NASA News 12 November 2014

NASA is getting ready to test the Orion space capsule. The launch is scheduled for December 4, 2014. It will be crewless when launched for the test. The purpose of the Orion space capsule is to be a spaceship for crews sent on what is being termed deep space missions. This term will be laughed at in the future when we really go into deep space and not just to nearby objects and planets such as asteroids, Mars and the moon. The development of the Orion capsule has nothing in common with the two spacecraft which have blown up recently, which were the Orbital Sciences rocket which blew up on liftoff and the Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two which was destroyed while flying. NASA states the purpose of the flight is, "to learn about where the challenges are so we can minimize the risk when we actually put people on board." A second flight is scheduled in 2019 when the scheduled rocket to be used is the mega rocket which is under development by NASA called part of the SLS for Space Launch System.

It seems 3D printers are becoming staples everywhere and to prove this point NASA has built two rocket engines using parts which came from a 3D printer. The engines have passed all their tests at NASA. This is not the first time NASA has tested rocket engines which parts made by a 3D printer, but it is the first time such complicated engines were built using this technique. 3D printing is an incredible invention and could be quite useful to astronauts in space. Think of this, a crew on a long space mission needs to replace a part in their ship. Instead of having to carry all sorts of backup parts it could carry just one 3D printer and use it to manufacture any parts which were needed, not only for the ship but for the crew for personal reasons.

NASA is working on a joint project with the US Air Force. The project calls for NASA to test a new type of wing flap which can change shape. The idea is it can be shifted to reduce noise and to improve the aerodynamics of a plane which will increase fuel efficiency. The first test went without a hitch. The actual development of the wing flaps were by FlexSys Inc. and were part of the Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge project known as ACTE. A modified Gulfstream III business aircraft is being used to test the flaps. The new flaps will be able to be retrofitted to existing aircraft.

I guess even in the world of NASA there is fraud. I know this because a Lehigh University professor is being charged with it. In 2010 his small company was given $600,000 for a project which was to be carried out by that company in conjunction with the professor’s lab at Lehigh. NASA says the work was done by a graduate student at Lehigh and the professor kept $300,000 telling NASA the company needed to do its share of the work. The company was said to be a shell with the same address as the professor’s home according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court. It is said there were no employees and no lab equipment at the home/company except for the professor and his wife.

Astronauts on the space station were exploring micro gravity on the International Space Station. In an experiment they made a bubble out of water and while it was floating around the station they submerged a waterproof camera into it which took photos as the bubble floated around.
It may sound strange, but the Center of Theological Inquiry known as CTI received a grant by the NASA Astrobiology Program. NASA wants them to look into the societal implications of the search for life in the universe. They believe there is a growing interest in the subject and I believe they are correct about this as more scientists are coming forward and stating the belief there has to be more life out there when the amount of planets which exist is so vast as witnessed by the increasing amount of exoplanets we have been discovering. The inquiry project will last from 2015 to 2017 and will focus on the implications of astrobiology’s current research goals and findings.

Speaking of exoplanets, NASA has officially confirmed the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. The mission has a lot of people excited, because this satellite is going to search for exoplanets throughout the entire sky. It is the first satellite capable of an all-sky survey and will search both hemispheres of the sky for nearby exoplanets. The executive officer of the TESS program stated, “This is an incredibly exciting time for the search of planets outside our solar system.” Scientists are guessing what it might find and so far the guess is more than 5,000 exoplanets with at least 50 being earth sized. The way it operates is that it looks at stars and tries to find a dip in the light they put out which indicates a planet has passed in front of the star as it orbits it. Maybe we are getting too certain of ourselves and will find other reasons which we don’t know about yet which could cause such a dip.

NASA data shows a comet named Siding Spring just skimmed the red planet Mars causing tons of dust to bombard Mars and caused thousands of fireballs an hour. It caused the thin Martian atmosphere to warp and left metals and a strange yellow afterglow on October 19, 2014.One scientist said the storm could have been considered a meteor storm due to the amount of heavy metals that showered down on the planet. NASA says the rovers on Mars didn’t have the video capability to capture the storm and could only shoot still photos, but NASA’s satellites recorded the data. I have to wonder why NASA couldn’t have shot a video of the storm or a burst of photos.