Geek Gestalt

NASA has made its series of video updates on the progress of the Ares rocket program available on Apple's iTunes service.

(Credit: NASA)

NASA said Wednesday that it has made available a series of video updates on the Ares rocket program available to the public via iTunes.

There are 10 videos--which have been produced quarterly since August 2006--in the series. NASA's move Wednesday means that all 10 will be viewable on Apple's service immediately, with forthcoming progress reports to be added as they are finished.

The Ares rocket is the space agency's next-generation launch vehicle, intended to carry the Orion crew capsule--and its astronauts--to the moon, as well as to the International Space Station.

The first space station launch is scheduled for 2015.

According to NASA, the video reports have been intended as a way for the agency to disseminate updates on the development of the Ares project. NASA also sees the series as a way to save, for posterity, the record of "the historical work being completed on America's newest fleet of spacecraft for future generations."

Each video is between 10 and 15 minutes long, and over the course of the series have touched on everything from the Ares program's conception to the most recent testing.

When the Space Shuttle Endeavour launches Friday afternoon, assuming it is not delayed, the astronauts onboard and the technicians on the ground at mission control will have at their disposal new software that could streamline the process of problem reporting and analysis.

The software, called the Problem Reporting Analysis and Corrective Action (PRACA) system, was created by the Human-Computer Interaction Group at NASA's Ames Research Center, and is designed to give a wide cross-section of people in the Space Shuttle ecosystem access to a single database package for tracking problems with the Shuttle and its associated infrastructure.

According to Alonso Vera, the lead of the Ames Human-Computer Interaction Group, the single, universally accessible PRACA package is replacing a set of more than 40 different database systems that had been used over the past 30 years by the many different parts of that Shuttle ecosystem.

And, like a related database system known as Items for Investigation (IFI) that is used for tracking International Space Station issues, the new PRACA was written using open-source Bugzilla tools that will save NASA considerable amounts of time and money.

Vera wouldn't say exactly how much the new systems cost to build, but he said they were an order of magnitude cheaper than what was being used before, closer to $100,000 than the $1 million it would have cost in the past.

More to the point, Vera explained, by using open-source Bugzilla tools, technicians will be able to make changes to either PRACA or IFI more or less on the fly, rather than having to submit any proposed changes to the publishers of proprietary software, steps that often took weeks to achieve.

The PRACA system is used, Vera said, to help anyone trying to diagnose problems with the Shuttle find reports of similar issues from the past to see how they were resolved. The IFI system, by contrast, is used by those involved with the Space Station to report new problems for later analysis.

Already, the new PRACA systems are being used in NASA's Constellation program, which will replace the Space Shuttle after 2010. But Friday's launch will be the first live test of the system, given that Constellation has yet to go into space. However, since it's only a test, the existing PRACA system will also be used.

Similarly, the Space Station program has now phased out its older IFI system and turned on the new version.

Vera said that the Space Shuttle program has yet to commit fully to the new PRACA system, though the Space Station program will do a full switchover in March 2009.

The crew of STS-126, the Space Shuttle launching Friday, will be delivering to the International Space Station a wastewater regeneration system that will recycle astronauts' urine.

(Credit: NASA)

If you're the kind of person who wants to do research on the International Space Station, it appears that you may need to cross some boundaries of taste many of us wouldn't even consider.

According to a BBC News story Friday, the crew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which is scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center on Friday afternoon, will be handing off to their Space Station colleagues a water regeneration system designed to, among other things, recycle urine for reuse as fresh water.

The system, which will ionize, filter, distill, and oxidize wastewater, "will make yesterday's coffee into today's coffee," one astronaut told the BBC.

The idea behind the $250 million system seems to have been to figure out a way to ensure that residents of the Space Station had a supply of fresh water. To date, the Space Station has had the luxury of getting water deliveries from newly arrived Space Shuttles. But the Shuttle program is slated for retirement after 2010, and that looks to end the program's role as, among other things, the Space Station's personal water truck.

Still, the system won't be implemented right away. First, NASA wants to be sure that it works, as designed, in a zero-gravity environment.

On Earth, astronaut testers are apparently convinced that the filtration technology works just fine.

"Some people may think it's downright disgusting," Endeavour astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper told the BBC, "but if it's done correctly, you process water that's purer than what you drink here on Earth."

Some who have tried the recycled water did report a faint taste of iodine, but they didn't see that as a problem.

"Other than that, it is just as refreshing as any other kind of water," said Bob Bagdigian, who ran the system's development. "I've got some in my fridge. It tastes fine to me."

Well known video game designer Richard Garriott, who led the creation of 'Tabula Rasa' for NCSoft, will be the next private citizen to visit space, and he will be taking the DNA of some players with him for a time capsule project known as Operation Immortality.

(Credit: NCSoft)

If you've every wanted to live forever, legendary game designer Richard Garriott--also known in the video game community as "Lord British"--may give you the chance.

That's because Garriott, who has paid well into eight figures for the chance to go to space, is planning to take the DNA of several of his games' players with him for eternal stellar posterity.

The mission, known as "Operation Immortality," will launch this October when Garriott will fly aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station, taking with him a time capsule that will include the DNA of players of his well-known game, Tabula Rasa.

The game's publisher, announced Wednesday that it will offer the opportunity to any Tabula Rasa player to have their DNA sequenced and digitized and added to the time capsule that Garriott will take with him into space.

Further, any player of the game with an active account as of September 2, will have their character uploaded digitally to the time capsule. Those who haven't bought the game will be able to use a free trial NCSoft is offering.

This is the flight control room used for the Gemini 3 and Gemini 4 missions, as well as for most of the manned Apollo missions, including the first to the moon, Apollo 11, and Apollo 13. It is now a Historical Landmark.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

HOUSTON--"Houston, we have a problem."

If there is a five-word phrase more recognizable than that in the annals of modern science or space exploration, I want to hear it.

For my entire life, the "Houston" in that phrase was an abstract term, a reference to a disembodied place where people wield God-like powers--or don't, as the case may be--over the astronauts who were themselves abstract to me. I'd never seen them, and I wasn't old enough to have watched any of the mythical rocket launches prior to the Space Shuttle.

But earlier this week, I finally was able to put a face to this "Houston" name. That's because, as part of Road Trip 2008, I spent a big part of a day at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) here, the very center of everything in that science-fictional image of space exploration.

Today, JSC is in the middle of preparing for one of the biggest transformations that exists in the space business: the roll-over from one major program to the next. That's exactly what's under way, in one form or another, here and at every other NASA center, as the agency begins to move from the Space Shuttle--which most likely has just nine more launches in its future and which is planned for a 2010 phase-out--to Constellation, the let's-go-to-the-moon project scheduled for official launch around 2013.

But for now, the shuttle is still king of the hill here, with the International Space Station, of course, whose constant stocking with parts and modules and supplies is one of the major jobs of the shuttle program these days, playing the role of, er, prince? Queen?

Where history was made
My first stop was taken at Building 30, Mission Control.

That meant starting with a swing past the current Mission Control room, where every Space Shuttle mission since 1995 has been run. It's actually a much smaller room than I had imagined. It's compact, and packed tight with computers, desks, people, and chairs, yet it still maintains a much-deserved aura as a room where really important and historical things are being facilitated.

Nearby was the Mission Evaluation Room, where a posse of technicians go over data coming in from the shuttle when it's above the Earth. These people are called the "chit kickers," because a chit is an open data-processing work order, and their job is to close them.

The 'chit kickers' are technicians who work in the Mission Evaluation Room to evaluate all the Space Shuttle data as it comes in. A chit is an open work order. Their job is to close them.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

We also visited three other mission control rooms, including the original International Space Station (ISS) flight control center, which it outgrew not long ago. This is now being used to train the teams that will run the October shuttle mission to work on the Hubbell telescope and is also the spot for ISS mission control training.

Next up was the current ISS control room, which, back in the day, was used as mission control for the early Apollo launches and was later, until 1995, the spot for running the shuttle. The very first Space Shuttle mission, in 1981, was run out of this room.

As we peered into the room from an observation deck above, we noted that Shannon Lucid, herself an astronaut from 1979 to 1996, was working CAPCOM--or spacecraft communicator--for the crew currently on the space station.

Before there can be astronauts in space, however, they have to train their tails off. And JSC is a very, very big part of that process.

That's why our next stop was the home of the fixed space simulators.

As with much of JSC--and Kennedy Space Center, for that matter--this facility is finishing up its shuttle work before moving on to Constellation. But right now, everywhere you look on its huge main floor, there are very visible reminders of where NASA is in its evolution.

In the building, there is also a series of training rooms where instructors take the future astronauts and lead them through what amounts to classroom work.

Among the elements covered are communications, data processing, control aerodynamics--that is, rocket motors--and more.

One thing that's good about these facilities is that they can be fully integrated with training rooms and simulators at any NASA center--or even foreign partner center. That means that specialists can be brought in via video link to any training, as necessary.

While I was there, several crew members, including upcoming STS-125 shuttle mission commander Scott Altman--who did a lot of the stunt flying in Top Gun, I was told--were inside the Shuttle Motion Base Simulator, a mock-up of a shuttle cockpit that can be shaken or tilted to give the crew a little bit of experience of a launch.

There's also a fixed base simulator, which is aimed at giving the crew a taste of running the shuttle in zero-G conditions.

From my perspective, because I got to go inside it, the best part was the cockpit simulator, a full replica of a real shuttle cockpit that is designed to present the astronauts with exactly what they will be dealing with at launch and while in space.

"We have to have it the way it is," said Jerry Swain, the Fixed Space Simulator facility manager. "They'll be strapped in and...get used to the way it is in the real vehicle."

I can't really comment on the veracity of that, having never flown a Space Shuttle, but it was pretty cool being in this faux cockpit. I stood there, knowing that probably most Space Shuttle astronauts, and other luminaries, like Bill Clinton, had sat in the seats here.

The electronics were real. The switches were real. The set of controls used to dock the Space Shuttle with the space station were real. The view of outer space was real. Okay, perhaps not that.

Inside the Space Shuttle cockpit trainer, which is designed to be an exact replica of a real shuttle's cockpit, these are the rear docking controls that allow the pilot to dock with the International Space Station.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

Our next stop was Building 9, the Vehicle Mock-up Facility.

Here, there were two full-scale models of the shuttle, as well as several mock-ups of specific parts of it. Among them was one of the giant robotic arms used to move cargo in and out of the shuttle's massive bay.

But much more interesting--and forward-looking--was something called Chariot.

This is a prototype of the lunar truck NASA wants to put on the Constellation missions and take out on the moon. This will be a rover unlike any seen before. It will have the ability to range away from its power source for up to eight hours on six sets of wheels, each of which has fully independent movement, making it possible to move around in any direction at any time.

The idea here is that rather than having one rover, there will be several Chariots on the moon. And this would mean that any one of them would not need to come all the way home each day, allowing crews to range farther and father away from the landing site.

Inside the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility at Johnson Space Center, there is a full-scale replica of the robotic arm used to move cargo in and out of the shuttle's bay.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

Additionally, it is being built to support a pressurized module that can sustain a couple of astronauts for a day or two, all with the goal of being able to perform much more complex experiments than were possible during the Apollo moon missions.

But there are other kinds of training these astronauts have to do, and my last visit of the day was to the VR Trainer, a specialized room where folks like Dave Homan design virtual-reality systems that help crew members learn how to prepare for the extravehicular activity (EVA) they will take part in on the space station.

Essentially, that means learning how to handle themselves in open space, outside the ISS.

Among the tools created here is a software program that can run on powerful machines at JSC or even on laptop computers on the space station. Astronauts can either step into a VR helmet and gloves in Houston, or run the software on their laptops in space and try out various maneuvers they will have to do on the outside of the ISS.

And so when I put on the helmet and gloves, I suddenly found myself in a very realistic representation of space, floating around outside the space station, wiggling my hands in front of me as Homan rotated me around the floating research institution.

It wasn't exactly photo-realistic, but it was certainly better than a video game, particularly because of the immersive nature of wearing a specialized helmet.

And that was more or less it. After a day at JSC, I walked away having been to several of the trainers used by real astronauts and even tried my hand, sort of, at a space station EVA experiment.

So, NASA, next time there's an opening for a crew member, I think I'm ready. Think seriously about giving me a call.

Please stay tuned to find out if NASA does call, or even if they don't, on this blog and on my Twitter feed and my Qik channel.

Space Shuttle Discovery's nose touches down on runway 1-5 at Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle landed precisely on time after a 5.7 million mile, two-week mission to the International Space Station.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--Discovery has returned.

With a puff of smoke from its wheels touching down on runway 1-5 here, the space shuttle completed its 5.7 million mile mission Saturday at precisely 11:15 a.m. and 19 seconds EDT to the cheers of a crowd gathered to watch it land.

For the most part, it was an uneventful arrival, if you can call something like this uneventful.

For me, visiting Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on my Road Trip 2008 through the South, it was a wonderful experience. I knew I was coming here when I planned the journey and had hoped to make it to the launch on May 31. But hey, landings are important, too.

The shuttle comes into view on its landing approach.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

The day began with a little bit of uncertainty as to whether the landing could go off as planned. Not that anything was wrong, but the way these things go, the green light isn't given until about an hour and a half before the scheduled return.

In the case of Discovery, the thumbs-up was broadcast at 9:48 a.m. EDT, an hour and 27 minutes before planned touchdown.

From that point on, it was just a matter of waiting as the shuttle made its way down from space, a place rather higher than the sea level ground here at KSC.

In the interim, the gathered crowd--dignitaries, press, NASA personnel, and others--were treated to regular updates over loudspeakers from mission control in Houston. Things like new data on how high the shuttle was, or how fast it was going, or its rate of descent.

It turns out the shuttle moves really fast. Like more than 25 times the speed of sound on its return to Earth.

While I'm sure there were never any safety concerns about Discovery, this is not the best-looking aircraft. As it passed us by on the runway, I noticed that it looked pretty beat up. It's just survived the rigors of millions of miles of space travel, but still.

As a fellow reporter back in the press building noted, "If that was your plane on Continental, you wouldn't get on it."

But that's just quibbling. This was, by all accounts, a perfectly normal mission that launched on time and returned on time.

Given that most commercial airlines can't be bothered to maintain that track record, you have to give NASA a nod for its punctuality.

Afterward, the shuttle sat on the runway and was approached by a 40-vehicle convoy tasked with getting the crew out of the aircraft and bringing the mission to a close (see video below).

Of course, the mission, known as STS-124, did have some practical responsibilities.

Among them were delivering the pressurized module and robotic arm of the Japanese Experiment Module, known as "Kibo" (which means "hope"), to the International Space Station.

The shuttle was piloted by Navy Commander Kenneth Ham. Other mission specialists onboard were NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg; Air Force Col. Ronald Garan; and Air Force Reserve Col. Michael Fossum. In addition, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide joined the mission as a specialist.

Further, the mission was about depositing astronaut Gregory Chamitoff on the Space Station. Chamitoff took the place of Garrett Reisman.

Now, as NASA prepares to move into the Constellation program, the shuttle is one mission closer to retirement. With just nine missions left until the 2010 end of the program, every opportunity to see something like Discovery's landing is a rare opportunity, indeed.

A sign along a road at Kennedy Space Center illustrates that something special is afoot at the facility Saturday.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

Update 8:15 a.m. PDT: Discovery has landed. At precisely 11:15 and 19 seconds a.m. EDT Saturday, the space shuttle completed its 5.7 million mile journey by touching down here. Stay tuned for a story and photos.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--"Discovery, you are go for deorbit burn."

With those words, spoken at 9:48 a.m. EDT by someone at mission control in Houston and heard here over a loudspeaker system, we all got the good word that Space Shuttle Discovery, which has been on a two-week mission to the International Space Station, has gotten clearance to land.

This is good news because there's a whole bunch of media gathered here, where I've come on Road Trip 2008, expressly for the purpose of documenting the shuttle's landing. It's safe to say there would have been a lot of grumbling if the landing had been scrubbed, as was certainly a possibility if the weather here had been less than ideal.

But a few scattered clouds aside, it's a beautiful day on the Florida coast, and so unless something radical changes in the next hour and 19 minutes, we're going to get treated to the blur of the shuttle zipping by at high speed on the runway in front of us.

Of course, when it comes to the race to capture images of this momentous event, I am seriously out-gunned by most of my fellow media colleagues here.

I'm a little intimidated by the camera equipment my media colleagues here at Kennedy Space Center have brought. Their giant lenses make my little 70-300m lens seem puny by comparison.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

It's not that I don't have some decent camera equipment, carrying as I am a Nikon D60 digital SLR and a 70-300mm telephoto lens. It's just that this is really good equipment for, say, shooting pictures of players on a field at a baseball game. For a fan.

All around me, though, are camerapeople with truly impressive lenses. Tripods that hold multiple cameras. Heck, one guy pulled his monstrous lens out of a sleeve almost bigger than my backpack.

So, getting some good shots of the shuttle as it rolls by on the runway far in front of us is going to be a challenge. But I'm up to it.

And at precisely 10:10 a.m. EDT, the deorbit burn began, 218 statute miles above the Indian Ocean. The landing is on.

So stay tuned to this space. If all goes well, in a couple hours, I'll be posting about the landing and, fingers crossed, including some nice photos.

Wish me luck.