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NASA's Dawn Gets Closer To Potentially Habitable Dwarf Planet Ceres

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NASAs Dawn spacecraft has already delivered the first details of craters on the surface ofCeres as it draws closer to itshistorical rendezvous with the dwarf planet.

Dawn will be the first ever probe to visit a dwarf planet and has been heading for Ceres, the largest body in the main asteroid belt, since it left its first mission objective, Vesta, in 2012.

Its new images show the dwarf planet at 27 pixels across, around three times better than the calibration images taken in early December. The pictures are still only around 80 per cent of the resolution of images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2003 and 2004, but Dawn is about to get much closer to the dwarf world.

At the end of January, its images will surpass Hubble resolution, bringing scientists the first clues about this icy body in the asteroid belt, which some academics believe may harbor a subsurface ocean. That puts Ceres in the same bracket as Jupiters moon Europa and Saturns moon Enceladus warm, wet planetary bodies that are potentially habitable.

The Dawn spacecraft observed Ceres for an hour on Jan. 13, 2015, from a distance of 238,000 miles. A little more than half of its surface was observed at a resolution of 27 pixels. This animated GIF shows bright and dark features. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/PSI)

said Marc Rayman, Dawns chief engineer and mission director, based at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Already, the [latest] images hint at first surface structures such as craters, added Andreas Nathues, lead investigator for the framing camera team at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Gottingen, Germany.

Ceres sits in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, has an average diameter of 590 miles and is thought to be made up of a large proportion of water though how much of that water is liquid is still in question.

The dwarf planet is Dawns second port of call, after it delivered over 30,000 pictures and huge amounts of data and insight into Vesta, the second most massive object in the same asteroid belt. The probe orbited the 326-mile diameter space rock from 2011 to 2012, but thanks to its ion propulsion system, still has enough juice to be the first ever spacecraft to orbit two deep-space destinations.

Ceres has offered tantalising hints about its make-up, including the presence of water vapour in its thin atmosphere and these first hints of craters on its surface.

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NASA's Dawn Gets Closer To Potentially Habitable Dwarf Planet Ceres

Kelly astronaut twins to participate in year-long NASA experiments – Video

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Kelly astronaut twins to participate in year-long NASA experiments
Astronaut Scott Kelly will try something no American has ever done before, while his twin, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, spends the mission on Earth. As NASA looks towards an eventual three-year...

By: CBS This Morning

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Kelly astronaut twins to participate in year-long NASA experiments - Video

Pluto and the Solar System: A hangout with NASA and PBS LearningMedia – Video

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Pluto and the Solar System: A hangout with NASA and PBS LearningMedia
We are going to Pluto this year for the first time with the New Horizons mission! How do you bring your science students along for the ride, and what updates and changes await your Solar System...

By: WGBH Education

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Pluto and the Solar System: A hangout with NASA and PBS LearningMedia - Video

NASA Langley's New Giant Robot Will Create Space-Age Materials

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NASA's Langley Researcher Center will unveil its new seven-ton, two-story tall composite materials robot to the media and research community Monday, Jan. 26.A number of dignitaries and industry officials are expected to attend the ISAAC (Integrated Structural Assembly of Advanced Composites) commissioning including Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Acting Deputy Associate Administrator Robert Pearce and NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate Associate Administrator Michael Gazarik.News media are invited to the ceremony to see the ISAAC robot in action, Monday, Jan. 26, starting at 10 a.m. Interested media should contact Kathy Barnstorff at (757) 864-9886 or kathy.barnstorff@nasa.gov, no later than 9 a.m., Jan. 26, and arrive at the NASA Langley gate by 9:40 a.m.NASA Langley is one of three places in the world now equipped with this sophisticated precision technology. The other two systems are used for bulk manufacturing of lightweight composite materials for industry, not for research.ISAAC looks like something out of a Transformers movie a huge arm that moves and spins to pick up massive heads filled with spools of carbon fibers, then works in preprogrammed patterns to deposit those fibers onto complex forms or molds up to 40 feet long. But instead of transforming from machine to autobot it can transform 3-D computer drawings and epoxy and fibers into pieces that can fly in the air or be launched into space.Researchers say the robotic system will play a key role in the development of significantly improved aerospace components. Planes, rockets and other vehicles can use less fuel and carry more if they are made of strong, lighter weight materials.For information about NASA Langley, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/langley

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NASA Langley's New Giant Robot Will Create Space-Age Materials

NASA's New Curiosity Rover Science Chief Takes Charge On Mars

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PASADENA, Calif. Ashwin Vasavada knows he has some pretty big shoes to fill.

Vasavada is the newly appointed project scientist for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, in charge of a team of nearly 500 researchers spread around the globe. He succeeds John Grotzinger, who steered Curiosity to some big finds over the past few years including the discovery that Mars could have supported microbial life in the ancient past.

"It's a big step to lead this large team; there's nobody else anymore. The buck stops with me," Vasavada told Space.com with a wry chuckle. "The pace of success and scientific achievement have been so great that it makes one a bit nervous about keeping it up!" [Curiosity's Biggest Discoveries (So Far)]

The car-size Curiosity rover landed on Mars in August 2012 under Grotzinger's leadership. Vasavada who's based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) here in Pasadena was a deputy project scientist until now.

In that role, Vasavada had focused on science operations. He has worked on Curiosity's $2.5 billion mission formally known as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) for more than a decade and knows the rover and its subsystems like few others.

"I had focused very strongly on operations in the last few years. Making sure that everything operated smoothly took up the bulk of my time," he said. "You have to 'feed' the rover every day, and it's an incredibly complex process, analyzing the data and working with the engineers to maximize the science returns. There are a hundred questions every day and potential problems to keep in check. "

Generally speaking, the project scientist facilitates the work of Curiosity's nine principal investigators (PIs). Each PI is attached to an instrument onboard the rover. [A 'Curiosity' Quiz: How Well Do You Know NASA's Newest Mars Rover?]

"John had been doing a lot of the data-analysis side, keeping track of all the different things that people were working on and prompting them to pursue different lines of research," said Vasavada, who has a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). "He made sure that collaboration was occurring and managed interactions between team members. I'll be doing a lot more of that now."

A 'Curiosity' Quiz: How Well Do You Know NASA's New...

NASA's Curiosity rover the centerpiece of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission landed on Mars Aug. 5. How much do you know about Curiosity and its mission?

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NASA's New Curiosity Rover Science Chief Takes Charge On Mars

NASA Spends $392,000 on A Communications Book Should We Encounter Aliens

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NASA Spends $392,000 on A Communications Book Should We Encounter Aliens In his latest report on government waste, outgoing Sen. Tom Coburn found that the federal government spent an eye-popping $50 million on paid administration leave. Worse, about 40% of the money went to workers who had, shall we say, behavioral problems at work.

Government employees who were caught doing things such as charging booze on government credit cards, surfing porn on government computers and sexually harassing co-workers were often punished by getting paid not to show up to worksometimes for years.

Some of Coburns examples make you wonder what it takes to get fired from a government post. The IRS Lois Lerner, for example, pocketed $50,000 in paid leave after her role in targeting conservative groups was exposed. The head of Iran operations for the CIA was put on paid leave after creating a work environment so hostile, it put that division in disarray. So was a Secret Service agent found passed out in a hallway from a previous nights boozing while on presidential security detail.

Coburn also found incredible examples of waste at agencies that constantly claim poverty. A prime example is the National Institutes of Health, which in the wake of the Ebola outbreak said it could have developed a vaccine by now if it werent for budget cuts. The same NIH had $2 billion to blow on Swedish massages for rabbits, studying whether moms love their dogs or their children more, researching writing on Buddhist meditation, and developing a mobile app designed to help parents get their children to eat vegetables.

NASA, which currently cant launch a man into space on its own, blew $350 million on a launch tower for a canceled rocket system, wastes $43 million maintaining other facilities that serve no purpose, and spent $392,000 on a book offering communication advice should we encounter aliens.

The government doesnt need more money to do its job. It needs a major housecleaning.

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IRS Violates Federal Law for More Than A Decade Under the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, the agency is required to provide annual recommendations for reducing the complexity of the administration of Federal tax laws; and for repeal or modification of any provision the Commissioner believes adds undue and unnecessary complexity to the administration of the Federal tax laws. But as noted by the National Taxpayer Advocate, the agency has not bothered to produce such a report since 2002. Only two such reports have ever been issued, in 2000 and 2002.

Each year Americans spend six billion hours complying with the four million word Internal Revenue Code. But the IRS apparently cant be bothered to compile the report. When asked by the NTA to explain themselves, the IRS said it would require about two full time employees working for about a year to produce the report.

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NASA Spends $392,000 on A Communications Book Should We Encounter Aliens

New Dwarf Planet Ceres Images Snapped By NASA Dawn Probe | Video – Video

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New Dwarf Planet Ceres Images Snapped By NASA Dawn Probe | Video
NASA #39;s Dawn mission snapped imagery of Ceres at a distance of 238000 miles (about the same distance between the Earth and the Moon) on Jan. 13th, 2015. The images show #39;hint of craters #39; ...

By: VideoFromSpace

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New Dwarf Planet Ceres Images Snapped By NASA Dawn Probe | Video - Video


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