NASA Selects Contractor for High Ice Water Content Flight Campaign

CLEVELAND — NASA’s Glenn Research Center has selected Flight Test Associates of Mojave, Calif., to conduct atmospheric testing called the High Ice Water Content Flight Campaign.

Valued at about $7.4 million, the firm fixed price contract has a 30-month base period of performance. An option for an additional flight campaign, if exercised, could add 24 months to the performance period and increase the contract value to about $10 million. This activity is funded by NASA’s Aviation Safety Program in the agency’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in Washington.

Flight Test Associates will provide a modified aircraft to conduct more than 200 hours of flight research. NASA and its research partners, the Federal Aviation Administration and The Boeing Company, will use the flight data to define new parameters for developing and certifying aircraft engines, air data systems and weather radar systems. The research also will support development of weather forecasting tools to help pilots avoid potentially hazardous icing conditions and of ground test facilities designed to simulate the high ice water content environment.

High ice water content is a name for atmospheric conditions consisting of high concentrations of ice crystals typically associated with deep convection storms in the tropics and subtropics. These conditions are thought to have contributed since 1989 to more than 100 jet engine power loss events in which ice formed inside the core areas of the engine, leading to temporary shutdowns because of surge, stall or flameout.

For more information on NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, visit: http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov

For more information about NASA’s Glenn Research Center, visit: http://www.grc.nasa.gov