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, 2017.
The Space Place article format has changed recently, including more embedded images. To simplify the posting process, a PDF version of the article is provided below, with a snippet of the article reproduced below it.
There are many places on Earth where it snows, but did you know it snows on other worlds, too? Here are just a few of the places where you might find snow beyond Earth:
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A Moon of Saturn: Enceladus
Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, has geysers that shoot water vapor out into space. There it freezes and falls back to the surface as snow. Some of the ice also escapes Enceladus to become part of Saturn’s rings. The water vapor comes from a heated ocean which lies beneath the moon’s icy surface. (Jupiter’s moon Europa is also an icy world with a liquid ocean below the frozen surface.) All of this ice and snow make Enceladus one of the brightest objects in our solar system.
Caption: Enceladus as viewed from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA
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!
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
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 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.
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
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
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.
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
Be An Astronaut: NASA Seeks Explorers For Future Space Missions
In anticipation of returning human spaceflight launches to American soil, and in preparation for the agency’s journey to Mars, NASA announced it will soon begin accepting applications for the next class of astronaut candidates. With more human spacecraft in development in the United States today than at any other time in history, future astronauts will launch once again from the Space Coast of Florida on American-made commercial spacecraft, and carry out deep-space exploration missions that will advance a future human mission to Mars.
The agency will accept applications from Dec. 14 through mid-February and expects to announce candidates selected in mid-2017. Applications for consideration as a NASA Astronaut will be accepted at: http://www.usajobs.gov
The next class of astronauts may fly on any of four different U.S. vessels during their careers: the International Space Station, two commercial crew spacecraft currently in development by U.S. companies, and NASA’s Orion deep-space exploration vehicle.
From pilots and engineers, to scientists and medical doctors, NASA selects qualified astronaut candidates from a diverse pool of U.S. citizens with a wide variety of backgrounds.
The agency will accept applications from Dec. 14 through mid-February and expects to announce candidates selected in mid-2017. Applications for consideration as a NASA Astronaut will be accepted at:
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For more information about a career as a NASA astronaut, and application requirements, visit: www.nasa.gov/astronauts
NASA Mission Reveals Speed of Solar Wind Stripping Martian Atmosphere
NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission has identified the process that appears to have played a key role in the transition of the Martian climate from an early, warm and wet environment that might have supported surface life to the cold, arid planet Mars is today.
MAVEN data have enabled researchers to determine the rate at which the Martian atmosphere currently is losing gas to space via stripping by the solar wind. The findings reveal that the erosion of Mars’ atmosphere increases significantly during solar storms. The scientific results from the mission appear in the Nov. 5 issues of the journals Science and Geophysical Research Letters.
“Mars appears to have had a thick atmosphere warm enough to support liquid water which is a key ingredient and medium for life as we currently know it,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for the NASA Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “Understanding what happened to the Mars atmosphere will inform our knowledge of the dynamics and evolution of any planetary atmosphere. Learning what can cause changes to a planet’s environment from one that could host microbes at the surface to one that doesn’t is important to know, and is a key question that is being addressed in NASA’s journey to Mars.”
From possible ice volcanoes to twirling moons, NASA’s New Horizons science team is discussing more than 50 exciting discoveries about Pluto at this week’s 47th Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences in National Harbor, Maryland.
“The New Horizons mission has taken what we thought we knew about Pluto and turned it upside down,” said Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “It’s why we explore — to satisfy our innate curiosity and answer deeper questions about how we got here and what lies beyond the next horizon.”
For one such discovery, New Horizons geologists combined images of Pluto’s surface to make 3-D maps that indicate two of Pluto’s most distinctive mountains could be cryovolcanoes — ice volcanoes that may have been active in the recent geological past.
During a noon EST media teleconference today, NASA and university scientists will discuss new insights, tools and agency research into key carbon and climate change questions, as the agency ramps up its efforts to understand how Earth’s ocean, forest, and land ecosystems absorb nearly half of emitted carbon dioxide today.
Carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by human activities influences the amount of the sun’s energy trapped by Earth’s atmosphere. These emissions are the subject of a United Nations climate conference in Paris later this month. To improve the information available to policymakers on this issue, scientists are grappling with the complex question of whether Earth’s oceans, forests and land ecosystems will maintain their capacity to absorb about half of all human-produced carbon dioxide emissions in the future.
“NASA is at the forefront of scientific understanding in this area, bringing together advanced measurement technologies, focused field experiments, and cutting-edge research to reveal how carbon moves around the planet and changes our climate,” said Michael Freilich, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division. “Understanding how the planet responds to human carbon emissions and increasing atmospheric CO2 levels will position our nation to take advantage of the opportunities and face the challenges that climate changes present.”
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To learn more about NASA’s efforts to better understand the carbon and climate challenge, visit: www.nasa.gov/carbonclimate
NASA Orders SpaceX Crew Mission To International Space Station
NASA took a significant step Friday toward expanding research opportunities aboard the International Space Station with its first mission order from Hawthorne, California based-company SpaceX to launch astronauts from U.S. soil.
This is the second in a series of four guaranteed orders NASA will make under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts. The Boeing Company of Houston received its first crew mission order in May.
“It’s really exciting to see SpaceX and Boeing with hardware in flow for their first crew rotation missions,” said Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “It is important to have at least two healthy and robust capabilities from U.S. companies to deliver crew and critical scientific experiments from American soil to the space station throughout its lifespan.”
The following announcement came across the CNYO internets recently for a showing of the award-winning film “A Sea Change.” The trailer is linked below and all of the additional information for the event, including the panel discussion after, is provided below.
Syracuse, NY – Friday, Oct 16, 7:00 pm, the award winning climate change film, A Sea Change, (aseachange.net) will be shown at The Palace Theater, 2384 James St., Syracuse. A Sea Change premiered to a standing-room only audience at the Smithsonian Museum, and a standing ovation. The film screened at festivals in North America, Europe, and Latin America, garnering multiple awards and aired on national and international television.
A google map for directions to the Palace Theater
A Sea Change is the story of retired teacher Sven Huseby, whose love for his five-year-old grandson Elias and the world he will inherit compelled Sven, after reading an article in The New Yorker, “The Darkening Sea” to travel thousands of miles interviewing scientists on ocean acidification – the little known flip side of global warming.
Oceans have absorbed hundreds of billions of tons of carbon dioxide (more than a quarter of all CO2 produced since the start of the Industrial Revolution) causing a 30% increase in acidification threatening all forms of sea life with a calcium-based exoskeleton – coral reefs, shell fish and tiny animals at the bottom of the food chain – pteropods. The burning of fossil fuels is fundamentally reshaping ocean chemistry.
The photography is stunning; the interviews with scientists sobering; Sven’s relationship with his grandson Elias is delightful and moving and the ending hopeful – focusing on solutions being implemented today. This is a film you want to see if you care about the world you will leave for the next generation.
Immediately following the film there will be Q & A session. The panel consists of Barbara Ettinger, documentary film maker; Sven Huseby, the main protagonist in the film and Dr. Bruce Monger, climate scientist from Cornell University. Moderating the panel will be Chris Bolt, WAER news and public affairs director.
Program
5:15 Doors to Palace Theater, food trucks and vendor tables open.
6:15 Symphoria cellist Lindsay Groves welcomes the Sea Change audience to the Palace.
6:45 Program starts
7:00 Movie starts
8:30 Q&A
9:10 Program ends
Ticket prices: (suggested donations) At the door: $10 adults, $8 seniors/students, $6 per family member (seniors age 60+, families consist of at least 1 parent and children under 18 years old).
Advance sale tickets: $8 adults, $5 per senior/student/family member (seniors age 60+, families consist of at least 1 parent and children under 18 years old).
Advance sale tickets available at www.greeningusa.org/aseachange can be picked up at the door and will be held up to 15 minutes prior to the start of the film program.
Green and energy-related nonprofit organizations working on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will be staffing display tables in the lobby prior to and after the film along with companies that provide products that help mitigate climate change, such as solar panels, geothermal systems.
The event is family-friendly and film goers can attend straight from work as food trucks will be parked outside along with electric and hybrid cars on display. A cash bar and soft drinks will be available inside. Free parking available.
Sven Huseby – main protagonist in A Sea Change & Co-Producer is a retired independent school head who worked as a teacher and administrator at The Putney School, Vt. for 30 years and currently serves on the board of several environmental organizations. He will be attending the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, Dec. 2015 with the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity.
Bruce Monger – Dr. Monger is a Senior Researcher and Lecturer in the Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell University since 1997. He previously worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. His work has taken him world wide – to oceanographic conferences in Denmark, Holland & Monaco and providing training for national agencies in Thailand & Argentina. In 2014 his course on Introductory Oceanography at Cornell was featured in a NYT article as one of the top ten interesting courses in the U.S.
For information on how to support the work of the Climate Change Awareness and Action Committee, the organizing committee for this event contact pwirth2@verizon.net, 315-637-0331.
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 May, 2014.
By Dr. Ethan Siegel
When you think about the four rocky planets in our Solar System – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars – you probably think about them in that exact order: sorted by their distance from the Sun. It wouldn’t surprise you all that much to learn that the surface of Mercury reaches daytime temperatures of up to 800°F (430°C), while the surface of Mars never gets hotter than 70°F (20°C) during summer at the equator. On both of these worlds, however, temperatures plummet rapidly during the night; Mercury reaches lows of -280°F (-173°C) while Mars, despite having a day comparable to Earth’s in length, will have a summer’s night at the equator freeze to temperatures of -100°F (-73°C).
Those temperature extremes from day-to-night don’t happen so severely here on Earth, thanks to our atmosphere that’s some 140 times thicker than that of Mars. Our average surface temperature is 57°F (14°C), and day-to-night temperature swings are only tens of degrees. But if our world were completely airless, like Mercury, we’d have day-to-night temperature swings that were hundreds of degrees. Additionally, our average surface temperature would be significantly colder, at around 0°F (-18°C), as our atmosphere functions like a blanket: trapping a portion of the heat radiated by our planet and making the entire atmosphere more uniform in temperature.
But it’s the second planet from the Sun – Venus – that puts the rest of the rocky planets’ atmospheres to shame. With an atmosphere 93 times as thick as Earth’s, made up almost entirely of carbon dioxide, Venus is the ultimate planetary greenhouse, letting sunlight in but hanging onto that heat with incredible effectiveness. Despite being nearly twice as far away from the Sun as Mercury, and hence only receiving 29% the sunlight-per-unit-area, the surface of Venus is a toasty 864°F (462°C), with no difference between day-and-night temperatures! Even though Venus takes hundreds of Earth days to rotate, its winds circumnavigate the entire planet every four days (with speeds of 220 mph / 360 kph), making day-and-night temperature differences irrelevant.
Catch the hottest planet in our Solar System all spring-and-summer long in the pre-dawn skies, as it waxes towards its full phase, moving away from the Earth and towards the opposite side of the Sun, which it will finally slip behind in November. A little atmospheric greenhouse effect seems to be exactly what we need here on Earth, but as much as Venus? No thanks!
Caption: NASA’sPioneer Venus Orbiter image of Venus’s upper-atmosphere clouds as seen in the ultraviolet, 1979.
About NASA Space Place
The goal of the NASA Space Place is “to inform, inspire, and involve children in the excitement of science, technology, and space exploration.” More information is available at their website: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/
