Handout image courtesy of NASA shows the planet Venus shortly before its transit of the Sun, June 5, 2012.(REUTERS/NASA/AIA/Solar Dynamics Observatory/Handout)

Just like out of a Star Wars movie, NASA is investigating the possibility of building a blimp-suspended city in the clouds high above Venus' searing-hot surface. The project, known as the High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC), is a spacecraft designed by the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA Langley Research Center for the purpose of exploring Earths closest neighbor. Thereve been plenty of robotic missions along the way that have been proposed to explore Venus, Project Head Dale Arney told FoxNews.com. This one [is] looking at what it would take to explore it with humans and what the feasibility looks like in that realm.

Despite Venus being closer to Earth than Mars by a few hundred million miles (depending on orbit), space agencies have been focusing their exploration efforts primarily on the red planet, and for good reason. While Venus has a similar density and chemical composition to Earth, the surface conditions have led researchers to refer to the planet as the solar systems version of Hell. The mean temperature is a balmy 863 degrees Fahrenheit, the clouds are made of sulfuric acid, and there are more volcanoes (totaling, in some estimates, over 1,000,000) than on any other planet in the Milky Way. The air pressure is also 92% percent higher than Earths at sea level. Probes landing on the planets surface have only lasted, at most, two hours.

The HAVOC project, created by Arney and Chris Jones, would get around this problem by staying high above these hellish conditions -- 30 miles above the surface, to be exact. First, a robotic probe would be sent to Venus to inspect the atmospheric conditions. Next, a crew would visit the planets orbit for a stay of 30 days, followed by a 30-day stay floating in the atmosphere. The primary feature of the concept is a 130 meter-long mobile blimp, its top covered with solar panels to utilize Venus close proximity to the sun. The helium-filled, solar-powered craft would hover above the highly acidic cloud-line for 30 days as a crew gathers information about the planets atmosphere.

While a permanent human presence in a blimp-suspended cloud city is the ultimate goal, Jones is quick to point out that theyre taking things one step at a time. What we focused on in this study was understanding what an initial robotic and an initial, very short-term human mission would look like, and then just very notionally thought about what you could then build to beyond that -- something like a more permanent presence. But our primary focus was on understanding what kind of technology system it would take to do any kind of mission at all, mainly to do the science and test out the technology it would need in order to enable those kinds of missions.

A mission to Venus could be used as a test-run for crewed missions to Mars, the former taking 440 days using existing or near-term propulsion technology while a trip to the red planet would take 500 days at a minimum. Astronaut teams would also have the choice to abort a Venus mission and return to Earth immediately after arrival, whereas missions to Mars would have no such option: the crew would have to wait on the planet until just the right orbital alignment occurred for a safe return home.

So when can we expect to see an actual mission? NASA currently has no plans to send humans to Venus and according to the Langley branchs head of public affairs Michael Finneran it may be a while before they do. This is a visionary concept that is not being proposed for funding as a mission, Finneran says. If at some point NASA decided to fund a human mission to Venus, many concepts would be examined over a period of time before one was selected.

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NASA's Venus cloud city?

NASA (via Flickr) European astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and NASA's Terry Virts participate in an emergency exercise training drill on Dec. 1, 2014.

Crewmembers on the International Space Station have now been allowed into the U.S. segment of the orbiting outpost, after a false alarm caused astronauts to evacuate that part of the station early Wednesday (Jan. 14).

The alarm could have indicated a possible leak of toxic ammonia into the station's cabin; however, NASA has found no evidence of a leak. NASA astronauts Terry Virts, Barry "Butch" Wilmore and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti re-entered the U.S. side which include the European, Japanese and U.S. station modules wearing masks at about 3:05 p.m. EST (2005 GMT). Cristoforetti and Virts took samples of the station's air and found no ammonia, according to NASA.

"The crew is in good condition, was never in any danger and no ammonia leak has been detected on the orbital laboratory," NASA officials wrote in an update.

NASA Crewmembers were forced to evacuate the U.S. segment of the International Space Station on Jan. 14, 2015 due to a possible ammonia leak.

NASA officials were worried that the space station's cooling system which uses ammonia to help regulate temperatures on the station could have been leaking the noxious gas into the station's atmosphere. [Inside the International Space Station (Infographic)]

Virts, Cristoforetti and Wilmore joined cosmonauts Elena Serova, Alexander Samokutyaev and Anton Shkaplerov in the Russian segment for much of the day after the alarm sounded at about 4 a.m. EST (0900 GMT). Because there is no sign of ammonia in the cabin, the crewmembers should be allowed to take of their masks and roam freely through all parts of the station, according to NASA.

Officials now think that the false alarm may have been caused by an error in a computer used to beam information to and from the space station. The computer, called a multiplexer-demultiplexer, now seems to be in good shape after officials turned the device off and on again, NASA officials said.

Mission Controllers are still working to understand exactly what set off the alarm, but work for the astronauts should continue as normal on Thursday (Jan. 15). NASA officials will now take steps to re-activate a cooling loop powered down because of the alarm.

NASA officials do not think that the research on the station was negatively impacted because of the evacuation.

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Space Station Ammonia Leak Scare Likely a False Alarm, NASA Says

A NASA spacecraft's epic Pluto encounter is officially underway.

NASA's New Horizons probe today (Jan. 15) began its six-month approach to Pluto, which will culminate with the first-ever close flyby of the dwarf planet on July 14.

"We really are on Pluto's doorstep," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern said last month during a news conference at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco. [Photos from NASA's New Horizons Pluto Probe]

The $700 million New Horizons mission blasted off in January 2006 with the aim of lifting the veil on Pluto. The dwarf planet has remained a mystery since its 1930 discovery because it's so small and so far away. (On average, Pluto orbits about 40 times farther from the sun than Earth does.)

The piano-size spacecraft rocketed away from Earth at more than 36,000 mph (58,000 km/h), faster than any other probe. It has now covered about 3 billion miles (4.8 billion kilometers) during its nine-year journey through deep space.

"In a very real sense, this is the Everest of planetary exploration," Stern said of New Horizons. "This mission represents the closing of the first era of planetary reconnaissance. We've made it to the farthest place, with the fastest spacecraft ever launched."

New Horizons will use seven different science instruments to study Pluto and its five known moons. The mission's chief objectives include mapping the surface composition and temperature of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon; characterizing the atmosphere of Pluto and the geology of Pluto and Charon; and hunting for rings and additional satellites in the Pluto system.

In the 1990s, researchers began to realize that Pluto is not a lonely misfit; rather, it's just one of many dwarf planets and other icy denizens of the far-flung Kuiper Belt, which lies beyond Neptune's orbit. So New Horizons' observations should help researchers better understand an entire class of solar system bodies, mission team members said.

"We are going to the archetypal Kuiper Belt planet," New Horizons co-investigator William McKinnon, of Washington University in St. Louis, said at the AGU news briefing. "This mission will revolutionize our understanding of how the planets in the Kuiper Belt work."

Small, icy worlds like Pluto are probably the most common type of planet in the entire universe, McKinnon added.

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NASA Pluto Probe Begins Science Observations Ahead of Epic Flyby

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SpaceXs Dragon spacecraft successfullydocked with the International Space Station on Jan. 12, and astronauts will beunloading more than 5,100 lbs (2,300kg)of cargo it brought up for NASA and other space agencies over the next month. Beyond the supplies, lateChristmas presents,and replacement equipment that astronauts had been waiting for patiently, there were a few unusual items that the Dragon took up. According to a NASA factsheet, heres what else was onboard:

NASA wants to study how these generally parasitic invertebrates regenerate their cells in low gravity. The space agency says its tests will provide insight into how wounds heal in space, and how humans could potentially heal themselves. Like Wolverine.

The same insects that seemingly appear out of nowhere every time you leave fruit out in the kitchen are now on the ISS, albeit under anesthesia (as opposed toannoying astronauts whilethey eat). NASA says it will be testing the immune systems of the common fruit fly, as spaceflight affects all animals immune systems, and apparently the flies provide a good model for our own immune systems.

Christopher Nolan wouldprobably have loved to use some of the shots the astronauts are likely to get as B-roll forInterstellar.

Continuing the self-preservation-in-space theme, NASA says it has brought up the Salmonella virus to test on roundworms, tobetter understand the risks of infections (and under-cooking chicken) during long-term space flights.

NASA was unable to confirm exactlywhat was inthecare packages sent to each astronaut, or what groceries were set up beyond the usual Space Food, but we do know that the astronauts were really hankering for some mustard.

Were excited to have it on board,astronaut Barry Wilmore told mission control, USA Today reported.Well be digging in soon.

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NASA just sent its astronauts some weird stuff

Astronauts returned to the U.S. side of the International Space Station on Wednesday, hours after an apparent false alarm raised concerns about an ammonia leak and forced a partial evacuation.

The six crew members shut down the U.S. segment and hung out on the station's Russian side for much of the day while ground controllers went about troubleshooting the problem. Eleven hours after the alarm arose, mask-wearing astronauts went back in and sampled the air.

"No ammonia indication," NASA reported in a tweet.

The likeliest cause of the alarm was a malfunctioning card in a signal-processing box, NASA space station project manager Mike Suffredini said during a televised update.

"At this point, the team does not believe we leaked ammonia. ... What we are dealing with is a failure, probably of a card inside a multiplexer-demultiplexer," he said. The space station has a number of multiplexer-demultiplexer boxes that process readings from components aboard the orbital outpost, which has as much livable space as a six-bedroom house.

NASA said turning the box off and then back on cleared up the worrisome readings.

The alarm was raised at 4 a.m. ET, when Mission Control saw pressure changes that could have been caused by an internal leak in the station's coolant system, which uses water on an inside loop and toxic ammonia on an outside loop. "If this is possible, then we immediately 'safe' the vehicle and get the crew in a safe place," Suffredini said.

Crew members put on emergency masks, powered down the systems on the station's U.S.-built segment, moved into the Russian segment and closed a connecting hatch. The ammonia coolant system services only the U.S. side of the station, so controllers said there was no risk to the crew.

"The safety of the team was preserved thanks to swift actions of the cosmonauts and astronauts themselves and the team on the ground in Moscow and Houston," said Maksim Matyushin, the chief of Russia's Mission Control.

Follow-up readings indicated no sign of an actual ammonia leak into the station, although fluctuations in cabin pressure continued to cause concern. Suffredini said those fluctuations were probably the system's "normal reaction to the events that started to unfold."

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Space Station Crew Safe After Partial Evacuation: NASA

Comet ISON #39;s Full Perihelion Pass NASA 2015 News
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NASA - The Massive Superstars of Eta Carinae
Eta Carinae is a binary system containing the most luminous and massive star within 10000 light-years. A long-term study led by astronomers at NASA #39;s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,...

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IMAGE:NASA's Terra satellite captured this visible image of Tropical Cyclone Bansi on January 13 at 6:25 UTC (1:25 a.m. EST). view more

Credit: Image Credit: NASA's Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Center

NASA's Terra satellite passed Tropical Cyclone Bansi on January 13 when it was about 170 nautical miles (195 miles/314 km) north of the Island of Mauritius and a major hurricane in the Southern Indian Ocean.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Cyclone Bansi on January 13 at 6:25 UTC (1:25 a.m. EST). The image revealed a 12 nautical mile-wide visible eye with high, powerful thunderstorms ringed around it, and spiraling bands of thunderstorms wrapping into the center of circulation. The eye of Bansi appears a couple of hundred miles north of Mauritius.

The image was created by the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

On January 13 at 0900 UTC (4 a.m. EST), Bansi's maximum sustained winds had increased to 130 knots (149.6 mph/240.8 kph). Bansi is a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale. At 0900 UTC, it was centered near 17.3 south latitude and 57.7 east longitude, about 169 nautical miles (194.5 miles/313 km) north of Port Louis, Mauritius. Bansi is moving to the northeast at 4 knots (4.6 mph/7.4 kph).

Mauritius remains under a tropical cyclone warning class 2 and La Reunion Island remained on Yellow pre-alert on January 13. Bansi is creating very rough seas, with maximum wave heights to 30 feet. (9.1 meters)

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center noted that slow or near quasi-stationary movement is expected over the next 36 hours due to a weak steering environment. Over that time, some intensification is likely, and the cyclone is forecast to peak as a Category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Scale at 140 knots (161.1 mph/259.3 kph) before starting to weaken.

The forecast calls for Bansi to continue moving away from Mauritius and head in an easterly direction over open waters of the Southern Indian Ocean.

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NASA sees major Tropical Cyclone Bansi north of Mauritius

Googles self-driving cars wont be the only robotic vehicles roaming NASAs Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in California. The U.S. space agency has teamed up with automaker Nissan to test autonomous drivingtechnologies that could find their way into future vehicles both on the road and in space exploration missions.

NASA hopes thefive-yearpartnership can help improve the autonomous vehicle technologies available for its robotic rovers duringMars missionsand other future space exploration. On Earth, Nissan has set a 2020 goal for the market debut of cars that can navigate without human intervention under most driving conditions. Researchers from both organizations aim to begin testing the first of a fleet of self-driving vehicles before the end of 2015.

The work of NASA and Nissanwith one directed to space and the other directed to earthis connected by similar challenges,said Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Nissan Motor Co, in an 8 Januarypress release.The partnership will accelerate Nissan's development of safe, secure and reliable autonomous drive technology that we will progressively introduce to consumers beginning in 2016 up to 2020.

The two organizations have cooperated on technological development in the past. For instance,Nissan used NASAs research on neutral body posture in low-gravity conditions to develop more comfortable car seats. But hardware and softwareforself-driving cars could prove to be some of the mosttransformative technologies to reach mainstream acceptance in the coming years.

Ghosnhas suggested that Nissansintroduction of a commercially available self-driving car could even take place as soon as2018. He mentioned legal considerations rather than technological roadblocks as the biggest potential stumbling block along any timeline. On the other hand, Nissan engineers have emphasized a less firm deadline in order to leave themselvesmore wiggle room.

Other observers say that, Ghosns reassurances notwithstanding,there remains a list of technical and regulatory hurdles that must be cleared beforeself-driving cars can be expected to make the worlds roadsat least as safe as they are with humans in control. The toughest part of the challenge for robotic cars will be dealing with a mix of automated vehicles and ordinary vehicles driven by humans.

As I noted earlier, the zero-emission, self-driving vehicles to be tested by Nissan wont have the run of the place. Theyll share the NASA testing grounds with potential competitors such as Google.Google has already been making use of the NASA Ames Research Center to test its own self-driving vehiclea two-seat, all-electric prototype that dispenses with the traditional steering wheel and accelerator and brakepedals in favor of just a start and stop button. The Silicon Valley giant hopes to begin tests of its unoccupiedself-driving carson the NASA research campus sometime this year.

Other carmakers are also racing to develop self-driving vehicles. Mercedes-Benz has begun testing its own robocars at an abandoned naval base in Concord, Calif. Meanwhile, Elon Musk has promised that his Tesla electric cars will be able to operate without human assistance for 90 percent of miles drivenstarting this year.

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IEEE Spectrums blog about the sensors, software, and systems that are making cars smarter, more entertaining, and ultimately, autonomous. Contact us:p.ross@ieee.org

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NASA and Nissan Chase Self-Driving Car Technology

First Launch Attempt: SpaceX Falcon 9 / Dragon CRS-5 NASA TV Broadcast
First Launch Attempt: SpaceX Falcon 9 / Dragon CRS-5 NASA TV Broadcast Video Credit: NASA TV.

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Ted Cruz Will Oversee NASA Science Programs
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Japanese automaker Nissan and NASA are teaming up to advance the technology behind cars that drive autonomously. Nissan Motor Co. and NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California, announced Thursday a five-year research-and-development partnership for autonomous vehicle systems so they can eventually be applied to commercially sold cars. Nissan is excited about the potential of self-driving cars, which executives say could lead to improved safety, a pillar for future autos along with low-emission technology. NASA researchers will be working with Nissan's research unit in Silicon Valley. The maker of the Leaf electric car and Infiniti luxury models aims to introduce autonomous driving technology to consumers between 2016 and 2020. Ames developed the Mars rover software and robots onboard the International Space Station.

"The partnership brings together the best and brightest of NASA and Nissan and validates our investments in Silicon Valley," said Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn. The safety technology in the works includes cars that know through sensors they are about to collide and will brake automatically, even if the driver doesn't do a thing. There are also cars that can park themselves. At its most sophisticated, the technology could replace human drivers altogether, though there are many hurdles to that being put into practice on roads.

Automakers besides Nissan are working on the technology, including Japanese rival Toyota and U.S. manufacturers General Motors and Ford. And companies outside the industry are getting involved, such as Google. The driverless car was the topic of a keynote address by Ford Chief Executive Mark Fields at the International CES gadget show in Las Vegas earlier this week.

First published January 9 2015, 11:09 AM

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Nissan and NASA Team Up on Self-Driving Car Tech

IMAGE:This is a view of NASA's C-130 research aircraft that will be used on the ACT-America mission. view more

Credit: NASA / Dennis Rieke and Mark Russell

Penn State will lead a five-year, $30 million mission to improve quantification of present-day carbon-related greenhouse gas sources and sinks. An improved understanding of these gases will advance our ability to predict and manage future climate change.

"Atmospheric Carbon and Transport-America" is one of five airborne studies funded by NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder Program to improve our understanding of the Earth system and our ability to predict future changes.

In 2015, NASA aircraft will begin five studies around the world to investigate how global air pollution, climate forcing, warming ocean waters and fires in Africa affect our climate. The five studies were competitively selected as part of NASA's Earth Venture-class missions and are the second series of NASA's Earth Venture suborbital investigations.

Ken Davis, professor of meteorology in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, is the principal investigator on the Penn State project, which will measure atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases and atmospheric properties within weather systems across the eastern United States. The study will improve detection and quantification of carbon dioxide and methane sources and sinks using airborne, satellite and ground-based observations.

ACT-America will bring together more than 30 scientists from 10 institutions including federal agencies, national laboratories, other universities and private industry. NASA Langley Research Center, located in Hampton, Virginia, is Penn State's lead partner in the effort. Other Penn State researchers on the project include Thomas Lauvaux, adjunct professor of meteorology and researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California; Natasha Miles, research associate in meteorology; Scott Richardson, senior research associate in meteorology; Charles Pavloski, senior research associate in meteorology; Bernd Haupt, senior research associate, Penn State's Earth and Environmental Systems Institute; Fuqing Zhang, professor of meteorology; and Klaus Keller, associate professor of geosciences.

On regional and continental scales, carbon dioxide and methane sources and sinks are poorly understood. ACT-America will employ a new generation of atmospheric inversion systems to estimate surface-to-atmosphere net carbon fluxes by using atmospheric concentration measurements and atmospheric transport models. These systems can provide accurate and precise diagnoses of carbon dioxide and methane fluxes for biomes, nations or other important ecological or geopolitical regions. These new systems will be the first with the precision, accuracy, and resolution needed to evaluate and improve terrestrial carbon cycle models, and monitor carbon fluxes to support climate-change mitigation efforts.

Understanding the terrestrial carbon cycle is essential for diagnosing current and predicting future climate change. The Earth's terrestrial biosphere has been a strong net sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide, substantially slowing the rate of accumulation of the greenhouse gas produced from the combustion of fossil fuels in the atmosphere. Methane, another form of carbon in the carbon cycle, is accumulating in the atmosphere and is the second largest contributor to anthropogenic climate change.

"This mission is focused primarily on ecosystem fluxes of carbon dioxide." Said Davis. "Ecosystem fluxes of carbon dioxide and methane are large forces in the climate system. Currently, ecosystems are sequestering carbon dioxide and offsetting fossil fuel emissions of carbon dioxide. About 25 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuel gets absorbed by terrestrial ecosystems and about another 25 percent gets absorbed by oceans so only about half of the CO2 that we emit stays in the atmosphere. This is a huge benefit but we are not able to predict the future course of this sink."

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NASA awards $30 million grant to Penn State to help answer climate questions