|
|
|
|
|
Final micro-satellite delivered for THEMIS mission SWALES AEROSPACE NEWS RELEASE Posted: June 13, 2006 Swales Aerospace announced the delivery of the last of five THEMIS micro-satellite spacecraft buses. The THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) mission is unique in that it is NASA's first scientific research micro-satellite constellation consisting of five identical, high performance satellites flying in the Earth's magnetosphere, a region of the upper atmosphere extending for hundreds of thousands of miles. The mission will determine the energetic triggering of explosive particle events in geo-space that manifest themselves, in the northern skies, as violent eruptions of the aurora, or northern lights. Each of the five satellites carries a comprehensive suite of electric, magnetic and particle instruments. Mike Cerneck, CEO of Swales Aerospace, said, "This accomplishment reflects the level of corporate integrity by which we meet commitments made to our customers." "I am very proud of our team," he added. "The Swales team persevered under very challenging technical and schedule conditions," said Dan Mark, Swales Vice President for Civil Programs. "Swales' micro-satellite constellation technology validates the last decade's assertion that industry production capacity is crucial to the success of the NASA's Heliophysics roadmap," he added. Swales Aerospace has successfully completed the delivery of all five spacecraft buses and the satellite dispenser probe carrier. All spacecraft were integrated in Swales' Beltsville, Maryland, facilities and were delivered to the Principal Investigator team at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) under NASA's Medium Explorer (MIDEX) Program. The mission is planned for an October 2006 launch. Swales Aerospace is an employee-owned company that provides a broad range of aerospace engineering services to the Department of Defense, NASA, and commercial aerospace clients. Headquartered in Beltsville, Maryland, the company posted annual revenues in excess of $193 million in 2005 and employs more than 900 professionals in offices in Maryland, Virginia and California. |
|
|
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
A comprehensive series of press briefings for space shuttle Discovery's upcoming STS-121 begins with a program overview conference by Wayne Hale, NASA's manager of the shuttle program, and Kirk Shireman, the deputy program manager of the International Space Station. The two men discuss the significance of Discovery's mission to their respective programs. The briefing was held June 8 at the Johnson Space Center.
Dial-up: 
NASA officials unveil the plan to distribute work in the Constellation Program for robotic and human moon and Mars exploration. This address to agency employees on June 5 was given by Administrator Mike Griffin, Associate Administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Scott Horowitz and Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley.
Following their announcement on the Exploration work assignments to the various NASA centers, Mike Griffin, Scott Horowitz and Jeff Hanley hold this news conference to answer reporter questions.
Space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale and launch director Mike Leinbach hold this news conference May 31 from Kennedy Space Center to offer a status report on STS-121 mission preparations. The briefing was held at the conclusion of the debris verification review, which examined the external fuel tank and threats to the shuttle from impacts during launch.
The Boeing Delta 4 rocket launches from pad 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with the GOES-N spacecraft, beginning a new era in weather observing for the Americas.