Crews Work With Robotics, Prepare for Friday Spacewalk

On its inaugural operational use, the Japanese robotic arm installed the first experiments and hardware on Kibo’s new porch at the International Space Station.

Station and space shuttle Endeavour crew members took turns operating the arm to move equipment from a Japanese payload carrier to the Japanese Exposed Facility outside Kibo. The operations were performed by Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, Expedition 20 Flight Engineer Tim Kopra, shuttle Commander Mark Polansky, shuttle Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialist Julie Payette.

Although the robotic arm had been checked out previously, the operations ran long as the arm was put through its paces holding experiments and hardware for the first time. The initial movement was faster than expected so the arm was stopped and transitioned into a manual mode that was a bit slower moving.

All three experiments – the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image, Inter-orbit Communication System and Space Environment Data Acquisition Equipment-Attached Payload – were installed on the Kibo exposed facility.

After the robotics operations, crew members took time to discuss their mission with reporters in North Carolina, Maine, Florida, Nevada and Texas.

The crew also prepared spacesuits and tools, and reviewed the updated procedures for the fourth spacewalk. Mission specialists Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn will swap all four of the remaining P6 Truss batteries on the fourth of five spacewalks, which is budgeted to last seven and a half hours.

Cassidy and Mission Specialist Dave Wolf completed two of the battery swaps on the third spacewalk, but had to end the excursion early because of rising carbon dioxide levels in Cassidy’s suit. A different carbon dioxide removal canister will be used in Cassidy’s suit Friday.

Inside, the crew transferred experiment samples to Endeavour’s high-tech freezer for return home. Tonight Cassidy and Marshburn will spend the night in the lower-pressure airlock to prepare for Friday’s spacewalk.

The next mission status report will be issued Friday after crew wakeup, which is scheduled for 4:03 a.m.

oddard-Led GEMS Mission to Explore the Polarized Universe

An exciting new astrophysics mission led by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will provide a revolutionary window into the universe. Named the Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer (GEMS), the satellite will be the first to systematically measure the polarization of cosmic X-ray sources.

"To date, astronomers have measured X-ray polarization from only a single object outside the solar system -- the famous Crab Nebula, the luminous cloud that marks the site of an exploded star," said Jean Swank, a Goddard astrophysicist and the GEMS principal investigator. "We expect that GEMS will detect dozens of sources and really open up this new frontier."

Goddard will provide the X-ray mirrors and polarimeter instrument for GEMS and oversee the mission's science operations center, science data processing and systems engineering.

Electromagnetic radiation -- light, radio waves, X-rays -- contains a varying electric field. Polarization refers to this field's direction. An everyday example of putting polarization to use is as close as a pair of sunglasses. Reflected light contains an electric field with a specific orientation. Because polarized sunglasses block light vibrating in this direction, they can reduce the glare of reflected sunlight.

The extreme gravitational field near a spinning black hole not only bends the paths of X-rays, it also alters the directions of their electric fields. Polarization measurements can reveal the presence of a black hole and provide astronomers with information on its spin. Fast-moving electrons emit polarized X-rays as they spiral through intense magnetic fields, providing GEMS with the means to explore another aspect of extreme environments.

"Thanks to these effects, GEMS can probe spatial scales far smaller than any telescope can possibly image," Swank said. Polarized X-rays carry information about the structure of cosmic sources that isn't available in any other way.

"GEMS will be about 100 times more sensitive to polarization than any previous X-ray observatory, so we're anticipating many new discoveries," said Sandra Cauffman, GEMS project manager and the Assistant Director for Flight Projects at Goddard.

Some of the fundamental questions scientists hope GEMS will answer include: Where is the energy released near black holes? Where do the X-ray emissions from pulsars and neutron stars originate? What is the structure of the magnetic fields in supernova remnants?

What makes GEMS possible are innovative detectors that efficiently measure X-ray polarization. Using three telescopes, GEMS will detect X-rays with energies between 2,000 and 10,000 electron volts. (For comparison, visible light has energies between 2 and 3 electron volts.) The telescope optics will be based on thin-foil X-ray mirrors developed at Goddard and already proven in the joint Japan/U.S. Suzaku orbital observatory.

NASA announced June 19 that GEMS was selected for development as part of the agency's Small Explorer (SMEX) series of cost-efficient and highly productive space-science satellites. GEMS will launch no earlier than 2014 on a mission lasting up to two years. GEMS costs are capped at $105 million, excluding launch vehicle.

Corporate and academic partners are responsible for other aspects of the mission.

Orbital Sciences Corporation in Dulles, Va., will provide the spacecraft bus and mission operations. ATK Space in Goleta, Calif., will build a 4-meter deployable boom that will place the X-ray mirrors at the proper distance from the detectors once GEMS reaches orbit. NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., will partner in the science, provide science data processing software and assist in tracking the spacecraft's development.

The University of Iowa will assist with instrument calibration, and students there will develop an experiment that could become part of the mission. Other GEMS collaborators include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.; Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.; Rice University, Houston, Texas; North Carolina State University, Raleigh; Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. and the University of Oulu in Finland.

NASA's Spitzer Images Out-of-This-World Galaxy

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has imaged a wild creature of the dark -- a coiled galaxy with an eye-like object at its center.

The galaxy, called NGC 1097, is located 50 million light-years away. It is spiral-shaped like our Milky Way, with long, spindly arms of stars. The "eye" at the center of the galaxy is actually a monstrous black hole surrounded by a ring of stars. In this color-coded infrared view from Spitzer, the area around the invisible black hole is blue and the ring of stars, white.

The black hole is huge, about 100 million times the mass of our sun, and is feeding off gas and dust along with the occasional unlucky star. Our Milky Way's central black hole is tame by comparison, with a mass of a few million suns.

"The fate of this black hole and others like it is an active area of research," said George Helou, deputy director of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "Some theories hold that the black hole might quiet down and eventually enter a more dormant state like our Milky Way black hole."

The ring around the black hole is bursting with new star formation. An inflow of material toward the central bar of the galaxy is causing the ring to light up with new stars.

"The ring itself is a fascinating object worthy of study because it is forming stars at a very high rate," said Kartik Sheth, an astronomer at NASA's Spitzer Science Center. Sheth and Helou are part of a team that made the observations.

In the Spitzer image, infrared light with shorter wavelengths is blue, while longer-wavelength light is red. The galaxy's red spiral arms and the swirling spokes seen between the arms show dust heated by newborn stars. Older populations of stars scattered through the galaxy are blue. The fuzzy blue dot to the left, which appears to fit snuggly between the arms, is a companion galaxy.

"The companion galaxy that looks as if it's playing peek-a-boo through the larger galaxy could have plunged through, poking a hole," said Helou. "But we don't know this for sure. It could also just happen to be aligned with a gap in the arms."

Other dots in the picture are either nearby stars in our galaxy, or distant galaxies.

The galaxy's red spiral arms and the swirling spokes seen between the arms show dust heated by newborn stars. Older populations of stars scattered through the galaxy are blue. The fuzzy blue dot to the left, which appears to fit snuggly between the arms, is a companion galaxy. Astronomers say it is unclear whether this companion poked a hole in the larger galaxy, or just happens to be aligned in a gap in the arms.

Infrared light with a wavelength of 3.6 microns is blue; 4.5-micron light is green and 8.0-micron light is red. The contribution from starlight measured at 3.6 microns has been subtracted from the 8.0-micron image to enhance the visibility of the dust features.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Spitzer's infrared array camera, which made the observations, was built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The instrument's principal investigator is Giovanni Fazio of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Summer Heat

A white-hot flame surrounded by red hot exhaust shoots from a recent test of the J-2X engine 'workhorse' gas generator at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. The workhorse gas generator simulates the flow path inside the actual J-2X gas generator that powers the engine's turbo machinery. Testing to ensure stable combustion and uniform gas temperature in this component translates into a safer, more durable J-2X engine, which will power the second stage of the new Ares I rocket.

For more information about Ares, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ares

More Testing Before Driving on Mars

A review on Aug. 6 of test results to date yielded a decision to conduct further checkouts in an augmented testing set-up on Earth before beginning to send driving commands to Spirit for attempting to get out of the loose soil where the rover has partially embedded itself.

The ample power available to Spirit due to wind cleaning dust off of its solar panels has removed the initial urgency for getting the rover moving toward a winter haven site. The rover science team has not completed the analysis the soil layers at Spirit's current location. And the review pointed to additional types of position measurements and analysis that could make further testing useful in mapping the strategy for freeing Spirit.

No specific date has been set for Spirit to resume driving.

NASA Celebrates Chandra's 10th Anniversary

Ten years ago, on July 23, 1999, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched aboard the space shuttle Columbia and deployed into orbit. Chandra has doubled its original five-year mission, ushering in an unprecedented decade of discovery for the high-energy universe.

With its unrivaled ability to create high-resolution X- ray images, Chandra has enabled astronomers to investigate phenomena as diverse as comets, black holes, dark matter and dark energy.

"Chandra's discoveries are truly astonishing and have made dramatic changes to our understanding of the universe and its constituents," said Martin Weisskopf, Chandra project scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The science that has been generated by Chandra -- both on its own and in conjunction with other telescopes in space and on the ground -- has had a widespread, transformative impact on 21st century astrophysics. Chandra has provided the strongest evidence yet that dark matter must exist. It has independently confirmed the existence of dark energy and made spectacular images of titanic explosions produced by matter swirling toward supermassive black holes.

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Chandra, three new versions of classic Chandra images will be released during the next three months. These images, the first of which is available Thursday, provide new data and a more complete view of objects that Chandra observed in earlier stages of its mission. The image being released today is of E0102-72, the spectacular remains of an exploded star.

"The Great Observatories program -- of which Chandra is a major part -- shows how astronomers need as many tools as possible to tackle the big questions out there," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA's other "Great Observatories" are the Hubble Space Telescope, Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope.

The next image will be released in August to highlight the anniversary of when Chandra opened up for the first time and gathered light on its detectors. The third image will be released during "Chandra's First Decade of Discovery" symposium in Boston, which begins Sept. 22.

"I am extremely proud of the tremendous team of people who worked so hard to make Chandra a success," said Harvey Tananbaum, director of the Chandra X-ray Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass. "It has taken partners at NASA, industry and academia to make Chandra the crown jewel of high-energy astrophysics."

Tananbaum and Nobel Prize winner Riccardo Giacconi originally proposed Chandra to NASA in 1976. Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra is in a highly elliptical orbit that takes it almost one third of the way to the moon, and was not designed to be serviced after it was deployed.

Marshall manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center.

A list of Chandra's major scientific highlights is available at:

http://chandra.harvard.edu/ten/

NASA Awards Process Improvement and Project Services Contract

NASA's Johnson Space Center has selected Mathematical Research Inc. of Houston to provide process improvement and project services for its engineering directorate. The maximum contract value is $30 million.

Mathematical Research Inc., or MRI, will assist the engineering director by developing strategies for improving processes inside the directorate. The company also will assist in development and provide organization for project data throughout the life cycle of directorate projects. MRI will provide project management support and identify business practices and process management improvements. The work will primarily take place at Johnson.

The indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with cost-plus-fixed-fee task orders began July 15. It will last three years, with one option to extend it an additional two years.

For more information about NASA's Johnson Space Center, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/johnson

all eyes on lro

Constellation has its eyes on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and is anticipating some great images. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on the morning of June 23 and after that orbit is refined engineers will power up and calibrate LRO's instruments. In a couple months, LRO will begin mapping the lunar surface to find future landing sites and searching for resources that would make possible a permanent human presence on the moon.

While the Apollo missions demonstrated that that it was possible to send humans to the moon, they did so for very short times - only three days, and at great risks. The LRO mission is paving the way for extended human habitation on the lunar surface and striving to reduce the risks to the astronauts travelling there.

LRO's very high resolution cameras and laser altimeter will examine more than 50 potential landing and outpost sites on the lunar surface in enough detail to resolve an object the size of a beach ball. This will provide information to engineers currently designing the Altair lunar lander and allow them to build safe and effective landing systems, and will give mission planners the information they need to select safe landing sites.

Plus, the logistics resupply of a lunar outpost will be a challenge far exceeding that of the International Space Station. It will be necessary for lunar astronauts to learn to "live off the land" by utilizing the resources available on the moon. These may include water in permanently shadowed regions of the lunar poles, which could be invaluable for both consumables for the astronauts and propellant for their spacecraft. LRO instruments will map these regions of shadow and determine whether and where these resources are located. In addition, LRO will map the resources of the entire moon's surface looking for deposits of other valuable resources, such as oxygen, locked in the lunar soil.

The availability of energy also will be the determining factor on how effective humans will be in accomplishing lunar science and exploration objectives. Because the moon's axis is not tilted like the Earth's, there are regions of the lunar poles that receive almost continuous sunlight, rather than the 28-day cycle of light and dark found in most regions. This will allow solar power systems to provide electricity to a lunar outpost with much greater efficiency. The LRO cameras will accurately determine these regions of perpetual sunlight by observing them over an entire year.

NASA Selects First Innovation Ambassadors

NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program, in coordination with the agency's Office of the Chief Engineer and Office of Human Capital Management, has announced the selection of the 2009 Innovation Ambassadors.

The Innovation Ambassador program allows some of NASA's most talented scientists and engineers to work at several of America's leading innovative external research and development organizations.

NASA's inaugural group of ambassadors is initiating the planned annual program targeting opportunities to create NASA partnerships and new innovation sources outside of the traditional aerospace field. During assignments of up to one year, the NASA ambassadors will share their own expertise while learning about innovative products, processes and business models. After returning to NASA, the ambassador may share new ideas with co-workers and implement innovations within their organizations.

The program provides a unique training experience for the employee, an opportunity for infusion of new ideas into NASA, and a chance for external organizations to learn more about the agency and potentially create new partnerships.

The ambassadors and their assignments are:

- Robert McCann from NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., will work with the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in Palo Alto, Calif., and look at how artificial intelligence can be applied to systems health management and human/machine teaming.

- Eric Darcy from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston will work with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., to develop mathematical models for lithium-ion battery performance.

- Lawrence Hilliard from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will work with Primary Simulation, Inc. of Silver Spring, Md., on a project to apply their "laser ball" technology to interactive educational tools.

- Kelly Snook, also from Goddard, already has begun her ambassador assignment with a sponsorship by NASA's Science Mission Directorate. She is working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab in Cambridge, Mass., on the use of sound as a means of visualizing and analyzing scientific data.

NASA Ares I First Stage Motor to be Tested August 25

NASA and ATK unveil the completed Ares I first stage five-segment solid rocket booster today in Promontory, Utah. The completed solid rocket booster is now installed horizontally in a test stand that was modified from the space shuttle's four-segment configuration to fit the new five-segment Ares I booster. Instrumentation will be installed over the next month in preparation for the first major ground test of the NASA Constellation program August 25.

The Ares first stage five-segment development motor is 154 feet in length, and generates a maximum of 3.6 million lbs of thrust, 24 percent more power than one twin Shuttle solid rocket booster. Image credit: ATK

NASA's Ares I launch vehicle will launch the future explorers in the Orion spacecraft to the International Space Station, the moon and beyond. The upcoming test will provide valuable thrust, roll-control, acoustics and vibration data as engineers continue to design the Ares I rocket.

"Generating 3.6 million pounds of maximum thrust at liftoff, Ares I first stage provides the backbone of NASA's next-generation rocket," said Alex Priskos, first stage manager for the Ares Projects Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "The planned two-minute test will be an awesome display of smoke and fire, a live testament reflecting the dedication, hard work and achievement of the people on this project. The entire Ares team is looking forward to the first development motor firing next month."

The Ares I first stage has been under development since 2005. Based on the design of the space shuttle's four-segment booster, the first stage differs from its predecessor in a few ways. These include the addition of a fifth segment, changes to the propellant grain, a larger nozzle opening and upgraded insulation and liner.

The propellant and cases remain the same as those used for more than three decades on the Space Shuttle Program. In fact, the cases used in this Ares I first stage ground test have collectively flown on 48 previous shuttle missions, including STS-1, the very first flight.

"Because we are using shuttle boosters in the design of the Ares I first stage, we are able to leverage decades of ground tests and shuttle flight processes," said Mike Kahn, executive vice president, ATK Space Systems. "Our streamlined processes, quality and infrastructure, combined with the knowledge and lessons learned that have been transferred to the Ares I first stage program, go a long way to ensure mission success for the human spaceflight program."

The Beauty of Space

Astronaut Tim Kopra worked to prepare the berthing mechanisms on the Kibo laboratory and the Japanese Exposed Facility (JEF) for the JEF installation on Kibo, during this the first of five planned spacewalks for the STS-127 crew. Kopra, who was joined astronaut Dave Wolf (out of frame) on this spacewalk, holds onto a handrail on Harmony node. When the Endeavour crew returns to Earth, Kopra will stay aboard the station to serve as a flight engineer.

Apollo 11's 40th Anniversary

On the eve of the fortieth anniversary of Apollo 11, humanity's first landing on the moon, Apollo 11 crew members, Buzz Aldrin, left, Michael Collins, second from left, Neil Armstrong and NASA Mission Control creator and former NASA Johnson Space Center director Chris Kraft, right, gathered at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, Sunday, July 19, 2009. The four were speakers at the Museum's 2009 John H. Glenn lecture in space history.

Mystery Source of Solar Wind Heating Identified

The solar wind is hotter than it should be, and for decades researchers have puzzled over the unknown source of energy that heats it. In a paper published in the June 12 issue of Physical Review Letters, NASA scientists say they may have found the answer.

"The energy source is turbulence," says co-author Melvyn Goldstein, chief of the Geospace Physics Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "The sun heats the solar wind by stirring it up."

It's a bit like stirring your coffee--in reverse. When you stir your morning cup of Joe, the coffee cools off. But when the sun stirs the solar wind, the solar wind heats up.

Consider the coffee. When you stir it with a spoon, the stirring produces swirls and vortices in the liquid. The vortices fragment into smaller and smaller eddies until, at the smallest scales, the motions dissipate and the energy turns into heat. Because energy cascades down from the large swirls to the smaller ones, the process is called a turbulent cascade.

Theoretically, the turbulent cascade should heat the coffee. Real coffee cools off, however, because the act of stirring brings warm coffee from the depths of the cup into contact with cooler air above. Cool air absorbs the heat—the heat the coffee had to begin with plus the heat you added by stirring—and you can take a sip without scalding yourself.

But there is no cool air in space, and therein lies the difference between coffee and solar wind.

The sun stirs the solar wind with fast streams of gas that pour out of holes in the sun's atmosphere. Essentially, the solar wind stirs itself. The stirring produces swirls and eddies; larger eddies break into smaller ones, producing a cascade of energy that eventually dissipates as heat. The temperature shoots up and there is no cool air to stop it.

"We've suspected for years that turbulence heats the solar wind," says Fouad Sahraoui, lead author of the paper and a visiting NASA Fellow from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France. "Now we're getting detailed measurements of the process in action."

The key data came from a quartet of European spacecraft collectively known as Cluster, launched in 2000 to study the giant bubble of magnetism that surrounds Earth. The magnetosphere protects our planet from solar wind and cosmic rays. It contains the Van Allen radiation belts, auroras, and giant electrical "ring currents" of staggering power. Cluster spends much of its time inside the magnetosphere, where the spacecraft can study the wide variety of phenomena at work there.

One day in March 2006, the four spacecraft took a brief excursion outside the bubble into the solar wind. For three hours, their sensors made rapid-fire measurements of electromagnetic waves and turbulent eddies in the million-kilometer-per-hour gas flowing past them.

"That was when we made the discovery," says Goldstein. "Turbulent energy was cascading from large scale structures around 1,000,000 kilometers (621,400 miles) in size all the way down to structures as small as 3 kilometers (1.8 miles). At the small end of the cascade, energy was absorbed by electrons in the solar wind."

Sahraoui and Goldstein would like to confirm their findings and flesh out the details by sending Cluster back into the solar wind for more than "three lucky hours." But the basic result seems solid enough: Turbulent heating boosts the temperature of the solar wind near Earth from tens of thousands of degrees (the value theoreticians expect) to hundreds of thousands or more.

Goldstein says such turbulent heating probably happens in many other astrophysical situations, from stellar winds to planetary magnetospheres to black holes. There's even a down-to-Earth application: nuclear fusion reactors. Turbulence inside experimental fusion chambers can produce instabilities that destroy the confinement of the fusion plasma.

"The solar wind is a natural laboratory for understanding this physics," says Sahraoui, "and we are planning more observations to see how common the phenomenon might be."

NASA Mourns the Death of Walter Cronkite

The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on the death of veteran journalist Walter Cronkite.

"It is with great sadness that the NASA family learned of Walter Cronkite's passing. He led the transition from print and radio reporting to the juggernaut that became television journalism. His insight and integrity were unparalleled, and his compassion helped America make it through some of the most tragic and trying times of the 20th century.

"From the earliest days of the space program, Walter brought the excitement, the drama and the achievements of space flight directly into our homes. But it was the conquest of the moon in the late 1960s that energized Walter most about exploration. He called it the most important feat of all time and said that the success of Apollo 11 would be remembered 500 years from now as humanity's greatest achievement.

"It was Walter Cronkite's impassioned reporting on America's inaugural moon landing that inspired me to join in the dreams of many to travel to space and accept the risks that this exploration brings while I was a student in naval flight training.

"In honor of his ethical and enthusiastic coverage of our nations' space program, NASA was proud to honor Walter in 2006 with an Ambassador of Exploration Award and presented him with an Apollo lunar sample.

"For decades, we had the privilege of learning about our world from the original 'anchorman.' He was a true gentleman. Our thoughts and prayers are with Walter's family and his millions of friends and supporters."

Avalanche The Incredible Data Stream of SDO

When NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) leaves Earth in November 2009 onboard an Atlas V rocket, the thunderous launch will trigger an avalanche.

Mission planners are bracing themselves -- not for rocks or snow, but an avalanche of data.

"SDO will beam back 150 million bits of data per second, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week," says Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. That’s almost 50 times more science data than any other mission in NASA history. "It's like downloading 500,000 iTunes a day."

SDO is on a mission to study the sun in unprecedented detail. Onboard telescopes will scrutinize sunspots and solar flares using more pixels and colors than any other observatory in the history of solar physics. And SDO will reveal the sun’s hidden secrets in a prodigious rush of pictures.

"SDO is going to send us images ten times better than high definition television," says Pesnell, the project scientist for the new mission. A typical HDTV screen has 720 by 1280 pixels; SDO's images will have almost four times that number in the horizontal direction and five times in the vertical. “The pixel count is comparable to an IMAX movie -- an IMAX filled with the raging sun, 24 hours a day."

Spatial resolution is only half the story, though. Previous missions have photographed the sun no faster than once every few minutes. SDO will shatter that record.

"We'll be getting IMAX-quality images every 10 seconds," says Pesnell. "We'll see every nuance of solar activity." Because these fast cadences have never been attempted before by an orbiting observatory, the potential for discovery is great.

To illustrate the effect this might have on solar physics, Pesnell recalls the 18th century photographer Eadweard Muybridge, who won a famous bet with racehorse owner Leland Stanford. In those days, horses were widely thought to keep at least one hoof on the ground even in full gallop. That's how it appeared to the human eye.

"But when Muybridge photographed horses using a new high-speed camera system, he discovered something surprising," says Pesnell. "Galloping horses spend part of the race completely airborne—all four feet are off the ground."

Pesnell anticipates similar surprises from high-speed photography of the sun. The images could upend mainstream ideas about sunspot genesis, what triggers solar flares, and how explosions ripple through the sun's atmosphere en route to Earth.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory has three main instruments. The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) is a battery of four telescopes designed to photograph the sun's surface and atmosphere. AIA filters cover 10 different wavelength bands, or colors, selected to reveal key aspects of solar activity. The bulk of SDO's data stream will come from these telescopes.

The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) will map solar magnetic fields and peer beneath the sun's opaque surface using a technique called helioseismology. A key goal of this experiment is to decipher the physics of the sun's magnetic dynamo.

The Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) will measure fluctuations in the sun's ultraviolet output. EUV radiation sun has a direct and powerful effect on Earth's upper atmosphere, heating it, puffing it up, and breaking apart atoms and molecules. "We really don't know how fast the sun varies at these wavelengths," notes Pesnell. "We're guaranteed to learn something new."

To gather data from all three instruments, NASA has set up a pair of dedicated radio antennas near Las Cruces, New Mexico. SDO's geosynchronous orbit will keep the observatory in constant view of the two 18-meter dishes around the clock for the duration of the observatory's five-year mission. Not a single bit should be lost.

Neil Armstrong Statement on the Death of Walter Cronkite

The following is a statement issued by Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong on the death of Walter Cronkite.

"For a news analyst and reporter of the happenings of the day to be successful, he or she needs three things: accuracy, timeliness, and the trust of the audience. Many are fortunate to have the first two. The trust of the audience must be earned.

"Walter Cronkite seemed to enjoy the highest of ratings. He had a passion for human space exploration, an enthusiasm that was contagious, and the trust of his audience. He will be missed."

Getting a good look at the terminator

The first images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, are in. The images were taken along the moon's terminator -- that's the dividing line between day and night -- giving scientists a good look at the topography. It's exciting times for the LRO scientists and the folks at NASA's Constellation program because the close-up camera shots will help determine safe landing sites for future explorers, locate potential resources, describe the moon's radiation environment and demonstrate new technologies. It means NASA is another step closer to returning humans to the moon.

The satellite also has started to activate its six other instruments. The Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector will look for regions with enriched hydrogen that potentially could have water ice deposits. The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation is designed to measure the moon's radiation environment. Both were activated on June 19 and are functioning normally.

Instruments expected to be activated during the next week and calibrated are the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter, designed to build 3-D topographic maps of the moon's landscape; the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment, which will make temperature maps of the lunar surface; and the Miniature Radio Frequency, or Mini-RF, an experimental radar and radio transmitter that will search for subsurface ice and create detailed images of permanently-shaded craters.

The final instrument, the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project, will be activated after the other instruments have completed their calibrations, allowing more time for residual contaminants from the manufacture and launch of LRO to escape into the vacuum of space.

This instrument is an ultraviolet-light imager that will use starlight to search for surface ice. It will take pictures of the permanently-shaded areas in deep craters at the lunar poles.

Orbiter Safe After Computer Swap

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission Status Report

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is in safe mode, a precautionary standby status, and in communications with Earth after unexpectedly switching to its backup computer on Thurs. Aug. 6.

Engineers are working to determine the cause of the spontaneous swap from the orbiter's "A" side computer and subsystems to the redundant "B" side. They have successfully increased the communication rate from the orbiter, but some engineering data about what was occurring just before the side swap may never be available. The team expects it will be at least several days until normal science operations resume.

The event has some similarities with, but also differences from, two earlier instances of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spontaneously swapping sides.

Jim Erickson, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., said, "The spacecraft is safe, with good temperatures and battery charge and with solar panels properly facing the sun. The flight team is cautiously taking steps to bring it back to normal operations."

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been studying Mars with an advanced set of instruments since 2006. It has returned more data about the planet than all other past and current missions to Mars combined.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission Status Report

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is in safe mode, a precautionary standby status, and in communications with Earth after unexpectedly switching to its backup computer on Thurs. Aug. 6.

Engineers are working to determine the cause of the spontaneous swap from the orbiter's "A" side computer and subsystems to the redundant "B" side. They have successfully increased the communication rate from the orbiter, but some engineering data about what was occurring just before the side swap may never be available. The team expects it will be at least several days until normal science operations resume.

The event has some similarities with, but also differences from, two earlier instances of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spontaneously swapping sides.

Jim Erickson, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., said, "The spacecraft is safe, with good temperatures and battery charge and with solar panels properly facing the sun. The flight team is cautiously taking steps to bring it back to normal operations."

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been studying Mars with an advanced set of instruments since 2006. It has returned more data about the planet than all other past and current missions to Mars combined.

ares i-x: let the stacking begin...

Stacking is set to begin for the Ares I-X vehicle on Wednesday, July 8 in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. It's been a long time since the workers in the VAB have seen a new vehicle. In fact, it's been 25 years since a new vehicle was stacked.

Following nearly three years of work by thousands of dedicated team members, the Ares I-X vehicle is ready for stacking on the Mobile Launch Platform, or MLP, in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.

Over the last week, the management team has met for reviews. Today (July 7), a “go” was given for the stacking operations. All of the modification work has been completed in VAB High Bay 3, as well as the Mobile Launch Platform, in preparation for the new Ares I-X vehicle.

Tomorrow, the Ares I-X aft assembly, composed of the aft skirt and aft motor segment, will be rolled from the Rotation Processing and Surge Facility to the VAB and lifted by overhead crane and placed on the MLP. (Be sure to check out the KSC gallery for photo updates.)

Over the next month, the stacking operations will continue with the additional motor segments, simulated upper stage segments and the vehicle will be completed when the simulated crew module and launch abort system is added to the top. (There will be a time-lapse camera. NASA will be posting video and images.)

We will keep you posted on this blog, on our Facebook page and Twitter.

Let the stacking begin!

First stage motor test

NASA Gives Official 'Go' for August 25 Ares I

NASA gave the official "go" for the Ares I first stage Development Motor 1 (DM-1) test targeted for August 25 concluding a two-day test readiness review. Nineteen NASA managers signed off on the official readiness statement. It reads: "Pending satisfactory completion of normal operations flow and open items identified in this review, the Ares I First Stage test hardware is ready to support the static testing of DM-1."

The review was held at ATK Launch Systems Huntsville, Al. office on July 21-22. More than 50 solid rocket motor technical experts reviewed every detail of the DM-1 solid rocket motor, now installed in a test stand at ATK’s Promontory, Utah test facility. The first stage five-segment development motor has been under development since 2006. It is based on the design of the space shuttle's four-segment configuration, but includes several modifications.

Max Tavoian, ATK Space Systems manager opened the formal review for ATK. Tavoian noted that most people in the room had been working toward DM-1 for the last three and a half years.

"This review will tell you why DM-1 is ready to go. DM-1 has 46 design objectives and 650 instrumentation channels. This test will prove out a series of technology improvements and design attributes including changes to the propellant grain, nozzle and updated liner and insulation implemented by ATK related to the new five-segment reusable solid rocket motor."

Over the two days, the team engaged in a healthy and thorough discussion about the motor's instrumentation, propellant and motor performance, insulation and components, metal case components and seals, and the overall readiness to "go" for test on August 25. The upcoming test is expected to provide valuable data on motor internal pressures, thrust profile, and performance of new designs on the nozzle and the internal motor insulation. Additional benefits include data on roll-control, acoustics and vibration data. Engineers need all of this data to continue to design the Ares I rocket.

No issues emerged from the review that impact test readiness. Final instrumentation will be installed over the next month in preparation for the firing.

Alex Priskos, first stage manager for the Ares Projects Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. chaired NASA's test readiness review panel. He closed the meeting enthusiastically, acknowledging the hard work of the team which made this successful review possible. "This effort has been a thorough and professional effort. The professionalism of this team gives me a high level of confidence as we go forward with this test," he said.

"DM-1 is about taking advantage of all we've learned from the Shuttle program -- the safety aspects and technology enhancements -- and moving forward to the next stage of crewed exploration beyond low-Earth orbit," explained Priskos. "This test is the first step in a series of development and qualification tests. The ultimate goal is to design and build a first-stage motor that increases performance, is safe, reliable and will meet or exceed all of our requirements and objectives. The entire Ares team is looking forward to the DM-1firing next month and reviewing the test results."

A process of assessment

There have been recent reports containing a leaked preliminary internal Air Force assessment document regarding potential abort scenarios for the Ares I rocket and the effect on an Orion crew exploration vehicle. The assessment, as preliminary, addressed a certain class of abort scenarios. This class of aborts involves destruction of the first stage because of either a case over-pressure or because of a range safety initiated destruct command. The majority of aborts do not fall into this category because of the abort criteria and flight rules the program is implementing. The analysis is not an official Air Force position, but a starting point for working specific issues associated with the complexities of aborts.

An ongoing exchange of information and analysis is part of the formal process for the 45th Space Wing to evaluate a new vehicle’s request to use the Eastern Range and establish an operations agreement. NASA and the Air Force work together through routine technical interchange meetings to share data and analysis on launch vehicles and payloads. This is typical of how the two organizations have worked together in the past to evaluate Apollo, space shuttle, and nuclear payload missions such as New Horizons as they were in development. A joint team, comprised of experts from both NASA and the Air Force, meets routinely to collaborate on issues related to range safety, and works to provide answers to all outstanding questions and concerns.

The program will continue to work closely with the 45th Space Wing to mature the analyses as the development of the vehicle continues, with the top priority being the ability to protect the crew and public. Ares/Orion were conceived and are being designed as the safest launch vehicles in history. The findings in this preliminary Air Force analysis have provided insight into the abort environment, and each issue and concern will be answered as NASA shares more in-depth studies and analysis with the Air Force and continues to refine its models and data. Constellation is a developing program and NASA will continue to work with the Air Force as the two agencies collaborate to assure both crew and public safety.

the apollo missions

Apollo 15 Lunar Module Falcon at the Hadley-Apennine landing site. Credit: NASAForty Years Later

Forty years ago, men from Earth began for the first time to leave our home planet and journey to the moon.

› Apollo 40th Features

From 1968 to 1972, NASA's Apollo astronauts tested out new spacecraft and journeyed to uncharted destinations.

It all started on May 25, 1961, when President John F. Kennedy announced the goal of sending astronauts to the moon before the end of the decade. Coming just three weeks after Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space, Kennedy's bold challenge set the nation on a journey unlike any before in human history.

Eight years of hard work by thousands of Americans came to fruition on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong stepped out of the lunar module and took "one small step" in the Sea of Tranquility, calling it "a giant leap for mankind."

Six of the missions -- Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 -- went on to land on the moon, studying soil mechanics, meteoroids, seismic, heat flow, lunar ranging, magnetic fields and solar wind. Apollos 7 and 9 tested spacecraft in Earth orbit; Apollo 10 orbited the moon as the dress rehearsal for the first landing. An oxygen tank explosion forced Apollo 13 to scrub its landing, but the "can-do" problem solving of the crew and mission control turned the mission into a "successful failure."