posted 07-20-2007 11:01 PM               

NASA in Google Earth

A few months back, Google Earth team and NASA began a collaborative effort to bring awareness and promote knowledge of NASA's "earth" programs. After months of production, the "NASA" layer group is now live in Google earth.

Personally, I find it quite eye-catching. People are usually familiar with NASA's space missions, but not everyone knows that NASA also devotes a considerable amount of effort to Earth explorations. This new NASA layer group showcases some of their most interesting content.

The new "NASA" layer has three components:

• Astronaut Photography of Earth
  
• Satellite Imagery
  
• Earth City Lights

Beginning with the Mercury missions in the early 1960s, astronauts have taken photographs of the Earth. The "Astronaut Photography of Earth" layer showcases some of the best of photos from the online Astronaut Photography collection.

The "Satellite Imagery" layer highlights some of the most interesting Earth imagery taken by NASA satellites over the years. Some placemarks also offer the option of downloading additional imagery from different years or seasons and overlaying them on the earth's surface. Being a space program lover, I used to spend hours on the NASA website looking at these photos, so it's nice to have them at my fingertips. Be sure to check out the satellite image overlays of continuous eruption of Mt. Etna at 37.730000, 15.000000 if you are a volcano lover like me.

"Earth City Lights" offers a new perspective on this popular image. One can identify some interesting urbanization patterns around the globe. I find it even more interesting to have roads and placename layers on at the same time as I fly over this layer. The United States interstate highway system appears as a lattice connecting the brighter dots of city centers. The Trans-Siberian railroad also shows up as a thin line stretching from Moscow through the center of Asia to Vladivostok. The Nile River can be viewed from a distance as another bright thread through an otherwise dark region. I really enjoy flying to different places around the globe, finding unexpected things and thinking about what the cause might be.

posted 08-22-2007 08:38 AM               

Introducing Sky in Google Earth

Google today announced the launch of Sky, a new feature that enables users of Google Earth to view the sky as seen from planet Earth.

With Sky, users can now float through the skies via Google Earth. This easy-to-use tool enables all Earth users to view and navigate through 100 million individual stars and 200 million galaxies. High resolution imagery and informative overlays create a unique playground for visualizing and learning about space.

To access Sky, users need only click "Switch to Sky" from the "view" drop-down menu in Google Earth, or click the Sky button on the Google Earth toolbar. The interface and navigation are similar to that of standard Google Earth steering, including dragging, zooming, search, "My Places," and layer selection.

As part of the new feature, Google is introducing seven informative layers that illustrate various celestial bodies and events:

• Constellations -- From Cassiopeia to Andromeda, the Constellations layer connects the points of constellations through space, labeling each with its given name. Users can learn about the stars that make up their favorite constellations.

• Backyard Astronomy -- The Backyard Astronomy layer lets users click through a variety of placemarks and information on stars, galaxies, and nebulae visible to the eye, binoculars and small telescopes. This layer is useful for the amateur astronomer who may benefit from a comprehensive, organized way to reference fragments of the night sky.

• Hubble Space Telescope Imagery -- The HST layer provides users with over 120 high-resolution images provided by the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA/ESA's renowned orbiting telescope.

• Moon -- The Moon layer displays animations of two months of both lunar positions and moon phases.

• Planets -- The Planets layer illustrates the seven official planets and their positions in the sky two months into the future.

• Users Guide to Galaxies -- The Users Guide to Galaxies layer enables users to go on virtual tours through different types of galaxies, from Ursa Minor Dwarf to the Milky Way.

• Life of a Star -- The Life of a Star layer takes the user on a tour through the different stages of a star's life cycle.

Sky was created by Google's Pittsburgh engineering team by stitching together imagery from numerous scientific third parties including the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the Digital Sky Survey Consortium (DSSC), CalTech's Palomar Observatory, the United Kingdom Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC), and the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO). The initiative was born out of the University of Washington's participation in the Google Visiting Faculty Program, which makes it possible for leading academic researchers to visit Google for 6-12 month periods.

"We're excited to provide users with rich astronomical imagery and enhanced content that enables them to both learn about what they're seeing above and tell their own stories," said Lior Ron, Google Product Manager. "By working with some of the industry's leading experts, we've been able to transform Google Earth into a virtual telescope."

"Sky is a very cool new feature for anyone who has ever looked up at the sky and wanted to know more," said Sally Ride, former astronaut and CEO of Sally Ride Science. "I think this is a great tool for satisfying that curiosity."

"Never before has a roadmap of the entire sky been made so readily available. Anyone interested in exploring the wonders of our universe can quickly see where the stunning objects photographed by Hubble actually dwell in the heavens. Sky in Google Earth will foster and initiate new understanding of the universe by bringing it to everyone's home computer," said Dr. Carol Christian of STScI, who co-led the organization's Sky team with Dr. Alberto Conti.

The announcement follows last month's inclusion of the NASA layer group in Google Earth, showcasing NASA's Earth exploration. The group has three main components, including Astronaut Photography of Earth, Satellite Imagery, and Earth City Lights. Astronaut Photography of Earth showcases photographs of the Earth as seen from space from the early 1960s on, while Satellite Imagery highlights Earth images taken by NASA satellites over the years and Earth City Lights traces well-lit cities across the globe.

To access Sky in Google Earth, users need to download the newest version of Google Earth. The feature will be available on all Google Earth domains, in 13 languages.

posted 09-18-2007 06:23 PM               

NASA Maps the Moon With Google

New higher-resolution lunar imagery and maps that include NASA multimedia content now are available on the Google Moon Web site.

Updates include new content from the Apollo missions, including dozens of embedded panoramic images, links to audio clips and videos, and descriptions of the astronauts' activities during the missions. The new content is overlaid on updated, higher-resolution lunar maps. Also added are detailed charts of different regions of the moon suitable for use by anyone simulating a lunar mission.

"NASA's objective is for Google Moon to become a more accurate and useful lunar mapping platform that will be a foundation for future web-based moon applications, much like the many applications that have been built on top of Google Maps," said Chris C. Kemp, director of strategic business development at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. "This will make it easier for scientists everywhere to make lunar data more available and accessible."

Google Moon's visible imagery and topography are aligned with the recently updated lunar coordinate system and can be used for scientifically accurate mission planning and data analysis. The new site is designed to be user-friendly and encourage the exchange of data and ideas among scientists and amateur astronomers.

This announcement closely follows the release of new NASA content in Google Earth, including photographs taken by NASA astronauts and imagery from NASA's Earth observing satellite sensors, such as the Sea-viewing Wide Field of View Sensor, Landsat and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer.

Astronaut photography was developed in collaboration with the Crew Earth Observations team, part of the Image Science and Analysis Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston. Satellite imagery of Earth was developed in partnership with the Earth Observatory team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

The alliance was accomplished under a Space Act Agreement signed in December 2006 by Google and NASA's Ames Research Center. Google is headquartered near Ames in northern California's Silicon Valley.

posted 05-01-2008 11:38 AM               

4D Ionosphere

Today, NASA-funded researchers released to the general public a new "4D" live model of Earth's ionosphere. Without leaving home, anyone can fly through the layer of ionized gas that encircles Earth at the edge of space itself. All that's required is a connection to the Internet.

"This is an exciting development," says solar physicist Lika Guhathakurta of NASA headquarters in Washington, DC. "The ionosphere is important to pilots, ham radio operators, earth scientists and even soldiers. Using this new 4D tool, they can monitor and study the ionosphere as if they're actually inside it."

The ionosphere is, in a sense, our planet's final frontier. It is the last wisp of Earth's atmosphere that astronauts leave behind when they enter space. The realm of the ionosphere stretches from 50 to 500 miles above Earth's surface where the atmosphere thins to near-vacuum and exposes itself to the fury of the sun. Solar ultraviolet radiation breaks apart molecules and atoms creating a globe-straddling haze of electrons and ions.

Ham radio operators know the ionosphere well. They can communicate over the horizon by bouncing their signals off of the ionosphere -- or communicate not at all when a solar flare blasts the ionosphere with X-rays and triggers a radio blackout. The ionosphere also has a big impact on GPS reception. Before a GPS satellite signal reaches the ground, it must first pass through ionospheric gases that bend, reflect and attenuate radio waves. Solar and geomagnetic storms that unsettle the ionosphere can cause GPS position errors as large as 100 meters. Imagine a pilot flying on instruments descending toward a landing strip only to discover it is a football field to the right.

"Understanding the ionosphere is clearly important. That's why NASA's Living with a Star (LWS) program funded this work," says Guhathakurta, LWS program scientist. Space Environment Technologies, Inc. of California received the LWS grant and they partnered with Space Environment Corp. of Utah and the US Air Force to develop the 4D ionosphere.

"The best way to appreciate the 4D ionosphere is to try it," says W. Kent Tobiska, president of Space Environment Technologies and chief scientist of its Space Weather Division. He offers these instructions:

"One, download and install Google Earth."

"Two, visit our web site and click on the link 'Total Electron Content.'"

Wait for the file to load and presto -- you're flying through the ionosphere: screenshot.

"Colors represent electron content," Tobiska explains. "Bright red is high density; that's where radio communications are restricted to few or no frequencies. Blue denotes low density; no problem there."

Using the intuitive Google Earth interface, users can fly above, around and through these regions getting a true 3D view of the situation. Make that 4D. "The fourth dimension is time. This is a real-time system updated every 10 minutes," he says.

The 4D model can be fun and even a little addictive, warns Tobiska, who likes to use it to pilot an imaginary plane over the Arctic. "A growing number of commercial business flights are crossing the Arctic Circle," he says. "It's the shortest distance between, say, Chicago and Beijing and many other major cities."

The ionosphere is particularly important to these lucrative flights. While they are over the Arctic, planes lose contact with most geosynchronous satellites and must rely on "old-fashioned" radio communications -- a link that could be severed during a radio blackout. Using the 4D model, a flight controller could examine the ionosphere from the flyer's point of view and use that information to anticipate problems that could cause a flight to be delayed or diverted.

The proper name of the system is CAPS, short for Communication Alert and Prediction System. Earth-orbiting satellites feed the system up-to-the-minute information on solar activity; the measurements are then converted to electron densities by physics-based computer codes. It is important to note, says Tobiska, that CAPS reveals the ionosphere not only as it is now, but also as it is going to be the near future. "Forecasting is a key aspect of CAPS available to our customers from, e.g., the Dept. of Defense and the airline industry."

posted 05-13-2008 05:11 PM               

Google today announced the launch of Sky, a new feature that enables users of Google Earth to view the sky as seen from planet Earth.

Works much in the same way as Google Earth, but looks up rather than down!

posted 02-02-2009 10:35 PM               

NASA and Google Launch Virtual Exploration of Mars

NASA and Google announced Monday the release of a new Mars mode in Google Earth that brings to everyone's desktop a high-resolution, three-dimensional view of the Red Planet.

Besides providing a rich, immersive 3D view of Mars that will aid public understanding of Mars science, the new mode, Google Mars 3D, also gives researchers a platform for sharing data similar to what Google Earth provides for Earth scientists.

The mode enables users to fly virtually through enormous canyons and scale huge mountains on Mars that are much larger than any found on Earth. Users also can explore the Red Planet through the eyes of the Mars rovers and other Mars missions, providing a unique perspective of the entire planet.

Users can see some of the latest satellite imagery from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and other probes orbiting the Red Planet. Viewers can learn about new discoveries and explore indexes of available Mars imagery. The new Mars mode also allows users to add their own 3D content to the Mars map to share with the world.

Today's announcement is the latest benefit from a Space Act Agreement NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., signed with Google in November 2006. Under its terms, NASA and Google agreed to collaborate to make NASA's data sets available to the world.

NASA Ames, along with its partners at Google, Carnegie Mellon University, SETI, and other institutions, helped produce the data to make this possible.

Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Google is headquartered close to Ames in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.

posted 03-14-2009 08:11 AM               

Mars, Then and Now: Google Mars Update

Antique maps, latest streaming satellite images now viewable with Mars in Google Earth

Editor's note: To access the Mars mode, download Google Earth and open it up. In the toolbar section on top, click on the small icon resembling the planet Saturn and select Mars.

Today, NASA and Google announce an update to Mars in Google Earth, a 3D mapping tool for the Red Planet. Originally released with Google Earth 5.0, Mars in Google Earth now contains even more features that give users a sense of how our knowledge of Mars, and our study of astronomy, has evolved over time. After selecting 'Mars' from the toolbar in Google Earth, users fly to a 3D view of the Red Planet, complete with informational layers, imagery, and terrain. The tools for navigation and exploration on Mars are identical to those on Earth - zoom in and out, change the camera view, or spin the entire planet with a click of the mouse.

There are three new features in this updated version of Mars in Google Earth. First, users can travel back in time to see the Red Planet through the eyes of the pioneers of Mars science in the 'Historical Maps' layer by exploring antique maps by astronomers Giovanni Schiaparelli, Percival Lowell, and others . Then, they can fast-forward to the present day with the new 'Live from Mars' layer, featuring a continuous stream of the latest imagery from today's Mars spacecraft. 'Live from Mars' includes imagery from NASA's THEMIS camera on board the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, and lets users fly along with Odyssey as well as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to see what they have been observing lately and where they are headed next. Users can discover these, and other exciting features—and learn all about the history of Mars science and exploration—with two new guided tours of Mars narrated by Ira Flatow of Public Radio's Science Friday and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Mars in Google Earth also contains several updated elements, in addition to the many popular features that were available at the original launch. We've included updated imagery from NASA and ESA, and improved the search function to make it easier to explore well-known sites on Mars. Just as they could in the original version of Mars in Google Earth, users can read geo-located articles from Hartmann's A Traveler's Guide to Mars about the solar system's largest canyon, Valles Marineris, its tallest volcano, Olympus Mons, the infamous 'Face on Mars', and many other famous Martian locations. They can also follow the paths of Mars rovers and view hi-resolution panoramic photos of the Mars surface.

posted 07-20-2009 04:49 PM               

Explore the Moon in Google Earth

Forty years ago today, on July 20, 1969, the world watched as the crew of Apollo 11 took the first human steps on the surface of the Moon. In celebration of this historic occasion, Google is launching Moon in Google Earth, an interactive 3D atlas of the Moon, viewable with Google Earth 5.0. Moon in Google Earth was announced today at the Newseum, in Washington, DC, where Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Google Senior VP of Engineering Alan Eustace, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, A Man on the Moon author Andrew Chaikin, and space tourist Anousheh Ansari delivered remarks.

With Moon in Google Earth, users can explore a virtual Moonscape, follow guided tours from astronauts Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) and Jack Schmitt (Apollo 17), see the latest rover concepts by teams competing in the Google Lunar X-PRIZE, view high-resolution 'street View' style panoramic photos, watch previously unreleased video footage captured from the lunar surface, and much more. Moon in Google Earth will also incorporate a complete lunar terrain data-set by Kaguya LALT, produced by JAXA/NAOJ, which will serve as the atlas' base-map. Whether they are rediscovering the iconic moments in the history of Moon exploration or learning about them for the first time, Moon in Google Earth enables users to better understand the Moon, and our relationship to it, with an immersive, 3D experience.

"Forty years ago, two human beings walked on the Moon. Starting today, with Moon in Google Earth, it's now possible for anyone to follow in their footsteps," said Moon in Google Earth Product Manager, Michael Weiss-Malik. "We're giving hundreds of millions of people around the world unprecedented access to an interactive 3D presentation of the Apollo missions."

The most recent tool to have been developed as a result of the Space Act Agreement between Google and NASA, Moon in Google Earth enables information about the Moon to be accessible to anyone in a unique three-dimensional context.

"Today's announcement builds on the ongoing relationship with Google that Ames Research Center initiated in November 2006 when we signed a Space Act Agreement to foster collaboration with our Silicon Valley neighbor," said S. Pete Worden, Director of NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. "We're excited to be a part of this latest chapter in Google's efforts to bring virtual exploration of the Moon to anyone with a computer."

In addition to satellite imagery and terrain, the following layers can be explored with Moon in Google Earth:

• Featured Satellite Imagery - Explore overlaid satellite imagery and detailed descriptions of selected areas on the Moon from Arizona State University's "Lunar Image of the Week"

• Spacecraft Imagery - View selected imagery captured by the Apollo Metric Camera, Clementine, and the Lunar Orbiter.

• Apollo Missions - Travel back to the Apollo era and discover the landing sites of Apollo missions 11-17. Explore "Street View"-style panoramic images, watch previously unreleased footage from Spacecraft films , and read about the places astronauts saw on their trips to the Moon.

• Guided Tours - Take a narrated tour of the Moon from Apollo astronauts Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) and Jack Schmitt (Apollo 17).

• Historic Maps - Discover Apollo-era geologic and topographic maps of the Moon that were used in mission control for trips to the Moon.

• Human Artifacts - Learn about the various types of exploratory equipment that humans have left on the Moon and where those objects can be found today. Artifacts from the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the EU, Japan, and India are included, some of them as 3D models.

To experience Moon in Google Earth, open Google Earth 5.0 and switch modes from "Earth" to "Moon" on the top toolbar. To learn more about Moon in Google Earth, visit earth.google.com/moon. Google Earth 5.0 can be downloaded at earth.google.com.

posted 06-15-2010 08:08 AM               

There's also guided tours by Buzz Aldrin and Jack Schmitt. The image below shows a simulated LM on the surface and is taken from the video.