Sep 11 2012

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 12-314 NASA AND GERMAN AEROSPACE CENTER SIGN CIVIL AVIATION AGREEMENTS

WASHINGTON -- NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have signed two cooperative agreements to advance air traffic management benefiting airline passengers and citizens of both nations. The agreements were signed Tuesday at a Berlin Air Show ceremony by NASA's Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Research Dr. Jaiwon Shin and DLR's Executive Board Member for Aeronautical Research Rolf Henke. The agreements bring together two dynamic research organizations that have a mutual interest to advance air transportation automation for the benefit of the aviation industry under the Next Generation Air Transportation System in the United States and the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research Joint Undertaking in Europe. "NASA has enjoyed a long history of successful cooperation with DLR," Shin said. "Our ability to work closely together will benefit each nation by increasing air traffic capacity and reducing aviation's impact to the environment." One agreement sets the terms and conditions on a range of activities related to coordinated aircraft arrival, departure and surface operations research. The other agreement outlines cooperation on efficient airspace operations under constrained conditions, such as mitigating the impact of severe weather and volcanic ash clouds to air traffic while minimizing the environmental impact. "DLR is bringing its extensive research experience in the air traffic management sector," Henke said. "At the same time, our scientists will be able to benefit from the experience of their NASA colleagues."

RELEASE: 12-315 NASA ORBITER OBSERVATIONS POINT TO 'DRY ICE' SNOWFALL ON MARS

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) data have given scientists the clearest evidence yet of carbon dioxide snowfalls on Mars. This reveals the only known example of carbon dioxide snow falling anywhere in our solar system. Frozen carbon dioxide, better known as "dry ice," requires temperatures of about minus 193 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 125 Celsius), which is much colder than needed for freezing water. Carbon dioxide snow reminds scientists that although some parts of Mars may look quite Earth-like, the Red Planet is very different. The report is being published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. "These are the first definitive detections of carbon dioxide snow clouds," said the report's lead author Paul Hayne of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "We firmly establish the clouds are composed of carbon dioxide -- flakes of Martian air -- and they are thick enough to result in snowfall accumulation at the surface." The snow falls occurred from clouds around the Red Planet's south pole in winter. The presence of carbon dioxide ice in Mars' seasonal and residual southern polar caps has been known for decades. Also, NASA's Phoenix Lander mission in 2008 observed falling water-ice snow on northern Mars. Hayne and six co-authors analyzed data gained by looking at clouds straight overhead and sideways with the Mars Climate Sounder, one of six instruments on MRO. This instrument records brightness in nine wavebands of visible and infrared light as a way to examine particles and gases in the Martian atmosphere. The data provide information about temperatures, particle sizes and their concentrations. The new analysis is based on data from observations in the south polar region during southern Mars winter in 2006-2007, identifying a tall carbon dioxide cloud about 300 miles (500 kilometers) in diameter persisting over the pole and smaller, shorter-lived, lower-altitude carbon dioxide ice clouds at latitudes from 70 to 80 degrees south. "One line of evidence for snow is that the carbon dioxide ice particles in the clouds are large enough to fall to the ground during the lifespan of the clouds," co-author David Kass of JPL said. "Another comes from observations when the instrument is pointed toward the horizon, instead of down at the surface. The infrared spectra signature of the clouds viewed from this angle is clearly carbon dioxide ice particles and they extend to the surface. By observing this way, the Mars Climate Sounder is able to distinguish the particles in the atmosphere from the dry ice on the surface." Mars' south polar residual ice cap is the only place on Mars where frozen carbon dioxide persists on the surface year-round. Just how the carbon dioxide from Mars' atmosphere gets deposited has been in question. It is unclear whether it occurs as snow or by freezing out at ground level as frost. These results show snowfall is especially vigorous on top of the residual cap. "The finding of snowfall could mean that the type of deposition -- snow or frost -- is somehow linked to the year-to-year preservation of the residual cap," Hayne said. JPL provided the Mars Climate Sounder instrument and manages the MRO Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-177 NASA HIGHLIGHTS 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF KENNEDY 'MOON SPEECH' AND LOOKS AHEAD

WASHINGTON -- NASA is offering a variety of special features to commemorate the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's address at Rice University in Houston on Sept. 12, 1962. In that famous speech, Kennedy proclaimed, "We choose to go to the moon in this decade," which set the United States on a course of space exploration that we continue to build on today. On Wednesday, NASA Television will air in its entirety a high-quality version of the address at 11:15 a.m. EDT, the same time President Kennedy gave the speech 50 years ago. NASA's website will have a special blog from NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and an online feature that highlights the speech and provides information about NASA's current and future exploration programs. NASA.gov and NASA TV will show a message about the speech from NASA astronaut Suni Williams on board the International Space Station. Williams will become commander of the orbiting laboratory this weekend. At 3 p.m., NASA astronauts, scientists and engineers will hold a Google+ Hangout to talk about NASA's rich history of innovation and ingenuity, and discuss NASA's future goals for scientific discovery and human spaceflight.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-179 SOYUZ LANDING COVERAGE PLANNED FOR NASA TELEVISION

WASHINGTON -- NASA Television will provide live coverage of events surrounding three International Space Station crew members who are scheduled to end four months on the orbiting laboratory with a landing in Kazakhstan on Sunday, Sept. 16. Expedition 32 Flight Engineer Joe Acaba of NASA and Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin of the Russian Federal Space Agency will undock their Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft from the space station at 7:09 p.m. EDT, heading for a landing at 10:53 p.m. (8:53 a.m. Kazakhstan time Sept. 17) north of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. Their return will wrap up 125 days in space since their launch from Kazakhstan on May 15, including 123 days on the station. At the time of undocking, Expedition 33 formally will begin aboard the station under the command of NASA's Sunita Williams. She and her crewmates, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will tend to the station as a three-person crew for a month until the arrival of three new crew members in mid-October, including NASA astronaut Kevin Ford.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-180 NASA TO HOST MARS CURIOSITY ROVER PROGRESS TELECONFERENCE SEPT. 12

WASHINGTON -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, Sept. 12, to provide a status update on the Curiosity rover's mission to Mars' Gale Crater. The Mars Science Laboratory is one month into a two-year mission to investigate whether conditions may have been favorable for microbial life.