In Brief After five months of rest, New Horizons is being woken up by NASA so it can investigate a mysterious ancient object in the Kuiper Belt. The object, MU69, is located 4 billion miles from Earth and could teach us about the formation of our solar system. Well Rested

After five months of beauty sleep, New Horizons is about to be woken up. The craft was powered down whileit made its way through the Kuiper Belt, and on September 11, NASA plans to revive the spacecraft so it can investigate an ancient object thats located some 6.5 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) from Earth.

New Horizons was put to sleep in April 2017 following a mammoth two-and-a-half year stretch spent observing Pluto. A lengthy hibernation like this is one way to cut down on wear and tear, which can be an issuefor a spacecraft that has now spent more than a decade off-world since launching in January 2006.

The purpose of New Horizons is to investigate the bodies on the very edge of our solar system. When it launched, Pluto was still considered a planet, and the best images we had of it were blurry snapshots taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

New Horizons offered up some truly breathtaking photos of Pluto, packed with details that had previously gone unseen. Now, the spacecraft is gearing up for the most distant flyby in the history of space exploration in an attempt to answer questions about the ancient history of our solar system.

The Kuiper Belt otherwise known as the Third Zone is home to a space rock known as MU69. Hubbles latest images suggest that its probably two binary objects or a pair of rocks that are stuck together, each of which measures around 19 kilometers (12 miles) across. New Horizons is about to clear up the confusion.

NASA was given some important data to help plan the flyby when MU69 passed in front of a starin July 2017. By capturing its shadow using a set of telescopes set up in Patagonia, Argentina, astronomers were given reason to believe that the object could be either a binary pair or a skinny, football-shaped body.

It may even be a swarm of smaller bodies left from the time when the planets in our solar system formed, Alan Stern, NASAs principal investigator for New Horizons, told The Telegraph. New exploration awaits us. It promises a scientific bonanza for the flyby.

MU69 could providesome important insight into how our solar system came to be. The object is thought to be 4 billion years old, and itcould offer cluesabout the formation ofcelestial bodies situated on the edge of our solar system.

New Horizons still has a bit of a journey before it can start sending us images of MU69, however the spacecraft isnt scheduled to pass by the object until January 1, 2019.

Read more:

NASA Is Finally Going to Wake up the New Horizons Spacecraft - Futurism

Liquids behave very differently in microgravity than they do down on Earth. NASA astronaut Jack Fischer demonstrated a particularly odd and entertaining property of tropical punch in a video showing how to make a wet mess while floating around the International Space Station.

Fischer used a repurposed condiment bottle with a makeshift "NASA rocks" label. He filled it with tropical punch, placed a straw into the opening and blew air in to displace the liquid.

On Earth, the punch would have spewed out and dropped down under the power of gravity. In space, it turns into what looks like a giant gum bubble, clinging to Fischer's face and covering his mouth, nose and eyes. Fischer finally pops the bubble with a towel and it explodes into small floating punch globules.

The video, which Fischer posted on Friday, is fun, but's also a fascinating lesson about how liquids react without the pull of gravity to keep them in line.

18

See one astronaut's wild pictures from space

See the article here:

See fruit punch attack a NASA astronaut's face in space - CNET

Have you ever considered the logistics that go into assembling NASAs gargantuan rockets? Well, it all happens in theVehicle Assembly Building (VAB)at the Kennedy Space Center.

The VAB is the only building in existencethat assembled rockets that carried humans to the surface of another world. It was completed just three years before we set foot on the Moon.

The 2,664,883 cubic meter (129,428,000 cubic feet) buildingis one of the worlds largest buildings by volume, and it is the worlds largestone-story building. It was built in the early 1960s to house Saturn V rockets of the Apollo Program, and later it was used for Space Shuttle launch configuration. Now, its being prepped to support the SLSthe rocket that may carry the first humans to Mars.

Ultimately, this building is a critical part of NASAs plans to launch humans (and equipment) into the far reaches of our solar system. But dont start packing your bags to visit; no tours are open to the public. Since 2014, it has been referred to as one of therestricted areas of Americas Spaceport

Recently though, Futurism got a peek into the VAB, and some inside information from NASA experts on what the future holds for the historic site.

Follow this link:

An Exclusive Look Inside The Secretive Building Where NASA Makes Rockets - Futurism

August 14, 2017 The sun is about to spill some of its secrets, maybe even reveal a few hidden truths of the cosmos. And you can get in on the act next week if you are in the right place for the best solar eclipse in the United States in nearly a century.

Astronomers are going full blast to pry even more science from the mysterious ball of gas that's vital to Earth. They'll look from the ground, using telescopes, cameras, binoculars and whatever else works. They'll look from the International Space Station and a fleet of 11 satellites in space. And in between, they'll fly three planes and launch more than 70 high-altitude balloons.

"We expect a boatload of science from this one," said Jay Pasachoff, a Williams College astronomer who has traveled to 65 eclipses of all kinds.

Scientists will focus on the sun, but they will also examine what happens to Earth's weather, to space weather, and to animals and plants on Earth as the moon totally blocks out the sun. The moon's shadow will sweep along a narrow path, from Oregon to South Carolina.

Between NASA and the National Science Foundation, the federal government is spending about $7.7 million on next Monday's eclipse. One of the NASA projects has students launching the high-altitude balloons to provide "live footage from the edge of space" during the eclipse.

But it's not just the professionals or students. NASA has a list of various experiments everyday people can do.

"Millions of people can walk out on their porch in their slippers and collect world-class data," said Matt Penn, an astronomer at the National Solar Observatory in Tucson, Ariz.

Dr. Penn is chief scientist for a National Science Foundation-funded movie project nicknamed Citizen CATE. More than 200 volunteers have been trained and given special small telescopes and tripods to observe the sun at 68 locations in the exact same way. The thousands of images from the citizen-scientists will be combined for a movie of the usually hard-to-see sun's edge.

Mike Conley, a Salem, Ore., stock trader whose backyard is studded with telescopes, jumped at the chance to be part of the science team.

"Who knows? Maybe a great secret will come of this, the mysteries of the sun will be revealed, because we're doing something that's never been done before and we're getting data that's never been seen before," he said. "A big discovery will come and everybody will say, 'Hey, we were part of that!' "

You don't need to have telescopes to help out. You can use the iNaturalist app via the California Academy of Sciences and note the reaction of animals and plants around you. You can go to a zoo, like the Nashville Zoo, where they are asking people to keep track of what the animals are doing. The University of California, Berkeley, is seeking photos and video for its Eclipse Megamovie 2017, hoping to get more than 1,000 volunteers.

Even with all the high-tech, high-flying instruments now available, when it comes to understanding much of the sun's mysteries, nothing beats an eclipse, said Williams College's Dr. Pasachoff. That's because the sun is so bright that even satellites and special probes can't gaze straight at the sun just to glimpse the outer crown, or corona. Satellites create artificial eclipses to blot out the sun, but they can't do it as well as the moon, he said.

The corona is what astronomers really focus on during an eclipse. It's the sun's outer atmosphere where space weather originates, where jutting loops of red glowing plasma lash out and where the magnetic field shows fluctuations. The temperature in the outer atmosphere is more than 1 million degrees hotter than it is on the surface of the sun and scientists want to figure out why.

"It's ironic that we've learned most about the sun when its disk is hidden from view," said Fred "Mr. Eclipse " Espenak, a retired NASA astronomer who specialized in eclipses for the space agency.

And they learn other things, too. Helium the second most abundant element in the universe wasn't discovered on Earth until its chemical spectrum was spotted during an eclipse in 1868, Dr. Espenak said.

But that discovery is eclipsed by what an eclipse did for Albert Einstein and physics.

Einstein was a little known scientist in 1915 when he proposed his general theory of relativity, a milestone in physics that says what we perceive as the force of gravity is actually from the curvature of space and time. It explains the motion of planets, black holes and the bending of light from distant galaxies.

Einstein couldn't prove it but said one way to do so was to show that light from a distant star bends during an eclipse. During a 1919 eclipse, Arthur Eddington observed the right amount of bending, something that couldn't be done without the moon's shadow eclipsing the sun.

"It marked a complete change in the understanding of the universe," said Mark Littmann of the University of Tennessee, a former planetarium director. "Bang. Right there."

This story was reported by The Associated Press.

See the original post:

NASA mobilizes citizen-scientists to capture total eclipse - Christian Science Monitor

The Importance of 30 Minutes

The International Space Station is nearly twenty years old. During almost two decades in low-Earth orbit, the floating laboratory has offered the opportunity to test many a hypothesis in microgravity.

Often, these experiments have to do with biology and biochemistry. Take for instance studying the effects of space radiation on mammalian reproduction, or flatworm regeneration in microgravity. However, hardware also has a place in the lab.

The current computers on the ISS the ones that operate the station run on a microprocessor first introduced in 1985. That may not sound like enough to power the almost five-mile-long station however, these computers are supported by 24/7 monitoring from the ground by even more powerful computers.

The system does the job, for now. It doesnt take long for information to travel from the ISS to the ground. However, when humans eventually get to the Red Planet, communicating between Mars and Earth will result in a bit of a delay. No, not quite a la The Martian. More like 30 minutes each way.

This may not sound like much, but, as Alain Andreoli, Hewlett-Packard Enterprises (HPE) senior vice president of its data center infrastructure group explained in a blog post:

A long communication lag would make any on-the-ground exploration challenging and potentially dangerous if astronauts are met with any mission critical scenarios that theyre not able to solve themselves.

Essentially, half an hour could cost someone their life.

So why arent scientists just sending better computersto space? Well, space travel is pretty rough on technology, and NASA has high demands. Computers aboard the ISS need to withstand space-related problems such as radiation, solar flares, subatomic particles, micrometeoroids, unstable electrical power, irregular cooling, explained Andreoli. This hardening process results in additional costs and unnecessary bulk.

What if traditional, off-the-shelf computer components could be made to withstand the rigors of space? NASA and HPE are working together to find out. Monday, a SpaceX rocket will launch a supercomputer called the Spaceborne Computer to the ISS for a year-long experiment (coincidently, the amount of time it would take humans to get to Mars).

The computer has not been hardened for the radiation environment on the space station in the traditional sense. Instead, its been software hardened. The goal is to better understand how space will degrade the performance of an off-the-shelf computer. Meanwhile, back on Earth, an identical model will run in a lab as a control.

The computer is only about the size of two pizza boxes stuck together. It has a special water-cooled enclosure as well as custom software that can automatically adjust for environmentally-induced computer errors. It may not be the most powerful computer on the market, but with its 1 teraflop computing speed, itll be the most powerful computer ever sent into space.

This goes along with the space stations mission to facilitate exploration beyond low Earth orbit, Mark Fernandez, HPEs leading payload engineer for the project, toldArs Technica. If this experiment works, it opens up a universe of possibility for high performance computing in space.

Not only will this result in better computers aboard the ISS and other NASA crafts that can send humans farther into space, but it will also help with experiments on the ISS. Fernandez explains that scientists could use an on-board supercomputer for data processing, rather than sending the data back to Earth.

Read this article:

SpaceX, NASA, and HP Are Sending a Supercomputer to the ISS - Futurism

By Fernando Ramirez, Chron.com / Houston Chronicle

Photo: Science & Society Picture Library/SSPL Via Getty Images

Best messages to Voyager 1

Nasa is asking the public's help in crafting an uplifting message to send to Voyager 1.

Click through to see the best submissions so far.

Best messages to Voyager 1

Nasa is asking the public's help in crafting an uplifting message to send to Voyager 1.

Click through to see the best submissions so far.

@McCrypto

"We are the Humans. Resistance is futile." #MessageToVoyager @NASAVoyager

— Marco ?? (@McCrypto) August 3, 2017

@McCrypto

"We are the Humans. Resistance is futile." #MessageToVoyager @NASAVoyager

— Marco ?? (@McCrypto) August 3, 2017

Click through to see the evolution of NASA's space suits

Click through to see the evolution of NASA's space suits

Mercury space suit

Years active: 1959 through early 1970s

Mercury space suit

Years active: 1959 through early 1970s

Mercury space suit

Years active: 1959 through early 1970s

Mercury space suit

Years active: 1959 through early 1970s

Gemini space suits

Years active: 1960s

Gemini space suits

Years active: 1960s

Gemini space suits

Years active:1960s

Gemini space suits

Years active:1960s

Gemini space suits

Years active:1960s

Gemini space suits

Years active:1960s

Apollo space suits

Years active: 1968-1975

Apollo space suits

Years active: 1968-1975

Apollo space suits

Years active:1968-1975

Apollo space suits

Years active:1968-1975

Apollo space suits

Years active:1968-1975

Apollo space suits

Years active:1968-1975

Apollo space suits

Years active:1968-1975

Apollo space suits

Years active:1968-1975

Skylab space suits

Years active:early 1970s

Skylab space suits

Years active:early 1970s

Skylab space suits

Years active:early 1970s

Skylab space suits

Years active:early 1970s

Space Shuttle ejection escape suit

Years active: 1981-1982

Space Shuttle ejection escape suit

Years active: 1981-1982

Launch Entry Suit

Years active:1988-1994

Launch Entry Suit

Years active:1988-1994

Launch Entry Suit

Years active:1988-1994

Launch Entry Suit

Years active:1988-1994

Advanced Crew Escape Suit

Years active: 1990s

Advanced Crew Escape Suit

Years active: 1990s

Advanced Crew Escape Suit

Years active: 1990s

Advanced Crew Escape Suit

Years active: 1990s

Extravehicular Mobility Unit

Years active: 1982- present

Extravehicular Mobility Unit

Years active: 1982- present

Extravehicular Mobility Unit

Years active:1982- present

Extravehicular Mobility Unit

Years active:1982- present

Extravehicular Mobility Unit

Years active:1982- present

Extravehicular Mobility Unit

Years active:1982- present

NASA is asking the public for a message to beam 12 billion miles into space

Voyager 1, the most distant human-made object from Earth is currently coasting 12.9 billion from home.

To commemorate its launch nearly 40 years ago, NASA is asking the public's help in crafting a 60-character message to beam to humanity's most daring explorer.

JOB HUNT:NASA replies to 4th grader's job app calling himself 'Guardian of the Galaxy'

Anyone can post their submission on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+ or Tumblr using the hashtag "#MessageToVoyager."

NASA's only requirement is that the message be "uplifting." The space agency plans to send the winner's words on Sept. 5, 2017, the 40th anniversary of Voyager 1's launch.

Click through above to see some of the best submissions so far.

Follow this link:

NASA is asking the public for a message to beam 12 billion miles into space - Chron.com

Astronomers have had a telescopic eye on exoplanet Proxima Centauri B since last year, but they may soon get an unprecedented closeup of it with NASAs upcoming monster scope.

Proxima B is a rocky Earth-size planet that orbits the star Proxima Centauri. What has really ignited curiosity about it is that it resides in the habitable zone of its star (dont say Aliens! yet), which could mean liquid water and even life if atmospheric and environmental conditions align. Because Proxima B is only 4.5 light-years away, its actually not impossible to send a space telescope over there. The one NASA has in mind is huge. So huge that Hubble better watch out.

NASAs James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), aka its premier observatory of the next decade, boasts a mirror thrice the size of Hubbles and has earned bragging rights for being the most enormous and powerful observatory designed to float around in space (goes to show how "micro" microgravity really is). It will orbit the sun to examine planetary heat emissions, which eliminates the possibility of interference from Earths atmosphere. The space agency has high expectations for it to beam back everything from hi-res images of distant planets to insights about how stars, planets, and galaxies emerged and evolved billions and billions of years ago.

Until now, nothing has been able to zoom in close enough to Promixa B to tell if it even has an atmosphere, and if so, whether its chemical composition could support life as we know it. This wont exactly be easy even with such advanced equipment. Proxima Centauri is much brighter than its satellite, whose faintness could prove a problem when probing its atmosphere (if it has one). Astronomers propose searching for carbon dioxide as a possible lead to carbon-based life-forms. Never mind what Stephen Hawking has to say about that.

CO2 doesnt even mean the existence of something that could survive on Earth. Our planet is crawling with carbon-based life, and yet there are only traces of the gas among the dominant nitrogen and oxygen of the atmosphere. Ironically enough, its common in the killer atmosphere of Venus and on Mars, which only has a ghost of an atmosphere.

JWST will revolutionize how we observe Proxima B and many other celestial objects and phenomena. This is what you get with an instrument that has been optimized to pick up infrared wavelengths invisible to the naked eyeand most other telescopes.

Other telescopes are not able to do this, said University of Leiden astronomy researcher Ignas Snellan, lead author of a study recently published in the Astrophysical Journal. Hubble is too small and works in the wrong wavelength range. Current ground-based telescopes cannot touch the mid-infrared because of very high thermal backgrounds, and are in a not enough stable environment, in contrast to JWST, which operates from space.

Whether there is life on Proxima B might not even be a question that the JWST can answer. If it still remains a mystery within the next decade or so, the European Extremely Large Telescope that is currently being built will at least be able to detect oxygen, a more reliable biosignature.

Oxygen still doesnt mean aliens. Well just have to wait and see what observations these massive telescopes transmit to Earth.

(via Seeker)

The rest is here:

How NASA's hugest telescope ever could seek out life on a nearby exoplanet - SYFY WIRE (blog)

SEATTLE A NASA research plane carrying the agencys science director will fly from Boeing Field in Seattle on Aug. 21. to capture the first video of the total solar eclipse.

The video will be part of a livestream on NASA TV that tracks the eclipse along its 2,500-mile path from Oregon to South Carolina, The Seattle Times reported.

NASA officials, including science director Thomas Zurbuchen, will discuss the eclipse and answer questions from the public at The Museum of Flight. The museum will also host a public viewing of the partial eclipse that will be visible in Seattle, with free eclipse glasses for the first 1,000 visitors.

Museum spokesman Ted Huetter said Seattle was selected for the mission because of its location and the opportunity to collaborate on public outreach with the Museum of Flight, which sits right on Boeing Field.

More Oregon articles

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NASA research plane will fly from Seattle for eclipse - The Register-Guard

On Monday, NASA and SpaceX will partner up once again to launch a Dragon spacecraft to the ISS. This time around, the Dragon will be carrying over 6,400 pounds of research, crew supplies and hardware to re-up the ISS. It will be the NASAs 12th commercial resupply services mission dubbed CRS-12 accordingly.

During a NASA press conference on Sunday, Josh Finch of NASA Communications said that at this point there was a 30 percent chance of launch complications due to weather. But if all goes well, following the Dragons launch towards the ISS, a SpaceX Falcon 9 thats charged with carrying it towards orbit will make its way back to Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Following a two day journey, NASA astronaut Jack Fischer will use a 57-foot-long robotic arm aboard the ISS to grab the Dragon and secure it to the bottom of the Harmony module, which all sounds like an incredible thing to witness.

The payload capability of the CRS-12 mission is impressive, and shows how well the commercial partnership with with SpaceX is turning out for NASa. It sets a new bar for the amount of research we can get on a flight, said ISS deputy program manager Dan Hartman.

Although the research supplies being brought to the ISS pose exciting opportunities for discovery, Pete Hasbrook, associate program scientist for the ISS said that maybe most importantly, [the Dragon will be] bringing experiments home.

Although he didnt elaborate as to what would would be on board, he said there would be around 2,600 pounds of research coming home. There are currently around 250 experiments being conducted aboard the ISS in various feilds, from biology labs to observations of Earths weather systems from above. Some experiments are being operated autonomously from the ground. In some cases the crew are even part of the research, added Hasbrook.

Over four weeks, crew members will unload the Dragon and then re-load it with experiments that have carefully been timed to arrive on Earth and straight into the hands of scientists. Hartman said he didnt think it would take the crew long to get the Dragon open and unloaded. I think the crew is aware that there are some frozen treats on this mission so I wouldnt be surprised if they work long and hard.

When asked by a reporter about NASAs transition away from manning the ISS, and the organizations step back in its role in the space sciences, Hartman took the familiarly retiring tone weve been hearing from NASA over the past few years. From his perspective, it seems that in five to 10 years, the majority of space science could likely be in the private sectors hands. We plan to leave it to the commercial markets to do that, he said, explaining, It is kind of like handing over the keys.

The Falcon 9 liftoff on Monday is targeted for approximately 12:31 p.m.

Following the Dragons exit from the ISS in about four weeks its estimated time return is September 17 the spacecraft will land in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. It will then be retrieved, along with a treasure trove of space experiments.

Read more:

NASA and SpaceX to Launch Massive Amount of Research to ISS Monday - Inverse

By Sandi Doughton The Seattle Times (TNS)

SEATTLE A NASA research plane, with the agencys science director onboard, will fly out of Boeing Field in Seattle on Aug. 21, to capture the first video of the total solar eclipse as it sweeps ashore at the Oregon coast.

Were kicking off the show, said Leslie Williams, spokeswoman for NASAs Armstrong Flight Research Center in Southern California, where the plane is based. The video will be part of a livestream on NASA TV that tracks the eclipse along its 2,500-mile path from Oregon to South Carolina.

NASA officials, including science director Thomas Zurbuchen, will discuss the eclipse and answer questions from the public at The Museum of Flight. The museum will also host a public viewing of the partial eclipse that will be visible in Seattle, with free eclipse glasses for the first 1,000 visitors.

Seattle was selected for the mission because of its location and the opportunity to collaborate on public outreach with the Museum of Flight, which sits right on Boeing Field, said Ted Huetter, the museums public-relations manager.

We have a parking spot right next to our fence, he said.

The NASA Gulfstream III, a large corporate jet modified for science, is part of a constellation of aircraft and satellites and an army of professional and citizen scientists that will be studying the first total solar eclipse in 99 years to cross the country from coast to coast.

The jet will land in Seattle around noon on Aug. 20. On eclipse day, it will take off early and fly to Lincoln City, Ore., said pilot Troy Asher.

There, the aircraft will repeatedly fly a north-south loop, giving camera operators a front-row view as the moon blocks the sun and the shadow begins to race across the continent. To improve video clarity, crews replaced two of the planes windows with optical-quality glass, Asher said.

Shooting out of the windows, the videographers and photographers will document the eclipse from beginning to totality in that location. They will be able to see it develop, from fingernail sliver to fully covered, Asher said.

In Lincoln City, the eclipse will start at 9:04 a.m. Totality will begin at 10:16 a.m. and last just under two minutes.

While the videographers are at work, Zurbuchen will be operating a handheld spectrometer to analyze the suns chromosphere and corona the wispy, outer atmosphere that is only visible during a total eclipse.

Flying at 25,000 feet, the jet should be well above any clouds. If necessary, it can climb as high as 45,000 feet, Asher said.

But the plane wont be able to chase the eclipse across the country because its not fast enough. The moons shadow will be zipping eastward at more than 2,400 mph, Asher pointed out.

At the Museum of Flight, staff and NASA officials will guide visitors through a free public viewing event on the lawn from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Aug. 21. The eclipse will not reach totality in Seattle, but about 92 percent of the suns surface will be covered by the moon.

The partial eclipse will start in Seattle at 9:09 a.m., reach its maximum extent at 10:21 a.m. and be over by 11:39 a.m.

Paid visitors will be able to watch NASAs live video of the total eclipse in the museum auditorium. After the plane returns to Boeing Field at around 12:30 p.m., Zurbuchen will also be available to answer questions.

Its unsafe to watch any portion of the partial eclipse without eclipse glasses or a pinhole projector. The only time its OK to look directly at the sun without eye protection is during the brief period of totality, when the sun is completely blocked by the moon. But totality will only occur in a narrow swath that stretches from Oregon to South Carolina.

See the rest here:

NASA research plane 'kicking off the show' during total eclipse - Asheboro Courier Tribune

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. Your Ray-Bans unfortunately wont be enough to view the total solar eclipse.

If you plan on watching the upcoming total solar eclipse, youll want glasses that are ISO certified.

NASA recommends only using brands approved by the American Astronomical Society.

>> Click here to view a list of vendors selling NASA-approved viewing glasses.

Doctors say that watching the phenomenon without proper protection can cause serious eye damage or even blindness.

If you look up directly, even if theres just a sliver of the sun, the light can go into the back of your eye and burn a hole in whats called the macula. The retina is the back of the eye. Theres an optic nerve back there. Off to the side is the macula. So when you look at a period on a piece of paper, that central part of the macula is looking right at that dot. Thats your exact central fixation spot. Thats the spot that gets burnt out from an eclipse if youre not protected properly, said Dr. Richard Gersh with Visionworks.

Experts say you should not try to watch the eclipse with the naked eye, and that regular sunglasses do not provide enough protection.

Read more on how to safely view the solar eclipse here.

Read more from the original source:

NASA reminds public to use ISO-certified eclipse glasses for safe viewing - FOX21News.com

Sunday August 13 2017

Nasa agents at Bomas of Kenya on August 10, 2017 during the presidential results tallying. The coalitions technical team has presented a dossier to IEBC in which it claims there were discrepancies in the presidential results transmission. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

It was the basis on which Nasas agents, Mr Musalia Mudavadi and Mr James Orengo, walked out of the Bomas of Kenya.

The dossier claims the existence of a non-gazetted polling station.

Nasas technical team has presented a dossier to IEBC in which it claims there were discrepancies in the presidential results transmission from polling stations to the national tallying centre.

The five-page document was handed over to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission on Friday.

It was the basis on which the coalitions agents, Mr Musalia Mudavadi and Mr James Orengo, walked out of the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi, accusing the commission of disregarding their concerns over the conduct of the elections.

The document raises questions on the authenticity of some of the forms 34A and 34B and the tallying of votes.

In the report, Nasa also claims alteration of presidential results, the presence of non-gazetted polling stations and exaggeration of the number of voters in some regions.

Saturday, Ms Ogla Karani, Mr Raila Odingas deputy chief agent who prepared the document, said the commission had only made available 29,000 forms 34As against the total of 40,883, which was the total number of gazetted polling stations.

These discrepancies were detected through an audit of the documents made available to us by the commission.

"Our evidence is based on critical analysis of the information we have gathered from the commissions portal in comparison to the results that were displayed, as well as copies of forms 34A and 34B we received from agents, Ms Karani told Nation.

The document says a sample of form 34A received from Baringo Central Constituency indicates the total number of votes cast at the Cereals Board polling station stood at 376, while the total number of ballots rejected was the same figure 376.

The dossier claims the existence of a non-gazetted polling station in the same constituency, named the AIC Visa Oshwal in Karbarnet. It further claims President Uhuru Kenyatta garnered 940 votes at this station against 194 for Mr Odinga.

The challenge here is the threshold that requires no polling station to record more than 700 registered voters, but this station recorded over and above the legally allowed figure, says the document.

According to the report, results from the Kiambiu Social Hall polling station in Kamukunji Constituency indicate that Mr Odinga garnered 414 votes against Mr Kenyattas 67.

However, those recorded on the IEBC portal show Mr Odinga having garnered 298 against Mr Kenyattas 118.

From this, Nasa says 116 votes were deducted from its candidate, while 51 were added to Mr Kenyatta.

The same situation, according to Nasa, was noted at the Nivansara Primary School polling station in Bomachoge Constituency, where results from agents indicate that Mr Odinga garnered 362 votes against Mr Kenyattas 89 votes.

However, the results on the portal show that Mr Odinga received 319 votes against 108 for the President.

From this station, details available on the portal reveal 43 votes were deducted from the Nasa principal and 19 votes added to the Jubilee candidate, the document states.

According to Nasa, for the Gucha County Council Hall polling station in Bomachoge Chache Constituency, the IEBC portal indicates Mr Kenyattas votes were inflated by 119, from the 104 he garnered to 223. Forms 34A indicate President Kenyatta garnered 104 votes.

The document says at the Antuanuu Primary School polling station in Tigania East Constituency, the number of votes filled by agents on Form 34A show that the Nasa candidate garnered 105 against Jubilees 401.

But the portal is said to indicate that Mr Odinga got 100, which is five votes less, and Jubilee secured 431 votes, which is 30 votes more than what the agents recorded on Form 34A.

Nasa said at the Borborwet polling station in Belgut Constituency, an audit of forms 34A shows that Mr Odingas votes were reduced by 4 and the incumbents increased by 8.

At the Simotwet polling station in Belgut Constituency, Nasa said Mr Odinga garnered 40 votes against Mr Kenyattas 603. On the portal, Mr Odingas votes are said to have been recorded as 24.

This same polling station has registered more than legally accepted numbers. Besides, the commission results show that Mr Kenyatta had 613 votes while the Form 34A presents 603, implying that 10 votes have been added in his favour, says the report.

According to Nasa, in Kericho County, Form 34B from Bureti Constituency shows the number of registered voters as 82,417.

The votes cast were 68,505, with 224 recorded as rejected.

The valid votes are recorded as 68,700. The Nasa team argues that the total number of presidential votes is 59,750, indicating a variance of 8,950 of non-existent voters.

In the same constituency, Form 34B indicates the number of votes counted exceeded the number of registered voters at the Lalagin Primary School polling station, according to Nasa.

For the Chakani Primary School polling station in Kilifis Kaloleni Constituency, the portal is said to indicate 221 votes for Mr Odinga while Form 34A indicates 232, an indication that 11 votes were deducted from the Nasa candidate.

The opposition coalition said for the CCM Kiganjoni Primary School polling station in Nyeri Town Constituency, Form 34A indicates that votes were cancelled and another figure, 260, written on the sheet for Mr Kenyatta. Nasa said the form was also not stamped.

At the Matathia Primary School polling station in Lari Constituency, the President garnered 313 votes as entered on Form 34A. But on the IEBC portal, the figure was inflated by 80 votes, according to the report.

Nasa said Form 34B from Subukia Constituency shows that the President garnered 41,337 and Mr Odinga 1,273 against a total of 43,165 valid votes cast.

However, the commissions portal is said to have indicated that Mr Kenyatta got 41,974 votes and Mr Odinga 1,285, while the total number of valid votes cast are recorded as 43,435.

From this, the document claims that the incumbents votes were inflated by 637.

Nation team finds girl's body with a bullet wound.

Great Britain are the new 4x100m world champions.

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Uhuru votes were inflated, Nasa tells electoral agency - Daily Nation

Nasa is to wake up its New Horizons spacecraft next month following a five month hibernation, ahead of a journey deeper into one of the most mysterious regions of the Solar System.

New Horizons, which captured incredible images of Pluto in July 2015, was powered down in April to conserve energy as it travelled through the Kuiper Belt, a vast region of icy debris which encircles the Sun and planets, also known as The Third Zone.

On September 11, the spacecraft will awaken for its 16 month journey to MU69, an ancient object which is thought to be one of the early building blocks of the Solar System.

The space rock had not even been discovered when the craft launched in 2006 and the flyby will be the most distant in the history of space exploration, a billion miles beyond Pluto, and four billion miles from Earth.

Recent observations of MU69 from the Hubble Space Telescope show it is probably two binary objects or a pair of space rocks stuck-together bodies which are each around 12 miles across.

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Nasa to wake up New Horizons spacecraft for voyage into mysterious Third Zone - Telegraph.co.uk

CHARLESTON, S.C. (NBC) - This month's total eclipse will be a sight to behold but what about those who can't see?

A team effort between NASA and professors at the College of Charleston in South Carolina are making sure everyone, including the blind and visually impaired, enjoy it too.

Mariah Williams calls her service dog Keana her best friend. Always by her side Protecting her and leading the way.

"She's my eyes, my left arm, my common sense."

Mariah, blind since birth, uses Braille and touch. It's her way to communicate with the world.

"You're scanning the page with your fingers the same way you would with your eyes. you memorize these symbols and that creates the language."

On August 21st she will be able to look up into the sky.

"I plan to be outside with my glasses on of course. And I have a tiny bit of light sensitivity so I'm hoping I'll be able to see when the sky starts getting darker."

But she will also literally feel the eclipse. Her fingers will help her understand what she can't see with this new braille book.

"Mariah has been a gem to work with, she has been our beta tester all along," said Professor Cassandra Runyon of the College of Charleston.

Professor Runyon and NASA created an eclipse book for the blind. The printer hasn't stopped. Now in its 4th printing.

"There's over 50 million in the united states that are blind or visually impaired, so this book will help bring the eclipse to reality for those who see with their fingers not with their eyes," said Runyon.

Williams is very appreciative of Runyon's work.

"And now it's helping other people. And that really touches me."

Continue reading here:

NASA creates book to help blind people experience eclipse - KWQC-TV6

In BriefThe Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes were launched nearly40 years ago, and continue to operate and travel through space atincredible speeds.

NASAs Voyager spacecrafts were initially launched in 1977, and 40 years later, NASA can confirm that both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are still functioning and making their way through space. Neither is showing any signs of slowing, and its unlikely theyll need to be shut down anytime soon.

Everyday, the pair of spacecrafts send information back to NASA regarding the conditions of their current locations, which includes areas where our Sun has minimal to no influence. Voyager 1, which is 13 billion miles away from Earth, travels through interstellar space, moving northward out of the plane containing our planets. Voyager 2, meanwhile, is 11 billion miles away from Earth, and moving southward.

Both have seen a lot over the years, including Voyager 2s flyby of the four outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune volcanoes on Jupiters moon Io, an Earth-like atmosphere on Saturns moon Titan, and geysers of icy cold nitrogen on Neptunes moon Triton. Voyager 1 was the first to reach interstellar space, and is currently the only spacecraft to do so, though Voyager 2 is expected to do the same relatively soon.

I believe that few missions can ever match the achievements of the Voyager spacecraft during their four decades of exploration, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASAs Science Mission Directorate (SMD) at NASA Headquarters. They have educated us to the unknown wonders of the universe and truly inspired humanity to continue to explore our solar system and beyond.

Thanks to the two probes and their opposing trajectories, NASA scientists have been able to gather invaluable information on the heliosphere the bubble of solar wind containing our systems planets. When Voyager 2 reaches interstellar space within the next few years, scientists will be able to see how the heliosphere interacts with the interstellar medium from multiple locations simultaneously; this medium being a region in which the magnetic field is being affected by nearby solar wind. The existence of this medium was first noticed by NASA in 2015, three years after Voyager 1 made it to interstellar space.

Theres little concern regarding the safety and durability of each spacecraft, despite when they were designed and built. That said, the scientists and engineers of today are different from their 70s counterparts, and as such, maintenance sometimes needs a very specific kind of person. The technology is many generations old, and it takes someone with 1970s design experience to understand how the spacecraft operate and what updates can be made to permit them to continue operating today and into the future, said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager based at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. During their construction by JPL, the two Voyagers were equipped with three radioisotope thermoelectric generators, giving them enough power to last over a hundred years. By 2065, 88 years after they were launched, only half of their power sources will have been depleted.The JPL team in charge of monitoring and operating Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 doesnt expect to shut down either probe until at least 2030. Voyager 1 will keep running on fuel until 2040, and Voyager 2 will run out of juice in 2034. Even after that happens, their current trajectories and speeds exceeding 48,280 kilometers per hour (30,000 miles per hour), will have them completing an orbit within the Milky Way every 225 million years.

Continued here:

NASA's Voyager Spacecrafts Are Still Going Strong 40 Years Later - Futurism

The Spaceborne Computer, a joint experiment between NASA and HPE, will travel to the International Space Station (seen here).

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is teaming up with NASA to launch a supercomputer into space on Monday, with the ultimate aim of building computing resources that could serve on board a mission to Mars.

The supercomputer, called the Spaceborne Computer, will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on board the SpaceX CRS-12 rocket, developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX. The rocket will send the SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft -- and the supercomputer along with it -- to the International Space Station (ISS) National Lab.

The goal of the joint experiment is to have the Spaceborne Computer operate smoothly in space for on year, which is roughly how long it would take to travel to Mars.

Given the current constraints on computing in space, many calculations needed for space research are performed on Earth. For astronauts on Mars, that could mean waiting as long as 40 minutes for communications to reach Earch and back.

"Such a long communication lag would make any on-the-ground exploration challenging and potentially dangerous if astronauts are met with any mission critical scenarios that they're not able to solve themselves," Alain Andreoli, SVP and GM of HPE's data center infrastructure group, wrote in a blog post. "A mission to Mars will require sophisticated onboard computing resources that are capable of extended periods of uptime."

Andreoli also said the experiment will "spark discoveries for how to improve high performance computing (HPC) on Earth and potentially have a ripple effect in other areas of technology innovation."

The Spaceborne Computer doesn't include any hardware modifications. It includes the HPE Apollo 40 class systems with a high speed HPC interconnect running an open-source Linux operating system.

A high-performance commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) computer system has never run in space before. NASA typically only approves computers for space once they've been "ruggedized" to withstand variables like radiation, solar flares, micrometeoroids, unstable electrical power and irregular cooling.

However, instead of adding costly and bulky hardware modifications, HPE "hardened" the systems with purpose-built software. The software can manage real-time throttling of the computer systems to respond to radiation events and other external conditions. The system does also include a unique water-cooled enclosure for the hardware.

Excerpt from:

HPE, NASA TO launch a supercomputer into space - ZDNet

Find out what the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse will look like from anywhere on the planet with a new interactive, 3D simulation app from NASA.

The Aug. 21 eclipse will cross the U.S. from Oregon to South Carolina along a path about 70 miles (113 kilometers) wide. The new NASA app, "Eyes on the Eclipse," simulates what the sun will look like as it passes through the sky on Aug. 21. Users can explore different locations along the path of totality where the moon will completely obscure the sun in a total solar eclipse, as well as areas that will experience a partial solar eclipse or no eclipse.

Eyes on the Eclipse is a part of the NASA's Eyes program, which allows users to follow missions such as Cassini, Juno or New Horizons through interactive apps. Eyes on the Eclipse can be used on any web browser, or by downloading the app to your computer or mobile device. [Total Solar Eclipse 2017: When, Where and How to See It (Safely)]

Partial solar eclipse simulation for New York City at 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 21. 2017, using NASA's "Eyes on the Eclipse" app.

To preview the Aug. 21 eclipse in the app, open the program through NASA's website and click anywhere on the image of Earth or choose from one of the five preset U.S. cities. To view a specific location, select the custom option and then enter the city and state, or latitude and longitude in decimal degrees.

The program offers a split-screen view, with a 3D model of the Earth on the left and a simulation of the sun as it will appear at the time and location selected on the right. By adjusting the time and location, you can see how much of the sun will be covered by the moon during the eclipse.

Total solar eclipse simulation for Kansas City, Missouri, at 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 21. 2017, using NASA's "Eyes on the Eclipse" app.

Locations along the narrow center line of the moon's central, dark shadow, also called the umbra, will experience a total solar eclipse, as the moon moves directly in front of the sun's disk and turns day to night. Areas outside the path of totality will still experience a partial solar eclipse, when part of the sun's bright light is visible. NASA reminds skywatchers to wear safe solar glasses when looking at a partial solar eclipse to prevent permanent eye damage.

Readers can download the Eyes on the Eclipse app here.

Editor's note:Space.com has teamed up with Simulation Curriculum to offerthis awesome Eclipse Safari appto help you enjoy your eclipse experience. The free app isavailable for AppleandAndroid, and you can view iton the web. If you take an amazing photo of the Aug. 21 solar eclipse, let us know! Send photos and comments to:spacephotos@space.com.

Originally posted here:

Visualize the Total Solar Eclipse with NASA's 3D App - Space.com

NASA is warning consumers to beware of unsafe, counterfeit glasses sold for viewing the Aug. 21 eclipse.

Only glasses marked ISO 12312-2 are recommended.

Some counterfeit glasses are simply marked with ISO.

"It now appears that some companies are printing the ISO logo and certification label on fake eclipse glasses," the space agency said.

Some sellers are displaying fake test results on their website to support a bogus claim of compliance with the ISO safety standard, NASA said.

Experts warn that looking at the sun without protectionor inadequate protection, such as using sunglasses, can cause lasting vision problems.

"The only safe way to look directly at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun is through special-purpose solar filters, such as 'eclipse glasses' ... or hand-held solar viewers," according to NASA. "Homemade filters or ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones, are not safe for looking at the sun; they transmitthousandsof times too much sunlight."

NASA recommends purchasing the glasses from vendors supported by the American Astronomical Society.

Detailed safety information and a link to reputable vendors can be found on nasa.gov.

Reach Prentiss Findlay at 843-937-5711.

Link:

NASA issues warning about eclipse safety glasses - Charleston Post Courier

The Aug. 21 total solar eclipse across America is generating a lot of interest and a lot of questions. Youll find answers to many of your eclipse questions at NASAs Eclipse 2017 website -- eclipse2017.nasa.gov. The site is full of information to help you prepare for this rare celestial event including eclipse-related activities, events, viewing safety tips, and other resources. Then, on the day of the eclipse, you can see the event Through the Eyes of NASA during a special NASA TV broadcast that includes coast-to-coast coverage from the ground, from the air and from space. Coverage begins with a special pre-show at noon eastern followed by in-depth coverage at 1pm. You can also watch on Aug. 21 at http://www.nasa.gov/eclipselive. Also, TDRS-M Update, Webbs Sunshield Layers Installed, RS-25 Engine Testing Rolls On, and Chief Technologist Visits Industry Partner!

This video is also available from NASA's Image and Video Library: goo.gl/VnxK9w

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Preparing for Eclipse 2017 on This Week @NASA August 11, 2017 - Williston Daily Herald

On Monday, a supercomputer blasts off to the International Space Station on a year-long mission to test its metals and see how it survives the rigors of space.

Ever kill a laptop by spilling a little water on it? How about a blast of cosmic radiation? Thats just one of the hazards facing computers for scientific research that will one day travel to Mars, tens of millions of miles away from any spare parts. To gauge the wear and tear of spaceflight, NASA will launch on August 14 a supercomputer made by Hewlett Packard Enterprise on a yearlong mission aboard the International Space Station.

Unlike the other computers on the ISS, this one is not hardened with shielding and other provisions to survive heat, radiation, and other stresses. It was pulled right off the assembly line for HPEs Apollo 4000-series enterprise servers.

Hardening is a must for computers, controlling mission-critical aspects such as navigation and communication, but the processlimits the capabilities of computers used for research projects. The traditional hardening takes time and money and ends up with out-of-date capabilities delivered late to the mission, says Mark Fernandez, who manages the software portion of the tests for Hewlett Packard Enterprise. HPE and NASA want to see if a state-of-the-art, unprotected computer can survive space travel, using software to compensate for any damage.

Modern computers have software to correct errors, such as data not written correctly to memory. HPE and NASA will test whether these programs can root out and compensate for malfunctions resulting from damage in space. So we monitor all of the environmental aspects of the serverits power, its temperature, its memory errors, its logging errors, etc., says Fernandez, and when it looks like Im having some issues, I can take corrective action with certain parameters, the most common of which would be, lets slow the machine down and see if it can self-heal.

I ask Fernandez if he expects any in-flight damage to a computer to be temporary, like wiping out some data, or permanent, like wiping out the drive that stores data. Thats a very good question, he says. And the most honest answer I can give you is, I dont know. NASA and HPE want to see if a computer can survive even some permanent damage. It might run a bit slower if a processing core or some memory cells have been fried, but it could still be much more powerful and versatile than outdated hardware that went through the long hardening process.

So we are taking the risk that the harsh environment of space will completely destroy our experiment, says Fernandez. Thats the point We would like to see if we can protect this unmodified-at-all hardware and software.

As the distance from Earth grows, so does the need for onboard computing. On the ISS, scientists can easily beam down data they collect to be processed on larger earthbound computers. A 2016 upgrade provided the ISS with a 300 megabit-per-second connection to Earth.

Bandwidth is a lot tighter on the red planet. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter sends data back to Earth at between 0.5 and 4 Mbps. Then theres the delayat least 13 minutes for a signal to go each way, which lead to the harrowing blackout period during the Mars Rover Curiositys perilous descent, as well as the painfully slow conversations depicted in the movie The Martian.

There may be scientific experiments with data analytics, and it would be impossible to send all that data back from Mars over that really slow and precious link, says Fernandez. If I can do some preliminary analysis on site in the spacecraft or on Mars, then I can downsize the amount of information I need to send to Earth.

Supercomputer may conjure images of a room-size contraption that requires a power plants worth of electricity. In 1997, the first computer with a capacity of a teraflop, a trillion mathematical operations per second, sucked up 850 kilowatts of electricity. HPEs Apollo 4000 series, with about the same computing power, uses around 400 watts, says Fernandez. Its a lot more powerful than a typical desktop computer, but not an uncommon piece of hardware for an advanced research lab. (The most powerful supercomputer today is 93,000 times as powerful as the HPE Apollo system NASA is testing. It also consumes 15 megawatts.)

I know from being in this industry for a while that until you give scientists a supercomputer, you dont know what theyre gonna to do with it, says Fernandez. And youre always surprised and excited at what comes out.

Sean Captain is a technology journalist and editor. Follow him on Twitter @seancaptain.

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NASA Space-Tests A Supercomputer To Send To Mars - Fast Company