UFO panel members say online abuse has been directed at their work to investigate the unexplained.

NASA has held its first public meeting on UFOs – officially referred to as “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAPs) – a year after launching a study into unexplained sightings.

The space agency televised the four-hour hearing on Wednesday featuring an independent panel of experts who promised to be transparent. The team of 16 scientists and other experts selected by NASA included retired US astronaut Scott Kelly who spent nearly a year in space.

NASA said the focus of the public session at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC was to hold “final deliberations” before the team publishes a report, which panel chair David Spergel said was planned for release by late July.

“If I were to summarise in one line what I feel we’ve learned, it’s we need high-quality data,” Spergel said during opening remarks on Wednesday.

NOW: An audio-only media briefing following today’s public discussion on unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs. https://t.co/y4gMK6n1M9

— NASA (@NASA) May 31, 2023

“The current data collection efforts about UAPs are unsystematic and fragmented across various agencies, often using instruments uncalibrated for scientific data collection,” Spergel said.

The team has “several months of work ahead of them”, said Dan Evans, a senior research official at NASA’s science unit, adding that panel members had been subjected to online abuse and harassment since they began their work.

The panel represents the first such inquiry ever conducted under the auspices of the US space agency for a subject the government once consigned to the exclusive and secretive purview of military and national security officials.

The NASA study is separate from a newly formalised Pentagon-based investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena documented in recent years by military aviators and analysed by US defence and intelligence officials.

The parallel NASA and Pentagon efforts, both undertaken with some semblance of public scrutiny, highlight a turning point for the US government after decades spent deflecting, debunking and discrediting sightings of unidentified flying objects – long associated with notions of flying saucers and aliens – dating back to the 1940s.

While NASA’s science mission was seen by some as promising a more open-minded approach to the topic, the US space agency made it known from the start that it was not leaping to any conclusions.

“There is no evidence UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin,” NASA said in announcing the panel’s formation last June.

“I want to emphasise this loud and proud: there is absolutely no convincing evidence for extraterrestrial life associated with” unidentified objects, panel member Evans said after the meeting on Wednesday.

US defence officials have said the Pentagon’s recent push to investigate such sightings has led to hundreds of new reports now under examination, though most remain categorised as unexplained.

The head of the Pentagon’s newly formed All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office has also said the existence of intelligent alien life has not been ruled out but that no sighting had produced evidence of extraterrestrial origins.

NASA’s Evans pointed out that the live stream of the meeting led to considerable trolling.

That comes on top of “online abuse” directed towards several committee members.

Harassment detracts from the scientific process and reinforces the stigma surrounding the topic of UAPs, said Evans, adding that NASA security is dealing with the issue.

“It’s precisely this rigorous, evidence-based approach that allows one to separate the fact from fiction,” he added.

DUVAR – ABD Ulusal Havacılık ve Uzay Ajansı’nın (NASA), halk arasında UFO (Tanımlanamayan uçan cisim) olarak bilinen hava cisimlerini incelemek üzere kurduğu kurulun başkanı Princeton Üniversitesi Öğretim Üyesi David Spergel, çalışmalarını anlattı.

NASA’nın ordu, akademi ve özel şirketlerin yöneticilerinden oluşan ve UFO’ları inceleyen kurulu, yaptığı çalışmalara ilişkin 16 kişilik uzman ekiple brifing düzenledi.

AA’nın aktardığına göre temmuzda yayımlanması planlanan kurul raporunun ilk bulgularına ilişkin 4 saatlik brifinge Spergel başkanlık ederken, toplantıya Savunma Bakanlığı, Federal Havacılık İdaresi (FAA) ve NASA yetkililerinin yanı sıra birçok akademisyen konuşmacı olarak katıldı.

AYLIK 50-100 İHBAR GELİYOR

Toplantıda konuşan Savunma Bakanlığı Tüm-Sahalar Anomali Çözüm Ofisi Direktörü Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, şimdiye dek 800’den fazla UFO, aylık 50 ile 100 civarında ihbar geldiğini söyledi.

Kirkpatrick, bunlardan çok azını tanımlanamayacak anormallikler olarak değerlendirdiklerini belirtti.

Toplantıda son zamanlarda alınmış bir görüntüyü paylaşan Kirkpatrick, üç nokta şeklinde parlak nesnenin seçilebildiği bu görüntünün ABD üzerinde keşif uçuşu yapan bir P-3 uçağı tarafından alındığını, uçağın pilotlarının nesneleri yakalayamadıklarını ifade etti.

Kirkpatrick daha sonra yapılan incelemede nesnelerin aslında P-3 uçağının pilotlarının düşündüğünden çok daha uzak bir noktada ve bir havalimanına inmek üzere olan uçaklar olduğunun tespit edildiğini belirtti.

Kirkpartrick, ellerinde oldukça geniş kapsamlı gözetleme araçları bulunduğunu ancak uluslararası kısıtlamaların da küresel incelemeleri zorlaştırdığını söyledi.

ÇİN BALONU SONRASI

Toplantıda konuşan FAA Hava Trafik Gözetim Hizmetleri Ofisi Teknik Danışmanı Mike Freie ise ABD genelinde 880 binden fazla kayıtlı dron olduğunu ve günlük olarak on binlerce dronun uçtuğunu söyledi.

Bu sistemlerin hava gözetleme süreci için önemli bir zorluk oluşturduğunu belirten Freie, özellikle de SpaceX’in Starlink lansmanından sonra FAA’ya gelen tanımlanamayan cisim raporu sayısında artış olduğunu dile getirdi.

Freie, şubatta ABD hava sahasından bir Çin balonunun tespit edilip düşürülmesinden sonra tanımlanamayan cisim ihbarlarında “önemli bir artış” gördüklerini bildirdi.

UZAYLILAR VAR MI?

Toplantıda, tespit edilen cisimlerin arkasında “insan dışı bir zeka” olup olmadığını sorusu yöneltildi.

George Mason Üniversitesi Hesaplama ve Veri Bilimi Doçenti Anamaria Berea, ekibin bilim insanlarından oluştuğunu ve verileri takip edeceklerini söyledi. Görevlerinin söz konusu anormal görüntüleri daha fazla nasıl inceleyebileceklerine dair bir yol haritası ve çerçeve oluşturmak olduğunu kaydeden Berea, “Olağanüstü iddialar olağanüstü kanıtlar gerektirir. Evrende yalnız olup olmadığımız sorusu, muhtemelen bilim ve insanlık tarihimizdeki en büyük sorulardan biridir.” dedi.

Aynı soruya yanıt veren Spergel ise uzmanlar tarafından henüz böyle olağanüstü bir kanıtın görülmediğini vurguladı. Spergel, NASA’nın yaptığı işin çoğunun dünya dışında “herhangi bir biçimde yaşam aramak” olduğunu ifade ederek, “Yaşam arayışı gerçekten önemli bir şey. Henüz Dünya’nın ötesinde yaşam bulamadık ama arıyoruz.” diye konuştu.

Spergel, öte yandan NASA’nın henüz “insanüstü bir zeka veya buna dair olağanüstü kanıtları görmediğini” dile getirdi.

Dünya dışında hayat olduğu keşfedildiği takdirde NASA’nın ne yapacağı sorusuna yanıt veren ABD’li bilim insanı, aslında dünya dışında hayatın mümkün olup olmadığının ajansın ilgilendiği en büyük soru olduğunu ancak henüz böyle bir duruma ilişkin kanıt bulamadıklarını aktardı.

Toplantıda değerlendirmelerde bulunan Redwire yöneticilerinden Mike Gold ise aradıkları şeyin henüz tanımını yapamamalarının büyük sorun teşkil ettiğini söyledi.

Gold, “Samanlıkta iğne aramıyoruz, samanlıkta anormallik arıyoruz. Yani iğne aradığımızı bile bilmiyoruz.” dedi. (HABER MERKEZİ)

 

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s six-day visit marks the 70th anniversary of the US-South Korean alliance, forged in 1953.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has toured a NASA flight centre, as his country and the United States signed a joint statement to increase their collaboration in technology and space exploration.

“I’ve always believed that mankind’s future lies in space,” Yoon said on Tuesday in a speech from the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where he was joined by US Vice President Kamala Harris.

Yoon underscored his vision for transforming South Korea into “one of the world’s top five leaders in space technology”, with plans to reach the moon for “resource extraction” by 2032 and land astronauts on Mars by 2045.

In her remarks, Harris called the US-South Korean alliance “a linchpin of security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and around the world”.

She credited the alliance with tackling “some of the most important and pressing issues of our time”, including the two countries’ “collective defence in the face of aggression and provocation”, a seeming reference to North Korea and its recent missile tests.

Harris also addressed a shared commitment to confronting the climate crisis. “Together our nations have built and placed satellites in orbit that can track air pollution in North America and Asia,” she said.

“Today I have also directed the National Space Council, which I lead, to expand this network to ensure that it also covers the southern hemisphere, specifically the continent of Africa and South America. This cannot be a global initiative if any nations around the world are excluded.”

Yoon’s visit to the space flight centre — one of NASA’s original research hubs — marked the first leg of a six-day US tour, which will include a formal White House visit on Wednesday with his US counterpart, President Joe Biden.

The trip marks the South Korea’s first state visit to Washington, DC, in nearly 12 years and the first state visit from an Indo-Pacific leader during Biden’s term in office.

Yoon’s tour is also timed to the 70th anniversary of the 1953 Mutual Defense Treaty, which established the two countries’ alliance. He spent part of Tuesday visiting the Arlington National Cemetery — a memorial site largely for military personnel — as well as the Korean War Memorial with Biden.

While in the US, Yoon is expected to push for greater economic cooperation with Washington. Before his initial meeting with Biden on Tuesday, he called for the countries’ bond to “leap into a new phase” and “evolve into a supply chain and future-oriented, innovative-technology alliance”.

His trip coincided with several high-profile deals between US and South Korean industries.

On Monday, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos announced his company would invest $2.5bn in South Korean programming after a meeting with Yoon. And on Tuesday, the US carmaker General Motors announced it would partner with Samsung SDI to construct a $3bn electric vehicle battery plant in the US.

In addition to economic ventures, the US has teased “major deliverables” to be announced during the formal visit on Wednesday, including “with respect to the threat” North Korea poses.

“This visit, of course, also comes at a critical moment, as North Korea continues to develop its nuclear and missile capabilities,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday. “The two leaders will have a chance to consult closely on that.”

Sullivan’s statement comes as the US continues to wrestle with the fallout from the release of classified documents online, some of which purport to show the Biden administration spying and putting pressure on South Korea to supply ammunition destined for Ukraine.

Those documents appeared to signal strain between the two allies, though US officials have been quick to affirm that relations with South Korea are “ironclad”.

The US and South Korea are both part of the non-binding NASA Artemis Accords, a multilateral agreement to collaborate on crewed missions to the moon.

The agreement signed on Tuesday at the Goddard space centre is slated to reinforce that commitment, as well as broker collaboration across spaced-based communication, navigation and technology.

Phys.org’un haberine göre, NASA yetkilileri, Mars habitatının dört küçük oda, bir spor salonu ve tabana serilecek kırmızı kumla oluşturulacağını, gönüllülerin bir yıl boyunca bu ortamda yaşayacağını ve böylece gelecekteki Mars görevlerinin nasıl olacağının araştırılacağını açıkladı.

Mürettebat Sağlığı ve Performansı Keşif Analoğu (CHAPEA) adı verilen üç ayrı deneyin, ABD’nin Texas eyaletindeki NASA’nın Houston tesislerinde yapılacağı kaydedildi.

Deneylerde, insanların uzun izolasyon sürelerine karşı dayanıklılığını daha iyi anlamak için deneklerin fiziksel ve zihinsel sağlıklarının izleneceği belirtildi.

Araştırmacılar, deneklerin su kullanımının kısıtlanması veya ekipman arızaları gibi stresli durumlara verdiği tepkiyi de düzenli olarak test edecek.

Bu yaz başlanması planlanan ilk deneye dört gönüllünün katılacağı açıklandı.

CHAPEA deneylerinin baş araştırmacısı Grace Douglas, elde edilecek verilerle NASA’nın astronotların Mars’taki “kaynak kullanımını” daha iyi anlayacağını söyledi.

Douglas, “Astronotlara sağlayacağımız malzemelerle onları destekleyip destekleyemeyeceğimizi anlamak istiyoruz. Bu veriler kritik kaynak kararlarını vermek için gerçekten önemli olacak. Böylesine uzak bir görev için, ‘çok katı malzeme sınırlamaları’ olacaktır.” ifadelerini kullandı.

HABİTAT ÜÇ BOYUTLU YAZICI İLE OLUŞTURULACAK

Habitatın başka bir özelliği de üç boyutlu yazıcılar kullanılarak üretilecek olması.

Douglas açıklamasında, “Üç boyutlu yazıcılar, NASA’nın diğer gezegen veya ay yüzeyinde yaşam alanı oluşturmada potansiyel olarak değerlendirdiği teknolojilerden biri.” dedi.

Gönüllüler, iki banyo, bitki yetiştirmek için bir çiftlik, tıbbi gereksinimler için bir oda, boş vakitleri geçirmek için bir alan ve birkaç iş istasyonunu içeren “Mars Kumulları Alfa” adlı 160 metrekarelik bir barınakta yaşayacak.

Aslında bir hangarın içinde bulunan ancak bir hava kilidiyle çıkılacak olan “dış mekanda” ise Mars habitatı inşa edilecek.

Astronotlar, Kızıl Gezegen’in daha az yer çekimini simüle etmek için oluşturulan kayışlarla bağlanarak bir koşu bandı üzerinde yürüyecek.

NASA Davranışsal Sağlık ve Performans Laboratuvarı Başkanı Suzanne Bell, koşu bantlarının, dört gönüllünün numune ve bilgi toplama veya altyapı inşası gibi maksatlarla yapacakları uzun yürüyüşleri canlandırmak için de kullanılacağını ifade etti.

NASA, ilk deneye katılacakların henüz belli olmadığını ancak adayların bilim, teknoloji, mühendislik ve matematik geçmişlerine uygun olarak “astronot aday adayları için uygulanan standart kriterlere göre seçileceğini” açıkladı.

NASA’nın Maryland eyaletindeki Goddard Uzay Uçuş Merkezi’nin yeni direktörü Dr. Makenzie Lystrup yemin ederken Carl Sagan‘ın kitabı Soluk Mavi Nokta: İnsanın Uzaydaki Geleceğine Bir Bakış’a (Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space) el bastı.

ABD’nin başkenti Washington’daki NASA genel merkezinde 6 Nisan’da Dr. Makenzie Lystrup için tören düzenlendi. Lystrup burada NASA Başkanı Bill Nelson‘ın huzurunda Soluk Mavi Nokta’ya el basarak yemin etti.

“Dünyaca ünlü bir ekibe liderlik etmekten dolayı onur duyuyorum”

Gezegenbilimci Lystrup’ın “doğal lider” olduğunu söyleyen NASA Başkanı Nelson, yeni müdürün yönetiminde uzay araştırma laboratuvarının yenilik ve keşif yapmayı sürdüreceğini ifade etti.  Merkezin ilk kadın direktörü olan Lystrup ise “Böylesine çeşitliliğe sahip, harika ve dünyaca ünlü bir ekibe liderlik etmekten dolayı onur duyuyorum” dedi.

Kitap hakkında

Kozmos belgeseliyle de bilinen ünlü ABD’li gökbilimci ve astrobiyolog Sagan, uzayı anltttığı kitabında bu görüntünün ardından şu sözleri kaleme almıştı: “O noktayı yeniden inceleyin. O, burası. O, evimiz. O, biziz! Üzerinde; sevdiğiniz herkes, bildiğiniz herkes, duyduğunuz herkes yaşıyor. Var olmuş tüm insanlar yaşamlarını orada geçirdiler. Keyif ve acının bir toplamı”

Sagan sözlerini “Türümüzün tarihindeki kendinden emin binlerce din, ideoloji, ekonomik doktrin; her avcı ve toplayıcı, her kahraman ve korkak, medeniyetin her yaratıcısı ve yıkıcısı, her kral ve köle, her aşık çift, her anne ve baba, umutlu çocuk, mucit ve kaşif, her ahlaki öğretmen, yozlaşmış her politikacı, her süperstar, her yüce lider, türümüzün tarihindeki her aziz ve her günahkar orada yaşadı” ifadeleriyle sürdürmüştü.

İlk kez 1994’te yayımlanan kitap adını, uzay aracı Voyager 1’in yakaladığı, Dünya’nın ikonik görüntüsünden alıyor.

Kitaba el basma geleneği

ABD’de devlet yetkilileri bağlılık yemini etse de anayasada belirli bir metnin adı geçmiyor. Çoğu yetkili yemin töreninde İncil’e el basıyor. ABD Kongresi’ne seçilen ilk Müslüman olan Keith Ellison, 2007’deki yemininde Kur’an’a el basmıştı.

The United States space agency (NASA) has unveiled the four-member crew for its upcoming mission around the moon, a team that includes the first woman, the first person of colour and the first Canadian assigned to a lunar mission.

At a ceremony on Monday in Houston, Texas, NASA announced that Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch and Jeremy Hansen would crew the Artemis II mission for a 10-day flight, marking the agency’s first manned moon voyage in over half a century.

“For the first time in more than 50 years, these individuals — the Artemis II crew — will be the first humans to fly to the vicinity of the Moon,” Vanessa Wyche, director of the Johnson Space Center, said in a statement.

The launch, scheduled for 2024, will be only the second in the Artemis programme, a multinational initiative to establish a “long-term presence at the moon”. The last time a manned crew approached the moon was in 1972, as part of NASA’s Apollo programme.

“This mission paves the way for the expansion of human deep space exploration and presents new opportunities for scientific discoveries, commercial, industry and academic partnerships,” Wyche said.

She called the crew “the best of humanity”. They include three veterans of space travel from the US: Wisemen, Glover and Koch. All three will be making their second trip into space with the Artemis flight.

Koch has previously made headlines for notching several “firsts” in space. As a flight engineer, she holds the record for the longest single spaceflight conducted by a woman, and she participated in the first all-female spacewalks.

Glover, meanwhile, is set to become the first person of colour to participate in a moon voyage. A former legislative fellow in the US Senate, he recently piloted 2021’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission, serving as second in command on the flight.

The third American, Wiseman, has served as flight engineer on the International Space Station, spending 165 days in orbit and logging nearly 13 hours as a lead spacewalker.

The Americans are joined by the first Canadian astronaut to join a lunar flight, Jeremy Hansen. The Ontario-born former fighter pilot will be making his first trip into space, after a career that includes time as a colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces.

In a speech at Monday’s announcement, Hansen praised “Canada’s can-do attitude” for allowing him to join the mission, as well as the “passion to collaborate” across borders.

“It is not lost on any of us that the United States could choose to go back to the moon by themselves. But America has made a very deliberate choice over decades to curate a global team, and that, in my definition, is true leadership,” he said.

The four-member team is expected to travel more than 2.2 million kilometres (1.4 million miles) as they loop around the moon, marking the closest lunar approach since the Apollo 17 mission.

The US crew members were chosen from a pool of 41 active astronauts, while Canada initially nominated four candidates. In the wake of Monday’s announcement, US President Joe Biden called the astronauts to congratulate them and thank them for their service.

While their voyage will not include a moon walk, the Artemis II trip will take them 370,000km (230,000 miles) beyond the Earth’s surface, a significant departure from recent decades, when NASA had focused on manned exploration in low-Earth orbit.

The International Space Station, by comparison, is only 420km (260 miles) above the Earth’s surface.

While in space, the four astronauts will demonstrate manoeuvres and test the life-support systems aboard the partially reusable Orion spacecraft, a capsule designed for manned flight.

If their mission proves successful, NASA plans to launch a third Artemis flight, which is slated to include a landing on the moon’s surface.

That Artemis III mission is also expected to carry a female astronaut and an astronaut of colour. Previously, all 12 members of the Apollo programme to set foot on the moon were white men.

Glover spoke to questions of unity and division in his remarks in Houston on Monday. “I pray that God will bless this mission,” the Artemis II crew member said. “But I also pray that we can continue to serve as a source of inspiration for cooperation and peace not just between nations but in our own nation.”

The Artemis programme is a joint initiative between American, Canadian, Japanese and European aerospace agencies.

Its first unmanned mission began in November 2022 after several months of delays. It successfully completed two lunar flybys before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

Like the first Artemis mission, the manned crew announced on Monday will take off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the US.

NASA said the lessons of the upcoming Artemis flights would help the agency prepare for its “next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars”.

“The Artemis II crew represents thousands of people working tirelessly to bring us to the stars,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, a former astronaut and senator, said in the agency’s statement.

“Together, we are ushering in a new era of exploration for a new generation of star sailors and dreams — the Artemis Generation.”

DUVAR – ABD Havacılık ve Uzay Ajansı’nın (NASA) 15 yıl önce fırlattığı Yıldızlararası Sınır Kaşifi (IBEX) adlı araç, Güneş Sistemi’yle yıldızlararası uzay arasındaki etkileşimleri araştırıyor.

Independent Türkçe’nin haberine göre NASA 18 Şubat’ta, bir otobüs lastiği büyüklüğündeki uzay aracında bir anomaliye rastladı. Araçtaki uçuş bilgisayarı sıfırlandığı anda tüm cihaz “beklenmedik durum moduna” geçti. Araştırma ekibi bu sırada uzay aracına komuta etme yeteneğini de yitirdi.

Ekip 2 Mart’a kadar çeşitli yöntemler deneyerek arızayı gidermeye çalıştı ancak başarısız oldu.

Sonunda “firecode reset” adı verilen bir prosedür uygulandı. Harici bir sıfırlama mekanizması olan bu komut işe yaradı ve IBEX tekrar normal şekilde çalışmaya başladı. (HABER MERKEZİ)

 

 

Scientists say temperatures will continue to rise as governments fail to rein in fossil fuel consumption.

A group of US-based scientists say 2022 tied for the fifth hottest year on record, continuing a trend of rising global temperatures and extreme weather caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas.

On Thursday, scientists with the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the past nine years have been the warmest since modern records began in 1880.

“Since the mid-1970s, you’ve seen this relentless increase in temperature, and that’s totally robust to all the different methodologies,” said NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies Director Gavin Schmidt.

As climate change pummels millions of people around the world with heat waves, flooding, drought and wildfires, scientists say governments are falling far short of what is needed to avoid the most devastating impacts of global warming and limit the temperature increase to 1.5C.

“At the rate that we’re going, it’s not going to take more than two decades to get us to that, and the only way that we’re not going to do that is if we stop putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,” Schmidt said.

Scientists also said that 2023 would likely be warmer than 2022, which benefitted from a La Nina weather system that typically results in a slight decrease in global temperatures.

Berkeley Earth, a nonprofit group of independent scientists, also noted that 2022 was the hottest year on record for 28 countries, including China, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Germany and New Zealand.

A withering heatwave scorched European countries such as the UK, Spain and France, killing hundreds of people and fuelling wildfires.

Scientists also found that the heatwaves that baked South Asia in 2022 were 30 times more likely because of climate change.

A report by the United Nations and Red Cross released in October found that 70,000 people were killed by heatwaves from 2010 to 2019.

The threat of extreme heat will continue to grow as global temperatures rise with adverse impacts often mapping onto social and economic inequalities.

In Pakistan, cataclysmic summer floods inundated more than a third of the country, killing more than 1,700 people, sweeping away infrastructure and causing more than $30bn in damage.

A UN report in December found that more than 240,000 people remained displaced as a result of the flooding. Millions of people were able to return to their homes but faced shortages of food and medicine.

“What we’re seeing is our warming climate,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. “It’s warning all of us. Forest fires are intensifying. Hurricanes are getting stronger. Droughts are wreaking havoc. Sea levels are rising. Extreme weather patterns threaten our wellbeing across this planet.”

Most of the 2,450kg (5,400lb) satellite will burn up in the atmosphere but some pieces are expected to survive re-entry.

After almost four decades in space, a retired NASA satellite is about to fall to earth.

The chances of falling satellite debris posing a risk to “anyone on Earth is very low”, NASA said in a statement on Saturday.

Most of the 2,450kg (5,400lb) satellite will burn up on re-entry but some pieces are expected to survive, according to NASA.

The United States space agency put the odds of injury from falling debris at about one-in-9,400. The science satellite is expected to come down on Sunday night at approximately 18:40 EST (23:40 GMT), give or take 17 hours, according to the US defence department.

The California-based Aerospace Corporation, however, has predicted Monday morning, US time, for the satellite’s re-entry, give or take 13 hours, along a track that passes over Africa, Asia the Middle East and the westernmost areas of North and South America.

The Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, known as ERBS, was launched in 1984 on board the space shuttle Challenger.

Although its expected working lifetime was two years, the satellite kept making ozone and other atmospheric measurements until its retirement in 2005. The satellite studied how Earth absorbed and radiated energy from the sun.

“ERBS far exceeded its expected two-year service life, operating until its retirement in 2005,” NASA said in a statement.

“Its observations helped researchers measure the effects of human activities on Earth’s radiation balance,” NASA said.

The satellite got a special send-off when it was launched from the Challenger 38 years ago.

The first woman in space, US astronaut Sally Ride, released the satellite into orbit using the shuttle’s robot arm.

That same mission also featured the first spacewalk by a US woman Kathryn Sullivan. It was the first time two female astronauts flew in space together.

Mission will conduct a comprehensive survey that aims to shed new light on mechanics and consequences of climate change.

A NASA-led international satellite mission is set to take off from Southern California this week to conduct a comprehensive survey of the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers for the first time.

A major Earth science project will use an advanced radar satellite known as the Surface Water and Ocean Topograph (SWOT) which is designed to give scientists an unprecedented view of the life-giving fluid covering 70 percent of the planet to shed new light on the mechanics and consequences of climate change.

A Falcon 9 rocket, owned and operated by commercial launch company SpaceX owned by the billionaire Elon Musk is set to take off before dawn on Thursday from the Vandenberg Space Force Base, about 275 km (170 miles) northwest of Los Angeles, to carry SWOT into orbit.

If the mission goes according to plan, the satellite should produce research data within several months.

It took nearly 20 years to develop SWOT, which incorporates advanced microwave radar technology. According to scientists, it should collect height-surface measurements of oceans, lakes, reservoirs and rivers in high-definition detail across 90 percent of the globe.

The data, compiled from radar sweeps of the planet at least twice every 21 days, will enhance ocean-circulation models, bolster weather and climate forecasts, and aid in managing scarce freshwater supplies in drought-stricken regions, according to researchers.

One of the main aims of the mission is to analyse how oceans absorb atmospheric heat and carbon dioxide in a natural process that moderates global temperatures and climate change.

The satellite is designed to precisely measure fine differences in surface elevations around smaller currents and eddies, where much of the oceans’ drawdown of heat and carbon is believed to occur. And SWOT can do so with 10 times greater resolution than existing technologies, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which designed and built the satellite.

“It’s really the first mission to observe nearly all water on the planet’s surface,” said JPL scientist Ben Hamlington, who also leads NASA’s sea-level change team.

Studying the mechanism by which that happens will help climate scientists answer a key question: “What is the turning point at which oceans start releasing, rather than absorbing, huge amounts of heat back into the atmosphere and accelerate global warming, rather than limiting it,” said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, SWOT’s programme scientist at NASA in Washington.

Freshwater bodies are another key focus for SWOT, equipped to observe the entire length of nearly all rivers wider than 100 metres (330 feet), as well as more than one million lakes and reservoirs larger than 62,500 square metres (15 acres).

Taking inventory of Earth’s water resources repeatedly over SWOT’s three-year mission will enable researchers to better trace fluctuations in the planet’s rivers and lakes during seasonal changes and significant weather events.

NASA’s SWOT freshwater science lead, Tamlin Pavelsky, said collecting such data was akin to “taking the pulse of the world’s water system, so we’ll be able to see when it’s racing and we’ll be able to see when it’s slow”.