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Launching Balloons to Study Space Weather

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:54:00 -0500

In Antarctica in January, 2013 � the summer at the South Pole � scientists released 20 balloons, each eight stories tall, into the air to help answer an enduring space weather question: when the giant radiation belts surrounding Earth lose material, where do the extra particles actually go? This NASA-funded mission is called BARREL, for Balloon Array for Radiation belt Relativistic Electron Losses. Each balloon launched by the BARREL team floated for anywhere from three to 40 days, measuring X-rays produced by fast-moving electrons high up in the atmosphere.BARREL works hand in hand with another NASA mission called the Van Allen Probes, which travels directly through the Van Allen radiation belts. The belts wax and wane over time in response to incoming energy and material from the sun, sometimes

Massachusetts Students Speak Live With Orbiting NASA Astronaut

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:53:00 -0500

NASA Expedition 35 astronaut and flight engineer Chris Cassidy will speak live from the International Space Station with students at Talbot Innovation Middle School in Fall River, Mass., at 10:05 a.m. EDT, Thursday, May 23.

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New File Added: LM Attitide Controller Input Proccessing

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:25:00 -0500

Downloads: A new file has been added by Rick:

LM Attitide Controller Input Proccessing

LM Attitide Controller Assembly Input Proccessing

Launch Mission Execution Forecast

Mon, 13 May 2013 07:09:00 -0500

Vehicle: Atlas V GPS IIF-04
Issued:

International Space Station crew plans spacewalk to fix leak

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:15:00 -0500

CNN) -- The International Space Station crew is preparing for a spacewalk to address leaking ammonia from a cooling system, the commander said Friday.Cmdr. Chris Hadfield of Canada announced the plan to venture outside the space station via his Twitter account.
"Good Morning, Earth! Big change in plans, spacewalk tomorrow, Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn are getting suits and airlock ready. Cool!" he posted Friday.
"The whole team is ticking like clockwork, readying for tomorrow," he tweeted a short time later. "I am so proud to be Commander of this crew. Such great, capable, fun people."

Advanced Caution and Warning System

Wed, 08 May 2013 15:29:00 -0500

Abstract: The current focus of ACAWS is on the needs of the flight controllers. The onboard crew in low-Earth orbit has some of those same needs. Moreover, for future deep-space missions, the crew will need to accomplish many tasks autonomously due to communication time delays. Although we are focusing on flight controller needs, ACAWS technologies can be reused for on-board application, perhaps with a different level of detail and different display formats or interaction methods. We expect that provid...

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Sequestration cuts in 2014 put NASA timetable in peril

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:03:00 -0500

NASA's agenda of missions beyond low-Earth orbit would face delays if the federal government has to weather another year of sequestration spending...

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Three astronauts join elite in Hall of Fame

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:42:00 -0500

When Eileen Collins went on a very important job interview in 1990, she wore a suit in a shade she calls �as close to NASA blue as I could find.�

The retired astronaut (yes, she got the job) went with that same color � actually, the same suit � today for her induction into the U.S. Hall Astronaut of Fame.

Along with shuttle veterans Curt Brown and Bonnie Dunbar, Collins joined the elite ranks of space exploration heroes including Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Jim Lovell, Sally Ride and Scott Carpenter. The 2013 Hall of Fame Class is the first to include two women.

Kepler Discovers Its Smallest 'Habitable Zone' Planets

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 08:44:00 -0500

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered two new planetary systems that include three super-Earth-size planets in the "habitable zone."

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Merritt Island students work with NASA mentors to build tiny satellite

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:20:00 -0500

In a room previously used to draw blood and run tests on astronauts, high school senior Maurisa Orona holds a satellite not much larger than the palm...

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