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NASA's human exploration initiative poses great opportunity and great risk for manned missions to the Moon and Mars. Engineers and Scientists at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) are continuing to evaluate current technologies for in situ resource-based exploration fabrication and repair applications. Several technologies to be addressed in this paper have technology readiness levels (TRLs) that are currently mature enough to pursue for exploration purposes. However, while many technologies offer promising applications, these technologies must be pulled along by the demands and applications of this great initiative. The In Situ Fabrication and Repair (ISFR) Element will supply and push state of the art technologies for applications such as habitat structure development, in situ resource utilization for tool and part fabrication, and repair and non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of common life support elements. As an overview of the ISFR Element, this paper will address rapid prototyping technologies, their applications, challenges, and near term advancements. This paper will also discuss the anticipated need to utilize in situ resources to produce replacement parts and fabricate repairs to vehicles, habitats, life support and quality of life elements. Overcoming the challenges of ISFR development will provide the Exploration initiative with state of the art technologies that reduce risk, and enhance supportability.

The spent Ares I booster must be recoverable using a parachute deceleration system similar to that of the Shuttle SRB heritage system. Since Ares I is much heavier and reenters the Earth's atmosphere from a higher altitude at a much higher velocity than the SRB, all of the parachutes must be redesigned to reliably meet the operational requisites of the new launch vehicles. This paper presents an overview of this new booster deceleration system. It includes comprehensive detail of the parachute deceleration system, its design and deployment sequences, including how and why it is being developed, the requirements it must meet, and the testing involved in its implementation.

The Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer is a 10-element 1.4 meter aperture optical and near-infrared interferometer being built at 3,200 meters altitude on Magdalena Ridge, west of Socorro, NM. The interferometer layout is an equilateral "Y" configuration to complement our key science mission, which is centered around imaging faint and complex astrophysical targets. This paper serves as an overview and update on the status of the observatory and our progress towards first light and first fringes in the next few years. MAGDALENA RIDGE OBSERVATORYThe Magdalena Ridge Observatory is a Federally Funded facility being built and managed by New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT) which also serves as host for the observatory offices on the NMT campus in Socorro, NM. The observatory consists of two major facilities: a fast-tracking 2.4 m telescope and an optical interferometer. The 2.4 m telescope obtained first light on Oct. 31, 2006 and is currently moving into full operations. It is a superb instrument for the study of fast-moving objects and targets of opportunity, owing to its very high slew and tracking rates; its operations are currently funded 30% by NASA for NearEarth Object follow-on studies 1 . The optical interferometer is being designed and built in collaboration with our partners at the University of Cambridge, Cavendish Lab. In this last development phase the interferometer is moving towards a first fringes date in late 2010. Phase A of the interferometer build will include 6 telescopes and infrared fringe-tracking and scientific imaging capabilities. Phase B will add 4 more telescopes and associated beam trains, visible operations, and will have an additional location in the beam combining laboratory for guest instruments. (See Figure 1 for views of the two facilities.) The greater observatory facilities include over 8 miles of maintained road, on-site water, power, ethernet, housing facilities and a location on the Ridge for a third scientific facility yet to be determined.

The Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer has been designed to be a 10 × 1.4 m aperture long-baseline optical/near-infrared interferometer in an equilateral "Y" configuration, and is being deployed west of Socorro, NM on the Magdalena Ridge. Unfortunately, first light for the facility has been delayed due to the current difficult funding regime, but during the past two years we have made substantial progress on many of the key subsystems for the array. The design of all these subsystems is largely complete, and laboratory assembly and testing, and the installation and site acceptance testing of key components on the Ridge are now underway. This paper serves as an overview and update on the facility's present status and changes since 2012, and the plans for future activities and eventual operations of the facilities.