Jan 12 2012

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 12-016 NASA COLD WEATHER AIRBORNE CAMPAIGN TO MEASURE FALLING SNOW

WASHINGTON -- Beginning Jan. 17, NASA will fly an airborne science laboratory above Canadian snowstorms to tackle a difficult challenge facing the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite mission -- measuring snowfall from space. GPM is an international satellite mission that will set a new standard for precipitation measurements from space, providing next-generation observations of worldwide rain and snow every three hours. It is also the first mission designed to detect falling snow from space. "Snow is notoriously hard to measure as it falls," said Walter Petersen, the GPM ground validation scientist at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. "Snowflakes contain varying amounts of air and water, and they flutter, wobble and drift as they leave the clouds." Knowing how "wet" a snowflake is allows scientists to measure overall water content. A wet, heavy snow can shut down a city, and melted snow is a crucial source of freshwater in many areas. Working with Environment Canada, NASA's GPM Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx) will measure light rain and snow in Ontario from Jan. 17 to Feb. 29. The field campaign is designed to improve satellite estimates of falling snow and test ground validation capabilities in advance of the planned launch of the GPM Core satellite in 2014. NASA's DC-8 airborne science laboratory will fly out of Bangor, Maine, carrying radar and a radiometer that will simulate the measurements to be taken from space by GPM. At an altitude of 33,000 feet (10 kilometers), the DC-8 will make multiple passes over an extensive ground network of snow gauges and sensors at Environment Canada's Center for Atmospheric Research Experiments north of Toronto. The GCPEx field experiment will help scientists match measurements of snow in the air and on the ground with the satellite's measurements. "We will be looking at the precipitation and the physics of precipitation, such as snowflake types, sizes, shapes, numbers and water content," Petersen said. "These properties affect both how we interpret and improve our measurements." GPM's Core satellite is being built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., with instruments provided by NASA and its mission partner, the Japanese Aerospace and Exploration Agency (JAXA). The spacecraft will orbit Earth at a 65-degree inclination, covering the world from the Antarctic Circle to the Arctic Circle. GPM will carry a microwave radiometer and a dual-frequency precipitation radar that distinguishes a snowflake's size and shape, which affects how much water it holds. Knowing these microphysical properties will lead to more accurate estimates of rain and snowfall, especially during winter and at high latitudes where snow is the dominant form of precipitation. The Ontario region is prone to both lake effect snow squalls and widespread snowstorms. If the opportunity exists, the DC-8 also will fly over blizzards along the northeastern United States. While the DC-8 flies above the clouds, two other aircraft, one from the University of North Dakota and another from Canada, will fly through the clouds, measuring the microphysical properties of the raindrops and snowflakes inside. Advanced ground radars will scan the entire air column from the clouds to the Earth's surface. "These multiple measurements of snowfall provide a complete picture, a complete model, of the snowfall process from top to bottom," Petersen said. NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., manages the DC-8 flights for the GCPEx mission. The aircraft is based at the center's aircraft operations facility in Palmdale, Calif. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., is providing aircraft tracking and guidance through the Real Time Mission Monitor, as well as GCPEx real-time data and personnel support for the ground instruments in Canada.

RELEASE: 12-017 NASA STUDY SHOWS HEALTH, FOOD SECURITY BENEFITS FROM CLIMATE CHANGE ACTIONS

WASHINGTON -- A new study led by a NASA scientist highlights 14 key air pollution control measures that, if implemented, could slow the pace of global warming, improve health and boost agricultural production. The research, led by Drew Shindell of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City, finds that focusing on these measures could slow mean global warming 0.9 ?F (0.5?C) by 2050, increase global crop yields by up to 135 million metric tons per season and prevent hundreds of thousands of premature deaths each year. While all regions of the world would benefit, countries in Asia and the Middle East would see the biggest health and agricultural gains from emissions reductions. "We've shown that implementing specific practical emissions reductions chosen to maximize climate benefits also would have important 'win-win' benefits for human health and agriculture," said Shindell. The study was published today in the journal Science. Shindell and an international team considered about 400 control measures based on technologies evaluated by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria. The new study focused on 14 measures with the greatest climate benefit. All 14 would curb the release of either black carbon or methane, pollutants that exacerbate climate change and human or plant health, either directly or by leading to ozone formation. Black carbon, a product of burning fossil fuels or biomass such as wood or dung, can worsen a number of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. The small particles also absorb radiation from the sun causing the atmosphere to warm and rainfall patterns to shift. In addition, they darken ice and snow, reducing their reflectivity and hastening global warming. Methane, a colorless and flammable substance that is a major constituent of natural gas, is both a potent greenhouse gas and an important precursor to ground-level ozone. Ozone, a key component of smog and also a greenhouse gas, damages crops and human health. While carbon dioxide is the primary driver of global warming over the long term, limiting black carbon and methane are complementary actions that would have a more immediate impact because these two pollutants circulate out of the atmosphere more quickly. Shindell and his team concluded that these control measures would provide the greatest protection against global warming to Russia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, countries with large areas of snow or ice cover. Iran, Pakistan and Jordan would experience the most improvement in agricultural production. Southern Asia and the Sahel region of Africa would see the most beneficial changes to precipitation patterns. The south Asian countries of India, Bangladesh and Nepal would see the biggest reductions in premature deaths. The study estimates that globally between 700,000 and 4.7 million premature deaths could be prevented each year. Black carbon and methane have many sources. Reducing emissions would require that societies make multiple infrastructure upgrades. For methane, the key strategies the scientists considered were capturing gas escaping from coal mines and oil and natural gas facilities, as well as reducing leakage from long-distance pipelines, preventing emissions from city landfills, updating wastewater treatment plants, aerating rice paddies more, and limiting emissions from manure on farms. For black carbon, the strategies analyzed include installing filters in diesel vehicles, keeping high-emitting vehicles off the road, upgrading cooking stoves and boilers to cleaner burning types, installing more efficient kilns for brick production, upgrading coke ovens and banning agricultural burning. The scientists used computer models developed at GISS and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, to model the impact of emissions reductions. The models showed widespread benefits from the methane reduction because it is evenly distributed throughout the atmosphere. Black carbon falls out of the atmosphere after a few days so the benefits are stronger in certain regions, especially ones with large amounts of snow and ice. "Protecting public health and food supplies may take precedence over avoiding climate change in most countries, but knowing that these measures also mitigate climate change may help motivate policies to put them into practice," Shindell said. The new study builds on a United Nations Environment Program/World Meteorological Organization report, also led by Shindell, published last year. "The scientific case for fast action on these so-called 'short-lived climate forcers' has been steadily built over more than a decade, and this study provides further focused and compelling analysis of the likely benefits at the national and regional level," said United Nations Environment Program Executive Director Achim Steiner

RELEASE: 12-018 NASA MOVES SHUTTLE ENGINES FROM KENNEDY TO STENNIS

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The relocation of the RS-25D space shuttle main engine inventory from Kennedy Space Center's Engine Shop in Cape Canaveral, Fla., is underway. The RS-25D flight engines, repurposed for NASA's Space Launch System, are being moved to NASA's Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi. The Space Launch System (SLS) is a new heavy-lift launch vehicle that will expand human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration across the solar system. The Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., is leading the design and development of the SLS for NASA, including the engine testing program. SLS will carry the Orion spacecraft, its crew, cargo, equipment and science experiments to destinations in deep space. "The relocation of RS-25D engine assets represents a significant cost savings to the SLS Program by consolidating SLS engine assembly and test operations at a single facility," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. The RS-25Ds -- to be used for the SLS core stage -- will be stored at Stennis until testing begins at a future date. Testing is already under way on the J-2X engine, which is planned for use in the SLS upper stage. Using the same fuel system -- liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen -- for both core and upper stages reduces costs by leveraging the existing knowledge base, skills, infrastructure and personnel. "This enables the sharing of personnel, resources and practices across all engine projects, allows flexibility and responsiveness to the SLS program, and it is more affordable," said Johnny Heflin, RS-25D core stage engine lead in the SLS Liquid Engines Office at Marshall. "It also frees up the space, allowing Kennedy to move forward relative to commercial customers." The 15 RS-25D engines at Kennedy are being transported on the 700-mile journey using existing transportation and processing procedures that were used to move engines between Kennedy and Stennis during the Space Shuttle Program. They will be relocated one at a time by truck. Built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif. the RS-25D engine powered NASA's space shuttle program with 100 percent mission success.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-005 NASA AND STUDENTS TO ANNOUNCE NEW NAMES FOR TWIN LUNAR PROBES

WASHINGTON -- NASA will host a news conference at 1 p.m. EST, Tuesday, Jan. 17, to announce the names selected from a nationwide student contest for twin spacecraft that will study the moon in unprecedented detail. The event will be held in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, located at 300 E Street SW, in Washington. Nine hundred schools and more than 11,000 students from 45 states, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, participated in the contest that began in October 2011. The agency's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL A/B) spacecraft successfully achieved lunar orbit on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, respectively. The status of the spacecraft and upcoming plans for science operations also will be discussed. The participants are: -- John Grunsfeld, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington-- Leland Melvin, associate administrator for Education, NASA Headquarters-- Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.-- Sally Ride, president and CEO, Sally Ride Science, San Diego-- Teacher and students submitting the selected names

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-006 NASA'S ORION SPACECRAFT TO LAND IN OKLAHOMA, TEXAS AND ALABAMA

WASHINGTON -- A test version of NASA's Orion spacecraft soon will make a cross-country journey, giving residents in three states the chance to see a full scale test version of the vehicle that will take humans into deep space. The crew module will make stops during a trip from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The planned stops include Jan. 23-25 at Science Museum Oklahoma in Oklahoma City; Jan. 27-29 at Victory Park and the American Airlines Center in Dallas; and, Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. Engineers, program officials, astronauts and NASA spokespeople will be available to speak with the media and the public. The full-scale test vehicle was used by ground crews in advance of the launch abort system flight test that took place in New Mexico in 2010. Media interested in seeing the spacecraft or scheduling interviews should contact Dan Huot at daniel.g.huot@nasa.gov or by calling the newsroom at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston at 281-483-5111. Orion will serve as the vehicle that takes astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit. The first orbital flight test is scheduled for 2014.