Robot Armada Might Scale New Worlds

Feature Oct. 27, 2009

Robot Armada Might Scale New Worlds

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=2343

An armada of robots may one day fly above the mountain tops of Saturn's moon Titan, cross its
vast dunes and sail in its liquid lakes.

Wolfgang Fink, visiting associate in physics at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena
says we are on the brink of a great paradigm shift in planetary exploration, and the next round of
robotic explorers will be nothing like what we see today.

"The way we explore tomorrow will be unlike any cup of tea we've ever tasted," said Fink, who
was recently appointed as the Edward and Maria Keonjian Distinguished Professor in
Microelectronics at the University of Arizona, Tucson. "We are departing from traditional
approaches of a single robotic spacecraft with no redundancy that is Earth-commanded to one
that allows for having multiple, expendable low-cost robots that can command themselves or
other robots at various locations at the same time."

Fink and his team members at Caltech, the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Arizona
are developing autonomous software and have built a robotic test bed that can mimic a field
geologist or astronaut, capable of working independently and as part of a larger team. This
software will allow a robot to think on its own, identify problems and possible hazards,
determine areas of interest and prioritize targets for a close-up look.

The way things work now, engineers command a rover or spacecraft to carry out certain tasks
and then wait for them to be executed. They have little or no flexibility in changing their game
plan as events unfold; for example, to image a landslide or cryovolcanic eruption as it happens, or
investigate a methane outgassing event.

"In the future, multiple robots will be in the driver's seat," Fink said. These robots would share
information in almost real time. This type of exploration may one day be used on a mission to
Titan, Mars and other planetary bodies. Current proposals for Titan would use an orbiter, an air
balloon and rovers or lake landers.

In this mission scenario, an orbiter would circle Titan with a global view of the moon, with an air
balloon or airship floating overhead to provide a birds-eye view of mountain ranges, lakes and
canyons. On the ground, a rover or lake lander would explore the moon's nooks and crannies.
The orbiter would "speak" directly to the air balloon and command it to fly over a certain region
for a closer look. This aerial balloon would be in contact with several small rovers on the ground
and command them to move to areas identified from overhead.

"This type of exploration is referred to as tier-scalable reconnaissance," said Fink. "It's sort of
like commanding a small army of robots operating in space, in the air and on the ground
simultaneously."

A rover might report that it's seeing smooth rocks in the local vicinity, while the airship or orbiter
could confirm that indeed the rover is in a dry riverbed -- unlike current missions, which focus
only on a global view from far above but can't provide information on a local scale to tell the
rover that indeed it is sitting in the middle of dry riverbed.
A current example of this type of exploration can best be seen at Mars with the communications
relay between the rovers and orbiting spacecraft like the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. However,
that information is just relayed and not shared amongst the spacecraft or used to directly control
them.

"We are basically heading toward making robots that command other robots," said Fink, who is
director of Caltech's Visual and Autonomous Exploration Systems Research Laboratory, where
this work has taken place.

"One day an entire fleet of robots will be autonomously commanded at once. This armada of
robots will be our eyes, ears, arms and legs in space, in the air, and on the ground, capable of
responding to their environment without us, to explore and embrace the unknown," he added.

Papers describing this new exploration are published in the journal "Computer Methods and
Programs in Biomedicine" and in the Proceedings of the SPIE.

For more information on this work, visit http://autonomy.caltech.edu . More information on JPL
missions is at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ .

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

Media contact: Carolina Martinez/JPL 818-354-9382

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JPL's 'Green' Space Flight Building Debuts with Ribbon-Cutting

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

Elena Mejia/Mark Petrovich 818-393-5467/393-4359
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Elena.Mejia@jpl.nasa.gov / Mark.Petrovich@jpl.nasa.gov

News release: 2009-157 Oct. 26, 2009

JPL's 'Green' Space Flight Building Debuts with Ribbon-Cutting

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2009-157

NASA's "greenest" building to date -- an environmentally friendly Flight Projects Center
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. -- is now open for business,
following a ribbon-cutting ceremony today attended by lawmakers and local dignitaries.

The building houses missions during their design and development phases. It will enable
engineers and scientists from various countries to collaborate more closely during these
critical mission phases.

"It seems fitting that the new building, where teams will plan future space missions that
use new technologies, also has the latest 'green' technologies to help JPL do its part to
improve our environment here on Earth," said JPL Director Charles Elachi, who helped
cut the ribbon at today's ceremony.

Also attending today's ceremony were U.S. Rep. David Drier; La Canada-Flintridge
Mayor Laura Olhasso; staff representing U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff; and Caltech President
Jean-Lou Chameau.

The building has received the "LEED Gold Certification" under the Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design rating system, set up by the non-profit U.S. Green Building
Council. It is the first NASA building to achieve that certification. To qualify, buildings
must meet several criteria. For example, they must make efficient use of water, energy
and resources, and provide a healthy and comfortable indoor workspace.

The many "green" features of the new building include:

• A living roof to keep the building cool in summer months and warm in the winter.
Desert plants on the roof and other landscaping require 72 percent less water than a
typical Southern California landscape design.

• Outdoor lighting is used for safety purposes only and is directed toward the ground,
reducing the amount of light pollution that escapes to the night sky.

• Low-flow faucets and toilets reduce water use by 40 percent compared with typical
fixtures.

• Improved wall insulation, efficient chillers and boilers and window shading devices.

• The paints and other surface materials have low levels of toxic fumes.

• The heating and cooling system is "smart" -- it knows whether people are in a room and
adjusts the temperature and ventilation accordingly.

• The janitorial staff uses green cleaning products and practices.

More than 75 percent of the waste generated during construction of the new building was
diverted from a landfill to a local recycling facility. Wood was acquired from Forest
Stewardship Council-certified suppliers, ensuring sustainable harvesting of trees.

More information about the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating
system and the U.S. Green Building Council is online at http://www.usgbc.org .

More information about JPL is online at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov . The California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

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Free Classes for Teachers: Lunar Certification and Marsbound

Free Classes for Teachers: Lunar Certification and Marsbound
Oct. 26, 2009

What:
The NASA/JPL Education Resources Center is offering FREE classes!

Are you interested in Lunar Certification? This certification allows
you to borrow actual lunar rock and soil samples as well as
meteorite samples from NASA.

We are also offering a class on the Marsbound Challenge to the red planet. You have $250
million dollars to plan a mission to the red planet. This game will
challenge students to work together just as JPL engineers do.
Marsbound meets many California state content standards in math as well
as science and technology from 4th grade through high school.

When:
October 27 – Marsbound: 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
November 12 – Lunar Certification: 4 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Where:
Educator Resource Center
1460 Holt Ave.
Pomona, CA 91767
909-397-4420

Directions:
Take the Indian Hill exit on U.S. 10. Go south until Indian Hill ends
at Holt. Drive into the shopping center straight ahead. (Village @ Indian
Hill Mall). Look for mall entrance number 3, park and enter the mall.

Parking is free.

How:
RSVP to the Education Resource Center at 909-397-4420.

See you there!

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Astronomers do it Again: Find Organic Molecules Around Gas Planet

JPL/NASA News

Feature Oct. 20, 2009

Astronomers do it Again: Find Organic Molecules Around Gas Planet

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at: http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hsJVK6OHIdLRJgJ&s=kkL2K7MNJgKOL6PTKuH&m=pvL2IkNXLhI7G

Peering far beyond our solar system, NASA researchers have detected the basic chemistry for life in a second hot gas planet, advancing astronomers toward the goal of being able to characterize planets where life could exist. The planet is not habitable but it has the same chemistry that, if found around a rocky planet in the future, could indicate the presence of life.

"It's the second planet outside our solar system in which water, methane and carbon dioxide have been found, which are potentially important for biological processes in habitable planets," said researcher Mark Swain of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Detecting organic compounds in two exoplanets now raises the possibility that it will become commonplace to find planets with molecules that may be tied to life."

Swain and his co-investigators used data from two of NASA's orbiting Great Observatories, the Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, to study HD 209458b, a hot, gaseous giant planet bigger than Jupiter that orbits a sun-like star about 150 light years away in the constellation Pegasus. The new finding follows their breakthrough discovery in December 2008 of carbon dioxide around another hot, Jupiter-size planet, HD 189733b. Earlier Hubble and Spitzer observations of that planet had also revealed water vapor and methane.

The detections were made through spectroscopy, which splits light into its components to reveal the distinctive spectral signatures of different chemicals. Data from Hubble's near-infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer revealed the presence of the molecules, and data from Spitzer's photometer and infrared spectrometer measured their amounts.

"This demonstrates that we can detect the molecules that matter for life processes," said Swain. Astronomers can now begin comparing the two planetary atmospheres for differences and similarities. For example, the relative amounts of water and carbon dioxide in the two planets is similar, but HD 209458b shows a greater abundance of methane than HD 189733b. "The high methane abundance is telling us something," said Swain. "It could mean there was something special about the formation of this planet."

Other large, hot Jupiter-type planets can be characterized and compared using existing instruments, Swain said. This work will lay the groundwork for the type of analysis astronomers eventually will need to perform in shortlisting any promising rocky Earth-like planets where the signatures of organic chemicals might indicate the presence of life.

Rocky worlds are expected to be found by NASA's Kepler mission, which launched earlier this year, but astronomers believe we are a decade or so away from being able to detect any chemical signs of life on such a body.

If and when such Earth-like planets are found in the future, "the detection of organic compounds will not necessarily mean there's life on a planet, because there are other ways to generate such molecules," Swain said. "If we detect organic chemicals on a rocky, Earth-like planet, we will want to understand enough about the planet to rule out non-life processes that could have led to those chemicals being there."

"These objects are too far away to send probes to, so the only way we're ever going to learn anything about them is to point telescopes at them. Spectroscopy provides a powerful tool to determine their chemistry and dynamics."

You can follow the history of planet hunting from science fiction to science fact with NASA's PlanetQuest Historic Timeline at http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/timeline/timeline.html .

This interactive web feature, developed by JPL, conveys the story of exoplanet exploration through a rich tapestry of words and images spanning thousands of years, beginning with the musings of ancient philosophers and continuing through the current era of space-based observations by NASA's Spitzer and Kepler missions. The timeline highlights milestones in culture, technology and science, and includes a planet counter that tracks the pace of exoplanet discoveries over time.

More information about exoplanets and NASA's planet-finding program is at http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency and is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md., conducts Hubble science operations. The institute is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for research in Astronomy, Inc., Washington, D.C.

JPL manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

-end-



Written by Mary Beth Murrill

Media contact: Whitney Clavin/Jet Propulsion Laboratory 818-354-4671

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JPL Develops High-Speed Test to Improve Pathogen Decontamination

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

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

NEWS RELEASE: 2009-154 Oct. 19, 2009

JPL Develops High-Speed Test to Improve Pathogen Decontamination

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=lwK3JfMZInJVJnL&s=eeLQLPPpGaLCLOMvGoH&m=miJWJ6MLIfKXF

PASADENA, Calif. – A chemist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., has
developed a technology intended to rapidly assess any presence of microbial life on spacecraft. This
new method may also help the military test for disease-causing bacteria, such as a causative agent
for anthrax, and may also be useful in the medical, pharmaceutical and other fields.

Adrian Ponce, the deputy manager for JPL's planetary science section, devised the new microscope-
based method, which has the potential to quickly validate -- from days to minutes -- a spacecraft's
cleanliness.

NASA adheres to international protocols by striving to ensure that spacecraft don't harbor life from
Earth that could contaminate other planets or moons and skew science research. Microbes known as
bacterial endospores can withstand extreme temperatures, ultraviolet rays and chemical treatments,
and have been known to survive in space for six years. This resilience makes them important
indicators for cleanliness and biodefense, Ponce said.

"Bacterial endospores are the toughest form of life on Earth," Ponce explained. "Therefore, if one
can show that all spores are killed, then less-resistant, disease-causing organisms will also be dead."

The new technology works by looking for dipicolinic acid -- a major component of endospores and
evidence of endospore growth -- by first applying terbium to a dime-sized area. Terbium is a
chemical element used to generate the color green on television screens. That area is then illuminated
under an ultraviolet lamp. Within minutes, one can see through a microscope aided by a digital
camera whether live endospores are present. That's because they will literally glow: The terbium will
show the endospores as bright green spots.

Ponce co-authored a paper on the new technology, called Germinable Endospore Biodosimetry,
along with Pun To Young, a post-doctoral student at the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The research was also
highlighted in Microbe, a magazine of the American Society for Microbiology.

The technology has piqued the interest of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The federal
agency is funding development of a portable instrument based on Ponce's research that could
quickly check for decontamination of pathogens after a biological attack. Ponce is working with the
Department of Homeland Security and Advance Space Monitor, a company based in Falls River,
Mass., to develop the instrument, which they plan to have ready for use by 2011. JPL and Caltech
licensed the technology to Advance Space Monitor.

"As part of the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate's near-term
bioassays effort, the technology could enable the rapid assessment of facility sterilization. This
could significantly reduce the time and cost of building restoration following a bio-contamination
event," said James Anthony, chemical and biological research and development program manager at
the Dept. of Homeland Security. A bioassay is an assessment of whether certain biological material
is present on a surface being tested.

Anthony added that the technology could also be used in bio-containment facilities that have
regularly scheduled decontamination requirements and rapidly reactivate important bio-defense
research facilities.

Besides outer space and defense purposes, this new technology might also be applied in hospitals,
child-care centers, dentists' offices and nursing homes.

"Given all the problems with hospital-acquired infections, assessing the sterility and hygiene of
medical equipment and surfaces is becoming increasingly important," said Ponce.

Funding for Ponce's project was provided by NASA's Astrobiology Science and Instrument
Development Program and Mars Technology Program, and the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security's Chemical and Biological Research and Development division.

Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

More information on JPL's planetary science department is at
http://science.jpl.nasa.gov/PlanetaryScience .

More information about Ponce and his research is at http://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Ponce/ .

More information about the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is at www.dhs.gov.

More information about Advance Space Monitor is at www.advancespacemonitor.com .

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Free Public Science Symposium on Climate Change at JPL

Free Public Science Symposium on Climate Change at JPL

Oct. 16, 2009 -- JPL's Green Club is sponsoring a free public
science symposium about climate change on Saturday, Oct. 24
from 2 to 4 p.m. at JPL. Earth scientists with expertise in
the fields of atmosphere, ocean and ecology will present
brief talks on the scientific evidence for global warming.
Each of the seven JPL scientists' talks will run about 10
minutes. The final speaker will discuss what individuals
and society can do to slow global warming.

Questions are encouraged; a question-and-answer period will be held
at the end of the presentations.

This event is free and open to the public. All ages are welcome but
the presentations will be geared to adults. The symposium will be held
in JPL's von Karman Auditorium. Directions to the Lab can be found here:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/about_JPL/maps.cfm .

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Galileo's Jupiter Journey Began Two Decades Ago

Galileo's Jupiter Journey Began Two Decades Ago October 16, 2009

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=2338

- Launch: Oct. 18, 1989, from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on space shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-34
- Arrival in orbit around Jupiter: Dec. 7, 1995
- VEEGA (Venus-Earth-Earth Gravity Assist) is the acronym mission planners gave for Galileo's flight path through the inner solar system
- Observed impacts of fragments from comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter
- Approximate number of people (from around the world) who worked on the Galileo mission: 800.
- More than 100 scientists from United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Canada and Sweden carried out Galileo's experiments

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA's Galileo spacecraft began what would become a 14-year odyssey
of exploration 20 years ago this Sunday, Oct. 18. Galileo was humanity's first emissary to orbit a
planet in the outer solar system – Jupiter.

Galileo was launched into space aboard the space shuttle Atlantis on Oct. 18, 1989, from
Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The crew of Atlantis deployed Galileo out of the shuttle's cargo
bay only hours after launch. Then, a little over seven hours after leaving Earth, Galileo was
propelled onto its interplanetary flight path by a two-stage, solid-fuel motor called an Inertial
Upper Stage. Although earlier plans called for Galileo to use a more powerful upper stage so that
it could fly directly to Jupiter, the final flight took it by other planets first so that it could gain
energy from the gravity of each. Galileo flew past Venus on Feb. 10, 1990, and then twice past
Earth -- once on Dec. 8, 1990, and again on Dec. 8, 1992.

Even before its arrival at Jupiter in 1995, Galileo was making groundbreaking discoveries. On
Oct. 29, 1991, the spacecraft flew past asteroid Gaspra – sending back the first close up images
of one of these celestial wanderers. Then on Aug. 28, 1993, Galileo encountered the 15.2-
kilometer-wide (9.4-mile) asteroid Ida, where it took the first images of an asteroid and
discovered the first asteroid moon, the 1.6-kilometer-wide (1-mile) Dactyl. During the latter part
of its interplanetary cruise, Galileo was used to observe the collisions of fragments of Comet
Shoemaker-Levy with Jupiter in July 1994.

Galileo arrived at Jupiter on Dec. 7, 1995, entering orbit and dropping a probe into the giant
planet's atmosphere. The probe's velocity as it entered Jupiter's atmosphere was a blistering 47.6
kilometers per second (106,500 miles per hour). After the atmospheric drag and a deployed
parachute slowed its descent rate, the probe relayed to Galileo the first in-place studies of
Jupiter's clouds and winds, furthering scientists' understanding of how the gas giant evolved. The
probe also made composition measurements designed to assess the degree of evolution of Jupiter
compared to the sun.

While the descent of the probe was a highlight of Galileo's mission, it was hardly the only one.
Galileo extensively investigated the geologic diversity of Jupiter's four largest moons:
Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa. It found that Io's extensive volcanic activity is 100 times
greater than that found on Earth. Galileo discovered strong evidence that Jupiter's moon Europa
has a melted saltwater ocean under an ice layer on its surface. Scientists estimate such an ocean
could be up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) deep underneath its frozen surface and contain about
twice as much water as all of Earth's oceans. Data showed moons Ganymede and Callisto may
also have a liquid-saltwater layer. The biggest discovery surrounding Ganymede was the presence
of a magnetic field. No other moon of any planet is known to have one.

When Galileo turned its instruments towards the giant gas world itself, the spacecraft made the
first observations of ammonia clouds in another planet's atmosphere. It also observed numerous
thunderstorms on Jupiter many times larger than those on Earth, with lightning strikes up to
1,000 times more powerful than on Earth. It was the first spacecraft to dwell in a giant planet's
magnetosphere long enough to identify its global structure and to investigate the dynamics of
Jupiter's magnetic field. Galileo determined that Jupiter's ring system is formed by dust kicked
up as interplanetary meteoroids smash into the planet's four small inner moons. Galileo data
showed that Jupiter's outermost ring is actually two rings, one embedded within the other.

Having traveled approximately 4.6 billion kilometers (about 2.8 billion miles), the hardy
spacecraft endured more than four times the cumulative dose of harmful Jovian radiation it was
designed to withstand -- and still major systems functioned. But while it was still enjoying
relatively good health, the spacecraft's propellant was low. Without propellant, Galileo would not
be able to point its antenna toward Earth or adjust its trajectory, so controlling the spacecraft
would no longer be possible. Mission managers at NASA and JPL decided to place their resilient
Jovian explorer on a collision course with Jupiter to eliminate any chance of an unwanted impact
between the spacecraft and Europa. The possibility of life existing on Europa is so compelling
and has raised so many unanswered questions that it is prompting plans for future spacecraft to
return to the icy moon.
The Galileo spacecraft's 14-year odyssey came to an end on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2003, when the
spacecraft passed into Jupiter's shadow, then disintegrated in the planet's dense atmosphere at
11:57 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. Its entry speed was 48.2 kilometers per second (nearly 108,000
miles per hour). That is the equivalent of traveling from Los Angeles to New York City in 82
seconds.

JPL's Deep Space Network tracking station in Goldstone, Calif., received the last signal at
12:43:14 PDT, 46 minutes after it was sent. The delay is due to the time it takes for the signal to
travel to Earth. Hundreds of former Galileo project members and their families were present at
JPL for a celebration to bid the spacecraft goodbye.

Galileo project scientist Torrence Johnson said at the time, "We haven't lost a spacecraft, we've
gained a steppingstone into the future of space exploration."
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, managed the Galileo
mission for NASA. JPL designed and built the Galileo orbiter, and operated the mission.

Additional information about the Galileo mission and its discoveries is available online at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo-legacy and http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov.

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Cassini Data Help Redraw Shape of Solar System

Feature Oct. 15, 2009

Cassini Data Help Redraw Shape of Solar System

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=2337

Images from the Ion and Neutral Camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft suggest that the
heliosphere, the region of the sun's influence, may not have the comet-like shape predicted by
existing models. In a paper published Oct. 15 in Science Express, researchers from the Johns
Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory present a new view of the heliosphere, and the forces that
shape it.

"These images have revolutionized what we thought we knew for the past 50 years; the sun
travels through the galaxy not like a comet but more like a big, round bubble," said Stamatios
Krimigis of the Applied Physics Lab, in Laurel, Md., principal investigator for Cassini's
Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument which carries the Ion and Neutral Camera. "It's amazing
how a single new observation can change an entire concept that most scientists had taken as true
for nearly fifty years."

As the solar wind flows from the sun, it carves out a bubble in the interstellar medium. Models of
the boundary region between the heliosphere and interstellar medium have been based on the
assumption that the relative flow of the interstellar medium and its collision with the solar wind
dominate the interaction. This would create a foreshortened "nose" in the direction of the solar
system's motion, and an elongated "tail" in the opposite direction.

The Ion and Neutral Camera images suggest that the solar wind's interaction with the interstellar
medium is instead more significantly controlled by particle pressure and magnetic field energy
density.

"The map we've created from the images suggests that pressure from a hot population of charged
particles and interaction with the interstellar medium's magnetic field strongly influence the
shape of the heliosphere," says Don Mitchell, Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument/Ion and
Neutral Camera co-investigator at the Applied Physics Lab.

Since entering into orbit around Saturn in July of 2004, the Ion and Neutral Camera has been
mapping energetic neutral atoms near the planet, as well as their dispersal across the entire sky.
The energetic neutral atoms are produced by energetic protons, which are responsible for the
outward pressure of the heliosphere beyond the interface where the solar wind collides with the
interstellar medium, and which interact with the magnetic field of the interstellar medium.

"Energetic neutral atom imaging has demonstrated its power to reveal the distribution of
energetic ions, first in Earth's own magnetosphere, next in the giant magnetosphere of Saturn and
now throughout vast structures in space—out to the very edge of our sun's interaction with the
interstellar medium," says Edmond C. Roelof, Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument co-
investigator at the Applied Physics Lab.

The results from Cassini complement and extend findings from NASA's Interstellar Boundary
Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft. Data from IBEX and Cassini have made it possible for scientists
to construct the first comprehensive sky map of our solar system and its location in the Milky
Way galaxy.

Researchers from University of Arizona, Tucson; Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio;
and University of Texas at San Antonio contributed to the article. The Cassini-Huygens mission
is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Magnetospheric Imaging
Instrument was developed by the Applied Physics Laboratory.

More information on the Cassini mission is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini,
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and on the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument Web site at
http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/CASSINI/ .

More information on the Interstellar Boundary Explorer is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/ibex

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NASA to Hold Symposium for Small Businesses

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

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

Sonja Alexander 202-358-1761
Headquarters, Washington
sonja.r.alexander@nasa.gov

News release: 2009-152 Oct. 8, 2009

NASA to Hold Symposium for Small Businesses

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will host its second annual NASA/JPL Small Business Symposium and
Awards Ceremony Nov. 16 and 17 at the Marriott Bethesda North Hotel and Conference Center,
5701 Marinelli Rd., Bethesda, Md.

The symposium provides a forum for attendees to learn about NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
located in Pasadena, Calif., and agency plans for future missions in space and Earth science.

Attendees will learn about the skills, resources and technologies needed to participate in the agency's
missions, programs and research. Business-to-business networking with NASA, JPL and prime
contractors will be the objective throughout the event. Participation in this symposium is open to
industry, academia and small businesses. The registration deadline for the symposium is Nov. 9.

The two-day event will culminate with the NASA Small Business Industry and Advocates Awards
Ceremony. The NASA Small Business Awards recognize outstanding contributions NASA
employees and industry representatives have made in support of the agency's small business program.

The Business Opportunities Office at JPL and NASA's Office of Small Business Programs are
hosting the symposium.

To register for the symposium, visit: http://acquisition.jpl.nasa.gov/boo/2009sbs .

For information about NASA's Office of Small Business Programs, visit: http://www.osbp.nasa.gov .

For information about JPL's Business Opportunities Office, visit:
http://acquisition.jpl.nasa.gov/boo .

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NASA Refines Asteroid Apophis' Path Toward Earth

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

DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle@jpl.nasa.gov

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

NEWS RELEASE 2009-151 Oct. 7, 2009

NASA Refines Asteroid Apophis' Path Toward Earth

PASADENA, Calif. -- Using updated information, NASA scientists have recalculated the path of a
large asteroid. The refined path indicates a significantly reduced likelihood of a hazardous encounter
with Earth in 2036.

The Apophis asteroid is approximately the size of two-and-a-half football fields. The new data were
documented by near-Earth object scientists Steve Chesley and Paul Chodas at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. They will present their updated findings at a meeting of
the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences in Puerto Rico on Oct. 8.

"Apophis has been one of those celestial bodies that has captured the public's interest since it was
discovered in 2004," said Chesley. "Updated computational techniques and newly available data
indicate the probability of an Earth encounter on April 13, 2036, for Apophis has dropped from one-
in-45,000 to about four-in-a million."

A majority of the data that enabled the updated orbit of Apophis came from observations Dave
Tholen and collaborators at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy in Manoa made.
Tholen pored over hundreds of previously unreleased images of the night sky made with the
University of Hawaii's 2.2-meter (88-inch) telescope, located near the summit of Mauna Kea.

Tholen made improved measurements of the asteroid's position in the images, enabling him to
provide Chesley and Chodas with new data sets more precise than previous measures for Apophis.
Measurements from the Steward Observatory's 2.3 meter (90-inch) Bok telescope on Kitt Peak in
Arizona and the Arecibo Observatory on the island of Puerto Rico also were used in Chesley's
calculations.

The information provided a more accurate glimpse of Apophis' orbit well into the latter part of this
century. Among the findings is another close encounter by the asteroid with Earth in 2068 with
chance of impact currently at approximately three-in-a-million. As with earlier orbital estimates where
Earth impacts in 2029 and 2036 could not initially be ruled out due to the need for additional data, it
is expected that the 2068 encounter will diminish in probability as more information about Apophis is
acquired.

Initially, Apophis was thought to have a 2.7 percent chance of impacting Earth in 2029. Additional
observations of the asteriod ruled out any possibility of an impact in 2029. However, the asteroid is
expected to make a record-setting -- but harmless -- close approach to Earth on Friday, April 13,
2029, when it comes no closer than 29,450 kilometers (18,300 miles) above Earth's surface.

"The refined orbital determination further reinforces that Apophis is an asteroid we can look to as an
opportunity for exciting science and not something that should be feared," said Don Yeomans,
manager of the Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL. "The public can follow along as we
continue to study Apophis and other near-Earth objects by visiting us on our AsteroidWatch Web
site and by following us on the @AsteroidWatch Twitter feed."

The science of predicting asteroid orbits is based on a physical model of the solar system which
includes the gravitational influence of the sun, moon, other planets and the three largest asteroids.

NASA detects and tracks asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground and space-
based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called "Spaceguard,"
discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them and plots their orbits to determine if any could
be potentially hazardous to our planet.

JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Cornell
University, Ithaca, N.Y., operates the Arecibo Observatory under a cooperative agreement with the
National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va.

For more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects, visit:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch

For more information about NASA, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

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NASA Space Telescope Discovers Largest Ring Around Saturn

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
NASA Headquarters, Washington
j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2009-150 Oct. 6, 2009

NASA Space Telescope Discovers Largest Ring Around Saturn

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered an enormous ring around
Saturn -- by far the largest of the giant planet's many rings.

The new belt lies at the far reaches of the Saturnian system, with an orbit tilted 27 degrees from the
main ring plane. The bulk of its material starts about six million kilometers (3.7 million miles) away
from the planet and extends outward roughly another 12 million kilometers (7.4 million miles). One of
Saturn's farthest moons, Phoebe, circles within the newfound ring, and is likely the source of its
material.

Saturn's newest halo is thick, too -- its vertical height is about 20 times the diameter of the planet. It
would take about one billion Earths stacked together to fill the ring.

"This is one supersized ring," said Anne Verbiscer, an astronomer at the University of Virginia,
Charlottesville. "If you could see the ring, it would span the width of two full moons' worth of sky,
one on either side of Saturn." Verbiscer; Douglas Hamilton of the University of Maryland, College
Park; and Michael Skrutskie, of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, are authors of a paper
about the discovery to be published online tomorrow by the journal Nature.

An artist's concept of the newfound ring is online at
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/spitzer-20091007a.html .

The ring itself is tenuous, made up of a thin array of ice and dust particles. Spitzer's infrared eyes
were able to spot the glow of the band's cool dust. The telescope, launched in 2003, is currently 107
million kilometers (66 million miles) from Earth in orbit around the sun.

The discovery may help solve an age-old riddle of one of Saturn's moons. Iapetus has a strange
appearance -- one side is bright and the other is really dark, in a pattern that resembles the yin-yang
symbol. The astronomer Giovanni Cassini first spotted the moon in 1671, and years later figured out
it has a dark side, now named Cassini Regio in his honor. A stunning picture of Iapetus taken by
NASA's Cassini spacecraft is online at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08384 .

Saturn's newest addition could explain how Cassini Regio came to be. The ring is circling in the same
direction as Phoebe, while Iapetus, the other rings and most of Saturn's moons are all going the
opposite way. According to the scientists, some of the dark and dusty material from the outer ring
moves inward toward Iapetus, slamming the icy moon like bugs on a windshield.

"Astronomers have long suspected that there is a connection between Saturn's outer moon Phoebe
and the dark material on Iapetus," said Hamilton. "This new ring provides convincing evidence of
that relationship."

Verbiscer and her colleagues used Spitzer's longer-wavelength infrared camera, called the multiband
imaging photometer, to scan through a patch of sky far from Saturn and a bit inside Phoebe's orbit.
The astronomers had a hunch that Phoebe might be circling around in a belt of dust kicked up from its
minor collisions with comets -- a process similar to that around stars with dusty disks of planetary
debris. Sure enough, when the scientists took a first look at their Spitzer data, a band of dust jumped
out.

The ring would be difficult to see with visible-light telescopes. Its particles are diffuse and may even
extend beyond the bulk of the ring material all the way in to Saturn and all the way out to
interplanetary space. The relatively small numbers of particles in the ring wouldn't reflect much visible
light, especially out at Saturn where sunlight is weak.

"The particles are so far apart that if you were to stand in the ring, you wouldn't even know it," said
Verbiscer.

Spitzer was able to sense the glow of the cool dust, which is only about 80 Kelvin (minus 316 degrees
Fahrenheit). Cool objects shine with infrared, or thermal radiation; for example, even a cup of ice
cream is blazing with infrared light. "By focusing on the glow of the ring's cool dust, Spitzer made it
easy to find," said Verbiscer.

These observations were made before Spitzer ran out of coolant in May and began its "warm" mission.

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, also in Pasadena. Caltech manages
JPL for NASA. The multiband imaging photometer for Spitzer was built by Ball Aerospace
Corporation, Boulder, Colo., and the University of Arizona, Tucson. Its principal investigator is
George Rieke of the University of Arizona.

For additional images relating to the ring discovery and more information about Spitzer, visit
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer and http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer .

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Become a Fan of NASA's Space Place

Become a Fan of NASA's Space Place

Oct. 5, 2009 -- For those of you with Facebook pages, we just created a page
for NASA's Space Place Web site (http://spaceplace.nasa.gov).
You can find our Facebook page at http://facebook.com/nasaspaceplace.
The Space Place is an extensive, content-rich Web site for upper
elementary age kids, their teachers, parents and anyone else who likes
a simple, readable, fun presentation of a wide range of space, Earth
science and technology topics. Most of the site is great for kids to
explore on their own, with interactive games, hands-on projects and fun
facts. But it also has lots of stuff for teachers. Teachers especially
appreciate the bi-monthly Space Place Newsletter for educators, which has
lots of suggestions for how to use the resources of this Web site in the
classroom. See the "Teacher's Corner" at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/educators.

Check out "NASA's The Space Place" new page on Facebook, where you will also
find exclusive content only for our Facebook fans! Become a fan, and we'll also
let you know whenever we add a new game, animation, cartoon "talk show," fun fact
or any other interesting stuff. It's a great way to explore space!

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Calling All Space Buffs!

Calling All Space Buffs!

Do you love space? Are you good about sharing your love of the stars with the public? If so,
here's a chance to join a growing network of space enthusiasts who have volunteered as NASA
Solar System Ambassadors. Ambassadors are especially needed to represent Delaware and North
Dakota.

The application period is being extended through Oct. 16. Ambassadors are U.S. citizens
selected from all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, or U.S. citizens serving U.S.
audiences abroad. The program is one of the longest-running NASA volunteer outreach projects.

Each ambassador receives online training from JPL, and educational materials supplied by
various space missions, such as the next Mars rover--Curiosity. Curiosity will check to see
whether Mars has been favorable for supporting microbial life and preserving evidence of life.
The rover is scheduled to launch in October 2011.

You can apply to be a NASA Solar System Ambassador at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/ssa.cfm .

For more information on JPL's Solar System Ambassador Program, visit
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/index.html , or contact Kay Ferrari at
ambassadors@jpl.nasa.gov or at 818-354-7581.

A calendar of events hosted by ambassadors is available at
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/events.html .

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

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JPL E-Postcard: Herschel's Multi-Hued View of the Sky

Herschel's Multi-Hued View of the Sky

A new image from the Herschel Space Telescope shows off the observatory's talents for seeing multiple wavelengths of light.
The infrared observatory, a European Space Agency mission with important participation from NASA,
can use two science instruments simultaneously to see five different "colors" of infrared, which is light that we can't see with our eyes.

+ Full image and caption
http://www.herschel.caltech.edu/index.php?SiteSection=News&NewsItem=nhsc2009-020

+ Herschel home page
http://www.herschel.caltech.edu/

+ JPL home page
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

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International Science Teams Selected for Aquarius/SAC-D Mission

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

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

Sandra Torrusio 011-54-11-4331-0074, ext. 288
Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, Buenos Aires, Argentina
storrusio@conae.gov.ar

News release: 2009-149 Oct. 1, 2009

International Science Teams Selected for Aquarius/SAC-D Mission

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA and Argentina's Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales
(CONAE), with support from the Argentine Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovative
Production (MinCyT), have selected additional members of the international scientific investigating
team for the Aquarius/Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas (SAC)-D mission, scheduled to launch in
2010. The new team members include two from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The joint minimum three-year mission will carry a suite of instruments into space onboard the
Argentine-built SAC-D spacecraft. NASA's sensor, Aquarius, is the primary instrument on the
mission. Aquarius is designed to provide monthly global maps of how salt concentration varies on the
ocean surface – a key indicator of ocean circulation and its role in climate change. Seven CONAE-
sponsored instruments will provide environmental data for a wide range of applications, including
natural hazards, land processes, epidemiological studies and air quality issues.

NASA and CONAE conducted a joint solicitation and selection of scientific investigations and
innovative application demonstration projects using Aquarius/SAC-D observations. NASA selected
15 projects that it will fund over the next four years for a total of $8 million. CONAE/MinCyT
selected 15 Argentine projects with participation of scientists from Chile and Brazil, which will be
funded for a total of $1.3 million. An additional 10 proposals were selected from scientists in Italy
and Japan.

The primary focus of the selected projects is to prepare the scientific community to use
Aquarius/SAC-D observations to better understand the interactions between global ocean circulation,
the water cycle and Earth's climate. Several projects will concentrate on socio-economic applications
of the mission's observations in such areas as fishery management, disease and flood forecasting, and
monitoring volcanic eruptions and fires.

The principal investigators for the NASA-funded projects are:

- William Asher, University of Washington, Seattle
- Frederick Bingham, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
- Shannon Brown, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
- Antonio Busalacchi, University of Maryland, College Park
- Ichiro Fukumori, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
- Arnold Gordon, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, N.Y.
- Thomas Jackson, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Md.
- W. Linwood Jones, University of Central Florida, Orlando
- Roger Lang, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
- William Large, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo.
- Nikolai Maximenko, University of Hawaii, Honolulu
- Rui Ponte, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.
- Stephen Riser, University of Washington, Seattle
- Douglas Vandemark, University of New Hampshire, Durham
- Frank Wentz, Remote Sensing Systems, Santa Rosa, Calif.

The principal investigators for the CONAE/MinCyT-funded projects are:

- Miguel Bertolami, National University of the Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Chubut, Argentina
- Marcelo Cassini, National University of Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Carlos Cotlier, National University of Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina
- Dora Goniadzki, National Water Institute, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Raúl Guerrero, National Institute for Fisheries Research and Development, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
- Haydee Karszenbaum, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Maite Narvarte, Marine Biology Institute Alte. Storni, Chubut, Argentina
- Alberto Piola, Naval Hydrographic Service, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Gloria Pujol, National Meteorological Service, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Mirta Raed, National University of Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Raúl Rivas, National University of Centro, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Cristina Rodriguez, Mariscope Chilena Department of Oceanography, Puerto Montt, Chile
- Hector Salgado, Naval Hydrographic Service, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Paola Salio, National University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Cristina Serafini, National University of Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina

NASA is providing the Aquarius instrument (which was built by JPL), along with launch services and
Aquarius science data processing. JPL manages the Aquarius mission for NASA. NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., is providing the Aquarius instrument radiometer. CONAE is
providing the SAC-D spacecraft; additional instruments, including optical and thermal cameras, a
microwave radiometer and other specific sensors (with participation from Italy, France, Canada and
various Argentine institutions); and mission operations.

Launch of Aquarius/SAC-D onboard a Delta II rocket is scheduled for no earlier than May 2010 from
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

For more information on the Aquarius/SAC-D mission, visit: http://aquarius.nasa.gov and
http://www.conae.gov.ar/satelites/sac-d.html . JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute
of Technology in Pasadena.

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