![]() ![]() Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) was a joint venture of the U.S. During such passes or 'transits,' the planets will slightly decrease the star's brightness. The Kepler mission monitored the brightness of stars to find planets that pass in front of them during the planets' orbits. The Kepler mission was NASA's first mission capable of finding Earth-size and smaller planets. Hangar One, originally a US Navy airship hangar, in Moffett Field, California It launched in April 2009 on an Atlas V rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission to look for water on the Moon was a 'secondary payload spacecraft.' LCROSS began its trip to the Moon on the same rocket as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ( LRO), which continues to conduct a different lunar task. The very small NASA satellite has proven that scientists can quickly design and launch a new class of inexpensive spacecraft-and conduct significant science. The 11-pound (5 kg) GeneSat-1, carrying bacteria inside a miniature laboratory, was launched on December 16, 2006. ![]() The mission ended July 31, 1999, when the orbiter was guided to an impact into a crater near the lunar south pole in an (unsuccessful) attempt to analyze lunar polar water by vaporizing it to allow spectroscopic characterization from Earth telescopes. Based on Lunar Prospector Neutron Spectrometer (NS) data, mission scientists have determined that there is indeed water ice in the polar craters of the Moon. At a cost of $62.8 million, the 19-month mission was put into a low polar orbit of the Moon, accomplishing mapping of surface composition and possible polar ice deposits, measurements of magnetic and gravity fields, and study of lunar outgassing events. Lunar Prospector was the third mission selected by NASA for full development and construction as part of the Discovery Program. In 1978, the end of the program brought about a return to the inner solar system, with the Pioneer Venus Orbiter and Multiprobe, this time using orbital insertion rather than flyby missions. Those two missions were trail blazers (radiation environment, new moons, gravity-assist flybys) for the planners of the more complex Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 missions, launched five years later. By 1972, it supported the bold flyby missions to Jupiter and Saturn with Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11. The Pioneer program's eight successful space missions from 1965 to 1978 were managed by Charles Hall at Ames, initially aimed at the inner Solar System. The site was mission center for several key missions ( Kepler, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph) and a major contributor to the "new exploration focus" as a participant in the Orion crew exploration vehicle.Īlthough Ames is a NASA Research Center, and not a flight center, it has nevertheless been closely involved in a number of astronomy and space missions. The center's current director is Eugene Tu. Ames also develops tools for a safer, more efficient national airspace. It provides leadership in astrobiology small satellites robotic lunar exploration the search for habitable planets supercomputing intelligent/adaptive systems advanced thermal protection planetary science and airborne astronomy. At last estimate NASA Ames had over US$3 billion in capital equipment, 2,300 research personnel and a US$860 million annual budget.Īmes 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. NASA Ames is named in honor of Joseph Sweetman Ames, a physicist and one of the founding members of NACA. That agency was dissolved and its assets and personnel transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on October 1, 1958. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laboratory. 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.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |