NASA continues alien hunt

NASA's Kepler Mission is to continue. Image: NASA

Good news for alien hunters. NASA’s Kepler Mission has been approved for extension through fiscal year 2016 based on a recommendation from the agency’s Senior Review of its operating missions.

The extension provides four additional years to find Earth-size planets in the habitable zone – the region in a planetary system where liquid water could exist on the surface of an orbiting planet – around sun-like stars in our galaxy.

“Kepler has revolutionized our understanding of exoplanets and the study of stellar seismology and variability,” said Roger Hunter, Kepler project manager at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. “There is currently no other mission in development that can replace or surpass the precision of Kepler. This extended mission will afford Kepler a unique opportunity to rewrite our understanding of the galaxy and our place in it.”

Launched in March 2009, the Kepler spacecraft identifies planet candidates by repeatedly measuring the tiny change in brightness of more than 150,000 stars to detect when a planet transits the face of the star. The size of the planet can be derived from these periodic dips in brightness. At least three transits are required to verify a signal as a planet.

“Kepler offers a new technical capability, opening a new measurement parameter space, and as often happens with such developments, that has led to unexpected results. There has been a continuous stream of new findings – the assimilation and exploitation of new opportunities is just beginning,” as stated by the committee in the 2012 Senior Review report.

The mission’s discoveries beyond our solar system include the first unquestionably rocky planet; the first multiple-transiting planet system; the first small planet in the habitable zone; the first Earth-size planets; the smallest Mars-size planets; and the confirmation of a new class of double-star planetary systems.

Ames Research Center manages Kepler’s ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, managed the Kepler mission’s development.

Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado, 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 10th Discovery Mission and is funded by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.
 
• The Review report is available at: https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/2012-senior-review

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

NASA Ames Looks back on 2009, Forward into 2010

Finding water on the moon, initiating a search for Earth-size planets, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and a new federal government cloud computing initiative were among the top stories for NASA Ames Research Center in 2009, which has just published its review of the year online and outlined some of its plans for 2010.

Lunar Impactor Launched, Finds Water on Moon

NASA successfully launched the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, in June on a mission to search for water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at the moon’s south pole. The satellite lifted off on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, along with a companion mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO. Preliminary data from LCROSS indicated the mission successfully uncovered water in a permanently shadowed lunar crater when it impacted the moon in October.

The discovery of water by LCROSS opened a new chapter in our understanding of the moon.

Kepler Mission Begins Search for Planets Like Earth
NASA’s Kepler spacecraft launched in March to begin its search for other Earth-like worlds. The mission will spend the next three years staring at more than 150,000 stars for telltale signs of planets. In August, the Kepler space telescope detected the atmosphere of a known giant gas planet, demonstrating the telescope’s extraordinary scientific capabilities.
Needless to say, the search for alien life remains one of the most exciting aspects of space exploration for all of here at Ex Astris.
More info at: http://kepler.nasa.gov

NASA Ames Celebrates 70th Anniversary
This year, NASA Ames is celebrating its 70th anniversary. Among the 10 activities held to commemorate the center’s 20th December 1939 anniversary, was a display of Ames historical exhibits in downtown Mountain View, California, and an aerial photo taken of Ames employees forming a “70″ on the airfield, and the launch of a new historical website.

New Cloud Computing Initiative Announced

Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra announced a new government cloud computing initiative in September at NASA Ames. Kundra unveiled the new Apps.gov platform, an online storefront for federal agencies to browse and purchase cloud-based information technology (IT) services and predicted it would significantly lower government costs and increase innovation.

NASA Breaks Ground for ‘Greenest’ Federal Building Ever

In August, NASA held a ceremonial groundbreaking and dedication event for what is expected to become the highest-performing building in the federal government. The new, environmentally friendly building at NASA’s Ames will be named ‘Sustainability Base’ in honour of the first humans to walk on the surface of another world from their Tranquility Base Apollo 11 lunar landing site 40 years ago.

International Space University, Singularity University Host Programs at NASA Ames
Also this past summer, Ames hosted the International Space University’s nine-week course for postgraduate students and young professionals from more than 40 countries. Nearly 200 students, along with dozens of faculty and guest lecturers, attended the university’s 22nd annual Space Studies Program, held for the first time ever at a NASA center. Simultaneously, Ames also hosted the newly-launched Singularity University’s graduate studies program, a nine-week graduate-level interdisciplinary curriculum designed to prepare the next generation of leaders to address “humanity’s grand challenges.”

NASA Ames Celebrates 40th Anniversary of Moon Landings
40 years ago, humans took their first steps on the moon. In commemoration of that historic event, NASA Ames hosted ‘Moonfest 2009: From Apollo to LCROSS, and Beyond!,’ a celebration of all things related to the moon. Held in July, the celebration focused on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moonwalks and NASA’s LCROSS mission. The day was filled with guest speakers, musical performances and hands-on family activities, interactive games and exhibits. More than 11,400 people attended the celebration at Ames.
Ex Astris fans will recall we celebrated the event with a contribution to the downthetubes Moon Landing album (above), which you can view online here.

Ames Wins 2008 NASA Government Invention of the Year Award
NASA Ames was named the recipient of the 2008 NASA Government Invention of the Year Award this year. Ames won the award for developing a “High Speed Three-Dimensional Laser Scanner with Real Time Processing.” The scanner is used in a Mold Impression Laser Tool (MILT), a hand-held instrument used to scan space shuttle tiles to detect and measure the amount of any damage. Several MILT instruments are currently in use at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, where they provide accurate and reliable tile flaw information for the space shuttle maintenance crews. In addition, MILT technology been adapted for use in other NASA programs, including the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), the Stardust Sample Return Capsule Program, and the Mars and Lunar Rover Programs.

NASA Successfully Launches PharmaSat, SOAREX Missions
NASA successfully launched its PharmaSat nanosatellite in May from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport located at Wallops Island, Va. PharmaSat investigated the effects of antifungal agents on the growth of yeast in microgravity. This research could improve understanding of how microbes may become resistant to the drugs used to treat sick astronauts on long-duration space missions. NASA also successfully launched two Sub-Orbital Aerodynamic Re-entry Experiments, or SOAREX, probes more than 80 miles high in 2009 from NASA’s Wallops. The two NASA-developed experiments will help engineers and scientists design efficient ways to return experiments to Earth from the International Space Station.

NASA, Google, Microsoft, Cisco Collaborate on Virtual Exploration, Climate Change
In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, NASA and Google launched the Moon in Google Earth, an interactive, 3D atlas of the moon that enables users to explore a virtual moonscape and follow guided tours from astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Jack Schmidt.

Also in 2009, NASA and Google launched a new Mars mode in Google Earth that brings to everyone’s desktop a high-resolution, three-dimensional view of the Red Planet.
NASA and Microsoft Corp., announced this year they are jointly developing the technology and infrastructure necessary to make the most interesting NASA content, including high-resolution scientific images and data from Mars and the moon, available on WorldWide Telescope, Microsoft’s online virtual telescope for exploring the universe. Under the terms of a Space Act Agreement, NASA is processing enough data to fill 20,000 DVDs.

In 2009, NASA and Cisco Inc., partnered to develop an online collaborative global monitoring platform called the “Planetary Skin” to capture, collect, analyze and report data from satellite, airborne, sea- and land-based sensors on environmental conditions around the world. This data will be made available for the general public, government and businesses to measure, report and verify environmental data in near-real time to help detect and adapt to global climate change.

The Year Ahead…
Looking ahead to 2010, NASA Ames will continue to play a major role to support the space shuttle program with its work in thermal protection systems and the heat shields that protect the space shuttle during its fiery re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere. Public viewing opportunities of four live broadcasts of space shuttle launches drew nearly 500 people to Ames and will continue in 2010.

The Kepler mission, NASA’s first mission capable of finding Earth-size and smaller planets, will announce its latest discoveries in its search for habitable planets next year and the LCROSS mission will announce the latest results of its analysis of water it found at one of the lunar poles. The data will provide scientists with a wealth of data that will tell us a great deal about the lunar surface and help prepare NASA to put boots on the moon by the end of the next decade.

Also next year, NASA’s airborne observatory, SOFIA, is scheduled to begin conducting science flights.

New initiatives in 2010 will set the stage for a robust year in education and outreach.

“Educate to Innovate,” a federal challenge to improve education and NASA’s Summer of Innovation aspire to reach one million students through enrichment programs to keep kids on track and inspire the next generation of explorers.

• For more information about NASA Ames, visit: www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news

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

Space Telescope Detects ExoPlanet Atmosphere

The latest issue of Science magazine carries a full feature on the intriguing news that NASA’s new exoplanet-hunting Kepler space telescope has detected the atmosphere of a known giant gas planet, demonstrating the telescope’s extraordinary scientific capabilities. The report is exciting for me because it’s another indication of how the search for life-bearing planets is cranking up as our ‘search tools’ become increasingly more sophisticated.The find is based on a relatively short 10 days of test data collected before the official start of science operations. Kepler was launched back in March and the observation demonstrates the extremely high precision of the measurements made by the telescope, even before its calibration and data analysis software were finished.

“As NASA’s first exoplanets mission, Kepler has made a dramatic entrance on the planet-hunting scene,” said Jon Morse, director of the Science Mission Directorate’s Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Detecting this planet’s atmosphere in just the first 10 days of data is only a taste of things to come. The planet hunt is on!”

Kepler team members say these new data indicate the mission is indeed capable of finding Earth-like planets, if they exist. (It’s the kind of research our fictional characters in Ex Astris would find darn useful, for reasons that will become apparent as our story develops).
Kepler will spend the next three-and-a-half years searching for planets as small as Earth, including those that orbit stars in a warm zone where there could be water. It will do this by looking for periodic dips in the brightness of stars, which occur when orbiting planets transit, or cross in front of, the stars.

“When the light curves from tens of thousands of stars were shown to the Kepler science team, everyone was awed; no one had ever seen such exquisitely detailed measurements of the light variations of so many different types of stars,” said William Borucki, the principal science investigator and lead author of the paper.

The observations were collected from a planet called HAT-P-7, known to transit a star located about 1,000 light years from Earth. The planet orbits the star in just 2.2 days and is 26 times closer than Earth is to the sun. Its orbit, combined with a mass somewhat larger than the planet Jupiter, classifies this planet as a “hot Jupiter.” It is so close to its star, the planet is as hot as the glowing red heating element on a stove.

The Kepler measurements show the transit from the previously detected HAT-P-7. However, these new measurements are so precise, they also show a smooth rise and fall of the light between transits caused by the changing phases of the planet, similar to those of our moon. This is a combination of both the light emitted from the planet and the light reflected off the planet. The smooth rise and fall of light is also punctuated by a small drop in light, called an occultation, exactly halfway between each transit. An occultation happens when a planet passes behind a star.

The new Kepler data can be used to study this hot Jupiter in unprecedented detail. The depth of the occultation and the shape and amplitude of the light curve show the planet has an atmosphere with a day-side temperature of about 4,310 degrees Fahrenheit. Little of this heat is carried to the cool night side. The occultation time compared to the main transit time shows the planet has a circular orbit. The discovery of light from this planet confirms the predictions by researchers and theoretical models that the emission would be detectable by Kepler.

This new discovery also demonstrates Kepler has the precision to find Earth-size planets. The observed brightness variation is just one and a half times what is expected for a transit caused by an Earth-sized planet. Although this is already the highest precision ever obtained for an observation of this star, Kepler will be even more precise after analysis software being developed for the mission is completed.

“This early result shows the Kepler detection system is performing right on the mark,” said David Koch, deputy principal investigator of NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. “It bodes well for Kepler’s prospects to be able to detect Earth-size planets.”

• More info about the Kepler Project on the NASA web site