Deep Space Climate Observatory to provide 'EPIC' views of Earth

NASA has contributed two Earth science instruments for NOAA's space weather observing satellite called the Deep Space Climate Observatory or DSCOVR, set to launch in January 2015. One of the instruments called EPIC or Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera will image the Earth in one picture, something that hasn't been done before from a satellite. EPIC will also provide valuable atmospheric data.

Currently, to get an entire Earth view, scientists have to piece together images from satellites in orbit. With the launch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) DSCOVR and the EPIC instrument, scientists will get pictures of the entire sunlit side of Earth. To get that view, EPIC will orbit the first sun-Earth Lagrange point (L1), 1 million miles from Earth. At this location, four times further than the orbit of the Moon, the gravitational pull of the sun and Earth cancel out providing a stable orbit for DSCOVR. Most other Earth-observing satellites circle the planet within 22,300 miles.

"Unlike personal cameras, EPIC will take images in 10 very narrow wavelength ranges," said Adam Szabo, DSCOVR project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. "Combining these different wavelength images allows the determination of physical quantities like ozone, aerosols, dust and volcanic ash, cloud height, or vegetation cover. These results will be distributed as different publicly available data products allowing their combination with results from other missions."

These data products are of interest to climate science, as well as hydrology, biogeochemistry, and ecology. Data will also provide insight into Earth's energy balance.

EPIC was built by Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center, in Palo Alto, California. It is a 30 centimeter (11.8 inch) telescope that measures in the ultraviolet, and visible areas of the spectrum. EPIC images will have a resolution of between 25 and 35 kilometers (15.5 to 21.7 miles).

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New NASA Van Allen Probes findings assisting to improve space weather models

Using data from NASA's Van Allen Probes, scientists have examined and enhanced one to assist forecast what is happening within the radiation atmosphere of near-Earth space -- a location seething with fast-moving contaminants along with a space weather system that varies as a result of incoming energy and contaminants in the sun.

NASA's Van Allen Probes orbit through two giant radiation devices that surround Earth. Their findings help to improve computer simulations of occasions within the devices that may affect technology wide.

When occasions within the two giant raspberry braid of radiation around Earth -- known as the Van Allen radiation devices -- make the devices to swell and electrons to accelerate to 99 % the rate of sunshine, nearby satellites can seem to be the results. Researchers ultimately wish to have the ability to predict these changes, which requires knowledge of what can cause them.

Now, two teams of related research released within the Geophysical Research Letters enhance these goals. By mixing new data in the Van Allen Probes having a high-powered computer model, the brand new research supplies a robust method to simulate occasions within the Van Allen devices.

"The Van Allen Probes are gathering great dimensions, however they can't let you know what's happening everywhere simultaneously,Inch stated Geoff Reeves, an area researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory, or LANL, in Los Alamos, N.M., a co-author on from the recent papers. "We want models to supply a context, to explain the entire system, in line with the Van Allen Probe findings."

Just before the launch from the Van Allen Probes in August 2012, there have been no operating spacecraft made to collect real-time information within the radiation devices. Knowledge of what could be happening in almost any locale was made to depend mainly on interpretation historic data, particularly individuals in the early the nineteen nineties collected through the Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite, or CRRES.

Let's suppose meteorologists wished to predict the temperature on March 5, 2014, in Washington, D.C. however the only information available was from a number of dimensions produced in March during the last seven years up and lower the New England. That isn't exactly enough information to determine whether you have to put on your hat and mitts on a day within the nation's capital.

Fortunately, we've a lot more historic information, appliances allow us to predict the elements and, obviously, countless thermometers in almost any given city to determine temperature instantly. The Van Allen Probes is one step toward gathering more details about space weather within the radiation devices, but they don't have the opportunity to observe occasions everywhere at the same time. So researchers make use of the data they are in possession of open to build computer simulations that complete the gaps.

The current work centers around using Van Allen Probes data to enhance a 3-dimensional model produced by researchers at LANL, known as DREAM3D, which means Dynamic Radiation Atmosphere Assimilation Model in 3 Dimensions. So far the model depended heavily around the averaged data in the CRRES mission.

Among the recent papers, released February. 7, 2014, provides a procedure for gathering real-time global dimensions of chorus waves, that are essential in supplying energy to electrons within the radiation devices. They in comparison Van Allen Probes data of chorus wave behavior within the devices to data in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Polar-revolving about Operational Environment Satellites, or POES, flying underneath the devices at low altitude. By using this data plus some other historic good examples, they correlated the reduced-energy electrons falling from the devices as to the was happening directly within the devices.

"After we established the connection between your chorus waves and also the stressfull electrons, we are able to make use of the POES satellite constellation -- that has a number of satellites revolving about Earth and obtain great coverage from the electrons being released from the devices," stated Los Alamos researcher Yue Chen, first author from the chorus waves paper. "Mixing that data having a couple of wave dimensions from one satellite, we are able to remotely sense what is happening using the chorus waves through the whole belt."

The connection between your stressfull electrons and also the chorus waves doesn't have a 1-to-one precision, however it provides a significantly narrower selection of options for what is happening within the devices. Within the metaphor of looking for the temperature for Washington on March 5, it's just like you still did not possess a thermometer within the city itself, but can produce a better estimate from the temperature as you have dimensions from the dewpoint and humidity inside a nearby suburb.

The 2nd paper describes a procedure of enhancing the DREAM3D model with data in the chorus wave technique, in the Van Allen Probes, and from NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer, or ACE, which measures contaminants in the photo voltaic wind. Los Alamos scientists in comparison simulations using their model -- which now could incorporate real-time information the very first time -- to some photo voltaic storm from October 2012.

"It was a amazing and dynamic storm," stated lead author Weichao Tu at Los Alamos. "Activity peaked two times during the period of the storm. The very first time the short electrons were completely destroyed -- it had been a quick give up. The 2nd time many electrons were faster substantially. There have been a 1000 occasions more high-energy electrons inside a couple of hrs."

Tu and her team went the DREAM3D model while using chorus wave information by including findings in the Van Allen Probes and ACE. The researchers discovered that their computer simulation produced by their model recreated a celebration much like the October 2012 storm.

In addition the model assisted explain the various results of the various peaks. Throughout the very first peak, there simply were less electrons around to become faster.

However, throughout the first areas of the storm the photo voltaic wind funneled electrons in to the devices. So, throughout the 2nd peak, there have been more electrons to accelerate.

"That provides us some confidence within our model," stated Reeves. "And, more to the point, it provides us confidence that we're beginning to know what's happening within the radiation devices."

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'Standing on the comet': Rosetta mission will lead to space weather research

A comet-bound spacecraft which has been in sleep mode in excess of 2 yrs is scheduled to wake on the morning of Jan. 20 -- beginning the house stretch of their decade-lengthy journey to some mile-wide ball of rock, dust and ice.

If all goes as planned, Rosetta -- a ecu Space Agency-brought mission which involves College of Michigan engineers and researchers -- would be the first craft to really find a comet in addition to track it to have an extended time period.

The Philae lander will latch onto the main of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November and also the orbiter will operate before the finish of 2015. No mission has ever attempted this kind of in-depth take a look at one of these simple artefacts from the earliest times of our photo voltaic system.

Engineers at U-M's Space Physics Research Lab built electronic components to have an onboard instrument that's thought is the most sensitive available ever flown wide. Along with a team of scientists will engage in the mission science too.

While the majority of the large questions Rosetta aims to reply to cope with the foundation and evolution from the photo voltaic system, U-M researchers can make a distinctive contribution that may provide very practical experience into the way the sun and planets interface today.

They'll evaluate dimensions taken in the comet to review photo voltaic wind interactions that can result in photo voltaic storms. The photo voltaic wind is really a stream of billed contaminants coming in the sun. Photo voltaic storms are bursts of activity that may threaten astronauts and damage Earth's satellites and electric power grid.

"The way the photo voltaic wind works is among the greatest outstanding questions regarding the photo voltaic system today. By studying the way it interacts with cometary gases, we are able to become familiar with a lot concerning the composition from the photo voltaic wind," stated Tamas Gombosi, the Rollin M. Gerstacker Professor of Engineering within the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences.

Gombosi and the research group are leaders within the area of space weather. One they developed was lately adopted through the national Space Weather Conjecture Center.

In the sun's equator, the wind travels rather gradually, Gombosi stated. It moves faster at high latitudes. Interactions backward and forward types can result in magnetospheric storms. Earth orbits close to the equator, therefore it is difficult to read the fast wind from your standpoint.

"But comets go through everything. Using their help, we are able to read the fast photo voltaic wind," Gombosi stated.

Gombosi along with other U-M scientists will engage in additional Rosetta goals. They'll study and simulate how rapidly the comet outgases material from the nucleus to the tail because it rings round the sun. They'll engage in analyzing what elements have been in the comet's tail, atmosphere and ionosphere, in addition to how quickly the electrified contaminants within the ionosphere are traveling.

Michael Combination, the Freeman Devold Burns Collegiate Research Professor within the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, is really a co-investigator on several instruments. He'll consider the speed where the comet's core is sublimating, or turning from the solid right into a gas, and he'll work on the team that's examining individuals gases. They'll explore the amount of deadly carbon monoxide and co2, for instance. They cannot identify co2 from Earth.

"It's tough to observe a few of the chemical species when they are far and faint. Co2 is most likely the 2nd most abundant species for the most part comets, but it is not been noticed in the 1000's we have checked out from Earth," stated Combination, that has analyzed comets in excess of 3 decades.

Comets -- small rock and ice physiques -- were contained in the nebula that created the photo voltaic system and also have been revolving about since in far, cold devices either just beyond the orbit of Neptune or perhaps a quarter from the distance towards the nearest star. For researchers, they are ancient items which help them know how the photo voltaic system created and developed. They are thought to possess shipped Earth's oceans and possibly the seed products of existence in organic materials.

"People make use of the example it's experienced the freezer within the last 4.5 million many introduced set for convenient study. So we are searching around we are able to at how a way the photo voltaic system was 4.5 billion years back,Inch Combination stated.

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is among the littlest physiques humans have ever attempted to find. Its gravity is all about 1,000 occasions under those of Earth.

"Around the lander, there is a camera that may look straight lower like you are standing and searching in the ground. Plus there is a breathtaking camera that may watch out and find out an image from the horizon. It will be fun to determine what this landscape appears like,Inch Combination stated. "It will be like sitting on a comet."

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2013 Space Achievement Award

April 9, 2013

NOAA received the prestigious 2013 Space Achievement Award today from the Space Foundation “for its use of space-based systems in making life-saving predictions and issuing early warnings of calamitous weather conditions.”

Sandy MacDonald, director of NOAA’s Earth Systems Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., accepted the award on behalf of NOAA at the Space Foundation’s 29th National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.

“For all of the hard-working scientists, researchers and engineers at NOAA, receiving this award is a high honor coming from such a distinguished organization,” MacDonald said. “NOAA will continue to stay true to its mission of protecting lives and property, while helping to increase our understanding of the dynamic changes occurring within Earth's environment.”

Each year, the Space Foundation presents the Space Achievement Award to an individual or organization for significant contributions in advancing the exploration, development or use of space.

“While most people recognize the value of weather predictions, many don’t realize how NOAA uses space assets to determine the severity and risks of approaching weather events,” said Elliot Pulham, CEO of the Space Foundation in a press release to announce the award.

NOAA operates two types of spacecraft – the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) and Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) – that work in tandem to continuously monitor Earth’s air, land and water to track atmospheric conditions that trigger severe weather. NOAA is working with its partner NASA to build the next-generation of advanced geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites, called GOES-R and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), respectively.

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.

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Strong space weather storm hits Earth

The strongest space weather storm in five years struck Earth on Thursday, causing some airlines to reroute their flights, threatening power disruptions and sparking a show of the northern lights.

NASA and other agencies warned that the storm had the potential to disrupt global positioning systems, satellites and power grids, and had already caused some air carriers to change their planes' polar flight paths.

However, the Earth's magnetic field appeared to be absorbing the brunt of the shock and it was unlikely to reach the most severe levels, US experts said.

The leading edge of the coronal mass ejection -- a burst of hot plasma and charged particles -- that erupted from the Sun early Wednesday reached Earth on Thursday at 1045 GMT (5:45 am Eastern time in the United States), said an update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Predictions that the storm would reach a level three on a scale of five, or a "strong" level of solar radiation and geomagnetic storming, continue to "look justified," NOAA said.

"So far the orientation of the magnetic field has been opposite of what is needed to cause the strongest storming. As the event progresses, that field will continue to change."

NASA had forecast late Wednesday that the storm could reach "severe" levels, and its effects were expected to last through Friday.

The storm is likely "the strongest one since December 2006," NOAA scientist Joseph Kunches said on Wednesday.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station were not expected to be affected by the radiation storm, NASA said.

A vivid display of the northern lights -- aurora borealis -- created when highly charged particles interact with the Earth's magnetic field, causing a colorful glow, was expected to be visible over central Asia at nightfall Thursday.

Geomagnetic and radiation storms are growing more frequent as the Sun leaves its solar minimum period and moves into a solar maximum over the coming years, but people are generally protected by Earth's magnetic field.

However, some experts are concerned that because the world is more reliant on GPS and satellite technology now than it was during the last solar maximum, more disruptions to modern life are likely.

The fuss began late Sunday at an active region on the Sun known as 1429, with a big solar flare that was associated with a coronal mass ejection that thrust toward the Earth at some four million miles per hour (6.4 million kilometers per hour).

A pair of solar flares and a CME followed overnight Tuesday-Wednesday, setting off a strong geomagnetic and solar radiation storm registering at level three on a five-step scale.

NASA said the first of the two flares on March 6-7 -- classified in the potent X class and facing directly at the Earth -- was the biggest this year and one of the largest of this cycle known as the solar minimum, which began in early 2007.

In fact, it was second only to a stronger one that erupted in August.

The solar flares alone caused brief high frequency radio blackouts that have already passed, according to NOAA.

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Gas boom means little space for Pa. flood victims (AP)

TUNKHANNOCK, Pa. – Pennsylvania residents who lost their homes to Tropical Storm Lee more than three weeks ago are having a tough time finding affordable housing, or any housing at all, because workers in the area's natural gas drilling boom have filled nearly every room.

Last month's record flooding has worsened a housing crunch in north central and northeastern Pennsylvania, where a surge in drilling over the past few years has led to housing shortages and skyrocketing rents. Flood victims say that available units are few, and federal disaster assistance doesn't come close to paying the rent on the scattered vacancies that are left.

Kim Eastwood, whose home was severely damaged in the flood, has been staying with her son, daughter and elderly mother in a Red Cross shelter in a high school gymnasium while she tries to find a place for them to live.

It hasn't been easy — not shelter life with its cold showers and hard cots, nor her quest for an apartment or house. "The couple we saw are way too expensive," said Eastwood, 35, of Mehoopany.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it will provide temporary trailers to residents who qualify — the first batch of about 250 trailers has been approved, and they are being rolled out in the coming days and weeks — but that process takes time. In the meantime, flooded-out residents are on a difficult and sometimes fruitless search for housing.

"They can't find any place to go because there is no place to go," said Brian Wrightson, emergency services director for 10 American Red Cross chapters in northeastern Pennsylvania. "They don't want to uproot their children from the schools and leave their communities and it's become an issue."

Storms that wreaked havoc on much of the Northeast last month caused historic flooding of the Susquehanna River and small streams and creeks in Pennsylvania, damaging or destroying many thousands of homes. Statewide, more than 57,000 victims of the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee and Hurricane Irene have registered for federal disaster aid, with about $75 million distributed to date, most of that as rental assistance.

State officials have set up a website, http://www.pahousingsearch.com, to help flood victims find houses and apartments. But in this region of the Marcellus Shale, a rock formation believed to hold the nation's largest reservoir of natural gas, much of the housing stock is clearly geared toward gas-industry workers.

"The rental rates are severely inflated," said Kim Wheeler, a state Department of Community and Economic Development staffer who has been working to secure housing for flood victims in heavily drilled Lycoming County.

In Bradford County, the center of the Marcellus industry, three-bedroom homes are listed for $1,200 to $1,700 per month, far above what a flood victim can be expected to receive from FEMA. That's because rental assistance is based on what the government calculates as fair-market rent for the area — and the fair-market rent for a three-bedroom in Bradford County is only $704.

The supply is grossly inadequate, too. In hard-hit Wyoming County, where Eastwood and 13 others have been sheltering in the gymnasium of Tunkhannock High School, the state website lists only two properties for rent.

Gene Dziak, Wyoming County's emergency management coordinator, said FEMA trailers will be needed to help meet demand.

"To find an apartment within Wyoming County is virtually impossible," he said. "We're kind of waiting for our temporary housing situation to be squared away and for FEMA to step in and help. That's in the very near future, we hope."

As of Friday, FEMA had identified 2,721 disaster relief applicants statewide that qualify for trailers, or "temporary housing units" in FEMA parlance. Of those, the agency had managed to contact more than 1,800 applicants and confirmed 249 of them for the housing units, which come fully furnished with a kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom.

"We are very aware there's a shortage of rental resources in the state, and we are addressing it," said FEMA spokesman Michael Sweet.

High rents and low supply aren't the only challenges confronting flood victims in the Marcellus Shale. Even for more reasonably price units, landlords often balk at signing leases with terms under a year, or they don't accept pets, or there's some other reason it's not a good fit, Wheeler said.

A majority of the six dozen families who have come to Wheeler for help are still looking.

"Very few of (the landlords) are really doing this (to provide) true assistance to the flood victims. They're a business and they want someone in there who they don't have to worry about for a while," Wheeler said. "It's not an easy or pretty picture."

At the Red Cross shelter in Tunkhannock where 14 people remained late last week, caseworkers have proposed splitting up the Eastwood family and moving them to Carbondale, an hour's drive to the east. Eastwood is resisting. "We're not moving to Carbondale. I have kids in school, my mom is older and her doctor's here," she said.

So they remain at the shelter, using $600 of their $1,700 in FEMA rental assistance on a pair of two-night stays at a hotel — a small taste of normalcy.

Another family staying at the shelter plans to move to Georgia. Christy Fowler, 43, a Georgia native who lived in Mehoopany with her husband and three children, said the family had talked about moving south for a while. The flood that wrecked the first floor of their home made it an easy call — there's nowhere else in the area they can afford.

Private rentals and FEMA trailers will end up housing only a portion of the victims of last month's flood. Most displaced residents have moved in with high-and-dry family members.

That has made for some very cramped quarters.

Lori Chilson, 40, has seven extra people living in her house in Laporte, Sullivan County, all of them from her husband's side of the family. Her husband, a contractor, installed a second full bathroom to accommodate the influx, especially his mother, who's on oxygen and needed a bathroom near her sleeping quarters.

"We had to do what we had to do," Chilson said. "It's been hard, but everyone's adjusting. It's working well so far."

With expenses mounting, especially for heating oil, Chilson has inquired about getting federal disaster assistance but was told it's only for flood victims.

"They said we're not flood victims," she said, "but we kind of are."

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Hurricane Irene Spotted From Space (SPACE.com)

Hurricane Irene, the first hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, was seen from space today (Aug. 22) as it roared past Puerto Rico.

Irene formed as a tropical storm east of the Leeward Islands on Aug. 20. By early Aug. 22, the storm had strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that Irene had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph), with higher gusts. The storm was located about 150 miles (240 kilometers) west-northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image at 11:20 a.m. local time (15:20 UTC) on Aug. 22. Storm clouds cover part of the Dominican Republic, and all of Puerto Rico. [See satellite photos of Hurricane Irene]

As of Aug. 22, Irene had cut power to more than a million residents of Puerto Rico, according to ABC News. The Miami Herald reported that heavy rains had pushed at least five rivers over their banks on the island. Citing continuing rains, downed power lines, and potential landslides, the Puerto Rico governor urged residents to stay indoors.

Moving westward to the island of Hispaniola, Irene menaced the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The storm’s worst winds and rains remained north of the island, reducing the threat of deadly flooding, according to news reports. Nevertheless, authorities worried about approximately 600,000 Haitians still living in Port Au Prince tent cities after the 2010 earthquake. [Weirdo Weather: 7 Weird Weather Events]

The NHC reported that a hurricane warning was in effect for the north coast of the Dominican Republic, the southeastern Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. A hurricane watch was in effect for the north coast of Haiti. Irene was moving toward the west-northwest at roughly 12 mph (19 kph), and was expected to continue in that direction for the next day or two.

Five-day projections released by the NHC on Aug. 22 showed Irene heading for the continental United States, potentially making landfall in Florida, Georgia or the Carolinas.

Irene is the first hurricane for what has been forecast to be an active season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) updated its forecast on Aug. 4, predicting 14 to 19 named storms (which include tropical storms and hurricanes), seven to 10 hurricanes and three to five major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher). An average Atlantic hurricane season will see 11 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes. August through October are the peak months of the Atlantic hurricane season.

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Space Shuttle and the Weather (ContributorNetwork)

As NASA ends an era with the final launch of space shuttle Atlantis, nearly 30 years of human spaceflight and aeronautics will be examined. One important aspect of rocket launches is weather, especially when it comes to risking human lives in the name of science.

Here's a look at some concepts of weather as they pertain to NASA's space shuttle program.

Lightning Strikes

The space shuttle could suffer major malfunctions if it were struck by lightning. As such, many precautions are taken with the orbiter and its boosters if lightning is detected in the area. The U.S. Air Force provides real-time data as to weather conditions at the time of launch.

Lightning rods are all over the Kennedy Space Center, including one on the launch pad to protect the rocket as it awaits launch. Lightning strikes the launch pad about five times per year.

Challenger Disaster

The Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff Jan. 28, 1986. The cause was determined to be a failure of o-shaped rings that join the solid rocket boosters together from top to bottom. The booster on the right side leaked explosive gas because the sealed ring was too cold.

The problem with the launch was that one side of the shuttle was too cold. The solid rocket booster that malfunctioned was in shadow most of the morning. One side of the booster was 50 degrees in the sun, while the other was below freezing. As such, the rubber o-ring malfunctioned and caused the massive hydrogen gas tank to explode in-flight.

Landings

Taking off in a rocket during bad weather is not a good idea. Landings can also be delayed from bad weather but there is a limit to the amount of time a crew can spend in outer space. Eventually, food and oxygen will run out if the shuttle doesn't land.

As such, there are three landing sites selected for shuttle missions. The Kennedy Space Center in Florida offers one landing strip. Edwards Air Force Base in California is another. A third, and less-used site is at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. If the original landing site is unavailable, one of the other two sites can be used as a backup.

The space shuttle program has come to an end after 30 years of valuable service to all mankind. Weather has been a major factor in the program as scientists and engineers have found unique ways to understand how weather works as it relates to human spaceflight.

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