| October 31, 2002 |
| Scientists Identify
Role of Important Cancer Protein: Scientists working at
the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at the U.S. Department
of Energy's (DOE's) Brookhaven National Laboratory have unveiled the
details of an important cancer protein. |
| 'Jurassic Chicken'
project may help studies of human development and evolution of dinosaurs: Scientists
have shown experimentally the steps in the origin and development of
feathers, using the techniques of molecular biology. |
| Some cosmic rays
originate within solar system: Researchers have found
that a portion of anomalous cosmic rays -- charged particles accelerated
to enormous energies by the solar wind -- results from interactions
with dust grains from a belt of comet-sized objects near Pluto's orbit. |
| Ancient star identified: Astronomers
have identified an ancient star, one that may be the oldest ever found
and which provides clues to what the universe was made of shortly after
the Big Bang. |
| Halloween Asteroid: Jim
Scotti, using the 36-inch Spacewatch telescope on Kitt Peak, spotted a
dim speck of light moving through the constellation Cancer. It was an asteroid--dark,
about 1 km wide, and it seemed to be heading for Earth. The Minor Planet
Center named it 1997 XF11. |
October 30, 2002 |
| A glimpse of the
young Milky Way: A faint star in the southern Milky Way,
designated HE 0107-5240, has been found to consist virtually only of
hydrogen and helium. It has the lowest abundance of heavier elements
ever observed, only 1/200,000 of that of the Sun - 20 times less than
the previous record-holding star. |
| Three ESA satellites
reveal Etna¨s complexity: As detected by ESA satellite
sensors, the recent eruptions of the Mount Etna volcano in Sicily are
throwing huge amounts of ash and trace gases into the atmosphere. |
| Researchers Get First
Look into Antimatter Atoms: Researchers have probed the
properties of whole atoms of antimatter, the mirror image of matter,
for the first time. |
| Jupiter Orbiter nears
first visit to small moon, dusty ring: Before starting
its 35th and final orbit around Jupiter next week, NASA's Galileo spacecraft
will visit three intriguing features of the giant planet's neighborhood
for the first time: a small moon named Amalthea, a dusty ring and the
inner region of Jupiter's high-energy magnetic environment. |
| ESA's Belgian astronaut
on way to Space Station in new Soyuz spacecraft: The fourth
taxi flight to the International Space Station carrying a European
Space Agency (ESA) astronaut and two Russian crew members made a perfect
lift-off today (Wednesday, 30 October 2002) from the vast open plains
of Baikonur, Kazakhstan, into the rising sun at 08:11 local time (04:11
Central European Time, 03:11 Universal Time). |
| Experiment could
reveal 'extra dimensions,' exotic forces: Physicists have
devised a new experiment that will be used in the quest for exotic
forces in nature and additional spatial dimensions. |
| JSC: Johnson Space
Center International Space Station Status Report #48 |
October 29, 2002 |
| Ceremonial burial
at Moon Pyramid shows Teotihuacan rulers had Mayan connection: Teotihuacan,
the 2,000-year-old, metropolis that was the first great city of the
Western Hemisphere, has long been a mystery. Located 25 miles northeast
of the current Mexico City, this ancient civilization left behind the
ruins of a master-planned city grid with immense pyramids covering
eight square miles and having a unique culture. |
| Duke researchers
report technique to make more-uniform buckytubes: Duke
University chemists report they have made a significant advance toward
producing tiny hollow tubes of carbon atoms, called "nanotubes," with
electronic properties reliable enough to use in molecular-sized circuits. |
| NASA awards contract
for second phase Kepler Mission development: NASA awarded
a contract today for development of the optics and detectors for a
high-tech camera for the Kepler planet-finding spacecraft, scheduled
for launch in 2007. |
| In search of cosmic
mayhem Physicist probes dark, violent side of the universe; studies
highest energy photons: Studying the highest energy photons
known to science, Washington University Associate Professor of Physics
James H. Buckley, Ph.D., and his colleagues are analyzing bursts of
gamma rays released from massive black holes at the center of so-called
active galaxies. |
| Flyby of Annefrank
asteroid to help Stardust prepare for primary mission: It
will be a moment tinged with history when the Stardust spacecraft makes
an encounter with Asteroid 5535 Annefrank this weekend. The flyby will
test many of the systems and procedures to be used when Stardust makes
its encounter with comet Wild 2 in little more than a year. |
| Computer model suggests
future crop loss due to potential increase in extreme rain events: An
increased frequency of extreme precipitation events has been observed
over the last 100 years in the United States. Global climate models
project that similar trends may continue and even strengthen over the
coming decades, due to climate change. |
October 28, 2002 |
| Increasingly salty
Mediterranean favors ice sheet growth: About 150,000 years
ago, an anomalous ice age was triggered by an increasingly salty Mediterranean
Sea, a development that's occurring today and may start new ice sheet
growth in the next few decades, according to a study at the University
of Minnesota. |
| Studying water,
ice and potential life on the Jupiter moon Europa: Europa's
icy shell is churning away like a lava lamp: warmer ice moves upward
from the bottom of the ice shell, while colder near-surface ice sinks
downward. Reddish ice that erupts onto the surface may hold clues about
the composition of Europa's subsurface ocean, and whether that ocean
supports life. |
| Scientists studying
two big craters on earth find two causes: Two of the three
largest impact craters on Earth have nearly the same size and structure,
researchers say, but one was caused by a comet while the other was
caused by an asteroid. |
| The Sun Flooded
Europe: It will be easy to predict typhoon appearance
if you know where it arises. One of the cyclone forming regions is
the northern part of the Mediterranean along the French and Italian
coast. |
| Scientists boost
the moon tally for Uranus to 21: A new moon of the planet
Uranus has been discovered and confirmed by a team of astronomers including
Dr. Christophe Dumas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif, bringing the total number of uranian moons to 21. |
| ESA¨s Belgian astronaut
ready for Space Station mission: A new Soyuz capsule will
be launched into space on 30 October at 08:11 local time (04:11 CET)
from the cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, carrying the European
Space Agency’s first Belgian astronaut to visit the International
Space Station and two Russian crew members. |
| JSC: Johnson Space
Center International Space Station Status Report #47 |
October 24-27, 2002 |
| Asian dust storm
causes plankton to bloom in the North Pacific: Two robotic
Carbon Explorer floats recorded the rapid growth of phytoplankton in
the upper layers of the North Pacific Ocean after a passing storm had
deposited iron-rich dust from the Gobi Desert. |
| Non-invasive sensor
can detect brainwaves remotely: Scientists have developed
a remarkable sensor that can record brainwaves without the need for
electrodes to be inserted into the brain or even for them to be placed
on the scalp. |
| Discovery of superconductivity
in lithium - Critical temperature much lower than theoretically expected: Superconductivity
in lithium was discovered by scientists in a collaboration of the Geophysical
Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC, USA with
the High Pressure Group at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in
Mainz. |
| New England lakes
hold clues to lurking storms and floods: Is New England
headed for troubled waters? Devastating storms and floods may be ready
to wreak havoc, according to geologists at the University of Vermont
(UVM). |
| New map shows human
'footprint' covers most of the Earth: Human beings now
directly influence more than three quarters of the earth's landmass,
according to a state-of-the-art map of the world produced by a team
of scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society
(WCS) and Columbia University's Center for International Earth Science
Information Network (CIESIN). |
October 23, 2002 |
| Biomedical Scientist
Testing Nanoparticles as Early Cancer Detection Agent: Biomedical
scientist Shuming Nie is testing the use of nanoparticles called quantum
dots to dramatically improve clinical diagnostic tests for the early
detection of cancer. |
| Sandia pursues biotechnology
as new technology focus area: Sandia National Laboratories
is expanding its work in biotechnology - combining traditional inorganic
sciences with biology - to push scientific discovery and development
into such areas as the creation of new materials and to help in America's
war on terrorism. |
| Shuttle radar clears
the air on Central America's topography: Underscoring
how space technology can help us to better understand and protect our
home planet, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has
completed the first comprehensive high-resolution topographic map of
Central America, a region where persistent cloud cover had made high-quality
satellite imagery difficult to obtain. |
| Chandra casts cloud
on alternative to dark matter: New evidence from NASA's
Chandra X-ray Observatory challenges an alternative theory of gravity
that eliminates the need for dark matter. |
| Better weather predictions
in an avalanche of data: Sometimes getting too much of
a good thing may create more problems than not getting enough - especially
when it comes to the weather. |
| NASA to develop biohazard
'smoke' detector: Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., have demonstrated a prototype device
that automatically and continuously monitors the air for the presence
of bacterial spores. |
| Cleaning up pollutants
with sunlight: A cheap, harmless chemical and sunlight
could provide an environmentally friendly way of destroying micro-pollutants
in the environment. |
October 22, 2002 |
| Despite lower CO2
emissions, diesel cars may promote more global warming than gasoline
cars: Laws that favor the use of diesel, rather than gasoline,
engines in cars may actually encourage global warming, according to
a new study. Although diesel cars obtain 25 to 35 percent better mileage
and emit less carbon dioxide than similar gasoline cars, they can emit
25 to 400 times more mass of particulate black carbon and associated
organic matter (soot) per kilometer [mile]. |
| KSC: Kennedy Space
Center Shuttle & Payload Processing Status Reports |
| Folding@home scientists
report first distributed computing success: As you read
this sentence, millions of personal computers around the world are
working overtime – performing complex computations on their screensavers
in the name of science. This growing Internet phenomenon, known as
distributed computing, is being used for everything from the search
for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) to the design of new therapeutic
drugs. |
| First soybeans grown
in space return to Earth: During a research mission that
concluded with the return of Space Shuttle Atlantis Friday, soybean
seeds planted and nurtured by scientists germinated, developed into
plants, flowered, and produced new seedpods in space. |
October 21, 2002 |
| Comet Orbiter shipped
to South American launch site: Twenty instruments on the
European Space Agency's comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft, including
three from NASA, are in final tests for launch early next year. |
| Collaboration on
Red Storm System Under Department of Energy's Advanced Simulation and
Computing Program (ASCI): The Department of Energy's Sandia
National Laboratories and Cray Inc. today announced that they have
finalized a multiyear contract, valued at approximately $90 million,
under which Cray will collaborate with Sandia to develop and deliver
a new massively parallel processing (MPP) supercomputer called Red
Storm. |
| International meeting
on space and world heritage: An international conference
on Space Applications for Heritage Conservation will open in Strasbourg,
France on 5 November. The aim: to bring together experts on space and
those concerned with the conservation of national and world heritage
sites, and to look at the potential educational uses of space technologies
for heritage conservation. |
| Tokamak fusion test
reactor removal successfully completed: One of the world's
largest and most successful experimental fusion machines has been safely
disassembled and cleared away. |
October 18-20, 2002 |
| NASA extends first
pitch tradition into space: When Chief Umpire Jerry Crawford
calls for the traditional ceremonial first pitch in the first game
of the World Series Saturday, the ball will virtually travel more than
240 miles, all the way from the International Space Station (ISS) to
Anaheim, Calif. |
| Shuttle Mission
STS-112 MCC Status Report #23: Space Shuttle Atlantis
glided to a noontime landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida
completing a 4.5 million mile journey to outfit the International Space
Station with a new section of truss and supplies for the Expedition
crew onboard. |
| TDRS-J satellite
arrives at Kennedy Space Center to begin launch preparations: The
Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-J (TDRS-J) arrived at 6:10 a.m. EDT
today at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility aboard an
Air Force C-17 air cargo plane. |
| Neptunium criticality
achieved: A full-controlled criticality of the element
neptunium was achieved in late September at Los Alamos National Laboratory's
Technical Area 18 using a six kilogram nickel-clad neptunium sphere
in combination with approximately 60 kilograms of enriched uranium. |
| Shuttle Mission STS-112
MCC Status Report #22: After traveling more than 4.5 million
miles, delivering the second segment of the International Space Station’s
main truss and three successful spacewalks to hook it up, Atlantis
is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center today. |
October 17, 2002 |
| Shuttle Mission
STS-112 MCC Status Report #21: Activities aboard Atlantis
today focused on preparations for Friday’s planned landing at
the Kennedy Space Center, concluding a voyage of 4.5 million miles. |
| Atlantis scheduled
to land at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Oct.18th: The orbiter
Atlantis is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Friday,
Oct. 18, at about 11:44 a.m. EDT completing the 11-day STS-112 mission
to deliver and install the S1 Integrated Truss Segment and a Crew Equipment
Translation Aid (CETA) cart on the International Space Station. |
| Tiny atomic battery
could run for decades unattended: Researchers have built
a microscopic device that could supply power for decades to remote
sensors or implantable medical devices by drawing energy from a radioactive
isotope. |
| Galaxy Merger Leaves
Behind Telltale Blue Arc: Astronomers have identified
the vivid scar of a cosmic catastrophe: a blue arc thousands of light
years long produced when a galaxy pulled in a smaller satellite galaxy
and tore it apart. |
| International Space
Station Science Operations Status Report: Astronauts and
cosmonauts brought new experiments to the International Space Station
this week and loaded completed experiments aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis
for return to Earth. |
| Europe opens a window
onto a violent Universe: The European Space Agency has
today launched a new observatory set to revolutionise the branch of
astrophysics that seeks to unravel the secrets of the highest-energy – and
therefore the most violent – phenomena in the Universe. |
| Stardust Mission
Status Report: Stardust will take advantage of flying
near a small asteroid next month to test many procedures the spacecraft
will use 14 months later during its encounter with its primary science
target, comet Wild-2. |
| Shuttle Mission STS-112
MCC Status Report #20: On its own again following yesterday's
undocking from the International Space Station, Space Shuttle Atlantis
and its crew today focuses on readying the orbiter for the return to
Earth tomorrow at 10:44 a.m. |
October 16, 2002 |
| Shuttle Mission
STS-112 MCC Status Report #19: Following an emotional
farewell, the crews of Atlantis and the International Space Station
closed the hatches of their spacecraft concluding a week of joint operations,
that saw the transfer of about 1,800 pounds of supplies and hardware
to the station, and the addition of the 15 ton, 45-foot long Starboard
One (S1) truss segment continuing the station's expansion. |
| NASA mission demonstrates
practical use of uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) technology: A
solar-powered uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) successfully completed
a NASA remote-sensing applications demonstration. The Pathfinder-Plus
airplane loitered more than four hours, over Hawaii's largest coffee
plantation on the island of Kauai, taking digital images to make a
clear-sky mosaic. |
| Brain on a chip: A
biotech company has developed a way to keep slices of living brain tissue
alive for weeks, allowing researchers to study the effect of chemicals
on entire neural networks, not just individual cells. |
| Integral ready
for launch: ESA’s Integral has been given the green
light and is all set for launch from Baikonur in Kazakhstan in the
early hours of tomorrow morning. |
| Melting crust makes
rich mineral deposits: A study suggests why giant gold
and copper deposits are found at some volcanoes but not others, a finding
that could point prospectors to large deposits of these and other valuable
metals. |
| Soyuz rocket fails
on launch from Plesetsk cosmodrome: A Russian Soyuz launcher
exploded some 20 seconds after lift-off from the Russian Plesetsk cosmodrome
last night (15 October) at 20:20 CEST (Central European Summer Time). |
| Study backs theory
that accumulating mutations of 'quiet' genes foster aging: A
theory that suggests the aging process might be safely slowed by targeting
genes that are quiet early but threaten damage later in life has gotten
a boost from new findings. |
| Shuttle Mission STS-112
MCC Status Report #18: With their week's worth of work
completed, astronauts and cosmonauts aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis
and the International Space Station bid farewell to one another and
closed the hatches in preparation for the shuttle's undocking scheduled
for 8:13 this morning. |
| NASA navigation
work yields science, civil, commerce benefits: NASA researchers
have demonstrated the ability to very precisely navigate airplanes
in real time, anywhere in the world, independent of local navigational
aids or infrastructure. |
| Biologists offers
a solution to the 'Freeloaders Paradox': Freeloaders,
individuals that are eager to join social groups, but once In, tend
to avoid pulling their fair share of the chores have long posed something
of a problem for evolutionary biologists. An individual's gregarious
and cooperative nature is governed to a high degree, like practically
all life traits, by genes. |
October 15, 2002 |
| Shuttle Mission
STS-112 MCC Status Report #17: Space shuttle and International
Space Station crew members enjoyed a final evening meal together Tuesday
after a day of activities aimed at relaxing after a challenging week
of joint operations and making final preparations for Atlantis' undocking
and departure tomorrow. |
| Plutonium: Size
Does Matter: Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers
have found a better way to measure plutonium oxide particles in glove
boxes where plutonium research is done. |
| Surfing a Black Hole: An
international team of astronomers has directly observed an otherwise normal
star orbiting the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way
Galaxy. |
| Scientist adds third
dimension to earth beneath our feet: The swirl of malleable
rock in the earth's mantle ė located between the earth's crust and
core ė may have greater effect on the earth's surface than was once
believed. |
| Shuttle Mission STS-112
MCC Status Report #16: Now that the outside work has been
completed with the third spacewalk Monday, crewmembers aboard Space
Shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station today turn their
attention to the remaining inside work to be done prior to the shuttle's
departure Wednesday from the ever growing orbital outpost. |
| Protein folding
physics modeled at the atomic level: Researchers have
created the first computer simulation of full-system protein folding
thermodynamics at the atomic-level. Understanding the basic physics
of protein folding could solve one of the grand mysteries of computational
biology. |
October 14, 2002 |
| Shuttle Mission
STS-112 MCC Status Report #15: The third and final spacewalk
of the mission concluded at 3:47 p.m. today, 6 hours and 36 minutes
after Dave Wolf and Piers Sellers floated out of the Quest airlock
of the International Space Station and into the vacuum of space. |
| Hawaii's Mauna
Loa volcano is beginning to stir, new data reveal: Mauna
Loa - Hawaii's biggest and potentially most destructive volcano - is
showing signs of life again nearly two decades after its last eruption. |
| USGS scientists
monitor coastal damage from Hurricane Lili: U.S. Geological
Survey scientists are continuing to monitor the effects of Hurricane
Lili, which slammed into the Louisiana coast Oct. 3, with winds in
excess of 110 miles per hour. |
| New thinking needed
on atmospheric physics, balloon experiments reveal new information
about Sprites: An atmospheric phenomenon called sprites
could be pumping 50 times more energy into the upper atmosphere than
was previously thought, suggesting our understanding of the global
atmosphere is incomplete. |
| SPECIAL REPORT:
Personal Genomics: Genome sequencing is about to get personal.
For more than a decade, thousands of researchers around the world have
spent about $3 billion to complete the human genome project. It's not
finished yet, but even when it is, we still will not have the genome
of a single person: the official consensus sequence is based on DNA
from 10 different people. |
| Building in space
using waves: Huge buildings could be conjured up in space
using nothing more than focused radio waves to push individual components
into place. |
| Protein family key
to helping plants adapt: Researchers have discovered how
a recently identified family of plant proteins assists in stopping
gene function, a finding that may help produce plants resistant to
environmental stresses such as saline soil, drought and cold. |
| NASA's future technology
architect selected: Gary L. Martin has been named to a
key new position within the agency designed to help make NASA's future
exploration and research goals possible. |
| Shuttle Mission STS-112
MCC Status Report #14: Another spacewalk is the order
of business aboard Atlantis and the International Space Station today
to complete the installation and checkout of the newly installed truss
segment. |
October 12-13, 2002 Weekend Edition |
| Shuttle Mission
STS-112 MCC Status Report #13: Astronauts and cosmonauts
on board Atlantis and the International Space Station spent today transferring
supplies and hardware, and preparing for Monday's third and final spacewalk
of the mission. |
| Shuttle Mission STS-112
MCC Status Report #12: The joint crews of Space Shuttle
Atlantis and the International Space Station will transfer supplies
and equipment between the two spacecraft today and also prepare for
the final spacewalk of the mission. |
| Shuttle Mission
STS-112 MCC Status Report #11: Astronauts Dave Wolf and
Piers Sellers moved smoothly and ahead of schedule through their second
spacewalk of the week today, continuing to bring the International
Space Station's newest component to life and installing devices to
prevent future difficulties with station cooling connections. |
| Shuttle Mission STS-112
MCC Status Report #10: Focus of attention aboard Space
Shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station once again is
outside the complex as Astronauts Dave Wolf and Piers Sellers conduct
the second of three planned spacewalks to bring the station's newest
component - the Starboard 1 (S1) Truss - to life. |
October 11, 2002 |
| Shuttle Mission
STS-112 MCC Status Report #09: After a very busy day Thursday,
the combined shuttle and space station crew took several hours of off-duty
time today, and then began transfer operations between the vehicles
and preparations for the second of the mission's three spacewalks scheduled
to begin at 9:41 a.m. Saturday. |
| Chaos seen in movement
of ring-herding moons of Saturn: Scientists have a new
explanation for weird movements of two small moons that shepherd one
of Saturn's rings: Pandora, which keeps the narrow F ring from spreading
outward, and Prometheus, which rides herd along the same ring's inner
edge. |
| Chinese satellites
meet European instruments in London for space mission pre-nuptials: The
hardware inside a Chinese space satellite is currently undergoing its
final tests in London to make sure that it can ‰talk with the European
science instruments it will be carrying, in advance of its mission
launch in 2003. |
| Exploding star
takes astronomers by surprise: A partially exploding star,
known as a nova, has recovered more quickly than expected, say scientists
who have analysed new data from the ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray satellite. |
| Shuttle Mission
STS-112 MCC Status Report #08: With a major milestone
of the STS-112 mission behind them, Space Shuttle Atlantis and International
Space Station crewmembers will have a quieter day today. Following
some time off to relax, the joint crews later will begin transferring
equipment and supplies to the orbiting laboratory. |
| Lift Off for Aurora:
Europe's First Steps to Mars, the Moon and Beyond: Step
by step, the European Space Agency's new Aurora space exploration program
is beginning to take shape. This ambitious program, started by ESA
in January 2002, sets out a strategy over the next 30 years for Europe's
robotic and human exploration of Mars, the Moon, and even beyond to
the asteroids. |
| Space Launch Initiative's
Space-Based Telemetry And Range Safety (STARS) project demonstrated: Groundbreaking
developments constantly improve today's technology, and the Space Launch
Initiative's Space-Based Telemetry And Range Safety (STARS) project
continues the tradition by impacting the future of space travel. |
October 10, 2002 |
| Shuttle Mission
STS-112 MCC Status Report #07: Astronauts Dave Wolf and
Piers Sellers completed all planned International Space Station assembly
tasks today during a 7-hour, 1-minute spacewalk, an excursion focused
on attaching the next segment of the station's backbone. |
| Astronomers discover
the wake of a planet around a nearby star: An international
team of astronomers today report the discovery of a huge distorted
disk of cold dust surrounding Fomalhaut - one of the brightest stars
in the sky. The most likely cause of the distortion is the gravitational
influence of a Saturn-like planet at a large distance from the star
tugging on the disk. |
| Shuttle Mission STS-112
MCC Status Report #06: The International Space Station
is a construction site in orbit once again as Space Shuttle Atlantis
and Expedition Five crewmembers today prepare to install the next segment
of the station's backbone - the Starboard One (S1) Truss. |
| Brain anticipates
events to learn routines: A new study at Baylor College
of Medicine in Houston helps explain why practice makes perfect. Researchers
found that neurons in the visual cortex, the part of the brain responsible
for vision, were more active when study monkeys anticipated the occurrence
of predictable events. |
| NASA adds to Mars
Global Surveyor photo album: One of the highest-resolution
images ever obtained from the red planet - a view of gullies in a crater
in the Newton Basin - is among an astounding group of 18,812 images
being added to NASA's Mars Global Surveyor online image gallery. |
| International Space
Station Science Operations Status Report: Science operations
aboard the International Space Station this week were geared toward
the docking of Space Shuttle Atlantis, with three new experiments scheduled
for transfer to the Station and four completed experiments to be ferried
back to Earth. |
October 9, 2002 |
| Shuttle Mission
STS-112 MCC Status Report #05: The crew of the International
Space Station welcomed the first visitors to its home in space today
when the hatch between the space station and the space shuttle Atlantis
was opened at 11:51 a.m. CDT. |
| How a master protein
remodels chromosomes to orchstrate gene expression: A
team led by Terumi Kohwi-Shigematsu of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's
Life Sciences Division has demonstrated that SATB1, a protein crucial
to the development of the immune system, works by forming a network
in the cell nucleus, attaching chromatin to the network structure at
specific sites, and orchestrating remodeling of the chromatin over
long distances to regulate gene expression. |
| Titan's bizarre landscape
may be shaped more by internal heat than erosion: Six
months after NASA's Cassini spacecraft reaches Saturn in July 2004,
it will deploy the European Space Agency's Huygens probe to Saturn's
largest moon, Titan. |
| Control of methane
emissions could reduce both global warming and air pollution: Both
air pollution and global warming could be reduced by controlling emissions
of methane gas, according to a new study by scientists at Harvard University,
the Argonne National Laboratory, and the Environmental Protection Agency. |
| The 2002 Nobel Prize
in Chemistry: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded
with one half to John B. Fenn and Koichi Tanaka, for their development
of methods in mass spectrometry for biomolecules, and with the other
half to Kurt Wütrich, for his NMR-method to study biomolecules
in solution. |
| Shuttle Mission
STS-112 MCC Status Report #04: A rendezvous in space awaits
Space Shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station this morning
with docking expected at 10:24 a.m. Central time. The shuttle's six
crewmembers are the first visitors for the station's Expedition Five
crew since it arrived aboard the station in early June. |
| Nobel Prize in Physics
awarded to astronomer for NASA-funded research: Riccardo
Giacconi, the father of X-ray astronomy, has received the Nobel Prize
in physics for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have
led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources. |
| KSC: Kennedy Space
Center Shuttle & Payload Processing Status Reports |
| Kennedy Space Center
inventors recognized for technology contributions: More
than 100 inventors, including the father of the cochlear implant, received
recognition at the Sixth Annual Kennedy Space Center Space Act Awards
Luncheon today. |
| Cat's eye images
show cold hole over Jupiter's North Pole: Jupiter has
a cold vortex in the upper atmosphere over its north pole resembling
the vortex over Earth's south pole that enables depletion of Earth's
stratospheric ozone, images from two NASA telescopes show. |
| Shuttle Mission STS-112
MCC Status Report #03: After Monday's exciting launch,
the STS-112 crew today settled into preparations for Wednesday's rendezvous
and docking with the International Space Station, and the first of
three spacewalks Thursday. |
October 8, 2002 |
| Scientists worldwide
race to observe fading Gamma-Ray Burst: Scientists have
seen the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst just nine minutes after the
explosion, a result of precision coordination and fast slewing of ground-based
telescopes upon detection of the burst by NASA's High-Energy Transient
Explorer (HETE) satellite. |
| NASA researchers
developing tools to help track and perdict West Nile Virus: NASA
researchers are conducting Earth Science research that may one day
allow public health officials to better track and predict the spread
of West Nile Virus. |
| Shuttle Mission STS-112
MCC Status Report #02: As Atlantis continues its pursuit
of the International Space Station with docking planned at 10:24 a.m.
Wednesday, crewmembers began a day of preparation for the linkup with
the orbiting laboratory. |
| The 2002 Nobel Prize
in Physics: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has
decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2002 with one half
jointly to Raymond Davis Jr and Masatoshi Koshiba for pioneering contributions
to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos
and the other half to Riccardo Giacconi for pioneering contributions
to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources. |
| Aerospace education
takes flight with NASA's "Virtual Skies": NASA's "Virtual
Skies" Web site transports students and teachers into the exciting
world of aerospace research and air traffic management without leaving
the classroom. |
October 7, 2002 |
| Shuttle Mission
STS-112 MCC Status Report #01: With hardware and the weather
finally in order, Atlantis lifted off at 2:46 p.m. Central time today
from Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center to deliver the 28,000
pound Starboard 1 (S1) truss segment to the International Space Station. |
| Moon-Based Systems
Could Supply Solar Power to Earth: The key to a prosperous
world is clean, safe, low-cost electrical energy, according to University
of Houston physicist David Criswell. And his idea for how to get it
is literally out of this world. For more than 20 years, Criswell has
been formulating the plans and the justification for building bases
on the moon to collect solar energy and beam it through space for use
by electricity-hungry Earthlings. |
| NASA: Hubble spots
an icy world far beyond Pluto: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope
has measured the largest object in the solar system seen since the
discovery of Pluto 72 years ago. Approximately half the size of Pluto,
the icy world 2002 LM60, dubbed Quaoar (pronounced kwa-whar) by its
discoverers, is the farthest object in the solar system ever to be
resolved by a telescope. |
| Researchers create
new strategy for removing arsenic from soil: Researchers
have developed the first transgenic system for removing arsenic from
the soil by using genetically modified plants. The new system could
have a major impact on arsenic pollution, which is a dramatic and growing
threat to the environment and to human and animal health worldwide. |
| ESA`s Integral satellite
ready for lift-off from Baikonur: ESA's Integral (International
Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory) satellite, will be launched by a
Proton launcher from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on 17 October at 06:41 CEST. |
| Polar pecking order
and biodiversity: New research into how biodiversity is
generated and maintained in the seas surrounding hostile Polar Regions
is reported in this month's Proceedings of the Royal Society. |
| Shuttle Mission STS-112
launch time announced for October 7th: Following the delay
caused by precautionary measures taken to protect the Mission Control
Center in Houston, Texas, from Hurricane Lili, the launch of Space
Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-112 is now set for Monday, Oct. 7. |
| Astronomers slice
and dice galaxies: New views of star birth and the heart
of a spiral galaxy have been seen by a state-of-the-art astronomical
instrument on its first night. The new UKIRT Imaging Spectrometer (UIST)
has a revolutionary ability to 'slice' any object in the sky into sections,
producing a three dimensional view of the conditions throughout entire
galaxies in a single observation. |
| JSC: Johnson Space
Center International Space Station Status Report #46 |
October 4-6, 2002 |
| Commission satellite
project detects urban air pollution from space: Fine particulate
matter is now one of the biggest threats to human health from air pollution.
A new technique to monitor the concentration of particulate matter
in urban air, using satellite-borne sensors, offers a much more cost-effective
approach than traditional land-based monitoring. |
| Amateur astronomers
ramp up to discover transits of extra-solar planets: Astronomers
have launched a Web-based project that has amateur astronomers lining
up to have a chance to discover extra-solar planets that 'transit'
or pass in front of their parent stars. |
| Shuttle experiment
to study how earthquakes turn solid soil into shifting sands: When
Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off in January, it will carry the Mechanics
of Granular Materials (MGM) experiment, which studies soil behavior
under conditions that cannot be duplicated on Earth -- the microgravity,
or low-gravity created as the Shuttle orbits Earth. |
| Astronomers put quasars
in their place: A team of UK astronomers has overturned
previous analyses which suggested that quasars and near-by galaxies
are physically associated, thus confirming the most widely-held view
that quasars are some of the most distant objects in the Universe. |
| NASA's historic
Return to Hubble launches the Science Channel's fall season: Four
times, NASA astronauts have serviced the Hubble Space Telescope. Each
mission left the orbiting observatory better, stronger, and with sharper
vision to scan the universe. |
| KSC: Kennedy Space
Center Shuttle & Payload Processing Status Reports |
October 3, 2002 |
| Deep sea basalt
may help reveal volcanoes impact on climate: By examining
volcanic rocks retrieved from deep in the ocean, scientists have found
they can estimate the carbon dioxide stored beneath much of the earth's
surface – a development that could enhance understanding of how
volcanoes affect climate. |
| Suction and pull
drive movement of Earth's plates: As anyone with a smattering
of geological knowledge knows, Earth's crust is made up of plates that
creep over the planet's surface at a rate of several inches per year.
But why do they move the way they do? Even experts have had trouble
teasing out the exact mechanisms. |
| Chandra captures
evolution of black hole X-ray jets: A series of images
from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has tracked for the first time
the life cycle of large-scale X-ray jets produced by a black hole.
As the jets evolved they were observed to travel at near light speed
for several years before slowing down and fading. |
| KSC: Kennedy Space
Center Spacecraft & Expendable Vehicles Status Report |
| Gene's role in Malaria
drug resistance prooved: In research supported by the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), David
A. Fidock, Ph.D., has proved conclusively that the malaria-causing
parasite Plasmodium falciparum became resistant to the anti-malarial
drug chloroquine through mutations in a single parasite gene. |
| Study reveals clues
to brain development - visual stimulation triggers nerve cell branching: Many
studies have shown that sensory deprivation, such as a lack of visual
stimulation soon after birth, can lead to developmental abnormalities
in the brain. |
| Robotic autonomous
gliders powered by the ocean itself: They call them gliders,
but these move through water instead of air. Two new robotic gliders--autonomous
underwater vehicles--powered by changes in their own buoyancy or by
different temperature layers in the ocean--will be tested operationally
off Southern California this winter. |
October 2, 2002 |
| Scientists decipher
genetic code of malaria parasite: In a landmark contribution
to the age-old battle against malaria, a consortium of scientists including
The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) announced today that they
have deciphered the complex genetic code of the parasite that causes
the deadliest form of the disease. |
| Researchers find
evidence that Antarctic ice stream has reversed its flow: It
is virtually impossible for a river or stream to first stop its flow
and then reverse course. But an ice stream in Antarctica has done precisely
that during the last 2 1Ž2 centuries, and scientists are trying to
figure out exactly why. |
| KSC: Kennedy Space
Center Shuttle & Payload Processing Status Reports |
| Warplane system could
cut mid-air explosion: Airlines are facing fresh calls
for their aircraft`s fuel tanks to be fitted with explosion-prevention
systems like those on military planes. This follows a warning from
Boeing that 3200 of its planes may have faulty fuel pumps that could
spark explosions. |
| JSC: Johnson Space
Center International Space Station Status Report #45 |
| ESA is helping to
make road transport more effective: Space is the usual
business of a space agency, so it may come as a surprise that the European
Space Agency (ESA) is giving some attention to road transport. |
| MIT model predicts
birthplace of defect in a material, applications include nanotechnology: Defects
such as cracks in a material are responsible for everything from malfunctioning
microchips to earthquakes. Now MIT engineers have developed a model
to predict a defect's birthplace, its initial features and how it begins
to advance through the material. |
October 1, 2002 |
| KSC: Kennedy Space
Center Shuttle & Payload Processing Status Reports |
| NASA's Mars Odyssey
releases first data archive to scientists: NASA has released
the first set of data taken by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft to the Planetary
Data System, which will now make the information available to research
scientists through a new online distribution and access system. |
| Neural stem cells
improve motor function in brain injuries: Neural stem
cells, transplanted into injured brains, survive, proliferate, and
improve brain function in laboratory models according to research based
at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. |
| Landcover changes
may rival greenhouse gases as cause of climate change: While
many scientists and policy makers have focused only on how heat-trapping
gases like carbon dioxide are altering our global climate, a new NASA-funded
study points to the importance of also including human-caused land-use
changes as a major factor contributing to climate change. |
| Integral: Tracking
extreme radiation across the Universe: Integral is the
International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory of the European Space
Agency. It is a cooperative mission with Russia and is scheduled for
launch on 17 October 2002 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. |
| DNA repair mechanisms
are concentrated in the active parts of the genome: The
majority of skin cancers originate from damage to DNA caused by exposure
to solar radiation. Researchers at the UAB have discovered that the
mechanisms our cells have for repairing this damage are concentrated
in the most active regions of the genome. |
| Earthquake activity
in Northridge has apparently subsided, says NASA: The
Northridge fault surprised residents of greater Los Angeles with a
magnitude 6.7 earthquake on January 17, 1994, killing 60, injuring
more than 7,000 and causing more than $20 billion in damage. Now, it
has surprised scientists again. |
| Scientists discover
genetic defect responsible for devastating brain disorder among Amish
babies: An international team, led by researchers from
the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), has discovered
the genetic cause for a rare form of microcephaly, a devastating brain
disorder that has stricken infants among the Older Order Amish for
nine generations. |
| Creative researcher
receives DOE's E.O. Lawrence Award for innovations in nanostructured
materials: C. Jeffrey Brinker will be one of seven scientists
awarded the Department of Energy's E.O. Lawrence award in a ceremony
on Oct. 28 in Washington, D.C. |
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