March 4 – March 10, 2019 | Colorado Space News

SwRI-Led LAMP Instrument Sheds Light On Lunar Water Movement

Data from the SwRI-led LAMP instrument aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate that water molecules scattered on the surface of the Moon are more common at higher latitudes and tend to hop around as the surface heats up. Characterizing the water on the Moon is critical to planning future exploration. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS

March 10, 2019 – Using the Southwest Research Institute-led Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), scientists have observed water molecules moving around the dayside of the Moon. A paper published in Geophysical Research Letters describes how LAMP measurements of the sparse layer of molecules temporarily stuck to the surface helped characterize lunar hydration changes over the course of a day. Read More

Ball Aerospace Selected For Second Phase Of DARPA Hallmark Program

March 9, 2019 – Ball Aerospace has been selected to continue work on the Space Evaluation and Analysis Capability (SEAC) testbed for the second phase of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Hallmark program. The Hallmark program is advancing technologies that deliver real-time space-domain awareness informing the command and control and protection of space assets. Read More

SwRI-Developed Satellites Enter Second Phase Of Operations

The SwRI-built constellation of microsatellites will continue their sojourn in the skies over the equator for at least another year and a half, collecting continuous data about hurricane wind speeds. These data are improving the intensity forecasting models, to help officials make better evacuation decisions. Image Credit: NASA

March 9, 2019 – NASA has extended the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission for an additional year and a half. The constellation of microsatellites designed and built at Southwest Research Institute has made history over the last two years, penetrating thick clouds and heavy rains to accurately assess wind speeds and better understand hurricane intensification. Assessments confirmed that all eight spacecraft and their subsystems are healthy and ready to support two more years of operations. Read More

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory Catches Lunar Freeze Frame

March 9, 2019 – On the evening of March 6, 2019, the Moon started to transit the Sun, then doubled back and retraced its steps in the other direction — at least, that’s what it looked like from the perspective of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, in orbit around Earth. Read More

NASA Wants Ideas From University Teams For Future Human Space Missions

Teams of engineering students and faculty at U.S. colleges and universities have an opportunity to help NASA with innovative design ideas to meet the challenges of space exploration. The 2020 eXploration Systems and Habitation (X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge supports NASA’s efforts to develop technologies and capabilities that will enable future human missions to the Moon, Mars and other solar system destinations. In collaboration with the National Space Grant Foundation, NASA will offer competitively selected awards of $15,000 to $50,000 for the development of studies, functional products and solutions to enhance the human exploration of space. Entries are due April 26, 2019. Read More

Hubble’s Advanced Camera For Surveys Resumes Operations

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Image Credit: NASA

March 9, 2019 – NASA has recovered the Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys instrument, which suspended operations on Thursday, February 28. The final tests were conducted and the instrument was brought back to its operational mode on March 6. Read More

Kepler Space Telescope’s First Exoplanet Candidate Confirmed, Ten Years After Launch

Artist’s concept of a Kepler-1658-like system. Sound waves propagating through the stellar interior were used to characterize the star and the planet. Kepler-1658b, orbiting with a period of just 3.8 days, was the first exoplanet candidate discovered by Kepler nearly 10 years ago. Image Credit: Gabriel Perez Diaz/Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

March 5, 2019 – An international team of astronomers, led by University of Hawaiʻi graduate student Ashley Chontos, announced the confirmation of the first exoplanet candidate identified by NASA’s Kepler Mission. The result was presented today at the fifth Kepler/K2 Science Conference held in Glendale, California. Read More

CU Boulder Lands A Slot On First Orion Flight Around The Moon

Image Credit: University of Colorado Boulder

March 4, 2019 – A little piece of Colorado is going to the moon. When NASA launches Orion EM-1 in 2020, its first mission to orbit the moon since 1972, experiments from the University of Colorado Boulder will be aboard. Read More

More News

SpaceX Splashdown Marks Success Of First Commercial Crew Flight Test
Source: NASA

SWIM Project Maps Potential Sources Of Mars Water
Source: Planetary Science Institute

Ultima Thule In 3D
Source: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/National Optical Astronomy Observatory

Discovering Bonus Science With NASA’s MMS Mission
Source: NASA

NASA’s Deep Space Exploration System Is Coming Together
Source: NASA

Jupiter Jet And Brown Barge
Source: NASA

Mars InSight Lander’s ‘Mole’ Pauses Digging
Source: NASA

Space Data: Hypergiant Will Help Create An Interplanetary Internet
Source: Austin Inno

What Does The Milky Way Weigh?
Source: Source: NASA/ESO/STScI

10 Years Ago: Kepler Planet Finder Is Launched
Source: NASA

NASA Seeks New options For Science Instrument On Europa Clipper
Source: NASA

SECAF Announces Resignation
Source: Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

What Is LCROSS, The Lunar Crater Observation And Sensing Satellite?
Source: NASA

The Slow Charm Of Brain Terrain
Source: NASA

What is BASALT? – Preparing For Human Deep Space Missions, On Earth
Source: NASA