Monthly Archives: December 2016

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NASA News Digest: Space Science For 5 December – 23 December 2016

Posted on December 27, 2016 12:08 pm - - Leave a Comment

Greetings fellow astrophiles,

The NASA News Service provides up-to-date announcements of NASA policy, news events, and space science. A recent selection of space science articles are provided below, including direct links to the full announcements. Those interested in receiving these announcements from NASA can subscribe to their service by sending an email to: hqnews-request@newsletters.nasa.gov?subject=subscribe

Spinoff 2017 Shows How NASA Technology Makes A Difference On Earth

RELEASE 16-114 (Click here for the full article) – 5 December 2016

NASA has released its Spinoff 2017 publication, which takes a close look at 50 different companies that are using NASA technology – innovations developed by NASA, with NASA funding, or under a contract with the agency – in products that we all benefit from.

Whether it’s the self-driving tractor that harvests food, cameras used in car-crash safety tests, or tools making brain surgery safer, NASA technology plays a significant role in our daily lives.

“The stories published in Spinoff represent the end of a technology transfer pipeline that begins when researchers and engineers at NASA develop innovations to meet mission needs,” said Stephen Jurczyk, associate administrator of the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington. “This year’s spinoffs includes products and services at work in every sector of the economy. They are innovations that make people more productive, protect the environment, and much more.”

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For print and digital versions of Spinoff 2017, and for more information, visit: spinoff.nasa.gov

NASA Shares The Universe On Pinterest And GIPHY

RELEASE 16-117 (Click here for the full article) – 8 December 2016

NASA now is sharing its best images on official Pinterest and GIPHY accounts, providing visitors an out-of-this-world journey through animated GIFs and images of Earth and beyond.

On Pinterest, NASA is posting new and historic images and videos, known as pins, to collections called pinboards. This social media platform allows users to browse and discover images from across NASA’s many missions in aeronautics, astrophysics, Earth science, human spaceflight, and more, and pin them to their own pinboards. Pinboards are often used for creative ideas for home decor and theme-party planning, inspiration for artwork and other far-out endeavors.

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To follow NASA on Pinterest, visit: www.pinterest.com/nasa

To see NASA’s animated GIFs on GIPHY, visit: giphy.com/nasa

For a complete list of official NASA social media accounts and platforms, visit: www.nasa.gov/socialmedia

NASA Remembers American Legend John Glenn

RELEASE 16-118 (Click here for the full article) – 8 December 2016

The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on the passing of Sen. John Glenn:
“Today, the first American to orbit the Earth, NASA astronaut and Ohio Senator John Glenn, passed away. We mourn this tremendous loss for our nation and the world. As one of NASA’s original Mercury 7 astronauts, Glenn’s riveting flight aboard Friendship 7 on Feb. 20, 1962, united our nation, launched America to the forefront of the space race, and secured for him a unique place in the annals of history.

“While that first orbit was the experience of a lifetime, Glenn, who also had flown combat missions in both World War II and the Korean War as a Marine aviator, continued to serve his country as a four-term Senator from Ohio, as a trusted statesman, and an educator. In 1998, at the age of 77, he became the oldest human to venture into space as a crew member on the Discovery space shuttle — once again advancing our understanding of living and working in space.

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For more information about Glenn’s NASA career, and his agency biography, visit: www.nasa.gov/johnglenn

Space Laser Reveals Boom-and-Bust Cycle Of Polar Ocean Plants

RELEASE 16-121 (Click here for the full article) – 20 December 2016

A new study using a NASA satellite instrument orbiting Earth has found that small, environmental changes in polar food webs significantly influence the boom-and-bust, or peak and decline, cycles of phytoplankton. These findings will supply important data for ecosystem management, commercial fisheries and our understanding of the interactions between Earth’s climate and key ocean ecosystems.

“It’s really important for us to understand what controls these boom-and-bust cycles, and how they might change in the future so we can better evaluate the implications on all other parts of the food web,” said Michael Behrenfeld, a marine plankton expert at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

Phytoplankton also influence Earth’s carbon cycle. Through photosynthesis, they absorb a great deal of the carbon dioxide dissolved in the upper ocean and produce oxygen, which is vital for life on Earth. This reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

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For more information about NASA’s Earth science activities, visit: www.nasa.gov/earth

NASA Administrator Remembers NASA Scientist, Astronaut Piers Sellers

RELEASE 16-122 (Click here for the full article) – 23 December 2016

The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on Piers Sellers, who passed away Friday in Houston of pancreatic cancer:

“The entire NASA family mourns the passing of scientist and astronaut Piers Sellers.

“Piers was dedicated to all facets of exploration. His curiosity and drive to uncover new knowledge was generously shared with audiences around the world, both from space and in wide travels to reach as many people as possible with an essential understanding of our fragile planet.

“Piers devoted his life to saving the planet. As a climate scientist, his work in computer modeling of the climate system, satellite remote sensing studies and field work using aircraft, satellites and ground teams broke new ground in our understanding of Earth’s systems. His legacy will be one not only of urgency that the climate is warming but also of hope that we can yet improve humanity’s stewardship of this planet. His cancer diagnosis became a catalyst for him to work even harder on efforts to save the planet from global warming for the benefit of future generations.

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For more information about Piers Sellers’ NASA career, visit: science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sed/bio/piers.j.sellers

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NASA Space Place – Big Science In Small Packages

Posted on December 17, 2016 8:57 am - - Leave a Comment

Poster’s Note: One of the many under-appreciated aspects of NASA is the extent to which it publishes quality science content for children and Ph.D.’s alike. NASA Space Place has been providing general audience articles for quite some time that are freely available for download and republishing. Your tax dollars help promote science! The following article was provided for reprinting in December, 2016.

By Marcus Woo

2013february2_spaceplaceAbout 250 miles overhead, a satellite the size of a loaf of bread flies in orbit. It’s one of hundreds of so-called CubeSats—spacecraft that come in relatively inexpensive and compact packages—that have launched over the years. So far, most CubeSats have been commercial satellites, student projects, or technology demonstrations. But this one, dubbed MinXSS (“minks”) is NASA’s first CubeSat with a bona fide science mission.

Launched in December 2015, MinXSS has been observing the sun in X-rays with unprecedented detail. Its goal is to better understand the physics behind phenomena like solar flares – eruptions on the sun that produce dramatic bursts of energy and radiation.

Much of the newly-released radiation from solar flares is concentrated in X-rays, and, in particular, the lower energy range called soft X-rays. But other spacecraft don’t have the capability to measure this part of the sun’s spectrum at high resolution—which is where MinXSS, short for Miniature Solar X-ray Spectrometer, comes in.

Using MinXSS to monitor how the soft X-ray spectrum changes over time, scientists can track changes in the composition in the sun’s corona, the hot outermost layer of the sun. While the sun’s visible surface, the photosphere, is about 6000 Kelvin (10,000 degrees Fahrenheit), areas of the corona reach tens of millions of degrees during a solar flare. But even without a flare, the corona smolders at a million degrees—and no one knows why.

One possibility is that many small nanoflares constantly heat the corona. Or, the heat may come from certain kinds of waves that propagate through the solar plasma. By looking at how the corona’s composition changes, researchers can determine which mechanism is more important, says Tom Woods, a solar scientist at the University of Colorado at Boulder and principal investigator of MinXSS: “It’s helping address this very long-term problem that’s been around for 50 years: how is the corona heated to be so hot.”

The $1 million original mission has been gathering observations since June.

The satellite will likely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere in March. But the researchers have built a second one slated for launch in 2017. MinXSS-2 will watch long-term solar activity—related to the sun’s 11-year sunspot cycle—and how variability in the soft X-ray spectrum affects space weather, which can be a hazard for satellites. So the little-mission-that-could will continue—this time, flying at a higher, polar orbit for about five years.

If you’d like to teach kids about where the sun’s energy comes from, please visit the NASA Space Place: spaceplace.nasa.gov/sun-heat/

This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Caption: Astronaut Tim Peake on board the International Space Station captured this image of a CubeSat deployment on May 16, 2016. The bottom-most CubeSat is the NASA-funded MinXSS CubeSat, which observes soft X-rays from the sun—such X-rays can disturb the ionosphere and thereby hamper radio and GPS signals. (The second CubeSat is CADRE — short for CubeSat investigating Atmospheric Density Response to Extreme driving – built by the University of Michigan and funded by the National Science Foundation.) Credit: ESA/NASA

About NASA Space Place

With articles, activities, crafts, games, and lesson plans, NASA Space Place encourages everyone to get excited about science and technology. Visit spaceplace.nasa.gov (facebook|twitter) to explore space and Earth science!

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TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique: Two Talks From Intel International Science & Engineering Fair Finalists

Posted on December 13, 2016 11:19 am - - Leave a Comment

Saturday – December 17, 9:30-11:00am

Milton J Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology – Syracuse, NY


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Lectures:

Talk 1: “TESLA: Glimpse Of Your Future Car”
Talk 2: “Learn How To Code And Use Your Skills To Develop A Successful Project And Business”

Please RSVP to jrcafe@tacny.org.

Speakers:

Talk 1 – Andrew Park, High School Senior, Manlius Pebble Hill
Talk 2 – Alexander Wulff, High School Senior, Skaneateles High School

Talk Overviews:

Talk 1 – After the recent reveal of TESLA’s Model 3, we got a quick glance to the future of the automobile industry. With more than 400,000 pre-orders, TESLA’s Model 3 shows that the world is finally realizing that electric cars are simply “better” than gasoline cars. Explore the fascinating nature of electric cars and why you want it as your first car!

Talk 2 – Almost everything in today’s world relies upon a few hundred to millions of lines of code in one of hundreds of different programming languages; you can start programming with just a web browser! Learn how Alex used programming to start a successful website and mobile application development business, and to create award-winning electronics projects, and how you can do the same!

Biographies:

Andrew Park is part of National Honor Society, Varsity Soccer, Varsity Golf, Math League, and Science Olympiad, and plays 1st Clarinet for Wind Ensemble. Outside of school, Andrew is a student editor for the Korea Daily Newspaper. Andrew received the Intel ISEF (Intel International Science and Engineering Fair) Finalist Award, the IEEE Award, and Highest Honors at the Central New York Science and Engineering Fair (CNYSEF). Andrew also created a history documentary, and was selected as a National History Day Finalist after receiving Second Place at New York State History Day and First Place at Central New York History Day. Andrew’s favorite hobbies are watching Parks and Recreation and riding his bicycle.

Alex Wulff’s passions lie in electronics and software. While recovering from a soccer injury, Alex began to experiment with the creation of electronics on the Arduino platform. Since then, Alex’ output ranges from interactive door locks to wearable assistive devices for the blind, which won the Intel ISEF Finalist Award at the CNYSEF, and a fourth place award at the Intel ISEF in 2015. In 2016, Alex created smart embedded cast-monitoring devices that can predict the onset of complications in orthopedic casts and splints, which again won him the grand prize at the CNYSEF and a fourth place award at ISEF. Alex’s business, Conifer Apps, owns, operates, and maintains multiple websites as well as 13 mobile apps on the iOS App Store.

TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique

TACNY Junior Cafe Scientifique, a program for middle-school students founded in 2005, features discussions about topics in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in an informal atmosphere and seeks to encourage students to consider careers in these areas. Students must be accompanied by an adult and can explore the MOST at no cost after the event.

Technology Alliance of Central New York

Founded in 1903 as the Technology Club of Syracuse, the nonprofit Technology Alliance of Central New York’s mission is to facilitate community awareness, appreciation, and education of technology; and to collaborate with like-minded organizations across Central New York.

For more information about TACNY, visit www.tacny.org.

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“Upstate NY Stargazing In December” Article Posted To newyorkupstate.com And syracuse.com

Posted on December 3, 2016 9:20 am - - Leave a Comment

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

The latest article in the series, “Upstate NY Stargazing in December: Geminid meteor shower, another Supermoon,” has just been posted to newyorkupstate.com and syracuse.com.

The discussion is fairly Taurus-centric this month, and very much localized to that part of the sky with the Geminids, Supermoon, and Aldebaran occultation occurring all mid-month. This month also includes more event announcements for several NY astronomy clubs with posted December observing sessions, which reportedly worked out (too?) well for Baltimore Woods attendance.

Direct Link: newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/2016/12/…_meteor_shower_another_supermoon.html

Direct Link: syracuse.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2016/12/…_meteor_shower_another_supermoon.html

The Learn A Constellation section also includes one of my all-time favorite images. Among the many treasures in the Lascaux Cave paintings is one that very, very much looks like a simple constellation map of Orion’s Belt, the Pleiades, and the Hyades, with the Hyades superimposed on a drawing of a bull with extra-long horns – all a perfect match for that part of the sky.

Time may never tell if we can track down the descendants of the artist as they migrated through southern Europe and into the Middle East and North Africa, carrying the story of the great Bull in the Sky with them that ultimately became our constellation Taurus. The story of people and animals in the sky may not be in our distant folklore, but it did make its way into our DNA in the way that we see such pictures where none actually exist (better to be safe than sorry when that bump on the savanna turns out to be more toothy than the usual mount of dirt).

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Caption: No bull – a Lascaux painting marking the location of an ancient Taurus, c.a. 15,500 B.C. Click for a larger view.
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