NASA tests lunar robots spacesuits on Earthly moonscape: related news

NASA tests lunar robots, spacesuits on Earthly moonscape

Conditions on the moon will be harsher, but prototype NASA robotic vehicles braved sand storms and unprecedented temperature swings this month on sand dunes near Moses Lake, Wash., to prepare for future lunar expeditions. Teams from seven NASA centers and several universities conducted the tests from June 2-13.

NASA Shakes, Bakes, and Rattles Lunar Spaceship

coondoggie writes to tell us that NASA has apparently successfully concluded putting the new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter through its paces. Using vibration and rotation tests NASA scientists were able to determine the center of gravity and were also able to observe the structural integrity during the vibration tests used to simulate launch aboard an Atlas rocket. "It is expected that the LRO will by the end of the year make its way to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final launch preparations. The orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, a mission to smack into the moon in search of water ice, are scheduled to launch atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida sometime between Feb.

NASA Awards Contracts for Concepts of Lunar Surface Systems

Contact: Stephanie Schierholz, +1-202-358-4997, stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov, Grey Hautaluoma, +1-202-358-0668, grey.hautaluoma@nasa.gov, Headquarters, Washington, or Lynnette Madison, lynnette.b.madison@nasa.gov, or Josh Byerly, bill.j.byerly@nasa.gov, +1-281-483-5111, Johnson Space Center, Houston, all of NASA

NASA tests future moon vehicles and robots in remote sand dunes in central Washington

MOSES LAKE, Wash. (AP) _ Two NASA astronauts in spacesuits drove their lunar truck up a steep sand dune in a barren, wind-swept landscape so forbidding it was reminiscent of the surface of the moon.

NASA tests future moon vehicles and robots in remote sand dunes in central Washington

MOSES LAKE, Wash. (AP) _ Two NASA astronauts in spacesuits drove their lunar truck up a steep sand dune in a barren, wind-swept landscape so forbidding it was reminiscent of the surface of the moon.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: Drifting to the Right a Little

A NASA Lunar Science Conference is being held here at the NASA Ames Research Center in the heart of Silicon Valley, a major confab of Moon experts brought together by the space agency’s new Lunar Science Institute.

NASA Tests Lunar Rover Prototypes In Moses Lake, Wash

NASA scientists and contractors have been spending time running tests in a simulated environment located in Moses Lake, Wash. that they believe resembles the conditions on the surface of the moon.

NASA delays robotic moon mission until 2009

This artists rendering released by NASA shows the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter going around the moon with Earth in the background. NASA delayed the launch Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008, of the unmanned spacecraft to the moon whose job is to scout for potential landing sites to eventually return astronauts to the lunar surface. (AP Photo/NASA)

NASA engineers work on alternative moon rocket

This artist rendering shows NASA's next-generation of moon rockets being developed at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Ala. Ares I, left, is the crew launch vehicle that will carry astronauts to space. Ares V is the cargo launch vehicle that will deliver the lunar lander and other large hardware to space. By day, the engineers in Huntsville, work on NASA's new Ares moon rockets. By night, some go undercover, working on a competing design. These dissenters and their backers say their alternative rocket would be safer, cheaper and easier to build than the two Ares spacecraft, which have already cost NASA $7 billion. (AP Photo/NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center)

NASA engineers work on alternative moon rocket

This artist rendering shows NASA's next-generation of moon rockets being developed at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Ala. Ares I, left, is the crew launch vehicle that will carry astronauts to space. Ares V is the cargo launch vehicle that will deliver the lunar lander and other large hardware to space. By day, the engineers in Huntsville, work on NASA's new Ares moon rockets. By night, some go undercover, working on a competing design. These dissenters and their backers say their alternative rocket would be safer, cheaper and easier to build than the two Ares spacecraft, which have already cost NASA $7 billion. This artist rendering shows NASA's next-generation of moon rockets being developed at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Ala.

US Signs International Deal to Collaborate on Lunar Missions

NASA has signed a landmark agreement to collaborate with emerging space-faring nations for the exploration of the Moon. This collaboration will include Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Britain and France in the aim to work with NASA developing new technologies and send a series of robotic exploratory missions to pave the way for a manned return mission. The director of NASA's planetary science division points out that these eight member states are keen to send their first astronauts to the lunar surface. Whilst some may view this collaboration as an attempt by NASA to 'spread the cost' of space travel (especially in the current climate of budget cuts), the main point of this deal is to make manned missions to the Moon more of an international effort.

Robots and Slaves

Our science fiction reading group is discussing a shorter work this month, says Mark. It is Jack Williamson's novelette With Folded Hands, which appeared first in Astounding Stories in 1947. In the story a man who sells in mechanicals - basically robots - finds his business dying when new superior robots come along to compete. The new robots, streamlined black humanoids - are in every way superior to the robots he had been selling. But the new robots have more than superior technology; they have an ideology.

NASA Lunar Science Institute names first international partner

NASA's Lunar Science Institute at Moffett Field, Calif., has announced its first international affiliate partner for conducting lunar science activities.

50 Years of NASA

Fifty years ago this week NASA was born. On July 29, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the "National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958." NASA replaced NACA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, to meet the challenge of exploring beyond Earth, and in particular, to send a human into space. NASA has accomplished a lot during the last 50 years, and now its time to celebrate. To commemorate the anniversary, NASA has developed an interactive multimedia website that provides a historic tour of its first five decades of exploration. It's a fun and interesting site that offers lots of history and a little look at the future, too. The site combines historic and current video with entertaining computer animation, and the virtual exhibit takes a World's Fair approach to NASA history, with pavilions that host each decad

Robotic Moon Excavation Teams Compete for NASA Technology Prize

WASHINGTON, July 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Regolith Excavation Challenge is scheduled for Aug. 2-3, 2008, on the campus of the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. The competition requires teams to build a roving excavator that can autonomously navigate, excavate, and transfer approximately 330 pounds of simulated lunar regolith, or lunar soil, into a collector bin within 30 minutes. The total prize purse is $750,000 with a first prize of $500,000. NASA is looking for new ideas for excavation techniques that do not require excessively heavy machines or large amounts of power. Excavating lunar regolith will be an important part of any construction projects or processing of natural resources on the moon. The California Space Education and Workforce Institute in Santa Maria, Calif.

NASA uses sand dunes to practice lunar mission

MOSES LAKE, Wash. — Two NASA astronauts in spacesuits drove their lunar truck up a steep sand dune in a barren, wind-swept landscape so forbidding it was reminiscent of the surface of the moon.

NASA Successfully Tests Parachute for Ares Rocket

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., July 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA and industry engineers have successfully completed the first drop test of a drogue parachute for the Ares I rocket. The drogue parachute is designed to slow the rapid descent of the spent first-stage motor, cast off by the Ares I rocket during its climb to space. The successful test is a key early milestone in development and production of the Ares I rocket, the first launch vehicle for NASA's Constellation Program that will send explorers to the International Space Station, the moon and beyond in coming decades. The drogue parachute is a vital element of the Ares I deceleration system and will permit recovery of the reusable first-stage motor for use on future Ares I flights. Engineers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

9 Questions About Robots in Space For NASA Innovator Brian Wilcox

find water on Mars and search for Martian life, a key veteran of several Mars research programs—including 1996's Sojourner (the first Mars rover) and the two rovers currently operating on the Red Planet (Opportunity and Spirit)—is now turning his attention to the moon. Leading NASA roboticist Brian Wilcox was the supervisor of the robotic vehicle group at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory when he proposed a new kind of lunar vehicle, the All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer, or ATHLETE. The system rides on six wheels until it meets an obstacle, then it locks its wheels to step over it. His proposal worked its way through the gauntlet of the NASA vetting process, but Wilcox had a choice: stick with his job as supervisor, or engineer the ultimate moonbot.

Problems Surface For Constellation Program

On the heels of news about NASA engineers who feel the Constellation program is using the wrong kind of rockets comes word that efforts to build the spacecraft which will replace the shuttle and return astronauts to the moon is running behind and over-budget. NASA Watch published a leaked internal NASA document showing the Constellation Program has encountered financial and technical problems, and the Associated Press quoted Doug Cooke, NASA's deputy associate administrator for exploration as saying the first test flights for Orion may be delayed. However, the delay thus far is only of NASA's internal goal of having the spacecraft ready by 2013. Cooke said they are still on target for NASA's public commitment of first test flights by 2015, and returning to the moon by 2020.

NASA's Phoenix Lander goes sleepless on Mars

A NASA handout image shows the Robotic Arm on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander with a sample of martian soil. A NASA statement said that analysis of images from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has scientists increasingly convinced of ice near the Red Planet's North Pole.(Photo:Agencies)

NASA's Phoenix Lander goes sleepless on Mars

A NASA handout image shows the Robotic Arm on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander with a sample of martian soil. A NASA statement said that analysis of images from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has scientists increasingly convinced of ice near the Red Planet's North Pole.

NASA's Phoenix Lander goes sleepless on Mars

A NASA handout image shows the Robotic Arm on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander with a sample of martian soil. A NASA statement said that analysis of images from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has scientists increasingly convinced of ice near the Red Planet's North Pole.

Lunar Missions Postponed by US Military X-37B Spaceplane Launch

It looks like a US Air Force robotic orbiter will push back the planned launch date of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). The double satellite launch, originally set for November this year, will now take place sometime early 2009. They will make way for the test flight of the orbital Boeing X-37B spaceplane, commandeering the Atlas V rocket flight originally intended for NASA. According to the Air Force, the November X-37B test flight will be a study into "risk reduction, experimentation, and operational concept development for reusable space vehicle technologies." (There might also be some urgency due to the Shuttle decommissioning in 2010…)

NASA, USDA Sign Space Station Research Agreement

On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) hosted NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and Secretary of Agriculture Edward T. Schafer during the signing of a memorandum of understanding to enable the USDA's Agricultural Research Service to conduct plant related research on the International Space Station. The research will improve our understanding of biological cellular mechanisms and may lead to creative new ways to improve American agriculture, protect the environment and contribute to better human health. The agreement reflects NASA's ongoing efforts to develop the space station as a national laboratory, with the ability to serve a broad range of users. Senator Hutchison introduced the NASA Authorization Act of 2005, which envisioned a cooperative relationship for the space station and NASA.

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