Jacobs and NASA's Exploration Ground Systems Program announced on Wednesday that the motor segments of the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB) arrived by rail at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on June 15, 2020. 

"The arrival of the SRB components means we are getting very close to the stacking of flight hardware in the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at KSC," said Jacobs Critical Mission Solutions senior vice president Steve Arnette. 

Jacobs' success has marked a critical step in NASA's preparations for Artemis I, which will extend the frontiers of human deep space exploration. The twin SRBs are part of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS). 

The company’s team received the SRB hardware from Northrop Grumman. The segments were filled with solid propellant and will be transferred to Jacobs for integration. Each SRB contains five solid fuel segments, and each will provide 3.6 million pounds of maximum thrust. 

Jacobs will inspect and conduct final processing, including installing sensors on the motor segments and transferring them to storage. The aft motor segments will be mated with the aft skirts and aft exit cones in build-up stands in the RPSF, to form the aft assembly for each SRB. 

Once completed, the Aft Assemblies will be the first component of flight hardware to be stacked on the mobile launcher. Once all the SRB components are moved to the VAB and mated to the stack, then the SLS core stage rocket will be lowered onto the mobile launcher, between the SRBs.

Jacobs is NASA's largest services contractor and integrator of full lifecycle aerospace capability including design and construction; base, mission and launch operations; sustaining capital maintenance; and secure and intelligent asset management, development, modification and testing processes. 

"Once our team has conducted final inspections, processing and mating of the SRB segments, they will transport everything to the VAB for stacking to begin," Arnette concluded. 

About Jacobs

At Jacobs, we're challenging today to reinvent tomorrow by solving the world's most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing, turning abstract ideas into realities that transform the world for good. 

With $13 billion in revenue and a talent force of more than 55,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of professional services including consulting, technical, scientific and project delivery for the government and private sector.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has designated a certain surveillance system as a program of record, allowing the technology to be continuously procured through allotted funds.

CBP said Thursday that its Autonomous Surveillance Towers, used by U.S. Border Patrol, are designed to autonomously facilitate surveillance on a 24-hour basis. AST uses radar technology to sense moving objects that are then tracked by the tower's camera. The tower uses algorithms to determine what the detected object is.

“These towers give agents in the field a significant leg up against the criminal networks that facilitate illegal cross-border activity,” said Rodney Scott, border patrol chief. CBP leverages autonomy to help border patrol agents focus on main tasks as surveillance operations run unmanned.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has selected 20 researchers to take part in two-year entrepreneurship programs to support the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).

DOE said Monday the selected participants will work with the department’s national laboratories to support early-stage research and development efforts focused on energy efficiency, storage and productivity.

Under the Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Programs, six teams will work with the Argonne National Laboratory while seven and four teams will work with the Lawrence Berkeley and Oak Ridge laboratories, respectively.

Argonne will focus on materials engineering, cybersecurity and smart manufacturing as part of the “Chain Reaction” program while Lawrence Berkeley will work on additive manufacturing, building efficiency and electrification for the “Cyclotron Road” project.

Oak Ridge’s work under the “Innovation Crossroads” program will involve topics such as smart manufacturing, computing and cybersecurity.

According to DOE, the entrepreneurship effort is meant to drive investments and promote opportunities to launch manufacturing and energy-related businesses.

“By helping entrepreneurs bring their concepts to market, the Department is investing in new energy and industrial technologies that bolster our nation’s energy and manufacturing competitiveness,” said Alex Fitzsimmons, deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency.

The programs have awarded over $32 million to support 65 projects and 89 fellows since 2015.

The U.S. Army conducted a live-fire demonstration to assess the capacity of its cross-functional teams to use space-based sensors to defeat beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) targets, C4ISRnet reported Monday.

The exercise, which took place in February and March in Germany, saw the Army's Assured Position, Navigation and Timing (A-PNT) team detect time-sensitive BLOS targets through satellite technologies.

During the demonstration, the Army used its Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and M777 howitzer weapon system to coordinate artillery operations with other sensors, vehicles and platforms for fire direction.

The Army expects the exercise to support its Long-Range Precision Fires (LRPF) program as well as its efforts to establish a multidomain strategy, according to a spokesperson for the service branch.

The service additionally intends to develop a universal architecture for kinetic and nonkinetic assets and integrate the sensor-to-shooter concept with aviation platforms, the spokesperson noted.

The U.S. Air Force plans to host a virtual industry event from Aug. 25 to 26 to answer queries and obtain input in line with the redesign of the A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft's central interface control system.

A Beta SAM notice posted Wednesday says the A-10 CICS team will roll out a slide-show presentation to drive questions and provide information prior to the virtual event.

The A-10 System Program Office will plot one or one-and-a-half-hour time slots for individual sessions and is working on the format for the event.

Interested vendors that are certified by the Defense Logistics Services Center may submit emails ahead of the industry days to receive draft requirements and technical specifications documents for the CICS.