Monthly Archives: October 2012

ReNeuron progresses stroke clinical trial

Posted on by

LONDON (ShareCast) - ReNeuron has reported further progress in the clinical trial of its ReN001 stem cell therapy for disabled stroke patients, known as the PISCES study.

The third and penultimate batch of three patients have all been successfully treated with ReN001 and discharged from hospital with no acute safety issues arising. This follows approval last month by the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) for the study to proceed to completion of dosing of this batch of patients.

The PISCES study continues to run to plan, with no cell-related serious adverse events reported in any of the patients treated to date, the clinical-stage stem cell specialist reported. The remaining three, high-dose cohort patients to be treated in the PISCES study have been identified and evaluated as potentially eligible for treatment, with patient enquiries continuing to come into the Glasgow clinical site and a number of patients consequently identified as reserve candidates for the study. Subject to DSMB approval, these final three patients are scheduled to be treated in January and March 2013.

In June of this year, interim data from the PISCES study from the first five patients treated was presented by the Glasgow clinical team at the 10th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) in Yokohama, Japan (EUREX: FMJP.EX - news) . Reductions in neurological impairment and spasticity were observed in all five patients compared with their stable pre-treatment baseline performance and these improvements were sustained in longer term follow-up.

Based on the above progress, the company announced last month that, ahead of plan, it had submitted an application to the UK regulatory authority to commence a multi-site Phase II clinical trial to examine the efficacy of ReN001 in patients disabled by an ischaemic stroke.

This trial is designed to recruit from a well-defined population of patients between two and four months after their stroke, which the company and its clinical collaborators currently believe will be the optimum treatment window for the therapy. Subject to continuing positive progress with the PISCES study, and subject to regulatory and ethical approvals, the company hopes to be able to commence the Phase II stroke study in mid-2013. The proposed study is expected to take up to 18 months to complete.

ReNeuron's ReN001 stem cell therapy is being administered in ascending doses to a total of 12 stroke patients who have been left disabled by an ischaemic stroke, the most common form of the condition.

This news should also have positive read-across for Aim-listed Angel Biotechnology (Berlin: A3G.BE - news) , which supplies the stem cells used in the study.

CM

Link:

ReNeuron progresses stroke clinical trial

Brother Charles’ funeral: His was a spirituality of Life

Posted on by

What is the significance of Brother Charles life? In a world driven by greed, profits and selfishness, his entire life pointed to a higher ideal a life motivated by a selfless faith, service and community in the cause of providing education for all, irrespective of ethnicity and religion without a thought for material reward.

The late Brother Director of St Xaviers Institution, Penang, had a keen intellect and a flair for languages and could have been a wealthy man. Instead, he chose the path of poverty in the service of all through education. His entire life, right until his last days, was dedicated to this cause.

In an era where quality education is increasingly being provided in exclusive private international schools, Brother Charles served the cause of holistic education in a public school to ensure as many people as possible, rich or poor, had access to top quality education. The school fees? A few ringgit a year.

His spirituality was one of Life that encompassed the whole of humanity, said his friend and colleague Brother Vincent Corkery in his eulogy. It was a spirituality that saw the whole of humanity as the children of God.

His funeral at the SXI chapel was attended by some 400 friends, colleagues, old boys and teachers. Hundreds of present-day students lined the school corridors to bid him a touching farewell. It was Brother Charles last tour of the school that he had loved and served so selflessly since he first set foot on these shores in 1950 as a 23-year-old novice Brother.

View post:

Brother Charles’ funeral: His was a spirituality of Life

Christine Green, Author of Authentic Spirituality, Provides Tools for Women Searching for Spiritual Connection

Posted on by

American women who have no religious affiliation still believe in God and often turn to God when challenges become overwhelming. Authentic Spirituality provides practical resources and tools for women on their spiritual journey.

Portland, OR (PRWEB) October 17, 2012

The survey reports that two-thirds of the unaffiliated - sometimes referred to as the nones - believe in God, one-in-five (21%) say that they pray every day and more than a third classify themselves as spiritual but not religious.

Many women who have left their childhood religion still have a strong belief in God and are searching to make a meaningful connection, says author Christine Green. They turn to God when lifes challenges become overwhelming. Those challenges are the key to reconnecting with their faith.

In Authentic Spirituality: A Womans Guide to Living an Empowered Life, Green taps her 20 years of counseling to highlight stresses and challenges that women face every day. The book includes case histories and Greens own experiences on her path of spiritual development.

As little girls, women obeyed the rules and expectations of family, the church and society, says Green. Rules were repeated constantly. Be polite. Share with everyone. Its not nice to be angry. Little girls should be seen and not heard. Years later, many women woke up to find their creativity suppressed and struggling to find meaning in their lives. They often search for meaning on an individual spiritual quest rather than turn to the church.

The book is a handy and accessible guide and a helpful tool for women of all ages, professions, and spiritual development. It provides insights and practical resources for the reader to let go of childhood beliefs and to transform challenges into intentions. Greens honesty about her own journey breathes life into the principles. Readers will learn how to:

Women are often unaware of the substantial emotional baggage they carry, says Green. Guilt, self-judgment, victim thinking are a few of the ways women sabotage themselves. Using practices and prayers they can move past the old beliefs and begin to see a new perspective of their lives."

Christine Green is an ordained minister and founder of Sacred Heart Ministries in Portland, Oregon, providing global resources and education for spiritual evolution. She has served in leadership roles at a number of ministries both in California and Oregon. She has been a spiritual teacher and counselor for over 20 years both nationally and abroad.

Authentic Spirituality: A Womans Guide to Living an Empowered Life published by WiseWoman Press ($15.95, 139 pages, 5 x 8, paperback, ISBN: 978-0-945385-42-4) is available at neighborhood and online booksellers or by calling 800-603-3005.

See the original post here:

Christine Green, Author of Authentic Spirituality, Provides Tools for Women Searching for Spiritual Connection

NORTH SHORE BOOK NOTES: Field notes from a Zen life

Posted on by

If Youre Lucky, Your Heart Will Break: Field Notes from a Zen Life. By James Ishmael Ford. Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2012. 183 pages. $16.95.

James Ishmael Ford is known to many as a Zen teacher, a founder of the Boundless Way Zen Network in New England and a Unitarian Universalist minister who has served in many U.S. cities. Hes now based near Providence, R.I., with strong ties to the Boston area. As his biography states, he is one of the foremost proponents of an emerging liberal Buddhism in the West.

His new book, If Youre Lucky, Your Heart Will Break: Field Notes from a Zen Life, is many things. Those interested in the spiritual journey of an inquisitive and compassionate man coming of age in the sixties can track a serious, rigorous effort. His path has been neither easy nor straightforward. It is in the nature of a journey to find yourself discovering tangential paths that ultimately unite to form a singularly curious and fascinating adventure. He does say that there is happiness along this path.

Fords investigations his years spent in a monastery, his experimentation with LSD, his Baptist upbringing, his countless hours of meditations fueled by a disappointing thin vegetable soup, his study with Zen masters make up the man that is Ford and inform the unique offerings Ford brings to the communities he serves.

The book can also be viewed as a spiritual text, something to read chapter by chapter over the span of a few weeks. This slow reading is probably the best way to absorb If Youre Lucky because Ford has a lot to share. He addresses a readership he imagines has a genuine desire for depth in their spiritual inquiries.

Ford tracks the emergence and shaping of the various Zen practices in the West. From his studies he derives his most essential message that we are one. Zen is a way to arrive at that understanding and to foster it. He writes about enlightenment or awakening. Dont expect to find a simple or quick path to awakening in this book. Though we are all part of a single world, each of us unique individuals must find our own ways to awaken.

Youll learn how Zen practitioners meditate, what to look for when searching for a Zen teacher (Zen teachers are not guruswe are not perfect masters) and something about the koans (help with awakening rather than tests that need to be passed) that Zen students grapple with.

When considering a moral code or the way to live, Ford discusses the precepts that Boundless Way makes use of as well as precepts derived from Hebrew scriptures and the Noahide code. Not stealing, for example, is really about finding contentment with who we are, which, among other things, relieves us from coveting things. Also, this precept reminds us to respect what Ford calls the thingness of the world. As for intoxicants, there are two kinds those that diminish us and those that expand us. Life is full of intoxicants. Ford warns: Be careful. The intoxicants that expand us can also diminish us.

Zen, writes Ford, is a religion though a religion with a twist in that it is not overly concerned with cosmologies and the workings of gods at least as practiced in the West. But Zen does concern itself with the same questions as other religions life and death, suffering and salvation.

Ford writes, Perhaps the heart of the spiritual quest is the search for anything that can provide generally helpful rules as we try to live lives of worth and dignity. Zen practices are growing here in this country and, according to recent surveys (not cited in Fords book), traditional religious practices are experiencing a decline. One does not necessarily follow the other, but as Ford makes clear, Zen can be a deep, long-lived and reliable spiritual path that offers a moral code and a loving community.

Read more:

NORTH SHORE BOOK NOTES: Field notes from a Zen life

Space Station Orbit Readjusted Before New Crew Arrival

Posted on by

The orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) was raised on Wednesday by one kilometer in anticipation of the arrival of new crew members at the end of October, Russias Mission Control said.

The adjustment was carried out with the use of thrusters on the Russian Zvezda service module.

The Zvezda thrusters were switched on for 19 seconds to give the station an additional boost of 0.3 meters per second, a Mission Control spokesman said.

As a result of the maneuver, the stations orbit was increased by one kilometer to 419.2 kilometers, the official said.

The adjustment was intended to smooth out the elliptic shape of the orbit and ensure the best conditions for the docking of the Soyuz TMA-06M manned spacecraft with the orbital outpost slated for October 25.

The Soyuz TMA-06M will bring to the station Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin, along with NASA astronaut Kevin Ford, as part of Expedition 33.

They will join the current crew consisting of NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko and Japans Akihiko Hoshide.

The launch of a Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with the new ISS crew is scheduled on October 23 from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan.

Read more here:

Space Station Orbit Readjusted Before New Crew Arrival

Tiny Satellites Launch From Space Station (Photos)

Posted on by

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide, Expedition 33 flight engineer, works near the airlock in the Kibo laboratory of the International Space Station. The Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (SSOD) previously installed on the Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform (MPEP) is visible in the airlock. This image was released Oct. 4, 2012.

Several tiny satellites float in front of the ISS in this image by an Expedition 33 crew member from the International Space Station. This image was taken Oct.4, 2012.

The satellites were released outside the Kibo laboratory using a Small Satellite Orbital Deployer attached to the Japanese module's robotic arm on Oct. 4, 2012. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide, flight engineer, set up the satellite deployment gear inside the lab and placed it in the Kibo airlock.

Several tiny satellites float in front of the ISS in this image by an Expedition 33 crew member from the International Space Station. This image was taken Oct.4, 2012.

Several tiny satellites are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 33 crew member on the International Space Station. The satellites were released outside the Kibo laboratory using a Small Satellite Orbital Deployer attached to the Japanese module's robotic arm on Oct. 4, 2012.

Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (SSOD) attached to the Japanese module's robotic arm is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 33 crew member on the International Space Station. Several tiny satellites were released outside the Kibo laboratory using the SSOD on Oct. 4, 2012.

The satellites were released outside the Kibo laboratory using a Small Satellite Orbital Deployer attached to the Japanese module's robotic arm on Oct. 4, 2012.

Several tiny satellites are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 33 crew member on the International Space Station on Oct. 4, 2012.

The Cubesat mission expands and introduces new utilization of the JEM using JEMRMS and JEM AL, which are unique features of the JEM module. The main purpose of this mission is to establish processes and procedures for satellite verifications, integration of the satellites, launching satellites to ISS, and deploying satellites into the space.

Excerpt from:

Tiny Satellites Launch From Space Station (Photos)

Space station investigation to test fresh food experience

Posted on by

ScienceDaily (Oct. 16, 2012) With all the prepackaged gardening kits on the market, an exceptionally green thumb isn't necessary to grow your own tasty fresh vegetables here on Earth. The same may hold true for U.S. astronauts living and working aboard the International Space Station when they receive a newly developed Vegetable Production System, called VEGGIE for short, set to launch aboard SpaceX's Dragon capsule on NASA's third Commercial Resupply Services mission next year.

"Our hope is that even though VEGGIE is not a highly complex plant growth apparatus, it will allow the crew to rapidly grow vegetables using a fairly simple nutrient and water delivery approach," said Howard Levine, Ph.D. and chief scientist, NASA's Kennedy Space Center International Space Station Research Office.

Gioia Massa, a postdoctoral fellow in the Surface Systems Group of Kennedy's Engineering Directorate, has been working with the International Space Station Research Office to validate the VEGGIE hardware here on Earth before it takes flight next year.

"VEGGIE could be used to produce faster-growing species of plants, such as lettuce or radishes, bok choy or Chinese cabbage, or even bitter leafy greens" Massa said. "Crops like tomatoes, peas or beans in which you'd have to have a flower and set fruit would take a little longer than a 28-day cycle."

It may not sound like a big deal to us Earthlings who can just run out to our local produce stand or supermarket when we have a hankering for a salad, but when you're living 200 miles above the surface of the planet, truly fresh food only comes a few times a year.

"When the resupply ships get up there, the fresh produce gets eaten almost immediately," Massa said.

Weighing in at about 15 pounds and taking up the space of a stove-top microwave oven, the stowable and deployable VEGGIE system was built by Orbital Technologies Corporation, or ORBITEC, in Madison, Wis. The company designed the system to enable low-maintenance experiments, giving astronauts the opportunity to garden recreationally.

"Based upon anecdotal evidence, crews report that having plants around was very comforting and helped them feel less out of touch with Earth," Massa said. "You could also think of plants as pets. The crew just likes to nurture them."

In simple terms, the VEGGIE system works like this: Clear Teflon bellows that can be adjusted for plants as they grow are attached to a metal frame housing the system's power and light switches. A rooting pillow made of Teflon-coated Kevlar and Nomex will contain the planting media, such as soil or claylike particles, along with fertilizer pellets. Seeds either will be preloaded in the pillows on Earth or inserted by astronauts in space. To water the plants, crew members will use a reservoir located beneath the pillows and a root mat to effectively add moisture through an automatic wicking process.

VEGGIE is set to join other plant growth facilities that vary in size and complexity, such as the Lada greenhouse unit and the ABRS, short for Advanced Biological Research System. VEGGIE is the simplest of the three designs, but has the largest surface area for planting and is expected to produce data on a more regular basis. Levine noted that the ability to grow plants in microgravity has really evolved throughout the past decade.

Read this article:

Space station investigation to test fresh food experience

Space station opens cubesat launch pad

Posted on by

Astronauts on the International Space Station have transformed their high-flying laboratory into a new kind of launch pad for tiny satellites in a bid to boost student interest and access to space.

This month, the space station's Expedition 33 crew launched five tiny Cubesats, each only a few inches wide, using a small satellite orbital deployer from Japan's space agency JAXA. They were the first Cubesat satellites ever launched from the International Space Station, coming 2 1/2 years after NASA announced the CubeSat program.

"This was a learning experience for everyone," said Andres Martinez, the NASA Ames project manager for one of the satellites.

The cubesats were launched from the station's Japanese Kibo laboratory on Oct. 4, which also marked the 55th anniversary of the world's first satellite launch in 1957 that placed Russia's Sputnik 1 in orbit and ushered in the Space Age. [Photos: Tiny Satellites Launch from Space Station]

"Fifty-five years ago we launched the first satellite from Earth. Today we launched them from a spacecraft," space station commander Sunita Williams of NASA said on launch day to mark the moment. "Fifty years from now, I wonder where we'll be launching them from."

The JAXA satellite-deploying device arrived at the station aboard a Japanese cargo ship in July. Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide placed the deployer, which is about the size of a small rabbit cage, into a small airlock in the Kibo lab. Then, the astronaut sealed the airlock, opened it up to space, and commanded the station's Kibo robotic arm to pick up the deployer and bring it outside for satellite deployment.

All told, the procedure took only four hours of astronaut time with no spacewalk required.

"If you can imagine, deploying satellites from station can be quite risky," Martinez said. "We were going through that whole experience of conducting analysis to ensure this would be something safe to do from station, not only from the point of deployment but also taking up the satellites inside station."

Small satellite evolution One of the cubesats launched from the space station was TechEdSat, a 10-centimeter-wide (3.9 inches) satellite that Martinez oversaw. Students at San Jose State University were responsible for most of the design and development work.

The students are operating a ground station where they will be able to listen to signals from TechEdSat. The satellite periodically sends out packets of data with information about its temperature, orbit and other parameters explaining its environment in space. The project cost about $30,000, excluding labor and launch costs.

See more here:

Space station opens cubesat launch pad

Space Station Opens Launch Pad for Tiny Satellites

Posted on by

Astronauts on the International Space Station have transformed their high-flying laboratory into a new kind of launch pad for tiny satellites in a bid to boost student interest and access to space.

This month, the space station's Expedition 33 crew launched five tiny Cubesats, each only a few inches wide, using a small satellite orbital deployer from Japan's space agency JAXA. They were the first Cubesat satellites ever launched from the International Space Station, coming 2 1/2 years after NASA announced the CubeSat program.

"This was a learning experience for everyone," said Andres Martinez, the NASA Ames project manager for one of the satellites.

The cubesats were launched from the station's Japanese Kibo laboratory on Oct. 4, which also marked the 55th anniversary of the world's first satellite launch in 1957 that placed Russia's Sputnik 1 in orbit and ushered in the Space Age. [Photos: Tiny Satellites Launch from Space Station]

"Fifty-five years ago we launched the first satellite from Earth. Today we launched them from a spacecraft," space station commander Sunita Williams of NASA said on launch day to mark the moment. "Fifty years from now, I wonder where we'll be launching them from."

The JAXA satellite-deploying device arrived at the station aboard a Japanese cargo ship in July. Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide placed the deployer, which is about the size of a small rabbit cage, into a small airlock in the Kibo lab. Then, the astronaut sealed the airlock, opened it up to space, and commanded the station's Kibo robotic armto pick up the deployer and bring it outside for satellite deployment.

All told, the procedure took only four hours of astronaut time with no spacewalk required.

"If you can imagine, deploying satellites from station can be quite risky," Martinez said. "We were going through that whole experience of conducting analysis to ensure this would be something safe to do from station, not only from the point of deployment but also taking up the satellites inside station."

Several tiny satellites float in front of the ISS in this image by an Expedition 33 crew member from the International Space Station. This image was taken Oct.4, 2012. CREDIT: NASA

Small satellite evolution

Link:

Space Station Opens Launch Pad for Tiny Satellites

Giant Erector Set Supports Webb Telescope Test Component

Posted on by

A new photograph taken inside the giant clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., shows what looks like a giant Erector Set supporting a test component of the James Webb Space Telescope.

The "giant Erector Set" is actually ground support equipment that includes the Webb telescope's Optical Telescope Simulator (OSIM). OSIM simulates a beam of light like the optics that will fly on the actual telescope.

Because the real flight instruments will be used to test the real flight telescope, their alignment and performance first have to be verified by using the OSIM. Engineers are thoroughly checking out OSIM now in preparation for using it to test the flight science instruments later.

This photo shows the OSIM being loaded back into its stand after a successful test in the large thermal vacuum chamber called the Space Environment Simulator (SES), at Goddard. The structure that looks like a silver and black cube within the structure is a set of cold panels that surround OSIM's optics.

The OSIM itself will never fly in space, but it is an important part of the testing program to verify that the Webb telescope's science cameras and spectrographs will function as planned.

The most powerful space telescope ever built, Webb is the successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Webb's four instruments will reveal how the universe evolved from the Big Bang to the formation of our solar system. Webb is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

More:

Giant Erector Set Supports Webb Telescope Test Component

New Mexico laws could hamper spaceport, Wayne Hale states at symposium

Posted on by

Click photo to enlarge

Lidnsay O'Brien Quarrie, chairman of Space Sciences Corp. of Lemitar, N.M., talks about a saucer-shaped aircraft, the MOLLER M200x, on Tuesday at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Museum during the International Symposium for Personal and Commerical Spaceflight. Quarrie hopes the aircraft will become part of the Spaceport America experience so that people who do not have the finances to take a trip up in space can enjoy another version of flight.

LAS CRUCES Wayne Hale, a former space shuttle program manager who now works as a consultant for a commercial space flight company, urged supporters of the fledgling industry Tuesday to continue to push for state legislation that will allow companies to conduct business in New Mexico.

"Here we are 100 years later, and we're at the verge of the commercial flight industry," said Hale, referring to time that has passed since the invention of the airplane to the beginning of commercial space flight. "... I encourage New Mexico to pass informed consent legislation that will enable the commercial spaceflight industry to go forward. Otherwise, you may have a sizable investment already made that goes for naught."

Hale is a consultant for Special Aerospace Services in Boulder, Colo., who was the keynote speaker at a community partnership luncheon, the preliminary event to the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight, which begins today at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Museum. Hale retired from NASA in 2010 as the deputy associate administrator of strategic partnerships in NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate.

Before that, Hale served as the space shuttle program manager and the shuttle launch integration manager. He was a space shuttle flight director for 40 shuttle flights.

Hale, speaking to gathering of about 60 people at the luncheon, said although New Mexico's legacy in the aerospace industry is long and heralded, other states and

"There is no doubt there is a market, there is an industry," Hale said. "There has been a pent-up demand, there is a clearly a market among the very rich for commercial space travel, and clearly there is a market for research and science.

"...Texas would love to have a spaceport, Virginia would love to have a space tourism industry there. Even California has laws for informed consent."

The New Mexico Legislature has enacted law that provides informed consent to operators, such as Virgin Galactic, at Spaceport America in Sierra County. However, similar legislation that would have also applied to suppliers of commercial spaceflight companies never got out of legislative committees.

Read this article:

New Mexico laws could hamper spaceport, Wayne Hale states at symposium

Glitch could end NASA planet search

Posted on by

Artist's concept of the Kepler space telescope. Credit: NASA

Published: Oct. 16, 2012 at 5:03 PM

MOFFET FIELD, Calif., Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Technical problems could keep NASA's Kepler space telescope from its goal of finding Earth-sized planets in habitable zones around other stars, astronomers say.

Launched in 2009, Kepler monitors thousands of stars for dips in brightness, an indication a planet could be passing in front of them. The space telescope needs another four years to complete its exoplanet survey but a critical hardware failure on Kepler this summer has astronomers worried the mission could end at any time, Spaceflight Now reported Tuesday.

One of the spacecraft's four reaction wheels -- spinning masses that control Kepler's orientation in space and keep the telescope locked on to target stars -- stopped July 14 due to increasing friction.

"We have to guide very accurately, and we had four reaction wheels to do this guidance," William Borucki, mission principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., said. "One of those was a spare, and we now have lost one of those four wheels ... The guiding is still great, but they've all had over a billion revolutions. If we lose another one, this mission terminates. We cannot track very well with two. We cannot track well enough to find planets."

Engineers will try to ensure Kepler's three active reaction wheels stay warm and operating by alternating their rotation between clockwise and counter-clockwise directions, Borucki said.

"We're trying to understand how to protect those last three wheels," he said. "People have studied these reaction wheels over the years and never came up with a good answer."

The Kepler mission was intended to last three-and-a-half years, but NASA hopes to keep the telescope operational through 2016, the report said.

Continued here:

Glitch could end NASA planet search

NASA Statement On Alpha Centauri Planet Discovery

Posted on by

The following is a statement about the European Southern Observatory's latest exoplanet discovery from NASA's Science Mission Directorate Associate Administrator, Dr. John Grunsfeld.

"We congratulate the European Southern Observatory team for making this exciting new exoplanet discovery. For astronomers, the search for exoplanets helps us understand our place in the universe and determine whether Earth is unique in supporting life or if it is just one member of a large community of habitable worlds. NASA has several current and future missions that will continue in this search.

"An example is NASA's Kepler mission. It was specifically designed to survey a specific region of our Milky Way galaxy to detect Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone -- that region around a star where it is theoretically possible for a planet to maintain liquid water on its surface -- and determine the fraction of the hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy that might have such planets. Kepler works very differently from HARPS. Rather than detecting the wobble in the host star, Kepler detects the slight dimming of a star when a planet passes in front of it.

"NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes have contributed to the study of exoplanets. Using their photometric and spectroscopic sensitivity, these space telescopes have made the first steps in characterizing the atmospheres of planets around other stars. They can only do this when the exoplanets pass serendipitously in front of its star, allowing the space telescope to study light that has filtered through the planet's atmosphere.

"NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will provide a unique facility that will serve through the next decade as the mainstay for characterization of transiting exoplanets. The main transit studies JWST will be able to undertake are: discovery of unseen planets, determining exoplanet properties like mass, radius, and physical structure, and characterizing exoplanet atmospheres to determine things like their temperature and weather. If there are other planets in the Alpha Centauri system farther from the star, JWST may be able to detect them as well through imaging.

"NASA is also studying two medium-class exoplanet missions in our Explorer program, and in the spring of 2013 will select one of them to enter development for flight later in the decade."

For more information about NASA's missions and programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

The rest is here:

NASA Statement On Alpha Centauri Planet Discovery

NASA Opens Media Accreditation, Announces Events for Shuttle Atlantis' Final Move

Posted on by

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Media accreditation is open for activities surrounding space shuttle Atlantis' move to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida for permanent public display. Atlantis is scheduled to depart the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center at approximately 7 a.m. EDT on Nov. 2.

The shuttle will embark on a 10-mile journey from the VAB to the visitor complex, stopping along the route for a NASA ceremony at about 9:45 a.m. Following the ceremony, Atlantis will travel to Space Florida's Exploration Park for a viewing opportunity for visitor complex guests before departing for its new home.

Members of the media are invited to cover the ceremony and photograph Atlantis at designated locations throughout the move to Exploration Park. After departing Exploration Park, additional photo locations will be available for media coverage.

Ceremony participants include:

-- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden -- NASA Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana -- Current and former astronauts of Atlantis' final mission, STS-135 -- Chief Operating Officer, Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Bill Moore

MEDIA ACCREDITATION

For international journalists, the deadline to apply for credentials is noon, Oct. 22. For U.S. journalists, the application deadline is close of business, Oct. 30.

All media accreditation requests must be submitted online at: https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

For a schedule of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex media events and to apply for accreditation for coverage of activities at Exploration Park and the visitor complex, news media should contact Andrea Farmer at afarmer@dncinc.com or Catherine Segar at csegar@dncinc.com.

Kennedy Press Site Office Hours for Atlantis Move Activities Times may be adjusted closer to the event.

See the original post here:

NASA Opens Media Accreditation, Announces Events for Shuttle Atlantis' Final Move

NASA's Pluto-Observing Spacecraft Faces Rough Future

Posted on by

An Atlas V rocket that is to carry the New Horizons spacecraft on a mission to the planet Pluto lifts off from launch pad 41 on Jan. 19, 2006, at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

When New Horizons, the unmanned NASA spacecraft en route to Pluto, was originally green lit in 2001, astronomers thought Pluto only had one moon. It was also still considered a planet.

[VIEW:Mysterious Alien Planets]

A lot has changed since then, and new discoveries could put the spacecraft's mission in jeopardy. Pluto, demoted to "dwarf planet" status, now has five known moons and may even have rings similar to Saturn. Those moons act as "debris generators" and could make New Horizons' approach dangerous, scientists from the project said Tuesday.

"Because our spacecraft is traveling so fastmore than 30,000 miles per houra collision with a single pebble, or even a millimeter-sized grain, could cripple or destroy New Horizons," project scientist Hal Weaver said in a statement.

[READ: Earth-Like Planet Found in Nearest Star System]

Launched in 2006, New Horizons passed Mars in April of that year; Jupiter in 2007; Saturn in 2008; and Uranus last year. It is set to reach Pluto in July, 2015 and will monitor it from nearby before heading out of the solar system.

"We're going into some unknown hazards," Alan Stern, principal investigator of the project, says. "The concerns we have are a lot higher than they were a few years ago."

Stern says the team is planning a "backup trajectory" in case New Horizons' projected path seems littered with debris. Currently, it takes about six and a half hours for a signal from Earth to reach New Horizons; by the time it reaches Pluto, it'll take nine hours.

[READ: Researchers Discover Why Water Exists on the Moon]

More:

NASA's Pluto-Observing Spacecraft Faces Rough Future

NASA Request for Information: Centennial Challenges Unmanned Aircraft System Airspace Operations Challenge

Posted on by

Synopsis - Oct 16, 2012

UAS AOC draft rules - Posted on Oct 16, 2012 New!

General Information

Solicitation Number: NNH13ZUA001L Posted Date: Oct 16, 2012 FedBizOpps Posted Date: Oct 16, 2012 Recovery and Reinvestment Act Action: No Original Response Date: Nov 15, 2012 Current Response Date: Nov 15, 2012 Classification Code: A -- Research and Development NAICS Code: 334511

Contracting Office Address

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Headquarters Acquisition Branch, Code 210.H, Greenbelt, MD 20771

Description

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Request for Information - Centennial Challenges Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Airspace Operations Challenge, NNH13ZUA001L

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

More:

NASA Request for Information: Centennial Challenges Unmanned Aircraft System Airspace Operations Challenge

NASA OCT Announcement of Flight Opportunities #6 Now Open

Posted on by

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Dryden Flight Research Center has released a solicitation entitled "NASA Announcement of Flight Opportunities (AFO) for Payloads Maturing Crosscutting Technologies that Advance Multiple Future Space Missions to Flight Readiness Status." The current solicitation cycle, AFO #6, provides access to flights on parabolic flights, suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicles (sRLV), and high-altitude balloons.

Applications are due on or before 11:59 PM Eastern Time December 21, 2012, and selections will be announced in February 2013 (target). The solicitation is available by opening the NASA Research Opportunities home page at http://nspires.nasaprs.com , selecting "Solicitations," then selecting "Open Solicitations," and, selecting "NOCT110 Announcement of Flight Opportunities." To go directly to the solicitation page on NSPIRES click here.

NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) seeks to mature towards flight readiness status crosscutting technologies that perform relevant environment testing and advance multiple future space missions. To facilitate this goal, NASA is providing access to certain flight opportunities available to the Agency, on a no-exchange-of-funds basis, to entities that have technology payloads meeting specified criteria. The payloads may be exposed to a near-zero or reduced gravity environment by flying on aircraft that provide parabolic flight trajectories and on sRLVs that are potentially capable of flying to altitudes above 100 km. For flight tests that do not require microgravity, but do require the temperature, pressure and atmospheric conditions of high altitudes, balloon flights are available. Refer to https://flightopportunities.nasa.gov/platforms/ for specific information on vehicle and flight characteristics.

This call is open to all individuals and organizations, U.S. and non-U.S. Such organizations may include educational institutions, industry, nonprofit organizations, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers, NASA Centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), other Government agencies, and partnerships between such entities.

Science payloads will not be evaluated under this announcement. Prospective responders with science payloads are encouraged to respond to open solicitations for science from the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and Human Exploration and Operations Research Mission Directorate (HEOMD).

All applications must be submitted electronically through NSPIRES by an authorized organizational representative (AOR). Potential applicants and proposing organizations are urged to access the electronic proposal system well in advance of the application due date to familiarize themselves with its structure and to enter the requested information. Note that it may require several weeks for non-U.S. organizations to obtain the registrations needed to submit a proposal.

Comments and questions may be sent via e-mail to peer-review-afo@nasaprs.com. Responses to inquiries will be answered by e-mail and may also be included in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document located on the NSPIRES page associated with the solicitation; anonymity of persons/institutions who submit questions will be preserved.

Visit us on the web: http://flightopportunities.nasa.gov Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/nasafo Subscribe to our mailing list: https://lists.nasa.gov/mailman/listinfo/flightopportunities-news

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

Read more:

NASA OCT Announcement of Flight Opportunities #6 Now Open

Taming Nanotechnology's Potential Risks

Posted on by

Taking a proactive approach to the possible liability implications of nanomaterials could save manufacturers major litigation trouble down the road.

All signs point toward the industrial and economic impact of nanotechnology getting exponentially bigger in the very near future -- to the tune of $3 trillion by 2015, according to some projections.

This microscopic technology, which utilizes particles and engineered structures as small as one ten-thousandth the diameter of a human hair, has already found practical application in medical technology, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products. It is poised to transform electronics and communications, manufacturing processes and tools, materials development, pollution control, batteries, and other products and industries.

But the health and environmental effects of most nanotechnologies are not well studied or understood, and a growing body of evidence suggests that some types of nanotechnology might be associated with significant adverse effects on human health and the environment.

Some in the insurance industry have already labeled nanotechnology as an emerging risk, and, to compound the uncertainty, complex concerns regarding regulatory oversight are on the rise, not to mention calls to ban nanotechnology outright.

So where does this leave manufacturers, innovators and other businesses whose industries are ready to ride the wave of nanoparticles into the future? Likely facing a host of potential lawsuits at some point for a number of potential reasons.

While no nanotechnology-specific personal injury claims have been brought against manufacturers yet, and no specific human disease or verifiable environmental mishap has been ascribed to nanomaterials, such claims are practically inevitable.

But understanding the potential risks and courtroom implications can help manufacturers and other businesses in the supply chain take proactive steps to manage and minimize their exposure to liability.

See more here:

Taming Nanotechnology's Potential Risks