Jan 26 2010
From The Space Library
CONTRACT RELEASE: C10-026
NASA EXTENDS HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE OPERATIONS CONTRACT
WASHINGTON -- NASA has exercised an option to extend the period of performance of the contract with the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy for the Hubble Space Telescope Science Operations Center located at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. This action will extend the period of performance for 36 months through April 30, 2013, and it has a total estimated value of approximately $113 million. The contractor will continue to be responsible for providing the products and services required to execute the science program; process, archive and distribute science data; maintain and calibrate the telescope's onboard instruments; maintain science operations' ground systems; administer grants, perform public and educational outreach; and conduct astronomical research during the remaining years of the Hubble science mission.
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RELEASE: 10-144
RESEARCH SUGGESTS WATER CONTENT OF MOON INTERIOR UNDERESTIMATED
WASHINGTON -- NASA-funded scientists estimate from recent research that the volume of water molecules locked inside minerals in the moon's interior could exceed the amount of water in the Great Lakes here on Earth. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory in Washington, along with other scientists across the nation, determined that the water was likely present very early in the moon's formation history as hot magma started to cool and crystallize. This finding means water is native to the moon. "For over 40 years we thought the moon was dry, said Francis McCubbin of Carnegie and lead author of the report published in Monday's Online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In our study we looked at hydroxyl, a compound with an oxygen atom bound with hydrogen, and apatite, a water-bearing mineral in the assemblage of minerals we examined in two Apollo samples and a lunar meteorite. McCubbin's team utilized tests which detect elements in the parts per billion range. Combining their measurements with models that characterize how the material crystallized as the moon cooled during formation, they found that the minimum water content ranged from 64 parts per billion to 5 parts per million. The result is at least two orders of magnitude greater than previous results from lunar samples that estimated water content of the moon to be less than 1 parts per billion. "In this case, when we talk about water on the moon, we mean water in the structural form hydroxyl, said Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. This is a very minor component of the rocks that make up the lunar interior. The origin of the moon is now commonly believed to be the result of a Mars-sized object that impacted the Earth 4.5 billion years ago. This impact put a large amount of material into Earth's orbit that ultimately compacted to form the moon. The lunar magma ocean that is thought to have formed at some point during the compacting process, began to cool. During this cooling, water either escaped or was preserved as hydroxyl molecules in the crystallizing minerals. Previous studies found evidence of water both on the lunar surface and inside the moon by using respectively, remote sensing data from the Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 and other lunar sample analysis. Carnegie researchers looked within crystalline rocks called KREEP (K for potassium; REE, for rare Earth elements; and P for phosphorus). These rocks are a component of some lunar impact melt and basaltic rocks. "Since water is insoluble in the main silicates that crystallized, we believed that it should have concentrated in those rocks, said Andrew Steele of Carnegie and co-author of the report. That's why we selected KREEP to analyze. The identification of water from multiple types of lunar rocks that display a range of incompatible trace element signatures indicates that water may be at low concentrations but ubiquitous within the moon's interior, potentially as early as the time of lunar formation and magma ocean crystallization. "It is gratifying to see this proof of the hydroxyl contents in lunar apatite, said lunar scientist Bradley Jolliff of Washington University in St. Louis. The concentrations are very low and, accordingly, they have been until recently nearly impossible to detect. We can now finally begin to consider the implications - and the origin - of water in the interior of the moon. The research was funded by the NASA Astrobiology, Mars Fundamental Research, and the Lunar Advanced Science and Exploration Research programs in NASA's Planetary Division in Washington.
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CONTRACT RELEASE: C10-034
NASA AWARDS SPACE NETWORK GROUND SEGMENT SUSTAINMENT CONTRACT
WASHINGTON -- NASA has awarded the Space Network Ground Segment Sustainment project contract to General Dynamics C4 Systems of Scottsdale, Ariz. The cost-plus-award fee, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract has a total potential value of approximately $642.2 million, including options. The period of performance is from June 21, 2010 through June 20, 2017. The Space Network Ground Segment is part of NASA's Space Network. The agency's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS) comprise the space segment. The network provides the resources for global space-to-ground telecommunications and tracking coverage for low Earth orbit and near-Earth robotic and human spaceflight missions. The Space Network Ground Segment includes facilities and systems located at the White Sands Complex at Las Cruces, N.M., Guam Remote Ground Terminal at Guam, and the Space Network Expansion East at Blossom Point, Md. Under the Space Network Ground Segment Sustainment contract, General Dynamics will modernize the ground segment to enable the Space Network to continue to deliver high quality services, meet stakeholder requirements, and significantly reduce required operations and maintenance resources. The work includes replacing obsolete systems, creating a more flexible and expandable architecture, facilitating the integration of NASA's Space Communications and Navigation networks, addressing customer requirements and advances in technology, and implementing new methods and capabilities for using the TDRS to support Space Network user spacecraft. It also includes expanding and improving the methods for Space Network user control centers to interface with the Space Network Ground Segment for data and service planning and control, and maintaining long-term operational performance, reliability and maintainability.
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