Mar 4 2013

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 13-068 - NASA TRANSFERS OPERATIONAL CONTROL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE --WASHINGTON -- The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite, a partnership between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), was transitioned to NOAA operational organization control Feb. 22. The transition marks the next step of the mission that supports NASA's Earth science research and NOAA's weather forecasting missions. Suomi NPP continues the observations of Earth from space that were pioneered by NASA's Earth Observing System. The satellite's five instruments are providing scientists with data to extend more than 30 key long-term datasets. These records, which include observations of the ozone layer, land cover, atmospheric temperatures and ice cover, provide critical data for global change science. Suomi NPP is an important asset for NASA, NOAA, and the nation, said Michael Freilich, director of the Earth Science Division in NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "As a true collaboration in which all partners benefit, Suomi NPP measurements are supporting researchers and weather forecasters alike." Suomi NPP also collects critical data for our understanding of long-term climate change while increasing our ability to improve weather forecasts in the short term. NOAA meteorologists are incorporating Suomi NPP information into their weather prediction models to produce forecasts and warnings that already are helping emergency responders anticipate, monitor, and react to many types of natural events. Satellites like Suomi NPP are critical to the National Weather Service's mission and improved decision support services, said Louis Uccellini, director of NOAA's National Weather Service. "These polar satellites provide an important dataset for the global Earth-observing system and will lead to improved forecasts out to three days in the future and beyond." The Suomi NPP mission is a bridge between NASA's legacy Earth-observing missions and NOAA's next-generation Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). Suomi NPP carries groundbreaking new Earth-observing instruments that JPSS will use operationally. The first satellite in the JPSS series, JPSS-1, is targeted for launch in early 2017. NASA launched Suomi NPP Oct. 28, 2011, from California. Since then, the JPSS program based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt., Md., has been helping maintain the Suomi NPP instruments in addition to providing the ground system, with NOAA institutional organizations providing operational mission support. The NOAA operations group now assumes responsibility for Suomi NPP. Suomi NPP instruments observe key attributes of the Earth, including measurements of cloud and vegetation cover, ice cover, ocean color, and sea and land surface temperatures. The suite includes the Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS); the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS); the Clouds and Earth Radiant Energy System (CERES); the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS); and the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS). Observations from Suomi NPP are helping to advance science and to increase the accuracy of short-term meteorological predictions, said James Gleason, Suomi NPP project scientist at NASA Goddard. "ATMS data are being used by the National Weather Service in their forecast models. And OMPS data continued over 30 years of ozone hole measurements helping the community put this year's smaller ozone hole in perspective." Suomi NPP observes Earth's surface twice a day, once in daylight and once at night, flying 512 miles (824 kilometers) high in a polar orbit. The satellite sends its data once an orbit to a ground station in Svalbard, Norway. The information is transferred via fiber optic cable for processing at NOAA's Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Md. Data products are archived at the NOAA National Climatic Data Center in Ashville, N.C. Suomi NPP is named in honor of the late Verner E. Suomi, a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin who is recognized widely as the father of satellite meteorology.

RELEASE: C13-012 - NASA SELECTS EDUCATION SUPPORT CONTRACTOR --CLEVELAND -- NASA has selected Paragon Tec Inc. of Cleveland to support educational programs at the agency's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, NASA Headquarters in Washington, and other NASA centers, as necessary. The NASA Glenn Education Support Services contract will help advance high-quality science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. The contract begins April 1 with an 18-month base performance period. It includes options to extend the work through March 31, 2018. If NASA exercises all options, the maximum potential value for the five-year, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract is $55 million. Paragon Tec Inc. and its subcontractors, Ohio Aerospace Institute of Cleveland and Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies Inc. of Greenbelt, Md., will provide program and technical support services for the management of NASA's educational programs at the national, regional and local levels.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-039 - CALIFORNIA STUDENTS SPEAK LIVE WITH SPACE STATION ASTRONAUTS --WASHINGTON -- Students in California will speak with Expedition 34 astronauts aboard the International Space Station Tuesday, March 5, at Monrovia High School near Los Angeles. Students will ask NASA astronauts Kevin Ford, Tom Marshburn, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield questions about life, work and research aboard the orbiting laboratory. The event will culminate a weeklong celebration highlighting the work of Monrovia's students in science. NASA activities have been incorporated into classes at the school in preparation for the conversation. Linking students directly to station astronauts will provide students an authentic experience of space exploration, scientific studies and possibilities for future human space exploration. This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the United States to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning. It is an integral component of NASA's Teaching From Space education program, which promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of space and NASA's human spaceflight program.

RELEASE: C13-013 - NASA SELECTS CONTRACTORS FOR ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS AND PROTOTYPING AT MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER --WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected three companies to provide engineering solutions and products to Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The companies are Radiance Technologies, Inc. and Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc. of Huntsville, Ala., and Wyle Laboratories, Inc. of Houston. The performance-based, cost-reimbursement fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts have a potential value of $350 million. The contracts have a five-year performance period with a minimum order quantity value of $1 million. Under the contract, the three companies will compete to provide engineering solutions and products for design, development, test, evaluation, operations and training in support of MSFC flight projects, human and robotic exploration, science and technology development, future programs/projects, and other MSFC organizations that have similar needs.

RELEASE: C13-014 - NASA SELECTS SAFETY, HEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL AND MISSION ASSURANCE SERVICES CONTRACT --CLEVELAND -- NASA has selected Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) of McLean, Va., to provide safety, health, environmental and mission assurance services at the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio. The contract begins April 1 with an 18-month base performance period. It includes options to extend the work through March 31, 2018. If NASA exercises all options, the maximum potential value for the five-year, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract is $42 million. Under this contract, SAIC and its subcontractor Alphaport Inc. of Cleveland will provide program development, implementation, compliance assurance and verification support to ensure Glenn complies with NASA policies and federal regulations in operational safety, occupational health, energy and environmental, and aeronautics and space systems mission assurance activities.

RELEASE: C13-015 - NASA AWARDS HUMAN HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE CONTRACT --WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected Wyle Laboratories Inc. of Houston to provide biomedical, medical and health services in support of all human spaceflight programs at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The contract begins May 1 and has a maximum potential value of $1.76 billion. This indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract with cost-plus-award-fee task orders has a five-year base period and two option periods that could extend the contract through 2023. The new Human Health and Performance contract will support many NASA programs and offices including the International Space Station, Orion, Advanced Exploration Systems, Space Technology Mission Directorate, Human Research Program and Commercial Crew and Cargo programs. Services provided under this contract include fundamental and applied biomedical research; biotechnology development; operational space medicine; occupational health and medicine; and management of clinical, biomedical, space food and environmental laboratories. The contractor also will support behavioral sciences; human factors engineering; spacecraft environment monitoring and management; biomedical engineering; biomedical flight hardware requirements, design, fabrication, testing and operation; and payload and hardware integration with the International Space Station. Lockheed Martin Services Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., is a subcontractor. Services will be performed at Johnson and Wyle facilities.