Apr 23, 2009
NASA Celebrates Earth Day Across the Country
NASA centers
across the nation invite journalists and the public to see and hear
about the agency's efforts and contributions to understanding and
protecting Earth.
Begun in 1970, Earth Day
is the annual celebration of the environment and a time to assess work
still needed to protect the natural resources of our planet. The agency
maintains the largest contingent of dedicated Earth scientists and engineers in leading and assisting other agencies in preserving the planet's environment.
For a comprehensive listing of NASA Earth Day activities, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/earthday The Web site also features an online poll inviting the public to vote for the most important contribution NASA has made to exploring Earth and improving the way we live on our home planet. The "greatest hits" poll closes April 21. A new interactive feature will debut on Earth Day, April 22, that allows visitors to view a collection of astronaut photographs of Earth as seen from the current location of the International Space Station.
Please note all times are local. NASA center events include:
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Sunday, April 19 (12 - 7 p.m. EDT) - NASA is
participating in the Earth Day Celebration at the National Mall with an
exhibit on a wide range of environmental issues as seen from space, including air pollution, urban development, hurricanes, and dust storms. Visitors to the booth will be able to meet NASA Earth scientistsNASA satellite images of Earth.
Wednesday, April 22 (1 p.m. EDT) - In honor of Earth Day
and the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo program, NASA will take part in
an event at the National Arboretum in Washington to plant a moon
sycamore tree. The tree was grown from a second-generation seed from
seeds flown to the moon and returned to Earth by the crew of Apollo 14 in 1971.
Ames Research Center at Moffet Field, Calif.
Tuesday,
April 21 (9 a.m. - 4 p.m. PDT) - A technology expo sponsored by the
NASA Research Park and the NASA Ames Innovative Partnerships Program
will showcase technologies related to exploration and sustainability.
More than 40 exhibits will be on display underscoring NASA's vision of
leveraging technology for a cleaner, greener Earth.
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.
Tuesday,
April 21 (10 a.m. - 2 p.m. PDT) - View a model of the unmanned Ikhana
aircraft. Ikhana was instrumental in assisting emergency response
efforts during recent California wildfires. The public also will see
high-altitude life-support demonstrations and can attend several
educational activities and presentations.
Glenn Research Center in Cleveland
Sunday, April 19 (10 a.m. - 5 p.m. EDT) - A variety of educational displays will be at the Cleveland Metro Park Zoo.
Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Wednesday, April 22 (10 a.m. and 2 p.m. EDT) - NASA Goddard Digital Learning Network presents two webcasts for students and teachers of "Bella Gaia"
(Beautiful Earth), a unique multimedia journey of Earth from space by
director and violinist Kenji Williams. The performance will be
broadcast live. For more information, visit http://dln.nasa.gov .
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
Saturday,
April 25 and Sunday, April 26 (9 a.m. - 5 p.m. PDT) - JPL will join a
celebration of our ocean planet at the ninth annual Earth Day event at
the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif. The event will
include exhibits and handouts highlighting NASA's Earth science research.
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Wednesday,
April 22 (10 a.m. - 3 p.m. EDT) - Local and county government officials
will showcase their environmental activities. Topics will include
natural resources, energy conservation, recycling, alternative fuel
vehicles and environmentally friendly products.
Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.
Saturday, April 18 (1 p.m. EDT) - Presentation on "Looking at Earth from Space" at the Virginia Zoo's "Party for the Planet: Earth Day at the Zoo."
Tuesday,
April 21 (7 p.m. EDT) - Lecture on "Satellite Observations of Air
Pollution: Local Impacts Seen from a Global Perspective" at Thomas
Nelson Community College's Espada Conference Center in Hampton.
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Tuesday,
April 21 (10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CDT) - The theme of Marshall's Earth Day
event for employees and contractors is water stewardship, with the
slogan "Just one drop, priceless." A taste test is planned using water recycled through the Environmental Control and Life Support System used on the International Space Station. A vendor fair will be held highlighting environmentally friendly products. Special guests include local area mayors.
Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss.
Wednesday, April 22 (10 a.m. - 2 p.m. CDT) - Energy awareness displays and a video presentation highlighting the "green building"
aspects of the center's new Emergency Operations Center. Activities
also will feature raffles, environmentally focused games, cell phone
recycling and other environment-friendly exercises.
Wallops Flight Research Facility on Wallops Island, Va.
Saturday, April 18 (10 a.m. - 4 p.m. EDT) - Several events will be held in collaboration with the Salisbury Zoo. The theme "Rockets and Critters" focuses on protecting threatened and endangered species while operating a NASA launch range.
For information about the NASA and agency activities, visit:
and see http://www.nasa.gov
Posted at 12:37 am by sarahbaltic
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Apr 22, 2009
NASA’s STEREO Spacecraft Reveals the Anatomy of Solar Storms
 What if solar physicists could predict sun storms with the same accuracy and efficiency that meteorologists predict hurricanes?
In
much the same way that satellites allow forecasters to see the inner
workings and development of a hurricane from its origins until the
moment it reaches shore, NASA’s STEREO spacecraft are
now capturing images of solar storms and making real-time measurements
of their magnetic fields from the moment they lift off the sun until
the moment their pressure waves reach Earth's shores.
Eruptions from the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, can wreak havoc on earthly technology. These solar hurricanes, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), spew billions of tons of plasma into space at thousands of miles per hour and carry some of the sun’s magnetic field with it.
 These solar storm clouds create a shock wave and a large, moving disturbance in the solar system. The shock can
accelerate some of the particles in space to high energies, a form of
"solar cosmic rays" that can be hazardous to spacecraft and astronauts.
The CME material, which arrives days later, can disrupt Earth’s magnetic field, or magnetosphere, and upper atmosphere.
Observations from NASA’s twin Solar Terrestrial Relations ObservatorySTEREO) spacecraft have allowed scientists to accurately measure for the first time the speed, trajectory, and three-dimensional shape of solar storms.
STEREO consists of two nearly identical observatories that make simultaneous observations of CMEs from two different vantage points. One observatory 'leads' Earth in its orbit around the sun, while the other observatory 'trails' the planet. STEREO’s two vantage points provide a unique view of the anatomy of a solar storm as it evolves and travels toward Earth. Once the CME arrives
at the orbit of Earth, sensors on the satellites take in situ
measurements of the solar storm cloud, providing a "ground truth"
between what was seen at a distance and what is real inside the CME.
The combination is providing solar physicists
with the most complete understanding to date of the inner workings of
these storms. It also represents a big step toward predicting when and
how the impact will be felt at Earth. The separation angle between the
satellites affords researchers to track a CME in
three dimensions, something they have done several times in the past
few years as they have learned to use this new space weather tool.
"We can now see a CME from the time it leaves the solar surface until it reaches Earth, and we can reconstruct the event in 3D directly from the images," said Angelos Vourlidas, a solar
physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, and project
scientist for the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric
Investigation aboard STEREO.
"The in situ measurements from STEREO and other near-Earth spacecraft link the physical properties of the escaping CME to
the remote images," said Antoinette "Toni" Galvin, a solar physicist at
the University of New Hampshire, and the principal investigator on STEREO’s Plasma and Suprathermal Ion Composition (PLASTIC) instrument. "This helps us to understand how the internal structure of the CME was formed and to better predict its impact on Earth."
Until now, CMEs could be imaged near the sun but the next measurements had to wait until the CME cloud arrived at Earth three to seven days later. STEREO’s real-time images and measurements give scientists a slew of information—speed, direction, and velocity—of a CME
days sooner than with previous methods. As a result, more time is
available for power companies and satellite operators to prepare for
potentially damaging solar storms.
Much like a hurricane’s destructive force depends on its direction, size, and speed, the seriousness of a CME’s effects depends on its size and speed, as well as whether it makes a direct or oblique hit across Earth’s orbit.
CMEs disturb the space dominated by Earth's magnetic field.
Disruptions to the magnetosphere can trigger the brightly colored,
dancing lights known as auroras, or Northern and Southern Lights. While
these displays are harmless, they indicate that Earth’s upper atmosphere and ionosphere are in turmoil.
Sun storms
can interfere with communications between ground stations and
satellites, airplane pilots, and astronauts. Radio noise from a storm
can also disrupt cell phone service. Disturbances in the ionosphere
caused by CMEs can distort the accuracy of Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation and, in extreme cases, induce stray electrical currents in long cables and power transformers on the ground.
The twin STEREO spacecraft were launched October 25, 2006, into Earth’s orbit around the sun. The mission is the third in NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Probes (STP) program.
Posted at 02:37 am by sarahbaltic
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Apr 18, 2009
Spirit Healthy But Computer Reboots Raise Concerns
 The team operating NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is
examining data received from Spirit in recent days to diagnose why the
rover apparently rebooted its computer at least twice over the April 11-12 weekend.
"While
we don't have an explanation yet, we do know that Spirit's batteries
are charged, the solar arrays are producing energy and temperatures are
well within allowable ranges. We have time to respond carefully and
investigate this thoroughly," said John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., project manager for Spirit and twin-rover
Opportunity. "The rover is in a stable operations state called automode
and taking care of itself. It could stay in this stable mode for some
time if necessary while we diagnose the problem."
Spirit
communicated with controllers Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but some of
the communication sessions were irregular. One of the computer resets
apparently coincided in timing with operation of the rover's high-gain
dish antenna.
The rover team has the advantage of multiple communication options. Spirit can communicate directly with Earth via
either the pointable high-gain antenna or, at a slower data rate,
through a low-gain antenna that does not move. Additionally,
communications can be relayed by Mars orbiters, using the UHF (ultra-high frequency) transceiver, a separate radio system on the rover.
"To avoid potential problems using the pointable antenna, we might consider for the time being just communicating by UHF relay or using the low-gain antenna," Callas said.
Spirit finished its three-month prime mission on Mars five years ago and has kept operating through multiple mission extensions.
The
rover's onboard software has been updated several times to add new
capabilities for the mission, most recently last month. The team is
investigating whether the unexpected behavior in recent days could be
related to the new software, but the same software is operating on
Opportunity without incident.
"We are aware of the reality that we have an aging rover, and there may be age-related effects here," Callas said.
In the past five weeks, Spirit has made 119 meters (390 feet) of progress going counterclockwise around a low plateau called "Home Plate"
to get from the place where it spent the past Martian winter on the
northern edge of Home Plate toward destinations of scientific interest
south of the plateau. On March 10, after several attempts to get past
obstacles at the northeastern corner of Home Plate, the rover team
decided to switch from a clockwise route to the counterclockwise one.
Subsequent events have included Spirit's longest one-day drive since
the rover lost use of one of its wheels three years ago, plus detailed
inspection of light-toned soil exposed by the dragging of the
inoperable wheel.
Halfway around Mars, meanwhile, Opportunity has
continued progress on a long-term trek toward Endeavour Crater, a bowl
22 kilometers (14 miles) in diameter and still about 12 kilometers (7
miles) away. Last week, a beneficial wind removed some dust from
Opportunity's solar array, resulting in an increase by about 40 percent
in the amount of electrical output from the rover's solar panels.
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Posted at 12:37 am by sarahbaltic
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Apr 17, 2009
Mars Science Laboratory Parachute Qualification Testing
 The parachute for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory passed flight-qualification testing in March and April 2009 inside the world's largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
In
this image, an engineer is dwarfed by the parachute, the largest ever
built to fly on an extraterrestrial flight. It is designed to survive
deployment at Mach 2.2 in the Martian atmosphere, where it will generate up to 65,000 pounds of drag force.
The parachute, built by Pioneer Aerospace,
South Windsor, Conn., has 80 suspension lines, measures more than 50
meters (165 feet) in length, and opens to a diameter of nearly 16
meters (51 feet).
The wind tunnel is 24 meters (80 feet) tall
and 37 meters (120 feet) wide, big enough to house a Boeing 737. It is
part of the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex, operated by the
U.S. Air Force, Arnold Engineering Development Center.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., is building and testing the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft for launch in 2011. The mission will land a roving analytical laboratory on the surface of Mars in 2012. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.
Posted at 01:52 am by sarahbaltic
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Apr 16, 2009
Hubble Witnesses Spectacular Flaring in Extragalactic Jet from M87's Black Hole
 A flare-up in a jet of matter blasting from a monster black hole is giving astronomers an incredible light show.
The outburst is coming from a blob of matter, called HST-1, embedded in the jet, a powerful narrow beam of hot gas produced by a supermassive black hole residing in the core of the giant elliptical galaxy M87. HST-1 is so bright that it is outshining even M87's brilliant core, whose monster black hole is one of the most massive yet discovered.
The glowing gas clump has taken astronomers on a rollercoaster ride of suspense. Astronomers watched HST-1 brighten steadily for several years, then fade, and then brighten again. They say it's hard to predict what will happen next.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has been following the surprising activity for seven years, providing the most detailed ultraviolet-light view of the event. Other telescopes have been monitoring HST-1 in other wavelengths, including radio and X-rays. The Chandra X-ray Observatory was the first to report the brightening in 2000. HST-1 was first discovered and named by Hubble astronomers in 1999. The gas knot is 214 light-years from the galaxy's core.
The flare-up may provide insights into the variability of black hole jets in distant galaxies, which are difficult to study because they are too far away. M87 is located 54 million light-years away in the Virgo Cluster, a region of the nearby universe with the highest density of galaxies.
"I did not expect the jet in M87 or any other jet powered by accretion onto a black hole to increase in brightness in the way that this jet does," says astronomer Juan Madrid of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, who conducted the Hubble study. "It grew 90 times brighter than normal. But the question is, does this happen to every single jet or active nucleus, or are we seeing some odd behavior from M87?"
Hubble gives astronomers a unique near-ultraviolet view of the flare that cannot be accomplished with ground-based telescopes. "Hubble's sharp vision allows it to resolve HST-1 and separate it from the black hole," Madrid explains.
Despite the many observations by Hubble and other telescopes, astronomers are not sure what is causing the brightening. One of the simplest explanations is that the jet is hitting a dust lane or gas cloud and then glows due to the collision. Another possibility is that the jet's magnetic field lines are squeezed together, unleashing a large amount of energy. This phenomenon is similar to how solar flares develop on the Sun and is even a mechanism for creating Earth's auroras.
The disk around a rapidly spinning black hole has magnetic field lines that entrap ionized gas falling toward the black hole. These particles, along with radiation, flow rapidly away from the black hole along the magnetic field lines. The rotational energy of the spinning accretion disk adds momentum to the outflowing jet.
Madrid assembled seven year's worth of Hubble archival images of the jet to capture changes in the HST-1's behavior over time. Some of the images came from observing programs that studied the galaxy, but not the jet.
He found data from the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) that showed a noticeable brightening between 1999 and 2001. In images from 2002 to 2005, HST-1 continued to rise steadily in brightness. In 2003 the jet knot was more brilliant than M87's luminous core. In May 2005 HST-1 became 90 times brighter than it was in 1999. After May 2005 the flare began to fade, but it intensified again in November 2006. This second outburst was fainter than the first one.
"By watching the outburst over several years, I was able to follow the brightness and see the evolution of the flare over time," Madrid says. "We are lucky to have telescopes like Hubble and Chandra, because without them we would see the increase in brightness in the core of M87, but we would not know where it was coming from."
Madrid hopes that future observations of HST-1 will reveal the cause of the mysterious activity. "We hope the observations will yield some theories that will give us some good explanations as to the mechanism that is causing the flaring," Madrid says. "Astronomers would like to know if this is an intrinsic instability of the jet when it plows its way out of the galaxy, or if it is something else."
The study's results are published in the April 2009 issue of the Astronomical Journal.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) and is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Md. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) conducts Hubble science operations. The institute is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., Washington, D.C.
Posted at 01:42 am by sarahbaltic
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Apr 15, 2009
NASA TO ANNOUNCE NEW SPACE STATION MODULE NAME APRIL 14
The agency plans to make the announcement with the help of Expedition 14 and 15 astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." The program will air at 11:30 p.m. EDT. The
name, which will not be publicly released until the program airs, was
selected from thousands of unique suggestions submitted on NASA's Internet site, www.nasa.gov. The "Help Name Node 3" poll asked people to vote for the module's name either by choosing one of four NASA options or by offering their own suggestion. The poll closed on March 20. "The node naming poll was organic and took on a life of its own," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations at NASA Headquarters
in Washington. "We received more than a million entries, in large part
because social media Web sites and television programs, such as 'The Colbert Report,' took an interest. This spread overall awareness of the International Space Station." NASA originally planned to announce the node's name on April 28 after it arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, the node's arrival at Kennedy is delayed until May, so the announcement moved to April 14. The show's producers offered to host the name selection announcement after comedian and host Stephen Colbert took interest during the census and urged his followers to post the name "Colbert." "I certainly hope NASA does the right thing," said Colbert. "Just kidding, I hope they name it after me." Node 3 is a pressurized module that will provide room for many of the space's life support systems. Attached to the node is the cupola, a one-of-a-kind work station with six windows around the sides and one on top. Node 3 is targeted for launch in late 2009. For more information about the station and Node 3, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station For more information about the node naming poll, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/name_ISS/index.html For more information about "The Colbert Report," visit:
Posted at 03:21 am by sarahbaltic
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Apr 10, 2009
Expedition 18 Crew Lands in Kazakhstan
 Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov of the 18th International Space Station crew landed in Kazakhstan at 3:16 a.m. EDT Wednesday after about six months in space.
All three people aboard the Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft were reported to be in good condition after their re-entry and landing.
A Russian recovery team and NASA personnel reached the landing site by helicopter shortly after the Soyuz touched down. They helped the crew members into reclining chairs for medical tests and set up a medical tent nearby.
With Fincke and Lonchakov was spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi. He launched to the station March 26 with the Expedition 19 crew, Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt, under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata came to the station aboard space shuttle Discovery on its STS-119 mission, launched March 15. He served for the last part of Expedition 18 as a flight engineer. He remains aboard the station as a member of the Expedition 19 crew. Wakata is the first resident station crew member from JAXA.
Expedition 18 crew members undocked their Soyuz spacecraft from the station at 11:55 p.m. Tuesday. The deorbit burn to slow the Soyuz and begin its descent toward the Earth took place at 2:24 a.m. Wednesday.
When they landed, Fincke and Lonchakov had spent 178 days in space on their Expedition 18 flight, 176 of them on the station.
Fincke,
a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, returned from his second stay at the
space station. He previously served as flight engineer and NASA Space Station science Lonchakov, a colonel in the Russian Air Force, completed his third trip to the station. He was a mission specialist on STS-100, which visited the orbital outpost in 2001, and he returned to the station in 2002 as part of the Soyuz TMA-1 crew.
› Read more about Expedition 19
› Read more about Expedition 18
› View crew timelines
Posted at 12:20 am by sarahbaltic
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