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The Marshall Star

In This Week’s Star

Marshall Wins Small Business Administrator’s Cup; Leaders Present Industry, Advocate Awards

Marshall Space Flight Center Director Jody Singer holds the 2020 Administrator’s Cup.
Marshall Space Flight Center Director Jody Singer holds the 2020 Administrator’s Cup, which recognizes significant contributions to the agency’s small business programs by the winning center’s senior management, procurement office and program and technical personnel. Credits: NASA

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center was honored Sept. 30 with the fiscal year 2019 Small Business Administrator’s Cup – an agency award for managing the most effective small business program.

The presentation was made during Marshall’s 14th annual Industry & Advocate Awards ceremony, held virtually. The awards reflect leadership in the aerospace business community and sustained achievement in service to Marshall and to NASA’s overarching mission.

The Administrator’s Cup award annually recognizes the NASA center with the best innovative practices that promote small business participation in a variety of NASA initiatives, and recognizes significant contributions to the agency’s small business programs by the winning center’s senior management, procurement office, and program and technical personnel. It is the sixth time since the award was established in 2008 that Marshall has earned the prize – the most wins of any center.

The award was presented by NASA Associate Administrator Steve Jurczyk and Glenn Delgado, associate administrator of NASA’s Office of Small Business Programs at NASA Headquarters, to Marshall Director Jody Singer.

“The strength of Marshall Space Flight Center has always depended on the strength of its partnerships, including those with small businesses,” Singer said. “Together, we can ensure America’s continued leadership in human space exploration. I feel pride in being a part of history, and I know teamwork has made it possible.”

This year’s Industry & Advocate Awards recipients are:­

  • Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Inc., named Marshall’s Large Business Prime Contractor of the Year for support of the Marshall Small Business Subcontracting Program under the Space Launch System Booster Element Contract.
  • Bastion Technologies Inc., named Marshall’s Small Business Prime contractor of the Year for support of Marshall’s Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate under the Safety and Mission Assurance Services Contract. 
  • ION Corporation, named Marshall’s Small Business Subcontractor of the Year for subcontracting support to The Boeing Company under the Space Launch System Stages Contract.
  • Robert M. Dallas, Lisa C. Grady, Jaquilla E. White, and Maranda B. McCord, named Procurement Team of the Year for their participation on the 2020 Procurement Small Business Action Team.
  • R. Daryl Woods, Donald G. Chavers, Tyler C. Cochran, Lakeisha V. Hawkins, and Joshua B. Stiles, named Program Team of the Year for their collaboration with the small business community having an interest in procurement opportunities associated with the Human Lunar Landing System Program.
  • Individual awards included: Small Business Technical Advisor of the Year, Clyde S. Jones; Technical Person of the Year, Dwight L. Mosby; Small Business Program Leadership Award, JoAnn V. Belt and Curtis O. Taylor.
  • Small Business Prime Contractor Excellence Awards were presented to Acuity Edge Inc.; All Points Logistics LLC; Linc Research Inc.; and Manufacturing Technical Solutions Inc.
  • Small Business Subcontractor Excellence Awards were presented to 4M Research Inc.; Canvas Inc.; Foremaster Tool; Link Research Inc.; Theonics Inc.; and Seabrook Solutions LLC.

NASA civil service employees nominate eligible individuals and organizations for awards. A panel of NASA business procurement and technical officials evaluates each nominee’s business practices, innovative processes, adoption of new technologies, and their overall contributions to NASA’s mission and the agency’s Small Business Program.

Award recipients in the categories of Large and Small Business Prime Contractors of the Year, Small Business Subcontractor of the Year and Procurement Team or Person, Technical, Small Business Technical Coordinator/Technical Advisor, and Program Person or Team of the Year become candidates for agency-level Small Business Industry Awards.

Footage of the virtual awards ceremony is available here.

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NASA Moon Rocket Stage Passes Simulated Countdown Test

Engineers at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, completed a simulated launch countdown sequence.
Engineers at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, completed a simulated launch countdown sequence on Oct. 5 for the sixth test of the eight-part core stage Green Run test series for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The SLS core stage being tested is the largest rocket stage NASA has ever produced and will be the stage that helps deliver the Artemis I mission to space. The 212-foot-tall core stage has two huge propellant tanks that collectively hold more than 733,000 gallons of propellant to fuel four RS-25 engines at the bottom of the stage. The rocket stage also has three flight computers and avionics systems to help launch and guide NASA’s Artemis missions to the Moon. During the simulated countdown, NASA engineers and technicians, along with prime contractors Boeing, and Aerojet Rocketdyne, monitored the stage to validate the timeline and sequence of events leading up to the test, which is similar to the countdown for the Artemis I launch. The countdown sequence for an actual Artemis launch begins roughly two days prior to liftoff. In addition to all the procedures leading up to the ignition of the four RS-25 engines, the SLS core stage requires about six hours to fully load fuel into the two liquid propellant tanks. The simulated countdown sequence test at Stennis began at the 48-hour mark as if the stage was first powered up before liftoff. Engineers then skipped ahead in the sequence to monitor the stage and procedures of the stage 10 minutes before the hot fire. The simulated countdown sequence is one of the final tests of the SLS Green Run campaign. The series of tests is designed to gradually bring the rocket stage and all its systems to life for the first time. The Green Run test campaign will validate the SLS core stage design and ensure it’s ready for the first and future Artemis missions beyond Earth’s orbit to the Moon through the agency’s Artemis program. Credits: NASA

Engineers at NASA’s Stennis Space Center complete a simulated launch countdown sequence Oct. 5 for the sixth test of the eight-part core stage Green Run test series for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. The SLS core stage being tested is the largest rocket stage NASA has ever produced and is the stage that helps deliver the Artemis I mission to space. The 212-foot-tall core stage has two huge propellant tanks that collectively hold more than 733,000 gallons of propellant to fuel four RS-25 engines at the bottom of the stage. The rocket stage also has three flight computers and avionics systems to help launch and guide NASA’s Artemis missions to the Moon. During the simulated countdown, engineers and technicians monitored the stage to validate the timeline and sequence of events leading up to the test, which is similar to the countdown for the Artemis I launch. The countdown sequence for an actual Artemis launch begins roughly two days prior to liftoff. In addition to all the procedures leading up to the ignition of the four RS-25 engines, the SLS core stage requires about six hours to fully load fuel into the two liquid propellant tanks. The simulated countdown sequence test at Stennis began at the 48-hour mark as if the stage was first powered up before liftoff. Engineers then skipped ahead in the sequence to monitor the stage and procedures of the stage 10 minutes before the hot fire. The simulated countdown sequence is one of the final tests of the SLS Green Run campaign. The series of tests is designed to gradually bring the rocket stage and all its systems to life for the first time. The Green Run test campaign will validate the SLS core stage design and ensure it’s ready for the first and future Artemis missions beyond Earth’s orbit to the Moon through the agency’s Artemis program. (NASA)

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NASA Looks to Advance 3D Printing Construction Systems for Moon, Mars

The process of building landing pads, habitats, and roads on the Moon will likely look different from the common construction site on Earth. Excavation robots, for one, will need to be lightweight yet capable of digging in reduced gravity. A large-scale construction system could be autonomous and equipped to work without astronauts’ help.

Through NASA’s Moon to Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technologies project, led by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the agency is investing in advanced manufacturing – one of five industries of the future to enable space exploration and improve life on Earth – including technologies that use available resources on the Moon and Mars to build out future infrastructure.

Image provided by ICON, which is working with NASA’s Moon to Mars Autonomous Construction Technologies project.
Image provided by ICON, which is working with NASA’s Moon to Mars Autonomous Construction Technologies project to advance space-based construction capabilities for long-duration exploration missions on the Moon or Mars. Credits: SEArch+

“We want to increase the technology readiness level and test systems to prove it would be feasible to develop a large-scale 3D printer that could build infrastructure on the Moon or Mars,” said Corky Clinton, associate director of Marshall’s Science and Technology Office. “The team will use what we learn from the tests with the lunar simulant to design, develop, and demonstrate prototype elements for a full-scale additive construction system.”

The MMPACT team is working with ICON, a construction technologies company based in Austin, Texas, on early research and development of a space-based construction system that could support future exploration of the Moon and Mars. The company has 3D-printed communities of homes and structures on Earth and participated in NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, demonstrating a construction method and technologies that may be adaptable for applications beyond humanity’s home planet.

Another U.S. government agency is interested in the technology and its applications on Earth. The U.S. Air Force awarded ICON a dual-use Small Business Innovation Research contract to expand 3D printing of livable and workable structures. Part of the contract, to which NASA contributed funding, will explore commonalities between Earth-based and off-Earth applications. ICON will also invest in the effort.

The Small Business Innovation Research award will build on ICON’s commercial activities and demonstrations during Phase 3 of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. For the challenge, ICON partnered with the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. The team won a prize for 3D-printing a structure sample that adequately held a seal when filled with water.

“Centennial Challenges is thrilled to have former competitors working with NASA on research and development activities,” said Monsi Roman, program manager for Centennial Challenges. “The 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge advanced technology in a big way, and now we are seeing the benefits of these efforts for both NASA and our competitors.”

Initially, ICON will work with Marshall-led MMPACT project to test lunar soil simulant with various processing and printing technologies. Based on the progress, NASA could award ICON additional funding and explore the opportunity of an in-situ test on the lunar surface. MMPACT is partnering broadly with industry, government, and academic institutions.

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Kevin Barnes Recognized as a HEO HErO

Kevin Barnes is the latest team member from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center to be named a HEO HErO.
Kevin Barnes is the latest team member from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center to be named a HEO HErO. Barnes revived the Materials Science Research Rack program after multiple ground and onboard failures, allowing for numerous successful runs aboard the International Space Station. Each week, NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate recognizes HEO HErOes, team members from across the agency who have made vital contributions in their support of NASA’s mission to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. Credits: NASA

Kevin Barnes is the latest team member from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center to be named a HEO HErO. Barnes revived the Materials Science Research Rack program after multiple ground and onboard failures, allowing for numerous successful runs aboard the International Space Station. Each week, NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate recognizes HEO HErOes, team members from across the agency who have made vital contributions in their support of NASA’s mission to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. (NASA)

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Artemis I Rocket and Spacecraft Receive ‘Worm’ Welcome

The NASA logotype, or “worm” logo, is seen on the interstage segment of the Space Launch System.

NASA is headed back to the Moon as part of the Artemis program – and the agency’s “worm” logo will be along for the ride on the first integrated mission of the powerful Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center have applied the historic logo in bright red on visible parts of the Artemis I rocket and spacecraft. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages SLS for the agency.

“After almost three decades, our famous logotype is back in action, and it is thrilling for all of us that worked on the original design to have it return in such an impressive way.” said Richard Danne, of the design team at Danne & Blackburn who originally created the logo. “It is particularly exciting to be involved with the Artemis program, so full of potential beginning with this promising first mission.”

The bold, sleek design of the worm logo was officially introduced in 1975 and was incorporated into many of the agency’s next-generation programs. It was retired in 1992, but made a comeback in 2020 as the agency ushers in a new, modern era of human spaceflight.

The worm began making an appearance on the SLS twin solid rocket boosters in late August when workers with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and their contractor Jacobs of Huntsville started painting the iconic design across two of the booster segments. The team used a laser projector to mask off the logo with tape, then painted the first coat of the logo inside the center’s Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility. The job was completed by adding a second coat of paint, followed by multiple clear coats on the booster.

“The most technically challenging task was identifying the correct sizing and location of where the logo was to go,” said William Richards, an engineer with Jacobs, the lead contractor supporting booster stacking operations. “New laser technology helped us lay it out in the correct position to mask off for the painting and correctly shape the letters, especially the curve of the ‘S’.”

After the boosters are transferred to the Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking, technicians will secure an access panel across the middle section of the boosters and paint it to complete the insignia. The worm will be visible as the boosters are stacked on top of the mobile launcher, while the rocket is on the launch pad, and as it soars through Earth’s atmosphere during launch.

The worm and European Space Agency logo were recently applied to the Orion spacecraft as well. Technicians cut the emblems into flight-proof decals and adhered them to the underside of Orion’s crew module adapter. The European Space Agency is providing Orion’s service module, which is the powerhouse that fuels and propels the spacecraft. These bold images will be seen from cameras at the end of Orion’s solar arrays as the spacecraft travels toward the Moon and back.

The decals were affixed to the spacecraft by Frank Pelkey, a technician who previously painted the U.S. flag on the spacecraft that flew on NASA’s Exploration Flight Test-1. “I felt a great sense of pride when painting the U.S. flag on Orion’s first flight,” Pelkey said. “It was that same feeling of gratitude to be selected to apply the NASA and ESA logos to the vehicle for the first Artemis mission.”

In this time-lapse video, technicians paint the NASA logotype, or “worm,” on a segment of a booster that will carry astronauts into space on the Artemis I mission.

Later this year, teams will apply an American flag and the primary NASA logo with the blue sphere, known as the “meatball,” to the crew module, in addition to a decal of the worm on the outer band of the crew module adapter. These logos will also be seen during the mission while Orion is in space, and the worm on the crew module adapter band will be visible while on the launch pad as well.

Also to be applied early next year and visible from the launch pad, the meatball and an ESA logo will be shown on the fairings that cover the service module, and the American flag will appear on the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, as well as the launch abort system along with the words “United States.”

In June, Northrop Grumman, the prime contractor for the boosters, delivered the Artemis I rocket motors to Kennedy where assembly of the entire five-segment booster has started. The twin boosters will help propel the SLS rocket on its first flight in 2021. Shortly after launch from Pad 39B, the boosters will separate from the rocket as the core stage continues to send Orion to space. After the core stage’s job is complete, the rocket’s upper stage sends Orion toward the Moon, and then Orion continues the rest of its journey around the Moon and back powered by the European-provided service module. Artemis II in 2023 will be the first flight test with crew. In 2024, NASA will send the first woman and next man to surface of the Moon on the Artemis III mission, and establish sustainable exploration by the end of the decade.

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Thousands of Programmers ‘Take Action’ in Ninth Annual NASA Space Apps Challenge

Matt Scott is the Global Community Manager & Storyteller for NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge. For more, visit spaceappschallenge.org.
Were you part of Space Apps 2020? Share the highlights from your experience in the comments! Credits: NASA

More than 26,000 students, citizen programmers, and coding enthusiasts in nearly 250 countries took part in the ninth annual NASA International Space Apps Challenge, held virtually Oct. 2-4 and regionally hosted by Alabama A&M University in coordination with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The 48-hour global hackathon, with the theme “Take Action,” challenged programmers to use NASA open data to tackle numerous categories of real-world problems on Earth and in space. The 10th Space Apps Challenge, which is jointly supported by the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, and France’s National Centre for Space Studies, is set for Oct. 2-3, 2021. (NASA)

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New Challenge, No Problem, Says Artemis Generation: 46 Teams Selected for NASA Student Launch

By Will Bryan

High-powered amateur rocket launches
A rocket roars off the launch pad at the 2019 competition. Credits: NASA/Emmett Given

On Oct. 1, NASA announced the 46 teams, representing 20 states and Puerto Rico, selected to compete in the 2021 NASA Student Launch – one of seven Artemis Student Challenges.

The eight-month challenge, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center provides a realistic experience for middle school, high school, and college students to follow the engineering design process NASA and industry engineers use when developing and operating new hardware.

The student teams are required to design, build, test, and fly a payload and high-powered amateur rocket to an altitude between 3,500 and 5,500 feet. Teams also must meet multiple documentation and presentation milestones with NASA experts as they develop their rocket. The reports often total hundreds of pages of work by the end of the competition year.

As NASA continues to innovate its rockets and payloads, so too do the teams competing in Student Launch.

The college/university division teams will tackle a brand new payload challenge: a lander deployed during the rocket’s descent that lands upright, or uprights itself, and levels itself to within 5 degrees of flat. Following landing and leveling, the lander must take a 360-degree panoramic photo and transmit it to its team.

Middle and high school teams can choose to attempt the college/university division payload or develop their own unique scientific or engineering payload.

Changes to competition rules have been made due to the coronavirus pandemic, including:

  • Teams are permitted to use multiple video conferencing connections to attend all milestone review sessions, including the preliminary and critical design, and flight readiness reviews. This alleviates the need for all team members to be in the same room or location during their presentations to the NASA review panel.
  • Teams will not be required to travel to Huntsville in April to complete the project and compete in the rocket launch, as in previous years of the competition. Teams unable to travel and participate in person in the Launch Week activities will be permitted to complete their competition launch at a National Association of Rocketry or Tripoli Rocket Association-sanctioned launch in their local area.

Teams will continue to “call their shot” by predicting, months in advance of their competition flight, their rocket’s ultimate altitude. When teams submit their preliminary design review package to NASA in November, they will submit their predictions and target altitudes for their competition launch. The 2019 Altitude Award winning team in the college division was within 12 feet of its target altitude, while the winning team in the middle/high school division in 2020 missed its target by 7 feet.

Teams also are scored in nearly a dozen other categories, including safety, vehicle design, social media presence, and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics engagement. The STEM Engagement Award recognizes teams for sharing their knowledge and experiences with the next generation of engineers, scientists, and explorers.

Marshall’s Office of STEM Engagement manages Student Launch to stimulate innovation and advance NASA’s human exploration and operations mission through collaboration with educational institutions and students – the Artemis Generation, who will help NASA explore the Moon and Mars.

NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement furthers the agency’s goal of encouraging students to pursue degrees and careers in the STEM fields through multiple challenges, including Student Launch. NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate and the Office of STEM Engagement, along with Northrop Grumman and the Huntsville chapter of the National Space Club, provide funding and leadership for the initiative. Many of the NASA and industry leaders advising the teams have an in-depth understanding of rocketry challenges because they work on the agency’s Space Launch System rocket that will send astronauts to the Moon. The SLS Program is managed by Marshall.

For more information about NASA Student Launch, visit here.

For more information about other engineering challenges NASA hosts, visit here.

Bryan, a Manufacturing Technical Solutions employee, supports Marshall’s Office of Strategic Analysis & Communications.

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This Week in NASA History: Shuttle Enterprise Lifted into Dynamic Stand – Oct. 4, 1978

This week in 1978, the space shuttle Enterprise was lifted into the Dynamic Test Stand at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
This week in 1978, the space shuttle Enterprise was lifted into the Dynamic Test Stand at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center for the Mated Vertical Ground Vibration Test. This test marked the first time the entire space shuttle orbiter, external tank, and two solid rocket boosters were mated together. The vibration tests verified the space shuttle final launch configuration. Today, Marshall is playing a vital role in the Artemis program by developing the Space Launch System, the backbone of NASA’s exploration plans and the only rocket capable of sending humans to the Moon and Mars. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage. Credits: NASA

This week in 1978, the space shuttle Enterprise was lifted into the Dynamic Test Stand at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center for the Mated Vertical Ground Vibration Test. This test marked the first time the entire space shuttle orbiter, external tank, and two solid rocket boosters were mated together. The vibration tests verified the space shuttle final launch configuration. Today, Marshall is playing a vital role in the Artemis program by developing the Space Launch System, the backbone of NASA’s exploration plans and the only rocket capable of sending humans to the Moon and Mars. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating, and preserving NASA’s remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and scientific aspects of NASA’s activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA’s history, visit the Marshall History Program’s webpage. (NASA)

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