The University of California Observatories (UCO) is a Multi-Campus Research Unit of the University of California, with headquarters at the UC Santa Cruz campus. UCO operates on behalf of the astronomers at all ten UC campuses and is comprised of extensive technical facilities, a business office, telescope and support facilities at the Lick Observatory on Mt Hamilton and a staff of astronomers.

LOFAR is the first telescope using an array of simple omni-directional antennas instead of mechanical signal processing with a dish antenna. The electronic signals from the antennas are digitised, transported to a central digital processor, and combined in software to emulate a conventional antenna. The cost is dominated by the cost of electronics and will follow Moore's law, becoming cheaper with time and allowing increasingly large telescopes to be built. So LOFAR is an IT-telescope. The antennas are simple enough but there are a lot of them - 25000 in the full LOFAR design. To make radio pictures of the sky with adequate sharpness, these antennas are to be arranged in clusters that are spread out over an area of ultimately 350 km in diameter. (In phase 1 that is currently funded 15000 antenna's and maximum baselines of 100 km will be built). Data transport requirements are in the range of many Tera-bits/sec and the processing power needed is tens of Tera-FLOPS.

The Lunar and Planetary Institute is a focus for academic participation in studies of the current state, evolution, and formation of the solar system. The Institute is housed in the Universities Space Research Association Center for Advanced Space Studies (CASS) in Houston, Texas.

Malin Space Science Systems designs, develops, operates, and conducts scientific research with instruments that fly on robotic spacecraft. MSSS developed, built and now operates the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on the Mars Global Surveyor. MSSS built the cameras for the Mars Surveyor '98 Missions (Mars Climate Orbiter MARCI and Mars Polar Lander MARDI) and also built cameras for the 2001 Mars missions. We recently delievered 2 cameras for the 2005 Mars Reconaissance Orbiter, and we are responsible for the Mars Descent Imager on the 2007 Phoenix Mars lander. MSSS has also been selected to provide 3 camera systems for the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory rover and a high resolution camera for the 2008 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. In addition, MSSS is involved with science and/or software support for other missions (including the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity), and is funded by NASA to investigate Mars rover autonomous operations activities.

The Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program is a ground-breaking undertaking to study the effects of Martian gravity on mammals. Data from this mission will make a significant contribution to our understanding of fundamental space biology and greatly advance human space exploration.

MESSENGER uses gravity assists from Earth, Venus and Mercury to lower its speed relative to Mercury at orbit insertion. In a gravity assist, a spacecraft flies close by a planet and picks up (or loses) a tiny amount of the planet's angular momentum around the Sun. The planet is so massive (compared with the spacecraft) that its orbit does not change. But each gravity assist changes the shape, size and tilt of MESSENGER's orbit until the propellant onboard is sufficient to insert the spacecraft into its planned scientific orbit around Mercury. "Mercury orbit insertion" is the mission planners' term for the maneuver that will move MESSENGER from an orbit around the Sun to an orbit around Mercury. MESSENGER launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on August 3, 2004. It will return to Earth for a gravity boost in August 2005, then fly past Venus twice, in October 2006 and June 2007. The spacecraft uses the tug of Venus gravity to resize and rotate its trajectory closer to Mercurys orbit. Three Mercury flybys, each followed about two months later by a course correction maneuver, put MESSENGER in position to enter Mercury orbit in March 2011. During the flybys set for January 2008, October 2008 and September 2009 MESSENGER will map nearly the entire planet in color, image most of the areas unseen by Mariner 10, and measure the composition of the surface, atmosphere and magnetosphere. It will be the first new data from Mercury in more than 30 years and invaluable for planning MESSENGERs yearlong orbital mission.

The Michelson Science Center (MSC) is a science operations and analysis service organization for selected NASA Origins Theme projects and the scientists and engineers that use them. The MSC facilitates the timely and successful execution of Origins theme science by providing software infrastructure, science operations, and consulting to Navigator Program projects and their user communities.

The Michelson Science Center (MSC) is a science operations and analysis service organization for selected NASA Origins Theme projects and the scientists and engineers that use them. The MSC facilitates the timely and successful execution of Origins theme science by providing software infrastructure, science operations, and consulting to Navigator Program projects and their user communities.The MSC name is chosen to honor Albert A. Michelson, the first American to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics, and a pioneer in laboratory and astronomical interferometry.

The MIT Space Systems Laboratory is developing the SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) formation flight testbed to provide the Air Force and NASA with a long term, replenishable, and upgradable testbed for the validation of high risk metrology, control, and autonomy technologies. The technologies are critical to the operation of distributed satellite and docking missions such as Terrestrial Planet Finder and Orbital Express.

Founded in December 1904 by George Ellery Hale as one of the original scientific enterprises of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Mt. Wilson Observatory is completing its first century as one of the worlds premier astronomical observatories. During the first half of the twentieth century Mt. Wilson was successively home to the worlds two largest telescopes as well as the most powerful facilities in existence for studying the sun. In the twenty-first century, the Observatory hosts several of the most technologically advanced facilities in the world for studying astronomical objects with unprecedented resolution and clarity. The 100-inch Hooker telescope remains in active scientific service, and the solar towers are daily collecting data representing the worlds longest continuous record of the sun.

Genesis Mission homepage. Genesis main. Latest news. Media resources. Multimedia. Search for origins. Spacecraft and instruments.

Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

Launched from Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 15, 1997, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft will reach the Saturnian region in July 2004. The mission is composed of two elements: The Cassini orbiter that will orbit Saturn and its moons for four years, and the Huygens probe that will dive into the murky atmosphere of Titan and land on its surface. The sophisticated instruments onboard these spacecraft will provide scientists with vital data to help understand this mysterious, vast region. Cassini-Huygens is an international collaboration between three space agencies. Seventeen nations contributed to building the spacecraft. The Cassini orbiter was built and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Huygens probe was built by the European Space Agency. The Italian Space agency provided Cassini's high-gain communication antenna. More than 250 scientists worldwide will study the data collected.

The NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), at Columbia University in New York City, is a division of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Earth Sciences Directorate and a unit of the Columbia University Earth Institute. Research at GISS emphasizes a broad study of global climate change.

Welcome to the Hubble Space Telescope Project. Overview. Hubble operations. Hubble Technology. Servicing Missions. Project News. Image Gallery.