WASHINGTON — The launch of NASA’s Glory spacecraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California has been postponed at least 24 hours.
During the final 15 minutes before Wednesday’s scheduled launch of 5:09 a.m. EST, the vehicle interface control …
Close to the globe, Earth’s magnetic field wraps around the planet like a gigantic spherical web, curving in to touch Earth at the poles. But this isn’t true as you get further from the planet. As you move to the high altitudes where satellites …
NASA’s Stardust spacecraft, equipped with the University of Chicago’s Dust Flux Monitor Instrument (DFMI), is hurtling at more than 24,000 miles an hour toward a Valentine’s Day encounter with comet Tempel 1.
Stardust will approach to within 124…
The first scientific results from Europe’s Planck spacecraft were released at a press briefing today in Paris. The findings, focusing on the coldest objects in the Universe – both within our galaxy and also out to the most distant reaches of space -…
Nine years after beginning its unprecedented look at the gateway between Earth’s environment and space, not to mention collecting more data on the upper atmosphere than any other satellite, NASA’s Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics an…
Researchers at the University of British Columbia are deploying an underwater robot to survey ice-covered ocean in Antarctica from October 17 through November 12.
Scientists predict that the sea ice area around Antarctica will be reduced by more t…
A University of Delaware researcher is helping to design instruments for a robotic space probe that will go where no other has gone before: the sun.
William Matthaeus, professor of physics and astronomy at UD, is involved in NASA’s Solar Probe P…
GREENBELT, Md. — NASA’s mission to investigate the mystery of how Mars lost much of its atmosphere passed a critical milestone on October 4, 2010. NASA has given approval for the development and 2013 launch of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatil…
A deep, stationary trough of low pressure parked over the Ohio and Tennessee valleys west of the Appalachians drew a steady stream of tropical moisture, including the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole, up the East Coast. The results were heavy…
The new Soyuz TMA spacecraft, which will carry ESA astronaut Pedro Duque to the ISS and back in October 2003, has been fully approved for operations. This was announced by Nikolai Zelenshikov, First Deputy President of RSC Energia, at an official briefing in Moscow on 26 May to present the findings of the enquiry commission’s investigation of last month’s ballistic re-entry by Soyuz TMA-1.
NASA has awarded the University of California, Berkeley, a $173 million contract to build and operate a fleet of five satellites to pinpoint the event in Earth’s magnetic neighborhood that triggers violent but colorful eruptions in the Northern and Southern lights. The aurora borealis and aurora australis are shimmering light shows that brighten the polar nights, generated by showers of electrons descending along magnetic field lines onto the poles. These high-speed electrons spark colored lights as they hit the atmosphere, much like a color TV lights up when an electron beam hits the phosphorescent screen.
During the STS-107 mission, the review of the potential effects of the debris hit to Columbia?s left wing at ~80 seconds after liftoff resulted in a determination that there should not be any adverse affect on mission safety. On January 28, Tuesday, when the thermal analysis was completed, engineers and flight controllers at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) responsible for mechanical systems, including the landing gear system, contacted counterparts at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) to get an assessment of potential outcomes in the unlikely event that the landing gear door or wheel well was breached during the orbiter?s reentry into Earth?s atmosphere.
The interchange is typical of what takes place during a mission. Often, the broader NASA community is involved in evaluating potential issues. The Langley engineer identified no new concerns or failure conditions that had not previously been examined by Johnson engineers and flight controllers. For this reason, there was no reason to elevate the points raised in the discussion to the Mission Management Team.
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