George Diller, the NASA Public Affairs information specialist who famously called the shuttle program's return to flight in 2005, retired last week.

SARASOTA George Diller, the longest-serving NASA launch commentator and a former Sarasota resident who famously called the space shuttle program's return to flight in 2005, has retired after 37 years.

Diller rotated as the voice of the space shuttle program and served as the launch commentator for NASA Television. He gave commentary for the final space shuttle mission with Atlantis in 2011; the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990; probes launched to the moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury and Pluto; and the Atlas V rocket that carried the Mars Laboratory and Curiosity rover.

The native Floridian grew up in Sarasota, St. Petersburg and Clearwater and holds degrees in communications and business administration from the University of South Florida in Tampa. Prior to working at NASA he spent 11 years in radio broadcasting at stations in Clearwater, Tampa, and Orlando.

In a video tribute to Diller, Kennedy Space Center director Bob Cabana noted that Diller had been doing his job for 33 years with NASA and four years as a contractor, including the last shuttle flight.

"We're really going to miss hearing your golden voice on console during launch," Cabana said.

Diller said it was amazing for him to work with so many different spacecraft and payloads and destinations, some of them interplanetary.

"To be five feet from something that is going to another planet, to me that's really exciting," Diller said.

Diller's expertise wasn't solely spacecraft and launches. He was was the liaison to the NASA-KSC Weather Office, the U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron, and the National Weather Service.

The man known for his smooth and calm delivery would wait out hurricanes as part of NASA's Rideout Team, and was a source for space journalists, according to NASA.

"When you're new to the press site, it's overwhelming," veteran space journalist Jim Banke explained in a NASA feature about Diller. "There's so much to learn, so many people to meet figuring out who to call, who to ask. He knew his stuff. He still knows his stuff."

NASA staff said Diller was headed for a well-deserved vacation a day after his retirement and was unavailable for comment.

Diller joked with Cabana during his last call that he wouldlikely miss the work before too long and tune in to hear the launches wherever his retirement takes him.

"You can take the boy out of the launch, but you can't take the launch out of the boy," Diller said. "That's probably the way I'm going to be after I retire."

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Former Sarasota resident and 'the voice' of NASA retires - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

NASA is set to launch a rocket that will create colorful artificial clouds over the U.S. East Coast to study part of the Earths atmosphere. The clouds should be visible from New York down to North Carolina, and as far west as Charlottesville, Virginia.

Live coverage of the mission will start at 8.30 p.m. ET. Viewers can watch the broadcast online below, or via the NASA Wallops Ustream site.

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The Sounding Rocket will create luminescent blue-green and red clouds in the sky via vapor canisters that will be released around five minutes after launchcurrently scheduled to take place from the Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, between 9:04 and 9:19 p.m. ET.

NASA had initially scheduled the launch for Sunday night, but had to postpone it because of boats being in the launch range hazard area. This is the fifth failed launch attempt for the mission, with previous attempts scrapped due to high winds and clouds as well as boats in the hazard zone.

Artist impression of the clouds, which should be visible from New York down to North Carolina, and as far west as Charlottesville, Virginia. NASA

The mission aims to study the ionosphere and auroraby creating these colorful fake clouds, scientists will be able to visually track the motions of particles in space.

NASA will deploy 10 canisterseach about the size of a soft drink canat altitudes of between 96 and 124 miles to create the clouds. These canisters will eject vapor tracers that form as a result of the interaction of barium, strontium and cupric-oxide.

The clouds pose no risk to people living along the mid-Atlantic coast.

Once the clouds form, scientists will be able work out particle motion over an area far larger than has ever been possible before.

Earths upper atmosphere extends over 620 miles into space and scientists would extend understanding of this region by studying particle motions. The movement of neutral and ionized gases are important to understand as they reveal how mass and energy are transported from one region to another. These movements also respond to changes in the suns activity, the space agency said.

Map showing the projected visibility of the vapor tracers. NASA

The artificial clouds allow NASA to track these changes: Vapor tracer payloads are used to measure atmospheric winds and/or ion drifts in the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. They carry small amounts of gas into space in a canister that are then released along a portion of the rocket trajectory.

The small amount of gas is then visible from the ground. By tracking their motions directly with cameras on the ground (or in an airplane), these tracers make it possible to observe the movements of the upper atmosphere or the ionosphere directly.

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How to Watch NASA Create Colorful Clouds Over New York and the East Coast - Newsweek

By Anastaisia Dawson / Tampa Bay Times via Gatehouse Media

TAMPA He's not allowed to bring his hair dryer, popcorn or his snack of choice: sardines.

But when spending 10 days at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, trapped inside a facility he likens to a "30-foot RV with an unusually small bathroom," Dominic D'Agostino said it's best that the only sardines aboard are the six members of his crew: astronauts and researchers with NASA and the European Space Agency.

Their assignment, the 22nd NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO expedition, will take them 6 miles off the coast of Key Largo and 60 feet below the ocean's surface to an underwater research laboratory called the Aquarius. It's the closest astronauts can get to experiencing the conditions they'll face on the surface of Mars, the moon or a deep-space asteroid without leaving Earth, he said.

D'Agostino, a professor of molecular pharmacology and physiology at the University of South Florida's Hyperbaric Biomedical Research Laboratory, is the only crew member not employed by a space agency program. He's joining the mission to research how astronauts' diets could help them endure the extreme environments they visit on space missions.

"I'm extremely humbled, nervous in some ways, but mainly just excited and amazed to be a part of research that we could see applied to deep space missions that start taking off within the decade," D'Agostino said. "The moon missions sparked the most intense period of science and development the U.S. has ever seen, and I absolutely think we're about to get back to that. It gives me goosebumps."

Starting June 18, the crew will spend 10 days simulating space walks, studying how coral and other organisms survive the harsh conditions, and testing new technologies. Those include a drill that could be used to collect samples from the martian surface and equipment to help evacuate injured crew members during a space walk.

In addition to the NASA work D'Agostino will perform, he will also test whether his nutritional supplement is a good fit for the space program. While the rest of the crew will eat the traditional dehydrated, vacuum-packed "camping food" currently taken on space missions, D'Agostino will drink a powdered formula developed at USF, that fuels the body by burning fat instead of glucose in a metabolic state called "ketosis."

"It's like a super-advanced version of Tang that gives our body ketones, which is a superior source of energy that can enhance our mental function and protection from extreme environments," D'Agostino said.

As in space, all communications to mission control will be delayed by about 10 minutes, and if something goes wrong and the crew is forced to evacuate, the process required to pressurize their bodies will take about 19 hours.

Apart from some "funky skin lesions" a crew developed several years ago, D'Agostino says nothing has ever gone horribly wrong in past missions.

Still, it helps that he'll be in regular contact with his wife, USF cognitive neuroscientist Csilla Ari D'Agostino. In addition to serving as the support diver for the mission, which means brief dives down to Aquarius to deliver supplies to her husband, Csilla Ari D'Agostino's research team also will study the crew's mental and physical reactions to the many stresses they'll encounter, such as carbon dioxide levels as high as 20 times what they experience on earth.

"The gases they breath in, that get absorbed into their blood, can have extreme effects on their physiology and cognitive functions, especially in tight living quarters," she said.

The crew's schedule is designed to be "task loaded" and test the crew's sleep habits as well as changes in sensory processing speed, problem solving and memory. It will be challenging, but will also prevent boredom.

"Free time will be very limited, so it's almost like a day at work," Dominic D'Agostino said. "When we do have some time to breathe, the view from the office should be really incredible, just giant manta rays or barracudas swimming by."

The couple got to meet other crew members for several days of training at NASA facilities in Houston, and D'Agostino said he feels confident they can get along for at least 10 days.

"Dominic doesn't snore, but who knows if any of the others do," Csilla D'Agostino said. "More than anything, I think he'll just have fun. It's like a dream."

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USF professor joins undersea NASA trek - Daily Commercial

June 12, 2017 Tropical rainfall may increase more than previously thought as the climate warms. Credit: teresaaaa, CC BY-ND 2.0

A new study suggests that most global climate models may underestimate the amount of rain that will fall in Earth's tropical regions as our planet continues to warm. That's because these models underestimate decreases in high clouds over the tropics seen in recent NASA observations, according to research led by scientist Hui Su of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Wait a minute: how can fewer clouds lead to more rainfall? Globally, rainfall isn't related just to the clouds that are available to make rain but also to Earth's "energy budget"incoming energy from the sun compared to outgoing heat energy. High-altitude tropical clouds trap heat in the atmosphere. If there are fewer of these clouds in the future, the tropical atmosphere will cool. Judging from observed changes in clouds over recent decades, it appears that the atmosphere would create fewer high clouds in response to surface warming. It would also increase tropical rainfall, which would warm the air to balance the cooling from the high cloud shrinkage.

Rainfall warming the air also sounds counterintuitivepeople are used to rain cooling the air around them, not warming it. Several miles up in the atmosphere, however, a different process prevails. When water evaporates into water vapor here on Earth's surface and rises into the atmosphere, it carries with it the heat energy that made it evaporate. In the cold upper atmosphere, when the water vapor condenses into liquid droplets or ice particles, it releases its heat and warms the atmosphere.

The new study is published in the journal Nature Communications. It puts the decrease in high tropical cloud cover in context as one result of a planet-wide shift in large-scale air flows that is occurring as Earth's surface temperature warms. These large-scale flows are called the atmospheric general circulation, and they include a wide zone of rising air centered on the equator. Observations over the last 30 to 40 years have shown that this zone is narrowing as the climate warms, causing the decrease in high clouds.

Su and colleagues at JPL and four universities compared climate data from the past few decades with 23 climate model simulations of the same period. Climate modelers use retrospective simulations like these to check how well their numerical models are able to reproduce observations. For data, the team used observations of outgoing thermal radiation from NASA's spaceborne Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) and other satellite instruments, as well as ground-level observations.

Su's team found that most of the climate models underestimated the rate of increase in precipitation for each degree of surface warming that has occurred in recent decades. The models that came closest to matching observations of clouds in the present-day climate showed a greater precipitation increase for the future than the other models.

Su said that by tracing the underestimation problem back to the models' deficiencies in representing tropical high clouds and the atmospheric general circulation, "This study provides a pathway for improving predictions of future precipitation change."

Explore further: Thin tropical clouds cool the climate

More information: Hui Su et al. Tightening of tropical ascent and high clouds key to precipitation change in a warmer climate, Nature Communications (2017). DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15771

Journal reference: Nature Communications

Provided by: NASA

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NASA data suggest future may be rainier than expected - Phys.Org

NASA Uses 100 Year Old Experiment To Measure A Star's Mass [Infographic] Forbes In 1915 Einstein came up with his theory of relativity which tells us that massive objects warp space. Four years later British astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington was able to prove this theory true by measuring how the Sun's gravity deflected the light of ... and more »

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NASA Uses 100 Year Old Experiment To Measure A Star's Mass [Infographic] - Forbes

Enlarge / The Ixion "space lab" docked to the International Space Station.

NanoRacks

Even before NASA landed humans on the Moon during the Apollo program, some of its engineers had already begun to consider what to do for an encore. Most agreed that the next logical step was to establish some sort of toehold in low Earth orbit, a kind of space station, in the early 1970s after the Moon landings.

Initially, Wernher von Braun and others at Marshall Space Flight Center pushed the concept of a "wet workshop."The plan, devised in 1966, called for launches of two Saturn IB rockets about one day apart. One would have crew, the other would not. Once in orbit, the astronauts would make the S-IVB upper stage of the first uncrewed rocket habitable by installing life-support equipment in the stage's hydrogen tank to create a working environment.

This concept became known as the "wet workshop," because the upper stage would launch full of hydrogen fuel, which would be expended to help the vehicle reach orbit. Eventually engineers at Johnson Space Center convinced NASA Headquarters that this would prove too challenging and came up with the concept of a "dry workshop," pre-modifying an S-IVB upper stage on the ground and then launching it without fuel. Eventually NASA flew three of these Skylab missions in 1973 and 1974.

Now, a group of three US companies is proposing to revive the "wet workshop" concept. As part of a NASA-led competition to develop a deep space habitat for NASA, Houston-basedNanoRacks is developing a plan to repurpose used second stages of rockets built by United Launch Alliance. Another firm,Space Systems Loral, will provide robotic outfitting capabilities. The group has just formally signed a contract with NASA to formally study the feasibility of the idea.

The founder of NanoRacks, Jeff Manber, provided more information about the partnership in a blog post on Monday morning. "This innovative approach offers a pathway that is more affordable and involves less risk than fabricating modules on the ground and subsequently launching them into orbit," he wrote.

Started as a company to expedite the delivery of scientific research onto the space station, NanoRacks has big dreams. It has evolved into a company that delivers more CubeSats into low Earth orbit than any other company, and it views the development of small, orbital space stations as the next step toward expanding business activity in outer space.

The company already has an agreement for a "handful" of spent Centaur upper stages, which burn liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and fly on top of Atlas V rockets. Currently the stages are discarded after use. Over the coming months, with funding from NASA likely valued at around $10 million, NanoRacks and its partners will study how best to transform an upper stage into a habitable environment. It seems like a big, big challenge.

A few years ago the NASA engineer who managed the Apollo Applications Program from Johnson Space Center in the 1960s, Robert Thompson, told Ars that the wet workshop "was just about the dumbest idea I've ever heard. And I've heard a lot of dumb ideas." That is the kind of challenge now facing NanoRacks as itseeks to recycle upper stages. But the incredible payoff, essentially "free" space stations in orbit or deep space, seems worth grasping for.

Working in space hasn't gotten any easier, of course, in the last 50 years. But engineers today have some advantages their counterparts didn't when working on wet workshop designs 50 years ago. Perhaps most important, they have decades of experience with working on vehicles such as the International Space Station in orbit that have answered a lot of unknowns about the behavior of vehicles and materials in microgravity.

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After 50 years, a private company will revive NASA's wet workshop - Ars Technica

NASA's 2017 astronaut candidates round up for a group photo on Tuesday at Ellington Field near Johnson Space Center. The 12 pictured are, front row, left to right, Zena Cardman, Jasmin Moghbeli, Robb Kulin, Jessica Watkins, Loral O'Hara; back row, left to right, Jonny Kim, Frank Rubio, Matthew Dominick, Warren Hoburg, Kayla Barron, Bob Hines and Raja Chari. NASA hide caption

NASA's 2017 astronaut candidates round up for a group photo on Tuesday at Ellington Field near Johnson Space Center. The 12 pictured are, front row, left to right, Zena Cardman, Jasmin Moghbeli, Robb Kulin, Jessica Watkins, Loral O'Hara; back row, left to right, Jonny Kim, Frank Rubio, Matthew Dominick, Warren Hoburg, Kayla Barron, Bob Hines and Raja Chari.

Just as class lets out for the summer across the country, a new one has just been announced.

NASA has chosen 12 people from a pool of more than 18,300 applicants for two years of training before giving them the title of "astronaut."

The space agency received a record number of applicants after announcing an open application in December 2015.

Jasmin Moghbeli, one of the dozen candidates, spoke with NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro from Houston's Johnson Space Center, where she'll undertake the training program starting in August.

Moghbeli, who says she's wanted to be an astronaut since the sixth grade, talked about what kind of candidate it takes to earn the coveted spot.

"Start looking into science, technology, engineering, math, those kinds of fields," the German-born, New York native says. But whatever you do, she says, love it.

"There were many other applicants that applied who were extremely qualified for this position that aren't lucky enough to be sitting up here like I am," she adds. "So make sure you're doing what you love. If I did not get the call saying, 'Hey can you join us here at NASA?' I still would've been extremely happy in the career that I was in."

The seven men and five women of the class bring an impressive resume to NASA: The astronaut candidates are an athletic crew and include former SpaceX employees, a marine biologist and half of them are military officers.

"You are the 12 who made it through, you have joined the elites, you are the best of us," Vice President Mike Pence said at a ceremony introducing the candidates Wednesday. "These are 12 men and women whose personal excellence and whose personal courage will carry our nation to even greater heights of discovery."

Current and alum NASA astronauts welcomed the newest class in a video last week.

You can find the full biographies of each new class member on NASA's site, or meet the candidates below the interview highlights.

NPR radio producer Malika Gumpangkum and editor Ed McNulty contributed to this report.

On the application and job interview process

It starts out a little underwhelming you just submit your resume on USAjobs[.gov] and, in addition to that, just my summary of my aeronautical experience so basically my piloting time. So that's the first step, as I said, very simple. But then from there, they select highly qualified applicants and send reference forms out to you, five of your references and then that's where it got interesting.

They slimmed it down to 120 applicants and they brought us in in groups of 10. The first round was three days of interviews you know, only three days I could say I got so close to that group of nine other people and we still keep in touch. And then, the final round, they pair it down to 50 people, and again, 10 at a time, but this time it's a week-long process. So you can imagine, you get really close with the other applicants, and I left that thinking: Wow, I want this job even more, based on the incredible people I've met, both at NASA and the applicants, but also thinking: if I don't get it, someone very deserving will get it, 'cause every single one of them had a very impressive resume.

On the toughest question she was asked

First they asked, three words friends would use to describe me, which, I didn't have a problem with that, but then they asked one word I would use to describe myself, and I don't know, it's just tough to pick one word. And out of nowhere I said, "intense," and I think I was just feeling intense in that moment in the interview, but I don't know that that's really the single word I would use to describe myself.

On wanting to be an astronaut from a young age

I did a book report on Valentina Tereshkova, the first female in space, got to dress up like her in school for a day. I'd always been interested in science, math, technology, that sort of thing always drew me in. And, added to that, the sense of adventure and exploration, you know, I thought space exploration was the coolest thing. So yeah, I've wanted to do this for a very long time.

On why so many people want to be an astronaut today

I think it's one of those things that ignites our imagination. I remember when I was a kid in history class, reading about the explorers who would travel across the ocean and discover new continents and, you know, different worlds to them at the time. And this is kind of our modern-day version of that. We're going off and exploring where we've never been before. One, the teamwork at NASA, I think people are pretty familiar with NASA's record and the incredible things that have been accomplished here. And it's just really impressive to see when you bring a group of smart, hardworking people together what you can accomplish. So, I think all those things get people excited and that's why it's almost like, even as an adult, gets you excited like a little kid.

On what she's being trained on

There are a lot of things on the horizon right now, I know learning about the systems on the [International] Space Station will be part of our training over the next two years. But they're training us, and like I said, there's a possibility of a range of missions that we could go into.

Right now, both Boeing and SpaceX are working on commercial crew vehicles the CST-100 Starliner and the Dragon vehicle. ... And then NASA itself is working on the Orion. So, a lot of new, exciting things coming up that we could potentially be doing in the near future. ... If they could assign me any mission, I'd be overjoyed.

On her message to young girls, particularly of color

That is one of the most exciting things about this job for me. Not just exploring space and that stuff but also getting the message out to the younger generation and getting them excited. If they can see someone similar to them that they can relate to more, then it makes it all that much more possible in their minds to imagine them doing this as well. So, to them I say, do what you love and do it well.

Jasmin Moghbeli, 33, major, U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown: Baldwin, N.Y.

Moghbeli earned a bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering with Information Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by a master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. She's also a noted graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School and has flown more than 1,600 hours and completed 150 combat missions.

Jasmin Moghbeli NASA hide caption

At the time of her selection, Moghbeli was testing H-1 helicopters and serving as the quality assurance and avionics officer for Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron 1 of the U.S. Marine Corps in Yuma, Ariz.

Kayla Barron, 29, lieutenant, U.S. Navy

Kayla Barron NASA hide caption

Hometown: Richland, Wash.

She graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering, followed by a master's degree in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Cambridge. As a submarine warfare officer, Barron was part of the first class of women hired to the submarine community. She's currently the flag aide to the superintendent at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Zena Cardman, 29

Hometown: Williamsburg, Va.

Zena Cardman NASA hide caption

Cardman earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Master of Science in Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow is finishing her doctorate at Pennsylvania State, where she studies microorganisms in caves, deep sea sediments and other subterranean environments. Her fieldwork includes multiple Antarctic expeditions working as a scientist aboard research vessels, as well as NASA analog missions across North America.

Raja Chari, 39, lieutenant colonel, U.S. Air Force

Hometown: Cedar Falls, Iowa

Raja Chari NASA hide caption

He graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy with bachelor's degrees in Astronautical Engineering and Engineering Science, before earning a master's degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, and now serves as the commander of the 461st Flight Test Squadron and the director of the F-35 Integrated Test Force at California's Edwards Air Force Base.

Matthew Dominick, 35, lieutenant commander, U.S. Navy

Matthew Dominick NASA hide caption

Hometown: Wheat Ridge, Colo.

Dominick earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of San Diego and a Master of Science in Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. He also graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Dominick was at sea on the USS Ronald Reagan, heading the Strike Fighter Squadron 115, when he was selected as a candidate.

Bob Hines, 42

Bob Hines NASA hide caption

Hometown: Harrisburg, Penn.

The NASA research pilot earned both a bachelor's (Boston University) and master's degree (University of Alabama) in Aerospace Engineering. He's also a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, and has served in the Air Force and Air Force Reserves for 18 years.

Warren "Woody" Hoburg, 31

Warren "Woody" Hoburg NASA hide caption

Warren "Woody" Hoburg

Hometown: Pittsburgh, Penn.

Hoburg got his bachelor's degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned a doctorate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley. He comes to NASA from MIT, where he's an assistant professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Jonny Kim, 33, lieutenant, U.S. Navy

Jonny Kim NASA hide caption

Hometown: Los Angeles

The Navy SEAL has completed more than 100 combat operations, earning a Silver Star and Bronze Star with Combat "V." He went on to earn his Mathematics degree at the University of San Diego and his doctorate at Harvard Medical School.

Robb Kulin, 33

Hometown: Anchorage, Alaska

Robb Kulin NASA hide caption

The Fulbright fellow earned a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Denver, a master's degree in Materials Science and a doctorate in Engineering at UC San Diego.

Also a private pilot, Kulin has experience as an ice driller in Antarctica, and as a commercial fisherman in Chignik, Alaska. He comes to NASA from SpaceX in California, where he's senior manager for flight reliability, heading the Launch Chief Engineering team.

Loral O'Hara, 34

Hometown: Sugar Land, Texas

The certified EMT and private pilot earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Kansas and a Master of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University. As a student, she participated in NASA's KC-135 Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and interned at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. O'Hara also spent four years working on design and engineering to upgrade Alvin, the human-occupied deep-sea submersible.

Loral O'Hara NASA hide caption

At the time she was selected for the candidacy program, the research engineer was working at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

Francisco "Frank" Rubio, 41, major, U.S. Army

Hometown: Miami, Fla.

The father of four graduated from the U.S. Military Academy with a bachelor's degree in International Relations and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences with a Doctorate of Medicine. He's flown some 1,100 hours as a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter pilot, with more than half of that time in combat during deployments to Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Frank Rubio NASA hide caption

Also a certified family physician, Rubio was working as a battalion surgeon for the 3rd Battalion of the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) of the U.S. Army when he was selected as a candidate.

Jessica Watkins, 29

Hometown: Lafayette, Colo.

Watkins earned her bachelor's degree in Geological and Environmental Sciences from Stanford University, where she also played for the school's rugby team. She went on to get a doctorate in Geology at UCLA, where she taught and studied landslides on Earth and Mars. Watkins' previous NASA experience includes internships at the agency's Ames Research Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Jessica Watkins NASA hide caption

At the time she was selected for the astronaut training program, she'd been working with the Mars Science Laboratory's rover, Curiosity, as a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology.

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Meet Your Lucky Stars: NASA Announces A New Class Of Astronaut Candidates - NPR

Look up in the sky tonight and you may see some strange blue-green and red clouds.

NASA is testing a new system supporting studies of the ionosphere, according to the Associated Press. The clouds are part of a sounding rocket launch from the Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague tonight, with liftoff scheduled between 9:04 and 9:19 p.m.

NASA has two ground stationsat Wallops and Duck, North Carolina, to view the clouds. But if skies are clear, the clouds should be visible along the Mid-Atlantic from New York to North Carolina.

Canisters will deploy between 4 and 5.5 minutes after launch releasing blue-green and red vapor to form artificial clouds, NASA said in a news release. These clouds, or vapor tracers, allow scientists on the ground to visually track particle motions in space.

The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will open at 8 p.m. for viewing the flight. For those who want to watch closer to home, NASA has released a visibility map.

Artificial clouds visibility map. Illustration courtesy NASA

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NASA releasing colorful artificial clouds tonight over Mid-Atlantic - Fauquier Times

Artificial clouds should be visible shortly after 9 p.m. EDT on June 11 from New York to North Carolina if a NASA sounding rocket launches on time from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

A small NASA rocket will launch to create colorful artificial clouds on Sunday night (June 11), and you can watch all the action live. Weather permitting, the launch could be visible to spectators on the U.S. East Coast from New York to North Carolina, NASA officials said.

The two-stage Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket is scheduled to lift off from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia between 9:04 p.m. and 9:19 p.m. EDT Sunday (0104 to 0119 GMT on Monday, June 12). You can watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of NASA; coverage begins at 8:30 p.m. EDT (0030 GMT on Monday).

You can also follow the flight on the Wallops Ustream site: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tv-wallops.

About 5 minutes after liftoff, the rocket will deploy 10 soft-drink-size canisters, which will release barium, strontium and cupric-oxide vapor to form blue-green and red artificial clouds.

"These clouds, or vapor tracers, allow scientists on the ground to visually track particle motions in space," NASA officials wrote in a mission update. "The clouds may be visible along the mid-Atlantic coastline from New York to North Carolina."

If you live near the Wallops Island area in Virginia and would like to watch the sounding rocket launch in person, NASA's Wallops Flight Facility Visitors Center will open to the public at 8 p.m. EDT. Because the launch is weather dependent, local spectactors and online viewers can recieve the latest updates from NASA via the Wallops centerFacebookandTwittersites.

The ampoule doors on the sounding rocket payload are open during testing at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Terrier-Improved Malemute rocket is scheduled to launch at 9:04 p.m. EDT on June 11, 2017.

The mission is designed to test a new multicanister ejection system that should allow researchers to gather data over a wider area than has been possible, agency officials added.

The rocket's total flight time will be about 8 minutes. The mission's main payload will hit the Atlantic Ocean about 90 miles (145 kilometers) off the Virginia coast and will not be recovered, NASA officials said.

The mission was originally supposed to lift off late last month, but it has been delayed several times by weather and once by a boat straying into the launch zone.

Editor's note:If you capture an amazing image of the sounding rocket launch or the colorful artificial clouds that you would like to share with Space.com and its news partners for a story or photo gallery, send photos and comments to:spacephotos@space.com.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

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Watch a NASA Rocket Create Colorful Artificial Clouds Over US East Coast Tonight! - Space.com

For at least six of the past 10 years, Ali Saed, a farmer, grew no crops. The rain in his little corner of northern Iraq was too meager, as was the flow of a nearby irrigation canal. He was only a few months away from ditching agriculture for good when he reached out to a distant relative, a government scientist in Baghdad. Saed was told some farmers had tapped groundwater stores, and he wondered if he might be able to do the same. By sizing up satellite images of the surrounding fields, the cousin identified a nearby dip layered with porous rock through which rainwater might once have seeped.

After pooling cash from his neighbors and calling in a drilling team, Saed hit wet pay dirt early last year. Thanks be to God, we found water, he says, straddling the new borehole on the periphery of his land. Finally, we can grow!

Thanks be to NASA too. Ever since it was established in 1958, Americas national space agency has produced a raft of invaluable scientific data. From tracking melting glaciers to identifying mineral deposits, its efforts to accumulate enormous troves of information have helped inform U.S. government decisions and spurred impressive breakthroughs. With up to 30 science-focused satellites in orbit at any one time, it even serves as a sort of one-stop life-saving shop for other countrieslike Iraqthat lack eyes in the sky. Since 2008, most NASA research has been freely available from its website.

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Of all the challenges NASA technology has faced on Earth, the one scientists in the Middle East are battling might prove its most daunting. Desperate to head off a regional water crisis, these experts have pinned their hopes on U.S. satellite imagery to boost water efficiency and sniff out additional water resources. At a time when droughts are growing more frequent and populations are booming from Yemen to Morocco, some suggest salvation by satellite might be the regions best chance of averting catastrophe. Already, we are unable to produce much of the food we need; its a crisis, says Farouk El-Baz, director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University, an adviser to Egypts president and a longtime NASA scientist. But if we can use satellite images to identify suitable water and places with the right soil for agriculture, then wed be very, very stupid not to use it. Aquifers in the Arabian Peninsula are so tapped out that some countriesnotably Saudi Arabiahave had to drop much of their agriculture.

]Nowhere has this technology proved more valuable than in the Middle East. Authorities in Jordan werent even sure what their farmers were growing until satellite imagery enabled them to build aerial crop maps. Theyve since cracked down on the cultivation of water-intensive plants, like rice. In Lebanon, where a dysfunctional political system has hampered data collection (there hasnt been a census since the 1930s for fear of upsetting the sectarian balance), satellite imagery has allowed officials to make up the shortfall in information on everything from urban planning to abuse of the food subsidy system. After analyzing the countrys farmland from above, the National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) worked out that farmers were growing roughly half the 20,000 hectares of wheat that theyd claimed. The government was subsequently able to slash its wheat subsidy handouts by over two-thirds.

NASA Terra spacecraft captured this image north of the present town of Al Hillal, Iraq, in the fertile plain between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers, where the site of the legendary city of Babylon lies. NASA

But its space technologys capacity to better regulate water usage, and therefore grow more food with fewer resources, thats really excited the science community. By gauging the temperature of a field, which if irrigated properly should be below that of the surrounding area, researchers can determine if a crop is water-stressed or, crucially in the Middle East, consuming more water than it needs. Through measuring the amount of moisture in tree canopies and snow melts, they can learn how much water theyll have to toy with in the first place. It enables us to make better predictions, to learn how much irrigation will be needed, to see if a country is in a state of drought, says Rachael McDonnell, head of the climate change modeling adaptation section at the Dubai-based International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), which frequently partners with NASA.

Unfortunately, the Middle East, already the worlds driest region, appears to be getting even drier. And so satellite imagery might really come into its own in the bleakest of circumstances. Using NASAs Landsat programthe Land Rover Defender of the data world, McDonnell calls itaid organizations have created drought and famine early-warning systems, through which they try to tackle crises before they worsen. They scan images for signs of desertification and look for indications of widespread vegetation stress. When Morocco was struck by a severe drought last year, which cut grain production by almost 60 percent and led to the loss of almost 200,000 agricultural jobs, remote-sensing analysts took the lead in pinpointing and directing assistance to the worst-affected areas.

Still, satellite imagerys rollout hasnt been without its problems, in large part because many governments have yet to recognize the technologys importance. On many occasions, quality research and useful data never reach policymakers, instead gathering dust on bureaucrats desks. One of the big problems in the entire Arab region is that we can do the science, but a lot of its just thrown in a drawer, says Chadi Abdallah, a researcher at Lebanons CNRS. In other instances, underappreciated national science institutes have been among the first to lose their funding during economic crises. Egypts lone science satellite, NileSat, is out of operation for financial reasons; Iraqs science and technology budget has been eviscerated. No manner of high-resolution data from the sky can help when theres no one on the books to interpret the often complicated raw information.

And then there are the security issues. Starting in the 1970s, when El-Baz, then working on the Apollo-Soyuz mission, first brought NASA images to Egypt, many intelligence services have taken a dim view of foreign space technology. Some still see it as overly sensitive, almost a form of spying, and try to regulate its use. In 2015, authorities in Cairo inexplicably denied entry to two American data analysts from the Department of Agriculture whod come to calibrate their satellite readings on the ground. Other security agencies have brought these institutions under their wingMoroccos Royal Center for Remote Sensing falls under the purview of its Ministry of Interior, rendering many of its findings inaccessible to independent researchers. In an unfortunate sign of the times, Lebanese scientists have found that even when they do identify problems via satellitein this instance, the growth of an invasive plant near Al-Qaa in the countrys northsometimes theres nothing they can do about it. The war [in neighboring Syria] prevents us from accessing certain areas. Were not allowed to go there, says Ghaleb Faour, director of the Center for Remote Sensing at CNRS.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of signs that satellite imagerys role in the Middle East will only get bigger, betterand perhaps slightly less reliant on NASA. Since the 1970s, Americans have dominated the remote sensing field, offering a mostly freeand by far the largestarchive of images. They even broadcast data directly from space to up to 20 countries at a time. We got a head start on the world, says James Irons, director of the Earth Sciences Division at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center.

Over the past few years, however, alternatives have emerged, a number of which offer superior resolutionand therefore a wider range of usesthan the Landsat satellites. The European Space Agency launched Sentinel 2A last year, and Sentinel 2B this year, both of which can arrow in more closely than most other publicly available satellites. The ESA recently made some of its data free for the first time, which is crucial given that most Middle Eastern scientists are operating on shoestring budgets. And some private satellite operators that have even superior resolution capabilities have been known to drop their prices when public research institutions ask. We find a way [to make it work] , says Kumar Navulur, interim president at DigitalGlobe, a U.S. company. Lebanons CNRS pays the company roughly $100,000 every five years to build detailed digital maps of the country. As satellite revisit times and image quality improve, researchers hope that skeptics within their own governments will come to see technologys value.

Above all, though, it increasingly looks as if satellite imagery might be one of the Middle Easts few means of confronting its terrifying array of environmental challenges. With most states in the region grappling with some kind of conflict or weak economy, water and food crises are worsening by the day. The solution, it seems, might well have to come from above. Particularly with climate change, we know were going to have less water. Were going to have to get much better at managing water across the entire board, says ICBAs McDonnell. Were going to have to be smart with satellite imagery.

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How NASA's Satellites Can Help Solve the Middle East Water Crisis - Newsweek

Morning Ticker

NASA just unveiled something absolutely shocking Morning Ticker An incredible new piece of equipment was just unveiled down in Florida by NASA, and it's a concept that could forever change man's mission to Mars. The space agency unveiled a Mars rover concept that will serve as an intermediary step toward an actual ... NASA Finds Evidence of Diverse Environments in Curiosity SamplesAstrobiology Magazine (registration) NASA's new Mars rover could be the future of space transportKomando NASA Unveils Mars Rover ConceptCitizen TV (press release) Times Now -Newstalk 106-108 fm -ScienceAlert all 17 news articles »

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NASA just unveiled something absolutely shocking - Morning Ticker

By SPACE.com Staff | June 9, 2017 06:20pm ET

A small NASA rocket will launch to create colorful artificial clouds Sunday night (June 11) at 9:04 p.m. EDT (0104 GMT on Monday), and you can watch all the action live here at Space.com. Coverage begins at 8:30 p.m. EDT (0030 GMT Monday).

You can also watch the liftoff, which will take place from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, at the Wallops Ustream site: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tv-wallops

From NASA:

"The window for a NASA Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket launch to test a new ampoule ejection system designed to support studies of the ionosphere and aurora opens June 11 and runs through June 18. Lift-off for a June 11 launch is scheduled between 9:04 and 9:19 p.m. EDT. "NASA has two ground stations at Wallops and Duck, N.C. to view blue-green and red artificial clouds that will be produced as part of the test. Clear skies are required at one of the two ground stations for this test. "The multi-canister ampoule ejection system flying on this mission will allow scientists to gather information over a much larger area than previously able. Canisters will deploy between 4 and 5.5 minutes after launch releasing blue-green and red vapor to form artificial clouds. These clouds, or vapor tracers, allow scientists on the ground to visually track particle motions in space. "The clouds may be visible along the mid-Atlantic coastline from New York to North Carolina. "The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will open at 8 p.m. on launch day for viewing the flight. "Live coverage of the mission is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. on the Wallops Ustream site. Launch updates also are available via the Wallops Facebook and Twitter sites."

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Watch Live Sunday @ 9:04 pm ET: NASA Launching Rocket to Create Artificial Clouds - Space.com

June 9, 2017 by Chris Bergin

NASAs major push towards building a new outpost near the Moon has received encouraging words from its key safety advisory body. NASAs Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) was told the build up of the outpost in the 2020s represented anambitious, forward-looking and credible plan that has both agency and political support. DSG:

NASA has been realigning its exploration plan to involve a Deep Space Gateway (DSG) over recent months, somewhat moving priority away from sending crews out to explore Near Earth Asteroids (NEA) which has only received lukewarm interest from NASAs political paymasters.

This interim step in the overall exploration roadmap will involve a number of the 2020s missions involving NASAs new heavy-lift launch rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS).

SLS still needs to conduct its test flights, which are going to receive officially realigned launch dates in the coming weeks following the decision not to modify Exploration Mission -1 (EM-1) to a crewed flight.

Although the opening two missions have returned to their previous plan, the dates are still going to later than originally advertised, with a NET (No Earlier Than) August 2019 for EM-1 and June 2022 for EM-2on the current internal schedule.

The large gap between the opening two missions is unavoidable per NASA direction, with EM-1 launching on the Block 1 SLS, before major changes especially to the Mobile Launcher (ML) are conducted for the larger Block 1B SLS.

*Click here for more SLS News Articles*

The Block 1B, however, will be NASAs HLV workhorse, providing an upmass capability not seen since the Saturn V days. It will also be capable of an array of missions thanks to its powerful Exploration Upper Stage (EUS).

Providing her with missions that utilizethe power of the rocket, while also progressing on the stepping stones towards Mars missions, has resulted in numerous studies that have changed numerous times.

The latest, and fast becoming a favored approach from both within NASA and political circles involves the DSG. This plan is a partial throwback to the L2 Gateway that gained interest at NASA in 2011.

Its first major public overview of the new plan cameviathe NASA Advisory Council (NAC), where Bill Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator for NASAs Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD), presented the NAC with the agencys Deep Space Gateway and Transport Plan.

This phased approach ties in current NASA exploration goals, which includes the wealth of knowledge being gained into long-duration human space flight on the International Space Station (ISS).

At the very top level, NASAs plan involves using the ISS now, operating near the Moon in the 2020s, and then leaving the Earth-Moon system and reaching Mars orbit after 2030, noted the ASAP minutes from the bodys latest meeting.

The more detailed plan contains four different phases. Phase 0 involves continuing research and testing on ISS to solve exploration challenges, evaluating the potential for the use of lunar resources, and developing standards.

Advancing the work already conducted, NASA will leverage its own goals with commercial partnerships, with NASA expected to publish individual documents for each system, such as environmental control and life support, power, data, storage, etc., that would contain voluntary standards rather than requirements, with the hope that both international and industry partners would be able to develop hardware and software that could easily be incorporated into the overall architecture, per the overview to the ASAP.

Phase 1 will take place in the 2020s, when NASA undertakes missions to cislunar space for construction efforts of the DSG. By this time commercial partners will be onboard, providing elements of the DSG to be launched on SLS missions. The stock in Cislunar has risen over recent years, with the United Launch Alliance (ULA) and others working on large-scale plans to commercialize this region of space.

In terms of basic functionality, the DSG is being planned to support multiple NASA, commercial, and international objectives, added the overview. It would be designed for the deep space environment and would support a crew of 4 for total mission durations of up to 42 days with the Orion vehicle attached.

It would include a power and propulsion bus and a habitat, and would incorporate a logistics strategy that could involve cargo resupply or crew transportation flights by industry or international partners, such as what is done now for the ISS.

However, it would not be of the size nor complexity of the ISS, with an intent to keep it simple. The entire DSG could be launched on three SLS Block 1B missions over three years, according to the latest overview.

Phase 2 will see the construction of the Deep Space Transport (DST) and its subsequent shakedown and verification.

Phase 1 marks the beginning of missions in cislunar space, including building the DSG and initiating assembly of the Deep Space Transport (DST), added the minutes. Phase 2 involves completion of the DST and conduct of a year-long, Mars-simulation mission sometimes called a shakedown cruise in 2029.

This is where the DSG effort directly benefits missions to Mars, with this stepping stone providing the tools to naturally progress to the major challenge of sending humans to the Red Planet.

The DST element of the DSG will have Mars in mind, potentially be used for the human missions to the vicinity of Mars such as the touted Mars flyby mission and could be a hybrid system with chemical propulsion for Mars gravity-well capture and departure, and SEP (Solar Electric Power) for the rest, per the overview to the ASAP.

This would potentially eliminate the need for a pre-deployed propulsion system at Mars for crew return. The DST would be designed for 3 Mars-class missions of about 1000 days each with a crew of 4, launched on a single SLS Block 1B vehicle. The thinking is that it could be refueled, resupplied, and have at least a minimal outfitting performed in cislunar space.

Phases 3 and 4 would involve the beginning of sustained crew expeditions to the Martian system and to the surface of Mars, with a mission to Mars orbit in 2033.

The usually conservative ASAP noted that while it encouraged NASA to start doing more detailed planning for exploration related launches post EM-2, seeing that now with the kind of system design and engineering trade studies that are being conducted was pleasing.

The Panel acknowledged a lot of progress (has been made) and believes NASA is on the right track. (And that) while the timelines on some of this may seem lengthy, when one considers all of the technical challenges that need to be addressed and the constraints on resources, NASA appears to have a very credible plan going forward.

(Images: NASA and L2 artist Nathan Koga The full gallery of Nathans (SpaceX Dragon to MCT, SLS, Commercial Crew and more) L2 images can be *found here*))

(To Join L2, Click Here:https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/)

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ASAP on board with NASA's DSG as stepping stone to Mars - NASASpaceflight.com

Ledyard King and Deborah Barfield Berry, USA TODAY NETWORK 4:51 p.m. CT June 9, 2017

Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., right, questions NASA administrator Robert Lighfoot Thursday about space programs.(Photo: Deborah Barfield Berry/USA TODAY)

WASHINGTON Rep. Steven Palazzo praisedNASA's moveaway from studying the Earth andinstead focusingresources on the rest of the universe.

During a House Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday, the Mississippi Republican applauded the agency for proposing to eliminate five Earth science missions designed to measure a number of global warming factors such as ocean ecosystems and carbon levels. President Trump's proposedbudget also would cut fundingfor Earth research grants and would terminate the Carbon Monitoring System, a project that NASA developed in 2010 in response to congressional direction.

Republicans, including Palazzo, have long complainedthe Obama administration diverted too many of NASAs limited resources pursuing climate change data when other agencies were conducting similar inquiries.

I do think its important to be focusing on planetary sciences,Palazzo said at a hearing Thursday ofthe House Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies. Looking out theres already over a dozen agencies that study our Earth, but theres only one agency tasked with space exploration and thats NASA."

With limited funds, flat funding and budgets, I think our resources are better spent exploring the deep space," he said.

Not that NASA is getting out of the business of Earth science completely.

Acting NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot told two House committeesThursday there are 20 other Earth science missions NASAstill plans to conduct.

Theres a lot of analog to learning about Earth and how it plays with the other planets because Earth is a planet as well and how Earth evolves we learn a lot. on what can happen to Mars, what can happen to Venus," Lightfoot told Palazzo during an afternoon hearing. There is a value for us in learning about Earth as well. But I understand your point."

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Trump's NASA budget preserves Mars mission, cuts Earth science, asteroid trip, education

Rep. Steven Palazzo joins ceremony to sign a NASA bill

Palazzo to push moon mission

In March, Palazzo, former chairman of the House Space Subcommittee, joined other lawmakers at the White House when Trump signed a $19.5 billion billto fund NASA programs. Palazzo, whosedistrict is home to Stennis Space Center,was instrumental in helping craft the bill.

Palazzo,who has pushed for a return-to-the-moon mission,questioned Lightfoot Thursday about whether the nation could put a man back on the moon and eventually Mars.

Lightfoot said the agencys goal of sending a humanto Mars by 2033 remains on track despite concerns raised about future funding and independent assessments that suggest such a mission is unlikely without a sizable, long-term increase in funding.

Its kind of a stepping-stone approach," he said.

Lightfoot told lawmakers the $3.9 billion in the budget proposal for human exploration would allow NASA to continue developing its two key pieces of hardware: the Orion vehicle that will carry astronauts into deep space and the Space Launch System rocket that Orion will ride on past the moon and towardMars.

Both systemsare scheduled to be tested: first, in an uncrewed flight in 2019, then with astronauts into lunar orbit, no later than 2023.

The budget we proposed has got the systems we need in 2018 to keep making the progress we think we need, Lightfoottold members of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

But some Republicans had issues with the proposal, including Hal Rogers of Kentucky, who questioned the elimination of the education office when Lightfoot came before members of theAppropriations subcommittee.

The education programshopefully have been spreading the word about NASAs (accomplishments), Rogers told Lightfoot. Icant understand why you would want to cut that."

The administrator said NASA is trying to weave education outreach and promote space careers into other areas.

I dontdeny that the (education) programs have been pretty successful for us but we felt like in the balance of things we could do this more effectively in a different way, he said.

Follow Deborah Barfield Berry on Twitter at @dberrygannett.

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Palazzo applauds NASA focus on planets - Jackson Clarion Ledger

Our Solar System suddenly feels a little more cluttered, with NASA's Near-Earth Objectmission having just released a year's worth of survey data, putting a bunch of new space rocks on our radar.

Most of the asteroids, comets, and general clumps of cosmic dandruff are too far away to be considered a threat to our planet, but NASA will be sure to keep a close eye on 10 objects that thinks could be big and near enough to be considered a hazard.

As the name suggests, NASA's Near-Earth Orbit Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) is an orbiting telescope that looks for objects in our Solar System with orbits that could bring them close to our planet.

In 2010, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer spacecraft ran low on coolant for its telescope, so researchers scaled down the mission to scan the skies closer to home rather than looking all over the cosmos.

After entering a brief two-year nap in 2011, the spacecraft was reactivated, and has since characterised a total of 693 near-Earth objects. Of those, 114 had never been seen before.

This past year alone, NEOWISE has discovered 5 new comets, 64 main belt asteroids, and 28 near-Earth objects.

It found these by using its low infra-red bandwidth telescope to snap 2.6 million images of the sky.

A new technique called tail-fitting has now allowed researchers to use the database of images to model comet behaviour as they sweep through the Solar System.

"Comets that have abrupt outbursts are not commonly found, but this may be due more to the sudden nature of the activity rather than their inherent rarity," says Emily Kramerfrom NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.

"It is great for astronomers to view and collect cometary data when they find an outburst, but since the activity is so short-lived, we may simply miss them most of the time."

To get some idea of the total number of objects out there, take a look at the video clip below, which shows the orbits of asteroids in grey, near-Earth objects in green, and comets in yellow:

But what about those 10 potentially hazardous asteroids (PHA)? Is it time to invest in silver and wait out the fireball in grandpa's bunker?

PHAs are classified as asteroids that have a minimum orbit intersection distance of 0.05 astronomical units (1 AU is the distance from Earth to the Sun, so 0.05 AU is about 7.5 million kilometres, or 4.6 million miles).

They also must be big enough to have an absolute magnitude of 22 or brighter, which would make them bigger than 140 metres (around 500 feet) in size, assuming they were reflective enough.

So far, we know of 1,806 of these objects, and while some will give us a close shave in coming years, none seem to be destined for our backyard.

Don't upset grandpa any time soon, though - a team of astronomers from the Czech Academy of Sciences think the risk of being hit with a big rock in coming years is growing.

Their conclusions are based on an analysis of 144 meteors from the Taurid meteor showers that have hit our atmosphere and exploded, also commonly called bolides.

Along with the comet Encke, the Taurids are thought to be the remains of an even bigger comet that has been disintegrating over the past 20,000 to 30,000 years.

The researchers claim they have detected a new branch of debris, one that they suspect holds at least two asteroids between 200 and 300 metres (about 650 and 1,000 feet) in size.

"Most probably, the branch also includes many undetected asteroids which are dozens of metres in diameter or larger," the Czech academy said in a press release.

"Hence, the danger of a crash with an asteroid grows markedly once every few years that the Earth encounters this stream of inter-planetary material."

The researchers noted that the asteroids they observed that were larger than 300 grams (about 10.5 ounces) were extremely fragile.

Not that a fragile 300-metre-wide rock ploughing through out atmosphere isn't at least some cause for concern.

As usual, the message is we need to keep our eyes peeled and keep track of the things orbiting the Sun with us. Because it's not like we have any big plans in case one takes us by surprise.

Thanks, NEOWISE! Let's hope this next year is another productive one.

The Taurids meteor research was published in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

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NASA Just Gave Us 10 Good Reasons to Hunt For Near-Earth Asteroids - ScienceAlert

Miami Herald

Of 18000 astronaut applicants, NASA picked 12. One is from Miami. Miami Herald Rubio was picked last week to be one of 12 astronaut candidates from NASA's largest pool of 18,000 applicants, surpassing the previous record of 8,000 in 1978. He started considering an astronaut career during medical school, when a guest speaker ... Meet Two Incredibly Badass Asian Americans Who Could Be NASA's Next AstronautsNextShark Anchorage native chosen as one of NASA's next 12 astronautsAnchorage Press Alaskan selected to NASA's 2017 astronaut classKTVA.com - Anchorage, Alaska all 32 news articles »

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Of 18000 astronaut applicants, NASA picked 12. One is from Miami. - Miami Herald

On 13 March the OMI instrument entered survival mode. There are no ozone data between 11 March and 17 March. The instrument is now back online.

View the latest status of the ozone layer over the Antarctic, with a focus on the ozone hole. Satellite instruments monitor the ozone layer, and we use their data to create the images that depict the amount of ozone.

Click any map image to bring up a new page with a high-resolution image.

Ozone is a colorless gas. Chemically, ozone is very active; it reacts readily with a great many other substances. Near the Earths surface, those reactions cause rubber to crack, hurt plant life, and damage peoples lung tissues. But ozone also absorbs harmful components of sunlight, known as ultraviolet B, or UV-B. High above the surface, above even the weather systems, a tenuous layer of ozone gas absorbs UV-B, protecting living things below.

The Dobson Unit (DU) is the unit of measure for total ozone. If you were to take all the ozone in a column of air stretching from the surface of the earth to space, and bring all that ozone to standard temperature (0 Celsius) and pressure (1013.25 millibars, or one atmosphere, or atm), the column would be about 0.3 centimeters thick. Thus, the total ozone would be 0.3 atm-cm. To make the units easier to work with, the Dobson Unit is defined to be 0.001 atm-cm. Our 0.3 atm-cm would be 300 DU.

Each year for the past few decades during the Southern Hemisphere spring, chemical reactions involving chlorine and bromine cause ozone in the southern polar region to be destroyed rapidly and severely. This depleted region is known as the ozone hole.

The area of the ozone hole is determined from a map of total column ozone. It is calculated from the area on the Earth that is enclosed by a line with a constant value of 220 Dobson Units. The value of 220 Dobson Units is chosen since total ozone values of less than 220 Dobson Units were not found in the historic observations over Antarctica prior to 1979. Also, from direct measurements over Antarctica, a column ozone level of less than 220 Dobson Units is a result of the ozone loss from chlorine and bromine compounds.

Link:

NASA - Ozone Hole Watch: Latest status of Antarctic ozone

On Thursday, NASA announced its astronaut class for 2017. Only 12 individuals out of 18,300 applicants made the cut. (And you thought your applicant pool was out of control!)

In a process spanning 541 days, NASA has determined how to select the very best of the best. (That for a civilian astronaut with a pay grade of less than $114,578 a year.)

Few organizations will need as extensive an accounting of background and psychological testing as NASA does. But how it conducts its onsite interviews is a lesson for any business wanting to hire the best.

NASA astronaut candidates have very little time to prepare for their in-person interview.

NASA prefers this -- presumably -- so that it gets the honest and raw interviewee, the unpolished, but still talented applicant, the applicant who becomes a co-worker after the "best foot forward" falls by the wayside.

Tip: Next time you bring your candidates in for an interview, shorten the notice window to see who is naturally prepared for the position.

Astronaut candidates arrive at the Johnson Space Center for initial interviews as a group.

They each interview individually, but many activities center around how the new group will work together.

Tip: If you are hiring multiple individuals at a time, bring them in together. See how this new crop of individuals will work together.

Astronaut recruits have a couple of opportunities to socialize with existing astronauts and staff. This gives them the ability to let their hair down (as always happens after a few weeks on the job).

This also allows NASA to determine how the batch of new recruits will get along with the existing organization.

Tip: Culture is key when hiring. Try and incorporate some socializing -- formal or informal -- with the existing team. Better to spot culture problems now, rather than in the future, when it will be costly.

The formal candidate interview is before a board and lasts only an hour. Each candidate is asked to prepare three to five reasons why he or she wants to be an astronaut.

And the interview goes from there, focusing mainly on what makes the applicant the person he or she is, rather than rehashing a written resume.

What is remarkable, at least according to first person accounts of Chris Martin and Sian Proctor, is how friendly and welcoming the process is. And this, for a very important position.

Tip: There is no room for aggressive interviewing. When people are in their most natural state, it shows how they will be on a daily basis.

Its true that much, much more goes into the hiring of an astronaut candidate (each still has two more years of interviewing to come). But you'd do well to follow NASA's in-person interviewing tactics to find your next best candidate.

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Want to Hire the Best? Copy How NASA Narrowed 18300 Applicants Down to 12 - Inc.com

This week, we learned how a $200 adult security blanket perfected a formula most startups struggle with, what it really takes to hire and keep great developers, and the skills required for NASAs futureastronauts class.

These are the stories you loved in leadership for the week of June 5:

Two hundred dollars might seem like a lot to pay for a blanket, but thats what Gravity, the self-described blanket for sleep, stress, and anxiety plansto charge its customers.The product recently raked in over $4.7 million in Kickstarter funding. How?According to BrianScordato, who heads an accelerator for early-stage founders, Gravity successfully got customers excited about an idea nobodys ever heard of. Thats something lots of startups fail at, and this week Scordato shared why.

In todays tech-centric workforce, its more crucial than ever for businesses to hire and retain talented programmers. Yet outside of Silicon Valley, theyre often treated like glorified typists, according to Stack Overflow COO JeffSzczepanski. This week he shared what steps companies can take to improve that state of affairs and make sure the best developers stick around for longer.

Is aliberal arts degree usefulin the modern job market or a waste of money? For three liberal arts graduates, it led to positions at a company that isntknown for hiring art history or English majorsMicrosoft. From developing communications for social chatbots to translating complicated AI concepts into simpler language, heres how those new hiresare using theirhumanities trainingin the tech world.

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From Adult Security Blankets To NASA's New Astronauts: This Week's Top Leadership Stories - Fast Company

HAMPTON

Bill Fredericks knew NASA had a good thing going in a battery-powered drone that could take off and land like a helicopter but fly like an airplane.

Dubbed Greased Lightning, the prototypes test flights were a success, but the space agency had only so much money to spend. Fredericks, a NASA engineer at the time and the drones 35-year-old lead inventor, thought it could do more, especially with hybrid power that might keep it airborne for 24 hours without a charge.

We develop technologies, and whether they work or they dont, you put them on the shelf and move on to the next one, he said.

So Fredericks licensed the technology and branched out on his own, making the switch from NASA researcher to full-time entrepreneur, starting Advanced Aircraft Co. in Hampton.

In an effort to help more people like Fredericks make the leap from the lab to the boardroom, the space agency has developed two new options:

One, the Entrepreneur Opportunity Program, will give NASA researchers a crash course in turning their technology into a business.

The other, the Entrepreneur in Residence program, will essentially embed a businessperson in the space agency who could dust off research otherwise relegated to a shelf and help find a commercial life for it off campus.

Either way, NASA hopes to put its technology to good use.

For Larry Thomsen III, a senior materials research engineer with NASA Langley for 16 years, the entrepreneurial opportunity program was the first time hes had to think about potential profits and costs for what hes making. Thomsen has spent half his years at the agency developing material to shield small satellites, or CubeSats, from atmospheric radiation.

Now hes just months away from sending a prototype into space. Radiation that might have ruined electronics inside a satellite within a couple of months might function for years with his shield, valuable time for missions that can cost up to $2 million in some cases. He said his shield material would cost a fraction of that, up to $30,000.

Thomsen has seen estimates that 500 small satellites are expected to be launched into space between now and 2019 satellites that might want his shield.

The agency has great technologists and researchers, but we dont know a daggone thing about business development, said Richard Antcliff, chief strategist at NASA Langley.

Plus, if MIT and Stanford can spin off a company, why cant NASA? Lets send the incredibly smart people with it, he said.

Those people are going to want customers, Antcliff said. And if the business doesnt work out, theres nothing preventing NASA from re-hiring them.

Outside the military, its a first-of-its-kind effort for a federal lab.

Its a trailblazing initiative, said Christie Funk, the programs coordinator at NASA. We are not only just trying to commercialize technologies, but were trying to commercialize them for the benefit of society.

The state has agreed to contribute $100,000 to the Entrepreneur in Residence programs first year. Virginia Technology Secretary Karen Jackson said that for her department to be involved, she wanted a focus on unmanned vehicle technology that could benefit the outside world.

She said the state also wanted someone who had been inside NASA and successfully started businesses outside of it to be involved. Douglas Juanarena, a graduate of Virginia Tech, fit the part.

He wasnt ready to move back to the Peninsula after 17 years in Blacksburg, so he wont be in residence, but hell be working with someone who will be: Jeff Johnson with the Virginia Tech Center Research Park in Newport News.

Theres a ton of technology inside NASA inside Jefferson Lab that we want to mine, Johnson said.

The two agencies spend $1 billion on research annually.

Juanarena said he would offer advice to help NASA researchers in making the jump across the chasm from the laboratory to the private sector.

He should know. He gave up a research position at NASA Langley to do that with Pressure Systems Inc., the sensor company he started in the 1977 at a time when the agency took a hands-off approach when one of its scientists got the entrepreneurial urge.

Now Juanarena hopes to help others in the agency bridge the gap with a bit of business guidance before they leave, akin to the simple, but probing, questions trademarked by consultant Wendy Kennedy: So what? Who cares? Why you?

Thats the essence of it, he said. So youve got this pretty baby, so what?

Will customers want it? If so, how many will buy it? Is it unique or a me-too? Whats the competition? How much is it going to cost to turn a prototype into a minimally viable product?

Some may find out that your baby isnt the prettiest baby out there, he said.

But if it is, the new program may help them go it on their own or find an existing company to shepherd it into existence.

NASA finished the first phase of its in-house program modeled after the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Five teams of researchers, including Fredericks and Thomsen, developing everything from sensors to radiation shields to drones, spent 12 weeks learning about possible customer needs and developing their product. The next six-month phase involves writing business plans, pitching investors and teaming up with other executives to help with specific roles.

Without the entrepreneurial training, Thomsen said he may never have known his technology might have other customers namely in medical fields or nuclear handling.

Unlike Fredericks, hes not giving up his day job quite yet, or perhaps ever. Its too early for that decision. While its been exciting to meet entrepreneurs in the program, he said he still likes the research life.

But he said what hes learned may already help him think about a product in the initial stages.

He said hed ponder: Whats the cost of the research were doing and how could somebody actually use it?

Fredericks found out he would need to raise several million dollars in seed money to make NASAs Greased Lightning a reality. So he pivoted, for the moment, to another drone hes calling Hercules.

He said it would require 90 percent less startup money. It would cost customers at least $60,000 for a base model more than twice as much as existing battery-powered, multi-rotor drones on the market.

But, he said his customers likely in the agriculture or mapping industries could survey a larger area, with less staff, because Hercules can fly longer: 3 hours with a full tank of gas, or two hours if its carrying something weighing 4 pounds.

In two years, Fredericks said he hopes to get back to making Greased Lightning, a vehicle that might whip along a line at 80 mph detecting anomalies along the way and slowing to a hover to inspect it more closely, all without a human being in sight. Its a feat that might appeal to the Defense Department or utilities that need to inspect lengthy power lines, railroad and pipelines. Eventually, he hopes to build a model large enough to carry four people.

For now, though, hes just hoping for a steady stream of revenue.

Then Ill be able to breathe a little easier, he said.

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NASA aims to get its technology off the shelf, out of the agency and into the marketplace - Virginian-Pilot