IN OUR EARS: Songs We Loved This Week – Baeble Music (blog)

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Subscribe to Baeble's IN OUR EARS Spotify Playlist for new songs every week. KIRSTEN'S PICKS

Kevin Morby - "I Have Been To The Mountain"

I'm a little late on this one but damn, I think I just turned into one of the biggest Kevin Morby fans ever, thanks to a fellow Baeble intern Okay, I'm not the biggest fan ever, but I do have to say that he makes some of the most enjoyable music I've listened to in a while. "I Have Been To The Mountain," off of Morby's 2016 album Singing Saw, is about finding that spiritual enlightenment we all wish for. The mountain he's singing about symbolizes a place of happiness, potentially a higher being. However, the hopefulness doesn't end with the lyrics -- the frantic strum of the bright acoustic guitar combined with the warm electric, the gospel choir, and uplifting melody all make for a very feel-good listen.

Vince Staples - "Love Can Be"

Vince Staples just dropped Big Fish Theory last week, which we've been covering extensively, and this immediately stood out as one of my favorite tracks upon first listen. His experimentation with dance beats is ambitious and it works so well. I'm not the biggest rap head, but give me something I can dance to in addition to a good verse and I will be very content.

St. Vincent - "New York"

My girl is back -- and with a song about my favorite place in the whole world! It's pretty ballsy for Annie Clark to lead her new album with a quiet breakup ballad, but we'd expect nothing less from her. She's never been a predictable one.

GUS' PICKS

Can - "Halleluwah"

It's disgusting how in the groove they are right off the bat. One of the best aspects of krautrock is the lack of limitationif a group wants to draw something out, feel free! While this is not for everyone, I think it's amazing and this 18:31 is exactly why. Like many Can songs, "Halleluwah" is a long, strange journey, ripe with the dirtiest rhythms.

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - "Thuggin'"

Freddie Gibbs recently did an Over/Under with Pitchfork, which was awesome. The Gary, Indiana gangster rapper made an album with Madlib a few years ago, which was excellent, because anything Madlib produces is going to sound good. "Thuggin'" is a particularly exceptional beat, the source of which (Debbie Taylor's "Never Gonna Let Him Know") Madlib puts at the end of the track, which is really cool to hear. Shout out Debbie Taylor!

Vince Staples - "SAMO"

"SAMO" was a bright spot on a really good new album by Vince Staples, Big Fish Theory. The drawl of the chorus, which features A$AP Rocky, is infectious. Despite being a fairly slow song, the bass is so deep that "SAMO" feels almost heavy. The song isn't terribly complex, but it's really cool which is all you want sometimes.

PETER'S PICKS

Vince Staples - "Yeah Right"

Kind of a unanimous decision on this track being the best from his new album. [Ed's Note: Almost every staffer chose a different song off this album this week.] Flume's production with Vince's bars and a guest appearance by Kendrick Lamar can't disappoint.

Built To Spill - "Else"

Feeling a lil contemplative today, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. A cool rhythm section and introspective lyrics make for a solid 4 minutes.

The Knife - "Full Of Fire"

I revisited this dance track from 2014 the other day, and, as visceral and instinctive as it sounds, it's time-switching percussion establishes a low-key banger. I can't get it out of my head.

JAKE'S PICKS

Jimi Hendrix - "Little Wing"

One of the greatest guitar songs of all time. I never get sick of it, no matter how many times I've heard people play it to death in guitar stores. Also, I think "Little Wing" is proof of how underrated Hendrix was as a lyricist. Everyone's always so distracted by his amazing skills as a guitarist that they forget how poetic he was. Seriously, he gives you such a strong sense of an entire person with the lines "Well she's walking through the clouds/ with a circus mind that's running round/ Butterflies, and zebras, and rubies, and fairy tales/ That's all she ever thinks about/ riding with the wind."

Frank Zappa - "Apostrophe"

Speaking of great guitar songs, I've also been listening to "Apostrophe" like crazy. Zappa is one of my favorite guitarists of all time, and I've been revisiting some of my favorite tracks of his all week. "Apostrophe" is probably the one I've been blasting in my headphones the most. Jack Bruce, of Cream fame, plays bass on this track, and the interplay between him and Zappa is breathtaking. I just saw Baby Driver this week (great film, by the way) and after I walked out of the theater, I wanted to listen to music that would make me jam out as I walked down the street, just like Ansel Elgort did in the movie. This was the first song I thought of. Totally jammed out to it all the way home, bobbing my head like a total weirdo. #NoRegrets.

Jeff Buckley - "Lover You Should've Come Over"

One of the most heartbreaking love songs I've ever heard. Buckley's voice, the lyrics, the instrumentation it's all beautiful. I think this one speaks for itself.

KELLY'S PICKS

Lorde - "Hard Feelings/Loveless"

It took me a second to get into Melodrama, but damn. It's so good. Once I actually sat down and listened to the entire thing I ended up really enjoying it. This one song is currently my favorite because of the switch from "Hard Feelings" to "Loveless." It has a nice combination of a pop song that turns into something a little more electronic. And I like that she didn't make two songs out of it. This week I've been listening to it every morning as I pull into Penn Station, and every time it comes on I just involuntarily smile.

Donnie Trumpet and The Social Experiment - "Pass The Vibes"

This is my number one song for driving in a convertible or sitting by the ocean - you know, summer activities. It doesn't sound like any other song on the mixtape Surf and I think that's what I like about it. Surf is a great album, but this one's different. It doesn't have that fast-paced rap that some of the other songs have. Instead it gives us a soothing and slow bass line, an almost beach-y feel. Something you'd want to listen to while on vacation, or while you're pretending you're on vacation.

Frank Ocean - "Nights"

I think I only listen to this song a lot because it happens to be on one of the only playlists I have downloaded on Spotify. And the subway is not always reliable when it comes to good cell service. This was probably my favorite song when Blonde came out.

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IN OUR EARS: Songs We Loved This Week - Baeble Music (blog)

SpaceX Dragon Cargo Spacecraft Set To Depart International Space Station Sunday – SpaceCoastDaily.com

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arrived at the station June 5

After delivering about 6,000 pounds of cargo, a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft is set to leave the International Space Station on Sunday, July 2. (NASA image)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA After delivering about 6,000 pounds of cargo, a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft is set to leave the International Space Station on Sunday, July 2.

Space Coast Daily TVwill provide live coverage via NASA of Dragons departure beginning at 11:15 a.m. EDT.

Flight controllers will use the Canadarm2 robotic arm to detach the Dragon capsule, which arrived at the station June 5, from the Earth-facing side of the stations Harmony module.

After they maneuver Dragon into place, Expedition 52 Flight Engineers Jack Fischer and Peggy Whitson of NASA will command release of the spacecraft at 11:38 a.m.

Dragons thrusters will be fired to move the spacecraft a safe distance from the station before SpaceX flight controllers in Hawthorne, California, command its deorbit burn.

The capsule will splash down about 5:16 p.m. in the Pacific Ocean.

Recovery forces will retrieve the capsule and its more than 4,100 pounds of returning cargo, including science samples from human and animal research, biotechnology studies, physical science investigations and education activities.

NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, the nonprofit organization that manages research aboard the U.S. national laboratory portion of the space station, will receive and process research samples, ensuring they are distributed to the appropriate facilities within 48 hours of splashdown.

In the event of adverse weather conditions in the Pacific, the backup departure date is Monday, July 3.

Dragon, the only space station resupply spacecraft able to return to Earth intact, launched June 3 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, for the companys 11th NASA-contracted commercial resupply mission to the station.

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Video: Garth Brooks serenades astronauts on International Space Station from Mission Control in Houston – NewsOK.com

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Oklahoma native and Country Music Hall of Famer Garth Brooks has achieved another first: performing a serenade for a fan currently located in outer space.

In a special episode of his Facebook Live video series, "Inside Studio G," Brooks on Thursday visited Mission Control Center at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he chatted via satellite video with astronaut Jack Fischer and his crew mate, astronaut Dr. Peggy Whitson, who are on the International Space Station.

Fisher is a devoted Brooks fan who picked the country music superstar's hit "The River" as the first tune on his pre-launch playlist back in April when he embarked on his first trip into space. He said on Twitter when he revealed his playlist that "The River" is his favorite song.

The astronaut likened the Songwriters Hall of Famer to Shakespeare and thanked him for being an inspiration, noting that "The River" has been his anthem for nearly three decades.

"I think that you have so many great songs and so many great messages. But it's the heart that you put into every performance and the soul that you put into all those songs that make them so impactful," Fisher said.

His praise moved Brooks to tears.

"Thank you very much for letting the music be part of your life," Brooks said.

With his wife, fellow country music star and Food Network personality Trisha Yearwood, on harmony vocals, Brooks sang a verse of "The River" to Fisher and Whitson.

"Awesome. I got goose bumps everywhere," Fisher exclaimed.

Brooks also surprised Fischer with a visit from his wife, Elizabeth, and their daughter, Sariah, who joined him at the center, while Yearwood, naturally, asked the astronauts about the food. The best-selling cookbook author offered to fix them their favorite terrestrial meals upon their return to Earth.

According to People, Brooks is the first celebrity to go live on Facebook from Mission Control while speaking to an astronaut in orbit.

Your life is full of amazing moments andIjust got to have one, the singer-songwriter told People. WhatI love is social media allows you to take that journey to actually see these guys and do this. In all honesty,I totally forgot that we were on Facebook Live becauseI was so involved talking [to them].

Brooks and Yearwood even posed for a selfie with the astronauts' onscreen images, which Garth posted on Twitter with the caption "Could this be the longest distance selfie EVER?"

From Houston, Brooks and Yearwood are performing in concert at 7 tonight and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana. As previously reported,Brooks next will play four home-state shows in two days next month at Oklahoma City's Chesapeake Energy Arena: 7 and 10:30 p.m. July 14 and 3 and 7:30 p.m. July 15. For tickets and information, go towww.chesapeakearena.com.

-BAM

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Video: Garth Brooks serenades astronauts on International Space Station from Mission Control in Houston - NewsOK.com

Trump signs order reviving long-dormant National Space Council – Spaceflight Now

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President Trump signs an executive order re-establishing the National Space Council, with astronauts Dave Wolf and Al Drew, and Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin (left-to-right) looking on. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

Emphasizing commercial, technological and national security opportunities in space, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday re-establishing the National Space Council, a space policy advisory and steering group that was last active nearly 25 years ago.

The directive to relaunch the council was promised by Trumps presidential campaign, and Vice President Mike Pence announced in March that he would chair the reinstated National Space Council.

Fridays signing by President Trump formally sets up the council, an inter-agency board that will include the secretaries of state, defense, commerce, transportation and homeland security, the head of the governments intelligence community, the NASA administrator, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other Trump administration officials.

Todays announcement sends a clear signal to the world that we are restoring Americas proud legacy of leadership in space, Trump said. Our vice president cares very deeply about space policy, and for good reason. Space exploration is not only essential to our character as a nation, but also our economy and our great nations security.

The council will review space policy, develop a national space strategy, make recommendations to the president on space issues, foster close coordination and cooperation among civilian, military and commercial space sectors, and advise on U.S. participation in international space activities, according to the document signed Friday by President Trump.

But many questions remain unanswered about the space programs future under President Trump, including the balance between traditional government-managed projects and privately-run efforts.

The White House has not named a nominee to be NASAs next administrator, andPresident Trump has also not appointed a science advisor. The three remaining employees in the science division of the White Houses Office of Science and Technology Policy left their jobs this week. Their departures left the science division unstaffed, according to CBS News.

While slashing Earth science research and calling for the elimination of NASAs education office, the Trump administrations first budget request keeps Obama-era human spaceflight programs in place, continuing spending on commercial space taxis to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, the government-owned Space Launch System mega-rocket, and the Orion crew capsule designed for deep space missions.

We will continue to unlock the mysteries of space, but to do so, we most reorient our civilian space program toward deep space exploration and provide the capabilites for America to maintain a constant presence in low Earth orbit and beyond, Pence said earlier this month in a speech at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin joined other astronauts, lawmakers and business executives at the signing ceremony in the White House.

I am pleased that President Trump has signed an executive order re-establishing the National Space Council, said Robert Lightfoot, NASAs acting administrator, in a statement. The council existed previously from 1989-1993, and a version of it also existed as the National Aeronautics and Space Council from 1958-1973. As such, the council has guided NASA from our earliest days and can help us achieve the many ambitious milestones we are striving for today.

Lightfoot added that the council will help ensure that all aspects of the nations space power national security, commerce, international relations, exploration, and science are coordinated and aligned to best serve the American people.

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, billionaires who established SpaceX and Blue Origin with their fortunes, did not attend the White House signing ceremony. Congressman Jim Bridenstine, R-Oklahoma, a rumored candidate to become NASAs next administrator, was also absent.

The chief executives of Boeing, Lockheed Martin and United Launch Alliance were there, along with an executive from Orbital ATK. Sandy Magnus, a former astronaut and executive directorof the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, also attended the order-signing.

We appreciate the Trump Administrations efforts to strengthen our nations space enterprise and view this as an opportunity to create an integrated strategic approach to U.S. space endeavors, Magnus said in a statement.

The order resurrecting the National Space Council also sets up aUsers Advisory Group with members from industry and other organizations involved in aeronautical and space activities.

Im very happy to see this executive order, said Alan Stern, chairman of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, an advocacy group that promotes commercial human spaceflight. I think that a new National Space Council is an important step forward for the nation and for space exploration, and on first brush, Im very happy with the structure of the council.

Stern said he was also pleased that Vice President Pence will lead the council.

Thats precisely how it worked when the nation was really turning heads around the world with space exploration in the 1960s, Stern said in an interview Friday with Spaceflight Now. Lyndon Johnson had that job.

Stern said he wants to ensure the voices of the commercial space industry and scientists are heard by the council through the Users Advisory Group.

I do think the devil is in the details, and Im going to be looking very closely to see that the commercial space community, the scientific community and other stakeholder communities are properly represented, not just at a token level but at a meaningful level, Stern said.

And Im sure that Im not alone in that, he said. Many others are watching to make sure that the deck isnt stacked for certain communities, and leaving others behind or under-represented.

The Trump people have been talking about this since before the inauguration, so its finally good to see some action, said John Logsdon, a space historian, policy analyst and professor emeritus at George Washington University. I frankly expected this to be part of a package of signing the executive order and naming the new leadership of NASA, so Im a little disappointed that that didnt happen.

Stern agreed that the Trump administration should name a new NASA administrator soon.

I think, now that were about six months past the inauguration, its beginning to hurt that NASA doesnt have a named administrator, Stern said. While Robert Lightfoot is doing a tremendous job as acting administrator, its time for an agency of this scope, and this importance to the nation, to get an appointee.

Logsdon called the establishment of the National Space Council a potential step towards a high-quality, coherent U.S. space program.

But the tenor of the council could be much different today than under the first Bush administration.

One of the big differences is a vibrant commercial space sector, which wasnt the case in 1989 through 1993, Logsdon said in an interview Friday. Another is that, in principle, this space council will be able to exert influence over the national security space program, which the Bush 41 council was never able to do.

What happened in 89 is Mr. Bush set these very ambitious goals back to the moon, this time to stay, and then on to Mars and NASA didnt want to do them, Logsdon said. So lets see whether Mr. Trump has some goals to set, and whether the leadership he puts in place at NASA is consistent with his goals.

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Prototype solar array jettisoned as Dragon capsule prepares for trip … – Spaceflight Now

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Updated at 10 p.m. EDT June 30 (0200 GMT July 1).

An experimental solar wing sent to the International Space Station earlier this month was jettisoned from the orbiting labs robotic arm after engineers were unable to fully retract the array.

The disposal followed an otherwise successful test of the power panels novel roll-out deployment technique, which engineers say could help future spacecraft generate more electricity and still fit inside the fairings of existing rockets.

Carried to the space station inside a SpaceX Dragon supply ship, the Roll-Out Solar Array ROSA is an experiment sponsored by the U.S. Air Force to measure its performance in space for the first time. Rolled up in a spool fastened inside the Dragon capsules unpressurized trunk, ROSA was extracted with the stations Canadian-built robotic arm and extended to a length of more than 15 feet (4.5 meters).

The solar array unfurled June 18, extending like a party favor with tensioning booms on both sides of the 5.5-foot-wide (1.6-meter-wide) wing.

The unique design of the experimental solar array is different from the way solar panels on existing satellites deploy. Current solar panels unfold like an accordion using mechanical hinges, but the roll-out design could save volume and mass on future missions, officials said.

The problem is these traditional methods are bulky and they tend to be heavy, and we just cant make them any bigger, said Jeremy Banik, ROSAs principal investigator at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. Thats what it comes down to. ROSA solves this problem by reducing mass by 20 percent and reducing stowed volume by 400 percent over these traditional approaches.

Youre really limited by the surface area of the bus that youre mounting it to, Banik said of current solar array designs. And you can only stack so many panels up before you run into the volume limitation of your launch vehicle fairing.

Engineers observed the behavior of the solar array as the space station sailed through day and night during each 90-minute orbit of Earth, exposing it to extreme temperature swings. A mechanical actuator also introduced vibrations and oscillations to gauge the arrays response to structural loads, and engineers measured the power production from solar cells attached to the panel.

The experiments went well, NASA said, but ground controllers were unable to lock the solar panel back in its stowed configuration after rolling it up last Saturday. Officials opted to re-extend the array before a control center in Canada commanded its release Monday, an eventuality foreseen by the solar panels designers, who added a built-in jettison mechanism to the structure.

Officials did not intend to retrieve the solar array, but mission managers planned to roll up the panel and return it to the Dragon spacecrafts external payload bay, which will burn up in Earths atmosphere Monday when the commercial cargo carriers pressurized capsule heads for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

The Dragon capsules homecoming was scheduled for Sunday, but NASA and SpaceX officials on Friday delayed the departure and splashdown due to a forecast of unacceptable sea states in the landing zone.

The operations team executed the (solar array) jettison procedure that was developed as part of the pre-flight planning process that covered various scenarios, NASA said in a statement. ROSA will not present any risk to the International Space Station and will not impact any upcoming visiting vehicle traffic.

The uncontrolled solar array will likely stay in orbit several months until it succumbs to atmospheric drag, which will pull it back into the atmosphere for a destructive re-entry.

The robotic arm returned the solar arrays attachment plate to the Dragon capsules trunk for disposal.

Developed by Deployable Space Systems of Goleta, California, in partnership with the Air Force and NASA, the Roll-Out Solar Array tested solar cells capable of generating up to 300 watts of electricity. But future versions of the solar panel could extend to much greater lengths, producing as much as 500 kilowatts of power, according to Banik.

Commercial communications satellites currently operate on no more than about 25 kilowatts of electricity. Higher-power spacecraft are needed to feed large ion engine drives that could propel space probes to other planets, or help maneuver military satellites between different orbits around Earth.

The Roll-Out Solar Array technology opens up applications for things like solar-electric propulsion, Banik said. NASA is considering that for interplanetary missions. Certainly, the Air Force is interested from a LEO to GEO (low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit) transfer perspective. There are some really cool applications for ROSA coming down the pike.

Space Systems/Loral, a California-based manufacturer of large telecommunications satellites, has selected the ROSA technology for potential use on future broadcasting spacecraft.

High-strain composites at the core of the prototype solar array could also be used in other deployable space structures, such as radar antennas, communications antennas and solar sails, Banik said.

The Dragon spacecraft arrived June 5 at the International Space Station, two days after its launch from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket. The recycled cargo freighter is on its second flight to the space station, following a 34-day mission in September and October 2014.

The capsule also delivered a NASA astrophysics instrument designed to study the nature of neutron stars, a commercially-developed Earth observation platform, a habitat with rodents for research into a new drug that could fight osteoporosis, among other experiments.

The unpiloted capsule carried5,970 pounds (2,708 kilograms) of equipment and experiments for unpacking by astronauts and the stations robotic arm. The station crew will finish loading cargo heading back to Earth before closing the hatches leading to Dragon on Saturday.

If weather and sea conditions in the splashdown zone are deemed favorable, the Dragon capsule will be unberthed from its attachment port on the stations Harmony module Sunday, then released from the robotic arm via a command from astronaut Jack Fischer at 2:28 a.m. EDT (0638 GMT) Monday. A series of thruster firings will send the craft a safe distance from the space station for a de-orbit braking burn.

The pressurized section of the Dragon cargo craft will head for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean about 260 miles (420 kilometers) southwest of the California coast at 7:56 a.m. EDT (1146 GMT) Monday, while the unpressurized module will break apart and burn up in the atmosphere.

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ESA and NASA to collaborate on mission to detect gravitational waves – SpaceFlight Insider

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Laurel Kornfeld

July 1st, 2017

Binary black hole gravitational waves simulation. Image Credit: Swinburne Astronomy Productions

The European Space Agency (ESA) is partnering with NASA on a new space mission that will study gravitational waves from space. Known as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, or LISA, the project was approved by ESAs Cosmic Vision science program on June 20.Both space agencies will now work together to design the mission and outline a budget for it prior to construction.

The concept for LISA involves three spacecraft placed into a triangular array, each separated by 1.6 million miles (2.5 million km), which will follow the Earth in its solar orbit. On board each spacecraft will be a shielded device known as a test mass, which responds only to gravity, ignoring other forces.

This illustration shows ESAs (the European Space Agencys) LISA observatory, a multi-spacecraft mission to study gravitational waves expected to launch in 2034. In the mission concept, LISA consists of three spacecraft in a triangular formation spanning millions of kilometers. Test masses in spacecraft on each arm of the formation will be linked together by lasers to detect passing gravitational waves. Credits: Image AEI / Milde Marketing / Exozet; Caption NASA

These test masses will be linked together by lasers, which will be sensitive to the tiny changes produced by gravitational waves.

NASA and ESA have already spent decades developing technologies LISA will require, such as systems for measurement, control, and micropropulsion.

ESAs LISA Pathfinder successfully demonstrated a technique known as drag-free flight a method of flying that does not disturb test masses, which LISAs three spacecraft will have to do last year. Testing showed this technology to be capable of the precision and sensitivity LISA will require.

Technologies pioneered for LISA will also be used on the GRACE Follow-On mission satellite project scheduled for launch later this year to replace the aging GRACE satellites. This joint project between the U.S. and Germany will test the ability of the satellites Laser Ranging Interferometer to detect minute distance changes between two spacecraft.

Initially predicted about 100 years ago by Albert Einstein as part of his theory of general relativity, gravitational waves are produced by massive accelerating objects, such as two merging black holes, which generate waves of energy that radiate through space-time.

They were first detected indirectly in 1978 in the form of very small changes in the movement of binary neutron stars, stellar remnants produced in supernova explosions of precursor stars.

Scientists studying the pair of neutron stars found that energy was leaving the system in just the amount predicted by theorists of gravitational waves.

Direct detection of gravitational waves first occurred in 2015, when the National Science Foundations Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) confirmed a signal coming from two merging stellar-mass black holes approximately 1.3 billion light-years from Earth.

Since then, several similar signals have been detected, all coming from merging black holes.

Because LIGO is ground-based, it is capable of detecting only high-frequency gravitational waves at about 100 hertz (or cycles) per second. Interference from seismic, thermal, and other activities that produce noise make it impossible for the observatory to detect any frequencies lower than about one hertz.

As a space-based observatory, LISA will not suffer from these limitations and will be capable of detecting signals from extremely powerful activities, such as mergers of supermassive black holes at the centers of colliding galaxies.

Much larger than stellar mass black holes, supermassive black holes have millions of times the mass of the Sun.

LISA will sense gravitational waves coming from a range of events, such as binary systems comprising two neutron stars or one black hole and one neutron star. Production of these waves shrinks the orbits of the two objects in the binary system.

Scientists hope LISA will also be sensitive to background gravitational waves produced in the early universe. LISA is scheduled to launch in 2034.

This visualization shows gravitational waves emitted by two black holes (black spheres) of nearly equal mass as they spiral together and merge in an event like GW170104. Yellow structures near the black holes illustrate the strong curvature of space-time in the region. Orange ripples represent distortions of space-time caused by the rapidly orbiting masses. These distortions spread out and weaken, ultimately becoming gravitational waves (purple). This simulation was performed on the Pleiades supercomputer at NASAs Ames Research Center. Credits: NASA / Bernard J. Kelly (Goddard and University of Maryland Baltimore County), Chris Henze (Ames), and Tim Sandstrom (CSC Government Solutions LLC).

Video courtesy of NASA.gov Video

Tagged: European Space Agency Laser Interferometer Space Antenna LISA Pathfinder NASA The Range

Laurel Kornfeld is an amateur astronomer and freelance writer from Highland Park, NJ, who enjoys writing about astronomy and planetary science. She studied journalism at Douglass College, Rutgers University, and earned a Graduate Certificate of Science from Swinburne Universitys Astronomy Online program. Her writings have been published online in The Atlantic, Astronomy magazines guest blog section, the UK Space Conference, the 2009 IAU General Assembly newspaper, The Space Reporter, and newsletters of various astronomy clubs. She is a member of the Cranford, NJ-based Amateur Astronomers, Inc. Especially interested in the outer solar system, Laurel gave a brief presentation at the 2008 Great Planet Debate held at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, MD.

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ESA and NASA to collaborate on mission to detect gravitational waves - SpaceFlight Insider

On this day in Alabama history: Marshall Space Flight Center opened in Huntsville – Alabama NewsCenter

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July 1, 1960

NASA opened the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. Led by director Wernher von Braun, MSFC became NASAs propulsion research center and, in the 1960s, developed the rockets that sent Americans to space and to the moon. Over the years, MSFC has diversified its research specializations and participated in a variety of NASA programs, including developing the Skylab space station, the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station. In 2011, the center began developing the Space Launch Systems initiative to provide next-generation propulsion for manned missions to other parts of Earths solar system.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Marshall Space Flight Centers F-1 Engine Test Stand is shown in this picture. Constructed in 1963, the test stand is a vertical engine firing test stand, 239 feet in elevation and 4,600 square feet in area at the base, and was designed to assist in the development of the F-1 Engine. Capability is provided for static firing of 1.5 million pounds of thrust using liquid oxygen and kerosene. The foundation of the stand is keyed into the bedrock approximately 40 feet below grade. (Photo Credit: NASA)

Dr. Wernher von Braun and Maj. Gen. August Schomburg officiate the official transfer of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) to the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) on July 1, 1960. The Official transfer ceremony took place in the front of the ABMA-MSFC joint headquarters, building 4488, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. (Photo credit: NASA)

President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Mrs. George C. Marshall unveil the bronze bust of General George C. Marshall during the dedication of the Marshall Space Flight Center. Eisenhower signed an Executive Order on October 21, 1959 directing the transfer of persornel from the Redstone Arsenals Army Ballistic Missile Agency Development Operations Division to NASA. On March 15, 1960, another Executive Order announced that the space complex formed within the boundaries of Redstone Arsenal would become the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. The Center was activated on July 1, 1960, with dedication ceremonies taking place September 8, 1960. (Photo credit: NASA)

The Marshall Space Flight Center, a NASA field installation, was established at Huntsville, Alabama, in 1960. The Center was named in honor of General George C. Marshall, the Army Chief of Staff during World War II, Secretary of State, and Nobel Prize Winner for his world-renowned Marshall Plan. (Photo credit: NASA)

For more on Alabamas Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.

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Red Bull heads to Austria bidding to improve home race form – NBC Sports – Motorsports (blog)

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Red Bull Formula 1 drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen will head to next weekends Austrian Grand Prix bidding to improve their teams home race form, having scored just one podium over the past three years in Spielberg.

Austria returned to the F1 calendar in 2014 after an 11-year absence, but the past three races at the Red Bull Ring have been difficult ones for the home team.

Max Verstappen finished second last year after the late clash between Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, outstripping Red Bulls previous best finish of eighth in Austria from 2014.

After claiming its first victory of the season last time out in Baku, Red Bull now returns home with its sights set on impressing at one of its most important races of the year.

I had a really good result in Austria last year coming second, Verstappen said. Before the race it was a bit unknown how the tires would play out so I just tried to feel my way in and keep life in them.

This allowed me to complete a one-stop strategy, which was always going to be a gamble, but in the end worked out really well.

This year we have to make sure the car is working well in the corners in order to be up with the front-runners and then just try and be as competitive as possible on the straights, its always a bit of a compromise.

The fans at the Red Bull Ring are always extremely passionate and of course there was a big Dutch turn out last year which is always special for me to see, plenty of caravans and orange around the area.

At any kind of power circuit like Austria you want to be smooth and get good exits in order to give yourself the best chance on the long straights, added Baku winner Ricciardo.

The compromise is always the aero package. In the middle to the end of the lap you want more downforce because the corners are quite fast but more downforce means you are slower on the straights, so the key is to find a good balance throughout the lap.

I really enjoy the track and the only downside is that I wish it was a bit longer. I wish it had a few more corners, but the corners that do exist are great fun.

Back in May, Ricciardo and Verstappen completed a fun caravan race at the Red Bull Ring in promotion of the race, causing havoc in the process.

We have done some pretty crazy things at the track, wearing the lederhosen race suit is something different and a few weeks ago Max and I raced caravans there, Ricciardo said.

To be honest Im not sure they would have let us do that anywhere else as the caravans were destroyed, but we loved it!

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Williams Martini Racing has announced that a new documentary profiling the story of the Formula 1 team will be released this summer.

Based on Lady Virginia Williams 1991 bookA Different Kind of Life, the film entitledWilliams will depict the true story of the team, led byBAFTA-winning director Morgan Matthews.

As per a release from the team: The film features legendary racing footage, interviews with much-loved Formula One stars including Sir Patrick Head, Sir Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet and candid never-before-seen accounts of what really went on behind closed doors.

It is an honest, authentic and incredibly revealing portrait of one of the most extraordinary stories in motorsport.

I hope the fans enjoy the film as much as Ive enjoyed being part of motor racing, team founder and owner Sir Frank Williams said.

Im glad that both the people behind the team and my family come out as the true heroes of the story.

Deputy team principal Claire Williams added: This film is a tale of two great loves in my fathers life. Everyone knows of Franks pure passion for motor racing, but not everyone knows the remarkable story of my parents marriage and how those two things co-existed during the highs and lows of the teams journey.

I am pleased that it shines a light on exactly how instrumental my mother was in the teams success while also capturing the setbacks and her bravery in holding the family, and ultimately the business together, as the team went on to make history.

We are incredibly proud of the film and its enduring message of what the human spirit is capable of achieving in the face adversity. I hope that is inspires people as much as my parents story inspires me.

As my dad would want it though, we are proud of our past but ready for the future. The most exciting part is our plan to build on Franks legacy and write a new chapter in the Williams story something we are building momentum towards.

Williams will premiere in London, England on July 11 before going on general release in the UK in August.

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Jolyon Palmer wants to end his run of bad luck in Formula 1 and begin to build momentum in next weekends Austrian Grand Prix to carry through to the sports summer break.

Palmer has endured a point-less start to the season with Renault, with his sole top-10 finish in F1 coming in last years Malaysian Grand Prix.

Speculation has been rife about the Britons future at Enstone amid suggestions he could be replaced mid-season, with a difficult weekend in Azerbaijan last time out not aiding matters.

Palmer suffered problems in his car on all three days of the race weekend, preventing him from taking part in qualifying or finishing the race.

There isnt a lot to say from my weekend, but it was a crazy race to watch! Palmer said of Baku.

I enjoyed watching it, but I wish I was in it, I think there were some points up for grabs for us.

We will make sure we have a better one in Austria, the target is always the same: to bring home some points.

Palmer is treating the Austria weekend as a catalyst to kick-start his season, having previously enjoyed strong outings at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.

We started on the penultimate row last year but I managed to work my way up to 12th, beating my teammate. I was quite happy with the race, we just needed a little bit of extra luck and I think we could have been in the points, Palmer said.

It is a circuit I enjoy having raced there in GP2 in 2014 and then a Free Practice session in 2015. It was definitely one of my strongest races of last season, so it is important to build on the knowledge we have and my confidence at the track and work towards a positive result.

We need to change our luck. I hope we can make it all stick heading into the final few rounds before the summer break beginning here.

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Former FIA president Max Mosley believes that Sebastian Vettels behavior in his clash with Lewis Hamilton during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was intolerable, adding that the German should have been excluded from the race as a result of the incident.

Vettel and Hamilton came to blows behind the safety car in Baku, with the Ferrari driver making a sideways swipe after believing he was brake-tested.

Vettel received an in-race stop/go penalty for making contact with Hamilton, but the matter will be re-examined by the FIA on Monday to see if further action is warranted.

Speaking toSky Sports, Mosley, who helped run F1 as FIA president between 1993 and 2009, made his feelings on Vettels move clear, believing he should have been punished much more harshly at the time.

I will certainly not make friends with Ferrari but fact is fact: my recommendation would have been to take Vettel out of the race and bring the whole matter to the World Council to negotiate, Mosley said.

From my point of view, it is intolerable that you behave as Vettel has done.

If he did that on the road he would lose his license.

The incident helped stoke the rivalry between championship rivals Vettel and Hamilton, who are currently separated by 14 points at the top of the drivers standings.

Should Vettel be excluded from Azerbaijan and the drivers finishing below him move up a position, the pair would be tied on points with 12 races remaining this season.

Formula E/LAT

Pipo Derani and Filipe Albuquerque are among the drivers substituting for Formula E regulars in the FIA World Endurance Championship round at the Nrburgring next month, as confirmed with the publication of the entry list for the latter event.

The clash between Formula E and WEC on the July 16 weekend has been a long-running saga for both series, with no resolution workable due to a lack of communication regarding the placement of the Formula 1 race in Germany that was ultimately canceled.

With drivers racing in both series, a number were left with a key dilemma to make when picking which race to entry, ending with a majority opting to partake in Formula Es double-header race weekend in New York.

Two drivers have chosen to prioritize WEC, including Formula E championship leader Sebastien Buemi, who is bound by his contract with Toyotas LMP1 team. Jose Maria Lopez is also in a similar position, racing in the sister TS050 Hybrid at the Nrburgring.

Heres a run-down of the drivers who had to work around the clashesand where theyve ended up, and who will be replacing them.

Sebastien Buemi

Formula E championship leader Buemi had hoped to be racing in New York where he could have sewn up the title but is now risking a 50-plus point loss by missing the double-header.

Buemi said that his Le Mans result would decide whether or not he could have the chance to skip the Nrburgring, only for the No. 8 Toyota crew to have a miserable race, finishing eighth overall after two hours in the garage.

Buemis replacement for New York will need to be decided in the next 24 hours when the race stewards are informed of the entry list. Red Bull youngster Pierre Gasly is thought to be leading the chase for the seat.

Jose Maria Lopez

Like Buemi, Lopez was tied down by his Toyota contract and was not able to get out of his duties, meaning he will be missing New York as well.

Lopez will return to the No. 7 Toyota for the Nrburgring round, having been moved into the third car for Le Mans given his lack of prior experience following his Silverstone crash and the subsequent injury that forced him to miss Spa.

Lopez will be replaced at DS Virgin Racing in New York by Alex Lynn, the teams reserve driver. Lynn, in turn, will miss the Nrburgring race with G-Drive in LMP2, with Ben Hanley taking his place.

Sam Bird

Lopezs Formula E teammate, Sam Bird, is another driver who said his dilemma would be solved by his Le Mans result. The Briton is fourth in the WEC GT drivers championship with AF Corse and just 14 points off the lead, yet he opted to prioritize his Formula E duties in New York.

Bird will be replaced at AF Corse in the No. 71 Ferrari 488 GTE by Toni Vilander, who races in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Risi Competizione and featured at Le Mans earlier this month.

Nicolas Prost

Renault e.dams appeared the face the prospect of having neither of its regular drivers in place for New York, only for Buemis teammate Nicolas Prost to put his Formula E duties first.

Prost has raced with Vaillante Rebellion Racing in LMP2 so far this season, but will step back for the Nrburgring. Seasoned sportscar racer Filipe Albuquerque takes his place.

Nelson Piquet Jr.

Nelson Piquet Jr. is another driver who had the same decision as Prost, putting Formula E over his duties with Rebellion in the sister Oreca 07 Gibson. Piquet will be replaced in the No. 13 car by Pipo Derani, whose three-race stint with Ford Chip Ganassi Racing came to an end at Le Mans.

Jean-Eric Vergne

Jean-Eric Vergne has made a flying start to life in the WEC this year with Manor, regularly featuring at the top of the timesheets, and stood out at Le Mans with some mammoth quintuple stints.

Vergne wont be at the Nrburgring, though, putting his Formula E duties with Techeetah a team he also has commercial interests in first. Roberto Merhi takes his place, returning to Manor after previously racing for the team in both F1 and WEC.

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No, NASA is not hiding kidnapped children on Mars – Washington Post

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The situation for human beings on Mars is dire, and not just because the red planet's atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and the average temperature is -81 degrees.

There's also the issue of the child-trafficking ring operating in secret on the planet 33.9 million miles from earth, according to a guest on the Alex Jones Show.

We actually believe that there is a colony on Mars that is populated by children who were kidnapped and sent into space on a 20-year ride, Robert David Steele said Thursday during a winding, conspiratorial dialogue with Jones about child victims of sex crimes. So that once they get to Mars they have no alternative but to be slaves on the Mars colony.

[Megyn Kelly calls Alex Joness Sandy Hook views revolting but says interviewing him has value]

NASA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

But Guy Webster, a spokesman for Mars exploration at NASA, told the Daily Beast that rumors about live humans on Mars are false.

There are no humans on Mars, he said. There are active rovers on Mars. There was a rumor going around last week that there werent. There are, but there are no humans.

Jones is known for peddling elaborate and debunked conspiracy theories on his radio show, which airs on 118 stations around the country and reaches millions of listeners.The site had 4.5 million unique page views in thepast month and more than 5 million from mid-April to mid-May,according to Quantcast. HisYouTube channelhas more than 2 million subscribers.

Among his most well-known accusations in recent years is that the December 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, in which 20 children and six adults were killed at a school in Newtown, Conn., was a hoax. Jones has claimed that the U.S. government orchestrated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and, more recently, promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy, which alleged that Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign was linked to a child-sex ring operating from the basement of a suburban Washington D.C. pizzeria.

The theory originated on Reddit, where a user claimed hacked emails belonging to Clinton campaign manager John Podesta revealed evidence of an international child-sex ring. The key, the user alleged, wasreplacing the word pizza with little boy.

From that moment, the conspiracy theory took on a life of its own, culminating in a North Carolina man firing a military-style assault rifle inside the restaurant in December.Edgar Maddison Welch told investigators he was there to save abused children. Instead, he pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges in March and was sentenced to four years in prison last month.

Confronted about his Sandy Hook allegations during a controversial interview with NBC's Megyn Kelly last month, Jones hedged.

I tend to believe that children probably did die there, he told the anchor. But then you look at all the other evidence on the other side. I can see how other people believe that nobody died there.

On Thursdays Infowars broadcast, Steele appeared to connect the kidnapped children being held captive on Mars to pedophile rings who allegedly use children for their youthful body parts and energy.

Pedophilia does not stop with sodomizing children, Steele said. It goes straight into terrorizing them to adrenalize their blood and then murdering them. It also includes murdering them so that they can have their bone marrow harvested as well as body parts.

This is the original growth hormone, Jones said.

Yes, it's an anti-aging thing, Steele replied.

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No, NASA is not hiding kidnapped children on Mars - Washington Post

NASA just showed off how it would help save the planet from ‘possible life-threatening’ asteroids – Fox News

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NASA has released video and simulations of how it would try to save the planet if a "life-threatening asteroid" were on course to collide with the Earth.

The government agency is using 3-D models and one of its most powerful supercomputers in order to produce simulations on a variety of astroid impact scenarios. This allows first responders and other agencies to identify threats and make better decisions should an event occur in the future.

SCIENTISTS 'CAN'T RULE OUT' COLLISION WITH ASTEROID FLYING BY EARTH IN 2029

NASAshowed off the findings on its website.

The work is being done by experts on the Asteroid Threat Assessment Project at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility at Ames Research Center in Californias Silicon Valley. The efforts are in conjunction with NASAs Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

Below is the entire video of the simulation:

The research is shared with a number of different parties, including university scientists, national research labs and different government agencies.

The work follows an asteroid collision in 2013 in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. The blast from the asteroid injured more than 1,200 people and damaged building 58 miles away.

Scientists have recently said they "can't rule out" a collision with asteroid 99942 Apophis, which is slated to come very close to Earth in 2029.

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NASA in eastern Kern central to development of revolutionary all-electric aircraft – The Bakersfield Californian

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Things are getting even more exciting at the NASA facility in eastern Kern County.

An experimental aircraft exclusively propelled by electric power now in development atNASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center has the potential to revolutionize both general and commercial aviation with its quiet design, its virtual zero-carbon output and incredible improvements in efficiency.

The X-57 demonstrator is actually a radical retrofit of an already existing aircraft, said Matt Kamlet, a public affairs specialist at NASA Armstrong.

"The plane will have a long, skinny wing, designed at (NASA) Langley, with 14 electric motors, two on the wingtips and 12 on the leading edge of the wing," Kamlet said.

The X-plane, so designated by the Air Force due to its experimental nature,will use all 14 motors during takeoff and landing. But at cruising altitude, the props on the 12 smaller motors will stop and fold away until they're needed again.

Battery technology has long been a limiting factor for electric-powered aircraft in terms of how much power they can store, said Tom Rigney, project manager for the X-57. But that is changing.

"We're taking advantage of battery technology that is existing now," Rigney told The Californian on Thursday. "The auto industry has taken the development of batteries to a new level."

A 500 percent increase in power efficiency at cruising speed. A lower cost of aircraft operation. Much quieter. Tiny carbon footprint. And more than 300 horsepower to play with, and a targeted speed of 175 mph.

These are assets that Rigney believes will first impact general aviation, including future use by companies like Uber and others.

Later, smaller commercial flights could make use of the technology and eventually hybrid part electric, part conventional airliners may be developed for long-distance commercial aviation.

The concept began back in 2011, Kamlet said. Then in 2015, engineers at Armstrong, located on Edwards Air Force Base, attached an experimental wing to a big rig and drove it at speed on one of Edwards' dry lake beds to test propeller technology and "lift" for what would later be named the X-57.

"There's no wind tunnel at NASA Armstrong," Kamlet said. "We essentially created our own wind tunnel."

At Scaled Composites in nearby Mojave, engineers are integrating electrical systems into the aircraft. Delivery to NASA is expected soon and the first flight test is expected in 2018, Rigney said.

X-planes have historically pushed the boundaries of aeronautics.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden highlighted the agencys first X-plane designation in a decade during a speech last year.

"With the return of piloted X-planes to NASAs research capabilities which is a key part of our 10-year-long New Aviation Horizons initiative the general aviation-sized X-57 will take the first step in opening a new era of aviation," Bolden said.

The first X-plane was the X-1, which in 1947 became the first airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound also at the desert base.

X-57 isn't trying to fly faster. Just better.

Steven Mayer can be reached at 661-395-7353. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @semayerTBC.

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Moon Station Could Use Tech from Scrapped Asteroid Mission, NASA Says – Space.com

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An artist's rendering of a deep space gateway that would orbit the moon and provide a launching point for human missions to Mars.

NASA is salvaging technology developed under a canceled asteroid rendezvous and relocation mission for a new initiative to build a lunar orbiting base. The base would eventually serve as a hangar for assembling spacecraft heading to Mars.

The lunar-orbiting outpost, called the Deep Space Gateway, has replaced the Obama administration's Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM)as an interim step in NASAs long-term goal to sendastronauts to Mars. ARM would have sent a robotic spacecraft to an asteroid to grab a large boulder and relocate it into a high lunar orbit for eventual visits by U.S. astronauts.

The controversial ARM program officially died with President Donald Trump's proposed budget request for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. But NASA is salvaging ARM's key technologies, including high-powered solar-electric propulsion, to use for the gateway and other projects, agency officials and other experts said at a hearing for the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology yesterday (June 29). [NASA's Mars Plan May Include Yearlong Mission to the Moon]

"Electric propulsion can offer the ability to move large masses through space with minimum fuel usage," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations. "It has significant advantages over other forms of propulsion, most notably efficiency."

In addition, fuel used in an electric power system is storable, doesn't boil away and can be easily resupplied, Gerstenmaier said.

Dozens of commercial and military satellites, as well as NASA's Dawn science probe to the asteroid belt, use electric propulsion today, but the power generated for their maneuvering thrusters is low, according to the panel of experts who spoke at the hearing. The majority of spacecraft utilize chemical propulsion systems, which add a significant amount of mass for fuel tanks. Electric propulsion systems are far lighter to launch.

NASA is aiming to develop 12.5-kilowatt electric thrusters for the multipurpose Deep Space Gateway, a combination research station, lunar operations base and assembly outpost for Mars-bound spacecraft. That's about 40 percent more powerful that currently available systems, Gerstenmaier said.

"With advanced electric propulsion, we will have the ability to move habitat systems to various orbits around the moon," he said. "We can support crewed science operations from the module in various lunar orbits. The module is not stuck in one place."

Electric propulsion systems in the 50- to 100-kilowatt level may be needed to get crews to Mars faster than is possible with conventional chemical propulsion. This would shorten the amount of time astronauts are exposed to dangerous radiation and the amount of food and other supplies they would need for the trip, according to the panel members.

Electric propulsion has already proven its worth on commercial satellites, culminating in the 2015 launch of the world's first all-electric spacecraft, said Mitchell Walker, chairman of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Electric Propulsion Technical Committee, who also presented testimony during the hearing.

"The enormous propellant-mass savings achieved with electric propulsion allows two all-electric satellites to launch on one smaller, less expensive launch vehicle," Walker said.

This year, India and China launched their first electrically propelled satellites, and Japan is scheduled to fly its first all-electric spacecraft in 2021, Walker said, adding that Europe and Russia are investing in the technology as well.

Industry projects show 50 to 75 percent of all future geostationary spacecraft are expected to use electric propulsion, he said.

Irene Klotz can be reached on Twitter at @free_space. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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NASA images capture worst Siberian wildfires in 10,000 years … – ScienceAlert

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Every year, Siberia is struck by wildfires that destroy great swathes of boreal forest. But climate change has caused wildfire activity in Siberia to increase radically over the past few decades.

The boreal forests in Siberia are burning at extraordinary rates, unheard of in at least 10,000 years, and climate change projections predict even more wildfires to come.

The current wildfires, which started in late June, have already burned roughly 538 square kilometres (133,000 acres) of forest in southern Siberia.

Climate change has been increasing temperatures across the globe, but northernmost regions, like Siberia, are experiencing temperature inclines at twice the rate. Since November, temperatures in southern Siberia have been up 4C (7.2F) from the average. And as the weather turns drier and warmer, the forests in the region become more and more prone to wildfires.

These wildfires are a direct threat to the role of Siberian forests in absorbing carbon emissions.

Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Each year, the Russian forests absorb a net 500 million tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.

Last Friday, two NASA satellites captured the destructive and widespread impact of these wildfires on the region.

The images from the Aqua satellite reveal a series of wildfires and towers of smoke, riddled across southern Siberia.

The second satellite, Suomi NPP, measured the air quality in the region and found the aerosol index reached over 19, indicating very dense smoke at high altitudes.

According to NASA Earth Observatory, scientists are also currently investigating three possible pyrocumulus cloud formations in the area, which can alter local climates by lofting ash and particles high into the atmosphere.

But the most devastating impact of these wildfires cannot be seen from a satellite.

Siberian boreal forests play a crucial role in the carbon cycle, making up nearly 10 percent of the planet's land surface and housing more than 30 percent of the carbon on Earth.

That means that when these forests burn, they are releasing vast quantities of carbon into the atmosphere. The loss of carbon absorption in combination with the release of carbon, creates a vicious cycle that leads to more global warming and, as a result, more wildfires.

Not to mention, these wildfires can also hasten the melting of Arctic ice, which is already disappearing at alarming rates. This occurs when the fires produce hordes of soot that fall on snow and ice, darkening their surface and causing them to absorb more sunlight.

And it's not just Siberia, either.

Over the past decade, global warming has caused a series of destructive wildfires in Canada and Alaska, too. Last year, a wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta became the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history.

And, according to Climate Central research, wildfire season in Alaska is 40 percent longer and large fires twice as common as they were 75 years ago.

Finding a way to stop these wildfires from occurring or from burning out of control will be pivotal in our fight against climate change.

Scientists have their work cut out for them.

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NASA images capture worst Siberian wildfires in 10,000 years ... - ScienceAlert

What is the future of nanotechnology in food? – Food Dive

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Dive Brief:

Nanotechnology in the food industry is expected to nearly triple in value to $20.4 billion by 2020, with several emerging areas for innovation, reports New Food Magazine.

Engineered nanotech compounds could offer great benefits in ingredients particularly for increased solubility and bioavailabilityas well as in food packaging with antimicrobial surfaces and sensors that change color when food begins to degrade.

In the food sector, there has been a 40% increase in publications and a 90% increase in patent filings involving nanotechnology in the past two decades. More than 1,000 companies now have an R&D focus on nanotechnology-based products. Future applications could include immobilizing enzymes to improve their efficiency and reuse, and using nanoscale structures to create new food textures.

Nanotechnology refers to controlling compounds on a molecular scale measured in nanometers, or millionths of meters. In the food industry, the technology has excited manufacturers as its potential uses have been explored, such as producing stronger flavors or colors, improving the bioavailability of nutrients, and detecting bacteria in packaging.

However, early enthusiasm from researchers and product developers was met with pushback from consumers who were concerned about the technologys safety. Since then, the FDA has released guidelines on using nanotechnology in food, but the industry has been wary about how it communicates nanotech-based innovation with consumers.

Nanoscale compounds in food are not new. They exist naturally in milk,with nanoscale casein particles responsible for its fat stability. Meanwhile,more than 1,600 consumer products contain engineered nanoscale particles, according to an inventory run by The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. They are already widely used in the food packaging sector to help ensure food quality and safety. Nanotech-based sensors can detect and measure the presence of oxygen or bacteria, such as listeria.

In the ingredient sector, nanotechnology is still more widely used in supplements. However,nanoencapsulation could be used to protect sensitive compounds like vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and polyunsaturated fatty acids so they could be delivered only when they reach the gut. That would improve how they are absorbed by the body, and reduce their impact on a products taste and appearance.

Communicating the benefits of nanotechnology in food is still one of the industrys biggest challenges, and some say it is slowing development in the sector. However, with diverse applications covering everything from improved food safety to better nutrition, reduced food waste, and biodegradable packaging, it is inevitable that consumers will start to see more nanoscale compounds in consumer products in the coming years.

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What is the future of nanotechnology in food? - Food Dive

CWRU Researcher Awarded Over $4.7 Million to Develop Drug … – Newswise (press release)

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Newswise Nicole F. Steinmetz, PhD, George J. Picha Professor in Biomaterials, member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Director of the Center for Bio-Nanotechnology at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, has received two major grants from the National Institutes of Health to develop microscopic drug-delivery systems for patients living with breast cancer, and patients at risk for serious blood clots.

The new R01 awards are provided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Steinmetz plans to collaborate with fellow members of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (Ruth Keri, PhD, Julian Kim MD), Case Center for Imaging Research (Xin Yu, ScD), and the CWRU Cardiovascular Research Institute (Yunmei Wang, PhD, Daniel Simon, MD), as well as collaborators at Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine (Steven Fiering, PhD) for the funded studies.

Nanoparticle engineering is an evolving field, with enormous potential in molecular imaging and therapeutics. We are thrilled that the National Institutes of Health is supportive of this new frontier in medicine, Steinmetz said.

As part of a $2.2 million NCI award, Steinmetz will develop therapeutic nanotechnology specifically for triple negative breast cancer patients. Triple negative breast cancer cells do not have receptors on their surfaces that are often leveraged by drug developers, severely limiting treatment options for about 15% of patients. But last year, Steinmetz and colleagues found virus-like particles from a plant viruscowpea mosaic viruscan stimulate the immune system to fight tumors and prevent outgrowth of metastasis. The new funding will allow Steinmetz and her team to explore mechanisms behind the anti-tumor effects and develop dual-pronged therapeutic approaches through drug delivery strategies.

Said Steinmetz, These plant virus-like particles have cancer-fighting qualities on their own, but they can also be used as vehicles to encapsulate therapeutics, such as chemo- and immune drugs, to synergize and potentiate the cancer immunotherapy. With the new grant, we will test whether combining the particles with breast cancer medications can combat breast cancer in mice. Steinmetz will also investigate how the size and shape of the virus-like particles influence immune cells, to identify characteristics that could be used to develop other therapeutic molecules.

A separate $2.6 million NHLBI award will enable Steinmetz to develop nanotechnology to identify deep vein thrombosesblood clotsbefore they become fatal. Deep clots can be difficult to spot until its too late, leading to tens of thousands of deaths annually in the United States. Even clots that are successfully found and disrupted often recur. According to Steinmetz, combining nanotechnology with MRIs could improve early diagnoses and guide therapeutic intervention.

We are developing a biology-derived plant virus nanotechnology, here using the tobacco mosaic virus, for molecular imaging and drug delivery. The non-invasive MRI approach will allow us to gain molecular information about the thrombus, therefore aiding prognosis, Steinmetz said. Steinmetz and her team will engineer the moleculeinjected into the bloodstream during MRIsto not only help doctors see blood clots, but also to disrupt clots and deliver medications. Said Steinmetz, By integrating imaging and therapeutic capabilities, our approach will help diagnose patients, treat the disease, and monitor disease progression over time.

Both grants begin this summer and provide funding for five years. If the projects are successful, they are eligible for renewal.

###

N.F.S. is listed as principal investigator on both NIH awards, NCI R01CA224605 and NHLBI R01HL137674.

For more information about Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, please visit: http://case.edu/medicine.

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Exploiting acidic tumor microenvironment for the development of novel cancer nano-theranostics – Medical Xpress

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June 30, 2017 Size switchable nano-theranostics constructed with decomposable inorganic nanomaterials for acidic TME targeted cancer therapy. (a) A scheme showing the preparation of HSA-MnO2-Ce6&Pt (HMCP) nanoparticles, and (b) their tumor microenvironment responsive dissociation to enable efficient intra-tumoral penetration of therapeutic albumin complexes. (c) A scheme showing the preparation of Ce6(Mn)@CaCO3-PEG, and (d) its acidic TME responsive dissociation for enhanced MR imaging and synergistic cancer therapy. Credit: Science China Press

Cancer is one of leading causes of human mortality around the world. The current mainstream cancer treatment modalities (e.g. surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy) only show limited treatment outcomes, partly owing to the complexities and heterogeneity of tumor biology. In recent decades, with the rapid advance of nanotechnology, nanomedicine has attracted increasing attention as promising for personalized medicine to enable more efficient and reliable cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Unlike normal cells energized via oxidative phosphorylation, tumor cells utilize the energy produced from oxygen-independent glycolysis for survival by adapting to insufficient tumor oxygen supply resulting from the heterogeneously distributed tumor vasculatures (also known as the Warburg effect). Via such oncogenic metabolism, tumor cells would produce a large amount of lactate along with excess protons and carbon dioxide, which collectively contribute to enhanced acidification of the extracellular TME with pH, often in the range of 6.5 to 6.8, leading to increased tumor metastasis and treatment resistance.

With rapid advances in nanotechnology, several catalogs of nanomaterials have been widely explored for the design of cancer-targeted nano-theranostics. In a new overview published in the Beijing-based National Science Review, co-authors Liangzhu Feng, Ziliang Dong, Danlei Tao, Yicheng Zhang and Zhuang Liu at the Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University in Suzhou, China present new developments in the design of novel multifunctional nano-theranostics for precision cancer nanomedicine by targeting the acidic TME and outline the potential development directions of future acidic tumor microenvironment-responsive nano-theranostics.

"Various types of pH-responsive nanoprobes have been developed to enable great signal amplification under slightly reduced pH within solid tumors. By taking the acidic TME as the target, smart imaging nanoprobes with excellent pH-responsive signal amplification would be promising to enable more sensitive and accurate tumor diagnosis," they state in the published study.

"As far as nano-therapeutics are concerned, it has been found that the acidic TME responsive surface charge reverse, PEG corona detachment and size shrinkage (or decomposition) of nanoparticles would facilitate the efficient tumor accumulation, intra-tumoral diffusion and tumor cellular uptake of therapeutics, leading to significantly improved cancer treatment. Therefore, the rational development of novel cancer-targeted nano-theranostics with sequential patterns of size switch from large to small, and surface charge reverse from neutral or slightly negative to positive within the tumor, would be more preferred for efficient tumor-targeted drug delivery."

The scientists also write, "For the translation of those interesting smart pH-responsive nano-therapeutics from bench to bedside, the formulation of those nanoscale systems should be relatively simple, reliable and with great biocompatibility, since many of those currently developed nano-theranostics were may be too complicated for clinical translation."

Explore further: Treatment with Alk5 inhibitor improves tumor uptake of imaging agents

More information: Liangzhu Feng et al, The acidic tumor microenvironment: a target for smart cancer nano-theranostics, National Science Review (2017). DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwx062

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Colon cancer nuclear pore dynamics are captured by HS-AFM – Phys.Org

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June 30, 2017 Utilization of HS-AFM enabled observation and video-imaging of structure and dynamics of FG-Nups filament, a protein complex of soft and flexible lining. The figure shows the original image of FG-Nups filament and that after processing by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and a bandpass-filter (a bandpass-filter allows permeation of certain wavelength light only). Credit: Kanazawa University

One of the key reasons for cancer mortality is the highly invasive behaviour of cancer cells, which is often due to aggressive metastasis. Metastasis is facilitated by various growth factors and cytokines secreted from cells of the immune system, which operate through various signaling pathways. Remarkably, these signaling pathways enter the nucleus through the nuclear pore complex (NPC), which is supposed to act as a doorkeeper to the nucleus. NPC is, in fact, a nanomachine consisting of multiple copies of about 30 different proteins, collectively called nucleoporin.

Although small molecules are able to go through the nuclear pores rather freely, molecules larger than 40 kDa could do so effectively only by binding to specific transporter proteins that interact with FG-Nups (nucleoporins have repeating units of two amino acids phenylalanine (F) and glycine (G), which are the tentacle proteins having specific and selecting roles in pore transportation. Although different models are proposed, how FG-Nups participates in the nucleus-cytoplasm transport remains largely unknown. Nonetheless, the concomitant assessment of nanoscopic structures and dynamics has been technically unfeasible, a situation prevailing throughout cell biology research. The direct visualization of NPC dynamics at nanoscale resolution was thought to be impossible.

The research team of Kanazawa University investigated this important issue and obtained the groundbreaking results by combined high-resolution live cell imaging, electron microscopy, and high-speed AFM (HS-AFM) which is developed by themselves to investigate the native nanoscopic spatial and temporal dynamics in NPC structures in the colon cancer cells.

First, they generated NPC stable cell lines expressing GFP (green fluorescent protein) and confirmed by fluorescent microscopy. Next, they isolated the highly purified nuclear envelope which was confirmed by the use of negative stain electron microscopy and confocal microscopy. Then, they started the observation of spatiotemporal changes at millisecond and nanometer scale of native state NPC structure in colon cancer cells by combining high resolution live cell imaging and electron microscopy. Notably, they performed the observation of living nuclear envelope and nuclear pores using HS-AFM.

The research team of Kanazawa University was, indeed, successful in imaging the dynamics of NPC proteins in cancer cells, which are the building blocks of the nuclear pore (Figure 1). MLN8237/alisertib, an apoptotic and autophagic inducer, is currently undergoing several cancer clinical trials. This drug was reported to inhibit nucleoporin expression and activities. The researchers visualized native and drug-treated FG-Nups by HS-AFM. In particular, the extended and retracted FG-Nups having a spider cobweb appearance were lost in drug-treated samples (Figure 2). The research team concluded that via HS-AFM, they visualized the deformation and loss of FG-Nups nuclear pore barrier, which might be the first nano dying code discovered in the world.

The present study by the research team of Kanazawa University enabled visualization of structure and dynamics of the nuclear membrane pore at nanometer scale, and it is shown that deformation and loss of the nuclear membrane pore barrier would be one of the dying codes of cancer cells. These findings stand for a new paradigm in our understanding of nuclear transport, which has, up to this point, remained an enigmatic problem throughout the nano-medicine and cell biology field. Current findings are based on the crowning bio-imaging technology developed at Kanazawa University. This study has medical applications including acting as a novel "nano-endoscopy" to visualize intra-cellular organelles such as the nucleus and nuclear pores, and molecular dynamics in cancer cells and other diseases.

Explore further: AFM films 'living' nuclear pore complexes at work for the first time

More information: Mahmoud Shaaban Mohamed et al, High-Speed Atomic Force Microscopy Reveals Loss of Nuclear Pore Resilience as a Dying Code in Colorectal Cancer Cells, ACS Nano (2017). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b00906

Journal reference: ACS Nano

Provided by: Kanazawa University

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High Point company to expand at Gateway University Research Park – Greensboro News & Record

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GREENSBORO A High Point-based plastic injection molding company will anchor a new building planned for Gateway University Research Park.

Core Technology Molding Corp. will move to the new site with help from a $1.2 million economic development investment grant from Greensboro, the city said Thursday in a news release.

The company will bring its headquarters and 25 jobs to the new space initially and has promised to add 25 more,John Merrill, executive director of the research park, said in early June before the company had been publicly identified.

This is a major endeavor for District 1 and East Greensboro as this project is the result of the City designating funds from the 2006 and 2016 bonds earmarked specifically for the enhancement of the east side of town, Councilwoman Sharon Hightower said in a prepared statement.

The new 70,000-square-foot building on the research park's south campus will go up next to the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering.

Construction could start as soon as August, and the building could be occupied in late 2018.

The $11.7 million, two-story building will have research labs and offices as well as manufacturing and distribution spaces. Core Technology will occupy between a third and half of the new building. The remaining spaces will be for lease.

The Gateway research park, a joint venture of N.C. A&T and UNC-Greensboro, has two campuses. TheNorth Campuscovers 75 acres along U.S. 29 near Bryan Park. TheSouth Campus, also 75 acres, sits along Gate City Boulevard near Interstate 40/85.

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 336-373-7064.

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High Point company to expand at Gateway University Research Park - Greensboro News & Record

Nanotech’s Big Ideas: From Tumor Zappers to Space Elevators – Live Science

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Artist's concept of a space elevator system, looking down at Earth from 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) up.

Some of today's biggest science innovations are happening at the smallest scales.

Nanotech "nano" is short for "nanometer," referring to length scales in billionths of a meter describes technologies that are built to perform complex tasks, but at the scale of molecules or even atoms. To put that into perspective, a structure called a nanotube is 1 nanometer in diameter about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, according to the National Nanotechnology Initiative.

Thanks to nanotech, engineers can design microprocessors for your smartphone that are smaller and more efficient than ever. In addition, gadgets in the not-too-distant future could incorporate sophisticated security safeguards powered by nanotech. Scientists are also exploring how nanotech can deliver medical treatments that target genes themselves. Or build cables strong enough to support an elevator in space, according to a panel of experts at Future Con, a conference highlighting the intersection between sci-fi and cutting-edge science that was held June 16-18 in Washington, D.C. [5 Amazing Technologies That Are Revolutionizing Biotech]

Medical researchers who are looking to build machines that can operate at the nanoscale need to "follow the blueprints of biology," Lloyd Whitman, chief scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, told the audience at the panel titled "Indistinguishable from Magic: Nanotech in Sci-Fi" on June 17.

Any type of robot crafted at the nanoscale won't look like a typical robot it'll look more like a virus, Whitman said. Evolution has already figured out how to construct functional, autonomous forms even at the microscopic level, and engineers can learn much from studying these minuscule success stories to inform their own work on particles that perform on the nanoscale, Whitman said.

Looking to viruses for inspiration can be particularly helpful for scientists investigating potential nanotech uses in medicine and human health, according to panelist Jordan Green, an associate professor of biomedical engineering, ophthalmology, oncology, neurosurgery, and materials science and engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland.

Viruses affect our genome by inserting their own genes into our cells in order to replicate themselves, Green said. Could researchers perhaps design a synthetic particle capable of delivering genetic information the same way? Particles made of non-toxic and water-soluble materials could be engineered to deliver DNA directly to cells, coding them into RNA molecules outside the nucleus, where they would be translated into proteins to convey a function, according to Green.

"This could change a cell's genetic makeup, or it could have a short-term therapeutic effect," he said.

For people with genetic diseases, such as hemophilia or cystic fibrosis, this approach could deliver healthy genes to target cells and repair the errors in their DNA that cause the disease, Green told the panel audience.

Nanotech could also inform more effective cancer treatments, Green said. A mutation in cancer cells deactivates the control switch that tells them to stop growing, but targeted gene therapy using nanoparticles could reactivate their self-destruct button, halting cancerous growths in their tracks, according to Green.

By directing nanoparticles to specific tissues and delivering precise instructions to just the right cells, "nanoengineering and nanotech in medicine can help medicines be more precise," he explained.

Nanotech could also help to realize an idea that has fascinated and stymied engineers since at least the late 19th century how to build an elevator that extends from Earth into space, Lourdes Salamanca-Riba, a professor in the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, told the Future Con audience.

In a carbon nanotube, tube-shaped material made of carbon has a diameter that can be measured on the nanometer scale one-billionth of a meter.

One type of space elevator could run up a long cable anchored at the equator and attached to a floating "base" outside Earth's atmosphere and in geosynchronous orbit, Salamanca-Riba said. The cable would need to cover approximately 10,000 miles (66,000 kilometers) in length, and it would have to be made from a substance that's exceptionally strong and light or it would collapse under its own weight, she added.

Carbon nanotubes cylindrical nanostructures made from carbon atoms are extremely strong and only one atomic layer thick, and could be a suitable material for these cables, Salamanca-Riba said.

A floating space station that's accessible by elevator would make it significantly easier for astronauts to travel to the moon or other cosmic regions, Salamanca-Riba said. And while a space elevator would be expensive to build, once in place, it would significantly reduce the cost of transporting payloads into orbit from thousands of dollars per kilogram to just a few hundred dollars per kilo, she added.

However, it may be some time before researchers can produce the thousands of miles of carbon nanotubes that would be required to tether a space elevator currently, they exist only in lengths of a few centimeters, Salamanca-Riba said at the panel.

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Local students explore science at the nanoscale in Stanford tours – Stanford University News

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Ten people get into bunny suits, many for the first time in their lives. Under the hoods, their hair is in hair nets. Goggles cover their eyes, their gloves are tucked into their sleeves. For those with facial hair, thats netted too.

Students from California State University, East Bay, watch Uli Thumser prepare silicon photovoltaic cells during a tour of the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility. (Image credit: Angela Hwang)

With all hair, lint and dust safely tucked out of the way, the students are ready to enter the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility. This particular group was part of a class from California State University, East Bay, co-taught by Ryan Smith, assistant professor of physics at CSU-EB, and Erik Helgren, associate professor and chair of physics at CSU-EB. The class visited as part of a collaboration between the two schools, designed to expose Cal State students to nanoscale science and engineering.

Many of these students have never seen a clean room. Many have an image from commercials or movies but theyve never seen one firsthand, Smith said. Having that up-close experience has been very formative for some of the students. Its helped them get a deeper picture of what science is about and how that relates to industry and technology.

In 2015, the National Science Foundation awarded $81 million to 16 nanotechnology facilities to support cost-effective access to outside scientists and engineers from schools, research institutions and companies. At Stanford University, this has helped fund the nano@Stanford initiative, which consists of the nanofabrication facility, the Stanford Nano Shared Facilities (SNSF), the Mineral Analysis Facility and the Environmental Measurements Facility.

The staff at the nano facilities has provided tours of the facilities and hands-on demonstrations of instruments for years. With this grant, staff members are boosting their outreach efforts to include summer workshops for local middle school teachers and a research collaboration with CSU-EB, a partnership that is likely to result in a journal paper in the coming months.

If you want to manipulate matter at the atomic scale, you need to work in a space that controls for tiny disruptions a person wouldnt even notice. The cleanroom suits worn by the students prevent skin and hair from being shed into the nanofabrication facility cleanroom. Other parts of the facilities are sheltered 18 feet underground to provide an environment free from unwanted vibrations, acoustics, electromagnetic interference and light for working with highly sensitive instruments, such as advanced electron microscopes. For students, direct experiences, like touring these facilities and getting hands-on practice with some of the instrumentation, can reveal what it means and what it takes to do research at such an unimaginably small scale.

When you have a transmission electron microscope and you can point to the screen and tell visiting students thats an atom, the reaction is, Whoa! said Tobi Beetz, associate director of the SNSF. Because they are familiar with atoms, it makes the scale so much more real.

The tours include educational information about nanoscience, descriptions of relevant work going on at Stanford and overviews of the wide array of equipment available to researchers. For some students, nanoscience conjures Fantastic Voyage technology that goes into the human body to fix medical problems. But tours like this can demonstrate that the field includes a broad range of research, including energy conversion, sensor technologies and information processing.

In addition to the usual facility tours, the CSU-EB visitors observed a staff member perform a hydrofluoric acid dip to remove the oxide layer, a critical step in the creation of solar cells. Immediately after, students performed four-point probe and ellipsometry measurements, processes fundamental to the fabrication of solar cells as well as computing technology. Since hydrofluoric acid is not used at CSU-EB, visiting Stanford was an opportunity for the students to learn about how the wafer processing procedure works in a state-of-the-art laboratory.

By experiencing this process, students can actually begin to see the connection between their research projects and the things that they see that are happening at Stanford, and that helps complete the picture for them about what nanoscience is about, Smith said.

The nano facilities staff believes that accessibility goes beyond physical access whether students go into the field can also be influenced by how early in their education they learn about it. Among undergraduates, outreach can be especially meaningful for transfer students because it can show them that nanoscience is a field they should consider studying, even if their first institution doesnt have classes on the subject.

Usually people transfer from community college after their second year but by the time they do that, even if they come to Stanford, its often too late to get them thinking about this kind of research, said Angela Hwang, the academic program managerfor the NSF-funded program.

The paper that Smith and the Stanford staff plan to publish will explain the details of how this interactive tour can promote student education, in this case around solar cell technology. In general, Smith said, the visits are inspiring for his students and have encouraged several to pursue careers in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Nano@Stanford provides access to world-leading facilities and expertise in nanoscale science and engineering for internal users and for external users from academic, industrial and government labs. For more information visit nanolabs.stanford.edu.

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Local students explore science at the nanoscale in Stanford tours - Stanford University News