Aug 29 2016

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MEDIA ADVISORY M16-103 NASA to Hold Asteroid Mission Briefings, Launch

NASA is gearing up to launch the United States’ first mission to sample an asteroid, with activities at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida beginning Tuesday, Sept. 6, and culminating with the spacecraft launch Thursday, Sept. 8. Various activities are open to media and will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket between 7:05 and 9:05 p.m. EDT Sept. 8 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, neighboring Kennedy in Florida.

For information on media accreditation and logistics of coverage, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/content/osiris-rex-briefings-and-events

The full schedule of events and NASA TV coverage is as follows:

Tuesday, Sept. 6

10:30 a.m. – Commercial Crew Program media tour

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program will provide media with an update on the progress being made by the agency’s commercial crew partners. Media wishing to participate must arrive at the Kennedy Press Site by 9:45 a.m. to board buses, and will return to the Press Site by 11:50 a.m.

1 p.m. – Prelaunch mission briefing at the Kennedy Press Site

This briefing will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. Briefing participants are:

  • Geoffrey Yoder, acting associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington
  • Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson
  • Tim Dunn, NASA launch manager at Kennedy
  • Scott Messer, program manager for NASA missions at ULA in Centennial, Colorado
  • Michael Donnelly, OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
  • Rich Kuhns, OSIRIS-REx program manager for Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver
  • Clay Flinn, launch weather officer for the 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

2 p.m. – OSIRIS-REx mission science briefing at the Kennedy Press Site

This briefing will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. Briefing participants are:

  • Christina Richey, OSIRIS-REx deputy program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington
  • Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at Goddard
  • Daniella DellaGiustina, OSIRIS-REx lead image processing scientist at the University of Arizona, Tucson

2:45 p.m. – Ka-Band Objects Observation and Monitoring (KaBOOM) tour

Media will have an opportunity to tour the antenna site and talk to Principal Investigator Barry Geldzahler about this high-power, higher-resolution radar system being developed to characterize near-Earth objects, such as asteroids and comets, 100,000 times more accurately than optical telescopes. Buses board for this tour at 2:45 p.m. and return to the Press Site by 4:40 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 7

8 a.m. – Atlas V Launch Vehicle Rollout

Media are invited to cover the rollout of the Atlas V rocket from the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad. Media should be at Kennedy’s Press Site at 8 a.m. for transportation to the viewing location near Space Launch Complex 41. Media will be returned to the Press Site by 11:30 a.m.

Noon to 1 p.m. -- OSIRIS-REx Talk from Kennedy’s Operations Support Building II (OSB II)

NASA will host a discussion with representatives from the mission’s science and engineering teams that includes an overview of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and the science behind the mission. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. This event will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website.

1 to 2 p.m. – Uncovering the Secrets of Asteroids

During this panel at OSB II, NASA scientists will discuss asteroids, how they relate to the origins of our solar system, and the search for life beyond Earth. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. This event will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website. Panelists for this conversation are:

  • Ellen Stofan, NASA chief scientist
  • Michelle Thaller, deputy director of science communications for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
  • Lindley Johnson, director of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
  • Alex Young, associate director for science in the Heliophysics Science Division at Goddard

Media who would like to attend this panel must board a bus at the Press Site at 12:15 p.m. to travel to the OSB II. Buses will return at 2:15 p.m.

Also on this day, NASA will air a prelaunch webcast on the agency’s YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/NASAtelevision

Thursday, Sept. 8

2 p.m. -- Dust to Thrust: Mining for Resources in Space

During this event at the Kennedy Press Site, media will learn more about the potential and technology for space mining, and have the opportunity to interview experts in the in-situ resource utilization and atmospheric mining communities. This event will not air on NASA TV or the agency’s website.

4:30 p.m. – Launch Coverage Begins

Live coverage of the OSIRIS-REx mission launch will begin on NASA TV and the agency’s website with the start of cryogenic tanking of the Atlas V rocket, and conclude approximately one hour after launch.

7:05 to 9:05 p.m. – Launch window for the OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft

The launch will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website.

Approximately 2 hours After Launch – Post-Launch News Conference

Representatives from NASA and ULA will discuss the status of the spacecraft and next steps on the asteroid sampling mission. Social media followers can ask questions during this event using #askNASA. This event will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website.

OSIRIS-REx will be the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid. OSIRIS-REx will travel to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, arriving in 2018, to survey the surface, retrieve at least 60 grams (2.1 ounces) of surface material, and return it to Earth in 2023 for study. Analysis of the sample will reveal the earliest stages of the solar system’s evolution and the history of Bennu over the past 4.5 billion years.

Goddard provides overall mission management, systems engineering and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. The University of Arizona leads the science team and observation planning and processing. Lockheed Martin Space Systems built the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the agency’s New Frontiers Program for its Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Launch management is conducted by the Launch Services Program at Kennedy.


MEDIA ADVISORY M16-105 Kentucky Students Talk Live with NASA Astronauts on Space Station

Students in Hyden, Kentucky, will have the opportunity to speak with two NASA astronauts currently living and working aboard the International Space Station at 1:10 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 31. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins will answer questions from students of Leslie County High School at the Hazard Community & Technical College’s (HCTC) School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music in Hyden.

Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky will kick-off the event, joined by NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, who returned from the space station June 18.

Media interested in covering the event should contact Danielle Smoot at danielle.smoot@mail.house.gov or 606-679-8346. The HCTC School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music is located at 108 Maple St.

Williams launched to the space station March 18 and is scheduled to depart Sept. 6. Rubins launched July 6 and will return home in October.

This in-flight education downlink is an integral component of the NASA Office of Education’s efforts to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning in the United States. Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station through the Education Office’s STEM on Station activity provides authentic, live experiences in space exploration, space study and the scientific components of space travel, while introducing the possibilities of life in space.


MEDIA ADVISORY M16-104 NASA Holds Final Sample Return Robot Competition

After five years of competition by more than 40 different teams from around the globe, NASA’s Sample Return Robot Challenge has reached its final stage. The top seven teams will compete for the $1.36 million prize purse on the campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Massachusetts, Sept. 4-6.

In this final round of the challenge, teams have up to two hours each to locate as many as 10 unknown samples that vary in size, shape, location and difficulty. The samples are classified as easy, intermediate and hard and are assigned corresponding point values. One team could win the entire prize purse, or multiple teams could share a percentage of the prize.

The three-day event will conclude with an awards ceremony and press conference at 11:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 6, at the Quadrangle at WPI. WPI is located at 100 Institute Road in Worcester.

Participants at the press conference will be:

  • Congressman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts
  • NASA Administrator Charles Bolden
  • Laurie Leshin, president, WPI
  • Dennis Andrucyk, deputy associate administrator, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate

Media who wish to attend any part of the event should contact Molly Porter at 256-544-3340 or molly.a.porter@nasa.gov.

Qualifying teams for the final round are:

  • Team Al - Toronto, Canada
  • Alabama Astrobotics - Tuscaloosa, Alabama
  • MAXed Out - Santa Clara, California
  • Mind & Iron - Seattle, Washington
  • Sirius - South Hadley, Massachusetts
  • Survey - Los Angeles
  • West Virginia University Mountaineers - Morgantown, West Virginia

Prior to this final round of competition, the teams competed in Level 1, where robots had to return two known sample types but from an unknown location within 30 minutes without human control or the aid of Earth-based technologies, such as GPS or magnetic compassing. Since the challenge began in 2012, only seven teams have advanced to Level 2.

The Sample Return Robot Challenge, part of NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program, aims to encourage innovation in robotics technologies relevant to space exploration and broader applications that benefit life on Earth. This event brings together tech-savvy citizens, entrepreneurs, educators and students to demonstrate robots that can locate and collect geologic samples from a wide and varied landscape without human control and within a specified time.

NASA’s Centennial Challenges program is part of the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). STMD uses challenges to gather the best and brightest minds in academia, industry and government to drive innovation and enable solutions in important technology focus areas. WPI has hosted the Sample Return Robot Challenge since it began in 2012.

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