
Flight Opportunities matures capabilities needed for NASA missions while strategically investing in the growth of the US commercial spaceflight industry.
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You're listening to the N2K space network.
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Testing products before they go to space is a significant challenge. Replicating the conditions of space on Earth is nearly impossible. It's a gamble to send something to space without proving it flight ready. Not to mention that it's costly to test. Did you know that NASA offers a solution to that problem? Welcome to T minus deep space from N2K Networks. Hello, I'm Alice Carruth. NASA's Flight Opportunities Program sits within the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate. The program provides strategic integration between researchers, mission stakeholders and flight providers, as well as other NASA programs to maximize impact for technology advancement. I spoke to program executive Danielle McCulloch about NASA's FOP.
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My name is Danielle McCulloch and I am the program executive for NASA's Flight Opportunities Program. And Flight Opportunities has the mission of working with commercial industry to provide researchers access with flight tests on commercial vehicles to either advance technologies and instruments or actually conduct experimental work for researchers.
C
And FOP has been around for a long time. I mean, I was just saying before we got onto this that I've worked with FOP when I was at Solstar Space and when I was at Spaceport America. And I've seen a lot of it go on at White Sands Missile Range where I am here in Southern New Mexico. And I think people have started to not understand so much why suborbital flight is important for research. Could you talk us through why it is that people are still looking to suborbital flights for their research?
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Yeah, absolutely. There are a lot of different ways to test technologies and to do research. And one of the reasons that Flight Opportunities focused on suborbital research initially and the program's been around for more than a decade, is that it represents a low cost way to do research compared to some of the other options. It also provides researchers with the opportunity to get their payloads back so that they can do what we refer to as fly, fix, fly, or build, fly, repeat. That repetitive nature of being able to test technologies or instruments, be able to make small tweaks to them and go back and try again is really, really valuable to teams. And it allows them to get flight heritage ahead of larger missions, often orbital missions, such that they have a chance to really vie for those and also can prove that their technology works before it becomes part of those missions, so that when you do more expensive, more complex missions, you have a much higher chance of them actually working. So suborbital research continues to be a really important part of the overall regime. And you know, some people wonder what is suborbital. So for flight opportunities, it is basically anything that doesn't go into orbit. So that could include high altitude balloon flights, parabolic flights, as well as flights on suborbital rocket powered systems. Now, there are other ways to test technologies that are part of the flight opportunities program, but that suborbital piece continues to be really important and attractive for researchers.
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Absolutely. And I remember when I first came across FOP back in 2017, 2018, there was a notion that, you know, it cost a lot of money to get things into orbit and there was a massive long time span. Now, obviously things have changed a little bit since SpaceX has come along with their rideshares. Have you seen a knock on effect of that with the FOP program?
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Yeah. So for flight opportunities, our goal is to get technologies and research into space as quickly as possible. So we could stay on the ground for a really long time and try to get everything perfect. But we really believe that getting things into space, getting that heritage, figuring out what goes on, is a really effective and cost effective way to do that. So suborbital was a really good path for doing that for a long time. As access to space is increased and there's more opportunity to launch small spacecraft, there is another portion of this test regime that has started to really open up and we refer to this as hosted orbital. So there are a lot of commercial vendors that offer opportunities for payloads to be hosted on their vehicles and conduct that research in many ways in a similar fashion to what was done in suborbital. So there are some researchers that choose to build a spacecraft bus themselves to be able to test their instrument or technology. And those free flyers are certainly one path. But we also think that there's a real opportunity to leverage the capabilities of commercial providers to take these payloads, integrate them on a vehicle, manage the launch, and then manage the operation. And so it's very similar from suborbital all the way to hosted orbital. Using those lessons learned and best practices that we've seen in Suborbital and just extending to a new environment.
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Now, most recently, I read about a program, what you did with Blue Origin when they did the simulated lunar gravity flight. Can you talk us through that program and what the outcome was from some of that research?
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Yes, so that was really exciting. One of the things that Flight Opportunities also supports is vehicle capability enhancements. So as we see that there are test regimes that our researchers could benefit from, that our providers in the market could provide, we work with industry providers to support those technology developments. So in this case, Blue Origin saw the opportunity to use their reaction control system to spin the capsule of their New Shepard system and that simulated 1.6G. And so the microgravity period on a rocket system like that is about three minutes. And they were able to achieve about two minutes of simulated lunar gravity. And so what that offered is technologies that are aiming for going to missions to the moon. They got a chance to de risk those technologies and really understand how they'll work in that particular environment. And so many of those payloads are looking to use that flight heritage to secure lunar missions. And in fact, some of them already have lunar missions and used this flight to de risk their technologies ahead of those. For the Flight Opportunities Program, we've had technologies across three different CLPS missions. So the commercial lunar payload services that NASA provides, we have technologies that were de risked via suborbital flights ahead of those missions. And it has really increased their mission assurance. We have had great results from those technologies on their CLPS missions operating in the lunar environment. And really, they credit the technology development that they did in suborbital space with some of the successes they've had.
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So you obviously work with quite a spectrum with researchers, some being academic, some being commercial companies. What's the split of the kind of companies that you're working with? And who would you kind of encourage to look at the Flight Opportunities Program moving forward?
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You are correct. We work with a very wide spectrum of researchers, and it is all across the board. We have, of course, academic institutions we're working with. We have small companies. There are some larger companies that have also started working with the program, although most of who we're working with is fairly small just because of the dollar values of research that we're granting. But we're also seeing an expansion of that as people recognize the value of this type of testing. In addition to companies developing their own technologies, companies that are flight providers actually test some of their systems through our program and with other commercial providers as well. So that's really interesting. To see commercial companies collaborating, essentially sharing their services to advance their technologies. We have tried to really think hard about how we can get the greatest reach through our program. And so we use a variety of different funding mechanisms. So, of course, NASA researchers are part of the community that we serve. But we've also looked at how can we reduce the barriers for all of the different types of people who are interested in doing flight test. So one of the things that we've moved to is using more competitions when we have research opportunities for the community, and that allows even individual entrepreneurs to participate. You don't have to have an entity form to be able to participate in what we call the NASA Tech Leap Prize, which is a series of challenges that allow people to test technologies through flight test. So I would really encourage anybody who's thinking about a technology for space or they have an instrument or experiment, really think about using the commercial market to do that. It may be through one of our funding opportunities through the program, but we have relatively limited funding. But there are a lot of other programs, not only across NASA but across the government, that support flight test as part of development. And we also are seeing entities going directly to these providers, wherever their funding might be coming from. They're procuring those flights directly because they see they're so valuable as part of their development. So again, I think anybody can think about flight test and incorporate it into their plans.
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We'll be right back.
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I'Ll get to that with your providers in a little bit, but I really wanted to circle back to that competition Element to what you guys do, and you do a lot with students. Could you talk a little bit about the student competitions you run and why you think that's important for the future of flight opportunities?
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Yeah, so I'll clarify that. We actually have two different competitions through the program. So I'll start with the. The student one that you talk about, the K through 12. So we run a program called the TechRise Student Challenge, and that offers students in grades six through 12 to basically go through the same type of payload development that our professional researchers would. So each team does a proposal of the type of research that they'd like to do, and the winners are awarded $1,500 to build a payload. They are given a 2U enclosure, so they have some of those same mass, volume, power constraints that our other teams do. And then they fly with a commercial provider. So this is all within one academic year. They apply in the August to November time frame. The winners are announced in January, and then they spend the beginning of the year developing their payload and fly with a commercial provider in the summer. The other opportunity for students at the collegiate level or students above the age of 18, is they are actually eligible to participate in the NASA Tech Leap Prize. So unlike solicitations, where it's really a university entity and there's typically a faculty member that has to be the primary investigator in the Tech Leap Challenge, student teams can actually apply. And we saw in our first challenge, we had three winners were selected. And one of those three winners was an undergraduate team. It was a space club from a university, Cal Poly, the Bronco Space Team out of Cal Poly Pomona. And they not only won our first competition, but they won the second one as well, the Nighttime Precision Landing Challenge. So it really shows that anybody can contribute ideas that are helping NASA achieve its mission goals. And so we wanted to, again, open it up so that we could be getting a wide range of participants and get the best ideas. So in terms of students, those are two different opportunities that student groups have.
C
I think that's incredible. What a great opportunity for students to get involved in this and what way to inspire them to hopefully go on for careers in space. Now, I wanted to circle back. We talked a little bit about the providers you guys work with. Can you talk us through the kind of providers? Because I know you've mentioned high altitude balloons and rockets. Who is it you're working with? Predominantly?
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Yeah. So we currently have at NASA 15 providers on contract. We do an IDIQ contract for these providers, and then other funding mechanisms also allow Our researchers to work with other providers in the industry. So it's not solely limited only to those that we have on NASA's contract. So we do have vendors on contract for high altitude balloons. And so those could be very high altitude, sort of shorter duration, four to eight hour type flights. And we also do extended duration missions. So, you know, 30 days type of missions. We have a vendor that we work with that does parabolic flights. So that's short duration, about 20 seconds of microgravity repeated 20 to 30 times on each flight. And in those cases, researchers are flying with their payloads. And then we have sort of a few subsets of those suborbital rocket powered systems. So in the lower altitude, we have opportunities for researchers to do entry, descent and landing technology testing. So there are rockets that are operating at a lower altitude, or basically it's the return to Earth that is the piece here. So some are lower altitude, some might be a little bit higher altitude, but you can test landing algorithms. In some cases, the vendor allows the research team to actually take control of the vehicle to test their algorithm. So doing closed loop testing. So there are a lot of really powerful options for doing testing. In fact, we actually have a lunar surface proving ground out in Mojave, California that one of our vendors has that can be used for those landing technologies. And especially at night, some of the real a very good analog for the optical characteristics that you might find in something like permanently shadowed regions on the moon. And then we do have rocket powered systems that are going to that 80, 100 kilometer type range and helping test technologies in a variety of different vehicle types. But generally speaking, it's about three minutes of microgravity that they're achieving. And then as I talked about, we have a variety of vendors on contract to do hosted orbital testing. And so that's where there are vehicles that are orbiting earth of various shapes and sizes. And there are a whole lot of mission opportunities there. So that's the full range of the 15 commercial providers that we work with on our contract. And again, there are others in industry that our PIs are eligible to take advantage of.
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For the listeners that are thinking this sounds like a great opportunity, what advice would you give to them about how to get involved with the Flight Opportunities program?
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Yes, the first place to start, I think, is on our website. There are a lot of resources on the Flight Opportunities website that help people who are new to flight test or might not understand all of the capabilities that are available. So we talk about who those flight providers are, the services that they offer. We even have links to the public versions of those payload users, guides from the providers. Each month we do a community of practice webinar the first Wednesday of every month. And it's open to everybody. Different topics where we have researchers talk about their lessons learned, the flight providers talk about working with them, and then the subject matter experts on our program talk about their experience of helping coordinate all of this. We have a newsletter that folks can subscribe to and then also a lessons learned library so people can learn those lessons from researchers that came before them. Our team is also really open to talking to researchers, so you can just reach out to the program's email and we will match you up with someone in our program that can talk to you about the type of researcher research that you're looking to do, help you think about what type of flight test might be a good match for you, and point out what funding opportunities might be available. So we really encourage people to reach out to us. I know a lot of people have a perception that it's hard to connect with somebody in NASA. And we try to be really have a very open door about that and make it very easy, low barriers for people to reach out to us and get connected to the types of opportunities we have.
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Do you have a favorite that you've worked with? Because I assume you've been with the program for quite some time. There's always that little favorite project that you've worked on that you think perhaps this is something that is worth sharing.
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That is an incredibly hard question. So I'm going to flip it on you because I don't necessarily have a favorite per se. But what I'll say is that one of the things that is most exciting to me about this is all of the technologies that have transitioned onto other missions. So I talked about the CLPS missions and how we have seven payloads I think at this point in time that have flown on CLPS missions very successfully. There is a technology called the Vibration Isolation Platform from a small company that actually enabled the deep space optical communications portion of the Psyche mission. It's this little platform that sits in there keeping those optics stable so it can have those communications that can operate. We have, for example, on the Osiris Rex mission, the collection mechanism for that mission was tested with flight opportunities. And so there are example after example of technologies that have been tested through our program, gotten that flight heritage. And in some cases it takes many years, you know, two, three, even up to 10 years to get that infusion into a mission. But that flight heritage is what started that cycle to make that possible. And so to me, that is my favorite part of the program is when we see technologies that use this test opportunity really effectively to achieve really amazing missions.
C
Yeah, that flight proven paradox that gets everybody in the space industry muddle is definitely one that is great that you're overcoming that for so many. Is there anything else you want our listeners to know about with the flight Opportunities program?
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I think you touched on some of this, but really at all ages it is an opportunity for almost everybody that's looking at developing technologies and instruments for space and it is cost effective. I think people look at things like price tags and things that cost a few hundred thousand dollars or even a couple million dollars and they get a little bit nervous about, oh, how am I going to fund that? But when you start looking at overall budgets and the value of the test you're getting, and by comparison, some of the other test opportunities that are available, our commercial providers are an incredibly good value. And so I really encourage people to think very early about how they might incorporate test into their plans and not wait for the end. Talk to our commercial providers, see what options are available, really embrace industry as an option for advancing your research goals. And that's how we've seen a lot of really good things happen. There are a lot of different mechanisms by which you can get access to this flight testing. And so I just encourage people to keep having those conversations, learn more about what's possible and plan early.
C
Foreign that's it for T Miners Deep Space Brought to you by N2K CyberWire. We'd love to know what you think of this podcast. You can email us@space2k.com or submit the survey in the show notes. Your feedback ensures we deliver the information that keeps you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. Our producer is Liz Stokes. We're mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Ivan. Peter Kilpie is our publisher and I'm N2K senior producer Alice Carruth. Thanks for listening, Sa.
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Podcast Summary: T-Minus Space Daily – "NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program"
Episode Details
Introduction to NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program
Timestamp: [00:51]
Alice Carruth, the senior producer for N2K Networks, opens the episode by introducing NASA's Flight Opportunities Program (FOP). FOP operates under NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate and aims to bridge the gap between researchers, mission stakeholders, and flight providers to accelerate technological advancements in space exploration.
Interview with Danielle McCulloch
Timestamp: [01:58]
Alice engages in an in-depth conversation with Danielle McCulloch, the Program Executive for NASA's Flight Opportunities Program. Danielle outlines FOP’s mission to collaborate with the commercial industry, enabling researchers to conduct flight tests on commercial vehicles. This collaboration facilitates the advancement of technologies and instruments crucial for future space missions.
The Importance of Suborbital Flights for Research
Timestamp: [02:44]
Alice raises a pertinent question about the continued relevance of suborbital flights in contemporary research, especially in light of evolving space launch capabilities.
Danielle McCulloch Explains Suborbital Research
Timestamp: [02:44]
Danielle emphasizes the cost-effectiveness and accessibility of suborbital flights compared to orbital missions. She explains, “Suborbital research continues to be a really important part of the overall regime” because it allows for repeated testing and refinement of technologies through a "fly, fix, fly" approach. This iterative process helps build flight heritage, increasing the likelihood of success in more expensive and complex orbital missions.
Impact of Commercial Spaceflight Providers
Timestamp: [04:24]
Alice references the rise of commercial spaceflight providers like SpaceX and their rideshare programs, questioning their impact on FOP.
Danielle Discusses the Evolution with Increased Space Access
Timestamp: [04:44]
Danielle acknowledges the transformative effect of companies like SpaceX, which have democratized access to space. She notes, “As access to space is increased and there's more opportunity to launch small spacecraft, there is another portion of this test regime that has started to really open up...” This shift has introduced hosted orbital testing, expanding opportunities beyond suborbital flights and leveraging commercial providers for integrated payload services.
Blue Origin's Simulated Lunar Gravity Flight
Timestamp: [06:12]
Alice brings up a recent collaboration with Blue Origin involving simulated lunar gravity flights.
Danielle Details the Program and Its Outcomes
Timestamp: [06:25]
Danielle describes how FOP supported Blue Origin in enhancing their New Shepard system to simulate lunar gravity. This modification allowed for approximately two minutes of 1.6G simulation during a three-minute microgravity period. She states, “They were able to achieve about two minutes of simulated lunar gravity,” which enabled technologies targeting lunar missions to undergo critical de-risking. These efforts have directly contributed to the success of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions, with several technologies demonstrating increased mission assurance thanks to their suborbital testing.
Diverse Collaboration with Researchers and Companies
Timestamp: [08:05]
Alice inquires about the spectrum of researchers and companies that FOP collaborates with.
Danielle Outlines the Collaborative Ecosystem
Timestamp: [08:18]
Danielle explains that FOP works with a diverse array of participants, including academic institutions, small businesses, and larger companies. She highlights the flexibility of funding mechanisms, such as competitions, which lower barriers to entry and encourage participation from individual entrepreneurs and student teams. Danielle encourages a broad range of entities to engage with FOP, stating, “anybody can think about flight test and incorporate it into their plans.”
Student Competitions and Future Talent Development
Timestamp: [12:34]
Alice shifts the discussion to FOP’s engagement with students through various competitions.
Danielle Describes Student-Focused Initiatives
Timestamp: [12:49]
Danielle elaborates on two key student programs:
TechRise Student Challenge: Targeting grades six through twelve, this competition awards $1,500 to winning teams to develop payloads under specific constraints, providing hands-on experience with flight testing.
NASA Tech Leap Prize: Open to collegiate-level students and those over 18, this challenge allows student teams to propose and test technologies, with notable successes like the Cal Poly Pomona’s Bronco Space Team winning multiple challenges.
She underscores the importance of these initiatives in fostering the next generation of space researchers and innovators.
Overview of Commercial Providers Collaborated By FOP
Timestamp: [15:15]
Alice asks for details about the types of commercial providers FOP works with.
Danielle Details the Range of Providers
Timestamp: [15:15]
Danielle reveals that FOP contracts with 15 commercial providers under an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, encompassing:
Danielle highlights specialized facilities like a lunar surface proving ground in Mojave, California, which simulates lunar environmental conditions for testing landing technologies.
Advice for Researchers Interested in FOP
Timestamp: [17:48]
Alice seeks guidance for listeners interested in participating in FOP.
Danielle Provides Practical Steps to Get Involved
Timestamp: [17:56]
Danielle advises researchers to start by exploring FOP’s website, which offers comprehensive resources, including:
She encourages direct outreach to FOP’s team for personalized assistance, emphasizing the program's openness and supportiveness: “We try to be really have a very open door about that and make it very easy, low barriers for people to reach out to us and get connected.”
Favorite Projects and Success Stories
Timestamp: [19:27]
Alice inquires about Danielle’s favorite projects within FOP.
Danielle Shares Inspirational Successes
Timestamp: [19:38]
While Danielle refrains from naming a single favorite, she highlights the program’s success in enabling technologies that transition to significant missions. Examples include:
She emphasizes the long-term impact of FOP’s flight heritage in securing and enhancing mission capabilities.
Final Thoughts and Encouragement to Engage with FOP
Timestamp: [21:08]
Alice prompts Danielle for any additional messages.
Danielle Concludes with Encouragement and Insights
Timestamp: [21:22]
Danielle reiterates the accessibility and cost-effectiveness of FOP, urging researchers to integrate flight testing early in their projects. She highlights the value of commercial providers and the diverse funding mechanisms available, encouraging proactive planning and collaboration: “embrace industry as an option for advancing your research goals.”
Conclusion
Throughout the episode, Danielle McCulloch provided a comprehensive overview of NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program, emphasizing its pivotal role in advancing space technologies through collaboration with commercial providers and fostering future talent through student competitions. The program’s flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and supportive infrastructure make it an invaluable resource for researchers aiming to contribute to the evolving landscape of space exploration.
Notable Quotes
On the value of suborbital research:
“Suborbital research continues to be a really important part of the overall regime.” — Danielle McCulloch [02:44]
On leveraging commercial providers:
“Use a variety of different funding mechanisms... anything can think about flight test and incorporate it into their plans.” — Danielle McCulloch [08:18]
On student engagement:
“Anybody can contribute ideas that are helping NASA achieve its mission goals.” — Danielle McCulloch [14:57]
On the impact of flight heritage:
“That flight heritage is what started that cycle to make that possible.” — Danielle McCulloch [19:38]
Further Information
For more details on NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program, visit the NASA FOP website.