Client:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Location:
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California
Project Details
KBR provides scientists, engineers, technicians, communications specialists, and project managers for a wide range of activities on FILMSS, a contract for NASA Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Under the contract, KBR employees support project management, research, and technology development covering all phases of mission and project lifecycles in the physical, life, and biological sciences.
Through FILMSS, KBR leverages its wide-ranging expertise in support of NASA’s strategic goals to expand the frontiers of knowledge, capability, and opportunity in space and on Earth. In addition, KBR supports NASA’s vision for exploration beyond low Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, as well as to bring new opportunities back to Earth.
Project Highlights
- Research on Environment Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS, Air, Water, Waste, Food) to develop advanced technologies and systems that support humans in extended space exploration.
- The development, launch, on-orbit operation, and sample of return activities for space biology experiments. Specimens include rodents, fruit flies, yeast, bacteria, and many more. Space platforms are comprised of the International Space Station, high altitude balloons, near/deep space platforms including Orion, and developing lunar platforms.
- Science, engineering, and management support for performance of ground-based biology experiments to better understand physiological effects of spaceflight. Conditions include 1-g, micro-g- simulations (hind limb unloading – rodents), rotating wall vessels (microbiology), centrifuges for hyper-g exposure, and more.
- Management, software, and science support to NASA’s GeneLab: an interactive, open-access resource where scientists can upload, download, store, search, share, transfer, and analyze omics data from spaceflight and corresponding analogue experiments. GeneLab’s mission is to facilitate and improve information sharing, foster innovation, and increase the pace of scientific discovery from rare and valuable space biology experiments.
- Exhibition expertise, engagement personnel and project management to the NASA Ames’ Office of Communication to provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning NASA’s adventures and activities. The group has a high impact, reaching more than 100,000 people annually.
- Management, support and technology expertise for high profile, collaborative projects in cutting-edge flight operations and deployments. The work is aimed towards reducing noise and emissions while at the same time increasing aircraft autonomy, for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft transportation systems.
- Support for NASA’s four virtual institutes (Astrobiology, Solar System Exploration Research, Aeronautics Research and Small Spacecraft Systems) in the areas of operations, science, collaborative technology, science writing, graphics, citizen science, and education and public outreach. KBR develops and maintains the collaborative technology infrastructure for these virtual institutes that is used throughout NASA.
