NASA

Feb. 25, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected three companies to receive a subsonic rotary wing technology development contract valued at $40 million. The companies sharing the award are Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. of Hurst, Texas; The Boeing Company of Chicago; and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. of Stratford, Conn.

This is a cost plus fixed fee, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with a five-year period of performance beginning Feb. 25, 2009.

The work will be performed for NASA's Subsonic Rotary Wing Project, which the Fundamental Aeronautics Program of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in Washington funds and manages.    » read more »

Feb. 24, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite failed to reach orbit after its 4:55 a.m. EST liftoff Tuesday from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Preliminary indications are that the fairing on the Taurus XL launch vehicle failed to separate. The fairing is a clamshell structure that encapsulates the satellite as it travels through the atmosphere.

A Mishap Investigation Board will be immediately convened to determine the cause of the launch failure.

Source: NASA

Feb. 23, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- NASA, in cooperation with local technology firms, is sponsoring the first-ever District of Columbia regional high school robotics competition from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Feb. 27-28, at the DC Convention Center in Washington. The two-day event is free and open to the public.

The competition is called "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology," or FIRST. It is organized to inspire curiosity and create interest in science and mathematics among today's high school students. The competition is a unique varsity sport of the mind designed to help discover the interesting and rewarding life of engineers and researchers.    » read more »

Feb. 20, 2009 -- CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- During a thorough review of space shuttle Discovery's readiness for flight, NASA managers decided Friday that more data and possible testing are required before launching the STS-119 mission to the International Space Station.

Engineering teams have been working to identify what caused damage to a flow control valve on shuttle Endeavour during its November 2008 flight.

"We need to complete more work to have a better understanding before flying," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington who chaired Friday's Flight Readiness Review. "We were not driven by schedule pressure and did the right thing. When we fly, we want to do so with full confidence."    » read more »

Feb. 19, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- The first gamma-ray burst to be seen in high-resolution from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is one for the record books. The blast had the greatest total energy, the fastest motions and the highest-energy initial emissions ever seen.

"We were waiting for this one," said Peter Michelson, the principal investigator on Fermi's Large Area Telescope at Stanford University. "Burst emissions at these energies are still poorly understood, and Fermi is giving us the tools to understand them."    » read more »

Feb. 19, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- NASA signed a contract Thursday with American Tank and Vessel Inc. of Mobile, Ala., for the installation of a test cell diffuser and associated systems in the A-3 test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The five-year, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract's value is not to exceed $45 million.

The A-3 test stand is being built at Stennis to test the J-2X engine for NASA's Constellation Program. The Constellation Program is developing next-generation spacecraft systems to send astronauts to the International Space Station, the moon, Mars and destinations beyond. The J-2X engine will power the upper stage of the Ares I crew exploration vehicle and the Earth departure stage of the Ares V cargo launch vehicle.    » read more »

Feb. 17, 2009 -- MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, known as LCROSS, is enroute from Northrop Grumman's facility in Redondo Beach, Calif., to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for a spring launch.

The satellite's primary mission is to search for water ice on the moon in a permanently shadowed crater near one of the lunar poles. LCROSS is a low-cost, accelerated-development, companion mission to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO.

LCROSS is lowered onto to the lower adapter ring. This ring connects LCROSS to the Centaur.: Photo Credit: NASA, courtesy if Northrop Grumman.    » read more »

Feb. 11, 2009 -- GREENBELT, Md. -- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft was loaded on a truck Wednesday to begin its two-day journey to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Launch is targeted for April 24.

The spacecraft was built by engineers at Goddard, where it recently completed two months of tests in a thermal vacuum chamber. During its time in the chamber, the spacecraft was subjected to hot and cold temperatures it will experience as it orbits the moon.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: Artist's concept. Graphic: NASA    » read more »

Feb. 10, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- Astronomers using NASA's Swift satellite and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope are seeing frequent blasts from a stellar remnant 30,000 light-years away. The high-energy fireworks arise from a rare type of neutron star known as a soft-gamma-ray repeater. Such objects unpredictably send out a series of X-ray and gamma-ray flares.

Gamma-rays flares from SGR J1550-5418: Gamma-rays flares from SGR J1550-5418 may arise when the magnetar's surface suddenly cracks, releasing energy stored within its powerful magnetic field. Credit:NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab    » read more »

Feb. 03, 2009 -- CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- During a review of space shuttle Discovery's readiness for flight, NASA managers decided Tuesday to plan a launch no earlier than Feb. 19. The new planning date is pending additional analysis and particle impact testing associated with a flow control valve in the shuttle's main engines.

Discovery's STS-119 mission to the International Space Station originally had been targeted for Feb. 12.

The valve is one of three that channels gaseous hydrogen from the engines to the external fuel tank. One of these valves in shuttle Endeavour was found to be damaged after its mission in November. As a precaution, Discovery's valves were removed, inspected and reinstalled.    » read more »

Feb. 02, 2009 -- MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- NASA and Google announced Monday the release of a new Mars mode in Google Earth that brings to everyone's desktop a high-resolution, three-dimensional view of the Red Planet.

Besides providing a rich, immersive 3D view of Mars that will aid public understanding of Mars science, the new mode, Google Mars 3D, also gives researchers a platform for sharing data similar to what Google Earth provides for Earth scientists.

The mode enables users to fly virtually through enormous canyons and scale huge mountains on Mars that are much larger than any found on Earth. Users also can explore the Red Planet through the eyes of the Mars rovers and other Mars missions, providing a unique perspective of the entire planet.    » read more »

Jan. 22, 2009 -- EDWARDS, Calif. -- NASA is concluding a series of flight tests to measure shock waves generated by an F-15 jet in an effort to validate computer models that could be used in designing quieter supersonic aircraft.

The Lift and Nozzle Change Effects on Tail Shock, or Lancets, project embodies research aimed at enabling the development of commercial aircraft that can fly faster than the speed of sound without generating annoying sonic booms over land. Supersonic flight over land generally is prohibited because of annoyances caused by their noise.    » read more »

Planetary Nebula NGC 2818

NGC 2818 is a beautiful planetary nebula, the gaseous shroud of a dying sun-like star. It could well offer a glimpse of the future that awaits our own Sun after spending another 5 billion years or so steadily using up hydrogen at its core, and then finally helium, as fuel for nuclear fusion.

Curiously, NGC 2818 seems to lie within a sparse open star cluster, NGC 2818A, that is some 10,000 light-years distant toward the southern constellation Pyxis (Compass).

Planetary Nebula NGC 2818: Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team (STScI / AURA)    » read more »

Aug. 26, 2008 -- WASHINGTON -- NASA's newest observatory, the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, has begun its mission of exploring the universe in high-energy gamma rays. The spacecraft and its revolutionary instruments passed their orbital checkout with flying colors.

NASA announced today that GLAST has been renamed the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The new name honors Prof. Enrico Fermi (1901 - 1954), a pioneer in high-energy physics.

"Enrico Fermi was the first person to suggest how cosmic particles could be accelerated to high speeds," said Paul Hertz, chief scientist for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "His theory provides the foundation for understanding the new phenomena his namesake telescope will discover."    » read more »

Aug. 26, 2008 -- PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Exploration rover Opportunity is heading back out to the Red Planet's surrounding plains nearly a year after descending into a large Martian crater to examine exposed ancient rock layers.

Mars Rover (artist's concept): Graphic: NASA

"We've done everything we entered Victoria Crater to do and more," said Bruce Banerdt, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Banerdt is project scientist for Opportunity and its rover twin, Spirit.    » read more »