LOS ANGELES, Sept. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has announced that Space shuttle Endeavour, mounted atop NASA's modified 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), will make the final ferry flight of the Space Shuttle Program era when it departs Monday, Sept. 17, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida headed to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).On Oct. 11, 2011, NASA transferred ...
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Adrian R. Gardner, CIO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, was the 2012 recipient of the Information Technology Leader Award from Temple University's Fox School of Business. Here, he talks about what it takes to lead IT at one of the most famous government organizations.
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The Grill: NASA's Adrian R. Gardner works to manage cybersecurity challenges
On 28-29 August 2012, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) held a Systems Engineering Review for a potential geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) servicing mission. Despite stating that "Interested parties must register in order to attend" a number of participants have told me that they did not register in advance and just showed up. According to attendees, during the meeting, participants were openly encouraged to use their cellphones to take pictures of the materials shown on the screen - some (but not all) of which were labeled "predecisional". None of the charts shown had any marking denoting that they were ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) sensitive in nature.
On 30 August 2012 I made a request to NASA GSFC PAO for a copy of a presentation titled "Systems Engineering Review of the RESTORE mission." that had been presented on 28 August. On 6 September 2012 I got the following response back from GSFC PAO with regard to my request:
"The Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office (SSCO) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has received your request to provide a copy of the presentation package given on August 28-29, 2012 at the Systems Engineering Review (https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=6fd53a246b22fd1777c01bd51cfd0901&_cview=0) for a potential geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) servicing mission.
The package was not handed to the participants at the review because it contains ITAR-restricted data and material relevant to a potential competitive solicitation. We are in the process of preparing the package for distribution. Attendees whose citizenship was previously confirmed will be sent the version of the package with all ITAR data clearly labeled as such. A non-ITAR package will be posted on our public website.
We welcome your interest in this Review and SSCO's activities to advance robotic satellite-servicing technologies. Our team encourages you to visit our website (http://ssco.gsfc.nasa.gov/) for information about SSCO's technology development campaign. We'd be happy to give you a tour of the Satellite Servicing Center located at Goddard Space Flight Center at your convenience."
This is a little odd. Aren't things with ITAR sensitivity supposed to marked that way to begin with - certainly before they are discussed or referenced in a public forum? If I read this right, ITAR labeling is only being applied to materials - after the fact - materials that were already discussed at this meeting. The original meeting notice says "Due to the content of the presentations and facility security requirements, only U.S. citizens may attend. All attendees will be required to present government issued photo identification upon entry to the event".
If only American citizens were allowed in this meeting, then they would all have shown proof of their citizenship, right? Or were some attendees not American citizens? If the material had been labeled in advance as being ITAR sensitive - and everyone in attendance was a U.S. citizen - then couldn't copies have been given to all attendees at the meeting? And if this material is also competition sensitive (in addition to ITAR sensitive), why were all attendees openly encouraged to use their cellphones to record copies of these materials? This meeting was held in a large auditorium and no one was checking to see who walked in.
Update: NASA GSFC PAO provided this response on 7 September 2012:
"In response to your query, the citizenship of all of the participants at the Review was verified prior to their admittance into the event. Each slide was clearly labeled at the bottom that "Use or disclosure of this data is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document." The title page had the detailed ITAR language. Further, periodically throughout the two-day event, ITAR reminders were given verbally to the participants. Ultimately it is the legal responsibility of each U.S. person that attended the Review to not further distribute ITAR-controlled material to non-U.S. persons."
This begs the question: Why were attendees openly encouraged to take pictures of these slides with their cellphones? Witnesses tell me that this was done. That sounds contrary to the notion that this information is not to be shared. Was every page of the ITAR-sensitive documents tagged with an ITAR notice? Documents get distributed in pieces all the time. My understanding is that every page needs an ITAR warning. Is that what NASA is adding to these documents now? Also, why was the word "predecisional" used when refering to ITAR-sensitive information?
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Confusing ITAR Compliance at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Overcast skies didn't deter the "Mighty Eagle," flying high above the historic F-1 test stand - formerly used to test turbopumps for Saturn first stage engines. (NASA/MSFC/Dennis Olive)
(Phys.org)Completing this round of flight test objectives, the "Mighty Eagle," a NASA robotic prototype lander, flew to an altitude of 100 feet and descended gently to a controlled landing during a successful free flight Sept. 5 at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Guided by autonomous rendezvous and capture software, the vehicle located an on-the-ground target using its onboard camera and flew to it. Last week's flight followed a preprogrammed flight profile, but today's operated "closed loop," with the vehicle seeking and finding its target using the onboard software to guide the flight.
"The 'Mighty Eagle' had a great flight, fulfilling the objectives we had for this testfinding and landing on its target using a closed-loop system," said Greg Chavers, test lead for the project. "Given this is one of our last tests in this series, it is a worthy finale of a lot of people's hard workincluding our young engineers. They did a remarkable job running today's flight."
New for this test, the "Mighty Eagle" project managers turned over the vehicle's keys to three young Marshall engineers, Adam Lacock, flight manager; Jake Parton, test conductor; and Logan Kennedy, systems engineer.
Nicknamed the "Mighty Eagle" after one of the characters in the popular "Angry Birds" game, the vehicle is a three-legged prototype that resembles an actual flight lander design. It is 4 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter and, when fueled, weighs 700 pounds. It is a "green" vehicle, fueled by 90 percent pure hydrogen peroxide, and is guided by an onboard computer that activates the thrusters to power the craft's movements.
"We've surpassed our expectations and flew the most challenging run to date," said Mike Hannan, a controls engineer in Marshall's Engineering Directorate. "It was an overcast, extremely humid day, and we were concerned steam might block the vehicle's camera. We didn't see that, and the lander sought and found its target successfully."
"It was an invaluable experience managing today's test," added Lacock. "This is the kind of experience young engineers, like myself, need to learn more about flight mechanics, vehicle hardware and project management. It was a good day for our team."
NASA will use the "Mighty Eagle" to mature the technology needed to develop a new generation of small, smart, versatile robotic landers capable of achieving scientific and exploration goals on the surface of the moon, asteroids or other airless bodies.
Provided by NASA
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ScienceDaily (Sep. 5, 2012) Completing this round of flight test objectives, the "Mighty Eagle," a NASA robotic prototype lander, flew to an altitude of 100 feet and descended gently to a controlled landing during a successful free flight Sept. 5 at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Guided by autonomous rendezvous and capture software, the vehicle located an on-the-ground target using its onboard camera and flew to it. Last week's flight followed a preprogrammed flight profile, but today's operated "closed loop," with the vehicle seeking and finding its target using the onboard software to guide the flight.
"The 'Mighty Eagle' had a great flight, fulfilling the objectives we had for this test -- finding and landing on its target using a closed-loop system," said Greg Chavers, test lead for the project. "Given this is one of our last tests in this series, it is a worthy finale of a lot of people's hard work -- including our young engineers. They did a remarkable job running today's flight."
New for this test, the "Mighty Eagle" project managers turned over the vehicle's keys to three young Marshall engineers, Adam Lacock, flight manager; Jake Parton, test conductor; and Logan Kennedy, systems engineer.
Nicknamed the "Mighty Eagle" after one of the characters in the popular "Angry Birds" game, the vehicle is a three-legged prototype that resembles an actual flight lander design. It is 4 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter and, when fueled, weighs 700 pounds. It is a "green" vehicle, fueled by 90 percent pure hydrogen peroxide, and is guided by an onboard computer that activates the thrusters to power the craft's movements.
"We've surpassed our expectations and flew the most challenging run to date," said Mike Hannan, a controls engineer in Marshall's Engineering Directorate. "It was an overcast, extremely humid day, and we were concerned steam might block the vehicle's camera. We didn't see that, and the lander sought and found its target successfully."
"It was an invaluable experience managing today's test," added Lacock. "This is the kind of experience young engineers, like myself, need to learn more about flight mechanics, vehicle hardware and project management. It was a good day for our team."
NASA will use the "Mighty Eagle" to mature the technology needed to develop a new generation of small, smart, versatile robotic landers capable of achieving scientific and exploration goals on the surface of the moon, asteroids or other airless bodies.
The "Mighty Eagle" was developed by the Marshall Center and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., for NASA's Planetary Sciences Division, Headquarters Science Mission Directorate. Key partners in this project include the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation, which includes the Science Applications International Corporation, Dynetics Corp., and Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc., all of Huntsville.
For more information on NASA's robotic landers, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/lunarquest/robotic/index.html
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NASA's 'Mighty Eagle' robotic prototype lander aces major exam
Public release date: 5-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rob Gutro robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov 443-858-1779 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Infrared data from NASA's Aqua satellite shows that Tropical Storm Leslie has been causing problems for itself.
Tropical Storm Leslie has been on a slow track in the Atlantic, and because of that, the storm is kicking up cooler waters from below the ocean surface. Those cooler waters were seen in infrared imagery on Sept. 5 at 0611 UTC (2:11 a.m. EDT) taken by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The cooler waters are responsible for Leslie's slow strengthening. Sea surface temperatures need to be at least as warm as 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.6 Celsius) to maintain a tropical cyclone. When a tropical cyclone moves slowly, however, it churns up the waters below the surface, which are cooler. That cooler water saps the tropical cyclone's strength.
Infrared satellite data from NASA's AIRS instrument has often seen a "cold water wake" trailing behind a tropical cyclone. That's the cold water drawn up to the ocean's surface as the tropical cyclone passes by. If there's another tropical cyclone behind the one that stirs up the deeper, cooler, ocean water, the second storm tends to weaken in the cold water wake.
Other than cool sea surface temperatures, Leslie has been battling wind shear, which has kept the storm below hurricane strength so far. That's changing, though, as the vertical shear has been gradually decreasing today, Sept. 5. As a result of the weaker wind shear, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center noticed a "banding eye feature" in visible satellite imagery. The AIRS data of Tropical Storm Leslie confirmed the visible imagery. AIRS infrared data showed the strongest convection (rising air that forms thunderstorms) and coldest cloud top temperatures were in a large area surrounding the center of circulation and in a band of thunderstorms to the east of the center.
On Sept. 5 at 11 a.m. EDT, Leslie was close to hurricane strength with maximum sustained winds near 70 mph (110 kmh). Leslie is expected to reach hurricane status later in the day as the wind shear eases. Leslie's center was about 470 miles (760 km) south-southeast of Bermuda, near latitude 25.7 north and longitude 62.8 west. Leslie is moving toward the north near 2 mph (4 kmh). Leslie is expected to continue crawling and wobbling to the north and north-northwest over the next couple of days because it is being blocked by a ridge (elongated area) of high pressure to the north and east of the storm. A strong trough (elongated area) of low pressure is expected to move out of southern Canada toward the southeastern U.S. and is expected to push Leslie northward in a couple of days.
The National Hurricane Center noted that Leslie will continue bring rough surf to Bermuda and the U.S. east coast from central Florida northward, the Northern Leeward islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands over the next couple of days.
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NASA sees Tropical Storm Leslie was causing a problem for itself
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. While Curiosity is busy exploring the surface of Mars, NASA's "Mighty Eagle" rover is blazing the way for future missions.
Holding their breath with anticipation, engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center watched their brain child skyrocket hundreds of feet into the air. Completing this round of flight test objectives, the "Mighty Eagle," a NASA robotic prototype lander, flew to an altitude of 100 feet and descended gently to a controlled landing during a successful free flight Wednesday morning. Guided by state-of-the-art autonomous rendezvous and capture software, the vehicle located an on-the-ground target using its onboard camera and flew to it. Previous tests have followed a preprogrammed flight profile. But today the rover operated "closed loop," meaning the vehicle sought out and found its target completely independently.
"The Mighty Eagle had a great flight, fulfilling the objectives we had for this test -- finding and landing on its target using a closed-loop system, says Greg Chavers, test lead for the project. "Given this is one of our last tests in this series, it is a worthy finale of a lot of peoples hard work - including our young engineers. They did a remarkable job running todays flight."
New for this test, the "Mighty Eagle" project managers turned over the vehicles keys to three young Marshall engineers, Adam Lacock, flight manager; Jake Parton, test conductor; and Logan Kennedy, systems engineer.
Nicknamed the "Mighty Eagle" after one of the characters in the popular "Angry Birds" game, the vehicle is a three-legged prototype that resembles an actual flight lander design. It is 4 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter and, when fueled, weighs 700 pounds. It is a green vehicle, fueled by 90 percent pure hydrogen peroxide, and is guided by an onboard computer that activates the thrusters to power the crafts movements.
"Weve surpassed our expectations and flew the most challenging run to date," saidMike Hannan, a controls engineer in Marshall's Engineering Directorate. "Itwas an overcast, extremely humid day, and we were concerned steam might block the vehicles camera. We didnt see that, and the lander sought and found its target successfully."
"It was an invaluable experience managing todays test, added Lacock. "This is the kind of experience young engineers, like myself, need to learn more about flight mechanics, vehicle hardware and project management. It was a good day for our team."
NASA will use the "Mighty Eagle" to mature the technology needed to develop a new generation of small, smart, versatile robotic landers capable of achieving scientific and exploration goals on the surface of the moon, asteroids or other airless bodies.
The "Mighty Eagle" was developed by the Marshall Center and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., for NASAs Planetary Sciences Division, Headquarters Science Mission Directorate.
Keep up with the vehicle's progress on Twitter by following @NASAMightyEagle
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BOZEMAN - A three-credit online graduate course from Montana State University covers the history of space flight and space technology. The instructors are internationally known space journalist Andrew Chaikin and aerospace consultant Jason Marcks.
The course, called "History of Spaceflight and Space Technology" (EDCI 591), is offered through MSU's National Teachers Enhancement Network (NTEN) and is designed for science teachers teaching any grade from elementary through community college.
Chaikin authored the best-selling chronicle of the Apollo moon missions, "A Man on the Moon," which was the main basis for Tom Hanks' Emmy-winning HBO miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon.
The online course is designed primarily for teachers, but is open to anyone with an interest in space exploration from 1958 to the present day. The course begins Sept. 17.
The course will draw upon Chaikin's large body of historical space research, including his interviews with all 12 men to have walked on the moon, along with hundreds of other pioneering space explorers. Chaikin has also authored numerous articles in magazines including Newsweek, Popular Science, Air & Space/Smithsonian, WIRED, Sky and Telescope, Discover and Science Digest. In addition, Chaikin has written and created online content for space-related Web sites including Space.com, ScientificAmerican.com, and SkyandTelescope.com.
The course is offered through Extended University's National Teachers Enhancement Network (NTEN). For prerequisites and information about the course or to register, visit http://eu.montana.edu/NTEN and click on current courses in the yellow bar. The class is listed as EDCI 591-803.
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MSU offers online course taught by space author Andrew Chaikin
BENICIA -- At least when it comes to space flight, local residents won't have to go far, far away to find a travel agency.
Benicia's Bye Bye Birdees Travel Consulting is selling XCOR Aerospace flights at a cost of $95,000 per person. A $20,000 deposit qualifies passengers for a four-day orientation, medical screening and G-force training at an Arizona resort.
"It's going to be the wave of the future," said Bye Bye Birdees owner Juliet Vercelli, whose home-based agency also does destination weddings, reunions and romantic get-aways. "The most exciting thing to me is the idea of, in 10 or 20 years, being able to travel halfway around the world in one or two hours."
XCOR is one of a handful of U.S. firms building spaceships to fly passengers and cargo into suborbital space. Others include Virgin Galactic, which is testing a six-passenger, two-pilot vehicle that would launch from a large plane.
Mojave-based XCOR expects to start testing its one-passenger, one-pilot rocket plane later this year, and then fly initial paying participants by the end of 2013.
"We plan to start flight tests in Mojave ... and intend to operate regular operations from Mojave," spokesman Bryan Campen said. "We will eventually move flight test operations to a new R&D center we're developing in Midland, Texas."
XCOR also plans to launch from other sites, including Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Curacao.
Typical flight time will be about 35 minutes from take-off
In addition to tourists, the company hopes to market its flights to commercial and scientific researchers.
Vercelli said she became interested in space tourism two years ago at a luxury travel show in Las Vegas. There she met RocketShip Tours founder Jules Klar, who was the first to partner with XCOR to develop human space flights for the paying public.
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WALLOPS -- Campers at the Virginia Space Flight Academy's six co-ed, residential camps this summer experienced "brain-stretching fun," according to Executive Director Nancy Marasco.
More than 150 campers learned about science, math, robotics and rocketry. In that number were 10 local middle-school students who were awarded scholarships to attend the camp.
The VSFA partnered with Accomack County public schools to offer the scholarships. Students entered an essay contest with the topic being what they would like to see be the next space mission and why. Winners received full scholarships to a weeklong camp.
The winning entries represented Arcadia, Chincoteague and Nandua Middle Schools.
"These students truly appreciated what is in their own backyard," Marasco said.
Among actitivies campers enjoyed were seeing the day-to-day operations on many active sites on Wallops Island including NOAA, NASA and the U.S. Navy.
They saw the Antares rocket, which is scheduled to go to the International Space Station later this year, the machine shop, Aegis, Payload T&E, the Range Control Center, the Wallops Fire Department and the NASA Visitor Center.
Additionally, campers launched their own water bottle rockets, Alpha one-stage rockets and Mongoose two-stage rockets.
They also competed in a robotics challenge each week.
One week saw the launching of the BrandtXI sounding rocket -- counselors woke them up at 4 a.m. to make sure they didn't miss it.
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Washington, Aug 31 (IANS) Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams, who holds the record of the longest space flight (195 days) for a woman, has completed her fifth spacewalk lasting a near record eight hours and 17 minutes.
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By Travelmail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 07:19 EST, 31 August 2012 | UPDATED: 07:19 EST, 31 August 2012
If the price of a ticket on Sir Richard Branson's planned Virgin Galactic space tourism programme seems a little out of your price range, don't despair.
Some 500 tourists have already signed up for the 128,000 two-hour flights, expected to launch next year, but Virgin Airlines' frequent flyers are being offered the chance to win a sub-orbital space flight.
Although it might take more than an annual holiday to Florida to clinch it.
Unearthly: An artist's impression of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, 'the world's first commercial spaceline'
Entrants to the competition - dubbed Mission: Galactic - are required to clock up as many air miles as possible on Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, and Virgin Australia flights by August 7, 2013.
The 'total status points' will then be calculated, the winner reaching 'the ultimate status: Galactic.'
The runner-up will be rewarded with a zero-gravity flight on board a specially modified Boeing 727.
Tourist trips to space are on course to become a reality next year when the first of Sir Richard's flights soars 60 miles up into space on the SpaceShipTwo (SS2) aircraft.
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Virgin Airlines launches air miles competition to take lucky winner out of this world
Cameron M. Smith at home working on his DIY Spacesuit. Photo: Jos Mandojana
Taking a balloon up into the lower stratosphere may seem crazy, but to Cameron M. Smith its an opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream. The 45-year-old Portland State University anthropologist couldnt join NASAs aviation program because of his poor eyesight. Lacking the funds to buy a ticket on a private space flight, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
At 50,000 feet up, death is imminent, so the first thing to do was build a suit. Smith bought some of the parts off the Internet: a divers dry suit, a gauge that measures internal air pressure, and an aquarium pump to circulate cooling fluid. Ace Hardware had other bits like nylon straps, wire, and a slew of PVC fittings and valves. Its topped off with an authentic 1980s-era soviet fighter helmet.
Once the proof-of-concept suit is complete, Smith will test his rig in a hypobaric chamber, and if all goes well it will be rebuilt with sturdier elements. Then hell craft a nylon balloon, get a balloon pilots license, and clear his route with authorities. If they could do this in the 1930s with rubberized canvas and pigskin gloves, surely I can do it now with the technology available, Smith says. This is not so crazy. This is not so wild. Sure. Well just stay on the ground and watch from here, thanks.
This article was originally published August 17, 2012.
Video: Alexa Inkeles
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ScienceDaily (Aug. 29, 2012) With a whistle and a roar, the "Mighty Eagle," a NASA robotic prototype lander, sailed to an altitude of 100 feet during another successful free flight Aug. 28 at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
During the 35-second run, the vehicle was "open loop" -- navigating autonomously without the command of the onboard camera and flying on a preprogrammed flight profile. Once it reached the 100-foot mark, the "Mighty Eagle" identified a new, larger target on the ground about 100 feet away, took pictures, processed the images and safely landed. The test is part of a new series of free flights testing the robotic prototype lander's autonomous rendezvous and capture capabilities. Testing will continue through September.
"We met our goal for this flight, which was to test the new software at triple the height of our last flight," said Dr. Greg Chavers, "Mighty Eagle" test lead at the Marshall Center. "The higher we go, the more realistic the scenario is compared to an actual descent."
"This test article is a vehicle system and requires a lot of team interaction," said Jake Parton, test conductor on the flight. Parton is one of several young engineers gaining experience and getting guidance from senior engineers on the "Mighty Eagle" project. The test team's ages range from 25 to 71.
"We are getting good experience in handling flight hardware and reacting to real-time conditions and anomalies," said Parton. "Each time we test, we load propellant, launch the vehicle, fly the vehicle and land the vehicle. It's hands-on flight experience for young engineers."
Nicknamed the "Mighty Eagle" after one of the characters in the popular "Angry Birds" game, the vehicle is a three-legged prototype that resembles an actual flight lander design. It is 4 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter and, when fueled, weighs 700 pounds. It is fueled by 90 percent pure hydrogen peroxide and receives its commands from an onboard computer that activates its onboard thrusters to carry it to a controlled landing using a pre-programmed flight profile.
NASA will use the "Mighty Eagle" to mature the technology needed to develop a new generation of small, smart, versatile robotic landers capable of achieving scientific and exploration goals on the surface of the moon, asteroids or other airless bodies.
The "Mighty Eagle" was developed by the Marshall Center and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., for NASA's Planetary Sciences Division, Headquarters Science Mission Directorate. Key partners in this project include the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation, which includes the Science Applications International Corporation, Dynetics Corp., and Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc., all of Huntsville.
Watch the video of the Mighty Eagle flight on Aug. 28 at the Marshall Center: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=151295641
For more information on NASA's robotic landers, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/lunarquest/robotic/index.html
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NASA's 'Mighty Eagle' robotic prototype lander takes 100-foot free flight
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By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 15:12 EST, 26 August 2012 | UPDATED: 15:12 EST, 26 August 2012
In their constant bid to break new ground, it's rare for NASA's news to include any mention of dinosaurs.
But thats exactly what happened this week after a massive footprint of a lumbering, armoured dinosaur called a nodosaur was discovered at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
More than a hundred million years before scientists at NASA's Maryland-based centre were working on exploring the universe, it appears that the site was home to herbivore dinosaurs.
Incredible: A 12-inch-wide dinosaur footprint belonging to an armored, tank-like plant-eater called a nodosaur was discovered at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center this summer; NASA confirmed the discovery this week
Discovery: A model of a nodosaur sits in the giant footprint, which was found by amateur dino-hunter Ray Stanford
The incredible discovery was made all the more exciting after a second track - overlapping with the first - was unearthed suggesting that the tank-link nodosaur had a baby in tow.
The first giant footprint, which measures 12 inches wide and shows the imprint of four toes, was discovered earlier this summer by amateur dinosaur tracker Ray Stanford.
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Dinosaur footprints discovered outside NASA's Maryland flight center
Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon on July 20, 1969, marked the high point of US manned space flight, but the commander of the Apollo 11 mission was wary of the celebrity that came with it.
Neil Armstrong, who died today following heart surgery, never wanted to be remembered simply as the first man on the moon.
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Once credited with the most recognized name in the world, Armstrong avoided the outsized celebrity of the early NASA astronauts, whose storied missions not only advanced a US profile in space but also helped define the Cold War struggle with Soviet Union, whose 1957 Sputnik launch stunned the world.
The images of the first moon walk with Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969, marked the high point of the US manned space program. His signature, and often misquoted, line "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind" soared to iconic status.
But Armstrong, who also flew combat missions in Korea, brushed aside all talk of hero status, at least for himself.
"We all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks but for the ledger of our daily work," he said in a 2007 interview with "60 Minutes." As for all the celebrity: "I don't deserve it," he said.
After commanding the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong took a desk job at NASA, then taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati, served on several corporate boards, and worked out of his farm in southwest Ohio. He said he regretted not spending the time he wanted to with his family.
"I am, and ever will be, a white socks, pocket protector, nerdy engineer," he said in a rare public appearance in February 2000, cited by the Associated Press. "And I take a substantial amount of pride in the accomplishments of my profession."
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Neil Armstrong: modest man, large footprint in time and space
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Fossilized nodosaur footprints discovered at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. (NASA/GSFC/Rebecca Roth)
At NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, where some of the worlds most advanced research in space technology is being performed on a daily basis, paleontologists have discovered ancient evidence of dinosaurs on the Centers wooded campus at least two, possibly a mother and child, crossed that way between 112 and 110 million years ago and left their muddy footprints as proof.
The tracks of two nodosaurs short, stocky and heavily-armored herbivorous dinosaurs have been confirmed by dinosaur trackerRay Stanford and USGSemeritus paleontologistDr. Robert Weems. The second track is a smaller version of the first.
The first, larger footprint was announced by Stanford on August 17. When Dr. Weems was called in to verify, the smaller print was discovered within the first, evidence that they were made around the same time and leading researchers to suggest it may have been a mother-and-child pair.
Dinosaur tracker Ray Stanford describes the cretaceous-era nodosaur track he found on the Goddard Space Flight Center campus with Dr. Robert Weems, emeritus paleontologist for the USGS who verified his discovery. (NASA/GSFC/Rebecca Roth)
It looks to be a manus (front foot) print of a much smaller dinosaur than the first one, but it looks to be the same type, Weems said of the second track. If the one that came through was a female, it may have had one or more young ones following along. If youve seen a dog or cat walking with its young, they kind of sniff around and may not go in the same direction, but they end up in the same place.
Its thought that the nodosaurs were moving quickly since the tracks dont show strong imprints of the animals heels. Still, the ruddy Cretaceous-era mud preserved their brief passage well even as millions of years went by.
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The age of commercial space flight starts this autumn. In October, SpaceX ’s Dragon space freighter will make its first scheduled commercial visit to the International Space Station (ISS). On Thursday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida that Dragon had completed its certification under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program ...
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ScienceDaily (Aug. 23, 2012) Launching rockets is no easy or inexpensive task. Developers must consider the ground support infrastructure, fuel elements and flight hardware itself; not to mention the safety of everyone involved.
Since well before the inception of NASA, engineers used wind tunnels and scale models to test how vehicles would respond and interact with the atmosphere. At the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., engineers are using wind tunnel testing to enhance the development of NASA's Space Launch System, a heavy-lift launch vehicle that will propel science and human exploration into deep space and launch NASA's Orion spacecraft to expand human presence beyond low Earth orbit.
Engineers at Marshall's Trisonic Wind Tunnel have spent the past four months putting early SLS scale models through more than 900 tests of various crew and cargo configurations.
"We need to evaluate all the possible conditions that the launch vehicle may encounter as it traverses the atmosphere," said John Blevins, SLS lead engineer for aerodynamics and acoustics. "We look at many different configurations and designs of the same rocket, discovering how it reacts under variations in flight conditions. It is a very busy and exciting time for us."
The Trisonic Wind Tunnel is testing the flight stability of SLS, providing the initial configuration testing and the basis to assess flight stability. Testing on a larger geometric scale at Langley's Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel and tests planned for Boeing's Polysonic Wind Tunnel in St. Louis will improve understanding of the vehicle's aerodynamics as the design matures. The Langley facility can accurately test limits of rocket designs, but only at speeds above Mach 1.5. The Boeing facility will be used for the lower Mach conditions on the larger model. At Marshall, tests are conducted to determine how the designs respond to roll, pitch and yaw at speeds from Mach 0.3 to Mach 5. The data from both tunnels will be merged to evaluate the design's performance, guidance and control.
"Once we analyze the data, we can determine the best configuration and refine our design of the vehicle," said SLS Chief Engineer Garry Lyles. "Any changes can be made safely, easily and inexpensively before the full-scale version is built. This helps ensure that SLS is an affordable and sustainable capability for human space exploration beyond low Earth orbit."
On a larger scale, engineers use wind tunnels to evaluate unsteady aerodynamic effects that can cause vehicle vibrations and resonance. The biggest SLS wind tunnel model test to date is scheduled for mid-September. Langley's Transonic Dynamics Tunnel will test the first large scale integrated model -- a 12-foot-long version of the heavy-lift rocket to evaluate these unsteady aerodynamic phenomena.
Each test moves the agency closer to giving the nation a launch capability to take humans farther than ever before. Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, including NASA's Orion multipurpose vehicle, SLS will enable NASA to meet the president's goal of sending humans to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s.
For more information about the Space Launch System, including the newest proposed rocket configurations, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/sls
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Smooth sailing: Space launch system giving Marshall, Langley wind tunnels a workout