Last Mission to Hubble: STS-125

Last Mission to Hubble: STS-125

Posted on May 20, 2009 02:02:35 PM | NASA EDGE

What a great mission so far for the crew of Atlantis. It's been fun the past week watching John Grunsfeld, Drew Feustel, Mike Massimino, and Mike Good work on Hubble. It was also great to see the entire crew (including Scott "Scooter" Altman, Greg "Ray J" Johnson, and Megan McArthur) during the live press conference from space. The NASA EDGE team will never forget this mission because we had the chance to hang out with the crew, especially Drew Feustel and Mike Good. It started back in 2008 when we first met Drew during the Hot Laps event at Daytona International Speedway. NASA was celebrating its 50th anniversary and Daytona was celebrating the 50th running of the Daytona 500. We shot Drew for our "Last Mission to Hubble" vodcast. If you haven't seen it, go to http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/nasaedge/NE00_Last_Mission_Hubble.html.


Chris, Drew, and Blair change a tire at the Daytona Experience. Credit: NASA EDGE/Ron Beard

I still think the training in the above pic helped Drew muscle a tough bolt loose during EVA 1. A couple of weeks later we met Mike Good at the Daytona 500 race. We also shot him for the Hubble vodcast. Mike hung out with us all day and he had a chance to sign autographs.


Chris, Mike Good, and Ron pose for a picture along the track wall. Credit: NASA EDGE/Blair Allen

Mike actually signed the track wall and we have some good close-ups of it. In fact, we are convinced this was part of his training to actually sign his name on Hubble during his last EVA. Still waiting to hear from Mike if he did this.

We shot the rest of the crew at NASA Johnson Space Center. I don't have a picture of it but Mike Massimino scared the daylights out of Blair. Imagine a 6'4" broad shoulder guy standing in front of a 5'0" red headed co-host (very intimidating). But seriously, we all had fun and the crew was very accomodating with our needs.


STS-125 Crew walk out. Credit: NASA EDGE/Chris Giersch

The crew walk out was really a huge deal for us because we heard Mike Good give us a shout out. In fact you can hear it on our latest NASA EDGE vodcast on STS-125. Download it today at http://www.nasa.gov/nasaedge.


STS-125 launch. Credit: NASA EDGE/Chris Giersch

The launch says it all. We have been very privileged to have worked with this fine crew and get the chance to spend some time with each of them. I know we've covered other shuttle missions in the past and probably will cover more in the future but I believe this will be a NASA EDGE favorite. This is our adopted crew and mission. They did it right and everyone should be proud of their accomplishments.

I do have one final wish. Scooter is responsible for "buzzing the tower" during the movie "Top Gun." Will he buzz the tower or VAB one final time?

Congratulations to the STS-125 crew and have a safe reentry and landing on Friday.

The Host

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NASA EDGE: LRO and LCROSS

Posted on May 04, 2009 05:43:33 PM | NASA EDGE

Here is a nice little piece of advice. Download the LRO/LCROSS vodcast (http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/nasaedge/NE00_LRO_LCROSS.html), watch intently, save up some money, go buy a nice lawn chair, a good 10-12 inch telescope and invite over some friends for one of the coolest scientific events since JJ Abrams decided to make the prequel to the Star Trek TV series. My friends, witness LRO and LCROSS.

Of course, the LCROSS impact won't happen for a few months, and by that time LRO will have plowed through many of its objectives. But what you might be able to see (I'm probably not correct about the specifics of my party preparation advice) is the impact plume of LCROSS's Centaur module after it slams into the surface of the Moon. Ordinarily this kind of destructive behavior is limited to Mythbusters, but NASA stands to gain tons of scientific data that will help us understand more about our Moon. Perhaps we will bust a few myths in the process.

When you see the show, you'll know a little bit more about what I mean. Be sure to check it out. Of course, if you have questions and comments, please leave them here. I'll be checking. I'm trying to plan my own LRO/LCROSS impact party, and I could use a few good ideas.

The Co-Host

BTW, for more info:

LRO: http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/
LCROSS: http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/

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Everyone's a Goofy Co-Host

Posted on Apr 29, 2009 09:14:18 AM | NASA EDGE

AstroJournalist Keith Cowing and Astronaut Scott Parazynski at Everest Base Camp. Photo: Yeti

Wow! Apparently, we have a small contingent of fans in Nepal!

Or course, they are not there for NASA EDGE. These two Everest Insiders and Outsiders are at Mount Everest base camp preparing to make their epic ascent to the summit. You can follow their progress, along with their entire team, at http://OnOrbit.com/Everest. And even though they have their very own goofy co-host, we expect nothing but success.

Stay safe guys!

The NASA EDGE Goofy Co-Host

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SPB takes the Mission Madness Trophy

Posted on Apr 08, 2009 10:30:04 AM | NASA EDGE

Congratulations to the 2009 Mission Madness winner - Superpressure Balloon. The Balloon Program Office is based out of Wallops Flight Facility on the eastern shore of Virginia. They did a great job of rallying their fan base to dominate the competition. Mars Rovers, Mars Odyssey, Expedition 1, Orion, New Horizons, and SOHO all fell victim to the mouse clicking of the SPB troops. I thought Orion had a shot to deflate SPB in the quarterfinals but they stopped voting on the second day around 6:45 PM. Then when New Horizons took a 2,500 vote lead going into day 2 of the semifinal round I thought for sure SPB was done. Not so fast my friends. SPB did one thing that none of the other mission voters were able to do and that is play each round for the full 39 hours.

Thank you to all who participated in the tournament, commented on the blog, and provided feedback on our social networking sites - Facebook and Twitter. We will compile all your suggestions and use them for next year's competition. Here's the breakdown of the votes count by round.

Round 1: 128,898

Round 2: 122,558

Round 3: 125,843

Quarterfinals: 156,594

Semifinals: 130,135

Finals: 78,417

Total Vote Count: 742,445

Is SPB the greatest NASA mission of all time? In my opinion - absolutely not, but there are a ton of people who now know about the Superpressure Balloon. In fact (and be honest), how many missions in the field of 64 did you learn about? How many didn't have a clue about some of the missions? Some of the objectives of the madness:

1. Allow the public and internal NASA to learn about 64 different missions. We tend to focus on one mission at a time.

2. Provide a fun and exciting way for the public to learn more about NASA in general.

3. Receive feedback from the public to see what types of missions they are interested in.

There are a few lessons learned from this experience and I am sure next year's competition will be even better. We'll have a new field of 64 with great missions that didn't get included this year. So start lobbying for your mission today so that they may have the chance to do what SPB did....shock the world.

And don't forget to keep watching NASA EDGE (http://www.nasa.gov/nasaedge), an inside and outside look at all things NASA. On tap down the road:

1. LRO/LCROSS

2. Orion simulators

3. STS-125 Launch

4. Launch Abort System

5. Apollo 40th Anniversary Vodcast

6. Desert Rats

7. Arex I-X flight test

8. Pad Abort-1 test

9. Superpressure Balloon????

All the best,

Chris

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SOHO Hanging Tough Against SPB

Posted on Apr 06, 2009 01:43:41 PM | NASA EDGE

"SOHO For the Win!!!" Credit: SOHO Supporter

SOHO supporter answers with her own pic. What say you?

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Congratulations and Good Luck to SPB and SOHO

Posted on Apr 04, 2009 12:04:04 AM | NASA EDGE

SPB is so confident of their victory that they voted for their chosen opponent!

No matter how you feel about how this competition has gone so far, SPB is in the driver seat, and they are daring anyone to challenge them. The only question left is whether or not SOHO can find enough supporters to vote for them for the entire 39 hours of the final round.

LRO, Apollo 11, Freedom 7 all had leads going into the final hour of voting before losing to late voting surges. Even Orion was competitive until the final 4 hours of their round against SPB.

SPB, soak your clicking fingers in palmolive for the weekend... wait, you guys don't need that. You have hardened callouses.

For all of you SOHO supporters, stretch, soak, rub, jazzercise... whatever you need to do. In roughly 57 hours, you'll need every mouse, mainframe and monitor you can access to deflate SPB.

Again, congratulations and good luck. And may the best* mission win.

The Co-Host

*I recognize that many people have contested the notion that this competition could actually reveal the best NASA mission. This is dramatic hyperbole for the sake of inspiring enthusiasm and the spirit of competition.

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A picture from an SPB supporter

Posted on Apr 01, 2009 03:00:27 PM | NASA EDGE

This was emailed to me from an SPB supporter.

Apparently this is how they are getting the job done.

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Round 4 - SPB Stays Aloft over Competition

Posted on Apr 01, 2009 12:17:53 AM | NASA EDGE

SPB, New Horizons, LRO and SOHO All Advance!

I'm speechless. My bracket is trash, I am 0-4 when it comes to picking against SPB and no one at JPL will speak to me. I guess I will leave the analysis up to those who have some credibility left.

The good news is that the final contests are fairly simple to size up.

SPB vs New Horizons
LRO vs SOHO

I would give my predictions, but I DO NOT want to take the blame for sending a mission packing.

The Co-Host

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Correction - Multiple Voting vs. Single Voting

Posted on Mar 31, 2009 12:01:28 AM | NASA EDGE

I want to correct myself in an earlier post about multiple/single voting. After reading the initial post again, I realized I threw my great co-workers at NASA HQ under the bus unintentionally. It was not my intent to put "blame" on NASA HQ for not putting controls in place to prevent multiple voting. The privacy policy is a Federal Government policy from OMB and applies to any .gov site. So in essence it's out of everyone's hands. I want to thank them for clarifying the regulations (thanks Jim, you're the man!).

All the best,

Chris

NE Host

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Round 3 - Results! Future Trumps History

Posted on Mar 28, 2009 08:30:32 AM | NASA EDGE

Where have you gone, Neil Armstrong?!!!!!!!!

Yes, Freedom 7 is still alive. But history took a hit in the late hours last night as LRO blasted past Apollo 11 at 10 minutes to midnight. LRO, the satellite that will eventually launch and study the Moon, beat the monumental, historic, manned mission to the Moon. LRO will not deliver America's most profound quote regarding accomplishment. It will, however, bring boatloads of scientific data, images, and possibly a tournament trophy.

After sleeping for a few hours, I am over the shock. It looks like SPB may have some real competition afterall.

I would love to talk about some of the other matchups, however, my analysis is becoming increasingly irrelavent as the competition progresses. The only mission still alive on my bracket is Expedition 16, but I had them losing to STS-1.

Check out the match ups and then get ready to vote.

NEBULA
LRO vs Freedom 7

GALAXY
Vikings I & II vs SOHO

STELLAR
SPB vs Orion

HORIZON
Expedition 16 vs New Horizons

See the results for yourself here: http://mission-madness.nasa.gov/mm/results.html?1

I'm so tempted to comment on these matchups, but I don't want to jinx a mission.

Lift off the earth

3, 2, 1, Liftoff!
Image above: NASA's LRO and LCROSS spacecraft on top of the Atlas V rocket launch from Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Photo credit: United Launch Alliance/Pat Corkery
› View High-res

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Spacecraft are on their way to the moon atop the same Atlas V rocket, although they will use vastly different methods to study the lunar environment. LRO will go into orbit around the moon, turning its suite of instruments towards the moon for thorough studies. The spacecraft also will be looking for potential landing sites for astronauts.

LCROSS, on the other hand, will guide an empty upper stage on a collision course with a permanently shaded crater in an effort to kick up evidence of water at the moon's poles. LCROSS itself will also impact the lunar surface during its course of study.

Liftoff occurred at 5:32 p.m. EDT. Mission managers used the last launch opportunity due to storms surrounding the launch site.

Additional Resources
› LRO Fact Sheet
› LRO/LCROSS Press Kit
› LRO/LCROSS Launch Coverage Events

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How to apply for news media work space and telephones to cover shuttle missions at the Johnson Space Center:
Work space in Room 122 of JSC's Building 2S is limited and provided on a first-come basis. To obtain an assigned work space, contact James Hartsfield at james.a.hartsfield@nasa.gov or 281-483-5111. After receiving an assigned desk number in Room 122, news organizations can obtain temporary telephone service through SBC by calling Earnestine Bell at 806-321-7373 with their work space and company billing information.

How to obtain wireless Internet access in the Johnson Space Center's news media work area:
The Johnson Space Center does not currently have a wireless Internet service that can be accessed by news media representatives.

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Turning the Tide to Energy: New Concept Could Harness the Power of Ocean Waves

Turning the Tide to Energy: New Concept Could Harness the Power of Ocean Waves

03.05.09

In the proposed hydrokinetic energy transfer system, the flow of water current causes turbine blades to rotate. The rotor's rotational speed is increased through a gearbox, which drives a high-pressure fluid pump. The high-pressure fluid would be transported though flexible tubes to a larger pipe and then to an efficient, onshore hydroelectric power plant.
>Larger Image NASA researchers who developed a new way to power robotic underwater vehicles believe a spin-off technology could help convert ocean energy into electrical energy on a much larger scale. The researchers hope that clean, renewable energy produced from the motion of the ocean and rivers could potentially meet an important part of the world's demand for electricity.

Many different methods already exist for using moving water to create power. Hydroelectric plants, for example, are among the most established and least expensive sources of electricity. They benefit from the large hydrostatic pressure difference between the water surface behind the dam and the turbines that can be harnessed to produce power. But the power that can be produced in this manner is limited, because most of the suitable rivers already have hydroelectric dams.

Other technologies have been designed -- and are being developed -- to turn the energy of ocean currents, tides, and flowing rivers into another kind of power, called hydrokinetic energy. Many of these hydrokinetic energy systems use underwater turbines, similar to those in wind farms. Ocean currents or tides turn the turbines, which generate electricity that can be transferred by cable to shore.

Jack Jones, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Yi Chao, a JPL scientist, have designed a new kind of underwater hydrokinetic energy system. It uses water motion to generate a high-pressure liquid rather than electricity. That liquid is then transported to shore and used to produce electricity on land. Caltech, which operates JPL for NASA, holds the patent on this innovative energy technology.

The JPL/Caltech hydrokinetic energy system is a spin-off from a research project to find a new way to power robotic underwater vehicles. Most robotic underwater vehicles run on batteries and have to be recovered by ship to have their batteries recharged or replaced.

In this project, initiated by Pat Beauchamp of JPL's Center for In Situ Exploration and Sample Return, Jones was asked to develop a way to use temperature differences in the ocean to power submersibles. He had previously developed thermally controlled balloons for Venus, Mars and Titan. Jones was teamed up with Chao, who uses underwater gliders in his oceanographic research. "I saw we could extend the lives of these vehicles significantly by harvesting energy from the ocean environment," Chao says.

In the the energy transfer system Jones and Chao propose, ocean tides and waves, as well as river flows, would provide the energy source to create a high-pressure liquid. Jones and Chao designed a system that takes advantages of changes in ocean temperature to create a high-pressure fluid that can be used to generate power. "The trick was to find a special substance known as a phase change material that changes from a solid to a liquid as the temperature in the environment changes from cold to warm," Chao says. "When the material melts, it expands, compressing a central tube in which another liquid is stored. This liquid, now under high pressure, is used to generate electricity to charge the battery underwater."

While they were working on this project, the researchers realized that they could employ the same concept -- using an environmental pump to generate a high-pressure liquid -- to produce electricity from the world's ocean.

Going with the flow

In the large-scale JPL/Caltech hydrokinetic energy transfer system Jones and Chao propose, ocean tides, currents and waves, as well as river flows, would provide the energy source to create the high-pressure liquid. As the water turns underwater turbine blades, the rotor's rotational speed would be increased through a gearbox, which drives a high-pressure fluid pump. The high-pressure fluid would be transported though flexible tubes to a larger pipe and then to an efficient, onshore hydroelectric power plant.

"If we use fresh water in a closed cycle and recycle the fluid, there would be no direct impact to the ocean or river's ecosystem," Chao adds.

"A major advantage of this design," says Jones, "is that it eliminates all submerged electrical components, which are subject to corrosion." In addition, other tidal turbine energy systems, such as the one now in operation in Manhattan's East River, transfer the power generated by the turbines to the surface through buried electrical cables. These are expensive, hard to maintain, and can be dangerous, Jones says. Similar issues exist with two other types of hydrokinetic systems in use in the United Kingdom and planned for South Korea.

"The JPL/Caltech hydrokinetic energy transfer system combines a simple, corrosion-resistant subsurface design with the least expensive electrical energy generation system onshore," says Jones."The JPL/Caltech hydrokinetic energy transfer system combines a simple, corrosion-resistant subsurface design with the least expensive electrical energy generation system onshore," says Jones.

"Our proposed system has another advantage," he says. "The pressurized hydraulic energy can be stored in an elevated onshore reservoir and can be used to generate electricity when it is needed to respond to energy-demand. Most environmentally friendly energy systems produce power intermittently."

"This type of hydraulic energy transfer system is potentially applicable to many types of hydrokinetic energy from rivers, ocean waves, tides and currents," Chao says. Scientists can use state-of-the-art computer models of winds, river flows, ocean currents and tides to determine any location's potential for energy production, he adds. They can also predict how much energy could be produced in the future to help in planning energy use and storage.

"As with all such technologies, the ultimate arbiter is the end result of systems-engineering studies, overall efficiency, and costs in terms of dollars per output watt capacity and cents per kilowatt-hour produced," says Paul Dimotakis, JPL's chief technologist. "Such studies and preliminary development efforts also need to be performed for the JPL/Caltech hydrokinetic energy systems, and if these are promising, then the next phase in development can be undertaken."

Jones and Chao will be presenting a paper on the JPL/Caltech hydrokinetic energy transfer system at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering this summer in Honolulu, Hawaii.

For more information about NASA climate research, news, and technology, visit Global Climate Change.

Recipe for the Perfect James Webb Space Telescope Mirror

Recipe for the Perfect James Webb Space Telescope Mirror

03.12.09

Ball technicians examine James Webb Space Telescope mirrors. They are looking for lint or dust that may have landed on the mirror surfaces during shipping to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Credit: NASA/MSFC, E. Given
> Larger image Mirrors are a critical part of any space telescope, and the James Webb Space Telescope's mirrors are made of a special element that will enable it to withstand the rigors of space and see farther back in time/distance than any other telescope now in operation.

Space telescope mirrors must endure the extremely frigid temperatures in space, be highly reflective, lightweight and tough. Those are exactly the qualities that make up the 18 mirrors being developed for the Webb Telescope.

To collect as much light as possible to see galaxies from 13 billion light-years away, the Webb Telescope needs a large mirror but also needs to be lightweight enough to not weigh down the rocket carrying it into space. The answer was to make it out of beryllium.

Mirror History and Make-up

By definition, a mirror is an object with a surface that is smooth enough to form an image, such as a "plane mirror," which has a flat surface. Curved mirrors produce magnified or reduced images or focus light or simply distort the reflected image. Most mirrors are designed for visible light. There are, however, mirrors that work at other wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, "such as X-ray, infrared, microwave, or even radio wavelengths.

The Marshall Space Flight Center received two mirrors in the first shipment in December 2008. NASA and Ball Engineering technicians guide the mirrors into the center's X-ray and Cryogenic Facility's vacuum chamber for testing. Credit: NASA/MSFC, E. Given
> Larger image Mirrors on Earth have been made from many things. Europeans during the Renaissance coated glass with a tin-mercury amalgam. The silvered-glass mirror invented in 1835 involved the deposition of a thin layer of metallic silver onto glass through the chemical reduction of silver nitrate. Today, mirrors are often produced by the vacuum deposition of aluminum (or sometimes silver) directly onto the glass substrate.

Space Mirrors: What is Beryllium?

Mirrors for space telescopes require special materials. That's where beryllium comes in. Beryllium is a light metal (atomic symbol: Be) with many features that make it desirable to be used for the Webb Telescope's mirrors.

Beryllium is steel-gray in color, very strong for its weight and good at holding its shape across a range of temperatures, which is just what it would encounter in space. Beryllium is also a good conductor of electricity and heat and is not magnetic. It also has one of the highest melting points of the light metals.

What's also interesting is that beryllium is a relatively rare element in both the Earth and the universe, because stable forms of beryllium are not formed either in the atomic reactions inside stars or in the Big Bang. Instead, when carbon and oxygen atoms in the gas between the stars collide with each other or are struck by other particles, the nucleus of the atoms will occasionally break into up into the lighter elements lithium, beryllium and boron.

Here on Earth, most of the beryllium exists in minerals such as beryl and bertrandite. It is also a component of the precious gems aquamarine, red beryl and emerald. Currently, most industrial production of beryllium is accomplished by a chemical reaction between beryllium fluoride and magnesium metal.

Beryllium is used to develop parts for supersonic (faster-than-the-speed-of-sound) airplanes and the Space Shuttle, because it is both lightweight and strong. It is also used in gyroscopes, computer equipment, watch springs and instruments where light weight, rigidity and dimensional stability are needed.

Beryllium is actually highly toxic to plants, animals and humans. It's not necessary or useful for life. In fact, it has no known role in living organisms. So, during the manufacturing and handling, special care has to be taken when working with it, because it is unhealthy to breathe in or swallow beryllium dust.

How and Where the Beryllium Mirror is Made

The beryllium being used to make the Webb Telescope's mirrors was mined in Utah and then purified. The particular type of beryllium used in the Webb mirrors is called "O-30" and is a fine powder of high purity. The powder is then placed into a stainless steel canister and pressed into a flat shape. The steel canister is then removed and the resulting chunk of beryllium is cut in half to make two mirror blanks about 1.3 meters (4 feet) across. Each mirror blank will be used to make one mirror segment; the full Webb mirror will be made from 18 hexagonal (six-sided) segments.

Once the mirror blanks pass inspection, they are molded into their final shape, polished and temperature tested to ensure they can withstand the frigid temperatures of space.

Beryllium is much more capable than glass to handle the frigid cold of space. The James Webb Space Telescope will face a temperature of -240 degrees Celsius (33 Kelvin). Beryllium contracts and deforms less than glass -- and remains more uniform -- in such temperatures. For the same reason, the optics of the Spitzer Space Telescope were entirely built of beryllium metal. It is thanks to beryllium that the James Webb Space Telescope will be able to see further back into the universe and back in time than any other space telescope operating today.

The James Webb Space Telescope is expected to launch in 2013. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., is managing the overall development effort for the Webb Telescope. The telescope, being built by Northrop Grumman, is a joint project of NASA and many U.S. partners, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

FIRST Championship Ignites Students' Scientific

FIRST Championship Ignites Students' Scientific Savvy: Discovering the Excitement of Science and Technology

04.14.09

> High resolution image
Students compete in the Washington, D.C. regional FIRST Robotics Competition at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center, Saturday Feb., 28, 2009. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls More than 10,000 students from 28 countries and 533 custom-built robots will swarm Atlanta's Georgia Dome, April 16-18, to compete in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championship, and discover the excitement of science and technology. Students engage in three robotics competitions under one roof: FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST LEGO® League.

"Today, facing the challenges of our fragile global economy and climate change, and addressing worldwide public health concerns, we need innovative thinkers to help solve society’s increasingly-complex problems," said the competition's founder Dean Kamen. "Handling robotics challenges and working alongside professional engineers, FIRST students develop the skills necessary to be the architects of the solutions we need." Kamen founded FIRST, a not-for-profit organization, to inspire young people's interest and participation in science, technology and engineering, and motivate them to pursue career opportunities in these fields.

"We have 16-year-olds securing patents and 10-year-olds offering advice on climate change issues to government officials," Kamen continued. "I am encouraged to see so many positive contributions by FIRST students; each one of them is becoming his/her own economic stimulus package for the workforce of the future." Students vied for a spot at this weekend's FIRST Championship by competing in regional competitions for several months, displaying sportsmanship and excelling at competitive play. Along their journey, students learned business and marketing skills, as they secured sponsors and developed partnerships among schools, businesses and communities. Their hard work will culminate in three levels of robotics competitions during the FIRST Championship.

The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Championship for high-school students is now in its 18th and largest-ever season. This year's challenge, "LUNACY," honors the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, when NASA landed a man on the moon.

In the "LUNACY" game, robots are designed to pick up 9" game balls and score them in trailers hitched to their opponents' robots for points during a two- minute and 15-second match. Additional points are awarded for scoring a special game ball, the "Super Cell," in the opponents' trailers during the last 20 seconds of the match.

In January 2009, FRC teams viewed the game field and received a kit of parts made up of motors, batteries, a control system and a mix of automation components -- but no instructions. Working with mentors, students had six weeks to design, build, program and test their robots to meet the season's engineering challenge. Once these young inventors built a robot and a strategy to compete, their teams participated in regional competitions that measured the effectiveness of each robot, the power of collaboration, and the determination of the students.

The FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) is a challenging mid-level robotics competition designed for high-school-age students who want a hands-on learning experience to develop and hone their skills and abilities in science, technology, engineering and math.

The FTC World Championship features this year's game, "Face Off!," which was developed with input by professional robotics designers across the country. The challenge mirrors many real-world challenges that robotics engineers face today, such as navigating uneven surfaces, manipulating odd-shaped objects, using sensors to determine the environment and withstanding physical stress.

FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is a global robotics program for ages 9-14 (up to age 16 outside of the U.S. and Canada). This year's challenge is "Climate Connections." At the FLL World Festival, students will present their research and solutions for solving climate issues, and showcase LEGO MINDSTORMS robots using engineering concepts.

To prepare for "Climate Connections," students learned about past, current and future climate conditions with team coaches and mentors; this allowed them to learn more about the science behind the challenge and to better understand the work of professionals in that field.

Students who participate in FIRST are eligible nearly $10 million in scholarships from science and engineering schools across the U.S. More than 25 FIRST scholarship providers will be featured in Scholarship Row, where representatives will offer information about their schools' science and engineering programs.

FIRST programs are implemented by 86,000 dedicated volunteers and supported by more than 3,000 corporate sponsors worldwide.

With Every Beat, NASA Involved in How the Heart Behaves

"Who knows?" laughed Dr. Rob Bryant, the inventor of a NASA 'super plastic.' "The life I save might be my own."

Rob Bryant, a senior researcher at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., examines a laboratory model of a cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) device. Bryant is the inventor of a high tech aerospace plastic called LaRC-SI that is the insulation material on one of the thinnest left-heart leads available for a CRT.
Credit: NASA/Sean Smith

Click image to enlarge

Then Bryant, a senior researcher at NASA Langley, takes a serious note, "Langley Research Center's Soluble Imide is an excellent example of how taxpayer investment in NASA materials research has resulted in a direct benefit beyond the aerospace sector by extending the quality of life through medical technology."

And heart failure, like structure failure on an aircraft, is serious business.

The plastic is an advanced aerospace resin, Langley Research Center's Soluble Imide, or LaRC-SI -- a highly flexible material, resistant to chemicals, and withstands extreme hot and cold temperatures. The technology was developed for an aerospace high-speed research program. But among its other applications, the material was also discovered to be biologically inert -- suitable for medical use including implantable devices.

For more about LaRC SI, visit:
› http://technologygateway.nasa.gov/Advanced_Materials.html
› http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/Spinoff2008/hm_4.html

The application is the insulation for leads to the human heart from a cardiac resynchronization therapy or CRT -- a stopwatch-sized device implanted into the chest. A lead is a special wire that delivers energy from a CRT to the heart muscle. Electrical impulses generated by CRTs resynchronize heartbeats and improve blood flow.

NASA licensed the patented LaRC-SI insulation technology in July 2004 to Medtronic Inc. -- a Minneapolis-based medical technology company -- who recognized the potential of the highly flexible resin for its Attain Ability left-heart lead cardiac CRT device.

Due in part to Langley Research Center's Soluble Imide, on April 6, 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a left-heart lead available for use with the new Medtronic CRT -- one of the thinnest available for heart failure patients. The use of this NASA-developed material in a medical implant is the latest in a long line of medical applications that have benefited from NASA technology.

Artist's depiction of the placement of a Medtronic Inc. Attain Ability left-heart lead to improve the heart's efficiency to increase blood flow to the body. The lead is one of the thinnest available because of NASA's LaRC SI, a high tech aerospace plastic used as the insulation material.
Credit: Medtronic, Inc.

Click image to enlarge

"One of the advantages of this material is that it lends itself to a variety of diverse applications, from mechanical parts and composites to electrical insulation and adhesive bonding," added Bryant.

Heart failure occurs when the heart muscle is unable to pump effectively to meet the body's need for blood and oxygen. It is a chronic and progressive condition that affects more than five million Americans and more than 22 million individuals worldwide. Cardiac resynchronization therapy, or CRT, is designed to coordinate the contraction of the heart's two lower chambers and improve the heart's efficiency to increase blood flow to the body.

The NASA insulation material makes possible the compact and flexible design of Medtronic's CRT lead, one of the thinnest left-heart leads available. Placing a lead in the heart is widely recognized by physicians as the most challenging aspect of implanting CRT devices. The narrow design allows physicians to choose between different sites on the heart to deliver optimal therapy. The lead is delivered by an inner catheter, a feature that helps physicians place the lead directly in difficult-to-reach areas of the heart. Clinical studies in the U.S. and Canada showed physicians were successful in placing the Attain Ability lead 96.4 percent of the time.

The Langley Research Center's Soluble Imide was featured in Spinoff 2008 -- NASA's annual premier publication featuring successfully commercialized NASA technology. For more than 40 years, the NASA Innovative Partnerships Program has facilitated the transfer of NASA technology to the private sector, benefiting global competition and the economy. Since 1976, Spinoff has featured 40 to 50 of these commercial products annually.

Quirky supernova could be something new

SUPERNOVA seen in 2005 may be a new type of cosmic explosion. What's more, similar explosions may have scattered antimatter throughout our galaxy.
"SN 2005E" exploded in a galaxy 100 million light years away. A team led by Hagai Perets at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, has concluded that it does not look like either of the well-known kinds of supernova.
The most frequently observed form is a core-collapse supernova, which happens after a massive young star has formed a large core of iron that collapses under its own gravity, releasing radiation that blows the outer layers of the star apart. They almost always occur in regions where massive new stars are forming. By contrast, SN 2005E was in the dark outskirts of its galaxy, where few new stars are forming. Core-collapse supernovae also spit out much more debris than SN 2005E did.
To date, the only other known supernova mechanism is a type Ia supernova, in which a small, dense white dwarf star steals hydrogen gas from a larger companion star. The gas builds up, gradually compressing the white dwarf until it reaches a critical point at which carbon starts to burn in an explosive thermonuclear reaction. SN 2005E doesn't look like one of these explosions either - it faded much faster than a type Ia usually does, and the spectrum of its light reveals unusually high quantities of calcium in the explosion's ashes.
So what happened? Perets says the calcium and other chemicals could have been produced by a helium-fuelled explosion. One possibility is that SN 2005E started out as a white dwarf stealing helium gas from a neighbouring helium-rich star, and that the gas accumulated into a thick layer before exploding.
It may have started out as a white dwarf stealing helium gas from a neighbouring star
Astronomer Craig Wheeler at the University of Texas at Austin says Perets's hypothesis is plausible, but is not convinced that it represents a completely new type of stellar explosion.
If correct, however, the discovery could explain two astronomical anomalies. In the central bulge of our galaxy, astronomers see evidence of a surprisingly large quantity of positrons - the antimatter counterparts of electrons. Helium-powered supernovae might supply most of this antimatter, as they should produce large quantities of the radioactive isotope titanium-44, which emits positrons.
Furthermore, titanium-44 decays into calcium-44, an isotope that accounts for about 2 per cent of the calcium in our solar system - the origin of which has been hard to account for. Perhaps an explosion akin to SN 2005E supplied our solar system with its calcium-44.

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RIM 1Q profit tops view, shares wobble on outlook

RIM 1Q profit tops view, shares wobble on outlook

TORONTO -

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. on Thursday reported a better-than-expected 33 percent jump in first-quarter profit as the company continues to boost market share among non-corporate customers.

RIM's second-quarter outlook, however, sent shares tumbling almost 7 percent in aftermarket activity, but the stock regained most of its losses during the company's conference call as executives assuaged analysts' concerns.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company earned $643 million, or $1.12 per share, in the quarter that ended May 30. That's up from $482.5 million, or 84 cents, in the year-ago period.

Excluding a $175.1 million tax benefit and other one-time items, RIM earned $564.4 million, or 98 cents per share, in the latest period — easily beating the average 94-cent estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue rose 53 percent to $3.42 billion. RIM added 3.8 million net subscribers during the quarter — a bit less than the 3.9 million subscribers who joined up during the fiscal fourth quarter holiday season — bringing total accounts to 28.5 million.

Co-CEO Jim Balsillie said RIM's market share of the U.S. smart phone market has grown to 55 percent from 40 percent in the past two quarters. Balsillie said the BlackBerry Curve is the No. 1 selling smart phone in North America. RIM's competition includes Apple's new iPhone and $99 version, the new Palm Pre and the Google Android.

Eighty percent of new BlackBerry subscribers are non-corporate consumers, he said. The Canadian company has been targeting the consumer market after enjoying success in the corporate market for years.

In the second quarter, RIM forecast earnings of 94 cents to $1.03 per share on revenue of $3.45 billion to $3.7 billion. Analysts expected profit of 97 cents per share and $3.61 billion in revenue. RIM also said it expects to sell between 8.1 million and 8.7 million new units, compared with the range of 8.5 million to 8.9 million that some analysts expected.

That outlook drove the company's shares down more than 6 percent in aftermarket trading immediately after the earnings report was released, but the stock came back to trade down just 21 cents from the stock's $76.55 close. RIM's stock has more than doubled since bottoming at $35.05 in March.

Peter Misek, an analyst with Canaccord Adams, said the stock rallied after it became clear on the conference call that the guidance was a little better that initially thought.

"The average selling price wasn't discussed in the release and that's why the stock ripped after it," Misek said. "The guidance is a little better than initially thought from the report, but still others thought the numbers would be higher, so it's going to be a volatile name."

Genuity Capital Markets analyst Deepak Chopra also said the stock declined initially on higher expectations.

"They continue to do phenomenally well. There was obviously increased expectations. There was chatter that the numbers could even be bigger," Chopra said.

Balsillie said the summer season can mean slower sales, but believes the release of new devices and the public's growing adoption of smart phones will cause a surge in sales.

"The lineup for the next 14, 15 months is spectacular," Balsillie said. "We've got sector winds at our sails."