Einstein's Space Station Cargo Ship Launches

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The European Space Agency launched its penultimate mission to the International Space Station on Wednesday (June 5), expending great energy to lift a record amount of mass aboard a spacecraft named for the scientist famous for equating the two quantities with the expression "E=mc^2."

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 (ATV-4), an unmanned cargo freighter, lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 5:52 p.m. EDT (2152 GMT). The second to last of ESA's five planned station resupply spacecraft launched since 2008, ATV-4 was named "Albert Einstein" after the iconic physicist known for the theory of relativity.

Einstein's theorieshave been put to the test in space and his work has guided robotic spacecraft to other planets. ATV-4 is the first spaceship to bear Einstein's name, at the suggestion of the Swiss delegation to the European Space Agency. Einstein was born in Germany but studied and spent his early career in Switzerland.

PHOTOS: Space Station Astronauts Log One Million Photographs

Lifting off from the jungle spaceport along South America's northeast coast, ATV-4 soared spaceward with Europe's largest-ever load of dry cargo for the station. Packed with science experiments, crew supplies, a 3D printed tool box and even copies of Einstein's manuscript explaining the foundation for the general theory of relativity, the craft is destined to dock with the orbiting laboratory on June 15.

Ten Day Trip and Traffic Delays

The Automated Transfer Vehicle, which is about the size of a London double-decker bus with four solar array wings, has on past missions made the same International Space Station (ISS)-bound trip in half the time.

"The nominal duration from launch to docking is five days to 'phase' or synchronize the orbits of ATV and ISS," said ESA's lead mission director Jean-Michel Bois in a blog on ESA's ATV-4 "Albert Einstein" website. "These five days are a compromise between various constraints, mainly to minimize the propellant consumption."

Doubling the transfer time for this mission is a combination of traffic on the ground and in space.

"At the beginning, we need to free the Kourou preparation rooms and launch pad as soon as possible to allow launch of numerous other satellites in the year," explained Bois. "With three launchers (Ariane, the Soyuz launcher and Vega), the Kourou logistic situation is complex!"

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Einstein's Space Station Cargo Ship Launches

Europe's 'Albert Einstein' spaceship is bringing the goods to space station

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NASA TV

The "Albert Einstein" Automated Transfer Vehicle launches atop an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana on Wednesday. ATV-4 soared spaceward with Europe's largest-ever load of dry cargo for the station.

By Robert Z. Pearlman Space.com

The European Space Agency launched its fourth cargo mission to the International Space Station on Wednesday, expending great energy to lift a record amount of mass aboard a spacecraft named for the scientist famous for equating the two quantities with the expression "E=mc^2."

The European Space Agency's(ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 (ATV-4), an unmanned cargo freighter, lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 5:52 p.m. ET. The second-to-last of ESA's five planned station resupply spacecraft launched since 2008, ATV-4 was named "Albert Einstein" after the iconic physicist known for the theory of relativity

Einstein's theorieshave been put to the test in space and his work has guided robotic spacecraft to other planets. ATV-4 is the first spaceship to bear Einstein's name, at the suggestion of the Swiss delegation to the European Space Agency. Einstein was born in Germany but studied and spent his early career in Switzerland. [Einstein Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of the Famous Genius]

Lifting off from the jungle spaceport along South America's northeast coast, ATV-4 soared spaceward with Europe's largest-ever load of dry cargo for the station. Packed with science experiments, crew supplies, a 3-D printed tool box and even copies of Einstein's manuscript explaining the foundation for the general theory of relativity, the craft is destined to dock with the orbiting laboratory on June 15.

ESA

The European Space Agency's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4) mission is named for the theoretical physicist Albert Einstein.

Ten day trip and traffic delaysThe Automated Transfer Vehicle, which is about the size of a London double-decker bus with four solar array wings, has on past missions made the same International Space Station (ISS)-bound trip in half the time.

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Europe's 'Albert Einstein' spaceship is bringing the goods to space station

'Albert Einstein' bringing the goods to space station

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NASA TV

The "Albert Einstein" Automated Transfer Vehicle launches atop an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana on Wednesday. ATV-4 soared spaceward with Europe's largest-ever load of dry cargo for the station.

By Robert Z. Pearlman Space.com

The European Space Agency launched its fourth cargo mission to the International Space Station on Wednesday, expending great energy to lift a record amount of mass aboard a spacecraft named for the scientist famous for equating the two quantities with the expression "E=mc^2."

The European Space Agency's(ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 (ATV-4), an unmanned cargo freighter, lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 5:52 p.m. ET. The second-to-last of ESA's five planned station resupply spacecraft launched since 2008, ATV-4 was named "Albert Einstein" after the iconic physicist known for the theory of relativity

Einstein's theorieshave been put to the test in space and his work has guided robotic spacecraft to other planets. ATV-4 is the first spaceship to bear Einstein's name, at the suggestion of the Swiss delegation to the European Space Agency. Einstein was born in Germany but studied and spent his early career in Switzerland. [Einstein Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of the Famous Genius]

Lifting off from the jungle spaceport along South America's northeast coast, ATV-4 soared spaceward with Europe's largest-ever load of dry cargo for the station. Packed with science experiments, crew supplies, a 3-D printed tool box and even copies of Einstein's manuscript explaining the foundation for the general theory of relativity, the craft is destined to dock with the orbiting laboratory on June 15.

ESA

The European Space Agency's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4) mission is named for the theoretical physicist Albert Einstein.

Ten day trip and traffic delaysThe Automated Transfer Vehicle, which is about the size of a London double-decker bus with four solar array wings, has on past missions made the same International Space Station (ISS)-bound trip in half the time.

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'Albert Einstein' bringing the goods to space station

APOCALYPSE MARS—Paleontology: Reptiles, Mammals, Dinosaurs, Humans; NASA rovers Curiosity,… – Video

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APOCALYPSE MARS mdash;Paleontology: Reptiles, Mammals, Dinosaurs, Humans; NASA rovers Curiosity,...
Geologically recent fish, eels, lizards, mammals, dinosaurs, humans, corpses, accoutrements, masks, gargoyles, footprints... fossils since Mars #39; remnant brea...

By: Raymond K Petry

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APOCALYPSE MARS—Paleontology: Reptiles, Mammals, Dinosaurs, Humans; NASA rovers Curiosity,... - Video

NASA | South Up Moon Phase

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NASA | South Up Moon Phase Libration 2013: Moon with Additional Graphics
This visualization shows the Moon #39;s phase and libration at hourly intervals throughout 2013, as viewed from the southern hemisphere. Each frame represents on...

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NASA | South Up Moon Phase

NASA Abandons 'Mars Rat'

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The patch of windblown sand and dust downhill from a cluster of dark rocks labeled the "Rocknest" site, where eagle-eyed believers think they've uncovered a "space rat."NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

A zoomed-in view of the "Rocksnest" spot; the patch of rocks in question is seen at the lower-left side.NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

An even closer, zoomed-in view of the "Rocksnest" spot; the "rodent" is seen at the top left.NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity will apparently perform no follow-up studies of a Red Planet rock that resembles a rodent, dealing a blow to the nascent field of Martian mammalogy.

The so-called "Mars rat" has generated a lot of Internet interest lately, with some UFO buffs claiming that it may be an indigenous Red Planet lifeform or an Earth rodent Curiosity carried to Mars as part of a secret experiment.

But Curiosity scientists are pretty sure that the Mars rat which was spotted in a zoomed-in portion of a photo taken by the rover in September 2012 is just a rock. ['Mars Rat' Photographed by Curiosity Rover (Video)]

"Clearly, it results from, you know, a lot of things like wind erosion and mechanical abrasion and breakdown chemical weathering of the rocks, as to why they get these weird shapes," Curiosity deputy project scientist Joy Crisp, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told reporters Wednesday.

So there doesn't seem to be a lot of motivation among mission scientists to investigate the Mars rat further. And the window to do so will last just a few more weeks, as the Curiosity roveris set to begin an epic drive that will take it far away from the petrified rodent.

The 1-ton robot is gearing up to embark for the base of Mount Sharp, a mysterious mountain that rises 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) into the Red Planet sky. The trek will cover about 5 miles of straight-line distance and will likely take about a year, mission managers said.

Curiosity will begin the epic journey after it wraps up three tasks near its current location, none of which involve the Mars rat. The rover will search for differences in hydrogen abundance across two different types of bedrock, and it will investigate intriguing nearby outcrops called Point Lake and Shaler, researchers said.

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NASA Abandons 'Mars Rat'

NASA builds sophisticated Earth-observing microwave radiometer

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June 5, 2013 A NASA team delivered in May a sophisticated microwave radiometer specifically designed to overcome the pitfalls that have plagued similar Earth-observing instruments in the past.

Literally years in the making, the new radiometer, which is designed to measure the intensity of electromagnetic radiation, specifically microwaves, is equipped with one of the most sophisticated signal-processing systems ever developed for an Earth science satellite mission. Its developers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., shipped the instrument to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where technicians will integrate it into the agency's Soil Moisture Active Passive spacecraft, along with a synthetic aperture radar system developed by JPL.

With the two instruments, the NASA mission will globally map soil moisture levels -- data that will benefit climate models -- when it begins operations a few months after its launch in late 2014. In particular, the data will give scientists the ability to discern global soil moisture levels, a crucial gauge for drought monitoring and prediction, and fill gaps in scientists' understanding of the water cycle. Also important, it could help crack an unsolved climate mystery: the location of the places in the Earth system that store carbon dioxide.

Years in the Making

Building the new radiometer took years to accomplish and involved the development of advanced algorithms and an onboard computing system capable of crunching a deluge of data estimated at 192 million samples per second. Despite the challenges, team members believe they've created a state-of-the-art instrument that is expected to triumph over the data-acquisition troubles encountered by many other Earth-observing instruments.

The signal received by the instrument will have penetrated most non-forest vegetation and other barriers to gather the naturally emitted microwave signal that indicates the presence of moisture. The wetter the soil, the colder it will look in the data.

The instrument's measurements include special features that allow scientists to identify and remove the unwanted "noise" caused by radio-frequency interference from the many Earth-based services that operate near the instrument's microwave-frequency band. The same noise has contaminated some of the measurements gathered by the European Space Agency's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite and, to a certain extent, NASA's Aquarius satellite. These spacecraft found that the noise was particularly prevalent over land.

"This is the first system in the world to do all this," said Instrument Scientist Jeff Piepmeier, who came up with the concept at NASA Goddard.

Tuning into Earth's Noise

Like all radiometers, the new instrument "listens" to the noises emanating from a very noisy planet.

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NASA builds sophisticated Earth-observing microwave radiometer

NASA aircraft to study how pollution, storms and climate interact

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NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory for the Studies of Emissions, Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) campaign to investigate how pollution and natural emissions affect atmospheric composition and climate. Credit: NASA/Lori Losey

HOUSTON, June 6 (UPI) -- NASA says it will conduct research flights over the southern United States to study how pollution, storms and climate mix and affect each other.

In the agency's most complex airborne science campaign of the year, several aircraft will take to the skies this summer to investigate how air pollution and natural emissions, when pushed high into the atmosphere by large storms, affect atmospheric composition and climate.

Beginning in August flights will originate from Houston's Ellington Field, which is operated by its Johnson Space Center, NASA reported Thursday.

The science campaign will combine the data gathered by aircraft missions with information from NASA satellites and an array of ground sites.

"In summertime across the United States, emissions from large seasonal fires, metropolitan areas and vegetation are moved upward by thunderstorms and the North American Monsoon," lead project scientist Brian Tool of the University of Colorado, Boulder, said. "When these chemicals get into the stratosphere they can affect the whole Earth. They also may influence how thunderstorms behave."

The mission should help scientist better understand how all these events interact, he said.

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NASA aircraft to study how pollution, storms and climate interact

NASA and LEGO launch design and build contest

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NASA and LEGO partner for a "future of flight" design and build contest open to all ages this summer.

License photo

In addition to building a model from LEGO bricks or using the LEGO Digital Designer computer program, the "Inventing our Future of Flight" challenge asks participants to design and build an aircraft of the future based on real concepts and new technology NASA is studying to increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions and noise.

Participants in this category must also write a technical paper explaining how their design takes advantage of NASA's ideas and potentially improves on them.

This category divides entrants into young student builders ages 13 to 18, and an open group for anyone age 13 and older. Two winners, one for each group, will be awarded a custom LEGO trophy.

The "Imagine our Future Beyond Earth" challenge asks participants 16 and older to design and build a futuristic air, space, or land vehicle with LEGOs.

Designs, including rotorcraft, rockets, rovers and more, can be based in reality or purely imagined. The grand prize is a LEGO set signed by the set's designer and a collection of NASA memorabilia.

The "NASA's Missions: Imagine and Build" competition opens Wednesday with an entry deadline of July 31. Complete rules for design and paper submission are available at LEGO's ReBrick site.

Winners in each category will be selected by a panel of NASA and LEGO officials and announced September 1.

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NASA and LEGO launch design and build contest

NASA to study how pollution, storms and climate mix

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June 6, 2013 NASA aircraft will take to the skies over the southern United States this summer to investigate how air pollution and natural emissions, which are pushed high into the atmosphere by large storms, affect atmospheric composition and climate.

NASA will conduct its most complex airborne science campaign of the year from Houston's Ellington Field, which is operated by the agency's Johnson Space Center, beginning Aug. 7 and continuing through September. The field campaign draws together coordinated observations from NASA satellites, aircraft and an array of ground sites.

More than 250 scientists, engineers and flight personnel, including several from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., are participating in the Studies of Emissions, Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) campaign. The project is sponsored by the Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Brian Toon of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is the lead scientist.

Aircraft and sensors will probe the atmosphere from top to bottom at the critical time of year when weather systems are strong enough and regional air pollution and natural emissions are prolific enough to pump gases and particles high into the atmosphere. The result is potentially global consequences for Earth's atmosphere and climate.

"In summertime across the United States, emissions from large seasonal fires, metropolitan areas and vegetation are moved upward by thunderstorms and the North American Monsoon," Toon said. "When these chemicals get into the stratosphere they can affect the whole Earth. They also may influence how thunderstorms behave. With SEAC4RS we hope to better understand how all these things interact."

The campaign will provide new insights into the effects of the gases and tiny aerosol particles in the atmosphere. The mission is targeting two major regional sources of summertime emissions: intense smoke from forest fires in the U.S. West and natural emissions of isoprene, a carbon compound, from forests in the Southeast.

Forest fire smoke can change the properties of clouds. The particles in the smoke can reflect and absorb incoming solar energy, potentially producing a net cooling at the ground and a warming of the atmosphere. The addition of large amounts of chemicals, such as isoprene, can alter the chemical balance of the atmosphere. Some of these chemicals can damage Earth's protective ozone layer.

The mission will use a number of scientific instruments in orbit, in the air and on the ground to paint a detailed picture of these intertwined atmospheric processes. As a fleet of formation-flying satellites known as NASA's A-Train passes over the region every day, sensors will detect different features of the scene below. NASA's ER-2 high-altitude aircraft will fly into the stratosphere to the edge of space while NASA's DC-8 aircraft will sample the atmosphere below it. A third aircraft from SPEC Inc., of Boulder, Colo., will measure cloud properties.

JPL is contributing several instruments to the campaign. The JPL Laser Hygrometer measures water vapor using a near-infrared laser mounted beneath the fuselage of NASA's ER-2 to map humidity in Earth's upper atmosphere in high resolution. The goal is to see how regional air pollution, forest fires and natural emissions impact humidity in the upper atmosphere.

Another instrument, the Microwave Temperature Profiler, measures the thermal emission from oxygen molecules in Earth's atmosphere and uses this information to retrieve a temperature profile. These temperature data identify the coldest point in the atmosphere, which controls access to the stratosphere. The temperature data also allow scientists to study atmospheric gravity waves.

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NASA to study how pollution, storms and climate mix

NASA Flights Target How Pollution, Storms and Climate Mix

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NASA aircraft will take to the skies over the southern United States this summer to investigate how air pollution and natural emissions, which are pushed high into the atmosphere by large storms, affect atmospheric composition and climate.

NASA will conduct its most complex airborne science campaign of the year from Houston's Ellington Field, which is operated by the agency's Johnson Space Center, beginning Aug. 7 and continuing through September. The field campaign draws together coordinated observations from NASA satellites, aircraft and an array of ground sites.

More than 250 scientists, engineers, and flight personnel are participating in the Studies of Emissions, Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) campaign. The project is sponsored by the Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Brian Toon of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is SEAC4RS lead scientist.

Aircraft and sensors will probe the atmosphere from top to bottom at the critical time of year when weather systems are strong enough and regional air pollution and natural emissions are prolific enough to pump gases and particles high into the atmosphere. The result is potentially global consequences for Earth's atmosphere and climate.

"In summertime across the United States, emissions from large seasonal fires, metropolitan areas, and vegetation are moved upward by thunderstorms and the North American Monsoon," Toon said. "When these chemicals get into the stratosphere they can affect the whole Earth. They also may influence how thunderstorms behave. With SEAC4RS we hope to better understand how all these things interact."

SEAC4RS will provide new insights into the effects of the gases and tiny aerosol particles in the atmosphere. The mission is targeting two major regional sources of summertime emissions: intense smoke from forest fires in the U.S. West and natural emissions of isoprene, a carbon compound, from forests in the Southeast.

Forest fire smoke can change the properties of clouds. The particles in the smoke can reflect and absorb incoming solar energy, potentially producing a net cooling at the ground and a warming of the atmosphere. The addition of large amounts of chemicals, such as isoprene, can alter the chemical balance of the atmosphere. Some of these chemicals can damage Earth's protective ozone layer.

The mission will use a number of scientific instruments in orbit, in the air, and on the ground to paint a detailed picture of these intertwined atmospheric processes. As a fleet of formation-flying satellites known as NASA's A-Train passes over the region every day, sensors will detect different features of the scene below. NASA's ER-2 high-altitude aircraft will fly into the stratosphere to the edge of space while NASA's DC-8 aircraft will sample the atmosphere below it. A third aircraft from SPEC Inc., of Boulder, Colo., will measure cloud properties. One benefit of this thorough examination of the region's atmosphere will be more accurate satellite data.

"By using aircraft to collect data from inside the atmosphere, we can compare those measurements with what our satellites see and improve the quality of the data from space," said Hal Maring of the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters.

The SEAC4RS campaign is partly supported by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. NASA scientists involved in the mission come from NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt., Md.; Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.; and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

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NASA Flights Target How Pollution, Storms and Climate Mix

Rushford event celebrates nanotechnology

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Posted: Wednesday, June 5, 2013 11:37 am

Rushford event celebrates nanotechnology Marion Renault Post-Bulletin Company, LLC

RUSHFORD It's the reason baseballs come off bats with a resounding crack, why dress shirts can be wrinkle-free and how doctors can treat breast cancer without invasive procedures: nanotechnology.

Alice Zimmer, a board member of Rushford Institute for NanoTechnology, likened the technology to taking a meter-long stick and cutting it into a billion pieces that is, examining things like manufacturing and medicine at the smallest possible level.

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Rushford event celebrates nanotechnology