ISS Progress 52
The Expedition 38 crew said farewell to an unpiloted Russian cargo craft Monday morning while making preparations for the arrival of the next space freighter...
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Monthly Archives: February 2014
Record-Breaking 33 'Cubesats' to Launch from Space Station This Month
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are preparing for the deployment of nearly three dozen tiny satellites from the orbiting lab over the coming weeks.
The spaceflyers have been installing special equipment that will launch 33 "cubesats" from the space stationthis month, with the first round of ejections scheduled to take place on Thursday (Feb. 6).
"We believe this will be a world-record deployment, of the number of satellites in one deployment," Michael Johnson, chief technology officer of the space-hardware firm NanoRacks, said in a NASA video last week. [Photos: How Tiny Satellites Launch from Space Station]
NanoRacks helps organize and integrate some research activites aboard the space station. The company built eight new deployers that will launch the 33 cubesats, which were delivered to the orbiting lab Jan. 12 on the first contracted cargo mission of Orbital Sciences' unmanned Cygnus resupply spacecraft.
Six cubesats will be launched from the station Thursday, NASA officials said. The rest will begin flying freely over the course of the following two weeks or so.
Twenty-eight of the 33 cubesats were built by the San Francisco-based company Planet Labs. Together, these spacecraft make up "Flock 1," which Planet Labs says will be the world's biggest constellation of Earth-imaging satellites.
The Flock 1 cubesats measure just 12 inches long by 4 inches wide by 4 inches tall (30 by 10 by 10 centimeters), but they can take images with a resolution of 10 to 16.5 feet (3 to 5 meters).
Flock 1 is designed to deliver frequent, low-cost and high-resolution imagery of Earth that could benefit humanity in a number of ways, such as monitoring deforestation and tracking natural disasters, company officials say.
"We'll be producing imagery of the whole Earth with unprecedented frequency," Planet Labs co-founder Will Marshall told Space.com late last year. "We will thus be able to always be covering the whole Earth, not just pointing and shooting at specific targets."
Among the other five cubesats to be deployed this month are two spacecraft from Lithuania and one from Peru, Johnson said.
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Record-Breaking 33 'Cubesats' to Launch from Space Station This Month
Thales Alenia Space builds third space station cargo module
CANNES, France, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- The third of nine pressurized cargo modules to ship items to the International Space Station has been produced by French-Italian aerospace firm Thales Alenia Space.
The module, completed at the company's facility in Turin, Italy, has been transported to a NASA launch facility on Wallops Island, Va., where Orbital Sciences Corp. will integrate it with the service module of a Cygnus spacecraft.
"Thales Alenia Space will provide Orbital with six more pressurized cargo modules, which will ferry crew supplies, spare parts and scientific experiments to the International Space Station," Thales Alenia Space said. "The company is providing a total of nine units under the commercial resupply service contract awarded to Orbital by NASA.
"The PCM unit delivered ... will be followed by one more unit in the standard configuration, capable of transporting up to 2,000 kg (about 4,409 pounds) of cargo, and by five enhanced units, offering cargo capacity of up to 2,700 kg (5,952 pounds)."
Details as to when the cargo will be delivered were not disclosed.
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International Space Station will soon contain the coldest spot in the known universe
Space has a reputation for being cold frigid even, but the tremendous chill of deep space is nothing compared to what NASA is preparing to create very near to Earth. Researchers are planning to generate a super-cold spot on the International Space Station (ISS) to study the intricacies of quantum mechanics. How cold? Its going to be the coldest spot in the known universe.
In the vast expanses of nothingness between galaxies, the diffuse gaseous matter regularly reaches roughly 3 Kelvin close to absolute zero, where all motion on the subatomic level is believed to stop. The experiment being carried out in the ISS Cold Atom Lab is going to reach temperatures as low as 100 pico-Kelvin above absolute zero (pico denotes one-trillionth).
The team will be working with Bose-Einstein Condensates, a type of dilute gas that shows fascinating macro-quantum effects at temperatures near absolute zero. The space station offers a uniquely well-suited environment for this testing. When gas expands, it cools, and this is the basis of the cooling that will take place on the ISS. Magnetic traps will be used to expand gas until it gets down to the desired temperature. These traps can be very low-power because the gas doesnt need to be supported against the pull of gravity, allowing it to reach incredibly low temperatures.
Bose-Einstein Condensates offer a window into the strange world of quantum mechanics. Two Bose-Einstein Condensates that are placed together dont mix, instead they interfere like waves. The Cold Atom Lab on the ISS will offer scientists a chance to study these remarkable effects at the lowest temperature yet. This is the absolute forefront of science no ones exactly sure what well find.
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International Space Station will soon contain the coldest spot in the known universe
Red Ventures holding interviews Tuesday morning
FORT MILL, SC (WBTV) -
Red Ventures hopes to attract the area's top sales talent at its upcoming Interview Day, which will take place on Tuesday, February 4 from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. at Red Ventures headquarters located at 1101 Red Ventures Dr. Fort Mill, SC 29707.
Pre-registration is required, and interested applicants should apply online at http://www.redventures.com/careers <http://www.redventures.com/careers>.
While the Interview Day will solely focus on Inside Sales positions, Red Ventures is also actively hiring for roles including: web developers, web designers, analysts, marketing and business leaders, and more.
"Our upcoming Interview Day is the perfect opportunity for great people across North and South Carolina to get to know Red Ventures," said Elizabeth Persson, Senior Vice President of Human Capital in a news release from the company. "Both our Fort Mill headquarters and our North Charlotte office are an easy commute from Uptown, making them convenient to jobseekers across the area."
In November, Red Ventures announced new relationships with large brands including Verizon and AT&T. With several new partnerships on the horizon, the company hopes to get a head start on hiring across the Carolinas.
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The Flares That Were Omitted By NASA… All of January in HD – Video
The Flares That Were Omitted By NASA... All of January in HD
Many complete flares in January were edited, filtered, altered on real time data. However the archive updates are still available. Here are over 4 thousand i...
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The Flares That Were Omitted By NASA... All of January in HD - Video
NASA EDGE: Lesa Roe – Video
NASA EDGE: Lesa Roe
Humans living and working in space. How is NASA Langley Research Center supporting efforts for humans to continue to work in low-Earth orbit and eventually i...
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NASA Highlights James Webb Space Telescope Progress – Video
NASA Highlights James Webb Space Telescope Progress
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland participated in a news conference Feb. 3 at NASA #39;s Goddard Space Flight Center in ...
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NASA Exploration of Mars – Video
NASA Exploration of Mars
2004 . ...
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Nasa VMP February 2 2014 – Video
Nasa VMP February 2 2014
First time with the e36 M3, on old run-flat tires. Spun on my first run (sorry no video) and flat spotted the tires about ten times!
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I interned at NASA – Video
I interned at NASA
Sam Wilkinson, a fresher at Oriel, was an intern on NASA #39;s open innovation programme this summer. He has been studying the "Hackathon" as a means of collabor...
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NASA Biggest secret-Caution May be disturbing to some viewers, Parental vision is advised . T – Video
NASA Biggest secret-Caution May be disturbing to some viewers, Parental vision is advised . T
Note Please read before commenting i do bot own the music or video i am just showing you guys NASA evidence, so please don #39;t hate or comment mean this is jus...
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NASA Administrator Bolden, Senator Mikulski view progress on James Webb Space Telescope
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
3-Feb-2014
Contact: Lynn Chandler Lynn.chandler-1@nasa.gov 301-286-2806 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland congratulated the James Webb Space Telescope team Monday for the delivery of all flight instruments and primary mirrors to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Their comments came in a morning news conference at Goddard, where NASA's flagship science project will be assembled in preparation for launch in 2018.
"The Hubble Space Telescope has already rewritten the science books. Going from Hubble to the James Webb Space Telescope is like going from a biplane to the jet engine," said Mikulski, Chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee that funds NASA. "As Chairwoman, I've continued to fight for funds in the federal checkbook to keep the James Webb Space Telescope mission on track, supporting jobs today and jobs tomorrow at Goddard. NASA Goddard is home to leaders in Maryland's space and innovation economies, making discoveries that not only win Nobel Prizes, but create new products and jobs. The James Webb Space Telescope will keep us in the lead for astronomy for decades to come, spurring the innovation and technology that keep America's economy rolling."
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will be the most powerful space telescope ever built, capable of observing the most distant objects in the universe, providing images of the first galaxies formed, and observing unexplored planets around distant stars. A joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Webb is the successor to the agency's Hubble Space Telescope.
All 18 of Webb's primary mirror segments, developed by Ball Aerospace under contract to Northrop Grumman, are housed in the Goddard clean room. Its 1.3 million cubic feet of dust-free space make the clean room one of the world's largest. All four of Webb's science instruments are within feet of the mirrors. The telescope's mirror and instruments will capture images of the universe and break down the spectra of incoming light to analyze the properties of galaxies, stars, and the atmospheres of planets beyond our solar system.
"The recent completion of the critical design review for Webb, and the delivery of all its instruments to Goddard, mark significant progress for this mission," said Bolden. "The design, build, delivery and testing of these components took meticulous planning and action here at Goddard and with teams across the country, as well as with our international partners. It's very exciting to see it all coming together on schedule. And I want to thank our good friend Senator Barbara Mikulski for her support. We wouldn't be here today without her championing of this critical capability for NASA. I know she understands just how important it is to continue to push the boundaries of what we can do in space."
"This past year has been one of significant progress for the Webb telescope," said Goddard Director Chris Scolese during the news conference. "The NASA Goddard team is working tirelessly with our partners to keep the program on track as we develop this newest scientific tool to explore the universe."
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NASA Administrator Bolden, Senator Mikulski view progress on James Webb Space Telescope
NASA Astronaut Shares Space Workouts, Joins Elite Athletes for Google+ Hangout
Seeking fitness inspiration? NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio, along with four fitness professionals and athletes, will share workout tips during a special Google+ Hangout from space at 12:15 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 6.
The Hangout can be seen live on NASA's Google+ page or on NASA Television. In addition to Hopkins and Mastracchio, participants are:
-- Jeannette Epps, NASA astronaut -- Curt Tomasevicz, U.S. Olympic bobsledder, participating from Sochi, Russia -- Rich Froning Jr., CrossFit Games Champion -- Jared Crick, Houston Texans professional football player -- Peter Moore, Men's Health magazine
Hopkins, a lifelong fitness enthusiast, is sharing his workouts from space via the Train Like an Astronaut Facebook page and YouTube. Astronauts aboard the space station workout at least two hours a day in order to minimize bone and muscle loss -- an effect of extended time in a weightless environment. They have three different devices they can use to maintain fitness a treadmill, a stationary bicycle and the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED). Hopkins plans to demonstrate the ARED from the Tranquility module during the Hangout.
Hopkins grew up participating in several sports and was All-Big Ten Defensive Back and team captain for the University of Illinois football team. His other recreational interests include hockey, backpacking, snow skiing and running. He also is a fan of CrossFit training and weight lifting.
A colonel in the U.S. Air Force, Hopkins launched to space on Sept. 25 aboard a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. He completed two spacewalks in December, working to replace a faulty ammonia tank on the space stations exterior. He will return to Earth at the conclusion of his first spaceflight mission in March.
NASA's social media followers may submit questions on Twitter and Google+ before and during the Hangout using the hashtag #askNASA.
To join the Hangout, visit:
https://plus.google.com/events/cpigjb8l5n1p9cjl98lueba0apc
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NASA Astronaut Shares Space Workouts, Joins Elite Athletes for Google+ Hangout
NASA's Mars Rover eyes possible westward route
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover reached the edge of a dune on Jan. 30 and photographed the valley on the other side, to aid assessment of whether to cross the dune.
Curiosity is on a southwestward traverse of many months from an area where it found evidence of ancient conditions favorable for microbial life to its long-term science destination on the lower slopes of Mount Sharp.
Based on analysis of images taken from orbit by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a location dubbed "Dingo Gap" was assessed as a possible gateway to a favorable route for the next portion of the traverse.
A dune across Dingo Gap is about 3 feet (1 meter) high, tapered off at both sides of the gap between two low scarps. Curiosity reached the eastern side of the dune on Jan. 30 and returned images that the rover team is using to guide decisions about upcoming drives.
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess ancient habitable environments and major changes in Martian environmental conditions. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
For more information about Curiosity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. You can follow the mission on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity.
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Intro to Nanotechnology with Ralph Merkle – Video
Intro to Nanotechnology with Ralph Merkle
singularityu.org.
By: Singularity University
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Making frozen smoke: Commercializing aerogel fabrication process
One day, Union College's Aerogel Team's novel way of making "frozen smoke" could improve some of our favorite machines, including cars.
"When you hold aerogel it feels like nothing -- like frozen smoke. It's about 95 to 97 percent air," said Ann Anderson, professor of mechanical engineering. "Nano-porous, solid and very low density, aerogel is made by removing solvents from a wet-gel. It's used for many purposes, like thermal insulation (on the Mars Rover), in windows or in extreme-weather clothing and sensors."
Together with Brad Bruno, associate professor of mechanical engineering, Mary Carroll, professor of chemistry and others, Anderson is studying the feasibility of commercializing their aerogel fabrication process. A time and money-saver, it could appeal to industries already using aerogel made in other ways.
During rapid supercritical extraction (RSCE), chemicals gel together (like Jell-O) in a hot press; the resulting wet-gel is dried by removing solvents (the wet part). The remaining aerogel (dried gel), is created in hours, rather than the days or weeks alternative methods take.
RSCE, Anderson said, is also approximately seven times cheaper, requiring one hour of labor for every 8 hours the other methods need.
A good place for such a process, and Union aerogel, is the automotive industry.
"Our 3-way catalytic aerogels promote chemical reactions that convert the three major pollutants in automotive exhaust -- unburned hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide -- into less harmful water, nitrogen and carbon dioxide," Anderson said. "Because aerogels have very high surface areas and good thermal properties, we think they could replace precious metals, like platinum, used in current catalytic converters."
Indeed, the surface area of one 0.5-gram bit of aerogel equals 250 square meters.
"That's a lot of surface area for gases to come in contact with, facilitating very efficient pollution mitigation," Anderson said.
The team's work has received support from the National Science Foundation, the ACS Petroleum Research Fund and the Union College Faculty Research Fund.
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Making frozen smoke: Commercializing aerogel fabrication process
Making "Frozen Smoke" the Fast Way
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Newswise One day, Union Colleges Aerogel Teams novel way of making frozen smoke could improve some of our favorite machines, including cars.
When you hold aerogel it feels like nothing like frozen smoke. Its about 95 to 97 percent air, said Ann Anderson, professor of mechanical engineering. Nano-porous, solid and very low density, aerogel is made by removing solvents from a wet-gel. Its used for many purposes, like thermal insulation (on the Mars Rover), in windows or in extreme-weather clothing and sensors.
Together with Brad Bruno, associate professor of mechanical engineering, Mary Carroll, professor of chemistry and others, Anderson is studying the feasibility of commercializing their aerogel fabrication process. A time and money-saver, it could appeal to industries already using aerogel made in other ways.
During rapid supercritical extraction (RSCE), chemicals gel together (like Jell-O) in a hot press; the resulting wet-gel is dried by removing solvents (the wet part). The remaining aerogel (dried gel), is created in hours, rather than the days or weeks alternative methods take.
RSCE, Anderson said, is also approximately seven times cheaper, requiring one hour of labor for every 8 hours the other methods need.
A good place for such a process, and Union aerogel, is the automotive industry.
Our 3-way catalytic aerogels promote chemical reactions that convert the three major pollutants in automotive exhaust unburned hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide into less harmful water, nitrogen and carbon dioxide, Anderson said. Because aerogels have very high surface areas and good thermal properties, we think they could replace precious metals, like platinum, used in current catalytic converters.
Indeed, the surface area of one 0.5-gram bit of aerogel equals 250 square meters.
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Colleens Dream Foundation Grants Over $12,000 to UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center to Fund Ovarian Cancer Research
Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) February 04, 2014
San Diego Chargers kicker Nick Novak, Colleens Dream Foundation and Kicking For The Dream, team up to grant over $12,000 to UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center for ovarian cancer research being conducted by Dr. Christian Barrett, according to Colleens Dream Foundation President Billy Cundiff.
"Dr. Barrett is a promising young investigator, says Cundiff. His enthusiasm for his work is incredible. Colleen's Dream is proud to team up with Nick Novak and the San Diego Chargers to help fund Dr. Barrett's cutting edge through our Kicking For The Dream program."
Kicking For The Dream is an online fundraising platform created by NFL kicker Billy Cundiff to raise money for Colleens Dream Foundation; a foundation dedicated to funding the efforts of young investigators conducting research on ovarian cancer.
Novak, who has experienced personal loss to cancer, said he had no hesitation when Cundiff asked him to participate in Kicking For The Dreams efforts. He says he is excited to help fund Dr. Barretts ovarian cancer research.
We have all been affected by cancer in some way or another, says Novak. Ovarian cancer, often referred to as the silent killer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. I fully support Kicking For The Dream and its mission to raise money to support research conducted by young investigators like UCSDs Dr. Christian Barrett.
Dr. Barrett, a project scientist at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, says his current research topic is to discover molecules that are present only in ovarian tumors, and not in any normal body tissues. He says this topic is interesting because both the implications, and the challenges, are huge.
The most effective way to improve survival rates for patients with ovarian cancer is to detect the disease early, says Dr. Barrett. For the last four years, I have been working to develop and apply a powerful genomics technology to discover molecules only present in ovarian tumor cells that could be detected during routine gynecologic examination. My work is based on deep computational analysis of the human genome and on molecular profiling experiments of hundreds of ovarian tumors.
He says the grant from Colleens Dream Foundation will help him pursue this research aggressively.
Support from Colleen's Dream Foundation is perfectly timed to enable our team to rapidly perform needed validation experiments.
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Harbour Grace mayor under pressure over staffing crisis
Published on February 04, 2014
An already tense situation in the Town of Harbour Grace further escalated last week after several members of council requested that newly elected Mayor Terry Barnes resign his post.
Photo by Melissa Jenkins
Mayor Terry Barnes confirmed he was asked to resign last week by several of his councillors in a statement to The Compass this week.
The Compass has learned that during a privileged meeting of council on Jan. 28, some councillors placed the blame for the towns recent staffing crisis on the mayor, and suggested he resign.
Barnes confirmed this with The Compass this week, and released the following statement:
During a recent meeting, some of my fellow councillors asked for my resignation. Firmly believing I have done nothing to warrant such a request, I will proudly continue my role as mayor of the town, in which I am determined to revive, he wrote.
I will request that this issue be put to rest once and for all as I have no further comment.
Sources say up to four of the seven elected members Gord Stone, Hayward Blake, Tony McCarthy and Pat Haire had lost confidence in the mayor.
Source also say that Deputy Mayor Sonia Williams came under fire from her colleagues on a separate issue.
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