Headlines
Aerospace Influences Hubble Decision
Aerospace analysis of alternatives to repair the Hubble Space Telescope influenced NASA's recent decision to reject robotic servicing in favor of a fifth shuttle-based servicing mission. Additional analysis by Aerospace of possible foam and ice debris impacts on the shuttle orbiter may also have supported the NASA decision.
 (NASA) |
"The National Research Council Committee noted that Aerospace's analysis was 'the only quantitative analysis' of the problem," said Gary Pulliam, Aerospace vice president of Civil and Commercial Operations. "The analysis was the subject of unprecedented visibility, scrutiny, and political interest at the highest levels of the government, culminating in testimony before Congress," he added.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announced the decision in October 2006. "What we have learned has convinced us that we are able to conduct a safe and effective servicing mission to Hubble," Griffin said. "While there is an inherent risk in all spaceflight activities, the desire to preserve a truly international asset like the Hubble Space Telescope makes doing this mission the right course of action."
The repair mission will add two new camera instruments to the Hubble, upgrade aging batteries that power the satellite, and repair a light-separating spectrograph in the telescope. The Hubble rehab mission, which is likely to launch in May 2008 using space shuttle Discovery, would keep Hubble working until about 2013. Its estimated cost is $900 million.
"Hubble has been rewriting astronomy textbooks for more than 15 years, and all of us are looking forward to the new chapters that will be added with future discoveries and insights about our universe," said Mary Cleave, NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate.
(NOAA) |
NOAA Awards Contract to Aerospace
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently awarded a five-year, $140 million contract to Aerospace to continue its longtime support to this federal agency that monitors and predicts the state of the oceans and the atmosphere. John Hussey, principal director, NOAA Programs for Aerospace Civil and Commercial Operations, said the new contract has five initial components.
"Aerospace will support the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) and the Program Executive Office; the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) and NOAA observing-systems architecture; the Office of Systems Development; commercial remote sensing licensing and compliance; and the NOAA Office of Space Commercialization," Hussey said. "An additional task is expected to be issued later."
The new contract, which became effective Dec. 1, 2006, and includes a base year and four option years, follows two previous five-year contracts. During those years, Aerospace provided architecture development, system requirements management, and major system acquisition support to NPOESS and GOES-R as well as support to NOAA's operational polar and geostationary satellite systems and associated ground systems development and planning. Among other tasks, Aerospace developed observing-systems architecture and supported NOAA's involvement in national security space activities.
For more information about Aerospace support to NOAA satellites, see the Winter 2005 Crosslink issue on weather satellites.
Ion Propulsion
Ionfinity, a manufacturer of mass-spectrometry products, has been awarded a grant to commercialize a soft ionization membrane developed by Aerospace and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The technology could one day be used in a miniature ion engine for micro- and nanosatellite stationkeeping. The technology is being developed through a NASA Small Business Technology Transfer contract, with additional funding by the U.S. Air Force. A U.S. patent has been awarded to Ionfinity relating to the use of the membrane in an ion thruster engine.
Andy Quintero of Aerospace's Office of Intellectual Property Management said, "Like JPL, Aerospace creates early-stage technologies that fall in the lower technology-readiness-level category." The process for commercialization is always challenged by the need to secure adequate funding to move a technology from a low to a high readiness level, he said. "The micropropulsion project utilizes the Small Business Innovation Research grant program to advance the technology to the next level. If successful, private funding sources may come into play to help complete the insertion of the technology into specific applications," he said.
DOD Sets Launch Record
Three Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) launches between September and November 2006 extended to 48 the number of consecutive successful Air Force operational launches. Aerospace assisted in all three missions, which were launched by Delta rockets. Ray Johnson, vice president of Aerospace Space Launch Operations, congratulated the Delta team, "This was a great way to end the year: with 100 percent mission success."
Two of those successful flights were Delta II launches of the second and third modernized Block IIR Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites. GPS-IIR-15 was launched Sept. 25 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Less than two months later, launch of GPS IIR-16 on Nov. 17 from the Cape reached that SMC 48 milestone.
The GPS modernization effort will improve navigation and timing capabilities for both civilian and military users. Eight satellites are scheduled to be modernized and launched by 2008. "Aerospace was part of formulating the original GPS-IIR specifications, closely tracking the design, development, and factory test of the satellite," said John Clark, principal director of Space Systems at Aerospace.
(Boeing) |
The Delta II launch vehicle, which has been instrumental in helping to sustain the GPS constellation, has launched all GPS-IIR satellites. Aerospace's Delta II operations team performed extensive launch verification to assess flightworthiness and launch readiness for the rocket, including a review of all build records and tests as well as independent verification of mission analyses and software. Art Falconer, principal director of Aerospace Delta II Operations, said that particular attention is given during the readiness process to assessing new designs and evaluating significant anomalies. Analysis and monitoring continues during launch-site processing, countdown, and postlaunch operations.
Another rocket in the Delta family, the powerful Delta IV, launched a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F-17 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base Nov. 4. Aerospace supported the development of the Delta IV launch system from its inception as one of the next generation of launch capabilities known as the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle.
Mark Brosmer, principal director of Aerospace Delta IV Operations, said careful attention was given to the challenges presented by a vehicle as powerful as a Delta IV carrying such a light payload. The DMSP payload allowed the Delta IV team to accomplish a historic first—a controlled deorbit of the rocket's upper stage into the Pacific Ocean. "The complex maneuver was accomplished to eliminate space debris in compliance with the nation's orbital debris minimization policies," Brosmer said.
The DMSP provides high-quality weather images to the U.S. military and civilian communities. Each DMSP satellite is placed in near-polar orbit for strategic and tactical weather prediction and is equipped with sensors designed for the military's specialized meteorological, oceanographic, and solar-geophysical needs. Aerospace has supported DMSP for more than 30 years and provided key mission-assurance support for the DMSP F-17 satellite, from early satellite integration and testing to launch countdown monitoring to on-orbit analysis and operations.
Aerospace Recognized for Knowledge Management
Aerospace's knowledge management program was commended recently by the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC), which selected Aerospace as one of five best-practice organizations for knowledge retention and transfer.
"This is a major recognition of the success of knowledge management within Aerospace," said Stewart Sutton of the Aerospace Knowledge Management Office. "The selection was based on our strategies, processes, and techniques for knowledge retention and transfer," Sutton said.
The corporation's achievements in knowledge management will be showcased along with those of the other four organizations selected—NASA/JPL, Michelin, Rolls-Royce, and Fluor Corporation—at the APQC Knowledge Management Conference in May in Houston. APQC is a nonprofit organization that provides benchmarking and best-practice research for approximately 500 organizations worldwide in all industries.
To Spring 2007 Table of Contents
