NASA News
NASA Seeks Education Partners To Help Inspire The Next Generation Of Explorers . WASHINGTON -- NASA is seeking partners to help achieve its strategic
goals for education, including informal education done at museums,
science centers, and planetariums. The agency is committed to sharing
the excitement of NASA's space-based missions and inspiring students
of all ages to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
NASA seeks unfunded partnerships with organizations to engage new or
broader audiences on a national scale. The agency will work
collaboratively to leverage partners' unique resources.
Potential partnership activities are varied. NASA is receptive to a
broad range of possibilities from creative organizations with
wide-ranging areas of expertise. All categories of domestic entities,
including U.S. federal government agencies, are eligible to respond.
NASA will accept proposals through Dec. 31.
To view the announcement, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/
To learn more about NASA's broad education initiatives, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/education
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NASA Honors Pioneer Astronaut Alan Shepard With Moon Rock
WASHINGTON -- NASA will posthumously honor Alan B. Shepard Jr., thefirst American astronaut in space who later walked on the moon, with
an Ambassador of Exploration Award for his contributions to the U.S.
space program.
Shepard's family members will accept the award on his behalf during a
ceremony at 5:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 28, at the U.S. Naval
Academy Museum, located at 74 Greenbury Point Road in Annapolis, Md.
His family will present the award to the museum for permanent
display. NASA's Chief Historian Bill Barry will represent the agency
at the event, which will include a video message from NASA
Administrator Charles Bolden.
Shepard, a 1945 graduate of the Naval Academy, was one of NASA's
original seven Mercury astronauts selected in April 1959. On May 5,
1961, he was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the Freedom 7
spacecraft on a suborbital flight that carried him to an altitude of 116 miles.
Shepard made his second spaceflight as the commander of Apollo 14 from
Jan. 31 to Feb. 9, 1971. He was accompanied on the third lunar
landing by astronauts Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell. Maneuvering
the lunar module "Antares" to a landing in the hilly upland Fra Mauro
region of the moon, Shepard and Mitchell deployed and activated a
number of scientific instruments and collected almost 100 pounds of
lunar samples for return to Earth.
Reporters interested in covering the award ceremony must contact the
Naval Academy's public affairs office at 410-293-2292 or
mediarelations@usna.edu by noon, Wednesday, April 27, for access
information.
NASA is giving the Ambassador of Exploration Award to the first
generation of explorers in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space
programs for realizing America's goal of going to the moon. The award
is a moon rock encased in Lucite, mounted for public display.
The rock is part of the 842 pounds of lunar samples collected during
six Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972. The astronauts or family
members receiving the award present it to a museum of their choice,
where the moon rock is placed on public display.
For pictures of the NASA Ambassador of Exploration Award, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/
Shepard retired from NASA in 1974 and passed away in July 1998. For
more biographical information, visit:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/
NASA Television will broadcast a Video File of the award presentation.
For NASA TV streaming video, schedules and downlink information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
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NASA Awards Facilities Construction, Engineering And Tech Services
GREENBELT, Md. -- NASA has selected Parsons Infrastructure andTechnology Group Inc. in Washington, D.C., for award of the
Facilities Construction, Engineering and Technical Services (FaCETS) contract.
The firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity
contract has a maximum ordering value of $85 million. The effective
ordering period is five years.
Under the FaCETS contract, Parsons' work at NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., includes performance and management
of various new construction, modification, and rehabilitation
projects; architect and engineering services for projects with a
construction value under $500,000; engineering studies, surveys and
investigations; information resources services; and work management
and control services.
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
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NASA Small Business Technology Transfers Address Critical Needs
WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected 27 small business proposals thataddress critical research and technology needs for agency programs
and projects for final contract negotiations.
The proposals have a combined value of approximately $16.2 million.
Proposals were submitted by 27 high-tech firms in 18 states,
partnering with 24 research institutions in 19 states. Negotiated
individual awards, each with a value of up to $600,000, will be for
research projects for two years.
The proposals are included in Phase II of NASA's Small Business
Technology Transfer program. The agency's Office of the Chief
Technologist manages the program as part of its focus on emerging
technologies and efforts to advance technological innovation for NASA
and the government.
"Through programs like this, NASA is investing in innovation in
America's small businesses and universities," said NASA Chief
Technologist Bobby Braun at the agency's headquarters in Washington.
"There is no shortage of technological innovators in this country; we
simply need to invest in them. Investing in research and technology,
the U.S. will not only extend its technological superiority, but also
will stimulate our economy, creating new high-tech jobs, products and
services all across our country."
The program's innovations address specific technology gaps in NASA
missions; provide a foundation for future technology needs; and are
complementary to other agency research investments.
Innovative technologies in the program include:
-Information technologies that enable planetary robots to better
support human exploration.
-Advanced space power and propulsion technologies that will result in
durable, long-life, lightweight, high performance space power and
in-space systems to fulfill the nation's exploration goals.
-Modern computational fluid dynamics codes to solve fluid motion
equations and enhance the modeling required for a wide range of NASA
missions, including subsonic commercial aircraft, rotorcraft,
supersonic and hypersonic vehicles and planetary exploration
vehicles.
The highly competitive program is a three-phase award system. It
provides qualified small businesses, including women-owned and
disadvantaged firms, with opportunities to propose innovative ideas
meeting specific research and development needs of the federal
government. The program requires a collaborative research effort
between small businesses and research institutions.
The criteria used to select the winning proposals included technical
merit and innovation, Phase I program results, value to NASA,
commercial potential and company capabilities.
Phase I is a feasibility study to evaluate the scientific and
technical merit of an idea. Awards are for up to 12 months in amounts
up to $100,000. Phase II expands on the results of the development in
Phase I. Phase III is for the commercialization of the results of
Phase II and requires the use of private sector funding.
NASA is required by statue to reserve a portion of agency research and
development funds for awards to small businesses. NASA works closely
with the Small Business Administration ensuring compliance with
federal regulations related to the program.
The Office of the Chief Technologist manages the program through
NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. Individual
projects are managed by NASA's field centers.
For a list of selected companies, visit:
http://go.usa.gov/TZR
For more information about NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/oct
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NASA and Music Producer Pharrell Williams Encourage Virginia Students to Reach for the Stars
HAMPTON, Va. -- NASA and producer and recording artist PharrellWilliams will host an education event on Saturday, April 23, at
Williams Farms Park in Virginia Beach, Va. The event is designed to
encourage students to pursue science, technology, engineering and
math (STEM) studies and careers.
NASA's Associate Administrator for Education Leland Melvin who is a
former astronaut and Williams, a Hampton Roads, Va., native, will
deliver remarks. Williams' charitable organization, From One Hand to
Another, is supporting the development of the Pharrell Williams
Resource Center, which is scheduled to open in 2013 in the park. The
center will run academic enrichment programs and engage youth in STEM activities.
Saturday's program also will feature NASA exhibits and showcase the
accomplishments of students from Hampton Roads who participated last
year in NASA's inaugural Summer of Innovation camps. More than 500
students who participated in the camps sponsored by NASA's Langley
Research Center in Hampton, Va., will be in attendance.
The event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. EDT, is free and open to
the public and reporters. To attend, news media should contact Ann
Marie Trotta at 202-358-1601 or Amy Johnson at 757-864-7022 by 5 p.m.
Thursday. In case of inclement weather, the event will be held at
Bayside Middle School, 965 Newton Road, Virginia Beach.
NASA's Summer of Innovation is a key part of President Obama's Educate
to Innovate campaign, which was launched to help keep middle school
students engaged during school breaks. For more information about the
program, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/soi
For more information about NASA's education initiatives, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/education
For more information about From One Hand to Another, visit:
http://www.fohta.org
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NASA Releases Scorecard on Energy and Sustainability Goals
WASHINGTON -- NASA has released its fiscal year 2010 scorecard onsustainability and energy performance. The agency exceeded the 5
percent target on renewable energy use for federal agencies last year.
The scorecard measures federal agency progress in a number of areas
related to energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions and waste
reduction. This is the first year federal agencies have published
their scorecards.
President Obama in 2009 directed federal agencies to lead by example
in energy efficiency and renewable energy use, and meet a range of
related goals. Out of seven benchmarks, NASA received five green
ratings and two yellow. A green rating indicates the benchmark has
been met. Yellow indicates that progress is being made.
"During the last 15 years, NASA has moved consistently toward
sustainable and efficient operations at each of its field centers,"
said Olga Dominguez, NASA's assistant administrator for the Office of
Strategic Infrastructure. "Sustainability reduces risk to NASA's
mission and frees up resources. This scorecard is an important tool
that will help NASA in meeting our sustainability goals."
In fiscal year 2011, NASA will exceed one million square feet of
sustainable facilities through new construction and building
rehabilitation. Using this scorecard as a benchmark, NASA will
identify, monitor, and assess its efforts to reduce pollution,
improve efficiency, and cut costs. The agency will update its
Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan by June 2011 and post the
plan on its website.
To view NASA's sustainability scorecard and 2010 sustainability plan, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/
Source: NASA
