NASA Selects New Suborbital Payloads, Total Tops 100 Experiments

June 7, 2013

David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1730
david.steitz@nasa.gov

Rachel Hoover
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-4789
rachel.hoover@nasa.gov

Leslie Williams
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.
661-276-3893
leslie.a.williams@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 13-176

NASA SELECTS NEW SUBORBITAL PAYLOADS, TOTAL TOPS 100 EXPERIMENTS

WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected 21 space technology payloads for
flights on commercial reusable launch vehicles, balloons, and a
commercial parabolic aircraft.

This latest selection represents the sixth cycle of NASA's continuing
call for payloads through an announcement of opportunity. More than
100 technologies with test flights now have been facilitated through
NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate's Flight Opportunities
Program.

"This new group of payloads, ranging from systems that support
cubesats to new sensors technology for planetary exploration,
represent the sorts of cutting-edge technologies that are naturally
suited for testing during returnable flights to near-space," said
Michael Gazarik, NASA's associate administrator for space technology
in Washington. "NASA's Flight Opportunities Program continues to
mature this key technology development pipeline link, thanks to
America's commercial suborbital reusable vehicles providers."

Fourteen of these new payloads will ride on parabolic aircraft
flights, which provide brief periods of weightlessness. Two will fly
on suborbital reusable launch vehicle test flights. Three will ride
on high-altitude balloons that fly above 65,000 feet. An additional
payload will fly on both a parabolic flight and a suborbital launch
vehicle, and another will fly on both a suborbital launch vehicle and
a high-altitude balloon platform. These payload flights are expected
to take place now through 2015.

Flight opportunities currently include the Zero-G Corporation
parabolic airplane under contract with the Reduced Gravity Office at
NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston; Near Space Corp.
high-altitude balloons; and reusable launch vehicles from Armadillo
Aerospace, Masten Space Systems, UP Aerospace and Virgin Galactic.
Additional commercial suborbital flight vendors under contract to
NASA, including XCOR and Whittinghill, also will provide flight
services.

Payloads selected for flight on a parabolic aircraft are:
-- "Technology Maturation of a Dual-Spinning Cubesat Bus," Kerri
Cahoy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
-- "Testing Near-Infrared Neuromonitoring Devices for Detecting
Cerebral Hemodynamic Changes in Parabolic Flight," Gary Strangman,
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
-- "Resilient Thermal Panel: Microgravity Effects on Isothermality of
Structurally Embedded Two Dimensional Heat Pipes," Andrew Williams,
Air Force Research Laboratory, Albuquerque, N.M.
-- "Wireless Strain Sensing System for Space Structural Health
Monitoring," Haiying Huang, University of Texas, Austin
-- "Monitoring tissue oxygen saturation in microgravity," Thomas
Smith, Oxford University, United Kingdom
-- "Testing the deployment and rollout of the DragEN electrodynamic
tether for Cubesats," Jason Held, Saber Astronautics Australia Pty
Ltd., Australia
-- "Creation of Titanium-Based Nanofoams in Reduced Gravity for
Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Production," Kristen Scotti, Northwestern
University, Evanston, Ill.
-- "Testing a Cubesat Attitude Control System in Microgravity
Conditions," Eric Bradley, University of Central Florida, Orlando
-- "Demonstration of Adjustable Fluidic Lens in Microgravity," James
Schwiegerling, University of Arizona, Tucson
-- "Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) in Microgravity," Douglas
Ebert, Wyle Laboratories, Houston
-- "DYMAFLEX: DYnamic MAnipulation FLight Experiment," David Akin of
University, Maryland, College Park
-- "Characterizing Cubesat Deployer Dynamics in a Microgravity
Environment," Kira Abercromby, California Polytechnic State
University, San Luis Obispo
-- "Demonstration of Food Processing Equipment," Susana Carranza,
Makel Engineering Inc., Chino, Calif.
-- "Advanced Optical Mass Measurement System," Jason Reimuller, Mass
Dynamix Inc., Longwood, Fla.

Payloads selected for flight on a suborbital reusable launch vehicle
are:
-- "Precision Formation Flying Sensor," Webster Cash, University of
Colorado, Boulder
-- "Navigation Doppler Lidar Sensor Demonstration for Precision
Landing on Solar System Bodies," Farzin Amzajerdian, NASA's Langley
Research Center, Hampton, Va.

Payloads selected for flight on a high altitude balloon are:
-- "Planetary Atmosphere Minor Species Sensor," Robert Peale,
University of Central Florida, Orlando
-- "Satellite-Based ADS-B Operations Flight Test," Russell Dewey, GSSL
Inc., Tillamook, Ore.
-- "Low-Cost Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicle (sRLV) Surrogate,"
Timothy Lachenmeier, GSSL Inc.
One payload will be manifested on a parabolic aircraft and a
suborbital reusable launch vehicle:
-- "Real Time Conformational Analysis of Rhodopsin using Plasmon
Waveguide Resonance Spectroscopy," Victor Hruby, University of
Arizona, Tucson.

One payload will be manifested on a suborbital reusable launch vehicle
and a high altitude balloon:
-- "Test of Satellite Communications Systems on-board Suborbital
Platforms to provide low-cost data communications for Research
Payloads, Payload Operators, and Space Vehicle Operators," Brian
Barnett, Satwest Consulting, Albuquerque, N.M.

NASA manages the Flight Opportunities manifest, matching payloads with
flights, and will pay for payload integration and the flight costs
for the selected payloads. No funds are provided for the development
of the payloads.

NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, is dedicated to
innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in the
agency's future missions. The Flight Opportunities Program is managed
at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif. NASA's
Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., manages the technology
maturation activities for the program.

For more information about NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate
and the Flight Opportunities Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech


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