Projects: Web Articles
Startup Signs NASA Agreement to Fly Mini Labs on Station | SpaceNews.com
Under a newly concluded agreement with NASA, the entrepreneurial space company NanoRacks, managed by Jeffrey Manber, is soliciting small university experiments and commercial research projects to fly aboard the international space station starting in mid-2010. NanoRacks, announced plans Sept. 21 to send experiments to the international space station for installation in a platform the company calls a CubeLab, which houses as many as 16 experiments in standard CubeSats, the miniature satellites and research boxes popular with university research teams.
Zero Gravity for Zero Dollars: Best Student Discount Ever | Wired Science
While the super-rich can pay millions to experience weightlessness at the International Space Station, some college kids have figured out how to experience the thrill of zero gravity for the student-friendly price of $0.
Through NASA’s Microgravity University program, teams of college students get to ride in and conduct experiments on a NASA jet that simulates zero-gravity conditions. Undergrads around the country will be sending their letters of intent to apply to this year’s competition this week, with completed applications due next month. “It’s really an ‘as only NASA can’ program,” said Sara Malloy, coordinator of the Microgravity University office at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Your TubeSat Personal Satellite Kit | International Space Fellowship
"[We have] entered the age of the Personal Satellite with the introduction of the InterOrbital Systems (IOS) TubeSat Personal Satellite Kit. The TubeSat Kit is the low-cost alternative to the CubeSat. It has three-quarters of the mass (0.75-kg) and volume of a CubeSat, but still offers plenty of room for most experiments or functions.
...The price of the TubeSat kit [$8K] ...includes the price of a launch into Low-Earth-Orbit on an IOS NEPTUNE 30 launch vehicle. Since the TubeSats are placed into self-decaying orbits 310 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, they do not contribute to any long-term build-up of orbital debris. Launches are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2010."
Vinton Cerf: Outer space could be next frontier for cybersecurity | NextGov
Google executive Vinton Cerf, known as the father of the Internet, said a tool for securing ad hoc networks used in surveillance might be sitting in an extraterrestrial Internet that he and NASA have been testing. A cybersecurity strategy "has been waiting in the interplanetary Internet" Cerf and NASA began developing a decade ago to regulate data transmission among outer space devices, he said on Wednesday at a networking reception sponsored by the trade group TechAmerica. "We will be applying alien technology to our terrestrial requirements."
Describing the Undescribable on the "Vomit Comet" : NASA Blog Post
The Colorado University - Boulder team flew several microgravity parabolas on the NASA "Vomit Comet" while conducting experiments with two Wilberforce pendulums – basically a spring with a mass, or weight, on one or both ends of the spring -- and observed what happens to the pendulums when they are compressed and then released in microgravity. These stories and photos provide an especially good window into what virtual microgravity (plus a short test of hypoxia) feels like and how valuable research can be done under these circumstances. This is the ultimate hands-on education experience.
Space blanket deflects dangerous radiation | R&D
"Alien creatures are the least of NASA's worries when it comes to moon travel. There are several potential threats to future missions—with space radiation at the top of the list. Now, a group of students at North Carolina State University has developed a "blanket" of sorts that covers lunar outposts—the astronauts' living quarters—to provide astronauts protection against radiation while also generating and storing power."
Demo Boeing Picosat Attains 10,000 Orbits | Satnews Publishers
“After completing its original mission goals of operating for six months in space and supporting three months of tests, the spacecraft, which is smaller than a standard toaster, continues to operate and provide engineers with data that is increasing the industry’s knowledge and validation of various miniature satellite designs, technologies and systems. Boeing Advanced Network and Space Systems, developer of CSTB1, is exploring new ways to reduce the size, weight, and power of satellite technologies needed for operational NanoSats — spacecraft weighing less than 22 pounds (10 kg). Picosatellites such as CSTB1 weigh less than 2.2 pounds (1 kg).
About the Regolith Excavation Challenge | 2008 Results
An update is provided on the 2008 Lunar Regolith Challenge (worth $750K) that was conducted in August. It is a design and performance competition to move a specified amount of simulated lunar material in a specified time to further future lunar resource utilization. There was no winner this year and plans are still evolving for the 2009 Challenge. This challenge, funded by the NASA Centennial Challenges Program is coordinated by CSEWI. The event is co-hosted by the California Space Authority, California Polytechnic State Univ. and the San Luis Obispo College of Engineering. Also three sponsors are listed.