Category: NASA

An astronaut’s pair of gloves. Image credit: NASA. Click to enlarge
NASA, in collaboration with the Volanz Aerospace Inc./Spaceflight America (Volanz), today announced a new Centennial Challenges prize competition.

The Astronaut Glove Challenge award will go to the team that can design and manufacture the best performing glove within competition parameters. The $250,000 purse will be awarded at a competition scheduled for November 2006, when competing teams test their glove designs against each other.

For the Challenge, teams must develop the bladder-restraint portion of an astronaut glove that is strong, easy on the hands, and gives the operator a high degree of dexterity.

“Reducing space suit glove fatigue is a critical technological goal that, if successful, would have an important impact on astronaut performance and mission planning,” said NASA’s acting Associate Administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, Douglas Cooke.

Each team will provide two gloves for three key tests. First, the forces required to move the fingers and thumb on each glove will be measured. Gloves requiring the least force will be awarded more points. Second, each team will perform standardized dexterity tasks in a depressurized glove box. Teams completing the most tasks within a specified time will win the most points. Third, one glove from each team will be subjected to a burst test. Glove designs that withstand greater internal pressures will be awarded more points.

The team with the glove design that wins the most points, while exceeding the performance of existing astronaut glove technologies will win the contest.

NASA’s Centennial Challenges promotes technical innovation through a novel program of prize competitions. It is designed to tap the nation’s ingenuity to make revolutionary advances to support the Vision for Space Exploration and NASA goals.

“With this competition, we are continuing to develop Centennial Challenges’ base of smaller, targeted technology prizes and laying the ground work for our larger competitions,” said NASA’s Centennial Challenges program manager Brant Sponberg.

The Astronaut Glove Challenge will be administered and executed by Volanz at no cost to NASA. Volanz will officially kick-off the challenge at a conference in November in Houston.

“New technologies and innovations will have to be developed quickly to improve the wearability and dexterity of astronaut gloves. This challenge will help NASA meet this key requirement in support of the Vision for Space Exploration,” said Volanz chairman and chief executive officer, Alan Hayes. “Like other Centennial Challenges’ competitions, the Astronaut Glove Challenge will encourage innovation that will greatly enhance our capabilities in this area,” he added.

The Centennial Challenges program is managed by NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Volanz is a non-profit Maryland corporation formed in 1998 to provide space science educational and research programs for researchers, educators, and students.

For more information about Centennial Challenges on the Internet, visit:
http://centennialchallenges.nasa.gov

For more information about NASA and agency programs on the Internet, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html

For information about Volanz Aerospace Inc. on the Internet, visit:
www.spaceflightamerica.org

Original Source: NASA News Release

Michael Griffin is returning to NASA as the Agency’s 11th Administrator.

He reported to work at NASA Headquarters in Washington on Thursday, April 14, the same day the Expedition 11 crew launched to the International Space Station.

“I have great confidence in the team that will carry out our nation’s exciting, outward-focused, destination-oriented program,” said Griffin. “I share with the agency a great sense of privilege that we have been given the wonderful opportunity to extend humanity’s reach throughout the solar system.”

Administrator Griffin, who served as NASA’s Chief Engineer earlier in his career, takes the helm of the Agency as it’s charting a new course. The Space Shuttle fleet is poised to Return to Flight, the first step in fulfilling the Vision for Space Exploration — a bold plan to return humans to the Moon, journey to Mars and beyond.

In his first address to NASA employees, Griffin said he would focus immediately on Return to Flight efforts, and noted that the Agency has much on its plate right now. “It’s going to be difficult, it’s going to be hectic, but we will do it together,” he said.

He also told employees that he saw “nothing but cheers” in the public reaction to the Vision. “People want a space program that goes somewhere and does something,” he said.

Griffin was nominated by President George W. Bush on March 14, 2005, and confirmed by the United States Senate on April 13, 2005. At his confirmation hearing on April 12, he made clear that the “strategic vision for the U.S. manned space program is of exploration beyond low Earth orbit.”

In his statement to the committee, Griffin said, “It is a daring move at any time for a national leader to call for the bold exploration of unknown worlds, a major effort at the very limit of the technical state of the art,” adding later, “in the twenty-first century and beyond, for America to continue to be preeminent among nations, it is necessary for us also to be the preeminent spacefaring nation.”

A holder of five master’s degrees and a Ph.D., Griffin also made clear that, despite limited resources, “NASA can do more than one thing at a time.”

“My conclusion is that we as a nation can clearly afford well-executed, vigorous programs in both robotic and human space exploration as well as in aeronautics. We know this. We did it,” he said, referring back to the Agency’s accomplishments during the Apollo era.

He closed his statement with a call for exploration: “I believe that, if money is to be spent on space, there is little doubt that the huge majority of Americans would prefer to spend it on an exciting, outward-focused, destination-oriented program. And that is what the President’s Vision for Space Exploration is about.”

Prior to his appointment, Griffin was serving as Space Department Head at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Prior to that, he was President and Chief Operating Officer of In-Q-Tel, Inc. He also served in several positions within Orbital Sciences Corporation, including Chief Executive Officer of Magellan Systems, Inc.

Earlier in his career, Griffin served as chief engineer and associate administrator for exploration at NASA Headquarters and also worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He also served as Deputy for Technology at the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization.

Griffin received a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Johns Hopkins University; a master’s degree in Aerospace Science from Catholic University of America; a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland; a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California; a master’s degree in Applied Physics from Johns Hopkins University; a master’s degree in Business Administration from Loyola College; and a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from George Washington University.

Original Source: NASA News Release

The US White House has announced the Dr. Mike Griffin will pick up the reins at NASA, filling the vacancy left by Sean O’Keefe. Griffin is currently the director of space at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and is a supporter of the new Vision for Space Exploration. Once confirmed by the senate, Griffin will become the 11th Administrator for NASA.

The US White House released its 2006 budget today, which included $16.45 billion US for NASA. This is a 2.5% increase over the previous year, but it doesn’t include any funds to save the Hubble Space Telescope. Only $75 million have been set aside for Hubble, which would only be enough to have a robot steer the aging observatory into a safe trajectory when it needs to be destroyed. The budget sets aside $9.6 billion for science, aeronautics and exploration, and $6.7 billion for the space shuttle and International Space Station.

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe is set to resign this week from the agency, after heading it up for three years. President Bush is considering five men to take over, with the former leader of the Pentagon Missile Defense Agency, Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, widely considered to be the top candidate. Other people being considered for the position are former Congressman Robert Walker and former shuttle astronauts Ron Sega, Charles Bolden and Robert Crippen. O’Keefe is said to be considering a new position as the chancellor of Louisiana State University.

The X-43A research mission intended to reach Mach 10 today was postponed, and may be rescheduled for the same time tomorrow.

An instrumentation system problem with the X-43 caused a delay until it was fixed. When the preflight checklist was resumed, not enough time remained to meet an FAA launch deadline of 4 p.m. PST.

The X-43A team is meeting to assess the ability to launch the flight tomorrow.

If the mission can be flown on Tuesday, Nov. 16, the launch window would remain from 2 to 4 p.m. Pacific time, with takeoff of the B-52B mothership that carries the X-43A / Pegasus booster to launch altitude slated for 1 p.m.

The mission is intended to flight-validate the operation of the X-43A’s supersonic-combustion ramjet – or scramjet – engine at a record airspeed of almost 10 times the speed of sound, or about 7,000 mph.

The flight is part of the Hyper-X program, a research effort designed to demonstrate air-breathing propulsion technologies for access to space and high-speed flight within the atmosphere. It will provide unique in-flight data on hypersonic air-breathing engine technologies that have large potential pay-offs.

Original Source: NASA News Release

NASA unveils its newest supercomputer today during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the agency’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. The “Columbia” is one of the world’s most powerful supercomputing systems. Columbia was named to honor the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia lost Feb. 1, 2003.

“This amazing new supercomputer system dramatically increases NASA’s capabilities and revolutionizes our capacity for conducting scientific research and engineering design,” said NASA Ames Research Center Director G. Scott Hubbard. “It will be one of the fastest, largest and most productive supercomputers in the world, providing an estimated 10-fold increase in NASA’s supercomputing capacity. It is already having a major impact on NASA’s science, aeronautics and exploration programs, in addition to playing a critical role in preparing the Space Shuttle for return to safe flight next year,” Hubbard said.

Comprised of an integrated cluster of 20 interconnected SGI? Altix? 512-processor systems, for a total of 10,240 Intel? Itanium? 2 processors, Columbia was built and installed at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility at Ames in less than 120 days.

“The Columbia system is a tremendous development for NASA and the nation. Simulation of the evolution of the Earth and planetary ecosystems with high fidelity has been beyond the reach of Earth scientists for decades,” NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate Ghassem Asrar said. “With Columbia, scientists are already seeing dramatic improvements in the fidelity of simulations in such areas as hurricane track prediction, global ocean circulation, prediction of large scale structures in the universe, and the physics of supernova detonations,” he said.

Columbia provides an integrated computing, visualization and data storage environment to help NASA meet its mission goals and the Vision for Space Exploration. The new system builds upon the highly successful collaboration between NASA, Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) and Intel Corporation that developed the world’s first 512-processor Linux server. The server, the SGI? Altix? located at Ames was named “Kalpana,” after Columbia astronaut and Ames’ alumna Kalpana Chawla.

“With SGI and Intel, we set out to revitalize NASA’s computing capabilities, and the Columbia system has done so in a spectacular way,” said Walt Brooks, chief of NASA’s Advanced Supercomputing Division. “Not only were scientists doing real Earth and space analysis during the system build, but within days of the full installation, we achieved a Linpack benchmark rating of 42.7 teraflops on 16 nodes with an 88 percent efficiency rating, exceeding the current best reported number by a significant margin,” he said.

“With the completion of the Columbia system, NASA, SGI and Intel have created a powerful national resource, one that will serve scientists who strive to unlock the mysteries of this planet and the universe in which it dwells,” said SGI CEO Bob Bishop. “NASA should be commended for the remarkable boldness that made the new Columbia computer happen. Our long-standing partnership with the agency has triggered a new age in scientific discovery, and based on NASA’s initial success, it seems likely that we’ll be discussing new scientific breakthroughs in the very near future,” he said.
“The launching of the Columbia system shows what’s possible when government and technology leaders work together toward a goal of truly national importance,” said Paul Otellini, president and COO of Intel Corporation. “While this Itanium 2 processor-based system will be one of the highest performing computers ever created in the world, the real value is how this system will accelerate scientific design and research faster than before for years to come.”
The almost instant productivity of the Columbia supercomputer architecture and technology has made the system available to a broad spectrum of NASA-sponsored scientists. Feedback from scientists is extremely positive. Columbia already is enabling scientists to conduct research and analyze complex data much faster in a variety of scientific disciplines. The research and analysis ranges from providing more accurate hurricane predictions, to climate change, galaxy formation, black holes and supernovas.

Thanks to the powerful Columbia supercomputer, NASA scientists have developed an improved global circulation model. Initial results from this new model accurately predict when a hurricane is expected to hit land five days in advance, three days sooner than current methods, thereby helping reduce the potential impact on life and property.

Original Source: NASA News Release

Image credit: NASA
The man who designed the original spacecraft for Project Mercury and is credited with contributing to the designs of every U.S. human spacecraft from Mercury to the Space Shuttle has died. Dr. Maxime A. Faget, who in 1958 became part of the Space Task Group that would later evolve into the NASA Johnson Space Center, died Saturday at his home in Houston. He was 83 years old.

“Without Max Faget’s innovative designs and thoughtful approach to problem solving, America’s space program would have had trouble getting off the ground,” said NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe. “He also was an aeronautics pioneer. In fact, it was his work on supersonic flight research that eventually led to his interest in space flight. The thoughts and prayers of the entire agency are with his family.”

Faget’s career with NASA dates back to 1946, when he joined the staff of Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., as a research scientist. He worked in the Pilotless Aircraft Research Division and later was named head of the Performance Aerodynamics Branch. He conceived and proposed the development of the one-man spacecraft used in Project Mercury.

Faget was selected as one of the original 35 engineers as a nucleus of the Space Task Group to carry out the Mercury project. The group also devoted a lot of time to follow-on programs and Faget led the initial design and analysis teams that studied the feasibility of a flight to the Moon. As a result of his work and other NASA research, President John F. Kennedy was able to commit the U.S. to a lunar landing by the end of the 1960s.

“Max was a genuine icon,” said NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Operations William Readdy, “a down-to-earth Cajun with a very nuts-and-bolts approach to engineering. He contributed immeasurably to America’s successes in human space flight. His genius allowed us to compete and win the space race to the Moon.”

“Max Faget was truly a legend of the manned space flight program,” said Christopher C. Kraft, former Johnson Space Center director. “He was a true icon of the space program. There is no one in space flight history in this or any other country who has had a larger impact on man’s quest in space exploration. He was a colleague and a friend I regarded with the highest esteem. History will remember him as one of the really great scientists of the 20th Century.”

Faget was part of the original feasibility study for the Space Shuttle. His team then focused on Shuttle development. He retired from NASA in 1981 following the second shuttle mission (STS-2). His government service career spanned four decades.

After retiring from NASA, Faget was among the founders of one of the early private space companies, Space Industries Inc., established in 1982. One of its projects was the Wake Shield Facility, built for the University of Houston and flown twice aboard the Space Shuttle to demonstrate a technique for processing material in a near-perfect vacuum.

Born on August 26, 1921, in Stann Creek, British Honduras, Faget graduated from Louisiana State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1943. He joined the U.S. Navy where he saw considerable combat as an officer in the submarine service.

Faget’s numerous accomplishments include patents on the “Aerial Capsule Emergency Separation Device” (escape tower), the “Survival Couch,” the “Mercury Capsule,” and a “Mach Number Indicator.”

He received numerous honors and awards, including the Arthur S. Flemming Award, the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership, and honorary doctorate of engineering degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and Louisiana State University. He was inducted into the National Space Hall of Fame in 1969 and the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2003. Faget was the first recipient of the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement in 1987.

Faget was preceded in death by his wife Nancy in 1994. He is survived by four children: Ann, Carol, Guy, and Nanette; a daughter in law, two sons in law and 10 grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Original Source: NASA News Release

Gordon Cooper Jr., the astronaut who piloted the sixth and last flight of the Mercury program and later commanded Gemini 5, died earlier today at his home in Ventura, Calif. He was 77 years old.

“As one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, Gordon Cooper was one of the faces of America’s fledgling space program. He truly portrayed the right stuff, and he helped gain the backing and enthusiasm of the American public, so critical for the spirit of exploration. My thoughts and prayers are with Gordon’s family during this difficult time,” said NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe.

“Cooper’s efforts and those of his fellow Mercury astronauts, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra and Deke Slayton, serve as reminders of what drives us to explore. They also remind us that to succeed any vision for exploration needs the support of the American people.”

“Gordo was one of the most straightforward people I have ever known. What you saw was what you got,” said fellow Mercury astronaut and former U.S. Senator John Glenn, in a statement released by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

Another of the “Original Seven,” Wally Schirra added, “We seven were bonded like brothers, maybe even closer if that’s possible.”

“He never said ‘you can’t do it.’ He was gung ho on everything,” said Norris Gray, the NASA Fire Chief and Emergency Preparedness Officier during the Mercury days. Sam Beddingfield, then Mechanical Engineer for Project Mercury added, “He knew what he was doing and could always make things work.”

“Gordon Cooper’s legacy is permanently woven into the fabric of the Kennedy Space Center as a Mercury Seven astronaut,” said Kennedy Space Center director Jim Kennedy. “His achievements helped build the foundation of success for human space flight that NASA and KSC have benefited from for the past four decades.

“While the KSC family mourns the loss of this space pioneer, we honor his contributions and rest easy knowing his imprint on KSC will last forever. I consider it a privilege to have known Gordon Cooper. On behalf of the KSC family, I extend condolences to the Cooper family and our prayers are with them in their trying days ahead. ”

The youngest of the original seven astronauts, Cooper’s flight in his Faith 7 capsule stretched the capabilities of the Mercury spacecraft to the limits. The mission, May 15 and 16, 1963, lasted more than 34 hours and 22 orbits. That was more than three times the longest U.S. human space flight until that time, and far exceeded the initial design capability of the capsule. During his flight, Cooper also became the first astronaut to sleep in space.

“NASA’s astronauts extend their deepest sympathies to Gordon Cooper’s family,” said Kent Rominger, chief of the astronaut office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “He was among the first pioneers in space and his achievements inspired many of us to pursue our dreams of exploring our universe. We salute his many accomplishments as an astronaut and as a husband and father. He will be truly missed.”

Cooper and Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr. flew the troubled and suspenseful third flight of the Gemini program in August 1965. The goal of the mission was to prove astronauts could survive in space long enough to perform a lunar mission, which takes eight days.

During their eight-day mission, they experienced a number of problems with power systems, thruster fuel, venting gas that caused the spacecraft to roll, and more in a seemingly unending series. But they stayed in orbit for almost 191 hours, 122 orbits in nearly eight days, and got themselves and their spacecraft back intact. In orbit, they accomplished a “shadow rendezvous” with an imaginary spacecraft, an exercise demonstrating it could be done.

The Gemini 5 mission established a new space endurance record at the time, travelling 3,312,993 miles in 190 hours and 56 minutes. Cooper also became the first man to make a second orbital flight and thus won for the United States the lead in man-hours in space by accumulating a total of 225 hours and 15 minutes.

A Life of Service
Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. was born on March 6, 1927, in Shawnee, Okla. He served in the Marine Corps in 1945 and 1946, then attended the University of Hawaii where he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

In 1949 he was called to active duty and completed pilot training in the U.S. Air Force. From 1950 to 1954 he was a fighter pilot in Germany.

Cooper earned a bachelor’s degree at the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1956, then completed test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. He served as a test pilot there until he was selected as a Mercury astronaut.

In addition to his two flights, Cooper was backup command pilot of Gemini 12, launched in November 1965. He also served as backup command pilot for Apollo 10, which flew in May 1969. He left NASA and retired from the Air Force as a colonel on July 31, 1970.

He founded Gordon Cooper and Associates that year and served as president of the consulting firm that specialized in activities ranging from aerospace to hotel and land development projects. Cooper was a director of a number of other organizations, most specializing in energy, advanced electronics systems, efficient homes, boats and marine systems and equipment.

In 1975, he became vice president for research and development for Walter E. Disney Enterprises Inc. of Glendale, Calif., the research and development subsidiary of Walt Disney Productions.

Throughout his life, Cooper pursued a wide range of activities, both professionally and as hobbies. A NASA biography lists his hobbies as treasure hunting, archaeology, racing, flying, skiing, boating, hunting and fishing. Among his numerous awards were the Air Force Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross with cluster, NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal, the Collier Trophy and the Harmon Trophy.

He was the first active-duty military man to address joint sessions of Congress twice.

Cooper continued to design and test new aircraft in Southern California, never giving up his passion for pushing the envelope. Cooper told a reporter when he was 71, “I get cranky if I don’t fly at least three times a month.”

Original Source: NASA News Release