NASA picks SBIR proposals

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - NASA selected 300 small business proposals to enter into negotiations for possible contract awards through the agency's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Eight of the proposals involve technologies being developed for the Office of the Chief Technologist at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, including one involving Innovative Imaging and Research at SSC and the University of Southern Mississippi. The programs encourage small businesses and research institutions to engage in federal research, development and commercialization to address NASA needs. Program results have benefited many NASA efforts, including modern air traffic control systems, Earth-observing spacecraft, the International Space Station and the Mars rovers. (Source: NASA Stennis Space Center, 11/30/11, NASA release, 11/29/11)

Another J-2X test slated

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - NASA at Stennis Space Center is scheduled to conduct another test Thursday on the J-2X, the upper-stage rocket engine being developed by Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne. Earlier this month NASA conducted a successful 500-second test of the engine, which will be used to carry humans, cargo and equipment beyond low-Earth orbit on the agency's new heavy lift Space Launch System. The J-2X uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants. (Source: NASA, 11/30/11) Previous post

FIRST tournament slated

The 2011 Mississippi Championship FIRST LEGO League Tournament at the Lake Terrace Convention Center in Hattiesburg, Miss., Dec. 3. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is designed to increase student awareness of science, engineering, technology and math. The tournament marks the 10th year of FIRST LEGO League activity in Mississippi. NASA at John C. Stennis Space Center is the primary sponsor of the annual tournament. Each year, the Stennis Office of Education provides funding and a variety of volunteers and mentors for the competition. More than 500 elementary and middle school students and as many as 50 teams from across Mississippi are scheduled to participate. Teams will spend the morning in judging sessions focused on research, design and teamwork. The official robotic competition begins with an opening ceremony at about 1:15 p.m. Teams will participate in three rounds of robot competition. Winners and awards will be announced during an afternoon closing ceremony. (Source: NASA, 11/29/11)

Permit issued for airport project

A building permit has been issued for a $6.1 million terminal and hangar at Stennis International Airport in Hancock County, Miss. GM&R Construction Co. of Bay St. Louis was the successful bidder. Jack Zink, executive director of the Hancock County Development Commission, expects work to start any day on the 10,000-square foot, two-story terminal and 24,000-square foot hangar to replace the hangar destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. The airport supports business and executive jets and military flight training, and is used by Roll-Royce to support engine testing at Stennis Space Center. (Source: Sun Herald, 11/28/11)

First test done of on-orbit AEHF

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. - Raytheon Co. became the first to successfully test with the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite. Raytheon's Army Secure Mobile Anti-jam Reliable Tactical Terminal is the first operationally-fielded terminal to interoperate with an on-orbit AEHF satellite. Raytheon will deliver 364 AEHF SMART-T terminals to the U.S. armed services. The first AEHF satellite, launched in August 2010, recently began an set of operational tests. The AEHF, designed to replace the Milstar system, is a joint service satellite communications system that provides secure communications for high-priority military ground, sea and air assets. (Source: Raytheon, 11/22/11) Note: The Lockheed Martin AEHF satellite's core propulsion module is build at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Security contract awarded

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - NASA awarded Excalibur Associates Inc. of Alexandria, Va., a contract to provide protective services at Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans. The contract begins Jan. 1, 2012, with a nine-month base period, followed by option periods. Excalibur will provide support for physical and personnel security, technology protection and emergency management and training. (Source: PRNewswire, 11/21/11)

NASA gauging interest in E-4 stand

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - NASA is seeking to identify industry interest in Stennis Space Center's underutilized E-4 Test Facility. Originally designed to conduct ground tests of propulsion systems in support of NASA's Rocket Based Combined Cycle Program, the E-4 Test Facility was partially built but has not been completed and further development is not planned. It consists of concrete-walled test cells and associated hard stand, a high-bay work area with a bridge crane and adjacent work area, control room space and personnel offices. The facility was designed to provide low-pressure hydrocarbon fuel and oxidizer to test articles having a thrust in the horizontal plane up to 50,000 lbf maximum. Pending the level of interest in a leasing or partnering arrangement, a site visit will be conducted on Jan. 12, 2012. (Source: Tcp, 11/21/11) NOA/RFI

Navy updates sci-tech priorities

WASHINGTON - The Office of Naval Research has released the latest update to the Naval Science and Technology Strategic Plan. It reflects future naval requirements, including a new emphasis on autonomous systems. "Our superiority at sea demands that we maintain superiority in science, engineering and technology," said Sean J. Stackley, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition. Key areas of difference between the 2011 biannual plan and the 2009 version include a new emphasis on accelerating insertion of mature technologies to the fleet and consolidating 13 “S&T Focus Areas” into nine, including the new category of Autonomy and Unmanned Systems. It also places an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics initiatives aimed at increasing the talent pool of future naval scientists and engineers. ONR provides the science and technology necessary to maintain the Navy and Marine Corps' technological advantage. (Source: NNS, 11/17/11) Gulf Coast note: The Naval Research Lab, part of ONR, has a detachment at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

AJ26 undergoes test

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - Engineers at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center conducted a test firing on an Aerojet AJ26 flight engine Thursday. Orbital Sciences Corp. is testing the engines for the commercial cargo missions to the International Space Station. AJ26 engines will be used to power Orbital's Taurus II rocket. Orbital is part of NASA's ongoing Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract. The AJ26 flight engines are being tested on the E-1 Test Stand. After the engines are successfully tested, inspected and test data reviewed, the engines are shipped to the Wallops Flight Facility launch site in Virginia for installation on the Taurus II rocket. (Source: NASA, 11/17/11) Previous story

NASA among best places to work

NASA is listed as one of the best places to work in the federal government, according to a survey released Wednesday. NASA, which operates John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, is ranked No. 5 among 308 federal agencies and subcomponents that represent 97 percent of the 2.1 million federal workforce. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden acknowledge Stennis Space Center, ranked second overall among the federal organizations. "I'm particularly proud that Stennis was ranked first in the government for employee empowerment, fairness and support for diversity." The survey was done by Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit, non-partisan organization. Agencies ranked higher than NASA are the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Government Accountability Office and Smithsonian Institution. (Sources: NASA, Partnership for Public Service, Washington Post, 11/16/11)

NOAA extends NGI agreement

STARKVILLE, Miss. - A Mississippi State-led research institute and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will continue their collaborative partnership for an additional five years. The federal agency announced that the NOAA Research Council determined that the Northern Gulf Institute's research over the past four years has helped advance NOAA's goals and mission, as well as Gulf of Mexico marine science. The Northern Gulf Institute, based at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, also includes Florida State and Louisiana State universities, the University of Southern Mississippi and Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Mobile, Ala. (Source: MSU, 11/14/11)

U.S. astronaut aboard Soyuz

U.S. astronaut Dan Burbank has become the first American to fly to the International Space Station since the retirement of space shuttle fleet. Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin launched Sunday (Monday Kazakhstan time) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They'll dock with the ISS Tuesday. NASA is paying the Russian Federal Space Agency $1.5 billion to fly U.S. and partner nation astronauts while waiting for U.S. commercial companies to begin round-trip supply missions, likely no earlier than 2016. (Sources: Florida Today, NASA, 11/13/11) Stennis Space Center, Miss., tests NASA and commercial rocket engines.

A growing aerospace footprint

The past few months have brought some encouraging developments for South Mississippi's aerospace activities. That includes NASA's plans to build heavy-lift rocket using space shuttle main engines and the J-2X engines that are tested at Stennis Space Center, and the transfer of the former Mississippi Army Ammunition Plant to NASA, adding a 1.6 million-square-foot facility to NASA's inventory at SSC. But that's not all. There's GE Aviation's plans to build a composite engine parts plant near Hattiesburg, and more. (Source: Sun Herald, 11/13/11)

Shuttle gear bound for SSC

The 266-foot-long Pegasus barge, used to transport space shuttle external tanks from Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, to Kennedy Space Center, Fla., is on its way to NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. Pegasus, which will arrive at SSC Nov. 16 after a 900-mile journey, is carrying space shuttle main engine ground support equipment. The NASA barge and shuttle equipment will remain in storage at SSC until final disposition is determined. Pegasus left Kennedy manned by a crew of four and towed by NASA's space shuttle solid rocket booster recovery ship Freedom Star. The barge sailed 41 times between 1999 and 2011 for the shuttle program. The shuttle main engine ground support equipment was used at Kennedy to install shuttle engines into orbiters. The Kennedy shop where the equipment was stored is among the facilities turned over to Space Florida for future use by Boeing, which plans to use the facility to build its CST-100 commercial crew capsule. The shuttle main engines will be used in the Space Launch System engine testing program. (Source: Space Ref, Florida Today, 11/10/11) Previous story

J-2X has 500-second test firing

J-2X test Nov. 9, 2011. NASA photo

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - NASA conducted a successful 500-second test of the new upper-stage rocket engine today at John C. Stennis Space Center. The engine will be used to carry humans, cargo and equipment beyond low-Earth orbit on the agency's new heavy lift Space Launch System. Data from the test will be analyzed as operators prepare for additional engine firings. The J-2X and the RS-25D/E engines for the SLS core stage will be tested for flight certification at Stennis. Both engines use liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants. The core stage engines were developed originally for the space shuttle. The J-2X engine is being developed by Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne. (Source: NASA, 11/09/11)

GD to build robot mine detector

General Dynamics Advanced Informational Systems has been awarded a Navy contract to design and build the Surface Mine Countermeasure Unmanned Underwater Vehicle system. The development and manufacturing will be done in Panama City, Fla., Greensboro, N.C., Fairfax, Va., and Quincy and Braintree, Mass. The $86.7 million contract calls for one Engineering Development Model and five low-rate initial production systems if all options are exercised. The system will be able to identify mines in high-clutter underwater environments in a single pass. It also will gather environmental data that can provide intelligence support for other mine warfare systems. (Source: General Dynamics, 11/09/11) Note: The Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, Naval Oceanographic Office, Naval Oceanography Mine Warfare Center and a Naval Research Lab detachment are at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

NASA: Orion test flight in 2014

WASHINGTON - NASA plans to add an unmanned flight test of the Orion spacecraft in early 2014 to its contract with Lockheed Martin Space Systems for the multi-purpose crew vehicle's design, development, test and evaluation. The test supports the new Space Launch System that will take astronauts farther into space than ever before. The Exploration Flight Test will fly two orbits to a high-apogee, with a high-energy re-entry through Earth's atmosphere, then make a water landing. The test mission will be launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The agency has posted a synopsis explaining its intention on NASA's procurement website. (Source: NASA, 11/08/11) Gulf Coast note: Stennis Space Center, Miss., is testing engines for the SLS and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, will build portions of the heavy lift launch vehicle.

J-2X may do 500-second burn

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - It's not an official objective, but the J-2X rocket engine being test fired at NASA's Stennis Space Center in South Mississippi Wednesday may fire for 500 seconds. The media has been invited to see the test, and officials from several NASA centers also will be there, according to the Huntsville (Ala.) Times. The J-2X, which will power the upper stage of the heavy-lift rocket NASA is developing, has already been tested at SSC, but not for the duration that would occur during a space mission. (Source: Huntsville Times, 11/07/11)

Eglin's space junk trackers

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - It's not one of the better-known space-related programs in the Gulf Coast. That honor goes to Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. But tucked in the woods of Eglin Air Force Base is the 20th Space Control Squadron. Its mission is to track space debris. There's about 25,000 separate objects circling earth, with one re-entry into the atmosphere a week and, for the most part, burn up. The radar is behind a 9-story wall, and personnel use a screen with objects assigned numbers, similar to an air traffic control screen. (Source: WEAR-TV, 11/03/11) Note: The phased array radar at Site C-6, some 35 miles east of the main gate, is one of the most powerful in the world and has been tracking space objects in near and deep space for 40 years. For background, see Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor 2011-2012, Part II, Space Activities, about SSC, Michoud and the 20th Space Control Squadron.

Media invited to J-2X engine test

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - The media has been invited to NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss., next week to see the next test firing of the J-2X rocket engine, which will be used by NASA's Space Launch System. The test is Wednesday, Nov. 9. The SLS will carry the Orion spacecraft, its crew, cargo, equipment and science experiments beyond Earth orbit. Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne is developing the J-2X for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The SLS rocket engines will use a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propulsion system, which will include the J-2X engine for the upper stage and RS-25D/E engines, Space Shuttle Main Engines, for the core stage. (Source: NASA, 11/03/11)

StenniSphere closed Nov. 9

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - StenniSphere, the visitor center at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, will be closed to the general public Nov. 9 for an onsite event. The visitor center will reopen Nov. 10 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. Public tours run throughout each day from the Launch Pad at the Hancock County Welcome Center, Interstate 10, Exit 2. (Source: NASA, 11/02/11)