Hubble Finds a Star Eating a Planet

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Artist's concept of the exoplanet WASP-12b.

The hottest known planet in the Milky Way galaxy may also be its shortest-lived world. The doomed planet is being eaten by its parent star, according to observations made by a new instrument on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS). The planet may only have another 10 million years left before it is completely devoured.

The planet, called WASP-12b, is so close to its sunlike star that it is superheated to nearly 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit and stretched into a football shape by enormous tidal forces. The atmosphere has ballooned to nearly three times Jupiter's radius and is spilling material onto the star. The planet is 40 percent more massive than Jupiter.

This effect of matter exchange between two stellar objects is commonly seen in close binary star systems, but this is the first time it has been seen so clearly for a planet.

"We see a huge cloud of material around the planet, which is escaping and will be captured by the star. We have identified chemical elements never before seen on planets outside our own solar system," says team leader Carole Haswell of The Open University in Great Britain.

Haswell and her science team's results were published in the May 10, 2010 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

A theoretical paper published in the science journal Nature last February by Shu-lin Li of the Department of Astronomy at the Peking University, Beijing, first predicted that the planet's surface would be distorted by the star's gravity, and that gravitational tidal forces make the interior so hot that it greatly expands the planet's outer atmosphere. Now Hubble has confirmed this prediction.

WASP-12 is a yellow dwarf star located approximately 600 light-years away in the winter constellation Auriga. The exoplanet was discovered by the United Kingdom's Wide Area Search for Planets (WASP) in 2008. The automated survey looks for the periodic dimming of stars from planets passing in front of them, an effect called transiting. The hot planet is so close to the star it completes an orbit in 1.1 days.

The unprecedented ultraviolet (UV) sensitivity of COS enabled measurements of the dimming of the parent star's light as the planet passed in front of the star. These UV spectral observations showed that absorption lines from aluminum, tin, manganese, among other elements, became more pronounced as the planet transited the star, meaning that these elements exist in the planet's atmosphere as well as the star's. The fact the COS could detect these features on a planet offers strong evidence that the planet's atmosphere is greatly extended because it is so hot.

The UV spectroscopy was also used to calculate a light curve to precisely show just how much of the star's light is blocked out during transit. The depth of the light curve allowed the COS team to accurately calculate the planet's radius. They found that the UV-absorbing exosphere is much more extended than that of a normal planet that is 1.4 times Jupiter's mass. It is so extended that the planet's radius exceeds its Roche lobe, the gravitational boundary beyond which material would be lost forever from the planet's atmosphere.

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Cassini Heading to Titan after Tagging Enceladus

This raw, unprocessed image of Titan behind Saturn's rings was taken on May 18, 2010, by the Cassini spacecraft. The dark curve of Enceladus is visible at the bottom of the image.
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NASA's Cassini spacecraft is on its way to a flyby of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, after capturing some stunning images of Enceladus. One view shows the hazy outline of Titan behind Saturn's rings, with the dark curve of Enceladus at the bottom.

In other images, Enceladus put its craggy face forward, exhibiting some of the fractures and cratering that have made the Saturnian moon a favorite of both planetary scientists and outer-planet mission groupies. A view of Enceladus' terminator was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on May 18 from approximately 75,000 kilometers (46,500 miles) away.

Cassini sent back numerous images May 18, 2010, as it finished the first leg of its planned double flyby. Cassini passed within about 435 kilometers (270 miles) of the Enceladus surface.

Cassini is heading toward Titan for a flyby that occurs in the late evening May 19 Pacific time, which is in the early hours of May 20 UTC. Because of a fortuitous cosmic alignment, Cassini can catch glimpses of these two contrasting worlds within less than 48 hours, with no maneuver in between.

The main scientific goal at Enceladus was to watch the sun play peek-a-boo behind the water-rich plume emanating from the moon's south polar region. Scientists using the ultraviolet imaging spectrograph will be able to use the flickering light to measure whether there is molecular nitrogen in the plume. Ammonia has already been detected in the plume, and scientists know heat can decompose ammonia into nitrogen molecules. Determining the amount of molecular nitrogen in the plume will give scientists clues about thermal processing in the moon's interior.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.

More raw images from the Enceladus flyby, dubbed "E10," are available at: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/

More information on the Titan flyby, dubbed "T68," is online at: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/flybys/titan20100520/

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Cassini Double Play: Enceladus and Titan

On the left, Saturn's moon Enceladus is backlit by the sun, showing the fountain-like sources of the fine spray of material that towers over the south polar region. On the right, is a composite image of Titan. › Larger image

About a month and a half after its last double flyby, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will be turning another double play this week, visiting the geyser moon Enceladus and the hazy moon Titan. The alignment of the moons means that Cassini can catch glimpses of these two contrasting worlds within less than 48 hours, with no maneuver in between.

Cassini will make its closest approach to Enceladus late at night on May 17 Pacific time, which is in the early hours of May 18 UTC. The spacecraft will pass within about 435 kilometers (270 miles) of the moon's surface.

The main scientific goal at Enceladus will be to watch the sun play peekaboo behind the water-rich plume emanating from the moon's south polar region. Scientists using the ultraviolet imaging spectrograph will be able to use the flickering light to measure whether there is molecular nitrogen in the plume. Ammonia has already been detected in the plume and scientists know heat can decompose ammonia into nitrogen molecules. Determining the amount of molecular nitrogen in the plume will give scientists clues about thermal processing in the moon's interior.

The second of Cassini's two flybys is an encounter with Titan. The closest approach will take place in the late evening May 19 Pacific time, which is in the early hours of May 20 UTC. The spacecraft will fly to within 1,400 kilometers (750 miles) of the surface.

Cassini will primarily be doing radio science during this pass to detect the subtle variations in the gravitational tug on the spacecraft by Titan, which is 25 percent larger in volume than the planet Mercury. Analyzing the data will help scientists learn whether Titan has a liquid ocean under its surface and get a better picture of its internal structure. The composite infrared spectrometer will also get its southernmost pass for thermal data to fill out its temperature map of the smoggy moon.

Cassini has made four previous double flybys and one more is planned in the years ahead.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.

More information on the Enceladus flyby, dubbed "E10," is available at: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/flybys/enceladus20100518/

More information on the Titan flyby, dubbed "T68," is available at: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/flybys/titan20100520/

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Dust Cloud From China Shows How We Share the Air

The air we breathe doesn't always come from our own backyard. In fact, sometimes it doesn't even come from our neighbors.

On April 22, 2010, a NASA satellite captured the appearance of a large dust cloud over the eastern coast of United States that originated on the other side of the world -- in China.

"Dust can stimulate the production of more clouds, altering local weather and potentially the climate," said Zhoayan Liu, a researcher at the National Institute of Aerospace and NASA's Langley Research Center who is monitoring the dust movement. The dust cloud was in upper troposphere, the atmospheric layer in which we live.

The dust plume that arrived in the U.S. maintained an average size of more than 1,200 miles wide and six miles tall as it traveled across the Earth. It began in China's Taklimakan and Gobi Deserts, and over 10 days, NASA captured the dust moving across the Pacific Ocean, through the United States and Canada and over Virginia.

"It is likely that a cold front over the deserts generated strong surface winds that pushed a large amount of the dust into the atmosphere and from there the jet streams brought it across the world," said Liu.

Liu and his colleagues at NASA discovered the relocation of the dust after analyzing data from Langley's Earth observing satellite CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations). It can be difficult to distinguish dust from regular clouds and other types of aerosols in photographs taken from space. CALIPSO, however, measures vertical profiles of the atmosphere and produces data that makes a distinction between the different particle types in our atmosphere, such as clouds, smoke, or dust. Not only can it tell scientists what is in our air, CALIPSO can also identify the vertical and horizontal location of the particles as well.

To validate what the satellite saw, NASA scientists took to the sky with the NASA King Air B200 aircraft and a lidar instrument similar to the one on CALIPSO. Aboard the plane, scientists were able to take the same measurements as CALIPSO over North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. The local flights, which took place the same day and time that the satellite detected the dust, confirmed what the satellite observed.

"This transport of dust out of China happens every spring, but we rarely see it move this far with such intensity," said Raymond Rogers, a Langley scientist who participated in the local flights. The air is always made up of various kinds of particles, but it is uncommon that those particles relocate in such large amounts that can their origin can be visibly tracked.

Rogers and Liu said that using CALIPSO and local airborne measurements to monitor the presence of dust in our atmosphere will provide others with data that can be used to gain a better understanding of how dust impacts humans and ecosystems.

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Mars Image Takes Earth Photo Event to a New World

To supplement a May 2 event when photographs were taken of thousands of locations on Earth, NASA's Mars rover Opportunity added a scene from a different world.
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When some Mars explorers learned of plans for a worldwide photography event combining shots taken from thousands of different locations on May 2, 2010, they figured, "Why just one world?"

A New York Times photography blog, Lens, proposed the event and has received more than 12,000 images from around the world. Plus one from a rover on Mars.

The inspiration came from a suggestion by Emily Lakdawalla, science and technology coordinator for The Planetary Society in Pasadena, Calif.

Astronomer Jim Bell of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., lead scientist for the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, suggested that the rover team include commands for Opportunity to take multiple exposures late in the Martian afternoon on May 2. The resulting scene extends from the rover's own deck to ochre sky above the horizon more than 3 kilometers (2 miles) away. Dramatically shaded ripples of windblown sand reach toward the distant horizon.

The Opportunity image is highlighted at the Lens blog at: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/readers-19/. The entire gallery of "Moment in Time" images, the vast majority from Planet Earth, is online at: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/03/blogs/a-moment-in-time.html#/4bdd9784db799a656b0002e9.

The Lens blog proposed that photos be shot at 1500 Universal Time (UT, or Greenwich Mean Time) on May 2 from locations around the world. For logistical reasons, the rover instead took the pictures just before 1500 "local true solar time" on Mars, which was about 1115 UT on May 2 on Earth. Shortly afterwards, the rover transmitted the image data to NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, which relayed them to Earth.

"It wasn't until about 1500 Universal Time on Earth that we could actually see the images and combine them into a mosaic," Bell said. "So we shot the mosaic on Mars at around 1500 local Mars time and received and processed the image on Earth around 1500 Universal Time. In those respects, we hope that our entry is consistent with the spirit of the rules, making this a truly interplanetary event."

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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NASA to Fund Innovative Museum Exhibits and Planetarium Shows

Montage of our solar system.
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Innovative planetarium shows and traveling museum exhibits are among nine projects NASA has selected to receive agency funding this year. NASA's Competitive Program for Science Museums and Planetariums will provide $7 million in grants to enhance educational outreach related to space exploration, aeronautics, space science, Earth science and microgravity.

This year's grants to nine informal education providers range from approximately $177,000 to $1.25 million and have a maximum five-year performance period. The projects are located in Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio, Utah and Washington. The selected projects will work with NASA's Shared Services Center in Mississippi to complete the business review necessary before a NASA award is issued.

"Science centers and planetariums contribute significantly to engaging people of all ages in science, technology, engineering and math," said James Stofan, acting associate administrator for NASA's Office of Education. "NASA wants to give the informal education community access to a variety of agency staff and resources while offering professional development opportunities for informal science educators and encouraging the formation of collaborative partnerships."

The selected organizations will partner with NASA's Museum Alliance, an Internet-based, national network of more than 400 science and nature centers, planetariums, museums, aquariums, zoos and related organizations. The projects will engage the public and educators by providing NASA-inspired space, science, technology, engineering and mathematics learning opportunities.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., leads the Museum Alliance for the agency. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA. More information about the Museum Alliance is online at: http://informal.jpl.nasa.gov/museum.

Congress initiated the Competitive Program for Science Museums and Planetariums in 2008. The first group of projects began in 2009. NASA's Office of Education and agency mission directorates collaborated to solicit and review the grant applications. A list of the newly-selected projects is at: http://nspires.nasaprs.com . Click on "Selected Proposals" and look for Competitive Program for Science Museums and Planetariums.

More information about NASA's education programs is at: http://www.nasa.gov/education.

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NASA Students Use Satellites to Check for Ticks

Using state-of-the-art NASA satellite information, about a dozen students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Ala., are busy checking state forests for ticks that may carry Lyme disease.

The students, participating in a NASA program called DEVELOP, have spent three school terms looking at habitats favorable for the proliferation of the blood-sucking arachnids.

DEVELOP is a mentorship and training program sponsored by the Applied Sciences Program in NASA's Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. DEVELOP engages students in scientific fieldwork and lab study and teaches them how to analyze research results and share them with scientific and public communities.

The students deliver research results, measurements and predictions that address local policy and environmental concerns, and develop professional-caliber products to aid community leaders and local and state governments with decision-making. In the process, the students gain real-world research experience -- and the capability to contribute immediately to the science community.

Dr. Jeffrey Luvall, a senior research scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., mentors students in the DEVELOP program. "NASA is committed to inspiring young people in science, technology, engineering and math,” Luvall said. “The DEVELOP program offers a dual benefit -- encouraging students to pursue careers in technical fields, and helping communities and states through expanded use of NASA satellite information."

During the summer of 2009 through spring 2010 sessions, students chose to work with NASA's satellite-based, remote-sensing technology, and geographic information systems software to focus on research into Lyme disease. The disease can become a serious, chronic illness in humans when undiagnosed and untreated.

NASA's Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor was utilized along with the USGS-partnered Landsat, and digital Globe's Quickbird satellite. Students used the satellite imagery to analyze soil moisture and vegetation at 12 locations in the Talladega National Forest in north-central Alabama, creating detailed digital maps and images showing conditions on the ground that could support habitats for carriers of Lyme disease: blacklegged ticks (deer ticks). Important hosts for these ticks include: white-tailed deer; and the white-footed mouse. Results of their satellite imagery analysis showed areas of dense vegetation overlapped with high soil moisture -- likely tick habitats.

As the final element of their DEVELOP program work, participating students are establishing venues to directly educate the public about Lyme disease. This summer, they will work with Girl Scout troops and camps around northern Alabama, providing scouts and adult supervisors with information about tick-borne diseases and prevention methods. Additionally, student researchers attend conferences to convey what they have learned, increasing awareness not just of the serious risk of Lyme disease exposure, but also of the DEVELOP program itself. Their outreach effort helps NASA to recruit new groups of potential applicants and explore future research topics and collaborations.

The DEVELOP program, led by NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., is active at five NASA facilities: Marshall Space Flight Center; Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss.; and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Internship opportunities with the program are available during the spring, summer and fall. High school, undergraduate and graduate students with strong interests in science, technology and government policymaking are encouraged to apply.

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NASA Joins in National Lab Day Events to Promote 'Educate to Innovate' Campaign

Rockets Aloft

Fifth grade students hold their model rockets aloft as they pose for a photo with Aerospace Education Specialist Elicia Fullwood, left, at the Langdon Education Campus, Tuesday, May 11, 2010 in Washington. NASA staff, including Administrator Bolden, visited Langdon in support of National Lab Day to bring hands-on learning to students across the country.

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Herschel Finds a Hole in Space

The dark hole seen in the green cloud at the top of this image was likely carved out by multiple jets and blasts of radiation. Image credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Toledo

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The Herschel Space Observatory has made an unexpected discovery: a gaping hole in the clouds surrounding a batch of young stars. The hole has provided astronomers with a surprising glimpse into the end of the star-forming process.

Stars are born hidden in dense clouds of dust and gas, which can now be studied in remarkable detail with Herschel, a European Space Agency mission with important NASA participation. Although jets and winds of gas have been seen streaming from young stars in the past, it has always been a mystery exactly how a star uses the jets to blow away its surroundings and emerge from its birth cloud. For the first time, Herschel may be seeing an unexpected step in this process.

A cloud of bright reflective gas known to astronomers as NGC 1999 sits next to a black patch of sky. For most of the 20th century, such black patches were known to be dense clouds of dust and gas that block light from passing through.

When Herschel looked in its direction to study nearby young stars, astronomers were surprised to see the cloud continued to look black, which shouldn't have been the case. Herschel's infrared eyes are designed to see into such clouds. Either the cloud was immensely dense or something was wrong.

Investigating further using ground-based telescopes, astronomers found the same story no matter how they looked: this patch looks black not because it is a dense pocket of gas but because it is truly empty. Something has blown a hole right through the cloud.

"No one has ever seen a hole like this," says Tom Megeath of the University of Toledo, Ohio, the principal investigator of the research. "It's as surprising as knowing you have worms tunneling under your lawn, but finding one morning that they have created a huge, yawning pit."

The astronomers think that the hole must have been opened when the narrow jets of gas from some of the young stars in the region punctured the sheet of dust and gas that forms NGC 1999. The powerful radiation from a nearby adolescent star may also have helped to clear the hole. Whatever the precise chain of events, it could be an important glimpse into the way newborn stars rip apart their birth clouds.

Other members of the research team include Thomas Stanke of the European Southern Observatory, Germany; Amy Stutz of the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy, Germany, and the Steward Observatory, Tucson; John Tobin of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Lori Allen of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson; Ali Babar of the NASA Herschel Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena; and Will Fischer and Erin Kryukova, University of Toledo, Ohio.

Herschel is a European Space Agency cornerstone mission, with science instruments provided by consortia of European institutes and with important participation by NASA. NASA's Herschel Project Office is based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. JPL contributed mission-enabling technology for two of Herschel's three science instruments. The NASA Herschel Science Center, part of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, supports the United States astronomical community. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

More information is online at http://www.herschel.caltech.edu , http://www.nasa.gov/herschelhttp://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Herschel/index.html.

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Hubble Camera Arrives in Time for JPL Open House

The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 is delivered to JPL on May 11, 2010. The camera, on loan from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, was retrieved from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 2009 by space-walking astronauts. During its 15 years on Hubble, the camera took many colorful, iconic and scientifically rich space images. › Larger image

The historic Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, developed and built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, has arrived at JPL in advance of this weekend's annual Open House. Known informally as "The Camera That Saved Hubble," the baby-grand-piano-sized camera is on temporary loan from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington.

"It was 17 years ago this month that this camera left JPL on its way to Earth orbit," said John Trauger of JPL, NASA's principal investigator for the camera. "It looks almost brand new - which is remarkable when you think it spent over 15 years orbiting 353 miles straight up."

The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 was the workhorse camera on Hubble after being added to the observatory in December 1993 to correct an imaging problem created by the telescope's faulty primary mirror. During its tenure aboard Hubble, the camera produced most of the stunning deep space images ever released. Its high image resolution and quality are some of the reasons the camera became the space telescope's most requested instrument during its operational lifetime. Logging 15 years aboard the observatory, the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 was the Hubble Space Telescope's longest serving instrument.

Space-walking astronauts retrieved the camera during the final Hubble servicing mission in May 2009.

More information about the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 is at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/wfpc2. An image gallery contains some of the camera's historic photos.

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Herschel Gets Sneak Peak at Star Birth

The galactic bubble RCW 120.
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The first scientific results from the Herschel infrared space observatory are revealing previously hidden details of star formation. New images show thousands of distant galaxies furiously building stars and beautiful star-forming clouds draped across our Milky Way galaxy. One picture even catches an "impossible" star in the act of formation.

Presented today during a major scientific symposium held at the European Space Agency in the Netherlands, the results challenge old ideas of star birth, and open new roads for future research. The mission is led by the European Space Agency with important participation from NASA.

"Herschel is a new eye on a part of the cosmos that has been dark and buried for a long time," said the mission's NASA project scientist, Paul Goldsmith, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Herschel's observation of the star-forming cloud RCW 120 has revealed an embryonic star, which appears ready to turn into one of the biggest and brightest stars in our galaxy within the next few hundred thousand years. It already contains eight to 10 times the mass of the sun and is still surrounded by an additional 2,000 solar masses of gas and dust from which it can feed further.

"This star can only grow bigger," says Annie Zavagno, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille in France. Massive stars are rare and short-lived. To catch one during formation presents a golden opportunity to solve a long-standing paradox in astronomy. "According to our current understanding, you should not be able to form stars larger than eight solar masses," says Zavagno.

Read more at http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM7N7KPO8G_index_0.html.

Herschel is a European Space Agency cornerstone mission, with science instruments provided by consortia of European institutes and with important participation by NASA. NASA's Herschel Project Office is based at JPL. JPL contributed mission-enabling technology for two of Herschel's three science instruments. The NASA Herschel Science Center, part of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, supports the United States astronomical community. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

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JPL Invites the Public to Annual Open House

JPL's annual Open House on Saturday, May 15, and Sunday, May 16 will feature displays and demonstrations from numerous space missions and a first look at JPL's recently renovated von Karman Visitor Center.
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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., invites the public to a close-up look at JPL's past, present and future at its annual Open House on Saturday, May 15, and Sunday, May 16, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event, themed "Worlds Beyond," features displays and demonstrations from numerous space missions, and a first look at JPL's recently renovated von Karman Visitor Center.

On special display will be the JPL-built Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, retrieved from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope last year by space-walking astronauts. The instrument, affectionately known as the "Camera that Saved Hubble," is on loan from the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. The camera captured many of Hubble's iconic space images.

Other Open House highlights include: seeing JPL's next spacecraft bound for Mars, Mars Science Laboratory, under construction in the lab's largest "clean room;" life-size rover models in a "Mars" test bed; and JPL's Microdevices Lab, where engineers and scientists use tiny technology to revolutionize space exploration. Visitors can also see the sun through solar-safe telescopes, and learn how NASA instruments help scientists better understand global climate change.

JPL Open House provides a memorable experience for adult and kids, with plenty of hands-on activities, and opportunities to talk with scientists and engineers. Selected locations at Open House will be featured live online on Ustream TV at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasajpl on Sat., May 15, at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. Pacific time (1, 2, 3 and 4 p.m. Eastern time). Each time slot will feature a new location at the top of each hour.

JPL is located at 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, Calif., 91109. Admission to Open House is free. Parking is also free, but is limited. To get to JPL, take the Berkshire Avenue/Oak Grove Drive exit from the 210 Freeway in La Canada/Flintridge. All visitors should wear comfortable shoes -- no buses will be provided from JPL parking lots. JPL will provide vans for mobility-challenged guests.

Vehicles entering NASA/JPL property are subject to inspection. Visitors cannot bring these items to NASA/JPL: weapons, explosives, incendiary devices, dangerous instruments, alcohol, illegal drugs, pets, all types of skates including skateboards, Segways and bicycles. No bags, backpacks or ice chests are allowed, except small purses and diaper bags.

Media wishing to cover the event should RSVP to Courtney O'Connor at Courtney.M.O'Connor@jpl.nasa.gov or at 1-818-354-2274.

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NASA, JPL Websites Win Webby Awards

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory was the People's Voice Winner in the 14th Annual Webby Awards for the science category for its Global Climate Change site.

Three NASA sites have won awards in the 14th Annual Webby Awards -- the leading international honor for the world's best websites. NASA.gov was the People's Voice Winner for Government, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory was the People's Voice Winner in the science category for its Global Climate Change site. NASA Home & City Version 2.0 won the juried competition for Government.

A fourth NASA site, Kepler: The Search for Habitable Planets, was designated an official honoree in the science category. The Kepler site was created by teams at JPL and NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

Presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, The Webby Award recognizes excellence in technology and creativity. The Academy created the awards in 1996 to help drive the creative, technical, and professional progress of the Internet and evolving forms of interactive media. The winners were announced online May 4, 2010.

While members of The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences select the winners for the Webby Awards, the online community determines the winners of the People's Voice Awards.

Visit The 14th Annual Webby Awards for the complete list of winners and nominees.

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Renewing Partnerships

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson signed a Memorandum of Agreement today to promote and continue collaboration between the two agencies in environmental and Earth sciences and applications. The signing ceremony took place at the Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science (MS)^² on the campus of Howard University in Washington. Following the ceremony, both administrators met with students to discuss the importance of science and engineering education.

"Our agencies have a remarkable opportunity to tackle a variety of environmental issues together," said Administrator Bolden. "Involving students in Earth science and climate research at an early age will encourage a stronger sense of stewardship toward our home planet."

The agreement renews a broad partnership to promote joint efforts to improve environmental and Earth science research, technology, environmental management, and the application of Earth science data, models and technology in environmental decision-making.

Video of the event can be seen on UStream

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JPL Marks Earth's Big Day

This color image of the Earth was obtained by Galileo on Dec. 11, 1990. Image credit: NASA/JPL
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The need to understand the planet we call home has never been greater. As the population of our pale blue dot continues to grow, humans and all living things vie for an ever-shrinking pool of natural resources. Fresh water. Clean air. Food. Habitable land. As Earth's climate changes in response to human and natural causes, these resources are strained.

NASA's contingent of dedicated Earth scientists and engineers -- the world's largest -- together with its armada of Earth satellites and airborne instruments, study all aspects of the Earth system--its ocean, atmosphere, ice, land and biosphere. Together, this conflux of humans and machines is advancing our scientific understanding of our ever-changing Earth system, helping to meet the needs of society.

JPL studies help us identify how Earth's climate is changing, understand the causes of these changes, and support development of models used to predict future global change. Currently, JPL has six dedicated Earth science spacecraft in orbit, with another five instruments flying aboard NASA's Terra, Aqua and Aura spacecraft. Several more missions are planned for launch in the next few years. Decision makers around the world use JPL Earth science data to support policy-making and resource management decisions.

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Flight Control Technology Enters Hall of Fame

The now-retired Vought F-8C Crusader jet fighter that was modified to be the test aircraft for NASA's Digital Fly-By-Wire flight research remains on display today at the Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

Digital Fly-By-Wire technology pioneered at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center has been inducted into the Space Foundation's Space Technology Hall of Fame, which honors outstanding technologies developed for use in space and adapted to improve life on Earth.

The induction ceremony, which featured former Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy as keynote speaker, was held April 15 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Digital Fly-By-Wire – or DFBW – flight control technology is a computerized system used today on many civil and military aircraft that provides real-time analysis of control inputs made by pilots. Multiple flight control computers continuously evaluate aircraft speed, weight, atmospheric conditions and other variables to arrive at optimum flight control surface deflections that will achieve what the pilot has requested. Pilot inputs are filtered through a digital computer to the hydraulic actuators that actually move an aircraft's flight controls.

"Digital Fly-By-Wire had its origins in the Apollo program," said NASA Dryden center director David McBride, who received the award on behalf of NASA and the center. "Rugged and reliable flight avionics developed for our space mission to the moon was brought to an aviation application by Neil Armstrong while he served as NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics after his lunar triumph.

"The validation work performed at Dryden enabled the technology to return to space as the space shuttle flight control system," McBride added. "The application of the technology at Dryden continues to impact the safe and efficient operation of nearly all modern aircraft."

Digital flight control systems improve flight safety through use of redundant systems. They also improve aircraft maneuverability because computers can command adjustments more quickly than human pilots. With DFBW technology, aircraft designers are no longer confined to designing features that make aircraft more stable but less maneuverable.

In airliners, computerized flight controls ensure a smoother ride than traditional hydro-mechanical systems alone can provide.

Digital flight control systems are also more efficient because they are lighter and require less volume aboard aircraft than hydraulic or mechanical controls. This serves to either reduce the amount of fuel required to fly with extra weight or accommodate a larger payload. Digital flight controls also generally require less maintenance than the systems they replace.

Now retired from NASA, the DFBW project’s chief research pilot, Gary Krier, remembers the significance of the work begun 38 years ago.

"We at the Flight Research Center knew that successful implementation of Digital Fly-By-Wire would turn imagination into reality," Krier said. "We could envision control-configured vehicles and aircraft with lightweight, reliable and expandable control systems being enabled by this technology. We were confident we could do it, and do it first.

"Everyone who worked on the program has to be pleased at the recognition of our efforts by the Space Foundation," he added.

NASA’s DFBW flight-test program encompassed 210 research flights over a 13-year period from May 1972 through April 1985. The heart of the system was an off-the-shelf backup digital flight-control computer and inertial sensing unit obtained from the Apollo space flight program that transmitted pilot inputs to control surface actuators. The now-retired test aircraft, a modified Vought F-8C Crusader jet fighter obtained from the Navy for the project, is on public display at NASA Dryden.

In cooperation with NASA, The Space Foundation created the Space Technology Hall of Fame® in 1988 to increase public awareness of the benefits resulting from space exploration programs and to encourage further innovation. To date, 61 technologies have been inducted into the foundation's Hall of Fame, honoring the organizations and individuals who transformed space technology into commercial products that improve the quality of life for all humanity.

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NASA Continues to Track Persistent Iceland Volcano

On Monday, April 19, 2010, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument onboard NASA's Terra spacecraft obtained this image of the continuing eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano. › Full image and caption

The continuing eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano was observed Mon., April 19, 2010, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument onboard NASA's Terra spacecraft. The new image shows a white eruption column being carried toward the south by prevailing winds. The image is dominated by the gray, ash-laden eruption cloud dispersed south and east by the winds, blowing from the southern Iceland coast toward Europe. The bright red areas mark the hot lava at the current vent (upper left), and the still-hot lava flows from the earlier phases of the eruption (upper center). The high-temperature material is revealed by ASTER's thermal infrared bands.

This image covers an area of 58.6 by 46.8 kilometers (36.3 by 29 miles). The resolution is 15 meters (49 feet) per pixel.

Read more at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA13049

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Students Send Balloons to the Stratosphere

How different does the world look from 100,000 feet in the air? How do cities and suburbs, fields and forests appear when viewed from a vantage point of nearly twenty miles above Earth's surface?

Through an innovative program at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, local high school students have the opportunity to make these discoveries firsthand while learning practical math, science and engineering skills. Participants in the BalloonSAT Exploring Program launch a 6-foot diameter weather balloon, complete with experiments and cameras, into the space-like regions of Earth's upper atmosphere.

Exploring with Balloons

The Exploring Program is affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America. This program is designed to give high school students opportunities to experience different potential careers. Throughout the country, students in the Exploring Program learn from various professionals -- like firemen, police officers and medical workers -- about the skills necessary for these jobs. At Glenn, students explore what it's like to be a scientist or engineer in one of four Exploring Posts: Aeronautics, Computer, Human Space Exploration and BalloonSAT. Stephanie Brown-Houston, from the Glenn Educational Program, is the program manager for the Exploring Program → at Glenn.

The use of weather balloons as satellites (BalloonSAT) first began at Glenn a decade ago as a way of investigating solar cell calibration in space. A small payload which tracked the sun was suspended by a weather balloon and flown to gather data. The balloon served as an inexpensive high-altitude launch system.

The BalloonSAT Exploring Post 632 began in 2004. Dr. David Snyder, a physicist and electrical engineer in the Photovoltaic and Power Technologies branch of the Power & In-Space Propulsion division at Glenn, is the lead advisor for BalloonSAT Exploring Post.

"The overall goal is to give high school kids a chance to explore these professions," Snyder says. "It's about getting them interested in science and space and technology."

Learning by Doing

Each academic year, a group of 10 to 15 high school students join the BalloonSAT Exploring Post. These diverse students, from multiple high schools around the Cleveland area, work together to perform one or two launches every year. When the first launch occurs, it is more of a demonstration launch and takes place early in the program, in the fall. The second launch, which takes place in early spring, is coordinated and executed by the students and features the experiments they designed.

"BalloonSAT attempts to simulate a satellite mission," Snyder says. "We give students the chance to design experiments and fly them with a flight program, and get results."

The students work all year to research, develop, design and fabricate experiments that will be flown when they launch their balloon. In the seven missions that BalloonSAT has flown, dozens of student-designed experiments have been launched 100,000 feet in the air.

Previous experiments have included:

• Exposure experiments with rubber bands, seeds and mold
• Light and temperature sensors
• Aerogel particle capture
• Cosmic ray detection
• Geiger counters
• Electronic compass correlation
• Carbon Dioxide/Ozone detectors
• Solar cell measurements
• Latex balloon expansion
• Yeast growth and carbon dioxide generation

This year's launch, which is schedule for April 24, includes a variety of experiments such as:

• 3-D photography
• Video image transmission
• Chemical hand warmer testing
• Electric field disturbances
• Glass fragility during flight
• Wood glue exposure
• Humidity measurements

The students spend the year preparing for the launch; the multi-faceted project teaches the students numerous skills.

"The idea is to use the balloon as a launch vehicle, and then have a whole mission that's like a satellite mission. There is a lot of science, there is a lot of pre-flight testing and there is designing the flight plan," Snyder says. "There's a wide range of activities in addition to their experiments. It's a whole flight project."

Skills from many fields are developed in the BalloonSAT project, including:

• Communications and telemetry
• Problem solving
• Power and battery issues
• Tracking
• Flight Prediction
• Coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

Up, Up and Away

On launch day, all of the students' and their mentors' hard work comes to fruition at the exciting launch. The latex balloon, initially 6-feet in diameter, is launched into the mid-to-upper stratosphere, about 100,000 feet above Earth's surface. The mid-to-upper stratosphere is above 99% of the atmosphere -- much higher than even commercial aircraft fly. The conditions here are similar to conditions on Mars.

The balloon rises at a rate of 1,000 feet a minute, so it takes about 2 hours for the balloon to reach its apex. It then bursts, and returns to Earth in about an hour. The balloon, which expands to about 18-feet in diameter as it passes through different temperatures during its ascent, is typically visible to the naked eye throughout its entire journey.

"It's kind of amazing," Snyder says.

The BalloonSAT team tracks the balloon visually and via GPS and Ham Radio, and collects the deflated balloon after it lands. Then the team starts investigating the results of their carefully-planned experiments, and reviews the footage the cameras on the balloon produced.

The digital cameras installed on the balloon take a picture every 30 seconds. The sideways shots display the atmosphere and some of the ground, while the straight down shots display details of Earth. The photographs are taken by inexpensive, point-and-shoot digital cameras that have been modified to have an external switch rather than the factory-installed button. The resulting images are informational and visually intriguing.

"It's impressive to see the images," Snyder says.

Mentoring Young Scientists

NASA funds the Exploring Program at Glenn, including the BalloonSAT post. A minimum of $1,000 provides supplies for the activities, including the cameras, equipment to build and construct payloads, balloons and helium.

The BalloonSAT Exploring Post has proven so successful that a nation-wide competition for high school students will be hosted by Glenn this May. Winning entries were submitted by schools in Utah, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the students will converge at Glenn to launch their experiments aloft in a balloon.

The pairing of high school STEM students and experienced NASA scientists has proven effective -- many of the students who have participated in the program have gone on to study engineering and related fields in college. This experiential learning, as one of Snyder's Exploring Program students told him, brings science to life.

"She said that this is not just learning in a book. It is a chance to actually do things and have the experience. The hands-on aspect, to her, was very important," Snyder says.

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