National Aeronautics and Space Administration (MR)



The National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA is an agency of the Everetti government, responsible for the nation's civilian space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, in the United States, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The agency became operational on October 1, 1958. NASA has led U.S. efforts for space exploration ever since, resulting in the Apollo missions to the Moon, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle. Currently NASA has two international branches, one in the United States and one in the Union of Everett. Both branches are supporting the International Space Station. The United States is developing new Ares I and V launch vehicles while Everett took the route of designing new fusion shuttles and Expedition class shuttles. Everett currently possesses control of the Mars Research Station, in orbit of Mars and has landed astronauts on the planet's surface.

Vehicles
The Everetti space program began in 2004 with the re-launch of the shuttle program, following the Columbia disaster. Since the release of advanced technologies in 2006, the space program launched forward. Three new fusion powered shuttles were deployed. The YF22A Raptor Fusion Fighter was released in 2008. All Everetti space craft have requirements and default standards such as EMP protection, anti-gravity, artificial gravity and fusion engines. Everetti military craft are primarily armed with laser and plasma weapons rather than missiles because of the already powerful damage a plasma blast can leave. All future forms of space craft will include low grade or normal grade hyperdrive systems, depending on the size of the craft. Current fighter and civilian models do not have hyperdrive systems but standard fusion engines. The newer civilian craft, the Expedition-class shuttle will have a low grade hyperdrive engine. By mid 2009, all Everetti space fighters will have low grade hyperdrive engines.

Civil Class
Civil class space craft are civilian craft. These ships are considered non-combat craft. Some though, may have weapons for asteroid and meteor defense but other than that, these craft are unable to enter combat. Civil class ships may consist of fully civilian craft such as passenger craft and luxury space cruiseliners or they may be science and research craft, designated for space exploration, colonization or other means.

Space Transportation System Shuttles (STS)
The Union of Everett possesses six NASA shuttles. Three are standard Space Transportation System (STS) shuttles that require rocket fuel and are aided by two massive rockets and a massive fuel tank. These shuttles are named Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis. The other three shuttles are replacements, ordered by the military to replace the aging shuttle fleet. After the Columbia disaster, new shuttles were needed. With the completion of fusion technology and anti-gravity, the three newer shuttles were built and released. The Saturnus, Terra and Explorer were released as the new fusion shuttle fleet. The new fusion shuttles remain exactly the same in design but have been replaced with triple fusion reactor engines and anti-gravity. The shuttles are capable of basic space travel speed (70,000 miles per hour and second speed mode which is about 250,000 miles per hour. These shuttles are unarmed, civil science and research space craft.

Expedition Class Shuttle
The Expedition Class shuttle was originally designed by Lockheed Martin as the X-33. The program was cancelled in 2001 because of costs. With the creation of fusion power, anti-gravity and artificial gravity, the shuttle design was picked up again by the Everetti government. The newly designed version became the Expedition shuttle. Design of the shuttle was completed in 2008 but with the release of the new fusion shuttles, the program went on hold. It was decided in 2009 that the program would continue, the new Expedition replacing the fusion shuttles. The original fusion shuttles are limited in their abilities because of design, only capable of travelling as far as Mars. The Expedition will be capable of travelling much further, built with a low grade hyperdrive system, it will be capable of travel within our own solar system. Because of it's larger size, it can carry more supplies and crew.

The first Expedition began construction on February 10, 2009 and was completed on May 15th. The first shuttle, named Expedition, began it's test flight at 12:00 noon on May 16th. The shuttle contains anti-gravity and fusion power for flight and a low grade hyperdrive giving it the ability to travel at a maximum of 750,000 miles per hour. Using a fusion weapons burst engine, the craft may launch itself up to 1.25 million miles per hour or 536 times slower than the speed of light. The craft is the first shuttle to feature artificial gravity. It's slower speed limits the Expedition to travelling within the solar system unable to perform interstellar travel. Inside are living areas, small offices, a large storage and supply room, a laboratory, a restroom that includes showers, a water treatment system, oxygen generation system and the cockpit. The main body of the craft is the size of a 747, wing to wing, front to back giving over a dozen times the space than a regular shuttle.

Mars Research Station
NASA and the Everetti government have constructed a space station in Mars orbit. This is a base point for human colonization of Mars. The station is smaller than the International Space Station but features artifical gravity and fusion power sources primarily instead of solar. The MRS currently contains eight crew. The Mars research station was used in the 2009 Mars mission and Mars landing by the Expedition shuttle with aid from the shuttle Explorer. MRS primarily researches samples from Mars and monitors and studies Mars' weather systems.

Satellites
The Union of Everett possesses almost 1,000 satellites in orbit of Earth, varying in types of communications, military, GPS, television and radio broadcasts and satellite phone and cellular systems. Thirty of these satellites belong to the PDS satellite system, a military orbital bombardment and attack satellite system. Additional PDS satellites are planned to be deployed with greater capability of firing more powerful bursts of plasma energy. An undetermined number of satellites belong to the Project Alexis/Project Titan military program, which itself is also highly classified within the military. About 375 satellites belong to the military, controlling GPS, communications, automated forces control, fusion weapons launch and deployment, reconnaissance, spying, cyber warfare attack satellites, PDS, SDI, EDS tracking and other applications. Another 250-350 satellites are civilian, controlling satellite radio, television, cellular and satellite phone communications and corporate private satellites. The remaining satellites are used for Earth and space exploration, mapping the Earth (as seen in programs such as Google Earth), telescopes used for space exploration, NASA control satellites and other space exploration uses.

Space Craft Naming Pattern
Everetti space craft are named in a specific order and through a specific type of word or use of synonyms. When a ship or craft is destroyed and new one takes it's place, it retakes the name of the destroyed craft. Space shuttles, including the Expedition-class ships are named after scientific respect and values such as Discovery, Explorer, Expedition and Endeavour. The ships can also be named after specific space icons or other related things such as the shuttle Atlantis and a new Expedition-class shuttle, Solaris.

Anti-Space Debris Program
Since 2009, the Union of Everett military ordered a NASA program to research the defense of the planet from various forms of space debris including asteroids, comets and meteors. In 2010, NASA and the Air Force test fired the PDS satellite array to destroy a close flyby of asteroid debris using both a PDS satellite to destroy one while NASA launched a rocket carrying a fusion weapon to intercept and destroy the other asteroid. Both close flyby asteroids were not projected to strike the Earth but the mission proved a basic defense from small scale space debris. In April of 2010, NASA launched the Elenin Collider, a spacecraft armed with a high grade fusion warhead, which was set to impact into the side of the incoming comet Elenin. Elenin is nearly two and half miles in diameter and was projected to come within 21 million miles of Earth. On May 3rd 2011, the collider mission slammed into the side of Elenin and detonated, shoving the comet off course. The mission was declared a success in the first deflection of a large scale target. Future missions are planned including automated drill boring weapons systems designed to penetrate a target and detonate within to destroy a target from the inside.

NASA Space-Enviro Program (EarthGrid)
In 2011, a joint report from space agencies discussed the issue of growing man-made space debris in orbit of Earth including dead satellites and parts of launched space craft, such as rocket boosters. NASA announced in August of 2011 it would begin a space program to track down some of the 22,000 trackable man-made space debris and shove it into the Earth's atmosphere where the debris would be burned up and destroyed. The program, beginning in October of 2011, would use fusion Orbiter shuttles to catch and send into the the atmosphere, the debris, piece by piece. Space-mobile drones are currently also in the works at Armor Robotics and NASA to track and remove space debris using automation to cut costs and speed up the process.

In April 2012, NASA announced the beginning of EarthGrid, a joint Department of Defense and Department of Disaster Response project to establish an array and constellation of satellites to monitor and track moving celestial objects within the solar system to ensure the security of Earth from potential near-Earth impacts of debris such as asteroids, comets and meteors.