NASA Orders Urgent Spacewalk Repairs
http://smarturl.it/AssociatedPress NASA has ordered up a series of urgent spacewalks to fix a broken cooling line at the International Space Station, a massi...

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NASA Orders Urgent Spacewalk Repairs - Video

NASA addresses the helmet leaking issue during Expedition 38 EVA briefing conference.
NASA scheduled a series of EVAs starting next Saturday, to fix the problematic cooling system of the ISS, but they have to deal with ANOTHER issue concerning...

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NASA addresses the helmet leaking issue during Expedition 38 EVA briefing conference. - Video

NASA completed a series of high-tech can-crushing tests last week as an enormous fuel tank crumbled under the pressure of almost a million pounds of force, all in the name of building lighter, more affordable rockets.

During the testing for the Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor Project, which began Dec. 9 at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., force and pressure were increasingly applied to the top of an empty but pressurized rocket fuel tank to evaluate its structural integrity. The resulting data will help engineers design, build and test the gigantic fuel tanks for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket NASA is developing for deep space missions.

"These full-scale tests along with our computer models and subscale tests will help NASA and industry design lighter, more affordable launch vehicles," said Mark Hilburger, senior research engineer in the Structural Mechanics and Concepts Branch at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. Hilburger is conducting the tests for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center. "We were looking at real-time data from 20 cameras and more than 800 sensors during the final test."

The aluminum-lithium tank was made from unused space shuttle tank hardware and decked out in 70,000 black and white polka dots that helped high-speed cameras focus on any buckles, rips or strains.

"When it buckled it was quite dramatic," Hilburger said. "We heard the bang, almost like the sound of thunder and could see the large buckles in the test article."

Engineers are updating design guidelines that have the potential to reduce launch vehicle weight by 20 percent. Lighter rockets can carry more equipment into space or travel farther away from Earth for exploration missions to asteroids, Mars or other distant locations.

"In addition to providing data for the Space Launch System design team, these tests are preparing us for upcoming full-scale tests," said Matt Cash, Marshall's lead test engineer for the shell buckling efforts and the SLS forward skirt and liquid oxygen tank structural testing. "Performing structural tests on hardware that is the same size as SLS hardware is providing tremendous benefit for our future development work for the rocket."

The testing was conducted at Marshall's load test annex, part of the Structural and Dynamics Engineering Test Laboratory previously used to test large structures for the Saturn V rocket, space shuttle and International Space Station.

NASA's Space Launch System will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond Earth orbit. Designed to be flexible for crew or cargo missions, the SLS will be safe, affordable and sustainable to continue America's journey of discovery from the unique vantage point of space. SLS will carry the Orion spacecraft's crew to deep space destinations including an asteroid and eventually Mars.

For images and video of the big crush and to learn more about the shell buckling project, visit:

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NASA Engineers Crush Fuel Tank to Build Better Rockets

Washington, Dec 20 : NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE), a spacecraft that made the most comprehensive survey to date of asteroids and comets, has returned its first set of test images in preparation for a renewed mission.

NEOWISE discovered more than 34,000 asteroids and characterized 158,000 throughout the solar system during its prime mission in 2010 and early 2011.

It was reactivated in September following 31 months in hibernation to assist NASA's efforts to identify the population of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects (NEOs).

NEOWISE also can assist in characterizing previously detected asteroids that could be considered potential targets for future exploration missions.

"NEOWISE not only gives us a better understanding of the asteroids and comets we study directly, but it will help us refine our concepts and mission operation plans for future, space-based near-Earth object cataloging missions," said Amy Mainzer, principal investigator for NEOWISE at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.

"The spacecraft is in excellent health, and the new images look just as good as they were before hibernation. Over the next weeks and months we will be gearing up our ground-based data processing and expect to get back into the asteroid hunting business, and acquire our first previously undiscovered space rock, in the next few months."

Some of the deep space images taken by the spacecraft include a previously detected asteroid named (872) Holda.

With a diameter of 26 miles (42 kilometers), this asteroid orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter in a region astronomers call the asteroid belt. The images tell researchers the quality of the spacecraft's observations is the same as during its primary mission.

The spacecraft uses a 16-inch (40-centimeter) telescope and infrared cameras to seek out and discover unknown NEOs and characterize their size, albedo or reflectivity, and thermal properties.

Asteroids reflect, but do not emit visible light, so data collected with optical telescopes using visible light can be deceiving.

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NASA spacecraft returns first images after reactivation

Snorkels in space? NASA dreamed up the idea as a quick fix to a dangerous spacesuit problem so astronauts can step out to repair an equipment breakdown at the International Space Station.

One of the two US astronauts preparing to embark on a series of spacewalks later this week and next will be wearing an American-made suit that had a helmet leak in July, nearly drowning the European astronaut who wore it.

The three emergency spacewalks are planned for December 21, 23 and 25 in order to fix a broken cooling system at the orbiting outpost.

An investigation into the cause of the leak that flooded Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano's helmet and forced him to rush back inside the station in July is still ongoing, NASA officials told reporters Wednesday.

Therefore, faced with an unexpected valve failure last week in the system that regulates the temperature of equipment aboard the 15-year-old orbiting outpost, NASA engineers had to scramble to figure out a way to make the US spacesuits safe for use.

First off, they have replaced the water pump system in the suit Parmitano wore.

In addition, an extra helmet absorption pad has been installed at the inside back of the helmet to soak up any potential leak, and a snorkel has been rigged up to offer another breathing route if needed.

'Some smart engineers on the ground were able to figure out, 'Hey this is a similar diameter to a snorkel that you have for scuba diving',' said NASA lead spacewalk officer Allison Bolinger.

'By just sacrificing one of our spares on board they were able to come up with a way to just snip off the ends and then file it so it is not rough in the crew member's mouth and then apply Velcro.'

American astronaut Mike Hopkins will be wearing the suit Parmitano wore. Both he and fellow US astronaut Rick Mastracchio will have the new snorkels and pads inside their spacesuits as a safety measure.

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NASA's quick fix for risky water leak

International Space Station

Marcia Dunn The Associated Press

Dec. 17, 2013 at 5:10 PM ET

AP / NASA

The International Space Station is shown with the backdrop of Earth in this image taken by an STS-132 crew member on space shuttle Atlantis after the station and shuttle began their post-undocking relative separation on May 23, 2010. The astronauts aboard the International Space Station dimmed the lights, turned off unnecessary equipment and put off science work on Dec. 12 as NASA scrambled to figure out what's wrong with one of two identical cooling loops that shut down Wednesday.

NASA has ordered up a series of urgent spacewalks to fix a broken cooling line at the International Space Station, a massive repair job that could stretch to Christmas Day.

Station managers decided Tuesday to send two American astronauts out as soon as possible to replace a pump with a bad valve. The task will require two and possibly three spacewalks on Saturday, Monday and next Wednesday Christmas Day.

"The next week will be busy with spacewalks so not much tweeting from here," NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio said from space via Twitter soon after the decision was announced.

The spacewalks are taking priority over the launch of a supply ship from Virginia. The commercial delivery had been scheduled for this week, but is now delayed until at least mid-January.

U.S.-led spacewalks have been on hold since July, when an Italian astronaut almost drowned because of water that leaked into his helmet.

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NASA orders urgent spacewalk to repair space station

NASA is extending deadlines for its Exploration Design Challenge, an educational program connected to Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) -- the first mission for NASA's new Orion spacecraft, scheduled to launch in September 2014 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The new deadline for high school students to submit payload design notebooks has been extended to Feb. 28. The deadline for all students to complete a radiation learning module and fly their names on EFT-1 now is June 30.

The challenge invites students from kindergarten through 12th grade to research and design proposed solutions to help protect astronauts from space radiation during Orion's long-duration deep space missions to an asteroid and Mars.

The Exploration Design Challenge was launched in March through a partnership between NASA and Lockheed Martin Corp., in collaboration with the National Institute of Aerospace. The challenge brings cutting-edge learning to educators and students using standards-based activities, as well as print and video resources and technical guidance to help them learn how to solve difficult problems associated with human space exploration.

Participating students in grades kindergarten through 8 will analyze different materials that simulate space radiation shielding for human space travelers aboard the Orion spacecraft. After participating in activities guided by their teachers, students will recommend materials that best block harmful radiation.

Participating students in grades 9-12 can take the challenge a step further by designing a shield to protect a sensor inside Orion from space radiation. Five high school team designs will be selected for program review in March 2014, and the final winning design will be announced by the end of the school year. The high school team with the winning payload design will be flown to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to watch their experiment launch into orbit aboard Orion.

NASA and Lockheed Martin are developing the Orion spacecraft to carry astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit and on to an asteroid or Mars. EFT-1 is Orion's first uncrewed mission in space, providing an opportunity to test the protective abilities of the students' payload design as the spacecraft travels through the intense radiation of the Van Allen Belt during its 3,600-mile journey above Earth.

To learn more about the Exploration Design Challenge and sign up to become a virtual crew member, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/education/edc

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NASA Extends Deadlines for Student Exploration Design Challenge

December 19, 2013

[ Watch the Video: NASA Is The Best Government Job Ever: Employee Poll ]

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

In addition to being able to literally reach for the stars every day, NASA employees also have the best job in the federal government for the second year running, according to the new Best Place to Work in Government report.

The report, produced by the non-profit Partnership for Public Service, was based on a survey of nearly 400,000 federal employees conducted from April through June when budget cuts were severely hitting several sectors of government.

NASAs selection as the Best Place to Work in Government for the second year in a row is a testament to the excellence of our workforce and their determination to maintain Americas leadership in space exploration, said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in an official statement.

In a year of budget uncertainty and a government shutdown, NASA employees never missed a beat, Bolden said. In the tradition of the can do spirit that has enabled us for more than 50 years to turn science fiction into science fact, they have consistently rolled up their sleeves and worked hard at achieving our major goals which include leading the expansion of a domestic commercial space industry for low-Earth orbit transportation, and developing a heavy lift launch capability to take humans farther than they have ever explored to an asteroid in the next decade and to Mars by the 2030s.

I am honored and proud to lead such a dedicated team of employees, he added. They are what make NASA the Best Place to Work in Government.

In the survey, NASA employees reported the highest job satisfaction and commitment score a 74 out of 100. Employees from the Department of Commerce reported the second-highest score, nearly 68, and the Intelligence Community came in third at just over 67.

The report found that the overall morale of federal employees fell for the third straight year, to the lowest level since the first report was published in 2003.

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NASA Holds Top Spot As Best Government Job In America

Soyuz Spacecraft Crew Arrives at Space Station | NASA ISS Science HD Video
Visit my website at http://www.junglejoel.com - Mikhail Tyurin, Richard Mastracchio, and Japan #39;s Koichi Wakata arrived at the International Space Station on ...

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Soyuz Spacecraft Crew Arrives at Space Station | NASA ISS Science HD Video - Video

Adolescentes Mexicanos en el Johnson Space Center de la NASA
Adolescentes Mexicanos en el Johnson Space Center de la NASA.

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24Oras: Nasa 200,000 litro ng bunker fuel, tumagas mula sa barkong hinampas ng alon sa Iloilo
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NASA has stitched together 141 snapshots from its Cassini spacecraft to create a dramatic mosaic of Saturn, with Earth, Venus, and Mars appearing as tiny lights in the background.

A NASA spacecraft has revealed an unprecedented view of Saturn from space, showing the entire gas giant backlit by the sun with several of its moons and all but one of its rings, as Earth, Venus and Mars all appear as pinpricks light in the background.

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The spectacular image, unveiled Tuesday (Nov. 12), is actually a mosaic of 141 wide-angle images from NASA'sCassini spacecrafttaken in natural color, which mimics how human eyes might see the ringed planet. Stretching 404,880 miles (651,591 kilometers) across, the panorama captures all of Saturn's rings up to the ethereal E ring, the second outermost one.

The pictures that make up the mosaic were snapped on July 19, 2013 the same day that Cassini took advantage of a rare opportunity to photograph Earth without interference from the sun, which was totally eclipsed by Saturn at the time. From its far-flung perch millions of miles away, Cassini captured amazing portraits ofEarth as a pale blue dotas thousands of people on the ground waved in honor of the global picture day. [Wave at Saturn: Images from NASA's Cosmic Photo Bomb by Cassini Probe]

"In this one magnificent view, Cassini has delivered to us a universe of marvels," Carolyn Porco, who leads Cassini's imaging team at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., said of the new image in a statement from NASA."And it did so on a day people all over the world, in unison, smiled in celebration at the sheer joy of being alive on a pale blue dot."

Earth can be spotted as a blue dot to the lower right ofSaturn, while Venus shines to the upper left of the gas giant. Mars, visible as a faint red dot, sits above and to the left of Venus.

Beyond inspiring wonder, this new view of Saturn also promises to help scientists study the planet's rings, which are best observed when light shines behind them, Cassini researchers say.

This mosaic provides a remarkable amount of high-quality data on Saturn's diffuse rings, revealing all sorts of intriguing structures we are currently trying to understand," Matt Hedman, a Cassini participating scientist at the University of Idaho in Moscow, said in a statement.

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Spectacular NASA panorama shows Saturn, Earth

Cosmic Log

Alan Boyle, Science Editor NBC News

11 hours ago

NASA's chief closed out the space agency's first campaign to commercialize spaceflight on Wednesday, marking a transition to more ambitious efforts to create new U.S. spaceships that could send astronauts into orbit and perhaps back to the moon someday.

"We just finished taking the Olympic torch up to space last week, and getting it back down," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said during a televised ceremony at the agency's Washington headquarters. "So in a way, this is passing another torch."

The seven-year-long, $700 million-plus commercialization program known as Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS resulted in two new launch systems to replace the now-retired space shuttle fleet and transfer cargo to the International Space Station. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule made its first delivery in May 2012, and Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule followed suit with a demonstration flight this September.

Both companies are moving ahead with resupply missions under the terms of contracts with NASA worth a total of $3.5 billion. Orbital Sciences' first launch covered by that contract is set for December, while SpaceX is due to send the Dragon on its next trip in February.

Bill Ingalls / NASA

Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket lifts off from its Virginia launch pad on a demonstration flight to the International Space Station in September. The Antares-Cygnus mission marked the final chapter in the COTS saga.

Bolden and other NASA officials said the lessons learned during COTS were being applied to the agency's Commercial Crew Program, which supports the development of commercial spaceships for carrying humans into orbit. More than a billion dollars has already been committed for work on three prototype spaceships offered by SpaceX, the Boeing Co. and Sierra Nevada Corp. On Wednesday, NASA said it would announce its requirements for the final phase of development on Nov. 19.

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To the moon? NASA passes the torch for space commercialization

NASA Inspector General Paul Martin today released a report examining NASA's efforts to partner with private industry to develop a "commercial crew" capability to transport U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Since the end of the Space Shuttle Program in July 2011, the United States has lacked a domestic capability to transport crew and - until recently - cargo to the ISS. Consequently, NASA has been relying on the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) for crew transportation. Between 2012 and 2017, NASA will pay Roscosmos $1.7 billion to ferry 30 NASA astronauts and international partners to and from the ISS at prices ranging from $47 million to more than $70 million per person. After 2017, NASA hopes to obtain transportation to the ISS from American spaceflight companies.

NASA is currently working with three companies - The Boeing Company (Boeing), Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), and Sierra Nevada Corporation (Sierra Nevada) - to develop commercial crew transportation capabilities using a combination of funded Space Act Agreements and procurement contracts. As of August 31, 2013, NASA has spent $1.1 billion on its commercial crew development efforts.

This OIG audit assessed: (1) the progress of each commercial partner toward developing a certified crew capability; and (2) the major challenges facing the Program.

NASA's Commercial Crew Program is currently at a critical stage of development with Boeing, SpaceX, and Sierra Nevada expected to complete their spacecraft designs within the next year. While the partners are responsible for developing the vehicles, they rely heavily on NASA funding. At the same time, NASA maintains responsibility for ensuring that the partners' launch systems and spacecraft meet Agency safety and operational requirements. All three partners achieved a state of maturity approximate to a Preliminary Design Review prior to NASA's award of the latest round of Space Act Agreements in 2012 and each has set an optimistic schedule for achieving a company-defined Critical Design Review of their systems by mid-2014.[1] NASA officials said using Space Act Agreements during the current phase of development is beneficial because it allows for sharing of development costs and promotes creativity, innovation, and competition among the partners.

We found that although NASA's commercial partners are making steady progress in initial development of their spaceflight systems, NASA faces several obstacles that may prevent it from meeting its goal of transporting astronauts to the ISS in commercially supplied vehicles by 2017:

Failure to address these challenges in a timely manner could significantly delay the availability of commercial crew transportation services and extend U.S. reliance on Russia for transporting U.S. crew to the ISS.

Specifically, the Commercial Crew Program has received only 38 percent of requested funding for fiscal years 2011 through 2013, bringing the current aggregate budget gap to $1.1 billion when comparing funding requested to funding received. In addition, although NASA's Commercial Crew partners have completed their preliminary spacecraft designs, NASA managers have yet to develop a life cycle cost estimate showing the anticipated costs of the program year-by-year throughout its life from preliminary design through the end of operations. Without this type of detailed cost estimate, it is difficult for NASA to calculate how much funding is required each year given that costs over time can fluctuate significantly.

In addition, despite a 90day goal for NASA to respond to partner requests for requirement and certification guidance, our review identified a significant number of requests unresolved for more than 120 days. Cost increases and schedule overruns may result if NASA is unable to provide timely and accurate requirement and certification guidance.

Finally, NASA and the FAA signed a Memorandum of Understanding in June 2012 that addresses coordination of their respective roles; however, the Air Force ranges often used for space launches are not yet fully part of that effort. Program officials are attempting to formally establish a tri-party safety steering group composed of NASA, the FAA, and the Air Force. Failure to coordinate effectively with these entities regarding complex range safety, legal, and insurance issues could adversely affect NASA's efforts to facilitate commercial human space travel.

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NASA IG Final Report: NASA's Management of the Commercial Crew Program

The Time of Apollo - 1975 NASA Film (First 10 minutes)
Watch JFK speak about going to the moon on C-SPAN3 Nov. 10th: http://www.c-span.org/History/Events/President-Kennedy-on-US-Space-Program/10737433742/

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How Mars Lost Its Atmosphere | NASA Space Science HD Video
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NASA has rescheduled its Asteroid Synthesis Workshop, a public forum to examine and synthesize 96 of the ideas submitted to a Request for Information (RFI) about the agency's asteroid initiative. The workshop will be held Nov. 20 - 22 at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, and is a continuation of the workshop originally scheduled for Sept. 30 - Oct. 2, which was ended early because of the government shutdown.

The workshop will feature discussions by experts from NASA, the agency's international partners, private industry and the public. Topics include how best to identify, capture and relocate a near-Earth asteroid for closer study, how to respond to asteroid threats, as well as partnership, crowdsourcing and citizen science ideas. Workshop results will be considered for future planning as NASA refines the details of its mission.

NASA's fiscal year 2014 budget proposes an asteroid initiative that includes a strategy to leverage human and robotic activities for a first-ever human mission to an asteroid, while also accelerating efforts to improve detection and characterization of asteroids. The work aligns the agency's ongoing efforts in science, new technology development and human exploration.

NASA received more than 400 ideas in response to the June RFI. The ideas were submitted by industry, universities, international organizations, and for the first time, individual members of the public. NASA's selection process involved agency scientists, engineers and mission planners who are formulating details of the asteroid initiative.

Each session will be webcast on NASA's UStream channel, and virtual participation is encouraged. Because of limited capacity, in person attendance is limited to invited, registered presenters. Selected sessions also will be broadcast on NASA Television. Virtual audience members can ask questions through the UStream chat function and via Twitter with session-specific hashtags. Complete schedule information, live webcasts, hashtags, and other details on how to participate virtually can be found at:

http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidworkshop

Media interested in attending the workshop in person should contact Rachel Kraft at rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov or Sarah Ramsey at sarah.ramsey@nasa.gov.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

NASA TV Live

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NASA Continues Workshop to Discuss Asteroid Initiative Ideas

November 12, 2013

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

NASA is collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to bring Earth science satellite data to the cloud.

The space agency said it would be making a large collection of climate and Earth science satellite data available to research and educational users through the AWS cloud. The system enhances research and educational opportunities for the US geoscience community by promoting community-driven research, innovation and collaboration.

NASA continues to support and provide open public access to research data, and this collaboration is entirely consistent with that objective, NASA Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan at the agencys headquarters in Washington said in a press release. Earth science research is important to every person on the planet, and we welcome contributions from all researchers in improving our understanding of Earth and its climate.

NASA said this new project would experiment with a new way to provide data services, allowing users around the world to gain access to an integrated Earth science computational and data management system. The service encompasses selected NASA satellite and global change data sets and data processing tools from the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX), which is a research platform at NASAs Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

We are excited to grow an ecosystem of researchers and developers who can help us solve important environmental research problems, Rama Nemani, principal scientist for the NEX project at Ames, said in a press release. Our goal is that people can easily gain access to and use a multitude of data analysis services quickly through AWS to add knowledge and open source tools for others benefit.

NEX is a platform that combines state-of-the-art supercomputing, Earth system modeling, workflow management and NASA remote-sensing data. Users can use NEX to explore and analyze large Earth science data sets, run and share modeling algorithms, collaborate on new or existing projects and exchange workflows and results.

NASA said it has uploaded terabytes of data from three satellite and computer modeling datasets to the AWS platform and will upload more in the future. One of the data sets available helps provide high-resolution climate change projections for the 48 contiguous US states. The second set offers up a global view of Earths surface every one to two days. Landsat data available on the cloud provides the longest existing continuous space-based record of Earths land.

By bringing these NASA public data assets into the AWS cloud, we help NASA engage a larger community for global change impact modeling and analysis as well as data sciences innovation in general, Jamie Kinney, AWS senior manager for scientific computing, said in a press release. Together, NASA and AWS are delivering faster time to science and taking the complexity out of accessing this important climate data.

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NASA Making Satellite Data Available On Amazon’s Cloud

As of Nov. 13, 2013, NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in California's Silicon Valley will begin facilitating news media interviews about its new quantum computing efforts.

In a partnership with Google and independent, nonprofit research corporation Universities Space Research Association (USRA), Ames has established the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (QuAIL) at its NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) facility. The laboratory houses a 512-qubit D-Wave Two(TM) quantum computer.

Quantum computing is based on quantum bits or qubits. Unlike traditional computers, in which bits must have a value of either zero or one, a qubit can represent a zero, a one, or both values simultaneously. NASA researchers speculate that for certain types of problems, the quantum properties of a qubit will allow them to effectively try all possible solutions at once, arriving at a better solution - giving either a more accurate result than a classical supercomputer, finding an answer faster or identifying a completely new answer current supercomputers cannot find.

NASA researchers will use this system to investigate quantum algorithms that might someday dramatically improve the agency's ability to solve difficult optimization problems in aeronautics, Earth and space sciences, and space exploration. Applications relevant to NASA include machine learning, pattern recognition, mission planning and scheduling, distributed navigation and coordination, and system diagnostics and anomaly detection.

Ames is an agency leader in high-performance computing. Its NAS facility provides an integrated high-end computing environment to enable NASA to improve aerospace technology, safely conduct human and robotic space exploration, and advance knowledge of Earth and the universe. NAS houses Pleiades, a petaflop-scale supercomputer, which is ranked among the most powerful systems in the world. Pleiades is used by scientists and engineers throughout the U.S. to support NASA missions.

Interested reporters may contact jessica.culler@nasa.gov to arrange telephone interviews.

From Nov. 18-21, reporters may also interview a NASA expert in person about Ames' quantum computing and supercomputing research at the upcoming international Supercomputing Conference, SC13, in Denver. Interested reporters may contact jill.a.dunbar@nasa.gov to arrange interviews at the conference.

For more information about QuAIL, visit:

http://www.nas.nasa.gov/quantum/

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NASA Experts Available For Interviews About Quantum Computing

Nov. 12, 2013 NASA has released a natural-color image of Saturn from space, the first in which Saturn, its moons and rings, and Earth, Venus and Mars, all are visible.

The new panoramic mosaic of the majestic Saturn system taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which shows the view as it would be seen by human eyes, was unveiled at the Newseum in Washington on Tuesday.

Cassini's imaging team processed 141 wide-angle images to create the panorama. The image sweeps 404,880 miles (651,591 kilometers) across Saturn and its inner ring system, including all of Saturn's rings out to the E ring, which is Saturn's second outermost ring. For perspective, the distance between Earth and our moon would fit comfortably inside the span of the E ring.

"In this one magnificent view, Cassini has delivered to us a universe of marvels," said Carolyn Porco, Cassini's imaging team lead at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. "And it did so on a day people all over the world, in unison, smiled in celebration at the sheer joy of being alive on a pale blue dot."

The mosaic is part of Cassini's "Wave at Saturn" campaign, where on July 19, people for the first time had advance notice a spacecraft was taking their picture from planetary distances. NASA invited the public to celebrate by finding Saturn in their part of the sky, waving at the ringed planet and sharing pictures over the Internet.

An annotated version of the Saturn system mosaic labels points of interest. Earth is a bright blue dot to the lower right of Saturn. Venus is a bright dot to Saturn's upper left. Mars also appears, as a faint red dot, above and to the left of Venus. Seven Saturnian moons are visible, including Enceladus on the left side of the image. Zooming into the image reveals the moon and the icy plume emanating from its south pole, supplying fine, powder-sized icy particles that make up the E ring.

The E ring shines like a halo around Saturn and the inner rings. Because it is so tenuous, it is best seen with light shining from behind it, when the tiny particles are outlined with light because of the phenomenon of diffraction. Scientists who focus on Saturn's rings look for patterns in optical bonanzas like these. They use computers to increase dramatically the contrast of the images and change the color balance, for example, to see evidence for material tracing out the full orbits of the tiny moons Anthe and Methone for the first time.

"This mosaic provides a remarkable amount of high-quality data on Saturn's diffuse rings, revealing all sorts of intriguing structures we are currently trying to understand," said Matt Hedman, a Cassini participating scientist at the University of Idaho in Moscow. "The E ring in particular shows patterns that likely reflect disturbances from such diverse sources as sunlight and Enceladus' gravity."

Cassini does not attempt many images of Earth because the sun is so close to our planet that an unobstructed view would damage the spacecraft's sensitive detectors. Cassini team members looked for an opportunity when the sun would slip behind Saturn from Cassini's point of view. A good opportunity came on July 19, when Cassini was able to capture a picture of Earth and its moon, and this multi-image, backlit panorama of the Saturn system.

"With a long, intricate dance around the Saturn system, Cassini aims to study the Saturn system from as many angles as possible," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Beyond showing us the beauty of the Ringed Planet, data like these also improve our understanding of the history of the faint rings around Saturn and the way disks around planets form -- clues to how our own solar system formed around the sun."

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NASA Cassini spacecraft provides new view of Saturn and Earth