“I join with the men and women of the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes in the feelings of senseless loss and profound sadness. The Barnestormers are a close knit group and are like part of the family of all of us in the greater Westfield area. When any part of that family is lost all of us mourn. My most sincere condolences to the pilot’s family, his co-workers, and fellow warriors. In war and in peace it is still a dangerous job that few do as well, or as proudly and professionally, as the members of the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. God bless them all. Rest in Peace.”
NASA has successfully tested the most complex rocket engine parts ever designed by the agency and printed with additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, on a test stand at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
NASA engineers pushed the limits of technology by designing a rocket engine injector --a highly complex part that sends propellant into the engine -- with design features that took advantage of 3-D printing. To make the parts, the design was entered into the 3-D printer's computer. The printer then built each part by layering metal powder and fusing it together with a laser, a process known as selective laser melting.
The additive manufacturing process allowed rocket designers to create an injector with 40 individual spray elements, all printed as a single component rather than manufactured individually. The part was similar in size to injectors that power small rocket engines and similar in design to injectors for large engines, such as the RS-25 engine that will power NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the heavy-lift, exploration class rocket under development to take humans beyond Earth orbit and to Mars.
"We wanted to go a step beyond just testing an injector and demonstrate how 3-D printing could revolutionize rocket designs for increased system performance," said Chris Singer, director of Marshall's Engineering Directorate. "The parts performed exceptionally well during the tests."
Using traditional manufacturing methods, 163 individual parts would be made and then assembled. But with 3-D printing technology, only two parts were required, saving time and money and allowing engineers to build parts that enhance rocket engine performance and are less prone to failure.
Two rocket injectors were tested for five seconds each, producing 20,000 pounds of thrust. Designers created complex geometric flow patterns that allowed oxygen and hydrogen to swirl together before combusting at 1,400 pounds per square inch and temperatures up to 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit. NASA engineers used this opportunity to work with two separate companies -- Solid Concepts in Valencia, California, and Directed Manufacturing in Austin, Texas. Each company printed one injector.
"One of our goals is to collaborate with a variety of companies and establish standards for this new manufacturing process," explained Marshall propulsion engineer Jason Turpin. "We are working with industry to learn how to take advantage of additive manufacturing in every stage of space hardware construction from design to operations in space. We are applying everything we learn about making rocket engine components to the Space Launch System and other space hardware."
Additive manufacturing not only helped engineers build and test a rocket injector with a unique design, but it also enabled them to test faster and smarter. Using Marshall's in-house capability to design and produce small 3-D printed parts quickly, the propulsion and materials laboratories can work together to apply quick modifications to the test stand or the rocket component.
"Having an in-house additive manufacturing capability allows us to look at test data, modify parts or the test stand based on the data, implement changes quickly and get back to testing," said Nicholas Case, a propulsion engineer leading the testing. "This speeds up the whole design, development and testing process and allows us to try innovative designs with less risk and cost to projects."
Marshall engineers have tested increasingly complex injectors, rocket nozzles and other components with the goal of reducing the manufacturing complexity and the time and cost of building and assembling future engines. Additive manufacturing is a key technology for enhancing rocket designs and enabling missions into deep space.
By Walter Ham
20th CBRNE Command
YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea, Aug. 29, 2014 - Soldiers from the 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives Command conducted a change of mission and prepared for redeployment Aug. 28 following their participation in the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise held in South Korea.
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Ulchi Freedom Guardian is designed to keep U.S. and South Korean forces ready to deter aggression on the Korean Peninsula and maintain stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
Defensive in nature, the annual exercise involved 3,000 personnel from military bases in the U.S. and across the Pacific.
The 20th CBRNE Command, based out of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, deployed its tactical command post and more than 100 soldiers to the Korean Peninsula for Ulchi Freedom Guardian.
The command also deployed the tactical command post of the 48th CBRNE Brigade, based out of Fort Hood, Texas, along with the commander and staff of the 71st Ordnance (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Group from Fort Carson, Colorado.
Soldiers and civilians from 20th CBRNE Command train to counter weapons of mass destruction, eliminate CBRN and explosive ordnance threats, and defeat improvised explosive devices. Serving on 19 military posts in 16 states, members of the 20th CBRNE Command train and operate with joint, interagency and allied partners around the globe.
"This exercise demonstrates the strength of the ROK-U.S. alliance and the flexibility of the 20th CBRNE Command to deploy and execute CBRNE related missions anytime and anywhere," said 20th CBRNE Commanding General Army Brig. Gen. JB Burton, the former deputy commanding general for maneuver of the South Korea-based 2nd Infantry Division.
Burton returned to Korea for the exercise. He said the 20th CBRNE Command has built a strong relationship with the Republic of Korea's Army Chemical, Biological and Radiological Defense Command.
Burton added that his 20th CBRNE soldiers trained together with the ROK Army during Exercise Atropian Phoenix at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.
"It is an honor to serve with our great Republic of Korea allies and our fellow joint service members who defend liberty daily on freedom's frontier. Katchi Kapshida! (Korean for 'We go together')," said Burton, who hails from Tullahoma, Tennessee.
Surrounded by bright stars, towards the upper middle of the frame we see a small young stellar object (YSO) known as SSTC2D J033038.2+303212. Located in the constellation of Perseus, this star is in the early stages of its life and is still forming into a fully-grown star. In this view from Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys(ACS) it appears to have a murky chimney of material emanating outwards and downwards, framed by bright bursts of gas flowing from the star itself. This fledgling star is actually surrounded by a bright disk of material swirling around it as it forms — a disc that we see edge-on from our perspective.
However, this small bright speck is dwarfed by its cosmic neighbor towards the bottom of the frame, a clump of bright, wispy gas swirling around as it appears to spew dark material out into space. The bright cloud is a reflection nebula known as [B77] 63, a cloud of interstellar gas that is reflecting light from the stars embedded within it. There are actually a number of bright stars within [B77] 63, most notably the emission-line star LkHA 326, and it nearby neighbor LZK 18.
These stars are lighting up the surrounding gas and sculpting it into the wispy shape seen in this image. However, the most dramatic part of the image seems to be a dark stream of smoke piling outwards from [B77] 63 and its stars — a dark nebula called Dobashi 4173. Dark nebulae are incredibly dense clouds of pitch-dark material that obscure the patches of sky behind them, seemingly creating great rips and eerily empty chunks of sky. The stars speckled on top of this extreme blackness actually lie between us and Dobashi 4173.
Students from Mississippi and Louisiana will gather at the INFINITY Science Center in Pearlington, Mississippi, for a long-distance call with NASA astronauts currently orbiting Earth aboard the International Space Station. The special back-to-school education event will take place Tuesday, Sept. 2, at 1:20 p.m. EDT (12:20 p.m. CDT).
The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency's website.
More than 300 fourth to eighth grade students will have an opportunity to ask Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson and Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman questions about life, work and research aboard the space station. Prior to the 20-minute Earth-to-space call, the students will spend time learning about the orbiting laboratory, rockets and NASA's new deep space exploration spacecraft, Orion, which is set to make its maiden spaceflight in December.
Media interested in covering the event must contact Paul Foerman in advance at 228-688-1880 or paul.foerman-1@nasa.gov. INFINITY Science Center, which also serves as the official visitor center for NASA's Stennis Space Center, is located at 1 Discovery Circle in Pearlington.
Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides an authentic, live experience of space exploration, space study, the scientific components of space travel and the possibilities of life in space.
This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the United States to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning. It is an integral component of NASA's Teaching From Space education program, which promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of space and NASA's human spaceflight program.
For many married couples, there comes a time when having children becomes the first priority. Often, the urge to create life and see it into the world becomes overwhelming.
But that urge can put many couples on an unpredictable journey, especially when they decide that their love, time and resources can be best put to use through adoption, says award-winning singer-songwriter Gary Chapman. He and his wife, former Nashville Wives star Cassie Piersol Chapman, say they were open to whatever God had in store for them.
"We knew it was time to give our hearts to a child," says Gary, 56, a five-time Grammy-nominated, seven-time Dove Award-winning artist who recently released his first album in a decade, The Truth, (www.garychapmanmusic.com).
But, while the decision to have a child was made, conceiving was taking awhile. Gary, who had reversed a vasectomy and is 23 years older than Cassie, has three grown children.
"During this period, I got a call from a friend telling me about a woman who was four months pregnant and looking for a suitable adoption family," says Cassie, who is proactive in multiple charity groups which facilitate a legal alternative to going through an agency. "It was as if God knew where this child needed to be after the birth. I immediately understood that this would be our path."
Through private, or independent, adoption, the Chapmans received their blessing, a baby girl they named Eva Rose. Gary and Cassie talk about the benefits involved in private, or independent, adoption:
• Parents can begin bonding with their child more quickly after birth: Private adoption allows for the newborn infant to bypass foster care, which is typically required by state-run agencies. Most babies adopted between private parties go home from the hospital with the adoptive parents.
"In our case, the birth mother had a 10-day grace period starting from time of Eva's birth," Cassie says. "While that was tough, I think it offers more peace of mind for birth mothers."
• It allows for more control, more collaboration and more choice: Independent adoption gives all parties greater autonomy in making important choices about the baby and each other. For many, the opportunity for the birth mother and adoptive parents to meet adds reassurance that decisions are being made in the best interest of the child. This dynamic doesn't exist in the more common state-run agencies.
"I think some folks actually prefer a more anonymous approach," Gary says. "Let's admit it – these can be some of the toughest decisions in a woman's life, and she may not want a relationship with adoptive parents."
• Better access to information: What's the child's background? Should you anticipate medical issues down the road? What if a child wants to know more about his biological mother and father, including their spiritual background? Private adoption allows for direct communication between the two parties.
"Birth mothers may not even know if they'll want contact with their child 20 years later," Cassie says. "If adoptive families go this route, they ought to collect as much relevant information about the child's birth parents as they can."
• Adequate safety measures:Like other types of adoption, private adoption is governed by state laws. In addition, if a child is brought from one state to another, then the provisions of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children apply.
"Folks should understand that private adoption isn't like the Wild West; it's just a less bureaucratic method of adoption," Gary says.
About Gary & Cassie Piersol Chapman
Gary Chapman is a veteran musician in the contemporary pop, country, Christian and southern gospel genres. His Dove Awards include Male Vocalist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year, and he's written hits including I Prefer the Moonlight for Kenny Rogers andFinally for T.G. Sheppard along with songs for Alabama and Wynonna Judd. He was the host of TNN's hit show Prime Time Country for four years and founded the record label that launched current Disney music mainstays Everlife, among many top performers.
Cassie Piersol Chapman starred in TNT's 2014 docudramaPrivate Lives of Nashville Wives(from the Real Housewivescreators). She grew up on her family's West Virginia farm and was active in 4H and other agricultural activities. She also sang in a choir, modeled and became a star cheerleader in high school. She won two national cheerleading titles at Morehead State University in Kentucky. She has appeared in music videos, commercials and printed work. She works with her husband, Gary, on A Hymn a Week, a popular online devotional.
