09-07-2012 01:18 More than 800 images were stitched together to create this image of the Mars surface. *Videos:

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Mars Rover NASA Images - Video

Nasa scientists say crater, formed by an impact billions of years ago, is the largest yet encountered • See images from the rover's mission to Mars It could be the Sahara or Egypt's Western Desert, but this sand-covered crater is the latest image from Mars. The picture was taken from US space agency Nasa's Mars exploration rover, Opportunity, close to where the robotic unit spent the winter ...

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Mars crater image beamed back by Nasa rover Opportunity

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This Wednesday NASA will launch its High Resolution Coronal Imager (HI-C) mission from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, sending a sounding rocket above the atmosphere with some of the best mirrors ever made to capture incredibly-detailed ultraviolet images of our Sun.

HI-C will use a state-of-the-art imaging system to focus on a region near the center of the Sun about 135,000 miles (271,000 km) across. During its brief flight only ten minutes long HI-C will return some of the most detailed images of the Suns corona ever acquired, with a resolution five times that of previous telescopes including NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory.

While SDO collects images in ten wavelengths, however, HI-C will focus on just one: 193 Angstroms, a wavelength of ultraviolet radiation that best reveals the structures of the Suns corona present in temperatures of 1.5 million kelvin. And although HI-Cs mirrors arent any larger than SDOs about 9.5 inches in diameter they are some of the finest ever made. In addition, an interior maze between mirrors effectively increases HI-Cs focal length.

Researchers expect HI-Cs super-smooth mirrors to resolve coronal structures as small as 100 miles (160 km) across (0.1 arcsec/pixel).

Other instruments in space cant resolve things that small, but they do suggest after detailed computer analysis of the amount of light in any given pixel that structures in the suns atmosphere are about 100 miles across, said Jonathan Cirtain, project scientist for HI-C at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center. And we also have theories about the shapes of structures in the atmosphere, or corona, that expect that size. HI-C will be the first chance we have to see them.

One of the main goals of HI-C will be to place significant new constraints on theories of coronal heating and structuring, by observing the small-scale processes that exist everywhere in hot magnetized coronal plasma and establishing whether or not there are additional structures below what can currently be seen.

This instrument could push the limits on theories of coronal heating, answering questions such as why the temperature of the suns corona is millions of degrees higher than that of the surface, said Marshalls Dr. Jonathan Cirtain, heliophysicist and principle investigator on the mission.

Read more on the NASA news release here.

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NASA To Launch The Finest Mirrors Ever Made

Former NASA administrator Richard Truly told a National Research Council committee on June 26 that he was utterly confused about NASAs current direction. (credit: J. Foust)

NASA may have had its issues over the years, from strained budgets to programs running behind schedule and over budget, but one thing it has never suffered from is a lack of advice. While the space agency has its own sounding boards, in the form of the NASA Advisory Council and the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, there have been plenty of external reviews of the agencys aims and efforts, often created at the behest of the White House or Congress. The result has been a steady stream of reports offering insights and recommendationsalthough that advice often remains trapped on the pages of those reports, never to be implemented by NASA or its overseers on either end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Another exercise in studying NASAs present situation and offering advice for the agency is underway. The fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill that funded NASA included report language directing the agency to undertake an independent assessment of its strategic direction. That study, the report mandated, would evaluate whether NASAs overall strategic direction remains viable and whether agency management is optimized to support that direction.

NASA brought in the National Research Council to perform the NASAs Strategic Direction study, which is currently underway. The committee has held a pair of public meetings, including one in late June that included presentations by a number of current NASA officials, including administrator Charles Bolden. The June meeting also featured three of Boldens predecessors: Richard Truly, James Beggs, and Sean OKeefe. The perspectives of those former administrators in particular provided some interesting insights into both the agencys past and its future.

Some former administrators, in their comments to the committee, raised concern about the future direction of NASAor, more accurately, a perception that the agency lacks direction. I cant tell you how many times in the last few years I have been asked, What do you think of NASAs new direction? recalled Truly. And I cant answer that question. I am utterly confused.

Truly, who served as NASA administrator from 1989 to 1992, left the space field behind after leaving NASA, eventually taking a position as director of the Department of Energys National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado. He described himself to the committee today as a citizen who lives way out there in the country who watches NASAs activities from afar.

Truly said that after President George W. Bush announced the Vision for Space Exploration, whose elements included the retirement of the Space Shuttle, he got comfortable with the idea of ending the shuttle program to help fund the future exploration systems. But I never dreamed that the president then would not make another speech about the Vision after his January 2004 address at NASA Headquarters, Truly said, and the program was not properly funded. He sounded disappointed that, when the Obama Administration decided to cancel the Constellation program in 2010, it did not decide to keep the shuttle going.

The confusion he said he experiences about NASAs direction should be a concern, he warned. But if Im confused, and you multiply me by the millions of citizens who may also be confused, this is a dangerous situation for NASA. And thats the reason that makes this study so important.

Beggs, who was NASA administrator from mid-1981 through 1985, also expressed concern about NASAs direction in his comments to the committee later the same day. He noted NASAs 2011 strategic plan includes six specific goals, from extend and sustain human activities across the solar system to public outreach and fostering innovation.

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NASA's past considers its future

By IBTimes Staff Reporter | Jul 09, 2012 10:40 AM EDT

NASA released new photos on Thursday from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity with panoramic pictures showing the terrain over four months during the most recent Martian winter.

The pictures from the Pancam are a full-circle scene comprised of 817 images depicting the terrain where the rover was stationary over a four month period at a northward sloped outcrop called "Greeley Haven" between December 21, 2011 and May 8, 2012.

The rover has been stationed on Mars since January 2004 and most recently worked on Greeley Haven to:

1. Understand Martian spin axis dynamics and thus interior structure through radio-science observations

2. Investigate of the composition and textures of an outcrop exposing an impact-jumbled rock formation on the crater rim,

3. Monitor the atmosphere and surface for changes

4. Acquire a full-color mosaic of the surroundings

View the slideshow to see photos of Mars from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity and learn more about the project on Greeley Haven here.

NASA released new photos on Thursday from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity with panoramic pictures showing the terrain at Greeley Haven over four months during the most recent Martian winter.

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NASA Releases New Mars Rover Pictures During Martain Winter [PHOTOS]

One year (and one day) after launching on NASA's final space shuttle mission, the orbiter Atlantis is parked today just a few miles from the launch pad where it lifted off on July 8, 2011.

No longer flight-worthy its main engines replaced with replicas and its hazardous fuel lines removed Atlantis is waiting inside a high bay in the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building to complete its transformation into a museum-safe displaylater this year.

This November, NASA plans to roll Atlantis, the last of its space-flown shuttles, down the road to the center's visitor complex, where a $100 million exhibition hall for Atlantis will open to tourists next summer.

Like Atlantis and some of its parts, so too has dispersed the team that led STS-135, the final flight of NASA's 30-year shuttle program. A year since working together to fly one last mission to the International Space Station, the astronauts, Mission Control directors, and managers have since moved on to other missions, programs, and in some cases, other organizations.

The final four

Atlantis' four astronauts commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim stayed together as a crew for four months after flying the 13-day STS-135 missionfrom July 8 to July 21, 2011.

They toured NASA centers, spoke to the public about their mission, visited with President Obama in the White House and then finally, on Nov. 2, posed for photos together with the crew of the first space shuttle mission, STS-1 astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen. [NASA's Last Shuttle Mission in Pictures]

"We're done," Ferguson said that day, following the photo shoot. "Everyone goes their separate ways right now."

For Ferguson, that meant separating from NASA. On Dec. 9, Ferguson announced he was leaving the space agency. He accepted a position with Boeing, overseeing the design and development of the crew systems for their potential shuttle replacement, a capsule the company is calling the Commercial Space Transportation, or CST, 100.

Boeing's CST-100 is among a small group of commercial spacecraft competing for a NASA contract to fly astronauts to and from the space station. NASA is expected to reveal its choices of vehicles this summer.

More:

NASA's Final Space Shuttle Mission — Where Are They Now?

Nasa has released a panoramic image of Mars that it describes as "the next best thing" to being on the red planet.

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Nasa's Mars Panorama Is 'Like Being There'

Two scientific papers appear to have disproved a controversial claim made by NASA-funded scientists in 2010 that a new form of bacterial life had been discovered that could thrive on arsenic.

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Scientists say NASA's 'new form of life' was untrue

The US space agency NASA has recently pieced together a panoramic view from the camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, calling it the "next best thing to being" on the Red Planet.

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NASA Mars images 'next best thing to being there'

London, July 8 (ANI): NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has captured the most spectacular picture of Mars.

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NASA releases most spectacular pic of Mars ever taken

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VIDEO: Nasa releases image of Mars

WASHINGTON As air-show flyovers go, this one would be huge: a NASA space shuttle riding piggyback atop a massive 747 airliner.

That sight already has wowed crowds this year in New York and Washington, D.C., and promoter Bryan Lilley figured that Florida residents specifically, those at his air show should get one last shot at seeing the shuttle before NASA completes its delivery of the retired orbiters to museums nationwide.

So Lilley gambled.

Rather than schedule the Cocoa Beach Air Show during its usual time slot in late October, he moved the event to mid-September in hopes that the timing would coincide with the transfer of shuttle Endeavour from Kennedy Space Center to a Los Angeles museum.

But it didn't he missed by at least two days and now Lilley is pulling every string he can to persuade NASA to delay Endeavour's departure so that the orbiter and its 747 can take a star turn at his two-day air show, which starts Sept. 22.

"People will come from all over the country to see something like this," said Lilley, president of the air show.

So far, Lilley has recruited the help of Florida's two U.S. senators, Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, as well as U.S. Reps. Bill Posey and Sandy Adams. The four lawmakers asked NASA chief Charlie Bolden earlier this year to change the Endeavour departure date to accommodate the air show, as well as to honor the Kennedy Space Center.

"The event would not only provide a larger audience for the flight, it would give the dedicated space shuttle workforce a final chance to bid farewell alongside their Space Coast friends and family," the four Florida legislators wrote to Bolden.

So far, though, NASA has said no.

"In order to maintain delivery schedules and minimize cost, logistical complexity and liability, NASA does not plan to have the orbiter take part in the air show, though the agency appreciates the invitation and interest," NASA wrote.

Excerpt from:

Promoter urges NASA to fly space shuttle over his air show

Media representatives are invited to a briefing on Tuesday, July 10 at 9 a.m. BST at the 2012 Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, England. NASA and industry officials will discuss the importance of the space program and the role of cost-efficient product development in the emerging new era of space travel and exploration.

Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters, Washington, and Siegfried Russwurm, CEO of Siemens Industry Sector, Erlangen, Germany, will provide details and answer questions about the importance of government and industry collaboration to maximize productivity and efficiency in space exploration. The briefing will take place the Hendon Room in the airshow's media center.

Siemens software contributed to the development of NASA's most advanced planetary rover, Curiosity, which will land on the surface of Mars on Aug. 6 at 1:31 a.m. EDT. This mobile science laboratory will assess whether the past or present Martian environment could support life. The software was used for modeling during development of the rover.

Media representatives attending the air show that would like to participate in the briefing should register online at: https://www.industry-meeting.com/event/microsite/22/sign-up/

The Farnborough International Airshow is an annual event featuring a host of activities, exhibits, and static and aerial demonstrations by aerospace companies worldwide.

For information about NASA's Curiosity rover, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl

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NASA Mars Program Offical Discusses New Era Of Space Exploration

By Jeff Stone | Jul 07, 2012 11:33 PM EDT

NASA released this week a stunning image produced by combining 817 photographs it was able to capture via the panoramic camera, or Pancam, on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity between Dec. 21 and May 8.

North is at the center of the so-called Greeley Panorama image, and south is at both ends, according to NASA.

"During the recent four months that Opportunity worked at Greeley Haven, activities included radio-science observations to better understand Martian spin axis dynamics and thus interior structure, investigations of the composition and textures of an outcrop exposing an impact-jumbled rock formation on the crater rim, monitoring the atmosphere and surface for changes, and acquisition of this full-color mosaic of the surroundings," NASA reported.

"The panorama combines exposures taken through Pancam filters centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet)." NASA said. "The view is presented in false color to make some differences between materials easier to see."

Opportunity has been working on Mars since January 2004.

The so-called Greeley Panorama was produced by combining 817 photographs NASA was able to capture via the panoramic camera, or Pancam, on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity between Dec. 21 and May 8.

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New Mars Exploration Rover Image Released By NASA [PHOTO]

click here to continue to article cliquez ici pour lire l'article weiter zum Artikel clicca qui per visualizzare l'articolo weiter zum Artikel ir a la noticia klik hier om door te gaan naar het artikel Yazya devam etmek iin tklayn Tovbb a cikkre

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NASA's Mars panorama is breathtaking

The Goddard robotic Satellite Servicing Center tests and refines satellite-servicing technologies and systems to be used in space. Credit: NASA

(Phys.org) -- Envision a space with more options and increased capacity: a place where aging and ailing satellites could place a service call for a helpful boost to the right orbit, a quick repair, or a fuel top-off to keep them operating longer. According to many of the speakers and attendees at NASAs Second International Workshop on On-Orbit Satellite Servicing, such long-discussed lifeline services are more than a dream of the future; they are options that could be achievable within the next five years.

On May 30-31, more than 240 international representatives gathered at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., to discuss international near-term satellite servicing plans and delve into the issues that could either stimulate or strangle the emerging commercial servicing industry. During the event, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) presented results to date from NASAs Robotic Refueling Mission on the International Space Station.

We were very excited to see such a diverse gathering of satellite manufacturers, fleet owners and operators, government representatives, and policy experts engaged in tackling the challenges to getting on-orbit satellite servicing off the ground, said Frank Cepollina, Associate Director of the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office (SSCO) at Goddard.

The message from these discussions was very clear, he continued. Satellite fleet owners and operators want servicing capabilities. The technology to do these sorts of tasks is ready now. We believe its the right time to make routine and reliable satellite servicing in orbit a reality.

After welcoming remarks by Goddard Center Director Christopher Scolese, plenary speakers Kay Sears of Intelsat General, Dr. Robert Ambrose of NASA, and Prof. Henry Hertzfeld of George Washington University kicked off the event. They verbally painted a vision of a satellite-servicing-enabled world, describing the technology needed to get there, and explaining the various legal, financial, insurance and policy challenges to be navigated.

More than thirty-five speakers and session leaders gave presentations, led panel discussions, and took audience questions during the event. Queries ranged from How much would satellite owners profit from life-extension versus repair services, to, What sort of low-cost features could be implemented on satellites now to make servicing easier in the future? Speakers included representatives of governments and private industries, satellite bus manufacturers, and fleet owners and operators, as well as representatives of insurance, finance, law, and policy. Presentations from the event are available at the SSCO Workshop website.

Attendees often referred to the Five Rs of On-Orbit Servicing, or the ability to remotely survey, relocate, refuel, repair, and replace individual parts of satellites in space. Participants also discussed the sixth R related to satellite servicing: the perceived risk the first mission would, by its very nature, carry and ultimately alleviate. Attendees agreed that this is a challenge best suited for NASA to resolve.

While there has been strong interest in these sort of capabilities for decades, robotic satellite servicing in geosynchronous Earth orbit the space highway for weather and communication satellites has never before been attempted, said Benjamin Reed, Workshop Chairman and the deputy project manager of SSCO. Consistent with the United States Space Policy, NASA is actively investigating ways to remove the perceived risk and jumpstart a commercial industry to provide cost-efficient servicing solutions to satellite manufacturers, owners, and ultimately consumers.

Were encouraged by the success of the recent SpaceX Dragon launch, he continued, and are exploring how an initial shared government/commercial servicing mission could initiate a fully commercial satellite servicing capability for America.

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NASA workshop discusses how On-Orbit Robotic Satellite-Servicing becomes reality

Excalibur Almaz Inc. (EAI) has successfully completed its Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) partnership with NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Through CCDev2, NASA is spurring innovation and development of safe, reliable and cost-effective spacecraft and launch vehicles capable of transporting astronauts to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station.

EAI, based in Houston, began exchanging technical information with NASA about its human spacecraft concept for low Earth orbit crew transportation in October 2011 under an unfunded Space Act Agreement (SAA). The company and NASA reviewed the design of the spacecraft, its systems requirements and compatibility with launch vehicle alternatives. Additional milestones included presentations on how the company plans to test and integrate its spacecraft in advance of a crewed launch. All of the EAI SAA milestones were completed by June 19.

"During this unfunded Space Act Agreement with EAI, NASA learned valuable information about how the company plans to upgrade the existing capsule with modern flight capabilities," CCP Manager Ed Mango said. "We commend the EAI team for completing all of their established milestones during this partnership."

EAI plans to upgrade human space capsules built and tested decades earlier with new internal systems and a service module. The spacecraft can accommodate three crew members and accompanying cargo during trips to low Earth orbit. It will consist of a reusable reentry capsule, launch abort system and expendable service module. EAI plans to outfit the spacecraft with the ability to land on the ground, rather than in the ocean.

"The interchange of technical information between the EAI team and the NASA Commercial Crew Program during the past year has been a very positive and important step toward the completion of our commercial transportation system," said Buckner Hightower, EAI chief executive officer. "NASA's feedback related to clarification of commercial crew transportation requirements was of significant assistance to support our efforts to provide safe, reliable and cost effective space transportation for both commercial and government customers."

All of NASA's industry partners continue to meet their established milestones in developing commercial crew transportation capabilities.

For more information about NASA's Commercial Crew Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

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NASA and Excalibur Almaz Inc. Complete Space Act Agreement

The chromosphere is a narrow layer above the photosphere that raises in temperature with height. The coloring of the chromosphere (deep red) is caused by the immense hydrogen supply it contains. Credit: NASA

WHITE SANDS, N.M., July 5 (UPI) -- A rocket carrying an instrument to study changing magnetic fields on the sun was launched from the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico Thursday, NASA said.

The Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph Investigation, or SUMI, will study the intricate, constantly shifting magnetism in a hard-to-observe area of the sun's low atmosphere called the chromosphere, the space agency said in a release.

The chromosphere is a thin layer of solar atmosphere sandwiched between the visible surface, the photosphere, and its atmosphere, the corona.

The magnetic fields lie at the heart of how the sun can create huge explosions of light such as solar flares, and eruptions of particles such as coronal mass ejections, referred to as the solar "wind."

While there are already instruments, both on the ground and in space, that can measure these fields, none of them can see the layer SUMI will observe, NASA said.

Understanding the structure of the magnetic fields in this region will help scientists understand how the corona is heated and how the solar wind is formed, the release said.

The flight of SUMI, lasted about 8 minutes, and is considered a test flight to make sure the instrument works and to assess possible improvements, researchers said.

"With the knowledge we get from a successful SUMI mission, we can go on to build space-based instrumentation that will help us understand the processes that form flares and CME's and help us predict space weather," Jonathan Cirtain, a solar scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., said.

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NASA launches sun-scanning instrument

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Media are invited to attend a panel session featuring current and former NASA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronauts at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex near NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8 p.m. EDT on July 11.

The session is part of the International Space University's Space Studies Program being held this summer at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Fla., and Kennedy. Media interested in attending the session should contact Andrea Farmer, 321-449-4318, or Catherine Segar, 321-449-4273, for access to the facility.

The astronaut panel session has been a long-standing highlight of previous Space Studies Program sessions and provides the participants with different insights into various aspects of human spaceflight.

The session will be moderated by Robert Cabana, NASA Kennedy Space Center director and former astronaut.

Panelists include:

-Ken Bowersox, former NASA astronaut -Chiaki Mukai, JAXA astronaut -Garrett Reisman, senior engineer, SpaceX, and former NASA astronaut -Kent Rominger, vice president, advanced programs, launch systems, Alliant Techsystems, and former NASA astronaut -Winston Scott, dean, College of Aeronautics, Florida Institute of Technology, and former NASA astronaut -Nicole Stott, NASA astronaut -Jim Voss, director, advanced programs, Sierra Nevada Corp., and former NASA astronaut

For more information about the International Space University, visit: http://www.isunet.edu

For more information about NASA astronauts, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/astronauts

For more information about the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, visit: http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com

For more information about NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/kennedy

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NASA Invites Media to Astronaut Panel Session July 11

A long-lived NASA rover on Mars has beamed home a stunning panoramic view of the Red Planet, a spectacular panorama that a space agency description billed as the "next best thing to being there."

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Big Picture on Mars: NASA Rover Snaps Amazing Red Planet View