Jul 19 2012

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 12-241 EARTH-OBSERVING CAMERA TO LAUNCH TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

WASHINGTON -- A remote-controlled Earth-observing camera system called ISERV will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's third H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-3) this week. Once installed, the system will be directed by researchers on the ground to acquire imagery of specific areas of the globe for disaster analysis and environmental studies. ISERV Pathfinder is a new imaging instrument designed and built at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The HTV-3 launch is scheduled for 10:06 p.m. EDT July 20 from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. ISERV stands for the International Space Station SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System. The space station provides researchers a unique perspective through global observations from space. SERVIR is a Spanish acronym meaning "to serve." Also known as the Regional Visualization and Monitoring System, the program provides satellite data and tools to environmental decision makers in developing countries. SERVIR is a partnership between NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). ISERV will be installed in the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF) in the station's Destiny laboratory. The system is intended to help scientists gain operational experience and expertise and inform the design of a more capable system in the future. Ideally, a future operational system will be able to monitor disasters on Earth. "ISERV came about because officials in developing countries are sometimes unable to acquire the images they need to address environmental threats and provide post-disaster assessments," said Nancy Searby, capacity building program manager for the SERVIR program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The SERVIR team approached NASA's ISS and Earth Science Applied Sciences Program with the concept of acquiring the needed imagery from the ISS. The ISERV test bed payload is a result of that collaboration." The ISERV system, based on a modified commercial telescope and driven by custom software, will use the Earth-facing Destiny science window to obtain images of Earth's surface. It will then transmit the data to scientists on the ground. "Images captured from ISERV on the ISS could provide valuable information back here on Earth," said Dan Irwin, SERVIR program director at Marshall. "We hope it will provide new data and information from space related to natural disasters, environmental crises and the increased effects of climate variability on human populations." ISERV is the first of an envisioned series of space station Earth-observing instruments, each to feature progressively more capable sensors. Future sensors could be mounted on the exterior of the station for a clearer, wider view of Earth. ISERV development was funded as a collaboration between NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Directorate and the Science Mission Directorate's Earth Science Division Applied Sciences Program. The team at the Payload Operations Center at Marshall is creating computer-based materials for training the space station crew to assemble and install ISERV in the WORF rack. Normal operations aboard station are set to begin in November. "The addition of ISERV will enhance the growing set of tools aboard the station to monitor Earth," said Julie Robinson, International Space Station program scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "It reaffirms the station's commitment to helping solve global issues." SERVIR consists of a coordination office and student research laboratory at Marshall and active hubs located in Kenya and Nepal as well as a network affiliate in Panama. The coordination develops application prototypes for the SERVIR website, and integrates new or relevant technologies from NASA and other scientific research partner organizations into the system to meet the needs of the host countries. SERVIR's primary technical work occurs at the hubs, which are staffed by in-country and in-region experts. The hubs coordinate with other international and national organizations in their respective regions regarding climate change, environmental monitoring, disasters, weather and mapping, among others. SERVIR, jointly funded by NASA and USAID, is part of the Earth Science Division's Applied Sciences Program in NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Four other NASA field centers work with Marshall on the program: Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.; the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.; and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

RELEASE: 12-245 NASA PARTNER UNITED LAUNCH ALLIANCE COMPLETES TWO ATLAS V REVIEWS

CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- NASA partner United Launch Alliance (ULA) has completed a review of its Atlas V rocket to assess its compliance with NASA human spaceflight safety and performance requirements. ULA has partnered to launch Boeing's CST-100, Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser and Blue Origin's Space Vehicle on missions to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station. NASA provided technical consultation during the ULA review. ULA is one of several companies working to develop crew transportation capabilities under the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) agreement with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP). Through CCDev2, NASA is helping the private sector develop and test new spacecraft and rockets with the goal of making commercial human spaceflight services available to commercial and government customers. The Atlas V has launched numerous satellites and robotic missions into space for NASA, including the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover and the Juno probe to Jupiter. Requirements to launch humans will require more stringent criteria, so the company has to show its rocket can meet the extra demands. "Our partnership with ULA during this round of development has really been focused on understanding the core design of the launch vehicle," said CCP Program Manager Ed Mango. "In these reviews we were able to see how ULA plans to modify the vehicle for human spaceflight." Among adjustments required to evolve the Atlas V for human spaceflight, designers would have to modify the launch pad so crew members can board the spacecraft. The upper stage of a crewed Atlas V would require the use of two Centaur engines, stronger than the current Atlas V upper stage that uses a single engine. The onboard flight computers would be programmed to guide the rocket on a more managed path through the sky into orbit. Sensors also would be added to the rocket to detect emergency situations for the crew. "The systems requirements review was the result of an extensive effort with NASA and our commercial spacecraft partners to determine what capabilities the Atlas V already meets and to define what we need to do from here to certify the rocket for human spaceflight," said George Sowers, ULA's vice president for human launch services. "We continue to receive valuable insight from NASA's human spaceflight experts as we move toward the certification of Atlas V for human spaceflight." All of NASA's industry partners, including ULA, continue to meet their established milestones in developing commercial crew transportation capabilities under CCDev2.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-135 NASA TELEVISION TO AIR SPACE STATION CARGO SHIP MOVES AND TEST

WASHINGTON -- NASA Television will broadcast the move of a Russian cargo spacecraft at the International Space Station and the demonstration of a new docking system beginning Sunday, July 22. NASA TV coverage of ISS Progress 47's initial undocking starts at 4 p.m. EDT, July 22. Progress 47 will undock at 4:27 p.m. Russian flight controllers will command the resupply ship to undock from the space station's Pirs compartment in a test of an updated docking system that will be used for both Progress and Soyuz human spacecraft in the future. The new automated rendezvous system, known as Kurs-NA, will use a single antenna, which will allow four others to be removed. The Kurs-NA-enabled Progress and Soyuz spacecraft will have only three antennas, half as many as the current versions. Kurs-NA also will use less power, improve safety and possess updated electronics. Progress 47 arrived at the station in April. After it was emptied of its cargo, the space station crew filled it with trash for disposal. NASA TV coverage of the Progress' re-rendezvous and docking will begin at 9:15 p.m. Monday, July 23. The ship will re-dock to the station at 9:57 p.m. Coverage of Progress 47's final departure from the station begins at 2 p.m. Monday, July 30, with undocking set for 2:11 p.m. It then will be commanded to re-enter the atmosphere and burn up. The next Russian cargo spacecraft, ISS Progress 48, is scheduled to launch Wednesday, Aug. 1, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency and his five crewmates, including NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Joe Acaba, will monitor events as the Progress 47 tests unfold.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-136 NASA HYPERSONIC INFLATABLE TECH TEST NOW SET FOR LAUNCH JULY 22

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. -- NASA managers are rescheduling the launch of an inflatable heat shield technology demonstration flight from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., until no earlier than Sunday, July 22. The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) launch was postponed for one day to allow for additional testing of launch vehicle systems. NASA has three consecutive days of launch opportunities for IRVE-3, with a liftoff window from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. EDT each day. IRVE-3 is part of the Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) Project within the Game Changing Development Program, part of NASA's Space Technology Program.