Aug 14 2012

From The Space Library

CONTRACT RELEASE: C12-036 NASA SELECTS INTEGRATED PROGRAM SUPPORT SERVICES AGREEMENTS

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- NASA has selected three small businesses to provide access to a variety of program support services for the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Under the Marshall Integrated Program Support Services (MIPSS) blanket purchase agreements, the following companies will lead teams to compete for task orders: - Manufacturing Technical Solutions Inc., Huntsville, Ala. - Sumaria Systems Inc., Danvers, Mass. - Victory Solutions Inc., Huntsville, Ala. The blanket purchase agreements have no minimum or maximum value and have a five-year ordering period. Task orders will be performance-based, fixed-price or time and material orders, and are anticipated to include a one-year base period, followed by four one-year options. Historical contractor support for similar efforts during the last five years has totaled more than $100 million. The task orders will specify programmatic support service requirements necessary to support current and future programs and projects at Marshall. Contract services will include work in five areas; program planning and control, cost estimating and analysis, configuration management and data management, project coordination, and subject matter expert support.

CONTRACT RELEASE: C12-037 NASA SELECTS COMBINED DATA SERVICES CONTRACT FOR POLAR SATELLITES

WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected the Norwegian Space Centre (NSC) of Oslo, Norway, for combined data support services for NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Program. This is a firm-fixed price contract with a value of about $22 million, which includes one base year and four one-year options to extend performance. This contract permits usage of the Svalbard Satellite Station ground station and other NSC data services resources to support the JPSS Program requirements for three missions: Global Change Observation -- Water 1, Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership and JPSS-1. The contract provides satellite data acquisition and distribution services for current polar orbiting satellites. It includes mission planning and related support activities for the JPSS Program and for the JPSS-1 mission. JPSS is a new generation of polar-orbiting satellites designed to enhance the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) efforts to forecast weather and track global climate change from space. Under the NOAA-NASA partnership, NOAA is responsible for the JPSS Program, including funding the advanced instruments, sensors and the two planned spacecraft and launch vehicles. NASA is the acquisition and system integrator for JPSS.

CONTRACT RELEASE: C12-038 NASA EXERCISES OPTION ON MISSION OPERATIONS SUPPORT CONTRACT

HOUSTON -- NASA is exercising an $80.5 million flex option on the Facilities Development and Operations Contract with Lockheed Martin Corp. of Gaithersburg, Md. The level-of-effort flex option takes advantage of hours that were negotiated for the contract award in 2009 and increases the ceiling for the base contract period. The period of performance for the contract remains Jan. 1, 2009, through Sept. 30, 2013. Under the contract, Lockheed Martin provides support for the hardware, software, data and displays systems used in preparation for and performance of all human spaceflight missions supported by the Mission Operations Directorate at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The contract provides technical, managerial and administrative services needed to ensure the availability, integrity and reliability of operations facilities, including the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center and the Jake Garn Mission Simulator and Training Facility at Johnson. It also supports these activities at backup control centers. The majority of the work will take place at or near Johnson. Subcontractors supporting this contract include Cimarron Software Services Inc. and United Space Alliance, both of Houston.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-150 TWO SPACE STATION SPACEWALKS TO BE BROADCAST ON NASA TV

WASHINGTON -- Astronauts and cosmonauts will perform two spacewalks outside the International Space Station this month. NASA Television will broadcast both events live. Coverage of the first will begin at 10 a.m. EDT, Monday, Aug. 20. Coverage of the second will begin at 7 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 30. The first spacewalk, scheduled to begin at 10:40 a.m., Aug. 20, will feature Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency in Russian Orlan spacesuits. They will float outside the Pirs docking compartment airlock for a 6 1/2 hour spacewalk to relocate a cargo boom from Pirs to the Zarya module, complete the installation of micrometeoroid debris shields on the Zvezda service module and deploy a small science satellite. The second spacewalk, scheduled to begin at 8:15 a.m., Aug. 30, will feature NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide. The duo will don U.S. extravehicular mobility unit spacesuits for the first U.S.-based spacewalk since July 2011. It will be a 6 1/2 hour excursion designed to replace a faulty power relay unit on the station's truss, rig power cables for the arrival late next year of a Russian laboratory module, and install a thermal cover on a docking port. The spacewalks will be the 163rd and 164th in support of space station assembly and maintenance. Padalka has conducted eight previous spacewalks and will wear a suit bearing red stripes. Malenchenko has conducted four spacewalks and will wear blue stripes. For the U.S. spacewalk, Williams will wear a suit with red stripes for the fifth spacewalk in her career. Hoshide, wearing a suit with no stripes, will be conducting his first spacewalk. He is the third Japanese astronaut in history to conduct a spacewalk.

RELEASE: 12-280 UNIVERSITIES GO TO SPACE: NASA ANNOUNCES EARLY CAREER FACULTY SPACE TECH RESEARCH GRANTS

WASHINGTON -- NASA has announced the selection of 10 research efforts from the agency's inaugural Space Technology Research Opportunities for Early Career Faculty solicitation. NASA will provide grants of as much as $200,000 per year for as long as three years in support of these faculty and their research in specific, high-priority technology areas. The selected faculty will conduct research in areas closely aligned with NASA's Space Technology Roadmaps and priorities identified by the National Research Council. These priorities include extending and sustaining human activities beyond low Earth orbit, exploring the evolution of the solar system and potential for life elsewhere, and expanding our understanding of Earth and the universe. "It's an honor to announce this outstanding group of early career faculty researchers, representing some of the most talented new faculty from the best institutions of higher learning in America," said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA's Space Technology Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "NASA will benefit from the work these faculty researchers conduct in unique, disruptive or transformational space technologies or concepts, while strengthening America's continued global leadership in the new technology economy." The selected Early Career Faculty researchers are: --Chih-Hao Chang, North Carolina State University, Raleigh --Nicolaus Correll, University of Colorado at Boulder --Julia Greer, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena --Mary Lind, Arizona State University, Tempe --Michele Manuel, University of Florida, Gainesville --Jeremy Munday, University of Maryland, College Park --Marco Pavone, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. --Mina Raies-Zadeh, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor --Debbie Senesky, Stanford University --Wei-Chuan Shih, University of Houston Newly-selected early career efforts will develop technologies to automate the production of food in space and investigate and test advanced wastewater recovery technologies. These efforts also will look to develop robust timekeeping technologies that enable more precise landing and autonomous rendezvous in space, and formulate new ultra-lightweight materials with properties that can be tailored. NASA's Early Career Faculty efforts are an element of the agency's Space Technology Research Grants Program. It is designed to accelerate the development of technologies originating from academia that support the future science and exploration needs of NASA, other government agencies and the commercial space sector.