Sep 20 2010

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 10-240

NASA PARTNERSHIP SENDS EARTH SCIENCE DATA TO AFRICA

WASHINGTON -- A unique partnership between NASA and agencies in Africa and Europe has sent more than 30 terabytes of free Earth science satellite data to South African researchers to support sustainable development and environmental applications in Africa. The data from one of the instruments on NASA's Terra satellite provide observations of Africa's surface and atmosphere, including vegetation structure, airborne pollution particles, cloud heights and winds. Transfer of these data to a distribution center in Africa will make it broadly accessible to African users who have not been able to remotely download the large data files because of limitations in the continent's Internet infrastructure. The data are from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) on Terra. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., built and manages the instrument, and NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., processes, archives, and distributes the data. MISR has been making continuous measurements of Earth's surface and atmosphere for more than a decade. MISR observes the sunlit portion of Earth continuously, viewing the entire globe between 82 degrees north and 82 degrees south latitude every nine days. Instead of viewing Earth from a single perspective, the instrument collects images from nine widely spaced view angles. "NASA is committed to helping governments, organizations and researchers around the world make effective use of Earth observation data to aid in environmental decision making, said Hal Maring, a program manager in the Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. These efforts support the goals of the Group on Earth Observations, a partnership of international agencies that promotes collaborative use of Earth science data. South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria will distribute the data at no charge to the research community in the region. CSIR will facilitate access to the large volume of MISR data as part of its broad strategy of educating, training and transferring knowledge to the southern African research community. "The data transfer can be seen as a birthday present from NASA to the newly-formed South African National Space Agency, said Bob Scholes, CSIR research group leader for ecosystem processes and dynamics. It will kick-start a new generation of high-quality land surface products, with applications in climate change and avoiding desertification. Desertification is the gradual transformation of habitable land into desert due to climate change or destructive land use practices. The partnership began in spring 2008, when MISR science team member Michel Verstraete of the European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Environment and Sustainability (JRC-IES) in Ispra, Italy, participated in an intensive CSIR field campaign to study the environment around Kruger National Park, a major wildlife reserve in South Africa. The researchers studied the area using direct, airborne and space-based measurements. During the campaign, Verstraete learned of the widespread interest by the South African research community in remote-sensing techniques and applications. In response, JRC-IES and CSIR signed an agreement in July 2008 to facilitate the interaction and exchange of people, knowledge, data and software. NASA became involved in the collaboration in 2009 after a training workshop for MISR users in Cape Town, South Africa, organized by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Langley Research Center. Although the workshop sparked interest in the potential use of MISR data, it soon became apparent that accessing a large volume of data was a major hurdle for research and applications in developing countries in general and Africa in particular. While Internet connectivity in Africa has improved greatly in recent years, access and bandwidth remain too limited to support downloading vast data files. This led CSIR to host the data directly. NASA shipped most of the data on high-density tapes this summer. The agencies will ensure the database stays updated with current MISR observations by upgrading connectivity and facilitating sharing of data among participating academic and research institutions. "This multi-party collaboration will significantly strengthen academic and research institutions in southern Africa and support sustainable development of the entire subcontinent, said Verstraete, who will spend six months in southern Africa next year to help the regional remote-sensing community use the data.

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RELEASE: 10-193

NASA ASKS PUBLIC FOR FINAL SHUTTLE MISSIONS' WAKEUP SONGS

HOUSTON -- If you like music, the space program and are a little nostalgic, NASA has the perfect opportunity for you. For the first time, the public can help choose songs to wake up the astronauts during the last two scheduled space shuttle missions. Traditionally, the songs played to wake up the astronauts are selected by friends and family of the crews. For the last two scheduled missions, NASA is inviting the public to visit the Wakeup Song Contest website to select songs from a list of the top 40 previous wakeup calls or to submit original tunes for consideration. To vote or submit a song, visit: https://songcontest.nasa.gov The two songs with the most votes from the top 40 list will be played as crew wakeup calls on the final scheduled flight of space shuttle Discovery. Discovery's STS-133 mission is targeted to launch on Nov. 1 "We're looking forward to hearing which songs the public wants played for us, STS-133 Commander Steve Lindsey said. It's going to be a difficult choice, because there have been so many great songs played over the years. Original songs must have a space theme and be submitted to NASA by 4 p.m. CST on Jan. 10, 2011. The songs will be reviewed by agency officials and the top finalists put to a public vote. The top two songs will be used to wake space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 crew. Endeavour's mission is the last scheduled space shuttle flight. It is targeted to launch on Feb. 26, 2011. "Space shuttle crews really enjoy the morning wake-up music, STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly said. While we don't have the best quality speaker in the space shuttle, it will be interesting to hear what the public comes up with. We are looking forward to it. The song contest campaign follows NASA's ongoing Face in Space project. It invites the public to send electronic images of their faces into orbit aboard one of the final remaining space shuttle missions. To submit your image, visit: http://faceinspace.nasa.gov

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RELEASE: 10-242

INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS UPDATE SPACE STATION LAUNCH MANIFEST

WASHINGTON -- NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) agreed on Friday to update the International Space Station launch schedule. The target launch dates for the last planned space shuttle flight, STS-134 on Endeavour, will be Feb. 27, 2011, and the Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 (ATV-2) will be Feb. 15. Roscosmos will continue to look at Soyuz launch and landing options to provide manifest robustness. The agencies agreed to the changes during discussions at the International Astronautical Conference in Prague. Arianespace, whose Ariane 5 rocket will launch ATV-2 into orbit from French Guiana, has confirmed its commitment to launch on Feb. 15. The STS-134 flight will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to the station. The AMS is a state-of-the-art cosmic ray particle physics detector designed to examine fundamental issues about matter, and the origin and structure of the universe. The flight will include three spacewalks and the installation of the AMS to the exterior of the space station using both the shuttle and station arms. ATV-2, dubbed Johannes Kepler, is scheduled to dock on Feb. 26 to the station. The cargo craft is designed to deliver more than seven tons of experiments, fuel, water, food and other supplies to the space station. While docked, ATV-2 will use its thrusters to periodically boost the station's orbit, which decays with time. It also can be used for emergency maneuvers, such as those required if a piece of space debris is predicted to hit the station. This capability saves critical attitude control propellant for the station. After about 3.5 months, the ATV-2 will undock from the station and burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere over an uninhabited area of the Pacific Ocean. The first ATV, Jules Verne, was launched in March 2008 and reentered the atmosphere in September 2008. The space station launch manifest is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/iss_manifest.html For details about upcoming shuttle missions and crews, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

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