Thursday, October 16, 2008
NASA is practicing for future lunar road trips, and reporters are invited to observe the activities. The annual Desert RATS, or Research and Technology Studies, field test will be held in Arizona during October, and NASA will host a media day on Oct. 24. The tests help NASA engineers identify transportation and spacewalking needs for NASA's return to the moon by 2020 and preparation for human journeys to Mars.
This year's tests will demonstrate an enclosed configuration for a lunar rover NASA has been developing since 2007. The rover has six independent wheels that can each turn a full 360 degrees and lift off the ground for maneuvering around and over obstacles. The addition of the pressurized module to the rover allows the crew to drive in shirtsleeves, only donning spacesuits to leave the vehicle for scientific observations or exploration tasks.
For this year's tests, two teams of one astronaut and one geologist will conduct one-day and three-day drives of the rover with and without the pressurized cabin. Without the cabin, the crew operates the rover from rotating driving turrets while wearing spacesuits to protect them from the moon's dusty, airless environment.
Reporters will be able to observe and photograph the small pressurized rover and interview engineers involved with its development. For more information, including an agenda, and to R.S.V.P., reporters must contact Ashley Edwards at 202-358-1756 no later than Wednesday, Oct. 22. Reporters with reservations will meet at the U.S. Geological Survey office in Flagstaff, Ariz., for a NASA escort to the test site, where access is restricted. NASA requires a letter of assignment on company letterhead for credentials.
Organizations involved in the test are NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston; NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida; the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, the U.S. Geological Survey, in Flagstaff; Arizona State University of Tempe; the Mars Institute in Moffett Field, Calif.; and the Lunar Planetary Institute in Houston.
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Thursday, October 09, 2008
NASA has selected ITT Corporation, Advanced Engineering and Sciences of Herndon, Va., to perform telemetry, tracking and command services for near-Earth missions under the Space Communications Network Services contract.
The contract, with an estimated maximum value of $1.26 billion, will support NASA's Space and Near Earth Networks, which provide most of the communications for a wide range of NASA's science-based Earth-orbiting spacecraft, including the International Space Station, the space shuttle, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Earth Observing System satellites.
This cost-plus-award-fee core and indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract has a basic period of performance of five years and three months, including the phase-in period. The contract also includes two one-year options.
The core portion of the contract provides for the operation and maintenance of NASA's Space Network, comprised of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites and associated ground systems located primarily at White Sands, N.M., and Guam. The contract also provides support to ancillary Space Network sites located in American Samoa, Ascension Island and Australia.
The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity portion of the contract provides for operation and maintenance of NASA's Near Earth Network, including operations at Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Va.; the White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, N.M.; the Merritt Island Launch Annex in Florida; and McMurdo Station in Antarctica. It also includes commercial tracking and data-acquisition operations worldwide, and the Electronics Systems Test Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. This portion of the contract also includes support for the Satellite Laser Ranging network and the global Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network. Support in the areas of systems and sustaining engineering, logistics, facilities management and hardware and software development for the Space Network and the Near Earth Network also will be provided.
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