Shuttle Launch Lights the Night for Last Time

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Space shuttle Endeavour pierced the pre-dawn sky over Florida on Monday, creating an artificial sunrise for what is expected to be the last time. With just four shuttle missions remaining after the current STS-130 flight, all are currently scheduled to launch during the day.
Endeavour set the sky ablaze at 4:14 a.m. EST, starting its 13-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) to deliver the Tranquility Node 3 module and its adjoining Cupola observation portal. The launch was delayed a day due to a low cloud ceiling over Kennedy Space Center.
STS-130 commander George Zamka spoke about his and his crew's nighttime spectacle in a pre-flight interview.
"It is going to light up the ground around," he described. "You should be able to see it from as far as the Carolinas, I think, if the skies are clear.
"It should be a wonderful sight," Zamka said.
And so it was, said launch director Mike Leinbach during a post-launch press conference.
"It lit up the Kennedy Space Center. I was looking out the windows of the control center and then looking down at the ground to see how bright it [got], and that's a special, special view," Leinbach described, adding that he saw it through two minutes into flight, when the twin solid rocket boosters separated.
"Then it disappeared behind some clouds and I got kind of disappointed, but then it broke out of those clouds and that was when I was able to see it all the way out to seven minutes in flight, off of Cape Hatteras," he added.
That night-assisted sight has been something of a rarity over the past 29 years of space shuttle launches. Out of the 130 missions flown to date, only 34 have taken to the sky after sunset and before sunrise.
Mechanics over majesty
Though night launches do deliver a sensational view, their scheduling is not influenced by their spectacle. Rather, it's orbital mechanics that dictates the time of day ... or night.
Endeavour's mission is to rendezvous and dock with the ISS, which requires the two spacecraft to align in orbit. To do so, as NASA spokesman Mike Curie explains, the two need to align on Earth, too.
"It has to do with the phasing of the orbit and the fact that as the space station rotates around the Earth, it passes over different points of the Earth each orbit," he said. "The shuttle launches when the station is in the same orbital phase with Kennedy Space Center."
NASA could just target dates when that alignment occurs during the day -- or night -- as desired, but the agency has a more important concern: launching missions when they are ready to fly.
"Soon as the crew is trained and the vehicle is ready, we want to launch," continued Curie, "so we establish a date and then we look for what time the space station is going to be in the orbital plane on that day, and on this particular day [for Endeavour], it happens to be in the middle of the night."
For missions launched prior to the space station, or which were headed elsewhere, the same reasoning applied, just for different orbital targets.

Night flights by the numbers
The first shuttle night launch took place on Aug. 30, 1983 at 2:32 a.m. EDT as Challenger began the STS-8 mission. Instead of rendezvousing with something already in orbit, the mission was to deploy an Indian telecommunications satellite, which tracking requirements dictated a particular orbital plane.
The STS-8 crew, led by commander Dick Truly, prepared for the night flight by training in darkened simulators but it turned out to be for naught.
"It was like the inside of a bonfire," reported the mission's pilot Dan Brandenstein of the lighting experienced inside the crew cabin during liftoff.
Truly, who previously piloted the shuttle's second mission, a day launch, compared his earlier ascent with STS-8's.
"The light from the [two side-mounted] solid rocket motors was about 500 times more than I remember on STS-2," he told flight controllers.
STS-8 marked the only night launch for Challenger, which was lost in flight three years later on STS-51L.
Columbia, the first orbiter to fly, logged three of the shuttle program's 34 night launches, including the STS-109 flight to service the Hubble Space Telescope. It too was lost in flight on its very next mission, STS-107 in 2003.
Discovery lit the evening sky nine times, most recently in Aug. 2009 on the STS-128 mission.
The most night launches were logged by orbiter Atlantis at 11 flights starting with STS-61B in 1985 through STS-104 in 2001.
Endeavour recorded ten in total, including the first shuttle flight to the International Space Station, STS-88 in 1998.
Of the four launches left for the shuttle program, STS-134 -- the last flight of Endeavour -- has the greatest chance of slipping into the night. Were weather or technical issues to delay that July launch by about a week, then its liftoff would occur before sunrise.
For now though, STS-130 is the last of the night flights.
"For the last night launch, it treated us well," expressed Leinbach. "I think everybody appreciated it."

(SDO) Solar Dynamics Observatory

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Solar Dynamics Observatory Set For Launch

The Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, is set to launch on Feb. 10 at 10:26 a.m. EST from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Weather for launch day stands at a 60 percent chance of "go" for liftoff.

A prelaunch news conference will be held at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, followed by the mission science briefing. Both will be carried live on NASA TV. Live coverage of the launch will begin at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday on NASA TV and the launch blog.

SDO's unprecedented mission will study the sun and its dynamic behavior. Onboard telescopes will scrutinize sunspots and solar flares using more pixels and colors than any other observatory in the history of solar physics. And SDO will reveal the sun’s hidden secrets in a prodigious rush of pictures.

The Glory Mission Will Increase Our Understanding of the Earth's Energy Balance

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Black Carbon Deposits on Himalayan Ice Threaten Earth’s "Third Pole"

Black soot deposited on Tibetan glaciers has contributed significantly to the retreat of the world’s largest non-polar ice masses, according to new research by scientists from NASA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Soot absorbs incoming solar radiation and can speed glacial melting when deposited on snow in sufficient quantities.

Temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau -- sometimes called Earth's "third pole" -- have warmed by 0.3°C (0.5°F) per decade over the past 30 years, about twice the rate of observed global temperature increases. New field research and ongoing quantitative modeling suggests that soot's warming influence on Tibetan glaciers could rival that of greenhouse gases.

"Tibet's glaciers are retreating at an alarming rate," said James Hansen, coauthor of the study and director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City. "Black soot is probably responsible for as much as half of the glacial melt, and greenhouse gases are responsible for the rest."

"During the last 20 years, the black soot concentration has increased two- to three-fold relative to its concentration in 1975," said Junji Cao, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and a coauthor of the paper.

The study was published December 7th in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Fifty percent of the glaciers were retreating from 1950 to 1980 in the Tibetan region; that rose to 95 percent in the early 21st century," said Tandong Yao, director of the Chinese Academy's Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research. Some glaciers are retreating so quickly that they could disappear by mid-century if current trends continue, the researchers suggest.

Since melt water from Tibetan glaciers replenishes many of Asia’s major rivers -- including the Indus, Ganges, Yellow, and Brahmaputra -- such losses could have a profound impact on the billion people who rely on the rivers for fresh water. While rain and snow would still help replenish Asian rivers in the absence of glaciers, the change could hamper efforts to manage seasonal water resources by altering when fresh water supplies are available in areas already prone to water shortages.

Researchers led by Baiqing Xu of the Chinese Academy drilled and analyzed five ice cores from various locations across the Tibetan Plateau, looking for black carbon (a key component of soot) as well as organic carbon. The cores support the hypothesis that black soot amounts in the Himalayan glaciers correlate with black carbon emissions in Europe and South Asia.

At Zuoqiupu glacier -- a bellwether site on the southern edge of the plateau and downwind from the Indian subcontinent -- black soot deposition increased by 30 percent between 1990 and 2003. The rise in soot levels at Zuoqiupu follows a dip that followed the enacting of clean air regulations in Europe in the 1970s.

Most soot in the region comes from diesel engines, coal-fired power plants, and outdoor cooking stoves. Many industrial processes produce both black carbon and organic carbon, but often in different proportions. Burning diesel fuel produces mainly black carbon, for example, while burning wood produces mainly organic carbon. Since black carbon is darker and absorbs more radiation, it’s thought to have a stronger warming effect than organic carbon.

To refine the emerging understanding of soot's impact on glaciers, scientists are striving to gather ever more robust measurements. "We can’t expect this study to clarify the effect of black soot on the melting of Tibetan snow and glaciers entirely," said Cao. "Additional work that looks at albedo measurements, melting rate, and other types of reconnaissance is also needed."

For example, scientists are using satellite instruments such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the NASA satellites Terra and Aqua to enhance understanding of the region's albedo. And a new NASA climate satellite called Glory, which will launch late in 2010, will carry a new type of aerosol sensor that should be able to distinguish between aerosol types more accurately than previous instruments.

"Reduced black soot emissions, in addition to reduced greenhouse gases, may be required to avoid demise of Himalayan glaciers and retain the benefits of glaciers for seasonal fresh water supplies," Hansen said.

NASA's Micro-Satellites Complete Technology Validation Mission

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NASA's three orbiting micro-satellites known as Space Technology 5 have completed their planned 90-day mission. The mission team is shutting down the spacecraft to conclude operations on Friday, June 30.

The mission primarily focused on flight testing miniaturized satellites in the harsh environment of space and evaluating their ability to make research-quality scientific measurements.

The satellites were launched on March 22. Each fully fueled satellite weighed approximately 55 pounds when launched and is about the size of a 13-inch television.

A major milestone of the mission was reached when the spacecraft assumed a constellation formation on May 24. The satellites lined up in nearly identical orbits, like three pearls on a necklace, approximately 220 miles apart. Reaching formation required seven maneuvers using miniaturized micro-thrusters. Each spacecraft has a single micro-thruster the size of a quarter to perform both attitude- and orbit-adjustment maneuvers.

The mission demonstrated the benefits of using a constellation of spacecraft to perform scientific studies of the beautiful auroral displays that occur near Earth's polar regions. The spacecraft simultaneously traversed electric current sheets and measured the magnetic field using miniature magnetometers.

"Taking measurements at the same time in different locations allowed scientists to better estimate the thickness of current sheets and how they vary over time," said Guan Le, mission project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "This could not have been done with a single spacecraft, no matter how capable."

The mission validation team demonstrated the sensitivity of miniature magnetometers, and suitability of the satellites for supporting scientific measurements. Over the next few months, the team will process the mission's magnetometer data, complete its assessments of the performance of the satellite constellation and report initial findings.

The mission also demonstrated an innovative communications technology. The satellites used miniature spacecraft radio transponders for space-to-ground communications and tracking. The transponders were coupled with conventional and computer-optimized or -evolved antennas. The transponders and antennas performed flawlessly.

The satellites' miniature power system demonstrated a high level of performance. All spacecraft lithium ion batteries stayed above 90 percent charge, even during some tests intentionally designed to use them. The high-efficiency solar arrays on all three spacecraft produced more power than predicted prior to launch, and their batteries performed to expectations.

During the final days of the mission, the emphasis was on demonstrating ground system technologies. The ground system is highly automated to reduce the cost of operating multiple spacecraft as a single constellation rather than operating them individually. This type of ground system will help pave the way for an affordable means of simultaneously flying from 10 to hundreds of micro-satellites.

The project was developed and tested at Goddard. It is part of the New Millennium Program, which develops and tests high-payoff technologies that provide future science mission capabilities with reduced cost and risk. Each flight acts as a test track for competitively-selected technologies, mission objectives and operations concepts. New Millennium is managed for NASA by the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Review of Apple MacBook

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Full review of Apple MacBook

For starters, a fair share of the new MacBook's circuitry comes from Nvidia instead of Intel. Most notably the 9400M integrated graphics, which is a big step up from the Intel X3100 found in the white MacBook. Apple claims it has five times the performance over the Intel IGP, but in the real world the difference is actually even more significant - the 9400M lets you to play some recent games whereas the old and tired Intel X3100 certainly does not.

Design

As far as the new design goes, this is arguably the best looking laptop since the Osborne 1. The no-doubt well paid broilers at Apple's design department have done an awesome job with the new "unibody" construction, allegedly made from a single piece of aluminum.
To get completely in line with an otherwise minimalistic design, they also decided to let go of the trackpad button altogether, opting for one built into the glass trackpad itself. Thanks to the multi-touch functionality, this works very well - actually there's no need to use the built-in button at all. The new four-finger gestures to bring down Expose and Spaces are also well implemented.

Connectivity

Unfortunately, they didn't bother to drill a lot of holes in that single piece of aluminum. There's not a single FireWire port to be found, which is bound to feel like a betrayal to many diehard Mac users with a room full of FireWire accessories. On top of that it only has a measly two USB ports and Apple's proprietary Mini DisplayPort, so forget about using your external monitor unless you fork over an additional $29 for a standard VGA or DVI adapter, or $99 (!) for the dual-link DVI adapter.
The new MacBook is available in two varieties (so far): one 2.0GHz version (our review sample) and a more expensive 2.4GHz model with a larger hard drive and backlit keyboard. Both models come with the same Nvidia chipset, a LED-backlit screen, and 2 gigs of top-of-the-line 1066MHz DDR3 RAM. It's worth mentioning that the hard drives that ship with the new MacBooks are very well isolated and silent. When the laptop is idle or doing light tasks like web browsing, it's almost inaudible.

Performance and Games

Thanks to the DDR3 memory, a 1066MHz front side bus, and the Nvidia chipset, the new MacBooks are faster than older models at the same CPU clock speed. Our 2.0GHz MacBook generated an Xbench score of 166.40. It is also perfectly capable of playing some games - WoW delivered fully playable framerates (50-60 fps) at high settings, which is to be expected from an aging game, but even Call of Duty 4 was playable with the settings tuned down a little. Apple promised five hours of battery life, which we found to be a little too optimistic, but the 4.5 hours we managed to squeeze out of it is still very good.
Overall, the aluminum MacBook is an excellent laptop. Although it's somewhat more expensive than we had hoped, you get a solid and great-looking laptop, and some features that you'll never find in a similar PC.

Apple MacBook Technical Specifications

• Processor 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile
• Memory 2GB DDR3
• Harddrive 160GB
• OS Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard
• Weight 5.0 lbs
• Screen 13.3
• Screen resolution 1280 x 800
• Graphic Card Nvidia 9400M
• Battery Life 4,5 hours