NASA Modifies Launch Service Contract To Add Delta II Rocket

NASA announced the modification of its NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract with United Launch Services of Littleton, Colo., to add the Delta II rocket launch service in accordance with the contract's on-ramp provision. The modification will enable United Launch Services to offer as many as five Delta II rockets.

The NLS II contracts are multiple award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts with ordering periods through June 2020. The NLS II on-ramp provision provides an opportunity annually for new launch service providers to compete for future missions and allows existing launch service providers to introduce launch vehicles not currently on their NLS II contracts.

The NLS II contracts provide for a minimum capability of delivering agency payloads weighing approximately 550 pounds or more to a minimum 124-mile-high circular orbit with a launch inclination of 28.5 degrees. The launch service providers also may offer a range of vehicles to NASA to meet higher payload mass and orbit requirements.

The NLS II contracts support the goals and objectives of the agency's Human Exploration and Operations and Science Mission Directorates. Under the contract, NASA also can provide launch services to other government agencies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

President Obama Visits California’s Silicon Valley

President Barack Obama’s arrival onboard Air Force One on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011 at Moffett Federal Airfield marked his first landing at NASA’s Ames Research Center.

"I had the honor to meet President Obama when he arrived at Moffett Federal Airfield last Sunday," said Pete Worden, director of NASA Ames, who along with San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and Mountain View Mayor Jac Siegel, greeted the president.

"It was fitting that the president came to Silicon Valley to talk about his job creation plan, given how critical Silicon Valley is to the future of the U.S. economy," said Worden.

NASA Ames is an integral component of the world-renowned innovation economy and actively participates in the valley’s technological and scientific evolution. The center plays a key role in the success of the local economy, specifically by investing in research and development, promoting innovation, and advancing research in green and clean technologies.

NASA Ames also supports science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and workforce development. In addition, NASA Ames’ efforts include developing partnerships with the private sector and facilitating commercialization of space.

On the second day of his overnight visit, Monday, Sept. 26, 2011, President Obama visited the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., to participate in a discussion about putting America back to work. LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network with more than 120 million users worldwide, hosted the town hall meeting.

"As Ames explores space and our planet, it stimulates economic growth by employing scientists and engineering professionals, promoting technology innovation, and preparing the workforce in the future – all to enhance the health, growth, and long-term competitiveness of the Bay Area and the nation," said Worden.

After 70 years of innovation, Ames continues to pursue new breakthrough technologies and strengthen partnerships with local Silicon Valley organizations, companies, and academic institutions through the NRP.

NASA Awards Protective Services Contract At Kennedy

NASA selected Chenega Security & Support Solutions, LLC of Ashburn, Va., to provide protective services at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The new firm, fixed price contract begins Dec. 1 with a possible total performance period of four years, 10 months. Phase-in begins as soon as practicable. The maximum potential value of this contract is approximately $151.9 million. This new contract resulted from a competitive small business set-aside.

Chenega Security & Support Solutions, LLC will provide protective services at Kennedy including: physical security operations; personnel security; secure access, such as badging; 911 dispatch; firefighting, fire prevention and fire protection engineering; aircraft rescue and firefighting; advance life support ambulance services; emergency management and protective services training.

NASA Modifies Contract To Continue Ground Operations Work

NASA signed a $49.4 million contract modification for United Space Alliance (USA) of Houston to continue maintaining and sustaining the ground operations capabilities at the Kennedy Space Center launch facilities in Florida through Sept. 30, 2012.

As a result, these critical systems can be used by future space programs. The programs include potential commercial launch vehicle customers, the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle that will take astronauts farther into space than ever before, create high-quality jobs here at home and provide the cornerstone for America's future human space exploration efforts.

USA has provided this support under the Space Program Operations Contract since 2006. The contract outlines the flight and ground processing and operations requirements. The modification also includes requirements for NASA 21st Century Ground Systems modifications to the Crawler Transporter Number 2, Launch Pad 39B life extension and Vehicle Assembly Building life extension.

NASA Supercomputer Enables Largest Cosmological Simulations

Scientists have generated the largest and most realistic cosmological simulations of the evolving universe to-date, thanks to NASA’s powerful Pleiades supercomputer. Using the "Bolshoi" simulation code, researchers hope to explain how galaxies and other very large structures in the universe changed since the Big Bang.

To complete the enormous Bolshoi simulation, which traces how largest galaxies and galaxy structures in the universe were formed billions of years ago, astrophysicists at New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New Mexico and the University of California High-Performance Astrocomputing Center (UC-HIPACC), Santa Cruz, Calif. ran their code on Pleiades for 18 days, consumed millions of hours of computer time, and generating enormous amounts of data. Pleiades is the seventh most powerful supercomputer in the world.

“NASA installs systems like Pleiades, that are able to run single jobs that span tens of thousands of processors, to facilitate scientific discovery,” said William Thigpen, systems and engineering branch chief in the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at NASA's Ames Research Center.

NASA's J-2X Engine

J-2X ENGINE

This image is from a 2008 cold flow test campaign conducted at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center for the J-2X engine program.

NASA continues to test the J-2X engine and conducted a 40-second test of the rocket engine Sept. 28, the most recent in a series of tests of the next-generation engine selected as part of the Space Launch System architecture that will once again carry humans into deep space. It was a test at the 99 percent power level to gain a better understanding of start and shutdown systems as well as modifications that had been made from previous test firing results.

NASA Selects Science Investigations For Concept Studies

NASA has selected 11 science proposals for evaluation as potential future science missions. The proposals outline prospective missions to study the Earth's atmosphere, the sun, the Milky Way galaxy, and Earth-like planets around nearby stars.

The selections were made from responses to Announcements of Opportunity for Explorer Missions and Explorer Missions of Opportunity released by the agency last November. The proposals were judged to have the best science value and feasible development plans.

"NASA continues to seek opportunities to push the cutting edge of science," said Paul Hertz, chief scientist for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. "Innovative proposals like these will help us better understand our solar system and the universe."

Five Explorer Mission proposals were selected from 22 submitted in February. Each team will receive $1 million to conduct an 11-month mission concept study. Mission costs are capped at $200 million each, excluding the launch vehicle. In addition, one Explorer Mission proposal was selected for technology development and will receive $600,000. Five Mission of Opportunity proposals were selected from 20 submissions. Each will receive $250,000 to conduct an 11-month implementation concept study. Mission costs are capped at $55 million each.

NASA Invites Media to Google Green Flight Challenge Expo

Journalists will get an opportunity to view eight electric, biofueled and hybrid-powered aircraft up close on Oct. 3, 2011, at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. The event highlights the Google Green Flight Challenge Exposition hosted by NASA. Exposition visitors also will learn who may have won $1.65 million in NASA prize money available for the winner of competition. The purse is the largest aviation prize ever offered. 

Green Flight Challenge

NASA and the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency (CAFE) Foundation of Santa Rosa, Calif., will host the exposition from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. PDT, with an awards ceremony streamed on NASA Television at noon PDT.

The exposition follows the 2011 CAFE Green Flight Challenge, sponsored by Google, at the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, Calif., Sept. 25 to Oct. 1.

The competition attracted 13 teams, led by American innovators. Three of those teams successfully completed aircraft and flight qualification requirements are competing for the prize purse. The teams will fly to prove they have the most fuel-efficient small aircraft in the world.