French group to visit SSC

The Mississippi Gulf Coast Alliance for Economic Development will host a delegation of French companies on Dec. 6. The tour of the Mississippi Gulf Coast will include a visit to Stennis Space Center, including Rolls-Royce and Lockheed Martin. The goal of this event is to connect local companies with the decision makers of the companies involved in the tour. The delegation includes companies involved in aerospace, healthcare, maritime, energy and more. For more information or to RSVP, email Tiffany Aultman of the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission by Dec. 1. (Source: Magnolia Business Alliance/EIGS, 11/29/17)

SLS/Orion behind the scenes

WIRED magazine takes a look behind the scenes at five NASA facilities, including Michoud and Stennis Space Center, to capture how engineers build and test in preparation for the 2019 launch of the most powerful rocket ever built, NASA's Space Launch System. (Source: WIRED, December 2017)

Small Business Industry Awards announced

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- NASA’s Stennis Space Center has announced the winners for NASA 2017 Small Business Industry Awards (SBIA) for Stennis Space Center (SSC). SaiTech, Inc. has been selected as the Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year and Manufacturing Technical Solutions (MTS), Inc. has been selected as the Small Business Subcontractor of the Year. Along with being selected as SSC’s Small Business center level award winners, the firms will be considered as a candidate in the same category for the NASA-wide Small Business Industry Awards to be announced in the spring of 2018. To read about current and past Small Business Industry Award Winners, visit NASA Office Small Business of Procurement Awards and Achievements. For more information, email NASA/SSC Small Business Specialist Kay S. Doane, or call ext. 8-1720. (Source: NASA/SSC, 11/21/17)

Stratolaunch to test at SSC

Stratolaunch has signed  an agreement to test engines at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., a sign the company is considering developing its own launch vehicle for its giant aircraft, according to SpaceNews. The Space Act Agreement between Stratolaunch and SSC, signed Sept. 13, covers "reimbursable testing and related support services to Stratolaunch to support propulsion, vehicle, and ground support system development and testing activities." NASA published the agreement on its website as part of a provision in a NASA authorization act signed into law this year to disclose such agreements. An annex to that agreement specifies that it involves "testing of its propulsion system test article element 1" at the E1 test stand. That facility has supported engine tests by a number of companies in the past under similar agreements that provide access to test stands there on a non-exclusive basis. Stratolaunch plans to deliver the test article to Stennis for "fit tests and checkouts" by the end of May 2018, with the test series completed by the end of 2018. Stratolaunch will pay NASA $5.1 million under the reimbursable agreement to cover costs of the test campaign, including an upfront payment of $1 million. (Source: SpaceNews, 11/15/17)

Infinity displays Apollo module

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- An early artifact of America's moonshot program is now on display in Mississippi. Infinity Science Center is displaying the command module from Apollo 4, an unmanned 1967 mission that successfully demonstrated the full Saturn V rocket and the capsule that would carry men to the moon. The 9-hour mission showed the rocket's third stage would restart and that the command module's heat shield would withstand re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The command module is on long-term loan from the Smithsonian Institution's National Air & Space Museum. The display is part of a redesign of the museum's space exhibits. The Saturn V rocket was among those tested at neighboring Stennis Space Center. The 8,000-pound module was stored for five years at Stennis out of public view. (Source: multiple, including AP via WREG-TV, Jackson Free Press, 11/06/17, Sun Herald, 11/10/17)

Bridenstine supports SLS, Orion

WASHINGTON — As the Senate Commerce Committee prepares to advance his nomination as NASA administrator to the full Senate, Jim Bridenstine offered pledges of continuity for many key agency programs. In response to questions submitted for the record by several members of committee, Bridenstine said he believed the Space Launch System and Orion programs are critical to the agency’s exploration plans, as well as contributions from commercial space ventures. “SLS and Orion will serve as the backbone to our country’s Deep Space exploration architecture,” Bridenstine said in response to a question from Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., about how those programs would fit into NASA’s long-term exploration plans. He used the same language in similar questions from other senators about the future of those programs. (Source: SpaceNews, 11/07/17) Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are both involved in the SLS/Orion program as well as commercial space activities.

IW head tours commands

Tighe views REMUS 6000.
Navy photo

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – The Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare (IW) and Director of Naval Intelligence, Vice Adm. Jan Tighe, toured naval meteorology and oceanography commands at Stennis Space Center (SSC) Nov. 6. She toured the Glider Operations Center, which has a fleet of over 100 unmanned gliders manned 24/7 by civilian and military pilots when deployed. The tour also included a visit to the Undersea Warfare Reachback Cell and Fleet Survey Team. The Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command at SSC oversees 14 lower echelon commands, including five at SSC, including the Naval Oceanographic Office, Naval Oceanography Operations Command and Naval Oceanography Mine Warfare Center. (Source: Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, 11/06/17)

Change of command held

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - Capt. Sueann Schorr became the new commanding officer of Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Reserve Activity 0282 following a ceremony Nov. 4. She replaces Capt. Diane Boettcher, who had been in command since 2015 and is going to the Naval Information Reserve in Fort Worth, Texas. The Naval Meteorology and Reserve Activity 0282, headquartered at Stennis Space Center (SSC), oversees nine reserve units from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to Norfolk, Va., in support of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, also headquartered at SSC. The Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command directs and oversees more than 2,500 globally-distributed military and civilian personnel who collect, process and exploit environmental information to assist Fleet and Joint Commanders in all warfare areas. Before this assignment, Schorr was the commanding officer of Office of Naval Intelligence 1201. (Source: Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, 11/06/17)

SMART program leads to SSC job

Justin Tran
Photo by Sonia Fernandez

When Justin Tran leaves the University of California Santa Barbara in June, he’ll have a bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and a job waiting for him in South Mississippi. He’ll take a position at the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, thanks to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship for Service program. Aimed at both undergraduate and graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, SMART provides a full scholarship: tuition and education-related expenses, an annual stipend, internship support payments and allowances for health insurance and supplies. In return, students commit to work for one of the DoD’s sponsoring facilities for the same amount of time they received the scholarship - in Tran's case, three years. He interned for two summers at NAVOCEANO, where he completed operational oceanographic intelligence projects. When he begins his full-time job at NAVOCEANO, he'll build on previous projects and learn to work on the oceanographic sensors used for littoral battlespace sensing autonomous underwater vehicles. (Source: UCSB, 11/02/17)

NASA opportunities highlighted

MOBILE, Ala. -- Dozens of interested business representatives gathered at a NASA Business Forum that offered a chance to hear from experts involved in the business of space. Officials from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Stennis Space Center and NASA Shared Services in South Mississippi, as well as representatives from prime contractors attended the event. The message: NASA is committed to handing out hundreds of millions of dollars to small businesses every year, either through direct contracts or as subcontractors to the primes. (Source: al.com, 11/02/17) The forum was at the Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel. Related story, "The technology goldmine in our midst," Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor Newsletter, February 2017, p. 3-4

MAF adding tenant, jobs

NEW ORLEANS -- A new tenant is moving in and another expanding at Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in east New Orleans. The changes will add 45 new jobs. Gov. John Bel Edwards and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Todd May joined local and state officials Wednesday to announce the jobs and provide an update on the latest at MAF. In addition to the new jobs, state leaders announced plans for an aerospace program at nearby Nunez Community College to train students for careers at Michoud and other regional employers. Also, Sinter Metal Technologies, a global supplier of metal and ceramic parts that is based in Liechtenstein, announced Wednesday it will move some of its operations to MAF. The company intends to invest $5 million in a new sintering facility at Michoud to bond powder-based metals, material that will be used to make strong precision parts. The plan will create 15 jobs at an average salary of $55,000 a year. In addition, Advanced Cutting Solutions, which specializes in kit-cutting tough materials like fiberglass, Kevlar and dry carbon, also said it is expanding its presence at the facility, adding 30 new jobs at an average salary of $40,000 a year. (Source: nola.com, 11/01/17) MAF is building aerostructures for NASA's Space Launch System and Stennis Space Center is testing rocket engines for the program.