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NASA builds a time-machine telescope 100 times as powerful as the Hubble

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Provided by Washington Post

Inside a very big and very clean room at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., nearly 30 workers dressed in white protective suits, goggles and blue booties cluster around the parts of a time machine.

These parts gold-covered mirrors, tennis-court-size sun shields, delicate infrared cameras are slowly being put together to become the James Webb Space Telescope.

Astronomers are hoping that the Webb will be able to collect light that is very far away from us and is moving still farther away. The universe has been expanding ever since the big bang got it started, but scientists reckon that if the telescope is powerful enough, they just might be able to see the birth of the first galaxies, some 13.5 billion years ago.

This is similar to archaeology, says Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who helped plan Webbs science mission. We are digging deep into the universe. But as the sources of light become fainter and farther away, you need a big telescope like the James Webb.

Named for a former NASA director, the 21-foot-diameter Webb telescope will be 100 times as powerful as the Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched in 1990. Although Hubble wasnt the first space telescope, its images of far-off objects have dazzled the public and led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as determining how fast the universe is expanding.

The Webb will be both bigger and located in a darker part of space than Hubble, enabling it to capture images from the faintest galaxies. Four infrared cameras will capture light that is moving away from us very quickly and that has shifted from the visible to the infrared spectrum, described as red-shifted. The advantage of using infrared light is that it is not blocked by clouds of gas and dust that may lie between the telescope and the light. Webbs mirrors are covered in a thin layer of gold that absorbs blue light but reflects yellow and red visible light, and its cameras will detect infrared light and a small part of the visible spectrum. As objects move away from us, the wavelength of their light shifts from visible light to infrared light. Thats why the Webbs infrared cameras will be able to see things that are both far away and moving away from us.

The cameras will also probe the atmospheres of planets that revolve around nearby stars, known as exoplanets, for the chemical signatures of life: water, oxygen and maybe even pollution from alien civilizations.

But before any of that dazzling science happens, theres a lot of testing to do at Goddard, in the clean room and a nearby cryo-chamber.

Various tests will squeeze, shake, freeze and twist thousands of individual parts in an effort to make sure the spacecraft will survive blastoff from a spaceport in French Guyana and the cold environment of its orbiting position almost a million miles from Earth. By comparison, Hubble circles just 375 miles above our planet, depending on its orbit.

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NASA builds a time-machine telescope 100 times as powerful as the Hubble

NASA Computer Model Provides A New Portrait Of Carbon Dioxide

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Provided by Patrick Lynch, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center

An ultra-high-resolution NASA computer model has given scientists a stunning new look at how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere travels around the globe.

[ Watch the Video: A Year In The Life Of Earths CO2 ]

Plumes of carbon dioxide in the simulation swirl and shift as winds disperse the greenhouse gas away from its sources. The simulation also illustrates differences in carbon dioxide levels in the northern and southern hemispheres and distinct swings in global carbon dioxide concentrations as the growth cycle of plants and trees changes with the seasons.

Scientists have made ground-based measurements of carbon dioxide for decades and in July NASA launched the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite to make global, space-based carbon observations. But the simulation the product of a new computer model that is among the highest-resolution ever created is the first to show in such fine detail how carbon dioxide actually moves through the atmosphere.

While the presence of carbon dioxide has dramatic global consequences, its fascinating to see how local emission sources and weather systems produce gradients of its concentration on a very regional scale, said Bill Putman, lead scientist on the project from NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Simulations like this, combined with data from observations, will help improve our understanding of both human emissions of carbon dioxide and natural fluxes across the globe.

The carbon dioxide visualization was produced by a computer model called GEOS-5, created by scientists at NASA Goddards Global Modeling and Assimilation Office. In particular, the visualization is part of a simulation called a Nature Run. The Nature Run ingests real data on atmospheric conditions and the emission of greenhouse gases and both natural and man-made particulates. The model is then is left to run on its own and simulate the natural behavior of the Earths atmosphere. This Nature Run simulates May 2005 to June 2007.

While Goddard scientists have been tweaking a beta version of the Nature Run internally for several years, they are now releasing this updated, improved version to the scientific community for the first time. Scientists are presenting a first look at the Nature Run and the carbon dioxide visualization at the SC14 supercomputing conference this week in New Orleans.

Were very excited to share this revolutionary dataset with the modeling and data assimilation community, Putman said, and we hope the comprehensiveness of this product and its ground-breaking resolution will provide a platform for research and discovery throughout the Earth science community.

In the spring of 2014, for the first time in modern history, atmospheric carbon dioxide the key driver of global warming exceeded 400 parts per million across most of the northern hemisphere. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide concentrations were about 270 parts per million. Concentrations of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere continue to increase, driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels.

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NASA Computer Model Provides A New Portrait Of Carbon Dioxide

NASA: stunning new look at how carbon dioxide travels in the atmosphere

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GREENBELT, Md. (NASA) An ultra-high-resolution NASA computer model has given scientists a stunning new look at how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere travels around the globe.Plumes of carbon dioxide in the simulation swirl and shift as winds disperse the greenhouse gas away from its sources. The simulation also illustrates differences in carbon dioxide levels in the northern and southern hemispheres and distinct swings in global carbon dioxide concentrations as the growth cycle of plants and trees changes with the seasons.

Scientists have made ground-based measurements of carbon dioxide for decades and in July NASA launched the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite to make global, space-based carbon observations. But the simulation the product of a new computer model that is among the highest-resolution ever created is the first to show in such fine detail how carbon dioxide actually moves through the atmosphere.

While the presence of carbon dioxide has dramatic global consequences, its fascinating to see how local emission sources and weather systems produce gradients of its concentration on a very regional scale, said Bill Putman, lead scientist on the project from NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Simulations like this, combined with data from observations, will help improve our understanding of both human emissions of carbon dioxide and natural fluxes across the globe.

The carbon dioxide visualization was produced by a computer model called GEOS-5, created by scientists at NASA Goddards Global Modeling and Assimilation Office. In particular, the visualization is part of a simulation called a Nature Run. The Nature Run ingests real data on atmospheric conditions and the emission of greenhouse gases and both natural and man-made particulates. The model is then is left to run on its own and simulate the natural behavior of the Earths atmosphere. This Nature Run simulates May 2005 to June 2007.

While Goddard scientists have been tweaking a beta version of the Nature Run internally for several years, they are now releasing this updated, improved version to the scientific community for the first time. Scientists are presenting a first look at the Nature Run and the carbon dioxide visualization at the SC14 supercomputing conference this week in New Orleans.

Were very excited to share this revolutionary dataset with the modeling and data assimilation community, Putman said, and we hope the comprehensiveness of this product and its ground-breaking resolution will provide a platform for research and discovery throughout the Earth science community.

In the spring of 2014, for the first time in modern history, atmospheric carbon dioxide the key driver of global warming exceeded 400 parts per million across most of the northern hemisphere. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide concentrations were about 270 parts per million. Concentrations of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere continue to increase, driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels.

Despite carbon dioxides significance, much remains unknown about the pathways it takes from emission source to the atmosphere or carbon reservoirs such as oceans and forests. Combined with satellite observations such as those from NASAs recently launched OCO-2, computer models will help scientists better understand the processes that drive carbon dioxide concentrations.

The Nature Run also simulates winds, clouds, water vapor and airborne particles such as dust, black carbon, sea salt and emissions from industry and volcanoes.

The resolution of the model is approximately 64 times greater than that of typical global climate models. Most other models used for long-term, high-resolution climate simulations resolve climate variables such as temperatures, pressures, and winds on a horizontal grid consisting of boxes about 50 kilometers (31 miles) wide. The Nature Run resolves these features on a horizontal grid consisting of boxes only 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) wide.

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NASA: stunning new look at how carbon dioxide travels in the atmosphere

NASA video shows carbon dioxide traveling the globe

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Mention carbon dioxide and most people imagine an invisible force that is contributing to everything from sea level rise to melting glaciers.

Now, a team from NASA has unveiled an ultra-high resolution computer model that shows plumes and swirls of the greenhouse gas - in vivid reds, oranges and yellows - as its disperses around the globe, blown by the winds. It also illustrates the striking difference in carbon dioxide levels between the northern and southern hemispheres as well as seasonal swings in concentrations as the growth cycle of plants and trees changes with the seasons.

The oranges, reds and purples represent higher concentrations of carbon dioxide over the more industrialized northern hemisphere. The grays over countries like Russia and Indonesia represent carbon monoxide produced by burning forest fires.

Scientists are hoping the modeling - a visualization of a year's worth of carbon dioxide, similar to time lapse photography - will provide greater insight into how carbon dioxide behaves in the atmosphere and as well as what the climate will look like in the future.

"While the presence of carbon dioxide has dramatic global consequences, it's fascinating to see how local emission sources and weather systems produce gradients of its concentration on a very regional scale," said Bill Putman, lead scientist on the project from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Simulations like this, combined with data from observations, will help improve our understanding of both human emissions of carbon dioxide and natural fluxes across the globe."

Ground-based measurements of carbon dioxide for decades but this is the first time its movements have been modeled in such detail. The result are being presented Tuesday at a supercomputing conference in New Orleans.

The visualization in the model is part of a simulation called a "Nature Run," which ingests real data on atmospheric conditions and the emission of greenhouse gases and both natural and man-made particulates. The model is then is left to run on its own and simulate the natural behavior of the Earth's atmosphere. The Nature Run also simulates winds, clouds, water vapor and airborne particles such as dust, black carbon, sea salt and emissions from industry and volcanoes.

"We're very excited to share this revolutionary dataset with the modeling and data assimilation community," Putman said, "and we hope the comprehensiveness of this product and its ground-breaking resolution will provide a platform for research and discovery throughout the Earth science community."

This year, atmospheric carbon dioxide - the key driver of global warming - exceeded 400 parts per million across most of the northern hemisphere. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide concentrations were about 270 parts per million. Greenhouse gas concentrations are expected to continue rising in the decades ahead, driven mostly by the burning fossil fuels like oil and coal.

Global leaders are set to meet next month in Peru to begin crafting an agreement requiring governments to cuts their greenhouse gas emissions starting in 2020, in order to keep temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times.

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NASA video shows carbon dioxide traveling the globe

NASA Announces Early Stage Innovations Space Tech Research Grants

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NASA has selected 11 university-led proposals for the study of innovative, early stage technologies that address high priority needs of America's space program.

The selected proposals address unique, disruptive, or transformational technologies, including: advanced thermal protection materials modeling, computational materials, in situ utilization of asteroid materials, mobile robotic surface probe concepts for planetary exploration, and kinetic penetrators for icy planetary moons. Selection criteria required technology research that will provide dramatic improvements over existing capabilities for future science and human exploration missions.

"Research in these critical technology areas will enable science and exploration of our home planet, future deep space missions and our journey to Mars," said Michael Gazarik, associate administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington. "New space technology enables exploration while providing real world economic benefits to the American people right here on Earth, right now."

Universities selected for NASA's Early Stage Innovation grants, and the titles of their proposals, are:

The awards from NASA's Space Technology Research Grants Program are worth as much as $500,000 each, with technology research and development efforts taking place over two to three years.

Aligned with NASA's Space Technology Roadmaps, and priorities identified by the National Research Council, the agencys technology research areas lend themselves to the early stage innovative approaches U.S. universities can offer for solving tough space technology challenges.

NASA's Early Stage Innovations efforts are an element of the agency's Space Technology Research Grants Program. This program is designed to accelerate the development of technologies originating in academia that support the future science and exploration needs of NASA, other government agencies, and the commercial space sector.

For more information about NASA's Space Technology Research Grants Program, visit:

http://go.usa.gov/X9eP

This solicitation is part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is responsible for innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use on future NASA missions. During the next 18 months, the directorate will make significant new investments to address several high-priority challenges for achieving safe and affordable deep space exploration. For more information about the directorate, visit:

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NASA Announces Early Stage Innovations Space Tech Research Grants

NASA Covering Up Artifacts Imaged By Curiosity Rover With Fake Sand – Video

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NASA Covering Up Artifacts Imaged By Curiosity Rover With Fake Sand
It has become more and more blatant and in your face what NASA and JPL have been doing to the "Raw Images" being beamed back from the Curiosity Rover on Mars. This is a prime example of how...

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NASA’s new grand challenge: Find the asteroids that threaten humanity | Mason Peck | TEDxMidAtlantic – Video

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NASA #39;s new grand challenge: Find the asteroids that threaten humanity | Mason Peck | TEDxMidAtlantic
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. The era of citizen space is upon us. The cost of launching a spacec...

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NASA's new grand challenge: Find the asteroids that threaten humanity | Mason Peck | TEDxMidAtlantic - Video

Kettle Corn Machine – kettlecornsupplies.com – NASA Coating R29 – Video

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Pravasi News Overseas – NASA Moves First Orion Spacecraft to Launch Pad – 16 -11- 2014 – 6TV NRI – Video

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Pravasi News Overseas - NASA Moves First Orion Spacecraft to Launch Pad - 16 -11- 2014 - 6TV NRI
Watch 6TV, the 24/7 Telugu news channel. dedicated in delivering breaking news, live reports, exclusive interviews, sports, weather, entertainment, business updates and current affairs. To...

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Pravasi News Overseas - NASA Moves First Orion Spacecraft to Launch Pad - 16 -11- 2014 - 6TV NRI - Video


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