NASA News: NASA Earth-Observing Satellite Arrives In California For Launch
WASHINGTON -- On Tuesday, Aug. 30, NASA's next Earth-observing
research satellite arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California
to begin preparations for an October launch.
The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System
Preparatory Project (NPP) is the first of a new generation of
satellites that will observe many facets of our changing Earth.
The satellite will collect critical data to improve our understanding
of long-term climate change and short-term weather conditions. With
NPP, NASA continues many key data records initiated by the agency's
Earth Observing System satellites by monitoring changes occurring in
the atmosphere, oceans, vegetation, ice and solid Earth.
On Aug. 28, NPP was placed in a shipping container and loaded on a
transport truck at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder,
Colo. After Tuesday's arrival, the satellite was unloaded and moved
into the clean room at the AstroTech facility for launch preparation.
"The NPP team has produced an outstanding satellite and kept to
schedule during the past year and a half," said Ken Schwer, NPP
project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Md. "The world is looking forward to NPP's scientific measurements."
The NPP spacecraft will undergo prelaunch processing at Vandenberg,
including a solar array functional test; a spacecraft limited
performance test; and testing of the science instruments. Following
these tests and a spacecraft launch simulation, the satellite will be
fueled with its attitude control propellant.
NPP will be launched on a United Launch Alliance Delta II 7920
expendable launch vehicle. The Delta II first stage was hoisted into
position on the pad at NASA's Space Launch Complex 2 on July 20. By
Aug. 2, the nine solid rocket boosters were attached, and the second
stage was hoisted atop the first stage. Launch vehicle testing is under way.
The NPP spacecraft is scheduled to move to the pad and be mated with
the rocket on Oct. 7. Launch is scheduled for Oct. 25 during a
9-minute and 10-second launch window from 5:48:01 to 5:57:11 a.m.
EDT. The Delta II will place the satellite into a 512-mile high
circular polar orbit.
NPP is the first satellite mission to address the challenge of
acquiring a wide range of land, ocean, and atmospheric measurements
for Earth system science while simultaneously preparing to address
operational requirements for weather forecasting.
NPP serves as a bridge between NASA's Earth Observing System of
satellites and the forthcoming Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).
Previously called the National Polar-orbiting Operational
Environmental Satellite System, JPSS satellites will be developed by
NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
NPP will carry five science instruments and test key technologies for
the JPSS missions. Data from NPP will help scientists ensure a
continuous record of environmental satellite data and also contribute
to weather forecasting efforts. NOAA meteorologists will incorporate
NPP data into their weather prediction models to produce accurate
forecasts and warnings that will help emergency responders monitor
and react to natural disasters.
Goddard manages the NPP mission on behalf of the Earth Science
Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in
Washington. The JPSS program is providing the ground system for NPP.
NOAA will provide operational support for the mission. Launch
management is the responsibility of the NASA Launch Services Program
at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
For more information about NPP, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/npp
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
---
NASA Accepting Applications For Aeronautics Scholarships
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is
accepting scholarship applications from graduate and undergraduate
students for the 2012 academic year. The application deadline is Jan. 15, 2012.
Graduate students must apply under a specific research topic to align
with NASA's aeronautics research programs. The list of available
topics is posted online.
NASA expects to award 20 undergraduate and five graduate scholarships
to students in aeronautics or related fields. Undergraduate students
entering their second year of study will receive up to $15,000 per
year for two years and the opportunity to receive a $10,000 stipend
by interning at a NASA research center during the summer.
Graduate students will receive up to $35,000 per year for up to three
years, with an opportunity to receive a $10,000 stipend interning at
a NASA research center for up to two consecutive summers.
"Pairing our best aeronautical innovators at NASA with the nation's
brightest students, through internship opportunities in our
scholarship program helps ensure we will continue to have the
talented workforce we need to solve the challenges of 21st century
aviation," said Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for the
Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Students not committed to a specific academic institution or program
still may apply. If accepted, they must be admitted by fall 2012 into
an aeronautical engineering program or related field of study at an
accredited U.S. university. Applicants must be U.S. citizens.
Scholarship money may be used for tuition and other school-related expenses.
NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate conducts cutting-edge,
fundamental and integrated systems research in traditional and
emerging disciplines. The intent is to help transform the nation's
air transportation system and to support development of future air
and space vehicles.
Its goals include improving airspace capacity and flexibility;
aviation safety and aircraft performance; reducing overall noise,
engine emissions and fuel usage.
For details about this scholarship program, a list of available
research topics and the application process, visit:
http://nasa.asee.org/
For more information about aeronautics research at NASA, visit:
http://www.aeronautics.nasa.
---
NASA Selects Contractor For Icesat-2 Spacecraft
WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected Orbital Science Corporation of Dulles,Va., to build the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2
(ICESat-2) spacecraft.
Under the terms of the $135 million delivery order (including the
spacecraft and all associated options), the contractor will be
responsible for the design and fabrication of the ICESat-2 spacecraft
bus, integration of the government-furnished instrument,
satellite-level testing, on-orbit satellite check-out, and continuing
on-orbit engineering support. The work will be performed at the
contractor's facility.
ICESat-2 will use precision laser-ranging techniques to measure the
topography of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and the
thickness of sea ice. The mission was recommended by the National
Research Council in its 2007 decadal survey of NASA Earth science
research priorities. ICESat-2 supports NASA's Earth science program
by helping scientists develop a better scientific understanding of
the Earth system and its response to natural or human-induced changes.
ICESat-2 builds on measurements taken by NASA's ICESat mission. Data
from ICESat, which was in orbit from 2003 to 2010, revealed thinning
of the world's ice sheets.
The ICESat-2 delivery order was awarded under the Rapid III multiple
awards Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract at NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The contract is for core
spacecraft systems, with non-standard services such as operations,
launch services, components, and studies to meet the government's
space science, Earth science and technology needs. The principle
purpose of the Rapid III contract is to provide core spacecraft
systems with any necessary modifications to meet specific mission needs.
For more information on ICESat-2, visit:
http://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov/
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
---
NASA Sets News Conference With Space Station Crew Members
HOUSTON -- NASA Television will broadcast a news conference with thetwo agency astronauts aboard the International Space Station at 8:05
a.m. CDT on Tuesday, Sept. 6.
Reporters may ask questions in person from NASA's Johnson Space Center
in Houston, Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the agency's
headquarters in Washington. The phone bridge at Johnson will be
available for reporters to participate by calling the newsroom at
281-483-5111 by 7:45 a.m.
NASA astronauts Ron Garan and Mike Fossum are members of Expedition 28
onboard the space station. The crew members will be available to
discuss the status of the station and their ongoing expedition research.
Because of the Aug. 24 failure of the Russian Progress 44 launch,
Garan will return to Earth on Sept. 15 (Sept. 16 in Kazakhstan). He
originally was scheduled to land on Sept. 8. Fossum will remain in
space until mid November.
For NASA TV downlink, schedule and live streaming video information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For more information about the Expedition 28 crew, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
---
NASA'S Chandra Finds Nearest Pair Of Supermassive Black Holes
WASHINGTON -- Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
discovered the first pair of supermassive black holes in a spiral
galaxy similar to the Milky Way. Approximately 160 million light
years from Earth, the pair is the nearest known such phenomenon.
The black holes are located near the center of the spiral galaxy NGC
3393. Separated by only 490 light years, the black holes are likely
the remnant of a merger of two galaxies of unequal mass a billion or
more years ago.
"If this galaxy weren't so close, we'd have no chance of separating
the two black holes the way we have," said Pepi Fabbiano of the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge,
Mass., who led the study that appears in this week's online issue of
the journal Nature. "Since this galaxy was right under our noses by
cosmic standards, it makes us wonder how many of these black hole
pairs we've been missing."
Previous observations in X-rays and at other wavelengths indicated
that a single supermassive black hole existed in the center of NGC
3393. However, a long look by Chandra allowed the researchers to
detect and separate the dual black holes. Both black holes are
actively growing and emitting X-rays as gas falls towards them and
becomes hotter.
When two equal-sized spiral galaxies merge, astronomers think it
should result in the formation of a black hole pair and a galaxy with
a disrupted appearance and intense star formation. A well-known
example is the pair of supermassive black holes in NGC 6240, which is
located about 330 million light years from Earth.
However, NGC 3393 is a well-organized spiral galaxy, and its central
bulge is dominated by old stars. These are unusual properties for a
galaxy containing a pair of black holes. Instead, NGC 3393 may be the
first known instance where the merger of a large galaxy and a much
smaller one, dubbed a "minor merger" by scientists, has resulted in
the formation of a pair of supermassive black holes.
In fact, some theories say that minor mergers should be the most
common way for black hole pairs to form, but good candidates have
been difficult to find because the merged galaxy is expected to look so typical.
"The two galaxies have merged without a trace of the earlier
collision, apart from the two black holes," said co-author Junfeng
Wang, also from CfA. "If there were a mismatch in size between the
two galaxies it wouldn't be a surprise for the bigger one to survive unscathed."
If this were a minor merger, the black hole in the smaller galaxy
should have had a smaller mass than the other black hole before their
host galaxies started to collide. Good estimates of the masses of
both black holes are not yet available to test this idea, although
the observations do show that both black holes are more massive than
about a million suns. Assuming a minor merger occurred, the black
holes should eventually merge after about a billion years.
Both of the supermassive black holes are heavily obscured by dust and
gas, which makes them difficult to observe in optical light. Because
X-rays are more energetic, they can penetrate this obscuring
material. Chandra's X-ray spectra show clear signatures of a pair of
supermassive black holes.
The NGC 3393 discovery has some similarities to a possible pair of
supermassive black holes found recently by Julia Comerford of the
University of Texas at Austin, also using Chandra data. Two X-ray
sources, which may be due to supermassive black holes in a galaxy
about two billion light years from Earth, are separated by about
6,500 light years.
As in NGC 3393, the host galaxy shows no signs of disturbance or
extreme amounts of star formation. However, no structure of any sort,
including spiral features, is seen in the galaxy. Also, one of the
sources could be explained by a jet, implying only one supermassive
black hole is located in the galaxy.
"Collisions and mergers are one of the most important ways for
galaxies and black holes to grow," said co-author Guido Risaliti of
CfA and the National Institute for Astrophysics in Florence, Italy.
"Finding a black hole pair in a spiral galaxy is an important clue in
our quest to learn how this happens."
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the
Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science
and flight operations from Cambridge, Mass.
For more information about the Chandra mission and this result,
including images and other multimedia, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/chandra
and
http://chandra.si.edu
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