NASA, Intel Supporting White House STEM Initiative

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden joined thousands of teachers, students, and executives in a pep rally last week to show support of President Obama’s engineering campaign, Bolden wrote on the White House blog.

The Day of Engineering pep rally occurred at Georgia Tech and promoted education and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The…

NASA Launches Worldwide App Challenge

NASA and international governments are set to launch a competition challenging developers to design open data-based solutions.

NASA said Friday the International Space Apps Challenge will take place on April 21 and April 22.

Events will take place on all seven continents and on the International Space Station. 

The space agency said scientists, software developers and interested citizens can participate in…

Boeing-Built Space Plane Hits ‘Year in Flight’ Milestone

The Air Force’s Boeing Co.-built space plane recently hit an endurance milestone remaining in flight, circling the Earth’s orbit for a year and two days, Wired reports. 

The 30-foot-long craft was designed to last nine months in flight. 

The Air Force has yet to confirm the exact uses of the X-37B, also known as Orbital…

Northrop Satellite Instrument Monitors Earth’s Temperature

Northrop Grumman activated a satellite instrument that produces detailed images of Earth’s temperature, Northrop announced Wednesday.

The Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System launched aboard NASA’s Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite, part of the Earth Observing System.

CERES instruments are broadband radiometers that measure the amount of reflected sunlight and thermal…

ATK to Upgrade NASA Orion Vehicle Abort Motor

ATK will convert the main abort motor for NASA‘s first exploration flight test of the Orion crew vehicle, ATK announced Tuesday

Lockheed Martin subcontracted ATK to help create emergency abort system for the Orion crew’s launch, set to take place in 2014 from the Kennedy Space Center.

ATK said Lockheed completed acoustic and modal tests of the…

Ball Aerospace Installs Mirrors on Northrop’s Webb Telescope, Pre-Launch Testing Soon

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. completed installing a set of auxiliary mirrors for the Northrop Grumman-built James Webb Space Telescope and Northrop will start the next phase of tests in May.

Northrop said it will test the telescope’s ability to withstand the rocket launch and the cold temperatures of space.

Northrop is the…

NASA Accepting Small Satellite Demo Proposals

NASA is accepting proposals for low-cost flight demonstration of small satellite technologies through the agency’s Edison program.

NASA said the program is intended to demonstrate communication systems, proximity operations and propulsion systems.

In a broad agency announcement, NASA said the program is part of an effort to lower the threshold for accessing space…

Boeing Starts NASA Study to Power, Lengthen Space Missions

The Boeing Company has begun work under a $600,000 firm, fixed-price contract to develop a mission concept study for solar electric propulsion technologies, the company announced Wednesday. 

The company reported it will evaluate concepts for NASA that combine high-power solar arrays with advanced electric thrusters that will power both spacecraft and payloads into orbit. 

Boeing said it…

DARPA Looking to Tap Dormant Satellites for Communications System

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking to utilize dormant satellites floating in a geostationary orbit around Earth, the agency said in a  recent notice.

Through DARPA’s Phoenix Program, the agency said it wants contractors to develop a robotic system to “cooperatively harvest and re-use valuable components from” more than 1,300 retired, non-operating satellites.

DARPA estimates there is…

New NASA Portal Intends to Drive Open Source

NASA launched a new sourcing portal that will “lower the barriers to building open technology in partnership with the public,” the agency announced Wednesday on its open government blog. 

William Eshagh, a technologist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, wrote that the new code.nasa.gov portal will provide current information on open source opportunities. The…