Great things do happen to those who are patient. This morning, day 2 of launching the Orion spacecraft aboard a Delta IV-Heavy Rocket, we headed back out to the gantry at 4am. It felt kind of like de ja vu. In a way, it was. The bus ride, finding a spot on the grass, waiting a couple of hours for the sun to rise, and for all teams to be ‘Go’ for launch.
Maker Faire came to San Mateo this weekend. Inventors to tinkerers, from young to old, showed off their creations to tens of thousands of attendees. Maker Faire has been going on in the Bay Area since 2006, and is a gathering of tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, authors, artists, students, and commercial exhibitors.
On Wednesday night NASA Ames hosted the first IRIS Science Cafe at the NASA Ames Visitor Center. The science cafe program was the first in a series of evening programs NASA Ames is piloting. The first program focused on the IRIS spacecraft and was led by Kimberly, Gary Kushner, and Chris Hoffman.
Today I was invited over to NASA Ames to attend the science night and watch the live stream of the LADEE spacecraft launch onboard the Minotaur V rocket. Representatives from different missions and projects at NASA Ames were available to share their knowledge of the science that Ames is part of everyday.
IRIS is a solar observing satellite in polar orbit around the Earth. Because it is in polar orbit, the satellite can always see the sun. The goal of the mission is to study the sun and the energy transfer from the chromosphere to the corona of the sun by looking at the ultraviolet frequencies.
Tom Barclay is a Research Scientist at NASA Ames working on the Kepler mission. Kepler is trying to find other planets around the stars and answer the question of whether we are alone in the universe. The program is looking for other places that look like Earth. Even with recent problems with the spacecraft, there is a lot of data that has already revolutionized our understanding and will continue for another generation.
Koushik Datta is the Seedling Fund Manager and acting Deputy Director for the NASA Aeronautics Research Institute at NASA Ames Research Center. He spoke to the group of NASA Social attendees about the NARI last week. Here’s what he said.
