March / April 2014
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MARCH / APRIL 2014 THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUTICAL SOCIETY ISSUE 2–VOLUME 53 SPACE TIMES • November/December 2013 1 AAS OFFICERS PRESIDENT Lyn D. Wigbels, RWI International Consulting Services MARCH / APRIL 2014 EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT J. Walter Faulconer, Strategic Space Solutions, LLC VICE PRESIDENT–TECHNICAL ISSUE 2–VOLUME 53 David B. Spencer, The Pennsylvania State University VICE PRESIDENT–PROGRAMS Harley A. Thronson VICE PRESIDENT–PUBLICATIONS Richard D. Burns VICE PRESIDENT–STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUTICAL SOCIETY AND OUTREACH Mary Lynne Dittmar, Dittmar Associates, Inc. VICE PRESIDENT–MEMBERSHIP Larry Richardson, United Launch Alliance PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE VICE PRESIDENT–EDUCATION 2014 Off to an Exciting Start! 3 Lance Bush, Challenger Center for Space Science Education FEATURE VICE PRESIDENT–FINANCE The Penn State Lunar Lion Mission: University-led and privately-funded Paul Eckert, Federal Aviation Administration lunar pursuit 4 VICE PRESIDENT–INTERNATIONAL Penn State is pursuing the first privately funded mission to the surface of the Moon. Susan J. Irwin, Irwin Communications, Inc. VICE PRESIDENT–PUBLIC POLICY by Michael Paul Edward Goldstein, Aerospace Industries Association Project Apollo, NASA, and Technological Versimilitude 7 LEGAL COUNSEL The success of Project Apollo in the 1960s helped to create a culture of competence for Franceska O. Schroeder, Fish & Richardson P.C. NASA that translated into a level of confidence in American capability. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR James R. Kirkpatrick, American Astronautical Society by Roger D. Launius Team Project KOASTAL: Strategies for improving clean water access in Kenya 10 AAS BOARD OF DIRECTORS During Summer 2013, thirty professionals from twelve nations gathered together in TERM EXPIRES 2014 Strasbourg, France for ISU’s Space Studies Program (SSP) and performed a nine-week Peter M. Bainum, Howard University Robert H. Bishop, Marquette University academic study on water management in Kenya. Mark K. Craig, SAIC by Charlotte Kiang, Valentina Boccia, and Erika Kupper Laura Delgado López, Secure World Foundation J.R. Edwards, Lockheed Martin AAS TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES – 2014 15 Zigmond V. Leszczynski, VCSFA/MARS by David B. Spencer Patrick McKenzie, RUAG Aerospace USA Inc. Suneel Sheikh, ASTER Labs, Inc. BOOK REVIEW Patricia Grace Smith, Patti Grace Smith Consulting Gregg Vane, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Beyond the God Particle 16 Reviewed by Roger D. Launius TERM EXPIRES 2015 A. William Beckman, The Boeing Company 3RD ANNUAL ISS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE 17 Vincent C. Boles, The Aerospace Corporation Sandy Coleman, ATK NEW AAS BOARD MEMBERS 18 David A. King, Dynetics, Inc. Carol S. Lane, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. AAS ANNUAL AWARDS AND FELLOWS 19 Kim Luu, Air Force Research Laboratory Ian W. Pryke 2014 ROBERT H. GODDARD MEMORIAL SYMPOSIUM 20 Frank A. Slazer, Aerospace Industries Association NEW CORPORATE MEMBER 22 Marcia S. Smith, Space and Technology Policy Group, LLC TERM EXPIRES 2016 UPCOMING EVENTS 23 Stephanie Bednarek Orton, SpaceX Ronald J. Birk, Northrop Grumman Thomas F. Burns, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ON THE COVER Peggy Finarelli, George Mason University/CAPR FRONT: In celebration of the 24th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers Rob Fulton, Orbital Sciences Corporation have captured infrared-light images of a churning region of star birth 6,400 light-years away. This colorful Hubble Rebecca L. Griffin, Rebecca Griffin Space Space Telescope mosaic of a small portion of the Monkey Head Nebula unveils a collection of carved knots of gas Hal E. Hagemeier Molly Kenna Macauley, Resources for the Future and dust silhouetted against glowing gas. The cloud is sculpted by ultraviolet light eating into the cool hydrogen Kathy J. Nado gas. (Source: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)) John Olson, Sierra Nevada Corporation BACK: April 18, 2014 - The Dragon spacecraft separates from the upper stage of the Falcon rocket minutes after liftoff. The enhanced Dragon includes additional powered cargo locations and double cold bags, avionics water- SPACE TIMES EDITORIAL STAFF proofing for post splashdown survivability, enhanced cargo racks for down mass return and cameras and lights in EDITOR, Diane L. Thompson the unpressurized section. (Source: NASA Television) PHOTO AND GRAPHICS EDITOR, Diane L. Thompson PRODUCTION MANAGER, Diane L. Thompson Follow AAS on: SPACE TIMES is published bimonthly by the American Astronautical Society, a professional non-profit society. SPACE TIMES is free to members of the AAS. Individual subscriptions may be ordered from the AAS Business Office. © Copyright 2014 by the American Astronautical Society, Inc. Printed in the United States of America. www.facebook.com/AmericanAstronauticalSociety ISSN 1933-2793. PERIODICALS www.twitter.com/astrosociety SPACE TIMES, magazine of the AAS, bimonthly, volume 53, 2014—$80 domestic, $95 foreign (To order, contact the AAS at 703-866-0020.) The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, quarterly, print and online (To order, contact Springer at 1-800-777-4643.) www.youtube.com/user/astrosociety 6352 Rolling Mill Place, Suite 102 REPRINTS Springfield, VA 22152-2370 USA Reprints are available for all articles in SPACE TIMES and all papers Tel: 703-866-0020 ♦ Fax: 703-866-3526 published in The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences. [email protected] ♦ www.astronautical.org www.slideshare.net/astrosociety 2 SPACE TIMES • March/April 2014 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 2014 Off to an Exciting Start! “Science and Exploration: Engineering the Future” was the theme of the 52nd Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium held March 5 and 6 in Greenbelt, Maryland. As NASA Administrator Bolden said in his keynote, “This year’s symposium couldn’t be more timely.” The Administration’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request was released just the previous day, and Administrator Bolden called it “a strong vote of support for what we do.” It was a wonderful opportunity for Symposium attendees to quickly hear about the major features of the budget request directly from the NASA Administrator and have the opportunity to ask questions about its prospects and implications. Following his speech, we were very pleased to present Administrator Bolden the Space Flight Award, our Society’s highest honor given annually to the person whose outstanding efforts and achievement have contributed most significantly to the advancement of space flight and space exploration. NASA Associate Administrators John Grunsfeld, Bill Gerstenmaier, Jaiwon Shin, and Mike Gazarik provided Symposium attendees a detailed look into their portions of the budget request, followed by a good exchange with the audience. Symposium attendees also heard from NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan and Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides, guest speak- ers at our honors and awards luncheons where we presented several other AAS awards and recognized ten new Fellows of the Society (awardees and new Fellows are featured in this issue of Space Times). Other highlights of the Symposium included presentations and lively discussions on space science activities and the future of human exploration involving senior government and private sector representatives. We have heard from several attendees that this was the best Goddard Symposium program AAS has ever put together. Many thanks to the Symposium Planning Committee, led by Harley Thronson, AAS Vice President for Programs, and AAS Executive Director Jim Kirkpatrick for their outstanding efforts that made this Symposium a complete success! During the Symposium, Ken Washington, Vice President, Advanced Technology Center, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, gave a 60th Anniversary Salute to AAS highlighting its accomplishments and contributions to the space enterprise and profession. During his remarks, he announced that the company has given our Society a special gift of $50,000 to mark the occasion. We are honored and grateful for Lockheed Martin’s confidence in and generous support of AAS! Our technical activities have also gotten off to a great start! The 24th AAS/AIAA Space Suszann Parry, Executive Secretary, The British Flight Mechanics Meeting and 37th AAS Rocky Mountain Guidance and Control Confer- Interplanetary Society, and Lyn Wigbels signing and ence were held in the first two months of 2014. Both events were very well attended, and confirming the publication cooperation agreement it is wonderful to see the large number of student attendees! Other technical activities are (Source: Claire Graham, Communications Manager, being planned in 2014, including the AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialists Conference IAF Secretariat) in San Diego this August. Details on these activities are provided in this issue by AAS Vice President Technical David Spencer. During the IAF Spring Meetings in Paris, I was very pleased to sign an agreement with the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) which grants AAS access to published articles from BIS’s Spaceflight publication and BIS access to published articles from Space Times. Through this cooperation, we will be able to bring you an expanded range of articles published on space activities. It will also expose more space professionals to AAS published authors. AAS is busy planning our next big event in 2014 – the 3rd Annual International Space Station Research and Development Conference that will be held June 17 to 19 in Chicago. The theme is “Discoveries, Applications and Opportunities” and will