Nov 16 2017
From The Space Library
MEDIA ADVISORY M17-135 Tennessee Students to Speak with NASA Astronauts on International Space Station
Students at Southside Elementary School in Lebanon, Tennessee, will have the opportunity to speak with NASA astronauts living, working and doing research aboard the International Space Station at 10:05 a.m. EST Monday, Nov. 20. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
Students will have the opportunity to ask Randy Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei questions about life aboard the space station, NASA’s deep space exploration plans, and scientific research in space. Southside Elementary hosted a school-wide competition for the submission of questions to the astronauts.
This is Bresnik’s second mission to the station, and he serves as the station’s Expedition 53 commander. Bresnik launched to the orbiting laboratory on July 28 and is scheduled to return to Earth in December. Vande Hei arrived at the space station on Sept. 12 and will return to Earth in February 2018. This is his first space mission.
The students at Southside prepared for the downlink by participating in a daily trivia contest. Students also watched videos educating them on the different aspects of living in space such as how astronauts brush their teeth, wash their hair and use the bathroom. In celebration of the downlink, the halls of the school are covered with space themed decorations on the doorways.
“Students have researched and written biographies of the three American astronauts currently on station,” said Southside teacher Leesa Hubbard, who served as the facilitator for the NASA Educational Workshops at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center from 1999-2002. “It is our hope that this experience will bring the science and exploration of space a lot closer to home.”
Media interested in attending the event should contact Jennifer Johnson at Jennifer.johnson@wcschools.com or 615-478-6996. Southside Elementary School is at 1224 Murfreesboro Road in Lebanon.
Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). This in-flight education downlink is an integral component of NASA’s Year of Education on Station, which provides extensive space station-related resources and opportunities to students and educators.
MEDIA ADVISORY M17-136 NASA Launch of NOAA Weather Satellite Rescheduled for Nov. 18
The launch of a United Launch Alliance Delta II carrying the NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System-1, or JPSS-1, has been rescheduled for 1:47 a.m. PST (4:47 a.m. EST), Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017, from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credits: NASA/Glenn Benson
The launch of the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1) satellite, the first in a new series of four highly advanced National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) polar-orbiting satellites, now is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 18, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Launch coverage will be carried live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
Liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex 2 is targeted for 4:47 a.m. EST (1:47 a.m. PST).
NASA TV launch coverage begins at 4:15 a.m. and will conclude after the deployment of four small satellite missions, called CubeSats, which will accompany JPSS-1 as payload on the Delta II rocket. There is no planned post-launch news conference. A post-launch news release will be issued as soon as the state-of-health of the spacecraft is verified.
JPSS represents significant technological and scientific advancements in observations used for severe weather prediction and environmental monitoring. JPSS is a collaborative effort between NOAA and NASA. The JPSS system will help increase weather forecast accuracy from three to seven days.
Audio only of the news conferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240, -1260 or -7135. On launch day, "mission audio," the launch conductor’s countdown activities without NASA TV launch commentary, will be carried on 321-867-7135.
Additional launch day coverage will be available on NASA.gov. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates beginning at 4:15 a.m. as countdown milestones occur. You can follow countdown coverage on our launch blog at https://blogs.nasa.gov/jpss.
RELEASE 17-090 NASA Selects Instrument for Future International Mission to Martian Moons
NASA has selected a science instrument for an upcoming Japan-led sample return mission to the moons of Mars planned for launch in 2024. The instrument, a sophisticated neutron and gamma-ray spectrograph, will help scientists resolve one of the most enduring mysteries of the Red Planet -- when and how the small moons formed.
The Mars Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is in development by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). MMX will visit the two Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, land on the surface of Phobos, and collect a surface sample. Plans are for the sample to be returned to Earth in 2029. NASA is supporting the development of one of the spacecraft’s suite of seven science instruments.
“Solving the riddle of how Mars’ moons came to be will help us better understand how planets formed around our Sun and, in turn, around other stars,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) at Headquarters in Washington. “International partnerships like this provide high-quality science with high- impact return.”
The selected instrument, named MEGANE (pronounced meh-gah-nay, meaning “eyeglasses” in Japanese), will be developed by a team led by David Lawrence of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. MEGANE will give MMX the ability to “see” the elemental composition of Phobos, by measuring the energies of neutrons and gamma-rays emitted from the small moon. The elementary particles are emitted naturally as a result of the high-energy cosmic rays and solar energetic particles that continually strike and penetrate the surface of Phobos.
“With MMX, we hope to understand the origin of the moons of Mars,” said Masaki Fujimoto, director of the department of solar system science in JAXA’s Institute of Space and Aeronautical Sciences. “They may have formed as the result of a large impact on Mars, or they may be captured asteroids of a sort that may have brought a great deal of water to both Mars and Earth.”
MEGANE will be developed under NASA’s Discovery Program, which provides frequent, low-cost access to space using principal investigator-led space science investigations relevant to SMD’s planetary science program.
“We’ll see the composition of the region from which MMX collects its sample,” said Thomas Statler, program scientist for MMX at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This will help us better understand what we discover in the laboratory when the mission returns the sample to Earth for analysis.”
The Discovery Program is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama for SMD, which conducts a wide variety of research and scientific exploration programs for Earth studies, space weather, the solar system and universe.
