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NASA Maps How Nutrients Affect Plant Productivity

By Guest PostNovember 3, 2012Environmentamazonia, biogeochemical cycles, boreal, boreal forest, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, data, earth, ecosystem, eleanor blyth, eurasian forest, fertile earth, fertilization, global, grasslands, grayson badgley, greenhouse gas, growth, hawaii, jet propulsion, josh fisher, laboratory, level, maps, migration, model, NASA, nitrogen, North America, north american, nutrient, ozone mapping, palo alto, pasadena, phosphorus, plant, satellite, savannas, shrublands, soil, spectrometer, stanford university, terra spacecraft, terrestrial biosphere, total, trees, tropical forest, validation site, vegetation, vegetation productivity

PASADENA, Calif. – A new analysis led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has estimated how much the growth of plants worldwide is limited by the amount of nutrients available in their soil. The maps produced from the research will be particularly useful in evaluating how much carbon dioxide Earth’s ecosystems may be able to soak up as greenhouse gas levels increase.

A research team led by JPL research scientist Josh Fisher used 19 years of data from NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and international satellites to assess the maximum possible growth of vegetation all over the world based upon available water and light conditions. The scientists then cross-compared that potential maximum with observed vegetation productivity as measured by satellites. This is the first time such an analysis has been conducted. (more…)

NASA Radar to Study Hawaii’s Most Active Volcano

By Guest PostJanuary 12, 2012Scienceactive volcano, airborne radar, big island, deformation, dryden flight research center, earth surface, east rift zone, edwards, hawaii, interferometry, jet propulsion laboratory, kilauea volcano, NASA, pasadena, pulses of microwave energy, research aircraft, sensor, uavsar, uninhabited aerial vehicle synthetic aperture radar

An airborne radar developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has returned to Hawaii to continue its study of Kilauea volcano, Hawaii’s current most active volcano.

The Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar, or UAVSAR, mounted in a pod under NASA’s G-III research aircraft from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., returned to Hawaii’s Big Island on Jan. 7. The one-week airborne campaign will help scientists better understand processes occurring under Earth’s surface at Kilauea. (more…)

NASA Says Comet Elenin Gone and Should Be Forgotten

By Guest PostOctober 26, 2011Scienceastronomical name, c 2010 x1, cause célèbre, comet elenin, debris cloud, don yeomans, earthlings, elenin, ex comet, gravitational effects, internet bloggers, jet propulsion laboratory, leonid elenin of lyubertsy, millennia, monty python, NASA, oort cloud, outer solar system, pasadena, russia, russian astronomer, solar system, spaceguard

Comet Elenin is no more.

Latest indications are this relatively small comet has broken into even smaller, even less significant, chunks of dust and ice. This trail of piffling particles will remain on the same path as the original comet, completing its unexceptional swing through the inner solar system this fall.

“Elenin did as new comets passing close by the sun do about two percent of the time: It broke apart,” said Don Yeomans of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “Elenin’s remnants will also act as other broken-up comets act. They will trail along in a debris cloud that will follow a well-understood path out of the inner solar system. After that, we won’t see the scraps of comet Elenin around these parts for almost 12 millennia.” (more…)

Origin of Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Remains a Mystery

By Guest PostSeptember 21, 2011Scienceamy mainzer, asteroid belt between mars and jupiter, asteroids, baptistina, baptistina family, demise of the dinosaurs, dinosaurs extinction, earth, greatest mysteries, gulf of mexico, huge asteroid, jet propulsion laboratory, joseph masiero, jpl, lindley johnson, NASA, nasa headquarters in washington, near earth object, neo, neowise, pasadena, visible light data, wide field infrared survey explorer, wise

PASADENA, Calif. — Observations from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission indicate the family of asteroids some believed was responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs is not likely the culprit, keeping open the case on one of Earth’s greatest mysteries.

While scientists are confident a large asteroid crashed into Earth approximately 65 million years ago, leading to the extinction of dinosaurs and some other life forms on our planet, they do not know exactly where the asteroid came from or how it made its way to Earth. A 2007 study using visible-light data from ground-based telescopes first suggested the remnant of a huge asteroid, known as Baptistina, as a possible suspect. (more…)

NASA’s Wise Mission Discovers Coolest Class of Stars

By Guest PostAugust 25, 2011Science40 light years, ammonia, astronomers, atmospheric temperature, brown dwarf family, california institute of technology, Chile, coldest brown dwarf, cool as the human body, davy kirkpatrick, failed stars, gas giant planets, hawaii, infrared processing and analysis center, infrared vision, jon morse, jupiter, magellan telescopes at las campanas observatory, methane, michael cushing, molecular signatures, NASA, nasa headquarters, nine light years away, palomar observatory, parent star, pasadena, proxima centauri, ross 154, solar system, spitzer space telescope, star like bodies, visible light telescope, w m keck observatory atop mauna kea, Washington, water, wide field infrared survey explorer, wise, wise 1541-2250, wise 1828+2650, y dwarfs

PASADENA, Calif. – Scientists using data from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have discovered the coldest class of star-like bodies, with temperatures as cool as the human body.

Astronomers hunted these dark orbs, termed Y dwarfs, for more than a decade without success. When viewed with a visible-light telescope, they are nearly impossible to see. WISE’s infrared vision allowed the telescope to finally spot the faint glow of six Y dwarfs relatively close to our sun, within a distance of about 40 light-years. (more…)

NASA Mars Rover Approaches Long-Term Goal

By Guest PostAugust 9, 2011Sciencecalifornia institute of technology, cape york, endeavour crater, environments on mars, mars, mars rover opportunity, microbial life, NASA, opportunity, pasadena, rovers, spirit point, victoria crater

The NASA Mars rover Opportunity has gained a view of Endeavour crater from barely more than a football-field’s distance away from the rim. The rim of Endeavour has been the mission’s long-term goal since mid-2008.

Endeavour offers the setting for plenty of productive work by Opportunity. The crater is 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter — more than 25 times wider than Victoria crater, an earlier stop that Opportunity examined for two years. Observations by orbiting spacecraft indicate that the ridges along Endeavour’s western rim expose rock outcrops older than any Opportunity has seen so far. The selected location for arrival at the rim, “Spirit Point,” is at the southern tip of one of those ridges, “Cape York,” on the western side of Endeavour. (more…)

Cassini Captures Images and Sounds of Saturn Storm

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2011Scienceandrew ingersoll, austrian academy of sciences, california institute of technology, cassini, cassini spacecraft, cloud, earth, georg fischer, graz, hemispheres, iowa city, journal nature, jupiter, NASA, northern hemisphere, pasadena, pictures from cassini, saturn storm, saturn storm watch, solar illumination, storm alley, university of iowa, weather on saturn

PASADENA, Calif. — Scientists analyzing data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft now have the first-ever, up-close details of a Saturn storm that is eight times the surface area of Earth.

On Dec. 5, 2010, Cassini first detected the storm that has been raging ever since. It appears approximately 35 degrees north latitude of Saturn. Pictures from Cassini’s imaging cameras show the storm wrapping around the entire planet covering approximately 2 billion square miles (4 billion square kilometers). (more…)

Radar for Mars Gets Flight Tests at NASA Dryden

By Guest PostJune 22, 2011Sciencedesert, dryden flight research center, edwards, environmental conditions, fa 18 aircraft, florida, jet propulsion laboratory, kennedy space center, mars, mars landing radar software, mars radar, mars science laboratory mission, martian atmosphere, microbial life, NASA, nasa technology, pasadena, southern california

Southern California’s high desert has been a stand-in for Mars for NASA technology testing many times over the years. And so it is again, in a series of flights by an F/A-18 aircraft to test the landing radar for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission.

The flight profile is designed to have the F/A-18 climb to 40,000 feet (about 12,000 meters). From there, it makes a series of subsonic, stair-step dives at angles of 40 to 90 degrees to simulate what the Mars radar will see while the spacecraft is on a parachute descending through the Martian atmosphere. The F/A-18 pulls out of each dive at 5,000 feet (about 1,500 meters. Data collected by these flights will be used to finesse the Mars landing radar software, to help ensure that it is calibrated as accurately as possible. (more…)

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