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Engebretson presents at NASA meeting

Engebretson_NASAThe work of Mark Engebretson, Augsburg College physics professor, will strengthen research conducted during the NASA Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission that launched Aug. 30 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Engebretson on Aug. 21 presented at a pre-launch meeting for NASA officials and RBSP science team members near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He explained how his observations from National Science Foundation (NSF) grant-funded research at Augsburg College can serve the mission’s objectives. The RBSP project is budgeted at $686 million, a sum that incorporates the mission’s planning phase, construction, launch, satellite operation, and scientific analysis. Continue reading “Engebretson presents at NASA meeting”

Two Auggies on the Mercury MESSENGER team

messengerLast week, just past midnight after St. Patrick’s Day, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft successfully slipped into an orbit around Mercury, the innermost planet. This was a difficult maneuver against the pull of the sun, and the groups of science teams around the country who have worked on the Mercury MESSENGER project for seven years were elated, to say the least.

Among these scientists are two Augsburg physics graduates — Brian Anderson ’82 and George Ho ’91. Both work at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), which serves as the manager of the Mercury MESSENGER project for NASA. Continue reading “Two Auggies on the Mercury MESSENGER team”