Even though the young sun was less luminous during the Archean Eon, Earth was warm enough for liquid water to persist. How this was possible is the focus of current research. (Courtesy University of Texas)

New research led by LASP scientist Brian Toon uses a three-dimensional (3-D) model of Earth’s climate to assess the role of various factors in influencing historic global temperatures and resulting sea ice formation and change.

Toon, along with doctoral student Eric Wolf, adapted the 3-D model to incorporate the complex and dynamic interactions between the atmosphere, cloud formation, energy radiation, land and ice cover, and the hydrological cycle to demonstrate how the Earth maintained a global mean temperature hospitable to life. The model attempts to solve the “faint young sun paradox” of the Archean Eon—from about 3.8 billion to 2.5 billion years ago—when the Sun was up to 30 percent less active, but geologic evidence points to a climate as warm or warmer than today.

The consideration of additional climate system factors in the new 3-D model has created a much more accurate and dynamic picture of Earth’s climate than previously relied-upon one-dimensional models, but also presents a number of challenges; for example: When mean temperatures are modeled below 55 degrees Fahrenheit, extended periods of catastrophic glaciation become the norm. Increasing the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere keeps temperatures warmer, but geological evidence indicates that such high levels of CO2 were not found at that time. The new model accounts for the influences of additional greenhouse gases on warming and the processes that create them.

Toon said, “The advantage of a 3-D model is that the transport of energy across the planet and changes in all the components of the climate system can be considered in addition to the basic planetary energy balance.”

“The ultimate point of this study is to determine what Earth was like around the time that life arose and during the first half of the planet’s history,” he said. “It would have been shrouded by a reddish haze that would have been difficult to see through, and the ocean probably was a greenish color caused by dissolved iron in the oceans. It wasn’t a blue planet by any means.”

Wolf presented the new findings at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting held Dec. 5- 9 in San Francisco. In recognition of his innovative work on the effects of aerosols on clouds and climate, the AGU awarded Toon the 2011 Revelle Medal, which recognizes outstanding contributions in atmospheric sciences, climate, or related aspects of the Earth system.

More information

To read the original CU-Boulder feature, visit:
http://www.colorado.edu/news/r/f7c5826c5e89f1ea5a4e4ddd6f8b819f.html.

Contacts

CU-Boulder/LASP:

• Brian Toon, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences: 303-492-1534 or Brian.Toon@lasp.colorado.edu
• Stephanie Renfrow, press office: 303-735-5814 or Stephanie.Renfrow@lasp.colorado.edu

CU-Boulder instruments flying on NASA's identical Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft launched in 1977 and now readying to exit our solar system have helped space scientists make a wide variety of discoveries over the decades, including the density and composition of Saturn's fabulous ring system. (Courtesy NASA)

 
In 1977, Jimmy Carter was sworn in as president, Elvis died, Virginia park ranger Roy Sullivan was hit by lightning a record seventh time and two NASA space probes destined to turn planetary science on its head launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

The identical spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, were launched in the summer and programmed to pass by Jupiter and Saturn on different paths. Voyager 2 went on to visit Uranus and Neptune, completing the “Grand Tour of the Solar System,” perhaps the most exciting interplanetary mission ever flown. University of Colorado Boulder scientists, who designed and built identical instruments for Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, were as stunned as anyone when the spacecraft began sending back data to Earth.

The discoveries by Voyager started piling up: Twenty-three new planetary moons at Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; active volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon, Io; Jupiter’s ring system; organic smog shrouding Saturn’s moon, Titan; the braided, intertwined structure of Saturn’s rings; the solar system’s fastest winds (on Neptune, about 1,200 miles per hour); and nitrogen geysers spewing from Neptune’s moon, Triton.

Amazingly, both spacecraft have kept on chugging (if one can call 35,000 miles per hour chugging). NASA announced last week that Voyager 1—about 11 billion miles from Earth—has now sailed to the edge of the solar system and is expected to punch its way into interstellar space in a time span ranging from a few months to a few years. Voyager 2 is not far behind, but on a different trajectory.

Charlie Hord, a former planetary scientist at CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, remembers the salad days of the Voyager program, which was managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Hord, the principal investigator for a time on the LASP instrument known as a photopolarimeter built for Voyager, still shakes his head in wonder as he recalls some of the discoveries.

“All of the scientists were dazzled by the pictures of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn coming back,” recalled Hord, 74, who still lives in Boulder. “To finally look at them up close was the most remarkable thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” Since the early Voyager days were pre-Internet, “We used to send people over to the JPL newsroom to steal press kits so we could look at the pictures taken by the imaging team,” he laughs.

The LASP photopolarimeter, a small telescope that measured the intensity and polarization of light at different wavelengths, was used for a variety of observations during the mission. The instrument helped scientists distinguish between rock, dust, frost, ice and meteor material. And it helped scientists determine the structure of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, which Hord called “a giant hurricane that has blown for 200 years,” as well as the properties of the clouds and atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn Uranus and Neptune, and Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

The CU-Boulder instrument also was used to learn more about the makeup of the Io torus, a doughnut-shaped ring around Jupiter formed by volcanic eruptions from its moon, Io, as well as determining the distribution of ring material orbiting Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and the surface compositions of the outer planet moons.

One of the finest mission moments for Hord was analyzing the data returned from the photopolarimeter when it was locked on the star Delta Scorpii as it emerged from behind Saturn and passed behind the elegant rings in a “stellar occultation” when the light from a star is blocked by an intervening object. The processed photopolarimeter data showed each ring was made up of numerous smaller ringlets. “They were beautiful—they looked just like the grooves on a phonograph record,” he said.

On the off chance either spacecraft is encountered by an alien civilization, each are carrying what are known as “Golden Records”—gold-plated copper, audiovisual phonograph records with greetings in 54 languages, photos of people and places on Earth, the sounds of surf, wind, thunder, birds and whales, diagrams of DNA and snippets of music ranging from Bach and Beethoven to guitarist Chuck Berry’s classic rock-and-roll song, Johnny B. Goode. The spacecraft even carries a stylus set up in the correct position so that aliens could immediately play the record, named “Murmurs from Earth” by Carl Sagan, who conceived the Golden Record effort.

“I thought adding the Golden Record to the mission was a neat thing to do,” said Hord. A guitar player himself who performs jazz and Big Band music with a trio that visits Boulder retirement homes, Hord recalled that JPL threw the Voyager team a party to celebrate the end of Voyager 2’s Grand Tour as it passed by Neptune in 1989 (Pluto was in a distant part of its orbit at the time). “We even had Chuck Berry playing his guitar on the steps of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,” he said. “It was really something.”

In 1990, Voyager 1 turned around one last time and took a portrait of the solar system—a sequence of photos that revealed six of the nine planets in an orbital dance. From nearly 4 billion miles away, Earth took up only a single pixel.

“To me, Voyager was the most fun and interesting planetary mission ever,” said Hord, who enlisted the help of then-graduate students Carol Stoker (now a NASA planetary scientist) and Wayne Pryor (now a professor at Central Arizona University) to analyze data from the mission. Over its lifetime, the CU-Boulder photopolarimeter science team also included LASP Professor Larry Esposito, Senior Research Associate Ian Stewart, retired faculty members Karen Simmons, Charles Barth and Robert West, as well as tireless work by many undergraduate and graduate students.

Esposito, who is still at LASP and is the principal investigator on a $12 million CU-Boulder instrument package aboard NASA’s Cassini Mission to Saturn, said his biggest thrill of the Voyager mission was the Neptune fly-by in 1989 when the gas giant “went from being a small blurry dot to a planet with bright clouds and numerous moons and rings. “Triton erupted before our eyes, and Neptune’s partial rings were punctuated and variable like a type of sausage that the French make.”

Then-CU President Gordon Gee was so impressed with the blue image the LASP team made of Neptune’s ring system that he used it on his Christmas cards, said Esposito, a professor in the astrophysical and planetary sciences department.

Esposito believes the biggest discovery by CU-Boulder’s Voyager photopolarimeter team was the intricate structure of Saturn’s F ring—a ring he discovered in 1979 using data from NASA’s Pioneer 11 mission. The CU-Boulder team determined the faint F ring was made up of three separate ringlets that appeared to be braided together, and that the inner and outer limits of the ring were controlled by two small “shepherd satellites.”

In addition, Esposito said that density waves—ripple-like features in the rings caused by the influence of Saturn’s moons—allowed the team to estimate the weight and age of Saturn’s rings.

As for Hord, the Casper, Wyo., native went on to be the principal investigator for two spectrometers designed for NASA’s Galileo Mission to Jupiter that launched in 1989 to tour the Jovian system, including its bizarre moons. Hord officially retired in 1997, but returns to campus for occasional visits with his colleagues.

In 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will float within 9.3 trillion miles of the star AC+793888 in the constellation Camelopardalis. In 296,000 years, Voyager 2 will pass within 25 trillion miles of Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. Perhaps on the way, the spacecraft will encounter some musically inclined aliens up for a little Bach, Beethoven or Berry.

To watch a video of LASP scientist Larry Esposito discussing the exciting data returned from the Voyager missions, visit: http://bcove.me/l0bdypbp

Saturn eclipses the sun, as seen from the Cassini orbiter. The dusty rings scatter the sunlight, lighting up the night side of Saturn. Earth is the faint dot outside the broad main rings and inside the thin, faint G ring. (Courtesy NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

Using data from the NASA Cassini mission, a team of scientists led by LASP researcher Sean Hsu has successfully modeled dust streams being expelled from Saturn at speeds of more than 62 miles (100 km) per second. The data, taken from the Cosmic Dust Analyzer and the magnetometer on board Cassini, provide new information about the sources of the dust, as well as interactions within the mix of subatomic particles in which the charged dust is immersed, called dusty plasma.

Hsu and his colleagues found that the dust particles acquire an electric charge and become subjected to the magnetic forces of both Saturn and the constant stream of particles coming from the Sun. The resulting electromagnetic forces are sufficient to overcome the attraction to the giant planet and dictate the behavior of the dust particles, which may trace their origins to meteor collisions with Saturn’s moons and rings.

The acceleration of dust particles in dusty plasma is a growing area of interest in planetary science and has implications concerning the origins of the solar system and star formation. Hsu works with LASP scientist Mihály Horányi at the Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies (CCLDAS), where researchers examine the electrostatically charged lunar dust and dusty plasmas, as well as their effects on human and mechanical exploration of the lunar surface.

More information

To read the full Jet Propulsion Laboratory news feature, visit
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassiniscienceleague/science20111110/.

To read the related journal publications, visit
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2010JA015959 and http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011JA016488.

Citations

Hsu, H.-W., S. Kempf, F. Postberg, M. Trieloff, M. Burton, M. Roy, G. Moragas-Klostermeyer, and R. Srama (2011), Cassini dust stream particle measurements during the first three orbits at Saturn, J. Geophys. Res., 116, A08213, doi:10.1029/2010JA015959.

Hsu, H.-W., F. Postberg, S. Kempf, M. Trieloff, M. Burton, M. Roy, G. Moragas-Klostermeyer, and R. Srama (2011), Stream particles as the probe of the dust-plasma-magnetosphere interaction at Saturn, J. Geophys. Res., 116, A09215, doi:10.1029/2011JA016488.

Contacts

Sean Hsu, lead author: 303-492-8537 or Sean.Hsu@lasp.colorado.edu

Stephanie Renfrow, LASP press office: 303-735-5814 or Stephanie.Renfrow@lasp.colorado.edu

This illustration of the Sun-Earth connection shows a coronal mass ejection traveling toward the Earth with the solar wind. The lines represent magnetic field lines. Such events can disrupt communications and navigational equipment, damage satellites, and even cause blackouts. (Courtesy NASA)

As part of the upcoming American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, LASP Director, Dan Baker, will serve as a panelist for a workshop on space weather. The workshop, “Getting Ready for Solar Max: Separating Space Weather Fact from Fiction,” will be held on Tuesday, December 6, at 10 a.m. PT. Baker will begin the presentation with an overview of our current understanding of the Sun-Earth system, including solar variability and its interaction with Earth’s magnetosphere.

The number of solar flares and coronal mass ejections are becoming more frequent as the Sun moves toward solar maximum in 2013. There is a corresponding increase in public interest and media coverage of the effects of radiation and particles that impact the Earth, collectively known as space weather. In addition to Baker’s introduction, the workshop will highlight the real threats space weather can bring—including particle radiation exposure for airplane travelers, GPS failure, disruption of satellite electronics, and power grid overload; and insights into the newest space weather observing and early-warning techniques.

Workshop Participants

Dan Baker
Director, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder

Louis Lanzerotti
Distinguished Research Professor, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey

Antti Pulkkinen
Associate Professor, Catholic University, Washington, D.C. and Research Associate, Community Coordinated Modeling Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

Michael Hesse
Chief, Space Weather Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

More Information

For a complete schedule of AGU press conferences and workshops, visit http://sites.agu.org/fallmeeting/media-center/press-conference-agenda/.

The Science Division, one of LASP’s four divisions, is consolidating by moving to a new location in the CU Research Park. The move will ease crowding and improve collaboration. (Courtesy LASP)

LASP Science Division personnel are moving to a new location on the CU Research Campus beginning October 14. According to LASP Director, Dan Baker, the benefits of the move are two-fold. Baker said, “LASP is a growing presence on campus. We are excited by the opportunity to expand our physical space to better address our current needs, while consolidating our science staff for more fluid collaboration.”

The move will help ease crowding in the LASP Space Technology Building (LSTB), located across the street from the new location. LASP currently has 500 employees—a mix of both students and professionals. Most of these staff members reside in the LSTB, a building that comfortably housed 348 occupants when it was completed in 2006. By moving just under 100 employees to the new location, LSTB will still be over its intended capacity, but fewer employees will be doubled and tripled into single-occupancy offices.

The move will also allow approximately 50 LASP personnel located in the Duane Physics building on main campus to join their colleagues on the CU Research campus, enabling more ready collaboration and creating a more cohesive environment for students and professional staff.

Caroline Himes, LASP Associate Executive Director, said, “A benefit we look forward to is the closer proximity of students to their advisors. LASP values our students and the energy and enthusiasm they bring; we believe it’s important to provide a supportive environment for them as they gain the real-world experiences LASP offers.”

The new LASP location, in the newly designated Space Science Building (SPSC), was formerly occupied by Sybase. All told, LASP gains 31,000 square feet with the move. The facility will primarily house research scientists and outreach staff, along with some data systems and administrative staff. In addition to office space, the facilities will include several large conference rooms.

LASP employees in the Engineering, Administration, and Mission Operations & Data Systems Divisions will remain in nearby LSTB, enjoying less crowding and much-needed expanded laboratory space.

The Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences Department and the Physics Department benefit from this move, with expanded access to approximately 20,000 square feet of high-value space on main campus. The move also helps address one of CU’s larger goals: the development and expansion of the CU Research Park. While LASP currently will occupy only the first and second floors of DIDR, the third floor may become the headquarters for the National Solar Observatory (NSO). CU recently won the bid to be the new host for NSO headquarters.

The Tharsis region on Mars is a volcanic plateau centered near the equator in Mars’s western hemisphere. The region is home to the largest volcanoes in the solar system, including three enormous shield volcanoes—Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascraeus Mons—which are collectively known as the Tharsis Montes. (Courtesy GSFC)

LASP scientist and CU-Boulder Department of Geological Sciences Assistant Professor Brian Hynek led a recent study detailing the earliest history of the development of the Tharsis volcanoes on Mars. The Tharsis region, one of the most prominent features on Mars, covers one quarter of the planet, rises 10 km above the surrounding flatlands, and has had near-continuous volcanic activity for roughly 4 billion years.

Along with CU-Boulder Physics Professor Shijie Zhong, Research Associate Ondrej Sramek, and postdoctoral student Stuart Robbins, Hynek modeled the source and pathway of the enormous plume ultimately responsible for the formation of the Tharsis bulge, which geological evidence suggests is responsible for the largest accumulation of volcanic material in the solar system and has been implicated in a warmer, wetter historic Mars.

The paper, titled “Geological evidence for a migrating Tharsis plume on early Mars,” was published in the September edition of Earth and Planetary Science Letters. Hynek and his colleagues used geologic mapping, analysis of impact craters, and the remnant magnetization of Mars’ crust to detail the migration track. Their model demonstrates that the plume, or volcanic hot spot, responsible for Tharsis began near the Martian south pole and ended in its current location on the equator—some 4,000 km away—about 3.7 billion years ago. The migration resulted in significant volcanism at the surface that buried an older, cratered terrain. The results have significant implications for mantle dynamics, resultant crustal magnetic signatures, and the early geologic and climate history of Mars. The new findings corresponded to earlier predictions in a theoretical model of Zhong (2009, Nature Geosciences).

More Information

To read the full paper, visit http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X11004845.

To read the related Lunar and Planetary Science Conference publication, visit http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2011/pdf/1603.pdf.

Citation

Brian M. Hynek, Stuart J. Robbins, Ondřej Šrámek, Shijie J. Zhong, Geological evidence for a migrating Tharsis plume on early Mars, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 310, Issues 3-4, 15 October 2011, Pages 327-333, ISSN 0012-821X, 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.08.020.

Contacts

• Brian Hynek, LASP Research Associate: Brian.Hynek@lasp.colorado.edu
• Stephanie Renfrow, LASP Office of Communications & Outreach: 303-735-5814 or Stephanie.Renfrow@lasp.colorado.edu

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has awarded LASP scientist Peter Pilewskie a Humboldt Research Award for his achievements in the field of atmospheric science. (Courtesy LASP)

In recognition of his accomplishments and groundbreaking insights in the field of atmospheric science, LASP scientist and CU-Boulder Professor Peter Pilewskie has been named a recipient of the Humboldt Research Award. Pilewskie has been at LASP since 2004, where he performs research on the effects of clouds and aerosols on solar energy in the Earth’s atmosphere. He is also a professor in the Department of Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences and serves as the director of the collaborative LASP/NASA Goddard Sun-Climate Research Center.

LASP Director, Dan Baker, said, “As the recipient of the prestigious Humboldt Research Award, one of the most coveted fellowships in European science, it is a great pleasure to congratulate my colleague and coworker for this outstanding achievement.”

The Humboldt Research Award is granted in recognition of a researcher’s entire achievements to date to academics whose fundamental discoveries, new theories, or insights have had a significant impact on their own discipline and who are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements in the future. Nominations are made by academics in Germany and the award supports research for up to one year in German institutions.

Pilewskie is Principal Investigator for the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor and is co-investigator for the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE), for which he provides expertise on radiative processes in our atmosphere. Prior to joining LASP, he worked at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

CU-Boulder has been selected to host the National Solar Observatory headquarters. LASP scientists assisted in writing the proposal. (Courtesy NASA/GSFC Scientific Visualization Studio; source data courtesy of HAO and LASP PSPT project team)

CU-Boulder has announced its selection as the upcoming host for the National Solar Observatory headquarters. A team led by Russell Moore, CU-Boulder Provost, and including LASP researchers, submitted the bid to serve as the NSO’s new headquarters location.

The NSO’s mission is to advance knowledge of the sun both as an astronomical object and as the dominant external influence on Earth by providing forefront observational opportunities to the research community. The mission includes the operation of cutting-edge facilities and the continued development of advanced instrumentation both in-house and through partnerships, as well as conducting solar research and educational and public outreach. NSO is operated under the auspices of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, or AURA, on behalf of the National Science Foundation, with key observing facilities in New Mexico and Arizona.

CU-Boulder Provost Russell Moore submitted the proposal on behalf of the university. He said, “We are delighted to be named host of the National Solar Observatory, which is of great importance to the nation and world in terms of better understanding solar physics and space weather.”

More information

• NSO – National Solar Observatory

Press releases

• CU-Boulder press release

Contacts

CU-Boulder/LASP:

• Mark Rast, LASP scientist: Mark.Rast@colorado.edu

CU-Boulder:

• Jim Scott, press office: 303-492-3114 or Jim.scott@colorado.edu

Technicians from Lockheed Martin inspect the MAVEN primary structure following its completion at the company’s Composites Lab in this Sept. 8, 2011 photo. (Courtesy Lockheed Martin)

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission has achieved another significant milestone on its way towards launch in November 2013. Lockheed Martin has completed building the primary structure of the MAVEN spacecraft at its Space Systems Company facility near Denver. MAVEN will be the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. The mission’s principal investigator is Bruce Jakosky, LASP Senior Research Associate.

The primary structure of MAVEN is cube shaped at 7.5 feet x 7.5 feet x 6.5 feet high (2.3 meters x 2.3 meters x 2 meters high). Built out of composite panels comprised of aluminum honeycomb sandwiched between graphite composite face sheets and attached to one another with metal fittings, the entire structure only weighs 275 pounds (125 kilograms). Despite the primary structure’s light weight, it’s designed to support the entire spacecraft mass during the launch. At the center of the structure is the 4.25 feet (1.3 meters) diameter core cylinder that encloses the propellant tank and serves as the primary vertical load-bearing structure. The large tank will hold approximately 3,615 pounds (1640 kilograms) of fuel.

“There’s still a lot of work to go before we have the complete spacecraft, but this is a major step in getting us to the launch pad in two years,” said Jakosky. “All of the team’s hard work now will pay off when we get to Mars and see the science results.”

To view the full press release, please see: http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/2011/09/26/maven-mission-primary-structure-complete/.

The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, due to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere on Friday, Sept. 23, 2011, made important discoveries about ozone layer chemistry and processes. It also measured winds and temperatures in the stratosphere, and energy input from the Sun. (Courtesy NASA)

NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), launched in September 1991 and deployed from the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-48), is re-entering Earth’s atmosphere and will complete its decent on Friday, September 23. LASP designed and built the Solar Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE) on board UARS and operated the instrument after launch. Throughout 14 years of successful operations, SOLSTICE made precise measurements of the Sun’s ultraviolet and far ultraviolet spectral irradiance.

UARS was initially designed as a three-year mission to study the upper atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind. The project resulted in several major scientific discoveries, including the confirmation of the role of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in ozone depletion and the resulting chemical processes that cause the Antarctic ozone hole. Originally orbiting at about 360 miles (580 km) above the surface of the Earth, NASA decommissioned the spacecraft in 2005, placing it into a lower, “disposal” orbit, and its altitude has been gradually decreasing ever since.

Most of the 7-ton satellite is expected to burn up upon re-entry, but NASA has estimated that about 26 pieces, some weighing up to 300 lbs. (136 kg) will survive the intense heat caused by atmospheric drag. These pieces will scatter somewhere within a 500 mile (800 km) fall zone. Although much attention has been given to the possibility of debris raining down on populated areas, chances of that occurring are extremely remote, according to Nicholas Johnson, head of NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office.

“Throughout the entire 54 years of the Space Age, there has been no confirmed report of anybody in the world being injured or severely impacted by any re-entering debris,” Johnson said.

Decommissioning and removing spacecraft from orbit is rare. Over the course of 15 years of continuous spacecraft operations, LASP personnel have participated in such a process just once. In June 2010, NASA began decommissioning the ICESat mission and LASP professionals and students controlled the final descent of the satellite, which fell to Earth in the Barents Sea, north of Scandinavia on August 30. LASP presents students with a unique opportunity to become certified mission operators and to control spacecraft and instruments from our Mission Operations Center.