"6_10_7_4_10.TXT" (7963 bytes) was created on 08-11-89 JOHN C. STENNIS SPACE CENTER Traditional Center Roles and Responsibilities Formerly designated the National Space Technology Laboratories (NSTL), the Center was renamed the John C. Stennis Space Center by Executive Order signed by President Reagan on May 20, 1988. In October 1961, the federal government announced its selection of a site in Hancock County, Mississippi, to locate the nation's test facility for static firing of the Saturn V rocket engines. The selection of this site for the Mississippi Test Facility, as NSTL was first named, was a logical and practical one. The area offered ample land for construction of the huge test facilities and had water access for shipping massive rocket stages and barge loads of propellants. NSTL's first assignment was to flight certify all of the first and second stages of the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo program. The program began with a static test firing on April 23, 1966, and continued in the early 1970s. In all, 27 Saturn stages were tested and all performed successfully, including those used for Apollo 11, the first lunar landing mission. A new chapter in NSTL's history was opened with the first test of a Space Shuttle Main Engine in June 1975. The main engine test program is expected to continue into the 1990s and beyond, supporting shuttle missions and the planned space station. NSTL's missions also expanded during the transition between the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs, when the installation evolved into a multiagency, multidiscipline facility comprised of a number of federal and state agencies which are engaged in space and environmental programs and the national defense. The current missions of the Stennis Space Center are to support the development of the Space Shuttle Main Engines; to conduct research and development in remote sensing and other space applications; and to manage the 13,480-acre installation and provide support services to resident agencies. The Space Shuttle Main Engine test program has been underway since 1975. All the main engines used to power the orbiter during the first 8? minutes of flight are tested here before an actual launch. Research and development engines designed for groundtesting purposes only are also tested continuously to refine and improve the performance of flight engines. Another Stennis Space Center mission is to provide technical and institutional support to the 18 resident agencies and university elements located here. These federal and state agencies are primarily involved in environmental and oceanographic programs on national and international levels. g mission.The Sciences and Technology Laboratory () is the primary research and develop-ment organization of the Stennis Space Center. The laboratory was established in 1970 to develop new technology for observing the Earth and its resources. STL advances new remote data collection and analysis concepts, and provides a logical transition from basic research through applications development to commercialization of space remote sensing technology. Laboratory personnel develop and test airborne prototypes of advanced remote sensing instruments as proofs of concept for orbital instruments. The STL is currently adapting remote sensor technology to support rocket engine testing and Shuttle launch and landing operations. The STL is comprised of scientific and techni-cal personnel working in such fields as mathe-matical modeling, forestry, geology, urban geography and archaeology. STL scientists have close ties with the academic and indust-rial remote sensing communities, enabling the laboratory to be fully attuned to current trends. Also, its co-location with other scienti-fic and technical agencies fosters cooperative R&D activities. One goal of the laboratory is to develop advanced capabilities to remotely examine and predict changes in Earth proces-ses, especially those caused by natural and human-induced disturbances. The STL also develops advanced data processing systems, comprised of state-of-art hardware and spatial data management and analysis software, to address complex scientific and administrative information extraction requirements. JOHN C. STENNIS SPACE CENTER Supporting Roles For Space Station Freedom The John C. Stennis Space Center's (SSC) involvement in the Space Station Freedom program includes promoting commercial participation in remote sensing opportunities on board the station, performing user requirements and station utilization studies for Space Station Program Office working groups, and development of a payload simulator. The Space Station Freedom assignments at Stennis Space Center are being carried out by the Science and Technology Laboratory, the installation's research and technology development organization. Stennis Space Center has conducted NASA outreach activities designed to inform, stimulate, encourage and facilitate U.S. industrial participation in NASA programs. In this effort, an information base developed at Stennis Space Center is used to provide technical assessments to U.S. industry regarding commercial remote sensing opportunities on Space Station Freedom. A major portion of Stennis Space Center's out-reach activity and station planning was preparation for the Space Station Freedom Users Workshop held in Denver, Colo-rado in October 1988. Sponsored by NASA's Office of Space Station and the Office of Com-mercial Programs, the industry-oriented workshop was organized to define and encour-age commercial activities and to elicit U.S. industry requirements in their anticipated utilization of Freedom. One of the concepts proposed for Space Station Freedom is the Earth Observation Accom-modation Facility. The advantage of such a facility on the station will be in providing a testbed where sensors may be placed, tested, refined, retested and ultimately customized for specific application. This facility has evolved from commercial space station user work-shops, outreach activities, and contractor studies. Stennis Space Center will continue to conceptualize and detail the design of the fa-cility to conform to existing baseline station parameters, user requirements, and hard-ware and assembly procedures. Stennis Space Center has been assisting several station working groups with generic remote sensing accommodations analysis and in defining user requirements for workstations on Space Station Freedom. Node utilization studies are also being conducted by Stennis Space Center in support of the program. The Space Station Freedom Payload Simulator is a software package written entirely in the Ada programming language that supports space station program activities. The simu-lator, developed and maintained at Stennis Space Center, presently resides on computer systems at the Johnson Space Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, and Stennis Space Center. The simulator enables a principal investigator to acquire information and test specific condi-tions that are likely to occur during the actual operation of experiments. The purpose of the payload simulator is to support the Space Station Freedom effort by providing tests of the network communication on the Data Management System (DMS) testbed at JSC, and the Platform Management System (PMS) at GSFC. The simulator will support the implementa-tion of the telescience concept in Space Station Freedom payload development and operations as well as provide a training tool for payload design and operation. Also, the payload simulator will provide NASA with informa-tion and experience in the development of software in Ada for real-time applications. Potential users of the payload simulator ser-vices are other NASA program office Space Station Freedom activities, other U.S. govern-ment Space Station Freedom partners and support contractors, international Space Station Freedom participants, and U.S. com-mercial Space Station Freedom partners and participants.