Jun 8 2011
From The Space Library
MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-116 NASA ANNOUNCES TELEVISED BLACK HOLE PRESS CONFERENCE
WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a press conference at 1:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, June 15, to discuss new discoveries about giant black holes in the early universe. The event will be in the NASA Headquarters Webb auditorium located at 300 E Street SW in Washington. NASA Television and the agency's website will broadcast the event live. The panelists for the announcement are: -- Wilt Sanders, Chandra program scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington -- Ezequiel Treister, astrophysicist, University of Hawaii at Manoa -- Kevin Schawinski, astrophysicist, Yale University, New Haven -- Priya Natarajan, professor, Yale University -- Mitchell Begelman, professor, University of Colorado, Boulder
RELEASE: 11-178 NASA'S AQUARIUS/SAC-D LAUNCH RESCHEDULED
WASHINGTON -- The launch of the international Aquarius/SAC-D mission is postponed 24 hours until Friday, June 10, from NASA's Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The 5-minute launch window opens at 10:20 a.m. EDT (7:20 a.m. PDT). The new launch date will allow the launch team to complete additional review of an inconsistency found in the Delta II launch vehicle flight profile for wind conditions on the day of launch. These data are used to steer the Delta II through upper level winds. The weather forecast for June 10 shows a 100 percent chance of favorable weather conditions for the launch. The Aquarius/SAC-D (Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas) observatory is a collaboration between NASA and Argentina's space agency, Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE). Media are invited to see and photograph the Delta II with Aquarius/SAC-D at the launch pad on Thursday, June 9. Media will depart for the pad at 9:30 p.m. PDT from the Vandenberg Main Gate on California State Road 1. Media covering the launch on Friday, June 10, will be escorted to the press viewing site from the Vandenberg Main Gate. Media should meet at 6 a.m. PDT at the pass and identification building. Aquarius was built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida manages the launch. JPL will manage Aquarius through its commissioning phase and archive mission data. Goddard will manage Aquarius mission operations and process science data. CONAE is providing the SAC-D spacecraft, optical camera, thermal camera with Canada, microwave radiometer, sensors from various Argentine institutions and the mission operations center. France and Italy also are contributing instruments.
RELEASE: 11-180 NASA OFFERS GRANTS FOR 2012 UNIVERSITY COMPETITIONS
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The NASA Minority Innovation Challenges Institute (MICI) is offering opportunities for minority serving institutions to apply for a $5,000 grant to enter the 2012 University Student Launch Initiative (USLI) or Lunabotics Mining Competition. Applications for both competitions are due June 30. USLI challenges students to design, build and launch to an altitude of one mile a reusable rocket with a scientific or engineering payload. The project engages students in scientific research and real-world engineering processes with NASA engineers. The competition will take place at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., in April 2012. The Lunabotics competition challenges students to design and build remote controlled robots that can excavate simulated lunar dirt. During the event, the teams' designs, known as lunabots, will go head-to-head to determine which one can collect and deposit the most dirt within 15 minutes. This competition will take place at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in May 2012. MICI is designed to inspire minority undergraduate students to pursue advanced degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering and math disciplines critical to NASA's future missions.
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