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How NASA Got the Clearest Photo Ever of Saturn's Moon

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NASA has released the clearest view yet of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, which has long been thought to have the potential to harbor life.

Over the past decade, the Cassini mission has been using its cameras to probe Titan and send back images of the moon's diverse terrain, ranging from sand dunes to hydrocarbon seas.

While the discoveries have been impressive, electronic noise has always clouded the images, giving them a grainy look.

Antoine Lucas, who worked with Cassini's radar team when he was a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology, had the idea to use a new technique called "despeckling," according to NASA, which allowed the team to produce clearer images by suppressing electronic noise.

"It takes a lot of computation, and at the moment quite a bit of 'fine-tuning' to get the best results with each new image, so for now we'll likely be despeckling only the most important -- or most puzzling -- images," Randy Kirk, a Cassini radar team member, said in a statement.

With better views of Titan, researchers will now be able to better study the mysterious moon and the processes that shaped its unique terrain into what it is today.

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How NASA Got the Clearest Photo Ever of Saturn's Moon

NASA News: Space Agency Wants To Send Submarine To Saturn Moon Titan

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NASA wants to send its concept submarine to explore Kraken Mare, one of the methane seas located on Titan, the moon that circles Saturn. Kraken Mare is the largest known body of liquid on Titan, and it consists mostly of liquid methane.

The concept submarine is a single-ton robot, nuclear-powered submarine equipped with a seafloor camera and sampling system. The video below was posted by NASA earlier this month.

The vehicle would use conventional propulsors to yaw around, using a sun sensor to determine the initial azimuth to Earth and begin communication using a terrestrial radio as a more precise reference, the agency explainedin a conference presentation.

It wont be an easy task to get the sub to Saturns moon. It wont fit into the landers that have been utilized for exploring planets and moons in past missions, but the sub could fit into a space plane such as Boeings X-37, which was recently used for a classified Air Force mission. The plane could land on Kraken Mare or possibly drop the sub using a parachute.

NASA hopes to use the sub to explore the chemistry of Titans seafloor and sea composition, as well as study its tides, weather, shoreline, islands and search for any type of life. The concept of the sub is still in its very early stages, but the team expects that it may be up and running by 2047.

Kraken Mare was discovered in 2007 by the Cassini probe. It was named after the Kraken, a legendary sea monster that originated in the 13th century and supposedly lives off the coast of Greenland or Norway.

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NASA News: Space Agency Wants To Send Submarine To Saturn Moon Titan

NASA Study Finds Carbon Emissions Could Dramatically …

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[image-36]

Droughts in the U.S. Southwest and Central Plains during the last half of this century could be drier and longer than drought conditions seen in those regions in the last 1,000 years, according to a new NASA study. [image-51]

The study, published Thursday in the journal Science Advances, is based on projections from several climate models, including one sponsored by NASA. The research found continued increases in human-produced greenhouse gas emissions drives up the risk of severe droughts in these regions. [image-76]

"Natural droughts like the 1930s Dust Bowl and the current drought in the Southwest have historically lasted maybe a decade or a little less," said Ben Cook, climate scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York City, and lead author of the study. "What these results are saying is we're going to get a drought similar to those events, but it is probably going to last at least 30 to 35 years." [image-92]

According to Cook, the current likelihood of a megadrought, a drought lasting more than three decades, is 12 percent. If greenhouse gas emissions stop increasing in the mid-21st century, Cook and his colleagues project the likelihood of megadrought to reach more than 60 percent.

However, if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase along current trajectories throughout the 21st century, there is an 80 percent likelihood of a decades-long megadrought in the Southwest and Central Plains between the years 2050 and 2099.

The scientists analyzed a drought severity index and two soil moisture data sets from 17 climate models that were run for both emissions scenarios. The high emissions scenario projects the equivalent of an atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration of 1,370 parts per million (ppm) by 2100, while the moderate emissions scenario projects the equivalent of 650 ppm by 2100. Currently, the atmosphere contains 400 ppm of CO2.

In the Southwest, climate change would likely cause reduced rainfall and increased temperatures that will evaporate more water from the soil. In the Central Plains, drying would largely be caused by the same temperature-driven increase in evaporation.

The Fifth Assessment Report, issued by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2013, synthesized the available scientific studies and reported that increases in evaporation over arid lands are likely throughout the 21st century. But the IPCC report had low confidence in projected changes to soil moisture, one of the main indicators of drought.

Until this study, much of the previous research included analysis of only one drought indicator and results from fewer climate models, Cook said, making this a more robust drought projection than any previously published.

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NASA Announces University CubeSat Space Mission Candidates

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Sun, Feb 15, 2015

NASA has selected more than dozen small research satellites that each could fit in the palm of your hand to fly in space on future rocket launches.

These cube-shaped nanosatellites, called CubeSats, which measure about four inches on each side and weigh less than three pounds, are small but pack an outsized research punch. They will enable unique technology demonstrations, education research and science missions, and will study topics ranging from how the solar system formed to the demonstration of a new radiation-tolerant computer system.

The 14 CubeSats selected are from 12 states and will fly as auxiliary payloads aboard rockets planned to launch in 2016, 2017 and 2018. They come from universities across the country, non-profit organizations and NASA field centers.

As part of the White House Maker Initiative, NASA is seeking to leverage the growing community of space-enthusiasts to create a nation that contributes to NASAs space exploration goals. In the first step to broaden this successful initiative to launch 50 small satellites from all 50 states in the next five years, the agency has made a selection from West Virginia, one of the 21 "rookie states" that have not previously been selected by the CubeSat Launch Initiative.

The selections are part of the fifth round of the agency's CubeSat Launch Initiative. The selected spacecraft are eligible for placement on a launch manifest after final negotiations, depending on the availability of a flight opportunity.

(Image provided by NASA)

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NASA Announces University CubeSat Space Mission Candidates

Biggest explosion in Sun happened in 5 years caught on tape by NASA – Video

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Biggest explosion in Sun happened in 5 years caught on tape by NASA
Turkey February 11, 2015 marks five years in space for NASA #39;s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which provides incredibly detailed images of the whole sun 24 hours a day. Capturing an image more...

By: Cihan News Agency

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Biggest explosion in Sun happened in 5 years caught on tape by NASA - Video


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