Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SHUTTLE/GAS_PROG.TXT

Text File | 1993-02-05 | 10KB | 261 lines

"6_2_17_2.TXT" (7114 bytes) was created on 05-06-92

GET AWAY SPECIAL...the first ten years

THE CONCEPT

     To tell the Get Away Special story is to tell more than
50 stories in one, for each payload came from the
excitement, dreams, and efforts of groups of individuals.
There were students who built their first space experiments;
experienced scientists with projects that could lead to new
materials; companies testing products for living and working
in space; and others, such as artists and medical
professionals, who turned their thoughts to experimentation
in space for the first time.  Finally, there is the story of
the NASA and contractor personnel who conceived the program
and worked together to make it happen.

     In the mid l970s, the Customer Services Division at
NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. began manifesting
(assigning) major payloads aboard Shuttle missions. It soon
became apparent that most missions would have a small amount
of capacity left after the major payloads were installed.
NASA's discussions of how to best utilize this capacity led
to the Small Self-Contained Payloads Program, now familiarly
known as the Get Away Special Program or, simply, the GAS
Program.

     In October l976, John Yardley, Associate Administrator
for the Office of Space Flight at NASA Headquarters,
announced the inception of the GAS Program.  The next day,
Mr. R. Gilbert Moore purchased the first GAS payload
reservation.

     Over the next few months, NASA worked to define the
program's boundaries.  Three payload options evolved: a
2 1/2-cubic-foot container for payloads up to 60 pounds,
costing $3000; a 2 1/2-cubic-foot container for payloads
61 to 100 pounds for $5000; and a 5-cubic-foot container
for 200-pound payloads for $10,000.

     Early in l977, NASA assigned the GAS Program to the
Sounding Rocket Division at the Goddard Space Flight Center
in Greenbelt, Maryland. Later renamed the Special Payloads
Division, its personnel had, at that time, accumulated
twenty years of hands-on engineering experience in flying
sounding rocket payloads.  Their expertise was ideal for a
small payloads program.  A handful of engineers began
meeting weekly to define the hardware and procedures
necessary for the GAS Program.  This was the beginning of
the GAS team.

     In the ten years to follow, which included the flying
of 53 payloads the GAS team kept its enthusiasm for the
program---largely because of the experimenters' high level
of enthusiasm and endless ability to conceive and design
thought-provoking experiments.  The originators of the GAS
Program could not have envisioned the innovativeness of some
of the customers' payloads.  Customers' requirements for
these experiments sometimes prompted the GAS team to develop
new equipment and procedures to meet their experimenters'
needs.

     Readers intrigued by these experiments will no doubt
wonder about their results.  An unusual feature of the GAS
Program is that experimenters are not required to furnish
postflight reports to NASA.  NASA feels that GAS customers
can best speak for their own experiments.  The following
payload descriptions have been compiled from preflight press
releases and discussions with GAS experimenters.  Generally,
payload results are mentioned only when they illustrate
lessons that were learned.  Readers can, however, review the
payloads and their results in more detail by obtaining
papers presented by the experimenters at NASA's Annual Get
Away Special Experimenter's Symposiums.  Symposium
proceedings are available from:

     The National Technical Information Service
     Springfield, Virginia 22161

     The proceedings of each symposium are assigned a
conference publication number, as listed below:
     GAS Experimenters'          NASA Conference
     Symposium                   Publication No.
     l984........................2324
     1985........................2401
     l986........................2438
     1987........................2500



STS-3    Columbia, March 22, 1982
         Flight Verification Payload

         Before GAS customers could prepare realistic
payload designs, they needed an accurate description of the
environment inside a GAS container.  Early in the program,
the GAS team proposed flying a Flight Verification Payload
(FVP) for this purpose.  The FVP would record the vibration,
pressure, and microgravity inside a GAS container, as well
as the internal and external temperature levels.

      Along with its environmental data, the FVP proved
invaluable in an unforseen way.  For the first time, the
team had to design a GAS payload and provide for its
integration and installation in the Space Transportation
System(STS).  Having put the FVP through these operations,
such procedures were considerably eased for future  GAS
customers.


STS-4    Columbia, June 27, l982
         G001  Utah State University



STS-5    Columbia, November 11, l982

         G026  German Materials Processing

STS-6    Challenger, April 4 l983

         G005  Japanese Snowflakes
         G049  Air Force Cadets
         G381  Exposing Seeds to Space

STS-7    Challenger, June 18, l983

         G002  German Students
         G009  Purdue University Students
         G012  New Jersey Students
         G033  Cal Tech Students
         G088  Soldering in Space
         G305  Space UV Radiation Test
         G345  Ultraviolet Film Test

STS-8    Challenger, August 30, l983

         G346  Cosmic Ray Upset
         G347  Ultraviolet Film Test
         G348  Atomic Oxygen Test
         G475  Snowflakes in Space

STS-41-B Challenger, February 3, l984

         G004  Space Paks
         G008  Utah Students
         G051  GTE's Metalarc Lamp
         G309  Cosmic Ray Upset II
         G349  Atomic Oxygen Experiment

STS-41-G Challenger, October 5, l984

         G007  Radio Signals From Space
         G013  Halogen Lamps
         G032  Shooting BBs at Waterballs
         G038  Space Art
         G074  Improving Spacecraft Fueling
         G306  Trapped Ions in Space
         G469  Cosmic Ray Upset II
         G518  Utah Payloads Fly Again

STS-51-D Discovery, April 12, l985

         G035  Waterball Collisions
         G471  Capillary Pumped Loop

STS-51-B Challenger, April 29, l985

         G010  Northern Utah Satellite
         G308  CLOMR Satellite

STS-51-G Discovery, June 17, l985

         G025  Liquid Sloshing Test
         G027  Ceramic Technology
         G028  Manganese-Bismuth Alloy
         G034  El Paso High Schools
         G314  UV Radiation Environment
         G471  Capillary Pumped Loop

STS-61-A Challenger, October 30, l985

         G308  GLOMR's Deployment

STS-61-B Atlantis, November 26, l985

         G479  Canadian Vapor Disposition

STS-61-C Columbia, January 12, l986

         EMP   GAS Bridge Environment
         G007  Radio Transmission Test
         G062  Penn State/GE Payload
         G310  Air Force Vibrating Beams
         G332  Houston High Schools
         G446  Chemical Analysis Tests
         G449  Medical Laser Tests
         G462,3,&4 Cosmic Background
         G470  Moth in Space Project
         G481  Transporting Art Supplies


"6_2_17_3.TXT" (2645 bytes) was created on 10-23-92

NASA REOPENS RESERVATIONS QUEUE FOR GET AWAY SPECICALS

HQ 92-174/GET AWAY SPECIAL RESERVATIONS REOPENED

Jim Cast
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.     October 20, 1992

Dolores Beasley
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Release:  92-174

     NASA today announced that the Small Self Contained Payloads (SSCP)
program, popularly known as the Get Away Special (GAS) program, is now
accepting new applications for payload reservations.

     The program offers standard canisters to customers wanting to carry out
scientific research on Shuttle flights on a space-available basis for a nominal
fee.  Since the first Get Away Special payload flew on Space Shuttle Columbia
10 years ago, 87 GAS payloads have flown on 18 missions, representing customers
from industry, educational institutions, domestic and foreign governments, as
well as from individuals.

     Reopening the reservations queue for GAS payloads follows NASA
Administrator Daniel Goldin's signing of an updated policy on small self
contained payloads.  The updated policy was published in the Federal Register
on Sept. 9.

     The announcement was made at the Shuttle Small Payloads Symposium being
held at the Sheraton Greenbelt Hotel in New Carrollton, Md. The symposium is
being sponsored by NASA's Office of Space Flight and the Goddard Space Flight
Center, Greenbelt, Md.

     Under the revised policy, prices for standard services would be $27,000
for an SSCP payload weighing 200 pounds (90.72 kg) and a volume of 5 cubic feet
(.142 cubic meters), $14,000 for a payload weighing 100 pounds (45.36 kg) and a
volume of 2.5 cubic feet and $8,000 for a payload weighing 60 pounds (27.22 kg)
and a volume of 2.5 cubic feet (.071 cubic meters).  These prices compensate
for the impact of inflation from fiscal years 1975 through 1991.

     NASA soon will publish in the Federal Register a related policy whereby
domestic educational institutions will have an option to qualify for reduced
SSCP prices.  Domestic educational institutions would pay $10,000 for an SSCP
payload weighing 200 pounds and a volume of 5 cubic feet, $5,000 for a payload
weighing 100 pounds and a volume of 2.5 cubic feet and $3,000 for a payload
weighing 60 pounds and a volume of 2.5 cubic feet.

     SSCP experiments must be of a scientific research and development nature
and are flown on a space- available basis on Space Shuttle missions.  Most
recently, 9 GAS experiments from 5 countries flew on the STS-47 Spacelab J
mission in September.

     The SSCP project is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Program
management is located at Headquarters' Office of Space Flight.