Cassini Maps Global Pattern of Titan's Dunes

Carolina Martinez 818-354-9382
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
carolina.martinez@jpl.nasa.gov

Image advisory: 2009-032 Feb. 26, 2009

Cassini Maps Global Pattern of Titan's Dunes

Titan's vast dune fields, which may act like weather vanes to determine general wind
direction on Saturn's biggest moon, have been mapped by scientists who compiled four
years of radar data collected by the Cassini spacecraft.

Titan's rippled dunes are generally oriented east-west. Surprisingly, their orientation
and characteristics indicate that near the surface, Titan's winds blow toward the east
instead of toward the west. This means that Titan's surface winds blow opposite the
direction suggested by previous global circulation models of Titan.

"At Titan there are very few clouds, so determining which way the wind blows is not an
easy thing, but by tracking the direction in which Titan's sand dunes form, we get some
insight into the global wind pattern," says Ralph Lorenz, Cassini radar scientist at Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. "Think of the dunes sort
of like a weather vane, pointing us to the direction the winds are blowing." A paper
based on these findings appeared in the Feb. 11 issue of Geophysical Research
Letters.

"Titan's dunes are young, dynamic features that interact with topographic obstacles and
give us clues about the wind regimes," said Jani Radebaugh, Brigham Young
University, Provo,
Utah. "Winds come at these dunes from at least a couple of different directions, but
then combine to create the overall dune orientation."

The new map, based on all the high-resolution radar data collected during a four-year
period, is now available at: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini .

The wind pattern is important for planning future Titan explorations that might involve
balloon-borne experiments.

Some 16,000 dune segments were mapped out from about 20 radar images, digitized
and combined to produce the new map.

Titan's dunes are believed to be made up of hydrocarbon sand grains likely derived
from organic chemicals in Titan's smoggy skies. The dunes wrap around high terrain,
which provides some idea of their height. They accumulate near the equator, and may
pile up there because drier conditions allow for easy transport of the particles by the
wind. Titan's higher latitudes contain lakes and may be "wetter" with more liquid
hydrocarbons, not ideal conditions for creating dunes.

Cassini, which launched in 1997 and is now in extended mission operations, continues
to blaze its trail around the Saturn system and will visit Titan again on March 27.
Seventeen Titan flybys are planned this year.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space
Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for
NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and
assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency,
working with team members from the United States and several European countries.

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NASA Study Finds 'Pre-Existing Condition' Fueled Killer Cyclone

Alan Buis 818-354-0474
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov

News Release: 2009-031 Feb. 26, 2009

NASA Study Finds 'Pre-Existing Condition' Fueled Killer Cyclone

PASADENA, Calif. – A "pre-existing condition" in the North Indian Ocean stoked the sudden
intensification of last year's Tropical Cyclone Nargis just before its devastating landfall in
Burma, according to a new NASA/university study. The cyclone became Burma's worst
natural disaster ever and one of the deadliest cyclones of all time.

Scientists at the National Taiwan University, Taipei; and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., used data from satellite altimeters, measurements of ocean depth and
temperature and an ocean model to analyze the ocean conditions present at the time of the
catastrophic storm. Nargis intensified from a relatively weak category 1 storm to a category
4 monster during its final 24 hours before making landfall on May 2, 2008.

Lead author I-I Lin of National Taiwan University and her team found the ocean conditions
Nargis encountered created the perfect recipe for disaster. Cyclones thrive on warm layers
of ocean water that are at least 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit). As they
traverse the ocean, they typically draw deep, cold water up to the ocean surface, a process
that limits their ability to strengthen, and even weakens them as they evolve. However,
Nargis passed over a pre-existing warm ocean feature in the Bay of Bengal where upper
ocean warm waters extended deeper than normal, from 73 to 101 meters (240 to 331 feet).

"This abnormally thick, warm water layer, which formed about a month earlier, kept deeper,
colder waters from being drawn to the surface, increasing the energy available to fuel
Nargis' growth by 300 percent," said Lin. "Combined with other atmospheric conditions
conducive to strengthening, this warm ocean feature allowed Nargis to reach speeds of 115
knots [213 kilometers, or 132 miles, per hour] at landfall. Had Nargis not encountered this
warm ocean feature, it would likely not have had sufficient energy to intensify rapidly."

Nargis' rapid intensification occurred predominantly over warm ocean regions where sea
surface temperatures ranged between 30 and 30.2 degrees Celsius (about 86 degrees
Fahrenheit) and sea surface heights ranged from 6 to 20 centimeters (2.4 to 7.9 inches)
above normal. Between May 1 and 2, 2008, the storm intensified from category 1 to
category 4. When Nargis briefly passed outside the warm ocean region on May 2, it
weakened somewhat, only to strengthen once again as it returned to the warm ocean
feature. Warm ocean features in the Gulf of Mexico contributed to the rapid intensification of
hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Lin said the research will contribute to improving our understanding of and ability to forecast
catastrophic events like Nargis in the future, reducing loss of life and property. "Such a
capability is particularly needed in developing countries, where less advanced cyclone
monitoring and warning systems can leave people with little time to escape from disaster,"
she said.

The scientists compared the thermal structure of the upper ocean waters within the warm
ocean feature during the storm with its thermal structure under normal climatological
conditions. Study data came from the international Argo float program, NASA's Jason-1
satellite, the European Space Agency's Environmental Satellite, the U.S. Navy's GEOSAT
Follow-On satellite and NOAA's Global Temperature and Salinity Profile Program data base.
The satellite data were used to derive the upper ocean thermal structure for regions where
no suitable direct measurements were available.

"This research demonstrates a significant potential benefit of using altimeter data for
operational weather forecasting and tropical cyclone intensity predictions," said study co-
author Tim Liu of JPL. "Current hurricane analyses include variations in ocean heat, which
can be revealed by ocean altimeters. Satellites like NASA's Jason-1 and Ocean Surface
Topography Mission/Jason-2 make important contributions to the operational monitoring
and prediction of tropical cyclones, as have other NASA satellites."

Results of the study were published this month in Geophysical Research Letters.

For more information on Jason-1 and NASA's satellite altimetry programs, visit:
http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov . For more information on NASA programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov .

JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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NASA Names Chairman for Orbiting Carbon Observatory Investigation

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE 818-354-5011

John Yembrick 202-358-1100
NASA Headquarters, Washington
John.yembrick-1@nasa.gov

Steve Cole 202-657-2194
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 2009-030 Feb. 25, 2009

NASA Names Chairman for Orbiting Carbon Observatory Investigation

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Rick Obenschain, deputy director at NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Md., will lead the investigation board for the unsuccessful launch of the
Orbiting Carbon Observatory on Feb. 24.

The Mishap Investigation Board will have four other members. NASA will announce the names of
additional members as they become available. The board will gather information, analyze the facts,
and identify the failure's cause or causes and contributing factors. The Mishap Investigation Board
will make recommendations for actions to prevent a similar incident.

Obenschain shares responsibility for executive leadership and overall direction and management of
Goddard and its assigned programs and projects. He also is responsible for providing executive
oversight and technical evaluation for the development and delivery for Goddard space systems
launch and operations.

Previously, Obenschain was appointed director of the Flight Projects Directorate in September 2004,
and was responsible for the day-to-day management of more than 40 space and Earth science
missions. He has held a number of project management positions at Goddard.

Obenschain is the recipient of NASA's Distinguished Service Medal, Exceptional Service Medal,
Outstanding Leadership Medal, Equal Opportunity Medal, and Goddard's Award of Merit. In 1995,
he received the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics von Braun Award for
Excellence in Space Program Management.

For information about the Orbiting Carbon Observatory failed launch and investigation, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/oco .

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has managed the Orbiting Carbon Observatory
mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is managed for NASA by the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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NASA Announces 2009 Astronomy and Astrophysics Fellows

Rhea Borja 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Rhea.R.Borja@jpl.nasa.gov

J.D. Harrington 202-358-5241
Headquarters, Washington
j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

News release: 2009-028 February 25, 2009

NASA Announces 2009 Astronomy and Astrophysics Fellows

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA has selected fellows in three areas of astronomy and astrophysics for its
Einstein, Hubble and Sagan Fellowships. The recipients of this year's post-doctoral fellowships will
conduct independent research at institutions around the country.

"The new fellows are among the best and brightest young astronomers in the world," said Jon Morse,
director of the Astrophysics Division in NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "They
already have contributed significantly to studies of how the universe works, the origin of our cosmos
and whether we are alone in the cosmos. The fellowships will serve as a springboard for scientific
leadership in the years to come, and as an inspiration for the next generation of students and early
career researchers."

Each fellowship provides support to the awardees for three years. The fellows may pursue their
research at any host university or research center of their choosing in the United States. The new
fellows will begin their programs in the fall of 2009.

"I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to spending the next few years conducting
research in the U.S., thanks to the fellowships," said Karin Oberg, a graduate student in Leiden, The
Netherlands. Oberg will study the evolution of water and ices during star formation when she starts
her fellowship at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass.

A diverse group of 32 young scientists will work on a wide variety of projects, such as understanding
supernova hydrodynamics, radio transients, neutron stars, galaxy clusters and the intercluster
medium, supermassive black holes, their mergers and the associated gravitational waves, dark energy,
dark matter and the re-ionization process. Other research topics include searching for transits among
hot Neptunes and super-Earths, microlensing planets through modeling algorithms, conducting high-
contrast imaging surveys to detect planetary-mass companions, interferometrically imaging the inner
regions of protoplanetary disks and modeling of super-Earth planetary atmospheres.

The Sagan Fellowship, created in September 2008, supports five scientists whose research is aligned
with NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program. The primary goal of this program is to discover and
characterize planetary systems and Earth-like planets around other stars. The NASA Exoplanet
Science Institute, which is operated at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, in
coordination with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, also in Pasadena, administers the Sagan
Fellowship Program.

The 10 fellows in the Einstein program conduct research broadly related to the mission of NASA's
Physics of the Cosmos Program. Its science goals include understanding the origin and destiny of the
universe, the nature of gravity, phenomena near black holes, and extreme states of matter. The
Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Mass., administers the Einstein Fellowships for NASA.

The 17 awardees of the Hubble Fellowship pursue research associated with NASA's Cosmic Origins
Program. The missions in this program examine the origins of galaxies, stars, and planetary systems,
and the evolution of these structures with cosmic time. The Space Telescope Science Institute in
Baltimore, Md., administers the Hubble Fellowships for NASA.

A full list of the 2009 fellows and other information about these programs is available at:

http://nexsci.caltech.edu/sagan/fellowship.shtml

http://cxc.harvard.edu/fellows

http://www.stsci.edu/institute/org/spd/hubble-fellowship/

For more information about NASA's Astrophysics Division, visit:

http://nasascience.nasa.gov/astrophysics

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NASA's Launch of Carbon-Seeking Satellite is Unsuccessful

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE 818-354-5011

Alan Buis 818-653-8339
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov

Steve Cole 202-657-2194
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

George Diller 805-605-3051
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
George.h.diller@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 2009-026 Feb. 24, 2009

NASA's Launch of Carbon-Seeking Satellite is Unsuccessful

PASADENA -- NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite failed to reach orbit after its 1:55 a.m. PST
liftoff Tuesday from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Preliminary indications are that the fairing on the Taurus XL launch vehicle failed to separate. The fairing is a
clamshell structure that encapsulates the satellite as it travels through the atmosphere.

A Mishap Investigation Board will be immediately convened to determine the cause of the launch failure.

For more information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

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Orbiting Carbon Observatory Aims To Boost Carbon Management Options

Feature February 19, 2009



Orbiting Carbon Observatory Aims To Boost Carbon Management Options

As the concentration of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere continues to rise, so
also does public awareness, as well as efforts to find solutions to this global problem. Increasing
concentrations of this potent greenhouse gas threaten to alter Earth's climate in ways that will have
profound impacts on the welfare and productivity of society and Earth's ecosystems.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Scripps Institution of Oceanography scientist Charles David
Keeling's Mauna Loa carbon dioxide record, the longest continuous record of atmospheric carbon
dioxide measurements. Until now, precise ground-based measurements such as these have been
the main tool for scientists monitoring the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.

Comparisons of these data with carbon dioxide emission rates from fossil fuel combustion, biomass
burning and other human activities tell us that only about half of the carbon dioxide released into
the atmosphere during this period has remained there. The rest has apparently been absorbed by
surface "sinks" in the land biosphere or oceans. These measurements also show that, despite the
steady long-term growth of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the buildup varies dramatically from
year to year, even though emissions have increased smoothly. However, the ground-based carbon
dioxide monitoring network is too sparse to identify the locations of these sinks or tell us what
controls changes in their efficiency from year to year.

NASA's new Orbiting Carbon Observatory is designed to help meet this need. It will measure the
amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over any spot on Earth's surface and establish a record
of how carbon dioxide concentrations change over time. Observations from the mission will improve
our understanding of the carbon cycle—the movement of carbon among its "reservoirs" in the Earth
system—and help us understand the influence of the carbon cycle on climate.

The observatory's ability to locate and monitor changes in carbon sources (places where carbon is
generated) and sinks (places where carbon is absorbed or stored) will provide valuable information
to support decision making by those responsible for managing carbon in the environment. It will
assist them in developing effective strategies for managing global carbon dioxide and monitoring
the effectiveness of those strategies.

Phil DeCola, a senior policy analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy,
and former Orbiting Carbon Observatory program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington,
said solving the scientific mystery of the missing sinks and their curious variability is likely to have
large policy and economic impacts.

"If the nations of the world take serious action to limit the use of fossil fuels, the right to emit carbon
dioxide will become scarcer, and emission rights would become an increasingly valuable traded
commodity," DeCola said. "Observations of the location, amount and rate of carbon dioxide
emission into the air, as well as the stock and flow of all forms of carbon on land and in the ocean,
will be needed to manage such a world market fairly and efficiently."

Two commonly discussed strategies for reducing the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide are a
carbon tax and a "cap-and-trade" system. A carbon tax is a fee imposed on activities, such as
burning of fossil fuels, which emit carbon compounds into the atmosphere. The carbon tax reduces
carbon emissions by encouraging efficiencies of use, or by alternative, non-carbon emitting
processes.

Cap-and-trade systems establish limits on the carbon emissions that a company, industry or country
is allowed to produce. Those who exceed their established limits must compensate by either
purchasing emissions rights from those whose carbon dioxide emissions fall below their
established limits, or by arranging, through contracts, for sequestration (i.e., storage) of their excess
emissions in plants, soils or beneath Earth's surface. Effective use of either strategy requires more
accurate information on the existing sources, sinks and fluxes of carbon dioxide, information that
the Orbiting Carbon Observatory can help provide.

"The new mission will provide information to help develop and implement domestic policies and
international collaborations to control the movement of carbon in the environment," said Edwin
Sheffner, deputy chief of Earth Science at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. "By
identifying and monitoring carbon sources and sinks within a given region, the Orbiting Carbon
Observatory will enable comparisons of net carbon dioxide emission sources among regions and
counties, and will improve annual reporting of carbon budgets by industrial countries in northern
latitudes, and by tropical states with large forests."

"Future monitoring systems based on Orbiting Carbon Observatory technology could report on
regional carbon sources and sinks to verify carbon reporting for many countries as well," he added.

Use of Orbiting Carbon Observatory data in ecosystem models may reduce uncertainties about
carbon uptake, a required part of any carbon management effort. The mission will help clarify the
quantity of carbon dioxide being removed from the atmosphere in different geographic regions. For
example, more carbon appears to be taken up by coastal and terrestrial ecosystems in North
America than in many other parts of the world. Orbiting Carbon Observatory observations will help
determine the specific roles that Alaska, Canada, the contiguous United States and Mexico play in
this North American carbon sink. Understanding the relative roles of different regions will help
policymakers develop the most efficient carbon dioxide sequestration and reduction policies.

The observatory's measurements may also have direct applications for a variety of current efforts to
reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. While the mission will not be able to identify small,
individual sources of carbon dioxide emissions, it will likely be able to detect high-emission events
such as gas flares, where unwanted gas or other materials are burned in large quantities. This
ability could allow it to verify adherence to policies aimed at reducing such flares.

Orbiting Carbon Observatory data will also have implications for land management and agricultural
practices. Plants take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere as they grow—a natural type of carbon
sequestration. By repeating its measurements over multiple seasons and over regions with different
types of vegetation, such as cornfields or grasslands, the observatory will help identify how changes
in land use affect the amount of carbon being sequestered.

Agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture may base policies for crop production and
land conservation, in part, on information from Orbiting Carbon Observatory observations, according
to Sheffner. Similar observations can be used by the Department of Energy to help evaluate the
carbon-capture potential of various biofuels and to assess their impacts on the environment and the
carbon cycle. "These findings will influence both near- and long-term policy decisions related to
alternative energy," Sheffner added. In regions with large-scale agricultural land cover, Orbiting
Carbon Observatory-type observations over several growing seasons could help quantify the relative
roles of different types of crops and assess the effectiveness of rangeland management strategies
in statewide carbon budget management.

Orbiting Carbon Observatory data may also prove to be an important addition to the ongoing effort by
the California Air Resources Board and NASA scientists to improve California's database on
fluctuations in greenhouse gas emissions. "These state figures, when used to enhance NASA
ecosystem carbon models, can increase our precision and confidence in the allocation of industrial
sources of carbon dioxide emissions as compared to emissions caused by terrestrial events such as
wildfires or crop production," Sheffner said.

Evaluation of the ocean, which takes up about one third of the carbon humans put into the
atmosphere, and its role in the global carbon cycle, will also benefit from the new mission's
observations. Orbiting Carbon Observatory data may help show how large-scale ocean events, such
as El Niño or La Niña, affect carbon storage in the deep ocean and in coastal regions. They may
also help verify the impacts of these events on carbon storage on the continents, such as reduced
plant growth during an El Niño-influenced drought in the U.S. Southwest.

"As the ocean absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide, seawater becomes more acidic, potentially
threatening marine life. By monitoring changes in the ocean's carbon uptake, the mission may shed
new light on ocean acidification and the resulting changes in ocean ecosystems," said Sheffner.
Knowing more about how ocean carbon levels fluctuate will also help scientists evaluate the
possibility of using biological or chemical processes in the ocean to sequester carbon and perhaps
even mitigate ocean acidification.

Sheffner explained that the Orbiting Carbon Observatory may also aid efforts to find effective ways
to store excess carbon safely underground. Combining mission data with observations from
airborne and ground-based instruments will create much more accurate maps of global carbon
sources and sinks than were ever possible before. "Once we have a better understanding of the
'background' fluctuations in carbon dioxide near proposed underground carbon storage sites, the
observatory's data could be useful for monitoring underground carbon storage sites for leakage," he
explained.

"The Orbiting Carbon Observatory will provide information needed for evaluating policy options and
monitoring the effectiveness of efforts to reduce carbon emissions and increase carbon
sequestration locally, regionally and globally," Sheffner said, in summing up.

Looking to the future, DeCola said the mission will serve as a prototype for the next generation of
greenhouse gas space missions. "The Orbiting Carbon Observatory will be an important experiment
because its results will be used to develop the future long-term, space-based missions needed to
monitor carbon dioxide for science and decision support," he said.

For more information on the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, see: http://www.nasa.gov/oco .

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JPL High School Student Summer Internship Program

JPL High School Student Summer Internship Program

http://jplspaceship.jpl.nasa.gov/ (http://jplspaceship.jpl.nasa.gov/)
Application Deadline Friday, March 13 (firm)

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory Summer High School Internship Program (JPL SpaceSHIP) is an 8-week internship designed for high school students, age 16 or older, who have demonstrated a strong interest in and aptitude for science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics (STEM). Located in Pasadena, California, JPL is the leading NASA Center for robotic exploration of the solar system. More information about JPL can be found at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/).

Students participating in JPL SpaceSHIP are provided an opportunity to do research and expand their computer skills. JPL SpaceSHIP students are mentored by NASA's top science and engineering professionals actively involved with research and flight projects. Students in the program will earn a stipend for services.

Eligibility Requirements
* Students must be U.S. citizens
* All participants must be at least 16 years old at the time of participation (June 22, 2009)
* With the exception of the letters of recommendation, this application must be completed by the student and represent the student's own work
* Student's home address must lie within a 50 mile radius of JPL's Oak Grove facility (4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109-8009); student's permanent residence (not a summer residence, family member or other accommodation) must be within 50 miles.
* All applicants must have a 3.0 GPA or above based on a 4.0 scale
* Student application must provide evidence of interest in and aptitude for science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics
* Finalists will be interviewed prior to selection. Selected students are responsible for their own transportation to and from JPL and if under the age of 18, must provide a work permit.

* Program Duration: 8 weeks (June 22 - August 14, 2009)
* Student participation is required for the entire duration of the internship
* Stipend $3,000 per internship (taxable)
All internship activities take place at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California unless otherwise specified. If there will be an off-site field trip, interns and their parents/guardians will be notified in advance.

Complete the on-line application by 11:59PM PST March 13, 2009: http://jplspaceship.jpl.nasa.gov/ (http://jplspaceship.jpl.nasa.gov/)
Please note that all the online and hardcopy application elements are required.
Students will be notified 6-8 weeks after deadline.

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NASA's Kepler Mission to Seek Other Earths

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Whitney Clavin 818-354-4673
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov

J.D. Harrington 202-358-5241
Headquarters, Washington
j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

Michael Mewhinney 650-604-3937
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
michael.s.mewhinney@nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2009-025 Feb. 19, 2009

NASA's Kepler Mission to Seek Other Earths

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Kepler spacecraft is ready to be moved to the launch pad
today and will soon begin a journey to search for worlds that could potentially host life.

Kepler is scheduled to blast into space from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.,
aboard a Delta II rocket on March 5 at 7:48 p.m. Pacific Time (10:48 p.m. Eastern Time).
It is the first mission with the ability to find planets like Earth -- rocky planets that orbit
sun-like stars in a warm zone where liquid water could be maintained on the surface.
Liquid water is believed to be essential for the formation of life.

"Kepler is a critical component in NASA's broader efforts to ultimately find and study
planets where Earth-like conditions may be present," said Jon Morse, the Astrophysics
Division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The planetary census Kepler
takes will be very important for understanding the frequency of Earth-size planets in our
galaxy and planning future missions that directly detect and characterize such worlds
around nearby stars."

The mission will spend three-and-a-half years surveying more than 100,000 sun-like stars
in the Cygnus-Lyra region of our Milky Way galaxy. It is expected to find hundreds of
planets the size of Earth and larger at various distances from their stars. If Earth-size
planets are common in the habitable zone, Kepler could find dozens; if those planets are
rare, Kepler might find none.

In the end, the mission will be our first step toward answering a question posed by the
ancient Greeks: are there other worlds like ours or are we alone?

"Finding that most stars have Earths implies that the conditions that support the
development of life could be common throughout our galaxy," said William Borucki,
Kepler's science principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field,
Calif. "Finding few or no Earths indicates that we might be alone."

The Kepler telescope is specially designed to detect the periodic dimming of stars that
planets cause as they pass by. Some star systems are oriented in such a way that their
planets cross in front of their stars, as seen from our Earthly point of view. As the planets
pass by, they cause their stars' light to slightly dim, or wink.

The telescope can detect even the faintest of these winks, registering changes in
brightness of only 20 parts per million. To achieve this resolution, Kepler will use the
largest camera ever launched into space, a 95-megapixel array of charged couple devices,
known as CCDs.

"If Kepler were to look down at a small town on Earth at night from space, it would be
able to detect the dimming of a porch light as somebody passed in front," said James
Fanson, Kepler project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

By staring at one large patch of sky for the duration of its lifetime, Kepler will be able to
watch planets periodically transit their stars over multiple cycles. This will allow
astronomers to confirm the presence of planets. Earth-size planets in habitable zones
would theoretically take about a year to complete one orbit, so Kepler will monitor those
stars for at least three years to confirm the planets' presence. Ground-based telescopes
and NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes will perform follow-up studies on the
larger planets.

"Kepler is a critical cornerstone in understanding what types of planets are formed around
other stars," said exoplanet hunter Debra Fischer of San Francisco State University in
California. "The discoveries that emerge will be used immediately to study the
atmospheres of large, gas exoplanets with Spitzer. And the statistics that are compiled
will help us chart a course toward one day imaging a pale blue dot like our planet, orbiting
another star in our galaxy."

Kepler is a NASA Discovery mission. Ames is the home organization of the science
principal investigator, and is responsible for the ground system development, mission
operations and science data analysis. JPL manages the Kepler mission development. Ball
Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo., is responsible for developing the
Kepler flight system and supporting mission operations. For more information about the
Kepler mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/kepler .

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New Recipe for Dwarf Galaxies: Start With Leftover Gas

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Whitney Clavin/Rhea Borja 818-354-4673/354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov/rhea.r.borja@jpl.nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2009-024 Feb. 18, 2009

New Recipe for Dwarf Galaxies: Start With Leftover Gas

PASADENA, Calif. -- There is more than one way to make a dwarf galaxy, and NASA's Galaxy
Evolution Explorer has found a new recipe. The spacecraft has, for the first time, identified
dwarf galaxies forming out of nothing more than pristine gas likely leftover from the early
universe. Dwarf galaxies are relatively small collections of stars that often orbit around larger
galaxies like our Milky Way.

The findings surprised astronomers because most galaxies form in association with a mysterious
substance called dark matter or out of gas containing metals. The infant galaxies spotted by the
Galaxy Evolution Explorer are springing up out of gas that lacks both dark matter and metals.
Though never seen before, this new type of dwarf galaxy may be common throughout the more
distant and early universe, when pristine gas was more pervasive.

Astronomers spotted the unexpected new galaxies forming inside the Leo Ring, a huge cloud of
hydrogen and helium that traces a ragged path around two massive galaxies in the constellation
Leo. The cloud is thought likely to be a primordial object, an ancient remnant of material that has
remained relatively unchanged since the very earliest days of the universe. Identified about 25
years ago by radio waves, the ring cannot be seen in visible light.

"This intriguing object has been studied for decades with world-class telescopes operating at
radio and optical wavelengths," said David Thilker of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
"Despite such effort, nothing except the gas was detected. No stars at all, young or old, were
found. But when we looked at the ring with the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, which is remarkably
sensitive to ultraviolet light, we saw telltale evidence of recent massive star formation. It was
really unexpected. We are witnessing galaxies forming out of a cloud of primordial gas."

In a recent study, Thilker and his colleagues found the ultraviolet signature of young stars
emanating from several clumps of gas within the Leo Ring. "We speculate that these young
stellar complexes are dwarf galaxies, although, as previously shown by radio astronomers, the
gaseous clumps forming these galaxies lack dark matter," he said. "Almost all other galaxies we
know are dominated by dark matter, which acted as a seed for the collection of their luminous
components--stars, gas and dust. What we see occurring in the Leo Ring is a new mode for the
formation of dwarf galaxies in material remaining from the much earlier assembly of this galaxy
group."

Our local universe contains two large galaxies, the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy, each
with hundreds of billions of stars, and the Triangulum galaxy, with several tens of billions of
stars. It also holds more than 40 much smaller dwarf galaxies, which have only a few billion
stars. Invisible dark matter, detected by its gravitational influence, is a major component of both
giant and dwarf galaxies with one exception--tidal dwarf galaxies.

Tidal dwarf galaxies condense out of gas recycled from other galaxies and have been separated
from most of the dark matter with which they were originally associated. They are produced
when galaxies collide and their gravitational masses interact. In the violence of the encounter,
streamers of galactic material are pulled out away from the parent galaxies and the halos of dark
matter that surround them.

Because they lack dark matter, the new galaxies observed in the Leo Ring resemble tidal dwarf
galaxies, but they differ in a fundamental way. The gaseous material making up tidal dwarfs has
already been cycled through a galaxy. It has been enriched with metals--elements heavier than
helium--produced as stars evolve. "Leo Ring dwarfs are made of much more pristine material
without metals," said Thilker. "This discovery allows us to study the star formation process in gas
that has not yet been enriched."

Large, pristine clouds similar to the Leo Ring may have been more common throughout the early
universe, Thilker said, and consequently may have produced many dark-matter-lacking, dwarf
galaxies yet to be discovered.

The results of the new study reporting star formation in the Leo Ring appear in the February 19,
2009, issue of the journal Nature.

Caltech leads the Galaxy Evolution Explorer mission and is responsible for science operations
and data analysis. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the mission and
built the science instrument. The mission was developed under NASA's Explorers Program
managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. South Korea and France are the
international partners in the mission.

For images and information about the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, visit
http://www.galex.caltech.edu . For information about NASA and agency programs on the
Internet, visit http://www.nasa.gov .

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NASA Spacecraft Falling for Mars

Feature February 12, 2009



NASA Spacecraft Falling for Mars

Launched in September of 2007, and propelled by any one of a trio of hyper-efficient ion
engines, NASA's Dawn spacecraft passed the orbit of Mars last summer. At that time,
the asteroid belt (where Dawn's two targets, asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres
reside), had never been closer. In early July the spacecraft began to lose altitude, falling
back towards the inner solar system. Then on October 31, 2008, after 270 days of almost
continuous thrusting, the ion drive turned off.

"Not only are our thrusters off and we are dropping in altitude, we are plunging toward
Mars," said Marc Rayman, the Dawn project's chief engineer from NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "And everybody here on Dawn could not be
happier."

The team's joy at plummeting towards a planet named for the Roman god of war is not
unfounded. Mars, the final stop for many a NASA spacecraft, was always an important,
and weighty, waypoint for the Dawn mission. It all has to do with one of the heavy
subjects of rocket science, gravity assists.

A gravity assist is the use of the relative movement and gravity of a planet or other
celestial body to alter the path and speed of a spacecraft, typically in order to save fuel,
time and expense. A spacecraft traveling to an outer planet (or in this case asteroid) will
decelerate because the incessant tug of the sun's gravity slows it down. By flying a
spacecraft close by a large planet and its large gravity field, some of the planet's speed
as it orbits the sun is transferred to the spacecraft. In Dawn's case, it is using the Red
Planet's tremendous angular momentum (the speed at which Mars orbits the sun) to
give it a little extra oomph.

"A big oomph actually," said Rayman. "The gravity of Mars will change Dawn's path
about the sun, enlarging its elliptical orbit and sending the probe farther from the sun. It
will also change Dawn's orbital plane by more than 5 degrees. This is important
because Dawn has to maneuver into the same plane in which Vesta orbits the sun."

If Dawn had to perform these orbital adjustments on its own with no Mars gravitational
deflection, it would have required the spacecraft to fire up its engines and change
velocity by more than 5,800 miles per hour (9,330 kilometers per second). Such velocity
changes would have required Dawn to carry an extra 230 pounds (104 kilograms) of
xenon fuel.

"Without the gravity assist, our mission would not have been affordable, even with the
extraordinary capability of the ion propulsion system," said Rayman. "That's why we are
happy Dawn is now plunging toward Mars."

Also happy for the opportunity to fly past the fourth rock from the sun is Dawn's science
team. With asteroid Vesta still more than two-and-a-half years away, Mars provides the
perfect opportunity to give their highly-tuned instruments a workout.

"It is fortuitous that we need Mars to get out to Vesta and Ceres," said Carol Raymond,
Dawn's deputy principal investigator, from JPL. "Since there are other spacecraft
currently operating at Mars with similar instrumentation, we will be able to check our
measurements against their knowledge of Mars, and carry that information farther out
into the solar system."

But the Mars gravity assist is not the final hurdle on Dawn's road to the asteroid belt. The
subsequent 30 months include more than 27 months of blue-green tinged ion thrusting
to successfully rendezvous with Dawn's first target --Vesta.

While an accurately flown encounter with the planet Mars makes a big difference in the
life of NASA's asteroid pioneer, the planet itself does not come out unscathed. Weighing
in at all of 2,500 pounds (1,134 kilograms), Dawn has its own mass and thereby its own
gravitational field. In contrast, the somewhat more massive planet is almost 600 million-
million-million times more substantial than that of the spacecraft.

"The laws of physics tell us that Mars will pay a price for helping Dawn," said Rayman.
"The flyby will cause Mars to slow in its orbit enough that after one year, its position will
be off by about the width of an atom. If you add that up, it will take about 180 million
years for Mars to be out of position by one inch (2.5 centimeters). We appreciate Mars
making that sacrifice so Dawn can conduct its exciting mission of discovery in the
asteroid belt."

Dawn's 4.8-billion-kilometer (3-billion-mile) odyssey includes orbiting asteroid Vesta in
2011 and the dwarf planet Ceres in 2015. These two giants of the asteroid belt have
been witness to much of our solar system's history. By using Dawn's instruments to
study both objects for several months, scientists can more accurately compare and
contrast the two. Dawn's science instrument suite will measure geology, elemental and
mineral composition, shape, surface topography, geomorphology and tectonic history,
and will also seek water-bearing minerals. In addition, the Dawn spacecraft's orbit
characteristics around Vesta and Ceres will be used to measure the celestial bodies'
masses and gravity fields.

The Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by JPL, a division of the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington. The University of California, Los Angeles, is responsible for overall Dawn
mission science. Other scientific partners include Planetary Science Institute, Tucson,
Ariz.; Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany;
DLR Institute for Planetary Research, Berlin; Italian National Institute for Astrophysics,
Rome; and the Italian Space Agency. Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Va.,
designed and built the Dawn spacecraft.

To learn more about Dawn and its mission to the asteroid belt, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/dawn

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NASA Mission Meets the Carbon Dioxide Measurement Challenge

Feature February 10, 2009

NASA Mission Meets the Carbon Dioxide Measurement Challenge

The challenge: very precisely measure carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere all over the world,
especially near Earth's surface.

For Orbiting Carbon Observatory Principal Investigator David Crisp of NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and his team, the logical solution was an Earth-orbiting spacecraft. But
shopping for a science instrument that could accomplish these objectives was no easy task.

In this case, "shopping" meant finding the right technology to meet the mission's demanding
requirements. The observatory contains a custom-built instrument designed to make what Deputy
Principal Investigator Charles Miller of JPL calls "the most difficult atmospheric trace-gas
measurement that's ever been made from space." To put that measurement challenge into
perspective, consider that all of Earth's trace gases combined, including carbon dioxide, make up
less than one percent of Earth's atmosphere. In addition, carbon dioxide levels vary by only about
two percent from pole to pole. To substantially increase our understanding of how carbon dioxide
sources (places where carbon dioxide is emitted) and sinks (places where it is absorbed, or stored)
are geographically distributed on regional scales and study how their distribution changes over time,
the new mission needed to be able to resolve differences in atmospheric carbon dioxide as small as
0.3 percent on regional scales every month.

While one spaceborne instrument is already making carbon dioxide measurements from space—
the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder on NASA's Aqua satellite—it sees the gas high up in the
atmosphere, not near the surface, where it is emitted and where some of it is absorbed into land
systems and the ocean. An instrument designed from the start to measure carbon dioxide down to
Earth's surface was clearly needed.

Enter NASA's team of experts in atmospheric science, remote sensing instrumentation and the
optical properties of the atmosphere's components.

The principle behind the observatory's measurement is relatively simple. Carbon dioxide, like all
molecules, has an affinity for certain colors, or wavelengths, of light that have exactly the right
energy to make the molecule vibrate or rotate at specific frequencies. A good analogy would be how
a radio broadcasts sounds when it is tuned to a specific channel. So, if you could shine a light
through Earth's atmosphere and see how the different colors that are sensitive to carbon dioxide
respond, you could use that information to calculate how much carbon dioxide is present. Do this
precisely enough and often enough and it would be possible to see changes in carbon dioxide
levels over time—the key to identifying carbon dioxide sources and sinks.

The observatory uses the sun as its light source. To measure changes in sunlight as it passes
through the atmosphere, its instrument incorporates a trio of high-resolution grating spectrometers,
which divide light from the sun into a very fine rainbow of colors called a spectrum. They are known
as grating spectrometers because they use a grate, or grid, to partition light into different
wavelengths.

"You can see a good example of how a grating spectrometer works by looking at the back of a
compact disc illuminated by a bright light," said Crisp. "The narrow circular tracks that record the
information on the disk are very effective at splitting light into different colors."

As the Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite circles the globe, the telescope on its instrument
captures sunlight reflected by the surface below—light that has traveled from the sun, down through
Earth's atmosphere and back up again to space. It sends the light to the three spectrometers, each
of which looks at a different range of colors and breaks that spectral range down even further into
more than 1,000 discrete colors. Two of the three spectral ranges that the spectrometers target are
sensitive to carbon dioxide, and one responds to molecular oxygen.

The resulting spectra look something like bar codes, with dark lines showing where carbon dioxide
or oxygen have absorbed specific colors. "By measuring the fraction of the light that has been
absorbed in each of these dark lines, we can count the number of carbon dioxide or oxygen
molecules in the atmosphere," said Crisp.

Three separate digital detectors, one for each spectrometer, record a spectrum three times each
second as the observatory flies above Earth's surface. Fast exposures are essential because the
spacecraft moves at more than four miles per second along its orbit track. "We don't want long
exposures that could include clouds as well as clear sky within individual exposures," says Crisp.
"We also want to take the data fast and get more clear views to the surface."

While similar to the digital detectors in an ordinary camera, the observatory's detectors take
advantage of advances from the world of astronomy to achieve the greatest possible sensitivity.
"These detectors were originally developed to measure objects that are faint, fuzzy and far-away,"
said Crisp. "Here, we use them to measure very fine details in the spectrum of sunlight reflected
from Earth."

The three spectral ranges measured by the observatory's spectrometers are in the near-infrared part
of the electromagnetic spectrum, invisible to the human eye. Each provides a critical piece of
information. One provides precise information about changes in the amount of carbon dioxide
present in the atmosphere, while the others show just how much of the atmosphere is being
measured. "We need all three of these measurements to do the job," said Crisp.

One spectral range absorbs carbon dioxide relatively weakly, but it measures carbon dioxide the
most precisely, especially near Earth's surface.

The second spectral range absorbs carbon dioxide much more strongly, so much so that almost all
of the light in this part of the spectrum is absorbed completely as it traverses the atmosphere. Adding
more carbon dioxide produces little additional absorption, so this wavelength is less useful for
showing changes in carbon dioxide amounts. However, it does provide needed information about
the pathway the light has taken. It helps determine whether the observatory is looking at light
coming up all the way from the surface, or if clouds or aerosols, such as particles of smog or smoke,
have gotten in the way and reflected the light back to space before it can be absorbed by carbon
dioxide.

The third spectral range shows how much oxygen is present in the light's pathway, another way to
determine how much atmosphere the light has passed through.

"Oxygen makes up about 21 percent of the atmosphere," explained Crisp. "Because we know the
concentration, we know how much sunlight it should absorb over any particular surface elevation. If
the sunlight penetrates all the way to sea level before it is reflected back to the spacecraft, it will
produce more absorption than if it penetrates only to the top of a mountain or to the top of a cloud
before it is reflected to space. We can even use measurements of the oxygen absorption to infer the
surface pressure differences associated with elevation changes as small as 100 feet. We can also
detect scattering by very thin clouds or hazes that reflect less than one percent of light back to space.
These precise measurements of the atmospheric optical path are essential for accurate carbon
dioxide measurements."

The high-resolution grating spectrometers and the digital detectors make it possible to make these
measurements from a space-based instrument, according to Crisp.

Another technological challenge for the mission was designing the instrument to meet the strict size
and energy requirements of an Earth-orbiting spacecraft.

"One of the most challenging aspects of the mission was not inventing components, but fitting a big
instrument into a small spacecraft about the size of a phone booth and designing it to use very little
power," said JPL's Randy Pollock, the mission's instrument systems engineer. The observatory's
instrument uses only about 100 watts of electricity, while the entire spacecraft uses only 400-500
watts, about half the amount used by most microwave ovens.

Once received back on Earth, the observatory's data will be analyzed to yield estimates of the carbon
dioxide concentration over Earth's sunlit hemisphere at spatial resolutions as small as one square
mile using complex mathematical algorithms. Scientists will then analyze these carbon dioxide
estimates using global transport models similar to those used for weather prediction to quantify
carbon dioxide sources and sinks.

"Carbon dioxide is the primary human-produced greenhouse gas and, therefore, the primary
human-caused driver of global warming," said Crisp. "To estimate the rate of global warming, we
have to understand the processes controlling the buildup of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere.
Global, space-based monitoring systems like the Orbiting Carbon Observatory are essential tools for
this task. The technology we validate on this mission will be used to develop future carbon dioxide
monitoring missions."

For more information on the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/oco .

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NASA Receives Shorty Twitter Award

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Jane Platt 818-354-0880
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
jane.platt@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2009-020 Feb. 10, 2009

NASA Receives Shorty Twitter Award

WASHINGTON -- NASA's activities in social networking media will be recognized Wednesday in
New York, when the agency receives an award for its presence on the popular Web site Twitter.

Known as the Shorty Award, it was created to honor the best producers of short content on Twitter
during 2008. Updates on NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander mission received the most votes in the
science category from users of the site.

The Mars Phoenix Twitter delivered more than 600 updates during the 152 days the lander was
operating in the north polar region of Mars. By the end of the lander's mission in early November,
more than 38,000 people were following its reports, called "tweets." The account is still used to
provide updates on the mission's science results and has more than 41,000 followers.

"We created the account, known as Mars Phoenix, last May with the goal of providing the public with
near real-time updates on the mission," said Veronica McGregor, manager of the news office at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and originator of the updates. "The response
was incredible. Very quickly it became a way not only to deliver news of the mission, but to interact
with the public and respond to their questions about space exploration."

Twitter allows people to follow accounts of their choosing through the Web, or by having updates
sent to their mobile phones. Users post short updates that are limited to 140 characters or less. The
Shorty Awards were created by Sawhorse Media in New York and are supported by a grant from the
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Miami.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander ceased communications Nov. 2 after successfully returning
unprecedented science data to Earth. Launched Aug. 4, 2007, Phoenix safely touched down on Mars
on May 25, 2008, at a site farther north than where any previous spacecraft had landed. Phoenix's
soft landing on Mars was the first in 32 years. Phoenix sent more than 25,000 images back to Earth.
Science instruments returned a treasure trove of data that continue to be analyzed.

NASA's Mars Phoenix Twitter site is at: http://twitter.com/marsphoenix .

In addition to the Mars Phoenix site, NASA maintains another Twitter feed that includes updates on
other agency programs at: http://twitter.com/nasa .

For a list of NASA missions providing updates on Twitter, visit http://www.nasa.gov/collaborate .

For more information on the Phoenix mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix .

For more information about the Shorty Awards, and a complete listing of award winners, visit:
http://shortyawards.com .

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NASA'S Great Observatories Celebrate International Year of Astronomy

Whitney Clavin 818-354-4673
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov

Ray Villard 410-338-4514
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
villard@stsci.edu

Megan Watzke 617-496-7998
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center, Cambridge, Mass.
mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu

News release: 2009-019 Feb. 10, 2009

NASA'S Great Observatories Celebrate International Year of Astronomy

PASADENA, Calif. -- Galileo first turned his telescope to the heavens in 1609, marking the dawn
of modern astronomy. To commemorate 400 years of exploring the universe, 2009 has been
designated the International Year of Astronomy.

In conjunction with Galileo's birthday on Feb. 15, NASA is releasing images from its Great
Observatories -- the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray
Observatory -- to more than 100 planetariums, museums, nature centers and schools across the
country.

The selected sites will unveil a large, 9-square-foot print of the spiral galaxy Messier 101 that
combines the optical view of Hubble, the infrared view of Spitzer, and the X-ray view of Chandra
into one colorful, multiwavelength picture. "It's like using your eyes, night vision goggles and X-
ray vision all at the same time," said Hashima Hasan, lead scientist for the International Year of
Astronomy at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Participating institutions will display a matched trio of Hubble, Spitzer, and Chandra
images of Messier 101. Each image shows a different wavelength view of the galaxy that
illustrates not only the different science each observatory conducts, but also how far
astronomy has come since Galileo.

Messier 101 is a spiral galaxy about 22 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa
Major. It is larger than our own Milky Way galaxy, but similar in many ways.

Hubble's visible-light view shows off the swirls of bright stars and glowing gas that give Messier
101 its nickname "the Pinwheel Galaxy." In contrast, Spitzer's infrared-light image sees into the
spiral arms and reveals the glow of dust lanes where dense clouds can collapse to form new
stars. Chandra's X-ray view uncovers the high-energy features in the galaxy, such as remnants of
exploded stars or matter zooming around black holes. The juxtaposition of observations from
these three telescopes provides an in-depth view of the galaxy for both astronomers and the
public.

"The amazing scientific discoveries Galileo made four centuries ago are continued today by
scientists using NASA's space observatories," said Denise Smith, the unveiling's project manager
at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md. "NASA's Great Observatories are
distributing huge prints of spectacular images so the public can share in the exploration and
wonder of the universe."

The unveilings will take place Feb. 14 to 28 at 76 museums and 40 schools and universities
nationwide, reaching both big cities and small towns. Sites are planning celebrations involving the
public, schools and local media.

The Astrophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate supports the International Year
of Astronomy Great Observatories image unveiling. The project is a collaboration among the
Space Telescope Science Institute, the Spitzer Science Center in Pasadena, Calif., and the
Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Mass.

The M01 images and a list of places exhibiting these images is online at:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2009/07
and
http://hubblesource.stsci.edu/events/iya/participants.php .

Find out more about NASA's contributions to the International Year of Astronomy at
http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov .

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope
mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted
at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology. Caltech manages JPL for
NASA.

More information about Spitzer is online at http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer and
http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer .

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NASA-JPL Scientist Elected to National Academy of Engineering

Rhea R. Borja 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Rhea.R.Borja@jpl.nasa.gov

News release: 2009-018 February 6, 2009

NASA-JPL Scientist Elected to National Academy of Engineering

PASADENA, Calif. - In one of the highest professional distinctions accorded to engineers and scientists,
the National Academy of Engineering has elected Moustafa T. Chahine, a senior research scientist at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., as a member of its organization.

The academy elected Chahine based on his leadership in determining the structure and composition of
Earth's atmosphere from space. The organization awards those who have made outstanding
contributions to "engineering research, practice, or education" and for pioneering new fields of
technology, advancing the engineering field, and "implementing innovative approaches to engineering
education."

Chahine, the founder of JPL's Earth and space sciences division and the lab's chief scientist from 1984 to
2001, is one of 65 members and nine foreign associates newly elected to the Washington-based
academy. He is the principal investigator for NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, which was launched
onboard the Aqua spacecraft in 2002. Aqua is part of NASA's Earth Observing System, which studies
Earth's water cycle and energy fluxes.

Chahine's primary interests are in the remote sensing of planetary atmospheres and surfaces, and in
climate change processes. Among the remote-sensing methods he has developed is one that enables
infrared remote sensing through clouds. This has been applied to the remote sensing of Earth, Venus,
Mars and Jupiter. His current research activities are in transport studies of Earth's hydrological cycle.

Chahine served as a member of NASA's Earth system sciences committee and as chair of the World
Meteorological Organization's science steering group for the organization's global energy and water cycle
experiment from 1989 to 1999. His many honors include the William T. Pecora Award from NASA and the
U.S. Department of the Interior, the American Meteorological Society's Jule G. Charney Award, and in
2007, the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievements.

Chahine received his Ph.D. in 1960 from the University of California at Berkeley, the same year he joined
JPL. He and his wife, Marina, live in La Canada-Flintridge and have two sons.

In addition to being a new member of the National Academy of Engineering, Chahine is a fellow in the
American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American
Geophysical Union and the American and British Meteorological Societies.

JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

More information on JPL is at www.jpl.nasa.gov . More information on the National Academy of
Engineering is at www.nae.edu .

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NASA Carbon Mission to Improve Future Climate Change Predictions

NASA Carbon Mission to Improve Future Climate Change Predictions

Recent years have seen an increase in record-setting events related to climate change. For example,
2005 was the warmest year globally in more than a century, and in 2007, Arctic sea ice retreated
more than in any other time in recorded history. A new NASA mission set to launch later this month
will help scientists better understand the most important human-produced greenhouse gas
contributing to climate change: carbon dioxide. Called the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, the satellite
may help us better predict how our climate may change in the future.

Scientists rely on models to forecast future impacts of carbon dioxide on Earth's climate. When the
carbon dioxide concentrations used in, or predicted by, these models are not accurate, the resulting
climate projections can have a large degree of uncertainty. To accurately predict atmospheric carbon
dioxide concentrations in the future, we need to understand natural and human sources of carbon
dioxide, as well as the natural "sinks" that remove this gas from our atmosphere.

The rapid buildup of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels is a relatively well understood and
predictable source. Other impacts, however, such as forestry and agricultural practices, which can act
as either sources or sinks, are far harder to predict with confidence. More importantly, measurements
from a global network of greenhouse gas monitoring stations indicate that more than half of the
carbon dioxide emitted by human activities is currently being absorbed by the ocean and by plants on
land. But the current ground-based carbon dioxide monitoring network does not have the coverage or
resolution needed to identify sufficiently the natural sinks responsible for absorbing this carbon
dioxide. In addition, the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by natural sinks varies dramatically from
year to year, for reasons that are largely unknown. Because the nature, location and processes
controlling these natural sinks are not well understood, it is impossible to accurately predict how much
carbon dioxide they might absorb in the future as the climate changes. The Orbiting Carbon
Observatory aims to help resolve these and other open carbon-cycle questions.

"The Orbiting Carbon Observatory will provide the initial steps in the journey of measuring carbon
dioxide from space, and the discoveries will be profound-we'll gather basic information about the
distribution of carbon that we wouldn't have been able to do any other way," says Graeme Stephens
of Colorado State University, Fort Collins, a co-investigator on the Orbiting Carbon Observatory
science team.

Researchers have shown that warming, particularly from greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide,
is driving Earth's climate toward "tipping points." Those are the points at which temperatures could set
in motion processes that are very difficult to reverse. One potential example is the runaway
disintegration of Arctic sea ice and of the West Antarctic ice sheet. In this scenario, warmer
temperatures melt more ice and create more open water, which absorbs more heat. This, in turn,
melts more ice, in a process that feeds upon itself.

Research by James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, and
colleagues suggests that to avoid dangerous tipping points, Earth's atmosphere should be limited to a
carbon dioxide concentration of 450 parts per million at the most, and potentially much lower. Today,
the level of carbon dioxide is about 385 parts per million, and over the last few decades that number
has been rising by about two parts per million per year. But arriving at models that accurately predict
how carbon dioxide levels will change in the future depends, in part, on whether researchers can
collect enough data to untangle the mysteries of the carbon cycle.

"As human-caused emissions change, what will happen to the carbon budget [the contribution of
carbon dioxide's various sources]?" Stephens asked. "There's a gross lack of understanding as to
where the re-absorbed carbon is going because it's currently impossible to make global observations
to see how carbon dioxide varies on both global and regional scales."

Currently, a sparse network of stations across the globe collects precise measurements of carbon
dioxide near Earth's surface, but the number of stations is limited and most are located far away from
power plants, automobiles and other sources of carbon dioxide. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory will
complement the ground-based network by collecting thousands of times as many measurements over
the sunlit side of Earth. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite now
routinely provides global maps of carbon dioxide at altitudes between 5 and 13 kilometers (3 and 8
miles) high, where it is most efficient as a greenhouse gas. Orbiting Carbon Observatory
measurements will complement those from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder because they are much
more sensitive to the concentration of carbon dioxide near Earth's surface, where most of it is emitted
by sources or absorbed by sinks.

Measurements from ground stations and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder have already shown that
the level of carbon dioxide is more varied throughout the atmosphere than was previously believed.
The levels fluctuate with weather and temperature and are influenced by land plants and the ocean.
It's the goal of carbon cycle models to explain and ultimately predict the response of this complex
system.

"It's like a domino effect," Stephens said. "The climate system is so interconnected, and the carbon
dioxide system is an integral part of that system."

A new generation of climate modelers already considers the interactions of carbon between land,
ocean and atmosphere. These models predict that the growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide and
of global warming will accelerate as Earth's land and ocean show a decreased capacity to absorb
carbon dioxide. But with the current scant observations of the carbon system, the magnitude and
timing of such model predictions are highly uncertain. The next generation of carbon-climate models
will better represent these systems, thanks to more abundant global carbon dioxide data from the
Orbiting Carbon Observatory and other future satellite missions. And while the data from these new
satellites may not be as precise as data from ground stations, the models will nonetheless improve
due to the tremendous volume of data from across the globe and throughout the atmosphere.

Researchers expect the volume of carbon dioxide data to increase dramatically. "This is tremendous,"
says Inez Fung of the University of California, Berkeley, a co-investigator on the Orbiting Carbon
Observatory science team. "There is much horizontal and vertical variation of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere due to sources and sinks and turbulent mixing processes that vary between day and
night, from place to place, and from season to season. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory will give
scientists a much more complete global picture of how the carbon cycle works."

The observatory will measure the percentage of carbon dioxide present within columns of the
atmosphere that span less than 4.1 square kilometers (1.6 square miles) on the surface and extend
all the way up to the satellite 705 kilometers (438 miles) above. "This is a major advance over the
traditional surface observations, which are sparse and which sample only at fixed heights and mostly
near the ground," Fung said.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory information will allow researchers to "see" for the first time carbon
dioxide sources and sinks. The information will allow researchers to assess, or "rank," the
performance of carbon-climate models and will help to flag areas that need additional study.
Researchers also expect the observatory to turn up surprises where little or no carbon dioxide data
have been taken, such as over Africa, Eurasia and the open ocean.

"I am extremely excited-I have been working on the carbon cycle for over 25 years and have been
hampered by the data scarcity," Fung said. "Christmas is coming."

For more information on the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, see: http://www.nasa.gov/oco .

This image shows the past half-century of carbon dioxide trends, beginning in 1950 when global
industrialization took off. A more complete understanding of Earth's carbon cycle gained from the
Orbiting Carbon Observatory will help researchers arrive at models that better predict future trends.
Credit: NASA

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NASA and Caltech Test Steep-Terrain Rover

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Rhea Borja 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Rhea.R.Borja@jpl.nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2009-016 February 4, 2009

NASA and Caltech Test Steep-Terrain Rover

PASADENA, Calif. -- Engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and students at the
California Institute of Technology have designed and tested a versatile, low-mass robot that can
rappel off cliffs, travel nimbly over steep and rocky terrain, and explore deep craters.

This prototype rover, called Axel, might help future robotic spacecraft better explore and
investigate foreign worlds such as Mars. On Earth, Axel might assist in search-and-rescue
operations.

A Web video showing an Axel test-run at the JPL Mars yard is online at:
www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=806 .

"Axel extends our ability to explore terrains that we haven't been able to explore in the past, such
as deep craters with vertically-sloped promontories," said Axel's principal investigator, Issa A.D.
Nesnas, of JPL's robotics and mobility section. "Also, because Axel is relatively low-mass, a
mission may carry a number of Axel rovers. That would give us the opportunity to be more
aggressive with the terrain we would explore, while keeping the overall risk manageable."

The simple and elegant design of Axel, which can operate both upside down and right side up,
uses only three motors: one to control each of its two wheels and a third to control a lever. The
lever contains a scoop to gather lunar or planetary material for scientists to study, and it also
adjusts the robot's two stereo cameras, which can tilt 360 degrees.

Axel's cylindrical body has computing and wireless communications capabilities and an inertial
sensor to operate autonomously. It also sports a tether that Axel can unreel to descend from a
larger lander, rover or anchor point. The rover can use different wheel types, from large foldable
wheels to inflatable ones, which help the rover tolerate a hard landing and handle rocky terrain.

Nesnas co-leads the project with Joel Burdick, a mechanical and bioengineering professor at
Caltech, who supervises a handful of Caltech graduate and undergraduate students working on
the rover system. Last fall, the JPL-Caltech team demonstrated Axel at the annual Smithsonian
Folklife Festival in Washington, which showcased NASA for the agency's 50th anniversary.

"Collaboration with Caltech has been key to the success of this project," Nesnas said. "The
students contributed significantly to the design of the tethered Axel. Their creative work enabled
us to analyze, design and build new wheels, sampling tools and software. The students also
played a key role in field-testing this robot. Without them, we would not have been able to
accomplish such goals, given our limited resources."

JPL began developing Axel in 1999, in partnership with Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.,
and Arkansas Tech University, Russellville, Ark. The Axel project was funded through NASA's
Exploration System Mission Directorate. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

More information on Axel is at:
http://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/systems/system.cfm?System=16 and at
http://robotics.caltech.edu/~pablo/axel/home.html .

Note to Editors: B-roll of the Axel test-run at JPL's Mars Yard and sound bites with Axel team
leaders and students will be available on NASA TV. The NASA TV schedule is online at
www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/schedule.html . The NASA TV Media Channel is available on
MPEG-2 digital C-band signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude,
transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. For digital downlink information for NASA
TV's Media Channel and access to NASA TV's Public Channel on the Web, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv .

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