NASA Earth-Observing Fleet June2012
Wikipedia Video File. Personnel Use. Concept.

By: KieranValmont

Continue reading here:

NASA Earth-Observing Fleet June2012 - Video

NASA WE HAVE A PROBLEM WE CN #39;T FIND THEM THERE IS TOO MUCH ALIEN TRAFFIC TODAY UP HERE
UFO.alien

By: bestantonio

View post:

NASA WE HAVE A PROBLEM WE CN'T FIND THEM THERE IS TOO MUCH ALIEN TRAFFIC TODAY UP HERE - Video

Massive sun eruption could tower over 20 Earths NASA States
A massive eruption on the surface of the sun this week blasted out a wave of super-hot plasma so high that it could tower over 20 Earths, NASA officials say

By: Johnny D

Here is the original post:

Massive sun eruption could tower over 20 Earths NASA States - Video

NASA Tour Part1

By: Vinod Rajan

More here:

NASA Tour Part1 - Video

This visible image of Tropical Cyclone Dumile over La Reunion Island and Mauritius was captured by the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite on Jan. 3, 2013, at 0650 UTC. Dumile's center was just northwest of Reunion (left) and Mauritius (right). Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team

NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites captured visible and infrared data on Tropical Cyclone Dumile as it slammed into the islands of La Reunion and Mauritius in the Southern Indian Ocean.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument that flies aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of Cyclone Dumile on Jan. 3, 2013 at 0650 UTC (1:50 a.m. EST/U.S.) The image showed Dumile's center was about 85 nautical miles (97.8 miles/157.4 km) northwest of Reunion Island and Mauritius, and the strongest thunderstorms appeared to be southwest of the center of circulation. The image was created at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The AIRS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured two infrared images of Tropical Cyclone Dumile on Jan. 2 at 2123 UTC (4:23 p.m. EST/U.S.) and Jan. 3 at 0936 UTC (4:36 a.m. EST/U.S.). The coldest, highest clouds with heaviest rainfall formed a ring around Dumile's center on Jan. 2 meaning that the storm's eye had formed. The satellite overpass on Jan. 3 provided a close-up of the most powerful thunderstorms happening over both La Reunion and Mauritius. Infrared imagery on Jan. 3 also showed that Dumile's eye had "closed." AIRS images are created at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Enlarge

The AIRS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured these infrared images of Tropical Cyclone Dumile on Jan. 2 at 2123 UTC, and Jan. 3 at 0936 UTC. The purple areas indicate the coldest, highest clouds with heaviest rainfall. The circular blue area in the middle of the purple area on the Jan. 2 image is Dumile's center. Credit: NASA JPL, Ed Olsen

Warnings are up for La Reunion on Jan. 3. The territory is on red alert and a local advisory is in effect for high winds, heavy rain, high ocean swells and rough surf along the coasts of the island. For updated warnings (in French), please visit: http://www.meteo.fr/temps/domtom/La_Reunion/meteoreunion2/.

Mauritius Meteorological Services issued the following forecast for Jan. 3: Cloudy skies with showers and thunderstorms, some rainfall will be heavy at times. Heavy rainfall may cause ponding of water. A northerly sustained wind is expected up to 30 km/h with gusts of 70 km/h, decreasing gradually. The public is advised not to venture near rivers and other water courses because of rough seas. An improvement in weather is expected on Jan. 4. For updates, visit: metservice.intnet.mu/.

Where is Cyclone Dumile's Center?

On Jan. 3 at 0900 UTC (4 a.m. EST/U.S.) Tropical Cyclone Dumile was centered just 85 nautical miles (97.8 miles/157.4 km) northwest of La Reunion, near 20.3 south latitude and 54.4 east longitude. Dumile's maximum sustained winds were near 65 knots (75 mph/120.4 kph) making it a category one hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. Tropical-storm-force winds extended about 95 nautical miles (109.3 miles/176 km) from the center, meaning that La Reunion island was getting battered by them. Cyclone Dumile is moving southward at 13 knots (15 mph/24 kph) and is churning up very rough seas with wave heights up to 34 feet (10.3 meters).

Excerpt from:

NASA satellites see Cyclone Dumile over La Reunion and Mauritius

NASA is reportedly backing a plan to capture a near-Earth asteroid with an unmanned spacecraft and drag it into lunar orbit for study.

The project, cooked up by scientists at California's Keck Institute for Space Studies, could potentially deliver an asteroid to the vicinity of the Moon by next decade. Keck Institute researchers have confirmed NASA's interest in their cheaper, safer alternative to sending a crewed mission to an asteroid, according to New Scientist.

The idea would be to send a "slow-moving spacecraft, propelled by solar-heated ions" to a small asteroid, perhaps about 7 meters wide, the science journal reported. The robot ship would capture the space rock using a "bag measuring about 10 meters by 15 meters." It would take between six and ten years from the launch of the spacecraft atop an Atlas V rocket to the placement of the asteroid in lunar orbit.

The cost of such a mission would run around $2.6 billion, according to its planners. That's just a bit more than it cost to land NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars earlier this year, New Scientist noted. Once in lunar orbit, the captured asteroid could be studied by robotic probes or possibly even astronauts landing on its surface.

Could the mission prove dangerous if something were to go wrong and the asteroid collided with the Earth instead of settling into orbit around the Moon? Since the plan appears to involve capturing such a small asteroid, probably not terribly so. By comparison, the Tunguska event is believed to have been caused by a space object measuring 100 meters or more across, while the theorized impact that killed off the dinosaurs might have involved a meteor nearly the size of San Francisco.

Interest in visiting asteroids has been heating up in recent years. NASA is working on an unmanned probe called OSIRIS-REx scheduled for a 2014 launch. It's equipped with a robotic arm designed to pluck samples from a near-Earth asteroid designated 1999 RQ36, which the spacecraft is being prepped to reach in 2020.

It's also been reported that NASA is actively training astronauts for manned missions to asteroids that could kick off in about a decade.

Meanwhile, a new private venture called Planetary Resources this year unveiled an ambitious plan to begin mining asteroids for water, rare metals, and other materials in the coming years.

There's also an interesting intersection between the Keck Institute's asteroid-nabbing project and NASA's reported interest in setting up a floating base in fixed orbit near the Moon to serve as a platform for manned missions to both the lunar surface and to more distant destinations like Mars or a near-Earth asteroid.

The proposed space station would be situated at what's called a Lagrange point, or L-Point, a place where the gravitational pull of two large bodiesin this case the Earth and the Moonare at an equilibrium, making it possible to place a spacecraft (or an asteroid?) in a fixed spot in space at relatively little expense. NASA wants to put its base at Earth-Moon L-Point 2, on the far side of the Moon, according to reports.

Read the original here:

NASA May Try to Capture Asteroid, Fix It in Lunar Orbit

WASHINGTON -- NASA scientists will present new findings on a wide range of astrophysics topics next week at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). The meeting takes place Jan. 6-10 at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd, in Long Beach, Calif. Media registration for the event is open.

None of the briefings will be carried on NASA Television, but all will be web-streamed on AAS's website for registered journalists.

NASA's media briefings during the meeting will feature topics such as new video of a rapidly rotating neutron star, the latest images of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, and the most detailed "weather map" of a brown dwarf star. In addition, NASA scientists and their colleagues who use NASA research capabilities will present noteworthy findings during several scientific sessions throughout the week.

For a complete list of NASA-related news briefings, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/aas

The site will be updated throughout the week with additional information about NASA presentations.

For detailed information about the 221st AAS meeting, visit: http://aas.org/meetings/aas221

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

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

Read the rest here:

NASA Events Set for American Astronomical Society Meeting

NASA Television will broadcast the annual FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Kickoff event on Saturday, Jan. 5, starting at 10:30 a.m. EST from Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester. The event also will be streamed live on NASA's website.

As in past years, NASA plays a significant role by providing public access to robotics programs to encourage young people to investigate careers in the sciences and engineering. Through the NASA Robotics Alliance Project, the agency provides grants for almost 250 teams and sponsors four regional student competitions, including a FIRST regional competition in Washington that will be held March 28-30.

Each year, FIRST presents a new robotics competition scenario where each team receives an identical kit of parts and has six weeks to design and build a robot based on the team's interpretation of the game scenario. Other than dimension and weight restrictions, the look and function of the robots is up to each individual team. This year more than 2,500 teams from 49 states, and 12 countries will participate.

Engineer Dean Kamen founded FIRST in 1989 to help convince American youth that engineering and technology are exciting and 'cool' fields. NASA participation in the FIRST program is provided through the NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For a complete a list of the regional events, corporate sponsors and other details, visit: http://www.usfirst.org/

For more information on the NASA's Robotics Alliance Project visit: http://robotics.nasa.gov

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

Read more from the original source:

NASA Kicks Off 2013 First Robotics Season with Live Broadcast Jan. 5

NASA researchers are testing tiles made out of garbage including plastic water bottles, clothing scraps, duct tape and foil drink pouches in an attempt to turn astronauts' trash into a space missions treasure.

Like their earthbound counterparts, astronauts generate junk in their day-to-day lives, but unlike us, they cant just bag it and leave it on the curb.

"We don't want to contaminate the surface of an asteroid or something just by throwing the trash out the door," said Richard Strayer, a microbiologist working on the project.

"If NASA doesn't do something about it, then the spacecraft will become like a landfill, with the astronauts adding trash to it every day."

To make use of the material, researchers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are running tests on circular tiles made out of compressed trash. The discs, which went through a specialized compactor that melts but does not burn the waste, were created using a recipe based on trash from shuttle missions.

Each tile is just over a centimeter thick, roughly 20 cm in diameter which is a bit larger than a standard compact disk and made from about a days worth of junk.

But before researchers can send the discs on a deep space mission, they must answer several questions: Can they be safely stored on a spacecraft? Can they be sterilized so they are free of microorganisms? Can water be removed from the trash and re-used?

Mary Hummerick, another microbiologist working on the project, sees potential in all the plastic packaging the astronauts discard.

If the plastic content of the disks is high enough, "they could actually shield radiation," she said. NASAs website explains that the tiles could be arranged to shield the astronauts sleeping area or reinforce the spacecrafts "storm shelter."

If all goes as planned, the end product could be especially important for crews living in space for up to two years which is, NASA points out, the expected duration of a Mars mission.

Read the original post:

NASA could turn space trash into radiation shields

Synopsis - Jan 04, 2013

General Information

Solicitation Number: NNH13ZDA005L Posted Date: Jan 04, 2013 FedBizOpps Posted Date: Jan 04, 2013 Recovery and Reinvestment Act Action: No Original Response Date: Feb 15, 2013 Current Response Date: Feb 15, 2013 Classification Code: A -- Research and Development NAICS Code: 541712

Contracting Office Address

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

Description

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, QUOTATION, OR INVITATION TO BID NOTICE.

A. Request Summary

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is seeking ways to provide or develop in situ vicarious calibration instruments, systems, and approaches for a future mission's ocean color instrument. This RFI asks organizations to provide information regarding current instrument capabilities or descriptions of developments that would be needed in order to provide an in situ vicarious calibration capability for maintaining global climate quality ocean color remote sensing reflectances for a multi- or hyperspectral sensor. "Vicarious" calibration for ocean color refers to a final bias adjustment to the calibrated, spectral top-of-atmosphere radiances observed by an ocean color instrument. Responses could consider the PACE Science Definition Team (SDT) report (found at http://dsm.gsfc.nasa.gov/PACE.html ) for details of sample vicarious calibration for ocean color requirements, particularly the details in Section 4.6.1 of the report.

B. Background

See the article here:

NASA Request for Information: Ocean Color Remote Sensing Vicarious in situ Calibration Instruments

WASHINGTON Right before Christmas, a Russian rocket carrying three astronauts one American, one Russian and one Canadian launched from a chilly spaceport in Kazakhstan to begin a five-month mission to the International Space Station.

Unlike many of its predecessors, this crew's job is straightforward: Do science from studying solar rays to investigating how microgravity affects fish and their bones, which could provide insight on why astronauts lose bone density while in space.

"Twenty-thirteen really promises to be a productive one," said Chris Hadfield, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, after arriving at the outpost.

If that's true, NASA will get one step closer toward finally fulfilling the promise of the $100 billion space station that was intended to be a groundbreaking laboratory circling about 220 miles above Earth.

Though critics have questioned why it has taken so long work began on the station in 1998 NASA said the new emphasis on science and the arrival of new equipment mean the future looks bright.

"As the coming year unfolds, NASA will continue to conduct important research on the International Space Station, which continues to yield scientific benefits and provide key information about how humans may live and thrive in the harsh environment of space," NASA leaders wrote in a year-end status report.

Key is the addition of new equipment.

By next fall, NASA plans to send to the station an "Animal Enclosure Module" that will allow scientists to study the effects of weightlessness on rodents which could help doctors develop better medicines for bone and muscle ailments. The 60-pound module had flown 23 times aboard the space shuttle.

Marybeth Edeen, NASA manager of the station's national laboratory, said the rodents could be used to test drugs intended to treat osteoporosis or illnesses that degrade the muscles, such as Lou Gehrig's disease.

"A 30-day-old mouse on the station has the bone and muscle structure of a 60-to-70-year-old woman," said Edeen, adding that rapid changes brought on by weightlessness enable drug companies to quickly assess the results of experimental medicines.

Read the rest here:

NASA says 2013 will be a year of science on the space station

The most obvious sign that there is a lot of junk in space is how much of it has been falling out of the sky lately: a defunct NASA satellite last year, a failed Russian space probe this year.

While the odds are tiny that anyone here on Earth will get hit, the chances that all this orbiting litter will interfere with working satellites or the International Space Station, which dodges pieces of debris with increasing frequency, are getting higher, according to a recent report by the National Research Council. The nonprofit group, which dispenses advice on scientific matters, concluded that the problem of extraterrestrial clutter had reached a point where, if nothing was done, a cascade of collisions would eventually make low-Earth orbit unusable.

"NASA is taking it very seriously," Mason Peck, chief technologist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said. "It is becoming an important issue."

There is a straightforward solution to the problem: Dispose of the space junk, especially the large pieces, before they collide and break into smaller ones. And so researchers are stepping in with a variety of creative solutions, including nets that would round up wayward items and drag them into the Earth's atmosphere, where they would harmlessly burn up, and balloons that would similarly direct the debris into the atmosphere. Also on the table: firing lasers from the ground. Not to blow things up, which would only make more of a mess, but to nudge them into safer orbits or into the atmosphere.

20,000 pieces in orbit

Just last week, researchers at a top Swiss university, the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, announced that they were designing CleanSpace One, a sort of $11 million vacuum cleaner in the sky, that would be able to navigate close to a satellite and grab it with a big claw, whereupon both will make a fiery death dive.

The Swiss have only two satellites in orbit, each smaller than a breadbox, but they are concerned about what to do with them when they stop operating in a few years.

"We want to clean up after ourselves," said Anton Ivanov, a scientist at the institute's space center. "That's very Swiss, isn't it?"

The Air Force currently tracks 20,000 pieces of orbiting space junk, which includes old rocket parts and dead satellites.

For now, the risk is real but manageable. Satellite operators can dodge the big debris and armor their satellites to withstand impact with smaller pieces. But eventually, if not cleaned up, low-Earth orbit would become too perilous for people and satellites.

See the original post:

NASA seeks orbital broom for space junk

Does this image taken by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager show a "Martian flower?" (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)NASA has released a series of new photos taken by its Curiosity rover that appear to show a flower on the surface of Mars.

NBCNews.coms photo blog reports that the photos were taken as part of an effort to capture 360-degree images during Curiositys trek through Mars Yellowknife Bay.

New Jersey-based journalist and photographer Ken Kramer has assembled the Curiosity photographs, adding color to give a realistic view of what the rover is seeing on the planets surface.

But what has really caught peoples attention is a raw image from NASAs photo feed that one reader on Above Top Secret has called a Martian flower. On the posting, the commenter going by the name Arken, writes: The Albedo (or Reflectivity of Sun Light) of this object is very high, and its translucent appearance, the irregular conformation (like pistils) and the 'texture' of its wider areas is smooth, and seem that it is ground attached. This is the SECOND TRANSLUCENT ANOMALY detected by Curiosity in Gale Crater.

NBCs Alan Boyle writes that he at first assumed the flower was actually just a piece of plastic that had fallen off the Curiosity rover. A similar event happened in October. So, Boyle reached out to NASA spokesman Guy Webster. Interestingly, Webster shot down the plastic theory, saying in response, "That appears to be part of the rock, not debris from the spacecraft."

On Wednesday, scientists announced that an ancient rock that traveled from Mars to Earth over 2 billion years ago appears to have interacted with water on the planets surface.

So, what do you think? Does the image show a decayed piece of organic life residing on the surface of Mars?

Link:

NASA’s Curiosity rover finds ‘flower’ on surface of Mars