Suggested Searches

7 min read

NASA Ames Astrogram – February 2019

The headshot image of Astrid Albaugh

Astrid Albaugh

Feb 27, 2019
Article

Contents

Astrogram banner

Town Hall Held to Welcome Back Ames Employees After Government Shutdown

acd19-0001-007welcomeback.jpg
Ames Center Director Eugene Tu welcomes back employees after the government shutdown during a Jan. 29, 2019 Town Hall meeting which followed an agencywide address from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. A Q&A session was held afterwards with Eugene Tu, Director; Paul Agnew, CFO; Tom Berndt, Chief Counsel; Robin Aube-Warren, Code J Director; Joy Murphy, Code H Deputy Director; Kelly Kaplan, Procurement Officer and Grace De Leon, Center CIO and Code I Director.
Credit: NASA Ames/Dominic Hart

Day of Remembrance Observed at Ames

acd19-0004-015remembrance.jpg
Every year, NASA pays tribute to the crews of Apollo 1 and Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia, as well as other NASA colleagues and partners who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery. All employees were invited to attend the Ames Research Center Day of Remembrance ceremony at the flag poles in front and on the steps of Building N-200 on Feb. 7, 2019, at 9:00 a.m. Ames Center Director Eugene Tu presided over the bell ringing and the lowering of the NASA flag. A moment of silence was observed to reflect upon and celebrate the lives of the brave women and men who gave their lives for the cause of space exploration and in service to our country.
Credit: NASA Ames/Dominic Hart

High School Science Teachers Will Fly on SOFIA

by Kassandra Bell

The SETI Institute partnered with 14 school districts in eight states for the 2019 NASA Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors (AAA) program. The AAA program is a professional development opportunity for high school science teachers designed to improve science teaching and learning and increase student engagement in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM).

Participating teachers receive training in astrophysics and planetary science, content and pedagogy. Their training includes a week-long immersion experience at NASA’s Flight Research Center Hangar 703 in Palmdale, California, with participation in research flights aboard NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The program culminates in classroom delivery of a SOFIA science-oriented curriculum module. Impact on student STEM learning and engagement will be measured by WestEd education evaluators.

Educators on board SOFIA.
Lynne Zielinski, Heidi Steinbrink, Marcella Linahan, Pamela Harman the Director of Education, Tom Jenkins, and Vivian Hoette focus in on an observation target.
Credit: NASA/SOFIA

For full story, see: TeachersSOFIA

SOFIA Uncovers Clues to the Evolution of Universe and Search for Life

by Kassandra Bell

A compilation of scientific results from The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, reveal new clues to how stars form and galaxies evolve, and closer to understanding the environment of Europa and its subsurface ocean. The airborne observatory carries a suite of instruments, each sensitive to different properties of infrared light, that gives astronomers insights into the flow of matter in galaxies.

“Much of the light in the universe is emitted as infrared light that does not reach Earth’s surface,” said Bill Reach, chief science advisor at the University Space Research Association’s SOFIA Science Center. “Infrared observations from SOFIA, which flies above most of the atmosphere, let us study what’s happening deep inside cosmic clouds, analyze celestial magnetic fields and investigate the chemical universe in ways that are not possible with visible light.”

Magnetic fields are shown as stream lines over this infrared image of the Orion Nebula, taken by the Very Large Telescope, Chile
Magnetic fields in the Orion Nebula, shown as stream lines over an infrared image taken by the Very Large Telescope in Chile, are regulating the formation of new stars. SOFIA’s HAWC+ instrument is sensitive to the alignment of dust grains, which line up along magnetic fields, letting researchers infer the direction and strength.
Credit: NASA/SOFIA/D. Chuss et al. and European Southern Observatory/M.McCaughrean et al.

For full story, see: SOFIAClues

NASA Tests Urban Drone Traffic Management in Nevada, Texas

by Darryl Waller

NASA has selected two organizations to host the final phase of its four-year series of increasingly complicated technical demonstrations involving small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), commonly known as drones.

The Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems in Las Vegas and the Lone Star UAS Center for Excellence & Innovation in Corpus Christi, Texas, will host demonstrations to confirm NASA’s UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system can safely and effectively manage drone traffic in an urban area.

The drone flights will take place in and around downtown Reno, Nevada between March and June, and Corpus Christi during July and August.

This illustration depicts multiple small drones flying in an urban environment
This illustration depicts multiple small drones flying in an urban environment, which will be the scenario for NASA’s last in a series of demonstrations of a system that safely manages drone flight.
Credit: NASA

For full story, see: DroneTrafficMgt

Human Activity in China and India Dominates the Greening of Earth, NASA Study Shows

by Abby Tabor

The world is literally a greener place than it was 20 years ago, and data from NASA satellites has revealed a counterintuitive source for much of this new foliage: China and India. A new study shows that the two emerging countries with the world’s biggest populations are leading the increase in greening on land. The effect stems mainly from ambitious tree planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries.

The greening phenomenon was first detected using satellite data in the mid-1990s by Ranga Myneni of Boston University and colleagues, but they did not know whether human activity was one of its chief, direct causes. This new insight was made possible by a nearly 20-year-long data record from a NASA instrument orbiting the Earth on two satellites. It’s called the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, and its high-resolution data provides very accurate information, helping researchers work out details of what’s happening with Earth’s vegetation, down to the level of 500 meters, or about 1,600 feet, on the ground.

A map showing increases in leaf area per year, represented in green. India and China stand out with large areas of dark green.
Over the last two decades, the Earth has seen an increase in foliage around the planet, measured in average leaf area per year on plants and trees. Data from NASA satellites shows that China and India are leading the increase in greening on land. The effect stems mainly from ambitious tree planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries.
Credit: NASA/NASA Earth Observatory/Joshua Stevens

For full story, see: GreenerEarth

New NASA Team Tackles Next Challenges in Detecting Life Beyond Earth

by Alison Hawkes

The question, “Are we alone?” has been a subject of speculation for centuries. The answer may soon lie within the grasp of science. 

Decades of research have led scientists to look deeply into the nature of life itself — what it is, how it began on Earth, and what other worlds might also support it.  A shift in focus is now emerging as scientists recognize that with a strategic push the possibility of detecting life beyond Earth could be on the horizon.

To support NASA’s growing emphasis on detecting life beyond Earth, NASA Ames has established the Center for Life Detection Science (CLDS). CLDS brings together a diverse group of researchers at Ames and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland to tackle the next set of challenges science must overcome to be able to one day detect life beyond Earth.

This image is an artist's conception of what life could look like on the surface of a distant planet.
This image is an artist’s conception of what life could look like on the surface of a distant planet
Credit: NASA

For full story, see: LifeDetection

Kepler’s Final Image Shows A Galaxy Full Of Possibilities

by Alison Hawkes

NASA’s Kepler space telescope may be retired, but the discoveries continue to rack up for this historic planet-hunting mission. Kepler rang in the new year with several new planet discoveries, including a previously overlooked planet of an unusual size, as well as a super Earth and a Saturn-sized world orbiting a Sun-like star. 

In the meantime, the Kepler mission has released its final record of the spacecraft’s full field of view before the depletion of fuel permanently ended its work. NASA retired the spacecraft on Oct. 30, 2018, to a safe orbit. 

keplerlast-ffipink_c19-sm.jpg
Kepler’s “last light” image taken on Sept. 25, 2018, represents the final page of the final chapter of Kepler’s remarkable journey of data collection.
Credit: NASA Ames

For full story, see: KeplerFinalImage

SOFIA Finds Dust Survives Obliteration in Supernova 1987A

by Kassandra Bell

Dust particles form as dying red giant stars throw off material and become part of interstellar clouds of various sizes, densities and temperatures. This cosmic dust is then destroyed by supernova blast waves, which propagate through space at more than 6,000 miles per second (10,000 km/sec)!

Supernova explosions are among the most powerful events in the universe, with a peak brightness equivalent to the light from billions of individual stars. The explosion also produces a blast wave that destroys almost everything in its path, including dust in the surrounding interstellar medium, the space between the stars. Current theories predict when a supernova blast sweeps through a region of space, much of the dust would be destroyed, so there should be little dust left.

Observations with SOFIA, however, tell a different, mysterious story — revealing more than 10 times the dust expected. This suggests that dust is much more abundant in the wake of a blast wave than theories estimate.

Illustration of Supernova 1987A as a powerful blast wave passes an outer ring destroying much of the dust, which re-forms.
Artist’s concept illustrating Supernova 1987A as the powerful blast wave passes through its outer ring and destroys most of its dust, before the dust re-forms or grows rapidly. SOFIA observations reveal that this dust — a building block of stars and planets — can re-form or grow immediately after the catastrophic damage caused by the blast wave.
Credit: NASA/SOFIA/Symbolic Pictures /The Casadonte Group

For full story, see SOFIASupernova

Lifting the Veil on Star Formation in the Orion Nebula

by Kassandra Bell

Researchers used the GREAT instrument on SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) to measure the spectral line – which is like a chemical fingerprint – of ionized carbon. Because of SOFIA’s airborne location, flying above 99 percent of the water vapor in the Earth’s atmosphere that blocks infrared light, researchers were able to study the physical properties of the stellar wind.

“Astronomers use GREAT like a police officer uses a radar gun,” explained Alexander Tielens, an astronomer at Leiden Observatory and a senior scientist on the paper. “The radar bounces off your car, and the signal tells the officer if you’re speeding.”

A newly forming star in the Orion Nebula is creating the bubble (black) and pushing molecular gas (color) to the edges.
The powerful wind from the newly formed star at the heart of the Orion Nebula is creating the bubble (black) and preventing new stars from forming in its neighborhood. At the same time, the wind is pushing molecular gas (color) to the edges, creating a dense shell around the bubble where future generations of stars can form.
Credit: NASA/SOFIA/Pabst et. al

For full story, see: OrionNebula

Ames’ Wild Turkey Flock Spotted at SSERVI Building

turkeys.jpg
Ames’ flock of wild turkeys visits the SSERVI (Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute) building, climbing it’s steps while foraging on the grounds around building 17 and the parade grounds at Shenandoah Plaza.
Credit: NASA Ames/Don RIchey

Statistical Summary of Activities of the Protective Service Division’s Security/Law Enforcement and Fire Protection Services Units for Period Ending January 2019

Jan2019SecurityChart
Jan2019FireChart