NASA TO DISCUSS CONDITIONS ON AND SURROUNDING THE SUN

NASA will hold a media teleconference Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 12:30 p.m. EDT, to discuss data from the joint NASA and European Space Agency Ulysses mission that reveals the sun's solar wind is at a 50-year low. The sun's current state could result in changing conditions in the solar system.

Ulysses was the first mission to survey the space environment above and below the poles of the sun. The reams of data Ulysses returned have changed forever the way scientists view our star and its effects. The venerable spacecraft has lasted more than 17 years - almost four times its expected mission lifetime.

The panelists are:
-- Ed Smith, NASA Ulysses project scientist and magnetic field instrument investigator, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
-- Dave McComas, Ulysses solar wind instrument principal investigator, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio
-- Karine Issautier, Ulysses radio wave lead investigator, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France
-- Nancy Crooker, Research Professor, Boston University, Boston, Mass.

Reporters should call 866-617-1526 and use the pass code "sun" to participate in the teleconference. International media should call 1-210-795-0624.

To access visuals that will the accompany presentations, go to:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/ulysses-20080923.html

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

NASA ECLIPS: A NEW APPROACH TO LEARNING

NASA is making available a free Web-based educational product to learners of all ages across the country. NASA eClips consists of more than 55 short, 5-10 minute video segments, which are available on-demand via the Internet for the 2008 -2009 school year.

NASA eClips features many of the agency's missions and engages students in the excitement of science and engineering. From the deepest regions of space to hurricanes here on Earth, the goal of NASA eClips is to inspire students to learn more about science and math concepts.

"This new product was designed to respond to the needs of today's educators, and highlights NASA's commitment to providing science, math, technology and engineering resources in a way that is relevant to tomorrow's explorers," said Joyce Winterton, NASA's assistant administrator for education.

Additionally, the NASA eClips program is separated into grade-appropriate topics and designed as a resource for classroom teachers. Accompanying the collection of NASA eClips will be educator guides to provide teachers with examples of how to effectively use the products as instructional tools.

Students, teachers and the general public can look forward to new video and educational content highlighting current research and innovations each week throughout the school year. The number of video clips is expected to grow to more than 220 by next year. The clips are available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/education/nasaeclips

and

http://www.youtube.com/nasaeclips

Partnering with the National Institute of Aerospace in Hampton, Va., CaptionMax of Minneapolis, Internet Archive of San Francisco and YouTube in San Bruno, Calif., allows for the widest distribution of eClips at the lowest cost.

NASA eClips will be featured during Thursday's Future Forum at Boston's Museum of Science. NASA leadership, including astronauts, scientists, and engineers, will discuss the role of space exploration in advancing science, engineering, technology, education and the economy.

For more information on NASA's 50th Anniversary Future Forums, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/50th/future_forums

For more information on the National Institute of Aerospace, visit:

http://www.NIAnet.org

Black Hole on Earth

Space Shuttle Discovery, lighted against the night sky

Arctic Sea Ice Reaches Lowest Coverage for 2008

Arctic sea ice coverage appears to have reached its lowest extent for the year and the second-lowest amount recorded since the dawn of the satellite era, according to observations from the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

While slightly above the record-low minimum set Sept. 16, 2007, this season further reinforces the strong negative trend in summer sea ice extent observed during the past 30 years. Before last year, the previous record low for September was 2005.

In March, when the Arctic reached its annual maximum sea ice coverage during the winter, scientists from NASA and the data center reported that thick, older sea ice was continuing to decline. According to NASA-processed satellite microwave data, this perennial ice used to cover 50-60 percent of the Arctic, but this winter it covered less than 30 percent. Perennial sea ice is the long-lived layer of ice that remains even when the surrounding short-lived seasonal sea ice melts to its minimum extent during the summer.

NASA scientists have been observing Arctic sea ice cover since 1979. NASA developed the capability to observe the extent and concentration of sea ice from space using passive microwave sensors.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center will issue an analysis of the possible causes behind this year's Arctic sea ice conditions during the first week of October. For updates, visit http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews.

NASA USES COMMERCIAL MICROGRAVITY FLIGHT SERVICES FOR FIRST TIME

NASA for the first time last week used microgravity research flights aboard commercially-owned aircraft to test hardware and technologies. These flights, on an airplane operated by the Zero Gravity Corporation, simulated the weightless conditions of space.

In addition to numerous NASA experiments, five companies sponsored by the agency's Innovative Partnerships Program flew experiments aboard the reduced-gravity aircraft flights from Ellington Field in Houston. The flights were the first in NASA's Facilitated Access to the Space Environment for Technology Development and Training program, called FAST.

The companies, which are participating in the Small Business Innovation Research program, tested five new technologies Sept. 9-10:

- Pneumatic mining under lunar gravity conditions (Honeybee Robotics of New York)
- Aircraft sensor-logger operations (Metis Design Corporation of Cambridge, Mass.)
- Microgravity flight testing of self-deploying shells (Mevicon Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif.)
- Virtual sensor test instrumentation operations (Mobitrum Corporation of Silver Spring, Md.)
- Nanofluid coolant testing (nanoComposix, Inc. of San Diego, Calif.)

Representatives of the companies were aboard the aircraft to operate and evaluate their technologies during the flights, which created zero-gravity and lunar-gravity conditions. The technologies will improve air and space vehicle capabilities and support the design of systems for the exploration of the moon and operations there.

NASA's contract with the Zero Gravity Corporation of Las Vegas, which is managed by NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, is part of an effort to expand the agency's use of commercial services. The flights were conducted from Ellington Field with the nearby Johnson Space Center in Houston providing technical support to the participating experimenters

Weightless conditions are achieved by flying an airplane on a parabolic trajectory. A typical flight lasting two hours consists of 50 parabolas, generating up to 25 seconds of microgravity during each parabola.

Four days of flights originally were scheduled in September, but the approach of Hurricane Ike caused those scheduled Sept. 11-12 to be suspended. An effort will be made to reschedule the flights in the future. NASA's first flights with the Zero Gravity Corporation occurred the week of Aug. 25. More flights are planned in October, November and January.

A call for new proposals for FAST program flights in 2009 will be issued later this month. It will be open to any companies or organizations working on technologies of value to NASA.

For more information about FAST, visit:

http://www.ipp.nasa.gov/ii_fast.htm

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

NASA Selects 'MAVEN' Mission to Study Mars Atmosphere

NASA has selected a Mars robotic mission that will provide information about the Red Planet's atmosphere, climate history and potential habitability in greater detail than ever before.

Called the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, the $485 million mission is scheduled for launch in late 2013. The selection was evaluated to have the best science value and lowest implementation risk from 20 mission investigation proposals submitted in response to a NASA Announcement of Opportunity in August 2006.

"This mission will provide the first direct measurements ever taken to address key scientific questions about Mars' evolution," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Mars once had a denser atmosphere that supported the presence of liquid water on the surface. As part of a dramatic climate change, most of the Martian atmosphere was lost. MAVEN will make definitive scientific measurements of present-day atmospheric loss that will offer clues about the planet's history.

"The loss of Mars' atmosphere has been an ongoing mystery," McCuistion said. "MAVEN will help us solve it."

The principal investigator for the mission is Bruce Jakosky of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The university will receive $6 million to fund mission planning and technology development during the next year. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will manage the project. Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colo., will build the spacecraft based on designs from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and 2001 Mars Odyssey missions. The team will begin mission design and implementation in the fall of 2009.

Launched in August 2005, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a multipurpose spacecraft that carries the most powerful telescopic camera ever flown to another planet. The camera can show Martian landscape features as small as a kitchen table from low orbital altitudes. The mission is examining potential landing sites for future surface missions and providing a communications relay for other Mars spacecraft.

The 2001 Mars Odyssey, launched in April of that year, is determining the composition of the Red Planet's surface by searching for water and shallow buried ice. The spacecraft also is studying the planet's radiation environment.

After arriving at Mars in the fall of 2014, MAVEN will use its propulsion system to enter an elliptical orbit ranging 90 to 3,870 miles above the planet. The spacecraft's eight science instruments will take measurements during a full Earth year, which is roughly equivalent to half of a Martian year. MAVEN also will dip to an altitude 80 miles above the planet to sample Mars' entire upper atmosphere. During and after its primary science mission, the spacecraft may be used to provide communications relay support for robotic missions on the Martian surface.

"MAVEN will obtain critical measurements that the National Academy of Science listed as being of high priority in their 2003 decadal survey on planetary exploration," said Michael Meyer, the Mars chief scientist at NASA Headquarters. "This field of study also was highlighted in the 2005 NASA Roadmap for New Science of the Sun-Earth System Connection."

The Mars Scout Program is designed to send a series of small, low-cost, principal investigator-led missions to the Red Planet. The Phoenix Mars Lander was the first spacecraft selected. Phoenix landed on the icy northern polar region of Mars on May 25, 2008. The spacecraft completed its prime science mission on Aug. 25, 2008. The mission has been extended through Sept. 30.
NASA's Mars Exploration Program seeks to characterize and understand Mars as a dynamic system, including its present and past environment, climate cycles, geology and biological potential.

NASA AWARDS EDUCATION RESEARCH GRANTS TO MINORITY UNIVERSITIES

NASA's Office of Education is awarding research grants totaling nearly $35 million to seven minority institutions.

The goal of NASA's Minority University Research and Education Program is to establish significant, multi-disciplinary scientific, engineering and commercial research centers at the host universities that contribute substantially to NASA programs. The awards will help to achieve a broad based, competitive aerospace research and technology development capability among the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Other Minority Universities.

The grants also will help increase participation by faculty and students of selected colleges and universities in the research programs of NASA's mission directorates, and increase the number of underrepresented minorities who obtain advanced degrees in NASA-related fields. Each university will receive up to $1 million per year for a maximum of five years based on performance and availability of funds. NASA's Office of Education intends to issue a cooperative agreement notice for the University Research Center project in the coming fiscal year.

The university organizations selected to receive awards are:

NASA University Research Center SPACE Center, California State University, Los Angeles

WaterSCAPES: Science of Coupled Aquatic Processes in Ecosystems from Space, Florida International University, Miami

Howard University Beltsville Center for Climate System Observation, Howard University, Washington

Center of Excellence in Systems Engineering for Space Exploration Technologies, Morgan State University, Baltimore

The Center for Radiation Engineering and Science for Space Exploration, Prairie View A & M University, Prairie View, Texas

Center for Bio-Nanotechnology and Environmental Research, Texas Southern University, Houston

Center for Advanced Nanoscale Materials II, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, San Juan

For more information about the awards, visit:

http://mured.nasaprs.com

NASA Video: What's Up for September

NASA'S JOHNSON SPACE CENTER CLOSES FOR IKE

NASA's Johnson Space Shuttle Station Center will close at noon CDT Thursday and remain closed until the threat of Space Station Hurricane Ike has passed. Ike, a category 2 hurricane in the western Gulf of Mexico, is expected to cross the Texas coast early Saturday as a category 3 storm.

The International Space Station Flight Control Room at Space Shuttle Station Mission Control in Houston was shut down Thursday morning. Space Discovery Station flight control continued through backup teams located near Austin, Texas and Huntsville, Ala.

Most NASA Space Shuttle Station aircraft at Ellington Field, located just north of Johnson, have been flown to a facility in El Paso, Texas. That includes 19 of 26 T-38s, a WB-57 and three of four Space Technology shuttle training aircraft. Nine other Space Shuttle Station aircraft are undergoing maintenance and have been secured in hangars at Ellington.

Space Shuttle Station Johnson employees and journalists should call the Employee Information Line for updated news on the center's status. The local telephone number is 281-483-3351. If local communications are disrupted, employees can call a toll-free information line at 877-283-1947.

NASA Space Shuttle Station has a Web site to convey important information to NASA Space Shuttle Station employees and contractors impacted by Hurricane Ike at:

http://www.nasa.gov/eoc

NASA ASTRONAUTS CONNECT WITH LUCKY LAS VEGAS SCHOOL KIDS

Space Station Mission Journalists are invited to join a group of Las Vegas students who have "struck it rich" on Wednesday, Sept. 17. These lucky students will chat with NASA's Space Station Mission Expedition 17 Space Station Mission astronauts aboard the International Space Station from 11:15 a.m. to 11:35 a.m. PDT at the Jim Bridger Middle School. The Space Station Mission school is located at 2505 North Bruce Street in Las Vegas.

A live educational downlink will connect an auditorium filled with hundreds of middle school Space Station Mission students and teachers with space station crewmembers. The Space Station Mission goal is to learn more about what life is like in space and how gravity affects people on Earth. Space Station Mission Reporters interested in attending the event must contact Terry Wood at 414-573-1700 or by e-mail at: tmwood@interact.ccsd.net .

Jim Bridger Middle School is a participant in the NASA Space Station Mission Explorer Schools Program. The program offers a three-year partnership between NASA Space Station Mission and school teams, which consist of teachers and education administrators from diverse communities across the country. Space Station Mission Focusing on underserved populations, the program is designed for education communities at the grade 4-9 levels to help middle schools improve teaching and learning in Space Station Mission, science, technology, engineering and math.

The Space Station Mission downlink event is one in a series with educational organizations in the U.S. and abroad. It is an integral component of NASA's Space Station Mission Teaching from Space Program. The program promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of human Space Station Mission flight.

The downlink will air live on NASA Space Station Mission Television and be streamed on the NASA Web site at:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about NASA's Space Station Mission education programs on the Web, visit:

www.nasa.gov/education

For more information about Space Station Mission Jim Bridger Middle School, visit:

http://ccsd.net/schools/bridger

NASA'S SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR TO MOVE TO LAUNCH PAD SEPT. 18

Space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to roll out to Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Space shuttle Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, Sept. 18, in preparation for Space shuttle Atlantis' Space shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space shuttle Telescope. Space shuttle Endeavour will stand by in the unlikely event a rescue Space shuttle mission is necessary following Space shuttle Atlantis' launch, which is targeted for Oct. 10.

After Endeavour is cleared from its duty as a rescue vehicle, it will move to Launch Pad 39A for the upcoming STS-126 Space shuttle mission to the International Space Station. That flight is targeted for launch Nov. 12.

On Thursday, Endeavour rolled over from Kennedy's Space shuttle Orbiter Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building. There, Endeavour will be attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters to prepare for its move to the pad.

The first motion of the Space shuttle toward the launch pad Sept. 18 is scheduled for 12:01 a.m. EDT. The fully assembled space shuttle, consisting of the orbiter, external tank and twin solid rocket boosters, will be delivered to the pad atop a crawler-transporter. The crawler will travel slower than 1 mph during the 4.2-mile journey. The process is expected to take approximately seven hours.

NASA Space shuttle Television will provide live coverage of Endeavour's rollout to the launch pad beginning at 6:30 a.m. Sept. 18. Video highlights of the rollout will air on the NASA Space shuttle TV Video File.

Space shuttle Media are invited to a photo opportunity of the Space shuttle move to the pad and interview availability with Endeavour Vehicle Manager Shelley Ford at 8 a.m. Thursday. Because dates and times of this event are subject to change, updates are available by calling 321-867-2525.

Space shuttle Media must arrive at Kennedy's news center by 6 a.m. Thursday for transportation to the viewing area. Foreign media with credentials must arrive at the Pass and ID Building on State Road 3 by 6 a.m. for transportation to the news center. The accreditation deadline for this event has passed for members of foreign news media. U.S. reporters without permanent Kennedy Space shuttle Center credentials must apply for accreditation online by 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15, at:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

Badges must be picked up by 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17 at the new Kennedy Space shuttle Center Badging Office on State Road 405, west of Gate 3 (just past the Kennedy Visitor's Complex).

For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

HURRICANE IKE IMPACT FELT IN SPACE

Hurricane Ike has delayed the scheduled Friday arrival of a Russian Progress cargo ship at the International Space Station 220 miles above Earth.

The Progress docking was postponed when the space station's control room at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston was closed Thursday because of the approaching storm.

Control of the space station was handed to flight controllers at backup facilities near Austin, Texas, and Huntsville, Ala. Because the Mission Control Center in Houston is responsible for commanding many of the station's systems, U.S. and Russian officials agreed to delay the docking.

Russian flight controllers will execute a maneuver to place the Progress spacecraft into a safe orbit away from the station until docking, which is planned for Wednesday, Sept. 17. If Johnson's
control center is not restored to full capability for docking, one of the backup facilities may be used to command the station's systems.

Station Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineers Oleg Kononenko and Greg Chamitoff are awaiting the arrival of the cargo ship. The spacecraft is carrying more than 2 tons of supplies, including food and fuel.

NASA Television may offer coverage of the Progress' arrival. For NASA TV schedule updates, downlinks, and streaming video information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more about the crew's activities and station sighting opportunities, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

NASA CONDUCTS FIRST TEST ON NEW MOTOR FOR THE ARES I ROCKET

Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., have completed first-round testing of a critical motor for NASA's new Ares I rocket. The Ares I is a two-stage rocket that will launch astronauts aboard the Orion crew capsule on missions to the International Space Station and to the moon by 2020.

The ullage settling motor is a small, solid rocket motor that serves two key roles during the launch of the Ares I rocket. During first stage separation, which occurs 125.8 seconds into flight, the motor will fire for four seconds, producing the forward thrust needed to push the second, or upper, stage away from the first stage. This forward thrust also ensures the rocket's liquid fuel is properly pushed to the bottom of the upper stage fuel tank prior to ignition of the J-2X engine that powers the upper stage.

The successful hot-fire test of this new development motor -- the first test in this series -- was conducted Sept. 11 at Marshall. All test objectives were achieved, bringing NASA one step closer to developing America's new space transportation system. This first series of early development testing will consist of four motors. It is scheduled to run through 2009. The second test series is planned for February 2009.

"We are extremely excited about the success of this test that proves we are headed down the correct development path for this program," said Danny Davis, upper stage manager for Ares Projects at Marshall. "We have the right team in place, and we are working a design that will secure America's future in space."

The word "ullage" is taken from the French term "ouillage," which is used in winemaking to describe the space between wine and the top of a storage container, such as a barrel or bottle. In this case, it refers to the space at the top of the first stage fuel tank and the need to push the fuel, or settle it, to the bottom of the tank.

The ullage motor, 9 inches in diameter and 47 inches in length, is similar in design to the booster separation motor used on the space shuttle's reusable solid rocket motor. Eight ullage motors will be arranged in four pairs on the Ares I upper stage aft skirt, which also houses the reaction control system. The aft skirt is located between the upper stage core, which contains the liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuel tanks, and the interstage, which houses the rocket's roll control system.

"We are very excited about this opportunity for our team to practice the basic principles of solid rocket motor design for the Ares I," said Steve Harvison, ullage settling motor design lead at Marshall. "It has been especially beneficial to newer team members who are fresh out of college and eager for this challenge. We are working every engineering aspect of these motors, from technical analysis, modeling and simulations to propellant tailoring work and hands-on developmental testing."

The first Ares I test flight, called Ares I-X, is scheduled for 2009.

NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston manages the Constellation Program, which includes the Ares I rocket, the Ares V heavy-lift launch vehicle, the Orion crew capsule and the Altair lunar lander. Marshall manages the Ares Projects.

Video of the ullage motor test will be available Friday, Sept. 12, on NASA Television's Video File. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For a photo of the test and more information about Ares, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/multimedia/ullage_ares.html

NASA Video: What's Up for September