Space Station Laser Link Blasts Broadband Data from Orbit

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A new laser link with the International Space Station could do what optical fiber has done for internet access on Earth by turning orbital communications from painfully slow dial-up to blazing-fast broadband.

In recent tests of the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) instrument, which is attached to the space stations exterior, NASA scientists and engineers have demonstrated that laser communications, as opposed to traditional radio transmissions, could revolutionize how we communicate with space-based assets.

NEWS: Pew! Pew! Space Lasers to Give Missions Broadband

OPALS has shown that space-to-ground laser communications transmissions are practical and repeatable, said Matthew Abrahamson, OPALS mission manager at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. As a bonus, OPALS has collected an enormous amount of data to advance the science of sending lasers through the atmosphere. We look forward to continuing our testing of this technology, which sends information to and from space faster than with radio signals.

OPALS was delivered to the ISS in April by a SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle and it has since completed the first 4 months of its prime mission. In an effort to minimize the impact of atmospheric turbulence on data loss, OPALS uses 4 individual lasers and average out the data received by the Optical Communications Telescope Laboratorys ground station at JPLs Table Mountain Observatory in Wrightwood, Calif. The next big step for system development is the use of adaptive optics to dynamically compensate for this turbulence.

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Four lasers from the ground station travel through the sky toward the space station. Under clear, dark background conditions, its very easy for the payload to acquire the ground beacon. Daylight conditions have proven more challenging, but we are working on increasing capabilities during the day as well, through software enhancements, said Abrahamson.

According to a JPL news release, some of the landmark transmissions included:

All in all, OPALS is proving laser communications between the Earth and orbit could transform how we transmit data into space, but the biggest challenge to this method is, of course, the weather.

VIDEO: This Isnt CGI, Its The International Space Station

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Space Station Laser Link Blasts Broadband Data from Orbit

Send Your Computer Code Into Space with British ESA Astronaut Tim Peake

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Leading UK space organisations have joined forces with British ESA Astronaut Tim Peake and Raspberry Pi to offer students a chance to devise and code their own apps or experiment to run in space. Two Raspberry Pi computers are planned to be flown to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Tims 6 month mission and both will be connected to a new Astro Pi board, loaded with a host of sensors and gadgets.

Launched today (10 Dec 2014) at an event held by the UK Space Agency, the Astro Pi competition will be officially opened at the BETT conference (21-24 January) and will be open to all primary and secondary school aged children who are resident in the United Kingdom. The competition will be supported by a comprehensive suite of teaching resources that are being developed by ESERO-UK and Raspberry Pi.

During his mission, Tim Peake plans to deploy the Astro Pi computers in a number of different locations on board the ISS. He will then load up the winning code whilst in orbit, set them running, collect the data generated and then download this to Earth where it will be distributed to the winning teams.

Speaking at the Astro Pi launch event, Dr David Parker, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, also revealed that the UK Space Agency has been given a 2 million programme, as part of the Chancellors Autumn Statement, to support further outreach activities around Tims mission, particularly to help inspire interest in STEM subjects.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said:

So much technology relies on big data but not enough people are being trained in this field. This challenge helps the next generation to have fun whilst learning the skills that industry need.

Creating tomorrows engineers is part of our industrial strategy that gives a long term commitment to world-class skills.

Tim Peake added:

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Send Your Computer Code Into Space with British ESA Astronaut Tim Peake

Space Station Live: Improving Everyday Products on Earth through the ISS – Video

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Space Station Live: Improving Everyday Products on Earth through the ISS
NASA Commentator Lori Meggs at the Marshall Space Flight Center speaks with Matthew Lynch, the principal scientist at Procter Gamble about colloidal research on the International Space Station...

By: Waspie_Dwarf

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Space Station Live: Improving Everyday Products on Earth through the ISS - Video

The Science Of Magnetic Reconnection

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Provided by Karen C. Fox, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center

Understanding vast systems in space requires understanding whats happening on widely different scales. Giant events can turn out to have tiny drivers take, for example, what rocked near-Earth space in October 2003. On Oct. 28, 2003, and again on Oct. 29, massive solar flares erupted on the sun, sending X-rays zooming through the solar system. Along with the flares, the sun expelled giant clouds of solar material, called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. The CMEs slammed into Earths magnetic field pushed material and energy in toward Earth. This created whats called a geomagnetic storm.

[ Watch the Video: MMS Science Overview: The Many Mysteries Of MMS ]

The Halloween Storms, as they have come to be called, triggered brilliant aurora that could be seen over much of North America reaching as far south as Texas. But they also interfered with GPS signals and radio communications, and caused the Federal Aviation Administration to issue their first ever warning to airlines to avoid excess radiation by flying at low altitudes.

Every step leading to these intense storms the flare, the CME, the transfer of energy from the CME to Earths magnetosphere was ultimately driven by the catalyst of magnetic reconnection. This little understood process can occur in thin layers just miles thick. Yet it can accelerate particles up to nearly the speed of light and can initiate giant eruptions from the sun many times the size of Earth. The effects of reconnection have been observed in space, but the actual reconnection process has only been observed in the laboratory.

In March 2015, NASA will launch a new mission to study magnetic reconnection. The Magnetospheric Multiscale, or MMS, mission will be the first ever mission dedicated to studying this universal process by orbiting Earth to pass directly through nearby magnetic reconnection regions and to observe the minute details of such events.

Reconnection occurs wherever charged gases, called plasma, are present. Its rare on Earth, but plasma makes up 99% of the visible universe. Plasma fuels stars and fills the near vacuum of space. Plasmas behave unlike what we regularly experience on Earth because they travel with their own set of magnetic fields entrapped in the material. Changing magnetic fields affect the way charged particles move and vice versa, so the net effect is a complex, constantly-adjusting system that is sensitive to minute variations.

Under normal conditions, the magnetic field lines inside plasmas dont break or merge with other field lines. But sometimes, as field lines get close to each other, the entire pattern changes and everything realign into a new configuration. The amount of energy released can be formidable. Magnetic reconnection taps into the stored energy of the magnetic field, converting it into heat and kinetic energy that sends particles streaming out along the field lines.

Scientists want to know exactly what conditions, what tipping points, trigger magnetic reconnection events. Much of what we currently know about the small-scale physics of magnetic reconnection comes from theoretical studies, computer models, and laboratory experiments. True understanding, however, requires observing magnetic reconnection up close so MMS will take its measurements in Earths own magnetosphere, an ideal natural laboratory in which reconnection can be observed under a wide range of conditions.

Orbiting Earth, MMS will pass through known areas of magnetic reconnection. During its first phase it will travel through reconnection sites on the sun side of Earth. Here the interplanetary magnetic field connects with Earths magnetic field, transferring particles, momentum and energy to the magnetosphere via magnetic reconnection. During the second phase of its mission, MMS will observe reconnection on the night side of Earth, where that connected field flows around both sides of Earth to a second reconnection point in whats known as the magnetotail, where they then disconnect.

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The Science Of Magnetic Reconnection

J.Crew Hires 4-Year-Old Blogger Mayhem to Create a New Collection: See Her Designs With Jenna Lyons

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Heads up, slackers: A preschool kid just nabbed the job of a lifetime.

After recreating 2014's hottest red carpet looks including Jennifer Lawrence's strapless Dior confection and Lupita Nyong'o's breathtaking Ralph Lauren cape dress with just tape and construction paper, blogger Mayhem landed a job at J.Crew. The catch: she's just 4 years old.

PHOTOS: Lupita's red carpet style

Mayhem's mom (and also her assistant paper dress maker), Angie Keiser, shared news that J.Crew's Executive Creative Director Jenna Lyons hired her talented offspring to design a kids collection for the brand's Crewcuts line, to be released during the Summer 2015 season.

PHOTOS: Jennifer Lawrence's best dresses

J. Crew's Jenna Lyons checks out one of Mayhem's designs. Credit: Bryan Derballa courtesy of J.Crew

"I remember reading the email [from Lyons] and being certain it was a setup," Angie shared via her blog on Dec. 9. "As in, its probably some kind of wicked virus that if I reply to it, my laptop will explode or at the very least melt before my eyes. (My thinking is irrational on occasion.)"

After obviously replying yes to Lyons' inquiry email, the mother-daughter duo were off to go make a collection in New York City.

PHOTOS: 10 best stars at the 2014 Golden Globes

Mayhem styles one of her J.Crew Crewcuts models. Credit: Bryan Derballa courtesy of J.Crew

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J.Crew Hires 4-Year-Old Blogger Mayhem to Create a New Collection: See Her Designs With Jenna Lyons

NASA Armstrong and JPL team up to monitor Louisiana wetlands – Video

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NASA Armstrong and JPL team up to monitor Louisiana wetlands
NASA #39;s C-20A science research aircraft carries a specialized radar system developed by NASA #39;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture...

By: NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center

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NASA Armstrong and JPL team up to monitor Louisiana wetlands - Video

NASA study: Vegetation decline seen in wake of drying Amazon

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GREENBELT, Md., Dec. 11 (UPI) -- As revealed by a newly concluded 13-year NASA study, vegetation in the Amazon is becoming smaller and less green as precipitation totals have tapered. The research, showcased in the latest issue of PNAS, features a new technique for analyzing vegetation health via satellite imagery.

The technique involves the observation of a forest from low Earth orbit -- measuring the change in "greenness" of plants and trees over time. While a separate study measured a 25 percent decline in rainfall across two-thirds of Amazon between 2000 and 2012, the new NASA analysis calculated a corresponding 0.8 percent decline in greenness.

The decline may seem small in comparison, but the nearly one-percent de-greening effect can be seen across a swath of rainforest stretching 2.1 million square miles.

That's not just bad news for the astronauts aboard the International Space Station who enjoy the Amazon's rich hues; it's also worrisome for those who are hoping South America's massive rainforest can be a strong ally in the fight against climate change. The massive canopy, most of which lies in Brazil, acts as an important heat sink -- capturing excess greenhouse gases, the active ingredient in global warming.

"In other words, if greenness declines, this is an indication that less carbon will be removed from the atmosphere," lead study author Thomas Hilker, a remote sensing specialist at Oregon State University, explained in a press release. "The carbon storage of the Amazon basin is huge, and losing the ability to take up as much carbon could have global implications for climate change."

The study's new greenness-measuring technique utilizes a new algorithm that enables NASA's satellites to better pick out the gaps in the clouds and pull data about vegetation health. The new strategy cancels out atmospheric noise caused by clouds and aerosols and allows the satellite to hone in on ground-level information.

"We're much more confident that this is a gap between clouds where we can measure greenness, but standard algorithms would call it a cloud," explained Alexei Lyapustin of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "We can get more data about the surface, and we can start seeing more subtle changes."

The research also helped tease out the relationship between greenness, precipitation and sunlight. Which is most important to vegetation health and greenness? The answer is both. On the one hand, more sunlight improves greenness; on the other, trees and plants without an adequate stockpile of water can't take full advantage of a longer dry (sun-filled) season.

"With our work," Hiker said, "we have shown that there is a dry season greening but that under extended drought we get a decline in vegetation greenness."

2014 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

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NASA Education Express Message — Dec. 11, 2014

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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.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

NASA Wavelength Resource Simplifies Teaching About the SolsticeSolstices and equinoxes are seasonal astronomical events that foster teachable moments. The next chance to bring these natural events into your classroom is the winter solstice, coming up on Dec. 21, 2014. Unfortunately, explanations of these events often seem obscure and technical to many learners.Prepare yourself to teach about the solstice by following these step-by-step instructions to create a suntrack model customized to your location. With a simple visual representation, your learners can more easily grasp the notion of solstices and equinoxes.The resource is available athttp://nasawavelength.org/resource/nw-000-000-003-836.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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 the monthly sessions that will cover a variety of climate topics. This month's webinar topic is:Change Over Time: Investigate Climate Change Impacts in the Midwest -- Dec. 11, 2014, at 4:30 p.m. ESTThe National Climate Assessment, released in May of 2014, summarizes the impacts of climate change on the United States, touching on many disciplines: earth science, biology, human health, engineering, technology, economics and policy. Explore the document with Dr. Fred Lipschultz from the United States Global Change Research Project, and then learn about educator resources with Kristen Poppleton from the Will Steger Foundation. Discover resources that will enable you to bring this topic into classroom lessons, engage students in data collection and analysis, and share visualizations and citizen science projects. The focus this month will be on the Midwest region. Watch for additional regions of the U.S. to be featured in upcoming Ask US sessions.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.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________Free Education Webinars From NASA Educator Professional DevelopmentNASA Educator Professional Development is presenting a series of free webinars open to all educators. Join NASA education specialists to learn about activities, lesson plans, educator guides and resources to bring NASA into your classroom.NASA Engineering Design Challenges Audience:Pre-service, In-service, Home School and Informal Educators of Grades K-12Event Date:Dec. 11, 2014, at 4:30 p.m. ESTParticipants will explore engineering design the NASA way. Learn about NASA Engineering Design Challenges that can be used to integrate the engineering design process into existing curricula.Scale of Discovery Audience:Pre-service, In-service, Home School and Informal Educators of Grades K-12Event Date:Dec. 12, 2014, at 4 p.m. ESTParticipants will explore the applications of scale with hands-on, standards-aligned science, technology, engineering and mathematics activities and interactive multimedia. Engage with examples from our universe as you apply scale to distance, time, size, models and more.Solar System Scale: Modeling and Kinesthetic Inquiry Audience:Pre-service, In-service, Home School and Informal Educators of Grades K-12Event Date:Dec. 16, 2014, at 6 p.m. ESTParticipants will explore the misconceptions about the scale of the solar system by physically creating a model of the Earth-moon system. Prediction, estimation, measuring, debate and research are featured in this lesson.Solar System and the Periodic Table Audience:Pre-service, In-service, Home School and Informal Educators of Grades K-12Event Date:Dec. 18, 2014, at 7 p.m. ESTParticipants will learn about our solar system and how it relates to the periodic table of elements. This standards-based workshop will teach you basic principles of what the table represents using our solar system as an exciting basis for understanding.For more information about these webinars and to register online, visithttps://paragon-tec.adobeconnect.com/admin/show-event-catalog.Questions about this series of webinars should be directed to Clarence Jones atClarence.F.Jones@NASA.gov.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________Pre-Proposal Teleconference for NASA Research Announcement (NRA) Education Opportunities in NASA STEM (EONS) 2014 MUREP Institutional Research Opportunity (MIRO)

A pre-proposal teleconference will be held to discuss NASA Education Opportunities in NASA STEM (EONS) 2014 MUREP Institutional Research Opportunity (MIRO) [Announcement Number: NNH14ZHA001N, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 43.008]. The teleconference will provide an in-depth overview of the MIRO opportunity and proposal requirements. Please visit theMIRO page in NSPIRESfor information regarding this NASA opportunity.After the presentations, there will be a brief Q&A session. In order to address as many participants as possible, you are asked to limit your questions togeneral topics only. If you have a question pertaining to your specific organization or institution, it should be submitted in writing toNASAMIRO@nasaprs.com. This will give NASA the time to respond, in detail, to your individual needs. We also ask that your questions be concise and clearly stated because the call is being recorded and will be transcribed.Please note:It is strongly suggested that you read through the FAQ document, foundhereby clicking on the Frequently Asked Questions-MIRO link, prior to the teleconference. It is possible that your question(s) may have already been answered.

Also, any changes regarding this workshop will be posted on theMIRO page in NSPIRES. This is the only way to be notified of any updates, so it is very important that you check the webpage prior to the session.

Instructions on how to connect to the teleconference are listed below. The call will start on time, so everyone is encouraged to connect 10-15 minutes prior to the session to address any technical difficulties you may encounter. Upon logging in, you might be prompted to install the WebEx software before joining the online session. It should take less than 5 minutes to install the software.TO JOIN THE MIRO PRE PROPOSAL TELECONFERENCE, FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR BOTH THE WEBEX AND CONFERENCE NUMBERWebEx will be used for the slide presentationonly.For audio and to participate in the Q&A session, you must use the telecon number.CONNECT TO WEBEX (for slide presentation)

Meeting Number: 994 734 5471. Go tohttps://nasa.webex.com/nasa/j.php?MTID=mf9fb45bd9f3645c10915aff49a53e6be.2. If requested, enter your name and email address.3. Enter the meeting password:EONSMIRO123$to join.4. Click "Join".For assistance go tohttps://nasa.webex.com/nasa/mcand on the left navigation bar, click "Support".

CONNECT TO TELECONFERENCE (for audio)

Call-in number: 1-844-467-4685Participant passcode: 5362715988This call will be recorded and transcribed. For the sake of accuracy, be sure to speak slowly and clearly, and please spell anything that might be recorded incorrectly.Cell phones are not recommended for use for this call due to the possibility of disconnection and static.If you are unable to attend, presentation slides and a written transcript of the teleconference will be posted to the NSPIRES website. Questions asked during the call will be part of the MIRO FAQ document.Any questions regarding this session should be sent toNASAMIRO@nasaprs.com.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________Host a Real-Time Conversation With Crew Members Aboard the International Space StationARISS-US is now accepting proposals from U.S. schools, museums, science centers and community youth organizations to host an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, contact between May 1 - Dec. 31, 2015. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS-US is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. Proposals are dueDec. 15, 2014.

Using amateur radio, students can ask astronauts questions about life in space and other space-related topics. Students fully engage in the ARISS contact by helping set up an amateur radio ground station at the school and then using that station to talk directly with a crew member on the International Space Station for approximately 10 minutes. ARISS provides experienced mentors and relies on local amateur radio volunteers to help organizations obtain the technology required to host this once in a lifetime opportunity for students.Interested parties should visithttp://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contactto obtain complete information including how the technology works, what is expected of the host organization and how to submit the proposal form.Questions about this opportunity should be emailed toariss@arrl.org.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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NASA Education Express Message -- Dec. 11, 2014

NASAs RoboSimian And Surrogate Robots

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RoboSimian and Surrogate are robots that were designed and built at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Credit: JPL-Caltech

Since they were first announced in 2012, NASA has been a major contender in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC). This competition which involves robots navigating obstacle courses using tools and vehicles was first conceived by DARPA to see just how capable robots could be at handling disaster response.

The Finals for this challenge will be taking place on June 5th and 6th, 2015, at Fairplex in Pomona, California. And after making it this far with their RoboSimian design, NASA was faced with a difficult question. Should their robotic primate continue to represent them, or should that honor go to their recently unveiled Surrogate robot?

As the saying goes you dance with the one who brung ya. In short, NASA has decided to stick with RoboSimian as they advance into the final round of obstacles and tests in their bid to win the DRC and the $2 million prize.

Surrogates unveiling took place this past October 24th at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The appearance of this robot on stage, to the them song of 2001: A Space Odyssey, was held on the same day that Thomas Rosenbaum was inaugurated as the new president of the California Institute of Technology.

Robotics researchers at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory stand with robots RoboSimian and Surrogate, both built at JPL. Credit: JPL-Caltech

In honor of the occasion, Surrogate (aka Surge) strutted its way across the stage to present a digital tablet to Rosenbaum, which he used to push a button that initiated commands for NASAs Mars rover Curiosity. Despite the festive nature of the occasion, this scene was quite calm compared to what the robot was designed for.

Surge and its predecessor, RoboSimian, were designed to extend humanitys reach, going into dangerous places such as a nuclear power plant during a disaster scenario such as we saw at Fukushima. They could take simple actions such as turning valves or flipping switches to stabilize the situation or mitigate further damage, said Brett Kennedy, principal investigator for the robots at JPL.

RoboSimian was originally created for the DARPA Robotics Challenge, and during the trial round last December, the JPL teams robot won a spot to compete in the finals, which will be held in Pomona, California, in June 2015.

With the support of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance, the Surrogate robot began construction in 2014. Its designers began by incorporating some of RoboSimians extra limbs, and then added a wheeled base, twisty spine, an upper torso, and a head for holding sensors.

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NASAs RoboSimian And Surrogate Robots