Archive for 2009
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Cosmic Rays Hit Space Age High
September 30, 2009
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Planning a trip to Mars? Take plenty of shielding. According to sensors on NASA's ACE (Advanced Composition Explorer) spacecraft, galactic cosmic rays have just hit a Space Age high.
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Double Dust Disks
September 30, 2009
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Astronomers have explored one of the most compact dust disks ever resolved around another star, where an inner disk is accompanied by an outer disk. The finding may be an example of a young planetary system just entering the last phase of planet formation and could teach us about the evolution and formation of habitable planets.
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LCROSS Mission Changes Target Crater for Oct. 9 Impact
September 30, 2009
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Based on new analysis of available lunar data, Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) has shifted the target crater from Cabeus A to Cabeus (proper).
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MESSENGER Spacecraft Flies by Mercury
September 30, 2009
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MESSENGER flew by Mercury for the third and final time Sept. 29, 2009. The spacecraft passed less than 142 miles above the planet's rocky surface enabling it to enter orbit in 2011.
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Operation Ice Bridge: Mission to Antarctica
September 29, 2009
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Operation Ice Bridge, a six-year NASA field campaign, is the largest airborne survey of Earth's polar ice ever flown.
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Planetary Petri Dish
September 29, 2009
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Astronomers have discovered a clump of planet-forming material around a distant star that looks as if it is being pushed around by another star or planet. The observation is unlike anything seen before and offers a rare look into the early stages of planet formation.
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Floundering El Niños Make for Fickle Forecasts
September 29, 2009
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Since May 2009, the tropical Pacific Ocean has switched from a cool pattern of ocean circulation known as La Niña to her warmer sibling, El Niño. This cyclical warming of the ocean waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific generally occurs every three to seven years, and is linked with changes in the strength of the trade winds.
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Fun Science: Iceberg Chasing and Laser Lights
September 29, 2009
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During the 2009 AMASE Expedition to Svalbard, scientists were able to carry out 'fun science' activities in addition to their normal research schedule. In this report, team member Juan Diego Rodriguez-Blanco discusses projects like 'iceberg chasing' and developing Raman spectroscopy for Mars.
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Letters from SARA
September 28, 2009
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Letters from SARA (http://www.nasascience.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/letters-from-sara/RSS) - The Senior Adviser for Research & Analysis writes a letter to the community once a month.
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City of Dubai at Night, United Arab Emirates
September 28, 2009
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The city of Dubai is the largest metropolitan area in the emirate of Dubai, one of the member states of the United Arab Emirates. Dubai is located along the southern Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula, and its signature city is known for high profile architectural and development projects.
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Ice Deposit Larger Than Texas
September 28, 2009
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NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has provided 3D images of the north-polar ice layers of Mars. The images provide validation for theoretical models of Mars' climate cycles over the past few million years. With accurate climate models, scientists can help determine whether or not Mars was once a habitable environment for life.
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Science for a Hungry World
September 28, 2009
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This series of videos illustrate the value of the unique perspective gained from space and enforces the need for global agricultural monitoring and accurate forecasting.
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The Ups and Downs of Global Warming
September 28, 2009
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Naturally occurring periods of no warming or even slight cooling could easily be part of a longer-term pattern of global warming, according to a recent study.
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Twin Keck Telescopes Probe Dual Dust Disks
September 28, 2009
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Astronomers using the twin 10-meter telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii have explored one of the most compact dust disks ever resolved around another star.
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ROSES 2009 Clarifications, Corrections and Amendments
September 28, 2009
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ROSES 2009 Clarifications, Corrections and Amendments (http://nasascience.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2009/RSS) - Stay up to date with the latest ROSES 2009 clarifications, corrections and amendments.
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NASA Instruments Reveal Water Molecules on Lunar Surface
September 25, 2009
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NASA scientists discovered water molecules in the polar regions of the moon. Instruments aboard three separate spacecraft revealed water molecules in amounts that are greater than predicted.
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NASA Goddard Shoots the Moon to Track LRO
September 25, 2009
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The laser ranging effort to track the LRO spacecraft produces distance measurements accurate to within about four inches over nearly 250,000 miles.
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NASA Spacecraft Sees Ice on Mars Exposed by Meteor Impacts
September 25, 2009
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The team operating the Context Camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter frequently discovers new dark spots on Mars that, upon closer examination, turn out to be brand new impact craters.
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ICESat Maps Profound Polar Thinning
September 24, 2009
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Researchers have used NASA’s Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) to compose the most comprehensive picture of changing glaciers along the coast of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.
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Comets May Give Life a Hand
September 24, 2009
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A comet hitting Earth would seem to bring only death and destruction, but one group is studying how such an impact could promote certain necessary chemical steps in the origin of life. The researchers are focusing on how comet collisions might have influenced the molecular orientation, or handedness, of our planet's biology.
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NASA To Reveal New Scientific Findings About The Moon
September 24, 2009
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NASA will hold a media briefing at 2 p.m. EDT today to discuss new science data from the moon collected during national and international space missions. NASA.gov and NASA TV will provide live coverage of the briefing.
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NASA Invites Students to Drop Everything
September 24, 2009
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NASA is inviting student teams to experience microgravity science by designing and building experiments to be conducted in a NASA drop tower. Dropping In a Microgravity Environment, or DIME, is a competition for high school students. Students in grades 6-9 can compete in What If No Gravity?, or WING.
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How to Make a Planet
September 24, 2009
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Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence that a companion to a star -- either another star or a planet -- could be pushing planetary material together, as illustrated here.
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Radar Map of Buried Mars Layers Matches Climate Cycles
September 23, 2009
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New, three-dimensional imaging of Martian north-polar ice layers by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is consistent with theoretical models of climate swings during the past few million years.
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Cooking Life's Ingredients, with a Pinch of Salt
September 23, 2009
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By studying a chemical mixture thought to be present in the Earth's early oceans, scientists have discovered that amino acids can be 'cooked' into many other important building blocks of life when they are embedded in salt crusts. The finding could have important implications in our understanding of life's origins.
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With an Eye on Locusts and Vegetation, Scientists Make a Good Tool Better
September 23, 2009
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Locusts, the grasshopper-like insects of Biblical lore, are normally docile creatures that prefer solitary lives in the desert, away from other members of their species. But sometimes, when the rains come and patches of green begin to dot dry landscapes, their populations skyrocket and something extraordinary can happen.
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Podcast Series Shares NASA's Advances in Agriculture
September 23, 2009
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"Science for a Hungry World" spotlights scientific advances in monitoring agricultural production and landscape changes that affect the sustainability of the world's food supply.
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EVE: Measuring the Sun's Hidden Variability
September 22, 2009
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To monitor energetic solar photons, NASA is going to launch a sensor named "EVE," short for EUV Variability Experiment, onboard SDO this winter.
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AMASE 2009 Expedition Finishes
September 22, 2009
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Adrienne Kish reports from the field during the closing days of the AMASE 2009 Expedition to Norway's Svalbard island in the arctic. As the mission completed, the research team simulated a week in the life of a Mars rover science team in preparation for a future Mars sample return mission.
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Google Earth Application Maps Carbon's Course
September 22, 2009
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Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words, particularly when the picture is used to illustrate science. Technology is giving us better pictures every day, and one of them is helping a NASA-funded scientist and her team to explain the behavior of a greenhouse gas.
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Cassini Reveals New Ring Quirks, Shadows During Saturn Equinox
September 22, 2009
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Images of in the rings of Saturn taken during the planet's equinox last month reveal newly discovered bumps in the rings are as high as the Rocky Mountains.
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Learning How Materials Work in Space to Make Them Better on Earth
September 21, 2009
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What's about the size of a large refrigerator, weighs a ton and may help pave the way for new and improved metals or glasses here on Earth?
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In Search of Dark Asteroids (and Other Sneaky Things)
September 21, 2009
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To hunt for the "ninjas" of the cosmos -- dim objects that lurk in the vast dark spaces between planets and stars -- scientists are building by far the most sensitive set of wide-angle infrared goggles ever, a space telescope called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.
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Adding Up the Odds for Life
September 21, 2009
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Researchers are laying the groundwork for a new equation that could mathematically quantify whether or not a particular environment is habitable for life as we know it. The concept is based on the Drake equation, which was developed for estimating the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy.
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LRO Begins Detailed Mapping of Moon's South Pole
September 18, 2009
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NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has successfully completed its testing and calibration phase and entered its mapping orbit of the moon.
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Confirming a Hot Earth
September 18, 2009
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Scientists have confirmed the existence of a solid, rocky planet orbiting a distant star. The research also revealed a second Super Earth in the same solar system. Studies like these bring us closer to the discovery of habitable exoplanets similar to Earth.
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NASA Lunar Satellite Begins Detailed Mapping of Moon's South Pole
September 18, 2009
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LRO completed its calibration phase and began mapping its moon orbit. The spacecraft has made significant progress toward creating the most detailed atlas of the moon's south pole yet.
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Snapshots From Space Cultivate Fans Among Midwest Farmers
September 18, 2009
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Noreen Thomas’ farm looks like a patchwork quilt. Fields change hue with the season and with the alternating plots of organic wheat, soybeans, corn, alfalfa, flax, or hay.
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Planck Snaps its First Images of Ancient Cosmic Light
September 18, 2009
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The Planck mission has captured its first rough images of the sky, demonstrating the observatory is working and ready to measure light from the dawn of time.
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Space Hand-Me-Downs
September 17, 2009
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Much of the biology on Earth involves molecules that are oriented in a left-handed direction. A proposed nano-satellite would carry up some of these bio-molecules to see if something in space might be responsible for this left-handed excess.
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NASA Satellite Data Show Progress of 2009 Antarctic Ozone Hole
September 17, 2009
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The annual ozone hole has started developing over the South Pole, and it appears that it will be comparable to ozone depletions over the past decade. This composite image from September 10 depicts ozone concentrations in Dobson units, with purple and blues depicting severe deficits of ozone.
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What's New from SARA
September 17, 2009
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What's New from SARA (http://nasascience.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/whats-new/RSS) - Get the latest updates to the SARA Web site and announcements.
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James Webb Space Telescope Begins to Take Shape
September 17, 2009
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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is starting to come together. A major component of the telescope, the Integrated Science Instrument Module structure, recently arrived at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. for testing in the Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility.
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Asteroid Juno Grabs the Spotlight
September 17, 2009
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Toward the end of September, the sun will turn a spotlight on the asteroid Juno, giving that bulky lump of rock a rare featured cameo in the night sky.
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Swift's Ultraviolet Portrait of the Andromeda Galaxy
September 16, 2009
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In a break from its usual task of searching for distant cosmic explosions, NASA's Swift satellite has acquired the highest-resolution view of a neighboring spiral galaxy ever attained in the ultraviolet.
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Saturn's Turbulent 'Storm Alley' Sets Another Record
September 16, 2009
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The longest continuously observed thunderstorm in the solar system has been roiling Saturn's atmosphere since mid-January and is still churning now, according to a presentation by a Cassini team scientist at the European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam, Germany.
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'Smog Blog' Celebrates One Year
September 16, 2009
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SERVIR's "Smog Blog" provides timely information about air pollution and its sources throughout Mesoamerica and the Caribbean.
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Haumea Hot Spot
September 16, 2009
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A dark red spot discovered on the dwarf planet Haumea, which orbits beyond Neptune, appears to be rich in minerals and organic compounds. Studying the composition of objects like Haumea can help astrobiologists understand the inventory of compounds in our solar system that may have played a role in life's origins.
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Testing for the Moon in the Arizona Desert
September 16, 2009
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The Desert RATS -- or Research and Technology Studies -- allow NASA to analyze and refine technologies and procedures in extreme environments on Earth.
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Satellites Could Help Keep Hungry Populations Fed
September 15, 2009
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Few non-scientists have ever heard of "NDVI," but this tool will play a key part in helping us to keep food on the table as future populations swell.
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Landsat: A Space Age Water Gauge
September 15, 2009
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NASA has released a video illustrating an innovative satellite-based method that maps agricultural water consumption.
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Scientists Discover New Radiation Belt at Saturn
September 15, 2009
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Scientists using the Cassini spacecraft's Magnetospheric Imaging instrument have detected a new, temporary radiation belt at Saturn, located around the orbit of its moon Dione at about 377,000 kilometers (234,000 miles) from the center of the planet.
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Craters Count Jupiter's Age
September 15, 2009
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Craters on the two largest objects in the asteroid belt could help identify at what point during the early solar system Jupiter was created. Vesta and Ceres are believed to be two of the oldest objects in the solar system and studying them could shed light on how our solar system has formed over time.
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Roving the Ocean Floor
September 14, 2009
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A rover that has been driving across the ocean floor off the California coast is providing researchers with an entirely new view of life in the deep ocean. The Benthic Rover is exploring the unique habitats deep below the Pacific waters and is also helping document the effects of climate change on these fragile environments.
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Arctic Preparations for Mars
September 14, 2009
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Previous missions to Mars have been searching for signs that Mars once had liquid water, and potentially habitats for life. The next generation of martian rovers will search for signs of past or present life on Mars more directly. Technologies for such missions are now being tested in the remote arctic.
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NASA'S LCROSS Reveals Target Crater for Lunar South Pole Impacts
September 14, 2009
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LCROSS will search for water ice by sending its spent upper-stage Centaur rocket to impact the permanently shadowed polar crater.
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Electronic Nose to Return from Space Station
September 11, 2009
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Sniffing out any potential contaminants on the International Space Station where it was stationed for the last six months, the JPL-built electronic nose, or ENose, is homeward bound.
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The Rise and Fall of Oxygen
September 11, 2009
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New research confirms that a rise in atmospheric oxygen drove oxygenation of ancient oceans on Earth, and ultimately led to the evolution of complex animals. The study provides insight into how the Earth came to support the wide diversity of life we see today.
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NASA, ATK Successfully Test Ares First Stage Motor
September 11, 2009
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NASA and industry engineers lit up the Utah sky Thursday with the initial full-scale, full-duration test firing of the first stage motor for the Ares I rocket.
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Catastrophic Darkness
September 10, 2009
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New studies of mixotrophic algae have shown how such organisms could survive the darkened skies that follow a major asteroid impact. Such studies indicate how life manages to survive after a mass extinction event.
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Spacecraft Talk Continued During JPL Wildfire Threat
September 10, 2009
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As the flames of the raging brush fire dubbed the Station Fire threatened the northern edge of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Saturday, Aug. 29, the managers of NASA's Deep Space Network prepared for the worst.
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NASA Releases Images From Refurbished Hubble
September 10, 2009
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Astronomers declared NASA's Hubble Space Telescope a fully rejuvenated observatory with the release Wednesday of observations from four of its six operating science instruments.
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New NASA Image Shows Extent of California Fire
September 09, 2009
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On September 6, 2009, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra satellite captured this simulated natural color image of the Station fire, burning in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles.
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Perspectives: Why EOS Matters, 10 years later
September 09, 2009
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Nearly a decade ago, ecologist Steve Running described how NASA’s Earth Observing System missions were going to help us answer this crucial question: Is the current human occupancy and activity of planet Earth sustainable?
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North by Northwest – S'COOL on First Leg of Ocean Passage
September 09, 2009
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NASA's S'COOL project is now underway in a part of the world where few have sailed before: the open waters of the Northwest Passage.
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Barbecue Moon
September 08, 2009
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The latest findings concerning Titan indicate that the Saturnian moon could contain valuable in situ resources for future explorers, including fuels like propane. The discovery of propane could help scientists further understand the chemistry of Titan's atmosphere, and the potential for life's building blocks to form on the distant moon.
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Catalog of Earth Satellite Orbits
September 08, 2009
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Just as different seats in a theater provide different perspectives on a performance, different Earth orbits give satellites varying perspectives, each valuable for different reasons.
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Are Sunspots Disappearing?
September 08, 2009
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The sun is in the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century. Some observers are starting to wonder, are sunspots disappearing? Sunspots can have profound effects on the Earth's climate as well as human and satellite missions in orbit.
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Saturn Moon Could Power 150 Billion Labor Day Barbecues
September 08, 2009
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Since its discovery by Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens in 1655, Saturn's most massive moon, Titan, has been known as a place of mystery and intrigue.
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Pollution from California Wildfires Spreads Across the United States
September 04, 2009
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Beginning August 26, 2009, and continuing into September 2009, a large wildfire in the Angeles National Forest north of Los Angeles known as the Station Fire burned more than 140,000 acres through September 3.
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Early End to India's Moon Mission
September 04, 2009
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India has lost contact with the lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1. The loss came less than a week after the spacecraft teamed up with NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter for an experiment to test for water ice on the Moon. Water ice could prove to be a vital resource for lunar explorers.
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LRO Takes a First Look at the Apollo 12 Landing Site
September 04, 2009
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Four months after the success of Apollo 11, NASA launched Apollo 12 in November 1969. Almost exactly 40 years later, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has seen the landing site.
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7.0 Quake off Java
September 04, 2009
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At 2:55 p.m. local time (7:55 UTC) on September 2, 2009, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the southern shore of western Java (Jawa).
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Northwest Passage, Late August 2009
September 03, 2009
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In late August 2009, ice clogged some but not all of the Northwest Passage, and snow had retreated from most of the islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
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Zinc and UV Zapped Life into Being?
September 03, 2009
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A new model for the origin of life says zinc may have played a vital role. If true, then the Sun’s UV radiation may have provided the energy necessary for life to arise.
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What's Holding Antarctic Sea Ice Back From Melting?
September 03, 2009
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Global temperatures are increasing. Sea levels are rising. Ice sheets in many areas of the world are retreating. Yet there’s something peculiar going on in the oceans around Antarctica...
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Thousands of New Images Show Mars in High Resolution
September 03, 2009
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Newly released images from more than 1,500 telescopic observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show a wide range of gullies, dunes, craters, geological layering and other features on the Red Planet.
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What’s Going On with Earth’s Ice & Snow Cover?
September 02, 2009
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Take a tour of some the coldest places on the planet – courtesy NASA’s fleet of Earth-observing spacecraft – and chat with a NASA scientist about changes to ice sheets and sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic.
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More Los Angeles Fire Images
September 02, 2009
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Triple-digit temperatures, extremely low relative humidities, dense vegetation that has not burned in decades, and years of extended drought are all contributing to the explosive growth of wildfires throughout Southern California.
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NASA Takes You on a New Tour of the Cryosphere
September 02, 2009
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In 2002, NASA created a video tour of Earth's frozen regions using satellite data. This year, NASA visualizers are taking viewers on a return trip to see what's changed over the years.
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Satellites and Submarines Give the Skinny on Sea Ice Thickness
September 02, 2009
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This summer, a group of scientists and students — as well as a Canadian senator, a writer, and a filmmaker — set out from Resolute Bay, Canada, on the icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent.
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The Fate of the Milky Way
September 02, 2009
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New simulations show that a collision between small, satellite galaxies and our own Milky Way will not tear apart the disk of our home galaxy. Our largest satellite galaxies are the Large and Small Megellanic Clouds, and astronomers once thought a collision with them would lead to disaster. But for now, it looks as though our future in the Milky Way is safe.
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Smoke From Station Fire Blankets Southern California
September 01, 2009
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Triple-digit temperatures, extremely low relative humidities, dense vegetation that has not burned in decades, and years of extended drought are all contributing to the explosive growth of wildfires throughout Southern California.
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Severe Storms
September 01, 2009
News and Features -
This collection of images featuring the strongest hurricane, cyclone, or typhoon from any ocean during each year of the past decade includes storms both famous—or infamous—and obscure.
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A Carbonyl Sulphide Blanket
September 01, 2009
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In the early days of the solar system, our sun would not have been hot enough to keep the Earth from freezing. However, liquid water was present on the early Earth. Now, scientists believe that greenhouse gasses may have played a role in keeping Earth's oceans from freezing over completely.
