Tag Archives: NASA

Monitoring Hurricanes: Georgia Tech Engineers Assist NASA with Instrument for Remotely Measuring Storm Intensity

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2012Environment, Scienceairborne system, analog beam former, aperture, array antenna, data, electromagnetic energy, electromagnetic radiation, fan beams, flight center, georgia, gigahertz range, glenn hopkins, global hawk, gtri, high winds, hirad, hurricane imaging radiometer, in the system, innovation research, jim maloney, knowledge, marshall, massachusetts, michigan, microwave, microwave radiation, minimizing noise, NASA, next generation system, noaa, numerical modeling, ocean waves, orbit, pacific frontal system, polarized array, project, prosensing, radiometer, rain rate, research institute, satellite, sbir, sea foam, sensitivity, small business, Space, spatial resolution, storm, surface wind speeds, synthetic, tech, timothy miller, university, wind direction

A device designed by engineers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is part of the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD), an experimental airborne system developed by the Earth Science Office at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.

Known as an analog beam-former, the GTRI device is part of the radiometer, which is being tested by NASA on a Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle. The radiometer measures microwave radiation emitted by the sea foam that is produced when high winds blow across ocean waves. By measuring the electromagnetic radiation, scientists can remotely assess surface wind speeds at multiple locations within the hurricanes. (more…)

Curiosity Rover Nearing Yellowknife Bay

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2012Sciencecalculation, camera, chemcam, chemistry, curiosity, curiosity traverse map, glenelg area, jet propulsion laboratory, layered martian outcrop, mars, mars rover, mast camera, mastcam, mount sharp, NASA, navcam, navigation camera, outcrop, pasadena, point lake, rick welch, rock composition, sam, sample analysis, science laboratory mission, shaler, sol 123, status report, yellowknife bay

Mars Science Laboratory Mission Status Report

PASADENA, Calif. –– The NASA Mars rover Curiosity drove 63 feet (19 meters) northeastward early Monday, Dec. 10, approaching a step down into a slightly lower area called “Yellowknife Bay,” where researchers intend to choose a rock to drill.

The drive was Curiosity’s fourth consecutive driving day since leaving a site near an outcrop called “Point Lake,” where it arrived last month. These drives totaled 260 feet (79 meters) and brought the mission’s total odometry to 0.37 mile (598 meters). (more…)

NASA’s GRAIL Creates Most Accurate Moon Gravity Map

By Guest PostDecember 10, 2012Scienceapollo lunar missions, basin rings, bouguer gravity anomalies, cambridge, celestial body, crater central peaks, earth, ebb, flow, grail, gravity anomalies, gravity field, gravity field map, gravity gradients, gravity recovery, interior laboratory, jeff andrews hanna, linear gravity anomalies, maria zuber, mark wieczorek, massachusetts institute, mission, moon, moon basin, moon dike map, moon dikes, NASA, olivine materials map, probe, rocky planets, solar system, solar system history, Technology, tectonic structures, thin moon crust, volcanic landforms

PASADENA, Calif. — Twin NASA probes orbiting Earth’s moon have generated the highest resolution gravity field map of any celestial body.

The new map, created by the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, is allowing scientists to learn about the moon’s internal structure and composition in unprecedented detail. Data from the two washing machine-sized spacecraft also will provide a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed and evolved.

The gravity field map reveals an abundance of features never before seen in detail, such as tectonic structures, volcanic landforms, basin rings, crater central peaks and numerous simple, bowl-shaped craters. Data also show the moon’s gravity field is unlike that of any terrestrial planet in our solar system. (more…)

Space Life

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012Scienceask magazine, astrobiology, biology, c elegans, chandran sabanayagam, cubesat projects, dbi, desg, DNA, does life exist, earth, Environment, evolution, microbes, microscopic worms, NASA, physicist, proteins, space life, space research, telemetry, trl3, universe, zero gravity

NASA funds astrobiology research by Delaware Biotechnology Institute scientist

Does life exist anywhere else in the universe? That’s the type of broad but poignant question NASA likes to ask, according to Chandran Sabanayagam, associate scientist in the Bioimaging Center at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute (DBI). And he would know, because he’s preparing to help answer it.

NASA will receive $100 billion from the federal government over the next five years to assure America is number one in space exploration, according to Astrobiology.com. As part of its push to seek new partnerships and broaden its vision, NASA is offering grants to people conducting transformational science. With this opportunity, Sabanayagam is merging his love of physics and biology. (more…)

Armchair Astronomers Find Planet in Four-Star System

By Guest PostOctober 16, 2012Scienceamerican, arizona, arxiv preprint, astronomical data, astronomical society, circumbinary planet, citizen scientist, cottonwood, debra fischer, discovery, earth, eclipsing star, Environment, four star, hawaii, jerome orosz, johns hopkins, keck telescopes, kepler spacecraft, kian jek, mauna kea, meg schwamb, NASA, neptune, nevada, orbit, ph1, phenomenon, planet, planet discovery, planet formation, planethunters, professional astronomer, radius, reno, robert gagliano, san diego, san francisco, server, star, state university, system, twin suns, university, website, yale

A joint effort of citizen scientists and professional astronomers has led to the first reported case of a planet orbiting twin suns that in turn is orbited by a second distant pair of stars.

Aided by volunteers using the Planethunters.org website, a Yale-led international team of astronomers identified and confirmed discovery of the phenomenon, called a circumbinary planet in a four-star system.

Only six planets are known to orbit two stars, according to researchers, and none of these are orbited by distant stellar companions. (more…)

Bounce, Skid, Wobble: How Huygens Landed on Titan

By Guest PostOctober 11, 2012Science17th century, analysis, astronomer, cassini spacecraft, christiaan huygens, direction, dutch, earth, erich karkoschka, european, evaporate, friction, hazy atmosphere, horizon, huygens data, huygens impact, huygens probe, institute, lower atmosphere, max planck, methane, model, moon, moon surface, motion, mud like, NASA, nicolas altobelli, organic aerosols, ralph lorenz, saturn, space agency, splat, stefan schroder, substance, titan, titan atmosphere, undisturbed terrain

Piecing together the events of the farthest touchdown a manmade spacecraft has ever made on an alien world reveals new clues about Titan’s surface and helps plan future missions to moons and planets.

The Huygens probe, ferried to Saturn’s moon Titan by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, bounced, slid and wobbled its way to rest in the 10 seconds after touching down on Titan in January 2005, a new analysis reveals. The moon’s surface is more complex than previously thought.

Scientists reconstructed the chain of events by analyzing data from a variety of instruments that were active during the impact, in particular changes in the acceleration experienced by the probe. The probe was supplied by the European Space Agency and named after the Dutch 17th century astronomer Christiaan Huygens. (more…)

The Helix Nebula: Bigger in Death than Life

By Guest PostOctober 6, 2012Scienceaquarius, carbon, constellation, dwarf star, dying star, evolution, explorer, fuel source, fusion reaction, Galaxy, galex, helium, helix nebula, hydrogen, infrared, light year, NASA, nebula, ngc 7293, nitrogen, nuclear, oxygen, planetary nebulae, Space, space telescope, spitzer, stellar core, ultraviolet, ultraviolet radiation, wise

A dying star is refusing to go quietly into the night, as seen in this combined infrared and ultraviolet view from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), which NASA has lent to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. In death, the star’s dusty outer layers are unraveling into space, glowing from the intense ultraviolet radiation being pumped out by the hot stellar core.

This object, called the Helix nebula, lies 650 light-years away in the constellation of Aquarius. Also known by the catalog number NGC 7293, it is a typical example of a class of objects called planetary nebulae. Discovered in the 18th century, these cosmic works of art were erroneously named for their resemblance to gas-giant planets. (more…)

NASA Observations Point to ‘Dry Ice’ Snowfall on Mars

By Guest PostSeptember 13, 2012Sciencecarbon dioxide, data, david kass, dry ice, frozen, ice, jpl, mars, mars climate sounder, martian air, martian atmosphere, NASA, particle, paul hayne, phoenix lander, polar caps, reconnaissance orbiter, red planet, residual cap, snow, snow cloud, snowfall, solar system, water

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data have given scientists the clearest evidence yet of carbon-dioxide snowfalls on Mars. This reveals the only known example of carbon-dioxide snow falling anywhere in our solar system.

Frozen carbon dioxide, better known as “dry ice,” requires temperatures of about minus 193 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 125 Celsius), which is much colder than needed for freezing water. Carbon-dioxide snow reminds scientists that although some parts of Mars may look quite Earth-like, the Red Planet is very different. The report is being published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. (more…)