NASA Releases Detailed Global Climate Change Projections

NASA - NEX logo.

June 9, 2015

NASA has released data showing how temperature and rainfall patterns worldwide may change through the year 2100 because of growing concentrations of greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere.

The dataset, which is available to the public, shows projected changes worldwide on a regional level in response to different scenarios of increasing carbon dioxide simulated by 21 climate models. The high-resolution data, which can be viewed on a daily timescale at the scale of individual cities and towns, will help scientists and planners conduct climate risk assessments to better understand local and global effects of hazards, such as severe drought, floods, heat waves and losses in agriculture productivity.

(Click on the image for enlarge)

Image above: The new NASA global data set combines historical measurements with data from climate simulations using the best available computer models to provide forecasts of how global temperature (shown here) and precipitation might change up to 2100 under different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. Image Credit: NASA.

“NASA is in the business of taking what we’ve learned about our planet from space and creating new products that help us all safeguard our future,” said Ellen Stofan, NASA chief scientist. “With this new global dataset, people around the world have a valuable new tool to use in planning how to cope with a warming planet.”

The new dataset is the latest product from the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX), a big-data research platform within the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Center at the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. In 2013, NEX released similar climate projection data for the continental United States that is being used to quantify climate risks to the nation’s agriculture, forests, rivers and cities.

"This is a fundamental dataset for climate research and assessment with a wide range of applications,” said Ramakrishna Nemani, NEX project scientist at Ames. “NASA continues to produce valuable community-based data products on the NEX platform to promote scientific collaboration, knowledge sharing, and research and development."

This NASA dataset integrates actual measurements from around the world with data from climate simulations created by the international Fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. These climate simulations used the best physical models of the climate system available to provide forecasts of what the global climate might look like under two different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios: a “business as usual” scenario based on current trends and an “extreme case” with a significant increase in emissions.

The NASA climate projections provide a detailed view of future temperature and precipitation patterns around the world at a 15.5 mile (25 kilometer) resolution, covering the time period from 1950 to 2100. The 11-terabyte dataset provides daily estimates of maximum and minimum temperatures and precipitation over the entire globe.

NEX is a collaboration and analytical platform that combines state-of-the-art supercomputing, Earth system modeling, workflow management and NASA remote-sensing data. Through NEX, users can explore and analyze large Earth science data sets, run and share modeling algorithms and workflows, collaborate on new or existing projects and exchange workflows and results within and among other science communities.

NEX data and analysis tools are available to the public through the OpenNEX project on Amazon Web Services. OpenNEX is a partnership between NASA and Amazon, Inc., to enhance public access to climate data, and support planning to increase climate resilience in the U.S. and internationally. OpenNEX is an extension of the NASA Earth Exchange in a public cloud-computing environment.

NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives, and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records. The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.

Additional information about the new NASA climate projection dataset is available at: https://nex.nasa.gov/nex/projects/1356/

The dataset is available for download at: https://cds.nccs.nasa.gov/nex-gddp/

OpenNEX information and training materials are available at: http://nex.nasa.gov/opennex

For more information about NASA’s Earth science activities, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/earth

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Steve Cole/Ames Research Center/Darryl Waller/Karen Northon.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA's Flying Saucer Makes Second Voyage to the Edge of Space

NASA logo.

June 8, 2015

Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD). Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) launched on Monday, June 8th from the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii. The saucer-shaped vehicle was used to test new technologies that will help NASA land heavier payloads than current technology will allow on the surface of planets including Mars.

NASA's Flying Saucer Makes Second Voyage to the Edge of Space

The test vehicle was carried by balloon to about 120,000 feet. After release, an engine took the vehicle to 180,000 feet, where the tests occurred in the thin atmosphere to simulate Mars' atmosphere. This flight test was the second of three planned for the project.

Image above: Moments into its powered flight, the LDSD test vehicle captured this image of the balloon which carried it to high altitudes. The image was taken by one of the saucer-shaped test vehicle’s high-resolution cameras. On June 28, 2014, a balloon lifted the 7,000-pound saucer-shaped vehicle to an altitude of 119,000 feet (36,270 meters), then a rocket boosted it even higher, where tests of Martian landing technologies began. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The LDSD mission is designed to test entry and descent technology in the form of a donut-shaped airbag and a supersonic parachute that can be deployed while the vehicle is traveling several times the speed of sound.

Bringing in the Balloon Experts

Image above: LDSD is proceeding toward launch. The large scientific balloon – 34.4 million cubic feet in volume, has been undoing inflation over the last hour. When launched, the balloon and the test vehicle stand at a towering 980 feet tall. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

NASA scientific balloons are a proven way to quickly and efficiently launch even large-scale science payloads into Earth’s stratosphere — between 7 and 31 miles up — to undertake missions lasting mere hours or more than a month.

Image above: It’s been a little over an hour and 30 minutes since the balloon launched carrying the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerators test vehicle from the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii. The balloon is currently at 76 thousand feet and traveling west at roughly 25 knots and continues to climb to float altitude. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

For the LDSD flight test, NASA to employed a balloon 34.4 million cubic feet in volume, its helium contained by 22 acres of plastic roughly the thickness of a sandwich bag. When fully deployed, the entire apparatus plus test vehicle stands a towering 980 feet tall.

For more information about Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/ldsd/index.html

Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credit: NASA.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Rainfall Spacecraft Debris to Re-enter Over Tropics

NAS / JAXA - TRMM Mission patch.

June 8, 2015

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spacecraft, a joint mission of NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to study rainfall for weather and climate research, is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere on or about June 17.

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spacecraft. Image Credits: NASA/JAXA

The U.S. Space Surveillance Network, operated by the Department of Defense U.S. Strategic Command’s Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC), has been closely monitoring TRMM’s descent since the mission was ended in April. Most of the spacecraft will burn up in the atmosphere during its uncontrolled re-entry.

The JSpOC will issue periodic predictions of re-entry date and time. Although the exact location of the re-entry cannot be predicted, TRMM’s orbit only brings it over the tropics between 35 degrees North latitude and 35 degrees South latitude. Europe, Russia and most of North America and Japan are outside of the potential re-entry area.

Since the beginning of the space age in the 1950s, there has been no confirmed report of an injury resulting from re-entering space objects. The last NASA spacecraft to re-enter was the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) in September 2011. UARS was a much larger satellite than TRMM and NASA received no reports of surviving debris.

NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office estimates 12 components of the TRMM spacecraft could survive reentry. The chance that one of these pieces would strike someone is approximately 1 in 4,200, which is a relatively low chance.

Any sightings of suspected TRMM debris should be reported to local authorities. The pieces of TRMM expected to survive re-entry are made of titanium and are not toxic. Debris could have sharp edges and should not be touched or handled, in the unlikely event someone were to find TRMM fragments.

Image above: Because TRMM’s orbit brings it only over the tropics between 35 degrees North latitude and 35 degrees South latitude, Europe, Russia and most of North America and Japan are outside of the potential re-entry area (shown here in gray). Image Credit: NASA.

The value of the new type of precipitation data produced by TRMM is widely recognized by both the scientific community and the operational weather forecast community. TRMM data were used to improve weather models and hurricane track and intensity estimates around the world.

The TRMM dataset will continue to be used for research to improve global weather and climate models. The data meet exacting standards for data preservation, so that future scientists will be able to use the data. The dataset also is being processed to make up one continuous climate data record with the follow-on Global Precipitation Mission (GPM), also a joint project between the U.S. and Japan.

Related article:

The TRMM Rainfall Mission Comes to an End after 17 Years: http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2015/04/the-trmm-rainfall-mission-comes-to-end.html

TRMM Re-Entry: Frequently Asked Questions: http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/publications_dir/FAQs_TRMM_Reentry_June2015.html

TRMM Re-Entry: Risk Assessment (PDF): http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/publications_dir/TRMM_Reentry_Risk_Assessment_FINAL_20150604.pdf

More Information on TRMM: http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Stephen Cole.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

First Operational Satellite in Deep Space Reaches Final Orbit

NASA - DSCOVR Mission patch.

June 8, 2015

More than 100 days after it launched, NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite has reached its orbit position about one million miles from Earth.

Image above: This artist's rendering shows the location of the DSCOVR spacecraft located one million miles between the Earth and the Sun. Image Credit: NASA.

Once final instrument checks are completed, DSCOVR, which will provide improved measurements of solar wind conditions to enhance NOAA’s ability to warn of potentially harmful solar activity, will be the nation’s first operational space weather satellite in deep space. Its orbit between Earth and the sun is at a location called the Lagrange point 1, or L1, which gives DSCOVR a unique vantage point to see the Earth and sun.

Image above: On June 20, 2013, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft captured this coronal mass ejection (CME). A solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of particles into space that can reach Earth within three days. Image Credit: NASA.

Data from DSCOVR, coupled with a new forecast model set to come online in 2016, will enable NOAA’s space weather forecasters to predict geomagnetic storm magnitude on a regional basis. Geomagnetic storms occur when plasma and magnetic fields streaming from the sun impact Earth’s magnetic field. Large magnetic eruptions from the sun have the potential to bring major disruptions to power grids, aviation, telecommunications, and GPS systemsDSCOVR will trigger early warnings whenever it detects a surge of energy that could cause a geomagnetic storm that could bring possible damaging impacts for Earth,” said Stephen Volz, Ph.D., Assistant Administrator for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service.

Image above: An aurora as seen over the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks, Alaska, on Feb. 28, 2011. Image Credit: NOAA.

DSCOVR will eventually replace NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) research satellite as America’s primary warning system for solar magnetic storms headed towards Earth. ACE will continue to provide valuable research data to the science community.

In addition to space weather-monitoring instruments, DSCOVR is carrying two NASA Earth-observing instruments that will gather a range of measurements from ozone and aerosol amounts, to changes in Earth's radiation budget—the balance between incoming radiation (largely from the sun) and that which is reflected from Earth. This balance affects our climate.

"DSCOVR has reached its final orbit and will soon be ready to begin its mission of space weather monitoring for NOAA and Earth observing for NASA," said Al Vernacchio, DSCOVR project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo., will begin using data from DSCOVR in its space weather forecasts as soon as DSCOVR is deemed operational.

Artist's conception of Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite. Image Credit: NASA

The DSCOVR mission is a partnership between NOAA, NASA, and the U.S. Air Force. The Air Force provided the Space X Falcon 9 launch vehicle for the mission.  NOAA will operate DSCOVR from its NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Md., and process the space weather data at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) in Boulder, Colo., one of NOAA’s nine National Centers for Environmental Prediction. SWPC will distribute these data to users within the United States and around the world. The data will be archived at NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information.

DSCOVR also hosts NASA-funded secondary sensors for Earth and space science observations. The Earth science data will be processed at NASA’s DSCOVR Science Operations Center and archived and distributed by NASA’s Atmospheric Science Data Center: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/

For more information about DSCOVR, visit: http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/DSCOVR/

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Lynn Jenner/NOAA/John Leslie.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

ROSCOSMOS: Unplanned orbit correction of the ISS

ROSCOSMOS - Russian Vehicles patch.

June 8, 2015

June 8, 2015 successfully held unscheduled correction orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) with the purpose to avoiding space debris.

Progress M-26M engines were started at 22 hours 58 minutes and worked for 322 seconds, providing the momentum deviation of 0.3 m/s.

International Space Station (ISS) reboost by Progress-M

Options after correction of the ISS orbit inclination of 51.66 deg., The period of 92.53 min, the maximum height of 420.84 km, the minimum - 398.79 km.

ROSCOSMOS Press Release: http://www.federalspace.ru/21526/

Image, Text, Credits: Press Service of the Russian Federal Space Agency/ROSCOSMOS/NASA/Orbiter.ch Aerospace.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Sharpest View Ever of Star Formation in the Distant Universe

ALMA - Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array logo.

8 June 2015

ALMA’s observation of Einstein Ring reveals extraordinary detail

Montage of the SDP.81 Einstein Ring and the lensed galaxy

ALMA’s Long Baseline Campaign has produced a spectacular image of a distant galaxy being gravitationally lensed. The image shows a magnified view of the galaxy’s star-forming regions, the likes of which have never been seen before at this level of detail in a galaxy so remote. The new observations are far sharper than those made using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and reveal star-forming clumps in the galaxy equivalent to giant versions of the Orion Nebula in the Milky Way.

The lensed galaxy

ALMA’s Long Baseline Campaign has produced some amazing observations, and gathered unprecedentedly detailed information about the inhabitants of the near and distant Universe. Observations made at the end of 2014 as part of the campaign targeted a distant galaxy called HATLAS J090311.6+003906, otherwise known as SDP.81. This light from this galaxy is a victim of a cosmic effect known as gravitational lensing. A large galaxy sitting between SDP.81 and ALMA [1] is acting as a lens, warping and magnifying the view of a more distant galaxy and creating a near-perfect example of a phenomenon known as an Einstein Ring [2].

The Einstein Ring SDP.81 seen with ALMA

At least seven groups of scientists [3] have independently analysed the ALMA data on SDP.81. This flurry of research papers has revealed unprecedented information about the galaxy, including details about its structure, contents, motion, and other physical characteristics.

ALMA acts as an interferometer. Simply speaking, the array’s multiple antennas work in perfect synchrony to collect light as an enormous virtual telescope [4]. As a result, these new images of SDP.81 have a resolution up to six times higher [5] than those taken in the infrared with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Hubble image of the region around SDP.81

The astronomers’ sophisticated models reveal fine, never-before-seen structure within SDP.81, in the form of dusty clouds thought to be giant repositories of cold molecular gas — the birthplaces of stars and planets. These models were able to correct for the distortion produced by the magnifying gravitational lens.

As a result, the ALMA observations are so sharp that researchers can see clumps of star formation in the galaxy down to a size of about 200 light-years, equivalent to observing giant versions of the Orion Nebula producing thousands of times more new stars at the far side of the Universe. This is the first time this phenomenon has been seen at such an enormous distance.

Montage of the SDP.81 Einstein Ring and the lensed galaxy (no annotations)

“The reconstructed ALMA image of the galaxy is spectacular,” says Rob Ivison, co-author of two of the papers and ESO’s Director for Science. “ALMA’s huge collecting area, the large separation of its antennas, and the stable atmosphere above the Atacama desert all lead to exquisite detail in both images and spectra. That means that we get very sensitive observations, as well as information about how the different parts of the galaxy are moving. We can study galaxies at the other end of the Universe as they merge and create huge numbers of stars. This is the kind of stuff that gets me up in the morning!”

Using the spectral information gathered by ALMA, astronomers also measured how the distant galaxy rotates, and estimated its mass. The data showed that the gas in this galaxy is unstable; clumps of it are collapsing inwards, and will likely turn into new giant star-forming regions in the future.

Video A: Gravitational lensing of distant star-forming galaxies (schematic)

Notably, the modeling of the lensing effect also indicates the existence of a supermassive black hole at the centre of the foreground galaxy lens [6]. The central part of SDP.81 is too faint to be detected, leading to the conclusion that the foreground galaxy holds a supermassive black hole with more than 200–300 million times the mass of the Sun.

The number of papers published using this single ALMA dataset demonstrates the excitement generated by the potential of the array’s high resolution and light-gathering power. It also shows how ALMA will enable astronomers to make more discoveries in the years to come, also uncovering yet more questions about the nature of distant galaxies.

Video B: Gravitational lensing of distant star-forming galaxies (schematic)

Notes:

[1] The lensed galaxy is seen at a time when the Universe was only 15 percent of its current age, just 2.4 billion years after Big Bang. The light has taken over twice the age of the Earth to reach us (11.4 billion years), detouring along the way around a massive foreground galaxy that is comparatively close at four billion light-years away from us.

[2] Gravitational lenses were predicted by Albert Einstein as part of his theory of general relativity. His theory tells us that objects bend space and time. Any light approaching this curved space-time will itself follow the curvatures created by the object. This enables particularly massive objects — huge galaxies and galaxy clusters — to act as cosmic magnifying glasses. An Einstein ring is a special type of gravitational lens, in which the Earth, the foreground lensing galaxy, and the background lensed galaxy are in perfect alignment, creating a harmonious distortion in the form of a ring of light. This phenomenon is illustrated in Video A.

[3] The science teams are listed below.

[4] ALMA’s ability to see the finest detail is achieved when the antennas are at their greatest separation, up to 15 kilometres apart. For comparison, earlier observations of gravitational lenses made with ALMA in a more compact configuration, with a separation of only around 500 metres, can be seen here:http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1313/

[5] Details down to 0.023 arc-seconds, or 23 milli-arcseconds, can be measured in these data. Hubble observed this galaxy in the near-infrared, with a resolution of about 0.16 arc-seconds. Note, however, that when observing at shorter wavelengths, Hubble can reach finer resolutions, down to 0.022 arcseconds in the near-ultraviolet. ALMA’s resolution can be adjusted depending on the type of observations by moving the antennas further apart or closer together. For these observations, the widest separation was used, resulting in the finest resolution possible.

[6] The high-resolution ALMA image enables researchers to look for the central part of the background galaxy, which is expected to appear at the centre of the Einstein ring. If the foreground galaxy has a supermassive black hole at the centre, the central image becomes fainter. The faintness of the central image indicates how massive the black hole in the foreground galaxy is.

More information:

This research was presented in eight papers to appear in the near future. The science teams are listed below:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.07605
Yoichi Tamura (The University of Tokyo), Masamune Oguri (The University of Tokyo), Daisuke Iono (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan/SOKENDAI), Bunyo Hatsukade (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), Yuichi Matsuda (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan/SOKENDAI), and Masao Hayashi (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan).

http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.08720
Simon Dye (University of Nottingham), Christina Furlanetto (University of Nottingham; CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil, Brazil), Mark Swinbank (Durham University), Catherine Vlahakis (Joint ALMA Observatory, Chile; ESO, Chile), James Nightingale (University of Nottingham), Loretta Dunne (University of Canterbury, New Zealand; Institute for Astronomy [IfA], Royal Observatory Edinburgh), Steve Eales (Cardiff University), Ian Smail (Durham), Ivan Oteo-Gomez (IfA, Edinburgh; ESO, Germany), Todd Hunter (National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA), Mattia Negrello (INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo Osservatorio, Padova, Italy), Helmut Dannerbauer (Universitat Wien, Vienna, Austria), Rob Ivison (IfA, Edinburgh; ESO, Germany), Raphael Gavazzi (Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris), Asantha Cooray (California Institute of Technology, USA) and Paul van der Werf (Leiden University, The Netherlands).

http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.05148
Mark Swinbank (Durham University), Simon Dye (University of Nottingham), James Nightingale (University of Nottingham), Christina Furlanetto (University of Nottingham; CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil, Brazil), Ian Smail (Durham), Asantha Cooray (California Institute of Technology, USA), Helmut Dannerbauer (Universitat Wien, Vienna, Austria), Loretta Dunne (University of Canterbury, New Zealand; Institute for Astronomy [IfA], Royal Observatory Edinburgh), Steve Eales (Cardiff University), Raphael Gavazzi (Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris), Todd Hunter (National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA), Rob Ivison (IfA, Edinburgh; ESO, Germany), Mattia Negrello (INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo Osservatorio, Padova, Italy), Ivan Oteo-Gomez (IfA, Edinburgh; ESO, Germany), Renske Smit (Durham), Paul van der Werf (Leiden University, The Netherlands), and Catherine Vlahakis (Joint ALMA Observatory, Chile; ESO, Chile).

http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.05558
Kenneth C. Wong (Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica (ASIAA), Taipei, Taiwan), Sherry H. Suyu (ASIAA, Taiwan), and Satoki Matsushita (ASIAA, Taiwan)

http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.07997
Bunyo Hatsukade (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo, Japan) Yoichi Tamura (Institute of Astronomy, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan), Daisuke Iono (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; The Graduate University for Advanced Studies [SOKENDAI], Tokyo, Japan), Yuichi Matsuda (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), Masao Hayashi (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), Masamune Oguri (Research Center for the Early Universe, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe [Kavli IPMU, WPI], University of Tokyo, Chiba, Japan)

http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.02652
The ALMA Partnership, C. Vlahakis (Joint ALMA Observatory [JAO]; ESO) , T. R. Hunter (National Radio Astronomy Observatory [NRAO]), J. A. Hodge (NRAO) , L. M. Pérez (NRAO) , P. Andreani (ESO), C. L. Brogan (NRAO) , P. Cox (JAO, ESO) , S. Martin (Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique [IRAM]) , M. Zwaan (ESO) , S. Matsushita (Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysic, Taiwan) , W. R. F. Dent (JAO, ESO), C. M. V. Impellizzeri (JAO, NRAO), E. B. Fomalont (JAO, NRAO), Y. Asaki (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency [JAXA]) , D. Barkats (JAO, ESO) , R. E. Hills (Astrophysics Group, Cavendish Laboratory), A. Hirota (JAO; National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), R. Kneissl (JAO, ESO), E. Liuzzo (INAF, Istituto di Radioastronomia), R. Lucas (Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble) , N. Marcelino (INAF), K. Nakanishi (JAO, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), N. Phillips (JAO, ESO), A. M. S. Richards (University of Manchester), I. Toledo (JAO), R. Aladro (ESO), D. Broguiere (IRAM), J. R. Cortes (JAO, NRAO), P. C. Cortes (JAO, NRAO), D. Espada (ESO, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), F. Galarza (JAO), D. Garcia-Appadoo (JAO, ESO), L. Guzman-Ramirez (ESO), A. S. Hales (JAO, NRAO) , E. M. Humphreys (ESO) , T. Jung (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) , S. Kameno (JAO, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan) , R. A. Laing (ESO), S. Leon (JAO,ESO) , G. Marconi (JAO, ESO) , A. Mignano (INAF) , B. Nikolic (Astrophysics Group, Cavendish Laboratory), L. A. Nyman (JAO, ESO), M. Radiszcz (JAO), A. Remijan (JAO, NRAO), J. A. Rodón (ESO), T. Sawada (JAO, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), S. Takahashi (JAO, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), R. P. J. Tilanus (Leiden University), B. Vila Vilaro (JAO, ESO), L. C. Watson (ESO), T. Wiklind (JAO, ESO), Y. Ao (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan) , J. Di Francesco (National Research Council Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics), B. Hatsukade (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), E. Hatziminaoglou (ESO), J. Mangum (NRAO), Y. Matsuda (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), E. Van Kampen (ESO), A. Wootten (NRAO), I. De Gregorio-Monsalvo (JAO, ESO), G. Dumas (IRAM), H. Francke (JAO), J. Gallardo (JAO), J. Garcia (JAO), S. Gonzalez (JAO), T. Hill (ESO), D. Iono (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), T. Kaminski (ESO), A. Karim (Argelander-Institute for Astronomy), M. Krips (IRAM), Y. Kurono (JAO, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan) , C. Lonsdale (NRAO), C. Lopez (JAO), F. Morales (JAO), K. Plarre (JAO), L. Videla (JAO), E. Villard (JAO, ESO), J. E. Hibbard (NRAO), K. Tatematsu (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)

http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.02025
M. Rybak (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics), J. P. McKean (Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy; University of Groningen) S. Vegetti (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics), P. Andreani (ESO) and S. D. M. White (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics)

http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.01425
M. Rybak (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics), S. Vegetti (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics), J. P. McKean (Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy; University of Groningen), P. Andreani (ESO) and S. D. M. White (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics)

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of ESO, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI).

ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.

Links:

Research papers;

        http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.07605
        http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.08720
        http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.05148
        http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.05558
        http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.07997
        http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.02652
        http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.02025
        http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.01425

ALMA’s Long Baseline Campaign: http://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann15015/

Images, Text, Credits: ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ)/Y. Tamura (The University of Tokyo)/Mark Swinbank (Durham University)/Videos: ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ)/Luis Calçada (ESO).

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

NASA Spacecraft Detects Impact Glass on Surface of Mars

NASA - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) patch.

June 8, 2015

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has detected deposits of glass within impact craters on Mars. Though formed in the searing heat of a violent impact, such deposits might provide a delicate window into the possibility of past life on the Red Planet.



Image above: Researchers have found deposits of impact glass (in green) preserved in Martian craters, including Alga Crater, shown here. The detection is based on data from the instrument Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/JHUAPL/Univ. of Arizona.

During the past few years, research has shown evidence about past life has been preserved in impact glass here on Earth. A 2014 study led by scientist Peter Schultz of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, found organic molecules and plant matter entombed in glass formed by an impact that occurred millions of years ago in Argentina. Schultz suggested that similar processes might preserve signs of life on Mars, if they were present at the time of an impact.

Fellow Brown researchers Kevin Cannon and Jack Mustard, building on the previous research, detail their data about Martian impact glass in a report now online in the journal Geology.

“The work done by Pete and others showed us that glasses are potentially important for preserving biosignatures,” Cannon said. “Knowing that, we wanted to go look for them on Mars and that’s what we did here. Before this paper, no one had been able to definitively detect them on the surface.”

Cannon and Mustard showed large glass deposits are present in several ancient, yet well-preserved, craters on Mars. Picking out the glassy deposits was no easy task. To identify minerals and rock types remotely, scientists measured the spectra of light reflected off the planet’s surface. But impact glass doesn’t have a particularly strong spectral signal.

“Glasses tend to be spectrally bland or weakly expressive, so signature from the glass tends to be overwhelmed by the chunks of rock mixed in with it,” said Mustard. “But Kevin found a way to tease that signal out.”

In a laboratory, Cannon mixed together powders with a similar composition of Martian rocks and fired them in an oven to form glass. He then measured the spectral signal from that glass.

Once Mustard had the signal from the lab glass, he used an algorithm to pick out similar signals in data from MRO’s Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), for which he is the deputy principal investigator.

The technique pinpointed deposits in several Martian crater central peaks, the craggy mounds that often form in the center of a crater during a large impact. The fact the deposits were found on central peaks is a good indicator that they have an impact origin.

Knowing that impact glass can preserve ancient signs of life -- and now knowing that such deposits exist on the Martian surface today -- opens up a potential new strategy in the search for ancient Martian life.

“The researchers’ analysis suggests glass deposits are relatively common impact features on Mars,” said Jim Green, director of NASA’s planetary science division at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “These areas could be targets for future exploration as our robotic scientific explorers pave the way on the journey to Mars with humans in the 2030s.”

One of the craters containing glass, called Hargraves, is near the Nili Fossae trough, a 400-mile-long (about 650-kilometer-long) depression that stretches across the Martian surface. The region is one of the landing site contenders for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, a mission to cache soil and rock samples for possible return to Earth.

Nili Fossae trough is already of scientific interest because the crust in the region is thought to date back to when Mars was a much wetter planet. The region also is rife with what appear to be ancient hydrothermal fractures, warm vents that could have provided energy for life to thrive just beneath the surface.

Artist's view of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“If you had an impact that dug in and sampled that subsurface environment, it’s possible that some of it might be preserved in a glassy component,” Mustard said. “That makes this a pretty compelling place to go look around, and possibly return a sample.”

MRO has been examining Mars with CRISM and five other instruments since 2006.

"This significant new detection of impact glass illustrates how we can continue to learn from the ongoing observations by this long-lived mission," said Richard Zurek, MRO project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, provided and operates CRISM. JPL manages MRO for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the orbiter and supports its operations.

For more information about CRISM, visit: http://crism.jhuapl.edu/

For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Dwayne Brown/JPL/Guy Webster/Brown University/Kevin Stacey/Karen Northon.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch