NASA Selects Wallops Flight Facility Range Operations Contractor

NASA has selected LJT & Associates Inc. in Columbia, Md., for the Range Operations Contract at the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The total value of this indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity cost-plus award fee contract is $117 million. The period of performance is five years.

LJT & Associates will provide support services to manage the Wallops Research Range operations and maintenance; training; command, control, and communications information; and computer systems services. Contract support also includes testing, modifying and installing communications and electronic systems at launch facilities; launch control centers and test facilities; and range technology development engineering services.

This effort provides direct customer support to the Wallops Research Range by providing personnel, equipment, tools, materials, vehicles, specialized test equipment, supervision, and other services.Task orders will be issued to include performing services in all aspects of mission and range projects including formulation, implementation, and operations for flight projects; new systems development engineering; and range instrumentation systems operations, maintenance and sustaining services.

University Students And Professors Ready To "Rock On" With NASA

University students and professors from across the country and Puerto Rico will converge on NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia this month to learn how to build small experiments that can be launched on sounding rockets. This is part of a week-long workshop, known as RockOn!, that begins June 19. The 80 workshop participants will build standardized experiments that will fly on a NASA Terrier-Orion suborbital sounding rocket set to launch between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. EDT on June 24.

The 35-foot-tall rocket is expected to fly to an altitude of 75 miles. After launch and payload recovery, the participants will conduct preliminary data analysis and discuss their results. In addition to the 7 workshop-built experiments, 11 custom-built, self-contained experiments also will fly on the rocket inside a payload canister known as RockSat. The latter experiments were developed at ten universities that previously had participated in a RockOn! workshop.

The workshop is funded by NASA's National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program in partnership with the Colorado and Virginia Space Grant Consortia. This will be the third year for the workshop.The Space Grant national network includes more than 850 affiliates from universities, colleges, industry, science centers, and state and local agencies. The goal is to support and enhance science and engineering education, and research and public outreach efforts for NASA's aeronautics and space projects. These affiliates belong to one of 52 consortia in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.