Feb 21 2013

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 13-058 - INVESTING IN TECHNOLOGY TO ENABLE THE FUTURE: NASA CREATES SPACE TECHNOLOGY MISSION DIRECTORATE --WASHINGTON -- As part of the Obama Administration's recognition of the critical role that space technology and innovation will play in enabling both future space missions and bettering life here on Earth, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has announced the creation of the Space Technology Mission Directorate. The directorate will be a catalyst for the creation of technologies and innovation needed to maintain NASA leadership in space while also benefiting America's economy. The Space Technology Mission Directorate will develop the cross-cutting, advanced and pioneering new technologies needed for NASA's current and future missions, many of which also benefit America's aerospace industries, other government agencies, and address national needs. NASA will focus leadership responsibility for the existing Space Technology Program in the mission directorate, improving communication, management and accountability of critical technology investment activities across the agency. A robust technology development program is vital to reaching new heights in space -- and sending American astronauts to new destinations like an asteroid and Mars, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "A top priority of NASA is to invest in cross-cutting, transformational technologies. We focus on collaboration with industry and academia that advances our nation's space exploration and science goals while maintaining America's competitive edge in the new innovation economy." Associate Administrator Michael Gazarik will head the organization. He previously served as the director of the Space Technology Program within the Office of the Chief Technologist. Serving as the Deputy Associate Administrator for Programs, James Reuther brings years of expertise in technology development, research and project management to oversee the nine programs within the mission directorate. Reuther previously served as deputy director of the Space Technology Program within the Office of the Chief Technologist. Dorothy Rasco, formerly the business manager of the Space Shuttle Program and the manager of the Space Shuttle Program Transition and Retirement, will join the directorate as the Deputy Associate Administrator for Management, assisting with the organizations strategic planning and management. The Space Technology Mission Directorate will employ a portfolio approach, spanning a range of discipline areas and technology readiness levels. Research and technology development will take place within NASA centers, in academia, and industry, and leverage collaboration with other government and international partners. NASA's Chief Technologist Mason Peck serves as the NASA administrator's principal advisor and advocate on matters concerning agencywide technology policy and programs. Peck's office will lead NASA's technology transfer and commercialization efforts, integrating, tracking, and coordinating all of NASA's technology investments across the agency. The Office of the Chief Technologist also will continue to develop strategic innovative partnerships, manage agency-level competitions and prize activities, as well as document and communicate the societal impacts of the agency's technology efforts.

RELEASE: 13-060 - NASA SELECTS SCIENCE INSTRUMENT AND HARDWARE FOR EUROPEAN MISSION TO JUPITER --WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected key contributions to a 2022 European Space Agency (ESA) mission that will study Jupiter and three of its largest moons in unprecedented detail. The moons are thought to harbor vast water oceans beneath their icy surfaces. NASA's contribution will consist of one U.S.-led science instrument and hardware for two European instruments to fly on ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission. JUICE will carry 11 experiments developed by scientific teams from 15 European countries, the United States and Japan. The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter for three years and travel past its moons Callisto and Europa multiple times, then orbit Ganymede, a moon larger than the planet Mercury. JUICE will conduct the first thorough exploration of Jupiter since NASA's Galileo mission from 1989-2003. By studying the Jupiter system, JUICE will look to learn more about the formation and evolution of potentially habitable worlds in our solar system and beyond. NASA is thrilled to collaborate with ESA on this exciting mission to explore Jupiter and its icy moons, said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for Science in Washington. "Working together with ESA and our other international partners is key to enabling future scientific progress in our quest to understand the cosmos." The solar-powered spacecraft will carry cameras and spectrometers, a laser altimeter and an ice-penetrating radar. The mission also will carry a magnetometer, plasma and particle monitors, and radio science hardware. The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030. The selection of JUICE's instruments is a key milestone in ESA's flagship mission to the outer solar system, which represents an unprecedented opportunity to showcase leading European technological and scientific expertise, said Alvaro Gimenez Canete, ESA's director of science and robotic exploration. NASA invited researchers in 2012 to submit proposals for NASA-provided instruments for the mission. Nine were reviewed, with one selected to fly. NASA agreed to provide critical hardware for two of the 10 selected European-led instruments. NASA's total contribution to the JUICE mission is $100 million for design, development, and operation of the instruments through 2033. The NASA contributions are: Ultraviolet Spectrometer: The principal investigator is Randy Gladstone of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. This spectrometer will acquire images to explore the surfaces and atmospheres of Jupiter's icy moons . Radar for Icy Moon Exploration: The principal investigator is Lorenzo Bruzzone of Universita degli Studi di Trento in Italy. The U.S. lead is Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.

RELEASE: 13-061 - NASA STUDENT MARS PROJECT WINS EDUCATION AWARD --WASHINGTON -- A NASA project that allows students to use a camera on a spacecraft orbiting Mars for research has received a new education prize from the journal Science. NASA's Mars Student Imaging Project (MSIP), a component of NASA's Science Mission Directorate education and outreach activities, enables students from fifth grade through college to take an image of the Red Planet's surface with a camera aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey. Students study the image to answer their research questions. After the image comes back to Earth, the students are some of the first to see the picture and make their own discoveries. Established in 2012, the journal's Science Prize for Inquiry-Based Instruction encourages innovation and excellence in education by recognizing outstanding, inquiry-based science and design-based engineering education modules. A panel of scientists and teachers selected MSIP as one of 12 education projects from fields such as biology, chemistry, physics and Earth sciences. Designed to fit within existing science curricula, MSIP targets required science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) objectives and standards for easy integration into classrooms. Authentic research is at the core of the award-winning project. At a time when the U.S. critically needs to develop the next generation of scientists and engineers, such student-led discoveries speak to the power of engaging students in authentic research in their classrooms today, said Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "Not only is the chance to explore Mars motivating, it shows students they are fully capable of entering challenging and exciting STEM fields." Since MSIP began in 2002, more than 35,000 students across America have participated from public, private, urban, suburban and rural schools of all sizes, grade levels and student abilities. In 2010, a seventh-grade MSIP class in rural California discovered a previously unknown cave on Mars. A student presented their results at a major planetary science conference. The Mars Student Imaging Project is a perfect example of how NASA can use its missions and programs to inspire the next generation of explorers, said Leland Melvin, NASA associate administrator for education in Washington. "If we want our students to become tomorrow's scientists and engineers, we need to give them opportunities to do real-world -- or in this case, out-of-this-world -- scientific research, using all of the tools of 21st century learning." MISP is a key component of NASA's Mars Public Engagement Program. The Mars Education Program at Arizona State University in Tempe, under the direction of Sheri Klug Boonstra, leads MSIP. Philip Christensen, principal investigator for the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) visible and infrared camera aboard Odyssey, is MSIP's mentor. Orbiting Mars since 2001, Odyssey has operated longer than any spacecraft ever sent to Mars. The mission's longevity enables continued science from instruments on the orbiter, including the monitoring of seasonal changes on Mars from year to year. Odyssey also functions as a communication-relay service for NASA's Mars rovers. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Public Engagement Program and the Odyssey mission for the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the orbiter. JPL and Lockheed Martin collaborate on operating the spacecraft.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-030 - NASA ADMINISTRATOR TOURS MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER ADVANCED MANUFACTURING FACILITY --WASHINGTON -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will see some of the cutting-edge techniques being used to create parts for the engines of the Space Launch System (SLS) during a visit to the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., on Friday, Feb. 22. SLS is America's next-generation heavy-lift launch vehicle -- the most powerful rocket ever built. Bolden will tour the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing Rapid Prototyping Facility in Building 4707 at Marshall at 12:30 p.m. CST (1:30 p.m. EST). He will join John Vickers, manager of NASA's National Center for Advanced Manufacturing, and others for a look at the equipment used in selective laser melting, which is similar to 3-D printing. Laser melting is enabling the production of complex, strong metal parts without welding, while reducing manufacturing time and costs.