October 2006 California Space Authority honors Ames with two awards The California Space Authority heat shield used for the Stardust re- ing and evaluation of Boeing’s PICA (CSA) has announced that two NASA entry capsule. deliverables, assessing the material Ames teams are recipients of the 2006 In January 2006, the Stardust SpotBeam awards. capsule re-entered Earth’s atmosphere The SpotBeam awards recognize at the highest re-entry speed ever, “space enterprise community leaders penetrating Earth’s atmosphere much who have made extraordinary contri- like a meteor. This event provided a butions to California and U.S. leader- unique opportunity to observe and ship in the international space arena. analyze the performance of the heat The SpotBeam awards are CSA’s shield and the chemistry associated highest honor,” according to the CSA with the heat shield as it eroded dur- Web site. ing re-entry. “I am delighted that CSA has NASA Ames leads the agency’s acknowledged Ames’ exceptional con- thermal protection systems research. tributions in thermal protection and The results of the Stardust analysis space science with these prestigious will be used to design the thermal pro- awards,” said NASA Ames Director tection system for the agency’s new S. Pete Worden. “Ames has a long crew exploration vehicle. The Boeing history of outstanding achievements Company (Huntington Beach, Calif.) in these fields, and these awards add was selected in September 2006 to to our proud tradition of cutting-edge support the design and development science and research.” of a lunar direct return-capable heat Ames received the Civil Space shield for the Orion crew exploration performance and suitability for use as Award for the development and vehicle. Ames will use its thermal the Orion heat shield. associated research on the Phenolic (arc jet), structural and environmental continued on page 2 Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) facilities to conduct extensive test- NASA Ames tests small spaceship capsule model at high speed NASA recently conducted high- News media were invited to view For further information about speed tests of small models of the the Hypervelocity Free-Flight Facility Ames’ hypervelocity free-flight tests, agency’s new Orion crew exploration at NASA Ames in October. please visit: http://thermo-physics. vehicle to learn about its stability dur- The hypervelocity test facility arc.nasa.gov/range.htm ing flight. uses a gun to shoot Orion models For more information about the between 0.5 and 1.5 inches (1.25-3.75 Orion crew capsule, please visit: centimeters) in diameter. The facility http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pag- can conduct experiments with speeds es/constellation/orion/ up to 19,000 miles per hour (30,400 BY JOHN BLUCK kilometers per hour). These tests allow engineers to analyze aerodynamic characteristics of the blunt capsules in flight, and will On the Inside . be used to help design safe, control- Page 3 - Globus and Cruikshank lable profiles for re-entry through recognized as Ames Earth’s atmosphere. The Orion spacecraft will succeed Associate Fellows the space shuttle as NASA’s vehicle Page 5 - Jonathan Trent receives for human space exploration. Orion nanotechnology award is designed to carry six astronauts to Page 7 - NASA helps aircraft glide into low-Earth orbit or four astronauts to a more efficient landing The Orion crew exploration vehicle (CEV) M1 the moon. Orion’s first crewed flight Page 7 - Ames and M2Mi Corp. to model, recently underwent high-speed testing to the International Space Station is develop ‘Automated M2M at Ames. The tests were performed to learn planned for no later than 2014. Orion’s Intelligence’ about Orion’s stability during flight. first flight to the moon is planned for Page 14 - Ames Ongoing Events no later than 2020. www.nasa.gov NASA honors Ames scientist with planetary science fellowship NASA has selected Jonathan is currently warmer than one expects only a very tiny effect on the coffee. At Fortney, a scientist at NASA Ames, when this effect is not taken into ac- Saturn, this process has been a major for the prestigious new Early Career count. energy source over the past two billion Fellows in Planetary Science award “The hydrogen-helium mixing years, and seems to have started in Ju- and research grant, which honors effect is similar to what happens when piter more recently. New Saturn data outstanding young scientists for their from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will exceptional achievement in space sci- help shed new light on the cooling of ence research. these planets,” he added. Employed at Ames through a co- “Dr. Fortney’s pioneering work on operative agreement with the SETI In- the cooling of Jupiter and Saturn will stitute in Mountain View, Fortney has help us better understand how planets been studying the atmosphere, interior are formed and change over time. and evolution of ‘gas giant’ planets. This is particularly important, since The most familiar gas giant planets are we now know of over 200 Jupiter-like Jupiter and Saturn, which are made up planets orbiting around other stars,” mostly of hydrogen and helium. said Mark Marley, Ph.D., a space sci- “We are delighted that Jonathan entist at Ames. won this award and recognition for The award was given as a result the importance of his ideas. Jonathan NASA photo by Tom Trower of a proposal entitled ‘A Consistent represents NASA’s future,” said Dr. Jonathan Fortney of Ames recently was honored Evolutionary History for Jupiter and Steven Zornetzer, associate director with the Early Career Fellow in Planetary Science Saturn’ that Fortney submitted to the for institutions and research at NASA award and research grant. The award honors Outer Planets Research Program in Ames. “His research will both inform outstanding young scientists for exceptional 2005. us and raise new questions that we achievement in space science research. He will receive a $160,000 research will need to answer in the future. grant over three years to study the Ames is proud that Jonathan and SETI you add sugar to your morning coffee cooling process of these giant planets, are breaking new barriers to under- – if you add too much sugar, it won’t and will have the opportunity to apply standing the evolution of planetary dissolve any more, and it simply sinks for an additional $120,000 in research bodies,” Zornetzer added. to the bottom,” said Fortney. “The grant funding. “I was given the award to study sinking sugar puts a tiny amount of Born and raised near St. Paul, the evolution and changing tem- additional energy into the coffee. It is Minn., he received his bachelor of sci- peratures of Jupiter and Saturn,” said not enough to raise the temperature of ence degree in physics from Iowa State Fortney, a former National Research the coffee, but it slightly slows down University in Ames, Iowa, in 1999, and Council postdoctoral associate and how fast the coffee cools off. Likewise, was awarded a doctorate in planetary now a Spitzer Space Telescope Fellow. but on a much larger scale, the sinking sciences from the University of Ari- “Specifically, I will try to understand helium imparts energy that slows the zona, Tucson, in 2004. how ‘helium rain’ affects the cooling cooling of a planet. It is not a perfect BY RUTH MARLAIRE of these planets. Understanding this analogy because the sugar grains have cooling process will help astronomers detect and understand the tempera- ture of giant planets in other solar systems as well,” he added. California Space Authority honors Ames According to Fortney, giant planets continued from front page are very hot when they form, but cool CSA also presented its Space Sci- faint and much farther from the planet off over time. Deep within the hot in- ence Research Award to planetary teriors of these planets, at one million than expected, the rings were located astronomer Dr. Mark Showalter of the by a careful analysis of nearly 100 times the atmospheric pressure that SETI Institute, Mountain View, and to we feel on Earth, hydrogen turns to a Voyager images. collaborating scientist Dr. Jack Lissau- The awards will be presented at liquid metal. After a giant planet has er of NASA Ames, for the discovery cooled significantly, the helium can the CSA SpotBeam awards dinner of two new rings, Uranus’s 12th and on Nov. 30 at the Westin Hotel, Los no longer mix with the surrounding 13th, and two new moons, Mab and metallic hydrogen, much as oil and Angeles International Airport, as part Cupid, around the planet. of the Transforming Space Conference water don’t mix. Instead of rising to The discovery was reported in the surface as oil does in water, the he- (http://www.californiaspaceauthority. December 2005, following a long-term org/conference2006/index.html). lium atoms merge to form drops that observing campaign by Showalter ‘rain’ into the deeper layers within the Governed by a statewide board and Lissauer. The two scientists cap- of directors, the CSA is a nonprofit planet. tured numerous visible-light images As the helium drops sink within corporation representing the commer- of Uranus between 2003 and 2005 cial, civil and national defense/home- the planet, the friction between the with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for drops and the surrounding metallic land security interests of California’s Surveys and also found the rings in diverse space enterprise community in hydrogen adds thermal energy to the archival images taken during Voyager planet. The result is that these plan- industry, government, academia and 2’s flyby of Uranus in 1986. Previously workforce. ets continue to cool, but much more unnoticed because they are extremely BY ANN SULLIVAN slowly. Saturn, and perhaps Jupiter, Astrogram October 2006 Globus and Cruikshank selected as Ames Associate Fellows Dr.