NASAs Cassini spacecraft marked 15 years in space Monday (Oct. 15), and the well-traveled probe wont stop studying Saturn and its many moons anytime soon.

Cassini has logged more than 3.8 billion miles (6.1 billion kilometers) since its launch on Oct. 15, 1997, researchers said. The spacecraft has made many contributions since arriving at Saturn in July 2004, including discovering water-ice geysers on the moon Encelaudus and snapping the first views of the hydrocarbon lakes on Saturns largest moon Titan.

During its time in space, the Cassini probe has sent home about 444 gigabytes of scientific data, including more than 300,000 images. Researchers have published more than 2,500 papers based on Cassini data so far, NASA officials said.

"As Cassini conducts the most in-depth survey of a giant planet to date, the spacecraft has been flying the most complex gravity-assisted trajectory ever attempted," Robert Mitchell, Cassini program manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement. [Gallery: Latest Photos from Cassini]

"Each flyby of Titan, for example, is like threading the eye of the needle," Mitchell added. And we've done it 87 times so far, with accuracies generally within about one mile, and all controlled from Earth about one billion miles away."

Cassinis operators have sent it to visit more than a dozen of Saturns 60-plus moons in the last eight years, and they sometimes ask the probe to get shots of the planets poles (and the poles of some of its moons).

Planning out such an ambitious flight path is complicated, especially given the gravitational influences of Saturns moons and Cassinis limited fuel supply, mission managers said.

"I'm proud to say Cassini has accomplished all of this every year on-budget, with relatively few health issues," Mitchell said. "Cassini is entering middle age, with the associated signs of the passage of years, but it's doing remarkably well and doesn't require any major surgery."

Cassini wont take it easy as it enters its golden years. Spring has just come to the northern hemisphere of Saturn and its moons, and mission managers want the spacecraft to study the changes wrought by this seasonal shift.

And then Cassini will end its life with a bang.

Read the original here:

NASA's Cassini Probe at Saturn Celebrates 15 Years in Space

Watch out, Iron Man.

[More from Mashable: The Shiny Mars Mystery Object: 10 Things It Could Be]

While it may not have the superpowers of Tony Stark's armor, NASA has built a robot exoskeleton called "X1" that can keep astronauts healthy in space, and help paraplegics walk on earth, according to the space agency.

Humans wear the 57-pound device over their body to "assist or inhibit movement in leg joints," NASA said in a release. In the inhibit mode, X1 would be used as an exercise machine to provide resistance against leg movement in space's zero-gravity environment; while, the very same technology could be used in reverse on earth, by helping some people walk.

[More from Mashable: 15 Twitter Accounts Every Space Lover Should Follow]

"NASA is examining the potential for X1 as an exercise device to improve crew health both aboard the space station and during future long-duration missions to an asteroid or Mars," NASA said. "Without taking up valuable space or weight during missions, X1 could replicate common crew exercises, which are vital to keeping astronauts healthy in microgravity."

Along with the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition and engineers from Oceaneering Space Systems, NASA has jointly developed X1, which is currently in a research and development phase.

To see the device in action, check out the video above.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Read more here:

NASA's 'Iron Man' Exoskeleton Suit Boosts Astronauts, Paraplegics [VIDEO]

Summary: After a 10-year legal battle, home secretary Theresa May will reveal whether the UK will send Gary McKinnon to the US to face court charges over hacking NASA and military computers.

NASA hacker Gary McKinnon will learn on Tuesday whether his 10-year legal fight to avoid extradition to the US has been successful.

Home secretary Theresa May will reveal her decision to parliament on Tuesday afternoon, McKinnon's solicitor Karen Todner confirmed in a post to Twitter on Sunday.

The US began its extradition efforts against the London resident in 2005, on charges that he had caused $700,000 in damage by hacking into NASA and US military systems. In 2002, McKinnon admitted breaking into the systems, but said he was looking for evidence of UFOs and that his aims were not malicious.

Janis Sharp, McKinnon's mother, welcomed the news but stressed her fears about the reaction of McKinnon, who has Asperger's syndrome, if he is sent to the US.

"My terror is that Gary would not last five minutes away from home," McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp, told the BBC.

Efforts to keep McKinnon in the UK got a boost on Friday, after Home Office-commissioned medical advisers produced a new report into his health. Two experts, Declan Murphy and Tom Fahy, said the extradition carries a "significant risk of suicidal behaviour" for McKinnon, according to reports. The assessment is a change of tune for the experts, who in July described the risk as "moderate".

McKinnon's health concerns and the long-running legal battle have prompted calls from British politicians for the overhaul of the extradition treaty between the US and the UK. The 46-year-old's fight has seen him appeal to the European Court of Human Rights and be turned down for a hearing in the British Supreme Court.

Read this article:

NASA hacker McKinnon to hear extradition fate tomorrow

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 20:03 EST, 13 October 2012 | UPDATED: 20:15 EST, 13 October 2012

Soon even those of us who never go faster than the posted speed limit will have access to the same motion sickness drug that helps astronauts deal with the rigors of being launched into orbit.

NASA has signed a deal with a California's Epiomed Therapeutics to develop a nasal spray for motion sickness, based on a drug already administered to astronauts.

About half the astronauts who go into space develop motion sickness, with sumptoms including nausea and feeling light-headed.

Dizzy: NASA developed a drug to combat motion sickness after 40 percent of astronauts reported symptoms

To help give astronauts combat the effects, NASA has developed afast-acting drug called intransal scopolamine, or INSCOP.

INSCOP can be taken as a tablet, transdermal patch, or injected but the most reliable method of administering the drug is with a nasal spray.

'NASA and Epiomed will work closely together on further development of INSCOP to optimize therapeutic efficiency for both acute and chronic treatment of motion sickness,' said NASA researcher Lakshmi Putcha, with the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Read more here:

NASA signs deal to make astronaut drug available to combat motion sickness

This is one of the most interesting images of Earth from space I've seen in a long time. NASA's Suomi-NPP satellite captured this view earlier this month with the day-night band of one of its instruments. This sensor detects relatively low light signals from things like reflected moonlight, city lights, airglow and auroras.

If you think this image is as amazing as I do, this gallery contains some of the other beautiful views of Earth Suomi has brought us since it first started gathering data nearly a year ago, including some of the most beautiful "blue marble" shots of Earth you can ever hope to see.

Images and captions courtesy of NASA.

Above:

Overnight on October 4-5, 2012, a mass of energetic particles from the atmosphere of the Sun were flung out into space, a phenomenon known as a coronal mass ejection. Three days later, the storm from the Sun stirred up the magnetic field around Earth and produced gorgeous displays of northern lights. NASA satellites track such storms from their origin to their crossing of interplanetary space to their arrival in the atmosphere of Earth.

Using the day-night band (DNB) of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite acquired this view of the aurora borealis early on the morning of October 8, 2012. The northern lights stretch across Canadas Quebec and Ontario provinces in the image, and are part of the auroral oval that expanded to middle latitudes because of a geomagnetic storm.

The DNB sensor detects dim light signals such as auroras, airglow, gas flares, city lights, and reflected moonlight. In the case of the image above, the sensor detected the visible light emissions as energetic particles rained down from Earths magnetosphere and into the gases of the upper atmosphere. The images are similar to those collected by the Operational Linescan System flown on U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites for the past three decades. When I first saw images like this as a graduate student, I was immediately struck by the fluid dynamic characteristics of the aurora, said Tom Moore, a space physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Viewing the aurora in this way makes it immediately clear that space weather is an interaction of fluids from the Sun with those of the Earth's upper atmosphere. The electrodynamics make for important differences between plasmas and ordinary fluids, but familiar behaviors (for example, waves and vortices) are still very apparent. It makes me wonder at the ability of apparently empty space to behave like a fluid.

Auroras typically occur when solar flares and coronal mass ejectionsor even an active solar wind streamdisturb and distort the magnetosphere, the cocoon of space protected by Earths magnetic field. The collision of solar particles and pressure into our planets magnetosphere accelerates particles trapped in the space around Earth (such as in the radiation belts). Those particles are sent crashing down into Earths upper atmosphereat altitudes of 100 to 400 kilometers (60 to 250 miles)where they excite oxygen and nitrogen molecules and release photons of light. The results are rays, sheets, and curtains of dancing light in the sky.

Auroras are a beautiful expression of the connection between Sun and Earth, but not all of the connections are benign. Auroras are connected to geomagnetic storms, which can distort radio communications (particularly high frequencies), disrupt electric power systems on the ground, and give slight but detectable doses of radiation to flight crews and passengers on high-latitude airplane flights and on spacecraft.

The advantage of images like those from VIIRS and DMSP is resolution, according to space physicist Patrick Newell of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. You can see very fine detail in the aurora because of the low altitude and the high resolution of the camera, he said. Most aurora scientists prefer to use images from missions dedicated to aurora studies (such as Polar, IMAGE, and ground-based imagers), which can offer many more images of a storm (rather than one per orbit) and can allow researchers to calculate the energy moving through the atmosphere. There are no science satellites flying right now that provide such a view, though astronauts regularly photograph and film auroras from the International Space Station.

Read more:

Amazing Aurora: Best Images From NASA's Suomi Satellite

With the shuttle program over, NASA has increased its contracting with small firms, rather than giants Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The small businesses offer quicker turnaround times and greater innovation.

Read the original here:

NASA taps into small businesses

12-10-2012 18:43 With its arrival at the International Space Station, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft becomes the first commercial resupply mission to the orbiting laboratory, and the first US spacecraft in the post-space shuttle era capable of transporting significant amounts of supplies between Earth and the station. Also, booster progress; ISS crew training; Curiosity update; robotic exoskeleton; Whitcomb Hall of Famer; international space orchestra; and more! 10/12

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Dragon Delivers on This Week at NASA... - Video

12-10-2012 18:44 A NASA's Mars Curiosity rover team member gives an update on developments and status of the planetary exploration mission. The Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft delivered Curiosity to its target area on Mars at 1:31:45 am EDT on Aug. 6, which includes the 13.8 minutes needed for confirmation of the touchdown to be radioed to Earth at the speed of light. The rover will conduct an

See the article here:

NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover Report #9 - Video

HOUSTON --

Coming to a drug store near you -- a nasal spray that helps fight motion sickness developed by NASA.

NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and Epiomed Therapeutics Inc. of Irvine, Calif., have signed an agreement to develop and commercialize a NASA-crafted, fast-acting nasal spray to fight motion sickness.

Under the Space Act Agreement, Epiomed will formulate the drug, called intranasal scopolamine, or INSCOP.

Astronauts often experience motion sickness in space. As a result, NASA has conducted extensive research into the causes and treatments for the condition. Scopolamine is effective and can be administered as a tablet or injected. With a precise dosage, the NASA spray formulation has been shown to work faster and more reliably than the oral form.

"NASA and Epiomed will work closely together on further development of NSCOP to optimize therapeutic efficiency for both acute and chronic treatment of motion sickness which can be used by NASA, the Department of Defense and world travelers on land, in the air and on the seas," said Lakshmi Putcha, developer of the innovative treatment strategy at Johnson.

A gel formulation of INSCOP was developed and tested under a Space Act Agreement between Johnson and the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory in Pensacola. Results from that trial were published in the journal Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine in April 2010 that suggest INSCOP is a fast-acting and reliable way to prevent and treat motion sickness.

The U.S. Navy is working on an agreement with Epiomed to test the nasal spray. NASA and Epiomed will collaborate on clinical trials related to the Federal Drug Administration requirements.

NASA is transferring sponsorship of future clinical trials and FDA approvals to Epiomed, which will supply the product for use by NASA and others.

Continued here:

NASA developing motion sickness nasal spray

iStockphoto/TommL

A new product designed to fight motion sickness promises to put the NASA back in nasal spray.

The space agency announced October 12 that it had signed an agreement with a pharmaceutical company to develop, test and bring to market a nasal gel designed to ward off queasiness from spaceflight, as well as from more mundane travel.

The active ingredient, scopolamine, is about as effective as antihistamines (such as dimenhydrinate, used in Dramamine) in preventing motion sickness, but carries less risk of common side effects such as drowsiness, according to a recent Cochrane Review. Scopolamine is already available by prescription in patch form.

But the patch delivers the drug in a slow-release, long-lasting streamit takes hours to kick in. The nasal spray works much more quickly than either the patch or a tablet form of the drug. Levels of scopolamine in the body peak about 22 minutes after nasal administrationtwice as fast as the pillaccording to a 1996 NASA study on the drugs bioavailability.

In concert with NASA, the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory in Pensacola, Fla., recently tested the efficacy of the nasal gel with the aid of something called the Human Disorientation Device (HDD). Sixteen volunteers took either nasal scopolamine or a placebo and then entered the HDD, which is a chair mounted inside a metal sphere, with an aviator-style four-point seat belt and a padded head fixture to keep the experimental subject strapped down, according to a technical report on the research. Once buckled into the HDD, the subject began to rotate in two directions at oncespinning counterclockwise around the vertical axis at a gradually increasing rate, and rolling steadily from side to side. That continued until the subject reported moderate nausea or until 40 minutes elapsed, at which point the HDD had been cranked up to 40 rpm.

The test was rather small in scope, but the subjects survived the HDD about 20 percent longer with the help of nasal scopolamine than with the placebo. According to the NASA release, the space agency will now collaborate with Epiomed Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company based in Irvine, Calif., to conduct clinical trials. If the drug wins FDA approval, Epiomed will then provide the spray to NASA for use in space and to nausea-prone frequent fliers, cruise-ship customers and carsick passengers for use back on Earth.

See the article here:

NASA Plans to Commercialize a Nasal Spray for Motion Sickness

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA has signed an agreement with a California-based startup to develop and market a nasal spray for motion sickness, the U.S. space agency said on Friday.

NASA will work with privately owned Epiomed Therapeutics of Irvine, California, on the nasal spray, which has been shown to be a fast-acting treatment for motion sickness.

About half the astronauts who fly in space develop space motion sickness, with symptoms that anyone nauseated or light-headed from more terrestrial forms of travel will recognize.

NASA has been working on giving astronauts an edge: a fast-acting medicine called intranasal scopolamine, or INSCOP. The drug also can be administered as a tablet, via a transdermal patch or injected, but a nasal spray can work faster and more reliably, NASA said.

"NASA and Epiomed will work closely together on further development of INSCOP to optimize therapeutic efficiency for both acute and chronic treatment of motion sickness," NASA researcher Lakshmi Putcha, with the Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a statement.

In addition to partnering with NASA, Epiomed is working with the U.S. Navy to test the nasal spray.

Epiomed will assume responsibility for sponsorship of future clinical trials and for Federal Drug Administration approvals, NASA said. There has been no word on whether a prescription would be required for the nasal spray.

(Editing by Tom Brown, Gary Hill)

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NASA in nasal spray deal to combat motion sickness

IRVINE, Calif. , Oct. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Epiomed Therapeutics, Inc. ("Epiomed") announced today that it has entered into a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement (SAA) with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas for the development, distribution, manufacture and market release of INSCOP, an intra-nasal scopolamine product. A gel formulation of INSCOP has previously been developed and tested under a SAA between NASA-Johnson Space Center and the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, Pensacola, FL (NAMRL). Results from the NAMRL / NASA trial have been published in the journal Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, and suggest that INSCOP is a fast-acting, reliable, operationally suitable, countermeasure for prophylaxis and treatment of motion sickness with a great potential for rescue treatment. In 2010, NAMRL disestablished and became part of the Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton, OH (NAMRU-D). NAMRU-D is currently working a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Epiomed to test an aqueous formulation of INSCOP (INSCOP Spray). The aim of INSCOP Spray development is to offer a fast acting formulation with no notable side-effects experienced with currently marketed formulations of the drug. Epiomed will take responsibility for further development and commercialization of INSCOP, assisted by NASA-HH&P (Human Health & Performance Directorate) technology, and assume sponsorship of the IND (Investigational New Drug) from NASA under the SAA. David R. Helton, President and CEO of Epiomed, said "NASA and NAMRL did ground breaking work with INSCOP gel. Now Epiomed is dedicated to complete the required clinical evaluations in collaboration with NASA and NAMRU-D to facilitate market release of INSCOP Spray."

About Epiomed Therapeutics

Epiomed Therapeutics, Inc. is a privately-held pharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, and development of novel central nervous system (CNS) drugs, with a primary focus on anti-emetics (anti-vomiting and anti-nausea), anxiolytics and performance sustainment.

About Human Health & Performance Directorate (HH&P) Houston

HH&P is dedicated to optimize human health and productivity for space exploration by conducting research and developing path changing technologies to assure mission success, optimize human health and productivity in space and on Earth (http://www.nasa.gov/offices/NHHPC/index.html).

For further information, call 1-949-398-7359, or visit http://www.epiomed.com.

Safe Harbor: This press release contains certain forward-looking information about Epiomed Therapeutics, Inc., which is intended to be covered by the safe harbor for "forward-looking statements" provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Contact: David R. Helton President, CEO and CSO Epiomed Therapeutics, Inc. 949-398-7359

Continued here:

Epiomed and NASA Sign Space Act Agreement

NASA has developed a robotic exoskeleton designed to help astronauts walk on other planets and paraplegics walk on Earth.

Called the X1, the suit will be used to help astronauts maintain muscle strength in low-gravity by supplying resistance against leg movement.

For people with disabilities, it could potentially be used in reverse, possibly helping people to walk for the very first time, NASA says.

"Without taking up valuable space or weight during missions, X1 could replicate common crew exercises, which are vital to keeping astronauts healthy in microgravity. In addition, the device has the ability to measure, record and stream back, in real-time, data to flight controllers on Earth, giving doctors better feedback on the impact of the crew's exercise regimen," NASA said in a press release.

The X1, which NASA compares to Iron Man's power suit, is an offshoot of technology developed for the Robonaut 2, a robot astronaut aboard the International Space Station.

"Robotics is playing a key role aboard the International Space Station and will continue to be critical as we move toward human exploration of deep space," said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA's space technology program.

"What's extraordinary about space technology and our work with projects like Robonaut are the unexpected possibilities space tech spinoffs may have right here on Earth. It's exciting to see a NASA-developed technology that might one day help people with serious ambulatory needs begin to walk again, or even walk for the first time. That's the sort of return on investment NASA is proud to give back to America and the world."

The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, which developed the suit alongside NASA, will try to apply the technology on Earth.

"We greatly value our collaboration with NASA," director and CEO Ken Ford said. "The X1's high-performance capabilities will enable IHMC to continue performing cutting-edge research in mobility assistance while expanding into the field of rehabilitation."

The device, which is still in the research and development phase, was created with the help of engineers from Oceaneering Space Systems of Houston, Texas.

More here:

NASA develops exoskeleton for astronauts, paraplegics

WASHINGTON A team of experts from NASA and SpaceX will examine what went wrong Sunday when one of nine engines aboard a SpaceX rocket failed during a NASA mission to the International Space Station.

The joint investigative team, announced today by NASA and SpaceX, is expected to piece together data from the Falcon 9 launch, specifically the failure of its Engine 1 about 79 seconds after take-off.

Though the rocket survived the malfunction and ultimately was successful in completing its primary mission getting a capsule filled with NASA supplies to the station it failed in its secondary mission, the delivery of an Orbcomm satellite to orbit.

Heres the full release from SpaceX:

NASA and SpaceX announce that they have jointly formed a CRS-1 Post-Flight Investigation Board. This board will methodically analyze all data in an effort to understand what occurred to engine 1 during liftoff of the CRS-1 mission on Sunday, October 7. While Falcon 9 was designed for engine out capability and the Dragon spacecraft has successfully arrived at the space station, SpaceX is committed to a comprehensive examination and analysis of all launch data, with the goal of understanding what happened and how to correct it prior to future flights. Additional information will be provided as it is available.

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NASA, SpaceX join to investigate launch glitch

ScienceDaily (Oct. 12, 2012) Marvel Comic's fictional superhero, Ironman, uses a powered armor suit that allows him superhuman strength. While NASA's X1 robotic exoskeleton can't do what you see in the movies, the latest robotic, space technology, spinoff derived from NASA's Robonaut 2 project may someday help astronauts stay healthier in space with the added benefit of assisting paraplegics in walking here on Earth.

NASA and The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) of Pensacola, Fla., with the help of engineers from Oceaneering Space Systems of Houston, have jointly developed a robotic exoskeleton called X1. The 57-pound device is a robot that a human could wear over his or her body either to assist or inhibit movement in leg joints.

In the inhibit mode, the robotic device would be used as an in-space exercise machine to supply resistance against leg movement. The same technology could be used in reverse on the ground, potentially helping some individuals walk for the first time.

"Robotics is playing a key role aboard the International Space Station and will continue to be critical as we move toward human exploration of deep space," said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA's Space Technology Program. "What's extraordinary about space technology and our work with projects like Robonaut are the unexpected possibilities space tech spinoffs may have right here on Earth. It's exciting to see a NASA-developed technology that might one day help people with serious ambulatory needs begin to walk again, or even walk for the first time. That's the sort of return on investment NASA is proud to give back to America and the world."

Worn over the legs with a harness that reaches up the back and around the shoulders, X1 has 10 degrees of freedom, or joints -- four motorized joints at the hips and the knees, and six passive joints that allow for sidestepping, turning and pointing, and flexing a foot. There also are multiple adjustment points, allowing the X1 to be used in many different ways.

X1 currently is in a research and development phase, where the primary focus is design, evaluation and improvement of the technology. NASA is examining the potential for the X1 as an exercise device to improve crew health both aboard the space station and during future long-duration missions to an asteroid or Mars. Without taking up valuable space or weight during missions, X1 could replicate common crew exercises, which are vital to keeping astronauts healthy in microgravity. In addition, the device has the ability to measure, record and stream back, in real-time, data to flight controllers on Earth, giving doctors better feedback on the impact of the crew's exercise regimen.

As the technology matures, X1 also could provide a robotic power boost to astronauts as they work on the surface of distant planetary bodies. Coupled with a spacesuit, X1 could provide additional force when needed during surface exploration, improving the ability to walk in a reduced gravity environment, providing even more bang for its small bulk.

Here on Earth, IHMC is interested in developing and using X1 as an assistive walking device. By combining NASA technology and walking algorithms developed at IHMC, X1 has the potential to produce high torques to allow for assisted walking over varied terrain, as well as stair climbing. Preliminary studies using X1 for this purpose have already started at IHMC.

"We greatly value our collaboration with NASA," said Ken Ford, IHMC's director and CEO. "The X1's high-performance capabilities will enable IHMC to continue performing cutting-edge research in mobility assistance while expanding into the field of rehabilitation."

The potential of X1 extends to other applications, including rehabilitation, gait modification and offloading large amounts of weight from the wearer. Preliminary studies by IHMC have shown X1 to be more comfortable, easier to adjust, and easier to put on than previous exoskeleton devices. Researchers plan on improving on the X1 design, adding more active joints to areas such as the ankle and hip, which will, in turn, increase the potential uses for the device.

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NASA's Ironman-like exoskeleton could give astronauts, paraplegics improved mobility and strength

Volcano peak near Valdivia, Chile, as seen from the IceBridge DC-8. Credit: NASA / Jim Yungel.

Scientists and flight crew members with Operation IceBridge, NASA's airborne mission to study Earth's changing polar ice, are beginning another campaign over Antarctica. Now in its fourth year, IceBridge's return to the Antarctic comes almost a year after the discovery of a large rift in the continent's Pine Island Glacier.

The first science flight of the campaign began Friday at 8 a.m. EDT when NASA's DC-8 research aircraft left Punta Arenas, Chile, for an 11-hour flight that will take it over the Thwaites Glacier in west Antarctica. This year, IceBridge will survey previously unmeasured areas of land and sea ice and gather further data on rapidly changing areas like Pine Island Glacier. The IceBridge Antarctic campaign will operate out of Punta Arenas through mid-November.

Several of IceBridge's planned flights focus on previously unmeasured ice streams feeding into the Weddell Sea. These flights will gather data on what lies beneath these ice streams, something vital for understanding how changing conditions might affect the flow of ice into the ocean and sea-level rise.

"We have added surveys of ice streams flowing into the Ronne and Filchner ice shelves," said IceBridge project scientist Michael Studinger at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "This is something we haven't done before."

The large crack in Pine Island Glacier's floating ice shelf has been the focus of worldwide attention as it has grown. The ice shelf now threatens to calve, or break off, a large iceberg into Pine Island Bay in the Amundsen Sea. Researchers have been using imagery from NASA's Aqua and Terra spacecraft and synthetic aperture radar data from the German Aerospace Center's TerraSAR-X satellite to monitor the rift since its discovery last year.

IceBridge also will gather data on sea ice in the Weddell and Bellingshausen seas. Because of geographical differences, Antarctic sea ice behaves differently from ice in the Arctic and presents unique challenges.

"Sea ice in the Antarctic is a very different physical system," Goddard sea ice researcher Nathan Kurtz said.

Ocean currents, precipitation patterns and the shape of land masses are just a few of the differences. Instead of compacting ice against land like in the Arctic basin, currents in the Southern Ocean push much of it farther out to sea. Also, the Antarctic averages more snowfall, which weighs sea ice down and allows ocean water into the bottom layer of the snow on top of the sea ice. The Antarctic has more frequent strong wind events and large temperature swings than the Arctic, which causes layers of ice to form in snow cover. Both of these factors make getting accurate readings of snow on top of sea ice challenging.

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NASA's Operation Icebridge Resumes Flights Over Antarctica

ScienceDaily (Oct. 12, 2012) NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and Epiomed Therapeutics Inc. of Irvine, Calif., have signed an agreement to develop and commercialize a NASA-crafted, fast-acting nasal spray to fight motion sickness.

Under the Space Act Agreement, Epiomed will formulate the drug, called intranasal scopolamine, or INSCOP. Astronauts often experience motion sickness in space. As a result, NASA has conducted extensive research into the causes and treatments for the condition. Scopolamine is effective and can be administered as a tablet or injected. With a precise dosage, the NASA spray formulation has been shown to work faster and more reliably than the oral form.

"NASA and Epiomed will work closely together on further development of INSCOP to optimize therapeutic efficiency for both acute and chronic treatment of motion sickness which can be used by NASA, the Department of Defense and world travelers on land, in the air and on the seas," said Lakshmi Putcha, developer of the innovative treatment strategy at Johnson.

A gel formulation of INSCOP was developed and tested under a Space Act Agreement between Johnson and the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory in Pensacola, Fla. Results from that trial were published in the journal Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine in April 2010 that suggest INSCOP is a fast-acting and reliable way to prevent and treat motion sickness.

The U.S. Navy is working on an agreement with Epiomed to test the nasal spray. NASA and Epiomed will collaborate on clinical trials related to the Federal Drug Administration requirements. NASA is transferring sponsorship of future clinical trials and FDA approvals to Epiomed, which will supply the product for use by NASA and others.

For more about Johnson's Human Health and Performance Directorate, which developed INSCOP, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/RiKclM

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA.

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NASA signs agreement to develop nasal spray for motion sickness

Using a laser and X-rays, the NASA rover Curiosity identified a rock named Jake as a form of basalt, similar to volcanic rocks found in ocean-island settings on Earth.

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has indentified a type of rock scientists have never seen on Mars before, but it's one familiar to geologists on Earth.

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The Martian rock, a form of basalt, has a composition very similar to volcanic rocks found in ocean-island settings such as Hawaii and the Azores, as well as in rift zones regions where Earth's continents split and begin separating into separate land masses.

The rock, named Jake Matijevic for a key member of the rover engineering team who passed away shortly after Curiosity arrived on the red planet, can form in a number of ways, says Edward Stolper, provost of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and a member of Curiosity's science team.

On Earth, this kind of rock forms as magma cools and crystallizes under relatively high pressure and with relatively high concentrations of water dissolved in the magma, he explains, adding that when the molten leftovers erupt, they tend to erupt explosively.

The release, during volcanic eruptions, of water dissolved in magma is one pathway for water vapor a greenhouse gas to enrich and warm a planet's atmosphere. Indeed, Curiosity's mission aims to see if Gale Crater ever could have hosted microbial life a prospect that would have required the presence of liquid water in the crater.

On Mars, the process that formed Jake is unclear.

"We have one rock," Dr. Stolper said at a briefing Thursday. Sitting on the floor of Gale Crater, where fine soils and layered, sedimentary rocks seem to be the norm, Jake appears to be an interloper, removed from its original geologic setting.

Read more:

NASA rover Curiosity finds a rock not seen before on Mars

Using a laser and X-rays, the NASA rover Curiosity identified a rock named Jake as a form of basalt, similar to volcanic rocks found in ocean-island settings on Earth.

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has indentified a type of rock scientists have never seen on Mars before, but it's one familiar to geologists on Earth.

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The Martian rock, a form of basalt, has a composition very similar to volcanic rocks found in ocean-island settings such as Hawaii and the Azores, as well as in rift zones regions where Earth's continents split and begin separating into separate land masses.

The rock, named Jake Matijevic for a key member of the rover engineering team who passed away shortly after Curiosity arrived on the red planet, can form in a number of ways, says Edward Stolper, provost of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and a member of Curiosity's science team.

On Earth, this kind of rock forms as magma cools and crystallizes under relatively high pressure and with relatively high concentrations of water dissolved in the magma, he explains, adding that when the molten leftovers erupt, they tend to erupt explosively.

The release, during volcanic eruptions, of water dissolved in magma is one pathway for water vapor a greenhouse gas to enrich and warm a planet's atmosphere. Indeed, Curiosity's mission aims to see if Gale Crater ever could have hosted microbial life a prospect that would have required the presence of liquid water in the crater.

On Mars, the process that formed Jake is unclear.

"We have one rock," Dr. Stolper said at a briefing Thursday. Sitting on the floor of Gale Crater, where fine soils and layered, sedimentary rocks seem to be the norm, Jake appears to be an interloper, removed from its original geologic setting.

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NASA rover Curiosity finds a rock not seen before on Mars (+video)

A new robotic space technology spinoff derived from NASA's Robonaut 2 project someday may help astronauts stay healthier in space and aid paraplegics in walking here on Earth. Robonaut 2, the first humanoid robot in space, currently is working with astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

NASA and The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) of Pensacola, Fla., with the help of engineers from Oceaneering Space Systems of Houston, have jointly developed a robotic exoskeleton called X1. The 57-pound device is a robot that a human could wear over his or her body either to assist or inhibit movement in leg joints.

In the inhibit mode, the robotic device would be used as an in-space exercise machine to supply resistance against leg movement. The same technology could be used in reverse on the ground, potentially helping some individuals walk for the first time.

"Robotics is playing a key role aboard the International Space Station and will be critical in our future human exploration of deep space," said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA's Space Technology Program."What's extraordinary about space technology and our work with projects like Robonaut are the unexpected possibilities space tech spinoffs may have right here on Earth. It's exciting to see a NASA-developed technology might one day help people with serious ambulatory needs to begin to walk again, or even walk for the first time. That's the sort of return on investment NASA is proud to give back to America and the world."

Worn over the legs with a harness that reaches up the back and around the shoulders, X1 has 10 degrees of freedom, or joints -- four motorized joints at the hips and the knees, and six passive joints that allow for sidestepping, turning and pointing, and flexing a foot. There also are multiple adjustment points, allowing the X1 to be used in many different ways.

X1 currently is in a research and development phase, where the primary focus is development, evaluation and improvement of the technology. NASA is examining the potential for the X1 as an exercise device to improve crew health both aboard the space station and during future long-duration missions to an asteroid or Mars. Without taking up valuable space or weight during missions, X1 could replicate common crew exercises, which are vital to keeping astronauts healthy in microgravity. In addition, the device has the ability to measure, record and stream back in real-time data to flight controllers on Earth, giving doctors better insight into the crew's exercise.

X1 also could provide a robotic power boost to astronauts as they work on the surface of distant planetary bodies. Coupled with a spacesuit, X1 could provide additional force when needed during surface exploration, providing even more bang for its small bulk.

Here on Earth, IHMC is interested in developing and using X1 as an assistive walking device. Using NASA technology and walking algorithms developed at IHMC, X1 has the potential to produce high torques to allow for assisted walking over varied terrain, as well as stair climbing. Preliminary studies using X1 for this purpose have already started at IHMC.

"We greatly value our collaboration with NASA," said Ken Ford, IHMC's director and CEO. "The X1's high-performance capabilities will enable IHMC to continue performing cutting-edge research in mobility assistance and expand into rehabilitation."

The rest is here:

NASA and IHMC Develop Robotic Exoskeleton for Space and Possible Use on Earth