This month we posed a special seasonal challenge: We asked you to join us for a remote-sensing-themed egg hunt by identifying colorful, oval-shaped lakes and ponds around the planet. Well, as one reader points out, we “asked for it.” Hueva identified a lake in Canada so egg-like that it actually goes by the name “Egg […]
Cargo Missions Lined Up for Space Deliveries
It will be rush hour at the International Space Station for the next two weeks as a pair of spaceships gets ready to launch new science, hardware and crew supplies to the Expedition 47 crew. As the crew prepares for the new shipments, they are already working on the latest research delivered Saturday on the …
Balloon Team Prepares for Good Day, Stands Ready for Anything
Tuesday’s preparations for the upcoming super pressure balloon launch from Wanaka, New Zealand, kicked off with a weather forecast for Friday, April 1, the first potential launch opportunity for the team. At this time, the weather for Friday is less than ideal for launch, but the team continues to monitor conditions and will make a …
Belly-landed Aircraft Gets a Lift from NASA’s Balloon Team
A little post-airshow excitement occurred at Wanaka Airport March 28 when a World War II era Harvard aircraft safely belly landed on the airport’s runway around 9:30 a.m. March 28. After touching down, the aircraft’s landing gear apparently collapsed, bringing the aircraft’s belly down to the runway surface. No injuries were reported in the incident, …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 03/28/16
Crew Off Duty: Today was a full off duty day for the USOS crew. This is to pay the crew back for performing Cygnus operations over the weekend. Orbital 6 (OA-6) Capture and Berthing: Cygnus was successfully captured and berthed to the ISS on Saturday. The crew ingressed the vehicle on Sunday, spent 12.5 hours …
Into the Final Turn: From Cold to Colder
by Patrick Lynch / KEFLAVIK, ICELAND / On Monday morning, the Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) team left the chill of Keflavik (32 degrees Fahrenheit but with a relentless, stinging wind) for the more ruthless cold of -8 degrees Fahrenheit in Thule, Greenland. Before landing, the seven-person team will fly over coastline near Thule today to …
Step 1: Minor in Theater. Step 2: Devise Science Experiment.
by Patrick Lynch / KEFLAVIK, ICELAND / Here’s the second part of our Q&A with Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) principal investigator Josh Willis, an oceanographer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, specializing in sea level rise. Josh is also a graduate of the improv program at Second City Hollywood Conservatory in Los Angeles. …
Why Wanaka Works Well for NASA Balloons
As the location for NASA’s long-duration, mid-latitude super pressure balloon missions, one might ask: Why Wanaka, New Zealand? Six reasons come to mind: latitude, attitude, solitude, duration, weather and night. Latitude Some science experiments need to observe phenomena in the sky at locations only accessible by launching mid-latitude balloon flights centered around 45 degrees south …
NASA Balloon Program Supports Warbirds Over Wanaka Airshow
The first A in NASA was celebrated to the full in Wanaka, New Zealand, this Easter weekend with more than 50,000 turning out for the Warbirds Over Wanaka Airshow. The biennial homage to aeronautics past and present featured aircraft from World War II to the present, fixed wing and rotary aircraft, as well as modern …
Glaciers by Sight, Glaciers by Radar
by Patrick Lynch / KEFLAVIK, ICELAND / The Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) team is flying NASA’s G-III at about 40,000 feet. On a clear day, this altitude also provides a stunning perspective of one of the world’s two great ice sheets (the other is Antarctica). The flight Saturday, March 26, over the northeast coastline was …