NASA Opens Social Media Accreditation for SMAP Launch

Saturday, December 13, 2014

NASA Opens Social Media Accreditation for SMAP Launch

NASA Opens Social Media Accreditation for SMAP Launch:

This view of Earth comes from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard the Terra satellite.

› Larger image

NASA is inviting social media users to apply for credentials to cover the launch of the agency's SMAP spacecraft. SMAP, short for Soil Moisture Active Passive, will be the fifth NASA Earth science mission to launch since January 2014.

The mission will track Earth's water in one of its most important, but least recognized forms -- soil moisture. SMAP data also will aid in predictions of plant growth and agricultural productivity, improve weather and climate forecasts, and enhance our ability to predict the extent and severity of droughts, and where floods may occur.

SMAP is scheduled to launch at 6:20 a.m. PST (9:20 a.m. EST) on Jan. 29, 2015, from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in Lompoc, California.

A maximum of 70 social media users will be selected to attend the two-day event on January 28 and 29, and will be given "behind-the-scenes" access in an effort to align the experience of social media representatives with those of traditional media.

The credential application process for the SMAP launch opens Thursday, Dec. 11. All interested social media users with or without U.S. citizenship must apply for credentials by 9 a.m. PST (noon EST) on Tuesday, Dec. 16. All social media accreditation applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

For information and to apply, visit:

www.nasa.gov/connect/social

NASA Social participants will have the opportunity to:

• Hear first-hand accounts by the SMAP science and engineering teams

• Get a behind-the-scenes tour of Vandenberg Air Force Base

• Meet fellow space enthusiasts who are active on social media

• Meet members of NASA's social media team

All sites on VAFB are subject to closure due to mission requirements.

On the day of launch, NASA Social participants and their friends and families will be invited to a special public viewing area to watch SMAP lift off aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket.

SMAP was built and will be operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. SMAP is managed for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington by JPL with participation by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. JPL is responsible for project management, system engineering, instrument management, the radar instrument, mission operations and the ground data system. Goddard is responsible for the radiometer instrument. Both centers collaborate on the science data processing and delivery of science data products to the Alaska Satellite Facility and the National Snow and Ice Data Center for public distribution and archiving. NASA's Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for launch management. JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

For more information about SMAP, visit:

http://smap.jpl.nasa.gov

For more information about NASA social media, see:

http://www.nasa.gov/connect/

Media Contact

Stephanie L. Smith

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-393-5464

slsmith@jpl.nasa.gov

John Yembrick/Jason Townsend

NASA Headquarters, Washington

650-604-2065 / 202-358-0359

john.yembrick@nasa.gov / jason.c.townsend@nasa.gov

2014-427

FASHION WEEK - USA Fashion and Music News
GOOGLE NEWS - Google News Blogger
PINTEREST USA FASHION - Models Top Models Supermodels Fashion
LAST FM - Download Music Legally Direct From Artist
USA FASHION - USA Fashion Google + Photography Videos Beauty
DISNEY CHANNEL - Photos Music News
BABY JUSTIN BIEBER - Google Images Google News
LADY GAGA - Google Images Google News
UNIVERSE PICTURES - Google Images Nature Pictures
VICTORIA´S SECRET - Google + Victoria´s Secret Fashion Show Photos

No comments:

Post a Comment

NASA Photos Photography

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the United States government agency responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.

UFO SIGHTINGS PHOTO PHOTOGRAPHY

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a UFO as "An unidentified flying object; a 'flying saucer'." The first published book to use the word was authored by Donald E. Keyhoe. The acronym "UFO" was coined by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, who headed Project Blue Book, then the USAF's official investigation of UFOs. He wrote, "Obviously the term 'flying saucer' is misleading when applied to objects of every conceivable shape and performance. For this reason the military prefers the more general, if less colorful, name: unidentified flying objects. UFO (pronounced Yoo-foe) for short." Other phrases that were used officially and that predate the UFO acronym include "flying flapjack", "flying disc", "unexplained flying discs", "unidentifiable object", and "flying saucer". The phrase "flying saucer" had gained widespread attention after the summer of 1947. On June 24, a civilian pilot named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine objects flying in formation near Mount Rainier. Arnold timed the sighting and estimated the speed of discs to be over 1,200 mph (1,931 km/h). At the time, he described the objects' shape as being somewhat disc-like or saucer-like, leading to newspaper accounts of "flying saucers" and "flying discs". In popular usage the term UFO came to be used to refer to claims of alien spacecraft. and because of the public and media ridicule associated with the topic, some investigators prefer to use such terms as unidentified aerial phenomenon (or UAP) or anomalous phenomena, as in the title of the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP).

UFO PHOTO PHOTOGRAPHY

UFO - Unidentified Flying Object An unidentified flying object, or UFO, in its most general definition, is any apparent anomaly in the sky that is not identifiable as a known object or phenomenon. Culturally, UFOs are associated with claims of visitation by extraterrestrial life or government-related conspiracy theories, and have become popular subjects in fiction. While UFOs are often later identified, sometimes identification may not be possible owing to the usually low quality of evidence related to UFO sightings (generally anecdotal evidence and eyewitness accounts). Stories of fantastical celestial apparitions have been told since antiquity, but the term "UFO" (or "UFOB") was officially created in 1953 by the United States Air Force (USAF) to serve as a catch-all for all such reports. In its initial definition, the USAF stated that a "UFOB" was "any airborne object which by performance, aerodynamic characteristics, or unusual features, does not conform to any presently known aircraft or missile type, or which cannot be positively identified as a familiar object." Accordingly, the term was initially restricted to that fraction of cases which remained unidentified after investigation, as the USAF was interested in potential national security reasons and/or "technical aspects" (see Air Force Regulation 200-2). During the late 1940s and through the 1950s, UFOs were often referred to popularly as "flying saucers" or "flying discs". The term UFO became more widespread during the 1950s, at first in technical literature, but later in popular use. UFOs garnered considerable interest during the Cold War, an era associated with a heightened concern for national security. Various studies have concluded that the phenomenon does not represent a threat to national security nor does it contain anything worthy of scientific pursuit (e.g., 1951 Flying Saucer Working Party, 1953 CIA Robertson Panel, USAF Project Blue Book, Condon Committee).

Photos of Nature | Nature Photography What is The Universe

Photos of Nature | Nature Photography What is The Universe

Saturday, December 13, 2014