New NASA Satellite Is Blasted Off. (2013)
An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket blasts off to put the first of a new generation of NASA communications satellites into orbit.

By: NewsForYouu

Continued here:

New NASA Satellite Is Blasted Off. (2013) - Video

Rocket launches Nasa satellite into space
Nasa launches an unmanned Atlas 5 rocket to put the first of a new generation of communications satellites into space. . Report by Katie Lamborn. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com . Subscribe to ITN News! http://www.youtube.com Visit our homepage at http://www.itn.co.uk

By: itnnews

Read more here:

Rocket launches Nasa satellite into space - Video

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Jan. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --The first of NASA's three next-generation Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS), known as TDRS-K, launched at 8:48 p.m. EST Wednesday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO )

"TDRS-K bolsters our network of satellites that provides essential communications to support space exploration," said Badri Younes, deputy associate administrator for Space Communications and Navigation at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "It will improve the overall health and longevity of our system."

The TDRS system provides tracking, telemetry, command and high-bandwidth data return services for numerous science and human exploration missions orbiting Earth. These include the International Space Station and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

"With this launch, NASA has begun the replenishment of our aging space network," said Jeffrey Gramling, TDRS project manager. "This addition to our current fleet of seven will provide even greater capabilities to a network that has become key to enabling many of NASA's scientific discoveries."

TDRS-K was lifted into orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41. After a three-month test phase, NASA will accept the spacecraft for additional evaluation before putting the satellite into service.

The TDRS-K spacecraft includes several modifications from older satellites in the TDRS system, including redesigned telecommunications payload electronics and a high-performance solar panel designed for more spacecraft power to meet growing S-band requirements. Another significant design change, the return to ground-based processing of data, will allow the system to service more customers with evolving communication requirements.

The next TDRS spacecraft, TDRS-L, is scheduled for launch in 2014. TDRS-M's manufacturing process will be completed in 2015.

NASA's Space Communications and Navigation Program, part of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington, is responsible for the space network. The TDRS Project Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the TDRS development program. Launch services were provided by United Launch Alliance. NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center was responsible for acquisition of launch services.

For more information about TDRS, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/tdrs

Go here to read the rest:

NASA Launches Next-Generation Communications Satellite

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is sizing up a target rock and flexing its robotic arm ahead of its first-ever drilling activity on the Red Planet, which should take place in the coming days.

The 1-ton Curiosity rover pressed down on the rock in four different places with its arm-mounted drill Monday (Jan. 27). These "pre-load" tests should allow mission engineers to see if the amount of force applied matches predictions, researchers said.

The six-wheeled robot won't be ready to start boring into the rock until it completes several additional hardware tests and other checks, which should keep the rover busy through at least the end of this week, they added.

Curiosity's next step is an overnight pre-load test, which will tell the rover team if the big temperature swings at Curiosity's Gale Crater landing site pose any potential problems for drilling operations.

Air temperatures at Gale can drop from 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) in the afternoon to minus 85 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 65 degrees Celsius) at night. The rover's chassis, arm and mobility system can grow and shrink by about 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) over such a broad temperature range, researchers said.

"We don't plan on leaving the drill in a rock overnight once we start drilling, but in case that happens, it is important to know what to expect in terms of stress on the hardware," Limonadi said.

Other pre-drilling activities include a detailed assessment of the target rock, which is part of an outcrop that mission scientists have dubbed "John Klein." The team will also employ the drill's hammering action briefly without actually spinning the drill bit, to make sure the percussion mechanism and associated systems are working properly.

And the first bite Curiosity actually takes out of a rock will not produce samples for analysis, researchers said. Rather, the rover will perform a "mini-drill" activity, going less than 0.8 inches (2 cm) into the rock too shallow to push powder into the drill's sample-snagging chamber.

"The purpose is to see whether the tailings are behaving the way we expect," Limonadi said. "Do they look like dry powder? That's what we want to confirm."

Curiosity landed on Aug. 5 of last year, kicking off a surface mission to determine if the Gale Crater area has ever been capable of supporting microbial life. The robot carries 10 different science instruments to aid in this quest, along with other tools such as the drill, which can bore 1 inch (2.5 cm) into solid rock.

Continued here:

NASA's Curiosity Rover Poised to Drill Into Mars

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) NASA launched a new communication satellite Wednesday to stay in touch with its space station astronauts and relay more Hubble telescope images.

An unmanned Atlas V rocket blasted into the starry night sky carrying the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite.

This is the 11th TDRS satellite to be launched by NASA. The space agency uses the orbiting network to communicate with astronauts living on the International Space Station.

The first TDRS spacecraft flew in 1983; it recently was retired along with No. 4. The second was lost aboard space shuttle Challenger in 1986; Monday marked the 27th anniversary of the launch disaster.

This newest third-generation TDRS carries the letter K designation. Once it begins working, it will become TDRS-11. It will take two weeks for the satellite to reach its intended 22,300-mile-high orbit. Testing will last a few months.

NASA estimates the satellite costs between $350 million and $400 million.

Another TDRS spacecraft, L in the series, will be launched next year.

NASA wants at least seven TDRS satellites working in orbit at any one time. The one launched Wednesday will make eight.

___

Online:

See the original post:

NASA launches communication satellite

This story was updated at 10:46 p.m. ET.

A next-generation NASA relay satellite was launched into orbit Wednesday (Jan. 30) on a mission to upgrade a vital communications network linking the space agency to its spacecraft orbiting the Earth.

The U.S. space agency's first launch of 2013, the new Tracking and Data Relay Satellite K (TDRS-K for short) soared spaceward atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 8:48 p.m. EST (0148 Jan. 31 GMT).

"We have a customer that's quite thrilled right now to have a healthy satellite on orbit," Tim Dunn the TDRS-K flight director said in a NASA TV interview after the launch.

The TDRS-K satellite is bound for an orbit 22,300 miles (35,888 kilometers) above Earth, where it will join a constellation of five other satellites currently in orbit to help NASA and other space agencies stay in touch with orbiting spacecraft.

NASA's TDRS communications network began in 1983 and has not received an upgrade since 2002, when the space agency launched its 10th TDRS satellite. Five satellites are currently in use today, with the TDRS-K launch adding one more that number, mission managers said. [Launch Photos: NASA's TDRS-K Satellite Blasts Off ]

The TDRS-K satellite is expected to spend at least 15 years, but agency officials expect that the satellite will exceed its projected life-expectancy. Many of the network's satellites have outlived their expected mission lifetimes, said Jeffrey Gramling, NASA's TDRS project manager.

But that does not mean that TDRS-K is unnecessary. One of the satellites currently in active service is slated be retired in the next few months, and other satellites in the aging network are getting older, said Badri Younes, a scientist in NASA's Space Communications and Navigation office.

The satellite launched today was the first of three new satellites expected to enter service between now and 2015 that should further bolster the network. The TDRS-K mission costs between $350 million and $400 million, not including the price of its rocket.

The TDRS-K satellite is 26 feet long (8 meters) and weighs about 7,615 pounds (3,454 kilograms). It was expected to separate from its Atlas 5 rocket one hour and 46 minutes after liftoff, with a Centaur upper stage rocket engine slated to carry it the rest of the way to its geosynchronous orbit.

Read the original post:

Liftoff! NASA Launches Next-Generation Relay Satellite into Space

NASA launched a new communication satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Wednesday evening. This satellite is one of three expected to reach space between now and 2015, upgrading the agency's communication network.

A next-generation NASA relay satellite was launched into orbit Wednesday (Jan. 30) on a mission to upgrade a vital communications network linking the space agency to its spacecraft orbiting the Earth.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

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

The U.S. space agency's first launch of 2013, the newTracking and Data Relay Satellite K(TDRS-K for short) soared spaceward atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 8:48 p.m. EST (0148 Jan. 31 GMT).

"We have a customer that's quite thrilled right now to have a healthy satellite on orbit," Tim Dunn the TDRS-K flight director said in a NASA TV interview after the launch.

The TDRS-K satellite is bound for an orbit 22,300 miles (35,888 kilometers) above Earth, where it will join a constellation of five other satellites currently in orbit to help NASA and other space agencies stay in touch with orbiting spacecraft.

NASA's TDRS communications network began in 1983 and has not received an upgrade since 2002, when the space agency launched its 10th TDRS satellite. Five satellites are currently in use today, with the TDRS-K launch adding one more that number, mission managers said. [Launch Photos: NASA's TDRS-K Satellite Blasts Off]

The TDRS-K satellite is expected to spend at least 15 years, but agency officials expect that the satellite will exceed its projected life-expectancy. Many of the network's satellites haveoutlived their expected mission lifetimes, said Jeffrey Gramling, NASA's TDRS project manager.

But that does not mean that TDRS-K is unnecessary. One of the satellites currently in active service is slated be retired in the next few months, and other satellites in the aging network are getting older, said Badri Younes, a scientist in NASA's Space Communications and Navigation office.

Read more from the original source:

NASA 'Space Network' receives boost

NASA launched a new communication satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Wednesday evening. This satellite is one of three expected to reach space between now and 2015, upgrading the agency's communication network.

A next-generation NASA relay satellite was launched into orbit Wednesday (Jan. 30) on a mission to upgrade a vital communications network linking the space agency to its spacecraft orbiting the Earth.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

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

The U.S. space agency's first launch of 2013, the newTracking and Data Relay Satellite K(TDRS-K for short) soared spaceward atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 8:48 p.m. EST (0148 Jan. 31 GMT).

"We have a customer that's quite thrilled right now to have a healthy satellite on orbit," Tim Dunn the TDRS-K flight director said in a NASA TV interview after the launch.

The TDRS-K satellite is bound for an orbit 22,300 miles (35,888 kilometers) above Earth, where it will join a constellation of five other satellites currently in orbit to help NASA and other space agencies stay in touch with orbiting spacecraft.

NASA's TDRS communications network began in 1983 and has not received an upgrade since 2002, when the space agency launched its 10th TDRS satellite. Five satellites are currently in use today, with the TDRS-K launch adding one more that number, mission managers said. [Launch Photos: NASA's TDRS-K Satellite Blasts Off]

The TDRS-K satellite is expected to spend at least 15 years, but agency officials expect that the satellite will exceed its projected life-expectancy. Many of the network's satellites haveoutlived their expected mission lifetimes, said Jeffrey Gramling, NASA's TDRS project manager.

But that does not mean that TDRS-K is unnecessary. One of the satellites currently in active service is slated be retired in the next few months, and other satellites in the aging network are getting older, said Badri Younes, a scientist in NASA's Space Communications and Navigation office.

Go here to read the rest:

NASA 'Space Network' receives boost from satellite

NASA plans to launch a new satellite today (Jan. 30) to upgrade the network used to send messages back and forth between spacecraft and the ground.

The space agency is set to launch the new Tracking and Data Relay Satellite K (TDRS-K for short) at 8:48 p.m. EST (0148 Jan. 31 GMT) today from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The spacecraft will blast off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.

You can watch the launch live on SPACE.com through NASA TV starting at 6:15 p.m. ET (1115 GMT).

Cold front

Weather at the launch site is looking promising, but NASA officials aren't taking any chances, and won't launch the rocket unless skies are clear.

"Now we're looking at a 40-percent chance that a weather rule will be violated," Joel Tumbiolo, a NASA launch weather officer, said on Monday.

The rocket that will carry TDRS-K to orbit has already been rolled out onto the launch pad, but a cold front is approaching Cape Canaveral that could delay the launch. Electrically active clouds heralding the arrival of the cold front might create dangerous conditions.

TDRS-K has an estimated cost of between $350 million and $400 million, not counting the cost of the rocket to launch it. The spacecraft is the first of three new satellites due to lift off between now and 2015 to bolster the TDRS communications satellite network, which relays data and messages between spacecraft in orbit and ground stations. [NASA's New Comsat: TDRS-K Spacecraft in Photos]

Thanks to the positioning of ground elements and the TDRS network of satellites around the world, NASA scientists have constant communication with orbiting spacecraft. The network is responsible for space-to-ground communication with the International Space Station as well as the Hubble Space Telescope.

Orbital network

Read the original post:

NASA Launching New Communications Satellite Today

Lift-Off! NASA Launches Rocket To Study Jet Stream | Video
A sounding rocket was launched from Wallops Island Flight Facility on January 29th, 2013. It released chemical tracers creating red vapor trails in Space. The vapor trails were not seen in this video, but could be observed in the Mid-Atlantic region.

By: VideoFromSpace

The rest is here:

Lift-Off! NASA Launches Rocket To Study Jet Stream | Video - Video

Condensing Rain, Solar Optical Telescope | Hinode Satellite / NASA 11620
Condensing Rain NASA | SOT | Space | Sun This movie, taken with the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) aboard the Hinode satellite, shows the chromosphere above Active Region (AR) 11620, which was rotating out of sight on the West limb on 01 Dec 2012. Taken in the light of ionized calcium, the movie shows plasma at roughly 8000 - 20000 degrees C above the surface of the Sun. The bright areas in the AR on the disk (foreground) are saturated so that the faint material high above the surface is visible. Several charicteristic features of the active chromosphere can be seen clearly because of the high cadence of the observations -- 1 frame every 8 seconds. #39;Coronal rain #39; falls down along linear trajectories from higher levels, following the magnetic field lines as plasma cools and gravity pulls it back to the surface. Bright, low loops appear in the active region, rising up and falling back. Some of the loops appear to form coherent tube-like structures that twist or untwist as they rise. Credit: NASA / Hinode Satellite | Solar Optical Telescope / SOT http://WWW.NASA.gov (Source Link)

By: SpaceAstronomy101

See the original post:

Condensing Rain, Solar Optical Telescope | Hinode Satellite / NASA 11620 - Video

Record Close Asteroid Flyby Only Weeks Away | 2012 - DA14 | NASA Space Science HD Video
Visit my website at http://www.junglejoel.com - on February 15th, 2012, an asteroid named 2012 - DA14, about half the size of a football field, will fly within 17200 miles of Earth - that #39;s closer than many man-made satellites. Astronomers have never seen an object this large come so close to our planet. Please rate and comment, thanks! Video Credits NASA

By: CoconutScienceLab

Read this article:

Record Close Asteroid Flyby Only Weeks Away | 2012 - DA14 | NASA Space Science HD Video - Video

Wikileaks NIBIRU Contact NASA Space Telescope 11 January 2013 YouTube
This may require a dark room in order to see the subject.

By: marsha3961

Read more:

Wikileaks NIBIRU Contact NASA Space Telescope 11 January 2013 YouTube - Video

A NASA communications network used to track satellites and spacecraft orbiting the Earth is about to get an upgrade with the launch of a new satellite on Wednesday.

The space agency is set to launch the new Tracking and Data Relay Satellite K (TDRS-K for short) on Wednesday at 8:48 p.m. EST from a pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket will boost the satellite into an orbit 22,300 miles (35,888 kilometers), where it will join a network of other relay spacecraft high above the planet.

The TDRS-K satellite isthe first of three new satellites to launch between now and 2015 to bolster the TDRS communications satellite network that relays data and messages between spacecraft in orbit and ground stations. Without factoring in the cost of the vehicles used to transport it, the TDRS-K satellite costs anywhere from $350 million to $400 million.

"Any day we support over 100 missions," Badri Younes, a scientist in the Space Communications and Navigation office in NASA, said of his division. "Anything you see going to space has to be enabled by us." [NASA's New Comsat: TDRS-K Spacecraft in Photos]

While the TDRS system isn't responsible for all communication between crewed spacecraft, satellites and NASA, it does make up part of the agency's Space Network. By using the network's seven satellites currently in orbit around the Earth and some ground-based elements, NASA can monitor the full treks of every satellite in low-Earth orbit.

The large TDRS-K satellite is the 11th spacecraft to join the TDRS network since the first TDRS satellite was launched in 1983. The most recent TDRS launch before now was in 2002. Five TDRS satellites are still functioning in orbit today. According to a NASA mission description, the TDRS-K satellite is expected to last at least 15 years in orbit.

"All of the beautiful images looking at galaxies, looking at weather trends, providing support to the International Space Station are because of TDRS," Younes said. "Science couldn't be performed the way you expect it today without it."

If the space agency only used ground-based antennas to keep watch on the satellites, it would be impossible to constantly monitor spacecraft, and that creates problems. The International Space Station, for example, sends all of its data through the TDRS satellites.

Since the orbiting science laboratory is always in motion, sometimes it leaves the direct range of ground-based telescopes. The TDRS satellites are positioned in such a way to keep communication lines open between the crew and NASA on the ground.

The Hubble Space Telescope also transmits its data through TDRS first before the data is beamed back down to Earth. The network of satellites functions as an intermediary between NASA's White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, N.M., and the various spacecraft that use it to send information back to the ground.

Read the original post:

How NASA satellite will boost communications

NASA will launch a rocket Tuesday night on a mission that promises to put on a spectacular, albeit brief, light show over the U.S. East Coast that may be visible to stargazers along the Atlantic Seaboard, weather permitting.

Unsuspecting observers of the artificial night sky display may be puzzled and amazed, so before you make that phone call to your local media outlet or police station, here is why this is happening and when you might see it.

The bright phenomenon will be caused by an experiment aboard a NASA sounding rocket. As part the mission, the rocket will release a chemical tracer that should create two bright, red-colored lithium vapor trails in space that may be seen by observers across the mid-Atlantic region, and possibly from even further away.

The rocket will be fired from NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility on Virginia's Atlantic coast. Liftoff is slated to occur as early as 5:30 p.m. EST. The suborbital rocket, which can launch high above Earth but not orbit the planet, will be launched to test technology for gathering science data during future projects. [ NASA Rocket Launches Light Up Night Sky (Photos) ]

You can watch the launch live on Space.com here via a webcast that will begin at 4:30 p.m. EST.

By rocket's red glare The launch window for tonight's NASA night light show opens at 5:30 p.m. EST and extends to 6:50 p.m. EST, but the optimum target time is 5:45 p.m. EST. NASA intends to photograph the resulting red luminescent trails from Wallops Island and from an aircraft as well.

You can submit any amazing photos of the launch or the resulting night sky show to Space.com here: spacephotos@space.com.

Should weather conditions be unfavorable, the firings will be deferred to another night. Alternate dates run from Thursday through Friday (Jan. 30 to Feb. 1).

The sounding rocket that will be used to create the two NASA-made glowing cloud trails will be a Terrier-Improved Orion. In this technology test launch, two canisters in the rocket's payload section will contain solid metal lithium rods or chips embedded in a thermite cake. The thermite is ignited and produces heat to vaporize the lithium.

Once the vapor is released in space, it can be detected and tracked optically. The rocket will eject two streams of lithium that will be illuminated at high altitudes by the sun (which will be below the local horizon at ground level).

Excerpt from:

NASA rocket to spur dazzling light show

Artist's rendering of NASA's ISS-RapidScat instrument (inset), which will launch to the International Space Station in 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/JSC

Published: Jan. 29, 2013 at 7:37 PM

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 29 (UPI) -- NASA says it is recycling parts used to test satellites to create an instrument for the International Space Station to measure ocean surface winds.

Hardware originally built to test parts of the space agency's QuikScat satellite will be used in the building of the ISS-RapidScat instrument to help improve weather forecasts, including hurricane monitoring, and understanding of how ocean-atmosphere interactions influence Earth's climate, NASA officials said.

"The ability for NASA to quickly reuse this hardware and launch it to the space station is a great example of a low-cost approach that will have high benefits to science and life here on Earth," Mike Suffredini, NASA's International Space Station program manager, said.

The QuikScat satellite was designed to last two years but operated for 10. However, it stopped collecting ocean wind data in late 2009.

A successor satellite will not be available soon, so NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the agency's station program proposed adapting leftover QuikScat hardware in combination with new hardware for use on the space station.

"By leveraging the capabilities of the International Space Station and recycling leftover hardware, we will acquire good science data at a fraction of the investment needed to launch a new satellite," JPL project manager Howard Eisen said.

The instrument will be launched to the space station aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft and is expected to operate aboard the station for two years, NASA said.

Excerpt from:

NASA to recycle parts for science work

NASA's Kepler space telescope has resumed its search for alien planets after resting for 10 days to work out kinks in its attitude control system, mission officials announced today (Jan. 29).

Kepler went into a protective "safe mode" on Jan. 17 after engineers detected elevated friction levels in one of its reaction wheels devices that maintain the observatory's position in space. Engineers spun the wheels down to zero speed, hoping the break would redistribute lubricant and bring the friction back down to normal.

That phase is now over and Kepler is back in action, though it will take time to determine if the problem is solved.

Kepler began coming out of safe mode at 2:30 p.m. EST (1930 GMT) Sunday (Jan. 27) and started collecting science data again at 8 p.m. EST Monday (Jan. 28; 0100 GMT Jan. 29), officials wrote in a mission update today. [Gallery: A World of Kepler Planets]

"The spacecraft responded well to commands and transitioned from thruster control to reaction wheel control as planned," Kepler mission manager Roger Hunter wrote in the update. "During the 10-day resting safe mode, daily health and status checks with the spacecraft using NASA's Deep Space Network were normal."

Kepler flags exoplanets by detecting the telltale brightness dips caused when they pass in front of their parent stars from the instrument's perpsective. The telescope requires three functioning reaction wheels to stay locked onto its roughly 150,000 target stars.

When Kepler launched in March 2009, it had four reaction wheels three for immediate use, and one spare. But one wheel (known as number two) failed in July 2012, so a major problem with the currently glitchy wheel (called number four) could spell the end of the $600 million Kepler mission.

It's unknown at the moment if the 10-day rest period will bring wheel number four back into line.

"Over the next month, the engineering team will review the performance of reaction wheel #4 before, during and after the safe mode to determine the efficacy of the rest operation," Hunter wrote.

The wheel has acted up before without causing serious problems.

More here:

NASA Planet-Hunting Spacecraft Recovering from Glitch

NASA will launch a rocket tonight (Jan. 29) on a mission that promises to put on a spectacular, albeit brief, light show over the U.S. East Coast that may be visible to stargazers along the Atlantic Seaboard, weather permitting.

Unsuspecting observers of the artificial night sky display may be puzzled and amazed, so before you make that phone call to your local media outlet or police station, here is why this is happening and when you might see it.

The bright phenomenon will be caused by an experiment aboard a NASA sounding rocket. As part the mission, the rocket will release a chemical tracer that should create two bright, red-colored lithium vapor trails in space that may be seen by observers across the mid-Atlantic region, and possibly from even further away.

The rocket will be fired from NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility on Virginia's Atlantic coast. Liftoff is slated to occur as early as 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 GMT). The suborbital rocket, which can launch high above Earth but not orbit the planet, will be launched tonight to test technology for gathering science data during future projects.

You can watch the launch live on SPACE.com here via a webcast that will begin at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT).

By rocket's red glareThe launch window for tonight's NASA night light show opens at 5:30 p.m. EST and extends to 6:50 p.m. EST (2350 GMT), but the optimum target time is 5:45 p.m. EST (2245 GMT). NASA intends to photograph the resulting red luminescent trails from Wallops Island and from an aircraft as well.

- Libby West, mission project manager with the NASA Sounding Rocket Program

Should weather conditions be unfavorable, the firings will be deferred to another night. Alternate dates run from Thursday through Friday (Jan. 30 to Feb. 1).

The sounding rocket that will be used to create the two NASA-made glowing cloud trails will be a Terrier-Improved Orion. In this technology test launch, two canisters in the rocket's payload section will contain solid metal lithium rods or chips embedded in a thermite cake. The thermite is ignited and produces heat to vaporize the lithium.

Once the vapor is released in space, it can be detected and tracked optically. The rocket will eject two streams of lithium which will be illuminated at high altitudes by the sun (which will be below the local horizon at ground level).

Go here to see the original:

NASA to Light Up East Coast

This week marks a somber time for NASA, with the anniversaries of three U.S. spaceflight disasters recalling the memories of those astronauts who made the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuit of space exploration.

On Friday (Feb. 1), NASA will pause to honor the memories of the three astronauts killed in the Apollo 1 fire of 1967, the seven astronauts killed in the Challenger shuttle disaster in 1986, and the seven astronauts who died when the space shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003. This year's Day of Remembrance ceremony is especially poignant it will mark the 10th anniversary of the Columbia disaster that led to the end of the space shuttle program.

"NASA's Day of Remembrance honors members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery," NASA officials wrote in an announcement. "Flags across the agency will be flown at half-staff in their memory."

NASA will hold a televised ceremony on Friday at the Kennedy Space Center's Space Mirror, a memorial to astronauts who died during spaceflight. The service, hosted by the Astronaut Memorial Foundation, will begin at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) and be webcast live via NASA TV. SPACE.com will carry the NASA video stream live.

NASA chief Charles Bolden a former space shuttle commander will pay tribute with other NASA officials during an observance at the astronaut memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. [Columbia Shuttle Disaster: Share Your Thoughts]

NASA's spaceflight tragedies

On Jan. 27, 1967, Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were killed when a fire broke out in their crew capsule during a ground test a month before their planned launch. It was NASA's first mission-related tragedy and led to a safety investigation into the Apollo spacecraft. Two years later, in July 1969, the agency's Apollo 11 mission landed the first astronauts on the moon.

On Jan. 28, 1986, 19 years and a day after the Apollo 1 fire, NASA's space shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff due to an O-ring failure in one of the orbiter's twin solid rocket boosters. The malfunction allowed hot gas to escape the rocket booster, ultimately causing the shuttle's external fuel tank to explode. [NASA's Fallen Astronauts: A Photo Memorial]

Killed in the explosion were astronauts Francis "Dick" Scobee, Ronald McNair, Mike Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik, Greg Jarvis and Connecticut teacher Christa McAuliffe. McAuliffe was slated to become the first teacher in space during the mission, boosting national attention on the spaceflight. It would take NASA three years to resume flying the shuttle.

Today, the nonprofit StoryCorps released a video to honor the memory of Ronald McNair, the second African-American in space. The video commemorates McNair's childhood in Lake City, S.C., and his path to space.

Read the original here:

For NASA, a Somber Week of Space Disaster Anniversaries

A NASA communications network used to track satellites and spacecraft orbiting the Earth is about to get an upgrade with the launch of a new satellite on Wednesday (Jan. 30).

The space agency is set to launch the newTracking and Data Relay Satellite K(TDRS-K for short) on Wednesday at 8:48 p.m. EST (0148 Jan. 31 GMT) from a pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket will boost the satellite into an orbit 22,300 miles (35,888 kilometers), where it will join a network of other relay spacecraft high above the planet.

The TDRS-K satellite isthe first of three new satellites to launch between now and 2015 to bolster the TDRS communications satellite network that relays data and messages between spacecraft in orbit and ground stations. Without factoring in the cost of the vehicles used to transport it, the TDRS-K satellitecosts anywhere from $350 to $400 million.

"Any day we support over 100 missions," Badri Younes a scientist in the Space Communications and Navigation office in NASA said of his division. "Anything you see going to space has to be enabled by us." [NASA's New Comsat: TDRS-K Spacecraft in Photos]

While the TDRS system isn't responsible for all communication between crewed spacecraft, satellites and NASA, it does make up part of the agency's Space Network. By using the network's seven satellites currently in orbit around the Earth and some ground-based elements, NASA can monitor the full treks of every satellite in low-Earth orbit.

The large TDRS-K satellite is the 11th spacecraft to join the TDRS network since the first TDRS satellite was launched in 1983. The most recent TDRS launch before now was in 2002. Five TDRS satellites are still functioning in orbit today. According to a NASA mission description, the TDRS-K satellite is expected to last at least 15 years in orbit.

"All of the beautiful images, looking at galaxies, looking at weather trends, providing support to the International Space Station are because of TDRS," Younes said. "Science couldn't be performed the way you expect it today without it."

If the space agency only used ground-based antennas to keep watch on the satellites, it would be impossible to constantly monitor spacecraft, and that creates problems. The International Space Station, for example, sends all of its data through the TDRS satellites.

Since the orbiting science laboratory is always in motion, sometimes it leaves the direct range of ground-based telescopes. The TDRS satellites are positioned in such a way to keep communication lines open between the crew and NASA on the ground.

The Hubble Space Telescopealso transmits its data through TDRS first before the data is beamed back down to Earth. The network of satellites functions as an intermediary between NASA's White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, N.M. and the various spacecraft that use it to send information back to the ground.

Read the original here:

New NASA Satellite to Boost Space Communications Network