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Moon Week Celebration Draws Hundreds of Scientists National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA July 2008 Moon week celebration draws hundreds of scientists BY KELLY HUMP H RIES AND MIC H AEL MEW H INNEY NASA’s Ames July 21-23 as part of a lunar landing and the future of lunar An estimated 500 scientists from “Moon Week Celebration” marking exploration. all over the country converged on the 39th anniversary of the Apollo 11 The Lunar Science Conference was co-hosted by NASA’s Lunar Science Institute, NASA’s Ames and the NASA Lunar and Planetary Science Institute, Houston. The three-day conference examined on-going lunar research and findings and looking forward to a new generation of opportunities for studies of the moon, on the moon and from NASA photos by Eric James NASA the moon. Featured speakers included NASA Ames Center Director S. Pete Worden, Lunar Science Institute Interim Direc- tor David Morrison and noted plan- etary scientist Chris McKay. Pre- sentations were also given by space entrepreneurs and a panel of young NASA scientists and engineers look- ing at innovative approaches to lunar exploration and public involvement. David Morrison, interim director of the NASA Lunar Science Institute, (left), delivered a warm Organizers kicked off the research welcome at the opening of the Lunar Science Conference held in July at the center. conference on Sunday, July 20, 2008, continued on page 5 California Governor learns how Ames helps fight wildfires Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited Ames July 14 to understand first-hand how the agency is help- ing firefighters battle the widespread wildfires raging throughout the state. During the visit, Schwarzeneg- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) ger reviewed firefighting data at the with Ames Center simulation facility used to display Director S. Pete Worden visible light and fire imagery, and saw (right) during a recent a demonstration of the hyperwall-2, a visit by the governor to high resolution visualization system the center to gain first- displaying images from the wildfires. hand knowledge about the way NASA assists in the response against On the Inside . wildfires. Page 2 - NASA Ames, JPL win 2007 NASA Software of the Year Award Page 3 - NASA coats main mirror for airborne observatory NASA photo by Eric James Page 4 - CARB sniffs the air over California After the quick tour, the governor held developed at Ames and satellite data as wild fires rage a short news briefing. from Goddard Space Flight Center. Page 6 - Ames personnel lauded for The flights by NASA’s unmanned The flights originated from NASA’s historic preservation efforts Ikhana aircraft used a sophisticated Dryden Flight Research Center, Page 11 - Classifieds Autonomous Modular Scanner Edwards, Calif. continued on page 9 www.nasa.gov NASA Ames, JPL win 2007 NASA Software of the Year Award BY RAC H EL PRUCEY Computer programs that are used to define safety margins for fiery spacecraft re-entries and help detect planets outside our solar system are co-winners of NASA's 2007 Software of the Year Award. Software engineers at NASA's Modeling of a reaction control Ames developed the Data-Parallel system with heat transfer contours Line Relaxation, (DPLR), which on Mars Science Laboratory, using is used to analyze and predict the the Data-Parallel Line Relaxation extreme environments human and computational fluid dynamics code. robotic spacecraft experience during super high-speed entries into plan- etary atmospheres. At NASA's Jet Propulsion Labora- tory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., software engineers developed the Adaptive Modified Gerchberg-Saxton Phase NASA photo by Kerry Trumble Retrieval program. The software uses a telescope's science camera with innovative and robust algorithms to An eight-person team from JPL winners to NASA's Inventions and characterize possible errors that limit is responsible for the Adaptive Modi- Contributions Board for confirmation. its imaging performance. The software fied Gerchberg-Saxton Phase Retrieval Entries are nominated for developing has been integrated into calibration software: Scott Basinger, Siddarayappa innovative technologies that signifi- control loops to correct those errors, Bikkannavar, David Cohen, Joseph cantly improve the agency's explora- and can achieve orders of magnitude Green, Catherine Ohara, David Red- tion of space and maximize scientific improvement in sensitivity and resolu- ding and Fang Shi. discovery. tion. Early work for the software was Both Ames and JPL have won or The DPLR simulates the intense based on efforts to correct the vision of been co-winner of the award seven heating, shear stresses and pressures NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. After times, including three out of the past a spacecraft endures as it travels initial images came back blurry, engi- four years, since the NASA Software through atmospheres to land on Earth neers worked for months to determine of the Year Award was initiated in or other planets. It is capable of creat- the problem. Eventually, astronauts 1994. ing a highly accurate, simulated entry traveled to the telescope to install a For more information about environment that exceeds the capabil- corrective lens based on telescope- NASA's Inventions and Contributions ity of any test facility on Earth, allow- imaging errors. Board, visit: http://icb.nasa.gov ing engineers to design and apply A NASA Software Advisory Panel thermal protection materials suited to reviews entries and recommends withstand such intense heating envi- ronments. The DPLR team members include Worden greets employees at Ames front gate Michael J. Wright, James Brown, David Hash, Matt MacLean, Ryan Mc- Daniel, David Saunders, Chun Tang and Kerry Trumble. Ames Center Director S. Pete Worden checked JPL's software can be applied to badges and greeted other sciences and systems that use Ames employees at the light, such as laser communications Arnold Gate as they and extrasolar planet detection. arrived at work on JPL's Adaptive Modified Gerch- July 1. Worden’s ‘gate berg-Saxton Phase Retrieval software duty’ was conducted to already is in use at the California Insti- heighten awareness of tute of Technology's Palomar Observa- center management’s tory, in northern San Diego County. concern for security at the center. The software played a significant role in designing such next-generation telescopes as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2013. NASA photo by Dominic Hart 2 Astrogram July 2008 NASA coats main mirror for airborne observatory BY MIC H AEL MEW H INNEY The main mirror for NASA's new airborne eye on the universe is now ready for installation after being trans- formed from a carefully shaped and polished piece of glass into a highly reflective optical component at Ames. After years of development and photo by Eric James NASA preparation, it took just 20 seconds to apply the shiny, aluminum coating to the glass mirror for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The telescope is scheduled to begin observations in mid-2009. "The change was quite sudden and stunning. One moment, we were looking through the transparent glass mirror into its honeycomb-shaped internal structure, and then seconds later, all we saw were reflections," said Patrick Waddell, a systems engineer with the Universities Space Research Technicians at NASA’s Ames inspect the main mirror for NASA’s new airborne eye on the universe, Association (USRA), which manages which is now ready for installation after being transformed from a carefully shaped and polished piece of the SOFIA science mission for NASA. glass into a highly reflective optical component. After years of development and preparation, it took just "There were quite a few technical 20 seconds to apply the shiny, aluminum coating to the glass mirror for the Stratospheric Observatory challenges that caused us to question for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) in a 10-ton, 16-foot tall stainless steel vacuum chamber. The telescope is scheduled to begin observations in mid-2009. whether the coating quality would be this good on the first try. We're ecstatic," said Ed Austin, NASA's SO- to simplify telescope disassembly and twists of 99.999 percent pure alumi- FIA project manager at Ames. reassembly. num wire. Project engineers completed the SOFIA is unique because the The aluminum coating applied to first mirror coating of the German- mirror cell is largely composed of the mirror glass is only five one-mil- built telescope, a major project mile- carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), lionths of an inch thick, approximately stone, in a 10-ton, 16-foot-tall stain- a material commonly found in tennis 1/300 of the thickness of a human hair, less steel vacuum chamber at Ames. racquets and modern sailboat hulls. and weighs slightly more than 1/14 SOFIA optical engineers and scientists These types of composite materials of an ounce, equivalent to 1/7 of the will annually re-coat the mirror, as is provide the light weight and stiffness metal in a soda can. done for other large research telescope required for precision airborne opti- SOFIA is comprised of a heavily mirrors, and also routinely clean the cal components, but also easily absorb modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that mirror. moisture from the air. will carry a 2.5-meter (98-inch) diam- "The telescope's mirror surface The SOFIA Primary Mirror eter telescope into the stratosphere to must be highly reflective and clean to Assembly contains 1,950 pounds of conduct astronomical research, and a ensure the quality of our astronomi- glass and more than 2,400 pounds of ground-based science center. SOFIA cal observations," said Tom Roellig, CFRP. When the mirror and mirror is a joint program of NASA and the SOFIA project scientist. "Keeping the cell were in the coating chamber and German Aerospace Agency, Deutsches mirror in prime condition ensures that air was removed from the chamber, Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt images from space are sharp and pre- it took nearly a week for the CFRP to (DLR).
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