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Category Archives: NASA

Media Briefing to Preview Big Year Ahead for NASA Earth Science

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NASA will host a media teleconference at12:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 22, to outline the agency's Earth science activities planned for 2014, which include five mission launches.

The expert panelists for the briefing are:

For the first time in more than a decade, five NASA Earth science missions will be launched into space in a single year, opening new and improved eyes on our changing planet. Two of these missions will deliver instruments to the International Space Station, inaugurating NASA's use of the orbiting laboratory as a 24/7 Earth-observing science platform.

NASA also is conducting 12 airborne campaigns this year, from the poles to Atlantic Ocean hurricanes, and helping decision-makers put satellite data to work in the U.S. and around the world.

Journalists who want to participate in the teleconference must provide their name, media affiliation and telephone number toDwayne Brownatdwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov, or 202-358-1726, no later than11 a.m. Wednesday.

The teleconference will be streamed live on NASA's website at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

For more information about NASA Earth science programs and research, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/earth

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Media Briefing to Preview Big Year Ahead for NASA Earth Science

NASA needs commercial help putting robots on the moon

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News

January 17, 2014 02:38 PM ET

Computerworld - NASA is looking for help creating a new robotic rover that will deliver cargo to the surface of the moon.

In an effort to advance technologies needed to get astronauts to an asteroid or Mars , NASA wants to get back to the moon. The space agency needs robotic technology to help them get there.

The robotic machine NASA wants to build must be able to ferry cargo weighing 66 pounds to 1,102 pounds to various lunar sites.

The space agency is seeking proposals from the private sector and plans to create a partnership to build robotic a lunar lander..

The program is dubbed Lunar CATALYST, for Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown.

"As NASA pursues an ambitious plan for humans to explore an asteroid and Mars, U.S. industry will create opportunities for NASA to advance new technologies on the moon," said Greg Williams, NASA's deputy associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. "[This] will help us advance our goals to reach farther destinations."

NASA noted that, in a partnership, the agency would be able to contribute the technical expertise of NASA staff, access to NASA center test facilities, equipment loans, and software for lander development and testing.

NASA will host a pre-proposal teleconference on Jan. 27 to giving companies a chance to ask questions about the program.

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NASA needs commercial help putting robots on the moon

NASA Administrator Surveys Agency’s Work in Advanced Propulsion Technologies

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NASA Administrator Charles Bolden visited NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland Jan. 17 to view progress on the advanced space propulsion technologies the center is developing to carry cargo and American astronauts further into space than ever before.

"The work going on here at Glenn is an essential part of NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission, and by investing in this technology NASA is addressing risks that the nation's aerospace industries cannot," Bolden said. "This is a great example of a win-win for both NASA and the nation's technical capability."

Glenn Center Director Jim Free guided Bolden, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and U.S. Rep. Marcia Kaptur, both of Ohio, on a tour of Glenn's Electric Propulsion Laboratory, which houses a large space environment simulation chamber. The chamber is being enhanced for future testing of solar electric propulsion technologies, including those supporting NASA's proposed asteroid initiative, which involves identifying, capturing and relocating an asteroid for astronauts to explore.

"The advanced space propulsion technologies that will one day help humans land safely on an asteroid are just some of the remarkable discoveries being made at Glenn," Kaptur said. "It is my hope that this visit will give Mr. Bolden more data about the importance of Glenn's role in future missions and the agency's direction."

Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) serves two critical functions: it provides the low thrust, long duration "push" needed to deflect an asteroid, coupled with the versatility of changing a spacecraft's trajectory after launch. SEP also is a critical technology that can be scaled up to cost effectively send cargo and astronauts to Mars.

"The agency's asteroid initiative represents an unprecedented technological challenge that will lead to new scientific discoveries and technological capabilities that will help protect our home planet and achieve the goal of sending humans to an asteroid by 2025," Bolden added. "And NASA's path to capturing and exploring an asteroid runs through Glenn Research Center."

Later this year, NASA and its commercial partners will mark another milestone in industry partnerships when it tests at Glenn the large solar array system to demonstrate the structural integrity of large array designs that one day will support advanced SEP.

"Glenn Research Center is an important reason why NASA is a global leader in advanced technology," Brown added. "Ohio has a proud history of innovation and NASA Glenn's asteroid and de-icing work continue that tradition. Not only does this research and technology make the world safer, it advances what mankind is capable of achieving."

For more information on the agency's asteroid initiative, visit:

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NASA Administrator Surveys Agency's Work in Advanced Propulsion Technologies

NASA JPL Scientist Reflects On Last Big Quake In Los Angeles

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Image Caption: The magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake on Jan. 17, 1994, killed dozens, injured thousands and caused widespread damage throughout Greater Los Angeles. It was the costliest earthquake in U.S. history, and ranks as the fifth costliest disaster in U.S. history. Credit: U.S. Geological Survey

NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Twenty years ago this week, in the predawn darkness of Jan. 17, 1994, at five seconds before 4:31 a.m. PST, the ground ruptured violently on a blind thrust fault (a crack in Earths crust that does not reach the surface) about 11 miles (18 kilometers) beneath Reseda, in Californias San Fernando Valley about 20 miles (31 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The resulting magnitude 6.7 earthquake, known as the Northridge earthquake, became the first large quake to strike directly under an urban area in the United States since the 1933 magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Long Beach, Calif.

The initial fault rupture lasted just 8 seconds, but for many of the millions of Southern Californians and people as far away as Las Vegas, Northern California, Utah and Baja California, it felt like an eternity. In fact, the quakes seismic waves were amplified and reverberated through the regions complex mix of faults, sediments and mountains, so the shaking lasted as long as 30 seconds in some areas. At its peak a few miles from the epicenter, the ground shook at 1.8 times the force of gravity strong enough to throw objects of any size into the air.

By the time the dust settled, dozens of people had been killed, many thousands injured and tens of thousands left homeless (estimates of each vary). The region suffered approximately $49 billion in property damage and economic losses the most expensive natural disaster in the United States until Hurricane Katrina. Had it not been for the early hour of the quake and the fact that it happened on the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, the death and injury toll would likely have been significantly higher.

We asked geophysicist Andrea Donnellan of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., to reflect on the Northridge earthquake, what weve learned about earthquakes since then, our state of preparedness for the next big one and what lies ahead for earthquake studies at NASA.

Q: What progress have we made in understanding earthquakes in the 20 years since Northridge?

We understand that earthquakes do not generally repeat on fault segments over time, but instead are part of a much more complex system of interacting fault segments. We are now better able to model these fault systems with improved computer programs. Additionally, better data systems have given scientists a much more detailed understanding of the entire earthquake cycle, including how strain accumulates before earthquakes, is released during and after earthquakes, and how stress is transferred between earthquake fault segments. Our measurements of crustal deformation also aid in earthquake damage assessment and response following large earthquakes.

Q: Are we more or less prepared for a large quake in the Los Angeles area than we were 20 years ago?

As a whole, we are better prepared for earthquakes in Los Angeles today due to retrofitting and improved building codes. Californias periodic ShakeOut and Golden Guardian exercises serve as effective simulations for responding to real earthquake emergencies. We have not had a damaging earthquake in a long time, however, and it is easy for people to become complacent following a long period of quiescence.

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NASA JPL Scientist Reflects On Last Big Quake In Los Angeles

NASA Dryden Flight Research Center Renamed in Honor of Neil Armstrong

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President Barack Obama has signed HR 667, the congressional resolution that redesignates NASA's Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center, into law. The resolution also names Dryden's Western Aeronautical Test Range as the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range.

Both Hugh Dryden and Neil Armstrong are aerospace pioneers whose contributions are historic to NASA and the nation as a whole. NASA is developing a timeline to implement the name change. Neil A. Armstrong was born Aug. 5, 1930, in Wapakoneta, Ohio. He earned an aeronautical engineering degree from Purdue University and a master's in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California. He was a naval aviator from 1949 to 1952. During the Korean War he flew 78 combat missions. In 1955 he joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), NASA's predecessor, as a research pilot at Lewis Laboratory in Cleveland. Armstrong later transferred to NACA's High Speed Flight Research Station at Edwards AFB, Calif., later named NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center.

As a research project test pilot over the course of seven years at the center from 1955 through 1962, he was in the forefront of the development of many high-speed aircraft. This photograph shows Neil Armstrong next to the X-15 rocket-powered aircraft after a research flight. He was one of only 12 pilots to fly the hypersonic X-15 as well as the first of 12 men to later walk on the moon. In all, he flew more than 200 different types of aircraft.

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NASA Dryden Flight Research Center Renamed in Honor of Neil Armstrong

NASA tracks soggy System 94S over Western Australia

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1 hour ago by Rob Gutro The MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured this image that showed System 94S still holding together inland as it moves west into Western Australia on Jan. 17 at 01:35 UTC. Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response

NASA's Terra satellite saw the System 94S, a tropical low, still holding together as it continued moving inland from the Northern Territory into Western Australia today, January 17.

The tropical low pressure system known as System 94S took a more southern route than previously expected and moved into Western Australia today, January 17. System 94S is now expected to continue moving in a southerly direction according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology or ABM.

The MODIS or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image that showed System 94S still holding together inland as it continued west on Jan. 17 at 01:35 UTC/Jan. 16 at 8:35 p.m. EST. The low continued to show good organization

The ABM of Western Australia issued flood warnings and watches on Jan. 17 Eastern Time/U.S. (12:18 a.m. local time, January 18) as System 94S moves through, dropping heavy rainfall. There are flood warnings in effect for the Interior District and the Ord River Catchment. The ABM reported that rainfall totals exceeded 50 mm at Sturt Creek in the Interior Region. ABM has predicted rainfall totals between 50mm to 100mm (approx. 2 to 4 inches) with isolated rainfall totals exceeding 150mm (6 inches).

Explore further: NASA satellite imagery shows some punch left in System 94S

The tropical low pressure area known as System 94S still has some punch in it as the low-level center of circulation continues to track over Western Australia and the Northern Territory. NASA's Aqua satellite ...

The low pressure area designated as System 94S has been trying to organize off the northern coast of Australia's Northern Territory for a couple of days. NASA's TRMM satellite passed overhead on January 14 ...

Tropical low pressure area System 94S continues to soak Australia's Northern Territory near Darwin. NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured an image that showed the areas being affected by the developing ...

The low pressure area previously known as System 90S has continued organizing and consolidating and infrared data from NASA's Aqua satellite helped confirm its strengthening into Cyclone Alessia in the Southern ...

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NASA tracks soggy System 94S over Western Australia


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