Aug 21 2012

From The Space Library

CONTRACT RELEASE: C12-043 NASA SELECTS SPACE STATION INTEGRATION SERVICES CONTRACT

HOUSTON -- NASA has selected Barrios Technology Ltd. of Houston to provide mission and program integration services for the International Space Station Program at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The two-year base contract is a small business set aside. It begins Oct. 1 and extends through Sept. 30, 2014. There are three potential two-year options valued at approximately $84 million and a provision for additional work not to exceed $50 million. The total potential value of the contract is $384.7 million. Under the contract, Barrios will provide program support related to strategic and tactical planning, engineering analysis, manifest development and hardware certification, safety and mission assurance, risk management, information technology, payload integration, program science and research. The company also will be responsible for configuration, data resource and business management. Subcontractors on the contract include ARES Technical Services Corp. of Houston and Booz Allen Hamilton of McLean, Va.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-154 NASA ADMINISTRATOR TO ANNOUNCE COMMERCIAL SPACE PROGRESS DURING MEDIA AVAILABILITY AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER AUG. 23

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Media are invited to an interview availability and facilities tour with NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden at noon EDT, Thursday, Aug. 23, at various locations in and around the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the media tour, Bolden will detail recent progress related to NASA's commercial spaceflight initiatives. Media must be at Kennedy's press site by 11:15 a.m. for transportation to the first location. Media will return to the press site by 3:30 p.m. For media wanting to cover a separate XCOR event at Kennedy's Visitor Complex, transportation to the Bolden event will be provided and depart the Visitor Complex at 11:30 a.m. Bolden and media will tour two locations on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station: SpaceX's facility at Space Launch Complex 40 and United Launch Alliance's Space Launch Complex 41, where the Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) spacecraft is on the launch pad. RBSP is scheduled to launch Friday morning. Bolden and media then will go to Kennedy's Operations and Checkout Building to see the latest progress on NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, which is being prepared for launch on the Exploration Flight Test-1 in early 2014. The tour ends at Kennedy, where The Boeing Co. is preparing its CST-100 spacecraft, which is part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program work. NASA is working with U.S. companies to eventually provide crew transportation to and from low Earth orbit and the space station.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-155 NASA ANNOUNCES CURIOSITY ROVER MEDIA EVENTS SCHEDULE

WASHINGTON -- NASA will host two media events this week to provide Curiosity rover mission updates. The first event is a media teleconference at 1p.m. EDT, today. The second event is televised briefing at 2:30 p.m. EDT, Aug. 22. The Mars Curiosity team is operating on Mars time. The Martian day is 40 minutes longer than an Earth day, so all events are scheduled based on team availability.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-156 NASA KICKS OFF ASTEROID SIMULATION; MEDIA INVITED TO OBSERVE

HOUSTON -- A simulated mission to an asteroid is under way at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Journalists are invited to learn about the test and technologies on Thursday, Aug. 30. The Research and Technology Studies (RATS) test, a 10-day asteroid exploration simulation in Johnson's Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, kicked off this week. As NASA makes plans to send humans to asteroids by 2025, RATS and other mission simulations provide the agency with a way to test new operations, concepts and exploration techniques to influence the future of exploration. The 2012 RATS test will use several technologies to simulate life and work on the surface of an asteroid. A crew of five scientists and flight controllers in pairs will take turns sleeping, eating, exercising and working inside the cabin of the multi-mission Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV) for 3 days and 2 nights at a time. They will evaluate the cabin's displays, controls and views with the help of a video wall that contours around the vehicle's windows displaying a simulation of the asteroid surface as they steer across it. Outside of the SEV, crew members will participate in simulated spacewalks on the asteroid surface using Johnson's virtual reality laboratory and its Active Response Gravity Offload System. The laboratory uses a virtual reality helmet and gloves to simulate movement on a virtual asteroid surface. The system suspends astronauts from a specialized crane designed to offset their weight and simulate microgravity. The team will use these technologies to evaluate various modes of movement during spacewalks while the SEV-based crew members assist from inside the vehicle. A team of flight controllers and scientists also will support the tests from the nearby Mission Control Center, with a 50-second, one-way delay in communication between the two groups to mimic what astronauts working on an asteroid would experience.

RELEASE: 12-283 NASA, MARITIME ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCE NEW HOME FOR LIBERTY STAR

WASHINGTON -- NASA and the Transportation Department's Maritime Administration (MARAD) signed a memorandum of understanding Aug. 21 to transfer NASA's solid rocket booster recovery ship, M/V Liberty Star, to the National Defense Reserve Fleet for use as a training vessel at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y. "Liberty Star served NASA well during the Space Shuttle Program," said Robert Lightfoot, acting associate administrator for NASA. "We know it will greatly benefit the Kings Point midshipmen, and we're proud that Liberty Star will continue to serve the United States with distinction." With the end of the Space Shuttle Program, the two agencies worked together to ensure Liberty Star could continue service as a training vessel for midshipmen at the Merchant Marine Academy. This agreement is mutually beneficial for NASA and MARAD. This ship will serve as a training vessel at the academy, providing significant merchant marine training value to Kings Point midshipmen as the vessel has dynamic positioning, modern towing capabilities and other features that will expand training opportunities. NASA will continue to have access to Liberty Star if the agency requires its use and it is available. "This agreement is a win-win for both Kings Point and NASA," said Maritime Administrator David Matsuda. "The ship's high tech equipment and real world capabilities closely mirror what graduates will see entering the maritime work force." Liberty Star was launched in 1981 and served as one of two recovery vessels for retrieving the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters, which were jettisoned about 2 minutes after launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA still is working to identify a suitable new use for M/V Freedom Star, the other recovery ship.