| *** SEPTEMBER 2006 *** |
| NASA AWARDS THERMAL PROTECTION CONTRACT FOR ORION SPACECRAFT |
| NASA has selected The Boeing Company, Huntington Beach, Calif., to support the design and development of a lunar direct return (LDR)-capable heat shield for the Orion crew exploration vehicle. The hybrid firm fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract has a 16-month period of performance, with a maximum value of approximately $14 million, including all priced options. The heat shield will protect the spacecraft and crew during atmospheric reentry following missions to the moon or the International Space Station. The heat shield attached at the base of the spacecraft will reject the majority of the heat generated during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Returning from missions to the station, Orion will re-enter at speeds similar to those experienced by the space shuttle --16,700 miles an hour. Returning from the moon, Orion will re-enter the atmosphere at speeds of about 25,000 miles an hour and experience heating about five times as extreme as missions returning from the station. NASA's Constellation Program is developing Orion as NASA's primary vehicle for future human space exploration. Orion will carry astronauts to the International Space Station by 2014, with a goal of landing astronauts on the moon no later than 2020. |
| NASA AMES WORKSHOP CONSIDERS FUTURE AIRPORT PLANNING |
| Experts from NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the nation's airports will gather at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., for the 2006 NASA/Industry Airport Planning Workshop to discuss ways to improve future airports. News media representatives are invited to attend the workshop. During the two-day conference, keynote speakers and expert panelists will discuss the challenges of planning for the future capacity needs of airports and how new technologies are providing solutions. The workshop will be held in the NASA Ames Conference Center (NACC), ...followed by an optional tour of NASA Ames' simulation facilities. |
| NASA LICENSES PROGRAM AND DATA MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE TO INDUSTRY |
| NASA and JumpStart Solutions are working together to bring software developed for use in the nation's space program directly to consumers and commercial markets. Through a recently signed agreement, JumpStart Solutions, Cave Creek, Ariz., will license NASA's Program Management Tool (PMT), Query Based Document Composition (QBDC), and NETMARK software. The Program Management Tool is a comprehensive, Web-enabled, business application tool. It is designed to monitor, disseminate and track the progress of research and development programs and to project milestones. The tool operates in conjunction with QBDC and NETMARK. NETMARK is an information-on-demand framework that manages, stores and retrieves unstructured and/or semi-structured documents. QBDC is a tool that enables content or context searches, either simple or hierarchical, across a variety of databases. NETMARK is a revolutionary concept in information management. Along with PMT and QBDC, NETMARK was invented and developed at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif... |