tiny nano satellites will be sent by NASA on space research missions soon

The US space agency has said that it has already got as many as a dozen very small research satellites into space.

NASA is going to be leading in sending very small satellites into space.

These macro satellites will be sent along with other bigger satellites in the future launches in the days ahead.

They claim that these satellites are so small that many of them may well actually fit in the palm of your hand.

Reports claim that these cube-shaped nano-satellites, called CubeSats, which measure about four inches on each side and weigh less than three pounds, are small but pack an out-sized research punch. The satellites will enable unique technology demonstrations, education research and science missions.

NASA officials while talking about these very small satellites claim that these will also help in studying topics ranging from how the solar system formed and demonstrating a new radiation-tolerant computer system, NASA said. The 14 CubeSats selected are from 12 US states and will fly as auxiliary payloads aboard rockets planned to launch in 2016, 2017 and 2018. They come from universities across the US, non-profit organisations and NASA field centres, NASA said. The US space agency plans to launch 50 small satellites from all 50 states in the next five years.

-nvonews

NASA map Earths forests in 3D

The United States’ space agency, NASA, is developing the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Lidar device to map forests on Earth in 3D and increase understanding of their role in the carbon cycle.

The instrument will be the first to systematically probe the depths of the forests from space. "GEDI Lidar will have a tremendous impact on our ability to monitor forest degradation, adding to the critical data needed to mitigate the effects of climate change," said Patrick O'Shea, chief research officer at the University of Maryland. It is a laser-based system that can measure the distance from the space-based instrument to Earth's surface with enough accuracy to detect subtle variations, including the tops of trees, the ground, and the vertical distribution of above ground bio-mass in forests, Wired.com reported.

The instrument will be built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, a NASA release said. "GEDI will be a tremendous new resource for studying Earth's vegetation," said Piers Sellers, deputy director of Goddard's Sciences and Exploration Directorate. In particular, the GEDI data will provide global-scale insights into how much carbon is being stored in the forest bio-mass. NASA said GEDI is scheduled to be ready in 2018.

Indian graduate student discovers and measures black hole

An Indian-origin graduate student has discovered and measured one of the most elusive and mysterious objects in the Universe — a middling-sized black hole.

University of Maryland astronomy graduate student Dheeraj Pasham and two colleagues made the measurements of the rare black hole which they found hiding in the well-known galaxy M82, some 12 million light years away from Earth. Their findings were published online on August 17 in the journal Nature.

The reason why this discovery and the measurement are considered so significant is that these intermediate-mass black holes are hard to measure even their existence is sometimes disputed. Little is known about how they form, a Maryland varsity statement said. Some astronomers question whether they behave like other black holes.

The universe has countless black holes and just our galaxy, the Milky Way, may have up to 100 million of them, it is thought. Nearly all black holes fall into one of two classes: big, and colossal. The 'big' ones have from about 10 times to 100 times the mass of our sun. They are the remnants of dying stars. The 'colossal' or supermassive black holes have more than a million times the mass of the sun. These giants inhabit the centres of most galaxies.

But scattered across the universe are a few apparent black holes of the more mysterious type.

Ranging from a hundred times to a few hundred thousand times the sun's mass, these intermediate-mass black holes are mysterious because they are difficult to pinpoint.

"Objects in this range are the least expected of all black holes," says Richard Mushotzky UMD astronomy professor and a co-author. "Astronomers have been asking — do these objects exist or do they not exist? What are their properties? Until now we have not had the data to answer these questions." While the intermediate-mass black hole that the team studied is not the first one measured, it is the first one so precisely measured, Mushotzky says, "establishing it as a compelling example of this class of black holes."

The regions around supermassive black holes shine brightly in X-rays. Some of this radiation comes from a surrounding disk, and most comes from the corona, pictured here in this artist's concept as the white light at the base of a jet. This is one of a few possible shapes predicted for coronas. Image Credit: Nasa/JPL-Caltech

A black hole is a region in space containing a mass so dense that not even light can escape its gravity. Black holes are invisible, but astronomers can find them by tracking their gravitational pull on other objects. Matter being pulled into a black hole gathers around it like storm debris circling a tornado's centre. As this cosmic stuff rubs together it produces friction and light, making black holes among the universe's brightest objects.

Pasham, who will begin a post-doctoral research position at Nasa Goddard in late August, has identified six potential intermediate-mass black holes that Nasa's to-be launched X-ray telescope NICER might explore.