Space Sciences

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.

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 Keck Interferometer is a powerful new instrument that is being developed to search for new planets and investigate our cosmic origins. Located 4,150 meters (13,600 feet) above the Pacific Ocean atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano, the W.M. Keck Observatory houses the world's two largest optical and infrared telescopes. By linking them together as an instrument called an interferometer, astronomers can obtain measurements that are not possible with a single telescope. Observations are carried out by pointing both telescopes at the same target and combining their light in an optical laboratory in the basement of the observatory.

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 Spaceward Foundation is a public-funds non-profit organization dedicated to furthering space science and technology in the public mindshare and in educational curriculums. We believe that expanding mankind's habitat is essential to its survival, and that the most effective way to induce long-term change is through education. We intend to pursue our goal by creating inspiring engineering challenges, and engaging both educational and private industry groups in an effort to achieve them. Our first program, Elevator:2010, is a public challenge centered around the Space Elevator concept, offering a substantial prize for the first laser-powered tether climbing demonstration that can meet specific criteria.

USRA provides a mechanism through which universities can cooperate effectively with one another, with the government, and with other organizations to further space science and technology, and to promote education in these areas. Its mission is carried out through the institutes, centers, divisions, and programs that are described in this website. Administrative and scientific personnel now number about 420. A unique feature of USRA is its system of Science Councils, which are standing panels of scientific experts who provide program guidance in specific areas of research. Most of USRA's activities are funded by grants and contracts from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Universities Space Research Association was incorporated in 1969 in the District of Columbia as a private nonprofit corporation under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Beyond Einstein program has three linked elements which advance science and technology towards two visions: to detect directly gravitational wave signals from the earliest possible moments of the Big Bang, and to image the event horizon of a black hole. The central element is a pair of Einstein Great Observatories, Constellation-X and LISA. These powerful facilities will blaze new paths to the questions about black holes, the Big Bang, and dark energy. They will also address other central goals of contemporary astrophysics (discussed in Part II of the 2003 Roadmap). The second element is a series of competitively selected Einstein probes, each focused on one of the science questions. The third element is a program of technology development, theoretical studies, and education, to support the Probes and the vision missions: the Big Bang Observer and the Black Hole Imager. The program offers competitive opportunities for mission leadership, technology development, and groundbreaking scientific research, with goals that excite the public.

NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) conducts interdisciplinary, peer reviewed, fundamental and applied research to address the opportunities and challenges to NASA that are provided by the space environment and the human exploration of space.

The official Mars exploration program website of NASA.

Our goal is to inspire learning about the space sciences & technology through this web-based Mars simulator. Using ultra realism in site content and graphics, we present plausible concepts for near future Mars missions drawing upon the depth of knowledge from experts around the world. We invite criticism on all aspects of the design presented on this site. In the futures, our goal is to present an open forum for issues regarding Mars exploration. As part of this effort, we will be presenting alternative designs, technology, and science as we receive input from visitors.

The European Space Agency is Europes gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europes space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe.

Official website for Mars Express Mission of the European Space Agency. Mars Express is so called because it will be built more quickly than any other comparable planetary mission. Beagle 2 was named after the ship in which Charles Darwin sailed when formulating his ideas about evolution.

This website is an overview of the history, mythology, and current scientific knowledge of each planet and the major moons in our solar system. Each page has my text and NASA's images, some have sounds and movies, most provide references to additional related information.

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a "research institute" of the Smithsonian Institution headquartered in Cambridge, MA, where it is joined with the Harvard College Observatory (HCO) to form the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). More than 300 scientists at the CfA are engaged in a broad program of research in astronomy, astrophysics, earth and space sciences, and science education. Because many of these research activities share Harvard and Smithsonian staff and resources, several of the "SAO" links at this website will take you to information posted on joint "CfA" pages.

SkyView is a Virtual Observatory on the Net generating images of any part of the sky at wavelengths in all regimes from Radio to Gamma-Ray.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the most ambitious astronomical survey project ever undertaken, will bring the modern practice of comprehensive and quantitative mapping to cosmography, the science of mapping the universe and determining our place in it. The Sky Survey will systematically map one-quarter of the entire sky, producing a detailed image of it and determining the positions and absolute brightnesses of more than 100 million celestial objects. It will also measure the distance to a million of the nearest galaxies, giving us a three-dimensional picture of the universe through a volume one hundred times larger than that explored to date. The Sky Survey will also record the distances to 100,000 quasars, the most distant objects known, giving us an unprecedented hint at the distribution of matter to the edge of the visible universe.

Welcome to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology. There has never been a more exciting time for JPL than now, with exciting missions spread throughout the solar system. I hope you'll use our Web site to chart this time of unprecedented challenge and exploratory adventure. In January, the Spirit and Opportunity rovers landed on opposite sides of Mars on a mission to search for clues of past water on the red planet. The comet-chasing Stardust spacecraft scooped up samples of comet particles and is now en route back to Earth with its unique cargo. And in late June, after nearly seven years of interplanetary space travel, NASA's Cassini spacecraft successfully arrived at Saturn and began a four-year study of the "gem of the solar system." But JPL's exploratory desire reaches far beyond our planetary neighborhood. Ground- and space-based telescopes are peering into the cosmos to learn more about the origins of the universe and search for Earth-like planets. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and Galaxy Evolution Explorer, both managed by JPL, are capturing dazzling images as they study distant galaxies. The backbone of this exploration lies with NASA's Deep Space Network, also managed by JPL. This international network of antennas supports communications between distant spacecraft and the Earth-based teams who manage them. JPL missions also turn a watchful eye on Earth, using spacecraft and instruments aboard NASA satellites to expand knowledge of our home planet. Technologies developed for space often have applications on Earth in medicine, communications, safety and more.

Because astronauts are spending more time in space, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is working with Brookhaven National Laboratory and others here on Earth to learn about the possible risks to human beings exposed to space radiation. To study the radiobiological effects using beams that simulate the cosmic rays found in space, a new, $34-million NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) has been established at Brookhaven Lab. Within the NSRL target room, Brookhaven researchers and other NASA-sponsored scientists irradiate a variety of biological specimens, tissues, and cells, as well as DNA in solution. Other experimenters use industrial materials as samples, studying their suitability for space suits and spacecraft shielding. In increasing knowledge of the effects of cosmic radiation, NSRL studies may expand the understanding of the link between ionizing radiation and aging or neuro-degeneration, as well as cancer. In aiming to limit the damage to healthy tissue by ionization, NSRL research may also lead to improvements in cancer radiation treatments.

The Haystack Observatory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is an interdisciplinary research center engaged in radio astronomy, geodesy, atmospheric sciences, and radar applications. The radio-astronomy program is conducted under the auspices of the Northeast Radio Observatory Corporation (NEROC), a consortium of 13 educational and research institutions in the northeast, which operates the Haystack radio telescope under agreement with MIT. Haystack Observatory is located in the adjoining towns of Westford, Tyngsborough, and Groton, Massachusetts, about 35 miles northwest of the MIT campus in Cambridge.

Radio astronomy surveys using National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) telescopes. Proposals for telescope time. NRAO software resources. Radio frequency interference. Travel support for non-NRAO employees. Weather and other information.