NASA's "greenest" building to date -- an environmentally friendly Flight Projects Center at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. -- is now open for business, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony today attended by lawmakers and local dignitaries.
The building houses missions during their design and development phases. It will enable engineers and scientists from various countries to collaborate more closely during these critical mission phases.  "It seems fitting that the new building, where teams will plan future space missions that use new technologies, also has the latest 'green' technologies to help JPL do its part to improve our environment here on Earth," said JPL Director Charles Elachi, who helped cut the ribbon at today's ceremony. Also attending today's ceremony were U.S. Rep. David Drier; La Canada-Flintridge Mayor Laura Olhasso; staff representing U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff; and Caltech President Jean-Lou Chameau.  The building has received the "LEED Gold Certification" under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, set up by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council. It is the first NASA building to achieve that certification. To qualify, buildings must meet several criteria. For example, they must make efficient use of water, energy and resources, and provide a healthy and comfortable indoor workspace. The many "green" features of the new building include: - A living roof to keep the building cool in summer months and warm in the winter. Desert plants on the roof and other landscaping require 72 percent less water than a typical Southern California landscape design.
- Outdoor lighting is used for safety purposes only and is directed toward the ground, reducing the amount of light pollution that escapes to the night sky.
- Low-flow faucets and toilets reduce water use by 40 percent compared with typical fixtures.
- Improved wall insulation, efficient chillers and boilers and window shading devices.
- The paints and other surface materials have low levels of toxic fumes.
- The heating and cooling system is "smart" -- it knows whether people are in a room and adjusts the temperature and ventilation accordingly.
- The janitorial staff uses green cleaning products and practices.
More than 75 percent of the waste generated during construction of the new building was diverted from a landfill to a local recycling facility. Wood was acquired from Forest Stewardship Council-certified suppliers, ensuring sustainable harvesting of trees.
More information about the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system and the U.S. Green Building Council is online at http://www.usgbc.org .
More information about JPL is online at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov . The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.
The NASA App for the iPhone and iPod touch is now available free of charge on the Apple App Store. The NASA App delivers a wealth of NASA's mission information, videos, images and news updates to people's fingertips.  "Making NASA more accessible to the public is a high priority for the agency," said Gale Allen, director of Strategic Integration and Management for NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in Washington. "Tools like this allow us to provide users easy access to NASA information and progress at a fast pace." The NASA App collects, customizes and delivers an extensive selection of dynamically updated information, images and videos from various online NASA sources. Users can access NASA countdown clocks, the NASA Image of the Day, Astronomy Image of the Day, online videos, NASA's many Twitter feeds and other information in a convenient mobile package. It delivers NASA content in a clear and intuitive way by making full use of the iPhone and iPod touch features, including the Multi-Touch user interface. The New Media Team at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., developed the application.  The NASA App also allows users to track the current positions of the International Space Station and other spacecraft currently orbiting Earth in three views: a map with borders and labels, visible satellite imagery, or satellite overlaid with country borders and labels. "We're excited to deliver a wide range of up-to-the-minute NASA content to iPhone and iPod touch users," said Gary Martin, director of the New Ventures and Communications Directorate at Ames. "The NASA App provides an easy and interesting way for the public to experience space exploration." For more information about NASA's iPhone application, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/iphone
Along with the obvious thrill of launching into space, astronaut Shannon Walker's flight to the space station next year will hold a sentimental and historical significance. Flying alongside Walker will be the watch of Amelia Earhart, the legendary aviator who was the first woman to fly as a passenger across the Atlantic Ocean. Earhart later became the first woman to pilot a plane across that same ocean in a solo flight.  Earhart was one of the first female pilots best known for her two trans Atlantic flights. She was also a charter member and the first president of The Ninety-Nines, an international organization of licensed women pilots from 35 countries that has more than 5,500 members worldwide. While there are other female pilot organizations in various states and countries, nearly all women of achievement in aviation are past or current members of The Ninety-Nines. Walker is among those women. Earhart wore the watch during her two trans Atlantic flights, “one as a passenger and one as a solo flight,” said Joan Kerwin, director of The Ninety-Nines and member for 39 years. When asked how she feels about the watch flying into space, Kerwin described it as “kind of scary in a way and Amelia is such an icon with women in aviation and now with women in space. We are thrilled that Shannon is a Ninety-Nine and will be taking Amelia into space with her.” Kerwin presented the watch to Walker at Ellington Field in Houston on Oct. 22. H. Gordon Selfridge, Jr. gave Earhart a watch in one of his shops in America. In return, she gave him the watch she wore on her two trans Atlantic flights. “Shortly after Amelia disappeared the watch was given (by H. Gordon Selfridge, Jr.) to Fay Gillis Wells, a charter member of The Ninety-Nines, and she kept it in her Washington, D.C., apartment until she founded the Forest of Friendship to honor other individuals in aviation. She needed funds for the Forest of Friendship in Amelia’s hometown of Atchison, Kan., so the watch was auctioned off,” said Kerwin, who bought the watch at the auction. “She is a fascinating lady,” Walker said in regard to Earhart. A licensed pilot since 1995, Walker learned to fly in a Cessna 150. Her grandmother served as an air traffic controller at William P. Hobby airport in Houston and had a private pilot’s license. Walker’s mother was also a pilot. “One thing I really like about flying is that it is an activity that my mother and I can do together,” Walker said. “There is something quite special about getting into a plane with my mother and going somewhere.” Walker said “it was something that I had wanted to do for a long time,” regarding her inspiration to become a pilot. At age 30 Walker flew her first solo flight which was “the required short flight as part of pilot training.” Earhart was 24 years old when she flew her first solo flight in 1921. Recognizing the significance of Earhart’s watch going into space with her, Walker says she is “very excited and honored to fly the watch” and hopes “that by flying the watch people will become interested in the continuing story of women in aviation, and perhaps draw some new pilots to the field.” Walker shares some words of inspiration for women in aviation: “If you work hard, the things to which you aspire can happen. Flying gives me a tremendous sense of freedom and I hope that anyone who wishes to learn has the opportunity to do so.” Along with the watch, another personal belonging of Earhart’s will soon fly into space. Astronaut Randy Bresnik, grandson of Earhart’s only authorized photographer, will take a scarf of Amelia’s with him aboard space shuttle Atlantis as part of STS-129, scheduled to launch in November 2009. Once the watch comes back to Earth from being in orbit with Walker next year it will be put on display in The Ninety-Nines Museum of Women Pilots in Oklahoma City.
Every year, scientists learn something new about the inner workings of lightning.
With satellites, they have discovered that more than 1.2 billion lightning flashes occur around the world every year. (Rwanda has the most flashes per square kilometer, while flashes are rare in polar regions.) Laboratory and field experiments have revealed that the core of some lightning bolts reaches 30,000 Kelvin (53,540 ºF), a temperature hot enough to instantly melt sand and break oxygen and nitrogen molecules into individual atoms.  And then there is this: each of those billion lightning flashes produces a puff of nitrogen oxide gas (NO x) that reacts with sunlight and other gases in the atmosphere to produce ozone. Near Earth’s surface, ozone can harm human and plant health; higher in the atmosphere, it is a potent greenhouse gas; and in the stratosphere, its blocks cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation. In 1827, the German chemist Justin von Liebig first observed that lightning produced NO x—scientific shorthand for a gaseous mixture of nitrogen and oxygen that includes nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2). Nearly two centuries later, the topic continues to attract the attention of scientists. Fossil fuel combustion, microbes in the soil, lightning, and forest fires all produce NO x. Scientists think lightning's contribution to Earth's NO x budget—probably about 10 percent—is relatively small compared to fossil fuel emissions. Yet they haven't been sure whether global estimates of NO x produced by lightning are accurate.
 "There's still a lot of uncertainty about how much NO x lightning produces," said Kenneth Pickering, an atmospheric scientist who studies lightning at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Indeed, even recent published estimates of lightning's global NO x production still vary by as much as a factor of four. We're trying to narrow that uncertainty in order to improve the accuracy of both global climate models and regional air quality models."
Using data gleaned from aircraft observations and satellites, Pickering and Goddard colleague Lesley Ott recently took steps toward a better global estimate of lightning-produced NOx and found that lightning may have a considerably stronger impact on the climate in the mid-latitudes and subtropics—and less on surface air quality—than previously thought.
According to a new paper by Ott and Pickering in the Journal of Geophysical Research, each flash of lightning on average in the several mid-latitude and subtropical thunderstorms studied turned 7 kilograms (15.4 pounds) of nitrogen into chemically reactive NOx. "In other words, you could drive a new car across the United States more than 50 times and still produce less than half as much NOx as an average lightning flash," Ott estimated. The results were published July.
When the researchers multiplied the number of lightning strokes worldwide by 7 kilograms, they found that the total amount of NOx produced by lightning per year is 8.6 terragrams, or 8.6 million metric tons. "That's somewhat high compared to previous estimates," said Pickering.
More remarkable than the number, however, is where the NOx is produced. A decade ago, many researchers believed cloud-to-ground lightning produced far more NOx per flash than intracloud lightning, which occurs within a cloud and far higher in the atmosphere.
The new evidence suggests that the two types of lightning produce approximately the same amount of NOx per flash on average. But since most lightning is intracloud, this suggests a great deal more NOx is produced and remains higher in the atmosphere. Compounding this effect, the research also shows that strong updrafts within thunderstorms help transfer lower level NOx to higher altitudes in the atmosphere.
"We've really started to question some of our old assumptions as we've gotten better at measuring lightning in the field," said Ott.
The observations spring out of field projects conducted in Germany, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, and Oklahoma between 1985 and 2002. For example, in a NASA field campaign called the Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers Florida – Florida Area Cirrus Experiment (CRYSTAL-FACE) aircraft flew headlong through anvil-shaped thunderheads to measure the anatomy of the thunderstorms. Sensors sampled the pressure, humidity, temperature, wind, and the amount of trace gases such as NOx and ozone.
Later, Ott input this data, as well as additional data from the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network and NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS), into a complex computer model that simulated the six storms and calculated the amount of NOx that the average flash of lightning produced. With that number, she could then estimate the amount of NOx that lightning produces globally each year.
 "One of the things we’re trying to understand is how much ozone changes caused by lightning affect radiative forcing, and how that might translate into climate impacts," said Pickering. There's a possibility that lightning could produce a feedback cycle that accelerates global warming. "If a warming globe creates more thunderstorms," Pickering noted, "that could lead to more NO x production, which leads to more ozone, more radiative forcing, and more warming," Pickering emphasizes that this is a theory, and while some global modeling studies suggest this is indeed the case, it has not yet been borne out by field observations. The new findings also have implications for regional air quality models. Scientists from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for example, are already plugging the new numbers into a widely-used air quality model called the Community Multi-scale Air Quality Model. "Lightning is one of the smaller factors for surface ozone levels, but in some cases a surge of ozone formed from lightning NO x could be enough to put a community out of compliance with EPA air quality standards during certain times of the year," said Pickering. Pickering offered one important caveat to the findings: The value of 7 kilograms per flash was derived without consideration of lightning from storms in the tropics, where most of the Earth’s lightning occurs. Only very recently have data become available for tropical regions, he noted. Related Links:> Lightning Primer> Noxious Lightning> Lightning Study Promises Fresh Insight Into Severe-storm Behavior
 Space science research institutions have traditionally been populated by a strong male workforce, but this structure is rapidly changing. Today’s workforce is much more diverse with individuals from various cultures and backgrounds, a higher percentage of women, and in many cases, up to six generations in the same workplace. Both management and employees are in need of tools to help them understand where they are headed and how to get there successfully together. To help meet these challenges, the "Women in Astronomy and Space Science 2009: Meeting the Challenges of an Increasingly Diverse Workforce," conference is being held on Oct. 21-23, 2009, at the Inn and Conference Center, University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, Md. " NASA has a high concentration of dedicated scientists," stated Anne Kinney, Director of the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "The goal of this conference is to foster diversity and help build a stronger workforce in science, engineering and technology which will open doors for everyone." This three-day conference highlights the diversity of today’s scientific professions by establishing the statistics of the current workforce and defining the roles of institutions and professional societies in preparing future scientists to succeed in their chosen fields. Discussions will provide strategies for fostering a successful work environment, allowing both managers and employees to explore pertinent topics including management best practices, early career needs, work/life balance, and managing future expectations. Professional societies, institutions and organized groups have always played an important part in improving the status of women and minorities in the scientific workforce. Topics presented include best practices for recruiting, promoting, mentoring, and retaining women and minorities in majority-dominated fields. Speakers will share their personal route to careers in areas such as international development, science management, non-profit organizations, and aerospace administration and answer questions. Opening day remarks will be presented by Anne Kinney, Director of the Solar Exploration Division at NASA Goddard, and the keynote welcome by Ed Weiler, NASA Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington.
Attendees at the Women in Astronomy and Space Science 2009.
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The keynote address will be presented on the final day of the conference by Congresswoman Donna Edwards, and a panel discussion, "What It Takes to Become a Principal Investigator, Project Scientist, or Instrument Scientist," will be chaired by Nobel laureate and NASA Senior Astrophysicist John Mather of NASA Goddard.
A tour of the White House will cap off this exciting conference with a discussion with Tina Tchen, Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls. The discussion will focus on women in science, engineering, technology and math and where they are headed in future. In conjunction with the Women in Astronomy ( WIA) and Space Science 2009 Conference, a professional skills development COACH workshop was held on Tuesday, October 20. The participants learned negotiation skills through interactive means including case studies, personal assessments, and role-playing. Related Link:› More information about WIA 2009Chandra's 'Greatest Hits' The most distant galaxy cluster yet has been discovered by combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical and infrared telescopes. The cluster is located about 10.2 billion light years away, and is observed as it was when the Universe was only about a quarter of its present age. The galaxy cluster, known as JKCS041, beats the previous record holder by about a billion light years. Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound objects in the Universe. Finding such a large structure at this very early epoch can reveal important information about how the Universe evolved at this crucial stage.  JKCS041 is found at the cusp of when scientists think galaxy clusters can exist in the early Universe based on how long it should take for them to assemble. Therefore, studying its characteristics -- such as composition, mass, and temperature -- will reveal more about how the Universe took shape. "This object is close to the distance limit expected for a galaxy cluster," said Stefano Andreon of the National Institute for Astrophysics ( INAF) in Milan, Italy. "We don't think gravity can work fast enough to make galaxy clusters much earlier." Distant galaxy clusters are often detected first with optical and infrared observations that reveal their component galaxies dominated by old, red stars. JKCS041 was originally detected in 2006 in a survey from the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope ( UKIRT). The distance to the cluster was then determined from optical and infrared observations from UKIRT, the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope in Hawaii and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Infrared observations are important because the optical light from the galaxies at large distances is shifted into infrared wavelengths because of the expansion of the universe. The Chandra data were the final - but crucial - piece of evidence as they showed that JKCS041 was, indeed, a genuine galaxy cluster. The extended X-ray emission seen by Chandra shows that hot gas has been detected between the galaxies, as expected for a true galaxy cluster rather than one that has been caught in the act of forming. Also, without the X-ray observations, the possibility remained that this object could have been a blend of different groups of galaxies along the line of sight, or a filament, a long stream of galaxies and gas, viewed front on. The mass and temperature of the hot gas detected estimated from the Chandra observations rule out both of those alternatives. The extent and shape of the X-ray emission, along with the lack of a central radio source argue against the possibility that the X-ray emission is caused by scattering of cosmic microwave background light by particles emitting radio waves. It is not yet possible, with the detection of just one extremely distant galaxy cluster, to test cosmological models, but searches are underway to find other galaxy clusters at extreme distances. "This discovery is exciting because it is like finding a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil that is much older than any other known," said co-author Ben Maughan, from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. "One fossil might just fit in with our understanding of dinosaurs, but if you found many more, you would have to start rethinking how dinosaurs evolved. The same is true for galaxy clusters and our understanding of cosmology." The previous record holder for a galaxy cluster was 9.2 billion light years away, XMMXCS J2215.9-1738, discovered by ESA's XMM-Newton in 2006. This broke the previous distance record by only about 0.1 billion light years, while JKCS041 surpasses XMMXCS J2215.9 by about ten times that. "What's exciting about this discovery is the astrophysics that can be done with detailed follow-up studies," said Andreon. Among the questions scientists hope to address by further studying JKCS041 are: What is the build-up of elements (such as iron) like in such a young object? Are there signs that the cluster is still forming? Do the temperature and X-ray brightness of such a distant cluster relate to its mass in the same simple way as they do for nearby clusters? The paper describing the results on JKCS041 from Andreon and his colleagues will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, DC. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight operations from Cambridge, Mass. More information, including images and other multimedia, can be found at: http://chandra.harvard.edu
The residents of the International Space Station will receive a new shipment of food, fuel and supplies at 8:41 p.m. CDT on Saturday, Oct. 17. NASA Television's coverage of the ship's arrival at the station will begin at 8:15 p.m. The Russian ISS Progress 35 cargo ship, filled with more than two tons of supplies for the station, is set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 8:14 p.m. There will be no television coverage of the launch. Expedition 21 Commander Frank De Winne and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams, Nicole Stott, Roman Romanenko, Max Suraev and Bob Thirsk will observe the event from aboard the station as the unpiloted craft automatically docks to the station's Pirs Docking Compartment. For NASA Television streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntvFor more about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station
 It was a grand finale of sorts, a celebration that revisited the 78-year history of the Full-Scale Tunnel at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. Engineers mingled with mayors. Alumni mingled with a new generation of NASA. Recollections mingled with respect.  "Many times it is referred to as 'the' Langley Wind Tunnel," said Joe Chambers, author and former tunnel branch head, who spoke to a standing room-only crowd at Langley's Reid Conference Center. In fact, it was only one of dozens of wind tunnels at NASA Langley. A slideshow of the tunnel's history shown through photographs and quotes included music from the decades of the tunnel's operation. It set the ambiance for the ceremony that marked the official "goodbye." Demolition of the 30-by-60-foot tunnel is expected to begin early next year. "We did 796 tests in this facility," said Chambers. Chambers explained that the vision for a tunnel that would be 60 feet (18.3 m) across, 30 feet (9.1 m) high and with capabilities of speed surpassing 100 miles per hour (161 kph) started as a model in 1929. That model was under construction by 1930 and dedicated in 1931. It was built for $980,000. As ideas arose, the tunnel evolved. In 1939, wooden blades replaced the original metal ones. "Those blades are the same blades that are in the tunnel today," Chambers said. Applause erupted. During the years of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the tunnel attracted pioneers and luminaries like Orville Wright, Charles Lindbergh, Glenn Curtiss and Howard Hughes. "When NASA was formed, the facility changed and began to develop space ideas," Chambers said. Modern times called for modern upgrades. Chambers noted the addition of a flight control computer. And according to Chambers, the wind tunnel was producing more than just critical test results for improved flight -- it produced four NASA Center Directors. "There is no other wind tunnel or organization that provided four center directors to the agency," he said. It also produced memories. Gorden Helsel, mayor of Poquoson, Va., stared forward at the slideshow. "It's a landmark to this area," he said. "To a lot of folks out here, it's like losing an old friend." He glanced over at the F-22 model. "I flew in one of those," Helsel said. "I spent 45 minutes in the air and was glad to get back on the ground." It was an experience made possible through testing at the full-scale tunnel. Long Yip worked in the tunnel from 1977 to 1990. "I remember opening a textbook on aeronautics and the first thing I saw was the Full Scale Tunnel. I never imagined I would work there," he said. Bob Huston began working at the tunnel in 1958. He recalled a time when one of his tests was interrupted by testing for Neil Armstrong and the lunar lander. "The test I was working on was delayed for six months," he said. In hindsight, Huston didn't mind so much. Following the reception, many guests chose to revisit the tunnel located on the Langley Air Force Base side of NASA Langley. When attending alumni spoke up during a tour, the crowd circled and listened. Clyde McLemore who worked there from 1947 to 1980, described a time when workers used slide rules, calculators and computers. "When you say 'computers' -- you are talking about a person?" asked Dan Murri as he led guests throughout the tunnel. "Yes, it was a girl we called a computer," McLemore responded with a smile. The group continued on through the curvy turbulence vanes and across a walkway. It was the same walkway that Cameron Diaz walked on for a scene in the movie, "The Box," which is set to be released nationwide on Nov. 6. At the next halt, McLemore looked up at a wooden propeller that stood about three stories tall. "The nose cone and tail cone were mine," he said. "You designed those?" Murri asked. "Yes," McLemore responded. For many on the tour, the tunnel was being seen through the eyes of the alumni. And for the alumni, the tunnel was being seen through their younger selves.
Huston smiled at the tunnel's interior. He pointed to specific areas and recalled a funny story or a test that took place there. "Even when we worked extra hours during the war, it didn't matter much. It was still a fun place to work," he said.
The facility survived nearly eight decades. Its memory and history will survive much longer and so will its results. Tests conducted there include all of the World War II aircrafts, the P-51 aircraft, the Mercury entry capsule, submarines and NASCAR vehicles, to name a few.
The Langley Full-Scale Tunnel is being preserved virtually at:
http://gis.larc.nasa.gov/documents/643/historic/WebApp.html
 Just two months after the successful launch of the GOES-O spacecraft, now called GOES-14 in orbit, the NASA team removed the GOES-P spacecraft from storage and commenced its post storage testing. GOES-P is being prepared for an early March 2010 launch and if the launch schedule holds, it boasts an unprecedented two launches in approximately 8 months. The GOES-P spacecraft completed its build late in 2006 (just after the launch of GOES-N) and since that time the spacecraft has been in storage at the Boeing Facility in El Segundo, California. NASA has a commitment, to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA), for the launch of the GOES-P spacecraft in April 2010. The combined NASA and contractor teams (Boeing, ITT and LM) are working hard to meet their commitment and are now preparing the GOES–P spacecraft for shipment to the launch base. The project has recently completed a major milestone in the completion of its instrument testing. During this testing, the NASA team demonstrated the instruments continue to function as expected and will meet the stringent mission requirements. The instruments include the Imager and Sounder, built by ITT, and the Solar X-Ray Imager built by Lockheed Martin. With these activities completed the spacecraft will continue the testing of the spacecraft subsystems and mechanical activities. NASA is looking forward to completing these activities and the ensuing launch campaign.
 To commemorate the United States Mint's release of the 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar and to recognize the critical role that Braille plays in the pursuit of careers in math and science by the blind, NASA's STS-125 mission flew two of the coins aboard during the Hubble Servicing Mission. This commemorative coin, only available until Dec. 11, 2009, is the first U.S. coin to have readable Braille on it and is a testament to the importance of Braille in the lives of the blind people.
Associate Administrator Chris Scolese presented them to Mark Riccobono, executive director of the Jernigan Institute of the National Federation of the Blind during the closing ceremony of the NFB Youth Slam--the largest gathering of blind students and mentors brought together to inspire and engage blind youth in science, technology, engineering and math. In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille's birthday, Congress authorized the minting of the 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar. The coins are the first to feature tactile, readable Braille, which enables the blind to read and learn, just as Hubble allows people to learn about the universe. As authorized by Congress, the United States Braille coin will fund efforts by the National Federation of the Blind to reverse the Braille literacy crisis in America. After Dec. 11, any unsold coins are melted down.  Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "This is an exciting moment because the general public has the chance to buy a piece of history -- a coin that not only represents knowledge and empowerment for blind people but that also [visited] the Hubble Space Telescope." NASA astronaut Gregory H. Johnson will speak at the celebratory closing of the National Federation of the Blind's 2009 Youth Slam. At the Youth Slam, 200 blind high school students from across the nation will participate in five days of activities to help encourage the blind youth of America to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. NASA and the National Federation of the Blind have been collaborating for more than five years to inspire and engage blind students to lend their unique talents to disciplines critical to the nation's engineering, scientific and technical missions. For more information about the National Federation of the Blind, visit: http://www.nfb.org.
Every day at NASA scientists study changes on our home planet, and a significant portion of that study focuses on changes in our oceans. To showcase some of that research, NASA is releasing six short videos in commemoration of Earth Science Week 2009. The videos highlight the connection between climate change and our oceans. The theme of Earth Science Week (October 11 through 17) this year is "Understanding Climate." The six NASA videos complete a series called "Tides of Change," which all focus on the ocean-climate connection. Each video features a specific component of the connection, such as marine life or the water cycle. Another highlight of NASA's Earth Science Week contributions is a live educational webcast on October 14 at 1 p.m., EDT. Classrooms around the country will participate in this live event that focuses on Earth science discoveries and careers. Two oceanographers will discuss their careers, illustrate NASA’s unique, space-based view of the oceans and answer participant questions. Watch the webcast here.
NASA's Ares I-X Deputy Mission Manager Jon Cowart is available for satellite interviews from 6 to 9 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, Oct. 21. He will conduct the interviews from the rocket's launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. To interview Cowart, reporters should contact Amber Philman at 321-861-0370 by noon on Oct. 20. NASA Television will broadcast b-roll of the Ares I-X from 5:30 to 6 a.m. at analog satellite AMC-6 at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 5C, 3800 MHz, vertical polarization, with audio at 6.8 MHz. The Ares I-X rocket is targeted to launch Tuesday, Oct. 27 on a 28-mile high flight test. The flight test will provide NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I rocket. In 2007, Cowart became the senior project manager responsible for all modifications to the launch pad, Vehicle Assembly Building, and mobile launcher platform for Ares I-X. In December 2008, he was chosen as the deputy mission manager for Ares I-X. As part of the Mission Management Office, he is responsible for the Ares I-X flight test mission. Cowart graduated from Georgia Tech in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering and an Air Force commission. For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
To follow the Ares I-X flight test on Twitter, go to:
http://www.twitter.com/NASA_Ares_I_X
For information about Ares I-X, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/aresIX
In a break from its usual task of searching for distant cosmic explosions, NASA's Swift satellite acquired the highest-resolution view of a neighboring spiral galaxy ever attained in the ultraviolet. The galaxy, known as M31 in the constellation Andromeda, is the largest and closest spiral galaxy to our own. This mosaic of M31 merges 330 individual images taken by Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope. The image shows a region 200,000 light-years wide and 100,000 light-years high (100 arcminutes by 50 arcminutes).
Aviation pioneer Richard Whitcomb has died in Newport News at the age of 89. The NASA Langley Research Center engineer has been called the most significant aerodynamic contributor of the second half of the 20th century.
If you look at almost any large airplane today -- especially those that fly at supersonic speeds -- you can see the genius of Dick Whitcomb.  "Dick Whitcomb's intellectual fingerprints are on virtually every commercial aircraft flying today," said Tom Crouch, noted aviation historian at the Smithsonian Institution. "It's fair to say he was the most important aerodynamic contributor in the second half of the century of flight." Born in Illinois in 1921, Richard Travis Whitcomb was the son and grandson of engineers. He grew up in Worcester, Mass., building model airplanes, in an era when aviation pioneers such as Charles Lindbergh were household names. His interest in aeronautics continued into college at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he joined the aeronautics club and spent a lot of time in the school's wind tunnel. Whitcomb came to what is now NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., in 1943, during World War II, right after graduating with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering and highest honors. It was a busy time for aeronautical engineers working to improve America's military air superiority and Whitcomb dived right in. In less than a decade he tackled and solved one of the biggest challenges of the day -- how to achieve practical, efficient transonic and supersonic flight. In interviews over the years Whitcomb told how he was sitting one day with his feet up on his desk when he had a "Eureka!" moment and came up with what is known as the Whitcomb area rule. He theorized the shape of the fuselage could be changed to reduce the aircraft shock wave drag that occurs near the speed of sound. The basic idea was to ensure a smooth cross sectional area distribution between the front and back of the plane. "We built airplane models with Coke bottle-shaped fuselages and lo and behold the drag of the wing just disappeared," said Whitcomb. "The wind tunnel showed it worked perfectly."
A review of the highlights of Dick Whitcomb's career, including clips from a recent interview. For that innovation the Langley engineer won the 1954 Collier Trophy for the year's greatest achievement in aviation in the U.S.
Whitcomb came up with three important aeronautical innovations while working at NASA Langley, one in each decade of his career. If the area rule was Whitcomb's major accomplishment of the 1950s, his supercritical wing revolutionized the design of jet liners after the 1960s. The key was the development of an airfoil that was flatter on the top and rounder on the bottom with a downward curve on the trailing edge. That shape delayed the onset of drag, increasing the fuel efficiency of aircraft flying close to the speed of sound.
In the 1970s it was an article on birds that led Whitcomb to develop his third significant innovation -- winglets -- refining an idea that had been around for decades. Other engineers had suspected that end plates added to the wing tips could reduce drag. But the Langley engineer proved a simple vertical plate wasn't enough. "It is a little wing. That's why I called them winglets," said Whitcomb. "It's designed with all the care that a wing was designed." Winglets reduce yet another type of drag and further improve aerodynamic efficiency. Many airliners and private jets sport wingtips that are angled up for better fuel performance.
Those who worked with Whitcomb remember him as brilliant, driven and single-minded with aerodynamics dominating his thoughts at work and at home. "I was extremely fortunate to work with Dick Whitcomb from 1974 to 1980, when I was an engineer fresh out of college," said Pete Jacobs, chief engineer for the Ground Facilities and Testing Directorate at NASA Langley. "It was truly an amazing experience to learn from the man who had been referenced in my textbooks. He had an uncanny sense of aerodynamics, unbelievable concentration, and the most phenomenal memory of anyone I've ever met."
The famed aerodynamicist retired from NASA Langley in 1980, but his contributions remain some of the research center's greatest accomplishments. "Dick Whitcomb's three biggest innovations have been judged to be some 30 percent of the most significant innovations produced by NASA Langley through its entire history," said Langley chief scientist Dennis Bushnell, who worked with Whitcomb. "That's from its founding in 1917 to the present. He is without the doubt the most distinguished alumnus of the Langley Research Center."
Whitcomb earned many honors in his life. Besides the Collier Trophy, he received the National Medal of Science (personally conferred by President Richard Nixon) in 1973, the U.S. Air Force Exceptional Service medal in 1955, the first NACA Distinguished Service Medal in 1956, the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1959 and the National Aeronautics Association's Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy in 1974. The engineer was also was inducted into the National Inventors' Hall of Fame in 2003, the National Academy of Engineering in 1976 for his pioneering research in the aerodynamic design of high performance aircraft and the Paul E. Garber First Flight Shrine at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. Whitcomb's alma mater, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, also awarded him an honorary doctorate and its presidential medal.
Whitcomb requested there be no funeral. Instead his ashes will be spread by plane over the Chesapeake Bay.
NASA will hold a NASA Science Update at 2:15 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 15, to discuss new science data of our galaxy obtained from the agency's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. NASA Television and the agency's Web site will provide live coverage of the briefing from the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St. SW, in Washington. The briefing participants are: - David McComas, IBEX spacecraft principal investigator and assistant vice president, Space Science and Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio - Eric Christian, IBEX deputy mission scientist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. - Rosine Lallement, senior scientist at the French National Center for Scientific Research in Paris - Lindsay Bartolone, lead of Education and Public Outreach at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago - Don Mitchell, Cassini spacecraft instrument scientist, IBEX co-Investigator, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. Reporters unable to attend the briefing may ask questions by telephone. To reserve a telephone line, journalists should e-mail their name, media affiliation and telephone number to Sonja Alexander at: sonja.r.alexander@nasa.gov
For more information about NASA TV schedules, downlinks and streaming video, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
NASA has signed a patent license agreement with a California company to improve the medical community's access to hyperbaric chambers used to treat many medical conditions and emergencies. OxyHeal Medical Systems Inc. of National City, Calif., will develop new products based on technologies NASA originally developed for space. Hyperbaric chambers create an environment in which the atmospheric pressure of oxygen is increased above normal levels. The high concentrations of oxygen can reduce the size of gas bubbles in the blood and improve blood flow to oxygen-starved tissues. "These technologies will allow OxyHeal to develop new products capable of providing life-saving treatments and care to patients in remote areas that may not have access to large, fixed-site hyperbaric chamber facilities," said Ted Gurnee, president of OxyHeal. Additionally, the company is working on solutions that involve large portable hyperbaric chambers for possible use in treatment of disaster victims. The partially exclusive patent license agreement allows the company to use three technologies developed at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston that are associated with inflatable spacecraft modules and portable hyperbaric chambers. NASA developed the technologies as part of a program to plan for how astronauts in space might be treated for decompression sickness. Decompression sickness, commonly called "the bends," can occur in astronauts as they undergo pressure changes returning from spacewalks and in divers as they return to the water's surface. In addition to treating decompression sickness, hyperbaric chamber therapy on Earth also commonly provides treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning, crush injuries, healing problem wounds, soft tissue infections, significant blood loss and other ailments. The NASA inventors of the portable hyperbaric chamber, Dr. James Locke, William Schneider and Horacio de la Fuente, recently were recognized by the Federal Laboratory Consortium with a Notable Technology Development Award. " NASA has a long history of making space-aged technologies available for commercialization, creating new markets that power the economy," said Michele Brekke, director of the Innovation Partnership Program Office at Johnson. "These commercial products and services, known as 'spinoffs,' allow the taxpayers to benefit from space exploration." For more information about NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program Office, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ipp/home
NASA is partnering with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to develop a technology roadmap for the commercial reusable launch vehicle, or RLV, industry. "NASA is committed to stimulating the emerging commercial reusable launch vehicle industry," said Lori Garver, deputy administrator at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "There is a natural evolutionary path from today's emerging commercial suborbital RLV industry to growing and developing the capability to provide low-cost, frequent and reliable access to low Earth orbit. One part of our plan is to partner with other federal agencies to develop a consensus roadmap of the commercial RLV industry's long-range technology needs." The study will focus on identifying technologies and assessing their potential use to accelerate the development of commercial reusable launch vehicles that have improved reliability, availability, launch turn-time, robustness and significantly lower costs than current launch systems. The study results will provide roadmaps with recommended government technology tasks and milestones for different vehicle categories. "Low-cost and reliable access to space will deliver significant benefits to all NASA's existing missions, from science to human exploration to aeronautics, as well as to our nation's security and to national economic growth," said Doug Comstock, director of NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program at NASA Headquarters. "Part of our plan is to apply lessons learned from the recent past and also the great successes of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in stimulating the American commercial airplane industry nearly 100 years ago." This NASA and Air Force study will begin at the Commercial and Government Responsive Access to Space Technology Exchange 2009, held in Dayton, Ohio, Oct. 26-29. NASA and the Air Force Research Lab, with participation from the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, will meet with representatives from the commercial RLV industry to explore and understand their long-range growth plans and the technology they could use to implement those plans successfully. NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program is leading the study. For more information about the Innovative Partnerships Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ipp/home For more information about the Commercial RLV Technology Roadmap study, visit:
http://commercialspaceinitiatives.arc.nasa.gov
For more information about the Commercial and Government Responsive Access to Space Technology Exchange 2009, visit: http://www.usasymposium.com/craste
For the first time, NASA Twitter followers are invited to view a space shuttle launch in person at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA is hosting this unique Tweetup on Nov. 11 and 12. Space shuttle Atlantis is targeted to launch at 4:04 p.m. EST, Nov. 12 on its STS-129 mission to the International Space Station. "This will be NASA's fifth Tweetup for our Twitter community," said Michael Cabbage, director of the News Services division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Each event has provided our followers with inside access to NASA personnel, including astronauts. The goal of this particular Tweetup is to share the excitement of a shuttle launch with a new audience." NASA will accommodate the first 100 people who sign up on the Web. An additional 50 registrants will be added to a waitlist. Registration opens at noon EDT on Friday, Oct. 16. To sign up and for more information about the Tweetup, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup
The two-day event will provide NASA Twitter followers with the opportunity to take a tour of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, view the space shuttle launch and speak with shuttle technicians, engineers, astronauts and managers. The Tweetup will include a "meet and greet" session to allow participants to mingle with fellow Tweeps and the staff behind the tweets on @NASA.
To follow NASA programs on Twitter visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/collaborate
For more information about space shuttle Atlantis' STS-129 mission, visit:
Reporters are invited to cover the historic Ares I-X rocket move to Launch Pad 39B on Oct. 19 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The first flight test of NASA's Constellation Program, Ares I-X is targeted to launch on Oct. 27. First motion for Ares I-X out of Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad is targeted for 12:01 a.m. EDT on Oct. 19. The 4.2-mile journey is expected to take approximately seven hours. Activities include a first motion photo and interview opportunities with Ares I-X managers. In addition, a sunrise photo opportunity will be available at 7 a.m. Live coverage with commentary on NASA Television will start at 11:45 p.m. Oct. 18 and again at 7 a.m. Oct. 19. Video highlights of the move will air on NASA TV's Video File. Reporters must arrive at Kennedy's news center by 10:30 p.m. Oct. 18 for transportation to the viewing area. For the sunrise event, reporters must arrive by 6:30 a.m. Oct. 19. International media accreditation for these events is closed. U.S. reporters without permanent Kennedy credentials must apply for accreditation online by 4 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 15, at: https://media.ksc.nasa.gov
Badges will be available for pick up at the badging facility on State Road 3 on Sunday, Oct. 18, from 8 to 10 p.m.
Updates with times for all events will be available by calling 321-867-2525.
All participants must be properly dressed in full-length pants, flat shoes that entirely cover the feet, and shirts with sleeves.
For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
To receive Ares I-X updates via Twitter, go to:
http://www.twitter.com/NASA_Ares_I_X
For information about Ares I-X, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/aresIX
International Space Station Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt landed their Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft on the steppes of Kazakhstan Sunday, wrapping up a six-month stay. Joining them was spaceflight participant Guy Laliberte, who spent 11 days in space. Padalka, the Soyuz commander, guided the spacecraft to a parachute-assisted landing at 12:32 a.m. EDT at a site northeast of the town of Arkalyk. Russian recovery teams were on hand within minutes of landing to help the crew exit from the Soyuz vehicle and reacclimate to gravity. The crew members will return to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of Moscow, for reunions with their families. Padalka and Barratt spent 199 days in space and 197 days on the station after their March 26 launch. Laliberte launched with the Expedition 21 crew on a Soyuz vehicle Sept. 30 and returned after nine days on the station. Padalka and Barratt presided over the inauguration of a six-person crew and two space shuttle assembly and resupply missions to the station. They also were station crew members during the delivery of tons of cargo and new science facilities for expanded research, and the arrival of the first Japanese H-II Transfer cargo vehicle. The station now is occupied by Expedition 21 Commander Frank De Winne of the European Space Agency and Flight Engineers Roman Romanenko and Max Suraev of Russia, Bob Thirsk of the Canadian Space Agency and Nicole Stott and Jeff Williams of NASA. For information about the space station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station
Surrounded by medical personnel, seated from left to right are spaceflight participant Guy Laliberte, Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka and Expedition 20 Flight Engineer Michael Barratt.They had landed minutes before at 12:32 a.m. EDT aboard the Soyuz capsule near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009. Padalka and Barratt are returning from six months onboard the International Space Station, along with Laliberte who arrived at the station on Oct. 2 with Expedition 21 Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Maxim Suraev aboard the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft.
NASA will host its second annual NASA/JPL Small Business Symposium and Awards Ceremony Nov. 16 and 17 at the Marriott Bethesda North Hotel and Conference Center, 5701 Marinelli Rd., Bethesda, Md. The symposium provides a forum for attendees to learn about NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, located in Pasadena, Calif., and agency plans for future missions in space and Earth science.  Attendees will learn about the skills, resources and technologies needed to participate in the agency's missions, programs and research. Business-to-business networking with NASA, JPL and prime contractors will be the objective throughout the event. Participation in this symposium is open to industry, academia and small businesses. The registration deadline for the symposium is Nov. 9. The two-day event will culminate with the NASA Small Business Industry and Advocates Awards Ceremony. The NASA Small Business Awards recognize outstanding contributions NASA employees and industry representatives have made in support of the agency's small business program. The Business Opportunities Office at JPL and NASA's Office of Small Business Programs are hosting the symposium. To register for the symposium, visit: http://acquisition.jpl.nasa.gov/boo/2009sbs . For information about NASA's Office of Small Business Programs, visit: http://www.osbp.nasa.gov . For information about JPL's Business Opportunities Office, visit: http://acquisition.jpl.nasa.gov/boo .
NASA has selected 1,732 high school students from 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to participate in its Interdisciplinary National Science Program Incorporating Research Experience, also known as Inspire. The Inspire project is designed to encourage students in grades nine through 12 to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The selectees will participate in an online learning community in which students and parents have the opportunity to interact with their peers and NASA engineers and scientists. It also provides appropriate grade-level educational activities, discussion boards and chat rooms for participants and their families to gain exposure to the many career opportunities at NASA. The selected students will have the option to compete for workshops and internships at NASA facilities and participating universities throughout the nation during the summer of 2010. The summer experience provides students a hands-on opportunity to investigate careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The INSPIRE project is part of NASA's education efforts to engaging and retaining students in disciplines critical to the agency's missions. For information about the program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/education/INSPIRE
For more information about NASA's education programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/education
NASA Television will rebroadcast the Oct. 9 global event International Space Station resident Guy Laliberte designed to raise awareness about the need for clean water. Laliberte, who founded Cirque du Soleil, hosts the event from aboard the station. "Moving Stars and Earth for Water," will take place in 14 cities across five continents between 9 and 11 p.m. EDT, and will be streamed live on the Web site of Laliberte's ONE DROP foundation at: NASA Television will re-air the entire broadcast beginning Saturday, Oct. 10, at 1 p.m. with encore broadcasts Oct. 11 and 12. For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
NASA signed a memorandum of understanding with Cirque du Soleil regarding the event, which will include video from aboard the space station and also discussion about water recycling aboard the station and about NASA technologies affecting everyday life. Event participants include former Vice President Al Gore, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette, actress Salma Hayek and singers Shakira and Bono. Laliberte flew to the station for a nine-day stay under an agreement between the Russian Federal Space Agency and Space Adventures, Ltd. He and two station crewmates, Mike Barratt and Gennady Padalka, will return to Earth on Sunday, Oct. 11. For more information about the space station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station
Thousands of image products from 233 recent telescopic observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show a diversity of surface shapes and textures on Mars. These views, captured during August 2009 by the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, are on the camera team's University of Arizona Web site, at: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/releases/oct_09.php .
 The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been studying Mars with an advanced set of instruments since 2006. It has returned more data about the planet than all other spacecraft combined. For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro . The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.
 Using updated information, NASA scientists have recalculated the path of a large asteroid. The refined path indicates a significantly reduced likelihood of a hazardous encounter with Earth in 2036. The Apophis asteroid is approximately the size of two-and-a-half football fields. The new data were documented by near-Earth object scientists Steve Chesley and Paul Chodas at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. They will present their updated findings at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences in Puerto Rico on Oct. 8. "Apophis has been one of those celestial bodies that has captured the public's interest since it was discovered in 2004," said Chesley. "Updated computational techniques and newly available data indicate the probability of an Earth encounter on April 13, 2036, for Apophis has dropped from one-in-45,000 to about four-in-a million." A majority of the data that enabled the updated orbit of Apophis came from observations Dave Tholen and collaborators at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy in Manoa made. Tholen pored over hundreds of previously unreleased images of the night sky made with the University of Hawaii's 2.2-meter (88-inch) telescope, located near the summit of Mauna Kea. Tholen made improved measurements of the asteroid's position in the images, enabling him to provide Chesley and Chodas with new data sets more precise than previous measures for Apophis. Measurements from the Steward Observatory's 2.3 meter (90-inch) Bok telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona and the Arecibo Observatory on the island of Puerto Rico also were used in Chesley's calculations. The information provided a more accurate glimpse of Apophis' orbit well into the latter part of this century. Among the findings is another close encounter by the asteroid with Earth in 2068 with chance of impact currently at approximately three-in-a-million. As with earlier orbital estimates where Earth impacts in 2029 and 2036 could not initially be ruled out due to the need for additional data, it is expected that the 2068 encounter will diminish in probability as more information about Apophis is acquired. Initially, Apophis was thought to have a 2.7 percent chance of impacting Earth in 2029. Additional observations of the asteroid ruled out any possibility of an impact in 2029. However, the asteroid is expected to make a record-setting -- but harmless -- close approach to Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029, when it comes no closer than 29,450 kilometers (18,300 miles) above Earth's surface. "The refined orbital determination further reinforces that Apophis is an asteroid we can look to as an opportunity for exciting science and not something that should be feared," said Don Yeomans, manager of the Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL. "The public can follow along as we continue to study Apophis and other near-Earth objects by visiting us on our AsteroidWatch Web site and by following us on the @AsteroidWatch Twitter feed." The science of predicting asteroid orbits is based on a physical model of the solar system which includes the gravitational influence of the sun, moon, other planets and the three largest asteroids. NASA detects and tracks asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them and plots their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet. JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., operates the Arecibo Observatory under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va. For more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatchFor more information about NASA, visit: http://www.nasa.gov
 This image of NGC 6240 contains new X-ray data from Chandra (shown in red, orange, and yellow) that has been combined with an optical image from the Hubble Space Telescope originally released in 2008. In 2002, Chandra data led to the discovery of two merging black holes, which are a mere 3,000 light years apart. They are seen as the bright point-like sources in the middle of the image. Scientists think these black holes are in such close proximity because they are in the midst of spiraling toward each other -- a process that began about 30 million years ago. It is estimated that they holes will eventually drift together and merge into a larger black hole some tens or hundreds of millions of years from now. Finding and studying merging black holes has become a very active field of research in astrophysics. Since 2002, there has been intense interest in follow-up observations of NGC 6240, as well as a search for similar systems. Understanding what happens when these exotic objects interact with one another remains an intriguing question for scientists. The formation of multiple systems of supermassive black holes should be common in the universe, since many galaxies undergo collisions and mergers with other galaxies, most of which contain supermassive black holes. It is thought that pairs of massive black holes can explain some of the unusual behavior seen by rapidly growing supermassive black holes, such as the distortion and bending seen in the powerful jets they produce. Also, pairs of massive black holes in the process of merging are expected to be the most powerful sources of gravitational waves in the Universe.
Local middle school students will have an opportunity to learn about the solar system and the vast universe beyond during an Astronomy Night event on the White House South Lawn at 8 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, Oct 7. The White House will host 150 local students to star gaze and conduct hands-on experiments with astronomers from across the country. President Obama will speak about the importance of science, engineering and math education and his support for astronomy’s capacity to promote a greater awareness of our place in the universe, expand human knowledge and inspire the next generation of explorers. The event, produced in close collaboration with NASA and with the help of several astronomy organizations across the country, will provide an opportunity for students to learn more about the cosmos as they view stars and other celestial objects through telescopes. More than 20 telescopes of various types will be arranged on the lawn for observing Jupiter, the moon and selected stars. Activities will include interactive presentations, scale models of the solar system and science presentations with samples of meteorites and lunar rocks. NASA's Museum Alliance, a consortium of museums, science centers and planetariums will conduct activities worldwide to coincide with the White House event. The White House event is part of the International Year of Astronomy, a global celebration of its contributions to society and culture. More than 135 countries will host events and activities to mark the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first astronomical observations with a telescope. The event will be live-streamed at WhiteHouse.gov, and in addition there will be a live video chat beforehand with Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, with questions taken via Facebook and Twitter. Wednesday’s event will also be carried on NASA Television's public and education channels beginning at 8 p.m. EDT.
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered an enormous ring around Saturn -- by far the largest of the giant planet's many rings. The new belt lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system, with an orbit tilted 27 degrees from the main ring plane. The bulk of its material starts about six million kilometers (3.7 million miles) away from the planet and extends outward roughly another 12 million kilometers (7.4 million miles). One of Saturn's farthest moons, Phoebe, circles within the newfound ring, and is likely the source of its material. Saturn's newest halo is thick, too -- its vertical height is about 20 times the diameter of the planet. It would take about one billion Earths stacked together to fill the ring.
 "This is one supersized ring," said Anne Verbiscer, an astronomer at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. "If you could see the ring, it would span the width of two full moons' worth of sky, one on either side of Saturn." Verbiscer; Douglas Hamilton of the University of Maryland, College Park; and Michael Skrutskie, of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, are authors of a paper about the discovery to be published online tomorrow by the journal Nature. An artist's concept of the newfound ring is online at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/spitzer-20091007a.html . The ring itself is tenuous, made up of a thin array of ice and dust particles. Spitzer's infrared eyes were able to spot the glow of the band's cool dust. The telescope, launched in 2003, is currently 107 million kilometers (66 million miles) from Earth in orbit around the sun.
 The discovery may help solve an age-old riddle of one of Saturn's moons. Iapetus has a strange appearance -- one side is bright and the other is really dark, in a pattern that resembles the yin-yang symbol. The astronomer Giovanni Cassini first spotted the moon in 1671, and years later figured out it has a dark side, now named Cassini Regio in his honor. A stunning picture of Iapetus taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft is online at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08384 . Saturn's newest addition could explain how Cassini Regio came to be. The ring is circling in the same direction as Phoebe, while Iapetus, the other rings and most of Saturn's moons are all going the opposite way. According to the scientists, some of the dark and dusty material from the outer ring moves inward toward Iapetus, slamming the icy moon like bugs on a windshield. " Astronomers have long suspected that there is a connection between Saturn's outer moon Phoebe and the dark material on Iapetus," said Hamilton. "This new ring provides convincing evidence of that relationship."
 Verbiscer and her colleagues used Spitzer's longer-wavelength infrared camera, called the multiband imaging photometer, to scan through a patch of sky far from Saturn and a bit inside Phoebe's orbit. The astronomers had a hunch that Phoebe might be circling around in a belt of dust kicked up from its minor collisions with comets -- a process similar to that around stars with dusty disks of planetary debris. Sure enough, when the scientists took a first look at their Spitzer data, a band of dust jumped out. The ring would be difficult to see with visible-light telescopes. Its particles are diffuse and may even extend beyond the bulk of the ring material all the way in to Saturn and all the way out to interplanetary space. The relatively small numbers of particles in the ring wouldn't reflect much visible light, especially out at Saturn where sunlight is weak. "The particles are so far apart that if you were to stand in the ring, you wouldn't even know it," said Verbiscer. Spitzer was able to sense the glow of the cool dust, which is only about 80 Kelvin (minus 316 degrees Fahrenheit). Cool objects shine with infrared, or thermal radiation; for example, even a cup of ice cream is blazing with infrared light. "By focusing on the glow of the ring's cool dust, Spitzer made it easy to find," said Verbiscer. These observations were made before Spitzer ran out of coolant in May and began its "warm" mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. The multiband imaging photometer for Spitzer was built by Ball Aerospace Corporation, Boulder, Colo., and the University of Arizona, Tucson. Its principal investigator is George Rieke of the University of Arizona. For additional images relating to the ring discovery and more information about Spitzer, visit http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer and http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer.
 U.S. satellite measurements show Arctic sea ice extent in 2009 – the area of the Arctic Ocean covered by floating ice – was the third lowest since satellite measurements were first made in 1979. The ice area at minimum was an increase from the past two years, but still well below the average for the past 30 years.
Arctic sea ice reached its minimum extent around September 12, as shown in the image and video to the right. According to scientists affiliated with the National Snow and Ice Data Center ( NSIDC), sea ice coverage dropped to 5.10 million square kilometers (1.97 million square miles) at its minimum. The ice cover was 970,000 square kilometers (370,000 square miles) greater than the record low of 2007 and 580,000 square kilometers (220,000 square miles) greater than 2008. NSIDC is sponsored by several U.S. government agencies, including NASA. Ice data are derived from measurements made by U.S. Department of Defense and NASA satellites, with key work in interpreting the data and developing the 30-year history done by scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The changes from year to year are interesting since there has been large variability," said Josefino Comiso, a sea ice expert at NASA Goddard. "But we need to look at several years of data to examine the long-term trends." "Our three decades of continuous satellite measurements show a rapid decline of about 11.6 percent per decade," Comiso said. Arctic sea ice has declined about 34 percent since measurements were first made in the late 1970s. The four lowest ice extents on record have occurred between 2005 and 2009, with the record minimum reached during a dramatic drop in ice cover in 2007 that was exacerbated by unusual polar winds. Several recent studies based on data from NASA’s ICESat and QuikScat satellites have shown that, in addition to shrinking geographic ice coverage, the amount of multi-year ice cover – thicker ice that survives more than one summer -- has been declining in recent years.  "The oceans are crucial to Earth's climate system, since they store huge amounts of heat," said Comiso. "Changes in sea ice cover can lead to circulation changes not just in the Arctic Ocean, but also in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. If you change ocean circulation, you change the world's climate." Changes in the Arctic ice cover could also mean a new paradigm for life in the sea. "The waters at high latitudes are some of the most biologically productive in the world because of the presence of sea ice," Comiso added. "Many of our richest fisheries are the seas around the Arctic Ocean, and we don't know what the consequences might be if the seasonal sea ice disappears in these regions." Related links:> Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis> NASA Satellite Reveals Dramatic Arctic Ice Thinning > Satellites and Submarines Give the Skinny on Sea Ice Thickness> Satellites Show Arctic Literally on Thin Ice
 Launch scrubs are nothing new at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. In fact, there have been 116 space shuttle scrubs; 72 for technical reasons and 45 for inclement weather. During the summer, bad weather, particularly lightning, seems to strike as the countdown clock nears zero. Maybe it's because Kennedy and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are well within what meteorologists call, "Lightning Alley." Of course, NASA already can locate lightning strikes when they hit the ground with the Cloud to Ground Lightning Surveillance System, or CGLSS, and the National Lightning Detection Network. The agency also can locate lightning channels in a cloud with the Lightning Detection and Ranging Network, or LDAR II. But according to Professor Tom Marshall of the University of Mississippi, humans have yet to truly figure out lightning. So, Marshall and one of his senior students, Lauren Vickers, visited Kennedy to test a new antenna that might someday measure the level of individual lightning flashes and their return strokes. A measurement that could give launch managers information to make their "go-no go" decisions easier... decisions that might save money. "We're trying to extend some measurement of cloud-to-ground lightning here at Kennedy," Marshall said. "We may find a return stroke is larger, and therefore, one for us to target." The strength of these strokes might someday determine if future launch vehicles, such as Ares I, must undergo testing if lightning strikes nearby. "What Professor Marshall's work is going to enable us to do is determine more precisely than we can now exactly where charges are located in clouds and how big those charges are when lightning strikes," said Dr. Frank Merceret, director of research for the Kennedy Weather Office. "The problem lies in the fact that NASA does not know where the charge center is located in the clouds. "The Lightning Advisory Panel (LAP), which develops and recommends our lightning launch commit criteria (LLCC), has been wrestling with that issue for quite some time and his project may give the panel information that will help provide more accurate lightning readings before a launch." A launch vehicle traveling through an anvil cloud, a cloud mostly made of ice that forms on top of thunderstorms, can trigger lightning at much lower electric field levels than natural lightning requires. This triggered lightning can damage vehicles or its cargo. In 1987, an Atlas-Centaur rocket was destroyed when its launch triggered such lightning. To prevent such accidents, the LLCC -- a strict set of lightning avoidance rules -- was modified by the LAP. The LAP, which is made up of top lightning experts from various government agencies and academia, continues to review and modify those criteria for both the Eastern and Western ranges.  Although some launch weather guidelines involving shuttles and expendable rockets may differ because a distinction is made for the individual characteristics of each, the LLCC are identical for all vehicles. "If the shuttle is on the launch pad and a lightning strike occurs nearby, we need to know the distance from the shuttle and the intensity of the lightning to determine if there are any possible effects on the vehicle. If the lightning was close enough and intense enough, operations, including a launch, will be delayed so the team can ensure the shuttle was not damaged," said Kathy Winters, shuttle launch weather officer. During shuttle launch countdowns, weather forecasts are provided by the U. S. Air Force Range Weather Operations Facility at Cape Canaveral beginning at launch minus three days in coordination with the NOAA National Weather Service Space Flight Meteorology Group, or SMG, at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. These include weather trends and possible effects on launch day. A formal prelaunch weather briefing is held on launch minus one day to discuss specific weather conditions for all areas of shuttle operations. Launch weather forecasts, ground operations forecasts and launch weather briefings for the mission management team and the shuttle launch director are prepared by the shuttle launch weather officer. Forecasts that apply after launch are prepared by SMG. These include all emergency landing forecasts and end-of-mission forecasts presented to the flight director and mission management team.
For his work making NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission a compelling saga for millions of people, Steven W. Squyres, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy and principal scientific investigator for the mission, has received the 2009 Carl Sagan Medal from the American Astronomical Society. The Sagan medal recognizes a planetary scientist for excellence in public communication. Squyres will receive the medal during the AAS's Division for Planetary Sciences annual meeting, Oct. 4 to Oct. 9, in Puerto Rico.  Quick to share credit with the entire Mars rover mission team at Cornell and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Squyres said he has always taken seriously the responsibility of giving people -- the taxpayers who have bankrolled the mission -- a clear window into what they are doing on Mars. "We feel very strongly that the people who pay have a real right to find out in very clear, simple terms what they're getting for their $900 million," Squyres said. Since January 2004, when the first rover, named Spirit, bounced down on the red planet, the Rover team has maintained a publicly accessible database of images taken by the rovers. Atypical of most NASA missions, the rover mission has allowed people to access data almost immediately. It was a conscious decision by the rover team, Squyres said, to pipeline the data straight to the Web. "If I'm asleep and you're awake, you can see the pictures from the rover before I do," he said. "And what that has done is it's really enabled people to share in this voyage of exploration." Squyres hopes these efforts, including a Web site that provides updates of rover activities, has inspired young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. " NASA does all kinds of wonderful things in space, from cosmology to gamma ray spectroscopy," Squyres said. "But try explaining gamma ray spectroscopy to a third-grader. It's hard. But you know, these are robots looking at rocks. It's not that complicated. What that means is this mission is almost uniquely accessible to people." As a Cornell graduate student Squyres '78, Ph.D. '81, worked closely with Sagan. "Carl really pioneered, in a very important way, the way in which scientists interact with the media and the public," Squyres said. "To receive an award that's named after him for trying to do the same sort of thing that he did so brilliantly is a real honor." For more information on the Mars Exploration Rover mission, including links to the raw images, visit the mission Web site at: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html . Source: Cornell University http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Oct09/SquyresSagan.html
What makes a successful Earth observing satellite mission: flawless launch?During its October 1984 deployment from the Space Shuttle Challenger by astronaut Sally Ride, the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite Experiment (ERBS) solar panel stuck. Ride had to shake the satellite with the Shuttle's robotic arm for the panel to extend. Video footage of the crew of STS-41G releasing the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) into orbit from space shuttle Challenger's payload bay on Oct. 5, 1984.
Is it meeting and surpassing the expectations of the proposed mission life?
The ERBS spacecraft and its payload were on a planned 24-month mission to study Earth's atmosphere and climate; it was operational for almost 21 years. Is it a satellite instrument that transmits over two decades worth of data? The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II) instrument on ERBS continued to give scientists a wealth of data on the chemistry and motions of the upper troposphere and stratosphere until September 2005. Is it safe to say that NASA and the international science community got more than they expected? "I would have to believe that SAGE II is a fairly big feather in NASA's cap," said Joe Zawodny, the former science mission manager for ERBS at NASA's Langley Research Center. "There are not very many instruments and data sets that have such a big and long lasting impact on the scientific community." Managed by NASA Langley, SAGE II was part of NASA's Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE). The series of satellites were designed to investigate how energy from the Sun is absorbed and re-emitted by the Earth system, one of the main processes that drive weather patterns and in the long run, climate change. Observations from the ERBS satellite were also used to study the effects of human activities -- burning fossil fuels and the use of chemicals -- and natural occurrences such as volcanic eruptions on the Earth's radiation balance.
 The instrument's ability to monitor atmospheric chemistry helped scientists understand the damage chlorofluorocarbons do to stratospheric ozone. The science findings led to the 1987 Montreal Protocol to drastically reduce the use of such substances. Zawodny thinks the number one impact SAGE II data has had on the global scientific community is 20 years of high quality ozone measurements and the ability to monitor the ozone for trends and changes throughout the stratosphere. SAGE II measured the decline in the amount of stratospheric ozone over the Antarctic since the ozone hole was first described in 1985. A very close second would be the aerosol data record including polar stratospheric clouds or PSCs. The surface of PSCs converts chlorine gases in the upper atmosphere from a benign or passive state to an active state that contributes to ozone depletion. The PSC record was crucial to understanding the ozone hole process. Twenty years of SAGE II high quality aerosol profiles have also been used to understand the impact of volcanic aerosols on climate. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 and the recovery to pre-eruption conditions is considered by some scientists to have had the greatest impact on the stratosphere of any volcanic eruption of the last century. Pinatubo produced three times the 12 megatons of aerosol material produced by the Mexican volcano El Chichon that erupted in 1982. For Zawodny, SAGE II was self admittedly the backbone of his entire NASA career. "It's taken a very long time to fully understand the data and to build its stature within the international scientific community," he said. "We're still learning things about the instrument and the data. While SAGE II is probably not the household name that, say, a Hubble (space telescope) is, it's had an impact on the average person. The international ozone assessments have brought the international community to action in a rare and unified way. One result of this action is the virtual elimination of chlorofluorocarbons in favor of hydro chlorofluorocarbons and the subsequent adoption of the new technology in consumer devices: auto and home air conditioning, refrigeration, and industrial uses." But from this highpoint came the inevitable for a machine enduring the harsh environment of space. The satellite mission that had a long, productive life and seemed to defy engineering odds and predicted ends was nearing the finish line in 2005. ERBS was over 21-years-old and had system failures consistent with its age. Five years earlier, the satellite and SAGE II instrument were almost retired when a gimbal system -- the hardware that aimed or pointed the seven-channel Sun photometer – failed. The instrument collected its data by "watching" hundreds of sunrises and sunsets through the limb or edge of the Earth's atmosphere, a technique called solar occultation. Before each sunrise and sunset, the instrument rotated to a predicted position for the next appearance of the Sun. SAGE II used this solar occultation technique to measure solar radiation through the limb of the Earth's atmosphere at various wavelengths. From these wavelengths, spectral analysis revealed chemical, water vapor, aerosol and ozone changes caused by humans and nature. Zawodny is credited with creating the computer fix for the gimbal system and adding five more years of data collection to the mission. But there was one other big issue with the aging spacecraft -- it was not designed for a controlled re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The plan was to place ERBS in a "safe" orbit and do nothing, the satellite would decay and re-enter in approximately 15 years. But if the spacecraft power systems shut down, NASA would have no way to maneuver ERBS to avoid collision with other spacecraft during its descent toward Earth. In particular, the spacecraft had two batteries aboard -- each with 22 fuel cells. Batteries were essential for control of the spacecraft; one battery had completely failed; and the remaining battery had failed cells. If the spacecraft lost power before NASA sent a command to disconnect the batteries from the spacecraft solar cells, there was a possibility of a battery explosion – an event that could produce space debris -- adding a new threat to other orbiters. For safety's sake and an optimal, uncontrolled re-entry into the atmosphere, NASA made the decision to initiate actions for decommission of the spacecraft. John Hughes, an Earth Science Mission Operations Support Engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center summarized the final moments for ERBS and SAGE II in an e-mail:
Team, having spent almost 24 hours trying to deplete the last of the remaining fuel, the ERBS End of Mission Team decided that the time had come to terminate the mission. The 'passivation' of the spacecraft began; ERBE and SAGE were powered on; all available power loads were enabled; the final tape recorder playback was performed. On board memory was scrubbed, and all command-able solar array circuits were taken off-line. On the final ERBS contact, the attitude and momentum control system was disabled and the power system was put in discharge. The final commands opened the thrusters to allow the remaining fuel to seep out, and the transponders were powered off for the last time at 23:00:00.
ERBS completed 114,941 orbits over 21 years of operations. Though time had taken its toll, the spacecraft refused to go quietly.
In a subsequent news release, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which built SAGE II and ERBS, the first satellite designed for launch by a space shuttle, announced its passing roughly 19 years later than scheduled.
And what a difference a year makes; a NASA news release from 2004 touted:
KEEPS GOING AND GOING: NASA EXPERIMENT CELEBRATES 20 YEARS IN ORBIT
From volcanic eruptions to ozone holes, a NASA instrument that monitors Earth's upper atmosphere marks twenty years in orbit today… But a little over 12 months later, after 21 years and nine days, mission engineers officially retired the satellite on Oct. 14, 2005 – leaving it in silent orbit over the blue planet below. Decommissioning of ERBS would not have too much of a negative effect on data collection. NASA successfully launched the SAGE III instrument aboard the Russian METEOR 3 spacecraft in 2001 while other active NASA spacecraft continue to monitor global ozone activity and collect atmospheric aerosol data. So the footnote to the final analysis for what makes a successful Earth observing satellite mission may be a decade and a half away when time and gravity takes its toll on ERBS. Sometime around 2023, almost 40 years after its shaky start, the spacecraft will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and disintegrate. Perhaps a new generation, experiencing the benefits of global-scale policy decisions made as a result of ERBS' observations, will enjoy the sight of the smallish shooting star – marking the ultimate, unofficial end to the satellite whose acronym sounded like a cartoon character, the instrument named for wisdom through experience, and for a fairly big feather in NASA's cap.
 Jack W. Szostak, a principal investigator with NASA’s Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology Program and a member of the NASA Astrobiology Insitute, is among a group of three researchers who have been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. The award was presented by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on October 5th, and was given to the group "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase."
According to the Royal Swedish Academy, this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three scientists for solving a major problem in biology: how chromosomes can be copied in a complete way during cell divisions and how they are protected against degradation.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Left, and Head of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Anatoly Perminov turn to pose for a photograph at Mission Control Center Moscow in Korolev, Russia shortly after the successful docking of the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft with the International Space Station (ISS) marking the start of Expedition 21 with Flight Engineer Jeffrey N. Williams, Expedition 21 Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev, and Spaceflight Participant Guy Laliberté, Friday, Oct. 2, 2009. Lalibreté will return to Earth with the Expedition 20 crew on Oct. 11, 2009.
On Nov. 3, 1973, the Mariner Venus/Mercury 1973 spacecraft, also known as Mariner 10, was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, becoming the first spacecraft designed to use gravity assist. Three months after launch it flew by Venus, changed speed and trajectory, then crossed Mercury's orbit in March 1974. This photo identifies the spacecraft's science instruments, which were used to study the atmospheric, surface and physical characteristics of Venus and Mercury. This was the sixth in the series of Mariner spacecraft that explored the inner planets beginning in 1962.
 Early in the 20th century, a succession of adventurers and scientists pioneered the exploration of Antarctica. A century later, they're still at it, albeit with a different set of tools. This fall, a team of modern explorers will fly over Earth's southern ice-covered regions to study changes to its sea ice, ice sheets, and glaciers as part of NASA's Operation Ice Bridge.
Starting next month, NASA will fly its DC-8, a 157-foot-long airborne laboratory that can accommodate many instruments. The fall 2009 campaign is one of few excursions to the remote continent made by the DC-8, the largest aircraft in NASA's airborne science fleet.
The plane is scheduled to leave NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., on October 12 and fly to Punta Arenas, Chile, where the plane, crew and researchers will be based for through mid-November. For six weeks, the Ice Bridge team will traverse the Southern Ocean for up to 17 flights over West Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula, and coastal areas where sea ice is prevalent. Each round-trip flight lasts about 11 hours, two-thirds of that time devoted to getting to and from Antarctica. Operation Ice Bridge is a six-year campaign of annual flights to each of Earth's polar regions. The first flights in March and April carried researchers over Greenland and the Arctic Ocean. This fall's Antarctic campaign, led by principal investigator Seelye Martin of the University of Washington, will begin the first sustained airborne research effort of its kind over the continent. Data collected by researchers will help scientists bridge the gap between NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite ( ICESat) -- which is operating the last of its three lasers -- and ICESat-II, scheduled to launch in 2014. The Ice Bridge flights will help scientists maintain the record of changes to sea ice and ice sheets that have been collected since 2003 by ICESat. The flights will lack the continent-wide coverage that can be achieved by satellite, so researchers carefully select key target locations. But the flights will also turn up new information not possible from orbit, such as the shape of the terrain below the ice. "Space-based instruments like the ICESat lasers are the only way to find out where change is occurring in remote, continent-sized ice sheets like Antarctica," said Tom Wagner, cryosphere program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. "But aircraft missions like Ice Bridge allow us to follow up with more detailed studies and make other measurements critical to modeling sea level rise." Lasers and RadarsICESat launched in January 2003 and since then, its sole instrument -- a precise laser altimeter -- has helped scientists map ice sheet elevation, calculate sea ice thickness, and monitor how both have changed. "With ICESat, we have seen significant changes, things we wouldn't otherwise know were taking place," said Jay Zwally of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and ICESat investigator on the mission. For example, shifts in surface elevation have previously revealed the draining and filling of lakes below Antarctica's ice. After ICESat, scientists will rely on an airborne laser called the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM), developed at NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va. ATM pulses laser light in circular scans on the ground, and those pulses reflect back to the aircraft and are converted into elevation maps of the ice surface. By flying ATM over the same swath of ground covered by ICESat, researchers can compare the two data sets and calibrate them so that aircraft can continue the record keeping after the satellite data ends. They can also make more detailed elevation studies over dynamic areas, such as the Crane glacier on the Antarctic Peninsula, which sped up following the collapse of the Larsen Ice Shelf in 2002. In addition, University of Kansas scientists will fly the Multichannel Coherent Radar Depth Sounder, which measures ice sheet thickness. It can also map the varied terrain below the ice, which is important for computer modeling of the future behavior of the ice. The Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor, developed at Goddard, will map large areas of sea ice and glacier zones. And a gravimeter, managed by Columbia University, will measure the shape of seawater-filled cavities at the edge of some major fast-moving major glaciers. Finally, a snow radar from University of Kansas will measure the thickness of snow on top of sea ice and glaciers, allowing researchers to differentiate between snow and ice and make more accurate thickness measurements. TargetsThe Antarctic continent may be remote, but it plays a significant role in Earth's climate system. The expanse is home to glaciers and ice sheets that hold frozen about 90 percent of Earth's freshwater -- a large potential contribution to sea level rise should all the ice melt. How and where are Antarctica's ice sheets, glaciers, and sea ice changing? Compared to the Arctic, where sea ice has long been on the decline, sea ice in Antarctica is growing in some coastal areas. Snow and ice have been accumulating in some land regions in the east. West Antarctica and the Peninsula, however, have seen more dramatic warming and rapid ice loss. "We don't see the same sea ice changes in Antarctica that we see in the Arctic, and the reason is that the system is more complex," said Thorsten Markus of NASA Goddard, the principal sea ice investigator for the mission. "But the fact that we don't see the same changes in Antarctica that we see in the Arctic doesn’t make it less important to study those changes. It's really important for us to understand the global climate system." With the DC-8 limited to just a few hours over Antarctica on each flight, mission planners have carefully selected targets of current and potential rapid change. One such target is West Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier. "That glacier is one of the great unknowns because its bed -- where the glacier contacts rock -- is below sea level," Martin said. "So if there's a surge or dramatic change, seawater could get under the glacier and we could be looking at very rapid change." Other proposed targets along the Amundsen coast include the Thwaites, Smith, and Kohler glaciers and the Getz Ice Shelf. Researchers also intend to study the myriad glaciers and ice shelves on the Peninsula, which has been undergoing dramatic changes. "A remarkable change is happening on the Earth, truly one of the biggest changes in environmental conditions on Earth since the end of the ice age," Wagner said. "It's not an easy thing to observe, let alone predict what might happen next. Studies like this one are key." Links:Operation Ice Bridge http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/ice_bridge/index.html
 Data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite were used to create this short video showing plumes of carbon monoxide being transported in Earth's atmosphere around the globe. These observations track carbon monoxide at about 5.5 kilometers (3.4 miles) above the surface of Earth. In the movie, carbon monoxide emissions from large fires and large urban and industrial areas like northeastern China are visible, and are transported around the globe by weather fronts. The video is narrated by AIRS Science Team Member Wallace McMillan of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. › View animation› Read the National Academy of Sciences news release› Read the full report
 NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission ( LCROSS) based on new analysis of available lunar data, has shifted the target crater from Cabeus A to Cabeus (proper). The decision was based on continued evaluation of all available data and consultation/input from members of the LCROSS Science Team and the scientific community, including impact experts, ground and space based observers, and observations from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Lunar Prospector (LP), Chandrayaan-1 and JAXA's Kaguya spacecraft. This decision was prompted by the current best understanding of hydrogen concentrations in the Cabeus region, including cross-correlation between the latest LRO results and LP data sets. The general consensus of lunar experts led by the LCROSS science team is that Cabeus shows, with the greatest level of certainty, the highest hydrogen concentrations at the south pole. Further consideration of the most current terrain models provided by JAXA's Kaguya spacecraft and the LRO Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter ( LOLA) was important in the decision process.The models show a small valley in an otherwise tall Cabeus perimeter ridge, which will allow for sunlight to illuminate the ejecta cloud on Oct. 9, and much sooner than previously estimated for Cabeus. While the ejecta does have to fly to higher elevations to be observed by Earth assets, a shadow cast by a large hill along the Cabeus ridge, provides an excellent, high-contrast, back drop for ejecta and vapor measurements. The LCROSS team concluded that Cabeus provided the best chance for meeting its mission goals. The team critically assessed and successfully advocated for the change with the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program ( LPRP) office. The change in impact crater was factored into LCROSS' most recent Trajectory Correction Maneuver, TCM7. During the last days of the mission, the LCROSS team will continue to refine the exact point of impact within Cabeus crater to avoid rough spots, and to maximize solar illumination of the debris plume and Earth observations.
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"It seems fitting that the new building, where teams will plan future space missions that use new technologies, also has the latest 'green' technologies to help JPL do its part to improve our environment here on Earth," said JPL Director Charles Elachi, who helped cut the ribbon at today's ceremony.
The building has received the "LEED Gold Certification" under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, set up by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council. It is the first NASA building to achieve that certification. To qualify, buildings must meet several criteria. For example, they must make efficient use of water, energy and resources, and provide a healthy and comfortable indoor workspace.
"Making NASA more accessible to the public is a high priority for the agency," said Gale Allen, director of Strategic Integration and Management for NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in Washington. "Tools like this allow us to provide users easy access to NASA information and progress at a fast pace."
The NASA App also allows users to track the current positions of the International Space Station and other spacecraft currently orbiting Earth in three views: a map with borders and labels, visible satellite imagery, or satellite overlaid with country borders and labels.
