Sunday:
October 3, 2004 | |
0009 GMT |
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Genesis samples 'looking very, very good'
The Genesis team is preparing to ship its samples of the Sun from the mission's temporary cleanroom at the U.S. Army Proving Ground, Dugway, Utah, to NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston.
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DART spacecraft moves one step closer to fall launch
NASA is planning to launch the Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) flight demonstrator in late October. The launch is planned no earlier than Oct. 26 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The mission is an in-space demonstration of an autonomous rendezvous prototype system.
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Saturday:
October 2, 2004 | |
0157 GMT |
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Giant 'pinhole camera' for exoplanet studies
A NASA institute has selected a new University of Colorado at Boulder proposal for further study that describes how existing technologies can be used to study planets around distant stars with the help of an orbiting "starshade."
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NASA technology means no more flying blind
Imagine a world where pilots see clear skies all the time. It's not some weather fantasyland, but a revolutionary cockpit display technology called Synthetic Vision. NASA is developing it to make flying safer.
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OTHER HEADLINES Additional stories today
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Software links pediatric doctors with new research -- Conjoined twins from Guatemala and the Philippines were recently separated after marathon surgeries in the United States, since their small communities lacked the quality medical care for the delicate procedure. Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are working with doctors on a computer system that might eventually allow such high-tech surgeries to be performed in a remote country using a virtual pediatric intensive care unit.
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Friday:
October 1, 2004 | |
0302 GMT |
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Scientists say supernova explosions imminent
Three powerful recent blasts from three wholly different regions in space have left scientists scrambling. The blasts, which lasted only a few seconds, might be early alert systems for star explosions called supernovae, which could start appearing any day.
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Evidence shaky for role of Sun in past climate changes
Computer models of Earth's climate have consistently linked long-term, high-magnitude variations in solar output to past climate changes. Now a closer look at earlier studies of the Sun and Sun-like stars casts doubt on the evidence of such cycles, their intensity, and their possible influence on Earth's climate.
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ORBIMAGE to be NextView provider, build OrbView-5
ORBIMAGE has been awarded a major contract by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, valued at approximately $500 million. It will allow for the development of OrbView-5, ORBIMAGE's next-generation high-resolution imaging satellite.
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Thursday:
September 30, 2004 | |
0001 GMT |
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SpaceShipOne takes wild suborbital flight
SpaceShipOne pilot Mike Melvill, struggling to regain control after the futuristic-looking craft went into an unexpected roll, shut down the spaceplane's engine 11 seconds early Wednesday in the first of two flights aimed at capturing the coveted X Prize.
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MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
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Study suggests space may decrease human immunity
A NASA-funded study has found the human body's ability to fight off disease may be decreased by spaceflight. The effect may even linger after an astronaut's return to Earth following long flights.
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Music rings of Saturn
Looking something like the fibrous bow of a violin, Saturn's colorful rings sweep through this spectacular natural color view while two small moons look on.
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Wednesday:
September 29, 2004 | |
0230 GMT |
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SpaceShipOne goes for first X Prize launch today
The privately-funded SpaceShipOne rocket plane will soar to the edge of space today with astronaut Mike Melvill aboard during the first of two flights needed to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
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Large asteroid will zoom safely past Earth
A mountain-sized asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth on Wednesday. Although asteroid 4179 Toutatis will come no closer than four times the distance between the Earth and the moon, this will be the closest approach of any known asteroid of comparable size this century.
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NASA explores advanced space concepts
Twelve proposals to boldly go beyond the frontiers of space exploration were selected by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts for a six-month study period beginning in October 2004, including magnetized beamed plasma propulsion and an infrared observatory near the lunar pole.
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X-43A captive carry rehearsal flight successful
NASA aeronautics researchers are looking forward to flying the X-43A research aircraft at speeds up to 10 times the speed of sound later this fall, following a successful "captive carry" dress rehearsal flight from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center this week.
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Tuesday:
September 28, 2004 | |
0226 GMT |
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Mars orbiter sees rover, lander and even tracks
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, starting its third mission extension this week after seven years of orbiting the Red Planet, is using an innovative technique to capture pictures even sharper than most of the more than 170,000 it has already produced. One dramatic example from the spacecraft's camera shows wheel tracks of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit and the rover itself.
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Jeanne 'kindler, gentler' to KSC than Frances
The Kennedy Space Center suffered additional wind and water damage from Hurricane Jeanne, but officials said Monday the spaceport never experienced hurricane-force winds and that Frances caused considerably more damage.
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OTHER HEADLINES Additional stories today
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Mars Express hints about water loss in the atmosphere -- Recent results from the ASPERA-3 instrument on board Mars Express confirm that a very efficient process is at work in the Martian atmosphere which could explain the loss of water. Water is believed to have once been abundant on the Red Planet.

Maneuver keeps MESSENGER probe on track -- MESSENGER marked its 52nd day of flight operations with a burst from its thrusters, completing a maneuver last week that kept it on course for next summer's Earth flyby.
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Monday:
September 27, 2004 | |
0005 GMT |
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Shuttle fleet safe after Jeanne hits Florida
NASA's space shuttle orbiters appear to have weathered the worst of Hurricane Jeanne without any damage, although the Kennedy Space Center's battered Vehicle Assembly Building has lost additional siding panels. The rideout crew at the Florida spaceport has started assessing the damage.
HURRICANE STATUS CENTER - updates
SPACEPORT RIDEOUT CREW ON STATION
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Bigelow's Gamble
The Bigelow Aerospace project to privately develop inflatable Earth-orbit space modules is beginning to integrate diverse U.S. and European technologies into subscale and full-scale inflatable test modules and subsystems at the company's heavily guarded facilities.
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Herding Saturn's rings
Saturn's moon Prometheus is seen shepherding the inner edge of Saturn's F ring. Prometheus is 63 miles across and was captured in a close-up view by the Cassini spacecraft near the time of orbital insertion at Saturn. A number of clumps are visible here along the arcing F ring.
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Desert rover helps NASA learn to search for Mars life
A dedicated team of scientists is spending the next four weeks in northern Chile's Atacama Desert. They are studying the scarce life that exists there and, in the process, helping NASA learn more about how primitive life forms could exist on Mars.
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OTHER HEADLINES Additional stories today
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U.S. Navy awards $2 billion satellite contract -- The U.S. Navy announced Friday that a team led by Lockheed Martin has won the competition to build the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), a next-generation narrowband tactical satellite communications system that will provide significantly improved and assured communications for the mobile warfighter.
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