Oct 22 2014

From The Space Library

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Current revision

CONTRACT RELEASE C14-040 NASA Awards Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder for the Joint Polar Satellite System-2 Mission

NASA has awarded a sole source contract modification to Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, of Azusa, California, for the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) Instrument for flight on the Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) mission.

This is a cost-plus-award-fee modification in the amount of $121 million. This action extends the period of performance of the contract from May 2017 through May 2022. The JPSS-2 mission is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to provide global environmental data in low-Earth polar orbit in support of NOAA's mission. NASA is the acquisition agent for the flight systems and some components of the ground system.

Under this contract, Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems will manufacture, test and deliver the ATMS instrument, support instrument integration on the JPSS-2 spacecraft and provide launch and post-launch support. The ATMS instrument will be the same design as the ATMS currently flying on the Suomi NPP mission and planned for the JPSS-1 mission. JPSS-1 is slated for launch in 2017 and JPSS-2 in 2021.

ATMS is a passive microwave instrument that works in conjunction with the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) to produce global atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles. ATMS provides high spatial resolution microwave data to support temperature and humidity sounding data in all weather conditions. NOAA forecasters will use this data in computer models to improve global and regional predictions of weather patterns, storm tracks and precipitation. This information will significantly improve short- and long-term weather forecasting.

MEDIA ADVISORY M14-176 NASA Television Coverage Set for Orbital Resupply Mission to Space Station

Orbital Sciences Corp. will launch its next mission to resupply the International Space Station Monday, Oct. 27, and NASA Television will broadcast live coverage of the event, including pre- and post-launch briefings and arrival at the station.

Orbital's Cygnus cargo spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 6:45 p.m. EDT from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Launch Pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Launch coverage begins at 5:45 p.m.

A prelaunch status briefing will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26, followed at 2 p.m. by a briefing to preview the mission's science cargo. A post-launch briefing will be held approximately 90 minutes after liftoff.

Media who wish to ask questions remotely during the briefing must respond to Rachel Kraft at rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov no later than 30 minutes before the start of each briefing. The public may submit questions via Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.

Cygnus will transport almost 5,000 pounds of supplies, including science experiments, crew provisions, spare parts and experiment hardware. It will arrive at the station Sunday, Nov. 2. Expedition 41 crew members Reid Wiseman and Barry Wilmore of NASA will be ready in the station’s cupola to capture the resupply craft with the station's robotic arm and install it on the Earth-facing port of the station's Harmony module.

NASA TV coverage of capture and installation will begin at 3:30 a.m. Nov. 2, followed by grapple at 4:58 a.m. Coverage of the installation of Cygnus onto the International Space Station will begin at 7 a.m. The capsule is scheduled to depart the station Wednesday, Dec. 3, and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere during reentry.

Continuing the tradition of naming its spacecraft after astronauts who have made significant contributions to spaceflight, Orbital dubbed this Cygnus resupply ship the SS Deke Slayton. The name is a tribute to original Mercury 7 astronaut Donald “Deke” K. Slayton, who flew on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission in 1975 and championed commercial space endeavors after retiring from NASA in 1982. Slayton passed away in 1993.

This mission is the third of eight Orbital flights NASA contracted with the company to resupply the space station, and the fourth trip by a Cygnus spacecraft to the orbiting laboratory.

MEDIA ADVISORY M14-175 NASA TV Broadcasts Space Station Cargo Ship Activities

NASA Television will broadcast live the departure of an unpiloted Russian cargo spacecraft from the International Space Station (ISS) Monday, Oct. 27, as well as the launch and docking of its replacement Wednesday, Oct. 29.

ISS Progress 56 arrived at the orbiting laboratory in July and will undock from the space station's Pirs docking compartment at 1:38 a.m. EDT Oct. 27. NASA TV coverage of the undocking will begin at 1:30 a.m. The cargo ship will undergo three weeks of engineering tests in orbit before being commanded to reenter Earth's atmosphere, where it will burn up over the Pacific Ocean.

The Progress 57 resupply ship will launch at 3:09 a.m. Oct. 29 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (1:09 p.m. Baikonur time), with almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station's Expedition 41 crew. Launch coverage begins at 2:45 a.m. Progress 57 will make its four-orbit, six-hour trip to the space station and dock at 9:09 a.m. Docking coverage will begin at 8:30 a.m.