NASA's Kepler Discovery Confirms First Planet Orbiting Two Stars-WITH VIDEO

(Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech)

PASADENA, Calif. -- The existence of a world with a double sunset, as portrayed in the film Star Wars more than 30 years ago, is now scientific fact. NASA's Kepler mission has made the first unambiguous detection of a circumbinary planet -- a planet orbiting two stars -- 200 light-years from Earth.

Unlike Star Wars' Tatooine, the planet is cold, gaseous and not thought to harbor life, but its discovery demonstrates the diversity of planets in our galaxy. Previous research has hinted at the existence of circumbinary planets, but clear confirmation proved elusive. Kepler detected such a planet, known as Kepler-16b, by observing transits, where the brightness of a parent star dims from the planet crossing in front of it.

NASA Awards Microwave Sounder Contract For JPSS Spacecraft

The Indian Ocean at Sunset aboard the ISS. (Photo by NASA)

WASHINGTON -- NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has awarded a sole source letter contract to Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. of Azusa, Calif., for the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) instrument planned for flight on the first Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1).

The estimated value of this letter contract is $30 million with a period of performance from 2011 through 2017. Northrop Grumman will manufacture, test and deliver ATMS, support instrument integration on JPSS-1, and provide launch and post-launch support.

NASA Announces Design For New Deep Space Exploration System

An artist's conception of an SLS launch.
(Photo by NASA)

WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected the design of a new Space Launch System that will take the agency's astronauts farther into space than ever before, create high-quality jobs here at home, and provide the cornerstone for America's future human space exploration efforts.

This new heavy-lift rocket-in combination with a crew capsule already under development, increased support for the commercialization of astronaut travel to low Earth orbit, an extension of activities on the International Space Station until at least 2020, and a fresh focus on new technologies-is key to implementing the plan laid out by President Obama and Congress in the bipartisan 2010 NASA Authorization Act, which the president signed last year. The booster will be America's most powerful since the Saturn V rocket that carried Apollo astronauts to the moon and will launch humans to places no one has gone before.

"This launch system will create good-paying American jobs, ensure continued U.S. leadership in space, and inspire millions around the world," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "President Obama challenged us to be bold and dream big, and that's exactly what we are doing at NASA. While I was proud to fly on the space shuttle, tomorrow's explorers will now dream of one day walking on Mars."

This launch vehicle decision is the culmination of a months-long, comprehensive review of potential designs to ensure the nation gets a rocket that is not only powerful but also evolvable so it can be adapted to different missions as opportunities arise and new technologies are developed.

Major Progress Made on Nation's New Space Exploration Plan

First Space Bound Orion Comes Alive:  Construction on the first space-bound Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Module
began with the first weld at the Michoud Assembly Facility on Sept. 9, 2011.  This capsule will be used during Orion's
first test flight in space.   -    After welding is completed at Michoud, the Orion spacecraft orbital test article will be
shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, where the heat shield will be installed. At Kennedy, it will undergo final
assembly and checkout operations for eventual flight.

NEW ORLEANS -- Construction began this week on the first new NASA spacecraft built to take humans to orbit since space shuttle Endeavour left the factory in 1991, and marked a significant milestone in carrying out the ambitious exploration vision President Obama and Congress have laid out for the nation.

Engineers at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans started welding together the first space-bound Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. "The Orion team has maintained a steady focus on progress, and we now are beginning to build hardware for spaceflight," said Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer, NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston.

NASA spacecraft carrying CU-Boulder instruments observes new characteristics of solar flares

A new assessment of solar flares by a team led by CU-Boulder
indicates some are more powerful and last longer than
scientists had previously thought, findings that have
implications for mitigating damage by solar storms to navigate
and communication systems on Earth. (Photo by NASA
/SDO/AIA)

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which is carrying a suite of instruments including a $32 million University of Colorado Boulder package, has provided scientists with new information that energy from some solar flares is stronger and lasts longer than previously thought.

Using SDO's Extreme ultraviolet Variability Experiment, or EVE instrument designed and built at CU-Boulder, scientists have observed that radiation from solar flares sometimes continues for up to five hours beyond the initial minutes of the main phase of a solar flare occurrence. The new data also show that the total energy from this extended phase of the solar flare peak sometimes has more energy than that of the initial event.

Solar flares are intense bursts of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots. Flares are our solar system's largest explosive events and are seen as bright areas on the sun. Their energy can reach Earth's atmosphere and affect operations of Earth-orbiting communication and navigation satellites.

"If we can get these new results into space weather prediction models, we should be able to more reliably forecast solar events and their effects on our communication and navigation systems on Earth," said CU-Boulder Senior Research Associate Tom Woods of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, who led the development of EVE. "It will take some time and effort, but it is important."

Our Galaxy Might Hold Thousands of Ticking "Time Bombs"

(Photo by the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)

Cambridge, MA - In the Hollywood blockbuster "Speed," a bomb on a bus is rigged to blow up if the bus slows down below 50 miles per hour. The premise - slow down and you explode - makes for a great action movie plot, and also happens to have a cosmic equivalent.

New research shows that some old stars might be held up by their rapid spins, and when they slow down, they explode as supernovae. Thousands of these "time bombs" could be scattered throughout our Galaxy.

"We haven't found one of these 'time bomb' stars yet in the Milky Way, but this research suggests that we've been looking for the wrong signs. Our work points to a new way of searching for supernova precursors," said astrophysicist Rosanne Di Stefano of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).

The specific type of stellar explosion Di Stefano and her colleagues studied is called a Type Ia supernova. It occurs when an old, compact star known as a white dwarf destabilizes.

A white dwarf is a stellar remnant that has ceased nuclear fusion. It typically can weigh up to 1.4 times as much as our Sun - a figure called the Chandrasekhar mass after the astronomer who first calculated it. Any heavier, and gravity overwhelms the forces supporting the white dwarf, compacting it and igniting runaway nuclear fusion that blows the star apart.

NASA Gives Public New Internet Tool To Explore The Solar System

NASA now gives anyone with a computer the chance to
explore space in 3D. (Photo by NASA)

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA is giving the public the power to journey through the solar system using a new interactive Web-based tool.

The "Eyes on the Solar System" interface combines video game technology and NASA data to create an environment for users to ride along with agency spacecraft and explore the cosmos. Screen graphics and information such as planet locations and spacecraft maneuvers use actual space mission data.

"This is the first time the public has been able to see the entire solar system and our missions moving together in real-time," said Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division at the agency's Headquarters in Washington. "It demonstrates NASA's continued commitment to share our science with everyone."

The virtual environment uses the Unity game engine to display models of planets, moons, asteroids, comets and spacecraft as they move through our solar system. With keyboard and mouse controls, users cruise through space to explore anything that catches their interest. A free browser plug-in, available at the site, is required to run the Web application.