Eureka! Water on the Moon and Other Discoveries Highlight Stellar Year for Nasa as Distinguished Astronaut Takes the Agency's Helm
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WASHINGTON -- 2009 was another trailblazing year for NASA as America's
space agency reached a number of important milestones on Earth and in
space. During the year, NASA upgraded the Hubble Space Telescope,
discovered water on the moon, increased the number of people living
on the International Space Station, and mapped our planet's location
in the Milky Way galaxy with new precision. Here on Earth, NASA
welcomed a new leadership team, made crucial findings about
greenhouse gases, conducted an unprecedented survey of polar ice and
launched a test rocket that will help with the design of future space
vehicles.
Highlights from NASA's top events in 2009 and related Web sites are
listed below:
NEW LEADERSHIP TEAM TAKES THE REINS AT NASA
Charles Frank Bolden, Jr., was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 15
as the 12th NASA administrator after being nominated by President
Obama. Lori Beth Garver was confirmed the same day as NASA's deputy
administrator. The two lead the NASA team and manage NASA's resources
to advance the agency's missions and goals.
Bolden's confirmation marks the beginning of his second stint with
NASA. His 34-year career with the Marine Corps included 14 years as a
member of NASA's Astronaut Office. After joining the office in 1980,
he traveled to orbit four times aboard the space shuttle between 1986
and 1994, commanding two of the missions. He is the first
African-American confirmed by the Senate for NASA's top job.
Like Bolden, Garver's confirmation as deputy administrator is the
second time she has worked for NASA. Her first tour of duty at the
agency was from 1996 to 2001, when she served as a special assistant
to the NASA administrator and senior policy analyst for the Office of
Policy and Plans before becoming the associate administrator for the
Office of Policy and Plans.
http://www.nasa.gov
VENERABLE HUBBLE KEEPS OPENING NEW DOORS ON THE GALAXY
Proof that NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is better than ever came in
September when astronomers released stunning new images from four of
Hubble's six operating science instruments. Spacewalking astronauts
brought the orbiting observatory to a new apex of scientific
performance during a visit by shuttle Atlantis in May. Astronauts
installed two new instruments, the Wide Field Camera 3 and Cosmic
Origins Spectrograph, and repaired the Advanced Camera for Surveys
and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph circuit boards. Another
instrument, the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer,
was returned to operation during Hubble's three months of calibration
and testing.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_
STALWART SHUTTLE FLEET UPGRADES HUBBLE, BUILDS SPACE STATION
In addition to a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA
flew four shuttle flights to the International Space Station in 2009.
Those missions completed the station's power-generating capacity,
activated the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory,
expanded the full-time crew to six members and began a new era of
scientific research activity. The station's mass expanded to almost
372 tons and its interior volume to nearly 26,000 cubic feet. An acre
of solar panels supplies power to the orbiting laboratory, while a
recycling system turns urine and cabin condensate into water for
drinking and hygiene. For the first time, 13 crew members were in
space aboard the same spacecraft when shuttle Endeavour docked with
the station in July. The Combined Operational Load Bearing External
Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT, was delivered to the station and
provides resident astronauts with a way to fight muscle decay and
bone loss that comes with space travel. At the November lift off of
space shuttle Atlantis, NASA hosted 100 users of the social medium
Twitter at a "Tweetup."
http://www.nasa.gov/station
http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
EXPERIMENTAL ROCKET OFFERS OPTIONS FOR FUTURE SPACE VEHICLES
NASA's Ares I-X test rocket lifted off Oct. 28 from NASA's Kennedy
Space Center on a successful six-minute flight that will help develop
future launch vehicles. Data returned from more than 700 sensors on
the rocket provided engineering information to correlate with
computer models and analysis. The Ares I-X mission was an uncrewed,
suborbital development test flight. The 327-foot tall rocket produced
2.6 million pounds of thrust to accelerate to near hypersonic speed
before reaching a suborbital altitude of 150,000 feet following
separation of its first stage, a four-segment solid rocket booster.
Project officials' initial assessment indicates the vehicle performed
as expected and validated simulation models.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_
WATER ON THE MOON? NASA FINDS THE ANSWER
NASA scientists discovered water molecules in the polar regions of the
moon using instruments aboard three separate spacecraft. The amounts
are greater than predicted but still relatively small. Data from the
Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite also confirmed water
in the debris clouds from its lunar impact in October. Hydroxyl, a
molecule consisting of one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom, also
was found in the lunar soil. NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper on India's
Chandrayaan spacecraft reported the observations. Data from
instruments aboard NASA's Cassini and EPOXI spacecraft helped confirm
the water finding. The discovery of water molecules and hydroxyl
above the predicted concentrations in the moon's polar regions raises
new questions about where the water came from and what the processes
are that allow the moon to retain the water over time.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/
NASA RECONNAISSANCE TEAM TO MAP MOON'S TERRAIN, SEARCH FOR ICE
In June, NASA successfully launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter,
or LRO, and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or
LCROSS. The two missions separated shortly after liftoff and reached
the moon several days later.
LCROSS entered an elliptical orbit around Earth and the moon in
preparation for a first-of-its-kind impact in a permanently shadowed
crater to search for water ice. LRO began a year-long mission to
return more data about the moon than any previous satellite. From a
low polar orbit about 31 miles above the lunar surface, LRO and its
seven science instruments are surveying the moon and helping
researchers compile high resolution 3-D maps of Earth's satellite.
The orbiter will explore the moon's deepest craters, surveying
permanently sunlit and shadowed regions, and provide new
understanding of the effects of lunar radiation on humans.
LCROSS and a companion rocket stage made dual impacts in the
permanently shadowed Cabeus crater at the moon's south pole on Oct.
9. By November, the science team was able to confirm LCROSS had seen
nearly 100 kg of water in the resulting clouds of debris from the
impacts. The ongoing analysis of these data could yield information
about the evolution of the moon, the Earth, and the early days of our
solar system.
http://www.nasa.gov/lro
http://www.nasa.gov/lcross
METHANE, CARBON MONOXIDE HEAT UP THE HOME PLANET
A team of NASA researchers at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies
found that two greenhouse gases -- methane and carbon monoxide --
have a significantly more powerful impact on global warming than
previously thought. In a paper published in October, the team
conducted one of the first modeling experiments designed to
rigorously quantify the impact of greenhouse gas-aerosol interactions
on climate and air quality. The study found methane's global warming
impact has been underestimated, and the combined impact of emissions
that cause both warming and air pollution have as much effect on
warming as carbon dioxide does. This improved knowledge of the
warming effect of these greenhouse gases will help policymakers
devise more efficient strategies to mitigate climate change.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/
NASA' S AIRBORNE ARMADA STUDIES SHRINKING POLAR ICE
NASA's Operation Ice Bridge, a six-year airborne field campaign, is
the largest flying survey of Earth's polar ice ever conducted. The
survey will yield an unprecedented 3-D view of Arctic and Antarctic
ice sheets, ice shelves and sea ice. NASA completed the campaign's
first Arctic survey this spring from a base in Greenland and its
first Antarctic survey this fall from Chile. Data collected during
the campaign will help bridge the gap in critical space-based
observations between the imminent end of NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land
Elevation Satellite (ICESat) mission and the ICESat II satellite,
which is scheduled to launch in 2014.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/
METHANE ON MARS SUGGESTS "IT'S ALIVE!"
A team of NASA and university scientists achieved the first definitive
detection of methane and its global variation in the atmosphere of
Mars. The discovery indicated the planet is either biologically or
geologically active, or both. The team found methane in the Martian
atmosphere by carefully observing the planet during several Mars
years with NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility and the W.M. Keck
telescope, both located at Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The team detected
three spectral features called absorption lines that together are a
definitive signature of methane. If microscopic Martian life is
producing the methane, it likely resides far below the surface, where
it is warm enough for liquid water to exist. It is possible a
geologic process produced the Martian methane, either now or eons
ago. On Earth, the conversion of certain iron oxide minerals into a
group of more oxidized minerals creates methane. On Mars, this
process could occur using water, carbon dioxide and the planet's
internal heat.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_
NASA DISCOVERS EARTH'S PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE
NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft allowed
scientists to construct the first comprehensive sky map of our solar
system and its location in the Milky Way galaxy. The sky map was
produced with data that two detectors on the spacecraft collected
during six months of observations. The detectors measured and counted
particles scientists refer to as energetic neutral atoms. The new map
revealed the region that separates the nearest reaches of our galaxy
from our heliosphere -- the protective bubble that shields and
protects our solar system from most of the dangerous cosmic radiation
traveling through space. This new map will change the way researchers
view and study the interaction between our galaxy and sun.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_
NASA - WE'RE IN YOUR HOUSE
NASA's 2009 Spinoff publication highlights 49 notable examples of how
agency innovations have been transferred to the commercial
marketplace, resulting in healthcare advances, transportation
breakthroughs, public safety initiatives, new consumer goods,
environmental protection, computer technology and industrial
productivity. In honor of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar
landing, this year's edition of Spinoff recaps how the Apollo program
continues to provide tangible benefits to the lives of people in the
U.S. and around the world. An example is the ultrasound procedures
provided for medical diagnoses to remote areas such as Mount Everest
and to the occupants of the International Space Station, places
otherwise inaccessible to professional medical personnel.
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/
LITHE LUNAR LANDERS LAUNCH, PRIZE WINNERS TAKE HOME CASH
NASA's Centennial Challenges program awarded $1.5 million in prize
money to a pair of innovative aerospace companies that successfully
simulated landing a spacecraft on the moon and lifting off again.
NASA gave a $1 million first prize to Masten Space Systems of Mojave,
Calif., and a $500,000 second prize to Armadillo Aerospace of
Rockwall, Texas, for their Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge
flights. The X PRIZE Foundation managed the competition for NASA
while the agency provided the prize funds. The goal of NASA's
Centennial Challenges program is to drive progress in aerospace
technology that is of value to NASA's missions and find innovative
solutions to technical challenges through competition and
cooperation. The Lunar Lander Challenge is one of six Centennial
Challenges NASA's Innovative Partnership Program manages.
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/
NASA PROGRAMS HELP STUDENTS SOAR TO NEW HEIGHTS OF LEARNING
NASA astronauts Joe Acaba and Richard Arnold, who also are science
teachers, made their first journey to orbit aboard space shuttle
Discovery in February. Besides performing spacewalks and teaching
students about spacesuits, the astronauts answered questions during a
phone call from President Obama, members of Congress and a group of
students from Washington area schools. During the shuttle's Hubble
repair mission in May, NASA flew a 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial
Silver Dollar as part of the agency's ongoing collaboration with the
National Federation of the Blind to engage blind students with the
agency's work. As part of International Education Week activities,
station and shuttle crew members spoke with Washington area middle
and high school students, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan during a live downlink on Nov. 5.
Also in 2009, toy space ranger Buzz Lightyear completed more than 15
months aboard the space station through a NASA and Disney partnership
to encourage students to pursue studies in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics.
http://www.nasa.gov/education/
http://www.nasa.gov/buzzoniss
GLOBAL COMMUNITY AGREES SPACE COOPERATION IS THE FUTURE
NASA negotiated a number of international agreements in 2009 about the
exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes. NASA
Administrator Bolden signed agreements with the Canadian Space
Agency, the European Space Agency, the French Space Agency, and the
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. NASA will partner with the French
on four future space science missions and with the Japanese on a
mission to measure global precipitation. NASA will continue to work
with the Europeans, exchanging technical information and personnel to
aid the development of new transportation systems.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/
NASA AERONAUTICS WINS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD FOR SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR
For the second year in a row, NASA was part of a team chosen to
receive one of the most prestigious awards in aviation. The National
Aeronautics Association presented the Robert J. Collier Trophy to the
Commercial Aviation Safety Team, or CAST, in May. This unique
industry and government partnership was established in 1997 with the
goal of reducing U.S. commercial aviation's fatal accident rate by 80
percent in 10 years. The partnership's original goal was difficult to
achieve, but 2008 was the safest year in commercial aviation history,
and the risk in fatal commercial accidents has been reduced by 83
percent. NASA's Aviation Safety Program has been a part of CAST since
the team was established. The Executive Committee membership includes
the director of the Aviation Safety Program in NASA's Aeronautics
Research Mission Directorate in Washington.
http://www.aeronautics.nasa.
NASA Television's Video File newsfeed will include items featuring
these top stories beginning at noon EST, Dec. 17. For NASA TV
streaming video, schedules and downlink information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
Visitors to NASA's Web site can vote on the top NASA story of the year
at:
http://www.nasa.gov/news/09_
Source: NASA
