Transcript: This Week at NASA, March 4 - 10
03.10.06
WATER PROOF? – JPL
NASA's Cassini spacecraft may have found evidence of liquid water reservoirs on Saturn's moon Enceladus, raising many new questions about the mysterious body. High-resolution Cassini images show icy jets and towering plumes ejecting large quantities of particles at high speed. Like cold versions of the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone, the jets might be erupting from near-surface pockets of liquid water above 0 degrees Celsius -32 degrees Fahrenheit.
Dr. Torrence Johnson SOT: “…The reason that finding evidence for liquid water any place in the solar system is so important is because of its importance for life. On Mars we have an entire program that’s designed in affect to follow the water, to find out where there is liquid water on Mars. And on Jupiter’s moon Europa we have evidence that there may be a liquid ocean underneath it’s ice crust, also very important. Now Enceladus joins the ranks of those bodies.”
Scientists will get another chance to look at Enceladus when Cassini flies by within, approximately, 220 miles of it, in the year 2008.
SUPERCOMPUTING - ARC
NASA has awarded more than 4-and-a-half million hours of supercomputing time to researchers in several fields. They'll use NASA's Columbia, one of the world’s largest and most productive supercomputers, located at in the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center. The computing time may help scientists solve some of their most challenging research problems involving climate variability, combustion emissions, flow conditions of dense suspensions, like concrete, and the properties of high temperature superconductors and other electronic materials.
SUN GAZING – GSFC
Solar experts predict that the next 11-year-long solar cycle will be 30 to 50 percent stronger than the last one, and may arrive up to a year later than previously expected. Scientists at NCAR, the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., made the first “solar climate” forecast using a combination of observations of the solar interior from space and computer simulation. Accurately predicting the sun's cycles will help plan for the effects of solar storms, which can disrupt satellite orbits and electronics, interfere with radio communication, damage power systems, and threaten unprotected astronauts. The team predicts the next cycle will begin with an increase in solar activity in late 2007 or early 2008. NASA’s Living With a Star Program and the National Science Foundation funded the research.
KATRINA AWARDS – SSC
NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale presented 25 medals, 33 commendations and 15 group awards to employees at NASA's Stennis Space Center. The citations honored employees who helped ensure the survival of the center and its occupants when Hurricane Katrina struck last summer.
Shana Dale SOT: "…We are very much indebted to the wonderful men and women of Stennis for saving us from what could have been a huge detour in the nation’s program. So, on behalf of the Administrator, Would like to extend my personal thanks for the bravery, perseverance and ongoing hard work of the men and women at Stennis. We are so grateful and indebted to you for what you have done. Thank you so much."
Dale noted that, despite personal losses, Stennis employees worked long, arduous and sometimes dangerous hours, and thanked them for their efforts since the storm to help the region recover.
COLONIZING THE MOON – LaRC
Three months after their initial meeting with NASA scientists, 110 students from a Virginia Beach, Va high school have presented their travel plans for a trip to the moon. Meeting with engineers at Langley Research Center, the students from First Colonial High School’s Legal Studies Academy unveiled their plans for developing a lunar settlement. Through this project, the students learned about astrolaw and the challenges humans will face when living and working in space. They determined the best sites for a colony on the surface of the moon and how best to design and construct the colony.
WITHERING ICE – JPL
Using data from the joint NASA/German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment or, GRACE, scientists have conducted the first gravity survey of the entire Antarctic ice sheet. This comprehensive study established that the ice sheet’s mass decreased significantly from 2002 to 2005.
Dr. Isabella Velicogna SOT: “…For the first time we are able to get a number for the entire ice sheet, where previously we used a lot of estimates for the coastal area and the interior, but we are able to say we are sure that the Antarctic ice sheet is losing mass and at a significant rate.”
Launched in 2002, the GRACE satellites serve as a "divining rod" in space, using changes in the earth’s gravitational field to track the amount and movement of water both on and under the planet's surface.
ROBOT RIVALRY – HQ
Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond hosted the first of this year's FIRST Robotics regional competitions. FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, challenges teams of young people and their mentors to solve a common problem by building a robot. Each team is given a standard "kit of parts," a common set of rules, and six weeks to complete its task. This year's FIRST Robotics has more than 11-hundred teams competing in 33 regional events. The championship is scheduled for Atlanta's Georgia Dome in April.
“SPACE COOKIES” – ARC
Judging by its name, one team of FIRST robot builders is particularly “sweet” on science. Team number 1868 is comprised of twelve Girl Scouts from the San Francisco Bay area high schools who call themselves the “Space Cookies.’ Their troop is devoted to math, science, engineering and technology.
Michaela Brant SOT: “…The reason I joined the girls scouts robotics team was so that way I could be involved in NASA. I’ve wanted to be involved in NASA my entire life. I’ve always wanted to be working here, or working as an astronaut is my actual goal. Just coming here everyday is the biggest thrill of my life…”
The “Space Cookies” are mentored by volunteers from Ames Research Center.
…And that’s this week at NASA
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