Apr 11 2016
From The Space Library
MEDIA ADVISORY M16-037 NASA Hosts Student Rocket Launch, Robotics Challenge
NASA will host almost 50 high school, college and university teams from 22 states at its 16th annual Student Launch competition and second annual Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) Challenge, April 13-16 in Huntsville and Toney, Alabama. These events engage students across the country in NASA’s Journey to Mars through hands-on activities in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Wednesday, April 13 – MAV Challenge 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CDT U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville Designed to answer the need for autonomous robotic systems in space exploration, student teams were challenged to design and build a system capable of retrieving and storing samples. At this all-day event, the student teams will demonstrate the capabilities of their designs for a chance at a share of the $50,000 cash prize.
Thursday, April 14 – NASA Astronaut Presentation 9:15 – 10:15 a.m. Activities Building 4316, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, an International Space Station Expedition 44 and 45 crew member, will meet with students to talk about his career as an astronaut. A brief media opportunity will follow.
Media interested in covering Lindgren's visit should contact Tracy McMahan at 256-544-0034 no later than 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 13. Media attending events at Marshall must bring photo identification and proof of vehicle insurance to the Redstone Visitor Center at Gate 9, Interstate 565 interchange at Rideout Road and Research Park Boulevard. Vehicles are subject to a security search at the gate.
Friday, April 15 – Rocket Fair 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Activities Building 4316, Marshall Student teams will give technical presentations of their rocket’s design and payload in Activities Building 4316 at Marshall.
Saturday, April 16 – Student Launch 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (or until last rocket launches) Bragg Farms in Toney This event gives aspiring engineers a chance to test their high-flying creations. For a shot at a $5,000 cash prize, the student-designed and built rockets must fly to an altitude of one mile, deploy an automated parachute system, and safely land where they can be recovered. In the event of inclement weather, the launch day will be held on Sunday, April 17.
Media interested in covering the Student Launch or MAV Challenge events should contact Angela Storey at 256-544-0034 no later than 4 p.m. Thursday, April 14.
The MAV Challenge and Student Launch are open to the public and will stream live on line at: [1]
The Academic Affairs Office at Marshall manages Student Launch, to further NASA’s major education goal of attracting and encouraging students to pursue degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. NASA’s Office of Education and Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, as well as Orbital ATK’s Propulsion Systems Division of Promontory, Utah, provide funding and leadership for the initiative. The Centennial Challenges program is managed at Marshall and supported by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington.
For more details, rules, photos from previous events, and links to social media accounts providing real-time updates, visit: [2]
For more information about the Centennial Challenges MAV Challenge, visit: [3]
Mission Manager Update: Kepler Recovered from Emergency and Stable
Mission operations engineers have successfully recovered the Kepler spacecraft from Emergency Mode (EM). On Sunday morning, the spacecraft reached a stable state with the communication antenna pointed toward Earth, enabling telemetry and historical event data to be downloaded to the ground. The spacecraft is operating in its lowest fuel-burn mode.
The mission has cancelled the spacecraft emergency, returning the Deep Space Network ground communications to normal scheduling.
Once data is on the ground, the team will thoroughly assess all on board systems to ensure the spacecraft is healthy enough to return to science mode and begin the K2 mission's microlensing observing campaign, called Campaign 9. This checkout is anticipated to continue through the week.
Earth-based observatories participating in Campaign 9 will continue to make observations as Kepler's health check continues. The K2 observing opportunity for Campaign 9 will end on July 1, when the galactic center is no longer in view from the vantage point of the spacecraft.
K2's previous science campaign concluded on March 23. After data was downlinked to the ground, the spacecraft was placed in what is termed Point Rest State (PRS). While in PRS, the spacecraft antenna is pointed toward Earth and it operates in a fuel-efficient mode, with the reaction wheels at rest.
The Emergency Mode began approximately 14 hours before the planned maneuver to orient the spacecraft toward the center of the Milky Way for Campaign 9. The team has therefore ruled out the maneuver and the reaction wheels as possible causes of the EM event. An investigation into what caused the event will be pursued in parallel, with a priority on returning the spacecraft to science operations.
The anomalous EM event is the first that the Kepler spacecraft has encountered during its seven years in space. Mission operations at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, Ball Aerospace and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder remain vigilant.
It was the quick response and determination of the engineers throughout the weekend that led to the recovery. We are deeply appreciative of their efforts, and for the outpouring of support from the mission's fans and followers from around the world. We also recognize the tremendous support from NASA’s Deep Space Network, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and to NASA’s other missions that surrendered their scheduled telemetry links in order to provide us with the resources needed to protect the Kepler spacecraft.
Updates will be provided as information warrants.
