Feb 11 2013

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 13-039 - NASA UNVEILS STRATEGIC SPACE TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT PLAN --WASHINGTON -- NASA's Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan has been posted to the agency's website. The comprehensive strategic plan prioritizes space technologies essential to the pursuit of NASA's mission and achievement of national goals. The NASA Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan was created following development of a series of agency draft Space Technology Roadmaps. After careful review of the roadmaps by the National Research Council, with input from the public and key stakeholders, NASA finalized this new investment plan. It provides guidance for NASA's space technology investments during the next four years, within the context of a 20-year horizon. The plan will be updated approximately every two years, as appropriate, to meet agency and national needs. Technology enables discovery and advancement, NASA Chief Technologist Mason Peck said. "We look forward to working with our stakeholders to grow our technological base and take the journey to expand scientific understanding, explore the universe, and make a positive impact on the lives of all." In 2010, the president and Congress unveiled an ambitious new direction for NASA, which includes renewed investment in space technology to align mission directorate activities, increase capabilities, lower mission costs and support long-term needs. The result has been an aggressive and prioritized technology investment by NASA that enables exploration and science missions while also supporting other government and commercial space activities. The plan is based on a four-pillar system of goals to ensure NASA investments optimize the benefits of key stakeholders, other U.S. government agencies, the private sector and the national economy. NASA recognizes the importance of a balanced portfolio of technology development at all stages of technology maturity. Using the Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan, NASA will continue to invest in revolutionary concepts that help develop the nation's work force and provide transformative and crosscutting technology breakthroughs to enable our missions and benefit the commercial sector.

RELEASE: 13-040 - NASA LAUNCHES NEW EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE TO CONTINUE 40-YEAR LEGACY --WASHINGTON -- NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) roared into space at 1:02 p.m. EST (10:02 a.m. PST) Monday aboard an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The LDCM spacecraft separated from the rocket 79 minutes after launch and the first signal was received 3 minutes later at a ground station in Svalbard, Norway. The solar arrays deployed 86 minutes after launch, and the spacecraft is generating power from them. LDCM is on course to reach its operational, sun-synchronous, polar orbit 438 miles (705 kilometers) above Earth within two months. Landsat is a centerpiece of NASA's Earth Science program, and today's successful launch will extend the longest continuous data record of Earth's surface as seen from space, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "This data is a key tool for monitoring climate change and has led to the improvement of human and biodiversity health, energy and water management, urban planning, disaster recovery and agriculture monitoring -- all resulting in incalculable benefits to the U.S. and world economy." LDCM will go through a check-out phase for the next three months. Afterward, operational control will be transferred to NASA's mission partner, the Department of the Interior's U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the satellite will be renamed Landsat 8. Data will be archived and distributed free over the Internet from the Earth Resources and Science (EROS) center in Sioux Falls, S.D. Distribution of Landsat 8 data from the USGS archive is expected to begin within 100 days of launch. LDCM is the eighth in the Landsat series of satellites that have been continuously observing Earth's land surfaces since 1972. Landsat has been delivering invaluable scientific information about our planet for more than forty years, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said. "It's an honor to be a part of today's launch to ensure this critical data will continue to help us better understand our natural resources and help people like water managers, farmers, and resource managers make informed decisions." The use of Landsat data been transformed in recent years by advancements in computing power and the decision by USGS to allow free online access to the information. This revolution has allowed scientists to detect changes over time to our planet and has enabled a host of applications based on Landsat measurements to be developed by researchers, the private sector, and state, local, and tribal governments. LDCM continues that legacy with more and better observations. The spacecraft carries two instruments, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS). The measurements will be compatible with data from past Landsat satellites, but the LDCM instruments use advanced technology to improve reliability, sensitivity, and data quality. LDCM is the best Landsat satellite ever built, said Jim Irons, a LDCM project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The technology will advance and improve the array of scientific investigations and resource management applications supported by Landsat images. I anticipate new knowledge and applications to emerge with an increasing demand for the data." OLI will continue observations currently made by Landsat 7 in the visible, near infrared, and shortwave infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It also will take measurements in two new bands, one to observe high-altitude cirrus clouds and another to observe atmospheric aerosols as well as water quality in lakes and shallow coastal waters. OLI's new design has fewer moving parts than instruments on previous Landsat satellites. TIRS will collect data on heat emitted from Earth's surface in two thermal bands, as compared with a single thermal band on previous Landsat satellites. These thermal band observations are becoming increasingly vital to monitoring water consumption, especially in the arid western United States. On Monday afternoon, Bolden will tour Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex-4, which is home to a new Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) launch pad. The pad is nearing completion to support SpaceX launches beginning in 2013. NASA's first use will be in 2015 with the launch of the Jason-3 mission, which will precisely measure sea surface height on Earth to monitor ocean circulation and sea level. SpaceX is the newest American company to demonstrate the capability to launch science missions for NASA and other government agencies. Jason-3 will be developed and operated as part of an international effort led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Bolden also will see the Orbital Sciences Pegasus rocket, being readied at Vandenberg, for the launch this April of NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) heliophysics mission. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. built the OLI instrument in Boulder, Colo. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center built the TIRS instrument. Orbital Sciences Corporation built, integrated, and tested the spacecraft in Gilbert, Ariz. USGS provided the LDCM ground system. The launch was managed by NASA's Launch Services Program based at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. United Launch Alliance provided the Atlas V launch vehicle.

RELEASE: 13-047 - NASA SET FOR NEW ROUND OF J-2X TESTING AT STENNIS SPACE CENTER BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- NASA's progress toward a return to deep space missions continues with a new round of upcoming tests on the next-generation J-2X rocket engine, which will help power the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) to new destinations in the solar system. Beginning this month, engineers will conduct a series of tests on the second J-2X development engine, designated number 10002, on the A-2 Test Stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Once the series is completed, the engine will be transferred to the A-1 Test Stand to undergo a series of gimbal, or pivot, tests for the first time. The upcoming test series is not only a critical step forward, but important to the Stennis test team, as well, said Gary Benton, manager of the J-2X test project at Stennis. "This test series will help us increase our knowledge of the J-2X and its performance capabilities. In addition, the series will help us maintain the high skill level of our team as we look ahead to continued J-2X testing and testing of the RS-25 engines that will be used to power the SLS first-stage." The first objective of the testing is to verify and demonstrate the engine's capability. Data from what is known as hot-fire engine tests will be compared to the performance of the first engine. Engineers also will vary liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen inlet pressures and subject the engine nozzle to higher temperatures than in previous tests to see what effect they have on performance. NASA already has conducted successful tests on engine number 10001 and on the J-2X powerpack assembly. In total, 34 tests were conducted on the J-2X engine and powerpack, with the J-2X achieving a full flight-duration firing of 500 seconds in the eighth test, earlier than any rocket engine in U.S. history. The engine is being designed and built by NASA and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif., to power the upper stage of the 130 metric-ton (143-ton) version of the SLS rocket. The SLS will launch NASA's Orion spacecraft and other payloads from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, providing an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit.

RELEASE: C13-010 - NASA AWARDS PROGRAM INTEGRATION CONTRACT FOR ORION --WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected ARES Technical Services Corp. of Burlingame, Calif., for its program integration contract for Orion. The cost-plus-fixed-fee services contract has a potential value of $49 million, including options. The contract begins April 1 with a base performance period of two-and-a-half years followed by two one-year options and includes indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity task orders. ARES will provide products, professional services, and systems engineering and integration services to NASA's Orion Program, which is developing a spacecraft that will send humans farther into space than ever before. ARES will support the program's planning and control, vehicle integration and crew and service module. Additional services include education outreach, and test and verification functions. Work under the contract will be performed at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, with additional work at other NASA centers and at Orion's prime contractor facilities. Companies that will support ARES on the contract include MEI Technologies Inc. of Houston.