April 26, 2006
USN Provides Long-Term, Mission-Critical Climate Change Data Services for Orbiting COSMIC Satellite Constellation
Universal Space Network, Inc. (USN), a leading provider of space operations, ground control and communications solutions, announced that it is providing real-time telemetry, tracking, control (TT&C) and science data delivery services to the COSMIC (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate) satellite network launched from Vandenberg AFB on April 14, 2006. The $100 million constellation is based on a systems design provided by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) based in Boulder, Colorado.
April 25, 2006
New instrument for atmospheric research
An advanced laser-based instrument to help research into climate change is being developed for one of the world’s leading atmospheric research aircraft.
Professor Paul Kaye, Dr Edwin Hirst and Dr Richard Greenaway at the University of Hertfordshire’s Science and Technology Research Institute (STRI) have been commissioned by the US University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) to build the instrument for their new HIAPER (High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research) aircraft, based in Colorado. The instrument, which is being tailored to UCAR’s requirements, will be used to study microscopic water droplets and ice crystals in clouds, providing information to meteorologists to help them to make climate prediction models more accurate.
April 20, 2006
National LambdaRail Launches Transit and
Peering Project
Five NLR Members Begin Project to Improve Network Performance
and Reduce Costs of Internet Services
CYPRESS, CALIFORNIA—National LambdaRail (NLR), a consortium of leading
U.S. research universities and private sector technology companies, today
announced that it has inaugurated a project to provision an intelligently
managed nationwide peering and transit program. The initial participants
include NLR members: the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives
in California (CENIC), Front Range GigaPoP (FRGP), Mid-Atlantic Terascale
Partnership (MATP), Pacific Northwest Gigapop (PNWGP) and Pittsburgh Supercomputing
Center (PSC). . . . "This project offers our FRGP NLR members a new
way to increase network performance while, at the same time, lowering costs
over time," said Marla Meehl, Manager of the FRGP
and networking at University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
(UCAR). "Services like National TransitRail make our investment
in NLR further benefit the FRGP members and their thousands of users in
Colorado, Utah and Wyoming."
March 9, 2006
NASA
Embarks On International Study Of Air Pollution Flowing Into U.S. From
Abroad
. . . From March 1 through May 15, NASA and its partners will carry out
the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment (INTEX-B). The experiment
is the second of a broader two-phase NASA project to study the transport
and evolution of gases and tiny particles, called aerosols, across continents
and to assess their impact on regional air quality and climate. During
INTEX-B, researchers will pursue the origins of pollution that ultimately
finds its way to North America and affects air in the troposphere, the
lower part of the atmosphere where we live and breathe. As part of INTEX-B,
NASA will participate in a field study today through March 29 called
Megacity Impacts of Regional and Global Environments (MIRAGE), led by
the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR),
Boulder, Colo. . . . Both high-flying NASA DC-8 and DLR Falcon-20 aircraft
and low-flying aircraft like the National Science Foundation
(NSF)/National Center for Atmospheric Research's (NCAR) C-130 and
the U.S. Department Of Energy's (DOE) G-1, will be used to provide a
comprehensive radiation, chemical, physical, and visual measurements
of gases and aerosols. . . . "The world is urbanizing," said
NCAR scientist Sasha Madronich, one of the principal
investigators for MIRAGE. "If we can understand the pollution impacts
of Mexico City, we can apply this new knowledge to other urban areas
across the globe." |
