Shuttle to fly AMS to ISS in late 2010 or early 2011??

[Carrickagh]

<p>A shuttle flight to bring the AMS to the space station would be a far more noble last flight than just re-stocking parts. Sort of right up there with servicing Hubble (IMO).</p><p>Old AMS "not to fly" articles:</p><p>http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/315/5818/1476</p><p>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/01/AR2007120100760.html</p><p>Possible last shuttle flight?</p><p><font color="#800080"><strong>"While a CR will affect the downstream end of the gap, congressional action also could move the near-term side of the gap to the right, narrowing it by a few months. Griffin has told Congress NASA could fly one more shuttle flight beyond the 10 on the flight manifest to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) particle physics experiment to the ISS, provided another $300 million - $400 million is appropriated."</strong></font></p><p><strong><font color="#800080">link: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/Gap081108.xml&headline=NASA%20Compares%20Ares/Orion%20Targets%20To%20Funding</font></strong></p><p><img src="http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2007/11/30/PH2007113001623.jpg" border="0" alt="A photo of the AMS Detector, which is expected to be at the Kennedy Space Center in December 2008." />the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer</p><p><img src="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/payload/missions/ams/ams-logo.gif" alt="" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Carrickagh]

<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>From the article:</p><p><strong>In the wake of the Columbia disaster and the 2010 deadline for completing shuttle operations, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS, payload lost its ride to the station. Congressional supporters are considering whether to add a flight and Shannon said the agency was protecting that option. </strong></p><p><strong>"Right now, we don't have any direction to go fly the AMS from Congress or the White House," he said. "<font color="#800000">We've protected the option. We've put together a cargo layout that would have the AMS flying</font>, we have had people from the shuttle program involved in integration to determine the long-lead integration items that we need in order to put it in the shuttle payload bay and be able to go fly it. And I am going to have, at the end of the program, hardware available to not only fly an additional flight but I would also have launch-on-need capability for that flight."</strong></p><p><strong>Link: http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts125/080707manifest/</strong></p><p><strong>Perhaps this is more a possibility than I had realized...again, it certainly would be a better end to the STS program than ferrying spares.</strong></p><p><br /><br />&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[willpittenger]

Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>www.sciencemag.org/...<br /> Posted by Carrickagh</DIV><br /><ol><li>It appears that sciencemag.org online articles are <u><strong>NOT</strong></u> publicly accessible.</li><li>Please use the link button below (looks like a piece of chain) when posting links.&nbsp; Long URLs in posts can cause problems. <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif" border="0" alt="Foot in mouth" title="Foot in mouth" /> </li></ol> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[Carrickagh]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>It appears that sciencemag.org online articles are NOT publicly accessible.Please use the link button below (looks like a piece of chain) when posting links.&nbsp; Long URLs in posts can cause problems. <br />Posted by willpittenger</DIV></p><p>Sorry for any confusion...I am a sciencemag subscriber...here is the full text (from a few years ago).</p><p>Hopefully AMS will fly!</p><h2>News of the Week</h2><div id="LegacyContent"><h2><font size="-1">SPACE SCIENCE:</font><br />NASA Declares No Room for Antimatter Experiment</h2><strong>Andrew Lawler</strong> <p>The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) is a model of international cooperation, led by a dynamic Nobel Prize winner, and promises to do impressive science in space. But it may never get a chance to do its thing. </p><p>The problem is that NASA has no room on its space shuttle to launch the $1.5 billion AMS mission, which is designed to search for antimatter from its perch on the international space station. "Every shuttle flight that I have has got to be used to finish the station," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told a Senate panel on 28 February. </p><blockquote><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><a name="1"></a><img src="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol315/issue5818/images/small/1476-1-thumb.gif" alt="Figure 1" hspace="20" vspace="10" align="left" /> <strong>Not stationary.</strong> AMS needs another way to get to the international space station after NASA said that the shuttles are booked. <p><font size="-2">CREDIT: NASA</font></p>

 

[Carrickagh]

<p><br />The bill now awaits final approval by the entire Senate. It is understood that President&nbsp;Bush opposes any additional Shuttle missions, as they could delay the transition to Project Constellation. This could become the next president's call..</p><p><strong>&nbsp;</strong> Link...</p><p>key paragraph as it relates to the AMS:</p><ul>(C) NASA has conceded that without the Space Shuttle, it will be unable to transport the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to the International Space Station. Scientists involved in the development of the AMS acknowledge that it will enhance <font style="font-weight:400;color:blue!important;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color="#0000ff"><span style="font-weight:400;color:blue!important;border-bottom:blue1pxsolid;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:transparent" class="kLink">scientific </span><span style="font-weight:400;color:blue!important;border-bottom:blue1pxsolid;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:transparent" class="kLink">discoveries</span></font>. While the AMS has cost over $1,500,000,000 to develop and build, NASA has stated that the remaining Space Shuttle manifest does not allow for transport of the AMS and that it will not be an option to retrofit another launch vehicle in order to fly it into space. Only by extending Space Shuttle operations beyond 2010 will NASA be able to transport the AMS to the International Space Station. As long as the AMS meets all required standards to verify its validity and justify its transport on the Space Shuttle, NASA should fulfill its obligation to the <font style="font-weight:400;color:blue!important;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color="#0000ff"><span style="font-weight:400;color:blue!important;border-bottom:blue1pxsolid;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:transparent" class="kLink">Department </span><span style="font-weight:400;color:blue!important;border-bottom:blue1pxsolid;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:transparent" class="kLink">of </span><span style="font-weight:400;color:blue!important;border-bottom:blue1pxsolid;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-color:transparent" class="kLink">Energy</span></font> and our international partners.</ul> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>