Lyrid over Georgia

By Bill Cooke, MSFC, Huntsville, AL

A Lyrid meteor streaks though the dawn sky over North Georgia College and State University. Moving at 105,800 mph, this inch-diameter piece of Comet Thatcher lasted less than one and a half seconds, burning up 46 miles above Earth's surface. The second image shows the same meteor seen from the Tellus Science Museum located in Cartersville, GA, some 50 miles distant. By measuring the change in the meteor's position (triangulation), we can determine its trajectory and speed.

Lyrids are pieces of debris from the periodic Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher and have been observed for more than 2,600 years. In mid-April of each year, Earth runs into the stream of debris from the comet, which causes the Lyrid meteor shower. You can tell if a meteor belongs to a particular shower by tracing back its path to see if it originates near a specific point in the sky, called the radiant. The constellation in which the radiant is located gives the shower its name, and in this case, Lyrids appear to come from a point in the constellation Lyra.

Discuss this blog here: http://tinyurl.com/bloginspire12

How Do We Predict the Weather?

By Olivia Humes, Grade 11, Imagineers

Imagine it’s the late 18th century. You’re in the backwoods of Pennsylvania, which has just recently become a part of the world’s newest country--the United States. Since you live in a settlement many miles away from Philadelphia, your income and success this year completely depends upon your harvest, which in turn, depends upon the weather. But how do you know if you’ll get enough sunshine or rain to produce a good harvest? How do you know when the next storm will blow in?

The short answer is, you don’t.

Professor Cliff Mass is somewhat of a weather celebrity in the Pacific Northwest. He runs a weather blog, a radio show, and creates cutting-edge weather forecasts at the University of Washington. I got the opportunity to listen to him lecture on the history and future of mathematical weather forecasting last Sunday, April 14th.

He explained that in the early days, weather predictions were qualitative rather than quantitative. Sayings like “red skies at morning, sailors take warning” or “clear moon, frost soon” were often used to predict the weather of the next few days. Though many of these sayings reflect the cause and effect relationships of the underlying processes that change our weather, they offer little specific predictions, and only allow general actions to be taken. The first hint that quantitative weather prediction could be used to predict future conditions came when Benjamin Franklin, our most meteorologically inclined Founding Father, discovered that storm systems moved in a roughly west-to-east pattern across the country. But for a long time, the precision of our early instruments and the availability of data limited the effectiveness of weather prediction.

To a large extent, these problems still exist today. Even with computational models developed in the 1920’s using physical equations, such as laws governing the behavior of gases, and the almost unimaginable computing power available literally at our fingertips today, the accuracy of our atmospheric predictions aren’t quite on point. We’ve accepted this as part of everyday life, despite the confident forecasts delivered to us via our local news stations and smartphones. A lack of weather reporting stations in and over the Pacific Ocean can have a big effect on the accuracy of our reports, particularly on the West Coast, where storm systems arrive directly from over the water.

But even with perfect global weather coverage and infinite computing power, weather prediction is inherently difficult. Feedback loops in the atmosphere, where individual processes either enhance or reduce each other’s effects, create a chaotic, nonlinear system where the smallest inaccuracies in measurement can dramatically affect the outcome of a whole day’s weather.

These inaccuracies can be as small as observational errors intrinsic to the equipment we use. This principle is known as the butterfly effect, but Professor Mass likens it to a pinball game. Imagine a pinball game, but one in which you have no control over the paddles, and can only pull back the spring at the beginning of the game to start the ball’s motion. No matter how accurately you try to recreate a shot that resulted in a huge score, you’re extremely unlikely to recreate that lucky shot if your friends ask you to prove it to them later. The weather, like the pinball game, is a similarly chaotic system.

The approach that Mass takes with his predictions, he explained, is to run his weather models over and over, varying the initial conditions slightly, within observational error. Then, each result is averaged, and a general forecast of probabilities is created. These forecasts prove to be both more accurate and more useful to us, and allow us more realistic expectations of the next day’s weather. After all, how do weather forecasters know when the temperature will be exactly 70°?

Now imagine it’s 2013 again. Imagine you’ve just taken out your phone to check the weather reports. Looks like there’s a 75% chance temperatures will be between 80 and 85 degrees. Put on some sunscreen. It’s time to hit the beach!

Read Professor Cliff Mass’s blog here:

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/

Happy Earth Month!

NASA and the Importance of Risk

By Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator

NASA has achieved great things for our nation by embracing bold challenges while managing the risks to the things we build, and the people who test and put them to use.     While we are never pleased when things go wrong, throughout our history NASA’s explorer spirit has led us deeper into the unknown where we continue to learn as much from our failures as our successes.  One of the things that impress me most about our workforce is the willingness of so many to dream big, think outside the box, and take risks.  In fact, a major reason behind NASA’s ranking as the best place to work in government is our first place ranking in the category of leadership and employee empowerment.  Your vision, expertise, and courage to take risks are what set this agency apart.  Whether you are part of the team that helped land Curiosity on Mars, or are assembling the parts to the next generation spacecraft…whether you are reaching out to the public through education and social media or working in a field office, your ideas, ingenuity, and initiative are keeping NASA in the forefront of exploration and innovation.  

Much of the time, we work in an environment where the consequences of not getting things exactly right are very high.  The good news is that our processes and culture are well adapted to doing these things very well.  We must not lose that.  Human spaceflight and flagship science missions can sometimes be a dangerous business.  But, as I have said before, when you do stuff that nobody else has ever done, you have to be willing to accept risk.  We have to be willing to do daring things.  Put another way, risk intolerance is a guarantee of failure to accomplish anything of significance.

Discovery has and will continue to be our guiding star!  One of our significant lines of business is inventing and demonstrating new technologies, tools, and techniques that will allow our nation to lead humanity outward from our planet, and do so sustainably, more effectively, and often at lower cost.  We may not always know the ideal path to the objective when we take the first steps, but as long as we move forward intelligently, keep our people safe, and back each other up we will be able to adjust as we go along and make faster progress toward the objectives.

Let me give you an example of what I mean.  Most of you have heard of the Morpheus Project.  This small project was formulated at JSC as a way to develop, understand, and demonstrate some new technologies and to build the capabilities of our work force in a rapid engineering cycle environment – in the vernacular, learn fast, fail forward.  I am sure some might think of Morpheus as a failure since a significant piece of hardware crashed and burned while under test.  Contrary to this view, I regard Morpheus as a success and here is why:

• From the beginning, the team worked to an aggressive, but thoughtful plan to move forward and learn fast.  
• They accomplished a lot and learned a lot in a short time without much money. 
• After many successes (and a few failures) they lost the test vehicle during a flight. 
• The Morpheus test vehicle could have been built with more fault tolerance so that it wouldn’t have crashed, but doing so would have required a much more complex system design and a longer build and test process and would have slowed the pace of learning. 
• An increased risk of losing hardware was the price paid to learn fast.

All that said, the team did a good job of planning for the safety of their people so that when the worst did happen, no one was hurt.  As a learning organization, I think we reacted properly to the crash.  The team had identified and accepted the loss of vehicle risk and no one was pilloried for the loss.  The center leadership moved quickly to establish an engineering investigation to understand what happened and to learn from it.   At the agency level, we let it be known that we endorsed that approach and would not convene a formal mishap investigation.  No one likes to lose equipment, but we recognized that failure is part of the price of learning and acted accordingly.  As long as we ensure that our people are protected we can manage and tolerate failures as part of the price of progress.    

Morpheus is but one case in point.  As we prepare to undertake the many challenges offered in the President’s 2014 budget for our agency, I ask you to continue to think about how we can identify and seize opportunities to make progress quickly and affordably, identify and manage risks, learn fast and adapt our plans to take the next steps.  While we do this, we must constantly balance our risks and rewards and always, always put the lives and safety of our people first.

Discuss this blog here: http://tinyurl.com/bloginspire12

LiveChat Round Up 4/12/2013

By Jim Gerard, NASA INSPIRE Education Specialist, KSC, FL

During last night's LiveChat, Ames Research Center's Earth Science Division Chief, Steve Hipskind, began his presentation with the following video made for NASA by film maker James Cameron. Some students had difficulty viewing it, so we offer it here on the blog. (Mr. Hipskind recommends enlarging the video and turning up your sound.)


Next week, more earth science with Austin Conaty from Goddard Space Flight Center.
And don't forget to check out the Lunabotics Challenge on the Discover page! Sign up now on the Discussion Board!

How I Became a NASA Ambassador

(Note: This is being reposted to give more students a chance to read it.)

By Aida Yoguely Cortés-Peña, NASA Student Ambassador, Georgia Tech

I still remember the day that I decided I wanted to be part of NASA’s endeavors. The NASA crew from Langley Research Center had came to Antonio Gonzales Suarez, my bilingual elementary school in Puerto Rico, to film their educational video "The NASA Sci-Files: The Case of the Galactic Vacation." In my science classroom, the crew had all their cameras, wires, and TVs set up, and the cameraman began to count down. Then I recited the lines that I had rehearsed countless times, about how astronomers measure distances in space. The visiting scientists and engineers transmitted their passion for space exploration to the classroom. This was my first insight to the many opportunities that exists out there and I learned that if I became involved in them, I can reach my goals. Today I have the opportunity to share my passion and engage students in the STEM field as part of the 2013 NASA Student Ambassador Virtual Community (NSAVC).

I recall in the 11th grade when I was part of the NASA INSPIRE On-Line Community. I made new friends with similar interests, some of which have I crossed-paths in my career at my University and while working at the NASA Space Centers. In the presentation chat rooms, I got to meet and ask questions to current experts and education specialists, some of whom I still work with today. The NSAVC is similar except you get to be the one teaching and sharing with others. This is a nation-wide community of 100 high-performing interns selected to help NASA inspire the STEM workforce of the future and the next generation of explorers. As members of this virtual community, we also get to interact with NASA personnel, share information, make vital professional connections, collaborate with peers, and represent NASA in a variety of venues. Through this program, I am continuously learning how to make effective presentations, public speaking, and event coordination.

Competition is fierce, and becoming a NASA Student Ambassador is a great honor. To qualify, one must first have two basic things: be pursuing a degree in the STEM discipline, and secondly but not surprisingly, have good grades! The only way to apply is to be nominated by his/her mentor during the NASA internship experience. Last summer I interned at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, up in Greenbelt, Maryland, under the NASA Motivating Undergraduates in Science and Technology (MUST) program. I got to work at the Materials Science and Engineering Branch on the Non-Destructive Evaluation of Materials from Space Flight Hardware. I used an Infrared Camera to located and analyze defects from satellite parts such as the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite. I enjoyed sharing my project with others through on-site activities such as the Intern Open Mic event, and online through blogging and YouTube videos. My mentor was dazzled by my passion for inspiring others that he nominated me to become a NASA Student Ambassador.

As a NASA Student Ambassador, I am actively seeking ways to outreach to the community. One way is through connections with various student organizations on campus. I volunteer at college fairs such as AT&T High Tech Day and spoke to 20+ high school students about college, internships and the field of engineering. Every other week, I tutor K-12 Hispanic students in science and mathematics at La Amistad Outreach Center. I also had the opportunity of speaking at the Office of Hispanic Initiatives & Communities in Schools College Access Conference where I presented “What is STEM?”, and spoke about NASA opportunities to 8th grade minority students. I will always be grateful for those whose invaluable guidance and support has helped me in my career. I hope to also inspire and impact my community, by helping others discover their passion in NASA and the exciting field of STEM.

LiveChat Round Up 4/4/13

By Jim Gerard, INSPIRE Education Specialist, KSC, FL

Last night's LiveChat brought back DLN specialist Scott Anderson from Marshal Space Flight Center in Alabama to give a primer on NASA's involvement with studying the earth. Over a dozen satellites form a constellation to observe the earth's oceans, atmosphere and land. Mr. Anderson talked about the way these technologies help us on earth, providing better maps, weather predictions and emergency relief. We then had an online version of the popular Where on Earth? activity as Mr. Anderson showed interesting images and challenges INSPIRE students to identify them. Students had a great time!

Don't forget this week to participate in the Globe at Night activity, and remember this Sunday is our unofficial G@N INSPIRE Night so try to make your observations then and join us next Thursday at 7pm CT to report out. For more information on Globe at Night, check the Discover page.

That's it until next week, when we'll have more earth science at 8pm CT! See you then!

Gliding through the Stratosphere

By Olivia Humes

At 50,000 feet in the air, nearly twice the height of Mt. Everest and a mile higher than commercial airliners can fly, Steve Fossett and Einar Enevoldson flew an unpowered glider through an unpredictable mountain wave, setting a world record for the highest flight of an unpowered aircraft.

Nacreous clouds over Antarctica,
from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
File:Nacreous_clouds_Antarctica.jpg­)

That was in 2006. This year, on March 16th, 2013 at the Museum of Flight, Enevoldson presented his record setting experience and his adventurous future plans for soaring even higher. By August 2013, Enevoldson and his team set the ambitious record to reach 90,000 feet. Achieving this goal requires building a custom, carbon fiber, pressurized glider capable of riding waves in the atmosphere the same way a surfer rides ocean waves.

But the Perlan Project, named for the Icelandic word for pearl, is not just about breaking records. It’s also about learning more about the so called “forgotten zone” of the planet’s atmosphere, the region between 70,000 and 120,000 feet in the air that is too high for conventional aircraft to explore, and too low to be accessible by spacecraft. Despite its remoteness, this layer of the atmosphere plays a profound role in the earth’s climate. This region is the home of the ozone layer; the polar vortices, which helps to isolate the poles during winter and cool them further; and mysterious high altitude clouds, such as nacreous clouds, also known as “mother-of-pearl” clouds, that lend the project its name. By studying this region of the atmosphere, scientists can investigate how pollutants, like the ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons and small particles thought to seed stratospheric clouds, interact with long term climate trends. Learning about interactions in the upper atmosphere will provide scientists with an important piece of the puzzle needed to understand our changing climate.

Mountain waves diagram,
Wikipedia via http://perlanproject.org/
stratospheric-mountain-waves/

The Perlan Project will also explore the winds that give the glider its lift--mountain waves. Under the right conditions, wind blowing across mountain ranges can produce turbulent waves in the atmosphere. These waves can sometimes grow to tremendous heights, and gliders, like the Perlan, can use them in order to gain elevation without engines. How high these waves go, and how they behave in the upper atmosphere is still unknown. These waves may also “break” like water waves do when they are close to shore, but so far, the phenomenon has never been observed. The Perlan team hopes to investigate the effect firsthand.

The Perlan Project, like many other expeditions before it, pushes a new frontier in human knowledge. The Perlan glider’s flights both set a record for highest altitude achieved by a glider, but also demonstrates the success of its engineers and design, and adds to our knowledge of our home planet.

To find out more about the Perlan Project, visit:
http://perlanproject.org/

I pose with the Perlan 1 glider at the Seattle Museum of Flight

The record setting Perlan 1 is also on permanent display at the Seattle Museum of Flight.