NASA’s Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) will lose about 1,000 pounds of the mass it carries to orbit with a newly adopted redesign of the service module that flies just aft of the pressurized crew capsule. Orion also may save some more weight from an ongoing redesign of the boost protective cover that shelters the [...]
Today, the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics heard from a panel of expert witnesses who addressed workforce challenges faced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), due to shifts in priorities in order to accommodate new mission challenges. “The workforce is so vital to NASA’s mission,” said Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), Ranking Member of [...]
Dear Senator Hutchison: As leaders of our nation’s largest aerospace and technology companies, we employ hundreds of thousands of Americans and know first hand the formidable challenges in today’s global marketplace. We write to thank you for your past support of NASA and to urge you to enact a top-line increase for NASA’s FY 2008 [...]
NASA has selected Aerojet-General Corp. of Redmond, Wash., to provide developmental engines for the Ares I crew launch vehicle first stage roll control system. These engines are the first in a series of steps to develop the roll control system to manage the amount of rotation by the first stage solid rocket from liftoff to [...]
An unprecedented coalition of nearly two dozen U.S. aerospace corporations told the Congress on Friday, May 11, that NASA is in urgent need of a boost to its fiscal year 2008 budget or America’s space leadership could be lost for a generation. The group, which includes the chairmen, presidents and chief executives of such industry [...]
What goes up must come down. And when coming down means descending from the moon, the difference between a controlled fall and a fiery crash is in the details. Research by cadets at the Air Force Academy this year has helped NASA learn how its planned Orion manned space capsule will handle the fall from [...]
NASA is considering an alternate stage separation scheme for its Ares I rocket that would use struts driven by compressed gas rather than the modified shuttle hardware in the current design, and is asking industry to weigh in. The current design uses Space Shuttle Booster Separation Motors (renamed Booster Deceleration Motors, or BDMs) to separate [...]
NASA announced Friday it selected The Boeing Company and Textron Systems to develop alternate heat shield materials for the Orion crew exploration spacecraft. The two contracts for Alternate Block 2 Thermal Protection System (TPS) Materials and Heat Shield Systems Advanced Development will support development and testing of three alternative heat shield materials. The companies are [...]
Raytheon Co. officials are looking to use its Huntsville engineering and management experience with missile defense to win a NASA rocket guidance contract. Raytheon is pursuing the Ares I Instrument Unit Avionics ring contract, which is planned to be awarded to an aerospace contractor by Marshall Space Flight Center in November. Similar to the Apollo-era [...]