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Astronautics (general) 2007 : A Space Policy This is the 7th report of the House of Commons Technical Committee, session 2006-07, published in July 2007. It reports on an inquiry into the UK space sector which highlights some weaknesses, but acknowledges its enthusiasm for discovery, research and experimentation. It recommends that the Government increase its funding for space programmes now, due to the long lead-in time involved. It suggests that there are opportunities for the UK to lead developments in areas such as exploration, satellite navigation and Earth observation. The report is available in full text, in PDF and HTML format. A Risk Reduction Strategy for Human Exploration of Space: A Review of NASA's Bioastronautics Roadmap The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Bioastronautics Roadmap (BR) is “the framework used to identify and assess the risks of crew exposure to the hazardous environments of space.” The BR was created to facilitate and support the successful accomplishment of the three Design Reference Missions. The contents of the document are the identified risks, the research and technology questions associated with these risks, and the desired outcomes. This is an executive summary of the book published on 2006 by David Longnecker and Ricardo Molins, Committee on Review of NASA's Bioastronautics Roadmap, National Research Council, and is available free in PDF format. The committee identified both overarching and specific issues in need of attention in the BR content. Overarching issues involve the impact of various time factors on risk, the interactions among risks, and the need to create two new cross-cutting categories of risk: “Human Systems Integration” and “Food and Nutrition.” Specific issues include the need to (1) validate current and future crew selection criteria;(2) group behavioral health risks into categories based on clinical outcomes and address issues of human sexuality in long-duration missions; (3) use actuarial data to estimate the likelihood of intrinsic health alterations as part of the selection criteria for the Mars mission crew; and (4) quantitatively evaluate mental and physical health risks affecting crew health and mission success. A Strategy for Research in Space Biology and Medicine into the Next Century This is a full text book available from National Academies Press and produced by Committee on Space Biology and Medicine, National Research Council in the year 1998. This book addresses two major aspects connected with the construction of international space station. These include the use of low gravity as an experimental parameter to study fundamental biological processes and the study of the serious physiological changes that occur in astronauts as they remain in space for increasingly longer missions. The book provides a comprehensive review of ground-based and space research in eleven disciplines, ranging from bone physiology to plant biology. It also offers detailed, prioritized recommendations for research during the next decade, which are expected to have a considerable impact on the direction of NASA's research program. The volume is also a valuable reference tool for space and life scientists. The text is available in open book PDF form. ACRIMSAT : Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor Satellite The ACRIMSAT Mission was aimed at measuring Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) during its five-year mission life. The spacecraft was launched on December 20, 1999 as a secondary payload on a Taurus launch vehicle. The mission was funded by NASA through the Earth Science Programs Office at Goddard Space Flight Center. The main objective of the mission is to measure incoming solar radiation and adding measurements of ocean and atmosphere currents and temperatures, as well as surface temperatures, climatologists would be to improve their predictions of climate and global warming over the next century. This website provides an overview of the mission, description of its science goals and objectives, key publications and links to related educational sources. Acronym Finder This is a searchable database of over 1,000,000 acronyms and their meanings, with a focus on the subjects of computers, technology, telecommunications, and the military. More than 100 new acronyms are added each day so this is a rapidly expanding resource. AD ASTRA This is the National Space Society's membership journal. It contains the details of future NASA, Department of Defense and commercial space projects and provides an overview of the developments in space technology internationally. Recent space issues, policy and news on current projects are also provided. Only the current issue is accessible in full text but articles from previous editions are also featured. Advanced Materials and Processes for Large, Lightweight, Space-Based Mirrors This article is written by Lawrence E. Matson and David H. Mollenhauer of Air Force Research Laboratory and was published in Amptiac Quarterly magazine in 2004 (Volume 8, Number 1).This article introduces some of the issues surrounding the materials and the processes traditionally used to fabricate mirrors for space applications, and also covers the evolution from conventional materials and processes to newer concepts for use in space-based mirrors. Selected materials and processes approaches are detailed as well. The full text of the article can be accessed as PDF document. AEA Technology AEA Technology focuses on five key areas: technology-based products, specialised science, environmental management, improving the efficiency of industrial plant, and risk assessment and safety management. The site describes the capabilities, products and services of the company. There is a site search facility and a products and services catalogue which can be searched and browsed. The 'investor relations' area provides annual reports and account information from 1997 in PDF format. Up-to-date company news is available. Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board This is the home page of the US Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB). It is part of the National Research Council, which itself is the primary agency of the National Academies. ASEB performs studies in aeronautics and space engineering and policy for the federal government. The site links to a growing collection of full text reports and text books available in HTML format, provides a short history of itself, information about ongoing committees and links to related Web pages. AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe The AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe, ASD, represents the aeronautics, space, defence and security industries in Europe in all matters of common interest with the objective of promoting and supporting the competitive development of the sector. It was formed in 2004 from a merger of the AECMA (European Association of Aerospace Industries), EDIG (European Defence Industries Group) and EUROSPACE. ASD has 28 member associations in 20 countries across Europe and represents over 2000 companies with a further 80 000 suppliers, many of which are SMEs. The industry sectors employ around 696.000 people, with a turnover of over € 154 billion. The website has a members area but also provides access to ASD publications, such as Key Priorities, ASD Focus, Industry Figures, information of co-operation projects, news and events and the ASD weekly bulletin. Aerospaceweb This site was created and is maintained by a group of aerospace engineers and enthusiasts. It provides information on a range of fields - including aircraft and spacecraft design in the form of a series of detailed articles relating to the development of aerospace technologies. The 'aircraft museum' is a virtual museum giving data on a pictures of a wide variety of military and civil aircraft from around the world. Facilities for computing aerodynamic and atmospheric properties are also available. AIAA Meetings Papers Searchable Citation Database The AIAA Meetings Papers Searchable Citation Database, updated quarterly, contains author, title, paper number, and conference date and location information for papers presented at AIAA meetings from 1996 to today. The database offers a number of search options including: paper title or title keyword; author name or affiliation; AIAA paper number; year of paper's presentation; database accession number; conference name keyword, and, complete conference title. A number of sort options can be used to display records. Copies of AIAA papers can be ordered online as a charged service. AIM : Exploring Clouds at the Edge of Space
The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellite mission is exploring Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMCs), also called noctilucent clouds, to find out why they form and why they are changing. America's Future in Space : Aligning the Civil Space Program with National Needs This provides access to a national Academies Press publication dated 2009. As civil space policies and programs have evolved, the geopolitical environment has changed dramatically. Although the U.S. space program was originally driven in large part by competition with the Soviet Union, the nation now finds itself in a post-Cold War world in which many nations have established, or are aspiring to develop, independent space capabilities. Furthermore discoveries from developments in the first 50 years of the space age have led to an explosion of scientific and engineering knowledge and practical applications of space technology. The private sector has also been developing, fielding, and expanding the commercial use of space-based technology and systems. Recognizing the new national and international context for space activities, America's Future in Space is meant to advise the nation on key goals and critical issues in 21st century U.S. civil space policy. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat softwareis requiredin order to read it. American Astronautical Society Formed in 1954, the American Astronautical Society (AAS) is an independent scientific and technical group involved in the advancement of space science and exploration in the United States. It aims to act as a means of informing the space community and the public about research and theories that will advance the astronautical sciences and space technology. The site provides mainly descriptive details of AAS activities, including membership, professional meetings, and publications. Table of Contents information is provided for the Journal of the Astronautical Sciences and selected articles are accessible from the current issue of Space Times, the Society magazine. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Home Page The AIAA is a US-based organisation and is a professional society with the aim of progressing engineering and science within aviation, space and defence. This large site provides background information about the AIAA, a calendar of events, information on professional development courses and full text journal articles and technical meeting papers (for subscribers only). In addition there is a searchable database of meeting papers which is available free of charge, details of membership benefits and activities, and educational programmes. The site is searchable. An Assessment of Space Shuttle Flight Software Development Processes This is a full text book available from National Academies Press and produced by Committee for Review of Oversight Mechanisms for Space Shuttle Flight Software Processes, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, National Research Council in 1993. The book evaluates the safety, oversight, and management functions that are implemented currently in the Space Shuttle program to ensure that the software is of the highest quality possible. Numerous recommendations are made regarding safety and management procedures, and a rationale is offered for continuing the Independent Verification and Validation effort that was instituted after the Challenger Accident. The text is available in open book PDF form. Apollo by the Numbers : a Statistical Reference Written by Richard W. Orloff of the NASA History Division, this full text report is available in HTML format. It is an update of NASA publication 2000-4029, and incorporates comments, suggestions and corrections received by the author since its original publication. This version contains the complete text, tables and updated information, but lacks many of the images included in the printed copy. The report presents statistical information about each of the Apollo flights that was not previously easily accessible. Information provided includes: crew information, launch vehicle/spacecraft key facts, launch vehicle propellant usage, ground ignition weights, ascent data and lunar surface experiments. AQUA The Aqua mission is a part of the NASA-centered international Earth Observing System (EOS). Aqua was launched on May 4, 2002, and has six Earth-observing instruments on board, collecting a variety of global data sets. Aqua was the first member launched of a group of satellites termed the Afternoon Constellation, or sometimes the A-Train. The mission is focused on the multi-disciplinary study of Earth's interrelated processes (atmosphere, oceans, and land surface) and their relationship to changes in the Earth system. This website provides the details of Aqua mission including its objectives; description of scientific instruments; news updates; and references. Aquarius Aquarius is a collaborative mission of NASA and the Argentine space program CONAE. In all, over 17 universities and corporate and international partners will be involved in this mission. The mission aims to observe and model the processes that relate salinity variations to climatic changes in the global cycling of water and to understand how these variations influence the general ocean circulation. Scheduled to be launched in late 2010, Aquarius will begin its 3-year mission with on a Delta II rocket, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This mission website provides background and overview of the mission; its objectives; description of payload; educational links; reference publications; and image gallery. ASD Industry Figures 2006 This is an AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) publication. This document provides a short overview of the key figures on the status of the European Aerospace and Defence Industry in 2006. The full text is available in pdf format. Ask the Space Scientist This is a live electronic discussion forum hosted by Dr Sten Odenwald from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. It includes archives of past questions on topics such as: eclipses, the solar system, galaxies, cosmology, black holes, and space travel, satellites, careers, space physics and science fairs. Links are also provided to forums on related subjects hosted by experts in the field. ASPERA-3 : Analyzer of Space Plasma and Energetic Atoms The ASPERA-3 device was created to study the interaction between the solar wind and the Martian atmosphere. It travelled on the ESA/NASA Mars Express mission launched in June of 2003. The ASPERA-3 was designed to study the solar wind-atmosphere interaction in the near-Mars space through ENA (energetic neutral atom) imaging and in-situ plasma measurements. This website provides information related to the ASPERA-3 including its description and science objectives; its utility on the Mars Express mission; photo gallery; and links to reference publications. Assessment of Directions in Microgravity and Physical Sciences Research at NASA This is a full text book made available by National Academies Press and produced by the Committee on Microgravity Research, National Research Council. The book assesses the past impact and current status of microgravity research programs in combustion, fluid dynamics, fundamental physics, and materials science and gives recommendations for promising topics of future research in each discipline. Guidance is given for setting priorities across disciplines by assessing each recommended topic in terms of the probability of its success and the magnitude of its potential impact on scientific knowledge and understanding; terrestrial applications and industry technology needs; and NASA technology needs. At NASA s request, the book also contains an examination of emerging research fields such as nanotechnology and biophysics, and makes recommendations regarding topics that might be suitable for integration into NASA s microgravity program. The text is available in open book PDF form. Assessment of NASA's Mars Architecture 2007-2016 This assessment has been conducted by the ad hoc Committee to Review the Next Decade Mars Architecture and published in 2006. It was requested by Dr. Mary Cleave, NASA’s Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate to address the following three questions:1. Is the Mars architecture reflective of the strategies, priorities, and guidelines put forward by the National Research Council’s solar system exploration decadal survey and related science strategies and NASA plans? 2. Does the revised Mars architecture address the goals of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program and optimize the science return, given the current fiscal posture of the program? 3. Does the Mars architecture represent a reasonably balanced mission portfolio? Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope : Final Report This is a full text book available from National Academies Press and produced by the Committee on the Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope, National Research Council. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has operated continuously since 1990. During that time, four space shuttle-based service missions were launched, three of which added major observational capabilities. A fifth SM-4 was intended to replace key telescope systems and install two new instruments. The loss of the space shuttle Columbia, however, resulted in a decision by NASA not to pursue the SM-4 mission leading to a likely end of Hubble s useful life in 2007-2008. This situation resulted in an unprecedented outcry from scientists and the public. As a result, NASA began to explore and develop a robotic servicing mission; and Congress directed NASA to request a study from the National Research Council (NRC) of the robotic and shuttle servicing options for extending the life of Hubble. This report presents an assessment of those two options. It provides an examination of the contributions made by Hubble and those likely as the result of a servicing mission, and a comparative analysis of the potential risk of the two options for servicing Hubble. The study concludes that the Shuttle option would be the most effective one for prolonging Hubble s productive life. Assessment of the Small Business Innovation Research Program at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration This provides access to a National Academies Press publication dated 2009. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is one of the largest examples of U.S. public-private partnerships. Founded in 1982, SBIR was designed to encourage small business to develop new processes and products and to provide quality research in support of the many missions of the U.S. government, including health, energy, the environment, and national defense. In response to a request from the U.S. Congress, the National Research Council assessed SBIR as administered by the five federal agencies that together make up 96 percent of program expenditures. This book, one of six in the series, reports on the SBIR program at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and finds that the program is making significant progress in achieving the Congressional goals for the program. Keeping in mind NASA's unique mission and the recent significant changes to the program, the committee found the SBIR program to be sound in concept and effective in practice at NASA.. The book recommends programmatic changes that should make the SBIR program even more effective in achieving its legislative goals. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software is required in order to read it. Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazards This site from the NASA Ames Space Science Division is concerned with the possibility of the Earth being hit by an asteroid or comet. The site links to the full text of the Spaceguard Survey report in HTML format, provides general information on the likelihood of an impact and the full text of several reports, including an AIAA position paper, US Congressional hearings and statements, as well as a gallery of images. It is also possible to access a catalogue of known potentially hazardous asteroids and a listing of all known near Earth asteroids with orbital elements. There is also information on the Torino Impact Hazard Scale, which is a system of categorising the Earth impact possibility of newly discovered asteroids and comets. Astronomy Thesaurus Produced by the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics within the Australian National University, this thesaurus is available in five European languages, namely English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. It can be searched or browsed alphabetically, and the structure provided allows for broader, narrower and related terms to be identified. It should be noted that the thesaurus has not been updated since 1995. Aura The Aura mission is a part of the Earth Observing System (EOS), a program dedicated to monitoring the complex interactions that affect the globe using NASA satellites and data systems. This mission researches the composition, chemistry and dynamics of the Earth's atmosphere as well study the ozone, air quality and climate. The Aura spacecraft launched July 15, 2004. The design life is five years with an operational goal of six years. This website provides in-depth information about the mission including its goals and objectives; instrumentation; the spacecraft and its subsystems; FAQs; related links; and news updates. Aviation Reference Desk This site is maintained by a team of aerospace professionals and consists of a large number of links to aerospace-related sites on the Internet. Links are organised into several categories namely commercial transport, business aviation, general aviation, defence and space, industry news, key organisations, aerospace suppliers, engineering and jobs, forthcoming events and enthusiasts' sites. Each category can be browsed. The site primarily links to US sites. Basics of Space Flight Learner's Book This is a training module created by Dave Doody and George Stephan of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It is intended to help JPL staff gain an understanding of the basics of space flight, although it is made freely available on the Internet. It takes the form of an online tutorial which users work through at their own pace and includes questions to help learners evaluate their progress. There are 17 individual chapters to work through, covering topics such as gravitation and mechanics, interplanetary trajectories, spacecraft navigation and telecommunications. The document number is JPL D-9774, Revision A. The tutorial is available to download in PDF format, or to view in HTML format and was updated in 2001. Building for the Future : China's Progress in Space Technology during the Tenth 5-Year Plan and the U.S. Response This is the full text verison of a U.S. Strategic Studies Institute monagraph published in March 2008 and written by Kevin Pollpeter. The Chinese government is using space power to increase its influence at home and abroad and hopes to leverage the political, economic, and military benefits of space to become a great power. The ambivalent nature of the U.S.-China relationship, however, assures that over the long term China's rise as a space power will present challenges to the United States. Militarily, China's improved remote sensing capabilities and launch tempos require the U.S. military to prepare to counteract China's use of space in a potential conflict over Taiwan. Commercially, China's lower labor costs and mercantilist approach to space could establish China as a competitive market force. Politically, U.S. diplomats must recognize the role Chinese space activities plays in diplomacy and be prepared to ameliorate cooperative activities that impinge on U.S. national security. Despite these drawbacks, cooperation with China cannot be ruled out. Cooperation can improve scientific research, increase safety, and make an opaque program more transparent, but should not directly improve China's military or commercial capabilities. Consequently, the U.S. response to China's rise as a space power should take a balanced approach in which challenges are managed and opportunities exploited. [Taken from abstract]. This downloadable study (423KB) is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat is required. Canadian Aeronautics and Space Journal Abstracts This facility is provided by the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI), a non-profit organisation for aerospace professionals. The site provides abstracts of articles that have been published in the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Journal since Volume 42, Number 3 in September 1996. Each issue is click-able and gives a listing of the article titles and the corresponding abstract in HTML format. Canadian Space Directory Produced by the Canadian Space Agency, this is a searchable database of Canadian space companies and organisations involved in the space sector. The information provided is in the language chosen by the individual company, and can be searched on name, sector, type and province. Company details provided vary, but include an address, telephone numbers and hyperlinks to their web sites. A named individual's contact information is also provided for each company. Ceramic Materials for Reusable Liquid Fueled Rocket Engine Combustion Devices This article is written by Captain Steven Steel of Air Force Research Laboratory and was published in Amptiac Quarterly in 2004. The goal of the Air Force Research Laboratory is to develop and demonstrate the new technologies so that they may be incorporated in the future rocket engines. Using lightweight ceramics has the potential to reduce the rate of the combustion devices by upto 50%. This article addresses issues like the historical perspective of the composite combustion devices, developments in actively cooled ceramic structures etc. The full text of the article is available as PDF document. CHAMP : Challenging Mini-Satellite Payload for Geo-scientific Research and Applications Program CHAMP is a cooperative project between US and Germany with NASA providing a GPS Blackjack Flight receiver built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The CHAMP satellite was launched with a Russian COSMOS launch vehicle on July 15, 2000 into an almost circular, near polar (i = 87?) orbit with an initial altitude of 454 km. The design lifetime of the satellite system is 5 years. CHAMP is aimed at generating simultaneously highly precise gravity and magnetic field measurements over a 5 years period. This will allow scientists to detect besides the spatial variations of both fields also their variability with time. It will perform the following three tasks: 1) Mapping of the Earth's global long to medium wavelength gravity field and temporal variations with applications in the geophysics, geodesy and oceanography; 2) Mapping of the Earth's global magnetic field and temporal variations with applications in geophysics and solar terrestrial physics; 3) Atmosphere/ionosphere sounding with applications in global climate studies, weather forecasting, disaster research and navigation. This website provides in depth information about CHAMP mission background; objectives; description of satellite and its subsystems and instruments; science results; mission, orbit and operations data; and links to reference materials and news updates. Chandra X-ray Observatory NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. Chandra is designed to observe X-rays from high-energy regions of the universe, such as the remnants of exploded stars. This website provides a host of information resources related to the Chandra X-ray Observatory mission, which include Chandra's mission objectives and instrument details; photo gallery; news updates and publications related to the mission; and links to future X-ray missions, amongst others. Child Soldiers : Are U.S. Military Members Prepared to Deal with The Threat? This is the full text of a thesis by Lt. Col. Judith Hughes (USAF) dated February 2006. Child soldiers are not a new phenomena for U.S. military forces but they are an expanding problem with implications for training and the mental health of these troops and also global implications for the future. This paper begins by examining the problem of child soldiers throughout the world and assesses current U.S. military policy, strategy, and practices regarding child soldiers. Implications for U.S. forces are highlighted and analyzed. Specifically, this paper describes the impact of child soldiers on the effectiveness of combat forces, the potential for negative mental health consequences, the role media and public support may contribute to that outcome, and the effect on military populations beyond combat forces. Lastly, this paper recommends changes to military training and pre-deployment preparation, suggests specific mental health interventions and highlights areas additional research is needed. These recommendations are provided with the intent to mitigate some of the shortfalls identified and position the U.S. military to affirmatively respond to the question of whether or not they are prepared to manage the threat of child soldiers. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format and is provided by the Air University Research Web site. CHIPS : Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer The Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS) is a University-Class Explorer (UNEX) mission of University of California and funded by NASA. A successful launch occurred at 16:45 Pacific time on Sunday January 12, 2003. The mission is aimed at helping scientists determine the electron temperature, ionization conditions, and cooling mechanisms of the million-degree plasma believed to fill the local interstellar bubble. The website includes the latest news on the mission; science and instrument description; links to educational resources; papers and publications; and FAQs. CINDI : Coupled Ion Neutral Dynamics Investigation The Coupled Ion-Neutral Dynamics Investigation (CINDI) is a NASA sponsored Mission of Opportunity conducted by the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). CINDI will discover the role of ion-neutral interactions in the generation of small and large-scale electric fields in the Earth's upper atmosphere. Ion-neutral interactions are a key process in controlling the dynamics of all planetary atmospheres and their understanding is important to describing the electrodynamic connections between the Sun and the Upper Atmosphere.The CINDI investigation is carried out as an enhancement to the science objectives of the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecast System (C/NOFS) undertaken by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the Space and Missile Command Test and Evaluation Directorate (SMC/TEL). This is the CINDI project website which provides information about the mission background, objectives, science and spacecraft details. There is also access available to CINDI science data. Also available is a CINDI quick fact sheet in PDF form. Please note that some of the links may be broken. Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) Project
This NASA satellite website provides new insight into the role that clouds and atmospheric aerosols (airborne particles) play in regulating Earth's weather, climate, and air quality. CloudSat
CloudSat is an experimental satellite that uses radar to observe clouds and precipitation from space. CloudSat orbits in formation as part of the A-Train constellation of satellites (Aqua, CloudSat, CALIPSO, PARASOL and Aura). Cluster The aim of the ESA's Cluster mission is to study small-scale structures of the magnetosphere and its environment in three dimensions. To achieve this, Cluster is constituted of four identical spacecraft that will flight in a tetrahedral configuration. The Cluster spacecrafts were launched in July, 2000 and August, 2000 and would be operational till December 2009. The mission is currently investigating the small-scale structure (in three dimensions) of the Earth's plasma environment, such as those involved in the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetospheric plasma, in global magnetotail dynamics, in cross-tail currents, and in the formation and dynamics of the neutral line and of plasmoids. The mission website provides the summary of the mission; fact sheet; launch details; instrument description; latest updates; paper and publication and links to related resources. CNN.com The web site provides access to a searchable database of CNN news stories. A selection of subject and topic browse headings is also provided. One of these headings covers news stories related to science and space. The search engine can be used to locate current aerospace and aviation news items. The records contained in a results set from the search include a brief summary. A link is provided to the full text of the news item. Each full text record provides links to related stories. Commercial Space Launches : FAA Needs Continued Planning and Monitoring to Oversee the Safety of the Emerging Space Tourism Industry This provides access to a US Government Accountability Office Report (GAO-07-16) dated October 2006. In 2004, the successful launches of SpaceShipOne raised the possibility of an emerging U.S. commercial space tourism industry that would make human space travel available to the public. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has responsibility for safety and industry promotion, licenses operations of commercial space launches and launch sites. To allow the industry to grow, Congress prohibited FAA from regulating crew and passenger safety before 2012, except in response to high-risk events. GAO evaluated FAA's (1) safety oversight of commercial space launches, (2) response to emerging issues, and (3) challenges in regulating and promoting space tourism and responding to competitive issues affecting the industry. GAO reviewed FAA's applicable safety oversight processes and interviewed federal and industry officials. Several measures indicate that FAA has provided a reasonable level of safety oversight for commercial launches. For example, none of the 179 commercial launches that FAA licensed over the past 17 years resulted in fatalities, serious injuries, or significant property damage. However, FAA shared safety oversight with the Department of Defense (DOD) for most of these launches because they took place at federal launch sites operated by DOD. In addition, FAA's licensing activities incorporate a system safety process, which GAO recognizes as effective in identifying and mitigating risks. GAO's analysis of FAA records indicates that the agency is appropriately applying management controls in its licensing activities, thereby helping to ensure that the licensees meet FAA's safety requirements. In response to emerging issues in the commercial space launch industry, such as the potential development of space tourism, FAA has developed safety regulations and training for agency employees. The industry has raised concerns about the costs of complying with regulations and about the flexibility of the regulations to accommodate launch differences. However, FAA believes it has minimized compliance costs by basing its regulations on common safety standards and has allowed for flexibility by taking a case-by-case approach to licensing and by providing waivers in certain circumstances. FAA faces several challenges and competitive issues in regulating and promoting space tourism. For example, FAA expects to need more experienced staff for safety oversight as new technologies for space tourism evolve, but has not estimated its future resource needs. Other challenges for FAA include determining the specific circumstances under which it would regulate space flight crew and passenger safety before 2012 and balancing its responsibilities for safety and promotion to avoid conflicts. Recognizing the potential conflict in the oversight of commercial space launches, Congress required the Department of Transportation (DOT) to commission a report by December 2008 on several issues, including whether the promotion of human space flight should be separate from the regulation of such activity. In addition, U.S. commercial space launch industry representatives said that they face competitive issues concerning high launch costs and export controls that can affect their ability to sell services overseas. The federal government has provided support to the industry to help lower launch costs. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it. Composites for Orbiting Platforms This article is prepared by Jeffrey D. Guthrie, Tia Benson Tolle and David H. Rose and was published in Amptiac Quarterly in 2004 (Volume 8, Number 1). Composites offer a variety of properties which are suitable to be used in space environments. Moreover, they may be designed with directional properties, enabling the creation of novel structures not possible with conventional materials. The article introduces the design issues with composites in space like launch environment and orbital environment; recent efforts in the composite technology and current programs for the development of the composites. The full text of the article is available as a PDF document. Conflict in the Cosmos : Hoyle Biography This is biography of Fred Hoyle, who hosted one of the first radio programs that focused on science and then moved his show to the new medium of television. Fred Hoyle had a prolific career of 60 years with major contributions in astronomy including subjects like origins of stars; origins of chemnical elements; the nature of gravitational forces; and the origin of life on Earth. The book has been published by National Academis Press in 2005 and written by Simon Mitton. The book has each chapter structured around an intellectual puzzle and the science is framed within the context of the knowledge available to Hoyle at the time. Drawing on his personal knowledge of Fred Hoyle, Mitton vividly recreates the many public clashes between Hoyle and his critics, and at the same time he clearly explains the science underlying the conflict. Cosmos 1 Cosmos 1, the world's first solar sail spacecraft, is a project built in collaboration of the Planetary Society and Cosmos Studios with the Lavochkin Association and the Space Research Institute in Russia and will be launched on June 21, 2005. The website includes a host of resources related to the mission, which include: the basics of a solar sail; mission timeline; orbital parameters; schematic drawings showing the spacecraft and sail dimensions; testing and development information; news updates; press room; and images and animation. Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight At a May 1981 a Proseminar in Space History held at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington,DC, historians came together to consider the state of the discipline of space history. Twenty-four years after the 1981 proseminar, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters History Division and NASM's Division of Space History brought together another group of scholars - including historians, political scientists, sociologists, public administration scholars, and engineers - to reconsider the state of the discipline. This volume is a collection of essays based on this workshop on Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight, held at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum on 15-16 March 2005.All these documents placed the new vision in the context of the importance of exploration and discovery to the American experience. Crustal Dynamics Data Information System (CDDIS) The CDDIS supports data archiving and distribution activities for the space geodesy and geodynamics community. The main objectives of the system are to store space geodesy and geodynamics related data products in a central data bank, to maintain information about the archival of these data, and to disseminate these data and information in a timely manner to NASA investigators and cooperating institutions. The site contains an introduction to the CDDIS which includes summaries of GNSS, SLR and LLR (Satellite and Lunar Laser Ranging ), VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) and DORIS (dual-frequency Doppler system). The CDDIS archives and distributes data from these systems in a series of data sets. The CDDIS Site and Data Locator page lists maps of space geodesy site locations and data availability queries for the CDDIS data archive. A description of the structure of the CDDIS ftp archive is also available. CDDIS supports several NASA-sponsored and international scientific programmes which are described. There is also a large section of online reports and documents, as well as links to related resources and programmes. Dawn : A Journey to the Beginning of the Solar System Scheduled to be launched in June 2006, the mission Dawn's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch by investigating in detail two of the largest protoplanets remaining intact since their formations. This website consists of the Dawn mission and launch details; science goals and instruments; spacecraft details; operations information; background of the mission; news updates; and images. There is also a link to Dawn mission report presented at the 2002 Asteroids, Comets and Meteors Conference in PDF format and also to the Dawn full press package. Dawn Mission The goal of this mission is to achieve an understanding of the conditions and processes acting at the solar system's earliest epoch. Dawn investigates the internal structure, density and homogeneity of two complementary protoplanets, 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta, that have remained intact since their formation, by measuring their mass, shape, volume and spin rate with both imagery, laser altimetry and gravity. This is the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's, Dawn mission home page. It provides to a range of information including the mission background, objectives and status. Separate sections of the site deal with the science and technology apects of the mission. The multimedia section contains an image gallery and orbit visualisation tools. Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Tactical Technology Office The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the research and development unit of the US Department of Defence. The Tactical Technology Office undertakes advanced military research. The site provides summary information about each of its research programmes. These fall into three categories - unmanned systems, tactical multipliers and space. There is a link to the DARPA solicitations page and information about the procedure to gain DARPA funding. There is also a briefing section which includes a link to presentations from the DARPATech 2004 Symposium, held in March 9-11, 2004, Anaheim, California. Delphion Patent Search Form This site allows you to search for United States patents, European patents and patent applications, Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application data from the World Intellectual Property Office, the Patent Abstracts of Japan and INPADOC data. The service can be searched in several different ways, including patent number, US classification and Boolean keyword search. It is possible to view to the bibliographic information of granted US patents free of charge, all other services are payable. You will need to register to use this service, which is free of charge. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Southampton The Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Southampton is a member of the School of Engineering Sciences. The department name reflects the international reputation of Southampton in both Aeronautics & Astronautics and encompasses a broad range of disciplines within the field of aerospace engineering with applications to the specification, design and construction of airframes, engines, satellites and other spacecraft. These disciplines include aerodynamics, flight mechanics, materials, propulsion, structures, as well as aircraft and spacecraft systems. Cutting-edge research into all these disciplines is carried out within the School of Engineering Sciences by recognised experts in their specific fields. The web site gives information about the department, staff, research interests, the undergraduate and postgraduate courses available, facilities, including a wind tunnel complex which ranges from low speed to hypersonic, as well as the Department's links with industry and government research laboratories. Department of Trade and Industry : The United Kingdom's Civil Space Activities This a U.K National Audit Office (NAO) report, HC 359 Session 2003-2004, 16th March 2004. United Kingdom civil space activities are delivered through a range of Departments, Agencies and Research Councils. These bodies co-ordinate policy and programmes through the British National Space Centre (BNSC) Partnership. The objectives of the study were to determine the following: does this model offer the best way to manage the United Kingdom's civil space activities; has the BNSC Partnership a clear strategy for its space activities and is it able to assess performance against that strategy; is the BNSC Partnership providing the best possible support to the space industry to make the most of the opportunities in ESA and beyond; and are the national programmes of DTI Space, PPARC and NERC being managed to ensure they deliver the best possible benefits for the United Kingdom? DLR Publications The DLR is the German space agency. It plans Germany's space activities, carries out space-flight programmes and activities and represents its space community's interests. This service provides the facility to search its publications in both German and English. It is possible to search by keyword and/or author, restrict by department within the DLR, document type, or by year back to 1990. Bibliographic information only is available. Emerald : Space Tether This is a senior design project report submitted by Russell Dunning, Steve Millward and Seamus Porter of Santa Clara University, California in 2003. The Emerald Nanosatellite Project is a two-satellite mission to explore enabling technology for multi-satellite formation flying. Emerald's relative position sensors and inter-satellite communication systems, have limited range specifications which have motivated the need for space tether. The Space Tether team of the Emerald Nanosatellites designed, tested and analysed a tether deployment system to be utilized by the Emerald Nanosatellites. The system includes deployment of a Teflon based line called Spidewire, attachment of tether and final cutting of tether. The greatest challenges that correspond to the project are the reduction of initial seperation velocity of the two Emerald Nanosatellites, and the prediction of tether performance once in space. A complex experiment and empirical analysis was done to ensure the appropriate performance of deployment and to prevent mission failure. The full text of the project report is available as PDF document. Encyclopedia Astronautica Mark Wade's Encyclopedia Astronautica is a personal interest web resource, which is hosted by www.astronautix.com. It brings together a wealth of space science and technology related information. There is an alphabetic arrangement of entries, as well as a series of topic headings including: programs, spacecraft by type, astronauts, propellants, a launch vehicle index, a rocket engine index, and a launch site index. The Encyclopedia also provides access to a collection of articles, references, and feature items. The site also contains a large collection of images, which can be browsed via the graphics indexes. Eng-Tips Forums : Aerospace Engineers This is a mailing list service or 'Web community' designed for engineers to make contact and discuss issues and problems. It is free of charge and the forums can be browsed and messages read without registration. However, if you wish to post a message you must register. The service has more functionality for registered members, including searching and the 'personal profile' facility which allows engineers to tell others something about themselves. The 'Aeronautic engineers' section includes forums devoted to Aircraft engineering, Aerodynamic engineering, Rotorcraft engineering, and other topics. Engineering Challenges to the Long-Term Operation of the International Space Station This is a full text book made available by National Academies Press and produced by Committee on the Engineering Challenges to the Long-Term Operation of the International Space Station, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, National Research Council. This study of the engineering challenges posed by longterm operation of the ISS shows that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the ISS developers have focused almost totally on completing the design and development of the station and completing its assembly in orbit. After ISS Assembly Complete, the primary work on orbit will shift to scientific and engineering research, ISS operations, and the maintenance of ISS systems and experiments. The committee found no major engineering problems with the design of the ISS that would adversely affect long-term operations. Most of the deficiencies can be corrected with procedural changes and equipment or software upgrades in time for incorporation at ISS Assembly Complete. The fundamental improvements cited in this report are well within the state of the art of current technology and should be introduced into the ISS Program as soon as possible. In the areas of communications and robotics, in fact, they have already been developed. With farsighted management and timely increases in funding, these upgrades and enhancements would ensure that the ISS remains at the leading edge of long-term space research. The text is available in open book PDF form. Engineering Resources Online This is a UK-based service which aims to be a practical guide to engineering products, companies and resources on the Internet. The site provides an alphabetical list of links to engineering company Web sites, standard organisations, patent offices, books and journals, software, trade shows, recruitment sites and search engines. EO-3-GIFTS : Earth Observing-3-Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer The New Millennium Program's (NMP) Earth Observing 3 (EO3) mission, called GIFTS, is a step towards improving the operational weather observing systems. To accomplish the GIFTS mission NASA has partnered with the US Department of Naval Research's (ONR). ONR's Indian Ocean Meteorological Imager, called IOMI, will demonstrate GIFTS concepts and technologies. The launch has been planned for 2005/06 on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral, Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This website provides the EO-3 mission objectives; science and instrument technology descriptions; links to other educational resources; and quick facts about the mission along with news updates. ESA Publications This is the home page of the ESA (European Space Agency) Publications Division (EPD) which produces all of the European Space Agency's publications for external readership. The site provides links to the ESA Annual Report, History Study Reports, and periodicals and newsletters including the ESA Bulletin (the Agency's quarterly magazine), Earth Observation Quarterly, EDU News (ESA's Newsletter on Education) European Centre for Space Law, Eurocomp (The Newsletter of the Space Components Steering Board), and Spacelink. The site also provides access to a selection of technical reports including the ESA BR series of brochures, ESA SP reports, as well as listings of conference proceedings, procedures, and standards. Estimation of cirrus cloud effective ice crystal shapes using visible reflectances from dual-satellite measurements This article is written by Helene Chepfer, Patrick Minnis, David Young, Louis Nguyen and Robert F. Arduini and was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research in December 2002. The study develops and examines a multiangle, multisatellite method for determining effective cloud particle shapes from reflectances observed at visible wavelengths. The technique exploits the significant differences in the various cloud particle shape phase functions near the backscatter direction to infer particle shape from a combination of views from a near-backscatter angle and a side scattering angle. Adding-doubling calculations confirm that the optimal viewing combinations include one near-backscatter angle and another between 60 and 150. Sensitivity to shape increases with solar zenith angle. A total of 28 collocated, visible images from pairs of currently operating meteorological satellites with the desired viewing combinations were analyzed for particle shape. Matching reflectances from images with optimal viewing angles clearly separates water droplet from ice crystal clouds. Reflectance pairs from matched pixels containing ice crystals can be explained by the range of selected microphysical models. The most common retrieved shapes correspond to combinations of hexagonal compacts (aspect ratio of unity), hexagonal columns, and bullet rosettes. Although no single microphysical model can account for the observed variability, taken together, the models used for retrieving cloud particle size by the Clouds and the Earth?s Radiant Energy System and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Projects can account for most of the reflectance variability observed in this limited data set. Additional studies are needed to assess the uncertainties in retrieved shapes due to temporal and spatial mismatches, anisotropic and bright background reflectances, and calibration errors and to validate the retrieved shapes. While applicable to a limited number of dual-satellite viewing combinations for current research and operational meteorological satellites, this approach could be used most extensively to derive effective particle size, shape, and optical depth from a combination of an imaging satellite in an L1 orbit, like Triana, and any other lower Earth orbiting satellites. The report is available in PDF form. European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) EADS is one of the largest aerospace companies in Europe and was formed from a merger between French Aerospatiale Matra S.A. (Paris), the Spanish Construcciones Aeronuticas S.A. (CASA, Madrid) and the German DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (Dasa, Munich). EADS covers the areas of Airbus, aeronautics (military aircraft, helicopters, regional aircraft), military transport aircraft, defence and security systems and space. This site provides product information and specifications, a photo gallery, press releases, employment and financial information plus the latest stock quotes. The site is also available in German, French and Spanish. European Commission : Research and Technology Development Beyond 2002 : Aeronautics and Space These web pages are provided as part of the Commission's Community Research and development Information Service (CORDIS). They provide information and support for the Framework 6 RTD funding programme. This site will provide details, as they become available, of the various papers and positions emerging from the main stakeholders on the aeronautics and space activities proposed for the Sixth Framework programme. European Cooperation for Space Standardisation The European Cooperation for Space Standardisation (ECSS) is an initiative established to develop a coherent, single set of user-friendly standards for use in all European space activities. News and news archives are available, a catalogue of standards and online ordering details and an online helpdesk. Registration is required to make full use of the website, which includes a discussion forum. European Space Agency: Science and Technology The European Space Agency (ESA) is an international organisation composed of 14 member states. The main focus of the site is the Agency's core business and activities and these are accessed from the ESA Programmes link. These include ESA launchers, human spaceflight, science and applications. A number of the mission and programme pages include details of relevant ESA reports, some of which are available online. The site also includes details about jobs and training at ESA, links to full text publications, an image gallery, details of forthcoming conferences and press releases. Evaluation of the National Aerospace Initiative This is a full text book from National Academies Press and produced by Committee on the National Aerospace Initiative, National Research Council. The National Aerospace Initiative (NAI) was conceived as a joint effort between the Department of Defense (DOD) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to sustain the aerospace leadership of the United States through the acceleration of selected aerospace technologies: hypersonic flight, access to space, and space technologies. The Air Force became concerned about the NAI s possible consequences on Air Force programs and budget if NAI program decisions differed from Air Force priorities. To examine this issue, it asked the NRC for an independent review of the NAI. This report presents the results of that assessment. It focuses on three questions asked by the Air Force: is NAI technically feasible in the time frame laid out; is it financially feasible over that period; and is it operationally relevant. The report is available in open book format. Exploration of the Outer Heliosphere and the Local Interstellar Medium : A Workshop Report This is a full text workshop report produced by the Committee on Solar and Space Physics, National Research Council and was produced by National Academies Press in 2004. In May 2003 the Space Studies Board's Committee on Solar and Space Physics held the Workshop on Exploration of the Outer Heliosphere to synthesize understanding of the physics of the outer heliosphere and the critical role played by the local interstellar medium (LISM)1 and to identify directions for the further exploration of this challenging environment. At the workshop, a suggestion was made that the low-energy cosmic rays showed evidence that Voyager may have crossed the termination shock completely unexpected observations illustrating the Voyagers promise for returning results with a capacity to surprise and baffle for years to come. To further the exploration of the outer heliosphere four strategic directions became clear in workshop discussions: making use of existing assets, developing new outer heliosphere missions, continuing support of theory and modeling, preparing for Interstellar Probe. Significant questions about the outer heliosphere and the LISM were also addressed. The text of the report is available in open book PDF form. Exploring the Unknown : Selected Documents in the history of the U.S. Civil Space Program, Volume IV : Accessing Space This provides access to the text of a NASA Special Publication, NASA SP-4407, edited by John M. Logsdon, with contributions by Ray A. Williamson and others, The NASA History Series, 1999. The documents selected for inclusion in this volume are presented in four major chapters. These chapters focus on the evolution toward the Saturn V rocket, the development of the Space Shuttle, space transportation commercialisation, and future space transportation possibilities. Each chapter in this volume is introduced by an overview essay. The text is available for viewing online or for downloading from the NASA History Office web site Exploring the Unknown : Selected Documents in the history of the U.S. Civil Space Program, Volume VI : Space and Earth Science This provides access to the text of a NASA Special Publication, NASA SP-4407, edited by John M. Logsdon, with Stephen J. Garber, Roger D. Launius, and Ray A. Williamson, NASA History Series, 2004. This volume covers space history and space policy in four thematic chapters. Essays discuss the solar physics from space, space physics, life sciences in space, and the Earth Observing System. The text is available for viewing online or for downloading from the NASA History Office web site. FAST Explorer : Fast Auroral SnapshoT Explorer FAST, the second mission in NASA's Small Explorer Satellite Program (SMEX), is a satellite designed to study Earth's aurora. FAST's primary objective is to study the microphysics of space plasma and the accelerated particles that cause the aurora. FAST was launched on August 21, 1996 from a Pegasus rocket into a highly elliptical orbit. This website provides a background of Earth's aurora; FAST mission objectives; details of the spacecraft instruments and data; launch and orbit information; links to other educational resources; and images. Federation of American Scientists : Space Policy Project The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Space Policy Project was initiated in the Spring of 1983, in response to President Reagan's announcement of the Strategic Defense Initiative. The project promotes American national security and international stability by providing the public and decision-makers with information and analysis on civil and military space issues, policies and programs. The Project is dedicated to increasing international co-operation in space as a means of improving global co-operation to solve problems on Earth. The Project focuses both on specific policy questions related to advanced technology weapons, such as ballistic missile proliferation, commercial space development, and military space systems. A selection of the resources available from the site includes space policy e-prints, advanced aircrafts, a Russian aerospace industry guide, access to news sources and newsgroups, Congressional Hearing Reports and Office of Technology Assessment Reports. Formation Flight of Autonomous Aerial Vehicles This is a senior design project report subimtted by Ryan Becker, Chris Borowski and Ognjen Petrovic in June, 2004 to the Santa Clara University. This Santa Clara Universitys Aerial Robotics Team developed an autonomous fleet of Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) capable of performing aerial reconnaissance and demonstrating basic formation flying capabilities. In a single plane configuration, the team exploited the capabilities of a commercial autopilot in order to automatically fly through a pre-determined set of navigational waypoints and using real-time video feed in order to image and provide open-loop tracking of specific targets. This capability was be showcased in the international Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) UAV competition in June 2004. In a two-plane follow-the-leader configuration, a human pilot flys a lead plane, and a chase plane automatically follows the lead planes trajectory. This is accomplished through the use of Ground ControlStation software, written by the team, that collects trajectory information from both planes and controls the follow-the-leader formation. In performing this project, the team has accomplished three significant objectives. First, it has successfully developed a flight system that will prove to be competitive in the AUVSI competition. Second, it has demonstrated an impressive multi-UAV flight capability that demonstrates the power of multi-UAV formations for enhancing the ability of UAVs to perform scientific, civil, humanitarian, and national defense missions. Finally, it has established a viable and impressive multi-UAV test bed for future SCU robotics education and research projects. The full text of the report can be accessed as PDF document. Fostering Visions for the Future : Review of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts This provides access to a National Academies Press publication dated 2009. The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) was formed in 1998 to provide an independent source of advanced aeronautical and space concepts that could dramatically impact how NASA develops and conducts its missions. Until the program's termination in August 2007, NIAC provided an independent open forum, a high-level point of entry to NASA for an external community of innovators, and an external capability for analysis and definition of advanced aeronautics and space concepts to complement the advanced concept activities conducted within NASA. Throughout its 9-year existence, NIAC inspired an atmosphere for innovation that stretched the imagination and encouraged creativity. As requested by Congress, this volume reviews the effectiveness of NIAC and makes recommendations concerning the importance of such a program to NASA and to the nation as a whole, including the proper role of NASA and the federal government in fostering scientific innovation and creativity and in developing advanced concepts for future systems. Key findings and recommendations include that in order to achieve its mission, NASA must have, and is currently lacking, a mechanism to investigate visionary, far-reaching advanced concepts. Therefore, a NIAC-like entity should be reestablished to fill this gap. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software is required in order to read it. From Earth to Orbit : An Assessment of Transportation Options This is a full text book made available by National Academies Press and produced by Committee on Earth-to-Orbit Transportation Options, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems, National Research Council. The study provides strategies to reduce launch costs while increasing the reliability and resilency of vehicles. It also recommends continued improvements for the Space Shuttle Orbiter and its subsystems and the development of a Space Transportation Main Engine (STME). The text is available in open book PDF form. Frontier Electronic Systems Corp Frontier Electronic Systems Corp is based in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and supplies electronic equipment and technical services to the U.S. Government and its contractors. They design, develop and manufacture electronic products and provide support of high technology programmes. Frontier supplies electronic hardware and software to aerospace and naval customers, in the areas of signal distribution, test equipment & software, aircraft avionics, space flight electronics and business process re-engineering. Their naval capabilities include anti-submarine warfare, command and control, mine countermeasures, surface and undersea range support, oceanography, and naval aviation. Their small business services involve accounting and information systems. This site also provides details about employment with Frontier, the Stillwater area and contact information. Future Biotechnology Research on the International Space Station This is a full text book available from National Academies Press and produced by Task Group for the Evaluation of NASA's Biotechnology Facility for the International Space Station, National Research Council in the year 2000. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) manages research programs in two areas of the rapidly expanding field of biotechnology: protein crystal growth and cell science. The protein crystal growth work focuses on using microgravity to produce higher quality macromolecular crystals for structure determination and on improving understanding of the crystal growth process. The cell science work focuses on basic research that contributes to understanding how the microgravity environment affects the fundamental behavior of cells, particularly in relation to tissue formation and the effects of space exploration on living organisms. The National Research Council's Task Group was formed to examine and evaluate the use of the International Space Station (ISS) as a platform for research in these two areas. In this report, the task group offers a variety of recommendations and suggestions for improving the NASA biotechnology research program. It believes these changes are necessary if the NASA program is to fulfill the potential for scientific discovery and impact that is also outlined in this report. GALEX : Galaxy Evolution Explorer The Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) is an orbiting space telescope that is iamed at observing galaxies in ultraviolet light across 10 billion years of cosmic history. Led by the California Institute of Technology and NASA, GALEX was launched in April, 2003 with a mission lifetime of 29 months. This site provides GALEX mission information along with news updates, quick facts and links to educational resources. Geostationary Operational Environment Satellites (GOES) Project This site describes the Geostationary Operational Environment Satellites (GOES) Project. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Program (GOES) is a joint effort of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These spacecrafts help meteorologists observe and predict local weather events, including thunderstorms, tornadoes, fog, flash floods, and other severe weather. In addition, GOES observations have proven helpful in monitoring dust storms, volcanic eruptions, and forest fires. GOES-N, the first spacecraft in the new GOES-N/O/P series, lifted off aboard a Boeing Delta IV rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. at 6:11 pm EDT on May 24, 2006. GOES-O is scheduled to launch on April 28, 2009. The website consists of project information, specifications of GOES spacecrafts and the instruments on-board, launch information and other educational resources. GPM : Global Precipitation Measurement GPM is a joint mission with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and other international partners. The GPM mission is aimed at providing improvements in water resource management, agriculture, policy and planning, transportation, forestry, natural hazards assessment, hydrology, oceanography and weather forecasting. It is scheduled to be launched in 2010 from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan and has a mission lifetime of 3 years. The website provides information about the mission including objectives; science and instrument description; library; image gallery; and newsletter. Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) GRACE mission is a joint partnership between the NASA in the United States and Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fur Luft und Raumfahrt (DLR) in Germany. The primary goal of this mission is to accurately map variations in the Earth's gravity field over its 5-year lifetime. The GRACE twin satellites were launched in March 2002 and are currently making detailed measurements of Earth's gravity field. The key facts and mission overview, alongwith the news updates and GRACE orbit data are available from this website. Great Images in NASA (GRIN) Provided by NASA, this is a collection of over 1000 images of historical interest which is aimed at the media, publishers and the general public. The images have been scanned at high resolution and in several sizes. They can be found by browsing by subject then selecting the relevant category, searched by keyword and date, or browsed by the centre that produced the image. The photographs are not protected by copyright, unless it is stated, and NASA must be acknowledged as the source of the image. Guidelines for Experimental Permits for Reusable Suborbital Rockets This document provides guidelines for experimental permits for reusable suborbital rockets. It was created by the FAA Commercial Space Transportation in May 2004. The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 (CSLAA)promotes the development of the emerging commercial space flight industry and makes the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), through delegations, responsible for regulating private human space flight under 49 U.S.C. Subtitle IX, ch. 701. Before the CSLAA, a license was the only mechanism available to the FAA to authorize launch or reentry. Under the CSLAA, an experimental permit may be used. Therefore the purpose of these guidelines are to fulfill the FAA’s requirement to provide direction on the implementation of the CSLAA with respect to experimental permits before issuing regulations. These guidelines are not binding. Until regulations called for in the CSLAA are issued, the FAA will issue permits on a case-by-case basis. The scope of this document is to address what the FAA will have to review and evaluate in an application for an experimental permit and to provide the safety measures for people who issue these permits. Heat-transfer measurements in short-duration hypersonic facilities This is Research and Technology Organization (RTO) AGARD-AG-165, dated February 1973. The techniques for making measurements of heat transfer in short duration and rapidly varying flows are reviewed. Methods discussed include: gauges operating on the semi-infinite principle, calorimeter gauges, pyroelectric heat transfer gauges, measurement of radiative heat transfer, and optical methods. The error in deduced heat transfer rate arising from a surface temperature discontinuity due to the presence of an isolated heat transfer gauge is also discussed. Bibliographic and abstract details are available in HTML format. A table of contents, and the full text (4.42MB) of the document can be accessed online in PDF format. The document is contained in the RTO's Full Text Publication Library. Hinode (SOLAR-B) The Hinode (Solar-B) project is one of the projects of NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes (STP) programme. It is a Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) mission proposed as a follow-on to the Japan/US/UK Yohkoh (Solar-A) collaboration. This website includes an overview brochure and Hinode fact sheet which consist of the scientific goals of the Hinode Mission. More scientific details can be found in the Hinode Science Definition Team Report. Updates on the status of the Hinode mission are also available from the Solar-B Status Page. History of Shuttle-Mir This large site is provided by NASA Human Spaceflight and is devoted to the Shuttle-Mir Program, when American astronauts spent more than 1000 days living with Russian astronauts aboard Mir. The site provides historical detail, organisational, cultural and operational information,personal accounts from the astronauts and details about the scientific experiments they undertook. Descriptive information about both craft is available whilst the reference section includes a site map, timeline, glossaries and related links. Five pre-arranged tours offer different perspectives on the Program and aid navigation. Honeywell Space and Aviation Control Information about the cockpit avionics, navigation systems and sensors developed for commercial, military and space markets. The site provides information on its products, employment opportunities, and press releases which includes a graphics library and background materials. Ice, Clouds, and Land Elevation Satellite (IceSAT) IceSAT (Ice, Clouds, and Land Elevation Satellite) is an approved satellite mission being developed by NASA. It is part of the Earth Observing System and was launched in January 2003. The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) on ICESat will measure ice sheet elevations, changes in elevation through time, height profiles of clouds and aerosols, land elevations and vegetation cover, and approximate sea ice thickness. Future ICESat missions will extend and improve assessments from the first mission, as well as monitor ongoing changes. Together with other aspects of NASA Earth science and current and planned EOS satellites, ICESat will enable scientists to study the Earth' climate and, ultimately, predict how ice sheets and sea level will respond to future climate change. IMAGE : Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration The IMAGE spacecraft was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on March 25, 2000, at 20:34:43 UT. IMAGE was the first of NASA's Mid size Explorer (MIDEX) missions, and was dedicated to imaging the Earth's magnetosphere, the region of space controlled by the Earth's magnetic field and containing extremely tenuous plasmas of both solar and terrestrial origin. It is currently operating in its fifth year. The IMAGE mission details; spacecraft and instrument description; operations information; IMAGE photo gallery; and current updates are available from this site. Incorporating Uncertainty into Conceptual Design of Space Systems Architectures This working paper (ESD-WP-2003-01.01) was published by the Massachusetts Insitute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division in 2003 and was written by Daniel E. Hastings, Annalisa L. Weigel and Miles A. Walton. The environment in which space systemsare developed and operated can be classified as nothing less than dynamic. However, it is clear that the methods and tools relied on in conceptual design are based on static assumtpions and leave little room for anything more than snapshots of the product and its environment. This paper introduces an approach to challenge that model and instead quantify and compare space system architectures around the central theme of uncertainty, with emphasis on policy uncertainty, as well as, technical and market uncertainty. Two cases of implementation are presented and three generalised principles are proposed that flow from the analysis: 1) engineering systems must be designed with uncertainty as one of the centralorganising principles, 2) since engineering systems have management and social dimensions and thus involve human interactions, there is an irreducible uncertainty associated with these dimensions that will affect the design of the system and 3) uncertainty in use may allow the engineering system to satisfy quite different missions from the original one intended. [Taken from abstract]. This is in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it. Institute of Air and Space Law Since its foundation in 1951 McGill University's Institute of Air and Space Law (IASL) has become a leading centre for teaching, research and publication in the field of international aerospace law. The site contains information on IASL's mission, courses, staff biographies and directory, publications, including Annals of Air and Space Law, admissions and events. There are separate sections of the site which are devoted to air and aviation law, and to space law. The air law section contains digitised copies of a range of historically important civil aviation conventions, acts, protocols and instruments, including the Chicago acts, aviation security instruments, and the Warsaw System. The Space Law section contains digitised copies of selected international conventions. Interim Assessment of Research and Data Analysis in NASA's Office of Space Science This is the full text of a report published by the US National Academy of Sciences Space Studies Board in 2000. It takes the form of a letter report which can be viewed in HTML format. It is possible to select which section to view from the table of contents page. The text is also searchable. Interim Report of the National Research Council Review of NASA's Pioneering Revolutionary Technology Program This letter report is an interim report produced by the US National Research Council committee for the review of NASA's pioneering revolutionary technology (PRT) program. It covers an assessment of NASA's programs including: Computing, information and communications technology; Engineering for complex systems; Enabling concepts and technology. The critria assessed included technical quality, technology gaps, investment, relevance and balance as well as assessing the expertise of the researchers and research facilites available. International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) The IAA was founded in 1960 by Theodore Von Karman. The Academy's aims are to foster the development of astronautics for peaceful purposes; recognize individuals who have distinguished themselves in a related branch of science or technology; and to provide a programme through which members may contribute to international endeavours and cooperate in the advancement of aerospace science. The web site provides an introduction to the Academy, its history and committee structure. The Technical Library section includes cosmic studies and position papers, some of which are available in full text; IAA Papers Data Base (listing of papers); and further details of IAA Commissions and publications. There is also a news and events section. Part of the site is restricted to IAA members. International Astronautical Federation The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is an international non-governmental and non-profit organisation, founded in 1951. The Federation encourages the advancement of knowledge about space and the development and application of space assets for the benefit of humanity. It plays an important role in disseminating information, and in providing a significant worldwide network of experts in the development and utilisation of space. It remains to this day the only international federation for the space community that addresses all aspects of space - developments, activities, knowledge, experts and the future. Members of the IAF include space agencies, space companies, societies, associations and institutes. As an international organisation with exactly 205 members, the Federation is governed by a Constitution. The IAF is responsible for the annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC) alongside other symposia. The summary mission of the International Astronautical Federation is to promote the public awareness and appreciation of space activities worldwide, the exchange of information on space programme developments and plans, the development of highly-motivated and internationally-knowledgeable workforces, the recognition of achievements in space activities and space programme cooperation and the use by developing countries of space systems for human development This website provides information about membership, publications, conference paper titles, newsletters and committees as well as space related links. Investing in Space : The Challenge for Europe This is the second report of the European Space Agency's Long-term Space Policy Committee (LSPC). The report addresses three challenges that Europe faces at the turn of the century, challenges that will influence its future based on economic prosperity, quality of life, collective security and global solidarity. The report was published as ESA/SP-2000, in 1999. It is available online in PDF format. Japans Space Program. A Fork in the Road? This technical report (TR-184) was published by The RAND Corporation in 2005 and was written by Steven Berner. This paper briefly reviews the history of Japans space program. It explores the programs organization and its recent changes. It reviews the origins and status of Japans satellite reconnaissance program. It then examines several factors affecting Japans space program. Finally, it explores possible directions the program may take in the next several years. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it. Jason-1 Jason-1 is the first follow-on to the TOPEX/Poseidon mission that measured ocean surface topography to an accuracy of 3.3 cm. It is a joint project between NASA and France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales. Launched in December 2001, Jason-1 now begins an extended mission to continue collecting detailed sea-surface topography data. This website provides mission information and quick facts related to Jason-1 mission. It also has links to Jason's predecessor, the TOPEX/Poseidon mission. Details of OSTM mission, which will follow Jason-1 are also available. JAXA Digital Archives Since October 1 2003 the three principal Japanese aerospace organisations (ISAS, NAL, NASDA) have been merged into one independent administrative institution; the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The JAXA Digital Archives provides access to a collection of online images and photos. These include launch vehicles and space transportation systems, International Space Station (ISS) and human space exploration, earth observation, communication, positioning and satellites, space science and space engineering research projects. Image types contained in the archives include computer graphics, illustrations, drawings, satellite images and monochrome and colour photos. The JAXA web site also contains an archive of The NASDA Report, a monthly news journal produced by the National Space Development Agency of Japan. Jet Propulsion Laboratory : Beacon eSpace BEACON eSpace is JPL's document repository where you can find full-text items (usually in PDF) JPL-authored reports and externally published papers and reprints. The archive can be browsed by author, titel, date or collections or you can search the repository with a quick or advanced search facility. Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy This journal is published by the Indian Academy of Sciences quarterly and in English and covers all aspects of Astrophysics and Astronomy including instrumentation. PDF full-text are available for articles from 2001 and contents pages are available for 1998-2000 and 'special issues' are available to purchase and subscription information is available at this site. Keck Interferometer The Keck Interferometer (KI) is part of NASA's overall effort to find planets and ultimately life beyond our solar system. It is a ground-based component of NASA's Origins Program. Origins addresses fundamental questions about the formation of galaxies, stars, and planetary systems, the prevalence of planetary systems around other stars, and the formation of life on Earth. The Keck Interferometer will be capable of carrying out a variety of scientific studies integral to NASA's search for new worlds. Its primary goals are the characterization of exozodiacal dust, which can obscure the infrared signature of orbiting planets; direct detection of giant planets and brown dwarfs; high-resolution imaging of protoplanetary disks; and the astrometric detection of planets. It will combine the light from the twin Keck telescopes to measure the emission from dust orbiting nearby stars, directly detect the hottest gas giant planets, image disks around young stars and other objects of astrophysical interest, and survey hundreds of stars for the presence of planets the size of Uranus or larger. This website brings together a host of information resources including the background information about the interferometer; the KI scientific goals and results; and other technical rescources. There is a section dedicated to the historical perspective of interferometry also. Information is also available on supporting internet resources. The site can be browsed by taking a virtual interactive tour which is available in QuickTime (2.3MB) or Real Player (190KB). Launchspace Professional Training Launchspace Training is a division of Launchspace, Inc. a space technology company that provides training and consulting services to the space industry. The site includes an online catalogue, which describes the training courses available. Topics covered by the training include space systems, space applications, software and computer applications, launch vehicles, management and cost analysis. Low-Cost Innovation in Spaceflight : The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Shoemaker Mission This monograph tells the story of the NEAR mission from the point of view of the management challenges involved in conducting low-cost missions while daily confronting the possibility of defeat. It has been written by Howard E. McCurdy is a professor of public administration at the American University in Washington, DC. The history is divided into four sections. The first section recounts the origins of the expedition and the struggle to get the mission funded and approved. It explains how a small group of people came to believe that an asteroid rendezvous could be conducted as a low-cost mission, a revolutionary proposition at the time. Section two concentrates on the methods employed to translate the low-cost philosophy into a robotic spacecraft that actually worked. Attention is given to the teambuilding techniques that allowed the people organizing the mission to simultaneously restrain cost, meet the launch schedule, and reduce risk. In section three, the management challenges involved in flying the NEAR spacecraft over the five-year flight regime are described. The difficulties involved the guidance of a low-cost robotic spacecraft and the coordination of mission teams at three different locations. On the first rendezvous attempt with Eros, the little spacecraft missed its target, thus requiring another trip around the solar system and significant changes in organizational protocols. Finally, section four assesses the �faster, better, cheaper� initiative and the NEAR mission�s contribution to it. Magellan The Magellan spacecraft, named after the sixteenth-century Portuguese explorer whose expedition first circumnavigated the Earth, was launched 4 May 1989, and arrived at Venus on 10 August 1990. Magellan collected radar images of 98 percent of the planet's surface, with resolution 10 times better than that of the earlier Soviet Venera 15 and 16 missions. Altimetry and radiometry data also measured the surface topography and electrical characteristics. The mission concluded with the spacecraf plunging into the planet's dense atmosphere on Tuesday, 11 October 1994 to gain data on the planet's atmosphere and on the performance of the spacecraft as it descended. This website provides in-depth information related to the Magellan mission objectives and spacecraft details. Latest status reports are also available alongwith news updates and press releases. Information is also available on the planet Venus and there is also a link to image and photo gallery. Maintaining US Leadership in Aeronautics : Breakthrough Technologies to Meet Future Air and Space Transportation Needs and Goals This is the full text of a report published by the US National Research Council's committee on breakthrough technologies. The report is available in HTML format, with hyperlinked chapter headings. It shortlists the revolutionary or breakthrough technologies that could be critical to aeronautics and space transportation in the next 25 years. In addition, NASA's 10 goals for the application of technology to air and space transportation are assessed to determine if they are achievable. Mastering the Ultimate High Ground : Next Steps in the Military Uses of Space This provides access to RAND report MR-1649-AF, prepared by Benjamin S. Lambeth, dated 2003. The report has been published as part of the Project Air Force programme. This study assesses the military space challenges facing the United States Air Force in light of the watershed findings and recommendations of the congressionally mandated Space Commission that were released in January 2001. It concludes by exploring the most urgent space related concerns now in need of Air Force attention. A description of the report is available in HTML, while the full text of the document and each of the individual chapters are available for browsing online and downloading in a set of PDF files. The text is available in PDF format. Materials and the 'Final Frontier' This article is prepared by Benjamin D. Craig and Richard A. Lane and was published in Amptiac Quarterly in 2004 (Volume 8, Number 1). This is first of the two articles to explore the technical aspects and challenges of accessing, surviving and succeeding in space. The present article introduces the basic concepts of space and space technology. The topics covered include space missions, orbits, spacecraft design and satellite subsystems. The full text of the article is available as a PDF document. The second article discusses how materials and subsystems are tested and evaluated for use in the space environment. It is also available as a PDF document. MESSENGER Home Page This is the home page of NASA's MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) mission. Introductory information is given, including detailed mission objectives and information on Mercury itself. Mission and spacecraft design, trajectories, planning and instrumentation are also described. Several animations are available for viewing using Quicktime. Military Role in Space Control : A Primer CRS reports are produced by the US Congressional Research Service, a branch of the Library of Congress providing nonpartisan research reports to members of the House and Senate. Report RL32602 has been prepared by Adolfo J. Fernandez, National Defense Fellow Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, and was published 23 September 2004. Since the 1991 Gulf War, U.S. military forces have become increasingly reliant on space resources for communications, intelligence imagery, weather, warning, navigation, and timing. The US Department of Defense defines space control as the combat, combat support, and combat service support operations to ensure freedom of action in space for the United States and its allies and, when directed, deny an adversary freedom of action in space. This report reviews DOD military space control efforts and related policy and resources. The text of the report is available in PDF format. MIT OpenCourseWare : Aeronautics and Astronautics The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the OpenCourseWare have made available a sample of course materials from MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. They are freely available to educators to use within their own curricula, and for all learners to use the materials for self-study. There are undergraduate and graduate course materials available covering a wide range of topics including aerospace dynamics, space systems engineering, computational methods in aerospace engineering, estimation and control of aerospace systems, airline schedule planning, and system safety. Most of the materials are provided in Microsoft Word or PDF format. Multifunction Structures in Satellite Design : Thermoelectric Elements Embedded into Structural Honeycomb Panels This a research project report submitted by Benjamin Thomas Blaine in 2004 to the Santa Clara University, California. The objective of this research is to assess the feasibility of a particular multifunction structure concept: thermoelectric devices embedded into aluminum honeycomb panels of a satellite. The satellite design process is complex and difficult due to the physical and operating constraints, uncertain environments, and extreme operating conditions. To reduce launch costs, mass and volume of the satellite must be minimized. Therefore, satellites must be efficiently configured to conserve mass and volume, and to exploit the resources from the environment. A novel approach to this problem is the concept of a multifunction structure. A multifunction structure is a system that combines structural elements and various components of an entire system into one space, therefore conserving mass and volume. In this research work, Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is used to perform 252 Thermal Analysis Experiments with varying thermal and material parameters, and 4 Structural Analysis Experiments with or without multiple thermoelectric elements embedded into the structure. The results of the Thermal and Structural Experiments have shown that the concept is viable with a structure made of honeycomb with a thermal conductivity less than 1.0 W/mK. The Aluminum Honeycomb structure has a thermal conductivity of 180.0 W/mK. Honeycomb materials composed of materials such as polyimide foams seem to be a possible future solution to the problem. Studies have shown Polyimide foam to have a thermal conductivity of 0.10 W/mK. Further research is recommended in order to investigate the development of low thermal conducting honeycomb structures and high efficiency thermoelectric elements. With the application of these low thermal conductivity structural materials, this particular multifunction structure has merit. The full text of the report can be accessed as PDF document NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Library The ARMD at NASA Headquarters is responsible for guiding and managing NASA's aeronautics research. The site contains various NASA documents ranging from reference materials to press releases. For example, it includes policy and planning documents, historical reports, aviation safety, environment sources, and links to a variety of scientific and technical information sources. The current documents and archive sections include relevant NASA enterprise and other NASA publications as well as publications produced by a variety of external sources. The ARMD Library also brings together relevant Congressional Testimony, presentations, image collections, an event archive, and technology resources. NASA and the Environment : The Case of Ozone Depletion This is a monograph, a comprehensive study Ozone Depletion, which represents an important case study in the history of NASA and environmental sciences. It has been written by W. Henry Lambright who is professor of public administration and political science and director at the Center for Environmental Policy and Administration, the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. The report deals with the problem chronologically beginning from the time when ozone depletion became an issue (in late 1960s) and the subsequent steps taken and missions launched to eradicate the problem. The whole process of problems solving and decision making can be divided into 8 stages which include : Awareness, Trigger, Establishing Program, Early Implementation, Evaluation/Reorientation, Amplification, Later Implementation and Institutionalization. The decision-making model has a linear structure that does not exist in reality. However, it conveys, in a general way, the overall course of the decisions being made over time. The report deals with each of these steps in detail. NASA Apollo Mission : Apollo-1 This website provides description and review of the tragedy of Apollo-1 mission of the NASA's Apollo program, in which a flash fire occured in the command module 012 during a launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn launch vehicle, killing all the three astronauts on-board. The site consists biographies of the crew members; accident events timeline; investigation results, conclusions and recommendations; and a gallery of images. There is also a link to related sources and bibliogrpahy. NASA Headquarters The page provides convenient access to NASA HQ, the individual NASA research centres, and the Scientific and Technical Information Program. There are links to the following NASA centers: Ames Research Center, Dryden Flight Research Center, John H. Glenn Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Independent Validation & Verification Facility, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Johnson Space Center, Kennedy Space Center, Langley Research Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, Moffett Federal Airfield, Stennis Space Center, Wallops Flight Facility, and White Sands Test Facility. NASA Langley Research Center - Multimedia Repository This web site provides access to NASA Langley Research Center's library of digital images. The objective of the service is to facilitate online access to digitised photographs, computer-generated images and other digital sources such as movies and videos. All of the images are in JPEG format.Thumbnail (~96x96), Small (~544x480); Medium (~1280x1024) (if available); and Large (~3072x2432) (if available). The repository can be browsed or searched. Browse headings include aircraft, devices, education, events, laboratories, people, projects, space transportation, wind tunnels and new multimedia. The site also contains a Frequently Asked Questions, and a comments/question section. NASA Langley Technical Library Digital Repository LTRS (Langley Research Center Technical Report Server) is a service which allows users to search available online NASA Langley published documents, including Meeting Presentations, Journal Articles, Conference Proceedings, and Technical Reports. All documents are unclassified and publicly available. You can browse by author, title, date or collection and a simple and advanced search form are also available. You can also sign-up to receive email updates. NASA Multimedia This site represents NASA's efforts to bring together in one location, all of NASA's multimedia resources available on the Web. The site includes NASA television, image gallery, video gallery, art gallery and interactive resources. The interactive resources link includes a micro-site that covers a range of NASA spin-offs such as "Ten Years on the International Space Station" and "Earth Science in 3D". NASA STI RSS Web Feeds This page explains what RSS feeds are, then describes the RSS feed services provided by NASA. They are updated daily and contain headlines that access citations and abstracts of the most recent additions to the NASA Aeronautics and Space Database. When available, citations will link to other sites for access to the full-text document. The page also allows you to subscribe to these feeds. NASA Strategic Plan 2000 This page provides access to the full text of the most recent NASA strategic plan. The report includes the administrator's strategic outlook, information concerning NASA's Strategic Management System, external assessment, the framework of the policy, strategic enterprises, and partnerships and collaboration. It is available in PDF format only, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it. NASA Tech Briefs Online : Engineering Solutions for Design and Manufacturing This newsletter site includes articles and news items on the latest spin-off developments from NASA including a TechSearch of over 6000 technologies available for license. Free subscription is available and an archive is available to search as well as a Tech Brief library to browse. A new NanoTech Brief is available as well as news items and articles on the latest developments in the bio-medical, materials, mechanics, motion control, manufacturing, machinery, photonics and test and measurement fields. NASA Technical Report Server (NTRS) The NASA Technical Report Server is an experimental service that allows users to search the many different abstract and technical report servers maintained by various NASA centers and programs. Specifically, it is a unified interface to many separate WAIS servers. NTRS is both a superset of the of the various servers, and a canonical listing of the servers. Clicking on "select the databases you would like to search", provides a summary of NTRS holdings including the number of abstracts, number of complete reports, and frequecy of update of each server.A Frequently Asked Questions provides additional information on how to search and obtain documents. NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) This website is the NASA Technical Report Server (NTRS), containing 14,457 NACA reports of which nearly 12,000 are in PDF format available online. It also contains publicly available NASA Scientific and Technical Information (STI) many that are available in PDF format. NASA Technical Reports Server This the NASA Technical Report Server (NTRS) containing 14,457 NACA reports of which nearly 12,000 have PDF images online. It also contains publicly available NASA Scientific Technical Information (STI) many that have PDF images too. NASA Technical Reports Server This the NASA Technical Report Server (NTRS) containing 14,457 NACA reports of which nearly 12,000 have PDF images online. It also contains publicly available NASA Scientific Technical Information (STI) many that have PDF images too. NASA's Solar System Exploration Programme This is part of NASA's Space Science Enterprise initiative. The goal of the programme is to understand the nature and history of the Solar System and the differences and similarities between Earth and other planets. The site gives details of the aims of the programme, details about past and present missions and the technology being developed and used. Visitors to the site can also interrogate the Planetary Data System (PDS), an archive of information from NASA planetary missions, amongst other resources. NASA's Sun Earth Connection Programme This is part of NASA's Space Science Enterprise initiative, the aim of which is to understand more about the Sun and and its influence on the Earth and other bodies. The site provides background information on the programme including missions, the strategic plan or Roadmap, research announcements, missions, the 'Living with a star' (LWS) initiative, the Solar Terrestrial Probes (STP) programme and an image gallery. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Home Page The NASA home page is the starting point for exploring NASA's many web sites. It contains a search box that enables you to search the whole site as well as links to NASA's Strategic Enterprises - Aerospace technology, Human exploration and the development of space, Biological and physical research, Earth Science and Space Science. There is a lot of information about the organisation such as a newsroom containing press releases, status reports, fact sheets, launch schedules and NASA biographies. National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Overview, FY2007 Budget in Brief, and Key Issues for Congress This is a Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for Congress RS22381 prepared by Marcia S. Smith and Daniel Morgan dated February 2006. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducts U.S. civilian space activities. For FY2006, NASA received $16,623 million when adjusted for two across-the-board rescissions and a $350 million augmentation for hurricane recovery. For FY2007, the request is $16,792 million, a 1% increase. NASA officials state that the FY2007 request is a 3.2% increase over FY2006 because they do not include the hurricane augmentation in their calculation. The key issue for Congress is how NASA is implementing the new Vision for Space Exploration, especially whether it is maintaining a balanced portfolio of programs that include science and aeronautics. NASA funding is appropriated in the Science, State, Justice, Commerce appropriations bill. In 2005, Congress passed a NASA authorization act (P.L. 109-155) that authorized NASA funding for FY2007 at $17,932 million. This report will be updated. [Takern from abstract]. The full text is available in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it. National Aerospace Technology Strategy Implementation Report The United Kingdom's The Aerospace Innovation and Growth Team (AeGIT) report on the Future of the UK Aerospace Industry, (Executive Summary (Vol A), Overview Report (Vol B)) published in July 2003, recommended the establishment of a National Aerospace Technology Strategy (NATS) as a partnership between Government, Industry and Academia. This follow-up report, published in August 2004, defines the background, process and structures necessary for the implementation of the AeGiT's strategy. The Implementation Report recommends the establishment of Aerospace Innovation Networks to carry out focused research followed by validation carried out through Aerospace Technology Validation Programmes, all of which involve industry, university and research establishment partners supported through balanced and coordinated industry and government funding. Furthermore, the report outlines the organisational structure required to carry forward the Technology work programme, this being done through an Aerospace Technology Steering Group interacting with the R&T Sub Group of the National Defence Industry Council. The full text of the report is available for downloading from the AeIGT website National Institute of Aerospace The U.S. NIA is a non-profit research and graduate education institute created to conduct leading-edge aerospace and atmospheric research, develop new technologies and help inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. It has been formed by a consortium of leading research universities with a variety of aims, including to foster research collaboration among national laboratories, academia and industrial partners to stimulate innovation and creativity. The site provides a detailed overview of the NIA's activities, seminars, workshops, short courses and outreach programmes. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration : Space Environment Center The Space Environment Center (SEC) provides real-time monitoring and forecasting of solar and geophysical events. Their site provides space weather data for the sun, interplanetary space, geomagnetism and near-earth. It is organised by space weather environment, by sensor, by program and format or by user group (such as navigation and electric power). Some of the data is real-time or near-real-time. National Space Society Encompassing a wide variety of interest groups, the National Space Society vision of the future is that people will live and work in thriving communities beyond earth, and thus it encourages commercial space enterprise, research, and development. The web site has a number of features of interest including coverage of shuttle mission blogs, and other related sites relevant to moon exploration. The Society issues the Society journal Ad Astra quarterly. There is also an excellent directory of other space related Internet sites and resources. There is a section on space settlement and a comprehensive section on space exploration and development. National Transportation Technology Plan The plan has been developed by the US National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Transportation Research and Development, dated May 2000. It presents updated implementation strategies for a number private-public technologypartnerships which include amongst others: Aviation Safety Research Alliance; Next Generation Global Air Transportation; and Next Generation Space Technology Transportation Technology. The text of the plan is available online in HTML format, and includes an executive summary, appendices and links to supporting documents. The web site is hosted by the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center. Naval Postgraduate School : Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics The Web site provides details about the Department, courses, research projects and laboratories. It is also possible to download a copy of the department brochure in PDF format. Of particular note is the 'Online Tools' section which contains Panel Code V1.2 for NACA 4 and 5 digit airfoils, Panel Code V2.0 for NACA 4/5-digit & UIUC database airfoils, and a Transonic Small Disturbance Solver, all of which can be freely viewed and downloaded. New Horizons : NASA's Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission This is the first spacecraft designed by NASA to study Pluto, the solar systems farthest planet. It was designed and built at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and is currently in the NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center for its next round of pre-launch tests. This Web site provides a host of information resources related to the mission and includes the mission overview information, science objectives, mission timeline, spacecraft details, educational links, news section, a gallery of images and other related links. NMP EO-1 : New Millenium Program Earth Observing-1 Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) is an advanced land-imaging mission and is a part of NASA's New Millenium Program (NMP). The mission objective was to demonstrate new instruments and spacecraft systems. The EO-1 spacecraft was launched on a Delta 7320 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, November 21, 2000. EO-1 had a 1-year primary mission lifetime but was designed to operate for an additional year. The mission has been successful in developing and validating a number of instrument and spacecraft bus breakthrough technologies designed to enable the development of future cost and mass efficient earth imaging observatories. This website provides the description of mission's general and extended baseline; spacecraft and instrument technologies; mission's investigation and validation reports in PDF formats; and a host of other educational resources. Northern Defence Industries
Northern Defence Industries Ltd (NDI) provides members with a range of consultancy and project management interventions which are designed to create business opportunity in the UK core markets. With a membership base of over 200 companies, NDI works with Prime Contractors, Systems Integrators, Ministry of Defence procurement, logistic and repair agencies to identify and recommend appropriate supplier and sub-contractor capability. NDI supports supply network companies with the aim of improving business opportunity, providing access to industry-relevant events and exhibitions, creating valuable networking opportunities and raising company profiles. NDI assists Systems Integrators and Global Prime Contractors by identifying and assembling supplier networks, by providing bid support and lobby activity and management/facilitation of supplier engagement events. NDI can also provide commercial services to members and non-members alike in the following areas: NPP : NPOESS Preparatory Project The National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) is a joint mission involving the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) and the NPOESS Integrated Program Office (IPO). The NPP mission aims at measuring the atmospheric and sea surface temperatures, humidity sounding, land and ocean biological productivity, and cloud and aerosol properties. The launch is scheduled for late in 2006 on the Delta II launch vehicle at Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. The website provides information on the NPP science objectives and instruments; partnering organizations; and project details. OBSIDIAN : Design of a Microsatellite This is a senior design project report submitted by Vanessa Cuenca, Christina Jimenez, Jennifer Lundquist and Sara Nazemian in 2004 to the Santa Clara University, California. The use of microspacecraft such as small satellites is growing due to miniaturization and cost constraints. The university community is a leader in developing these very small, low-mass spacecraft often as part of hands-on education programs. OBSIDIAN (On Board Solar Intensity Directed Instrumentation for the Akoya Nanosatellite), a student satellite team, is investigating the use of these spacecraft. The mission of the OBSIDIAN spacecraft is to explore the use of such small autonomous devices as wireless differential solar pressure actuators for future solar sail missions. In exploring this technology, the OBSIDIAN project team has developed a sub-kilogram spacecraft to analyze and communicate data. Highlights of this work include collecting solar intensity data and on-board communications with Akoya. This microsatellite is slated for launch on a sounding rocket in July 2004 in order to verify critical design features; In addition, OBSIDIAN will be launched on-board Washington University in St. Louis twenty-kilogram AKOYA Nanosatellite in December 2005. This work has successfully demonstrated the utility of microspacecraft for specific classes of missions and presents, in detail, the current mechanical and electrical design of the OBSIDIAN microsatellite. The fukk text of the report can be accessed as PDF document. Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM) The Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM) will be a follow-on to the TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) and Jason mission to accomplish two decades of observations and will launched into the same orbit as Jason in April of 2008. The OSTM will measure sea surface height to an accuracy of < 4 cm every ten days. The OSTM is a cooperative effort between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the space agency of France. This website consists of mission overview; technology and scientific instruments; news updates; and a gallery of images and videos. There are also links to OSTM predecessors TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) and Jason missions. Opening New Frontiers in Space : Choices for the Next New Frontiers Announcement of Opportunity This is a full text book made available by National Academies Press written by Committee on New Opportunities in Solar System Exploration: An Evaluation of the New Frontiers Announcement of Opportunity, National Research Council and dated 2008. The New Frontiers Program was created by NASA in 2002 at the recommendation of the NRC's decadal survey for solar system research. In order to optimize solar system research, the NRC recommended a series of principal-investigator missions that encourage innovation and accomplish the main scientific objectives presented in the survey. Two of the five recommended missions have been selected and, as was also recommended in the survey, the NRC was asked in 2007 to provide criteria and guiding principles to NASA for determining the list of candidate missions. This book presents a review of eight missions: the three remaining from the original list of five from the survey plus five missions considered by the survey committee but which were not recommended. Included in the review of each mission is a discussion of relevant science and technology developments since the survey and set of recommended science goals. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is available to read online in open book format. Opportunities to Improve Airport Passenger Screening with Mass Spectrometry This is an e-book published by National Academies Press and produced by Committee on Assessment of Security Technologies for Transportation, National Research Council in 2004. The book is first in the series of investigation of the technologies and opportunites to protect the travelling public from terrorsit threats involving explosives. It presents an assessment of mass spectrometry for enhanced trace detection (ETD) of chemicals contained in explosives. The report describes limitations of trace detection in general and the current technologies in particular. It also presents a discussion of the potential for mass spectrometry to improve EDT including challenges faced by such a system, recommendations for starting a program to take advantage of mass spectrometry, and recommendations for a phased implementation plan. Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) is a NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder Project (ESSP) mission designed to make precise, time-dependent global measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide from an Earth orbiting satellite. After mission launch in 2007, the OCO will provide space-based observations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the principal human-initiated driver of climate change. This mission will use mature technologies to address NASA's highest priority carbon cycle measurement requirement.The other partnering orgainsations are the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Orbital Sciences Corporation and Hamilton Sundstrand Sensor Systems. This website provides an overview of the mission alongwith its objectives and desription of the technology and scientific instruments. There is link to reference and project publications which are available in PDF format. There is a news update sections and also link to educational resources. Orders of Magnitude : A History of the NACA and NASA 1915-1990 This is part of the NASA Histories On-Line web site. The text by Roger E. Bilstein, was published orginally as NASA SP-4406, 1989. It presents a general history of NACA and NASA from the origins of NACA in 1915, through to the period of change at NASA since the Challenger disaster, and the publication of the Rogers Commission report in the spring of 1986. The full text is available online in HTML format. Outlook for Space Technology and Typical Tasks for High-Tech SMEs This is the full text of ESA SP 1249, available chapter by chapter in PDF format. It was published in January 2001, prepared by the ESA SME Unit, and edited by Bruce Battrick. The main purpose of the report is to identify examples of relevant technology fields in order to give small companies an idea about the technologies developed for space, and about typical tasks where the contribution of high-tech SMEs could benefit both space industry and space. Phoenix Mars Lander The Phoenix Mars Mission, a joint mission of NASA and the University of Arizona, is scheduled for launch in August 2007 and is the first in NASA's "Scout Program." Phoenix is designed to measure volatiles (especially water) and complex organic molecules in the arctic plains of Mars, where the Mars Odyssey orbiter has discovered evidence of ice-rich soil very near the surface. This website consists of the overview of the mission; its objectives and goals; description of the probe and its scientific instruments; news updates; launch timeline; calender of upcoming events; and videos and images. Planck The Planck is the ESA's mission which will collect and characterise radiation from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) using sensitive radio receivers operating at extremely low temperatures. An Ariane-5 launcher will carry Planck into space in July 2007. The website consists of detailed resources like the Planck's mission objectives and scientific instruments; spacecraft 3D models; launch details and information on launch vehicle and orbits/navigation; Planck's research information; news updates and publications; and images and videos. POES : Polar Operational Environmental Satellites The Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) Program is a cooperative effort between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United Kingdom (UK), and France. Currently, the POES mission is composed of two polar orbiting satellites known as the Advanced Television Infrared Observation Satellites (TIROS)-N (ATN). NOAA-N and NOAA-N', are the latest in this series of advanced TIROS-N (ATN) satellites. NOAA-N was successfully launched in May 2005 and NOAA-N'is scheduled to be launched in 2007. This website consists of a host of information resources related to the project history and current status; science objectives and instruments; launch information; and other related links. There are also multimedia links for the launch of NOAA-N spacecraft. Post-Challenger Assessment of Space Shuttle Flight Rates and Utilization This is a full text book made available by National Academies Press and produced by Committee on NASA Scientific and Technological Program Reviews, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems, National Research Council. The report was created following the Challenger loss and few months before the US President's statement announcing to build a fourth space shuttle and to end NASA's launching of commercial satellites. The report highlights the key assumption regarding whether the nation intended to have further manned space-flights or not, made for the assessment. The key issues identified and dealt with in the report include flight rates; fleet concept; launch demand; and payload partioning. The book is available in open book PDF form. Post-Challenger Evaluation of Space Shuttle Risk Assessment and Management This is a full text book available from National Academies Press and produced by Committee on Shuttle Criticality Review and Hazard Analysis Audit, Space Applications Board, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems, National Research Council. Following the Challenger accident, NASA initiated a wide range of actions designed to ensure greater safety in various aspects of the Shuttle system and improved focus on safety throughput the National Space Transportation System (NSTS) Program. NASA reviewed the certain safety critical items on the shuttle as well as the existing analyses of hazards that could affect shuttle operations and identified the needed improvements in the shuttle program. The specific features on which the study was focussed were: the Critical Items List; the Failure Modes and Effect Analysis (FMEA); and the Hazards Analysis and their Review. The report is available in open book PDF form. Preliminary Considerations Regarding NASA's Bioastronautics Critical Path Roadmap : Interim Report This is a full text book produced by the Committee on Review of NASA s Bioastronautics Critical Path Roadmap and is published by National Academies Press in 2005. The NASA�s Bioastronautics Critical Path Roadmap (BCPR) defines risk as �the conditional probability of an adverse event occurring, or a system performance-related inefficiency.� Potential hazards include exposure of the crew to space radiation, degraded crew performance related to human behavioral and other health changes, failure of life support systems, and the adverse effects of space flight on human biological systems including the musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, neurovestibular, endocrine, neuropsychiatric, and immune systems. Human factors are critically important in risk assessment and countermeasure development, including engineering design for human space flight. The BCPR is designed to provide summary assessments of the importance of each risk, and the current state of science and technology with respect to minimizing them. This is the interim report of the IOM (Institute of Medicine) committee�s review of NASA�s BCPR. The purpose of this report is to provide NASA with preliminary conclusions regarding the strengths and weakness of the BCPR. The committee�s final report, due in August 2005, will elaborate on these preliminary conclusions and provide NASA with recommendations about how to address the issues that are identified by the committee. PrePRINT Network : Department of Energy This service is a searchable gateway to preprint servers provided by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI). It is possible to search one site, a group of sites, or all the sites, or to browse an alphabetical listing of all preprint sites included on the service. An additional feature notifies individuals of new preprints that match a personally defined profile of subject interests. Subject areas covered include physics, mathematics, computer science, nonlinear sciences, engineering, and materials science. Project Apollo : The Tough Decisions This is a link to a monograph, a comprehensive report to the Apollo Manned Landing Lunar Program from 1 September 1960 to 5 January 1968 and outlines chronologically and in detail, the steps taken from the early Mercury and Gemini missions towards Apollo program. It has been written by Dr. Roberts C. Seamans Jr., who was the Deputy Administrator at NASA at the time. The report also describes the major and often complex deliberations that encouraged inputs from the broad range of informed internal Agency individuals in order to arrive at the resulting actions taken; it recognizes differences among their various views, including even sensitivities within the leadership of the Agency, and it acknowledges NASA�s relationships with the President and key executive branch personnel, as well as the very important and often complex relationships with members of Congress. Protecting the Space Shuttle from Meteoroids and Orbital Debris This is a full text book, available from National Academies Press and produced by Committee on Space Shuttle Meteoroid/Debris Risk Management, National Research Council. The space shuttle orbiter has already been struck many times by small meteoroids and orbital debris, but it has not been damaged severely. There is a real risk, however, that a meteoroid or debris impact could one day force the crew to abort a mission or might result in loss of life or loss of the shuttle itself. The present study assesses the magnitude of the problem and suggests changes that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration can make to reduce the risk to the shuttle and its crew. The text is available in open book format. QinetiQ Established in July 2001, QinetiQ comprises the greater part of what was the Defence and Evaluation Research Agency (DERA). QinetiQ has a wide range of science and technology interests including aerospace, defence, electronics, finance, healthcare, offshore, marine and offshore, telecommunications and media, security, space and transport. The web site describes the technogy areas in which QinetiQ have particular expertise as well as the industry and service sectors in which the company specialises. There is a selection of case studies which can be browsed by industry sector or searched by keyword. There is an 'About' section which contains financial information, details of where the business elements are located and an overview of the historical development of the company. The site also includes press releases, feature articles, careers information and a short introductory video (Running Time: 02:30) about the organisation. QuikSCAT : Quick Scatterometer QuikSCAT mission is intended to record sea-surface wind speed and direction data under all weather and cloud conditions over Earth's oceans. QuikSCAT was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, aboard a Titan II vehicle. The mission science objectives; spacecraft and instrument description; measurements; and news updates are available from this website. Readiness Issues Related to Research in the Biological and Physical Sciences on the International Space Station This is a full text book made available by National Academies Press and produced by Task Group on Research on the International Space Station, Space Studies Board, National Research Council in the year 2001. The International Space Station has been officially under development by NASA since the late 1980s. Numerous changes in schedule and cost projections throughout the 1990s have prompted reevaluations of the number and scale of the major facilities that would eventually be placed on board; the schedule for developing, deploying, and utilizing those facilities; and the critical resources such as crew time and power needed to support ISS science research. As a result, specific concerns over schedule delays and potential downgrading of the ISS research capabilities have been growing for several years in the scientific community. In the fall of 2000, Congress directed the National Research Council (NRC) and the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) to organize a joint study of the status of microgravity research in the life and physical sciences as it relates to the International Space Station (ISS). The study is being conducted in two phases. This phase-1 report addresses the question of the scientific communitys readiness to use the ISS for life and physical sciences and assesses the relative costs and benefits of dedicating an annual space shuttle mission to research versus simply maintaining the current schedule for assembly of the ISS. The text is available in open book PDF form. Realizing the Dream of Flight These essays in celebration of the Wright brothers’ first flight 100 years ago grew out of presentations by a group of prominent scholars in 2003 at a conference sponsored by the NASA History Division and held at the Great Lakes Sience Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The volume focuses on the careers of some of the many men and women who helped to realize the dream of flight both through the atmosphere and beyond. Remembering Columbia STS-107 This website presents detailed description and investigation of the catastrophic failure of the Columbia Space Shuttle on February 1, 2003, which led to the loss of all its seven crew members approximately 15 minutes before the shuttle was scheduled to touch down at the Kennedy Space Centre. The site covers information about the Columbia Shuttle; biographies and profiles of the crew members; accident related events timeline; documents pertinent to the accident and investigation; and Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) recommendations. There is also a link to an image gallery and bibliography. Rendezvous with the New Millennium This site provides the first report produced by the European Space Agency's Long-term Space Policy Committee (LSPC). The report attempts to present an outlook for space for the period 2000 - 2050. The report was published as ESA/SP-1187, in January 1995. The full text is available in HTML format. Report on the activities of Research and Scientific Support Department 2003-2004 This report on the activities of the Research and Scientific Support Department (RSSD) covers the two year period of 2003-2004 and is edited by A.Gimenez. It is prepared as an input to the Department's Advisory Committee. The report also covers the activities of the Science Payload and Advanced Concepts Office (SCI-A) owing to its closed links with many activities in RSSD and its history as the previous Science Payload Technology Division. The report is divided into four chapters and four annexes. Chapter 1 deals with department's role and organisation, Chapter 2 addresses the scientific research of the department staff, Chapter 3 provides a top level summary of the mission related activities at divisional level and Chapter 4 addresses variety of activities carried out by RSSD in its support to the community. The annexes include the contact details of the staff and a list of their scientific papers published in literature. The report is available in PDF. Reusable Launch Vehicle : Technology Development and Test Program This report (1996) is the result of the Committee on Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology and Test Program's work. It is available in PDF and HTML format. The objective of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Program is to develop technology and demonstrations for providing reliable, low cost access to space. Phase I of the RLV program consists of concept definition and technology development leading to a Phase II subscale flight demonstration vehicle, the X-33. Shortly after the NASA Office of Space Access and Technology requested that the National Research Council (NRC) examine the RLV Phase I technology development and test program, decision criteria for this phase were developed by NASA, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP); these criteria are cited in the body of the report. The NRC committee took these criteria into consideration when making judgments about whether the Phase I program would provide adequate information to "support a decision no later than December 1996 [whether] to proceed with a subscale launch vehicle flight demonstration which would prove the concept of single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO)." However, it needs to be emphasized that the committee assessed the extent to which the technology development programs represent rational paths (and alternatives) toward RLV goals. The NRC task was limited to the Phase I propulsion and materials technology programs; the NRC was asked not to assess the feasibility of SSTO. However, the technologies required for an SSTO vehicle were considered throughout the study because the Phase I development and test programs are structured to focus on three crucial areas in the development of a cost-effective SSTO vehicle: lightweight materials for the tanks and primary structure, efficient propulsion systems, and multimission reusability and operability. Materials considerably lighter than those currently used for the tanks and primary structure are required because reaching orbit with an SSTO vehicle (using current technologies) requires that about 90 percent of the vehicle's total mass at launch be propellant. In the propulsion area, a significant improvement in the thrust-to-weight (F/W) ratio (sea-level) of the engines is necessarycompared to the F/W ratio of the two existing large-thrust liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen engines, the Russian RD-0120 and the U.S. space shuttle main engine (SSME). Achieving orbit with the required payload is only part of the challenge that has been undertaken in the NASA/industry RLV program. The other, equally important challenge is to demonstrate a system that is capable of achieving a lower cost per launch. [Taken from abstract] Review of Business Support Related Civil Space Activities This report draws together the findings and recommendations from a research study commissioned by the United Kingdom's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) working with the British National Space Centre (BNSC). The work was undertaken by consultants SQW Limited in collaboration with academics from SPRU at the University of Sussex. It was published in November 2003 by the DTI's Technology, Economics, Statistics and Evaluation Unit (TESE). The work focussed on five programmes that help UK firms to undertake research and / or development work in connection with the space-related activities. The overall remit of the study was to strengthen the evidence base for business support-related civil space activity. The report draws on four modules that are presented as free-standing documents in a technical report. They cover: Methodology; Space Industry Context; Upstream results; and Downstream Market Applications. The text is available as a series of PDF files. RHESSI : Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager RHESSI is a NASA Small Explorer and was launched on February 5, 2002. RHESSI's primary mission is to explore the basic physics of particle acceleration and explosive energy release in solar flares. The quick science and technical facts about the RHESSI explorer are available from this site. The website also provides news updates; instrument and spacecraft desriptions; and presentations and publications. Links are available to related resources. Risk and Exploration : Earth, Sea and the Stars Risk and Exploration: Earth, Sea and the Stars (NASA SP-2005-4701) is edited by Steven J. Dick and Keith L. Cowing. The book contains the engaging, highly readable edited proceedings of a symposium that the NASA Administrator sponsored in September 2004 featuring luminaries in exploration from a variety of fields such as mountain climbing, polar expeditions, cave diving, and underwater robotics. This topic of balancing the risks and rewards of exploration, especially in the context of space, continues to be very relevant for historians, policymakers, and all those who follow NASA's activities. The book is available as PDF document. The individual articles listed in the contents page of the book can also be accessed by clicking on them. Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is the UK's leading professional body for astronomy, astrophysics, geophysics, solar and solar-terrestrial physics and planetary sciences. The RAS organises scientific meetings, publishes research and review journals and supports educational activities and lobbies government. The site provides information on membership, publications, meetings along with news and related links. The Society also maintains and extensive library and their online catalogue is available to search. RSSD Electronic Preprint Delivery Service Provided by ESA's Research and Scientific Support Department, this service provides access to over 1000 full text electronic preprints. The papers can be accessed by author, date and document reference. Rutherford Appleton Laboratory : Space Science and Technology Department This web site describes the work of the department, much of which is carried out in collaboration with UK university research groups. Current projects are outlined and missions and facilities are described. Selected Current Aerospace Notices Provided by NASA, this service is an electronic current awareness journal which is published twice a month. The aim of the service is to alert users to recently published report and journal literature about aeronautics and aerospace research. It is divided into broad topic areas (aeronautics, astronautics, chemistry and materials, engineering, geosciences, life sciences, mathematical and computer sciences, physics, social sciences and space sciences) which are further subdivided into 191 specific subject topics to aid browsing and identification of relevant publications. The service is also searchable. Sentinels The NASA Solar Sentinels mission is an inner heliophysics mission to investigate, characterize, and understand how the Sun determines the environment of the inner solar system, and more broadly how the heliosphere is formed. The Sentinels mission will provide multipoint in situ science measurements of the plasma, energetic particles, and fields’ environment close to the Sun in order to study the acceleration and propagation of solar energetic particles (SEPs), as well as the initiation and evolution of CMEs from the solar corona through the inner heliosphere, as depicted in Figure 1-1. The NASA Sentinels mission consists of four identically instrumented spinning spacecraft that will observe the energetic particle environment, the solar wind, and CME structures in the inner heliosphere by operating from 0.25 to 0.73 AU. Concepts for Sentinels missions have been studied for several years. However, the costs of producing and launching several spacecraft that can accommodate the required suite of instruments and survive the solar environment have been prohibitive. On 22 August 2007, NASA tasked The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) to conduct a new study, called Sentinels Lite, to re-evaluate the Solar Sentinels mission implementation with the goal of producing a technically feasible and low-risk mission design that would meet as many of the Sentinels science objectives as possible, for a total mission cost of less than $900M in real year dollars. The result of this study is a mission that meets all of these objectives for an estimated total mission cost of $875M. For cost estimating purposes, the study assumes a baseline project start date of January 2010 with a launch in August 2015. The launch window is several months long and reoccurs every 20 months for a similar mission trajectory profile and launch energy. A backup launch in 2017 has been included in this mission design; launch dates further out exist but were not evaluated in detail for this study. This new engineering and mission study led to the technical mission implementation described in this report, which clearly demonstrates a detailed mission concept that (1) is technically and programmatically feasible, (2) fully addresses the in situ science objectives, and (3) minimizes risk and cost of implementation. A pdf report for download can be found here Solar Sentinels: Report of the Science and Technology Definition Team, August 2006 (10.8MB) and Solar Sentinels: Mission Study Report, February 2008 (53.1MB) . Simulation Based Testing Environment for the GeneSat-1 Spacecraft This is a senior design project report submitted by Huang Tran, Alex Vidaurre and Tommy Shing to the Santa Clara University, California in June, 2005. NASA, Stanford University, California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, and Santa Clara University are working on a new experiment using satellites to study the effects of low or no gravity on bacteria known as the GeneSat Mission. This design project aims at providing a simulation-based hardware-in-the-loop testing environment for the satellite. This environment can be configured to provide low-cost medium-fidelity environmental stimulus to the system during its ground-based test phase. It can also be used to simulate satellite components that can interact with the rest of the space system. This system will be used during the ground satellites testing program that will be conducted beginning in the summer of 2005. The full text of the report is available as PDF document. Smaller than Small, Faster than Fast, Cheaper than Cheap : The BARNACLE Satellite Project This is a technical paper prepared by John O. O'Boyle, Pascal P. Stang and Nick J. Woods of SCREEM laboratory, Santa Clara University, California and was presented at the 12th Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites in September, 1998. The BARNACLE microsatellite is an extremely simple low-cost space vehicle for the characterisation of electronic instruments in space. The satellite was developed in less than one year by a group of seven undergraduate engineering students with no previous spacecraft design experience. After testing, the satellite will be launched in a tube configuration aboard a non-orbital sounding rocket. The full text of the paper can be accessed as a PDF document. SOFIA : Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy The is a weblink to SOFIA, which is the NASA and the DLR, German Aerospace Center collaboration project. SOFIA is an airborne observatory that will study the universe in the infrared spectrum. The website consists of a variety of resources related to the project including the project background information, science objectives and intstruments, the SOFIA aircraft, SOFIA mission schedule, a section on information for researchers and FAQs. There is a link to the articles on SOFIA mission and its predecessor, the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. The articles are available in PDF form. There is also a link to the multimedia gallery which has a host of pictures of SOFIA mission. The news section is also available and consists of the latest updates of SOFIA mission. Sorce : Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment SORCE is a NASA-sponsored satellite mission that is aimed at providing state-of-the-art measurements of incoming x-ray, ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, and total solar radiation. The SORCE spacecraft launched on January 25, 2003 on a Pegasus XL launch vehicle to provide NASA with precise measurements of solar radiation. This website provides an in depth information about the Sorce mission including the mission overview and background; science objectives and description of intruments; educational resources; news updates; and references. Space Careers The site is divided into three main areas: the Jobs Centre, an Industry Directory and News and Resources. There is a facility to upload your CV to their database and to search for jobs from over 500 companies offering positions in the space industry. Where available, a link is provided directly to the careers page(s) of those organisations but if these are not available a link is provided to the home page. The Resources section includes links to the trade press and news sites, to professional associations and to useful job-hunting sites. There is also a featured "Space Site of the Week." Space Command Sustainment Review. Improving the Balance Between Current and Future Capabilities This technical report (MG-518-AF) was produced by The RAND Corporation in 2007 and was written by Robert S. Tripp, Kristin F. Lynch, Shawn Harrison, John G. Drew and Charles Robert Roll, Jr. The ability to access and continuously operate in space is vital to the economic, social, and military interests of the United States. In part because of sometimes-conflicting demands and in part because space systems are highly specialized, sustainment can be a challenge. To help Air Force Space Command meet this challenge, the authors used a strategies-to-tasks framework to examine AFSPC sustainment as a whole, working toward a commandwide philosophy for space system support. The core of the philosophy is separation of demand-side, supply-side, and integrator processes and clear definition of roles and responsibilities at all levels of the command. Its adoption can provide a basis for enhancing processes, force development, doctrine, information systems, and organization across the command that can be sustained over time and through many leadership changes. The authors illustrate the implementation and benefits using specific systems and units, some of which have already demonstrated elements of this philosophy. [Taken from abstract]. This is a PDF file, so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it. Space Future This site is aimed at those who would like to travel to space. It presents the growing body of work being done to bring about popular space travel, and introduces the people and organizations who are working to make it a reality. Amongst other features, the site contains four topic areas (space tourism, space vehicles, space power and space habitat), an archive of full text papers and publications, a glossary of terms, the full text of Space Future Journal and several mailing lists. Space Jobs.Com Space Jobs is currently an advertising service for employers to broadcast their opportunities to potential candidates. It is updated daily with new vacancies information, and also contains recent news and mergers within the space field. Details are also provided for forthcoming events and conferences taking place worldwide. Space Operations : An Australian Perspective This paper was written for consideration at a meeting of the Air Force Research and Development Review Committee in May 1999 by Scott Wallis and David Fogg and is an Australian Air Power Development Centre working paper. The paper was intended to be forward-looking with the aim of identifying aspects of space operations that might be expected to play an influential role in the operation and/or effectiveness of the Australian Defence Force in the future. Space Primer This is produced by the Aerospace Corporation, a private, not-for-profit company which provides research, development and advisory services. The Space Primer is available in either HTML or PDF format and takes the form of a very basic online tutorial which covers rockets, propellants, thrust, energy and careers in aerospace, amongst other topics. It is aimed at students and teachers. Space Research Institute (IKI)
As one of the organisations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Space Research Institute (IKI) is concerned with the space exploration and the investigation of solar system planets. It is primarily involved in planning long-term space research programs, many of which forward international space research cooperation. The site includes details of current and future missions and details of the following programmes: Space Studies Board : Reports The Space Studies Board (SSB) provides an independent, authoritative forum for information and advice on all aspects of space science and applications. The Board conducts advisory studies and program assessments, facilitates international research coordination, and promotes communications on space science and science policy between the research community, the federal government, and the interested public. The Board annually sponsors a Summer Space Policy Internship Program. To learn more about the Board in addition to information contained in the Annual Report, you can review its current Operating Plan. The website also has a Reports page to view SSB publications and request complimentary copies. (Copies available as long as supplies last.) There are links to related science community sites for SSB visitors. Space Studies Board Annual Report 2007 This is a full text report made available by National Academies Press prepared by the National Research Council and published 2008. The original charter of the Space Science Board was established in June 1958, three months before the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) opened its doors. The Space Science Board and its successor, the Space Studies Board (SSB), have provided expert external and independent scientific and programmatic advice to NASA on a continuous basis from NASA’s inception until the present. The Board has also provided such advice to other executive branch agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Department of Defense, as well as to Congress. {Taken from abstract]. The full text is available to read online. Space Studies Board The Space Studies Board (SSB) is a program office within the Commission of Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications of the National Research Council, which is in turn the operational arm of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The SSB operates a number of standing committees, task groups, and workshops that perform studies in space science and policy for the federal government. Information resources available from the site include the latest operating plan, links to the various standing committees, details of ongoing and recently completed projects, a bibliography of reports (some of these are in full-text) and access to the Space Studies Bulletin (quarterly newsletter). Space Technology 7 The Space Technology 7 (ST7) mission is managed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Astronomy and Physics Directorate manages ST7's DRS (Disturbance Reduction System) technology development, in partnership with Goddard Space Flight Center, Stanford University, and the Busek Company, Incorporated. This mission is aimed at aiding NASA scientists in their quest to detect and measure gravitational waves, and will be flight tested in late 2009 or 2010 according to NASA's New Millenium Program (NMP). This website consists of background information about the mission; detailed information about the spacecraft technology and scientific instruments; benefits of the mission; educational links; quick facts about the mission and launch information; and details of the partners. A Spanish version of the site is also available. Space Telescope Science Institute The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)is the astronomical research centre responsible for operating the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) as an international observatory. The Web site has six major sections. Astronomy Resources provides a wide range of information services and software tools to astronomers and the public. The Multi-Mission Archive at Space Telescope (MAST) supports a variety of astronomical data archives, with the primary focus on scientifically related data sets in the optical, ultraviolet, and near-infrared parts of the spectrum derived from the HST, the Digitized Sky Survey, the Guide Star Catalog, and many other NASA missions. The HST section contains instrumentation descriptions, instructions for writing and submitting observing proposals, how to retrieve and analyze HST data, and images from the telescope. The resources section contains links to datasets, software descriptions, and publications, including a newsletter, searchable HST bibliography and a collection of online conference papers. A section of the site is concerned with another of the STScI's major projects, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The site also provides background information on the Institute including its governance, contact details, and employment opportunities Space.com Space.com is a website devoted to news items about space. This includes spaceflight, space science, technology, entertainment (films and TV programs on space), images, SETI (search for life), the night sky and business space news. The site contains an 'image of the day', an image gallery, message boards and a free email newsletter. Spacecast 2020 Home Page In May 1993, the chief of staff of the United States Air Force directed Air University to undertake a study to identify capabilities for the period of 2020 and beyond, and the technologies to enable them which will best support preserving the security of the United States. The site brings together a range of information resources relating to this 10 month study. The full-text of the four volume final report are available in HTML format. In addition there are a number of supporting documents including the executive summary, the Spacecast 2020 Process, Alternative Fututres and Operational Analysis. These documents are avilable in Microsoft Word 6.0 and Adobe Acrobat 2.1 versions. Please note this version of th esite is hosted by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) SpaceDaily This site is devoted to reporting the latest news from the industry. Current news headlines are available in brief from the home page, clicking on the title expands the story. 'Channels' are available such as MarsDaily and Station News. The site can also be searched and there is a free daily email newsletter which can be received after free registration Spitzer The Spitzer Space Telescope (formerly SIRTF, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility)is a space-borne, cryogenically-cooled infrared observatory capable of studying objects ranging from our Solar System to the distant reaches of the Universe. It was launched into space by a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida on 25 August 2003. During its 2.5-year mission, Spitzer will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space between wavelengths of 3 and 180 microns (1 micron is one-millionth of a meter). Spitzer will be the final mission in NASA's Great Observatories Program - a family of four orbiting observatories, each observing the Universe in a different kind of light (visible, gamma rays, X-rays, and infrared). Other missions in this program include the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO), and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory(CXO). Spitzer is also a part of NASA's Astronomical Search for Origins Program, designed to provide information which will help us understand our cosmic roots, and how galaxies, stars and planets develop and form. This website provides information about the mission history, science and spacecraft technology and mission current status. There is a news gallery which consists of host of images and videos related to the spacecraft hardware, launch and collected data. Links are also available to feature articles and news updates. STAR : Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports This site provides access to cumulative listings of NASA reports which are published biweekly as an electronic journal in PDF format. The journal announces the following types of document - NASA, NASA Contractor and NASA grantee reports, reports issued by other US Governmental agencies, domestic and foreign institutions, translations in report form, NASA-owned patents and patent applications, other US Government agency patents and domestic and foreign dissertations and theses. Documents can be located by an author and a subject index and cover the following subject areas - aeronautics, space, energy development, conservation, oceanography, and environmental protection. It is available back to January 1996 Stardust : NASA's Comet Sample Return Mission Stardust is the first U.S. space mission dedicated solely to the exploration of a comet, and the first robotic mission designed to return extraterrestrial material from outside the orbit of the Moon. The Stardust spacecraft was launched on February 7, 1999, from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida, aboard a Delta II rocket. The primary goal of Stardust is to collect dust and carbon-based samples during its closest encounter with Comet Wild 2 - pronounced "Vilt 2" after the name of its Swiss discoverer - is a rendezvous scheduled to take place in January 2004, after nearly four years of space travel. This website brings together wealth of information about the mission like mission timeline; mission current status; and spacecraft and instrument details. There is also background information available about the mission goals and science objectives. Links are available to news updates, reference publications and sites and other educational resources. There is also an image gallery which has spacecraft and mission pictures. Statistical Software Engineering This is a full text book made available by National Academies Press and produced by Panel on Statistical Methods in Software Engineering, National Research Council. The book identifies challenges and opportunities in the development and implementation of software that contain significant statistical content. While emphasizing the relevance of using rigorous statistical and probabilistic techniques in software engineering contexts, it presents opportunities for further research in the statistical sciences and their applications to software engineering. It is intended to motivate and attract new researchers from statistics and the mathematical sciences to attack relevant and pressing problems in the software engineering setting. It describes the "big picture," as this approach provides the context in which statistical methods must be developed. The book's survey nature is directed at the mathematical sciences audience, but software engineers should also find the statistical emphasis refreshing and stimulating. The text is available in open book PDF form. Stepping-Stones to the Future of Space Exploration : A Workshop Report NASA's Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) program within the Office of Space Flight has proposed a new framework for space technology and systems development Advanced Systems, Technology, Research, and Analysis (ASTRA) for future space flight capabilities. To assist in the development of this framework, NASA asked the National Research Council to convene a series of workshops on technology policy issues concerning the relationship of the various stakeholders in advancing human and robotic exploration and development of space. The first workshop, which is the topic of this report, focused on policy issues about the development and demonstration of space technologies. Four policy topics selected by the project steering committee as the foci of this first workshop are discussed in the report: the rationale for human and robotic space exploration; technology as a driver for capability transformation; risk mitigation and perception; and international cooperation and competition. STEREO : Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory Mission The STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) is the third mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes program (STP). It is a 2-year mission employing two nearly identical observatories to provide 3-D measurements of the Sun to study the nature of coronal mass ejections. This site consists of the background information of the mission; details of the spacecraft, instruments and launch schedule; news sections about the current status of the mission; learning centre; gallery of images of the mission; and links to related resources. Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (SAGE-3) Meteor SAGE III is a joint mission between NASA and the Russian Space Agency (RSA). The SAGE III instrument was developed and managed by NASA Langley Research Center and was built by Ball Aerospace in Boulder, CO. It is one of nine experiments on the Russian Meteor-3M (1) spacecraft. It provides accurate, long-term measurements of ozone, aerosols, water vapor and other key parameters of Earth's atmosphere. NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) consists of a series of spaceborne instruments to monitor crucial components of the Earth system, an advanced data handling system, and teams of scientists who will evaluate on-going climate change and predict future changes. SAGE III's role in the EOS program is to provide global, long-term measurements of key components of the Earth's atmosphere. In addition, SAGE III also provides unique measurements of temperature in the stratosphere and mesosphere and profiles of trace gases such as water vapor and nitrogen dioxide that play significant roles in atmospheric radiative and chemical processes. The SAGE III was successfully launched onboard a Meteor-3M spacecraft on December 10, 2001 at 17:18:57 UTC from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The satellite is in a sun-synchronous orbit with an ascending node time of about 9 AM. This website brings together information about the mission like mission, spacecraft and science details, library of reference articles and publications and a link to access satellite measured data. Swift Gamma Ray Burst Explorer Although gamma ray bursts are the largest known explosions in the Universe, outshining the rest of the Universe when they explode unpredictably in distant galaxies, their underlying nature and the cause of the explosion are true mysteries of astrophysics. Swift, a US, UK and Italian collaboration project, is a three-telescope space observatory for studying the position, brightness, and physical properties of gamma ray bursts. Within seconds of detecting a burst, Swift will relay a burst's location to ground stations, allowing both ground-based and space-based telescopes around the world the opportunity to observe the burst's afterglow. Swift is part of NASA's medium explorer (MIDEX) program and was launched into a low-Earth orbit on a Delta 7320 rocket on November 20, 2004. The site provides the background information about the Swift telescope. Information is also available on Swift results and latest updates. There are links to operations and timelines; supporting information about Swift science objectives and other educational resources. Technology Development: New DOD Space Science and Technology Strategy Provides Basis for Optimizing Investments, but Future Versions Need to Be More Robust This technical report (GAO-05-155) was published by the United States General Accounting Office in January 2005. The Department of Defense (DOD) is depending heavily on new space-based technologies to support and transform future military operations. Yet there are concerns that efforts to develop technologies for space systems are not tied to strategic goals for space and are not well planned or coordinated. In the National Defense Authorization Act for 2004, the Congress required DOD to develop a space science and technology (S&T) strategy that sets out goals and a process for achieving those goals. The Congress also required GAO to assess this strategy as well as the required coordination process. [Taken from abstract]. This available in PDF format so will require Adobe Acrobat software in order to read it. The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) : Implications of a Potential Descope This is a full text report produced by the Committee to Review the Science Requirements for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, National Research Council and has been published by National Academies Press in 2005. The committee conducted a study to evaluate the consequences of a descope of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), which is intended to be the major, ground based observational facilityfor millimeter and submillimeter astronomy for the next three decades. The committee was asked to consider the scientific consequences of reducing the number of active antennas from 60 to either 50 or 40. The report presents the conclusions and recommendations of the study led by the committee. The Birth of NASA This is the diary of T. Keith Glennan, when he was appointed as the first Administrator of the newly authorized National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on 19 August 1958. Glennan's move from CIT to NASA came about because of the Soviet Union's successful launch of Sputnik I on 4 October 1957, as part of the scientific activities associated with the International Geophysical Year (IGY). Glennan headed NASA from its inception until the change of presidential administrations in 1961. This document is available in HTML format. The Evaluation of Funding for UK Civil Space Activity : An Overall Report and Reports by the Individual Funding Partners The page provides access to UK Department of Trade and Industry Assessment Paper No.42 (URN 01/1032), dated July 2001. It presents a comprehensive review of the of the impact and achievements of public support for UK civil space activities. It examines both DTI support for such activities and that of the other Funding Partners of the British national Space Centre. The text is available chapter-by-chapter in PDF format. The Human Exploration of Space This is a full text book available from National Academies Press and was produced by Committee on Human Exploration, National Research Council in the year 1997. The Space Studies Board (SSB) constituted the Committee on Human Exploration (CHEX) in 1989 to examine the general question of the space science component of a future human exploration program. Earlier two reports were produced addressing issues like the the need for scientific knowledge to enable prolonged human space missions and scientific opportunities that might be derived from prolonged human space missions. During the development of these first two reports, it became evident to the committee that the mode of interaction between space science and human exploration has varied over the years, as evidenced by a succession of different NASA organizational structures. The committee reviewed the history of this interaction with the objective of developing a 'lessons-learned' set of principles and recommendations for the future. The principles and recommendations thus evolved for managing the science component of a Moon/Mars program, whenever and however it is pursued, transcend political and administrative changes. While this report is not intended to dictate precise organizational models, application of these principles and recommendations should facilitate a productive integration of science into a program of human exploration. The Internet Encyclopedia of Science David Darling's Encyclopedia of science aims to provide a comprehensive guide to the living universe. It is an on-line A-Z to which new entries are being added and existing ones updated regularly. The goal is to provide a comprehensive directory to all aspects of the search for life in the universe, including contemporary astrobiology, SETI, space missions, advanced propulsion concepts, historical aspects, and biographies (past and present). The site also provides information about the author and the books he's published, news and a news archive, a forum discussion board, links and a newsletter that you can sign-up to. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s FY2006 Budget Request: Description, Analysis, and Issues for Congress This is a Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for Congress RL32988, prepared by Marcia S. Smith and Daniel Morgan and dated January 2006. For FY2006, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) requested $16.456 billion. That amount was a 2.4% increase over the $16.070 billion adjusted for the rescission) appropriated in the FY2005 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 108-447). NASA also received a $126 million supplemental for damages caused by the 2004 Florida hurricanes, yielding a total of $16.196 billion for FY2005. The FY2006 request was 1.6% above that amount. By comparison, the White House had projected in 2004 that NASA’s budget would increase by 4.7%. NASA submitted a FY2006 budget amendment on July 15; total funding for the agency did not change. The Administration requested $324.8 million for NASA in the October 28, 2005 reallocation package that included funds for relief from the 2005 hurricanes.NASA’s congressionally-approved FY2006 funding is a combination of $16.456 billion in the FY2006 Science, State, Justice, Commerce Appropriations Act ( P.L. 109-108), minus a 0.28% across-the-board rescission in that act, minus a 1% acrossthe- board rescission in the FY2006 Department of Defense appropriations and hurricane recovery act (P.L. 109-148), plus $350 million added for NASA for hurricane recovery in P.L. 109-148. Congress passed a 2005 NASA authorization bill (P.L.109-155). It contains many policy provisions, and authorizes NASA funding for FY2007-2008 (but not FY2006). Congressional debate over NASA is centered on plans to implement the Vision for Space Exploration, announced by President Bush in January 2004. The Vision calls for NASA to return humans to the Moon by 2020, and someday send them to Mars. President Bush did not propose adding significant funding to NASA’s five-year budget plan to implement the Vision. Instead, the agency must redirect funds from its other activities. NASA’s resources are being strained by that decision, increased funding requirements for returning the space shuttle to flight status, cost growth in existing programs, and the need to fund congressionally-directed items. NASA Administrator Dr. Michael Griffin states repeatedly that NASA cannot afford all the programs on its plate, and priorities must be set. He also is changing the emphasis on some of the Vision-related activities. For example, he is accelerating development of a Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) to reduce an expected multi-year gap between when the space shuttle is to be terminated (2010) and the availability of the CEV. During that gap, the United States would be dependent on Russia for taking astronauts to and from space. To pay for accelerating the CEV, Dr. Griffin is reducing funding for other activities. NASA’s FY2006 budget request also assumed a reduction of about 2,500 NASA civil servants by the beginning of FY2007. The FY2006 appropriations act that includes NASA (P.L. 109-108) restricts NASA’s use of buyouts and Reductions in Force (RIFs), and the2005 NASA authorization act (P.L.109-155) prohibits RIFs or other involuntary separations (except for cause) prior to March 16, 2007. This is the final edition of this report. An abbreviated version is available as CRS Report RS22063. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is avialble in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it. The Planetary Society
The Planetary Society is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation whose aim is to encourage the exploration of the solar system and the search for extraterrestrial life. Its web site provides an introduction to its aims, news headlines and events, a Learning Center The Space Review : Essays and Commentry about the Final Frontier The Space Review is an online publication which aims at publishing in-depth articles, essays, editorials, and reviews on a wide range of space-related topics. The focus is on articles that will provide a deeper examination of key space issues, events, history, and related topics. These articles allow the reader to take a step back and get a glimpse of the bigger picture and the ongoing effort to create a spacefaring civilization that is obscured when you focus on day-to-day events. The Space Review provides a critical perspective by publishing articles that make readers stop and think about where we've been and where we're going in space. The list of articles dates back till 2003. Subscription to the site is free. The Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) SWAS is one of NASA's Small Explorer Program (SMEX) missions. The overall goal of the mission is to gain a greater understanding of star formation by determining the composition of interstellar clouds and establishing the means by which these clouds cool as they collapse to form stars and planets. It was launched into low Earth orbit on December 05, 1998. The SWAS Science Operations Center is located at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This website brings together information about the mission like spacecraft and instrument details, satellite current status, and images and photos. There is a link to reference publications and other educational resources. Thermal Protection System for Space Vehicles This article is written by Jeffrey D. Guthrie, Briggitte Battat and Barbara K. Severin and was published in Amptiac MaterialEase in 2000. Thermal protection systems are essential for the successful launch and operation of all spacecraft, manned and unmanned. The selection of the system depends on the mission of the spacecraft. In essence, the thermal protection system is a system of materials working together to protect the vehicle. This article addresses issues related to the design of the thermal protection system including: mission environment, mechanism of thermal protection and choice of protection system. The full text of the article can be accessed as a PDF document. Theses Canada Portal This is the central access point for locating informating relating to theses produced at Canadian Universities. A national programme to make theses and dissertations that have been accepted by Canadian universities easily accessible to researchers has been operating since 1965. The portal provides access to AMICUS, Canada's national online catalogue, containing metadata (bibliographic details) of all theses contained in Library and Archives since the establishment of the programme. It also provides free access to full text versions of theses and dissertations digitized between 1998 and 2002. In April 2004 a pilot project was started with University of Laval and the University of Waterloo to harvest theses metadata and electronic theses in PDF format. The option to submit electronic theses directly to Theses Canada should be available to universities with electronic theses submission programmes by the end of 2004. TIMED : Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Energetics and Dynamics The TIMED mission is aimed at studying the influence of the Sun and humans on the least explored region of Earth's atmosphere- the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere/Ionosphere (MLTI). The TIMED spacecraft was launched in December, 2001, from Vanderberg Air Force Base, California aboard Delta II launch vehicle. The TIMED current mission data and news updates are available from this site. There are also links to educational resources which contain the TIMED mission details. Links to TIMED mission photos and movies are available. Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) - Earth Probe (EP) The Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer, launched in July 1996 onboard an Earth Probe Satellite (TOMS/EP), continues NASA's long-term daily mapping of the global distribution of the Earth's atmospheric ozone. The TOMS instrument has mapped in detail the global ozone distribution as well as the Antarctic "ozone hole," which forms September through November of each year. In addition to ozone, TOMS measures sulfur dioxide released in volcanic eruptions. The extremely high quality of TOMS ozone data has also helped scientists in detecting a small but steady long-term damage to the ozone layer over several parts of the globe, including most of the heavily populated areas in the northern mid-latitudes. This website brings together information on the TRMM mission, spacecraft and instrument details, and plots of measured data. There are links available to images and video, educational resources and reference publications. TRACE : Transition Region And Coronal Explorer The Transition Region and Coronal Explorer is a NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) mission to image the solar corona and transition region at high angular and temporal resolution. The TRACE spacecraft was launched on a Pegasus launch vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base in April 1998. The TRACE project maintains an Open Data Policy and current data are available from this site. The site also provides information about TRACE mission background; spacecraft and instrument details; operations information; news updates; and TRACE image and movie gallery. Transforming Remote Sensing Data into Information and Applications This is a full text report produced by the Steering Committee on Space Applications and Commercialization, National Research Council and was published by National Academies Press in 2001. This report draws on data and information obtained in the workshop planning meeting with agency sponsors, information presented by workshop speakers and in splinter group discussions, and the expertise and viewpoints of the authoring Steering Committee on Space Applications and Commercialization. The recommendations are the consensus of the steering committee and not necessarily of the workshop participants. The steering committee focused on civilian remote sensing applications in the coastal environment. The workshop featured three case studies in coastal management involving (1) the application of Sea-viewing Wide-Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) data in monitoring harmful algal blooms, (2) the use of airborne lidar bathymetry for monitoring navigation channels, and (3) the use of both satellite and aerial remote sensing to identify sewage outflows. All three provided detailed information on the applications as well as problems encountered in developing them, allowing the steering committee to learn from the real-world experiences of particular users. In addition, participants in five workshop splinter sessions on education and training, institutional, technical, and policy issues in technology transfer, and user awareness and needs identified and discussed more general barriers and bottlenecks that interfere with the development of remote sensing applications and also explored ways to overcome such problems.This material provided a basis for much of the steering committee's analysis and figured significantly in its development of the report's findings and recommendations. The report is available in PDF. TransOrbital Inc This site belongs to a company whose goal is the commercial exploration and development of space. Details are given of TransOrbital's planned lunar missions and the products that will arise from these missions including a high resolution lunar atlas, still photographs and video. Other engineering support and analysis services are also provided and these are outlined. The 'Library' section contains press releases, notes from conferences attended by employees and full text papers in both HTML and PDF format. Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) designed to monitor and study tropical rainfall. TRMM is particularly devoted to determining rainfall in the tropics and subtropics of the earth. These regions make up about two thirds of the total rainfall on Earth and are responsible for driving our weather and climate system. This website provides information on the mission details, spacecraft and instrument description, news updates and images and videos. There are also links available to educational resources and reference publications. U.S. Space Programs: Civilian, Military, and Commercial This is a Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for Congress IB92011 prepared by Marcia S, Smith dated February 2006. The 109th Congress is addressing a broad range of civilian, military, and commercial space issues. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducts the most visible space activities. For FY2006, NASA received $16.623 billion when adjusted for two rescissions and an augmentation for hurricane recovery. The FY2007 request is $16.792 billion. The future of the U.S. human space flight program is dominating debate about NASA. The space shuttle returned to flight in July 2005 after a two and one-half year hiatus following the 2003 Columbia tragedy, but the next launch has been indefinitely postponed because of a foam-shedding event during that launch similar to what led to the loss of Columbia. Pursuant to the “Vision for Space Exploration” announced by President Bush in January 2004, the shuttle program is to be terminated in 2010. The Vision directs NASA to focus its activities on returning humans to the Moon by 2020 and eventually sending them to Mars. The Vision has broad implications for the agency, especially since most of the money to implement it is expected to come from other NASA activities. Congress is debating the many issues raised by the Vision, including what the balance should be among NASA’s various space and aeronautics activities, and whether the United States should end the shuttle program before a replacement is available. The Department of Defense (DOD) has a less visible but equally substantial space program. Tracking the DOD space budget is extremely difficult since space is not identified as a separate line item in the budget. DOD sometimes releases only partial information (omitting funding for classified programs) or will suddenly release without explanation new figures for prior years that are quite different from what was previously reported. Figures provided to CRS show a total (classified and unclassified) space budget of $19.4 billion for FY2003, $20 billion for FY2004, $19.8 billion for FY2005, and a request of $22.5 billion for FY2006. The final figure for FY2006 and the FY2007 requests are not yet available. How to manage DOD space programs to avoid the cost growth and schedule delays that have characterized several recent projects is a key issue facing DOD. The appropriate role of the government in facilitating commercial space businesses is an ongoing debate. For many years, the focus has been on space launch services, but commercial remote sensing satellites also pose complex questions. President Bush signed a new commercial remote sensing policy in 2003, and a new space launch policy in 2004, that try to strike a balance between facilitating commercial activities while ensuring the U.S. government has needed data and services. International cooperation and competition in space are affected by the world economic situation and the post-Cold War political climate. President Clinton’s 1993 decision to merge NASA’s space station program with Russia’s is symbolic of the dramatic changes, and the risks. [Taken from abstract]. The full text is in PDF format so Adobe Acrobat software will be required in order to read it. UARS : Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite UARS is the first spacecraft launched as part of NASA's systematic, comprehensive study of the Earth system. It was launched on 12 September 1991 and deployed in a near polar orbit on 15 September 1991 from the Space Shuttle Discovery. UARS, the first satellite dedicated to studying stratospheric science, focuses on the processes that lead to ozone depletion, complementing and amplifying the measurements of total ozone made by the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) onboard NASA's Nimbus-7 and the Russian Meteor-3 satellites. UARS also measures winds and temperatures in the stratosphere as well as the energy input from the Sun. In its first two weeks of operation, UARS data confirmed the polar ozone-depletion theories by providing three-dimensional maps of ozone and chlorine monoxide near the South Pole during development of the 1991 ozone hole. UARS, developed and managed by GSFC, in Greenbelt, Md., provides information that nations around the world can use to guide decisions on environmental policies, according to scientists. UARS was designed to last 18 months, but parts of it are still operational. The United Kingdom and Canada both provided instruments for this mission. This website provides a detailed description of UARS project including information about its instruments; movies and images; project's current status; data plots; orbital information; and UARS brochure and link to publications and reference material. UK Space Agency
The UK Space Agency is an executive agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and at the heart of UK efforts to explore and benefit from space. The Agency is responsible for all strategic decisions on the UK civil space programme and provides a clear, single voice for UK space ambitions. The UK Space Agency: UK Space Strategy : 2003-2006 and Beyond Produced by the British National Space Centre (BNSC) in 2003 this document sets out the UK Government's 3 year space strategy. There are 3 key objectives: to enhance the UK's standing in astronomy, planetary and environmental sciences, to stimulate increased productivity through promoting the use of space in government, science and commerce, and to develop innovative space technologies and systems to deliver sustainable improvement in quality of life. It focusses on the next three years, but also sets out the long-term perspective to 2015. It is available in PDF format. UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (UKSEDS) SEDS is an international organisation of students dedicated to raising awareness of space education and space related issues in society. The organisation was founded in the United States in 1980 by students at MIT and Princeton University and now has more than 60 branches worldwide. UKSEDS was formed in 1988 and is one of the fastest growing national SEDS groups. The site contains a number of space-related mailing lists to which users can subscribe, and a news archive. Ulysses Ulysses is a joint NASA and ESA mission to study the sun at all altitudes. ESA provided the spacecraft and NASA provided the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG), the launch vehicle, the payload assist module and is providing data reception via deep space network. The Shuttle Discovery launched the Ulysses spacecraft on October 6, 1990. To reach high solar latitudes, the spacecraft was aimed close to Jupiter so that Jupiter's large gravitational field would accelerate Ulysses out of the ecliptic plane to high latitudes. After more than 12 years in flight, Ulysses has returned a wealth of data that has led to a much broader understanding of the Global Structure of the Sun's environment-the heliosphere. This website brings together mission information; science and spacecraft details; and image and photo gallery. There is a link to news updates and information resources. US-European-Japanese Workshop on Space Cooperation : Summary Report This is the full text of a report published by the National Academy Press in 2000. The report is produced by the Space Research Committee, the Science Council of Japan, the European Space Science Committee, the European Science Foundation and the Committee on International Space Programs, National Research Council. It is possible to search the text of the report, or alternatively view a listing of sections and select which one to view. It is available in HTML format. Utilization of Operational Environmental Satellite Data : Ensuring Readiness for 2010 and Beyond This a a full text book produced by the Committee on Environmental Satellite Data Utilization (CESDU), National Research Council and was published by National Academies Press in 2001. The focus of this report is the use of satellite data for civilian rather than defense or national security purposes. It is expected that as a result of expanding Earth-observing capability, novel ways of using satellite data that will have an increasing impact on citizens' daily lives will be developed. Thus satellite data providers will have to continuously evolve, revise, and in some cases radically redefine their role as well as plan for increased research, operations, and infra- structure. The high-level training required by such personnel and the continuing education of users are equally important and also must be planned and provided for. In this report, the CESDU offers findings and recommendations aimed at defining specific approaches to resolving the potential overload faced by the two agencies, NOAA and NASA, responsible for satellite data. The committee has focused on the end-to-end utilization of environmental satellite data by characterizing the links from the sources of raw data to the end requirements of various user groups, although, given its limited scope, the committee could not thoroughly examine every link in the chain. CESDU's goal is to characterize and provide sensible recommendations in three areas, namely, (1) the value of and need for environmental satellite data, (2) the distribution of environmental satellite data, and (3) data access and utilization. The committee's findings are based on its members knowledge of trends in technology; past lessons learned; users stated requirements; and other supporting information. The text is available in open book PDF form. Wind mission (Understanding Interplanetary Dynamics) This is a NASA website that brings together a range of information regarding related to Wind mission. Wind was launched on November 1, 1994 and is the first of two NASA spacecraft in the Global Geospace Science initiative and part of the ISTP Project. The objectives of the mission are to provide complete plasma, energetic particle, and magnetic field input for magnetospheric and ionospheric studies. Its mission also aims to determine the magnetospheric output to interplanetary space in the up-stream region and investigate basic plasma processes occurring in the near Earth solar wind. Finally, another objective is to offer the baseline ecliptic plane observations to be used in the helliospheric latitudes from ULYSSES. The website offers useful links to data, instrumentation, educational links, orbits and many more. Windows to the Universe Funded by NASA, this is a learning system on the Earth and Space sciences for the use of the general public. Documents, images, movies, animations, and data sets that explore the Earth and Space sciences and the historical and cultural ties between science, exploration and the human experience are included. Whilst it is more appropriate to a general audience rather than a purely academic one, the space missions section contains brief descriptions of manned and unmanned missions. The information relating to the various celestial bodies, eg planets, asteroids, comets etc, may be useful for quick reference purposes. WMAP : Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe WMAP is NASA Explorer mission measuring the temperature of the cosmic background radiation over the full sky with unprecedented accuracy. The WMAP mission reveals conditions as they existed in the early universe by measuring the properties of the cosmic microwave background radiation over the full sky. This microwave radiation was released approximately 380,000 years after the birth of the universe. WMAP creates a picture of the microwave radiation using temperature difference measured from opposite directions (anisotropy). WMAP was launched in June of 2001 and has made a map of the temperature fluctuations of the CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) radiation with much higher resolution, sensitivity, and accuracy than NASA's earlier satellite COBE(Cosmic Background Explorer). This site provides in depth information about the mission, spacecraft and instrument details, current status and image gallery of collected data. Background information and news updates are also available. World Spaceflight News (WSN) This is a US based independent space news site, that is heavily focused on the Shuttle and the US space programme. Its features include space shuttle mission reports, evaluations of mission outcomes, a current astronaut database, safety issues, and a directory of over 1000 space related web sites. Catalogue of WSN American Space Encyclopedia and WSN special reports in printed book format can be ordered from the website. Last Updated: October, 2000. World Wide Web Virtual Library: Aerospace This section of the WWW Virtual Library is provided by Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and is browseable by subject category. The service attempts to be comprehensive in its coverage, and thus includes links to information on all sectors involved in aerospace and space from commercial manufacturers and businesses to government agencies, academia, research and industry. There are sections on NASA and the European Space Agency, and there is a page concerned with software engineering sites. |
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