Orbit 17 +++ Space and beyond
galaxies, science, exploration, astronomy (blog)
Posts tagged NASA headquarters
NASA, Microsoft launch website on Mars
Dec 18th
LOS ANGELES, November 17 — NASA and Microsoft Corp. have collaborated to create a Web site to allow earthlings to become Martians, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced on Tuesday.
By surfing the “Be a Martian” Web site, internet users can have fun while advancing their knowledge of Mars, the JPL said in a press release.
The public will be able 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.
The Web site will also enable the public to explore details of the solar system’s grandest canyon, which resides on Mars, call up images in the Valles Marineris canyon before moving on to chart the entire Red Planet.
The collaboration of thousands of participants could assist scientists in producing far better maps, enabling smoother zoom-in views and easier interpretation of Martian surface changes.
By counting craters, the public also may help scientists determine the relative ages of small regions on Mars, according to the release.
In the past, counting Martian craters has posed a challenge because of the vast numbers involved. By contributing, Web site users will win game points assigned to a robotic animal avatar they select.
“Mars exploration inspires people of all ages, and we are especially eager to encourage young people to explore Mars for themselves,” said Charles Elachi, director of JPL in Pasadena, California. “We are delighted to be involved in providing the creative opportunity for future explorers to contribute to our understanding of Mars.”
“The beauty of this type of experience is that it not only teaches people about Mars and the work NASA is doing there, but it also engages large groups of people to help solve real challenges that computers cannot solve by themselves,” said Marc Mercuri, director of business innovation in the Developer and Platform Evangelism Group at Microsoft.
With a common goal of inspiring digital-age workforce development and life-long learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, NASA and Microsoft unveiled the Web site at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles this week, according to the release.
#NASA Telescope To Spot Nearby Space Neighbors
Dec 13th
This artist’s conception shows the WISE telescope mapping the whole sky in infrared. The mission will unveil hundreds of thousands of asteroids, and hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies. Credit: NASA
NASA is getting ready to launch a new space telescope that will scan the entire sky for the infrared glow of hidden asteroids and stars that are close to Earth but too dim to be easily seen.
Unlike telescopes that look for visible light, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE telescope, will pick up infrared light. All objects that have any heat give off infrared light — and that includes things we normally think of as being cold. WISE will be able to see objects at a wide range of temperatures, from as cold as liquid nitrogen to as hot as molten aluminum, according to NASA.
To make sure WISE isn’t blinded by its own heat, it has to be kept supercold. It will work inside a giant thermos bottle called a cryostat, and hydrogen ice will keep the telescope at -438 degrees Fahrenheit. “We have now 40 pounds of solid hydrogen in our cryostat,” says William Irace, WISE project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in California. “Some people think it looks like R2D2 without wheels. It’s kind of a funny-looking thing.”
The funny-looking thing is about the size of a polar bear. A rocket will blast it into orbit around the Earth. NASA is targeting launch for Monday morning.
Once it reaches orbit, WISE will spend about six months taking over 1 million images that will be stitched together to create a panoramic, infrared view of the entire sky.
Weather Iffy for NASA’s Sky Mapper Launch
Dec 11th
NASA is hoping to launch a new infrared space observatory on Friday, but cloudy weather could delay the flight.
The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is slated to lift off atop a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Dec. 11 between 9:09:33 a.m. and 9:23:51 a.m. EST (1409 and 1423 GMT).
Unfortunately, thick clouds and rain are forecasted, prompting NASA to give the weather an 80 percent chance of preventing the launch. Even if liftoff is delayed for 24 hours, the forecast looks to be similar.
“We’ve got some challenging weather ahead of us,” said launch director Chuck Dovale during a Wednesday briefing.
NASA’s Atlantis astronauts take final spacewalk, prepare for return
Nov 24th
Heading into their second week of space travel the crew of NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis have a lot on their schedule. Today two of the astronauts will venture out for the mission’s third and final space walk.
During the spacewalks the crew perform a variety of physical tasks to the outside of the International Space Station. For example, Atlantis is carrying two ‘ spare parts container known as the Express Logistics Carriers. The shuttle’s robotic arm lifted them into place and the spacewalkers helped attach them to the ISS. In all there are 27,250 pounds worth of spare parts onboard this mission.
New NASA Sky Mapper heads to launch pad
Nov 21st
NASA’s new asteroid-hunting spacecraft will roll out to the pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., Friday in preparation for launch next month.
The spacecraft is due to launch Dec. 9 aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket.
Known as the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), the spacecraft will spend the next 10 months circling the Earth over the poles, scanning the complete sky at infrared wavelengths to uncover hidden cosmic objects, including cool stars, dark asteroids and luminous galaxies.
“You can kind of think of it as the Google Map of the universe,” said Amy Mainzer, NASA’s deputy project scientist for WISE, explaining that the instrument will take repeated exposures of the same swath of sky, creating overlapping images as the telescope progresses through its sky scan. The stars and galaxies will appear fixed on the sky in each exposure, but asteroids will move over short amounts of time.
“WISE is going to be finding about 100,000 new asteroids in the main asteroid belt,” Mainzer said during a Nov. 17 news conference at NASA headquarters here. “And we expect it’s going to find several hundred new asteroids that get close to Earth orbits. These are asteroids and comets whose orbits take them close to Earth’s orbit.”