NASA landed on Mars, photographed distant worlds, added
to the International Space Station, took part in a lunar science
mission with India and made major progress toward returning
astronauts to the moon as the agency celebrated its 50th birthday in
2008. Here on Earth, NASA researchers recorded the continued decline
of Arctic sea ice, won awards for aviation breakthroughs, discovered
the cause of storms that brighten the Northern Lights and helped
create state-of-the-art swimsuits worn by Olympic gold medalists. Ten
of the top accomplishments of America's space agency in its golden
anniversary year are listed below:
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION NEARS COMPLETION ON 10TH ANNIVERSARY
NASA completed four space shuttle missions in 2008 to deliver modules
and hardware to the International Space Station, allowing it to grow
in size, volume and science capability. The flights also prepared the
station to house six crew members for long-duration missions and to
expand scientific exploration. The activation in 2008 of the European
Space Agency's Columbus module and Jules Verne Automated Transfer
Vehicle, as well as the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo
laboratory, marked the beginning of new human spaceflight control
centers in Germany, France and Japan that are working with existing
control centers in the U.S., Russia and Canada. Nov. 20 was the 10th
anniversary of the launch of Zarya, a Russian control module that was
the station's first component. In the decade since Zarya arrived in
orbit, the station has grown to become the largest spacecraft ever
built. Its mass has expanded to more than 313 tons, and its interior
volume is more than 25, 000 cubic feet, comparable to the size of a
five-bedroom house. The station now hosts 19 research facilities,
including nine sponsored by NASA, eight by European Space Agency and
two by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/10th_main.html
PHOENIX WRAPS UP SUCCESSFUL MISSION TO MARS
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander ceased communications Nov. 2 after
successfully returning unprecedented science data to Earth. Launched
Aug. 4, 2007, Phoenix safely touched down on Mars on May 25, 2008, at
a site farther north than where any previous spacecraft had landed.
Phoenix's soft landing on Mars was the first in 32 years and only the
third in history. Cameras on Phoenix sent more than 25, 000 images
back to Earth. Preliminary science data shed light on whether the
Martian arctic environment ever has been favorable for microbes;
documented a mildly alkaline soil environment unlike any found by
earlier missions; discovered small concentrations of salts that could
be nutrients for life; located calcium carbonate; and detected
perchlorate salt. The findings also advanced the goal of documenting
the history of water on Mars. Phoenix exceeded its planned
operational life of three to five months. Analysis of data from its
instruments continues.
http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix
ARES I ROCKET PASSES IMPORTANT DESIGN MILESTONE
NASA successfully completed the preliminary design review for the new
Ares I rocket in 2008. Starting in 2015, the rocket will launch the
Orion crew exploration vehicle, its crew of four to six astronauts,
and small payloads to the International Space Station. The rocket
also will be used as part of missions to explore the moon and beyond
in coming decades. The preliminary design review is the first such
milestone in more than 35 years for a U.S. rocket that will carry
astronauts into space. The review examined the design of Ares I to
confirm the planned technical approach will meet NASA's requirements
for the fully integrated vehicle and ensure all of the rocket's
components and supporting systems are designed to work together. NASA
is preparing for the rocket's first test flight in 2009. Hardware for
the test flight, including the forward skirt and the upper stage
simulator, began arriving at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida
this fall.
http://www.nasa.gov/ares
ARCTIC SEA ICE DECLINE CONTINUES
In September, Arctic sea ice coverage reached the second-lowest level
recorded since the dawn of the satellite era, according to
observations from the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data
Center at the University of Colorado. While slightly above the
record-low set in September 2007, this season further reinforces the
strong negative trend in summer sea ice coverage observed during the
past 30 years. In March, when the Arctic reached its annual maximum
sea ice coverage during the winter, scientists from NASA and the data
center reported that thick, older sea ice was continuing to decline.
NASA developed the capability to observe the extent and concentration
of sea ice from space using passive microwave sensors.
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/sep/HQ_08234_Artic_Sea_Ice.html
LIGHTING UP THE NIGHT
Researchers using a fleet of five NASA satellites discovered in 2008
that explosions of magnetic energy occurring a third of the way to
the moon power substorms that cause sudden brightenings and rapid
movements of the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights. The cause is
magnetic reconnection, a common process that occurs throughout the
universe when stressed magnetic field lines suddenly snap to a new
shape, like a rubber band that has been stretched too far. These
substorms often accompany intense space storms that can cause power
outages and disrupt radio communications and global positioning
system signals. Scientists are studying the beginning of substorms
using a network of 20 ground observatories located throughout Canada
and Alaska and five THEMIS, or Time History of Events and Macroscale
Interactions during Substorms, satellites.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/auroras/themis_power.html
HUBBLE FINDS PLANET CIRCLING A DISTANT STAR
Astronomers announced in 2008 that NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has
taken the first visible-light snapshot of a planet circling another
star. Observations taken 21 months apart by the coronagraph on
Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys showed the object orbiting
around a star named Fomalhaut. The planet, called Fomalhaut b, is
approximately 10 times the distance of Saturn from our sun. Estimated
to be as much as three times Jupiter's mass, Fomalhaut b is located
25 light-years away in the constellation Piscis Australis, or the
"Southern Fish." Fomalhaut has been a candidate for planet hunting
since an excess of dust was discovered around the star in the early
1980s by NASA's Infrared Astronomy Satellite. The planet is brighter
than expected for an object of three Jupiter masses. One possibility
is that it has a Saturn-like ring of ice and dust reflecting
starlight. Scientists theorize that the ring might eventually
coalesce to form moons.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/fomalhaut.html
NASA COMPLETES FIRST TESTS ON NEXT-GENERATION ROCKET ENGINE
NASA engineers successfully completed in 2008 the first series of
tests in the early development of the J-2X engine that will power the
upper stages of the Ares I and Ares V rockets. Ares I will launch the
Orion spacecraft that will take astronauts to the International Space
Station and on to the moon by 2020. Ares V will carry cargo and
components into orbit for trips to the moon and later to Mars. NASA
conducted nine tests of heritage J-2 engine components from December
to May as part of a series designed to verify J-2 performance data
and explore performance boundaries. Engineers at NASA's Stennis Space
Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., conducted the tests on a heritage
J-2 "powerpack, " which, in a fully assembled engine, pumps liquid
hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the engine's main combustion chamber
to produce thrust. The test hardware consisted of J-2 components used
from the Apollo program in the1960s through the X-33 program in the
1990s.
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/may/HQ_08116_power_pack_tests.html
NASA TEAM A RECIPIENT OF CELEBRATED COLLIER TROPHY
NASA was part of a team that received one of the most prestigious
awards in aviation in June. Judges for the Robert J. Collier Trophy,
awarded by the National Aeronautic Association, chose the Automatic
Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, team of public and
private groups to receive the 2007 honor. According to the selection
committee, "ADS-B is a ground-breaking effort for next-generation
airborne surveillance and cockpit avionics. Its implementation will
have a broad impact on the safety, capacity and efficiency of the
national airspace system." Researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center
in Moffett Field, Calif., and NASA's Langley Research Center in
Hampton, Va., were part of the extensive team that developed and
tested ADS-B.
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jun/HQ_08148_Collier_Trophy.html
NASA RETURNS TO THE MOON WITH INSTRUMENTS ON INDIAN SPACECRAFT
NASA has partnered with India to fly two science instruments aboard
the country's first lunar explorer, Chandrayaan-1. The Indian Space
Research Organization launched Chandrayaan-1 on Oct. 22 from
Sriharikota, India. It entered lunar orbit on Nov. 8. NASA's Moon
Mineralogy Mapper is surveying mineral resources of the moon, and the
Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar is mapping the moon's polar
regions and looking for ice deposits in the permanently shadowed
craters. Data from the two instruments is contributing to NASA's
increased understanding of the lunar environment as the agency
implements the nation's space exploration policy, which calls for
robotic and human missions to the moon.
http://moonmineralogymapper.jpl.nasa.gov/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/Mini-RF/main/index.html
NASA TESTS HELP RECORD-BREAKING OLYMPIANS ROCKET THROUGH WATER
NASA know-how helped swimsuit designers create a body suit worn by an
assortment of gold medalists and world record holders at the 2008
Summer Olympics in Beijing. Among the medalists wearing Speedo's LZR
Racer were Americans Michael Phelps -- winner of more Olympic gold
medals than any athlete in the modern era -- and Natalie Coughlin.
Aerospace engineer Steve Wilkinson at NASA's Langley Research Center
in Hampton, Va., played a role in developing the swimsuit by testing
dozens of fabrics in Langley's 7-by-11-inch low speed wind tunnel.
Warnaco Inc., the U.S. licensee of the Speedo swimwear brand,
approached Langley to test fabric samples because the NASA center has
researched drag reduction for aircraft and boats for decades. Just as
reducing drag helps planes fly more efficiently, reducing drag helps
swimmers go faster. Studies indicate viscous drag or skin friction is
almost a third of the total restraining force on a swimmer. Wind
tunnel tests measured the drag on the surface of the fabrics.
Speedo's research and development team, Aqualab, took the results and
used them to help create advanced "space-age" swimsuit designs.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/2008-0813-swimsuit.html
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