NASA must take more care about rocket parts after accident, probers say

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida - Independent NASA accident investigators said the U.S. space agency should “perform a greater level of due diligence for major system components” in rockets that deliver cargo to the International Space Station following a 2014 explosion.

The recommendation came in the investigators' report on the explosion of Orbital ATK's Antares rocket that destroyed a load of cargo for the space station. It may spur calls for more oversight of NASA's use of commercial contracts to deliver cargo - and soon crew members - to the space station.

NASA shared development costs for those programs with its commercial partners, while earlier rockets were fully government-funded.

Separate accident investigations are underway to determine the cause of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket failure on June 28, 2015, which claimed another load of station cargo.

NASA hired both Orbital and privately held Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, to fly cargo to the station after the space shuttles were retired. The U.S. space agency is working on a similar program with SpaceX and Boeing to fly crew.

Orbital, in a report obtained by Reuters from the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday, said the Oct. 28, 2014 Antares explosion was most likely caused by an engine manufacturing defect, while NASA said it could also have been caused by a design issue or debris in the engine.

Both investigations said a fire and explosion in the rocket engine’s liquid oxygen turbopump caused the booster to fail about 14 seconds after liftoff from Wallops Island, Virginia.

Orbital said the cause of the failure was most likely a manufacturing defect in a turbopump in one of the rocket’s two AJ-26 engines, a Soviet-era motor refurbished and resold by Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc.

Aerojet in September paid Orbital $50 million to settle the dispute.

Orbital plans to replace the AJ-26 engines with a new Russian-made engine manufactured by Russia's NPO Energomash. First flight of the refurbished Antares is expected in 2016.

The use of Russian engines is controversial – they have been banned from use in rockets carrying military payloads – but analyst Marco Caceres, with Teal Group, says NASA has no choice if they want competition. “We know the Russians build excellent engines, but we don’t know how the quality control is,” he said. “To a certain extent, it’s a moot point because NASA doesn’t have a lot of choices.” The NASA investigators said a manufacturing defect was possible in the Antares case, noting that a defect also was found in a separate AJ-26 engine that exploded during testing in May 2014. But they said it was not clear the defect alone could have caused the explosion.

The NASA probe found two other potential causes of the failure: an engine design that made the turbopump “vulnerable to oxygen fires and failures,” and silica and titanium debris found in the engine.

The probe said any one of the three potential causes, or a combination of them, could have triggered the explosion. Investigators also said Orbital and Aerojet did not have full insight into the design and operational record of the engines, which were manufactured 40 years ago for a Soviet moon program.  — Reuters

NASA scientists answer questions about alien life and water on Mars

To mark the discovery of liquid water on Mars, scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) held an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on reddit where they answered questions from the public.

Just a leaky faucet's worth of water

Just how much water are we talking about here? According to the scientists, it’s just a small amount—comparable to the amount that drips from your faucet if you don’t close it tightly. “We think this is a very small amount of water—maybe just enough to wet the top layer of the surface of Mars,” they said. “Think of this as a ‘seep’ not a flow.”

At present, NASA’s rovers can’t approach the regions where they suspect water is present because they’re considered “special regions.” To enter the area, extra precautions are required to prevent contamination by Earth life.

Preventing contamination by Earth life

Scientists are keenly aware of the possibility of microscopic alien life, and are very careful to make sure that Earth life doesn't contaminate and overrun the potentially fragile Martian ecosystem.

For one thing, rovers need additional sterilization before they can come closer. Scientists also take samples of microbes on the spacecraft before launch for comparison with any future discoveries.

Other Mars-related projects NASA has in mind are InSight in 2016—a lander designed to detect Mars-quakes—and a rover in 2020.

The AMA took place from 2-3 p.m. ET (2-3 a.m. Tuesday in the Philippines). Scientists who participated were Rich Zurek, Chief Scientist of NASA’s Mars Program Office and Project Scientist at the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project; Leslie K. Tamppari, Deputy Project Scientist, MRO; Stephanie L. Smith, NASA-JPL social media team; and Sasha E. Samonchina, NASA-JPL social media team. — TJD, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Meteor shower on Monday night, but bright moon may spoil view

An expected bright moon threatens to spoil stargazers' view of a meteor shower Monday night, state astronomers said.

PAGASA space sciences and astronomy section head Engineer Dario dela Cruz said the Perseids meteor shower may peak starting Monday night with up to 120 meteors per hour.

But dela Cruz, in an interview on dzBB radio, said only about 30 meteors per hour may be visible due to the interference from the bright moon.

"Mamaya sa silangan bago mag-hatinggabi hanggang magdamag inaasahan natin itong shower na ito na magbibigay ng 120 meteors per hour. Pero dahil sa maliwanag ang buwan, posibleng makakita tayo ng 30," he said.

He said that while the meteor show will continue on Tuesday night, there will not be as many meteors visible by then.

Earlier, PAGASA said the bright moon can "cast an interfering glare across the nights of maximum activity, reducing visibility from 120 meteors per hour (the typical Perseid peak rate) to less than 30."

Similarly, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the "nearly full moon" may "upstage the show" by the Perseids.

NASA said the Perseids are active from July 17 to Aug. 24 this year.

"The Perseid meteor shower is known as one of the best meteor showers to observe, producing fast and bright meteors that frequently leave trains, but in 2014, a nearly full moon will upstage the show," it said.

Perseids are considered to be the best meteor shower of the year as the meteors are "very fast and bright" and often leave long "wakes" of light and color.

NASA added Perseids are known for their fireballs, larger explosions of light and color.

"This is due to the fact that fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material. Fireballs are also brighter, with magnitudes brighter than -3," it said.

NASA suggested that stargazers view the Perseids in the Northern Hemisphere before dawn or as early as 10 p.m.

"Find an area well away from city or street lights. Come prepared with a sleeping bag, blanket or lawn chair. Lie flat on your back with your feet facing northeast and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible. After about 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors," it said. —Joel Locsin/KG, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com