InSight's investigation of the Red Planet's interior is designed to increase understanding of how all rocky planets, including Earth, formed and evolved,” said Bruce Banerdt, InSight Principal Investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California. “Mars retains evidence about the rocky planets' early development that has been erased on Earth by internal churning Mars lacks. Gaining information about the core, mantle and crust of Mars is a high priority for planetary science, and InSight was built to accomplish this."
Using rocket propulsion, SpaceX guided the stage to a slow, controlled stop at Landing Zone 1, a former U.S. Air Force rocket and missile testing range last used in 1978 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
“Science fiction has been an inspiration to generations of scientists and engineers, and the film series Star Wars is no exception,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for the NASA Science Mission directorate. “There is no stronger case for the motivational power of real science than the discoveries that come from the Hubble Space Telescope as it unravels the mysteries of the universe."
There have been other tie-ins, such as the discussion with a NASA engineer about what it would take to build a Death Star. Let's not roll out that plan just yet since presidential candidate Trump is still looking for something "huge" to resolve matters in the Middle East.This celestial lightsaber does not lie in a galaxy far, far away, but rather inside our home galaxy, the Milky Way. It’s inside a turbulent birthing ground for new stars known as the Orion B molecular cloud complex, located 1,350 light-years away.
On Monday, NASA started accepting applications for its new class of astronauts. Applying is simple: Just log in to USAjobs.gov, search for "astronaut," and upload your resume and references. The job description says "Frequent travel may be required."
It's a bit more difficult to be picked. In 2013, more than 6,000 people applied to the program. Only eight were selected. That's an acceptance rate of less than 1 percent.
Control Number: 423817000NASA is accepting applications for a new class of astronauts. Today, more new human spacecraft are in development in the United States (U.S.) than at any time in history, and future Astronaut Candidates will have the opportunity to explore farther in space than humans have ever been.
The next class of astronauts may fly on any of four different U.S. spacecraft during their careers: the International Space Station (ISS), two new commercial spacecraft being built by U.S. companies, and NASA's Orion deep-space exploration vehicle. NASA is in the midst of an unprecedented transition to using commercial spacecraft for its scheduled crew and cargo transport to the ISS. For the last 15 years, humans have been living continuously aboard the orbiting laboratory, expanding scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies. Future crewmembers will continue this work.
Additionally, the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, now in development, will launch astronauts on missions to the proving ground of lunar orbit where NASA will learn to conduct complex operations in a deep space environment before moving on to longer duration missions on the journey to Mars.
To date, NASA has selected more than 300 astronauts to fly on its increasingly challenging missions to explore space and benefit life on Earth. More will be needed to crew future ISS missions, as well as, the missions beyond low earth orbit.
To receive consideration you must meet the minimum requirements by the closing date of the announcement; and submit all required information by the closing date of the announcement via USAJOBS. More detailed instructions to follow in the 'How to Apply' section of this announcement.
Astronauts are involved in all aspects of training for and conducting operations in space, including on the ISS, on Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and in the development and testing of future spacecraft. This includes extravehicular activities (EVA), robotics operations using the remote manipulator system, the ability to operate and conduct research experiments, the ability to operate as a safe member of an aircraft crew (including flight planning and communications), and spacecraft maintenance activities. Astronauts also participate in mission simulations to help themselves and flight controllers in the Mission Control Center operate in the dynamic environment of low earth orbit. Additionally, astronauts serve as the public face of NASA, providing appearances across the country, and sharing NASA's discoveries and goals.
Long-duration missions aboard the ISS generally last from three to six months. Training for long-duration missions is very arduous and takes approximately two to three years. This training requires extensive travel, including long periods away in other countries training with NASA's international partners.
Applicants must meet the following minimum requirements before submitting an application:
1. Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science, or mathematics.
Notes on Academic Requirements:
Applicants for the Astronaut Candidate Program must meet the basic education requirements for NASA engineering and scientific positions; specifically, successful completion of standard professional curriculum in an accredited college or university leading to at least a bachelor's degree with major study in an appropriate field of engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science, or mathematics.
The following degree fields are not considered qualifying:
--Degrees in Technology (Engineering Technology, Aviation Technology, Medical Technology, etc.)
--Degrees in Psychology (except for Clinical Psychology, Physiological Psychology, or Experimental Psychology, which are qualifying)
--Degrees in Nursing
--Degrees in Exercise Physiology or similar fields
--Degrees in Social Sciences (Geography, Anthropology, Archaeology, etc.)
--Degrees in Aviation, Aviation Management, or similar fields
2. At least 3 years of related, progressively responsible, professional experience obtained after degree completion OR at least 1,000 hours pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft. An advanced degree is desirable and may be substituted for experience as follows: master's degree = 1 year of experience, doctoral degree = 3 years of experience. Teaching experience, including experience at the K - 12 levels, is considered to be qualifying experience for the Astronaut Candidate position, provided the initial degree is qualifying.
3. Ability to pass the NASA long-duration astronaut physical, which includes the following specific requirements:
Distant and near visual acuity must be correctable to 20/20, each eye. The use of glasses is acceptable.
The refractive surgical procedures of the eye, PRK and LASIK, are allowed. Note that such surgeries are permitted, but not required for potential applicants.
Since all crewmembers will be expected to fly aboard a specific spacecraft vehicle and perform EVA activities (spacewalks), applicants must meet the anthropometric requirements for both the specific spacecraft vehicle and the EVA mobility unit (spacesuit). Applicants brought in for an interview will be evaluated to ensure they meet the anthropometric requirements.
Basic Education Requirement: A bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with major study in engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science, or mathematics.
Degrees in engineering technology are not considered to be qualifying for this position.
An advanced degree is desirable.
U.S. citizenship is required.
Applicants will be evaluated by an Astronaut Rating Panel based on the academic and work experience qualification requirements stated in this announcement. Eligible candidates will be placed in qualified and highly-qualified categories. Highly-qualified applicants will be evaluated by an Astronaut Selection Board based on the academic and work experience qualification requirements and reference checks. Best qualified applicants will be interviewed. The finalists will be referred to the appropriate official who will make the selections.
You can review our benefits at: http://nasapeople.nasa.gov/benefits_lp.htm
In this composite image we see Earth appear to rise over the lunar horizon from the viewpoint of the spacecraft, with the center of the Earth just off the coast of Liberia (at 4.04 degrees North, 12.44 degrees West). The large tan area in the upper right is the Sahara Desert, and just beyond is Saudi Arabia. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America are visible to the left. On the moon, we get a glimpse of the crater Compton, which is located just beyond the eastern limb of the moon, on the lunar farside.
A TNO, or Trans-Neptunian Object (like Pluto), which is any body that orbits the sun beyond Neptune; a Super-Earth, meaning bigger than Earth but smaller than the gas giants like Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune or Uranus; or a very cool brown dwarf, which is what some scientists refer to as a failed star - bigger than Jupiter, but not big enough to produce the fusion necessary to become a star.That is certainly a wide range of possibilities. Scientists with the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala Space Observatory, and SE-439 92 Onsala, Sweden published a paper that stated:
The obvious question then is, what is its nature and why has it escaped earlier detection? Is it always too close to the binary? Is it too cold? In that case, i.e., at temperatures below a hundred Kelvin or so, the non-detection at shorter wavelengths, with e.g.WISE, would be reconcilable.Good questions that other scientists will be very eager to answer.
This is outrageous. And it is shameful. And it is the height of hypocrisy, especially for my colleagues who claim to care about the plight of Ukraine and the need to punish Russia for its aggression. How can our government tell European governments that they need to hold the line on maintaining sanctions on Russia, which is far harder for them to do than us, when we are gutting our own policy in this way? How can we tell our French allies, in particular, that they should not sell Vladimir Putin amphibious assault ships, as we have, and then turn around and try to buy rocket engines from Putin’s cronies? Again, this is the height of hypocrisy.Excellent points, yet Senator Shelby from Alabama was not deterred by Senator McCain's remarks and defended his middle-of-the-night manuever:
I’m the first one to argue that we should not be dependent upon any foreign power for access to space — especially in the national security arena. I have already worked to secure more than $300 million in funding for the development of an American-made rocket engine. However, recklessly restricting the use of the RD-180 in the near-term will undermine both national security and the prospects for real competition in the military launch business.I expect the United Launch Alliance believes Senator Shelby has been good this year and will properly reward him with a little something extra in his Christmas stocking.
Hundreds of years in the future, humans have colonized the solar system. The U.N. controls Earth. Mars is an independent military power. The planets rely on the resources of the Asteroid Belt, where air and water are more precious than gold. For decades, tensions have been rising between these three places. Earth, Mars and the Belt are now on the brink of war. And all it will take is a single spark.
It is within this future that The Expanse begins. The series follows the case of a missing young woman that brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship’s captain together in a race across the solar system that will expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.
Below we have another image showing the distant surface contains a series of smaller stories told over time. Again, NASA describes the image in detail (and here is a video showing all these shots together):The Mountainous Shoreline of Sputnik Planum: In this highest-resolution image from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, great blocks of Pluto’s water-ice crust appear jammed together in the informally named al-Idrisi mountains. "The mountains bordering Sputnik Planum are absolutely stunning at this resolution," said New Horizons science team member John Spencer of the Southwest Research Institute. "The new details revealed here, particularly the crumpled ridges in the rubbly material surrounding several of the mountains, reinforce our earlier impression that the mountains are huge ice blocks that have been jostled and tumbled and somehow transported to their present locations."
This highest-resolution image from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft reveals new details of Pluto’s rugged, icy cratered plains, including layering in the interior walls of many craters. "Impact craters are nature's drill rigs, and the new, highest-resolution pictures of the bigger craters seem to show that Pluto's icy crust, at least in places, is distinctly layered,” said William McKinnon, deputy lead of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team, from Washington University in St. Louis. "Looking into Pluto’s depths is looking back into geologic time, which will help us piece together Pluto's geological history.”
Meteorological information will be obtained by globally mapping clouds and minor constituents successively with 4 cameras at ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths, detecting lightning with a high-speed imager, and observing the vertical structure of the atmosphere with radio science technique. The equatorial elongated orbit with westward revolution fits the observations of the movement and temporal variation of the Venusian atmosphere which rotates westward. The systematic, continuous imaging observations will provide us with an unprecedented large dataset of the Venusian atmospheric dynamics. Additional targets of the mission are the exploration of the ground surface and the observation of zodiacal light.The Akatsuki was designed to complement the European Space Agency's (ESA) Venus Express, which went into orbit over the planet in 2006. Venus Express could only wait so long. ESA lost most contact with the spacecraft in November last year. Fortunately, the spacecraft had accomplished its full mission by that point.
In its press release announcing the successful mission, Orbital ATK stated it hopes to begin using its own Antares rocket by next year:Science payloads will support science and research investigations that will occur during the space station’s Expeditions 45 and 46, including experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science -- research that impacts life on Earth. Investigations will offer a new life science facility that will support studies on cell cultures, bacteria and other microorganisms, a microsatellite deployer and the first microsatellite that will be deployed from the space station, and experiments that will study the behavior of gases and liquids and clarify the thermo-physical properties of molten steel and evaluations of flame-resistant textiles
Under the CRS contract with NASA, Orbital ATK will deliver approximately 62,000 pounds (28,000 kilograms) of cargo to the ISS over 10 missions through 2018. To date, the company has delivered more than seven tons of essential supplies to the ISS since the first mission conducted in early 2014, with three additional CRS missions scheduled for 2016. Another Cygnus mission will be launched on an Atlas V in March, after which Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket will launch at least two ISS resupply missions in the second and fourth quarters of 2016.
These events are extremely rare...It's the first time we see everything from the stellar destruction followed by the launch of a conical outflow, also called a jet, and we watched it unfold over several months.We have seen this before. Years back NASA's Swift satellite discovered evidence of a neutron star being swallowed by a black hole back in 2005. It is not the same thing as watching a sun like our own being pulled apart, but it similarly demonstrates the danger of a star's proximity to the sun.
These images, taken with NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer and the Pan-STARRS1 telescope in Hawaii, show a brightening inside a galaxy caused by a flare from its nucleus. The arrow in each image points to the galaxy. The flare is a signature of the galaxy's central black hole shredding a star that wandered too close.Yes, the universe can be a violent place.
Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos will receive just 1.5 trillion rubles ($22.5 billion) in government funding over the next ten years, less than half of estimated figures cited by space officials earlier this year, a Roscosmos statement said on Monday evening.Hard times in Russia are taking their toll. Yet optimism appears to be in the air. A TASS article in the same week discussed Russia's plans to send cosmonauts to the moon by 2029, stating
According to a preliminary plan, Russia’s first manned flight to the Moon is possible in 2029. One year ahead of that it is planned to conduct a flight around the Moon, the testing and qualification of space systems for the future manned landing. However, this project may become a reality only if the work to create a new-generation manned transport spacecraft, the Angara-A5 rocket, lunar boosters and other needed rocket and space technology and infrastructure is included in the draft Federal Space Program for 2016-2025.Russia also plans to send a lunar lander, Luna 25, to the moon's south pole in 2024. Certainly an ambitious schedule for a space agency short of funds. Yet clear targets can better center efforts and resources. We need more of that in the US (as well as more funds).
We are not contending that they did not fly [to the moon], and simply made a film about it. But all of these scientific — or perhaps cultural — artifacts are part of the legacy of humanity, and their disappearance without a trace is our common loss. An investigation will reveal what happened.Maybe this latest booster sighting will help Mr. Markin sleep a little better. Russia can train its telescopes on the site if it wants its own footage of moon rocks disturbed by a U.S. lunar landing.
On the northwestern coast of Madagascar, the salty waters of the Mozambique Channel penetrate inland to join with the freshwater outflow of the Betsiboka River, forming Bombetoka Bay. Numerous islands and sandbars have formed in the estuary from the large amount of sediment carried in by the Betsiboka River and have been shaped by the flow of the river and the push and pull of tides.
The part of the bay shown in the scene is just upriver from the important Malagasy (the adjective used to describe things and people from Madagascar) port city of Mahajanga. Near water, shrimp and rice farming are common—the rectangular blue areas near the top center edge may be shrimp pens—while coffee plantations abound in the surrounding terrain.