Tag: NASAs

Launch of NASA’s new space telescope delayed until Christmas Day

Liftoff of NASA’s James Webb Place Telescope, developed to peer farther than at any time into the universe, has been delayed until finally Xmas Day at the earliest, owing to very poor temperature at the launch internet site on South America’s northeastern coast, the area agency mentioned on Tuesday.

The 24-hour weather conditions delay at the Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana follows a two-working day postponement from an before Dec. 22 targeted launch window prompted by digital communications troubles in between the start auto and its payload, according to NASA.

Encapsulation of the impressive infrared telescope within the cargo bay of an Ariane 5 rocket was finished on Dec. 17. The rocket is now poised for blastoff involving 7:20 am and 7:52 am EST on Saturday. If all goes in accordance to program, the $9 billion instrument will be produced from the rocket just after a 26-minute experience into place. It will then just take the Webb telescope a thirty day period to coastline to its desired destination in solar orbit about 1 million miles from Earth – about four occasions the length from the moon.

By comparison, Webb’s 30-yr-old predecessor, the Hubble Room Telescope, orbits the Earth by itself from 340,000 miles away. Named for NASA’s main throughout most of the 1960s, Webb is about 100 occasions additional delicate than Hubble and is expected to revolutionise astronomers’ knowing of the universe and our put in it.

Webb largely will look at the cosmos in the infrared spectrum, making it possible for it to gaze via clouds of gasoline and dust where stars are becoming born, even though Hubble has operated mostly at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths. The new telescope’s main mirror – consisting of 18 hexagonal segments of gold-coated beryllium metallic – also has a substantially even bigger light-amassing region, enabling it to notice objects at higher distances, therefore farther back again into time, than Hubble.

That advance, astronomers say, will provide into perspective a glimpse of the cosmos under no circumstances beforehand noticed – courting back to just 100 million decades soon after the Significant Bang, the theoretical flashpoint that set in motion the expansion of the observable universe an estimated 13.8 billion several years ago.

Webb’s devices also make it ideal to look for for potentially existence-supporting atmospheres all around scores of freshly documented exoplanets – celestial bodies orbiting distant stars – and to notice worlds significantly nearer to property, this sort of as Mars and Saturn’s icy moon Titan.

The telescope is an international collaboration led by NASA in partnership with the European and Canadian place agencies. Northrop Grumman Corp was the most important contractor. The Ariane launch motor vehicle is aspect of the European contribution.

NASA’s new technology will roll out to airports, save time for passengers

(NASA) – Bill Nelson, NASA’s Administrator, visited Orlando International Airport in Florida Wednesday and met with aviation leaders to discuss implementing aircraft flight scheduling technology developed by the agency that will soon improve dependability for passengers – which is especially important during peak travel times like the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. 

In September, the technology that was tested during NASA’s Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) was transferred to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Large airports across the country – including Orlando International – will soon implement the technology. Nelson discussed the technology transfer with Greater Orlando Aviation Authority CEO Phil Brown.

“NASA’s partnership with the FAA is constantly delivering for the American people, improving the efficiency of the commercial airline industry for the environment and passengers across the country,” Nelson said. “Our flight scheduling technology, which makes it possible for personnel to better coordinate the movements of aircraft while they’re at the airport, will soon help ensure more passengers get off the ground and home for the holidays faster and more efficiently than ever before.”

NASA and the FAA completed nearly four years of surface operations research and testing to calculate gate pushbacks through time-based metering at busy hub airports, so that planes can roll directly to the runway to take off and avoid excessive taxi and hold times, reducing fuel use, emissions, and passenger delays. 

“As we deploy this software, the travel experience gets better for passengers all the while aviation’s emissions decrease. It’s a win-win,” said FAA Administrator Steve Dickson. “NASA remains a critical partner in the FAA’s efforts to build a sustainable aviation system.”

The FAA plans to deploy NASA’s surface metering technology initially to 27 airports, including Orlando International, as part of a larger investment in airport surface management technology called the Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM) program. Improved efficiency and shifting departure wait time from the taxiway to the gate saves fuel, reduces emissions, and gives airlines and passengers more flexibility in the period prior to leaving the gate.  

“The anticipated rollout of the updated TFDM in 2023 aligns with our projections for returning to pre-pandemic passenger traffic the same year,” Brown said. “These updates should result in a smoother experience for the traveling public and enhance ‘The Orlando Experience’ we strive to offer every day at our world-class airport.”

NASA’s ATD-2 team first put their aircraft scheduling technology to the test with real-world users in September 2017 at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. By September 2021, the integrated arrival and departure system (IADS) tools had saved more than 1 million gallons of jet fuel. Those savings were made possible by reducing jet engine run time, which also decreases maintenance costs and saved airlines an estimated nearly $1.4 million in flight crew costs. Overall, passengers were spared 933 hours in flight delays and saved an estimated $4.5 million in value of time.

NASA released a video for media highlighting the successful tests at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and a video on reduced carbon dioxide emissions. NASA has also previously released field demo and concept animation to showcase the full scope of improving travel for airports across the country which you can learn more about on NASA’s ATD-2 page.

NASA’s Airspace Technology Demonstration portfolio included two other field demonstrations. ATD-1 featured new ground-based and flight deck technologies that enable use of fuel-efficient procedures throughout the entire arrival phase of flight. These technologies are now in the final stages of implementation by the FAA and industry. ATD-3 focused on providing pilots and air traffic managers with options for adjusting aircraft flight paths based on real-time input including wind and weather conditions and other air traffic.