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

Mon Feb 27 00:16:01 CST 2017

Good morning all,
 Last week was an amazing week in the space program…so many wonderful accomplishments…I hope you are following along and finding a few minutes to let the kids see some of it…I think it should be so exciting for them……I also had a wonderful week as I presented to a group of very special kids in Jacksonville….kids who are differently abled…with so much heart, desire, and inner strength to overcome obstacles most of us can’t imagine… there are such special teachers with the kids….I admire them more than words could ever adequately describe...The Palm Ave ESC (DCPS) is a school that serves middle and high school students with developmental/physical or intellectual disabilities. A special program called TEAM UP is one that connects the school system with a community organization (JaxPAL). Academics and enrichment are provided to children during the afternoon hours. Police Athletic League of Jacksonville… Students in the TEAM UP program are focusing on the theme of STEAM. I would like to thank Jo and the staff for their support and the wonderful way they encourage the students. The kids were great! 
 The very interesting discovery of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope revealed the first known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single star <https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/trappist1>…if you have a few minutes, Ihope you can watch: Watch this video on YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnKFaAS30X8> and View this 360-degree panorama on YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2MgG6KhO1E>. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2MgG6KhO1E>   the International Space Station received two cargo shipments this week from the U.S. and Russia. A SpaceX Dragon capsule berthed with the orbiting outpost on Thursday, February 23 and a Russian Progress cargo freighter docked a day later…I thought the soccer ball in space was so touching….see below...we have to always remember to do our best, enjoy everything we do, live in the present, be appreciative of the good in our lives, make each day special, let those we care about most know, smile & have fun! Gabe

NASA Telescope Reveals Largest Batch of Earth-Size, Habitable-Zone Planets Around Single Star 
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/1_main_pia21423-png.png>
This illustration shows the possible surface of TRAPPIST-1f, one of the newly discovered planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. Scientists using the Spitzer Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes have discovered that there are seven Earth-size planets in the system.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
View this and many more images, as well as several videos, in an extensive multimedia gallery highlighting this discovery. <https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/trappist1/>
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed the first known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single star <https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/trappist1>. Three of these planets are firmly located in the habitable zone, the area around the parent star where a rocky planet is most likely to have liquid water. The discovery sets a new record for greatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system. All of these seven planets could have liquid water – key to life as we know it – under the right atmospheric conditions, but the chances are highest with the three in the habitable zone. “This discovery could be a significant piece in the puzzle of finding habitable environments, places that are conducive to life,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “Answering the question ‘are we alone’ is a top science priority and finding so many planets like these for the first time in the habitable zone is a remarkable step forward toward that goal.” At about 40 light-years (235 trillion miles) from Earth, the system of planets is relatively close to us, in the constellation Aquarius. Because they are located outside of our solar system, these planets are scientifically known as exoplanets. This exoplanet system is called TRAPPIST-1, named for The Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) in Chile. In May 2016 <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/promising-worlds-found-around-nearby-ultra-cool-dwarf-star>, researchers using TRAPPIST announced they had discovered three planets in the system. Assisted by several ground-based telescopes, including the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, Spitzer confirmed the existence of two of these planets and discovered five additional ones, increasing the number of known planets in the system to seven. The new results were published Wednesday in the journal Nature, and announced at a news briefing at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Using Spitzer data, the team precisely measured the sizes of the seven planets and developed first estimates of the masses of six of them, allowing their density to be estimated. Based on their densities, all of the TRAPPIST-1 planets are likely to be rocky. Further observations will not only help determine whether they are rich in water, but also possibly reveal whether any could have liquid water on their surfaces. The mass of the seventh and farthest exoplanet has not yet been estimated – scientists believe it could be an icy, "snowball-like" world, but further observations are needed. "The seven wonders of TRAPPIST-1 are the first Earth-size planets that have been found orbiting this kind of star," said Michael Gillon, lead author of the paper and the principal investigator of the TRAPPIST <http://www.orca.ulg.ac.be/TRAPPIST> exoplanet survey at the University of Liege, Belgium. "It is also the best target yet for studying the atmospheres of potentially habitable, Earth-size worlds."

 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/5_lineup_pia21422-png.png>
This artist's concept shows what each of the TRAPPIST-1 planets may look like, based on available data about their sizes, masses and orbital distances.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
View full image and caption <http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA21422>
In contrast to our sun, the TRAPPIST-1 star – classified as an ultra-cool dwarf – is so cool that liquid water could survive on planets orbiting very close to it, closer than is possible on planets in our solar system. All seven of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary orbits are closer to their host star than Mercury is to our sun. The planets also are very close to each other. If a person was standing on one of the planet’s surface, they could gaze up and potentially see geological features or clouds of neighboring worlds, which would sometimes appear larger than the moon in Earth's sky. The planets may also be tidally locked to their star, which means the same side of the planet is always facing the star, therefore each side is either perpetual day or night. This could mean they have weather patterns totally unlike those on Earth, such as strong winds blowing from the day side to the night side, and extreme temperature changes. Spitzer, an infrared telescope that trails Earth as it orbits the sun, was well-suited for studying TRAPPIST-1 because the star glows brightest in infrared light, whose wavelengths are longer than the eye can see. In the fall of 2016, Spitzer observed TRAPPIST-1 nearly continuously for 500 hours. Spitzer is uniquely positioned in its orbit to observe enough crossing – transits – of the planets in front of the host star to reveal the complex architecture of the system. Engineers optimized Spitzer’s ability to observe transiting planets during Spitzer’s “warm mission,” which began after the spacecraft’s coolant ran out as planned after the first five years of operations.  "This is the most exciting result I have seen in the 14 years of Spitzer operations," said Sean Carey, manager of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California. "Spitzer will follow up in the fall to further refine our understanding of these planets so that the James Webb Space Telescope can follow up. More observations of the system are sure to reveal more secrets.” Following up on the Spitzer discovery, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has initiated the screening of four of the planets, including the three inside the habitable zone. These observations aim at assessing the presence of puffy, hydrogen-dominated atmospheres, typical for gaseous worlds like Neptune, around these planets.

Abstract Concept of TRAPPIST-1 System
 <http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/images/largesize/PIA21421_hires.jpg>
This artist's concept appeared on the Feb. 23, 2017 cover of the journal Nature announcing that the TRAPPIST-1 star, an ultra-cool dwarf, has seven Earth-size planets orbiting it. Any of these planets could have liquid water on them. Planets that are farther from the star are more likely to have significant amounts of ice, especially on the side that faces away from the star. 

The system has been revealed through observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the ground-based TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) telescope, as well as other ground-based observatories. The system was named for the TRAPPIST telescope.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech, also in Pasadena. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at Caltech/IPAC. Caltech manages JPL for NASA

For more information about the Spitzer mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer <http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer> and http://spitzer.caltech.edu <http://spitzer.caltech.edu/>.

Space Station Updates <https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation>
 <https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/feed/>
Russian Cargo Craft Docks 24 Hours After Dragon Arrives <https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2017/02/24/russian-cargo-craft-docks-24-hours-after-dragon-arrives/>
3 days ago
Traveling about 250 miles over the south Pacific, the unpiloted Progress 66 Russian cargo ship docked at 3:30 a.m. EST to the Pirs Docking Compartment of the International Space Station. For more information about the current crew and the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station.

 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/crs-10-screengrab1333.jpg>

NASA Cargo Headed to Space Station Includes Important Experiments, Equipment 
Major experiments that will look into a range of scientific disciplines from human health to atmospheric conditions on Earth are on their way to the International Space Station following liftoff at 9:39 a.m. EST aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. About 5,500 pounds of research equipment, cargo and supplies are packed into the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that is now in Earth orbit and headed to the station on the CRS-10 mission.

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This was the first commercial launch from Kennedy’s historic pad. 

Astronauts Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) and Shane Kimbrough of NASA will use the space station’s robotic arm to capture Dragon when it arrives at the station. Live coverage of the rendezvous and capture will begin at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22 on NASA TV and the agency’s website, with installation coverage set to begin at 8:30 a.m. 

Research materials <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/SX10_science> flying inside the Dragon's pressurized area include a crystal growth experiment that will crystallize a monoclonal antibody that is undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of immunological diseases. Growing the crystal in space will allow it develop more than it could on Earth where gravity causes crystals to collapse on themselves. Preserving these antibodies in crystals allows researchers a glimpse into how the biological molecules are arranged, which can provide new information about how they work in the body. So far, Earth-grown crystalline suspensions of monoclonal antibodies have proven to be too low-quality to fully model.

Better defining how some bacteria become drug-resistant is the focus of another experiment that aims to develop medicines that counter the resistance. Stem cells like those used to treat strokes and other occurrences also will be studied using experiment supplies brought up on this flight.

The equipment aboard the Dragon includes a major instrument that will survey Earth's upper atmosphere in a continuation of one of NASA's longest-running Earth-observing programs. Called SAGE III <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/sage-iii-to-look-back-at-earths-atmospheric-sunscreen> for Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment, the instrument examines the levels of ozone, aerosols, nitrogen dioxide and water vapor in the stratosphere and troposphere high above Earth. It is the latest version of an experiment that began in 1979 and has created a multi-decade record of measurements. The 2,200-pound instrument will be connected to the outside of the station to make daily observations for several years. 

The mission is the company's tenth cargo flight to the station under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract. Dragon's cargo will support dozens of the more than 250 science and research investigations during the station’s Expeditions 50 and 51.

Dragon is scheduled to depart the space station in late March, returning nearly 5,000 pounds of science, hardware and crew supplies.

For more than 16 years, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth that will enable long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep space. A global endeavor, more than 200 people from 18 countries have visited the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 1,900 research investigations from researchers in more than 95 countries.

Keep up with the International Space Station, and its research and crews, at:

http://www.nasa.gov/station <http://www.nasa.gov/station>
Soccer Ball Recovered from Space Shuttle Challenger Flies to the Space Station
A soccer ball originally packed onto space shuttle Challenger in 1986 <https://www.history.nasa.gov/sts51l.html> is now orbiting the Earth on board the International Space Station, 31 years later.

The soccer ball was signed and presented to NASA astronaut Ellison Onizuka <https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/onizuka.html> by soccer players – including his daughter – from Clear Lake High School, near NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Onizuka was one of seven astronauts on board Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986, when it exploded shortly after liftoff.

Following the accident, the ball was recovered and returned to the high school, where it has been on display for the past three decades. Its history had begun to fade into obscurity when Principal Karen Engle learned of its origin. Soon after, Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough <https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/robert-shane-kimbrough>, whose son attends Clear Lake High School, offered to carry a memento to the space station on the school’s behalf, and she had the idea to send the soccer ball into space.

Kimbrough snapped this photo of the ball floating in front of the station’s Cupola window in advance of Challenger anniversary and NASA’s Day of Remembrance. After getting permission from the school and Onizuka family, he decided to share it via social media <https://twitter.com/astro_kimbrough/status/827576335715430402>.

“I’m honored to be a part of bringing this small piece of Challenger’s legacy to the International Space Station,” Kimbrough said. “Remembering the Challenger crew is important to all of us in the astronaut corps, and all of us at NASA, and I hope that when the ball is returned to Clear Lake High School, it will be a reminder for generations to come.”

The soccer ball is slated to be returned to Earth and the school on an upcoming cargo flight.

Last Updated: Feb. 8, 2017

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