SDO Captures Release of X1.2 Class Solar Flare (+playlist)

Gaia enters its operational orbit

Gaia enters its operational orbit

La scuola ricomincia dallo spazio: collegamento radio con la ISS

La scuola ricomincia dallo spazio: collegamento radio con la ISS

Seznámení se s družicí Sentinel-1A

Seznámení se s družicí Sentinel-1A

ORBITING CARBON OBSERVATORY SPACECRAFT TESTED IN THERMAL CHAMBER

FROM:  NASA 

NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-2 spacecraft is moved into a thermal vacuum chamber at Orbital Sciences Corporation's Satellite Manufacturing Facility in Gilbert, Ariz., for a series of environmental tests. The tests confirmed the integrity of the observatory's electrical connections and subjected the OCO-2 instrument and spacecraft to the extreme hot, cold and airless environment they will encounter once in orbit. The observatory's solar array panels were removed prior to the test. OCO-2 is NASA's first mission dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide and is the latest mission in NASA's study of the global carbon cycle. Carbon dioxide is the most significant human-produced greenhouse gas and the principal human-produced driver of climate change. The mission will uniformly sample the atmosphere above Earth's land and ocean, collecting between 100,000 and 200,000 measurements of carbon dioxide concentration over Earth's sunlit hemisphere every day for at least two years. It will do so with the accuracy, resolution and coverage needed to provide the first complete picture of the regional-scale geographic distribution and seasonal variations of both human and natural sources of carbon dioxide emissions as well as the places where carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored. Image Credit: Orbital Sciences Corporation/NASA/JPL-Caltech

Décollage de Gaia, cartographe stellaire de l’ESA

Décollage de Gaia, cartographe stellaire de l’ESA

Immagine EO della settimana: fiordi natalizi

Immagine EO della settimana: fiordi natalizi

Highlights 2013

Highlights 2013

TRACKING INTERPLANETARY SPACECRAFT

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

FROM:  NASA, GOLDSTONE 

Late night in the desert: Goldstone's 230-foot (70-meter) antenna tracks spacecraft day and night. This photograph was taken on Jan. 11, 2012. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, located in the Mojave Desert in California, is one of three complexes that comprise NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN provides radio communications for all of NASA's interplanetary spacecraft and is also utilized for radio astronomy and radar observations of the solar system and the universe. DSN, the world's largest and most powerful communications system for "talking to" spacecraft, will reach a milestone on Dec. 24: the 50th anniversary of its official creation. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Deep Space Network for NASA.

FDA WARNS CONSUMERS ABOUT MUSCLE GROWTH SUPPLEMENT "MASS DESTRUCTION"

FROM:  U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is advising consumers to immediately stop using a product called Mass Destruction, marketed as a dietary supplement for muscle growth. The product is labeled to contain at least one synthetic anabolic steroid and has been linked to at least one reported serious illness.

The FDA was alerted by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services of a serious injury associated with use of Mass Destruction. The report described a previously healthy 28-year-old male with liver failure requiring transplant after several weeks of product use. Liver injury is generally known to be a possible outcome of using products that contain anabolic steroids and steroid-like substances. The product’s ingredients are undergoing further analysis by the FDA.

Mass Destruction is manufactured for Blunt Force Nutrition in Sims, N.C. and sold in retail stores, fitness gyms, and on the Internet. An investigation is underway to identify the product’s manufacturer. Consumers who suspect they are experiencing problems associated with Mass Destruction or other body building products should consult a health care professional, especially if they have experienced unexplained fatigue, abdominal or back pain, discolored urine, or any other unexplained changes in their health.

Mars Express se dirige a un atrevido encuentro con Fobos

Mars Express se dirige a un atrevido encuentro con Fobos

NASA NEWS CONFERENCE: VOYAGER REACHES INTERSTELLAR SPACE

ASTRONAUTS COMPLETE NEARLY 5 1/2 HOUR SPACEWALK TO REPAIR SPACE STATION

FROM:  NASA 

NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins completed a 5 hour and 28 minute spacewalk Saturday to remove a faulty ammonia pump on the International Space Station. A second spacewalk to install a new unit now is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 24.

The extra day will allow time for the crew to resize a spare spacesuit on the space station for use by Mastracchio. During repressurization of the station’s airlock following the spacewalk, a spacesuit configuration issue put the suit Mastracchio was wearing in question for the next excursion -- specifically whether water entered into the suit’s sublimator inside the airlock. The flight control team at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston decided to switch to a backup suit for the next spacewalk.

This issue is not related to the spacesuit water leak that was seen during a July spacewalk by European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA’s Chris Cassidy. Both Mastracchio and Hopkins reported dry conditions repeatedly throughout Saturday’s activities and the two were never in danger.
NASA Television coverage of Tuesday’s spacewalk will begin at 6:15 a.m. EST. The spacewalk scheduled to begin at 7:10 a.m.

ROCKET PREPPED FOR LAUNCH ON RESUPPLY MISSION TO ISS

FROM:   NASA 

An Orbital Science Corporation Antares rocket is seen on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2013 as it is rolled out to launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, VA. The Antares is scheduled to launch a Cygnus spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station on Thursday, Dec. 19 at 9:19 p.m. EST. The Orbital-1 mission is Orbital Sciences' first contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA. Among the cargo aboard Cygnus set to launch to the space station are science experiments, crew provisions, spare parts and other hardware. Weather permitting, it may be widely visible along the east coast of the United States. > Map of Orbital-1 Launch Viewing Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Season's greetings

Season's greetings