NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA and USAID Bring Earth-Observation Benefits to Africa

SERVIR-Africa multispectral imagery of the Nzoia River basin in Kenya. Image Credit: NASA/EO-1

NASA, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and their international partners cut the ribbon Nov. 21 in Nairobi, Kenya, for SERVIR-Africa. The SERVIR-Africa system integrates the satellite resources of the United States and other countries into a Web-based Earth information system. This effort puts previously inaccessible information into the hands of local scientists, government leaders and communities to help address concerns related to natural disasters, disease outbreaks, biodiversity and climate change.

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NASA, ATK Successfully Test First Orion Launch Abort Motor

LAS abort motor test firing. Image Credit: NASA

Flames shot more than 100 feet high in a successful 5.5-second ground test firing Nov. 20, of a launch abort motor for NASA's next generation spacecraft, the Orion crew exploration vehicle. NASA and the Orion industry team conducted the firing at the Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, facility in Promontory, Utah. The Marshall Center provides management and technical support to the Orion Project Office.

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Racers Get Ready! NASA's Great Moonbuggy Registration Begins

Registration is open for NASA's 16th annual Great Moonbuggy Race, to be held April 3-4, 2009, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville. Each year, NASA challenges high schools and colleges across the country and worldwide to design and build lightweight, human-powered moonbuggies. The Marshall Center, which founded the race in 1994, is taking registrations through Feb. 1.

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Shuttle Docks With Space Station Nov. 16; Landing Set Nov. 29

Space shuttle Endeavour docked to the International Space Station with the station's robotic Canadarm2. Image Credit: NASA

Space shuttle Endeavour and the STS-126 crew arrived at the International Space Station Nov. 16, following a spectacular night launch from the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Nov. 14. The 15-day mission features four planned spacewalks that primarily focus on servicing the station's two Solar Alpha Rotary Joints, which allow its solar arrays to track the sun. Supplies and equipment being delivered to the space station will allow the crew size to increase from three to six in spring 2009. Two Water Recovery System racks, used for wastewater processing and managed by the Marshall Center, are among the cargo. For the latest news about the mission, please visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

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Mysterious Source of High-Energy Cosmic Radiation Discovered

Launch preparations for the ATIC experiment. Image Credit: NASA

Scientists have announced the discovery of a previously unidentified nearby source of high-energy cosmic rays. The finding was made with a NASA-funded balloon-borne instrument high over Antarctica. Researchers from the Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) collaboration, led by scientists at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, published the results in the Nov. 20 issue of the journal Nature. Marshall Center scientists are a part of an international collaboration to support the ATIC experiment.

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‘Russian Dolls’ Blow Bubbles in a Nearby Galaxy

Composite image of M84, a massive elliptical galaxy in the Virgo Cluster. Image Credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/MPE/A.Finoguenov et al.); Radio (NSF/NRAO/VLA/ESO/R.A.Laing et al); Optical (SDSS)

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has pinpointed superheated bubbles within M84, a massive elliptical galaxy in the Virgo Cluster. Located about 55 million light years from Earth, M84 contains a central, supermassive black hole that spews a two-sided jet of particles to heat surrounding gas. Inside the gas are nested bubbles that appear much like Russian stacking dolls, or matryoshkas – sets of dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside the other. The Marshall Center manages the Chandra program.

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NASA's New High-Performance Engine for Ares Rocket Passes Review

Artist concept of the J-2X engine. Image Credit: NASA

NASA's newest high-performance rocket engine, the J-2X, successfully completed its critical design review Nov. 13, at the Marshall Center. The J-2X engine, developed for NASA by Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne, is the first element of NASA's Constellation Program to pass this design milestone. The engine will power the upper stage of NASA's next-generation Ares I rocket and the Earth departure stage of the Ares V heavy cargo launch vehicle.

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Federal Women's Program Honors Four Marshall Center Employees

Four Marshall Center employees -- executive support assistant Regina Grant, program specialist Alfrica Jones and engineers Kathleen Matus and Annette Sledd -- have received Federal Women's Program Outstanding Achievement Awards for exceptional service to NASA and its mission.

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Aerodynamic Testing Now Under Way for Ares V Rocket

Schlieren photo of a wind tunnel test, demonstrating air flow over a model Ares V rocket. Image Credit: NASA/MSFC

Engineers at the Marshall Center are taking the first steps in developing the Ares V heavy cargo launch vehicle -- the heavy lifter of America's next-generation space fleet for the Constellation Program. Though the first test flight for Ares V is slated for 2018, aerodynamic testing already is under way at the Marshall Center's wind tunnel test facility in Building 4732. These tests will provide critical aerodynamic data in order to characterize the ascent trajectory of the vehicle and determine basic requirements for guidance, navigation and control for the Ares V vehicle.

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