Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has hired two veteran aerospace industry managers to lead the company’s efforts to provide integration and production support for NASA’s Ares I Instrument Unit contract for the Ares I Launch Vehicle. Read more
Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc. has been selected by NASA to design the emergency egress system for the next-generation Orion space exploration vehicle that is expected to launch in 2014 from the Kennedy Space Center.
The value of the contract was not disclosed.
The new escape system will allow astronauts to travel safely across the launch tower and quickly enter into tram cars, then be whisked down a track to safety, much like a souped-up roller coaster, RS&H says in a written release.
The Jacksonville-based firm — which has an Orlando office — already has designed the new lightning protection system for Orion at Launch Pad 39 and is completing the design for its new mobile launcher. Read more
NASA has selected proposals for future lunar science activities and established two new programs that will enhance research made possible by the Vision for Space Exploration.
The proposals and programs are part of an effort by NASA to develop new opportunities to conduct important science investigations during the planned renewal of human exploration of the moon.
In a highly competitive selection, NASA chose seven proposals from more than 70 submissions under the Lunar Sortie Science Opportunities (LSSO) Program. These newly funded efforts in the space science community will complement two new programs established in the Science Mission Directorate’s Planetary Sciences Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington: the Lunar Advanced Science and Exploration Research (LASER) Program and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Participating Scientist Program. Read more
If all goes as planned, part of the international space station will host research experiments from outsiders after it’s completed in three years, NASA officials said Monday.
NASA is in talks with several government agencies, most notably the National Institutes of Health, and private businesses that want to conduct research in the microgravity laboratory orbiting 220 miles above Earth.
NASA and its 15 partner nations, including Russia, Canada, Japan and European countries, plan to finish construction of the space station in 2010, when the U.S. space shuttles are grounded and NASA focuses its manned spaceflight program on returning to the moon in an Orion spacecraft. Read more
Textron Defense Systems, an operating unit of Textron Systems Corporation, a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, announced that it has been awarded a $24 million contract, which includes all options, by the NASA Ames Research Center to develop alternate heat shield materials for the Orion crew exploration spacecraft. Awarded on May 4, 2007, this contract will support further development and testing of heat shield materials, designs, and manufacturing processes for Alternate Block 2 Thermal Protection System (TPS) Materials and Heat Shield Systems Advanced Development.
This effort is a part of the NASA Constellation Program that is developing Orion as America’s primary vehicle for future human space exploration. Orion will carry astronauts to the International Space Station by 2015, with a goal of landing astronauts on the moon no later than 2020. The Orion TPS Advanced Development Project, led by the Ames Research Center from Moffett Field, California, was established to develop a heat shield to protect Orion during its return from low-Earth orbit or the moon. Read more
NASA has authorized a contract with a maximum value of $16.7 million with Alcoa North American Rolled Products of Bettendorf, Iowa, to supply aluminum lithium plates and metal ingots for early development of the Ares I crew launch vehicles upper stage. The firm fixed-price contract has a period of performance through Aug. 5, 2008.
Ares I is an in-line, two-stage rocket that will transport to low Earth orbit the Orion crew exploration vehicle containing up to six astronauts. The first stage will consist of a single reusable solid rocket booster similar to those used on the space shuttle, with an additional fifth segment. The second, or upper, stage will consist of a J-2X main engine fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants.
Before NASA’s new spacecraft, Orion, carries the next generation of explorers into space, it first will make a shorter journey to the world’s largest vacuum chamber. In this massive, cathedral-like structure, it must endure a variety of rigorous challenges.
Called the Space Power Facility, the vacuum chamber resides at NASA Glenn Research Center’s Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio. It measures 100 feet in diameter and towers at 122 feet tall. Its immense size and ability to simulate the vacuum of space make it ideal for testing the Orion crew exploration vehicle.
On June 11, the facility opened its doors for a rededication ceremony. Agency managers, community stakeholders and elected officials gathered to celebrate the role this facility will play in the country’s next phase of space exploration. Read more
This journey begins soon with the development of a new spaceship. Building on the best of Apollo and shuttle technology, NASA is creating a 21st century exploration system that will be affordable, reliable, versatile and safe.
The centerpiece of the system is a new spacecraft named Orion that is designed to carry four astronauts to and from the moon, to support up to six crewmembers on future missions to Mars and to deliver crew and supplies to the International Space Station.
Orion will be shaped like an Apollo capsule but will be three times larger, allowing four astronauts to travel to the moon at a time. Read more
The first round of the expected fight between congressional supporters of NASA’s space exploration programs and the advocates of more terrestrially focused efforts was won easily by the earth science enthusiasts. But the upcoming rounds might get a bit tougher.
Cuts in manned space activities in the omnibus fiscal 2007 appropriations continuing resolution and recent complaints by leading Democrats about reduced funding for earth science and global warming research in President Bush’s fiscal 2008 budget have led manned space supporters to express their concerns about the fate of Bush’s 2004 “vision” for space exploration.
Those concerns appeared to be justified by the House Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee’s approval of its $53.6 billion funding bill last week. Read more
Establishing an industrial base on the moon and exploring farther into the solar system are the kind of plans NASA needs to inspire a new generation and ensure the space program’s future, the agency’s second-in-command said Monday in Denver.
Shana Dale, NASA deputy administrator, spoke to representatives of Colorado’s aerospace industry and research organizations who make up the Colorado Space Coalition. The meeting took place at the coalition headquarters at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
Dale called current NASA goals of creating a human outpost on the moon and pushing manned flight to Mars and beyond “perhaps the most audacious missions ever attempted. Read more
