Jan 28 2013

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 13-033 - NASA SOLICITS IDEAS FOR INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION RESEARCH --WASHINGTON -- NASA wants to know how you can improve the International Space Station as a technology test bed. NASA's International Space Station National Laboratory and Technology Demonstration offices are asking for proposals on how the space station may be used to develop advanced or improved exploration technologies. NASA also is seeking proposals about how new approaches, technologies and capabilities could improve the unique laboratory environment of the orbiting outpost.

RELEASE: 13-034 - NASA LAUNCHES SECOND INTERNATIONAL SPACE APPS CHALLENGE --WASHINGTON -- NASA and government agencies worldwide will host the second International Space Apps Challenge April 20-21, with events across all seven continents and in space. Participants are encouraged to develop mobile applications, software, hardware, data visualization and platform solutions that could contribute to space exploration missions and help improve life on Earth. The two-day event will provide an opportunity for government to harness the expertise and entrepreneurial spirit of citizen explorers to help address global challenges. During the event, representatives of NASA and other international space agencies will gather with scientists and participants to use publicly released open data to create solutions for 50 software, hardware and visualization challenges, including robotics, citizen science platforms and applications of remote sensing data. Challenges selected to be worked on during the event will be published online prior to the event. The 2012 challenge engaged more than 2,000 participants who collaborated on more than 100 open source solutions to 71 featured challenges. What sets apart the International Space Apps Challenge from other events is that this is a collaborative opportunity to engage people from all over the world to participate in space exploration and develop state-of-the-art technology to improve life on Earth and in space, said Nick Skytland, program manager of NASA's Open Innovation Program. Twelve locations in the United States will host an International Space Apps Challenge event: Atlanta, Ga.; Austin, Texas; Cape Canaveral, Fla.; Cleveland; Detroit, Easton, Md.; New York; Philadelphia; Reno, Nev.; Rochester, N.Y.; San Francisco; Syracuse, N.Y. Thirty-eight other events will be held in 30 other countries: Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Poland, Macedonia, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Uganda and United Kingdom. Also participating will be McMurdo Station in Antarctica and astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Registration for citizen participation will open on March 1.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-021 - NASA OBSERVES DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FEB. 1 --WASHINGTON -- NASA will pay tribute to the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, as well as other NASA colleagues, during the agency's Day of Remembrance on Friday, Feb. 1, the 10th anniversary of the Columbia accident. NASA's Day of Remembrance honors members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery. Flags across the agency will be flown at half-staff in their memory. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and other NASA senior officials will hold an observance at the astronaut memorial at Arlington National Cemetery Friday morning. At 10 a.m. EST, NASA Television will provide live coverage of a wreath-laying ceremony at the Space Mirror Memorial located in the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The observance is hosted by the Astronauts Memorial Foundation. Ceremony speakers include NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot; William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations; Robert Cabana, director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center; Thad Altman, president and chief executive officer of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation; Jon McBride, chairman of the board of directors of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation; Mick Ukleja, chairman of the board of trustees of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation; Evelyn Husband-Thompson, widow of Col. Rick Husband, who was commander of space shuttle Columbia's final mission, STS-107, in 2003; and Eileen Collins, commander of shuttle Discovery for the mission in 2005 that returned shuttles to flight after the Columbia accident. The Astronauts Memorial Foundation is a private, not-for-profit organization which built and maintains the Space Mirror Memorial. The mirror was dedicated in 1991 to honor all astronauts who lost their lives on missions or during training. It has been designated a National Memorial by Congress.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-023 - NASA, NEWSEUM PRESENT MEDIA PREVIEW OF PBS' EARTH FROM SPACE --WASHINGTON -- NASA and the Newseum will host a preview for news media of the upcoming NOVA special, "Earth from Space," at noon EST Monday, Feb. 4, at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW in Washington. Earth from Space is scheduled to air nationwide at 9 p.m. EST Feb. 13 on Public Broadcasting Service television stations. The two-hour special explores how satellites are transforming our view of Earth and features interviews with scientists and new visualizations of our complex planet. The centerpiece of the program is an animation of the globe composed of 23 layers of satellite-based data and more than 125,000 images from space. A question-and-answer session with scientists appearing in "Earth from Space" will follow the screening of the 20-minute preview.