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We are continually compiling more content for this section. Please check back regularly for updates. |
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Senior Engineer receives Exceptional Software Award for Copernicus September 23, 2009: Odyssey Space Research, L.L.C. senior engineer Juan Senent, was part of a NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) team awarded the JSC Exceptional Software Award for Software of the Year. JSC Director, Michael Coats, and JSC Engineering Director, Steve Altemus, presented the award for the development of the Copernicus Trajectory Analysis and Mission Planning software. Copernicus is the JSC candidate for the 2009 NASA-wide software of the year award. Dr. Senent is a critical member of the Copernicus team. |
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HTV successfully captured at ISS
September 17-18, 2009: The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) first H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV), was successfully captured and berthed to the International Space Station (ISS). While in free-flight, the HTV performed several prescribed demonstrations requiring coordination between JAXA and NASA engineering & operations teams; these demonstrations were done to gain confidence in the safety of the HTV's rendezvous and proximity operations systems before performing the final approach to ISS. Upon successfully fulfilling all demonstration objectives, the HTV was given the "GO" to fly under automatic control to its designated capture point beneath the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), Kibo, and to be captured using the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS). Capture occurred on Sept 17 at 19:51 GMT, and berthing to the nadir Node-2 Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) was completed on Sept. 18 at 01:49 GMT. Congratulations to the entire JAXA, CSA and NASA teams! For more information go to: http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/h2bf1/index_e.html. |
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NASA ATV RSWG Team receives SFA Flight Safety Award
June 23, 2009: Odyssey Space Research, L.L.C. engineers Ron Flanary, Keshia Leach, Scott Piggott, DeAnn Sanders, and Brian Rishikof, were part of a 15-member NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) team awarded the NASA Space Flight Awareness (SFA) Flight Safety Award for 2009. This national level award was conferred to the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Rendezvous Safety Working Group (RSWG) for leadership and support of the safe flight and integration of the European Space Agency’s first ATV mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Odyssey’s participation focused on engineering analysis and assessment and included the role of co-chair of the group. For more information, go to: http://sfa.nasa.gov/sfaawards.cfm#flightSafety. |
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Lead Engineer awarded NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal
April 16, 2009: Odyssey Space Research, L.L.C. lead engineer Brian Rishikof was presented with the Distinguished Public Service Medal by Acting NASA Administrator Christopher Scolese. The Distinguished Public Service Medal is the highest honor NASA confers on non-government employees. For more information, go to: http://nasapeople.nasa.gov/awards/nasamedals.htm. |
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Odyssey part of winning BAH APAC Team
December 12, 2008, Odyssey entered into a subcontract agreement as part of the winning Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) Advanced Planning Assessment Contract (APAC) team. Under this subcontract, Odyssey has the opportunity to provide independent programmatic and institutional capability support to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Advanced Planning Office. |
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Odyssey awarded Phase 1 SBIR
November 24, 2008: Odyssey Space Research, L.L.C. was awarded a Phase I SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) contract for the “Evolution of the 'Trick' Dynamic Software Executive and Model Libraries for Reusable Flight Software.” The objective is to develop tools that produce highly reconfigurable flight software allowing for the same software development environment to be used across the entire life cycle of a project. For more information, go to: http://sbir.gsfc.nasa.gov/SBIR/abstracts/08/sbir/phase1/SBIR-08-1-S4.04-8809.html?solicitationId=SBIR_08_P1. |
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Successful End To ATV-1 "Jules Verne" Mission
September 29, 2008: Odyssey Space Research, L.L.C. congratulates the European Space Agency (ESA) on a successful first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) mission. Known as "Jules Verne," ATV-1 successfully re-entered the atmosphere today after undocking from the International Space Station (ISS) on September 5th. Future ATV flights are currently in the planning and development stages, with ATV-2 anticipated to occur in approximately 18 months. For more information go to: http://www.esa.int/esaMI/ATV/index.html. |
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Odyssey engineer awarded SFA Honoree Award
August 6, 2008: Odyssey Space Research, L.L.C., engineer, DeAnn Sanders, received the Space Flight Awareness Honoree Award for outstanding engineering achievements in support of the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) Engineering Directorate, Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division, for her work ensuring the safe flight of the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to the International Space Station (ISS). For more information, go to: http://sfa.nasa.gov/sfaawards.cfm#honoree. |
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April 3, 2008: The European Space Agency's first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), known as "Jules Verne," has successfully docked to the International Space Station (ISS). While in free-flight, the ATV performed several days of demonstrations requiring coordination between ESA, NASA, and Russian engineering & operations teams; these demonstrations were done to gain confidence in the safety of the ATV's rendezvous and proximity operations systems before performing the final approach to ISS. Upon successfully fulfilling all demonstration objectives, the ATV was given the "GO" to fly under automatic control to dock to the aft port of "Zvezda", the ISS Service Module. Jules Verne’s docking probe was captured by Zvezda at 14:45 GMT, and docking was completed at 14:52 GMT. Congratulations to the entire ESA team! For more information go to: http://www.esa.int/esaMI/ATV/index.html. |
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Lunar Lander Design Study Announcement
March 17, 2008: NASA has awarded contracts for independent evaluation of NASA's current in-house design concept for a lunar lander. Odyssey Space Research, L.L.C. is proud to be the recipient of one of these contracts. The recommendations from this design study will be used by NASA to increase the technical maturity of the lunar lander design in preparation for vehicle requirements development. For more information, go to the NASA press release: NASA Altair BAA Selection. |
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Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Demonstration Announcement
February 19, 2008: NASA has announced the results of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract re-award competition. Odyssey Space Research, L.L.C. is proud to be part of the winning Orbital Sciences Corporation team. For more information on Orbital Sciences and the "Cygnus" COTS vehicle, go to: http://www.orbital.com. |
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January 27-31, 2008: Two Odyssey Space Research, L.L.C. (OSR) engineers, Kevin Choi, Ph.D. and Blair Thompson, Ph.D., have presented their research at the 2008 AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting in Galveston, Texas.
The first paper, "Adaptive Measurement Covariance for Multi-Input Kalman Filter-based Spacecraft Navigation" by Choi and Thompson (paper AAS 08-110), was a preliminary study into using all available redundant sensor measurements. Normally, data is selected from only one of a suite of identical sensors, while good data from the other functioning sensors is ignored. The presented study indicates improved performance may be achieved by incorporating the good data from the redundant sensors. The second paper, "Validation of Gravity Acceleration and Torque Algorithms for Astrodynamics" by Thompson, fellow OSR engineer David Hammen, and others (paper AAS 08-205), presented the technique developed to validate the spherical harmonic gravity acceleration and torque algorithms of the Johnson Space Center Engineering Orbital Dynamics (JEOD) simulation software. The technique can be applied to the validation of any general spherical harmonic gravity algorithm use for astrodynamics engineering or space mission operations, and is not restricted to Earth gravity algorithms. Odyssey Space Research, L.L.C. congratulates these engineers for a successful conference and a job well done. |
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