Aug 24 2012
From The Space Library
CONTRACT RELEASE: C12-044 NASA EXERCISES THIRD FACILITY OPERATIONS CONTRACT TERM PERIOD
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi has exercised award term Period 3 of its Facility Operating Services Contract (FOSC) with Jacobs Technology Inc. of Tullahoma, Tenn. The FOSC provides a broad range of services to support NASA missions and more than 30 resident agencies sharing and using Stennis facilities and services. This cost-plus-incentive fee award term is valued at $51.8 million. It is the third of seven award term periods following the three-year base period. The services provided under this contract include administration, facility engineering, food, mail, fire protection, custodial, multimedia, public affairs and education. It also covers facility maintenance and operations; safety, quality and environmental assurance; medical and occupational health; and logistics and transportation.
MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-159 NASA ANNOUNCES AUG. 27 MARS NEWS CONFERENCE
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will hold a televised news conference at 2 p.m. PDT (5 p.m. EDT), Monday, Aug. 27, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., about the activities of its Curiosity rover mission on Mars. The event will feature new images, an update of the rover's progress, and a special greeting by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-160 NASA JOINS MUSICIAN WILL.I.AM, DISCOVERY EDUCATION FOR PREMIERE OF SONG FROM MARS
WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold an educational event to share findings about Mars with students and premiere a new song by musician will.i.am that will be broadcast from the surface of the Red Planet via the Curiosity rover. The event will take place at 1 p.m. PDT (4 p.m. EDT) Tuesday, Aug. 28, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. Members of the team that successfully landed the rover on Mars earlier this month will explain to students the mission and the technology behind the song's interplanetary transmission. will.i.am will then premiere "Reach for the Stars," a new composition about the singer's passion for science, technology and space exploration. will.i.am's i.am.angel Foundation, in partnership with Discovery Education of Silver Spring, Md., a provider of digital resources to kindergarten through grade 12 classrooms, will announce a new science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics initiative featuring NASA assets such as the Mars Curiosity Rover. NASA's Curiosity rover continues to reach new milestones as it begins its exploration mission to help scientists discover if Mars has ever been hospitable to life.
RELEASE: 12-291 NASA STUDY PROVIDES NEW FINDINGS ON PROTECTING ASTRONAUTS' BONES THROUGH DIET AND EXERCISE
HOUSTON -- Eating the right diet and exercising hard in space helps protect International Space Station astronauts' bones, a finding that may help solve one of the key problems facing future explorers heading beyond low Earth orbit. A new study, published this month in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, evaluated the mineral density of specific bones as well as the entire skeleton of astronauts who used the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED), a 2008 addition to the space station that can produce resistance of as much as 600 pounds in microgravity. Resistance exercise allows astronauts to "lift weights" in weightlessness. Researchers compared data measured from 2006 until the new device arrived, when astronauts used an interim workout that offered about half the total resistance of the ARED. The researchers found astronauts using the advanced exercise system returned to Earth with more lean muscle and less fat, and maintained their whole body and regional bone mineral density compared to when they launched. Crew members using ARED also consumed sufficient calories and vitamin D, among other nutrients. These factors are known to support bone health and likely played a contributing role. "After 51 years of human spaceflight, these data mark the first significant progress in protecting bone through diet and exercise," said Scott M. Smith, NASA nutritionist at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston and lead author of the publication. Since the 1990s, resistance exercise has been thought to be a key method of protecting astronauts' bones. Normal, healthy bone constantly breaks down and renews itself, a process called remodeling. As long as these processes are in balance, bone mass and density stay the same. Earlier studies of Russian Mir space station residents found an increased rate of breakdown, but little change in the rate of regrowth that resulted in an overall loss in bone density. In the new study, researchers looked at preflight and postflight images of bone using X-ray densitometry, as well as in-flight blood and urine measurements of chemicals that reflect bone metabolism. In crew members who used the ARED device during spaceflight, bone breakdown still increased, but bone formation also tended to increase, likely resulting in the maintenance of whole bone mineral density. "The increase in both bone breakdown and formation suggests that the bone is being remodeled, but a key question remains as to whether this remodeled bone is as strong as the bone before flight," said Dr. Jean Sibonga, bone discipline lead at Johnson and coauthor of the study. Studies to evaluate bone strength before and after flight are currently under way. Beyond bone strength, further study is required to determine the best possible combination of exercise and diet for long-duration crews. Dietary effects on bone are being studied on the space station right now, with one experiment evaluating different ratios of animal protein and potassium in the diet on bone health. Another is looking at the benefits for bone of lowering sodium intake.
RELEASE: 12-294 NASA'S 2013 LUNABOTICS COMPETITION OPEN FOR REGISTRATION
WASHINGTON -- NASA is accepting applications from teams of U.S. and international undergraduate and graduate students for the fourth annual Lunabotics Mining Competition. The event will be held at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida May 20-24, 2013. Participants in the competition will design and build a remote controlled or autonomous robot. During the competition, the teams' designs, known as lunabots, will go head-to-head to determine which machine can excavate and deposit the most simulated lunar dirt within 10 minutes. Registration is limited to the first 50 teams submitting applications. The competition is designed to engage and retain students in the science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, disciplines critical to NASA's missions.
