Orion-boosting rocket assembled

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. – Assembly of the Delta IV rocket that will boost the Orion crew capsule on its maiden test flight in December has been completed. The Orion, without a crew, is slated to launch on Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) in December atop the United Launch Alliance Delta IV. Orion is NASA's spaceship designed to carry a crew further into space than ever before. Engineers from ULA recently completed the integration of the three primary core elements of the rockets first stage with the single engine upper stage. All of the rocket integration work and preflight processing took place inside ULA's Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The Delta IV will be rolled out to SLC-37 launch pad this week. Orion flights eventually will be boosted by NASA's Space Launch System. (Sources: NASA, 09/25/14, Universe Today, 09/28/14) The space-bound Orion was built at Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, which is also building the core stage of the SLS; the RS-68 engines that will power the Delta IV core boosters are assembled and tested by Rocketdyne at Stennis Space Center, Miss., which will also test the RS-25 engines that will power the core stage of SLS.

SLS and deep space

The October issue of Air and Space Smithsonian magazine takes a close look at the Space Launch System and the role being played by Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Among the places visited by the writer was the room at SSC no larger than a convenience store that houses more than a billion dollars worth of irreplaceable RS-25 engines that will power the core stage of the largest rocket ever built. (Source: Air and Space Smithsonian, October 2014)

CSC awarded contract mod

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- NASA exercised the fifth option year under its existing contract with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) of Falls Church, Va. This is an 11-month option period for the continuation of financial management, human resources, procurement and information technology support services to NASA. The option increases the existing NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) support contract by more than $44 million and provides services through Aug. 31, 2015. The contract is administered by the NSSC at Stennis Space Center. The NSSC performs selected business activities for all NASA centers. (Source: NASA/NSSC, 09/19/14) Related

Blue Origin, ULA team up

Blue Origin is teaming up with United Launch Alliance to develop a rocket engine to replace the Russian-built RD-180, a workhorse that powers the ULA heavy-lift Atlas V rocket. Blue Origin is an often secretive space company run by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. ULA is a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin that has an impressive track record for successful satellite launches. A scale model of the liquid natural gas and liquid oxygen BE-4 engine developed by Blue Origin was unveiled at a Washington news conference on Wednesday. ULA CEO Tory Bruno said a baseline Atlas would work just as well if not better with a pair of 550,000-pound thrust BE-4 engines than with the RD-180. ULA plans to invest in the BE-4 development. The engine could be ready in four years and would cost considerably less than the RD-180. (Sources: multiple, including NBC News, Reuters, Seattle Times, Space.com, 09/17/14) Note: Another ULA rocket, the Delta IV, uses RS-68 engines tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss., where Blue Origin has tested engine components for its BE-3 engine. Previous

Aerojet Rocketdyne opening office

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Aerojet Rocketdyne on Tuesday announced it would open a rocket propulsion development office in Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, with plans to deliver a new rocket engine to replace the RD-180. The office will be led by Dr. Jerrol Littles in coordination with Gene Goldman, former acting director of Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center and former director of Stennis Space Center, Miss. The company said the new AR 1 rocket it plans to develop will be the first advanced hydrocarbon liquid-fuel rocket engine made by Aerojet Rocketdyne since it was formed by the merger of Aerojet and Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne in 2013. Aerojet Rocketdyne also has an operation at Stennis Space Center. (Source: al.com, 09/17/14)

NASA picks space taxi teams

NASA announced today that it's picked Boeing and SpaceX to transport U.S. crews to and from the International Space Station using the CST-100 and Dragon spacecraft, respectively. The goal is to end in 2017 the nation's reliance on Russia for transportation to the ISS. The contracts include at least one crewed flight test per company with at least one NASA astronaut aboard to verify the fully integrated rocket and spacecraft system can launch, maneuver in orbit, and dock to the space station, as well as validate all its systems perform as expected. Once each company's test program has been completed successfully and its system achieves NASA certification, each contractor will conduct at least two, and as many as six, crewed missions to the space station. Boeing's contract is for $4.2 billion and SpaceX's is for $2.6 billion. The companies will own and operate the crew transportation systems and be able to sell human space transportation services to other customers in addition to NASA, thereby reducing the costs for all customers. (Source: NASA, 09/16/14) Note: Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are both involved in NASA and commercial space programs.

SAIC awarded contract mod

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- NASA awarded Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) of McLean, Va., a $12.7 million modification to the NASA Integrated Communications Services contract that provides and manages the majority of NASA’s information technology communications infrastructure services. It's a cost-plus award fee/cost-plus incentive fee contract that consists of a three-year base period, one two-year option, one three-year option and one two-year option. The NICS contract is administered by the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) at Stennis Space Center. The NSSC performs selected business activities for all NASA centers. (Source: NASA Shared Servides Center, 09/12/14)

EIGS announces awards

The Enterprise for Innovative Geospatial Solutions (EIGS) announced its key business metrics and business award winners for the 2014 U.S. Small Business Administration Geospatial Regional Innovative Cluster. EIGS is a non-profit program of the Magnolia Business Alliance (MBA). The EIGS presented awards in eight categories: New Member of the Year was Global Commerce and Services; Cluster Networking Award went to Melhcorp LLC, a graduate company of the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology (MSET); Exporter of the Year was Worldwinds Inc., an MSET corporate resident; Sponsor of the Year was The West End; Cluster Growth Award went to Geocent, an MSET corporate resident and graduate company; Cluster Partner Award went to NVision Solutions, an MSET corporate resident and graduate company; Large Business Partner of the Year was CSC, a former MSET corporate resident; and Member of the Year was Loglinear Group. (Source: GeoCommunity, EIGS, 09/09/14, Magnolia Business Alliance, 09/15/14)

Oceanography inks software deal

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- The Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (NAVMETOCCOM) signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) Sept. 3 with California’s Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. (Esri). The geographic information systems company's software and system allows detailed geospatial data to be analyzed with all its time and geographic references, part of the Navy's "Battlespace on Demand." The three-year CRADA establishes a working relationship between Esri and NAVMETOCCOM, which has been an Esri software customer for more than a decade. NAVMETOCCOM, headquartered at SSC, is part of the Navy's Information Dominance Corps, and has 2,500 personnel stationed worldwide. (Source: NNS, 09/09/14)

Lunch and learn scheduled

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – The next Mississippi Enterprise for Technology "Lunch and Learn" will feature Frank Henry, chief of the field service section of the U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Instrumental Facility. Henry is responsible for the warehouse equipment sales and rental programs, customer service and technical procurement support. The HIF at Stennis Space Center has a staff of 55 and focuses on instruments and equipment used to collect hydrologic data at thousands of USGS monitoring locations across the U.S. It provides assurance testing, equipment evaluations and support. With an annual equipment and supplies budget of some $12 million, HIF procures a wide variety of sensors, cables, telemetry systems and more. Ten percent is procured through open competitions. The lunch and learn is 11:30 to 1 p.m. Sept. 18 in Building 1100, Logtown Conference Room 11161. For more information. (Source: MSET, 09/08/14)

NASA picks STTR projects

NASA picked 23 proposals from small business and research institution teams to continue the development of innovative technologies that will support future agency missions and may prove viable as commercial products and services. The Phase II selectees in NASA's Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program are permitted to enter negotiations for possible contract awards, worth a combined total of approximately $17.2 million. Two proposals involve technology being administered by the Office of the Chief Technologist at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. Both projects focus on innovative means to harvest energy from various forms of "waste" energy and convert it into a different new usable form of energy. A third proposal originated with Stennis Space Center but now is being administered by Kennedy Space Center, Fla. But SSC will still benefit from its development of ultra-high temperature refractory materials that can be used on test stand flame trenches and other components. (Source: NASA, 09/08/14)

Bolden to visit region

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will be in New Orleans and South Mississippi for two events next week related to NASA's Space Launch System program. He'll be at Michoud Assembly Facility Sept. 12 for a ribbon cutting for the newly finished Vertical Assembly Center, or VAC. The 170-foot-high marvel will be used to join domes, rings and barrels segments to complete the SLS fuel tanks. The tool also will be used to perform evaluations of the completed welds. Towering more than 200 feet tall, with a diameter of 27.6 feet, the core stage is being built by prime contractor Boeing. It will store cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to feed the launch vehicle's RS-25 engines. Bolden will then go to NASA's Stennis Space Center, some 40 miles away in South Mississipp, to talk to the media at the base of the historic B-2 Test Stand. That stand was used to test the S-1C stage on the Saturn V moon rocket and the Main Propulsion Test Article, the configuration of three main engines flown on space shuttle missions. The stand will next be used to test the core stage of SLS and its configuration of four RS-25 engines. SLS will be used by NASA to send humans deeper into space than ever before. (Source: NASA, 09/05/14)

Contract: Lockheed, $42.9M

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., has been awarded a $42,880,040 modification (P00003) to previously awarded contract FA8810-13-C-0001 for dual band telemetry, tracking and communications capability for the Space-Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbiting 5-6 space vehicles. Contractor will redesign the interfacing, software, power, thermal, and structures to accommodate the new dual band capable transponder box and cabling. This effort also adds a Unified S-Band uplink frequency and modulation scheme to the existing Space to Ground Link System L-Band uplink capability. Work will be performed at Sunnyvale and is expected to be completed by July 31, 2021. Space and Missile System Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 09/05/14) Work on the core propulsion system for the SBIRS is done by Lockheed Martin at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

SBC slated for next week

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- The next general meeting of the Stennis Business Consortium is Sept. 9 at 1 p.m. in the auditorium of the StennisSphere, Building 1200 at Stennis Space Center. The meeting will feature an update of NASA Stennis contract activities, programs with the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission and Stennis Airport and more. Registration ends Friday. There is no fee for the event. Contact Laurie Jugan at 228-688-1192 or email for more information (Source: MSET, September 2014)

RR tests CTi fan system

The Rolls-Royce composite carbon/titanium (CTi) fan system for the Advance and UltraFan engine designs has completed its most recent phase of testing at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. The fan system underwent crosswind testing on a Trent 1000 Advanced Low Pressure System technology engine, ahead of flight testing on the 747 flying test bed based in Tucson, Ariz. The CTi fan system includes carbon/titanium fan blades and a composite casing that reduce weight by up to 1,500 pounds per aircraft. Opened in 2007 and expanded in 2013 to include a second test stand, the 50-employee Rolls-Royce Outdoor Jet Engine Testing Facility at SSC is one of three Rolls-Royce test sites in the world. It conducts specialist development engine testing including noise, crosswind, thrust reverse, cyclic and endurance testing on all current Rolls-Royce large engine types. (Source: Rolls-Royce, 09/01/14) Stennis Space Center in South Mississippi is NASA's rocket engine test center.