NASA will host an event for 65 of its social media followers on Oct. 15, 2012, at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California's Mojave Desert. You might call this a tweetup or social networking IRL, but either way, the space agency should be applauded for reaching out the community that cares about them. These new ?Socials? provide NASA followers with the opportunity to go ...
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NASA Going Social, Launching Probes - Good For Entrepreneurs And Inventors
NASA is deploying a few high-flying paparazzi to Hollywood to scout out the best photo spots for next month's arrival of one of its biggest stars: space shuttle Endeavour.
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NASA Jets, Tickets Taking Off for Space Shuttle's Flight to L.A.
Even as the Curiosity Mars rover was still testing its equipment in preparation for its surface mission, NASA has unveiled plans for another unmanned mission to Mars. Is the agency playing favorites?
NASA unveiled plans this week for a brand-new mission to Mars in 2016, even as its newest rover was just settling in on the Red Planet. But space agency officials say it's not a case of Red Planet favoritism.
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On Monday (Aug. 20), NASA announced that its next low-budget exploration effort will launch a lander called InSight to Mars in 2016 to investigate the Red Planet's interior. InSight's selection comes barely two weeks after the agency's $2.5 billion Curiosity rover touched down inside Mars' huge Gale Crater.
NASA's golf-cart-size Opportunity rover is still cruising around the Red Planet more than eight years after it landed with its twin, Spirit. And the space agency has two orbiters Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter actively observing the planet from above.
No other planet has received nearly this much attention in recent years. But NASA isn't too narrowly focused, officials said.
"We still have an extremely broad portfolio of missions, you know, heading out into the solar system now for instance, Juno on its way to Jupiter, Osiris-Rex being worked in preparation for its mission to an asteroid," John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, told reporters Monday. "And so I think we've shown very broad diversity in past selections."
Grunsfeld also cited the Dawn probe which has been studying the huge asteroid Vesta for the past year and is getting set to depart for the dwarf planet Ceres next month and New Horizons, which is speeding toward a flyby of Pluto in 2015. [Quiz: How Well Do You Know Mars?]
InSight short for Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport will be NASA's 12th Discovery-class mission, and its cost is capped at $425 million in 2010 dollars (excluding the launch vehicle).
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NASA is conducting a mock asteroid mission in Houston to test out technologies that would allow humans to explore space rocks on future missions.
The 10-day simulation is part of NASA's Research and Technology Studies program, known as RATS, which has been held every year since 1998. It usually occurs in remote desert locations, often earning it the nickname Desert RATS. But RATS 2012 is being held at the Johnson Space Center, which houses tools and simulators that would be difficult to transfer to the field, NASA officials said.
The crew members are testing NASA's prototype for its next generation of Space Exploration Vehicles, or SEVs, on a mock mission to the asteroid Itokawa.
In an Aug. 21 blog post for NASA, RATS crew member Trevor Graff, a planetary geologist, explained that the vehicle sits in front of a large screen displaying the simulated asteroid. The virtual rock draws on data from Japan's Hayabusa mission to Itokawa and "looks and moves just like the real thing."
"This extremely realistic simulation allows us to fly around, approach, and anchor to the asteroid, all while monitoring our flight controls, propellant usage and many other factors," Graff wrote. "Once we approach or anchor to the asteroid, one or more of us will perform a simulated spacewalk, also known as an EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity)."
The crew can carry out a virtual spacewalk in two ways. They can put on special glasses in JSC's virtual reality lab, which provides an "immersive environment" with real-time graphics and motion simulators. Or they can get strapped into NASA's Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS), which uses a crane to simulate the weightlessness astronauts would feel while exploring an asteroid's surface.
The program also seeks to answer some practical questions about putting humans on a near-Earth asteroid, such as how astronauts would live in the SEV.
"Once we were done with our flying tasks, we settled in for our evening tasks. That involved making a freeze-dried dinner, setting up our cycle and exercising, and filling out a bunch of data sheets," crew member David Coan, an engineer with United Space Alliance, wrote in another NASA blog post after the first day of the program.
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Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: NASA's Curiosity rover has successfully made its first drive on Mars, at a spot that's been named Bradbury Landing in honor of the late sci-fi great.
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Published: Aug. 23, 2012 at 5:30 PM
WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- NASA says it is joining forces with the makers of the popular "Angry Birds" game, this time helping the game's birds and pigs explore martian terrain.
Rovio Entertainment's update to "Angry Birds Space," which was supported through a partnership with NASA and introduced millions of gamers to concepts of microgravity, features the title birds along with a cast of NASA Mars rovers and landers, the space agency reported Thursday.
"Rovio is teaching huge new audiences about NASA's missions to Mars thanks to this collaboration," David Weaver, associate administrator for communications at NASA headquarters in Washington said. "It's a great way to introduce both kids and adults to the wonders of the planet in a fun and entertaining way."
The game will include links to NASA Web content about Mars exploration and NASA missions that are represented in the game.
"We're huge NASA fans and we were all cheering the Mars Curiosity rover as it touched down," Peter Vesterbacka, chief marketing officer of Finland's Rovio, said.
"We're thrilled to continue working with NASA. Stay tuned for even more great fun and educational content coming up."
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NASA unveiled plans this week for a brand-new mission to Mars in 2016, even as its newest rover was just settling in on the Red Planet. But space agency officials say it's not a case of Red Planet favoritism.
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Two NASA radiation probes are poised to launch into orbit early Friday (Aug. 23) on a mission to explore some of the harshest, most hazardous regions of space, the Van Allen Belts.
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NASA Launching Twin Space Probes Into Earth's Radiation Belts Friday
NASA began a mock asteroid mission this week in Houston to test out technologies that would allow humans to explore space rocks on future missions.
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A NASA sea ship that for 30 years retrieved space shuttle boosters after they splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean now has a new mission to serve the Merchant Marines.
On Tuesday, NASA signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Transportation Department's Maritime Administration (MARAD) to transfer the agency's solid rocket booster recovery ship, MV Liberty Star, to the National Defense Reserve Fleet to be used for training at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY.
"Liberty Star served NASA well during the space shuttle program," Robert Lightfoot, acting associate administrator for NASA, said in a statement. "We know it will greatly benefit the Kings Point midshipmen, and we're proud that Liberty Star will continue to serve the United States with distinction."
Mission complete The Liberty Star, which was one of two vessels that were designed to recover the shuttle's side-strapped solid fuel rockets, has been in service to NASA since 1981. It and its sister ship, the Freedom Star, would each track one of the twin solid rocket boosters (SRBs) that separated from the shuttle after about two minutes of flight, rendezvous with it at sea, and then tow it back to port for its reuse by the space shuttle program.
During its three decades recovering rockets, the 176-foot long (54 meter) Liberty Star was also used to tow shuttle external fuel tanks, which were loaded onto a barge, from their assembly facility in New Orleans to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
The dual diesel engine ship was also used to occasionally support research operations for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and several universities.
In the past year, Liberty Star participated in recovery tests for NASA's Orion crew capsule, which is being developed to take astronauts to an asteroid and ultimately Mars. The ship supported the Crew Module Recovery Attach Fitting Test (CRAFT) to help develop the equipment to recover an uncrewed Orion flight test capsule after splashdown.
Most recently, Liberty Star sailed in conjunction with the May 22 launch of the first commercial spacecraft to lift off for the International Space Station. As the Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Dragon capsule lifted off atop the company's Falcon 9 rocket, Liberty Star was used to track the booster's flight using NASA diagnostic radar systems.
With the shuttle program's end last year, however, NASA no longer needed booster recovery vessels. Although the agency has plans to launch the shuttle-legacy rockets in the coming years with its new heavy-lift vehicle, called the Space Launch System, they will be treated as expendable and allowed to sink into the ocean.
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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Wednesday made its first test drive, leaving wheel tracks near its landing spot -- now dubbed "Bradbury Landing" in honor of late science fiction author Ray Bradbury.
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A NASA sea ship that for 30 years retrieved space shuttle boosters after they splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean now has a new mission to serve the Merchant Marines.
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A little more than two weeks after its arrival on Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover will on Wednesday make its first "test drive" before setting off on its Red Planet mission, the US space agency said.
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NASA's next low-budget planetary mission will land a probe on Mars in 2016 to investigate the Red Planet's inner workings
By Mike Wall and SPACE.com
Artist rendition of the proposed InSight (Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) Lander. The mission will launch in 2016. Image: NASA/JPL
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NASA's next low-budget planetary mission will land a probe on Mars in 2016 to study why the Red Planet went down such a different evolutionary path than Earth did, the agency announced today (Aug. 20).
The new mission, called InSight, will attempt to determine whether Mars' core is liquid or solid, and why the Red Planet's crust does not appear to be composed of drifting tectonic plates like Earth's is. Such information could help scientists better understand how rocky planets form and evolve, researchers said.
"InSight will get to the 'core' of the nature of the interior and structure of Mars, well below the observations we've been able to make from orbit or the surface," John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement.
A low-cost Mars mission InSight short for Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport is the latest of NASA's Discovery-class missions, and its cost will be capped at $425 million in 2010 dollars (excluding the launch vehicle). [Mars InSight Lander Mission Revealed (Gallery)]
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After driving all around Mars with four rovers, NASA wants to look deep into the guts of the red planet.
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NASA has decided to take a much deeper look inside Mars to try to figure out why the Red Planet evolved so differently from Earth.
The space agency announced late on Monday that it will launch a new mission in 2016, named InSight, to hopefully figure out whether the core of Mars is solid or liquid like Earth's, and why Mars' crust is not divided into tectonic plates that drift like they do on Earth.
"The exploration of Mars is a top priority for NASA, and the selection of InSight ensures we will continue to unlock the mysteries of the Red Planet and lay the groundwork for a future human mission there," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "The recent successful landing of the Curiosity rover has galvanised public interest in space exploration and today's announcement makes clear there are more exciting Mars missions to come."
The announcement about the upcoming mission comes just two weeks after NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity, landed on the Martian surface. Curiosity, NASA's largest and best equipped Mars rover yet, is on a two-year mission to try to discover if the planet ever has been able to support life, even in microbial form.
The 2016 mission, which will be run by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), will involve a lander that carries two cameras, a robotic arm and a thermal probe that will pierce the Martian surface to gauge the planet's temperature. Scientists are hoping that will give them clues as to how Mars is cooling.
The lander, which is expected to land in a flat equatorial area, also will be designed with a sensor that should gauge how much Mars wobbles on its axis. It will also carry an instrument to measure seismic waves traveling through the planet's interior.
"This is science that has been compelling for many years," said John M. Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "We're very confident that this will produce exciting science and that we will launch in 2016. Does Mars have an active seismic structure today? I am really excited to answer that."
InSight will be part of NASA's Discovery-class series of missions. The Discovery program, which was launched in 1992, sponsored cost-capped, scientific missions to explore the solar system.
The cost of this geological mission is capped at $425 million, though that does not include the cost of the launch vehicle or related services. And the $425 estimate was made in 2010 and does not take inflation into account for a mission scheduled for 2016.
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NASA unveils 'InSight', the next mission to probe Mars' core in 2016
At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, some of the most brilliant minds in the world work to build the spacecraft that humans use to explore their universe. But where space scientists now roam, dinosaurs used to call home, according to dino-hunter Ray Stanford.
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(LiveScience) At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, some of the most brilliant minds in the world work to build the spacecraft that humans use to explore their universe. But where space scientists now roam, dinosaurs used to call home, according to dino-hunter Ray Stanford.
Stanford has discovered the footprint of a lumbering, spiny dinosaur called a nodosaur in NASA's own backyard on the Goddard Space Flight Center campus. NASA officials aren't disclosing the precise location of the print, fearing that someone might damage or try to remove the fossilized track.
The dinner-plate-sized footprint bears the mark of four dino toes. It belongs to a nodosaur, a tank-like, armored beast studded with bony protuberances that roamed the area about 110 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, which lasted from about 125 million to 65 million years ago. Nodosaurs were plant-eaters, and this one appeared to be moving quickly across the Cretaceous mud, as its heel did not sink deeply into the ground. [See Images of the Ancient Dino-Print]
Stanford, an amateur paleontologist who has had several papers published, confirmed his find with Johns Hopkins University dinosaur expert David Weishampel. On Aug. 17, Stanford shared the location of the find with Goddard officials and with Washington Post reporter Brian Vastag, who made the discovery public the same day.
Stanford also found several smaller dinosaur footprints in the area, likely from meat-eating theropods. He called the location "poetic."
"Space scientists may walk along here, and they're walking exactly where this big, bungling heavy-armored dinosaur walked, maybe 110 to 112-million years ago," Stanford told Goddard officials.
Maryland is no spring chicken when it comes to dinosaur fossils; in fact, the corridor between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Md., is known as "Dinosaur Alley," because so many of the beasts' fossils were discovered during iron mining in the 18th and 19th centuries, according to Weishampel. "Today, Maryland remains the only source of Early Cretaceous dinosaur fossils on the East Coast," he wrote in a 1996 article for Johns Hopkins University magazine.
Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappasor LiveScience @livescience. We're also on Facebook& Google+.
Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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NASA plans to launch a relatively modest Mars lander in 2016 that will make a rocket-powered descent to the surface to study whether the red planet's core is solid or liquid and whether the planet has tectonic plates that slowly move like continents on Earth, agency managers said Monday.
The primary goals of the cost-capped Discovery-class mission are to learn more about what shaped Mars' evolution and why the planet turned out so similar, and yet so different, than Earth.
"This has been something that has interested the scientific community for many years," NASA science chief John Grunsfeld, an astronomer and former space shuttle astronaut, told reporters in an afternoon teleconference. "Seismology, for instance, is the standard method by which we've learned to understand the interior of the Earth and we have no such knowledge for Mars.
"This has been something that the principal investigator has been trying to get to Mars for nearly three decades. So I'm really thrilled that this is now at a mature stage where he has been able to propose something that squarely fits within the cost and schedule constraints of the Discovery program."
Called InSight, for Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, the new spacecraft will use the same basic design as NASA's successful Phoenix Mars probe, a traditional legged lander that touched down near the north polar cap of Mars in May 2008. InSight will be equipped with a robotic arm, along with two black-and-white cameras and a geodetic instrument provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to measure the planet's rotation axis.
The French national space agency, the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, or CNES, will provide a sophisticated seismometer and the German Aerospace Center, or DLR, will provide a subsurface probe to measure heat flow from the interior.
The mission will be led by Principal Investigator W. Bruce Banerdt of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Launch is targeted for March 2016 with landing on Mars expected around September 20, 2016.
"This is a well-focused science objective. It's really all about understanding the formation and evolution of our terrestrial planets," said James Green, director of NASA's planetary science division. "We know that the interior of the Earth has been modified over time through plate tectonics and its evolution. Mars, we're really clueless about it. We're really clueless about its interior. Its proximity to Jupiter may also provide us additional clues on why it is the size it is, why isn't it bigger, what is its structure like? ... It's a unique opportunity."
As a Discovery-class mission, InSight's cost is capped at $425 million, excluding the price of its launcher. In contrast, the Mars Science Laboratory rover -- Curiosity -- that landed on Mars two weeks ago cost some $2.5 billion. Unlike Curiosity, however, InSight will be strictly stationary and will feature a much more modest suite of instruments.
"The InSight mission will seek to understand the evolutionary formation of rocky planets, including Earth, by investigating the interior structure and processes of Mars," according to the mission website. "InSight will also investigate the dynamics of Martian tectonic activity and meteorite impacts, which could offer clues about such phenomena on Earth."
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(SPACE.com) The California Institute of Technology will manage NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for at least five more years, the space agency has announced.
The $8.5 billion contract runs through Sept. 30, 2017, ensuring that Caltech will be at the helm when NASA's newest mission to Mars -- a JPL-led lander called InSight -- arrives at the Red Planet in 2016. The Pasadena-baseduniversity has managed the nearbyJet Propulsion Laboratory since 1958, when the lab was transferred from military to NASA jurisdiction.
"We are very pleased to be continuing our partnership with NASA," Caltech president Jean-Lou Chameau said in a statement announcing the deal Friday (Aug. 17). "Through this sustained collaboration, we ensure that JPL continues to be a national resource for space exploration, scientific leadership, technology and discovery, as well as an inspiration for young scientists and engineers."
JPL is NASA's lead center for unmanned planetary exploration, and it also manages NASA's Mars Exploration Program. The space agency currently has two orbiters observing the Red Planet from above and two robots active on its surface, including the 1-ton Curiosity rover, which landed on Aug. 5.
On Monday (Aug. 20), NASA announced that it aims to send another mission to Mars in 2016. InSight -- short for Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport -- will drop a lander on the Red Planet in September of that year to probe whether Mars' core is liquid or solid, and why the planet's crust apparently isn't composed of shifting tectonic plates like Earth's is.
The $425 million InSight will be managed by JPL, as is Curiosity's $2.5 billion mission, which is formally known as the Mars Science Laboratory. MSL seeks to determine if Mars is, or ever was, capable of supporting microbial life.
Both Caltech and JPL are located in Pasadena. JPL director Charles Elachi also serves as a vice president of the university, and the Mars rover Curiosity's lead scientist is John Grotzinger, a Caltech professor.
Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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