Oxygen required: NASA’s Airborne Sciences program employs ER-2 aircraft — the civilian version of the Air Force U2-S — to carry out its wide-ranging study of different Earth systems. The photo seen here is a self-portrait by pilot Tom Ryan, taken during a 2011 flight to test a laser altimeter prototype for NASA’s ICESat-2 mission. The aircraft typically operates at an altitude of around 65,000 feet.

Right now, three polarimeter instruments are being flown on an ER-2 as part of the Polarimeter Definition Experiment (PODEX), which is paving the way for a future satellite mission to study clouds and aerosols called the Aerosol-Cloud-Ecosystem (ACE).

For more about PODEX, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/qa-starr.html

Shake shake shake, shake your annual global temperature variations. While NASA’s analysis of average global temperatures shows changes from year to year, the long-term trend still shows rising global temperatures, compared to a baseline average from 1951-1980.

In fact the last year that experienced an average global temperature cooler than this 1951-1980 average was 1976, when the U.S. was marking its bicentennial and K.C. and the Sunshine Band were at the top of the charts.

For more, visit: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/

Our friends at the +European Space Agency, ESA  look at how much energy it takes to get 1 candy bar to the International Space Station: http://go.nasa.gov/10SkQUk 

NASA's Super-Tiger balloon flying over the Antarctica has smashed the record for time aloft!

NASA is now officially a part of ESA's dark matter/dark energy Euclid mission that launches in 2020!

Each year, four international science institutions compile temperature data from thousands of stations around the world and make independent judgments about whether the year was warmer or cooler than average.

“The official records vary slightly because of subtle differences in the way we analyze the data,” said Reto Ruedy, climate scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. “But they also agree extraordinarily well.”

All four records show peaks and valleys in sync with each other. All show rapid warming in the past few decades. All show the last decade has been the warmest on record.

For more, visit:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=80167

What on Earth is this? Try our January satellite puzzler:
http://go.nasa.gov/XBVZxf

Burn, Baby, Burn... scientists see for the first time how our sun stores and releases its energy!  http://go.nasa.gov/10Suur3

Do you know how the American aerospace industry affects your community? Check out this updated interactive map to see how more than half of the nation's states are supporting endeavors of the NASA Commercial Crew Program. http://go.nasa.gov/V7o6UJ

The launch of NASA's TDRS-K Tracking and Data Relay Satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is being rescheduled to Jan. 30. The launch window is 8:48 to 9:28 p.m. EST, a duration of 40 minutes.

The one-day postponement allows technicians additional time to replace an Ordnance Remote Control Assembly (ORCA) that gave an anomalous signal indication prior to planned ordnance connections.

The standard Launch Readiness Review is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 28. At the conclusion of this review, the go is given for the Atlas V rollout to the launch pad. The prelaunch news conference will then be held at 1 p.m. Rollout is targeted for 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 29.

Launch coverage on NASA Television and the web will begin at 6:15 p.m. on Jan. 30 (http://www.nasa.gov/ntv)