Posts tagged space
Public input sought on Goose Creek ecosystem restoration project
May 16th
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps), in partnership with the City of Boulder, is accepting public feedback from May 16 through 25 regarding a potential aquatic restoration project. The proposed project would improve degraded habitat for approximately 4,000 feet of South Goose Creek, from Foothills Parkway to Cottonwood Pond, as well as Cottonwood Pond itself.
The proposed Goose Creek Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Project would be a joint endeavor by the City of Boulder and the Corps. The project would be led by the Corps, which has been working with the city to plan for the project since 2002. These efforts complement the City of Boulder’s “Greenways Master Plan” and past investments in protecting open space.
Under Section 206 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1996, the Corps can undertake restoration projects in aquatic ecosystems, such as rivers, lakes and wetlands, with a non-federal sponsor, such as the City of Boulder. The program provides up to $5 million in federal funding, based on a 65 percent federal and 35 percent local sponsor cost-sharing agreement.
The Army Corps of Engineers has prepared a Draft Detailed Project Report (DPR) and an Environmental Assessment (EA) on the proposed project. The document is posted under “Related Documents” on the project website.
Comments for the Corps should be submitted to:
ATTN: Ms. Cynthia Upah, CENWO-PM-AC
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District
Planning Branch
1616 Capitol Avenue
Omaha, NE 68102
Cynthia.s.upah@usace.army.mil
402-995-2672
CU ROLE IN DREAM CHASER SPACECRAFT TO CONTINUE UNDER NEW NASA GRANT TO SIERRA NEVADA CORP.
Apr 22nd
The Louisville, Colo.-based aerospace company was one of four companies to receive grants this week from NASA’s Commercial Crew Development program. The grant is a follow-on to Sierra Nevada’s NASA grant of $20 million for the Dream Chaser last year.
Roughly the size of a business jet, the 30-foot-long Dream Chaser is slated to launch vertically on an Atlas V rocket and land horizontally on conventional runways, similar to the much larger space shuttle. The spacecraft is based on NASA’s earlier HL-20 lifting body design.
As part of its continuing development of the Dream Chaser, Sierra Nevada will fund “human rating” research led by CU-Boulder Professor David Klaus of the aerospace engineering sciences department, according to Jim Voss, a CU faculty member and vice president of Sierra Nevada. Human rating research is aimed at developing a methodology for evaluating safety and operational aspects of spacecraft intended to transport crew.
“This is a great industry-academia collaboration that combines providing design input for the Dream Chaser to Sierra Nevada with four related thesis topics being pursued by Ph.D. students in our program,” Klaus said.
Sierra Nevada also will sponsor and fund a continuation of the CU-Boulder graduate student project involving Dream Chaser displays and controls, Voss said. The graduate project is focused on cockpit design and ergonomics evaluation to determine the best placement and type of controls to be used by the crew. The students are being advised by Voss and his colleague Joe Tanner, both of whom joined the CU-Boulder faculty after retiring as NASA astronauts.
Klaus, who heads the aerospace department’s bioastronautics focus area, has set up a laboratory in CU-Boulder’s Engineering Center housing three mock-ups of the spacecraft. One is a full-scale model of the Dream Chaser based on the earlier HL-20 design that is on loan from NASA to Sierra Nevada; another is a 15 percent scale model unit that was used for flight testing last December, and the third is the cockpit section being used to evaluate the layout for instrument displays and controls. A “public day” is being planned so that the community will have a chance to view the project.
“The University of Colorado and Sierra Nevada Corporation have formed a partnership that allows use of the tremendous intellectual resources of students and professors to help develop a commercial human spacecraft, the Dream Chaser,” said Voss. “I’m really pleased to continue the work that was started last year and look forward to more student involvement with this exciting project.”
-CU-