NASA : NASA to Hold Briefing to Discuss Status of ‘Flying Saucer’ Test .- NASA sostendrá una reunión informativa para discutir Estatuto de prueba 'platillo volante'

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., hemos recibido información de la Agencia Espacial NASA, sobre una reunión informativa sobre su proyecto de "Platillo Volador " en la misión llamada : NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project;

More information .......
http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-hold-briefing-to-discuss-status-of-flying-saucer-test-0

NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project completed its second flight test when the saucer-shaped craft splashed down safely Monday in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai. A post-flight media teleconference will be held at 1 p.m. EDT (7 a.m. HST), Tuesday, June 9 to review the test.

Briefing participants are:

• Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington
• Mark Adler, LDSD project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California
• Ian Clark, LDSD principal investigator at JPL

To participate by phone, reporters must contact Kim Newton by email at kimberly.d.newton@nasa.gov or 256-653-5173 no later than 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator test vehicle begins its ascent to 180,000 feet aboard a helium-filled balloon. It launched from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii, to test entry, descent and landing technologies NASA will need to land large payloads on Mars and other distant planets.

Credits: NASA/Keith Koehler

LDSD launched at 7:45 a.m. HST (1:45 p.m. EDT) from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility using a large scientific balloon. After it was carried to an altitude of nearly 120,000 feet, the LDSD test vehicle separated from the balloon. An on-board rocket motor ignited and continued to carry the vehicle to nearly 180,000 feet.

Two advanced decelerator technologies – a supersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator and a supersonic parachute – were tested. The supersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator deployed and inflated. The supersonic parachute also deployed, however, it did not perform as expected. Data was obtained on the performance of both innovative braking technologies, and the teams are beginning to study the data.

The LDSD project is one of several cross-cutting technologies NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate is developing to advance the critical technologies required to enable future exploration missions to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit, including an asteroid, Mars and beyond.

LDSD testing is conducted through NASA's Technology Demonstrations Missions program, based at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, with technology development work and testing led by JPL. NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia coordinated range and safety support with the Pacific Missile Range Facility and provided the balloon systems used to launch the LDSD test vehicle.

For more information on LDSD, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ldsd

For more information on NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech

-end-

Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1130
jbuck@nasa.gov
DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov
Kim Newton
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-653-5173
kimberly.d.newton@nasa.gov

Last Updated: June 14, 2015

Editor: Allard Beutel

Tags:  Journey to Mars, Technology

NASA's LDSD Project Completes Second Experimental Test Flight

NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator hangs from a launch tower at U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. The saucer-shaped vehicle will test two devices for landing heavy payloads on Mars: an inflatable donut-shaped device and a supersonic parachute. The launch tower helps link the vehicle to a balloon; once the balloon floats up, the vehicle is released from the tower and the balloon carries it to high altitudes. The vehicle's rocket takes it to even higher altitudes, to the top of the stratosphere, where the supersonic test begins.

Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls

 

Two members of the U.S. Navy's Mobile Diving Salvage Unit (MDSU) 1 Explosive Ordnance Detachment work on recovering the test vehicle for NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project.

Credits: U.S. Navy

Full image and caption

 

Engineers are poring over the data following the second experimental landing technology test of NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project. The saucer-shaped LDSD craft splashed down at 11:49 a.m. HST (5:49 p.m. EDT) Monday in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

During this flight, the project team tested two decelerator technologies that could enable larger payloads to land safely on the surface of Mars, and allow access to more of the planet's surface by assisting landings at higher-altitude sites.

"Developing and demonstrating entry, descent and landing technologies such as supersonic decelerators is critical to enabling our journey to Mars," said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The technologies tested on LDSD are giving us data and insight into the capabilities we’ll need to land more mass than we currently can on Mars, which will enable more capable robotic missions, as well as human precursor missions to the Red Planet."

A high-altitude balloon carrying the LDSD test vehicle launched at 7:45 a.m. from the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) on Kauai.  As planned, at 11:35 a.m., the vehicle separated from the balloon at about 120,000 feet above the ocean. An onboard rocket motor then took the vehicle to 180,000 feet, where the first braking technology, the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD), deployed at about Mach 3 at 11:37 a.m.

Fourteen seconds after SIAD inflation, the test vehicle's parachute was released into the supersonic slipstream, according to plan. Preliminary analysis of imagery and other data received during the test indicates the Supersonic Ringsail parachute deployed. This 100-foot-wide parachute is the largest supersonic parachute ever flown. It has more than double the area of the parachute used for the Mars Science Laboratory mission that carried the Curiosity rover to the surface of Mars. The chute began to generate large amounts of drag and a tear appeared in the canopy at about the time it was fully inflated.

"Early indications are that we got what we came for, new and actionable data on our parachute design," said Mark Adler, project manager for LDSD at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. "At present, our data is in the form of low-resolution video and some other nuggets of data which were downlinked in real-time. But this will soon change when our test vehicle makes port, and we have the opportunity to inspect the ultra-high resolution, high-speed imagery and other comprehensive information carried in the memory cards on board our saucer."

Monday’s flight test was the second for the project. During the first flight on June 28, 2014, the main goal was to demonstrate and operate the vehicle through its entire mission. That flight also carried the two LDSD braking technologies, and the SIAD worked perfectly during the first test. However, the supersonic parachute did not inflate as designed. With the data from last year's test, the LDSD team developed a new formula for this year's chute, making it stronger and more curved into its top to help it survive the initial shock of supersonic wind.

"The physics involved with LDSD is so cutting-edge we learn something profound every time we test," said Ian Clark, principal investigator for LDSD at JPL. "Going into this year's flight, I wanted to see that the parachute opened further than it did last year before it began to rupture. The limited data set we have at present indicates we may not only have gone well down the road to full inflation, but we may have achieved it.

“We also saw another successful inflation of our 20-ft SIAD and another successful deployment and inflation of our supersonic ballute (an inflatable drag device that extracts the parachute). Both of those devices have now had two great flights, and we have matured them to the point where they can be used, with confidence, on future missions,” Clark added. “We’re not just pushing the envelope. We flew a 7,000-pound test vehicle right through it."

NASA expects to make high-resolution imagery and comprehensive data from the test available to the public in about two weeks.

NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate funds the LDSD mission, a cooperative effort led by JPL. The Technology Demonstration Mission Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages LDSD. NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, on Wallops Island, Virginia, coordinates range and safety support with PMRF and provides the balloon systems for the LDSD test.

For more information on LDSD, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ldsd

For more information on NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech

-end-

Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1130
jbuck@nasa.gov
DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov
Kim Newton
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-653-5173
kimberly.d.newton@nasa.gov

Last Updated: June 14, 2015

Editor: Karen Northon

Tags:  Journey to Mars, Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator, Technology

 NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@hotmail.com

ayabaca@yahoo.com 
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NASA : NASA Announces Early Stage Innovations Space Tech Research Grants .- NASA anuncia primeras innovaciones Escenario Espacio Tech Ayudas a la Investigación

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., la Agencia Espacial NASA, nos informa sobre los últimos adelanto de alta tecnología, en lo que ellos llaman: "the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method simulates ", que bien hacer los materiales de protección térmica muy avanzada, un procedimiento que simula el flujo a través de materiales porosos TPS, que permitirá a los astronautas hacer un viaje a Marte y allende el espacio infinito..NASA..dice "Materiales de protección térmica avanzada de modelado utilizando el método directo de simulación Monte Carlo (DSMC) simula el flujo a través de materiales porosos TPS. La investigación en este tipo de tecnologías avanzadas, permite el viaje a Marte y permitir la exploración futura....."

Advanced thermal protection materials modeling using the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method simulates the flow through porous TPS materials. Research into these sorts of advanced technologies enable the journey to Mars and enable future exploration.

Image Credit: 

NASA/Eric Stern

NASA has selected 11 university-led proposals for the study of innovative, early stage technologies that address high priority needs of America's space program.

The selected proposals address unique, disruptive, or transformational technologies, including: advanced thermal protection materials modeling, computational materials, in situ utilization of asteroid materials, mobile robotic surface probe concepts for planetary exploration, and kinetic penetrators for icy planetary moons. Selection criteria required technology research that will provide dramatic improvements over existing capabilities for future science and human exploration missions.

"Research in these critical technology areas will enable science and exploration of our home planet, future deep space missions and our journey to Mars," said Michael Gazarik, associate administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington. "New space technology enables exploration while providing real world economic benefits to the American people right here on Earth, right now."

Universities selected for NASA's Early Stage Innovation grants, and the titles of their proposals, are:

• Iowa State University, Ames: Computational Modeling of Nondestructive Evaluation, Defect Detection, and Defect Identification for CFRP Composite Materials
• Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla. Laboratory Demonstration and Test of Solar Thermal Asteroid ISRU
• Montana State University, Bozeman: Uncovering the Chemical Processes during Atmospheric Entry of a Carbon/Phenolic Ablator: Laboratory Studies by In Situ Mass Spectrometric and Molecular Beam Techniques
• Stanford University, Stanford, California: Asteroid Surface Resource Characterization Through Distributed Plasma Analysis of Meteoroid Impact Ejecta
• Texas A&M University, College Station: Control of Variability in the Performance of Selective Laser Melting (SLM) Parts through Microstructure Control and Design
• University of California, Berkeley: Precision Hopping/Rolling Robotic Surface Probe Based on Tensegrity Structures
• University of California, Davis: Development of Physics-Based Numerical Models for Uncertainty Quantification of Selective Laser Melting Processes
• University of Kentucky, Lexington: Model Development and Experimental Validation of Reactive Gas and Pyrolysis Product Interactions with Hot Carbon Chars
• University of Vermont, Burlington: Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Ablation Kinetics
• University of Washington, Seattle: Europa Kinetic Ice Penetrator (EKIP)
• West Virginia University, Morgantown: Robotic In-Situ Surface Exploration System (RISES)

The awards from NASA's Space Technology Research Grants Program are worth as much as $500,000 each, with technology research and development efforts taking place over two to three years.

Aligned with NASA's Space Technology Roadmaps, and priorities identified by the National Research Council, the agency’s technology research areas lend themselves to the early stage innovative approaches U.S. universities can offer for solving tough space technology challenges.

NASA's Early Stage Innovations efforts are an element of the agency's Space Technology Research Grants Program. This program is designed to accelerate the development of technologies originating in academia that support the future science and exploration needs of NASA, other government agencies, and the commercial space sector.

For more information about NASA's Space Technology Research Grants Program, visit:

http://go.usa.gov/X9eP

This solicitation is part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is responsible for innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use on future NASA missions. During the next 18 months, the directorate will make significant new investments to address several high-priority challenges for achieving safe and affordable deep space exploration. For more information about the directorate, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech

NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@Hotmail.com
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NASA : Testing Composite Cryotank Technology For Future Deep Space Missions

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Testing Composite Cryotank Technology For Future Deep Space Missions

NASA has completed a complex series of tests on one of the largest composite cryogenic fuel tanks ever manufactured, bringing the aerospace industry much closer to designing, building, and flying lightweight, composite tanks on rockets. At NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the tank was lowered into a structural test stand where it was tested with cryogenic hydrogen and structural loads to simulate stresses the tank would experience during launch. The project is part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in NASA's future missions.

Cryogenic propellants are gasses chilled to subfreezing temperatures and condensed to form highly combustible liquids, providing high-energy propulsion solutions critical to future, long-term human exploration missions beyond low-Earth orbit. In the past, propellant tanks have been fabricated out of metals. Switching from metallic to composite construction holds the potential to dramatically increase the performance capabilities of future space systems through a dramatic reduction in weight.

> NASA Completes Successful Battery of Tests on Composite Cryotank

Image Credit: NASA/David Olive

 

 

NASA Completes Successful Battery of Tests on Composite Cryotank

Youtube Override: 

 

NASA has completed a complex series of tests on one of the largest composite cryogenic fuel tanks ever manufactured, bringing the aerospace industry much closer to designing, building, and flying lightweight, composite tanks on rockets.

“This is one of NASA’s major technology accomplishments for 2014,” said Michael Gazarik, NASA’s associate administrator for Space Technology. “This is the type of technology that can improve competitiveness for the entire U.S. launch industry, not to mention other industries that want to replace heavy metal components with lightweight composites. These tests, and others we have conducted this year on landing technologies for Mars vehicles, show how technology development is the key to driving exploration.” 

One of the largest composite cryotanks ever built recently completed a battery of tests at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The tank was lowered into a structural test stand where it was tested with cryogenic hydrogen and structural loads were applied to simulate stresses the tank would experience during launch.

Image Credit: 

NASA/David Olive

 

The demanding series of tests on the 18-foot (5.5-meter) diameter tank were conducted inside a test stand at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Engineers added structural loads to the tank to replicate the physical stresses launch vehicles experience during flight.

In other tests, the tank successfully maintained fuels at extremely low temperatures and operated at various pressures.  Engineers filled the tank with almost 30,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen chilled to -423 degrees Fahrenheit, and repeatedly cycled the pressure between 20 to 53 pounds per square inch -- the pressure limit set for the tests.

“This is the culmination of a three-year effort to design and build a large high-performance tank with new materials and new processes and to test it under extreme conditions,” said John Vickers, the project manager for the Composite Cryogenic Technology Demonstration Project, which is one of the key technologies funded by NASA’s Game Changing Development Program. “We are a step closer to demonstrating in flight a technology that could reduce the weight of rocket tanks by 30 percent and cut costs by at least 25 percent.”

The composite rocket fuel tank, which arrived at Marshall on March 26 aboard NASA's Super Guppy airplane, was built by the Boeing Company near Seattle.

“Never before has a tank of this size been proven to sustain the thermal environment of liquid hydrogen at these pressures,” said Dan Rivera, Boeing program manager for the cryotank project. “Our design is also more structurally efficient then predecessors. This is a significant technology achievement for NASA, Boeing and industry. “We are looking at composite fuel tanks for many aerospace applications.”

The project is part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in NASA's future missions. Over the next year, the directorate will make significant new investments to address several high-priority challenges in achieving safe and affordable deep space exploration. Next-generation technologies including composite systems have the potential to make rockets, including NASA’s Space Launch System -- a deep space rocket being developed at Marshall -- more capable and affordable. 

B-roll video of the cryotank is available at:

http://go.nasa.gov/1st5oMJ

For more information about NASA's investment in space technology, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech

 

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@hotmail.com

ayabaca@yahoo.com

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NASA : The Future is Now: Innovative Advanced Concepts Selected for Continued Study

 

Looking ahead to an exciting future, NASA is continuing to invest in concepts that may one day revolutionize how we live and work in space with the selection of five technology proposals for continued study under the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program.

NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, located at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, based the NIAC Phase II selections on their potential to transform future aerospace missions, introduce new capabilities, or significantly improve current approaches to building and operating aerospace systems. The proposals chosen for continued study address a range of visionary concepts, from novel space optics using an orbiting cloud of dust-like objects, to pioneering spacecraft-rover hybrids for exploration of low-gravity asteroids.

"Technology drives our futures in exploration, science and commercial space; and investments in these advanced concepts must be made to ensure we will have the spectrum of capabilities for the near term and well into the 21st century," said Michael Gazarik, associate administrator for Space Technology. "NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate is creating the technologies needed for today, while also investing in the concepts that will become technological realities of tomorrow. These concepts, anchored to sound science, but rich in 'what if' creativity, will make our science, exploration and commercial space futures possible."

The five studies chosen to advance to Phase II of the NIAC program include:

-- A concept for a 10-meter, sub-orbital large balloon reflector that might be used as a telescope inside a high-altitude balloon. The concept uses part of the balloon itself as a reflector for the telescope. The principal investigator is C.K. Walker of the Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

-- A spacecraft-rover hybrid concept for the exploration of small solar system bodies. The small spacecraft would be deployed from a “mothership” onto the surface of a low-gravity object, such as an asteroid or planetary moon. The machines, ranging in size from a centimeter to a meter, would use spinning flywheels to allow the robotic explorers to tumble and hop across the surface of a new frontier. The principal investigator is Marco Pavone of Stanford University in California.

-- A concept for deep mapping of small solar system bodies, such as asteroids, using subatomic particles to map the interior and small surface features. These data could be used to better characterize asteroids and gather data about potential resources that could be mined or otherwise used by explorers. The principal investigator is T.H. Prettyman of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson.

-- A concept for a low-mass planar photonic imaging sensor, an innovative sensor and spectrometer design to replace traditional, bulkier telescopes. This concept may provide a higher-resolution, persistent imaging capability for outer planetary missions while reducing costs and development time because no large optics are required. The principal investigator is S.J. Ben Yoo at the University of California, Davis.

-- A granular media imager concept called "Orbiting Rainbows" would use an orbiting cloud of dust-like matter as the primary element for an ultra-large space aperture -- the space through which light passes during an optical or photographic measurement -- that could potentially be used to image distant astronomical objects at extremely high resolution. The principal investigator is Marco Quadrelli of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

NASA selected these projects through a peer-review process that evaluated innovativeness and technical viability. All projects are still in the early stages of development -- most being 10 or more years away from use on a NASA mission.

"This was an extremely competitive year for NIAC Phase II candidates," said Jay Falker, NIAC program executive at NASA Headquarters. "But the independent peer review process helped identify those that could be the most transformative, with outstanding potential for future science and exploration."

NIAC Phase II awards can be as much as $500,000 for two years, and allow proposers to further develop the most successful concepts from previously selected Phase I studies. Phase I studies must demonstrate the initial feasibility and benefit of a concept. Phase II studies go to the next level, refining designs and exploring aspects of implementing the new technology.

Through programs like NIAC, NASA is demonstrating that early investments and partnerships with creative scientists, engineers, and citizen inventors from across the nation can provide technological dividends and help maintain America's leadership in the new global technology economy.

NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in NASA's future missions. During the next 18 months, the directorate will make significant new investments to address several high-priority challenges in achieving safe and affordable deep-space exploration. These focused technology areas are tightly aligned with NASA's Space Technology Roadmaps, the Space Technology Investment Plan, and National Research Council recommendations.

For a complete list of the selected proposals and more information about NIAC, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/niac

For more information about the Space Technology Mission Directorate, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech

 

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@Hotmail.com

ayabaca@yahoo.com

 

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NASA : NASA Invests in Hundreds of U.S. Small Businesses to Enable Future Missions

ADA Technologies Inc. received several NASA SBIR/STTR contracts that enabled the development of a Fine Water Mist Portable Fire Extinguisher intended for use aboard the International Space Station and next-generation, astronaut-occupied spacecraft.

Image Credit: Thomas Cooper (lightboximages.com)

Recognizing the critical role of American small businesses and research institutions play as innovation engines for new space technologies that will enable future space exploration, NASA has selected 383 research and technology proposals for negotiations that may lead to contracts worth a combined $47.6 million.

The proposals, from 257 U.S. small businesses and 29 research institutions, are part of NASA's Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program.

"SBIR and STTR projects are at the foundation of America's future in space and aeronautics," said Michael Gazarik, associate administrator for Space Technology at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Innovative ideas explored by our partners in industry and the broader U.S. research community help NASA execute our missions and bring new American products and services to the global technology marketplace. These job-creating NASA investments fuel the innovation engine these small businesses provide to our economy."

Technologies funded by these NASA innovation programs may one day find their way into journeys across the solar system. NASA is funding proposals to enable in-space transportation for human and robotic missions; new ways to keep astronauts safe on their journey, and innovative ways to keep spacecraft systems fully operational.

Selected proposals also aim to enable landing on, traversing across, and eventually sampling the depths of asteroids, Mars or other distant destinations. Proposed new technologies will help NASA search the sky for planets outside our solar system and study the universe back to the beginning of time.

NASA's Small Business Innovation Research Program and Small Business Technology Transfer Program fund technologies used here on Earth as well. Projects will help to make entirely new generations of airplanes quieter and more efficient and air traffic management more capable. New space technologies will orbit the Earth, studying our atmosphere, our poles, our oceans, and even our sun, assessing the health of the planet and providing invaluable information about the impacts of climate change.

"These selections are part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate investment in new technologies that address several high priority challenges for achieving safe and affordable deep-space exploration," Gazarik added. "Aligned with NASA's Space Technology Roadmaps, the agency's Space Technology Investment Plan and the National Research Council's recommendations, these focused areas will assure we remain on the cutting edge of advanced space technology. SBIR and STTR technologies provide an early stage foundation across all our thrust areas."

In November 2013 NASA issued two concurrent solicitations for Phase I proposals. A general solicitation for both SBIR and STTR sought Phase I proposals in response to a broad range of research topics. A second select solicitation for the SBIR program only focused on a small group of topics of particular interest to NASA.

The highly competitive programs are based on a three-phase award system. Phase I feasibility studies evaluate the scientific and technical merit of an idea. Phase I awards are for six months, and a maximum of $125,000. Firms successfully completing Phase I are eligible to submit a Phase II proposal, expanding on the results of the developments in Phase I. Phase III awards consider the commercialization of the results of Phase II and requires the use of private sector or non-SBIR federal funding.

For the general SBIR Phase I solicitation, NASA chose 315 proposals worth approximately $39.1 million. For the second select SBIR Phase I solicitation, NASA chose 36 proposals worth approximately $4.5 million. NASA chose 32 proposals with a value of approximately $4 million for STTR Phase I projects. The three solicitations attracted proposals from 37 states.

Selection criteria included technical merit and feasibility, along with experience, qualifications and facilities. Additional criteria included effectiveness of the work plan and commercial potential and feasibility.

NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., manages the SBIR program for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate. NASA's 10 field centers manage individual projects. For more information about NASA's SBIR program and a complete listing of selected companies, visit:

http://sbir.nasa.gov

The two innovative technology programs are part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in NASA's future missions. NASA's investments in space technology provide the transformative capabilities to enable new missions, stimulate the economy, contribute to the nation's global competitiveness, and inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers. For more information about NASA's investment in space technology, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

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NASA - NASA Seeks Innovative Suborbital Flight Technology Proposals

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., La Agencia Espacial NASA, nos ha hecho llegar esta información....por un segundo año,  NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate; busca propuestas para cargas útiles de tecnología suborbitales y los realces de capacidad de nave espacial que podrían ayudar a revolucionar futuras misiones espaciales.

Las tecnologías seleccionadas viajarán U.S. commercial suborbital vehicles and platforms, y atrás sobre vehículos estadounidenses comerciales suborbitales y plataformas, proporcionando oportunidades para probar antes de que ellos sean enviados para trabajar en el entorno implacable de espacio.

Los invito aleer la versión en inglés de la NASA........

WASHINGTON -- For a second year, NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate is seeking proposals for suborbital technology payloads and spacecraft capability enhancements that could help revolutionize future space missions.

Selected technologies will travel to the edge of space and back on U.S. commercial suborbital vehicles and platforms, providing opportunities for testing before they are sent to work in the unforgiving environment of space.

The Game Changing Opportunities in Technology Development research announcement seeks proposals for technology payloads, vehicle enhancements, onboard facilities and small spacecraft propulsion technologies that will help the agency advance technology development in the areas of exploration, space operations and other innovative technology areas relevant to NASA's missions. NASA's Flight Opportunities Program is sponsoring the solicitation and expects proposals from entrepreneurs, scientists, technologists, instrument builders, research managers, and vehicle builders and operators. This year, NASA has included a topic on small spacecraft propulsion technologies from the agency's Small Spacecraft Technology Program.

"Investing in transformative technology development is critical to enable NASA's future missions and benefits the greater American aerospace community," said James Reuther, deputy associate administrator for programs in NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate. "NASA Space Tech's Game Changing Development and Flight Opportunities Programs are working with our partners from America's emerging suborbital flight community to foster frequent and predictable commercial access to near-space while allowing for cutting-edge technology development."

Following development, selected payloads will be made available to NASA's Flight Opportunities Program for pairing with appropriate commercial suborbital reusable launch service provider flights. In the case of small spacecraft propulsion technologies, there may be the potential for a direct orbital flight opportunity.

"This call will select innovators to develop novel technology payloads that will provide significant improvements over current state-of-the-art systems," said Stephen Gaddis, Game Changing Development Program manager at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.
Proposals are due June 17 and will be accepted from U.S. or non-U.S. organizations, including NASA centers, other government agencies, federally funded research and development centers, educational institutions, industry and nonprofit organizations.

NASA expects to make as many as 18 awards this summer with the majority of awards ranging in value between approximately $50,000 and $250,000 each. The total combined funding for this announcement is expected to be about $2 million, based on availability of funds.
The Game Changing Opportunities research announcement is available on NASA's Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System website:

http://nspires.nasaprs.com/

Langley manages the Game Changing Development Program, and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., manages the Flight Opportunities Program for the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate. For more information on the Game Changing Development activities and information on this solicitation for payloads, visit:

http://go.usa.gov/RPS

For more information about NASA's Flight Opportunities Program, visit:

http://go.usa.gov/4fEB

 

NASA Taps the Power of Zombie Stars in Two-in-One Instrument

 

Neutron stars have been called the zombies of the cosmos. They shine even though they’re technically dead, occasionally feeding on neighboring stars if they venture too close. Interestingly, these unusual objects, born when a massive star extinguishes its fuel and collapses under its own gravity, also may help future space travelers navigate to Mars and other distant destinations.

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This artist’s rendition shows the NICER/SEXTANT payload that NASA recently selected as its next Explorer Mission of Opportunity. The 56-telescope payload will fly on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

NASA recently selected a new mission called the Neutron-star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) to not only reveal the physics that make neutron stars the densest objects in nature, but also to demonstrate a groundbreaking navigation technology that could revolutionize the agency’s ability to travel to the far reaches of the solar system and beyond.

The multi-purpose mission, also known as NICER/SEXTANT (Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology), consists of 56 X-ray telescopes in a compact bundle, their associated silicon detectors, and a number of other advanced technologies. Both NASA’s Science Mission Directorate’s Explorers Program and the Space Technology Mission Directorate’s Game Changing Program are contributing to the mission’s development.

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These nested shells of X-ray mirrors will fly on a new two-in-one instrument that will study neutron stars and demonstrate X-ray navigation. Credit: Pat Izzo

Credit: Flickr/Ayesha Garrett

The Latest Incarnation of Celestial-Based Navigation

As history has shown, there really is nothing new under the sun. Since the beginning of recorded history, if not before, humans have used the stars to find their way. In 2017 a team led by NASA astrophysicists and engineers plans to demonstrate a potentially game-changing technology that would use pulsars to help space travelers and scientific spacecraft navigate the far reaches of the solar system.
› Read more “It’s rare that you have an opportunity to fly a cross-cutting experiment,” said Principal Investigator Keith Gendreau, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., who is leading NICER/SEXTANT’s development. “The time is right for this experiment. This is one that we can do now.”

In addition to NASA Goddard scientists and engineers, the mission team includes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and commercial partners, who are providing spaceflight hardware. The Naval Research Laboratory and universities across the United States, as well as in Canada and Mexico, are providing science expertise.

Space Station Bound

Slightly larger than a typical college dormitory refrigerator, NICER/SEXTANT will be deployed on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2017. It will fly as an external attached payload on one of the ISS ExPRESS Logistics Carriers, unpressurized platforms used for experiments and storage.

The X-ray instrument’s primary objective is to learn more about the interior composition of neutron stars, the remnants of massive stars that, after exhausting their nuclear fuel, exploded and collapsed into super-dense spheres about the size of New York City. Their intense gravity crushes an astonishing amount of matter — often more than 1.4 times the content of the sun or at least 460,000 Earths — into these city-sized balls, creating the densest objects known in the universe. Just one teaspoonful of neutron star matter would weigh a billion tons on Earth.

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NICER/SEXTANT Principal Investigator Keith Gendreau holds an assembly of X-ray focusing mirrors similar to the type that will fly on his mission in 2017. Credit: Bill Hrybyk

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NASA’s new Explorer Mission of Opportunity will study rapidly rotating neutron stars called pulsars. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory captured this image of the Vela pulsar about 1,000 light years from Earth. Credit: NASA/CXC/University of Toronto/M. Durant, et al "A neutron star is right at the threshold of matter as it can exist — if it were compressed any further, it would collapse completely in on itself and become a black hole," said Zaven Arzoumanian, a NASA Goddard scientist serving as the deputy principal investigator on the mission. “We have no way of creating or studying this matter in any laboratory. There are many theories about what it is and how it behaves, but the only way to test our models and understand what happens to matter under such incredible pressures is to study neutron stars,” he added. ”The closest we come to simulating these conditions is in particle accelerators that smash atoms together at almost the speed of light. However, these collisions are not an exact substitute — they only last a split second, and they generate temperatures that are much higher than what's inside neutron stars."

Although the nuclear-fusion fires that sustained their parent stars are extinguished, neutron stars still shine with heat left over from their explosive formation, and from radiation generated by their magnetic fields that became intensely concentrated as the core collapsed.

Although neutron stars emit radiation across the spectrum, observing in the X-ray band offers the greatest insights into their structure, the ultimate stability of their pulses as precise clock “ticks,” and the high-energy, dynamic phenomena that they host, including starquakes, thermonuclear explosions, and the most powerful magnetic fields known in the universe.

NICER’s 56 telescopes will collect X-rays generated from its tremendously strong magnetic field and from hotspots located at the stars’ two magnetic poles. At these locations, the intense magnetic field emerges from the surface. Particles trapped in the magnetic field rain down and generate X-rays when they strike the surface. As the hotspots rotate into and out of our line of sight, we perceive a rise and fall in X-ray brightness.

This subgroup of pulsating neutron stars, called pulsars, rotate rapidly, emitting from their magnetic poles powerful beams of light that sweep around as the star spins, much like a lighthouse. At Earth, these beams are seen as flashes of light, blinking on and off at intervals from seconds down to milliseconds.

Because of their predictable pulsations — especially millisecond pulsars, which are the target of the navigation demonstration — “they are extremely reliable celestial clocks” and can provide high-precision timing just like the atomic clock signals supplied through the 26-satellite, military-operated Global Positioning System (GPS), an Earth-centric system that weakens the farther one travels out beyond Earth orbit and into the solar system, Arzoumanian said. “Pulsars, on the other hand, are accessible in virtually every conceivable flight regime, from low-Earth orbit to interplanetary to deepest space,” Gendreau added.

As a result, NICER/SEXTANT also will demonstrate the viability of pulsar-based navigation. “The hardware needed for neutron star science is identical to that needed for pulsar-based navigation,” Gendreau said. “In fact, the mission’s two goals share many of the same targets and the same operational concept. The differences are on the back end in terms of how the data will be used.”

Imagine a technology that would allow space travelers to transmit gigabytes of data per second over interplanetary distances or to navigate to Mars and beyond using powerful beams of light emanating from rotating neutron stars. The concept isn't farfetched. In fact, Goddard astrophysicists Keith Gendreau and Zaven Arzoumanian plan to fly a multi-purpose instrument on the International Space Station to demonstrate the viability of two groundbreaking navigation and communication technologies and, from the same platform, gather scientific data revealing the physics of dense matter in neutron stars. Credit: NASA

To demonstrate the navigation technology’s viability, the NICER/SEXTANT payload will use its telescopes to detect X-ray photons within these powerful beams of light to estimate the arrival times of the pulses. With these measurements, the system will use specially developed algorithms to stitch together an on-board navigation solution.

If an interplanetary mission were equipped with such a navigational device, it would be able to calculate its location autonomously, independent of NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN), Gendreau said. DSN, considered the most sensitive telecommunications system in the world, allows NASA to continuously observe and communicate with interplanetary spacecraft. However, like GPS, the system is Earth-centric. DSN-supplied navigational solutions also degrade the farther one travels out into the solar system. Furthermore, missions must share time on the network, Gendreau said.

“We’re excited about NICER/SEXTANT’s possibilities,” Gendreau added. “The experiment meets critical science objectives and is a stepping-stone for technology applications that meet a variety of NASA needs. It’s rare that you get an opportunity to do a cross-cutting experiment like this.”

Related Links:

› NICER/SEXTANT mission
› Goddard technology news

 

 

Lori Keesey
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

 NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

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