Earth Observation is a global endeavour. It is the process of making measurements of the entire planet using satellites.These measurements enable us to monitor changes to the environment and patterns of land use and can influence environmental policy. Within two years of satellite monitoring showing a hole in the ozone layer, for example, Europe and 24 non-European countries had signed up to The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. This protocol protects the ozone layer...

NOAA-N is the latest Space polar-orbiting satellite developed by NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA-N will collect information about Earth's atmosphere and environment to improve weather prediction and climate research across the globe.NOAA-N is the 15th in a series of polar-orbiting satellites dating back to 1978. NOAA uses two satellites, a morning and afternoon satellite, to ensure every part of the Earth is observed at least twice every 12 hours.Severe...

A European Space Agency (ESA) research centre will be established in the UK following an agreement made by Science and Innovation Minister, Lord Drayson today. Lord Drayson and ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain signed an agreement in principle to secure an ESA research centre in the UK at the ESA Ministerial taking place this week at The Hague. The research centre, which will be based at the Harwell science and innovation campus in Oxfordshire, could be up and running within a year. Once established, ESA money will be directed to fund new...

The residents of the International Space Station will receive a new shipment of fuel, food, supplies and holiday gifts on Sunday, Nov. 30. Docking of the cargo delivery spacecraft, known as ISS Progress 31, is set for 6:23 a.m. CST. NASA Television will begin coverage of the event at 5:45 a.m.The unpiloted Russian resupply craft is carrying more than two tons of supplies for the station's crew, Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineers Yury Lonchakov and Sandy Magnus. The ISS Progress 31 launched at 6:38 a.m. Wednesday from the Baikonur...

Video updates reporting progress made on NASA's newest family of exploration vehicles -- the Ares I crew launch vehicle and Ares V heavy cargo launch vehicle -- are now featured on iTunes.The Ares Projects quarterly progress reports offer viewers a rare glimpse at the on-going development work of the next-generation launch vehicles that will take explorers to the moon and beyond in coming decades. Beginning in 2015, the Ares I rocket will launch the Orion crew capsule, carrying astronauts and payloads to the International Space Station.iTunes is...

NASA is investigating the best methods for monitoring brain activity as part of a study designed to help airplane pilots realize when they are operating under dangerous levels of stress, fatigue and distraction.Studies under way at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland are employing functional near infrared spectroscopy, also know as fNIRS, and other imaging technology to measure blood flow in the brain's cortex and the concentration of oxygen in the blood. This emerging technology offers a non-invasive, safe, portable and inexpensive method...

NASA has released a draft request for proposals, or RFP, regarding Phase I of its Ares V launch vehicle. The rocket will perform heavy lift and cargo functions as part of the next generation of spacecraft that will return humans to the moon. Phase I will define operational concepts, develop requirements, and refine design concepts for the Ares V.This document is a draft of the final version of the RFP for Phase I, expected in January 2009. By responding to this draft RFP, potential offerors can provide input on the requirements, small business...

The combined crews of space shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station have sent a special greeting to members of the American military in time for the upcoming holiday season.From orbit 220 miles above Earth, Commander Chris Ferguson (captain, U.S. Navy), Pilot Eric Boe (colonel, U.S. Air Force), Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke (colonel, U.S. Air Force), Mission Specialist Shane Kimbrough (lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army), Mission Specialist Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (captain, U.S....

NASA has selected Science Applications International Corporation of Houston to provide project management support services at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The contract begins on Feb. 1, 2009, with a two-year base period and three one-year options to extend performance. The contract has a maximum potential value of approximately $69.3 million.The contract is a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract and has a total potential core value of $59.3 million if all options are exercised. An additional indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract line...

NASA is officially moving forward on a mission to conduct an unprecedented, in-depth study of Jupiter.Called Juno, the mission will be the first in which a spacecraft is placed in a highly elliptical polar orbit around the giant planet to understand its formation, evolution and structure. Underneath its dense cloud cover, Jupiter safeguards secrets to the fundamental processes and conditions that governed our early solar system."Jupiter is the archetype of giant planets in our solar system...

Space exploration is our human response to curiosity about Earth, the moon, the planets, the sun and other stars, and the galaxies. Piloted and unpiloted space vehicles venture far beyond the boundaries of Earth to collect valuable information about the universe. Human beings have visited the moon and have lived in space stations for long periods. Space exploration helps us see Earth in its true relation with the rest of the universe. Such space exploration could reveal how the sun, the planets,...

An Alliant Techsystems suborbital rocket carrying two NASA hypersonic experiments was destroyed shortly after liftoff from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia Friday, Aug. 22. No injuries or property damage were immediately reported. The exact launch time was 5:10 a.m. EDT. The anomaly that caused the failure occurred approximately 27 seconds into flight and is not known. Most debris from the rocket is thought to have fallen in the Atlantic Ocean. However, there are conflicting reports...

Cargo transfers aboard the shuttle and station complex are more than 76 percent complete. More troubleshooting took place on a Urine Processor Assembly inside the station's Water Recovery System after it shut down several times during testing. Shuttle astronauts Steve Bowen and Shane Kimbrough prepare for the fourth STS-126 spacewalk Monday at 1:45 p.m. E...

NASA, ATK, Orbital Sciences Corp. and Lockheed Martin representatives will hold a teleconference at 2:30 p.m. MST today, Thursday, Nov. 20, to discuss the results of the first full-scale test fire of the motor for a new launch abort system. Reporters should dial 888-469-1980 or 517-308-9161 and give the passcode "motor test" to participate in the call.The launch abort system will sit atop the Orion crew exploration vehicle. The abort motor is designed to pull the crew module away from the Ares I launch vehicle in an emergency situation on the...

Registration is open for NASA's 16th annual Great Moonbuggy Race, taking place April 3-4, 2009, in Huntsville, Ala.Each year, NASA challenges high schools and colleges across the country and the world to design and build lightweight, human-powered moonbuggies. Innovative students put their own spin on the historic lunar rovers that carried Americans across the surface of the moon during the Apollo era. Builders with "the right stuff" then converge on Huntsville to test their engineering savvy - and their endurance.The race was founded at NASA's...

Flames shot more than 100 feet high in a successful 5.5-second ground test firing Thursday, Nov. 20, of a launch abort motor for NASA's next generation spacecraft, the Orion crew exploration vehicle. NASA and the Orion industry team conducted the firing at the Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, facility in Promontory, Utah.The abort motor will provide a half-million pounds of thrust to lift the crew module off the Ares I rocket, pulling the crew away safely in the event of an emergency on the launch pad...

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed vast Martian glaciers of water ice under protective blankets of rocky debris at much lower latitudes than any ice previously identified on the Red Planet.Scientists analyzed data from the spacecraft's ground-penetrating radar and report in the Nov. 21 issue of the journal Science that buried glaciers extend for dozens of miles from edges of mountains or cliffs. A layer of rocky debris blanketing the ice may have preserved the underground glaciers...

NASA astronauts on space shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 mission will install an instrument on the International Space Station that can "smell" dangerous chemicals in the air. Designed to help protect crew members' health and safety, the experimental "ENose" will monitor the space station's environment for harmful chemicals such as ammonia, mercury, methanol and formaldehyde.The ENose fills the long-standing gap between onboard alarms and complex analytical instruments. Air-quality problems have occurred before on the International Space Station, space...

The 10 crew members aboard space shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station will hold a news conference at 2:05 p.m. CST on Friday, Nov. 21.Reporters may ask questions in person only from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and NASA Headquarters in Washington.To participate in the news conference, U.S. journalists must call the public affairs office at their preferred NASA center by 1 p.m. Friday. Media will need to be in place at participating locations at least 20 minutes prior to the start...

An Earth-observing satellite that has provided early detection of ocean storms and advanced the scientific exploration of global ocean wind patterns has been recognized for helping scientists better understand our home planet. NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior Tuesday presented William T. Pecora Awards to NASA's Quick Scatterometer, or QuikSCAT, mission team and Samuel N. Goward of the University of Maryland, College Park.The two agencies present individual and group Pecora Awards annually to honor outstanding contributions in the field...

NASA has successfully tested the first deep space communications network modeled on the Internet.Working as part of a NASA-wide team, engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., used software called Disruption-Tolerant Networking, or DTN, to transmit dozens of space images to and from a NASA science spacecraft located about more than 32 million kilometers (20 million miles) from Earth."This is the first step in creating a totally new space communications capability,...