Sep 19 2012

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 12-326 NASA TELESCOPES SPY ULTRA-DISTANT GALAXY AMIDST COSMIC 'DARK AGES'

WASHINGTON -- With the combined power of NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes, as well as a cosmic magnification effect, astronomers have spotted what could be the most distant galaxy ever seen. Light from the young galaxy captured by the orbiting observatories first shone when our 13.7-billion-year-old universe was just 500 million years old. The far-off galaxy existed within an important era when the universe began to transit from the so-called cosmic dark ages. During this period, the universe went from a dark, starless expanse to a recognizable cosmos full of galaxies. The discovery of the faint, small galaxy opens a window onto the deepest, remotest epochs of cosmic history. "This galaxy is the most distant object we have ever observed with high confidence," said Wei Zheng, a principal research scientist in the department of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and lead author of a new paper appearing in Nature. "Future work involving this galaxy, as well as others like it that we hope to find, will allow us to study the universe's earliest objects and how the dark ages ended." Light from the primordial galaxy traveled approximately 13.2 billion light-years before reaching NASA's telescopes. In other words, the starlight snagged by Hubble and Spitzer left the galaxy when the universe was just 3.6 percent of its present age. Technically speaking, the galaxy has a redshift, or "z," of 9.6. The term redshift refers to how much an object's light has shifted into longer wavelengths as a result of the expansion of the universe. Astronomers use redshift to describe cosmic distances. Unlike previous detections of galaxy candidates in this age range, which were only glimpsed in a single color, or waveband, this newfound galaxy has been seen in five different wavebands. As part of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova Survey with Hubble Program, the Hubble Space Telescope registered the newly described, far-flung galaxy in four visible and infrared wavelength bands. Spitzer measured it in a fifth, longer-wavelength infrared band, placing the discovery on firmer ground. Objects at these extreme distances are mostly beyond the detection sensitivity of today's largest telescopes. To catch sight of these early, distant galaxies, astronomers rely on gravitational lensing. In this phenomenon, predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago, the gravity of foreground objects warps and magnifies the light from background objects. A massive galaxy cluster situated between our galaxy and the newfound galaxy magnified the newfound galaxy's light, brightening the remote object some 15 times and bringing it into view. Based on the Hubble and Spitzer observations, astronomers think the distant galaxy was less than 200 million years old when it was viewed. It also is small and compact, containing only about 1 percent of the Milky Way's mass. According to leading cosmological theories, the first galaxies indeed should have started out tiny. They then progressively merged, eventually accumulating into the sizable galaxies of the more modern universe. These first galaxies likely played the dominant role in the epoch of reionization, the event that signaled the demise of the universe's dark ages. This epoch began about 400,000 years after the Big Bang when neutral hydrogen gas formed from cooling particles. The first luminous stars and their host galaxies emerged a few hundred million years later. The energy released by these earliest galaxies is thought to have caused the neutral hydrogen strewn throughout the universe to ionize, or lose an electron, a state that the gas has remained in since that time. "In essence, during the epoch of reionization, the lights came on in the universe," said paper co-author Leonidas Moustakas, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. Astronomers plan to study the rise of the first stars and galaxies and the epoch of reionization with the successor to both Hubble and Spitzer, NASA's James Webb Telescope, which is scheduled for launch in 2018. The newly described distant galaxy likely will be a prime target.

RELEASE: 12-330 NASA ADMINISTRATOR BOLDEN AND SBA ADMINISTRATOR MILLS "HANGOUT" WITH CURIOSITY SMALL BUSINESS ATA ENGINEERING

WASHINGTON -- NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills highlighted the contributions of small businesses to the success of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars during a Google+ Hangout Wednesday with ATA Engineering, headquartered in Herndon, Va. ATA Engineering partnered with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) team to test and analyze the entry, descent and landing of the rover, specifically the wheels, actuators and thermal control systems. "The dedicated and mission-focused work of our small business partners like ATA Engineering has been essential to Curiosity's ongoing success story, and I'm especially proud of NASA's work with them," Bolden said. "Curiosity is the largest rover that ever has been sent to another planet and will provide invaluable data regarding Mars that will benefit the scientific community for years to come. Small businesses helped support the design and fabrication of Curiosity and also took part in many other activities that made the mission possible." Mills praised ATA Engineering and the many other small businesses that contributed to last month's successful Curiosity landing and contribute to NASA's other science and exploration missions. "ATA Engineering and the many other small businesses involved in the Mars Science Laboratory project embody the entrepreneurial spirit, drive and ability of America's small businesses to build groundbreaking tools and parts that help make even the most sophisticated projects successful," Mills said. "This mission is a shining example of what is possible when America's small businesses are given the chance to do what they do best." ATA Engineering worked with the JPL Curiosity team for six years to assist in the development of cutting-edge technologies that led to the Curiosity landing, as well as the tools aboard the rover that will help scientists investigate whether conditions on Mars may have been favorable for microbial life. "As a 100 percent employee-owned small business, the staff at ATA Engineering is incredibly proud to have been part of the development team for Curiosity," said Mary Baker, president of ATA Engineering. "Over the course of six years, we have had the unique opportunity to work closely with the talented engineers and scientists at NASA JPL to help drive and validate the design of a number of key subsystems on one of the most exciting robotics development programs in history. Not only do programs like this give small businesses such as ours the opportunity to contribute directly to the development and advancement of state-of-the-art technology, they act as an inspiration to the next generation of engineers and scientists." NASA exceeded its small business goal for fiscal year 2011 and was one of only three of the "big seven" Federal agencies -- the ones that together spend approximately 90 percent of small business-eligible dollars -- that exceeded its small business goals. Approximately $2.5 billion in prime contracts were awarded directly to small businesses in 2011, up about $75 million from the previous year. NASA's large prime contractors awarded approximately $2 billion in additional subcontracts to small businesses in fiscal year 2011. NASA also released "Curiosity and NASA's Mission to Mars," a publication that details the contributions of small businesses across the country which contributed to the mission.

RELEASE: 12-332 NASA MARS ROVER TARGETS UNUSUAL ROCK EN ROUTE TO FIRST DESTINATION

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has driven up to a football-size rock that will be the first for the rover's arm to examine. Curiosity is about 8 feet (2.5 meters) from the rock. It lies about halfway from Curiosity's landing site, Bradbury Landing, to a location called Glenelg. In coming days, the team plans to touch the rock with a spectrometer to determine its elemental composition and use an arm-mounted camera to take close-up photographs. Both the arm-mounted Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer and the mast-mounted, laser-zapping Chemistry and Camera Instrument will be used for identifying elements in the rock. This will allow cross-checking of the two instruments. The rock has been named "Jake Matijevic." Jacob Matijevic (mah-TEE-uh-vik) was the surface operations systems chief engineer for Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and the project's Curiosity rover. He passed away Aug. 20, at age 64. Matijevic also was a leading engineer for all of the previous NASA Mars rovers: Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity. Curiosity now has driven six days in a row. Daily distances range from 72 feet to 121 feet (22 meters to 37 meters). "This robot was built to rove, and the team is really getting a good rhythm of driving day after day when that's the priority," said MSL Project Manager Richard Cook of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The team plans to choose a rock in the Glenelg area for the rover's first use of its capability to analyze powder drilled from interiors of rocks. Three types of terrain intersect in the Glenelg area -- one lighter- toned and another more cratered than the terrain Curiosity currently is crossing. The light-toned area is of special interest because it retains daytime heat long into the night, suggesting an unusual composition. "As we're getting closer to the light-toned area, we see thin, dark bands of unknown origin," said Mars Science Laboratory Project Scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. "The smaller-scale diversity is becoming more evident as we get closer, providing more potential targets for investigation." Researchers are using Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) to find potential targets on the ground. Recent new images from the rover's camera reveal dark streaks on rocks in the Glenelg area that have increased researchers' interest in the area. In addition to taking ground images, the camera also has been busy looking upward. On two recent days, Curiosity pointed the Mastcam at the sun and recorded images of Mars' two moons, Phobos and Deimos, passing in front of the sun from the rover's point of view. Results of these transit observations are part of a long-term study of changes in the moons' orbits. NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which arrived at Mars in 2004, also have observed solar transits by Mars' moons. Opportunity is doing so again this week. "Phobos is in an orbit very slowly getting closer to Mars, and Deimos is in an orbit very slowly getting farther from Mars," said Curiosity's science team co-investigator Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University. "These observations help us reduce uncertainty in calculations of the changes." In Curiosity's observations of Phobos this week, the time when the edge of the moon began overlapping the disc of the sun was predictable to within a few seconds. Uncertainty in timing is because Mars' interior structure isn't fully understood. Phobos causes small changes to the shape of Mars in the same way Earth's moon raises tides. The changes to Mars' shape depend on the Martian interior which, in turn, cause Phobos' orbit to decay. Timing the orbital change more precisely provides information about Mars' interior structure. During Curiosity's two-year prime mission, researchers will use the rover's 10 science instruments to assess whether the selected field site inside Gale Crater ever has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.

CONTRACT RELEASE: C12-050 NASA EXERCISES FIRST OPTION PERIOD FOR THE LITES CONTRACT

HAMPTON, Va. -- NASA has awarded Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies of Greenbelt, Md., a modification to exercise the first option period for the agency's Langley Research Center Information Technology Enhanced Services (LITES) task-order contract. The value of the option year is not to exceed $36.5 million. The five-year contract performance period included a 24-month base period and three 12-month option periods with a total value not to exceed $183 million. LITES provides integrated support that encompasses all activities necessary to develop, deploy, upgrade, operate and maintain a system that delivers an IT capability for research and development use and for business systems and applications. The contract provides support through Langley's Office of the Chief Information Officer in the areas of science and engineering, project management, business and center infrastructure applications, as well as data center support not provided as part of NASA's Information Technology Infrastructure Improvement Program.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-186 HOME FROM SPACE, NASA ASTRONAUT JOE ACABA SET FOR INTERVIEWS

HOUSTON -- NASA astronaut Joe Acaba of Southern California, who returned to Earth Sept. 17 after four months on the International Space Station, will be available for live satellite interviews from 7-8 a.m. CDT on Wednesday, Sept. 26. Acaba, who was born in Inglewood, Calif., but considers nearby Anaheim his hometown, launched to the complex on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft May 15, spending 123 days aboard the station as a flight engineer of the Expedition 31 and 32 crews. Acaba supported the arrival of the first commercial resupply spacecraft, SpaceX's Dragon, in late May; an undocking, re-docking and final undocking demonstration of the Russian ISS Progress 47 cargo ship; the first single-day launch-to-docking demonstration of Progress 48; the arrival and departure of the third Japanese cargo ship; and served as intra-vehicular crew member for two U.S.-based spacewalks, helping to restore a critical power unit and exchange a faulty camera on the station's robotic arm. Acaba also participated in numerous scientific research experiments and performed regular maintenance and operational tasks aboard the orbiting complex. Acaba previously spent 13 days in space as mission specialist during space shuttle Discovery's STS-119 mission to the station in 2009, where he conducted two spacewalks totaling 12 hours and 57 minutes. Acaba received a bachelor's degree in geology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a master's degree in geology from the University of Arizona. He was selected as an astronaut in 2004.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-187 SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR FERRY FLIGHT CONTINUES WEST

HOUSTON -- The space shuttle Endeavour atop its 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) is scheduled to depart Houston's Ellington Field at about 7 a.m. CDT on Thursday for California. Departure is planned to the south with low flybys of Clear Lake and NASA's Johnson Space Center expected before the aircraft and shuttle turn northwest for a final pass over Houston heading west. Public viewing only will be allowed from the permanent fence line at Ellington Field. Only news media and essential personnel will be allowed inside the perimeter fence. After departing the Houston area, the flight plan includes a low pass over the downtown Austin area near the Texas State Capitol building between 7:30-8 a.m. A fueling stop is planned at about 8:30 a.m. MDT in El Paso at Biggs Army Air Field. Takeoff from Biggs is planned for about 11 a.m. After the refueling stop at Biggs, the SCA and Endeavour will make low-level flybys of the White Sands Missile Range and NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, as well as Tucson, Arizona en route to California. The flyover of Tucson will take place approximately an hour and 15 minutes after departure from Biggs. Arrival at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base is scheduled for approximately noon PDT. Following an overnight stay, the SCA and Endeavour will salute the Edwards Air Force Base area early Friday with a low flyby northbound to Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area. Next the duo will travel south, making a pass over NASA's Ames Research Center, Vandenberg Air Force Base and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory before heading into the Los Angeles area. Finally, the SCA and Endeavour will land about noon PDT at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), for an arrival ceremony before Endeavour is taken off the 747 and transported to its permanent home at the California Science Center next month. The exact timing and path of the ferry flight will depend on weather conditions and operational constraints. Some planned flyovers or stopovers could be delayed or canceled. During the cross-country ferry flight, social media users are encouraged to share their Endeavour sightings using the hashtags #spottheshuttle and #OV105, Endeavour's vehicle designation.