Universities offer research help

It will take years before the full impact of the BP oil spill on the Gulf Coast is uncovered, and millions will have to be spent on studies. That's according to Michael Carron, director of the Northern Gulf Institute at Stennis Space Center, Miss. He said BP approached universities in the region to form a consortium to research the spill. They’ll meet in Louisiana next week to establish an action plan. "I think it will take $100 million a year for the next 10 years," Carron said. BP has already pledged $500 million over the next decade, he said. The Northern Gulf Institute, a NOAA cooperative, includes Mississippi State University, the University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State University, Florida State University and Dauphin Island Sea Lab. (Source: Sun Herald, 05/28/10) The Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 people. It has been leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico ever since. BP is currently trying to stop the leak by forcing heavy mud and debris into the pipe, then capping it with concrete.

Latest issue of Messenger available

The June issue of Michoud Messenger, a monthly newsletter about activities at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, is now available for download. This issue includes a story about the May 12 opening of a $90 million Coast Guard administration building and a reminder about being prepared for hurricane season. Other items in the newsletter: a celebration at Einstein Charter, a center of learning for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students that focus on math and science; installation of a robotic weld tool and more. (Source: Michoud Messenger, June 2010)

SSC names associate director

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - NASA announced Ken Human is the associate director of John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss. He'll support Stennis Director Patrick Scheuermann and Deputy Center Director Rick Gilbrech. Most recently, Human served as the deputy manager of the External Integration Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, supporting the International Space Station Program, responsible for further development of international partnerships and collaborations, particularly with the Russian, Japanese, Canadian and European space agencies. Human began his NASA career at Stennis in 1978 as an attorney advisor in the legal office. Stennis is NASA's primary testing ground for rocket engines and propulsion systems, and is the agency's systems engineering center for applied science activities. (Source: NASA, 05/28/10)

Study: Hurricanes can snap pipelines

A study by scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis Space Center, Miss., shows currents from hurricanes can reach deep underwater and rupture oil and natural gas pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico. Results of the study will be published next month by the American Geophysical Union. Researchers found that currents became so strong that they triggered mudslides big enough to break pipelines or other underwater equipment, and the stress can persist up to a week. Disruption of the seafloor, including mudslides, can reach depths of 300 feet. They came up with the findings after installing six sensors on the seafloor to record changes induced by hurricanes. The sensors looked at 2004’s Hurricane Ivan, which disrupted several underwater pipelines in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Ivan damaged or destroyed 22 platforms and damaged and disrupted 13 undersea oil and natural gas pipelines. Researchers found that even storms far weaker than Ivan could disrupt the ocean floor, and that some breaks can go undetected. (Sources: Reuters, BBC, Discovery, 05/27/10) The Gulf of Mexico is already trying to cope with the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon, and hurricane season begins next month.

NASA: StenniSphere closed June 3

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - StenniSphere, the visitor center at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, will be closed June 3 for an on-site event. The center will reopen June 4 and resume normal operating hours. StenniSphere is open to the public 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday, and is closed on major holidays. (Source: NASA, 05/27/10)

Space: Constellation chief reassigned

Lawmakers who support the Constellation Program, NASA's bid to return astronauts to the moon and beyond, were upset the agency reassigned the head of the program. Jeff Hanley was moved to a deputy position at Johnson Space Center in Houston. He's opposed administration efforts to shut down Constellation. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said Hanley was "conflicted" over the administration's updated mission for NASA. (Source: Orlando Sentinel, 05/26/10) Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are both involved in the Constellation Program.

Military: SBT-22 attends Jackson event

Members of the Stennis Space Center-based Special Boat Team 22, a special operations unit specializing in riverine warfare, participated in the annual Trail of Honor and Run for the Wall earlier this month in Jackson, Miss. Crewmen demonstrated the capabilities of their Special Operations Craft-Riverine during the May 22-24 event. In 2003, the first year of the trail, a single civil war cannon was the only military display. This year, there were replicas and re-enactments from every American military conflict since the French and Indian War. (Source: NSWG4, 05/25/10)

NAVO, NOAA partner to monitor spill

The NOAA ship Thomas Jefferson is underway on a mission to deploy a variety of ocean monitoring instruments in the vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The instrumented floats, drifters and gliders, operated by the Naval Oceanographic Office at Stennis Space Center, Miss., will help researchers monitor the surface and deep currents, including the Loop Current, that are distributing the oil. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations operates the 208-foot hydrographic ship, homeported in Norfolk, Va. It was initially deployed to the Gulf in early April to conduct surveys to update nautical charts and to baseline benthic habitats in the Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary. The data from the Naval Oceanographic Office instruments will be shared with the scientific community and used to improve the accuracy of circulation models in the Gulf of Mexico. A NOAA Lockheed WP-3D Orion also has been gathering data on the Loop Current while other NOAA aircraft have been mapping the spill's extent and surveying marine mammals in the affected area. (Source: NOAA, 05/26/10)

SBT-22 opens new SSC facility

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - Special Boat Team 22, the only command in the Department of Defense designated to conduct special operations in riverine environments, held a ribbon-cutting for a new $9.7 million riverine operations facility Friday. It has two structures: a 15,898 square-foot riverine operations building and a 24,779 square-foot combatant craft building provide permanent riverine operations space. Since 2005, the command has increased the number of Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen by 68 percent. The two NSW commands at SSC, SBT-22 and the Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School, have more than 400 personnel and more than 40 riverine craft. (Source: NSWG4, 05/21/10)

Satellite to launch in July

The first satellite in the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) program has been delivered by Lockheed Martin to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and will be prepared for a July 30 launch aboard an Atlas V. The multi-satellite AEHF system, successor to the five-satellite Milstar constellation, will provide the military with global, protected, high capacity and secure communications. Canada, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom participate in the AEHF program and will have access to the communications capability of AEHF. (Source: Lockheed Martin via PRNewswire, 05/24/10) Lockheed Martin Mississippi Space & Technology Center at Stennis Space Center, Miss., worked on the core propulsion modules for the AEHF program.

Expect temporary road closure

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - The westbound lane of Interstate 10 will be closed from Exit 2 to Exit 13 for about 30 minutes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at some point during the time span of 9-11 a.m. The closures are due to the transport of large storage tanks to the space center. (Source: NASA, 05/24/10)

NASA honors workers

Workers at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, Dryden Flight Research Center and the Defense Contract Management Agency have been honored by NASA's Space Flight Awareness program. The program recognizes outstanding job performances and contributions by civil service and contract employees and focuses on excellence in quality and safety in support of human space flight. Stennis honorees were: Chuck Heim, Melissa Huggins, David Liberto, Jeff Lott and Rosa Obregon, all with NASA; Chris Barnes, R. Andrew Kuhn and Andy McClendon, both with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne; Glen Parker and Sheilah Ware, both with the Jacobs Technology Facility Operating Services Contract Group; Paul "Chip" Smith Jr. and Rodney Wilkinson, both with the Jacobs Technology NASA Test Operations Group; and Danelle Dees with A2 Research. Stennis Space Center, in Hancock County, Miss., is America's largest rocket engine test complex. (Source: NASA, 05/19/10)

Environment: Oil crisis update

It will be early next week before BP attempts to use heavy mud to stem the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The method, called "top kill," involves pumping heavy drilling mud with twice the density of water into the well. The well has been spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico since the rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers. In other oil-related events: booms filled with hair will not be used to keep oil from the shoreline because they get water soaked and sink; BP says it has no alternative dispersant to use after the EPA told it to find a less toxic dispersant; BP, a day after acknowledging more oil is seeping into the water than has been reported, backed off and said estimates are not taking into account the gas that’s mixed in with the oil. (Source: Multiple, 05/22/10) Note: Multiple organizations at Stennis Space Center, Miss. are responding to the crisis.

Incubators: Startups on uptick

The number of U.S. business startups launched in 2009, the third year of the deepest recession since the Great Depression, reached record highs, even exceeding the number of startups during the peak 1999-2000 technology boom. According to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, the number of new businesses created during the 2007-2009 recession years increased steadily year to year. In 2009, the 340 out of 100,000 adults who started businesses each month represent a 4 percent increase over 2008, or 27,000 more starts per month than in 2008 and 60,000 more starts per month than in 2007. Mississippi exhibited the lowest entrepreneurial rate in 2009, and Oklahoma and Montana had the highest rates. (Source: Kauffman Foundation, 05/20/10) Note: Mississippi Enterprise for Technology is a business incubator at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Environment: Oil crisis update

The Environmental Protection Agency told BP late Wedneday that the company has 24 hours to pick a less toxic form of chemical dispersants to break up its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to government sources familiar with the decision. (Source: Washington Post, 05/20/10) A portion of the slick has entered the loop current that will take it around the tip of Florida and up the east coast. The slick has stayed away from shorelines so far, save for parts of Louisiana. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 05/20/10) In a bid to stem the flow, officials from BP plan to shoot drilling mud into the Deepwater Horizon well, perhaps by Sunday. (Source: Sun Herald, 05/19/10) An explosion April 20 at the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and left an uncapped well. Several methods to stem the flow have failed, but a siphon pipe is capturing some of the oil. About 19 percent of Gulf is now closed to fishing. Multiple organizations at Stennis Space Center, Miss. are responding to the crisis.

Bill would provide incubator grants

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Hoping to spur more entrepreneurial development and innovation, Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-Fla., has announced proposed legislation to provide business incubators with federal grants to help them get small companies off the ground. She unveiled her plan during a luncheon address at the National Business Incubation Association convention taking place just outside Orlando. Kosmas said her bill would boost incubators across the country by establishing a national Early-Stage Fund. Nearly 600 people from 41 countries attended the convention that ended Wednesday. (Source: Florida Today, 05/18/10) Note: The Mississippi Enterprise for Technology is a business incubator at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

New resource for grant seekers

LONG BEACH, Miss. - Nonprofits and other grant seekers looking for funding now have access to a new collection of resources at the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Library, which has become a Cooperating Collection of the Foundation Center of New York. The library, at the Gulf Park campus, will host an open house June 1 from 2 to 4 p.m. on the second floor. The open house will include demonstrations of the databases. For more information, contact Eric Speas, information services librarian, at 228-214-3467. (Source: University of Southern Mississippi, 05/19/10) Note: Southern Miss has activities at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Latest issue of MsET newsletter available

The May issue of the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology newsletter is now available. This issue features a story about Geocent, a growing company and member of MsET that was used by a Washington technology magazine as an example of a company able to respond quickly to the changing needs of the Pentagon. (Source: MsET, May 2010)

Latest issue of Lagniappe available

The May issue of Lagniappe, a monthly newsletter about NASA activities at Stennis Space Center, is now available for download. This issue includes a story about the role Stennis Space Center will play in NASA's proposed $3.1 billion heavy-lift and propulsion research and development effort during the next five years. Other items in the newsletter: the visit to Stennis by participants in the recent Southeastern United States - Canadian Provinces Alliance annual conference in Biloxi; the groundbreaking of the Mississippi State University Science and Technology Center; the shipment of a huge International Space Station node test article from Stennis International Airport, Miss., to Kennedy Space Center, Fla., aboard a Super Guppy; and updates on tests at both the E-3 and E-1 test stands. (Source: Lagniappe, May 2010)

Space: Rocket has busy schedule

Although the president wants to kill the Constellation Program and the Ares I, NASA managers in charge of the rocket have put together an ambitious test program that includes a flight in November 2014 with astronauts aboard. That would be earlier than NASA's current schedule, which calls for the first manned flight in March 2015, and much faster than the 2017 date predicted by a blue-ribbon panel that reviewed NASA's human spaceflight program last year. (Source: New York Times, 05/16/10) Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are both involved in Constellation and other NASA programs.

Biology: Stennis microbiologist returns

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Doan, a microbiologist at Naval Research Laboratory-Stennis Space Center, recently returned from a 10-week deployment to Port au Prince, Haiti, as part of Operation Unified Response. Doan, who is assigned to NRL's Marine Geosciences Division, volunteered to deploy to the region after learning of a need for a microbiologist in a Navy Forward Deployable Preventive Medicine Unit from the Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit No. 2, located in Norfolk, Va. (Source: NRL, 05/17/10) Note: Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7 earthquake in January, and suffered aftershocks as well, that killed some 220,000 people and left more than a million homeless.

Navy: Command orders more AUVs

The Navy has placed a new order under an existing contract for three additional autonomous underwater vehicles from Massachusetts-based Hydroid. The Naval Oceanography Mine Warfare Command at Stennis Space Center, Miss., ordered the REMUS 100 MK 18 Mod 1 Swordfish model. The new AUVs will be used to protect U.S. ports and harbors against maritime terrorism threats, according to Hydroid. (Source: Cape Cod Times, Boston Globe, 05/14/10)

Oil: Airport gets new role

KILN, Miss. - Stennis International Airport, just outside NASA's Stennis Space Center, has been transformed into the staging area for crews battling the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Flights have dropped more than 53,000 gallons of oil dispersant to try to break up the oil. Ground crews at the airport pump more than 23,000 gallons of jet fuel a day to keep the aerial missions flying from dawn until dusk. Thousands of barrels of dispersant, trucks of giant plastic barrels and other equipment are arriving at the airport's hangars from all across the world. Responders decided to use the Hancock County airport because it is strategically located near the interstate and close to the Gulf. (Source: Sun Herald, 05/13/10)

Oil: Barbour wants SBA help

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has asked for assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration to help businesses that have been financially impacted by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "The oil spill has the potential to impact many small businesses across the Gulf Coast, and in some cases it already has," Barbour said. "Our maritime, fishing and energy industries are vital employers and significant components of our state's coastal economy." If granted, the SBA disaster loans would be available to qualified businesses and nonprofits in George, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River and Stone counties. Barbour also has requested that SBA temporarily suspend loan repayments for Mississippi coastal businesses impacted by the oil spill who have 2005 and 2008 SBA disaster and economic injury loans as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav. (Source: Governor’s office, 05/13/10)

Marine science: NGI conference is next week

The Northern Gulf Institute Annual Conference is scheduled to begin May 18 at the Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel in Mobile, Ala. The conference will include updates on the activities and direction of the institute, with an emphasis on research presentations and poster presentations by the NGI project teams. One of the hot topics to be discussed will be the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The conference ends Thursday. (Source: NGI agenda, 05/13/10) NGI, a NOAA cooperative institute, focuses on research about the northern Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. It's led by Mississippi State University, partnering with the University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State University, Florida State University and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama. NGI has offices at Stennis Space Center, and will eventually move into the new Mississippi State Science and Technology Center being built at Stennis.

Incubators: Business incubators on rise

Business incubators are expanding nationwide amid increased demand for the resources, services and counseling the programs typically provide for little or no cost. New incubator programs have been forming in the United States at an annual rate of up to 10 percent for the past five years, and today there are about 1,200, said Tracy Kitts, vice president of the National Business Incubation Association of Athens, Ohio. The programs are commonly funded by economic-development groups, government entities and academic institutions, and more than half support start-ups in a mix of industries. (Source: Wall Street Journal, 05/11/10) Note: The Mississippi Enterprise for Technology is a business incubator and technology transfer office at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Space: Battle brews over shutdown costs

Two big NASA contractors could be on the hook for millions in program shutdown costs if the Obama administration revamps manned space-exploration. ATK and Lockheed Martin are waging battle with NASA's leadership over who will cover possibly more than $1 billion in such expenses, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cites people familiar with the situation. The Senate Commerce Committee expected on Wednesday to delve into the termination-liability issues. (Source: Wall Street Journal, 05/12/10) Gulf Coast note: Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans are NASA facilities in the Gulf Coast region.

Development: Hotel planned for tech park

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. - Developers plan to build a "green" Holiday Inn at the Stennis Technology Park that could bring more business to the 26-acre site at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Mississippi 603, just outside Stennis Space Center. The total investment is about $15 million. The hotel will have conference facilities, a business center, bar and restaurant. Plans call for 143 rooms but that number could go up to 172, said MHR Development's Kip Reddien. The hope is to begin construction in late summer. The park houses a 30,000-square-foot building. Scott Bolton, the park's project manager, said the Holiday Inn should benefit from its proximity to NASA's Stennis Space Center and Stennis International Airport. (Source: Sun Herald, 05/11/10)

NASA: CSC awarded contract modification

NASA awarded CSC of Falls Church, Va., a contract modification to establish and operate an Enterprise Service Desk and the Enterprise Service Request System, increasing the current NASA Shared Services Center support contract by more than $31 million. It provides support through August 2015. The ESD and ESRS provide helpdesk services and an information technology services ordering capability in support of the agency's IT Infrastructure Integration Program strategy. The contract will be managed by the NASA Shared Services Center at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Source: NASA, 05/11/10)

Research: Sea Grant scheduled review set

The Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium will undergo a scheduled four-year review June 8-9 at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab on Dauphin Island, Ala., and at the International Trade Center in Mobile, Ala. A federal site review team will review and discuss MASGC management and organization, stakeholder engagement and collaborative network/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration activities. The mission of MASGC is to enhance the sustainable use and conservation of ocean and coastal resources in Alabama and Mississippi. Members include Auburn University, Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, the University of Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Mississippi, University of Southern Mississippi and University of South Alabama (Source: MASGC, 05/07/10)

Research: NRL scientists probe Gulf acoustics

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - Scientists from the Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis Space Center and Washington, D.C., recently completed an investigation of the acoustic properties of the deep seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists measured the effects of geologic faulting on the efficiency of acoustic wave propagation. In stiff sediments, sound waves traveling across the cracks in the earth tend to propagate slower and with lower amplitude than waves traveling along the faults. The magnitude of this effect in soft, deep water sediments is not known. To measure the effect, researchers introduced a sound - created by the Deep Towed Acoustics Geophysics System - and then listened with vertical arrays of hydrophones. "What we are trying to determine with this experiment is to what extent the 'visibility' depends on the direction we are looking," said Dr. Warren Wood, a geophysicist in the Marine Geosciences Division at NRL-SSC. (Source: Naval Research Laboratory, 05/10/10)

Tech transfer: Bayh-Dole marks 30 years

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of the Bayh-Dole Act, legislation that fostered the commercialization of university research. A new website, http://www.b-d30.org/, was launched to provide links to articles and videos on the act, its history, current news and more. Since enactment of Bayh-Dole, more than 5,000 companies have formed around university research. In fiscal year 2008, more than 600 new products from university technologies were introduced to the marketplace. (Source: Association of University Technology Managers, 05/03/10) Note: Mississippi Enterprise for Technology is both an incubator and technology transfer office.

NASA: Obama NASA plan in trouble

WASHINGTON - President Obama's plans for NASA appear to be in trouble. Few Democrats have publicly endorsed the entire plan, while opponents like Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., continue to blast the Obama plan as "destructive." NASA appears to be hedging its bets that the president's vision might not pass muster with Congress. Kennedy Space Center officials and contractors, under direction from Johnson Space Center and NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, are pressing ahead with plans for test flights of a multibillion-dollar Ares I rocket that Obama wants to cancel. (Source: Orlando Sentinel, 05/06/10) Note: Stennis Space Center is NASA's propulsion test center.

Geospatial: Tracking the oil muck with GIS

A Homeland Security Department program that allows emergency response officials from states and localities to readily share geospatial data is helping officials coordinate responses to the BP oil spill. Officials from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida have been using DHS' Virtual USA program to share data related to the oil spill, according to David Boyd, director of the Command, Control and Interoperability Division in the department’s Science and Technology Directorate. Federal officials from DHS, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have also used Virtual USA in the response work, he added. The Virtual USA program that allows states to share geospatial data and metadata and create data mashups is being used to coordinate responses across states’ boundaries. Boyd said historically the coordination would have been done over the telephone, but now officials can work with a common set of images and metadata. Boyd made the comments at the Open Government and Innovations Conference in Washington. (Source: Federal Computer Week, 05/05/10) Note: Stennis Space Center is home to multiple geospatial technology activities.

NASA: Slick causes tank shipment problem

The oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico has caused a few headaches in the effort to ship an external fuel tank to Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The 15-story tank used in Space Shuttle launches is made at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, and it's sent in a covered barge to Kennedy. But the slick blocked the usual deep-water access. The barge was placed on a barge Saturday and was scheduled for a Monday night departure to Gulfport, Miss. That's where the NASA retrieval ship, Freedom Star, will take over from the commercial towers and bring it the rest of the way to Kennedy. The 900-mile trip takes six days. (Sources: Multiple, including WLOX-TV, MSNBC, 05/03/10)

Research: Ground broken for center

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - A groundbreaking was held Monday for the $9 million Mississippi State Science and Technology Center at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center. It will be the new home of the multi-university Northern Gulf Institute. The 40,000 square-foot building will also provide space for staff and researchers from MSU's Geosystems Research Institute, other university research units and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Coastal Data Development Center. NGI, a NOAA cooperative institute, focuses on research about the northern Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. Member organizations are MSU, the University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State University, Florida State University and Dauphin Island Sea Lab. (Source: NGI, 05/03/10)

Environment: USM sets spill response team

The University of Southern Mississippi has appointed an oil spill response team that is coordinating the university efforts in dealing with the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists, faculty, staff and students from the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, John C. Stennis Space Center and the Gulf Park and Hattiesburg campuses are working with federal, state and private agencies to monitor the spill and mitigate its impacts on the Gulf Coast. (Source: Hattiesburg American, 05/01/10)