Mapex

Archive for July, 2010

As a strong supporter of the benefits that space industry can bring to Europe, Vice-President of the European Commission and European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Antonio Tajani, visited ESA’s ESRIN establishment in Italy today.

A camera aboard NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft has helped develop the most accurate global Martian map ever. Researchers and the public can access the map via several websites and explore and survey the entire surface of the Red Planet.

This observation from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the floor of a large impact crater in the southern highlands, north of the giant Hellas impact basin. Most of the crater floor is dark, with abundant small ripples of wind-blown material. However, a pit in the floor of the crater has exposed light-toned, fractured rock. The light-toned material appears fractured at several different scales. These fractures, called joints, result from stresses on the rock after its formation. Joints are similar to faults, but have undergone virtually no displacement. With careful analysis, joints can provide insight into the forces that have affected a rock, and thus yielding clues into its geologic history. The fractures appear dark, which may be due to dark, wind-blown sand, precipitation of different minerals along the fracture, or both. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

The number of languages used on the International Space Station has recently increased.

NASA’s Swift satellite views Comet Lulin as it made it closest approach to Earth in February 2009. Lulin, like all comets, is a clump of frozen gases mixed with dust. These “dirty snowballs” cast off gas and dust whenever they venture near the sun. Comet Lulin, which is formally known as C/2007 N3, was discovered in 2008 by astronomers at Taiwan’s Lulin Observatory. Lulin passed closest to Earth — 38 million miles, or about 160 times farther than the moon — late on the evening of Feb. 23, 2009, for North America. Image Credit: NASA, Swift, Univ. Leicester, DSS (STScI/AURUA), Dennis Bodewits, et al.

Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered carbon molecules, known as “buckyballs,” in space for the first time. Buckyballs are soccer-ball-shaped molecules that were first observed in a laboratory 25 years ago.

Space helping to rebuild the economy and drive economic growth were the
central themes of Space Day at the Farnborough air show on Wednesday.

Children experience NASA from the inside during the annual “Take Your Children to Work Day” held each summer at NASA facilities across the country. Children get to see NASA facilities, participate in education activities and shadow their parents during the workday. They can also observe the agency’s many different careers, learning about occupations as varied as engineering, graphic design, accounting, maintenance and many other professions. Pictured here, children explore the Exploration Experience exhibit at the Marshall Space Flight Center during a previous “Take Your Children to Work Day.” The exhibit showcases NASA’s accomplishments and goals, from the benefits of space exploration here on Earth, to the technologies NASA develops to explore our solar system. Image Credit: NASA/MSFC/Doug Stoffer

Scientists have produced a first-of-its kind map of the height of the world’s forests by combining data from three NASA satellites. The map will help scientists build an inventory of how much carbon the world’s forests store and how fast that carbon cycles through ecosystems and back into the atmosphere.

NASA Headquarters in Washington will welcome space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-132 astronauts and International Space Station Expedition 22 and 23 Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer for a visit Monday, July 26, through Thursday, July 29.