Mar 7 2012

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 12-070 NASA'S TWIN GRAIL SPACECRAFT BEGIN COLLECTING LUNAR SCIENCE DATA

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft orbiting the moon officially have begun their science collection phase. During the next 84 days, scientists will obtain a high-resolution map of the lunar gravitational field to learn about the moon's internal structure and composition in unprecedented detail. The data also will provide a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed and evolved. "The initiation of science data collection is a time when the team lets out a collective sigh of relief because we are finally doing what we came to do," said Maria Zuber, principal investigator for the GRAIL mission at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. "But it is also a time where we have to put the coffee pot on, roll up our sleeves and get to work." The GRAIL mission's twin, washing-machine-sized spacecraft, named Ebb and Flow, entered lunar orbit on New Year's Eve and New Years Day. GRAIL's science phase began yesterday at 8:15 p.m. EST (5:15 p.m. PST). During this mission phase, the spacecraft will transmit radio signals precisely defining the distance between them. As they fly over areas of greater and lesser gravity caused by visible features such as mountains, craters and masses hidden beneath the lunar surface, the distance between the two spacecraft will change slightly. Science activities are expected to conclude on May 29, after GRAIL maps the gravity field of the moon three times. "We are in a near-polar, near-circular orbit with an average altitude of about 34 miles (55 kilometers) right now," said David Lehman, GRAIL project manager from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "During the science phase, our spacecraft will orbit the moon as high as 31 miles (51 kilometers) and as low as 10 miles (16 kilometers). They will get as close to each other as 40 miles (65 kilometers) and as far apart as 140 miles (225 kilometers)." Previously named GRAIL A and B, the names Ebb and Flow were the result of a nation-wide student contest to choose new names for the spacecraft. The winning entry was submitted by fourth graders from the Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Bozeman, Mont. Nearly 900 classrooms with more than 11,000 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, participated in the contest. JPL manages the GRAIL mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The GRAIL mission is part of the Discovery Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft.

RELEASE: 12-073 NASA TWEETUPS ARE EVOLVING. IT'S TIME TO BE MORE SOCIAL

WASHINGTON -- NASA is expanding its successful program of Tweetups to include more social media platforms, broadening the agency's use of social media to engage audiences about the agency's mission of exploration and discovery. As part of this effort, the "NASA Tweetup" will now be known as "NASA Social." Since 2009, NASA has hosted 34 in-person Tweetups, which are informal meetings of people who use the social messaging medium Twitter. Hundreds of participants have shared thousands of tweets, pictures, videos and blog posts with their followers, detailing behind-the-scenes views of NASA launches, centers, missions and speakers. The agency's primary Twitter account, @NASA, has nearly 2 million followers. Multiple NASA missions and centers maintain Twitter accounts as well. NASA's innovative use of Twitter has been recognized as one of the best in federal government. "NASA has been recognized for its efforts in social media and we want to build on that success, engaging in an online conversation that seamlessly spans platforms, taking advantage of the diverse online social experience that each enables," said David Weaver, associate administrator for communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "A Tweetup is identified with a specific online service and many participants are members of other Internet communities. We felt it was time to expand the Tweetup concept to embrace other social media platforms." The agency also has a significant presence on Flickr, YouTube, Google+, Facebook, Foursquare and other social media websites. NASA Socials will allow the agency to better expand online and in-person programs to connect with audiences following NASA on a growing variety of social media websites.

RELEASE: 12-074 NASA SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH BERMUDA FOR TRACKING STATION

WASHINGTON -- NASA and the government of Bermuda signed an agreement today to establish a temporary mobile tracking station on Cooper's Island to support launches from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia including future commercial missions. Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Derrick Burgess and NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver signed the agreement. The mobile tracking station will be provided and operated by Wallops under NASA's Research Range Services Program. The station can provide telemetry, meteorological, optical, and command and control services. It will support the launch of commercial rockets carrying supplies to the International Space Station or satellites to low-Earth orbit. "This tracking station will help facilitate NASA's partnership with commercial companies and support operations aboard the International Space Station," Garver said. "We're grateful to the government of Bermuda for its ongoing support to NASA." Bermuda has been a long-time partner of NASA in supporting space exploration. The British territory hosted a radar tracking station from the Mercury Project in the early 1960s through most of the Space Shuttle Program.

RELEASE: 12-079 MULTI-AGENCY SATELLITE BEGINS CLIMATE AND WEATHER STUDIES

GREENBELT, Md. -- NASA has completed commissioning of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite (NPP), which is now making global environmental observations. The satellite will provide scientists with critical insight into the dynamics of the entire Earth system, including climate, clouds, oceans, and vegetation. It will also gather enhanced data for improving our nation's weather forecasting system. The mission, launched in October 2011, is the result of a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Defense. All five of the satellite's instruments now have been activated for science data collection. "By providing cutting-edge measurements of important Earth system processes, the Suomi NPP mission will increase researchers' knowledge of our home planet, and provide direct societal benefit through more accurate predictions," said Michael Freilich, director, Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This satellite mission, which could only have come to fruition through a close interagency partnership, is multifaceted and its data will be used by a multitude of stakeholders in the U.S. and worldwide." With the completion of commissioning activities, operation of the Suomi NPP has now been turned over to a Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) team. NOAA's JPSS Program provided three of the five instruments and the ground segment for Suomi NPP. A government team from the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Md., will operate the satellite. "NOAA is thrilled with the performance of Suomi NPP," said Mary Kicza, assistant administrator for NOAA's Satellite and Information Service in Silver Spring, Md. "NOAA will be using the advanced data NPP provides to improve life-saving weather forecasts and track volcanic eruptions, and to improve our understanding of long-term weather and climate patterns. Suomi NPP is an important mission for the nation." The Suomi NPP mission is a bridge between NOAA and NASA legacy Earth observing missions and NOAA's next-generation JPSS. Suomi NPP flies for the first time the groundbreaking new Earth observing instruments that JPSS will use operationally. The first satellite in the JPSS series, JPSS-1, is targeted for launch in 2016. NASA scientists have already begun creating consistent, multi-decade Earth science data sets by combining the new NPP observations with measurements from many of the legacy NASA and NOAA missions. These long-term observations are critical to improving our understanding of the Earth system and quantifying any changes. "With the successful completion of commissioning, Suomi NPP is now ready to provide the world with remarkable Earth observations," said Ken Schwer, NPP project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Goddard managed the Suomi NPP mission for the Science Mission Directorate's Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.