Following the release of the 2018 budget, the space agency has ordered an orderly closeout for the Asteroid Redirect program.

NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission would have retrieved a boulder from the surface of an asteroid. NASA

After years of study, NASA announced recently that its plan to retrieve an asteroid and place it in lunar orbit, known as the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), will be shut down due to lack of congressional support in the proposed FY2018 budget. The NASA ARM program director Michele Gates made the announcement on June 13th, during the recent meeting of the Small Bodies Assessment Group held at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The focus will now turn shutting down the program while salvaging key technologies and lessons learned for other possible future applications.

The agency remains committed to the next human missions to deep space, but we will not pursue the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) with the Fiscal Year 2018 budget proposal, says Kathryn Hambleton (NASA). The ARM team is in the process of documenting its activities to ensure key knowledge from the mission concept is archived as part of an orderly closeout.

This artist's concept shows an astronaut examining the returned boulder while in lunar orbit. NASA

ARM was an ambitious plan from the start. First proposed in 2013, the project called for an automated rendezvous and capture of a small near-Earth asteroid, which would then be placed in orbit around the Moon. Astronauts would then rendezvous with the asteroid in lunar orbit, study the asteroid, and collect and return samples to Earth. NASA ARM would have relied on the new Orion crewed capsule and the new Space Launch System (SLS) heavy lift rocket, both still under development.

Politically, the mission had detractors from the start, and it failed to find support in Congress, even though the plan was often touted as a stepping stone between leaving low-Earth orbit and heading to Mars in the 2030s. From an engineering perspective, the plan plan was complex, requiring an automated spacecraft to retrieve an SUV-sized boulder from a larger asteroid moving slowly relative to Earth's orbital motion, a scenario that significantly limited the potential targets.

Our best look at Bennu, one of the asteroid candidates for the boulder retrieval concept of ARM. The image at right shows radar reflectivity as measured by Arecibo, with the radar beam shining from the top. At right is a reconstruction of Bennu's shape using those data. NASA / Arecibo

But even as the ARM mission closes out, research and development will still continue in some key areas. The solar electric propulsion system, initially envisioned to fly on the robotic segment of ARM, is still being developed for future deep-space use. And the search for near-Earth asteroids involving observatories worldwide will go on.

While our long-term Mars architecture is still in development, Hambleton says, we've recently unveiled a concept using SLS and Orion to build a deep space gateway and transport in cis-lunar space to help us prepare for human deep space missions, including Mars.

Changes expected from the president's budget request for NASA. AAAS

The end of NASA ARM is also part of a larger picture: a time of transition amid the new presidential administration. NASA overall actually makes out pretty well in the proposed FY2018 budget: $19.1 billion dollars, a 3% drop from the $19.7 billion budget of FY17, though still slightly above where NASA funding levels have stalled for the past decade. Planetary sciences was the big winner in the FY18 NASA budget, getting a proposed $1.9 billion dollars, the division's highest annual funding to date. This will support the Mars 2020 rover and the Mars InSight lander, as well as the Europa Clipper and Lucy and Psyche asteroid missions planned for the 2020s.

A lion's share of NASA's proposed budget will go towards continued support of the International Space Station, the James Webb Space Telescope (set to launch in late 2018), and development of the Orion capsule and the SLS, though the latter face significant cuts. The first flight of Orion aboard the SLS is slated for 2019 and will carry an uncrewed capsule around the Moon and back. NASA studied the idea of putting a crew on the first Orion/SLS flight but nixed the idea last month.

Along with NASA ARM, NASA's Earth sciences division will take a hit under the proposed budget, losing $170 million dollars for a nearly 9% drop from FY17 to FY18. This puts several crucial Earth observing missions, including the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-3) and the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), in jeopardy. However, 18 Earth-observing missions will remain in orbit, according to NASA acting administrator Robert Lightfoot.

NASA's Office of Education also faces closure with this budget, with just $37 million set aside for transitional and closing costs.

However, while some changes appear to be set, such as the ARM close-out, it's important to remember that the president's budget request often changes before it becomes signed into law later in the year. The Planetary Society offers their take on NASA's new budget here. To learn how the NASA budget comes about, watch this explanation from The Planetary Society's Casey Dreier:

When it comes to NASA funding, it's an uncertain time of crisis and opportunity. As ever, the phrase no bucks, no Buck Rogers applies. We're also now farther away from the end of the U.S. Space Shuttle program in 2011 than the first shuttle flight in 1981 was from the end of Apollo in 1975.

Perhaps, the lessons from NASA ARM will get paid forward, as U.S. astronauts once again venture out of low-Earth orbit in the next decade.

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NASA Closes Out Its Asteroid Redirect Mission - Sky & Telescope

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NASA to broadcast epic solar eclipse this summer from Charleston. And the views should be fantastic The State For the first time since 1970, the Lowcountry will witness a total solar eclipse, and NASA will share the experience with the world from Charleston's point of view. The space agency will livestream and broadcast the event from the College of Charleston ... NASA Prepares for Aug. 21 Total Solar Eclipse with Live Coverage, Safety InformationSpace Daily NASA releases images of solar eclipse from space, announces live broadcastThe Space Reporter all 84 news articles »

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NASA to broadcast epic solar eclipse this summer from Charleston. And the views should be fantastic - The State

Living underwater has very similar dangers and parallels to living in a spacecraft: Nasas extreme environment mission operations (Neemo) expedition. Photograph: Karl Shreeves/Nasa

On Sunday a group of six astronauts, engineers and scientists submerged 19 metres to the bottom of an Atlantic Ocean reef to live underwater for Nasas extreme environment mission operations (Neemo) expedition.

Living underwater has very similar dangers and parallels to living in a spacecraft: closed-loop life support, pressurised habitat with incredibly efficient recycling systems, near weightless extra vehicular activities (EVAs, AKA spacewalks), a packed daily schedule, communications with mission control, the inability to return to Earth safely without a special vehicle and sufficient re-entry time to protect the crew and keep them alive. Each time they go outside, the habitat crew have to don full suits with personal oxygen tanks just like a spacewalk.

The only undersea laboratory in the world, Aquarius, off Florida, is adjacent to deep coral reefs and has been home to 50 astronauts so far. Crew cannot resurface without decompression as, after 24 hours underwater, they are totally saturated from nitrogen and inert gases, so rising up to normal air quickly would be fatal.

Living below the surface at 2.5 times the normal pressure of Earth allows for unprecedented science and exploration: regular divers can only stay up to 30 minutes at that depth, yet aquanauts can perform EVAs for up to eight hours a day. Astronauts train in giant swimming pools, so suiting up and performing hours of science missions outside the Aquarius in personal spacesuits with closed-loop oxygen is a pretty accurate analogue.

Day two of the mission we introduced a lunar voice delay of 1.7 seconds that, like for the Apollo astronauts, isnt too noticeable. Later however, we will have a time delay identical to Mars and move to text-based communications instead as its impractical to have a conversation with a pause of 20 minutes between talking and replying! At the end of the mission, crew will be brought back over 17 hours to normal Earth pressure so that the gases can escape their bodies safely and they can resurface to see the sun and feel the wind again. Just like living in space, astronaut-aquanauts miss the weather.

Topside mission control sees the mission director, capcom, planning, EVA and science rep backed up by a 24/7 watch desk inside and two science trailers in the carpark. The European Space Agency (ESA) deployed their new Lunar evacuation system assembly (Lesa), something that the Apollo missions were lacking. This brilliant feat of engineering allows a single person to secure and evacuate an incapacitated crew member on the moon and has been tested in the European astronaut centres neutral buoyancy facility. My day job is Eurocom for the International Space Station (ISS), working hundreds of different science experiments and systems engineering with the astronauts in their packed 12-hour workdays on orbit. ISS has five mission controls: Houston, Huntsville, Munich, Moscow and Tsukuba. At each mission control only one flight controller position can talk back to the astronauts when they call Earth, and frequently Europe replies with a distinctly Australian accent mine. After years of talking up to space, my voice now also travels down below the Atlantic Ocean.

Working underwater with extended daily dive times and living in the pressurised Aquarius habitat means heat is pulled from their bodies much faster and their metabolism needs to work very hard. As a result they need to eat a lot more compared to when theyre on Earth. Food needs to be preserved similar to space food, and some of it is real space food that isnt dehydrated military packs like the old days. European space food is produced in France and Italy and is genuinely tasty: tiramisu, risotto, pasta, quinoa, vegetables, soups, even gingerbread and sausage sizzles! Making space food really is rocket science it has to be nutritious, resistant to radiation, have a shelf life at room temperature of up to two years through natural preservatives and cannot produce any crumbs small pieces like that can cause major damage to station equipment.

And so this Aussie has found Neemo. The crew lived and trained together in the week before diving down to their new underwater home. Just like ISS missions where the crew train together for 2.5 years prior to Soyuz rocket launch, they grow to know each other well and become strong teammates before, during and after their mission. Space exploration truly transcends borders and rises above earthly politics to simply work together regardless of background, square away incredible science, research and technology development to benefit life on Earth and keep fellow crewmates safe while continuing long-lasting friendships.

You can watch live until 27 June here and find out more about Neemo here.

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Finding Neemo: Nasa goes from the bottom of the ocean to outer space - The Guardian

June 23, 2017 by Francis Reddy This illustration shows ESA's (the European Space Agency's) LISA observatory, a multi-spacecraft mission to study gravitational waves expected to launch in 2034. In the mission concept, LISA consists of three spacecraft in a triangular formation spanning millions of kilometers. Test masses in spacecraft on each arm of the formation will be linked together by lasers to detect passing gravitational waves. Credit: AEI/Milde Marketing/Exozet

ESA (the European Space Agency) has selected the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) for its third large-class mission in the agency's Cosmic Vision science program. The three-spacecraft constellation is designed to study gravitational waves in space and is a concept long studied by both ESA and NASA.

ESA's Science Program Committee announced the selection at a meeting on June 20. The mission will now be designed, budgeted and proposed for adoption before construction begins. LISA is expected to launch in 2034. NASA will be a partner with ESA in the design, development, operations and data analysis of the mission.

Gravitational radiation was predicted a century ago by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. Massive accelerating objects such as merging black holes produce waves of energy that ripple through the fabric of space and time. Indirect proof of the existence of these waves came in 1978, when subtle changes observed in the motion of a pair of orbiting neutron stars showed energy was leaving the system in an amount matching predictions of energy carried away by gravitational waves.

In September 2015, these waves were first directly detected by the National Science Foundation's ground-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). The signal arose from the merger of two stellar-mass black holes located some 1.3 billion light-years away. Similar signals from other black hole mergers have since been detected.

Seismic, thermal and other noise sources limit LIGO to higher-frequency gravitational waves around 100 cycles per second (hertz). But finding signals from more powerful events, such as mergers of supermassive black holes in colliding galaxies, requires the ability to detect frequencies much lower than 1 hertz, a sensitivity level only possible from space.

LISA consists of three spacecraft separated by 1.6 million miles (2.5 million kilometers) in a triangular formation that follows Earth in its orbit around the sun. Each spacecraft carries test masses that are shielded in such a way that the only force they respond to is gravity. Lasers measure the distances to test masses in all three spacecraft. Tiny changes in the lengths of each two-spacecraft arm signals the passage of gravitational waves through the formation.

For example, LISA will be sensitive to gravitational waves produced by mergers of supermassive black holes, each with millions or more times the mass of the sun. It will also be able to detect gravitational waves emanating from binary systems containing neutron stars or black holes, causing their orbits to shrink. And LISA may detect a background of gravitational waves produced during the universe's earliest moments.

For decades, NASA has worked to develop many technologies needed for LISA, including measurement, micropropulsion and control systems, as well as support for the development of data analysis techniques.

For instance, the GRACE Follow-On mission, a U.S. and German collaboration to replace the aging GRACE satellites scheduled for launch late this year, will carry a laser measuring system that inherits some of the technologies originally developed for LISA. The mission's Laser Ranging Interferometer will track distance changes between the two satellites with unprecedented precision, providing the first demonstration of the technology in space.

In 2016, ESA's LISA Pathfinder successfully demonstrated key technologies needed to build LISA. Each of LISA's three spacecraft must gently fly around its test masses without disturbing them, a process called drag-free flight. In its first two months of operations, LISA Pathfinder demonstrated this process with a precision some five times better than its mission requirements and later reached the sensitivity needed for the full multi-spacecraft observatory. U.S. researchers collaborated on aspects of LISA Pathfinder for years, and the mission carries a NASA-supplied experiment called the ST7 Disturbance Reduction System, which is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Explore further: Gravitational wave mission selected, planet-hunting mission moves forward

The LISA trio of satellites to detect gravitational waves from space has been selected as the third large-class mission in ESA's Science programme, while the Plato exoplanet hunter moves into development.

On December 3, 2015, the LISA Pathfinder mission blasted into space carrying the most stable spacecraft thruster system ever qualified for use in space. Developed by NASA JPL, the Space Technology 7 (ST-7) Disturbance Reduction ...

A key component of a future gravitational wave observatory passed a series of tests with flying colors, while coming closer to experiencing true free fall than any other human-made object ever has. At the heart of the experiment ...

Today, ESA has invited European scientists to propose concepts for the third large mission in its science programme, to study the gravitational Universe.

Black holes can be divided into three classes according to mass. On the low end are those with masses 10 times that of the sun. Examples are the two black holes whose merger generated the first gravitational wave to be detected, ...

LISA Pathfinder, a mission led by ESA (the European Space Agency) with contributions from NASA, has successfully demonstrated critical technologies needed to build a space-based observatory for detecting ripples in space-time ...

Long-term power cuts, destruction of electronic devices and increased cancer risk for aeroplane passengers are all potential effects of the Earth being hit by a powerful solar eruption.

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(Phys.org)A team of researchers form the U.S., Denmark and France has created a report regarding the creation and use of software meant to give exploratory robots in space more autonomy. In their paper published in the ...

For the first time in almost a century the United States is preparing for a coast-to-coast solar eclipse, a rare celestial event millions of Americans, with caution, will be able to observe.

(Phys.org)A pair of space scientists working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology has written a Focus piece for the journal Science Robotics. Steve Chien and Kiri Wagstaff suggest ...

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ESA to develop gravitational wave space mission with NASA support - Phys.Org

The camera has also taken pictures of NASAs Viking and Phoenix landers. A Russian amateur may have also spotted Mars 3, the Soviet spacecraft that set down on Mars in 1971, although that identification was not conclusive.

The orbiter has also provided hints into Mars spacecraft that failed.

When the European Space Agencys Schiaparelli craft, part of its ExoMars mission, disappeared last year as it was descending, the Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted a dark scar on the surface where the lander crashed.

The orbiter also found Beagle 2, an earlier European Space Agency lander that disappeared in 2003. In that instance, it turned out that Beagle 2 made it to the surface in one piece but not all of its solar panels deployed. With the radio antenna blocked, it was never able to send a message back to Earth.

One spacecraft, however, still eludes discovery NASAs Polar Lander that disappeared without a trace in December 1999 as it was heading toward a spot on Mars near the South Pole.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiters camera has taken images covering the area where Polar Lander is likely to be, but it remains hidden in the rough terrain. In the years since its disappearance, the debris may have also been partly hidden by dust and frost.

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High Above Mars, a NASA Orbiter Spies the Curiosity Rover - New York Times

Voyager 2's views of Uranus and Neptune as the probe flew past in the 1980s. New NASA missions could further explore the gas worlds.

New NASA mission ideas would study the gassy environments of Uranus and Neptune, two planets on the edge of the solar system that spacecraft have visited only once.

The agency has several potential mission concepts on the table, including flybys, orbiters and even a spacecraft to dive into Uranus' atmosphere, agency officials said in a statement.

NASA released a study of potential future missions in support of the forthcoming Planetary Science Decadal Survey, a publication of the National Research Council that is used to help determine what missions NASA should pursue. The next survey covers science priorities from 2022 and 2032. [Auroras on Uranus Dazzle in New Hubble Telescope Views]

"This [NASA] study argues the importance of exploring at least one of these planets and its entire environment, which includes surprisingly dynamic icy moons, rings and bizarre magnetic fields," Mark Hofstadter, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in the statement. Hofstadter was one of the two co-chairs of the science team that produced the report.

"We do not know how these planets formed and why they and their moons look the way they do," added fellow co-chair Amy Simon, senior scientist of planetary atmospheres research at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. "There are fundamental clues as to how our solar system formed and evolved that can only be found by a detailed study of one, or preferably both of these planets."

Both planets have been visited by a single spacecraft, Voyager 2, which flew by Uranus and Neptune in 1986 and 1989, respectively. Voyager 2 was tasked with viewing the largest planets of the outer solar system and took advantage of a rare planetary alignment to visit Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune on the probe's way out of the solar system. (The spacecrat's twin, Voyager 1, studied Jupiter and Saturn and entered interstellar space in 2012.)

Since then, however, telescope technology has improved enough so that scientists can perform some studies of Uranus and Neptune from the ground. Researchers using the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, for example, have tracked giant storms appearing and disappearing on Uranus in recent years. However, no concentrated long-term program is possible on the ground, because telescope time is competitive and spread among several targets.

Studies suggest that Uranus and Neptune both have liquid oceans beneath their clouds, making up about two-thirds of their mass, NASA officials noted in the statement. It's a different environment from the much bigger Jupiter and Saturn (which are about 85 percent gas by mass) and smaller, rocky planets such as Earth or Mars, which are almost 100 percent rock.

"It's not clear how or where ice giant planets form, why their magnetic fields are strangely oriented, and what drives geologic activity on some of their moons," NASA added in the same statement. "These mysteries make them scientifically important, and this importance is enhanced by the discovery that many planets around other stars appear to be similar to our own ice giants."

You can view the full 529-page study at the Lunar and Planetary Science Institute's website.

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

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NASA Eyes Close-Up Mission to Uranus, Neptune - Space.com

Theres no shortage of things to be mad about in late capitalism. Pretty high on the list, though, is the Eat, Pray, Love brand of pseudoscience promoted by Gwyneth Paltrows Goop. Somehow, Goopwhich previously encouraged women to shove eggs up their vaginashas out-Gooped itself: the brand is now promoting stickers called Body Vibes. The product, which I remind you, is literally a sticker, uses NASA space suit material to rebalance the energy frequency in our bodies, whatever the actual fuck that means.

Human bodies operate at an ideal energetic frequency, but everyday stresses and anxiety can throw off our internal balance, depleting our energy reserves and weakening our immune systems, Goop says on its website. Body Vibes stickers (made with the same conductive carbon material NASA uses to line space suits so they can monitor an astronauts vitals during wear) come pre-programmed to an ideal frequency, allowing them to target imbalances.

Yes, these sentences sound like what youd expect if you threw Enya lyrics in a blender. But whats somehow worse is that Body Vibes is trying to invoke our beloved space agency to bolster its legitimacy. Obviously, we had to go to the pros.

A representative from NASAs spacewalk office told Gizmodo that they do not have any conductive carbon material lining the spacesuits. Spacesuits are actually made of synthetic polymers, spandex, and other materials that serve a purpose beyond making their wearer look like a resident of Nightmare Coachella.

Gizmodo has asked Body Vibes to provide us with the peer-reviewed research that supports their claim that their astronaut stickers have any impact on the human body. Weve also asked Body Vibes and Goop for theirresponse to NASAs assertion that they definitely do not use a carbonate material to line their spacesuits. So far, no luck on either front.

It gets worse. The stickerswhich run as high as $120 for a pack of 24promise to assuage various ailments, including anxiety and pain, using something called Bio Energy Synthesis Technology. This is not a scientific concept, but rather an invention of AlphaBioCentrix, a Nevada-based biotech company that sells Quantum Energy Bracelets and Health Pendants. AlphaBioCentrixs founder, Richard Eaton, was apparently inspired to help create Body Vibes after meeting some engineers in a dark alleyway several years ago. Or maybe at Gwyneths pied--terre in the Hamptons. Who can say.

Without going into a long explanation about the research and development of this technology, it comes down to this; I found a way to tap into the human bodys bio-frequency, which the body is receptive to outside energy signatures, Eaton told Gizmodo. He added that, conveniently, Most of the research that has been collected is confidential and is held as company private information.

Mark Shelhamer, former chief scientist at NASAs human research division, wasnt wooed by Body Vibes or its secret research.

Wow, he told Gizmodo. What a load of BS this is.

Shelhamer reiterated that space suits are not lined with carbon material, and that even if they were, it would be for adding strength to the suitnot for monitoring vital signs.

Not only is the whole premise like snake oil, the logic doesnt even hold up, he said. If they promote healing, why do they leave marks on the skin when they are removed?

Unless they are operated by tiny wizards, who have been captured for the sole purpose of promoting Paltrows wellness empire, Body Vibes have literally no scientific basis. If you want to wear a sticker to feel good about yourself, thats finejust dont act like its fucking penicillin.

[h/t Meredith Bennett-Smith]

Update 1:25 pm: Goop has pulled their claim regarding NASA from its website, and provided the following statement to Gizmodo:

As we have always explained, advice and recommendations included on goop are not formal endorsements and the opinions expressed by the experts and companies we profile do not necessarily represent the views of goop. Our content is meant to highlight unique products and offerings, find open-minded alternatives, and encourage conversation. We constantly strive to improve our site for our readers, and are continuing to improve our processes for evaluating the products and companies featured. Based on the statement from NASA, weve gone back to the company to inquire about the claim and removed the claim from our site until we get additional verification.

Go here to see the original:

NASA Calls Bullshit on Goop's $120 'Bio-Frequency Healing' Sticker Packs [Updated] - Gizmodo

As many as a half dozen or more high-altitude balloons carrying video cameras will rise from the Lowcountry in August, livestreaming a rare total solar eclipse that will be broadcast from the College of Charleston grounds.

The balloons are expected to be among as many as 50 deployed under NASA guidance, along with 11 spacecraft, to record the event.

The broadcast from a NASA team on Rivers Green behind Addlestone Library will be streamed on NASA TV, the NASA website and various public broadcasting stations across the United States beginning at 1 p.m Aug. 21, NASA announced Wednesday.

The total eclipse is predicted to begin over Charleston at 2:46 p.m., lasting less than two minutes.

"NASA has designated Charleston as Eclipse Central," Cassandra Runyon, a planetary geology professor at the college, said Wednesday.

The federal space agency will have correspondents and scientists stationed across the nation to provide live updates of the eclipse during the telecast.

"Never before has a celestial event been viewed by so many and explored from so many vantage points," said Thomas Zurbuchen, a NASA associate director.

A total eclipse when the moon passes directly in front of the sun, putting the Earth in shadow is a relatively rare event for most people. The star and the moon appear as a single dark orb with a brilliant flare, or corona, at its rim.

Charleston and a 70-mile or so stretch the length of South Carolina will be right under the "totality" shadow path. The last time that happened here was in 1970.

The eclipse will begin in Oregon and end off the Lowcountry coast. It will be the first time in 99 years that a total eclipse of the sun will be visible all across the United States, according to NASA.

Over the course of 100 minutes, 14 states across the United States will experience some two minutes of darkness in the middle of the day. A partial eclipse will be viewable across all of North America. The eclipse is expected to start in Lowcountry skies about 1:16 p.m. The lunar shadow will leave the area at 4:09 p.m.

Reach Bo Petersen Reporter at Facebook, @bopete on Twitter or 1-843-937-5744.

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NASA will broadcast a livestream of August's rare solar eclipse from Charleston - Charleston Post Courier

Island Packet

NASA to broadcast epic solar eclipse this summer from Charleston. And the views should be fantastic Island Packet For the first time since 1970, the Lowcountry will witness a total solar eclipse, and NASA will share the experience with the world from Charleston's point of view. The space agency will livestream and broadcast the event from the College of Charleston ... Charleston will have front-row seats during eclipse, and will be home base for NASAABC NEWS 4 NASA releases images of solar eclipse from space, announces live broadcastThe Space Reporter all 40 news articles »

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NASA to broadcast epic solar eclipse this summer from Charleston. And the views should be fantastic - Island Packet

June 22, 2017 On June 22 at 2:21 a.m. EDT (0621 UTC) GPM very little rainfall near Cindy's center of circulation but bands of moderate to heavy showers were seen moving into the states along the Gulf Coast. Storms over central Alabama were dropping rain at a rate of over 3.6 inches (91 mm) per hour. Credit: NASA/JAXA, Hal Pierce

NASA's Aqua satellite analyzed Tropical Storm Cindy in infrared light to identify areas of strongest storms and the Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM satellite found locations of heaviest rainfall as Cindy was making landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast states.

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite looked at Tropical Depression Cindy in infrared light. The AIRS image was taken on June 21 at 19:53 UTC (3:53 p.m. EST) and showed some cloud top temperatures of thunderstorms near the center of circulation as cold as minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 53 degrees Celsius). NASA research has shown the storms with cloud tops that cold have the potential to generate heavy rainfall.

The infrared data was false-colored at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where AIRS data is managed.

Cindy made landfall around 3 a.m. CDT in southwestern Louisiana. At that time, the National Hurricane Center or NHC said that Cindy was centered about 30 miles (45 km) west-southwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Measuring Rainfall Rates from Space

The GPM core observatory satellite passed above as Tropical Storm Cindy was approaching the western Louisiana coast on June 22, 2017 at 2:21 a.m. EDT (0621 UTC). Cindy had maximum sustained winds of about 40 knots (46 mph) at that time. Rainfall derived from Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) measurements showed that there was very little rainfall near Cindy's center of circulation but bands of moderate to heavy showers were seen moving into the states along the Gulf Coast. GPM's Radar (DPR Ku Band) found that storms over central Alabama were dropping rain at a rate of over 3.6 inches (91 mm) per hour.

At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, GPM radar (DPR Ku Band) data were used to show the 3-D structure of rainfall within Cindy's storm tops. GPM's radar revealed that a few storms within rain bands near New Orleans were reaching heights of over 7.2 miles (11.6 km). GPM's radar found that the heaviest downpours over Alabama were returning radar reflectivity values of over 51dBZ to the GPM satellite.

Cindy's Whereabouts on June 22

On June 22, NHC issued a Tropical Storm Warning from High Island, Texas to Morgan City, Louisiana.

At 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Cindy was located near latitude 30.5 North, longitude 93.7 West. Cindy is moving toward the north near 12 mph (19 km/h), and a turn toward the north-northeast is expected later today, followed by a turn toward the northeast on Friday, June 23. Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph (65 kph) with higher gusts. The estimated minimum central pressure is 994 millibars.

Rainfall is the Biggest Danger

The National Hurricane Center noted that rainfall is the biggest threat from Cindy as it continues to move inland. NHC said, "Cindy is expected to produce rain accumulations of 3 to 6 inches with isolated maximum amounts up to 12 inches over eastern Texas, western and central Louisiana, and southern and eastern Arkansas through Friday morning. Additional rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches with isolated maximum amounts of 8 inches over southern Mississippi, southern and central Alabama, and extreme western Florida Panhandle are expected through Friday morning. This rainfall could cause life-threatening flash flooding in these areas.

Rainfall is expected to begin and expand across parts of the Tennessee and Ohio valleys. Rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches with isolated maximum amounts of 4 inches are expected through Friday morning."

In addition to heavy rainfall, tropical storm force winds, storm surge and a few tornadoes are possible. The tornado threat extends through tonight, June 22, from the lower Mississippi and Tennessee Valley regions to the central Gulf Coast.

On the forecast track, Cindy will move into southeastern Arkansas early Friday, and into Tennessee later on Friday. NHC said Cindy is expected to continue weakening and should become a remnant low tonight.

Explore further: NASA sees Tropical Storm Cindy soaking the Gulf Coast

NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of Tropical Storm Cindy after it formed and was already affecting the U.S. Gulf Coast states. Cindy continues to crawl toward land and Tropical Storm warnings are in effect for June ...

NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite passed over a developing low pressure area in the Gulf of Mexico and gathered two days of rainfall and storm height information. The disturbance could ...

Tropical Storm Merbok formed in the South China Sea west of the Philippines on June 11 and made landfall east of Hong Kong, China on June 12. NASA measured the rainfall rates within the tropical storm early in its short two ...

NASA's Aqua satellite analyzed Tropical Depression 2E in infrared, visible and microwave light as it began its landfall on June 1, bringing heavy rains to southern Mexico.

Satellite data showed heavy rain and high cloud tops in Tropical Cyclone Mora after the storm came ashore in Bangladesh.

Heavy rainfall is a big part of Tropical Depression 9, which is strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico. The Global Precipitation Measurement mission, or GPM, core satellite passed over the gulf in space and measured that rate ...

New research has revealed the causes of the UK's record rainfall and subsequent flooding during the 2013-14 winter.

Every year, severe weather endangers millions of people and causes billions of dollars in damage worldwide. But new research from Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) and AccuWeather has found ...

Dating back to the first century, scientists, philosophers and reporters have noted the occasional occurrence of "bright nights," when an unexplained glow in the night sky lets observers see distant mountains, read a newspaper ...

(Phys.org)A pair of researchers with the Natural History Museum of London and the University of Waikato have found that bacteria living in a part of Antarctica have not changed much over the past century. In their paper ...

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NASA's infrared and radar eyes in space cast on Tropical Storm Cindy - Phys.Org

Courtesy of Cornell CubeSat

Kyle Doyle, a doctoral student who helps lead the Cornell CubeSat group, holds the finished product: a spacecraft that NASA will send into space.

Cornells Cislunar Explorers has earned a chance to make history and over one million dollars with NASA.

The Cislunar Explorers developed a small satellite that was one of three winners in the semi-final round of NASAs Cube Quest Challenge. The teams prize-winning satellite will fly aboard the Space Launch System and into space in 2019.

Kyle Doyle, a doctoral student who helps lead the group, explained the NASA contest.

NASA has a rocket which is going to be launched in 2019. On this rocket, they have room for thirteen CubeSats [small satellites], and three of those spots are open to the general public via the CubeQuest challenge, he said.

The first leg of the CubeQuest challenge was the design competition. The top three designs, including ours, have been selected to fly on the rocket. The second leg of the CubeQuest challenge will happen in space, where NASA will award substantial sums of money if the CubeSats complete certain objectives, such as reaching lunar orbit, Doyle said.

The team already has won $100,000 in prize money for the design competition, Doyle said. In space, if the teams satellite achieves lunar orbit, it could win up to $1.5 million.

If we are successful, we would be among the first private spacecraft to orbit the moon, he said.

The team is a part of Prof. Mason Pecks, mechanical and aerospace engineering, lab. Doyle explained how years of research in Prof. Pecks lab launched the satellites success.

The core technology is a water electrolysis propulsion thruster. We have been developing this technology at Cornell since 2009, he said.

He explained the water electrolysis propulsion system in more detail.

The idea behind this is that we have a small spacecraft about the size of a bread box, and we have some water on-board this spacecraft. When we zap the water with electricity, this causes the water molecules to split into hydrogen and oxygen gas, which is a very combustible mixture that can be used as rocket fuel, said Doyle.

This technology has significant potential uses, Doyle said.

I am excited about the possibility of refueling spacecraft using water. We have discovered that there is a lot of water and ice in solar system. You could really give spacecraft longer lifetimes by having them refuel in space with water, he said.

The navigation systems aboard the groups satellite are also unique, Doyle explained.

Most spacecraft navigate by radio triangulation. This is difficult for small spacecraft operating very far from Earth. With our new technology as an alternative, the spacecraft carries inexpensive cameras and uses them to take pictures of the Earth, the sun and the moon, then uses their relative locations to determine its own location, he said.

Amol Rajesh is a member of the Class of 2020 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a staff writer for the news department and can be reached at arajesh@cornellsun.com.

We are an independent, student newspaper. Help keep us reporting with a tax-deductible donation to the Cornell Sun Alumni Association, a non-profit dedicated to aiding The Sun.

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NASA to Send Cornell Group's Satellite Into Space - Cornell University The Cornell Daily Sun

For the last year, the Curiosity rover has been studying the surface of Mars with more independence than ever before, saving human time and energy. The partly autonomous exploration is also helping people sidestep the constraints of working across vast distances in space.

This new capability is powered by software called Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science, or AEGIS. It allows the rover to control its own use of ChemCam, an instrument that learns the chemical composition of rocks by zapping them with a laser and studying the resulting gasses. Between the new softwares deployment in May 2016 and April 2017, the rover did this 52 times after moving to a new location.

Combined with the observations controlled by NASA scientists, the automation has helped increase the average number of laser firings from 256 per day to 327 per day. More laser firings means more data collected, and that means NASA gets a better understanding of what Mars is like, and more importantly what it used to be like.

Any time Curiosity rolls into a new area of Mars, even if its just a few feet from its last location, AEGIS can autonomously scan the environment using the rovers cameras. There, it identifies and ranks the best patches of bedrock to study with ChemCam. AEGIS then triggers that laser and performs those measurements. NASA announced the initiative last summer, and a paper published today in the journal Science Robotics details how well its gone.

Yes, while scientists sleep on Earth, their robot on Mars is now doing some of their work for them. Its helping lift a massive burden, too. Curiositys ChemCam laser has fired more than 440,000 times at around 1,500 targets since it landed on the Red Planet in August 2012, according to Raymond Francis, the studys lead author. Before AEGIS, almost every one of those targets had to be selected back on Earth.

Thats an especially laborious process, because the science team is working with a robot thats always about 150 million miles away. It can sometimes take up to 20 minutes for a signal to get to, or from, Mars. The Earths constant rotation also means that Mars isnt always in view.

AEGIS allows NASA to work around this problem in an entirely new way. The program was originally written for and used on the Mars Opportunity rover, but was adapted for Curiosity two years ago. The 21,000 lines of code that make up AEGIS were added to the nearly 4 million that make up Curiosity rovers flight software in late 2015, and after months of testing, scientists started using it in May last year.

When Curiositys operators send the rover its commands for a day of driving, they now include AEGIS targeting sessions in those plans more than half the time. AEGIS is especially useful on those driving days because the rover can scan and study the best targets in its new workspace, Francis says in an interview with The Verge. And when this happens, the science team has new data to look at by the time theyre awake and talking to the rover.

Curiosity has fired its laser at Mars rocks almost half a million times since 2012

You've got all this science time after [each] drive, and often you have a few hours of [Martian] daylight left, but Earth has not yet seen this new place that the rover is in, Francis says. And there's no ability for people on the Earth to make decisions about what to target. That decision has to be made on Mars, and now we can make it on Mars. So that makes use of those hours that otherwise you wouldn't have been able to do these kinds of measurements.

Before AEGIS, rover operators only had a few options at maximizing time for science on driving days. They could do more science with ChemCam in the morning, but that meant driving later in the day, which often means using more of the rovers energy to keep itself warm. The other option was whats known as blind targeting, where the science team would tell the rover to shoot its laser at a specific angle without having visual confirmation of what was there. This blind firing would only hit the targets the science team was looking for about 24 percent of the time better than nothing, but not great.

By contrast, AEGIS has proven to be 93 percent accurate at finding the types of rock the science team is looking for. The software was also built in such a way that the science team can outfit AEGIS with different target profiles, which will allow Curiosity to look for different kinds of rocks as the robot rolls into new, unexplored Martian territory.

AEGIS is also helping the human operators back on Earth by using algorithms to refine their targeting of smaller features, like narrow veins of rock. So far, though, its main use has been to let Curiosity do its own scientific exploration. And its doing well enough that its shaping future missions. AEGIS is already being worked into Curiositys successor, the Mars 2020 rover, according to Francis.

2020 is a very ambitious mission with a long drive list of places that it's going to have to go, and distances it's going to have to cover, and samples to take. And we expect that, as a result, faster work on board and more autonomous science is probably going to be a big part of how we do that, he says.

Letting these robots do more tasks on their own could change how we approach space exploration

Francis thinks this is just the beginning of letting robots do more of the work, especially beyond Mars. If you're flying by an asteroid, or a comet, or if you're near Saturn, and Enceladus has got a plume of water coming out of the undersurface ocean, Earth might not know exactly where that thing is going to be, he says. The spacecraft has to be able to react to that on its own.

He also says autonomous software like AEGIS would be helpful for missions to extremely hostile worlds, like Venus. The only landers that have gone there have had minutes of lifetime, tens of minutes, and so you dont have a lot of time for cycling with Earth in the loop, he says. AEGIS could be a solution to that. He argues that a lander equipped with AEGIS could quickly suss out the most important targets, study them, and get scientific data back to Earth before the spacecraft is ruined by the planets immense heat.

But while its tempting to imagine NASA sending fleets of robots out into the Solar System that are all capable of doing their own science, Francis says AEGIS wont be replacing human scientists anytime soon. Its a tool for the science team, not their replacement.

We certainly don't have a long-term goal of replacing the scientists, because this is a science and exploration mission, and it won't get far without its science team, he says. AEGIS is making use of that time that otherwise couldn't have been used.

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NASA's Mars rover is really good at laser-blasting rocks without human input - The Verge

NASA and American multinational conglomerate Honeywell say they now know how to reduce sonic booms when flying a supersonic aircraft over land following the completion of a two-year study.

A ban on supersonic travel over U.S. soil has been in place since the Richard Nixon administration in the early 1970s, amid fears of disrupted sleep and broken windows. Sonic booms are loud sounds similar to that of an explosion that can be generated by supersonic flights.

But Bob Smith, president of Honeywell's Mechanical Systems, said Tuesday that while the problem of sonic booms over populated areas has been a problem since the early days of Concorde, it could be about to change.

"A sonic boom is effectively just a big pressure change. So if you can effectively smooth that pressure change out it becomes a weaker wave so it becomes a rumble instead of a bang," said Smith.

Smith said NASA has been working on aerodynamic techniques to achieve smoother pressure changes to minimize sonic booms. He explained that Honeywell's input is to take the NASA data and allow a pilot to visualize on screen what impact a sonic boom is having on the ground below the plane.

"So a pilot gets an understanding if they are getting into a region where the impingement of a sonic boom on a populated area was getting more critical or less critical," Smith added. "It gives them a visualization of what of that sonic boom footprint effectively is."

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NASA and Honeywell claim they can reduce sonic booms over land, potentially bringing supersonic flight to the masses - CNBC

BySarah Schlieder June 20, 2017

Sometimes, the only thing harder than launching a rocket to space is figuring out where it landed back on Earth.

Unlike the giant rocket boosters that launch spacecraft and astronauts,sounding rocketsusually don't spend more than 20 minutes or so in space. They deploy short-lived sensors to take readings of Earth and the atmosphere. But NASA can have a hard time locating them when they come back.

"Obviously we have telemetry systems and GPS systems that can track it and get us in the neighborhood," said Scott Hesh, an electrical engineer at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. "But eventually they go over the horizon, and there's a level of uncertainty."

The tracking systems can only narrow the search grid down so far; then, helicopters try to locate the rockets. NASA even offers finder fees for anyone who stumbles onto one. Locating just one sounding rocket can fetch up to $5,000.

But one NASA engineer thinks he's found a better way. Scott Hesh is testing a method to track rockets that uses seismic and sound data. He calls his concept TRIGS or Triangulation of Rocket Impacts using Ground Sensors.

Related StoryThis Small, 3-D Printed Rocket Could Make It Easier To Get To Space

The idea cameduring a launch in Norwaywhen part of a rocket went missing. A nearby university offered to look through data from its infrasound sensors, which measure very low-frequency sound waves traveling through the atmosphere. It worked: They were able to triangulate the rocket's flight path.

With that success, Hesh wanted to test the idea at alaunch range in Alaska. He teamed up with researchers from the University of California, San Diego including Frank Vernon, a geophysicist who directs the U.S. Array Network Facility. His team had already established an array of sensors in Alaska near the range.

"I was a little bit skeptical because of the stations' spacing and being as far apart as we are," Vernon said. "I wondered if there would be big enough signals to observe."

Sure enough, the sensors "heard" the impacts of the rocket landings, and the data narrowed the search grids by half.

Hesh and his team have had some success, but he doesn't expect the concept to become standard practice for several years. So if you come across a sounding rocket, you still have time to cash in on that $5,000 reward.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misinterpreted a source as saying he found the missing rocket part when he meant he located only the rocket trajectory. This story has been updated.

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A NASA Engineer Has A Creative New Way To Find Missing Rockets - Newsy

U.S. space agency NASA announced the discovery of more than 200 new planets on Monday, 10 of which are believed to be about the right size and temperature to support life.

Of the 219 new suspected planets to have been discovered by NASA's Kepler telescope, 10 were found to exist in the so-called 'Goldilocks zone' of their solar system. This refers to the distance between the planet and their star, which is neither too hot nor too cold to support complex life.

The presence of liquid water on these "rocky" Earth-like planets is seen as a key ingredient required for the existence of life.

"Are we alone? Maybe Kepler today has told us indirectly, although we need confirmation, that we are probably not alone," Mario Perez, Kepler program scientist, said at a news conference.

NASA launched the Kepler telescope in 2009 in a bid to discover whether other Earth-like planets are common or rare.

The latest identification of suspected exoplanets planets outside our own solar system brings the tally discovered by the Kepler telescope to 4,034. The number of worlds thought to be approximately the same size and temperature as Earth is around 50.

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NASA says 'we are not alone' as it reveals 10 new Earth-like planets which could sustain life - CNBC

Jason Davis June21,2017

If you look up Uranus and Neptune in an encyclopedia, there's a good chance the pictures you see will be about 30 years old.

In the late 1970s, the twin Voyager spacecraft launched on a grand tour of the solar system, taking advantage of a rare planetary alignment that only happens every 175 years. Voyager 2 flew past Uranus in January 1986, and Neptune in August 1989. The probe was traveling too fast, and lacked the fuel, to slow down and enter orbit.

We haven't been back since.

Every 10 years, NASA releases a report called the decadal survey outlining top priorities for planetary exploration. The current iteration, covering 2013 through 2022, identifies three top missions: Mars sample return, the Europa Clipper, and a return to Uranus or Neptune (Uranus was favored due to more convenient planetary alignments, which affects travel times).

With the next decadal survey just five years away, scientists are revisiting the plan to send a spacecraft to our outermost planets, known as the ice giants. A new NASA report, officially a "pre-decadal" mission study, describes the reasons to go and the spacecraft that could take us there.

NASA / JPL

Like most planets, our understanding of Uranus and Neptune has greatly evolved since the early days of planetary science.

Before photographic imagery became a common tool for studying the universe, astronomers spent long, cold nights hunched over telescope eyepieces, hand-drawing what their eyes saw.

Heidi Hammel, a Planetary Society board member and the executive vice president of AURA, a consortium of universities that operates astronomical observatories, told me some early Uranus drawings portrayed the planet with distinct atmospheric features. The advent of photography changed that, revealing the planet as a featureless, pale-green orb. This led to a theory that planets farther from the Sun exhibited less atmospheric activity.

Intuitively, this made sense: Jupiter has vibrant bands and swirls, Saturn is stormy but muted, and Uranus was featureless (Neptune was too far away to discern much of anything).

"When Voyager flew by Uranus, it was like, 'Well, okay, we were right,'" Hammel said. "There were no clouds to look at there. It was very bland, with maybe 10 discrete cloud features."

Neptune was expected to be equally dull. But when Voyager arrived three years later, that wasn't the case.

"Neptune was a huge shock," she said. "There was this huge dark spot, like a quarter of the size of the planetreally monstrous. And then all of these bright features, and eventually a second dark feature, and all sorts of clouds. I mean, this planet was just absolutely covered with storm systems."

Why, then, was Uranus so bland? The question went unaddressed for years, until Hammel saw an academic poster at a conference with long-exposure images of Uranus captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. The images, taken in support of a search for new moons, inadvertently revealed a set of features not seen by Voyager 2.

"I said, what is that?" Hammel recalled. The poster author replied, "Well, that's Uranus."

Uranus, famously, orbits the Sun tipped on its side. When Voyager flew past, the planet's pole was facing the Sun. Since then, Uranus' 84-year orbit around the sun has progressed enough to illuminate more of the equator. This has apparently had a drastic effect on the planet's atmosphere, activating a host of swirls and storms.

Follow-up observations with adaptive optics-equipped ground telescopes continued to reveal new features. As for the early Uranus photographs, Hammel said atmospheric distortion likely smeared out discernible features, meaning those original astronomical drawings may have been correct all along.

"Only now do we have the technology to reproduce what the human eye was able to see back in the eighteen hundreds," she said.

Heidi Hammel, Imke de Pater, W. M. Keck Observatory

The most pressing question to be solved by a mission to either of the ice giants is figuring out what lies beneath the planets' outer layers of clouds. This is similar to the question NASA's Juno spacecraft is trying to answer at Jupiter.

Figuring out these planets' basic compositions and interior structures would fill an important gap in our knowledge of how solar systems form. Among the exoplanets we've discovered, worlds weighing the same as Uranus and Neptune appear more common than gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn. Yet ice giants seem to require a very specific set of conditions to form during the birth of a solar system.

"Based on the current models, it looks like there's only a really narrow time window when you can get these sort of planets to form," said Amy Simon, a senior scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "You need to have a big enough core, but on the other hand, you need to have the solar nebula dissipating so that you can get these gas and ices in there at the same time."

Simon co-chaired the science team for the new ice giants report. She told me the reasons to go back, as well as the top science priorities, have not drastically changed since the last decadal survey.

"There weren't a ton of changes," she said. "The focus was on a more detailed study of all the mission trades, to look at the technology you might need, and what type of mission you'd like to fly."

All of the mission concepts envision detachable probes that would be sent hurtling into the ice giants' atmospheres. The main spacecraft would remain in orbit at least two or three years, and be nuclear-powered, owing to the small amount of sunlight reaching that far into space.

The basic set of proposed science instruments include a camera, magnetometers and a doppler imager. The doppler imager, Simon said, was a particularly innovative example of how the planets' interior structures could be revealed.

"The idea behind it is that you're essentially looking for seismic waves on the planet," she said. "You're looking to see the planet oscillate. And the idea behind that is similar to studies they've done on the Sun, where you can see the Sun oscillating and you can determine its interior structure."

NASA / JPL-Caltech / Justin Cowart

The Voyager 2 mission also captured one-sided glimpses of Uranus' and Neptune's major moons.

One of the most interesting moons turned out to be Triton. Triton is believed to be a Kuiper Belt object captured by Neptune's gravitational pull. In the process, Triton either smacked into the rest of Neptune's moons or flung them out of the system entirely.

Voyager images revealed a relatively young surface that looked like the skin of a cantaloupe, with nitrogen-spewing geysers in the southern hemisphere.

"And again," said Simon, "We've only seen part of Triton. Who knows what's on the other side?"

"With Triton, you can do comparative planetology to Pluto," Hammel said. "They're a matched set of Kuiper Belt objects, like fraternal twins who were separated at birth and took on completely different life stories."

Uranus, on the other hand, has five large moons: Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. Unlike Triton, they are likely native to the planet's system, making them our only chance to study large worlds leftover from an ice giant's formation.

The new report does not single out a preference for visiting either Uranus or Neptune. Both are "equally compelling as a scientific target," it said.

"Each planet has something important to teach us that the other cannot," said Hammel. "I think the deciding factor will probably have to do with what launch vehicles are available, and what trajectories are most favorable to get us to those planets in a reasonable amount of time. Scientifically, your bounty is going to be fabulous for either planet."

Hubble / Ted Stryk, Roane State CC

What, exactly, constitutes a reasonable amount of time for getting to Uranus or Neptune?

Simon said the report assumes a spacecraft life of about 15 years, even though missions like Voyager, as well as the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn, have exceeded that.

"There are reliability limitations on the hardware," she said. "Even though we've seen propulsion tanks last longer than that, that's just not how they're rated. We didn't want to be pushing the reliability too hard."

The travel time to Uranus, using an Atlas V with five solid rocket boosters, is 12 years for an orbiter. It takes 13 years to get to Neptune using a Delta IV Heavy launcherand that's with an extra solar-electric propulsion stage to add additional thrust. All missions require Jupiter gravity assists, as well as likely flybys of Venus and Earth.

NASA's heavy lift Space Launch System, SLS, could potentially shave four years off the transit time. But there's a catch: a spacecraft can't go too fast, because it still has to slow down to enter orbit upon arrival. The report notes aerocapture techniquesbasically, skimming the planet's atmosphere to shave speedcould allow for higher cruising velocities.

A vehicle like SLS could, however, launch two missions at once. But that's assuming NASA spends what could end up being $2 billion per mission.

Good launch windows are available for Uranus between 2030 and 2034, while Neptune trajectories are favorable around 2029. That means we might not get to see the ice giants again until the late 30s or early 40s.

That's still okay with both Hammel and Simon.

"I kind of hope this excites younger scientists, because this will be their mission," said Simon, who recalls seeing Voyager 2 images on TV as a child. "We might get it off the ground for them, but they are going to be the scientists doing the activities. So I really hope it does generate a lot of interest in early career folks, and in the public."

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Revisiting the ice giants: NASA considers missions to Uranus and Neptune - The Planetary Society (blog)

In just two months, a total solar eclipse will sweep across the United States. On Aug. 21, 2017, observers along the eclipse's 70-mile (113 kilometers) path will see the sun slowly vanish behind the moon, turning midday into twilight and revealing the hidden layers of the sun's atmosphere.

"Most people never get to see a total solar eclipse, so this is an amazing opportunity for Americans," Angela Speck told Space.com by email. Speck, a researcher at the University of Missouri, is a member of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) eclipse team.

Today, which happens to be the summer solstice - or first day of summer - in the Northern Hemisphere, NASA is webcasting two news conferences featuring experts on eclipse science, as well as eclipse safety, travel and traffic information. The first briefing, which will focus on anticipated crowd sizes and traffic levels on Aug. 21, will run from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. EDT (1700 to 1800 GMT). The second briefing will focus on eclipse science, and will go from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT (1830 to 1930 GMT). You can watch the webcasts on NASA TV or here on Space.com.

This so-called Great American Eclipse will be the first total solar eclipse to touch the continental United States since 1979, and the first to cross from coast to coast since 1918. Not until 2024 will another total solar eclipse cross the continental U.S., though that eclipse will be visible only east of Texas. [Amazing Solar Eclipse Pictures from Around the World]

For the August total solar eclipse, however, NASA estimates that most Americans live within a two-day driveof the path.

The total solar eclipse of Aug. 21, 2017 will cross the U.S. from coast to coast.

A solar eclipse occurs when the sun appears to pass behind the moon as seen from Earth. In a total eclipse, the sun vanishes completely behind the Earth's lunar companion, while less than 100 percent of the sun's disk is hidden during a partial eclipse. Totality (the period when the sun is completely hidden) is short, lasting only a few brief minutes. But it can be quite stunning for those fortunate enough (or with foresight enough) to be within the path of totality.

Once the sun disappears, its atmosphere becomes visible. Although the hot gases that make up the solar corona are always present, the hotter central disk of the star usually outshines this outer region. During totality, however, with the disk blocked, the atmosphere's tangle of streamers and loops becomes visible.

The disappearance of the body of the sun can cause the temperature to drop. Animals may behave as though it is nighttime, and signals from radio stations can bounce through the atmosphere differently. Observers may be able to view the approaching shadow of the eclipse in the minutes before totality.

Onlookers observe a partial solar eclipse in Glasgow in 2015, while wearing solar viewing glasses. When the moon completely covers the sun's disk, it is safe to remove solar viewing glasses.

During the partial phase, when the moon appears to "take a bite" out of the sun, viewers can use pinhole cameras to watch the moon progress. But a tree will work as well, said veteran eclipse chaser and press officer for the AAS Rick Fienberg.

"During the partial phases, especially when the sun has been reduced to a crescent, look under a tree," Fienberg said. "You'll see the ground dappled with little crescent suns projected by the spaces between the leaves!"

Both Speck and Fienberg stressed that first-time viewers should not focus on shooting photographsbut should instead spend the brief time of the eclipse enjoying the rare event. In addition to the corona, observers should look at the sunset colors and unusual light on the horizon, as well as the stars and planets that will be visible.

"Just take it in as much as you can," Speck said.

You're not completely out of luck if you can't make it to the eclipse path. "You will still have a partial solar eclipse if you're anywhere within North America," Fienberg said.

As long as the sun is visible, observers should view the event only through designated eclipse glasses. Observers viewing a partial eclipse will need to leave their viewing glasseson during the entire event, as the sun will always be visible.

For those in the path of totality, during the 2 to 3 minutesof totality, when the body of the sun is hidden from view, it is safe to remove your eclipse glasses.

"It is perfectly safe to view the totally eclipsed sun without any filters," Fienberg said. "In fact, if you leave your filters on, you won't see anything at all during totality."

REMEMBER:Looking directly at the sun, even when it is partially covered by the moon, can cause serious eye damage or blindness. NEVER look at a partial solar eclipse without proper eye protection. See our complete guide to find out how to view the eclipse safely.

Many eclipse enthusiasts, along with plenty of first-time viewers, have known about the Great American Eclipse for years and have made plans accordingly, as evidenced by the fact that most hotels along the path are booked. That poses a challenge for anyone hoping to make a last-minute reservation.

Campgrounds can provide another option. A day-trip to the path of totality may be an option, but because the shadow of the total eclipse is within driving distance for millions of people, NASA anticipates that traffic will be heavy. Travelers should budget plenty of extra time to reach their destinations the day of the eclipse. If you haven't made your travel plans yet, you should probably make them now.

While the eclipse itself is certainly worth the trip, Fienberg recommended locating an eclipse partyfor an enhanced experience.

"Organized eventswill have knowledgeable experts to guide your experience and, usually, [will] provide solar-eclipse viewers that meet the ISO international safety standard," he said.

Many cities in the path are also hosting multiday festivals to accompany the eclipse. If you're planning a multiple-day trip to see the eclipse, take a look at our state-by-state guide to find other attractions near your observing location.

While some events will distribute eclipse glasses so that observers can study the sun during its gradual disappearance, if you have your own glasses, you won't have to fear missing the event. Both NASA and the AASlist several certified vendors who sell inexpensive, quality eclipse glasses, and the AAS offers a guide to help you determine if your glasses are safe for eclipse viewing. The primary qualification is that the glasses meet the SO 12312-2(sometimes written as ISO 12312-2:2015) international standard; this information should be printed on the filters.

Weather can also throw a wrench into your plans, so be sure to check the forecast in the days leading up to the eclipse.

"Fortunately, mid-August weather is usually pretty good across most of the country," Fienberg said. "But, on average, it's better in the Northwest than in the Southeast, so many of the most die-hard eclipse chasers are setting a course for Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming or Nebraska.

Although you may make preparations well in advance of the eclipse, sometimes things don't work out. For example, the weather may be cloudy. Bad traffic or other events may keep you from reaching your intended destination on the day of the eclipse. It is important to have a backup plan for viewing the event, such as a second site if the weather is bad.

Don't worry about picking the perfect site to watch the event. Locations that fall inside the shadow of the moon should be more or less equal.

"As long as one is on the path of totality and has a clear line of sight to the sun anywhere will do," Speck said. Line of sight depends on location; a spot surrounded by mountains may give you a smaller glimpse of the sky than a site on the plains.

Still, the closer you are to the center of the path, the longer totality will last, Fienberg said, with a maximum of about 2 minutes and 40 seconds in southern Illinois and western Kentucky.

Parents can help engage their children with books about eclipses. Check your local library for eclipse events; a map of libraries known to have events planned can be found online here.

NASA is affiliated with multiple eclipse events along the path of totality, where the sun will vanish completely behind the moon. The agency has created a map showing the locations of these events, including spots where the agency will film its eclipse program that will broadcast online and on NASA TV. Some of these events span multiple days or even the week before the eclipse.

If you aren't fortunate enough to view the complete eclipse, you might be able to catch other events hosted by the space agency at sites around the United States where only a partial eclipse occurs. Most of these occur in cities where the space agency already has a presence, including Houston and Washington, D.C.

The AAS has compiled a list of events pertaining to the eclipse on the society's website. Some events, like lectures on eclipse science and history, are already taking place around the country.

Viewers from around the world will also be able to tune in to NASA's live webcast of the total solar eclipse, with footage from multiple locations inside the path of totality.

"This will probably be the most-watched total solar eclipse in history," Fienberg said.

Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTReddor Google+. Follow us at @Spacedotcom, Facebookor Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

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Are You Ready? NASA Webcast Marks 2 Months to Total Solar Eclipse - Space.com

June 21, 2017 The feature that appears bright blue at the center of this scene is NASA's Curiosity Mars rover amid tan rocks and dark sand on Mount Sharp, as viewed by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on June 5, 2017. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Using the most powerful telescope ever sent to Mars, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter caught a view of the Curiosity rover this month amid rocky mountainside terrain.

The car-size rover, climbing up lower Mount Sharp toward its next destination, appears as a blue dab against a background of tan rocks and dark sand in the enhanced-color image from the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. The exaggerated color, showing differences in Mars surface materials, makes Curiosity appear bluer than it really looks.

The image was taken on June 5, 2017, two months before the fifth anniversary of Curiosity's landing near Mount Sharp on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6, 2017, EDT and Universal Time).

When the image was taken, Curiosity was partway between its investigation of active sand dunes lower on Mount Sharp, and "Vera Rubin Ridge," a destination uphill where the rover team intends to examine outcrops where hematite has been identified from Mars orbit.

The rover's location that day is shown at https://mars.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/2017/curiositys-traverse-map-through-sol-1717 as the point labeled 1717. Images taken that day by Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) are at https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=1717&camera=MAST%5F .

Explore further: Image: Curiosity trek through 'Pahrump Hills' spotted by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

More information: For more information about NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit mars.nasa.gov/mro/ For more information about NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project and Curiosity, visit mars.nasa.gov/msl/

Using the most powerful telescope ever sent to Mars, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter caught a view of the Curiosity rover this month amid rocky mountainside terrain.

(Phys.org)Astronomers have identified another rare example of an extreme helium star. The star, designated GALEX J184559.8413827 (or J18454138 for short), was initially classified as a faint helium-rich "hot subdwarf," ...

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have found new evidence suggesting that a jet of fast-moving material ejected from one young star may have triggered the formation ...

Traditional solar panels used to power satellites can be bulky with heavy panels folded together using mechanical hinges. An experiment that recently arrived at the International Space Station will test a new solar array ...

Derelict satellites could in future be grappled and removed from key orbits around Earth with a space tug using magnetic forces.

Along with its aesthetic function of helping create the glorious Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, the powerful magnetic field surrounding our planet has a fairly important practical value as well: It makes life possible.

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Image: NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter views rover climbing Mount Sharp - Phys.Org

If youre old enough to remember the european Concorde, the last commercial supersonic transport, which ended service in 2003, you may know that while the plane could fly at twice the speed of sound, it was loud and expensive to operate.

Now NASA Armstrong in eastern Kern County is working with private contractors on a new concept that would make those pesky, disruptive sonic booms sound more like your neighbor closing his car door.

Recent research has shown it is possible for a supersonic airplane to be shaped in such a way that the shock waves it forms when flying faster than the speed of sound can generate a sound at ground level so quiet it will hardly be noticed by the public, if at all.

NASA is working hard to make flight greener, safer and quieter all while developing aircraft that travel faster, and building an aviation system that operates more efficiently,NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said last year when the space agency awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin in Palmdale to complete a preliminary design for Quiet Supersonic Technology, or QueSST for short.

Now the first stage is nearly complete, saidMatt Kamlet, a public affairs specialist atNASA Armstrong.

"We are meeting with Lockheed this week to go over the final design and concept," Kamlet said.

Developing, building and flight testing a quiet supersonic aircraft could ultimately enable the industry and theFederal Aviation Administration to open supersonic travel for the flying public.

But before that happens, a full-size flight demonstration aircraft will have to be built, and will have to prove itself in flight tests that will likely begin in eastern Kern before being tried out over communities not accustomed to hearing sonic booms.

Our unique aircraft design is shaped to separate the shocks and expansions associated with supersonic flight, dramatically reducing the aircrafts loudness, Peter Iosifidis, QueSST program manager at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, said in a statement. Our design reduces the airplanes noise signature to more of a heartbeat instead of the traditional sonic boom thats associated with current supersonic aircraft in flight today.

Why should the average person care?

"A five- or six-hour flight from Los Angeles to New York would be cut in half,"Kamlet said.

Meanwhile, seeing the sleek, single-pilot demonstration jet streaking through the skies overhead may be its own reward.

If the research and development stays on schedule, Kamlet said, that could happen as early as 2021.

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NASA developing supersonic aircraft to create soft thump rather than disruptive sonic boom - The Bakersfield Californian

NASA tests the ROSA system on the International Space Station.

Most satellites rely on chunky solar arrays akin to the large rigid panels we use on Earth to provide power to homes and businesses. NASA is looking ahead to the future of solar power in space with a test of its experimental ROSA (Roll Out Solar Array) design. NASA likens the unfurling, flexible nature of ROSA to a tape measure or one of those party favors you blow into.

"This new solar array's design rolls up to form a compact cylinder for launch with significantly less mass and volume, potentially offering substantial cost savings as well as an increase in power for satellites," says NASA. Arms on either size of ROSA extend as it rolls out.

NASA shared a photo on Tuesday of the ROSA array unrolled and attached to a mechanical arm on the International Space Station after its deployment on Sunday.

The experiment is scheduled to last for seven days with the aim of seeing how the system responds to microgravity, extreme temperatures and the rigors of a spacecraft's movements.

NASA also released a sped-up video on Monday showing the array's deployment from the space station arm. It looks a lot like a scroll unfurling and you can see the photovoltaic cells wiggling during the process. This is the first test of ROSA in space.

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See NASA's flexible solar array all rolled out in space - CNET