Jason-3 On Pace for Jan. 17 Liftoff

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Launch preparations continue at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for the launch of Jason-3 on January 17, 2016. At Space Launch Complex 4E, the next milestone is mating the first stage booster to the second stage which is currently planned to occur on Dec. 28.  The spacecraft, seen here after arriving at Vandenberg earlier this year, will be encapsulated into the payload fairing on Jan. 9, then mated to the rocket’s second stage on Jan. 12.

First Work Platform for NASA’s Space Launch System Installed in Vehicle Assembly Building

A 325-ton crane has lowered the first half of the K-level work platforms into High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The platform will be secured into position on tower E, about 86 feet above the floor. The K work platforms will provide access to NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) core stage and solid rocket boosters during processing and stacking operations on the mobile launcher.  Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
A 325-ton crane has lowered the first half of the K-level work platforms into High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The platform will be secured into position on tower E, about 86 feet above the floor. The K work platforms will provide access to NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) core stage and solid rocket boosters during processing and stacking operations on the mobile launcher. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

The first of ten new work platforms that will provide access to NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket has been installed in High Bay 3 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

An overhead crane that can hold as much as 325 tons was used to lift the first half of the K-level work platforms up from High Bay 4, across the transfer aisle 19 floors up, and then lowered it into High Bay 3. The platform was secured into position, about 86 feet above the VAB floor, or nearly 9 stories high. The K-level work platform halves will provide access to the SLS core stage and solid rocket boosters during processing and stacking operations on the mobile launcher.

A total of 10 levels of new platforms — 20 platform halves altogether — will surround the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft and provide access for testing and processing. The giant steel platforms, each measuring 38 feet long and 62 feet wide, will be attached to rail beams that will provide structural support and contains the drive mechanisms to move them in and out or up and down as needed.

The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing upgrades and modifications to the VAB, including installation of the new work platforms, marking preparations for the agency’s journey to Mars.

NASA awarded a contract to modify High Bay 3 to the Hensel Phelps Construction Co. of Orlando, Florida, in March 2014. Steel LLC, of Scottdale, Georgia, is the subcontractor fabricating the huge steel platforms, and Sauer Co. in Oak Hill, Florida, is assembling the platforms.

Hensel Phelps, along with its subcontractors, and Kennedy’s Institutional Services Contract, Engineering Services Contract and safety personnel are supporting crane operations, installation and initial inspection of each of the platforms.

For more information about the new work platforms, visit https://www.nasa.gov/feature/first-work-platform-for-nasas-space-launch-system-arrives-at-kennedy-space-center.

University Researchers Test Prototype Spacesuits at Kennedy

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23786673236_6e9359e3f7_oThe spacesuits astronauts will wear while exploring the surface of Mars will protect the person inside, supply air and water, and be flexible enough that astronauts can dig samples and do the other tasks required. Those are big jobs for a device that sounds like something someone might pick out of a closet and zip on like a heavy parka. That’s why engineers from the University of North Dakota who are evaluating their suit design at Kennedy would really prefer a different term.

“‘Suit’ is really kind of a misnomer,” said Pablo De Leon, the researcher leading this week’s evaluations. “Containing a human being into anything is very complex, so we have a spacesuit which is really a miniaturized spacecraft, and it has to be built in a way that is mobile, fairly comfortable and lets you work. It’s really much more of a machine.” Read the differences and what this prototype could mean to future explorers at http://go.nasa.gov/1mrSFJ7 Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

 

Insight Arrives at Vandenberg; First-Stage Booster at Pad

Sections of the fairing for NASA's InSight mission await further prelaunch processing
Sections of the fairing for NASA’s InSight mission await further prelaunch processing in the west high bay of the Astrotech Space Operations processing facility on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Photo credit: NASA/Joe Davila

The first stage booster of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket for NASA's InSight mission is ready for lifting into the mobile service tower at Space Launch Complex 3E.NASA’s Insight spacecraft is one step closer to beginning its journey to Mars now that it has arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The lander was delivered last night aboard a U.S. Air Force transport aircraft, then was offloaded and moved to the Astrotech payload processing facility. Today it is being removed from its shipping container. Meanwhile, at Space Launch Complex 3, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V first stage booster (pictured, right, photo credit NASA/Mark Mackley) was hoisted from its transport trailer into vertical position within the pad gantry.

Insight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, will study processes that formed and shaped Mars. Its findings will improve understanding about the evolution of our inner solar system’s rocky planets, including Earth. The lander will be the first mission to permanently deploy instruments directly onto Martian ground using a robotic arm. The mission is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 3E in March 2016 and land on Mars in September 2016.

Engineers Attaching Jason-3 Spacecraft to Falcon 9 Rocket

Artist concept of Jason-3 in orbit with solar arrays deployed

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, with the determination of a January 17, 2016, launch date for Jason-3, the spacecraft is being mated to the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket today. Launch time is 10:42:18 a.m. PST. The electrical connections with the launch vehicle will be established tomorrow, Tuesday, Dec. 15.  Work to begin encapsulation into payload fairing will begin January 5.

IDEAS Technology Potential to Improve Mission Safety, Efficiency

David Miranda, a project lead in NASA's Operations Integration Branch of Ground Systems Development and Operations, explains the Integrated Display and Environmental Awareness System
David Miranda, a project lead in NASA’s Operations Integration Branch of Ground Systems Development and Operations, explains the Integrated Display and Environmental Awareness System, or IDEAS, for members of the news media during a demonstration and the offices of digital creative agency Purple, Rock, Scissors in Orlando, Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Charles Babir

NASA continues to invest in the future by developing transformative capabilities and cutting-edge technologies. On Dec. 9, the agency unveiled an innovative system that could allow an engineer or technician working on a space system to immediately access all the information needed to complete a task. The “IDEAS” project being developed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center was demonstrated at the offices of Purple Rock Scissors, a digital creative agency in Orlando, Florida.

Called IDEAS, for the Integrated Display and Environmental Awareness System, it is a wearable, optical computer that allows users to view and modify information on an interactive display.

According to David Miranda of the Operations Integration Branch of Ground Systems Development and Operations, wearable technologies now are showing promise across many industries, from manufacturing to medicine. NASA now is investing in this new technology to apply it to the agency’s missions.

“The technology being developed here at Kennedy is designed to help technicians do their jobs more efficiently and safely,” Miranda said. “The glasses become a wearable computer system much like a heads-up display. It can provide various means of communication and access to documentation needed to complete a task.”

While the user may simply look like a person wearing glasses, those operating the system will see a screen with instructions for a task – no printed instructions or laptops necessary.

“The glasses include a camera to take photographs or video that could be provided to a console operator in the event something unexpected comes up,” Miranda said. “This would allow real-time troubleshooting of a problem.”

The photo-video capability also adds an extra safety margin.

“An infrared camera will allow detection of hot and cold,” said Miranda. “That would aid in spotting a cryogenic leak or a fire. Hydrogen fires are invisible, but infrared would detect that immediately.”

Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) attended at the recent demonstration. STMD oversees the agency’s Game Changing Development (GCD) Program. The IDEAS project began in January of 2015 and is managed by a NASA Early Career Team at Kennedy as part of. GCD.

As part of GCD, projects develop technologies through component and subsystem testing on Earth to prepare them for future use in space. New ideas and approaches are investigated that could solve significant technological problems and revolutionize future space endeavors. One of the most promising applications for NASA may be deep-space missions.

“Astronauts traveling far from Earth, such as a mission to Mars, will need to work with autonomy,” said Miranda. “IDEAS could help them operate a spacecraft far for home and have the resources quickly available to respond to the unexpected.”

This Kennedy team is one of four that were selected from across the agency as part of STMD’s Early Career Initiative pilot program. The effort encourages creativity and innovation among NASA technologists who earned a bachelor’s degree within in the past 10 years by engaging them in hands-on technology development opportunities needed for future missions.

The NASA IDEAS team has partnered with Abacus Technology at Kennedy, the Florida Institute of Technology’s Human Centered Design Institute in Melbourne, Florida, and Purple Rock Scissors.

Miranda explained that Abacus is providing software development for the program. Florida Tech is integrating human factors that is ensuring the hardware meets the needs of the people using the system. Purple Rock Scissors is integrating the hardware with the software and providing feedback from those testing the system.

“The IDEAS will have a wide range of applications beyond NASA’s use in the space program,” Miranda said. “Imagine first responders reporting back to a hospital from the scene of an accident, military personnel reporting in from a battlefield or those working in a hazardous environment. All could benefit from such a system.”

Miranda points out that IDEAS is simply the next step in the evolution of computers.

“Originally, a computer system would fill a building,” he said. “It was a dramatic breakthrough when desktops were developed allowing home use. Then came portable laptops. Miniaturization further reduced the size of computers to a pocket-size smart phone. Wearable computing systems is simply the next step.”

Astronauts Celebrate With Builders Topping of Crew Access Tower

Four astronauts training for test flights with NASA’s Commercial Crew program joined the festivities at Space Launch Complex 41 Thursday morning as one of the highest steel beams was placed on the Crew Access Tower during a “topping off” ceremony with United Launch Alliance, Boeing and Hensel Phelps at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launch site in Florida.

“It’s really an honor to get down here. We’re humbled to be a part of launching rockets for the United States again,” said Doug Hurley, a veteran of space shuttle missions and one of the four chosen to work closely with partners of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program during development, testing and training. Bob Behnken, Eric Boe and Suni Williams were also selected and took part in the employee-focused event.

“It’s amazing how many people it takes to get us into space,” Boe said.

A large crowd of employees from numerous companies gathered mid-morning to sign the 650-pound beam and watch a crane lift it into place atop the 200-foot-tall Crew Access Tower constructed over the past year. It was built in segments complete with stairs, cable trays and other fittings a few miles from the launch pad, then those segments were stacked on top of each other to form the tower. The Crew Access Arm and White Room the astronauts looked over today will be attached to the tower after several months’ of testing and fit checks.

“We’ve poured 1,000 cubic yards of concrete and mounted nearly 1 million pounds of steel, and we’ve done it in spectacular fashion,” said Howard Biegler, launch operations lead for ULA’s Human Launch Services.

Employees were asked to sign the beam before it was lifted into place and welded to the top of the tower.

“Today you are part of history,” said Kathy Lueders, program manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “Stop and enjoy this moment. I hope everyone has been able to write their name on the beam because you are part of the critical safety network that is making this all possible.”

Prior to the ceremony at SLC-41, the astronauts toured the White Room and Crew Access Arm undergoing testing at a construction yard near Kennedy Space Center. The White Room will be the stepping off point to space for astronauts as they board a Boeing CST-100 Starliner for liftoff on a ULA Atlas V rocket. Designed as a clean area to keep contaminants out of the spacecraft and off the astronauts’ suits, white rooms are the place where technicians make last-minute additions to the spacesuit and make sure everything is ready to flight as the flight crew climbs inside for launch. White rooms have always been a part of NASA’s human spaceflight efforts, from Mercury to Gemini and Apollo to the space shuttle.

“This is the last thing that whoever flies the Starliner is going to see before they go into space,” Hurley told the workers who built the structures.

Boeing and SpaceX are developing a new generation of spacecraft to carry astronauts to the International Space Station beginning in 2017. Both companies are also deep into construction and modification of launch facilities at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to safely host astronaut crews as they launch from American soil for the first time since 2011. Designs for launch facilities have been confirmed through NASA panels and in-depth examinations.

For Boeing, launching from SLC-41 meant building the Crew Access Tower, the first crew-focused structure at Cape Canaveral since Apollo 7. SpaceX is modifying historic Launch Pad 39A for its commercial crew missions on the Crew Dragon spacecraft launching on its Falcon 9 rockets. It also will have a White Room tailored to its designs that will offer astronauts and ground crew safety as they board and a way to leave the spacecraft in a hurry before launch in the unlikely event of an emergency. Photo credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Successful Launch Sends Cygnus on its Way to ISS

Liftoff of ULA Atlas V rocket with Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft at 4:44 p.m. EST on Dec. 6New hardware that will support dozens of NASA investigations and other science experiments from around the world is among the more than 7,000 pounds of cargo on the way to the International Space Station aboard Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft. It launched at 4:44:57 p.m. EST Sunday on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The mission is Orbital ATK’s fourth cargo delivery flight to the station through NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract. This is the first flight of an enhanced Cygnus spacecraft to the station. The cargo freighter now features a greater payload capacity, new UltraFlex solar arrays and new fuel tanks. Cygnus’ pressurized cargo module has been extended and increases the spacecraft’s interior volume capacity by 25 percent, allowing more cargo to be delivered with each mission. It’s also the first Cygnus mission using the Atlas V launch system.

For more information on this mission, visit https://www.nasa.gov/orbitalatk. To join the online conversation about the Orbital ATK CRS-4 launch and the International Space Station on Twitter, follow @Space_Station and #Cygnus.

Photo credit: NASA TV

Launch Forecast Improves; Follow Launch Blog for Updates

United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, carrying Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft on the company's CRS-4 mission, awaits liftoff from Space Launch Complex 41Launch Weather Office Clay Flinn briefed the Orbital ATK CRS-4 launch team in advance of fueling the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Conditions at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41 have improved, as has the forecast. There now is a 70 percent chance of favorable weather for the launch of the Atlas V and Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft to the international Space Station at 4:44:57 p.m. EST.

Follow NASA’s Launch Blog for frequent updates throughout the countdown starting at 3:45 p.m.

For background information on the mission, visit https://www.nasa.gov/orbitalatk. To join the online conversation about the Orbital ATK CRS-4 launch and the International Space Station on Twitter, follow @Space_Station and #Cygnus.