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Space Sciences > Spacecraft/Satellites
Spacecraft/Satellites
Los Alamos Technologies Help Scientists Detect, Record & Interpret 'Monster' Burst of Gamma Rays
March 21 — On the ground and in space, Los Alamos National Laboratory’s science tools provided early information on the first gamma ray burst so powerful that it could be seen with the naked eye. The burst was detected March 19 by NASA's Swift satellite, thanks to software on Swift’s Burst Alert Telescope, which was the first instrument to detect the sudden rise in gamma rays.
Saturn's Moon Rhea Sports a Dusty Halo
March 6 — Who'd have guessed that Saturn has its own moon-sized vacuum cleaners, circling the ringed planet and sucking up electrons from the plasma at the orbit of the icy moons. Or that one of Saturn's moons has its very own vacuum in the form of a hitherto-unknown dust halo, not quite visible as a ring, around the midsection of Rhea, discovered by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Cassini is carrying among its instruments a pair of ion-mass and ion-beam spectrometers built by Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Plethora of Papers Proves Crashed Mission a Success
October 23 — Despite a resounding crunch into the Utah desert floor in 2004, scientists have mined a treasure trove of data from the Genesis mission.
Grand Plans for a Dawn Launch
September 25 — NASA's Dawn mission, ready for launch Thursday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carries an instrument ready to determine the elemental composition of the asteroid belt.
Understanding Killer Electrons in Space
July 10 — Settling a long-standing scientific debate, Los Alamos scientists have demonstrated conclusively how electromagnetic waves accelerate ordinary electrons in the belts of radiation outside Earth's atmosphere to a state where they become "killer electrons," particles that are hazardous to satellites, spacecraft, and astronauts.
Mars Rover Laser Tool Ready for Testing
June 21 — Mars mission Job One: Get there. Job Two: Find rocks and zap them with your laser tool.
GRaND science instrument moves closer to launch from Cape
April 10 — A mission back in time is nearing the launch pad minute by minute. The Dawn spacecraft, NASA’s mission into the heart of the asteroid belt, arrived at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida, today for final processing and launch operations.
'Software glasses' clarify view of lunar thorium
March 15 — Using a novel approach to data analysis, a sharper pair of “software glasses,” scientists are taking a closer look at spectroscopic Moon images to better understand how that body was formed.
NNSA satellite launched on Atlas-5 rocket
March 9 — A small-but-smart satellite experiment, the Cibola Flight Experiment (CFE) developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), launched at 10:10 p.m. EST last night aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas-5 rocket and was successfully placed in orbit 350 miles above Earth.
Supercomputing satellite hits the road
August 31 — A satellite smaller than an armchair is departing Los Alamos National Laboratory this week, heading for a last phase of testing before its December launch.
Cassini measures geysers of Saturn's moon Enceladus
March 10 — Cassini data obtained during a close flyby of the Saturn moon Enceladus support an observation that large amounts of water are spewing into space from the tiny moon's surface.
Los Alamos to host Mars talk
July 11 — Members of the media are invited to a talk on Mars exploration at Los Alamos National Laboratory, beginning at 9:30-10:30 a.m. Wednesday (July 13).
Robotic telescope discovery sheds new light on gamma-ray bursts
May 18 — A new type of light was detected from a recent gamma-ray burst, as discovered by Los Alamos National Laboratory and NASA scientists using both burst-detection satellites and a Los Alamos-based robotic telescope.
Los Alamos wizardry to aid new Mars science laboratory
December 22 — Having analyzed Mars from afar via orbiting satellite, Los Alamos National Laboratory instruments will next be on their way to get out and play in the Martian dirt. Two of the eight instruments aboard NASA's planned Mars Science Laboratory rover, scheduled for launch in 2009, include Los Alamos technology.
New NASA IBEX mission to carry Los Alamos instrument
January 28 — A new NASA mission, IBEX, will probe the very edge of the solar system, capturing the quiet hum of a vast, distant shock wave. One of its two instruments is a compact Los Alamos device called the High Energy Neutral Atom Imager.
Is he here yet? Lab scientists keep tabs on Santa
December 23 — Los Alamos National Laboratory's Space Data Systems (ISR-3) is keeping an eye out for Santa. Beginning at 6 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 24, ISR-3 will track the jolly old elf on his whirlwind travels around the world and give hourly updates via its Web site at http://santa.lanl.gov on Santa's progress toward Northern New Mexico.
Media Advisory: Robots, scientists and Pueblo school kids
November 3 — Continuing its all-star annual series of robot-building workshops, scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory will bring the cold, hard, hand of science to bear in the classroom this week. Armed with a box of robot kits and a cumulative 100-plus years of professional experience, Los Alamos scientists will do a show-and-tell that should turn some heads at Jemez Valley Elementary School, Jemez Valley Middle School, San Diego Riverside School, Walatowa High and Jemez Valley High School.
Los Alamos hosts Gamma-Ray Burst anniversary conference
September 8 — Scientists from around the world are convening this week to debate and share their latest research at the Gamma-Ray Burst 2003 Symposium in Santa Fe, September 9 – 12, 2003. Los Alamos National Laboratory is sponsoring the symposium, the largest of its type to date.
XMM-Newton satellite uncovers diffuse X-ray emission and the first accreting X-ray pulsar in Andromeda Galaxy
May 26 — In the most sensitive X-ray survey of our neighboring galaxy, Andromeda (M31), the X-ray Multi-Mirror satellite observatory (XMM-Newton) has uncovered hundreds of X-ray sources and provided new insights into the nature of the interstellar medium in the spiral arms of our own galaxy as well as those of Andromeda.
The weatherman of Mars
December 9 — Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Arizona Lunar Planetary Laboratory, Tucson, AZ, and Cornell University, Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Ithaca, NY have discovered further evidence for the possible existence of a changing, and perhaps predictable, Martian climate.
GENESIS' first year a success
December 10 — As scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory begin analysis of first-year data from the solar wind probe GENESIS they have determined the spacecraft is working so well that they are considering possibilities for research beyond the planned 2004 mission completion date. Three of GENESIS' instruments were designed and built at Los Alamos.
Mars Odyssey quenches researchers' thirst for water data
May 28 — Researchers with the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory have determined that Mars has enough water to sustain human exploratory missions.
Mars Odyssey's neutron spectrometer maps water-ice
March 1 — Scientists today unveiled maps that detail the location of hydrogen, that may indicate water-ice, just below Mars' surface. The maps are based on data from a neutron spectrometer built at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory and flown aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey now in orbit around the Red planet. The data are supported by simultaneous measurements made using the Mars Odyssey's gamma-ray spectrometer.
Deep space flight ends, but exploration continues
December 18 — NASAs Deep Space 1 carrying PEPE, or plasma experiment for planetary exploration, an instrument designed and built at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, will be put to rest today after a successful event-filled mission in space.
Los Alamos instruments capturing the sun
December 4 — NASA's Genesis mission swings into full gear today as its instruments, three of which were designed and built by the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory, begin capturing particles from the sun.
Los Alamos spectrometers part of four-satellite Cluster II mission
August 4 — Imaging spectrometers developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory are among the science tools aboard the new, four-satellite Cluster II mission.
Taking pictures of the invisible tracking weather above the sky
December 17 — Using a technique called neutral atom imaging from a satellite high above the North Pole, researchers at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory are developing pictures of the magnetosphere, an invisible magnetic layer around the Earth. These pictures will be essential to a better understanding of the "weather" in space, where a blast of solar wind particles can knock out a multimillion-dollar satellite.
Taking pictures of the invisible: Tracking weather above the sky
December 17 — Using a technique called neutral atom imaging from a satellite high above the North Pole, researchers at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory are developing pictures of the magnetosphere, an invisible magnetic layer around the Earth. These pictures will be essential to a better understanding of the "weather" in space, where a blast of solar wind particles can knock out a multimillion-dollar satellite.
Lightning over oceans more plentiful than expected
December 9 — Storms over the oceans generate more lightning than previously realized, and researchers may be able to use this finding in studies of atmospheric energy distribution mechanisms linked to climate and weather effects.
Energy from the sun can be captured and redistributed globally through the latent heat carried in water vapor. Storm clouds with lightning tend to be more intense and provide a relatively greater release of latent heat through rainfall -- condensation of the water vapor. Remote tracking of such systems may tell researchers where substantial amounts of latent heat are being released over the ocean and thus better understand energy distribution through the atmosphere.
Los Alamos instruments to prospect for water on the moon
December 30 — Three Los Alamos instruments on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Lunar Prospector, scheduled for a Jan. 5, 1998, launch, will look for water, map the location of valuable elements and gather data on events that release gases from below the surface of Earth's nearest neighbor.
First results from nonproliferation satellite expand knowledge of lightning, TIPPs
December 9 — Just three months after its launch, Los Alamos National Laboratory's FORTE satellite is detecting many thousands more radio bursts from lightning strikes and other phenomena than previously reported.
Los Alamos science instruments to fly on Cassini
October 8 — Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists led the development of two scientific sensors that will provide key measurements of the space environment around Saturn when the Cassini spacecraft reaches the ringed planet in 2004.
The two sensors are part of the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer, or CAPS, a microwave oven-sized unit that is one of 12 scientific instruments on the two-story-tall Cassini spacecraft. Cassini, a joint effort of the National Aeronautics and Space Agency and the European Space Agency, is scheduled for launch Oct. 13.
Los Alamos and Surrey Satellite contract for Cibola flight experiment platform
March 10 — Los Alamos National Laboratory and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) announced today a contract agreement for development of an advanced satellite platform for ionospheric and lightning studies.
Sir Arthur C. Clarke to address Los Alamos Space-Elevator conference
September 9 — Sir Arthur C. Clarke, world-renowned science fiction author, will address the Second Annual Space Elevator Conference held Sept. 12-15 in Santa Fe. The event is co-sponsored by Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Institute for Scientific Research Inc. (ISR).
Mars within Los Alamos' Neutron Spectrometer's reach
October 19 — A neutron spectrometer designed and built at the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory is closing in on Mars aboard NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey.
Regional teachers LASSO the stars
August 7 — Nearly two dozen teachers will blast off the new school year this fall using a curriculum they developed with the help of space scientists from the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Los Alamos instruments to capture the sun
July 23 — Three instruments designed and built by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory will help scientists understand the origin of the solar system.
Proven Los Alamos technology on trek to Mars
April 4 — A neutron spectrometer designed and built at the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory is aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey set to launch Saturday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Lunar Prospector provides a world of data
March 12 — Los Alamos National Laboratory present their latest findings from NASA's Lunar Prospector mission at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas.
Los Alamos gamma ray burst work advances on satellite
October 6 — They burn as brightly as 100 million billion stars, flash randomly across the heavens, and were discovered more than 25 years ago here at the US Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory. Now, with tomorrow's launch of the High Energy Transient Explorer, gamma ray bursts (GRBs) will begin to reveal more of their secrets as the latest in detection equipment is lifted into orbit.
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