Astrophysics Branch (Code SSA)

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NASA's inagural class of the Mid-Level Leadership Program (MLLP)

Friday, Jan 28, 2011, at NASA Langley Research Center, 29 participants in NASA's inagural class of the Mid-Level Leadership Program (MLLP), graduated. NASA Ames was represented in many levels with five participants in the program (Kimberly Ennico, Code SSA; Darlene Gross, Code CS; Dawn McIntosh, Code TI; Justin Pane, Code JAZ, and Nicki Rayl, Code SCF).

New, State-of-the-art laboratory astrophysics facility

Claire Ricketts (NPP), Cesar Contreras (NPP), Robert Walker (SSA) and Farid Salama (SSA) have reported the successful completion of a new, state-of-the-art laboratory astrophysics facility at NASA Ames. This unique facility is located in in the Space Science Astrophysics Branch where it is used to produce, monitor and analyze astrophysical species under a controlled environment to support NASA missions (SOFIA, HST, JWST, Herschel).

Identification of origin of particles brought back by Hayabusa

The Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) has recently announced that preliminary examinations of particles removed from the sample canister of the Hayabusa Sample Return Mission have shown that asteroidal materials were, indeed, recovered from asteroid Itokawa.

Drs. William Borucki and David Koch to receive Inaugural Lancelot Berkeley Prize

The AAS is pleased to announce that the Society's first Lancelot M. Berkeley - New York Community Trust Prize for Meritorious Work in Astronomy is being awarded to William J. Borucki and David G. Koch for leading the successful Kepler space mission, which is discovering new exoplanets while making major advancements in the search for terrestrial planets around other stars. Borucki and Koch, both at NASA's Ames Research Center, are PI and deputy PI, respectively, of the Kepler mission.