Feb 22 2013

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 13-053 - NASA PARTNER ORBITAL TESTS ROCKET, NEWEST U.S. LAUNCH PAD --WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. -- NASA commercial partner Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Va., successfully conducted an engine test of its Antares rocket Friday at the nation's newest launch pad. The company fired dual AJ26 rocket engines for the full duration 29 seconds while the rocket was bolted down on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. Known as a "hot fire" test, it demonstrated the readiness of the rocket's first stage and launch pad fueling systems to support upcoming test flights. This pad test is an important reminder of how strong and diverse the commercial space industry is in our nation, said Phil McAlister, director of Commercial Spaceflight Development at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "A little more than one year after the retirement of the space shuttle, we had a U.S company resupplying the International Space Station. Now, another is taking the next critical steps to launch from America's newest gateway to low-Earth Orbit. Today marks significant progress for Orbital, MARS and the NASA team." Orbital is building and testing its new rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. A demonstration flight of Antares and Cygnus to the space station is planned for later this year. After the successful completion of the COTS demonstration mission to the station, Orbital will begin conducting eight planned cargo resupply flights to the orbiting laboratory through NASA's $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract with the company. Wallops, which has launched more than 16,000 rockets in its 67-year history, provided launch range support for the hot-fire test, including communications, data collection, range safety and area clearance. NASA initiatives like COTS are helping to develop a robust U.S. commercial space transportation industry with the goal of achieving safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station and low-Earth orbit. NASA's Commercial Crew Program also is working with commercial space partners to develop capabilities to launch U.S. astronauts from American soil in the next few years.

RELEASE: 13-062 - NASA CHIEF TOURS ADVANCED MANUFACTURING FACILITY, HIGHLIGHTS SPACE PROGRAM'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO INDUSTRY SECTOR HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden toured Friday a cutting-edge facility at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center where high-tech manufacturing is creating parts for a next-generation rocket that will launch astronauts to the most distant destinations ever. NASA's National Center for Advanced Manufacturing Rapid Prototyping Facility is just one of the ways the agency is helping to revitalize America's manufacturing sector. According to a study by the Washington-area-based Tauri Group, the agency contributed $5 billion to U.S. manufacturing industry in 2012. Specifically, the study found development of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) cumulatively had contributed about $930 million to the chemical, machinery, transportation equipment, fabricated metal, and computer and electronic product manufacturing sectors. Our team's innovative work here at Marshall and the NASA National Center for Advanced Manufacturing is just one example of how NASA is helping to reinvigorate America's manufacturing sector, Bolden said. "As NASA pushes the boundaries of exploration, our use of innovative techniques will allow us to build parts for everything from satellites to spacecraft more quickly and more affordably." NASA is using additive manufacturing, more commonly known as 3-D printing, to create a diverse portfolio of parts, from small satellites to rocket engines, at six of its centers. Additive manufacturing is a process that makes three-dimensional solid objects from a digital model. During his visit to Marshall, Bolden watched a type of additive manufacturing called selective laser melting create complex parts for the J-2X and RS-25 rocket engines without welding. Selective laser melting saves time and reduces the cost of creating component parts for what will be the largest launch vehicle ever built. Bolden said The Tauri Group study shows the agency's technology investments are spurring America's manufacturing base. Last year, NASA invested a combined $17 million in advanced manufacturing in five NASA programs analyzed by a just-released study -- SLS, commercial crew, the James Webb Telescope, the International Space Station and the Space Technology Program, Bolden said. "These investments in innovation are enabling future space missions, bettering life on earth and benefiting America's economy."

MEDIA ADVISORY: C13-011 - NASA SELECTS LAUNCH SERVICES FOR ICESAT-2 MISSION --CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's Launch Services Program at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida has selected United Launch Services, LLC of Englewood, Colo., to provide Delta II launch services for the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat)-2 mission, currently scheduled for July 2016. A firm fixed-price launch service task order has been awarded under the indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract. NASA's total cost to launch ICESat-2 is $96.6 million, including payload processing, integrated services, telemetry, reimbursables and other launch support requirements. The Delta II rocket will place the ICESat-2 spacecraft into a near-circular Earth polar orbit following liftoff from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. ICESat-2 is a continuation of the global time series of precision ice topography measurements initiated by the first ICESat mission. ICESat-2 will measure changes in the elevation of the polar ice sheets to understand their contribution to current and future sea-level rise. It also will characterize polar-sea ice thicknesses and global vegetation heights to understand their connections to the Earth system. Subcontractors performing work for United Launch Services include Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif., Alliant Techsystems, Inc of Magna, Utah and Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif. United Launch Services' United Launch Alliance provides the Delta II and launch services. NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center is responsible for management of the ICESat-2 launch service acquisition and implementation.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-037 - NASA COVERAGE SET FOR MARCH 1 SPACEX MISSION TO SPACE STATION --CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The second SpaceX mission to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract is scheduled to launch Friday, March 1, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA Television coverage begins at 8:30 a.m. EST. The company's Falcon 9 rocket carrying its Dragon cargo capsule will lift off at 10:10 a.m. If needed, a backup launch opportunity is available on March 2 with launch time at 9:47 a.m. and NASA TV coverage beginning at 8 a.m. The mission is the second of 12 SpaceX flights contracted by NASA to resupply the space station. It will mark the third trip by a Dragon capsule to the orbiting laboratory, following a demonstration flight in May 2012 and the first resupply mission in October 2012. The capsule will be filled with more than 1,200 pounds of scientific experiments and cargo. It will remain attached to the space station's Harmony module for more than three weeks. The Dragon capsule will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California on March 25, returning more than 2,300 pounds of experiment samples and equipment, which will be recovered for examination by scientists and engineers. In advance of the launch, NASA will host a briefing on NASA's human deep space exploration progress at 2 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 27, at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On Thursday, Feb. 28, NASA will host a mission science briefing at 1 p.m. and a prelaunch news conference at 3 p.m. All three briefings will be carried live on NASA TV and the agency's website.