NASA Request for Information on Potential Partnerships for Industry-led Development of Robotic Lunar Landers

Posted on by

Synopsis - Jul 02, 2013

General Information

Solicitation Number: NNH13ZCQ002L Posted Date: Jul 02, 2013 FedBizOpps Posted Date: Jul 02, 2013 Recovery and Reinvestment Act Action: No Original Response Date: Aug 02, 2013 Current Response Date: Aug 02, 2013 Classification Code: A -- Research and Development NAICS Code: 336414

Contracting Office Address

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Headquarters Acquisition Branch, Code 210.H, Greenbelt, MD 20771

Description

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI): THIS IS *NOT* A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, QUOTATION, OR INVITATION TO BID NOTICE.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is continually looking for ways to help advance the development of commercial space products and services. With the recent influx of U.S. private-sector companies interested in space exploration and utilization, NASA is seeking to better understand U.S. industry's interests in a myriad of exploration activities, including the private development of robotic lander capabilities for the lunar surface. To that end, NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Division in the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate is seeking input through this Request for Information (RFI) that focuses on an industry-developed robotic lander that can be integrated with a launch vehicle for the purposes of supporting commercial (and potentially future NASA) missions. An industry-NASA partnership would:

* Transfer and capitalize on a long history of NASA investments in lander technologies and expertise

* Support a growing commercial interest in robotically delivering payloads to the lunar surface more reliably and cost-effectively than under current models

View original post here:

NASA Request for Information on Potential Partnerships for Industry-led Development of Robotic Lunar Landers

NASA Makes the Grade on the SBA Procurement Scorecard

Posted on by

NASA has achieved an "A" on the fiscal year 2012 (FY12) Small Business Administration (SBA) Procurement Scorecard.

During the past six years, NASA's demonstrated commitment to the agency's small business program has raised the agency's overall grade from an "F" to an "A" after receiving a grade of "C" in FY09 and FY10 and a grade of "B" in FY11.

The annual SBA Procurement Scorecard measures how well federal agencies reach their established small business and socio-economic prime and subcontracting goals. It also measures how the agencies provide accurate and transparent contracting data and report on agency-specific progress.

Despite the overall spending decrease by the agency due to federal budget constraints in FY12, NASA awarded approximately $2.6 billion directly to small businesses. This was about $100 million more when compared to FY11, clearly demonstrating NASA's overall commitment of support to the nation's small businesses.

"This achievement would not have been possible without the tireless work of the agency's small business specialists, technical advisors, acquisition personnel, and the entire small business programs team," said Glenn Delgado, associate administrator for NASA's Office of Small Business Programs. "Nor would it have been possible without the wide range of small businesses working in fields from finance to high-tech manufacturing that support NASA's mission."

Small business support has been on the forefront of NASA senior management agency strategy. Several initiatives from NASA's Office of Small Business Programs have been recognized as best practices in the federal government.

NASA is committed to promoting and integrating all small businesses into the competitive base of contractors that pioneer the future of space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.

For information about the NASA's small business programs, visit: http://www.osbp.nasa.gov/

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

Read more here:

NASA Makes the Grade on the SBA Procurement Scorecard

NASA Announces GPM Mission Anime Contest Winners

Posted on by

July 2, 2013

Image Caption: One of the grand prize winning characters of the GPM Anime contest, Mizu-chan wears a flowing blue dress with clouds at the hemline. Mizu-chan, created by Sabrynne Buchholz from Hudson, Colo., will co-star in a comic series about precipitation science and GPM mission. Credit: Sabrynne Buchholz

NASA

She can evaporate water with her hair. He measures all the rainfall and snowfall on Earth. Selected as the winners of the Global Precipitation Measurement missions Anime Challenge, these two characters will star in their own comic series to help teach the public about precipitation science and the Global Precipitation Measurement mission.

The GPM mission, a collaboration between NASA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the space agencies of France and India, and other international partners, challenged people from around the world to design an anime character to help demonstrate GPM educational science themes of the water cycle, weather and climate, and technology. Anime, short for animation, is a Japanese style of art that has filled shows and comics that are popular around the world.

After receiving more than 40 submissions, a panel of NASA scientists and outreach specialists selected two grand prize winners and two runner-up winners from three different age categories.

The two grand prize winners are Sabrynne Buchholz from Hudson, Colo., and Yuki Kiriga from Tokyo, Japan.

Buchholz, 14, was the president of her schools art club this past year and hopes to pursue a career in animation. She enjoys watching anime and learning about Asian cultures. Her winning character for the contest is Mizu-chan (Mizu means water) who personifies water and precipitation. Mizu-chans blue dress and blue strands of hair signify water while the yellow strands of her hair represent the sun. Her dress is hemmed with clouds, which can produce rain or snow. When water drops from the clouds lining her dress, it evaporates with help from her yellow strands of hair and then goes back through the water cycle, where it condenses again as clouds at the bottom of her dress.

The runner-up winners in the other categories:

Middle school (ages 13-15): Kielamel Sibal, 13, Winnipeg, Canada; and Nicole Bohlen, 15, Winter Park, Fla.

Continue reading here:

NASA Announces GPM Mission Anime Contest Winners

NASA Selects Electrical Systems Engineering Services Contract

Posted on by

NASA has awarded a contract to ASRC Federal Space & Defense (AS&D) of Greenbelt, Md., for the Electrical Systems Engineering Services II (ESES II) for the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center.

This is a cost plus award fee, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with a maximum ordering value of $475 million. This contract has a 30-day phase-in period with a 5-year effective ordering period from the date of award, which was Tuesday, July 2. The contract was awarded under the Small Business Set Aside program.

The contractor will provide electrical systems engineering support services and related work to Goddard's Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate's Electrical Engineering Division, Instrument Systems and Technology Division, Software Engineering Division, Mechanical Systems Division, and the Mission Engineering and Systems Analysis Division. Additional work will include the study, design, systems engineering, development, fabrication, integration, testing, verification, and operations of space flight, airborne, and ground system hardware and software. The work also includes development and validation of new technologies to enable future space and science missions.

Contracted services will be performed at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., the contractor's off-site facilities and other NASA locations.

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

More:

NASA Selects Electrical Systems Engineering Services Contract

NASA Tests Game Changing Composite Cryogenic Fuel Tank

Posted on by

NASA recently completed a major space technology development milestone by successfully testing a pressurized, large cryogenic propellant tank made of composite materials. The composite tank will enable the next generation of rockets and spacecraft needed for space exploration.

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. Cryogenic propellants, such as liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, have been traditionally used to provide the enormous thrust needed for large rockets and NASA's space shuttle.

In the past, propellant tanks have been fabricated out of metals. The almost 8 foot- (2.4 meter) diameter composite tank tested at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., is considered game changing because composite tanks may significantly reduce the cost and weight for launch vehicles and other space missions.

"These successful tests mark an important milestone on the path to demonstrating the composite cryogenic tanks needed to accomplish our next generation of deep space missions," said Michael Gazarik, NASA's associate administrator for space technology at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This investment in game changing space technology will help enable NASA's exploration of deep space while directly benefiting American industrial capability in the manufacturing and use of composites."

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. A potential initial target application for the composite technology is an upgrade to the upper stage of NASA's Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket.

Built by Boeing at their Tukwila, Wash. facility, the tank arrived at NASA in late 2012. Engineers insulated and inspected the tank, then put it through a series of pressurized tests to measure its ability to contain liquid hydrogen at extremely cold temperatures. The tank was cooled down to -423 degrees Fahrenheit and underwent 20 pressure cycles as engineers changed the pressure up to 135 psi.

"This testing experience with the smaller tank is helping us perfect manufacturing and test plans for a much larger tank," said John Vickers, the cryogenic tank project manager at Marshall. "The 5.5 meter (18 foot) tank will be one of the largest composite propellant tanks ever built and will incorporate design features and manufacturing processes applicable to an 8.4 meter (27.5 foot) tank, the size of metal tanks found in today's large launch vehicles."

The NASA and Boeing team are in the process of manufacturing the 18 foot (5.5 meter)-diameter composite tank that also will be tested at Marshall next year.

"The tank manufacturing process represents a number of industry breakthroughs, including automated fiber placement of oven-cured materials, fiber placement of an all-composite tank wall design that is leak-tight and a tooling approach that eliminates heavy-joints," said Dan Rivera, the Boeing cryogenic tank program manager at Marshall.

Composite tank joints, especially bolted joints, have been a particularly troubling area prone to leaks in the past. Boeing and its partner, Janicki Industries of Sedro-Woolley, Wash., developed novel tooling to eliminate the need for heavy joints.

Continue reading here:

NASA Tests Game Changing Composite Cryogenic Fuel Tank

NASA Seeks Information on Commercial Robotic Lunar Lander Capabilities

Posted on by

NASA Tuesday issued a Request for Information (RFI) that will help agency officials better understand current plans in the U.S. commercial space industry for a robotic lunar landing capability. The RFI will assist NASA in assessing U.S. industry's interest in partnerships to develop a robotic lander that could enable commercial and agency missions.

- Read the RFI.

"U.S. industry is flourishing with innovative ideas based on NASA's pioneering work to explore space, including low-Earth orbit and the moon," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations in Washington." As NASA aims to expand human presence in the solar system through missions to an asteroid and Mars, hundreds of new technologies and experiments aboard the International Space Station are giving humans the tools we need to explore the unknown. New robotic commercial capabilities on the moon could extend that research in important ways, just as NASA expertise could help advance commercial endeavors to reach the moon."

NASA does not envision an exchange of funds between the agency and any industry partners. Potential NASA contributions to a partnership could include the technical expertise of NASA staff on integrated teams, providing NASA center test facilities at no cost, or contributing hardware or software for commercial lander development and testing.

A commercial lunar lander jointly developed with NASA would capitalize on NASA's previous investments and expertise in lander technologies. It also would stimulate a commercial capability to deliver payloads to the lunar surface reliably and cost-effectively. Such a capability could enable new services of interest to NASA. These include transportation to support technology demonstrations and science objectives, such as sample returns, resource prospecting at the lunar poles and geophysical network deployment. These services would require the ability to land small- and medium-class payloads, ranging from 62 to 992 lbs (30 to 450 kg), at various lunar sites.

A potential partnership could support launch of a lander as early as 2018. Responses to the RFI will assess the feasibility of a commercial lunar transportation capability in the near-future. This would precede any decision for a future solicitation. The RFI is for planning purposes only and does not constitute a commitment by the government to contract for services.

For more information about NASA exploration and future missions, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

Read the rest here:

NASA Seeks Information on Commercial Robotic Lunar Lander Capabilities

NASA Has Shut Down Space Telescope Orbiting Earth

Posted on by

"The Galaxy Next Door" This composite image of the Andromeda galaxy was produced by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, showing Andromeda's ultraviolet side. NASA sent a decommission command to the space telescope Friday.

"The Galaxy Next Door" This composite image of the Andromeda galaxy was produced by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, showing Andromeda's ultraviolet side. NASA sent a decommission command to the space telescope Friday.

NASA is sending a reliable servant into a retirement that will end with a fiery re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in about 65 years. That's the fate that awaits the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, the "galaxy hunter" space telescope whose original 29-month mission was extended to more than 10 years.

Along the way, the orbiting system, known as GALEX, helped scientists study how galaxies and stars are born, and how they change over time.

Since its launch in the spring of 2003, GALEX photographed nebulae and spiral galaxies, and "used its ultraviolet vision to study hundreds of millions of galaxies across 10 billion years of cosmic time," NASA says.

GALEX was shut down at 3:09 p.m. ET Friday, when a decommission signal was sent to the orbiting craft, according to NASA, which has also published a photo gallery of compelling images from the project.

"GALEX is a remarkable accomplishment," says Jeff Hayes, NASA's GALEX program executive in Washington. "This small Explorer mission has mapped and studied galaxies in the ultraviolet, light we cannot see with our own eyes, across most of the sky."

The space agency published this list of highlights in GALEX's career:

Discovering a gargantuan, comet-like tail behind a speeding star called Mira. Catching a black hole "red-handed" as it munched on a star. Finding giant rings of new stars around old, dead galaxies. Independently confirming the nature of dark energy. Discovering a missing link in galaxy evolution the teenage galaxies transitioning from young to old.

And they're likely to be joined by other revelations, as the reams of data yielded by the space telescope project are reviewed. NASA and the California Institute of Technology, which manages the Jet Propulsion Lab for the space agency, plan to release the project's most recent data to the public in the next 12 months.

See the article here:

NASA Has Shut Down Space Telescope Orbiting Earth

RE: "New Predictions in Nanotechnology Effects On the Future Of Sports And Bodybuilding" – Video

Posted on by


RE: "New Predictions in Nanotechnology Effects On the Future Of Sports And Bodybuilding"
Please leave some feedback guys and remember to rate, comment, like, and subscribe! I appreciate all of the support! Like the new fan page : https://www.face...

By: LiveLearnLift

More:

RE: "New Predictions in Nanotechnology Effects On the Future Of Sports And Bodybuilding" - Video

Nanotechnology and Molecular Imaging in Radiation Therapy- A Podcast – Video

Posted on by


Nanotechnology and Molecular Imaging in Radiation Therapy- A Podcast
Radiation Research - Podcast April 2012 Dr. Rao Papineni and Dr. Mansoor Ahmed Interviewer Dr. Sylvain Costes Adapted for Educational Purpose Courtesy: Radiation Research.

By: Papineni Innovations and PACT

Read this article:

Nanotechnology and Molecular Imaging in Radiation Therapy- A Podcast - Video

Drink Sciences uses nanotechnology to develop date rape drug detector

Posted on by

Drink Sciences Ltd. uses nanotechnology to fight date rape drugs. The company was founded on the basis of an invention by Prof. Fernando Patolski, a young professor at Harvard, who is now at the Department of Chemistry at Tel Aviv University, who developed a method which uses nanotechnology for the fast and accurate detection of chemicals in a sample, and then looked for an application. He found it in the discrete detection of date rape drugs mixed in alcohol or soft drinks in day-to-day situations, without the need for laboratories.

The product was developed over three years at the university and commercialized through Ramot at Tel Aviv University Ltd. to a company founded by CEO Dr. Yoav Avidor.

Date rape drug is a generic name for several anesthetic compounds, which are used to spike the drinks of women for the purpose of indecent acts, rape, or robbery. In high dosages, these drugs cause apathy, drowsiness, and unconsciousness.

In Israel, there have been cases of date rape drugs, but at colleges in the US, 200,000 cases of the use of these drugs for rape alone are reported every year, not counting less heinous cases.

"In a market study we conducted in the US, the main market for the product, we asked 150 women if they knew someone who suspected that they had consumed a drink spiked with a drug," Avidor told "Globes". 60% of respondents said yes, and among women aged 25 or less, 72% responded affirmatively. 28.5% of women, and 40% of young women, said that they know victims of date rape drugs. Two-thirds said that they use various methods to protect themselves from having their drinks spiked. Two-thirds dont let a drink out of their eyesight, and 43% said that they dont drink a drink they did not see mixed."

Date rape drugs are anesthetics used by the pharmaceutical industry. Users of the drug obtain them illegally, but do not develop them at home, so there is little variability between the different versions, and they can be detected by a single test. However, a test for detecting date rape drugs does not solve the problem of the rape of a victim who has ingested the drug or other drugs such as Ecstasy (or rape that does involve the use of drugs at all), but only the specific use of anesthetics.

The chemical part of the test uses a solvent, which when it comes in contract with a date rape drug, precipitates making the beverage turbid. The product is designed like a drinks mix or cosmetics (such as eyeliner). A woman drops the product into the glass and waits for a reaction. In cases of a dark nightclub, for example, where it is impossible to see whether the drink has become turbid or remained clear, the test includes another trick - it has an LED light. The light diminishes in turbidity. "We found 100% accuracy in the drinks we tested," Avidor said. "The product works on many kinds of drinks."

The product is in the prototype stage. It does not require regulatory approval, such as from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), because the test is carried out on the beverage, not on bodily fluids, so it is not considered a medical test. Avidor is now raising capital for Drink Sciences and he plans to market the product within nine months.

"We think that the way to market the product is through bars, which will distribute it to their customers with their drinks, so that they can relax knowing that their drinks are safe. Another possibility is for the parents of college girls to buy the product before they go off to school," said Avidor.

At a cost of a few dollars per test, Drink Sciences can become profitable. The product will probably be sold through pharmacies, especially in the US, where the problem of date rape is serious.

Original post:

Drink Sciences uses nanotechnology to develop date rape drug detector

US Orthopedic Soft Tissue and Sports Medicine Market

Posted on by

NEW YORK, July 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:

US Orthopedic Soft Tissue and Sports Medicine Market

http://www.reportlinker.com/p01498091/US-Orthopedic-Soft-Tissue-and-Sports-Medicine-Market.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=Orthopedic

In 2012, the U.S. market for orthopedic soft tissue repair exceeded $1.5 billion.The orthopedic soft tissue repair market in the U.S. consists of anterior and posterior cruciate ligament (ACL/PCL) reconstruction and fixation products, cartilage repair therapies, meniscal repair devices, rotator cuff repair devices, shoulder and labrum repair devices, rotator cuff graft reinforcement devices, hip arthroscopy devices and biceps tenodesis devices. As the economy began to recover in the last quarter of 2010, residual demand boosted procedure volumes. Most of the segments in the orthopedic soft tissue repair market will be affected by the rising number of arthroscopies being performed at ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), which will limit ASP growth. These physician-owned centers receive less reimbursement than hospitals and are more cost-conscious as a result. This limits price increases to some degree in all market segments. With the emergence of new health care legislation, pricing should stabilize as companies adjust.

Scope: This report pertains to a forecast period of 10 years (2009 2019) for the U.S.

Report Contents: Competitor Analysis Identified Strategic Opportunities Market Overview by Segment Trend Analysis by Segment Market Drivers & Limiters Mergers & Acquisitions Customer Feedback and Market Monitoring

Main Segments Included: ACL/PCL Reconstruction Market ACL/PCL Fixation Device Market Cartilage Repair Market Meniscal Repair Market Rotator Cuff Repair Market Shoulder Labrum Repair Market Rotator Cuff Graft Reinforcement Device Market Hip Arthroscopy Market Biceps Tenodesis Repair Market

Sub-Segments Included: Bone-Patellar Tendon-Bone Allografted Tendons Tibial Fixation Market Femoral Fixation Market Osteochondral Allograft Transfer Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI) Meniscal Allograft Transplantation Suture Meniscal Repair Market Implant Meniscal Repair Market Hybrid Meniscal Repair Market PLA Resorbable Suture Anchor Market Biocomposite Suture Anchor Market PEEK Suture Anchor Market Metal Suture Anchor Market All-Suture Anchor Market PEEK CF Suture Anchor Market Hip Radiofrequency Probe Market Banana Blade Market Hip Access Kit Market Suture Anchor Market Disposable Suture Passer Market Tenodesis Screw Market

Companies Included: DePuy Mitek MTF Cayenne Medical Tornier Parcus Medical Arthrex Zimmer MedShape Smith & Nephew Genzyme Allosource Biomet ConMed Linvatec RTI Biologics Stryker Wright Medical LifeNet Health Arthrocare Joint Restoration Foundation CTS KFx Medical University of Miami Tissue Bank Covidien

Others Include: LifeLink, Synovis Surgical Innovations, Various Tissue Banks.

Read the original post:

US Orthopedic Soft Tissue and Sports Medicine Market

Your medicine may have been banned globally

Posted on by

Be alert before taking a medicine. The one you are about to pop could be facing a global ban.

Several medicines for pain, fever, constipation, diarrhoea, or depression face a ban in developed countries like the US, EU, Japan and Australia. Even small countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal have banned some.

Though allowed for sale by Indian regulatory authorities, the fact that other countries have found their side-effects to be worrisome, and prohibited their sale; implies patients and doctors should be cautious.

Experts say medicines get banned if their side-effects outweigh their benefits.

Every medicine has some side-effects. But once the side-effects prove dangerous, regulatory systems in the developed world impose a ban, says Dr CM Gulhati, editor of monthly index of medical specialities (MIMS), a medical journal for doctors.

Though the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been talking about executing a prohibition in India on medicines facing a global ban, nothing much seems to have taken shape.

The regulatory authorities here are weak. Unlike those in EU and US, says Dr Gopal Dabade, from the All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN).

Impact on patients Since globally banned medicines are permitted in India, patients tend to suffer most, say doctors. Often doctors are unaware of harmful side-effects, nor the global ban, and end up prescribing such medicines for their patients, says Dr Gulhati.

Then there is this tendency to self-medicate on part of patients that can prove hazardous.

K Raghu, a marketing professional in Basaveswarnagar, has used the medicine nimesulide in the past to relieve himself of fever.

Read the rest here:

Your medicine may have been banned globally