First of NASA's Grail Spacecraft Enters Moon Orbit

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

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

Caroline McCall 617-253-1682
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
cmcall5@mit.edu

News release: 2011-398 December 31, 2011

First of NASA's Grail Spacecraft Enters Moon Orbit

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-398&cid=release_2011-398

PASADENA, Calif. – The first of two NASA spacecraft to study the moon in unprecedented detail
has entered lunar orbit.

NASA's Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL)-A spacecraft successfully completed
its planned main engine burn at 2 p.m. PST (5 p.m. EST) today. As of 3 p.m. PST (6 p.m. EST),
GRAIL-A is in an orbit of 56 miles by 5,197 miles (90 kilometers by 8,363 kilometers) around the
moon that takes approximately 11.5 hours to complete.

"My resolution for the new year is to unlock lunar mysteries and understand how the moon, Earth and
other rocky planets evolved," said Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in Cambridge. "Now, with GRAIL-A successfully placed in orbit around the
moon, we are one step closer to achieving that goal."

The next mission milestone occurs tomorrow when GRAIL-A's mirror twin, GRAIL-B, performs its
own main engine burn to place it in lunar orbit. At 3 p.m. PST (6 p.m. EST) today, GRAIL-B was
30,018 miles (48,309 kilometers) from the moon and closing at a rate of 896 mph (1,442 kilometers
per hour). GRAIL-B's insertion burn is scheduled to begin tomorrow, Jan. 1, at 2:05 p.m. PST (5:05
p.m. EST) and will last about 39 minutes.

"With GRAIL-A in lunar orbit we are halfway home," said David Lehman, GRAIL project manager
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Tomorrow may be New Year's everywhere
else, but it's another work day around the moon and here at JPL for the GRAIL team."

Once both spacecraft are confirmed in orbit and operating, science work will begin in March. The
spacecraft will transmit radio signals precisely defining the distance between them as they orbit the
moon in formation. As they fly over areas of greater and lesser gravity caused by both visible
features, such as mountains and craters, and masses hidden beneath the lunar surface, the distance
between the two spacecraft will change slightly.

Scientists will translate this information into a high-resolution map of the moon's gravitational field.
The data will allow scientists to understand what goes on below the lunar surface. This information
will increase knowledge of how Earth and its rocky neighbors in the inner solar system developed
into the diverse worlds we see today.

JPL manages the GRAIL mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's
headquarters in Washington. The GRAIL mission is part of the Discovery Program managed at
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver
built the spacecraft.

For more information about GRAIL, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/grail .

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NASA's GRAIL-A Spacecraft 24 Hours Away From Moon

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

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

Caroline McCall 617-253-1682
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
cmcall5@mit.edu

News release: 2011-397 December 30, 2011

NASA's GRAIL-A Spacecraft 24 Hours Away From Moon

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-397&cid=release_2011-397

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL)-A spacecraft is within
24 hours of its insertion burn that will place it into lunar orbit. At the time the spacecraft crossed the
milestone at 1:21 p.m. PST today (4:21 p.m. EST), the spacecraft was 30,758 miles (49,500
kilometers) from the moon.

Launched aboard the same rocket on Sept. 10, 2011, GRAIL-A's mirror twin, GRAIL-B, is also
closing the gap between itself and the moon. GRAIL-B is scheduled to perform its lunar orbit insertion
burn on New Year's Day (Jan. 1) at 2:05 p.m. PST (5:05 p.m. EST).

As they close in on the moon, both orbiters move toward the moon from the south, flying nearly directly
over the lunar south pole. The lunar orbit insertion burn for GRAIL-A will take approximately 40
minutes to complete and change the spacecraft's velocity by about 427 mph (687 kph). GRAIL-B's
insertion burn – occurring 25 hours later -- will last about 39 minutes and is expected to change its
velocity by 430 mph (692 kph).

The insertion maneuvers will place each orbiter into a near-polar, elliptical orbit with an orbital period of
11.5 hours. Over the following weeks, the GRAIL team will execute a series of burns with each
spacecraft to reduce their period down to just under two hours. At the start of the science phase in
March 2012, the two GRAILs will be in a near-polar, near-circular orbit with an altitude of about 34
miles (55 kilometers).

During the science phase, the moon will rotate three times underneath the GRAIL orbit. The collection
of gravity data over one complete rotation (27.3 days) is referred to as a Mapping Cycle. When science
collection begins, the spacecraft will transmit radio signals precisely defining the distance between them
as they orbit the moon in formation. Regional gravitational differences on the moon are expected to
expand and contract that distance. GRAIL scientists will use these accurate measurements to define the
moon's gravity field. The data will allow mission scientists to understand what goes on below the surface
of our natural satellite. This information will help us learn more about how the moon, Earth and other
terrestrial planets formed.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the GRAIL mission. The Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, is home to the mission's principal investigator, Maria Zuber. The
GRAIL mission is part of the Discovery Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. JPL is a division of the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

More information about GRAIL is online at: http://www.nasa.gov/grail and http://grail.nasa.gov .

The GRAIL press kit can be found online at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/graiLaunch.pdf .

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NASA Twin Spacecraft on Final Approach for Moon Orbit

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

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

Caroline McCall 617-253-1682
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
cmcall5@mit.edu

News release: 2011-396 December 29, 2011

NASA Twin Spacecraft on Final Approach for Moon Orbit

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-396&cid=release_2011-396

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's twin spacecraft to study the moon from crust to core are nearing their
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day main-engine burns to place the duo in lunar orbit.

Named Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL), the spacecraft are scheduled to be
placed in orbit beginning at 1:21 p.m. PST (4:21 p.m. EST) for GRAIL-A on Dec. 31, and 2:05 p.m.
PST (5:05 p.m. EST) for GRAIL-B the next day.

"Our team may not get to partake in a traditional New Year's celebration, but I expect seeing our two
spacecraft safely in lunar orbit should give us all the excitement and feeling of euphoria anyone in
this line of work would ever need," said David Lehman, project manager for GRAIL from NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

The distance from Earth to the moon is approximately 250,000 miles (402,336 kilometers). NASA's
Apollo crews took about three days to travel to the moon. Launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station Sept. 10, 2011, the GRAIL spacecraft are taking about 30 times that long and covering more
than 2.5 million miles (4 million kilometers) to get there.

This low-energy, long-duration trajectory has given mission planners and controllers more time to
assess the spacecraft's health. The path also allowed a vital component of the spacecraft's single
science instrument, the Ultra Stable Oscillator, to be continuously powered for several months. That
allowed it to reach a stable operating temperature long before science measurements from lunar orbit
are to begin.

"This mission will rewrite the textbooks on the evolution of the moon," said Maria Zuber, GRAIL
principal investigator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. "Our two
spacecraft are operating so well during their journey that we have performed a full test of our science
instrument and confirmed the performance required to meet our science objectives".

As of Dec. 28, GRAIL-A is 65,860 miles (106,000 kilometers) from the moon and closing at a speed
of 745 miles per hour (1,200 kilometers per hour). GRAIL-B is 79,540 miles (128,000 kilometers)
from the moon and closing at a speed of 763 mph (1,228 kilometers per hour).

During their final approaches to the moon, both orbiters move toward it from the south, flying nearly
directly over the lunar south pole. The lunar orbit insertion burn for GRAIL-A will take
approximately 40 minutes and change the spacecraft's velocity by about 427 mph (688 kilometers per
hour). GRAIL-B's insertion burn 25 hours later will last about 39 minutes and is expected to change
the probe's velocity by 430 mph (691 kilometers per hour).

The insertion maneuvers will place each orbiter into a near-polar, elliptical orbit with a period of 11.5
hours. Over the following weeks, the GRAIL team will execute a series of burns with each spacecraft
to reduce their orbital period from 11.5 hours down to just under two hours. At the start of the science
phase in March 2012, the two GRAILs will be in a near-polar, near-circular orbit with an altitude of
about 34 miles (55 kilometers).

When science collection begins, the spacecraft will transmit radio signals precisely defining the
distance between them as they orbit the moon. As they fly over areas of greater and lesser gravity,
caused both by visible features such as mountains and craters and by masses hidden beneath the lunar
surface. they will move slightly toward and away from each other. An instrument aboard each
spacecraft will measure the changes in their relative velocity very precisely, and scientists will
translate this information into a high-resolution map of the moon's gravitational field. The data will
allow mission scientists to understand what goes on below the surface. This information will increase
our knowledge of how Earth and its rocky neighbors in the inner solar system developed into the
diverse worlds we see today.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the GRAIL mission. The
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, is home to the mission's principal investigator,
Maria Zuber. The GRAIL mission is part of the Discovery Program managed at NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft.
JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

More information about GRAIL is online at: http://www.nasa.gov/grail and http://grail.nasa.gov .

The GRAIL press kit can be found online at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/graiLaunch.pdf .

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NASA to Host Media Telecon on Probes' Moon Orbit Insertion

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

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

Caroline McCall 617-253-1682
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Cmccall5@mit.edu

Advisory: 2011-395b December 23, 2011

NASA to Host Media Telecon on Probes' Moon Orbit Insertion

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-395b&cid=release_2011-395b

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will hold a media teleconference at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST) on
Wednesday, Dec. 28, to preview twin spacecraft being placed in orbit around the moon on New Year's
Eve and New Year's Day.

NASA's twin lunar Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) probes were launched from
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Sept. 10, 2011. GRAIL-A is scheduled to arrive in lunar orbit
beginning at 1:21 p.m. PST (4:21 p.m. EST) on Saturday, Dec. 31, and GRAIL-B on Sunday, Jan. 1,
beginning at 2:05 p.m. PST (5:05 p.m. EST). After confirmation they are in orbit and operating
nominally, the two solar-powered spacecraft will fly in tandem orbits to answer longstanding questions
about the moon and give scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the
solar system formed.

Participants are:
- Maria Zuber, principal investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
- David Lehman, project manager, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio .
Supporting images will be available 15 minutes prior to the telecon at: http://1.usa.gov/grailnews

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the GRAIL mission. The Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, is home to the mission's principal investigator, Maria Zuber. The
GRAIL mission is part of the Discovery Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. JPL is a division of the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

For more information about GRAIL visit: http://www.nasa.gov/grail .

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NASA's Cassini Delivers Holiday Treats From Saturn

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

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

Joe Mason 720-974-5859
Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
media@ciclops.org

Image advisory: 2011-393 Dec. 22, 2011

NASA's Cassini Delivers Holiday Treats From Saturn

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-393&cid=release_2011-393

PASADENA, Calif. -- No team of reindeer, but radio signals flying clear across the solar system from
NASA's Cassini spacecraft have delivered a holiday package of glorious images. The pictures, from
Cassini's imaging team, show Saturn's largest, most colorful ornament, Titan, and other icy baubles in
orbit around this splendid planet.

The release includes images of satellite conjunctions in which one moon passes in front of or behind
another. Cassini scientists regularly make these observations to study the ever-changing orbits of the
planet's moons. But even in these routine images, the Saturnian system shines. A few of Saturn's stark,
airless, icy moons appear to dangle next to the orange orb of Titan, the only moon in the solar system
with a substantial atmosphere. Titan's atmosphere is of great interest because of its similarities to the
atmosphere believed to exist long ago on the early Earth.

The images are online at: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini , http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and
http://ciclops.org .

While it may be wintry in Earth's northern hemisphere, it is currently northern spring in the Saturnian
system and it will remain so for several Earth years. Current plans to extend the Cassini mission
through 2017 will supply a continued bounty of scientifically rewarding and majestic views of Saturn
and its moons and rings, as spectators are treated to the passage of northern spring and the arrival of
summer in May 2017.

"As another year traveling this magnificent sector of our solar system draws to a close, all of us on
Cassini wish all of you a very happy and peaceful holiday season, " said Carolyn Porco, Cassini
imaging team lead at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.

More information about Cassini mission is online at http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .

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 and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed
and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

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NASA Telescopes Help Find Rare Galaxy at Dawn of Time

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

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

Feature: 2011-392 Dec. 21, 2011

NASA Telescopes Help Find Rare Galaxy at Dawn of Time

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-392&cid=release_2011-392

Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes have discovered that one of the
most distant galaxies known is churning out stars at a shockingly high rate. The blob-shaped galaxy,
called GN-108036, is the brightest galaxy found to date at such great distances.

The galaxy, which was discovered and confirmed using ground-based telescopes, is 12.9 billion
light-years away. Data from Spitzer and Hubble were used to measure the galaxy's high star
production rate, equivalent to about 100 suns per year. For reference, our Milky Way galaxy is about
five times larger and 100 times more massive than GN-108036, but makes roughly 30 times fewer
stars per year.

"The discovery is surprising because previous surveys had not found galaxies this bright so early in
the history of the universe," said Mark Dickinson of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in
Tucson, Ariz. "Perhaps those surveys were just too small to find galaxies like GN-108036. It may
be a special, rare object that we just happened to catch during an extreme burst of star formation."

The international team of astronomers, led by Masami Ouchi of the University of Tokyo, Japan, first
identified the remote galaxy after scanning a large patch of sky with the Subaru Telescope atop
Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Its great distance was then carefully confirmed with the W.M. Keck
Observatory, also on Mauna Kea.

"We checked our results on three different occasions over two years, and each time confirmed the
previous measurement," said Yoshiaki Ono of the University of Tokyo, lead author of a new paper
reporting the findings in the Astrophysical Journal.

GN-108036 lies near the very beginning of time itself, a mere 750 million years after our universe
was created 13.7 billion years ago in an explosive "Big Bang." Its light has taken 12.9 billion years
to reach us, so we are seeing it as it existed in the very distant past.

Astronomers refer to the object's distance by a number called its "redshift," which relates to how
much its light has stretched to longer, redder wavelengths due to the expansion of the universe.
Objects with larger redshifts are farther away and are seen further back in time. GN-108036 has a
redshift of 7.2. Only a handful of galaxies have confirmed redshifts greater than 7, and only two of
these have been reported to be more distant than GN-108036.

Infrared observations from Spitzer and Hubble were crucial for measuring the galaxy's star-
formation activity. Astronomers were surprised to see such a large burst of star formation because
the galaxy is so small and from such an early cosmic era. Back when galaxies were first forming, in
the first few hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang, they were much smaller than they are
today, having yet to bulk up in mass.

During this epoch, as the universe expanded and cooled after its explosive start, hydrogen atoms
permeating the cosmos formed a thick fog that was opaque to ultraviolet light. This period, before
the first stars and galaxies had formed and illuminated the universe, is referred to as the "dark
ages." The era came to an end when light from the earliest galaxies burned through, or "ionized," the
opaque gas, causing it to become transparent. Galaxies similar to GN-108036 may have played an
important role in this event.

"The high rate of star formation found for GN-108036 implies that it was rapidly building up its
mass some 750 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only about five percent of
its present age," said Bahram Mobasher, a team member from the University of California,
Riverside. "This was therefore a likely ancestor of massive and evolved galaxies seen today."

Other authors include: Kyle Penner and Benjamin J. Weiner of the University of Arizona, Tucson;
Kazuhiro Shimasaku and Kimihiko Nakajima of the University of Tokyo; Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe of
the National Optical Astronomy Observatory; Hooshang Nayyeri of the University of California,
Riverside; Daniel Stern of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; Nobunari
Kashikawa of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; and Hyron Spinrad of University of
California, Berkeley.

JPL 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. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more information about
Spitzer, visit http://spitzer.caltech.edu/ and http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer .

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Dawn Obtains First Low Altitude Images of Vesta

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

Image advisory: 2011-391 Dec. 21, 2011

Dawn Obtains First Low Altitude Images of Vesta

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-391&cid=release_2011-391

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA's Dawn spacecraft has sent back the first images of the
giant asteroid Vesta from its low-altitude mapping orbit. The images, obtained by the
framing camera, show the stippled and lumpy surface in detail never seen before, piquing
the curiosity of scientists who are studying Vesta for clues about the solar system's early
history.

At this detailed resolution, the surface shows abundant small craters, and textures such as
small grooves and lineaments that are reminiscent of the structures seen in low-resolution
data from the higher-altitude orbits. Also, this fine scale highlights small outcrops of
bright and dark material.

A gallery of images can be found online at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/multimedia/gallery-index.html .

The images were returned to Earth on Dec. 13. Dawn scientists plan to acquire data in
the low-altitude mapping orbit for at least 10 weeks. The primary science objectives in
this orbit are to learn about the elemental composition of Vesta's surface with the gamma
ray and neutron detector and to probe the interior structure of the asteroid by measuring
the gravity field.

The Dawn mission to the asteroids Vesta and Ceres is managed by NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Dawn is a project of the
directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. The Dawn
Framing Cameras have been developed and built under the leadership of the Max Planck
Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany, with significant
contributions by DLR German Aerospace Center, Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin,
and in coordination with the Institute of Computer and Communication Network
Engineering, Braunschweig. The framing camera project is funded by the Max Planck
Society, DLR, and NASA/JPL.

More information about the Dawn mission is online at: http://www.nasa.gov/dawn and
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov .
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NASA Discovers First Earth-Size Planets Beyond Our Solar System

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

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

Trent Perrotto 202-358-0321
NASA Headquarters, Washington
trent.j.perrotto@nasa.gov

Michele Johnson 650-604-6982
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
michele.johnson@nasa.gov

News release: 2011-390 December 20, 2011

NASA Discovers First Earth-Size Planets Beyond Our Solar System

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-390&cid=release_2011-390

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a
sun-like star outside our solar system. The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close
to their star to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface,
but they are the smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun.

The discovery marks the next important milestone in the ultimate search for planets like Earth. The
new planets are thought to be rocky. Kepler-20e is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring 0.87
times the radius of Earth. Kepler-20f is slightly larger than Earth, measuring 1.03 times its radius.
Both planets reside in a five-planet system called Kepler-20, approximately 1,000 light-years away
in the constellation Lyra.

Kepler-20e orbits its parent star every 6.1 days and Kepler-20f every 19.6 days. These short orbital
periods mean very hot, inhospitable worlds. Kepler-20f, at 800 degrees Fahrenheit (427 degrees
Celsius), is similar to an average day on the planet Mercury. The surface temperature of Kepler-20e,
at more than 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit (760 degrees Celsius), would melt glass.

"The primary goal of the Kepler mission is to find Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone," said
Francois Fressin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., lead
author of a new study published in the journal Nature. "This discovery demonstrates for the first
time that Earth-size planets exist around other stars, and that we are able to detect them."

The Kepler-20 system includes three other planets that are larger than Earth but smaller than
Neptune. Kepler-20b, the closest planet, Kepler-20c, the third planet, and Kepler-20d, the fifth
planet, orbit their star every 3.7, 10.9 and 77.6 days, respectively. All five planets have orbits lying
roughly within Mercury's orbit in our solar system. The host star belongs to the same G-type class as
our sun, although it is slightly smaller and cooler.

The system has an unexpected arrangement. In our solar system, small, rocky worlds orbit close to
the sun and large, gaseous worlds orbit farther out. In comparison, the planets of Kepler-20 are
organized in alternating size: large, small, large, small and large.

"The Kepler data are showing us some planetary systems have arrangements of planets very
different from that seen in our solar system," said Jack Lissauer, planetary scientist and Kepler
science team member at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "The analysis of
Kepler data continues to reveal new insights about the diversity of planets and planetary systems
within our galaxy."

Scientists are not certain how the system evolved, but they do not think the planets formed in their
existing locations. They theorize the planets formed farther from their star and then migrated inward,
likely through interactions with the disk of material from which they originated. This allowed the
worlds to maintain their regular spacing despite alternating sizes.

The Kepler space telescope detects planets and planet candidates by measuring dips in the brightness
of more than 150,000 stars to search for planets crossing in front of, or transiting, their stars. The
Kepler science team requires at least three transits to verify a signal as a planet.

The Kepler science team uses ground-based telescopes and the Spitzer Space Telescope to review
observations on planet candidates the Kepler spacecraft finds. The star field Kepler observes in the
constellations Cygnus and Lyra can be seen only from ground-based observatories in spring through
early fall. The data from these other observations help determine which candidates can be validated
as planets.

To validate Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, astronomers used a computer program called Blender, which
runs simulations to help rule out other astrophysical phenomena masquerading as a planet.

On Dec. 5, the team announced the discovery of Kepler-22b in the habitable zone of its parent star.
It is likely to be too large to have a rocky surface. While Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f are Earth-size,
they are too close to their parent star to have liquid water on the surface.

"In the cosmic game of hide and seek, finding planets with just the right size and just the right
temperature seems only a matter of time," said Natalie Batalha, Kepler deputy science team lead and
professor of astronomy and physics at San Jose State University. "We are on the edge of our seats
knowing that Kepler's most anticipated discoveries are still to come."

NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., manages Kepler's ground system
development, mission operations and science data analysis. JPL managed the Kepler mission's
development.

For more information about the Kepler mission and to view the digital press kit, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/kepler .

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NASA: Climate Change May Bring Big Ecosystem Changes

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 release: 2011-387 Dec. 14, 2011

NASA: Climate Change May Bring Big Ecosystem Changes

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-387&cid=release_2011-387

PASADENA, Calif. – By 2100, global climate change will modify plant communities covering
almost half of Earth's land surface and will drive the conversion of nearly 40 percent of land-based
ecosystems from one major ecological community type – such as forest, grassland or tundra – toward
another, according to a new NASA and university computer modeling study.

Researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, Calif., investigated how Earth's plant life is likely to react over the next three centuries as
Earth's climate changes in response to rising levels of human-produced greenhouse gases. Study
results are published in the journal Climatic Change.

The model projections paint a portrait of increasing ecological change and stress in Earth's biosphere,
with many plant and animal species facing increasing competition for survival, as well as significant
species turnover, as some species invade areas occupied by other species. Most of Earth's land that is
not covered by ice or desert is projected to undergo at least a 30 percent change in plant cover –
changes that will require humans and animals to adapt and often relocate.

In addition to altering plant communities, the study predicts climate change will disrupt the
ecological balance between interdependent and often endangered plant and animal species, reduce
biodiversity and adversely affect Earth's water, energy, carbon and other element cycles.

"For more than 25 years, scientists have warned of the dangers of human-induced climate change,"
said Jon Bergengren, a scientist who led the study while a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech. "Our study
introduces a new view of climate change, exploring the ecological implications of a few degrees of
global warming. While warnings of melting glaciers, rising sea levels and other environmental
changes are illustrative and important, ultimately, it's the ecological consequences that matter most."

When faced with climate change, plant species often must "migrate" over multiple generations, as
they can only survive, compete and reproduce within the range of climates to which they are
evolutionarily and physiologically adapted. While Earth's plants and animals have evolved to migrate
in response to seasonal environmental changes and to even larger transitions, such as the end of the
last ice age, they often are not equipped to keep up with the rapidity of modern climate changes that
are currently taking place. Human activities, such as agriculture and urbanization, are increasingly
destroying Earth's natural habitats, and frequently block plants and animals from successfully
migrating.

To study the sensitivity of Earth's ecological systems to climate change, the scientists used a
computer model that predicts the type of plant community that is uniquely adapted to any climate on
Earth. This model was used to simulate the future state of Earth's natural vegetation in harmony with
climate projections from 10 different global climate simulations. These simulations are based on the
intermediate greenhouse gas scenario in the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change Fourth Assessment Report. That scenario assumes greenhouse gas levels will double by 2100
and then level off. The U.N. report's climate simulations predict a warmer and wetter Earth, with
global temperature increases of 3.6 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit (2 to 4 degrees Celsius) by 2100, about
the same warming that occurred following the Last Glacial Maximum almost 20,000 years ago,
except about 100 times faster. Under the scenario, some regions become wetter because of enhanced
evaporation, while others become drier due to changes in atmospheric circulation.

The researchers found a shift of biomes, or major ecological community types, toward Earth's poles –
most dramatically in temperate grasslands and boreal forests – and toward higher elevations.
Ecologically sensitive "hotspots" – areas projected to undergo the greatest degree of species turnover
– that were identified by the study include regions in the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau, eastern
equatorial Africa, Madagascar, the Mediterranean region, southern South America, and North
America's Great Lakes and Great Plains areas. The largest areas of ecological sensitivity and biome
changes predicted for this century are, not surprisingly, found in areas with the most dramatic climate
change: in the Northern Hemisphere high latitudes, particularly along the northern and southern
boundaries of boreal forests.

"Our study developed a simple, consistent and quantitative way to characterize the impacts of climate
change on ecosystems, while assessing and comparing the implications of climate model
projections," said JPL co-author Duane Waliser. "This new tool enables scientists to explore and
understand interrelationships between Earth's ecosystems and climate and to identify regions
projected to have the greatest degree of ecological sensitivity."

"In this study, we have developed and applied two new ecological sensitivity metrics – analogs of
climate sensitivity – to investigate the potential degree of plant community changes over the next
three centuries," said Bergengren. "The surprising degree of ecological sensitivity of Earth's
ecosystems predicted by our research highlights the global imperative to accelerate progress toward
preserving biodiversity by stabilizing Earth's climate."

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

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NASA Mars-Bound Rover Begins Research in Space

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

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

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

News release: 2011-386 Dec. 13, 2011

NASA Mars-Bound Rover Begins Research in Space

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-386&cid=release_2011-386

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's car-sized Curiosity rover has begun monitoring space radiation during
its 8-month trip from Earth to Mars. The research will aid in planning for future human missions to
the Red Planet.

Curiosity launched on Nov. 26 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the Mars Science Laboratory. The
rover carries an instrument called the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) that monitors high-
energy atomic and subatomic particles from the sun, distant supernovas and other sources.

These particles constitute radiation that could be harmful to any microbes or astronauts in space or on
Mars. The rover also will monitor radiation on the surface of Mars after its August 2012 landing.

"RAD is serving as a proxy for an astronaut inside a spacecraft on the way to Mars," said Don
Hassler, RAD's principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. "The
instrument is deep inside the spacecraft, the way an astronaut would be. Understanding the effects of
the spacecraft on the radiation field will be valuable in designing craft for astronauts to travel to
Mars."

Previous monitoring of energetic-particle radiation in space has used instruments at or near the
surface of various spacecraft. The RAD instrument is on the rover inside the spacecraft and shielded
by other components of Mars Science Laboratory, including the aeroshell that will protect the rover
during descent through the upper atmosphere of Mars.

Spacecraft structures, while providing shielding, also can contribute to secondary particles generated
when high-energy particles strike the spacecraft. In some circumstances, secondary particles could be
more hazardous than primary ones.

These first measurements mark the start of the science return from a mission that will use 10
instruments on Curiosity to assess whether Mars' Gale Crater could be or has been favorable for
microbial life.

"While Curiosity will not look for signs of life on Mars, what it might find could be a game-changer
about the origin and evolution of life on Earth and elsewhere in the universe," said Doug McCuistion,
director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "One thing is
certain: The rover's discoveries will provide critical data that will impact human and robotic planning
and research for decades."

As of 9 a.m. PST (noon EST) on Dec. 14, the spacecraft will have traveled 31.9 million miles (51.3
million kilometers) of its 352-million-mile (567-million-kilometer) flight to Mars. The first trajectory
correction maneuver during the trip is being planned for mid-January.

Southwest Research Institute, together with Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany, built
RAD with funding from the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, NASA
Headquarters, Washington, and Germany's national aerospace research center, Deutsches Zentrum für
Luft- und Raumfahrt.

The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the agency's Science Mission
Directorate in Washington. The mission's rover was designed, developed and assembled at JPL, a
division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Information about the mission is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and at
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl .

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

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