Currently, land-based tower wind turbines are the dominant source of wind power, but they take up a lot of space and generally need to be placed in high visibility areas, such as the tops of hills or ridges. They are also located close to the ground, where friction from the Earths surface slows the wind and increases its turbulence, negatively affecting the efficiency of the turbines. NASA engineers are looking at technologies that would help airborne wind power systems, capable of generating much more power, get off the ground.

There are two basic types of kite-based airborne wind-energy systems. Flygen systems see turbines built into the kite that generate the electricity and feed it via a tether to a storage or distribution device on the ground. The second features a ground-based generator that is powered by the reeling out of the tether as the kite catches the wind. By tacking the kite upwind like a sailboat, the periodic reeling-in phase takes much less energy around 10 percent than is produced by the reeling-out phase, resulting in a 90 percent net energy gain.

Both systems also rely on the aerodynamics of the kite and autonomous flight control. It is these two aspects of the technology that NASA researchers are looking to improve to help make airborne wind-energy systems a viable alternative to ground-based turbines.

"A lot of the systems that are flying have pretty cruddy aerodynamics," says David North, an engineer at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. He points out that companies under deadline pressure from investors arent able to spend much time on the difficult challenge of optimizing the kites efficiency. "Here at NASA," he said, "we have the luxury of focusing very specifically on problems and not have to worry about getting a commercial product fielded by a certain date."

North says that, while several companies attempting to bring airborne wind energy to market have demonstrated autonomous flight, they have relied on sophisticated onboard electronics and flight-control systems, comparable to autopilot systems used on commercial aircraft. "Our goal is to simplify the whole thing," he said, "especially if we are only flying at 2,000 feet, which is in most cases below the clouds."

North and his colleagues at Langley achieved the worlds first sustained autonomous flight using only ground-based sensors on March 1, 2012. "The breakthrough we've made is we are basically using a cheapo digital webcam tied into a laptop computer (on the ground) to track the motion of the kite and keep it flying autonomously, North explained.

The system developed by the NASA researchers builds on the principle that the tips of a wind turbines blades generate as much as 90 percent of the turbines power because they are further from the hub and spin faster than the rest of the blade. In effect, placing a wind turbine at the end of a tether instead of it being attached to a concrete foundation allows the kite to act as a flying blade tip. It also allows the system to harness the much faster and steadier winds that can be found at higher altitudes.

The autonomous system functions in a similar way to Microsofts Kinect, with pattern recognition software determining where the kite is positioned, how it is oriented, and how fast it is moving. This data is fed into a flight-control system that keeps the kite in the air flying in a figure-8 pattern. The prototype kite only had a wingspan of about 10 feet (3 m), which is much smaller than the devices expected to be used in commercial applications. "Some people are talking very large, like wings the size of Boeing 747 airliners," North said

So far, the teams test flights have been limited to low altitudes to avoid interfering with aircraft, but they are trying to gain permission to fly at 2,000 feet for long periods of time in the restricted airspace reserved for NASA above Wallops Island, Virginia. Above 2,000 feet is considered the sweet spot for airborne wind-energy systems.

While the research will benefit renewable energy generation on Earth, NASA says the airborne power-generation systems could also be put to use on neighboring worlds, such as Mars, Venus, and Titan.

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NASA researchers aim to help get airborne wind power systems off the ground

Synopsis/Solicitation Combo - Jul 03, 2012

On-Line RFQ - Posted on Jul 03, 2012

General Information

Solicitation Number: NNK12440488Q Posted Date: Jul 03, 2012 FedBizOpps Posted Date: Jul 03, 2012 Recovery and Reinvestment Act Action: No Original Response Date: Jul 18, 2012 Current Response Date: Jul 18, 2012 Classification Code: 34 -- Metalworking machinery NAICS Code: 333514 Set-Aside Code: Total Small Business

Contracting Office Address

NASA/John F. Kennedy Space Center, Procurement, Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899

Description

NASA/KSC has a requirement for 3D Printers which allows for professional grade 3-D models. Item 1: MoJo Printer Kit or equal, QTY 1 EA; Item 2: uPrint SE Plus Printer or equal, QTY 1 EA.

This notice is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation, which is issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ); quotes are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. Offerors are required to use the On-Line RFQ system to submit their quote. The On-line RFQ system is linked above or it may be accessed at http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps/bizops.cgi?gr=C&pin= . The information required by FAR Subpart 12.6 is included in the on-line RFQ.

The Government intends to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12 and the Simplified Acquisition Procedures set forth in FAR Part 13.

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NASA KSC Solicitation: 3D Printers

As a powerful summertime derecho moved from Illinois to the Mid-Atlantic states on June 29, expanding and bringing destruction with it, NASA and other satellites provided a look at various factors involved in the event, its progression and its aftermath.

According to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center web site, a derecho (pronounced "deh-REY-cho") is a widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. Damage from a derecho is usually in one direction along a relatively straight track. By definition an event is classified a derecho if the wind damage swath extends more than 240 miles (about 400 kilometers) and includes wind gusts of at least 58 mph (93 km/h) or greater along most of its length.

These storms are most common in the United States during the late spring and summer, with more than three quarters occurring between April and August. They either extend from the upper Mississippi Valley southeast into the Ohio Valley, or from the southern Plains northeast into the mid-Mississippi Valley.

NOAA's GOES-13 satellite, which watches the movement of weather systems in the eastern half of the U.S., captured the expansion and movement of the derecho from its birthplace in Illinois. The satellite data was compiled and animated by the NASA GOES Project at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The movie begins on June 28 at 1515 UTC (11:15 a.m. EDT) and ends on June 30, 2012 at 1601 UTC (12:01 p.m. EDT). In the animation, the derecho's clouds appear as a line in the upper Midwest on June 29 at 1432. By 1602 UTC, they appear as a rounded area south of Lake Michigan. By 2132, the area of the derecho's clouds were near Lake Erie and over Ohio expanding as the system track southeast. By 0630 UTC, the size appears to have almost doubled as the derecho moves over West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. At 0232 UTC on June 30 (10:32 p.m. EDT), the Derecho was over the mid-Atlantic bringing a 100 mile line of severe storms and wind gusts as high as 90 mph to the region.

"It is interesting how the process is a self-sustaining process that is fed by a combination of atmospheric factors that all have to be in place at the same time," said Joe Witte, a meteorologist in Climate Change Communication at George Mason University, Va. and a consultant to NASA Headquarters, Washington. "That is why they are relatively rare: not all the elements line up that often."

Witte said that one could think of the strong winds as a combination to two main wind flows: the downburst winds from very high altitudes, and the forward speed of the storms.

A downburst occurs when cold air in the upper atmosphere is cooled more by the evaporation of some of the rain and melting of the frozen precipitation pushed up into the high levels of the towering cumulonimbus (thunderclouds). That cold air becomes much denser than the surrounding air and literally falls to the ground, accelerating like any other falling body. "The huge blob of very cold air from the upper atmosphere has a higher forward wind speed since it is high in the atmosphere, " Witte said. "This gives the 'blob' great forward momentum. Add that speed to the falling speed and the result is a very powerful forward moving surface wind."

The process of a derecho can become self-sustaining as hot and humid air is forced upward by the gust front and develops more (reinforcing) towering clouds. When one adds in a rear low level jet stream, there is nothing to stop the repeating process.

NASA's Aqua satellite flew over the derecho on June 29 and June 30, using the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument (AIRS) onboard to capture infrared imagery of the event.

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NASA Satellites Examine Powerful Summer Derecho

Today it was announced that NASA and Craig Technologies have signed a five-year, non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement which will have NASA loaning 1,600 pieces of space shuttle era equipment to Craig Technologies. The agreement will have Craig Technologies maintain an inventory of unique processing and manufacturing equipment for future mission support at the agencys Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This is an innovative way to ensure that space shuttle era technology and tools are reused for other hi-tech, private sector purposes along the Space Coast, said David Weaver, NASAs associate administrator for the Office of Communications.This is all part of NASAs plan to support the transition to the next era of exploration, creating good-paying American jobs and keeping the United States the world leader in space.

Craig Technologies will have use of the equipment starting in 2013 when the current partnership between NASA and United Space Alliance ends. The equipment, which is currently being held the NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot in Cape Canaveral, Fla, will be available for Craig to use with 2 restrictions. One being that they can use the equipment until NASA needs to use it. And two, they must store the used equipment within a 50 mile radius of Kennedy Space Center.

Kennedy continues to work with the commercial community to find inventive ways to share our unique capabilities, said Joyce Riquelme, manager of the Kennedy Center Planning and Development Office. This partnership benefits new customers who will use the equipment now, and keeps it close for our use in future spaceflight projects.

NASA has really been focusing on outsourcing the things it does as its budget continually dwindles. This deal, partnered with the deal they struck with SpaceX shows that NASA is capable of moving forward in these rough financial times.

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NASA And Craig Technologies Sign 5 Year Space Act Agreement

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA has signed a new partnership with Craig Technologies of Melbourne, Fla., to maintain an inventory of unique processing and manufacturing equipment for future mission support at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Under a five-year, non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement, NASA will loan 1,600 pieces of equipment to Craig Technologies. The equipment supported Space Shuttle Program capabilities such as flight hardware and cable fabrication. It was used in manufacturing, repair and inspection processes necessary for spaceflight hardware, avionics and ground processing.

"This is an innovative way to ensure that space shuttle era technology and tools are reused for other hi-tech, private sector purposes along the Space Coast," said David Weaver, NASA's associate administrator for the Office of Communications."This is all part of NASA's plan to support the transition to the next era of exploration, creating good-paying American jobs and keeping the United States the world leader in space."

Craig Technologies will be able to use the equipment for five years beginning January 2013 or until NASA requires use of it, whichever comes first. Craig will be required to operate, maintain and store the property at a single location within a 50-mile radius of Kennedy.

"Kennedy continues to work with the commercial community to find inventive ways to share our unique capabilities," said Joyce Riquelme, manager of the Kennedy Center Planning and Development Office. "This partnership benefits new customers who will use the equipment now, and keeps it close for our use in future spaceflight projects."

The equipment currently is located in the NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and managed by United Space Alliance (USA). The equipment will remain there through the end of the year when the current USA lease expires.

For more information about Kennedy, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/kennedy

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NASA Signs Agreement with Craig Technologies for Kennedy's Unique Equipment

U-TAPAO

BEIJING : China was not worried about Nasa's now-cancelled weather research project but more concerned about the US request to use U-tapao airport as a centre for its regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) project, Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul says.

Mr Surapong said he discussed the two issues with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi during a working lunch meeting yesterday.

While some in Thailand believed China was worried about Nasa's request to use the Thai naval air base to research weather conditions over Southeast Asia, Beijing, in fact, voiced more concern about the US request to use the base for the HADR project, he said.

Mr Surapong did not elaborate on why Beijing was worried about the use of U-tapao as an HADR centre, saying he would reveal more details when he speaks to the media at the Foreign Ministry tomorrow.

"Everything will be clear that day. Those who do not understand the issues and try to mix them together will know that they, in fact, do not know anything. I believe the opposition party which opposed the Nasa project will be lost by the facts if they learn them from me," Mr Surapong said.

Nasa scrapped the project to conduct the climate study using U-tapao airport as a base after the cabinet decided to forward the issue to parliament for a joint debate next month.

The US request to use U-tapao airport for HADR has not been finalised, pending talks between Bangkok and Washington.

The US government would like to use U-tapao airport because it is centrally located for use in helping other countries in the region.

Former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva proposed at the Asean-UN Summit in 2010 that U-tapao airport be used as a base for HADR as Southeast Asia had experienced natural disasters more frequently in recent years.

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Nasa's relief centre plan 'irked China'

July 4, 2012

Image Caption: SUMIs instruments are designed to study magnetic fields of the suns chromosphere -- a thin layer of solar atmosphere sandwiched between the visible surface, photosphere and its atmosphere, the corona. Hinode, a collaborative mission of the space agencies of Japan, the United States, United Kingdom and Europe, captured these very dynamic pictures of our sun's chromosphere on Jan. 12, 2007. Image credit: JAXA/NASA

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

While the nation shoots off plenty of fireworks for the Fourth of July, NASA will be sending off its own rocket the next day.

The space agency will be launching its Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph Investigation (SUMI) on Thursday to study the magnetic fields on the sun.

SUMI will set out to study the constantly changing magnetic fields in an area of the suns low atmosphere called the chromosphere.

These magnetic fields lie at the heart of how the sun can create huge explosions of light, like solar flares and eruptions of particles like coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

Whats novel with this instrument is that it observes ultraviolet light, when all the others look at infrared or visible light, Jonathan Cirtain, a solar scientist at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center, said in a prepared statement. Those wavelengths of light correspond to the lowest levels in the suns atmosphere, but SUMI will look at locations higher in the chromosphere.

The higher layer of the chromosphere is known as the transition region, because the chromosphere transitions there into the part of the suns atmosphere called the corona. NASA said this region is dominated by the magnetic fields, in which solar material heats up dramatically forming the corona and the base of the solar wind.

According to the space agency, understanding the structure of the magnetic fields in the transition region will allow scientists to understand how the corona is heated and how the solar wind is formed.

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NASA Launching New Sun Observing Spacecraft Thursday

Alan Poindexter dies: NASA and astronauts around the world remember the former US Navy Captain and NASA astronaut as a man who 'proudly served his country for 26 years'.

NASA officials and astronauts around the world are mourning the death of retired space shuttle commander Alan Poindexter, a two-time space shuttle flier who died Sunday (July 1) in a tragic jet ski accident in Florida.

Poindexter, known as "Dex" at NASA, died while vacationing with his family in Pensacola, Fla. He was jet skiing with his two sons when one of the jet skis unexpectedly hit him, according to media reports.

News of the accident and Poindexter's death stunned NASA's astronaut corps. Poindexter retired from NASA's astronaut ranks in 2010 to serve as dean of students at the U.S. Navy's Naval Postgraduate School.

"We in the astronaut family have lost not only a dear friend, but also a patriot of the United States," said Peggy Whitson, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, in a statement. "He proudly served his country for 26 years as a fighter pilot, test pilot, astronaut and commander of a space shuttle. I am proud to have both flown in space and worked with him for so many years. Dex will be deeply missed by those of us at Johnson and the entire NASA family."

Hailing from Rockville, Md., Alan Poindexterwas a U.S. Navy Captain selected to join NASA's astronaut corps in 1998. He flew on two space missions, with his first as the pilot of shuttle Atlantis on STS-122 a 2008 mission that delivered the European Columbus laboratory module to the International Space Station. Later, Poindexter commanded the shuttle Discovery's STS-131 mission to deliver supplies to the station. [Photos: Discovery's Amazing STS-131 Launch]

In all, Poindexter logged 28 days in space. He is survived by his wife Lisa and their two grown sons.

"Alan and I joined the astronaut corps in 1998 and flew together on STS-122, which was truly an incredible experience," said NASA Associate Administrator for Education and former astronaut LelandMelvin. "He was a passionate, caring and selfless individual who will be missed by all."

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Alan Poindexter dies: Space community mourns NASA astronaut

03-07-2012 10:34 Visit for more. The brightest planets in the solar system are converging for a beautiful sunrise sky show in early July.

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ScienceCasts: A Good Reason to Wake Up at Dawn - Video

NASA's newest space telescope has opened its X-ray eyes to take its first pictures of the high-energy universe, including a glimpse at a well-known black hole.

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NASA Space Telescope Snaps Its First Black Hole Picture

NASA officials and astronauts around the world are mourning the death of retired space shuttle commander Alan Poindexter, a two-time space shuttle flier who died Sunday (July 1) in a tragic jet ski accident in Florida.

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NASA Mourns Tragic Death of Retired Astronaut Alan Poindexter

NASAs plan for the immediate future is quite simple. Go to the Moon, go to an asteroid, go to Mars. Not in that specific order but that it what we are looking at as the essential missions in the next 30 years for the space agency. Since the retirement of the shuttle the question has continually been, how? Well that question was answered on the 28th when the Orion space capsule was delivered to NASAs Kennedy Space Center by Lockheed Martin.

This starts a new, exciting chapter in this nations great space exploration story, said Lori Garver, NASA deputy administrator. Today we are lifting our spirits to new heights.

The first flight of the spacecraft will take place in 2014 and will be uncrewed. Called Exploration Flight Test-1 or EFT-1, it will be loaded with a wide variety of instruments to evaluate how the spacecraft behaves during launch, in space and the through the searing heat of reentry. This spacecraft will also be the most advanced space craft ever designed with features that include emergency abort capability, sustain astronauts during space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space.

Ladies and gentlemen, were going to Mars, proclaimed U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who joined Garver and other officials to welcome the Orion spacecraft. We know the Orion capsule is a critical part of the system thats going to take us there.

The capsule will be launched into orbit by the Space Launch System (SLS) and the launch is scheduled to take place in 2017. The SLS is not without controversy though. This is a rocket system that was neither asked for or wanted by NASA but was forced upon them by congress. The huge rocket is capable of lifting up to 130 metric tons to orbit. The current rocket, and the one that will be used for the test flight, the Delta IV-Heavy, is more than powerful enough to get the job done.

The systems on this spacecraft, its bigger than Apollo and it has to stay in space longer than Apollo, so it has to be better than Apollo, said Bob Cabana, director of Kennedy and a former shuttle commander.

For now, the focus for NASA and Lockheed Martin is preparing this capsule for space in 2014. During the EFT-1 mission, a Delta IV-Heavy rocket from United Launch Alliance will lift the spacecraft into orbit. Its second stage will remain attached to the capsule and will be fired to raise the Orions orbit to 3,600 miles, about 15 times higher than the International Space Station. The mission will last only a few hours, which is long enough to make two orbits before being sent back into the atmosphere to test it at deep-space reentry speeds.

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NASA Takes Delivery Of Orion Space Capsule

HOUSTON -- Former NASA astronaut and space shuttle commander Alan "Dex" Poindexter died while on vacation with his family July 1 in Pensacola, Fla. A veteran of two spaceflights, Poindexter spent a total of 28 days in space.

Poindexter, a U.S. Navy captain, commanded the STS-131 space shuttle Discovery mission to the International Space Station in 2010, delivering more than 13,000 pounds of hardware and equipment. He was the pilot for shuttle Atlantis' STS-122 mission that delivered and installed the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory on the station in 2008.

"Alan and I joined the astronaut corps in 1998 and flew together on STS-122, which was truly an incredible experience," said NASA Associate Administrator for Education and former astronaut Leland Melvin. "He was a passionate, caring and selfless individual who will be missed by all."

"We in the astronaut family have lost not only a dear friend, but also a patriot of the United States," said Peggy Whitson, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "He proudly served his country for 26 years as a fighter pilot, test pilot, astronaut and commander of a space shuttle. I am proud to have both flown in space and worked with him for so many years. Dex will be deeply missed by those of us at Johnson and the entire NASA family."

Poindexter earned an undergraduate degree with highest honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and a graduate degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. He was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 1998 and served in the Astronaut Office, Shuttle Operations Branch at Johnson as the lead support astronaut for NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He also served as a spacecraft communicator, or CAPCOM, for multiple missions.

"Dex was a wonderful human being and a pleasure to have in the astronaut office," Janet Kavandi, fellow astronaut and Director of Flight Crew Operations said. "His good-natured demeanor made him approachable to his crews and the many people at Johnson and Kennedy who enabled his missions."

Poindexter retired from NASA and the astronaut corps in 2010 and returned to serve in the United States Navy as Dean of Students at the Naval Postgraduate School.

For Poindexter's complete biography, please visit: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/poindexter.html

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

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NASA Extends Sympathy to Poindexter Family on Death of Former Astronaut

A new nonprofit organization that's supposed to take charge of expanding scientific research on the international space station has had a rocky first year, but now is starting to show what it can do.

The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space just signed one agreement with a company not traditionally linked to research in space: the sporting goods company Cobra Puma Golf.

With the space station now complete after more than a decade of construction at a cost of around $100 billion, attention has turned to how to best use the station.

CASIS was established to drum up interest in doing experiments by folks outside of NASA, including people who work at private companies, universities, or other federal agencies.

Or, as CASIS puts it in a promotional video, the mission is to "seek out those ready to put their ideas into orbit and to get them there."

How CASIS Can Work

"There's some things that a nonprofit organization can do that NASA as a government entity can't do," says Marybeth Edeen, a manager at NASA's space station program.

I'd give them a D-plus overall.

- Keith Cowing, NASAwatch.com

A nonprofit can go out and talk with companies and make a case for how research in orbit could potentially help their bottom line, Edeen says. A nonprofit can also raise money from investors or charities.

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Fledgling NASA Nonprofit Starts To Liftoff

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Without a heat shield or wiring, and with only welded metal panels to see, NASA's new spacecraft designed to take astronauts out beyond Earth and into the solar system doesn't look like much yet.

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NASA Unveils Orion Space Capsule for 2014 Test Launch

DENVER, July 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (LMT) has delivered the first space-bound Orion spacecraft crew module structure to the Operations and Checkout Building on NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. The crew module structure recently underwent its final friction stir weld at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, La. and was transported to KSC last week to be readied for its Exploration Flight Test (EFT-1) in 2014.

"Completing the Orion EFT-1 structure in New Orleans and delivering it to Kennedy Space Center is a tremendous accomplishment in the manufacturing of this deep space hardware," said Cleon Lacefield, Lockheed Martin vice president and Orion program manager. "Now we have our eyes set on the Exploration Flight Test which will take this amazing spacecraft designed for crew significantly farther from Earth than any mission since Apollo."

This Orion capsule will be the first to be sent into space. Over the next year and a half, the crew module will undergo final assembly, integration and testing at KSC in preparation for the Exploration Flight Test. Additional subsystems will be installed, including propulsion, thermal protection, environmental control, avionics, power, mechanisms, and landing and recovery systems.

The EFT-1 flight will be NASA's first orbital flight test beyond low Earth orbit since the 1960s. The test will evaluate critical capabilities needed for safe deep-space exploration and reduce overall risk for Orion's first human-rated flight in 2017. An uncrewed Orion capsule will be launched aboard a Delta IV Heavy to an altitude of more than 3,600 miles and demonstrate integrated vehicle performance for ascent, on-orbit flight, and a high energy re-entry profile with speeds up to 20,000 mph. The EFT-1 test will also enable the team to collect early critical flight performance data and assess the integration benefits for the Orion, Space Launch System and Ground Operations programs.

Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor to NASA for the Orion crew exploration vehicle the world's first interplanetary spacecraft designed for human exploration of our solar system. Orion is designed to carry astronauts beyond low Earth orbit on long-duration, deep-space missions to destinations such as asteroids, Lagrange Points or the moon.

NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston manages the Orion Program. Lockheed Martin leads the Orion industry team which includes major subcontractors as well as a nationwide network of minor subcontractors and small businesses. In addition, Lockheed Martin contracts with hundreds of small and disadvantaged business suppliers across the United States through an expansive supply chain network.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs about 123,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation's net sales for 2011 were $46.5 billion.

More information about NASA's Orion spacecraft can be found at:

MEDIA CONTACT:

Gary Napier, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company

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Lockheed Martin Delivers Orion Spacecraft to NASA Kennedy Space Center

This is an image taken from one of NASAs two special "Webb-cams, a camera in a giant clean room at NASA Goddard. The Webb-cams focus on what's happening with the very first completed instrument that will fly onboard the James Webb Space Telescope. The flight Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) is at left center. The Ambient Optical Assembly Stand is on the right side of the image. Credit: NASA

(Phys.org) -- NASA's special "Webb-cam," the camera in a giant clean room at NASA Goddard, now has "double vision," because there are two video cameras now focusing on what's happening with the very first completed instrument that will fly onboard the James Webb Space Telescope. Recently, there's been a lot to look at because the MIRI instrument arrived at Goddard from the United Kingdom.

These aren't just typical webcams, they're "Webb-cams" because they're focused on the progress of work being done on components of the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope in the largest clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

"We now have two webcams in the Building 29 clean room at Goddard, one showing the left side and one showing the right," said Maggie Masetti, Web Developer on the Webb telescope mission at NASA Goddard. "The screenshots on-line are updated every minute. The clean room is generally occupied from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time in the U.S., Monday through Friday. There may not be much activity outside of these hours." The Webb-cam can be seen on-line at: http://jwst.nasa.g /webcam.html .

The James Webb Space Telescope contains four science instruments, but only one of them, the MIRI, sees light in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Mid-infrared light is longer in wavelength than that which the other Webb instruments are designed to observe. This unique capability of the MIRI allows the Webb telescope to study physical processes occurring in the cosmos that the other Webb instruments cannot see. The MIRI will be integrated into the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) Structure and viewers of the "Double Vision Webb Cams" can see it happen.

The MIRI is important to the Webb telescope because its sensitive detectors will allow it to make unique observations of many things including the light of distant galaxies, newly forming stars within our own Milky Way, the formation of planets around stars other than our own, as well as planets, comets, and the outermost debris disk in our own solar system.

Enlarge

Three engineers from the European Space Agency wearing blue hood are investigating the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) that recently arrived at NASA Goddards clean room. The MIRI sees light in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Keep watching the Webb-cams, and the MIRI will likely be moved into view soon. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn

The Webb telescope project is managed at Goddard, and several components of this next generation space telescope are already in a clean room there. The Webb telescope is the world's next-generation space observatory and successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The most powerful space telescope ever built, the Webb telescope will provide images of the first galaxies ever formed, and explore planets around distant stars. It is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

What is a Clean Room?

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NASA's 'Webb-Cam' has double vision for MIRI's arrival

Poindexter's sons were not injured in the accident, which is under investigation.

Poindexter, who went by the nickname "Dex," made two space flights during his career with NASA. In February 2008, he was the pilot aboard the shuttle Atlantis on a mission to deliver the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory module to the International Space Station.

Poindexter returned to space in April 2010 as commander of the shuttle Discovery on one of the final cargo runs to the station before the shuttles were retired.

"He was a talented, courageous Navy veteran with gifts," astronaut Greg Johnson wrote on Twitter. "Dex was a lovable guy with a strong work ethic."

A captain in the US Navy, Poindexter left NASA in December 2010 to become dean of students at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He earned a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the school in 1995.

He is the son of former National Security Adviser John Poindexter, who served in the Reagan administration.

Alan Poindexter was born in 1961 in Pasadena, California, but considered Rockville, Maryland, to be his hometown. He earned a bachelor of aerospace engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology, then was commissioned in the Navy.

Poindexter flew combat missions in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Southern Watch, then became a test pilot. He logged more than 4,000 hours flying time in more than 30 types of aircraft.

He was selected to join NASA's astronaut corps in June 1998.

Source: Reuters

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Nasa shuttle astronaut dies in jet ski accident

Former astronaut Alan "Dex" Poindexter, 50, a space shuttle commander who flew twice into space, died Sunday (July 1) after being injured in a water sports accident in Florida, NASA has confirmed.

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Former NASA Astronaut Alan Poindexter, 50, Dies in Jet Ski Accident

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER Though NASA relies on Russia to transport astronauts into orbit, retired astronaut Winston Scott remains optimistic about the next half-century of American spaceflight.

Monday, NASA showed off its new Orion crew capsule at Kennedy Space Center in advance of an unmanned 2014 orbital test flight. This deep-space exploration program may ultimately send humans to the moon, asteroids and Mars.

And on a parallel path, SpaceX's Dragon capsule splashed down in May in the Pacific Ocean, pushing commercial spacecraft closer to servicing the International Space Station.

"We're moving forward. We're just moving forward very slow," Scott said Sunday during ceremonies marking KSC's 50th anniversary.

"Many of us would like to see America accelerate let's get back in the game quickly. But it's slow. And we are making progress," Scott said.

KSC opened July 1, 1962, as NASA's Launch Operations Center during the Space Race with the Soviet Union. The Merritt Island complex was renamed Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 29, 1963, one week after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, said Stephen Smith, KSC Visitor Complex spokesman.

Constructed amid mosquito-infested marshland, the facility later hosted the historic Apollo 11 lunar launch and 135 shuttle missions.

Scott flew aboard Shuttles Endeavour and Columbia as a mission specialist in 1996-97. Sunday, he shared photos, videos and personal anecdotes including a primer on how astronauts use strap-in space toilets with spectators at the KSC Visitor Complex. He also signed autographs and posed for photos.

Scott said astronauts should have set foot on Mars by now but the federal government has lacked political will and economic incentive to even return to the moon in recent decades.

Carol Scott, NASA commercial crew program manager, said the final shuttle flight last July has caused confusion among the general public

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NASA shows off deep-space exploration capsule at Kennedy Space Center