Final Hardware For Test Of NASA's New Rocket Arrives In Florida

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- After a seven-day, 2,917-mile journey, a train carrying the four motor segments for the Ares I-X rocket arrived Thursday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The motor is the final hardware needed for the rocket's upcoming test flight this summer.

The test flight will provide NASA an early opportunity to check and prove hardware, analysis and modeling methods, and facilities and ground operations needed to develop the Ares I, which is NASA's next crew launch vehicle. The test also will allow NASA to gather critical data during the ascent of the integrated stack, which will help inform the design of the Ares I rocket and the Orion crew exploration vehicle. The data will ensure the entire vehicle system is safe and fully operational before astronauts begin traveling in it to the International Space Station and moon.

The reusable segments departed March 13 from Promontory, Utah, where Ares I first stage prime contractor Alliant Techsystems Inc., or ATK, manufactured them.

"We have achieved a tremendous milestone with the arrival of the segments," said Bob Ess, mission manager for Ares I-X at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "For NASA personnel and contractor teams throughout the country, this is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication."

The Ares I-X first stage uses a four-segment solid rocket motor capable of generating 3.3 million pounds of thrust. The motor provides the primary propulsion for the vehicle from liftoff to stage separation 120 seconds into the flight.

The motor segments for the flight test were taken from the existing space shuttle solid rocket booster inventory. The booster used for the Ares I-X launch is being modified by adding new forward structures and a fifth segment simulator. These modifications help NASA better replicate the size and shape of the five-segment booster that will be used for the Ares I crew launch vehicle.

"As we move toward a flight this summer, it is exciting to see the final hardware arrive at the launch site," said Bob Herman, ATK's Florida site director. "We are honored to play an important role in helping NASA achieve its exploration goals."

Having arrived at Kennedy, the segments now will be transferred to the center's Rotation Processing and Surge facility for final processing and integration. The stacking operations are scheduled to begin in the Vehicle Assembly Building in April.

To follow the progress of the Ares I-X mission with the Ares I-X blog, visit:

http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/Ares I-X

For more information about Ares I-X, Ares I and NASA's next-generation rockets, visit:



http://www.nasa.gov/ares

Online Poll for NASA's Mars Rover Naming Contest Opens March 23

WASHINGTON -- NASA will post online nine names that are finalists for the agency's Mars Science Laboratory mission and invite the public to vote for its favorite. The non-binding poll to help NASA select a name opens online Monday, March 23, and will accept votes through March 29.

More than 9,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grades submitted essays proposing names for the rover in a nationwide contest that ended Jan. 25. Entries came from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the families of American service personnel overseas. NASA will select the winning name, based on a student's essay and the public poll, and announce the name in April.

"The names that students proposed range from heroes to animals and bugs," said Michelle Viotti, manager of the Mars Public Engagement program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or JPL, in Pasadena, Calif. "No matter what name is finally chosen, this is a mission for everyone, and we can't wait to start calling this rover by name."

The student who submitted the winning name will be invited to JPL to sign the rover. Additionally, all 30 student semi-finalists in the naming contest will have an opportunity to place an individually-tailored message on the chip. For worldwide participation beyond the contest, the public has a chance to participate in "Send Your Name to Mars." The agency will collect names to be recorded on a microchip that will be carried on the car-sized robotic explorer. Names will be collected via the contest web link beginning Monday.

The naming contest is part of a Space Act Agreement between NASA and Disney. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is the prize provider for the contest. This collaboration made it possible for WALL-E, the animated robotic hero from the 2008 movie of the same name, to appear in online content inviting students to participate.

Scheduled to launch in 2011 and land on Mars in 2012, the rover will use a set of advanced science instruments to check whether the environment in a selected landing region ever has been favorable for supporting microbial life and preserving evidence of such life. The rover also will search for minerals that formed in the presence of water and look for chemical building blocks of life.

JPL manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

To view the nine finalist names and cast your vote, visit:

http://marsrovername.jpl.nasa.gov

NASA Awards Contracts for Science Instruments on Solar Mission

WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected three teams to design and build science instruments for a proposed European-led solar mission. The instruments, with a total value of approximately $81 million, are part of NASA's Living with a Star Program.

The total amount for initial design of the instruments, known as Phase A, is $1.7 million. Each project will need to go through the normal key decision point phases in order to be confirmed for continued funding.

The science teams selected are:

• Russell Howard, principal investigator for the Heliospheric Imager instrument, valued at $29.7 million. The team will be funded through an inter-agency agreement with the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington.
• Donald Hassler, principal investigator for the Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment instrument, valued at $34 million. The team will be funded through a cost plus award fee contract with Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.
• Glenn Mason, co-investigator for the Suprathermal Ion Spectrograph instrument, valued at $17.3 million. Mason will be funded through a current NASA contract with the Applied Physics Laboratory in Columbia, Md.

NASA's Living with a Star Program is designed to understand how and why the sun varies, how planetary systems respond and the effect on human space and Earth activities. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the program for the agency's Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Four Missions

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA has selected United Launch Alliance of Littleton, Colo., for the launch of two Science Mission Directorate and two Space Operations Mission Directorate payloads under the NASA Launch Services contract.

The launches will occur on Atlas V expendable launch vehicles. The total value of the award is approximately $600 million, which includes the launch services for the rockets, plus additional services under other contracts for payload processing, launch vehicle integration, and tracking, data and telemetry support.

The launches will be from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The four payloads are the Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission, the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, and the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites K and L, or TDRS-K and TDRS-L, missions.

Planned for launch in 2011, the NASA Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission uses two almost identical spacecraft built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. For two years, the twin probes will study the radiation belts surrounding Earth to improve our understanding of how the sun's changing energy flow affects them.

Two new Tracking and Data Relay satellites will be launched, TDRS-K and TDRS-L, to replenish the NASA communications relay network that provides voice, data, video and telemetry links between spacecraft below geosynchronous orbit and the ground. Among the major users of the relay network are the International Space Station and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The launches are planned for 2012 and 2013.

The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission is a NASA space physics research effort to discover the fundamental plasma physics processes of magnetic reconnection that occurs when energy emanating from the sun's solar wind interacts with the Earth's magnetic field. Four identical satellites will be launched together in a stacked configuration. They will fly in an elliptical orbit around Earth. The Magnetospheric Multiscale Project is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., under a contract with the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The launch is planned for 2014.

NASA's Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida manages launch services, including payload integration and certifying launch vehicles, for NASA's use.

For more information about NASA and its missions, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

NASA Shuttle Launch Targeted for No Earlier Than March 15

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Discovery's launch to the International Space Station now is targeted for no earlier than March 15. NASA managers postponed Wednesday's planned liftoff due to a leak associated with the gaseous hydrogen venting system outside the external fuel tank. The system is used to carry excess hydrogen safely away from the launch pad.

Liftoff on March 15 would be at 7:43 p.m. EDT. The exact launch date is dependent on the work necessary to repair the problem. Managers will meet Thursday at 4 p.m. to further assess the troubleshooting plan.

Discovery's STS-119 flight is delivering the space station's fourth and final set of solar array wings, completing the station's truss, or backbone. The arrays will provide the electricity to fully power science experiments and support the station's expanded crew of six in May. The 14-day mission will feature four spacewalks to help install the S6 truss segment to the starboard, or right, side of the station and the deployment of its solar arrays. The flight also will replace a failed unit for a system that converts urine to potable water.

Commander Lee Archambault is joined on STS-119 by Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold, John Phillips and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will replace space station crew member Sandra Magnus, who has been aboard the station for more than four months. He will return to Earth during the next station shuttle mission, STS-127, targeted to launch in June 2009.

For the latest information about the STS-119 mission and its crew, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

For information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

NASA Holds Briefing on Status of Space Shuttle Discovery

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA managers will hold a news conference no earlier than 6:30 p.m. EDT to discuss the status of space shuttle Discovery's launch to the International Space Station. The launch was postponed Wednesday due to a leak associated with the gaseous hydrogen venting system outside the external fuel tank. The system is used to carry excess hydrogen safely away from the launch pad. At 2:37 p.m., managers officially scrubbed the launch for at least 24 hours.

Mission managers are holding a meeting that started at 5 p.m. to discuss potential repair options and Discovery's launch attempt opportunities. The news conference will follow the meeting's conclusion and will air live on NASA Television and the agency Web site.

Discovery's STS-119 flight is delivering the space station's fourth and final set of solar array wings, completing the station's truss, or backbone. The arrays will provide the electricity to fully power science experiments and support the station's expanded crew of six in May. The 14-day mission will feature four spacewalks to help install the S6 truss segment to the starboard, or right, side of the station and the deployment of its solar arrays. The flight also will replace a failed unit for a system that converts urine to potable water.

Commander Lee Archambault is joined on STS-119 by Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold, John Phillips and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will replace space station crew member Sandra Magnus, who has been aboard the station for more than four months. He will return to Earth during the next station shuttle mission, STS-127, targeted to launch in June 2009.

For information about NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For the latest information about the STS-119 mission and its crew, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

For information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

NASA TV to air Tuesday's Space Station Spacewalk

HOUSTON -- NASA Television will provide live coverage of the March 10 spacewalk of Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov. The pair will complete unfinished work from their December 2008 excursion outside the orbiting laboratory.

Fincke and Lonchakov will don Russian spacesuits for the spacewalk out of the Russian Pirs Docking Compartment airlock. Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus will monitor the spacewalk from inside the station. It will be the sixth spacewalk of Fincke's career and the second for Lonchakov.

NASA TV coverage of the spacewalk will begin at 11 a.m. CDT Tuesday. The spacewalk will start at approximately 11:20 a.m. and last five and a half hours.

The centerpiece of the spacewalk will be the installation of a European materials science experiment, which allows short and long-term exposure to space conditions and solar UV-radiation, on the hull of the Zvezda service module. The experiment, known as Expose, was installed on Zvezda during the December spacewalk but had to be removed and brought back inside the station because of a cable problem. That problem has been repaired.

For information about NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the space station and the Expedition 18 crew, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station