Aug 2 2010
From The Space Library
RELEASE: 10-127
NASA TAKES TO THE AIR WITH NEW 'EARTH VENTURE' RESEARCH PROJECTS
WASHINGTON -- Hurricanes, air quality, and Arctic ecosystems are among the research areas to be investigated during the next five years by new NASA airborne science missions announced today. The five competitively-selected proposals are the first investigations in the new Venture-class series of low-to-moderate cost projects established last year. The Earth Venture missions are part of NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder program. The small, targeted science investigations complement NASA's larger research missions. In 2007, the National Research Council recommended that NASA undertake these types of regularly solicited, quick-turnaround projects. This year's selections are all airborne investigations. Future Venture proposals may include small, dedicated spacecraft and instruments flown on other spacecraft. "I'm thrilled to be able to welcome these new principal investigators into NASA's Earth Venture series, said Edward Weiler, associate administrator of the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. These missions are considered a 'tier 1' priority in the National Research Council's Earth Science decadal survey. With this selection, NASA moves ahead into this exciting type of scientific endeavor. The missions will be funded during the next five years at a total cost of not more than $30 million each. The cost includes initial development and deployment through analysis of data. Approximately $10 million was provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act toward the maximum $150 million funding ceiling for the missions. Six NASA centers, 22 educational institutions, nine U.S. or international government agencies and three industrial partners are involved in these missions. The five missions were selected from 35 proposals. The selected missions are: 1. Airborne Microwave Observatory of Subcanopy and Subsurface. Principal Investigator Mahta Moghaddam, University of Michigan North American ecosystems are critical components of the global exchange of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and other gases within the atmosphere. To better understand the size of this exchange on a continental scale, this investigation addresses the uncertainties in existing estimates by measuring soil moisture in the root zone of representative regions of major North American ecosystems. Investigators will use NASA's Gulfstream-III aircraft to fly synthetic aperture radar that can penetrate vegetation and soil to depths of several feet. 2. Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment. Principal Investigator Eric Jensen, NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. Water vapor in the stratosphere has a large impact on Earth's climate, the ozone layer and how much solar energy the Earth retains. To improve our understanding of the processes that control the flow of atmospheric gases into this region, investigators will launch four airborne campaigns with NASA's Global Hawk remotely piloted aerial systems. The flights will study chemical and physical processes at different times of year from bases in California, Guam, Hawaii and Australia. 3. Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment. Principal Investigator Charles Miller, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The release and absorption of carbon from Arctic ecosystems and its response to climate change are not well known because of a lack of detailed measurements. This investigation will collect an integrated set of data that will provide unprecedented experimental insights into Arctic carbon cycling, especially the release of the important greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. Instruments will be flown on a Twin Otter aircraft to produce the first simultaneous measurements of surface characteristics that control carbon emissions and key atmospheric gases. 4. Deriving Information on Surface Conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality. Principal Investigator James Crawford, NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. Satellites can measure air quality factors like aerosols and ozone-producing gases in an entire column of atmosphere below the spacecraft, but distinguishing the concentrations at the level where people live is a challenge. This investigation will provide integrated data of airborne, surface and satellite observations taken at the same time to study air quality as it evolves throughout the day. NASA's B-200 and P-3B research aircraft will fly together to sample a column of the atmosphere over instrumented ground stations. 5. Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel. Principal Investigator Scott Braun, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The prediction of the intensity of hurricanes is not as reliable as predictions of the location of hurricane landfall, in large part because of our poor understanding of the processes involved in intensity change. This investigation focuses on studying hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean basin using two NASA Global Hawks flying high above the storms for up to 30 hours. The Hawks will deploy from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia during the 2012-14 Atlantic hurricane seasons. "These new investigations, in concert with NASA's Earth-observing satellite capabilities, will provide unique new data sets that identify and characterize important phenomena, detect changes in the Earth system and lead to improvements in computer modeling of the Earth system, said Jack Kaye, associate director for research of NASA's Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate. Langley manages the Earth System Pathfinder program for the Science Mission Directorate. The missions in this program provide an innovative approach to address Earth science research with periodic windows of opportunity to accommodate new scientific priorities.
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RELEASE: 10-130
NASA SEEKS RESEARCH PROPOSALS FOR GREEN AIRCRAFT CONCEPTS
WASHINGTON -- NASA is soliciting proposals for studies designed to identify advanced vehicle concepts and enabling technologies for commercial airliners to fly more economically, quieter and cleaner by 2025 This research will support the Integrated Systems Research Program in NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in Washington. The solicitation is the first of several expected under the directorate's "Research Opportunities in Aeronautics announcement for 2010, released on Wednesday. The total potential value of the research contracts is $36.6 million, and proposals are due by July 15. NASA will select up to four teams for 12-month studies beginning in fiscal year 2011. The studies will define preferred concepts for advanced vehicles that can operate within the Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen. The system is a U.S. government air traffic modernization effort that includes NASA. The concepts must incorporate technologies enabling large, twin-aisle passenger aircraft to achieve ambitious environmental goals. Goals include 50 percent less fuel consumption and nitrogen oxide emissions compared with today's airliners and an approximately 80 percent reduction in the nuisance noise footprint around airports. After nine months work on preferred systems' concepts, each team will be eligible to submit proposals for a subscale flight demonstrator design. NASA will select one or two concepts for 17 months of preliminary design work and risk reduction testing for completion by mid-2013. This research is supported by the Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project within the Integrated Systems Research Program. It also will benefit an emerging new project related to the use of remotely-piloted aircraft in the national air space. Because the subscale flight demonstrator will be capable of operating in autonomous and remotely-piloted modes, it will test environmental technology, other suites and techniques. Test areas may include separation assurance and collision avoidance; command, control and communications; remote pilot and vehicle interfaces; environmental hazards detection and avoidance that could enable routine operation of future unpiloted air vehicles. NASA anticipates conducting test flights with the demonstrator in 2015. Specific evaluation criteria, deadlines and points of contact for this research topic and other project areas are available in the announcement at: http://nspires.nasaprs.com NASA anticipates amending this announcement to add research topics in other project areas.
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CONTRACT RELEASE: C10-008
NASA INCREASES SUPPORT CONTRACT TO MID-ATLANTIC REGIONAL SPACEPORT
WASHINGTON -- NASA has increased the support contract to the Virginia Space Flight Authority/Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va., to provide launch services for expendable launch vehicles. The indefinite delivery, indefinite-quantity, with fixed price and cost reimbursable task orders contract addition has a potential value of approximately $43 million through May 3, 2014. Current and long-term capabilities of Wallops are being enhanced to provide launch services and capabilities to safely and successfully launch small and medium class orbital missions for NASA, other federal organizations and commercial launch providers. Wallops will be the launch site for the NASA Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Experiment Explorer (LADEE) mission aboard an Air Force Minotaur V rocket in late 2012. Wallops also will support processing and launches through the spaceport for commercial cargo re-supply services to the International Space Station with Orbital Sciences Corporation's Taurus II launch vehicle beginning in 2011.
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