Apr 1 2010

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 10-315

WEB VIEWERSHIP OF NEW MARS ROVER CONSTRUCTION TOPS MILLION MARK

PASADENA, Calif. -- More than one million people watched assembly and testing of NASA's next Mars rover via a live webcam since it went on-line in October. NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, also known as the Curiosity rover, is being tested and assembled in a clean room at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. The webcam, affectionately dubbed Curiosity Cam shows engineers and technicians clad in head-to-toe white smocks working on the rover. Metrics from the webcam's hosting platform, Ustream, showed more than one million unique viewers spent more than 400,000 hours watching Curiosity Cam between Oct. 21 and Nov. 23. There have been more than 2.3 million viewer sessions. The camera is mounted in the viewing gallery of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at JPL. While the gallery is a regular stop on JPL's public tour, Curiosity Cam allows visitors from around the world to see NASA engineers at work without traveling to Pasadena. Viewers from Chile, Japan, Turkey, Spain, Mexico and the United Kingdom have sent good wishes and asked questions in the chat box that accompanies the Curiosity Cam webstream. At scheduled times, viewers can interact with each other and JPL staff. The chat schedule is updated weekdays at: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl Months of assembly and testing remain before the car-sized rover is ready for launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The rover and spacecraft components will ship to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida next spring. The launch will occur between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18, 2011. Curiosity will arrive on Mars in August 2012. The rover is one of the most technologically challenging interplanetary missions ever designed. Curiosity is engineered to drive longer distances over rougher terrain than previous Mars rovers. It will carry a science payload 10 times the mass of instruments on NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers. Curiosity will investigate whether the landing region had environments favorable for supporting microbial life. It will also look for environments that have been favorable for preserving evidence about whether life existed.

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MEDIA ADVISORY: M10-014

NASA'S MARS ROVER SPIRIT TOPIC OF MEDIA CALL JAN. 26

WASHINGTON -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Jan. 26 to discuss the status of the agency's Mars rover Spirit. The robotic explorer has been stuck in sandy soil on Mars for the past eight months. The participants are: - Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program, NASA Headquarters in Washington - John Callas, project manager, Mars Exploration Rovers, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. - Ashley Stroupe, rover driver, Mars Exploration Rovers, JPL - Steve Squyres, principal investigator, Mars Exploration Rovers, Cornell University For call in information, journalists should e-mail a request with their name, media affiliation and telephone number to J.D. Harrington at: j.d.harrington@nasa.gov Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

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RELEASE: 10-032

NASA ADMINISTRATOR NAMES WOODROW WHITLOW ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR MISSION SUPPORT

WASHINGTON -- On Wednesday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden named Dr. Woodrow Whitlow, Jr., the associate administrator for Mission Support at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Whitlow will continue to serve as the director of NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland until a successor is named. In this new position, Whitlow will be responsible for most NASA management operations, including human capital, budget and systems support as well as a variety of other vital cross agency business, institutional and contract support functions. "Woodrow is a dedicated and valued member of my senior leadership team, and I am pleased he agreed to accept this new challenge, Bolden said. As the agency moves forward, we need to streamline the way we do business with a fresh approach and an eye for strategic management and investments. I know the people of Glenn will miss Woodrow, but the entire agency will again have the opportunity to benefit from his insight and experience. As the Glenn director since Dec. 25, 2005, Whitlow has led a workforce of more than 3,400 civil service and support service contractors. The center is distinguished by its unique blend of aeronautics and spaceflight research and development experience. Before being named director of Glenn, Whitlow served as the deputy director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He assisted the director in determining and implementing center policy and managing and implementing the center's missions and agency program responsibilities. Areas of responsibility included processing, launch, and recovery of launch vehicles, processing of spacecraft and acquisition of launch services. Prior to his appointment as deputy director at Kennedy, Whitlow was the director of Research and Technology at Glenn. Whitlow began his NASA career in 1979 as a research scientist at the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. He assumed various positions of increasing responsibility before moving to Glenn in 1998. In 1994, he served as director of the Critical Technologies Division in the Office of Aeronautics at NASA Headquarters. Whitlow earned his bachelor's degree, master's degree, and doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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RELEASE: 10-008

NASA SUPPORTS THE PRESIDENT'S EDUCATE TO INNOVATE CAMPAIGN WITH SUMMER OF INNOVATION TO BRING STUDENTS THE UNIVERSE

WASHINGTON -- NASA has launched an initiative to use its out-of-this-world missions and technology programs to boost summer learning, particularly for underrepresented students across the nation. NASA's Summer of Innovation supports President Obama's Educate to Innovate campaign for excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, education. The Summer of Innovation program will work with thousands of middle school teachers and students during multi-week programs in the summer of 2010 to engage students in stimulating math and science-based education programs. NASA's goal is to increase the number of future scientists, mathematicians, and engineers, with an emphasis on broadening participation of low-income, minority students. "This is an incredible opportunity for our administration to come together to address our nation's critical science, technology, engineering and math education needs, said NASA Administrator and former astronaut Charles F. Bolden. Through Summer of Innovation, NASA is calling on our financial and human resources to align with federal, state, and local governments, nonprofit partners, universities and teachers to expand the opportunity for more of our young people to aspire to and engage in the future prosperity of our nation. Through competitive cooperative agreements to states, and partnerships with companies and nonprofits, NASA will use its substantial STEM assets -- including the agency's scientists and engineers -- to create multi-week summer learning programs. "NASA's Summer of Innovation will increase the scope and scale of the agency's commitment to a robust program of STEM education opportunities, said Joyce Winterton, assistant administrator for education at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The Summer of Innovation pilot will infuse NASA content and products into existing, evidence-based summer learning programs at the state level coupled with design competitions and events open to students and teachers nationwide. The program will culminate in a national event, in partnership with other departments and agencies. NASA will use the Summer of Innovation as a catalyst to expand, align, and strengthen existing state-based networks. Awardees will be expected to implement the Summer of Innovation program and services during 2010 through the strategic infusion of NASA content and products into existing, evidence-based summer learning programs. The pilot program will seek to improve STEM performance for a diverse population of students, placing them on a trajectory to pursue further studies in STEM fields throughout their education. Contingent upon the availability of funding, NASA intends to competitively select district partnerships in up to seven states to pilot the Summer of Innovation during 2010. Awards will have a period of performance of 36 months. Local programs will be required to develop ways to keep students and teachers engaged during the school year and to track student participants' performance through 2012. Awardees will be encouraged to leverage the unique capabilities and resources of program partners to ensure a sustainable effort following the period of performance. NASA will use the agency's National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program to implement the Summer of Innovation pilot. The Space Grant national network includes more than 850 affiliates from universities, colleges, industry, museums, science centers, and state and local agencies supporting and enhancing science and engineering education, research and public outreach efforts for NASA's aeronautics and space projects. These affiliates belong to one of 52 consortia in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Space Grant applications will be selected based on alignment with Summer of Innovation goals and objectives. Accordingly, NASA has determined that submitters for this opportunity must be Space Grant Lead Institutions, and only one proposal per state will be accepted.

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RELEASE: 10-012

NASA REVISES COST AND SCHEDULE FOR DISPLAYING RETIRED SHUTTLES

WASHINGTON -- NASA has issued a follow-up Request for Information, or RFI, for ideas from education institutions, science museums and other appropriate organizations about the community's ability to acquire and publicly display orbiters after the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program. The original RFI in December 2008 noted that a potential shuttle recipient would have to pay an estimated $42 million for the cost of "safeing an orbiter, preparing it for display and ferrying it to a U.S. destination airport. NASA has updated the requirements and tasks needed to make each orbiter safe for disposition. The agency will not ask recipients to provide the funds for this activity. Except for cost and scheduled delivery changes, the 2008 and 2010 RFIs are virtually the same. In this follow-up RFI, NASA revised the estimated display preparation and ferrying costs to $28.8 million. The schedule for transferring the orbiters may be six months earlier than originally anticipated. NASA also desires to make selections a year before receipt of the orbiters, so recipient organizations will have sufficient time to conduct any fundraising activities necessary to support preparation and ferry costs. RFI responses are due to NASA by 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, Feb. 19, 2010. Organizations that responded to the original RFI do not need to resubmit a full response, but should clarify their positions with respect to these changes. NASA is planning to transfer space shuttle Discovery to the National Air and Space Museum. Shuttle orbiters Endeavour and Atlantis will be available for placement no earlier than July, 2011

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