[Spacetalk] Happy Veterans Day

Fri Nov 11 07:33:43 CST 2016

Good morning all,
 It amazes me how fast the time is going, I know I say this often but I am sure many of you feel the same…I always feel so fortunate in so many ways and I am always thankful each day….on Wed I visited Brigham Academy and had such a wonderful time. The kids are amazing….I seem to have such an amazing connection with them, even the k-2 kids are so very friendly, always wanting to talk, to share their thoughts, and so kind hearted... sharing hugs….I can’t explain it…it is a very special connection…I spent a full day at the school, which I don’t do very often but it is always special because in addition to presenting to large groups, I can visit classrooms and get more one on one time with the kids….I always ask the kids to call me gabe and most of the day, everywhere I went, this kids were saying hi gabe which to me is very special as I believe they have accepted me in their world and more importantly, will listen. I can’t thank Jessica enough as originally I was only going to be at the school for half the day but we changed it to a full day…..she had everything so well organized, it was amazing…especially fun was at lunch when I sat at a picnic table and 3-4 kids would come by, spend 15 minute with me, then the next group would visit…I was even joined by the school’s reporters….I think Jessica could easily be a launch director for a shuttle launch….remember next week, on the 17th you can have access to NASA presenters through a live feed as many of the schools participate in the Great American Teach-In…also on the 17th 3 Astronauts will be heading to the ISS from Russia, NASA TV will cover it http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv <http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv> wishing you all a wonderful day...we have to remember to always do our best, enjoy everything we do, live in the present, make each day special, let those we care about most know....smile & have fun, Gabe

 Today, in America, we celebrate Veterans Day…I hope we will all take a few minutes to honor those who gave so much to preserve our freedom…I would also like to extend it to Veterans all over the world who have given so much for their countries…as I travel to many countries I am always aware of the patriotism displayed in each country and sometimes I wish the US would have the same as we seem to struggle internally with so much discontentment, which I really don’t see any where else…please remember to say thanks to anyone you see in uniform and let them know we appreciate what they do to keep us free….

Next Space Station Crew Set for Launch Nov. 17, Watch Live on NASA TV 
 <http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/exp_50-51b.jpg>
Astronauts Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency), Oleg Novitskiy of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Peggy Whitson of NASA pose for a group photo ahead of their final qualification exams, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016, at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.
Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls
View on Flickr <https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/30469351831/>
NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, Oleg Novitskiy of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) will launch Thursday, Nov. 17, for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station. Prelaunch activities will air through Nov. 16, and live launch coverage will begin at 2:30 p.m. EST Nov. 17, on NASA Television and the agency’s website. The crew of Expedition 50/51 will launch at 3:20 p.m. (2:20 a.m. Nov. 18, Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After launching, the crew members will travel for two days before docking to the space station’s Rassvet module at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19. NASA TV coverage of the docking will begin at 4:15 p.m. Hatches between the Soyuz and station will open at approximately 7:35 p.m., and the arriving crew will be welcomed by Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko, who have been aboard the complex since October. NASA TV coverage of hatch opening and welcoming ceremonies will begin at 6:45 p.m. During their stay aboard the orbital complex, Whitson will become the first woman to command the space station twice. Her first tenure as commander was in 2007, when she became the first woman to hold this post. Whitson has an advanced degree in biochemistry, and prior to her selection as an astronaut candidate in 1996, she served in prominent medical science research and supervisory positions at NASA. The soon-to-be six crew members of Expedition 50 will contribute to hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard humanity’s only microgravity laboratory. The crew is scheduled to return to Earth next spring. Check out the full NASA TV schedule and video streaming information at: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv <http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv> Keep up with the International Space Station, and its research and crews, at: http://www.nasa.gov/station <http://www.nasa.gov/station> Get breaking news, images and features from the station on Instagram and Twitter at: http://instagram.com/iss <http://instagram.com/iss> and http://www.twitter.com/Space_Station <http://www.twitter.com/Space_Station> 

https://youtu.be/Z2nZSrSnbnE 

NASA Set to Launch New Fleet of Hurricane-Tracking Small Satellites

I hope you can share this video with the kids, it is only about 90 seconds: https://youtu.be/Z2nZSrSnbnE 
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/cygnss_0.jpg>
The primary science goal of Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) is to better understand how and why winds in hurricanes intensify. CYGNSS is a unique satellite mission that consists of a constellation of eight small satellites.
Credits: NASA
NASA is set to launch its first Earth science small satellite constellation, which will help improve hurricane intensity, track, and storm surge forecasts, on Dec. 12 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) hurricane mission will measure previously unknown details crucial to accurately understanding the formation and intensity of tropical cyclones and hurricanes. “This is a first-of-its-kind mission,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “As a constellation of eight spacecraft, CYGNSS will do what a single craft can’t in terms of measuring surface wind speeds inside hurricanes and tropical cyclones at high time-resolution, to improve our ability to understand and predict how these deadly storms develop.” The CYGNSS mission is expected to lead to more accurate weather forecasts of wind speeds and storm surges -- the walls of water that do the most damage when hurricanes make landfall. Utilizing the same GPS technology that allows drivers to navigate streets, CYGNSS will use a constellation of eight microsatellite observatories to measure the surface roughness of the world’s oceans. Mission scientists will use the data collected to calculate surface wind speeds, providing a better picture of a storm’s strength and intensity. Unlike existing operational weather satellites, CYGNSS can penetrate the heavy rain of a hurricane’s eyewall to gather data about a storm’s intense inner core. The eyewall is the thick ring of thunderstorm clouds and rain that surrounds the calm eye of a hurricane. The inner core region acts like the engine of the storm by extracting energy from the warm surface water via evaporation into the atmosphere. The latent heat contained in the water vapor is then released into the atmosphere by condensation and precipitation. The intense rain in eyewalls blocks the view of the inner core by conventional satellites, however, preventing scientists from gathering much information about this key region of a developing hurricane. “Today, we can’t see what’s happening under the rain,” said Chris Ruf, professor in the University of Michigan’s Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering and principal investigator for the CYGNSS mission. “We can measure the wind outside of the storm cell with present systems. But there’s a gap in our knowledge of cyclone processes in the critical eyewall region of the storm – a gap that will be filled by the CYGNSS data. The models try to predict what is happening under the rain, but they are much less accurate without continuous experimental validation.” The CYGNSS small satellite observatories will continuously monitor surface winds over the oceans across Earth’s tropical hurricane-belt latitudes. Each satellite is capable of capturing four wind measurements per second, adding as much as 32 wind measurements per second for the entire constellation. CYGNSS is the first complete orbital mission competitively selected by NASA’s Earth Venture program. Earth Venture focuses on low-cost, rapidly developed, science-driven missions to enhance our understanding of the current state of Earth and its complex, dynamic system and enable continual improvement in the prediction of future changes. The Space Physics Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan College of Engineering in Ann Arbor leads overall mission execution in partnership with the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, and its Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering department leads the science investigation. The Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate oversees the mission. For more information about NASA’s CYGNSS mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/cygnss <http://www.nasa.gov/cygnss>

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