Green ideas for future propulsion?

NASA is seeking technology demonstration proposals for green propellant alternatives to the highly toxic fuel hydrazine. As NASA works with American companies to open a new era of access to space, the agency seeks innovative and transformative fuels that are less harmful to our environment.

Hydrazine is an efficient and ubiquitous propellant that can be stored for long periods of time, but is also highly corrosive and toxic. It is used extensively on commercial and defense department satellites as well as for NASA science and exploration missions. NASA is looking for an alternative that decreases environmental hazards and pollutants, has fewer operational hazards and shortens rocket launch processing times.

“High performance green propulsion has the potential to significantly change how we travel in space,” said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA’s Space Technology Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “NASA’s Space Technology Program seeks out these sort of cross-cutting, innovative technologies to enable our future missions while also providing benefit to the American space industry. By reducing the hazards of handling fuel, we can reduce ground processing time and lower costs for rocket launches, allowing a greater community of researchers and technologists access to the high frontier.”

Beyond decreasing environmental hazards and pollutants, promising aspects of green propellants also include reduced systems complexity, fewer operational hazards, decreased launch processing times and increased propellant performance.

Maturing a space technology, such as green propellants, to mission readiness through relevant environment testing and demonstration is a significant challenge from a cost, schedule and risk perspective. NASA has established the Technology Demonstration Missions Program to perform this function, bridging the gap between laboratory confirmation of a technology and its initial use on an operational mission.

NASA anticipates making one or more awards in response to this solicitation, with no single award exceeding $50 million. Final awards will be made based on the strength of proposals and availability of funds. The deadline for submitting proposals is April 30.

The Technology Demonstration Missions Program is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. To view the announcement and instructions for submissions, visit:
http://go.usa.gov/Qbx
For more information about NASA’s Space Technology Program and Technology Demonstration Missions, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/oct

So you would like an experience at NASA?

If you are a U.S. citizen, you may want to check several possibilities by clicking on the image below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are not a U.S. citizen, there are also plenty of good opportunities – just check them by clicking on the image below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good luck, and please share your work experience with us here when you return!

Antimatter on Earth’s magnetic field and advanced propulsion systems

A thin band of antimatter particles called antiprotons enveloping the Earth has been spotted for the first time.

The find, described in Astrophysical Journal Letters, confirms theoretical work that predicted the Earth’s magnetic field could trap antimatter.

The team says a small number of antiprotons lie between the Van Allen belts of trapped “normal” matter.

The researchers say there may be enough to implement a scheme using antimatter to fuel future spacecraft.

The antiprotons were spotted by the Pamela satellite (an acronym for Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics) – launched in 2006 to study the nature of high-energy particles from the Sun and from beyond our Solar System – so-called cosmic rays.

These cosmic ray particles can slam into molecules that make up the Earth’s atmosphere, creating showers of particles.

Many of the cosmic ray particles or these “daughter” particles they create are caught in the Van Allen belts, doughnut-shaped regions where the Earth’s magnetic field traps them.

Among Pamela’s goals was to specifically look for small numbers of antimatter particles among the far more abundant normal matter particles such as protons and the nuclei of helium atoms.

‘Abundant source’

The new analysis, described in an online preprint, shows that when Pamela passes through a region called the South Atlantic Anomaly, it sees thousands of times more antiprotons than are expected to come from normal particle decays, or from elsewhere in the cosmos.

 Antiprotons “annihilate” if they come into contact with normal protons.

The team says that this is evidence that bands of antiprotons, analogous to the Van Allen belts, hold the antiprotons in place – at least until they encounter the normal matter of the atmosphere, when they “annihilate” in a flash of light.

Although normal matter particles outweigh the antiprotons by thousands to one, the band is “the most abundant source of antiprotons near the Earth”, said Alessandro Bruno of the University of Bari, a co-author of the work.

“Trapped antiprotons can be lost in the interactions with atmospheric constituents, especially at low altitudes where the annihilation becomes the main loss mechanism,” he told BBC News.

“Above altitudes of several hundred kilometres, the loss rate is significantly lower, allowing a large supply of antiprotons to be produced.”

Dr Bruno said that, aside from confirming theoretical work that had long predicted the existence of these antimatter bands, the particles could also prove to be a novel fuel source for future spacecraft – an idea explored in a report for Nasa’s Institute for Advanced Concepts.

Source: BBC News, August 7, 2011

NASA Shuttle Rap

NASA Informal Education at Kennedy Space Center produced a shuttle history rap – below is the video. It highlights the 1^st U.S. astronauts, 1^st U.S. woman in space, 1^st Hispanic, 1^st Afro-American flying in the shuttle, and much more, enjoy!

Brazilian Education Ministry & NASA together in the 2009 World Conference on Computers in Education

In the link below you will find an incredibly rich material. It comprises speeches from several NASA and Brazilian managers and specialists (including the first Brazilian astronaut) who worked together on a panel organized by the Brazilian Education Ministry on occasion of the 2009 World Conference on Computers in Education, held in Brazil. Content are on the right, in format  of videos, entitled MEC/NASA’s Workshop 2: “NASA’s Educational Technology @ a Glance and The Space Weather Action Center SWAC.” Enjoy!

And find below (on the right column) a keynote by educational technologist Troy Cline, about the NASA Space Weather Action Center (SWAC)

New Resources

Take a look at our list of links to lesson plans, podcasts, videos, images, and more. Do you have a project that worked at school and excited students? A video, an experiment that you would like to see published on this Web site? Send them to normareis@mec.gov.br

We will be glad to publish!

Space Events

Planning what to do in the coming months? Check our list of space events, and find out the ones that better fit your purposes!

NASA’s 2011 Future Forum – College Park, MD

Thursday, August 11, 2011
8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
University of Maryland
Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center
College Park, MD

 

Through NASA, America Continues to Dream Big: NASA’s future aeronautics, science and exploration missions are grand in scope and bold in stature. These future missions require investments in innovative technology, science and education today. More information.

NASA’s impact on the America’s technologies, workforce and economy are based on investments and innovations from the past. Today’s investments in education, science, innovation and space technology will maintain NASA’s position on the cutting-edge while stimulating our economy and the global competitiveness.

NASA’s missions are a catalyst for the creation of new products and services; new businesses and industries; and high-quality, sustainable jobs while also serving as an inspiration for young people to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and career paths.

Join NASA leadership, technologists, scientists, and engineers along with local business, science, technology, and education leaders as they discuss the future role of NASA in further advancing innovation, technology, science, engineering, education and the economy that benefits your community and the nation.

The Program will feature panel discussions on Innovation, Discovery, National Benefits, and Education, and will feature key speakers from NASA, including:

-       Dr. Robert Braun,  NASA Chief Technologist,
-       Dr. Waleed Abdalati,  NASA Chief Scientist, 
-       Dr. Laurie Leshin, Deputy Associate Administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and
-       Leland Melvin, Astronaut and NASA Associate Administrator for Education
Registration for this event has closed but please join us LIVE on the day of the event on NASA TV or via the web www.nasa.gov/ntv

Future Forums are day-long meetings to discuss the role of technology, innovation, science and education in our future space exploration plans and in sustaining economic development here on Earth.

NASA’s Future Forum series will be visiting university campuses around the country throughout this year.  We anticipate convening 3-4 additional Forums- geographically spread across the US where you can attend one near you.

Cosmology

So you think you have heard everything about cosmology?

In this case, you should read the article entitled Cosmic Agnosticism, in which the plasma physicist Dr. Timothy E. Eastman shares his intriguing viewpoints about the origins and fate of the cosmic ocean. Dr. Eastman works for Wyle Information Systems as a deputy group manager for science support at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Greetings from Brasil!

The Brazilian Education Ministry is located in Brasilia capital city (see picture from the Brazilian Congress on the left), a beautiful, inspiring, architectural city in central-Western Brasil. The Basic Education Secretariat at our Education Ministry is responsible for this thematic Web site, which is intended to improve education in Astronomy, Astronautics, and Space Sciences at precollege level. We invite you to access our blog to learn what is new in the “Astronomy, Astronautics, and Space Sciences” universe. We do hope to contribute to make your classes even more challenging, innovative, and engaging. Please visit our “English” area on our Web site to find several resources for your classroom. If you have texts, digital resources, ideas, links, projects that you would like to share with colleagues worldwide, please feel welcome to send to us via e-mail. We will be glad to publish them on our Web site!  Please send them now to normareis@mec.gov.br