Top Stories: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

What Lies Beneath: NASA Antarctic Sub Goes Subglacial

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

News feature: 2013-077 Feb. 27, 2013

What Lies Beneath: NASA Antarctic Sub Goes Subglacial

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-077&cid=release_2013-077

When researcher Alberto Behar from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., joined an international Antarctic expedition last month on a trek to investigate a subglacial lake, he brought with him a unique instrument designed and funded by NASA to help the researchers study one of the last unexplored aquatic environments on Earth.

Called the Micro-Submersible Lake Exploration Device, the instrument was a small robotic sub about the size and shape of a baseball bat. Designed to expand the range of extreme environments accessible by humans while minimally disturbing the environment, the sub was equipped with hydrological chemical sensors and a high-resolution imaging system. The instruments and cameras characterize the geology, hydrology and chemical characteristics of the sub's surroundings. Behar supervised a team of students from Arizona State University, Tempe, in designing, developing, testing and operating the first-of-its-kind sub.

"This is the first instrument ever to explore a subglacial lake outside of a borehole," Behar said. "It's able to take us places that are inaccessible by any other instruments in existence."

The sub was deployed by the U.S. team of the international Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project. The project's objective was to access subglacial Lake Whillans, located more than 2,000 feet (610 meters) below sea level, deep within West Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf, nearly 700 miles (about 1,125 kilometers) from the U.S. McMurdo Station. The 20-square-mile (50-square-kilometer) lake is totally devoid of sunlight and has a temperature of 31 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 0.5 degrees Celsius). It is part of a vast Antarctic subglacial aquatic system that covers an area about the size of the continental United States.

The WISSARD team included researchers from eight U.S. universities and two collaborating international institutions. They used specialized tools to get clean samples of subglacial lake water and sediments, survey the lake floor with video and characterize the biological, chemical and physical properties of the lake and its surroundings. Their research is designed to gain insights into subglacial biology, climate history and modern ice sheet behavior.

The instrument consists of a "mothership" connected to a deployment device that houses the submarine. The sub is designed to operate at depths of up to three-quarters of a mile (1.2 kilometers) and within a range of 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) from the bottom of the borehole that was drilled through the ice to reach the lake. It transmits real-time high-resolution imagery, salinity, temperature and depth measurements to the surface via fiber-optic cables.

In a race against time and the elements to access the lake before the end of the current Antarctic field season, the WISSARD team spent three days in January drilling a 2,600-foot-deep (800-meters), 20-inch-wide (50-centimeters) borehole into the lake, which they reached on Jan. 28.

Like Alice down the rabbit hole, the sub was then sent down the borehole, where it was initially used to guide drilling operations. When the instrument finally reached the lake, the team used its imagery to survey the lake floor. The data enabled the team to verify that the rest of the project's instruments could be safely deployed into the lake. The WISSARD team was then able to proceed with its next phase: collecting lake water samples to search for microbial life.

And that search has apparently paid off. Earlier this month, the team reported that the lake water did indeed contain living bacteria, a discovery that might hold important implications for the search for life elsewhere in the universe.

To learn more about the expedition, watch this short video narrated by Behar: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/?id=1201 .

Core funding for WISSARD and the Micro-Submersible Lake Exploration Device was provided by the National Science Foundation-Office of Polar Programs. The sub was funded by NASA's Cryospheric Sciences and Astrobiology programs. Additional funds for WISSARD instrument development were provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

For more on WISSARD, visit: http://www.wissard.org . For more on Behar's previous robotic Antarctic research, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/antarctic-shrimp.html .

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=ctJOL7MVIrL0LbMZG&s=eeLQKPNpFaICKONvFoH&m=nwJ2JgP5KnITLlJ

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=fwLULgO7KuK6JlPcF&s=eeLQKPNpFaICKONvFoH&m=nwJ2JgP5KnITLlJ

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

NASA's Aquarius Sees Salty Shifts

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

Written by Maria-José Viñas

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

News feature: 2013-074 Feb. 27, 2013

NASA's Aquarius Sees Salty Shifts

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-074&cid=release_2013-074

The colorful images chronicle the seasonal stirrings of our salty world: Pulses of freshwater
gush from the Amazon River's mouth; an invisible seam divides the salty Arabian Sea from
the fresher waters of the Bay of Bengal; a large patch of freshwater appears in the eastern
tropical Pacific in the winter. These and other changes in ocean salinity patterns are
revealed by the first full year of surface salinity data captured by NASA's Aquarius
instrument.

"With a bit more than a year of data, we are seeing some surprising patterns, especially in
the tropics," said Aquarius Principal Investigator Gary Lagerloef, of Earth & Space
Research in Seattle. "We see features evolve rapidly over time."

Launched June 10, 2011, aboard the Argentine spacecraft Aquarius/Satélite de
Aplicaciones Científicas (SAC)-D, Aquarius is NASA's first satellite instrument specifically
built to study the salt content of ocean surface waters. Salinity variations, one of the main
drivers of ocean circulation, are closely connected with the cycling of freshwater around
the planet and provide scientists with valuable information on how the changing global
climate is altering global rainfall patterns.

The salinity sensor detects the microwave emissivity of the top approximately 1 inch (1 to 2
centimeters) of ocean water – a physical property that varies depending on temperature
and saltiness. The instrument collects data in 240-mile-wide (386 kilometers) swaths in an
orbit designed to obtain a complete survey of global salinity of ice-free oceans every seven
days.

The Changing Ocean

The animated version of Aquarius' first year of data unveils a world of varying salinity
patterns. The Arabian Sea, nestled up against the dry Middle East, appears much saltier
than the neighboring Bay of Bengal, which gets showered by intense monsoon rains and
receives freshwater discharges from the Ganges and other large rivers. Another mighty
river, the Amazon, releases a large freshwater plume that heads east toward Africa or
bends up north to the Caribbean, depending on the prevailing seasonal currents. Pools of
freshwater carried by ocean currents from the central Pacific Ocean's regions of heavy
rainfall pile up next to Panama's coast, while the Mediterranean Sea sticks out in the
Aquarius maps as a very salty sea.

One of the features that stand out most clearly is a large patch of highly saline water
across the North Atlantic. This area, the saltiest anywhere in the open ocean, is analogous
to deserts on land, where little rainfall and a lot of evaporation occur. A NASA-funded
expedition, the Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study (SPURS), traveled
to the North Atlantic's saltiest spot last fall to analyze the causes behind this high salt
concentration and to validate Aquarius measurements.

"My conclusion after five weeks out at sea and analyzing five weekly maps of salinity from
Aquarius while we were there was that indeed, the patterns of salinity variation seen from
Aquarius and by the ship were similar," said Eric Lindstrom, NASA's physical
oceanography program scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington, and a participant of
the SPURS research cruise.

Future Goals

"The Aquarius prime mission is scheduled to run for three years but there is no reason to
think that the instrument could not be able to provide valuable data for much longer than
that," said Gene Carl Feldman, Aquarius project manager at NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The instrument has been performing flawlessly and our
colleagues in Argentina are doing a fantastic job running the spacecraft, providing us a
nice, stable ride."

In future years, one of the main goals of the Aquarius team is to figure out ways to fine-
tune the readings and retrieve data closer to the coasts and the poles. Land and ice emit
very bright microwave emissions that swamp the signal read by the satellite. At the poles,
there's the added complication that cold polar waters require very large changes in their
salt concentration to modify their microwave signal.

Still, the Aquarius team was surprised by how close to the coast the instrument is already
able to collect salinity measurements.

"The fact that we're getting areas, particularly around islands in the Pacific, that are not
obviously badly contaminated is pretty remarkable. It says that our ability to screen out
land contamination seems to be working quite well," Feldman said.

Another factor that affects salinity readings is intense rainfall. Heavy rain can affect salinity
readings by attenuating the microwave signal Aquarius reads off the ocean surface as it
travels through the soaked atmosphere. Rainfall can also create roughness and shallow
pools of freshwater on the ocean surface. In the future, the Aquarius team wants to use
another instrument aboard Aquarius/SAC-D, the Argentine-built Microwave Radiometer, to
gauge the presence of intense rain simultaneously to salinity readings, so that scientists
can flag data collected during heavy rainfall.

An ultimate goal is combining the Aquarius measurements with those of its European
counterpart, the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite (SMOS) to produce more
accurate and finer maps of ocean salinity. In addition, the Aquarius team, in collaboration
with researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is about to release its first global
soil moisture dataset, which will complement SMOS' soil moisture measurements.

"The first year of the Aquarius mission has mostly been about understanding how the
instruments and algorithms are performing," Feldman said. "Now that we have overcome
the major hurdles, we can really begin to focus on understanding what the data are telling
us about how the ocean works, how it affects weather and climate, and what new insights
we can gain by having these remarkable salinity measurements."

Aquarius was built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; and NASA
Goddard. JPL managed Aquarius through its commissioning phase and is archiving
mission data. Goddard now manages Aquarius mission operations and processes science
data. Argentina's space agency, Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE),
provided the SAC-D spacecraft, optical camera, thermal camera with Canada, microwave
radiometer, sensors from various Argentine institutions and the mission operations center.
France and Italy also contributed instruments. For more information about NASA's
Aquarius mission, visit: www.nasa.gov/aquarius .

For a narrated global tour of Aquarius ocean surface salinity measurements,
see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xQP_B18vMw . A visualization showing
changes in global ocean surface salinity as measured by Aquarius from Dec. 2011
through Dec. 2012 can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJVnZnZUUYc -

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=arKKL1PGJcKLJ1OSG&s=ggKUIVOxHcJGIUNDIqF&m=feJMKQNqEeIOJ2I

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=dkLQIaMSLfJRLbN5E&s=ggKUIVOxHcJGIUNDIqF&m=feJMKQNqEeIOJ2I

NASA's NuSTAR Helps Solve Riddle of Black Hole Spin

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 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: 2013-075 Feb. 27, 2013

NASA's NuSTAR Helps Solve Riddle of Black Hole Spin

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-075&cid=release_2013-075

PASADENA, Calif. -- Two X-ray space observatories, NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton, have teamed up to measure definitively, for the first time, the spin rate of a black hole with a mass 2 million times that of our sun.

The supermassive black hole lies at the dust- and gas-filled heart of a galaxy called NGC 1365, and it is spinning almost as fast as Einstein's theory of gravity will allow. The findings, which appear in a new study in the journal Nature, resolve a long-standing debate about similar measurements in other black holes and will lead to a better understanding of how black holes and galaxies evolve.

"This is hugely important to the field of black hole science," said Lou Kaluzienski, a NuSTAR program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The observations also are a powerful test of Einstein's theory of general relativity, which says gravity can bend space-time, the fabric that shapes our universe, and the light that travels through it.

"We can trace matter as it swirls into a black hole using X-rays emitted from regions very close to the black hole," said the coauthor of a new study, NuSTAR principal investigator Fiona Harrison of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "The radiation we see is warped and distorted by the motions of particles and the black hole's incredibly strong gravity."

NuSTAR, an Explorer-class mission launched in June 2012, is designed to detect the highest-energy X-ray light in great detail. It complements telescopes that observe lower-energy X-ray light, such as XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Scientists use these and other telescopes to estimate the rates at which black holes spin.

Until now, these measurements were not certain because clouds of gas could have been obscuring the black holes and confusing the results. With help from XMM-Newton, NuSTAR was able to see a broader range of X-ray energies and penetrate deeper into the region around the black hole. The new data demonstrate that X-rays are not being warped by the clouds, but by the tremendous gravity of the black hole. This proves that spin rates of supermassive black holes can be determined conclusively.

"If I could have added one instrument to XMM-Newton, it would have been a telescope like NuSTAR," said Norbert Schartel, XMM-Newton Project Scientist at the European Space Astronomy Center in Madrid. "The high-energy X-rays provided an essential missing puzzle piece for solving this problem."

Measuring the spin of a supermassive black hole is fundamental to understanding its past history and that of its host galaxy.

"These monsters, with masses from millions to billions of times that of the sun, are formed as small seeds in the early universe and grow by swallowing stars and gas in their host galaxies, merging with other giant black holes when galaxies collide, or both," said the study's lead author, Guido Risaliti of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics.

Supermassive black holes are surrounded by pancake-like accretion disks, formed as their gravity pulls matter inward. Einstein's theory predicts the faster a black hole spins, the closer the accretion disk lies to the black hole. The closer the accretion disk is, the more gravity from the black hole will warp X-ray light streaming off the disk.

Astronomers look for these warping effects by analyzing X-ray light emitted by iron circulating in the accretion disk. In the new study, they used both XMM-Newton and NuSTAR to simultaneously observe the black hole in NGC 1365. While XMM-Newton revealed that light from the iron was being warped, NuSTAR proved that this distortion was coming from the gravity of the black hole and not gas clouds in the vicinity. NuSTAR's higher-energy X-ray data showed that the iron was so close to the black hole that its gravity must be causing the warping effects.

With the possibility of obscuring clouds ruled out, scientists can now use the distortions in the iron signature to measure the black hole's spin rate. The findings apply to several other black holes as well, removing the uncertainty in the previously measured spin rates.

For more information on NASA's NuSTAR mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/nustar .

For more information on ESA's XMM-Newton mission, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/YUYpI6 .

The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=7eIEKROzHeLHLNMyA&s=lvL4LaORIhKQI9PXJvH&m=jsIUK2NEI9IQJfJ

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=ahKKL0PLJhKNJXOLG&s=lvL4LaORIhKQI9PXJvH&m=jsIUK2NEI9IQJfJ

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

NASA Announces New CubeSat Space Mission Candidates

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

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

Joshua Buck 202-357-1100
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Jbuck@nasa.gov

News release: 2013-073 Feb. 26, 2013

NASA Announces New CubeSat Space Mission Candidates

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-073&cid=release_2013-073

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA has selected 24 small satellites, including three from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., to fly as auxiliary payloads aboard rockets planned to launch in 2014, 2015 and 2016. The proposed CubeSats come from universities across the country, a Florida high school, several non-profit organizations and NASA field centers.

CubeSats belong to a class of research spacecraft called nanosatellites. The cube-shaped satellites measure about 4 inches (10 centimeters) on each side, have a volume of about 1 quart (1 liter), and weigh less than 3 pounds (1.1 kilograms).

The selections are from the fourth round of the CubeSat Launch Initiative. After launch, the satellites will conduct technology demonstrations, educational research or science missions. The selected CubeSats will be eligible for flight after final negotiations and an opportunity for flight becomes available.

The following organizations submitted winning satellite proposals:

-- The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, Calif.
-- The Discovery Museum and Planetarium, Bridgeport, Conn.
-- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Ariz.
-- Morehead State University, Morehead, Ky., in partnership with the University of California at Berkeley
-- Montana State University, Bozeman (two CubeSats) in partnership with The University of New Hampshire, Durham
-- Merritt Island High School, Fla., in partnership with California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
-- NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
-- NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. (three CubeSats)
-- NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. (three CubeSats)
-- NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
-- Pennsylvania State University, in partnership with the Naval Research Laboratory, Monterey, Calif.; and The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, Calif.
-- Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Mo.
-- Tyvak Nano-Satellites Systems, Irvine, Calif., in partnership with the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
-- University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
-- University of Colorado, Boulder
-- University of Florida, Gainesville, in partnership with Stanford University
-- University of Maryland, Baltimore County
-- University of Texas, Austin
-- Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., in partnership with the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, Silver Spring, Md.

The three CubeSats from JPL, which is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, are:

--The Integrated Solar Array and Reflectarray Antenna (ISARA), a technology demonstration of a practical, low-cost Ka-band high-gain antenna on a 3U CubeSat that will increase downlink data rates from a baseline of 9.6 kilobits per second to more than 100 megabits per second with minimal impact on spacecraft mass, volume, cost and power requirements.

--The CubeSat VHF transmitter to study Ionospheric dispersion of Radio Pulses (CHIRP), a 6U CubeSat designed to provide measurements of very high frequency (VHF) radio pulses propagated through the ionosphere that will be essential to the development of SWORD, a future explorer class charged-particle astronomical observatory.

--The Interplanetary NanoSpacecraft Pathfinder In Relevant Environment (INSPIRE) project, which will open deep-space heliophysics and planetary science to the CubeSat community by demonstrating functionality, communication, navigation and payload-hosting in interplanetary space on dual 3U CubeSats.

In the three previous rounds of the CubeSat initiative, NASA has selected 63 missions for flight. The agency's Launch Services Program Educational Launch of Nanosatellite (ELaNa) Program has launched 12 CubeSat missions. This year, 22 CubeSat missions are scheduled for flight.

For additional information on NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative program, visit:
http://go.nasa.gov/nXOuPI .

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov .

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=9gKIJXPEIeLJKZPPF&s=lvL4LaORIhLQL9OXJvG&m=irLSLWMDLdJLLaL

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=evJSIcNYJjLUI6M0G&s=lvL4LaORIhLQL9OXJvG&m=irLSLWMDLdJLLaL

Upcoming Educator Workshop: Our Solar System and the Periodic Table of Elements

Educator Workshop Feb. 26, 2013

This is a feature from the NASA/JPL Education Office.

Our Solar System and the Periodic Table of Elements

Date: Saturday, March 16, 2013, 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Target audience: Review of 5th grade standards, all formal and informal educators K-12 are welcome

Location: NASA/JPL Educator Resource Center, Pomona, Calif.

Overview: This California standard-based workshop will teach you basic principles of what the table represents by using the solar system as an exciting basis for understanding. Learn the difference between an atom and a molecule, "tour" the solar system and identify predominant elements that compose each planet. This lesson can be used as a way for students to review for the fifth grade state science test and is easily understood by most third graders.

The workshop will be held at the JPL Educator Resource Center in Pomona, Calif. To sign up, please call the Resource Center at 909-397-4420.

For more information and directions, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=115

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=6nJCIOOsFaIJIQMwD&s=mmJ6IdNVKiLSJcN1LwG&m=mlK0L8NTKhKPJiK

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=9qKIJXPEIdLPK0PJF&s=mmJ6IdNVKiLSJcN1LwG&m=mlK0L8NTKhKPJiK

Monday, February 25, 2013

NASA Hosts Media Teleconference About Black Hole Studies

Thursday, February 21, 2013

NASA and JPL Contribute to European Jupiter 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

Jia-Rui C. Cook 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
jccook@jpl.nasa.gov

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

News release: 2013-069 Feb. 21, 2013

NASA and JPL Contribute to European Jupiter Mission

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-069&cid=release_2013-069

NASA has selected key contributions to a 2022 European Space Agency (ESA) mission that will study Jupiter and three of its largest moons in unprecedented detail. The moons are thought to harbor vast water oceans beneath their icy surfaces.

NASA's contribution will consist of one U.S.-led science instrument and hardware for two European instruments to fly on ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission. Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., will be the U.S. lead for the Radar for Icy Moon Exploration experiment. The radar experiment's principal investigator is Lorenzo Bruzzone of Universita degli Studi di Trento in Italy.

Under the lead of Bruzzone and the Italian Space Agency, JPL will provide the transmitter and receiver hardware for a radar sounder designed to penetrate the icy crust of Jupiter's moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto to a depth of about 5 miles (9 kilometers). This will allow scientists to see for the first time the underground structure of these tectonically complex and unique icy worlds.

JUICE will carry 11 experiments developed by scientific teams from 15 European countries, the United States and Japan.

The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter for three years and travel past Callisto and Europa multiple times, then orbit Ganymede, a moon larger than the planet Mercury. JUICE will conduct the first thorough exploration of Jupiter since NASA's Galileo mission from 1989-2003.

By studying the Jupiter system, JUICE will look to learn more about the formation and evolution of potentially habitable worlds in our solar system and beyond.

"NASA is thrilled to collaborate with ESA on this exciting mission to explore Jupiter and its icy moons," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington. "Working together with ESA and our other international partners is key to enabling future scientific progress in our quest to understand the cosmos."

The solar-powered spacecraft will carry cameras and spectrometers, a laser altimeter and an ice-penetrating radar instrument. The mission also will carry a magnetometer, plasma and particle monitors, and radio science hardware. The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030.

"The selection of JUICE's instruments is a key milestone in ESA's flagship mission to the outer solar system, which represents an unprecedented opportunity to showcase leading European technological and scientific expertise," said Alvaro Gimenez Canete, ESA's director of science and robotic exploration.

NASA invited researchers in 2012 to submit proposals for NASA-provided instruments for the mission. Nine were reviewed, with one selected to fly. NASA agreed to provide critical hardware for two of the 10 selected European-led instruments. NASA's total contribution to the JUICE mission is $100 million for design, development and operation of the instruments through 2033.

In addition to the radar team and instrument, the NASA contributions are:

-- Ultraviolet Spectrometer: The principal investigator is Randy Gladstone of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. This spectrometer will acquire images to explore the surfaces and atmospheres of Jupiter's icy moons and how they interact with the Jupiter environment. The instrument also will determine how Jupiter's upper atmosphere interacts with its lower atmosphere below, and the ionosphere and magnetosphere above. The instrument will provide images of the aurora on Jupiter and Ganymede.

-- Particle Environment Package: The principal investigator is Stas Barabash of the Swedish Institute of Space Physics. The U.S. lead is Pontus Brandt of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md. Under the lead of Barabash and the Swedish National Space Board, APL will provide instruments to this suite to measure the neutral material and plasma that are accelerated and heated to extreme levels in Jupiter's fierce and complex magnetic environment.

NASA's Science Mission Directorate conducts a wide variety of research and scientific exploration programs for Earth studies, space weather, the solar system and the universe. The New Frontiers Program Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will manage the NASA contributions. JUICE is the first large-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Program.

For more information on NASA planetary programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov .

For more information about the JUICE mission, visit: http://sci.esa.int/juice .

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=ctIOK4MNKkKYI8OWE&s=hhKWKYPBKdJIKXOHLrH&m=mvJYLdM0JpL6JrL

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=fmKUKdNZInI4KiN9G&s=hhKWKYPBKdJIKXOHLrH&m=mvJYLdM0JpL6JrL

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

CANCELED - Feb. 23 Informal Educator Workshop in Pomona

Informal Educator Workshop - CANCELED Feb. 20, 2013

This is a feature from the NASA/JPL Education Office.

Please note the Feb. 23 "Jewel of the Solar System" workshop at the NASA/JPL Educator Resource Center in Pomona, Calif., has been canceled and will be rescheduled for a later date. We apologize for the inconvenience. Informal and formal educator resources relating to Saturn can still be obtained from the Educator Resource Center in Pomona, Calif. To learn more and plan your visit, see: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=115.

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=9gKIJUPCIjLOKXPMF&s=hhKWLYNBJdIILXPHIrF&m=ihKQJYMKLgKNLcI

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=ctIOK3MOKmKUI7OZE&s=hhKWLYNBJdIILXPHIrF&m=ihKQJYMKLgKNLcI

NASA Rover Confirms First Drilled Mars Rock Sample

NASA Hosts Teleconference Today About Curiosity Rover

NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Tiny Planet System

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 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

News release: 2013-066 Feb. 20, 2013

NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Tiny Planet System

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-066&cid=release_2013-066

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Kepler mission scientists have discovered a new planetary system that is home to the smallest planet yet found around a star similar to our sun.

The planets are located in a system called Kepler-37, about 210 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. The smallest planet, Kepler-37b, is slightly larger than our moon, measuring about one-third the size of Earth. It is smaller than Mercury, which made its detection a challenge.

The moon-size planet and its two companion planets were found by scientists with NASA's Kepler mission, which is designed to find Earth-sized planets in or near the "habitable zone," the region in a planetary system where liquid water might exist on the surface of an orbiting planet. However, while the star in Kepler-37 may be similar to our sun, the system appears quite unlike the solar system in which we live.

Astronomers think Kepler-37b does not have an atmosphere and cannot support life as we know it. The tiny planet almost certainly is rocky in composition. Kepler-37c, the closer neighboring planet, is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring almost three-quarters the size of Earth. Kepler-37d, the farther planet, is twice the size of Earth.

The first exoplanets found to orbit a normal star were giants. As technologies have advanced, smaller and smaller planets have been found, and Kepler has shown that even Earth-size exoplanets are common.

"Even Kepler can only detect such a tiny world around the brightest stars it observes," said Jack Lissauer, a planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "The fact we've discovered tiny Kepler-37b suggests such little planets are common, and more planetary wonders await as we continue to gather and analyze additional data."

Kepler-37's host star belongs to the same class as our sun, although it is slightly cooler and smaller. All three planets orbit the star at less than the distance Mercury is to the sun, suggesting they are very hot, inhospitable worlds. Kepler-37b orbits every 13 days at less than one-third Mercury's distance from the sun. The estimated surface temperature of this smoldering planet, at more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit (700 degrees Kelvin), would be hot enough to melt the zinc in a penny. Kepler-37c and Kepler-37d, orbit every 21 days and 40 days, respectively.

"We uncovered a planet smaller than any in our solar system orbiting one of the few stars that is both bright and quiet, where signal detection was possible," said Thomas Barclay, Kepler scientist at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute in Sonoma, Calif., and lead author of the new study published in the journal Nature. "This discovery shows close-in planets can be smaller, as well as much larger, than planets orbiting our sun."

The research team used data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, which simultaneously and continuously measures the brightness of more than 150,000 stars every 30 minutes. When a planet candidate transits, or passes, in front of the star from the spacecraft's vantage point, a percentage of light from the star is blocked. This causes a dip in the brightness of the starlight that reveals the transiting planet's size relative to its star.

The size of the star must be known in order to measure the planet's size accurately. To learn more about the properties of the star Kepler-37, scientists examined sound waves generated by the boiling motion beneath the surface of the star. They probed the interior structure of Kepler-37's star just as geologists use seismic waves generated by earthquakes to probe the interior structure of Earth. The science is called asteroseismology.

The sound waves travel into the star and bring information back up to the surface. The waves cause oscillations that Kepler observes as a rapid flickering of the star's brightness. Like bells in a steeple, small stars ring at high tones while larger stars boom in lower tones. The barely discernible, high-frequency oscillations in the brightness of small stars are the most difficult to measure. This is why most objects previously subjected to asteroseismic analysis are larger than the sun.

With the very high precision of the Kepler instrument, astronomers have reached a new milestone. The star Kepler-37, with a radius just three-quarters of the sun, now is the smallest bell in the asteroseismology steeple. The radius of the star is known to three percent accuracy, which translates to exceptional accuracy in the planet's size.

Ames is responsible for Kepler's ground system development, mission operations, and science data analysis. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., managed Kepler mission development.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo., developed the Kepler flight system and supports mission operations with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore archives, hosts and distributes Kepler science data. Kepler is NASA's tenth Discovery Mission and was funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington.

For more information about the Kepler mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/kepler .

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=fwKUKcNWIiI3KoNdG&s=fpISJSPtFbIEKROzFpF&m=luIWI7PTIlLVJiJ

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=ahJKJXPCKdJUL1OKH&s=fpISJSPtFbIEKROzFpF&m=luIWI7PTIlLVJiJ

Friday, February 15, 2013

NASA Experts Discuss Russia Meteor in Media Teleconference Today

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

NASA to Chronicle Close Earth Flyby of Asteroid

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

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

Steve Cole 202-358-0918
NASA Headquarters, Washington
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

Advisory: 2013-059b Feb. 13, 2013

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-059&cid=release_2013-059

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA Television will provide commentary starting at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST) on Friday, Feb. 15, during the close, but safe, flyby of a small near-Earth asteroid named 2012 DA14. NASA places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. This flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.

The half-hour broadcast from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., will incorporate real-time animation to show the location of the asteroid in relation to Earth, along with live or near real-time views of the asteroid from observatories in Australia, weather permitting.

At the time of its closest approach to Earth at approximately 11:25 a.m. PST (2:25 p.m. EST / 19:25 UTC), the asteroid will be about 17,150 miles (27,600 kilometers) above Earth's surface.

The commentary will be available via NASA TV and streamed live online at: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv and http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

In addition to the commentary, near real-time imagery of the asteroid's flyby before and after closest approach, made available to NASA by astronomers in Australia and Europe, weather permitting, will be streamed beginning at about 9 a.m. PST (noon EST) and continuing through the afternoon at the following website: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

A Ustream feed of the flyby from a telescope at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will be streamed for three hours starting at 6 p.m. PST (8 p.m. CST / 9 p.m. EST). To view the feed and ask researchers questions about the flyby via Twitter, visit: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc

The NASA Near Earth Objects (NEO) Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington manages and funds the search, study and monitoring of NEOs, or asteroids and comets, whose orbits periodically bring them close to the Earth. NASA's study of NEOs provides important clues to understanding the origin of our solar system. The objects also are a repository of natural resources and could become waystations for future exploration. In collaboration with other external organizations, one of the program's key goals is to search and hopefully mitigate potential NEO impacts on Earth. JPL conducts the NEO program's technical and scientific activities.

For more information, including graphics and animations showing the flyby of 2012 DA14, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidflyby

For more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=7eLEILOoEaKGKUPHF&s=ggKUIVNxGcKGLUPDKqF&m=jtI1JfPQKdLTKkK

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=dkKQL3MMJgLTL4MWG&s=ggKUIVNxGcKGLUPDKqF&m=jtI1JfPQKdLTKkK

Study Sheds New Light on Arctic Sea Ice Volume Losses

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

Written by George Hale
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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

News feature: 2013-057 Feb. 13, 2013

Study Sheds New Light on Arctic Sea Ice Volume Losses

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-057&cid=release_2013-057

New research using combined records of ice measurements from NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), the European Space Agency's CryoSat-2 satellite, airborne surveys and ocean-based sensors shows Arctic sea ice volume declined 36 percent in the autumn and nine percent in the winter over the last decade.

The work builds on previous studies using submarine and NASA satellite data, confirms computer model estimates that showed ice volume decreases over the last decade, and builds a foundation for a multi-decadal record of sea ice volume changes.

In a report published online recently in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, a large international collaboration of scientists outlined their work to calculate Arctic sea ice volume. The satellite measurements were verified using data from NASA's Operation IceBridge, ocean-based sensors and a European airborne science expedition. This was compared with the earlier sea ice volume data record from NASA's ICESat, which reached the end of its lifespan in 2009.

The researchers found that from 2003 to 2008, autumn volumes of ice averaged 2,855 cubic miles (11,900 cubic kilometers). But from 2010 to 2012, the average volume dropped to 1,823 cubic miles (7,600 cubic kilometers) -- a decline of 1,032 cubic miles (4,300 cubic kilometers). The average ice volume in the winter from 2003 to 2008 was 3,911 cubic miles (16,300 cubic kilometers), dropping to 3,551 cubic miles (14,800 cubic kilometers) between 2010 and 2012 -- a difference of 360 cubic miles (1,500 cubic kilometers).

The study, funded by the United Kingdom's National Environmental Research Council, the European Space Agency, the German Aerospace Center, Alberta Ingenuity, NASA, the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation and led by Professor Seymour Laxon of University College London, marks the first ice volume estimates from CryoSat 2, which was launched in 2010. "It's an important achievement and milestone for CryoSat-2," said co-author Ron Kwok at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Combining the Ingredients

Although CryoSat-2 data show a decrease in ice volume from 2010 to 2012, two years is not a long enough time span to determine a trend. This is where NASA's data and scientists come in. Data from ICESat and IceBridge are freely available, but combining measurements from different sources can be challenging. Kwok said researchers spent months working out how to compare the datasets and making sure they were compatible enough to compare trends. "We participated as collaborators to help interpret results from the datasets we're familiar with," said scientist Sinead Farrell at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

CryoSat-2 and ICESat both measure sea ice freeboard, which is the amount of ice floating above the ocean's surface. Researchers use freeboard to calculate ice thickness. This thickness measurement is then combined with ice area to come up with a figure for volume. The two satellites used different methods for measuring freeboard, however. ICESat used a laser altimeter, which bounces a laser off the snow covering the sea ice, while CryoSat-2 uses a radar instrument that measures surface elevation closer to the ice surface. These instruments have a different view of the surface, but researchers found they gave comparable measurements.

Check and Double Check

Comparing the two datasets and ensuring their quality called for additional data. The two satellites do not cover overlapping time spans, so researchers used measurements from upward-looking sonar (ULS) moorings under the ocean's surface, located north of Alaska. These instruments, operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Beaufort Gyre Exploration Project, provide a continuous record of ice draft -- thickness of ice below the ocean's surface -- in parts of the Beaufort Sea from 2003 to the present day. Thickness measurements from these ULS moorings were comparable to ICESat and CryoSat-2 data throughout both missions' time spans. "ULS ice draft since 2003 served as the common data set for cross comparison of the ICESat and CryoSat-2 measurements," said Kwok.

Researchers took extra care to verify CryoSat-2's data, as it is a new satellite with a new instrument. In addition to the ULS data, CryoSat-2 measurements were also verified by two airborne science campaigns: flights by an aircraft operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany; and Operation IceBridge, a NASA mission tasked with monitoring changes in polar ice to bridge the gap in measurements between ICESat and its replacement, ICESat-2, scheduled to launch in 2016. During the 2011 and 2012 Arctic campaigns, the IceBridge team coordinated closely with ESA's CryoVEx program to verify CryoSat-2 data. "IceBridge was used as a validation tool to understand thickness measurements from CryoSat-2," said scientist Nathan Kurtz at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

The Road Ahead

After months of work, researchers had assembled a multi-year dataset, which they could compare to sea ice volume predictions from the Pan-Arctic Ice-Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS). Because of the short time span of previous satellite studies, researchers have used models like PIOMAS to simulate changes in sea ice volume. The study's observations show a larger autumn ice volume decrease than predicted, while changes in the winter are smaller than in the model simulation. "It's important to know because changes in volume indicate changes in heat exchange between the ice, ocean and atmosphere," said Kurtz.

This study, and the knowledge that the datasets are compatible, also serves to lay groundwork for ICESat-2. CryoSat-2 gathers data over more of the Arctic than ICESat did by reaching 88 degrees north (ICESat reached 86 degrees). ICESat-2 will orbit Earth at the same angle as CryoSat-2 and will therefore survey the same amount of the Arctic.

CryoSat-2 is funded through 2017 but will likely operate until the end of the decade, giving overlapping coverage with ICESat-2. This potential overlap greatly improves the prospects for better knowledge of Arctic sea ice volume. "The hope is that we'll be able to create a multi-decadal record using ICESat, CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2," said Kwok.

For more about ICESat, visit: http://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov/ . For more about Operation IceBridge, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/icebridge/index.html . For more about CryoSat-2, visit: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/CryoSat . For more about the Beaufort Gyre Exploration Project, visit: http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=66296 .

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=cjLOJ0MGIeISI5MWF&s=iiKYK1MFJeJKJ0PLLsH&m=jtJ1JfPOIiKWIgI

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=fmJUK9NSKhKYKfP9H&s=iiKYK1MFJeJKJ0PLLsH&m=jtJ1JfPOIiKWIgI

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

JPL to Lead U.S. Science Team for Dark Energy Mission

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 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: 2013-055 Feb. 12, 2013

JPL to Lead U.S. Science Team for Dark Energy Mission

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-055&cid=release_2013-055

PASADENA, Calif. -- The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected three NASA-nominated science teams to participate in their planned Euclid mission, including one team led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

NASA is a partner in the Euclid mission, a space telescope designed to probe the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter. Euclid is currently scheduled to launch in 2020.

JPL will provide 16 advanced infrared detectors and four spare detectors for one of two instruments planned for the mission. In addition, JPL will contribute to science planning and data analysis with the help of its 43-member science team, the largest of the three U.S. teams. This team, led by JPL scientist Jason Rhodes, is composed of 29 scientists recently nominated by NASA, and 14 U.S. scientists who are already part of Euclid.

The other two U.S. science teams are led by Ranga-Ram Chary of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena; and Alexander Kashlinsky of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.; with three and seven members, respectively.

Rhodes also was appointed by NASA to be a member of ESA's principal 12-member Euclid Science Team and the U.S. representative for the Euclid Consortium's governing body. The Euclid Consortium is an international body of 1,000 members, including the U.S. science team members, and will build the instruments and analyze the science data jointly.

"Understanding the hidden contents of the universe and the nature of the dark energy will require the collaboration of astronomers and engineers around the world," said Rhodes.

Euclid will observe up to two billion galaxies occupying more than one-third of the sky with the goal of better understanding the contents of our universe. Everyday matter that we see around us, for example in tables and chairs, people and even stars, makes up only a few percent of everything in our cosmos. If you could fill a bucket with the mass and energy contents of our universe, this everyday matter would fill only a small fraction. A larger amount, about 24 percent, would consist of dark matter, an invisible substance that does not reflect or emit any light, but exerts a gravitational tug on other matter.

The majority of our universal bucket, about 73 percent, is thought to be filled with dark energy, something even more mysterious than dark matter. Whereas dark matter pulls through its gravity, dark energy is thought to be a repulsive force pushing matter apart. Scientists think dark energy may be responsible for stretching our universe apart at ever-increasing speeds, an observation that earned the Nobel Prize in 2011.

Euclid scientists will use two methods to make the most precise measurements yet of our "dark" universe. The first method, called weak lensing, involves analyzing the shapes of billions of galaxies across more than half the age of the universe. When dark matter lies in front of galaxies, it can't be seen, but its gravity distorts the light from the galaxies behind it. More dark matter will lead to slightly larger distortions. By measuring these minute distortions, scientists can understand the amount and distribution of the dark matter between these galaxies and us.

Changes in these dark matter structures over time are governed by interplay between the attractive force of gravity and the repulsive dark energy. Thus, studying galaxy shapes reveals information about both dark matter and dark energy.

The second method, called galaxy clustering or baryon acoustic oscillations, will serve as an independent measurement of dark energy. Early in the universe, galaxies were imprinted with a standard distance between them. This distance -- referred to as a standard ruler -- expands as the universe itself expands. By making precise measurements of the distances between tens of millions of galaxies, the scientists will be able to chart this expansion and learn more about the dark energy driving it. Observations of how the galaxies are clustered will also further probe dark matter.

The JPL-led U.S. science team will employ both of these methods and work together with the rest of the Euclid scientists to shine light on the darkest riddles of our cosmos. Of the 43 team members, six are based at JPL. They are: Olivier Doré, Peter Eisenhardt, Alina Kiessling, Leonidas Moustakas, Jason Rhodes and Daniel Stern. Two additional team members, Peter Capak and Harry Teplitz, are based at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center.

Mike Seiffert is the U.S. project scientist for Euclid at JPL, and Ulf Israelsson is the U.S. project manager at JPL.

Euclid is a European Space Agency mission with science instruments and data analysis provided by the Euclid consortium with important participation from NASA. NASA's Euclid Project Office is based at JPL. JPL will contribute the infrared flight detectors for one of Euclid's two science instruments. NASA Goddard will assist with infrared detector characterization and will perform detailed testing on flight detectors prior to delivery. Three U.S. science teams, led by JPL, Goddard and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech, will contribute to science planning and data analysis. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

More information is online at http://www.nasa.gov/euclid and http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=102 .

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=6nICIHNiEcKGJIPwA&s=isIYI1MFKeKKJ0NLJsE&m=mmL7JlNXJeJUIoK

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=9gJIIQPuGfJMLSNJG&s=isIYI1MFKeKKJ0NLJsE&m=mmL7JlNXJeJUIoK

Saturn, Afterschool Education Highlighted in Upcoming Workshop

Informal Educator Workshop Feb. 12, 2013

This is a feature from the NASA/JPL Education Office.

Jewel of the Solar System Workshop

Date: Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Target audience: Informal educators for 4th and 5th grade students (all educators welcome)

Location: NASA/JPL Educator Resource Center, Pomona, Calif.

Overview: Kids love space and the excitement of solar system exploration! Come to this workshop for informal educators and learn about the newest NASA afterschool program guide! Aimed at youth in grades 4 and 5, "Jewel of the Solar System" gives youth and leaders a fun way to learn science and engineering through language and creative arts -- in the context of exploring the planet Saturn. Using materials from your supply closet, follow an active, live robotic planetary exploration mission, NASA's Cassini-Huygens, and help young learners make a personal connection to the excitement of scientific discovery and engineering design.

The workshop will be held at the JPL Educator Resource Center in Pomona, Calif. To sign up, please call the Resource Center at 909-397-4420.

For more information and directions, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=115

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=evKSK5NOIfIZJkN8F&s=jjJ0L4OJLfJMK3PPKtG&m=ffKTI0PvEgIQK4I

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=7eIEKKOmH8LLL0MHE&s=jjJ0L4OJLfJMK3PPKtG&m=ffKTI0PvEgIQK4I

NASA Satellites Find Freshwater Losses in Middle East

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

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

Steve Cole 202-358-0918
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

Janet Wilson 949-824-3969
University of California, Irvine
janethw@uci.edu

News release: 2013-054 Feb. 12, 2013

NASA Satellites Find Freshwater Losses in Middle East

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-054&cid=release_2013-054

PASADENA, Calif. – A new study using data from a pair of gravity-measuring NASA satellites finds that large parts of the arid Middle East region lost freshwater reserves rapidly during the past decade.

Scientists at the University of California, Irvine; NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; and the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., found during a seven-year period beginning in 2003 that parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran along the Tigris and Euphrates river basins lost 117 million acre feet (144 cubic kilometers) of total stored freshwater. That is almost the amount of water in the Dead Sea. The researchers attribute about 60 percent of the loss to pumping of groundwater from underground reservoirs.

The findings, to be published Friday, Feb. 15, in the journal Water Resources Research, are the result of one of the first comprehensive hydrological assessments of the entire Tigris-Euphrates-Western Iran region. Because obtaining ground-based data in the area is difficult, satellite data, such as those from NASA's twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites, are essential. GRACE is providing a global picture of water storage trends and is invaluable when hydrologic observations are not routinely collected or shared beyond political boundaries.

"GRACE data show an alarming rate of decrease in total water storage in the Tigris and Euphrates river basins, which currently have the second fastest rate of groundwater storage loss on Earth, after India," said Jay Famiglietti, principle investigator of the study and a hydrologist and professor at UC Irvine. "The rate was especially striking after the 2007 drought. Meanwhile, demand for freshwater continues to rise, and the region does not coordinate its water management because of different interpretations of international laws."

Famiglietti said GRACE is like having a giant scale in the sky. Within a given region, rising or falling water reserves alter Earth's mass, influencing how strong the local gravitational attraction is. By periodically measuring gravity regionally, GRACE tells us how much each region's water storage changes over time.

"GRACE really is the only way we can estimate groundwater storage changes from space right now," Famiglietti said.

The team calculated about one-fifth of the observed water losses resulted from soil drying up and snowpack shrinking, partly in response to the 2007 drought. Loss of surface water from lakes and reservoirs accounted for about another fifth of the losses. The majority of the water lost -- approximately 73 million acre feet (90 cubic kilometers) -- was due to reductions in groundwater.

"That's enough water to meet the needs of tens of millions to more than a hundred million people in the region each year, depending on regional water use standards and availability," said Famiglietti.

Famiglietti said when a drought reduces an available surface water supply, irrigators and other water users turn to groundwater supplies. For example, the Iraqi government drilled about 1,000 wells in response to the 2007 drought, a number that does not include the numerous private wells landowners also very likely drilled.

"Water management is a complex issue in the Middle East -- an area that already is dealing with limited water resources and competing stakeholders," said Kate Voss, lead author of the study and a water policy fellow with the University of California's Center for Hydrological Modeling in Irvine, which Famiglietti directs.

"The Middle East just does not have that much water to begin with, and it's a part of the world that will be experiencing less rainfall with climate change," said Famiglietti. "Those dry areas are getting dryer. The Middle East and the world's other arid regions need to manage available water resources as best they can."

Study co-author Matt Rodell of Goddard added it is important to remember groundwater is being extracted unsustainably in parts of the United States, as well.

"Groundwater is like your savings account," Rodell said. "It's okay to draw it down when you need it, but if it's not replenished, eventually it will be gone."

GRACE is a joint mission with the German Aerospace Center and the German Research Center for Geosciences, in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin. For more about GRACE, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/grace and http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace . The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA
-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=elKSK5NNIkI4JfN4F&s=lvL4IaORJhKQL9MXKvG&m=jjL1KcMLLgKZJlJ

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=7eIEKKOlHdLQLVMDE&s=lvL4IaORJhKQL9MXKvG&m=jjL1KcMLLgKZJlJ

Saturday, February 9, 2013

NASA Curiosity Rover Collects First Martian Bedrock Sample

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

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

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

News release: 2013-052 Feb. 9, 2013

NASA Curiosity Rover Collects First Martian Bedrock Sample

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-052&cid=release_2013-052

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Curiosity rover has, for the first time, used a drill carried at the end of its robotic arm to bore into a flat, veiny rock on Mars and collect a sample from its interior. This is the first time any robot has drilled into a rock to collect a sample on Mars.

The fresh hole, about 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) wide and 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) deep in a patch of fine-grained sedimentary bedrock, can be seen in images and other data Curiosity beamed to Earth Saturday. The rock is believed to hold evidence about long-gone wet environments. In pursuit of that evidence, the rover will use its laboratory instruments to analyze rock powder collected by the drill.

"The most advanced planetary robot ever designed is now a fully operating analytical laboratory on Mars," said John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission Directorate. "This is the biggest milestone accomplishment for the Curiosity team since the sky-crane landing last August, another proud day for America."

For the next several days, ground controllers will command the rover's arm to carry out a series of steps to process the sample, ultimately delivering portions to the instruments inside.

"We commanded the first full-depth drilling, and we believe we have collected sufficient material from the rock to meet our objectives of hardware cleaning and sample drop-off," said Avi Okon, drill cognizant engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Rock powder generated during drilling travels up flutes on the bit. The bit assembly has chambers to hold the powder until it can be transferred to the sample-handling mechanisms of the rover's Collection and Handling for In-Situ Martian Rock Analysis (CHIMRA) device.

Before the rock powder is analyzed, some will be used to scour traces of material that may have been deposited onto the hardware while the rover was still on Earth, despite thorough cleaning before launch.

"We'll take the powder we acquired and swish it around to scrub the internal surfaces of the drill bit assembly," said JPL's Scott McCloskey, drill systems engineer. "Then we'll use the arm to transfer the powder out of the drill into the scoop, which will be our first chance to see the acquired sample."

"Building a tool to interact forcefully with unpredictable rocks on Mars required an ambitious development and testing program," said JPL's Louise Jandura, chief engineer for Curiosity's sample system. "To get to the point of making this hole in a rock on Mars, we made eight drills and bored more than 1,200 holes in 20 types of rock on Earth."

Inside the sample-handling device, the powder will be vibrated once or twice over a sieve that screens out any particles larger than six-thousandths of an inch (150 microns) across. Small portions of the sieved sample will fall through ports on the rover deck into the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument and the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument. These instruments then will begin the much-anticipated detailed analysis.

The rock Curiosity drilled is called "John Klein" in memory of a Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2011. Drilling for a sample is the last new activity for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project, which is using the car-size Curiosity rover to investigate whether an area within Mars' Gale Crater has ever offered an environment favorable for life.

JPL manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For images and more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ .

You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=6nJBIPOrFdIKIMMxD&s=gqKUJVPxFcJGJUNDIqF&m=eeKQKZPtFcLJLYK

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=9gKHJYPDIgLQKWPKF&s=gqKUJVPxFcJGJUNDIqF&m=eeKQKZPtFcLJLYK

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Telescopes Discover Strobe-Like Flashes in a Suspected Binary Protostar

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

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

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

News release: 2013-050 Feb. 7, 2013

NASA Telescopes Discover Strobe-Like Flashes in a Suspected Binary Protostar

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-050&cid=release_2013-050

PASADENA, Calif.-- Two of NASA's great observatories, the Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes, have teamed up to uncover a mysterious infant star that behaves like a strobe light.

Every 25.34 days, the object, designated LRLL 54361, unleashes a burst of light. Although a similar phenomenon has been observed in two other young stellar objects, this is the most powerful such beacon seen to date.

The heart of the fireworks is hidden behind a dense disk and an envelope of dust. Astronomers propose the light flashes are caused by periodic interactions between two newly formed stars that are binary, or gravitationally bound to each other. LRLL 54361 offers insights into the early stages of star formation when lots of gas and dust is being rapidly accreted, or pulled together, to form a new binary star.

Astronomers theorize the flashes are caused by material suddenly being dumped onto the growing stars, known as protostars. A blast of radiation is unleashed each time the stars get close to each other in their orbits. This phenomenon, called pulsed accretion, has been seen in later stages of star birth, but never in such a young system or with such intensity and regularity.

"This protostar has such large brightness variations with a precise period that it is very difficult to explain," said James Muzerolle of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md. His paper recently was published in the science journal Nature.

Discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, LRLL 54361 is a variable object inside the star-forming region IC 348, located 950 light-years from Earth. Data from Spitzer revealed the presence of protostars. Based on statistical analysis, the two stars are estimated to be no more than a few hundred thousand years old.

The Spitzer infrared data, collected repeatedly during a period of seven years, showed unusual outbursts in the brightness of the suspected binary protostar. Surprisingly, the outbursts recurred every 25.34 days, which is a very rare phenomenon.

Astronomers used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to confirm the Spitzer observations and reveal the detailed stellar structure around LRLL 54361. Hubble observed two cavities above and below a dusty disk. The cavities are visible by tracing light scattered off their edges. They likely were blown out of the surrounding natal envelope of dust and gas by an outflow launched near the central stars. The disk and the envelope prevent the suspected binary star pair from being observed directly. By capturing multiple images over the course of one pulse event, the Hubble observations uncovered a spectacular movement of light away from the center of the system, an optical illusion known as a light echo.

Muzerolle and his team hypothesized the pair of stars in the center of the dust cloud move around one another in a very eccentric orbit. As the stars approach each other, dust and gas are dragged from the inner edge of a surrounding disk. The material ultimately crashes onto one or both stars, which triggers a flash of light that illuminates the circumstellar dust. The system is rare because close binaries account for only a few percent of our galaxy's stellar population. This is likely a brief, transitory phase in the birth of a star system.

Muzerolle's team next plans to continue monitoring LRLL 54361 using other facilities, including the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Telescope. The team hopes to eventually obtain more direct measurements of the binary star and its orbit.

For related images and video, visit: http://hubblesite.org/news/2013/04 .

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 in Pasadena. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more information about Spitzer, visit: http://spitzer.caltech.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer .

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.,
manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md., conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington. For more information on Hubble visit: www.nasa.gov/hubble and http://hubblesite.org/ .

-end-

To remove yourself from this mailing, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=fmKTKfN1IkI2KjNaG&s=eeLQLPMpFaLCLOPvHoH&m=mwI6JiPVLgJWKoK

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=8pLFLUPzHdLOIZMJE&s=eeLQLPMpFaLCLOPvHoH&m=mwI6JiPVLgJWKoK

Top Stories

MY SEARCH ENGINE