[Spacetalk] http://www.nasa.gov/index.html

Fri Jan 23 06:42:21 CST 2015

Good morning all,
 I hope your week has gone well, today will be fun, and I know everyone will look forward to enjoying the weekend....even though I always stress the most important day of our live is the one we are in, as each day as we pass through it we create our past and build our future...a happy day creates a happy past and together our future is always optimistic..... the cycle continues...but I still believe we work to live and we should enjoy the opportunity to appreciate the days we have in the world we created....tomorrow I will be participating in the Tampa Bay Region Future City Competition, The Future City Competition is a national, project-based learning experience where students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade imagine, design, and build cities of the future. Students work as a team with an educator and engineer mentor to plan cities using SimCity(tm) software; research and write solutions to an engineering problem; build tabletop scale models with recycled materials; and present their ideas before judges at Regional Competitions in January. Regional winners represent their region at the National Finals in Washington, DC in February... students and schools form teams to compete in various areas, applying math & science to real world issues, develop writing skills, teamwork, and becoming better citizens...the audience will be middle school students, parents, teachers, engineering mentors...it is an all-day event with the teams presenting their models, judging, awards...an amazing opportunity for the kids...distinguished guest speakers and somehow, I was asked to participate with these distinguished professionals...so this will be something really very different from anything I have ever done...I hope to be able to get there early enough to see some of the presentations as I am sure the teams have created wonderful models...wishing everyone a wonderful day....we have to remember to always do our best, enjoy everything we do, live in the present, be appreciative of the good in our lives, let the people we care about most know, smile & have fun! Gabe

I think this is way cool...

NASA, Microsoft Collaboration Will Allow Scientists to 'Work on Mars'
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New NASA software called OnSight will use holographic computing to overlay visual information and data from the agency's Mars Curiosity Rover into the user's field of view. Holographic computing blends a view of the physical world with computer-generated imagery to create a hybrid of real and virtual.
Image Credit: NASA
NASA and Microsoft have teamed up to develop software called OnSight, a new technology that will enable scientists to work virtually on Mars using wearable technology called Microsoft HoloLens.
Developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, OnSight will give scientists a means to plan and, along with the Mars Curiosity rover, conduct science operations on the Red Planet.
"OnSight gives our rover scientists the ability to walk around and explore Mars right from their offices," said Dave Lavery, program executive for the Mars Science Laboratory mission at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "It fundamentally changes our perception of Mars, and how we understand the Mars environment surrounding the rover."
OnSight will use real rover data and extend the Curiosity mission's existing planning tools by creating a 3-D simulation of the Martian environment where scientists around the world can meet. Program scientists will be able to examine the rover's worksite from a first-person perspective, plan new activities and preview the results of their work firsthand.
"We believe OnSight will enhance the ways in which we explore Mars and share that journey of exploration with the world," said Jeff Norris, JPL's OnSight project manager.
Until now, rover operations required scientists to examine Mars imagery on a computer screen, and make inferences about what they are seeing. But images, even 3-D stereo views, lack a natural sense of depth that human vision employs to understand spatial relationships.
The OnSight system uses holographic computing to overlay visual information and rover data into the user's field of view. Holographic computing blends a view of the physical world with computer-generated imagery to create a hybrid of real and virtual.
To view this holographic realm, members of the Curiosity mission team don a Microsoft HoloLens device, which surrounds them with images from the rover's Martian field site. They then can stroll around the rocky surface or crouch down to examine rocky outcrops from different angles. The tool provides access to scientists and engineers looking to interact with Mars in a more natural, human way.
"Previously, our Mars explorers have been stuck on one side of a computer screen. This tool gives them the ability to explore the rover's surroundings much as an Earth geologist would do field work here on our planet," said Norris.
The OnSight tool also will be useful for planning rover operations. For example, scientists can program activities for many of the rover's science instruments by looking at a target and using gestures to select menu commands.
The joint effort to develop OnSight with Microsoft grew from an ongoing partnership to investigate advances in human-robot interaction.  The JPL team responsible for OnSight specializes in systems to control robots and spacecraft. The tool will assist researchers in better understanding the environment and workspace of robotic spacecraft -- something that can be quite challenging with their traditional suite of tools.
JPL plans to begin testing OnSight in Curiosity mission operations later this year. Future applications may include Mars 2020 rover mission operations, and other applications in support of NASA's journey to Mars.
JPL manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, and built the project's Curiosity rover.
Learn more about NASA's journey to Mars at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mars

I always want to share a little bit of our past with some amazing pictures....I hope you will enjoy them...they are magical for me

Wow! Shuttle and Space Station Photographed Crossing the Sun

Tariq Malik - Space.com

http://www.axilone.com/legault/iss_atlantis_transit_2010.html

An eye-popping new snapshot taken by a Florida photographer has caught the International Space Station and shuttle Atlantis in silhouette as both spaceships crossed in front of the sun. Photographer Thierry Legault took the stunning photo on May 16 from Madrid, Spain at 13:28 GMT (9:28 a.m. EDT) shortly before Atlantis docked at the space station. In the photo, the shuttle and space station can clearly be seen as two separate spacecraft.

NASA Spinoff 2015 Features Space Technology Making Life Better on Earth
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Click this link or the image above to view the video<https://www.youtube.com/embed/oWCWwEv_LcI?enablejsapi=1&rel=0>
NASA Spinoff 2015
Image Credit: NASA
NASA technologies are being used to locate underground water in some of the driest places on the Earth, build quieter and more fuel-efficient airplanes, and create shock absorbers that brace buildings in earthquakes.
The 2015 edition of NASA's annual Spinoff publication highlights these and other technologies whose origins lie in space exploration, but now have broader applications.
[http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/226xvariable_height/public/15-009_spin-off_image_0.jpg]<http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/15-009_spin-off_image_0.jpg>
"The game-changing technologies NASA develops to push the envelope of space exploration also improve our everyday lives," said NASA Chief Technologist David Miller. "Spinoff 2015 is filled with stories that show there is more space in our lives than we think."
Spinoff 2015 tells the story of shock absorbers used during space shuttle launches that are now being used to brace buildings during earthquakes, preventing damage and saving lives. The book also features a NASA-simplified coliform bacteria test that is being used to monitor water quality in rural communities around the world, as well as cabin pressure monitors that alert pilots when oxygen levels are approaching dangerously low levels in their aircraft.
Published every year since 1976, Spinoff offers a close-up look at how NASA's initiatives in aeronautics and space exploration have resulted in technologies with commercial and societal benefits across the economy, in areas such as health and medicine; transportation; public safety; consumer goods; energy and environment; information technology; and industrial productivity. These spinoffs contribute to the country's economic growth by generating billions of dollars in revenue and creating thousands of jobs.
"NASA enjoys a large and varied technology portfolio unlike any other in existence," said Daniel Lockney, NASA's Technology Transfer program executive. "And the range of successful technology transfer documented in Spinoff each year is as diverse as NASA's many science and exploration missions."
The publication also includes a "Spinoffs of Tomorrow" section showcasing 20 industry-ready NASA technologies -- from smart coatings that protect metal from corrosion to an identity verification system that uses the human heartbeat as a "fingerprint" -- that are all available for licensing.
NASA's Technology Transfer Program is charged with finding the widest possible applications of agency technology. Through partnerships and licensing agreements with industry, the program ensures NASA's investments in pioneering research find secondary applications that benefit the economy, create jobs, and improve quality of life.
Print copies of Spinoff 2015 can be requested free of cost on the Spinoff website, where digital versions of the book also can be downloaded.
An iPad version of Spinoff 2015, including multimedia and interactive features, also is available for download in the Apple iTunes store.
Spinoff 2015 is available online at:
http://spinoff.nasa.gov
For more information about NASA's Technology Transfer Program, visit:
http://technology.nasa.gov

NASA, Boeing, SpaceX Discuss Plan for Launching American Astronauts from U.S. in 2017
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NASA's Launch America initiative will bring safe, reliable crew transportation on American spacecraft, launched from the United States, to and from the International Space Station.
Image Credit: NASA
NASA, Boeing and SpaceX will hold a news briefing on NASA Television at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston at noon EST (11 a.m. CST) Monday, Jan. 26, to highlight key development activities, test plans and objectives for achieving certification of two American crew transportation systems.
Under Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts for NASA's Launch America initiative, Boeing and SpaceX will develop safe and reliable crew transportation to and from the International Space Station on American spacecraft launched from the United States. This initiative returns the American industry to the forefront of human exploration technology and operations and ends the nation's sole reliance on Russia for crew transportation to the space station.
The panelists are:
*       NASA Administrator Charles Bolden
*       Johnson Space Center Director Ellen Ochoa
*       Commercial Crew Program Manager Kathy Lueders
*       Vice President and General Manager of Boeing Space Exploration John Elbon
*       President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX Gwynne Shotwell
*       NASA astronaut Mike Fincke
To participate in the briefing at Johnson, reporters must contact Kyle Herring at 281-483-5111 or kyle.j.herring at nasa.gov<mailto:kyle.j.herring at nasa.gov> no later than 4 p.m. Friday.
Reporters unable to attend in person who would like to submit questions should send them via email to Stephanie Martin at stephanie.a.martin at nasa.gov<mailto:stephanie.a.martin at nasa.gov>. Those following the briefing on social media can ask questions using the hashtag #askNASA.
For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
For more information about NASA's Commercial Crew Program, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

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