Jun 28 2016

From The Space Library

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Revision as of 20:33, 30 June 2016

RELEASE 16-069 NASA's Space Launch System Booster Passes Major Milestone on Journey to Mars

A booster for the most powerful rocket in the world, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), successfully fired up Tuesday for its second qualification ground test at Orbital ATK's test facilities in Promontory, Utah. This was the last full-scale test for the booster before SLS’s first uncrewed test flight with NASA’s Orion spacecraft in late 2018, a key milestone on the agency’s Journey to Mars.

“This final qualification test of the booster system shows real progress in the development of the Space Launch System,” said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Seeing this test today, and experiencing the sound and feel of approximately 3.6 million pounds of thrust, helps us appreciate the progress we’re making to advance human exploration and open new frontiers for science and technology missions in deep space.”

The booster was tested at a cold motor conditioning target of 40 degrees Fahrenheit –the colder end of its accepted propellant temperature range. When ignited, temperatures inside the booster reached nearly 6,000 degrees. The two-minute, full-duration ground qualification test provided NASA with critical data on 82 qualification objectives that will support certification of the booster for flight. Engineers now will evaluate these data, captured by more than 530 instrumentation channels on the booster.

When completed, two five-segment boosters and four RS-25 main engines will power SLS on deep space missions. The solid rocket boosters, built by NASA contractor Orbital ATK, operate in parallel with SLS’s main engines for the first two minutes of flight. They will provide more than 75 percent of the thrust needed for the rocket and Orion spacecraft to escape Earth’s gravitational pull.

"Today's test is the pinnacle of years of hard work by the NASA team, Orbital ATK and commercial partners across the country," said John Honeycutt, SLS Program manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “SLS hardware is currently in production for every part of the rocket. NASA also is making progress every day on Orion and the ground systems to support a launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. We're on track to launch SLS on its first flight test with Orion and pave the way for a human presence in deep space."

The first full-scale booster qualification ground test was successfully completed in March 2015 and demonstrated acceptable performance of the booster design at 90 degrees Fahrenheit – the highest end of the booster’s accepted propellant temperature range. Testing at the thermal extremes experienced by the booster on the launch pad is important to understand the effect of temperature on how the propellant burns.

The initial SLS configuration will have a minimum 70-metric-ton (77-ton) lift capability. The next planned upgrade of SLS will use a powerful exploration upper stage for more ambitious missions, with a 105-metric-ton (115-ton) lift capacity. In each configuration, SLS will continue to use the same core stage and four RS-25 engines.

MEDIA ADVISORY M16-078 NASA TV News Conference, Media Availability With Next Space Station Crew

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and two Russian crewmates will answer questions about their upcoming mission on the International Space Station at a news conference, and be available for one-on-one interviews, Thursday, July 7, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The 2 p.m. EDT news conference will air live on NASA Television and stream on the agency's website.

Kimbrough and cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhikov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos will launch to the space station Sept. 23 aboard the Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio will round out Expedition 49, and return to Earth in February as part of the Expedition 50 crew.

B-roll video of crew training will air before the news conference, beginning at 1:30 p.m. Media who wish to participate by telephone should call Johnson's newsroom at 281-483-5111 no later than 1:45 p.m. Those following the briefing on social media may ask questions using the hashtag #askNASA. Interview opportunities also are available in person or by phone.

To request credentials to attend in person, or to reserve an interview opportunity, reporters must contact Johnson's newsroom by 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 5.

During their planned five and a half month mission, the station crew members will perform approximately 250 research investigations and technology demonstrations not possible on Earth in order to advance scientific knowledge of Earth, space, physical and biological sciences. Science conducted on the space station continues to yield benefits for humanity and will enable future long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep space, including the agency’s Journey to Mars.

Kimbrough, a retired Army Colonel, completed his first spaceflight in 2008 on space shuttle mission STS-126, when he spent almost 16 days helping expand the station’s living quarters to accommodate a six-member crew. During those 16 days, he completed two spacewalks, logging 12 hours and 52 minutes outside the station.

A native of Killeen, Texas, Kimbrough is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the Georgia Institute of Technology. He started working at Johnson as a flight simulation engineer on shuttle training aircraft before his selection to the astronaut corps in 2004.

RELEASE 16-068 NASA Awards Contract to Increase Water Recovery on Space Station

NASA has selected Paragon Space Development Corporation, a small business headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, to develop a system that will increase the rate of water recovery from the urine of astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

The contract is valued at $5.1 million for the delivery of one Brine Processor Assembly (BPA), and is sponsored by NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems Division. Work on the contract will be performed at Paragon Space Development’s Tucson facilities.

The technology, currently scheduled for flight in 2018, will undergo a test demonstration on the space station to verify it further closes the “water loop,” with a goal of achieving at least 94 percent recovery of water from urine. The Water Recovery System, currently used on station, captures and processes astronaut urine, but additional unrecovered water remains in the resulting effluent (brine). The BPA assembly will be used to reclaim more water from the brine.

The reduction of costly resupply launches from Earth is essential to future human deep space missions, including NASA’s Journey to Mars. By reusing in situ critical resources to the greatest extent possible, technologies such as BPA will aid in accomplishing this reduction.

Through a series of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program awards initially funded in 2010, Paragon Space Development created the unique technology to recover water from brine. In 2014, a peer-review panel selected Paragon’s water recovery system in a competitive process.

The SBIR program is a highly competitive program that encourages domestic small businesses to engage in federal research/research and development that also has the potential for commercialization. Including qualified small businesses in this arena stimulates high-tech innovation and builds upon the entrepreneurial spirit of American industry, as it also meets specific research and development needs.

The International Space Station serves as the world’s leading laboratory, where researchers conduct cutting edge research and technology development that will enable human and robotic exploration of destinations beyond low-Earth orbit, including asteroids and Mars.