Astronauts Start Hubble Repairs

A pair of spacewalking astronauts stepped outside Thursday to begin demanding repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope, a job made all the more dangerous because of the high, debris-ridden orbit. (May 14)

Herschel and Planck Missions to Study Cosmos Share Ride to Space

WASHINGTON -- Two missions to study the cosmos, the Herschel and Planck spacecraft, are scheduled to blast into space May 14 aboard the same Ariane 5 rocket from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. The European Space Agency, or ESA, leads both missions with significant participation from NASA.

"The missions are quite different, but they'll hitch a ride to space together," said Ulf Israelsson, NASA project manager for both Herschel and Planck. "Launch processing is moving along smoothly. Both missions' instruments have completed their final checkouts, and the spacecrafts' thruster tanks have been fueled."

Israelsson is with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or JPL, in Pasadena, Calif., which contributed key technology to both missions. NASA team members will play an important role in data analysis and science operations.

The Herschel observatory has the unique ability to peek into the dustiest and earliest stages of planet, star and galaxy growth. The spacecraft's astronomy mirror -- about 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) in diameter -- is the largest ever launched into space. The mirror will collect longer-wavelength light in the infrared and submillimeter range -- light never before investigated by an astronomy mission.

"We haven't had ready access to the wavelengths between infrared and microwaves before, in part because Earth's atmosphere blocks them from reaching the ground," said Paul Goldsmith, the NASA project scientist for Herschel at JPL. "Because our views were so limited before, we can expect a vast range of serendipitous discoveries, from new molecules in interstellar space to new types of objects."

The coolest objects in the universe, such as dusty, developing stars and galaxies, appear as dark blobs when viewed with visible-light telescopes. As a result, astronomers do not know what is happening inside them. However, at longer wavelengths in the far-infrared and submillimeter range, cool objects shine brightly. Herschel will detect light from objects as cold as -263 degrees Celsius, or 10 Kelvin, which is 10 degrees above the coldest temperature theoretically attainable. Onboard liquid helium, which is expected to last more than three and a half years, will chill one of Herschel's detectors to a frosty 0.3 Kelvin.

Planck will answer fundamental questions about how the universe came to be and how it will change in the future. It will look back in time to just 400,000 years after our universe exploded into existence nearly 14 billion years ago in the event known as the Big Bang. The mission will spend at least 15 months making the most precise measurements yet of light at microwave wavelengths across our entire sky, including what is called the cosmic microwave background. This light is from the primordial soup of particles that eventually evolved to become our modern-day universe. The light has traveled about 14 billion years to reach us, and, in that time, has cooled and stretched to longer wavelengths because space is expanding.

"The cosmic microwave background shows us the universe directly at age 400,000 years, not the movie, not the historical novel, but the original photons," said Charles Lawrence, NASA project scientist for Planck at JPL. "Planck will give us the clearest view ever of this baby universe, showing us the results of physical processes in the first brief moments after the Big Bang, and the starting point for the formation of stars and galaxies."

Planck will be cold too. One of its instruments will be cooled to just 0.1 Kelvin. Innovative "cryocooler" technology, developed in part by JPL, will chill the instruments.

Shortly after launch, Planck and Herschel will separate from the rocket and follow different trajectories to the second Lagrangian point of our solar system, a point in space 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth.

Herschel and Planck are both ESA missions with important participation from NASA. NASA's Herschel Project Office and Planck Project Office are both based at JPL. A consortium of European-led institutes provided science instruments for Herschel. JPL contributed mission-enabling technology for two of Herschel's three science instruments and both of Planck's science instruments. The NASA Herschel Science Center, part of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, supports the U.S. astronomical community. NASA, U.S. and European Planck scientists will work together to analyze the Planck data.

More information about the Herschel mission is available online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/herschel

More information about the Planck mission is available online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/planck

NASA TV to Air U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction May 2

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA Television will provide live coverage of the 2009 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday, May 2, at 3 p.m. EDT. The ceremony will take place at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.

Joining the hall of fame this year are former astronauts George "Pinky" Nelson, one of only four space shuttle astronauts to fly untethered in space using NASA's Manned Maneuvering Unit; William Shepherd, commander of the first crew to live aboard the International Space Station; and Jim Wetherbee, commander of the longest docked shuttle-Mir mission.

CNN reporter John Zarrella will host the event. More than 20 hall of fame astronauts are expected to attend, including Scott Carpenter, Walt Cunningham, Jim Lovell and Bob Crippen.

For the astronauts' complete biographies, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/astrobio_former.html

Reporters interested in covering the event should contact Andrea Farmer at 321-449-4318 or Jillian McRae at 321-449-4273. For more information about the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, visit:

http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com

For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

NASA TV to Air U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction May 2

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA Television will provide live coverage of the 2009 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday, May 2, at 3 p.m. EDT. The ceremony will take place at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.

Joining the hall of fame this year are former astronauts George "Pinky" Nelson, one of only four space shuttle astronauts to fly untethered in space using NASA's Manned Maneuvering Unit; William Shepherd, commander of the first crew to live aboard the International Space Station; and Jim Wetherbee, commander of the longest docked shuttle-Mir mission.

CNN reporter John Zarrella will host the event. More than 20 hall of fame astronauts are expected to attend, including Scott Carpenter, Walt Cunningham, Jim Lovell and Bob Crippen.

For the astronauts' complete biographies, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/astrobio_former.html

Reporters interested in covering the event should contact Andrea Farmer at 321-449-4318 or Jillian McRae at 321-449-4273. For more information about the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, visit:

http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com

For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

NASA's Kepler Captures 1st view of Planet-Hunting Territory

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Kepler mission has taken its first images of the star-rich sky where it will soon begin hunting for planets like Earth.

The new "first light" images show the mission's target patch of sky, a vast starry field in the Cygnus-Lyra region of our Milky Way galaxy. One image shows millions of stars in Kepler's full field of view, while two others zoom in on portions of the larger region. The images can be seen online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/20090416.html

"Kepler's first glimpse of the sky is awe-inspiring," said Lia LaPiana, Kepler's program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "To be able to see millions of stars in a single snapshot is simply breathtaking."

One new image from Kepler shows its entire field of view -- a 100-square-degree portion of the sky, equivalent to two side-by-side dips of the Big Dipper. The regions contain an estimated 14 millions stars, more than 100,000 of which were selected as ideal candidates for planet hunting.

Two other views focus on just one-thousandth of the full field of view. In one image, a cluster of stars located about 13,000 light-years from Earth, called NGC 6791, can be seen in the lower left corner. The other image zooms in on a region containing a star, called Tres-2, with a known Jupiter-like planet orbiting every 2.5 days.

"It's thrilling to see this treasure trove of stars," said William Borucki, science principal investigator for Kepler at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. "We expect to find hundreds of planets circling those stars, and for the first time, we can look for Earth-size planets in the habitable zones around other stars like the sun."

Kepler will spend the next three-and-a-half years searching more than 100,000 pre-selected stars for signs of planets. It is expected to find a variety of worlds, from large, gaseous ones, to rocky ones as small as Earth. The mission is the first with the ability to find planets like ours -- small, rocky planets orbiting sun-like stars in the habitable zone, where temperatures are right for possible lakes and oceans of water.

To find the planets, Kepler will stare at one large expanse of sky for the duration of its lifetime, looking for periodic dips in starlight that occur as planets circle in front of their stars and partially block the light. Its 95-megapixel camera, the largest ever launched into space, can detect tiny changes in a star's brightness of only 20 parts per million. Images from the camera are intentionally blurred to minimize the number of bright stars that saturate the detectors. While some of the slightly saturated stars are candidates for planet searches, heavily saturated stars are not.

"Everything about Kepler has been optimized to find Earth-size planets," said James Fanson, Kepler's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Our images are road maps that will allow us, in a few years, to point to a star and say a world like ours is there."

Scientists and engineers will spend the next few weeks calibrating Kepler's science instrument, the photometer, and adjusting the telescope's alignment to achieve the best focus. Once these steps are complete, the planet hunt will begin.

"We've spent years designing this mission, so actually being able to see through its eyes is tremendously exciting," said Eric Bachtell, the lead Kepler systems engineer at Ball Aerospace & Technology Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Bachtell has been working on the design, development and testing of Kepler for nine years.

Kepler is a NASA Discovery mission. Ames is responsible for the ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. JPL manages the Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. is responsible for developing the Kepler flight system and supporting mission operations.

For images, animations and more information about the Kepler mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/kepler

NASA provides TV Coverage of Next Soyuz Landing

HOUSTON -- NASA Television will air the landing of the Expedition 18 crew and a visiting spaceflight participant on Wednesday, April 8. Russian managers on Friday postponed the Soyuz landing one day and switched to a more southerly landing site in Kazakhstan because of soggy conditions at the original site.

Expedition 18 Commander E. Michael Fincke, Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Yury Lonchakov and Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi will return to Earth at 2:15 a.m. CDT, which is 1:15 p.m. local time in Kazakhstan. The landing will take place near the town of Dzhezkazgan, which is west of Karaganda and southeast of the usual landing zone near Arkalyk. Fincke and Lonchakov have been aboard the orbiting laboratory since October 2008 and will land in the Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft that carried them into orbit.

Upcoming NASA TV Soyuz landing programming events (all times CDT):

April 7, Tuesday
7:30 p.m. -- Coverage of the crew's farewell and hatch closure
10:30 p.m. -- Coverage of the undocking of Soyuz TMA-13 from the International Space Station

April 8, Wednesday
1 a.m. -- Coverage of the deorbit burn and landing of Soyuz TMA-13 (deorbit burn at 1:24 a.m.; landing at 2:15 a.m.)
12:30 p.m. – Video File feed of landing site activities and the crew's welcoming ceremony in Kazakhstan
2 p.m. -- Video File feed of the crew's return to Star City, Russia and a post-landing interview with Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the space station, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station

ESA and NASA Select Science Investigations for Solar Orbiter

WASHINGTON -- The European Space Agency(ESA) and NASA have selected 10 proposals for science instruments to fly aboard a spacecraft that will study the sun from a unique vantage point in space.

The European-led mission, called the Solar Orbiter, will be positioned about one-fourth the distance Earth is from the sun. The location ultimately will enhance the ability for scientists worldwide to forecast space weather.

Space weather can produce electromagnetic fields on Earth that induce extreme currents in wires, disrupting power lines, causing wide-spread blackouts and affecting communication cables that support the Internet. Severe space weather also produces energetic solar particles and the dislocation of Earth's radiation belts, which can damage satellites used for commercial communications, global positioning and weather forecasting. Additionally, space weather poses risks to astronauts.

"These selections provide the highest scientific value to help answer questions about our life giving star, the sun," said Dick Fisher, director for NASA's Heliophysics Division in Washington, USA. "This collaboration will create a new chapter in heliophysics research and provide a strong partnership with the international science community to complement future robotic and human exploration activities."

The continued development of the selected investigations beyond initial design of the instruments, known as Phase A, will depend on technical feasibility, cost and schedule commitments from the principal investigators. Continuation also will depend on available NASA program funds and ESA's Cosmic Vision mission down-selection process to be completed in early 2010.

"The announcement of the preliminary payload selection for Solar Orbiter is a positive step toward the realization of a joint mission aimed at collecting unprecedented data about our star," said Marcello Coradini, ESA coordinator for solar system missions in Paris. "We are delighted to continue our tradition of partnership with NASA, which already has enabled us to carry out extraordinary scientific missions."

Of the 10 selected instrument proposals, three will receive NASA funding:

• Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Imager; Russell Howard, principal investigator, Naval Research Laboratory in Washington. This instrument will provide revolutionary measurements to pinpoint coronal mass ejections or CMEs. CME's are violent eruptions with masses greater than a few billion tons. They travel from 60 to more than 2,000 miles per second. They have been compared to hurricanes because of the widespread disruption of communications and power systems they can cause when directed at Earth.
• Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment; Donald Hassler, principal investigator, Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. This instrument will provide an extreme ultraviolet spectrometer or optical instrument that will measure different wavelengths of light emitted from the sun. Data will advance our knowledge of the sun's dynamics to better understand the effects on Earth and the solar system.
• Suprathermal Ion Spectrograph; lead co-investigator Glenn Mason, Applied Physics Laboratory in Columbia, Md. This experiment will measure energetic particles ejected from the sun. Data will be compared to other solar and interplanetary processes to understand solar system space weather. Understanding the connections between the sun and its planets will allow better prediction of the impacts of solar activity on humans, technological systems and even the presence of life itself in the universe.

The investigations are part of NASA's Living with a Star Program. The program is designed to understand how and why the sun varies, how planetary systems respond and the effect on human space and Earth activities. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the program for the agency's Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate.

For more information about the Solar Orbiter program, visit:
http://sci.esa.int/solarorbiter

For more information about the Living with a Star Program, visit:
http://lws.gsfc.nasa.gov