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Ames Research Center
The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laboratory. That agency was dissolved and its assets and personnel transferred to the newly created NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on October 1, 1958. NASA Ames is named in honor of Joseph Sweetman Ames, a physicist and one of the founding members of NACA. At last estimate NASA Ames had over US$3 billion in capital equipment, 2,300 research personnel and a US$750 million annual budget. Ames was founded to conduct wind-tunnel research on the aerodynamics of propeller-driven aircraft; however, its role has expanded to encompass spaceflight and information technology. Ames plays a role in many NASA missions. It provides leadership in astrobiology; small satellites; robotic lunar exploration; the search for habitable plane ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the nation's first designated land-grant institutions when the Iowa Legislature accepted the provisions of the 1862 Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, Morrill Act on September 11, 1862. On July 4, 1959, the college was officially renamed Iowa State University of Science and Technology. Iowa State is the second largest university in Iowa by total enrollment. The university's academic offerings are administered through eight colleges, including the Iowa State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, the Iowa State University College of Engineering, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph
Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), also called Explorer 94 and SMEX-12, is a NASA solar observation satellite. The mission was funded through the Small Explorer program to investigate the physical conditions of the solar limb, particularly the interface region made up of the chromosphere and transition region. The spacecraft consists of a satellite bus and spectrometer built by the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), and a telescope provided by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO). IRIS is operated by LMSAL and NASA's Ames Research Center. The satellite's instrument is a high-frame-rate ultraviolet imaging spectrometer, providing one image per second at 0.3-arcsecond angular resolution and sub-ångström spectral resolution. NASA announced, on 19 June 2009, that IRIS was selected from six Small Explorer mission candidates for further study, along with the Gravity and Extreme Magnetism (GEMS) space observatory. Mission IRIS i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kennedy Space Center
The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field centers, field centers. Since 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of American spaceflight, research, and technology. Launch operations for the Apollo Program, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle Program, Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources, and operate facilities on each other's property. Though the first Apollo flights and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from the then-Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric Polar orbit, polar mapping orbit. Data collected by LRO have been described as essential for planning NASA's future human and robotic missions to the Moon. Its detailed mapping program is identifying safe landing sites, locating potential resources on the Moon, characterizing the radiation environment, and demonstrating new technologies. Launched on June 18, 2009, in conjunction with the LCROSS, Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), as the vanguard of NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program, LRO was the first United States mission to the Moon in over ten years. LRO and LCROSS were launched as part of the United States's Vision for Space Exploration program. The probe has made a 3-D map of the Moon's surface at 100-meter resolution and 98.2% coverage (excluding polar areas in deep shadow), including 0.5-meter resolution images of Apollo landing sites. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GeneSat-1
GeneSat-1 is a NASA fully automated, CubeSat spaceflight system that provides life support for bacteria E. Coli K-12. The system was launched into orbit on 16 December 2006, from Wallops Flight Facility. GeneSat-1 began to transmit data on its first pass over the mission's California ground station. The nanosatellite contains onboard micro-laboratory systems such as sensors and optical systems that can detect proteins that are the products of specific genetic activity. Knowledge gained from GeneSat-1 is intended to aid scientific understanding of how spaceflight affects the human body. Weighing 4.6 kilograms, the miniature laboratory was a secondary payload on an Air Force four-stage Minotaur 1 launch vehicle that delivered the Air Force TacSat-2 satellite to orbit. In the development of the GeneSat satellite class (at a fraction of what it normally costs to conduct a mission in space), Ames Research Center The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Discovery Program
The Discovery Program is a series of Solar System exploration missions funded by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through its Planetary Missions Program Office. The cost of each mission is capped at a lower level than missions from NASA's New Frontiers program, New Frontiers or Flagship Program, Flagship Programs. As a result, Discovery missions tend to be more focused on a specific scientific goal rather than serving a general purpose. The Discovery Program was founded in 1990. Existing NASA programs had specified mission targets and objectives in advance, then sought bidders to construct and operate them. In contrast, Discovery missions are solicited through a call for proposals on any science topic and assessed through peer review. Selected missions are led by a scientist called the principal investigator (PI) and may include contributions from industry, universities or government laboratories. The Discovery Program also includes Missions of Opp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lunar Prospector
''Lunar Prospector'' was a spacecraft that orbited the Moon for 19 months in 1998-99. From a low polar orbit, it mapped surface composition including lunar hydrogen deposits, measured magnetic and gravity fields, and studied lunar outgassing events. The mission ended July 31, 1999, when the orbiter was deliberately crashed into a crater near the lunar south pole. Data from the mission provided detailed mapping of the surface composition of the Moon, and helped to improve understanding of the origin, evolution, current state, and resources of the Moon. The mission identified the presence of hydrogen, implying deposits of ice on the Moon. Several articles on the scientific results were published in the journal ''Science''. ''Lunar Prospector'' was the third mission selected by NASA for full development and construction as part of the Discovery Program. It was managed by NASA Ames Research Center with the prime contractor being Lockheed Martin; it cost $62.8 million. The Prin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pioneer Venus Orbiter
The ''Pioneer Venus Orbiter'', also known as ''Pioneer Venus 1'' or ''Pioneer 12'', was a mission to Venus conducted by NASA as part of the Pioneer Venus project. Launched in May 1978 atop an Atlas-Centaur rocket, the spacecraft was inserted into an Elliptic orbit, elliptical orbit around Venus on December 4, 1978. It returned data from Venus until October 1992. The spacecraft conducted radar altimetry observations allowing the first global topographic map of the Venusian surface to be constructed. Spacecraft Manufactured by Hughes Aircraft Company, the ''Pioneer Venus Orbiter'' was based on the HS-507 spacecraft bus, bus. The spacecraft was a flat cylinder, in diameter and long. All instruments and spacecraft subsystems were mounted on the forward end of the cylinder, except the magnetometer, which was at the end of a boom. A Photovoltaic module, solar array extended around the circumference of the cylinder. A despun dish antenna (electronics), antenna provided S band, S and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voyager 2
''Voyager 2'' is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, as a part of the Voyager program. It was launched on a trajectory towards the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) and enabled further encounters with the ice giants (Uranus and Neptune). The only spacecraft to have visited either of the ice giant planets, it was the List of artificial objects leaving the Solar System, third of five spacecraft to achieve Solar escape velocity, which allowed it to leave the Solar System#Farthest regions, Solar System. Launched 16 days before its twin ''Voyager 1'', the primary mission of the spacecraft was to study the outer planets and its extended mission is to study interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. ''Voyager 2'' successfully fulfilled its primary mission of visiting the Exploration of Jupiter, Jovian system in 1979, the Exploration of Saturn, Saturnian system in 1981, Exploration of Uranus, Uranian system in 1986, and the Exploration of Neptune, Neptunian system ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voyager 1
''Voyager 1'' is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and the interstellar medium, interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. It was launched 16 days after its twin, ''Voyager 2''. It communicates through the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) to receive routine commands and to transmit data to Earth. Real-time distance and velocity data are provided by NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL. At a distance of from Earth , it is the most distant human-made object from Earth. The probe made Flyby (spaceflight), flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, and Saturn's largest Natural satellite, moon, Titan (moon), Titan. NASA had a choice of either conducting a Pluto or Titan flyby. Exploration of Titan took priority because it was known to have a substantial atmosphere. ''Voyager 1'' studied the weather, magnetic fields, and rings of the two gas giants and was the first probe to provide detailed images of their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pioneer 11
''Pioneer 11'' (also known as ''Pioneer G'') is a NASA robotic space probe launched on April 5, 1973, to study the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter and Saturn, the solar wind, and cosmic rays. It was the first probe to Exploration of Saturn, encounter Saturn, the second to fly through the Asteroid belt#Exploration, asteroid belt, and the second to fly by Jupiter. Later, ''Pioneer 11'' became the List of artificial objects leaving the Solar System, second of five artificial objects to achieve an escape velocity allowing it to Solar System#Farthest regions, leave the Solar System. Due to power constraints and the vast distance to the probe, the last routine contact with the spacecraft was on September 30, 1995, and the last good engineering data was received on November 24, 1995. Mission background History Approved in February 1969, ''Pioneer 11'' and its twin probe, ''Pioneer 10'', were the first to be designed for exploring the outer Solar System. Yielding to multip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pioneer 10
''Pioneer 10'' (originally designated Pioneer F) is a NASA space probe launched in 1972 that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter. ''Pioneer 10'' became the first of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System. This space exploration project was conducted by the NASA Ames Research Center in California. The space probe was manufactured by TRW Inc. ''Pioneer 10'' was assembled around a hexagonal bus with a diameter parabolic dish high-gain antenna, and the spacecraft was spin stabilized around the axis of the antenna. Its electric power was supplied by four radioisotope thermoelectric generators that provided a combined 155 watts at launch. It was launched on March 3, 1972, at 01:49:00 UTC (March 2 local time), by an Atlas-Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Between July 15, 1972, and February 15, 1973, it became the first spacecraft to traverse the asteroid belt. Photography of Jupiter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
