NASA In Brief –Students to compete in rocket challenge; launch manufacturer chosen

Thursday, February 6, 2014 - 09:01 From NASA Reports

Students competed in rocketry competition. Image: Photo illustration.

ROCKET CHALLENGE: Student teams from 26 colleges and universities in 16 states and Puerto Rico will design and launch innovative rockets and payloads as part of the 2013-14 NASA Student Launch rocketry competition.

    The NASA Student Launch will be held May 15-17 at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Tooele County, Utah. There, the student teams will undergo a rigorous launch readiness review -- just like actual NASA flight missions -- and launch their rockets. This historic site has hosted numerous American land-speed tests since 1914 and also was the recovery site for comet and interstellar dust samples returned from NASA's Stardust mission in 2006.
    "This new engineering competition ties participating students' work to NASA's pursuit of new, more demanding missions," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations. "Giving these students exposure to building and launching model rockets to 20,000 feet allows them to recognize the challenges in pushing new limits."
    The student rocketry challenge is an evolution of the NASA Student Launch Projects, which for 12 years challenged students to build rockets of their own design capable of flying 1 mile high. The challenge was inspired by NASA's mission to build, test and fly the new Space Launch System, the nation's next flagship rocket for solar system exploration. This latest competition reaches for even greater heights -- taking student-built vehicles more than 3 miles high, into the troposphere.
    Another new feature of this competition is the requirement that the teams build their vehicles with a parachute-based recovery system and provide three payloads capable of delivering data that could shape future NASA missions.
    Teams will be judged on their successful launch and payload deployment, as well as the thoroughness of supporting documentation. The winning team will receive a $5,000 prize provided by the corporate sponsor for the rocketry challenge, ATK Aerospace Group of Promontory, Utah. NASA and ATK judges will present a variety of additional awards for winning elements of the challenge, including a new safety award for the team that best integrates safeguards into its vehicle design, launch plan and ground operations.
    For a complete list of participating teams and information about the competition, visit NASA's website.

    SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM MANUFACTURER CHOSEN: NASA has selected Teledyne Brown Engineering of Huntsville, Ala., to design and build a key component of the new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket the agency is developing to send humans farther than ever into deep space.
   The component is the Launch Vehicle/Stage Adapter, which will be used to connect the rocket's 27.5-foot diameter core and 16.4-foot diameter interim cryogenic propulsion stages.
   Under a $60 million contract, Teledyne Brown will design, develop, test, evaluate and certify the assembly and manufacture the structural test article and two flight units. This work will be delivered under a cost reimbursement, fixed-fee engineering solutions and prototyping contract. The award has a potential performance period of five years and includes an option for a third flight unit.
   In addition to launching NASA's new Orion spacecraft on crewed missions to deep space, SLS also may launch robotic spacecraft on deep space scientific missions. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville manages the SLS Program.

Supplies, experiments arrive at space station

NASA video: Cygnus Arrives at International Space Station

Science, NASA cargo launches to space station

NASA TV to air Orbital Sciences mission to International Space Station