Jul 16 2015

From The Space Library

STEREO-A Spacecraft Returns Data From the Far Side of the Sun

This image of the sun was taken on July 15, 2015, with the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager onboard NASA's Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory Ahead (STEREO-A) spacecraft, which collects images in several wavelengths of light that are invisible to the human eye. This image shows the sun in wavelengths of 171 angstroms, which are typically colorized in blue. STEREO-A has been on the far side of the sun since March 24, where it had to operate in safe mode, collecting and saving data from its radio instrument. The first images in over three months were received from STEREO-A on July 11.

The three-month safe mode period was necessary because of the geometry between Earth, the sun, and STEREO-A. STEREO-A orbits the sun as Earth does, but in a slightly smaller and faster orbit. The orbit ensured that over the course of years, Earth and the spacecraft got out of sync, with STEREO-A ending up on the other side of the sun from Earth, where it could show us views of our star that we couldn’t see from home. Though the sun only physically blocked STEREO-A from Earth’s line of sight for a few days, STEREO-A was close enough to the sun—from our perspective -- that from March 24 until July 8, the sun interfered with STEREO-A’s data transmission signal, making it impossible to interpret.

As STEREO-A kept orbiting, it eventually made its way far enough from the sun to come out of this transmission dark zone. In late June, the STEREO-A team began receiving status updates from the spacecraft, confirming that it had made it through its long safe-mode journey unharmed.

STEREO is the third mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes program (STP). The mission, launched in October 2006, has provided a unique and revolutionary view of the sun-Earth system. The two nearly identical observatories - one ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind - have traced the flow of energy and matter from the sun to Earth.

Release 15-144 Battling Wildfires from Space: NASA Adds to Firefighters’ Toolkit

U.S. firefighters battling wildfires this year will get a clearer view of these threats with new NASA-funded satellite-based tools to better detect fires nationwide and predict their behavior.

The new fire detection tool now in operation at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service (USFS) uses data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite to detect smaller fires in more detail than previous space-based products. The high-resolution data have been used with a cutting-edge computer model to predict how a fire will change direction based on weather and land conditions.

This tool is another example of the high-value benefits from cooperative efforts between NASA and the USDA, the future of which was formalized Thursday when NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman and USDA Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden signed an agreement that establishes a framework for future enhanced cooperation in the areas of Earth science research, technology, agricultural management, and the application of science data, models and technology in agricultural decision-making.

The new active fire detection product using data from Suomi NPP’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) increases the resolution of fire observations to 1,230 feet (375 meters). Previous NASA satellite data products available since the early 2000s observed fires at 3,280 foot (1 kilometer) resolution. The jump in detail is helping transform how satellite remote sensing data are used in support of wildfire management.

The data are one of the intelligence tools used by the USFS and Department of Interior agencies across the United States to guide resource allocation and strategic fire management decisions.

“The high-resolution data gleaned from VIIRS are available in a short time period and significantly enhances the Forest Service’s current strategic fire detection and monitoring capabilities,” said Brad Quayle, program lead at the USFS Remote Sensing Applications Center in Salt Lake City. “They are welcomed by the end users we serve in the interagency wildfire management community.”

Compared to its predecessors, the enhanced VIIRS fire product enables detection every 12 hours or less of much smaller fires and provides more detail and consistent tracking of fire lines during long duration wildfires – capabilities critical for early warning systems and support of routine mapping of fire progression. Active fire locations are available to users within minutes from the satellite overpass through data processing facilities at the USFS Remote Sensing Applications Center, which uses technologies developed by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Direct Readout Laboratory in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The new VIIRS 375m fire detection product was developed with support from NASA’s Earth Science Applied Sciences Program, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System Proving Ground Program, and the U.S. Forest Service. The project team was led by Wilfrid Schroeder at the University of Maryland College Park with scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, Colorado.

NCAR developed a new cutting-edge weather-fire model that has demonstrated potential to enhance firefighter and public safety by increasing awareness of rapidly changing fire behavior. The model uses data on weather conditions and the land surrounding an active fire to predict 12-18 hours in advance whether a blaze will shift direction. The VIIRS fire detection product has been applied to these models, successfully verifying the wildfire simulations.

The state of Colorado recently decided to incorporate the weather-fire model in its firefighting efforts beginning with the 2016 fire season.

“We hope that by infusing these higher resolution detection data and fire behavior modeling outputs into tactical fire situations, we can lessen the pressure on those working in fire management,” said Schroeder.

In 2014, an international field campaign was organized in South Africa’s Kruger National Park to validate fire detection products including the new VIIRS active fire data. In advance of that campaign, the Meraka Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria, South Africa, an early adopter of the VIIRS 375m fire product, put it to use during several large wildfires in Kruger.

“We had some serious wildfires in September 2014, and the VIIRS 375-meter data performed excellently,” said Philip Frost of the Meraka Institute.

The demand for timely, high-quality fire information has increased in recent years. Wildfires in the United States burn an average of 7 million acres of land each year. For the last 10 years, the USFS and Department of Interior have spent a combined average of about $1.5 billion annually on wildfire suppression. Large catastrophic wildfires have become commonplace, especially in association with extended drought and extreme weather.

NASA’s expertise in space and scientific exploration contributes to essential services provided to the American people by other federal agencies, such as natural resource management and weather forecasting. Suomi NPP is a joint mission of NASA and NOAA launched in 2011.

The multispectral imaging capabilities of the Suomi NPP VIIRS instrument support atmospheric studies and a variety of operational products including imaging of hurricanes, sea surface temperature, sea ice, landscapes, and the detection of fires, smoke and atmospheric aerosols.

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives, and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.

Release M15-109 NASA to Release New Pluto Images, Science Findings at July 17 NASA TV Briefing

NASA will hold a media briefing at 1 p.m. EDT Friday, July 17, to reveal new images of Pluto and discuss new science findings from Tuesday’s historic flyby.

The briefing will be held in James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, located at 300 E St. SW in Washington. NASA Television and the agency's website will carry the briefing live.

Participants in the briefing will be:

   Jim Green, director of Planetary Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington
   Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado
   Randy Gladstone, New Horizons co-investigator at SwRI in San Antonio
   Jeffrey Moore, New Horizons co-investigator at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California
   Fran Bagenal, New Horizons co-investigator, University of Colorado, Boulder