Dan Marino to speak at Life Extension Nutrition Center Healthy Living Fair

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Former Miami Dolphins and National Football League Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino helps kick-off the 2013 Life Extension Nutrition Center Healthy Living Fair on Friday, March 8. Marino, scheduled to speak from 7-8 p.m., will address the audience about his involvement with creating a line of dietary supplements.

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Attendees get free autographed Hall of Fame cards (while supplies last) and can enter a drawing for an autographed football. Marino will also pre-autograph boxes of his supplement products. The Life Extension Nutrition Center located at 5990 N. Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale.

The Life Extension Nutrition Center Healthy Living Fair runs through Saturday, March 16. The entire week offers 10% off on more than 350 proven, premium-quality dietary supplements in-store as well as special pricing on select blood tests. Plus there is a wide-range of free health lectures, interactive forums, panel discussions and free health screenings including free auditory screening by Miracle Ear, Free bone density and body composition analysis. In addition you can consult one-on-one with a Life Extension health advisor (by appointment only).

Free six-month Life Extension Foundation memberships will also be available to all attendees. Dan Marino and other select supplement manufacturers will offer 10% off their products. Free product sampling and giveaways will also occur each day of the fair.

For over 33 years, Life Extension has been a pioneer in funding and reporting the latest anti-aging research and integrative health therapies while offering superior-quality dietary supplements to consumers. Life Extension's core mission is to extend the healthy human life span by using an integrative approach and funding cutting-edge scientific research.

Call 954.766.8144 to get a complete list of events, schedule a free 20-minute health advisor consultation, and reserve a seat for the free health lectures. For more information about the Life Extension Healthy Living Fair visit http://www.lef.org/healthyliving. You can also visit http://www.Twitter.com/LifeExtension or http://www.Facebook.com/LifeExtension added information.

Contact: Sheldon Baker, Director of Public Relations 954.202.7739 Cell 954.790.5512 SBaker@LifeExtension.com

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Dan Marino to speak at Life Extension Nutrition Center Healthy Living Fair

Family Nutrition 2013 With Terra Wellington

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NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Mar 5, 2013) - Wellness and Lifestyle Contributor Terra Wellington has ideas for helping busy families keep their nutrition on track.

It ALL starts at the grocery store. If you choose wisely, the rest is easy. Starting with breakfast, for cereal -- be a stickler with the nutritional label. Look for something that tastes great and is low in calories and high in fiber -- 9 out of 10 of us do not get enough daily fiber which is important because helps keep you feeling satisfied. A great choice is the new Fiber One 80Calories Chocolate Cereal. With a delicious chocolate flavor, 80 calories and 9 grams of fiber per serving, you don't have to sacrifice your goals.

For eggs, look for eggs with more nutritional value; and read labels because not all eggs are the same. Eggland's Best eggs are best for your family because they have two times more vitamin D, double the amount of omega-3 fatty acids, 10 times more vitamin E AND 25% less saturated fat compared to regular eggs. Plus, Eggland's Best eggs have a great taste with only 70 calories.

Moving on to snacks: The key with snacks is to avoid mindless eating; the type when you start snacking and just don't stop. This can put the weight on fast. Also, watch the calories and nutritional value. One great snack option is Fiber One Protein Bars. These bars satisfy your afternoon chocolate craving and with 140 calories or less, you get 20% of your daily value of fiber AND at least 6 grams of protein in each bar.

Another delicious snack option is Popcorn, Indiana's FIT, a new better-for-you popcorn. This snack is just 40 calories or less and just 2 grams of fat per cup PLUS tons of whole grains. No longer does it have to be about being skinny and eating tasteless diet food! Both are smart snacks without having to sacrifice taste -- for a guilt free snacking experience!

This release is provided by YourUpdate.TV for whom Terra Wellington is a spokesperson on behalf of the organizations referred.

For more information, please visit: http://www.terrawellington.com

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Family Nutrition 2013 With Terra Wellington

Nutrition professionals: Who can you trust for food advice?

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By Julie Deardorff Chicago Tribune

Anyone can claim to be a nutritionist, which is why finding a good one can be a challenge. Licensure and credentials are an important place to start, but they don't necessarily ensure quality, some experts say.

"Nutrition is a controversial and changing area. Keeping up to date requires a lot of work," said Dr. Stephen Devries, executive director of the nonprofit Gaples Institute for Integrative Cardiology in Deerfield, Ill.

The best professionals, he said, have undergone a rigorous formal training program and continuously update their nutrition knowledge.

Red flags that your nutrition professional may be unqualified include over-the-top promises such as a guarantee of permanent or quick weight loss or the idea that diet can cure cancer. Also be wary of practitioners who sell products and who have a one-size-fits-all philosophy. If they can't support their claims with scientific research instead of anecdotes, consider one who can.

Marion Nestle, who has spent her career telling people how to eat, is not a registered dietitian but holds a New York State license as a nutritionist/dietitian. She has a master's in public health nutrition and a doctorate in molecular biology.

Nestle suggests approaching anyone's advice, including her own, with skepticism. She likes nutritionists with "critical thinking skills, those who understand how and why people eat the way they do, focus on food rather than nutrients, and are able to read current research, as well as interpret and apply it in context."

TYPES OF NUTRITIONISTS

Consumers should know there's a big difference between the training of a "certified nutrition specialist" and a "certified nutrition consultant." Here's a look at the meaning behind the credentials.

Registered dietitian: RDs have a minimum of a bachelor's degree and are trained in all aspects of food and nutrition including medical nutrition therapy. Dietitians spend 1,200 hours in a dietetic internship through an accredited program. About half of RDs work in hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices and extended-care facilities or nursing homes. Credentialed by the Commission on Dietetic Registration of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

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Nutrition professionals: Who can you trust for food advice?

"Thrive" with Better Food Choices this National Nutrition Month

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ORLANDO, Fla., March 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- March is National Nutrition Month and Thrive Ice Cream is encouraging Americans across the country to strive for better health and increased nutrition awareness. Thrive ice cream is specially formulated with as much protein as an egg, as much calcium as a cup of milk, as much fiber as a bowl of oatmeal, and as much potassium as a banana in a great-tasting, convenient package, making it easy to get the nutrition you need.

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"We believe that taste and health can happily co-exist. You shouldn't have to give up your favorite foods to meet your nutritional needs. This is precisely the foundation behind the development of our products," said Charles Stagner, CEO of Thrive Ice Cream. "Adding Thrive to your diet is a step in the right direction for those working toward better health and nutrition."

Balanced nutrition is essential to keeping your body functioning at its best, but many Americans do not meet the Recommended Dietary Allowance[1] (RDA) for key nutrients. Since good nutrition is all about the quality of food you eat, Thrive is encouraging consumers to beware of empty calories and incorporate nutrient-filled foods into their diets. After all, you are what you eat.

Here is a list of essentials for a balanced diet and how Thrive can help you meet your RDAs:

Thrive packs a punch of nutrition in the form of great-tasting, premium ice cream fortified with fiber, protein, probiotics, and 24 essential vitamins and minerals. It's perfect for health-conscious consumers, on-the-go moms, picky eater kids, dieters looking for a guilt-free indulgence, caregivers of difficult-to-feed elderly and everyone in between.Available in four flavors Homemade Vanilla, Milk Chocolate, Chocolate Fudge and Strawberry Thrive helps to satisfy both your taste buds and your nutritional needs.

About Thrive Ice Cream Thrive is premium ice cream packed with the nutrition you need. The Thrive concept began almost a decade ago, with the idea of providing an ice cream that packs nutrition into a great tasting, convenient form. Each cup contains at least 9 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, four different strains of probiotics and 25% of the daily recommended amounts of 24 vitamins and minerals. Thrive is currently available in the frozen food section at select Walmart, Meijer, Piggly Wiggly, Ahold, Hy-Vee and Publix stores, and is expanding into additional stores across the country. For more on how to treat yourself to better health, visit Thrive on the web at http://www.thriveicecream.com, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/thriveicecream and Twitter @ThriveIceCream.

[1] The Recommended Dietary Allowance or RDA (sometimes referred to as Recommended Daily Allowance) is defined by the US Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) as "the average daily dietary intake level that is sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all (approximately 98 percent) healthy individuals".

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"Thrive" with Better Food Choices this National Nutrition Month

Abbott Introduces Nutrition for Active Kids – Kidz ZonePerfect® Nutrition Bars

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ABBOTT PARK, Ill., March 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Abbott's (ABT)ZonePerfect brand today introduces a new line of nutrition bars for active kids, Kidz ZonePerfect. Built directly with the help of parents and their children, Kidz ZonePerfect features five grams of protein, 23 vitamins and minerals and three grams of fiber, providing a nutritious snack option that meets kids' selective tastes.

Nutrition Bars Inspired by Kids

In a build-a-bar development workshop, the ZonePerfect brand brought together a group of children ages 4 to 10 years to design their dream nutrition bar. The kids were given a wide array of ingredients from dried fruits to chocolate chips, to protein sources and grains and asked to build bars to be judged by their peers. With those ideas, Kidz ZonePerfect was born. The result? Three delicious nutrition bars inspired by kids.

Kidz ZonePerfect is available in Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and Caramel Crunch - both a direct result of the bar development workshops - as well as Yellow Cupcake.

News Facts:

Commentary on Kidz ZonePerfect:

From Tobe Cohen, division vice president and general manager, Performance Nutrition, Abbott:

Over the years, the ZonePerfect brand has focused on making great-tasting nutrition bars to fuel busy, active adult lifestyles. To get the right inspiration for our new children's line, we knew we needed to get out of the kitchen and into the minds of kids. Simply put, we had to bring our big kids together with little kids. The result was brilliant: three nutritious Kidz ZonePerfect bars in fun, youth-inspired flavors.

About ZonePerfect

The ZonePerfect brand provides nutrition for busy people who do not sacrifice great taste. ZonePerfect Nutrition Bars have the protein, essential nutrition, and delicious flavors you crave to keep you going throughout the day. Visit http://www.zoneperfect.com or http://www.facebook.com/zoneperfect.

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Abbott Introduces Nutrition for Active Kids - Kidz ZonePerfect® Nutrition Bars

LifeSciences BC Announces Recipients of the 2013 LifeSciences British Columbia Awards

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

LifeSciences BC is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2013 LifeSciences British Columbia Awards. They are:

Dr. Don Rix Award for Lifetime Achievement Dr. Joseph M. Connors, Clinical Professor, University of British Columbia, and Clinical Director, BC Cancer Agency Centre for Lymphoid Cancer

Genome British Columbia Award for Scientific Excellence Dr. B. Brett Finlay, UBC Peter Wall Distinguished Professor, Michael Smith Laboratories and the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia

Milton Wong Award for Leadership Kenneth Galbraith, General Partner, Ventures West Capital Ltd.

Innovation and Achievement Award Dr. Richard Harrigan, Director, Laboratory Program, British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

Medical Technology Company of the Year STEMCELL Technologies Inc.

Life Sciences Company of the Year Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Emerging Life Sciences Company of the Year Zymeworks Inc.

These awards are presented annually to recognize individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the development of British Columbias life sciences industry.

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LifeSciences BC Announces Recipients of the 2013 LifeSciences British Columbia Awards

Longevity Global Inc Comes up With ArcMate 200 TIG Welder and ArcMate 205 MIG Welder

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Longevity Global Inc offers a complete line of welding equipment e.g. ArcMate 200 TIG Welder, ArcMate 205 MIG Welder and others. Whatever metal one needs to weld, they have the right equipment for the right job at the right price.

Hayward, Ca (PRWEB) March 05, 2013

One just needs to browse the full line up of Longevity welding equipment and order online or visit the nearest Longevity dealer to get the welder one wants. The company also offers an array of the most prominent welding machines to fit all welding needs at the best available prices. While providing best quality at least price is being their forte, one will find their welding equipment is priced far below the competitors' and the warranty is unmatched.

Buying from them ensures investing in a quality welder. Apart from welding equipment they also offer all kinds of welding supplies like welding rods, welding helmets, generators, etc., one needs for DIY jobs or professional requirements. With so many welding manufacturers in todays market, finding an affordable welder is not a tough task but finding a reliable one needs research.

There are actually many affordable welders out in the market that one may not have heard of but one also needs a reputed supplier who can ensure the quality too. Longevity has always strived to provide their clients with the most innovative welding technologies at most affordable prices. They offer various models of TIG welders, wire welders, stick welder and other multipurpose welders.

About the Company

Longevity Global Inc is recognized worldwide for providing reliable welding, cutting, and power generating equipment. Since their inception 2001, it has earned slogan, "The Power to Last" through innovation, customer satisfaction, and industry leading production. The organization constantly strives to provide global dealers, distributors, and users with the most innovative welding and cutting machines in the market. Their engineering team works together with their dealers and customers to develop the best equipment in the market.

To know more visit: http://www.longevity-inc.com/

Contact:

23591 Foley Street

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Longevity Global Inc Comes up With ArcMate 200 TIG Welder and ArcMate 205 MIG Welder

Exercise biology major could combine with NPB major

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Committee reviewing possible outcomes

Written by KELLEY DRECHSLER Aggie News Writer Published on March 5, 2013 Filed under Campus News

Admissions to the exercise biology (EXB) major will be suspended for the 2013-14 school year, and the major will potentially be combined with the neurobiology, physiology and behavior (NPB) major.

In the spring of 2012, a committee formed within the department of NPB to reorganize the exercise biology program in the face of budget cuts, increasing enrollments and declines in the number of faculty members. The committee includes professors Dave Furlow, Mark Goldman, Tom Hahn, Samantha Harris, Gaby Nevitt and Marty Usrey.

The goal of the committee is to find a way to combine the increasingly popular exercise biology and NPB majors into a combined program.

The committee hopes that through the reorganization, the school will be able to use limited resources for the exercise biology major more efficiently, promote increased collaboration across departments and offer courses to students who are interested in research, graduate school or careers related to integrative biology.

Either it needs to be an impacted major or combined with another major, said David A. Hawkins, professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior.

Currently, the NPB major has approximately 950 students and the EXB major has approximately 650 students. Approximately 60 percent of the students in biological sciences majors declare an emphasis in NPB.

I think the exercise biology major involves a lot of what is not offered outside of the other biology majors, said Megan Barrett, an exercise biology peer advisor.

The committee unanimously decided that combining the available resources for both majors into one program with the option of emphasizing in specialties within the combined program would be the most effective and efficient action.

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Exercise biology major could combine with NPB major

Lynn marine biology students get scuba lesson

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Home > News Lynn marine biology students get scuba lesson By Chris Stevens / The Daily Item

DANVERS Lynn English High School Marine Biology students got to put scuba diving book smarts to the test when they got a crash course in the real thing.

That was so awesome; I wish I was a fish, said junior Rochelli Jiminez after swimming the length of the pool in scuba gear at the Paul J. Lydon Aquatics Center in Danvers.

LEHS science teacher Joe Skahan said his students have been learning about scuba diving and underwater exploration, and he wanted the kids to have an opportunity for a hands-on lesson outside the classroom to see what its like to breathe underwater.

Skahan, who said hes been diving for a few years, put in a call to Undersea Divers in Beverly, and instructor Shaun Maguire offered to give the kids a free lesson.

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Seven of Skahans students fidgeted and giggled nervously as Maguire walked them through the process of diving while outside the pool. Once in the water, Maguire helped the students strap on vests outfitted with air tanks, regulators and gauges and showed them how to use them. Maguire had the kids get used to the weight and the feel of the equipment and try out the regulator before they donned masks and sank to the bottom of the shallow end of the pool.

After splashing around the kids made for open water in the deep end led by Maguire.

Jiminez popped up several times before she got the hang of actually breathing underwater.

I was nervous at first, she said. I thought I might drown.

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Lynn marine biology students get scuba lesson

The Return – Nasa Archive UFOs 2013 More UFO Discovery’s Part 2 – Video

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The Return - Nasa Archive UFOs 2013 More UFO Discovery #39;s Part 2
More UFO Discovery #39;s In The Nasa Archives. Here is my new 2013 UFO film preview. It is part 2 to UFOs In The Nasa Space Archives. If you have not seen part 1, then it is a must. Please visit my channel to view, or do a search to locate it. I hope you enjoy this preview, and the full version will be out shortly. Cheer #39;s Jason.

By: Jason Kirby

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The Return - Nasa Archive UFOs 2013 More UFO Discovery's Part 2 - Video

NASA Launches Interactive Website to Design Interplanetary Missions

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A small group of engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., have launched a new web-based tool for scientists and engineers to use when designing spacecraft trajectories to interplanetary destinations.

The Trajectory Browser, as the web application is called, can provide an instantaneous assessment of the launch date, time and flight path requirements for future missions to asteroids, comets and planets for the next 25 years.

"The Trajectory Browser website is best used as a first-cut tool to assess the existence of trajectories to small bodies and planets and provide ball-park values on launch date, duration and trajectory requirements," said Cyrus Foster, an aerospace engineer at the NASA Ames Mission Design Center and lead developer of the Trajectory Browser. "The website is flexible enough to provide information about various types of missions such as rendezvous, sample return or flybys and is routinely updated with the latest asteroid and comet discoveries made by astronomers and NASA missions."

After specifying the destination, a user then enters whether the mission will be one-way or round-trip, and include a flyby or rendezvous of the destination. In a similar fashion to internet search engines, the user can press "search" and view a list of suitable trajectories highlighting their detailed requirements, such as launch energy, mission duration, and a visual "travel itinerary" that specifies all the critical events of that trajectory. An animation tool then lets the user follow the relative movements of the spacecraft, Earth and destination from launch to arrival.

For example, users can find a trajectory to rendezvous a spacecraft with the 150-feet in diameter asteroid 2012DA14, which passed close, but safely, by Earth on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. According to calculations by the Trajectory Browser tool, a spacecraft could be launched to rendezvous with 2012DA14 on Feb. 24, 2014, Feb. 19, 2018 and again on Feb. 22, 2019. To view an example of these trajectories, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/Z5ZSB3

NASA's Near Earth Object Program and the HORIZONS system managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., acquire asteroid and comet observation data from various sources and generate the trajectories for these asteroids. The Trajectory Browser uses these asteroid trajectories and computes a potential spacecraft trajectory launching from Earth.

In 2016, NASA is scheduled to launch the Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer mission or OSIRIS-REx to an asteroid called 1999 RQ36. The mission will mark the first U.S. project to return asteroid samples to Earth for analysis. OSIRIS-REx will be a pathfinder for future spacecraft designed to perform reconnaissance on any newly-discovered threatening objects.

Trajectory Browser requires an HTML5-compatible browser such as Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 3.6+, Safari 3.2+, Chrome 11+ or Opera 10.6+ with Javascript enabled.

To explore the Trajectory Browser website, visit: http://trajbrowser.arc.nasa.gov

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NASA Launches Interactive Website to Design Interplanetary Missions

NASA's 'Inspirational' Mars Flyby

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Planetary flybys are awesome.

As a spacecraft swings around the trailing side of a planet it gains speed and direction, momentum engineers can use to accelerate it to its next destination using little if any fuel for mid-course corrections. Its not a new idea. Gravity assists are how the Voyager probes visited the outer planets with one launch, its how NASA got Apollo 13 home and its how Denis Tito plans to whip a married couple around the far side of Mars within the decade.

And in the mid 1960s, its something NASA considered as a future application for its Apollo hardware.

PHOTOS: Five Canceled NASA Missions

NASAs study of manned flybys came via Bellcomm, a division of AT&T established in 1963 to assist the space agency with research, development, and overall documentation of systems integration. In the mid 1960s, flybys with upgraded and modified Apollo hardware seemed like a natural stepping stone between the Apollo lunar missions and the agencys inevitable next steps of an Earth-orbiting space station, manned Mars landings, and manned missions in orbit around Venus.

It was Bellcomm mathematician A. A. VanderVeen who studied the manned flyby possibilities for NASA.

In 1967, he identified 5 favorable launch opportunities for a Mars flyby between 1978 and 1986. Two windows in 1979 and 1983 were ideal, feasible with then-existing launch technology and had the shortest transit time between planets. VanderVeen found that very little propulsion was needed with these launch windows.

After the initial burn towards Mars, physics would take over and guide the spacecraft to its rendezvous with Mars. Probes would do the hard work. Approaching Mars, the crew would release automated probes, one of which could even land on the surface, collect a sample, and launch to rendezvous with the spacecraft on its way back to Earth. VanderVeen also noted that these dates were perfect: Mars was bound to be NASAs next target after Apollo.

PHOTOS: The Gemini Missions: Paving the Path for Apollo

But weight was a persistent issue in all the Mars flyby scenarios; the propulsion needed to launch a spacecraft into Earth orbit then fire it off to Mars was substantial. VanderVeen found an elegant, and scientifically exciting, solution: add a Venus flyby to the Mars trip. Mars, Earth, and Venus align with the sun five times every 32 years, but Venus and Mars alignments happen more frequently making double (Earth-Venus-Mars-Earth) or even triple (Earth-Venus-Mars-Venus-Earth) flybys a viable mission. Taking advantage of favorable launch windows to Venus also reduced overall launch weight.

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NASA's 'Inspirational' Mars Flyby

NASA Spacecraft Photographs Venus as Seen from Saturn

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Venus gleams over Saturn's enormous shoulder in two stunning new photos captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which is orbiting the ringed planet.

Earth's hellishly hot "sister planet" peeks through Saturn's iconic rings in one image, which Cassini took last November when it was in Saturn's shadow. Because of the vast gulf between the two worlds, the Earth-sizeVenus appears as a bright white dot, just above and to the right of the picture's center.

When it took the photo, Cassini was about 498,000 miles (802,000 kilometers) from Saturn and looking toward the unlit side of the rings from slightly below the ring plane, researchers said. Each pixel in the image covers about 28 miles (44 km).

Cassini captured the other image on Jan. 4, when the probe was approximately 371,000 miles (597,000 km) from Saturn. Venus appears near the top of the photo, sandwiched between Saturn's bright, curving limb and its G ring. The scale in this view is 20 miles (32 km) per pixel.[Gallery: The Rings and Moons of Saturn]

The broad, fuzzy streak lower down is Saturn's E ring, which was generated by the icy plume of particles erupting from geysers on the planet's enigmatic moon Enceladus. The luminous point to the left of the E ring is a distant star, researchers said.

This isn't the first time Cassini has seen a planet from the inner solar system from its vantage point around Saturn. In 2006, the spacecraft snapped an amazing view of Earth as it appeared from the ringed planet. That photo, called "In Saturn's Shadow," is one of the most popular Cassini images taken to date, researchers said.

Though Venus is about the same size as Earth and has a similar rocky composition, conditions on the two planets' surfaces are very different. Astronauts walking around on Venus would experience pressures 100 times greater than those on Earth's surface and temperatures around 870 degrees Fahrenheit (466 degrees Celsius) hot enough to melt lead.

Both of these extremes are a result of Venus' thick, carbon-dioxide-dominated atmosphere, which has created a runaway greenhouse effect on the second planet from the sun.

The $3.2 billion Cassini mission is a joint effort involving NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. Cassini launched in 1997 and arrived at the Saturn system in 2004. It is now studying the ringed planet and its many moons on an extended mission that runs through at least 2017.

Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwallor SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on FacebookandGoogle+.

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NASA Spacecraft Photographs Venus as Seen from Saturn

Operational Control Of Environmental Satellite Transferred By NASA

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March 4, 2013

Image Caption: Artist's concept of the Suomi NPP satellite in space. Credit: NASA/Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio/Ryan Zuber

NASA

The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite, a partnership between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), was transitioned to NOAA operational organization control Feb. 22, 2013. The transition marks the next step of the mission that supports NASAs Earth science research and NOAAs weather forecasting missions.

Suomi NPP continues the observations of Earth from space that were pioneered by NASAs Earth Observing System. The satellites five instruments are providing scientists with data to extend more than 30 key long-term datasets. These records, which include observations of the ozone layer, land cover, atmospheric temperatures and ice cover, provide critical data for global change science.

Suomi NPP is an important asset for NASA, NOAA, and the nation, said Michael Freilich, director of the Earth Science Division in NASAs Science Mission Directorate in Washington. As a true collaboration in which all partners benefit, Suomi NPP measurements are supporting researchers and weather forecasters alike.

Suomi NPP also collects critical data for our understanding of long-term climate change while increasing our ability to improve weather forecasts in the short term. NOAA meteorologists are incorporating Suomi NPP information into their weather prediction models to produce forecasts and warnings that already are helping emergency responders anticipate, monitor, and react to many types of natural events.

Satellites like Suomi NPP are critical to the National Weather Services mission and improved decision support services, said Louis Uccellini, director of NOAAs National Weather Service. These polar satellites provide an important dataset for the global Earth-observing system and will lead to improved forecasts out to three days in the future and beyond.

The Suomi NPP mission is a bridge between NASAs legacy Earth-observing missions and NOAAs next-generation Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). Suomi NPP carries groundbreaking new Earth-observing instruments that JPSS will use operationally. The first satellite in the JPSS series, JPSS-1, is targeted for launch in early 2017.

NASA launched Suomi NPP Oct. 28, 2011, from California. Since then, the JPSS program based at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt., Md., has been helping maintain the Suomi NPP instruments in addition to providing the ground system, with NOAA institutional organizations providing operational mission support. The NOAA operations group now assumes responsibility for Suomi NPP.

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Operational Control Of Environmental Satellite Transferred By NASA

NASA Transfers Operational Control of Environmental Satellite

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The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite, a partnership between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), was transitioned to NOAA operational organization control Feb. 22. The transition marks the next step of the mission that supports NASA's Earth science research and NOAA's weather forecasting missions.

Suomi NPP continues the observations of Earth from space that were pioneered by NASA's Earth Observing System. The satellite's five instruments are providing scientists with data to extend more than 30 key long-term datasets. These records, which include observations of the ozone layer, land cover, atmospheric temperatures and ice cover, provide critical data for global change science.

"Suomi NPP is an important asset for NASA, NOAA, and the nation," said Michael Freilich, director of the Earth Science Division in NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "As a true collaboration in which all partners benefit, Suomi NPP measurements are supporting researchers and weather forecasters alike."

Suomi NPP also collects critical data for our understanding of long-term climate change while increasing our ability to improve weather forecasts in the short term. NOAA meteorologists are incorporating Suomi NPP information into their weather prediction models to produce forecasts and warnings that already are helping emergency responders anticipate, monitor, and react to many types of natural events.

"Satellites like Suomi NPP are critical to the National Weather Service's mission and improved decision support services," said Louis Uccellini, director of NOAA's National Weather Service. "These polar satellites provide an important dataset for the global Earth-observing system and will lead to improved forecasts out to three days in the future and beyond."

The Suomi NPP mission is a bridge between NASA's legacy Earth-observing missions and NOAA's next-generation Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). Suomi NPP carries groundbreaking new Earth-observing instruments that JPSS will use operationally. The first satellite in the JPSS series, JPSS-1, is targeted for launch in early 2017.

NASA launched Suomi NPP Oct. 28, 2011, from California. Since then, the JPSS program based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt., Md., has been helping maintain the Suomi NPP instruments in addition to providing the ground system, with NOAA institutional organizations providing operational mission support. The NOAA operations group now assumes responsibility for Suomi NPP.

Suomi NPP instruments observe key attributes of the Earth, including measurements of cloud and vegetation cover, ice cover, ocean color, and sea and land surface temperatures. The suite includes the Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS); the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS); the Clouds and Earth Radiant Energy System (CERES); the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS); and the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS).

"Observations from Suomi NPP are helping to advance science and to increase the accuracy of short-term meteorological predictions," said James Gleason, Suomi NPP project scientist at NASA Goddard. "ATMS data are being used by the National Weather Service in their forecast models. And OMPS data continued over 30 years of ozone hole measurements helping the community put this year's smaller ozone hole in perspective."

Suomi NPP observes Earth's surface twice a day, once in daylight and once at night, flying 512 miles (824 kilometers) high in a polar orbit. The satellite sends its data once an orbit to a ground station in Svalbard, Norway. The information is transferred via fiber optic cable for processing at NOAA's Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Md. Data products are archived at the NOAA National Climatic Data Center in Ashville, N.C.

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NASA Transfers Operational Control of Environmental Satellite

NASA conducts Martian tech support to repair Curiosity

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A computer problem onboard the Mars rover Curiosity has forced NASA scientists to put the rover into safe mode while they try to bring a backup system online and try to figure out what is wrong with the main computer.

"We are doing multiple things at the same time," Jim Erickson, Curiosity's deputy project manager, told Computerworld. "All we know is the vehicle is telling us that there are multiple errors in the memory ... We think it's a hardware error of one type or another but the software did not handle it gracefully. We'd like to have our vehicles withstand hardware trouble and continue to function."

Erickson explained that last week engineers watching the rover's telemetry noticed certain applications would begin and then terminate mid-sequence. The problem appears to be a file corruption.

Scientists put Curiosity, which landed on Mars last August, into a minimal-activity safe mode last Wednesday. Since then they have been working on three different issues.

They are trying to switch the rover over onto its redundant, onboard computer system, referred to as the B-side. And while trying to repair the problem on the main system, Erickson noted that engineers are also trying to shore up the rover's software so it can better withstand hardware glitches.

"We are bringing the B-side online and getting it ready to conduct science experiments, and conduct all the driving and other activities that we normally do," Erickson said.

He added that NASA should know within two weeks if it will be able to bring the main computer back to full operation.

"I wouldn't say we're concerned but we'll go through the process and find out what happened and go from there," said Erickson. "If we have to stay on the B-side, there will be no change in science capabilities but we'd have only one side to work with and wouldn't have resilience. But we'll take what the reality is."

NASA is on a deadline to get the rover's computer repaired because as of April 4, the agency will not be able to communicate with any of the Mars rovers or orbiters for a month.

Erickson explained that NASA was approaching the solar conjunction, when the Sun will be in the path between the Earth and Mars for about a month. With the Sun in the way, NASA won't be able to send daily instructions to the rover, or receive data and images in return.

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NASA conducts Martian tech support to repair Curiosity