Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label Jim Bridenstine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jim Bridenstine. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

ANALYSIS: Space explorers wanted: NASA seeks next generation of astronauts


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Houston 
by Tamara Kachelmeier and Biodun Iginla, France24 Science News Analysts
Wanted: The next generation of astronauts to walk on the Moon and journey to Mars.
You'll need a relevant Master's degree, be prepared to live and work 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth on the International Space Station, and be a US citizen.
NASA announced Tuesday it was seeking to boost its astronaut corps, which currently stands at 48 active personnel, as part of plans to dramatically expand its crewed space missions in the coming years.
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"We're celebrating our 20th year of continuous presence aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in low-Earth orbit this year, and we're on the verge of sending the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.
"For the handful of highly talented women and men we will hire to join our diverse astronaut corps, it's an incredible time in human spaceflight to be an astronaut. We're asking all eligible Americans if they have what it takes to apply beginning March 2."
- Tough competition -
The requirements for a Master's degree in science, engineering or mathematics (STEM) can also be met by being two years into a STEM PhD, or by being a test pilot, one of the most well-worn paths to the astronaut corps. A medical degree -- or one in osteopathic medicine -- also works.
The candidates will need at least two years' professional experience, or, in the case of pilots, 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time.
And, for the first time ever, candidates will be asked to complete a two-hour online test.
The process is competitive. The last class of 11 NASA astronauts, which graduated in January, were picked from a record-breaking 18,000 applicants.
Their resumes are stellar: One of them, Jonny Kim, is an emergency physician and a veteran of 100 combat operations with the Navy SEALs, where he earned a Silver Star. He also has a mathematics degree and doctorate in medicine from Harvard.
NASA expects to select the next class by mid-2021, and the candidates will then embark on a two-year training program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
It will include classes in spacewalking at NASA's underwater Neutral Buoyancy Lab, robotics, the systems of the International Space Station and piloting the T-38 training jet, Russian language lessons, and the building blocks of the Artemis program to return to the Moon by 2024.
The privileged few will join the 500 or so people who have ventured into space, as NASA looks to resume sending US astronauts to the ISS on private US rockets, go back to the Moon and head onward to Mars in the 2030s.
Traditionally, about half of new recruits have come from the military, especially test pilots who fly dangerous experimental aircraft, including the likes of Alan Shepard, the first American in space and Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon.
And the pay? For civilian candidates, it starts at the 11th grade for federal workers at $53,800 to $70,000.

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Thursday, May 23, 2019

NASA unveils schedule for 'Artemis' 2024 Moon mission


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NASA plans to return humans to the Moon by 2024, for the first time since the Apollo program ended in 1972
NASA plans to return humans to the Moon by 2024, for the first time since the Apollo program ended in 1972 AFP/File
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by Tamara Kachelmeier and Biodun Iginla, France24 Technology and Science Reporters
NASA on Thursday unveiled the calendar for the "Artemis" program that will return astronauts to the Moon for the first time in half a century, including eight scheduled launches and a mini-station in lunar orbit by 2024.
The original lunar missions were named for Apollo -- Artemis was his twin sister in Greek mythology, and the goddess of hunting, wilderness and the Moon.
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Administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed that Artemis 1 will be an uncrewed mission around the Moon planned for 2020.
Next will come Artemis 2, which will orbit Earth's satellite with a crew around 2022; followed finally by Artemis 3 that will put astronauts on lunar soil in 2024, including the first woman.
The three will be launched into space by the biggest rocket of all time, the Boeing-led Space Launch System (SLS), which is currently under development but has seen numerous delays and has been criticized in some quarters as a bloated jobs program.
Affixed to its summit will be the Orion capsule, for which Lockheed Martin is the primary contractor.
In addition to these missions, which will be all NASA's efforts, there will be five launches carrying the building blocks of the lunar mini-station "Gateway" which will serve as a staging point for the Moon landing.
These will be carried out between 2022 and 2024 by private space companies, which NASA will pay for their services.
The orbital station will initially consist of a simple power and propulsion element and a small habitat module. In 2024, astronauts will stop there en route to the Moon.
They will then descend to the surface on a lander.
A part of the lander will remain on the Moon while the other part will take off and allow the astronauts to return to their station, where they will board the Orion capsule and return to Earth.
Bridenstine said Thursday that NASA had chosen private firm Maxar to build the station's first module, the power and propulsion element, which would rely on huge solar panels.
In the coming months, NASA will have to decide on who will build the lander. Aerospace giants such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin are vying for the contract as are new players like Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
"We're not owning the hardware, we're buying the service," said Bridenstine of the lander. "The goal here is speed. 2024 is right around the corner."
He added: "Our goal is ultimately to move on to Mars and not get stuck on the surface of the Moon"

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Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Fresh delay in launch of NASA's giant space telescope


by Tamara Kachelmeier and Biodun Iginla, France24 Technology and Science reporters, Washington


    © NASA/AFP/File | NASA says there will be a new delay for James Webb Space Telescope, which will be the most powerful ever built

    WASHINGTON - 
    NASA said Wednesday that human and technical errors had caused a fresh delay in the launch of a giant space telescope, which will now not be deployed before March 2021.
    The James Webb Space Telescope -- which NASA has long expected to replace the fabled Hubble -- was initially meant to go into service this year but has faced multiple hitches.
    The Webb telescope will be the most powerful ever built -- about 100 times more sensitive than Hubble -- and is to be deployed on a mission to give astronomers an unprecedented glimpse at the first galaxies that formed in the early universe.
    Its most recent delay was announced in March, when NASA said blast off would likely be in May 2020. The latest snags stemmed from a variety of human errors, technical problems and even "excessive optimism," said Tom Young, chair of the Independent Review Board.
    "The complexity and risk cannot be overstated or overestimated," he told reporters in a conference call.
    NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a video message that the telescope "is going to do amazing things, things we've never been able to do before as we hear from other galaxies, and see light from the very dawn of time."
    "In space, we always have to look at the long term. And sometimes, the complexities of our missions dont come together as soon as we wish. But we learn, we move ahead, and ultimately we succeed. We will get there with Webb," he said.
    "I assure you that in the end, the Webb Telescope will be worth it," he said.
    The NASA technical report said that in one case, "an improper solvent was used to clean propulsion system valves that had been stored. The error was a failure to check with the valve vendor to ensure the solvent to be used was recommended and would not damage the valves. The valves had to be removed from the spacecraft, repaired or replaced, and reinstalled."
    "Another human-induced error was improper test wiring that caused excess voltage to be applied to transducers," it said.
    The project, a joint endeavor with the European and Canadian space agencies, has already drawn scrutiny from lawmakers for its ballooning costs, given that its initial budget of $3.5 billion had already soared to a an estimated $8 billion the last time a delay was announced.
    The James Webb telescope is named after NASA's second administrator, in office from 1961 to 1968. It will be launched aboard an Ariane-5 rocket from French Guiana.

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