Category: NASA

Image credit: NASA
The man who designed the original spacecraft for Project Mercury and is credited with contributing to the designs of every U.S. human spacecraft from Mercury to the Space Shuttle has died. Dr. Maxime A. Faget, who in 1958 became part of the Space Task Group that would later evolve into the NASA Johnson Space Center, died Saturday at his home in Houston. He was 83 years old.

“Without Max Faget’s innovative designs and thoughtful approach to problem solving, America’s space program would have had trouble getting off the ground,” said NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe. “He also was an aeronautics pioneer. In fact, it was his work on supersonic flight research that eventually led to his interest in space flight. The thoughts and prayers of the entire agency are with his family.”

Faget’s career with NASA dates back to 1946, when he joined the staff of Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., as a research scientist. He worked in the Pilotless Aircraft Research Division and later was named head of the Performance Aerodynamics Branch. He conceived and proposed the development of the one-man spacecraft used in Project Mercury.

Faget was selected as one of the original 35 engineers as a nucleus of the Space Task Group to carry out the Mercury project. The group also devoted a lot of time to follow-on programs and Faget led the initial design and analysis teams that studied the feasibility of a flight to the Moon. As a result of his work and other NASA research, President John F. Kennedy was able to commit the U.S. to a lunar landing by the end of the 1960s.

“Max was a genuine icon,” said NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Operations William Readdy, “a down-to-earth Cajun with a very nuts-and-bolts approach to engineering. He contributed immeasurably to America’s successes in human space flight. His genius allowed us to compete and win the space race to the Moon.”

“Max Faget was truly a legend of the manned space flight program,” said Christopher C. Kraft, former Johnson Space Center director. “He was a true icon of the space program. There is no one in space flight history in this or any other country who has had a larger impact on man’s quest in space exploration. He was a colleague and a friend I regarded with the highest esteem. History will remember him as one of the really great scientists of the 20th Century.”

Faget was part of the original feasibility study for the Space Shuttle. His team then focused on Shuttle development. He retired from NASA in 1981 following the second shuttle mission (STS-2). His government service career spanned four decades.

After retiring from NASA, Faget was among the founders of one of the early private space companies, Space Industries Inc., established in 1982. One of its projects was the Wake Shield Facility, built for the University of Houston and flown twice aboard the Space Shuttle to demonstrate a technique for processing material in a near-perfect vacuum.

Born on August 26, 1921, in Stann Creek, British Honduras, Faget graduated from Louisiana State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1943. He joined the U.S. Navy where he saw considerable combat as an officer in the submarine service.

Faget’s numerous accomplishments include patents on the “Aerial Capsule Emergency Separation Device” (escape tower), the “Survival Couch,” the “Mercury Capsule,” and a “Mach Number Indicator.”

He received numerous honors and awards, including the Arthur S. Flemming Award, the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership, and honorary doctorate of engineering degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and Louisiana State University. He was inducted into the National Space Hall of Fame in 1969 and the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2003. Faget was the first recipient of the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement in 1987.

Faget was preceded in death by his wife Nancy in 1994. He is survived by four children: Ann, Carol, Guy, and Nanette; a daughter in law, two sons in law and 10 grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Original Source: NASA News Release

Gordon Cooper Jr., the astronaut who piloted the sixth and last flight of the Mercury program and later commanded Gemini 5, died earlier today at his home in Ventura, Calif. He was 77 years old.

“As one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, Gordon Cooper was one of the faces of America’s fledgling space program. He truly portrayed the right stuff, and he helped gain the backing and enthusiasm of the American public, so critical for the spirit of exploration. My thoughts and prayers are with Gordon’s family during this difficult time,” said NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe.

“Cooper’s efforts and those of his fellow Mercury astronauts, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra and Deke Slayton, serve as reminders of what drives us to explore. They also remind us that to succeed any vision for exploration needs the support of the American people.”

“Gordo was one of the most straightforward people I have ever known. What you saw was what you got,” said fellow Mercury astronaut and former U.S. Senator John Glenn, in a statement released by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

Another of the “Original Seven,” Wally Schirra added, “We seven were bonded like brothers, maybe even closer if that’s possible.”

“He never said ‘you can’t do it.’ He was gung ho on everything,” said Norris Gray, the NASA Fire Chief and Emergency Preparedness Officier during the Mercury days. Sam Beddingfield, then Mechanical Engineer for Project Mercury added, “He knew what he was doing and could always make things work.”

“Gordon Cooper’s legacy is permanently woven into the fabric of the Kennedy Space Center as a Mercury Seven astronaut,” said Kennedy Space Center director Jim Kennedy. “His achievements helped build the foundation of success for human space flight that NASA and KSC have benefited from for the past four decades.

“While the KSC family mourns the loss of this space pioneer, we honor his contributions and rest easy knowing his imprint on KSC will last forever. I consider it a privilege to have known Gordon Cooper. On behalf of the KSC family, I extend condolences to the Cooper family and our prayers are with them in their trying days ahead. ”

The youngest of the original seven astronauts, Cooper’s flight in his Faith 7 capsule stretched the capabilities of the Mercury spacecraft to the limits. The mission, May 15 and 16, 1963, lasted more than 34 hours and 22 orbits. That was more than three times the longest U.S. human space flight until that time, and far exceeded the initial design capability of the capsule. During his flight, Cooper also became the first astronaut to sleep in space.

“NASA’s astronauts extend their deepest sympathies to Gordon Cooper’s family,” said Kent Rominger, chief of the astronaut office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “He was among the first pioneers in space and his achievements inspired many of us to pursue our dreams of exploring our universe. We salute his many accomplishments as an astronaut and as a husband and father. He will be truly missed.”

Cooper and Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr. flew the troubled and suspenseful third flight of the Gemini program in August 1965. The goal of the mission was to prove astronauts could survive in space long enough to perform a lunar mission, which takes eight days.

During their eight-day mission, they experienced a number of problems with power systems, thruster fuel, venting gas that caused the spacecraft to roll, and more in a seemingly unending series. But they stayed in orbit for almost 191 hours, 122 orbits in nearly eight days, and got themselves and their spacecraft back intact. In orbit, they accomplished a “shadow rendezvous” with an imaginary spacecraft, an exercise demonstrating it could be done.

The Gemini 5 mission established a new space endurance record at the time, travelling 3,312,993 miles in 190 hours and 56 minutes. Cooper also became the first man to make a second orbital flight and thus won for the United States the lead in man-hours in space by accumulating a total of 225 hours and 15 minutes.

A Life of Service
Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. was born on March 6, 1927, in Shawnee, Okla. He served in the Marine Corps in 1945 and 1946, then attended the University of Hawaii where he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

In 1949 he was called to active duty and completed pilot training in the U.S. Air Force. From 1950 to 1954 he was a fighter pilot in Germany.

Cooper earned a bachelor’s degree at the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1956, then completed test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. He served as a test pilot there until he was selected as a Mercury astronaut.

In addition to his two flights, Cooper was backup command pilot of Gemini 12, launched in November 1965. He also served as backup command pilot for Apollo 10, which flew in May 1969. He left NASA and retired from the Air Force as a colonel on July 31, 1970.

He founded Gordon Cooper and Associates that year and served as president of the consulting firm that specialized in activities ranging from aerospace to hotel and land development projects. Cooper was a director of a number of other organizations, most specializing in energy, advanced electronics systems, efficient homes, boats and marine systems and equipment.

In 1975, he became vice president for research and development for Walter E. Disney Enterprises Inc. of Glendale, Calif., the research and development subsidiary of Walt Disney Productions.

Throughout his life, Cooper pursued a wide range of activities, both professionally and as hobbies. A NASA biography lists his hobbies as treasure hunting, archaeology, racing, flying, skiing, boating, hunting and fishing. Among his numerous awards were the Air Force Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross with cluster, NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal, the Collier Trophy and the Harmon Trophy.

He was the first active-duty military man to address joint sessions of Congress twice.

Cooper continued to design and test new aircraft in Southern California, never giving up his passion for pushing the envelope. Cooper told a reporter when he was 71, “I get cranky if I don’t fly at least three times a month.”

Original Source: NASA News Release

The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) has announced its 2004 Phase 1 awards. Twelve proposals to boldly go beyond the frontiers of space exploration were selected for a six-month study period beginning in October 2004.

The NIAC was created in 1998 to solicit revolutionary concepts from people and organizations outside the agency that could greatly advance NASA’s missions. The proposals push the limits of known science and technology. The proposals are expected to take at least a decade to be fully realized. NIAC’s intention is to discover ideas that may result in beneficial changes to NASA’s long-range plans.

“We are thrilled to team up with imaginative people from industry and universities to discover innovative systems that meet the tremendous challenge of space exploration and development,” said Dr. Robert Cassanova of the Universities Space Research Organization (USRA), and NIAC director. The USRA runs the Institute for NASA.

The NIAC sponsors research in two phases. Proposals selected for Phase 1 awards typically receive up to $75,000 for a six-month study that validates the viability of the concept and identifies challenges that must be overcome to make the proposal a reality.

The results of the Phase 1 studies are evaluated. The most promising are selected for further research into the major feasibility issues associated with cost, performance, development time, and technology through a Phase 2 award. Phase 2 studies can be up to two years long and receive as much as $400,000.

Proposals selected for the 2004 Phase 1 awards:

? A Deep-Field Infrared Observatory near the Lunar Pole (Principal Investigator (PI): Dr. Roger J. Angel, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.)

? Extremely Large Swarm Array of Picosats for Microwave/RF Earth Sensing, Radiometry, and Mapping (PI: Ivan Bekey, Bekey Designs Inc., Annandale, Va.)

? Redesigning Living Organisms to Survive on Mars (PI: Dr. Wendy F. Boss, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.)

? Analysis of a Lunar Base Electrostatic Radiation Shield Concept (PI: Dr. Charles R. Buhler, ASRC Aerospace Corporation, Kennedy Space Center, Fla.)

? New Worlds Imager (PI: Dr. Webster Cash, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.)

? Efficient Direct Conversion of Sunlight to Coherent Light at High Average Power in Space (PI: Dr. Richard Fork, University of Alabama, Huntsville, Ala.)

? Use of Superconducting Magnet Technology for Astronaut Radiation Protection (PI: Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston)

? Wide-Bandwidth Deep-Space Quantum Communications (PI: Ricky Morgan, Morgan Optics Corporation, San Diego)

? Lunar Space Elevators for Cislunar Space Development (PI: Jerome Pearson, Star Technology and Research, Inc., Mount Pleasant, S.C.)

? Large-Product General-Purpose Design and Manufacturing Using Nanoscale Modules (PI: Chris Phoenix, Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, Brooklyn, N.Y.)

? Magnetized Beamed Plasma Propulsion (PI: Dr. Robert M. Winglee of the University of Washington, Seattle)

? A Self-Sustaining, Boundary-Layer-Adapted System for Terrain Exploration and Environmental Sampling (PI: Dr. Craig A. Woolsey, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.)

Original Source: NASA News Release

SpaceDev has begun designing a reuseable, piloted, sub-orbital space ship that could be scaled up to safely and economically transport passengers to and from low earth orbit, including the International Space Station. The name of the vehicle is the ?SpaceDev Dream Chaser.?

SpaceDev?s founding chairman and CEO, Jim Benson, recently signed a Space Act Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NASA Ames Research Center director, Dr. Scott Hubbard. This non-binding MOU confirms the intention of the two parties to explore novel, hybrid rocket propulsion based hypersonic test beds for routine human space access. The parties will explore collaborative partnerships to investigate the potential of using SpaceDev?s proven hybrid propulsion and other technologies, and a low cost, private space program development approach, to establish and design new piloted small launch vehicles and flight test platforms to enable near-term, low-cost routine space access for NASA and the United States. One possibility for collaboration is the SpaceDev Dream Chaser? project, which is currently being discussed with NASA Ames.

Unlike the more complex SpaceShipOne, for which SpaceDev provides critical proprietary hybrid rocket motor propulsion technologies, the SpaceDev Dream Chaser? would be crewed and take-off vertically, like most launch vehicles, and will glide back for a normal horizontal runway landing.

?This project is one small step for SpaceDev, but could evolve into one giant leap for affordable, commercial human space flight,? said Jim Benson. ?I have been waiting for almost fifty years for commercial space flight, and have concluded that SpaceDev, through our unbroken string of successful space technology developments, now has the technical capability and know-how, along with our partners, and when fully funded, to quickly develop a safe and affordable human space flight program, beginning with sub-orbital flights in the near future, and building up to reliable orbital public space transportation hopefully by the end of this decade.?

?I am delighted that we will be working with SpaceDev to help meet the goals of The Vision for Space Exploration,? said G. Scott Hubbard, director of NASA Ames Research Center, located in California?s Silicon Valley. ?Near-term, low-cost, crewed and uncrewed routine space access is a key for realizing the nation?s Exploration Vision. I look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with SpaceDev to explore the technologies for a new class of exciting launch vehicles for future space exploration.?

The sub-orbital SpaceDev Dream Chaser is derived from an existing X-Plane concept and will have an altitude goal of approximately 160 km (about 100 miles) and will be powered by a single, high performance hybrid rocket motor, under parallel development by SpaceDev for the SpaceDev Streaker?, a family of small, expendable launch vehicles, designed to affordably deliver small satellites to low earth orbit. The SpaceDev Dream Chaser will use motor technology being developed for the SpaceDev Streaker? booster stage, the most powerful motor in the Streaker family. The SpaceDev Dream Chaser motor will produce approximately 100,000 pounds of thrust, about six times the thrust of the SpaceShipOne motor, but less than one-half the thrust of the 250,000 pounds of thrust produced by hybrid rocket motors developed several years ago by the American Rocket Company (AMROC).

SpaceDev?s non-explosive hybrid rocket motors use synthetic rubber as the fuel, and nitrous oxide for the oxidizer to make the rubber burn. Traditional rocket motors use two liquids, or a solid propellant that combines the fuel and oxidizer, but both types of rocket motors are explosive, and all solid motors produce copious quantities of toxic exhaust. SpaceDev?s hybrid rocket motors are non-toxic and do not detonate like solid or liquid rocket motors.

Original Source: SpaceDev News Release

NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans are riding out Hurricane Ivan, which made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama, overnight. NASA has made preparations to secure important space flight hardware against damage.

Stennis, where Space Shuttle engines are tested before flight, is about 45 miles inland near the Mississippi-Louisiana border and is home to about 300 NASA personnel and 1,250 NASA contractors as well as employees from other agencies. Workers there were sent home Tuesday, Sept. 14 to prepare for the storm, and the center is not expected to open before Friday, Sept. 17. Information for Stennis employees will be posted on http://www.nasa.gov/stennis as it becomes available.

A team of about 50 essential personnel will ride out the storm at Stennis. Two flight-qualified Space Shuttle Main Engines at Stennis have been secured; one was put back into its container, and the other was wrapped in plastic. Two developmental engines were enclosed on their test stands and protected.

A ride-out team will also remain in place through the storm at Michoud, across the Mississippi-Louisiana border about 40 miles to the southwest of Stennis. The NASA facility, operated by Lockheed-Martin, manufactures and assembles the large Space Shuttle external fuel tanks, and is home to about 3,900 employees from NASA, Lockheed-Martin and other agencies. Lockheed Martin and NASA workers were dismissed Tuesday, Sept. 14. to make preparations at home, and the facility is not expected to open before Friday, Sept. 17. Contact information for Michoud employees is available at http://www.nasa.gov/marshall.

The shuttle fuel tanks at Michoud have been secured. Equipment has been moved indoors, facilities have been sandbagged, and important materials — such as insulating foam and adhesive — have been loaded onto trucks to be transported out of the area, if necessary.

KSC Recovering From Frances
Meanwhile, approximately 14,000 people returned to work at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) this week, following an 11-day closure due to Hurricane Frances. Recovery efforts are already underway.

“We really saw our readiness for hurricanes Charley and Frances pay off,” said William Readdy, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations. “KSC was in the path of those two strong storms, and while some of our buildings were damaged, we made sure our workforce was safe and had no injuries. We were also able to protect our three Space Shuttles, our International Space Station components, and other key hardware.”

During the closure, the KSC Damage Assessment and Recovery Team (DART) completed initial damage assessments. KSC weathered sustained winds greater than 70 mph and gusts as high as 94 mph. A thorough assessment of KSC’s 900 facilities and buildings continues and could take weeks or months to complete.

The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the Thermal Protection System Facility (TPSF) and the Processing Control Center (PCC) received significant damage. The Operations and Checkout Building, Vertical Processing Facility, Hangar AE, Hangar S, and Hangar AF Small Parts Facility received substantial damage.

Original Source: NASA News Release

For one of the world’s biggest buildings, before and after images captured the force of the storm. With its footprint the size of Texas, hurricane Frances had pounded Cape Canaveral over the weekend and left a natural scar on one of the world’s manmade wonders.

Originally built for assembly of Apollo/Saturn vehicles and later modified to support Space Shuttle operations, the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is often referred to as the only enclosed space big enough for interior clouds to form. But when a hurricane looms off the Florida coast and dark clouds gather to drench the beaches, the novelty of forming interior clouds loses some of its charm.

It is not the tallest, just one of the more spacious. Its high-bay area is 525 feet tall (more than 45 stories high), while its low-bay area is 210 feet tall. The VAB occupies 8 acres of land, making it the largest in volume (129 million cubic feet). The volume is like half the height of the tallest skyscraper, but then with that same tower turned on three axes, with nearly equal height, width and depth. When open, the T-shaped door alone is more than 40 stories tall.

When constructed in the 1960’s to stack the Saturn rockets–each about the size of an aircraft carrier if stood up vertically–the VAB came to symbolize big-scale thinking. In addition to sheltering the Apollo rockets, it could accomodate rollbacks of a shuttle during the predictable fall hurricane season. In total, six skyscrapers could fit inside what is the landmark against an otherwise flat Florida marsh lacking an urban skyline. But from its outset, if NASA needed a building to shelter a moon rocket, then a group of construction engineers would conceive hoisting the biggest one of its kind.

Max Urbahn, who headed the design team of architects and engineers for the Vehicle Assembly Building stated the design challenge well when he said: “The VAB is not so much a building to house a moon vehicle as a machine to build a moon craft. The Launch Control Center that monitors and tests every component that goes into an Apollo vehicle is not so much a building as an almost-living brain.”

When General Thomas Stafford testified to the Presidential blue-ribbon commission on “Moon to Mars and Beyond”, he cited specifically how remarkable the early sixties were for construction on the Florida coast. “In the early 1960’s the Cape was strictly palmettos, rattlesnakes, and palm trees. In 6 years, that was built to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), and we launched the first Saturn flag. And most of it was done with a slide rule.”

As the VAB tried to weather 100 mile-per-hour gales, the adage that ‘build it and they will come’ took on special significance: those who had to evacuate included nearly the entire 14,000 person Kennedy Space Center (KSC). According to its design specifications, the VAB doors can withstand winds of 125 miles per hour and can be opened and closed in a 63 mile-per-hour wind. The building lived up to its design, but its integrity was questionable earlier in the week when Frances looked like it might make landfall with 140 mph force winds.

As NASA Administrator, Sean O’Keefe described in a statement: “Kennedy Space Center suffered significant damage as Hurricane Frances swept across Florida.” After the weekend, early assessment of this landmark facility showed about 820 panels were torn off the VAB during the storm. Initial review of the interior, however, indicated no serious damage to equipment, including two Space Shuttle External Tanks.

Preliminary inspections of the center’s two launch pads indicate they appear in good shape. The SWIFT spacecraft for studying Gamma Ray Bursts, which is scheduled for launch early next month, also appears fine, but the building where it rode out the storm did sustain damage. Also, power was restored today to the third and final Orbital Processing Facility, which houses the Space Shuttle Discovery.

In addition to housing the shuttle rocket stacks, many astrobiology missions have historical ties to critical assets at the Cape. From the Hubble telescope launch to various human missions on space station, the shuttle stack has been mounted in the VAB. In fact the skyline at Cape Canaveral gives a running account of important astrobiology objectives. During a controlled explosion in October 2000, the historical launch pad 41 dating back to 1965 gave way to a new Atlas V tower. That part of the now modified Florida skyline had witnessed the launch of two Viking missions to Mars and Voyager’s planetary probe, both of which had led the way for modern astrobiology missions to the inner and outer solar system.

O’Keefe spoke to the NASA tradition of recovery, when he concluded that “We have a documented history of overcoming adversity and pulling together.” NASA has not assessed yet whether the storm damage will affect the planned spring reflight of the shuttle as it returns to orbit since the Columbia tragedy.

Original Source: NASA Astrobiology Article

NASA teams are surveying the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for damage caused by Hurricane Frances. Initial assessments show KSC weathered the storm fairly well. There are no reports of any injured KSC workers, and there does not appear to be damage to the Space Shuttles Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.

“Our initial feeling is we dodged a real bullet,” said Kennedy Space Center Director Jim Kennedy. “Even though this was the worst storm ever to hit KSC, I feel very fortunate.”

KSC will remain closed Tuesday for most employees. Workers who need to report to work will be notified. A more detailed damage assessment is expected Tuesday.

The most serious damage reported so far is to the center’s landmark structure, the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), and to the facility that manufactures Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System tiles and blankets.

Sustained wind of more than 70 mph was recorded during the storm. Approximately 1,000 panels were blown off the VAB. In some places, exterior panels and underlying sub-panels are missing, leaving the interior of the building exposed to the elements. There are several holes, including one estimated to be 50 feet by 50 feet, in the building. Emergency operations personnel have not entered the VAB, as several loose panels are still hanging from the building and present a safety hazard.

The KSC Space Shuttle tile and blanket facility’s roof is partially torn off, and there is significant wall damage. Damage to the facility and its effect on the Space Shuttle Return to Flight effort is not yet known. The building housing International Space Station hardware and modules appears to be in good shape. KSC was powered down last week as Frances approached. Emergency operations teams are working to restore electricity and phone service to the center. NASA will provide new information as available.

Original Source: NASA News Release

The board that investigated the loss of the remotely operated Helios Prototype aircraft during a test flight last summer released its final report today.

The board determined that the mishap resulted from the inability to predict, using available analysis methods, the aircraft?s increased sensitivity to atmospheric disturbances such as turbulence, following vehicle configuration changes required for the long-duration flight demonstration.

The Helios Prototype aircraft involved in the mishap was a proof-of-concept solar electric- powered flying wing designed to operate at high altitudes for long duration flight. The failure occurred during a flight from the U.S. Navy?s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) on the Hawaiian island of Kauai on June 26, 2003.

The propeller-driven aircraft had been flying under guidance of ground-based controllers from AeroVironment, Inc., of Monrovia, Calif., the plane?s builder and operator, with assistance from NASA Dryden Flight Research Center personnel. The aircraft was destroyed when it sustained structural failure and fell into the Pacific Ocean. No other property damage or any injuries occurred as a result of the mishap.

The lightweight, highly flexible flying wing took off at 10:06 a.m. local time. At 10:22 and 10:24 a.m., the aircraft encountered atmospheric turbulence, typical of conditions expected by the test crew, causing abnormally high wing dihedral (upward bowing of both wingtips). Unobserved mild pitch oscillations began, but quickly diminished, according to post-test data analysis.

At about 10:36 a.m., the aircraft again experienced normal turbulence and transitioned into an unexpected, persistent high wing dihedral configuration. As a result, the aircraft became unstable, exhibiting growing pitch oscillations. Airspeed deviated from the normal flight speed, with the deviations rapidly increasing with every cycle of the oscillation. The aircraft?s design speed was subsequently exceeded. The resulting high dynamic pressures caused the wing leading edge secondary structure on the outer wing panels to fail and the solar cells and skin on the upper surface to rip off. The remotely piloted aircraft came down within the confines of the Pacific Ocean test range, northwest of PMRF.

?The mishap underscores our need to assess carefully our assumptions as we push the boundaries of our knowledge,? said Dr. Victor Lebacqz, Associate Administrator for NASA?s Office of Aeronautics. ?It should not, however, diminish the significant progress AeroVironment and NASA have made over the past 10 years in advancing the capabilities of this unique class of aircraft on many successful flights, including Helios’ record setting flight to just under 97,000 feet altitude in August 2001. It is important that we learn from this experience, and apply the board’s findings and recommendations to help ensure the payoffs of such vehicles are fully realized.?

The report is available on the Web at: http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/64317main_helios.pdf

Original Source: NASA News Release

NASA today awarded the first contracts to conduct preliminary concept studies for human lunar exploration and the development of the crew exploration vehicle. Eleven companies were selected.

NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Associate Administrator retired Navy Rear Adm. Craig E. Steidle, said, “These study contracts reflect NASA’s new commitment to find the best outside expertise that will work in partnerships to benefit the nation’s goals for space exploration. We are developing a sustained and affordable human and robotic program that will explore the solar system and beyond. We will accomplish this using the same ingenuity, commitment and unwavering determination that forged the success of the Apollo program.”

The contracts, which total approximately $27 million, with a possible option worth an additional $27 million, are a result of the Concept Exploration and Refinement Broad Agency Announcement issued in May 2004.

The contracts will be awarded initiating a six-month base period, with a six-month option that may be exercised at the government’s discretion. Options may be exercised based on several factors, including the quality of performance during the base period, fiscal constraints and overall support to the Vision for Space Exploration. The Vision for Space Exploration gives NASA a new focus for a sustained and affordable human and robotic space exploration program to explore the solar system and beyond.

The contracts are in two categories or concept areas. The first area is preliminary concepts for human lunar exploration. The selected companies for “concept 1” and the value of their contracts are:

Raytheon, Tucson, Ariz. — Base: $994,157; Option: $998,529
SAIC, Houston — Base: $996,616; Option: $998,539
SpaceHAB Corp., Webster, Texas — Base: $995,603; Option: $998,907

The second category consists of preliminary concepts for the crew exploration vehicle and human lunar exploration. The selected companies for “concept 2” and the value of their contracts are:

Andrews Space Inc., Seattle — Base: $2,999,988; Option: $2,999,941
Draper Labs, Cambridge, Mass. — Base: $2,988,083; Option: $2,945,357
Lockheed Martin Corp., Denver — Base: $2,999,742; Option: $2,999,920
Northrop Grumman Corp., El Segundo, Calif. — Base: $2,958,753; Option: $2,999,473
Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va. — Base: $2,998,952; Option: $2,994,259
Schafer, Chelmsford, Mass. — Base: $2,999,179; Option: $2,997,804
The Boeing Co., Huntington Beach, Calif. — Base: $2,998,203; Option: $2,998,346
t-Space, Menlo Park, Calif. — Base: $2,999,732; Option: $2,939,357

For information about the Office of Exploration Systems on the Internet, visit:

http://exploration.nasa.gov/

For information about NASA on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

Original Source: NASA News Release

Guinness World Records has recognized the world speed record set by NASA’s hypersonic X-43A aircraft in an experimental flight over the Pacific Ocean earlier this year. The unpiloted, 12- foot-long aircraft achieved Mach 6.83 — almost seven times the speed of sound — or nearly 5,000 mph, while its supersonic-combustion ramjet (scramjet) engine propelled the craft for 11 seconds during the flight on March 27.

The accomplishment will be included in the 2006 Guinness World Records book, set for release this time next year, as follows:

“On 27 March 2004, NASA’s unmanned Hyper-X (X-43A) airplane reached Mach 6.83, almost seven times the speed of sound. The X-43A was boosted to an altitude of 29,000 m (95,000 ft) by a Pegasus rocket launched from beneath a B52-B aircraft. The revolutionary ‘scramjet’ aircraft then burned its engine for around 11 seconds during flight over the Pacific Ocean.”

If NASA researchers have their way, the record won’t stand long. The final flight in the Hyper-X program is scheduled to take place in October, when another X-43A aircraft will attempt to fly at Mach 10 — ten times the speed of sound — or 7,200 mph.

The flight was part of NASA’s Hyper-X program, designed to demonstrate advanced high-speed propulsion system concepts to overcome one of the greatest aeronautical research challenges – air-breathing hypersonic flight. The advantage of air-breathing flight is that the vehicle — whether it is aircraft or spacecraft ?scoops the air its engines need from the atmosphere rather than carrying heavy, bulky tanks, as rockets do.

The challenge is to introduce fuel, ignite it and produce positive thrust while highly compressed air rushes through the engine in mere milliseconds — roughly analogous to lighting a match and keeping it burning in a hurricane-force wind.

Compared to rocket-powered vehicles like the Space Shuttle, scramjets promise more airplane-like operations for increased affordability, flexibility and safety for ultra high-speed flights within the atmosphere and into Earth orbit.

The X-43A flight easily set a world speed record for an air-breathing engine aircraft. The previous known record was held by a ramjet-powered missile, which achieved slightly more than Mach 5. A ramjet operates by subsonic combustion of fuel in a stream of air compressed by the forward speed of the aircraft itself, as opposed to a normal jet engine, in which the compressor section (the fan blades) compresses the air. A scramjet (supersonic-combustion ramjet) is a ramjet engine in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic.

The highest speed attained by a rocket-powered airplane, NASA’s X-15 aircraft, was Mach 6.7.The fastest air-breathing, manned vehicle, the SR-71, achieved slightly more than Mach 3.2. The X-43A more than doubled the top speed of the jet-powered SR-71.

Guinness World Records? science editor David Hawksett has already expressed a n interest in attending the fall flight.

“Operating an atmospheric vehicle at almost Mach 7 is impressive enough, but to be able to use oxygen from the air, instead of a fuel tank, as it screams into the engine intakes at 5,000 mph is a mind-boggling technical achievement. It?s wonderful to see scramjet technology finally begin to take off,” said Hawksett.

The Hyper-X program is conducted by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate with the NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., as lead center with responsibility for hypersonic technology development and the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., responsible for flight research and testing.

Guinness World Records issued a certificate to NASA documenting the X-43A accomplishment, and will feature the story on its web site: http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/

For more information on NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate programs, including Hyper-X, on the Internet, visit: http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/

Original Source: NASA News Release

Here’s an article about the biggest airplane in the world.