Beautiful! #milkyway

So cool! WOW!

Launch was delayed. Tentatively scheduled for Thursday 12/15 at 826 AM EST.  Lots more information available through www.nasa.gov/cygnss . More great satellite info upcoming!  

Eight Small Satellites Will Give Us a New Look Inside Hurricanes

The same GPS technology that helps people get where they’re going in a car will soon be used in space in an effort to improve hurricane forecasting. The technology is a key capability in a NASA mission called the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS).

The CYGNSS mission, led by the University of Michigan, will use eight micro-satellite observatories to measure wind speeds over Earth’s oceans, increasing the ability of scientists to understand and predict hurricanes. Each microsatellite observatory will make observations based on the signals from four GPS satellites.

The CYGNSS microsatellite observatories will only receive signals broadcast directly to them from GPS satellites already orbiting the Earth and the reflection of the same satellite’s signal reflected from the Earth’s surface. The CYGNSS satellites themselves will not broadcast.

The use of eight microsatellite observatories will decrease the revisit time as compared with current individual weather satellites. The spacecraft will be deployed separately around the planet, with successive satellites passing over the same region every 12 minutes.

This will be the first time that satellites can peer through heavy tropical rainfall into the middle of hurricanes and predict how intense they are before and during landfall.

As the CYGNSS and GPS constellations orbit around the Earth, the interaction of the two systems will result in a new image of wind speed over the entire tropics every few hours, compared to every few days for a single satellite.

Another advantage of CYGNSS is that its orbit is designed to measure only in the tropics…where hurricanes develop and are most often located. The focus on tropical activity means that the instruments will be able to gather much more useful data on weather systems exclusively found in the tropics. This data will ultimately be used to help forecasters and emergency managers make lifesaving decisions.

Watch Launch!

Launch of CYGNSS is scheduled for 8:24 a.m. EST on Monday, Dec. 12 from our Kennedy Space Center in Florida. CYGNSS will launch aboard an Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket, which will be deployed from Orbital’s “Stargazer” L-1011 carrier aircraft. 

Pegasus is a winged, three-stage solid propellant rocket that can launch a satellite into low Earth orbit. How does it work? Great question! 

After takeoff, the aircraft (which looks like a commercial airplane..but with some special quirks) flies to about 39,000 feet over the ocean and releases the rocket. 

After a five-second free fall in a horizontal position, the Pegasus first stage ignites. The aerodynamic lift, generated by the rocket’s triangle-shaped wing, delivers the payload into orbit in about 10 minutes. 

Pegasus is used to deploy small satellites weighing up to 1,000 pounds into low Earth orbit. 

Watch live coverage HERE. 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Wow is right!! Great composite! #lightning

Сomposite shot of a thunderstorm in Gurgaon (India) on April 5, 2017. Here are 89 photos! WOW! credit: Jan Wellmann

Beautiful #lightning shot!

So beautiful!

Looking straight up into an Icelandic aurora

Updated Launch date/time:  Saturday, November 19th at 542 PM EST from Cape Canaveral. 

First of advanced environment satellites arrives at Kennedy.

The United State’s latest and most technologically advanced weather satellite was transported from its assembly facility in Colorado to Kennedy Space Center today, August 22. A joint endeavour between NASA and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, the GOES-R satellite weighs in at more than 6,200 pounds. Orbiting more than 22,300 miles above the Earth in Geostationary Transfer Orbit, GOES-R will provide the western hemisphere advanced weather and environmental forecasting technology. GOES-R, which stands for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, is the first of four third-generation GOES satellites built by Lockheed Martin.

Lofting such a heavy and sensitive satellite across the country required the use of a U.S. Air Force C-5 cargoplane.A t 3:16pm EDT the plane touched down at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility. Later this evening, the satellite will be transported 17 miles to a clean room facility in nearby Titusville. There, it will undergo unpacking and inspection before prelaunch operations commence. Liftoff is scheduled for 5:40pm EDT on November 4. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will fly in the 541 configuration with a five meter diameter payload fairing, four strap on AJ-60A solid rocket motors, and a single-RL-10 engine on the Centaur upper stage. P/c: NASA, NOAA, Lockheed Martin, Gary Napier.

WOW! Great chapter!

“He likes this side of her, a side he’s never seen, the soft, vulnerable, slightly clingy Kate. It’s such a stark contrast to who he sees on a daily basis, different even from the glimpses of vulnerability she’s allowed him to see, and he really likes it.” A post-2x18 AU.

Rated: M

Wow! #lightning

Looking forward to seeing the data from these satellites!  The more data, the better! 

CYGNSS rockets into orbit atop Pegasus

The first Cygnus launch from Cape Canaveral in nearly 10 years successfully placed NASA’s eight CYGNSS satellite into orbits Thursday, December 15. Pegasus, attached to the belly of Orbital ATK’s L-1011 Stargazer aircraft, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Skid Strip runway at 7:38am EDT.  After reaching an altitude of 39,000 feet and within the 10 by 40 mile launch box, Pegasus was commanded for release, falling away from the mothership at 8:37am. Less than five seconds later, the first stage ignited, beginning a 14-minute climb to orbit for Pegasus and the eight CYGNSS satellites. 

CYGNSS, short for Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, will use high-fidelity GPS signals to help forecasters better measure and predict hurricanes. In honor of the storm recently affecting the space coast, the Pegasus rocket launching CYGNSS was named Matthew. This was the 43rd launch of the Pegasus rocket, which made history in 1990 as the world’s first successfully-launched commercially-developed rocket vehicle. It remains the only air-launched rocket system in operation. CYGNSS was originally scheduled for launch Monday, but a faulty hydraulic pump in the rocket’s release mechanism promoted a delay into today. P/C: NASA.

Beautiful! #clouds #nature

The photographer calls the effect of this fog viewed from Mt. Tamalpais State Park near San Francisco “cotton candy waves” in the clouds. What do you think?