What Makes a Mission Name?

By Don Petit, Astronaut, ISS Expedition 30/31

        
What space station crews call our "mission" is a bit more complicated than what you might think. Under normal operations, there are six crew members living on board station. We send up a three-person crew in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft four times a year, and the launches and landings are generally timed for spring and fall, to avoid severe weather in Kazakhstan.* This results in Soyuz crew overlaps of either four months or two months, with each three-person crew staying for about six months.

There are a number of advantages in this scheme, particularly during handover, when the newly arriving crew (we're expecting one tonight) learns from the seasoned crew all the onerous nuances impossible to know except by being onboard.

Crews on space station are called "Expeditions," a fitting name for a collection of explorers living on the frontier. Since there are two possible three-crew overlaps for each expedition, there are two possible expedition numbers that span a set of nine individuals. In addition, each crew of three arrives in a Soyuz with a designated engineering number, plus a space station mission number and a crew-chosen call sign. Thus, for my mission, I am Expedition 30 for four months, Expedition 31 for two months, and a crew member for Soyuz TMA-03M and Soyuz 29s, with call sign Antares.

This all gets multiplied by two, since we automatically function as backup crews for the mission that flies six months before us. So I am also backup crew for Expedition 28/29, on Soyuz TMA-02M and Soyuz 27s, with call sign Eridianus.

Then there are the management teams on the ground. These are people who work relentlessly through weekends and holidays to support the lucky crew members on space station. These management teams are called "Increments," and they have numbers that usually correspond to the expedition numbers. Sometimes, though, these can get shifted to adjacent mission numbers. Of course, the nomenclature for increments, like expeditions, also gets multiplied by two, since every prime crew participates as backup crew for an earlier increment. When talking to crewmembers, people will speak in expeditions; when talking to NASA planners, they will speak in increments. Like the blind men feeling the elephant, we tend to describe our work from our immediate perspective. It is understandable that these subtleties can lead to confusion.

That's why, when someone asks me what mission I am flying, the answer might lead to a conversation something like this: "I am backup crew for Expedition 28/29, also known as Increment 28/29, in Soyuz TMA-02M, or Soyuz 27s, called Eridianus, but am prime crew for Expedition 30/31 in Increment 30/31 for Soyuz TMA-03M, or Soyuz 29s, called Antares." This kind of answer baffles even my fellow astronauts. I have decided that my mission identity is simply going to be dictated by the one with the largest three-crew overlap. Hence, I call myself Expedition 30. If you want the details, be prepared to settle in for a long conversation.

*There are exceptions. Expedition 29 (also known as Expedition 30, Increment 29, Increment 30, Soyuz TMA-22, or Soyuz 28s, with call sign Astraeus) slipped two months and launched in a November snowstorm so severe that from the viewing station only 1½ kilometers away, neither the rocket nor the launch pad were visible. At engine ignition, the TV cameras discovered they were pointed in the wrong direction, and quickly panned to the rocket, which appeared like a giant, slowly moving road flare-which was visible for perhaps 15 seconds before becoming completely obscured.

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LiveChat Roundup - 5/25/2012

By Jim Gerard, INSPIRE Education Specialist, KSC, FL

Did you realize that most small aircraft relied on the same technology invented during World War I and II? The 'six-pack' cluster of artificial horizon, directional gyro, turn coordinator, airspeed, vertical speed and altitude, were patterned after 'steam gauges' with analog dials and indicators.

Old 'steam gauge' cockpit

A pilot first learns to fly in the natural visual world and then learns to fly again in the instrument world.  These are two different ways of flying.  One is intuitive, and the other is not.  Only a small percentage of the population has the ability to learn to fly by gauges.  It is not an easy skill to learn and keep.

New 'glass cockpit'

The solution is digital displays and what are referred to as 'glass cockpits'. Information needed to operate the aircraft can be layered over navigational tools, ensuring a safer, more automated cockpit. This was the topic of  last night's Live Chat with Paul Krasa from Langley Research Center. Mr. Krasa talked to 34 INSPIRE OLC members in recounting the engineering and design that went into the new cockpit displays now being seen on private aircraft. 

Mr. Krasa also talked about the importance of engineers, and how they truly touch the future. Before any new technology is available on the market place, engineers are using it. X-Box, iPod, Blu-Ray and many other devices were first used by engineers. Others may have dreamed the ideas and created the design, but it was the engineers that made it a reality.

As the OLC gets ready for summer, we have a special event that most of you can participate in, the transit of Venus. A special LiveChat will provide some insight into the significance of this event, with tips on how to enjoy it safely. Sign up today on the Discussion Board to take part in this chat! See you there!

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My Address in Space

By Don Petit, Astronaut, ISS Expedition 30/31

If my family and friends were to write me a letter, what address would they use? When I type my name on one of my stories, what address should I give?

It occurred to me that Space Station is a place as deserving of an address as other frontier stations like McMurdo Base or the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Base in Antarctica. These places have formal addresses, complete with zip codes. Even Navy ships have addresses. With the future development of commercial spaceships, I could realistically contemplate someone sending me a letter. So what address would they use? Do they need a zip code? Do you affix an “airmail stamp” or do we create a new category of “rocket mail” stamps? If Space Station were to have an address, instead of writing letters to Santa Claus asking for stuff, kids could write letters to astronauts asking questions about science and engineering.

My sleep station, a coffin-sized box, is located in the fifth deck space of Node 2. From an Earth-based perspective, I pop out of my sleep station as if I were coming out of the floor. I am thus situated on the International Space Station (ISS) in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with an orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees (the angle of our orbit plane to the equator) and an average altitude of 400 kilometers. It occurred to me that my address should be: Node 2, Deck 5, ISS, LEO 51.603. The first three digits of your space zip code would be your orbital inclination and the last two a designator for your particular space station, with ISS being the third in this location (after the Salyut series and Mir). This zip code nomenclature should suffice, at least until there are more than 99 different space stations in orbit.

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LiveChat Roundup - May 17, 2012

By Jim Gerard, INSPIRE Education Specialist, KSC , FL

How crowded are our skies? Take a look at this video that shows a 24 hour period of air traffic, then come back to the blog.

From the looks of the video, it is surprising we don't see air collisions every day! But two factors to remember: this is a two dimension representation of a three dimensional space, so aircraft fly over and under one another. A second factor is each aircraft indicator is the length of Rhode Island! There is much more room between aircraft than indicated. Never the less, our airspace is considered 'full'.

This was the subject of Langley Research Center's Guy Kemmerly, and aeronautical engineer working on Airspace Systems. 36 Online Community members were on hand to hear Mr. Kemmerly talk about the dangers of crowded airspace and how to relieve it. From larger, faster aircraft that fly from hub to hub, to computerized air traffic control allow smaller distance between planes, Mr. Kemmerly worked his way to goal of having "a plane in every garage". You can hear the whole presentation in the LiveChat Archives!

Next week, we hear what kind of aircraft may be parked in every garage when Paul Krass talk to us about Personal Air Transport. And, the following week, a special LiveChat to get you ready for the Transit of Venus! Sign up for both chats today on the Discussion Board!

What's your (call) sign?

By Jeremy Frank, Autonomous Mission Operations Project Lead, JSC, TX

Mission Control is usually portrayed in movies and television shows as filled with people intently staring at computer screens showing information about a spacecraft and the astronauts inside it. These people are referred to as flight controllers. Each of these flight controllers has responsibility for one part of the mission, or part of the spacecraft. The International Space Station flight control team consists of between 15 and 35 flight controllers, depending on what activities are taking place. Each of these people has a different responsibility. Perhaps the most famous of these flight control positions is the Flight Director; she or he has the responsibility to run the mission, and ensure that the crew is safe. Another well-known flight controller is the Capsule Communicator, or CapCom; this person's responsibility is to communicate with the crew. Other flight controller responsibilities, while less well known, are equally important. One person is responsible for managing the orientation of the ISS and its orbit around the Earth; another is responsible for managing the activities of the crew, and so on. Each of these flight controllers have unique, and short, 'call signs' to uniquely identify them.

For the AMO project, we are conducting a much shorter 'mission' (2 hours, instead of 2 weeks for a typical Space Shuttle mission, or 6 months for the typical crew stay onboard the International Space Station). Our 'spacecraft', the Habitat Demonstration Unit, is also quite a bit simpler than either the ISS or the Space Shuttle! As a result, we created a much smaller flight control team. Even with this smaller team, we will learn a great deal about how to conduct operations in the presence of larger time delays than those experienced during any previous human spaceflight missions.

We opted to keep 'traditional' call-signs for the Flight Director and Capcom, but most of the other flight control responsibilities are a mix of traditional responsibilities. As a result, we chose to name our positions based on the names of Near-Earth Asteroids. These objects take their names from many different sources, so we had a lot of names to choose from! Our flight control call signs and positions are: FLIGHT - Flight Director. In charge of the flight control team. CAPCOM - Capsule Communicator. Responsible for communicating with the crew. PSYCHE - Biomedical Engineer. Responsible for crew health and safety, hygiene, and medical consultation. IRIS - Robotic systems. Responsible for external camera operation. KALI - Operations Planner. Responsible for creating and managing daily activities of the crew. JUNO - Spacecraft systems. Responsible for electrical power and life support. VESTA - Mechanical systems. Responsible for onboard computers, data networks, avionics. CERES - Payloads / Science. Responsible for geological laboratory and management of geology samples.

You can learn much more about the history of the Mission Control Center, and the job of flight controllers here.

And don't forget to follow along with the AMO tests at www.facebook.com/nasa.amo!

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LiveChat Roundup - 5/10/12

By Jim Gerard, NASA INSPIRE, KSC, FL

The INSPIRE weekly LiveChat commenced on Thursday, May 10, with presenter Frank Jones, an aerospace engineer from Langley Research Center. 41 were in attendance to hear Mr. Jones talk about his work as an Associate Director in Aeronautics at LaRC. His presentation divided into Simulation Services, Aircraft Services, Supported Projects and Robotics and Autonomous Systems.

Mr. Jones talked about LaRC's Concept-to-Flight Research, which allows engineers to take an idea from thought to practicality. An engineer can work out his design through computer simulation and modeling to reduce the amount of time needed for costly and dangerous test flights.

You can find out more about the work done at Langley by attending our special LiveChat next Tuesday at 3:00pm CT with Digital Learning Network specialist Karen Ricks. And then on Thursday at 8:00pm CT we'll hear from John Koelling, also from LaRC, who will update us on the future of Airspace Systems. Sign up now on the Discussion Board!

Toe Koozies

By Don Petit, Astronaut, ISS Expedition 30/31

It was time to get new socks. Mine had been worn for a week, and had reached their pull date. Groping in the bag of socks, I pulled out a pair of women's (small) ankle socks by mistake. Not wanting to fold them up and put them back, I decided to just try them on - maybe they would stretch. They covered my toes, but only reached just past the ball of my foot. I quickly concluded, "This will not work."

But that was based on my experience on Earth. It occurred to me that up here, you use your feet differently. In zero-g, you hook your feet under "handrails," thus shifting the load from the bottom to the top of the foot, just behind the toe knuckle. After about two months in orbit your feet molt, and like some reptilian creature the callused skin on the bottom of your foot sheds, leaving soft pink flesh in its place. In the weightless environment, calluses apparently have no use, at least on the bottoms of your feet. However, the tops of your feet become red-rubbed raw and gnarly. And the bottom calluses shed faster than the top calluses can grow. Perpetually raw and hypersensitive, your foot tops can use a bit of padding to ease the pain.

Serendipitously, I discovered that these short socks provide the necessary protection for toes and toe tops while leaving your heels out where they can breathe. They are the zero-gravity equivalent to flip-flops. The more that I wore them, the more I liked them. I have dubbed this new space fashion "toe koozies" - they are perfect for lounging around in a Node or the Cupola.

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J-2X Progress: Two Stands Occupied

By Bill Greene, MSFC, AL

It's been awhile since I've had the opportunity to update what we've been doing for the J-2X development test campaign. So, everyone is probably wondering where we stand. Well, if possession is nine-tenths of the law, then J-2X IS THE LAW for the NASA Stennis Space Center A-complex! Right now, the J-2X development effort has our PowerPack Assembly 2 in test stand A-1 and Engine 10001 has been reinstalled on test stand A-2.

Below are two pictures of the J-2X PowerPack Assembly 2 (known as PPA2) taken from different perspectives. In the second one, you can see that several pieces are coated with ice. That's obviously a picture with cryogenic propellants loaded in the ducts and turbomachinery. In other words, to use our local jargon, in the second picture PPA2 is chilled down.

Well, you saw in a previous blog article that we spun up the PPA2 and we demonstrated ignition of the gas generator. Beyond that, however, we've had a few hiccups. For the first test intended to get to mainstage operation, we didn't get very far. We effectively demonstrated again the spin start and ignition of the gas generator. Immediately beyond that, just a few tenths of a second in fact, the test shut down due to an issue on the facility side. As I've described before, the PPA2 is kind of an odd beast in that it's a half-engine and half-facility test article. In this case, a facility valve did not function the way that it was supposed to. It was sluggish. A subsequent investigation into the facility hydraulic system identified and fixed the issue so we were again all ready to go.

On the next test we got a little farther but just before getting to mainstage, we busted an engine-side redline limit and had to shut down early. The reason for that early cut was actually quite analogous to the early cut we had on our first attempt at a mainstage test for Engine 10001. We didn't quite understand the characteristics of the engine components and so, as we powered up the system, we were headed towards an operating point different than we'd intended. In other words, our calibration was a bit off. The redline system identified this situation and, properly, cut off the test before anything damaging might occur. While early cuts are sometimes a pain in the neck, we have those safety systems built in there for a reason. There is always a substantial and meaningful difference between a nuisance and something potentially worse.

Over the course of the next couple of PPA2 tests we once again proved that hydrogen is a pernicious rascal. This is something that has been proven on many former occasions throughout the history of rocket engine development. If you give hydrogen any opportunity to leak, any at all, it will. And sometimes, it will only leak when the system is chilled down so that when you're checking out the system before a test, when you're searching for potential leaks, you don’t see a thing. But then, when you are all set up and get the test going, ta-da, you suddenly have a fire. Why a fire? Because with a hydrogen leak around all the rest of the hot stuff going on with the test, a leak almost always becomes a fire. And, because pooled, un-burnt hydrogen is a potential detonation hazard, we also have devices all around the vicinity of the test article designed to make sure that any leaked hydrogen gets burnt. So, quite simply: hydrogen leak on engine test = hydrogen fire on engine test. The fires that we saw on these two tests were not on the "engine" half of the PPA2 test article per se. Instead, we got fires on the facility half. The emergency systems in place for such issues include cameras and temperature probes so that there was practically no damage and our hardware is just fine. But the fires did mean that we've accumulated only a limited amount of mainstage data so far.

Undaunted, we have investigated and, we believe, solved the issue and will once again be ready for testing in the near future.

On the other test stand, specifically stand A-2, the folks at the NASA Stennis Space Center have been darn busy. If you go back a couple of months in these blog articles you'll find a discussion about the next phase of testing for J-2X development engine 10001 (E10001 for short). In that article, I tell you all about the test stand passive diffuser and the engine nozzle extension that we’ll be testing. Well, the first thing that we had to do to make this next phase for E10001 possible was to modify the test stand. In order to make the passive diffuser function properly, you have to effectively seal off the top.

In the picture above you'll see what’s called the clamshell. This two-piece device rotates out of the way for access to the engine between tests but during a test wraps around the nozzle of the engine on the top side and connects to the diffuser on the bottom side. We'll use a rubber-ish seal in the gap between the clamshell and the nozzle to maintain the seal while accommodating movement of the nozzle during hot fire testing. Getting this thing designed, built, and into the stand was a heck of a lot of work. The folks who accomplished this deserve mucho kudos.

So, that's the test stand side. Next, there is the test article side, i.e., the engine itself. Because the nozzle extension is not structurally beefy enough to support the rest of the engine, the installation of the test article into the stand has to be performed in two steps. First, you install the main part of the engine and then, once that’s in place, you install the nozzle extension.

By the way, while it sounds easy enough to simply bolt the nozzle extension into place on the end of the nozzle, it's actually a bit more complicated. While both pieces are designed to be exactly round, nothing is truly exactly round, especially not pieces of hardware this large. We have to use special "rounding" tools during the mating process. It's sometimes amazing to think about all of the specialized tools and equipment that you need, in addition to the engine itself of course, just to make the engine work.

So, that's where we stand in terms of our development test campaign. As if southern Mississippi isn't hot enough in the summer, J-2X will soon be adding even more heat from two active test stands very, very soon and for several months to come. Elsewhere, FYI, we're working on various stages of fabricating and/or assembling J-2X development engines 10002 and 10003. They will be what follows PPA2 and E10001 into the test stands. In other words, there's lots of excitement yet to come.

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Hit the Books and Work on Your Car!

By Don Petit, Astronaut, ISS Expedition 30/31

Space is a desert unlike anything encountered on Earth. The human body is not configured to be able to survive in the cold, dark vacuum of this unearthly realm; creatures of this planet were never meant to go into space. We can only go there if we make machines to take and provide us with all the necessary things our bodies need to stay alive.

To survive and thrive in this machine-dominated environment, we need to know how those machines work and how to maintain them. This takes a strong background in technical subjects—mathematics, science, and engineering. These subjects are interesting, and for many people, mostly fun. But they can be difficult to master.

The theoretical basis for our machines must be understood, but we must also have the practical hands-on mechanical-electrical skills needed to keep them running and fix them when they break down. Crew members who work on their cars and do their own home repairs are well prepared for what is required when they venture into space. When something breaks on a spacecraft, you have to get your hands dirty.

If you want to fly into space and be a part of this new frontier, you must study and absorb the fundamentals of these subjects, and develop the hands-on repair skills needed to keep things running smoothly. As in any wilderness, be it on Earth or in space, if you should find yourself without the necessary technical knowledge and skills, you will be at the mercy of the elements. You will have compromised your ability to complete the mission, and perhaps even decreased your chances of survival.

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LiveChat Roundup - 5/4/2012

By Jim Gerard, NASA INSPIRE Education Specialist, KSC, FL

Happy International Star Wars Day! May the Fourth Be With You!

That said, we had a great chat last night with Johnson Space Center engineer Stuart McClung, who heads up the Orion Parachute Development project at JSC. The 43 INSPIRE students had to be patient, as Mr. McClung had some firewall issues connecting with Blackboard Collaborate. So, as with most NASA projects, we set up our redundant fall-back plan and had Mr. McClung call in by telephone. If you watch the chat via the archive you may not even notice a difference. Once the telephone link was made, the presentation began.

While last weeks chat was about the Orion spacecraft as a whole, Mr. McClung focused in on the development and testing of the primary landing system - the parachutes. While the Space Shuttle orbits at 17500 mph (Mach 25), the returning Orion will hit the atmosphere at 25000 mph (Mach 35), and must be slowed to 17 mph when it hits the water. Deceleration down to Mach .5 will be done entirely by the atmosphere, converting the kinetic energy to thermal energy and dissipating that with the same ablative heat shield used in the Apollo spacecraft. The parachutes will do the rest of the work to give the astronauts on board a safe splashdown into the ocean.

Testing these parachutes has involved multiple drops from US Air Force C-130 and C-17 cargo planes. Not all were successful, but each failure provided data to refine the procedure to produce a safer and more reliable method of recovery. More drop test will finally lead to Experimental Test Flight 1 (EFT-1). Launched via Delta IV Heavy booster, an Orion capsule will orbit the earth twice at a low inclination to the equator, but high altitude to simulate the angle and velocity of the capsule returning from a deep space mission. This will prove the design, and enable NASA to push toward the day that astronauts will leave the earth aboard a US built and flown spacecraft.

Sign up now for two new chats next week! Tuesday night will host a chat with our INSPIRE winners of the RealWorld-InWorld Design Challenge, and on Thursday a chat from Langley Research Center on Computer Flight Control. Sign up on the Discussion Board!

Perigee "Super Moon" On May 5-6

By Dr, Tony Philips, Science @ NASA

The full Moon has a reputation for trouble.

It raises high tides, it makes dogs howl, it wakes you up in the middle of the night with beams of moonlight stealing through the drapes.

If a moonbeam wakes you up on the night of May 5th, 2012, you might want to get out of bed and take a look.  This May’s full Moon is a "super Moon,” as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full Moons of 2012.

A ScienceCast video explains the facts and fiction of "super-moons."

The scientific term for the phenomenon is "perigee moon." Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon's orbit. The Moon follows an elliptical path around Earth with one side ("perigee") about 50,000 km closer than the other ("apogee").  Full Moons that occur on the perigee side of the Moon's orbit seem extra big and bright.
Such is the case on May 5th at 11:34 pm Eastern Daylight Time when the Moon reaches perigee.  Only one minute later, the Moon will line up with Earth and the sun to become gloriously full.  The timing is almost perfect.
Okay, the Moon is 14% bigger than usual, but can you really tell the difference? It's tricky. There are no rulers floating in the sky to measure lunar diameters. Hanging high overhead with no reference points to provide a sense of scale, one full Moon can seem much like any other.

The best time to look is when the Moon is near the horizon.  For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects. On May 5th, this “Moon illusion” will amplify a full Moon that's extra-big to begin with.  The swollen orb rising in the east at sunset will seem super indeed.

Folklore holds that all kinds of wacky things happen under the light of a full Moon.  Supposedly, hospital admissions increase, the crime rate ticks upward, and people behave strangely. The idea that the full Moon causes mental disorders was widespread in the Middle Ages. Even the word "lunacy," meaning "insanity," comes from the Latin word for "Moon."
The majority of modern studies, however, show no correlation between the phase of the Moon and the incidence of crime, sickness, or human behavior.  The truth is, the Moon is less influential than folklore would have us believe.
It's true that a perigee full Moon brings with it extra-high "perigean tides," but according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this is nothing to worry about. In most places, lunar gravity at perigee pulls tide waters only a few centimeters (an inch or so) higher than usual. Local geography can amplify the effect to about 15 centimeters (six inches)--not exactly a great flood.
Super perigee Moons are actually fairly common.  The Moon becomes full within a few hours of its closest approach to Earth about once a year on average.   The last such coincidence occurred on March 19th, 2011, producing a full Moon that was almost 400 km closer than this one.  As usual, no trouble was reported.
That is, unless you count a midnight awakening as trouble.
If so, close the drapes on May 5th.  Otherwise, enjoy the super-moonlight.

FIRST Robotics Competition Championship 2012

By Amruth Uppaluri, 9th Grade, and Karthik Uppaluri, 10th Grade

The 2012 FIRST robotics championship which started on Wednesday, April 25th ended on Saturday, April 28th. The event was held in St. Louis, MO at the Edward Jones Dome where 30,000 participants, fans, mentors, families and friends joined to cheer teams from around the world. The dome rocked with fans who were screaming for their favorite alliance, while the weather outside was creating its own noise. Thunder, lightning, hail and pouring rain outside did not stop the robotics event from ending on a high note.

Our team, Team Plasma from Mesa, Arizona flew to St. Louis on Wednesday morning to attend this “SuperBowl of robotics” as one of the presenters stated. The teams who qualified were assigned to different sub groups named after famous scientists such as Newton, Archimedes, Curie and Einstein etc. We were in the Archimedes group.

This year’s FRC challenge was titled Rebound Rumble and featured a modified basketball court where 3 robots from each alliance ( Red & Blue ) competed to score points during a two-minute 15 second match. The game started in autonomous mode where robots shot the pre-loaded basketballs into the baskets. Then, drivers from each team remotely controlled their robots to pick up balls and score as many points as possible. Some robots played defense by trying to keep the others from accumulating basketballs and tossing them over to the other side.

Our hopes were high after the first day of competition as we were ranked 6th out of 100 teams in our group. The next day, Friday, was a little bit of a disappointment where we slipped to 21st place. On Saturday, the final day of competition, the top eight teams from each of the fields selected other top teams to form the alliances for the final championships. Unfortunately, we were not selected and finished 37th overall and are very proud of our accomplishment. The winning alliance was Team 180, S.P.A.M., Stuart, Fla.; Team 16, Bomb Squad, Mountain Home, Ark.; Team 25, Raider Robotix, North Brunswick, N.J. from the Galileo Division.

This years’ highest honor the Chairman’s Award was presented at the FRC Championships to Simbotics from St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada and was recognized as the team that best exemplified the purpose and goals of FIRST.

Each year this event is gaining worldwide attention as major sponsors are aligning themselves with this great organization. Companies such as Boeing, U.S. Air Force, NASA, Autodesk, General Motors, Microsoft, Google, Rockwell Automation, UL and others are some of the key sponsors of the USFIRST championships.