Jun 6 2012

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 12-186 NASA PARTNER SIERRA NEVADA COMPLETES PRELIMINARY DESIGN REVIEW OF DREAM CHASER VEHICLE TO TRANSPORT ASTRONAUTS

LOUISVILLE, Colo. -- Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems has successfully completed a preliminary design review (PDR) of the design, architecture and performance of its Dream Chaser orbital crew vehicle. This marks a new milestone in the company's effort to develop transportation for astronauts to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station. SNC is one of several companies working to develop commercial crew transportation capabilities under the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) agreement with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP). The goal is to help spur innovation and development of new spacecraft and launch vehicles from the commercial industry to develop safe, reliable and cost-effective capabilities to transport astronauts to low Earth orbit and the space station. The Dream Chaser is designed to carry as many as seven astronauts to space. It is the only spacecraft under CCDev2 that uses wings and is designed to land on a conventional runway. "As CCP's partners meet these critical milestones, we are moving in the right direction in our combined effort to advance commercial capabilities that could eventually transport NASA astronauts, NASA CCP Program Manager Ed Mango said. This marks the 17th milestone to be completed by SNC during CCP's initial two development phases. The PDR included a review of the entire orbital flight program, including the Dream Chaser spacecraft, and associated mission and ground systems. The company also reviewed the spacecraft's compatibility with its initial launch vehicle, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. "Our program includes 12 industrial partners, 7 NASA Centers and 3 universities from over 20 states who helped us achieve two major program milestones this week. With the completion of PDR and the beginning of our vehicle's flight test program, the Dream Chaser Program has now entered the next phase of its development. We are proud to be included with the other CCDev companies in developing a US crew capability to low earth orbit," said Mark Sirangelo, Corporate Vice President and head of SNC's Space Systems. The final PDR board meeting was conducted shortly after the company successfully completed a captive-carry test of its full-scale Dream Chaser test flight vehicle May 29. The flight met all its test goals and moved the program a step closer to preparing the vehicle for an autonomous approach and landing test scheduled for later this summer. All of NASA's industry partners, including SNC, continue to meet their established milestones in developing commercial crew transportation capabilities. NASA also is developing the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS and Orion will expand human presence beyond low Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration across the solar system.

RELEASE: 12-187 NASA LEADS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN WORLD IPV6 LAUNCH

WASHINGTON -- NASA is the first U.S. federal agency to participate in the World IPv6 Launch. Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) will replace IPv4 as the communication protocol used to direct most of the traffic on the Internet. IPv6 will enable an increase in the number of IP addresses, support more devices and users and improve the efficiency of traffic routing the traffic on the Internet. Organized by the Internet Society of Reston, Va., World IPv6 Launch on June 6, 2012 is intended to motivate organizations across the industry -- including Internet service providers (ISPs), hardware makers, and web companies -- to prepare for and permanently enable IPv6 on their products and services as IPv4 address space runs out. World IPv6 Launch will mark the largest industry commitment to and deployment of IPv6 in the history of the Internet, with ISPs, home networking equipment manufacturers and web companies around the world permanently enabling IPv6 within their products and services.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-106 NASA TO HOST NEWS TELECONFERENCE ABOUT NUSTAR LAUNCH

WASHINGTON -- NASA will host a news teleconference 3 p.m. EDT June 11 to discuss the upcoming launch of its Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) spacecraft which is scheduled for no earlier than 11:30 a.m. EDT June 13. The observatory, a black-hole hunter with sharp X-ray eyes, will be launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean. NuSTAR is attached to an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL rocket which is mounted on the bottom of an L-1011 Stargazer aircraft. The airplane will take off from Kwajalein Atoll and release the rocket, which will ignite its engines in the air. The Stargazer departed Vandenberg Air Force Base in central California June 5 and will land at Kwajalein June 6. Panelists include: -- Omar Baez, NASA launch director, Kennedy Space Center, Fla. -- Fiona Harrison, NuSTAR principal investigator, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. -- William Craig, NuSTAR instrument manager, University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) -- Grace Baird, NuSTAR bus chief engineer, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, Va. The news teleconference will take place at the Space Sciences Laboratory at UC Berkeley.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-107 NASA SETS MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEEMO UNDERSEA MISSION

HOUSTON -- NASA astronaut and commander for the 16th NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO), Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, will be available for live satellite interviews while performing a simulated spacewalk under water. The interviews will take place between 8:45 and 9:45 a.m. EDT June 15. NASA will also host a media day June 21 in Key Largo, Fla. NEEMO sends groups of NASA employees and contractors to live for 12 days, 63 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Aquarius lab. The laboratory is located in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in Key Largo. For NASA, Aquarius provides a convincing analog to space exploration, and NEEMO crew members experience some of the same tasks and challenges under water as they would in space. This year's NEEMO expedition begins June 11 and will simulate a mission to an asteroid. The mission will focus on three areas -- communication delays, restraint and translation techniques and optimum crew size. Metcalf-Lindenburger will be joined by European Space Agency astronaut Timothy Peake; Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui; and Steven W. Squyres, Goldwin Smith professor of astronomy at Cornell University and chairman of the NASA Advisory Council. Squyres also was a member of NEEMO 15. Journalists are invited to a media day where they will have the opportunity to tour the Mobile Mission Control Center, interview scientists and engineers involved in the mission and take part in a remote news conference with the NEEMO crew members who will be aboard Aquarius. The NASA Live Interview Media Service (LIMS) satellite will be used for the underwater interviews. The NASA producer will provide confirmed clients with LIMS satellite parameters. The interviews also will be simulcast on NASA Television, which can be viewed by those not participating.