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AJ Mittendorf presents a compelling argument regarding Postnatal Abortion and NASA – Video

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AJ Mittendorf presents a compelling argument regarding Postnatal Abortion and NASA
A. J. Mittendorf argues that abortion is not a viable option for any woman whose pregnancy does not put her life at risk or is not the result of rape. His three main points are that humanity...

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AJ Mittendorf presents a compelling argument regarding Postnatal Abortion and NASA - Video

UFO Sightings Massive Organic Biological UFO Over Earth? NASA Evidence 2015 – Video

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UFO Sightings Massive Organic Biological UFO Over Earth? NASA Evidence 2015
Massive Organic Biological UFO Hovers Over Earth? NASA Evidence 2015 Discovered By UFO Hunter Streetcap1 Apollo 10 Mission in 1969! Streetcap1 Channel Check him out!

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UFO Sightings Massive Organic Biological UFO Over Earth? NASA Evidence 2015 - Video

NASA wants $500M more

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Standing in front of three prototype spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Station in Florida, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on Monday laid out the agency's accomplishments.

"These are tangible examples of our progress," Bolden said, referring to Boeing's CST-100 mock-up and two test vehicles already flown in space -- Lockheed Martin's Orion and SpaceX Dragon crew capsules.

The proposal asks Congress to increase funding for the commercial spaceflight program by 50%, from $800 million to $1.2 billion. If not approved and the commercial contractors meet their deadlines -- NASA might not meet its deadline of launching astronauts from the United States by late 2017, said David Radzanowski, NASA's chief financial officer.

Last year NASA awarded Boeing and SpaceX contracts for returning American astronauts into low-Earth orbit and to the International Space Station. Since the space shuttle program ended in 2011, NASA has paid Russia to transport its astronauts to the space station on Soyuz rockets.

In its annual report, released Friday, NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said it could not review the certification process in the Commercial Crew Program due to a lack of transparency and information.

The independent safety panel has been required to submit an annual report to Congress since the shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. The report can be influential toward congressional approval of NASA's budget.

"We are currently providing the information to the panel," Bolden told CNN following his speech in Florida.

The administrator said President Barack Obama's $18.5 billion budget for NASA is a vote of confidence in NASA's ambitious exploration programs.

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NASA wants $500M more

NASA's dirt-watching satellite in orbit after 'spectacular' launch (+video)

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NASA launched its newest Earth-observing mission Saturday (Jan. 31), sending a satellite to the ultimate height to study the dirt below our feet.

The space agency's newSoil Moisture Active Passive satellite(SMAP) satellite successfully launched to space atop an unmanned United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force base in California at 9:22 a.m. EST (1422 GMT). SMAP is designed to map the moisture levels in topsoil around the world to help scientist better predict droughts, floods and other weather factors. The spacecraft soared into space and deployed its solar arrays after a flawless launch, NASA officials said.

"It was spectacular," NASA launch director Tim Dunn said after the spacecraft reached orbit. "We're in contact with SMAP and everything looks great. We couldn't be happier."[See photos from NASA's SMAP satellite launch]

The SMAP satellite measures moisture in the top 2 inches (5 centimeters) of soil on Earth by using two instruments designed to gather more accurate data about Earth's soil than ever before, officials have said. The mission was initially scheduled to launch on Thursday (Jan. 29), but was delayed 24 hours due to unacceptable winds. The need for a minor rocket repair on Friday pushed the launch back another day.

Once deployed,SMAP's giant antennawill help create a global map of topsoil moisture levels every three days through the mission's initial three-year lifespan, NASA officials have said. The huge, rotating antenna which measures close to 20 feet (6 meters) in diameter is the largest of its kind ever flown in space, according to NASA. The satellite should beam back information about soil moisture with unprecedented accuracy.

"SMAP, or the Soil Moisture Active Passive mission, this morning is going to be incredibly important because it will be the first space-borne asset that allows us to look at freeze/thaw cycles; to determine the difference between areas of Earth that are frozen and those that are with normal moisture; and it helps in understanding the carbon dioxide cycle also, which we believe contributes to the planet's change," NASA administrator Charles Bolden said during a webcast before launch.

Scientists want to learn more about soil moisture for a variety of reasons. For one, it will give them a more detailed idea of where and when droughts could happen. And on the flip side of that, SMAP data is also designed to help researchers get a better sense of where floods might occur based on soil moisture data.

"SMAP is in a unique position because its measurements impact two distinct domains," Dara Entekhabi, SMAP science team leader, said during a news conference Tuesday (Jan. 27). "One, of course, as a science mission it impacts how we fundamentally understand how the environment works and peer into the metabolism of the environment. And second, it impacts some of the applications that touch our everyday lives."

Scientists will use the global soil moisture data to more fully understand the interconnected nature of three of Earth's major cycles the carbon, water and energy cycles in order to create more accurate weather maps and predictions. Researchers need an instrument like SMAP because there are too few ground-based sensors to create a highly accurate global map of soil moisture right now, Entekhabi added.

The $916 million mission joins the 19 other Earth-gazing satellites currently monitoring the planet from space today. SMAP will be in an orbit that takes it about 426 miles (685 kilometers) above Earth's surface.

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NASA's dirt-watching satellite in orbit after 'spectacular' launch (+video)

What NASA would do with an extra half-billion dollars

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NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, left, discusses the agency's fiscal 2016 budget with reporters at the Kennedy Space Center while spaceport director Robert Cabana, right, looks on. William Harwood/CBS News

The Obama administration's fiscal 2016 budget includes $18.5 billion for NASA -- a half-billion-dollar increase -- that continues development of a new mega-rocket and capsule for deep space exploration and significantly boosts funding for commercial spacecraft to ferry crews to and from the space station, agency officials said Monday.

The budget proposal also includes funding to continue studies of a proposed crewed mission to visit an asteroid in the 2020s, to pay for ongoing and planned robotic Mars missions and to keep the $6 billion James Webb Space Telescope, the long-awaited successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, on track for launch in late 2018.

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Astronomers revisit iconic nebula for a different look from 20 years ago

"President Obama today is proposing an FY 2016 budget of $18.5 billion for NASA, building on the significant investments the administration has made in America's space program over the past six years," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told Kennedy Space Center workers.

Standing in front of an Orion deep space exploration capsule that completed an initial test flight in December, Bolden said the budget represented a "half billion-dollar increase over last year's enacted budget, and it is a clear vote of confidence to you, the employees of NASA, and the ambitious exploration program you are executing."

Repeating what has become a sort of mantra for senior NASA officials, Bolden said the agency "is firmly on a journey to Mars. Make no mistake, this journey will help guide and define our generation."

While eventual Mars flights are not expected until the mid 2030s at the earliest, NASA's long-range focus is the red planet, a goal Bolden promotes at every opportunity.

NASA's human exploration program accounts for nearly half of the agency's 2016 budget request, or $8.51 billion. That total includes $3.106 billion for International Space Station operations, $1.244 billion for commercial crew spacecraft, $2.863 billion for the Orion deep space capsule and the heavy-lift Space Launch System booster and $400 million for research and development.

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What NASA would do with an extra half-billion dollars

NASA Europa Mission Gets White House Approval

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The quest to explore Jupiter's ocean-harboring moon Europa has taken a big step forward.

The White House's fiscal year 2016 budget request for NASA, which was released Monday (Feb. 2), allocates $18.5 billion to the space agency, including $30 million to formulate a mission to Europa, perhaps the solar system's best bet to host alien life. NASA has been studying a potential Europa mission for a while now, but the new budget proposal signals a commitment from the White House that wasn't there before.

"For the first time, the budget supports the formulation and development of a Europa Mission, allowing NASA to begin project formulation, Phase A,"NASA officials wrotein a summary of the proposed budget. [Photos: Europa, Mysterious Icy Moon of Jupiter]

Indeed, the new budget request assumes multiple years of funding for a Europa mission, said NASA Chief Financial Officer David Radzanowski.

"The current funding profile would assume a launch in the mid-2020s," Radzanowskitold reporters during a conference call Monday.

It's unclear at the moment just how much NASA and the Europa project will actually get in the 2016 fiscal year (FY), which begins Oct. 1, 2015. Congress must approve the final budget, which often looks quite different than the one proposed by the White House.

For example, the Obama administration allocated $15 million for early work on a potential Europa mission in its FY 2015 budget request, but Congress later upped that to $100 million.

NASA appears to be zeroing in on a mission that would feature multiple flybys of Europa perhaps something along the lines of theEuropa Clipper, a concept being developed by agency scientists and engineers.Once in orbit around Jupiter, the Clipper would make 45 flybys of the 1,900-mile-wide (3,100 kilometers) Europa over the course of 3.5 years, as the concept is currently envisioned.

Europa is thought to possess an ocean of liquid water under its icy shell. During its many flybys, the Clipper would confirm and study that ocean, yielding insights about its depth, salinity and conductivity, among other characteristics.

The Clipper would also measure and map Europa's ice shell, returning data that could be useful for a potential future mission to the moon's surface.

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NASA Europa Mission Gets White House Approval

UFODI: UFO De-Materializes On NASA ISS Live Feed 18.52pm 31/01/2015 – Video

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UFODI: UFO De-Materializes On NASA ISS Live Feed 18.52pm 31/01/2015
International Space Station (ISS) Time and Date: 18.52pm UK Time - 31/01/2015 UFO Rising upwards on ISS U-Stream live TV materializes. What I first thought was the Moon appeared not to be!...

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UFODI: UFO De-Materializes On NASA ISS Live Feed 18.52pm 31/01/2015 - Video


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