• 2010 nasa special
    a total eclipse of the Sun is visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses Earth's southern Hemisphere. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow crosses the South Pacific Ocean where it makes no landfall except for Mangaia (Cook Islands) and Easter Island (Isla de Pascua).

NASA Announces Partnership with Texas Instruments

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TI Education Manager and Master Instructors pose for a picture before touring the mission control centers at NASA Johnson Space CenterNASA and Texas Instruments (TI) announced a new partnership between TI and NASA's Human Research Program Education Outreach (HRPEO) project at the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) conference held in Austin, Texas, earlier this year.

The kick-off event for the partnership between HRPEO and TI was a workshop held by HRPEO personnel at Johnson Space Center (JSC). The focus of this collaboration is to develop and implement new, supplementary educational content using real-world NASA applications and the excitement of space exploration to enhance the latest technology and expertise that is uniquely TI.

TI and HRPEO team members in Apollo Mission Control Center with Flight ControllerAfter being inspired by a special tour of the Mission Control Centers for the space shuttle, ISS and Apollo programs, the T³ instructors were tasked with creating new versions of the HRPEO Exploring Space Through Math and Math and Science @ Work problems, incorporating the latest TI technology. HRPEO content from this collaboration will be posted on the TI Activities Exchange, a popular feature of the TI website where teachers can find activities posted by subject for their classrooms.

The T³ instructors and HRPEO project leads will make presentations at the T³ International Conference in Atlanta in March. While attending they will continue collaborating on new problems and planning a week-long summer content development effort at JSC this June.

The professional development division of TI, called "Teachers Teaching with Technology™" or T³ for short, has a rich history of providing high-quality professional development for teachers who want to integrate educational technology into their curricula. These instructors give presentations to math and science teachers nationwide using the TI technology. This national exposure will help HRPEO broaden the reach of the projects as well as effect students through T³ Instructors.

The Group receives instruction on Apollo Mission Control Center from Flight ControllerThe HRPEO project, Exploring Space Through Math, focuses on Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II and Precalculus, while the Math and Science @ Work project focuses on AP courses in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Calculus and Statistics. These projects provide supplemental educational materials designed to help students understand real-world applications of these courses. This type of education is referred to as Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or STEM.

Also of note, TI has a new handheld technology called the TI-Nspire. The T³ Instructors are creating Nspire versions of the existing problems. Since many schools have graphing calculators (TI-84’s or older versions) in their classrooms and some schools have the newer Nspire handhelds, both versions will be implemented. This will provide a wider audience for these high school STEM materials.

To find out more, visit:
› http://humanresearch.jsc.nasa.gov/education.asp
› http://www.education.ti.com

NASA Announces 2010 Carl Sagan Fellows

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The Sagan Fellowship, named after the late Carl Sagan, is one of three fellowships that represent a new theme-based approachNASA has selected seven scientists as recipients of Carl Sagan Postdoctoral Fellowships in exoplanet exploration for 2010. The Sagan Fellowships support outstanding recent postdoctoral scientists in conducting independent research broadly related to the science goals of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program. That program's primary goal is to discover and characterize planetary systems and Earth-like planets around other stars.

"The Sagan Fellowship identifies and supports the most promising young scholars who are passionate about the scientific search for and study of planets beyond our solar system," said Charles Beichman, executive director of the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "These young scientists combine interest in the fields of astronomy, astrobiology or geophysics with expertise in theory, observation, or state-of-the-art instrumentation. They are following a trail blazed by Carl Sagan -- after whom the fellowship program is named -- that may one day lead to the discovery of life on worlds other than Earth."

The program, created in 2008, awards selected postdoctoral scientists with stipends of approximately $62,500 for up to three years, plus an annual research budget of $16,000. Topics range from techniques for detecting the glow of a dim planet in the blinding glare of its host star, to searching for the crucial ingredients of life in other planetary systems.

In addition to the Sagan Fellowships, NASA has two other astrophysics theme-based fellowship programs: the Einstein Fellowship Program, which supports research into the physics of the cosmos; and the Hubble Fellowship Program, which supports research into cosmic origins.

The 2010 Sagan Fellows are:

--Diana Valencia, who will work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, to study the internal structure, composition and physical evolution of super-Earths.

--Emily Rauscher, who will work at the University of Arizona, Tucson, to investigate the atmospheric conditions necessary to achieve large-scale variability in hot Jupiters. A hot Jupiter is a planet roughly the size of Jupiter that orbits very close to its parent star.

--Lucas Cieza, who will work at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, to study the disks of gas and dust around young stars where there is evidence of planets being formed.

--Ivan Ramirez, who will work at the Carnegie Observatories, Pasadena, Calif., to develop new methods for finding planets based on chemical analyses of their stars.

--Jacob Bean, who will work at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., to carry out a sensitive search for planets around the smallest stars by carefully measuring the stellar wobble produced by the planet.

--Laurent Pueyo, who will work at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., to use adaptive optics observations to directly image planets around other stars.

--Aaron Boley, who will attend the University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., to study the formation of gas giant planets, particularly the formation and heating of large solids in the initial stages of planet-building.

A full description of the 2010 fellows and their projects, and other information about these programs is available at:

http://nexsci.caltech.edu/sagan/2010postdocRecipients.shtml .

More information about NASA's Astrophysics Division is at:

http://nasascience.nasa.gov/astrophysics .

The Sagan Fellowship Program is administered by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute as part of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The California Institute of Technology manages JPL for NASA.

Giving Teachers the Tools to Inspire

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Teachers found themselves on the other side of the desk this week as they played the part of student, participating in workshops and learning how to get students psyched about science during the second annual NASA STEM Educators Workshop series in Charlotte, N.C.

The three-day free workshop held at the IBM Center consisted of 40 sessions that offered elementary, middle and high school teachers creative and hands-on ways to incorporate NASA content into their classrooms.

For elementary teacher Nancy Brooks from Kannapolis, N.C., it didn't take long to find something that would spark her students' interest.

During a workshop Brooks learned how to make an end effector, which in robotics is the device at the end of a robot arm.

"It only took two Styrofoam cups, string, tape, and a little bit of practice," said Brooks who planned on having her students complete the same project the very next day.

"There are so many resources and activities here that I can take back with me and use to motivate my students to dig a little deeper," she continued.

Dynae Fullwood, aerospace education specialist from NASA's Langley Research Center, said the workshops are specifically designed to give teachers tangible resources for immediate use in the classrooms.

"We know teachers face an everyday challenge to make concepts exciting and interesting for students," Fullwood said.

In the hands-on lab elementary and middle school teachers examined robots and did their best to follow the instructions of their teacher Taunya Sweet, a traveling education specialist for NASA's Aerospace Education Services Project (AESP).

Similar to students, the teachers were anxious to get started and play with their robot.

"Don't touch them," cautioned Sweet. "I know these robots are interesting, but wait until after we observe them to turn them on."

In another classroom, teachers in the video conferencing lab listened as Karen Ricks from NASA Langley's Digital Learning Network discussed "Traveling to Space" over a live digital feed. Just down the hall, NASA exhibits encouraged teachers to make Post Cards from space and find their "space weight."

Tracie Hall, an elementary school teacher from North Carolina, and Garrison Hall, a middle school teacher from South Carolina, work together to program a robot during a workshopThe sessions culminated with a guest appearance from Astronaut Leland Melvin, who only the day before gave an inspiring speech to hundreds of middle school students at the CIAA Education Day, about "living your dreams."

Melvin, who got his start in fiber optic sensors at NASA Langley and went on to become an astronaut with two missions under his belt, appealed to the teachers as a fellow educator himself.

As the co-manager of NASA's Educator Astronaut Program, Melvin travels across the country engaging students and teachers in the excitement of space exploration. He also came from a family of educators. Both of his parents were teachers.

"My dad, the educator, was my role model, my inspiration," he said.

He encouraged teachers to find their own inspiration and to continue inspire and be role models for the next generation.

"We need to keep the kids excited about STEM subjects," he said to a round of applause.

Melvin stressed the importance education played in his life even when he was on track to play football in NFL.

"I always had a back-up plan," Melvin said. "And that plan was education."

A pulled hamstring thwarted Melvin's dreams of playing for the Dallas Cowboys, but his enrollment in graduate school at the University of Virginia kept him on track to realize his dreams, which turned to be helping others find theirs.

Centennial Challenges 2009 Prizewinners Recognition Ceremony

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2009 Award WinnersNASA Admimistrator Charlie Bolden along with senior NASA officials Doug Comstock and Andy Petro, acknowledges winners and organizers of NASA’s 2009 Centennial Challenges. The award ceremony was held at NASA Headquarters, Washington.

The multi-year competitions address a range of technical challenges that support NASA's missions in aeronautics and space with a goal of encouraging novel solutions from non-traditional sources. In 2009, NASA awarded a total of 3.65 million dollars to eight winning teams in four competitions. The partner organizations that conducted the competitions are: California Space Education and Workforce Institute (Regolith Excavation), X Prize Foundation (Lunar Lander), Spaceward Foundation (Power Beaming and Strong Tether), Volanz Aerospace Inc. (Astronaut Glove) and Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency Foundation (Green Flight). NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program manages the Centennial Challenges.

For more information on Centennial Challenges, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/challenges

Magnetic fields play important role in birth of massive stars

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This artist's illustration provided by NASA shows what the brightest supernova ever recorded, known as SN 2006gy, may have looked like when it exploded.
AP This artist's illustration provided by NASA shows what the brightest supernova ever recorded, known as SN 2006gy, may have looked like when it exploded.

In a new research, astronomers have used the MERLIN radio telescope network cantered on the Jodrell Bank Observatory to show that magnetic fields play an important role during the birth of massive stars. Magnetic fields are already known to strongly influence the formation of lower-mass stars like our Sun.

This new study reveals that the way in which high-mass and low-mass stars form may be more similar than previously suspected. Massive stars, more than 8 times the mass of the Sun, are crucial to the formation of other stars, planets and even life. Though rare, they dominate the content and evolution of the interstellar material in the Galaxy and are responsible for the production of heavy elements such as iron. However, the question of how massive stars are formed has proved extremely difficult to answer. The role of magnetic fields in particular has been a topic of great debate. “While magnetic fields have been observed in the clouds of molecular hydrogen from which stars form, observations close to massive stars have up to now been in short supply,” said Dr. Wouter Vlemmings at Bonn University, who led the research. “If the formation of massive stars is similar to their lighter counterparts, we should be able to detect the strong magnetic fields needed to both produce the jets and stabilize the disks associated with them,” he added.

For the first time, Vlemmings and his collaborators have managed to observe the 3-dimensional magnetic field structure around the disk of the massive newly forming star (or protostar) Cepheus A HW2. In their new observations, the astronomers have found that the magnetic field is surprisingly regular and strong, implying that it is controlling how the matter is transferred through the disk to feed the growing embryonic star.

To determine the magnetic field structure, the researchers used the MERLIN telescope array to observe radio waves (with a wavelength of approximately 5 cm) that are amplified by methanol molecules. These methanol molecules, the simplest of the alcohol compounds, are found in regions surrounding the massive disk around HW2, which extend over a region 10 times the size of our Solar System. Such regions are called masers, because they amplify microwave radiation in the same way a laser amplifies light radiation. Even though a strong magnetic field produces only a very weak signature in the signal from the methanol molecules, this amplification is strong enough to make the new work possible.

An Astronaut Peeks Out from the Space Station's Lovely New 360-Degree Window

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Cupola View: Why is this man smiling? Oh right NASA
Space shuttle Endeavour has landed safely after installing a new observation deck on the International Space Station. But the Endeavour astronauts didn't leave without first checking out the new view from the cupola window.

Here we get a view of George Zamka, NASA astronaut and STS-130 commander, peeking out from the newly-installed cupola on February 19 while the space shuttle remained docked with the space station. ISS resident Soichi Noguchi has already made good use of the cupola to take pretty Earth Twitpics with his 800mm lens camera.

Speaking of Noguchi, the astronaut also took advantage of his fresh vantage point to capture this stunning image of the space shuttle making an s-turn while undergoing atmospheric reentry on its return home.

Space Shuttle S-Turn: Sky shuttle in flight Soichi Noguchi/NASA

Besides providing stunning sights, the cupola gives ISS residents a better view to control the space station's robotic arm. That feature should come in handy, considering that NASA's new budget has extended the space station lifetime until at least 2020.

Nasa launches new free iPhone Lunar Rover app

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Nasa has produced a new free iPhone app that allows users to be part of their own space mission to the moon, officials said.

The interactive game, called Nasa Lunar Electric Rover Simulator, is an interactive game for the Apple iPhone where users are given an insight into what it could be like to support lunar mission.

While driving a Lunar Electric Rover during their Lunar Outpost, users can perform various tasks to support the mission including transporting supplies to and from various points, blogs say.

Based on an astronauts’ experience, users also have to closely monitor their power consumption while navigating around the moon's hazards.

The game, released on Monday by space officials and based on the agency’s video pod cast show, Nasa Edge, also comes with an interactive gallery.

The free application, developed by the Analytical Mechanics Association at the Nasa Langley Research Centre, in Hampton, Virginia, is available through the iTunes store.

“We wanted to make this a cool game instead of an app where you just retrieve information,” Chris Giersch, the host of Edge, told Wired magazine.

“We thought about going hi-tech and going really jazzy, but for this first version, let’s just keep it basic.”

Mr Giersch said the Rover was based on the prototype tested at the Black Point Lava Flow in Arizona.

It would have been part of a planned lunar outpost under the former Nasa Constellation solar system exploration plan, he said.

The apps’ blurb adds: “You don't need a driver's license, but you still need to buckle up as the LER Simulator gives you a glimpse of what it might be like to support the activities of a functioning Lunar Outpost.

“Get busy. You never know if your skills here will become a major part of the Nasa Astronaut application process in the future.”

It is the latest technological initiative released by Nasa, which is one the leading government agencies to try and engage in new media.

It regularly uses Twitter and other iPhone apps including payed-for iRover, which allows users to explore the moon's surface.

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