Lift-Off! NASA Launches Rocket To Study Jet Stream | Video
A sounding rocket was launched from Wallops Island Flight Facility on January 29th, 2013. It released chemical tracers creating red vapor trails in Space. The vapor trails were not seen in this video, but could be observed in the Mid-Atlantic region.

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Lift-Off! NASA Launches Rocket To Study Jet Stream | Video - Video

Condensing Rain, Solar Optical Telescope | Hinode Satellite / NASA 11620
Condensing Rain NASA | SOT | Space | Sun This movie, taken with the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) aboard the Hinode satellite, shows the chromosphere above Active Region (AR) 11620, which was rotating out of sight on the West limb on 01 Dec 2012. Taken in the light of ionized calcium, the movie shows plasma at roughly 8000 - 20000 degrees C above the surface of the Sun. The bright areas in the AR on the disk (foreground) are saturated so that the faint material high above the surface is visible. Several charicteristic features of the active chromosphere can be seen clearly because of the high cadence of the observations -- 1 frame every 8 seconds. #39;Coronal rain #39; falls down along linear trajectories from higher levels, following the magnetic field lines as plasma cools and gravity pulls it back to the surface. Bright, low loops appear in the active region, rising up and falling back. Some of the loops appear to form coherent tube-like structures that twist or untwist as they rise. Credit: NASA / Hinode Satellite | Solar Optical Telescope / SOT http://WWW.NASA.gov (Source Link)

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Condensing Rain, Solar Optical Telescope | Hinode Satellite / NASA 11620 - Video

Record Close Asteroid Flyby Only Weeks Away | 2012 - DA14 | NASA Space Science HD Video
Visit my website at http://www.junglejoel.com - on February 15th, 2012, an asteroid named 2012 - DA14, about half the size of a football field, will fly within 17200 miles of Earth - that #39;s closer than many man-made satellites. Astronomers have never seen an object this large come so close to our planet. Please rate and comment, thanks! Video Credits NASA

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Record Close Asteroid Flyby Only Weeks Away | 2012 - DA14 | NASA Space Science HD Video - Video

Wikileaks NIBIRU Contact NASA Space Telescope 11 January 2013 YouTube
This may require a dark room in order to see the subject.

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Wikileaks NIBIRU Contact NASA Space Telescope 11 January 2013 YouTube - Video

A NASA communications network used to track satellites and spacecraft orbiting the Earth is about to get an upgrade with the launch of a new satellite on Wednesday.

The space agency is set to launch the new Tracking and Data Relay Satellite K (TDRS-K for short) on Wednesday at 8:48 p.m. EST from a pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket will boost the satellite into an orbit 22,300 miles (35,888 kilometers), where it will join a network of other relay spacecraft high above the planet.

The TDRS-K satellite isthe first of three new satellites to launch between now and 2015 to bolster the TDRS communications satellite network that relays data and messages between spacecraft in orbit and ground stations. Without factoring in the cost of the vehicles used to transport it, the TDRS-K satellite costs anywhere from $350 million to $400 million.

"Any day we support over 100 missions," Badri Younes, a scientist in the Space Communications and Navigation office in NASA, said of his division. "Anything you see going to space has to be enabled by us." [NASA's New Comsat: TDRS-K Spacecraft in Photos]

While the TDRS system isn't responsible for all communication between crewed spacecraft, satellites and NASA, it does make up part of the agency's Space Network. By using the network's seven satellites currently in orbit around the Earth and some ground-based elements, NASA can monitor the full treks of every satellite in low-Earth orbit.

The large TDRS-K satellite is the 11th spacecraft to join the TDRS network since the first TDRS satellite was launched in 1983. The most recent TDRS launch before now was in 2002. Five TDRS satellites are still functioning in orbit today. According to a NASA mission description, the TDRS-K satellite is expected to last at least 15 years in orbit.

"All of the beautiful images looking at galaxies, looking at weather trends, providing support to the International Space Station are because of TDRS," Younes said. "Science couldn't be performed the way you expect it today without it."

If the space agency only used ground-based antennas to keep watch on the satellites, it would be impossible to constantly monitor spacecraft, and that creates problems. The International Space Station, for example, sends all of its data through the TDRS satellites.

Since the orbiting science laboratory is always in motion, sometimes it leaves the direct range of ground-based telescopes. The TDRS satellites are positioned in such a way to keep communication lines open between the crew and NASA on the ground.

The Hubble Space Telescope also transmits its data through TDRS first before the data is beamed back down to Earth. The network of satellites functions as an intermediary between NASA's White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, N.M., and the various spacecraft that use it to send information back to the ground.

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How NASA satellite will boost communications

NASA will launch a rocket Tuesday night on a mission that promises to put on a spectacular, albeit brief, light show over the U.S. East Coast that may be visible to stargazers along the Atlantic Seaboard, weather permitting.

Unsuspecting observers of the artificial night sky display may be puzzled and amazed, so before you make that phone call to your local media outlet or police station, here is why this is happening and when you might see it.

The bright phenomenon will be caused by an experiment aboard a NASA sounding rocket. As part the mission, the rocket will release a chemical tracer that should create two bright, red-colored lithium vapor trails in space that may be seen by observers across the mid-Atlantic region, and possibly from even further away.

The rocket will be fired from NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility on Virginia's Atlantic coast. Liftoff is slated to occur as early as 5:30 p.m. EST. The suborbital rocket, which can launch high above Earth but not orbit the planet, will be launched to test technology for gathering science data during future projects. [ NASA Rocket Launches Light Up Night Sky (Photos) ]

You can watch the launch live on Space.com here via a webcast that will begin at 4:30 p.m. EST.

By rocket's red glare The launch window for tonight's NASA night light show opens at 5:30 p.m. EST and extends to 6:50 p.m. EST, but the optimum target time is 5:45 p.m. EST. NASA intends to photograph the resulting red luminescent trails from Wallops Island and from an aircraft as well.

You can submit any amazing photos of the launch or the resulting night sky show to Space.com here: spacephotos@space.com.

Should weather conditions be unfavorable, the firings will be deferred to another night. Alternate dates run from Thursday through Friday (Jan. 30 to Feb. 1).

The sounding rocket that will be used to create the two NASA-made glowing cloud trails will be a Terrier-Improved Orion. In this technology test launch, two canisters in the rocket's payload section will contain solid metal lithium rods or chips embedded in a thermite cake. The thermite is ignited and produces heat to vaporize the lithium.

Once the vapor is released in space, it can be detected and tracked optically. The rocket will eject two streams of lithium that will be illuminated at high altitudes by the sun (which will be below the local horizon at ground level).

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NASA rocket to spur dazzling light show

Artist's rendering of NASA's ISS-RapidScat instrument (inset), which will launch to the International Space Station in 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/JSC

Published: Jan. 29, 2013 at 7:37 PM

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 29 (UPI) -- NASA says it is recycling parts used to test satellites to create an instrument for the International Space Station to measure ocean surface winds.

Hardware originally built to test parts of the space agency's QuikScat satellite will be used in the building of the ISS-RapidScat instrument to help improve weather forecasts, including hurricane monitoring, and understanding of how ocean-atmosphere interactions influence Earth's climate, NASA officials said.

"The ability for NASA to quickly reuse this hardware and launch it to the space station is a great example of a low-cost approach that will have high benefits to science and life here on Earth," Mike Suffredini, NASA's International Space Station program manager, said.

The QuikScat satellite was designed to last two years but operated for 10. However, it stopped collecting ocean wind data in late 2009.

A successor satellite will not be available soon, so NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the agency's station program proposed adapting leftover QuikScat hardware in combination with new hardware for use on the space station.

"By leveraging the capabilities of the International Space Station and recycling leftover hardware, we will acquire good science data at a fraction of the investment needed to launch a new satellite," JPL project manager Howard Eisen said.

The instrument will be launched to the space station aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft and is expected to operate aboard the station for two years, NASA said.

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NASA to recycle parts for science work

NASA's Kepler space telescope has resumed its search for alien planets after resting for 10 days to work out kinks in its attitude control system, mission officials announced today (Jan. 29).

Kepler went into a protective "safe mode" on Jan. 17 after engineers detected elevated friction levels in one of its reaction wheels devices that maintain the observatory's position in space. Engineers spun the wheels down to zero speed, hoping the break would redistribute lubricant and bring the friction back down to normal.

That phase is now over and Kepler is back in action, though it will take time to determine if the problem is solved.

Kepler began coming out of safe mode at 2:30 p.m. EST (1930 GMT) Sunday (Jan. 27) and started collecting science data again at 8 p.m. EST Monday (Jan. 28; 0100 GMT Jan. 29), officials wrote in a mission update today. [Gallery: A World of Kepler Planets]

"The spacecraft responded well to commands and transitioned from thruster control to reaction wheel control as planned," Kepler mission manager Roger Hunter wrote in the update. "During the 10-day resting safe mode, daily health and status checks with the spacecraft using NASA's Deep Space Network were normal."

Kepler flags exoplanets by detecting the telltale brightness dips caused when they pass in front of their parent stars from the instrument's perpsective. The telescope requires three functioning reaction wheels to stay locked onto its roughly 150,000 target stars.

When Kepler launched in March 2009, it had four reaction wheels three for immediate use, and one spare. But one wheel (known as number two) failed in July 2012, so a major problem with the currently glitchy wheel (called number four) could spell the end of the $600 million Kepler mission.

It's unknown at the moment if the 10-day rest period will bring wheel number four back into line.

"Over the next month, the engineering team will review the performance of reaction wheel #4 before, during and after the safe mode to determine the efficacy of the rest operation," Hunter wrote.

The wheel has acted up before without causing serious problems.

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NASA Planet-Hunting Spacecraft Recovering from Glitch

NASA will launch a rocket tonight (Jan. 29) on a mission that promises to put on a spectacular, albeit brief, light show over the U.S. East Coast that may be visible to stargazers along the Atlantic Seaboard, weather permitting.

Unsuspecting observers of the artificial night sky display may be puzzled and amazed, so before you make that phone call to your local media outlet or police station, here is why this is happening and when you might see it.

The bright phenomenon will be caused by an experiment aboard a NASA sounding rocket. As part the mission, the rocket will release a chemical tracer that should create two bright, red-colored lithium vapor trails in space that may be seen by observers across the mid-Atlantic region, and possibly from even further away.

The rocket will be fired from NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility on Virginia's Atlantic coast. Liftoff is slated to occur as early as 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 GMT). The suborbital rocket, which can launch high above Earth but not orbit the planet, will be launched tonight to test technology for gathering science data during future projects.

You can watch the launch live on SPACE.com here via a webcast that will begin at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT).

By rocket's red glareThe launch window for tonight's NASA night light show opens at 5:30 p.m. EST and extends to 6:50 p.m. EST (2350 GMT), but the optimum target time is 5:45 p.m. EST (2245 GMT). NASA intends to photograph the resulting red luminescent trails from Wallops Island and from an aircraft as well.

- Libby West, mission project manager with the NASA Sounding Rocket Program

Should weather conditions be unfavorable, the firings will be deferred to another night. Alternate dates run from Thursday through Friday (Jan. 30 to Feb. 1).

The sounding rocket that will be used to create the two NASA-made glowing cloud trails will be a Terrier-Improved Orion. In this technology test launch, two canisters in the rocket's payload section will contain solid metal lithium rods or chips embedded in a thermite cake. The thermite is ignited and produces heat to vaporize the lithium.

Once the vapor is released in space, it can be detected and tracked optically. The rocket will eject two streams of lithium which will be illuminated at high altitudes by the sun (which will be below the local horizon at ground level).

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NASA to Light Up East Coast

This week marks a somber time for NASA, with the anniversaries of three U.S. spaceflight disasters recalling the memories of those astronauts who made the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuit of space exploration.

On Friday (Feb. 1), NASA will pause to honor the memories of the three astronauts killed in the Apollo 1 fire of 1967, the seven astronauts killed in the Challenger shuttle disaster in 1986, and the seven astronauts who died when the space shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003. This year's Day of Remembrance ceremony is especially poignant it will mark the 10th anniversary of the Columbia disaster that led to the end of the space shuttle program.

"NASA's Day of Remembrance honors members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery," NASA officials wrote in an announcement. "Flags across the agency will be flown at half-staff in their memory."

NASA will hold a televised ceremony on Friday at the Kennedy Space Center's Space Mirror, a memorial to astronauts who died during spaceflight. The service, hosted by the Astronaut Memorial Foundation, will begin at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) and be webcast live via NASA TV. SPACE.com will carry the NASA video stream live.

NASA chief Charles Bolden a former space shuttle commander will pay tribute with other NASA officials during an observance at the astronaut memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. [Columbia Shuttle Disaster: Share Your Thoughts]

NASA's spaceflight tragedies

On Jan. 27, 1967, Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were killed when a fire broke out in their crew capsule during a ground test a month before their planned launch. It was NASA's first mission-related tragedy and led to a safety investigation into the Apollo spacecraft. Two years later, in July 1969, the agency's Apollo 11 mission landed the first astronauts on the moon.

On Jan. 28, 1986, 19 years and a day after the Apollo 1 fire, NASA's space shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff due to an O-ring failure in one of the orbiter's twin solid rocket boosters. The malfunction allowed hot gas to escape the rocket booster, ultimately causing the shuttle's external fuel tank to explode. [NASA's Fallen Astronauts: A Photo Memorial]

Killed in the explosion were astronauts Francis "Dick" Scobee, Ronald McNair, Mike Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik, Greg Jarvis and Connecticut teacher Christa McAuliffe. McAuliffe was slated to become the first teacher in space during the mission, boosting national attention on the spaceflight. It would take NASA three years to resume flying the shuttle.

Today, the nonprofit StoryCorps released a video to honor the memory of Ronald McNair, the second African-American in space. The video commemorates McNair's childhood in Lake City, S.C., and his path to space.

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For NASA, a Somber Week of Space Disaster Anniversaries

A NASA communications network used to track satellites and spacecraft orbiting the Earth is about to get an upgrade with the launch of a new satellite on Wednesday (Jan. 30).

The space agency is set to launch the newTracking and Data Relay Satellite K(TDRS-K for short) on Wednesday at 8:48 p.m. EST (0148 Jan. 31 GMT) from a pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket will boost the satellite into an orbit 22,300 miles (35,888 kilometers), where it will join a network of other relay spacecraft high above the planet.

The TDRS-K satellite isthe first of three new satellites to launch between now and 2015 to bolster the TDRS communications satellite network that relays data and messages between spacecraft in orbit and ground stations. Without factoring in the cost of the vehicles used to transport it, the TDRS-K satellitecosts anywhere from $350 to $400 million.

"Any day we support over 100 missions," Badri Younes a scientist in the Space Communications and Navigation office in NASA said of his division. "Anything you see going to space has to be enabled by us." [NASA's New Comsat: TDRS-K Spacecraft in Photos]

While the TDRS system isn't responsible for all communication between crewed spacecraft, satellites and NASA, it does make up part of the agency's Space Network. By using the network's seven satellites currently in orbit around the Earth and some ground-based elements, NASA can monitor the full treks of every satellite in low-Earth orbit.

The large TDRS-K satellite is the 11th spacecraft to join the TDRS network since the first TDRS satellite was launched in 1983. The most recent TDRS launch before now was in 2002. Five TDRS satellites are still functioning in orbit today. According to a NASA mission description, the TDRS-K satellite is expected to last at least 15 years in orbit.

"All of the beautiful images, looking at galaxies, looking at weather trends, providing support to the International Space Station are because of TDRS," Younes said. "Science couldn't be performed the way you expect it today without it."

If the space agency only used ground-based antennas to keep watch on the satellites, it would be impossible to constantly monitor spacecraft, and that creates problems. The International Space Station, for example, sends all of its data through the TDRS satellites.

Since the orbiting science laboratory is always in motion, sometimes it leaves the direct range of ground-based telescopes. The TDRS satellites are positioned in such a way to keep communication lines open between the crew and NASA on the ground.

The Hubble Space Telescopealso transmits its data through TDRS first before the data is beamed back down to Earth. The network of satellites functions as an intermediary between NASA's White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, N.M. and the various spacecraft that use it to send information back to the ground.

Read the original here:

New NASA Satellite to Boost Space Communications Network

NASA will launch a rocket tonight (Jan. 29) on a mission that promises to put on a spectacular, albeit brief, light show over the U.S. East Coast that may be visible to stargazers along the Atlantic Seaboard, weather permitting.

Unsuspecting observers of the artificial night sky displaymay be puzzled and amazed, so before you make that phone call to your local media outlet or police station, here is why this is happening and when you might see it.

The bright phenomenon will be caused by an experiment aboard a NASA sounding rocket. As part the mission, the rocket will release a chemical tracer that should create two bright, red-colored lithium vapor trails in space that may be seen by observers across the mid-Atlantic region, and possibly from even further away.

The rocket will be fired from NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility on Virginia's Atlantic coast. Liftoff is slated to occur as early as 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 GMT). The suborbital rocket, which can launch high above Earth but not orbit the planet, will be launched tonight to test technology for gathering science data during future projects. [NASA Rocket Launches Light Up Night Sky (Photos)]

You can watch the launch live on SPACE.com herevia a webcast that will begin at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT).

By rocket's red glare

The launch window for tonight's NASA night light show opens at 5:30 p.m. EST and extends to 6:50 p.m. EST (2350 GMT), but the optimum target time is 5:45 p.m. EST (2245 GMT). NASA intends to photograph the resulting red luminescent trails from Wallops Island and from an aircraft as well.

You can submit any amazing photos of the launch or the resulting night sky show to SPACE.com here: spacephotos@space.com.

Should weather conditions be unfavorable, the firings will be deferred to another night. Alternate datesrun fromThursday through Friday (Jan. 30 to Feb. 1).

The sounding rocket that will be used to create the two NASA-made glowing cloud trails will be a Terrier-Improved Orion.In this technology test launch, two canisters in the rocket's payload section will contain solid metal lithium rods or chips embedded in a thermite cake. The thermite is ignited and produces heat to vaporize the lithium.

See more here:

NASA Rocket to Spark Light Show Over US East Coast Tonight