[meteorite-list] NASA Announces 15th Undersea Exploration Mission Date And Crew

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:15:37 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201109191715.p8JHFbM0004600_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

Sept. 19, 2011

J.D. Harrington/ Michael J. Braukus
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-5241/1979
j.d.harrington at nasa.gov/michael.j.braukus at nasa.gov

Brandi Dean
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
brandi.k.dean at nasa.gov


RELEASE: 11-309

NASA ANNOUNCES 15TH UNDERSEA EXPLORATION MISSION DATE AND CREW

WASHINGTON -- An international crew of astronauts will venture into
the Atlantic Ocean on Oct. 17 to test innovative solutions to
engineering challenges during a crewed mission to an asteroid.

NASA astronaut and former International Space Station crew member
Shannon Walker will lead the 15th expedition of NASA Extreme
Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO), a13-day undersea mission
aboard the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory near Key Largo, Fla.

Aquarius is owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and operated by the University of North
Carolina, Wilmington.

The NEEMO crew also includes Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
astronaut Takuya Onishi and Canadian Space Agency astronaut David
Saint-Jacques. They are members of the 2009 NASA astronaut class.
Rounding out the crew is Steven Squyres of Cornell University, James
Talacek and Nate Bender of the University of North Carolina,
Wilmington. Squyres is the scientific principal investigator for the
Mars Exploration Rover Project. Talacek and Bender are professional
aquanauts.

In addition, NASA astronauts Stan Love, Richard Arnold and Mike
Gernhardt, all veteran spacewalkers, will participate in the NEEMO
mission from the DeepWorker submersible, which they will pilot. The
DeepWorker is a small submarine used as an underwater stand-in for
the Space Exploration Vehicle, which might someday be used to explore
the surface of an asteroid.

Jeremy Hansen and Jeanette Epps, members of the 2009 astronaut class,
are the capsule communicators for the mission. Hansen is from the
Canadian Space Agency, and Epps from NASA.

To request interviews with the NEEMO 15 crew during the mission,
contact Brandi Dean at brandi.k.dean at nasa.gov; Julie Simard of the
Canadian Space Agency at 450-926-4370; Takefumi Wakamatsu of the
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at 281-792-7486; or Fred Gorell of
NOAA at 301-734-1010.

NEEMO 15 will be the first of the undersea missions to simulate a
visit to an asteroid. In May, a team of aquanauts set the stage for
the tests by working through some of the concepts in an effort to
improve efficiency.

"NEEMO 15 will require complex choreography between the submarines and
aquanauts living and working in their undersea home," said Bill Todd,
NEEMO project manager. "Researching the challenges of exploring an
asteroid surface in the undersea realm will be exciting for fans of
exploration pioneers Cousteau and Armstrong alike."

NEEMO 15 will investigate three aspects of a mission to an asteroid:
how to anchor to the surface; how to move around; and how best to
collect data. Unlike the moon or Mars, an asteroid would have little,
if any, gravity to hold astronauts or vehicles, so an anchor will be
necessary.

NEEMO 15 will evaluate different anchoring methods and how to connect
the multiple anchors to form pathways. The aquanauts and engineers
will evaluate different strategies for deploying instruments and
moving along a surface without gravity.

For more information about NEEMO and links to follow the mission on
Facebook and Twitter, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/neemo

For more information about NASA field tests, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/analogs
        
-end-
Received on Mon 19 Sep 2011 01:15:37 PM PDT