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

Tue Sep 6 05:57:36 CDT 2016

Good morning all,
 I think most everyone will be back this week, not sure about Germany as they finish so late but welcome back and I hope you had a wonderful summer….a big event this week as everything is moving forward for Thursday’s Launch of an Atlas V Rocket….OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch Sept. 8, 2016, at 7:05 p.m. EDT. As planned, the spacecraft will reach its asteroid target in 2018 and return a sample to Earth in 2023…see the launch or watch a replay on NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv <http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv> you can also go to https://www.youtube.com/NASAtelevision <https://www.youtube.com/NASAtelevision> throughout the days to follow last minute preparations…. I hope you will share this with the kids as it is something they can follow along as the mission progresses over the next 7 years :-) :-). Also you can go to NASA TV to see three International Space Station crew members  return to Earth on Tuesday, Sept. 6. NASA Television will provide coverage of their departure from the orbital outpost and return home, beginning at 9 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 6. Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams of NASA and Soyuz Commander Alexey Ovchinin and Flight Engineer Oleg Skripochka of the Russian space agency Roscosmos will undock their Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft from the space station at 5:51 p.m. and land in Kazakhstan at 9:14 p.m. (7:14 a.m. Kazakhstan time Sept. 7. Last night I did a presentation for HS students from Brazil, wonderful kids having a great time visiting Florida and KSC... today I leave for 3 days of school visits to Bogart & Watkinsville, Ga. It is a long drive, about 8 1/2 hours but I know it will be fun to meet so many kids and share the excitement of the space program….I have been getting many requests to visit schools…please let me know if you would like me to come to your school so we can sort out the schedule... usually Nov/Dec are very busy but the end of this month and next are fairly open…wishing you all a wonderful day and week ahead, of course one day at a time...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 those we care about most know...smile & have fun! Gabe

OSIRIS-REx Prepared for Mapping, Sampling Mission to Asteroid Bennu
By Linda Herridge
NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center

 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/osiris-rex_payloadfairing.jpg>
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, enclosed in a payload fairing, is lifted Aug. 29 at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that is to lift OSIRIS-REx into space was stacked at SLC-41 so the spacecraft and fairing could be hoisted up and bolted to the rocket. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
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The first U.S. mission to travel to an asteroid, retrieve samples and return them to Earth is targeted for a Sept. 8 launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This groundbreaking mission, several years in the making, is the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer, also known as OSIRIS-REx <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/index.html>. It will travel to near-Earth asteroid Bennu <http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/bennus-journey>, map its surface using 3-D laser imaging, retrieve samples from the surface and return to Earth.

 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/osiris-rex_phsfprocessing.jpg>
Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is prepared for encapsulation Aug. 19 in its payload fairing. OSIRIS-Rex will be the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid, retrieve at least two ounces of surface material and return it to Earth for study. Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson
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“The OSIRIS-REx mission is a seven-year journey from launch to Earth return,” said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator. He is a professor at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona.

The spacecraft will spend the first two years of the mission cruising to asteroid Bennu, arriving in August 2018. The five specialized instruments on OSIRIS-REx will be used to map the asteroid’s surface, identify the minerals and chemicals that may be on the surface, and select the sample site.c“The primary objective of the mission is to bring back 60 grams of pristine carbon-rich material from the surface of Bennu,” Lauretta said. “We expect these samples will contain organic molecules from the early solar system that may give us information and clues to the origin of life.” In July 2020, the spacecraft will briefly touch the surface of the asteroid to collect loose rocks and dust using its Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism, or “TAGSAM,” and store the material in a sample return capsule. The spacecraft will depart the asteroid in March 2021, when the departure window opens, and travel for two-and-a-half years on a trajectory for Earth return in September 2023.

As OSIRIS-REx approaches the Earth, the sample return capsule will eject from the spacecraft and land with the help of parachutes at the Utah Test and Training Range, southwest of Salt Lake City. The canister will be retrieved and transported to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for analysis. The main OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will remain in orbit around the Sun after the sample return and Earth flyby. The mission will lay the groundwork for future exploration of asteroids and other small bodies in the solar system. Prior to launch, the appropriate steps are being taken to assure mission success. OSIRIS-REx arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 20 and was transported to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, or PHSF, the same day. Inside the PHSF it was processed and prepared by the spacecraft team for its mission. Technicians and engineers performed illumination tests on the spacecraft solar arrays, tested instrument hardware and communication systems, performed a weight and center of gravity test and installed thermal blankets around the spacecraft to protect it from the extreme temperatures of space. Propellant also was loaded into the spacecraft that will help it to reach Bennu and return to Earth.

 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/osiris-rex_illuminationtest.jpg>
Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, illumination testing is underway Aug. 5 on the power-producing solar arrays of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
“We processed this payload in a very clean environment,” said Rex Engelhardt, Launch Services Program mission manager for OSIRIS-REx. “We don’t want to contaminate the samples that OSIRIS-REx will return to us.” In the PHSF, the processing team placed sample plates near OSIRIX-REx to collect contamination samples. These samples will be compared with the samples that are returned from the asteroid in order to eliminate any contamination that may have occurred in the PHSF. OSIRIS-REx was placed in its payload fairing Aug. 19, and transported to the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 for lifting and mating to the rocket Aug. 30. “The asteroid Bennu is about 1,600 feet (492 meters) in diameter. Think of it as a small mountain in space,” Lauretta said. “It is a near-Earth asteroid that makes occasional close approaches to our planet.” Lauretta said he is honored to lead a program like OSIRIS-REx for NASA and the country. “The team is an amazing group of very talented, dedicated people who are excited about the program and really believe in the mission. I couldn’t be more proud of their accomplishments, and the launch is the culmination of years and years of hard work,” Lauretta said.

OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in the agency’s New Frontiers Program <http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/osiris-rex.html>. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is providing overall mission management, systems engineering, and safety and mission assurance for the spacecraft. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages New Frontiers for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Jupiter’s North Pole Unlike Anything Encountered in Solar System
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NASA's Juno spacecraft captured this view as it closed in on Jupiter's north pole, about two hours before closest approach on Aug. 27, 2016.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
Full image and caption <http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia21030/closing-in-on-jupiters-north-pole>
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21031_3_figa_npoleterminatorview2_figa.png>
Juno was about 48,000 miles (78,000 kilometers) above Jupiter's polar cloud tops when it captured this view, showing storms and weather unlike anywhere else in the solar system.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
Full image and caption <http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia21031/close-up-views-of-jupiters-north-pole>
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21033_jiram_aurora_d.png>
This infrared image from Juno provides an unprecedented view of Jupiter's southern aurora. Such views are not possible from Earth.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
Full image and caption <http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA21033>
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent back the first-ever images of Jupiter’s north pole, taken during the spacecraft’s first flyby of the planet with its instruments switched on. The images show storm systems and weather activity unlike anything previously seen on any of our solar system’s gas-giant planets.

Juno successfully executed the first of 36 orbital flybys on Aug. 27 when the spacecraft came about 2,500 miles (4,200 kilometers) above Jupiter’s swirling clouds. The download of six megabytes of data collected during the six-hour transit, from above Jupiter’s north pole to below its south pole, took one-and-a-half days. While analysis of this first data collection is ongoing, some unique discoveries have already made themselves visible.

“First glimpse of Jupiter’s north pole, and it looks like nothing we have seen or imagined before,” said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “It’s bluer in color up there than other parts of the planet, and there are a lot of storms. There is no sign of the latitudinal bands or zone and belts that we are used to -- this image is hardly recognizable as Jupiter. We’re seeing signs that the clouds have shadows, possibly indicating that the clouds are at a higher altitude than other features.”

One of the most notable findings of these first-ever pictures of Jupiter’s north and south poles is something that the JunoCam imager did not see.

“Saturn has a hexagon at the north pole,” said Bolton. “There is nothing on Jupiter that anywhere near resembles that. The largest planet in our solar system is truly unique. We have 36 more flybys to study just how unique it really is.”

Along with JunoCam snapping pictures during the flyby, all eight of Juno’s science instruments were energized and collecting data. The Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM), supplied by the Italian Space Agency, acquired some remarkable images of Jupiter at its north and south polar regions in infrared wavelengths.

“JIRAM is getting under Jupiter’s skin, giving us our first infrared close-ups of the planet,” said Alberto Adriani, JIRAM co-investigator from Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome. “These first infrared views of Jupiter’s north and south poles are revealing warm and hot spots that have never been seen before. And while we knew that the first-ever infrared views of Jupiter's south pole could reveal the planet's southern aurora, we were amazed to see it for the first time. No other instruments, both from Earth or space, have been able to see the southern aurora. Now, with JIRAM, we see that it appears to be very bright and well-structured. The high level of detail in the images will tell us more about the aurora’s morphology and dynamics.”

Among the more unique data sets collected by Juno during its first scientific sweep by Jupiter was that acquired by the mission’s Radio/Plasma Wave Experiment (Waves), which recorded ghostly-sounding transmissions emanating from above the planet. These radio emissions from Jupiter have been known about since the 1950s but had never been analyzed from such a close vantage point.

“Jupiter is talking to us in a way only gas-giant worlds can,” said Bill Kurth, co-investigator for the Waves instrument from the University of Iowa, Iowa City. “Waves detected the signature emissions of the energetic particles that generate the massive auroras which encircle Jupiter’s north pole. These emissions are the strongest in the solar system. Now we are going to try to figure out where the electrons come from that are generating them.”

The Juno spacecraft launched on Aug. 5, 2011, from Cape Canaveral, Florida and arrived at Jupiter on July 4, 2016. JPL manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA's New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages JPL for NASA. More information on the Juno mission is available at these sites: http://www.nasa.gov/juno <http://www.nasa.gov/juno> http://missionjuno/org <http://missionjuno/org>

Grand Swirls from NASA's Hubble <http://links.govdelivery.com/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTQwNjA2LjMyODU0NzQxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE0MDYwNi4zMjg1NDc0MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE2ODkyMDM0JmVtYWlsaWQ9Z2VvcmdlLmdhYnJpZWxsZS0xQGtzYy5uYXNhLmdvdiZ1c2VyaWQ9Z2VvcmdlLmdhYnJpZWxsZS0xQGtzYy5uYXNhLmdvdiZmbD0mZXh0cmE9TXVsdGl2YXJpYXRlSWQ9JiYm&&&100&&&http://www.nasa.gov/content/hubble/grand-swirls-from-nasas-hubble>
06/06/2014 12:00 PM EDT

This new Hubble image shows NGC 1566, a beautiful galaxy located approximately 40 million light-years away in the constellation of Dorado (The Dolphinfish). NGC 1566 is an intermediate spiral galaxy, meaning that while it does not have a well-defined bar-shaped region of stars at its center — like barred spirals — it is not quite an unbarred spiral either. The small but extremely bright nucleus of NGC 1566 is clearly visible in this image, a telltale sign of its membership of the Seyfert class of galaxies. The centers of such galaxies are very active and luminous, emitting strong bursts of radiation and potentially harboring supermassive black holes that are many millions of times the mass of the sun. NGC 1566 is not just any Seyfert galaxy; it is the second brightest Seyfert galaxy known. It is also the brightest and most dominant member of the Dorado Group, a loose concentration of galaxies that together comprise one of the richest galaxy groups of the southern hemisphere. This image highlights the beauty and awe-inspiring nature of this unique galaxy group, with NGC 1566 glittering and glowing, its bright nucleus framed by swirling and symmetrical lavender arms. This image was taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the near-infrared part of the spectrum. A version of the image was entered into the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by Flickr user Det58. Image Credit:  ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Flickr user Det58

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