July 17, 2017 by Mara Johnson-Groh Space is not empty, nor is it silent. The region around Earth is filled with magnetic field lines and trapped energetic particles, zooming about in a high-speed dance around the planet (shown here in an illustration). Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Brian Monroe

Space is not empty, nor is it silent. While technically a vacuum, space nonetheless contains energetic charged particles, governed by magnetic and electric fields, and it behaves unlike anything we experience on Earth. In regions laced with magnetic fields, such as the space environment surrounding our planet, particles are continually tossed to and fro by the motion of various electromagnetic waves known as plasma waves. These plasma waves, like the roaring ocean surf, create a rhythmic cacophony thatwith the right toolswe can hear across space.

Just as waves roll across the ocean or storm fronts move through the atmosphere, disturbances in space, can cause waves. These waves occur as fluctuating electric and magnetic fields plow through clumps of ions and electrons that compose the plasma, pushing some to accelerated speeds. This interaction controls the balance of highly energetic particles injected and lost from in the near-Earth environment.

One type of plasma wave fundamental to shaping our near-Earth environment are whistler-mode waves. These waves create distinct sounds dependent on the plasma they travel through. For example, the region tight around Earth, called the plasmasphere, is relatively dense with cold plasma. Waves traveling inside this region sound much different than those outside. While different whistler-mode waves sing different sounds, they all move in the same way, with the same electromagnetic properties.

When lighting strikes the ground, the electrical discharge can also trigger whistler-mode plasma waves. Some of the waves escape beyond the atmosphere to bounce like bumper cars along Earth's magnetic field lines between the north and south poles. Since the lightning creates a range of frequencies, and since higher frequencies travel faster, the wave howls a falling pitch, giving the wave its namea whistler.

Out beyond the plasmasphere, where the plasma is tenuous and relatively warm, whistler-mode waves create primarily rising chirps, like a flock of noisy birds. This type of wave is called chorus and is created when electrons are pushed towards the night side of Earthwhich in some cases, may be caused by magnetic reconnection, a dynamic explosion of tangled magnetic field lines on the dark side of Earth. When these low energy electrons hit the plasma, they interact with particles in the plasma, imparting their energy and creating a unique rising tone.

Whistler-mode waves traveling inside the plasmasphere are called plasmaspheric hiss and sound a lot like radio station static. Some scientists think hiss is also caused by lightning strikes, but others think it could be caused by chorus waves that have leaked inside the plasmasphere. Both chorus and hiss waves are key shapers of the near-Earth environment including the Van Allen radiation belts, doughnut-shaped rings of high-energy particles encircling the planet.

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NASA scientists, with the help of the Van Allen Probes mission, are working to understand the dynamics of plasma waves to improve predictions of space weather, which can have damaging effects on satellites and telecommunications signals. As a part of their observations, the scientists have recorded these eerie sounds made by different plasma waves in the particle symphony surrounding Earth.

NASA's two Van Allen Probe spacecraft use an instrument called EMFISIS, short for Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science, to measure electric and magnetic waves as they circle Earth. As the spacecraft encounter a wave, sensors record the changes in the frequency of the electric and magnetic fields. The scientists shift the frequencies to the audible range so that we can listen to the sounds of space.

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By understanding how waves and particles interact, scientists can learn how electrons are accelerated and lost from the radiation belts and help protect our satellites and telecommunications in space.

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Explore further: Making waves with the hot electrons within Earth's radiation belts

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Recent experiments at the Large Plasma Device (LAPD) at the University of California, Los Angeles, have successfully excited elusive plasma waves, known as whistler-mode chorus waves, which have hitherto only been observed ...

We know that there is sound on planets and moons in the solar system places where there's a medium through which sound waves can be transmitted, such as an atmosphere or an ocean. But what about empty space? You may have ...

A Dartmouth-led study sheds light on the impact of plasma waves on high-energy electrons streaking into Earth's magnetic field from space.

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In a new study that sheds light on space weather's impact on Earth, Dartmouth researchers and their colleagues show for the first time that plasma waves buffeting the planet's radiation belts are responsible for scattering ...

(Phys.org)An international team of astronomers has performed detailed measurements of the chemical composition of 158 red giant stars in the nearby Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. The study, presented in a paper published July ...

(Phys.org)A pair of researchers with Aberystwyth University in the U.K. has used data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory to learn more about how the sun's corona behaves over differing stages of its 11-year cycle. ...

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NASA's new Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission to study the densest observable objects in the universe has begun science operations.

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In July 2015, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft sent home the first close-up pictures of Pluto and its moons amazing imagery that inspired many to wonder what a flight over the distant worlds' icy terrain might be like.

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It's interesting that the author managed to avoid a single usage of the term "double layer" in an article entirely dedicated to plasmas generating noises.

I would learn to surf, or ski, or control a charge distribution such that it accelerates through this sea. We got more to do just listening to the silence!

Note: Charge is its center and its field, at the center is only the field. When a charge oscillates, its field wrinkles as per Maxwell. The relative speed of these wrinkles, or the speed of light is the original wavelength divided by the measured period.

Empty space cannot exist. Charge, apparently never created or destroyed, its field, or the charge, extends from its center to infinity.

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NASA listens in as electrons whistle while they work - Phys.Org

NASA has given new life to the idea of using nuclear fission to power space missions, something it last considered in the 1960s. Now for three years, it's been funding the development of a project called Kilopower that could be the key to colonizing Mars and other planets.

The goal of the project is to develop a "low-cost, scalable fission power system" for providing power in space. The Kilopower tech aims to achieve that by creating smaller reactors that can be combined to provide the necessary amount of energy. The scientists envision that the uranium-splitting Kilopower reactors can be used in multiples on Mars instead of one large power plant. This would result in a new generation of surface landers and human missions that originate from Mars.

In fact, the researchers estimate Mars surface missions would need around 40kW of power altogether. This amount of energy can power "about eight houses on Earth," according to NASA. The 6.5-feet-tall Kilopower reactors are each designed to provide 1-10 kW of electrical power to a spacecraft. Thanks to nuclear fission, with 4 or 5 Kilopower reactors, NASA could power a Mars colony, running with all the equipment necessary to produce fuel, clean the air and water, and charge all the batteries.

What is nuclear fission? It's the process of splitting of a heavy atomic nucleus into two lighter nuclei, releasing tremendous amounts of energy which is converted into electrical power. Atomic bombs and nuclear power plants utilize fission.

The reactors are being developed at the Los Alamos National Lab, in partnership with NASA Research Centers and other DOE National labs.

BigThink spoke to Patrick McClure, Kilopower Project Leader and Chief Reactor Designer David Poston. They were optimistic that the technology works, sharing that the idea behind the reactor originated at the Los Alamos National Lab, which was then taken on by NASAs R&D arm - the Game Changing Development Program. Their goal was to design a lean machine, simple enough to pull off a systems test. Another hallmark of the projects practical approach was to focus on adapting existing NASA technology that has been approved by regulators. Now the project is further along than any such work in the last 40 years because we are building an actual nuclear reactor, explained the scientists.

The team pointed out that the Kilopower technology could offer much more power than solar cells and the plutonium-powered Pu-238 radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), currently in use by NASA. RTGs have been used to power Curiosity, Voyager and Cassini, but they only put out about 110 watts. NASA also has a problem of obtaining enough plutonium going forward, with the worldwide supplies dwindling.

One big advantage of using fission reactors as opposed to solar power, another idea being developed, is that the Kilopower tech can work in situations when sunlight is not available. Even the places on Mars that receive the most amount of sun get about one-third of the sunlight theyd have on Earth. Blinding dust storms also make solar less than ideal as a reliable supplier of power.

While more work will need to be done to scale the reactors, the Kilopower team is enthusiastic that the technology is almost there. A testing phase of the project begins to September and is supposed to wrap up by the end of 2017.

After the testing completes, NASA will debate the future of the technology as it evaluates its plans going forward. While its very promising, the size of the current team supporting this idea is only about 10-11 people. With NASAs blessing, nuclear fission reactors can become the reality of space exploration in the near future.

Heres NASA conceptual video outlining the thinking behind the Kilopower technology:

Go here to see the original:

NASA Closer to Using Nuclear Reactors for Powering Space Missions - Big Think

NASA Just Spotted A Hole In The Sun. And Its Enormous.

NASA scientists at the Solar Dynamics Observatory first discovered the hole on July 5 as it rotated into view. Called AR2665, it is apparently the first sunspot to have appeared after the sun was spotless for a couple of days. It is also growing rather quickly and is the only sunspot group visible at the time it was observed. A week later, the spot seems to have lingered. And that might spell trouble for us here on Earth.

Sunspots are caused by interactions with the suns magnetic field and appear as dark regions on the suns surface. These spots are cooler and usually appear in areas where magnetic activity is intense. Once that energy is released, huge solar storms and solar flares tend to erupt from them.

On the positive side, solar storms could create dazzling auroras all over the world. On the down side, a huge storm could disrupt power grid operations, so much so that it can sometimes cause blackouts in some locations.

Solar flares can be even more dangerous as they can heat the Earths outer atmosphere, causing it to expand. This in turn increases the drag on Earth-orbiting satellites, reducing their lifetime in orbit. Although solar flares cant physically affect us here on Earth because were protected by our magnetic field, the super-intense ones could interfere with it, threaten aircraft in the surrounding areas, produce radiation storms, and affect GPS and communication signals. And just like solar storms, solar flares could also mess up electricity grids, knock off electric power, and even cause radio blackouts.

The sunspot discovered by NASA is 74,560 miles wide; thats bigger than the Earths diameter and with a good enough telescope, you might be able to see it.

NASA believes that at that size, AR2665 can no doubt produce big enough flares that can cause radio and power interruptions on our planet. They are also quick to point out, though, that at this point, its really too early to predict what the sunspot can actually do and how it will behave.

That said, sunspots are not really an uncommon occurrence. They just happen to be less frequent as we head towards what is referred to as solar minimum a period during the suns 11-year cycle when solar activity is low. According to scientists, the next solar minimum is not expected until 2021.

Because they typically appear in areas with intense magnetic activity, scientists have taken to using the number of sunspots present as a basis for solar activity. More sunspots mean more intense solar activity. Fewer sunspots mean less solar activity.

This latest sunspot discovered is significant because of its sheer size and the fact that it is directly facing the Earth. While NASA did say its too early to tell whether the sunspot will affect our planet in some way, according to Mail Online, NOAA forecasters are also saying that theres a 25% chance of M-class flares erupting from it. If they turn out to be correct, the worst that can happen as a result of M-class solar flares are radiation storms and communication signal interruption.

Heres a video of the sunspot obtained by Metro.co.uk.

See original here:

NASA Just Spotted A Hole In The Sun. And It's Enormous. - Wall Street Pit

In response to a Congressional request, NASA is drawing up plans for the next generation of robotic missions to Mars, which will be presented in August at the National Academies committee review.

While the Mars 2020 rover is currently under construction at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, there are no plans beyond it for Mars exploration.

On July 10, the agencys Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) agreed to create and deliver a plan for future robotic missions to roam on the Martian surface, drill into its soil, and even descend into surface pits.

Michael Meyer, who leads NASAs Mars Exploration Program, said upcoming missions will concentrate on collecting Martian rocks and soil.

It is in August when the committee meets that theyll hear a coherent Mars architecture for what we hope to do for sample return and potentially other missions associated with that. Were on the hook to present something because this is actually something that Congress has asked for in their appropriations, he reported.

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory planetary geologist Jeff Johnson expressed concern that the rovers currently exploring Mars are getting old and run down.

Curiosity, which has been exploring the Red Planet since 2012, has had its wheels punctured from driving along rough terrain. Opportunity, designed to last three months, has been traversing the Martian surface since 2004.

Orbiting between 160 and 200 miles above Mars surface, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter takes detailed images of surface features such as dried up lake beds and also communicates information between Earth and Mars.

NASA hopes to have a new orbiter circling the Red Planet by 2022.

On the surface, Mars 2020 will use its robotic arm to collect and store rocks for future return to Earth. How the return will be done has not yet been determined and will require Congressional funding far beyond the $2.9 million allocated in the proposed 2018 budget for robotic exploration of the Red Planet.

The problem here is things look good because we have so many missions there from past investments, commented Casey Dreier, who directs space policy for the independent Planetary Society.

Its much harder to point out that were not making the investments now to set up the program we want for the next decade.

The plan to be submitted in August deals solely with robotic exploration and does not address NASAs goal of sending astronauts to Mars sometime during the 2030s.

Laurel Kornfeld is a freelance writer and amateur astronomer from Highland Park, NJ, who enjoys writing about astronomy and planetary science. She studied journalism at Douglass College, Rutgers University, and earned a Graduate Certificate of Science in astronomy from Swinburne Universitys Astronomy Online program.

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NASA to draw up plans for next robotic missions to Mars - The Space Reporter

Colonizing Mars has long captivated the human imagination, and NASA is no exception.

The American space agency has made landing humans on Mars a high priority of its exploration programs and under bipartisan 2010 legislation pledged to develop the capabilities to send humans to the planet bythe 2030s.

But there remains a major problem standing between mankind and the red planet: money.

Tech & Science Emails and Alerts - Get the best of Newsweek Tech & Science delivered to your inbox

The head of NASAs program on human exploration of space, William Gerstenmaier, said on Wednesday that with its current budgetthe agency simply cannot afford the cost of propelling a manned spacecraft to Mars.

This image released August 27, 2003 captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows a close-up of the red planet Mars when it was just 34,648,840 miles (55,760,220 km) away. NASA/Getty

Through this horizon, through the 2030s, I cant put a date on humans on Mars, said Gerstenmaier on Wednesday, in response to a question at a propulsion meeting of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics in Georgia.

Read more:Skintight space suits are the order of the day for astronauts who hope to survive life on Mars

At the budget levels weve describedits roughly a 2 percent increasewe dont have the surface systems available for Mars. That entry, descent and landing is a huge challenge for us for Mars.

NASA has landed several unmanned exploratory vehicles on Mars in the past. The Curiosity rover, which landed on Marsh in August 2012 and will soon be celebrating its five-year anniversary exploring the planet, cost around $2.5 billion.

This handout provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS on January 1, 2015, shows a self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the 'Mojave' site, where its drill collected the mission's second taste of Mount Sharp. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS via Getty

Gerstenmaier said that a manned mission to Mars would weigh around twenty times what previous rovers have weighed. So its a twenty-fold increase in capability, he said, likely meaning a much higher cost.

Lawmakers allocated NASA a budget of $19.5 billion for the 2017 fiscal year, which equates to less than half a percent of the overall federal budget.

The agency has not produced a specific figure of the cost of a manned mission to Mars, and estimates vary depending on sources. In 2012, the head of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Brent Sherwood, estimated that the project could cost up to $100 billion over the course of 30 or 40 years. More recently, Pascal Lee, the director of the Mars Institutea nonprofit research group funded partially by NASA and based at a NASA research center in Silicon Valleysaid in May that a human mission to Mars could cost up to $1 trillion over 25 years.

Private organizations that are working on their own missions to Mars have estimated lower costs. Mars One, a Dutch-Swiss organization aiming to establish a permanent settlement on Mars, aims to bring four people to Mars at a cost of $6 billion. SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who has said he wants to send humans to Mars in the early 2020s, put the cost at $10 billion per person in 2016.

Landing on Mars poses numerous threats to a manned mission. The spacecraft must angle its entry into the Martian atmosphere correctly: If it is too steep, the craft may burn up, and if too shallow the craft may miss the planet altogether. Astronauts must use reverse thrusters and parachutes to slow the spacecraft down so that it is not destroyed upon impact with the surface. The craft must also locate a safe landing surface on the rugged terrain of Mars, parts of which arepeppered with gigantic craters.

And while research has shown that liquid water once flowed on Mars, a recent study found that the soil is toxic to bacteria one of the simplest forms of living organismsand thus may also pose problems for sustaining human life.

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NASA Can't Afford to Put Humans on Mars - Newsweek

An artists concept for Mars Base Camp space station proposed by Lockheed Martin. Representatives from several space companies say private partnerships could accelerate NASAs push to Mars.

Commercial space companies today (July 13) urged legislators to extend NASA's successful public-private partnerships for International Space Station transportation to future programs, including human missions to Mars.

NASA already is working with six firms to develop prototype habitats that would augment the agency's multibillion-dollar Orion capsule and Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket. NASA has said it intends to use the system to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s.

Additional taxpayer investment in private companies could accelerate the initiative and cut costs, SpaceX Senior Vice President Tim Hughes told the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness. [SpaceX's Mars Colonization Plan in Pictures]

Technologies that SpaceX would be interested in developing in partnership with NASA include heavy-cargo missions to Mars, deep-space communications systems, and demonstrations of vertical takeoff and landing on the moon, Hughes said.

He pointed to the results from NASAs Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, program, which leveraged $800 million of taypayer dollars with millions commercial investment to develop two medium-class launch vehicles and two cargo capsules at a far lower cost and much faster than any previous space vehicle development effort.

The key beneficiaries of COTS SpaceX and Orbital ATK now regularly fly cargo to the International Space Station for NASA under separate launch service contracts. A third company, Sierra Nevada Corp., is expected to add its winged Dream Chaser space plane to the fleet in late 2019.

NASA also is funding COTS-like partnerships with SpaceX and Boeing to develop two transportation systems for astronauts.

"The features associated with the COTS program can be more broadly applied now to the development of deep-space exploration systems for transportation, habitats, communications, reconnaissance and resource utilization," Hughes said.

SpaceX is planning its own private mission to Mars using its Dragon spacecraft.

Under COTS, NASA paid its partners only when they achieved specific technical milestones. The agency set goals for its partners, but did not dictate how those goals would be met. [6 Private Deep Space Habitat Ideas for Mars]

"This encourages fresh thinking and creative problem-solving," Hughes said, adding that competition is critical to the success of COTs-like programs.

Jeff Manber, founder and chief executive of Houston-based NanoRacks, told the Senate subcommittee that public-private partnerships could also help the country transition to an Earth-orbiting research base after the International Space Station is deorbited. Whether the station's mission ends in 2024 or beyond, the United States should avoid a gap in low-Earth orbit human spaceflight, Manber said.

The retirement of the shuttle in 2011 left the country dependent on Russia to fly astronauts to the station until at least 2019, when Space and Boeing hope to begin crew ferry flights

"It's critical that we don't end the International Space Station until we have established commercial operations in low-Earth orbit," said Kennedy Space Center director Robert Cabana. "Right now, the space station serves as a critical destination for our commercial partners."

Irene Klotz can be reached on Twitter at @free_space. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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NASA Could Reach Mars Faster with Public-Private Partnerships, Companies Tell Congress - Space.com

NASA has long said it would be able to send a manned mission to Mars, sometime during the 2030s. Now, in a bombshell announcement, the space agency has admitted it can't afford the price tag.

On July 12, during a propulsion meeting of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, NASA's William Gerstenmaier, the agency's chief of human spaceflight, said the funds just are not there for a mission.

VICE PRESIDENT PENCE CALLS FOR RETURN TO THE MOON, BOOTS ON MARS

"I can't put a date on humans on Mars, and the reason really is ... at the budget levels we described, this roughly 2 percent increase, we don't have the surface systems available for Mars," Gerstenmaier said, according to anArs Technicareport. "And that entry, descent and landing is a huge challenge for us for Mars."

NASA could not be reached for additional comment for this story.

For the 2017 fiscal year, NASA has a budget of $19.5 billion, a figure that many scientists have cried is inadequate.

The proposed total Federal budget for 2018 is $4.1 trillion.

For several years, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has derided NASA's budget.

NASA DEBUNKS ANONYMOUS CLAIM OF ALIEN LIFE DISCOVERY

The cost of a manned mission to Mars has varied greatly in recent years. In 2012, the head of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Brent Sherwood, said it could cost approximately $100 billion over 30 or 40 years. Director of the Mars Institute Pascal Lee recently said it could cost up to $1 trillion over 25 years.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has also come up with a cost for a manned mission to Mars. He estimates it would initially cost $10 billion per person to get a colony up and running, but believes the cost could drop to $200,000, according to a paper published by Musk in June 2017.

Part of the cost drop could be reusable rockets, something SpaceX and Musk have been working on perfecting.

Using private industry may be the way to go for humanity to get to Mars, at least according to some in the Trump administration.

Vice President Mike Pence recently said, "American business is on the cutting edge of space technology."

Pence has also spoken at NASA, calling for a return to the Moon, saying, "America will lead in space once again."

More:

NASA bombshell: Government agency admits it can't pay for humans to go to Mars - Fox News

Look at the size of that thing.

NASA

Who do you belong to?

NASA

An artist's rendition of Pioneer, flying by Jupiter.

NASA

Lots of blinky red lights. Does it go bing! too?

NASA

Contract? What contract?

NASA

If youre gonna be a hoarder, why go halfway?

NASA

NASA

NASA

A pair of Apollo-era NASA computers and hundreds of mysterious tape reels have been discovered in a deceased engineers basement in Pittsburgh, according to a NASA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report released in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)request.

Most of the tapes are unmarked, but the majority of the rest appear to be instrumentation reels for Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, NASAs fly-by missions to Jupiter and Saturn.

The two computers are so heavy that a crane was likely used to move the machines, the report concluded.

NASA

At some point in the early 1970s, an IBM engineer working for NASA at the height of the Space Race took home the computersand the mysterious tape reels.A scrap dealer, invited to clean out the deceaseds electronics-filled basement, discovered the computers. The devices were clearly labelled NASA PROPERTY, so the dealer called NASA to report the find.

"Please tell NASA these items were not stolen," the engineer's heir told the scrap dealer, according to the report. "They belonged to IBM Allegheny Center Pittsburgh, PA 15212. During the 1968-1972 timeframe, IBM was getting rid of the items so [redacted engineer] asked if he could have them and was told he could have them."

You can read the entirereport; the engineers identity has been redacted.

NASA investigators picked up the 325 magnetic data tape reels on December 8, 2015. The cassettes measured 14 inches in diameter and were filled with half-inch magnetic tape. The tapes "were in poor condition and almost all were affected by moderate to severe mould."

Most of the tapes were not labelled, but "of the tapes that were labelled, the content appeared to be space science related with missions including Pioneer and Helios and the inclusive date range was 1967-1974."

NASA told the family of the deceased that it was not in the junk removal business. No, we do not need the computers, NASA told the family of the deceased. We have no use for [them].

The report drily notes, The computers were not removed from the residence due to their size and weight.

NASA Goddard Archives examined the mystery tapes, and the archivists report reads:

I conducted an initial assessment of the material on December 10, 2015. This assessment confirmed the approximate number of 325 magnetic data tape reels that each measured 14" in diameter with a magnetic tape dimension of and contained by a metal reel. The assessment also showed that the magnetic tapes were in poor condition and almost all were affected by moderate to severe mould, which is identified as a health risk. Most of the tapes were not labelled and of the tapes that were labelled, the content appeared to be space science related with missions including Pioneer and Heliosand the inclusive dates range was 1961-1974. A final assessment of the tapes on April 3, 2016 further broke down of the content of the tapes into the following:

PN8 [Pioneer 8]: 1 reel

PN9 [Pioneer 9]: 2 reel

PN10 [Pioneer 10): 40 reels

PN11 [Pioneer 11]: 53 reels

HELl [or] HEL-A [Helios 1]: 10 reels

HESA [possibly an abbreviation for Helios A]: 2 reels

Intelsat IV: 2 reels

Unlabelled or labelled without mission-related identifying information: approximately 215 reels

The archivists final recommendation: Destroy the tapes. There is no evidence that suggests this material is historically significant... I recommend disposal through the immediate destruction of all magnetic tapes.

NASA

We contacted the NASA OIG for any additional info, but a spokesperson said they have no further comment beyond the results of the FOIA request.

Now read:The hell of Apollo 1: Pure oxygen, a single spark, and death in 17 seconds

This post originated on Ars Technica UK

Listing image by NASA

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Scrap dealer finds Apollo-era NASA computers in dead engineer's ... - Ars Technica

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge is quickly becoming one of baseball's most popular acts -- in part due to his outstanding performance and internationally known employer, and in part due to his appearance's propinquity to a comic-book hero.

Judge did something during the Home Run Derby befitting of a comic-book hero by hitting Marlins Park's roof. What's more is Judge's feat even defied science. Here's Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci:

Back when the engineers from Walter P. Moore were designing the retractable roof of Marlins Park, they set out to determine how high the roof would have to be so as not to interfere with balls in play. They studied the air density and temperatures of Miami and plugged those variables into equations from NASA.

[...]

The engineers finally arrived at a height of 210 feet above the ground at its apex (above second base) to make sure no batted ball hit the roof. It tapered to a low of 128 feet above the ground in deep right-centerfield.

It's not enough that Judge is hitting .329/.448/.691 with 30 home runs. It's not enough that he's a legitimate candidate to win both the Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player Awards. It's not enough that he won the Home Run Derby and is going to win a ton of endorsements. He's also out here making scientists and engineers and their little algorithms and models look silly.

Basically, Aaron Judge just does whatever he darn well pleases to do. You gotta respect it.

The rest is here:

Aaron Judge is now defying NASA science with his massive home run blasts - CBSSports.com

A few years ago, NASA Langley Research Center developed a new technology called Safeguard. This software system monitors and lowers the risk of any remote-controlled drones flying into no-fly zones, including airports and military zones. The agency recently determined that it is safe to use in tests and demonstrations.

Safeguard offers a virtual safety net program that allows drone users to set the flying perimeters. If the drone goes beyond the authorized perimeters and does not turn back, the safety net will send the drone crashing to the ground.

Generally, it is a more accurate system to track drones movements, compared to geofencing which uses GPS signals attached to autopilot. If the GPS loses its signal, geofencing will lose its effectiveness to keep the drone from going beyond no-fly zones. However, Safeguard uses algorithms and does not rely on the external data stream.

NASA is planning to bring Safeguard to the market. It is a more reliable system for drone users to prevent their drones from getting killed.

[via WIRED, featured image via Leigh Miller]

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This NASA Technology Can Remotely Crash Your Drone - Resource Magazine

During World War II and immediately after, another significant change began to emerge at Langley, as women began stepping into larger roles, and in larger numbers. But the roots of that trend went back much further, to women such as Pearl I. Young and Kitty OBrien Joyner.

They were the among the women who first opened doors at the lab, in an era when females were widely assumed to have no interest and no aptitude for science and engineering.

Youngs legacy lives on at what is now NASA Langley, 95 years after she first set foot in Hampton.

Young, a physicist who graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1919 as a Phi Beta Kappa physics, chemistry and mathematics triple major, was coming to work at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory as its first woman professional.

Young paved the way for scores of other women to follow pursuits in science, technology, engineering and math fields at the NACA and later NASA. The Langley Lab, along with other federal sites, became a hub for women seeking employment they couldnt obtain elsewhere because of limitations on where women should work and later about what academic fields they should study.

Theyre very proud of the fact, not only at Langley but at their other centers across the country, they had women they had employed well before World War II started, said historian and author Yarsinske, whose latest work will chronicle Langleys first century. And they were very proud of that, because it became such an issue in other industries but not for them. And they look back at and go Jeez, we didnt realize how far ahead we were, but were perceived as being way different than everybody else.

And I dont think they even thought about it at the time, just proud of the work they were producing. The work was everything.

The theme of work being the ultimate test of an employee at Langley was visible starting with Youngs contributions and is carried through today in the thousands of women who have worked at Langley.

Young, born in 1895, came to Langley in 1922. The campus was small Young said in an interview nearly 50 years later that she met all 32 employees when she started but that shouldnt undermine Youngs significance.

At the time of her hiring, there was only one other female physicist working in the federal government, at the National Bureau of Standards.

Young spent the first seven years of her career in the Instrument Research Division, assembling and calibrating instrumentation to measure pressures on aircraft in flight.

After some time, Young noticed that the technical writings of the young engineers at Langley were lacking in cohesion and clarity. Her former boss, Harry J.E. Reid, who was promoted to Langleys engineer in charge, appointed Young as the labs first chief technical editor in 1929.

Young started the new office, hiring qualified staff. She formulated a system to make sure that the technical documents highlighting the latest discoveries made in the lab would be effectively communicated.

All documents and reports to be released had to be properly vetted by other engineers, and Youngs staff edited and revised until the reports were clear. According to NASA, she insisted that all reports be checked and rechecked for consistency, logical analysis and absolute accuracy.

The slowed pace of disseminating information frustrated the engineers who were eager to let their work be known, as well as the clients who wanted answers quickly.

But Youngs approach paid off: The NACA published more than 16,000 research reports during its existence pre-NASA, the majority of which followed Youngs Style Manual for Engineering Authors published in 1943. Parts of the manual still are used today.

Young moved in 1943 to the new NACA Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory in Cleveland, leaving behind her staff of eight women. She then spent time as a professor, before returning to Hampton as a technical literature analyst.

She retired from NASA in 1961, and today, the Pearl Young Theater the second of that name, as the first was replaced and now is used for storage stands at Langley in her honor. When Young died in 1968, her will included leaving the City of Hampton about $15,000 to add benches and shelters at bus stops throughout Hampton, according to NASA archives.

Kitty OBrien Joyner, an electrical engineer from Charlottesville, became the labs first female engineer in 1939.

She began her career shortly after graduating from the University of Virginia. She sued the university for her right to attend the all-male engineering school.

Around the same time Joyner arrived, women were bringing their skills to the lab as human computers. The first cohort of the computers who wore skirts, as Katherine G. Johnson has often described herself and her colleagues, was hired in 1935.

The women, a group that began with five, computed by hand the math that engineers needed to conduct their research, which sped up the process.

World War II

The number of women and employees multiplied during World War II as the NACAs contributions to the war effort increased and its literal manpower decreased. White and black women were both recruited by the lab to keep up with needs.

Basically during WWII, there was a great influx of women out here at the center, as there was across the United States, into manufacturing and research, said Gail Langevin, Langleys historian. They did many things: typing, filing, messenger service. But they also did things like work in shops and laboratories and they operated machinery; they operated things like band saws, planers, drill presses, but they also helped operate the wind tunnels.

An April 1942 memo highlighted how key the computers were to the center: The engineers admit themselves that the girl computers do the work more rapidly and accurately than they could. According to NACA/NASA Equal Employment Programs files, Langley had 959 female employees in June 1944, about 36 percent of the centers 2,700 employees.

They are the proof that when you open this door of opportunity to really talented people, then you create a virtuous circle, said Margot Lee Shetterly, whose book Hidden Figures about the human computers was made into an Oscar-nominated movie. These women were absolutely critical to the work that was getting done. They were smart, they were given a chance and came in and overperformed, both individually and as a group. Any questions that people have about whether women are good at math, I think, can be statistically disproven or proven, whichever side you want to take, by the evidence of these women and their achievement.

I was stunned, really, not just by the number of women that was the first thing I couldnt believe, how many women there were doing this work. But really the breadth of the work, the diversity of the work they were doing and the hands-on nature, the fact that a lot of these women were publishing research, that they were contributing in a very hands-on way.

They werent just sort of passive number crunchers, she said. They were partners with the engineers in the analysis and doing this work and shaping this very exciting new industry, industries that were being formed. I really cant say enough about the work that all of these women did and the contributions that they made to aeronautics, that they made to NASA and that they made to our country, a tremendous service to our country.

Climbing the ranks

Post-war, women continued the work as the segregated facilities consolidated. Women from that time period continued up the ranks, although some slower than they would have liked.

Christine Mann Darden began her time at Langley as a computer in the desegregated facilities. Her 40-year career as an aerospace engineer included 20 years spent in sonic boom research and was capped by time in management as the director of the Office of Strategic Communications and Education.

She said that as a black leader, she noticed things changing over the course of her career.

White females werent managers either, Darden said. There was a change, I guess, when women started going into engineering in school, and the younger engineers actually worked with the females better than the older engineers did. That was a factor, and you started seeing women moving up in management areas around there.

But I do remember thinking, I really dont have anybody to talk to when Ive got an issue or a problem. I probably talked to men.

Over the years, Langley continued to attract and seek women who could fill the ranks through the its apprentice program, a concerted effort that began in the 70s but flourished in the 80s, Langevin said. More women joined the administrative ranks in Senior Executive Service.

Lesa Roe, first hired by NASA in 1987, became the centers first female director in 2005, a position she held until she became the deputy associate administrator of NASA in 2014.

Roe had an open-door policy, said Tahani Amer, an aerospace engineer, and helped women with career planning and opportunities.

I think this kind of environment really indirectly supported us, Amer said.

Amer is one of several women in the midst of 20-plus-year careers at Langley who have been identified by NASA as Modern Figures, current female employees standing on the shoulders of the trailblazers popularized by Hidden Figures. According to the Office of Human Capital Management, the current workforce at Langley is 28 percent female.

Amer, a Muslim who grew up in Egypt; Debbie Martinez, a self-described Puerto Rican from the Bronx; and Mia Siochi, a native of the Philippines, each said theyve seen progress in the addition of women at the center in their time there.

The branch I came into had a significant number of females, and females who are highly respected in their technical field, Siochi, whose career at Langley began in 1990 as a contractor. I didnt realize how different that was until one of the first meetings I went to, OK, there are like 100 people here, (but) there are only three of us. ... When you work here, that is not highlighted, because its kind of gender-neutral when youre working together because its all about your competence and your contribution to the team, right?

And thats what carries you, its not because youre male or female. Were fortunate to have that kind of environment.

Martinez, who started a website highlighting the women at Langley and later another featuring Latina women across NASA, said that there were times when shed be the only woman in the room, but that the numbers have increased over the years. Ultimately, she said, her work spoke for itself.

I didnt let that hang me up. I just took it for what it was, she said. I think here with NASA, one of the things Ive seen that is consistent throughout all these years, is if you do your job and you are reliable, and youre consistent, thats what carries you. Thats what the rest of the team is expecting of you.

The message of current women employees at the center is similar to those from nearly a century ago: show up, do good work and it will be rewarded.

I was very lucky with NASAs environment. Look at us, Amer said, gesturing to Martinez and Siochi. Different backgrounds, why are we together? Its because (of) what we can contribute to NASAs missions and goals, because we believe in what we do. We feel its important for the nation, its important for the world.

You can buy copies of the book, The Unknown and Impossible on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. You can listen to the podcast here.

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NASA Langley home to trailblazing women - Daily Press

In Brief Former NASA climate chief James Hansen believes climate change's most dangerous effect will be a continuous rise in sea levels and not necessarily the increase in temperatures. Because so many people live in coastal cities, the mass migrations inland that will follow this rise could leave the world in ungovernable chaos. Water World

Simply fixatingon the potential negative effects of climate change instead of focusing on efforts to combat itwill not help our planet. However, climate change predictions are the reason these efforts matter, and they provide valuable insights as to how we should take action.

According to former NASA climate research headJames Hansen, the effect of climate change we should be most focused on isnt the warming of the atmosphere. Its the rising sea levels.

Hansen told New York Magthat he doesnt think the atmosphere will actually warm as much as some have predicted by the end of the century, but he does think that sea levels will rise significantly due to melting polar caps. I dont think were going to get four or five degrees [Celsius] this century, because we get a cooling effect from the melting ice. But the biggest effect will be that melting ice, he asserted. In my opinion thats the big thing sea-level rise.

In a paper published last year, Hansen warned that continuous reliance on fossil fuels could increase sea levels by several meters in just a period of 50 to 150 years. That seems like a long time, but Hansens predictions are significantly greater than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes projected range of sea level rise of 30 centimeters (~1 foot) to just under a meter (3.2 feet).

Coastlines are home to more than half the worlds large cities, so a significant portion of the population will be affected by these rising sea levels. The economic implications of that, and the migrations and the social effects of migrations the planet could become practically ungovernable, it seems to me, said Hansen.

Of course, the rising temperatures themselves will impact the population, too. While they wont really be an issue in the U.S., Hansen believes they could be a major problem for countries in the subtropics. If the prediction of a four to five degrees Celsius (7.2 to nine degrees Fahrenheit) increase does come true, it would make these places practically uninhabitable and potentially grind their economies to a halt.

Its already becoming uncomfortable in the summers, in the subtropics. You cant work outdoors, and agriculture, more than half of the jobs are outdoors, he explained.

Hansen asserts that a carbon tax could help stabilize the economy as the world transitions away from fossil fuels, but the important thing is that this transition happens. Without serious efforts on every level, from the individual to the institutional, we stand no chance of preventing climate change from wreaking havoc on our planet.

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Former NASA Climate Chief Warns That Earth Could Become Practically Ungovernable - Futurism

Most of us dont have anything really interesting in our basements, and certainly nothing of historical significance. In the case of a former engineer from Pittsburgh, his basement was home to a pair of NASA computers from the 1960s. After the unnamed engineer passed away, a scrap dealer was preparing to haul away the machines when he noticed the Property of NASA labels. The agency was contacted to figure out what the machines were and if they had any historical significance, but its all a bit mysterious.

This happened in late 2015 and early 2016, but were only hearing about the discovery now thanks to a report from the NASA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that was part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The computers were first used in 1962, according to the badges affixed to them. That would have been in the era of the Pioneer missions and the early days of Apollo. There were also 325 magnetic tape reels, which is what NASA was more interested in checking out.

The computers themselves are each about the size of a refrigerator, and much more dense. The OIG report speculates that a crane was used to move the computers into the basement. As for how the computers came to be in said basement, the engineers heirs were keen to point out they were not stolen. According to family lore, the engineer worked at IBM Allegheny Center in Pittsburgh in the late 60s and early 70s. IBM was getting rid of old items like these computers, and the engineer asked if he could have them. Apparently the 325 tapes were just a bonus.

The tapes were handed over to NASAs Goddard Archives for analysis. The reels were 14-inches across with quarter-inch magnetic data tape. Only some of the tapes were labeled, and those that were bore the names of some iconic missions like Pioneer 10 and Helios 1. There were 215 unlabeled reels.

This is the part of the story where you might expect an important discovery a real feel-good moment. However, this story doesnt have a happy ending. The OIG report explains that the tapes were in extremely poor condition, and most of them were heavily affected by mold. The NASA archives concluded that the labeled tapes did not contain any historically relevant data, but the mystery tapes will remain as such. The tapes were in such bad shape there was no guarantee the data could be recovered, and the process would be extremely expensive. The poor condition and low likelihood they contained anything important led the OIG to recommend the tapes be destroyed.

As for the computers (also in poor shape), NASA informed the family it had no use for those either. NASA was unable to find a record of the contract number listed, so it was unclear what other missions they might have taken part in.

Maybe these devices could have been a historic or at least worth keeping if people 40 years ago had known how important the space program would be to history. Well never know if there was something notable on those tapes. I guess its hard to recognize history when youre living it.

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NASA Computers from Apollo Era Found in Pittsburgh Basement - ExtremeTech

July 14, 2017 This NASA IMERG rainfall calculation from July 7 to 14, 2017, shows the highest rainfall totals occurred in parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio with more than 6 inches (152.4 mm) of rain being seen in many areas. Credit: NASA/JAXA, Hal Pierce

Heavy rain resulted in significant flooding in the U.S. Midwest over the week of July 7 to 14, 2017. Using satellite data, NASA estimated the amount of rain that fell over those areas and used satellite data to create 3-D imagery of severe storms.

NASA's Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) data were used to show estimates of rainfall accumulation in the Midwest during the period from July 7 to 14, 2017. The analysis was conducted at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and indicates that parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio had the highest rainfall totals during the period with more than 6 inches (152.4 mm) of rain being seen in many areas.

On July 9, 10 and 11, severe thunderstorms spawned tornadoes in the Midwest. The Global Precipitation Measurement mission, or GPM, core observatory satellite flew above the area when tornadoes were being sighted in northeastern Indiana and northwestern Ohio storms on July 10 at 9:01 p.m. EDT (July 11 at 0101 UTC). One of those tornadoes was spotted in Huntington County, Indiana, at almost the same time that the satellite was scanning that area. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

At NASA Goddard a 3-D view of the rainfall structure in the July 10 storm was constructed using data collected when GPM's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instrument scanned the storm. Those GPM radar data showed that a few powerful thunderstorms had tops that were reaching altitudes above 9.1 miles (14.7 km). Rain was measured by GPM's Radar (DPR Ku Band) falling at a rate of more than 2.5 inches (64 mm) per hour.

Water from the storms over those seven days flowing into the Fox River in northeastern Illinois caused serious flooding in that area. Central Indiana and central Ohio have also had remarkable flooding.

On Friday July 14 NOAA's National Weather Service in Milwaukee issued a flood statement for the Fox River at Burlington and near New Munster in addition to the Root River Canal at Raymond.

NOAA's National Weather Service in Chicago continued river flood warnings for the Des Plaines River and the Fox River. The warning included the Des Plaines River: near Russell, near Gurnee and at Lincolnshire, all affecting Lake County. Additional warnings affecting Cook County included the Des Plaines River near Des Plaines, at River Forest and at Riverside. The Flood Warning continues for the Fox River at Algonquin Tailwater affecting Kane and McHenry Counties and the Fox River at Montgomery affecting Kane and Kendall Counties.

Explore further: NASA measures Tropical Cyclone Nanmadol's Japan rainfall rates

Although the remnants of Tropical Storm Nanmadol have pushed into the north central Pacific Ocean, the rainfall it left behind caused flooding in Japan. NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Global Precipitation ...

Storms associated with the advancing monsoon in the Northern Indian Ocean's Bay of Bengal were analyzed by NASA with the GPM or Global Precipitation Measurement mission core satellite.

On Wednesday May 24, 2017 severe weather affected a large area of the eastern United States. That's when the Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite passed over the area and found extremely heavy rainfall ...

The low pressure center that has been gyrating over the northeastern Gulf of Mexico for days has now dropped very heavy precipitation over southeastern Louisiana. The Global Precipitation Measurement mission, or GPM, core ...

Severe thunderstorms spawned tornadoes and generated flooding rainfall over the Southeast on Monday evening, Jan. 2, 2017. Using satellite data, NASA analyzed the rainfall from the outbreak and found up to a foot of rain ...

Severe thunderstorms spawned tornadoes and generated flooding rainfall over the Southeast on Monday evening, Jan. 2, 2017. Using satellite data, NASA analyzed the rainfall from the outbreak and found up to a foot of rain ...

Modern diesel cars emit less pollution generally than cars that run on gasoline, says a new six-nation study published today in Scientific Reports whose groundwork was laid in part by an American chemist now working at Universit ...

Scientists have long believed that the waters of the Central and Northeast Pacific Ocean were inhospitable to deep-sea scleractinian coral, but a Florida State University professor's discovery of an odd chain of reefs suggests ...

Researchers from the University of Hawai'i at Mnoa (UHM) School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) recently discovered that infrared satellite data could be used to predict when lava flow-forming eruptions ...

Rising temperatures due to global warming will make it harder for many aircraft around the world to take off in coming decades, says a new study. During the hottest parts of the day, 10 to 30 percent of fully loaded planes ...

Mountaintop-removal coal mining causes many streams and rivers in Appalachia to run consistently saltier for up to 80 percent of the year, a new study by researchers at the University of Wyoming and Duke University finds.

Large, robust, lens-shaped microfossils from the approximately 3.4 billion-year-old Kromberg Formation of the Kaapvaal Craton in eastern South Africa are not only among the oldest elaborate microorganisms known, but are also ...

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NASA analyzes US midwest heavy rainfall, severe storms - Phys.Org

An image from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite shows a crack in a the Larsen C ice shelf on July 12, 2017.

Multiple NASA satellites have captured images of the dramatic and long-awaited birth of one of the largest icebergs ever recorded, which broke off an Antarctic ice shelf this week.

The enormous iceberg contains more than 1.1 trillion tons (1 trillion metric tons) of water and is about the size of Delaware. Its separation from Antarctica's Larsen C ice shelf occurred sometime between July 10 and today (July 12), and was first reported by scientists with the U.K.-based Project Midas, an Antarctic research group. The calving was confirmed by satellite images from the European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission. [How Satellites Watched the New Iceberg's Birth Over Time]

This animation shows the growth of the crack in the Larsen C ice shelf, from 2006 to 2017, as recorded by NASA/USGS Landsat satellites.

Now, images from NASA satellites show the iceberg's gradual separation from the ice shelf. The crack in the ice shelf that formed the iceberg was first observed in the early 1960s, but remained dormant for decades, according to a statement from NASA. The animation above includes images going back to 2006, collected by NASA and the United States Geologic Survey's Landsat satellites.

The location of the new iceberg and the Larsen C ice shelf.

The rift in the ice shelf began to spread northward at a significant rate in 2014, and its progress accelerated in 2016, leading scientists to assume it would eventually create a separate iceberg. Between June 24 and 27, the speed of rift tripled, according to scientists with the Midas Project.

In November 2016, the rift was estimated to be about 300 feet (91 m) wide and 70 miles (112 km) long. Measurements from this summer put the rift at 124 miles (200 km) long.

The MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite use thermal data to show temperature differences in the ice and seawater. In a false-color image taken today (July 12), the crack that created the iceberg is visible as a thin, pink line down the mostly purple ice sheet. The warmer temperature of the crack indicates that ocean water lies not far below the surface.

The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on the Landsat 8 satellite also captured temperature data on June 17. The false-color image shows the slightly warmer crack (light blue) running through the very cold ice shelf (mostly white). The image shows warmer areas in orange, including regions of very thin sea ice. [Landsat: Four Decades of Images and Data]

TheThermal Infrared Sensor(TIRS) onLandsat 8captured a false-color image of the crack in the Larsen C ice shelf.

The Larsen C ice shelf is a floating ice shelf, which means the separation of the iceberg will not cause ocean levels to rise, unlike icebergs that calf from land-based ice shelves. Scientists with the Midas Project said they have not found evidence that the iceberg's formation was directly caused by climate change. However, the scientists said in a statement that this is the farthest back that the ice front has been in recorded history, and they are "going to be watching very carefully for signs that the rest of the shelf is becoming unstable."

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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NASA Images Show Gradual Separation of Massive New Antarctic Iceberg - Space.com

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has captured a stunning view of a sunspot cascading from tail to core across the sun's surface.

As the sun moves into a several-year period of low solar activity, known as the solar minimum, there are fewer of these black blemishes. The word "sunspot" may suggest that the feature is diminutive, and the sun's massive size does dwarf the seemingly floating feature by comparison. But don't let the name mislead you: Sunspots are actually larger than Earth. [In Photos: Amazing Sunspots on Earth's Star]

This sunspot appeared after two days of a spot-free solar surface.

The new video, shared by NASA yesterday (July 12), offers a model to grasp how distance can distort our comprehension of scale.

Sunspots are abundant when solar activity is high, and these spots will not become plentiful again until at least 2020, NASA officialssaid in a video caption. Because of the drop in solar activity, the sun was speckle-free for two days before this swirling sunspot appeared. The video was captured last week between about July 4 and July 11, according to NASA.

This image of a massive sunspot on the sun shows the full size of the feature as compared to the Earth (inset). This image is a still from a NASA video captured between July 4 and 11 by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Follow Doris Elin Salazar on Twitter @salazar_elin.Follow us@Spacedotcom,FacebookandGoogle+. Original article onSpace.com.

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Watch a Giant Sunspot Whirl Across the Sun in Incredible NASA Video - Space.com

These photos are out of this world!

NASA just released new photos of Jupiter that show the closest look weve ever had of the planets Great Red Spot.

The snaps, taken from the space agencys Juno space probe and released Wednesday, captured the gas giants planet-sized storm from 5,600 miles away, CNN reports.

Jupiters mysterious Great Red Spot is probably the best-known feature of Jupiter, said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, ahead of the probes deep dive.

This monumental storm has raged on the solar systems biggest planet for centuries. Now, Juno and her cloud-penetrating science instruments will dive in to see how deep the roots of this storm go, and help us understand how this giant storm works and what makes it so special.

Juno blasted off from Earth in 2011 and has been orbiting the far-off planet for one Jupiter year, racking up 71 million miles in the process, according to NASA.

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NASA shows us Jupiter as we've never seen it before - New York Post

The House bill includes funding for a Europa lander mission, which was not funded in the administration's request. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

WASHINGTON A fiscal year 2018 spending bill that will be marked up by the House Appropriations Committee July 13 includes record funding levels for NASAs planetary science program, but severely cuts a NOAA weather satellite program.

The committee released July 12 the report accompanying the commerce, justice and science (CJS) appropriations bill, which its CJS subcommittee approved on a voice vote June 29. At that time, the committee had released only a draft of the bill, with limited details about how the nearly $19.9 billion provided to NASA would be allocated.

In NASAs science account, planetary science emerges as a big winner, with the report allocating $2.12 billion, a record level. That amount is $191 million above the White House request and $275 million above what Congress provided in 2017.

Some of that additional funding will go to missions to Jupiters icy moon Europa, thought to have a subsurface ocean of liquid water that could sustain life. It provides $495 million for both the Europa Clipper orbiter mission and a follow-on Europa Lander, to be launched by 2022 and 2024, respectively. The administrations budget request sought $425 million, devoted solely to Europa Clipper.

The report also provides additional funding for Mars exploration, including $62 million for a proposed 2022 orbiter mission. NASA sought just $2.9 million for studies of future Mars missions, raising worries among scientists that NASA would not be able to get an orbiter, with telecommunications and reconnaissance capabilities, ready in time for the 2022 launch opportunity.

Another Mars mission concept, a small helicopter that would fly with the Mars 2020 rover mission, would get $12 million in the House bill. That technology demonstration concept has been studied for some time as a possible complement to the rover, but NASA has not made a formal decision about including it on the mission.

The report includes broad support for other planetary programs, including $60 million for near Earth asteroid searches and development of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft. That spacecraft would collide with the moon of one such asteroid to measure the ability to deflect potentially hazardous objects.

The report also directs NASA to work with industry on a report on the utilization of asteroid-based natural resources to support U.S. government and commercial space exploration missions and timeframes for when such resource extraction could possibly occur.

While the report provides additional funding, and direction, for planetary science, it cuts funding for NASAs Earth science program. It gives that program a little more than $1.7 billion, $50 million below the request and more than $200 million below what it received in 2017.

The report does not address plans by the administration, in its 2018 budget request, to terminate five planned or ongoing Earth science missions. It does support full funding of the Landsat-9 spacecraft under development as well as a joint mission with the Indian space agency ISRO to fly a synthetic aperture radar spacecraft.

NASAs astrophysics program received $822 million in the report, $5.3 million above the administrations request and $72 million above 2017 levels. That includes $126.6 million, as requested, for the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission, but with language expressing concern about potential cost growth in this program.

Later in the report, the committee directs NASA to ensure WFIRST is compatible with a proposed future starshade that could allow the space telescope to directly image exoplanets. NASA officials said earlier this year they have yet to decide whether to incorporate that compatibility into WFIRST, and will likely defer that decision until at least late this year.

The James Webb Space Telescope would get $533.7 million in the bill, the same as requested, while NASAs heliophysics program would get $677.9 million, also in line with the administrations request.

The report also specifies funding for several space technology and exploration programs. Under space technology, nuclear propulsion work would receive $35 million, including a requirement for a report on budgets and milestones needed in order to conduct a nuclear thermal demonstration project by 2020. NASAs exploration program includes $150 million for its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) in order to develop a habitat that can be tested in low Earth orbit in 2020.

The Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (CATALYST), which includes partnerships with industry to develop commercial lunar landers, would get $30 million. Among the companies involved in the Lunar CATALYST program is Moon Express, which released plans July 12 for a series of commercial lunar lander and sample return missions.

Weather satellite funding

Besides NASA, the CJS bill also funds NOAA and its weather satellite programs. The agencys two major current programs, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R (GOES-R) and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), would receive the requested amounts of $518.5 million and $775.8 million, respectively.

However, the report severely cuts funding for the Polar Follow-On program, which supports development of the third and fourth JPSS satellites. The program received $328.9 million in 2017 and was projected, from the 2017 request, to receive $586 million in 2018. However, the administration requested only $180 million for the program, citing plans to potentially stretch out the schedule for launching those missions.

The committee, in the report, was disappointed with the lack of details about those plans. The request proposes a dramatic and incipient re-plan of this program. Yet the request fails to assess the purported new mission designs impacts on constellation availability, or to provide an updated gap analysis, or new annual or lifecycle cost estimates, it states, providing just $50 million for Polar Follow-On.

The committee was more generous with the Solar Weather Follow-On mission, also known as Solar Weather Forward Observatory. The administration requested just $500,000 for the program, which received $5 million in 2017, stating that it wanted to study alternative approaches to replace existing space weather monitoring spacecraft in the early 2020s.

The report provides $8.5 million for the program in 2018, which is still far less than what NOAA projected spending in 2018 in last years budget request. The committee directed NOAA to refine the Space Weather Follow-On concept and develop mission requirements for a cost-effective capable space system.

The full House Appropriations Committee will mark up the bill, with the potential for amendments, July 13. The Senate Appropriations Committee has not started work on its version of a spending bill.

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House spending bill increases NASA planetary science, cuts NOAA weather satellite program - SpaceNews

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See the article here:

New NASA Tech Kills Trespassing Drones Without Touching Them - WIRED

Summer is here, and that means its time to break out the water guns. Or, if youre YouTuber Mark Rober (formerly a NASA engineer), its time to build the largest water gun ever made (via Gizmodo).

Robers giant water pistol is a little more overpowered than the original backyard toy, firing jets of water at 272 miles per hour, with enough force to slice through a watermelon and shatter glass. But despite the giant scale, the supersized Super Soaker works pretty much the same way as the toy version: pressurized air is pumped into a chamber of water, and released with the trigger to shoot a jet of water. Robers version instead uses pressurized tanks of nitrogen gas and water for far more impressive results,. But hey, its all working on the same principles.

Rober is no stranger to building comically oversized childrens guns. Last summer, he put together the worlds largest Nerf gun. While that was impressive, the 40-mile-per-hour darts it shot barely hold a candle to the destructive power of the seven-foot-long water pistol.

The gigantic Super Soaker is definitely a custom, one-off build, though Rober does provide a build list of parts and CAD files should you want to try to cobble together your own. As a note: pressurized gas as used here is dangerous, and Rober is a trained engineer, so proceed carefully if youre trying this at home. This is not meant for human targets!

Here is the original post:

Former NASA engineer builds world's largest Super Soaker, firing water at 272 mph - The Verge