Washington, U.S.A. – NASA is seeking proposals from accredited U.S. universities focused on innovative, early-stage space technologies that will improve shielding from space radiation, spacecraft thermal management and optical systems.

Each of these technology areas requires dramatic improvements over existing capabilities for future science and human exploration missions. Early stage, or low technology readiness level (TRL) concepts, could mature into tools that solve the hard challenges facing future NASA missions. Researchers should propose unique, disruptive or transformational space technologies that address the specific topics described in this new solicitation.

“Both science and human deep space missions pose serious challenges that require new, innovative technological solutions,” said Space Technology Program Director Michael Gazarik at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Radiation, thermal management and optical systems were all identified in the National Research Council’s report on NASA Space Technology Roadmaps as priority research areas. This call seeks new ideas in these areas.”

Space radiation poses a known danger to the health of astronauts. NASA is seeking proposals in the area of active radiation shielding (such as “shields” of electromagnetic force fields surrounding a spacecraft to block incoming radiation) or new, multifunction materials that are superior to those that exist today are sought. NASA also is interested in new technologies for active monitoring and read-out of radiation levels astronauts receive during long space trips.

Current space technology for thermal management of fuels in space is limited. NASA is seeking early-stage technologies to improve ways spacecraft fuel tanks and in-space filling stations store cryogenic (very low temperature) propellants, such as hydrogen, over long periods of time and distances. NASA also is seeking novel, low-TRL heat rejection technologies which operate reliably and efficiently over a wide range of thermal conditions.

The next generation of lightweight mirrors and telescopes requires advanced optical systems. NASA is seeking advancement of early-stage active wavefront sensing and control system technologies that enable deployable, large aperture space-based observatories; technologies which enable cost-effective development of grazing-incidence optical systems; and novel techniques to focus and detect X-ray photons and other high-energy particles.

NASA expects to make approximately 10 awards this fall, based on the merit of proposals received. The awards will be made for one year, with an additional year of research possible. The typical annual award value is expected to be approximately $250,000.

Image Courtesy of  NASA

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On March 17th, NASA’s spacecraft MESSENGER revealed surprising details about Mercury’s interior and topography, changing astronomers’ understanding of the small planet and how it was formed.

MESSENGER (MErcury Space Surface ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is the first spacecraft sent to orbit and study Mercury, which orbits the Sun a mere 36 million miles away. It’s the innermost and hottest planet in our solar system. MESSENGER was launched in August 2004. Before traveling to Mercury, it made a series of flybys around the Earth (once) and Venus (twice).

MESSENGER finally arrived at Mercury on March 18, 2011 and went around three times. Using radio signals, the spacecraft studied Mercury’s gravitational field, magnetic field, topography, internal geological structure, and chemical composition. Because the results of MESSENGER’S flybys around Mercury were so valuable, its mission was extended to last for another year in November 2011.

Mercury’s topography has changed many times since Mercury was fully formed, meaning that there has been a considerable amount of geological activity. For that reason, before studying any of the planet’s internal structure and history, MESSENGER first produced an accurate map of Mercury’s gravitational field using information derived from the planet’s topography and spin state.

Thereafter, two studies were conducted simultaneously, examining Mercury’s internal structure and geography. In one study, the researchers involved with MESSENGER discovered that the planet’s core was much larger than previously thought: it takes up 85 percent of the planet’s radius. Furthermore, it is liquid instead of solid. Previously, scientists assumed that Mercury would have been cooled enough by now for the core to be solid.

Above the core lies an unusual layer that is composed of solid sulphur and iron – a layer not found in the other rocky planets in the Solar System. The outer layers of the internal structure consist of a solid silicate crust and mantle. It is thought that inside the larger liquid core lies a smaller solid core composed of sulphur and iron.

The other study of Mercury’s topography produced other surprising discoveries. When MESSENGER’s Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) produced a topographic model of the northern hemisphere and areas in the mid-latitude range, researchers learned that the elevation spread is smaller than similar regions on the Moon and Mars. The area that sticks out the most is lowlands that contain the northern volcanic plains.

Moreover, according to the Carnegie Institute for Science’s press release,

“… the interior plains of Caloris impact basin — 1,550 kilometers (960 miles) in diameter — have been modified so that part of the basin floor now stands higher than the rim. The elevated portion appears to be part of a quasi-linear rise that extends for approximately half the planetary circumference at mid-latitudes. These features imply that large-scale changes to Mercury’s topography occurred after the era of impact basin formation and large-scale emplacement of volcanic plains had ended.”

This new knowledge of Mercury’s internal structure and topography gives insight as to how Mercury formed thermally and how the planet’s magnetic field is generated. Details of the findings of each study from MESSENGER’s mission will appear in two separate papers, which will appear on March 23 in the journal Science.

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Geophysical Research Letters reports that scientists have confirmed the presence of oxygen in the upper atmosphere of Dione, one of Saturn’s many moons.  The international team responsible for the announcement reported that it noticed the trace amounts of the element from data collected by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

A sensor on the Cassini spacecraft, named the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer, picked up signals that indicated oxygen ions were present in an area of space where Dione had just been during a pass by the moon in 2010.  After another recent run, the team was able to verify that oxygen does in fact exist in Saturn’s moon, although not in large amounts.

According to Team Leader Robert Toker: “It’s not enough to sustain life, but–together with similar observations of other moons around Saturn and Jupiter–these are definitive examples of a process by which a lot of oxygen can be produced in icy celestial bodies that are bombarded by charged particles or photons from the Sun or whatever light source happens to be nearby.”

The amount of oxygen present in Dione is roughly the equivalent of what is present in the Earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of 300 miles. Dione was discovered in 1684 by the astronomer Giovanni Cassini, who lends his name to the aforementioned spacecraft.  Dione is one of 62 known moons that orbit Saturn.  It is small, clocking in at only 700 miles wide.  Its surface exists only as a thick layer of watery ice that bears marks and scars from an innumerable number of asteroid collisions, inside of which lies a hard, solid core.

Although Dione and the Earth’s moon both orbit their respective planet at around the same distance, Dione completes its orbit in roughly a tenth of the amount of time Earth’s moon does, coming full circle in about 2.7 days.

As it circles Saturn, Dione is assailed by ions, or charged particles, from Saturn’s magnetosphere.  These hit Dione’s icy surface with enough strength to violently throw up molecular oxygen ions into the moon’s small atmosphere, in a process that is known as sputtering.  The oxygen particles are then pulled away from Dione by Saturn’s magnetosphere.

Although the announcement has disproven the idea of life existing on Dione, showing its oxygen levels are much too low, it has opened the door for different possibilities.  Other icy worlds and moons not thought to have oxygen could now be shown to harbor the element within their atmospheres, and with such discoveries comes the tantalizing idea of oxygen-based life forms.  Hopefully more research can shed light on the subject.

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Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) has captured the best and most complete glimpse yet of what lies beyond the solar system. The new measurements give clues about how and where our solar system formed, the forces that physically shape our solar system, and the history of other stars in the Milky Way.

The Earth-orbiting spacecraft observed four separate types of atoms including hydrogen, oxygen, neon and helium. These interstellar atoms are the byproducts of older stars, which spread across the galaxy and fill the vast space between stars. IBEX determined the distribution of these elements outside the solar system, which are flowing charged and neutral particles that blow through the galaxy, or the so-called interstellar wind.

“IBEX is a small Explorer mission and was built with a modest investment,” said Barbara Giles, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The science achievements though have been truly remarkable and are a testament to what can be accomplished when we give our nation’s scientists the freedom to innovate.”

In a series of science papers appearing in the Astrophysics Journal on Jan. 31, scientists report finding 74 oxygen atoms for every 20 neon atoms in the interstellar wind. In our own solar system, there are 111 oxygen atoms for every 20 neon atoms. This translates to more oxygen in any part of the solar system than in nearby interstellar space.

“Our solar system is different than the space right outside it, suggesting two possibilities,” says David McComas, IBEX principal investigator, at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “Either the solar system evolved in a separate, more oxygen-rich part of the galaxy than where we currently reside, or a great deal of critical, life-giving oxygen lies trapped in interstellar dust grains or ices, unable to move freely throughout space.”

The new results hold clues about the history of material in the universe. While the big bang initially created hydrogen and helium, only the supernovae explosions at the end of a star’s life can spread the heavier elements of oxygen and neon through the galaxy. Knowing the amounts of elements in space may help scientists map how our galaxy evolved and changed over time.

Scientists want to understand the composition of the boundary region that separates the nearest reaches of our galaxy, called the local interstellar medium, from our heliosphere. The heliosphere acts as a protective bubble that shields our solar system from most of the dangerous galactic cosmic radiation that otherwise would enter the solar system from interstellar space.

IBEX measured the interstellar wind traveling at a slower speed than previously measured by the Ulysses spacecraft, and from a different direction. The improved measurements from IBEX show a 20 percent difference in how much pressure the interstellar wind exerts on our heliosphere.

“Measuring the pressure on our heliosphere from the material in the galaxy and from the magnetic fields out there will help determine the size and shape of our solar system as it travels through the galaxy,” says Eric Christian, IBEX mission scientist, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The IBEX spacecraft was launched in October 2008. Its science objective is to discover the nature of the interactions between the solar wind and the interstellar medium at the edge of our solar system.

The Southwest Research Institute developed and leads the IBEX mission with a team of national and international partners. The spacecraft is one of NASA’s series of low-cost, rapidly developed missions in the Small Explorers Program. Goddard manages the program for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

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Working with the Palomar Observatory near San Diego and the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii and using NASA’s spacecraft Kepler, astronomers from the California Institute of Technology have found three teeny, rocky, extrasolar planets (otherwise known as exoplanets, which lie beyond our solar system).

NASA launched Kepler in 2009 to search for Earth-like planets that orbit stars in the habitable zone, a region colloquially called the “Goldilocks Zone”, in which a planet must not be too close or too far from a star, so that its temperature would be just right to be habitable for life. Kepler uses a method called transiting to accomplish its mission: it sees if any stars have slight dips in brightness caused by a planet, which eventually eclipses its parent star sometime during its orbit.

The freshly discovered planetary system’s star is named KOI-961 (KOI is an acronym for Kepler Object in Question). Approximately 130 light-years from the Earth, KOI-961 is a red dwarf – a pipsqueak of a star compared to the Sun, which is six times larger. KOI-961 is similar to a nearby star, Barnard’s Star, which is also a red dwarf. Astronomers used information about Barnard’s Star to determine KOI-961′s characteristics, which were then used to calculate its companion planets’ sizes.

The planets’ names are KOI-961.01, KOI-961.02, and KOI-961.03 and have the radii of 0.78, 0.73, and 0.57 times that of the Earth, respectively. The smallest, KOI-961.03, is about the size of Mars, and the other two are about the size of Venus. All three do not lie in habitable zones; they orbit their parent star too closely, and one year equals two days.

Due to their incredibly close orbits, they are too hot to form liquid, let alone for life to thrive. Temperatures are hundreds of degrees, with the closest, KOI-961.01, having a surface temperature of nearly 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (500°C).

This planetary system is the tiniest known to astronomers. John Johnson, assistant professor of astronomy at Caltech and co-author of the team’s paper, states in the Caltech press release, “It’s actually more similar to Jupiter and its moons in scale than any other planetary system. The discovery is further proof of the diversity of planetary systems in our galaxy.”

Red dwarfs are the most common type of star in our home galaxy, the Milky Way, making up eight out of every ten stars. Because of their ubiquity, Kepler may find more planetary systems with red dwarfs as parent stars. “That boosts the chances of other life being in the universe – that’s the ultimate result here,” Johnson says.

In the past, Kepler has found numerous gas giants around the sizes of Jupiter and Neptune. Its most recent discoveries occurred in December 2011, when it detected Kepler-22b, the first planet discovered to orbit in the habitable zone, and Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, the first Earth-sized exoplanets detected.

The more planets Kepler detects nowadays, the more they become smaller and rockier, it seems. Kepler’s last two discoveries increases the probability that there may be more rocky exoplanets than astronomers thought, thereby, boosting the chance of the existence of extraterrestrial life.

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In 2009, NASA launched Kepler to search for planets outside the solar system – called extrasolar planets, or exoplanets – that are Earth-sized and have a chance of harboring life. As of December 2011, the spacecraft has discovered 2,326 exoplanets, over a hundred of which are likely candidates to meet the requirements.

A team of astronomers at NASA decided in early January to give Kepler an additional mission of hunting for extrasolar moons, or exomoons. The team believes in the potential existence of exomoons. Natural satellites only survive half the time when they and their companion planets are still undergoing evolution, though the many moons in our solar system increase the possibility.

With this new mission, titled Hunt of Exomoons with Kepler (HEK), Kepler may find life on these moons as well as on exoplanets and help astronomers understand planetary evolution and the formation of natural satellites. Kepler will first look at the exoplanets cataloged thus far to see if any of them have any such natural satellites. The exomoons would have to be similar in size, or larger, than our Moon because they would be easiest for the spacecraft to detect.

It is also possible that exomoons are capable of harboring life. In our solar system, Jupiter’s Europa and Saturn’s Enceladus have liquid water beneath their surfaces. It is not known for sure if these two large moons contain life, though the presence of water heightens the probability as well as the probability that exomoons may be habitable.

Kepler will attempt to search for exomoons through two means: dynamical effects and eclipses features. With dynamical effects, the spacecraft would observe and measure the gravitational effect between the exoplanet and the exomoon (i.e. how much they tug on each other).

The amount of gravitational effects on the two bodies would determine whether or not the system would be a planet-moon system or a binary-planet system (it would be easy for the former to be mistaken with the latter). With eclipse features, Kepler would be on the lookout for solar and lunar eclipses, involving the exomoon, its companion planet, and their star. Kepler would see if the exomoon may make subtle changes in a star’s brightness through eclipsing the star, which would drop a bit in brightness.

Once Kepler finds an exomoon, it would be able to determine its size and mass based on the gravitational effect and eclipse features. Upon discovering the size and mass, it would then calculate the density. Thereafter, the exomoon’s composition can be determined, giving insight as to how to the exomoon formed and, ultimately, revealing the process of planetary evolution.

“Extrasolar moons represent an outstanding challenge in modern observational astronomy,” writes head author David Kipping in the team’s paper. Kipping,  a member of the team at NASA, is an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“Their detection and study would yield a revolution in the understanding of planet/moon formation and evolution, but perhaps most provocatively, they could be frequent seats for life in the Galaxy.”

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In early January, researchers at the California Institute of California (Caltech) created a computer model that reproduces Titan’s atmosphere and methane cycle, solving Titan’s weather phenomena that were once inexplicable.

Having a surface temperature of approximately -300°F (-183°C), Titan is one of Saturn’s largest moons. It has a thick atmosphere of methane, a gas deadly for humans. Titan, the only other planetary body in the solar system that has large bodies of liquid on the surface, contains lakes and precipitation of liquid methane. For nearly a decade, researchers at Caltech have noticed bizarre geographical settings and meteorological occurrences.

The first was noticed in 2009 by Odel Aharonson, leader of planetary science at Caltech. He noted that the lakes tended to cluster around Titan’s poles, more so in the northern pole than in the southern. This leaves areas around the equator very dry, lacking in clouds, precipitation, and bodies of liquid.

But in 2005, the space probe Huygens observed a presence of deep channels which look carved out by running liquid. Lastly, regions in the middle and around high altitudes contain clouds that cluster during Titan’s summer in the southern hemisphere.

Previously, scientists have created computer models to account for these meteorological mysteries, though none of them were successful. The newer model, which is three dimensional and simulates Titan’s atmosphere for the past 135 Titan years (equivalent to 3000 Earth years), manages to explain the phenomena by reproducing the distribution of clouds and lakes.

According to the newest model, more lakes exist in the northern hemisphere because Titan is farther from the Sun during the summer due to Saturn’s elliptical orbit, and since Titan is at the far end of Saturn’s orbit the, summer is longer in the northern pole. As Tapio Schneider explains in the Caltech press release, “Methane tends to collect in lakes around the poles because the sunlight there is weaker on average.”

Schneider is a co-author of the paper about the simulation’s findings published in the January 5th issue of Nature and is the Frank J. Gilloon Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering. Hence, without much heat from the Sun, the methane is unable to exist in the gaseous state at the north pole and remains in the liquid state.

To account for the second oddity, the model shows that Titan is closer to the Sun during the moon’s southern summer. Consequently, the rains are more intense here than in the northern hemisphere; however, the model further shows that more lakes exist in the north because storms occur more frequently than they do in the south.

This newer model also explains the presence of liquid-carved channels in the parched equator by producing a simulation that shows rain occurring during the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Even though these rains are rare, they are quite intense: at the time of the equinoxes, Titan’s poles reverse, causing unstable weather patterns.

“The results for the first time give us a unified picture of how Titan’s methane cycle works,” Schneider tells Space.com. “What I find most satisfying is that many seemingly disparate observations – clouds, lakes, dry river beds – can be explained within one sparse and coherent framework.”

In addition to simulating its atmosphere and methane cycle, the model can also predict Titan’s weather several years in advance, similar to how we are able to predict Earth’s. For instance, the researchers have determined that lake levels will rise in the northern hemisphere for the next fifteen years, and over the next two years, more clouds will form at the north pole.

“This is just the beginning,” Scheinder adds. “We now have a tool to do new science with, and there’s a lot we can do and will do.”

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In September 2011, for the 11th mission of their Discovery Program, NASA launched the twin spacecraft GRAIL (Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory), GRAIL A and GRAIL B, which entered the Moon’s orbit during New Year’s weekend. For the first six months of 2012, the spacecraft will produce the most detailed and accurate map of the Moon’s gravitational field yet.

The Moon, the earth’s natural satellite, has the most unique gravitational field of all the other rocky bodies’ in the inner solar system: it is lumpy, and the lumpiest of them all. The surface, which generally affects gravitational fields, is itself lumpy, having various geological structures, such as craters, smooth plains, flat lava flows, and mountains. The surface came to be as it is today because asteroids and other space junk smashed into the natural satellite when it was still forming.

To measure its gravitational field, GRAIL A and GRAIL B will orbit the Moon at a low altitude. This way, their instruments would be more sensitive and will more likely produce accurate results. Orbiting in tandem, they will measure the changes of the distance between each other caused by the differences in strength of the field.

NASA plans for the mission to end in June, but hopes to keep the twin spacecraft studying the Moon for an additional six months to find out additional information about the natural satellite. Through mapping the gravitational field, GRAIL A and GRAIL B can also study the structure of the lithosphere (the crust) and what the Moon is like below the surface. They may then find out if there is presence of a solid core and discover what the Moon’s thermal evolution was like (i.e. how the natural satellite heated and cooled).

If GRAIL A and GRAIL B successfully determined all of this information, we would be given insight as to how the Moon formed.

“This mission will rewrite the textbooks on the evolution of the Moon,” says Maria Zuber in a NASA press release. Zuber is the GRAIL principal investigator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In turn, we would discover the planetary evolution process of other rocky bodies in the solar system, particularly Earth’s, since the Moon is essentially an entire geological record of the solar system, which is aged 4.5 billion years.

Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator, adds in another NASA press release, “NASA greets the new year with a new mission of exploration. The twin GRAIL spacecraft will vastly expand our knowledge of our moon and the evolution of our own planet. We begin this year reminding people around the world that NASA does big, bold things in order to reach for new heights and reveal the unknown.”

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