SpaceCoalition: NASA's Icebridge to Glaciers: From NASA
NASA's Operation IceBridge mission, the largest airborne survey ever flown... http://bit.ly/bPJZbY
SpaceCoalition: The Shuttle's Top Secret Little Cousin: From Universe Today
It's cute. It's little. It's also top secret. The X-37... http://bit.ly/9S5B4g
I love the crew posters that NASA has been creating lately, and this one is especially cool. If you are a Star Trek fan, you likely will recognize the pose that Commander Mark Kelly and his crew are assuming.
Right now, STS-134 has a targeted launch date of July 29, 2010. But STS-131, -132 and -133 are in line first, and right now we're waiting to hear word on whether Discovery for STS-131 will have to be rolled back off the launchpad to fix a faulty helium valve in the right Reaction Control System. Additionally, one of STS-134's payloads is scheduled to be the $2-billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, but possible design problems could delay the launch of this much-anticipated instrument which could help find antimatter and test the Big Bang theory.
The New York Times has never printed a larger headline than when Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the moon in 1969. Apollo 11, NASA's most successful creation, breached the gap between Earth and space some forty years ago; an incredible feat in the space race that has changed - quite literally - how we view the world today.
Finding information on space and NASA used to require a trip to the library, dusting off an encyclopedia and spending hours searching for a few pieces of information. Some would call those the good old days. But now we have wikipedia, the NASA website and now the official NASA iPhone application. We've got the whole world in our hands. And then some. So let's see how it delivers.
I'm no astrophysicist, but the layout of the application makes generous use of the iPhone's display and navigation is easy. We all have different ideas about what makes a "good" application "great" - for me it's the layout and design. How easy it is to use. The NASA app is surprisingly easy for what is the most complex subject in the world.
By far one of the most impressive features that I've seen so far is the ability to see when a nearby object passes by Earth. Click on an object, load a map, and it'll get your current location and the location of the object (eg. International Space Station) - if it's over you, you may be able to spot it!
There are four categories - Missions, Images, Videos and Updates. Options to filter, refresh and search, as well as a handy help guide, are accessible from almost every page.
NASA has released its first iPhone game, as the agency continues its relentless conquest of new media
Starting Monday, you can virtually drive a fictional Lunar Electric Rover on a future lunar outpost. The game is free and available through the iTunes store.
Noted for its use of Twitter and educational iPhone apps, NASA has been at the forefront of government engagement with new media of all types. This one grew out of the agency's video podcast show, NASA Edge.
"We wanted to make this a cool game instead of an app where you just retrieve information," said Chris Giersch, the host of NASA EDGE.
The game is very simple. As the game review site Krapps notes, the gameplay is a bit "Pacmanish." Beyond driving around the rover, you can also see images from the proposed lunar outpost and learn more about what life on the Moon might be like.
For the first iteration, NASA decided not to go too extravagant. "We thought about going high-tech and going really jazzy, but for this first version, let's just keep it basic," Giersch said.
The Lunar Electric Rover in the game is based on a prototype tested at the Black Point Lava Flow in Arizona. It would have been part of a planned lunar outpost under the old NASA Constellation solar system exploration plan.
BOULDER, Colorado - Here at the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference, NASA's Deputy Administrator, Lori Garver, announced the space agency's commitment to provide $75 million in funding over five years - money for the new Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research (CRuSR) program.
For attendees here at the meeting, that money could go a long way.
There are a number of private suborbital vehicles now in development, such as efforts by Virgin Galactic, Armadillo Aerospace, Blue Origin, Masten Space Systems, and XCOR Aerospace.
While many milestones are ahead in developing and flight-testing their vehicles, the collective work by these and other groups signals a new chapter in access to space.
"Since this new generation of commercial vehicles are low cost, NASA's $75 million will open the floodgates for everyone from astronomers to high school classrooms to conduct real science in space. This will be one of the best investments NASA has ever made," predicted Alan Stern, chair of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation's Suborbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG).
But NASA's Garver underscored the fact that NASA is proposing to spend $15 million in each of five years from 2011-2015 for the CRuSR program. However, this activity will need backing in Congress, she noted.
If approved, CRuSR funds will both go to universities and other research institutions to build science and education payloads, as well as being used to purchase flights on commercial suborbital vehicles.
The CRuSR program is based at NASA's Ames Research Center in the heart of California's Silicon Valley.
BOULDER, Colorado - The next-generation of suborbital vehicles are taking shape. This new commercial crop of vessels offers the chance for scientists to ride along to the edge of space with their experiments.
A next-gen suborbital researchers conference starts here today.
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is announcing a new initiative to build and fly experiments with payload specialists taking suborbital flights in the near future.
The program is supported with a $1 million allocation from SwRI.
Tagged as the first program of its kind in the nation, Alan Stern, associate vice president of the SwRI Space Science and Engineering Division is slated to make the announcement at the conference.
"Thanks to the new generation of reusable suborbital vehicles coming on line, we are on the verge of a revolution in space access - with breakthrough prices and flight frequencies that will open up many new applications," Stern said.
Stern said he's convinced this revolution will both benefit from, and lead to, advances in research and education over the years to come.
The SwRI plan: Over the next three years, SwRI scientists will develop and fly microgravity and space astronomy experiments on multiple suborbital space treks.
Vehicles such as the now in development SpaceShipTwo, as example, can support such suborbital scientific jaunts.
Similarly, Blue Origin, bankrolled by Amazon.com entrepreneur, Jeff Bezos, is developing the New Shepard, a rocket-propelled vehicle to routinely fly multiple astronauts into suborbital space at competitive prices.
Other vehicles are being pursued as well, underscoring a new thrust in scientific experimentation.
"We're finally arriving at the day when space scientists can conduct their research ‘in the field' in the same way that botanists, geologists and oceanographers have been doing all along," added Dan Durda, a SwRI project co-investigator.
Soma FM is running live coverage of STS-130, remixed with a smooth electronica soundtrack. If you'd like to catch up with our astronauts and enjoy some ambient tunes, you can check in at http://somafm.com/play/missioncontrol
NASA's new OpenNASA site lets you submit, vote on, and provide feedback for ideas on how NASA should proceed. Get your voice heard and become part of our nations space program!
Unheralded But Unbowed: Black Scientists & Engineers Who Changed the World by Garland L. Thompson; CreateSpace/Amazon.com; Charleston, South Carolina; (soft cover); $21.95; 2009.
This book focuses on Black professionals and the contributions they have made to help strengthen America's technological muscle. Moreover, the writer flags individuals that have clearly demonstrated that "talent knows no color line."
Thompson's approach in this book is also designed to help energize young Blacks to push forward in their pursuit of careers in science and technology. The author notes the blossoming in access to science and technology careers for Blacks, albeit against the backdrop of discrimination in the 20th century - as well as the lingering leftovers of prejudice today.
Sprinkled through the book is the impact that Sputnik and the early beginnings of U.S.-Soviet space competition had on a number of people spotlighted in the book, such as Guion Bluford, Jr. - a veteran of four space shuttle missions. Bluford is the first African American in space in 1983 and is on the Coalition's Board of Advisors.
Other profiles in the book include Blue Angels pilot, Donnie Cochran; Arthur Johnson, a now-retired Senior Vice President in Corporate Strategic Development for the Lockheed Martin Corporation; as well as Shirley Jackson, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Thoughtful and thought-provoking, the reader will find a motivating treatment of Black achievement in computer science, software, engineering and other fields - success attained by the barrier-breaking staying power of the individuals portrayed in the book.
Thompson underscores the need to tap into communities of color: "Standing idly by while other countries race to produce new generations of engineers, scientists and technicians and fight to replace America as the world's economic leader is not an option."
Thompson is a journalist, author and educator with this self-published book made possible via CreateSpace, part of the Amazon group of companies. Unheralded but Unbowed: Black Scientists & Engineers Who Changed the World is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels. A Kindle version is also available.
NASA continues to stay ahead of the government pack when it comes to public outreach. In addition to its many popular Twitter streams, iPhone apps and opportunities for citizens to participate in scientific programs, the agency is jumping into the e-book space.
For space geeks looking for a little e-reading this weekend, NASA recently added an e-book section to its publications list and rolled out the first free title for the Kindle and Sony Reader, a history of the x-15 hypersonic test aircraft.
More titles are on the way. The agency already has plenty of technical papers, presentations, case studies and other publications on its website that could eventually land in your e-reader.
NASA says it will eventually make titles available for the Nook as well. And Luddites can still order hard copies of the X-15 book, along with a CD or a PDF. No word on whether NASA will put together a version for devices like the iPad that could integrate text, photos and video into the kind of publication many are hoping will be the next generation of books.
The crew of space shuttle Atlantis plans to deliver to the Pro Football Hall of Fame a coin that traveled into space for use in the official coin toss at Super Bowl XLIV.
The crew finished an 11-day trip in November that included three spacewalks and installation of two platforms to the International Space Station.
Along with the coin, Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys jerseys and a football inscribed with the names of all Hall of Fame members were on the shuttle flight. All the items will be presented to the Hall in Canton, Ohio, on Wednesday.
The crew also will visit a NASA research center in Cleveland and a Cleveland Cavaliers game. The astronauts will bring an NBA jersey that was on the flight.
If astronauts are ever going to have any hope of exploring Mars, they're going to need more than just a good ride. They're going to need a fly outfit. Forget that sumo thing - it's just too darn clunky and heavy to allow much rock-collecting and rover-driving (not to mention hover-boarding and other future extreme sports). And who wants to make their first Martian impression looking like Missy Eliot? We can't have other worlds thinking we're all fatties, now can we.
But it's with an eye towards function, not fashion, that MIT aeronautics engineer Dava Newman, featured in this episode of Nova ScienceNOW's Secret Life of Scientists, has spent over a decade developing a successor to NASA's space suit, that puffy relic of the early space program. It just so happens that flexibility and style go hand in pressurized-glove hand: her BioSuit, is stretchy where it needs to be, while laced in a "skeleton" of black lines that stay firm, corresponding to lines on the skin that don't move much when you move your leg or sashay into a crater.
The idea for a "space activity suit," born in the 1960s - and referencing ‘60s sci-fi, not to mention the imaginary of anime masters like Yoshiyuki Tomino - does away with the self-contained pressurized atmosphere of today's outfits in exchange for mechanical counter-pressure, which basically squeezes the body to keep tissues from expanding and blood cells from congealing (ie, a red sandy death). On top of Spidey-like flexibility, Newman's BioSuit can better withstand the much-feared tear: where a rip in a traditional spacesuit means a quick return to home base, a puncture in the BioSuit can be wrapped with something like an Ace bandage, while the rest of the suit remains unaffected.
Designed in part with the help of Italy's Dainese, which specializes in motorcyclist gear, the outer layer could be a mix of recyclable polymers, like nylon and spandex, which help to make the whole thing possibly a tenth of the US $20 million price tag of one of today's space fashions. To keep the thing super tight, an inner layer could be sprayed onto the body, and wearable computers, smart gels and conductive materials could be embedded between the polymer layers.
The National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) has launched a Web site aimed specifically at teenagers that gives them access to current NASA spacecraft data, potentially taking school science projects to a new level.
The "Mission: Science" site also gives teens the opportunity to conduct experiments in conjunction with actual NASA scientists, giving students an unprecedented glimpse into the ongoing research that will advance space exploration and take humanity further into the universe. And for those wishing to explore NASA itself and its student followers even further, the site offers social networking tools; links to enter science contests; information about college research programs and space-related summer internships; and an array of NASA images, animation, videos, and podcasts.
Can't get enough of your favorite iPhone apps, like Flight Tracker, Photogene and TweetDeck? Well, NASA is hoping to add one more to your list of favorite iPhone applications.
The space agency today released NASA App 1.1 for the Apple Inc. iPhone and iPod Touch products.
The updated application is designed to help users spot near-Earth orbiters, see NASA videos, stay up-to-date with NASA launch information and countdown clocks, and get easy access to NASA's Twitter feeds.
NASA App 1.1 adds several new features, like new content about space missions, and visible sighting opportunities for orbiters from the user's home location or through searched locations.
Astronaut Nicole Stott talked with Dwell magazine about life onboard the ISS. In her interview she covers everything from her technical role on the station to what areas of the ISS could use a little sprucing up.
Fingers will be flying when space shuttle Atlantis blasts off Monday: About 100 of NASA's geekiest fans will be on hand, pecking away at iPhones, BlackBerrys, laptops and other Twittering gadgets.
They plan to let loose with electronic messages - provided they aren't so swept away by the afternoon liftoff that they fall uncharacteristically silent for a moment or two.
The tweeps, as they're called, represent 21 states plus the District of Columbia, as well as five countries, including Morocco and New Zealand. They're traveling at their own expense.
NASA estimates the 100 have more than 150,000 Twitter followers. It's a dream outreach program for a space agency looking to drum up support.
"I'll be uploading stuff as it happens," promised Steve Wake, 38, a computer programmer who flew in from Denver. "On launch day, who knows? I may be too excited about everything else to even think about doing that stuff. When it's over with, I'm sure I will."
Laura Burns already has a strategy. She figures she'll have the words typed in and her finger hovering over the button so she can send a tweet at the moment of liftoff.
"I'll have to be like juggling my iPhone and my camera and my eyes, and trying to get everything all at once," said Burns, 33, a software systems engineer from Columbia, Maryland. She's using the Twitter name "moonrangerlaura" to chronicle her entire trip - including the drive to Cape Canaveral and a pit stop for MoonPie pastries.
For the first time ever, NASA last month invited its Twitter followers to sign up online for the chance to see a space shuttle launch up close.
The 100 slots - and 50 backup positions - filled in less than 20 minutes on Oct. 16.
Winners of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X Prize Challenge are receiving their checks at a special awards ceremony taking place today at the Rayburn House in Washington, D.C.
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and Director of NASA Centennial Challenges, Doug Comstock, are speaking at the event.
Representatives of Team Masten Space Systems and Team Armadillo Aerospace are in attendance to accept the awards.
Live updates and photos from the event are being posted on:
Space explorers have yet to get their hands on the replicator of "Star Trek" to create anything they might require. But NASA has developed a technology that could enable lunar colonists to carry out on-site manufacturing on the moon, or allow future astronauts to create critical spare parts during the long trip to Mars.
The method, called electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3), uses an electron beam to melt metals and build objects layer by layer. Such an approach already promises to cut manufacturing costs for the aerospace industry, and could pioneer development of new materials. It has also thrilled astronauts on the International Space Station by dangling the possibility of designing new tools or objects, researchers said.
"They get up there, and all they have is time and imagination," said Karen Taminger, the materials research engineer heading the project at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia.
Taminger's project has undergone microgravity tests aboard NASA's "vomit comet" aircraft. Now she hopes to get EBF3 scheduled for launch to the International Space Station, so that space trials can commence.
Rocketing into space? Some think an elevator might be the way to go.
That's the future goal of this week's $2 million Space Elevator Games in the Mojave Desert.
In a major test of the concept, robotic machines powered by laser beams will try to climb a cable suspended from a helicopter hovering more than a half-mile (one kilometer) high.
Three teams have qualified to participate in the event on the dry lakebed near NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards. Attempts were expected from early Wednesday through Thursday.
Funded by a space agency program to explore bold technology, the contest is a step toward bringing the idea of a space elevator out of the realm of science fiction and into reality.
Theorized in the 1960s and then popularized by Arthur C. Clarke's 1979 novel ''The Fountains of Paradise,'' space elevators are envisioned as a way to gain access to space without the risk and expense of rockets.
Instead, electrically powered vehicles would run up and down a cable anchored to a ground structure and extending thousands of miles up to a mass in geosynchronous orbit -- the kind of orbit communications satellites are placed in to stay over a fixed spot on the Earth.
Electricity would be supplied through a concept known as ''power beaming,'' ground-based lasers pointing up to photo voltaic cells on the bottom of the climbing vehicle -- something like an upside-down solar power system.
The space elevator competition has not produced a winner in its previous three years, but has become increasingly difficult.
The vehicles must climb a cable six-tenths of a mile into the sky and move at an average speed of 16.4 feet (five meters) per second.
The competition is sponsored by the nonprofit Spaceward Foundation with support from NASA's Centennial Challenges program.
There's nothing like a good horror story in space. I grew up watching Sigourney Weaver outsmart xenomorphs in her underwear and subsequently spent a little too much time reading the likes of Stephen King's "I am the Doorway," H.P. Lovecraft's "In the Walls of Eryx" and John Steakley's "Armor."
As a result, it's hard for me to read about space exploration without thinking of about its darker possibilities -- and I don't just mean aliens and distant Hell worlds. Leaving Earth's atmosphere is a dangerous endeavor and, major tragedies aside, there have been a number of smaller terrifying, grotesque and absurd episodes to come out of it. So if you'll allow me to serve as your cosmic Crypt Keeper for a few minutes, I thought I'd run though a few of the ones that get under my skin.
Space Corpses in the Sky: Space exploration research has claimed a number of animal lives, and while the idea of sacrificing monkeys and dogs on the altar of science is rather disheartening, the notion that there are dead simian and canine space explorers in orbit RIGHT NOW just adds to the creepiness.
Several early space missions involved re-entry procedures, but not every spacecraft was recovered. This leads many to theorize that perhaps dozens of mummified animals are still making the orbital rounds up there. Think about that the next time you wish upon a star.
The U.S. space agency, NASA, has added a free application to the Apple's App Store, allowing iPhone and iPod Touch users to access a range of information about current and upcoming missions.
The software can track path of the International Space Station (ISS) as it orbits the earth, and access data and images from missions around the Earth, as well as to the Moon and Mars.
"Making NASA more accessible to the public is a high priority for the agency," said the agency's director of Strategic Integration and Management, Gale Allen, in a press release. "Tools like this allow us to provide users easy access to NASA information and progress at a fast pace."
John Boswell of Colorpulse has composed a tribute to two great men of science: the late Carl Sagan and his cosmologist companion, Stephen Hawking.
Take a look at this engaging YouTube presentation, A Glorious Dawn - Cosmos Remixed. Almost all samples and footage were taken from Carl Sagan's Cosmos and Stephen Hawking's Universe series.
NASA says it is extending an invitation to its Twitter followers to view a space shuttle launch in person at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The U.S. space agency says it will host the "Tweetup" Nov. 11-12. Space shuttle Atlantis is to lift off at 4:04 p.m. EST Nov. 12 on its STS-129 mission to the International Space Station.
A "Tweetup" is defined as an organized or informal gathering of people who use the Twitter social networking service.
"This will be NASA's fifth Tweetup for our Twitter community," said Michael Cabbage, director of NASA's news services division. "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."
Posted At : October 14, 2009 12:06 PM
| Posted By : spacecoalition
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From the Houston Chronicle
A day before U2 takes the stage at Reliant Stadium for a concert the rock band dropped in on Mission Control at Johnson Space Center, according to NASA. NASA tweeted the visit earlier this morning, and a spokesperson confirmed the 11:30 a.m. visit, which will re-air on NASA TV (www.nasa.gov/ntv) this afternoon. Bono and the Edge chatted with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station for about 12 minutes.
The musicians spoke with European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne, NASA astronauts Jeff Williams and Nicole Stott, and cosmonauts Roman Romanenko and Maxim Suraev. Patched in by telephone was Guy Laliberte, founder of Cirque du Soleil, who just returned from traveling to the station as a space tourist via a Russian Soyuz space craft.
Hitting Mission Control falls in line with the band's current tour, which includes a giant stage set-up that, to some, resembles a giant spaceship. And Rolling Stone's recent cover story on the band charts its attempt to pull off Your Blue Room, a deep track from Passengers, a collaboration between the band and producer Brian Eno with audio and video from the International Space Station. The song wasn't played last night in Dallas. The band has played it in fewer than half of the shows on its U.S. tour.
But after a Space Center visit it might get revived for Wednesday's Reliant performance.
Spirit Mars Rover: "Free Wheelie!"
Alan Radecki said: With the arm sitting that close to the ground, I'm wondering if it has enough strength to push down ...
[More]
Unheralded But Unbowed: Black Scientists & Engineers Who Changed the World by Garland L. Thompson; CreateSpace/Amazon.com; Charleston, South Carolina; (soft cover); $21.95; 2009.
From Motherboard
