Are We There Yet?

OSIRIS-REx is zooming towards the asteroid Bennu. It’s on a mission to collect a sample of asteroid “dirt” and send it back to Earth. Scientists hope to uncover the building blocks of life in the solar system. The spacecraft launched last summer, so what’s it up to these days?

The mission’s principle investigator Dante Lauretta joins the podcast to update us on the mission so far, tell us what’s ahead this summer for OSIRIS-REx and explains how social media and board games are building interest for planetary science.

 

Nicole Stott calls herself the Artistic Astronaut — and for good reason. She’s the first person to paint in space.

Stott was in the NASA astronaut corp and flew in space for over 100 days, flying on shuttle and spending time on the International Space Station. She took a small watercolor set up to the station with her to keep busy during downtime

Back here on Earth, Nicole uses art to inspire the next generation of scientists and space explorers using it as a springboard to talk about all the cool tech in space and what’s ahead for space exploration. She even joined the Space Suit Art Project, a collaboration with kids battling cancer to create a flight suit made with their art. Stott says it helps them think about something other than their treatment, and helps them realize they’re part of something much bigger, something out of this world.

So who inspired Nicole Stott? Click play on the player above to find out.

When the first Martians arrive on the red planet, not much awaits them. There’s no food, no breathable air, no fuel. All they’ll have is what they brought with them — not much. That’s why researchers and engineers are developing the technology that will take what’s on Mars and turn it into much needed food, water and life-saving oxygen.

Listen back to WMFE’s Speak Series “How To Survive on Mars” with a panel of experts researching the tech that goes into making vital resources on a mission to Mars. Recorded in front of a live audience May 10, 2017 at the studios of WMFE in Orlando, Florida. 

Panelists: 

Nicole Dufour, NASA, Project Manager, VEGGIE

Dufour oversees the VEGGIE experiment, a garden of vegetables on the International Space Station. Astronauts are growing lettuce and cabbage thanks to Dufour and her team, and they’re learning vital lessons in plant growth in microgravity.

Annie Meier, NASA, Chemical Engineer, Exploration Research & Technology Programs

Meier is transforming trash into vital gases like methane, oxygen and water. Her trash-to-gas technology can be used to recycle dinner scraps, wrappers and packaging (and even poo!) into gases that can be used for life support on long duration missions. Meier tested the tech on NASA’s HI-SEAS mission, a simulated 6-month stay on a Martian base-camp.

Dan Batcheldor, Florida Institute of Technology, Department Head, Physics & Space Science

The physics department at FIT is working with NASA to develop dirt that is similar to Martian regolith. The goal is to figure out how to grow crops at a Martian base camp. Researchers at FIT are also trying to grow plants in the Mars-simulant. Batcheldor is an advocate for science literacy, and wrote the book “Astronomy Saves the World: Securing our Future Through Exploration and Education.”

SpaceX successful launched and landed a “flight proven” rocket booster, the second time this particular booster has seen action and making space flight history.

It’s an important step in the company’s effort to utilize rocket re-usability to lower the cost of access to space. Long term, however, it’s an imperative skill necessary to colonize Mars as outlined by SpaceX’s founder Elon Musk.

On an episode earlier this month, we spoke with NASASpaceflight.com’s assistant managing editor Chris Gebhardt about what this means for Musk’s Mars plans.

But just what goes into the engineering feat of landing a 180 foot tall booster that’s rocketing through the sky? How does SpaceX guide the booster back to land or the barge? And what keeps aerodynamic and thermal forces from ripping apart the thin-skinned booster? Fellow space podcaster Anthony Collangelo, host of the “Main Engine Cut Off” podcast joins us to talk about just what goes into bringing the booster safely back to earth.

A few months ago, NASA asked the internet for ideas on how to deal with poop and pee inside a flight suit. You see, astronauts need to wear a spacesuit during launch and when the return back to earth. It’s kinda like it’s own little spacecraft — pressurized and with it’s own life support system. That’s in case anything goes wrong during launch or landing. Since we’ve only been working in low-earth orbit, urine and feces hasn’t really been a big deal. Astronauts are in the suit for only a few hours. For number 1, they wear a diaper. For number 2, they just hold it.

But as we look to farther destinations, like the moon or mars, if something goes wrong they could be in those suits for a long time — up to 6 days. Can’t hold it that long! NASA asked for ideas to remove urine and feces from the body, and clean up any waste that might stick.

Thatcher Cardon is an Air Force Flight Surgeon and Family Physician. He was one of the winners of the competition, taking home the first place nod. His idea was an inflatable bedpan that removes the waste and a laparoscopic wand that could be used to clean up any mess left behind.

SpaceX’s ability to launch, land and recycle a rocket could lower the cost of access to space, and pave the way for founder Elon Musk’s to reach his ambitious goal of colonizing the red planet.

“This was really the first time that whole, complete rocket of a liquid fuel booster was reused, and that was huge,” said NASASpaceflight.com’s assistant managing editor Chris Gebhardt.

SpaceX re-launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center that previously sent cargo to the International Space Station last year. SpaceX wants to speed up that process. “What they really want is what they call single digits turnaround – which means being able to launch one of its boosters, get it back and re-fly it within a single day,” said Gebhardt.

Last year, Elon Musk unveiled plans to colonize Mars, which included huge spacecraft that could carry hundreds of passengers to Mars, and rockets that refueled in space. “Reusability is perhaps the most crucial part of the plan to get folks to Mars,” Gebhardt said. “It’s only economical feasible if you can use [the rocket] thousands of times. The Mars system is being designed for up to one-thousand reuses.”

Gebhardt said this launch from Kennedy Space Center is one for the history books. “I think what we watched was humanity really becoming a spacefaring civilization, not just a civilization who can get there.”

 

The 48th Lunar and Planetary Science conference wrapped up last week in The Woodlands, Texas. The annual meeting connected specialists from all sorts of Earth and planetary fields like geology, astronomy and geochemistry to talk about what’s ahead for science exploration.

Future Mars missions was high on the priority list, and Jake Robins was there to report on the latest news on the red planet. Jake is the host and producer of the WeMartians podcast, a show dedicated to engaging the public on the exploration of Mars in a fun, simple, educational and inspiring way.

Jake says NASA’s Jim Green teased the idea of using CubeSats to explore Mars as secondary payloads. Green also weighed in on recent budget talks and the political struggle to fund Earth sciences.

 

Bruce Melnick has been to space twice. Once on Space Shuttle Discovery and again on Endeavor’s’ first flight. Now, he spends his days talking to folks at the Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor complex about his time as an astronaut and what it’s like to live and work in space. He joined the program to talk about what it’s like waiting for liftoff, the smells of space travel, and how you navigate your behind when going to the restroom in space….

Brian Anderson has a tough job. He has to make a 20,000 pound spacecraft traveling at 300 miles per hour slow down and safely splash down in the ocean.

Brian is the Orion Parachute Deputy Project Manager and engineers the parachutes that deploy during the last portion of NASA’s Orion Mission to safely return the crew from deep space.

His team recently completed a drop test of Orion and the chutes, dumping an Orion capsule mock-up from a C-17 over the Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizon. It’s one of a handful of tests pushing the Orion chute system to the limits ahead of the next Orion mission, EM-1.

Brian Anderson joins the podcast from NASA’s Johnson Space Center to talk about the engineering behind parachutes, what’s left to learn, and what it’s like being responsible for the safe return of deep-space astronauts.

Elon Musk wants to go to the moon. Well, two private customers want Elon to send them to the moon.

The founder of SpaceX says he can do it by the end of 2018. The trip would be a free-return trip around the moon with SpaceX’s Dragon capsule which s being developed to take astronauts to the International Space Station now.

The announcement comes on the heels of NASA’s saying it’s looking into putting a crew on Exploration Mission – 1. That one’s on the books now as an uncrewed mission on the Orion Spacecraft launched on the Space Launch System, but program managers are exploring the option of putting astronauts on that mission which is pretty similar to the SpaceX plan and roughly around the same time.

So is the SpaceX plan do-able? Will NASA crew EM-1? And what’s with the timing of Elon’s announcement? Is a space race brewing?

Phil Larson joins the podcast. Phil was an adviser on space policy to the Obama Administration and also worked for SpaceX. Now, he’s an Assistant Dean at the University of Colorado Boulder.