2009 – A year of triumph and tension for NASA!

The year 2009 was a mixed year of triumph and tension for NASA – while the agency triumphed in terms of captivating momentous steps towards exploration beyond the Earth’s orbit and also perking up its International Space Station research; tension for the agency consequence from the winding down of its shuttle program and the uncertainty hovering over the future direction of US human spaceflight.With 2009 marking important achievements, like the discovery of water on the moon and Mars that would...

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NASA Chooses Three Finalists for Future Space Science Mission to Venus, an Asteroid or the Moon

NASA has preferred three proposals as candidates for the agency's next space venture to another celestial body in our solar system. The final project selected in mid-2011 may afford a better understanding of Earth's formation or perhaps the origin of life on our planet.The proposed missions would explore the atmosphere and crust of Venus; return a piece of a near-Earth asteroid for analysis; or drop a robotic lander into a basin at the moon's south pole to return lunar rocks back to Earth for study.NASA...

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NASA crashes helicopter to test new shield for cars

Washington: NASA has intentionally crashed a 3,000-pound MD-500 helicopter loaded with dummies to test a new safety shield, which might someday be used to make the cars we drive safer.According to a report in Discovery News, the small helicopter, contributed by the US Army for NASA's research program, survived a 35-foot plunge to the ground intact, thanks to a lightweight honeycomb structure that bore the brunt of the impact.The honeycomb shield, made of Kevlar 129 - the same material used to build...

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Government Accountability Office reports International Space Station science might not be used because of launch costs

The Government Accountability Office issued a report uttering the retirement of the Space Shuttle could push commercial launch costs up and affect science research on the International Space Station.The report was completed at the request of U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., chairman of the Senate's Subcommittee on Science and Space.According to the report: "The primary aim for the ISS through 2010 is construction,...

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NASA, Int’l Space Station Allicance Shaky

Network Word state that, despite NASA’s continued work on the International Space Station (ISS), the relationship between the two is becoming a little more contentious. The decay in relations appears as NASA faces challenges on replacing it’s space shuttle program and NASA and the ISS begin making modifications to the way they are managed. NASA is facing issues which could influence how well it is able to utilize all of the space station’s “research facilities.”NASA faces a laundry-list of challenges:...

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NASA Astronauts Launch Toward Space Station

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft ascended into space Sunday carrying three new residents for the International Space Station (ISS).NASA astronaut Timothy (T.J.) Creamer, Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov launched on time at 4:52 p.m. EDT on the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan."Everything's excellent onboard the vehicle," Kotov radioed shortly after the rocket hurtled into the sky. "Everybody feels great, no problems, no issues."Kotov...

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NASA remembers storied past, but looks to uncertain future

Cape Canaveral, Florida - As the world marked the 40th anniversary of the first human on the moon this year, the future of the space programme that pioneering astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins helped found looks more uncertain than ever. The Apollo astronauts are old men now. In July, it seemed like they recreated that golden age of space flight when they shook hands with US President Barack Obama, who praised them for their contributions.But even as NASA announced unprecedented...

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Endeavour, Crew Prep for STS-130

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians are completing the shuttle interface and hydraulic leak tests in the Vehicle Assembly Building today.Space shuttle Endeavour and its solid rocket boosters will be powered down and prepared for their move, or rollout, to Launch Pad 39A scheduled for early January 2010.The six STS-130 mission astronauts will carry out a variety of administrative duties this morning at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.Commander George Zamka and Pilot Terry...

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Lowering Endeavour

In High Bay 1 in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane lowers space shuttle Endeavour toward the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters to which it will be attach...

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Preparing to Lift Endeavour

In the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a United Space Alliance technician prepares to attach a lifting sling to space shuttle Endeavo...

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Bruno Crater

Giordano Bruno is one of the youngest large craters (22 km diameter) on the Moon. How old is "youngest"? Written accounts of twelfth century observations of a bright flash on the Moon may record the event that formed Giordano Bruno crater? That idea was proposed after the first high resolution pictures of the crater were analyzed from the Apollo era of lunar exploration. Scientists could see that the crater was very young, and was in the area of the Moon corresponding to the bright flash, so it...

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Variation in Light-Toned Deposits in a Martian Trough

This false-color image shows dozens of beds within a light-toned deposit located within a trough in the Noctis Labyrinthus region of Mars. The image comes from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.Observations by the same orbiter's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) suggest a general sulfate mineralogy for the light-toned deposit. However, the beds differ in brightness, color, thickness, and erosional properties,...

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Unexpected Wheel-Test Results

Diagnostic tests were run on Spirit's right-rear wheel and right-front wheel on Sol 2013 (Dec. 12, 2009). The right-rear wheel, which stalled during a drive two weeks earlier, continued to show no motion in the latest tests and exhibited very high resistance in the motor winding. The right-front wheel, which stopped operating on Sol 779 (March 13, 2006), surprised engineers by indicating normal resistance and turning slightly during a resistance test for that wheel. Small motion is expected during...

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Hubble's Festive View of a Grand Star-Forming Region

Just in time for the holidays: a Hubble Space Telescope picture postcard of hundreds of brilliant blue stars wreathed by warm, glowing clouds. The festive portrait is the most detailed view of the largest stellar nursery in our local galactic neighborhood.The massive, young stellar grouping, called R136, is only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. There is no known star-forming...

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New Results from a Terra-ific Decade in Orbit

December 18, 2009, marks the tenth year since the launch of Terra, one of NASA's "flagship" Earth observing satellites. But the decade is more than just a mechanical milestone. With each additional day and year that the satellite monitors Earth, scientists achieve a lengthened record of Earth's vital signs. It's that record that helps scientists assess the health of Earth's ocean, land, and atmosphere, and determine how these systems are changing."Earth system science is a relatively young science,"...

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Solar Storms and Radiation Exposure on Commercial Flights

Scientists at NASA’s Langley Research Center have completed a first attempt to accurately calculate the level of damaging radiation flight crews and passengers are exposed to on commercial airline flights. The work is an early step toward developing a model to observe radiation exposure for all commercial flights, particularly for pilots and crews who spend their careers airborne and who are at greater risk of developing certain cancers.The study considered not only everyday radiation emanating...

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NASA Outlines Recent Greenhouse Gas Research

Researchers studying carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas and a key driver of global climate change, now have a new tool at their disposal: daily global measurements of carbon dioxide in a key part of our atmosphere. The data are courtesy of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua spacecraft. Moustafa Chahine, the instrument's science team leader at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., unveiled the new product at a briefing on recent breakthroughs...

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The Dark Side of Carbon

As interest in Earth's changing climate heats up, a tiny dark particle is stepping into the limelight: black carbon. Commonly known as soot, black carbon enters the air when fossil fuels and biofuels, such as coal, wood, and diesel are burned. Black carbon is found worldwide, but its presence and impact are particularly strong in Asia.Black carbon, a short-lived particle, is in perpetual motion across the globe. The Tibetan Plateau's high levels of black carbon likely impact the region's temperature,...

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Preparing for Lift

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers prepare to attach a lifting sling on space shuttle Endeavour following its arrival in the Vehicle Assembly Building transfer aisle.Endeavour was towed from the nearby Orbiter Processing Facility in preparation for launch of the STS-130 mission....

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Preps for the STS-130 Mission Continue

Technicians at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are testing the electrical connections on space shuttle Endeavour in the Vehicle Assembly Building.The vehicle and its solid rocket boosters will be powered-up for the shuttle interface test and the twin boosters hydraulic systems will be tested for leaks today.Meanwhile, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the six STS-130 mission astronauts will conduct a deorbit preparation simulation attired in their orange launch-and-landing sui...

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Lifting Off to Study the Sky

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket at 9:09 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base. WISE will scan the entire sky in infrared light, picking up the glow of hundreds of millions of objects and producing millions of imag...

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NASA Looks for Safer Icing Forecast For Pilots

Of the many dangers that plague commercial airplanes, icing stands out as one of the most treacherous. The threat of ice build-up on aircraft surfaces has been known and studied for decades, but now NASA is putting new effort into understanding a different kind of ice danger.A well-known icing problem involves ice forming on wings and other surfaces that can cause drag and power loss on an aircraft. A different threat emerges when airplanes fly into clouds with high ice content found near thunderstorms...

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Global Digital Elevation Model

This Global Digital Elevation Model, or GDEM, is a product of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), a joint program of NASA and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The image was released on June 29, 2009, and was created by processing and stereo-correlating the 1.3 million-scene ASTER archive of optical images, covering Earth's land surface between 83 degrees North and 83 degrees South latitudes. The GDEM is produced with 98-feet postings, and is...

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NASA Data Reveal Major Groundwater Loss in California's Heartland

New space observations reveal that since October 2003, the aquifers for California's primary agricultural region -- the Central Valley -- and its major mountain water source -- the Sierra Nevadas -- have lost nearly enough water combined to fill Lake Mead, America's largest reservoir. The findings, based on data from the NASA/German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace), reflect California's extended drought and increased rates of groundwater being pumped for human uses,...

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New Study Turns Up the Heat on Soot's Role in Himalayan Warming

Soot from fire in an unventilated fireplace wafts into a home and settles on the surfaces of floors and furniture. But with a quick fix to the chimney flue and some dusting, it bears no impact on a home’s long-term environment.A new modeling study from NASA confirms that when tiny air pollution particles we commonly call soot – also known as black carbon – travel along wind currents from densely populated south Asian cities and accumulate over a climate hotspot called the Tibetan Plateau, the result...

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A Unique Geography -- and Soot and Dust -- Conspire Against Himalayan Glaciers

"So many disparate elements, both natural and man-made, converge in the Himalayas," said William Lau, a climatologist from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "There’s no other place in the world that could produce such a powerful atmospheric heat pump," referring to a new hypothesis he’s put forward to explain the rapid retreat of Himalayan glaciers in recent decades.The Himalayas, home to the tallest mountains on Earth, include more than 110 peaks and stretch 2,500 kilometers...

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Endeavour Awaits Move to Pad

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour now is attached to its twin solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank atop the mobile launcher platform.Rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A is slated for early January 2010.The six STS-130 astronauts are practicing with some of the tools they'll be using on their spacewalks in addition to rehearsing thermal protection system repair techniques at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.Shuttle Endeavour,...

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NASA's WISE Eye on the Universe Begins All-Sky Survey Mission

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, lifted off over the Pacific Ocean this morning on its way to map the entire sky in infrared light. A Delta II rocket carrying the spacecraft launched at 6:09 a.m. PST (9:09 a.m. EST) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The rocket deposited WISE into a polar orbit 326 miles above Earth. "WISE thundered overhead, lighting up the pre-dawn skies," said William Irace, the mission's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory...

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Now Online: Aeronautics Goes E-Book

E-book readers are expected to be among the hottest holiday gifts this year and their growing popularity has stirred NASA to begin reformatting its most popular aviation books to be compatible with the digital devices. Available on the NASA aeronautics research Web site, the e-books can be downloaded at no charge for use with the Kindle™, SONY® Reader and, eventually, the nook™. Other formats for those without an e-book reader will be available as well. The first NASA book to be made available...

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Freezing WISE's Hydrogen

A scaffolding structure built around NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, allows engineers to freeze its hydrogen coolant. The WISE infrared instrument is kept extremely cold by a bottle-like tank filled with frozen hydrogen, called the cryostat. The cryostat can be seen at the top of the spacecra...

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NASA's WISE Eye on the Universe Begins All-Sky Survey Mission

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, lifted off over the Pacific Ocean this morning on its way to map the entire sky in infrared light.A Delta II rocket carrying the spacecraft launched at 9:09 a.m. EST from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The rocket deposited WISE into a polar orbit 326 miles above Earth."WISE thundered overhead, lighting up the pre-dawn skies," said William Irace, the mission's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "All...

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Challenges of Living and Working Aboard the Space Station: NASA Astronaut Nicole Stott Available for TV Interviews

After three months living aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Nicole Stott will be available for satellite interviews from Houston between 6 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. CST on Thursday, Dec. 17. To arrange an interview via NASA Television, journalists should contact Derek Sollosi at 281-792-7515 or by e-mail to derek.sollosi-1@nasa.gov by 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 16. B-roll of Stott's flight will air from 5:30 a.m. to 6 a.m. Dec. 17.Stott, of Clearwater, Fla., served as a flight engineer...

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Tropical Cyclone 05B Forms Southeast of Chennai, India

Tropical Cyclone 05B has formed out of "System 96B" in the Northern Indian Ocean and is forecast to approach southeastern India by Sunday, December 13 and make landfall on Monday.On Friday, December 11 at 15:00 UTC (10 a.m. ET or 8 p.m. local Asia/ Kolkata time in Chennai, India), Tropical Storm 05B had maximum sustained winds near 40 mph. It was located about 370 nautical miles southeast of Chennai, India, near 9.3 North latitude and 85.1 East longitude. It was moving north-northeast near 7mph,...

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Endeavour on the Move Today

Space shuttle Endeavour is ready to leave its hangar and be transported to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Rollover is a major milestone to get a shuttle ready for its next mission.Managers are meeting this morning to confirm everything is on track for Endeavour's move from Orbiter Processing Facility-2 to the VAB starting at 1 p.m. EST.NASA TV will air live video coverage of rollover, which also is available online at www.nasa.gov/ntv.The team will spend...

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