Jun 2 2016
From The Space Library
MEDIA ADVISORY M16-063 NASA Announces Coverage, Media Activities for Juno Mission Arrival at Jupiter
This Fourth of July, NASA’s solar-powered Juno spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter after an almost five-year journey. News briefings, photo opportunities and other media events will be held at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, and air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
In the evening of July 4, Juno will perform a suspenseful orbit insertion maneuver, a 35-minute burn of its main engine, to slow the spacecraft by about 1,212 miles per hour (542 meters per second) so it can be captured into the gas giant’s orbit. Once in Jupiter’s orbit, the spacecraft will circle the Jovian world 37 times during 20 months, skimming to within 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) above the cloud tops. This is the first time a spacecraft will orbit the poles of Jupiter, providing new answers to ongoing mysteries about the planet’s core, composition and magnetic fields.
RELEASE 16-056 NASA Awards Contract for Suborbital Flight Services
NASA has selected Blue Origin, LLC, in Van Horn, Texas, to integrate and fly technology payloads near the boundary of space on their New Shepard suborbital spacecraft in support of NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program.
This is the sixth company selected for an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract under the Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicle (sRLV) Flight and Payload Integration Services solicitation, which has a combined value not to exceed $45 million.
Starting June 1, the contract with Blue Origin will compete with the other program companies for task orders to deliver payload integration and flight services. All task orders must be initiated within the contract's three-year performance period.
“We are pleased to have Blue Origin join our cadre of Flight Opportunities service providers,” said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) in Washington. “Adding additional flight providers enables NASA and the broader aerospace community to demonstrate and transition space technologies, developing new capabilities faster and, potentially, at lower cost.”
This contract is a continuation of contracts awarded in 2014 and 2015, providing commercial capabilities using proven flight systems. The contract allows for ramping on of new vendors and the addition of new flight profiles on at least an annual basis, as determined by the government’s requirements.
Blue Origin will join the following firms currently under contract:
- Masten Space Systems, Inc., Mojave, California
- Near Space Corporation, Tillamook, Oregon
- UP Aerospace, Inc., Littleton, Colorado
- Virgin Galactic, LLC, New York
- World View Enterprises, Inc., Tucson, Arizona
Through the Flight Opportunities Program, STMD selects promising technologies from industry, academia and government, and tests them on commercial launch vehicles. The Flight Opportunities Program is funded by STMD, and managed at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. STMD is responsible for developing the crosscutting, pioneering, new technologies and capabilities needed by the agency to achieve its current and future missions.
MEDIA ADVISORY M16-064 NASA Showcases Cygnus Spacecraft at Wallops Ahead of Space Station Mission
Media are invited to view and photograph Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft, packed with cargo for the International Space Station, at 10:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday, June 7 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia.
Media also will have an opportunity to speak with NASA and Orbital ATK officials about the space agency’s effort to send supplies to the space station using commercial companies. The spokespersons available at the event include:
- Dan Tani, Senior Director, Mission and Cargo Operations, Orbital ATK, Dulles, Virginia
- Robyn Gatens, Deputy Director, International Space Station, NASA Headquarters, Washington
To attend this event, media must apply for accreditation by contacting Keith Koehler at keith.a.koehler@nasa.gov by 3 p.m. Monday, June 6. Accreditation is open only to media who are U.S. citizens.
Orbital ATK will make its fifth Cygnus cargo delivery to the space station this summer under its Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. The agency and Orbital ATK currently are targeting July for launch on the company’s Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad 0A at Wallops.
