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Category Archives: NASA
NASA seeks information on developing Deep Space Gateway module – SpaceNews
An illustration of NASA's proposed Deep Space Gateway in orbit around the moon. A NASA request for information seeks ideas from industry on how to develop the gateway's power and propulsion module. Credit: NASA
WASHINGTON NASA is taking the next small step in the development of a proposed Deep Space Gateway in cislunar space by requesting information about one of its core modules.
A request for information (RFI), released by NASA July 17, seeks information from industry regarding their capabilities to build a Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), a module that will produce electrical power and provide chemical and electrical propulsion for the gateway.
As currently envisioned by NASA, the PPE would be the first element of the gateway, launched as a co-manifested payload on the first crewed Space Launch System launch, taking advantage of the additional payload capacity provided by the Block 1B version of the SLS. The PPE would go into what is known as a near rectilinear halo orbit around the moon within 100 days of launch.
The RFI describes the basic capabilities and requirements of the PPE as envisioned by NASA. The module would have a 15-year lifetime and be equipped with a solar electric propulsion system that uses xenon propellant, as well as chemical thrusters that use hydrazine. The module would weigh no more than 7,500 kilograms in order to be a co-manifested SLS payload, including a tank carrying 2,000 kilograms of xenon.
The PPE will produce electrical power, being able to transfer up to 24 kilowatts to other modules later added to the gateway. It will also support communications in several bands, as well as an optical communications demonstration payload.
In the RFI, NASA asks potential respondents their ability to produce the PPE, including a conceptual schedule, rough order of magnitude engineering cost estimate, and recommended contract vehicle for it. NASA expects to have the PPE delivered to the Kennedy Space Center for integration onto the SLS in December 2021, which would support a launch of the Exploration Mission 2 flight now expected for some time in 2022.
NASA hopes that the module can build on early design work for the Asteroid Redirect Mission, whose robotic spacecraft would have also used solar electric propulsion to travel to and from a near Earth asteroid. Identify a conceptual design you would use as a starting point and what changes you believe are warranted to address PPE capability statements, NASA instructs industry in the RFI.
NASA also asks industry to address several other issues in the RFI. These range from the potential use of green propulsion alternatives for the hydrazine thrusters on the spacecraft and the use of a commercial spacecraft bus for the module to discussion of potential cost-sharing approaches for its development.
Through the RFI, we hope to better understand industrys current state-of-the-art and potential future capabilities for deep space power and propulsion, said Michele Gates, director of the PPE effort at NASA Headquarters, in an agency statement. Gates formerly was director of the Asteroid Redirect Mission program.
The agency is moving quickly with the RFI. Released July 17, NASA seeks responses by the end of the day July 28. The agency will conduct a question-and-answer session online about the RFI July 24.
In addition to the RFI, NASA plans to release a broad area announcement in August, under its existing Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) program, related to development of the PPE. That announcement will seek proposals for short-term studies to address technical issues involving the PPE, including its power and propulsion systems as well as other key subsystems.
The RFI and planned NextSTEP studies are NASAs next tentative steps in the development of the Deep Space Gateway concept. NASA describes the gateway as a lunar-orbiting, crew-tended spaceport that would also include a habitation module and docking ports for the Orion crew spacecraft and separate cargo spacecraft. The gateways additional modules would also be delivered to cislunar space as co-manifested payloads on future SLS launches.
Crews would visit the gateway on Orion missions, spending up to several weeks there before returning. The PPE would allow the gateway to change orbits, including moving closer to the moon to support any potential later missions on the lunar surface.
NASA also foresees using the gateway to support the Deep Space Transport, a future spacecraft that would carry crews into deep space in preparation for Mars missions NASA seeks to fly in the 2030s.
The gateway and the transport, though, are currently only concepts and not formal NASA programs. The gateway remains under study, and NASA did not request funding for it as a standalone program as part of its fiscal year 2018 budget request.
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NASA seeks information on developing Deep Space Gateway module - SpaceNews
NASA ‘Strikes Gold’ Before Spacecraft Explores Most-Distant Object Ever – Observer
Pluto backlit by the sun. Image taken by NASAs New Horizons spacecraft on July 15, 2015. NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI via Getty Images
NASA issued apress releaseon July 19 reporting that the agencys New Horizons team captured rare data of an elusive solar system object from an occultation, which is when an object hidden by another object passes between it and the observer. This event occurred when scientists were in precisely the right time and place to observe a fleeting shadow froman ancient Kuiper Belt object, which is known as 2014 MU69 and is more than 4 billion miles away from Earth, as it passed in front of a distant star. The data obtained from this occultation provides scientists with vital information about the orbit, environment, shape and size of the object. The New Horizons spacecraft is scheduled to explore the object on New Years Day 2019. At over 1 billion miles past Pluto, the object will be the most distant object in space ever studied by a spacecraft. Any information about the object is vital to NASAs New Horizons team because their window of time for planning, two years, is much shorter than the seven years used to plan the spacecraftsflybypast Pluto in 2015.The scheduled flyby past a Kuiper Belt object could provide details about the objects that lie in the outer rings of our solar system.
Space.comreportedthat the photos from New Horizons Pluto flyby revealed Pluto to be a diverse world with a stunning variety of features, including a 620-mile-wide (1,000 km) plain of nitrogen ice and water-ice mountains that rise 2 miles (3.2 km) into the dwarf planets exotic sky.
Scientists in New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina have been coordinating with one another to observe the object and collect data preceding New Horizons visit. Twenty-four mobile telescopes were set up in Argentina to try to catch an occultation of the object. The project was cited as the most challenging and technically complex occultation project in history. Because the object is estimated to be onlyaround 25 miles in diameter, its occultation has lasted only about two seconds. Scientists had to figure out an exact location on Earth where it could be observed using data from the Hubble telescope and from the European Space Agencys GAIA mission.
Occultations revealed a lot about the planets in our solar system before the technology existed to study them more closely. In 1977, an occultation observed when Uranus passed in front of another star revealed that the planet had rings. In 1988, an occultation of Pluto revealed that its atmosphere was composed of nitrogen.
This effort, spanning six months, three spacecraft, 24 portable ground-based telescopes, and NASAs SOFIA airborne observatory was the most challenging stellar occultation in the history of astronomy, but we did it! said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from SwRI (Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado). We spied the shape and size of 2014 MU69 for the first time, a Kuiper Belt scientific treasure we will explore just over17 months from now. Thanks to this success we can now plan the upcoming flyby with much more confidence.
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NASA 'Strikes Gold' Before Spacecraft Explores Most-Distant Object Ever - Observer
NASA wanted to talk about science. A congressman wanted to ask about Martian civilizations. – Washington Post
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) asked about civilizations on Mars during a July 18 House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee hearing. (House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology)
Some of NASA's brightest minds were invited to Capitol Hillon Tuesday to tellmembers of Congress about water that once ran across Mars, and the possibility of life on Europa and missions to explore them.
Good questions, the chairman of the space subcommittee said after an hour or so. Then he turned the microphone over toRep.Dana Rohrabacher, who would savehismost important question for the end.
Thank you, the California Republicanbegan.
One of the benefits, I should say, of your activities, is that, well you have all these robots all over the universe and beyond.
Aboy seated behind Rohrabacherhad been fiddling with his hair, butnow looked up at the congressman.
Let me just note, Rohrabacher said by way of disclaimer, that I've been around for a while.
So he had.
Elected to his office14 consecutive times, hehas sat on the House Space and Technology Committee for decades and run for the chairmanship at least twice, without success.
I love science,Rohrabacher once told Science Magazine.
His passion for the subjectis occasionally expressed in puzzling ways.
Rohrabacher once told a hearing that dinosaur flatulence might have caused global warming a bad joke, he said later.
In a 2014 speech titled Global Warming as a Power Grab, herailed againstthe government putting fluoride into our water.
[No, NASA is not hiding kidnapped children on Mars]
On Tuesday, seated across from NASA officials planning missions to Mars, a moon aroundJupiter and an asteroid between them,Rohrabacher shared his thoughts on space with them.
The space shuttle and space station programs were inspiring, he said but also very expensive.
NASA had a lot of projects going on, he said. Maybe too many; the agency should prioritizemore though, he said, I'm certainly not an expert enough to tell you what those priorities should be.
He asked about NASA's plan to land a rover on Mars in 2020 and aboutMartianrocks and space fuel. He said we should go back to the moon.
And then, atthe end, the most important thing.
I ask for permission for one minute for this question, Rohrabachersaid.
It was granted, and he began.
[A ridiculous YouTube video claiming we found aliens kept making the news, so NASA debunked it]
You have indicated that Marswas totally different thousands of years ago, he told the scientists.
Behind him, the boy whispered something to a seat mate.
The congressman continued: Is it possible that therewas a civilization on Mars thousands of years ago?
Silence filled the room,
A scientist with the Mars 2020 project,Kenneth Farley, leanedtoward his microphone and ventureda reply.
So, the evidence is that Mars was different billions of years ago. Not thousands of years ago, Farley said.
Billions, well. Yes, Rohrabacher said.
Hebegan to formanother word, but Farley cut him off.
There's no evidence that I'm aware of.
The scientistdid not mention that he had already explained this half an hour earlier, when he told thepanel that ancient Mars once hadrivers, lakes and hot springs but that nothingmore advanced than microbes was likely to havelivedthere.
And yet, Rohrabacher persisted.
Would you rule that out? he asked. See, there's some people, well, anyway "
I would say that is extremely unlikely, Farley said.
Okay. Well.
Rohrabacher still had 30 secondsto ask about ancient civilization, but he gave upat that point.
Thank you for the good job you're doing, he told the scientists. God bless.
The next congressman to address the hearingwould quote a 19th century poem For I dipped into the future, far as human eye could see and wonder aloud about the meaning of life.
But when reporters wrote about Tuesday'shour-and-a-half discussion, they wrote mostly about Rohrabacher's final minute.
No, Congressman, There's No Evidence of an Ancient Mars Civilization, wrote Space.com, noting for good measure that previous reports of canals and a sculpturedface on the Red Planet had also been debunked.
Ars Technica accused thecongressman ofmarring an otherwise respectable discussion, and recalledthat earlier this month a NASA official had been forcedto denyrumors that children were being kidnapped to the planet.
Other outlets were even less kind to Rohrabacher, whose officesuggested toThe Washington Post that aswith the dinosaur comment in 2007 the congressman had notseriously entertained the notion.
Because of his position on the space committee, he not infrequently gets inquiries about this from far and wide, Rohrabacher's spokesman, Ken Grubbs, wrote in an email Wednesday.
He was looking for something definitive. Apparently, many of those who covered the exchange didnt hear the wink in his voice.
A previous version of this story incorrectly attributed aSpace.com story to Science.com.
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Elon Musk knows what’s ailing NASAcostly contracting – Ars Technica
Enlarge / SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launches the EchoStar 23 satellite in March, 2017.
SpaceX
The seas were calm in early December 2010 when a spacecraft fell out of the sky, deployed its parachutes, and splashed into the Pacific Ocean. No American spacecraft had returned this way to Earth in 35 years, not since the splashdown of the final Apollo mission. The Dragon bobbing in the blue water didnt carry any astronauts, just a whimsical payload of Le Broure cheese. But it had made history all the same, as no private company had ever launched a spacecraft into orbit and safely returned it to Earth.
Just two years earlier, Elon Musks SpaceXhad been left for dead. Like so many other new space ventures that had come before, it had made big promises but delivered few payoffs. Bankruptcy would certainly have swallowed SpaceX had NASA not thrown Musk a $1.6 billion lifeline two days before Christmas in 2008a contract for a dozen cargo delivery flights to the International Space Station.
For some critics, SpaceX seemed just another company standing in line for a government handout. NASA didnt see it this way. In the months after the Dragons historic flight, NASA studied the cost of developing the Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX'sbooster with nine engines that had lifted the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The analysis concluded that had NASA developed the rocket through its traditional means, it would have cost taxpayers about $4 billion.
Instead of doing that, however, NASA simply asked SpaceX for a servicecargo delivery to the space stationand left the details to the company. And so Musk and his small workforce, with a Silicon Valley mindset that pushed employees hard, set about delivering. The analysis found that SpaceX spent just $443 million to develop the Falcon 9 rocketa little more than a tenth of what NASA would have expended for a comparable rocket.
Dragons flight in 2010, therefore, not only gave America its first splashdown in more than three decades, it offered a potent argument for a new way of doing business in space. The world of federal contracting practices may seem arcane, but today as NASA and the US Air Force confront the need to modernize their spaceflight capabilities, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how agencies award contracts and measure results.
Maye Musk and Elon Musk attend the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills. This gallery showcases some of the players in the debate over cost-plus versus fixed-price contracts.
Taylor Hill/Getty Images
Vice President Mike Pence, center, will oversee all space decisions made by the Trump administration.
NASA
Robert Lightfoot, center, is acting administrator of NASA. He is largely a defender of the cost-plus model.
NASA
Scott Pace, right, is the new executive director of the National Space Council. He is seen largely as supportive of cost-plus contracts.
George Washington University
Although he initiated commercial cargo programs for NASA, the agency's former administrator Mike Griffin has defended cost-plus contracts for deep space.
NASA
Former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, left, sought to broaden NASA's use of fixed-price contracts in 2009 and 2010.
NASA
Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana (far Left) Johnson Space Center Director Ellen Ochoa, Marshal Space Flight Center Director Todd May, and Orion Program Manager Mark Kirasich watch the NASA Super Bowl Virtual Reality ride in Houston in 2017. Their centers all benefit from cost-plus contracts.
NASA
Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, center, is a staunch supporter of NASA's use of fixed-price contracts.
Richard Shelby
Jeff Bezos, of Blue Origin, supports the use of fixed price contracts for lunar exploration.
Blue Origin
Dennis Muilenburg, chief executive of Boeing, enjoys both cost-plus and fixed-price contracts from NASA.
NASA
Marillyn A. Hewson, chairwoman, president, and chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin, looks on as Mike Pence holds a model of the Orion spacecraft. Lockheed has benefited greatly from cost-plus contracts.
Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images
Tory Bruno (L), CEO of United Launch Alliance, with Jeff Bezos at a news conference in 2014. Bruno's company is trying to convert from the world of cost-plus contracts to fixed-price contracts as it competes with SpaceX.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
At the heart of this issue lies a tussle between traditional aerospace companies and their penchant for cost-plus contracts and a desire by new space firms such as SpaceX for fixed-price awards. This debate seems likely to become a key flashpoint in the emergent space policy of the Trump administration as it decides over the coming months what it wants to do in space and which companies will help achieve those ambitions.
As is his wont, Elon Musk has chosen not to stand on the sidelines. This past weekend, in fact, he doused what had been a smoldering debate with gasoline.
It began with a seemingly innocuous question. On Saturday, during a meeting of the National Governors Association, Arkansas Asa Hutchinson asked Musk about NASA. The agency seemed to be floundering, Hutchinson noted, and he wanted Musks advice for getting it back on track.
Musk replied that he loved NASA, and he commended its recent successes in astrophysics and planetary exploration. But to really energize the public about the space agency, Musk said, it must get humans more involved in exploration. He suggested setting a serious goal for NASA, such as building a lunar base and sending people to Mars and providing the resources to accomplish this. He didnt argue that NASA needed more money, but rather, it must change the way it awards contracts.
Weve got to change the way contracting is done, Musk told the governors. You cant do these cost-plus, sole-source contracts because then the incentive structure is all messed up. As soon as you dont have any competition, the sense of urgency goes away. And as soon as you make something a cost-plus contract, youre incenting the contractor to maximize the cost of the program, because they get a percentage.
Elon Musk at the National Governors Association.
In essence, a cost-plus contract requires a particular contractor to develop a piece of space hardware. Then such an arrangement pays all of the contractors costs plus a fee, typically about 10 percent. For example, with NASAs Space Launch System rocket, Boeing is responsible for the central core stage, Orbital ATK has the side-mounted solid rocket boosters, and Aerojet Rocketdyne the main engines. The contractor gets paid regardless of success. For programs difficult to canceland Congress has regularly asserted its support for the SLS rocketdelays just mean more funding.
So, they never want that gravy train to end, Musk explained. They become cost maximizers. And then you have good people engaged in cost maximization, because you just gave them an incentive to do that and told them theyll get punished if they dont."
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Elon Musk knows what's ailing NASAcostly contracting - Ars Technica
NASA says the buzzing of drones is more annoying than the sound of other vehicles – Digital Trends
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NASA says the buzzing of drones is more annoying than the sound of other vehicles - Digital Trends
William Shatner Narrates History of NASA’s 100-Year-Old Langley Research Center (Video) – Space.com
Space, the final frontier? We couldn't get there without airplane research.
"Star Trek" captain William Shatner narrates a new 45-minute documentary about NASA's Langley Research Center, which celebrates 100 years of solving "fundamental problems of flight" this year, according to the agency.
Naturally, since the time of its inception, the laboratory no longer solely aeronautical ended up solving problems in space as well. One of its most enduring legacies was the space shuttle, which flew between 1981 and 2001 a versatile winged craft that could land on a runway. [NASA Centers to Visit for an Out-of-This-World Vacation]
And Langley's legacy stretches even farther into the solar system think landings on Mars and exploring deep space on NASA's forthcoming Space Launch System. A few highlights of its history are below.
Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory was born in 1917, just months after the United States entered World War I. Langley created many aircraft technologies that we take for granted today, according to a NASA release: propellers, metal airplanes, wing tips, glass cockpits and even faster-than-sound flight. The agency's contributions continued during World War II, particularly with the development of what was at the time the state-of-the-art P-51 Mustang fighter-bomber.
When the war was over, Langley partnered with the military to create the Bell X-1 aircraft, which Chuck Yeager flew in when he broke the sound barrier in 1947. Sensing an opportunity, Langley continued pushing back barriers in hypersonic research. By 1959, the X-15 rocket plane was able to fly an incredible five times faster than Yeager did during his pioneering flight.
Data from the X-15 was used to help launch the young U.S. space program; NASA had been created only the year before, in 1958. Langley was a part of a predecessor agency, called the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which was transformed into NASA when Americans marshaled resources to deal with the technological threat they perceived coming from the-then Soviet Union.
The government quickly tasked NASA with landing humans on the moon by 1969, a goal reached on July 20 of that year, when Neil Armstrong put his first boot prints on the moon. Armstrong practiced walking and landing on the lunar surface at Langley's Lunar Landing Research Facility.
Langley's work also led to the choice of Armstrong's landing site, thanks to the Lunar Orbiter program, which sent thousands of pictures back of our nearest large celestial neighbor.
And Langley was home to famous aerospace engineer John Houbolt, whose suggested mission design led to simple and small lunar modules for the landing crew not the multistage rockets originally envisioned. His "lunar-orbit rendezvous" technique made it possible for the United States to meet the 1969 goal in plenty of time, since the design was much simpler than others that had been suggested.
To understand other planets, scientists often compare them to Earth. But, we can't make the comparisons without proper data. Langley's work on the space shuttle NASA's main human transportation system for three decades also led to advancements in materials and landing systems, NASA officials said in the statement.
The space shuttle initially launched satellites to observe Earth's climate, a task later taken over by single-use rockets after the 1986 Challenger explosion. Langley collected and archived the data, providing valuable records to track changes over time as global warming progressed.
To lessen an aircraft's effect on Earth's climate, Langley tested out technologies such as hybrid wing bodies (manta ray-shaped airplanes) to increase fuel efficiency. While the focus today is more on air traffic management, NASA recently announced five green-technology concepts to change the aviation industry: morphing wings, alternative fuel cells, 3D-printed electric motor parts, lithium-air batteries and aircraft antenna made of aerogels.
But Langley's work has moved far beyond Earth. In 1976, the Viking 1 spacecraft made the first successful touchdown on Mars, with the engineering based in part on Langley's data about Earth's atmosphere. The Mars Curiosity rover, which landed in 2012, had a heat shield embedded with sensors developed at Langley.
This data will help fuel NASA's push for exploration beyond Earth orbit, possibly including Mars. The agency is developing a Space Launch System rocket that will be tested for the first time in 2019. The eventual goal is to send four astronauts aloft at a time in the Orion spacecraft, bound for the moon, Mars or other places.
Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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William Shatner Narrates History of NASA's 100-Year-Old Langley Research Center (Video) - Space.com
Liftoff? Icy Jets of Saturn Moon Enceladus Fly in NASA Photo – Space.com
Saturn's moon Enceladus releases jets of water ice as imaged by the Cassini spacecraft in April. The moon shines in reflected Saturn light, while the jets are backlit by the sun.
A photo of Saturn's moon Enceladus looks poised for liftoff as jets fly from its southern hemisphere.
While Enceladus can't fly at least outside of its ordinary orbit around the ringed planet its remarkable icy jets intrigue scientists because they hint at a subsurface ocean that could support life.
The photo, taken by the Cassini spacecraft, spotlights the moon's Saturn-facing hemisphere, which is 313 miles across (504 km), according to NASA's image caption. The jets are backlit by sunlight, while the front shines with light reflected back from Saturn. Cassini was 502,000 miles (808,000 km) from Enceladus when it captured the visible-light image with its narrow-angle camera on April 13, and the image shows 3 miles (5 km) per pixel.
Enceladus' fierce jets emerge from a series of ridges in its southern hemisphere nicknamed "tiger stripes." Cassini first spotted the jets in 2005, and dove through the plumes multiple times; in 2015, it passed within 30 miles (50 km) of the moon's surface while sampling their composition. Data from that flyby suggested that its subsurface ocean might have enough energy, suggested by the existence of molecular hydrogen, to host life similar to microbes on Earth. Besides water ice, the plumes contain traces of methane, ammonia, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, salts and simple organic molecules.
Cassini is a collaboration among NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, and it has orbited Saturn since 2004. The probe is in the Grand Finale phase of its mission, as it makes close flybys between Saturn and its rings before plunging down into the planet's atmosphere Sept. 15. That dive is partially motivated by a desire to protect the little icy moon as Cassini ran out of fuel, its orbit could have become unstable and led to it crashing and contaminating moons in Saturn's neighborhood.
Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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Liftoff? Icy Jets of Saturn Moon Enceladus Fly in NASA Photo - Space.com
Goodbye HERA, hello sleep: NASA’s HERA XIII crew returns home to slumber – Phys.Org
July 19, 2017 Moments after turning the vessel over to NASA after 45-days inside, the HERA XIII crew is given their mission patch to place on the door. Credit: NASA
After 45 days in NASA's Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA), the four-man crew can hardly hold their eyes open. This mission was the first of its kind to last 45 days, as well as incorporate sleep reduction for research purposes.
"The sleep deprivation was really difficult," said, James Titus, HERA crew member. "It really hindered our normalcy. We are used to working and living our lives at a higher level. During this mission the sleep reduction, the no-nap rule and limited caffeine - went hand in hand to really slow us down," he said.
HERA is one of several ground-based analogs used by NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) to research ways to help astronauts move from lower-Earth orbit to deep space explorations. A spaceflight analog is a situation on Earth that produces physical and mental effects on the body similar to those experienced in space. Participants are volunteers that must pass a physical and psychological assessment to qualify.
During this thirteenth HERA mission, crew members went through many of the motions of a real deep space mission without ever actually leaving the Johnson Space Center. This was the fourth in a series of studies, called campaigns, with progressively longer simulated mission lengths. In this campaign, this was the first of four 45-day simulated missions. Previous campaigns studied seven-day, 14-day, and 30-day missions. Longer mission lengths allow for more research studies and more data points relevant to longer duration spaceflight missions.
Several research studies utilize a limited sleep protocol for the four missions of Campaign 4. During Mission 1, crewmembers were allowed to sleep five hours per night, five days per week with a recovery period of two days where they could sleep eight hours each night. No naps and limited caffeine are included in this protocol.
This practice allows researchers to test the use of habitat lighting as a method of combating crewmember fatigue. It also allows for the evaluation of the usability of bio-mathematical models to predict crewmember fatigue. Team cohesion, performance, and interpersonal relationships are also tested under these conditions.
Despite the no siesta rule, the crew took their mission tasks seriously. As with past crews, they particularly enjoyed the extravehicular activity (EVA) on an asteroid conducted with virtual reality technology. "It was fun learning to maneuver in three dimensions, and going through the decompression protocol just like a real astronaut would. It was fascinating to me," said Timothy Evans, HERA crew member.
Not only are the HERA crews isolated from the outside world, they must unplug during their mission. "It was really a little bit disorienting," said Mark Settles, HERA crew member. "You get in this mode of addressing electronic communications on a daily basis. It was like stepping back 20 years by having a reduced level of constant input of demands on your time from electronic communication."
This was a rather competitive group. One of their tasks was to use the robotic arm to grab a transport vehicle while dealing with sleep deprivation. They had 12 chances to do so and were given a score on their efforts. "The score was very important to all of us. We'd strive to get better. The ROBoT [Robotic On-Board Trainer] and cognition had a level of inter-competiveness with us," said John Kennard, HERA crew member.
When asked their favorite thing to do while on the mission, there was a consensus: Sleep. They also enjoyed playing board games and watching movies together while not working on mission tasks. Upon splashdown at the end of the simulated mission, they planned to call their families and grab some greasy, salty fast food. But soon afterward, they all planned on catching some Zs!
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(Phys.org)An international team of astronomers has detected a new Earth-sized exoplanet in an ultra-short period around its parent star. The alien world, designated EPIC 228813918 b, circles its host every four hours and ...
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The origin and nature of Mars is mysterious. It has geologically distinct hemispheres, with smooth lowlands in the north and cratered, high-elevation terrain in the south. The red planet also has two small oddly-shaped oblong ...
A team from the University of Kentucky's Department of Physics and Astronomy has observed evidence of ancient impacts that are thought to have shaped and structured our Milky Way galaxy.
(Phys.org)An international team of astronomers has performed detailed measurements of the chemical composition of 158 red giant stars in the nearby Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. The study, presented in a paper published July ...
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Goodbye HERA, hello sleep: NASA's HERA XIII crew returns home to slumber - Phys.Org
NASA Said No to My Astronaut Dream, So I Found Another Way – NBCNews.com
Jul.18.2017 / 10:50 AM ET
Everyone thinks about becoming an astronaut when theyre young. Along with firefighter and dinosaur hunter, astronaut seems to be on every childs list of dream jobs. But when youre like me and your father is an astronaut, that childhood fantasy tends to linger.
I grew up in Houston, just blocks from NASAs front gate. And my father, Owen Garriott, wasnt the only astronaut on the block. Shuttle astronaut Joe Engle lived to our right, and Hoot Gibson, another astronaut who flew on the Shuttle, lived to our left. And there were other astronauts in the neighborhood, along with engineers who worked to fly the astronauts into space. With all the spacemen around me, it seemed no one had to decide to go to space it seemed everyone was going.
I assumed I would too.
But in 1974, when I was 13, a NASA doctor told me that he hated to be the one to break it to me, but since I would now need glasses, I was no longer eligible to be a NASA astronaut. I was crushed. I had just been kicked out of the club that I felt everyone else was a member of. After passing through the seven stages of grief, I made a plan. If I couldnt go by NASAs rules, I would build my own space agency! Of course, at the age of 13, there wasnt much I could do to make that happen. But my family and friends knew that going into space remained a key goal in my life.
A few years later, I was fortunate to discover what has become my passion and my career: video games. In high school, I wrote 28 different games and then began publishing a series of popular games that are still played to this day. With the money I made on the games, I invested in and co-founded a series of companies, often involving people who had left NASA. My goal with all of these ventures was to help make space accessible to civilians or, more specifically, for myself.
Most of these attempts to change NASA rules from the outside were failures. One near-miss was Spacehab, a company founded with the idea of creating a large pressurized habitat that would be transported into space in the Shuttles payload bay. We envisioned something the size of a double-decker bus that could take up to 40 private citizens at a time into space. The module flew. But sadly, NASA quickly nixed my plan, noting it had no intention of ever taking civilians into space.
My goal with all of these ventures was to help make space accessible to civilians or, more specifically, for myself.
My goal with all of these ventures was to help make space accessible to civilians or, more specifically, for myself.
Years later, I partnered with the people who ultimately broke open commercial spaceflight, including Peter Diamandis, best known for the X Prize; Eric Anderson, president of Space Adventures; and Mike McDowell, an exploration travel entrepreneur. We created a series of space companies and initiatives whose goal was to get civilians into space (or near-space, as was the case with Zero Gravity, a company that flies paying passengers, and, now, NASA payloads) on weightlessness-inducing parabolic flights aboard a specially modified Boeing 727.
One day, Eric Anderson and I were sipping red wine on my back deck in Austin, Texas, lamenting the fact that we did not yet have a vehicle that could get us into space. Suddenly, we had an idea. Why wait for someone to create this suborbital vehicle? Maybe the Russians would sell us seats on their Soyuz spacecraft, which could put us into orbit?
When we reached out with our request to Russias space agency, Roskosmos, they told us no, because it would cost a lot of money to determine if and how they could do that.
We took that as a qualified yes.
I paid the $300,000 they said they needed to determine if and how they could do it, and I fully expected to buy the first seat. This was in 2000, a year in which Internet stocks crashed. Roskosmos ultimately agreed to our plan, but since all my wealth was in Internet gaming, I could no longer afford to go. Sadly (for me), the first seat was sold to Dennis Tito, who had been pursuing his own spaceflight dream.
By 2007, I had built and sold another company, so I had enough money to book my own trip to space aboard Soyuz. I was scheduled to go up in 2008, but as you may remember, that was another year of economic tumult. So as I was preparing for my flight, my ability to pay for it was once again vanishing. To make matters worse, the Roskosmos medical team called to say that they had discovered an anatomical defect in my liver that rendered me ineligible for spaceflight. You cannot imagine the sadness I felt to be kicked off a flight that I had pursued for 30 years, especially since I wouldnt be getting a refund on the millions of dollars I had spent for the chance to go into space.
A few hours later, I got another call from Roskosmos. If I would agree to have surgery to correct my livers defective lobe, I might be cleared for flight.
The next Monday, I went under the knife for some serious surgery. The recovery took months, but it worked. I flew to Russia and began my training.
On October 12, 2008, I was launched into space aboard a Russian Soyuz TMA 13 alongside NASA astronaut Mike Fincke and cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov. We spent 12 days in space, primarily aboard the International Space Station. While on the station, I completed a heavy load of medical and commercial experiments on visual acuity, bone loss, immune suppression, and protein crystal growth along with work for Seiko and DHL. The protein crystal growth experiments continue to this day, and I believe they hold significant economic and medical value. I remain a key participant in the growth of commercial space activities.
Oh, and remember my eyesight? As it turned out, I was the first person ever to fly in space after undergoing vision-correcting surgery. Not surprisingly, NASA was very interested in studying how my eyes would react in microgravity. So I became NASAs guinea pig. I went through extensive testing before, during, and after my time in space. I had no problems with my eyes and now NASA accepts people who have had this surgery as astronauts. The thing that had prevented me becoming an astronaut in the first place had become a major contribution our knowledge about the health effects of weightlessness.
Please do not call me a space tourist. I was not a tourist.
Please do not call me a space tourist. I was not a tourist.
Please don't call me a space tourist. I was not a tourist. I got the same training NASA (and Russian) astronauts get. In orbit, I worked hard to complete those experiments both to offset the high cost of my flight and, more important, to build the businesses that will take me (and you) back to space and ultimately help humanity escape the cradle of our existence.
Seeing Earth from space was a life-changing event for me. Looking back at our planet, I realized what a precious, finite, and fragile home we have a feeling some call the overview effect. The challenges and opportunities around the world are innumerable and go from the scale of an individual life to the health of the whole planet. There is much here to explore and take joy in doing. But as soon as my friend Elon builds us a rocket that will reach Mars, Im packing up the family and heading to a new world!
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NASA Said No to My Astronaut Dream, So I Found Another Way - NBCNews.com
NASA study confirms drone buzzes are more annoying than cars – The Verge
A preliminary study from NASA has confirmed what weve all suspected: that buzzing noise from drones is more annoying to humans than noises from cars and trucks, even when the noises are at the same volume.
The study found that listening to drone noises was as if a car were suddenly twice as close as it had been before, according to New Scientist.
Researchers played recordings from commercially available drones flying at various speeds and altitudes, and recordings of cars, utility vans, and box trucks. Then, 38 participants in the study were asked to rate each recording on a scale from not at all annoying to extremely annoying. NASA noted that very few subjects were able to identify drone sounds and did not know they were listening to drones. Subjects were told the sounds were related to the future of transportation. Researchers also noted that car noises were most likely considered less annoying because were used to them. Levels of annoyance were affected by factors including how long the noises went on.
We didnt go into this test thinking there would be this significant difference.
We didnt go into this test thinking there would be this significant difference, study co-author Andrew Christian of NASAs Langley Research Center in Virginia said. The purpose of the research was actually just to prove that Langleys acoustics research facilities could contribute to NASAs study on drones.
This result casts doubt on the idea that [drone] operators can expect their operations to be greeted with minimal noise-based opposition as long as the sounds are no louder than conventional package delivery solutions, the study concludes.
That may spell bad news for companies experimenting with drone delivery like Amazon and Dominos Pizza. They might just have to think of another way to make the flying robots less disturbing until drones become more commonplace.
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NASA study confirms drone buzzes are more annoying than cars - The Verge
Before NASA can send humans to Mars, it needs to solve these problems – MarketWatch
Before NASA can send humans to Mars, it needs to solve these problems Posted July 18, 2017 What marriage-phobic millennials mean for the wedding-ring industry Posted July 13, 2017 How the rise of drones is posing a major security nightmare Posted July 11, 2017 The new frontier for vision companies: Colorblindness Posted July 7, 2017 How you teach a computer to drive like a human Posted July 5, 2017 The next frontier in entertainment: Drone sports Posted June 29, 2017 Here's what a salad looks like on Mars Posted June 27, 2017 Silicon Valley's corporate-campus building boom is a cautionary tale Posted June 22, 2017 Why 56 million Americans have no bank account: Not what you think Posted June 20, 2017 Alan Alda: Why you should trust science even if you're a skeptic Posted June 15, 2017 How 3D full-body scans will change everything from fitness to fashion Posted June 13, 2017 JetBlue chairman: Why loyalty programs have made airlines 'lazy' Posted June 8, 2017 How charities need to change to end poverty Posted June 7, 2017 Here's who will pay to fix America's crumbling infrastructure Posted June 2, 2017 When it comes to retirement, 60s are the new 50s Posted May 30, 2017 What to do in your 50s to build wealth for your retirement Posted May 25, 2017 What to do in your 40s to retire a millionaire Posted May 23, 2017 Here's all you need to do in your 30s for a great financial future Posted May 18, 2017 Everything you need to do in your 20s for a great financial future Posted May 16, 2017 This is the new American dream Posted May 11, 2017
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Before NASA can send humans to Mars, it needs to solve these problems - MarketWatch
Watch: A new NASA documentary narrated by William Shatner – Boing Boing
NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia turns 100 this year. In celebration, the space agency produced this short documentary and enlisted Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, to narrate. Here are just a few highlights from NASA Langley's incredible history:
In times of peace and war, NASA Langley helped to create a better airplane, including unique wing shapes, sturdier structures, the first engine cowlings, and drag cleanup that enabled the Allies to win World War II.
Langley broke new ground in aeronautical research with a suite of first-of-their-kind wind tunnels that led to numerous advances in commercial, military and vertical flight, such as helicopters and other rotorcraft.
Langley researchers laid the foundation for the U.S. manned space program, played a critical role in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, and developed the lunar-orbit rendezvous concept that made the Moon landing possible.
Development by Langley of a variety of satellite-borne instrumentation has enabled real-time monitoring of planet-wide atmospheric chemistry, air quality, upper-atmosphere ozone concentrations, the effects of clouds and air-suspended particles on climate, and other conditions affecting Earths biosphere.
Protecting astronauts from harm is the aim of Langleys work on the Orion Launch Abort System, while its work on materials and structures for lightweight and affordable space transportation and habitation will keep future space travelers safe.
Helping to create environmentally benign aeronautical technologies has been a focus of Langley research, including concepts to reduce drag, weight, fuel consumption, emissions, and lessen noise.
NASA Langley: Innovation at 100
Rio Celeste is a gorgeous Costa Rican river with a length thats famous for its unusual turquoise waters. After decades of guessing, scientists finally determined the cause was aluminosilicate:
AntsCanada (previously) has an overpopulation problem in his yellow crazy ant colony, so he added two kinds of carnivorous pitcher plants. The resulting relationship between ant versus plant turned out to be quite fascinating.
NASAs Juno probe just completed the closest ever flyby of Jupiters Giant Red Spot. The above is a processed version of an image created by Gerald Eichstdt from the Juno imaging data. Juno was passing about 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers) above the Red Spot. See many more images here. From NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory: The []
The PiCar-V learning kit comes with everything you need to build a Python-powered robot, and its currently being offered in the Boing Boing Store.
New business ideas are a dime a dozen; everyone and their cousin has a concept for a new app or service that may or may not revolutionize a small slice of the world. Whether its novel ways of ordering food, or time savers that only apathetic wealthy people would pay for, coming up with your []
The Metasploit framework is an open source tool that lets you simulate real attacks against your system. You can get introduced to this essential cyber security software with this Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking course, available now in the Boing Boing Store.Throughout these 23 lessons, youll exploit vulnerabilities, evade antivirus software, and gain unauthorized access []
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Watch: A new NASA documentary narrated by William Shatner - Boing Boing
Congressman asks NASA about ancient civilizations on Mars – CNET
Congress got a little distracted by Martians today, seriously.
A typical US congressional hearing took place Tuesday in Washington, involving the House of Representative's Subcommittee on Space and scientists from NASA discussing the subject of "Planetary Flagship Missions: Mars Rover 2020 and Europa Clipper." It was all pretty routine until Rep.Dana Rohrabacher asked about the presence of ancient civilizations on Mars.
Mashable brought our attention to the interesting exchange, which starts with Rohrabacher saying scientists have indicated Mars was "totally different thousands of years ago." He then asks, "Was it possible there was a civilization on Mars thousands of years ago?"
NASA Mars 2020 rover project scientist Kenneth Farley fields the question by first noting Mars was very different billions of years ago, not thousands. He then adds, "There is no evidence that I'm aware of..." Rohrabacher then breaks in to ask if he would rule out the possibility. Farley responds, "I would say that is extremely unlikely."
Mars has always excited imaginations with pop-culture depictions of Martians and flights of fancy every time a NASA rover spots an unusual-looking rock, but one thing we haven't seen is the slightest sign of an alien civilization on the Red Planet. It may seem a little goofy, but ultimately there was no harm in Rohrabacher asking his question.
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26 weird objects seen on Mars, explained (pictures)
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Congressman asks NASA about ancient civilizations on Mars - CNET
NASA considers delay of next-gen satellite launch after ‘incident’ – Orlando Sentinel
NASA and Boeing officials are looking into whether an incident that damaged an antenna on a next-generation satellite planned to launch Aug. 3 will change the missions timeline.
The episode occurred Friday and was announced on the agencys website Saturday.
The Tracking Data Relay Satellite, known as TDRS-M, was scheduled to head into space on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the Space Coast.
The accident happened during final spacecraft closeout activities, according to the release.
United Launch Alliance and NASA officials did not immediately return emails requesting comment.
A 40-minute window for the launch of the TDRS-M satellite aboard ULAs Atlas V rocket is set to open at 9:02 a.m. Aug. 3. Officials arent saying whether the incident will delay that launch.
The mission team is developing a plan to assess flight acceptance and the schedule forward, the statement read.
Here is the full statement NASA released Saturday:
NASA and Boeing are reviewing an incident that occurred during final spacecraft closeout activities on the Tracking Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-M) mission at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida, on July 14, involving the Omni S-band antenna. The mission team is developing a plan to assess flight acceptance and the schedule forward. These additional activities are under evaluation for a planned TDRS-M launch Aug. 3, 2017, on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Got a news tip? msantana@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5256; Twitter, @marcosantana
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NASA considers delay of next-gen satellite launch after 'incident' - Orlando Sentinel
NASA tests astronaut ocean exit process for Orion crew capsule – TechCrunch
NASA has a long and thorough safety certification process for any vessels hoping to transport astronauts to space and back and its Orion crew capsule is no exception. The vehicle, which is aiming to first launch with a crew aboard the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy lift rocket sometime between 2021 and 2023, underwent water exit testing (via Space) in the Gulf of Mexico, to see how it would fare if astronauts ever have to let themselves out and boat to safety after a Pacific Ocean splashdown.
The NASA test took place on July 11, and involved shipping the Orion capsule out into the Gulf on board a U.S. Coast Guard ship, where it was placed in the water. Astronauts then suited up and shipped out on a dinghy to climb into the capsule, where they recreated the emergency egress procedures that theyd actually have to run through should the capsule ever wind up in the Pacific Ocean.
Astronauts making their way out of the capsule and jetting away via their own inflatable, bright orange safety raft isnt the preferred course of egress once the Orion sets down in the Pacific as intended, standard operating procedure would have an Earth-based recovery team head out to retrieve the astronauts on board, which is better for all involved because those inside the capsule are likely to be feeling the ill effects of prolonged stays in space, which include muscle loss, for example.
But in case they cant be reached within 24 hours for some reason (the time the Orion is designed to sustain them for) or they need to get away quicker, there are exit procedures in place that let the astronauts handle the whole process themselves even with reduced capabilities.
Other crew craft are also running through the safety checklist NASA requires prior to crew launches, including the ULA and their CST-100 Starliner, which recently demonstrated the emergency egress system its designed for pre-launch operations when the craft is loaded aboard an Atlas V rocket.
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NASA tests astronaut ocean exit process for Orion crew capsule - TechCrunch
Deluxe room, Earth view: What a luxury space hotel looks like, according to NASA contest winners – Quartz
Much has been made about how (very, very rich) space tourists will travel to their off-the-beaten path destination, but where will they stay once they do? A luxury boutique hotel, of course.
A team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students have won a NASA competition to design commercially viable accommodations for low-Earth orbitthe first 180-2,000 kilometers (100-1,200 miles) above the planet. NASA tasked participants to come up with something that could one day also be used by travelers to Mars.
So what does the first space hotel look like? Forget brass railings and ferns in a spacious lobby. The MIT team envisions eight inflatable rooms, arranged in a circle like wheel spokes, attached to a NASA space station. The design is called the Managed, Reconfigurable, In-space Nodal Assembly, or Marina for short.
The hotel is meant to replace the International Space Station and reduce NASAs costs. The commercial operator would rent space to NASA. The MIT team estimates that will reduce the space agencys costs by 16%, or $3 billion a year, because the operator would generate revenue from the hotel.
Optional activities include donning a spacesuit for a spacewalk, or chatting with NASA scientists about their work. Each roomwhere guests would be belted into their beds to sleepand the hotels common area would offer sweeping views of Earth. Should guests tire of contemplating their insignificance in this universe, there are plenty of other amenities:
A bar and a restaurant, which will hopefully take its cues from first-class airplane cabins rather than space missions past. Guests can eat in the restaurant or in their rooms.
A gym, which unlike on Earth, visitors will definitely need to visit in a weightless environment, as fun as that is. It is to feature an Earth-facing window and a wall featuring panoramic projections of the surfaces of the moon or Mars. And you get a trainer to keep you focused from the celestial distractions.
Individualized service. There are four staff members, for up to 16 guests.
George Lordos, a graduate fellow on the MIT team, likens the design to a yacht marina, in that it provides an array of logistical services, like power, maintenance and clean water. Other modules could be rented out to other private owners.
So whats the cost? Just $5 million for a two-week holiday. Lordos estimates the hotel could be in operation by 2025, so start saving.
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Buzz Pluto’s mountains in this gorgeous NASA video – CNET
It's been two years since NASA's New Horizons spacecraft got up close and personal with dwarf planet Pluto. It sent back our best-ever looks at the icy body. NASA released a new video on Friday that takes viewers on a stunning flyover across Pluto's scenic craggy mountains and wide plains.
The two-minute video combines New Horizons data with digital models of Pluto's elevations and turns them into a visual experience that makes you feel like you're zipping along with the intrepid spacecraft. It starts off dark and mysterious and then pulls you into the dwarf planet's exotic surface formations. The video is silent, so put on your favorite soaring soundtrack music, dim the lights and go full screen for an optimal experience.
NASA also released a video showing a flyover of Pluto's largest moon, Charon.
New Horizons has moved on from Pluto and is currently flying deeper into the Kuiper Belt, a vast area filled with icy bodies out beyond Neptune's orbit. The spacecraft's mission is set to continue with alook at a Kuiper Belt object called 2014 MU69about 18 months from now.
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Pluto, you so crazy (pictures)
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NASA Neutron star mission begins science operations – Phys.Org
July 17, 2017 by Clare Skelly This time-lapse animation shows NICER being extracted from the SpaceX Dragon trunk on June 11, 2017. Credit: NASA
NASA's new Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission to study the densest observable objects in the universe has begun science operations.
Launched June 3 on an 18-month baseline mission, NICER will help scientists understand the nature of the densest stable form of matter located deep in the cores of neutron stars using X-ray measurements.
NICER operates around the clock on the International Space Station (ISS). In the two weeks following launch, NICER underwent extraction from the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, robotic installation on ExPRESS Logistics Carrier 2 on board ISS and initial deployment. Commissioning efforts began June 14, as NICER deployed from its stowed launch configuration. All systems are functioning as expected.
"No instrument like this has ever been built for the space station," said Keith Gendreau, the principal investigator for NICER at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "As we transition from an instrument development project to a science investigation, it is important to recognize the fantastic engineering and instrument team who built a payload that delivers on all the promises made."
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To date, NICER has observed over 40 celestial targets. These objects were used to calibrate the X-ray Timing Instrument and supporting star-tracker camera. The observations also validated the payload's performance that will enable its key science measurements.
Along with the instrument's transition to full science operations, the embedded Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT) demonstration will begin using NICER data to tune the built-in flight software for its first experiment.
"Our initial timing models use data collected by terrestrial radio telescopes," said Jason Mitchell, the SEXTANT project manager at Goddard. "Because NICER observes in X-rays, we will account for the difference between the pulses we recover in X-rays compared to our radio models."
Once NICER collects data on each of SEXTANT's target pulsars, the software will exploit timing models developed using NICER-only data.
NICER-SEXTANT is a two-in-one mission. NICER will study the strange, ultra-dense astrophysics objects known as neutron stars to determine how matter behaves in their interiors. SEXTANT will use NICER's observations of rapidly rotating neutron stars, or pulsars, to demonstrate autonomous X-ray navigation in space.
NICER is an Astrophysics Mission of Opportunity within NASA's Explorer program, which provides frequent flight opportunities for world-class scientific investigations from space utilizing innovative, streamlined, and efficient management approaches within the heliophysics and astrophysics science areas. NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate supports the SEXTANT component of the mission, demonstrating pulsar-based spacecraft navigation.
Explore further: Image: Close-up view of neutron star mission's X-ray concentrator optics
More information: http://www.nasa.gov/nicer/
A new NASA mission, the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), is headed for the International Space Station next month to observe one of the strangest observable objects in the universe. Launching aboardSpaceX's ...
An upcoming NASA astrophysics mission will uncover the physics governing the ultra-dense interiors of neutron stars. Using the same platform, the mission will demonstrate trailblazing space navigation technology.
Nearly 50 years after British astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell discovered the existence of rapidly spinning neutron stars, NASA will launch the world's first mission devoted to studying these unusual objects.
NASA's Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer, or NICER, is an X-ray telescope launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in early June 2017. Installed on the International Space Station, by mid-July it will commence its scientific ...
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon spacecraft onboard, is seen shortly after being raised vertical at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Thursday, June 1, 2017. Liftoff ...
NASA mission that embodies the virtues of faster, less expensive access to space has sailed past all major development milestones and is scheduled to be delivered to Cape Canaveral on time for its October 2016 launch.
(Phys.org)An international team of astronomers has performed detailed measurements of the chemical composition of 158 red giant stars in the nearby Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. The study, presented in a paper published July ...
(Phys.org)A pair of researchers with Aberystwyth University in the U.K. has used data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory to learn more about how the sun's corona behaves over differing stages of its 11-year cycle. ...
Space is not empty, nor is it silent. While technically a vacuum, space nonetheless contains energetic charged particles, governed by magnetic and electric fields, and it behaves unlike anything we experience on Earth. In ...
NASA's new Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission to study the densest observable objects in the universe has begun science operations.
One night three months ago, Rosa Castro finished her dinner, opened her laptop, and uncovered a novel object that was neither planet nor star. Therapist by day and amateur astronomer by night, Castro joined the NASA-funded ...
In July 2015, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft sent home the first close-up pictures of Pluto and its moons amazing imagery that inspired many to wonder what a flight over the distant worlds' icy terrain might be like.
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NASA Neutron star mission begins science operations - Phys.Org
PHOTO: NASA shows dramatic picture of massive new Antarctic iceberg – Fox News
Multiple NASA satellites have captured images of the dramatic and long-awaited birth of one of the largest icebergs ever recorded, which broke off an Antarctic ice shelf this week.
The enormous iceberg contains more than 1.1 trillion tons (1 trillion metric tons) of water and is about the size of Delaware. Its separation from Antarctica's Larsen C ice shelf occurred sometime between July 10 and today (July 12), and was first reported by scientists with the U.K.-based Project Midas, an Antarctic research group. The calving was confirmed by satellite images from the European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission. [How Satellites Watched the New Iceberg's Birth Over Time]
Now, images from NASA satellites show the iceberg's gradual separation from the ice shelf. The crack in the ice shelf that formed the iceberg was first observed in the early 1960s, but remained dormant for decades, according to a statement from NASA. The animation above includes images going back to 2006, collected by NASA and the United States Geologic Survey's Landsat satellites.
The rift in the ice shelf began to spread northward at a significant rate in 2014, and its progress accelerated in 2016, leading scientists to assume it would eventually create a separate iceberg. Between June 24 and 27, the speed of rift tripled, according to scientists with the Midas Project.
In November 2016, the rift was estimated to be about 300 feet (91 m) wide and 70 miles (112 km) long. Measurements from this summer put the rift at 124 miles (200 km) long.
The MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite use thermal data to show temperature differences in the ice and seawater. In a false-color image taken today (July 12), the crack that created the iceberg is visible as a thin, pink line down the mostly purple ice sheet. The warmer temperature of the crack indicates that ocean water lies not far below the surface.
The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on the Landsat 8 satellite also captured temperature data on June 17. The false-color image shows the slightly warmer crack (light blue) running through the very cold ice shelf (mostly white). The image shows warmer areas in orange, including regions of very thin sea ice. [Landsat: Four Decades of Images and Data]
The Larsen C ice shelf is a floating ice shelf, which means the separation of the iceberg will not cause ocean levels to rise, unlike icebergs that calf from land-based ice shelves. Scientists with the Midas Project said they have not found evidence that the iceberg's formation was directly caused by climate change. However, the scientists said in a statement that this is the farthest back that the ice front has been in recorded history, and they are "going to be watching very carefully for signs that the rest of the shelf is becoming unstable."
Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield . Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook and Google+ . Original article on Space.com .
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PHOTO: NASA shows dramatic picture of massive new Antarctic iceberg - Fox News