Live coverage: Veteran three-man crew docks with space station – Spaceflight Now

Posted on by

Spaceflight Now
Live coverage: Veteran three-man crew docks with space station
Spaceflight Now
The Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft has docked to the Poisk module of the space station, delivering Russian commander Sergey Ryazanskiy, NASA flight engineer Randy Bresnik and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli to the complex after a six-hour, ...
ISS crew size increases to 6 with Soyuz MS-05 dockingSpaceFlight Insider
Soyuz rocket carries 3-man crew to space stationCBS News
Three-man crew reaches space station as US boosts researchReuters
Space.com -The Epoch Times -BABW News
all 224 news articles »

Link:

Live coverage: Veteran three-man crew docks with space station - Spaceflight Now

Musk: Falcon Heavy could fly as early as this fall – SpaceFlight Insider

Posted on by

Jason Rhian

July 30th, 2017

SpaceX Falcon Heavy lifts off from Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39A. Image Credit: SpaceX

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. On an Instagram post, SpaceXs CEO and Founder has expressed less optimism than his companys fans about the success of the Heavy version of the first flight of his companys Falcon Heavy rocket. Elon Musks comments highlight his knowledge concerning the success rates that most launch vehicles encounter on their maiden flight, as well as the fact that the FH has 27 Merlin 1D engines in the rockets first stage alone.

According to Reuters Irene Klotz, that test flight was supposed to have flown in 2013 and Musk has noted numerous times that it is proving to be complex, even suggesting that it perhaps should have been called the Falcon 27 instead. Nevertheless, supporters of the company have attempted to argue that the Falcon Heavys first flight has not been delayed, that it has not flown because the launch vehicle lacked a paying customer, and the fact that the rockets first flight would need to be a test flight, as was the case with the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9.

When it does fly, the Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful rocket currently in operation (by a factor of two according to Space Coast Daily). However, at present, it is currently in the same classification as NASAs Space Launch System unproven.

The former Soviet Union had tried for three years (and four launches) to have their N1 rocket enable their lunar ambitions only to have each mission end in an explosion. Like the N1 (which had 30 NK-15 engines in its first stage), the Falcon Heavy has a large number of engines in its first stage.

Supporters of the Hawthorne, California-based companys innovative efforts have suggested that SLS should be canceled in favor of the Falcon Heavy often citing the rockets cost (possibly as low as $90 million per flight) and capabilities despite the fact that the rocket has never flown. Much like the Falcon 9, the expense of sending payloads to orbit is often the deciding factor for customers.

If SpaceX can bring the Falcon Heavy into service, it will eclipse the current highest capacity rocket currently in operation United Launch Alliances Delta IV Heavy. The Delta IV Heavy has one factor strongly in its favor a simpler design. Whereas the Falcon Heavy employs 27 engines in its first stage, the Delta Heavy has only oneAerojet Rocketdyne RS-68A engine in each of its three common booster cores.

However, should the Falcon Heavy enter into rotation at Cape Canaveral in Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, it will be a tough act to follow.

With the ability to send140,660 pounds (63,800kg) to orbit compared to the Delta Heavys 62,540 pounds (28,370kg), the Falcon Heavy will be able to send more to orbit and at a lower cost (estimates have placed the cost of the Falcon Heavy at $90 million compared to the Delta Heavys $375 million) than their competitor.

If everything continues to go as planned, the Falcon Heavy will be launched from SpaceXs facilities at Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39A with the Falcon 9 lifting off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Stations Space Launch Complex 40.

Video courtesy of SpaceX

Tagged: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Elon Musk Falcon Heavy Kennedy Space Center Lead Stories SpaceX

Jason Rhian spent several years honing his skills with internships at NASA, the National Space Society and other organizations. He has provided content for outlets such as: Aviation Week & Space Technology, Space.com, The Mars Society and Universe Today.

Follow this link:

Musk: Falcon Heavy could fly as early as this fall - SpaceFlight Insider

Anticipating upgraded spaceships, SpaceX builds final first-generation Dragon cargo craft – Spaceflight Now

Posted on by

File photo of a Dragon spacecraft at SpaceXs headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX

The Dragon supply ship set for liftoff from Florida next month was the last of SpaceXs first-generation cargo capsules off the production line, meaning future logistics deliveries to the International Space Station will fly on recycled spacecraft until a new Dragon variant is ready.

SpaceX launched a reused Dragon cargo craft on its last commercial supply shipment to the space station in June, and officials said then that the next Dragon mission now scheduled for launch next month will use a newly-manufactured capsule. Plans for subsequent resupply missions were still under review, NASA and SpaceX officials said at the time.

But a presentation to the NASA Advisory Councils human exploration and operations committee Monday by Sam Scimemi, director of the space station program at NASA Headquarters, suggested SpaceXs next Dragon spacecraft would be the last one to be built.

SpaceX clarified Friday that the company expects the upcoming automated logistics mission will be the last to fly with a newly-manufactured Dragon 1 spacecraft. SpaceX has a contract with NASA for 20 commercial resupply launches through 2019, followed by at least six more Dragon cargo missions through 2024 under a separate follow-on agreement.

NASA has also contracted with Orbital ATK and Sierra Nevada Corp. for the stations cargo needs.

Another iteration of the Dragon spaceship, with a different shape and other significant changes, is under development at SpaceX. NASA confirmed last week that the first unpiloted orbital demonstration flight of the Dragon 2, also known as the Crew Dragon in its human-rated configuration, would slip from late 2017 until at least February 2018.

A second test flight scheduled for June 2018 will carry two astronauts to the space station and back to Earth. NASA and SpaceX intend to have the Crew Dragon ready and certified for regular crew rotations to and from the orbiting research complex by the end of next year.

Meanwhile, a simpler version of the Dragon 2 capsule will also take over SpaceXs cargo delivery duties. Officials have not identified when the resupply runs will switch to the new spacecraft type, but the changeover could happen when SpaceX begins flying missions under its second cargo contract in late 2019 or early 2020, or sooner.

SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk said July 19 that there was little difference between the cost of a new Dragon capsule and the cost to refurbish the Dragon that launched to the space station June 3 and returned to Earth a month later.

The SpaceX internal accounting said that it cost us almost as much as building a Dragon 1 from scratch, but I expect our internal accounting wasnt counting certain things, Musk said at the International Space Station Research and Development Conference in Washington.

The Dragon that flew the last mission to the space station spent 34 days in orbit in 2014. Engineers replaced the ships heat shield and batteries, which were vulnerable to salt water damage when it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.But the hull, thrusters, harnessing, propellant tanks, and some avionics boxes were original, officials said.

This had a lot of rework, Musk said. The next one, we think theres a decent shot of maybe being 50 percent of the cost of a new one.

SpaceX hopes to launch the its next supply ship on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida as soon as Aug. 13 or 14, ahead of an Aug. 17 spacewalk by Russian cosmonauts that will release several small satellites from the space station. The deployments will prevent the Dragon cargo craft from approaching the space station for several days as a safety precaution until station managers have good tracking of the Russian satellites.

Technicians at Cape Canaveral will load more than 7,000 pounds (about 3,300 kilograms) of hardware, crew provisions and experiments into the Dragon spacecraft in the coming weeks, including a NASA-funded instrument to investigate the origins of cosmic rays.

If the SpaceX launch is not off the ground by the middle of August, it could be grounded several days until officials ensure the Russian satellites are well away from the station. Two other launches from Cape Canaveral in the second half of August an Atlas 5 flight set for around Aug. 20 and a Minotaur 4 rocket mission Aug. 25 could complicate SpaceXs scheduling in the event of a delay.

The mid-August launch will be the 12th time SpaceX has sent equipment and experiments to the space station since regular Dragon resupply flights began in October 2012. Counting two Dragon test flights in December 2010 and May 2012, the reused capsule that launched twice, and next months mission, SpaceX built 13 capsules based on the first-generation Dragon design.

After the upcoming cargo flight, SpaceXs next Dragon mission is scheduled for launch in November with a previously-flown capsule.

SpaceX will continue building unpressurized trunk modules for space station deliveries. Those sections, which hold solar panels and carry large external experiment payloads, are disposed at the end of each Dragon mission to burn up in the atmosphere.

Musk confirmed SpaceX will eventually use the Dragon 2 spacecraft for all crew and cargo missions to the space station.

The only thing cargo Dragon wont have is the launch escape system, Musk said, noting that the capsule will still be able to separate from a failing rocket. I think, most likely, even cargo Dragon 2 will be able to survive a booster anomaly. It will have everything the crew Dragon 2 has, except the (abort) thrusters, but I think, in most cases actually, it will be able to survive re-entry and keep the cargo safe.

Dragon 2 being used for both cargo and crew allows us to iterate with just a little more risk on the cargo version and prove it out before theres crew on-board, Musk said.

The SpaceX founder said the next-generation Dragon will not have the capability for propulsive returns to land as originally intended, instead returning to splashdowns at sea.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

Continued here:

Anticipating upgraded spaceships, SpaceX builds final first-generation Dragon cargo craft - Spaceflight Now

Shakira has red hair now: ‘Redheads have more fun’ – Today.com

Posted on by

share

pin

email

Colombian songstress Shakira has made a lot of music inspired by various parts of her body. We know, for example, that her hips don't lie and her strong legs help her run for cover when she needs it.

But the former "Voice" coach has yet to sing about her hair, at least that we can remember. Which is funny, since she seems to love to show it off ... in all the colors of the rainbow!

Shakira, 40, is actually a natural brunette. But we've most often seen her with a honey blond shade we would have sworn she was born with.

For now, though, it appears this "She Wolf" has a new disguise.

"Redheads have more fun," she captioned a photo of herself debuting the new look on Instagram from the set of her upcoming music video. It's a dark, copper-y red that, again, could have fooled us if we didn't know better.

This isn't the first time Shakira has gone the red route. Unlike her new look, the shade she donned on the cover of 2002's "Grandes Exitos" isn't one we've often seen in nature.

She also went through her dark phase ...

Her pink phase ...

And her ... purple wig phase? Hey, sometimes you've got to get these things out of your system.

We can't remember to forget all of Shakira's hair choices through the years. But we can applaud her willingness to experiment!

View original post here:

Shakira has red hair now: 'Redheads have more fun' - Today.com

This is why so many non-ginger guys have red beards – Coventry Telegraph

Posted on by

Ever wondered why so many guys with ginger beards dont actually have any red hair on their heads?

As with pretty much everything that determines the way we look, it's all down to genetics and your family tree.

Basically different pigments in your hair - eumelanin (black) and pheomelanin (red) - determine the colour of your hair.

People with dark hair have black pigment, blondes have less black pigment, and redheads have only red pigments.

Those pigments are controlled by genes, but because the hair on your head is different to the hair on your face, different genes are at play, leading to the possibility of black hair, blond eyebrows and a red beard.

Petra Haak-Bloem, specialist at the Dutch national information centre for genetics and hereditary traits, said: "Generally speaking, people inherit hair colour not only from their parents, but also from their grandparents and earlier ancestors.

"So its entirely possible that one distant ancestor had a hair colour that suddenly appears again though a certain combination of genes - and that can be quite unexpected for parents."

Petra added: More than a decade ago, researchers discovered that one gene (MC1R) on chromosome 16 plays an important part in giving people red hair.

"MC1Rs task is making a protein called melanocortin 1.

"That protein plays an important part in converting pheolmelanin (the red pigment) into eumelanin (black pigment).

When someone inherits two mutated versions of the MC1R-gene (one from each parent), less pheomelanin is converted into eumelanine.

"The pheomelanine accumulates in the pigment cells and the person ends up with red hair and fair skin.

Download our all-new mobile app to get the latest news, sport and what's on.

One quick sync and you can read our content on the move without being online. Get regular news alerts straight to your mobile and keep up with the latest traffic and travel or breaking events as they happen via our daily live blogs.

It's completely customisable to your own specific interests - Download it today by clicking here for iPhone and here for Android

Read more:

This is why so many non-ginger guys have red beards - Coventry Telegraph

Invisible Eyelashes & Eyebrow Insecurities – ChicagoNow (blog)

Posted on by

I've been thinking a lot about makeup recently. I used to be the biggest minimalist there ever was, in the most progressive way: "This is how God made me. Why would I try to change that!?" It somehow was similar to when I was 12, the age my mom finally allowed me to get my ears pierced, and I decided not to because I thought it was body mutilation. (I was an odd kid, who grew into an odd adult. But, spoiler alert: I got my ears pierced at age 18.)

But at the same time, I was very insecure about my blonde eyelashes and eyebrows. My big hair swallowed my face and hid my eyes, and having invisible eye features didn't help.

Yet, I always thought black mascara looked too harsh on me. And brown just looked wrong. I was beyond excited to discover Just for Redheads mascara, and later, Redhead Revolution for their strawberry blonde, red and auburn mascaras.

I began wearing their mascaras and eyebrow makeup relatively regularly.

Yet, lately I've been feeling weird about it. Sometimes I see pictures of myself and think how I look much younger when I'm not wearing eye makeup. I've noticed more fine lines around my eyes lately (oh the perks of having fair, dry skin!), and I fearusing makeup has contributed to that (the mascara flakes, the tugging and pulling when removing makeup, the makeup I was unable to remove and ended up sleeping in.)

Sometimes I look at men with similar features, and I never think "Their eyebrows are invisible! Sucks for them!" Instead I think, that suits them. Maybe it suits me too?

I have a number of friends who are makeup non-believers too. Yet, these friends have dark eyebrows and eyelashes; they don't need makeup to make their features stand out!

It's a strange thing to be insecure about. But I know many redheads, like the sisters who run How to be a Redhead would never leave the house without black mascara.

Still, when I see pictures of beautiful Norwegian and Swedish girls who wear their fair features proudly and sans makeup, I can't help but be mesmerized. I think of the time a very sexy Brazilian man told mehe loved how exotic I looked without makeup. A lesbian friend of mine whose hinted she has a crush on me has criticized me before for wearing makeup, telling me I look more beautiful without it. And I think of the Tilda Swintons of the world, who are so strikingly unique WITHOUT eye makeup.

Sometimes when I see girls wearing black mascara with similar features to me, I can't help but think they just look like they're wearing black mascara, and that they'd have been better off leaving it at home.

I did a quick Google search of redheads without makeup and found a site where men said they thought makeup ruined redheads. Of course, lots of men don't understand thatno-makeup looks often involve gobs of makeup.

A couple of sites even mentioned that redheads are some of the only women who look like two completely different people with and without makeup.

Anyway, I've noticed that oddly enough, lip color helps my eyebrows to stand out more. And I have no problem wearing lipsticks and stains, with the exception of not being able to keep it on!

So I might try to go sans eye makeup for a while and see how it goes. But I'll have to play up my lip game a bit. We'll see how long it lasts for.

What do you think? Should redheads always wear mascara?

Filed under: Beauty, Products, Self-improvement

Tags: beauty, blonde, blonde eyelashes, celebrity, daywalkers, dye jobs, eyebrows, genes, makeup, mascara, redhead, Scandanavia, tilda swinton

View post:

Invisible Eyelashes & Eyebrow Insecurities - ChicagoNow (blog)

Solar Minimum is Coming | Science Mission Directorate

Posted on by

High up in the clear blue noontime sky, the sun appears to be much the same day-in, day-out, year after year.

But astronomers have long known that this is not true. The sun does change. Properly-filtered telescopes reveal a fiery disk often speckled with dark sunspots. Sunspots are strongly magnetized, and they crackle with solar flaresmagnetic explosions that illuminate Earth with flashes of X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation. The sun is a seething mass of activity.

Until its not. Every 11 years or so, sunspots fade away, bringing a period of relative calm.

This is called solar minimum, says Dean Pesnell of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. And its a regular part of the sunspot cycle.

The sun is heading toward solar minimum now. Sunspot counts were relatively high in 2014, and now they are sliding toward a low point expected in 2019-2020.

While intense activity such as sunspots and solar flares subside during solar minimum, that doesnt mean the sun becomes dull. Solar activity simply changes form.

For instance, says Pesnell, during solar minimum we can see the development of long-lived coronal holes.

Coronal holes are vast regions in the suns atmosphere where the suns magnetic field opens up and allows streams of solar particles to escape the sun as the fast solar wind.

Pesnell says We see these holes throughout the solar cycle, but during solar minimum, they can last for a long time - six months or more. Streams of solar wind flowing from coronal holes can cause space weather effects near Earth when they hit Earths magnetic field. These effects can include temporary disturbances of the Earths magnetosphere, called geomagnetic storms, auroras, and disruptions to communications and navigation systems.

During solar minimum, the effects of Earths upper atmosphere on satellites in low Earth orbit changes too.

Normally Earths upper atmosphere is heated and puffed up by ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Satellites in low Earth orbit experience friction as they skim through the outskirts of our atmosphere. This friction creates drag, causing satellites to lose speed over time and eventually fall back to Earth. Drag is a good thing, for space junk; natural and man-made particles floating in orbit around Earth. Drag helps keep low Earth orbit clear of debris.

But during solar minimum, this natural heating mechanism subsides. Earths upper atmosphere cools and, to some degree, can collapse. Without a normal amount of drag, space junk tends to hang around.

There are unique space weather effects that get stronger during solar minimum. For example, the number of galactic cosmic rays that reach Earths upper atmosphere increases during solar minimum. Galactic cosmic rays are high energy particles accelerated toward the solar system by distant supernova explosions and other violent events in the galaxy.

Pesnell says that During solar minimum, the suns magnetic field weakens and provides less shielding from these cosmic rays. This can pose an increased threat to astronauts traveling through space.

Solar minimum brings about many changes to our sun, but less solar activity doesnt make the sun and our space environment any less interesting.

For more news about the changes ahead, stay tuned to science.nasa.gov

Originally posted here:

Solar Minimum is Coming | Science Mission Directorate

News | NASA Completes Study of Future ‘Ice Giant’ Mission …

Posted on by

A NASA-led and NASA-sponsored study of potential future missions to the mysterious "ice giant" planets Uranus and Neptune has been released -- the first in a series of mission studies NASA will conduct in support of the next Planetary Science Decadal Survey. The results of this and future studies will be used as the Decadal Survey deliberates on NASA's planetary science priorities from 2022-2032. The study identifies the scientific questions an ice giant mission should address, and discusses various instruments, spacecraft, flight-paths and technologies that could be used.

"This study argues the importance of exploring at least one of these planets and its entire environment, which includes surprisingly dynamic icy moons, rings and bizarre magnetic fields," said Mark Hofstadter of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, one of the two co-chairs of the science team that produced the report. The European Space Agency (ESA) also participated in the study.

To date, Uranus and Neptune have been visited briefly by one spacecraft, Voyager 2. Voyager rapidly flew by Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989, as part of its grand tour of discovery that previously took it by Jupiter and Saturn.

Said co-chair Amy Simon of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, "We do not know how these planets formed and why they and their moons look the way they do. There are fundamental clues as to how our solar system formed and evolved that can only be found by a detailed study of one, or preferably both, of these planets."

A variety of potential mission concepts are discussed in the study, including orbiters, flybys and probes that would dive into Uranus' atmosphere to study its composition. A narrow-angle camera would send data back to Earth about the ice giants and their moons. Uranus has 27 known moons, while Neptune has 14.

Collectively, Uranus and Neptune are referred to as ice giant planets. In spite of that name, relatively little solid ice is thought to be in them today, but it is believed there is a massive liquid ocean beneath their clouds, which accounts for about two-thirds of their total mass. This makes them fundamentally different from the gas giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn (which are approximately 85 percent gas by mass), and terrestrial planets like Earth or Mars, which are basically 100 percent rock. It's not clear how or where ice giant planets form, why their magnetic fields are strangely oriented, and what drives geologic activity on some of their moons. These mysteries make them scientifically important, and this importance is enhanced by the discovery that many planets around other stars appear to be similar to our own ice giants.

It is now up to the next decadal survey to recommend science priorities for NASA for the next decade. NASA will then determine if and when to fly a mission that is responsive to those priorities.

The full study (529 pages), as well as a short summary are available at:

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/icegiants/mission_study

News Media Contact

2017-171

See the original post here:

News | NASA Completes Study of Future 'Ice Giant' Mission ...

News | ‘Iceball’ Planet Discovered Through Microlensing

Posted on by

Scientists have discovered a new planet with the mass of Earth, orbiting its star at the same distance that we orbit our sun. The planet is likely far too cold to be habitable for life as we know it, however, because its star is so faint. But the discovery adds to scientists' understanding of the types of planetary systems that exist beyond our own.

"This 'iceball' planet is the lowest-mass planet ever found through microlensing," said Yossi Shvartzvald, a NASA postdoctoral fellow based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, and lead author of a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Microlensing is a technique that facilitates the discovery of distant objects by using background stars as flashlights. When a star crosses precisely in front of a bright star in the background, the gravity of the foreground star focuses the light of the background star, making it appear brighter. A planet orbiting the foreground object may cause an additional blip in the star's brightness. In this case, the blip only lasted a few hours. This technique has found the most distant known exoplanets from Earth, and can detect low-mass planets that are substantially farther from their stars than Earth is from our sun.

The newly discovered planet, called OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb, aids scientists in their quest to figure out the distribution of planets in our galaxy. An open question is whether there is a difference in the frequency of planets in the Milky Way's central bulge compared to its disk, the pancake-like region surrounding the bulge. OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb is located in the disk, as are two planets previously detected through microlensing by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

"Although we only have a handful of planetary systems with well-determined distances that are this far outside our solar system, the lack of Spitzer detections in the bulge suggests that planets may be less common toward the center of our galaxy than in the disk," said Geoff Bryden, astronomer at JPL and co-author of the study.

For the new study, researchers were alerted to the initial microlensing event by the ground-based Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) survey, managed by the University of Warsaw in Poland. The planetary signal was recognized in real time by another ground-based survey, the Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics (MOA). Study authors used the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet), operated by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, and Spitzer, to track the event from Earth and space.

KMTNet consists of three wide-field telescopes: one in Chile, one in Australia, and one in South Africa. When scientists from the Spitzer team received the OGLE alert, they realized the potential for a planetary discovery. The microlensing event alert was only a couple of hours before Spitzer's targets for the week were to be finalized, but it made the cut.

With both KMTNet and Spitzer observing the event, scientists had two vantage points from which to study the objects involved, as though two eyes separated by a great distance were viewing it. Having data from these two perspectives allowed them measure the masses of the star and the planet, and the distance to the planetary system.

"We are able to know details about this planet because of the synergy between KMTNet and Spitzer," said Andrew Gould, professor emeritus of astronomy at Ohio State University, Columbus, and study co-author.

Although OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb is about the same mass as Earth, and the same distance from its host star as our planet is from our sun, the similarities may end there.

OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb is nearly 13,000 light-years away and orbits a star so small, scientists aren't sure if it's a star at all. It could be a brown dwarf, a star-like object whose core is not hot enough to generate energy through nuclear fusion. This particular star is only 7.8 percent the mass of our sun, right on the border between being a star and not.

Alternatively, it could be an ultra-cool dwarf star much like TRAPPIST-1, which Spitzer and ground-based telescopes recently revealed to host seven Earth-size planets. Those seven planets all huddle closely around TRAPPIST-1, even closer than Mercury orbits our sun, and they all have potential for liquid water. But OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb, at the sun-Earth distance from a very faint star, would be extremely cold -- likely even colder than Pluto is in our own solar system, such that any surface water would be frozen. A planet would need to orbit much closer to the tiny, faint star to receive enough light to maintain liquid water on its surface.

Ground-based telescopes available today are not able to find smaller planets than this one using the microlensing method. A highly sensitive space telescope would be needed to spot smaller bodies in microlensing events. NASA's upcoming Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), planned for launch in the mid-2020s, will have this capability.

"One of the problems with estimating how many planets like this are out there is that we have reached the lower limit of planet masses that we can currently detect with microlensing," Shvartzvald said. "WFIRST will be able to change that."

JPL manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech in Pasadena, California. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more information about Spitzer, visit:

http://spitzer.caltech.edu

http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer

News Media Contact

2017-123

Read this article:

News | 'Iceball' Planet Discovered Through Microlensing

NASA Parabolic Arc

Posted on by

July 31, 2017July 29, 2017 News Lunar crater testbed. (Credits: NASA/Uland Wong)

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. (NASA PR) Things look different on the Moon. Literally.

Because the Moon isnt big enough to hold a significant atmosphere, there is no air and there are no particles in the air to reflect and scatter sunlight. On Earth, shadows in otherwise bright environments are dimly lit with indirect light from these tiny reflections. That lighting provides enough detail that we get an idea of shapes, holes and other features that could be obstacles to someone or some robot trying to maneuver in shadow.

(more)

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) NASA scientists are excited about the upcoming close flyby of a small asteroid and plan to use its upcoming October close approach to Earth as an opportunity not only for science, but to test NASAs network of observatories and scientists who work with planetary defense.

(more)

WASHINGTON, DC (NASA PR) Through exploration, NASA is broadening horizons, enhancing knowledge, and improving our way of life. Our efforts to explore and discover the universe are increasing in both scope and duration. The Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket in the world, soon will launch the Orion spacecraft and its crew deeper into space than ever before. Expanding humanitys presence farther into the solar system also requires advancements in the development of habitats and the systems to keep astronauts safe as they live and work in deep space for long periods of time.

(more)

HOUSTON (NASA PR) After a six-hour spaceflight, NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos and Paolo Nespoli of ESA (European Space Agency) arrived at the International Space Station at 5:54 p.m. EDT Friday to continue important scientific research in the orbiting laboratory.

(more)

By Douglas Messier Managing Editor

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a modest cut to NASAs budget for fiscal year 2018 (FY 2018) that splits the difference between the cut requested by the Trump Administration and the increase approved by House appropriators.

The $19.53 billion provided is $ below the agencys current budget but above the $19 billion the administration wants to spend. The House Appropriations Committee has approved $19.87 billion for the space agency.

Senate appropriators rejected efforts by the Administration to significantly cut NASAs Earth Science budget and to end the agencys Education program. The House has made an even deeper cut in Earth Science than the administration proposed but also has rejected ending the Education program.

(more)

SYDNEY (Freelance.com PR) Freelancer.com and NASAs Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI), through the NASA Tournament Lab (NTL), have released the latest in a series of challenges to crowdsource solutions for new capabilities for space exploration.

NASA has called on professionals from anywhere in the world to submit entries to three challenges including:

(more)

Boeing would conduct the first orbital test of its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in June 2018 in the latest Commercial Crew Program schedule unveiled by NASA this week.

The automated flight test to the International Space Station (ISS) would be followed by a crewed flight test to ISS in August 2018. If all goes well, CST-100 Starliner would be certified by NASA to carry crews to the orbiting outpost in October 2018.

(more)

Leonardo DiCaprio is teaming with National Geographic for a reboot of Tom Wolfes The Right Stuff.

The cabler is teaming with the actors Appian Way Productions banner and Warner Horizon Scripted Television to develop a scripted adaptation of Tom Wolfes best-seller The Right Stuff, with the goal of having a multiple-season drama series.

Will Staples will pen the script and executive produce the project that is set in 1958 and explores astronauts and their families as they move from the Mojave Desert to the edges of space, tracking their instant celebrity and, at some point in subsequent seasons, the moon landing.

DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson of Appian Way will exec produce alongside Staples and Michael Hampton, who shepherded the drama. The potential series will use Wolfes book as a starting point.

Read the full story.

For all the latest space news, please follow Parabolic Arc on Twitter.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies today approved a $53.4 billion spending bill that includes a decrease in NASAs budget.

The $19.5 billion budget for the space agency is $124 million below the FY2017 enacted level and $437 million above the amount requested by the Trump Administration. Earlier this month, the House Appropriations Committee approved $19.88 billion for NASA.

(more)

SpaceX plans to conduct an automated flight test of its Dragon 2 crew spacecraft to the International Space Station in February 2018 , followed by a similar test with a crew four months later in June

That is the latest schedule presented to the NASA Advisory Council this week by agency officials. If the schedule holds and the tests go well, the Dragon 2 will be certified to carry astronauts to the station in September of next year.

In addition to the two flight tests, SpaceX will need to validate Dragon 2s propulsion module, certify the parachute system, and conduct an in-flight abort test before it receives certification for the vehicle.

(more)

My recent report on NASA decision not to release a public summary of its investigation into the Falcon 9 failure that destroyed a Dragon cargo ship has attracted some attention on various other websites. Ive gotten some criticism there and also here for not understanding that the results of NASAs investigations on commercial crew are confidential.

Fair enough. However, I was never told this by NASA in my multiple communications with the agency when I inquired about the summary last fall. In fact, they represented exactly the opposite.

Just so there is no confusion on this point, Im reproducing the email responses I received from NASA when I inquired about this issue last fall as well as the one I received earlier in July.

(more)

The sharp eye of NASAs Hubble Space Telescope has captured the tiny moon Phobos during its orbital trek around Mars. Because the moon is so small, it appears star-like in the Hubble pictures.

GREENBELT, Md. (NASA PR) Over the course of 22 minutes, Hubble took 13 separate exposures, allowing astronomers to create a time-lapse video showing the diminutive moons orbital path. The Hubble observations were intended to photograph Mars, and the moons cameo appearance was a bonus.

(more)

HOUSTON (NanoRacks PR) The NanoRacks Airlock Module design continues to mature as NASAs Johnson Space Center successfully ran testing on a NASA-built full-scale mockup of the Airlock in their Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL).

The tests confirmed that spacewalking astronauts will be able to successfully maneuver around the Airlock structure and mounted external payloads. Astronauts will be able to do this with the assistance of handrails, which have been strategically placed by the NanoRacks design team.

(more)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., July 20, 2017 (Lockheed Martin PR) Refurbishing a shuttle-era cargo container used to transfer cargo to the International Space Station, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is prototyping a deep space habitat for NASA at Kennedy Space Center. This prototype will integrate evolving technologies to keep astronauts safe while onboard and operate the spacecraft autonomously when unoccupied.

(more)

During an appearance at the International Space Station Research & Development Conference on Wednesday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said plans for propulsive crew Dragon landings and Red Dragon missions to Mars had been scrapped, downplayed the probability that the first Falcon Heavy launch will succeed, and even had a good word to say about the moon.

Here are notes from the talk.

State of Space Exploration

(more)

See the rest here:

NASA Parabolic Arc

NASA will test its planetary defense network on approaching asteroid – New Atlas

Posted on by

NASAis using the approach of asteroid 2012 TC4 to test its detection and tracking systems for Near-Earth Objects (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Whether a potential asteroid strike is a Chelyabinsk chaos-causer or a Cretaceous world-ender, it's definitely an advantage to have some forewarning. NASA has been working towards that goal for years, establishing the Planetary Defense Coordination Office to detect and track potentially hazardous space rocks and coordinate response plans with the US government if an impact threat arises. Now, NASA will test out its detection equipment on a known asteroid that's due to buzz Earth in October.

This won't be asteroid 2012 TC4's first visit: it was discovered in 2012 when it whipped past at about a quarter of the distance between Earth and the Moon. Soon after, it vanished into the inky darkness of space, too small and faint to be detected again in the years since. But for the week or so that it was visible, its orbit was plotted out, telling us that TC4 will swing by again on October 12, 2017.

UPGRADE TO NEW ATLAS PLUS

More than 1,500 New Atlas Plus subscribers directly support our journalism, and get access to our premium ad-free site and email newsletter. Join them for just US$19 a year.

The data isn't complete though, and astronomers can't be sure of its exact path, only knowing it will brush past within 4,200 to 170,000 miles (6,760 to 274,000 km) of Earth. While NASA stresses that the asteroid will not collide with the Earth, narrowing that window is important and serves as a great learning opportunity and test run for the entire international network.

"This is the perfect target for such an exercise because while we know the orbit of 2012 TC4 well enough to be absolutely certain it will not impact Earth, we haven't established its exact path just yet," said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). "It will be incumbent upon the observatories to get a fix on the asteroid as it approaches, and work together to obtain follow-up observations than make more refined asteroid orbit determinations possible."

As the asteroid approaches Earth over the next few months, astronomers will detect it with large telescopes and take more precise measurements of its path. This task will give the whole system a solid workout before any actual hazards are found hurtling towards us.

"This is a team effort that involves more than a dozen observatories, universities and labs across the globe so we can collectively learn the strengths and limitations of our near-Earth object observation capabilities," says Vishnu Reddy, leader of the 2012 TC4 observation campaign. "This effort will exercise the entire system, to include the initial and follow-up observations, precise orbit determination, and international communications."

TC4 measures between 30 and 100 ft (9 and 30 m) wide, meaning it's roughly the same size or larger than the 66-ft (20-m) Chelyabinsk meteor that caused widespread damage and injury in 2013. That event highlighted how vital it is to spot any potentially hazardous objects early enough to intervene and NASA is currently working on how we might deflect such a threat.

Source: JPL

Excerpt from:

NASA will test its planetary defense network on approaching asteroid - New Atlas

Wisconsin cork company helping with NASA project | The … – Sacramento Bee

Posted on by

fox6now.com
Wisconsin cork company helping with NASA project | The ...
Sacramento Bee
A southeastern Wisconsin cork company is among more than a dozen manufactures in the state that are working on a NASA venture into space.
Wisconsin cork company helping with NASA projectfox6now.com

all 3 news articles »

Read more here:

Wisconsin cork company helping with NASA project | The ... - Sacramento Bee

Ex-NASA agent fears gold lunar module will be melted down – ABC News

Posted on by

Whoever broke into an Ohio museum and stole a solid-gold replica of the Apollo 11 lunar module likely intends to melt it down for the value of the gold instead of trying to sell what could be a collectible worth millions of dollars, said a retired NASA agent who has helped recover stolen moon rocks worth millions of dollars.

The 5-inch (12.7-centimeter) replica was discovered stolen after an alarm sounded just before midnight Friday at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, the boyhood home of astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon in July 1969.

Replicas made by the French jeweler Cartier were presented to Armstrong and fellow Apollo 11 space voyagers Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins in Paris shortly after they returned to Earth.

The NASA agent, Joseph Gutheinz Jr., noted the thief or thieves left behind a moon rock from the Apollo 11 mission that's much larger than other rocks given away or loaned to museums or foreign countries that could easily be smuggled out of the country, where a geologist could verity its authenticity. He said it would be worth millions of dollars to a collector into space items.

"Either they didn't have easy access to the moon rock, or they weren't into collectibles," Gutheinz said Sunday. "They were into turning a quick buck."

Gutheinz ran an undercover sting operation in 1998 that led to the recovery of a moon rock from the Apollo 17 mission originally given to the Honduran government. The seller offered the rock to Gutheinz for $5 million. Now an attorney in Texas, he more recently has led a group of criminal justice students from the University Phoenix in a project that has identified 79 missing lunar samples and rocks from the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 missions.

A lunar collection bag Armstrong carried on the moon sold for $1.8 million, a value enhanced by tiny amounts of moon dust engrained in the bag, at an auction of space items earlier this month at Sotheby's in New York.

It will be difficult to catch the thief if the replica is melted down, which Gutheinz said would be a "damn shame." It's unclear how much gold the replica contains.

The FBI and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation are assisting Wapakoneta police in the theft investigation. Police have said they aren't able to place a value on the replica lunar module. No updates on the investigation have been released and authorities haven't said whether there were surveillance cameras in or around the museum that might have recorded the theft.

Armstrong died in 2012 at the age of 82.

See the article here:

Ex-NASA agent fears gold lunar module will be melted down - ABC News

A New Report Shows NASA Can’t Afford to Send People to Mars … – Complex

Posted on by

It doesnt look like NASA is doing too well. Recent Congressional reports suggest that NASA has no idea how to get to Mars or anywhere else for that matter.

On July 15, NASA announced it was one step closer to achieving its Mars 2020 mission after passing a major milestone, according to Space News. The mission is set to send a rover to the red planet in mid-2020 for a February 2021 landing. The Mars 2020 rover is the first step in a potential multi-mission campaign to return carefully selected and sealed samples of Martian rocks and soil to Earth, said Geoff Yoder, NASAs acting associate administrator for science, in a statement.

However, NASA was grilled on its Mars 2020 mission at a Congressional hearing on July 20. Congressmen wanted to know why the mission will be so expensivecurrent estimates put the bill at $2.1 billion plus another $300 million to keep the operation running for one year on Mars. That is $900 million more than NASAs original estimate, and they are only 70 percent sure that that amount of money is enough for the mission. As if that wasnt enough, the Mars 2020 Rover is behind schedule, putting its carefully calculated launch window in jeopardy, according to the Government Accountability Office.

In addition, a new review by the Planetary Society claims that NASA does not have the funds to send the rovers it currently has on Mars back to Earth. It seems clear from this analysis that NASA is barely keeping the Mars Exploration Program on life support, the review stated.

Just last week, NASA unveiled a new Mars rover at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. But the rover - which weighs 5,500 pounds and is is almost 24 feet long and 14 feet tall - was never built with the intention of going to Mars. Instead, its a kind of PR stunt that aims to strike curiosity in the minds of the young children who will come to see it. If we get a single scientist out of this effort, it will have been worth it, Therrin Protze, chief operating officer of the visitor center, told BuzzFeed News. You are basically looking at a concept vehicle that is intended to be inspiring to future generations.

Last week, on July 19, Elon Musk, who is funding his own project to send humans to Mars, spoke at the International Space Station and even he seemed to understand that the trip to Mars will take longer than many might hope. He said that if you want to get the public fired up, you've got to put a base on the moon," adding that it would be the "continuance to the dream" of the Apollo missions, according to CNBC.

These reports come just as Trump has revived the National Space Council, which, is a panel meant to coordinate U.S. scientific, military, and commercial space plans, handing the job to Vice President Mike Pence, according to BuzzFeed News. That was the same ceremony that had astronaut Buzz Aldrin looking super uncomfortable as he sat next to Trump when a joke about infinity and beyond flew right over the Presidents head.

Although NASA and their programs are certainly exciting and important for the U.S., it seems things are looking a bit messy on their end right now. Heres to hoping they get it together sometime soon.

Originally posted here:

A New Report Shows NASA Can't Afford to Send People to Mars ... - Complex

North Dakota students work with NASA to improve 3D printing – Sacramento Bee

Posted on by
North Dakota students work with NASA to improve 3D printing
Sacramento Bee
Students at North Dakota State University in Fargo are working with NASA scientists to develop a better technique for 3D printing in space exploration. The 11 students working with a NASA field center in California called Jet Propulsion Laboratory ...

and more »

The rest is here:

North Dakota students work with NASA to improve 3D printing - Sacramento Bee

Israel’s vital contributions to nanotechnology – ISRAEL21c

Posted on by

Yeshayahu Talmon is a chemical engineer and former director of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI) at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa. A frequent spokesman for the industry, he answers even laymens questions patiently and lucidly, and offers positive news about Israel as a nucleus for nanoscience.

Some basics about nanotechnology

Nanoscience is the science of everything that happens on that very small scale. Now, technology is being developed to take that science and apply it, says Talmon.

One example of applications we are working with at the Russell Berrie Nanotech Institute is carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes are only one to two nanometers thick, but the single particle is extremely strong. And in some forms, they are very good electrical conductors, and they are lightweight . . . so in principle they could be the material of the future.

However, in most cases, we cannot use them as single nanoparticles, so somehow we have to spin fibers out of them, and this is a challenge. (Sometimes, although it all works very well on a basic scientific level, when you try to make it into a process, things become more complicated.)

Another example of how the technology is applied is graphene sheets. Graphite, of course, is what you have in your pencil. However, when graphite is dispersed into single layers of carbon atoms, it has mechanical and electrical properties that can be used to make interesting coatings, like for touch screens, for instance.

All touch screens now have some kind of conductors in them, and by using graphene, you can potentially make better, cheaper, longer-lasting coatings.

In 2010, the Nobel Prize in Physics was given to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, two scientists working on graphene, so this field suddenly became even more exciting than before.

There is also a very important interface between medicine and the nanosciences, starting with intelligent, sophisticated sensors, all the way to drug delivery.

At the Technion, we try to bring people from our faculty of medicine together with people from engineering and the basic sciences, in some cases to advise graduate students jointly, and to work on a medical or biological problem where scientists and engineers can help. Collaborations among the various scientific disciplines are crucial here.

Yeshayahu Talmon. Photo by Miki Koren, courtesy Technion-Israel Institute of Technology

The Technions Role in Nanotechnology

Israel joined the nano community early on. And the Technion formed the nanotechnology center in 2005, two years before anybody else here. I played a part in its formation, but the effort was primarily led by Professor Uri Sivan of the physics department, who was the first director of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute. (I took over in 2010.)

In a way, it was a pioneering effort not only for the Technion, but for the entire country, because it formed a model on which all the other institutes were formed, not so much in the structure, but much more in the emphasis and in the way they are supported.

We have recruited many new faculty members at the RBNI; each of them is excellent. Many of them spent a good number of years in the United States or in other places, but most are originally Israeli.

There is a lot of talk about bringing back Israelis from abroad. Weve had to lure them from places like Boston University, Stanford, UCLA its competitive. And then, when theyve made the decision to come to Israel, we have to compete with the other Israeli universities: the Weizmann Institute, the Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, and so on.

Our government is trying to reverse the brain drain that we have experienced most acutely in the sciences, of course, because these are the people who are most sought-after by institutions outside Israel.

But there is a kind of snowball effect although we scientists prefer to call it a nucleation process! Once you form a nucleus, it grows and attracts more material to form a crystal. Good researchers are attracted to a good nucleus.

Further Resources: Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative>

Tel-Aviv University Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology>

Weizmann Institute of Science>

Lin Arison & Diana C. Stoll are the creatorsofThe Desert and the Cities Sing: Discovering Todays Israel, a treasure box that highlights Israels creative achievement and innovation.

Continue reading here:

Israel's vital contributions to nanotechnology - ISRAEL21c

NYIT Engineering Professor Is Part of Team Developing Technology … – Newswise (press release)

Posted on by

Newswise Fang Li, Ph.D., assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at NYIT, is partnering with X-wave Innovations, Inc. (XII), a research and development firm specializing in the defense, homeland security, transportation, and energy fields, to develop an embedded sensor system for NASA that is capable of measuring temperature, pressure, and strain on various rocket propulsion engine components.

This technology is being developed as part of a project funded by a $125,000 NASA Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I grant jointly awarded to Professor Li and XII, based in Gaithersburg, Md. In this 12-month Phase I project, Li and XII will prototype an embedded sensor system and demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed technique for passive, wireless, multi-parameter high temperature measurements. NASA needs embedded sensor systems with wireless data communication capabilities for applications including ground testing, flight testing, and in-service monitoring. This embedded sensor system will provide a highly flexible instrumentation solution to monitor remote or inaccessible measurement locations for NASA's rocket propulsion test facilities.

This project is a hybrid product of passive Surface Acoustic Wave Radio Frequency Identification (SAW- RFID) technology and high-temperature piezoelectric materials and devices. Li, who joined NYIT School of Engineering and Computing Sciences in 2012, brings expertise in high-temperature piezoelectric materials and SAW sensors to this effort. XII brings expertise in SAW-RFID technology and system integration, and a commercialization strategy to transition the developed technology into NASA programs and the commercial sector.

According to Li, cost-effective and reliable assessment of the health of propulsion engine components in harsh, high-temperature environments is challenging for conventional sensors. This sensor system she is developing with her students consists of sensor tags and a RF interrogation system. The sensor tags are embedded in measured components, powered by an incident RF signal which requires no power supply or external circuits. Being passive, they are able to work in harsh environments that would destroy conventional electronics. The RF interrogation system remotely collects data from multiple sensors and converts data into values of temperature, pressure, and strain. The maintenance free sensor system can operate for long periods, providing valuable data about the structural health and operation conditions of the engine components, Li said.

Li, together with two NYIT Mechanical Engineering graduate students, will model, design, and develop passive SAW sensors for temperature, strain and pressure measurements. Sensors are being fabricated on the NYIT-Old Westbury campus, in its class 10,000 clean room, the first of its kind in Nassau County. NYIT's clean room, part of the schools materials science and nanotechnology lab, houses a sputtering machine and microscopy tools that allow researchers to nano-engineer unique composite materials and create microchips, sensors, and implantable and wearable medical devices.

Our mission is to provide high quality education and support faculty research and student learning in high-tech focus areas, said Nada Marie Anid, Ph.D., dean, NYIT School of Engineering and Computing Sciences. This prestigious NASA grant is a perfect example of collaboration between our faculty and industry on important technological advances. It offers a tremendous growth opportunity for both Professor Li and her students in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Earlier this year, NASA announced its selection of 399 research and technology proposals from 277 American small businesses and 44 research institutions that will enable NASA's future missions into deep space, and advancements in aviation and science, while also benefiting the U.S. economy. Selected proposals will support the development of technologies in the areas of aeronautics, science, human exploration and operations, and space technology.

For the Phase I program, Li and XII will prototype an embedded sensor system. Phase I results will provide initial validation that the proposed technology can provide the required measurements. With a successful completion of Phase I, the program is very promising to get into Phase II, in which Li, her students, and XII will build the SAW-RFID system and demonstrate its capability to measure temperature, pressure, and strain in harsh environments.

About NYIT

NYIT (New York Institute of Technology) offers 90 degree programs, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees, in more than 50 fields of study, including architecture and design; arts and sciences; education; engineering and computing sciences; health professions; management; and osteopathic medicine. A non-profit independent, private institution of higher education, NYIT has 10,000 students in programs and campuses in New York (Manhattan and Old Westbury, Long Island) and Arkansas as well as China, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates. NYIT sponsors 13 NCAA Division II programs.

NYIT is guided by its mission to provide career-oriented professional education, offer access to opportunity to all qualified students, and support applications-oriented research that benefits the larger world. More than 100,000 graduates have received degrees from NYIT. For more information, visit nyit.edu.

Media Contact:

Elizabeth Sullivan Director, Media Relations libbys@nyit.edu

Link:

NYIT Engineering Professor Is Part of Team Developing Technology ... - Newswise (press release)

AACC Launches AACC Middle East in Abu Dhabi – Newswise (press release)

Posted on by

Newswise SAN DIEGO AACC announced today that it will launch a new laboratory medicine conference and expedition next spring AACC Middle East. AACC Middle East will showcase AACCs globally-renowned education and scientific programs paired with a dynamic exposition in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), March 22-24, 2018.

With this new event, a partnership between AACC and Al Borg Medical Laboratories, AACC continues its strategy to provide gold standard, actionable information about the latest in clinical testing to a global audience -- advancing patient care and improving health outcomes worldwide.

The program and exposition floor of AACC Middle East will feature the latest breakthroughs in every area of clinical testing, including mobile health, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, next generation sequencing, point of care, and automation. The scientific program will feature experts from the U.S. and the Middle East, sharing knowledge and innovation. Attendees will meet and network with experts in the field, and engage with their peers during the scientific program highlighting recent advances in laboratory medicine.

"Healthcare is increasingly global and interconnected," said AACC CEO Janet B. Kreizman. "The AACC leadership is excited to bring forward this new opportunity for laboratory experts from a range of healthcare settings to learn about the latest innovations in clinical testing and engage with like-minded professionals from the Middle East and nearby regions. We expect that all the major players in the IVD industry will want to be a part of this groundbreaking event.

About AACC Middle East

AACC Middle East offers 3 days packed with opportunities to connect with global leaders in clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, translational medicine, lab management, and other areas of breaking science in laboratory medicine. The meeting will occur from March 22-24, 2018, at Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

About AACC

Dedicated to achieving better health through laboratory medicine, AACC brings together more than 50,000 clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, research scientists, and business leaders from around the world focused on clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, translational medicine, lab management, and other areas of progressing laboratory science. Since 1948, AACC has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing programs that advance scientific collaboration, knowledge, expertise, and innovation. For more information, visit http://www.aacc.org.

More here:

AACC Launches AACC Middle East in Abu Dhabi - Newswise (press release)

Social Media Marketing: Incredibly Dynamic Field – 38632 Unofficial

Posted on by

Social media marketing or SMM, as it is commonly referred to, is a powerful way to conveniently create new leads and powerfully enhance your overall ROI. However, it could be quite difficult to wrap your head around a comprehensive strategy, mainly because there is seemingly a tremendous amount of them.

Being able to see through what works and what not isnt something that you ought to be capable of. The truth is that in this field, its a lot of trying and a lot mistakes until you find the right path. This is what you need to consider. With this in mind, below you will find a few things to take into account when it comes to SMM.

Do Not Ignore Snapchat

Snapchat is a tremendous, 100-million user infinity pool of potential customers. Over 10 billion snaps are send every single day. This is something that you are obligated to capitalize on if you want to actively reach out to your customer base. By establishing your personalized Snap stories as well as convenient geo filters, you will be more capable of tapping into this tremendously infinite audience.

A comprehensive Geo filter is going to cost you as little as $5. This is a perfectly engaging and interactive tool to reach out to your audience and it is relatively cheap.

Snap stories, on the other hand, would allow you to show photos as well as videos who are following you on your social platform. Its as easy as that.

Targeted Audiences on Facebook

We truly wanted to save the best for last but it cant really wait. Facebook, for obvious reasons, is your go-to social media marketing platform. With billions of active users and a tremendously long average time spent on a per-day basis, its no wonder that this is the platform that the majority of people are actively willing to advertise on. Every corporation is present on Facebook and thats for a good reason.

Now, Facebook has introduced the so called Ad Manager tool which is going to be particularly helpful, provided you take proper advantage of it. It is going to enable you to create specifically targeted audiences based on criteria that you input. This is the beauty of it as it would allow you to easily navigate your campaign as well as to control its budget.

Furthermore, there is the Facebooks Life Events feature which is going to enable you to let people know about a significant change in your life by adding it conveniently to your timeline. So, for instance, if you want to capitalize on your current business, putting a status about it is a good idea. You can do so when you reach corporate milestones, release new product lines and others of the kind.

What is more, you can also target different people based on a variety of interesting factors, including recent behavior, relationship status, education level, interests, estimated income and a whole lot more. If you use these types of filters, youd be able to comprehensively narrow down your overall audience to those who are actually interested in what you have to offer. Not only will this increase your overall ROI but it would proactively reduce the costs associated with your Facebook advertising.

Using Customized Hashtags

The intended use of hashtags is to enable people to find content based on different sets of categories. However, customized hashtags could be a very powerful way to get people interested in what you have to offer. What is more, it could be a trendy way of encouraging them to actively share your content. The best thing is that you can easily use the same hashtag throughout a range of different social media platforms.

Let us give you a quick example. Back in 2015, Marvel created an interesting, Halloween-themed hashtag called #MarvelHalloween. Hundreds of people started using this hashtag during Halloween alongside their own pictures in costumes of Marvel heroes. Not only is this a tremendous amount of absolutely free and high-value advertising for Marvel, but its also a particularly effective way to foster serious consumer engagement.

Google Posts

Even though this is something that we waited for quite a lot of time, Google Posts is already available for smaller companies. Their content is going to appear on the maps results and in the Google Search. This is actually huge when it comes to it.

Small businesses that use the GMB platform (Google My Business) would benefit significantly. You would be given the chance to write a text, add an event title or upload an image when you write your post. This is something quite interactive.

Now, its obvious that social media marketing in all of its beauty can foster serious results. However, most of them would require serious investment until they can reach the point of automation and organic growth without any further cash flow.

This is something that not all small business owners can afford. There is a cost-effective yet lengthier process which would enable you to achieve serious organic outreach and engage people who are actively looking for you and what you have to offer. Comprehensive SEO is by far the most effective manner of increasing your traffic and customer base without constantly funneling money towards it. Sure, there is a serious investment at first but once you get the results, all you have to do is sustain them and this is far cheaper than active SMM. Of course, the latter should be carried out systematically and in parallel and it could seriously complement your overall results. However, prioritizing the most effective option should be your go-to choice.

Relying on a professional is completely out of the question as there is no other way to achieve anything. DIY try-hard attempts are ineffective or they will take a tremendous amount of time, wasted resources and effort that you could have spent better on something else keep this in mind.

See the rest here:

Social Media Marketing: Incredibly Dynamic Field - 38632 Unofficial

UIW’s New School of Osteopathic Medicine Emphasizes Social Accountability – Rivard Report

Posted on by

Health & Wellness By Roseanna Garza | 10 hours ago

Scott Ball / Rivard Report

Maria Ahmad embraces her aunt Dr. Asma Ahmad following the presentation of her white coat during the ceremony.

Updated 10 hours ago

On Monday, 162 first-year medical students filed into theUniversity of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine with hopes of being part of its first graduating class.They received their white coats Sunday in a traditional rite-of-passage ceremony welcoming them into the medical profession that takes a holistic approach,helping people gain a deeper understanding of how lifestyle and environment impact health, rather than just treating symptoms.

It is vitally important that you become active in our vibrant society so that you will be able to chart the course of healthcare in your future,said Dr. Adam Ratner, vice president of the Bexar County Medical Society, welcoming new students to the family of physicians during the white coat ceremony Sunday.Its up to you [to] be ready to do whatever it takes to become the most caring, effective, and happy physicians that you can be.

The osteopathic medical school is located in District 3 on San Antonios Southside, where the population has the highest risk for health complications.

Scott Ball / Rivard Report

Director of Health and Research Dr. Anil Mangla.

Dr. Anil Mangla, director of public health and research at thenew school, toldtheRivard Reportthat the new schools purpose is to make a difference in the community.

Our first priority is public health, and we have clearly identified that [District 3] has a high amount of disparities, Mangla said. We plan to really try to make a significant difference in the disparity of health outcomes in South San Antonio.

Student doctors will be set up with families in District 3 as part of the universitys adopt-a-medical student campaign, where physicians work with patients and families on an ongoing basis to address social, cultural, biological, and environmental factors that contribute to wellness.

Instead of treating a disease, osteopathic medicine aims to delve deeper, looking into family culture, background, living circumstances, and work to set the patient up for health through education and behavior change.

Many are drawn to the field for this more personal, hands-on approach and its emphasis on community medicine and preventive care. There are pragmatic reasons as well. Medical schools are failing to keep pace with the patient population, and competition for careers in medicine is growing. More students see osteopathy as a sensible alternative to conventional medical school, a way to get a medical education with MCAT scores that may not make the cut for traditional medical schools.

According to the AmericanAssociationof Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine,students enteringosteopathic schools in 2015 scored, on average, 27, compared to 31 forM.D. matriculants.

Many osteopathic schools have an added mission: to dispatch doctors to poorer neighborhoods and towns most in need of medical care.

Mangla said that a main educational focus for the school is on community, social, and health engagement. Through integrated curriculum, students will be assigned families and exposed to cases immediately. They will learn to evaluate what a disease is, but also how to address social determinants of health along with implementing biomedical science to improve patient outcomes one of the cornerstones of osteopathic medicine.

Texas ranks 47th in the country when it comes to the number of physicians per population, and San Antonio is continuing to grow rapidly with no signs of slowing down. According to Mangla, the number of graduates that are being produced by Texas medical schools is not effective for the [community] demand.

There is a shortage of primary care physicians and family physicians in Texas, especially in South Texas. Primary care and family physicians often work long, grueling hours, compared to their counterparts who choose a more lucrative, and often less time-consuming, path toward a medical specialization.

I think the greater community will be excited when they see what we are doing, and by the quality of the first 162 students we graduate. Were already getting so many applications and were very enthused by that, said Dr. Blandine Bustamante Helfrich, vice-chair of clinical and applied science educationat the school. [Family practice] is really where the need is in this country right now, and since that is our focus I think that will fuel growth for the future.

Allison Ogle is part of the medical schools inaugural class. She told theRivard Reportthat even without a medical specialization, a doctors salary is still more money than [she] has ever seen.

I think being a physician is a very comfortable living no matter where you are, Ogle said. So I would rather be somewhere where there is need rather than being somewhere just to make money.

The school received more than 3,000 applications and completed 700 interviews. Admission officials looked for candidates who were interested in community and population health with plans to go into family practice. Seventy-five percent of the current student population are Texas residents, which Mangla explained was because the school want[s] people to graduate and stay here.

Twenty-three percent of the students accepted were from Bexar County.

Ogle, who is from Boerne, said that her decision to pursue osteopathic medicine was because of its focus on the patient-doctor relationship, where much of the work involves longitudinal time spent with the patient, with an emphasis on the relationship and treating people like they are human.

Osteopathic medicine, for me, is looking at the person as a whole, not just prescribing medicine and getting people out of the office, Ogle said.

It can be difficult for doctors who are in good health and financial standing to connect to and build empathy for the social determinants of health that may contribute to a patients chronic illness, Ogle said. You look at a population like San Antonio and say these people are plagued by diabetes and the attitude here is toward [preventing] people from becoming victim to a disease.

Ogle believes the holistic approach of osteopathic medicine makes for more compassionate doctors.

Mangla told the Rivard Report that in Texas, the rate of individuals diagnosed with diabetes per 100,000 is 23.4%. In Bexar County that number increases to 26.8%. In District 3, the number of individuals diagnosed with diabetes is a staggering 67.8%.

The same pattern continues when addressing diabetic amputations. In Texas, the rate is 30.8%. In Bexar County it is 42.3%. In District 3 the rate is 45%, which Mangla describes as a significant difference.

Lauren Hatherall, a student from San Antonio, told theRivard Reportthat she was drawn to the university because of its mission to serve the community.

[I am] here to serve the underprivileged, and that is a mindset that I share with my classmates, Hatherall said.

Scott Ball / Rivard Report

The inaugural class of the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program at the University of the Incarnate Word.

As part of their orientation week, the student doctors visited Haven for Hope to complete service projects throughout the campus, which included folding and tagging clothes for sale, painting, and organizing games of bingo for the residents. Hatherall described the experience as both powerful and humbling, and something that got her excited to serve these groups of people.

At the end of the four-year medical program, graduates will receive a Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.) degree, which differs fromallopathic medicine (M.D.) due to a focus on holistic wellness,and the interrelationship of the various systems of the body to maintain health, and to prevent illness and disease.

Osteopathic physicians also receive additional training in the musculoskeletal system, the bodys interconnected system of nerves, muscles, and bones, and perform osteopathic manipulative treatment using their hands to treat muscles and joints to relieve pain, promote healing, and increase overall mobility.

Osteopathic skills were first introduced by a 19th-century frontier physician, Andrew Taylor Still, who opposed the overuse of arsenic, castor oil, opium and elixirs and believed that many diseases had roots in a distressed musculoskeletal system that could be treated hands on.

Some critics regard the techniques as pseudoscience, though the medical establishment has come to accept the approach. Osteopathic schools offer the same academic subjects as traditional medical schools and the same two years of clinical rotations.

In 1980, there were just 14 schools across the country and 4,940 students. There are now 33accredited osteopathic medical schools offering education in 48 locations across the United States.

Today, osteopathic schools turn out about 22% of the nations medical school graduates.

Scott Ball / Rivard Report

A student carries her white coat as she arrives to the ceremony.

The school of osteopathic medicine was on of three universities in Texas to receive a Hogg Foundation for Mental Health grant to develop a program that works to address social determinants of health. Mangla will be the principle investigator for the $407,000 award, and will work to train medical students and other helping professionals such as counselors and teachers who may refer families or individual patients to the school for services.

Another focus will be on reducing the stigma around mental health through appropriate education for both the medical professionals and the patients about the effects that poor mental health can have on physical well-being, Mangla said.

This has been one of the best opportunities Ive had, Mangla said. I have the ability to bring up this new generation of physicians who will think very different. We cant teach an old dog new tricks, but we can teach these learners how to implement correct ways of practicing medicine.

Tom Bugg contributed to this report.

Roseanna is a native San Antonian who has spent the last 10 years working in community mental health. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature and composition and a master's degree in clinical mental health counseling. She joined the Rivard Report as community public health reporter in May 2017.

View original post here:

UIW's New School of Osteopathic Medicine Emphasizes Social Accountability - Rivard Report