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NASA Headquarters – December 28, 2006 – This Top 10 list probably won’t make it to the David Letterman Show. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take note. NASA has come up with its own Top 10 list of accomplishments in 2006. The agency has reason to be proud; it has made significant progress toward learning more about the universe and our planet in the last year.
In no particular order, NASA’s top accomplishments in 2006 include:
NEXT STOP - THE MOON
America's Vision for Space Exploration, the long-term plan for sending humans to Mars and beyond, moved ahead with the selection of Lockheed Martin Corp. as the prime contractor to build the Orion crew exploration vehicle, which should be ready to fly by 2014. Orion and its astronaut crew will be propelled into space by the new Ares I launch vehicle. Larger equipment bound for the moon and Mars will ride into space atop the Ares V heavy launch vehicle.
Then in December, NASA unveiled elements of a Global Exploration Strategy and lunar architecture to explain the reasons for returning to the moon for further exploration and to help prepare for later journeys to Mars and other destinations.
SHUTTLE AND STATION BACK TO BUSINESS
During the space shuttle's 25th anniversary year, three missions resumed construction work on the International Space Station (ISS). Space shuttle Discovery's STS-121 mission in July was the second flight to the station since the Columbia accident in 2003. Astronauts proved new engineering designs and safety techniques and demonstrated that if needed the shuttle's robotic arm could serve as a platform for emergency repairs. Discovery also delivered a new crewmember to the station, increasing the station's crew size to three for the first time since May 2003.
NASA followed up that flight with launches of STS-115 in September and STS-116 in December. The shuttles delivered and attached a critical piece of the station's girder-like backbone, including a new set of solar arrays to provide up to one quarter of the station's power, and reconfigured the station's power and heating control systems. Astronauts also installed a new station component, giving crewmembers more room to live and work in orbit.
HUBBLE SERVICING MISSION 'GO'
In late October, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announced plans for a fifth space shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. This will extend and improve the observatory's capabilities through 2013. The announcement reversed an earlier decision, made following the Columbia accident, that further Hubble servicing missions would no longer be feasible.
The flight to Hubble is targeted for launch in 2008. During 2006, the Hubble continued to make extraordinary observations that included an image of the dimmest stars ever seen in any globular cluster and the discovery of 16 extrasolar planet candidates.
A WET RED PLANET?
New NASA images from the Mars Global Surveyor revealed bright new deposits seen in two gullies on Mars. The images suggest water carried sediment through the gullies sometime during the past seven years. These observations give the strongest evidence to date that water still flows occasionally on the surface of the red planet, heightening intrigue about the potential for microbial life on Mars.
Other Mars program activities included NASA's long-lived robotic rover Opportunity achieving the long-held goal of reaching the massive Victoria Crater, with the rover beginning to explore layered rocks in cliffs ringing the crater. While Opportunity spent its first week at the crater, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, photographed the rover and its surroundings.
DEEP SPACE DISCOVERIES
The launch of the New Horizons spacecraft to Pluto in January began an extraordinary year of deep space activities. Scheduled to arrive at Pluto in 2015, the spacecraft will encounter Jupiter in 2007.
NASA's Stardust mission completed a 2.88 billion mile round-trip odyssey to capture and return comet and interstellar dust particles to Earth. Scientists believe these rare samples may provide answers to fundamental questions about the origins of the solar system.
In addition, the Cassini spacecraft may have found evidence of liquid water reservoirs that erupt in Yellowstone-like geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Cassini also discovered two new rings around Saturn, confirmed the presence of two others and photographed something never before seen on another planet - a hurricane-like storm at Saturn's south pole.
WEATHER AND CLIMATE STUDIES
NASA's Earth research provided new discoveries during 2006 about our home planet and its climate. The agency launched the first satellite to provide three-dimensional images of clouds and a weather satellite to provide timely environmental information to meteorologists and the public.
NASA also completed its "A-train" of six satellites flying in close proximity around Earth to gain a better understanding of key factors related to climate change. Research activities included a comprehensive hurricane study on how winds and dust from Africa influence the life of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean. Scientists studied the discovery that this year's ozone hole over the Antarctic had exceeded earlier observations for area and depth. Scientists also noted the reduction of the ocean's primary food supply, which potentially could threaten fisheries and ecosystems in a warming climate.
A NEW DIRECTION FOR AERONAUTICS
NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate restructured its research programs in 2006 to return to long-term, cutting-edge, fundamental research. Through close collaboration with universities, industry and other federal agencies, NASA's aeronautics research work is better positioned to provide information that is directly aligned with national priorities.
HERE COMES THE SUN
NASA research on Earth's nearest star provided many firsts in 2006. Researchers developed a computer simulation to create a model of the sun's outer atmosphere. Scientists predicted the next solar activity cycle to be 30 to 50 percent stronger than the previous one. In March, NASA and Libyan scientists conducted joint activities to observe and study a total solar eclipse. This complemented the launch of NASA's twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories mission (STEREO) spacecraft that will help researchers construct the first-ever three-dimensional views of the sun and provide information to help mitigate effects of solar storms.
NASA'S NOBEL LAUREATE
On Dec.10, John C. Mather, senior astrophysicist and senior project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, received the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics in Stockholm. Mather is the first NASA civil-servant employee to win the Nobel Prize. Mather and George Smoot of the University of California at Berkeley were recognized for their research. Mather coordinated the science work of NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer satellite, which helped validate the big-bang theory of the origin of the universe.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
NASA continued working toward expanding its relationships with the space-faring nations of the world. NASA officials and the leaders of other space agencies from approved a new assembly plan for the International Space Station, as well as worked to ensure broad and active international cooperation as NASA pursues the Vision for Space Exploration.
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The blackness of space and Earth's horizon provide the backdrop for this image of the docked Soyuz 13 (TMA-9) (foreground) and Progress 22 resupply vehicle. The STS-116 crew photographed the Soyuz from a window on the International Space Station while Space Shuttle Discovery was docked with the station. Image credit: NASA
Space Shuttle Discovery landed safely at 5:32 p.m. EST on Dec. 22, at Kennedy Space Center to bring STS-116's successful mission to the International Space Station to an end. The mission continued the on-orbit construction of the station and delivered a new Expedition 14 crewmember.
Two astronauts working on the Hubble Space Telescope during a servicing mission. NASA announced earlier this year an additional servicing mission would be scheduled to extend the life of the telescope.
This set of images shows a comparison of the gully site as it appeared on Dec. 22, 2001 (left), with a mosaic of two images acquired after the change occurred (the two images are from Aug. 26, 2005, and Sept. 25, 2005).
Image credit: NASA/JPL.
The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft took this photo of Jupiter on Sept. 4, 2006, from a distance of 291 million kilometers (nearly 181 million miles) away. Image credit: NASA
A mosaic of solar activity was observed by STEREO's Ahead spacecraft, taken Dec. 9. Credit: NASA
NASA Scientist Dr. John C. Mather shows some of the earliest data from the NASA Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Satellite during a press conference held at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Dr. Mather was co-recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physics on October 3, 2006.Credit: NASA
Astronaut Michael E. Lopez-Alegria, Expedition 14 commander, participates in a Russian Orlan spacesuit translation exercise in the Pirs Docking Compartment of the International Space Station as the crewmembers prepared for their Nov. 22 spacewalk.
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