Hans Kalff sent me a link (see below) and Jun Okushi posted on Facebook some of the same (see below, below)
Hmmmm, A Space Habitat by 2018. It will be interesting to see what happens before I pass on to a far, far, away place. :-)
US$55 million out of $19.3 billion budget.
Hmmmm, Disney spent $4 billion to purchase Lucasfilm so "Star Wars The Force Awakens" wasn't cheap to make.
Then again they expect to make money in the long run.
I wonder if Disney would like to help marketing going to the Moon, Mars, and Beyond.
There ought to be a few toys to sell and a few comic books, and .....
May the force be with you, and thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
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Congress Instructs NASA to Build a Space Habitat by 2018
NASA’S NEW JOB FROM CONGRESS
Some of NASA’s successes in 2015 include finding liquid water on Mars and icy mountains on Pluto. In fact, the agency has been making so much waves that the US Congress has decided to give it a raise.
However, there’s a catch.
Congress is instructing NASA to use some of that money, which is at least US$55 million, to construct a prototype model of a deep space habitat. An omnibus bill passed by Congress this month directs NASA to accelerate work on a “habitation augmentation module” that could be used for future deep space missions.
The funds will be part of the Advanced Exploration Systems program, which in turn is part of the Exploration Research and Development line item in the budget that received $350 million in the bill. It further states that “NASA shall develop a prototype deep space habitation module within the advanced exploration systems program.” NASA will also be required to provide Congress with a report within 180 days of the bill’s enactment detailing how those funds are being used to create the habitation module.
And Congress wants everything done by 2018.
Image credit: NASA
See Spacenews - LRK -
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Jun Okushi's Facebook post from the Huffington Post
- LRK -
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Mars, here we come.
NASA celebrated news of an unexpected windfall earlier this month when after years of penny-pinching, Congress announced it would increase the space agency’s budget by $1.3 billion in 2016.
Now it's emerged that a chunk of that money has been earmarked to help bolster the agency’s plans for a Martian mission. As Popular Science noted, Congress directed NASA to use $55 million of its $19.3 billion budget to begin building a deep space habitat that will house astronauts during future exploratory missions to the red planet.
Congress gave the agency until 2018 to develop a decent prototype model of the “habitation module.” NASA must also produce a report on the status of the program in 180 days.
NASA said it hopes to launch a crewed mission to Mars by the 2030s, and to begin cislunar (between Earth and the moon) testing of a workable habitat by the 2020s.
As SpaceNews noted, the agency has already started working with companies like Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing and Orbital ATK to study habitat designs. The new funding and directive from Congress, however, “could force NASA to speed up” these plans.
NASA's habitation module may “shape deep space travel for dozens of decades,” wrote Yahoo! Tech. For now, though, very little is known about the habitat, including its requirements and how it will be built.
“It’s much too early for that,” Sam Scimemi, International Space Station director at NASA Headquarters, told SpaceNews. “As soon as I put a picture up there, somebody is going to assume what the configuration
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The agency has received $55 million for the project.
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Will have to watch Bigelow Aerospce.
- LRK -
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Bigelow Aerospace and NASAExecute NextSTEP Contract to Study B330 Utilization
7/31/2015
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Via its NextSTEP contract, Bigelow Aerospace will demonstrate to NASA how B330 habitats can be used to support safe, affordable, and robust human spaceflight missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. As the name indicates, the B330 will provide 330 cubic meters of internal volume and each habitat can support a crew of up to six. Bigelow expandable habitats provide much greater volume than metallic structures, as well as enhanced protection against radiation and physical debris. Moreover, Bigelow habitats are lighter and take up substantially less rocket fairing space, and are far more affordable than traditional, rigid modules. These advantages make the B330 the ideal habitat to implement NASA’s beyond low Earth orbit (“LEO”) plans and will support the utilization of transportation systems such as the SLS and Orion. Additionally, the B330s, which will initially be deployed and tested in LEO, will be used as private sector space stations that will conduct a wide variety of commercial activities.
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Appreciate all the suggestions provided in the past years.
Time seems to move faster as one ages and I don't know where last year went.
Granddaughter will be 9 in a couple of weeks and shows grandma how to play games on a tablet.
She can call up TV programs on my tablet with COMCAST TVGO and use ear phones to shut out the sound of grandma's Family Feud game show on the big Samsung Smart TV. (bedroom still has a heavy 35 inch glass tube analog TV in an old cabinet.)
We have come a long way since DOS 1 and having to push video data a byte at a time to video memory locations.
I need to make room in the garage. I may have to get rid of the old BYTE and Dr Dobb's Journal magazines.
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Thanks for looking up with me,
- LRK -
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -
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