NASA Awards Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor Contract

NASA has awarded a contract to the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics for the development of the Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor, or TSIS, a key instrument for the future National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, known as NPOESS.
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The total estimated value of the cost, no-fee contract is approximately $42 million.
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The contractor will be responsible for the design, engineering analyses, hardware and software development, fabrication, integration, algorithm development, test, evaluation and support for integration of the instrument with the NPOESS spacecraft.
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The sensor will continue key climate measurements of solar irradiance that contribute to determining the Earth's energy balance and understanding how Earth's climate responds to solar variability.
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The sensor will fly on the NPOESS, C1 mission.
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NASA is developing the TSIS Flight Model 1 under a reimbursable agreement with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.
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NPOESS is a joint program to develop the next generation of polar-orbiting operational environmental satellites that form the basis for weather forecasting, and is co-funded by NOAA and the Department of Defense, with NASA as a technology provider.
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The NPOESS program is managed by the interagency Integrated Program Office.
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NOAA funds the instrument while NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the acquisition of the instrument for NOAA.
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NASA
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http://lasp.colorado.edu/

NASA Names College Winners In Supersonic Design Contest

Eight college students have summer jobs at NASA this year, thanks to their participation in a contest to design a supersonic airliner.
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College students from the U.S., Japan and India researched technology and created concepts for a supersonic passenger jet as part of a competition sponsored by the Fundamental Aeronautics Program in NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.
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The participants were challenged to design a small supersonic airliner and submit a research paper limited to 25 pages.
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Designs had to be efficient, environmentally friendly, low sonic boom commercial aircraft that could be ready for initial service by 2020.
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A team of undergraduates from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., and a team of graduate students from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta tied for first place in the U.S. division.
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A University of Tokyo undergraduate team won top honors in the non-U.S. category. Six participants receiving internships were selected from the award-winning teams.
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All eight recipients are engineering or management students and were selected based on their resumes, grade point averages and application letters.
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The students are serving their internships at three NASA centers: Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.; Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.; and the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
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"We use these competitions to generate excitement for aeronautics and the engineering behind aviation," said Peter Coen, principal investigator of the Supersonics Project at Langley.
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"I was pleased by the number and diversity of the entries we received.
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And I was impressed by the quality and innovative thinking demonstrated in the designs."
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This year's competition also fostered an unusual collaboration across the country and two continents.
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Four students, one from Florida, another from California and two from Australia, worked together over the Internet to design an airliner.
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Three of the four had met last year as a result of the contest.
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The team tied for second place with an undergraduate team from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
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An undergraduate team from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Technology in Gujarat, India won second place in the international division.
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A group of NASA engineers reviewed the entries.
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The judges based their scores on how well students addressed all aspects of the problem they chose to discuss.
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The judges used the following criteria: innovation and creativity; discussion of feasibility; a brief review of pertinent literature; and a baseline comparison with the relevant current technology, system or design.
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Winning participants received prizes, including up to $5,000, and will be invited to a student forum sponsored by NASA.
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Students were also eligible for 24 summer internships.
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Only U.S. citizens may be awarded cash prizes or NASA-funded internships.
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Non-U.S. teams will receive an engraved trophy.
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All participants also will receive a NASA certificate.
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For a list of winners of the contest and information about the interns, visit:

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http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/competition_winners_college.htm

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WASHINGTON
NASA