Northrop Grumman CRS-16 Press Briefing

Good afternoon.

I'm Stephanie Shirholtz from NASA's Office of Communications.

Thank you for joining us for today's pre-launch news conference for Northrop Grumman's 16th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station.

The Antares rocket with the Cygnus spacecraft atop is targeted for liftoff on Tuesday, August 10th from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Space Port's Pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island.

A 5-minute launch window will open at approximately 5:56 p.m. Eastern Time.

Northrop Grumman is scheduled to deliver more than 8,200 lb of cargo to the orbiting laboratory, including critical supplies to directly support dozens of more than 250 science and research investigations that will occur during Expedition 65.

Here to speak with us today about tomorrow's launch are Joel Montalbano, International Space Station Program Manager, Dr. Kirk Costello, Chief Scientist for the International Space Station Program,

Frank De Maro, Vice President and General Manager for Tactical Space Systems at Northrop Grumman,

Kurt Eberly, Director of Space Launch Programs, Launch and Missile Defense Systems at Northrop Grumman,

and McKinley, Wallops Range and Antares Project Manager.

Thank you for joining us.

Our speakers will each provide opening remarks, then we'll move to questions.

You can use the hashtag Ask NASA on social media to submit questions, and reporters can submit your questions via email to my colleague Gray Hautaluoma.

To start, we will hear from Joel Montalbano, our International Space Station Program Manager.

All right, well thank you, Stephanie, and uh welcome again to today's press brief.

Um there's been a lot of work that's been done by a lot of people, so I want to start by thanking the Northrop Grumman team, the NASA Wallops team, and the Virginia Space for getting us to where we are today.

You know, launching a rocket is a difficult task and and these guys just do it in an outstanding way, and just a huge thanks to them.

There's been a number of meetings in preparation for this mission, and with the conclusion of the launch readiness review earlier today, the International Space Station is ready for this mission.

As Stephanie said, the launch time is uh just before 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow.

That sets us up for a capture early Thursday morning, so approximately 6:00 a.m. just after 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time Thursday morning.

Um following capture, we'll have some activity activities, and then we'll have the berthing of the vehicle or the mating that where we attach the Cygnus to the International Space Station, and then hatch opening a little later.

Uh good planning estimate is about 8 hours from the time of capture until the hatch is opened by the crew.

Um we're excited for this mission.

We've been talking to the crew, giving them you know, um normal updates and um multiple updates as we prepare and move closer to the launch.

And and like I said, uh they're ready to go and excited.

As Stephanie said, carrying 8,200 lb of cargo to the International Space Station.

8,100 lb of that will be pressurized or inside the vehicle, and the vehicle will stay for approximately 3 months attached to the International Space Station.

You know, these cargo resupply missions are are critical to our success, and uh we're a proud partner.

You know, we're proud to be partnering with the Northrop Grumman team.

Uh together, we're able to use the seven crew members on board and order to use them to maximize the utilization of research we do, to maximize the low-earth orbit commercialization, and maximize the technology development we do on board International Space Station to support our exploration efforts.

So with that, a huge thanks to the team.

We're looking forward to an awesome launch tomorrow, and I'll turn it over to uh Dr. Kirk Costello, the International Space Station Chief Scientist.

Thank you.

Thank you, Joel.

It's great to be here today.

Okay?

First off, I want to wish a happy Mountain Day to our crew members on board, who are getting a uh needed break from their activities in preparation for this NG launch.

Why do we do research on the ISS?

The microgravity environment of the ISS is great for doing fundamental research into the biological and physical sciences.

It's there to help us do exploration-related technology development.

It helps us um do research that really is meant to benefit people here on Earth by using that unique environment that we have on board.

And finally, it's a great opportunity to conduct some STEM experiments and international collaboration.

We'll be talking about a number of these investigations uh in the next few minutes.

First up are two investigations that are looking at human muscle cells in space.

Um Sarcopenia is a condition here on Earth that between the ages of 20 and 80 accounts for about 30% of the skeletal muscle loss that we see as we age.

Investigators uh from the Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research are interested in looking at human muscle cells, muscle tissue engineered on orbit,

uh and whether or not it would be a good model to tr test and test treatments for sarcopenia.

Uh these investigators are uh flying an investigation called Cardinal Muscle, and I believe we have some slides.

The Cardinal Muscle investigation is going to uh look at muscle tissue grown in uh scaffolds on orbit, and then look at it under various treatments.

First to identify whether or not the muscle grown in space is a good model for testing uh various drugs and treatments here on Earth.

Do we have the slides?

Okay, it looks like we're having technical difficulties with the slides.

We'll go ahead.

Um the objective, of course, is to understand whether the degenerative muscle loss that we see in crew members under disuse conditions uh is a good model for uh a disease that takes many,

many years to develop here on Earth.

This could allow for accelerated testing in the microgravity environment.

The next investigation we'll talk about is being flown by one of our International Partners.

Uh JAXA is flying the anti-atrophy uh research, and that is also looking at muscle cells and two treatments.

One, an atrophy inhibitor um called C14 C Blend, and then another called Celestal, which is actually a muscle growth accelerator.

They will be applied to human muscle cells again cultured on orbit to see if they have an an effect.

This could be a real boon for our astronauts as we go into missions that take longer and longer times to get to our destinations in microgravity.

Right now, we can combat a lot of the muscle degradation we see with physical exercise on board, but that does take a lot of time.

These treatments, if developed and proven successful, would be able to help us cut back some of that overall time that we dedicate dedicate to exercise on board.

Next up, we have an investigation called Blob.

Blob comes to us from a collaboration between CNES, the French Space Agency, and ESA.

They are flying a unicellular organism the the blob organism, also known as Physarum uh polycephalum.

Um this uh this organism is uh related to the amoebas here on Earth, and this exercise flies these amoebas in four containers on board the space station,

and uh is done in collaboration with STEM schoolchildren throughout France and uh the European Union.

Uh these investigators will be looking at the uh organism's behavior in under microgravity, and specifically how it moves and how it feeds in the microgravity environment.

Um next up, we'll talk about flow boiling and condensation experiment.

This is a brand new facility going on board the space station.

Um it's being flown out of the Glenn Research Center, and uh will be used to conduct research into two-phase boiling and condensation on orbit.

This very fundamental research into the physical sciences is important for us to understand these processes in the microgravity environment, particularly how we can better design uh systems to uh be heat exchangers and also uh boilers in space.

These can allow us to explore new uh propulsion technologies like nuclear thermal electric propulsion, and also um uh our heat exchanger systems, making them efficient enough to operate both in gravity and in altered gravity situations.

Lastly today, we'll talk about the Red Wire Regolith Print Investigation.

This investigation is research being flown by our national laboratory to look into the capability to pre print uh structures and materials using a 3D printer that uses a uh lunar regolith uh Orsoks material.

That's a a material that approximates what the uni lunar regolith is.

And these structures will be printed on orbit using two different binders.

One that uh is a low-temperature binder that allows us uh to to look at the process in moderate temperature areas uh of the lunar surface like those in shadow, and another that uh is a high-temperature binder that would allow us to look at uh these materials printed for the lunar solar day.

Um the investigation is really uh one of the first where we're printing these in microgravity to understand the strength and structures of the materials when we return the samples to Earth.

So again, we've heard about a number of investigations already.

Great, amazing research that's flying to the space station on the Cygnus.

For more about the Cygnus vehicle itself and how we're getting that research there, I'll turn it over to uh Frank De Maro from uh Northrop Grumman.

Thanks so much, Kirk.

I really appreciate it.

Uh so on behalf of Northrop Grumman, I'd like to add our welcome to everyone watching uh for the press briefing for our NG 16 mission.

So NG 16 mission that we're planning for tomorrow will be our 16th resupply mission to the International Space Station.

Right now, all things look great.

We're uh we're a go for launch at 5:56 p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow.

And as Joel talked about, we're to deliver over 8,200 lb of supplies and science experiments to the International Space Station.

And that's the heaviest cargo delivery load that Antares and Cygnus have sent to the station to date.

So we're very excited about that.

Also, as Joel said, if we launch tomorrow, we're due to arrive at the ISS very early Thursday morning, August 12th.

Um so and you know, whether you look at it with up to seven astronauts, and in the future maybe more, uh on the station at any given time, the criticality of us uh supplying cargo to the International Space Station is more important than ever.

So uh as we count down to launch tomorrow, uh I'd like to share a video that highlights the journey that Antares and Cygnus make uh on their way to launch uh with footage from previous missions.

I'll go to the video.

Never gets old.

Great video.

Thank you for that.

Uh you know, Kirk and I continue to be extremely proud of our teams for the incredible amount of work they do to get ready for these missions, along with our partners NASA, uh the Wallops Flight Facility, as well as Virginia Space.

Each mission tells a different story and comes with its own unique attributes.

And then we learn lessons from each mission that makes the next mission more successful.

So uh we continue to uh to learn as we go uh with these highly successful missions.

And on the Cygnus side, we have continued to upgrade

gets old.

Great video.

Thank you for that.

Uh you know, Kurt and I continue to be extremely proud of our teams for the incredible amount of work they do to get ready for these missions, along with our partners NASA, uh the Wallops Flight Facility, as well as Virginia Space.

Each mission tells a different story and comes with its own unique attributes.

And then we learn lessons from each mission that makes the next mission more successful.

So, uh we continue to uh to learn as we go uh with these highly successful missions.

And on the Cygnus side, we have continued to upgrade Cygnus over the years to become more than just a cargo delivery spacecraft, but to be more of a science laboratory.

And those uh those really unique aspects of Cygnus allow us to deliver a lot of pressurized cargo, as well as unpressurized cargo, and allow us to stay on the station for a long period of time to become part of the ISS for three months or more.

Uh like NG-15, Cygnus will undergo a a final load of cargo at the 24-hour mark right before liftoff.

And that capability allows the time-sensitive payloads to get loaded on the spacecraft as late as possible, so we can shorten the time frame from delivery to us to delivery to the International Space Station.

We also continue to support NASA's efforts with the international partners, especially with the Japanese space agency JAXA.

As Dr. Costelllo pointed out, we have two uh experiments flying on Cygnus.

We actually hosted those experiments in the preparation for those at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia.

And it's really been a great experience for our team to work with JAXA on coordinating these missions halfway around the world.

Also on this mission, we'll be flying a secondary payload called Purple or Prototype Infrared Payload, where teams from across Northrop Grumman work closely with the Space Development Agency to launch this experimental mission.

Once it arrives at the space station, the prototype sensor will collect infrared data that will help in the development of algorithms for the next generation of satellite tracking capabilities.

The data from Purple will also be able to shape studies at government agencies and universities studying environmental impacts.

As the technology can be used to study volcanoes and forest fires.

And the Purple contract also allows us to demonstrate Northrop Grumman's rapid prototyping capability and responsiveness to our customers.

Finally, it's become a company tradition to name each Cygnus after an individual who has played a significant role in human space flight.

We are honored to name this mission in honor of Ellison Onizuka, the first Asian-American astronaut to reach space.

Ellison was selected to become a NASA astronaut in 1978 after a long and successful career as a test pilot for the Air Force.

He flew his first mission to space in 1985, and in 1986, Ellison and his crew tragically lost their lives during the launch of the space shuttle Challenger.

He made the ultimate sacrifice in service to human exploration.

Ellison was born in Hawaii and dreamed about flying to the stars that he could see from his home on the island.

And he was an inspiration for Asian-American community and for multiple generations to explore new horizons.

He once said, "Every generation has the obligation to free men's minds for a look at new worlds, to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation."

And you can find these words of wisdom on the last page of a U.S. passport, encouraging all of us to look for new discoveries and to dream big.

The SS Ellison Onizuka will serve as a shining example that racial barriers and glass ceilings are meant to be shattered, so that all can succeed.

I'm looking forward to executing our Sweet 16 mission tomorrow in support of NASA and our commercial partners as we continue the journey in human space exploration.

And with that, I'll hand it over to Kurt Eberly, who leads our Antares rocket program.

Kurt.

Thank you, Frank.

I'm really excited to be here to talk about uh another Antares Cygnus launch here from Wallops Flight Island.

And first, I'd like to thank our integration team here at Wallops.

We have about 60 folks who work here permanently in the Wallops area, and they work very hard getting these uh these rockets ready for launch.

And then the Cygnus folks come down with Cygnus and then we spend time integrating them.

So uh so I'd just like to thank them, and I would like to thank our engineers who come in from Chandler, Arizona and from Dulles, Virginia, and who are here and sit on console and make sure that everything is ready and that the rocket is working well and ready for launch.

Uh I'd also like to thank the Virginia Space team that that maintains Pad 0A and gets it ready for us and operates it and makes sure that we're ready to proceed for a smooth countdown.

And then finally, the Wallops range folks, appreciate all their cooperation and coordination uh and their support in managing this mission.

I'll just quick I'll quickly recap uh recent events.

So last Thursday, we had our mission dress rehearsal.

Uh we played green cards and we exercised the communication paths and exercised the team in the decision-making process.

On Friday, we rolled Antares with Cygnus out to the launch pad and uh rotated it to vertical, as you see here behind me.

Uh on Saturday, we did our combined systems test, which is basically a test of all the interfaces between the rocket, the spacecraft, and the range and the spaceport.

That was successful, and we were able to take uh most of Sunday off.

Hang on.

So Sunday ended up being a a rest day for our team.

And that brings us to today.

We completed the launch readiness review this morning, and we have no leans to launch coming out of the LRR.

So that's good news.

Uh the weather report looks favorable for tomorrow, and I think Brittany will get more into that.

Uh so just uh what's going to happen later today?

We've got the L-minus 24-hour cargo load that's going to happen uh at uh 5:56 p.m. this afternoon.

After that, Cygnus will close up the hatch of the Cygnus, and then we'll put the pop top of the fairing back on.

And then we'll be ready to rotate up to vertical around uh 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Uh we'll do final arming and be ready to start the countdown uh 5 hours before liftoff.

So about 12:56 p.m. is when we'll open the checklist, and we'll start counting down.

About 1 and 1/2 hours before launch, we'll start loading the tanks with propellants.

Before then, you might see some venting of uh liquid oxygen vapor as we chill down the cross-country lines leading up to the launch pad.

We ignite the two main engines of the first stage at L-minus 0, and uh we we do a health check at an intermediate power setting.

And when we pass that health check, then we throttle up to 100%.

We will rock back the transporter-erector launcher, which also serves as our umbilical tower, and we will release the hold-down clamps at the base of the rocket.

And uh about 2.7 seconds, L-plus 2.7 seconds, we will have liftoff.

First stage burns for 200 seconds, after which we have a 50-second coast period during which we separate the first stage, the fairing, and the interstage.

Second stage will then ignite and burn for about 2 and 1/2 minutes, after which we're in orbit.

Uh we do a 2-minute settling period, and then we'll separate Cygnus and they're on their way.

Uh thank you all for being here, and we look forward to a good launch tomorrow.

And now I'll turn it over to Brittany McKinley, our Wallops range Antares program manager.

Brittany.

Thanks, Kurt.

Good afternoon, everyone.

On behalf of Wallops, we are proud to partner with NASA's ISS office, Northrop Grumman, and Virginia Space to deliver this cargo to station.

The Wallops team is ready to support the CRS-16 mission with the launch of Antares and the Cygnus spacecraft.

All of our range testing is complete.

Configurations have been locked in, and range clearances are in place.

In addition to our team local here at Wallops, we also have another team that's been deployed deployed to our Bermuda tracking station.

Uh they've spent the past 2 weeks bringing up all of our systems, checking them out, uh running end-to-end tests with us here at Wallops.

And I'm happy to report that all systems are up and running.

I also want to send out a thank you to the local community for all their support on these missions.

It's vital in making sure that the launch team comes in and all the visitors coming in to view the launches have a safe and enjoyable experience.

So thank you.

Now it's time to the all for the all-important weather report, and I do have good news for you on that front.

I'll go to the weather slide.

So for tomorrow, uh we're only tracking uh one item of concern, and that's our cumulus cloud rule, and our POV or probability of violation for launch is only at 20%, so that's great news.

So we'll be keeping an eye on those, but uh the better way to phrase it is we have an 80% chance of launch tomorrow.

If for any reason uh we need to rely on our backup days, again, good weather for this week, uh tracking some clouds, and uh our worst case is only getting us up to a 30% POV.

So looking good.

In closing, the Wallops range is green, and we are looking forward to beautiful launch Tuesday evening.

And uh thank you for following along.

Great.

Thank you, Brittany, and all of our other experts and speakers today.

Now we'll move on to the question-and-answer portion of our briefing today.

As a reminder, you can send us your questions using the hashtag Ask NASA on social media, and reporters can email their questions directly to Gray House Aloma.

So uh let's kick it off.

Well, the first question goes to Joel Montalbano.

It's from Jeff Jeff Faust of Space News, who asks, "What level of insight does NASA have into the Russian investigation of the MLM's unintended thruster firings after its July 29th docking,

and when is that investigation expected to conclude?"

So thank you, Jeff.

You know, we're we're working with our Russian colleagues.

Uh as you can imagine, uh we talk to them on a regular basis.

And so uh multiple times during the week, we have uh communication between the the flight control and the flight control center, uh between the mission management team chair and it and her Russian colleague.

Also, obviously, the flight controllers are talking.

So the Russians are in the process of defining um how they're going to move forward with this commission.

Uh we have a team that that I put together on the U.S. side that will do a similar thing.

Um as far as a timeline, uh probably it's just a little too early to tell that.

We're working together to kind of lay that out.

But I would say probably in the next a couple weeks or so, 2-3 weeks, we'll have a timeline, and then I can probably better answer that question.

Great.

Thanks, Joel.

Another question.

This one's from social media.

Michelle from Twitter asks, "Why does the larger door used for cargo deliveries require berthing with the Canadarm and not allow for automated docking?"

So I'll I'll take that one.

You know, the um what we're set up is, you know, um the docking, as you said, is a smaller a smaller diameter hatch.

Um the berthing allows us to bring larger type uh payloads both um um replacement units for our uh systems hardware, as well as science hardware in and out.

And so it's just a different capability we have.

As you know, we have two berthing ports and two docking ports.

And so we have opportunities for either berthing or a docking vehicle.

Generally, the berthing vehicles come up uncrewed.

And so whereas our our docking our crewed vehicles are coming up as as docking vehicles.

Um I think I answered your question.

If not, uh ask again.

That's great.

You did.

Thank you.

Uh we'll go this question is for Kurt Eberly from Jeff Faust of Space News.

What is the status of efforts by Northrop Grumman to sell Antares launches for customers other than the NASA CRS program?

Can Antares compete against efforts by new entrants to develop vehicles with similar payload capabilities?

Yeah, hi, Jeff.

Uh we are con we are continuing to pursue uh sales of Antares for non-CRS missions.

Uh we're on-ramp to NLS-2, and uh we're talking to some other customers as well.

Uh we think we have some real capability for this vehicle.

It's it's extremely reliable.

We're able to launch uh on the date that uh we plan to launch.

Uh we've got a great track record.

And uh I think things are going very well.

So uh we're hopeful that we can make some sales, and we're going after other missions, absolutely.

And uh you know, new entrants, uh everything everything looks uh looks uh very rosy uh on paper.

And uh by the time, you know, the new entrants get to launch, we'll see where they end up.

But uh uh you know, it's a difficult business.

And uh and uh we don't minimize that or uh or take it for granted uh at all.

So uh so yeah, we we continue to market the vehicle, and we think we've got some real capability that could be attractive to other users, absolutely.

Thank you, Kurt.

Uh we also have a question from social media from Wizzywig on Twitter asking how best to view the launch over Delaware.

So uh I'll point out that we have a viewing visibility map available on nasa.gov/northropgrumman and nasa.gov/wallops.

And we encourage you to take a look at those maps.

Uh the Wallops Visitors Center grounds are closed for guest viewing this time because of the rise in COVID cases in the Wallops area, and we want to ensure everybody stays safe.

So uh we encourage you to join us by viewing online.

NASA TV coverage will begin at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow.

Okay.

So next question is a science question, so we'll go to Dr. Costelllo.

Elizabeth Ray of SciFi Wire has a question about the four-bed CO2 scrubber.

"How do you see this technology improving the reliability of CO2 removal systems in future spacecraft?"

Well, Elizabeth, that that's a great question, and it's absolutely the design objective of this hardware.

Is uh to get it on place on orbit to test not only smaller, more compact means of uh scrubbing the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but also investing in that reliability,

making sure that it can run uh autonomously for uh our future exploration class missions, which may take up to a year each way just to get the uh crew to the surface of Mars.

Thanks, Kurt.

We have another science question for Dr. Costelllo.

"How are you using the space station for research or technology demonstrations to prepare for NASA's Artemis missions to the Moon?"

Uh again, that that one ties directly into some of the ECLSS investigations, technology demonstration advancement that we're doing for those systems.

Uh the ECLSS systems or environmental control and life support systems on space station, uh have done us great over the past years, but now we're looking at ways to make them again more compact,

more reliable to install in those distant locations, whether that's installation in a lunar gateway outpost or on the lunar surface or in a Mars transport vehicle.

Uh we're looking at advancing the technologies for this from lower technology levels to higher, and as we build those systems up, we'll be able to go further in our exploration of the solar system.

Additionally, a lot of the science you heard relates to human research on board space station.

We know microgravity exposure affects the human body in many different ways, and our human research program is constantly working to reduce the overall risk to our crew members as we explore throughout the solar system.

Thank you, Dr. Ciro.

Our next question comes from social for Frank Demaro.

Frank, can you provide a comparison to allow us to know how much cargo Cygnus actually carry up?

Could it fill a box truck, a small van, a school bus, maybe another form of comparison you have in mind?

Yeah, thank you for that question.

A good way to think about it is probably like a small U-Haul box truck is probably a a good way to think about it.

The amount of cargo that we can fit in Cygnus with average density that we get from the NASA cargo team is about 82 this mission will be 8200 pounds of cargo.

So it is a lot of a lot of pressurized cargo in there.

So if you think about a moving truck, a medium-sized moving truck, that's about how much cargo we can fit in there.

It's it's the other thing we have to keep in mind is that within the cargo module, not only do we have the cargo, but we have the support structure to hold the cargo in place, and we also have some environmental controls to be able to control the temperature and the pressure within the cargo module,

so that we can provide a really is a pressurized space when we're attached to the space station.

We also need to provide the right environment for the science payloads that that fly up there.

So it's like a moving truck, but with some really high high-end controls in there.

Great.

Thank you for that.

The next question is for Brittany.

It's a rare summer launch for Antares.

How have you gotten the word out to people to ensure boats and planes don't interrupt the launch?

Uh that's a good one.

Uh so in the weeks leading up to launch, we issue out as our first step Notamars and Notams or notice to mariners and notice to airmen.

That comes out of our test director's office.

Uh in addition to that, we have a really good working relationship in the local community between the test directors and our surveillance coordination officer.

So they help to get the word out.

But we also rely heavily on the community relationships to get the word out and bring everybody together to help us get the launch off.

As you've as you've heard with Antares, it's only a 5-minute window.

So if we have to spend too much time trying to clear our downrange hazard areas or uprange hazard areas, it could be problematic.

So we do rely heavily on the community to help us achieve these launches.

Great.

Thank you.

We look forward to everybody having a good launch and for those of you viewing help us getting the word out to stay out of the box so we can have a good launch.

Related question, this one for Kirk, is if we don't launch tomorrow, what are our future launch opportunities?

Yes, so so tomorrow is primary day.

The day after is a viable launch day, and so the launch opportunity is about 23 and a half minutes earlier on Wednesday.

The weather looks pretty good.

You saw on Brittany's slide there, slightly increased POP up from 20% to 30%, but but Wednesday looks very good as a launch day.

We are able to stand down from a launch on Tuesday and be ready to launch again on Wednesday.

After that, Thursday, we would probably stand down and give NASA an opportunity to refresh the cargo if they need to do that, and then we'd be back for another attempt on Friday.

And again, each day we would have a launch time going about 23 and a half minutes earlier as that orbit plane precesses around the Earth.

And we want to launch right into that orbit plane that the ISS is in to give Cygnus you know the right path to rendezvous with the space station.

Great.

Thanks for that.

And I think the next question is for Joel Montalbano.

Comes from Twitter.

Will an ISS reboost be performed this mission with the Cygnus craft?

And so we're planning to do a reboost on the next mission.

So we won't be doing one with this mission, but we're working with our Northrop Grumman partners to do reboost with NG-17.

Okay.

Thank you for that.

And probably the next question is for Dr. Kirk Costello.

Um why do some of the experiments that are sent up on Cygnus also go back into Cygnus to burn up and undorbit and re-entry?

Uh thank you for the question.

Apparently, I think you're referencing the Crape investigation, and in this case, the Kentucky Re-Entry Probe Investigation is actually looking at heat shield materials and how well they do on small capsules that are stored within the the Cygnus vehicle.

And then as the Cygnus vehicle burns up on re-entry, they're released into the upper atmosphere.

So we can collect data on orbital re-entry speed performance of these new heat shield materials.

So again, that's the Crape investigation from the University of Kentucky.

Great.

And people can find more information about all of the science investigations both at nasa.gov/northropgrumman for this specific mission and nasa.gov/iss-science for all of the experiments being conducted on the space station.

The next question is for Frank Demaro.

Frank, you've talked a lot about the enhancements you've made to Cygnus, giving NASA more options for cargo resupply missions.

What other capabilities are you experimenting with down the road for Cygnus?

Yeah, thanks for that question.

So the first thing I'll point out is something Joel just mentioned a bit ago on NG-17. We'll be adding a capability to more precisely direct the thrust of our large engine that gets used to raise the orbit Cygnus to meet up with the ISS.

And in future missions, it will have the capability to be able to reboost the ISS while we're attached to the space station.

That enhancement, normally that thruster is is fixed in how it's pointed um on the ground.

And then once in orbit, that's the direction it it's extended is how we're going to thrust.

On NG-17 and beyond, we'll be able to direct that thrust a little bit more precisely.

And so we can move it move that thrust closer to the center of gravity of the International Space Station.

And by doing that, the space station has to use less fuel to correct for any disturbances that Cygnus might cause, and more energy goes into reboosting the station and less into attitude control maneuvers.

Other things we're looking at are things we've shown before where the the ability for us to stay on the station longer periods of time.

Right now, we stay on the station about three to four months at a time.

And we've we've done experiments before to show that we can stay on orbit for about a year.

And so that's another capability that we can provide.

And then of course, we're using what we're learning on Cygnus to support the development of other modules that we're putting further out into space like the Halo module, the habitat logistics outpost for the lunar gateway.

So the more times we fly Cygnus, the more we learn about its capabilities and the more confidence we get in it.

And we continue to add new capabilities for missions in the future.

And we'll continue to do that to make sure Cygnus is as flexible and usable a spacecraft for NASA as possible.

Great.

Thanks Frank.

I think this is a related question from David Curley of the Discovery Channel.

In awarding a HLS contract, NASA talked about the importance of space tracking cargo flights to the moon and beyond.

Can you speak to the importance and size of this business in the future?

Sure.

Yeah, there's a there's a program at that called the Gateway Logistics program with NASA similar to what we do for the ISS where we deliver cargo to the ISS.

There NASA will is going to need cargo delivery and science and supplies delivered out to um the areas around the moon and to the gateway.

And that is as as NASA expands on our move towards the moon and eventually towards Mars, those logistics services are going to become critical.

We think the Cygnus vehicle has a lot of the building blocks for not only for people to live around the moon like in Halo, but for a Cygnus-like vehicle to be able to provide those logistics and cargo deliveries out to the moon just like we do now to the ISS just just further out.

So as long as NASA's pushing towards having people living and working around the moon and eventually to Mars, those logistic services are going to become more and more important because it is so far away and we need to make sure that the crew has enough supplies to last for even longer periods of time than they do on the ISS.

So it's a critical part of Artemis and and beyond, and we're looking forward to playing a an important role in that in future.

Great.

One more for Dr. Kirk Costello.

I think somebody wanted to catch the name again of the slime that is going to be part of the ESA blob investigation.

Again, that one is the Physarum polycephalum.

Nicely done.

Maybe they just wanted to tongue tie you up.

Okay, so I think our last question, this one goes to Kirk Eberly, and how have you adjusted or made adjustments for COVID in your launch preparations?

Yeah, great question.

You know, first of all, the number one priority here at Northrop Grumman is the safety of our workforce and and our contractors and associated partners that have to you know help us get ready to launch one of these missions.

So we have some strict protocols that we put in place.

These involve personnel personal protective equipment that our employees wear.

We also have gone through an operations review for all of our operations to look for how to socially distance as many of them as we can.

And for those that we can't be socially distanced for, how do we protect our workforce through additional PPE?

And so that has helped us get through the past year.

We've done two launches, NG-14 and 15, within the last year, both of them successful.

We've been able to keep our workforce

safe and healthy throughout.

And then you know, coming up to launch day, when we go on console, working with the Wallops Range, we do space out our console team members more than in the past.

And so we're keeping those practices.

We know that the case count is back up.

That's unfortunate, but we're ready to to go and and repeat those same protocols we've put in place the last two missions for this mission.

And we are confident that we can we can keep our workforce safe by following those practices.

Okay, great.

I know I said that was the last question, but we got one last one more breaking question.

This one for Joel Montalbano.

This comes from Ben Evans on Twitter who asks, where in the space station will the IROSA modification kit be stored after it's arrival?

And why is it being installed so early when the solar array won't arrive until next year?

Uh good question.

I don' exactly where we're going to install it.

We can find out and we'll get back to you.

The reason we want to install it is you always want to get stuff you know once you have it on orbit, you want to get it installed and and working and and set up as quickly as you can in case you run into problems.

So there's not a need if we don't get it done this month or you know we'll find another time to get it done.

But again, you want to get things out there, get them done, make sure everything's working.

And then if you have any issues, you have plenty of time before the new solar arrays come up when you need it.

Great.

Thank you so much.

That's all the questions we have for today.

Thank you.

Thank you once again to our panelists, to Joel Montalbano, Dr. Kirk Costello, Frank Demaro, Kirk Eberly, and Brittany McKinley for taking time out of your busy pre-launch schedules talk to us about this important mission.

Thank you to the media and our viewers for your interest in this mission and the important science research and technology demonstrations that it will enable aboard the microgravity laboratory.

And as a reminder, the visitor center grounds here at Wallops will be closed for guest viewing.

We want to keep everybody safe and protected from the COVID Delta variant, but NASA does have a virtual guest launch program.

We encourage you to participate in that.

And of course, stay tuned to nasa.gov/northropgrumman for updates for launch and NASA TV coverage, which is also available on the NASA app and the NASA website,

begins tomorrow, Tuesday, August 10th at 5:30 p.m. Eastern for liftoff at 5:56 p.m. Eastern time.

So go Antares, go Cygnus, go science.