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this week at nasa

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the final rollout of the space shuttle

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program has brought atlantis from the

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vehicle assembly building to launch pad

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39a at the kennedy space center for the

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liftoff of sts-135

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mated to its external tank and solid

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rocket boosters the orbiter travels to

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3.4 miles atop a crawler transporter at

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a top speed of less than a mile an hour

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sts-135 is the final mission of the

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30-year-old shuttle program

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commander chris ferguson pilot doug

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hurley and mission specialists sandy

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magnus and rex walheim will crew the

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12-day journey to the international

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space station and deliver the rafaello

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multi-purpose logistics module laden

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with supplies logistics and spare parts

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the mission also will fly a system to

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investigate using robots to refuel

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spacecraft

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atlantis is targeted to lift off on july

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8th at 11 40 a.m eastern

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more than 70 years after it landed on

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the surface of the red planet the longed

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lived mars exploration rover spirit has

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officially had its last conversation

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with his friends back on earth

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the jet propulsion lab has sent its

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final transmission to spirit which last

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communicated with the rover team on

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march 22 2010

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with inadequate energy to run its

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survival heaters the rover likely

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suffered irreparable damage due to

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colder internal temperatures last year

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than in any of its prior six years on

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mars

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it was hoped that spirit might reawaken

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with the help of martian spring and

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summer's increase in solar energy but to

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no avail

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spirit landed on mars on january 3 2004

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for a mission designed to last three

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months

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its twin opportunity continues actively

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and now centerpieces

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space researchers consider the most

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likely location for discovering

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potential primitive life forms on mars

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to be in caves but how do they find them

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that was the goal of a recent

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nasa-funded airborne and ground study

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designed to aid in the detection of

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caves on the earth the moon and mars

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the purpose of this study

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is to learn how to detect caves on earth

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and then apply the techniques we develop

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for detecting caves on earth to looking

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for caves on mars wynn a doctoral

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candidate at northern arizona university

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in flagstaff and a researcher at the

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seti institute flew two missions aboard

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a nasa king air research aircraft in

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april 2011.

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the flights over lava fields in

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california's mojave desert collected

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both thermal and visual imagery to aid

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in detection of caves

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we are basically coupling those

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ground-based measurements that we're

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currently collecting

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with

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the thermal imaging data and the vis

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data that we're collecting as well

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through developing techniques for

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detecting caves on earth we can then

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take those techniques and use them to

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look for caves on mars

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nasa goddard engineer mercy javala

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operated a nasa photodetector that

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imaged the temperature variations of the

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caves and surrounding surface that occur

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as a result of the heating effects of

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the sun

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this thermal data will be compared with

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similar ground-based measurements

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wind noted that there's a secondary

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reason for developing cave detection

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technology another important aspect of

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the study as it relates to the

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importance of martian caves is that

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these caves could also serve as

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wynn envisions this research will

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contribute to the development of

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selection criteria that could identify

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suitable cave targets for future robotic

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exploration if life ever existed on mars

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we're going to find that evidence

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college students from across the country

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and around the globe impressed judges

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and spectators during the second annual

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lunabotic mining competition held may

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23rd through 28th at the kennedy space

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center visitor complex in florida

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the competition highlights student

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proficiency in science technology

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engineering and mathematics or stem the

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challenge is for students to design and

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build a remote control excavator called

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the lunabot that can collect and deposit

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a minimum of 10 kilograms of lunar

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simulant or moon dust within 15 minutes

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the winning achievements may result in

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ideas that will one day be used by nasa

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world war ii aircraft paid a memorial

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day visit to the ames research center

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flown by the collings foundation the

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p-51 b-17 and b-24 aircraft regularly

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tour the country allowing the public not

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only a close-up look but also a chance

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to relive the wartime experience of

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flying in the aircraft on short

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demonstration flights

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although the tour makes dozens of stops

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the visit to ames recalls a special

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relationship with these particular

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aircraft models the chief aerodynamicist

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of north american aviation decided to

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contact the ames aeronautical laboratory

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here at moffett field and they

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suggested to basically take an entire

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airframe

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put it into a wind tunnel and see if

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they could reproduce

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the duct rumbling that the test pilot

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had noticed during the flight test ames

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did some important wartime wind tunnel

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work to fine-tune the performance of the

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air scoop on the p-51

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other research and development at ames

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included wing and propeller de-icing

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systems incorporated into production

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models of the b-17 and b-24 bombers

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these aircraft went on to fly crucial

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high-altitude missions over europe

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without falling victim to icing problems

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and that's this week at nasa for more on