Advanced Air Mobility Center in Ohio Will Enable Collaboration between USAF, NASA, Academia, and Industry - Aviation Today

Advanced Air Mobility Center in Ohio Will Enable Collaboration between USAF, NASA, Academia, and Industry - Aviation Today: Construction of a facility for advanced air mobility projects began last month in Springfield, Ohio. The center is funded by $9.35M in investments.

NASA Asteroid Redirect Mission Approved for Phase B

On 15 August 2016,NASA management approved the Asteroid Redirect Mission for movement to Phase B of its design and development-a project lifecycle milestone for the mission.Key Decision Point-B established the content,cost and schedule commitments for Phase B activities.*
The target launch date for the robotic segment of the mission has been set as December 2021;and the crewed segment was given a launch date of 2026,though still in its early concept mission phase.The project's cost cap has been increased from 1.25 to 1.4 billion dollars ex launch vehicle and post-launch operation phase.*
The content of the robotic segment of the mission is to demonstrate advanced,high-power,high-throughput solar electric propulsion;
advanced,high-speed autonomous proximity operations at a low-gravity planetary body;
controlled touchdown and liftoff with a multi-tonne mass from a low-gravity planetary body;
astronaut spacewalk activities for sample selection,extraction,containment and return;
and mission operations of integrated robotic and crewed service stack:all of which are needed for human missions to the Mars system.
With KDP-B under our belt,ARM can now move forward to define partnerships and engagements,said Michele Gates,ARM program director at NASA headquarters in Washington,D.C.For instance,in September,the agency will issue a request for proposals for the robotic spacecraft to aerospace companies that previously worked with the ARM design team on a six-month study of spacecraft concepts to meet mission requirements.*
After collecting the multi-tonne boulder from the asteroid,the rocket ship will slowly edge the boulder to the lunar position.The proposed target asteroid,2008 EV5 (subscript),is a primitive,carbonaceous asteroid believed to be rich in volatility,water and organic compounds.It will be carefully redirected to the Moon,where a series of proving ground missions for the Mars system will be carried out in the 2020s in order to validate mission concepts of human-robotic and spacecraft operations.

Orion Spacecraft Ticking Off Milestones-Navy divers rehearse

In June,the Orion spacecraft crew module,or capsule,reached a milestone when it was sucessfully stacked on the service module at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center.The three Orion components-the third component being the launch abort system that is attached to the top of the capsule-are being readied in the facility for December's Exploration Flight Test-1.
The stacked modules are in the Final Assembly and System Testing(FAST) cell,where they undergo final systems tests before being rolled out for mating with the Delta IV Heavy rocket.Power connections are made,and bolts and fluid connector are placed during this phase of mission preparation.There are also electrical,avionic and radio frequency tests.*
The unmanned EFT-1 will see Orion launched to 3600 miles above Earth for a two-orbit,4.5 hour test flight.During the flight,systems critical for manned deep space missions will be evaluated.Finally,the Orion capsule will reenter the atmosphere at nearly 20,000 miles an hour before parachute system deployment and splashdown in the Pacific,where a US Navy amphibious warfare vessel will retrieve it.Engineers will scrutinise the performance of Orion's heat shield,which is the largest ever built,and the adapter linking the spacecraft to its rocket.*
Early in June,US Navy divers trained for recovering the capsule at the NASA Neutral Bouyancy Lab in Houston.They got an overview of Orion's thermal protection system hardware;worked out procedures for installing the back-up horse collar fixture for a well deck recovery and the contingency basket lifting straps.They also rehearsed the baseline attachment approach using upgraded hardware and a forward bay cover flip operation so the capsule can be recovered and placed right side up on the ship.*
At the end of June,a rigorous parachute system test was conducted over the Arizona desert of the US Army's Yuma Proving Ground.An Orion crew module mock-up was pulled out of a C-17 aircraft at 35,000 feet.In the final complete parachute system sequence test before December's inaugural Orion spaceflight,engineers applied various stresses to the system,which it in fact breezed through.*
In 2017,Exploration Mission-1 will integrate Orion with the new Space Launch System rocket,the most powerful rocket in the history of spaceflight.Its booster is manufactured by Alliant Techsystems,while its first stage engine is by Pratt&Whitney Rocketdyne.Lockheed Martin builds the Orion spacecraft,designing it for missions to an asteroid and Mars.*
Lockheed Martin(LMT),United Technologies(UTX),Alliant Techsystems(ATK)