NASA's next Mars probe ready for Nov. launch, despite gov't slimdown

This artist's conception shows the NASA's MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars. The mission will launch in late 2013.LASP

NASA's next Mars probe should get off the ground on time, no matter how long the government shutdown lasts.

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution orbiter, or Maven, got back on track for a Nov. 18 launch on Thursday (Oct. 3), just two days after the government shutdown froze liftoff preparations and put a scare into planetary scientists around the world.

"We have already restarted spacecraft processing at Kennedy Space Center, working toward being ready to launch on Nov. 18," Maven principal investigator Bruce Jakosky, of the University of Colorado, Boulder, wrote in a mission status update Thursday. "We will continue to work over the next couple of days to identify any changes in our schedule or plans that are necessary to stay on track." [How the Government Shutdown Will Influence Science and Health]

'Launching Maven in 2013 protects the existing assets that are at Mars today.'

- Maven principal investigator Bruce Jakosky

The shutdown — which went into effect at midnight EDT Tuesday, Oct. 1, when the Senate and House of Representatives failed to agree on an emergency spending bill — forced NASA to furlough 97 percent of its employees and cease most of its operations, including work on missions such as Maven that have yet to leave the ground.

So the $650 million Maven mission went into a worrisome limbo in the home stretch of its long march toward launch. A lengthy shutdown could have caused Maven to miss its liftoff window, which officially runs through Dec. 7 (though the spacecraft could actually launch as late as Dec. 15 or so, Jakosky said).

That would be a big deal, because the next opportunity for Maven to get off the ground won't come until early 2016, when Earth and Mars are once again properly aligned.

But those concerns have now evaporated. NASA has determined that Maven qualifies for an emergency exception because of its importance as a communications link between Earth and robots on the Red Planet's surface, Jakosky wrote.

"Maven is required as a communications relay in order to be assured of continued communications with the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers," he said. "The rovers are presently supported by Mars Odyssey launched in 2001 and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched in 2005. Launching Maven in 2013 protects the existing assets that are at Mars today."

NASA has no Red Planet relay orbiters planned beyond Maven, he added.

Maven was designed to help scientists learn how Mars' thin, carbon-dioxide-dominated atmosphere has changed over time, and what those changes may have meant for the Red Planet's ability to support life.

The probe will arrive in Mars orbit in September 2014. It will then use eight scientific instruments to study the Red Planet's upper atmosphere for one Earth year, which is about half of a Mars year.

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Europe, Russia to launch Mars mission to sample soil for signs of life

By Alissa de Carbonnel

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Europe and Russia signed a deal on Thursday for a joint Mars mission which will bore beneath the Red Planet's surface for soil samples they hope will solve the mystery of whether there is life beyond Earth.

Europe's space agency had hoped to work with NASA on the two-spacecraft ExoMars mission but turned to the Russians after the U.S. agency pulled out due to budget shortfalls.

The announcement comes amid heightened excitement over the search for life on the planet in our solar system most like Earth after scientists said analysis from NASA's own mission rover, Curiosity, showed Mars had the right ingredients for life.

European scientists say the two-stage mission, with the two craft to be launched in 2016 and 2018, will pave the way for what NASA has described as the "Holy Grail" of Mars exploration: a separate mission to return dirt samples from the Red Planet.

"Curiosity learnt us a little bit, ExoMars will bring us a step further, but bringing back those samples to Earth you can do 10 to 100 times more analysis," Rolf de Groot, head of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Robotic Exploration Coordination Office, told Reuters.

"That is a goal of everybody who works on Mars exploration."

The Europe-Russia mission hopes to take scientists beyond NASA's finding that the surface of Earth's neighboring planet had the right mix of elements to sustain life, by drilling 2 meters (6 feet) below its radiation-hit surface for samples.

"NASA is also drilling, but two centimeters deep," de Groot said, referring to the ongoing Curiosity mission. "It's a completely different story."

"ExoMars, by drilling 2 meters into the ground, might hope to identify really the big molecules because that would be a direct indication of the presence of life or that life once existed on Mars."

He said the ESA's Mars rover would also be equipped with a much more advanced laboratory than Curiosity has, so would be able to carry out more detailed analysis.

RUSSIAN ROCKETS

Russian Space Agency Roskosmos will provide the rockets to launch the ExoMars - short for Exobiology on Mars - mission and will also design the descent module and surface platform.

Europe turned to Russia after NASA left the $1.3 billion project in February 2012, citing a budget crunch. The ESA and Roskosmos agreed to cooperate last April, but talks to work out the details dragged on for nearly a year.

"This event was a long time in the making and took a great deal of collaboration," Roskosmos head Vladimir Popovkin said after signing the deal with ESA Director Jean-Jacques Dordain in Paris.

Russia's involvement in the ambitious mission could boost the status of its once-pioneering space agency after a litany of costly and embarrassing failures.

The delays in agreeing the mission hinged on the extent of Russia's participation, according to Russian space experts who said Moscow had seemed to reach its goal of full partnership.

"The agreement implies that Russian scientists and engineers will become full-fledged participants in all the international scientific and technical groups," Roskosmos said in a statement.

What was to be Russia's first deep space mission in more than two decades - the Phobos-Grunt mission to scoop up soil samples from Mars - was among five botched launches that damaged Moscow's reputation as a reliable launch partner.

European governments have so far committed 850 million euros to the mission. The funding cap has been set at 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) but delays and changes to the scientific aspects of the project are expected to drive up the price tag.

Even though NASA pulled out, it will still provide radio communications equipment, an important organics experiment and engineering and mission support.

The United States also plans to follow up its Curiosity rover with an identical probe, to launch in 2020. It has not yet decided if it will cache samples for a future return to Earth.

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2011 ranked a Mars sample return mission as its top priority in planetary science for the next decade. The long-term goal of the U.S. human space program is to land astronauts on Mars in the 2030s.

(Additional reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Pravin Char)

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Asteroid hunters want to launch private telescope

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Who will protect us from a killer asteroid? A team of ex-NASA astronauts and scientists thinks it's up to them.

In a bold plan unveiled Thursday, the group wants to launch its own space telescope to spot and track small and mid-sized space rocks capable of wiping out a city or continent. With that information, they could sound early warnings if a rogue asteroid appeared headed toward our planet.

So far, the idea from the B612 Foundation is on paper only.

Such an effort would cost upward of several hundred million dollars, and the group plans to start fundraising. Behind the nonprofit are a space shuttle astronaut, Apollo 9 astronaut, former Mars czar, deep space mission manager along with other non-NASA types.

Asteroids are leftovers from the formation of the solar system some 4.5 billion years ago. Most reside in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter but some get nudged into Earth's neighborhood.

NASA and a network of astronomers routinely scan the skies for these near-Earth objects. And they've found 90 percent of the biggest threats — asteroids at least two-thirds of a mile across that are considered major killers. Scientists believe it was a 6-mile-wide asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.

But the group thinks more attention should be paid to the estimated half a million smaller asteroids — similar in size to the one that exploded over Siberia in 1908 and leveled more than 800 square miles of forest.

"We're playing cosmic roulette. We're flying around the solar system with these other objects. The laws of probability eventually catch up to you," said foundation chairman and former shuttle astronaut Ed Lu.

Added former Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart: "The current priority really needs to be toward finding all of those asteroids which can do real damage if they hit or when they hit. It's not a matter of if; it's really a matter of when."

Asteroids are getting attention lately. NASA nixed a return to the moon in favor of a manned landing on an asteroid. Last month, Planetary Resources Inc., a company founded by space entrepreneurs, announced plans to extract precious metals from asteroids within a decade.

Since its birth, the Mountain View, Calif.-based B612 Foundation — named after the home asteroid of the Earth-visiting prince in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince" — has focused on finding ways to deflect an incoming asteroid. Ideas studied include sending an intercepting spacecraft to aiming a nuclear bomb, but none have been tested.

Last year, the group shifted focus to seek out asteroids with a telescope.

It is working with Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which has drawn up a preliminary telescope design. The contractor developed NASA's Kepler telescope that hunts for exoplanets and built the instruments aboard the Hubble Space Telescope.

Under the proposal, the asteroid-hunting Sentinel Space Telescope will operate for at least 5 1/2 years. It will orbit around the sun, near the orbit of Venus, or between 30 million to 170 million miles away from Earth. Data will be beamed back through NASA's antenna network under a deal with the space agency.

Launch is targeted for 2017 or 2018. The group is angling to fly aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, which made history last month by lifting a cargo capsule to the International Space Station.

Experts said the telescope's vantage point would allow it to spy asteroids faster than ground-based telescopes and accelerate new discoveries. NASA explored doing such a mission in the past but never moved forward because of the expense.

"It's always best to find these things quickly and track them. There might be one with our name on it," said Don Yeomans, who heads the Near-Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which monitors potentially dangerous space rocks.

Aside from the technological challenges, the big question is whether philanthropists will open up their wallets to support the project.

Nine years ago, the cost was estimated at $500 million, said Tim Spahr, director of the Minor Planet Center at Harvard University who was part of the team that came up with the figure for NASA.

Spahr questions whether enough can be raised given the economy. "This is a hard time," he said.

The group has received seed money — several hundreds of thousands of dollars — from venture capitalists and Silicon Valley outfits to create a team of experts. Lu, the foundation chair, said he was confident donors will step up and noted that some of the world's most powerful telescopes including the Lick and Palomar observatories in California were built with private money.

"We're not all about doom and gloom," Lu said. "We're about opening up the solar system. We're talking about preserving life on this planet."

___

Online:

NASA's Near-Earth Object Program: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov

___

Alicia Chang can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

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NASA Hopes to Launch Delayed Moon Gravity-Mapping Probes Today (SPACE.com)

After two days of delay caused by bad weather and a technical glitch, NASA is once again ready to launch two probes toward the moon to unlock the secrets of lunar gravity.

The twin Grail spacecraft are expected to launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station today (Sept. 10) at 8:29 a.m. EDT (1229 GMT), with a second opportunity available at 9:08 a.m. EDT (1308 GMT), if needed, NASA officials said.

The $496 million moon probes were initially slated to launch atop their unmanned Delta 2 rocket on Thursday (Sept. 8), but unacceptable high-altitude winds forced NASA to delay the liftoff.

Another chance on Friday was called off to give engineers time to assess the rocket's propulsion system after a potential glitch was detected.After a series of reviews, the team concluded that there are no issues with the rocket or its propulsion system, NASA officials said. [Photos of NASA's Grail Moon Gravity Mission]

Today's weather forecast is more optimistic, and current predictions show a 60 percent chance of acceptable conditions at the time of launch, agency officials said.

NASA has specific limits for acceptable launch weather conditions, with high winds, rain, thunder and lightning all present potential safety risks. For example, high upper level winds can affect the way rockets fly through Earth's upper atmosphere as they blast into orbit. 

The agency will closely monitor weather conditions overnight in preparation for tomorrow's attempt. The Grail mission (whose name is short for Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) has a 42-day launch window that extends through Oct. 19, officials have said. [Video: Grail's Mission to Map Moon Gravity]

The twin Grail spacecraft, called Grail-A and Grail-B, will closely examine the composition of the lunar interior, and will make detailed and precise maps of the moon's gravitational field. The three-month mission is expected to help scientists solve mysteries of the moon's origin and its evolution since the natural satellite was formed 4.6 billion years ago.

Researchers are also hoping to use Grail's observations to better understand how other large, rocky bodies in the inner solar system were formed.

You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcomand on Facebook.

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Winds Delay Launch of Twin NASA Moon Probes Again (SPACE.com)

Windy weather has once again thwarted NASA's attempt to launch two gravity probes to the moon today (Sept. 10) on a mission to study the inside of the moon and its gravity field.

The two Grail spacecraft were scheduled to launch on an unmanned Delta 2 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida this morning at 8:29 a.m. EDT (1229 GMT), but stubborn high-altitude winds – the same thing that forced NASA to stand down during initial launch attempts on Thursday (Sept. 8) – caused yet another delay.

A second opportunity to launch the Grail mission this morning is available at 9:08 a.m. EDT (1308 GMT), but if weather conditions do not improve, NASA will have to wait until tomorrow before they can try again. [Photos of NASA's Grail Moon Gravity Mission]

Another chance on Friday (Sept. 9) was called off to give engineers time to assess the rocket's propulsion system after a potential glitch was detected. After a series of reviews, the team concluded that there are no issues with the rocket or its propulsion system, NASA officials said.

The $496 million Grail mission will closely analyze the composition of the lunar interior, and the twin probes will make detailed and precise maps of the moon's gravitational field. The three-month expedition is expected to help scientists uncover clues of the moon's origin and evolution.

Grail's observations should also shed light on how other large, rocky bodies in the inner solar system were formed.

You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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NASA Primes Twin Moon Gravity Probes for September Launch (SPACE.com)

Jason Rhian, SPACE.com Contributor
Space.com Jason Rhian, Space.com Contributor
space.com – 1 hr 2 mins ago

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A set of twin lunar probes are gearing up for a planned September launch to the moon,  with NASA set to attach the spacecraft duo to their rocket soon.

The twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory spacecraft (nicknamed GRAIL) are poised to launch moonward on Sept. 8 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base here.

The GRAIL mission is designed to discover details of the moon's gravity field from the inside out. The twin probes will fly in tandem to scan the lunar crust to the core, in hopes of collecting measurements for the most accurate gravitational map of the moon ever produced.

"Unlike many other planetary missions GRAIL consists of two spacecraft which are mirror images of one another," said Sami Asmar a member of the GRAIL science team. "So they cannot be interchanged or switched and they will fly together in formation transmitting radio information between the two spacecraft – this allows us to peer into the moon from the core to the crust." [Photos: Our Changing Moon]

Cleaning up for the moon

The GRAIL probes are currently being housed in a clean room near NASA's Kennedy Space Center here. Anyone who enters the ultra-clean facility is required to wear a protective white jumpsuit, sometimes referred to as a "bunny suit."

This head-to-toe outer layer leaves only the eyes exposed, but it is just the first precautionary tier in a multi-layered system designed to keep the spacecraft clean before it is sent to our nearest celestial neighbor.

All camera equipment brought in to photograph the twin GRAIL spacecraft must be cleaned under the supervision of specially trained contamination-control specialists, and strict rules govern what type of equipment can be brought into the facility. These regulations extend even to pens and paper — no conventional writing utensils are allowed inside the clean room, since ordinary paper can carry particles that could clog vital systems on the spacecraft in the microgravity environment of space.

Shoot for the moon

Grail is slated to launch from Launch Complex 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Sept. 8 at 8:37 a.m. EDT (1237 GMT). The two probes will ride on a Delta 2 rocket, in what will be the final launch of a Delta 2 from the Air Force-run spaceport.

After the probes lift off, the journey to the moon will last about 3 1/2 months. After that, the science mission is set to last for a total of 90 days. GRAIL is similar to the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment or GRACE mission which launched in 2002 and made detailed measurements of Earth's gravity field. [Infographic: Inside Earth's Moon]

 "GRAIL will have a trans-lunar cruise of about three-and-a-half months, they will arrive at the moon on New Year’s Eve 2012," said Bruce Reid, the mission's launch service provider manager.  "Once there they will completely map the gravity of the moon. This is important for not only future missions, but to also provide us with a better understanding other terrestrial planets.”

The GRAIL science team is made up of a number of scientists, including former NASA astronaut Sally Ride, who is assisting with the project’s public outreach efforts.

GRAIL is the second of three NASA missions launching over the next few months to explore the solar system.

On Aug. 5, NASA launched the Juno spacecraft toward Jupiter. It will take the probe five years to reach the gas giant planet.

NASA's newest Mars rover, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity, is currently scheduled to launch in late November.

Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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NASA Prepares Next Mars Rover for November Launch (SPACE.com)

Robert Z. Pearlman, SPACE.com contributor
Space.com Robert Z. Pearlman, Space.com Contributor
space.com – Sat Aug 13, 12:30 pm ET

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's next Mars rover, the car-size Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity, is almost ready to fly to the Red Planet.

Beginning tomorrow (Aug. 13), technicians at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida will begin folding up the six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover to pack it inside its heat shield.

Targeted to launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral on the day after Thanksgiving (Nov. 25), Curiosity was shown off to the media on Friday inside the clean room where it has been undergoing final tests and preparations for its journey to Mars. [Photos: NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity]

The rover, which at 10 feet (3 meters) long has been likened to the size of a Mini Cooper, was in its fully-deployed posture. The next time it will be in the same configuration will be after it is deposited on the surface of Mars in August 2012.

"We're going to start buttoning up the hatches here," said Torsten Zorn, a robotics engineer with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

Tuck and stow

Over the next three or so days, Zorn and his fellow team members will work to fold down Curiosity's high-gain antenna, which will enable the rover to communicate directly with Earth. Technicians will also lock down the Remote Sensing Mast, which supports Curiosity's two stereo navigation cameras used for driving the rover and two science instruments to investigate the rover's surroundings.

They will also fold up Curiosity's instrument-tipped arm, capable of reaching out more than 7 feet (2 meters) to collect and study samples of the Martian surface.

Finally, technicians will tuck in Curiosity's six wheels, which are designed to roll the rover over obstacles up to 25 inches (65 centimeters) high and to travel distances up to 660 feet (200 meters) per day on the Martian terrain.

"[We] just fold them up, like a little insect," Zorn said.

Packing for flight

Once all the folding, stowing and tucking is complete, the Curiosity rover will be ready to be mated with its descent stage vehicle and then fitted inside a tightly-packaged cruise stage and aeroshell that will protect the rover on its nine-month trip to Mars. That whole package will then be placed inside a protective shell called a fairing and eventually stacked atop the Atlas 5 rocket.

In the days leading up to liftoff, engineers will install Curiosity's nuclear power source: a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, which produces electricity from the heat of plutonium-238's radioactive decay. This long-lived power supply will provide Curiosity with an operating lifespan on Mars' surface of at least a full Mars year (687 Earth days, or 1.9 Earth years).

After arriving at Mars, the spacecraft will steer itself through Mars' atmosphere with a series of S-curve maneuvers similar to those used by astronauts piloting NASA's now-retired space shuttles. During the three minutes before touchdown, the spacecraft will slow its plunge to the ground with a parachute, then use retro rockets mounted around the rim of an upper stage to further slow its approach.

In the final seconds before Curiosity's landing, the upper stage will act as a sky crane, lowering the upright rover on a tether to the surface. [Video: Curiosity to Make Unusual Landing on Mars]

Bigger and better

Curiosity is about twice as long and five times as heavy as NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which launched in 2003 and are still on the Martian surface.

Curiosity inherited many design elements from its earlier, smaller cousins — including six-wheel drive, a "rocker-bogie" suspension system and cameras mounted on a mast to help the mission's team on Earth select exploration targets and driving routes. However,  unlike Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity has equipment to gather samples of rocks and soil, process them and distribute them to onboard test chambers that are inside analytical instruments.

Those instruments include some of the most advanced scientific gear ever used on Mars' surface and a payload more than 10 times as massive as those of the earlier Mars rovers. Using these tools, Curiosity will investigate whether conditions on Mars may be favorable for microbial life today and for preserving clues in the rocks about possible past life.

Robert Pearlman is a SPACE.com contributor and editor of collectSPACE.com. You can follow him @robertpearlmanor on Facebook. Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcomand on Facebook.

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Astronauts Enter Quarantine for Final Space Shuttle Launch (SPACE.com)

After months of intense training, the astronauts set to fly on NASA's final space shuttle flight are raring to go, so it's no surprise they are taking steps to avoid catching a  last-minute cold.

The four Atlantis shuttle astronauts entered a standard preflight quarantine on Friday (July 1) to prevent illness and limit exposure to any harmful germs. Atlantis is scheduled to launch on July 8 at 11:26 a.m. EDT (1526 GMT) from the seaside Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

The mission, which wraps up NASA's space shuttle program after 30 years, has generated a lot of interest, and the four STS-135 astronauts have had to juggle media appearances and public outreach events with their rigorous training.

"A lot of the focus has been on the fact that this is the historic final flight of the space shuttle," commander Chris Ferguson said in a news briefing Thursday (June 30). "This is the right crew for the right time." [7 Notable Shuttle Astronauts]

Ferguson said that he's looking forward to some peace and quiet in quarantine, and hopes to take a break from all the commotion leading up to launch. He wants to use the time to review for the mission and gather his thoughts, he said.

Atlantis' 12-day mission, called STS-135, will deliver huge spare parts to the International Space Station, along with other supplies, in order to prepare the orbiting laboratory for its life without visiting space shuttle missions. It will be NASA's 135th, and last, flight for the space shuttles as NASA shuts down the fleet to make way for a new program aimed at deep space exploration.

Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley, and mission specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim will travel to Kennedy Space Center on Monday (July 4) and will remain in medial quarantine in the days leading up to their launch next Friday.

The astronauts will fly to the Florida spaceport from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in the agency's white T-38 supersonic jets on Monday afternoon.

Amidst all the attention the astronauts have already received, they have been able to reflect on the gravity of the moment and the historic mission that they are about to fly.

"We are as enormously proud of this vehicle," Ferguson said. "We tend to treat these vehicles as if they're a little part of us. To see them go away is like mourning a friend. They've been wonderful to us. There's an enormous amount of history to look back on."

You can follow SPACE.com Staff Writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Visit SPACE.com for complete coverage of Atlantis's final mission STS-135or follow us @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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NASA prepping next Mars spacecraft for fall launch (AP)

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA's next roving spacecraft to the surface of Mars has arrived in Florida after a cross-country flight to undergo final testing.

A C-17 cargo jet carrying the rover nicknamed Curiosity took off from March Air Force Base in California and arrived Wednesday night in Florida.

Engineers will spend the next several months prepping the rover for its November launch.

The $2.5 billion mission was supposed to fly in 2009, but problems during development pushed costs up and delayed launch.

Curiosity is scheduled to land in August 2012 and will study whether the Martian environment was ever favorable for microbial life.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the program, formally known as the Mars Science Laboratory.

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New Mars rover arrives at Florida launch site (Reuters)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory, a nuclear-powered, car-sized rover designed to assess the planet's suitability for life, reached the Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations, officials said on Thursday.

Aboard the Air Force cargo plane with the rover, named Curiosity, was the complicated landing system it will use for a pinpoint touchdown on Mars in August 2012.

Curiosity is about four times bigger and has many more science instruments than NASA's last Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which reached the Red Planet in 2004 for what were expected to be three-month missions.

Seven years later, Spirit is no longer working, but Opportunity remains operational. Those rovers were dispatched to look for signs of past water on Mars.

The new rover's bigger size and more robust science capabilities are intended to answer a thornier riddle: Does the Red Planet have, or has it ever had, the right conditions for microbial life to arise?

The rover is designed to spend at least one Martian year -- the equivalent of almost two Earth years -- surveying the selected region to assess habitability.

Problems developing the "sky crane" descent system forced NASA to miss its original launch opportunity in 2009 and added $800 million to the project.

"The design and building part of the mission is nearly behind us now," David Gruel, manager of Mars Science Lab's assembly, test and launch operations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement.

The agency's inspector general warned earlier this month that NASA was in danger of missing this year's launch opportunity as well, a period that opens November 25 and runs through December 18 when Earth and Mars are favorably aligned for interplanetary transport.

But NASA said it had resolved issues by the June 8 report and is in good shape for meeting the opening of the probe's launch window.

NASA is in the midst of a final assessment of four potential landing sites.

(Editing by Tom Brown and Sandra Maler)

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Astronauts practice for NASA's last shuttle launch

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:39pm EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Four U.S. astronauts in bright orange spacesuits climbed aboard their spaceship on Thursday to practice the launch of NASA's last space shuttle on a cargo run to the International Space Station.

The flight of Atlantis is targeted for liftoff on July 8 and will close out NASA's 30-year-old space shuttle program. The program is ending due to high operating costs and to free up funds to develop spacecraft that can travel beyond the space station, a $100 billion project of 16 nations that orbits 220 miles above Earth.

The shuttle will deliver a year's worth of food, clothing, science gear and equipment to the station in case commercial cargo carriers hired to replace the shuttle are delayed.

NASA limited the number of astronauts on the final shuttle flight to four, rather than the six or seven typically assigned. That will accommodate the smaller Russian Soyuz capsules that will serve as the Atlantis crew's lifeboats.

Since the 2003 Columbia accident, NASA has had a second shuttle in waiting, ready to mount a rescue mission should a crew find their ship too damaged by launch or orbital debris strikes to fly back through the atmosphere for landing.

Columbia was destroyed as it glided through the atmosphere for landing. Its heat shield was damaged by a piece of foam insulation that fell off the fuel tank and hit the shuttle during launch. Seven astronauts were killed when the shuttle broke apart over Texas and Louisiana.

There are no more shuttles available for rescue missions, so the last shuttle crew would rely instead on the three-seater Soyuz capsules to ferry them home, one at a time over a year.

Being short-handed means the crew had to revamp how they operate the shuttle and handle cargo transfers to the space station.

"The overall workload is pretty high," said Atlantis astronaut Sandra Magnus, who will oversee the crew's work on the station.

"We've had to do a lot more cross-training than normal for a shuttle crew," she added. "You end up being a little bit more of a jack-of-all-trades."

Speaking to reporters by the launch pad where Atlantis is being prepared for flight, shuttle commander Chris Ferguson said on Wednesday that he and his crewmates have had little time to dwell on the significance of the final shuttle mission.

"I hate to see the space shuttle go away, I really do, but I think that there are some events historically that have led to this and it's probably appropriate," Ferguson said.

NASA will rely on Russian crew transports while it supports private U.S. industrial efforts to develop space taxis, but it will be at least five years before those are ready to fly.

Cargo hauls are being turned over to Space Exploration Technologies and Orbital Sciences Corp, which are expected to start deliveries to the space station next year. Station freight services also are provided by the Russian, Japanese and European space agencies.

NASA will set a firm launch date for Atlantis on June 28. The flight is scheduled to last 12 days. If the shuttle flies as planned on July 8, landing day would fall on July 20, the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

(Editing by Jane Sutton and Eric Walsh)

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New Mars rover arrives at Florida launch site

Technicians check the wiring of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover 'Curiosity', where it is undergoing pre-flight tests, in the 'clean room' of the spacecraft assembly facility at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California September 16, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Fred Prouser

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:52pm EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory, a nuclear-powered, car-sized rover designed to assess the planet's suitability for life, reached the Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations, officials said on Thursday.

Aboard the Air Force cargo plane with the rover, named Curiosity, was the complicated landing system it will use for a pinpoint touchdown on Mars in August 2012.

Curiosity is about four times bigger and has many more science instruments than NASA's last Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which reached the Red Planet in 2004 for what were expected to be three-month missions.

Seven years later, Spirit is no longer working, but Opportunity remains operational. Those rovers were dispatched to look for signs of past water on Mars.

The new rover's bigger size and more robust science capabilities are intended to answer a thornier riddle: Does the Red Planet have, or has it ever had, the right conditions for microbial life to arise?

The rover is designed to spend at least one Martian year -- the equivalent of almost two Earth years -- surveying the selected region to assess habitability.

Problems developing the "sky crane" descent system forced NASA to miss its original launch opportunity in 2009 and added $800 million to the project.

"The design and building part of the mission is nearly behind us now," David Gruel, manager of Mars Science Lab's assembly, test and launch operations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement.

The agency's inspector general warned earlier this month that NASA was in danger of missing this year's launch opportunity as well, a period that opens November 25 and runs through December 18 when Earth and Mars are favorably aligned for interplanetary transport.

But NASA said it had resolved issues by the June 8 report and is in good shape for meeting the opening of the probe's launch window.

NASA is in the midst of a final assessment of four potential landing sites.

(Editing by Tom Brown and Sandra Maler)

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NASA Delivers Cargo to Launch Pad for Last-Ever Shuttle Flight (SPACE.com)

Robert Z. Pearlman, SPACE.com contributor
Space.com Robert Z. Pearlman, Space.com Contributor
space.com – Fri Jun 17, 2:14 pm ET

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA rolled out its final space shuttle mission's cargo pod to the launch pad Thursday (June 16) here at Kennedy Space Center, in preparation for installing it on board space shuttle Atlantis.

Packed with more than 8,000 pounds of supplies and equipment for the International Space Station, the "Raffaello" logistics module and a separate experiments platform were packed inside a shuttle cargo bay-sized canister for the trip out to the pad.

The 60-foot tall canister took about two-and-a-half hours to make the journey, arriving at the base of the pad's rotating service structure at about 11:30 p.m. EDT Thursday (0330 GMT Friday). It was then hoisted up into the pad's payload handling room where its contents will be prepared for installation into the shuttle's cargo bay on Monday.

Atlantis is targeted to lift off on STS-135, NASA's 135th and final space shuttle mission, on July 8. During the 12-day flight, commander Chris Ferguson and his three crewmates, Doug Hurley, Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim, will deliver Raffaello to the space station, completing the shuttle program's last cargo delivery to the orbiting laboratory.

After transferring the cargo pod's contents onto the station, the STS-135 crew will then repack Raffaello with more than 5,000 pounds of refuse, supplies and experiment results for the trip back to Earth. [Gallery: Shuttle Atlantis' Last Launch Pad Trek]

The payload's delivery to the pad followed a successful tanking test performed earlier this week during which Atlantis' external fuel tank was checked for structural defects. The test, which loaded the tank with approximately 535,000 gallons of super-cold propellants exposed the tank to the same extreme low-temperatures it will experience on launch day.

Initial inspections revealed no apparent cracks to the tank's exterior insulating foam. On Saturday, technicians will X-ray the tank to verify its underlying support beams, or stringers, are also crack-free.

During the test, engineers saw evidence of a possible liquid-hydrogen leak from one of Atlantis' three main engines. The source of the leak, a main fuel valve, will be replaced, but the work is not expected to impact the shuttle's planned July 8 launch date.

On Monday (June 20), the STS-135 astronauts will arrive at the Kennedy Space Center to begin several days of training, culminating Thursday (June 23) in a full-up dress rehearsal for their launch countdown. The four crewmembers will don their orange pressure suits and board Atlantis to practice the procedures leading up to their liftoff.

Robert Pearlman is a contributing writer for SPACE.com and the editor of collectSPACE.com. You can follow him on Twitter @robertpearlman and @collectSPACE, or on Facebook. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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NASA fuels shuttle for test before last launch

Space shuttle Atlantis sits on launch pad 39A after rolling out from the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida June 1, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Scott Audette

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Wed Jun 15, 2011 5:46pm EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Workers at the Kennedy Space Center filled the fuel tank of the space shuttle Atlantis on Wednesday in a key test ahead of its scheduled launch next month on the final shuttle flight.

The test was added after structural problems were found last year on a tank later used for the February launch of sister ship Discovery. NASA reinforced metal supports inside both tanks. Wednesday's test was to verify the Atlantis tank repairs ahead of its scheduled July 8 liftoff.

"It's very straight-forward," said launch director Mike Leinbach. "We fill it up, send the final inspection team out to the pad, they'll do their walk-down ... and then we'll get the 'go' for drain. That's it."

A week's worth of X-ray photography will follow to assure that the metal struts withstood the extreme temperatures generated by 500,000 gallons (1.89 million liters) of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen inside the tank.

NASA was assessing what seemed to be a valve leak in one of the shuttle's three main engines that appeared during the tank test. If the valve needs to be replaced, preliminary indications show the work could be done without impacting the targeted July 8 launch, NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said.

The tank test is one of the final milestones before NASA launches Atlantis and four astronauts on a supply run to the International Space Station, a 12-day mission that is set to close out the 30-year-old U.S. space shuttle program.

An Italian-built shipping container holding 9,500 pounds of food, clothing, science gear and supplies for the station is due to arrive at the launch pad on Thursday and be loaded into the shuttle's payload bay on Friday.

In addition to the cargo, the shuttle is set to deliver an experiment to demonstrate how satellites can be robotically refueled in orbit, a potential game-changer in an industry worth more than $160 billion a year.

Hundreds of communications, weather and other satellites are currently circling the Earth but none are designed to be refueled. Once their fuel is spent, they can no longer reboot themselves or change position and maneuver, and they become expensive space junk.

The Robotic Refueling Mission is a special assignment for Dextre, the Canadian-built robot attached to the space station's 55-foot (16.7-meter) external crane. Over the next two years, ground controllers will use Dextre to demonstrate how the robot can handle various tasks associated with fueling a satellite and handling minor repairs.

NASA is retiring its three-ship shuttle fleet due to high operating costs. It has hired two commercial companies, Space Exploration Technologies and Orbital Sciences Corp, to take over cargo deliveries to the station and hopes to do the same for crew transportation within five years.

Until then, the United States will pay Russia to taxi astronauts to the station, at a cost of more than $50 million per person.

(Editing by Jane Sutton; Editing by Will Dunham)

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First iPhones in Space to Launch on Last Shuttle Mission (SPACE.com)

Houston, we have an iPhone: Two iPhone 4 smartphones loaded with an app to help astronauts perform experiments in space will launch aboard NASA's shuttle Atlantis on July 8. They will be the first iPhones to fly in space, officials say.

The iPhones will be delivered to the International Space Station during the STS-135 mission of Atlantis, NASA's final flight of its storied space shuttle program. They are programmed with an app called SpaceLab for iOS, which was designed by Odyssey Space Research. [Photos: Shuttle Atlantis' Last Launch Pad Trek]

The app contains four step-by-step instruction programs to help the space station's crew perform experiments in the U.S. portion of the orbiting outpost, which has been classified as a U.S. National Laboratory.

"The revolutionary iPhone 4 offers an extraordinary opportunity to demonstrate serious functions previously reserved for more expensive, purpose-built devices," Brian Rishikof, Odyssey's chief executive officer, said in a statement.

"The potential for using iPhone 4 to both conduct and support in-space research and operations is enormous. The opportunity to make the experience accessible to anyone via the App Store will attract a new generation of space supporters," Rishikof added.

iPhones in space

While intended for space use, a version of the app is also available now for 99 cents in the Apple App Store. This version is designed to simulate the experience astronauts will have for users on the ground.

With Apple's popular smartphone has been certified for spaceflight, and both iPhone 4s will remain on the space station for several months while the experiments are performed. [7 Gadgets that Changed the World]

The first program, called Limb Tracker, is a navigation experiment that involves taking photographs of Earth and matching an arc to the horizon. Limb Tracker is designed to yield an estimate of altitude and the "off axis" angle, which is a measurement of the angle of the image with respect to Earth's center.

Sensor Cal is another program that will use a series of photos of a reference image to help calibrate sensors on board the space station.

State Acq, short for State Acquisition, is a navigation experiment that uses a series of photos of Earth, combined with information from the iPhone's three-axis gyroscope and accelerometer, to estimate the spacecraft's latitude and longitude. The position estimation is calculated by manipulating and matching a wireframe overlay of the Earth's coastlines with the images. Performing multiple sequences, separated by a known amount of time, can permit estimation of the spacecraft's orbit parameters.

Finally, the LFI program, short for Lifecycle Flight Instrumentation, will characterize the effects of radiation on the device by monitoring certain areas of memory for Single Bit Upsets — an unintended change in value of a memory location caused by exposure to radiation.

Station astronauts won't keep them

When the experiments are completed, both iPhones will be returned to Earth. The first opportunity for return will be on a Russian Soyuz in fall 2011, Odyssey Research officials said. Flight data from the experiments are expected to be collected, analyzed, and then shared via this app on the App Store, they added.

The iPhone 4s are just a few of the experiments and cargo flying to the space station on NASA's last-ever space shuttle flight. If all goes as planned, Atlantis will blast off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:40 a.m. EDT (1340 GMT) on July 8.

Atlantis' four-person crew plans to fly a 12-day mission to the International Space Station to deliver new experiments and supplies, as well as vital spare parts to keep the orbiting lab going once the space shuttle program ends for good. NASA is retiring its three-shuttle fleet after 30 years of service to make way for a new space exploration program aimed at sending astronauts to an asteroid by 2025, and then on to Mars in the 2030s.

This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, a sister site to SPACE.com. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Europe Aims to Launch Robotic Mini-Shuttle By 2020 (SPACE.com)

Rob Coppinger, SPACE.com Contributor
Space.com Rob Coppinger, Space.com Contributor
space.com – Mon Jun 13, 8:14 pm ET

A European-built robot space plane could be flying in orbit before the end of the decade if the project's planning discussions, which kick off this month,  come to fruition.

The spacecraft would be Europe's civilian equivalent to the U.S. Air Force's unmanned X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, a robotic miniature space shuttle that has flown on two missions since 2010.

This European robot space plane would be an evolved version of European Space Agency’s Intermediate Experimental Vehicle (IXV), which is expected to make its first flight in 2013.

Planning for the space plane starts this month because the final industrial phase for the IXV  is also under way, with the awarding of manufacturing and assembly contracts at the Paris air show, ESA’s IXV project manager Giorgio Tumino said.

Tumino's team finished the IXV’s critical design in May, setting the stage for the spacecraft's construction. [Video: Europe's IXV Space Plane]

"We have a very committed industrial team," Tumino told SPACE.com.

Europe's robot space plane

Like the IXV prototype, ESA's future robot space plane would fly on an unmanned Vega rocket from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. The spacecraft could be used to monitor the Earth or service satellites, then re-enter the atmosphere and land like an aircraft.

For the full-size spacecraft to fly in low-Earth orbit before 2020, its development, testing and production must be approved by 2015 by ESA’s member states. This decision would follow three years of conceptual and preliminary vehicle design studies that could start next year.

The hope is that the planning that starts this month will lead to ESA member states approving the design studies in 2012, project officials said.

ESA's Vega rocket is slated to make its maiden launch later this year. A successful test flight would move the IXV prototype, a key milestone in the space plane project, closer to its own 2013 test.

Meet the IXV space plane

The IXV space plane weighs about 3,970 pounds (1,800 kilograms) and is 14.4 feet long (4.4 meters) and 7.2 feet wide (2.2 meters). It is described as a lifting body because its shape produces lift without the need for wings.

The vehicle has four thrusters and two body flaps at the rear to provide flight control. For comparison, NASA’s space shuttle vehicle also has a body flap. The flaps are used for pitch control, which determines whether the nose of the shuttle goes up or down, during re-entry.

The U.S. Air Force's X-37B robot space plane is larger than Europe's IXV. The X-37B vehicles, the second of which is in orbit today, weigh 11,000 pounds (nearly 5,000 kg) each and are about 29 feet long (nearly 9 m) and have a wingspan of 14 feet (4.2 m).

Like Europe's IXV, the Boeing-built X-37B is used to test reusable spacecraft technologies but it is also used for classified operations, with many experts suggesting it can perform orbital reconnaissance functions. [Photos: USAF Launches X-37B Space Plane]

The first X-37B launched in April 2010 and that vehicle, OTV-1, made an autonomous landing nine months later in California in December. The second X-37B, OTV-2, was launched in early March 2011 to begin a similar 270-day mission.

Europe's big test launch

When the IXV launches on its first test flight, it is expected to soar into orbit from French Guiana and then splash down in the Pacific Ocean 21/2 hours later using parachutes. The robotic spacecraft is expected to re-enter the atmosphere at Mach 20, more than 20 times the speed of sound.

By performing maneuvers in the atmosphere during descent, the spacecraft should be able to slow itself considerably, to about Mach 2. Parachutes should then be open to slow the craft even further for a water landing.

The IXV will carry 600 sensors to record the effects of its atmospheric re-entry and descent on its heat shield and other systems, ESA officials have said. 

ESA began the IXV project in 2005 with plans for a 2010 test launch, but by 2009 delays had set the flight back to 2012, and it later slipped to 2013. In 2006, ESA officials said that the IXV’s preliminary and detailed design and development work, manufacture, assembly and testing would cost about 100 million euros (about $144 million).

Originally managed by a new European joint venture company called NGL Prime, the project was moved to Thales Alenia Space when NGL Prime closed in 2008. This change in  management also led to a redesign of IXV in 2009.

Tumino declined to give a figure for the latest total cost of IXV due to these industrial changes as final negotiations with industry were under way.

Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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New Space Station Crew to Launch Into Orbit Today (SPACE.com)

Three new crewmembers are set to launch to the International Space Station today (June 7) to begin their months-long mission at the orbiting outpost.

NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, and Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), will ride into orbit today aboard a Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft. The trio is slated to launch at 4:12 p.m. EDT (2012 GMT) from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

"The State Commission approved our ship and crew for launch tomorrow night. Looks like we're going to do this!!" Fossum wrote via Twitter on Monday (June 6).

The three crewmates are launching less than a week after the successful completion of NASA's second-to-last space shuttle mission. The shuttle Endeavour landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 1 to end the orbiter's final flight before being retired. [Photos: Shuttle Endeavour's Last Landing]

Fossum, Volkov and Furukawa are set to begin their long-term stints aboard the space station, where they will make up the remainder of the station's Expedition 28 crew. The spaceflyers will join NASA astronaut Ron Garan and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Andrey Borisenko, who have been living and working at the space station since early April. [Amazing Photos by Astronaut Ron Garan]

The new crewmembers are scheduled to arrive at the space station on Thursday at 5:22 p.m. EDT (2122 GMT). They will be flying on a Russian-built Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft, the second version of Russia's upgraded digital Soyuz capsule which has also been modified to fix computer console display glitches that popped up during the design's first flight.

Space station science

In September, Garan, Samokutyaev and Borisenko will return to Earth, and Fossum will take command of the station to begin the next Expedition 29 mission.

As part of their stay at the orbiting laboratory, the crewmembers will conduct a variety of experiments in a number of fields, including physical sciences, human life sciences and Earth observation, according to NASA officials.

During Endeavour's STS-134 mission, the visiting shuttle astronauts performed four spacewalks and completed the last major stage of construction for the station's U.S. segment. This will allow NASA and its international partners to focus on the science and research capabilities that the station has to offer, NASA officials have said. [Amazing Spacewalk Photos: Shuttle Endeavour at Space Station]

"Now we’re moving out of that phase as this construction assembly’s complete, and more into the science phase that it was really built to do, so it’s exciting as we’re bringing online all of these, the payloads, the different equipment to begin moving it forward with that research capability," Fossum said in a preflight interview.

Meet the Soyuz crew

Fossum, 53, will be making his third spaceflight, having already logged more than 26 days in space. Fossum was previously a member of NASA's STS-121 and STS-124 missions to the International Space Station, both on the space shuttle Discovery.

Volkov, 38, spent 199 days in space during his first stint at the space station in 2008. He performed two spacewalks and served as commander of the space station's Expedition 17 mission. Volkov is a second-generation cosmonaut and was also the youngest station commander appointed to date.

Furukawa, 47, will be making his first spaceflight today after completing astronaut training in 2006 at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. As a trained surgeon, Furukawa is looking forward to the scientific potential that the space station has to offer. [Video: Venomous Spiders on Space Station]

"Conducting many scientific experiments on board the space station, dedicating the progress of science and making everybody’s life on Earth better than now, that's my first interest," Furukawa said in a preflight interview. "Other than that, I would like to look at the beautiful Earth from some of the windows on board the station, and plus, I would like to take many photographs and share them with all."

In addition to their scientific duties, the Expedition 28 crew will also host the final mission of NASA's space shuttle program, the STS-135 flight of Atlantis, which is scheduled to launch in early July. Atlantis' flight will wrap up the agency's 30-year shuttle program, making way for NASA to focus on developing spacecraft to explore beyond low-Earth orbit.

You can follow SPACE.com Staff Writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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