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TIMED satellite mission extended through 2010 APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY NEWS RELEASE Posted: May 30, 2006 Since its launch in 2001, NASA's TIMED (Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics) spacecraft, built and operated by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., has been exploring one of Earth's last atmospheric frontiers, collecting valuable data during various phases of the solar cycle. The TIMED community will now have the opportunity to further its studies of Earth's atmosphere when the mission begins an extended campaign in October 2006 with operations and data analysis continuing through 2010. The next phase of the mission will investigate the response of Earth's middle and upper atmosphere (the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere/Ionosphere, or MLTI) to solar and geomagnetic phenomena not previously separated during the last solar cycle. For the first time, TIMED scientists will obtain long-term measurements of the sun's activities and effects on the MLTI region. This will enable scientists to better understand this atmospheric region's variability and its effects on communications, satellite tracking, spacecraft lifetimes, degradation of spacecraft materials, and on the reentry of piloted vehicles. TIMED also joins the Heliophysics Great Observatory - a collection of NASA's sun-Earth-focused missions. "TIMED is a key mission within the Great Observatory focusing on the combined sun-Earth effects on our planet's middle and upper atmosphere," says Sam Yee, TIMED project scientist from APL. "During the next phase of our mission, we'll embark on new investigations to better understand the mechanisms leading to the escape of our upper atmosphere" Yee says. "Investigating the processes behind the loss of oxygen and hydrogen will help us understand the evolution of other planetary atmospheres including Venus and Mars. TIMED's extended mission will bring insights into atmospheric evolution and perhaps the fate of Earth's atmosphere." TIMED's continued study of solar effects on Earth's atmosphere will also help set the stage for future NASA Heliophysics missions, such as those within its Living With a Star program that focus on better understanding the sun's effects on life and society. During the extended mission, managed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, APL will continue to lead the project's science efforts and manage the mission's Science Data Center. The Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is a not for profit laboratory and division of The Johns Hopkins University. APL conducts research and development primarily for national security and for nondefense projects of national and global significance. APL is located midway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., in Laurel, Md. |
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The Boeing Delta 4 rocket launches from pad 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with the GOES-N spacecraft, beginning a new era in weather observing for the Americas.
As night fell over Kennedy Space Center on May 19, space shuttle Discovery reached launch pad 39B to complete the slow journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building. Discovery will be traveling much faster in a few weeks when it blasts off to the International Space Station.
The November 1985 flight of space shuttle Atlantis began with a rare nighttime blastoff. The seven-member crew, including a Mexican payload specialist, spent a week in orbit deploying three communications satellites for Australia, Mexico and the U.S. And a pair of high-visibility spacewalks were performed to demonstrate techniques for building large structures in space. The crew narrates the highlights of STS-61B in this post-flight crew film presentation.
Eight astronauts, the largest crew in history, spent a week in space during the fall of 1985 aboard shuttle Challenger for mission STS-61A, the first flight dedicated to the German Spacelab. The crew worked in the Spacelab D-1 laboratory conducting a range of experiments, including a quick-moving sled that traveled along tracks in the module. A small satellite was ejected from a canister in the payload bay as well. The astronauts narrate the highlights of the mission in this post-flight film.