NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M., are requesting research and development proposals to define the type of spacecraft computing needed for future missions. Through a broad agency announcement, the Air Force Next Generation Space Processor Analysis Program is seeking two to four companies to perform a yearlong evaluation of advanced, space-based applications that would use spaceflight processors for the 2020-2030 time frame Continue reading
Tag Archives: space-telescope
NASA's planet-hunting Kepler probe in peril
NASA An artist’s conception shows NASA’s Kepler space telescope observing a planet making a transit across an alien star. (Star and planet not to scale.) By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope suffered a second failure in its reaction-wheel control system, forcing a suspension of its search for alien planets while the space agency determines whether the four-year mission is truly finished. “It’s certainly not good news,” Charles Sobeck, deputy project manager for the $600 million mission at NASA’s Ames Research Center, told reporters Wednesday. Continue reading
NASA Spacecraft in Trouble
The newly discovered planets named Kepler-62e and -f. Scientists using NASA’s Kepler telescope have found two distant planets that are in the right place and are the right size for potential life.AP Photo/Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics A faulty steering apparatus may bring an early end to NASAs Kepler space telescope, a $600 million tool in the space agencys quest for life elsewhere in the universe. Kepler is the first NASA mission capable of finding Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone, the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might be suitable for liquid water. Continue reading
NASA – Near-Collision of Spacecraft with Cold War Satellite – Video
NASA – Near-Collision of Spacecraft with Cold War Satellite On March 29, 2012, the science team for NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope learned that a defunct Cold-War spy satellite would pass too close for comfort… By: NaughtyMissTee Continue reading
NASA High School STEM Challenge Announces Winning Team, Invites Students to Present Ideas at NASA Goddard
The NASA RealWorld-InWorld Engineering Design Challenge, an integrated science, technology, engineering and mathematics program focused on NASA’s forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope, has named the 2012-2013 first place team. The team, which consisted of high school juniors and seniors participating in the NASA INSPIRES program, included: Abigail Radford of Ashville, N.C.; Joshua Dijamco of Jackson, N.J.; Jonathan Hernandez of Elizabeth, N.J.; Katherine Denner of Horsham, Penn.; and Jim Gerard of Merritt Island, Fla Continue reading
The Day NASA’s Fermi Dodged a 1.5 Ton Bullet – Video
The Day NASA's Fermi Dodged a 1.5 Ton Bullet On March 29, 2012, the science team for NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope learned that a defunct Cold-War spy satellite would pass too close for comfort… By: MrChakaMalaka Continue reading
NASA, Russia Near Collision
NASA’s $690 million Fermi space telescope was nearly hit by the dead Russian spy satellite Cosmos 1805 on April 3, 2013. This NASA graphic depicts the orbital paths of the two spacecraft.NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Artist’s illustration of NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.NASA This NASA graphic depicts the amount of space junk currently orbiting Earth. The debris field is based on data from NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office Continue reading
Russian Space Junk Almost Destroys NASA Telescope in Orbit
A high-tech NASA telescope in orbit escaped a potentially disastrous collision with a Soviet-era Russian spy satellite last year in a close call that highlights the growing threat of orbital debris around Earth. NASA’s $690 million Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope which studies the most powerful explosions in the universe narrowly avoided a direct hit with the defunct 1.5-ton Russian reconnaissance satellite Cosmos 1805 on April 3, 2012, space agency officials announced Tuesday (April 30). The potential space collision was avoided when engineers commanded Fermi to fire its thrusters in a critical dodging maneuver to move out of harm’s way. Continue reading
NASA's Bolden Tussles with House Panel Over James Webb Space Telescope
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden appeared before the space subcommittee of the House Science Committee and came under pointed grilling on a number of NASA projects, including the James Webb Space Telescope. Continue reading
NASA has found 3 nice, habitable planets for us to choose from
The agency’s Kepler space telescope locates three planets — in two new planetary systems — that are the right distance from their suns to make them potentially life-supporting. Left to right: Kepler-22b, Kepler-69c, Kepler-62e, Kepler-62f, and Earth (except for Earth, these are artists’ renditions). NASA, that wily band of intergalactic peepers, says it’s spied three distant planets in two different solar systems that are the proper distance from their suns to make them potentially habitable Continue reading
Astronomy Day at Museum of the Rockies Saturday
Some gazing at the sky, and learning opportunities, with a free afternoon of astronomy-related events for kids and adults this Saturday, April 20. A former Montana State University student who is now a lead engineer for the Mars Curiosity rover and a scientist from the James Webb Space Telescope will be speaking. Continue reading
NASA Needs Help to Hunt City-Destroying Asteroids, Congress Says
It is time for the private sector to aid in the search for potentially city-destroying asteroids and meteors, lawmakers said during a hearing Wednesday (April 10). The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology made the call while hearing from NASA scientists and private-sector asteroid hunters during a hearing entitled “Threats from Space,” with both groups agreeing that something more needs to be done. “Detecting asteroids should not be the primary mission of NASA,” Rep Continue reading
NASA Planetary Science Bracing for Brunt of Sequester Cuts
WASHINGTON As NASA begins to apportion the 5 percent budget cut mandated under sequestration, parts of the U.S. space agency are being asked to cough up more so that others can cough up less or be spared altogether, a senior NASA official told an advisory panel April 4. NASAs Planetary Science Division, which Congress favored with a $200 million increase in the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 (H.R. Continue reading
NASA chooses all-sky planet hunter, neutron star watcher for liftoff in 2017
MIT An artist’s conception shows the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, in space. (Planets not to scale.) By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News NASA has selected two new space missions for launch in 2017:a satellite that can scan the entire sky for exoplanets and a space station experiment that can monitor cosmic X-ray emissions. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the Neutron-star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) won out at the end of a selection process that took more than two years Continue reading
NASA to Launch Planet-Hunting Probe, Neutron Star Experiment in 2017
NASA has picked two new low-cost missions for launch in 2017: a planet-hunting satellite and an International Space Station experiment designed to probe the nature of exotic, super-dense neutron stars. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) are the latest missions chosen under NASA’s Astrophysics Explorer Program, which caps costs at $200 million for satellites and $55 million for space station experiments, officials announced Friday (April 5) Continue reading
NASA Helps Make Guinness World Record for Largest Astronomy Lesson at SXSW
Newswise Looking up through hundreds of colored filters and spectral glasses, 526 people shattered the record for the Largest Astronomy Lesson. Under the Texas night sky, students were instructed on the lawn of the Long Center for the Performing Arts at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin on Sunday, March 10, 2013. In the spirit of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Coalition outreach at SXSW, NASA, the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), and Northrop Grumman organized the record-breaking event which was arbitrated by the Guinness World Records organization. Continue reading
Wikileaks NIBIRU Contact NASA Space Telescope 11 January 2013 YouTube – Video
Wikileaks NIBIRU Contact NASA Space Telescope 11 January 2013 YouTube This may require a dark room in order to see the subject. By: marsha3961 Continue reading
NASA Joins ESA Hunt For Dark Energy And Matter
NASA and the European Space Agency announced this week that the two organizations have partnered on the ESA's Euclid mission. This mission, a space telescope that launches in 2020, is designed to further astronomers' understanding of the roles dark matter and dark energy played in the evolution of the universe. Continue reading
NASA to join in 'dark universe' hunt
Artist’s impression of Euclid space telescope. Continue reading
NASA's Planet-Hunting Kepler Telescope Stalled by Glitch
NASA’s prolific planet-hunting Kepler space telescope has been placed in a precautionary “safe mode” after engineers noticed a problem with the instrument’s orientation mechanism. The Kepler telescope went into safe mode on Jan. 17 for a planned 10 days, during which time the telescope’s reaction wheels spinning devices used by the observatory to maintain its position in space will be rested. Continue reading