Could NASA scientists build an elevator to space? Science fiction author William Forstchen explores that and many other cosmic questions in his newest novel, "Pillar to the Sky" (Tor Books, February 2014).

"Pillar to the Sky" is the first book released under the NASA-Inspired Works of Fiction program, an initiative to pair up scientists and authors to create exciting, and science-minded fiction. The book follows two scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center as they go on a mission to make their space elevator concept into a reality.

Forstchen wrote about space elevators for "Boy's Life" magazine in the 1980s and he is a professor of history at Montreat College in North Carolina. Forstchen has co-authored books with former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, and he also authored "One Second After," a science fiction novel about the dangers of an electromagnetic pulse-emitting weapon. Forstchen and his publisher Tor Books send Space.com this one-chapter preview of "Pillar to the Sky," which is now available in stores and online:

CHAPTER 1 Eighteen Years Earlier Goddard Space Flight Center

"Dr. Rothenberg?"

Erich Rothenberg, director of the division of advanced propulsion designs, and who oversaw interns assigned to the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, looked up over the top of his wire-framed glasses. There was no welcoming smile, just a cool gaze as Gary Morgan stood nervously in the doorway.

"So you are one of my new interns for the summer?" Erich asked. "I already told them there is no need for interns hereat least, those who want a solid future. May I suggest you just go back to the personnel office and ask for a different assignment."

Gary didn't move. He had been warned by "veterans" who had served as interns with Dr. Rothenberg that this was his typical greeting, the first winnowing-out process in which more than one graduate student had taken him at his word and fled.

He stood his ground.

"I volunteered for this division, sir. It is why I came to Goddard for the summer and asked to be assigned to you."

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Book Preview: 'A Look at 'Pillar to the Sky' by William Forstchen

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

19-Mar-2014

Contact: Susan Hendrix Susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov 301-286-7745 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Scientists have discovered a new, persistent structure in one of two radiation belts surrounding Earth. NASA's twin Van Allen Probes spacecraft have shown that high-energy electrons in the inner radiation belt display a persistent pattern that resembles slanted zebra stripes. Surprisingly, this structure is produced by the slow rotation of Earth, previously considered incapable of affecting the motion of radiation belt particles, which have velocities approaching the speed of light.

Scientists had previously believed that increased solar wind activity was the primary force behind any structures in our planet's radiation belts. However, these zebra stripes were shown to be visible even during low solar wind activity, which prompted a new search for how they were generated. That quest led to the unexpected discovery that the stripes are caused by the rotation of Earth. The findings are reported in the March 20, 2014, issue of Nature.

"It is because of the unprecedented resolution of our energetic particle experiment, RBSPICE, that we now understand that the inner belt electrons are, in fact, always organized in zebra patterns," said Aleksandr Ukhorskiy, lead author of the paper at The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Md. "Furthermore, our modeling clearly identifies Earth's rotation as the mechanism creating these patterns. It is truly humbling, as a theoretician, to see how quickly new data can change our understanding of physical properties."

Because of the tilt in Earth's magnetic field axis, the planet's rotation generates an oscillating, weak electric field that permeates through the entire inner radiation belt. To understand how that field affects the electrons, Ukhorskiy suggested imagining that the electrons are like a viscous fluid. The global oscillations slowly stretch and fold the fluid, much like taffy is stretched and folded in a candy store machine. The stretching and folding process results in the striped pattern observed across the entire inner belt, extending from above Earth's atmosphere, about 500 miles above the planet's surface up to roughly 8,000 miles.

The radiation belts are dynamic doughnut-shaped regions around our planet, extending high above the atmosphere, made up of high-energy particles, both electrons and charged particles called ions, which are trapped by Earth's magnetic field. Radiation levels across the belts are affected by solar activity that causes energy and particles to flow into near-Earth space. During active times, radiation levels can dramatically increase, which can create hazardous space weather conditions that harm orbiting spacecraft and endanger humans in space. It is the goal of the Van Allen Probes mission to understand how and why radiation levels in the belts change with time.

"The RBSPICE instrument has remarkably fine resolution and so it was able to bring into focus a phenomena that we previously didn't even know existed," said David Sibeck, the mission scientist for the Van Allen Probes at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Better yet, we have a great team of scientists to take advantage of these unprecedented observations: We couldn't have interpreted this data without analysis from strong theoreticians."

NASA launched the Van Allen Probes in the summer of 2012. APL built and operates the probes for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. This is the second mission in NASA's Living With a Star program, which Goddard manages. The program explores aspects of the connected sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society.

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NASA's Van Allen Probes reveal zebra stripes in space

Synth Jams for Space Vids 004 - GPM Satellite Instruments
http://synthforspace.tumblr.com The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is co-led by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). NASA ...

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Human Space Flight
https://2014.spaceappschallenge.org/challenge/category/human-space-flight/

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Apollo One Fire Presentation Video (for screen reading)
Apollo One was the Apollo Space Program #39;s first attempt of a manned-space flight using the newly developed Saturn rocket-ship. Needless to say, it was a fail...

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Apollo One Fire Presentation Video (for screen reading) - Video

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) -

U.S. Senator Bill Nelson met with NASA and intelligence officials and now does not believe the problems between Russia and the Ukraine will keep the United States from being able to use Russian rockets to get to the International Space Station.

Nelson tells FOX 35 the two countries are too interdependent with their space programs and the ISS to let these tensions interfere with allowing U.S. astronauts on the ISS flights.

"Almost all of the Russian power that they need on the Space Station comes from the US system. Secondly, most of the commands that are given with regard to the Russian modules all are integrated and come through NASA."

Nelson says this crisis is a good reminder that by giving NASA more money, private companies vying to launch the next generation of manned flights could happen more quickly. "The timeline that NASA is using right now is 2017. However, you pour more juice into the development of commercial crew, some of the companies will tell you they can do it by 2016."

Nelson believes that if the Obama Administration's request of 850 million for NASA is approved, perhaps more than one company could be selected for the manned flights. "We need to give NASA the money, the appropriations so that as it starts to do the down select on companies, that it doesn't have to limit it just to one company."

Nelson also issued a warning to Vladimir Putin. "The economic screws are going are going to be tightened, and he's going to have to think long and hard whether or not he wants that economic pain."

The U.S. does not have much choice for the next 3 years. If they want to send astronauts to the ISS, it will have to be on a Soyuz rocket.

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Sen. Nelson: Speed up manned space flight

March 17, 2014

Image Caption: Engineers prepare Orions service module for installation of the fairings that will protect it during launch this fall when Orion launches on its first mission. The service module, along with its fairings, is now complete. Credit: NASA

NASA

Orion is marching ever closer to its first trip to space on a flight that will set the stage for human exploration of new destinations in the solar system.

The Orion team continues to work toward completing the spacecraft to be ready for a launch in September-October. However, the initial timeframe for the launch of Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) has shifted from September-October to early December to support allowing more opportunities for launches this year. Completing the spacecraft according to the original schedule will allow many engineers and technicians to continue transitioning to work on the Orion spacecraft that will fly atop the agencys Space Launch System. It will also ensure that NASAs partners are fully ready for the launch of EFT-1 at the earliest opportunity on the manifest.

To that end, the core and starboard boosters for the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket that will launch Orion into space for the first time arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station this month. That leaves just one booster still in production at the companys Decatur, Ala., facility. Its scheduled to arrive in April along with the rockets upper stage, and will join the other boosters inside ULAs Horizontal Integration Facility for processing and testing.

Meanwhile, in the spacecraft factory at Kennedy Space Center the Operations and Checkout Facility Orion itself is making progress of its own.

After completing construction on the service module in January, engineers at Kennedy moved on to testing whether it could withstand the stresses that it will endure during launch and in space. The service module sits below Orions crew module and above the rocket, and would normally provide power and in-space propulsion and house a number of other systems that arent needed on this first flight. Despite being pushed and twisted in multiple directions, the service module came through the tests not only unscathed, but earlier than planned.

Once the service module testing was completed, it was the crew modules turn.

Almost all of the spacecrafts avionics components have been installed, and system by system, the engineers are powering them up. Its a methodical, deliberate process, in which each connector is checked individually before theyre hooked up and the system turned on to make sure each battery, heater, camera and processor to name a few works on its own, before the entire system is turned on together. Otherwise, one faulty cable could damage an entire, one-of-a-kind system.

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Orion Getting Closer To Its First Trip To Space

Eibenwald - Space Flight (HD)

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Space Flight 753 launch ( Blender Animation )
Moooovement... Don #39;t get Flight sick! My first use of the Blender Compositor. Used Tools and Elements: - Blender 2.69 Cycle Render, Compositor - FSX A321 vir...

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The Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) Foundation will recognize the dedication of the space workers at their annual awards banquet on Friday, April 11, 2014, at the Houston Hyatt Regency.

When people think of achievements in space, they usually think of astronauts or they might picture spacecraft like the Mars Curiosity rover bravely exploring the unknown, but it is the dedication of the workers on Earth that make the astronaut's historic deeds possible.

To publicly recognize all the "unsung heroes" of the space program alongside the more well-known achievers, the Rotary National Awards for Space Achievement (RNASA) Foundation was formed by the Space Center Rotary Club in 1985, and presents an American citizen with the National Space Trophy each year.

This year the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) Foundation will present its top award, the 2014 National Space Trophy (NST), to the Honorable Charles F. Bolden, Jr., NASA Administrator, retired Major General United States Marine Corps (Ret.) and former NASA astronaut, STS-61-C, STS-31, STS-45, and STS-60.

Col. Robert Cabana, Director of the Kennedy Space Center and former astronaut, STS-41, STS-53, STS-65 and STS-88, will present the 2014 Rotary National Award for Space Achievement to Bolden. Bolden was nominated by Cabana and Robert Jacobs, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Communications.

Former CNN correspondent John Zarrella will serve as the Master of Ceremonies; Veronica McGregor, the 2013 Space Communicator Award winner, and Manager of News and Social Media at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, will be presenting the 2014 Space Communicator Award to former Canadian Space Agency astronaut (STS-74, STS-100, and International Space Station mission Soyuz TMA-07M), author, and musician Chris A. Hadfield. Gemini/Apollo Astronaut Lt. Gen. Thomas Stafford, USAF (Ret.), will present an OMEGA watch to Bolden. David W. Thompson, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Orbital Sciences Corporation will be the Keynote Speaker.

The RNASA Foundation's Board of Advisors selects the NST honoree each year and represents a Who's Who of government and corporate aerospace leaders, including former Trophy and Space Communicator Award recipients.

The RNASA Stellar Awards Evaluation Panel selects the winners from nominations received from industry and government based on whose accomplishments hold the greatest promise for furthering activities in space and the extent to which the nominee meets the goal of recognizing "unsung heroes". The 2014 judges are Dr. Glynn S. Lunney, Arnold D. Aldrich, and Gen. Kevin P. Chilton.

RNASA Chairman Rodolfo Gonzlez said, "We received 51 government and 113 corporate nominations for awards this year." The nominations came from Aerojet Rocketdyne, ARES, ATK, Barrios, Bastion Technologies, Boeing, Booz Allen Hamilton, Catholic University of America, DARPA, Draper, Jacobs, Keystone Engineering, L-3 Communications, L-3 STRATIS, Lockheed Martin, MEI Technologies, National Space Biomedical Research Institute, NASA Glenn Research Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Johnson Space Center, NASA Kennedy Space Center, NASA Langley Research Center, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA White Sands Test Facility, National Reconnaissance Office, Oceaneering Space Systems, Orbital Sciences Corporation, SpaceX, United Space Alliance, United States Air Force, United States Air Force Research Laboratory, and United Technologies Aerospace Systems."

The Stellar Award nominees and team representatives will enjoy a behind-the-scenes tour of Johnson Space Center and a luncheon presentation by NASA Astronaut Dr. Stanley G. Love, STS-132. He flew on STS-122 Atlantis from February 7 to February 20, 2008, logging more than 306 hours in space, including more than 15 hours in two spacewalks.

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Rotary Gala Honors Unsung Heroes of Space

LONDON: There may soon be so much debris in orbit around the Earth that future space missions could become impossible, scientists have warned.

Researchers at the European Space Agency (ESA) have said that the amount of debris from man-made objects is about to reach "criticality".

This means that there is so much debris that it is colliding with other debris generating particles of space junk at an accelerating rate.

Scientists said that it would eventually surround the planet in so much speeding space junk that swathes of space will become inaccessible.

"If the current launch rate continues, then collisions will soon be 25 times higher than now. This would make space flight in low Earth orbits almost impossible," ESA said.

"There are already 17,000 trackable objects larger than a coffee cup, which threaten working missions with catastrophic collision. Even a 1cm nut could hit with the force of a hand grenade."

To tackle the problem, the space agency is designing a hunter-killer space probe to track down and destroy defunct satellites and so halt the growth of the burgeoning cloud, 'Sunday Times' reported.

The e.DeOrbit probe would deploy a Roman gladiator-style array of nets and harpoons to first trap rogue satellites and then drag them downwards until they burn up in the atmosphere.

While the question remains as to how long it will take for the debris cascade to render space unusable, researchers said there are already certain orbits, popular with communication and military satellites, that could become unusable within a decade or two.

The worst affected are orbits of 800-965 km altitude that pass over the poles, because these already contain many of the 5,000 or so satellites launched by humanity since the space age began.

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Debris in space can make future space missions impossible

Posted on: 5:44 pm, March 14, 2014, by David Wood, updated on: 09:09pm, March 14, 2014

Marshall Space Flight Centers SLS Testing & Operation Integration Laboratory (PHOTO: David Wood, WHNT)

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) -NASA Administrator Charles Bolden today toured the agencys Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville where testing is underway on the avionics unit for the largest, most powerful rocket ever built.

At Marshalls System Integration Laboratory, Bolden, along with staff from Alabamas congressional delegation and community leaders, had the opportunity to view the Space Launch System (SLS) avionics unit arranged in flight configuration, along with booster hardware, which are being integrated and tested together to ultimately guide the entire vehicle. He also watched flight software simulations of how SLS will perform during launch.

Its great to be back at Marshall and see, firsthand, the impressive progress made by the SLS team, said Bolden. SLS will help take American astronauts an asteroid and Mars, and it all starts here in Huntsville. My hats off to the entire team for their hard work.

The completed rocket will stand 321 feet tall and include the core stage, which stores the cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will fuel the vehicles four RS-25 engines and, with two five-segment solid rocket boosters, power the rocket.

The avionics unit including its hardware, software and operating systems will guide the rocket to deep space destinations, including an asteroid and Mars. The flight computers will be housed in the SLS core stage, while other avionics are distributed throughout the vehicle.

Engineers from NASA and Boeing, the prime contract for the SLS core stage and avionics, integrated and powered up the core stage avionics unit for its initial run, called First Light, in early January and have since been running numerous tests using the latest flight software.

This is a significant and exciting milestone for both NASA and Boeing, said Lisa Blue, stages avionics system manager in the SLS Program Office. We are using and testing technologies that include the most powerful computer processor ever used in a flight system.

In 2015, the avionics unit will be shipped to NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where the core stage is being manufactured, and attached to the actual rocket.

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NASA Administrator Visits Marshall, Views Space Launch System Progress, Talks Budget

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden toured on March 14 the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., where testing is underway on the avionics unit for the largest, most powerful rocket ever built.

At Marshall's System Integration Laboratory, Bolden, along with staff from Alabama's congressional delegation and community leaders, had the opportunity to view the Space Launch System (SLS) avionics unit arranged in flight configuration, along with booster hardware, which are being integrated and tested together to ultimately guide the entire vehicle. He also watched flight software simulations of how SLS will perform during launch.

"Its great to be back at Marshall and see, firsthand, the impressive progress made by the SLS team, said Bolden. "SLS will help take American astronauts an asteroid and Mars, and it all starts here in Huntsville. My hat's off to the entire team for their hard work."

The completed rocket will stand 321 feet tall and include the core stage, which stores the cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will fuel the vehicle's four RS-25 engines and, with two five-segment solid rocket boosters, power the rocket.

The avionics unit -- including its hardware, software and operating systems -- will guide the rocket to deep space destinations, including an asteroid and Mars. The flight computers will be housed in the SLS core stage, while other avionics are distributed throughout the vehicle.

Engineers from NASA and Boeing, the prime contract for the SLS core stage and avionics, integrated and powered up the core stage avionics unit for its initial run, called "First Light," in early January and have since been running numerous tests using the latest flight software.

"This is a significant and exciting milestone for both NASA and Boeing," said Lisa Blue, stages avionics system manager in the SLS Program Office. "We are using and testing technologies that include the most powerful computer processor ever used in a flight system."

In 2015, the avionics unit will be shipped to NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where the core stage is being manufactured, and attached to the actual rocket.

For its first flight test in 2017, the SLS will be configured to lift 70 metric tons (77 tons), and carry an uncrewed Orion spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit. In its final stage of evolution, the SLS will provide an unprecedented lift capability of 130 metric tons (143 tons) to enable missions even farther into our solar system. Marshall manages the SLS Program and Michoud Assembly Facility.

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NASA Administrator Visits Marshall, Views Space Launch System Progress

Star Citizen Space Flight R

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Experiments with rocketry progressed through the early 20th century. The first rockets to reach space were the German V-2 rockets of World War II. The first artificial satellite (Sputnik) was launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, followed by the US Explorer I in 1958.

The first manned flight was the Earth orbit by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on Apil 12, 1961. Manned flights by the US were by Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom, followed by the three-orbit flight of John Glenn on February 20, 1962.

The US space program under NASA culminated in six manned Moon landings between July 20, 1969 and December 14, 1972. Space exploration since that time has been almost entirely by unmanned probes, such as the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 missions to the outer planets from 1977 to 1989, and the Viking mission (and subsequent rovers) sent to Mars in 1975.

Manned space flight continued with Mir, Skylab, and the International Space Station. The Russian Soyuz flights are continuing, both manned and unmanned, while the US fleet of Space Shuttle orbiters (1977-2011) has now been retired.

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Space Flight - Answers.com - Answers - The Most Trusted ...

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (March 14, 2014) Today, aerospace company Swiss Space Systems (S3) inaugurates its new U.S. subsidiary, S3 USA Operations (Florida) Inc., at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). S3 has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Space Florida for future utilization the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) and associated infrastructure for its flight operations, which are slated to begin in 2015 with zero gravity flights. S3 will also evaluate the SLF as a main site for satellite launches beginning in 2018.

Swiss Space Systems currently has more than 60 employees in Switzerland, Spain and the U.S. S3s engineering team, supported by its industrial and academic partners, is steadily progressing on the research & development phase of an innovative small satellite launching system, the SOAR, based on an Airbus aircraft lofting the sub-orbital reusable shuttle on its back. S3 has already established an initial footprint at the Kennedy Space Center, leasing offices at Space Floridas Space Life Sciences Laboratory (SLSL) in Exploration Park. The establishment of this new subsidiary further reinforces S3s presence in the United States, after the creation of the S3 USA office in Washington DC.

Frank DiBello, CEO and President of Space Florida stated, We are pleased to welcome Swiss Space Systems to Florida. We believe strongly in the enormous potential of the markets they are pursuing including small satellites and suborbital operations. We look forward to working with S3 to enable their growth and expansion in our state.

Space Florida has been working with KSC and Cape Canaveral Spaceport to repurpose excessed government infrastructure for commercial use, providing a significant time and cost saving advantage to commercial operators. In 2013, Space Florida was selected by NASA to maintain and operate the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) for commercial use, the historic 15,000 ft. launch and landing facility previously utilized for the Space Shuttle Program.

For S3, Florida offers several major advantages, including a strategic geographic location, as well as access to key infrastructure and human resources, which will help to enable our success, stated Pascal Jaussi, Founder and CEO of Swiss Space Systems.

The Kennedy Space Center is one of the locations S3 will evaluate as a main site of operations for small satellite launches, starting in 2018. In the near term, S3 will propose zero gravity (Zero G) flights onboard its latest-generation Airbus carrier aircraft in Florida starting in 2015. These flights will enable passengers and payloads to experience weightlessness like astronauts do in space, during approximately 20 seconds per parabolic flight, with a basic flight mission consisting of approximately 15 parabolas during a 2-hour flight. Throughout 2015, S3 will conduct a world tour of Zero G flights, operating in more than 15 locations around the world, including the Kennedy Space Center.

Zero G flights will enable S3 to offer research institutes and universities, partners or clients the possibility to conduct extremely precise and demanding missions in various microgravity environments. However, we will also let the public live this one-of-a-kind experience through our online ticketing system for our flight campaigns around the world, as a way for us to democratize access to space, outlines Robert Feierbach, Head of S3 USA. We look forward to working with Space Florida as we establish our initial flight operations and evaluate opportunities for future expansion in the state, added Feierbach.

To learn more about S3 Zero G flights, visitzerog.s-3.ch

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Space Florida Signs MOU With Swiss Space Systems

China activates an international charter started in 1999 to aggregate global space data from satellites in an effort to locate Malaysian Airlines' flight MH370.

An Indonesian Air Force military surveillance aircraft searches the Malacca Strait for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

As the latest piece of technology to be enlisted in the search for missing Malaysian flight MH370, satellites have the eyes of the world watching them as they watch us.

On Monday, a crowdsourcing platform called Tomnod, along with parent company DigitalGlobe, launched a crowdsourcing campaign to enlist the help of citizens in scouring satellite images to search for the plane that disappeared on March 7.

China has followed that up by activating the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters to join the hunt on Tuesday. The goal of the charter is to enlist space data from 15 member organizations to provide assistance in the case of a "natural or technological disaster." The charter describes such a disaster as "a situation of great distress involving loss of human life or large-scale damage to property, caused by a natural phenomenon, such as a cyclone, tornado, earthquake, volcanic eruption, flood or forest fire, or by a technological accident, such as pollution by hydrocarbons, toxic or radioactive substances."

Now that the charter has been activated, space scientists around the planet will enlist the satellites available to them to gather images from the suspected area in which flight MH370 disappeared. The hope is that one of those images will pick up something that can direct search and recovery efforts.

The International Charter on Space and Major Disasters was most recently activated on February 13 to help with monitoring the Mount Kelud volcano explosion on the Indonesian island of Java. Prior to that it's been used to monitor flooding, forest fires, snowfalls, cyclones, oil spills and other damaging events around the world. It was also used to assist in recovery efforts from earthquakes, including the one that rocked Japan in March 2011 and caused a devastating tsunami and the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant. The charter has been activated 400 times in its history, but Tuesday represents the first time it was called into service to look for a missing aircraft. The only other transportation-related event for which it's been used was to assist in gathering data after a train full of dynamite exploded in North Korea on April 23, 2004.

The charter, which began after Vienna's Unispace III conference in 1999 with three agencies, has grown to its current membership of 15 organizations with the Russian Federal Space Agency being the most recent to join in 2013. Other member organizations include the European Space Agency, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and China's National Space Administration. The US member organizations include the United States Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. After the charter has been activated, data typically starts coming in within 24 hours, according to a report in Phys.org.

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15 space organizations join hunt for missing Malaysian jet

After five minutes that seem like five hours, the human gyroscope coasts to a halt. My eyeballs settle. I am, I think, back up the right way.

Ok, calls the boffin. Time to go walk on the moon.

Huntsville has near legendary status in Americas space story. Here at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Centre engineers designed and built the rockets for the Apollo programme in the 1960s and 1970s and it is now the place from which the USA manages all the activities of the astronauts on the International Space Station.

It is also home to Space Camp, a unique training centre for aspiring astronauts, both young and old.

The buzz begins on arrival, when visitors are welcomed by a 36-storey Saturn V rocket model that towers over the interstate highway at the entrance. A fully assembled Space Shuttle launch craft sits beside the car park and thats just the start.

The US Space and Rocket Centre Museum is NASAs original visitor centre and still its most impressive, with more than 1,500 articles of space memorabilia.

The whole story of space exploration to date is laid out in a detailed timeline along the two flanks of a Saturn V rocket, which was restored to its former glory after being found rusting on site.

It all started when Dr Wernher von Braun, the German-born creator of the V2 rockets used in the Second World War, was taken to America as part of a top-secret operation in 1950. He was deployed to what was then a tiny Alabama town as director of the newly formed space centre. Here, he put his rocket expertise to more positive use with the Gemini and Saturn rockets that put the first US satellite into orbit and sent the first men to the moon.

It all grew from there, and Huntsville engineers developed power for the space shuttle, designed and built modules for the International Space Station and are now working on Ares I and Ares V, the next generation of spacecraft.

The whole story of the US space programme, from giant rocket thrusters to tiny wind tunnel models, is told through the museums exhibits.

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Space Camp, Alabama: how to be an astronaut

Herndon, Virginia (PRWEB) March 12, 2014

Fibertek announced today that it has delivered to Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) state-of-the-art light detection and ranging (lidar) systems electronics and advanced laser technology for NASAs Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) payload on an upcoming International Space Station (ISS) mission. The CATS payload is scheduled to launch September 12, 2014 on the SpaceX #5 mission, an ISS commercial resupply flight from Cape Canaveral. The CATS instrument is a Japanese Experimental Module Exposed Facility (JEM-EF) payload.

NASAs CATS is a technology demonstration mission led by Dr. Matthew McGill, the GSFC Principal Investigator. The science objective is to extend satellite observations of small particles in the atmosphere from volcanoes, air pollution, dust, and smoke. These aerosol particles pose human health risks at ground level and influence global climate through their impact on cloud cover and solar radiation in Earths atmosphere.

Fibertek has delivered the lidar system electronics, including payload power supplies, ISS communications hardware and software interface, lidar data collection system, system safety hardware, payload controller, photon counting electronics, and state-of-the-art three-wavelength lasersultraviolet (UV), visible, and infrared (IR)for the mission. Fibertek is also providing the ground control station software and user interface. Fibertek tested the system using NASAs Johnson Space Flight Center simulator and the Marshall Centers TreK payload interface system.

For more information on NASAs overall Earth Science missions, see: NASA Set for a Big Year in Earth Science and Station Role in Earth Science Growing.

More information about the ISS CATS Instrument.

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Fibertek Delivers Technology for NASA Earth Science Mission

Prepar3D v2.1 Flight Simulator - Flying in the Mountains [Part 7]
This video was recorded Saturday, March 1, 2014 Flying from 2V1 to KSKX 2V1 has an elevation of 7700 feet, and KSKX has an elevation of 7091 feet, but ther...

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Prepar3D v2.1 Flight Simulator - Flying in the Mountains [Part 7] - Video