GRACE SPACE TWINS SET TO TEAM UP TO TRACK EARTH’S WATER AND GRAVITY David E. Steitz, Alan Buis NASA and the German Space Agency are preparing to launch the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), a scientific pathfinder mission that will test a novel approach to tracking how water is transported and stored within the […]
Category: NASA
LIFE ON EARTH BEGAN AT LEAST 3.85 BILLION YEARS AGO, 400 MILLION YEARS EARLIER THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT, SCIENTISTS SAY Donald Savage, Stuart Wolpert, Cindy Clark, Cheryl Dybas Life on Earth began at least 3.85 billion years ago, an international team of scientists reports in the cover story of the Nov. 7 issue of the journal […]
STATE OF THE ART SOLAR-POWERED AIRCRAFT TO BE DEVELOPED Dwayne Brown, Fred Brown Aeronautical engineers in Southern California are developing an aircraft — called Centurion — which they believe will push solar-powered aircraft concepts literally to new heights. Engineers for AeroVironment, Inc., Simi Valley, CA, are designing the aircraft to fly at 100,000 feet altitude. […]
MILESTONE ACHIEVED FOR ALL-ELECTRIC AIRPLANE TECHNOLOGY Dwayne Brown, Kirsten Williams Engineers at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, have completed tests on a device that paves the way for developing future all-electric airplanes which could be safer and more fuel efficient than today’s aircraft. Called the Electro-Hydrostatic Actuator, the device eliminates or minimizes airborne […]
CONTRACTS AWARDED FOR INITIAL MARS SAMPLE RETURN STUDIES Don Savage, Mary Hardin NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, has awarded four industry team contracts to conduct initial studies of specific implementation scenarios for a first Mars sample return mission that might be launched as early as 2011. The four […]
NASA-DEVELOPED ANTI-FIRE DEVICE SOON TO BE AVAILABLE TO FIREFIGHTERS Jim Cast, Lanee Cobb Through an exclusive patent licensing agreement with NASA, a company in Buffalo, NY, will manufacture and market a fire imager device that will aid firefighters to see invisible flames and help them navigate through smoky buildings. Called FIRESCAPE, the device can image […]
NASA Adapts Miniature Biological Lab For Use In Space Dolores Beasley NASA is adapting tiny laboratories embedded in compact discs (CDs) to conduct biological tests aboard the International Space Station and to eventually look for life on other planets. The CDs, with imbedded biological tests, are under evaluation by NASA scientists, and several academic and […]
NASA Presents Space Station Crew Rotation Plan Melissa Motichek The next crew rotation for the International Space Station is the subject of a briefing at 2 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 17 at the Johnson Space Center, Houston. The briefing will be broadcast on NASA Television with multi-center question-and-answer capability for reporters at NASA centers. […]
TESTS BEGUN TO STUDY DECREASE IN AIRCRAFT DRAG; MAY PRODUCE SUBSTANTIAL FUEL COST REDUCTIONS FOR AIRLINES Dwayne Brown, Fred Brown NASA researchers have begun tests on an experiment they hope will improve the efficiency of commercial aircraft by minimizing aerodynamic drag. This, in turn, could mean a savings of up to $140 million annually in […]
HUBBLE GETS HEAD COUNT OF ELUSIVE BROWN DWARF STARS Don Savage, Ray Villard, Suzanne Jacoby Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have taken attendance in a class of brown dwarfs and found indications that these odd and elusive objects also tend to be loners. The Hubble census — the most complete to date — provides […]