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Tag: NASA

  • US Agrees to Extend Space Station Operations Through 2030

    US Agrees to Extend Space Station Operations Through 2030

    The International Space Station (ISS) has earned another lease on life, with the Biden-Harris administration committed to funding it through 2030.

    The ISS has a long history of scientific advancement, but its retirement is drawing near. The station was first launched in 1998, making it over 30 years old.

    According to NASA, the Biden-Harris administration has authorized funding it through 2030, buying more time toward a replacement.

    “The International Space Station is a beacon of peaceful international scientific collaboration and for more than 20 years has returned enormous scientific, educational, and technological developments to benefit humanity. I’m pleased that the Biden-Harris Administration has committed to continuing station operations through 2030,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. “The United States’ continued participation on the ISS will enhance innovation and competitiveness, as well as advance the research and technology necessary to send the first woman and first person of color to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis program and pave the way for sending the first humans to Mars. As more and more nations are active in space, it’s more important than ever that the United States continues to lead the world in growing international alliances and modeling rules and norms for the peaceful and responsible use of space.”

  • Federal Judge Shuts Down Blue Origin’s Lawsuit Against NASA

    Federal Judge Shuts Down Blue Origin’s Lawsuit Against NASA

    Blue Origin has been dealt a major blow, with a federal judge ruling against its suit aimed at forcing NASA to reconsider its bid.

    NASA solicited bids from multiple companies to build its next lunar lander. Despite initially signaling that it preferred to use multiple vendors, the agency ultimately decided on an exclusive contract with SpaceX due to cost concerns. SpaceX’s proposal scored higher and cost roughly half of Blue Origin’s.

    Blue Origin challenged the decision with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and then sued when the GAO refused to overturn NASA’s decision. Subsequent documents revealed that Blue Origin made a risky gamble, counting on NASA accepting its bid and then renegotiating a better price, or getting more funding from Congress.

    According to The Washington Post, a federal judge has ruled against Blue Origin’s suit, paving the way for NASA to move forward with SpaceX’s proposal. Despite the repeated setbacks, Blue Origin said in a statement that it will continue to press the case.

    At this juncture, it’s once again worth pointing out Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos’ previous comments about how fast and efficiently procurement worked for the original Apollo missions, and how different it is now.

    “Today there would be three protests and the losers would sue the federal government because they didn’t win…the thing that slows things down is procurement…it’s become the bigger bottleneck than the technology.”

    Bezos should know…

  • Blue Origin Announces Plans for Commercial Space Station

    Blue Origin Announces Plans for Commercial Space Station

    Blue Origin, along with Sierra Space, has announced plans for a commercial space station called Orbital Reef.

    The space race is heating up, with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic some of the leading commercial companies involved. Blue Origin was recently in the headlines for a flight that included William Shatner, the oldest person to go to space.

    The company, along with Sierra Space, is now setting its sights on launching a commercial space station, one that will be “mixed use business park” in space.

    Designed to open multiple new markets in space, Orbital Reef will provide anyone with the opportunity to establish their own address on orbit. This unique destination will offer research, industrial, international, and commercial customers the cost competitive end-to-end services they need including space transportation and logistics, space habitation, equipment accommodation, and operations including onboard crew. The station will start operating in the second half of this decade.

    The project already has the backing of Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering Solutions, and Arizona State University.

    “For over sixty years, NASA and other space agencies have developed orbital space flight and space habitation, setting us up for commercial business to take off in this decade,” said Brent Sherwood, Senior Vice President of Advanced Development Programs for Blue Origin. “We will expand access, lower the cost, and provide all the services and amenities needed to normalize space flight. A vibrant business ecosystem will grow in low Earth orbit, generating new discoveries, new products, new entertainments, and global awareness.”

    “Sierra Space is thrilled to partner with Blue Origin and provide the Dream Chaser spaceplane, the LIFE module and additional space technologies to open up space for commercial research, manufacturing, and tourism. As a former NASA astronaut, I’ve been waiting for the moment where working and living in space is accessible to more people worldwide, and that moment has arrived,” said Dr. Janet Kavandi, former three time NASA astronaut and Sierra Space president.

  • NASA: Blue Origin ‘Gambled’ On Its Proposal and Lost

    NASA: Blue Origin ‘Gambled’ On Its Proposal and Lost

    More details are emerging about Blue Origin’s losing bid for NASA’s lunar lander, and it appears the company made a risky gamble that backfired.

    Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin were two of the companies bidding for a contract to provide NASA’s new lunar lander. SpaceX ultimately won the contract, coming in substantially cheaper than Blue Origin’s bid. Blue Origin appealed NASA’s decision to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), and then sued the government when the GAO upheld NASA’s decision.

    More details have emerged, and it appears Blue Origin shot for the moon (pun intended), basing their bid on the belief that NASA would accept the higher bid and then negotiate a lower price after the fact.

    The company “made an assumption about the Agency’s HLS budget, built its proposal with this figure in mind, and also separately made a calculated bet that if NASA could not afford Blue Origin’s initially-proposed price, the Agency would select Blue Origin for award and engage in post-selection negotiations to allow Blue Origin to lower its price. All of these assumptions were incorrect,” the four NASA attorneys wrote in the Agency Report, according to The Verge. “Realizing now that it gambled and lost, Blue Origin seeks to use GAO’s procurement oversight function to improperly compel NASA to suffer the consequences of Blue Origin’s ill-conceived choices.”

    Because that’s totally how bidding usually works: Accept an overpriced bid, that didn’t score as high as the competitor’s, and then negotiate with the winning bidder in the hopes they’ll offer a lower price after they’ve already won. Or at least that appears to be how Blue Origin thinks bidding should work.

    This isn’t the first time one of Jeff Bezos’ companies has overbid, lost a contract and they cried foul. Microsoft accused Amazon of doing the same thing when it sued after losing out on the Pentagon’s JEDI contract, saying Amazon used the litigation process to see the particulars of Microsoft’s sealed bid and then lowered its own to be more competitive.

    Interestingly, Bezos’ companies seem to be aware of the reputation they’re building — as sore losers that resort to litigation to compensate for overpriced bids — as Amazon “sent The Verge an unsolicited 13-page list” of legal actions it says SpaceX has taken over the years, in what appears to be an effort to prove it’s no more litigious than the next company.

    Ultimately, NASA said it best: “Blue Origin made a bet and it lost.”

  • NASA Using Japanese Startup to Map Wind Patterns for Drones

    NASA Using Japanese Startup to Map Wind Patterns for Drones

    NASA is working with Japanese startup MetroWeather Co. to map out wind patterns in an effort to improve drone and air taxi safety.

    Drones are becoming more important than ever to many industries, including agriculture, retail, delivery, security and more. Given their lightweight design, however, winds can pose a major challenge for drones, especially models that have to traverse some distance across various wind patterns. The same goes for the relatively small electric air taxies that many companies are racing to develop and market.

    NASA and MetroWeather are hoping to address the issue by mapping the wind, providing drone and air taxi operators a way to chart safe flight routes.

    “Flying these things without knowing the wind and risking crashes is inconceivable,” MetroWeather CEO Junichi Furumoto said in an interview, according to Science X. “Even more so when people are the cargo.”

    MetroWeather achieves its mapping using lidar sensors that measure the speed of dust and other particles in the air which, in turn, allows it to calculate wind speed and detect wind shear. According to Science X, with a range of 11 miles, “four of them perched on top of skyscrapers can cover all of central Tokyo.”

    The technology promises to be an important step in the advancement of drones and air taxies alike.

  • Blue Origin Losing Top Talent to Rivals

    Blue Origin Losing Top Talent to Rivals

    On the heels of losing out on a major NASA contract, Blue Origin is also losing some of its top talent to its rivals.

    SpaceX beat out Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin in a bid for NASA’s contract for a lunar lander. NASA had originally wanted to source multiple companies, but went with SpaceX exclusively due to budgetary constraints. Blue Origin appealed the decision, an appeal that was denied by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Blue Origin filed a lawsuit against NASA in hopes of overturning the decision.

    According to Gizmodo, however, some of Blue Origin’s top talent are already leaving the company. Nitin Arora, lead engineer for the company’s lunar lander program, has left for SpaceX — an especially bitter blow given Blue Origin’s loss to the company. Lauren Lyons has moved on to become COO at Firefly Aerospace, and former astronaut Jeff Ashby, as well as Steve Bennet, have also left.

    Whatever the outcome of Blue Origin’s lawsuit, the company’s bigger issue may be keeping morale up and top talent in-house.

  • NASA Pausing SpaceX Contract While Waiting on Blue Origin’s Lawsuit

    NASA Pausing SpaceX Contract While Waiting on Blue Origin’s Lawsuit

    NASA is pausing its SpaceX lunar landing contract while it waits for the initial phase of the lawsuit Blue Origin has launched.

    Jeff Bezos’ company, Blue Origin, made headlines and drew criticism when it filed a lawsuit against NASA for awarding SpaceX the sole contract for a new lunar landing system. Originally, NASA had wanted to award the contract to multiple companies, but settled on a single one due to budgetary constraints.

    Blue Origin sued after its initial appeal to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) was found to be baseless. In spite of that, NASA has decided to voluntarily postpone the SpaceX contract until an initial ruling in the case, according to GeekWire. The voluntary pause will end November 1, which is two weeks after initial arguments are set to commence. NASA clearly seems to think that will be enough time to have an idea which way the case will go.

    Jeff Bezos was roundly mocked for videos that surfaced of him criticizing companies that are quick to sue when they don’t win a government contract — quite the contradiction for a man with not one, but two companies that have sued the government when losing out on a contract.

  • Deja Vu: Another Bezos Company Sues Government Over Losing a Bid

    Deja Vu: Another Bezos Company Sues Government Over Losing a Bid

    Blue Origins is suing NASA over a failed bid to participate in the agency’s lunar contract, continuing a proud tradition of litigation when losing.

    Bezos other company, Amazon, made headlines when it sued over losing out to Microsoft in a bid for the Pentagon’s $10 billion JEDI contract. Microsoft accused Amazon of using the suit as a way to gain access to Microsoft’s bid, and then lowering its own to match, essentially doing an end-run around the blind bidding process.

    Ultimately, despite initial rulings upholding the Pentagon’s contract award, Amazon kept the contract tied up so long that the Pentagon was forced to abandon it in the interests of being able to move forward and modernize its IT infrastructure. This decision was reached despite those initial rulings displaying that Microsoft clearly offered the better value.

    It appears Bezos is following the same strategy in the space race, launching a lawsuit to compensate for an inferior bid. His Blue Origin company is one of the prime competitors to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Both companies were bidding on NASA’s contract for a lunar lander. Initially, NASA had expressed interest in having two companies produce competing products, but was forced to choose a single one due to budgetary constraints, ultimately going with SpaceX’s bid. 

    Bezos’ company took multiple steps to get back in on the action, offering to waive $2 billion in fees and appealing the decision with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO). Blue Origin argued in the appeal that since NASA had previously — under a broad agency announcement (BAA) — said it preferred to award the contract to two companies, it should be forced to do so, especially since Blue Origin wasn’t allowed to modify or lower its original bid.

    The GAO denied the appeal, emphasizing that NASA properly notified the bid participants of the ground rules:

    We deny the protests because the BAA expressly put all offerors on notice that the number of awards was subject to available funding and the agency could make multiple contract awards, a single award, or no award at all

    SpaceX and Blue Origin were rated “Acceptable” in the “Technical” portion of the bid (with a third, Dynetics, rated “Marginal”). However, SpaceX was the clear winner in the “Management” section of their bid, receiving an “Outstanding” grade to Blue Origin’s “Acceptable.” Even more telling was the price difference, with SpaceX coming it at $2,941,394,557, compared to Blue Origin’s whopping $5,995,463,651. Even accounting for Bezos’ willingness to waive $2 billion, Blue Origin’s base price was still $1 billion higher, with a less impressive “Management” grade.

    It’s clear why the Source Selection Authority chose SpaceX (clear, perhaps, to everyone but Bezos). SpaceX had the higher rating in “Management” and “also had, by a wide margin, the lowest initially-proposed price.”

    Needless to say, Bezos’ strategy isn’t winning much admiration.

    Still others on Twitter were quick to reference an interview Bezos did, describing how quickly the original lunar lander project moved forward and the contract awarded to the winning company. Bezos even said in that interview: “Today there would be three protests and the losers would sue the federal government because they didn’t win…the thing that slows things down is procurement…it’s become the bigger bottleneck than the technology.”

    Well said Jeff Bezos, well said. Now go back to litigating your losing bid.

  • Houston, We Have a Problem: Boeing Starliner Goes Back to Factory

    Houston, We Have a Problem: Boeing Starliner Goes Back to Factory

    Boeing suffered another disappointment, as the company was forced to delay its Starliner launch, sending it back to the factory to resolve an issue.

    As private companies race to provide NASA services, as well as capitalize on the commercialization of space, Boeing has been developing a reusable capsule to ferry crew back and forth to the International Space Station (ISS). Unfortunately, Boeing’s project has been plagued with issues and delays.

    The latest issue involved four propulsion system valves that were not operating correctly, forcing the latest test to be scrubbed. Even afterward, the valves stayed closed.

    “Mission success in human spaceflight depends on thousands of factors coming together at the right time,” said John Vollmer, vice president and program manager, Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program. “We’ll continue to work the issue from the Starliner factory and have decided to stand down for this launch window to make way for other national priority missions.”

  • Hubble Is Back! NASA Fixes Telescope’s Computer

    Hubble Is Back! NASA Fixes Telescope’s Computer

    NASA has successfully fixed the Hubble Telescope’s payload computer, after it malfunctioned and stopped working over a month ago.

    After a month of trying to get Hubble up-and-running again, NASA was able to narrow the problem down to the Power Control Unit (PCU), responsible for maintaining the proper electrical voltage. Engineers began the process of switching to the backup PCU yesterday, and the operation was successful.

    The switch included bringing online the backup Power Control Unit (PCU) and the backup Command Unit/Science Data Formatter (CU/SDF) on the other side of the Science Instrument and Command & Data Handling (SI C&DH) unit. The PCU distributes power to the SI C&DH components, and the CU/SDF sends and formats commands and data. In addition, other pieces of hardware onboard Hubble were switched to their alternate interfaces to connect to this backup side of the SI C&DH. Once these steps were completed, the backup payload computer on this same unit was turned on and loaded with flight software and brought up to normal operations mode. 

    NASA says it will still take a day or more to bring the scientific equipment out of safe mode, and engineers are continuing to monitor the hardware to make sure everything continues operating properly. If everything goes well, it appears Hubble will be back in action, delivering more breathtaking photos of the cosmos.

  • NASA May Have Found the Problem With Hubble

    NASA May Have Found the Problem With Hubble

    NASA believes it has discovered the issue with Hubble, after the telescope has been in safe mode for over a month.

    The Hubble Telescope’s payload computer started malfunctioning in June. Despite various attempts to get it working properly, NASA has not had any success. NASA has gained enough understanding from the failed attempts to now have a clearer picture of what’s happening.

    NASA believes the problem is in the Power Control Unit (PCU). 

    It ensures a steady voltage supply to the payload computer’s hardware. The PCU contains a power regulator that provides a constant five volts of electricity to the payload computer and its memory. A secondary protection circuit senses the voltage levels leaving the power regulator. If the voltage falls below or exceeds allowable levels, this secondary circuit tells the payload computer that it should cease operations. The team’s analysis suggests that either the voltage level from the regulator is outside of acceptable levels (thereby tripping the secondary protection circuit), or the secondary protection circuit has degraded over time and is stuck in this inhibit state.

    Like much of the systems on Hubble, there is a backup PCU. NASA is now trying to switch to the backup, a process that was also done in 2008 and will take several days to complete.

  • Hubble Telescope Running in Safe Mode

    Hubble Telescope Running in Safe Mode

    After decades of peering into the cosmos, the Hubble Space Telescope is experiencing a major computer issue and is running in safe mode.

    On June 13, NASA detected a problem when Hubble’s computer halted. Attempts to restart it failed, with a degrading memory module identified as the problem. Further attempts to bring the memory module online also failed.

    NASA says the computer running Hubble’s instruments is a 1980s computer, with a full backup system as well. There are four memory modules that either computer can access, but attempts to have the primary computer switch to the backup modules failed.

    When the operations team attempted to switch to a back-up memory module, however, the command to initiate the backup module failed to complete. Another attempt was conducted on both modules Thursday evening to obtain more diagnostic information while again trying to bring those memory modules online. However, those attempts were not successful.

    It remains to be seen if NASA engineers will need to switch to the backup computer, but the longer the issue persists the more likely the switch will happen.

    It is fully redundant in that a second computer, along with its associated hardware, exists on orbit that can be switched over to in the event of a problem. Both computers can access and use any of four independent memory modules, which each contain 64K of Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) memory. The payload computer uses only one memory module operationally at a time, with the other three serving as backups.

    If engineers are not able to fix the problem remotely, NASA may need to send astronauts to the telescope to fix it.

  • NASA Working on Moon-Based Solar Power

    NASA Working on Moon-Based Solar Power

    NASA is working with commercial companies to ensure there is sustainable power on the moon to power any future bases.

    With renewed interest in space and colonization in the solar system, having reliable, sustainable power sources is a critical step. NASA is working with several companies to ensure they can meet any future power needs on the moon.

    Niki Werkheiser, director of technology maturation in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), told the Houston Chronicle how important the technology was to NASA’s efforts.

    “We are thrilled with the proposals received and even more excited to see the designs that result from the base effort,” Werkheiser said. “Having reliable power sources on the Moon is key to almost anything we do on the surface. By working with five different companies to design these prototype systems, we are effectively mitigating the risk that is inherent to developing such cutting-edge technologies.”

  • Scientists May Be Able to Create Oxygen on Mars

    Scientists May Be Able to Create Oxygen on Mars

    Scientists may have discovered a way to create oxygen on Mars, a crucial step toward long-term colonization.

    Interest in colonizing Mars has increased in recent years. Many, including Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, believe the human race needs the kind of insurance policy a second planetary home would provide. Especially as climate change has become a bigger threat, many believe it’s vital to colonize other planets. Musk has even said he’s confident SpaceX will send humans to Mars in roughly six years.

    One of the biggest challenges to long-term colonization, however, is oxygen generation. Without a native method to produce oxygen on Mars, any colonization efforts would be limited by the quantity of oxygen that could be brought on resupply missions.

    Scientists believe they have discovered a solution, however. NASA is currently working with MOXIE (Mars Oxygen in Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) to convert carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere to oxygen. MOXIE operates along the same principle as trees on Earth.

    According to CNN, however, scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have come up with a method they believe will compliment MOXIE and provide a second source of oxygen. The new method, proposed by Professor Vijay Ramani and his colleagues, uses salty water to generate oxygen.

    Despite its red desert appearance, Mars has quite a bit of ice. In addition, there appears to be a salty lake, along with a number of ponds, under the southern icecap.

    “The presence of the brine is fortuitous because it lowers freezing point of the water. You take the salty, brackish water and electrolyze that. Our process takes the water and splits it into hydrogen and oxygen,” Ramani said.

    While some NASA personnel are doubtful the process will work, due to the frost point on Mars, it appears there are no shortage of possibilities for generating oxygen on Mars. That’s one less hurdle to long-term colonization.

  • NASA Concerned About Planned Constellation of Broadband Satellites

    NASA Concerned About Planned Constellation of Broadband Satellites

    NASA has expressed concerns over a planned constellation of broadband satellites from AST & Science.

    AST & Science is a Texas-based company that plans to launch a constellation of satellites that will provide 4G and 5G broadband to cell phones. NASA, however, objects (PDF) to the company’s plans on two grounds.

    First, the constellation will orbit approximately 450 miles (720 km) above the Earth. This is directly in the orbital range of the A-Train, “a group of ten NASA, USGS, and international partner (CNES, JAXA) missions that have a mean altitude of 705 km but have osculating altitudes between 690 and 740 km.”

    The second issue is the size of AST’s satellites. Because the satellites will have massive antennas on them, each one will take up a 30 meter radius, as much as 10 times the size of an A-Train satellite. This would result in substantial course corrections and mitigations.

    “Based on the results of a NASA CARA simulation tool, the number of mitigation actions required for a 30m hardbody radius (HBR) object in this orbit regime increases from ~2 to 6 per year—almost a tripling of what is observed presently,” writes NASA representative Samantha Fonder. “Second, the frequency of mitigation actions and associated planning efforts is of course multiplied by the number of spacecraft: for the completed constellation of 243 satellites, one can expect 1500 mitigation actions per year and perhaps 15,000 planning activities; this would equate to four maneuvers and forty active planning activities on any given day.”

    Accounting for these course corrections would require an entirely new, automated communication system between the different satellites. Since many of the existing satellites are older models, the upgrades would be challenging and costly.

    In contrast, SpaceX’s Starlink constellation orbits at roughly 340 miles (550 km), putting it well below the range of the A-Train.

    This is not the first time concerns have been raised about the proliferation of commercial satellites. Astronomers have been voicing concern for some time over the impact these constellations will have on astronomy.

  • NASA Taps Nokia to Build Moon’s First 4G Network

    NASA Taps Nokia to Build Moon’s First 4G Network

    Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia may be fighting for network dominance on Earth, but in outer space Nokia is the clear winner.

    The Finnish company has announced a deal with NASA to provide the first 4G network on the moon. Communication on the moon is becoming an important issue as interest in lunar colonization grows. Many see colonizing the Moon as the first step toward colonizing Mars and other planets.

    “Leveraging our rich and successful history in space technologies, from pioneering satellite communication to discovering the cosmic microwave background radiation produced by the Big Bang, we are now building the first ever cellular communications network on the Moon,” said Marcus Weldon, Chief Technology Officer at Nokia and Nokia Bell Labs President. “Reliable, resilient and high-capacity communications networks will be key to supporting sustainable human presence on the lunar surface. By building the first high performance wireless network solution on the Moon, Nokia Bell Labs is once again planting the flag for pioneering innovation beyond the conventional limits.”

    Space exploration is increasingly big business, with transportation companies, cloud providers and now telecommunication companies all getting onboard. Providing the first lunar cellphone network is a big win for Nokia.

  • NASA: America’s Space Agenda Is Really On Fire

    NASA: America’s Space Agenda Is Really On Fire

    “America’s space economy and America’s space agenda is really on fire right now,” says NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “That’s in large part because of President Trump and in fact bipartisan support in the House and Senate. What we are doing is inspiring the nation for American greatness to go out decades into the future. It really is starting right now with America’s and President Trump’s Moon to Mars program. Without him, this would not be happening.”

    NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine

    Jim Bridenstine, Administrator of NASA, discusses the NASA Economic Impact Report that was released today and says that under Trump America’s space agenda is on fire:

    America’s Space Agenda Is Really On Fire

    Today’s NASA Economic Impact Report is about direct economic output. What’s not in the report are all of the advancements that come from NASA that get commercialized over decades. For example, satellites and internet broadband. Then from there, we think about not just communications but navigation, how we produce food, and how we produce energy. Also, how we predict the weather, how we do disaster relief, and national security.

    President Trump is as focused as any president in history on America’s space agenda. That’s not just exploration. It’s also national security and defense. I used to say, President Trump is more supportive of space than any president since John F. Kennedy. But I will also tell you, John F. Kennedy didn’t create the Space Force. America’s space economy and America’s space agenda is really on fire right now. That’s in large part because of President Trump and in fact bipartisan support in the House and Senate.

    Economic Impact Of Artemis: 120,000 Jobs by 2021

    The economic impact of the Artemis Program alone is over 60,000 jobs in 2019. The agenda to get to the Moon is ramping up right now. By 2021, those numbers are going to double. These are not low paying jobs. These are high tech jobs employing highly qualified people. These are the kind of things that also inspire the next generation to go into the STEM fields to make sure that America remains preeminent in technology.

    If you just walk around NASA today and ask people why they work at the agency, they will tell you about how inspired they were when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon. Then we did five Moon missions after that. What we are doing is inspiring the nation for American greatness to go out decades into the future. It really is starting right now with America’s and President Trump’s Moon to Mars program. Without him, this would not be happening.

  • NASA Releases Economic Impact Study

    NASA Releases Economic Impact Study

    NASA released its first-ever Economic Impact Study today.  Combining all NASA activities, the agency generated more than $64.3 billion in total economic output during fiscal year 2019, supported more than 312,000 jobs nationwide, and generated an estimated $7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes throughout the United States. A summary of the study is also available.

    An ongoing concern among some politicians has been that spending on space is a waste of money when the money could be used to increase social welfare spending or other government programs. What this report proves is that NASA is actually a generator of jobs and wealth while simultaneously improving the world’s standard of living.

    “In this new era of human spaceflight, NASA is contributing to economies locally and nationally, fueling growth in industries that will define the future, and supporting tens of thousands of new jobs in America,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “With an investment of just one-half of 1% of the federal budget, NASA generates significant total economic output annually. This study confirms, and puts numbers, to what we have long understood – that taxpayer investment in America’s space program yields tremendous returns that strengthen our nation on several fronts – a stronger economy, advances in science and technology, and improvements to humanity.”

    NASA Employment Impacts By State

    Additional key findings of the study include:

    • Every state in the country benefits economically through NASA activities. Forty-three states have an economic impact of more than $10 million. Of those 43 states, eight have an economic impact of $1 billion or more.
    • The agency’s Moon to Mars initiative, which includes the Artemis program, supports more than 69,000 jobs, $14 billion in economic output, and $1.5 billion in tax revenue. The agency’s Moon to Mars programs provided about 22 percent of NASA’s economic impact. These figures are expected to double in 2021.
    • NASA has more than 700 active international agreements for various scientific research and technology development activities in FY2019. The International Space Station is a significant representative of international partnerships – representing 15 nations and five space agencies and has been operating for 20 years. 
    • NASA spinoff technologies provide an impact on American lives beyond dollars and jobs. The agency has recorded more than 2,000 spinoffs since 1976. For example, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed, in just 37 days, a ventilator specifically for coronavirus patients and, after securing an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, made the design available to select manufacturers at no cost.
    • Scientific research and development – which fuels advancements in science and technology that can help improve daily life on Earth and for humanity – enjoys the largest single-sector impact, accounting for 16% of the overall economic impact of NASA’s Moon to Mars program.
  • IBM Launches COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium to Aid Researchers

    IBM Launches COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium to Aid Researchers

    IBM has announced the launch of a consortium to provide coronavirus researchers with the super computing power they need.

    As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the globe, researchers are desperately trying to develop vaccinations and medication to help slow the spread. A big part of that research involves using supercomputers to analyze the data and perform calculations and experiments that would take months with traditional computing resources.

    “Now, in collaboration with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Department of Energy and many others, IBM is helping launch the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium, which will bring forth an unprecedented amount of computing power—16 systems with more than 330 petaflops, 775,000 CPU cores, 34,000 GPUs, and counting — to help researchers everywhere better understand COVID-19, its treatments and potential cures,” writes Dario Gil, Director of IBM Research.

    “How can supercomputers help us fight this virus? These high-performance computing systems allow researchers to run very large numbers of calculations in epidemiology, bioinformatics, and molecular modeling. These experiments would take years to complete if worked by hand, or months if handled on slower, traditional computing platforms.”

    The consortium includes “IBM, Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL), Argonne National Lab (ANL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Sandia National Laboratory (SNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and multiple leading technology companies.”

    According to Gil, IBM and the consortium will begin evaluating proposals from around the world to best allocate the computing resources to those researchers who can use it the most.

    This is another example of tech companies using their vast resources to help researchers in the fight against the pandemic, and IBM is to be commended for its role.

  • Space Lettuce Is As Good As Earth Lettuce

    Space Lettuce Is As Good As Earth Lettuce

    Good news for the U.S. Space Force: Personnel will still be able to get a healthy helping of veggies, as space lettuce is as nutritious as Earth lettuce.

    According to New Scientist, researchers tested three batches of red lettuce grown on the International Space Station (ISS). The lettuce was grown between 2014 and 2016, and was compared to batches grown on Earth under comparable environmental conditions.

    There were more microorganisms on the space lettuce than the Earth lettuce, although this was not unexpected. “Astronauts have their own microflora and then there are just things that live in the environment of a space station,” said Gioia Massa, one of the researchers.

    The nutritional value of the space lettuce was very similar to Earth lettuce, according to Massa. “We were a little surprised by these results as we thought the nutrient levels in the plants may accumulate differently while in flight.”

    The researchers are now trying additional vegetables, such as cabbage and kale. The findings should be a boon for the burgeoning space industry, and especially for long-term space travel, as it opens the possibility of producing space-grown nutritious food.

  • NASA & AWS Partner To Use AI To Protect Life On Earth

    NASA & AWS Partner To Use AI To Protect Life On Earth

    NASA and AWS are working together to use artificial intelligence to protect Earth from solar superstorms, according to an Amazon blog post.

    As the world becomes ever more wired, solar coronal mass ejections (CME) represent a significant threat to countries around the globe. One such event occurred in March 1989, affecting the U.S. and Canada.

    According to Amazon, “the Hydro-Quebec electric grid collapsed within 90 seconds. A strong electric current surged through the surface bedrock making all intervention impossible. Over 6 million people were left without power for nine hours. At the same time, over in the United States, 200 instances of power grid malfunctions were reported. More worryingly, the step-up transformer at the New Jersey Salem Nuclear Power Plant failed and was put out of commission.”

    Given how much more digital the world is now, a CME like the ‘89 one could wreak havoc on power grids, satellites, wireless communication and much more. As a result, NASA is continually looking for ways to detect and warn of CMEs as early as possible, to give grid and satellite operators time to take protective measures. This is where AWS and Amazon’s experience with machine learning come into play.

    “NASA is working with AWS Professional Services and the Amazon Machine Learning (ML) Solutions Lab to use unsupervised learning and anomaly detection to explore the extreme conditions associated with superstorms,” writes Arun Krishnan, editor of the Amazon Science website. “The Amazon ML Solutions Lab is a program that enables AWS customers to connect with machine learning experts within Amazon.

    “With the power and speed of AWS, analyses to predict superstorms can be carried out by sifting through as many as 1,000 data sets at a time. NASA’s approach relies on classifying superstorms based on anomalies, rather than relying on an arbitrary range of magnetic indices. More specifically, NASA’s anomaly detection relies on simultaneous observations of solar wind drivers and responses in the magnetic fields around earth.”

    By analyzing anomalies, it gives NASA the ability to better understand what causes a solar superstorm and predict when one will occur.

    “To improve forecasting models, scientists can examine the anomalies and create simulations of what it would take to reproduce the superstorms we see today,” the blog continues. “They can amplify these simulations to replicate the most extreme cases in historical records, enabling model development to highlight subtle precursors to major space weather events.”

    NASA and Amazon are providing another excellent example of the transformative effect artificial intelligence and machine learning will continue to have on day-to-day life.