NASA scientists say the first tests of what could someday become an outer space Internet have far surpassed their expectations.

"It's been beyond what we expected," said Don Cornwell, the Lunar Laser Communications Mission manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "We obviously expected it would work well, but this is even better... Everything going better than we thought it would. We're running these systems error free."

With the tests already going so well, NASA is encouraged that a laser communications system could be the building blocks of an outer space Internet.

"This is the beginning of that," Cornwell told Computerworld. "I think we could have that with delay tolerant networking. This is the beginning."

NASA's lunar spacecraft, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer or LADEE, has begin a monthlong test of a high data-rate laser communication system.

If the system works as planned, similar laser systems are expected to replace radio systems to speed up future satellite communications as well as deep space communications with robots and human exploration crews.

Using a laser for communications would enable astronauts and robots similar to the Mars rover Curiosity or the lunar orbiter, to send and receive far greater data loads, whether they're in orbit around Earth, on the moon or a distant asteroid.

Space exploration is largely about the data. Rovers and astronauts are expected to take measurements, photos and video of distant planets and asteroids. However, if there's a data bottleneck and they can't get that information back to scientists on Earth, the entire mission could be crippled.

The large pipe that laser communications give NASA scientists will become increasingly important as explorations travel farther from Earth.

Cornwell said LADEE ran its first laser test on Oct. 17 and has since run three more. And so far, the communications link-up has worked perfectly every time.

Original post:

NASA says first space Internet test 'beyond expectations'

NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, a Waterbury, Conn., native who is making final preparations for a launch to the International Space Station, will be available for live satellite interviews from 6-7 a.m. EDT Friday, Oct. 25.

Mastracchio will participate in the interviews from Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, and depart the following day for the launch site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Leading up to the live interviews, NASA Television will air at 5:30 a.m. pre-recorded video of Mastracchio's mission training and previous spaceflights.

To participate in the interviews, reporters should contact Karen Svetaka at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston at 281-483-8684 no later than 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24.

Mastracchio earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and postgraduate degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Houston at Clear Lake. A veteran of three space shuttle flights, Mastracchio was a mission specialist on STS-106, STS-118 and STS-131, and has logged almost 40 days in space. He also conducted six spacewalks totaling 38 hours, 30 minutes.

Mastracchio will launch aboard a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:14 p.m. EST Nov. 6, along with Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mikhail Tyurin of the Russian Federal Space Agency. The trio will start their time aboard the station as part of Expedition 37, and will return to Earth in May 2014 as part of the Expedition 38 crew.

When Mastracchio, Wakata Tyurin arrive at the station Nov. 7, they will join Expedition 37 astronauts Karen Nyberg and Michael Hopkins of NASA, Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov, Sergey Ryazanskiy and Fyodor Yurchikhin.

This crew will participate in several hundred experiments that cross the fields of biology and biotechnology, physical science and Earth science during their mission, which will last almost six months.

For more information on NASA TV coverage, see:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntvnews

Mastracchio's complete biography is available at:

More here:

NASA Astronaut Available for Interviews on Eve of Space Station Mission

NASA wants to offload cargo runs to the space station to private companies so it can focus more on exploration. Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo ship just finished its first mission.

The second of two commercial spacecraft NASA has tapped to resupply the International Space Station wrapped up its qualifying run to the orbiting outpost successfully on Tuesday. It now is headed for incineration when it reenters Earth's atmosphere on Wednesday.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

Astronauts aboard the space station used the station's robotic arm to gently move Orbital Sciences Corporation's Cygnus cargo craft away from the station, releasing it at 7:31 Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday.

It was a wipe-the-brow moment for NASA. For eight years, the agency has worked to outsource cargo-hauling duties to the space station in anticipation of retiring the space shuttles in 2011. The agency was tasked with refocusing its human-spaceflight program on exploration beyond low-Earth orbit.

While the space agency and Congress are still sorting out those next steps, NASA is claiming success for its work to stimulate the emergence of companies that own and operate their own rockets and cargo craft.

We are delighted to now have two American companies able to resupply the station, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr. said in a statement Tuesday, referring to Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in addition to Orbital Sciences. Orbital's success today is helping make NASA's future exploration to farther destinations possible.

Orbital Sciences, based in Dulles, Va., launched Cygnus atop the company's Antares rocket Sept. 18. The launch took place at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, on the grounds of NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility on the Virgina coast. The craft was to have docked with the space station four days later. But a software glitch prevented an initial attempt at a rendezvous.

Software engineers fixed the problem. But the delay prompted mission controllers to hold off on a second rendezvous attempt until an incoming Russian Soyuz spacecraft could deliver three crew members to the station. The Soyuz craft arrived on Sept. 25. Cygnus docked four days later, carrying some 1,300 pounds of food, clothes, and experiments designed by elementary, middle-school, and high-school students.

Read the original post:

Success of Cygnus cargo craft takes NASA step closer to new future

by Agence France-Presse Posted on 10/21/2013 1:00 PM |Updated 10/21/2013 1:00 PM

The NASA logo is displayed on a wall outside the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas 20 March 2007. EPA/Aaron M. Sprecher

BEIJING, China NASA has reversed a decision to ban 6 Chinese scientists from a space conference, Chinese state media said, after prominent US astronomers vowed to boycott the meeting in a row over academic freedom.

The US space agency had barred them from participating in the meeting on exoplanets bodies outside the solar system in California in early November, saying it was legally obliged to do so because of their nationality.

A NASA committee has now written to the 6 to change course, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.

"We have since been able to clarify the intent of the referenced legislation and are pleased to inform you that this decision has been reversed and your paperwork is being reviewed for clearance," Xinhua quoted the letter as saying.

"We hope you will be able to join us," it added.

The initial decision to block the 6 led to an academic uproar and some leading US astronomers, including Yale University's Debra Fischer, announced plans to boycott the conference.

Geoff Marcy, an astronomy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote in an email to the organizers: "The meeting is about planets located trillions of miles away, with no national security implications."

China's foreign ministry also blasted NASA's denial of the researchers' applications as discriminatory, arguing that politics should have no place at academic meetings.

Continued here:

NASA reverses trajectory on Chinese ban – report

BEIJING: NASA has reversed a decision to ban six Chinese scientists from a space conference, Chinese state media said, after prominent US astronomers vowed to boycott the meeting in a row over academic freedom.

The US space agency had barred them from participating in the meeting on exoplanets -- bodies outside the solar system -- in California in early November, saying it was legally obliged to do so because of their nationality.

A NASA committee has now written to the six to change course, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.

"We have since been able to clarify the intent of the referenced legislation and are pleased to inform you that this decision has been reversed and your paperwork is being reviewed for clearance," Xinhua quoted the letter as saying.

"We hope you will be able to join us," it added.

The initial decision to block the six led to an academic uproar and some leading US astronomers, including Yale University's Debra Fischer, announced plans to boycott the conference.

Geoff Marcy, an astronomy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote in an email to the organisers: "The meeting is about planets located trillions of miles away, with no national security implications."

China's foreign ministry also blasted NASA's denial of the researchers' applications as discriminatory, arguing that politics should have no place at academic meetings.

NASA administrator Charles Bolden responded earlier this month by pledging to review the committee's decision, which he blamed on "mid-level managers" at the agency's Ames Research Center, which is hosting the event.

Ninety-seven per cent of NASA staff were sent home without pay due to the partial US government shutdown this month after Congress failed to pass a budget in time.

Go here to see the original:

NASA reverses trajectory on Chinese ban

U.S. space agency NASA says it has lifted a controversial ban on the participation of Chinese scientists at a scientific conference in California next month.

In an email sent to VOA on Monday, NASA said "scientists of Chinese origin who initially were excluded from applying to attend the Kepler Science Conference at NASA's Ames Research Center next month now are able to apply."

The U.S. space agency says its initial decision to bar access to the Chinese scientists was "unfortunate" and based on a "misinterpretation" of government policy.

Earlier this month, a group of academics organizing the conference said they reluctantly denied the registrations of six Chinese nationals because of a NASA moratorium.

The organizers said the U.S. space agency banned visits to NASA facilities by citizens of China and several other nations in March, when a new U.S. law took effect. The law restricts foreign access to NASA facilities due to national security concerns.

The organizers said they only learned about the NASA ban in late September and denounced the legal restrictions behind it as "deplorable." Some U.S. scientists had said they would boycott the conference to protest the exclusion of the Chinese academics.

NASA says the policy concerning foreign access to its facilities was "clarified and the decision corrected" once the federal government reopened last Thursday after a 16-day partial shutdown.

A Republican lawmaker who drafted the NASA restrictions had appealed to the space agency to make that clarification.

Frank Wolf sent a letter to NASA on October 8, saying the law does not ban all Chinese individuals from entering NASA facilities. Instead, he said it "primarily restricts bilateral ... (NASA) activities with the Communist Chinese government or Chinese-owned companies."

In a report published Saturday, China's state-run Xinhua news agency said NASA sent a letter to the six Chinese scientists, informing them that their applications for the conference were "being reviewed for clearance."

Read the original:

NASA Lifts Ban on Chinese Scientists at US Conference

NASA astronaut and Expedition 37 flight engineer Karen Nyberg, currently orbiting aboard the International Space Station, will speak with students in Henning, Minn., near her hometown, this week.

The live, station-to-ground video chat will take place at 9:45 a.m. CDT (10:45 a.m. EDT) Wednesday, Oct. 23, at the Henning School, 500 School Ave. It will be carried live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

Nyberg, who arrived at the station in May for a six-month mission, is a graduate of Henning, a small, rural school with an enrollment of approximately 400 students in grades K-12. During the event, the students will be able to ask Nyberg questions about life, work and research aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Media interested in attending the event can do so by contacting Henning School Principal Thomas Williams at 218-583-2927, ext. 8157, or twilliams@henning.k12.mn.us.

The students have been following Nyberg's mission, and NASA activities have been incorporated into classes at the school in preparation for the conversation. Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides them with an authentic, live experience of space exploration, space study and the scientific components of space travel and possibilities of life in space.

This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organization in the United States to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning. It is an integral component of NASA's Teaching From Space education program, which promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of space and NASA's human spaceflight program.

To keep up with Nyberg's research and life on the station through Twitter, follow:

@AstroKarenN

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

NASA TV Live

See the original post here:

NASA Space Station Astronaut Calls Home to Speak with Minnesota Students

NASA has reversed a decision to ban six Chinese scientists from a space conference, Chinese state media said, after prominent US astronomers vowed to boycott the meeting in a row over academic freedom.

The US space agency had barred them from participating in the meeting on exoplanets -- bodies outside the solar system -- in California in early November, saying it was legally obliged to do so because of their nationality.

A NASA committee has now written to the six to change course, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.

"We have since been able to clarify the intent of the referenced legislation and are pleased to inform you that this decision has been reversed and your paperwork is being reviewed for clearance," Xinhua quoted the letter as saying.

"We hope you will be able to join us," it added.

The initial decision to block the six led to an academic uproar and some leading US astronomers, including Yale University's Debra Fischer, announced plans to boycott the conference.

Geoff Marcy, an astronomy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote in an email to the organisers: "The meeting is about planets located trillions of miles away, with no national security implications."

China's foreign ministry also blasted NASA's denial of the researchers' applications as discriminatory, arguing that politics should have no place at academic meetings.

NASA administrator Charles Bolden responded earlier this month by pledging to review the committee's decision, which he blamed on "mid-level managers" at the agency's Ames Research Center, which is hosting the event.

Ninety-seven percent of NASA staff were sent home without pay due to the partial US government shutdown this month after Congress failed to pass a budget in time.

Read more from the original source:

NASA reverses ban on Chinese scientists

HONG KONG (CNN) -- Sorry, no Chinese researchers allowed! Oh wait, seems like that was a misunderstanding. Please do come.

NASA's management apparently misinterpreted a security law when it barred Chinese researchers from attending the space agency's Kepler Science Conference in November, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported Sunday. Xinhua said NASA sent a letter to Chinese scientists inviting them back and cited excerpts from the letter.

NASA did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Sunday morning.

The confusion apparently stemmed from a U.S. law passed in 2011 that prevents NASA funds from being used to collaborate with China or to host Chinese visitors at its facilities.

NASA had announced that Chinese nationals would not be allowed to attend the conference for NASA's Kepler space telescope program at the Ames Research Center due to national security.

The space telescope has been searching for planets outside of our solar system.

Earlier this month, China slammed NASA for its decision to ban Chinese scholars from the conference, calling it "discriminatory."

Gong Li, an official with the Party School of the China Central Committee's Communist party, said the ban was similar to previous U.S. action against the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. He said it also illustrated U.S. fear of China's fast development.

NASA didn't release an official statement on its website due to the U.S. government's partial shutdown earlier this month.

But some U.S. scientists joined in decrying the decision and called for a boycott of the conference.

Go here to see the original:

China: NASA mistakenly banned Chinese researchers from conference

NASA #39;s Global Hawk and Its Dropsonde System | Aviation Science Video
Visit my website at http://www.junglejoel.com - dropsondes are used to monitor hurricane strength by measuring wind speed, temperature, pressure, and humidit...

By: CoconutScienceLab

Continue reading here:

NASA's Global Hawk and Its Dropsonde System | Aviation Science Video - Video

PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 18 (UPI) -- NASA says new strategies will be needed to manage the ever-increasing flow of large and complex data streams from the agency's many space missions.

Dozens of missions pour in data every day like rushing rivers -- data that need to be stored, indexed and processed so spacecraft engineers, scientists and people across the globe can use the data to understand Earth and the universe beyond, the agency said.

For NASA missions, hundreds of terabytes -- one terabyte is equivalent to the information printed on 50,000 trees worth of paper -- are gathered every hour, creating what the technology community dubs "big data."

"Scientists use big data for everything from predicting weather on Earth to monitoring ice caps on Mars to searching for distant galaxies," Eric De Jong of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said.

De Jong is the principal investigator for NASA's Solar System Visualization project, which converts NASA mission science into visualization products that researchers can use.

"We are the keepers of the data, and the users are the astronomers and scientists who need images, mosaics, maps and movies to find patterns and verify theories," he said.

Scientists face three challenges in dealing with the huge amounts of data from space missions, he said -- storage, processing and access.

Rather than build more hardware for storage, engineers are developing creative software tools to better store the information, such as "cloud computing" techniques and automated programs for extracting data.

For processing, JPL has been increasingly turning to open-source software, creating improved data processing tools for space missions.

"We don't need to reinvent the wheel," said Chris Mattmann, a principal investigator for JPL's big-data initiative. "We can modify open-source computer codes to create faster, cheaper solutions."

Read more:

NASA strives to tame 'big data' flowing in from dozens of missions

Why is NASA interested in Jupiter?
NASA aims for Jupiter.

By: InternationalNews4u

Read more:

Why is NASA interested in Jupiter? - Video

Millisecond Pulsar Steals Gas From Its Companion | NASA Space Science HD Video
Visit my website at http://www.junglejoel.com - an old pulsar is reactivated by accreting gas from its companion star. This causes the pulsar to speed up to ...

By: CoconutScienceLab

Link:

Millisecond Pulsar Steals Gas From Its Companion | NASA Space Science HD Video - Video

Flying saucer unveiled by NASA produces Free Energy sold to China to pay of the debt of the USA
I created this video with the YouTube Video Editor (http://www.youtube.com/editor)

By: astfan son

Go here to see the original:

Flying saucer unveiled by NASA produces Free Energy sold to China to pay of the debt of the USA - Video

07/05/2011 another comet or object near sun nasa weiterer komet bzw object an der sonne 05 07 2011
07 05 2011 another comet or object near sun nasa this Comet/Object was the first Object there yesterday. I found it only on the Behind cor1 images Videocredi...

By: Alexander Koralov

Read more here:

07/05/2011 another comet or object near sun nasa weiterer komet bzw object an der sonne 05 07 2011 - Video

2011/07/01 Sun Storm direction earth Nasa sonnensturm richtung erde 01.Juli 2011
2011/07/01 Sun Storm direction earth Sun Erupting 2011/07/01 direction Earths. Thats not mean that he Hit our Earth. sonnensturm richtung erde 01.Juli 2011 R...

By: Alexander Koralov

Excerpt from:

2011/07/01 Sun Storm direction earth Nasa sonnensturm richtung erde 01.Juli 2011 - Video

07/05/2011 Comet hit the Sun 5 Cam Views Nasa Komet schlägt in die Sonne ein 07 05 2011
07/05/2011 Comet hit the Sun 5 Cam Views Nasa VideoSource: Ahead Cor1 Ahead Cor2 Behind Cor2 Lasco2 Lasco3 Komet schlägt in die Sonne ein 07 05 2011 Auf obig...

By: Alexander Koralov

See original here:

07/05/2011 Comet hit the Sun 5 Cam Views Nasa Komet schlägt in die Sonne ein 07 05 2011 - Video

7 Fireballs to Intersect Earth! All Found on New NASA All-Sky Cam System!
This will prove to be a valuable tool from here on out . at the moment , we got 7 incoming! http://spaceweather.com/ http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/ 7 http://...

By: DAHBOO77

See more here:

7 Fireballs to Intersect Earth! All Found on New NASA All-Sky Cam System! - Video

Oct 17, 2013 by Rob Gutro NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of Typhoon Francisco on Oct. 17 at 04:05 UTC in the Pacific Ocean as it started turning to the northwest after passing Guam. Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Typhoon Francisco on Oct. 17 after it had passed the eastern side of Guam and started to head on a track that would take it past the western side of Guam. Tropical Storm Warnings are in effect for Guam on Oct. 17 and 18 (local time).

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of Typhoon Francisco on Oct. 17 at 04:05 UTC in the Pacific Ocean as it started turning to the northwest after passing the eastern side Guam. The MODIS image clearly showed Francisco's eye, indicating its strength and organization.

On Oct. 17 at 1500 UTC/11 a.m. EDT Francisco had maximum sustained winds near 85 knots and was moving to the north-northeast, but is expected to take a turn to the northwest. Francisco's center was located about 147 nautical miles southwest of Guam, near 12.5 north and 143.1 east.

On Oct. 17 and 18 (local time), a Tropical Storm Warning was in effect for Guam. The National Weather Service bulletin on Oct. 17 at 3 p.m. EDT noted: as Typhoon Francisco (26w) passes...sustained tropical storm force winds are expected. Maximum winds are still forecast to be in the 30 to 40 mph range with gusts to 60 mph. Minor damage may occur to poorly constructed homes. Isolated power outages will be possible. Choppy seas of 12 to 14 feet will persist through tonight.

Explore further: Infrared NASA image shows strength in Typhoon Pabuk's eastern side

Typhoon Pabuk continued to strengthen as it moved north through the northwestern Pacific Ocean on Sept. 23, and NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of the storm. The NASA image showed powerful ...

Tropical Depression 15-E formed on Oct. 12 at 11 p.m. EDT and strengthened into Tropical Storm Octave. Four days later NASA's Terra satellite saw the weakened storm headed for landfall in western Mexico.

Powerful thunderstorms wrapped around Tropical Storm Usagi's center and its southern quadrant in visible data from NASA's Aqua satellite on Sept. 18.

Tropical Depression Sepat formed in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and NASA's Aqua satellite captured infrared data on the storm, revealing some strong thunderstorms.

See original here:

NASA sees Typhoon Francisco headed to the other side of Guam

October 18, 2013

Image Caption: The center of the Milky Way galaxy imaged by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is displayed on a quarter-of-a-billion-pixel, high-definition 23-foot-wide (7-meter) LCD science visualization screen at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. Credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

If youve ever downloaded a movie from the Internet, you know that large amounts of data can take time to transfer and process using a standard computer. Now imagine the herculean task NASA faces in trying to process the constant flood of data streaming in from the simple Voyager probe signal emanating from outside our Solar System to the hi-res images being downloaded from various orbiting telescopes.

Scientists use big data for everything from predicting weather on Earth to monitoring ice caps on Mars to searching for distant galaxies, said Eric De Jong of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and principal investigator for NASAs Solar System Visualization project.

De Jongs project team converts NASA mission science into visualization products that researchers can use for various projects.

We are the keepers of the data, and the users are the astronomers and scientists who need images, mosaics, maps and movies to find patterns and verify theories, De Jong said.

To manage the massive amount of data from space, NASA first needs a place to store the data. After the torrents of information are stored, the space agency needs a way to visualize the data in a palatable way.

Thats where De Jongs team comes in. The staff at the Solar System Visualization project is continually developing new ways to visualize data. For example, each image from NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which contains about 120 megapixels apiece, is used by the project to create a movie. De Jongs team also creates countless computer graphics and animations that allow scientists and the public to better understand the Red Planet.

Data are not just getting bigger but more complex, said De Jong. We are constantly working on ways to automate the process of creating visualization products, so that scientists and engineers can easily use the data.

Go here to read the rest:

NASA Reveals Herculean Process Of Handling Big Data