1. NASA

Category Archives: NASA

'One giant leap': Bill would name NASA center after Neil Armstrong

Posted on by

AP Photo / NASA

This 1960 image provided by NASA shows Neil Armstrong standing by an X-15 rocketplane after a test flight. Armstrong later went on to become the first man to walk on the moon.

By Alicia Chang, The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -Neil Armstrong's name is attached to a lunar crater, an asteroid, more than a dozen schools and a museum, but not a single NASA facility is christened in honor of the man whose "giant leap" made him the first to walk on the moon.

All that could soon change on the fringes of the Mojave Desert, where leaders at the space agency's top flight research center are mulling the consequences of a proposed name change at the place where Armstrong was a test pilot.

The push by some in Congress to strike the name of former NASA executive Hugh Dryden from the facility has brought with it some questions: Is it justified to substitute one accomplished figure for another? At a time of squeezed budgets, is it worth the cost? And, besides: How long before the next space hotshot upends the world's first moonwalker?

Managers at the Dryden Flight Research Center have no say in what they're called final approval rests with the U.S. House and Senate and so they have left the soul-searching to others.

"I'm happy with the name Dryden Flight Research Center, but I'll be equally happy with Armstrong," center Director David McBride said. "Both men were leaders in the field."

Though not a done deal, brainstorming is already underway: Welcome signs bearing the Dryden logo would have to be updated. Research aircraft would need their sides repainted. Letterhead and pamphlets would have to be recycled. And then there's the obligatory dedication ceremony.

Dryden officials have not calculated a total makeover cost but don't foresee extra funds, meaning they would have to work within their $65 million operating budget to pay for the changes.

See original here:

'One giant leap': Bill would name NASA center after Neil Armstrong

'One giant leap' toward a NASA Armstrong center?

Posted on by

LOS ANGELES (AP) Neil Armstrong's name is attached to a lunar crater, an asteroid, more than a dozen schools and a museum, but not a single NASA facility is christened in honor of the man whose "giant leap" made him the first to walk on the moon.

All that could soon change on the fringes of the Mojave Desert, where leaders at the space agency's top flight research center are mulling the consequences of a proposed name change at the place where Armstrong was a test pilot.

The push by some in Congress to strike the name of former NASA executive Hugh Dryden from the facility has brought with it some questions: Is it justified to substitute one accomplished figure for another? At a time of squeezed budgets, is it worth the cost? And, besides: How long before the next space hotshot upends the world's first moonwalker?

Managers at the Dryden Flight Research Center have no say in what they're called final approval rests with the U.S. House and Senate and so they have left the soul-searching to others.

"I'm happy with the name Dryden Flight Research Center, but I'll be equally happy with Armstrong," center Director David McBride said. "Both men were leaders in the field."

Though not a done deal, brainstorming is already underway: Welcome signs bearing the Dryden logo would have to be updated. Research aircraft would need their sides repainted. Letterhead and pamphlets would have to be recycled. And then there's the obligatory dedication ceremony.

Dryden officials have not calculated a total makeover cost but don't foresee extra funds, meaning they would have to work within their $65 million operating budget to pay for the changes.

It wouldn't be the first rebranding of a NASA facility.

In 1999, the Lewis Research Center in Ohio named for George Lewis, the first executive officer of NASA's predecessor agency was changed to the John H. Glenn Research Center, after the first American to orbit Earth and former senator. A daylong celebration was held, complete with an F-16 flyover and a parade filled with floats, marching bands and a cameo appearance by Glenn.

Any festivities marking a Dryden-to-Armstrong swap would likely be more muted to save money.

See the original post here:

'One giant leap' toward a NASA Armstrong center?

NASA confirms the religion of all prophets . religion and science the splitting of the moon – Video

Posted on by


NASA confirms the religion of all prophets . religion and science the splitting of the moon
The following scientific web sites show, with images, how the moon #39;s fault line splits it in half:1- http://www.synapses.co.uk/astro/moon3... "Do you need a ...

By: Tawheed Islam

Here is the original post:

NASA confirms the religion of all prophets . religion and science the splitting of the moon - Video

NASA flights target how pollution, storms, climate mix

Posted on by

Washington, June 7 : NASA aircraft will take to the skies over the southern United States this summer to investigate how air pollution and natural emissions, which are pushed high into the atmosphere by large storms, affect atmospheric composition and climate.

NASA will conduct its most complex airborne science campaign of the year from Houston's Ellington Field, which is operated by the agency's Johnson Space Center, beginning Aug. 7 and continuing through September. The field campaign draws together coordinated observations from NASA satellites, aircraft and an array of ground sites.

More than 250 scientists, engineers, and flight personnel are participating in the Studies of Emissions, Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) campaign. The project is sponsored by the Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Brian Toon of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is SEAC4RS lead scientist.

Aircraft and sensors will probe the atmosphere from top to bottom at the critical time of year when weather systems are strong enough and regional air pollution and natural emissions are prolific enough to pump gases and particles high into the atmosphere. The result is potentially global consequences for Earth's atmosphere and climate.

"In summertime across the United States, emissions from large seasonal fires, metropolitan areas, and vegetation are moved upward by thunderstorms and the North American Monsoon," Toon said. "When these chemicals get into the stratosphere they can affect the whole Earth. They also may influence how thunderstorms behave. With SEAC4RS we hope to better understand how all these things interact."

SEAC4RS will provide new insights into the effects of the gases and tiny aerosol particles in the atmosphere. The mission is targeting two major regional sources of summertime emissions: intense smoke from forest fires in the U.S. West and natural emissions of isoprene, a carbon compound, from forests in the Southeast.

Forest fire smoke can change the properties of clouds. The particles in the smoke can reflect and absorb incoming solar energy, potentially producing a net cooling at the ground and a warming of the atmosphere. The addition of large amounts of chemicals, such as isoprene, can alter the chemical balance of the atmosphere. Some of these chemicals can damage Earth's protective ozone layer.

The mission will use a number of scientific instruments in orbit, in the air, and on the ground to paint a detailed picture of these intertwined atmospheric processes. As a fleet of formation-flying satellites known as NASA's A-Train passes over the region every day, sensors will detect different features of the scene below. NASA's ER-2 high-altitude aircraft will fly into the stratosphere to the edge of space while NASA's DC-8 aircraft will sample the atmosphere below it. A third aircraft from SPEC Inc., of Boulder, Colo., will measure cloud properties. One benefit of this thorough examination of the region's atmosphere will be more accurate satellite data.

"By using aircraft to collect data from inside the atmosphere, we can compare those measurements with what our satellites see and improve the quality of the data from space," said Hal Maring of the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters.

The SEAC4RS campaign is partly supported by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. NASA scientists involved in the mission come from NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt., Md.; Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.; and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

Follow this link:

NASA flights target how pollution, storms, climate mix

NASA Spaceline Current Awareness June 7, 2013

Posted on by

Next list: June 21, 2013

Papers deriving from NASA support:

1 Zwart SR, Morgan JL, Smith SM. Iron status and its relations with oxidative damage and bone loss during long-duration space flight on the International Space Station. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 May 29. [Epub ahead of print] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23719548 (PIs: S.M. Smith; J.L. Morgan, Oak Ridge Associated Universities/NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship) NOTE: ISS results.

2 Stenger MB, Lee SM, Westby CM, Ribeiro LC, Phillips TR, Martin DS, Platts SH. Abdomen-high elastic gradient compression garments during post-spaceflight stand tests. Aviat Space Environ Med. 2013 May;84(5):459-66. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23713210 NOTE: Shuttle results.

3 Tesch PA, Pozzo M, Ainegren M, Swaren M, Linnehan RM. Cardiovascular responses to rowing on a novel ergometer designed for both resistance and aerobic training in space. Aviat Space Environ Med. 2013 May;84(5):516-21. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23713218

4 Spielmann G, Bollard CM, Bigley AB, Hanley PJ, Blaney JW, LaVoy EC, Pircher H, Simpson RJ. The effects of age and latent cytomegalovirus infection on the redeployment of CD8+ T cell subsets in response to acute exercise in humans. Brain Behav Immun. 2013 May 15. [Epub ahead of print] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23684819 (PI: R.J. Simpson)

5 Zeitlin C, Hassler DM, Cucinotta FA, Ehresmann B, Wimmer-Schweingruber RF, Brinza DE, Kang S, Weigle G, Boettcher S, Boehm E, Burmeister S, Guo J, Koehler J, Martin C, Posner A, Rafkin S, Reitz G. Measurements of energetic particle radiation in transit to Mars on the Mars Science Laboratory. Science. 2013 May 31;340(6136):1080-4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23723233 NOTE: The Radiation Assessment Detector, carried on the Mars Science Laboratory, was supported in part by HEOMD at NASA. This article was discussed in numerous press accounts and was highlighted in a "News&Analysis" short article in Science (PubMed 23723213). From that short article: "RAD's bottom line was that a round trip to Mars would give an astronaut a hefty dose of damaging radiation. Zeitlin and colleagues converted RAD measurements of energetic particle abundances, energies, and masses into a measure of biological damage called sieverts, which is related to lifetime cancer risk. During a 360-day round trip, an astronaut would receive a dose of about 662 millisieverts (mSv), according to RAD measurements. National space agencies limit exposure to about 1000 mSv or less during an astronaut's entire career; NASA's limit corresponds to a 3% risk of exposure-induced death from cancer."

6 Liu C, Kawata T, Furusawa Y, Zhou G, Inoue K, Fukada J, Kota R, George K, Cucinotta F, Okayasu R. Chromosome aberrations in normal human fibroblasts analyzed in G(0)/G(1) and G(2)/M phases after exposure in G(0) to radiation with different linear energy transfer (LET). Mutat Res. 2013 May 17. [Epub ahead of print] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23688614

7 Kodaira S, Kawashima H, Kitamura H, Kurano M, Uchihori Y, Yasuda N, Ogura K, Kobayashi I, Suzuki A, Koguchi Y, Akatov YA, Shurshakov VA, Tolochek RV, Krasheninnikova TK, Ukraintsev AD, Gureeva EA, Kuznetsov VN, Benton ER. Analysis of radiation dose variations measured by passive dosimeters onboard the International Space Station during the solar quiet period (2007-2008). Radiat Meas. 2013 Feb;49:95-102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.radmeas.2012.11.020 (PI: E.R. Benton) NOTE: ISS results.

8 Calle CI, Mackey PJ, Hogue MD, Johansen MR, Yim H, Delaune PB, Clements JS. Electrodynamic Dust Shields on the International Space Station: Exposure to the space environment. J Electrostatics. 2013 Jun;71(3):257-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.elstat.2012.10.009 NOTE: This article describes an ISS experiment to test dust shields that may eventually serve as a dust mitigation method for missions to the moon and Mars.

Read the original:

NASA Spaceline Current Awareness June 7, 2013

NASA's biggest rocket yet

Posted on by

NASA

This artist's concept shows NASA's Space Launch System atop its Florida launch pad.

By Rod Pyle, Space.com

NASA's largest rocket yet, a vehicle under development called the Space Launch System (SLS), is on track for its first test flight in 2017, according to experts who spoke at the Space Tech Expo in Long Beach last month.

The rocket is designed to carry astronauts farther into the solar system than ever before. Meanwhile, NASA plans to leave travel to low-Earth orbit to commercial space companies, which are developingprivate space taxisto take over the job vacated by the retired space shuttle.

"We started working onSpace Launch Systemconcepts 10 years ago," said former astronaut David Leestma, a veteran of three space shuttle missions, who now heads the Technology Transfer and Commercialization Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We want to take NASA well beyond the space station. The SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built, and it will be safe, affordable and sustainable." [Photos: NASA's Giant Rocket for Deep Space Flights]

The new super-rocket will be able to boost 143 tons (130 metric tons) to orbit using many existing components in its construction. The main liquid-fueled engines are leftovers from the shuttle program, as are the giant solid rocket boosters that will flank the rocket. Only the core, or central structure, will be completely new.

The shuttle program ended with 14 flyable engines, and there are two more that could be ready to go with minimal work, said Jim Paulsen from rocket engine maker Pratt & Whitney/Rocketdyne. "We are in good shape with the [shuttle main] engines," he added.

The solid rocket boosters are being readied by Alliant Techsystems (ATK) in Utah. They need to be adapted for use on the SLS, and the changes are "right on budget and on schedule for a2017 unmanned test fight," said Don Sauvageau, who works at the engine design firm. "Affordability is a big factor, and these will be 30 percent cheaper than they were for the shuttle," he said.

Atop the giant booster will be NASA'sOrion capsule. Orion is slated for a test flight with the Atlas V rocket in 2014, during which the heat shield and re-entry systems will re-enter Earth's atmosphere at speeds similar to a lunar return. NASA hopes to have Orion ready for a crewed flight by 2021.

Read more from the original source:

NASA's biggest rocket yet

The Bedrock Beneath Antarctic Ice Sheet Revealed / Topographic Map of Antarctica / NASA 1080p – Video

Posted on by


The Bedrock Beneath Antarctic Ice Sheet Revealed / Topographic Map of Antarctica / NASA 1080p
Our understanding of what lies beneath the world #39;s biggest ice sheet has taken another leap forward. This video strips away Antarctic ice to reveal a new, an...

By: ThunderAerospace

Read more:

The Bedrock Beneath Antarctic Ice Sheet Revealed / Topographic Map of Antarctica / NASA 1080p - Video

Several Large Asteroids Are Visible This Month | NASA JPL Space Science HD Video – Video

Posted on by


Several Large Asteroids Are Visible This Month | NASA JPL Space Science HD Video
Visit my website at http://www.junglejoel.com - Asteroid 1998 QE2 has passed Earth and is now moving away from us, but it #39;s still visible through a telescope...

By: CoconutScienceLab

Read the original post:

Several Large Asteroids Are Visible This Month | NASA JPL Space Science HD Video - Video

MARS RAT AND MARS LIZARD COVER UP THE ILLUMINATI NASA UFO SIGHTINGS ALIENS – Video

Posted on by


MARS RAT AND MARS LIZARD COVER UP THE ILLUMINATI NASA UFO SIGHTINGS ALIENS
What is the Mars rat ? What is the Mars Lizard? Why are there people living on Mars? How is The Illuminati involved? These and many other questions are answe...

By: REVELATIONSNETWORK

Go here to read the rest:

MARS RAT AND MARS LIZARD COVER UP THE ILLUMINATI NASA UFO SIGHTINGS ALIENS - Video


  1. NASA