Archive for 2009
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Headline News from NASA Science
November 25, 2009
News and Features -
Get the latest news in earth science, heliophysics, astrophysics and planetary science from NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
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The Big Thaw? NASA Satellites Detect Unexpected Ice Loss in East Antarctica
November 25, 2009
News and Features -
Using gravity measurement data from the NASA/German Aerospace Center's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) mission, a team of scientists from the University of Texas at Austin has found that the East Antarctic ice sheet-home to about 90 percent of Earth's solid fresh water and previously considered stable-may have begun to lose ice.
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Team Plans Uplink of Protective Files
November 25, 2009
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The team operating NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter plans to uplink protective files to the spacecraft next week as one step toward resuming the orbiter's research and relay activities.
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Sinking Life in Shallow Seas
November 25, 2009
News and Features -
Scientists have revealed new information about a period of time spanning three of Earth's largest mass extinctions. The study shows how different marine environments - from oceans to seas that once covered large portions of the continents - respond differently to agents of mass extinction.
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Cassini Captures Ghostly Dance of Saturn's Northern Lights
November 25, 2009
News and Features -
In the first video showing the auroras above the northern latitudes of Saturn, Cassini has spotted the tallest known 'northern lights' in the solar system, flickering in shape and brightness high above the ringed planet.
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NASA Assessing New Roles for Ailing QuikScat Satellite
November 24, 2009
News and Features -
NASA mission managers are assessing options for future operations of the venerable QuikScat satellite following the age-related failure of a mechanism that spins the scatterometer antenna.
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Oxygen and Ore
November 24, 2009
News and Features -
Much of Earth's mineral wealth was deposited billions of years ago when chemical cycles on our planet were very different than today's. Recently, scientists used geochemical data from minerals to yield surprising information about conditions on the ancient Earth.
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The Crab Nebula: A Cosmic Icon
November 24, 2009
News and Features -
A star's death was observed on Earth as the supernova of 1054 A.D. Almost a thousand years later, a neutron star left behind by the explosion spews out high-energy particles into the expanding debris field known as the Crab Nebula.
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Spitzer Telescope Observes Baby Brown Dwarf
November 24, 2009
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has contributed to the discovery of the youngest brown dwarf ever observed -- a finding that, if confirmed, may solve an astronomical mystery about how these cosmic misfits are formed.
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Radar Strip Showing Crater Bessel
November 23, 2009
News and Features -
Mini-RF S-band zoom radar image strip through central Mare Serenitatis on the near side of the Moon.
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From Greenhouse to Icehouse
November 23, 2009
News and Features -
A new study that reconstructed ocean temperatures from millions of years ago could provide new insight into how the Earth responds to climate change.
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Cassini Sends Back Images of Enceladus as Winter Nears
November 23, 2009
News and Features -
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has sailed seamlessly through the Nov. 21 flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus and started transmitting uncalibrated temperature data and images of the rippling terrain.
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NASA’s Newest Map of the World
November 20, 2009
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Why did it take nearly three decades for scientists to create the first global portraits of Earth from NASA's Landsat missions?
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Receding Ice, Rising Oceans
November 20, 2009
News and Features -
Astrobiology Magazine's climate blog, The Hot Zone, recently discussed how receding glaciers could have catastrophic consequences for Earth's climate. Increasing loss of glacial ice will lead to increasing water levels in the oceans. Ultimately, these changes could profoundly affect the biosphere.
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Cassini Scanning Enceladus on Winter's Cusp
November 20, 2009
News and Features -
Cassini is flying by Saturn's moon Enceladus this weekend for a last peek at the intriguing "tiger stripes" before winter darkness blankets the area for several years.
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Mystery of the Solar Tsunami—Solved
November 20, 2009
News and Features -
Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's STEREO is telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as the solar tsunami.
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SOFIA Seeks Secrets of Planetary Birth
November 19, 2009
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You don't always have to have a rocket to do rocket science. Sometimes a mere airplane will do – that is, a mere Boeing 747 toting a 17-ton, 9-foot wide telescope named SOFIA.
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Hunting for Planets in the Dark
November 19, 2009
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A proposed space mission that aims to measure dark energy could also detect planets that current surveys are unable to find.
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NASA's Wise Gets Ready to Survey the Whole Sky
November 19, 2009
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The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, NASA's newest spacecraft is scheduled to roll to the pad on Friday, Nov. 20, its last stop before launching into space to survey the entire sky in infrared light.
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Tilt Parameters End First Extrication Drive
November 19, 2009
News and Features -
The preliminary results from the first extrication drive for Spirit on Sol 2088 (Nov. 17, 2009) indicate the rover stopped less than 1 second after it began, sensing more vehicle lateral tilt than permitted.
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NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Investigates the Sun's Cycle of Highs and Lows
November 19, 2009
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How intense will the next solar cycle be? Can we predict when a violent solar storm will blast Earth with energetic particles? Could a prolonged period of inactivity on the sun plunge Earth into a prolonged winter?
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AIRS Produces CO2 Snapshot
November 18, 2009
News and Features -
A new image from AIRS shows the transport of carbon dioxide across the globe.
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NASA's Hurricane Page is All "a-Twitter"
November 18, 2009
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In 2005, NASA created the NASA Hurricane and Tropical Cyclone Web page that covers NASA research on tropical cyclones around the world every day.
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Subaru Spots Strange Spin
November 18, 2009
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Astronomers have found that the extrasolar planet HAT-P-7b has a retrograde or highly tilted orbit. Studying such planets is important in understanding the diversity of planetary systems and assessing current models of how planets migrate. The findings could help astrobiologists in the search for habitable planets beyond our solar system.
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Be A Martian
November 18, 2009
News and Features -
A new Web site allows you to participate as citizen scientists to improve Martian maps, take part in research tasks, and assist Mars science teams studying data about the Red Planet.
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NASA's Wise Gets Ready to Survey the Whole Sky
November 18, 2009
NASA Breaking News -
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or Wise, is chilled out, sporting a sunshade and getting ready to roll. NASA's newest spacecraft is scheduled to roll to the pad on Friday, Nov. 20, its last stop before launching into space to survey the entire sky in infrared light.
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NASA Hosts Native Peoples Workshop to Study Climate Change
November 17, 2009
NASA Breaking News -
NASA will hold a second national strategies workshop to examine the impacts of climate change and extreme weather variability on native peoples and their homelands.
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The View From Space: Two New Experiments Take Fresh Looks at Earth's Coast, Atmosphere
November 17, 2009
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They've only been on orbit a couple of months, but two new sensors examining our upper atmosphere and oceans already are demonstrating the International Space Station's value as an Earth science observing platform.
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Clouds Can Reveal Shape of Continents
November 17, 2009
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In some parts of the world the difference in the amount of clouds over land versus ocean is so stark that the outlines of continents and other landmasses can be traced through observations of clouds alone.
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Primordial Soup Not Simmering
November 17, 2009
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Features discovered in 3.4 billion-year-old rocks indicate that temperatures on early Earth may have been dramatically cooler than previously believed. The finding could have implications in understanding the conditions in which life first evolved on our planet.
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Rosetta Completes Final Earth Flyby
November 16, 2009
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On its way to a 2014 rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft, with JPL instruments on board, flew past Earth today to pick up energy.
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Taking a Bite of Antarctic Ice
November 16, 2009
News and Features -
NASA’s IceBite team will spend six weeks studying a place on Earth that resembles the Phoenix landing site on Mars. The place: a mile above sea level in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys. The ultimate goal: to test ice-penetrating drills for a future mission to the martian polar north.
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LCROSS Impact Data Indicates Water on Moon
November 16, 2009
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The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water.
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New Moon Sets Stage for Brilliant Leonids Meteor Shower
November 16, 2009
News and Features -
A cooperative new moon is setting the stage for one of the best Leonids meteor showers in years.
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Tropical Depression Phyan (Arabian Sea)
November 13, 2009
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Cyclone Phyan broke a 43 year record when it made landfall north of the city of Mumbai, India during the evening hours on November 11.
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El Nino Picking Up Steam
November 13, 2009
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El Niño is experiencing a late-fall resurgence.
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NASA to Begin Attempts to Free Sand-Trapped Mars Rover
November 13, 2009
News and Features -
NASA will begin transmitting commands to its Mars exploration rover Spirit on Monday as part of an escape plan to free the venerable robot from its Martian sand trap.
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Students Send Microbe Experiment on Space Shuttle Atlantis
November 13, 2009
News and Features -
An experiment by college students that will study how microbes grow in microgravity is heading to orbit aboard space shuttle Atlantis.
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Measuring Climate Change
November 13, 2009
News and Features -
Astrobiology Magazine's climate blog, The Hot Zone, recently spoke with Dr. Marty Mlynczak of NASA's Langley Research Center about the limitations of the technology we have on hand to measure climate change. Some of the things we can't measure could be important in understanding the links between climate and habitability.
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NASA's Great Observatories Celebrate International Year of Astronomy
November 12, 2009
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A never-before-seen view of the turbulent heart of our Milky Way galaxy was unveiled by NASA on Nov. 10, to commemorate the 400 years since Galileo first turned his telescope to the heavens in 1609.
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WISE Is Chilling Out
November 12, 2009
News and Features -
Engineers are busy cooling the science instrument on NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.
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A Tale of Planetary Woe
November 12, 2009
News and Features -
Some scientists believe that a relatively wet and warm ancient Mars may have been a second location for life. However, Mars did not end up as a planet filled with the multitude of life we see on Earth. NASA's new Mars orbiter, MAVEN, may help astrobiologists understand why.
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Swift XMM-Newton Satellites Tune Into a Middleweight Black Hole
November 10, 2009
News and Features -
Astronomers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center find that an X-ray source in galaxy NGC 5408 represents one of the best cases for a middleweight black hole to date.
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Frost-Covered Phoenix
November 10, 2009
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NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured images of the Phoenix lander shrouded in dry-ice frost on Mars. Phoenix has been inactive since the completion of its mission in November 2008. Early next year, scientists will try to contact the lander to see if it is still able to communicate.
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NASA Nobel Laureate Presents 'Story of the Universe'
November 10, 2009
News and Features -
This new interactive from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center presents a video lecture by NASA scientist and 2006 Nobel Prize laureate Dr. John Mather.
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Hurricane Ida Heads Across the Gulf of Mexico
November 10, 2009
News and Features -
Residents of the U.S. Gulf Coast thought they were getting a break this hurricane season until Hurricane Ida showed up.
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NASA Spinoff 2009 Highlights Technologies That Improve Life on Earth
November 09, 2009
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The 2009 edition of NASA's Spinoff, a publication that shows how NASA technology is being put to use in everyday life here on Earth, is available in print and online.
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The Stars My Destination
November 09, 2009
News and Features -
The Voyager spacecraft are now in the outermost layer of the heliosphere, traveling toward interstellar space – the first man-made spacecraft to travel such a vast distance from Earth.
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Hurricane Ida in the Gulf of Mexico
November 09, 2009
News and Features -
Residents of the U.S. Gulf coast thought they were getting a break this hurricane season until Ida showed up. Today, November 9, Ida is a hurricane and is headed for a landfall in the western Florida Panhandle after midnight.
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NASA Reproduces a Building Block of Life in Laboratory
November 09, 2009
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NASA scientists studying the origin of life have reproduced uracil, a key component of our hereditary material, in the laboratory.
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Think Global, Act Local
November 06, 2009
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Local measurements can provide information about the real impacts of climate change.
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Phoenix Lander Seen in Winter Images
November 05, 2009
News and Features -
Winter images of NASA's Phoenix Lander showing the lander shrouded in dry-ice frost on Mars.
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Starring Intelligent Aliens
November 05, 2009
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The most probable place to find intelligent life in the galaxy is around stars very similar to our sun, a new study has found.
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Mercury Rising
November 04, 2009
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On its final flyby of Mercury, NASA's Messenger spacecraft has captured images of never before seen regions of the planet.
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Primitive Particles Discovered
November 03, 2009
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Scientists have discovered 'ultra-primitive' material in stratospheric dust samples collected by high-flying aircraft.
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Fantastic Voyage - Voyager Spacecraft
November 02, 2009
News and Features -
By travelling to the outer solar system, the two Voyager spacecraft allowed us to see amazing details of far-distant planets and moons.
