NASA Tests Moon Imaging Spacecraft at Goddard

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, also known as LRO, has completed the first round of environmental testing at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. These tests ensure the spacecraft is prepared for its mission to collect the highest resolution images and most comprehensive geological data set ever returned from the moon, the space agency says. The objective of the mission is to map the lunar surface in preparation for human missions to the moon, which are planned to occur by 2020.

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

"It is during lift-off the spacecraft will be under the most stress," says Cathy Peddie, deputy project manager for LRO at Goddard. "We want to ensure the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter can withstand the extreme conditions experienced during launch."

The next hurdle for the orbiter is approximately four days of acoustics testing during which the bagged spacecraft is placed near multistory, wall-sized speakers that simulate the noise-induced vibrations of launch. Following acoustics testing, the spacecraft will undergo a daylong test
that simulates the orbiter's separation from the rocket during launch.

In late August, the spacecraft will begin approximately five weeks of thermal vacuum testing, which duplicates the extreme hot, cold and airless conditions of space. During the test, engineers will operate the orbiter and conduct simulated flight operations while the spacecraft is subjected
to the extreme temperature cycles of the lunar environment.

By the end of 2008, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will be transported to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final launch preparations. The orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, a mission to impact the moon in search of water ice, are
scheduled to launch atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch window opens Feb. 27, 2009, and continues through the end of March.

The seven science instruments aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will develop highly detailed maps of the lunar surface that provide data about lunar topography, surface temperature, lighting conditions, mineralogical composition, and abundance of natural resources. Information from the robotic spacecraft will be used to select safe landing sites and
assess potential outpost locations for future human missions to the moon. The spacecraft also will provide valuable information about the lunar radiation environment, enabling the development of effective mitigation strategies for human explorers.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will be in a polar orbit, unlike the Apollo missions that focused on gaining science from the area around the moon's equator. 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 lunar environment.

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

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NASA Responds to California Wildfire Emergency Imaging Request

A remotely piloted aircraft carrying a NASA sensor flew over much of California earlier this
week, gathering information that will be used to help fight more than 300 wildfires burning within the state. Additional flights are planned for next week.

The flights by NASA's unmanned Ikhana aircraft are using a sophisticated Autonomous Modular Scanner developed at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. The flights are originating from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Ikhana's onboard sensor can detect temperature differences from less than one-half
degree to approximately 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The scanner operates like a digital camera with specialized filters to detect light energy at visible, infrared and thermal wavelengths.

NASA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service have partnered to obtain imagery of the wildfires in response to requests from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services and the National Interagency Fire Center.

"NASA's emergency imaging gives us immediate information that we can use to manage fires, identify threats and deploy firefighting assets," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says. "I thank NASA for providing us with this important firefighting tool that will help us maximize attacks on the more than 300 active fires currently burning in California."

The Ikhana aircraft is imaging almost 4,000 square miles from Santa Barbara north to the Oregon border. The flights provide critical information about the location, size and terrain around the fires to commanders in the field in as little as 10 minutes. The first mission on
July 8 flew over 10 individual and complex fires along a route over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, west to the Cub Complex fire and south to the Gap Fire in Santa Barbara County.

Fire images are collected onboard Ikhana and transmitted through a communications satellite to NASA Ames. There, the imagery is superimposed over Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth maps to better visualize the location and scope of the fires. The imagery is then transmitted to the Multi-Agency Coordination Center in Redding, Calif., and the State Operations Center in Sacramento, which distribute fire data to incident commanders in the field.

"Because Forest Service assets are stretched thin, NASA was asked to provide additional resources as a supplement to existing infrared fire imaging operations," says Jim Brass, co-principal investigator for the Western States Fire Mission at Ames.

From a ground control center, NASA pilots are flying the aircraft in close coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, which is allowing flights within the national airspace while maintaining safe separation from other aircraft. The FAA is allowing NASA unprecedented
flexibility to fly these missions in support of the California firefighting effort.

NASA was working with the Forest Service on a demonstration mission later this summer, but moved up the schedule in response to the widespread fires. The system was proven during a series of wildfire imaging demonstration missions in August and September 2007 and tested
operationally during the Southern California fires of October 2007.

"The NASA/Forest Service team gathered six weeks earlier than planned because of the extreme fires in Northern California," says Vincent Ambrosia, NASA Ames' principal investigator for the fire mission. "The team will provide state and federal agencies with critical fire intelligence by using NASA aircraft and technology."

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Study: MRI and Echocardiography Together Can ID More Causes of Stroke Before They Strike

Based on a new study released today, researchers urge more comprehensive imaging for patients presenting to hospitals with stroke symptoms. Using both MRI and echocardiography to image the heart greatly enhances the detection of thecause and selection of the best treatment of cardioembolic strokes, the"meanest" type of stroke.

A cardioembolic stroke occurs when a thrombus (clot) dislodges from the heart, travels through the cardiovascular system and lodges in the brain, first cutting off the blood supply and then often causing a hemorrhagic bleed -- a double whammy of both types of stroke, ischemic first and then hemorrhagic. The study found that MRI detected nearly twice as many sources of stroke in the heart than echocardiogram alone. It also showed theability of MRI to reveal more heart disease conditions that contribute to clot formation in the first place. Echocardiography, however, was strong inthe detection of heart valve lesions. Combined, these imaging systems can more clearly identify underlying causes of future stroke, helping doctors decide the best initial therapy and the best treatment to prevent asecondary stroke.

The research was presented today at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 32nd Annual Scientific Meeting.

"This can revolutionize patient care because we can detect the underlying cause of the stroke and prevent it from occurring again," says lead author John Sheehan, M.D., an interventional radiologist at Northwestern University and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "A potential cardiac source should be considered in all patients presenting with ischemic strokes. All stroke patients should routinely have an MRI and ultrasound of their heart, in addition to having their brain and carotids imaged with CT and MRI. It's nice to be on the front end of a stroke --able to stop it, than on the back end, figuring out how to deal with its damage."

Stroke teams generally consist of emergency room physicians, neurologists and interventional radiologists. Interventional radiologistsare a critical part of the stroke team because they can diagnose and treatischemic stroke with clot-busting drugs, or open a blocked carotid artery nonsurgically. They are also actively involved in creating more stroke teams across the country.

Cardioembolic strokes, which account for 20 percent of embolic strokes,have a worse prognosis, producing larger, more disabling strokes that aremore likely to recur compared to other types of stroke. Blood clots can betreated with drugs before they can leave the heart, in conjunction with treating identified heart conditions, to prevent another life-threatening stroke. In the United States stroke is the leading cause of adult disability and the third leading cause of death; only heart disease and cancer cause more deaths annually.

In the study, of the 93 patients who had an MRI and echocardiogram oftheir heart after a stroke, MRI detected nearly twice as many potential causes of stroke originating from the heart compared to echocardiography. MRI also detected significant heart conditions that predispose a patient tostroke in 30 percent of patients compared to echocardiography. These additional findings included acute myocardial infarction, myocardial scarring and left ventricular aneurysms. Echocardiography was, however,more sensitive to detecting potential embolic lesions on prosthetic cardiacvalves and strokes related to a hole in the heart.

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