March 1, 2017 In 2015, Nancy Lee Carlson spotted an unusual auction item put up for sale by the US Marshals Service: a dusty, white bag with a small tear in it.

But this wasn't just any old sack. In fact, the object was a decontamination bag used to store rock samples collected by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 during humanitys first crewed mission to the moon.

I guess you could call her a little bit of a space geek, maybe a hobbyist. She has an interest in these types of things and she saw this and it interested her, Ms. Carlsons attorney Christopher McHugh told CBS Chicago.

Excited, Ms. Carlson quickly became the highest bidder for the bag at auction, winning the priceless piece of history for the relatively low price of $995. The next step was verifying its authenticity, so she sent it to NASA to find if the bag was real.The agency soon confirmed the bag was from Apollo 11 that the dust inside the container was indeed moon dust, and deciding the bag of such historic value was never meant to have been sold, refused to send it back to Carlson.After a tense legal battle from Carlson's subsequent lawsuit against the federal agency, a US federal judge ordered NASA to finally return the bag, making her the only private citizen to win legal ownership of a lunar object previously sold by the US government.

The bag found its way to auction after it was seized by the government during an investigation against Max Ary, a former president of the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center museum. In 2005, Mr. Ary was convicted of stealing and auctioning off hundreds of objects from the museum's collection on the black market.

Among the stolen items were two lunar bags, one from Apollo 11 and one from Apollo 17. But during the course of the investigation, a clerical error resulted in both pieces being given the same inventory identification number, and the Apollo 11 bag was accidentally auctioned off.

"This artifact wasnever meant to be owned by an individual," read a statement issued by NASA at the time of the lawsuit. "We believe [it] belongs to the American people and should be on display for the public, which is where it was before all of these unfortunate events occurred."

This was not the first time a moon-related object has found its way into auction without the approval of NASA.

"Millions of people are intrigued by space around the world," Joseph Gutheinz, a former special investigator for NASA who was one of the attorneys in the case, told the Chicago Tribune. "(Carlson) is one of them. She loves space. And she had the gumption not to back down."

As a result, he says, there is a sizable black market for moon rocks and similar items. He estimates that the US has given away more than 270 moon rocksto dignitaries and foreign nations over the decades, but many of these wind up illegally sold and have to be reacquired by the government through sting operations. He says that there are about 158 lunar objects that remain unaccounted for.

As far as Carlson is concerned, the bag will remain her own private property, but she has reportedly been considering the possibility displaying the container publicly, per NASA's wishes. She is expected to make an announcement to that end later this week.

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Why NASA had to give back a bag of moon dust to Chicago woman - Christian Science Monitor

In just less than two years, NASA is slated to launch the most powerful space telescope thats ever been built. Its the James Webb Space Telescope, of JWST, and its being hailed as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that is currently in orbit around Earth. Theres a key difference, though, between the spacecraft. Whereas Hubble sees the Universe in mostly visible light, JWST will observe the cosmos in the infrared a type of light that cant be seen but is associated with heat emission. The JWST will capture this kind of light using a segmented mirror more than 20 feet across, allowing the observatory to look deeper into the Universe, and further back in time, than ever before.

At the end of last year, NASA celebrated the completion of the optics portion of the JSWT

At the end of last year, NASA celebrated the completion of the optics portion of the JSWT the mirror and instruments the telescope will use to study the most distant galaxies and star systems. Now, the space agency is putting the JWST through a series of tests to make sure the spacecraft will be able to handle its launch into space on a European Ariane 5 rocket in October 2018.

As NASA gets the JWST ready for space travel, one of the agencys astrophysicists, Amber Straughn, will give an update on the telescopes progress. Straughn, the associate director of the astrophysics science division at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, studies the Universes most puzzling phenomena from supermassive black holes to the evolution of galaxies. Tonight, during a lecture at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, she will talk about the development of JWST and what the completed spacecraft will teach us about the Universe.

The lecture begins at 7PM ET. People can participate in the conversation on Twitter by tweeting at Perimeter or using the hashtag #piLIVE.

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Watch an astrophysicist explain how NASA's next space telescope will help us time-travel through the Universe - The Verge

However, Nasa will not be collecting the names and theyrely on the IAUs process for the naming of these planets. So those hoping they will be named after Donald Trump will be sorely disappointed.

The seven Earth-sized planets are clustered around a single star. Three of the planets are located in the habitable zone, which is the area around the planet star where the planet is most likely to have water.

This sets the record forgreatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system.

Every planet in the cluster could have liquid water with the right atmospheric conditions.

This discovery could be a significant piece in the puzzle of finding habitable environments, places that are conducive to life, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Nasa's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Answering the question are we alone is a top science priority and finding so many planets like these for the first time in the habitable zone is a remarkable step forward toward that goal.

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Public tries to name 7 new planets after Nasa discovery- with chaotic results - Telegraph.co.uk

JAKE ELLISON, SPECIAL TO SEATTLEPI.COM

Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Roman Tkachenko

The Junocam is a color-imaging eye pointed at the Jovian planet. Its gaze is be mostly directed by the public via a public-voting platform. The camera then takes raw images of areas both directed by the public and scientists. Once the images are uploaded, citizens with little to read or watch or otherwise distract themselves with other than news about the new U.S. president are invited to modify the images and upload them to the NASA website. Here are some to enjoy.

Citizen image (NASA caption): NASAs Juno spacecraft skimmed the upper wisps of Jupiters atmosphere when JunoCam snapped this image on Feb. 2 at 5:13 a.m. PT (8:13 a.m. ET), from an altitude of about 9,000 miles (14,500 kilometers) above the giant planets swirling cloudtops. Streams of clouds spin off a rotating oval-shaped cloud system in the Jovian southern hemisphere. Citizen scientist Roman Tkachenko reconstructed the color and cropped the image to draw viewers eyes to the storm and the turbulence around it.

The Junocam is a color-imaging eye pointed at the Jovian planet. Its gaze is be mostly directed by the public via a public-voting platform. The camera then takes raw images of areas both directed by the public

NASA caption: NASAs Juno spacecraft soared directly over Jupiters south pole when JunoCam acquired this image on February 2, 2017 at 6:06 a.m. PT (9:06 a.m. ET), from an altitude of about 62,800 miles (101,000 kilometers) above the cloud tops. From this unique vantage point we see the terminator (where day meets night) cutting across the Jovian south polar regions restless, marbled atmosphere with the south pole itself approximately in the center of that border.

NASA caption: NASAs Juno spacecraft soared directly over Jupiters south pole when JunoCam acquired this image on February 2, 2017 at 6:06 a.m. PT (9:06 a.m. ET), from an altitude of about 62,800 miles

NASA capiton: Cyclones swirl around the south pole, and white oval storms can be seen near the limb -- the apparent edge of the planet -- in this image of Jupiters south polar region taken by the JunoCam imager aboard NASAs Juno spacecraft.

NASA capiton: Cyclones swirl around the south pole, and white oval storms can be seen near the limb -- the apparent edge of the planet -- in this image of Jupiters south polar region taken by the JunoCam

Citizen image, title:in Landscape

NASA's Junocam project encourages the public to download the images of Jupiter and creatively modify them. This is one of those examples created by a citizen "artist-scientist."

Citizen image, title:in Landscape

NASA's Junocam project encourages the public to download the images of Jupiter and creatively modify them. This is one of those examples created by a citizen

Citizen image (NASA caption): This enhanced-color image of Jupiters south pole and its swirling atmosphere was created by citizen scientist Roman Tkachenko using data from the JunoCam imager on NASAs Juno spacecraft.

Citizen image (NASA caption): This enhanced-color image of Jupiters south pole and its swirling atmosphere was created by citizen scientist Roman Tkachenko using data from the JunoCam imager on NASAs Juno

Citizen image, title: Artified Swirls

Citizen image, title: Artified Swirls

Citizen image, title: Dark Spot

Citizen image, title: Dark Spot

Citizen image, title: Beyond the Clouds of Jupiter

Citizen image, title: Beyond the Clouds of Jupiter

Citizen image, title: Jupiter wallpaper 4

Citizen image, title: Jupiter wallpaper 4

Citizen image, title: 2017-02-11 04:31 UT

Citizen image, title: 2017-02-11 04:31 UT

Citizen image, title: The giant

Citizen image, title: The giant

Citizen image, title: Jovian

Citizen image, title: Jovian

Citizen image, title: DeepDream Convolution: Latitude Coverage

Citizen image, title: DeepDream Convolution: Latitude Coverage

Citizen image, title: Jupiter flow

Citizen image, title: Jupiter flow

Citizen image, title: The Mighty Winds of Jupiter

Citizen image, title: The Mighty Winds of Jupiter

Citizen image, title: 2017-02-26 12:27 UT

Citizen image, title: 2017-02-26 12:27 UT

Citizen image, title: Turbulence

Citizen image, title: Turbulence

Juno spooks NASA, sends back wild images from Jupiter

Risk averse NASA has decided to keep its spacecraft Juno on the looonnnggg orbit of Jupiter.

Earlier in February, the agency said it didn't want to risk firing the spacecraft's engines and bring it in for a closer zip around the mega-planet because of a slight glitch in two helium check valves. I know!

Yeah, NASA. Apparently the valves opened later than expected during a system charge and since they are "part of the plumbing for the spacecraft's main engine" ... well, better safe than sorry.

Faced with a new POTUS and some subtle give and take in the nation over the man and his executive orders, the agency was quick to point out the silver lining of the situation:

Juno's larger 53-day orbit allows for "bonus science" that wasn't part of the original mission design. Juno will further explore the far reaches of the Jovian magnetosphere the region of space dominated by Jupiter's magnetic field including the far magnetotail, the southern magnetosphere, and the magnetospheric boundary region called the magnetopause. Understanding magnetospheres and how they interact with the solar wind are key science goals of NASA's Heliophysics Science Division.

"Another key advantage of the longer orbit is that Juno will spend less time within the strong radiation belts on each orbit," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "This is significant because radiation has been the main life-limiting factor for Juno."

Meanwhile, one unique feature of the human-made object zooming around the largest planet in our solar system, of which nearly no conspiracy theories of alien life or government coverups exist (even fevered brains know it's too chaotic of a place for such things, though its moons are another thing all together ... ) is the Junocam.

The Junocam is a color-imaging eye pointed at the Jovian planet. Its gaze will be mostly* directed by the public via a public-voting platform. The camera then takes raw images of areas both directed by the public and scientists. Once the images are uploaded, citizens with little to read or watch or otherwise distract themselves with other than news about the new U.S. president are invited to modify the images and upload them to the NASA website.

In the gallery above, you can see images that NASA has produced from the camera, which are presumably representative of how the planet would look if you were floating just above it in the cold vacuum of space while being cooked by radiation.** And, just after those, you can see some of the images citizens have made of that rarest of vantage points.

* "Since the mission's beginnings, Junocam was intended almost entirely as a public outreach tool, in contrast to the spacecraft's other instruments that will address Juno's core science questions. Juno scientists will ensure Junocam returns a few great shots of Jupiter's polar regions, but the overwhelming majority of the camera's image targets will be chosen by the public, with the data being processed by them as well," NASA said.

** "Scientists believe that the combination of this metallic hydrogen along with Jupiter's fast rotation -- one day on Jupiter is only 10 hours long -- generates a powerful magnetic field that surrounds the planet with electrons, protons and ions traveling at nearly the speed of light. The endgame for any spacecraft that enters this doughnut-shaped field of high-energy particles is an encounter with the harshest radiation environment in the solar system," NASA wrote.

Jake Ellison can be reached at jakeellisonjournalism@gmail.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/Jake_News. Also, swing by and *LIKE* his page on Facebook. If Google Plus is your thing, check out our science coverage here.

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Juno spooks NASA, sends back wild images from Jupiter - seattlepi ... - seattlepi.com

SpaceX's planto fly two private citizens around the moon would put the company ahead of NASA's planned crewed flight with its Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket.

Yesterday, SpaceX announced its intention to send passengers on a crewed Dragon spacecraft, launched with a Falcon Heavy rocket, around the moon near the end of 2018. This would follow on the heels of the company's robotic andcrewed flights to the International Space Station, and an uncrewed Falcon Heavy moon trip.

NASA's own mission, which would be the first crewed flight using the SLS and its new Orion spacecraft, is scheduled for 2021. NASA recently began an investigation into whether it could put astronauts on SLS and Orion's first launch, scheduled for 2018 but officials have said that a crewed version of that launch wouldn't fly until 2019. Assuming SpaceX is on schedule, its fly-around would come first. [SpaceX Falcon Heavy to Be Reusable (Video)]

SpaceX going first "might change the acceptable-risk discussions NASA has with the ASAP [Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel]," Scott Hubbard, researcher in the Stanford University Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, told Space.com. "I could imagine that if this independent entrepreneur has done it, and successfully identified the risk factors, it would be real information, not speculation."

"Others might then ask about [the] need for SLS and Orion but two suppliers are always better from a competition/cost POV," he added via email. Hubbard worked at NASA for 20 years and ultimately led its Ames Research Center, and he currently chairs SpaceX's independent Safety Advisory Panel for Commercial Crew, which focuses specifically on the design and risks of their program to carry astronauts to the International Space Station.

SpaceX could not do this without NASA. Can't express enough appreciation. https://t.co/uQpI60zAV7

During Elon Musk's teleconference yesterday, the SpaceX CEO said that NASA astronauts would "take priority" if the agency wanted to be the first to fly that type of mission. NASA released a statement sayingthe agency would work closely with SpaceX to ensure the company met all safety requirements and continued to fulfill its space station delivery contract.

As for SpaceX's ambitious time frame, Hubbard said it should be feasible in principle, purely considering the company's transportation capabilities, but that technical questions remain.

"The key technical issue will be demonstrating life support in the Dragon for two people for the duration of the mission," he said. "With reasonable margins, the length of mission will be longer than planned for commercial crew. The key programmatic issue is level of risk: Is it understood? Has it been mitigated sufficiently?"

If SpaceX can address those issues, it will be on track to launch a moon mission on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 8, NASA's first mission to orbit the moon. That could certainly serve to spur other commercial spaceflight companies, and NASA, into action. Hubbard pointed to when he held a workshop with The Planetary Society that said astronauts could orbit Mars by 2033, and not long after Lockheed Martin came out with a Mars Base Camp plan for 2028 and SpaceX came out with their Red Dragon Mars mission now scheduled for 2020.

This moon announcement "sets a bold new goal," Hubbard said. "There are people that are out there moving the goalposts with some significant technical credibility behind them, and this goal of two paying customers and an Apollo 8 loop around the moon in 2018 could well stimulate others to join in."

"The more groups you have trying this, the better off we are as a spacefaring nation or a spacefaring species," he added.

Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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SpaceX Could Beat NASA Back to the Moon - Space.com

Welcome these NASA women to your toy shelf soon.

Lego fans want to see brick versions of women in the sciences, and the toy company has heard them.

In 2016, 10,000 supporters on the Lego Ideas fan-created projects site backed a Women of NASA set. Lego announced on Tuesday it will produce the set, which was proposed by Lego fan and science writer and editor Maia Weinstock.

The approval of the set comes on the heels of popular 2016 movie "Hidden Figures," which explores the contributions of black women to the space agency and the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit in the early 1960s. Katherine Johnson, one of the scientists featured in the film, appears in the Lego minifig set.

The project also includes computer scientist Margaret Hamilton, astronaut Sally Ride, astronomer Nancy Grace Roman and astronaut Mae Jemison.

Weinstock's vision for the set includes minifig representations of each woman and a group of vignettes that feature mini versions of the space shuttle and the Hubble Space Telescope.

Lego previously delved into the world of NASA with the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover set, which is now retired.

Lego fans also threw their support behind a set of groundbreaking women scientists, which came out in 2014. That set has also been retired, so Lego enthusiasts will likely be excited about having a new group of women-scientists minifigs available.

The Women of NASA set is still awaiting final product design. Pricing and availability information should be revealed late this year or in early 2018.

Solving for XX: The industry seeks to overcome outdated ideas about "women in tech."

Crowd Control: A crowdsourced science fiction novel written by CNET readers.

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Lego launching set featuring women stars of NASA - CNET - CNET

The shifting sands of Mars.

It's a familiar sight on Earth: Wind rakes over sand dunes, pushing the grains into distorted patterns. The landscape on Mars sometimes mimics conditions on our Blue Marble. A NASA image shared on Monday gives a close-up of the Curiosity rover's view of shifting wind-blown sands on the Red Planet.

The GIF covers the span of a day on Mars, with the first image snapped on January 23 and the second on January 24. NASA notes the pictures were taken as a part of an investigation into wind's effects during the Martian summer, which NASA notes is the windiest time of year in Gale Crater, an ancient meteor impact site. The image covers a patch of ground about 3 feet (1 meter) wide.

One of Curiosity's wheels is visible in the upper left corner of the image and the wheel track in the sand extends along the left side. Those tracks go from clearly defined to blurry as the image shifts.

The Curiosity rover hitched a ride to Mars back in 2011 and landed in the Gale Crater in 2012. Since then, it has driven nearly 10 miles (16 kilometers). The shifting-sands images were taken with a downward-facing camera during a non-driving day when the rover remained stationary.

22

20 weird objects seen on Mars, explained (pictures)

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See the sand on Mars move under NASA's Curiosity rover - CNET

NASA has agreed to fly at least two more astronauts on upcoming Russian Soyuz missions to the International Space Station, the space agency announced in a press release. The news comes in the wake of delays to NASAs Commercial Crew Program, an initiative where two American companies SpaceX and Boeing are being paid to create spacecraft that can ferry astronauts to the ISS. Those flights were originally supposed to happen this year, but are now estimated to take place no earlier than 2019.

The additional seats are being worked into an existing contract with Boeing, which helps operate the ISS. The agreement extension covers two seats on Soyuz flights this year and next year, and includes options for seats on three Soyuz flights in 2019. Boeing acquired theses seats from Russian aerospace company RSC Energia, and has been trying to sell them to NASA since January. The total cost of all five seats is $373.5 million, or $74.7 million per seat a touch short of the $81.7 million NASA has been paying Roscosmos.

Flights with SpaceX and Boeing should be cheaper than Russia when they happen

The US hasnt had the capability to send its own astronauts to space (or bring them back) since the Space Shuttle program was discontinued in 2011. Private US spaceflight companies were growing at a rapid pace then, so NASA decided to fund these companies so they could become a sort of space taxi service for American astronauts. The Commercial Crew Program was intended to give NASA a cheaper alternative to Russia, but the program has been hampered by delays and cost issues. The space agency is also planning to fly astronauts on its own Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS) maybe as early as 2019, but that program has also been delayed.

In 2015, NASA spent $490 million on six more Soyuz seats as a hedge against the possibility that the SpaceX and Boeing spacecraft wouldnt be ready in time. Seats on the Soyuz are typically sorted out three years in advance when dealing directly with Roscosmos. (NASA was able to book the two new seats with less time since they had already been accounted for when they were bought by RSC Energia.)

It was a prescient move because Boeing delayed twice the first crewed flight of its spacecraft, Starliner, in 2016. And SpaceX followed suit at the end of the year, saying in December that the human-rated version of its Dragon spacecraft wouldnt fly with a crew until at least 2018.

This is not the first time NASA has extended the contract with Russia

Two weeks ago, the Government Accountability Office a federal agency that performs audits for Congress released a report that estimated SpaceX and Boeing wont be ready to fly humans to space until 2019. The GAO cited concerns about a particular defect in SpaceXs engine turbines, as well as Boeings reliance on Russian rocket engines as some of the reasons.

NASA addressed the GAO report implicitly in the press release about the contract extension with Russia. NASAs Commercial crew transportation providers Boeing and SpaceX have made significant progress toward returning crew launches to the US, but external review groups have recommended an option to protect for delays or problems in certification, the agency wrote.

The contract extension with Russia was actually announced a week ago, and it was first spotted by SpaceNews, which points out the curious nature of how NASA quietly published the news. The agency is currently in a transitional phase as it waits for President Donald Trump to name a new NASA administrator.

NASA is waiting for Trump to name a new administrator

Robert Lightfoot, who is serving as acting administrator, recently sent a memo to NASA employees explaining his interest in accelerating NASAs plans for human spaceflight. He asked for NASA and Lockheed Martin, which makes Orion and SLS, to evaluate whether it would be possible to put a crew on the first flight of that spaceship / rocket combination in 2018 instead of 2021. Its a bold idea for a space agency that is known for caution, but it aligns with what we know the Trump administration wants out of NASA: an increased emphasis on human spaceflight and space exploration in general.

President Trump said in his inaugural address that we will unlock the mysteries of space, Lightfoot wrote. The SLS and Orion missions, coupled with those promised from record levels of private investment in space, will help put NASA and America in a position to unlock those mysteries and to ensure this nations world preeminence in exploring the cosmos.

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NASA buys two more seats to the International Space Station on Russia's Soyuz rocket - The Verge

fox8.com

NASA releases telescope's first solar images of sun fox8.com We're getting our first look at the sun through the lens of the solar ultraviolet imager. NASA released the images Tuesday. It shows what's called a coronal hole in the sun's southern hemisphere. Such holes are in areas where the sun's corona appears ... and more »

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NASA releases telescope's first solar images of sun - fox8.com

By: Nathan Rousseau Smith, Buzz60

It's an exciting time for space travel!

With President Trump's plan to focus on exploration and Elon Musk's announcement to send two people to the moon by next year we really couldn't ask for anything more.

But now, NASA is feeding our hunger for the unknown with stunning images of Jupiter's atmosphere.

However, it's not the raw images of the swirling atmosphere that has people talking, it's the user-submitted remixes NASA is calling Jovian art.

An image of Jupiter's eye looks almost like a painting out of the Renaissance! User Roman Tkachenko adjusted the color to highlight the ammonia-and-water clouds.

Others have also joined in on the fun, creating whimsical art out of the gaseous planet.

One user even created her own "Starry Night."

NASA's solar-powered probe Juno has been exploring our solar system's largest planet and its moons since July.

See photos from Juno's landing:

16 PHOTOS

NASA's Juno spacecraft lands on Jupiter

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An artist's rendering depicts NASA's Juno spacecraft above Jupiter's north pole in this undated handout image. Launched in 2011, the Juno spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter in 2016 to study the giant planet from an elliptical, polar orbit. Juno will repeatedly dive between the planet and its intense belts of charged particle radiation. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout via Reuters ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY

Members of the Juno team celebrate at a press conference after they received confirmation from the Juno spacecraft that it had completed the engine burn and successfully entered into orbit around Jupiter,at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, U.S. in this July 4, 2016 handout photo. The Juno mission launched August 5, 2011 and will orbit the planet for 20 months to collect data on the planetary core, map the magnetic field, and measure the amount of water and ammonia in the atmosphere. NASA/Aubrey Gemignani/Handout via Reuters ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY

(L-R) Dr. Jim Green, Planetary Science Division Director, NASA; Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator, Southwest Research Institute; Geoff Yoder, acting Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, NASA; Michael Watkins, director, NASA?s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); and Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); celebrate with others on the Juno team after they received confirmation from the spacecraft that it had successfully completed the engine burn and entered orbit of Jupiter, in mission control of the Space Flight Operations Facility at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, U.S. in this July 4, 2016 handout photo. The Juno mission launched August 5, 2011 and will orbit the planet for 20 months to collect data on the planetary core, map the magnetic field, and measure the amount of water and ammonia in the atmosphere. NASA/Aubrey Gemignani/Handout via Reuters ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY

A 1/4 scale model of NASA's Juno Spacecraft is seen in front of an image of Jupiter, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, July 3, 2016. NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft is scheduled to enter into orbit around Jupiter on July 4 to begin an in-depth study of the planet's formation, evolution and structure. The key event on July 4 is a 35-minute engine burn at 11:18 p.m. EDT (0318 GMT on Tuesday), which is designed to slow Juno down enough to be captured by Jupiter's powerful gravity. / AFP / Robyn Beck (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

NASA's Juno Mission Principal Investigator Scott Bolton (L) and Robert Kondrk (R), Apple vice president for Content and Media Apps, speak at a press conference at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, June 30, 2016 to announce 'Destination: Juno,' a collaboration between NASA and Apple to bring 'exploratory' music inspired by space from artists such as Brad Paisley, Corinne Bailey Rae, GZA, Jim James featuring Lydia Tyrell, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Weezer and Zo to Apple Music and iTunes listeners. The Juno spacecraft is scheduled to enter Jupiter's orbit on July 4, 2016 after a five years voyage to the fifth planet from the sun. / AFP / Robyn Beck (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

NASA Program Executive Diane Brown (L), Juno Mission Principal Investigator Scott Bolton (C) and Robert Kondrk (R), Apple vice president for Content and Media Apps, attend a press conference at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, June 30, 2016 to announce 'Destination: Juno,' a collaboration between NASA and Apple to bring 'exploratory' music inspired by space from artists such as Brad Paisley, Corinne Bailey Rae, GZA, Jim James featuring Lydia Tyrell, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Weezer and Zo to Apple Music and iTunes listeners. The Juno spacecraft is scheduled to enter Jupiter's orbit on July 4, 2016 after a five years voyage to the fifth planet from the sun. / AFP / Robyn Beck (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

PASADENA, CA - JUNE 30: A scientist works at the Deep Space Network desk in the mission control room of the JPL Space Flight Operations Facility at JPL as NASA officials and the public look forward to the Independence Day arrival of the the Juno spacecraft to Jupiter, at JPL on June 30, 2016 in Pasadena, California. After having traveling nearly 1.8 billion miles over the past five years, the NASA Juno spacecraft will arrival to Jupiter on the Fourth of July to go enter orbit and gather data to study the enigmas beneath the cloud tops of Jupiter. The risky $1.1 billion mission will fail if it does not enter orbit on the first try and overshoots the planet. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

PASADENA, CA - JUNE 30: Cassini Ace Bill Mogensen works at his desk in the mission control room of the JPL Space Flight Operations Facility at JPL as NASA officials and the public look forward to the Independence Day arrival of the the Juno spacecraft to Jupiter, at JPL on June 30, 2016 in Pasadena, California. After having traveling nearly 1.8 billion miles over the past five years, the NASA Juno spacecraft will arrival to Jupiter on the Fourth of July to go enter orbit and gather data to study the enigmas beneath the cloud tops of Jupiter. The risky $1.1 billion mission will fail if it does not enter orbit on the first try and overshoots the planet. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

TOPSHOT - (From R) Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager, Scott Bolton, NASA principal investigator for the Juno mission to Jupiter and Jim Green, NASA director of Planetary Science, react as the Juno spacecraft successfully enters Jupiter's orbit on July 4, 2016, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on August 5, 2011 on a five-year voyage to its mission to study the planet's formation, evolution and structure. / AFP / POOL / Ringo Chiu (Photo credit should read RINGO CHIU/AFP/Getty Images)

Scott Bolton (L), NASA principal investigator for the Juno mission to Jupiter, reacts as the Juno spacecraft successfully enters Jupiter's orbit on July 4, 2016, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on August 5, 2011 on a five-year voyage to its mission to study the planet's formation, evolution and structure. / AFP / POOL / Ringo Chiu (Photo credit should read RINGO CHIU/AFP/Getty Images)

TOPSHOT - Juno Project Manager Rick Nybakken (C) celebrates as the solar-powered Juno spacecraft goes into orbit around Jupiter, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California on July 4, 2016. Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on August 5, 2011 on a five-year voyage to its mission to study the planet's formation, evolution and structure. / AFP / POOL / Ringo Chiu (Photo credit should read RINGO CHIU/AFP/Getty Images)

Staff members watch on before the solar-powered Juno spacecraft went into orbit around Jupiter, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California on July 4, 2016. Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on August 5, 2011 on a five-year voyage to its mission to study the planet's formation, evolution and structure. / AFP / POOL / Ringo Chiu (Photo credit should read RINGO CHIU/AFP/Getty Images)

Diane Brown (L), NASA Juno program executive, Scott Bolton (C), Juno principal investigator and Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager, celebrate at a press conference after the Juno spacecraft was successfully placed into Jupiter's orbit, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California on July 4, 2016. Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on August 5, 2011 on a five-year voyage to its mission to study the planet's formation, evolution and structure. / AFP / Robyn BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

Juno Project Manager Rick Nybakken (L) and principal investigator Scott Bolton (R) celebrate as the solar-powered Juno spacecraft goes into orbit around Jupiter, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California on July 4, 2016. Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on August 5, 2011 on a five-year voyage to its mission to study the planet's formation, evolution and structure. / AFP / POOL / Ringo Chiu (Photo credit should read RINGO CHIU/AFP/Getty Images)

PASADENA, CA - JULY 4: Juno team members celebrate in mission control of the Space Flight Operations Facility at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory after receiving confirmation from the spacecraft that it has successfully entered orbit of Jupiter, July 4, 2016 in Pasadena, CA. The Juno mission launched August 5, 2011 and will orbit the planet for 20 months to collect data on the planetary core, map the magnetic field, and measure the amount of water and ammonia in the atmosphere. (Photo by Aubrey Gemignani/NASA via Getty Images)

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AIA makes pitch for more NASA funding

Granted the Aerospace Industries Association has a vested interest in seeing NASAs budget increase but they still make a compelling argument for more funds for the space agency.

Since 1991, NASAs budget has dropped by an inflation adjusted 22 percent, according to AIAs report, Funding Our Future. The agency has $4.3 billion less to spend in its annual budget.

The report lists unfunded priorities in areas of planetary science, astrophysics, heliophysics, Earth science, and human exploration.

The industry group argues that the United States is seeing its space leadership erode and over time that will weaken the nations competitive position.

There also are a technological advances to be gained such as environmentally friendly supersonic flight and a next generation air traffic control system. More NASA spending will also fuel more science and technology education, aka STEM, and there are long term benefits to that.

The arguments are compelling especially if you believe as AIA says that the United States is a spacefaring nation.

AIA said the report was inspired in part by the tradition of the Defense Department presenting a list of unfunded priorities to congressional appropriators.

AIA President and CEO David Melcher said that DODs testimony about these priorities often made a difference come appropriations time. NASA and other civilian agencies arent granted the luxury of that kind of testimony.

Fortunately, industry is not so constrained, and we are free to seek additional resources for NASA to do great things, he wrote in the report. We have some good objective ideas for how best to spend additional NASA dollars.

Unfortunately, AIA might be tilting at windmills in todays budget environment and given the priorities of the Trump administration. But still the promise of space can be very alluring.

Posted by Nick Wakeman on Feb 28, 2017 at 1:51 PM

Read more from the original source:

AIA makes pitch for more NASA funding - Washington Technology (blog)

Humans have sent spacecraft to the moon, the red planet Mars and even distant interstellar space, but could we send a spaceship to the scorching sun?

The answer is yes, and it's happening soon.

In 2018, NASA plans to launch the Solar Probe Plus mission to the sun. Earth is about 93 million miles (149 million kilometers) from the sun, and Solar Probe Plus is slated to get within 4 million miles (6 million km) of the blazing star.

RELATED: What Will Happen to Earth When the Sun Dies?

"This is going to be our first mission to fly to the sun," said Eric Christian, a NASA research scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "We can't get to the very surface of the sun," but the mission will get close enough to answer three important questions, he said.

First, the mission will hopefully reveal why the surface of the sun, called the photosphere, is not as hot as the sun's atmosphere, called the corona. The surface of the sun is only about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,500 degrees Celsius). But the atmosphere above it is a sizzling 3.5 million F (2 million C), according to NASA.

"You'd think the farther away you get from a heat source, you'd get colder," Christian told Live Science. "Why the atmosphere is hotter than the surface is a big puzzle."

Second, scientists want to know how solar wind gets its speed. "The sun blows a stream of charged particles in all directions at a million miles an hour," he said. "But we don't understand how that gets accelerated."

People have known about solar wind for years, as early observers noticed that the tails of comets always pointed away from the sun, even if the comet was traveling in another direction. This suggested that something that is, solar wind was coming off the sun faster than the comet was moving, Christian said.

Third, the mission may ascertain why the sun occasionally emits high-energy particles called solar energetic particles that are a danger to unprotected astronauts and spacecraft.

Researchers have tried to figure out these mysteries from Earth, but "the trouble is we're 93 million miles away," Christian said. "[The distance makes] things get smeared out in a way that makes it hard to tell what's happening at the sun."

Flying to within 4 million miles of the sun isn't without its challenges. The main challenge, unsurprisingly, is the heat. To deal with the extreme temperatures, NASA scientists have designed a 4.5-inch-thick (11.4 centimeters) carbon-composite shield, which is designed to withstand temperatures outside the spacecraft of 2,500 F (1,370 C), according to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, a NASA collaborator working on the Solar Probe Plus.

In addition, the probe will have special heat tubes called thermal radiators that will radiate heat that permeates the heat shield to open space, "so it doesn't go to the instruments, which are sensitive to heat," Christian said.

If these protections work as expected, the instruments in the probe will stay at room temperature, Christian said.

RELATED: Is There Gravity in Space?

The Solar Probe Plus will also be protected from radiation, which can damage the probe's electrical circuits, especially its memory, he said.

The spacecraft will be unmanned, but if given enough time and money, NASA scientists could probably develop a spacecraft that could safely carry an astronaut to within 4 million miles of the sun, Christian said. However, the cost of a human life is great, he said, a risk that unmanned missions don't carry.

If all goes as planned, the Solar Probe Plus will be the closest that a man-made object has ever made it to the sun. Until now, the closest spacecraft were Helios 1 (launched December 1974), which flew within 29 million miles (47 million km) of the sun, and Helios 2 (launched April 1976), which flew 1.8 million miles (3 million km) closer to the sun than Helios 1.

More recently, Messenger (launched August 2004) explored Mercury, which is about 36 million miles (58 million km) from the sun.

Original article on Live Science.

Editor's Recommendations

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New NASA Probe May Solve Three Big Mysteries About the Sun - NBCNews.com

Major experiments that will look into a range of scientific disciplines from human health to atmospheric conditions on Earth are on their way to the International Space Station following liftoff at 9:39 a.m. EST aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. About 5,500 pounds of research equipment, cargo and supplies are packed into the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that is now in Earth orbit and headed to the station on the CRS-10 mission.

SpaceXs Dragon cargo craft launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This was the first commercial launch from Kennedys historic pad.

Astronauts Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency and Shane Kimbrough of NASA will use the space stations robotic arm to capture Dragon when it arrives at the station. Live coverage of the rendezvous and capture will begin at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22 on NASA TV and the agencys website, with installation coverage set to begin at 8:30 a.m.

Research materials flying inside the Dragons pressurized area include a crystal growth experiment that will crystallize a monoclonal antibody that is undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of immunological diseases. Growing the crystal in space will allow it develop more than it could on Earth where gravity causes crystals to collapse on themselves. Preserving these antibodies in crystals allows researchers a glimpse into how the biological molecules are arranged, which can provide new information about how they work in the body. So far, Earth-grown crystalline suspensions of monoclonal antibodies have proven to be too low-quality to fully model.

Better defining how some bacteria become drug-resistant is the focus of another experiment that aims to develop medicines that counter the resistance. Stem cells like those used to treat strokes and other occurrences also will be studied using experiment supplies brought up on this flight.

The equipment aboard the Dragon includes a major instrument that will survey Earths upper atmosphere in a continuation of one of NASAs longest-running Earth-observing programs. Called SAGE III for Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment, the instrument examines the levels of ozone, aerosols, nitrogen dioxide and water vapor in the stratosphere and troposphere high above Earth. It is the latest version of an experiment that began in 1979 and has created a multi-decade record of measurements. The 2,200-pound instrument will be connected to the outside of the station to make daily observations for several years.

The mission is the companys tenth cargo flight to the station under NASAs Commercial Resupply Services contract.Dragons cargowill support dozens of the more than 250 science and research investigations during the stations Expeditions 50 and 51.

Dragon is scheduled to depart the space station in late March, returning nearly 5,000 pounds of science, hardware and crew supplies.

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NASA, SpaceX and Federal Aviation Administration officials will conduct a news conference at 11:30 a.m. EST marking todays successful launch of the SpaceX CRS-10 mission to the International Space Station. The Dragon spacecraft and its 5,500 pounds of equipment are safely in orbit in pursuit of the station. You can watch the news conference on NASA TVor in the live stream below. News conference participants are:

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The Dragon spacecraft completed deployment of its two solar arrays and is flying free in its preliminary orbit to catch up with the International Space Station. The first stage returned to land safely as well and crews at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are safing the stage. NASAs Mission Control in Houston and SpaceX mission controllers are overseeing the performance of the uncrewed spacecraft as it heads to the station to deliver some 5,500 pounds of materials including experiments.

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The Dragons twin solar arrays are deployed. It will take about two minutes to complete the process. The arrays will generate power for the spacecraft during its flight to the space station.

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Spacecraft Sep: Dragon has deployed and is now on its own to pursue the International Space Station to deliver experiments and equipment.

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The second stage engine has shutdown as planned.

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The first stage returned to its landing site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

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The second stage continues to burn as planned to lift the Dragon into orbit.

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The Dragons fairing has jettisoned as planned.

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The second stage of the Falcon 9 is now thrusting after the first stage separated. All systems good.

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Read the original:

SpaceX - blogs.nasa.gov

Jupiter shows off its swirls.

NASA's Juno spacecraft arrived at Jupiter in the middle of 2016 after launching back in 2011. It's still in the middle of its mission to collect data on Jupiter and its moons. Lucky for us, some of that data comes back in the form of stunning images of the fascinating planet. One of the latest is a look at Jupiter's swirling, stormy atmosphere.

The close-up image looks like an abstract watercolor painting, but it actually highlights the planet's ammonia-and-water clouds. NASA describes what we're seeing as "streams of clouds spin off a rotating oval-shaped cloud system in the Jovian southern hemisphere."

Juno snapped the picture on February 2 and NASA highlighted it on Friday after amateur astronomer Roman Tkachenko cropped the image and adjusted the color. NASA makes the raw images from Juno's camera available to the public so people like Tkachenko can work with them.

We also caught up with Tkachenko's work in 2015 when he created a fly-over video of Pluto's moon Charon using processed images from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft.

11

These 10 space images look unbelievable, but are actually real (pictures)

Link:

Jupiter looks like an abstract painting in NASA Juno image - CNET

A NASA engineer explains why Trump's plan to cut the space agency's climate science program is a lot harder than it ... Quartz Within weeks of the US election, president Donald Trump said he intended to scrap NASA's research on climate change, shifting those resourcesless than $2 billion of the agency's $19 billion budgetto its space program. Other Republicans have echoed ... Space weather activities need international cooperation, NASA scientistIndia.com all 2 news articles »

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A NASA engineer explains why Trump's plan to cut the space agency's climate science program is a lot harder than it ... - Quartz

WYDaily.com is your source for free news and information in Williamsburg, James City & York Counties.

The film Hidden Figures highlights the careers of three African-American NASA employees who overcame discrimination to help put Americans in space.

Nearly 50 years after Neil Armstrong took a giant leap for mankind, a NASA employee who once worked with the films real-life protagonists will be introducing the film at the Kimball Theatre.

According to Joe Straw, Public Relations Manager for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Kimball Theatre will host a viewing of Hidden Figures Wednesday, March 1 at 7 P.M. The film will be introduced by former NASA employee and current William and Mary research professor Joel Levine.

Levine said he was an employee of NASA for 41 years before retiring five years ago. He reached the role of Senior Research Scientist in the Science Directorate with NASA at the Langley Research Center, where the film takes place.

He said he worked firsthand with human computers as the women portrayed in the film were called who completed essential calculations for the space program in the age before electronic computers.

Clearly these computers women did a wonderful job in bringing the U.S. into the era of human space travel, Levine said. U.S. citizens got to the moon before Russia, and to a large extent this chapter of history was not known outside of NASA.If it were not for these [human] computers, we would not have done it even at that time.

Levine said the African American women portrayed in the film and many others not included in the script faced racial segregation and discrimination in the workplace.

As a result, their accomplishments and contributions went unrecognized until the release of Margot Lee Shetterlys book Hidden Figures, and the film of the same name.

Hidden Figures is a very important movie and its nice to have stories that are untold finally be revealed, said Marianne Johnston, Program Manager at the Kimball Theatre. Its really important for women to know their history. Hardly anyone knew that women worked for NASA. Its always been pushed to the side.

One of the human computers duties was analyzing data from wind tunnels, Levine said. It was also a responsibility that allowed them to prove their worth in the early stages of the space program.

Wind tunnels generate a fantastic amount of data. You can run a test for 10 minutes and get millions and millions of data points, Levine said. The male engineers were not interested in sitting down with this amazing amount of data, but the women had no problem doing this. They [NASA] found the women could take this data and do a much better job.

While Levine worked at Langley, he and his wife Arlene did not personally know all of the women portrayed in the film. However, he said that he and his wife did were close with Mary Jackson, who was a human computer and is featured in Hidden Figures.

Levine said Jackson was, Very friendly and outgoing, and very interested in helping her fellow employees, male and female and black and white. She was extremely helpful and always had a smile. She became the head of the Langley Research Center womens program and she asked my wife to join, and so my wife was on the panel.

Levine now works in the Department of Applied Sciences with the College of William and Mary, where he researches manned missions to Mars.

Were sending humans to Mars on the backs of what we learned from these women in the 50s, Levine said. Were basically using the same techniques that were developed by NASA and calculated by these [human] computers in the 60s. The people planning the mission to Mars were standing on the shoulders of these computers. Thats their legacy.

Before Wednesdays screening of the film,Levine said he will offer a brief introduction to the crowd. After the film, Levine will providea presentation and answer questions from the audience. He also said that he thoroughly enjoyed the moviehimself.

I saw the movie at New Town and the theater was packed, Levine said. At the end of the movie, people got up and applauded. Since then Ive asked probably 100 colleagues what happened when the movie ended, and they all said people got up and applauded. Its very uplifting the triumph of the human spirit.

Tickets are $8.50 and are available at Colonial Williamsburg ticketing locations including the Kimball Theatre box office, online at colonialwilliamsburg.com by calling 855-296-6627 toll-free or by visiting Colonial Williamsburg on Facebook and @colonialwmsburg on Twitter and Instagram. Tickets for the Films of Faith and Freedom series are also available via Fandango.com.

Colonial Williamsburg, Hidden Figures, Joel Levine, Kimball Theatre

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NASA colleague of real-life 'Hidden Figures' to speak at Kimball Theatre - Williamsburg Yorktown Daily

Last Wednesday, breaking news crossed the CNBC wire:

NASA discovered seven earth-shaped planets orbiting a red-dwarf star in our galaxy a mere forty light-years away. According to this article on NASA's site:

Scientists are pondering the possibilities after this week's announcement: the discovery of seven worlds orbiting a small, cool star some 40 light-years away, all of them in the ballpark of our home planet in terms of their heft (mass) and size (diameter). Three of the planets reside in the "habitable zone" around their star, TRAPPIST-1, where calculations suggest that conditions might be right for liquid water to exist on their surfaces-though follow-up observations are needed to be sure.

We were surprised that not much attention has been devoted to how this may impact the Fed's decision on whether or not to hike rates in the upcoming decade.

We believe that a nodal analysis will allow us to understand the Fed's optimal strategy. Let us review the alternatives.

Node A: there is sophisticated life on one or more of these planets, they are hostile, and they know about us. Now what would you rather call home: a puny old Dwarf star, or a beautiful yellow middle-aged reclusive star like ours?

This can only mean that they're on their way folks!! It's just a matter of time. If an interstellar war is at hand, the last thing this planet needs is to offer people an incentive to save for their future: we may not have one!

Source: Forbes

Node B: there is sophisticated life, they are hostile, but they don't know about us yet. We want their first impression of our planet to be one where interest rates do not thrive. After all, interest rates are themselves a statement about future growth prospects and the economy.

Source: Dr. Aswath Damodaran

Do we really want to go around advertising our beautiful high rates to any hostile group of M-Dwarf invaders? We argue no, and we are positive the Fed will agree.

Node C: sophisticated life that is peaceful, they know about us, but they are not on their way. We need to consider that we have a possible set of new friends and allies! Why aren't they rushing out to meet us? Duh! Their economy must be suffering. What if they too are experiencing 4.8% unemployment like we are?

Do we want to blast our new-found friends with a nasty dose of poisonous interest rates? We don't want any gamma exposure from our economy radiating into the new Macro 2 economy: lower for longer, at least until we know more about why they have not come to visit us.

Node D: what if they are coming right now to share their knowledge with us about how to cure cancer or live peacefully with artificially intelligent robots or introduce a new and exciting mud wrestling segment to all meetings between the president and the press?

Furthermore, what if their spaceship cannot withstand merely low (as opposed to ultra-low) interest rate atmospheres? Our very own economy seems not able to bare them for the last decade: imagine the disastrous effects of a noble race, steadily inching closer to us on a fragile spacecraft that can only safely operate in ultra-low-rate environments.

The Fed needs to ensure that options-adjusted spreads on CCC-and-below junk bonds stay absurdly tight, like this:

Node E: only simple life forms exist. In this case, their economy is likely very undeveloped. The last thing that these poor cousins of our prokaryotic and eukaryotic brethren need are higher rates. After all, just what is the labor force participation rate for single-celled organisms these days stateside (No Fed data available for this series: what are they hiding)?

Now, that would mean that their jobless claims have been under 300,000 for the last 103 weeks: just like here in the US!

Source: Bespoke Investment Group

If we cannot take higher rates here in our own country, then how can we expect this simpler economy to flourish into our future friends (or enemies: see nodes A or B)?

What if they have just recently elected a new leader who has "big league" plans for cutting taxes and introducing massive fiscal policy? Furthermore, what if the general mood among the other single-cell organisms is that this leader will absolutely succeed in his goals beyond any question or shadow of doubt (see lift-off on Feb 9 announcement):

SPY data by YCharts

What would you want under said scenario: a policy rate that is still below the very bottom rate of the last recession, or one that could potentially counteract any inflation that may be close at hand?

Now you might be concerned at Node E that a further delay in rates may cause inflationary pressure on their budding economy. No no: it's okay to let the economy overheat. This too can have some really great effects. No rate hike after all!

Naturally the Fed doesn't want to surprise these markets (or our own for that matter). After all, if surprising markets could do this to our markets in late August 2015:

what could it do to theirs?

On the other hand, the Fed should at least talk about higher rates. Certainly lots and lots of contradictory chatter would be nice.

Now, for awhile at least these simple organisms might believe the Fed that higher rates are around the corner. But sooner or later they will figure out the game theoretic structure of the Fed's problem, and realize that they never actually intend to raise rates:

Source: CME FedWatch Tool

Now we do have rising inflation here in the US: will our Fed be as aggressive in keeping core PCE rates close to 2% when they are above 2% as when they are below?

We wonder whether the Fed will adopt an ultra-hawkish rate stance if core PCE reaches, say, 2.3%. After all, 2% is the golden number.

If 1.7% PCE corresponds to 65bp-rates, then shouldn't 2.3% require something like 1,650bps? The Fed incessantly refers us back to the deflation of the 1930s; isn't price stability a two-theatre war?

How vigilant do you suspect they will be from protecting us from foes on the other side of the magic 2% line?

Node F: No life. We're too late (or too early)! Our former high rates already devastated the economy of our seven earth-sized friends. We may already have the reputation among other M-dwarf stars and their planets as a galactic rate braggart and bully.

In September 2015 the Fed did not raise rates because China's economy seemed to be flagging, with real GDP falling perilously below 7% per annum. Well certainly somewhere out there is an economy that may or may not be in trouble.

Analyst Conclusion:

The Milky Way galaxy is home to approximately 100 billion stars. According to NASA:

Red dwarf stars -- also called "M-dwarfs" -- outnumber others, including yellow stars like our sun, by a factor of three to one, comprising nearly 75 percent of the stars in our galaxy. They also last far longer. And their planets are proportionally larger compared to the small stars they orbit. That means small, rocky worlds orbiting the nearest red dwarfs will be primary targets for new, powerful telescopes coming online in the years ahead, both in space and on the ground.

In Game Theory, a "dominant strategy" is one where each player's choice is optimal given the choices of all other players.

The real lesson here is that in nodes A-F, the Fed knows not to hike. This is the very definition of a dominant strategy.

Given that our galaxy is home to 100 billion stars, it is quite likely that there are hosts of planets that could more or less be categorized in nodes A through F continuously!

This being the case, the message is that the Fed should never raise interest rates again. Interest rates can become the new "barbarous relic", something that loons crow about when they've downed too much whisky and are harkening back to the old days.

Gold is a relic of Julius Caesar and interest is an invention of Satan.

-December, 1921: Thomas Edison

See folks: you heard it from Mr. Edison himself! If interest is an invention of Satan, then the Fed is just doing the Lord's work by keeping short rates at comatose levels into perpetuity.

"Thy will be done, on Earth is it is on M-Dwarf TRAPPIST-1."

Finally we have sound leadership in the world's central banks that share the Edisonian perspective

Thank you for reading. We'd love to hear from you in the comments section below. Please consider following us.

Disclosure: I am/we are short SPY.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Additional disclosure: We actively trade the futures markets, potentially taking multiple positions on any given day, both long and short. It is our belief that the S&P 500 is meaningfully overvalued. As such, we typically carry a net short position using ES options and futures.

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NASA Discovers Seven Earth-Sized Planets: Fed Ought To Stay On Hold! - Seeking Alpha

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NASA just released 3D models and new photos of a massive supernova BGR To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the discovery of massive supernova called SN 1987A, NASA pointed the lens of the Hubble Space Telescope in its direction once again, snagging an updated photo, but that's not all the agency has to offer. NASA is ... The Dawn of a New Era for Supernova 1987a | NASANASA all 47 news articles »

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NASA just released 3D models and new photos of a massive supernova - BGR

NASA managers said Friday they hope to know within a month or so whether it might be feasible -- or advisable -- to put two astronauts on board the first test flight of a huge 322-foot-tall Space Launch System super booster scheduled for its maiden launch late next year.

The study, requested by the Trump administration, already is underway, but William Hill, deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development at NASA Headquarters, said major technical challenges will need to be resolved, and the agency will need more money to make it happen.

Its going to take a significant amount of money, and money that will be required fairly quickly to implement what we need to do, he told reporters. So its a question of how we refine the funding levels and the phasing of the funding for the next three years and see where it comes out.

If the feasibility study doesnt pan out, he said, we still have a very exciting mission.

The current plan calls for launching a Block 1 SLS rocket in late 2018 -- Exploration Mission 1, or EM-1 -- to boost an unpiloted Orion capsule on a three-week flight beyond the moon and back to a high-speed re-entry and splashdown.

EM-2, featuring an astronaut crew, would be launched atop a Block 1B SLS rocket in the late 2021 timeframe. Unlike the EM-1 rocket, the Block 1B version of the SLS would feature a more powerful, human-rated exploration upper stage, or EUS.

An artists impression of a Space Launch System rocket boosting an Orion crew capsule toward space.

NASA

The long-range plan, with its roots in the Obama administration, is to use the SLS to send astronauts beyond the moon in the mid-2020s, first to rendezvous with a robotically retrieved asteroid, or chunk of an asteroid, and then to orbit Mars in the 2030s.

The long gap between the SLS initial test flight and the piloted EM-2 mission, driven in large part by NASAs budget and a variety of technical hurdles, has raised concerns in some quarters about maintaining public and congressional support in a program with years between flights and competing demands on agency funding.

President Trumps transition team asked NASA to look into the possibility of either moving EM-2 earlier or adding astronauts to EM-1. Hill said the latter option was more realistic than the former because of major infrastructure modifications that will be needed to support the larger Block 1B SLS.

But there are major technical challenges with speeding up Orion development for an earlier-than-panned human mission.

We know there are certain systems that needed to be added to EM-1 to add crew, said Bill Gerstenmaier, director of space operations at NASA Headquarters, including a life support system, a waste management system, operational cockpit displays and an operational abort system, all big-ticket items.

In addition, the interim upper stage used by the Block 1 SLS is not certified for human flights. While a similar stage has flown flawlessly atop Delta 4 rockets, additional tests would be required and procedures put in place to ensure crew safety if a malfunction occurs.

So we have a good, crisp list of all the things we would physically have to change from a hardware standpoint, Gerstenmaier said. Then we asked the team to take a look at what additional tests would be needed to add crew, what the additional risk would be, and then we also wanted the teams to talk about the benefits of having crew on the first flight.

An Orion capsule, attached to an interim upper stage, in Earth orbit.

NASA

The risk-benefit trade will be a crucial element of the review. NASAs Aerospace Advisory Panel met Thursday, and in a statement, chairwoman Patricia Sanders cautioned the agency not to pursue an early piloted mission without strong technical justification.

NASA should provide a compelling rationale, in terms of benefits gained in return for accepting additional risk, and fully and transparently acknowledge the tradeoffs being made, she said. If the benefits warrant assumption of additional risk, we expect NASA to clearly and openly articulate their decision process and rationale.

In a Feb. 17 memo to agency employees, acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot raised the possibility of adding astronauts to Exploration Mission-1.

I know the challenges associated with such a proposition, like reviewing the technical feasibility, additional resources needed, and clearly the extra work would require a different launch date, he wrote. That said, I also want to hear about the opportunities it could present to accelerate the effort of the first crewed flight and what it would take to accomplish that first step of pushing humans farther into space.

The SLS-Orion missions, coupled with those promised from record levels of private investment in space, will help put NASA and America in a position to ... ensure this nations world preeminence in exploring the cosmos, he wrote.

In its initial configuration, the SLS Block 1 rocket will be made up of two shuttle-heritage five-segment solid-fuel boosters provided by Orbital ATK and a huge first stage powered by four hydrogen-burning RS-25 space shuttle main engines built by Aerojet Rocketdyne.

The Block 1 version features an interim upper stage derived from Boeings Delta 4 rocket powered by a single hydrogen-fueled Aerojet Rocketdyne RL-10B2 engine.

Even in its initial configuration, the giant SLS rocket will generate a ground-shaking 8.8 million pounds of thrust -- 15 percent more than NASAs legendary Saturn 5 moon rocket -- enough to boost the 5.75 million-pound rocket out of the dense lower atmosphere. Together with the second stage engine, the SLS Block 1 will be able to put 154,000 pounds into low-Earth orbit.

An SLS rocket is roughly as tall as the length of a football field.

NASA

NASA eventually plans to build a Block 2 version of the SLS featuring advanced strap-on boosters with a liftoff thrust of 9.2 million pounds.

Gerstenmaier said the agency was not under any political pressure to put astronauts aboard EM-1, saying this is something well go evaluate and ... well see what the results look like coming out the other side.

But it will not be easy. To convert the EM-1 Orion into a piloted version, life support and other critical systems will be required, along with extensive testing, adding to the missions price tag and inevitably delaying the flight. The flight would be limited to two astronauts on a free-return trajectory around the moon lasting eight to nine days.

Gerstenmaier said if the study shows the Orion spacecraft cannot be prepared for flight before the end of 2019 it likely would make more sense to stick with the original timeline and fly EM-1 uncrewed.

NASAs current deep space exploration program has its roots in presidential politics and agendas dating back to the shuttle Columbias destruction during re-entry in 2003.

In the wake of the disaster, the Bush administration directed NASA to finish the International Space Station and retire the shuttle by the end of the decade and to focus instead on building new rockets and spacecraft for a return to the moon in the early 2020s. Antarctica-style moon bases were envisioned as both a science initiative and as stepping stones to eventual flights to Mars.

NASA came up with the Constellation program and began designing a new Saturn 5-class super rocket to boost lunar modules and habitats to the moon, along with a smaller rocket to carry astronauts to low-Earth orbit. The crew capsule was called Orion and the plan was to link up with the lunar lander/habitat in Earth orbit and then head for the moon.

After the 2008 presidential campaign, President Obama ordered a review of NASAs human space program. A presidential panel concluded Constellation was over budget and unsustainable, suggesting instead that NASA adopt a flexible path architecture, bypassing the moon in favor of a manned flight to an asteroid and an eventual flight to orbit Mars.

The Obama administrations Office of Science and Technology Policy ultimately approved a two-tiered approach to human spaceflight. It retained the Constellation programs Orion capsule, built by Lockheed Martin, and ordered NASA to build a single large rocket -- what became the Space Launch System -- for deep space exploration.

At the same time, the agency has awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX to develop piloted spacecraft, on a commercial basis, to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The idea is to encourage private industry to develop low-Earth orbit while NASA focuses on deep space exploration.

More recently, the Obama administration specified an asteroid retrieval mission to robotically haul a small asteroid, or part of one, back to the vicinity of the moon for hands-on exploration by astronauts aboard an Orion spacecraft. Such missions would set the stage for an Orion, attached to a habitation module of some sort, to make an eventual flight to orbit Mars or its moons.

NASA staged a successful uncrewed test flight of the Orion capsule using a Delta 4 rocket in December 2014. Known as Exploration Flight Test 1, or EFT-1, the heavily instrumented Orion capsule was boosted into an orbit with a high point of about 3,600 miles above the Earth. From there, the spacecraft plunged back to Earth, hitting the atmosphere at some 20,000 mph to test its heat shield and other safety systems.

Continued here:

NASA studies adding crew to super rocket test flight - CBS News

NASA generally proceeds slowly and incrementally especially when human beings are blasted into space. But President Trump apparently wants to do something bold with the space program, and his team has asked NASA to consider speeding up a long-planned moon mission.

So NASA has launched a feasibility study to see what the risks and benefits would be if the agency added two astronauts to the first test flight of a new rocket and capsule.

That flight, Exploration Mission 1, or EM-1, is scheduled for November 2018. The new Space Launch System rocket would blast off with a new Orion capsule on top. The Orion would orbit the moon, undergoing a kind of stress test, and then return to Earth, re-entering the atmosphere at tremendous speed and splashing down in an ocean.

NASA's current plan is to do this with mannequins aboard.

Only after this shakedown mission would it then put live astronauts into Orion and send them on toward the moon. That second mission is not scheduled until 2021.

On Friday, two NASA officials held a teleconference with reporters to discuss the feasibility study, and they avoided signaling whether they think adding astronauts to a test flight is a good idea.

I dont have a preconceived position as to whether I'm for this or against this, said William Gerstenmaier, an associate administrator who is the top official for human spaceflight. Echoing that sentiment was William Hill, a deputy associate administrator: We will let the identified risk and benefits drive this, as well as the data.

[NASA, heeding Trump, may try a first-term moon mission]

Gerstenmaier said the first flight, if astronauts are involved, would probably last eight or nine days.

The officials made clear that changing the current plan, and adding a crew to the first test flight, would increase the mission risk. Gerstenmaier said there are ways to limit the risk, including putting the Orion in an Earth orbit for a day or so to ensure that the life-support systems were working properly. If necessary, at that point the flight to the moon could be aborted. We might lose the mission, but we could still protect the crew, he said.

Gerstenmaier said adding a crew would offer benefits: Well get a chance to test systems in a very rigorous way with a crew on board. Hill seemed to contradict that a few minutes later, saying that NASA would like to stress the systems on Orion in the initial flight, which we probably wouldnt do with a crew on board.

The feasibility study should be complete in about a month. Adding a crew would probably push a launch date for EM-1 into 2019, Gerstenmaier said. If it proves impossible to launch with a crew aboard by late 2019, he said, NASA would stick to the current plan of a crew on EM-2 in 2021.

[How Trump could really disrupt NASA]

Trump has shown an interest in President John F. Kennedy's vow more than half a century ago to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, and, eyeing his reelection prospects, Trumpcould potentially announce some kind of ambitious space mission for NASA, likely in combination with entrepreneurial space companies.

But a lot remains uncertain at NASA, including the top leadership posts. Trump and his team have yet to nominate anyone to run the agency, and NASA is currently guided by acting administrator Robert Lightfoot, a civil servant.

Read more:

With Trump, Gingrich and GOP in charge, NASA may go back to the moon

NASA under Trump is waiting for marching orders

Will trump echo JFK's moonshot and vow to send humans to Mars?

NASA has a spaceship, but where will it go?

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NASA officials discuss Trump's push for first-term moon mission - Washington Post