Aug 9 2011
From The Space Library
MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-166 NASA OFFERS MEDIA ACCESS TO MARS-BOUND ROVER ON AUG. 12
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's next Mars rover, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) known as Curiosity, will be the focus of a media opportunity at 7 a.m. EDT on Friday, Aug. 12, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. News media representatives will have an opportunity to photograph the rover and interview project and launch program officials during the event at Kennedy's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. Curiosity will be integrated later with its descent stage, which will take it to the Martian surface. The MSL mission is targeted to launch Nov. 25 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Complex 41 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Curiosity will use 10 science instruments to investigate whether the selected area inside Gale crater was ever habitable or provided conditions favorable for microbial life. The rover's drill will pull samples from rocks' interiors so other instruments aboard can analyze them for evidence about past environments and the presence of chemical ingredients for life. The rover's payload also includes color cameras, a laser that will analyze rocks from a distance to detect their composition, and sensors that monitor weather, water and high-energy radiation. Individuals entering the cleanroom where the spacecraft is being prepared for launch must follow procedures for optically sensitive spacecraft. Full cleanroom attire (bunny suits) will be furnished and must be worn. Participants may not wear perfume, cologne or makeup. Long pants and closed-toe shoes must be worn -- no shorts or skirts. Photographers will need to clean camera equipment under the supervision of contamination-control specialists. All camera equipment must be self-contained. No portable lights are allowed. Non-essential equipment such as suede, leather or vinyl camera bags or other carrying cases must be left outside the cleanroom. No notebook paper, pencils, or conventional pens are permitted. Special pens and cleanroom paper will be provided. No food, tobacco, chewing gum, lighters, matches or pocketknives will be allowed. Use of wireless microphones and cellular telephones is not allowed inside the cleanroom. Electronic flash will be permitted. The lighting in the facility is high-pressure sodium (orange). NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the MSL mission. The launch is managed by NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) at Kennedy. Spokespeople from JPL and LSP will be available for questions and interviews.
RELEASE: 11-258 NASA SELECTS SEVEN FIRMS TO PROVIDE NEAR-SPACE FLIGHT SERVICES
WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected seven companies to integrate and fly technology payloads on commercial suborbital reusable platforms that carry payloads near the boundary of space. As part of NASA's Flight Opportunities Program, each successful vendor will receive an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. These two-year contracts, worth a combined total of $10 million, will allow NASA to draw from a pool of commercial space companies to deliver payload integration and flight services. The flights will carry a variety of payloads to help meet the agency's research and technology needs. "Through this catalog approach, NASA is moving toward the goal of making frequent, low-cost access to near-space available to a wide range of engineers, scientists and technologists," said NASA Chief Technologist Bobby Braun at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The government's ability to open the suborbital research frontier to a broad community of innovators will enable maturation of the new technologies and capabilities needed for NASA's future missions in space." The selected companies are: -- Armadillo Aerospace, Heath, Texas -- Near Space Corp., Tillamook, Ore. -- Masten Space Systems, Mojave, Calif. -- Up Aerospace Inc., Highlands Ranch, Colo. -- Virgin Galactic, Mojave, Calif. -- Whittinghill Aerospace LLC, Camarillo, Calif. -- XCOR, Mojave, Calif. NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist is charged with maturing crosscutting technologies to flight readiness status for future space missions. Through these indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts, NASA intends to provide frequent flight opportunities for payloads on suborbital platforms. The Flight Opportunities Program is managed at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif.
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