Tropical Storm Danny Stars In GOES Satellite Movie

NASA's GOES Project has been busy with animating satellite imagery of Tropical Storm Danny, and has created a movie of him from August 25-27.

The short movie includes still imagery from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) called GOES-12, monitors weather conditions over the U.S. east coast. NASA's GOES Project, located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. creates imagery and animations from GOES-12 data, and created the movie.

The movie begins with an image on August 25 when Danny was just a low pressure area, east of the Bahamas and not yet named. The movie continues through Danny's formation and classification as a tropical storm during the morning of August 26, to the beginning of its journey up the U.S. East Coast August 27 at 2:25 p.m. EDT.

Danny's maximum sustained winds at 11 a.m. EDT, August 27 were near 60 mph, and slow strengthening is expected. He was located near 27.5 north and 73.1 west, or 550 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Danny is moving northwest near 13 mph, and is expected to turn north. Danny had a minimum central pressure near 1006 millibars.








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Large Area Telescope Explores High-Energy Particles

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is making some exciting discoveries about cosmic rays and the Large Area Telescope aboard Fermi is the tool in this investigation. Scientists in the Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL's) Space Science Division were instrumental in the design and development of the Large Area Telescope (LAT).

Cosmic rays are electrons, positrons, and atomic nuclei that move at nearly the speed of light. Astronomers believe that the high-energy cosmic rays originate from exotic places in the galaxy, such as the debris of exploded stars.

The LAT is a wide field-of-view imaging telescope, which consists of a tracker that determines the trajectory of the gamma ray or cosmic ray being measured, and an NRL-developed cesium-iodide calorimeter that determines the energy of the incoming ray. A charged-particle anti-coincidence shield helps filter out unwanted signals, such as those produced by background particles. LAT was developed for detecting gamma rays; however, it is also proving to be a great tool for studying the high-energy electrons in cosmic rays.

Gamma rays travel in straight lines, so scientists are able to pinpoint their sources simply by measuring the direction of each gamma ray as it arrives at the LAT. In contrast, cosmic rays diffuse through our Galaxy, scattering off and spiraling through the turbulent galactic magnetic fields. Because of their movements, scientists find it challenging to determine where the cosmic rays originated. One of Fermi's main goals is determining the sources of cosmic rays.

NRL's highly sensitive LAT measured the energies of more than four million high-energy electrons between August 2008 and January 2009, far more high-energy electrons than have ever been studied before. This extremely large data set allowed scientists to make a precise census of high-energy electrons and led to a surprising excess in the rate of electrons striking the LAT, more than expected from earlier measurements and theoretical models. The LAT data appear to be key to understanding electron measurements made from the European satellite PAMELA and the ground-based High Energy Spectroscopic System located in Namibia.

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Video: Apollo 11 Astronauts Look Beyond Moon

In one of their few joint public appearances, the crew of Apollo 11 spoke on the eve of the 40th anniversary of man's first landing on the moon. But the astronauts aren't dwelling on their small lunar steps.

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New Focus On The Moon

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) has taken and received its first images of the Moon, kicking off the year-long mapping mission of Earth's nearest celestial neighbor. The LROC imaging system, under the watchful eyes of Arizona State University professor Mark Robison, the principal investigator, consists of two Narrow Angle Cameras (NACs) to provide high-resolution black-and-white images, a Wide Angle Camera (WAC) to provide images in seven color bands over a 60-kilometer (37.28-mile) swath, and a Sequence and Compressor System (SCS) supporting data acquisition for both cameras.

NASA reports that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched June 18, is performing exceptionally well and spacecraft checkout is proceeding smoothly, so smoothly in fact that LROC was given an early, but short (two orbits) opportunity Tuesday evening to measure temperatures and background values while imaging. Since LRO is in a terminator orbit, much of the area photographed was in shadows, which is actually a good situation for performing engineering checks of camera settings, according to Robinson, with ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration. Much to the delight of the LROC team, a few of the images captured dramatic views of the surface.

"Our first images were taken along the Moon's terminator – the dividing line between day and night – making us initially unsure of how they would turn out," says Robinson. "Because of the deep shadowing, subtle topography is exaggerated suggesting a craggy and inhospitable surface. In reality, the area is similar to the region where the Apollo 16 astronauts comfortably explored in 1972. Though these images are magnificent in their own right, the main message is that LROC is nearly ready to begin its mission."

LROC NAC: Two details from one of the first images

LRO was 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) above the lunar surface when the summed mode image was taken, resulting in a resolution of approximately 1.4-meters/pixel (34.4°S, 6.0°W). Incredible levels of detail are visible in these two (1000 pixel-by-1000 pixel) cutouts from the full image (2532 pixels-by-53,248 pixels). The NAC data shown has not been calibrated, and the pixel values were stretched to enhance contrast.

Along the terminator, there simply is not much light – the instrument is "photon-starved," resulting in suboptimal signal-to-noise ratios. Without summing, images taken in this circumstance would be underexposed. To compensate for low light levels, the pixels can effectively be made larger by summing adjacent pixels to increase the signal-to-noise ratio, making the image sharper, though with 2x lower resolution. At this resolution, features as small as three meters (9.8 feet) wide can be discerned.

The NAC image shows a starkly beautiful region a few kilometers east of Hell E crater, which is located on the floor of the ancient Imbrian-aged Deslandres impact structure in the lunar highlands south of Mare Nubium. Numerous small, secondary craters can be identified, including several small crater chains. Also identifiable are distinctive lineations made readily apparent by the extreme lighting, representing ejecta from a nearby impact. The quality of these early engineering test images gives the LROC science team confidence it can achieve its primary goals, including obtaining the data needed to support future human lunar exploration and utilization.

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GOES-O Satellite Successfully Launched

The latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-O, soared into space yesterday after a successful launch from Space Launch Complex 37 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The GOES-O spacecraft lifted off at 6:51 p.m. EDT on a Delta IV rocket. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's GOES-O satellite will improve weather forecasting and monitor environmental events around the world. The satellite is the second to be launched in the GOES N series of geostationary environmental weather satellites.

"All indications are that GOES-O is in a normal orbit, with all spacecraft systems functioning properly," says Andre Dress, GOES deputy project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "We are proud of our support teams and pleased with the performance of the Delta IV launch vehicle."

Approximately 4 hours and 21 minutes after launch, the spacecraft separated from the launch vehicle. The Universal Space Network Western Australia tracking site in Dongara monitored the spacecraft separation.

On July 7, GOES-O will be placed in its final orbit and renamed GOES-14. Approximately 24 days after launch, Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems will turn engineering control over to NASA. About five months later, NASA will transfer operational control of GOES-14 to NOAA. The satellite will be checked out, stored in orbit and available for activation should one of the operational GOES satellites degrade or exhaust its fuel.

NASA contracted with Boeing to build and launch the GOES-O spacecraft. NASA's Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida supported the launch in an advisory role. NOAA manages the GOES program, establishes requirements, provides all funding and distributes environmental satellite data for the United States.

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NASA Selects Four Proposals to Study Space Radiation Risks

NASA has selected four proposals for research to help understand space radiation's affects on human living in space. NASA selected proposals from the New York University School of Medicine in New York, the University of Texas Medical Branch in Houston, Loma Linda University in California and Georgetown University in Washington. The universities will work with collaborating organizations around the country.

These institutions will become NASA Specialized Centers of Research. They will consist of teams of investigators who have complementary skills and work together to solve a closely focused set of research questions. The proposals support the space radiation program element within NASA's Human Research Program.

NASA is investing $28.4 million for research into carcinogenesis and central nervous system risks from spaceflight. Research from the peer-reviewed proposals during the five-year award period will pave the way for development of effective countermeasures for space travelers.

NASA's Human Research Program provides knowledge and technologies to improve health and performance during space exploration. The program also develops possible countermeasures for problems experienced during space travel. Goals include the successful completion of exploration missions and preservation of astronauts' health throughout their lives. The program quantifies crew health and performance risks during spaceflight and develops strategies that mission planners and system developers can use to monitor and mitigate these risks.

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Study Shows Asteroids May Have Accelerated Life on Earth

A NASA-funded study indicates that an intense asteroid bombardment nearly 4 billion years ago may not have sterilized the early Earth as completely as previously thought. The asteroids, some the size of Kansas, possibly even provided a boost for early life.

The study focused on a particularly cataclysmic occurrence known as the Late Heavy Bombardment, or LHB. This event occurred approximately 3.9 billion years ago and lasted 20 to 200 million years. In a letter published in the May 21 issue of Nature magazine titled "Microbial Habitability of the Hadean Earth during the Late Heavy Bombardment," Oleg Abramov and Stephen Mojzsis, astrobiologists at the University of Colorado's Department of Geological Sciences, report on the results of a computer modeling project designed to study the heating of Earth by the bombardment.

Results from their project show that while the Late Heavy Bombardment might have generated enough heat to sterilize Earth's surface, microbial life in subsurface and underwater environments almost certainly would have survived.

"Exactly when life originated on Earth is a hotly debated topic," says Michael New, the astrobiology discipline scientist and manager of the Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology Program at NASA headquarters in Washington. "These findings are significant because they indicate that if life had begun before the LHB or some time prior to 4 billion years ago, it could have survived in limited refuges and then expanded to fill our world."

"Our new results point to the possibility life could have emerged about the same time that evidence for our planet's oceans first appears," says Mojzsis, principal investigator of the project.

A growing scientific consensus is that during our solar system's formation, planetary bodies were pummeled by debris throughout the Late Heavy Bombardment. A visual record of the event is preserved in the form of the scarred face of our moon. On Earth, all traces of the bombardment appear to have been erased by rock recycling forces like weathering, volcanoes or other conditions that cause the crust to move or change.

Surface habitats for microbial life on early Earth would have been destroyed repeatedly by the bombardment. However, at the same time, impacts could have created subsurface habitats for life, such as extensive networks of cracks or even hydrothermal vents. Any existing microbial life on Earth could have found refuge in these habitats. If life had not yet emerged on Earth by the time of the bombardment, these new subsurface environments could have been the place where terrestrial life emerged.

"Even under the most extreme conditions we imposed on our model, the bombardment could not have sterilized Earth completely," says Abramov, lead author of the paper. "Our results are in line with the scientific consensus that hyperthermophilic, or 'heat-loving,' microbes could have been the earliest life forms on Earth, or survivors from an even more ancient biosphere. The results also support the potential for the persistence of microbial biospheres on other planetary bodies whose surfaces were reworked by the bombardment, including Mars."

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Raw Video: Repairing Hubble Space Telescope

For the second straight day, astronauts stepped out on a spacewalk Sunday to bring a scientific instrument back from the dead on the Hubble Space Telescope.

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NASA Langley Keeping an Eye on Shuttle During Hubble Mission

Researchers at NASA's Langley Research Center have an added stake in this month's space shuttle mission. Not only are they part of the impact assessment and aerothermodynamic heating teams, one group will be watching Atlantis' return to earth, literally.

Space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 crew is scheduled to launch Monday afternoon, May 11, and return May 22. It's rocketing to the Hubble Space Telescope to refurbish Hubble with state-of-the-art science instruments. After the astronauts' visit, the telescope's capabilities will be expanded and its lifetime extended through at least 2014.

To reach Hubble, Atlantis will fly in an orbit that has a slightly higher risk of orbital debris strike than usual. That's of great interest to NASA Langley researchers, who participate on damage assessment and impact dynamics teams during shuttle missions. Those teams identify and evaluate if there's any risk to the shuttle if the orbiter's fragile tiles get hit from debris.

Another group from Langley is keeping an eye specifically on the heat of the shuttle's re-entry into earth's atmosphere. They're working to improve computer models and designs for future spacecraft and they're using the space shuttle as a flying testbed.

"The Hypersonic Thermodynamic Infrared Measurements team is interested in capturing a thermal image of the shuttle," says aerospace engineer and principal investigator Tom Horvath in the Aerothermodynamics Branch at Langley. "We plan to have a Navy aircraft fly below the shuttle during re-entry so that systems on board can remotely monitor and record heating to the shuttle's lower surface using a long-range infrared camera."

The US Navy NP-3D Orion aircraft and the long-range infrared optical system are called "Cast Glance" and are operated by the NAVAIR Weapons Division, Pt. Mugu, Calif. The team says it's quite a challenge to focus on an object flying 15 times the speed of a bullet from an airplane in flight. They do a lot of intricate pre-mission planning.

"You only have one shot. It's not like you can ask them to go around again and give us another try at it and so that's why the planning is so important," said Steve Tack, Cast Glance flight operations lead. "It's a really exciting time... that 30-40 seconds when the shuttle is just screaming past us at Mach 15 and we're making a really hard turn to maintain tracking on it."

The NP-3D Orion, which can stay aloft for about 11 hours, stays over international waters until it's time for the shuttle to re-enter. At closest approach, the aircraft and its crew will be approximately 25-40 miles from the shuttle. Because the orbiter is banking on descent the plane will not be directly under it. Mission planners say the aircraft location and flight maneuvers proposed for the observation have been carefully planned to ensure safety to the orbiter and the respective crews.

A team from NASA Langley will be in mission control during re-entry to make recommendations to the flight crew regarding adjustments to the camera settings and aircraft position for optimal viewing. The data will be recorded and downloaded post-mission once the P-3 Orion returns back to its base of operations.

Cast Glance has a proven track record of acquiring high quality data during previous Space Shuttle missions, Langley officials say. The crew of the Cast Glance aircraft successfully captured imagery of the orbiter during re-entry during three previous missions. After STS-119, in March, the team managed to shoot almost nine minutes of Discovery on descent.

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NASA Selects Northrop Grumman to Build Earth Science Instrument

NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., has awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman of Redondo Beach, Calif., to support the design, manufacture, assembly, test and calibration of the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System, or CERES, Flight Model 6 instrument.

The cost-plus-award fee, incentive fee contract has a maximum value of $44.5 million over 10 years. Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems Sector will perform the work at its facility in Redondo Beach.

The CERES instruments are broadband radiometers that scan Earth, observing reflected shortwave and Earth-emitted radiance. These observations are used to measure the time and space distributions of incoming energy from the Sun and outgoing thermal and reflected energy from Earth (known as Earth's radiation budget). The measurements aid in the development of a quantitative understanding of the links between the radiation budget and the properties of the atmosphere and surface that define it, and improve models of Earth's climate system.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is funding the development of the CERES Flight Model 6 under a reimbursable agreement with NASA. It will fly on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, or NPOESS, C1 mission. NPOESS is a multi-agency program to develop the next generation of polar-orbiting operational environmental satellites that form the basis for weather forecasting, and is co-funded by NOAA and the Department of Defense with NASA as a technology provider. The NPOESS program is managed by the interagency Integrated Program Office.

CERES Flight Model 5 is scheduled for flight on the NPOESS Preparatory Project mission that NASA is implementing in partnership with the NPOESS IPO. Earlier CERES Flight Models are currently flying on NASA's Earth Observing System satellites. This succession of CERES instruments enables the long time series of Earth radiation budget data that is essential to understanding climate change.

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NASA to Announce New Space Station Module Name April 14

NASA's newest module for the International Space Station will get a new name on April 14.

The agency plans to make the announcement with the help of Expedition 14 and 15 astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." The program will air at 11:30 p.m. EDT.

The name, which will not be publicly released until the program airs, was selected from thousands of unique suggestions submitted on NASA's Internet site, www.nasa.gov. The "Help Name Node 3" poll asked people to vote for the module's name either by choosing one of four NASA options or by offering their own suggestion. The poll closed on March 20.

"The node naming poll was organic and took on a life of its own," says Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations at NASA headquarters in Washington. "We received more than a million entries, in large part because social media Web sites and television programs, such as 'The Colbert Report,' took an interest. This spread overall awareness of the International Space Station."

NASA originally planned to announce the node's name on April 28 after it arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, the node's arrival at Kennedy is delayed until May, so the announcement moved to April 14.

The show's producers offered to host the name selection announcement after comedian and host Stephen Colbert took interest during the census and urged his followers to post the name "Colbert."

"I certainly hope NASA does the right thing," says Colbert. "Just kidding, I hope they name it after me."

Node 3 is a pressurized module that will provide room for many of the space station's life support systems. Attached to the node is the cupola, a one-of-a-kind work station with six windows around the sides and one on top. Node 3 is targeted for launch in late 2009.

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Satellites Show Arctic Literally on Thin Ice

The latest Arctic sea ice data from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center show that the decade-long trend of shrinking sea ice cover is continuing. New evidence from satellite observations also shows that the ice cap is thinning as well.

Arctic sea ice works like an air conditioner for the global climate system. Ice naturally cools air and water masses, plays a key role in ocean circulation, and reflects solar radiation back into space. In recent years, Arctic sea ice has been declining at a surprising rate.

Scientists who track Arctic sea ice cover from space announced today that this winter had the fifth lowest maximum ice extent on record. The six lowest maximum events since satellite monitoring began in 1979 have all occurred in the past six years (2004-2009).

Until recently, the majority of Arctic sea ice survived at least one summer and often several. But things have changed dramatically, according to a team of University of Colorado, Boulder, scientists led by Charles Fowler. Thin seasonal ice -- ice that melts and re-freezes every year -- makes up about 70 percent of the Arctic sea ice in wintertime, up from 40 to 50 percent in the 1980s and 1990s. Thicker ice, which survives two or more years, now comprises just 10 percent of wintertime ice cover, down from 30 to 40 percent.

According to researchers from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., the maximum sea ice extent for 2008-09, reached on Feb. 28, was 5.85 million square miles. That is 278,000 square miles less than the average extent for 1979 to 2000.

"Ice extent is an important measure of the health of the Arctic, but it only gives us a two-dimensional view of the ice cover," says Walter Meier, research scientist at the center and the University of Colorado, Boulder. "Thickness is important, especially in the winter, because it is the best overall indicator of the health of the ice cover. As the ice cover in the Arctic grows thinner, it grows more vulnerable to melting in the summer."

The Arctic ice cap grows each winter as the sun sets for several months and intense cold sets in. Some of that ice is naturally pushed out of the Arctic by winds, while much of it melts in place during summer. The thicker, older ice that survives one or more summers is more likely to persist through the next summer.

Sea ice thickness has been hard to measure directly, so scientists have typically used estimates of ice age to approximate its thickness. But last year a team of researchers led by Ron Kwok of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., produced the first map of sea ice thickness over the entire Arctic basin.

Using two years of data from NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), Kwok's team estimated thickness and volume of the Arctic Ocean ice cover for 2005 and 2006. They found that the average winter volume of Arctic sea ice contained enough water to fill Lake Michigan and Lake Superior combined.

The older, thicker sea ice is declining and is being replaced with newer, thinner ice that is more vulnerable to summer melt, according to Kwok. His team found that seasonal sea ice averages about 6 feet in thickness, while ice that had lasted through more than one summer averages about 9 feet, though it can grow much thicker in some locations near the coast.

Kwok is currently working to extend the ICESat estimate further, from 2003 to 2008, to see how the recent decline in the area covered by sea ice is mirrored in changes in its volume.

"With these new data on both the area and thickness of Arctic sea ice, we will be able to better understand the sensitivity and vulnerability of the ice cover to changes in climate," Kwok says.

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'Signatures in Space' Connects Kids to Space Day Celebrations

NASA and Lockheed Martin's Student Signatures in Space (S3) program will be one of the highlighted projects during this year's Space Day, celebrated annually on the first Friday in May. The mission of Space Day is to use space-related activities to inspire and prepare young people for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Student Signatures in Space began in 1997 as a way to draw kids into space studies by giving them a personal connection to space. Participating schools are sent large posters for students to sign on Space Day. NASA and Lockheed Martin, of Bethesda, Md., are currently accepting school names for participation. The program is open to elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as science museums and regional Boy Scout and Girl Scout councils.

After schools return the posters to Lockheed Martin, the signatures are scanned onto a disk and flown aboard a space shuttle mission. Schools also receive lesson plans and information about the mission their signed posters are flying on.

Upon completion of the shuttle flight, the posters are returned to the schools along with a photo of the astronaut crew that took the signatures to space and a NASA flight certification verifying that the signatures flew in space. Schools are allowed to participate in the signatures program once every six years.

The project is free to participants. Program partners cover all program costs, including shipping expenses for return of the signed posters. Schools and other organizations may request a sign-up form by e-mailing S3 Program Manager April Tensen at signatures@mindspring.com.

Student Signatures in Space is limited to 500 schools per year, and schools are registered on a first-come, first-served basis. Schools that sign up after the maximum capacity is reached will be put on a list to participate in the following year's program.

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NASA Launches Streaming Video From International Space Station

Internet visitors can now see the Earth as never before -- live from the International Space Station via streaming video, seven days a week.

The streaming video views of Earth and the exterior structure of the station are from cameras mounted outside the laboratory complex, orbiting Earth at 17,500 miles an hour at an altitude of 220 miles. The video is transmitted to the ground -- and Web viewers -- primarily while the astronauts aboard the complex are asleep, usually from about 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. CDT. When live feeds are not available, a map showing the current location and path of the station will be streamed from NASA's Mission Control in Houston.

The streaming video will include audio of communications between Mission Control and the astronauts, when available. When the space shuttle is docked to the station, the stream will include video and audio of those activities.

The International Space Station is a unique partnership between the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe. Construction began in 1998 and will be completed in 2010. Eighteen crews have lived aboard the orbiting complex since 2000, including the current crew of three. Station residents have conducted important scientific experiments and gathered data to help assist future missions to the moon and Mars.

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NASA's Kepler Mission Rockets to Space in Search of Other Earths

NASA's Kepler mission successfully launched into space from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II at 10:49 p.m. EST, Friday. Kepler is designed to find the first Earth-size planets orbiting stars at distances where water could pool on the planet's surface. Liquid water is believed to be essential for the formation of life.

"It was a stunning launch," says Kepler Project Manager James Fanson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Our team is thrilled to be a part of something so meaningful to the human race -- Kepler will help us understand if our Earth is unique or if others like it are out there."

Engineers acquired a signal from Kepler at 12:11 a.m. Saturday, after it separated from its spent third-stage rocket and entered its final sun-centered orbit, trailing 950 miles behind Earth. The spacecraft is generating its own power from its solar panels.

"Kepler now has the perfect place to watch more than 100,000 stars for signs of planets," says William Borucki, the mission's science principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. Borucki has worked on the mission for 17 years. "Everyone is very excited as our dream becomes a reality. We are on the verge of learning if other Earths are ubiquitous in the galaxy."

Engineers have begun to check Kepler to ensure it is working properly, a process called "commissioning" that will take about 60 days. In about a month or less, NASA will send up commands for Kepler to eject its dust cover and make its first measurements. After another month of calibrating Kepler's single instrument, a wide-field charge-couple device camera, the telescope will begin to search for planets.

The first planets to roll out on the Kepler "assembly line" are expected to be the portly "hot Jupiters" -- gas giants that circle close and fast around their stars. NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes will be able to follow up with these planets and learn more about their atmospheres. Neptune-size planets will most likely be found next, followed by rocky ones as small as Earth. The true Earth analogs -- Earth-sized planets orbiting stars like our sun at distances where surface water, and possibly life, could exist -- would take at least three years to discover and confirm. Ground-based telescopes also will contribute to the mission by verifying some of the finds.

In the end, Kepler will give us our first look at the frequency of Earth-size planets in our Milky Way galaxy, as well as the frequency of Earth-size planets that could theoretically be habitable.

"Even if we find no planets like Earth, that by itself would be profound. It would indicate that we are probably alone in the galaxy," says Borucki.

As the mission progresses, Kepler will drift farther and farther behind Earth in its orbit around the sun. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which was launched into the same orbit more than five years ago, is now more than 62 million miles behind Earth.

For more information about the Kepler mission, click here.

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Help NASA Name The Next Space Station Module

NASA is asking the public to help name the International Space Station's next module -- a control tower for robotics in space and the world's ultimate observation deck.

Eight refrigerator-sized racks in the Node 3 module will provide room for many of the station's life support systems. Attached to the node is the cupola, a one-of-a-kind work station with six windows around the sides and one on top. The cupola will offer astronauts a spectacular view of their home planet and their home in space. In addition to providing a perfect location to observe and photograph Earth, the cupola also will contain a robotics workstation from which astronauts will be able to control the station's 57-foot robotic arm.

Individuals can vote for the module's name online, choosing one of four NASA suggestions -- Earthrise, Legacy, Serenity or Venture -- or writing in a name. Submissions will be accepted Feb. 19 through March 20. The name should reflect the spirit of exploration and cooperation embodied by the space station and follow in the tradition set by Node 1, named "Unity," and Node 2, named "Harmony."

The winning name will be announced at the Node 3 unveiling April 28 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The node is scheduled to arrive at Kennedy April 20 and is targeted for launch in late 2009.

For more information, to submit a name and to view pictures of the node and cupola, click here.

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Video of the Day: NASA Weather Satellite Blasts Off

NASA successfully launched a rocket carrying a new weather satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, after two scrubbed launches earlier this week.

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Award-Winning NASA TV Show Launches Second Season

NASA 360, a half-hour television program that explores NASA's contributions to everyday life, is celebrating its one-year anniversary. NASA produces the program in partnership with the National Institute of Aerospace, or NIA, in Hampton, Va. It is part of the NASA eClips project that provides free NASA educational video content via the Internet.

"The show has really taken off," says Michael Finneran, NASA 360 executive producer at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. "We focus on how technologies developed by or for NASA are being used in everything from space exploration to consumer products. And we do it in an entertaining way."

"The National Institute of Aerospace is excited to be working with NASA on this program," says Robert Lindberg, NIA president and executive director.

NASA 360 has a fast-paced feel and visual content designed to appeal to a wide variety of audiences, NASA says. It is hosted by Johnny Alonso and Jennifer Pulley. Alonso has performed in movies and on television, including in Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill. Pulley has appeared in NASA Connect and many television commercials.

The NASA 360 team just finished its sixth show. The crew traveled to a remote location in Moses Lake, Wash., to see how NASA is testing new rovers that may go to the moon in the future. Previous shows have highlighted global warming research, solar technologies, NASA contributions to car racing, and how remote sensing and other innovations are helping uncover history. Other episodes have looked at Mars exploration, new spacesuit research and NASA contributions to cordless power tool development and snow ski designs.

Future programs will take viewers to Hawaii, where NASA researchers test gear in rocky terrain similar to the moon's polar region. Other segments will feature astronaut training and more NASA contributions to the world of sports.

"NASA 360 can be seen online at NASA's Web site, on YouTube, MySpace and Facebook. Viewers also can subscribe to the video podcast through iTunes. We're using the Internet to try to reach younger audiences to excite them about NASA and its work," says co-producer Mike Bibbo of NIA.

"And for those people who may not spend as much time on the web, NASA 360 also can be seen on 900 public broadcasting, cable and commercial stations across the country and 1,200 Voice of America outlets all over the world," co-producer Kevin Krigsvold of NIA says. "It also airs on NASA TV available by satellite or on some cable systems."

The program has won numerous awards, including two Communicator Awards for overall program and editing, two Omni Awards for overall program and editing, two Davey Awards for overall program and editing, two Marcom Awards and two Ava Awards.

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Next NASA Moon Mission Completes Major Milestone

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has successfully completed thermal vacuum testing, which simulates the extreme hot, cold and airless conditions of space LRO will experience after launch. This milestone concludes the orbiter's environmental test program at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The orbiter will carry seven instruments to provide scientists with detailed maps of the lunar surface and increase our understanding of the moon's topography, lighting conditions, mineralogical composition and natural resources. Data returned to Earth from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will be used to select safe landing sites, determine locations for future outposts and help mitigate radiation dangers to astronauts. The spacecraft will spend at least a year in a low, polar orbit approximately 30 miles above the lunar surface while the instruments work together to collect detailed information about the moon's environment.

The thermal vacuum testing on the spacecraft took about two months. The orbiter, which was built at Goddard, was subjected to the extreme temperature cycles of the lunar environment as engineers conducted simulated flight operations.

"We have cooked LRO, frozen it, shaken it, and blasted it with electromagnetic waves, and still it operates," says Dave Everett, LRO mission system engineer at Goddard. "We have performed more than 2,500 hours of powered testing since January, more than 600 of that in vacuum."

The first two checks were the spin and vibration tests. The spin test determined the spacecraft's center of gravity and measured characteristics of its rotation. During vibration testing, engineers checked the structural integrity of the spacecraft aboard a large, shaking table that simulated the rigorous ride the orbiter will encounter during liftoff aboard an Atlas rocket.

Next, the orbiter was subjected to acoustics testing. The bagged spacecraft was placed near wall-sized speakers that simulate the noise-induced vibrations of launch. Following acoustics testing, LRO underwent tests that simulated the orbiter's separation from the rocket during launch. The spacecraft also underwent electromagnetic compatibility testing to ensure internal and external electrical signals do not interfere with its critical functions.

"It was less than one year ago that LRO was a myriad collection of parts not yet delivered to our clean room," says Craig Tooley, LRO project manager at Goddard. "This truly is a significant accomplishment -- a hard earned milestone. It is a humbling and awe-inspiring experience to work with the LRO team."

LRO will be shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in early 2009 to be prepared for its April 24 launch aboard an Atlas V rocket. Accompanying the spacecraft will be the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, a mission that will impact the moon's surface in its search for water ice.

Goddard is building and managing the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in Washington.

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NASA Television Commemorates Apollo 8 Christmas Eve Broadcast

NASA Television will honor the 40th anniversary of the historic Christmas Eve broadcast by the Apollo 8 crew with special programming Dec. 24 and 25 on the NASA TV Public Channel (101).

Forty years ago, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders became the first humans to visit another heavenly body as they successfully orbited the moon in their Apollo 8 spacecraft. On Dec. 24, 1968, the three astronauts devoted one of their mission's six live television transmissions to reading from the biblical book of Genesis during what has since come to be known as the Christmas Eve Broadcast.

To commemorate the anniversary, NASA TV will air the following special programs:

"The Annual John H. Glenn Lecture -- An Evening with the Apollo 8 Astronauts," a panel discussion with Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders recorded Nov. 13, 2008, at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. Former U.S. senator and NASA astronaut John Glenn provided their introduction.

"The Apollo 8 Crew Remembers Historic Mission, Live from the Newseum," a panel discussion with the Apollo 8 astronauts moderated by Nick Clooney and recorded Nov. 13, at the Newseum in Washington.

"De-Brief Apollo 8," an historical documentary of Apollo 8, narrated by Burgess Meredith (1970).

"Apollo 8 Christmas Video," a 10-minute documentary featuring Apollo 8 astronauts describing their historic mission. (Excerpts from the John H. Glenn Lecture recorded Nov. 13, 2008.)

"Apollo 8 -- December 21, 1968," a NASA Manned Space Flight Film Report on the Apollo 8 mission (1970).

The NASA Television Video File also will include footage documenting the Apollo 8 mission's Christmas Eve broadcast. For program times and listings, consult the NASA Television schedule online.

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