[meteorite-list] NASA to Announce Science, Technology Missions for First Flight of Space Launch System

[Ron Baalke]

January 28, 2016

MEDIA ADVISORY M16-008

NASA to Announce Science, Technology Missions for First Flight of Space Launch System

NASA Television will air the announcement of the selection of a fleet of 
small satellites to launch on the inaugural flight of the agency's Space 
Launch System (SLS). The event, which is at 11 a.m. EST (10 a.m. CST) 
Tuesday, Feb. 2, from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, 
Alabama, will announce the CubeSats that will fly as secondary payloads 
and deploy to conduct science and technology demonstrations in deep space.

Following the event, which media are invited to participate in, NASA TV will 
air a demonstration of the Near-Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout), a CubeSat 
that uses solar sail propulsion for low-cost exploration and reconnaissance 
of an asteroid.

The participants for both the announcement and demonstration are:

 * NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman
 * Todd May, Marshall Space Flight Center director (acting)
 * Bill Hill, deputy associate administrator of Exploration Systems
   Development at NASA Headquarters in Washington
 * Michael Seablom, chief technologist for NASA's Science Mission
   Directorate at NASA Headquarters
 * Jim Cockrell, Cube Quest program administrator in NASA's Space
   Technology Mission Directorate at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett
   Field, California
 * Jitendra Joshi, technology integration lead for the Advanced Exploration
   Systems Division at NASA Headquarters
 * Chris Crumbly, manager of the Space Launch System Spacecraft and Payload
   Integration Evolution Office at Marshall
 * Leslie McNutt, NEA Scout project manager at Marshall
 * Les Johnson, NEA Scout solar sail principal investigator at Marshall

The event will include a brief question-and-answer session with media 
attending in person or by phone. To participate by phone, media must contact 
Kim Newton at 256-544-0371, 256-653-5173 or kimberly.d.newton at nasa.gov by 1 
p.m. (noon CST) on Monday, Feb. 1. During the broadcast, viewers can ask 
questions on social media using #AskNASA.

The primary goal of the first integrated launch of NASA's SLS and Orion 
spacecraft is to demonstrate the agency's new capability to launch 
future crewed, deep space missions, which include missions to an asteroid and 
Mars. As a bonus, SLS will carry 13 CubeSats on its first flight as secondary 
payloads. These small satellites will perform various in-space experiments 
and demonstrations to advance the technological capabilities needed to take 
humans farther into space than ever before. The secondary payloads were 
selected through a series of announcements of flight opportunities, a public 
contest, and negotiations with NASA's international partners.

For NASA TV downlink information and schedules, and to view the news 
briefing, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv


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