NASA Satellite Images Show Extent of Sendai Tsunami Flooding

ASTER - EOS Terra Mission patch.

March 13, 2011

NASA's Earth Observatory team has published enhanced satellite images comparing before and after shots of the northeastern Japanese city of Sendai after a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck the coast, pointing out areas hit by flooding.

"Both images were made with infrared and visible light, a combination that increases the contrast between muddy water and land," according to Holli Biebeek of NASA's Earth Observatory website.

In the image, water looks black or dark blue. (See images below). One image from March 12, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. is compared with another from February 26, 2011.

Image above: A March 12, 2011 image from the Modis instrument aboard NASA’s Terra satellite shows the Sendai area in Japan on March 12, 2011 at 10:30 a.m., a day after a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck the coastal city. (Credit: NASA).

The center of the March 12 photo shows a thin green line representing the Sendai coastline. The darker areas extend several kilometers to the west.

The center of the February 26 photo shows a solid coastline. Both images identify Sendai and the areas of flooding.

Image above: A February 26, 2011 image from the Modis instrument aboard NASA’s Terra satellite shows the Sendai area in Japan, weeks before a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck the coastal city. (Credit: NASA).

The image identifies the northern direction and shows a 10km scale line on the bottom left hand corner.

In the images, plant-covered land is green. Snow covered land is pale blue. Clouds are white and pale blue. Paved surfaces are brown.

The images come from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard the NASA's Terra satellite.

Image above: Satellite image by GoolgleEarth, we see very clearly the enormous chasm between the two continental plates which departure of the earthquake (the region where there is the orange symbols).

NASA Shows Topography of Tsunami-Damaged Japan City

The extent of inundation from the destructive and deadly tsunami triggered by the March 11, 2011, magnitude 8.9 earthquake centered off Japan's northeastern coast about 130 kilometers (82 miles) east of the city of Sendai is revealed in this before-and-after image pair from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft.

The image comparison is online at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA13913 . For optimum viewing, click the link to open the full-resolution TIFF image.

Image above: Coastal flooding from the March 11, 2011 tsunami triggered by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake off Japan's northeast coast can be seen in this before/after image pair from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft. Image credit: NASA / GSFC / LaRC / JPL .

The new image, shown on the right, was acquired at 10:30 a.m. local time (01:30 UTC) on March 12, 2011. For comparison, shown on the left is a MISR image from about 10 years ago, on March 16, 2001, acquired under nearly identical illumination conditions. Flooding extending more than 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) inland from the eastern shoreline is visible in the post-earthquake image. The white sand beaches visible in the pre-earthquake view are now covered by water and can no longer be seen. Among the locations where severe flooding is visible is the area around Matsukawa-ura Bay, located just north and east of the image center.

From top to bottom, each image extends from just north of the Abukuma River (about 21 kilometers, or 13 miles, south of Sendai) to south of the town of Minamisoma (population 71,000, located in Japan's Fukushima Prefecture about 70 kilometers, or 44 miles, south of Sendai). The images cover an area of 78 kilometers (48 miles) by 104 kilometers (65 miles).

These unique images enhance the presence of water in two ways. First, their near-infrared observations cause vegetated areas to appear red, which contrasts strongly with the blue shades of the water. Second, by combining nadir (vertical-viewing) imagery with observations acquired at a view angle of 26 degrees, reflected sunglint enhances the brightness of water, which is shown in shades of blue. This use of different view-angle observations causes a stereoscopic effect, where elevated clouds have a yellow tinge at their top edges and blue tinge at their bottom edges.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., built MISR and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. More information about MISR is online at: http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov/

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA / Orbiter.ch.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

SOLAR: three years observing and ready for solar maximum

ESA - Columbus Module patch.

11 March 2011

Europe’s Columbus research module has been part of the International Space Station for three years now. During that time, its external SOLAR package has been faithfully monitoring the energy flowing from the Sun.

The Sun does not always shine with unchanging power: its output varies minutely over the period of about 11 years known as the ‘solar cycle’. In principle, these fluctuations can affect us on Earth.

Columbus external payloads SOLAR and EuTEF

Building a picture of the interaction between the solar flux and Earth’s atmosphere is essential for understanding our atmosphere, its chemistry and climatology – and how the Sun is contributing to climate change.

In addition, precise measurements of the solar flux contribute to our understanding of solar and stellar physics.

This information also feeds into our designs for future satellites, prolonging their lives in orbit by withstanding the harsh battering from radiation.

Likewise, it will improve the accuracy of navigation data, as well as helping to forecast the orbits of satellites and dangerous debris.

Three in one

The SOLAR package of three complementary instruments is measuring the Sun’s output across most of the electromagnetic spectrum. It can track 99% of the emitted energy.

SOLAR External Payload Facility

In order to make its observations undisturbed by our bright planet, SOLAR is mounted on the top face of the Columbus External Payload Facility, pointing away from Earth.

The package is operated remotely by ground controllers without the need for any effort from the astronauts aboard the Station. During the three years in orbit, exposed to the most severe of environmental conditions, it has never needed any maintenance by spacewalkers.

During Space Shuttle mission STS-122 in February 2008, spacewalking astronaut Stanley Love moved SOLAR from the Shuttle Atlantis payload bay and installed it on Columbus.

Sun view by SOHO

SOLAR was designed to operate for 18 months, with the possibility of extending its mission by up to three years. After that, it should have been returned to Earth, but its smooth operation and flow of valuable data prompted the scientists to request an even longer mission.

The robustness of the design has now allowed ESA to extend its operation to at least 2013.

Over the last three years, the SOLAR science teams have gathered precious data during the minimum of solar activity. This minimum phase has been unusual: pronounced, long and with a dearth of sunspots in comparison to other cycles.

The project’s extension is allowing scientists to observe the increase in solar activity towards the expected peak in mid-2013.

More information:

Columbus external experiments installed during spacewalk: http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEME8DVHJCF_iss_0.html

SOLAR: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Columbus/SEMQ7UEMKBF_0.html

ESA makes the Sun available to everyone: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMYTMRRJHG_index_0.html

SOHO 10-year special: http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMC09VLWFE_index_0_ov.html

Images, Text, Credits: NASA  /  ESA.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Endeavour on the Pad

NASA - STS-134 Mission patch.

Mar 11, 2011

Endeavour on the Pad

Bathed in xenon lights, space shuttle Endeavour, attached to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters, took one last journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 3.4-mile trek, known as rollout, began at 7:56 p.m. EST and took about seven hours to complete. This is the final scheduled rollout for Endeavour, which is attached to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters atop a crawler-transporter.

STS-134 Roll-out

Endeavour and its six STS-134 crew members will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier-3, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), a high-pressure gas tank, additional spare parts for the Dextre robotic helper and micrometeoroid debris shields to the International Space Station on the shuttle's final spaceflight. Launch is targeted for April 19 at 7:48 p.m. EDT.

Images, Video, Text,  Credit: NASA / NASA TV / Jim Grossmann.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

Fasting for science on Space Station

ESA - MagISStra Mission patch.

11 March 2011

With almost half of the MagISStra mission behind him, ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli has not had much free time on the International Space Station. In addition to his heavy workload, he has been also on a special diet.

The International Space Station is preparing for a new era without Space Shuttles visiting every few months. The focus is shifting from building it to learning to work and live in space and doing scientific research.

The International Space Station is preparing for a new era without Space Shuttles visiting every few months. The focus is shifting from building it to learning to work and live in space and doing scientific research.

“Space is a unique place for many kinds of science,” says Christer Fuglesang, astronaut and head of ESA’s scientific utilisation of the International Space Station. 

Paolo Nespoli shows a food warmer on ISS

“Science on the ISS is connected with science on Earth. We are studying the same issues in a similar way, but in a different environment and with different constraints.”
   
“Looking up to deep space or down to Earth and conducting experiments benefiting from microgravity or the space environment – reproducing these on Earth is difficult or impossible.

“The Station’s diary is already stuffed with science, done by the astronauts or conducted remotely. The astronauts also act as test subjects themselves.

“How our bodies adapt to space conditions is still one of the most interesting questions we must answer, both for fundamental biology and future space exploration.”

Blood, please

Scientists in Europe, Japan, USA and Canada are keeping their eyes on the crew’s physiological and neurological conditions.

 EuroMir-94: Merbold blood sampling

That means a lot of blood and urine samples, taken regularly, stored in a freezer and sent back to Earth periodically for analysis.

Astronauts are also taking hair samples from each other and packing them in the –95°C deep freeze.

Reaction tests following a precise timetable map the daily effects of fatigue. Two special watches worn by the astronauts log their movements.

Ultrasound scans, electrocardiograms, blood-pressure measurements and electroencephalographs are all part of the daily timetable of the Station astronauts.

The Bone tissue culture facility

Their food intake is monitored and the effects of different diets are recorded via blood and usine samples, bone measurements and gas analysis.

For instance, Paolo’s SOLO experiment is studying his salt levels during periods of high and neutral salt intake. The work is contributing directly to ground studies for maintaining good health.

Science and technology

Some of the research promises exciting applications. The SODI-Colloid experiment, for example, is studying the growth and properties of advanced photonic materials, core elements of the super-fast optical computers to come.

Metal nanoparticles produced in microgravity

The research aboard the Station is helping to push these materials from development to real applications.

The Geoflow experiment is zooming in on complicated flow patterns of liquids to help scientists understand their behaviour – and even our planet’s molten core.

Radiation issues

A human expedition will one day set sail for Mars, but the dangerous radiation in interplanetary space is a major concern.

To understand the problem, the radiation levels in different areas of the Station are being measured and the doses in dummies are being monitored.

Work inside the Columbus laboratory

In addition, racks of biological samples are exposed outside the Station to the harsh space environment.

The Sun is our star, our main source of light and energy. Mounted outside of Europe’s Columbus laboratory, SOLAR is measuring the small changes in the Sun’s brightness across a broad spectrum.

SOLAR is helping us to probe the interaction between the solar energy flux and Earth's atmosphere – of great importance for understanding how our climate works.

Related links:

ISS Science News (NASA): http://www.scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/

MagISStra mission: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/magisstra/index.html

Columbus science status reports: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Columbus/SEMBK1VTLKG_0.html

European User Guide to Low-Gravity Platforms / ISS: http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/users/downloads/userguides/chapter_7_iss.pdf

Images, Text, Credits: ESA / NASA / IBT / ETH Zürich / IFAM, Germany.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

The 'Eye of Sauron'

NASA - Chandra X-Ray Observatory logo.

03.11.11

This composite image shows the central region of the spiral galaxy NGC 4151, dubbed the "Eye of Sauron" by astronomers for its similarity to the eye of the malevolent character in "The Lord of the Rings". In the "pupil" of the eye, X-rays (blue) from the Chandra X-ray Observatory are combined with optical data (yellow) showing positively charged hydrogen ("H II") from observations with the 1-meter Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope on La Palma. The red around the pupil shows neutral hydrogen detected by radio observations with the NSF's Very Large Array. This neutral hydrogen is part of a structure near the center of NGC 4151 that has been distorted by gravitational interactions with the rest of the galaxy, and includes material falling towards the center of the galaxy. The yellow blobs around the red ellipse are regions where star formation has recently occurred.

A recent study has shown that the X-ray emission was likely caused by an outburst powered by the supermassive black hole located in the white region in the center of the galaxy. Evidence for this idea comes from the elongation of the X-rays running from the top left to the bottom right and details of the X-ray spectrum. There are also signs of interactions between a central source and the surrounding gas, particularly the yellow arc of H II emission located above and to the left of the black hole.

Two different scenarios to explain the X-ray emission have been proposed. One possibility is that the central black hole was growing much more quickly about 25,000 years ago (in Earth's time frame) and the radiation from the material falling onto the black hole was so bright that it stripped electrons away from the atoms in the gas in its path. X-rays were then emitted when electrons recombined with these ionized atoms.

The second possibility also involved a substantial inflow of material into the black hole relatively recently. In this scenario the energy released by material flowing into the black hole in an accretion disk created a vigorous outflow of gas from the surface of the disk. This outflowing gas directly heated gas in its path to X-ray emitting temperatures. Unless the gas is confined somehow, it would expand away from the region in less than 100,000 years. In both of these scenarios, the relatively short amount of time since the last episode of high activity by the black hole may imply such outbursts occupy at least about 1% of the black hole's lifetime.

NGC 4151 is located about 43 million light years away from the Earth and is one of the nearest galaxies which contains an actively growing black hole. Because of this proximity, it offers one of the best chances of studying the interaction between an active supermassive black hole and the surrounding gas of its host galaxy. Such interaction, or "feedback", is recognized to play a key role in the growth of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies. If the X-ray emission in NGC 4151 originates from hot gas heated by the outflow from the central black hole, it would be strong evidence for feedback from active black holes to the surrounding gas on galaxy scales. This would resemble the larger scale feedback, observed on galaxy cluster scales, from active black holes interacting with the surrounding gas, as seen in objects like the Perseus Cluster.

These results were published in the August 20, 2010 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The authors were Junfeng Wang and Giuseppina Fabbiano from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Guido Risaliti from CfA and INAF-Arcetri Observatory, in Firenze, Italy, Martin Elvis from CfA, Carole Mundell from Liverpool John Moores University in Birkenhead, UK, Gaelle Dumas and Eva Schinnerer from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Heidelberg, Germany, and Andreas Zezas, from CfA and the University of Crete in Greece.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight operations from Cambridge, Mass.

Images, Text, Credits: X-ray: NASA / CXC / CfA / J.Wang et al.; Optical: Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, La Palma / Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope, Radio: NSF / NRAO / VLA.

Read more/access larger images: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/n4151/

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

MESSENGER Poised for Mercury Orbit Insertion

NASA - MESSENGER Mission to Mercury patch.

03.10.11

After more than a dozen laps through the inner solar system, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft will move into orbit around Mercury on March 17, 2011. The durable spacecraft--carrying seven science instruments and fortified against the blistering environs near the sun--will be the first to orbit the innermost planet.

Artist's concept of MESSENGER in orbit around Mercury

At 8:45 p.m. EDT, MESSENGER--having pointed its largest thruster very close to the direction of travel--will fire that thruster for nearly 14 minutes, with other thrusters firing for an additional minute, slowing the spacecraft by 862 meters per second (1,929 mph) and consuming 31 percent of the propellant that the spacecraft carried at launch. Less than 9.5 percent of the usable propellant at the start of the mission will remain after completing the orbit insertion maneuver, but the spacecraft will still have plenty of propellant for future orbit correction maneuvers.

The orbit insertion will place the spacecraft into a 12-hour orbit about Mercury with a 200 kilometer (124 mile) minimum altitude. At the time of orbit insertion, MESSENGER will be 46.14 million kilometers (28.67 million miles) from the sun and 155.06 million kilometers (96.35 million miles) from Earth.

MESSENGER has been on a six-year mission to become the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. The spacecraft followed a path through the inner solar system, including one flyby of Earth, two flybys of Venus, and three flybys of Mercury. This impressive journey is returning the first new spacecraft data from Mercury since the Mariner 10 mission over 30 years ago.

 

Image above: Follow these simple instructions to explore Mercury in the Google Earth interface: http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/google.html

On March 7, antennas from each of the three Deep Space Network (DSN) ground stations began continuous monitoring, allowing flight control engineers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to observe MESSENGER on its final approach to Mercury. The spacecraft also began executing the last cruise command sequence of the mission, when the command sequence containing the orbit-insertion burn will start.

"This is a milestone event for our small, but highly experienced, operations team, marking the end of six and one half years of successfully shepherding the spacecraft through six planetary flybys, five major propulsive maneuvers, and sixteen trajectory-correction maneuvers, all while simultaneously preparing for orbit injection and primary mission operations," said MESSENGER Systems Engineer Eric Finnegan. "Whatever the future holds, this team of highly dedicated engineers (http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/moc/index.html) has done a phenomenal job methodically generating, testing, and verifying commands to the spacecraft, getting MESSENGER where it is today."

"The cruise phase of the MESSENGER mission has reached the end game," adds MESSENGER Principal investigator Sean Solomon, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.  "Orbit insertion is the last hurdle to a new game level, operation of the first spacecraft in orbit about the solar system's innermost planet.  The MESSENGER team is ready and eager for orbital operations to begin."

MESSENGER Poised for Mercury Orbit Insertion

Images, Video, Text, Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

CERN - LHC Report: Beams are back in the LHC

CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research logo.

March 10, 2011

The LHC has shaken itself awake after the winter break, and, as the snow melts on the lower slopes, the temperature in the magnets has dropped to a chilly 1.9 K once more.

Following the cool-down, the last few weeks have seen an intense few tests of the magnets, power supplies and associated protection systems. These tests, referred to as hardware commissioning, have been completed in record time. At the same time the other accelerator systems have been put through the preparatory machine checkout.

Temperature graphic in the LHC

In parallel, the injectors (LINAC2, Booster, PS and SPS) have also come out of the technical stop in order to prepare to deliver beam to the LHC very early in the season. Of particular note here was the remarkably seamless transition to POPS, the PS's new main power supply system.

The LHC

All this work culminated in the LHC taking beam again for the first time in 2011 on Saturday, 19 February. The careful preparation paid off, with circulating beams being rapidly re-established. There then followed a programme of beam measurements and re-commissioning of the essential sub-systems such as RF, beam dumps, beam instrumentation, feedback systems, etc. Initial measurements show that the LHC is in good shape and magnetically little changed from last year.

Low intensity beams were taken back up to 3.5 TeV on Monday night and then through the squeeze. The squeeze reduces the beam size at the collision point inside the experiments and thus increases the collision rate. This year the beam sizes at the collision point are being pushed to lower values than those of 2010 and the first test of 2011 was very encouraging.

 

CERN - Stars Underground

For more information about CERN, visit: http://public.web.cern.ch/public/Welcome.html

CERN, The Bulletin: http://cdsweb.cern.ch/journal/CERNBulletin/2011/10/News%20Articles?ln=en

Images, Video, Text, Credit: CERN / CERN Bulletin.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch