Aerojet Propulsion Propels NASA s GLAST Mission: related news

Aerojet Propulsion Propels NASA's GLAST Mission

PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE: GY) company, announced today that its engine helped propel NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) mission. The mission will allow astronomers to study extreme environments of the universe that generate significant amounts of gamma-ray radiation. Other objectives include the discovery of the mysteries behind powerful gamma-ray bursts, the composition of dark matter and a search for signs of new laws of physics.

Aerojet Propulsion Propels NASA's GLAST Mission

company, announced today that its engine helped propel NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) mission. The mission will allow astronomers to study extreme environments of the universe that generate significant amounts of gamma-ray radiation. Other objectives include the discovery of the mysteries behind powerful gamma-ray bursts, the composition of dark matter and a search for signs of new laws of physics.

NASA Launches Satellite To Monitor Oceans

On Friday, NASA launched the Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason 2 satellite into orbit to begin a detailed study of ocean currents, sea-surface height, and surface topology. Scientists hope to use the data gathered by Jason 2 in order to better understand weather patterns and global warming. Further details about the mission objectives (PDF) are also available. Quoting NASA's press release: "Combining ocean current and heat storage data is key to understanding global climate variations. OSTM/Jason 2's expected lifetime of at least three years will extend into the next decade the continuous record of these data started in 1992 by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, or CNES, with the TOPEX/Poseidon mission.

BAE Systems Computers & NASA GLAST Mission

Farnborough, UK – BAE Systems computers will enable a new NASA satellite to examine gamma rays, the most intense form of radiation in the universe. Seven of the company’s RAD750™ computers are aboard the Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope (GLAST), on a mission to measure and characterize the high-energy radiation emitted by black holes and emerging neutron stars.

Cassini's Primary Mission Ends, Two-Year Extension Begins

wooferhound points out recent news that the Cassini probe has completed its original four-year mission and is beginning a two-year extended mission, which was authorized earlier this year. Cassini's first mission brought us a treasure trove of information about Saturn and its various moons. The new mission will target two of those moons in particular for further study: Titan and Enceladus. Quoting: "The spacecraft is extremely healthy and carries 12 instruments powered by three radioisotope thermoelectric generators. Data from Cassini's nominal and extended missions could lay the groundwork for possible future missions to Saturn, Titan or Enceladus. [The two moons] are primary targets in the two-year extended mission, dubbed the Cassini Equinox Mission.

GLAST Blasts Off on Gamma Ray Mission

Today, NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST for short) left Earth onboard a Delta II rocket. "The entire GLAST Team is elated," reported program manager Kevin Grady of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center shortly after the rocket's liftoff from Cape Canaveral. "The observatory is now on-orbit and all systems continue to operate as planned."

NASA Sets Briefings For Hubble Space Telescope Shuttle Mission

HOUSTON -- NASA will hold a series of news media briefings Sept. 8 - 9 to preview the space shuttle's fifth and final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA Television and the agency's Web site will provide live coverage of the briefings from the Johnson Space Center and the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Questions also will be taken from other participating NASA locations.

GLAST mission operations at NASA Goddard powered up

Several bases of operations for NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) are gearing up for data from the recently launched satellite.

NASA's Kepler Telescope Set to Use 3PAR in the Search for Distant Earth-Like Planets

3PAR INC ("PAR-N") - NASA's Kepler Telescope Set to Use 3PAR in the Search for Distant - Earth-Like Planets 3PAR, the leading global provider of utility storage, announced that NASA Ames Research Center has chosen 3PAR Utility Storage for a mission that will send the Kepler Space Telescope into orbit around the Sun to find planets in solar systems outside our own. Set to launch in February of 2009, the mission will use 3PAR Utility Storage to store digital images taken with the powerful telescope and its camera. NASA Ames chose the resilient 3PAR storage system to meet its strict cost and performance requirements while maintaining massive scalability and avoiding the need for a full-time, dedicated storage expert. "Even rocket launches have budget constraints," said Chris Middour, Deputy Manager for the Kepler Operations Science Center an

NASA Awards Contracts for Concepts of Lunar Surface Systems

Contact: Stephanie Schierholz, +1-202-358-4997, stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov, Grey Hautaluoma, +1-202-358-0668, grey.hautaluoma@nasa.gov, Headquarters, Washington, or Lynnette Madison, lynnette.b.madison@nasa.gov, or Josh Byerly, bill.j.byerly@nasa.gov, +1-281-483-5111, Johnson Space Center, Houston, all of NASA

50 Years of NASA

Fifty years ago this week NASA was born. On July 29, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the "National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958." NASA replaced NACA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, to meet the challenge of exploring beyond Earth, and in particular, to send a human into space. NASA has accomplished a lot during the last 50 years, and now its time to celebrate. To commemorate the anniversary, NASA has developed an interactive multimedia website that provides a historic tour of its first five decades of exploration. It's a fun and interesting site that offers lots of history and a little look at the future, too. The site combines historic and current video with entertaining computer animation, and the virtual exhibit takes a World's Fair approach to NASA history, with pavilions that host each decad

Groundbreaking Solar Mission Faces Chilly Death

iamlucky13 writes "Over 17 years ago, the Ulysses spacecraft was launched aboard the space shuttle Discovery for a unique NASA/ESA mission. While nearly all other probes travel along our solar system's ecliptic plane, Ulysses used a Jupiter gravity assist to swing 80 degrees out of plane, carrying it over the sun's poles for an unprecedented view. During a mission that lasted four times longer than planned, it has flown through the tails of several comets, helped pinpoint distant gamma-ray bursts, and provided data on the sun and its heliosphere from the better part of two solar cycles. Unfortunately, the natural reduction of power from its radioisotope thermal generator means it is now unable to even keep its attitude control fuel from freezing, and NASA has decided to formally conclude the mission on July 1.

NASA Phoenix Mission Scientists to Discuss Martian Studies

TUCSON, Ariz. -- NASA and the University of Arizona, Tucson, will hold a media briefing Thursday, July 31, at 11 a.m. PDT, in the mission's Science Operations Center at the university. Briefing participants will discuss the latest progress by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander in exploring a site in the Martian arctic. Following its May 25 landing, Phoenix has been studying whether Mars' environment ever has been favorable for microbial life.

NASA GLAST Launch Takes The Sputnik To Space

At 12:05 p.m. EDT, the Delta II rocket easily lifted the GLAST spacecraft off the launch pad, out of smoke and clouds and into a beautiful Florida sky headed for space. NASA GLAST launch took off successfully.

NASA May Hire Japanese Spacecraft For ISS Service Mission

schliz writes "NASA is talking to Japan's space agency about using one of its spacecraft for servicing missions to the International Space Station, according to Japanese media reports. NASA has been considering various options to maintain its commitment to the Space Station after the Space Shuttle is retired from service in 2010. According to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, 'unofficial negotiations' between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) began in February."

Maxon Motor offers electro-motors for the NASA Phoenix Mission

NASA has started a new mission to the red planet Mars. The major task of the Phoenix Mission is to look for signs of life, which means traces of water, on Mars.

NASA delays robotic moon mission until 2009

This artists rendering released by NASA shows the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter going around the moon with Earth in the background. NASA delayed the launch Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008, of the unmanned spacecraft to the moon whose job is to scout for potential landing sites to eventually return astronauts to the lunar surface. (AP Photo/NASA)

NASA Assigns Crew for Equipment Delivery Mission to Space Station

WASHINGTON, July 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has assigned the crew for space shuttle mission STS-128. The flight will carry science and storage racks to the International Space Station. Marine Corps Col. Frederick W. "Rick" Sturckow will command space shuttle Atlantis on the STS-128 mission, targeted for launch July 30, 2009. Retired Air Force Col. Kevin A. Ford will serve as the pilot.

NASA Assigns Crew for Equipment Delivery Mission to Space Station

Contact: John Yembrick, Headquarters, Washington, +1-202-358- 0602, john.yembrick-1@nasa.gov, or Kylie Clem, Johnson Space Center, Houston, +1-281-483-5111, kylie.s.clem@nasa.gov, both of NASA

Retired NASA SpaceCraft Operator Witnessed Extraterrestrial in Space Shuttle Mission

Clark McClelland is a retired Spacecraft Operator with NASA who during a 34 year career was responsible for ensuring the safety of numerous NASA missions including Mercury spaceflights, Apollo missions, the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle. In a statement released on his website on July 29, 2008, McClelland revealed that he witnessed an eight to nine foot tall extraterrestrial in association with a Space Shuttle mission he was monitoring from the Kennedy Space Center. He wrote:

GLAST into space: NASA's mission to unlock cosmic mysteries

NASA is about to embark on a space endeavour which they hope will unlock some of the great mysteries of the universe.

Problems Surface For Constellation Program

On the heels of news about NASA engineers who feel the Constellation program is using the wrong kind of rockets comes word that efforts to build the spacecraft which will replace the shuttle and return astronauts to the moon is running behind and over-budget. NASA Watch published a leaked internal NASA document showing the Constellation Program has encountered financial and technical problems, and the Associated Press quoted Doug Cooke, NASA's deputy associate administrator for exploration as saying the first test flights for Orion may be delayed. However, the delay thus far is only of NASA's internal goal of having the spacecraft ready by 2013. Cooke said they are still on target for NASA's public commitment of first test flights by 2015, and returning to the moon by 2020.

Ulysses Spacecraft Not Dead Yet

iminplaya sends in the good news that reports of the death of the Ulysses mission are premature. (We've discussed the impending shutdown of the 17-year-old mission a couple of times this year.) Ulysses is a joint NASA / ESA mission to study the sun from an orbit inclined almost 90 degrees from the ecliptic. From the Planetary Society blog post: "Ulysses is not dead yet. ESA issued a statement in February saying that, as Ulysses' radioisotope thermoelectric generators were running out of power, the spacecraft would likely die some time this year. The actual death blow to the spacecraft was likely to be the freezing of hydrazine fuel in a cold spot in a fuel line. Mission controllers found creative ways to prevent the freezing, but the solution was not a long-term one, and ESA had a ceremonial send-off and wrap-up of the mission in mid-June

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