Date: March 14th 2009

There are 2 messages totalling 110 lines in this issue

Topics of the day:

RESULTS FROM VENUS, MOON MISSIONS HIGHLIGHT CONFERENCE
FINAL PIECE OF NASA'S NEXT-GENERATION ROCKET HEADS TO LAUNCH SITE

Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:35:14 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: RESULTS FROM VENUS, MOON MISSIONS HIGHLIGHT CONFERENCE

March 13, 2009

William Jeffs Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111

Mary Cloud Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston 281-486-2143

Report #J09-006

RESULTS FROM VENUS, MOON MISSIONS HIGHLIGHT CONFERENCE

HOUSTON Ã‚Â– Early science results from the Kaguya, Chandrayaan-1 and Chang'e-1 lunar missions and the Venus Express spacecraft will highlight the 40th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference March 23-27 in Houston

The conference will include presentations on the latest findings from these missions and special sessions on the icy satellites of Jupiter and Saturn and the MESSENGER spacecraft's two flybys of Mercury last year Exciting new results from a variety of planetary science disciplines also will be presented Leading scientists from around the world will attend to discuss these and other topics at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in The Woodlands, Texas

Media may register to attend For LPSC press information including links to the program, media advisories and contact information, visit:

http://www lpi usra edu/meetings/lpsc2009/index shtml

Data from recent missions continue to offer space scientists worldwide new information and imagery to study The major objectives of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kaguya mission, launched Sept 14, 2007, are to gather scientific data on lunar origin and evolution and to develop technology for future lunar exploration The Chinese National Space Administration's Chang'e-1 was launched Oct 24, 2007 Its goal is to make three-dimensional images of the many lunar landforms and outline maps of major lunar geological structures

The two-year mission of Chandrayaan-1, launched last October by the Indian Space Research Organization, is to map the lunar surface and investigate its properties

The European Space Agency's Venus Express spacecraft has observed an eerie glow in the nighttime atmosphere of Venus This imagery is showing scientists that the atmosphere of Earth's nearest neighbor is a place of high winds and turbulence The spacecraft was launched Nov 9, 2005, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan

"This conference provides an exciting opportunity for planetary scientists to meet and discuss basic research of planetary bodies and science results from missions," said Eileen Stansbery, director of the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate at NASA's Johnson Space Center "The results presented here show our increased understanding of our solar system and the bodies of which it is made as well as the limits of that understanding, new questions to answer and the opportunities for the future "

The conference is presented by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) LPI is managed by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), a national, nonprofit consortium of universities chartered in 1969 by the National Academy of Sciences at the request of NASA USRA operates programs and institutes focused on research and education in most of the disciplines engaged in space-related science and engineering Institutional membership in USRA now stands at 100 leading research universities For more information about LPI, visit:

www lpi usra edu

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:

www nasa gov

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NASA Johnson Space Center Mission Status Reports and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to listserv@listserver jsc nasa gov In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type "subscribe hsfnews" (no quotes) This will add the e-mail address that sent the subscribe message to the news release distribution list The system will reply with a confirmation via e-mail of each subscription Once you have subscribed you will receive future news releases via e-mail To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to listserv@listserver jsc nasa gov with the following command in the body of your e-mail message: "unsubscribe hsfnews" (no quotes) or from another account, besides the account used to subscribe: "unsubscribe hsfnews youremail@yourdomain com" (no quotes)

Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:17:10 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: FINAL PIECE OF NASA'S NEXT-GENERATION ROCKET HEADS TO LAUNCH SITE

March 13, 2009

Ashley Edwards/Grey Hautaluoma Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1756/0668

Daniel Kanigan Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala 256-544-0034

Lynnette Madison Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111

Report #H09-060

FINAL PIECE OF NASA'S NEXT-GENERATION ROCKET HEADS TO LAUNCH SITE

PROMONTORY, Utah -- The final pieces of the Ares I-X flight test rocket left the Alliant Tech Systems manufacturing facility in Promontory, Utah, Thursday and began a 2,917-mile journey to its launch site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida

The first stage motor segments are the last shipment of Ares I-X major hardware elements The hardware will arrive in Florida later this month and undergo final processing and preparations before being stacked with the other portions of the rocket

"This shipment means great things for the Ares I-X mission," said Ares I-X Deputy Mission Manager, Steve Davis "It's wonderful to see the next generation of American spaceflight continue to take shape The excitement is really building now as we start stacking the pieces and preparing for launch later this year "

The Ares I-X will be the first flight test for the Ares I rocket; the agency's next-generation spacecraft and crew launch vehicle system The flight will provide NASA an early opportunity to test and prove hardware, analysis models, facilities and ground operations associated with Ares I The Ares I-X rocket is a combination of existing and simulator hardware that will resemble the Ares I rocket in size, shape and weight It will provide valuable data to guide the final design of the Ares I The test flight also will bring NASA one step closer to its goals of returning to the moon, and traveling to destinations beyond The Ares I-X launch is scheduled later in 2009

The Ares I-X first stage uses a four-segment solid rocket motor, capable of generating 3 3 million pounds of thrust The motor provides the primary propulsion for the vehicle from liftoff to stage separation 120 seconds into the flight The motor segments were taken from the existing space shuttle solid rocket booster inventory for the flight test The booster used for the Ares I-X flight test is being modified to meet Ares needs by adding new forward structures and a fifth segment simulator to better replicate the size and shape of the Ares I crew launch vehicle

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala , manages the first stage project for the Ares I-X mission, located at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston

For information about the Ares I-X mission, visit:

http://www nasa gov/mission_pages/constellation/ares/flighttests/aresIx/index html

To follow the progress of the Ares I-X mission with the Ares I-X blog, visit:

http://blogs nasa gov/cm/blog/Ares%20I-X

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www nasa gov

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End of HSFNEWS Digest - 12 Mar 2009 to 14 Mar 2009 (#2009-18)

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