July 8, 2010 - 6:00 pm
Tags: Alaska, Arctic, Beaufort, characteristics of the ocean, Chukchi Sea, Ice, Kathryn Hansen, NASA, Pacific, sea, u s coast guard, U.S. Coast
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Scientists on the sea ice in the Chukchi Sea off the north coast of Alaska disperse equipment on July 4, 2010, as they prepare to collect data on and below the ice. The research is part of NASA’s ICESCAPE mission aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy to sample the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the ocean and sea ice. Impacts of Climate change on the Eco-Systems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment (ICESCAPE) is a multi-year NASA shipborne project. The bulk of the research will take place in the Beaufort and Chukchi Sea’s in the summer of 2010 and fall of 2011. Image Credit: NASA/Kathryn Hansen
June 7, 2010 - 6:00 pm
Tags: ASTER, aster science team, diversity, intact ecosystems, Japan, Lagoons, nasa gsfc, New Caledonia, Pacific Ocean, Terra, U.S., world
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In 2008, UNESCO added the Lagoons of New Caledonia to the World Heritage Site list. The Lagoons comprise six marine clusters that represent the main diversity of coral reefs and associated ecosystems in the French Pacific Ocean archipelago of New Caledonia and one of the three most extensive reef systems in the world. These Lagoons feature a remarkable diversity of coral and fish species and a continuum of habitats from mangroves to seagrasses with the world’s most diverse concentration of reef structures. The Lagoons of New Caledonia display intact ecosystems, with healthy populations of large predators, and a great number and diversity of big fish. They provide habitat to a number of emblematic or threatened marine species such as turtles, whales and dugongs whose population here is the third largest in the world With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched December 18, 1999, on NASA’s Terra satellite. The instrument was built by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and the data products. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
May 4, 2010 - 6:00 pm
Tags: Bill Ingalls, Commander Oleg Kotov, Flight Engineer Timothy J, Japan, Kazakhstan, launch, Russia, Soyuz, soyuz commander, soyuz spacecraft, spacecraft, U.S.
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The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft is the subject of this long exposure, and is seen as it is rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Friday, Dec. 18, 2009. The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft with Expedition 22 NASA Flight Engineer Timothy J. Creamer of the U.S., Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov of Russia and Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi of Japan, occurred on Monday, Dec. 21, 2009. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
April 25, 2010 - 6:00 pm
Tags: Administrator Bolden, Administrator Charles Bolden, Administrator Lisa P, Earth, earth science data, earth science research, Jackson, NASA, Paul Alers, science, science research technology, U.S., Washington
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NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson signed a Memorandum of Agreement today to promote and continue collaboration between the two agencies in environmental and Earth sciences and applications. The signing ceremony took place at the Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science (MS)² on the campus of Howard University in Washington. Following the ceremony, both administrators met with students to discuss the importance of science and engineering education. “Our agencies have a remarkable opportunity to tackle a variety of environmental issues together,” said Administrator Bolden. “Involving students in Earth science and climate research at an early age will encourage a stronger sense of stewardship toward our home planet.” The agreement renews a broad partnership to promote joint efforts to improve environmental and Earth science research, technology, environmental management, and the application of Earth science data, models and technology in environmental decision-making. Video of the event can be seen on UStream Image Credit: NASA/Paul Alers
This other worldly landscape is actually Dagze Co, one of many inland lakes in Tibet. In glacial times, the region was considerably wetter, and lakes were correspondingly much larger, as evidenced by the numerous fossil shorelines that circle the lake and attest to the presence of a previously larger, deeper lake. Over millennia changes in climate have resulted in greater aridity of the Tibetan Plateau. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
April 14, 2010 - 6:00 pm
Tags: Bill Ingalls, Cape Canaveral, Fla., Kennedy, NASA, nasa kennedy space, nasa kennedy space center, Obama, President Obama, Senator Bill Nelson, Space, U.S.
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President Barack Obama waves hello as he exits of Air Force One along with Senator Bill Nelson after landing at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Thursday, April 15, 2010. Obama visited Kennedy to deliver remarks on the bold new course the administration is charting to maintain U.S. leadership in human space flight. During a speech at the center, President Obama said, “As president, I believe space exploration is not a luxury, not an afterthought, an essential part of the quest.” Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Spring has sprung on Mars, bringing with it the disappearance of carbon dioxide ice (dry ice) that covers the north polar sand dunes. In spring, the sublimation of the ice (going directly from ice to gas) causes a host of uniquely Martian phenomena. In this image streaks of dark basaltic sand have been carried from below the ice layer to form fan-shaped deposits on top of the seasonal ice. The similarity in the directions of the fans suggests that they formed at the same time, when the wind direction and speed was the same. They often form along the boundary between the dune and the surface below. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
March 10, 2010 - 7:00 pm
Tags: Agency, Canada, canadian space agency, charles bolden, Director General, Dr. Steve MacLean, Europe, ISS, Japan, Jean-Jacques Dordain, keiji tachikawa, N. Permirov, President, Russia, Space Station, space station iss, Tokyo, United States
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The heads of the International Space Station (ISS) agencies from Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and the United States met in Tokyo, Japan, on March 11, 2010, to review ISS cooperation. From the left are Dr. Keiji Tachikawa, President of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator; Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of the European Space Agency; Anatoly N. Permirov, Head of the Russian Space Agency; and, Dr. Steve MacLean, President of the Canadian Space Agency. With the assembly of the ISS nearing completion and the capability to support a full-time crew of six established, they noted the outstanding opportunities now offered by the ISS for on-orbit research and for discovery including the operation and management of the world’s largest international space complex. The heads of agency reaffirmed the importance of full exploitation of the station’s scientific, engineering, utilization, and education potential. They noted that there are no identified technical constraints to continuing ISS operations beyond the current planning horizon, and that the partnership is currently working to certify on-orbit elements through 2028. They emphasized their common intent to undertake the necessary procedures within their respective governments to reach consensus later this year on the continuation of the ISS to the next decade. Image Credit: JAXA
An oblong iceberg roughly as big as Rhode Island called B-09B (center right in this image) collided with the edge of the Mertz Glacier in eastern Antarctica this month breaking away a new iceberg (top left) that is nearly as large at B-09B. This image from Feb. 20, 2010, is one of a series of images from NASA’s Aqua satellite that showed the progression and aftermath of the collision. The floating ice tongue of the glacier is created as ice flows down from Antarctica and onto the water. Glacier tongues grow longer year by year until they eventually break off, calving a new iceberg. Image Credit: NASA
January 26, 2010 - 7:00 pm
Tags: advanced spaceborne thermal emission, ASTER, aster science team, damage, Haiti, Image, Japan, NASA, nasa gsfc, Port-au-Prince, Terra, U.S.
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The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA’s Terra spacecraft captured this false-color image of Haiti on Jan. 21, 2010, nine days after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the region and caused massive damage and loss of life, and one day after a large 5.9 aftershock caused additional damage. While ASTER’s 50-foot resolution is not sufficient to see damaged buildings, it can be used to identify other results. Tiny dots of white against the plant-covered landscape (red in this image) are possible landslides, a common occurrence in mountainous terrain after large earthquakes. The possible landslides were identified by carefully comparing the new image with an image acquired one year ago. Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, is silver in the false-color image. The rivers are pale blue, while the ocean is dark blue. Exposed soil is white. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
