10 years.

While the 200 terabits number includes all the data this orbiter has relayed to Earth from robots on the surface of Mars, about 99.9 percent of the volume has come from the six science instruments aboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The 200 terabits are equivalent to the data volume in three nonstop months of high-definition video. The number does not include the engineering data that specialists operating the orbiter from JPL and Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, use for monitoring its health and performance.

The spacecraft pours data Earthward using a dish antenna 10 feet (3 meters) across and a transmitter powered by 215 square feet (20 square meters) of solar cells.

Multiple sessions each day with giant dish antennas of the Deep Space Network in California, Spain and Australia enable Earth to receive such a torrent of data from the orbiter.

"The sheer volume is impressive, but of course what's most important is what we are learning about our neighbouring planet," said JPL's Rich Zurek, the project scientist for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The orbiter's instruments have examined Mars from subsurface to atmosphere in unprecedented detail.

One instrument has provided images revealing features as small as a desk in surface areas equivalent to one-third of the United States (1.92 percent of Mars' surface).

Another has covered areas equivalent to about 82 percent of Earth's land area (83.6 percent of Mars' surface), with resolution showing features smaller than a tennis court.

These cameras have viewed many areas repeatedly, providing three-dimensional information from stereo and revealing several types of landscape changes over time.

Other instruments identify surface minerals, probe underground layers, examine cross-sections of the atmosphere and track weather globally.

Sand dunes such as those seen in this image have been observed to creep slowly across the surface of Mars through the action of the wind. 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

"The mission has taught us about three very different periods of Mars history," Zurek said.

Its observations of the heavily cratered terrains of Mars, the oldest on the planet, show that different types of ancient watery environments formed water-related minerals.

Some of these would have been more favourable for life than others.

In more recent times, water appears to have cycled as a gas between polar ice deposits and lower-latitude deposits of ice and snow.

Extensive layering in ice or rock probably took hundreds of thousands to millions of years to form.

The present climate is also dynamic, with volatile carbon dioxide and, possibly, flows of briny water forming dark streaks that are observed to appear in the warmest seasons and places and fade in colder weather.

"Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has shown that Mars is still an active planet, with changes such as new craters, avalanches and dust storms," Zurek said. "Mars is a partially frozen world, but not frozen in time."

Each of the 200 trillion bits of science data from the orbiter has followed a complex path, aided by sophisticated software to make it feasible for a small team to handle tens of billions of new bits daily and get the data products to the appropriate scientists.

ROCKET SCIENCE XCOR Aerospace Announces Significant Propulsion Milestone on Lynx Suborbital Vehicle

67 second engine test featuring XCOR's 2,500 lb-thrust Lynx main engine (one out of four engines). 

This engine is fed entirely by XCOR's revolutionary rocket propellant piston pumps, which are far more cost effective and manufacturable than turbopumps. 

Both the liquid oxygen oxydizer and kerosene fuel are being pumped into the engine using this techonology. For more information, see our press release at XCOR

XCOR Aerospace has announced a first in aviation and space history, the firing of a full piston pump-powered rocket engine. This breakthrough is the foundation for fully reusable spacecraft that can fly multiple times per day, every day.

It is a game changing technology that has the power to fundamentally alter the way we as a society view, visit, and utilize the abundant resources around our planet and in our solar system.

The initial portion of XCOR's pump test program culminated in a 67-second engine run with the propulsion system mated to the flight weight Lynx fuselage.

After the installation of the flight sized liquid oxygen tank, the next test sequence will extend the engine run duration to the full powered flight duration of the Lynx Mark I suborbital vehicle.

"Through use of our proprietary rocket propellant piston pumps we deliver both kerosene and liquid oxygen to our rocket engines and eliminate the need for heavy, high-pressure fuel and oxidizer tanks. It also enables our propulsion system to fly multiple times per day and last for tens of thousands of flights," said XCOR Chief Executive Officer Jeff Greason.

"This is one more step toward a significant reduction in per-flight cost and turnaround time, while increasing overall flight safety."

Boeing provided additional funding to complete the XCOR test sequence and advance low-cost rocket propulsion technology. The demonstrated results of the full pump fed engine firing for extended periods helps to ensure the technology migrates into broader global applications.

"Unlike the expensive and finicky turbopumps on today's rocket propulsion systems, XCOR's piston pumps are designed to be as powerful in their thrust class as turbines, but as easy to manufacture, maintain and operate as an automotive engine," said XCOR Chief Operating Officer Andrew Nelson.

"This is the culmination of a 12 year program to develop this unique technology. The kerosene piston pump has been successfully flight-proven during our 40-flight test program on the X-Racer aircraft. We'll be entering another flight test program soon with Lynx and these pumps and engines will power XCOR and the industry to the next level."