NASA's latest endeavor

The 6 astronauts are planned to raise off into space on shuttle Endeavour’s final mission today, reminding the world of the United States’ sustained leadership in space. And while Endeavour will complete its final voyage, the Obama administration’s commitment to human exploration remains as strong as ever. American astronauts keep on to live and work aboard the International Space Station 24 hours a day, as they have for more than 10 years. And this critical research facility in low- Earth orbit will continue to be the anchor of our human spaceflight for the next decade.

NASA is committed to maintaining America’s leadership role in human exploration and sending U.S. astronauts into space aboard American-made spacecraft. It’s time for NASA to get out of the expensive business of owning and operating space transportation systems to service the International Space Station, and focus our limited resources on developing new vehicles to take us farther into deep space. We recognize this is a difficult time for much of the devoted workforce that has made the shuttle program the incredible success it has been for three decades. However, this new approach will spur economic activity, create jobs and allow NASA to focus on the really hard stuff such as sending humans to an asteroid or Mars.

President Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget achieves these ambitious goals by supporting all the elements of a hard-won, bipartisan NASA Authorization Act. It’s a budget that will help the nation win the future through innovation, expanded technological capabilities and strengthened U.S. competitiveness in the global marketplace. NASA education programs give students hands-on experience with spacecraft and interaction with the people carrying out challenging science and engineering missions. We’re also providing fellowships and inspiration to talented graduate students who hold promise as future leaders and whose research likely will inform our future work.

NASA science represents some of the agency’s most important activities, and this year is no different. The Messenger spacecraft is orbiting Mercury and giving us the best look at that planet we’ve ever had. We’re preparing to launch a rover the size of a small car to Mars in search of the conditions that may prove to be favorable to life.

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skeptical evidence of alien

Alien’s life has lots of similarities when compared to our life. We are not alone in the universe as we had thought before. NASA Scientist released his groundbreaking revelations in the March edition of the Journal of Cosmology. The controversial study, which is detailed in The Journal of Cosmology, states that tiny fossil bacteria were found. If the research is confirmed, it could be used as proof that there is life on other planets and Earth may have originally come from elsewhere in the solar system.

The astrobiologist Richard Hoover said that there is evidence of microfossils like cyan bacteria blue-green algae, also known as pond scum and the detection of structures that are very similar to known terrestrial cyanobacteria is interesting in that it indicates that life is not restricted to the planet Earth. Dr Hoover who has specialized in the study of microscopic life said in a telephone interview that these microscopic structures had lots of carbon, a marker for Earth-type life, and almost no nitrogen. While seeking other scientist comments in the Journal of Cosmology about the discovery has still skeptical but not everyone.


The journal's editor-in-chief Dr Rudy commented no other paper in the history of science has undergone such a thorough vetting, and never before the scientific community has been given the opportunity to critically analyze an important research paper before it is published. Dr David Marais, an astrobiologist with NASA’s Ames Research Centre, said that it is a 'extraordinary claim' and added 'thus I'll need extraordinary evidence'.

Supernova

Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have spotted new evidence for what could trigger specific type of supernova explosion their finding provides a proof that a star can survive blasted off when a companion star goes supernova. The remnant of a supernova seen by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe in 1572.

There are two main types of supernovae. One is massive star which is bigger than our sun burns all its nuclear fuel and collapses in on itself. Type Ia supernovae, however, are different. Smaller stars sooner or later turn into white dwarfs at the end of their lives, becoming an ultra-dense ball of carbon and oxygen about the size of the Earth, with the mass of our Sun. In some instances, ta white dwarf somehow ignites, creating an explosion so bright that it can be seen billions of light years away, across much of the Universe. But astronomers really haven’t understood what causes these explosions to start.





There are two popular theories: one scenario for Type Ia supernovas involves the fusion of two white dwarfs. In this case, no companion star or evidence for material blasted off a companion should exist. In the other theory, a white dwarf pulls material from a normal,or Sun-like, companion star until a thermonuclear explosion occurs.

The researchers analyses a deep Chandra observation of Tycho and establish an arc of X-ray emission in the supernova remnant. Evidence supports the conclusion that a shock wave created the arc when a white dwarf exploded and blew material off the surface of a nearby companion star. The new observations, however, support the latter one.

NASA Space Shuttle

Members at NASA's Kennedy Space Center have started preparations for space shuttle to launch. Endeavour’s six-man crew members are planned to fly into the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday afternoon. It will be live telecast on NASA TV. Endeavour's launch has been getting a lot of attention, with planned visits by U.S President Barack Obama.

Scheduling conflicts at the International Space Station forced NASA to push the mission forward by 10 days, to Friday, April 29. Still, the astronauts squeezed in a few days of dress rehearsals, including practice countdowns and escape drills. This morning, a pre-countdown status briefing also will be held live on NASA TV at 10 a.m.