WASHINGTON — The science and engineering capabilities that underpin the nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship and nonproliferation missions at the nation's three national security laboratories are "healthy and vibrant," says a new report from the National Research Council. The committee that wrote the report found no problems with the quality of science and engineering that would prevent certification of the stockpile. However, the report identifies several issues that, if not addressed, have the potential to erode the ability to perform high-quality work at the laboratories.
Heavens
Hot and extremely dry conditions combined with shifting winds and low humidity continue to plague firefighter efforts at the Rim Fire in California. To date over 254,000 acres have been burned. Pockets of unburned vegetation around Thompson Peak and at the South edge of the fire's perimeter continue to burn. Fire crews successfully contained 15 spot fires along the Tioga Road today and the plan is to set a fire in a three quarter mile section of land within the park to contain an additional spot fire.
WASHINGTON, DC—Smart as the Mars Curiosity mission has been about landing and finding its own way on a distant world, the rover is pretty brainless when it comes to doing the science that it was sent 567 million kilometers to carry out. That has to change if future rover missions are to make discoveries further out in the solar system, scientists say.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated a new mechanism for extracting energy from light, a finding that could improve technologies for generating electricity from solar energy and lead to more efficient optoelectronic devices used in communications.
Tropical Depression Nine formed yesterday, Sept. 8 in the far eastern Atlantic, and NASA's Aqua satellite saw it strengthen into Tropical Storm Humberto today, Sept. 9 at 5 a.m. EDT. As that storm strengthened, the remnants of the once-tropical-storm Gabrielle continued to struggle near the Bahamas as NASA's HS3 mission investigated.
Tropical Storm Humberto is affecting the Cape Verde Islands, so there's a tropical storm warning in up for the southern islands of Maio, Santiago, Fogo, and Brava.
Inciweb.org updates the Rim Fire with this information: "Firefighters will face continued hot and extremely dry conditions. Shifting winds coupled with low humidity will provide conditions for active fire behavior. Pockets of unburned vegetation within the fire perimeter will continue to burn creating the potential for spot fires across containment lines. Today's top priority is to contain all spot fires especially along Tioga Road. Firefighters will continue to patrol mop up and monitor lines while maintaining structure defense.
PITTSBURGH—A wearable, picture-taking health monitor created by University of Pittsburgh researchers has received a recent facelift. Now, in addition to documenting what a person eats, the eButton prototype can accurately match those images against a geometric-shape library, providing a much easier method for counting calories.
SALT LAKE CITY -- University of Utah electrical engineers have developed a network of wireless sensors that can detect a person falling. This monitoring technology could be linked to a service that would call emergency help for the elderly without requiring them to wear monitoring devices.
The eighth tropical depression of the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico at 2 p.m. EDT on Sept. 6, and NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured a visible image of the storm.
NOAA's GOES-East satellite image showed a large circulation associated with Tropical Depression 8 or TD8 after it was officially designated a depression by the National Hurricane Center. The image was created by NASA's GOES Project at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Two NASA satellites and one of NASA's Global Hawk aircraft got good looks at Gabrielle when it weakened from a tropical storm to a depression. Although Gabrielle is now a remnant low pressure area, there are a couple of other developing low pressure areas in the Atlantic Ocean basin to keep an eye on.
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- The future of satellite technology is getting small — about the size of a shoebox, to be exact. These so-called "CubeSats," and other small satellites, are making space exploration cheaper and more accessible: The minuscule probes can be launched into orbit at a fraction of the weight and cost of traditional satellites.
The Rim Fire, now three weeks old, is still burning through Yosemite Forest. The blaze, thought to have been started by a hunter's illegal fire, has consumed over 246,000 acres of land. At present, this fire is 80% contained and is expected to be fully contained by September 20, 2013, over a month since it first began.
NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite known as TRMM passed over Tropical Storm Lorena from its orbit in space on Friday, Sept. 6 and measured the rate in which rain is falling from the storm. Lorena was soaking some areas of Mexico's west coast and is headed for landfall in Baja California, Mexico.
On Friday, Sept. 6, a tropical storm warning was in effect for Baja California Sur from Agua Blanca to Buenavista, and a tropical storm watch was in effect for Baja California Sur North of Agua Blanca to Santa Fe.
Study suggests debris flows on arctic sand dunes are similar to dark dune spot-seepage flows on Mars
A team of scientists from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has demonstrated that frozen water in the form of snow or frost can melt to form debris flows on sunward-facing slopes of sand dunes in the Alaskan arctic at air temperatures significantly below the melting point of water. The debris flows consist of sand mixed with liquid water that cascade down steep slopes.
Data from the dropsondes that are dispersed from one of NASA's Global Hawk unmanned aircraft assisted forecasters at the National Hurricane Center when analyzing the environment of newborn Tropical Storm Gabrielle at 11 p.m. EDT on Sept. 4.
One of two of NASA's Global Hawks flew over Tropical Depression Seven on Sept. 4, which organized into Tropical Storm Gabrielle.