Tag Archives: NASA

After alleged ban, “Jesus” reappears in Johnson Space Center newsletter

The name “Jesus” has reappeared in the Johnson Space Center newsletter, drawing celebration from a religious freedom advocacy group that claimed NASA banned the name from publication.

The First Liberty Institute made the announcement Tuesday, exactly one month after threatening the space agency with a federal lawsuit over what it claimed was “blatant religious discrimination” against Christian employees in a prayer club at the Johnson Space Center.

The issue stems from an announcement that ran in the JSC Today newsletter last May.

According to the First Liberty Institute, the newsletter is emailed to all employees who work at the Houston facility. The JSC Praise and Worship Club, like other groups, routinely submitted announcements to the newsletter as a way to spread the word about its upcoming gatherings.

On May 28, the newsletter published an club-written announcement that included the line “The theme for this session will be Jesus is our life!” and invited other JSC employees to attend.

The First Liberty Institute claims that attorneys from NASA subsequently contacted the club and told them that “Jesus” could not be used in any future announcements, as it could lead someone to believe that NASA was endorsing Christianity and therefore violating the Establishment Clause, which prevents government entities from promoting one religion over another.

The employees countered that their speech was private and NASA’s restrictions amounted to illegal censorship. The club stopped using “Jesus” in announcements as it sought legal advice.

On February 17, nine days after the First Liberty Institute contacted the space agency, the newsletter published a JSC Praise and Worship Club announcement that included the line “The theme for this session will be Jesus is our Victory!” showing the name did appear in the email.

NASA’s attorneys contacted the First Liberty Institute the following day, saying there is no ban.

“JSC does not prohibit the use of any specific religious names in employee newsletters or other internal communications,” Chief Counsel Bernard J. Roan wrote in a letter to the institute.

Roan added in his letter that some NASA employees had expressed concerns that the prayer club’s May 28 announcement “went beyond mere announcement of the time, place and general nature of an activity; was essentially proselytizing; and, and as such, was inappropriate.”

He said that attorneys reached out to the club to discuss those concerns, but did not mention what, exactly, those conversations entailed. He did note the newsletter has published several “religiously-oriented postings” from the prayer club and other groups in the past few months.

“It is clear from subsequent ‘JSC Today’ postings for the Club that JSC to this day continues to facilitate its employees’ right to freely exercise their religious beliefs,” Roan wrote.

First Liberty’s Senior Counsel, Jeremy Dys, welcomed the recent developments.

“Although NASA’s initial censorship of the name ‘Jesus’ gave the Praise & Worship Club cause for alarm, we are grateful NASA took subsequent corrective action, and now clarifies its policy permitting religious expression by its employees,” Dys said in a statement.

New research suggests 20th century sea levels rose at quickest pace since 800 B.C.

Climate scientists studying the Earth’s sea levels have determined that it was “extremely likely” those waters rose more rapidly in the 20th century than any other century in nearly 3,000 years.

Human-induced climate change contributed to the increase, the scientists wrote in Monday’s edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

The research team found sea levels rose 14 centimeters (5.5 inches) in the 20th century, and its models suggest those numbers may have been different without the effects of climate change.

Without it, the team wrote it was “very likely” that seas would have seen a change that ranged from a 3 centimeter (a little more than an inch) drop to a 7 centimeter (2.75 inch) increase.

The study’s lead author was Bob Kopp, a climate scientist from Rutgers University.

In a message on his website, Kopp wrote that he and his colleagues concluded “with 95 percent probability” that the levels rose more rapidly last century than any other century since 800 B.C.

The study’s cutoff, which stretches back 28 centuries, “is not because the rate of global sea-level rise was probably faster before then,” Kopp wrote on his website, “but simply that the reconstruction quality isn’t good enough before then to have the same level of confidence.”

NASA says the global average sea level has risen another 6 centimeters since January 2000 and is currently rising at a rate of .4 millimeters every year. The agency says the increases are “a direct result of a changing climate,” as melting ice sheets and glaciers fuel the expansion.

Kopp wrote last century wasn’t the only time when global temperatures and sea levels moved together, pointing to a 400-year stretch from the 11th to 15th centuries. Temperatures fell about .2 degrees Celsius during that stretch, while sea levels dipped approximately 8 centimeters.

But the study found it was “very likely” that global sea levels have risen “over every 40-year interval since 1860,” as societies became more industrialized.

In December, 195 countries agreed to a landmark climate change pact that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent temperatures from reaching 2 degrees Celsius above their pre-industrial averages, a long-feared threshold.

But Kopp’s team warned that even with “extremely strong emissions abatement,” their models suggest seas could rise another 24 to 61 centimeters (9 to 24 inches) during the 21st century.

If emissions were to continue at “business-as-usual” levels this century, the research team said that sea levels could potentially rise between 52 and 131 centimeters (20 to 51 inches).

It’s official: NOAA, NASA confirm 2015 is warmest year on record

The average global temperatures last year were the warmest on record, two United States agencies announced on Wednesday, officially confirming what had long been anticipated.

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) both announced that Earth’s average temperatures in 2015 were the highest they’ve been since 1880, which is as far as records date back.

The agencies conducted separate analyses, but both reached the same conclusion.

The NOAA said global temperatures were 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average and beat last year’s record by .29 degrees.

It didn’t surprise the agency that 2015 set a new record, since it reported that record-high temperatures were recorded in 10 out of the 12 months of the year.

NASA calculated the temperatures in other ways, and had slightly different values than the NOAA, but agreed that 2015 was the warmest year since 1880.

The NOAA said an unseasonably warm December set some records of its own.

Average global temperatures during that month were 2 degrees above the 20th-century average. Not only was it the warmest December on record, but it was the only time since 1880 that any month has seen temperatures that far above its historic averages.

Though global temperatures reached new highs, not everywhere saw record warmth.

The United States, for example, experienced its second-warmest year on record, the NOAA said earlier this month. The nation’s average temperatures, while still well above average, were just shy of the all-time high established in 2012.

But record-high averages were recorded in parts of Russia, Europe, South America, and the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, the NOAA said Wednesday.

The latter is currently the site of one of the strongest El Nino weather patterns on record, which is known for producing extreme weather throughout the world. NASA officials said the phenomenon, paired with human-induced climate change, contributed to the new records.

“Last year’s temperatures had an assist from El Niño, but it is the cumulative effect of the long-term trend that has resulted in the record warming that we are seeing,” Gavin Schmidt, the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said in a statement.

Despite the overall increases, the NOAA said some isolated areas witnessed cooler-than-average temperatures, including a swath of ocean near Greenland that posted record cold levels.

NASA creates new office to lead asteroid defense efforts

A new office will lead NASA’s efforts to protect Earth from potential strikes from asteroids and comets, along with overseeing the agency’s efforts to discover and study the celestial objects.

NASA announced the formation of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) in a news release last Thursday, saying the new creation is an improvement on the agency’s existing endeavors to detect any potential hazards to Earth and defend the planet against impacts.

NASA said the new office will supervise the agency’s research into so-called near-Earth objects — asteroids and comets that will come close to the planet — and communicate with federal agencies and foreign governments to develop an action plan if there is any chance of a strike.

The agency said none of the 13,500 known near-Earth objects pose any threat of impacting Earth, but about 1,500 new objects are discovered every year. A space rock that came within 300,000 miles of Earth last Halloween went undiscovered until three weeks before its arrival.

NASA officials mentioned that event and a meteor that entered Earth’s atmosphere in 2013 and created a massive fireball above Chelyabinsk, Russia, when announcing the PDCO. Those events “remind us of why we need to remain vigilant and keep our eyes to the sky,” John Grunsfeld, the associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement.

According to NASA, research and discovery of near-Earth objects has surged in recent years thanks to an influx of funding. The federal budget for fiscal year 2016 includes $50 million for planetary defense and asteroid and comet research, compared to just $4 million in 2010.

NASA said it believes it has discovered 90 percent of near-Earth objects that are bigger than 3,000 feet, and it’s currently focusing on discovering smaller rocks that are a little bit larger than a football field. The agency estimates it has only located about 25 percent of those mid-sized asteroids and comets, though it had been asked in 2005 to find 90 percent of them before 2021.

The agency is also developing some strategies to potentially stop problematic asteroids.

NASA is currently trying to robotically redirect an asteroid into an orbit around Earth’s moon. The agency’s success there could ultimately determine if scientists can steer an Earth-bound asteroid clear of the planet, though NASA says it will likely be the 2020s before it has its answer.

If it’s not possible to prevent an impact, the new office will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help coordinate a response. The PDCO will also issue warnings about space rocks that will pass close to Earth and any potential impacts of their close presence.

“The formal establishment of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office makes it evident that the agency is committed to perform a leadership role in national and international efforts for detection of these natural impact hazards, and to be engaged in planning if there is a need for planetary defense,” Lindley Johnson, the PDCO’s Planetary Defense Officer, said in a statement.

NASA: Potent El Nino Shows No Signs of Slowing

The United States likely will not see the full force of a powerful El Nino until early next year and the weather phenomenon has not shown any sign of slowing down, NASA announced Tuesday.

El Nino occurs when part of the Pacific Ocean is warmer than usual, setting off a far-reaching ripple effect that brings atypical and often extreme weather throughout the world. A variety of weather experts, including those with the United Nations, have said this year’s pattern is shaping up to be one of the three strongest in the past 65 years, but NASA said that the latest satellite images suggest the United States probably has yet to see the worst of the weather.

The images show “a striking resemblance to one from December 1997,” captured during the strongest El Nino on record, according to NASA. While the National Weather Service previously said that the pattern “matured,” NASA said Tuesday that the latest images indicate El Nino “shows no signs of waning,” and the fact that some elements of the Pacific Ocean are different now than they were 18 years ago could mean the weather pattern might actually intensify.

“Although the sea surface height signal in 1997 was more intense and peaked in November of that year, in 2015, the area of high sea levels is larger,” Josh Willis, a project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told NASA’s website. “This could mean we have not yet seen the peak of this El Niño.”

The announcement comes in the wake of deadly flooding throughout the central United States that has sent multiple river gauges to historic levels and forced mandatory evacuations. This El Nino has already been blamed for historic flooding in coastal India, widespread wildfires in Indonesia and several crop-damaging droughts and floods across the globe, according to NASA.

NASA says it’s still not clear when El Nino will make its full presence felt in the United States, or the effects it could have. Generally, the National Weather Service has said the southeast is likely to see more precipitation and colder temperatures, while the northwest is expected to see hotter temperatures and less precipitation. However, that’s not an all-encompassing forecast, and NASA noted past El Ninos have been known to produce extreme storms such as a massive ice storm that slammed the northeast United States and parts of Canada in January 1998.

The National Weather Service has said El Nino is likely to linger into early summer.

Scientists Will Have Rare Chance to Study Asteroid on Christmas Eve

A large asteroid is projected to approach Earth on Christmas Eve, getting close enough that scientists will be able to study it but not close enough that it will have any effect on the planet.

According to a blog post on NASA’s website, the 2003 SD220 asteroid will be about 6.7 million miles away from Earth when it passes by later this month. That’s 28 times the distance between the Earth and the moon. NASA says it will be able to use radar to determine the object’s mass, as well as perform other scientific studies, but the asteroid isn’t expected to be any danger to Earth.

Over the summer, rumors swirled on the Internet saying that an asteroid was going to impact earth some time in September. In a statement at the time, NASA said every known comet and potentially hazardous asteroid has a less than .01 percent chance of hitting Earth before 2115.

“There is no existing evidence that an asteroid or any other celestial object is on a trajectory that will impact Earth,” Paul Chodas, who heads NASA’s Near-Earth Object office, said in a statement at the time. “In fact, not a single one of the known objects has any credible chance of hitting our planet over the next century.” Scientists discovered 2003 SD220 back in 2003.

The asteroid was originally thought to be .8 miles wide, but NASA says the latest observations indicate the asteroid is closer to half that size. While there are some published reports saying that 2003 SD220 will be close enough to trigger volcanoes or earthquakes, even without hitting Earth, though astronomy website EarthSky.org declared they are “misleading and incorrect.”

Writing for the website, Eddie Irizarry of the Astronomical Society of the Caribbean said there isn’t any scientific evidence suggesting asteroids can lead to seismic activity simply from a fly-by. That would be different if the asteroid hit Earth, he wrote, but “that clearly will not be the case.”

News agency UPI reported that another asteroid passed much closer to Earth on Halloween, coming within about 310,000 miles of the planet, and that didn’t lead to any adverse effects.

Still, NASA is savoring the opportunity to study the asteroid to learn more about its structure. It will only be close enough for radar detection five times in the next 12 years, according to the blog post. That includes a scheduled 2018 fly-by when it’ll be about 1.7 million miles away.

Taurid Meteor Shower Coming Wednesday

If storms don’t block your view, you may get to see a beautiful spectacle from the heavens on Wednesday night as the Taurid meteor shower lights up the sky between the hours of midnight and 3 a.m. local time.

According to the International Business Times, Earth is still passing through the tail of Comet Encke, causing the meteor shower. And while Wednesday is the peak time to watch the meteor shower, NASA stated that Monday and Tuesday nights are also good for watching the shower.

The fireballs are expected to be as bright as Venus, and during the peak hours, observers will get to see approximately 7 to 10 meteors every hour, according to NASA.

Earth is currently passing through a stream of residual dust and debris in space that was left by the passing comet. Earth’s center of gravity pulls the debris in and it burns in the atmosphere, creating the falling stars.

According to the American Meteor Society, there were seven other meteor showers in 2015 in January, April, mid-April to mid-May, August, October, November, and another will take place in December.

NASA predicts 99-percent possibility of 5.0 earthquake to hit Los Angeles

NASA’s scientists in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena have predicted that Los Angeles has a 99% chance to experience a possible 5.0 earthquake or stronger within the next 3 years.

Dr. Andrea Donnellan, a JPL geophysicist, came up with this hypothesis by using radar and GPS to measure Southern California’s chances of a good sized earthquake.

“When the La Habra earthquake happened, it was relieving some of that stress, and it actually shook some of the upper sediments in the LA basin and moved those a little bit more,” Dr. Donellan told CBS Los Angeles News.

However, there is still strain within the land, which could produce a more powerful earthquake of up to 6.3 magnitude.

Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey believe that the chances are slightly lower. They believe there is an 85% chance of a magnitude 5 or greater earthquake hitting the area within the next 3 years. They used fault maps and models to come up with their percentage.

“We all need to be prepared. That’s not new for LA,” Dr. Donellan added.

“Coronal Hole” Found in Sun; Geomagnetic Storm Watch Issued for Later This Week

NASA has discovered a colossal dark hole – “the size of 50 earths” – on the sun’s surface, and it has been sending solar wind our way.

The Huffington Post reports that the new image of the sun, revealing the hole, was taken on October 10th by NASA’s orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory. The hole is located on the outmost layer of the sun, called the corona. Coronal holes have a lower density of solar material and weakened magnetic field lines, resulting in faster solar winds, of up to 500 miles per second, to escape.

When solar winds hit Earth, it disturbs our planet’s magnetosphere and causes geomagnetic storms. The geomagnetic storms create auroras in the sky like the Northern Lights, but they can also disrupt radio communications systems and satellites.

A geomagnetic storm watch has been issued for Wednesday through Friday, however, coronal holes can last up to months and more geomagnetic storms could be on the way.

Evidence of Water Found on Mars Announced by NASA

The strongest evidence yet of water on mars was announced by NASA Monday afternoon.

“Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water’ in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what we’ve long suspected,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. “This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water — albeit briny — is flowing today on the surface of Mars.”

Although scientists are not sure where the water comes from, liquid water runs down the crater walls over the summer months and leave dark stains on the Martian terrain that have been measured hundreds of meters downhill before they dry up in the autumn when temperatures drop.  

Researchers say the discovery raises the chances of this being home to some form of life.