NASA Sets Radiation Belt Storm Probes Mission Launch Events Coverage

J.D. Harrington

NASA Headquarters, Washington

202-358-5241

j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

 

George H. Diller

Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

321-867-2468

george.h.diller@nasa.gov

 

Geoffrey Brown

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.

240-228-5618

geoffrey.brown@jhuapl.edu

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) are set to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket Aug. 23. The 20-minute launch window for the twin probes at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 begins at 4:08 a.m. EDT.

Launch commentary coverage, as well as prelaunch media briefings, will be carried live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

RBSP will explore space weather -- changes in Earth's space environment caused by the sun -- that can disable satellites, create power grid failures and disrupt GPS service. The mission also will allow researchers to understand fundamental radiation and particle acceleration processes throughout the universe.

Prelaunch News Conference

A prelaunch news conference on NASA TV will be held at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Press Site at 1 p.m. Monday, Aug. 20.

Briefing participants are:

-- Michael Luther, deputy associate administrator for programs, NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington

-- Tim Dunn, NASA launch director, Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

-- Vernon Thorp, program manager, NASA Missions, United Launch Alliance, Denver, Colo.

-- Richard Fitzgerald, RBSP project manager, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory,

Laurel, Md.

-- Kathy Winters, launch weather officer, 45th Weather Squadron, Cape Canaveral Air Force

Station, Fla.

RBSP Mission Science Briefing

Immediately following the prelaunch news conference, an RBSP mission science briefing will be held and carried on NASA TV.

Briefing participants are:

-- Mona Kessel, RBSP program scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington

-- Nicola Fox, RBSP deputy project scientist, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

-- Craig Kletzing, principal investigator, University of Iowa, Electric and Magnetic Field

Instrument Suite and Integrated Science instrument

-- Harlan Spence, principal investigator, University of New Hampshire, Energetic Particle,

Composition, and Thermal Plasma Suite instrument, Durham, N.H.

-- Lou Lanzerotti, principal investigator, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Radiation Belt

Storm Probes Ion Composition Experiment, Newark, N.J.

The science briefing is scheduled to conclude by 3 p.m.

A post-launch news conference also will be held approximately 2 1/2 hours after launch on Aug. 23.

Accreditation and Media Access Badges for Kennedy

U.S. media who want to cover the RBSP prelaunch news conference and mission science briefing in-person must apply for credentials online at:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov/

The deadline for international media to apply for launch accreditation has passed.

Atlas V Launch Vehicle Rollout

Tuesday, Aug. 21: There will be a media opportunity to observe rollout of the Atlas V rocket from the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad. Media should be at Kennedy's Press Site at 9 a.m. for transportation to the viewing location near Space Launch Complex 41.

Remote Camera Placement at Space Launch Complex 41

Tuesday, Aug. 21: Photographers who wish to set up remote sound-activated cameras at the Atlas V launch pad will transported to Space Launch Complex 41. Media should meet in the Kennedy Press Site parking lot at 1:30 p.m. Media also should plan to use a timer that can be set for more than 24 hours. Only news media representatives establishing a remote camera at the pad will be permitted for this activity.

Launch Day Press Site Access

Thursday, Aug. 23: Media will cover the RBSP launch from Kennedy's Press Site. Access will be through Gate 3 on State Road 405, east of the Kennedy Center Visitor Complex beginning at 12:30 a.m.

Kennedy Press Site Hours

Monday, Aug. 20: 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Aug. 21: 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Aug. 22: 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 23: 12:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

NASA Television Coverage

On Monday, Aug. 20, NASA Television will carry the RBSP prelaunch news conference and mission science briefing live beginning at 1 p.m.

On Thursday, Aug. 23, NASA Television coverage of the launch will begin at 1:30 a.m. and conclude after the second of the two RBSP spacecraft has separated from the Atlas V, which occurs 91 minutes and six seconds after launch. Live launch coverage will be carried on all NASA Television channels.

A post-launch news conference will be held at Kennedy's Press Site approximately 2 1/2 hours after launch. Spokespersons also will be available at the Press Site for interviews and to answer questions.

For NASA Television downlink information, schedule information and streaming video, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

A prelaunch webcast for the RBSP mission will be streamed on NASA's website at noon, Wednesday, Aug. 22. Live countdown coverage through NASA's Launch Blog begins at 1:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 23. Coverage features live updates as countdown milestones occur, as well as streaming video clips highlighting launch preparations and liftoff. For questions about countdown coverage, contact Jeanne Ryba at 321-867-7824.

To view the webcast and the blog or to learn more about the RBSP mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rbsp.

Social Media

Join the conversation online by using the #RBSP hashtag or by following RBSP on Twitter at @RBStormProbes or on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/QR9agm.

Throughout the launch countdown, the @RBStormProbes and @NASAKennedy Twitter feeds will be continuously updated with the latest mission updates and news.

http://www.twitter.com/RBStormProbes and http://www.twitter.com/nasakennedy.

Recorded Status

Recorded status reports and updates to the media advisory on the RBSP launch will be provided through the Kennedy media phone line starting Monday, Aug. 20. The telephone number is 321-867-2525.

Wireless Capability

Wireless capability for the news media is available at Kennedy's Press Site.

RBSP is part of NASA's Living with a Star program, managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., built the pair of RBSP spacecraft and will manage the mission for NASA. NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy is responsible for launch management. United Launch Alliance is the provider of the Atlas V launch service.

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New NASA Mission Ready to Brave Earth's Radiation Belts

J.D. Harrington

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-5241

j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

 

Geoffrey Brown

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel Md.

240-228-5618 or 443-778-5618

geoffrey.brown@jhuapl.edu

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission will send two spacecraft into the harsh environment of our planet's radiation belts. Final preparations have begun for launch on Thursday, Aug. 23, from Florida's Space Coast.

The RBSP spacecraft are designed to fly and operate in the heart of the most hazardous regions of near-Earth space to collect crucial data. The data will help researchers develop an understanding of the Van Allen radiation belts, two rings of very high energy electrons and protons that can pose hazards to human and robotic explorers.

"At the end of this month we will turn our attention from planet Mars to planet Earth, both immersed in the atmosphere of our sun," said Barbara Giles, director of NASA's Heliophysics Division. "RBSP will further explore the connection of solar variability and its impacts on Earth's radiation belts."

RBSP will help scientists understand how the invisible radiation belts -- named for James Van Allen, who discovered them -- behave and react to changes in the sun, thereby contributing to Earth's space weather. Space weather is caused in great part by the sun's influence on Earth and near-Earth space, including solar events such as giant eruptions of solar material called coronal mass ejections.

"The dramatic dynamics of Earth's radiation belts caused by space weather are highly unpredictable," said Barry Mauk, RBSP project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md. "One of the fundamental objectives of the RBSP mission is to use Earth's magnetosphere as a natural laboratory to understand generally how radiation is created and evolves throughout the universe. There are many mysteries that need to be resolved."

Space weather fluctuations can increase radiation exposure for pilots and passengers during polar aircraft flights. They also can disable satellites, cause power grid failures, and disrupt the Global Positioning System, television and telecommunications signals. Understanding the science of space weather will lead to better space weather predictions, which in turn will allow us to better manage and protect our technological infrastructure in space and on the ground.

The spacecraft are atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket currently being prepared to lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

"Everything is ready and prepared for RBSP to launch as scheduled," said Richard Fitzgerald, RBSP project manager at APL. "Both the twin spacecraft and the entire RBSP team are eager to begin their exploration of one of the most dangerous parts of space near our planet."

The mission will last two years. The spacecraft, carrying the best and most comprehensive instrumentation ever sent into the radiation belts, will fly through surging and swelling belts of energized particles that would damage ordinary spacecraft. By using a pair of probes flying in highly elliptical orbits, scientists will be able to study the radiation belts over space and time, learn how particles within the belts are produced and behave during space weather events, and what mechanisms drive the acceleration of the particles.

RBSP is part of NASA's Living With a Star Program to explore aspects of the connected sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. LWS is managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. APL built the RBSP spacecraft and will manage the mission for NASA.

For more information about NASA's RBSP mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rbsp.

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NASA to Hold News Conference on Upcoming Radiation Belt Storm Probes Launch

J.D. Harrington

Headquarters, Washington     

202-358-5241

j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

 

Geoffrey Brown

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.

240-228-5618

geoffrey.brown@jhuapl.edu

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT, Thursday, Aug. 9 to discuss the upcoming launch of the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), a mission to study Earth’s radiation belts. The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website.

The two-year RBSP mission will help scientists develop an understanding of Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts and related regions that pose hazards to human and robotic explorers.

RBSP is scheduled to launch no earlier than 4:08 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 23 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The twin probes will lift off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

News conference panelists are:

-- Madhulika Guhathakurta, Living With a Star program scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington

-- Mona Kessel, RBSP program scientist, NASA Headquarters

-- Barry Mauk, RBSP project scientist, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Md.

-- Rick Fitzgerald, RBSP project manager, APL, Laurel, Md.

Reporters can ask questions from NASA's centers, by telephone or via Twitter using the hashtag #asknasa. For dial-in information, reporters must send their name, media affiliation and telephone number to j.d.harrington@nasa.gov by 1 p.m. Aug. 9.

RBSP will explore space weather -- changes in Earth's space environment caused by the sun -- that can disable satellites, create power grid failures and disrupt GPS service. The mission also will allow researchers to understand fundamental radiation and particle acceleration processes throughout the universe.

Graphics presented during the news conference will be online shortly before the start of the event at http://www.nasa.gov/sunearth.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

For more information about the RBSP mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rbsp.

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NASA to Hold News Conference on Upcoming Radiation Belt Storm Probes Launch

J.D. Harrington

Headquarters, Washington     

202-358-5241

j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

 

Geoffrey Brown

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.

240-228-5618

geoffrey.brown@jhuapl.edu

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT, Thursday, Aug. 9 to discuss the upcoming launch of the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), a mission to study Earth’s radiation belts. The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website.

The two-year RBSP mission will help scientists develop an understanding of Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts and related regions that pose hazards to human and robotic explorers.

RBSP is scheduled to launch no earlier than 4:08 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 23 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The twin probes will lift off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

News conference panelists are:

-- Madhulika Guhathakurta, Living With a Star program scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington

-- Mona Kessel, RBSP program scientist, NASA Headquarters

-- Barry Mauk, RBSP project scientist, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Md.

-- Rick Fitzgerald, RBSP project manager, APL, Laurel, Md.

Reporters can ask questions from NASA's centers, by telephone or via Twitter using the hashtag #asknasa. For dial-in information, reporters must send their name, media affiliation and telephone number to j.d.harrington@nasa.gov by 1 p.m. Aug. 9.

RBSP will explore space weather -- changes in Earth's space environment caused by the sun -- that can disable satellites, create power grid failures and disrupt GPS service. The mission also will allow researchers to understand fundamental radiation and particle acceleration processes throughout the universe.

Graphics presented during the news conference will be online shortly before the start of the event at http://www.nasa.gov/sunearth.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

For more information about the RBSP mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rbsp.

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Tracked Raindrops Falling On Our Heads

Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) scientists are leading a multi-agency study which reveals that a very high-resolution Doppler radar has the unique capacity to detect individual cloud hydrometeors in the free atmosphere.

This study will improve scientists’ understanding of the dynamics and structure of cloud systems.

This Doppler radar was previously used to track small debris shed from the NASA space shuttle missions during launch. Similar to the traces left behind on film by sub-atomic particles, researchers observed larger cloud particles leaving well-defined, nearly linear, radar reflectivity “streaks” which could be analyzed to infer their underlying properties.

Scientists could detect the individual particles because of a combination of the radar’s 3MW power, narrow 0.22 degree beamwidth, and an unprecedented range resolution as fine as 0.5m. This combination of radar attributes allows researchers to sample a volume of cloud about the size of a small bus (roughly 14 m3) when operating at a range of 2 km.

With such small pulse volumes, it becomes possible to measure the properties of individual raindrops greater than 0.5mm in diameter due to the low concentration of such drops in naturally occurring cloud systems and the overwhelming dominance such drops have on the measured radar reflectivity when present in a field comprised of smaller particles.

The study was carried out as a multi-agency effort with scientists from NRL’s Marine Meteorology Division, located in Monterey, California, as well as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, L-3 Interstate Electronics Corp, Radar Technology Specialists Corp., Weather Modification, Inc., and students as far away as the Institute of Geophysics located at the University of Warsaw.

This team of specialists, spanning an area of expertise from cloud physics and dynamics to radar theory, design, and applications, assembled to conduct a series of weather experiments held in coordination with the Naval Ordinance Test Unit, the Federal Aviation Administration, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Facility, and NASA between 2008 and 2010.

The purpose of these experiments was to study the properties of various cloud systems as well as to evaluate the ability of the U.S. Navy’s Mid-Course Radar (MCR) to retrieve information on the cloud’s internal flow and precipitation structure.

Toward this end, the team conducted field projects during the height of the Florida summer convective season in order to collect radar data, launch weather balloons, obtain in situ cloud data using an instrumented research aircraft, and to document other features of the local cloud systems using a variety of complimentary surfaced-based sensors such as an upward looking lidar and all-sky camera.

These additional instruments were used to continuously monitor the sky conditions as well as to help guide the precise placement of the aircraft and the high-resolution MCR radar beam during the numerous case events documented during the course of the experiment.

In addition to Dr. Schmidt, the NRL research team members include Dr. Paul Harasti and Dr. Piotr Flatau, who is a faculty member from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The finding is published in the June 12, 2012 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences where the list of remaining authors and their contributions to the study may be found.

From www.nrl.navy.mil

Black Hole Caught in a Stellar Homicide

This computer-simulated image shows gas from a star that is ripped apart by tidal forces as it falls into a black hole. Some of the gas also is being ejected at high speeds into space.

Using observations from telescopes in space and on the ground, astronomers gathered the most direct evidence yet for this violent process: a supermassive black hole shredding a star that wandered too close. NASA's orbiting Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) and the Pan-STARRS1 telescope on the summit of Haleakala in Hawaii were used to help to identify the stellar remains.

A flare in ultraviolet and optical light revealed gas falling into the black hole as well as helium-rich gas that was expelled from the system. When the star is torn apart, some of the material falls into the black hole, while the rest is ejected at high speeds. The flare and its properties provide a signature of this scenario and give unprecedented details about the stellar victim.

To completely rule out the possibility of an active nucleus flaring up in the galaxy instead of a star being torn apart, the team used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to study the hot gas. Chandra showed that the characteristics of the gas didn't match those from an active galactic nucleus.

The galaxy where the supermassive black hole ripped apart the passing star in known as PS1-10jh and is located about 2.7 billion light years from Earth. Astronomers estimate the black hole in PS1-10jh has a mass of several million suns, which is comparable to the supermassive black hole in our own Milky Way galaxy.

Image Credit: NASA, S. Gezari (The Johns Hopkins University), and J. Guillochon (University of California, Santa Cruz)

Surgical Robots -- Science Nation

Surgical Robots 

We're stepping into the future of medicine with a look at the surgical robotics being developed at the Johns Hopkins Engineering Research Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology. Here, engineers are designing less invasive surgical techniques and robots that a decade ago may have seemed like science fiction. Many of these techniques are leading to significantly quicker and less painful recoveries while giving surgeons more flexibility than ever before.

Credit: National Science Foundation

Black Hole Caught Red-Handed in a Stellar Homicide

J.D. Harrington

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-0321

j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

WASHINGTON -- Astronomers have gathered the most direct evidence yet of a supermassive black hole shredding a star that wandered too close. NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, a space-based observatory, and the Pan-STARRS1 telescope on the summit of Haleakala in Hawaii, were among the first to help identify the stellar remains.

Supermassive black holes, weighing millions to billions times more than the sun, lurk in the centers of most galaxies. These hefty monsters lay quietly until an unsuspecting victim, such as a star, wanders close enough to get ripped apart by their powerful gravitational clutches.

Astronomers have spotted these stellar homicides before, but this is the first time they identified the victim. Using several ground- and space-based telescopes, a team of astronomers led by Suvi Gezari of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore identified the victim as a star rich in helium gas. The star resides in a galaxy 2.7 billion light-years away. The team's results will appear in today's online edition of the journal Nature.

"When the star is ripped apart by the gravitational forces of the black hole, some part of the star's remains falls into the black hole while the rest is ejected at high speeds," Gezari said. "We are seeing the glow from the stellar gas falling into the black hole over time. We're also witnessing the spectral signature of the ejected gas, which we find to be mostly helium. It is like we are gathering evidence from a crime scene. Because there is very little hydrogen and mostly helium in the gas, we detect from the carnage that the slaughtered star had to have been the helium-rich core of a stripped star."

This observation yields insights about the harsh environment around black holes and the types of stars swirling around them. It is not the first time the unlucky star had a brush with the behemoth black hole.

The team believes the star's hydrogen-filled envelope surrounding the core was lifted off a long time ago by the same black hole. The star may have been near the end of its life. After consuming most of its hydrogen fuel, it had probably ballooned in size, becoming a red giant. Astronomers think the bloated star was looping around the black hole in a highly elliptical orbit, similar to a comet's elongated orbit around the sun. On one of its close approaches, the star was stripped of its puffed-up atmosphere by the black hole's powerful gravity. The stellar remains continued its journey around the center, until it ventured even closer to the black hole to face its ultimate demise.

Astronomers predict stripped stars circle the central black hole of our Milky Way galaxy. These close encounters are rare, occurring roughly every 100,000 years. To find this event, Gezari's team monitored hundreds of thousands of galaxies in ultraviolet light with the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, and in visible light with Pan-STARRS1. Pan-STARRS, short for Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, scans the entire night sky for all kinds of transient phenomena, including supernovae.

The team was looking for a bright flare in ultraviolet light from the nucleus of a galaxy with a previously dormant black hole. Both telescopes spotted one in June 2010. Astronomers continued to monitor the flare as it reached peak brightness a month later and slowly faded during the next 12 months. The brightening event was similar to the explosive energy unleashed by a supernova, but the rise to the peak was much slower, taking nearly one and a half months.

"The longer the event lasted, the more excited we got, because we realized this is either a very unusual supernova or an entirely different type of event, such as a star being ripped apart by a black hole," said team member Armin Rest of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

By measuring the increase in brightness, the astronomers calculated the black hole's mass to be several million suns, which is comparable to the size of our Milky Way's black hole.

Spectroscopic observations with the Multiple Meter Telescope Observatory located on Mount Hopkins in Arizona showed the black hole was swallowing lots of helium. Spectroscopy divides light into its rainbow colors, which yields an object's characteristics, such as its temperature and gaseous makeup.

To completely rule out the possibility of an active nucleus flaring up in the galaxy, the team used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to study the hot gas. Chandra showed that the characteristics of the gas didn't match those from an active galactic nucleus.

For images, video and more information about this study, visit http://hubblesite.org/news/2012/18.

For graphics and information about the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, visit http://www.nasa.gov/galex and http://www.galex.caltech.edu.

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