NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin today released a report questioning the Agency's approach to its planned environmental cleanup at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California. First opened in 1948, the 2,850 acre facility 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles was the site of nuclear energy research by the Department of Energy and rocket testing by the United States Air Force and NASA. Over the years, these activities resulted in radiological and chemical contamination to soil and groundwater at the site.

Like all Federal agencies, NASA is required to comply with laws and regulations that govern cleanup of contaminants left behind from Agency activities. Generally, responsible parties are required to conduct risk assessments to evaluate the threat that contaminants pose to human health, identify the reasonably foreseeable use of the affected property, and structure their remediation efforts based on those results.

The Boeing Company, which owns and is responsible for the cleanup of the majority of the Santa Susana site, has publicly stated that it intends to preserve its portion for use as open space parkland. This intended use would normally require remediation to a "recreational" level, but Boeing has stated that it will clean its area to a more stringent "residential" level. The NASA portion of the site is also expected to be used as parkland.

In December 2010, NASA entered into an agreement with California officials in which it pledged to clean the soil at the Santa Susana site to its original state before any rocket testing activities began, known as "background" level by 2017. This Office of Inspector General (OIG) review found that NASA has committed to an excessive and unnecessarily costly cleanup of the Santa Susana site. Specifically, the Agency agreed to clean its portion of the site to a level that exceeds the generally accepted standard necessary to protect human health in light of the expected future use of the land.

Moreover, although the precise requirements of the cleanup and therefore its ultimate cost have not been finalized, NASA estimates that remediation to "background" levels could cost more than $200 million, or more than twice the cost to clean the site to "residential" levels and more than eight times the cost to clean it to a "recreational" use standard. In addition, because cleanup to background levels may require highly invasive soil removal, there is a risk that such efforts would result in significant damage to the surrounding environment as well as to archeological, historical, and natural resources at the site.

The OIG questioned whether NASA's agreement to clean its portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory to background levels is the best use of limited NASA funds. Given NASA's other environmental commitments and the fiscal constraints facing the Agency and the Nation, the OIG concluded that NASA can ill afford to spend tens of millions of dollars to clean up an area beyond its risk level or intended land use.

The OIG recommended that NASA reexamine its current plans for the Santa Susana cleanup and ensure that its remediation effort is conducted in the most cost-effective manner in keeping with the intended future use of the property. In its response to the report, NASA failed to indicate whether it agreed or disagreed with our recommendation and whether it would reexamine its current cleanup plans. Instead, the Agency pledged to work toward a cleanup that achieves "cost avoidance" and preserves cultural and natural resources within the requirements of their agreement with the State of California. However, the OIG cautioned that it is not clear that the Agency can achieve the most appropriate and cost effective remediation effort given the constraints of the current agreement.

The full report can be found on the OIG's website at http://oig.nasa.gov/ under "Reading Room" or at the following link: http://oig.nasa.gov/audits/reports/FY13/IG-13-007.pdf

Please contact Renee Juhans at 202-358-1220 if you have questions.

Renee N. Juhans Executive Officer NASA Office of Inspector General (202) 358-1220

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NASA's Environmental Remediation Efforts at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory

Space Ref has published a letter from NASA to Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, detailing the effects of sequestration on NASA programs.

NASA's commercial crew program hardest hit

According to an analysis of the NASA letter in the Space Politics blog, sequestration would essentially bring the space agency's effort to develop commercially operated space craft to a halt by summer. The sequestration cuts would extend NASA's reliance on Russia for transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Other NASA programs impacted

Other NASA programs would be reduced across the board, according to the letter, with the space agency being forced to consider canceling a number of projects. At least one space technology project would have to be canceled, with six others under consideration for the budget ax. A number of flight demonstration projects would have to be eliminated, including "the Deep Space Atomic Clock, Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer and the Materials on International Space Station Experiment-X projects." NASA would also eliminate or descope annual solicitations for Space Technology Research Grants, NASA Innovative Advanced Concept, the Small Spacecraft Technology Program. NASA would consider reducing the number of Flight Opportunity program flights and payloads that could be flown in FY 2013 and beyond. The space agency would likely be forced to eliminate Centennial Challenges funding to perform new prizes.

Space exploration reduced

There would be some impacts on Explorer and Earth Venture Class missions, resulting in some launch delays, the letter states. The development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and the Space Launch System would be cut, but NASA has not articulated what impacts that would have to scheduled test flights.

What sequestration is

According to Idea Money Watch, the sequestration threat developed out of the failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, established by the Budget Control Act of 2011, to come up with a deficit reduction program. Under the act, automatic across-the-board cuts to both domestic and defense spending will take place on March 1 unless Congress and the president are able to agree on a deficit reduction package. An impasse has developed between Congressional Republicans and Democrats over whether tax increases should be included in a deal that would replace sequestration. According to Politico, noting that taxes were already raised as part of the fiscal cliff deal, House Republicans are standing fast on a no new taxes pledge. Because of the Constitution, since tax bills can only originate in the House, Senate Democrats are unable to initiate their own tax bill without House cooperation. Politico further reports that absent a miracle, the GOP insiders have concluded that sequestration will happen.

Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.

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How Sequestration Will Impact NASA Programs

NASA Television will provide commentary starting at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST) on Friday, Feb. 15, during the close, but safe, flyby of a small near-Earth asteroid named 2012 DA14. NASA places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. This flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.

The half-hour broadcast from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., will incorporate real-time animation to show the location of the asteroid in relation to Earth, along with live or near real-time views of the asteroid from observatories in Australia, weather permitting.

At the time of its closest approach to Earth at approximately 11:25 a.m. PST (2:25 p.m. EST / 19:25 UTC), the asteroid will be about 17,150 miles (27,600 kilometers) above Earth's surface.

The commentary will be available via NASA TV and streamed live online at: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv and http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

In addition to the commentary, near real-time imagery of the asteroid's flyby before and after closest approach, made available to NASA by astronomers in Australia and Europe, weather permitting, will be streamed beginning at about 9 a.m. PST (noon EST) and continuing through the afternoon at the following website: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

A Ustream feed of the flyby from a telescope at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will be streamed for three hours starting at 6 p.m. PST (8 p.m. CST / 9 p.m. EST). To view the feed and ask researchers questions about the flyby via Twitter, visit: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc

The NASA Near Earth Objects (NEO) Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington manages and funds the search, study and monitoring of NEOs, or asteroids and comets, whose orbits periodically bring them close to the Earth. NASA's study of NEOs provides important clues to understanding the origin of our solar system. The objects also are a repository of natural resources and could become waystations for future exploration. In collaboration with other external organizations, one of the program's key goals is to search and hopefully mitigate potential NEO impacts on Earth. JPL conducts the NEO program's technical and scientific activities.

For more information, including graphics and animations showing the flyby of 2012 DA14, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidflyby

For more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch

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NASA to Chronicle Close Earth Flyby of Asteroid

The silhouette of the space shuttle Endeavour, Feb 9, 2010

The silhouette of the space shuttle Endeavour appears over Earth's colorful horizon in this image photographed by an Expedition 22 crew member on Feb. 9, 2010.

"These tidal tails are thin, elongated streams of gas, dust and stars that extend away from a galaxy into space. They occur when galaxies gravitationally interact with one another, and material is sheared from the outer edges of each body and flung out into space in opposite directions, forming two tails. They almost always appear curved, so when they are seen to be relatively straight, as in this image, it is clear that we are viewing the galaxies side-on."

This image provided by NASA shows the Solar Dynamic Observatory's ultra-high-definition view of Venus, black dot at top center, passing in front of the sun on Tuesday, June 5, 2012. The next transit of Venus won't be for another 105 years. (NASA/Solar Dynamic Observatory/AP)

This image provided by NASA shows the image captured by Hinode on June 5, 2012 of the transit of Venus -- the last instance of this rare phenomenon until 2117. Hinode is a joint JAXA/NASA mission to study the connections of the sun's surface magnetism, primarily in and around sunspots. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages Hinode. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., is the lead U.S. investigator for the X-ray Telescope. (JAXA NASA/AP)

A bubbling cauldron of star birth is highlighted in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Infrared light that we can't see with our eyes has been color-coded, such that the shortest wavelengths are shown in blue and the longest in red. The middle wavelength range is green. Massive stars have blown bubbles, or cavities, in the dust and gas--a violent process that triggers both the death and birth of stars. The brightest, yellow-white regions are warm centers of star formation. The green shows tendrils of dust, and red indicates other types of dust that may be cooler, in addition to ionized gas from nearby massive stars.

This image shows the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy in infrared light as seen by the Herschel Space Observatory, a European Space Agency-led mission with important NASA contributions, and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. In the instruments' combined data, this nearby dwarf galaxy looks like a fiery, circular explosion. Rather than fire, however, those ribbons are actually giant ripples of dust spanning tens or hundreds of light-years. Significant fields of star formation are noticeable in the center, just left of center and at right. The brightest center-left region is called 30 Doradus, or the Tarantula Nebula, for its appearance in visible light.

This enhanced-color image shows sand dunes trapped in an impact crater in Noachis Terra, Mars. Dunes and sand ripples of various shapes and sizes display the natural beauty created by physical processes. The area covered in the image is about six-tenths of a mile (1 kilometer) across. Sand dunes are among the most widespread wind-formed features on Mars. Their distribution and shapes are affected by changes in wind direction and wind strength. Patterns of dune erosion and deposition provide insight into the sedimentary history of the surrounding terrain.

This image obtained by the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows the south pole of the giant asteroid Vesta. Scientists are discussing whether the circular structure that covers most of this image originated by a collision with another asteroid, or by internal processes early in the asteroid's history. Images in higher resolution from Dawn's lowered orbit might help answer that question. The image was recorded with the framing camera aboard NASA's Dawn spacecraft from a distance of about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers). The image resolution is about 260 meters per pixel.

A quartet of Saturn's moons, from tiny to huge, surround and are embedded within the planet's rings in this Cassini composition. Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is in the background of the image, and the moon's north polar hood is clearly visible. See PIA08137 to learn more about that feature on Titan (3,200 miles, or 5,150 kilometers across). Next, the wispy terrain on the trailing hemisphere of Dione (698 miles, or 1,123 kilometers across) can be seen on that moon which appears just above the rings at the center of the image. See PIA10560 and PIA06163 to learn more about Dione's wisps. Saturn's small moon Pandora (50 miles, or 81 kilometers across) orbits beyond the rings on the right of the image. Finally, Pan (17 miles, or 28 kilometers across) can be seen in the Encke Gap of the A ring on the left of the image. The image was taken in visible blue light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 17, 2011. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 27 degrees. Image scale is 8 miles (13 kilometers) per pixel on Dione.

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Nasa Movie Captures 'Space Ship' Pulsar

CoCoRaHS and NASA #39;s GPM Mission
Dr. Gail Skofronick-Jackson and Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center present an introduction to NASA #39;s GPM and TRMM Missions. Links to more info: gpm.nasa.gov

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CoCoRaHS and NASA's GPM Mission - Video

Robotic Refueling Mission - Satellites Can Be Refueled in Orbit | NASA GSFC Space Science HD
Visit my website at http://www.junglejoel.com - NASA #39;s Robotic Refueling Mission recently tried out new technologies and techniques for repairing and refueling satellites while in orbit. Please rate and comment, thanks! Credits NASA GSFC

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Robotic Refueling Mission - Satellites Can Be Refueled in Orbit | NASA GSFC Space Science HD - Video

minecraft NASA
A big world with nasa space shape.

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minecraft NASA - Video

Discussion between Daniel Duffy and William Putman (NASA): Challenges for global climate simulation
Daniel Duffy (Lead System Architect) and William Putman (Research Meteorologist) of the NASA Center for Climate Simulation and the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center present the challenges facing global climate modeling today. In particular they discuss the requirements of high resolution modeling: the need for powerful computing resources and the creation of terabytes of data to be stored and analyzed. Today #39;s climate simulations use a resolution of 50 to 100 km globally, as fine as 25 km for global weather prediction. The goal is to increase the resolution to 1 km to reach global cloud resolving scales, which will in turn require nearly 10 million conventional Xeon compute cores. According to Daniel this will be possible only by adopting accelerator hardware like GPUs and Xeon Phis. For William what matters most is keeping a single codebase that can be understood by all scientists involved. A two year simulation with a resolution of 10 km currently produces about 400 TB of data. Daniel explains how the convergence of HPC and big data creates new challenges for the providers of computing services.

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Discussion between Daniel Duffy and William Putman (NASA): Challenges for global climate simulation - Video

LOVE YOURSELF- FEATURING SC SUPERGROUP NASA 6- NEXT 2RAW4TV -2-14-13
Join 2RAW4TV as we celebrate love in all its incarnations. Why is love important? What makes people love? Can love be dangerous? South Carolina super group NASA-6 talks about the highs and lows of the music industry, space travel, and what they are doing out at "Six in the morn"? You will never have a Valentine #39;s day like this again! blogtalkradio.com/2RAW4TV 2/14/13 @ 11PM EST CALL 323-410-0036 TO COMMENT OR ?

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LOVE YOURSELF- FEATURING SC SUPERGROUP NASA 6- NEXT 2RAW4TV -2-14-13 - Video

NASA's Mohawk Guy wore a red-and-blue-striped Mohawk to the State of the Union address.

License photo

Updated Feb. 12, 2013 at 10:40 PM

Bobak Ferdowsi, NASA's flight director on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity mission, sported another patriotic hairdo during tonight's State of the Union address.

Ferdowsi remained faithful to the hairstyle that made him famous - after all, he is known as NASA's Mohawk guy - but added a hint of color to the mix by painting bright red and blue stripes on the tips of his perfectly coiffed Mohawk.

"I thought it would be a good time to celebrate our country, of course," he told Buzzfeed about the do. "I have U.S.A. on one side and Mars on the other, because that's, like, my other place. Just celebrating the events."

NASA's most hair-stylish engineer told Buzzfeed he was pleasantly surprised when he received the invitation to Tuesday's event.

"I found out less than a week ago, honestly, that I'd been invited to the State of the Union," he said. "I freaked out for a few minutes, just needed a moment to gather myself. It's really cool, I'm really excited, yet again, to represent NASA and JPL and all of the work that everybody here does. It's really amazing to me. Sometimes I feel unworthy in some ways to do all this. I think there's so many talented and fun and amazing people on the project that I worked on, but all across our place. I just feel very lucky to get to do stuff like this."

Ferdowsi rose to fame last August after he got a starry Mohawk to celebrate Curiosity's landing in Mars.

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NASA's Mohawk Guy sported red and blue Mohawk at State of the Union address

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has photographed a shiny, metallic-looking object that bears a passing resemblance to a door handle or a hood ornament.

The Curiosity rover has not stumbled onto evidence of an ancient civilization that took the family van to Olympus Mons for vacation, however. The object is simply a rock that the wind has sculpted into an interesting shape, scientists said.

"The shiny surface suggests that this rock has a fine grain and is relatively hard," Curiosity scientists wrote Monday (Feb. 11) in an explainer blurb accompanying the image, which was taken on Jan. 30. "Hard, fine-grained rocks can be polished by the wind to form very smooth surfaces."

Similar "ventifacted" (wind-eroded) rocks can be found here on Earth, notably on the dry, gusty plains of Antarctica, they added.

The newfound rock is not the first shiny object Curiosity has photographed on the Red Planet.

In October, the car-size rover paused its first soil-scooping activities to investigate a bright sliver lying on the ground nearby. Scientists think the scrap is a piece of plastic debris that shook loose during the robot's dramatic sky-crane landing on the night of Aug. 5.

Later in October, Curiosity spotted bright flecks in one of the holes it dug out while scooping. That material appears to be some sort of native Martian mineral, as does the so-called "Mars flower," which garnered a lot of attention after Curiosity photographed it in December.

While such finds may be be interesting to laypeople and researchers alike, Curiosity has bigger fish to fry. The rover's main task is to determine whether its landing site a huge crater called Gale could ever have supported microbial life.

Curiosity carries 10 different scientific instruments and 17 cameras to aid in this quest, along with other tools such as a rock-boring drill. Curiosity used this drill to collect samples for the first time over the weekend, boring 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) into a Red Planet rock in a move that had never been done before on another planet.

Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwallor SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on FacebookandGoogle+.

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NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds Weird 'Hood Ornament' on Mars

PALO ALTO, Calif. Though NASA's share of the federal budget has dropped dramatically since the space-race heyday of the 1960s, the United States still regards space exploration as a key priority, NASA's deputy chief says.

The agency's allotted $17.7 billion budget represents less than 0.5 percent of federal spending for 2013. That's a nearly tenfold drop from the agency's peak share back in the mid-1960s, when the United States was racing to put an astronaut on the moonbefore the Soviet Union.

But $17.7 billion is far from chump change, especially considering how much other nations spend on their space programs, said NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver.

"We do in fact lead the world in space exploration today," Garver said Feb. 1 during a presentation here at a space-entrepreneurship forum organized by Stanford University's Institute for Economic Policy Research. [NASA's Budget: What Will It Buy? (Video)]

"If you total up every other space agency on the planet today Russia, China, Japan, all of Europe, Canada, South America they equal three-quarters of NASA's budget," Garver added. "So don't believe that America has turned its back on our civil space program."

Policymakers may still value space exploration, but their vision of where NASA and its astronauts should go has changed over time.

For example, the agency had been working on getting astronauts to the moon by 2020 as part of a program called Constellation, which began under President George W. Bush. But President Barack Obama cancelled Constellation in 2010, after an independent review panel found it to be significantly over budget and behind schedule.

Instead, Obama directed NASA to send humans to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, then on to the vicinity of Marsby the mid-2030s. The agency is developing a crew capsule called Orion and a huge rocket called the Space Launch System to make it all happen.

NASA will fund these deep-space missions in part with resources freed up by the retirement of the space shuttlefleet, which was grounded in 2011 after 30 years of orbital service and more than $200 billion of investment.

The agency is now grooming private American companies to take over the shuttle's role of ferrying cargo and crew to and from low-Earth orbit.

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Space Exploration Still US Priority, NASA Says

NASA : Atlas Rocket Explodes On Pad - 1960 Epic Missile Launch Fail!
An Atlas rocket being tested on the pad suffers a catastrophic failure.

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NASA : Atlas Rocket Explodes On Pad - 1960 Epic Missile Launch Fail! - Video

Circle Heart Racing at Barber Motorsports Park with NASA-SE in Legends Race Car
This is a short clip of a very close call while racing our Legends Race Car with NASA-SE captured on our GoPro Camera. Visit http://www.CircleHeartRacing.com or http://www.SantasToyRun.org. Special thanks to everyone that helped.

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Circle Heart Racing at Barber Motorsports Park with NASA-SE in Legends Race Car - Video

NASA #39;s REEL Science Communication Contest by Lexie Bond
2013 Video Production Class Competition, PSA

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NASA's REEL Science Communication Contest by Lexie Bond - Video

NASA #39;s REEL Science Communication Contest by RJ Marsh
2013 Video Production Class Competition, PSA

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NASA's REEL Science Communication Contest by RJ Marsh - Video

"One Small Step..." Neil Armstrong NASA Astronaut Quote
Armstrong: "That #39;s one small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind." More Free HQ Sounds: http://www.youtube.com "One small step for man quote" uploaded by freemaster2 http://www.freesound.org Public Domain Image: "Boarding Gemini VIII" by NASA http://www.flickr.com Public Domain

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"One Small Step..." Neil Armstrong NASA Astronaut Quote - Video

Feb. 11, 2013 NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) roared into space at 1:02 p.m. EST (10:02 a.m. PST) Monday aboard an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The LDCM spacecraft separated from the rocket 79 minutes after launch and the first signal was received 3 minutes later at a ground station in Svalbard, Norway. The solar arrays deployed 86 minutes after launch, and the spacecraft is generating power from them. LDCM is on course to reach its operational, sun-synchronous, polar orbit 438 miles (705 kilometers) above Earth within two months.

"Landsat is a centerpiece of NASA's Earth Science program, and today's successful launch will extend the longest continuous data record of Earth's surface as seen from space," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "This data is a key tool for monitoring climate change and has led to the improvement of human and biodiversity health, energy and water management, urban planning, disaster recovery and agriculture monitoring -- all resulting in incalculable benefits to the U.S. and world economy."

LDCM will go through a check-out phase for the next three months. Afterward, operational control will be transferred to NASA's mission partner, the Department of the Interior's U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the satellite will be renamed Landsat 8. Data will be archived and distributed free over the Internet from the Earth Resources and Science (EROS) center in Sioux Falls, S.D. Distribution of Landsat 8 data from the USGS archive is expected to begin within 100 days of launch.

LDCM is the eighth in the Landsat series of satellites that have been continuously observing Earth's land surfaces since 1972.

"Landsat has been delivering invaluable scientific information about our planet for more than forty years," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said. "It's an honor to be a part of today's launch to ensure this critical data will continue to help us better understand our natural resources and help people like water managers, farmers, and resource managers make informed decisions."

The use of Landsat data been transformed in recent years by advancements in computing power and the decision by USGS to allow free online access to the information. This revolution has allowed scientists to detect changes over time to our planet and has enabled a host of applications based on Landsat measurements to be developed by researchers, the private sector, and state, local, and tribal governments.

LDCM continues that legacy with more and better observations. The spacecraft carries two instruments, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS). The measurements will be compatible with data from past Landsat satellites, but the LDCM instruments use advanced technology to improve reliability, sensitivity, and data quality.

"LDCM is the best Landsat satellite ever built," said Jim Irons, a LDCM project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The technology will advance and improve the array of scientific investigations and resource management applications supported by Landsat images. I anticipate new knowledge and applications to emerge with an increasing demand for the data."

OLI will continue observations currently made by Landsat 7 in the visible, near infrared, and shortwave infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It also will take measurements in two new bands, one to observe high-altitude cirrus clouds and another to observe atmospheric aerosols as well as water quality in lakes and shallow coastal waters. OLI's new design has fewer moving parts than instruments on previous Landsat satellites.

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NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission: New Earth observation satellite launched

NASA's Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan has been posted to the agency's website. The comprehensive strategic plan prioritizes space technologies essential to the pursuit of NASA's mission and achievement of national goals.

The NASA Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan was created following development of a series of agency draft Space Technology Roadmaps. After careful review of the roadmaps by the National Research Council, with input from the public and key stakeholders, NASA finalized this new investment plan. It provides guidance for NASA's space technology investments during the next four years, within the context of a 20-year horizon. The plan will be updated approximately every two years, as appropriate, to meet agency and national needs.

"Technology enables discovery and advancement," NASA Chief Technologist Mason Peck said. "We look forward to working with our stakeholders to grow our technological base and take the journey to expand scientific understanding, explore the universe, and make a positive impact on the lives of all."

In 2010, the president and Congress unveiled an ambitious new direction for NASA, which includes renewed investment in space technology to align mission directorate activities, increase capabilities, lower mission costs and support long-term needs. The result has been an aggressive and prioritized technology investment by NASA that enables exploration and science missions while also supporting other government and commercial space activities. The plan is based on a four-pillar system of goals to ensure NASA investments optimize the benefits of key stakeholders, other U.S. government agencies, the private sector and the national economy.

NASA recognizes the importance of a balanced portfolio of technology development at all stages of technology maturity. Using the Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan, NASA will continue to invest in revolutionary concepts that help develop the nation's work force and provide transformative and crosscutting technology breakthroughs to enable our missions and benefit the commercial sector.

To review the Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan and learn more about NASA's investment in space technology, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/oct

- Download the Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan

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NASA Unveils Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan

Life is good for NASA's "Mohawk Guy." He became world famous after helping NASA's huge Curiosity rover make a dramatic landing on Mars, and now he'll sit with first lady Michelle Obama during Tuesday's State of the Union address.

The Iranian-American Mohawk Guy whose name is Bobak Ferdowsi will sit in the first lady's box to highlight President Barack Obama's call for more visas for skilled immigrants in the fields of math, science and engineering, Southern California Public Radio reportedMonday (Feb. 11).

A White House official confirmed the news to SPACE.com.

Ferdowsi will be joined in the box by a number of other people from various walks of life, whose presence may help the president drive home points about some of his policy proposals. The speech begins Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST (Feb. 12; 0200 GMT Wednesday).

Ferdowsi's American flag-inspired hairstyle a red- and blue-streaked mohawk set off by white stars on the side of his head rocketed the mission flight director to international fame during Curiosity's nail-biting landingon the night of Aug. 5.

In a complex maneuver that had never been tried before on another planet, the 1-ton rover was lowered to the Martian surface on cables by a rocket-powered sky crane, which then flew off and crash-landed intentionally a safe distance away.

The president even gave Ferdowsi apublic shout-out shortly after the landing.

"I understand there's a specialmohawk guythat's working on the mission," President Obama said in a congratulatory call to Curiosity's handlers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Aug. 13. "He's been one of the many stars of the show last Sunday night. I in the past thought about getting a mohawk myself."

Ferdowsi is not a mohawk loyalist, however. He said he has tried out various hairstyles over the years to mark major milestones in the development of Curiosity's $2.5 billion mission, which seeks to determine if the Red Planet can, or ever could, support microbial life.

Curiosity carries 10 science instruments, 17 cameras and several other tools to aid in this quest. Over the weekend, it completed a major milestone, drilling a 2.5-inch-deep (6.35 centimeters) hole in a Martian rock and collecting samples. No robot had ever done this on Mars or any other planet before.

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NASA's 'Mohawk Guy' to Sit with First Lady at State of the Union