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this week at nasa

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we have the first roving astrobiology

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rover on

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mars and we have truly extended our

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reach and touched another planet nasa's

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mars curiosity rover has made its first

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footprints on mars

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curiosity completed a short drive during

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which rover drivers at the jet

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propulsion laboratory commanded

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curiosity to move forward perform a

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series of turns and move in reverse

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the six-wheeled one-ton rover traveled

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roughly 20 feet from the spot where it

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made its landing in early august

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the key things about the drive today

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were that we were able to do one full

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revolution of the drive actuators in the

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forward direction we were able to turn

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and see that the inertial measurement

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unit telling the rover

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how its heading is changing is working

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properly and we were able to back up

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another full revolution of the drive

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actuators so we were able to see motor

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currents we were able to get the data

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and everything looks perfectly nominal

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curiosity's first driving destination

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beyond its immediate position is

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expected to be an area named glen elk

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located about 300 feet east southeast of

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its landing site meanwhile the curiosity

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science team has named the landing site

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after the late ray bradbury an

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influential author and a huge proponent

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of mars exploration

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bradbury who passed away earlier this

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year would have been 92 on the day of

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the announcement his books have truly

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inspired us the marching chronicles have

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inspired our curiosity

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and opened our minds to the possibility

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of life on mars

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in his honor we declared the place that

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that curiosity touched down

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to be forever known as bradbury landing

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the jpl team was also paid a visit by

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california governor jerry brown who met

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members of the surface operation team in

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charge of sending commands to curiosity

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the governor was also treated to an

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up-close peak at curiosity's stunt devil

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during a tour of the rover test bed area

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and he spoke to jp ellers about the

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importance of the aerospace and

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high-tech industries in california other

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recent highlights for the curiosity team

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include the flexing of a rover's robotic

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arm for the first time since before its

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launch in november 2011

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and curiosity also fired the laser from

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its chemistry and camera instrument or

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chemcam for the first time on mars

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hitting a fist sized rock called

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coronation with 30 pulses during a 10

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second period

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chemcam is equipped with a spectrometer

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to analyze rock samples for clues about

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the elements in those samples

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curiosity is on a two-year prime mission

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to assess whether the gale crater area

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of mars has ever offered environmental

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nasa has selected a new mission set to

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launch in 2016 that will take the first

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look into the deep interior of mars to

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see why the red planet evolved so

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differently from earth as one of the

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solar system's rocky planets

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the insight mission will place

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instruments on the martian surface to

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investigate whether the core of mars is

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solid or liquid like earth's

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understanding the the interior structure

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the interior processes and history of

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mars is really fundamental to

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understanding the history and and the

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formation of the solar system and of our

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of our own planet as well insight is the

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12th selection of nasa's series of

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discovery class missions created in 1992

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the discovery program sponsors frequent

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cost-capped solar system exploration

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missions with highly focused scientific

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engineers using marshall space flight

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center's trisonic wind tunnel have spent

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the past four months testing early scale

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models of nasa's space launch system

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more than 900 tests have been performed

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on various crew and cargo configurations

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of the sls at the start of every launch

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vehicle program one of the most

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important things is aerodynamics because

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you need to understand if you can

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control the vehicle if it's going to do

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what you want it to do and you need to

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know how much payload you're going to

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get to orbit

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data from the test at marshall will be

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merged with information collected from

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testing at langley's unitary planned

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wind tunnel

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analysis of this data will help

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determine the best configuration and

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help refine the design of the vehicle

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that will take humans farther into space

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the team of engineers working on

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development of the orion multipurpose

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crew vehicle and its components

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conducted the first vertical drop test

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of the 18 000 pound capsule at langley

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swing drop testing during which orion

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entered the water at an angle was

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conducted last summer to certify it

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through water landings

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changing the angle of the drop test to

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vertical will help nasa more accurately

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predict orion's landing loads

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in 2014 orion will launch on exploration

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flight test 1

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traveling 15 times farther from the

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earth than the international space

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station before making a high energy

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re-entry into the atmosphere followed by

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the discovery of a dinosaur track on the

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campus of goddard space flight center

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has scientists abuzz about the area's

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ancient past noted dinosaur hunter ray

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stanford spotted the unusual rock

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formation jutting up ever so slightly

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from the earth around it he's found

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prehistoric tracks and fossils before

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but says he is especially thrilled about

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this one and i love the paradox here

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space scientists may walk along here

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and they're walking exactly where this

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big bungling heavy armored dinosaur

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walked maybe 110 112 million years ago

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though it will require further study it

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appears the track was made by a nodosaur

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a large plant-eating dinosaur that

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roamed the area during the cretaceous

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period with a footprint that's 12 inches

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across it's estimated this creature was

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between 15 and 20 feet long and weighed

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more than a ton

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stanford says he hopes this discovery

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will encourage people to be more

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observant and if you find something

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stanford stressed the importance of

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notifying the appropriate authorities so

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a recent science showcase event in

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boulder colorado provided an opportunity

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for nasa and ball aerospace corporation

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to celebrate among other things the

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completion by ball of the lightweight

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mirror system to be used in the james

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webb space telescope

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nasa chief scientist walid abdallati

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says it's an extremely exciting

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milestone one that like the recent

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landing of the mars curiosity rover

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touchdown confirmed

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gives us another unprecedented

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opportunity to explore

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this is about our identity as human

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beings understanding the universe

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and understanding our place in it and

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three two one should be flying

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the mighty eagle a nasa robotic

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prototype lander is soaring high again

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for another series of tests at marshall

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space flight center since the last round

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of tests in 2011 the mighty eagle team

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has made significant updates to the

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guidance control on the lander's camera

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furthering its autonomous capabilities

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nasa will use the mighty eagle to mature

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the technology needed to develop a new

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generation of small smart versatile

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robotic landers

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capable of achieving scientific and

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exploration goals throughout the solar

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nearly 300 of the world's top chemistry

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students visited nasa's goddard space

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flight center recently as part of the

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the competition provides an opportunity

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for the young scientists to demonstrate

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their ability to solve chemistry

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problems independently and creatively

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at goddard they heard from nobel

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prize-winning nasa scientist john mather

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about the role of chemistry and

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scientific discovery

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they were also regaled with stories from

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the stars courtesy of space flight

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veteran piers sellers currently serving

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as goddard's deputy director of science

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ames research center recently hosted

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several special events for the center's

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annual diversity day celebration

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there was a panel discussion during

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which past and present ames interns

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stressed the importance of the student

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internship experience

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information booths were available for

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those interested in learning more about

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various cultures regions and countries

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and employees were treated to a

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center-wide picnic there was also an

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intern poster session attended by ames

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center director pete worden and others

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the events capped off the end of summer

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mariner 2 was the world's first

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launched august 27 1962 on an atlas

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agena rocket

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mariner 2 passed within about 21 000

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miles of venus

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sending back valuable new information

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about interplanetary space and the

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venusian atmosphere

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mariner 2 recorded the planet's

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temperature for the first time revealing

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its very hot atmosphere of about 900

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degrees fahrenheit

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the spacecraft's solar wind experiment

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was the first to measure the density

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velocity composition and variation over

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time of the solar wind

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and that's this week at nasa for more on

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these and other stories or to follow us