Funding uncertainty trumps engineering in NASA's planning

Can super magnets protect deep-space astronauts from radiation?

Jesco von Puttkamer, a protege of Wernher von Braun whose NASA career ranged from the Apollo manned lunar landing project to the International Space Station, died Dec. 27, of a flu-like illness at home in Alexandria, Va. He was 79. At his death, von Puttkamer was still active at the U.S. space agency, producing a daily online rundown of activities on the International Space Station.

Wired world is increasingly vulnerable to coronal ejections

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), were presented with a challenge at the start of 2012: get their parties to agree to cut $1.2 trillion from the budget and deal with a series of tax extensions. Failing meant a likely recession caused by inaction, and election-year inertia only raised the stakes.

Astronomers using NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sofia), a highly modified Boeing 747SP that carries a 100-in.-dia. IR telescope, have created a series of multiple exposures revealing a ring of gas and dust created in a burst of energy 4-6 million years ago at the center of the Milky Way.

Marillyn Hewson joined the old Lockheed Corp. in 1983

Active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radars have transformed military aviation, providing significantly greater multi-mode capability and reliability. Now the technology is moving into the land and sea domains. Thales's APAR active phased-array radar is already operational on frigates with three European navies, and the DDG-1000, the U.S. Navy's first AESA-equipped warship, will launch in 2013 fitted with Raytheon's SPY-3 radar.