Map of Dione - May 2008

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This global map of Saturn's moon Dione was created using images taken during Cassini spacecraft flybys, with Voyager images filling in the gaps in Cassini's coverage.

An extensive system of bright ice cliffs created by tectonic fractures adorns the moon's trailing hemisphere.

The map is a simple cylindrical (equidistant) projection and has a scale of 614 meters (2,014 feet) per pixel at the equator. The mean radius of Dione used for projection of this map is 562 kilometers (349 miles). This updated map has been shifted west by 0.6 degrees of longitude, compared to the previously released Cassini product (PIA08341), in order to conform to the International Astronomical Union longitude system convention for Dione.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .

Saturn's Infrared Temperature Snapshot

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Scientists have discovered a wave pattern, or oscillation, in Saturn's atmosphere only visible from Earth every 15 years. The pattern ripples back and forth like a wave within Saturn's upper atmosphere. In this region, temperatures switch from one altitude to the next in a candy cane-like, striped, hot-cold pattern. The temperature "snapshot" shown in these two images captures two different phases of this wave oscillation: the temperature at Saturn's equator switches from hot to cold, and temperatures on either side of the equator switch from cold to hot every Saturn half-year.

The image on the left was taken in 1997 and shows the temperature at the equator is colder than the temperature at 13 degrees south latitude. Conversely, the image on the right taken in 2006 shows the temperature at the equator is warmer.

Unrolling the F-ring

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The complex structure of Saturn's quirky F ring is unfurled in this mosaic made up of images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

The mosaic covers 255 degrees of longitude within the F ring, which represents about 70 percent of the ring's circumference around Saturn. From top to bottom, the mosaic represents an area 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) in radial width.

The 107 images used to create the mosaic were processed to make the ring appear as if it has been straightened, making it easier to see the ring's structure. Here, the vertical axis represents distance from Saturn and the horizontal axis represents longitude around Saturn. This frame of reference is centered on the bright core of the F ring, at the vertical center of the mosaic. In this system, the core is considered to be stationary; objects closer to Saturn (or below vertical center) move toward right, and objects farther from Saturn (here, above the core) move toward left.

Ring scientists now understand a great deal about what causes the various features in the ring. In addition to the powerful perturbing effect of the moon Prometheus (see PIA07750, there is thought to be a population of small objects in the F-ring region that interact with the ring's core to produce the structures seen (see PIA07716). Two of the images had flaws, which caused the vertical lines seen on the right side of the mosaic. There is also a faint, roughly vertical, wavelike pattern in the view, which is an artifact of the process used to straighten the ring's shape.

The clear spectral filter images in this mosaic were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 31, 2007, at a distance of about 2 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Saturn.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org .


Hissing Storm

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A bright, powerful, lightning-producing storm churns and coasts along the lane of Saturn's southern hemisphere nicknamed "Storm Alley" by scientists.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft detected this particular tempest after nearly two years during which Saturn did not appear to produce any large electrical storms of this kind. The storm appears as a bright, irregular splotch on the planet near lower right.

Lightning flashes within the persistent storm produce radio waves, called Saturn Electrostatic Discharges, which the Cassini radio and plasma wave science instrument first detected on Nov. 27, 2007. Cassini's imaging cameras then spotted the storm, taking the images used to create this color view about a week later on Dec. 6.

This electrical storm is similar in appearance and intensity to those previously monitored by Cassini. All of these powerful electrostatic producing storms appeared at about 35 degrees south latitude on Saturn. (See PIA07788, PIA08142 and PIA06197 for additional images of Saturn's electrical storms imaged by Cassini.)

This storm has now been continuously tracked by Cassini for several months, whereas previous storms observed by the spacecraft lasted for less than 30 days: See PIA08411 for images of the storm acquired three months after this view. The view looks toward the un-illuminated side of the rings from about 5 degrees above the ringplane. Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across) is seen here in the foreground, and casts its shadow onto the high northern latitudes.

Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were acquired with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera at a distance of approximately 1.7 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 97 kilometers (60 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. The radio and plasma wave science team is based at the University of Iowa, Iowa City.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.

Saturn's Long-lived Storm

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It is no Great Red Spot, but these two side-by-side views show the longest-lived electrical storm yet observed on Saturn by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

The views were acquired more than three months after the storm was first detected from its lightning-produced radio discharges on Nov. 27, 2007. See PIA08410 for an earlier color view of this storm. Cassini imaging scientists believe the storm to be a vertically extended disturbance that penetrates from Saturn's lower to upper troposphere.

The view at left was created by combining images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters, and shows Saturn in colors that approximate what the human eye would see. The storm stands out with greater clarity in the sharpened, enhanced color view at right. This view combines images taken in infrared, green and violet light at 939, 567 and 420 nanometers respectively and represents an expansion of the wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum visible to human eyes. This view looks toward the un-illuminated side of the rings from about 3 degrees above the ringplane. Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across) appears as a dark speck just beneath the rings in both images.

These images were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on March 4, 2008, at a distance of approximately 1.3 million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 74 kilometers (46 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. The radio and plasma wave science team is based at the University of Iowa, Iowa City.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.


Trench on Mars Ready for Next Sampling by NASA Lander

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NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has groomed the bottom of a shallow trench to prepare for collecting a sample to be analyzed from a hard subsurface layer where the soil may contain frozen water.

Images received Thursday morning confirmed that the lander's robotic arm had scraped the top of the hard layer clean during activities of Phoenix's 58th Martian day, or sol, corresponding to overnight Wednesday to Thursday.

The Phoenix team developed commands for sending to the spacecraft Thursday to complete two remaining preparations necessary before collecting a sample and delivering it to the lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA). One part of the plan for Sol 59 (overnight Thursday to Friday) would assure that the scoop is empty of any soil collected earlier. Another would complete a final cleaning of any volatile materials from the oven that will receive the sample.

In the past two weeks, the team has refined techniques for using a powered rasp on the back of the arm's scoop to cut and collect shavings of material from the bottom of the trench. The trench, informally named "Snow White," is 4 to 5 centimeters deep (about 2 inches), about 23 centimeters wide (9 inches), and about 60 centimeters long (24 inches) long.

"The rasped material ends up in the back of the scoop, and we have to transfer it to the front through a pathway. That takes a series of arm moves to be sure the material gets through the pathway," said Robert Bonitz of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manager for the robotic arm. "The reason we're doing it today is we want to be sure the pathway is free of any material collected previously before we collect the next sample for delivery to TEGA."

The planned activity would repeat the series of pathway-clearing moves twice, and check visually to be sure the front of the scoop is empty. It is also important to get the background counts as low as possible in TEGA's evolved-gas analyzer, which receives vapors emitted from the oven. The instrument was heated repeatedly before launch and during the flight to Mars to drive off any volatile material in it, such as water and carbon-dioxide gases that tend to stick on surfaces. It got another heating on Sol 58.

"The baking last night was to remove background volatiles stuck on the walls of the instrument," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, Tucson, lead scientist for TEGA. "What we're planning today is pumping out any gas we might have released with the baking."

Other activities in the plan for the sol beginning today include weather monitoring and photography of several areas. Some planned use of the Surface Stereo Imager would record the same view consecutively through 15 different filters. Each filter lets through only a limited band of wavelengths of visible or infrared light. Using just red, green and blue filters allows the team to make full-color images. Using the additional filters provides more information useful for interpreting geological or atmospheric qualities of the image target.

The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith of the University of Arizona with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For more about Phoenix, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

NASA SUCCESSFULLY TESTS PARACHUTE FOR ARES ROCKET

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NASA and industry engineers have successfully completed the first drop test of a drogue parachute for the Ares I rocket. The drogue parachute is designed to slow the rapid descent of the spent first-stage motor, cast off by the Ares I rocket during its climb to space.

The successful test is a key early milestone in development and production of the Ares I rocket, the first launch vehicle for NASA's Constellation Program that will send explorers to the International Space Station, the moon and beyond in coming decades. The drogue parachute is a vital element of the Ares I deceleration system and will permit recovery of the reusable first-stage motor for use on future Ares I flights.

Engineers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., managed the team that conducted the first Ares I drogue chute test on July 24 at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground near Yuma, Ariz. This is the sixth in an ongoing series of tests supporting development of the Ares I parachute recovery system, which includes a pilot chute, drogue and three main parachutes. The next drogue parachute test is scheduled for October, and testing will continue through 2010. The drogue parachute also will be used during NASA's first test flight for the Ares rocket, the Ares I-X, scheduled to take place in 2009.

Researchers dropped the 68-foot-diameter drogue parachute and its 36,000-pound load -- simulating the first-stage motor -- from a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft flying at an altitude of 25,000 feet. The parachute and all test hardware functioned properly and landed safely.

The parachutes that serve as the Ares I recovery system are similar to the four-segment space shuttle boosters, but they have been redesigned to accommodate new requirements of the Ares I first stage. Dramatically larger and more powerful than the shuttle's boosters, the Ares I will have a five-segment solid rocket booster -- causing it to fall faster from a much higher altitude after separation from the launch vehicle.

During launch, the Ares I first-stage booster will separate from the upper stage at an elevation of 189,000 feet, approximately 126 seconds into flight. After freefalling to approximately 15,740 feet, the booster's nose cap will be jettisoned, releasing the pilot parachute, which in turn releases the drogue, slowing the stage's descent from 402 mph to 210 mph and maneuvering the booster into a vertical position. Finally, a cluster of three main parachutes, each 150 feet in diameter, will be deployed. The main parachutes continue to slow the booster to splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.

Beginning in 2015, the Ares I rocket will launch the Orion crew capsule and six astronauts, and small pressurized cargo payloads, to the International Space Station. The Ares I rocket, an in-line, two-stage rocket configuration, will be powered by the first stage solid rocket motor for the first two minutes of launch.

ATK Launch Systems near Promontory, Utah, is the prime contractor for the first stage booster. ATK's subcontractor, United Space Alliance of Houston, is responsible for design, development and testing of the parachutes at its facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston manages the Constellation Program, which includes the Ares I rocket, the Ares V heavy-lift launch vehicle, the Orion crew capsule, the Altair lunar lander. Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Ares Projects. The U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground provides the test range, support facilities and equipment to NASA for parachute testing.

Video of the drogue test will be available Monday, July 28, on NASA Television's Video File. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about NASA's Constellation Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/constellation

NASA SATELLITES DISCOVER WHAT POWERS NORTHERN LIGHTS

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Researchers using a fleet of five NASA satellites have discovered that explosions of magnetic energy a third of the way to the moon power substorms that cause sudden brightenings and rapid movements of the aurora borealis, called the Northern Lights.

The culprit turns out to be magnetic reconnection, a common process that occurs throughout the universe when stressed magnetic field lines suddenly snap to a new shape, like a rubber band that's been stretched too far.

"We discovered what makes the Northern Lights dance," said Dr. Vassilis Angelopoulos of the University of California, Los Angeles. Angelopoulos is the principal investigator for the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms mission, or THEMIS.

Substorms produce dynamic changes in the auroral displays seen near Earth's northern and southern magnetic poles, causing a burst of light and movement in the Northern and Southern Lights.

Substorms often accompany intense space storms that can disrupt radio communications and global positioning system signals and cause power outages. Solving the mystery of where, when, and how substorms occur will allow scientists to construct more realistic substorm models and
better predict a magnetic storm's intensity and effects.

"As they capture and store energy from the solar wind, the Earth's magnetic field lines stretch far out into space. Magnetic reconnection releases the energy stored within these stretched
magnetic field lines, flinging charged particles back toward the Earth's atmosphere," said David Sibeck, THEMIS project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "They create halos of shimmering aurora circling the northern and southern poles."

Scientists directly observe the beginning of substorms using five THEMIS satellites and a network of 20 ground observatories located throughout Canada and Alaska. Launched in February 2007, the five identical satellites line up once every four days along the equator
and take observations synchronized with the ground observatories. Each ground station uses a magnetometer and a camera pointed upward to determine where and when an auroral substorm will begin. Instruments measure the auroral light from particles flowing along Earth's magnetic field and the electrical currents these particles generate.

During each alignment, the satellites capture data that allow scientists to precisely pinpoint where, when, and how substorms measured on the ground develop in space. On Feb. 26, 2008, during one such THEMIS lineup, the satellites observed an isolated substorm begin in space, while the ground-based observatories recorded the intense auroral brightening and space currents over North America.

These observations confirm for the first time that magnetic reconnection triggers the onset of substorms. The discovery supports the reconnection model of substorms, which asserts a substorm starting to occur follows a particular pattern. This pattern consists of a period of reconnection, followed by rapid auroral brightening and rapid expansion of the aurora toward the poles. This culminates in a redistribution of the electrical currents flowing in space around Earth.

THEMIS is the fifth medium-class mission under NASA's Explorer Program. The program, managed by the Explorers Program Office at Goddard provides frequent flight opportunities for world-class space investigations in heliophysics and astrophysics. The University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., managed the project development and is currently operating the THEMIS mission. ATK Space (formerly Swales Aerospace) of Beltsville, Md., built the THEMIS satellites.

The THEMIS team's findings will appear online July 24 in Science Express and Aug. 14 in the journal science. For more information about the THEMIS mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/themis

NASA AND INTERNET ARCHIVE LAUNCH CENTRALIZED RESOURCE FOR IMAGES

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NASA and Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library based in San Francisco, made available the most comprehensive compilation ever of NASA's vast collection of photographs, historic film and video Thursday. Located at www.nasaimages.org, the Internet site combines for the first time 21 major NASA imagery collections into a single, searchable online resource. A link to the Web site will appear on the http://www.nasa.gov home page.


The Web site launch is the first step in a five-year partnership that will add millions of images and thousands of hours of video and audio content, with enhanced search and viewing capabilities, and new user features on a continuing basis. Over time, integration of
www.nasaimages.org with http://www.nasa.gov will become more seamless and comprehensive.

"This partnership with Internet Archive enables NASA to provide the American public with access to its vast collection of imagery from one searchable source, unlocking a new treasure trove of discoveries for students, historians, enthusiasts and researchers," said NASA
Deputy Administrator Shana Dale. "This new resource also will enable the agency to digitize and preserve historical content now not available on the Internet for future generations."

Through a competitive process, NASA selected Internet Archive to manage the NASA Images Web site under a non-exclusive Space Act agreement, signed in July 2007. The five-year project is at no cost to the taxpayer and the images are free to the public.

"NASA's media is an incredibly important and valuable national asset. It is a tremendous honor for the Internet Archive to be NASA's partner in this project," says Brewster Kahle, founder of Internet Archive. "We are excited to mark this first step in a long-term collaboration to create a rich and growing public resource."

The content of the Web site covers all the diverse activities of America's space program, including imagery from the Apollo moon missions, Hubble Space Telescope views of the universe and experimental aircraft past and present. Keyword searching is available with easy-to-use resources for teachers and students.

Internet Archive is developing the NASA Images project using software donated by Luna Imaging Inc. of Los Angeles and with the generous support of the Kahle-Austin Foundation of San Francisco.

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

For more information about Internet Archive, visit:

http://www.archive.org

Tropical Storm Dolly, Here You Come Again…

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Like the number one song by Dolly Parton, "Here You Come Again," six years ago, there was a tropical storm Dolly, now the name has returned on the official six year name hurricane list. Dolly is the name of the Atlantic Hurricane Season's fourth named storm and she means business in the Gulf of Mexico.

Dolly started out as a tropical depression on Sunday, July 20th and by 11:45 a.m. EDT that day, she strengthened into a tropical storm and got her name.

By 8:00 a.m. EDT on Monday, July 21, 2008, Dolly had moved off the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, and is located between there and Cuba. She's now poised to enter the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters and could become a hurricane by Tuesday, July 22.

At 8:00 a.m. EDT on July 21, Dolly's center was located near 21.6 degrees north latitude and 88.7 degrees west longitude, or 65 miles (105 km) east-northeast of Progreso, Mexico. Dolly is moving toward the west-northwest near 16 mph (26 km/hour), and a west-northwest motion is expected over the next couple of days. She's also expected to slow down in forward speed.

Dolly's maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph (85 km/hour) with higher gusts, and the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico will strengthen her into a hurricane over the next day. Her estimated minimum central pressure is 1005 millibars.

She's expected to produce a good amount of rainfall across the northern Yucatan and western Cuba, between 4 and 6 inches. There will also be areas that could receive as much as 10 inches of rain.

This infrared image of Dolly was created by data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), an instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The image was created on July 21 at 7:23 UTC (3:23 a.m. EDT) and Dolly is located between the Yucatan and Cuba poised to enter the Gulf of Mexico.

The AIRS images show the temperature of the cloud tops or the surface of the Earth in cloud-free regions. The lowest temperatures (in purple) are associated with high, cold cloud tops that make up the top of Dolly. The AIRS data creates an accurate 3-D map of atmospheric temperature, water vapor and clouds, all of which are helpful to forecasters.

The infrared signal of the AIRS instrument does not penetrate through clouds. Where there are no clouds the AIRS instrument reads the infrared signal from the surface of the ocean waters, revealing warmer temperatures in orange and red.

Dolly Eyeing Landfall Wednesday at Texas/Mexico Border as a Hurricane

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Tropical Storm Dolly is strengthening in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and is expected to become a hurricane by Wednesday, July 23. The National Hurricane Center is forecasting landfall that day near Brownsville, Texas, which is on the border between Texas and Mexico.

Where is Dolly Now?
At 5:00 a.m. EDT (4:00 a.m. CDT) on Tuesday, July 22, the center of Tropical Storm Dolly was located near latitude 23.3 north and longitude 93.8 west or about 295 miles (475 km) southeast of Brownsville, Texas. Dolly's maximum sustained winds are near 60 mph (95 km/hr) with higher gusts. Additional strengthening is forecast, and Dolly is expected to become a hurricane prior to landfall.

Dolly is moving toward the west near 15 mph (24 km/hr). Later today, July 22, she's expected to turn to the west-northwest is expected later today, then veer northwest on the 23rd. Minimum central pressure is 997 millibars.

Where Are The Warnings Posted?
A hurricane warning is in effect for the coast of Texas from Brownsville to Port O'Connor. There's a warning also for the northeast coast of Mexico from Rio San Fernando, northward to the border between Mexico and the U.S. A hurricane warning means that hurricane conditions are expected within the warning area within the next 24 hours.

A tropical storm warning is in effect from north of Port O'Connor to San Luis Pass. A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions (winds between 39-73 mph) are expected within the warning area within the next 24 hours.

What Will Dolly Bring to Texas and Mexico?
Like the Dolly Parton song "Wild Texas Wind" from her "Something Special" album of 1995, Texas and Mexico will likely be experiencing hurricane force winds over the next few days.

The National Hurricane Center expects Dolly to produce total rain accumulations of 4 to 8 inches with isolated amounts of up to 15 inches over much of south Texas and northeastern Mexico over the next few days. Dolly is expected to produce additional amounts of 1 to 3 inches over the Northern Yucatan Peninsula.

Dangerous coastal conditions are expected as Dolly approaches the coast. Coastal storm surge flooding of 4 to 6 feet above normal tide levels along with large and dangerous battering waves can be expected near and to the north of where the center makes landfall.

What Does This NASA Satellite Image Show?
This infrared image of Dolly was created by data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), an instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The image was created on July 22 at 8:05 UTC (4:05 a.m. EDT) and Dolly is located in the Gulf of Mexico, some 275 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas (at the southern-most tip of the state).

The AIRS images show the temperature of the cloud tops or the surface of the Earth in cloud-free regions. The lowest temperatures (in purple) are associated with high, cold cloud tops that make up the top of Dolly. The AIRS data creates an accurate 3-D map of atmospheric temperature, water vapor and clouds, all of which are helpful to forecasters.

The infrared signal of the AIRS instrument does not penetrate through clouds. Where there are no clouds the AIRS instrument reads the infrared signal from the surface of the ocean waters, revealing warmer temperatures in orange and red.

Dolly Poised to Hit South Texas, Northern Mexico as Hurricane

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The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season has become a lot more active recently, first with the formation of Tropical Storm Cristobal off of the Carolina coast and now with Tropical Storm Dolly in the Gulf of Mexico poised to strike near the border between Texas and Mexico. Dolly, which became a tropical storm in the western Caribbean on the morning (local time) of 20 July 2008, originated from an African easterly wave that had emerged off of the coast of Africa back on the 12th of July before propagating westward across the tropical Atlantic and into the Caribbean. After forming in the western Caribbean, Tropical Storm Dolly maintained a generally west-northwestward track, which took the center across the very northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula early on the morning (local time) of July 21st. Despite passing over land and being somewhat disorganized, Dolly maintained moderate tropical storm intensity with sustained winds estimated at 45 knots (52 mph) by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Dolly re-emerged over the warm open waters of the western Gulf of Mexico later on the morning of the 21st. Combined with low atmospheric wind shear, conditions were favorable for intensification. The only real inhibiting factor was the sprawling nature of the storm itself. Without a well-organized core, storms take longer to respond to favorable conditions. None-the-less, Dolly began to slowly strengthen as is took aim at the Texas-Mexico border.

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (also known as TRMM) has been in service for over 10 years now and continues to provide valuable images and information on tropical cyclones around the Tropics using a combination of passive microwave and active radar sensors, including the first precipitation radar in space. These unique images were captured by TRMM at 12:44 UTC (7:44 am CDT) 22 July 2008 while Dolly was in the western Gulf of Mexico. The first image shows the horizontal pattern of rain intensity within the storm. Rain rates in the center swath are based on the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), and those in the outer swath on the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The rain rates are overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS). TRMM reveals that Dolly has a rather large wavy eye with most of the moderate to heavy rain (green and red areas, respectively) wrapping around the southern side of the storm.

The second image was collected at the same time and shows a 3D perspective of the storm via the TRMM PR. The eye is clearly visible by the deep center (in blue), which is completely surrounded by a ring of moderately high precipitation areas (green). A few somewhat taller towers are visible in red within the eastern eyewall. At the time of these images, Dolly was a moderate tropical storm with maximum sustained winds reported at 55 knots (63 mph) by NHC. Dolly is expected to continue off to the west-northwest and make landfall in the vicinity of Brownsville, TX as a minimal hurricane before turning more westward over central northern Mexico.

TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA.

Hurricane Dolly Already Making Landfall; Tornado Reported in South Texas

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Tropical Storm Dolly strengthened into a Category One Hurricane with 85 mph maximum sustained winds and may get even stronger before her eye makes landfall this morning (July 23, 2008). Dolly's center will be along the coast near the Texas/Mexico border around midday today, according to the National Hurricane Center, but she's already generated one tornado in south Texas this morning.

At 7:00 a.m. EDT, tropical storm force winds were already affecting coastal Texas and northeastern Mexico. The center of hurricane Dolly was located near latitude 25.8 north and longitude 96.6 west or about 55 miles (90 km) east of Brownsville, Texas.

Dolly is moving toward the northwest near 8 mph (13 km/hr) and northwestward to west-northwestward motion with a slight decrease in forward speed is expected today. Minimum central pressure is 972 millibars.

Where are the Warnings and Watches?

A hurricane warning remains in effect for the coast of Texas from Brownsville to Corpus Christi and for the northeastern coast of Mexico from Rio San Fernando northward to the border between Mexico and the U.S. Tropical Storm Warnings are posted for areas north and south of the hurricane warning area.

What Weather Conditions Are Expected?

At 8:00 a.m. EDT, the city of Brownsville, Texas was under a Flood Watch, Hurricane Wind Warning, Tornado Watch, and already a Tornado Warning.

At 7:04 a.m. CDT, The National Weather Service doppler radar indicated a tornado 7 miles north of Harlingen Valley Airport and moving southwest at 46 mph.

In the warning areas, Dolly is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 6 to 10 inches, with isolated amounts of 15 inches over portions of south Texas and northeastern Mexico over the next few days. These rains will likely cause widespread flooding across portions of south Texas and northeast Mexico.

Coastal flooding is another problem. Dolly's storm surge along the coasts will range from 4 to 6 feet above normal tide levels. There will also be large and dangerous battering waves near and north of the center's landfall point.

As with any land-falling hurricane, isolated tornadoes are also possible. Portions of south Texas and northern Mexico may experience isolated tornadoes today and tonight.

For Current Radar out of Brownsville, Texas, visit:

http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=BRO&product=NCR&overlay=11111111&loop=yes

What Does This NASA Satellite Image Show?

This infrared image of Dolly was created by data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), an instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The image was created on July 22 at 19:05 UTC (3:05 p.m. EDT) and Dolly was located in the Gulf of Mexico headed toward the Texas/Mexico border. Dolly is seen to the left side of this image.

The AIRS images show the temperature of the cloud tops or the surface of the Earth in cloud-free regions. The lowest temperatures (in purple) are associated with high, cold cloud tops that make up the top of Dolly. The AIRS data creates an accurate 3-D map of atmospheric temperature, water vapor and clouds, all of which are helpful to forecasters.

The infrared signal of the AIRS instrument does not penetrate through clouds. Where there are no clouds the AIRS instrument reads the infrared signal from the surface of the ocean waters, revealing warmer temperatures in orange and red.

Hurricane Season 2008: Tropical Storm Dolly (Gulf of Mexico)

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Hurricane Dolly Already Making Landfall; Tornado Reported in South Texas

Tropical Storm Dolly strengthened into a Category One Hurricane with 85 mph maximum sustained winds and may get even stronger before her eye makes landfall this morning (July 23, 2008). Dolly's center will be along the coast near the Texas/Mexico border around midday today, according to the National Hurricane Center, but she's already generated one tornado in south Texas this morning.

At 7:00 a.m. EDT, tropical storm force winds were already affecting coastal Texas and northeastern Mexico. The center of hurricane Dolly was located near latitude 25.8 north and longitude 96.6 west or about 55 miles (90 km) east of Brownsville, Texas.

Dolly is moving toward the northwest near 8 mph (13 km/hr) and northwestward to west-northwestward motion with a slight decrease in forward speed is expected today. Minimum central pressure is 972 millibars.

Where are the Warnings and Watches?

A hurricane warning remains in effect for the coast of Texas from Brownsville to Corpus Christi and for the northeastern coast of Mexico from Rio San Fernando northward to the border between Mexico and the U.S. Tropical Storm Warnings are posted for areas north and south of the hurricane warning area.

What Weather Conditions Are Expected?

At 8:00 a.m. EDT, the city of Brownsville, Texas was under a Flood Watch, Hurricane Wind Warning, Tornado Watch, and already a Tornado Warning.

At 7:04 a.m. CDT, The National Weather Service doppler radar indicated a tornado 7 miles north of Harlingen Valley Airport and moving southwest at 46 mph.

In the warning areas, Dolly is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 6 to 10 inches, with isolated amounts of 15 inches over portions of south Texas and northeastern Mexico over the next few days. These rains will likely cause widespread flooding across portions of south Texas and northeast Mexico.

Coastal flooding is another problem. Dolly's storm surge along the coasts will range from 4 to 6 feet above normal tide levels. There will also be large and dangerous battering waves near and north of the center's landfall point.

As with any land-falling hurricane, isolated tornadoes are also possible. Portions of south Texas and northern Mexico may experience isolated tornadoes today and tonight.

For Current Radar out of Brownsville, Texas, visit:

http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=BRO&product=NCR&overlay=11111111&loop=yes

What Does This NASA Satellite Image Show?

This infrared image of Dolly was created by data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), an instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The image was created on July 22 at 19:05 UTC (3:05 p.m. EDT) and Dolly was located in the Gulf of Mexico headed toward the Texas/Mexico border. Dolly is seen to the left side of this image.

The AIRS images show the temperature of the cloud tops or the surface of the Earth in cloud-free regions. The lowest temperatures (in purple) are associated with high, cold cloud tops that make up the top of Dolly. The AIRS data creates an accurate 3-D map of atmospheric temperature, water vapor and clouds, all of which are helpful to forecasters.

The infrared signal of the AIRS instrument does not penetrate through clouds. Where there are no clouds the AIRS instrument reads the infrared signal from the surface of the ocean waters, revealing warmer temperatures in orange and red.

Dolly Poised to Hit South Texas, Northern Mexico as Hurricane

The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season has become a lot more active recently, first with the formation of Tropical Storm Cristobal off of the Carolina coast and now with Tropical Storm Dolly in the Gulf of Mexico poised to strike near the border between Texas and Mexico. Dolly, which became a tropical storm in the western Caribbean on the morning (local time) of 20 July 2008, originated from an African easterly wave that had emerged off of the coast of Africa back on the 12th of July before propagating westward across the tropical Atlantic and into the Caribbean. After forming in the western Caribbean, Tropical Storm Dolly maintained a generally west-northwestward track, which took the center across the very northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula early on the morning (local time) of July 21st. Despite passing over land and being somewhat disorganized, Dolly maintained moderate tropical storm intensity with sustained winds estimated at 45 knots (52 mph) by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Dolly re-emerged over the warm open waters of the western Gulf of Mexico later on the morning of the 21st. Combined with low atmospheric wind shear, conditions were favorable for intensification. The only real inhibiting factor was the sprawling nature of the storm itself. Without a well-organized core, storms take longer to respond to favorable conditions. None-the-less, Dolly began to slowly strengthen as is took aim at the Texas-Mexico border.

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (also known as TRMM) has been in service for over 10 years now and continues to provide valuable images and information on tropical cyclones around the Tropics using a combination of passive microwave and active radar sensors, including the first precipitation radar in space. These unique images were captured by TRMM at 12:44 UTC (7:44 am CDT) 22 July 2008 while Dolly was in the western Gulf of Mexico. The first image shows the horizontal pattern of rain intensity within the storm. Rain rates in the center swath are based on the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), and those in the outer swath on the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The rain rates are overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS). TRMM reveals that Dolly has a rather large wavy eye with most of the moderate to heavy rain (green and red areas, respectively) wrapping around the southern side of the storm.

The second image was collected at the same time and shows a 3D perspective of the storm via the TRMM PR. The eye is clearly visible by the deep center (in blue), which is completely surrounded by a ring of moderately high precipitation areas (green). A few somewhat taller towers are visible in red within the eastern eyewall. At the time of these images, Dolly was a moderate tropical storm with maximum sustained winds reported at 55 knots (63 mph) by NHC. Dolly is expected to continue off to the west-northwest and make landfall in the vicinity of Brownsville, TX as a minimal hurricane before turning more westward over central northern Mexico.

TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA.

Dolly Eyeing Landfall Wednesday at Texas/Mexico Border as a Hurricane

Tropical Storm Dolly is strengthening in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and is expected to become a hurricane by Wednesday, July 23. The National Hurricane Center is forecasting landfall that day near Brownsville, Texas, which is on the border between Texas and Mexico.

Where is Dolly Now?
At 5:00 a.m. EDT (4:00 a.m. CDT) on Tuesday, July 22, the center of Tropical Storm Dolly was located near latitude 23.3 north and longitude 93.8 west or about 295 miles (475 km) southeast of Brownsville, Texas. Dolly's maximum sustained winds are near 60 mph (95 km/hr) with higher gusts. Additional strengthening is forecast, and Dolly is expected to become a hurricane prior to landfall.

Dolly is moving toward the west near 15 mph (24 km/hr). Later today, July 22, she's expected to turn to the west-northwest is expected later today, then veer northwest on the 23rd. Minimum central pressure is 997 millibars.

Where Are The Warnings Posted?
A hurricane warning is in effect for the coast of Texas from Brownsville to Port O'Connor. There's a warning also for the northeast coast of Mexico from Rio San Fernando, northward to the border between Mexico and the U.S. A hurricane warning means that hurricane conditions are expected within the warning area within the next 24 hours.

A tropical storm warning is in effect from north of Port O'Connor to San Luis Pass. A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions (winds between 39-73 mph) are expected within the warning area within the next 24 hours.

What Will Dolly Bring to Texas and Mexico?
Like the Dolly Parton song "Wild Texas Wind" from her "Something Special" album of 1995, Texas and Mexico will likely be experiencing hurricane force winds over the next few days.

The National Hurricane Center expects Dolly to produce total rain accumulations of 4 to 8 inches with isolated amounts of up to 15 inches over much of south Texas and northeastern Mexico over the next few days. Dolly is expected to produce additional amounts of 1 to 3 inches over the Northern Yucatan Peninsula.

Dangerous coastal conditions are expected as Dolly approaches the coast. Coastal storm surge flooding of 4 to 6 feet above normal tide levels along with large and dangerous battering waves can be expected near and to the north of where the center makes landfall.

What Does This NASA Satellite Image Show?
This infrared image of Dolly was created by data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), an instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The image was created on July 22 at 8:05 UTC (4:05 a.m. EDT) and Dolly is located in the Gulf of Mexico, some 275 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas (at the southern-most tip of the state).

The AIRS images show the temperature of the cloud tops or the surface of the Earth in cloud-free regions. The lowest temperatures (in purple) are associated with high, cold cloud tops that make up the top of Dolly. The AIRS data creates an accurate 3-D map of atmospheric temperature, water vapor and clouds, all of which are helpful to forecasters.

The infrared signal of the AIRS instrument does not penetrate through clouds. Where there are no clouds the AIRS instrument reads the infrared signal from the surface of the ocean waters, revealing warmer temperatures in orange and red.

Tropical Storm Dolly, Here You Come Again…

Like the number one song by Dolly Parton, "Here You Come Again," six years ago, there was a tropical storm Dolly, now the name has returned on the official six year name hurricane list. Dolly is the name of the Atlantic Hurricane Season's fourth named storm and she means business in the Gulf of Mexico.

Dolly started out as a tropical depression on Sunday, July 20th and by 11:45 a.m. EDT that day, she strengthened into a tropical storm and got her name.

By 8:00 a.m. EDT on Monday, July 21, 2008, Dolly had moved off the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, and is located between there and Cuba. She's now poised to enter the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters and could become a hurricane by Tuesday, July 22.

At 8:00 a.m. EDT on July 21, Dolly's center was located near 21.6 degrees north latitude and 88.7 degrees west longitude, or 65 miles (105 km) east-northeast of Progreso, Mexico. Dolly is moving toward the west-northwest near 16 mph (26 km/hour), and a west-northwest motion is expected over the next couple of days. She's also expected to slow down in forward speed.

Dolly's maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph (85 km/hour) with higher gusts, and the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico will strengthen her into a hurricane over the next day. Her estimated minimum central pressure is 1005 millibars.

She's expected to produce a good amount of rainfall across the northern Yucatan and western Cuba, between 4 and 6 inches. There will also be areas that could receive as much as 10 inches of rain.

This infrared image of Dolly was created by data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), an instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. The image was created on July 21 at 7:23 UTC (3:23 a.m. EDT) and Dolly is located between the Yucatan and Cuba poised to enter the Gulf of Mexico.

The AIRS images show the temperature of the cloud tops or the surface of the Earth in cloud-free regions. The lowest temperatures (in purple) are associated with high, cold cloud tops that make up the top of Dolly. The AIRS data creates an accurate 3-D map of atmospheric temperature, water vapor and clouds, all of which are helpful to forecasters.

The infrared signal of the AIRS instrument does not penetrate through clouds. Where there are no clouds the AIRS instrument reads the infrared signal from the surface of the ocean waters, revealing warmer temperatures in orange and red.

NASA Phoenix Lander Completes Longest Work Shift

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Phoenix early Tuesday finished its longest work shift of the mission. The lander stayed awake for 33 hours, completing tasks that included rasping and scraping by the robotic arm, in addition to atmosphere observations in coordination with simultaneous observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

"Our rasping test yesterday gave us enough confidence that we're now planning for the next use of the rasp to be for acquiring a sample to be delivered to TEGA," said Phoenix project manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. TEGA is Phoenix's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, an instrument that heats samples in small ovens and uses a mass spectrometer to study the vapors driven off by the heating.

As preparation for that sample delivery in coming days, the Phoenix team developed plans to command the lander Tuesday evening to conduct 80 scrapings of the bottom of a trench informally named "Snow White." The scraping is designed to freshly expose frozen material and ready the surface for using the rasp.

The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith of the University of Arizona with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For more about Phoenix, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Prepares for Next Sample Analysis

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The latest activities of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander have moved the mission closer to analyzing a sample of material, possibly icy soil, from a hard layer at the bottom of a shallow trench beside the lander.

Overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, during Phoenix's 57th Martian day, or sol, since landing, Phoenix used its robotic arm to scrape the top of the hard layer in the trench informally named "Snow White."

The Phoenix team prepared commands to send to the spacecraft Wednesday telling it to take color stereo images minutes after each of five more rounds of scraping during Sol 58.

"We are monitoring changes between the scrapes," said Doug Ming of NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, the team's science lead for Sol 58 plans. "It appears that there is fairly rapid sublimation of some of the ice after scraping exposes fresh material, leaving a thin layer of soil particles that had been mixed with the ice. There's a color change from darker to bluer to redder. We want to characterize that on Sol 58 to know what to expect when we scrape just before collecting the next sample."

Within a few sols, the team plans to collect a sample from the hard layer of Snow White for delivery to one of the eight ovens of Phoenix's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA). Doors to the oven have been opened to receive the sample.

The TEGA completed one checkout during Sol 57. Another preparation step by the instrument, a heater characterization, is planned for Sol 58, to verify that pressure sensors can be warmed enough to operate properly early in the Mars morning.

"For the next sample, we will be operating the instrument earlier in the morning than we have before," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for TEGA. "It will be almost the coldest part of the day, because we want to collect the sample cold and deliver it cold."

On the day when Phoenix will deliver the next sample to TEGA, the team plans to have lander activities begin about three hours earlier than the usual start time of about 9 a.m. local solar time.

One set of imaging commands developed for use on Sol 58 or soon afterwards will check a northwestern portion of the horizon repeatedly during early afternoon to see whether any dust devils can be seen. This will be the first systematic check by Phoenix for dust devils. Similar imaging sequences have observed dust devils near NASA's Mars Rover Spirit, south of Mars' equator.

Students from Boulder Creek High School, Anthem, Ariz., worked with Phoenix team members to plan the first monitoring for dust devils by the lander's Surface Stereo Imager. They and students from SciTech High School, San Diego, are interns at the Phoenix mission's Science Operations Center in Tucson this week, part of a series of internship visits from 12 schools this summer by schools in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith of the University of Arizona with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For more about Phoenix, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

International Astronautical Congress 2008 Glasgow

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29 September 2008 - 03 October 2008

The 59th International Astronautical Congress will be held in Glasgow between 29 September and 3 October 2008

IAC 2008 will provide an international focus for the global space industry, academic researchers and students worldwide through the presentation of the latest ideas, current activities and future ambitions across a diverse range of space-related topics together with a public exhibition.

Ian Pearson, Science and Innovation Minister, offers a message of support. To hear what he says, click on the podcast below.
Ian Pearson Podcast

The venue for this event is Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre and the Crowne Plaza Hotel, situated on the banks of the River Clyde.

For further information, please visit the IAC 2008 website.

Nasa's Spitzer Reveals 'No Organics' Zone Around Pinwheel Galaxy

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The Pinwheel galaxy is gussied up in infrared light in a new picture from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

The fluffy-looking galaxy, officially named Messier 101, is dominated by a mishmash of spiral arms. In Spitzer's new view, in which infrared light is color coded, the galaxy sports a swirling blue center and a unique, coral-red outer ring.

A new paper appearing July 20 in the Astrophysical Journal explains why this outer ring stands out. According to the authors, the red color highlights a zone where organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are present throughout most of the galaxy, suddenly disappear.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are dusty, carbon-containing molecules found in star nurseries, and on Earth in barbeque pits, exhaust pipes and anywhere combustion reactions take place. Scientists believe this space dust has the potential to be converted into the stuff of life.

"If you were going look for life in Messier 101, you would not want to look at its edges," said Karl Gordon of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md. "The organics can't survive in these regions, most likely because of high amounts of harsh radiation." To view Spitzer's Pinwheel, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/20080721a.html

The Pinwheel galaxy is located about 27 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has one of the highest known gradients of metals (elements heavier than helium) of all nearby galaxies in our universe. In other words, its concentrations of metals are highest at its center, and decline rapidly with distance from the center. This is because stars, which produce metals, are squeezed more tightly into the galaxy's central quarters.

Gordon and his team used Spitzer to learn about the galaxy's gradient of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The astronomers found that, like the metals, the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons decrease in concentration toward the outer portion of the galaxy. But, unlike the metals, these organic molecules quickly drop off and are no longer detected at the very outer rim.

"There's a threshold at the rim of this galaxy, where the organic material is getting destroyed," said Gordon.

The findings also provide a better understanding of the conditions under which the very first stars and galaxies arose. In the early universe, there were not a lot of metals or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons around. The outskirt of the Pinwheel galaxy therefore serves as a close-up example of what the environment might look like in a distant galaxy.

In this image, infrared light with a wavelength of 3.6 microns is colored blue; 8-micron light is green; and 24-micron light is red. All three of Spitzer instruments were used in the study: the infrared array camera, the multiband imaging photometer and the infrared spectrograph.

Other authors of the paper include Charles Engelbracht, George Rieke, Karl A. Misselt, J.D. Smith and Robert Kennicutt, Jr. of the University of Arizona, Tucson. Smith is also associated with the University of Toledo, Ohio, and Kennicutt is also associated with the University of Cambridge, England.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Spitzer's infrared array camera was built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The instrument's principal investigator is Giovanni Fazio of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Spitzer's infrared spectrograph was built by Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. Its development was led by Jim Houck of Cornell. The multiband imaging photometer for Spitzer was built by Ball Aerospace Corporation, Boulder, Colo., and the University of Arizona, Tucson. Its principal investigator is George Rieke of the University of Arizona.

For more information about Spitzer, visit http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer and http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer .

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Works Through the Night

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To coordinate with observations made by an orbiter flying repeatedly overhead, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is working a schedule Monday that includes staying awake all night for the first time.

Phoenix is using its weather station, stereo camera and conductivity probe to monitor changes in the lower atmosphere and ground surface at the same time NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter studies the atmosphere and ground from above.

The lander's fork-like thermal and conductivity probe was inserted into the soil Sunday for more than 24 hours of measurements coordinated with the atmosphere observations. One goal is to watch for time-of-day changes such as whether some water alters from ice phase to vapor phase and enters the atmosphere from the soil.

"We are looking for patterns of movement and phase change," said Michael Hecht, lead scientist for Phoenix's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, which includes the conductivity probe. "The probe is working great. We see some changes in soil electrical properties, which may be related to water, but we're still chewing on the data."

The extended work shift for the lander began Sunday afternoon Pacific Time. In Mars time at the landing site, it lasts from the morning of Phoenix's 55th Martian day, or sol, to the afternoon of its 56th sol.

The Phoenix team's plans for Sol 56 also include commanding the lander to conduct additional testing of the techniques for collecting a sample of icy soil. When the team is confident about the collecting method, it plans to use Phoenix's robotic arm to deliver an icy sample to an oven of the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA).

The TEGA instrument successfully opened both doors Saturday for the oven chosen to get the first icy sample. Images from the Surface Stereo Camera confirmed that the doors are wide open.

The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith of the University of Arizona with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For more about Phoenix, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

Hubble Equipment Being Processed

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Work on space shuttle Atlantis' thermal protection system continued over the weekend in NASA Kennedy Space Center's Orbiter Processing Facility.

Three of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope's payload carriers, the Flight Support System, the Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier and the Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier were delivered to Kennedy's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility and are now undergoing a highly sensitive cleaning process to prepare them for integration with the science payload.

At the end of July a fourth and final canister, the Multi-Use Lightweight Equipment carrier will join the others.

Repair of Launch Pad 39A's flame trench is right on schedule. All materials needed for the refurbishment have arrived and fireproofing begin this week with the application of Fondu Fyre, a heat resistant concrete developed during the Apollo space program.

The STS-125 flight is the final shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA astronauts will install new instruments, gyros, batteries and other components crucial to the telescope’s continued success through the year 2013.

NASA Conducts Full-Scale Test Firing of Orion Jettison Motor

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NASA completed a full-scale rocket motor test on Thursday, July 17, to further development of the Orion jettison motor, which will separate the spacecraft's launch abort system from the crew module during launch. Orion, the Constellation Program's crew exploration vehicle now under development, will fly to the International Space Station and be part of the spaceflight system to conduct sustained human exploration of the moon.

NASA and Aerojet successfully fired the jettison motor at the Aerojet facility in Sacramento, Calif. The demonstration is part of a series of developmental tests that pave the way for delivery of the motor to be used for the first full-scale test of the launch abort system at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico late this year.

Engineers will use the test firing to verify that the motor meets specification requirements and to help define induced acoustic, vibration and shock loads caused by the motor. The successful test firing of the jettison motor increases the technical readiness of the launch abort system and is the first full-scale rocket propulsion element qualified to proceed into a system-level demonstration. The test firing also verified that the system’s design criteria and manufacturing processes are in place.

This test and others like it are critical milestones in NASA's preparations for a series of flight tests of the full Orion abort system. The launch abort system will provide a safe escape for the crew in an emergency on the launch pad or during the climb to orbit.

NASA has partnered with Lockheed Martin Corporation and Aerojet to supply the jettison motor. NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., manages the Orion launch abort system design and development effort with partners and team members from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

> View Motor Test (Windows Media, 9 MB)

Crew Reconfigures Station for Post-Spacewalk Activities

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Cosmonauts Sergei Volkov, station commander, and Oleg Kononenko, flight engineer, performed two spacewalks in less than a week. They outfitted Russian station components and inspected their docked Soyuz vehicle. The spacewalkers also retrieved a Soyuz separation bolt for analysis on the ground.

The Soyuz vehicle was readied as a lifeboat in case the Pirs docking compartment failed to repressurize after completing the spacewalks. Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff occupied the Soyuz during the spacewalks. The Soyuz has now been reconfigured to its normal state.

A docked Progress cargo craft will be deactivated and will repressurize the station’s atmosphere. The Progress was prepared for an undocking during the spacewalks in the unlikely event Volkov and Kononenko were forced to enter their Soyuz, undock and redock at another port.

The cosmonauts spoke with the Russian lead spacewalk officer on the ground about their activities. They are also completing recharging the Orlan spacesuit batteries.

+ Read more about the spacewalk

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