NASA LADEE Mission: Monitoring Lunar Dust

Artist’s concept of NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft in orbit above the moon as dust scatters light during the lunar sunset. 

Credit: NASA Ames 

In partnership with NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, Calif., Goddard's Wallops Flight Facility will launch the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) in September, a robotic mission that will study the moon's thin atmosphere and dust particles.

Ames manages the 100-day mission—-which will attempt to confirm whether dust caused a mysterious glow on the lunar horizon astronauts observed during several Apollo missions—and Goddard plays a variety of key roles in LADEE.

After launch, Ames will control the spacecraft and execute mission operations. Goddard is responsible for the LADEE launch and several important LADEE components, including the instruments, demonstrations of the mission's payload and science operations.

"We wanted to do a mission that would benefit both centers," LADEE payload manager Robert Caffrey said. "It's a good model for centers working together to achieve common goals."

LADEE's launch in September from Virginia's Eastern Shore marks the facility's first launch to the moon.

Wallops will provide the launch services and range operations as well the launch vehicle, a U.S. Air Force Minotaur V rocket. LADEE will be the first spacecraft to launch on this rocket.

One of Goddard's biggest roles on LADEE is to manage the mission's four instruments and demonstrations. Three of the payload instruments—the Neutral Mass Spectrometer or NMS, Ultraviolet and Visible Light Spectrometer and the Lunar Dust Experiment or LDEX—will study the lunar atmosphere composition and analyze lunar dust.

Developed at Goddard, the NMS will measure variations in the different gases of the lunar atmosphere while the spacecraft orbits the moon. A similar spectrometer will fly aboard the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission, scheduled to launch in November

"The Goddard Neutral Mass Spectrometer team is delighted to provide this instrument to the LADEE mission and contribute to this mission's exploration of the tenuous atmosphere of the moon," said Goddard NMS Principal Investigator Paul Mahaffy.

LADEE will also host the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration or LLCD mission payload. LLCD is an innovative laser technology that could one day replace radio waves currently used in satellite communications and is expected to transmit more data at faster rates.

Solar Photographer Spots Giant Snake-Like Tendril on the Sun

Astrophotographer John Chumack took this photo of a solar filament. 

The image was taken from his backyard in Dayton, Ohio on Aug. 11, 2013.

Credit: John Chumack | www.galacticimages.com

A photographer and die-hard solar observer has captured absolutely stunning views of a colossal filament of super-hot plasma snaking its way across the surface of the sun.

Veteran astrophotographer John Chumack took the new sun photos on Aug. 11 despite cloudy weather from his backyard in Dayton, Ohio, using a DMK 21 and DMK 31 Cameras and Lunt Hydrogen Alpha Solar Scope.

The close-up image is 1/77-second exposures and the full disk shots 1/436-second exposure.

What looks like a snake-like cloud in the new sun photos is actually a solar filament made of primarily charged hydrogen gas.

The sun’s magnetic field holds the gas in the atmosphere giving it the shape seen in these images.

The filament appears dark because it is cooler than its surroundings. These filaments might remain over the sun’s surface for months.

Former NASA astronaut and Test Pilot C. Gordon Fullerton dies

NASA says former space shuttle astronaut and test pilot C. Gordon Fullerton has died at age 76.

A NASA statement says Fullerton died Wednesday after spending most of the past 3 ½ years in a care facility in Lancaster, Calif., following a stroke in 2009.

Fullerton spent 382 hours in space on two space shuttle missions during his career as an astronaut from 1969 to 1986.

He was also a member of one of two crews that flew the shuttle prototype Enterprise on approach and landing tests in 1977.

Fullerton later spent 22 years as a test pilot on projects at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base.

The Portland, Ore., native joined the Air Force in 1958 and flew fighters and bombers before becoming a test pilot.

NASA crashes helicopter to study safety

NASA researchers will drop a 45-foot-long helicopter fuselage from a height of about 30 feet to test improved seat belts and seats and advance experimental techniques and crashworthiness data.

NASA is collaborating with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army and Federal Aviation Administration on the Transport Rotorcraft Airframe Crash Test Bed full-scale crash tests at Langley's Landing and Impact Research Facility.

"We have instrumented a former Marine helicopter airframe with cameras and accelerometers," said lead test engineer Martin Annett.

Martin Annett

"Almost 40 cameras inside and outside the helicopter will record how 13 crash test dummies react before, during and after impact."

During the test, onboard computers will record more than 350 channels of data as the helicopter is swung by cables, like a pendulum, into a bed of soil.

Just before impact, pyrotechnic devices release the suspension cables from the helicopter to allow free flight.

The helicopter will hit the ground at about 30 mph. The impact condition represents a severe but survivable condition under both civilian and military requirements.

For the first time ever in any test, technicians installed a video game motion sensor in the helicopter. "We want to see if it is useful as an additional way to track the movements of the dummies," said test engineer Justin Littell.

The outside of the fuselage also is new for this test. Technicians painted one entire side in black polka dots over a white background—a photographic technique called full field photogrammetry. Each dot represents a data point.

High-speed cameras filming at 500 images per second track each dot, so after over the drop researchers can plot and see exactly how the fuselage buckled, bent, cracked or collapsed under crash loads.

Another crash test of a similar helicopter equipped with additional technology, including composite airframe retrofits, is planned for next year.

Both tests are part of the Rotary Wing Project in the Fundamental Aeronautics Program of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

The US Navy provided the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter fuselages, seats, crash test dummies and other experiments for the test.

The Army contributed a litter experiment with a crash test dummy.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provided a side-facing specialized crash test dummy and part of the data acquisition system.

Cobham Life Support-St. Petersburg, a division of CONAX Florida Corporation, also contributed an active restraint system for the cockpit.

NASA will use the results of both tests in efforts to improve rotorcraft performance and efficiency, in part by assessing the reliability of high performance, lightweight composite materials.

Researchers also want to increase industry knowledge and create more complete computer models that can be used to design better helicopters.

The ultimate goal of NASA rotary wing research is to help make helicopters and other vertical take-off and landing vehicles more serviceable—able to carry more passengers and cargo—quicker, quieter, safer and greener. Improved designs might allow helicopters to be used more extensively in the airspace system.

NEOWISE: NASA WISE spacecraft reactivated to hunt for asteroids

This artist's concept shows the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, (WISE) spacecraft, in its orbit around Earth. 

In September of 2013, engineers will attempt to bring the mission out of hibernation to hunt for more asteroids and comets in a project called NEOWISE. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A NASA spacecraft that discovered and characterized tens of thousands of asteroids throughout the solar system before being placed in hibernation will return to service for three more years starting in September, assisting the agency in its effort to identify the population of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects, as well as those suitable for asteroid exploration missions.

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) will be revived next month with the goal of discovering and characterizing near-Earth objects (NEOs), space rocks that can be found orbiting within 45 million kilometers (28 million miles) from Earth's path around the sun.

NASA anticipates WISE will use its 16-inch (40-centimeter) telescope and infrared cameras to discover about 150 previously unknown NEOs and characterize the size, albedo and thermal properties of about 2,000 others—including some of which could be candidates for the agency's recently announced asteroid initiative.

John Grunsfeld

"The WISE mission achieved its mission's goals and as NEOWISE extended the science even further in its survey of asteroids. NASA is now extending that record of success, which will enhance our ability to find potentially hazardous asteroids, and support the new asteroid initiative," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington.

"Reactivating WISE is an excellent example of how we are leveraging existing capabilities across the agency to achieve our goal."

NASA's asteroid initiative will be the first mission to identify, capture and relocate an asteroid.

It represents an unprecedented technological feat that will lead to new scientific discoveries and technological capabilities that will help protect our home planet.

The asteroid initiative brings together the best of NASA's science, technology and human exploration efforts to achieve President Obama's goal of sending humans to an asteroid by 2025.

Launched December 2009 to look for the glow of celestial heat sources from asteroids, stars and galaxies, WISE made about 7,500 images every day during its primary mission from January 2010 to February 2011.

As part of a project called NEOWISE, the spacecraft made the most accurate survey to date of NEOs. NASA turned most of WISE's electronics off when it completed its primary mission.

"The data collected by NEOWISE two years ago have proven to be a gold mine for the discovery and characterization of the NEO population," said Lindley Johnson, NASA's NEOWISE program executive in Washington.

"It is important that we accumulate as much of this type of data as possible while the WISE spacecraft remains a viable asset."

Because asteroids reflect but do not emit visible light, infrared sensors are a powerful tool for discovering, cataloging and understanding the asteroid population.

Depending on an object's reflectivity, or albedo, a small, light-colored space rock can look the same as a big, dark one. As a result, data collected with optical telescopes using visible light can be deceiving.

Titan Aerospace readies solar-powered, long-endurance UAVs

A New Mexico company, Titan Aerospace, founded in 2012, is taking a serious step in launching unmanned aircraft that can function as satellites but at far less cost.

Making news earlier this month at the Association of Unmanned Systems International (AUVSI) conference and exhibition in Washington, the company introduced its Solara 50 and Solara 60, behaving as long-endurance solar powered drones and described by the company as atmospheric satellites.

The Solara 50 is under construction and will be ready for next year, with the bigger Solara 60 to follow.

They are powered by solar energy and capable of staying in high altitudes for weeks, even years.

Coming up with a high-altitude, extreme-endurance solar UAV has required skills and expertise and this company thinks it has a solid answer in the Solara.

According to Green Light, the company already tested in the New Mexico skies a smaller, proof-of-concept vehicle with a 33-foot wingspan, while longer endurance tests are planned. The Solara 50 is scheduled for next year.


Titan Aerospace aircraft are to be launched by catapult and can land by skidding on the underside. The Solara can cruise at 65,000 feet at a maximum speed of around 60mph, carrying a 70-pound payload.

The UAV is capable of carrying telecom, reconnaissance, atmospheric sensors and other payloads.

Unencumbered by weather, the Solara shines day and night, according to the company. Solara has been designed with thousands of high efficiency solar cells placed on virtually every possible surface.

According to the company, 3,000 solar cells cover the upper wing surface, the elevator and the horizontal stabilizer. Extra energy generated during the day is stored in lithium ion batteries located inside the wing.

The batteries power flight at night. The battery management system ensures voltage and thermal thresholds are maintained in subzero atmosphere.

The aircraft is designed to fly up to 65,000ft altitude and remain there for long durations; some reports say for five years. The Solara 50 has a 164-feet wingspan.

While the Solara 50 will have a payload of just 70 pounds, the next design in line, the Solara 60, will carry up to 250 pounds.

The company notes the vehicles are capable of carrying telecom, reconnaissance, atmospheric sensors and other payloads.

To promote this long-flying drone, the company's sales message is simple. When persistent coverage is needed, satellites have in the past fit the bill but the upcoming Solara vehicles will be able to perform similar tasks normally reserved for satellites at lower cost.

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope: Completes five years in space - mission extended

This view shows the entire sky at energies greater than 1 GeV based on five years of data from the LAT instrument on NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Brighter colors indicate brighter gamma-ray sources. 

Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

During its five-year primary mission, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has given astronomers an increasingly detailed portrait of the universe's most extraordinary phenomena, from giant black holes in the hearts of distant galaxies to thunderstorms on Earth.

But its job is not done yet. On Aug. 11, Fermi entered an extended phase of its mission—a deeper study of the high-energy cosmos. This is a significant step toward the science team's planned goal of a decade of observations, ending in 2018.

"As Fermi opens its second act, both the spacecraft and its instruments remain in top-notch condition and the mission is delivering outstanding science," said Paul Hertz, director of NASA's astrophysics division in Washington.

Paul Hertz

Fermi has revolutionized our view of the universe in gamma rays, the most energetic form of light.

The observatory's findings include new insights into many high-energy processes, from rapidly rotating neutron stars, also known as pulsars, within our own galaxy, to jets powered by supermassive black holes in far-away young galaxies.

The Large Area Telescope (LAT), the mission's main instrument, scans the entire sky every three hours.

The state-of-the-art detector has sharper vision, a wider field of view, and covers a broader energy range than any similar instrument previously flown.

Peter Michelson

"As the LAT builds up an increasingly detailed picture of the gamma-ray sky, it simultaneously reveals how dynamic the universe is at these energies," said Peter Michelson, the instrument's principal investigator and a professor of physics at Stanford University in California.

Fermi's secondary instrument, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM), sees all of the sky at any instant, except the portion blocked by Earth.

This all-sky coverage lets Fermi detect more gamma-ray bursts, and over a broader energy range, than any other mission.

These explosions, the most powerful in the universe, are thought to accompany the birth of new stellar-mass black holes.

Bill Paciesas

"More than 1,200 gamma-ray bursts, plus 500 flares from our sun and a few hundred flares from highly magnetized neutron stars in our galaxy have been seen by the GBM," said principal investigator Bill Paciesas, a senior scientist at the Universities Space Research Association's Science and Technology Institute in Huntsville, Ala.

One of Fermi's most striking results so far was the discovery of giant bubbles extending more than 25,000 light-years above and below the plane of our galaxy.

Scientists think these structures may have formed as a result of past outbursts from the black hole—with a mass of 4 million suns—residing in the heart of our galaxy.