friendly_iconoclast
friendly_iconoclast's JournalNASA, Boeing, SpaceX Outline Objectives to Station Flights
(Note: Copyright provisions do not apply as this is a U.S. Government product)
http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-boeing-spacex-outline-objectives-to-station-flights/#.VMeJZ1omV5m
By Steven Siceloff,
NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
American spacecraft systems testing followed by increasingly complex flight tests and ultimately astronauts flying orbital flights will pave the way to operational missions during the next few years to the International Space Station. Those were the plans laid out Monday by NASA's Commercial Crew Program officials and partners as they focus on developing safe, reliable and cost-effective spacecraft and systems that will take astronauts to the station from American launch complexes.
According to Boeing, the companys schedule calls for a pad abort test in February 2017, followed by an uncrewed flight test in April 2017, then a flight with a Boeing test pilot and a NASA astronaut in July 2017.
SpaceX said they anticipate a pad abort test in about a month, then an in-flight abort test later this year as part of its previous development phase. An uncrewed flight test is planned for late 2016 and a crewed flight test in early 2017.
Speaking for the first time together since the awarding of the final development and certification contracts, officials from NASA's Commercial Crew Program, Boeing and SpaceX revealed some of the details of their plans to cross the chasm from spacecraft and launch system design to flight tests, certification and operational missions to the station.
"Its an incredible testament to American ingenuity and know-how, and an extraordinary validation of the vision we laid out just a few years ago as we prepared for the long-planned retirement of the space shuttle," said Charlie Bolden, NASA administrator, during the briefing at the agencys Johnson Space Center in Houston. "This work is part of a vital strategy to equip our nation with the technologies for the future and inspire a new generation of explorers to take the next giant leap for America."
Boeing and SpaceX were selected in September 2014 to finalize their respective CST-100 and Crew Dragon spacecraft along with the rockets that will lift them into orbit and all of the ground and mission operations networks essential for safe flights. Both companies have worked with NASAs Commercial Crew Program throughout multiple development phases, continuing to advance their designs before being chosen to complete their systems, reach certification and then fly astronauts to the station.
The goal of NASA's effort is to provide an American launch vehicle and spacecraft capable of safely carrying astronauts to the station. Unlike other NASA spacecraft, though, this new generation of human-rated vehicles will be designed, built, operated and owned by the companies themselves, not NASA. NASA will buy space transportation services from the companies for astronauts and powered cargo. It will be an arrangement like the one the agency uses already with the Commercial Resupply Services initiative that uses privately developed and operated rockets and spacecraft to deliver critical cargo to the station.
"There are launch pads out there already being upgraded and there is hardware already being delivered," said Kathy Lueders, manager of the Kennedy Space Center-based Commercial Crew Program. "Both companies have already accomplished their first milestones."
The new spacecraft will allow the station's crew to expand to seven astronauts and cosmonauts, which means twice as much time for research aboard the one-of-a-kind scientific platform 80 hours a week instead of the current 40. Also, the handoff of flight to low-Earth orbit will permit NASA to pursue the challenges of deep space exploration and the journey to Mars with the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.
Boeing and SpaceX each proposed a set of objectives and milestones that suits their development, testing and flight plans. NASA's role is to evaluate progress and make sure it meets stringent safety requirements, including a safe launch abort system built in to provide astronauts a means of escaping a potentially catastrophic situation. The agency placed a premium on giving providers the freedom to come up with innovations in design, manufacturing and testing.
Ultimately, NASA expects to have two separate spacecraft and launch systems it can turn to for flights of crew to the station and low-Earth orbit. The companies also can provide space transportation services to private citizens, companies and institutions in what could become a new industry for the American aerospace sector. The STS-135 mission, the final flight of the space shuttle, delivered an American flag to the station as a prize for the first Commercial Crew astronauts to visit the orbiting laboratory. A second flag will be taken to the station and brought back as a symbol of success as well.
"When we have both of these flags on the ground with their crews safely returned, we'll all be winners," Lueders said.
Boeing and SpaceX anticipate using facilities at Kennedy and the adjacent Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for aspects of processing and launch.
Boeing's CST-100 program will be based at Kennedy with the spacecraft being assembled inside one of the hangars formerly used to process space shuttles. Riding atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, the CST-100 will launch from Cape Canaverals Space Launch Complex 41. A tower designed for the needs of astronauts and support staff is already under construction at SLC-41.
The work comes at a time when NASA is marking significant progress in a number of areas. For instance, the space station has housed crew members for 14 straight years and a NASA astronaut and Russian cosmonaut are getting ready for a yearlong residency there. There also is a NASA spacecraft already in development to carry astronauts on deep space missions along with a massive new rocket for it in manufacturing. Not to mention the New Horizons probe closing in on Pluto.
"Never before in the history of human spaceflight has there been so much going on all at once," said John Elbon, vice president and general manager of Boeing's Space Exploration division. "NASA's exploring places we didn't even know existed 100 years ago."
SpaceX leased Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy and will build a facility at the base of the pad that will be used for processing its Falcon 9 rockets and Crew Dragon spacecraft for launch. The company launches cargo-carrying Dragons and other uncrewed spacecraft from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral.
"We understand the incredible responsibility we've been given to carry crew," said Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX.
Speaking in front of the agency's astronaut corps, the panelists offered an appealing vision of space travel including long-term spaceflight research and deep space missions.
"It's a great time to be a part of the American space program, which is on its way to Mars," said astronaut Mike Finke, who commanded the International Space Station and flew aboard the space shuttle. "There's not another group on this planet, or off this planet, that wants the success of the Commercial Crew Program more than we do."
The flights to the station are vital to NASA's goals, Bolden reiterated, and as the agency sets its eyes firmly on the Red Planet.
"It takes a lot of stuff to get off this planet and a whole lot more to get to Mars," Bolden said. "But that is the ultimate destination."
x-post from LBN: "Millions of cars tracked across US in 'massive' real-time DEA spy program"
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/27/millions-of-cars-tracked-across-us-in-massive-real-time-spying-programThe United States government is tracking the movement of vehicles around the country in a clandestine intelligence-gathering programme that has been condemned as a further official exercise to build a database on peoples lives.
The Drug Enforcement Administration was monitoring license plates on a massive scale, giving rise to major civil liberties concerns, the American Civil Liberties Union said on Monday night, citing DEA documents obtained under freedom of information.
This story highlights yet another way government security agencies are seeking to quietly amplify their powers using new technologies, Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with ACLU, told the Guardian.
The ACLU's own take on this:
https://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty-criminal-law-reform/foia-documents-reveal-massive-dea-program-record-ame
FOIA Documents Reveal Massive DEA Program to Record Americans Whereabouts With License Plate Readers
01/26/2015
By Bennett Stein, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project & Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy & Technology Project at 7:15pm
The Drug Enforcement Administration has initiated a massive national license plate reader program with major civil liberties concerns but disclosed very few details, according to new DEA documents obtained by the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act.
The DEA is currently operating a National License Plate Recognition initiative that connects DEA license plate readers with those of other law enforcement agencies around the country. A Washington Post headline proclaimed in February 2014 that the Department of Homeland Security had cancelled its national license-plate tracking plan, but all that was ended was one Immigrations and Customs Enforcement solicitation for proposals. In fact, a government-run national license plate tracking program already exists, housed within the DEA. (Thats in addition to the corporate license plate tracking database run by Vigilant Solutions, holding billions of records about our movements.) Since its inception in 2008, the DEA has provided limited information to the public on the programs goals, capabilities and policies. Information has trickled out over the years, in testimony here or there. But far too little is still known about this program.
In 2012, the ACLU filed public records requests in 38 states and Washington, D.C. seeking information about the use of automatic license plate readers. Our July 2013 report, You Are Being Tracked, summarized our findings with regard to state and local law enforcement agencies, finding that the technology was being rapidly adopted, all too often with little attention paid to the privacy risks of this powerful technology. But in addition to filing public records requests with state agencies, the ACLU also filed FOIA requests with federal agencies, including the DEA.
The new DEA records that we received are heavily redacted and incomplete, but they provide the most complete documentation of the DEAs database to date. For example, the DEA has previously testified that its license plate reader program began at the southwest border crossings, and that the agency planned to gradually increase its reach; we now know more about to where it has grown. The DEA had previously suggested that other sources would be able to feed data into the database; we now know about some of the types of agencies collaborating with the DEA.
Looks like TPTB are using "Brazil" as a manual for statecraft...
Millions of cars tracked across US in 'massive' real-time DEA spy program
Source: Guardian (U.K.)
Millions of cars tracked across US in 'massive' real-time DEA spy program
The United States government is tracking the movement of vehicles around the country in a clandestine intelligence-gathering programme that has been condemned as a further official exercise to build a database on peoples lives.
The Drug Enforcement Administration was monitoring license plates on a massive scale, giving rise to major civil liberties concerns, the American Civil Liberties Union said on Monday night, citing DEA documents obtained under freedom of information.
This story highlights yet another way government security agencies are seeking to quietly amplify their powers using new technologies, Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with ACLU, told the Guardian.
On this as on so many surveillance issues, we can take action, put in place some common sense limits or sit back and let our society be transformed into a place we wont recognize or probably much like.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/27/millions-of-cars-tracked-across-us-in-massive-real-time-spying-program
The ACLU's own take is here:
https://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty-criminal-law-reform/foia-documents-reveal-massive-dea-program-record-ame
American Civil Liberties Union
FOIA Documents Reveal Massive DEA Program to Record Americans Whereabouts With License Plate Readers
January 26, 2015
By Bennett Stein, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project & Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy & Technology Project at 7:15pm
The Drug Enforcement Administration has initiated a massive national license plate reader program with major civil liberties concerns but disclosed very few details, according to new DEA documents obtained by the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act.
The DEA is currently operating a National License Plate Recognition initiative that connects DEA license plate readers with those of other law enforcement agencies around the country. A Washington Post headline proclaimed in February 2014 that the Department of Homeland Security had cancelled its national license-plate tracking plan, but all that was ended was one Immigrations and Customs Enforcement solicitation for proposals. In fact, a government-run national license plate tracking program already exists, housed within the DEA. (Thats in addition to the corporate license plate tracking database run by Vigilant Solutions, holding billions of records about our movements.) Since its inception in 2008, the DEA has provided limited information to the public on the programs goals, capabilities and policies. Information has trickled out over the years, in testimony here or there. But far too little is still known about this program.
In 2012, the ACLU filed public records requests in 38 states and Washington, D.C. seeking information about the use of automatic license plate readers. Our July 2013 report, You Are Being Tracked, summarized our findings with regard to state and local law enforcement agencies, finding that the technology was being rapidly adopted, all too often with little attention paid to the privacy risks of this powerful technology. But in addition to filing public records requests with state agencies, the ACLU also filed FOIA requests with federal agencies, including the DEA.
The new DEA records that we received are heavily redacted and incomplete, but they provide the most complete documentation of the DEAs database to date. For example, the DEA has previously testified that its license plate reader program began at the southwest border crossings, and that the agency planned to gradually increase its reach; we now know more about to where it has grown. The DEA had previously suggested that other sources would be able to feed data into the database; we now know about some of the types of agencies collaborating with the DEA.
Just remember, citizens:
"...will defend to the death your right to agree with them"; or: Just plain hypocrisy
http://csgv.org/action/tell-wttg-general-manager-patrick-paolini-fire-emily-miller/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=csgv&utm_content=1+-+Click+here+to+tell+WTTG+General+Manager+&utm_campaign=EmilyMillerCampaign&source=EmilyMillerCampaignIn its Code of Ethics, the Society of Professional Journalists states that journalists should act independently by avoiding conflicts of interest, real or perceived and political activities that may compromise integrity or impartiality.1
By this standard, Emily Miller has no business being the Chief Investigative Reporter for WTTG, the Fox affiliate for Washington, D.C...
This is the behavior of an activist and pundit, not a journalist. Given her record, D.C. residents cant trust that Miller will provide objective coverage on matters of concern to their city. If WTTG is at all concerned with journalistic integrity, it is time for them part ways with her.
Tell WTTG General Manager Patrick Paolini: Fire Emily Miller.
This is getting support at DU:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12627928
I wonder how that sort would have reacted if David Gregory
had been canned immediately after his little stunt:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22David+Gregory%22+magazine&sitesearch=democraticunderground.com
Or the journalists going to this?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1172158915
http://dartcenter.org/content/apply-now-southwest-workshop-on-covering-guns-gun-violence
The Dart Center is offering a two-day workshop for journalists on covering guns and gun violence, April 17-18, in Phoenix, Arizona.
---Snip---
To help journalists and news organizations in the Southwest improve their reporting on guns and gun violence, the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia Journalism School is organizing a two-day regional workshop April 17 and 18, 2015 for reporters, editors, news directors, photographers, producers, and bloggers. The workshop, funded by Everytown for Gun Safety, will offer independent expert briefings and specialized reporting skills training to enhance the practical ability of journalists to report on guns and gun violence knowledgeably, ethically and effectively. The workshop will cover such topics as state and federal gun laws; patterns of gun sales and gun trafficking; national trends and polling; education and prevention initiatives; social, economic and public health impacts; and special populations (e.g. children and youth, women and returning veterans.)
Speakers include national public health and policy experts; researchers and clinicians; award-winning journalists, and prevention advocates and survivors.
The workshop will:
* Serve as a forum for improving journalists knowledge of guns and gun violence, and the implications of public policies like background check requirements
*Explore new research, reporting ideas and best practices with leading public health and policy experts
*Confront challenges and identify opportunities that exist for local journalists pursuing these stories with limited resources
*Provide practical tools to enable journalists to successfully produce meaningful stories on guns and gun violence.
---Snip---
The TSA Wants To Read Your Facebook Posts And Check Out Your Purchases Before It Will Approve You...
from the ah,-now-I-understand-the-phrase-'documented-citizen' dept
The TSA is disappointed that so few Americans have opted out of its bottle-tossing, package-groping screenings by signing up for its PreCheck program. For a few years now, the TSA has been selling travelers' civil liberties back to them, most recently for $85 a head, but it's now making a serious push to increase participation. The TSA can't do it alone, so it's accepting bids on its PreCheck expansion proposal. (h/t to Amy Alkon)
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is seeking vendors for TSA Pre√® Application Expansion initiative to develop, deliver, and deploy private sector application capabilities expanding the public's enrollment opportunities for TSA Pre✓® through an Other Transactional Agreement (OTA) awarded by TSA. The Government plans to award an OTA to multiple vendors. The Government will evaluate the proposed ready-to-market solutions' application capabilities against this TSA Pre√® Expansion Initiative Solicitation and Statement of Work....
...More protections here:
Risk assessments may not be based on race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, financial status (e.g., credit ratings/scores, liens, bankruptcies, foreclosures, annual income), health records, constitutionally protected activity, or other records reflecting an individuals socio-economic status....
Ahh, but then there's:
For purposes of this private sector enrollment initiative for the TSA Preè Application Program, commercial data includes: public record data, such as criminal history and real estate records produced by federal, state, and local governments; other publicly available information, such as directories, press reports, location data and information that individuals post on blogs and social media sites; and wide ranging data such as purchase information, customer lists from registration websites, and self-reported information provided by consumers that is obtained by commercial data sources such as data brokers.
As the great Tom Waits once said:
"The large print giveth, and the fine print taketh away"
I Was Arrested for Learning a Foreign Language. Today, I Have Some Closure.
https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech-national-security-technology-and-liberty/i-was-arrested-learning-foreign-language-tJanuary 23, 2015
By Nick George at 11:14am
Five years ago, the Philadelphia police thought that carrying Arabic-language flashcards was enough to warrant the arrest of an innocent traveler. A settlement reached today in a lawsuit I brought against the police department makes it clear that it is not...
...It's that attitude that is so problematic. Even after searching my luggage without probable cause of a crime and finding nothing out of the ordinary, TSA agents and the police felt they had the authority to detain and then arrest me, purely on ignorant assumptions about a language spoken by 295 million people worldwide.
That's why this lawsuit is important: to make it clear that arbitrary arrests are illegal, even at the airport. In addition to some modest damages, the settlement we signed requires the Philadelphia Police Department to amend its policies to make this clear. As law enforcement officers, they will be periodically instructed that they have an independent duty to establish probable cause before arrest, and cannot simply clap in cuffs anyone the TSA calls suspicious.
Detective wanted arrest warrant for NBC's David Gregory
Source: USA Today
Detective wanted arrest warrant for NBC's David Gregory
Yamiche Alcindor, USA TODAY 5:36 p.m. EST January 24, 2015
The controversy over former NBC anchor David Gregory's display of a high capacity gun magazine got new legs this week.
An affidavit shows a Washington Metropolitan Police Department detective requested an arrest warrant for Gregory, according to Conservative website Legal Insurrection. In December 2012, the then host of NBC's "Meet the Press" broke the district's laws by waving the 30-round ammunition magazine at the network's studio during an interview...
...According to the affidavit, a NBC editor exchanged several e-mails with authorities who informed the editor that possessing the magazine would violate the law and be a misdemeanor. Police recommended using a photo instead of the magazine during the interview.
Gregory later displayed the magazine. In response, police investigated the incident. And, Wayne Gerrish, a Washington Metropolitan Police Department detective, requested an arrest warrant for Gregory. It was declined in January 2013.
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/01/24/detective-wanted-arrest-warrant-for-nbcs-david-gregory/22275317/
Naturally it was declined- Gregory could be trusted with that magazine, he's not
one of "those people..."
<sarcasm mode to OFF>
Gun control for thee, but not for me: "Detective wanted arrest warrant for NBC's David Gregory"
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/01/24/detective-wanted-arrest-warrant-for-nbcs-david-gregory/22275317/Yamiche Alcindor, USA TODAY 5:36 p.m. EST January 24, 2015
The controversy over former NBC anchor David Gregory's display of a high capacity gun magazine got new legs this week.
An affidavit shows a Washington Metropolitan Police Department detective requested an arrest warrant for Gregory, according to Conservative website Legal Insurrection. In December 2012, the then host of NBC's "Meet the Press" broke the district's laws by waving the 30-round ammunition magazine at the network's studio during an interview...
...According to the affidavit, a NBC editor exchanged several e-mails with authorities who informed the editor that possessing the magazine would violate the law and be a misdemeanor. Police recommended using a photo instead of the magazine during the interview.
Gregory later displayed the magazine. In response, police investigated the incident. And, Wayne Gerrish, a Washington Metropolitan Police Department detective, requested an arrest warrant for Gregory. It was declined in January 2013.
Of course it was declined- Gregory wasn't one of "those people..."
A pack of hypocrites and selective tough guys, advocating violence against the law abiding
Nuclear Unicorn has their number. From a thread in GC&RKBA:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1172159686#post8
They have a right to SWAT and tackle law-abiding, peaceable citizens but law-abiding peaceable citizens don't have the right to defend themselves from rapists, robbers, muggers, burglars and stalkers perpetrating forcible felonies.
Gun control isn't about stopping violence because gun controllers are endorsing violence.
This story has forced the mask to fall away. It's about control and nothing more.
That was in response to this:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1172159686#post1
1. we have a right to protect ourselves against gun toting idiots.
he should have broken his damn arms...
Fuck Foster and *anyone* (and the keyboard they rode in on)
who supports or excuses his actions
The DEA Just Ended A Secret 15-Year Phone Call Spying Program
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-drug-enforcement-agency-halts-huge-secret-data-program-2015-1The DEA Just Ended A Secret 15-Year Phone Call Spying Program
Reuters
John Shiffman, Reuters
Jan. 16, 2015, 5:40 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has halted a secret, nearly 15-year program that collected virtually all data on international calls between the United States and certain countries, according to documents and officials familiar with the matter.
The sweeping bulk DEA database program was stopped in September 2013, shortly after elements were revealed by Reuters and then The New York Times, according to a redacted court filing made public on Thursday and U.S. officials...
...The 2013 Reuters report disclosed that federal agents were trained to conceal the role of Special Operations Division and its techniques in certain cases. This deceptive process, the agents said, is commonly called "parallel construction."
Agents had been directed to obscure how such investigations truly began - not only from defense lawyers but also sometimes from prosecutors and judges...
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