Articles tagged with Space Flight
Typhoon Soulik maintained its eye just before making landfall in southeastern China on July 13, and NASA's Terra satellite captured the eye in an image. The storm caused hundreds of deaths and missing due to heavy rainfall in southern China.
Tropical Depression Erick has reduced in strength and size, with strong convection diminishing greatly since July 8. It is expected to gradually spin down and become a remnant low-pressure area later today due to moving over even cooler waters.
Tropical Storm Dalila has weakened near the southwestern Mexico coast, while a new tropical low pressure area called System 97E has formed in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. The storm's maximum sustained winds dropped to 65 mph on July 2, and it is now moving away from the coast into open waters.
Tropical Storm Dalila is closely tracking the southwestern coast of Mexico, prompting a tropical storm warning and watch. The National Hurricane Center expects Dalila to intensify over the next couple of days, with minimum central pressure dropping from 1003 millibars.
The Silver Fire, burning in southern New Mexico's Gila National Forest, has consumed over 133,625 acres as of July 1. The fire, caused by a lightning strike on June 7, is partially contained at 50 percent.
Landsat 5, operated by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, set the record for the longest-operating Earth observation satellite with 28 years of service. The center also hosted the largest astronomy lesson event, breaking a Guinness World Record with over 500 participants in Austin, Texas.
NASA successfully launched a Terrier-Improved Orion sounding rocket on June 20, carrying experiments built by university students and instructors. The next launch on June 24 will feature two rockets supporting the Daytime Dynamo experiment, which studies global electrical currents in the ionosphere.
A tropical depression formed in the western Caribbean Sea on June 17, with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph. The center of the depression will move inland over southern Belize before potentially emerging into the Bay of Campeche, where it could strengthen into Tropical Storm Barry.
NASA's TRMM satellite measured rainfall totals of 400-600 mm over Cuba and the southeast Gulf of Mexico, with widespread flooding reported in western Cuba. Along Andrea's track, rainfall amounts were lighter, ranging from 45-150 mm over parts of South Carolina, eastern Georgia, and coastal North Carolina.
Post-Tropical cyclone Andrea sped away from the Maine coast, passing through Atlantic Canada before entering the Northern Atlantic. The storm brought tropical-strength winds and precipitation to areas like Portland, Maine, with 0.99 inch of rain recorded.
Multiple wildfires burned in eastern China, producing massive smoke plumes detected by NASA's Aqua satellite. The MODIS instrument revealed hot spots as red areas and smoke as light brown areas.
The Thompson Ridge Fire, located in the Valles Caldera National Preserve, has burned approximately 1,906 acres as of May 31, 2013. The Tres Lagunas Fire, started by a downed power line, has burned over 7,400 acres and is currently uncontained.
Hurricane Barbara made landfall along Mexico's southern Pacific coast, with NASA-NOAA satellites capturing its movement and rainfall rates. The storm weakened into a tropical depression after making landfall, with remnants dissipating over the western Gulf of Mexico.
The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission team successfully assembled the fourth and final observatory for NASA's MMS mission. This achievement marks a new challenge in engineering, as the team built four identical spacecraft simultaneously, a feat rarely accomplished even by experienced professionals.
Tropical Cyclone Mahasen brought heavy rains and tropical storm force winds to southern Bangladesh, resulting in reported deaths of at least 13 people. NASA's TRMM satellite measured the cyclone's rainfall rates from space, providing valuable insights into its impact.
The Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS) will monitor extreme solar energy output from the sun, disrupting telecommunications, air travel, and power grids. The GOES-R satellite is expected to launch in 2015, providing more advanced capabilities and frequent images.
Fermi's spacecraft dodged a catastrophic 1.5-ton bullet from the defunct spy satellite Cosmos 1805, avoiding an extremely close encounter. The successful maneuver was executed after NASA's CARA team predicted the potential collision just one week in advance.
NASA's Aqua satellite captured images of Cyclone Imelda on April 11, revealing a well-developed storm with tightly-curved bands of thunderstorms. The storm turned to the south due to wind shear, with powerful thunderstorms dropping heavy rainfall and having cloud top temperatures colder than -63 Fahrenheit.
The James Webb Space Telescope will feature 18 individual mirror segments that require precise alignment at extremely cold temperatures in space. The telescope's backplane is a truss structure made of lightweight but stiff tubes, holding the mirror segments together.
Scientists have found that Jupiter's hot spots are created by a Rossby wave pattern, which glides up and down through layers of the atmosphere. The researchers mapped wind speeds and tracked small cloud movements to tease out individual motions, revealing the wave's true nature.
The Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) mission will demonstrate laser communications from lunar orbit to Earth at six times the rate of modern-day radio systems. The system uses a highly reliable infrared laser and sophisticated pointing technology to accurately target ground stations across distances of up to 238,900 miles.
Paulo Oemig, a NASA Goddard educator fellow, has been chosen as the new teacher liaison for space education. He will use Space Foundation-provided training and resources to integrate space principles into the classroom.
The European Space Agency has selected NASA's Goddard team to join the Euclid mission, a space telescope designed to probe the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter. The project aims to explore the cosmic infrared background and provide insight into stellar and galactic populations in the early universe.
A powerful cold front is sweeping across the eastern United States, replacing spring-like temperatures with winter-time weather and producing powerful storms. The NOAA GOES-13 satellite captured a stunning image of the storm system on January 30, showing a line of clouds stretching from Canada to the US Gulf Coast.
The aft-optics subsystem of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has completed performance testing, marking a significant milestone in the telescope's integration and test activities. The successful completion of this testing demonstrates that the AOS can withstand the extreme temperatures and vibration environment of space.
The Landsat Data Continuity Mission will extend over 40 years of global land observations, critical in energy and water management, forest monitoring, and disaster recovery. The mission's instruments, including Operational Land Imager and Thermal Infrared Sensor, promise improved data quality and quantity.
The team used archival data from NASA's GALEX mission to study the galaxy's size and structure. They discovered a tidal dwarf candidate in the northeastern arm, which is bright in ultraviolet light and contains hot young stars less than 200 million years old.
A 520-day space simulation revealed alterations in sleep patterns and neurobehavioral consequences for astronauts. The study highlights the need for artificial light exposure, food intake, and exercise to maintain human behavior during prolonged space missions.
The Landsat 8 satellite, part of a 40-year record of change measurement from space, will continue to observe the planet in critical sectors like energy and water management. The satellite carries advanced instruments for land observation, including thermal imaging and coastal monitoring.
Typhoon Bopha's heavy rains caused severe flooding and landslides in the southern Philippines, killing hundreds of people. The TRMM satellite's data showed the heaviest rain was located near eastern Mindanao, with rainfall totals over 100mm covering a large area.
Scientists with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have restored the fully calibrated digital dust data from the Apollo 14 and 15 missions, allowing for long-term analysis of the lunar dust readings. This achievement is part of the Lunar Data Project, which aims to make scientific data from Apollo available in modern formats.
The Cassini mission has discovered a second feature shaped like the video game icon PAC-MAN on Saturn's moon Tethys. This finding confirms that high-energy electrons can dramatically alter icy satellite surfaces, and suggests that such anomalies may be widespread in the Saturn system.
Scientists have spotted a second Pac-Man thermal shape on Tethys, confirming that high-energy electrons can dramatically alter an icy moon's surface. The discovery suggests a more complex and varied process in the Saturn system.
Sandy's remnants continue to linger over a large area in eastern Canada and the northeastern US, with low-pressure areas stretching from Newfoundland and Labrador west over Quebec, Ottawa, and Toronto. The National Weather Service projects that the low-pressure area will shift offshore by November 6.
FOXSI will study nanoflares on the sun using a state-of-the-art x-ray telescope that focuses incoming x-rays. The mission aims to understand energy transfer and coronal heating by observing how these small flares impact the sun's atmosphere.
Hurricane Sandy's heavy rainfall caused catastrophic flooding along the US eastern seaboard, with rainfall totals over 260mm in open Atlantic waters and 180mm in coastal areas. The storm resulted in over 120 reported deaths, mainly due to flooding and high winds.
A new paper by Dr. Leonard Mermel reveals that microgravity weakens the immune system while increasing antimicrobial resistance in some microorganisms. In a spacecraft, germs can remain airborne for longer periods and spread more easily due to power limitations and recirculated air.
BioServe Space Technologies is providing an automated incubator for fluid-processing devices carrying a pathogenic yeast strain on the unmanned Dragon cargo spacecraft. The experiments aim to test how C. albicans responds to low gravity, a concern for astronauts' immune systems.
The James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror is composed of 18 hexagonal-shaped assemblies weighing over 40 kilograms each. The delivery of the first two mirrors marks an important step towards the telescope's integration and fulfillment of its scientific potential, enabling study of distant galaxies and the universe's formation.
Tropical Storm Nadine has cleared of convection, indicating a decrease in thunderstorms. A low-pressure area is forming in the central Atlantic, while another in the eastern Pacific shows promising signs of organization and warm sea surface temperatures.
Tropical Storm Nadine has continued to display tropical characteristics, indicating it has not transitioned to an extra-tropical storm. NASA's TRMM satellite gathered rainfall data, showing convection near the center and a maximum intensity of rainfall about 20 mm/hr.
Tropical Storm Nadine is nearing the Azores, prompting weather watches and warnings. Satellite imagery shows the storm's strongest convection north of its center, while ocean swells may affect the islands.
Tropical Storm Nadine strengthened to a hurricane on September 14 and weakened back to a tropical storm on September 16. NASA's Global Hawk aircraft investigated the storm, capturing data using instruments and dropsondes, while satellites obtained imagery from space.
Tropical Storm Kristy weakened to a remnant low pressure area while Hurricane Lane strengthened into a hurricane, according to NASA's Terra satellite observations. Lane exhibited a tighter circulation than Kristy, prompting warnings of life-threatening surf and rip current conditions in southern and central Baja California.
Hurricane Isaac brought beneficial rain to drought-stricken regions in the Midwest, with rainfall totals ranging from 40-120 mm. The storm also caused significant flooding in Haiti and southeastern Florida, resulting in fatalities and property damage.
Tropical Storm Gilma has maximum sustained winds near 65 mph, expected to weaken due to vertical wind shear. A low pressure area formerly known as Tropical storm Ernesto has a 60% chance of developing into a tropical depression in the Eastern Pacific.
The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) has renewed its Graduate Education Program in Space Life Sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Texas AûM University. The programs focus on space life sciences and provide Ph.D. training to students, with a combined value of $1 million over 5 years.
TRMM satellite data reveals areas of intense rainfall, with powerful convective thunderstorms dropping rain at a rate greater than 50mm/h, potentially intensifying the storm. Heavy rainfall is expected to cause flash floods and mudslides in affected regions, with up to 15 inches of rain predicted in some areas.
The National Space Biomedical Research Institute has awarded $100,000 to ACell, Inc. and Enterade USA LLC to develop innovative medical solutions addressing unmet health needs in space and on Earth. The funding will support the commercialization of wound-healing dressings and a radiation-rehydration drink.
NASA's TRMM satellite observed hot towers within Tropical Depression 06E, which later became Tropical Storm Fabio. The research found that storms with hot towers were twice as likely to intensify within six hours than those without.
The remnants of Tropical Storm Daniel are visible on satellite imagery as a ghost-like swirl of clouds, heading towards Hawaii. The system is forecast to pass south of the state without affecting it.
A team of scientists discovered that spaceflight suppressed the accumulation of toxic proteins in a microscopic worm, Caenorhabditis elegans. When the expression of genes involved in aging was lowered, the worms lived longer, suggesting that spaceflight may slow the aging process.
The HI-C mission will observe the solar corona at a resolution of up to 100 miles, surpassing existing instruments. The telescope's finely crafted mirrors, some of the best ever made, will capture structures in the sun's atmosphere with unprecedented detail.
Tropical Storm Debby caused widespread flooding and heavy rain in Florida, with the highest rainfall totals exceeding 380 mm (~15 inches). The storm's effects were felt well away from its center, resulting in an outbreak of tornadoes over central and southern Florida.
TRMM satellite data shows Debby's heaviest rains were falling at a rate of over 2 inches per hour, with numerous reports of 6-10 inches of rain already reported. The storm is expected to bring very heavy rains to northern and central Florida.
The UK Space Agency has invested £11.5M in the Solar Orbiter mission, which will discover how the Sun creates and controls the heliosphere by flying closer than ever before to the Sun. The mission will study the Sun's magnetic field and solar activity, including coronal mass ejections that can affect Earth.
Post-tropical storm Alberto's remnants interact with a cold front off the US East coast, moving northeast. The weak circulation dissipates by May 25, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Several critical NASA components are being tested to ensure the success of the James Webb Space Telescope. The OSIM and BIA instruments will simulate the telescope's science cameras and spectrographs, while also verifying their functionality in cryogenic temperatures. This testing program is essential for the mission's success.
The TRMM satellite observed powerful thunderstorms in northeastern Texas, reaching heights of over 8 miles. The storms dropped softball-sized hail and triggered 18 reported tornadoes on April 3.
A powerful weather system moved through eastern Texas, dropping at least 15 tornadoes in the Dallas suburbs. The NOAA's GOES-13 satellite captured the movement of the storm system, showing the progression of the frontal system that generated the twisters.