Space Notebook: Orbital machine shop installed on ISS
International Space Station commander Butch Wilmore last week installed the first 3-D printer in space, the first step toward testing a technology that could prove crucial to deep space exploration missions.
The demonstration project started out by printing, through a process of layering material called additive manufacturing, postage stamp-sized "coupons" to calibrate the machine brought up by SpaceX's most recent resupply mission.
A first phase will compare engineering samples made in microgravity to those on the ground to see if there are any differences in strength at different sizes. Later the printer will produce small tools and parts whose usefulness will be tested.
The project is a partnership between NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and Made in Space, a Silicon Valley company co-founded by a University of Central Florida graduate.
Niki Werkheiser, Marshall's program manager for 3-D printing in space, called the printer's installation "a historical moment."
Exploration missions won't be able to rely on spare parts being launched to them, she said.
"So I think we're making history by for the first time ever being able to make what we need when we need it in space," she said on NASA TV. "Even though it may sound a little like science fiction, we're actually able to e-mail our hardware to space instead of launching it. It's kind of cool."
Crew bound for ISS today
By the end of the day the International Space Station should be back to its full complement of six astronauts.
Three new crew members are due to blast off at 4:01 p.m. Eastern time today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The multinational crew flying in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft includes NASA's Terry Virts, who piloted a 2010 shuttle mission to the station. Also on board will be Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency, a veteran of a previous ISS expedition in 2011-12, and rookie Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency.
The trio is due to dock at the laboratory complex orbiting 260 miles up at 9:53 p.m. today, with hatches opening around 11:30 p.m. You can watch live launch coverage on NASA TV starting at 3 p.m.
The new arrivals will join NASA's Barry "Butch" Wilmore and cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova as members of Expedition 42.
Their Soyuz craft offers the only ride to the station for astronauts until new U.S. commercial vehicles are ready to launch from the Space Coast, possibly in 2017.
Cristoforetti will be the 216th person to visit the station, since its assembly began in 1998. KSC Director Bob Cabana was one of the first people to enter the fledgling outpost that year.
It has been continuously inhabited since 2000.
SpaceX launch set
NASA and SpaceX last week confirmed Dec. 16 as the date for the company's next launch of International Space Station cargo from Cape Canaveral. The launch time is 2:31 p.m.
The mission will be SpaceX's 5th of 12 under its $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA, and the third trip to the ISS by a Dragon capsule in 2014.
The launch had been tentatively planned no earlier than Dec. 9.
It will be the first launch by a commercial cargo provider since Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket blew up shortly after liftoff from Virginia last month.
In other SpaceX news, NASA's Kennedy Space Center-led Commercial Crew Program recently reported completing a meeting with SpaceX discussing its plans for launching astronauts from KSC's pad 39A.
SpaceX has a 20-year lease of the former Saturn V and shuttle pad and is modifying it to support Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. The pad could support the first launch of a Falcon Heavy as soon as next year.
And separately, a science satellite SpaceX is scheduled to launch in January arrived on the Space Coast last week.
The Deep Space Climate Observatory, or DSCOVR, is designed to provide warning of solar storms that could impact Earth. NASA refurbished the spacecraft for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Air Force is funding its launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX continues to work toward earning Air Force certification to compete for launches of high-value national security payloads.
Stress tested
ATK last week reaffirmed plans to merge its aerospace and defense businesses with Orbital Sciences Corp., following a detailed analysis of Orbital's plan to recover from its recent Antares rocket explosion.
Executives from ATK, which provides the Antares upper stage engine, said they had stress-tested Orbital's plan and concluded that it is workable and the financial impact would be minimal.
"Based on current information, the execution of the Orbital recovery and go-forward plan is likley," ATK Chief Financial Officer Neal Cohen told investors Wednesday. "The risk associated with the recovery plan is manageable."
Orbital's plan includes launching one or two Cygnus spacecraft on competitors' rockets — possibly from Florida — until the Antares is able to launch again from Virginia in 2016, equipped with a new first-stage propulsion system.
ATK also said it believed Orbital remained well-positioned to compete for a new cargo contract, for which proposals are due to NASA early next month.
Next to Mars
Final assembly of NASA's next Mars lander, scheduled to launch in March 2016 from California, is under way, Lockheed Martin confirmed last week.
The InSight mission — short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport —is designed to study Mars' deep interior.
Separately, NASA released its final draft of potential environmental impacts resulting from the planned 2020 launch of another rover to Mars from the Space Coast.
NASA wants to launch a nuclear-powered rover very similar to Curiosity, which launched in 2011. The review also considered alternatives including a solar-powered rover, a mix of the two power sources and no mission at all.
For the nuclear option, Department of Energy assessments showed that in the unlikely event of a launch failure, there would be a 1 in 16,000 chance plutonium dioxide could be released in the launch area and 1 in 420,000 chance outside that area.
According to the review, the most exposed person would face "a much less than 1 in a million chance of incurring a latent cancer due to a failure of the Mars 2020 mission."
Based on the final environmental impact statement, NASA is expected to issue a final decision on the rover's power source next month.
Timeless
NASA has confirmed that Kennedy Space Center's iconic countdown clock will be displayed at the KSC Visitor Complex.
The center is replacing the rectangular digital clock, which has been located near the the Launch Complex 39 Press Site since 1969, with a large-screen multimedia display.
Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. Follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean