Six Orion Milestones to Track in 2016

This year, engineers will make important progress developing and testing the Orion spacecraft that will send astronauts to deep space destinations on the journey to Mars. NASA will mark critical steps necessary in preparation for both the spacecraft’s first mission to deep space atop the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and for future missions with astronauts. Here’s a look at some of the significant milestones and testing set for 2016.

Early in 2016, technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans will finish welding together Orion’s pressure vessel, which will provide a sealed environment for astronaut life support in future human-rated crew modules, before shipping it to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Once there, engineers will start testing it to make sure the structure is sound and can endure the harsh conditions of deep space it will endure when it travels thousands of miles beyond the moon on the first integrated mission of Orion and SLS, known as Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1). Following a pressure proof test, the team will outfit the crew module with all of the avionics and systems the spacecraft needs before it can be integrated with the SLS rocket and processed for launch.

In Colorado, at the facilities of Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, engineers will evaluate a new acoustic technology called Direct Field Acoustic Testing. The test will use customized, high-energy speakers configured in a circle around the crew module flown in space in 2014 to control how much energy reaches the vehicle. 

The evaluation of the acoustic testing will determine if the method can produce enough energy to simulate the acoustic loads Orion will experience during launch and ascent on the SLS rocket. If the method proves to be an accurate representation of launch and ascent acoustic loads, it will be used to evaluate and verify Orion’s ability to withstand those loads for EM-1.

NASA marked the arrival in November 2015 to NASA Glenn Research Center’s Plum Brook Station of a structural representation of the Orion service module provided by ESA and built by Airbus. In 2016, engineers will put the test article through a series of crucial tests to verify the structural integrity and ability to withstand the dynamic launch environment atop the SLS rocket. In February, one of the service module’s solar array wings will be deployed to make sure it unfurls and retracts properly. After that, the test article will move to an acoustic chamber at Plum Brook to be pummeled with noise that simulates acoustic energy seen during launch, and then moved to a mechanical vibration facility to simulate the shaking it will experience atop its rocket. For the testing, the ESA-provided test article will be mated to a structural representation of the crew module adapter provided by Lockheed Martin. 

Engineers will make strides in 2016 to build the Orion for the first integrated mission of the spacecraft atop SLS, but they’ll also continue making progress preparing for future flights with astronauts. In the spring, at NASA Langley Research Center’s Hydro Impact Basin, NASA will mimic some of the most stressful water landing conditions Orion could experience with it returns from deep space and splashes down in the Pacific Ocean. Langley engineers have outfitted a test version of the crew module with Orion’s heat shield that flew in space and two test dummies strapped inside to evaluate loads the crew may experience during real missions.

Orion’s parachutes are essential to a successful mission, ensuring the capsule can slow down from its high-speed reentry to a relatively gentle 20 mph before splashdown. The Orion team has long been developing and conducting successful testing of the system of 11 parachutes in the skies above the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground and will begin qualifying the parachute system for crewed flights. The parachute team will begin the qualification tests this summer, which encompass eight integrated drop tests over a three-year period.

More than 30 flight-subsystem deliveries to Kennedy are planned in 2016 for installation into Orion: antennas, beacons, navigation equipment, vision processing, power management, data processing and vehicle management components all will complete manufacturing and testing this year to support the initial power-on of the EM-1 Orion spacecraft at Kennedy in early 2017. 

The hardware is undergoing many “test like you fly” demonstrations to ensure the success during EM-1, including tests of the most challenging mission and environmental requirements the spacecraft has ever seen. At Lockheed Martin’s Orion Test Lab in Littleton, Colorado, a full-scale Orion mockup is being used for integrated system level testing. The lab contains development copies of all EM-1 avionics, power and wiring hardware and will provide over a year’s worth of mission simulation testing and debugging prior to Orion’s power on at Kennedy.

The tests highlighted in 2016 are only part of the overall test plan for Orion and SLS in preparation for their first exploration mission. With the progress made so far, and tests planned at Kennedy in 2017 and 2018 when the rocket and ground systems are ready, NASA is on a path to be ready to launch EM-1 in 2018.

Last Updated: Jan. 7, 2016

Editor: Mark Garcia

Filing Your FAFSA Application: Conquering The FAFSA Application

You should file your Free Application For Student Aid application as early as possible: Conquering the FAFSA applicationYour FAFSA application is the best and only way for you to get federal money for college expenses. This application will qualify you for five different types offederal programs. You will need to file your FAFSA application as early as possible after the first of January. I havealways stressed to my students to file their FAFSA application no later than the 15th of February of their senior year. Before you file your FAFSA, you and your parents will need to create a FSA ID. Both you and your parents will also need to file your income taxes prior to completing your FAFSA application. If you have to file your FAFSA application before you have your taxes done, you can use your last paycheck stub of the year with last year's taxes to file an estimated FAFSA application. You can update your income information on the application once your taxes have been done.Once you have filed your completed FAFSA application, it will be processed and you will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR), which will have your potential Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Your EFC is what the institutions will expect you and your parents to come up with to pay for your education.Whether you think you qualify for financial aid or not, you should file the application because in most cases the institutions will need your financial information before they will give you their money. All colleges and universities will require the FAFSA application if you are looking for financial aid.Do you have to file the CSS Profile financial aid application?Most of the students will not have to file the CSS Profile application because only a small group of colleges and universities require the CSS Profile. These schools that require the CSS Profile are a small group of private colleges and universities that want more information on you and your parents before they will give you institutional money. These institutions that require the CSS Profile application tend to be more generous with their financial aid packages. Even though, these institutions will dig deeper into your financial status, they will for the most part lower your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) that you will receive from the FAFSA application. You will not receive an EFC from the CSS Profile. You can file your CSS Profile application after the first of October of your senior year. This application is fornon-federal financial aid.Remember to file any other financial aid applications that are required by the institutions that you have applied to: conquering financial aid applicationsEvery institution will have their financial aid formsthat you will need to file. These applications tend to be short and generic but you have to fill them out. This financial aid application is usually part of the admissions application package.The schools with the best financial aid packages in the country can be found at the US NEWS/Education website and some of these schools are very selective. There are schools out there for everyone who wants to pursue an education.For more information, visit my website for information that will save you time and money.http://www.collegeadmissionsandfinancialaid.comcopy and paste if the link is not alive.Leonel DaRosa, M. Ed.Guidance CounselorArticle Source:http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Leo_DaRosa/1732261

3 Ways to Rid of Toxic People in 2016

Have you ever felt like someone "got over on you?" Is there a person who mistakes your kindness for you being a doormat? Do you have someone in yourlife that "uses" you, takes advantage of you or plants seeds of doubt in your mind? That's a toxic person.Some of the biggest stressors we have in life come from toxic people. If you want to reduce stress in your life, if you want to actually obtain those dreams ofyours, then rid of the toxic people.If you have all these fabulous goals for 2016, but you have negative people surrounding you, don't kid yourself about success. The truth is, negative people take you down. They are contagious and infectious and they will do all they can to suck your energy dry and instill self-doubt. As your confidence drops, they gain more of an upper hand and slowly take control from you.The reality is, you can take control back and set yourself up for success. It might not be easy, it might not be fun at first, in fact, ridding of toxic people sometimes might be one of the most painful experiences for you, but it is necessary if you want to achieve your goals and live a more positive and fulfilling life.Here are 3 ways to rid of the toxic people in your life:1. First, you have to reflect on who actually is sucking your energy dry or making you feel defeated. Pull out the old journal and write down all the people that you deem as toxic in your life. For a jump start as to what these people may look like, they are typically the people take you up and down (I love you, I hate you, I really love you, I really hate you), the whiners, the takers, the down-right mean people, the users, the bull-shitters, the gossipers, and the passive aggressives.Once you have created this list, circle the ones you know you can get rid of completely and erase themlike you hit the delete button on your computer. Cutthem off. No more answering calls, no more socialmedia, just get rid of the crap they put you through.2. Okay, so now you still have this list with a few names on it of people you can't just simply cut out of your life altogether. Maybe it's not realistic, not practical, or you really just don't want to cut them off. I get it. Often the most people toxic people in our lives we can't or don't want to rid of. But that's alright. Instead, we take control back by setting stronger boundaries.Warning: As you set boundaries people are going to react to you differently and sometimes negatively; especially if they expect a certain behavior or action from you and you no longer solicit that. I always tell clients, the best way to change another person is to change yourself. You can't change other people, but your change in reaction will alter them and their actions.Here is what setting boundaries might look like:• Say no more frequently to requests from toxic people that hinder your day or hurt your progress. You don't always have to say yes. You may be the official go-to person, but that stops today as you make a commitment to yourself that you are taking control over your life. When you say no, the payoff is in the end when you don't have so much responsibility. Saying no shows confidence and self-control. However, if you want to engage in the request someone asked you to take on, but right now is not the time you can do it, speak up and saythat. If that's not good enough for them, then walk away. Clearly they are toxic.• Don't be the initiator of conversation. If you don't have to communicate with the person, don't. But, this goes both ways. You can't be dependent all the time either. You can't just reach out to the toxic person when you need something. This will really blur a boundary that you put into place. Example: If you are working to rid of an ex and now you need their help because your car broke down, think twice before asking them for a ride. Find an alternative. And there are alternatives. Begin taking control back by acknowledging that you have options and alternatives.• Along the same lines, you don't have to answer their call or email right away. You don't have to jump for this person anymore. If you get a call, a text or an email, I encourage you to RRR or Retreat (walk away from the situation), Rethink (analyze what the deal is) and then React (now you act). Give yourself time to process the request and how this will wrap you up in toxicity if you respond, react impulsively or give in. Often toxic people suck us in because they back us into a corner and force an impulsive response out of us. This is how they gain control. No longer will that happen when you give yourself time to retreat and rethink BEFORE you react.3. Don't internalize their hate, negativity or meanness. If you have identified this person as toxic, and you even set boundaries with them, but you allow them to take up your mind, they are still in your life.Ruminating and dwelling on negative people for any reason still brews up the poison in you and toxifies you. So many times we replay events and take their negativity to heart. But before you let them invade you and bring your confidence down, look at the source. Is this person credible, worthy of hurting you, do you really think that they have your best interest in mind? If not, let their meanness go.Work to be aware of how much "mind time" you are giving this toxic person. The more awareness you have of the time they are using in your mind, the more likely you are to catch yourself in the act of ruminating and then, be able to cut it. They is noreal quick fix to give about cutting negative thoughts, expect retrain your brain. You didn't always think about this toxic person, you trained your mind and created a habit of this. It took time. Now, today, we begin to retrain your mind. Try redirecting these negative thoughts back to goodness. How are you better off without this person or toxicity in your life? Begin thinking about your weekend, good times with good friends, your desire to reach your 2016 goals, etc. Just get your mind away from negativity.You may have to really work at this tip. The mind is powerful and easily can fall back into a habitualway of thinking as you go about your day on auto-pilot, but the mind is powerful both ways. If you want it to think or behave differently with effortand repetition your mind will create a new habit.Some people say you are what you eat. I say, you are who you associate with. People are typically a combination of the top three to five people they associate with most. Take a moment to reflect on the people you spend most of your time with and reflect on whether or not these people are in line with your goals and direction. The New Year is moments away and you have the power and control to take your life back. Toxic people will waste your energy in 2016 and many of them will steer you off track of your goals at some point soon. And if they don't steer you off track they will make your journey toward your goals tougher andmore draining.Today I challenge you to select the most toxic person off your list and begin taking control back.Dr. Jaime Kulaga is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Motivational Speaker. She is the author of "The SuperWoman's Guide to Super Fulfillment: Step-by-Step Strategies to Create Work-Life Balance." She is the inspirational founder of the nationally known SuperWoman Workshops. Dr. Kulaga has been featured internationally for her expertise in Work-Life Balance.http://www.drjaimek.comArticle Source:http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jaime_Kulaga/1038479

3 Ways to Find Your Purpose in 2016

I live with the premise that everybody has got something to give no matter their circumstances no matter the challenges and odds that they face in life. The recent tragic incidents in Russia, Paris and not forgetting 9/11 has reminded how humans can be toxicwhen they make the wrong choices and do not care about the well-being of others. We cannot control choices of other people in the world but we can control our own choices. Much as otherpeople make the wrong choices and affect the world negatively I still believe one person can change the world in their own space and impact on the lives of others. Many who lived before us did such as Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa.The only way to truly change our world is to connect to our purpose. As we head to the New Year in 2016, I would like you to connect to your true purpose. Ask yourself these important questions: "In the troubled world who do I have to be? What do I need to become in order to make thisworld a better place? Once you have answered these questions also answer this question to moveinto action and live the life of your true purpose:"What do I commit to do in order to live the life of mytrue purpose in 2016?"If you follow through and take action you will be well on your way to finding your purpose in life and living the life of your true purpose. You are capable more than you have imagined possible, you are the light to the world. You have something to give that no other person can give but you. In order to give what you have been placed in this world to accomplish, you need to find your purpose.I am sure like most people when I speak of purpose you might want to ask yourself how you can find your purpose - most people ask me this question. My answer is always, "You don't have to find your purpose, for it is within you"I do not think anyone needs to search for their purpose because our purpose is within each of us, we do not have to find it rather we have to create conditions and the environment within which our purpose can be fulfilled. Once we create an environment and conditions within which our purpose can exist, our purpose will find us. There are three things that I believe any person willing tofind their purpose should do in order to create conditions within which their purpose will be fulfilled. Here are the three things:1. Get spiritually connectedAlmost everyone I have ever spoken to that does not know what their purpose is and seems lost is also not spiritually connected. It is almost impossible to find your true purpose in life when you are not spiritually connected. People that live up to their true purpose are spiritually connected. Every purpose goes along with a deep routed emotional connection. People that have lived up totheir purpose such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey and many others are spiritually connected in one way or the other. They hold a deeper emotion that connects them to their purpose. To live your purpose you have to be spiritually connected.How to get spiritually connected is very individualistic for some spiritual connection means time alone to meditate or pray, other people go on a fast, other people give to those in need to find their spiritual connection whilst others go to church and worship. The only way to know what works for you is to reserve time in your busy life for spirituality and do various things until you find rituals that connect to you on a deeper level. Once you find your spiritual connection, your purpose will find you. Trust me I have spoken to a lot of people that are living their purpose and all of them are spiritually connected.2. Love and GiveEvery person who has connected to their purpose has lived beyond themselves to reach out to othersand change their lives. Every purpose is routed to a deeper love far beyond oneself. The more you hone your ability to love, the more you fuel your true purpose in you to come out alive. To hone your ability to love you need to stop being self-centered and begin to develop compassion and empathy for other people.Develop empathy and compassion for those in need, for those who are helpless, for those who go hungry, for those whose lives are not freed in one way or the other. This empathy need not be limitedto those in weak positions, have feelings of empathy even for people that are not in weak positions such as those that criticize you, those that are cynical and those that walk in the dark. Even those that crucify you deserve your empathy and compassion. Once you begin to develop this deep rooted love that is unwavering even when times are hard and people do not support you thenyou will begin to move closer towards living to your true purpose.Even if you were to look at this from a business angle than a philanthropic angle, people that created great businesses were also driven by love and passion. Steve Jobs did not just revolutionize the computer industry with an isolated goal of making money, he also held within himself a deep routed love for what he was doing. He also had enough consideration to connect the technical aspects of his inventions with what the end users would like which takes a certain level of thinking beyond oneself.3. Learn and GrowTo live to your true purpose you have to be willing to learn and grow. Learning is something that when most of us think of we think of being in class and reading books. However when you are in an environment where you need to live to your purpose learning comes to you in a different way. It comes to you through life experiences some of which are great some of which challenge you. When Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison to live to his purpose to save and free South Africa he was greatly challenged, Oprah Winfrey was born unwanted, she was an inconvenience when she was born, and she was challenged in all kinds of ways to finally live to her purpose.My personal life is also a true reflection of how the path of living to our purpose can sometimes be filled with challenges. I was born in a family of 9 children; my mom was schizophrenic and stayed away from home due to illness, my father left us when I was 11 years old. We grew up being a bunch of kids who were undisciplined without parents and poor. I would go to school without having had any food. In my final two years of schooling I walked 14 kilometers every single day to school. I got to this point where I live my purpose from a path filled with obstacles and challenges.So in your own life, open yourself to learning and growing and realize that through challenges you learn and grow. Once you open yourself up to learning you will be in a much better position to find your purpose and live to your purpose. When things are difficult and the road seems like it is going nowhere in addition to feeling like crying and getting depressed also ask yourself, "What do I learn from this?" It is true that we should not ask for problems to go away instead we should seek toget ourselves emotionally stronger and have the emotional fitness to handle obstacles and overcome them.By doing the above three things you will create the environment within which your purpose, that is in you comes out, and you will be able to live your purpose. When you do the above three things you will not have to search for your purpose, your purpose will find you. I know you might feel what I say is too simplistic, just practice it and see the kinds of results that you will get in your life.There are things that limit us from living to our true purpose that I would like you to be aware of and be on guard because these can limit you and make it harder for you to get to a place where your true purpose finds you. Here they are:1. Self-DoubtSelf-doubt causes you to question your own capabilities and depending on what your answersare causes you to not be at your best. It becomes very hard for you to trust your purpose under theseconditions and to find your purpose. So you need to be aware of this. You might have questions in your mind such as, "am I good enough", or "I don't think I am capable of becoming X, or Y, or Z"...Self-doubt can cause us to have negative self-talk and devalu

The 2016 Real Estate Forecast for Los Angeles

If you want to find a basket to live in, you'll likely have more luck than findinga house in Los Angeles that meets your price. Prices in LA are skyrocketing - and are doomed to do so for the near future with relief nary in sight. Sure, if you're a millionaire and want to invest, you're in luck. Residential houses and commercial property are popping up all the time. But if you have a history of low credit rating, bankruptcy, or foreclosures and are looking to borrow conventional loans, you're in trouble. Price tags are spinning out of control and few can afford them. Even traditionally cheaper locations in LA, such as San Fernando Valley, see rents climbing torecord highs with prices in the Vally, for instance, witnessing a 7.4 percent increase!As regards real estate prices in Los Angeles for the coming year:The most recent market report by Marcus & Millichap says that this year's asking rents citywide were up 7.8 percent to an average of$1,873 per month and the company reports that 2016 will be no better with rents climbing to 4.8 percent overall.And if you want to know how much median homesin Los Angeles cost? Here's the shocker:The price of an LA single-family house has jumped 5.2 percent this year in contrast to median incomes that hover around 2.9 percent. Marcus & Millichaphalf-jokingly state that Los Angeles seems to want its residents to rent homes rather than own them. So it seems! Few Los Angelesians are going to owntheir own homes giving these gloomy statistics.Unsurprisingly, apartments are the new market forreal estate agents prowling the streets of Los Angeles. Real estate firm Douglas Elliman's latest market reports show that apartment vacancy rateshave fallen to 2.7 percent, even in hot developmentneighborhoods like Downtown LA, while more than 5,200 new rentals have come online in LA, and 2,700 of those were in the Downtown district. There are now more than 15,000 units under construction through 2017 and Marcus & Millichap say that every section of town will receive more than 1,000 units in 2016.Here's a breakdown of Los Angeles area by area soyou can see how the real estate field lies.1.San Fernando Valley*.Rents are up an average of 7.4 percent.*.Average asking rent price in the Northeast Valley isup 15.1 percent, coming in at $1,438 per month. Other areas in the Valley experienced smaller increases in average rents: the Burbank/Glendale/Pasadena area saw a 6.8 percent increase, to $2,016 per month, and the Sherman Oaks/North Hollywood/Encino markets experienced a 9.5 percent increase to$1,503 per month.*.In the last 12 months, only about 980 new rental units were added to Valley's stock, down from 2,250 the year before. 2016 should see an increase in new apartments though, as 3,100 areexpected to be added to the market next year.2.Central Los Angeles (Downtown, Hollywood, Mid-Wilshire*.Rents in Central LA were up 6.2 percent on average over the past year*.Downtown rents were up only 5.3 percent to an average of $2,158 per month. 2,800 new rental units were built in Central LA during the last year*.Vacancy rates in Downtown came in at 3.7 percent compared to Hollywood's 2.6 percent. Asa result Downtown offered concessions on more than 10 percent of units to entice renters to sign alease.3.Westside Los Angeles*.Rents were up 6.8 percent in the last quarter averaging $2,750 per month.*.Average rents in Santa Monica/Marina Del Rey climbedabove $3,000 for the first time ever, up 6.0 percent to hit $3,132 per month.*.Only 460 new apartments were built on the Westside during the past year, with nearly half of those being built in and around Santa Monica*.2016 will see the completion of more than 1,000 new rental units in the area, with more than 700 of them built in Santa Monica and Marina Del Rey.4. South Bay of Los Angeles*.Rents along LA's southern coast increased to 8.8 percent.*.Beach rents increased 8.7 percent to an average of $1,620 per month.*.950 new units were added to the rental market during the past year*.More than 820 of those rentals qualified as affordable housing.The bottom line is this...The Los Angeles housing market is hitting record levels of craziness with ever-rising housing - and rental - prices discouraging people from buying. The number of sales stays flat as prices rise. This doesn't mean that agents have a rough time and are doomed to poverty. On the contrary, if you are an agent in LA, you may want on focus on apartments and on rentals since these seem to be in demand.Sellers, also, have a booming-for-sale market where everything is busting record high from condos and single-family houses to sales closed. Otherwise, you may want to focus on persuading people to live in baskets...Yanni Raz is a hard money lenders and trust deed investments specialist as well as a blogger and contributor. The goal is to educate other real estate investors before they are getting into bad real estate deals.Yanni Raz's main Blog:Hard money lendersYou can read his articles and learn more about themarket.Good Luck.Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Yanni_A_Raz/2390190