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#120
by
Hop_David
on 13 Jun, 2014 14:30
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Tethers unlimited Asteriod Wrangler.
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2014/06/10/tethers-unlimited-2/
This is one of those up and coming space companies. Check out their SpiderFab and HYDROS.
I didn't think to much of HYDROS until I found out most launch providers don't like propellants in their secondary payloads. The HYDROS gives cubesats and nanosats a harmless method of propulsion.
Tethers are an exciting technology with a lot of potential. Tether R&D is vastly underfunded in my opinion. It's good to see TU getting some.
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#121
by
jongoff
on 19 Jun, 2014 17:05
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#122
by
jongoff
on 19 Jun, 2014 17:06
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They're fighting some gremlins, but the update is underway.
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#123
by
jongoff
on 19 Jun, 2014 17:09
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Michelle Gates is up first, she's the Program Manager for ARM.
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#124
by
jongoff
on 19 Jun, 2014 17:11
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Talking about three step process:
1- Finding the asteroids
2- The redirect mission (either bagging the asteroid or grabbing a boulder)
3- Exploring the redirected asteroid using SLS/Orion out in lunar orbit area.
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#125
by
jongoff
on 19 Jun, 2014 17:12
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Showing solar arrays being worked on at NASA Glenn (both the ATK Ultraflex and a Roll-out solar array).
Showing robotics being worked on at NASA JPL and using ISS robotics systems.
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#126
by
jongoff
on 19 Jun, 2014 17:13
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My feed is really glitchy, but she's now talking about the BAA and how they'll be getting initial inputs from the BAA development work (being done by industry) in Fall or Winter.
Awarded 18 contracts under the BAA worth ~$4.9M.
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#127
by
jongoff
on 19 Jun, 2014 17:14
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Now up Linly (sp?) Johnson. Talking about NEO tracking.
Ok, I'm going to have to jump off, the baby's fussy.
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#128
by
sdsds
on 19 Jun, 2014 17:36
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Talking about sunlight pushing the asteroid.
Measuring this gives an idea of how big and how light it is. Effectively a measure of cross-section; possibly also mass.
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#129
by
sdsds
on 19 Jun, 2014 17:41
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Two guys on use of Spitzer space telescope on 2011 MD.
They directed Sptizer at it for ~20 hours.
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#130
by
sdsds
on 19 Jun, 2014 17:46
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Published paper today in Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Unexpectedly porous.
Conceptual image of what a rubble pile looks like compared, to a nucleus surrounded by a cloud of dust and pebbles.
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#131
by
sdsds
on 19 Jun, 2014 17:49
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Lindley Johnson and Michele Gates again.
Then Jason Kessler at Ames on Asteroid Grand Challenge.
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#132
by
sdsds
on 19 Jun, 2014 17:55
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Mentions Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute.
Plug for Space Gambit, helping the maker community open up space.
11 projects funded to be worked on this summer.
Slooh is a "really interesting membership model." Gets amateurs access to professional-class observatories.
PRI: SAA to develop an algorithm to find false positives. $10,000 in award money made available. Asteroid Hunter.
Second phase: develop new algorithm to search through existing data sets. Challenge for that goes live in July. Another challenge going live in July as well.
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#133
by
sdsds
on 19 Jun, 2014 18:13
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Q from Dan Leone, Space News
- when would the candidate asteroids be retrievable
Johnson: all of the candidates they talked about would be in position in early 2020s. Opportunity to redirect 2011 MD is in 2024.
Gates: down-select decision, followed by selected mission concept review in Feb of next year. Developing criteria now for concept down-select decision.
Q: Seth Borenstein, Associated Press
- is option B a secondary option, safety, money
- have you got a cost estimate for A, B
- if rubble pile, how do astros not get hurt?
Gates:
- option B and option A are equally weighed at this time. going through additional characterization of both capture concepts
- studies show costs within the limits mentioned by the assoc. admin., roughtly half of $2.5b Keck estimate
Johnson:
- rubble pile and other concept were examples; depicted images were "on the extreme" of what might be encountered. Could also be a more closely consolidated object.
Q: Alan Boyle, MSNBC
- what these initiatives have to do with addressing potential thread from asteroids
Johnson:
- what you see in Hollywood movies is not always reality. Looking for all the objects that come close to earth and have earth-like orbits. What does this do for planetary defense mission? Capabilities add to knowledge of what might be done for an asteroid on a hazardous trajectory. Some of the reason why we started looking at option B. Option A targets are so small they would burn up as meteors without great hazard. But redirection/deflection of a hazard asteroid leads to looking at something with a larger asteroid. Before picking up boulder could also do e.g. a gravity tractor demonstration.
Gates: reaffirms what Johnson said.
Q: If option A led to a rubble pile, encapsulate it all?
Gates: option A designed to envelope different configurations of candidate asteroid; ideally would be able to capture all of the large portions.
Johnson: It wouldn't be dust around the object. Solar pressure will quickly blow the dust away. So likely pebble-like material. Low relative delta-v so ability to do damage is negligible. Concept is to envelope entire material.
Twitter questions. Gotta go; bye.
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#134
by
jongoff
on 19 Jun, 2014 18:38
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#135
by
sdsds
on 19 Jun, 2014 19:12
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#136
by
jongoff
on 19 Jun, 2014 19:39
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Here's a list of the companies who won contracts under the BAA...
http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-selects-studies-for-the-asteroid-redirect-mission/
~Jon
Including:
'Altius Space Machines in Louisville, Colorado: The “Kraken Asteroid Boulder Retrieval System” will test prototype grasping arms and innovative gripper concepts for capturing a boulder off the surface of an asteroid.'
!!!
I like burying the lede. I'll try to have a blog post with more details up on the ASM site (and discussion over on the Altius thread) sometime in the next day or two.
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#137
by
catdlr
on 19 Jun, 2014 22:48
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Video is up:
NASA Announces Latest Progress, Upcoming Milestones in Hunt for Asteroids
NASA is on the hunt for an asteroid to capture with a robotic spacecraft, redirect to a stable orbit around the moon, and send astronauts to study in the 2020s -- all on the agency's human Path to Mars. Agency officials announced on Thursday recent progress to identify candidate asteroids for its Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), increase public participation in the search for asteroids, and advance the mission's design.
NASA plans to launch the ARM robotic spacecraft in 2019 and will make a final choice of the asteroid for the mission about a year before the spacecraft launches. NASA is working on two concepts for the mission: the first is to fully capture a very small asteroid in open space, and the second is to collect a boulder-sized sample off of a much larger asteroid. The agency will choose between these two concepts in late 2014 and further refine the mission's design.
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope made recent observations of an asteroid, designated 2011 MD, which bears the characteristics of a good candidate for the full capture concept. While NASA will continue to look for other candidate asteroids during the next few years as the mission develops, astronomers are making progress to find suitable candidate asteroids for humanity's next destination into the solar system.
Length 1hr 22m
edit: new version of video.
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#138
by
jongoff
on 30 Jun, 2014 20:47
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FYI, I just put up a blog post about our Kraken system that we'll be getting paid to prototype as part of the Asteroid Redirect Mission BAA that was just announced a bit over a week ago.
I have the link to it and some additional info over on the Altius Space Machines thread:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=22738.msg1221104#msg1221104Feel free to comment on whichever thread seems most appropriate.
~Jon
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#139
by
catdlr
on 07 Aug, 2014 20:16
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Asteroid Redirect Mission: Identify, Redirect, Explore
Published on Aug 7, 2014
NASA is developing a first-ever mission to identify, capture and redirect a near-Earth asteroid to a stable orbit around the moon, where astronauts will explore it in the 2020s, returning with samples.