Industry Day golf tournament set

The Mississippi Enterprise for Technology has scheduled a golf tournament in connection with the NASA Stennis Industry Day. The golf tournament is Friday, Nov. 19, the day after industry day wraps up. The tournament is at The Bridges Golf Course at Hollywood Casino. To register, click here. For sponsorship opportunities, contact MsET’s tournament partner for fundraising, Magnolia Business Alliance, Lori Moran at 228-295-7117. (Source: MsET, 10/29/10)

Series speaker scheduled

John Walrod of Science Applications International will be guest speaker at the next "Lunch and Learn" series of the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology. It will be held Nov. 11. Walrod, an engineer and assistant vice president and director for the Advanced Systems Division, will talk about SAIC's local operations, including projects at the Long Beach Engineering Center and current contract with the National Data Buoy Center. He will detail SAIC's small business goals and ways to do business with SAIC. Walrod will also provide some industry-specific information on emerging technologies. For more information, contact Belinda Gill at 228-688-3144. (Source: MsET, 10/28/10)

Industry day approaching

NASA Stennis Industry Day, scheduled for Nov. 17-18 at Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis, is getting near. The event is presented by the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology, Gulf Coast Government Contractors Association and the Louisiana Technology Transfer Office. Business matchmaking sessions are scheduled for Nov. 18 in one-on-one meetings with NASA small business specialists and prime contractors. Special room rates are Hollywood Casino are available until Nov. 3. For more information, contact Hazel Wiggington, GCGCA events and meeting director, at events@gcgca.org.

Glider test underway

The Stennis Space Center-based Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command's USNS Pathfinder, T-AGS 60, embarked littoral battlespace sensing (LBS) gliders Oct. 21 while ported at Naval Base San Diego. The unmanned undersea vehicles will undergo at-sea testing until Nov. 6. The Battlespace Awareness and Information Operations Program Office for Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command will be acquiring and providing up to 150 LBS gliders for deployment aboard the Navy's seven T-AGS ships. For the first time the gliders will be tested at a depth of 1,000 meters to characterize the sea floor at 3,500 meters. Gliders, which have no propeller, travel in a saw-tooth pattern using changes in buoyancy for propulsion, The ability to employ multiple gliders will be a "force multiplier" in terms of gathering a vast amount of data for the same operating cost. (Source: NNS, 10/27/10)

Biking for Navy SEALs

POPLARVILLE, Miss. - Four retired and one active duty servicemen are riding across the country to raise money and awareness of Navy SEALs who died in the line of duty. Several members of the Navy Special Boat Team 22, based at John C. Stennis Space Center, greeting the bikers with a boat-mounted mini-gun salute – firing blanks – as they rode into Poplarville. The bikers are riding 3,300 miles across the country from Coronado, Calif., to Fort Pierce, Fla., in 42 days. They plan to reach Fort Pierce by Nov. 6. (Source: Picayune Item, 10/27/10)

Earth scientists engage students

NEW ORLEANS - More than a dozen NASA and university scientists will visit schools in the New Orleans area Friday to encourage students to learn more about our Earth system and the importance of the view from space. The scientists are in New Orleans for an Oct. 25-28 conference called the "A-Train Symposium," named after a fleet of NASA satellites orbiting the planet to collect data on a variety of aspects of the Earth system, including the atmosphere, land surface and oceans. Part of the reason for holding the symposium in New Orleans is the city's experience with Hurricane Katrina, and a desire to reach out to the people affected. (Source: PRNewswire, 10/27/10) New Orleans is also close to John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss., a key center for Earth science.

iRobot wins two contracts

iRobot Corp. of Bedford, Mass., has received two contracts valued at $1.82 million from the Naval Oceanographic Office at the Stennis Space Center, Miss. One is for a new Seaglider unmanned underwater system, the other to support the existing fleet of Seaglider systems. The Seaglider can perform missions that last many months and cover thousands of miles. The Seaglider was recently used in the Gulf of Mexico to collect data for scientists researching the effects of this summer’s oil spill, said a press release from iRobot. (Source: Boston Globe, Street Insider, 10/25/10)

More federal waters opened

Another 7,000 square miles of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico has been reopened to commercial and recreational fishing. That leaves just four percent still closed as a result of this summer's Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the latest opening is 60 miles east of the well site, between the Florida-Alabama state line and Cape San Blas, Fl. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 10/22/10) Note: Multiple organizations at Stennis Space Center, Miss., participated in responding to the spill.

SSC will appear in show

John C. Stennis Space Center, Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art and other South Mississippi points of interest will be seen during a segment of "Antiques Roadshow" on PBS in May. Treasures hauled to the Coast Convention Center in July will be highlighted on the show. The Biloxi shows will be aired May 2, May 9 and May 16 at 7 p.m. on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. (Source: Sun Herald, 10/20/10)

P&W wins NASA award

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne won the 2010 Large Business Prime Contractor of the Year Award from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The award recognizes excellence in support of the work of the Marshall Center and in sustaining NASA's mission. The company was recognized for exemplary support of the center's subcontracting programs under the J-2X upper-stage engine and Space Shuttle Main Engine contracts. Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies Corp. company, also has an operation at John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Source: Pratt & Whitney, 10/18/10)

SSC reaches out to students

Vicki Bess and Lynne Oshiro from John C. Stennis Space Center visited students at Vancleave Lower Elementary School recently to present a lesson on space exploration. Educators hope to attract and engage students' interest in science, technology, engineering and math. (Source: Mississippi Press, 10/17/10) In addition, students at Gateway Christian in Pascagoula recently heard a presentation by Robert Anderson, who retired this year from Stennis Space Center and gave a science presentation. (Source: Mississippi Press, 10/17/10)

October issue of Lagniappe available

The October issue of Lagniappe, a monthly newsletter about NASA activities at Stennis Space Center, is now available for download. This issue has a story about the AJ26 engine that was installed on the E-1 test stand in September. The engine will be used to power commercial cargo flights to the International Space Station. Testing is expected to begin by the end of this month. Other stories in the newsletter: SSC employees surpassed their Fed Feed Families food donation goal by 400 percent; the upcoming kickoff of the Combined Federal Campaign; the visit to Stennis by members of the Louisiana Economic Development group; an update on test stand work and more. (Source: Lagniappe, October 2010)

NRL topic of meeting

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – The superintendent of the Naval Research Laboratory's Stennis Detachment is guest speaker at Thursday's monthly "Lunch and Learn" of the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology. The lunch is at the Herman C. Glazier Conference Room in Building 1130. Dr. Herbert Eppert of the marine geosciences division will discuss projects under way in NRL's Acoustics, Oceanography, and Marine Geosciences Divisions at Stennis and other activities in the southeast region. He'll also provide information on doing business with NRL. (Source: MsET, 10/13/10)

Report highlights S. Mississippi military

The Harrison County Development Commission has released its second annual report on the military in South Mississippi, including the Navy at Stennis Space Center. The special report of the HCDC Communicator focuses on Harrison County, including Keesler Air Force Base, Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, the National Guard at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport and the Coast Guard. But it also has stories about activities outside that county. (Source: Tcp, 10/11/10) (The 20-page PDF can be downloaded at the HCDC Web site)

Infinity science center taking shape

HANCOCK COUNTY, Miss. – The Infinity Science Center, an interactive facility begin built near Stennis Space Center along Interstate 10, is beginning to take shape. Work began May 3 near the Welcome Center in South Mississippi not far from the state line with Louisiana. The building is scheduled to be finished in August. About 90 percent of the steelwork is up and 80 percent of the concrete is done. A "topping off" will be celebrated in the next few weeks. Backers are still raising some $2 million for the $12 million interactive exhibits. Infinity will highlight ocean, space and earth science through fun exhibits at the center. It's expected to open in the spring of 2012. (Source: Sun Herald, 10/10/10)

90 percent of federal waters now open

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this week reopened to commercial and recreational fishing another 2,927 square miles of Gulf of Mexico waters off eastern Louisiana. This is the eighth reopening in federal waters since July 22 in connection with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. No oil or sheen has been documented in the area since July 31. The remaining closed area now covers 23,360 square miles, or about 10 percent of the federal waters in the Gulf. (Source: NOAA, 10/05/10) Note: Multiple organizations at Stennis Space Center, Miss., participated in responding to the spill over the summer.

Center chief to discuss SSC future

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - Members of the media will be at John C. Stennis Space Center Wednesday for a roundtable discussion with the center's director about SSC's future. Director Patrick Scheuermann will talk about work under way at Stennis and its impact on the local community. SSC is where rocket engines are tested, but it's actually a diversified center with more than 30 tenants, the largest being the U.S. Navy. The media will also tour the construction site of the new A-3 test stand, which will be able to test rocket engines at simulated altitudes up to 100,000 feet, and the E-1 test stand that will be used to test Aerojet AJ26 rocket engines. Those engines will power Orbital Science Corp. commercial cargo flights to the International Space Station. Stennis Space Center is in South Mississippi, not far from the Louisiana-Mississippi state line. (Source: Tcp, 10/06/10)

R&D expenditures up

Research and development expenditures at three Mississippi research universities went up between fiscal year 2008 and 2009. New figures from the National Science Foundation show Mississippi State University’s R&D increased $6 million to $216.94 million from the previous year’s $210.95 million. The University of Mississippi’s R&D expenditures rose to $90.67 million from $90.09 million, and Jackson State University went from $42.73 million to $44.88 million. The University of Southern Mississippi R&D expenditures dropped from $47.08 million to $46.74 million. (Source: Tcp, 10/05/10) Note: MSU, Ole Miss, and Southern Miss all have operations at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Congress OKs plan for NASA

Congress approved a plan for NASA extending the space shuttle program for a year and backing President Obama's plan to use commercial carriers to transport astronauts into near-Earth space. The bill, passed by the House this week and by the Senate lasts month, dismantles the Constellation Program, which sought to return astronauts to the moon, and extends the life of the International Space Station to 2020. At Stennis Space Center, Miss., where propulsion systems are tested and certified, center director Patrick Scheuermann said he's confident Stennis will be fully utilized for future space exploration. (Source: Multiple, including AP via the Sun Herald, WLOX-TV, 09/30/10)

Michoud trims back workforce

NEW ORLEANS - About 300 workers were laid off at the Michoud Assembly Facility Thursday as production of the space shuttle external fuel tank came to an end. Lockheed Martin had about 1,500 people at the facility at the start of the year, but the number has slowly dropped as various stages of the external fuel tank production have ended. It’s down to about 600. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 09/30/10) Note: Stennis Space Center, Miss., tested shuttle main engines..