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NASA Announces 2014 Innovations in Climate Education Tribal Awards

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NASA's Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) has awarded nearly$3 millionin new cooperative agreements to four Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) acrossthe United Statesto enhance learning through the use of the agency's Earth science resources.

The award is made through the NASA Innovations in Climate Education-Tribal (NICE-T) activity. The selected institutions are:

-- College of Menominee Nations,Keshena, Wis. --Turtle Mountain Community College,Belcourt, N.D. -- Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College,Cloquet, Minn. --Salish Kootenai College,Pablo, Mont.

The awards, which have a 3-year period of performance and range in value from approximately$413,000to$1,009,000, support tribal colleges and their partners as they improve teaching and learning about global climate change on their campuses.

The winning proposals illustrated innovative uses of NASA content to support elementary, secondary and undergraduate teaching and learning. There is a strong emphasis on engaging students using NASA Earth observation data and Earth system models, as well as providing climate-related research experiences for teachers, undergraduate and graduate students, particularly in the TCU community.

NASA Langley Research Center inHampton, Va., provides management and administration for the NICE-T activity. NICE-T supports NASA's goal of engaging students in the critical disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and inspiring the next generation of explorers.

The cooperative agreements are part of NASA's strategic emphasis on engaging the Tribal community. For a list of selected organizations and projects' descriptions, click on "Selected Proposals" and see the entry for "2013 NASA Innovations in Climate Education -Tribal (NICE-T)," visit:http://nspires.nasaprs.com

For information about NASA's education programs, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/education

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NASA Announces 2014 Innovations in Climate Education Tribal Awards

NASA training robot to perform medical procedures in space

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NASA's Robonaut 2 and Dr. Zsolt Garami, of the Houston Methodist Research Institute, practice telemedicine techniques during a test of the robot's bedside manner. This image is a still from a NASA video documenting the Robonaut 2 test. NASA

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Gallery: Robonaut 2 will make history when it blasts off Thursday with the space shuttle Discovery

Having a robotic "physician" would take some pressure off of the astronauts. Currently, NASA astronauts are trained as basic surgeons before embarking on their space missions, which often last six months.

In a video released by NASA, an Earth-bound twin of R2 performed an ultrasound scan on a mannequin. It used a syringe to perform mock injections as part of the ultrasound.

"Humans at the controls are able to perform the task correctly and efficiently by using R2's dexterity to apply the appropriate level of force and can track their progress using R2's vision system," officials added in the video's YouTube description.

One of the key benefits is the speed at which the robots learn.

"I would say that within an hour I trained him more than with other studentsI'm working for a week, so I think that he's learning really fast," Garami says in the video.

"This demonstration of robotic capabilities could one day result in the ability for physicians to conduct complex medical procedures on humans in remote locations," the officials added, "whether on the Earth's surface or even in low Earth orbit."

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NASA training robot to perform medical procedures in space

NASA ups ante on crowdsourcing patents

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Innovation

Over the decades, NASA technologies were designed to hurl astronauts into space and develop satellites with pinpoint precision. But off-label uses have led to advanced medical ultrasound, camera phone enhancements and commercial airline improvements.

In October 2013, NASA posted 14 patents on the crowdsourcing site Marblar to facilitate more innovation through collaboration by the space program, industry and individuals. NASA now has 35 patents on its Marblar page and has welcomed practical applications of its technology.

Daniel Lockney, NASA's technology transfer program executive, said that although the agency always has a specific reason for developing a technology, it doesn't always realize all the different ways that technology might be applied.

"That's why we've worked with the company Marblar to help us to tap into the untapped cognitive surplus that exists in the world," he said.

For instance, NASA engineer Fred Schramm developed a two-component method for identifying and verifying objects. It uses an X-ray fluorescent inspection and a visual readout to identify objects. Marblar users have floated ideas for applying it to detecting counterfeit prescription drugs, among other uses. They also suggested using NASA's method of storing ultra-low-temperature fluids to store tissues for biomedical research.

Of about 11,000 U.S. patents filed by academia in 2013, less than 5 percent were commercialized, said Dan Perez, founder and CEO of Marblar.

"There's a big gulf between turning science that's happening all around us at all the universities in the U.S. into new products," he added.

According to NASA, parties not affiliated with NASA filed more than half of the 2,100 active patents that were derived from NASA programs and products in 2013.

"What's exciting about turning science into new products -- and for anybody interested in developing some of NASA's technologies into new products or universities' technologies into new products -- is that when you work with something that's already patented or research that's already been done, you kind of get a running start," Perez said.

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NASA ups ante on crowdsourcing patents

NASA Seeks Targets For Asteroid-Capture Mission

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NASA has set up a "rapid response system" to pick the best candidates for its ambitious asteroid-capture mission.

The space agency aims to use a robotic spacecraft to haul a near-Earth asteroid into a stable lunar orbit, where astronauts would visit it in the future. It's not as easy as just picking a space rock and going, however. Many asteroids are too big to be moved easily or are in unstable orbits. Others are too distant for telescopes to figure out what they're made of, which could make them unsuitable candidates.

"There are other elements involved, but if size were the only factor, we'd be looking for an asteroid smaller than about 40 feet (12 meters) across," Paul Chodas, a senior scientist in the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, said in a a statement. [NASA's Asteroid-Capture Mission in Pictures]

"There are hundreds of millions of objects out there in this size range, but they are small and don't reflect a lot of sunlight, so they can be hard to spot," Chodas added. "The best time to discover them is when they are brightest, when they are close to Earth."

Asteroids hit the headlines in a big way a year ago, when a space rock broke up over Chelyabinsk, Russia, injuring 1,500 people. Since the Russian meteor explosion, space agencies worldwide have stepped up the search for space rocks that are potentially hazardous to Earth.

NASA is billing the asteroid-capture mission as one step in that process, arguing that the effort could help test out processes to move a threatening rock out of its Earth-crossing orbit.

To ferret out the best candidates, NASA has a relatively new screening process in place that plumbs a database of "small bodies" discovered near Earth. Asteroids are typically found by astronomers, who then pass on the information to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass. Researchers at JPL use this database to update their own information.

"If an asteroid looks as if it could meet the criteria of size and orbit, our automated system sends us an email with the subject 'New ARM Candidate,' " Chodas said. "When that happens, and it has happened several dozen times since we implemented the system in March of 2013, I know we'll have a busy day."

NASA needs to move quickly when one of these candidates is found, because newly spotted near-Earth objects are usually visible in telescopes for just a few days before they move out of range. If the telescopes are available, NASA uses two massive radar observatories the Deep Space Network station at Goldstone, Calif., and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico to get more details on size and rotation.

Sometimes, other observatories are used to chart the asteroid's path in space. The NASA-funded Infrared Telescope Facility in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, if it's available, can provide information on the asteroid's composition. Another potential helper is NASA's reactivated NEOWISE spacecraft, whose new mission is to track asteroids that pass close to Earth.

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NASA Seeks Targets For Asteroid-Capture Mission

Ned’s World feat. Thaddeus David & Steezie Nasa (prod. by Mackned) (Official Music Video) *REUPLOAD* – Video

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Ned #39;s World feat. Thaddeus David Steezie Nasa (prod. by Mackned) (Official Music Video) *REUPLOAD*
Youtube deleted this video at 7073 views because someone reported it... Twitter: @NedsWorld @omgimwigs @ThaddeusDavid @PSteez Video filmed and edited by Nat...

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Ned's World feat. Thaddeus David & Steezie Nasa (prod. by Mackned) (Official Music Video) *REUPLOAD* - Video

Mars Curiosity Rover’s Wheels Getting Dings | 02/14/2014 | NASA Space Science – Video

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Mars Curiosity Rover #39;s Wheels Getting Dings | 02/14/2014 | NASA Space Science
More space news and info at: http://www.coconutsciencelab.com - Curiosity Rover Report, for the week ending in February 14, 2014. Please rate and comment, th...

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Mars Curiosity Rover's Wheels Getting Dings | 02/14/2014 | NASA Space Science - Video


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