NASA to Hold Media Telecon to Discuss Upcoming Satellite Missions

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- NASA will hold a media teleconference at 10:30 a.m. PST on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2010 to discuss the Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses, O/OREOS and Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite, or FASTSAT -- scheduled to launch Nov. 19, 2010 on a Minotaur IV launch vehicle from the Alaska Aerospace Corporations Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska.

The goal of the O/OREOS mission is to demonstrate the capability to conduct low-cost astrobiology science experiments on autonomous nanosatellites in space. Scientists will apply the knowledge they gain from O/OREOS to plan future experiments in the space environment to study how exposure to space changes organic molecules and biology. These experiments will help answer astrobiologys fundamental questions about the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe.

The Small Spacecraft Division at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., manages the O/OREOS payload and mission operations supported by staff and students from Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, Calif.

FASTSAT is NASA's first microsatellite that supports the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adaptor, or ESPA -- an adapter ring developed by the U.S. Department of Defense specifically to accommodate secondary spacecraft launch opportunities. FASTSAT will demonstrate the capability to build, design and test a spacecraft platform to enable governmental, academic and industry researchers to conduct low-cost scientific and technology experiments on an autonomous satellite in space.

Teleconference panelists are:

-- Mark Boudreaux, FASTSAT project manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
-- Joseph "Joe" Casas, FASTSAT science operations director at Marshall
-- Dean Alhorn, NanoSail-D principal investigator at Marshall
-- John Sigwarth, Thermospheric Temperature Imager principal investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
-- Pascale Ehrenfreund, O/OREOS project scientist, Space Policy Institute at George Washington University in Washington

Supporting experts will be online to answer questions about the experiments on FASTSAT and O/OREOS.

For dial-in information, journalists should e-mail their name, media affiliation and telephone number to Kim Newton at kimberly.d.newton@nasa.gov.

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live on NASA's website at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

For more information about FASTSAT and O/OREOS visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats

UPDATE: Minotaur IV launch delayed again

Processing for another slightly delayed Minotaur IV launch is under way at Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska, for STPSat 2/STP-26 (Space Test Program S-26), aimed at enabling responsive access to space for small experimental satellites and payloads. The launch vehicle is configured in a Multi-Payload Adaptor configuration with several small satellites and nanosats, including FalconSat 5, Fastrac A/B, FASTSat-HSV 01, NanoSail D, O/OREOS and RAX (Radio Aurora Explorer), a National Science Foundation ground-to-space bistatic radar experiment. Launch is on track for November. (from Aviation Week)
The last launch at the KLC was in December 2008 - further delays might mean two consecutive calendar years with no launches at the KLC which requires millions of dollars of government funding just to maintain the facility even when not launching.