Space Weather

Stu Nozette Arrested for Espionage

Updated: 2009-10-19 22:31:34

Home SpaceRef OnOrbit SpaceRef Canada Astrobiology GeneRef Newsletter Sign In This is not a NASA Website . You might learn something . It's YOUR space agency . Get involved . Take it back . Make it work for YOU . Important Disclaimer nasawatch spaceref.com Voice 1.703.787.6567 RSS Feed Twitter Advertising Archives Support Stu Nozette Arrested for Espionage By Keith Cowing on October 19, 2009 6:31 PM 1 Comment Maryland Scientist Charged With Attempted Espionage DOJ A criminal complaint unsealed today in the District of Columbia charges Stewart David Nozette , 52, of Chevy Chase , Maryland , with attempted espionage for knowingly and willfully attempting to communicate , deliver , and transmit classified information relating to the national defense of the United States to an individual that Nozette believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer . Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mini-RF Stewart Nozette , Mini-RF Principal Investigator on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Co-investigator on Chandrayaan-1 US Scientist Arrested for Allegedly Attempting to Pass Secrets to Israel ABC During one meeting , Nozette indicated he could be paid in cash up to 10,000. Cash is fine . I know how to

Norm Will Deliver On Thursday

Updated: 2009-10-19 20:27:25

Human Space Flight Review Committee Report Available Thursday "Human Space Flight Review Committee Chairman Norman Augustine will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. EDT, on Thursday, Oct. 22, in the Zenger Room of the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, in Washington. Augustine will be accompanied by committee member Ed Crawley. Printed copies of the committee's final report will be available during the press conference and an electronic copy of the report will be posted to the committee's Web site at the start of the briefing."

Seeing Boulders From Orbit

Updated: 2009-10-19 18:07:10

Home SpaceRef OnOrbit SpaceRef Canada Astrobiology GeneRef Newsletter Sign In This is not a NASA Website . You might learn something . It's YOUR space agency . Get involved . Take it back . Make it work for YOU . Important Disclaimer nasawatch spaceref.com Voice 1.703.787.6567 RSS Feed Twitter Advertising Archives Support Seeing Boulders From Orbit By Keith Cowing on October 19, 2009 2:07 PM 1 Comment Bouncing Boulders on The Far Side of the Moon Southwest of Rowland crater on the Moon's farside , a 15 km diameter unnamed crater exhibits many boulder trails on the crater walls in this Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image . The boulders range from 1 m to 15 m across and mark a path downslope to the crater floor from a higher elevation . Bouncing Boulder on Mars Blocks a Slope Streak A boulder track is visible in the center of this Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter subimage . The track formed on the sloping wall of an impact crater when a rock bounced or rolled downhill leaving behind marks on the surface . In the full image , you can see its whole path , starting from a cliff to the east , from which it presumably originated . Categories Space Planetary Science Tags boulder LRO Mars Moon

2009 Regolith Excavation Challenge Has Three Winners

Updated: 2009-10-19 16:16:34

Digging Teams Claim Victory in NASA Regolith Competition "Nineteen teams pushed their robotic competitors to the limit and three teams claimed a total of $750,000 in NASA prizes for their hard work and innovation at this year's Regolith Excavation Challenge held at NASA's Ames Research Center on Moffett Field. After two days of intense competitive drama, organizers conferred Paul's Robotics of Worcester, MA, with the first place title, second went to Terra Engineering of Gardena, CA, and Team Braundo of Rancho Palos Verde, CA, took home third." NASA 2009 Regolith Excavation Challenge Kicks Off NASA 2009 Regolith Excavation Games Continue Into Second Day

Emerging Opportunities in Microgravity and Partial Gravity

Updated: 2009-10-19 02:53:18

ESA and JAXA Present ISS Utilization Plans to NRC Committee, SpacePolicyOnline.com "The Decadal Survey's task is to identify and prioritize fundamental and applied research to be conducted in microgravity and partial gravity. Determining what facilities are available for that research is an important component of the study. The steering committee heard from Alan Stern, Southwest Research Institute, and Erika Wagner, MIT, on new and emerging launch companies that are marketing suborbital flights for scientific research and education. The companies include Virgin Galactic, Blue Origins, Armadillo Aerospace, XCOR, and Masten Space Systems."

Antarctic Analogs For Extraterrestrial Environments

Updated: 2009-10-18 23:47:03

Diving Through A Microbial Landscape in Lake Untersee, Antarctica "There's not much in the ice-covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys to interest anglers looking to land the big one. But for scientists who want to know more about some of Earth's earliest organisms -- and, by extension, to recognize what life may look like on other planets -- those unique ecosystems represent a useful portal to the past. Dale Andersen, Dawn Sumner and the rest of their team will spend nearly two months camped out at Lake Joyce in the Pearse Valley to understand more about those behaviors. Several team members, including Andersen, will actually scuba dive in the lake, using fluormeters and microelectrodes while underwater to detect, measure and quantify photosynthetic activity of the benthic mats and obtain samples for lab work on the surface."

NASA Gets Project Management Nod

Updated: 2009-10-16 18:07:54

NASA Recognized for Excellence in Project Management "NASA has been recognized for 40 years of shared project management success by the Project Management Institute, or PMI, of Newton Square, Pa. "NASA has advanced the discipline of project, program and portfolio management by example," said Ricardo Viana Vargas, chairman of the PMI Board of Directors during their Global Congress-North America annual conference that took place in Orlando, Fla., in October. Vargas also noted that 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of PMI and the Apollo 11 moon landing."

GAO Gives NASA Good Review on Coordination

Updated: 2009-10-16 18:02:36

NASA: Briefing on National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Programs and Associated Activities, GAO GAO Report Affirms That NASA Has Effective Mechanisms for Coordinating with Other Federal Agencies and Avoiding Duplicative Efforts, House Science and Technology Committee "After reviewing agency policies, procedures, coordination and collaboration mechanisms, and selecting three NASA areas for in-depth review, namely higher education, fundamental aeronautics, and Earth Science projects related to climate and weather research, GAO found that: No duplication was found in the areas selected for an in-depth review; Policies, procedures and mechanisms are in place to avoid duplication; and NASA personnel actively seek to coordinate and to avoid duplication with other federal agencies."

Paul Martin = NASA's New IG?

Updated: 2009-10-16 02:35:08

NASA's next inspector general?, Orlando Sentinel "Paul Martin -- the man who would become NASA's next chief watchdog -- is scheduled to appear this afternoon for a confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee and soon could fill the contentious position of NASA Inspector General."</i

GAO Cites Ongoing NASA IT Security Vulnerabilities

Updated: 2009-10-16 00:58:45

Home SpaceRef OnOrbit SpaceRef Canada Astrobiology GeneRef Newsletter Sign In This is not a NASA Website . You might learn something . It's YOUR space agency . Get involved . Take it back . Make it work for YOU . Important Disclaimer nasawatch spaceref.com Voice 1.703.787.6567 RSS Feed Twitter Advertising Archives Support GAO Cites Ongoing NASA IT Security Vulnerabilities By Keith Cowing on October 15, 2009 8:58 PM 1 Comment GAO Report Warns of Vulnerabilities in NASA's Networks House Science and Technology Committee GAO : Information Security : NASA Needs to Remedy Vulnerabilities in Key Networks Although NASA has made important progress in implementing security controls and aspects of its information security program , it has not always implemented appropriate controls to sufficiently protect the confidentiality , integrity , and availability of the information and systems supporting its mission directorates . Specifically , NASA did not consistently implement effective controls to prevent , limit , and detect unauthorized access to its networks and systems . NASA network security torched Network World NASA IT Vulnerable After 1,120 Security Incidents GovInfoSecurity.com

News: MESSENGER's Third Gravity Assist Successful, But "Safe Mode" Interrupts Science

Updated: 2009-09-30 05:00:00

MESSENGER's Third Gravity Assist Successful, But "Safe Mode" Interrupts Science (from Planetary News)

lrsp-2009-3

Updated: 2009-09-29 01:00:00

Coronal Holes by: Steven R. Cranmer Coronal holes are the darkest and least active regions of the Sun, as observed both on the solar disk and above the solar limb. Coronal holes are associated with rapidly expanding open magnetic fields and the acceleration of the high-speed solar wind. This paper reviews measurements of the plasma properties in [...]