NASA Awards Contract to Support Agency Enterprise Service Center

NASA has selected Inspiritec Inc. of Philadelphia, to provide contractor support for the Shared Services Center at the agency’s Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

This indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract allows for special project task orders at either the firm-fixed-price or based on level of effort. The contract includes a 60-day transition period beginning on Thursday, Feb. 1, followed by a one-year base period and four one-year option periods. The total award value is $35 million over a five-year potential performance period.

The contract’s services include support of NASA’s Customer Contact Center, Enterprise Service Desk, and Document Imaging and Mailroom.

For information about the agency and its programs, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov

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Abbey Donaldson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
abbey.a.donaldson@nasa.gov

Jamie Mettler
Stennis Space Center, Miss.
228-813-6490
jamie.m.mettler@nasa.gov

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Abbey A. Donaldson

NASA Space Tech Spinoffs Benefit Earth Medicine, Moon to Mars Tools

As NASA innovates for the benefit of all, what the agency develops for exploration has the potential to evolve into other technologies with broader use here on Earth. Many of those examples are highlighted in NASA’s annual Spinoff book including dozens of NASA-enabled medical innovations, as well other advancements.

This year’s publication, NASA’s 2024 Spinoff, features several commercialized technologies using the agency’s research and development expertise to impact everyday lives, including:

• Spherical “squishy” robots capable of dropping into dangerous situations before first responders enter
• “Digital winglets” aircraft-routing technology that’s enabling increased fuel efficiency and smoother flights 
• Lighter, more durable disc brake designs that produce less dust than traditional disc brakes
• Computer software to help businesses and communities cope with and recover from natural disasters like wildfires
• New 3D printing methods to additively manufacture rocket engines and other large aluminum parts 

“As we continue to push new frontiers and do the unimaginable, NASA’s scientists and engineers are constantly innovating and advancing technologies,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “A critical part of our mission is to quickly get those advances into the hands of companies and entrepreneurs who can use them to grow their businesses, open new markets, boost the economy, and raise the quality of life for everyone.”

The medical innovations include the first wireless arthroscope – a small tube carrying a camera inserted into the body during surgery – to receive clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which benefited from NASA’s experience with spacesuits and satellite batteries. Technologies for diagnosing illnesses like the coronavirus, hepatitis, and cancer have also stemmed from NASA’s space exploration and science endeavors. Even certain types of toothpaste originated from the agency’s efforts to grow crystals for electronics.

Additional 2024 Spinoff highlights include developments under NASA’s Artemis campaign, like a small, rugged video camera used to improve aircraft safety and a new method for detecting defects or damage in composite materials. Meanwhile, another spinoff story details the latest benefits of fuel cell technology created more than 50 years ago for Apollo, which is now poised to support terrestrial power grids based on renewable energy.

The book also features several technologies NASA has identified as promising future spinoffs and information on how to license agency tech. Since the 1970s, thousands of NASA technologies have found their way into many scientific and technical disciplines, impacting nearly every American industry.

“As NASA’s longest continuously running program, we continue to increase the number of technologies we license year-over-year while streamlining the development path from the government to the commercial sector,” said Daniel Lockney, Technology Transfer program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “These commercialization success stories continually prove the benefits of transitioning agency technologies into private hands, where the real impacts are made.”

Spinoffs are part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and its Technology Transfer program. Tech Transfer is charged with finding broad, innovative applications for NASA-developed technology through partnerships and licensing agreements, ensuring agency investments benefit the nation and the world.

To read the latest issue of Spinoff, visit:

https://spinoff.nasa.gov

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Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
james.j.russell@nasa.gov

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Roxana Bardan

A New Home for Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Prototype

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s aerial prototype is seen at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steve F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va, Dec. 15, 2023. The prototype, which was the first to prove it was possible to fly in a simulated Mars environment at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was donated to the museum.

Ingenuity’s history-making mission on Mars recently came to an end after one or more of its rotor blades sustained damage during landing, rendering it incapable of flight. Originally designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, the first aircraft on another world operated from the Martian surface for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 14 times farther than planned while logging more than two hours of total flight time.

Join the celebration of Ingenuity’s successful mission by using the #ThanksIngenuity hashtag on social media.

Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

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Monika Luabeya

Thank You, Jovian Vortex Hunters! The Hunt Is Over…for Now.

We did it! The Jovian Vortex Hunter project, launched on Zooniverse in June 2022, is out of data as of December 23, 2023. 

Over 6,000 registered volunteers joined the project to view images from NASA’s JunoCam instrument of the swirling clouds in Jupiter’s atmosphere and draw on them using a computer mouse. Together, they contributed over a million marked-up images indicating exciting features such as vortices, where winds move in circular patterns. If you’re one of these volunteers, thank you! 

The newly marked-up data from the Jovian Vortex Hunters project revealed more than 7,000 vortexes, a much bigger collection than earlier studies contained. The hard work of our volunteers resulted in trends nobody had seen before! For example, the new data shows that white and dark ovals are more prominent in the higher latitudes, while the brown vortices are in the mid-latitudes.

Want to see those trends (and others) for yourself? Read the Jovian Vortex Hunters Blog! And stay tuned… The science team is hard at work analyzing the data and writing up papers on the results. They hope to launch another round of the Jovian Vortex Hunters project soon. 

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Axiom Space Tests Lunar Spacesuit at NASA’s Johnson Space Center

As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency is working to land astronauts on the lunar surface during Artemis III, laying the groundwork for a long-term human presence at the Moon for the benefit of all. When the Artemis astronauts take their first steps near the South Pole of the Moon, they will be wearing a spacesuit developed by Axiom Space. In the time since NASA selected the company to provide the spacesuit and supporting systems for Artemis III, Axiom Space has continued to progress with spacesuit design and testing. 

In late 2023, NASA and Axiom Space test subjects wore the next-generation lunar spacesuit during testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where they performed a number of maneuverability tasks that will be required during moonwalks, such as bending down to pick up lunar samples while using lunar geology tools.

Axiom Space will continue to test the lunar spacesuit in facilities such as NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, one of the world’s largest indoor pools that can simulate a partial gravity environment, as the company works to finalize the spacesuit’s design. These tests are integral to ensuring the spacesuit is effective and complies with NASA’s safety and performance requirements. 

Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman, the first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone to send the first astronauts to Mars. 

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Victoria Ugalde