NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced three changes to his senior leadership team Sept. 25. Robert Lightfoot, acting associate administrator at NASA Headquarters in Washington, will assume that role on a permanent basis. Patrick Scheuermann, director of NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., will become director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight…

NASA’s Curiosity rover mission has found evidence a stream once ran vigorously across the area on Mars where the rover is driving. There is earlier evidence for the presence of water on Mars, but this evidence – images of rocks containing ancient streambed gravels – is the first of its kind. Scientists are studying the…

NASA selects Science Applications International Corp. of McLean, Va., for ocean color services at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. This is a five-year cost-plus-fixed fee, indefinite-delivery-indefinite-quantity contract with a maximum ordering value of $43 million. Performance period for the contract is Oct. 24 – Oct. 23, 2017. Under this contract, SAIC will…

The Lockheed Martin team developing the U.S. Air Force’s next generation Global Positioning System III satellites has delivered the first spacecraft’s propulsion core module to the company’s Denver-area GPS Processing Facility. The milestone represents the program’s first major hardware delivery for GPS III Space Vehicle 1 and highlights the satellite’s initial Assembly, Integration and Test…

A “switchboard in the sky” for the Iridium NEXT constellation of global communication satellites is one step closer to becoming reality as Lockheed Martincompleted a major software design milestone. Lockheed Martin’s Application Software for the Iridium NEXT constellation held the Critical Design Review, which showed that the design is at a high level of maturity…

NASA has selected Science Applications International Corp. of McLean, Va., to receive a contract to support the aerospace systems modeling and simulation facilities at the agency’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. This is a cost-plus-award-fee, definite core, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity hybrid contract to be awarded in early to mid October. The contract consists of a one-year…

NASA has selected 26 proposals from academia and industry for advanced development activities for the nation’s next heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). Proposals selected under this NASA Research Announcement (NRA) seek innovative and affordable solutions to evolve the launch vehicle from its initial configuration to its full lift capacity capable of sending…

Fifty years ago, a small weather satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. It was the first in a series that would later become known as the U.S. Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, spanning 41 successful launches over a half-century, with two satellites still remaining to be sent into space. All were…