The launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia on January 16, 2003 represented an exciting time for the international research community. Columbia carried more than 80 experiments on a 16-day mission devoted entirely to science. NASA and its researchers are working to determine exactly how much data was lost with the Columbia crew. Some scientific data from Columbia was downlinked to experimental teams on Earth during the mission.
Like farmers across the nation bringing in their crops this season, researchers in Wisconsin are carefully taking stock of a very special harvest ? one grown aboard the International Space Station.
NASA has developed a way to pilot aircraft independent of local navigational aids, infrastructure and even good ol’ landmarks. The NASA Global Differential GPS system at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has demonstrated the ability to achieve real-time aircraft positioning accuracy of 10 centimeters horizontally and 20 centimeters vertically, anywhere in the world. Think of it this way: Using the NASA system, a pilot could remotely navigate an unmanned aircraft from, say, Atlanta, Georgia and have it land within three inches of its target in Tokyo, Japan.