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

NASA has selected 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 provide a better understanding of Earth's formation or perhaps the origin of life on our planet.

The proposed missions would probe 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 will select one proposal for full development after detailed mission concept studies are completed and reviewed. The studies begin during 2010, and the selected mission must be ready for launch no later than Dec. 30, 2018. Mission cost, excluding the launch vehicle, is limited to $650 million.

"These are projects that inspire and excite young scientists, engineers and the public," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "These three proposals provide the best science value among eight submitted to NASA this year."

Each proposal team initially will receive approximately $3.3 million in 2010 to conduct a 12-month mission concept study that focuses on implementation feasibility, cost, management and technical plans. Studies also will include plans for educational outreach and small business opportunities.

Astronauts Aboard the Space Station Talk With Troops in Iraq

This is one of a series of images featuring the International Space Station photographed soon after the space shuttle Atlantis and the station began their post-undocking relative separation. Some scenes in the series show parts of the Mediterranean Sea and Africa and Spain in the background.

Some U.S. forces in Iraq will get the chance during the holidays to talk with two NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station who also are far away from their families and friends. A 20-minute live video downlink will start at 9 a.m. EST on Dec. 29. The event will be carried live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's Web site.

Station Commander Jeff Williams, a retired U.S. Army colonel, and Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer, an Army colonel, will talk with U.S. forces while orbiting 220 miles above Earth. Service members will have the chance to talk with the astronauts about life on the station, their military careers and what it is like to live in space for up to six months.

Technology developed for the space and Earth science programs at NASA is currently being repurposed for use to protect our soldiers in Iraq and across the globe. Examples include satellite-based communications and weather resources, GPS, and other NASA Spinoffs.

NASA Television will provide live coverage of the conversations, with video from aboard the station during the event. A video file will be available later in the day, with edited footage from both the station and the service members in Iraq.

Keck Telescopes Gaze into Young Star's "Life Zone"

The inner regions of young planet-forming disks offer information about how worlds like Earth form, but not a single telescope in the world can see them. Yet, for the first time, astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii have measured the properties of a young solar system at distances closer to the star than Venus is from our sun.

"When it comes to building rocky planets like our own, the innermost part of the disk is where the action is," said team member William Danchi at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Planets forming in a star's inner disk may orbit within its "habitable zone," where conditions could potentially support the development of life.

To achieve the feat, the team used the Keck Interferometer to combine infrared light gathered by both of the observatory's twin 10-meter telescopes, which are separated by 85 meters. The double-barreled approach gives astronomers the effective resolution of a single 85-meter telescope -- several times larger than any now planned.

"Nothing else in the world provides us with the types of measurements the Keck Interferometer does," said Wesley Traub at Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "In effect, it's a zoom lens for the Keck telescopes."

Off-Duty Day for New Expanded Crew

Following the arrival of the three new Expedition 22 crew members Tuesday, the crew aboard the International Space Station had an off-duty day Wednesday. The crew members spent most of the day sleeping due to the late finish of the docking activities.

NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi docked with their new home at 5:48 p.m. EST Tuesday. The trio launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft at 4:52 p.m. Sunday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

From inside the station, Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev monitored the approach of the Russian spacecraft as it docked to the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module.

After completion of leak checks, the hatches between the two vehicles were opened at 7:30 p.m. Williams and Suraev, who arrived at the station Oct. 2 aboard the Soyuz TMA-16, welcomed the new Expedition 22 flight engineers aboard their orbital home for the next five months.

Creamer, 50, is making his first flight into space. Selected as an astronaut in 1998, Creamer was a support astronaut for the Expedition 3 crew and worked with hardware integration and robotics.

Kotov, 44, is making his second spaceflight, having previously served six months aboard the station as an Expedition 15 flight engineer in 2007. Kotov will be a flight engineer for Expedition 22 and assume the duties of Expedition 23 commander when Williams and Suraev depart in March 2010.

Noguchi is making his second spaceflight. He flew on the STS-114 return-to-flight mission of Discovery in 2005 and conducted three spacewalks totaling more than 20 hours.

Tropical Storm David Forms and Romps in the Southern Indian Ocean

Tropical Storm David formed over the weekend and as a depression, has been romping around the open waters of the Southern Indian Ocean and will continue to do just that. David is located approximately 580 nautical miles west-southwest of Diego Garcia, near 11.3 degrees South and 63.8 degrees East.

David has been tracking in a westward direction, but it now changing course and moving east-southeast near 7 mph. David's maximum sustained winds are near 46 mph, and the storm may strengthen over the next couple of days.



Animated infrared satellite imagery, such as that using NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on the Aqua satellite, indicates slight improvement in organization over the past 12 hours despite moderate northwesterly vertical wind shear. AIRS captured an infrared and visible image of David on December 21 at 09:17 UTC (4:17 a.m. ET) and noticed that David had some high thunderstorm tops indicating strong convection and strong thunderstorms with heavy rainfall. The cloud tops were as cold or colder than minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit!

On December 21 at 1504 UTC (10:04 ET) the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, a satellite managed by NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, flew over David to analyze the storm's rainfall. The image showed convective banding, that is, bands of thunderstorms, wrapping from the north of the storm into the south of the storm. Microwave imagery, however, such as that from NASA's Aqua satellite showed that David's low-level circulation is partially exposed, opening the storm up to wind shear, which could weaken it.

Astronauts Test Glenn Exercise Harnesses

Imagine that you want to exercise on a treadmill. You step onto the machine and select your desired speed. As the belt starts moving, you start walking and eventually running. Your feet rhythmically hit the belt, and you get a nice workout.

In space, it isn't that simple.

For astronauts living in space, like those who reside on the International Space Station, getting a good workout is equally -- and in some ways even more important -- than for earthbound people.

"Crew members exercise for a host of important reasons. There's a psychological benefit to exercise, and crew members work out to combat spaceflight deconditioning -- to help fend off the bone loss that they experience in microgravity and to help maintain muscle strength and cardiovascular endurance. All of these things are adversely affected by long-duration space flight," says Gail Perusek, Manager for Exercise Physiology and Countermeasures Project at NASA's Glenn Research Center.

Hubble Finds Smallest Kuiper Belt Object Ever Seen

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered the smallest object ever seen in visible light in the Kuiper Belt, a vast ring of icy debris that is encircling the outer rim of the solar system just beyond Neptune.

The needle-in-a-haystack object found by Hubble is only 3,200 feet across and a whopping 4.2 billion miles away. The smallest Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) seen previously in reflected light is roughly 30 miles across, or 50 times larger.

This is the first observational evidence for a population of comet-sized bodies in the Kuiper Belt that are being ground down through collisions. The Kuiper Belt is therefore collisionally evolving, meaning that the region's icy content has been modified over the past 4.5 billion years.

The object detected by Hubble is so faint - at 35th magnitude -- it is 100 times dimmer than what the Hubble can see directly.

So then how did the space telescope uncover such a small body?

In a paper published in the December 17th issue of the journal Nature, Hilke Schlichting of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., and her collaborators are reporting that the telltale signature of the small vagabond was extracted from Hubble's pointing data, not by direct imaging.

Hubble has three optical instruments called Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS). The FGSs provide high-precision navigational information to the space observatory's attitude control systems by looking at select guide stars for pointing. The sensors exploit the wavelike nature of light to make precise measurement of the location of stars.

Schlichting and her co-investigators determined that the FGS instruments are so good that they can see the effects of a small object passing in front of a star. This would cause a brief occultation and diffraction signature in the FGS data as the light from the background guide star was bent around the intervening foreground KBO.

TMA-17 Arrives at Pad, Crew Prepares for Launch

Early Friday morning at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft left its processing facility on a rail car then was vertically set up at its launch pad. On Sunday at 4:52 p.m. EST, three new crew members will launch aboard the TMA-17 to join the Expedition 22 crew after docking to the International Space Station. They dock to the International Space Station Tuesday.

Watch NASA TV for coverage of the launch, which begins Sunday at 4 p.m.

NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi will expand Expedition 22 to five crew members. Residing onboard the station since Oct. 2 are Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev.

While they wait for the arrival of the rest of the crew, Williams and Suraev continue their normal science, maintenance and exercise activities.

The two orbiting crew members each performed different experiments that measure an astronaut’s performance of various tasks during long-term spaceflight. Williams performed an experiment that studies how the lack of gravity affects concentration, verbal working memory, attention, short-term memory, spatial processing and math skills. Suraev performed tests and games to assess the actual mental state, prediction and correction of quality of professional task performance in a space flight.

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," said Marc Imhoff, project scientist for the mission and a researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Terra's sensors have provided the first coordinated set of observations allowing us to link Earth system processes across space and time so we can better understand how they function together and how we interact with them."

Since Terra's five instruments officially saw "first light" on Feb 24, 2000, after a post-launch checkout, the data have continued to advance Earth system science. Here's a sample of the latest developments to be presented by Terra researchers at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

NASA's AIM Satellite and Models are Unlocking the Secrets of Mysterious "Night-Shining" Clouds

This image of Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMC) from the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere Cloud Imaging and Particle Size (AIM-CIPS) instrument on July 14, 2009 in the northern polar region. The North Pole (90N) is in the center. Latitude bands of 80N, 70N, and 60N are also indicated by the light blue circles.

NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellite has captured five complete polar seasons of noctilucent (NLC) or "night-shining" clouds with an unprecedented horizontal resolution of 3 miles by 3 miles. Results show that the cloud season turns on and off like a "geophysical light bulb" and they reveal evidence that high altitude mesospheric "weather" may follow similar patterns as our ever-changing weather near the Earth's surface. These findings were unveiled today at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union today in San Francisco.

The AIM measurements have provided the first comprehensive global-scale view of the complex life cycle of these clouds, also called Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMCs), over three entire Northern Hemisphere and two Southern Hemisphere seasons revealing more about their formation, frequency and brightness and why they appear to be occurring at lower latitudes than ever before

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 14tht 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 in Pasadena, Calif. "All systems are looking good, and we are on our way to seeing the entire infrared sky better than ever before."

Engineers acquired a signal from the spacecraft via NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System just 10 seconds after the spacecraft separated from the rocket. Approximately three minutes later, WISE re-oriented itself with its solar panels facing the sun to generate its own power. The next major event occurred about 17 minutes later. Valves on the cryostat, a chamber of super-cold hydrogen ice that cools the WISE instrument, opened. Because the instrument sees the infrared, or heat, signatures of objects, it must be kept at chilly temperatures. Its coldest detectors are less than minus 447 degrees Fahrenheit.

"WISE needs to be colder than the objects it's observing," said Ned Wright of UCLA, the mission's principal investigator. "Now we're ready to see the infrared glow from hundreds of thousands of asteroids, and hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies."

With the spacecraft stable, cold and communicating with mission controllers at JPL, a month-long checkout and calibration is underway.

WISE will see the infrared colors of the whole sky with sensitivity and resolution far better than the last infrared sky survey, performed 26 years ago. The space telescope will spend nine months scanning the sky once, then one-half the sky a second time. The primary mission will end when WISE's frozen hydrogen runs out, about 10 months after launch.

WISE Launch Set for Monday, Dec. 14

Image tells: A Delta II rocket is set to launch with NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

From Vandenberg Air Force Base in Calif., all systems are “Go” for WISE’s launch attempt aboard a Delta II rocket on Monday morning, Dec. 14. Weather forecast remains at 80-percent favorable conditions at launch time. The rollback of the mobile service tower is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. PST Sunday evening.

The problem with the motion of a booster steering engine that occurred during pre-launch testing for Friday’s launch attempt resulted in a decision to remove and replace a suspect component. Work is now complete and all tests have been performed with good results.

The launch time is set for 6:09:33 a.m. PST (9:09 a.m. EST) at the opening of a 14-minute window. NASA TV and NASA's Launch Blog coverage start at 4 a.m. PST (7 a.m. EST).

The WISE spacecraft will circle Earth over the poles, scanning the entire sky one-and-a-half times in nine months. The mission will uncover hidden cosmic objects, including the coolest stars, dark asteroids and the most luminous galaxies.

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Set for Dec. 14 Launch

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer has been wrapped in the outer nose cone, or "fairing," that will protect it during its scheduled Dec. 9 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Image credit: NASA/VAFB

The launch of NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission is now rescheduled for Dec. 14, with a launch window of 6:09-6:23 a.m. PST (9:09:33 - 9:23:51 a.m. EST). The first launch attempt scheduled for Dec. 11 was delayed due to an anomaly in the motion of a booster steering engine.

Mission managers have implemented a plan to completely resolve the anomaly. This plan includes removing and replacing a suspect component on Friday, Dec. 11 allowing the Delta II to be ready for Monday’s launch attempt. The current weather forecast calls for an 80 percent chance of acceptable weather during the launch window.

The WISE spacecraft will circle Earth over the poles, scanning the entire sky one-and-a-half times in nine months. The mission will uncover hidden cosmic objects, including the coolest stars, dark asteroids and the most luminous galaxies.

Chopper Drop Tests New Technology

How do you make a helicopter safer to fly? You crash one.

NASA aeronautics researchers recently dropped a small helicopter from a height of 35 feet (10.7 m) to see whether an expandable honeycomb cushion called a deployable energy absorber could lessen the destructive force of a crash.

On impact, the helicopter's skid landing gear bent outward, but the cushion attached to its belly kept the rotorcraft's bottom from touching the ground. Four crash test dummies along for the ride appeared only a little worse for the wear.


Researchers must analyze the test results before they can say for sure whether the deployable energy absorber worked as designed.

"I'd like to think the research we're doing is going to end up in airframes and will potentially save lives," said Karen Jackson, an aerospace engineer who oversaw the test at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, more than 200 people are injured in helicopter accidents in the United States each year, in part because helicopters fly in riskier conditions than most other aircraft. They fly close to the ground, not far from power lines and other obstacles, and often are used for emergencies, including search and rescue and medical evacuations.

Version 1.1 of the NASA App Is Now Available!

The first official NASA App invites you to discover a wealth of NASA information right on your iPhone or iPod Touch. The NASA App collects, customizes and delivers an extensive selection of dynamically updated information, images and videos from various online NASA sources in a convenient mobile package. Come explore with us.

Features:

• NASA Mission Information


• Launch Information & Countdown clocks


• Sighting Opportunities (Visible Passes for ISS, Space Shuttle)


• Mission Orbit Trackers


• NASA Image of the Day


• Astronomy Picture of the Day


• NASA Videos


• NASA Twitter Feeds/Mission Updates

What's New In This Version:

• Visible sighting opportunities listed for the International Space Station (ISS) and Space Shuttle, by home location and through search for location


• Richer Mission details and more content


• Enhancements to Videos and Updates panels


• High-resolution image option (configured in device settings)


• Status updates on upcoming launches


• Prevent sleep mode setting for tracking launches (configured in device settings)

NASA Uses Twin Processes to Develop New Tank Dome Technology

NASA has partnered with Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colo., and MT Aerospace in Augsburg, Germany, to successfully manufacture the first full-scale friction stir welded and spun formed tank dome designed for use in large liquid propellant tanks.

The NASA and Lockheed Martin team traveled to Germany to witness the first successful aerospace application of two separate manufacturing processes: friction stir welding, a solid-state joining process, and spin forming, a metal working process used to form symmetric parts.

The twin processes were used by MT Aerospace to produce an 18-foot-diameter tank dome using high-strength 2195 aluminum-lithium. The diameter of this development dome matches the tank dimensions of the upper stage of the ARES I launch vehicle under development by NASA, as well as the central stage of the European Ariane V launcher.

"This new manufacturing technology allows us to use a thinner, high-strength alloy that will reduce the weight of future liquid propellant tanks by 25 percent, compared to current tank designs that use a lower-strength aluminum alloy that weighs more," said Louis Lollar, project lead for the Friction Stir Weld Spun Form Dome Project at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The concave net shape spin forming process, patented by MT Aerospace, drastically simplifies the manufacturing of large tank domes and reduces cost by eliminating manufacturing steps, such as machining and assembly welding, that are required when manufacturing traditional gore panel - a pie-shaped section of the tank dome --construction domes.

WISE Snug in Its Nose Cone

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer has been wrapped in the outer nose cone, or "fairing," that will protect it during its scheduled Dec. 9 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

The fairing will split open like a clamshell about five minutes after launch. The spacecraft will circle Earth over the poles, scanning the entire sky one-and-a-half times in nine months. The mission will uncover hidden cosmic objects, including the coolest stars, dark asteroids and the most luminous galaxies.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages WISE for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at UCLA. The mission was competitively selected under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory, Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.