Aug 7 2012

From The Space Library

CONTRACT RELEASE: C12-034 NASA USES TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND AEROSPACE MISSION SUPPORT CONTRACT OPTION

HAMPTON, Va. -- NASA has elected to exercise the first option of the Technology, Engineering and Aerospace Mission Support contract (TEAMS 2) that was awarded to Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. of Hampton, Va., on Feb. 22. The contracted work will be performed at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton. The option is valued at almost $42.2 million. The total value of this cost-plus award-fee with indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract is approximately $328 million. The TEAMS 2 contract will provide engineering services to support research and technology development to meet evolving NASA mission objectives. Work requirements include support of scientific research; engineering design, analysis, and development; and technology readiness level advancement associated with evolving NASA missions. Additional work includes implementation of technology programs; test implementation and operations; systems analysis and conceptual design; and program/project management support.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-145 BRIEFING SET TO PREVIEW TWO SPACEWALKS FROM SPACE STATION

WASHINGTON -- NASA will preview a pair of spacewalks involving U.S., Russian and Japanese crew members aboard the International Space Station at 2 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 14. The briefing will be broadcast on NASA Television from the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston with media questions taken from other participating NASA locations. The briefers are: -- Dina Contella, Expedition 32 lead flight director -- Kieth Johnson, lead U.S. spacewalk officer Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency have a combined 12 spacewalks between them. They are scheduled to venture outside the Pirs airlock Monday, Aug. 20, for a six-hour spacewalk. The duo will install debris shields on the Zvezda service module and move a telescoping cargo crane from Pirs to the Zarya module. Flight Engineer Sunita Williams of NASA, a veteran of four spacewalks on a previous station mission, and Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are scheduled to conduct a 6 1/2-hour spacewalk Thursday, Aug. 30. The spacewalk will focus on replacing a faulty power routing unit on the station's truss and running cables for an upcoming Russian laboratory module. Hoshide's first spacewalk will be the third for Japanese astronauts. This spacewalk will be the first based from the Quest airlock since July 2011. To participate in the briefings by telephone, media representatives must call the Johnson newsroom 15 minutes before each briefing. Priority will be given to journalists participating in person; questions by phone will be taken as time permits.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-146 NASA TO HOLD NEWS CONFERENCE ON UPCOMING RADIATION BELT STORM PROBES LAUNCH

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT, Thursday, Aug. 9 to discuss the upcoming launch of the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), a mission to study Earth's radiation belts. The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website. The two-year RBSP mission will help scientists develop an understanding of Earth's Van Allen radiation belts and related regions that pose hazards to human and robotic explorers. RBSP is scheduled to launch no earlier than 4:08 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 23 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The twin probes will lift off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. News conference panelists are: -- Madhulika Guhathakurta, Living With a Star program scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington -- Mona Kessel, RBSP program scientist, NASA Headquarters -- Barry Mauk, RBSP project scientist, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Md. -- Rick Fitzgerald, RBSP project manager, APL, Laurel, Md. Reporters can ask questions from NASA's centers, by telephone or via Twitter using the hashtag #asknasa. RBSP will explore space weather -- changes in Earth's space environment caused by the sun -- that can disable satellites, create power grid failures and disrupt GPS service. The mission also will allow researchers to understand fundamental radiation and particle acceleration processes throughout the universe. Graphics presented during the news conference will be online shortly before the start of the event

RELEASE: 12-259 TRANSFORMED X-48C FLIES SUCCESSFULLY

Edwards AFB, Calif. -- The remotely piloted X-48C aircraft successfully flew for the first time Tuesday at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert. The aircraft, designed by The Boeing Co. and built by Cranfield Aerospace Limited of the United Kingdom, is flying again in partnership with NASA. The new X-48C model, which was formerly the X-48B Blended Wing Body aircraft, was modified to evaluate the low-speed stability and control of a low-noise version of a notional, future Hybrid Wing Body (HWB) aircraft design. The HWB design stems from concept studies being conducted by NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aviation project of future potential aircraft designs 20 years from now. "We are thrilled to get back in the air to start collecting data in this low-noise configuration," said Heather Maliska, X-48C project manager at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. "Our dedicated team has worked hard to get the X-48C off the ground for its first flight and we are excited learning about the stability and control characteristics of this low-noise configuration of the blended wing body." Primary changes to the C model from the B model, which flew 92 flights at Dryden between 2007 and 2010, were geared to transforming it to an airframe noise-shielding configuration. External modifications included relocating the wingtip winglets inboard next to the engines, effectively turning them into twin tails. The aft deck of the aircraft was extended about 2 feet to the rear. Finally, the project team replaced the X-48B's three 50-pound thrust jet engines with two 89-pound thrust engines. Because handling qualities of the X-48C will be different from those of the X-48B, the project team developed flight control system software modifications, including flight control limiters to keep the airplane flying within a safe flight envelope. This will enable a stronger and safer prototype flight control system suitable for future full-scale commercial hybrid or blended wing aircraft. "We are very pleased to begin flight tests of the X-48C," said Mike Kisska, Boeing X-48C project manager. "Working with NASA, we've successfully passed another milestone in our work to explore and validate the aerodynamic characteristics and efficiencies of the blended wing body concept." Additionally, the upcoming flight experiments with the X-48C will help researchers further develop methods to validate the design's aerodynamics and control laws, including a goal of reducing aerodynamic drag through engine yaw control tests. During the planned second block of flight testing this fall, NASA will test engine yaw control software incorporated in the X-48C's flight computer. This research will use asymmetric engine thrust to create yaw, or nose left or right movements, for trim and for relatively slow maneuvers. NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate and Boeing are funding the X-48 technology demonstration research effort, which supports NASA's goals of reduced fuel burn, emissions and noise. The X-48C retains most dimensions of the B model, with a wingspan just longer than 20 feet, and a weight of about 500 pounds. The aircraft has an estimated top speed of about 140 mph, and a maximum altitude of 10,000 feet. The Air Force Research Laboratory, Dayton, Ohio, also is a member of the project team.

RELEASE: 12-271 ORBITER IMAGES NASA'S LATEST ADDITIONS TO MARTIAN LANDSCAPE

PASADENA, Calif. -- Late Monday night, an image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the Curiosity rover and the components that helped it survive its seven-minute ordeal from space to its present location in Mars' Gale Crater. "This latest image is another demonstration of the invaluable assistance the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter team and its sister team with the Mars Odyssey orbiter have provided the Curiosity rover during our early days on the Red Planet," said Mike Watkins, mission manager for the Mars Science Laboratory mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "The image not only satisfies our curiosity, it can provide important information on how these vital components performed during entry, descent and landing, and exactly locate the rover's touchdown site within Gale Crater." The Curiosity rover is in the center of the image. To the right, approximately 4,900 feet away, lies the heat shield, which protected the rover from 3,800-degree-Fahrenheit temperatures encountered during its fiery descent. On the lower left, about 2,020 feet away, are the parachute and back shell. The parachute has a constructed diameter of 71 feet and an inflated diameter of 51 feet. The back shell remains connected to the chute via 80, 165-foot-long suspension lines. To the upper-left, approximately 2,100 feet away from the rover, is a discoloration of the Mars surface consistent with what would have resulted when the rocket-powered Sky Crane impacted the surface. "This is the first of what I imagine will be many portraits HiRISE will be taking of Curiosity on the surface of Mars," said Sarah Milkovich, HiRISE investigation scientist at JPL. "The image was taken Monday at about 10:30 p.m. Pacific when MRO was at an altitude of about 186 miles and we are getting resolution on the surface down to 1.3 feet per pixel." As more of Curiosity's instruments are coming online, more "first images" are being downlinked from the rover's 17 cameras. The latest to come in is from the Mars Hand Lens Imager or MAHLI. The focusable color camera is located on the tool-bearing turret at the end of Curiosity's robotic arm. Researchers will use it for magnified, close-up views of rocks and soils and also for wider scenes of the ground, the landscape or even the rover. "It is great to have our first MAHLI image under our belt," said Ken Edgett, principal investigator for MAHLI from Malin Space Science in San Diego. "We tested the focus mechanism and imager and the whole system is looking good. We are looking forward to getting up close and personal with Mars." The team plans for Curiosity checkout Tuesday include raising the rover's mast and continued testing of the high-gain antenna. Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the science payloads on the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Some of the tools, such as a laser-firing instrument for checking rocks' elemental composition from a distance, are the first of their kind on Mars. Curiosity will use a drill and scoop which is located at the end of its robotic arm to gather soil and powdered samples of rock interiors, then sieve and parcel out these samples into the rover's analytical laboratory instruments. To handle this science toolkit, Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as Spirit or Opportunity. The Gale Crater landing site places the rover within driving distance of layers of the crater's interior mountain. Observations from orbit have identified clay and sulfate minerals in the lower layers, indicating a wet history. HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona in Tucson. The instrument was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Exploration Rover projects are managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, built the orbiter.