Dec 9 2010

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 10-207

NEW NASA HD APP FOR IPAD WITH EXPANDED CONTENT AVAILABLE FREE

WASHINGTON -- NASA has unveiled NASA App HD, a new mobile application designed for the iPad. The application is available free of charge at the App Store from Apple. NASA App HD features live streaming video from NASA Television, an interactive map with links to all the agency's field centers, quick links to feature stories and launch schedules, a scrolling alerts banner, and a NASA Featured link. The first featured link focuses on women in space. The app's landing page features the solar system, where users can learn more about our neighborhood, the universe and NASA missions. The app also enables users to experience and search updated, higher resolution NASA Image of the Day and Astronomy Picture of the Day collections and agency videos on demand. "Our goal with the first NASA App was to deliver current mission information, images, videos and news updates in the best possible way for the iPhone and iPod touch, said Jerry Colen, NASA App project manager at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. Now we've enhanced and expanded the application to include even more content and really take advantage of the iPad's larger screen. The NASA App is available for free on the App Store for iPad or at: http://www.iTunes.com/AppStore

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RELEASE: 10-342

NASA SELECTS UNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND TO HELP BUILD SCIENCE CAREERS

WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected the United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corp. of Falls Church, Va., to administer a $1 million career development and educational program designed to address the critical shortage of U.S. minority students in science and engineering fields. The NASA Astrobiology Institute's (NAI) Minority Institution Research Support (MIRS) program in Moffett Field, Calif., is providing the funding for the four-year effort. The program will provide opportunities for up to four faculty members and eight students from minority-serving institutions to partner with astrobiology investigators. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and the future of life on Earth and the potential for life elsewhere. "Providing new education opportunities for minority students will both enrich lives and answer a critical need for proficiency in science and engineering, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. But just as importantly, the program is an investment to cultivate imaginative thinking about the field of astrobiology. The United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corp. will use its extensive database of 14,000 registrants to develop an online community to provide webinars, virtual training and videoconferences, and provide outreach and recruitment for program participants. The program's objective is to engage more teachers from under-represented schools in astrobiology research and increase the number of students pursuing careers in astrobiology. "Our nation's underserved populations are a tremendous resource on which we must draw, not just for science, but for everything we do, said Carl Pilcher, director of NASA's Astrobiology Institute. We are extremely pleased that the NAI MIRS program will continue contributing under the leadership of such a strong and experienced partner. Founded in 1998, NAI is a partnership between NASA, 14 U.S. teams of universities and other organizations, and seven international consortia. NAI's goals are to promote, conduct, and lead interdisciplinary astrobiology research, train a new generation of astrobiology researchers, and share the excitement of the field. NAI is part of NASA's Astrobiology Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington. The institute initiated the MIRS program in 2002 as part of its mission to help train a new generation of researchers in astrobiology and increase diversity within the astrobiology community.

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RELEASE: 10-272

NASA AIRBORNE SCIENCE CAMPAIGN BEGINS ANTARCTIC SEQUEL

WASHINGTON -- Scientists returned this week to the Southern Hemisphere where NASA's Operation IceBridge mission is set to begin its second year of airborne surveys over Antarctica. The mission monitors the region's changing sea ice, ice sheets and glaciers. Researchers will make flights from Punta Arenas, Chile, on NASA's DC-8, a 157-foot airborne laboratory equipped with a suite of seven instruments. The focus is to re-survey areas that are undergoing rapid change and to embark on new lines of investigation. "We are excited to learn how the glaciers and sea ice have changed since last year's campaign, said Michael Studinger, IceBridge project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. We also are going to be mapping uncharted regions that will allow us to better assess future behavior of the Antarctic ice sheets and sea ice. IceBridge science flights are scheduled to begin this weekend and continue through mid-November. Flights will take off from Punta Arenas and cross the Southern Ocean to reach destinations including West Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula and coastal areas. Each flight lasts about 11 hours. Instruments for the 2010 Antarctic campaign are the same as those flown in 2009. A laser instrument will map and identify surface changes. Radar instruments will penetrate the snow and ice to see below the surface, providing a profile of ice characteristics and also the shape of the bedrock supporting it. A gravity instrument will measure the shape of seawater-filled cavities at the edge of some major fast-moving glaciers. Using these tools, researchers will survey targets of on-going and potential rapid change, including the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is the area that has the greatest potential to rapidly increase sea level. Another concern is that the ice sheet is below sea level, adding to its instability. Revisiting previously flown areas, scientists can begin to quantify the magnitude of changes to land ice. Pine Island Glacier, the largest ice stream in West Antarctica with significant potential contribution to sea level rise, has long been a primary target for sustained observations. Satellite data, most recently from NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) have shown dramatic thinning there of up to 10 meters per year in places. Previous IceBridge flights mapped the surface of the glacier and unusual features beneath it, providing clues to the glacier's rapid retreat and ice loss. In addition to flying previous lines over the glacier, the IceBridge team plans to fly a new horseshoe pattern to sample the tributaries feeding into Pine Island Glacier's main trunk. Other new flight lines will further explore the Antarctic Peninsula to map new targets, including the George VI Ice Shelf, above and below the ice. Three high-priority flights are aimed at measuring sea ice, including a plan to map and measure sea ice across the Weddell Sea. Scientists want to know why sea ice in Antarctica is growing in extent, unlike sea ice in the Arctic, which is declining in extent. Current theories range from ozone depletion to changing ocean dynamics. Other flights are being planned to be coordinated with existing space and ground-based missions, such as the European Space Agency's ice-observing Cryosat-2 satellite and European ship-based research. Overlapping measurements help researchers calibrate instruments and boost confidence in the resulting observations. "A concerted effort like this will allow us to produce long time series of data spanning from past satellite missions to current and future missions, Studinger said. This is only possible through international collaboration. We are excited to have many opportunities to work with our international partners during the upcoming campaign.

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RELEASE: 10-158

NASA ART AND DESIGN CONTESTANTS CREATE MULTI-MEDIA VISIONS OF LUNAR LIFE

WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected the winners in the 2010 Life and Work on the Moon Art and Design Contest from more than 200 international student entries. Participants envisioned an imaginative lunar lifestyle through various artistic media. Entries were accepted in many categories, including music, video, two-dimensional, three-dimensional and digital art. For the first time, poetry and short stories were accepted in a literature category. "Offering students the opportunity to express themselves through art allows us to reach out to people who otherwise might not be able to participate in our program of exploration, said Jerry Hartman, education lead for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Plus, the young people come up with a lot of cool stuff. Dalton Mills, a student at Central High School in La Crosse, Wis., was the overall winner for his video and animation entry, Moonshot. He was inspired by NASA documentaries, other artists, science and physics classes. "Three-D art is a hobby of mine, Mills said. In the future, I would like to pursue engineering and physics and freelance my artwork. A panel of scientists, professional artists and educators from the U.S. and other nations judged student submissions. The judges based their reviews on three elements: the artist's statement -- which described the student's inspiration; the artistic media they chose and why -- showing creativity and artistic expression; and the validity of the created situation based on the moon's harsh conditions. Jim Plaxco has judged the contest for three years and runs his own digital art gallery website called Artsnova. What I found most rewarding about the experience was having the opportunity to review the art, think about its meaning, admire its quality and read the artist's words about their intent and inspiration, he said. Mitchell Peterson of Sheridan College in Sheridan, Wyo., won the college division. He created a graphite and color pencil drawing accompanied by original music called Beyond the Atmosphere. He also included a variety of voice and other sound bites in his music, including clips from the Apollo lunar missions and from the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life. Brennan Barrington, a student at Licking Heights High School in Pataskala, Ohio, won the high school division. Barrington wrote a short story called Helium 3 that was inspired by Jack London's story, To Build a Fire. It was tricky to get all the details of gravity, how the dust moves, and things that like, but I got it done, Barrington said. The contest is sponsored by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and is managed by Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Va. More than 40 entries came from non-U.S. locations including Bermuda, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, Georgia, India, Italy, Pakistan, Poland, Slovakia, Thailand, United Kingdom and Venezuela. The top cash award was $1,000 with smaller prizes for the top finisher in each category. Top non-U.S. students received an engraved plaque to acknowledge their achievement. The winning entries will be displayed digitally in NASA and museum locations across the country. Details about a new contest will be announced in September. For gallery viewing of winning entries, visit: http://artcontest.cet.edu

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