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The U.S. is committed to exploring space and supporting STEM education to inspire future leaders. From December 14-16, NASA's Astronaut Office Chief, Joseph M. Acaba, made an inspiring historic visit to Dhaka, sparking enthusiasm for space robotics and STEM among young minds. From interactive sessions with students to meaningful discussions with NASA Space App Challenge contestants, he inspired a new generation of space pioneers, paving the way for future collaborations between the U.S. and Bangladesh in advancing global science and technology. [Photo by Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS)]
Lt. Governor Miller Tours the NASA Goddard Campus by Patrick Siebert at 8800 Greenbelt Rd, Greenbelt, MD 20771
Taking part in the Safari 2000 project in Pietersburg, South Africa
SAFARI 2000 – Pietersberg, 2000
The Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI 2000) project was an international science initiative to study the linkages between land and atmosphere processes conducted from 1999-2001 in the southern African region. In addition, SAFARI 2000 examined the relationship of biogenic, pyrogenic, and anthropogenic emissions and the consequences of their deposition to the functioning of the biogeophysical and biogeochemical systems of southern Africa.
During September 2000 NASA flew an ER-2 out of Polokwane, also known as Pietersburg. The ER2 carried a number of imaging instruments and was accompanied by low level in situ measurements conducted from a University of Washington C-580. Flying took place over South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia. The project was supported and supplied by a USAF C-141 and K -135 from March AFB. The single seater ER-2 flew across the Atlantic from Recife Brazil.
daac.ornl.gov/cgi-bin/dataset_lister.pl?p=18
All Photos: Courtesy of Frank Eckardt
NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observatories are processed for launch in a clean room at the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida. MMS is an unprecedented NASA mission to study the mystery of how magnetic fields around Earth connect and disconnect, explosively releasing energy via a process known as magnetic reconnection. MMS consists of four identical spacecraft that work together to provide the first three-dimensional view of this fundamental process, which occurs throughout the universe. The mission observes reconnection directly in Earth's protective magnetic space environment, the magnetosphere. By studying reconnection in this local, natural laboratory, MMS helps us understand reconnection elsewhere as well, such as in the atmosphere of the sun and other stars, in the vicinity of black holes and neutron stars, and at the boundary between our solar system's heliosphere and interstellar space. MMS is a NASA mission led by the Goddard Space Flight Center. The instrument payload science team consists of researchers from a number of institutions and is led by the Southwest Research Institute. Launch of the four identical observatories aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is managed by Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Services Program. Liftoff is currently targeted for 10:44 p.m. EDT on March 12. Image Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky via NASA ift.tt/17hsNrB
Astronaut Stephanie Wilson visits Austin Community College on Wednesday, April 24, 2019, as part of NASA’s Destination Station tour, which provides guests the opportunity to explore the history of space exploration and learn about NASA’s work to provide technological advances to improve life on Earth.
The U.S. is committed to exploring space and supporting STEM education to inspire future leaders. From December 14-16, NASA's Astronaut Office Chief, Joseph M. Acaba, made an inspiring historic visit to Dhaka, sparking enthusiasm for space robotics and STEM among young minds. From interactive sessions with students to meaningful discussions with NASA Space App Challenge contestants, he inspired a new generation of space pioneers, paving the way for future collaborations between the U.S. and Bangladesh in advancing global science and technology. [Photo by Amena Islam/U.S. Embassy Dhaka]
This view, acquired on Nov. 7, 2016, by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, shows a portion of Canada's Mackenzie River Delta and the town of Inuvik, home to more than 3,000 people. A frozen highway -- 194 kilometers (120 miles) long -- runs between the remote outposts of Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk along the river’s East Channel. via NASA ift.tt/2n6yXWH
A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite has returned its first view of the entire sunlit side of Earth from one million miles away. via NASA ift.tt/1KgqOm1
Taking part in the Safari 2000 project in Pietersburg, South Africa
SAFARI 2000 – Pietersberg, 2000
The Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI 2000) project was an international science initiative to study the linkages between land and atmosphere processes conducted from 1999-2001 in the southern African region. In addition, SAFARI 2000 examined the relationship of biogenic, pyrogenic, and anthropogenic emissions and the consequences of their deposition to the functioning of the biogeophysical and biogeochemical systems of southern Africa.
During September 2000 NASA flew an ER-2 out of Polokwane, also known as Pietersburg. The ER2 carried a number of imaging instruments and was accompanied by low level in situ measurements conducted from a University of Washington C-580. Flying took place over South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia. The project was supported and supplied by a USAF C-141 and K -135 from March AFB. The single seater ER-2 flew across the Atlantic from Recife Brazil.
daac.ornl.gov/cgi-bin/dataset_lister.pl?p=18
All Photos: Courtesy of Frank Eckardt
A boat lies anchored off the coast of Roi-Namur in the Marshall Islands. Global positioning system (GPS) signals to boats – and all GPS receivers -- in this region can be disrupted by over a half a mile when there is turbulence in a layer of charged particles in the atmosphere called the ionosphere. A NASA sounding rocket will launch from the Kwajalein Atoll in spring 2013 to study what causes these disturbances.
Credit: NASA
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A NASA-funded sounding rocket mission will launch from an atoll in the Pacific this spring. The mission will help scientists better understand and predict the electrical storms in Earth's upper atmosphere that can negatively affect satellite communication and global positioning signals.
The mission, called EVEX, for the Equatorial Vortex Experiment, will launch into a crucial layer of charged particles surrounding our planet. Called the ionosphere, this layer serves as the medium through which high frequency radio waves – such as those sent down to the ground by global positioning system (GPS) satellites or, indeed, any satellite communicating with Earth – travel. The ionosphere begins about 60 miles above the ground and is filled with electrons and ions, alongside the more familiar extension of our electrically neutral atmosphere. Governed by Earth’s magnetic field, high-altitude winds, and incoming material and energy from the sun, the ionosphere can be calm in certain places or times of day, and quite turbulent at others.
EVEX will launch two rockets for a twelve-minute journey through the equatorial ionosphere above the South Pacific. This area of the ionosphere is known for calm days and tempestuous evenings, times when the ionosphere becomes rippled like a funhouse mirror, disturbing radio signals, and introducing GPS errors of a half mile or more. The two rockets will measure events in two separate regions of the ionosphere to see how they work together to drive the ionosphere from placid and smooth to violently disturbed. Such information could ultimately lead to the ability to accurately forecast this important aspect of space weather.
The launch window for EVEX is from April 27 to May 10. The team will decide when to fly based on conditions in the ionosphere on any given night.
Read more at www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sounding-rockets/news/evex.html
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold photographed a massive storm in the Pacific Ocean during a flyover from the International Space Station. Arnold shared images on social media on Aug. 22, 2018, and wrote, "#HurricaneLane in the early morning hours near #Hawaii. The crew of the @Space_Station sends much aloha to everyone there." via NASA August 22, 2018
NASA engineers closed a summer of successful hot fire testing Aug. 30 for flight controllers on RS-25 engines that will help power the new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket being built to carry astronauts to deep-space destinations, including Mars. via NASA go.nasa.gov/2gtj4bZ
Why do some places on Earth have higher gravity than others? Sometimes the reason is unknown. To help better understand the Earth's surface, sensitive measurements by the orbiting satellites GRACE and CHAMP were used to create a map of Earth's gravitational field. Since a center for studying this data is in Potsdam, Germany, and since the result makes the Earth look somewhat like a potato, the resulting geoid has been referred to as the Potsdam Gravity Potato. High areas on this map, colored red, indicate areas where gravity is slightly stronger than usual, while in blue areas gravity is slightly weaker. Many bumps and valleys on the Potsdam Gravity Potato can be attributed to surface features, such as the North Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Himalayan Mountains, but others cannot, and so might relate to unusually high or low sub-surface densities. Maps like this also help calibrate changes in the Earth's surface including variable ocean currents and the melting of glaciers. The above map was made in 2005, but more recent and more sensitive gravity maps of Earth was produced in 2011. via NASA ift.tt/12RLHmB
Why would the sky glow red? Aurora. A solar storm in 2012, emanating mostly from active sunspot region 1402, showered particles on the Earth that excited oxygen atoms high in the Earth's atmosphere. As the excited element's electrons fell back to their ground state, they emitted a red glow. Were oxygen atoms lower in Earth's atmosphere excited, the glow would be predominantly green. Pictured here, this high red aurora is visible just above the horizon last week near Flinders, Victoria, Australia. The sky that night, however, also glowed with more familiar but more distant objects, including the central disk of our Milky Way Galaxy on the left, and the neighboring Large and Small Magellanic Cloud galaxies on the right. A time-lapse video highlighting auroras visible that night puts the picturesque scene in context. Why the sky did not also glow green remains unknown. via NASA ift.tt/2js1m49
This mobile laboratory was built for a study of the type of vehicle that could be used to explore the moon's surface. Following completion of the study by NASA, the mobile laboratory was used by the United States Department of the Interior for field geological projects. This research vehicle led to development of the Apollo Luanr Rover Vehicle (LRV)
Taking part in the Safari 2000 project in Pietersburg, South Africa
SAFARI 2000 – Pietersberg, 2000
The Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI 2000) project was an international science initiative to study the linkages between land and atmosphere processes conducted from 1999-2001 in the southern African region. In addition, SAFARI 2000 examined the relationship of biogenic, pyrogenic, and anthropogenic emissions and the consequences of their deposition to the functioning of the biogeophysical and biogeochemical systems of southern Africa.
During September 2000 NASA flew an ER-2 out of Polokwane, also known as Pietersburg. The ER2 carried a number of imaging instruments and was accompanied by low level in situ measurements conducted from a University of Washington C-580. Flying took place over South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia. The project was supported and supplied by a USAF C-141 and K -135 from March AFB. The single seater ER-2 flew across the Atlantic from Recife Brazil.
daac.ornl.gov/cgi-bin/dataset_lister.pl?p=18
All Photos: Courtesy of Frank Eckardt
From where do these neutrinos come? The IceCube Neutrino Observatory near the South Pole of the Earth has begun to detect nearly invisible particles of very high energy. Although these rarely-interacting neutrinos pass through much of the Earth just before being detected, where they started remains a mystery. Pictured here is IceCube's Antarctic lab accompanied by a cartoon depicting long strands of detectors frozen into the crystal clear ice below. Candidate origins for these cosmic neutrinos include the violent surroundings of supermassive black holes at the centers of distant galaxies, and tremendous stellar explosions culminating in supernovas and gamma ray bursts far across the universe. As IceCube detects increasingly more high energy neutrinos, correlations with known objects may resolve this cosmic conundrum -- or we may never know. via NASA ift.tt/1KZafJn