ON AN ISLAND - DAVID GILMOUR (EARTH JOURNEY)
A visual description of our Isolation and likeness to an island that our planet has.
By: Space Flight
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Low altitude orbit achieved – Video
Low altitude orbit achieved
Space flight is crucial to wilderness survival.
By: Adam Accivatti
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The World is Educated about Ozone Depletion – Paul Newman – Video
The World is Educated about Ozone Depletion - Paul Newman
Dr. Paul Newman, Chief Scientist for Atmospheres, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
By: NASA Goddard Science
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The World is Educated about Ozone Depletion - Paul Newman - Video
Top 10 Space Stories of 2014: Readers' Choice
Really, did you have any doubt about which space story would clinch the #1 spot? The touch-down of the Rosetta missions Philae lander on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Nov. 12 was nothing short of epic. After catching up with the icy cometary mass, Rosetta carried out a series of maneuvers that set the mission up for its dramatic attempt to make a soft landing on a comet for the first time in history. But Rosetta wouldnt be landing on the comet itself. Attached to the spacecraft was Philae, a small lander. With the help of ESAs expertise on social media and continuous blog updates, Philae quickly captivated the world as the little lander that was about to conquer a massive comet. And conquer it did, but not before one of the most dramatic landings in space history. After analyzing Philaes telemetry, mission scientists realized that Philae had bounced three times before coming to rest against the slope of a crater rim. Although the lander had enough batter power for a couple of days, for the lander to survive any longer, its solar panels needed to be correctly positioned so they could charge. Sadly, Philae was caught in a shadow and after several attempts to optimize the sunlight across the solar array, Philaes batteries drained and the lander dropped into hibernation. However, Philae feverishly collected as much data as it could before power loss and scientists will be busy for some time understanding the nature of Comet 67P, the first comet a robot has ever grabbed.
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Rosetta's Landing: When Philae Grabbed a Comet
Rosetta's Philae Bounced on Landing, But Seems Healthy
Philae's Batteries Have Drained, Comet Lander Sleeps
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Space station crew enjoys holidays, preps for busy start to 2015
Taking time off for the holidays, the crew of the International Space Station is preparing for a busy start to the new year, with the arrival of a SpaceX cargo ship next week and three U.S. spacewalks in February to begin work needed to add docking ports for new commercial crew ships.
Space station commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore celebrated his 52nd birthday Monday, enjoying gifts from his crewmates, including a bag of Reese's Pieces candy from flight engineer Terry Virts, and congratulatory notes from flight controllers around the world.
While there is no champagne on board to celebrate the New Year holiday in space, "we'll break open a grapefruit juice or tropical punch, whatever we have on board," Wilmore told CBS News Tuesday in a space-to-ground interview.
"And the birthday yesterday was very special, my crewmates made it very special for me, mission controls across the globe made it very special, they actually sang to me, sent me some cards, so it was a great day. Great and very memorable."
Floating in the U.S. segment of the station, joined by European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, Wilmore said his New Year's resolution was to pay more attention to experiment instructions and procedures to avoid mistakes.
"One thing you think about constantly is, don't let me mess this up!" he said. "Because there are people on the ground who put a lot of effort into getting it up here and we don't want to be the ones to mess it up. So my New Year's resolution is to try to pay better attention to every step of every procedure so we get it all right."
Launched Sept. 25, Wilmore, a shuttle veteran, has spent the past three-and-a-half months aboard the station. Cristoforetti, making her first spaceflight, arrived Nov. 23. She said her New Year's resolution is to spend more time shooting video to share the experience of spaceflight with the public.
One aspect of spaceflight that is difficult to share is the sensation of weightlessness. While she expected spectacular views of Earth, Cristoforetti said living in microgravity was much more thrilling than she anticipated.
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Astronaut Chris Hadfield provides some end of year motivation about invention, innovation and the spirit of being optimistic about the year ahead...
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Space station crew enjoys holidays, preps for busy start to 2015
The Years Most Awesome Photos of Space
Rocky planets like Earth start out as microscopic bits of dust tinier than a grain of sand, or so theories predict.
Astronomers using the National Science Foundations (NSF) Green Bank Telescope (GBT) have discovered that filaments of star-forming gas near the Orion Nebula may be brimming with pebble-size particles -- planetary building blocks 100 to 1,000 times larger than the dust grains typically found around protostars. If confirmed, these dense ribbons of rocky material may well represent a new, mid-size class of interstellar particles that could help jump-start planet formation.
"The large dust grains seen by the GBT would suggest that at least some protostars may arise in a more nurturing environment for planets," said Scott Schnee, an astronomer with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Charlottesville, Virginia. "After all, if you want to build a house, its best to start with bricks rather than gravel, and something similar can be said for planet formation."
The new GBT observations extend across the northern portion of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, a star-forming region that includes the famed Orion Nebula. The star-forming material in the section studied by the GBT, called OMC-2/3, has condensed into long, dust-rich filaments. The filaments are dotted with many dense knots known as cores. Some of the cores are just starting to coalesce while others have begun to form protostars -- the first early concentrations of dust and gas along the path to star formation. Astronomers speculate that in the next 100,000 to 1 million years, this area will likely evolve into a new star cluster. The OMC-2/3 region is located approximately 1,500 light-years from Earth and is roughly 10 light-years long.
Based on earlier maps of this region made with the IRAM 30 meter radio telescope in Spain, the astronomers expected to find a certain brightness to the dust emission when they observed the filaments at slightly longer wavelengths with the GBT.
Instead, the GBT discovered that the area was shining much brighter than expected in millimeter-wavelength light.
"This means that the material in this region has different properties than would be expected for normal interstellar dust, noted Schnee. In particular, since the particles are more efficient than expected at emitting at millimeter wavelengths, the grains are very likely to be at least a millimeter, and possibly as large as a centimeter across, or roughly the size of a small Lego-style building block."
Though incredibly small compared to even the most modest of asteroids, dust grains on the order of a few millimeters to a centimeter are incredibly large for such young star-forming regions. Due to the unique environment in the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, the researchers propose two intriguing theories for their origin.
The first is that the filaments themselves helped the dust grains grow to such unusual proportions. These regions, compared to molecular clouds in general, have lower temperatures, higher densities, and lower velocities -- all of which would encourage grain growth.
The second scenario is that the rocky particles originally grew inside a previous generation of cores or perhaps even protoplanetary disks. The material could then have escaped back into the surrounding molecular cloud rather than becoming part of the original newly forming star system.
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Integer-N PLL suits commercial space applications.
With Improved Phase Noise and Unmatched Radiation Performance the PE97240 Builds Upon the Successful Space Heritage of Peregrine's PLL Products
SAN DIEGO, Peregrine Semiconductor Corp., founder of RF SOI (silicon on insulator) and pioneer of advanced RF solutions, announces the UltraCMOS PE97240, an integer-N phase-locked loop (PLL) that offers superior phase noise performance for signal precision and frequency stability. Designed for commercial space applications, the PE97240 is radiation tolerant to 100 krad (Si) total ionizing dose (TID) that allows the part to perform for 10 or more years in harsh space conditions. Built on Peregrine's UltraCMOS technology on a sapphire substrate, the PLL is naturally radiation hardened and immune to single-event latch-up (SEL).
"Peregrine has a proud heritage of over 15 years of space-flight PLL products," says Kinana Hussain, senior marketing manager. "Our space customers trust the high reliability of UltraCMOS products, and PE97240 extends our successful PLL product family with improved phase-noise and superior rad-hard performance."
Peregrine's PE97240 Attains Industry-Leading Phase Noise Performance for Space Applications Peregrine's PLL has an integer-N frequency synthesizer that generates multiple output frequencies from a single reference input frequency. This divided down output enables reference and phase detection at lower frequency, and it handles both frequency and phase lock. With PLLs phase noise is an important measure of the signal's spectral purity. Superior phase-noise performance significantly reduces phase jitter and noise, which offers RF engineers high signal precision and solid frequency stability. Phase noise is a product of thermal noise - expressed by the floor figure of merit (FOM(floor)) - and low-frequency flicker noise - expressed by the flicker figure of merit (FOM(flicker)) - within the system. The PE97240 achieves an industry-leading maximum FOM(floor) of -227 dBc/Hz with the 5/6 prescaler and -225 dBc/Hz with the 10/11 prescaler; the PLL also sets the bar with a FOM(flicker) of -265 dBc/Hz with the 5/6 prescaler and -259 dBc/Hz with the 10/11 prescaler.
Features, Packaging, Pricing and Availability Peregrine's UltraCMOS PE97240 is a rad-hard PLL designed for high-reliability space applications. It consists of a dual modulus prescaler, counters, a phase detector and control logic. The component can perform with high reliability due to its 100 krad (Si) TID radiation tolerance. The frequency range is 4 GHz in 5/6 prescaler modulus and 5 GHz in 10/11 prescaler modulus. The PLL has a low power consumption of 75 microamperes at 2.7V, enabling RF engineers to better allocate power resources, and its counter values are programmable through a serial interface or by directly hard-wiring. In addition, the component is immune to single-event latch-up (SEL) due to heavy ions in radioactive environments. Offered in a RoHS compliant, 44-lead, hermetically sealed CQFP package, the PE97240 is available now.
Visit Peregrine's newsroom for a product image and datasheet.
The Peregrine Semiconductor name, logo, and UltraCMOS are registered trademarks of Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation in the U.S.A., and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
Editorial Contact: Elizabeth Brown Peregrine Semiconductor Phone: 619.993.4648 pr@psemi.com
Web Site: http://www.psemi.com
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Protesters detained after rally near Moscow's Red Square
MOSCOW (AP) 18 protesters, including members of the punk provocateur band Pussy Riot, have been detained in Moscow after spending the night near the Red Square.
Pussy Riot member Maria Alekhina said on Twitter that she and other protesters who stayed the night near the famous Moscow landmark were detained by police early Wednesday.
Activists at the OVD Info group said 18 people were taken to a nearby police station.
A few thousand people rallied outside the Red Square on Tuesday in the boldest anti-government demonstration in years to protest against the court conviction of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his brother. Police allowed the protesters to stay for about two hours before dispersing the crowd.
OVD Info said over 200 people were also arrested on Tuesday although many have been released.
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ACM awards best red carpet style: Taylor Swift, Shakira and more
Singer-songwriters Taylor Swift and Shakira were among the stars who turned out for Sunday night's (April 6) Academy of Country Music (ACM) awards in Las Vegas.
Winners at the 49th annual ceremony included Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban and Tim McGraw - but who made an impression on the red carpet? Here's our style round-up from the red carpet at the MGM Grand Garden Hotel:
Jason Merritt/Getty Images
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ACM awards best red carpet style: Taylor Swift, Shakira and more
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in a new avatar
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The worlds most beautiful woman, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is known to turn heads with her trendsetting looks on and off the red carpet. For years, she has portrayed various characters across movies and television commercials with unique style statements. She was recently spotted in a never seen before avatar. The leading actress was seen flaunting a unique new cropped look for the launch of a product range. As always, Aishwarya sported this cropped look with panache.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchans top 10 looks that won our hearts
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Aishwarya Rai is counted among the most beautiful women alive on earth and not many doubt this fact. The epitome of beauty who won the Miss World crown two decades ago is still the queen of millions of hearts. Now a mother of a school-going daughter Aaradhya, Aishwarya has moved ahead in life and is all set to make a comeback with the film Jazbaa post motherhood. The diva, who is now in her 40s, has also completed two decades in the spotlight since her win at the Miss World contest. Check out her various avatars that won our hearts in the past years.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchans top 10 looks that won our hearts
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Aishwarya has proved her worth on-screen and has pulled almost every kind of role and attire with excellence. The diva is known for her elegant fashion sense off screen and has sizzled in all types of costumes on the silver screen. From her retro parallels in Action Replayy and skirt-tops in Robot and Khakee, Aishwarya has set fashion standards with her silver screen appearances.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchans top 10 looks that won our hearts
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NASA Wrench – 3D printing – Video
NASA Wrench - 3D printing
http://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/wrench-mis.
By: liran shoval
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Actress Jessica Chastain Looks into the Future of Space Exploration – Video
Actress Jessica Chastain Looks into the Future of Space Exploration
There is momentum building as human discovery goes even further into interstellar space. Recently astronomers from the Kepler mission discovered Earth-size planets in the habitable zone. Meanwhile ...
By: NASA
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Actress Jessica Chastain Looks into the Future of Space Exploration - Video
NaSa vs CL – Video
Space Station Crew Members Discuss Life in Space at Holidays with the Media – Video
Space Station Crew Members Discuss Life in Space at Holidays with the Media
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Commander Barry Wilmore of NASA and Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency discussed their research activities.
By: NASA
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Space Station Crew Members Discuss Life in Space at Holidays with the Media - Video
NASA Tries to Nurse More Life Out of Opportunity Rover
The rover has been trudging across Mars for more than a decade and is starting to fail.
NASA mission controllers are scrambling to get some extra life out of the Mars exploration rover Opportunity with a workaround that cuts off access to a failed flash memory bank that's causing the probe to suffer "amnesia" when it reboots.
Opportunity has been operating on Mars for more than a decaderemarkable, given its primary mission beginning in 2004 was only meant to last three months. The plucky little crawler set an off-Earth roving distance record earlier this year, while another NASA rover, Spirit, went kaput after just six years of exploring the surface of the Red Planet.
Spirit and Opportunity have the same basic mission-control computers and the latter rover's systems are finally starting to show some serious wear-and-tear after years in the harsh Martian elements, according to NASA.
Opportunity has seven banks of Flash memory, which it uses for long-term storage of data collected during a day's work and transferred from its volatile RAM cells. The rover goes to sleep at night and when it wakes up, it's supposed to send data stored in its Flash banks to the Mars Odyssey satellite orbiting in the skies above.
But NASA scientists discovered recently that one of the Flash memory banks has failed completely, causing Opportunity to forget its orders to transmit data to Odyssey when it comes out of a sleep cycle.
That caused periodic bouts of "amnesia," where Opportunity lost data and had to be reset by mission controllers on Earth, NASA told Discovery News.
"The problems started off fairly benign, but now they've become more seriousmuch like an illness, the symptoms were mild, but now with the progression of time things have become more serious," Mars Exploration Rover project manager John Callas, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., told the site.
"So now we're having these events we call 'amnesia,' which is the rover trying to use the flash memory, but it wasn't able to, so instead it uses the RAM," Callas continued. "[I]t stores telemetry data in that volatile memory, but when the rover goes to sleep and wakes up again, all [the data) is gone. So that's why we call it amnesiait forgets what it has done."
Over the holidays, the rover began exhibiting a new and potentially mission-ending error. Callas explained that Opportunity is stuck in a loop of trying to reboot itself, because it can't save any data to its Flash storage cells. For a while, it wasn't communicating with Earth at all but has since begun replying to commands sent by the JPL team.
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NASA Readies Dawn Probe for Ceres Approach
The spacecraft is approaching Ceres, the next destination in its multi-year tour of the giants of the asteroid belt.
NASA's Dawn spacecraft is approaching Ceres, the next destination in its multi-year tour of the giants of the asteroid belt.
Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. have programmed Dawn for its approach phase, putting it on pace to arrive at Ceres on March 6, 2015, the space agency said.
Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt, is considered a dwarf planet. It's never been visited by a spacecraft before. When Dawn enters the orbit of Ceres this March, it will mark the probe's second such visit to a previously unexplored asteroid belt object.
The Texas-sized dwarf planet has an average diameter of 590 miles. Dawn previously rendezvoused with the protoplanet Vesta, with a diameter averaging 326 miles, the second-biggest body in the collection of small, rocky objects and debris between Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft spent 14 months orbiting Vesta after arriving in July 2011, capturing close-up imagery of the asteroid.
In just a few months, scientists working on the Dawn mission hope to receive evidence from the probe confirming whether a theory that Ceres possesses an "ocean" under its icy crust is accurate, NASA said.
"Ceres is almost a complete mystery to us," UCLA's Christopher Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission, said in a statement. "Ceres, unlike Vesta, has no meteorites linked to it to help reveal its secrets. All we can predict with confidence is that we will be surprised."
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NASA's plan for a floating city above Venus
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Editor's note: Tomorrow Transformed explores innovative approaches and opportunities available in business and society through technology.
(CNN) -- Imagine a blimp city floating 30 miles above the scorching surface of Venus -- a home for a team of astronauts studying one of the solar system's most inhospitable planets.
NASA is currently doing just that; floating a concept that could one day see a 30-day manned mission to Earth's closest planetary neighbor.
Eventually, the mission could involve a permanent human presence suspended above the planet.
Deep heat
Also known as the morning star, and named after the goddess of love and beauty because it shone the brightest of the five planets known to ancient astronomers, Venus is a hot, sulphurous, hellish place whose surface has more volcanoes than any other planet in the solar system.
With a mean temperature of 462 degrees Celsius (863 degrees Fahrenheit), an atmospheric pressure 92 times greater than Earth's and a cloud layer of sulphuric acid, even probes to Venus have lasted little more than two hours. Its surface is hot enough to melt lead and its atmospheric pressure is the equivalent of diving a mile underwater.
But above this cauldron of carbon dioxide at an altitude of 50km (30 miles) scientists say the conditions are as close to Earth's as you'll find anywhere in the solar system.
The gravity at this altitude is only slightly lower than that of Earth, its atmospheric pressure is similar and the aerospace provides enough protection from solar radiation to make it no more dangerous than taking a trip to Canada.
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NASA sees heaviest rainfall north of Tropical Cyclone Kate's eye
IMAGE:The TRMM satellite flew over Kate on Dec. 30, 2015 at 0542 UTC. Kate was generating heavy rain (1.2 inches per hour) north of the center (in red). TRMM data... view more
As Tropical Cyclone Kate continues moving southwest through the Southern Indian Ocean, NASA/JAXA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite passed overhead on Dec. 30 and measured the rainfall rates happening throughout the storm. Kate had strengthened since Dec. 29 and developed an eye.
The TRMM satellite flew over Kate on Dec. 30, 2015 at 0542 UTC (12:42 a.m. EST/U.S.). TRMM found that Kate was generating the heaviest rainfall rate of about 1.2 inches per hour north of the center as the storm strengthened. TRMM data showed that rainfall rates around 1 inch per hour circled the center of the storm, with weaker rainfall rates in the southeastern quadrant of the storm.
At the Naval Research Laboratory, the TRMM rainfall rate data was overlaid on visible imagery from Europe's METEO-7 satellite to provide an entire picture of the storm that showed the rainfall and clouds. The METEO-7 satellite data showed that Kate maintained a circular shape and had a large band of thunderstorms wrapping into the center from the western quadrant.
At 1500 UTC (10 a.m. EST) on Dec. 30, Tropical Cyclone Kate's winds had increased to 105 knots (120.8 mph/194.5 kph). Kate's cloud-filled 5 nautical-mile-wide (5.7 mile/9.2 km) eye was centered near 8.2 south latitude and 89.1 east longitude, about 555 nautical miles (639 miles/1,029 km) south-southwest of Cocos Island, Australia. It was moving to the south-southwest at 10 knots (11.5 mph/18.5 kph).
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) noted that Kate will continue to track around the southwestern edge of a subtropical ridge (elongated area) of high pressure that is situated over Western Australia. JTWC forecasters expect Kate to begin weakening as it moves through cooler waters in the next couple of days, and dissipate within four days.
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Rob Gutro NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
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NASA sees heaviest rainfall north of Tropical Cyclone Kate's eye
NASA Education Express Message — Dec. 30, 2014
Space Shuttle Thermal Protective Tiles Available for Educational UseNASA invites eligible U.S. educational institutions and museums to request space shuttle thermal protective tiles and other special items offered on a first-come, first-served basis while quantities last. Organizations previously allocated thermal protective tiles may request an additional three tiles.There will be a nominal shipping fee that must be paid online with a credit card. To make a request for special items online, visithttp://gsaxcess.gov/htm/nasa/userguide/Special_Item_Request_Procedure.pdf.Questions about this opportunity should be directed toGSAXcessHelp@gsa.gov.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2014-2015 FIRST Robotic CompetitionsThe FIRST Robotics Competition challenges teams of young people and their mentors to create a robot designed to solve a common problem in a six-week timeframe. Teams experience the entire engineering life cycle while building robots to compete in games that change every year. FIRST Robotics Competition teams are composed of high school students, with professional engineers acting as mentors. Additional FIRST programs are available for students of ages 6-18.FIRST is a national organization founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen in Manchester, New Hampshire, to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and technical fields.The FRC Kickoff, the official start of the FIRST Robotics Competition design-and-build season, is set forJan. 3, 2015. Teams have the opportunity to meet at local kickoff events to compare notes, get ideas, make friends, find mentoring teams, learn the game, pick up the Kit of Parts and get geared up for the exciting competition season. To find kickoff events in your area, visithttp://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/kickoff.For more information about FIRST Robotics and to register your team to participate, visithttp://www.usfirst.org/.Questions about FIRST Robotics should be submitted viahttp://www.usfirst.org/contactform.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________2015 NASA and Worcester Polytechnic Institute Sample Return Robot ChallengeNASA and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, are seeking teams to compete in a robot technology demonstration competition with a potential $1.5 million prize purse.During the Sample Return Robot Challenge, teams will compete to demonstrate a robot that can locate and retrieve geologic samples from a wide and varied terrain without human control. The objective of the competition is to encourage innovations in automatic navigation and robotic manipulator technologies. Innovations stemming from this challenge may improve NASA's capability to explore a variety of destinations in space, as well as enhance the nation's robotic technology for use in industries and applications on Earth.The competition is planned for June 8-13, 2015, in Worcester, and is anticipated to attract hundreds of competitors from industry and academia nationwide.Registration is open untilJan. 6, 2015.For more information about the Sample Return Robot Challenge and to register online for the competition, visithttp://challenge.wpi.edu.The Centennial Challenges program is part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in NASA's future missions. For more information about NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, visithttp://www.nasa.gov/spacetech.Questions about the Sample Return Robot Challenge should be sent tochallenge@wpi.edu.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2015 NASA Human Exploration Rover ChallengeNASA has opened team registration for the 2015 NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge. Organized by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the event will be held April 16-18, 2015, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, also in Huntsville.The challenge engages high school, college and university students in hands-on, experiential learning activities, while also testing potential technologies needed for future deep space exploration. Both U.S. and international teams may register to participate. For U.S. teams, registration closesFeb. 6, 2015. Registration for international teams closesJan. 9, 2015.Student teams participating in the Rover Challenge must design, engineer and test a human-powered rover on a mock course designed to simulate the harsh and demanding terrains future NASA explorers may find on distant planets, moons and asteroids.For more information on the 2015 Human Exploration Rover Challenge and registration, visithttp://go.nasa.gov/14dikMF.
Follow the Rover Challenge on social media for the latest news and updates:https://www.facebook.com/roverchallenge?ref=hlhttps://twitter.com/RoverChallengehttp://instagram.com/nasa_marshall.
View images from the 2014 Rover Challenge athttp://go.nasa.gov/1iEjGRp.International teams with questions about this event or registration may email Amy McDowell atAmy.McDowell@nasa.gov. U.S. teams with questions may contact Diedra Williams atMSFC-RoverChallenge2015@mail.nasa.gov.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2015 RASC-AL Aerospace Concepts Design CompetitionNASA and the National Institute of Aerospace announce the 2015 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts-Academic Linkage, or RASC-AL, Aerospace Concepts competition. RASC-AL is a design project competition for university-level engineering students and faculty.The 2015 RASC-AL contest challenges participants to design projects based on real NASA problems, responding to one of four themes:-- Earth-Independent Mars Pioneering Architecture-- Earth-Independent Lunar Pioneering Architecture-- Mars' Moons Prospector Mission-- Large-Scale Mars Entry, Decent and Landing Pathfinder MissionConcepts derived from the design projects could potentially be implemented by NASA.Teams must submit an abstract for their proposed project byJan. 11, 2015. The RASC-AL Steering Committee of NASA and industry experts will evaluate the proposals and select as many as 11 undergraduate and five graduate teams to compete against each other at a forum in June 2015 in Florida.The RASC-AL competition is open to full-time undergraduate or graduate students majoring in engineering or science at an accredited university. University design teams must include one faculty or industry advisor with a university affiliation and two or more undergraduate or graduate students. A group of universities may also collaborate on a design project entry. Multidisciplinary teams are encouraged.For more information about this competition, visithttp://nianet.org/RASCAL.If you have questions about this competition, please contact Stacy Dees atstacy.dees@nianet.orgor Shelley Spears atShelley.Spears@nianet.org.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2014-2015 NASA Goddard OPTIMUS PRIME Spinoff ChallengeNASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is launching the 2014-2015 TRANSFORMERS OPTIMUS PRIME Spinoff Challenge, hosted by the Innovative Technology Partnerships Office. The purpose of the challenge is to raise awareness of NASA's Technology Transfer Program and to inspire interest in all NASA missions, programs and projects.This year the scope of the contest is being expanded to include two challenges. In the first challenge, students in grades 3-12 are asked to submit a video describing their favorite NASA Goddard spinoff. In a new twist, participants in this years contest must also use the engineering design process to develop and propose a new spinoff application of their own for the technology. Spinoffs are technologies originally created for space and modified into everyday products used on Earth. Examples include memory foam, invisible braces and scratch-resistant lenses for eyeglasses.The second challenge, the TRANSFORMERS OPTIMUS PRIME InWorld Challenge, offers students in grades 6-12 an opportunity to take their video spinoff ideas to another level. Interested teams must study James Webb Space Telescope spinoff technology and post their completed spinoff videos for review by college engineering students. Engineering college mentors will select 20 teams to continue the collaborative design process within a multiuser virtual world to build a 3-D model of the teams design solutions.Winning students from each grade category will be invited to Goddard to participate in a behind-the-scenes workshop, attend a VIP awards ceremony and meet actor Peter Cullen, the voice of OPTIMUS PRIME.The deadline to register and upload videos isJan. 12, 2015.For more information, visithttp://itpo.gsfc.nasa.gov/optimus/.Questions about this contest should be directed to Darryl Mitchell atDarryl.R.Mitchell@nasa.gov.TRANSFORMERS and OPTIMUS PRIME are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission. 2014 Hasbro. All rights reserved.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Free Program -- Cubes in SpaceTMidoodlelearning is offering two flight opportunities as part of the Cubes in Space program. A free science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics, or STEAM, program for students ages 11-18, Cubes in Space provides opportunities for students to design and compete to launch experiments into space.In partnership with Colorado Space Grant Consortium as part of the RockSat-C program, experiments will be launched via a sounding rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia, in late June 2015. This opportunity is open to U.S. and international students 11-14 years of age.Through partnership with NASA Langley Research Center, a second flight opportunity is offered on a zero-pressure scientific balloon to be launched from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico, in September 2015. The Science Missions Directorate Astrophysics division manages the NASA scientific balloon program; Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia oversees Balloon Flight Operations. This opportunity is open to students 11-18 years of age who are U.S. citizens.Using formal or informal learning environments, students and educators will learn about the methodology for taking an idea from design through the review process. Throughout the experience, students will acquire key 21st century skills necessary for success in a highly connected, global society.The deadline for program registration isJan. 12, 2015.For more information, visithttp://www.CubesInSpace.com.Questions about this program should be directed toinfo@cubesinspace.com.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Apply for the 2015 Summer NASA Academies -- WebinarThe NASA Minority Innovation Challenges Institute, or MICI, is hosting a special webinar onJan. 15, 2015, at 3 p.m. EST, which will provide undergraduate students details on how they can apply for admission into a 2015 NASA Summer Academy. The NASA Academy is not a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. summer research internship program. It is a rigorous, immersive 10-week experience that will challenge the participants and push them outside their comfort zones. It offers interns an intense learning experience. The NASA Academies at NASA centers have different areas of focus, including space, aerospace, robotics, aeronautics and propulsion.The NASA Academy curriculum combines a valuable research experience with a residential leadership development experience. Academy participants, known as research associates, or RAs, spend four days per week working full time on an individual research project with a NASA scientist or engineer, called their principal investigator. These projects offer a challenging learning experience in which the RAs do hands-on research side by side with their mentors. Projects are typically cutting-edge topics that teach the RAs about the latest in NASA research and development. The RAs demonstrate the progress of their research in the annual Intern Poster Expo. The academies conclude with final oral presentations and a graduate ceremony.To sign up for this webinar, and gain access to MICI's other free webinars, visithttp://nasamici.com/upcoming-sessions.Questions about this opportunity should be directed to Mary Baker atmary@nasamici.com.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NASA's ESTEEM "Ask US" Online Professional Development SeriesNASA's Minority University Research and Education Program, or MUREP, is sponsoring a series of Google Plus Hangout professional development events for K-12 educators. The Earth Systems, Technology and Energy Education for MUREP, or ESTEEM, team will lead monthly sessions covering a variety of climate topics. This month's webinar topic is:Communicating Climate Change: Mind the Gap -- Jan. 15, 2015, at 4:30 p.m. ESTAlthough 97 percent of active climate scientists agree that the earth is warming due to human activities, some polls have found that only 44 percent of Americans share this view. As an educator, you are likely to encounter people who have received information that conflicts with the accepted climate science. This session will help you better understand Americans' perceptions of climate change and provide tips for better communicating climate science.Certificates of professional development hours are available upon request.For more information on this event and upcoming webinar sessions, visithttps://nice.larc.nasa.gov/asknice/. Questions about this series should be sent to Bonnie Murray atbonnie.murray@nasa.gov.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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NASA sees a weaker Tropical Depression Jangmi slide into Sulu Sea
IMAGE:When NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Jangmi on Dec. 30 at 12:50 a.m. EST the center of the storm had moved into the Sulu Sea, located to the west of... view more
Credit: Image Credit: NASA/NRL
Tropical storm Jangmi, known in the Philippines as "Seniang" weakened to a tropical depression as it moved into the Sulu Sea and NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of the storm that showed its eastern side was still affecting the central and northern Philippines on Dec. 30.
When NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Jangmi on Dec. 30 at 5:50 UTC (12:50 a.m. EST), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument, took a visible picture of the storm. The MODIS image showed that the center of the storm had moved into the Sulu Sea, located to the west of the Philippines, but the storm's eastern quadrant was still spreading clouds, rains and gusty winds over the Visayas and Luzon regions (central and northern) of the Philippines.
By 1500 UTC (10 a.m. EST) Jangmi's maximum sustained winds dropped to 30 knots (35.5 mph/55.5 kph). However, once it passes Palawan, forecasters at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center expect Jangmi to re-strengthen into a tropical storm for a couple of days before weakening again. Jangmi was centered near 9.9 north latitude and 120.0 east longitude, about 95 nautical miles (109.3 miles/175.9 km) northeast of Puerto Princesa, Philippines. It was moving to the west-southwest at 8 knots (9.2 mph/14.8 kph).
Jangmi is expected to continue moving toward Palawan, and into the South China Sea. The extended forecast track takes the storm to landfall in the Malayan peninsula by January 4, 2015.
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Rob Gutro NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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NASA sees a weaker Tropical Depression Jangmi slide into Sulu Sea