Topic: Satellites

NASA reports Flyby of Earth could cause Seismic Activity on Asteroid 2012 DA14

February 15, 2013 |

Written by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science at NASA

Washington, D.C. – For eons, Earth has felt the tremors of asteroids striking our planet. From the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago to the felled forests around Tunguska in 1908, the space rocks keep coming.

This week, Earth strikes back. When asteroid 2014 DA14 makes a record close approach to our planet on February 15th, the space rock could be the one feeling tremors.

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NASA Television to air live coverage of record breaking Asteroid Flyby of Earth

February 14, 2013 |

Written by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science at NASA

Washington, D.C. – NASA Television will provide commentary starting at 2:00pm EST (1:00pm CST) on Friday, February 15th, during the close, but safe, flyby of a small near-Earth asteroid named “2012 DA14.”

NASA places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. This flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.

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NASA’s PhoneSat Project to build low cost spacecraft using Smartphone Technology

January 1, 2013 |

NASA’s Ames Research Center

Moffett Field, CA – The fast-paced proliferation and popularity of mobile devices here on Earth, like smartphones loaded with powerful operating systems, will find a new niche market– this time in space, thanks to NASA’s trailblazing PhoneSat project.

To be rocketed into space early next year, PhoneSat is set to showcase use of lower cost, off-the-store-shelf, commercially available technology that enables space commerce, educational activities and citizen-exploration. «Read the rest of this article»

NASA’s twin Van Allen Probes sheds light on the mysteries surrounding Earth’s Radiation Belt System

December 11, 2012 |

Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL)

Laurel, MD – Just 96 days since their launch, NASA’s twin Van Allen Probes have already provided new insights into the structure and behavior of the radiation belts that surround Earth, giving scientists a clearer understanding about the fundamental physical properties of these regions more than half a century after their discovery.

In a press conference at the American Geophysical Union’s 2012 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, members of the Van Allen Probes science team discussed current findings made in unlocking the mysteries of the radiation belts.

A graphic depicting the twin Van Allen Probes in orbit within Earth’s magnetic field. (Credit: JHU/APL)

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NASA’s Cassini spacecraft takes image of Saturn’s moon Titan glowing in the dark for Halloween

November 1, 2012 |

Written by Jia-Rui C. Cook
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – A literal shot in the dark by imaging cameras on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has yielded an image of a visible glow from Titan, emanating not just from the top of Titan’s atmosphere, but also – surprisingly – from deep in the atmosphere through the moon’s haze.

A person in a balloon in Titan’s haze layer wouldn’t see the glow because it’s too faint – something like a millionth of a watt. Scientists were able to detect it with Cassini because the spacecraft’s cameras are able to take long-exposure images.

This set of images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows Saturn’s moon Titan glowing in the dark. Titan was behind Saturn at the time, in eclipse from the sun. The image on the left is a calibrated, but unprocessed image from Cassini’s imaging camera. The image on the right was processed to exclude reflected light off Saturn and it is clear that even where Titan did not receive any Saturnshine, it is still emitting light. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI)

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NASA to attempt 3D Photography of Lyrid Meteor Shower

April 19, 2012 |

Written by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science at NASA

Washington, D.C. – This weekend, NASA scientists, amateur astronomers, and an astronaut on board the International Space Station will attempt the first-ever 3D photography of meteors from Earth and space.

“The annual Lyrid meteor shower peaks on April 21st-22nd,” says Bill Cooke, the head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office. “We’re going to try to photograph some of these ‘shooting stars’ simultaneously from ground stations, from a research balloon in the stratosphere, and from the space station.”

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NASA takes a look at the historic tornado outbreak of April 27th-28th, 2011

April 14, 2012 |

Written by Dauna Coulter
Science at NASA

Washington, D.C. – In the opening lines to The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot wrote “April is the Cruelest Month.”

You might agree if you live in the southeastern United States. Last April, a historic outburst of 202 tornadoes turned broad swaths of that part of the country into a disaster zone.

“The event of April 27th and 28th 2011 was the costliest convective storm in U.S. history,” said Kevin Knupp, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. And he doesn’t just mean costly in terms of property damage — 316 people lost their lives.

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NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory spacecrafts spot something new on the Sun

April 10, 2012 |

Written by Karen C. Fox
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD – One day in the fall of 2011, Neil Sheeley, a solar scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., did what he always does – look through the daily images of the sun from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

But on this day he saw something he’d never noticed before: a pattern of cells with bright centers and dark boundaries occurring in the sun’s atmosphere, the corona. These cells looked somewhat like a cell pattern that occurs on the sun’s surface — similar to the bubbles that rise to the top of boiling water — but it was a surprise to find this pattern higher up in the corona, which is normally dominated by bright loops and dark coronal holes.

The changes of a coronal cell region as solar rotation carries it across the solar disk as seen with NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft. The camera is fixed on the region (panning with it) and shows the plumes changing to cells and back to plumes again -- based on the observatory's perspective -- during the interval June 7th-14th, 2011. (Credit: NASA/STEREO/NRL)

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NASA Confirms Launch Date for Five Rocket Mission to Study the Jet Stream

March 26, 2012 |

Wallops Island, VA – NASA managers have given a “go” for a countdown leading to the launch of five suborbital sounding rockets early in the morning March 27th on a science mission that will briefly create a milky white cloud that may be visible along a large portion of the U.S. east coast.

The launch window for the mission will be between 2:00am and 5:00am, Tuesday, March 27th. The countdown will begin at 9:00pm, Monday, March 26th. Clear skies are predicted for the Tuesday launch.  However, ground level winds may exceed allowable limits for the flights to occur.

The red dots over the water show where ATREX will deploy chemical tracers to watch how super fast winds move some 60 miles up in the atmosphere. While there are only five rockets, two will deploy two sets of tracers, resulting in seven clouds. Only six dots appear in this image, since two will be deployed at the left-most red/green dot, which represents Wallops. Three cameras will track the cloud tracers – one at Wallops and two located at the green dots. (Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center)

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NASA explains Storms from the Sun and their effects on Earth

March 10, 2012 |

Written by Karen C. Fox
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD – Space weather starts at the sun. It begins with an eruption such as a huge burst of light and radiation called a solar flare or a gigantic cloud of solar material called a coronal mass ejection (CME). But the effects of those eruptions happen at Earth, or at least near-Earth space.

Scientists monitor several kinds of space “weather” events — geomagnetic storms, solar radiation storms, and radio blackouts – all caused by these immense explosions on the sun.

Artist illustration of events on the sun changing the conditions in Near-Earth space. (Credit: NASA)

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