A Dec. 2 event with the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology, featured a live chat with NASA’s Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren from onboard the International Space Station. Kelly and Lindgren answered questions from Texas Representative and Chairperson Lamar Smith and other committee members, about life on the station and the research on the orbital laboratory. Kelly is in the ninth month of his year-long mission with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko to gather biomedical data that will help formulate a human mission to Mars, while Lindgren is preparing to return to Earth Dec. 11 to complete a 141-day mission. Also, Next space station crew preparing for launch, Orion powerhouse ready for testing, Anniversary of Orion’s first flight test, Your planet is changing. We’re on it, and Preparing Earth observation tool for space station!
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Moving ahead with Sentinel-2
The green light has been given for all users to have open access to all of the data from ESA’s Sentinel-2A satellite, launched in June for the Copernicus programme.
This video celebrates Sentinel-2A’s life, from its birth to what it has become today, and what it can give us tomorrow.
Access Sentinel-2 data:
https://sentinel.esa.int/web/sentinel/sentinel-data-access -
Inside LISA Pathfinder, with narration
ESA’s LISA Pathfinder mission is a technology demonstrator that will pave the way for future spaceborne gravitational-wave observatories. It will operate about 1.5 million km from Earth towards the Sun, orbiting the first Sun–Earth ‘Lagrangian point’, L1.
The animation of the spacecraft build-up begins with two freely falling test masses. Between them lies the central component of LISA Pathfinder’s payload: the 20 x 20 cm optical bench interferometer. A set of 22 mirrors and beam-splitters directs laser beams across the bench. There are two beams: one reflects off the two free-falling test masses while the other is confined to the bench. By comparing the length of the different paths covered by the beams, it is possible to monitor changes accurately in distance and orientation between the two test masses.
A box surrounds the two masses without touching them, shielding them from outside influence and constantly applying tiny adjustments to its position. This internal payload is housed in a central cylinder, isolating the test masses from the other components of the science payload and spacecraft.
The solar array provides power to the instrumentation and acts as a thermal shield. Microthrusters control the spacecraft to keep the master test mass centred in its housing, opposing the force of the solar radiation pressure – the main source of ‘noise’ – impinging on the solar array.
Although LISA Pathfinder is not aimed at the detection of gravitational waves themselves, it will prove the innovative technologies needed to do so. It will demonstrate that the two independent masses can be monitored as they free-fall through space, reducing external and internal disturbances to the point where the relative test mass positions would be more stable than the expected change caused by a passing gravitational wave, equal to much less than the size of an atom.
Animated sequence without narration: Inside LISA Pathfinder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyZJ1JC_URc
More about LISA Pathfinder: http://sci.esa.int/lisa-pathfinder/
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Safe at sea with satellites
At sea, space technology is used to help save lives every day: managing traffic between ships, picking up migrants and refugees in distress or spotting oil spills. The European Space Agency is once again at the forefront developing new technologies and satellites: to keep us safe at sea and to monitor the environment. Space makes a difference here on Earth and certainly at sea where there is no infrastructure.
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ESAhangout with Tim Peake #SpeaktoPeake
ESA astronaut Tim Peake answers questions from school children in Wiltshire, UK. Tim joined the hangout from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston where he is currently training for his six month Principia mission to the International Space Station, set for liftoff in December 2015.
The hangout was jointly hosted by ESA with +spacegovuk and +BBC Wiltshire. NASA’s Johnson Space Center provided support by hosting Tim in their Houston studio.
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Interview with Samantha after landing
Interview with ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti shortly after returning from a six and a half month stay on the International Space Station.
Samantha, together with Russian commander Anton Shkaplerov and NASA astronaut Terry Virts, landed with their the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft in the Kazakh steppe at 15:44 CEST (13:44 GMT) on 11 June 2015.
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Proba-3: Dancing with the stars
Dancing is probably the oldest human artform – and now ESA’s Proba-3 precision formation-flying mission intends to extend the art of dance to space.
Like dancers, a pair of minisatellites will move around each other, their relative positions maintained to millimetre-scale precision, as if they were both parts of one giant spacecraft.
Their mission is to cast a shadow from one minisatellite onto another, in order to form an artificial total solar eclipse in space – then study the fine details of the Sun’s wispy atmosphere, the solar corona.
Franco Ongaro, ESA Director of Technical and Quality Management; Frederic Teston, Head of System and Cost Engineering; Andrea Santovincenzo, ESA engineer and the project’s manager Agnes Mestreau-Garreau, explain how to go about teaching a space mission to dance.
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Exercise in space with Samantha Cristoforetti!
ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, currently living and working on the International Space Station, shows us the ‘space gym’. Starting with ARED, the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device.
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NASA is with you when you fly on This Week @NASA – November 21, 2014
NASA invited social media members Nov. 18 and 19 to the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center for a two-day event highlighting the ways NASA is with you when you fly. The NASA social gave participants an exclusive look at the latest tools and technologies being developed to improve the efficiency, safety and adaptability of air transportation. Also, Next ISS crew trains, 3D printer installed in space, Asteroid capture technology test, Journey to Mars media day and more!
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Inflight call with Alexander Gerst for #callAlex
Replay of an inflight call with ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst on the International Space Station. Forty of his social media followers were invited to the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, for a SocialSpace event to watch the call to the ISS live. A handful of the participants also got to ask a question to Alexander.
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NASA Spinoff with Seth Green
Actor Seth Green discusses products and technology derived from NASA research, often called “spinoffs”, that are being used to improve life on Earth.
A spinoff is a commercialized product that incorporates NASA technology or NASA “know how” and benefits the public.
Spinoffs promote commercial activity, encourages economic growth, and stimulates innovation in business and commerce.www.spinoff.nasa.gov
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NASA Social with NASA Astronaut Karen Nyberg
NASA Astronaut Karen Nyberg spoke with social media followers and their guests at NASA Headquarters after recently returning from a 5.5-month stay aboard the International Space Station. Participants learned how Karen lived and worked from space, and as an artist, quilting and drawing http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition36/nyberg_profile.html#.UyMrRPldWSo during her off time; how she managed the unique aspects and challenges of parenting off the planet http://women.nasa.gov/karen-nyberg/ ; how as an astronaut and fitness lover, she exercised while on orbit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ikouWcXhd0 ; current scientific experiments underway aboard the space station; how researchers study the effects of a weightless environment on the human body to help protect astronauts for long-duration spaceflight missions in the future; and how the space station is being used to test groundbreaking, new technologies that will help astronauts safely reach new deep space destinations, including an asteroid and eventually Mars.
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Google+ Hangout with NASA’s Cassini Solstice Mission to Saturn
NASA hosted a Google+ Hangout to discuss extraordinary new images of Saturn taken by the Cassini spacecraft. Participants in the hangout learned what’s ahead in the next few years of the Cassini mission from panelists Kunio Sayanagi, Cassini imaging team associate, Hampton University, VA., Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team lead, Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO., Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA., and Earl Maize, Cassini program manager, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.
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Marshburn’s Space Mash-up with 30 Seconds to Mars
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 35 Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn of NASA discussed his mission, research activities and answered social media questions offered by lead singer Jared Leto of the musical rock group “30 Seconds to Mars” during a tour of Mission Control, Houston by the group March 18. The members of the Los Angeles-based group, which was originally formed in 1998, are huge space enthusiasts, and recently had a sample of their music flown to the station on the SpaceX/Dragon cargo ship for the crew’s listening pleasure.
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Beyond 2012: Google+ Hangout with NASA
Stories about the fictional planet Nibiru and predictions of the end of the world in December 2012 have blossomed on the Internet. Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, Dec. 21, 2012 won’t be the end of the world as we know, however, it will be another winter solstice.
Social media users joined NASA and other scientists for a lively discussion at 2:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 to discuss the 2012 rumors propagated across the internet. We had a great panel of experts on hand including:
– David Morrison, astrobiologist from NASA’s Ames Research Center
– Don Yeomans, asteroid scientist from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
– Mitzi Adams, solar/archaeoastronomer from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
– Lika Guhathakurta, heliophysicist from NASA Headquarters
– Paul Hertz, astrophysicist from NASA Headquarters
– Andrew Fraknoi, science educator from Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, Calif.Find out more about these rumors at http://www.nasa.gov/2012
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Backstage at ESA with the Travel Office, HR Outreach, ‘Heavy Gang’ and more!
This short video looks at some of the behind the scene roles that contribute to making the ESA working environment a success.
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“Endeavour” roars up to sky with Roberto Vittori and AMS-02
Space Shuttle “Endeavour” was launched to space at 14:56 CEST (12:56 GMT) on 16 May from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The 16-day-long STS-134 mission will deliver AMS-02, a big cosmological instrument to the Space Station and its crew includes ESA’s Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori. This is the last flight of “Endeavour”. -
ATVCC tour with Kris Capelle
A personal guided tour and explanation of the layout and functioning of the various control rooms at ESA’s ATV Control Centre, located at the CNES establishment at Toulouse, France. ESA’s Kris Capelle is the lead Mission Director overseeing all ATV flight operations.
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ATV-2 mission profile with ESA Mission Director Kris Capelle
ESA’s lead ATV-2 Mission Director Kris Capelle talks us through all phases of this complex mission – from launch preparation and lift-off to rendezvous and docking with the ISS through the attached phase, undocking and reentry.
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Interview with Romain Charles (ESA Mars500 participant)
Romain Charles of the Mars500 crew talks about his motivation for taking part in this adventure and how he’ll cope with his 520-day ‘mission to Mars’ .
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Fun With Liquid Nitrogen – Cool Science Experiment
Check out this and other cool science experiments at http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiments/ Steve demonstrates the effects Liquid Nitrogen has on different objects.
About Steve Spangler…
Steve Spangler is a celebrity teacher, science toy designer, speaker, author and an Emmy award-winning television personality. Spangler is probably best known for his Mentos and Diet Coke geyser experiment that went viral in. Spangler is the founder of www.SteveSpanglerScience.com, a Denver-based company specializing in the creation of science toys, classroom science demonstrations, teacher resources and home for Spangler’s popular science experiment archive and video collection. Spangler is a frequent guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and Denver 9 News where he takes classroom science experiments to the extreme. For teachers, parents or DIY Science ideas – check out other sources of learning:
Join the Science Club and check out other cool science experiments at – http://www.SteveSpanglerScience.com
Sign up to receive a FREE Experiment of the Week- http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment-of-the-week
Attend a Spangler Hands-on Science Workshop for Teachers – http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/training
Watch Steve on Local and National Media Appearances on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/user/SpanglerScienceTV