The planet, called WASP-12b, is so close to its sunlike star that it is superheated to nearly 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit and stretched into a football shape by enormous tidal forces. The atmosphere has ballooned to nearly three times Jupiter's radius and is spilling material onto the star. The planet is 40 percent more massive than Jupiter.

This effect of matter exchange between two stellar objects is commonly seen in close binary star systems, but this is the first time it has been seen so clearly for a planet.

"We see a huge cloud of material around the planet, which is escaping and will be captured by the star. We have identified chemical elements never before seen on planets outside our own solar system," says team leader Carole Haswell of The Open University in Great Britain.

Haswell and her science team's results were published in the May 10, 2010 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

A theoretical paper published in the science journal Nature last February by Shu-lin Li of the Department of Astronomy at the Peking University, Beijing, first predicted that the planet's surface would be distorted by the star's gravity, and that gravitational tidal forces make the interior so hot that it greatly expands the planet's outer atmosphere. Now Hubble has confirmed this prediction.

WASP-12 is a yellow dwarf star located approximately 600 light-years away in the winter constellation Auriga. The exoplanet was discovered by the United Kingdom's Wide Area Search for Planets (WASP) in 2008. The automated survey looks for the periodic dimming of stars from planets passing in front of them, an effect called transiting. The hot planet is so close to the star it completes an orbit in 1.1 days.

The unprecedented ultraviolet (UV) sensitivity of COS enabled measurements of the dimming of the parent star's light as the planet passed in front of the star. These UV spectral observations showed that absorption lines from aluminum, tin, manganese, among other elements, became more pronounced as the planet transited the star, meaning that these elements exist in the planet's atmosphere as well as the star's. The fact the COS could detect these features on a planet offers strong evidence that the planet's atmosphere is greatly extended because it is so hot.

The UV spectroscopy was also used to calculate a light curve to precisely show just how much of the star's light is blocked out during transit. The depth of the light curve allowed the COS team to accurately calculate the planet's radius. They found that the UV-absorbing exosphere is much more extended than that of a normal planet that is 1.4 times Jupiter's mass. It is so extended that the planet's radius exceeds its Roche lobe, the gravitational boundary beyond which material would be lost forever from the planet's atmosphere.

The first tropical storm of the Northern Indian Ocean cyclone season has formed and NASA's Aqua satellite captured its birth. Tropical Storm 1B formed in the early morning hours as the convection around the low level circulation center increased since May 17.

NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of 1B from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) at 7:25 UTC (12:25 p.m. Asia/Kolkata time) today, May 18, where if formed off of India's east coast in the Bay of Bengal.

At 09:00 UTC (5 a.m. EDT or 2 p.m. Asia/Kolkata local time) on May 18, Tropical Storm 1B had maximum sustained winds near 40 knots (46 mph). It was located about 285 nautical miles east-southeast of Chennai, India near 12.4 North and 84.5 East in the Bay of Bengal. It is moving west-northwest near 13 knots (15 mph) and is forecast to continue in that direction, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, the organization the forecasts tropical cyclones in that region.

Tropical Storm 1B is expected to intensify in the next two days as it moves closer to Chennai. It is then forecast to make landfall south of Visakhapatham.

You may see ultramodern shape memory alloys, ceramic or fiber composites, carbon nanotube or fiber optic cabling, self-healing skin, hybrid electric engines, folding wings, double fuselages and virtual reality windows.

"Standing next to the airplane, you may not be able to tell the difference, but the improvements will be revolutionary," said Richard Wahls, project scientist for the Fundamental Aeronautics Program's Subsonic Fixed Wing Project at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. "Technological beauty is more than skin deep."

These are some of the common themes from the four reports:

"Identifying those necessary technologies will help us establish a research roadmap to follow in bringing these innovations to life during the coming years," Shin said.

The next step in NASA's effort to design the aircraft of 2030 is a second phase of studies to begin developing the new technologies that will be necessary to meet the national goals related to an improved air transportation system with increased energy efficiency and reduced environmental impact. The agency received proposals from the four teams in late April and expects to award one or two research contracts for work starting in 2011.

NASA managers also will reassess the goals for 2030 aircraft to determine whether some of the crucial technologies will need additional time to move from laboratory and field testing into operational use. The four teams managed to meet either the fuel burn or the noise goal with their concepts, not both.

A companion research effort looked at concepts for a new generation of supersonic transport aircraft capable of meeting NASA's noise, emissions and fuel efficiency goals for 2030. NASA envisions a broader market for supersonic travel, with aircraft carrying more passengers to improve economic viability while meeting increasingly stringent environmental requirements.

Teams lead by The Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin evaluated market conditions, design goals and constraints, conventional and unconventional configurations, and enabling technologies to create proposed roadmaps for research and development activities. Both teams produced concepts for aircraft that can carry more than 100 passengers at cruise speeds of more than 1.6 Mach and a range of up to 5,000 miles.

› View Future Aircraft Image Gallery
› Read October 2008 News Release and Team Abstracts

View my blog's last three great articles...

On April 22, 2010, a NASA satellite captured the appearance of a large dust cloud over the eastern coast of United States that originated on the other side of the world -- in China.

"Dust can stimulate the production of more clouds, altering local weather and potentially the climate," said Zhoayan Liu, a researcher at the National Institute of Aerospace and NASA's Langley Research Center who is monitoring the dust movement. The dust cloud was in upper troposphere, the atmospheric layer in which we live.

The dust plume that arrived in the U.S. maintained an average size of more than 1,200 miles wide and six miles tall as it traveled across the Earth. It began in China's Taklimakan and Gobi Deserts, and over 10 days, NASA captured the dust moving across the Pacific Ocean, through the United States and Canada and over Virginia.

"It is likely that a cold front over the deserts generated strong surface winds that pushed a large amount of the dust into the atmosphere and from there the jet streams brought it across the world," said Liu.

Liu and his colleagues at NASA discovered the relocation of the dust after analyzing data from Langley's Earth observing satellite CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations). It can be difficult to distinguish dust from regular clouds and other types of aerosols in photographs taken from space. CALIPSO, however, measures vertical profiles of the atmosphere and produces data that makes a distinction between the different particle types in our atmosphere, such as clouds, smoke, or dust. Not only can it tell scientists what is in our air, CALIPSO can also identify the vertical and horizontal location of the particles as well.

To validate what the satellite saw, NASA scientists took to the sky with the NASA King Air B200 aircraft and a lidar instrument similar to the one on CALIPSO. Aboard the plane, scientists were able to take the same measurements as CALIPSO over North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. The local flights, which took place the same day and time that the satellite detected the dust, confirmed what the satellite observed.

"This transport of dust out of China happens every spring, but we rarely see it move this far with such intensity," said Raymond Rogers, a Langley scientist who participated in the local flights. The air is always made up of various kinds of particles, but it is uncommon that those particles relocate in such large amounts that can their origin can be visibly tracked.

Rogers and Liu said that using CALIPSO and local airborne measurements to monitor the presence of dust in our atmosphere will provide others with data that can be used to gain a better understanding of how dust impacts humans and ecosystems.

View my blog's last three great articles...

NASA has released a short video that highlights how the Smog Bloggers combine laser measurements of current air quality with NASA satellite data to paint a daily picture of air pollution across the US. To date, the blog has received over two million hits, and is itself a big hit with weather forecasters, astronomers, asthma sufferers, and those with just a healthy curiosity about what kinds of pollution they may be breathing in.

You can visit the University of Maryland's Smog Blog at: http://alg.umbc.edu/usaq/.

View my blog's last three great articles...

But why polka dots? They are part of an engineering tool called photogrammetry, the practice of determining the geometric properties of objects from photographic images. It is a process used by engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., to accurately measure most everything from hardware to the tools used to make the hardware. Analytical photogrammetry is now routinely employed in tasks as diverse as machine tool inspection, fixture checking and structural deformation monitoring.

"This is a reasonably cheap process that provides engineers with a precise, three-dimensional measuring tool," said Sandeep Shah, upper stage manufacturing and assembly subsystem manager for Ares Projects at the Marshall Center. "It's a novel application of an existing technology that allows us to capture the true geometry of parts and components as they are produced, and provides immediate feedback to our team."

So How Does It Work?

The system typically requires only two engineers, a computer, a camera, targets or dots, two scale bars -- used as points of reference because of their exact length -- and a specially designed 3-D scanner.

"That’s what makes photogrammetry such a great tool," Shah said. "It's simple, mobile, fast, cheap and extremely accurate. Though we've only used photogrammetry for a couple of years, I can't imagine future development and production of flight hardware without it."

First, black and white target dots are irregularly placed several inches apart on the test object. The irregular spacing is designed to assist the computer software in identifying each individual target. Next, the engineer takes pictures of the test article from every angle, using a standard, 10-megapixel camera. The number of photographs needed varies depending on the size and shape of the test article. The photos then are transferred to a computer, where the software identifies the targets to produce a skeleton-like outline, referred to as an optical global framework.

Finally, a three-dimensional, white-light scanner is used to scan small sections of the test article -- producing accurate surface definitions and thus a near-perfect computer-aided design, or CAD, model.

"CAD systems allow engineers to view a design from any angle, with the push of a button, to zoom in or out for close-ups or long-distance views," said Rob Black, senior applications engineer with Shape Fidelity Inc., of Huntsville, Ala, a contractor for Ares Projects at Marshall. "NASA is one of the very few organizations worldwide that employs this technology on large-scale precision hardware."

Photogrammetry is often used for large terrestrial applications such as architecture or shipbuilding, but NASA is unique in its routine use of close-range, precision photogrammetry and scanning on large aerospace structures and tooling.

"We have used this process to build CAD models of everything from an airplane to a roach -- that's right, a bug -- just to demonstrate the flexibility of the system," Black said. "When engineers needed a computer model of a C-130 aircraft, we used the photogrammetry process to provide an exact computer model.

"But it's important to understand that with photogrammetry we are providing a fully functional, 3D engineering model of the test article," he said. "Take the roach for example -- once photographed and scanned into the system, the software is capable of providing exact measurements of every detail, from the length of its antenna to the exact width of its wing. How cool is that?"

This technology provides an additional application called reverse engineering, a process that allows engineers to put a completed product through the photogrammetry process, then compare it to the original engineering model.

"We have a project involving valves that need to be replaced, but no drawings, models or other documentation exists," Shah said. "This technology allows us to rebuild these items digitally and generate data necessary to manufacture new ones or define analysis models."

"The larger vision for photogrammetry is that we can quickly develop manufacturing definitions of major vehicle elements while they are still at their respective fabrication sites," he said. "These elements can be assembled digitally to find integration, alignment or any other problems before they are shipped to the assembly site. Problems can be detected early, addressed and fixed prior to shipment -- saving tremendously on both schedule and cost."

View my blog's last three great articles...

The board will travel to the accident site this weekend. Members will spend several days interviewing witnesses and collecting and reviewing data and evidence, then return to the United States to complete their report.

"We want to apply the full complement of NASA's expertise and resources to understand the cause of the accident and what needs to be done to improve the safety of our balloon launch operation," said Michael Weiss, chairman of the mishap investigation board. "We will gather as much information as we can and bring it back with us for further review. We will take as much time as is necessary to sift through all the documents, videos, photographs and witness statements, and conduct a thorough, thoughtful analysis."

The purpose of the investigation is to determine what caused the accident and identify corrective actions necessary to ensure public safety during future launch operations. The investigating board will gather information, analyze facts, identify causes and contributing factors, and recommend ways to prevent a similar accident in the future. The board also will review the adequacy of prelaunch planning operations, launch procedures and safety accommodations for launch spectators, and provide recommendations and lessons learned to be incorporated into a corrective action plan.

Support equipment and documentation related to the launch operation and the ensuing accident have been impounded for the investigation. NASA has said it will not launch another scientific balloon until it understands the failure at Alice Springs, identifies and implements corrective actions, and is confident that it can assure the safety of NASA employees and the public.

The balloon was attempting to launch the Nuclear Compton Telescope, or NCT, a $2-million gamma-ray telescope from the University of California in Berkeley. The payload was designed to study astrophysical sources of nuclear line emission with high spectral and spatial resolution. When the balloon was released, its payload dragged the ground for about 150 yards, hitting a fence and a sport utility vehicle. No injuries were reported.

View my blog's last three great articles...

The students, participating in a NASA program called DEVELOP, have spent three school terms looking at habitats favorable for the proliferation of the blood-sucking arachnids.

DEVELOP is a mentorship and training program sponsored by the Applied Sciences Program in NASA's Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. DEVELOP engages students in scientific fieldwork and lab study and teaches them how to analyze research results and share them with scientific and public communities.

The students deliver research results, measurements and predictions that address local policy and environmental concerns, and develop professional-caliber products to aid community leaders and local and state governments with decision-making. In the process, the students gain real-world research experience -- and the capability to contribute immediately to the science community.

Dr. Jeffrey Luvall, a senior research scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., mentors students in the DEVELOP program. "NASA is committed to inspiring young people in science, technology, engineering and math,” Luvall said. “The DEVELOP program offers a dual benefit -- encouraging students to pursue careers in technical fields, and helping communities and states through expanded use of NASA satellite information."

During the summer of 2009 through spring 2010 sessions, students chose to work with NASA's satellite-based, remote-sensing technology, and geographic information systems software to focus on research into Lyme disease. The disease can become a serious, chronic illness in humans when undiagnosed and untreated.

NASA's Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor was utilized along with the USGS-partnered Landsat, and digital Globe's Quickbird satellite. Students used the satellite imagery to analyze soil moisture and vegetation at 12 locations in the Talladega National Forest in north-central Alabama, creating detailed digital maps and images showing conditions on the ground that could support habitats for carriers of Lyme disease: blacklegged ticks (deer ticks). Important hosts for these ticks include: white-tailed deer; and the white-footed mouse. Results of their satellite imagery analysis showed areas of dense vegetation overlapped with high soil moisture -- likely tick habitats.

As the final element of their DEVELOP program work, participating students are establishing venues to directly educate the public about Lyme disease. This summer, they will work with Girl Scout troops and camps around northern Alabama, providing scouts and adult supervisors with information about tick-borne diseases and prevention methods. Additionally, student researchers attend conferences to convey what they have learned, increasing awareness not just of the serious risk of Lyme disease exposure, but also of the DEVELOP program itself. Their outreach effort helps NASA to recruit new groups of potential applicants and explore future research topics and collaborations.

The DEVELOP program, led by NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., is active at five NASA facilities: Marshall Space Flight Center; Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss.; and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Internship opportunities with the program are available during the spring, summer and fall. High school, undergraduate and graduate students with strong interests in science, technology and government policymaking are encouraged to apply.

View my blog's last three great articles...