NASA

NASA Breaking News

A RSS news feed containing the latest NASA news articles and press releases.

• NASA Chooses Small Business High Tech Projects for Development
  NASA has selected for development 368 small business innovation projects that include research to minimize aging of aircraft, new techniques for suppressing fires on spacecraft and advanced transmitters for deep space communications.
• NASA Updates Time of Tuesday News Conference with Space Station
  The 12 crew members aboard space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station will hold a news conference Tuesday at 7 a.m. CST, 13 minutes earlier than previously announced.
• Science Magazines Honor Cutting-Edge NASA Programs
  NASA's revolutionary planet-hunting Kepler space telescope has been honored with the 2009 Best of What's New Grand Award from Popular Science Magazine and a 2009 Breakthrough Award from Popular Mechanics Magazine.
• NASA Awards $350,000 to Winning Astronaut Glove Designers
  NASA's Centennial Challenges program awarded $350,000 this week to a pair of designers who developed concepts for more flexible space gloves that could make it easier for astronauts to perform tasks.
• NASA Pushes Social Media Experience to New Heights
  NASA launched a social media experience at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida that quickly turned into an unprecedented world-wide event as more than 100 Twitter users got a unique look inside America's space program and front row seats to the Nov. 16 liftoff of the space shuttle Atlantis.

NASA Image of the Day

NASA Image of the Day (Large)

• We're Sorry
  This feed is no longer available. The spaceresearch.nasa.gov site is now part of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Web site located at http://exploration.nasa.gov

NASA Return to Flight News

A RSS news feed containing the latest NASA news articles and press releases about the Shuttle's Return to Flight.

• Discovery Astronauts Visit New York
  One of the world's most colorful cities is adding NASA blue to its palette as astronauts from the recent Discovery mission visit New York this week.
• NASA Targets March for Next Shuttle Mission
  NASA is targeting March for the next Space Shuttle mission (STS-121). The mission will be the second test flight to the International Space Station in the Shuttle Return to Flight sequence.
• Discovery Set for Return to Kennedy Space Center
  NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery ferry flight departs no earlier than Friday morning, Aug. 19, and arrives at KSC no earlier than 5:30 p.m. EDT, Saturday.
• NASA Announces Media Update About Space Shuttle Program
  NASA announced a news conference starting at noon EDT, Thursday in the agency's Webb Auditorium, 300 E Street SW, Washington.
• Shuttle Internet Interest Reaches New Heights
  Interest in NASA's flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery and STS-114 may have generated one of the largest live Web events in the history of the Internet.

NASA Earth Observatory

Your source for monitoring regional and global changes on our planet through images and stories.

• Landslides on Volcan de San Vicente
  The paths of more than a dozen lahars radiate down the flanks of El Salvador’s Volcáan San Vicente in all directions following torrential rains in November 2009.
• Savage Islands, Atlantic Ocean
  Bright white waves break along the fringing beaches of the Savage Islands in these astronaut photos from October 22, 2009.
• Tropical Storm Nida
  Acquired November 23, 2009, this true-color image shows Tropical Storm Nida over the western Pacific Ocean, roughly 8 degrees north of the Equator. An apparent tower of clouds rises at the storm’s center.
• Landslides on Volcan de San Vicente
  The paths of more than a dozen lahars radiate down the flanks of El Salvador’s Volcáan San Vicente in all directions following torrential rains in November 2009.
• Fire in Western Australia's Nuytsland Nature Reserve
  A thick plume of brownish smoke billowed from the Western Australia coast and over the Great Australian Bight on November 19, 2009.

New NASA STI

Today's Listing of New NASA STI in the NASA Aeronautics and Space Database.

• On Nibbles and Bytes: The Conundrum of Memory for Space Systems - NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging (NEPP) and Efforts in Memories
  Abstract: Radiation requirements and trends. TID: 1) >90% of NASA applications are < 100 krads-Si in piecepart requirements. a) Many commercial devices (NVM and SDRAMs) meet or come close to this. b) Charge pump TID tolerance has improved an order magnitude over the last 10 years. 2) There are always a few programs with higher level needs and, of course, defense needs SEL: 1) Prefer none or rates that are considered low risk. a) Latent damage is a bear to deal with. 2) As we re packing cells tighter and even with lower Vdd, we re seeing SEL on commercial devices regularly (<90nm). a) Often in power conversion, I/O, or control areas. SEU: 1) It s not the bit errors, it s the SEFIs errors that are the biggest issues. a) Scrubbing concerns for risk, power, speed....
• The Fiber Optic Subsystem Components on Express Logistics Carrier for International Space Station
  Abstract: ISS SSP 50184 HRDL optical fiber communication subsystem, has system level requirements that were changed to accommodate large loss optical fiber links previously installed. SSQ22680 design is difficult to implement, no metal shell over socket/pin combination to protect the weak part of the pin. Additions to ISS are planned for the future....
• Space Environmental Effects on Materials and Processes
  Abstract: The Materials and Processes (M&P) Branch of the Structural Engineering Division at Johnson Space Center (JSC) seeks to uphold the production of dependable space hardware through materials research, which fits into NASA's purpose of advancing human exploration, use, and development of space. The Space Environmental Effects projects fully support these Agency goals. Two tasks were assigned to support M&P. Both assignments were to further the research of material behavior outside of Earth's atmosphere in order to determine which materials are most durable and safe to use in space for mitigating risks....

New NASA STI Report Series

Today's Listing of New NASA STI Report Series in the NASA Aeronautics and Space Database.

• Effect of Ceramic Ball and Hybrid Stainless Steel Bearing/Wheel Combinations on the Lifetime of a Precision Translation Stage for the SIM Flight Project
  Abstract: A study of hybrid material couples using the Spiral Orbit Tribometer (SOT) was initiated to investigate both lubricated (Pennzane X2000 and Brayco 815Z) and unlubricated Si3N4, 440C SS, Rex 20, Cronidur X30 and X40 plates with Cerbec SN-101-C (Si3N4) and 440C balls. The hybrid wheel/bearing assembly will be used on the Linear Optical Delay Line (LODL) stage as an element of the NASA Space Interferometry Mission (SIM). SIM is an orbiting interferometer linking a pair of telescopes within the spacecraft and, by using an interferometry technique and several precision optical stages, is able to measure the motions of known stars much better than current ground or space based systems....
• The Case for Distributed Engine Control in Turbo-Shaft Engine Systems
  Abstract: The turbo-shaft engine is an important propulsion system used to power vehicles on land, sea, and in the air. As the power plant for many high performance helicopters, the characteristics of the engine and control are critical to proper vehicle operation as well as being the main determinant to overall vehicle performance. When applied to vertical flight, important distinctions exist in the turbo-shaft engine control system due to the high degree of dynamic coupling between the engine and airframe and the affect on vehicle handling characteristics....
• High Efficiency Nuclear Power Plants Using Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor Technology
  Abstract: An overall system analysis approach is used to propose potential conceptual designs of advanced terrestrial nuclear power plants based on Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) experience and utilizing Closed Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) thermal-to-electric energy conversion technology. In particular conceptual designs for an advanced 1 GWe power plant with turbine reheat and compressor intercooling at a 950 K turbine inlet temperature (TIT), as well as near term 100 MWe demonstration plants with TITs of 950 and 1200 K are presented. Power plant performance data were obtained for TITs ranging from 650 to 1300 K by use of a Closed Brayton Cycle (CBC) systems code which considered the interaction between major sub-systems, including the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR), heat source and heat sink heat exchangers, turbo-generator machinery, and an electric power generation and transmission system....
• LAURA Users Manual: 5.2-43231
  Abstract: This users manual provides in-depth information concerning installation and execution of LAURA, version 5. LAURA is a structured, multi-block, computational aerothermodynamic simulation code. Version 5 represents a major refactoring of the original Fortran 77 LAURA code toward a modular structure afforded by Fortran 95....

Science@NASA RSS Feed

Science-themed information from NASA that is geared to appeal to a broad audience.

• Mercury Transits Sun
  Mark your calendar: On Wednesday, November 8, the planet Mercury will pass directly in front the Sun.
• Houston, We Have a Solution
  New research aboard the space station aims to adapt a tried-and-true repair tool to weightlessness.
• Membranes on Mars
  New membranes developed by NASA-funded researchers could help people go to Mars--and clean the air here on Earth.
• Spooky Atomic Clocks
  NASA-supported researchers hope to improve high-precision clocks by entangling their atoms.
• A New Form of Matter: II
  NASA-supported researchers have discovered a weird new phase of matter called fermionic condensates.