William Shatner, the actor who played Captain James T. Kirk on the original Star Trek television series, provided a special message to the crew of space shuttle Discovery during the 3:23 a.m. EST wakeup call on Mon., Mar. 7.
Glory Satellite Fails To Reach Orbit
NASA’s Glory mission ended Friday after the spacecraft failed to reach orbit following its launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
NASA has begun the process of creating a Mishap Investigation Board to evaluate the cause of the failure. Telemetry indicated the fairing, a protective shell atop the satellite’s Taurus XL rocket, did not separate as expected.
The launch proceeded as planned from its liftoff at 5:09 a.m. EST through the ignition of the Taurus XL’s second stage. However, the fairing failure occurred during the second stage engine burn. It is likely the spacecraft fell into the South Pacific, although the exact location is not yet known.
NASA’s previous launch attempt of an Earth science spacecraft, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory onboard a Taurus XL on Feb. 24, 2009, also failed to reach orbit when the fairing did not separate.
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory Mishap Investigation Board reviewed launch data and the fairing separation system design, and developed a corrective action plan. The plan was implemented by Taurus XL manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corporation. In October 2010, NASA’s Flight Planning Board confirmed the successful closure of the corrective actions.
The Glory Earth-observing satellite was intended to improve our understanding of how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols affect Earth’s climate.
NES Project's 1,000th Participant — All About Marty Carmicle
NASA Explorer Schools welcomed the 1000th teacher to the NASA Explorer Schools project this past month: Marty Carmicle. She joins over a thousand NASA Explorer Schools educators from all 50 states; Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; and Department of State schools in Turkmenistan and Mexico.
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
NASA Now: Solar Storms
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
NASA Now Minute: Solar Storms
Puffy Heads and Bird Legs
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
Build a Solar Oven
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
Spacesuits Protect STS-133 Astronauts
See additional activities in NEON. Register, log in, join the NASA Explorer Schools group, and find Lunar Nautics: Designing a Mission to Live and Work on the Moon. The activity is available in that forum.
Researchers Crack the Case of the Missing Sunspots
Author: Dr. Tony Phillips
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
Project Update — Update your Virtual Campus E-mail Address
Youcan now change your NASA Explorer Schools Virtual Campus log-in to a differente-mail address. If you would like to update your contact information, please useyour preferred account to send an e-mail to NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov. In the body of thee-mail, state your name, current Virtual Campus log-in e-mail address and yournew e-mail address. The following business day, you will be able to log intothe Virtual Campus using your new e-mail address. All future NES communicationswill be sent to you at the new e-mail address. Remember to add the nasa.gov andokstate.edu domains to your e-mail account’s safe senders list.
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
Glory and Global Warming Experiment
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.