February 4 – February 10, 2019 | Colorado Space News

New Horizons’ Evocative Farewell Glance At Ultima Thule

New Horizons took this image of the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 (nicknamed Ultima Thule) on Jan. 1, 2019, when the NASA spacecraft was 5,494 miles (8,862 kilometers) beyond it. The image to the left is an “average” of ten images taken by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI); the crescent is blurred in the raw frames because a relatively long exposure time was used during this rapid scan to boost the camera’s signal level. Mission scientists have been able to process the image, removing the motion blur to produce a sharper, brighter view of Ultima Thule’s thin crescent. Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/National Optical Astronomy Observatory

February 8, 2019 – An evocative new image sequence from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft offers a departing view of the Kuiper Belt object (KBO) nicknamed Ultima Thule – the target of its New Year’s 2019 flyby and the most distant world ever explored. Read More

NASA Seeks U.S. Partners To Develop Systems To Land Astronauts On Moon

Artist’s concept of a human landing system and its crew on the lunar surface with Earth near the horizon. Image Credit: NASA

February 8, 2019 – As the next major step to return astronauts to the Moon under Space Policy Directive-1, NASA announced plans on December 13 to work with American companies to design and develop new reusable systems for astronauts to land on the lunar surface. The agency is planning to test new human-class landers on the Moon beginning in 2024, with the goal of sending crew to the surface in 2028. Read More

Hubble Reveals Dynamic Atmospheres Of Uranus And Neptune

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong and A. Hsu (University of California, Berkeley)

February 8, 2019 – During its routine yearly monitoring of the weather on our solar system’s outer planets, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a new mysterious dark storm on Neptune (right) and provided a fresh look at a long-lived storm circling around the north polar region on Uranus (left). Read More

Milstar Program Reaches 25 Year Milestone

Milstar, formerly known as the Military Strategic and Tactical Relay, has reached 25 years of service. Milstar is responsible for providing the President, Secretary of Defense and the U.S. armed forces with reliable satellite communications, ensuring minimal interception or detection. Designed to overcome enemy jamming and nuclear effects, Milstar is a robust and reliable communication system. Image Credit: U.S. Air Force

February 8, 2019 – Milstar, formerly known as the Military Strategic and Tactical Relay, launched February 7, 1994 and has now reached twenty-five years of service. Designed to overcome enemy jamming and nuclear effects, Milstar is a robust and reliable communication system providing the President, Secretary of Defense and the U.S. armed forces with reliable satellite communications. Read More

Liberal Sprinkling Of Salt Discovered Around A Young Star

ALMA image of the salty disk surrounding the young, massive star Orion Source I (blue ring). It is shown in relation to the Orion Molecular Cloud 1, a region of explosive starbirth. The background near infrared image was taken with the Gemini Observatory. Image Credit: ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ); NRAO/AUI/NSF; Gemini Observatory/AURA

February 8, 2019 – A team of astronomers and chemists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)
has detected the chemical fingerprints of sodium chloride (NaCl) and other similar salty compounds emanating from the dusty disk surrounding Orion Source I, a massive, young star in a dusty cloud behind the Orion Nebula. Read More

NOAA And NCAR Partner On New, State-Of-The-Art U.S. Modeling Framework

Weather Prediction Center meteorologist Andrew Orrison uses weather model data. Image Credit: NOAA

February 8, 2019 – The United States is making exciting changes to how computer models will be developed in the future to support the nation’s weather and climate forecast system. NOAA and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) have joined forces to help the nation’s weather and climate modeling scientists achieve mutual benefits through more strategic collaboration, shared resources and information. Read More

CU Boulder Professor Inducted Into National Academy Of Engineering

Dr. Penina Axelrad. Image Credit: University of Colorado Boulder

February 8, 2019 – The National Academy of Engineering has elected Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences professor Penina Axelrad and alumnus Dereje Agonafer (AeroEngr ’72) as new members in 2019. Read More

Kepler’s Final Image Shows A Galaxy Full Of Possibilities

February 6, 2019 – NASA’s Kepler space telescope may be retired, but the discoveries continue to rack up for this historic planet-hunting mission. Kepler rang in the new year with several new planet discoveries, including a previously overlooked planet of an unusual size, as well as a super Earth and a Saturn-sized world orbiting a Sun-like star. Read More

Earth’s Northern Magnetic Pole Is Moving

February 5, 2019 – Earth’s northern magnetic pole is moving quickly away from the Canadian Arctic toward Siberia. This movement has forced NCEI’s scientists to update the World Magnetic Model (WMM) mid-cycle. Read More

The Science Coalition Names Senator Gardner A ‘Champion Of Science’

February 5, 2019 – U.S. Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) today announced that he has received the Champion of Science Award. The award – presented by The Science Coalition (TSC) – honors members of Congress whose actions and votes consistently reflect their commitment to fundamental science through funding investment for federal research agencies. Read More

SwRI Develops Optocoupler For Spaceflight Applications

SwRI is integrating its optocoupler power conversion technology into three instruments bound for Jupiter’s moon Europa. The radiation-hardened, high-reliability device, developed with internal funding, overcomes problems similar systems have had operating in space. Image Credit: SwRI

February 5, 2019 – Southwest Research Institute has developed a high-reliability, high-voltage optocoupler for spaceflight applications. NASA has selected the device as a power interface between the Europa Clipper spacecraft and three instruments aboard, bound for Jupiter’s moon Europa in the next five years. The power converter, developed with internal funding, overcomes reliability problems similar systems have had operating in space. Read More

BIG Idea Challenge 2019 Finalists To Develop Planetary Greenhouse Concepts

Artist’s rendering of the interior of a potential Mars greenhouse. Image Credit: SEArch+

February 5, 2019 – No drive-through? No problem. University students are designing greenhouses so astronauts can grow their own food on Mars. Read More

Schaub Elected An AIAA Fellow

Hanspeter Schaub. Image Credit: University of Colorado Boulder

February 4, 2019 – University of Colorado Boulder Smead Aerospace Professor Hanspeter Schaub has been elected a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Read More

InSight’s Seismometer Now Has A Cozy Shelter On Mars

NASA’s InSight lander deployed its Wind and Thermal Shield on February 2 (Sol 66). The shield covers InSight’s seismometer, which was set down onto the Martian surface on December 19.Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

February 4, 2019 – For the past several weeks, NASA’s InSight lander has been making adjustments to the seismometer it set on the Martian surface on December 19. Now it’s reached another milestone by placing a domed shield over the seismometer to help the instrument collect accurate data. The seismometer will give scientists their first look at the deep interior of the Red Planet, helping them understand how it and other rocky planets are formed. Read More