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Astronaut Journal Entry - Unusual Attitude Recovery

Currently, six humans are living and working on the International Space Station, which orbits 250 miles above our planet at 17,500mph. Below you will find a real journal entry, written in space, by NASA astronaut Scott Tingle.

To read more entires from this series, visit our Space Blogs on Tumblr.

While flying fast-moving jets, we practice the art of recovering from unusual attitudes. We close our eyes, and let the instructor put the jet in an unexpected attitude. Sometimes straight up, sometimes straight down, sometimes upside down, and sometimes anything in-between. The goal is to open our eyes, analyze the situation and make rapid and smooth corrections to power and attitude to effect a speedy recovery to straight and level flight without departing controlled flight, or having to endure high G’s, or experiencing big losses of altitude. 

Sometimes, when I crawl into my crew quarters on the space station, it is very dark – just like closing our eyes in the jet. And then, as I sleep, my body floats around and changes position. When I awake in total darkness, I have to figure out what attitude I am in relative to my crew quarters and then right myself.  “Unusual Attitude Recovery” can be pretty funny. And sometimes, my heart can get pumping as I awake and realize I don’t know what my attitude is. I execute my procedures to figure out what my attitude is, and then correct it. At first, it used to take me a while to realize. But now, it is second nature – and it always brings a smile to my face.

Find more ‘Captain’s Log’ entries HERE.

Follow NASA astronaut Scott Tingle on Instagram and Twitter.

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

What are Phytoplankton and Why Are They Important?

Breathe deep… and thank phytoplankton.

Why? Like plants on land, these microscopic creatures capture energy from the sun and carbon from the atmosphere to produce oxygen.

Phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that live in watery environments, both salty and fresh. Though tiny, these creatures are the foundation of the aquatic food chain. They not only sustain healthy aquatic ecosystems, they also provide important clues on climate change.

Let’s explore what these creatures are and why they are important for NASA research.

Phytoplankton are diverse

Phytoplankton are an extremely diversified group of organisms, varying from photosynthesizing bacteria, e.g. cyanobacteria, to diatoms, to chalk-coated coccolithophores. Studying this incredibly diverse group is key to understanding the health - and future - of our ocean and life on earth.

Their growth depends on the availability of carbon dioxide, sunlight and nutrients. Like land plants, these creatures require nutrients such as nitrate, phosphate, silicate, and calcium at various levels. When conditions are right, populations can grow explosively, a phenomenon known as a bloom.

Phytoplankton blooms in the South Pacific Ocean with sediment re-suspended from the ocean floor by waves and tides along much of the New Zealand coastline.

Phytoplankton are Foundational

Phytoplankton are the foundation of the aquatic food web, feeding everything from microscopic, animal-like zooplankton to multi-ton whales. Certain species of phytoplankton produce powerful biotoxins that can kill marine life and people who eat contaminated seafood.

Phytoplankton are Part of the Carbon Cycle

Phytoplankton play an important part in the flow of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the ocean. Carbon dioxide is consumed during photosynthesis, with carbon being incorporated in the phytoplankton, and as phytoplankton sink a portion of that carbon makes its way into the deep ocean (far away from the atmosphere).

Changes in the growth of phytoplankton may affect atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, which impact climate and global surface temperatures. NASA field campaigns like EXPORTS are helping to understand the ocean's impact in terms of storing carbon dioxide.

Phytoplankton are Key to Understanding a Changing Ocean

NASA studies phytoplankton in different ways with satellites, instruments, and ships. Upcoming missions like Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) - set to launch Jan. 2024 - will reveal interactions between the ocean and atmosphere. This includes how they exchange carbon dioxide and how atmospheric aerosols might fuel phytoplankton growth in the ocean.

Information collected by PACE, especially about changes in plankton populations, will be available to researchers all over the world. See how this data will be used.

The Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) is integrated onto the PACE spacecraft in the cleanroom at Goddard Space Flight Center. Credit: NASA

The International Space Station: Apex of International Collaboration

It's National Space Day! To mark the occasion, we're reflecting on the International Space Station, which has been continuously occupied since Nov. 2, 2000. As our orbiting laboratory that enables us to conduct important science off our home planet, the ISS allows researchers from all over the world to put their talents to work on innovative experiments in the microgravity environment. An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the ISS. The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada. Although each space station partner has distinct agency goals for station research, each partner shares a unified goal to extend the resulting knowledge for the betterment of humanity! Here are 5 fun facts about our about our out-of-this world floating laboratory:

1. The ISS is a unique scientific platform that has enabled more than 3,600 researchers in 106 countries and areas to conduct more than 2,500 experiments in microgravity through February 2018—and the research continues. 

2. Astronauts and cosmonauts have conducted more than 205 spacewalks (and counting!) for space station construction, maintenance and repair since December 1998.

3. The station’s orbital path takes it over 90 percent of the Earth’s population, with astronauts taking millions of images of the planet below. 

4. Six spaceships can be connected to the space station at once.

5. An international crew of at most six people live and work while traveling at a speed of five miles per second, orbiting Earth about every 90 minutes.

Currently, six humans are living and working on the International Space Station, which orbits 250 miles above our planet at 17,500mph. 

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

It’s kick-off time! Pilot Dean “Gucci” Neeley is reporting for duty with answers to your questions in today’s Tumblr Answer Time!

Astronaut Journal Entry - Week 12

Currently, six humans are living and working on the International Space Station, which orbits 250 miles above our planet at 17,500mph. Below you will find a real journal entry, written in space, by NASA astronaut Scott Tingle.

To read more entires from this series, visit our Space Blogs on Tumblr.

Wow, time has gone by extremely fast. The mid-deployment phase will be short-lived for me this time, as the new crew (Drew Feustel, Ricky Arnold, and Oleg Artemyev) will arrive on March 23rd, and then we have at least one spacewalk on the 29th, followed by a planned SpaceX Dragon cargo craft arrival on the 4th of April. It’s a little strange being up here with only two other crewmates. We are still very busy, but the overall work effort is half of what it was just a week ago. My crewmate, Nemo (Norishige Kanai), and I are trying to use the time to prepare for the upcoming very busy schedule, and we have been having some great success getting a ton of details taken care of.  

Yesterday I had a funny event, though. I was controlling a robot named “Justin” who was located in Munich. The research and demonstration events were so interesting and fun that I offered them my lunch hour to do an additional protocol and have a longer debrief session. The ground team responded happily and accepted the offer – any extra time with crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS) is valuable to our programs. Halfway through the event, the team needed a few minutes to shut down and restart the robot, and I surmised that since I was skipping my break, this would be a good time to use the toilet. And I did, use the toilet. And literally 3 minutes later I returned, waited another 2 minutes for the robot systems to connect, and we began another great session controlling Justin from ISS with no loss to science. 

Later that same day, I was approached by the ground team in Houston (not the test team I was working with in Munich) and queried if something was wrong, and why did I have to take a toilet break while we were executing valuable science? They were concerned that I might have a medical issue, as taking a break in the middle of some very valuable science is not normal for us to do while on ISS. It’s nice to know that we have literally hundreds of highly-trained professionals looking out for us.

Find more ‘Captain’s Log’ entries HERE.

Follow NASA astronaut Scott Tingle on Instagram and Twitter.

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

What’s Up - July 2018

What's Up for July?

Mars is closest to Earth since 2003!

July’s night skies feature Mars opposition on the 27th, when Mars, Earth, and the Sun all line up, and Mars’ closest approach to Earth since 2003 on the 31st. 

If you've been sky watching for 15 years or more, then you'll remember August 2003, when Mars approached closer to Earth than it had for thousands of years.

It was a very small percentage closer, but not so much that it was as big as the moon as some claimed.   

Astronomy clubs everywhere had long lines of people looking through their telescopes at the red planet, and they will again this month!

 If you are new to stargazing, this month and next will be a great time to check out Mars. 

Through a telescope, you should be able to make out some of the light and dark features, and sometimes polar ice. Right now, though, a huge Martian dust storm is obscuring many features, and less planetary detail is visible.

July 27th is Mars opposition, when Mars, Earth, and the Sun all line up, with Earth directly in the middle.

A few days later on July 31st is Mars' closest approach. That's when Mars and Earth are nearest to each other in their orbits around the Sun. Although there will be a lot of news focusing on one or the other of these two dates, Mars will be visible for many months.

By the end of July, Mars will be visible at sunset.

But the best time to view it is several hours after sunset, when Mars will appear higher in the sky.

Mars will still be visible after July and August, but each month it will shrink in apparent size as it travels farther from Earth in its orbit around the Sun.

On July 27th a total lunar eclipse will be visible in Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and South America.

For those viewers, Mars will be right next to the eclipsing moon!

Next month will feature August's summer Perseids. It's not too soon to plan a dark sky getaway for the most popular meteor shower of the year! 

Watch the full What’s Up for July Video:

There are so many sights to see in the sky. To stay informed, subscribe to our What’s Up video series on Facebook.

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

Solar System: Things to Know This Week

Our solar system is huge, let us break it down for you. Here are a few things to know this week:

1. The New New Horizons

Seven months after the  Pluto flyby, information and discoveries continue to flow from the New Horizons mission, as the spacecraft transmits more and more data to scientists on Earth.

2. A Longlasting Dawn

The Dawn orbiter is in good health as it carries out the ongoing reconnaissance of the dwarf planet Ceres, which is revealing some spectacular and mysterious landscapes.

3. Storm Watch: Saturn

This week the Cassini spacecraft will be watching for storms in Saturn’s turbulent atmosphere. On March 6, it will spend about 14 hours acquiring a movie of the narrow, braided F ring. Check out some past photos of Saturnian storms HERE.

4. The Next Flight to Mars Departs Soon

The ExoMars 2016 mission, a joint endeavor between the European Space Agency and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, is set to lift off in March. The 2016 mission consists of the Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module. We’re supplying some of the technology that will fly aboard the orbiter. In 2018, the ExoMars rover is slated to follow.

5. Early Encounter with a Comet

As we continue to marvel at the latest images from Rosetta, this week is a good time to remember the 30th anniversary of the Vega 1 Comet Halley flyby. This Russian spacecraft dropped off a balloon probe at Venus before continuing on to the comet, which is photographed and examined at close range by flying through its coma.

Want to learn more? Read our full list of the 10 things to know this week about the solar system HERE.

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

The Shakespearean Moons of Uranus

This weekend marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, and we’re highlighting the moons of Uranus; some of which are named after characters from his works.

While most of the moons orbiting other planets take their names from Greek mythology, Uranus’ moons are unique in bing named for Shakespearean characters, along with a couple of them being named for characters from the works of Alexander Pope.

Using the Hubble Space Telescope and improved ground-based telescopes, astronomers have discovered a total of 27 known moons around Uranus.

Here’s a sampling of some of the unique aspects of the moons:

Miranda

Shakespearean work: The Tempest

Miranda, the innermost and smallest of the five major satellites, has a surface unlike any other moon that’s been seen. It has a giant fault canyon as much as 12 times as deep as the Grand Canyon, terraced layers and surfaces that appear very old, and others that look much younger.

Ariel

Shakespearean work: The Tempest

Ariel has the brightest and possibly the youngest surface among all the moons of Uranus. It has a few large craters and many small ones, indicating that fairly recent low-impact collisions wiped out the large craters that would have been left by much earlier, bigger strikes. Intersecting valleys pitted with craters scars its surface.

Oberon

Shakespearean work: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Oberon, the outermost of the five major moons, is old, heavily cratered and shows little signs of internal activity. Unidentified dark material appears on the floors of many of its craters.

Cordelia and Ophelia

Shakespearean works: Cordelia - King Lear; Ophelia - Hamlet

Cordelia and Ophelia are shepherd moons that keep Uranus’ thin, outermost “epsilon” ring well defined.

Between them and miranda is a swarm of eight small satellites unlike any other system of planetary moons. This region is so crowded that astronomers don’t yet understand how the little moons have managed to avoid crashing into each other. They may be shepherds for the planet’s 10 narrow rings, and scientists think there must be still more moons, interior to any known, to confine the edges of the inner rings.

Want to learn more about all of Uranus’s moons? Visit: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/uranus/moons

Check out THIS blog from our Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan, where she reflects on the life and legacy of William Shakespeare on the 400th anniversary of his death on April 23, 1616.

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

Will we need to wear the special glasses all day or just during that 2 hour window where viewing is happening?

Deffinelty do not wear them while driving or walking around as you can’t see anything out of them (they are very very dark). But while you are driving and walking you shouldn’t be looking at the Sun anyway. You only need to wear them while you are looking at the Sun. You can use them any day to view the Sun. In a few years, when the Sun once again becomes more active, you can use these glasses and pinhole projectors to see sunspots! Make sure to check that they are ISO 12312-2 compliant, from a trusted vendor, and not scratched or damaged before using them to look at the Sun. https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety 

Follow, follow the Sun / And which way the wind blows / When this day is done ⁣🎶 ⁣ Today, April 8, 2024, the last total solar eclipse until 2045 crossed North America.⁣

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