Tag: Earth Science
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First-of-its-kind satellite to measure global winds finally ready for liftoff
Artist’s concept of the Aeolus satellite in orbit. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab The European Space Agency’s $550 million Aeolus science mission, the product of a drawn-out 16-year development effort that required engineers to master new technologies, is in the starting blocks on a launch pad in French Guiana awaiting liftoff Wednesday to monitor wind speeds from…
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Vega launch delayed 24 hours
The European Space Agency’s Aeolus satellite, covered in a payload shroud, was lifted atop its Vega launcher in French Guiana earlier this month. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Baudon The liftoff of a European satellite to measure global wind fields has been delayed 24 hours to Wednesday in hopes of…
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Photos: Final Delta 2 rocket assembled for launch in California
The step-by-step stacking of United Launch Alliance’s final Delta 2 rocket was completed in June at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for liftoff Sept. 15 with an Earth science satellite for NASA. Workers at Vandenberg lifted the Delta 2’s first stage on its launch mount June 8, then added an interstage connector June 12.…
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Tanking test marks resumption of Delta 2 rocket’s final launch campaign
Ground crews lift the second stage of a Delta 2 rocket into the mobile gantry at Space Launch Complex 2-West at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The second stage was stacked atop the Delta 2 rocket June 21. Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin With each day, another milestone passes like clockwork for engineers and technicians preparing a United…
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Space Launch System, planetary exploration get big boosts in NASA budget
Artist’s illustration of the Space Launch System. Credit: NASA NASA’s planned rocket to send humans back to the moon and the agency’s solar system exploration program were big winners in a $20.7 billion budget passed by Congress and signed by President Trump on Friday. The NASA funding was part of a $1.3 trillion federal spending…
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Trump budget blueprint focuses on deep space exploration, commercial partnerships
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission grabbing a piece of an asteroid, a project due for cancellation under President Trump’s budget proposal. Credit: NASA The Trump administration is proposing $19.1 billion for NASA in its fiscal 2018 budget blueprint, a 0.8 percent decrease from 2017 funding levels,…
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House bill backs exploration at the expense of Earth science
NASA’s famous “blue marble” photo taken by astronauts on the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Credit: NASA A draft policy outline passed on a party-line vote by a House committee last week calls for redirecting funding from NASA’s Earth science programs into the space agency’s heavy-lift rocket and Orion crew capsule programs, an outcome NASA’s…
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SMAP observatory unfurls large science antenna structure
CAPE CANAVERAL — Deploying its marquee element in space Tuesday, NASA’s new Soil Moisture Active Passive spacecraft took a major step towards realizing its science potential. SMAP unfurled a 19.7-foot lightweight, gold, rip-resistant, mesh reflector antenna atop a boom structure that will spin at 14.6 rpm, completing one rotation every four seconds. Having unfolded the…
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17 years later, Gore makes case for viewing Earth from deep space
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, and former Vice President Al Gore speak to reporters at the Kennedy Space Center before Sunday’s launch attempt for the Deep Space Climate Observatory. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett After waiting nearly two decades for dream to become reality, former Vice President Al Gore said Sunday the mission he fostered in 1998 —…
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Full story: Delta 2 rises to occasion with SMAP observatory
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE — The ever-dependable Delta 2 rocket continued its flawless service to NASA and Earth sciences today with the launch of a $916 million environmental probe focused on producing global maps of soil moisture from space. “The SMAP project is absolutely thrilled to be catching a ride to space on the Delta…