Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Earth. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Earth. Mostrar todas las entradas

domingo, 2 de abril de 2017

ESA : Lithospheric magnetic field .- Campo magnético litosférico

http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2017/03/Lithospheric_magnetic_field



Spain

Campo gnético de la litosfera

Desvelando el campo magnético de la Tierra

23 marzo 2017
Los satélites Swarm de la ESA están detectando minúsculos detalles en una de las capas más difíciles de observar del campo magnético de la Tierra y estudiando la historia magnética oculta en la corteza de nuestro planeta. 
Podemos imaginar el campo magnético terrestre como una enorme envoltura que nos protege de la radiación cósmica y las partículas cargadas que bombardean nuestro planeta con el viento solar. Sin él no existiría la vida tal y como la conocemos.
La mayoría del campo se genera a más de 3.000 km de profundidad, por el movimiento del hierro fundido del núcleo externo. El 6% restante se debe, por una parte, a las corrientes eléctricas existentes en el espacio que rodea nuestro planeta y, por otra, a las rocas magnetizadas en la litosfera superior, la porción rígida más exterior de la Tierra, formada por la corteza y el manto superior.
A pesar de que este ‘campo magnético litosférico’ es muy débil y, por ello, difícil de detectar desde el espacio, el trío de satélites Swarm ha sido capaz de cartografiar sus señales magnéticas. Tras tres años de recogida de datos, se acaba de publicar el mapa elaborado desde el espacio con la más alta resolución hasta la fecha.
“Al combinar las mediciones de Swarm con datos históricos del satélite alemán CHAMP, y usando una nueva técnica de modelización, hemos podido extraer señales mínimas de magnetización cortical”, explica Nils Olsen, de la Universidad Técnica de Dinamarca, uno de los científicos responsables del nuevo mapa. 
 
Anomalía magnética en Bangui
 
Rune Floberghagen, responsable de la misión Swarm de la ESA, añade: “Comprender la corteza de nuestro planeta no es sencillo. No basta con perforar para medir su estructura, composición e historia”.
“Las mediciones desde el espacio tienen un gran valor, ya que ofrecen una precisa visión global de la estructura magnética de la corteza exterior”.
Presentado en el Swarm Science Meeting celebrado esta semana en Canadá, el nuevo mapa muestra las variaciones en este campo con una precisión en los detalles superior a la de las reconstrucciones basadas en satélites realizadas hasta ahora, a partir de estructuras geológicas en la corteza terrestre.
Una de estas anomalías se produce en la República Centroafricana, alrededor de la ciudad de Bangui, donde el campo magnético es significativamente más agudo y más fuerte. Aún se desconoce la causa de esta anomalía, pero algunos científicos sospechan que podría deberse al impacto de un meteorito hace más de 540 millones de años.
El campo magnético se encuentran en un estado permanente de flujo. El norte magnético vaga y, cada pocos cientos de miles de años, la polaridad se invierte, por lo que las brújulas apuntarían al sur en lugar de hacia el norte.
Cuando se genera nueva corteza debido a la actividad volcánica, principalmente a lo largo del fondo oceánico, los minerales ricos en hierro del magma que se va solidificando se orientan hacia el norte magnético, capturando una ‘instantánea’ del campo magnético en el momento concreto en que esas rocas se enfriaron.
Como los polos magnéticos se invierten cíclicamente, los minerales solidificados forman ‘franjas’ en el lecho marino, dejando un registro de la historia magnética de la Tierra. 
 
ESA's magnetic field misssion
Swarm
 
El mapa más reciente de Swarm nos ofrece una vista global sin precedentes de las franjas magnéticas asociadas a la tectónica de placas, reflejadas en las dorsales mesoceánicas.
“Estas franjas magnéticas demuestran la inversión de los polos y el análisis de las huellas magnéticas en el suelo oceánico nos permitirá reconstruir los cambios en el campo del núcleo. También nos ayudarán a investigar los movimientos de las placas tectónicas”, señala Dhananjay Ravat, de la Universidad de Kentucky, Estados Unidos.
“El nuevo mapa muestra las características del campo magnético con una precisión de hasta 250 km, facilitando así la investigación de la geología y las temperaturas en la litosfera terrestre”.  



Details

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  • Title Lithospheric magnetic field
  • Released: 21/03/2017
  • Length 00:01:29
  • Language English
  • Footage Type Animation
  • Copyright ESA/DTU Space/DLR
  • Description
    After three years of collecting data, the highest resolution map of Earth’s lithospheric magnetic field from space to date has been released. The dataset combines measurements from ESA’s Swarm satellites with historical data from the German CHAMP satellite using a new modelling technique that allowed scientists to extract tiny magnetic signals from Earth’s outer layer. Red represents areas where the lithospheric magnetic field is positive, while blues show areas where it is negative.

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domingo, 17 de abril de 2016

NASA : Early Ice Breakup of Beaufort Sea Due to Early Warm Temperatures .- Desintegración del hielo del mar de Beaufort temprana debido a las temperaturas calientes tempranas

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., Esta imagen de ruptura temprana de hielo del mar de Beaufort, al norte de Alaska, fue tomada por Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrumento canal infrarrojo visible del satélite Suomi NPP, en torno a 1148 UTC el 13 de abril de 2016.
Cada año, el tapón de agua de mar congelada flotando en la superficie del Océano Ártico y sus mares vecinos se derrite durante la primavera y el verano y vuelve a crecer en los meses de otoño e invierno, alcanzando su punto máximo anual entre febrero y abril. El 24 de marzo, Ártico extensión del hielo marino alcanzó un máximo de 5.607 millones de millas cuadradas (14,52 millones de kilómetros cuadrados), una nueva extensión máxima de invierno baja récord en los registros por satélite que comenzó en 1979.
More information...........

Sea ice breaking up in Alaska imaged from satellite
This image of early ice breakup of the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska, was taken by the Suomi NPP satellite's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument infrared channel, at around 1148 UTC on April 13, 2016.
Every year, the cap of frozen seawater floating on top of the Arctic Ocean and its neighboring seas melts during the spring and summer and grows back in the fall and winter months, reaching its maximum yearly extent between February and April. On March 24, Arctic sea ice extent peaked at 5.607 million square miles (14.52 million square kilometers), a new record low winter maximum extent in the satellite record that started in 1979.
Image Credit: NOAA/NASA
Last Updated: April 15, 2016
Editor: Sarah Loff
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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sábado, 9 de abril de 2016

NASA : The Turbulent North Atlantic.- El Atlántico Norte turbulento



Satellite image of ocean with bright swirls of phytoplankton and white clouds overhead
The Gulf Stream waters flow in somewhat parallel layers, slicing across what is otherwise a fairly turbulent western North Atlantic Ocean in this March 9, 2016 image collected by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite on NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite. The turbulence — made visible by the pigmented phytoplankton it entrains — extends across the whole North American Basin from Anegada to Bermuda to Cape Cod.
Image Credit: NASA/Ocean Biology Processing Group, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Last Updated: April 5, 2016
Editor: Sarah Loff
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
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viernes, 1 de abril de 2016

NASA : Earth Art in Northwestern Australia .- Arte de tierra en el noroeste de Australia

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., Durante un paso elevado de Australia de la Estación Espacial Internacional, el  astronauta de la NASA Jeff Williams (@Astro_Jeff) captó una imagen colorida de la costa y lo compartió con sus seguidores de redes sociales el 29 de marzo de 2016, escribiendo, "El terreno único de la costa australiana del noroeste. "
More information....
 
http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/earth-art-in-northwestern-Australia

Coast of Australia with clouds overhead and colorful streaked terrain
During an International Space Station flyover of Australia, NASA astronaut Jeff Williams (@Astro_Jeff) captured a colorful image of the coast and shared it with his social media followers on March 29, 2016, writing, "The unique terrain of the northwestern Australian coast."
Image Credit: NASA
Last Updated: March 30, 2016
Editor: Sarah Loff
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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viernes, 25 de marzo de 2016

NASA Earth Expeditions: An Animated Tour .- NASA Gets Down to Earth This Year With Globe-Spanning Expeditions.- La NASA consigue abajo a la Tierra este año con Expediciones Globe-Spanning


NASA takes you on a world tour with this animation as we kick off major new field campaigns to study regions of critical change from land, sea and air.
Credits:
 
NASA is sending scientists around the world in 2016 – from the edge of the Greenland ice sheet to the coral reefs of the South Pacific – to delve into challenging questions about how our planet is changing and what impacts humans are having on it.

While Earth science field experiments are nothing new for NASA, the next six months will be a particularly active period with eight major new campaigns taking researchers around the world on a wide range of science investigations. The public is invited to follow this journey of exploration online through NASA’s social media channels and the new Earth Expeditions webpage, which will feature regular video, photos and blog posts from these missions and other ongoing field activities.

Earth Expedtions
Eight major new NASA field research campaigns get underway this year from the Greenland ice sheet to Pacific coral reefs that will provide scientists with a deeper view of how our home planet works to complement what they’ve learned from space.
Credits: NASA
 
“Combining the long-term global view from space with detailed measurements from field experiments is a powerful way of deciphering what’s happening in our world,” said Michael Freilich, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division in Washington. “Scientists worldwide use NASA Earth science field data together with satellite data and computer models to tackle many of today's environmental challenges and advance our knowledge of how the Earth works as a complex, integrated system.”

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives, and safeguard our future with a fleet of orbiting satellites and instruments. To gain a more complete picture of how and why our planet is changing, NASA also sponsors intensive field studies targeting critical science issues that can benefit from a deeper look.

The first of the new projects, currently in the field, is an examination of the extent to which the oceans around Greenland are melting the edges of the ice sheet from below. The Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) team is now conducting its first airborne survey of the ice edge around the entire coast of Greenland. This fall, they will return to measure coastal water temperatures by dropping sensors in the sea from a plane.

Air quality is the focus of the Korea U.S.-Air Quality (KORUS-AQ) campaign in South Korea, which begins in May. This joint study between NASA and the Republic of Korea will advance our ability to monitor air pollution from space, with coordinated observations from aircraft, ground sites, ships and satellites.

Also in May, the North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) takes to the sea and air for the second year to study how the world’s largest plankton bloom gives rise to small organic particles that influence clouds and climate.

Throughout much of this year, teams of scientists working on the Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) will be in the tundra and forests of Alaska and northwestern Canada investigating the role of climate in wildfires, thawing permafrost, wildlife migration habits and insect outbreaks.

In June, the COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) project team will begin testing airborne and in-water instruments in Hawaii to assess the condition of threatened coral-based ecosystems. CORAL’s next stop, in the fall, will be Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Three airborne research campaigns will take to the skies this summer, focusing on critical climate-related components of the atmosphere. Flying tracks over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans thousands of miles long, the team of the Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission will gather measurements on more than 200 different chemical species from the ocean surface up to approximately seven miles in the atmosphere to understand how the movement and transformation of short-lived greenhouse gases, such as ozone and methane, contribute to climate change.

Focusing on the skies over the eastern half of the United States, the Atmospheric Carbon and Transport – America (ACT-America) research team will track the movement of atmospheric carbon to better understand the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases. Flights will originate from Louisiana, Nebraska and Virginia.

The Observations of Clouds above Aerosols and their Interactions (ORACLES) study will use airborne instruments to probe the impact on climate and rainfall of the interaction between clouds over the southeastern Atlantic Ocean and smoke from massive vegetation burning in southern Africa. A better understanding of how the smoke particles alter stratocumulus clouds that play a key role in regional and global surface temperatures and precipitation will help improve current climate models.

KORUS-AQ and ABoVE originated from NASA’s ongoing research program in the Earth Science Division. The other six new experiments are the latest in a series of multi-year NASA Earth Venture Suborbital investigations selected in 2014. Earth Venture projects provide the U.S. scientific community with regular opportunities to accommodate new Earth science research priorities. Earth Venture is part of NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder program managed at the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

To follow all the NASA Earth Expeditions, visit:


-end-
Steve Cole
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0918
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov
Last Updated: March 24, 2016
Editor: Sarah Ramsey
 
NASA is sending scientists around the world in 2016 – from the edge of the Greenland ice sheet to the coral reefs of the South Pacific – to delve into challenging questions about how our planet is changing and what impacts humans are having on it.

While Earth science field experiments are nothing new for NASA, the next six months will be a particularly active period with eight major new campaigns taking researchers around the world on a wide range of science investigations. The public is invited to follow this journey of exploration online through NASA’s social media channels and the new Earth Expeditions webpage, which will feature regular video, photos and blog posts from these missions and other ongoing field activities.

Earth Expedtions
Eight major new NASA field research campaigns get underway this year from the Greenland ice sheet to Pacific coral reefs that will provide scientists with a deeper view of how our home planet works to complement what they’ve learned from space.
Credits: NASA

“Combining the long-term global view from space with detailed measurements from field experiments is a powerful way of deciphering what’s happening in our world,” said Michael Freilich, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division in Washington. “Scientists worldwide use NASA Earth science field data together with satellite data and computer models to tackle many of today's environmental challenges and advance our knowledge of how the Earth works as a complex, integrated system.”

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives, and safeguard our future with a fleet of orbiting satellites and instruments. To gain a more complete picture of how and why our planet is changing, NASA also sponsors intensive field studies targeting critical science issues that can benefit from a deeper look.

The first of the new projects, currently in the field, is an examination of the extent to which the oceans around Greenland are melting the edges of the ice sheet from below. The Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) team is now conducting its first airborne survey of the ice edge around the entire coast of Greenland. This fall, they will return to measure coastal water temperatures by dropping sensors in the sea from a plane.

Air quality is the focus of the Korea U.S.-Air Quality (KORUS-AQ) campaign in South Korea, which begins in May. This joint study between NASA and the Republic of Korea will advance our ability to monitor air pollution from space, with coordinated observations from aircraft, ground sites, ships and satellites.

Also in May, the North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) takes to the sea and air for the second year to study how the world’s largest plankton bloom gives rise to small organic particles that influence clouds and climate.

Throughout much of this year, teams of scientists working on the Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) will be in the tundra and forests of Alaska and northwestern Canada investigating the role of climate in wildfires, thawing permafrost, wildlife migration habits and insect outbreaks.

In June, the COral Reef Airborne Laboratory (CORAL) project team will begin testing airborne and in-water instruments in Hawaii to assess the condition of threatened coral-based ecosystems. CORAL’s next stop, in the fall, will be Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Three airborne research campaigns will take to the skies this summer, focusing on critical climate-related components of the atmosphere. Flying tracks over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans thousands of miles long, the team of the Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission will gather measurements on more than 200 different chemical species from the ocean surface up to approximately seven miles in the atmosphere to understand how the movement and transformation of short-lived greenhouse gases, such as ozone and methane, contribute to climate change.

Focusing on the skies over the eastern half of the United States, the Atmospheric Carbon and Transport – America (ACT-America) research team will track the movement of atmospheric carbon to better understand the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases. Flights will originate from Louisiana, Nebraska and Virginia.

The Observations of Clouds above Aerosols and their Interactions (ORACLES) study will use airborne instruments to probe the impact on climate and rainfall of the interaction between clouds over the southeastern Atlantic Ocean and smoke from massive vegetation burning in southern Africa. A better understanding of how the smoke particles alter stratocumulus clouds that play a key role in regional and global surface temperatures and precipitation will help improve current climate models.

KORUS-AQ and ABoVE originated from NASA’s ongoing research program in the Earth Science Division. The other six new experiments are the latest in a series of multi-year NASA Earth Venture Suborbital investigations selected in 2014. Earth Venture projects provide the U.S. scientific community with regular opportunities to accommodate new Earth science research priorities. Earth Venture is part of NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder program managed at the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

To follow all the NASA Earth Expeditions, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/earthexpeditions

-end-
Steve Cole
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0918
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov
Last Updated: March 24, 2016
Editor: Sarah Ramsey
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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martes, 22 de marzo de 2016

NASA : NASA Study Finds Climate Change Shifting Wine Grape Harvests in France and Switzerland .- Estudio de NASA revela que el Cambio Climático vino en vendimias en Francia y Suiza

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., Un nuevo estudio de la NASA y de la Universidad de Harvard;  concluye que el cambio climático está disminuyendo un vínculo importante entre las sequías y el momento de recoger la uva de vino en Francia y Suiza.
More information.........
A new study from NASA and Harvard University finds that climate change is diminishing an important link between droughts and the timing of wine grape harvests in France and Switzerland.

vinyards and a building with tile roof
French vineyards like the one in the photograph are experiencing earlier harvests in recent years as the region's climate has warmed.
Credits: Elizabeth Wolkovich/Harvard University
close up of green grapes, leaves, vines
The best years for wine grape quality typically have warm summers with above-average rainfall early in the growing season and late-season drought. Those factors are shifting as the area's climate changes.
Credits: Elizabeth Wolkovich/Harvard University
 
During a study of wine grape harvest dates from 1600 to 2007, researchers discovered harvests began shifting dramatically earlier during the latter half of the 20th century. These shifts were caused by changes in the connection between climate and harvest timing. While earlier harvests from 1600 to 1980 occurred in years with warmer and drier conditions during spring and summer, from 1981 to 2007 warming attributed to climate change resulted in earlier harvests even in years without drought.

The finding is important because higher-quality wines are typically associated with earlier harvest dates in cooler wine-growing regions, such as France and Switzerland.

“Wine grapes are one of the world’s most valuable horticultural crops and there is increasing evidence that climate change has caused earlier harvest days in this region in recent decades,” said Ben Cook, lead author and climate scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York. “Our research suggests that the climate drivers of these early harvests have changed.”

Indicators of wine quality, such as wine ratings, show the best years for grape harvest typically include warm summers with above-average rainfall early in the growing season and late-season drought.

“This gives vines plenty of heat and moisture to grow early in the season, while drier conditions later in the season shift them away from vegetative growth and toward greater fruit production,” said the study’s co-author, ecologist Elizabeth Wolkovich of Arnold Arboretum and the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Researchers conducted an analysis using 400 years of harvest data from Western Europe. The study considered variability and trends in harvest dates, climate data from instruments during the 20th century, and reconstructions from historical documents and tree rings of temperature, precipitation and soil moisture dating back to 1600.

That analysis was compared with shifts in wine quality in the Bordeaux and Burgundy regions of France based on the ratings of vintages during the past 100 years. Detailed quality information was available for those two regions in addition to the broader harvest data available throughout France and Switzerland.

The results indicate a fundamental shift in the role of drought and moisture as large-scale drivers of harvest time and wine quality. While warm temperatures have consistently led to earlier harvests and higher-quality wines, in recent decades the impact of drought has largely disappeared as a result of large-scale shifts in climate.

“Wine quality also depends on a number of factors beyond climate, including grape varieties, soils, vineyard management and winemaker practices,” Cook said. “However, our research suggests the large-scale climate drivers these local factors operate under has shifted. And that information may prove critical to wine producers as climate change intensifies during the coming decades in France, Switzerland and other wine-growing regions."

The paper was published March 21 in the journal Nature Climate Change.

For more information about NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, visit:


For more information about NASA's Earth science activities, visit:


 
Michael Cabbage / Leslie McCarthy
Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York
212-678-5516/5507
Last Updated: March 21, 2016
Editor: Karl Hille
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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martes, 15 de marzo de 2016

NASA : South Africa From the Space Station's EarthKAM .- Sudáfrica Desde EarthKAM de la Estación Espacial Internacional..............

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., la Agencia Espacial NASA, nos envía una fotografía de Sud África captada desde la Estación Espacial Internacional, mediante el sistema The remotely controlled Sally Ride EarthKAM.
NASA, nos dice: " El control remoto Sally Ride EarthKAM a bordo de la Estación Espacial Internacional tomó esta fotografía llamativa durante un sobrevuelo de Sudáfrica el 9 de febrero de 2016. El programa permite a los estudiantes EarthKAM solicitar fotografías de las características específicas de la Tierra, que son tomadas por una cámara montada en especial la estación espacial cuando se pasa por encima de esas características. Las imágenes se publican en línea para el público y los estudiantes en las aulas de todo el mundo para ver participante.EarthKAM es el único programa que proporciona a los estudiantes con tal control directo de un instrumento en una nave espacial en órbita alrededor de la Tierra, la enseñanza acerca de la ciencia del medio ambiente, la geografía y el proyecto espacial communications.The fue iniciado por el Dr. Sally Ride, primera mujer estadounidense en el espacio, en 1995 y KIDS en llamadas; la cámara voló en cinco vuelos de transbordador espacial antes de trasladarse a la estación espacial en la Expedición 1 en 2001. En 2011, la NASA y Sally Ride Ciencia instalado un nuevo sistema de cámaras en una ventana que apunta hacia abajo en la estación. Este sistema de cámara es el responsable de la toma y la descarga de las solicitudes de imágenes estudiante.
More information....
 

Land formations in South Africa imaged from low Earth orbit
The remotely controlled Sally Ride EarthKAM aboard the International Space Station snapped this striking photograph during a flyover of South Africa on Feb. 9, 2016. The EarthKAM program allows students to request photographs of specific Earth features, which are taken by a special camera mounted on the space station when it passes over those features. The images are posted online for the public and students in participating classrooms around the world to view.
EarthKAM is the only program providing students with such direct control of an instrument on a spacecraft orbiting Earth, teaching them about environmental science, geography and space communications.The project was initiated by Dr. Sally Ride, America’s first woman in space, in 1995 and called KidSat; the camera flew on five space shuttle flights before moving to the space station on Expedition 1 in 2001. In 2011, NASA and Sally Ride Science installed a new camera system in a downward-pointing window on the station. This camera system is responsible for taking and downloading student image requests.
Image Credit: NASA/EarthKAM.org
Last Updated: March 15, 2016
Editor: Sarah Loff
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
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viernes, 26 de febrero de 2016

NASA : The Ice Fields of Patagonia .- Los campos de hielo de la Patagonia

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., Esta imagen tomada 14 de enero de 2015, adquirida por la operativa Land Imager (OLI) del Landsat 8, muestra los glaciares de Tierra de Sangre, cuarto estrato volcán de hielo que abarcan la frontera de Chile y Argentina. La nieve y el hielo son de color azul en estas imágenes en falso color, que utilizan diferentes longitudes de onda para diferenciar mejor las áreas de hielo, roca y vegetación.
Desde el final de la Pequeña Edad de Hielo, los campos de hielo de la Patagonia y otras partes de América del Sur se han ido reduciendo las temperaturas globales han aumentado. Un número de estudios han investigado estos cambios, que pueden afectar a las comunidades aguas abajo que dependen de los glaciares para un suministro de agua constante.
More information....

This image, acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, shows the glaciers of Sierra de Sangra on Jan. 14, 2015.
This image taken Jan. 14, 2015, acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, shows the glaciers of Sierra de Sangra, an icy stratovolcano spanning the border of Chile and Argentina. Snow and ice are blue in these false-color images, which use different wavelengths to better differentiate areas of ice, rock, and vegetation.
Since the end of the Little Ice Age, the ice fields of Patagonia and other parts of South America have been shrinking as global temperatures have increased. A number of studies have investigated these changes, which can affect the communities downstream that rely on the glaciers for a steady water supply.
More information and image comparison.
Image Credit: NASA/Landsat 8
Last Updated: Feb. 23, 2016
Editor: Steve Fox
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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viernes, 15 de enero de 2016

NASA : NOAA’s Jason-3 Spacecraft Ready for Launch .- NOAA Jason-3 Nave espacial listo para su lanzamiento

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., El lanzamiento de Jason-3, una misión internacional dirigido por la Administración Nacional Oceánica y Atmosférica de continuar las mediciones por satélite europeos US- de la topografía de la superficie del océano, está prevista para el lanzamiento desde la Base Vandenberg de la Fuerza Aérea en California, el Domingo, 17 de enero , 2016. el despegue bordo de un cohete SpaceX Falcon 9 de Vandenberg de Lanzamiento Espacial Complejo 4 East está destinada a 10:42:18 am PST (01:42:18 pm EST) en la apertura de una ventana de 30 segundos de lanzamiento. Si es necesario, una oportunidad de lanzamiento de copia de seguridad está disponible en la Cordillera Occidental, el 18 de enero a las 10:31:04 am PST (01:31:04 pm EST).
More information.................


Jason-3 satellite
Jason-3, a collaborative effort between NOAA, NASA, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, France’s space agency, and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, will continue the ability to monitor and precisely measure global sea surface heights, monitor the intensification of tropical cyclones and support seasonal and coastal forecasts.
Credits: NASA
The launch of Jason-3, an international mission led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to continue U.S.- European satellite measurements of the topography of the ocean surfaces, is scheduled for launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016.  Liftoff aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 4 East is targeted for 10:42:18 a.m. PST (1:42:18 p.m. EST) at the opening of a 30-second launch window. If needed, a backup launch opportunity is available on the Western Range on Jan. 18 at 10:31:04 a.m. PST (1:31:04 p.m. EST).

Jason-3 will maintain the ability to monitor and precisely measure global sea surface heights, monitor the intensification of tropical cyclones and support seasonal and coastal forecasts. Data from Jason-3 will support scientific, commercial and practical applications related to ocean circulation and climate change.  Additionally, Jason-3 data will be applied to fisheries management, marine industries and research into human impacts on the world’s oceans.
The mission is planned to last at least three years with a goal of five years.

Jason-3 is a four-agency international partnership consisting of NOAA, NASA, the French Space Agency CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales), and EUMETSAT (the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites). Thales Alenia of France built the spacecraft.

NOAA in collaboration with the international European partners is responsible for the Jason-3 mission. JPL is responsible for NASA Jason-3 project management. NASA’s Launch Services Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida provides launch management. SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, is NASA’s launch service provider of the Falcon 9 rocket.


ACCREDITATION

The deadline for media accreditation has passed.       

PRELAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE/JASON-3 MISSION SCIENCE BRIEFING

Friday, Jan 15:  The Jason-3 Mission Science Briefing and prelaunch news conference will be held starting at 4 p.m. PST (7 p.m. EST) in the main hangar of Building 836 at the NASA Vandenberg Resident Office, Vandenberg Air Force Base. The briefing will be carried live on NASA Television and streamed on NASA.gov.

Media desiring to cover the event should meet at the south gate of Vandenberg on California State Road 246 at 3:30 p.m. to be escorted by 30th Space Wing Public Affairs to the news conference.

Participants in the Jason-3 Mission Science Briefing will be:

Laury Miller, Jason-3 program scientist and chief
NOAA Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry

Josh Willis, Jason-3 project scientist
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Marc Cohen, associate director and chief of Low Earth Orbit Programmes
EUMETSAT

Sophie Coutin Faye, chief, Altimetry and Precise Positioning Office
CNES

For access to the dial-in question-and-answer capability, news media should call 805-605-3051 within 15 minutes of the planned start of the briefings. Media also can post questions during the briefing via Twitter by using the hashtag #askNASA. 

PRELAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE

Following the Jason-3 Mission Science Briefing, or at approximately 4:45 p.m., a prelaunch news conference will be held. Participants in the briefing will be:

Jim Silva, Jason-3 program manager
NOAA, Washington, D.C.

Sandra Smalley, director, Science Mission Directorate Joint Agency Satellite Division
NASA Headquarters, Washington

Tim Dunn, NASA launch manager
Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of Mission Assurance, SpaceX
Hawthorne, California

Parag Vaze, Jason-3 project manager
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California

Lt. Joseph Round, launch weather officer, 30th Operations Support Squadron
Vandenberg Air Force Base, California


REMOTE CAMERAS                                                                 
Saturday, Jan. 16:  Media desiring to establish sound-activated remote cameras at the launch pad should meet at the Vandenberg south gate on California State Road 246 at 1:15 p.m. to be escorted to Space Launch Complex 4 East.
Those wishing to attend remote camera set ups should confirm their participation with Tech. Sgt. Tyrona Lawson in the 30th Space Wing Public Affairs office at 805-606-3595 not later than Monday, Jan. 11, 2016.


NEWS MEDIA LAUNCH PAD PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

Saturday, Jan. 16: There will be an opportunity for news media to photograph the Falcon 9 with Jason-3 at the launch pad. News media should be at the Vandenberg south gate on California State Road 246 at 1:15 p.m. in preparation for going to Space Launch Complex 4 East. Those wishing to attend the launch pad photo opportunity should confirm their participation with Capt. Selena Rodts in the 30th Space Wing Public Affairs office at 805-606-3595 not later than Monday, Jan. 11, 2016.  


LAUNCH DAY MEDIA COVERAGE

Sunday, Jan. 17:  Media covering the Jason-3 launch aboard the Falcon 9 rocket should meet at 9:15 a.m. at the Vandenberg main gate located on California State Road 1 to be escorted to the press viewing site on north Vandenberg. Press credentials and identification from a bona fide news organization will be required for access. A driver's license alone will not be sufficient.

For photographers, the launch azimuth after liftoff will be 142.8 degrees.

After launch, media will be escorted back to the main gate.  A post-launch news conference will not be held.


NASA TELEVISION COVERAGE

NASA Television will carry the prelaunch news conference starting at 1 p.m. PST (4 p.m. EST) on Friday, Jan. 15. The prelaunch news conference also will be webcast at:



On launch day, Jan. 17, NASA TV launch commentary coverage of the countdown will begin at 8 a.m. PST (11 a.m. EST).  Launch is targeted for 10:42:18 a.m. PST (1:42:18 p.m. EST).  The launch window is 30 seconds in duration. Spacecraft separation from the rocket occurs 55 minutes after launch.

For information on receiving NASA TV, go to:


VOICE CIRCUIT COVERAGE
Audio only of the press conference activities and the launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240, -1260. On launch day, "mission audio," the launch conductor’s countdown activities without NASA TV launch commentary, will be carried on 321-867-7135 starting at 8 a.m. PST (11 a.m. EST).





NASA Web Prelaunch and Launch Coverage
For extensive prelaunch, countdown and launch day coverage of the liftoff, including the prelaunch webcast of Jason-3 aboard the Falcon 9 rocket, go to:


 Social Media

Throughout the launch countdown, the NASA Launch Services Program and NASA JPL Twitter and Facebook accounts will be continuously updated at:


Live countdown coverage on NASA’s launch blog begins at 8 a.m. PST (11 a.m. EST).  Coverage features real-time updates of countdown milestones, as well as streaming video clips highlighting launch preparations and liftoff.

NASA JASON-3 AND FALCON 9 NEWS CENTER

The Jason-3 and Falcon 9 News Center at the NASA Vandenberg Resident Office will open Monday, Jan. 11. To speak with a NASA communications specialist, call 805-605-3051 beginning at that time.  A recorded launch status report also will be available by dialing 805-734-2693.

For more information about the Jason-3 mission, visit:


George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
george.h.diller@nasa.gov
Steve Cole
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0918
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

John Leslie
NOAA
301-713-0214
john.leslie@noaa.gov


Alan Buis
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0474
alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov


Last Updated: Jan. 14, 2016
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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viernes, 25 de diciembre de 2015

NASA Reaches New Heights in 2015 .- NASA alcanza nuevas alturas(logros) en 2015



http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-reaches-new-heights-in-2015
Pluto in enhanced color
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured this image of Pluto on July 14, 2015.
Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI
Unprocessed view of Saturn's moon Enceladus
Unprocessed view of Saturn's moon Enceladus acquired by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during a close flyby of the icy moon on Oct. 28, 2015.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Westerlund 2 Hubble image
The sparkling centerpiece of Hubble’s anniversary fireworks is a giant cluster of about 3,000 stars called Westerlund 2, named for Swedish astronomer Bengt Westerlund who discovered the grouping in the 1960s.
Credits: NASA/ESA
RELEASE: 15-232

In 2015, NASA explored the expanse of our solar system and beyond, and the complex processes of our home planet, while also advancing the technologies for our journey to Mars, and new aviation systems as the agency reached new milestones aboard the International Space Station.
“It was a fantastic year that brought us even closer to Mars,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “Our space program welcomed advances from commercial partners who will soon launch astronauts from the United States to the International Space Station, and progress on new technologies and missions to take us into deep space, improve aviation and explore our universe and home planet.”

Solar System & Beyond

NASA is exploring our solar system and beyond to unravel the mysteries of our universe. After a decade-long journey, the agency’s New Horizons spacecraft completed a historic flyby of Pluto in July, making it the first-ever space mission to explore a world so far from Earth. New Horizons captured never-before-seen views of the distant dwarf planet and its moons, and collected data that will keep scientists busy for years to come, returning the data and images to Earth using NASA’s Space Network.
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft made history in March with another dwarf planet, Ceres, when it became the first spacecraft to orbit such a celestial body.
In October, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made the closest-ever flyby of Saturn’s moon Enceladus -- capturing valuable scientific data from the plume of icy spray coming from the moon’s subsurface ocean.
In the search for a twin of our home world, NASA’s Kepler spacecraft confirmed in July the first near-Earth-size planet in the habitable zone around a sun-like star 1,400 light-years away.
Back on Earth, NASA managers working the early stages of the agency’s Europa mission selected nine science instruments to investigate whether Jupiter’s mysterious icy moon could harbor conditions suitable for life.
The first of 18 flight mirrors for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope were installed in November, beginning a critical piece of the observatory’s construction ahead of its 2018 launch.
In April, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, a Great Observatory that forever transformed our understanding of the universe, celebrated 25 years of scientific discovery. After its last astronaut servicing mission in 2009, Hubble is better than ever and expected to continue to provide valuable data into the next decade.
The agency’s Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) celebrated its 20th anniversary as the longest-running solar observatory, as well as the discovery of its 3,000th comet, the study of which can shed light on how our solar system was formed.
In March, the four Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft were launched and positioned in Earth’s orbit to study magnetic reconnection, the interaction between our sun and Earth’s magnetic field that can disrupt modern technological systems such as communications networks, GPS navigation, and electrical power grids.  
 
Dark, narrow streaks on Martian slopes
Dark, narrow streaks on Martian slopes such as these at Hale Crater are inferred to be formed by seasonal flow of water on contemporary Mars.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Suni Williams exits a test version of Orion
NASA astronaut Suni Williams exits a test version of the Orion spacecraft in the agency’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Houston. The testing is helping NASA identify the best ways to efficiently get astronauts out of the spacecraft after deep space missions..
Credits: NASA
The booster for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket was fired for a two minute test on March 11.
At the Promontory, Utah test facility of Orbital ATK, the booster for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket was fired for a two minute test on March 11, 2015.
Credits: Orbital ATK

Journey to Mars

NASA’s journey to Mars was advanced in 2015 by valuable science findings from current missions traversing and orbiting the Red Planet. In September, NASA announced its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provided the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.
NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission identified the process that appears to have played a key role in the transition of the Martian climate from an early, warm and wet environment that might have supported surface life to the cold, arid planet Mars is today. MAVEN findings also showed how space weather near Mars affected its potential to support life.
The Opportunity and Curiosity rovers continued to explore the surface of the Red Planet this year, with data from Curiosity showing signs of a form of nitrogen -- further evidence that conditions on ancient Mars may have been able to support life
Development of the core capabilities required to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s continued this year with significant progress on NASA’s Orion crewed spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Asteroid Redirect Mission, and revitalized space launch complex at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. And in October, NASA held its first workshop to brainstorm with the science community to identify the best Martian landing sites for astronauts to carry out scientific exploration.
In 2015, the agency moved ahead toward the first integrated Orion and SLS flight test, designated Exploration Mission 1. In a report released in October, NASA’s Journey to Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration, the agency provided a detailed outline of its plan to send the first humans to the Red Planet.
Building on the success of Orion’s first flight test in 2014, agency officials completed their rigorous technical and programmatic review of Orion to establish NASA’s commitment to the program’s technical, cost and schedule baseline.
In March, Orion’s Launch Abort System (LAS) was tested to prove it can survive the intense temperatures, pressures, noise and vibrations experienced during a launch emergency and get the crew to safety. The spacecraft’s heat shield arrived in June at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, where it will be readied for water-impact tests in 2016.
Technicians at Michoud also have begun welding the primary structure of Orion’s crew module and joined the middle part of the spacecraft to the bottom portion of the crew module, and expect to finish welding in early 2016. Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, analyzed core samples from Orion’s heat shield, which was used in the 2014 spaceflight test, to better understand its performance and to provide improvements in thermal protection models, as the agency continues to refine Orion’s overall design and reduce its mass.
NASA received in November a full-size test version of the Orion European Service Module provided by ESA (European Space Agency), which is being prepared for testing early next year at the Plum Brook Station test facilities in Sandusky, Ohio.
Progress also continues on SLS -- the world’s most powerful rocket. The booster and engines that will propel SLS and the Orion spacecraft to space passed significant tests this year. The upgraded rocket booster passed a major ground test in March after firing for two minutes, the amount of time it will fire when it lifts SLS off the launch pad. Engineers will conduct a second and final qualification booster firing test in 2016. In August, NASA completed the first series of tests for the upgraded developmental RS-25 engines on the A-1 test stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Preparations will continue in 2016 as the flight engines that will power SLS on missions into deep space will be tested for flight.
For the first time in almost 40 years, a NASA human-rated rocket completed all steps needed to clear a critical design review while the hardware is being built: a structural test article of the rocket’s propulsion system was finished and numerous other flight and qualification hardware were completed and are ready for welding.
Work also began on infrastructure projects supporting SLS and Orion. Construction began in May on a 215-foot-tall structural test stand for SLS at Marshall. In August, NASA completed modifications to the Pegasus barge, previously used to move space shuttle hardware. For its new mission, transporting the core stage of the SLS, a 165-foot center section was added to the barge, bringing its total length from 260 feet to 310 feet.
In addition, Kennedy continued its transformation into a 21st century, multi-user spaceport for both government and commercial customers. Modifications continue on the ground structures that will launch the next generation of rockets and spacecraft. Several new work platforms that will be used to access, test and process SLS and Orion arrived on site, and the giant steel platforms are being installed in the center’s Vehicle Assembly Building.
Testing began at Kennedy on the umbilical system that provides power and ground communications between the mobile launcher tower, rocket and Orion spacecraft. Upgrades and designs in progress were reviewed to ensure they will be ready to support all system and processing requirements for the first launch of SLS and Orion.
 
Astronaut in spacesuit outside International Space Station with solar array in background
Working outside the International Space Station on the second spacewalk of Expedition 45, Nov. 6, 2015.
Credits: NASA

NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) passed a pivotal mission milestone in the spring with the successful completion of the agency's mission concept review. After extensive expert and public engagement forums and workshops to gather ideas on how to best meet the president's challenge to redirect an asteroid, NASA refined its robotic capture approach that will achieve the goal of redirecting a large asteroid boulder back to a parked orbit near our moon, allowing astronauts to train and conduct sampling of the space rock.
Having an asteroid parked near the moon also will open up commercial opportunities for American companies interested in learning the challenges of mining asteroids. In October, NASA issued a call to American industry for innovative ideas on how the agency could obtain a core advanced solar electric propulsion-based spacecraft for the robotic boulder retrieval mission.
The agency also took steps to stimulate the development of deep space capabilities in the commercial aerospace sector with the selection of 12 projects on which NASA will partner to advance development of necessary exploration capabilities.
To further prepare for the journey to Mars, the eight candidates from NASA’s 2013 astronaut class received their astronaut pins in July, symbolizing the completion of their training. And in December, NASA began a search for its next group of astronaut candidates.
In October, Hollywood and NASA science and technology came to audiences around the world with the premier of “The Martian.” The agency collaborated on this journey to Mars film with 20th Century Fox Entertainment, providing guidance on production design and technical consultants. Across NASA, dozens of people already are working on many of the technologies seen in the movie that astronauts will need when they begin to explore Mars in real life.
 
Scott Kelly ISS
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is seen inside a Soyuz simulator at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, March 4, 2015 in Star City, Russia.
Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Astronauts Kjell Lindgren at left and Scott Kelly at right taste samples of the lettuce grown on the space station
NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren take their first taste of food that's grown, harvested and eaten in space.
Credits: NASA
The Four astronauts of CCP
The astronauts who will train for the first Commercial Crew Program flight tests are Doug Hurley, Eric Boe, Bob Behnken and Sunita "Suni" Williams.
Credits: NASA

International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS) is a critical step on the agency’s journey to Mars. 2015 marked the 15th year of continuous human presence aboard the station. Since November 2000, more than 220 people from 17 countries have visited the ISS, and the orbiting laboratory has hosted more than 1,700 research investigations from researchers in more than 80 countries.
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly kicked off a one-year mission in March living and working in space. In October, he broke records for both the most time and cumulative days in space for a NASA astronaut. While Scott is in orbit, his identical twin brother and former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly remains on Earth, and both are participating in the Twins Study. When Scott returns in 2016 and concludes post-flight tests, researchers will have important data about the medical, psychological and biomedical challenges faced by astronauts during long-duration spaceflight.
A total of 16 people lived and worked aboard the space station in 2015. Some of them sampled the first vegetables grown in space. Crew members conducted hundreds of other scientific investigations off the Earth, for the Earth.
Crew members participated in six spacewalks to maintain the space station and continue reconfiguration of ISS systems and modules to accommodate the delivery of new docking adapters, which will be used by future U.S. commercial spacecraft.
With six deliveries thus far in 2015, and a seventh set to arrive to the space station on Dec. 23, four different cargo spacecraft have provided some 30 tons of supplies and science research to the station this year. NASA’s commercial partners conducted three of those missions: SpaceX sent its Dragon spacecraft on two successful missions, and the launch of Orbital ATK’s Cygnus in December heralded a resumption of U.S. cargo resupply missions to the station after mishaps by both companies. The agency is expected to award its second commercial resupply services contract in early 2016 to ensure cargo deliveries to the station through at least 2024.
The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) arrived at Kennedy Space Center this year. When SpaceX’s Dragon returns to flight and brings BEAM to the station during its eighth resupply mission in 2016, the module will be berthed to the station for a two-year test and validation of technology that could help advance the agency’s long-duration human spaceflight goals.
In addition to delivering cargo to the space station, NASA’s commercial crew providers continue to meet critical development and certification milestones on their space systems that will return America’s capability to launch crew members to the station from the United States in 2017. The agency’s Commercial Crew Program ordered its first two crew rotation missions from Boeing for its Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 Starliner and the first from SpaceX for its Crew Dragon. NASA also named four experienced astronauts and test pilots to train and prepare for these commercial spaceflights, working closely with the commercial companies to develop their systems.
In May, SpaceX successfully demonstrated how crew members would quickly and safely escape from their rocket while on the launch pad and through their ascent into orbit. The low bay of the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility (C3PF) at Kennedy Space for the Starliner is complete and the high bay is nearing completion. Boeing and United Launch Alliance recently completed construction of the crew access tower at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41, which will provide access to Starliner prior to launch. 
 
Americas, as captured by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on the NASA/NOAA Deep Space Climate Observatory
The Americas, as captured on Oct. 15, 2015 by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on the NASA/NOAA Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR).
Credits: NASA/Goddard

Earth

NASA continued in 2015 to develop new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems and share this unique knowledge with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.
NASA launched in October a new website that brings the world to the world with new images every day of the sunlit side of the Earth, captured by a NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), approximately one million miles away.
About 71 percent of the Earth's surface is covered with water, making the health of aquatic ecosystems a critical piece of the overall health of our planet. NASA uses the unique vantage point of space and cutting-edge technologies to study the world’s water, providing vital data. Earth scientists and engineers at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland have been studying Lake Erie’s algal blooms for a number of years. But when drinking water was declared contaminated for half a million people in Toledo, NASA stepped up its investigation into the nature of the algal blooms to get answers.
The relationship between oceans and climate also was studied in depth in 2015. Over the summer, NASA released the results of a study of ocean temperature measurements that showed extra heat from greenhouse gases has been trapped in the waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans in recent years, accounting for the slowdown in the global surface temperature trend observed during the past decade.
Satellite measurements gathered by NASA and its partners revealed that seas around the world have risen an average of nearly three inches since 1992, with some locations rising more than 9 inches due to natural variation. An intensive research effort, aided by NASA observations and analysis, points to an unavoidable rise of several feet in the future. In November, NASA began research flights for an intensive, five-year investigation into ocean plankton, a tiny sea creature that has an enormous impact on Earth’s climate.
The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International Space Station, or SAGE III on ISS, was shipped to Kennedy Space Center where it is scheduled to launch to the space station in 2016 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. SAGE III will give NASA a new way to monitor Earth’s protective ozone layer and document its ongoing recovery, helping scientists monitor the ozone layer’s gradually improving health.
 
NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator
NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator hangs from a launch tower at U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii.
Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Nodes Spacecraft
NASA’s two Nodes small satellites hitched a ride to the International Space Station on the fourth Orbital ATK cargo mission.
Credits: NASA Ames

Technology

NASA wasted no time in 2015 advancing new technologies with the unveiling in January of its Integrated Structural Assembly of Advanced Composites (ISAAC) robotic arm used at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to develop lighter, stronger composite structures and materials for aerospace vehicles.
In June, the agency successfully conducted its second, full-scale flight test of its Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), a cross-cutting demonstration mission for its rocket-powered, saucer-shaped vehicle. Following up on the 2014 test, this year’s flight served as a crucial milestone for proving two key technologies for landing future robotic and human missions on the surface of Mars.
NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative continued to provide opportunities for small satellite payloads to fly on rockets and to the space station. Two 4.5-pound satellites, launched in December to the International Space Station, will test networking technology critical to future operations of small satellite swarms. These Nodes small satellites will be deployed from the station into low-Earth orbit in early 2016.
NASA also made advances with its development of two technologies that could enable safer and more cost-effective space travel: solar electric propulsion (SEP), which also will be used for NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission, and two portable life support system technologies.
In a more earthly endeavor, NASA research into flexible, high-temperature space materials may someday improve personal fire shelter systems and help wildland firefighters better survive dangerous wildfires.
NASA also unveiled in 2015 Startup NASA, an initiative that offers start-up companies a diverse portfolio of more than 1,200 patented NASA technologies that range from materials and coatings to sensors, aeronautics technologies, instrumentation and more.
 
The Boeing ecoDemonstrator 757 flight test airplane, makes a final approach to King County Field in Seattle, WA.
In this photo taken from a chase plane, the Boeing ecoDemonstrator 757 flight test airplane --with NASA's Active Flow Control technology installed on the tail -- makes a final approach to King County Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington.
Credits: Boeing/John D. Parker

Aeronautics

NASA's long aviation research heritage was marked in 2015 as the agency celebrated the 100th anniversary of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the organization from which NASA was created in 1958. NASA continued to build on this legacy throughout the year, making significant progress on studies into several technologies aimed at making aviation greener and safer.
NASA’s Environmental Responsible Aviation project concluded demonstrations of eight new technologies to reduce the environmental footprint of aviation through reduced aircraft drag, weight reduction from advanced composite materials, and advanced engines and airframe designs to reduce fuel consumption, emissions and noise. If adopted as an integrated suite, these technologies resulting from an unprecedented six-year effort with industry partners could result in a fuel savings of more than $250 billion by the year 2050. Two of these technologies -- air nozzles on the vertical tail, which could potentially enable the ability to have smaller tails on future aircraft, and special wing coatings, which could reduce bug residue that contributes to drag -- were flown aboard Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator 757 flying laboratory.
NASA continued to push the boundaries of aviation through NASA’s new Convergent Aeronautics Solutions project, exploring the feasibility of novel ideas that would potentially transform aviation as we know it. NASA launched studies of six revolutionary concepts, such as using an aircraft fuselage as a battery for electric propulsion, and equipping an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with artificial intelligence that could respond to unforeseen situations the same way a human pilot would. 
NASA concluded a multi-year effort with the U.S. Defense Department and industry partners. The goal was to develop and demonstrate new engine health management technologies that can improve performance of future aircraft, including aircraft encountering volcanic ash in flight. NASA also studied potentially hazardous icing conditions at high altitude, flying its DC-8 aircraft into tropical storms as part of the High Ice Water Content campaign.
NASA and its government and industry partners made significant progress this year investigating detect and avoid systems and command and control technologies that could enable routine access by full-size unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace. NASA also engaged with the aviation community to identify key challenges and research needs associated with smaller, low-altitude UAS, commonly called drones, and conducted a flight demonstration of initial concepts.
In April, NASA researchers completed initial flight-testing of a radically new morphing wing technology that has the potential to lower fuel costs, reduce drag and airframe weight, and decrease noise during takeoff and landing.
NASA researchers also continued studies with international partners to evaluate the potential environmental benefits of alternative, non-petroleum based aviation fuels.
 
Girl Scout troop listens to astronaut Cady Coleman speak at evening event on White House lawn
Astronaut Cady Coleman speaks to a group of fifty fourth-grade Girl Scouts about her time in space, at the first-ever White House Campout, hosted by the First Lady as part of the Let's Move! Outside initiative on Tuesday, June 30, 2015 in Washington, DC. NASA also provided telescopes and led a stargazing activity.
Credits: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

Public Engagement

With an exciting and diverse mission that captivates audiences around the world, public engagement is a vital aspect of NASA’s work. Through events, including South by Southwest, the Essence Festival, World Science Festival and nationwide Earth Day activities, more than two million people had the chance to interact with representative of America’s space agency and more than 400 million people were reached through NASA’s use of social media during these events.
NASA's award-winning website, NASA.gov, launched a major redesign in April that focuses on mission updates, images and videos in a layout that makes it easier for users to discover new content and works equally well across devices. The site's customer satisfaction scores, consistently among the highest in government, rose substantially after the redesign, with October showing the highest user satisfaction level in three years. The site now averages more than a quarter-million visitors a day, up more than 25 percent from 2014, with an increase in new visitors and an audience that is increasingly mobile, social, and international.
NASA‘s award-winning social media presence also continued to soar in 2015. The agency’s Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Instagram accounts are the most followed in the federal government on those platforms. This year, NASA also launched an official presence on Tumblr. The agency's Twitter account broke into the top 100 Twitter accounts, by number of followers, the only government account to be on a list heavy with celebrities. NASA posted in July the agency’s most-liked image ever onto Instagram -- Pluto from the New Horizons spacecraft -- generating more than 363,000 likes. The agency also hosted 15 NASA Socials, bringing together more than 1,000 followers who engage with NASA via social media for unique in-person experiences of exploration and discovery.

 
Citizen Science, Prizes and Challenges

NASA provided in 2015 several avenues for public participation in the agency’s missions to explore and discover with citizen science activities and challenges posted to NASA Solve, including the agency’s first micro-tasking challenges through the NASA Tournament Lab. The agency also hosted the first Cube Quest Challenge Ground Tournament, students designed 3-D printed containers for the International Space Station and volunteers reached a milestone one million classifications of potential debris disks that might indicate developing planets around other stars.

STEM Education Collaboration

NASA continued its work with other federal agencies, industry partners and academia to provide to students and teachers throughout the United States unique and compelling opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math education. In addition to funding research at minority serving institutions, NASA’s Space Grant program supported science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs in schools in every state. 
The agency also brought real space exploration experts from NASA and cast members of the movie “The Martian” together during a record-breaking NASA Digital Learning Network event called So You Want to Be a Martian, watched by more than 10,000 students and teachers.
The work NASA does, and will continue in 2016, helps the United States maintain its world leadership in space exploration and scientific discovery. The agency will continue investing in its journey to Mars, returning human spaceflight launches from American soil, fostering groundbreaking technology development, breakthroughs in aeronautics and bringing to every American the awe-inspiring discoveries and images captured by NASA’s missions in our solar system and beyond.
For more about NASA’s missions, research and discoveries, visit:
-end-
David Weaver
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
david.s.weaver@nasa.gov
Last Updated: Dec. 22, 2015
Editor: Jim Wilson
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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