NASA is using IBM software to develop the software and systems that will operate the James Webb Space Telescope. The Next Generation Telescope which will succeed the Hubble Space Telescope will look much closer to the beginning of time and hunt for the unobserved formation of the first galaxies.
The Telescope, expected to be launched by 2013, will study galaxy, star and planet formation in the Universe. In order to study how the very first stars and galaxies formed in the early Universe, NASA will look 'back in time' and deep into space using light time to travel from the present to the past. To study the earliest star formation in the Universe, NASA will observe infrared light, using special instruments optimized to capture this part of the spectrum.
Nearly 20 years ago when the components and instruments on the Hubble Telescope were developed, software was built by multiple organizations using proprietary software for systems development. This approach meant that maintenance, changes and fixes to components and instruments made required multiple tools. Over the life of the mission HST developed software tools to resolve most of these issues.
Because separate space agencies from several different countries around the world are developing the software that will operate the Telescope's Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) systems, Command and Data Handling (CNDH), and the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) that houses the four primary instruments on the James Webb Space Telescope, it was critical for NASA to weave a common thread throughout the project that would circumvent expensive and time consuming software issues.
To address this hurdle, NASA mandated that each agency develop their systems using open standards-based software from IBM. The software, called IBM Rational Rose Real-time, is a UML-based visual modeling development software that acts as a blue print for the entire multi-decade project, allowing the developers of the various Telescope systems to "drag and drop" software code directly into the blue print where it is then automatically available across the entire project.
A Russian resupply ship loaded with propellant, oxygen, experiment hardware and other gear arrived at the International Space Station Friday at 9:59 p.m. EST. The ISS Progress 24 docked to the station’s Pirs docking compartment. The Progress is carrying supplies for Expedition 14 and the upcoming Expedition 15 mission.
New Horizons spacecraft is on the doorstep of the solar system's largest planet. The spacecraft will study and swing past Jupiter, increasing speed on its voyage toward Pluto, the Kuiper Belt and beyond.
The fastest spacecraft ever launched, New Horizons will make its closest pass to Jupiter on Feb. 28, 2007. Jupiter's gravity will accelerate New Horizons away from the sun by an additional 9,000 miles per hour, pushing it past 52,000 mph and hurling it toward a pass through the Pluto system in July 2015.
The world's biggest infrared camera for Europe's newest telescope left the UK today (17th January 2007) for its flight to Santiago in Chile. The infrared camera will sit at the focal point of VISTA - a UK provided survey telescope being constructed in Chile for ESO, the Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere. VISTA will be able to map the infrared sky faster than any previous telescope, studying areas of the Universe that are hard to see in the optical region of the spectrum due to either (or all of) their cool temperature, surrounding dust or their high redshift.
NASA is poised to launch on Feb. 15 five identical space probes – the largest number of spacecraft ever attempted by the agency on a single rocket – to solve a decades-long mystery about the origin of magnetic storms that turn the green, shimmering curtains of the Earth's Northern and Southern Lights into colorful, dancing light shows.