Space Sciences
Astronomy, NASA Missions, Black Holes, Evolution of the Universe
84 listings
Submitted Dec 30, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is one of the world's premier research facilities for radio astronomy. NRAO operates powerful, advanced radio telescopes spanning the western hemisphere. Scientists from around the world use these instruments to probe fundamental questions in astronomy and physics.
|
Submitted Dec 22, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences The Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) is an orbiting space telescope that will observe galaxies in ultraviolet light across 10 billion years of cosmic history. Such observations will tell scientists how galaxies, the basic structures of our Universe, evolve and change. Additionally, GALEX will probe the causes of star formation during a period when most of the stars and elements we see today had their origins.
|
Submitted Dec 20, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences Deep Impact is an ambitious mission aiming to accomplish the incredible: Blast a hole in comet Tempel 1 in an effort to see what it's made of. Comets like Tempel 1 are thought to have existed since the early days of our Solar System. Scientists suspect that frozen within these celestial nomads are the same chemical building blocks that lead to the formation of water -- and life -- here on Earth. Do comets and our own planet have something in common? This clever mission could answer the question once and for all.
|
Submitted Nov 19, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences 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.
|
Submitted Nov 14, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences The Space Environment Center (SEC) provides real-time monitoring and forecasting of solar and geophysical events, conducts research in solar-terrestrial physics, and develops techniques for forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances. SEC's Space Weather Operations Center is jointly operated by NOAA and the U.S. Air Force and is the national and world warning center for disturbances that can affect people and equipment working in the space environment.
|
Submitted Nov 07, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences Home of the Hubble Space Telescope, a NASA Origins mission that seeks answers to fundamental questions about the universe and our place in it. Nearly 400 years after Galileo first observed the heavens through a telescope, we continue to seek answers to age-old questions about the universe. And while the technology has evolved over the centuries, the inquiry remains essentially the same: Whats out there, where did it come from, and what does it mean? At the Space Telescope Science Institute, were working hard to study and explain the once-unimaginable celestial phenomena now made visible using Hubbles cutting-edge technology. In the course of this exploration we will continue to share with you the grace and beauty of the universe because the discoveries belong to all of us. Probe deeper! Explore the site to learn more about who we are and what we do. HubbleSite is produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA), for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).
|
Submitted Nov 03, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences Located on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley, just above the Lawrence Hall of Science and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories, the Silver Space Sciences Laboratory was built by NASA in 1966 to conduct basic space research in a variety of fields. SPRG conducts experimental research in space plasma physics on a variety of different spacecraft covering the earth's magnetosphere, auroral zone, tail region, the interplanetary solar wind, and in the near-space environments of other planets. Our emphasis is generally on the detailed, high time and spatial resolution measurements of the microphysics that governs the behavior of the larger scale processes occurring in these planetary, interplanetary, and presumably most other astrophysical plasmas. To accomplish this aim we conceive, design, and build state-of-the-art plasma particle detectors and electric field sensors to make in situ measurements of fields and particle distributions in various space plasmas. From these measurements we can study particle acceleration, plasma waves, wave-particle interactions, currents, various types of shocks and boundaries between different plasma environments, and other phenomena of interest to both basic plasma physics and general space physics. Instruments are flown on small NASA sounding rockets to study particle acceleration and wave-particle interactions in the Earth's northern auroral zone, while a multitude of satellite missions currently underway or in construction carry our instruments to more distant space plasmas surrounding the earth or in other regions of the solar system.
|
Submitted Oct 18, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) is an institute of the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). USRA was incorporated in 1969 in the District of Columbia as a private nonprofit corporation under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences. Institutional membership in the Association has grown from 49 colleges and universities when it was founded, to 95 in 2004. All member institutions have graduate programs in space sciences or aerospace engineering. Besides 88 member institutions in the United States, there are two member institutions in Canada, three in Europe, and two in Israel. NIAC's charter is focused on grand, revolutionary concepts for architectures and systems.
|
Submitted Oct 15, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences On October 15, 1997, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, loaded with an array of powerful instruments, rocketed into space on a seven-year journey to Saturn and its vicinity. On July 1, 2004 Universal Time (June 30 in U.S. time zones), the spacecraft began orbiting Saturn for four years, flying close to several of its thirty-plus moons. The Huygens probe will separate from Cassini in December 2004, dive down through the thick, cloudy atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, and land on Titan's surface in January 2005. Scientists expect that this extended tour of the Saturnian region will provide new information about the planets composition and atmosphere and its mysterious moons and rings. They also hope to learn more about the formation of the solar system. On this Web site (which will expand in winter 2004), we'll explore Saturn and its environs, adding new images and information as they become available.
|
Submitted Oct 15, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences The National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC) is a research organization with its core facility in Huntsville, Ala. A partnership between NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama universities, federal agencies and industry, the Center is a laboratory for cutting-edge research in selected scientific and engineering disciplines. Not only does the NSSTC enable cutting-edge basic and applied research, it also fosters the education of the next generation of scientists and engineers. Undergraduate and graduate students participate in the cooperative research and experience is provided for educators. Research performed by the National Space Science and Technology Center ranges from pure science to technology development - with spacecraft, sounding rockets, balloons and aircraft, as well as laboratory experiments being used to perform this research.
|
Submitted Oct 11, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences 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.
|
Submitted Oct 09, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences Understanding the transition between star and planet. The concept of the Genesis mission is to send a spacecraft beyond the influence of Earth to collect pristine material from the solar wind for a period of two years, and then return the samples to Earth for analysis of its elemental and isotopic abundances in state-of-the-art laboratories. These studies will enrich our understanding of the birth and evolution of the planets, their satellites, and all other bodies in our solar system. The Genesis mission will return a reservoir of solar system matter which will be available for study throughout the 21st century -- that is, the samples will endure long after the end of the mission. Fact sheet. Genesis video. Historical note. Related sites.
|
Submitted Oct 09, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences Genesis Mission homepage. Genesis main. Latest news. Media resources. Multimedia. Search for origins. Spacecraft and instruments.
|
Submitted Oct 09, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences GRACE, twin satellites launched in March 2002, are making detailed measurements of Earth's gravity field which will lead to discoveries about gravity and Earth's natural systems. These discoveries could have far-reaching benefits to society and the world's population.
|
Submitted Oct 06, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
|
Submitted Oct 06, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences In the coming years, NASA will be extending out reach into space ... going to the Moon and paving the way for eventual human exploration of Mars and beyond.
|
Submitted Oct 05, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences Welcome to NASA news and features. Stay up to date with NASA by exploring our latest agency, mission, and research highlights.
|
Submitted Oct 05, 2004 (Edited Jan 01, 2017) to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences GRACE is a joint project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Deutsches Zentrum fr Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR). The primary Science Objective of the GRACE mission is to provide with unprecedented accuracy, global and high-resolution estimates of the constant and time-variable part of the Earth's gravity field. Secondary objective is the measurement of several hundred globally distributed profiles per day of the excess delay or bending angle of GPS measurements caused by the atmosphere and ionosphere, which can be converted to total electron content and/or refractivity, respectively.
|
Submitted Oct 05, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences he twin GRACE satellites, launched March 17, 2002, are designed to produce a new model of the Earth's gravity field with unprecedented accuracy. The estimates of the time variations in the gravity field obtained from GRACE, in conjunction with other satellite and in-situ data, and geophysical models, can provide improved measurements of deep ocean currents, ocean bottom pressure, sea level rise, sea ice mass variation and distribution, soil moisture, groundwater transport, and land density.
|
Submitted Oct 05, 2004 to Science Research Groups » Space Sciences The National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC) collects, evaluates, and disseminates nuclear physics data for basic nuclear research and for applied nuclear technologies. The NNDC is a worldwide resource for nuclear data. The information available to the users of NNDC services is the product of the combined efforts of the NNDC and cooperating data centers and other interested groups, both in the United States and worldwide.
|