Delta IV Heavy launched

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office lifted off from Space Launch Complex-6 at 11:03 a.m. PDT today. The Delta IV Heavy configuration Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle features a center common booster core along with two strap-on common booster cores. The common booster cores are powered by RS-68 engines, and RL10 engines power the second stage. Both engines are built by Aerojet Rocketdyne. ULA constructed the Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle in Decatur, Ala. (Source: United Launch Alliance via PRNewswire, 08/28/13) Gulf Coast note: RS-68 engines are assembled and tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

NASA holding Mobile forum

MOBILE, Ala. -- Doing business with NASA will be the topic of a Sept. 4 business-to-business forum at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center. NASA and an entourage of its agencies and prime contractors will give presentation and participate in a trade show to meet with small- and medium-sized companies interested in doing business with NASA. In addition to Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., NASA also operates Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Participants in the Mobile event include representatives from 25 prime contractors looking to partner with local small businesses on federal contracts. These include: Northrop Grumman, ATK Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Teledyne Brown Engineering, Boeing and others. The agenda includes Fairhope native Todd May, manager of NASA's Space Launch System program. The event, hosted by the Mobile Area Chamber, is from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and open to area and regional businesses. The cost is $75. For more information, call 251-431-8607. (Source: Mobile Area Chamber, 08/26/13)

Exec gives SLS update

NEW ORLEANS -- By the summer of 2016 the Michoud Assembly Facility will complete construction on the massive tank that will help power NASA's new rocket, a Boeing executive said Wednesday. Gordon Bergstue, production director for Boeing, said the company is well underway, on schedule and in budget to build the core stage at the eastern New Orleans plant. The core stage is more than 200 feet tall and will store liquid hydrogen and oxygen to power four engines of the Space Launch System. Bergstue provided the update on the opening day of the New Orleans TechNOLAgy TechFest 2013, a three-day science and technology conference at the University of New Orleans. (Source: The Advocate, 08/21/13) The RS-25 engines that will power the SLS will be tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss., some 35 miles from Michoud. Previous: SSC building RS-25 test component, NASA to show off weld center, B-2 being prepped for SLS

NOAA seeks long-endurance UUV

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers are asking industry to provide a long-endurance unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) to conduct ocean temperature and salinity tests. The NOAA National Data Buoy Center at Stennis Space Center last Friday issued a solicitation (NWWG9502-13-03082) for a glider able to operate over vast ocean areas for months at a time while using a minimum of electric power. (Source: Military and Aerospace Electronics, 08/21/13)

SSC to put thrusters in spacecraft

Aerojet Rocketdyne has shipped to NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., the first set of four Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) thrusters for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series (GOES-R). At SSC, Lockheed Martin will integrate the thrusters and associated power conditioning units and electrical cabling with the GOES-R spacecraft. It will then be shipped to Lockheed Martin's facility near Denver, Colo. where it will undergo final integration and testing. The completed satellite will ultimately be shipped to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., for a planned late 2015 or early 2016 launch on an Atlas V 541 expendable launch vehicle. (Source: Aerojet Rocketdyne, 08/13/13) Aerojet Rocketdyne, a GenCorp company, also has an operation at SSC.

Shuttle hangar to be reused?

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Space Florida on Wednesday moved forward with plans to renovate two former shuttle hangars. The board approved spending up to $4 million to overhaul Orbiter Processing Facilities 1 and 2 at Kennedy Space Center, on top of $5 million committed last year from state Department of Transportation funds. The future tenant was not identified, but is believed to be the Air Force's X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, a reusable unmanned system that resembles a small space shuttle. Previously the Air Force confirmed studying consolidation of X-37B operations at Kennedy or the Cape. (Source: Florida Today, 08/08/13) NASA also has centers in Bay St. Louis, Miss., Stennis Space Center, and New Orleans, Michoud Assembly Facility.

Marine tech workshop set

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- The Marine Technology Society plans an Oceans In Action Workshop on Aug. 22 at NASA's Stennis Space Center. The session will focus on marine technology used by federal and state agencies, regional associations, universities and industry on the Gulf Coast to support a wide variety of issues. Updates will be presented by federal agencies, including the Naval Research Laboratory, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Applied Sciences Directorate, NOAA's National Data Buoy Center and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Registration is $75 for society members and $150 for non-members. For more details click here. In addition, the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology will be hosting business matchmaking sessions as part of the workshop. For more details, click here. (Sources: Marine Technology Society, MSET, 08/09/13)