WASHINGTON - The core technology developed for NASA's Nebula cloud computing platform has been selected as a contributor for OpenStack, a newly-launched open source cloud computing initiative. It will pull together more than 25 companies to play a key role in driving cloud computing standards for interoperability and portability.

Cloud computing is a way to deliver computing resources, such as software, storage and virtual computing power, as services over the Internet. NASA launched the Nebula cloud computing platform to provide agency researchers with a range of services powerful enough to manage NASA's large-scale scientific data sets. Nebula offers unparalleled compute capability, storage and bandwidth to users at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., and Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

"We hope that OpenStack will form the foundation of a new open source cloud ecosystem," said NASA chief technology officer for Information Technology Chris C. Kemp. "With Nebula technology at the core of OpenStack, NASA will be uniquely positioned to drive standards that will ensure products and services powered by OpenStack will meet federal interoperability, portability, and security requirements."

OpenStack is the first large-scale open source cloud project of its kind and is expected to gather significant momentum in the cloud and open source communities.

"Nebula technology was selected for inclusion in the OpenStack project because of its massively scalable architecture and the high quality of its code" said Jim Curry, director of OpenStack.

The announcement coincides with O'Reilly Media's Open Source Developers Conference, which is taking place in Portland, Ore., this week.

"Participating in OpenStack will allow NASA to tap into a well-established community of open source developers and enable us to benefit from crowd-sourced development efforts." said Raymond O'Brien, Nebula's program manager.

Nebula is an agency-wide program and was one of three flagship initiatives highlighted in NASA's Open Government Plan. For more information on Nebula: http://nebula.nasa.gov

For more information about NASA's Office of the Chief Information Officer, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ocio

Source: NASA

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WASHINGTON - NASA has selected the winners in the 2010 Life and Work on the Moon Art and Design Contest from more than 200 international student entries.

Participants envisioned an imaginative lunar lifestyle through various artistic media. Entries were accepted in many categories, including music, video, two-dimensional, three-dimensional and digital art. For the first time, poetry and short stories were accepted in a literature category.

"Offering students the opportunity to express themselves through art allows us to reach out to people who otherwise might not be able to participate in our program of exploration," said Jerry Hartman, education lead for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Plus, the young people come up with a lot of cool stuff."

Dalton Mills, a student at Central High School in La Crosse, Wis., was the overall winner for his video and animation entry, "Moonshot." He was inspired by NASA documentaries, other artists, science and physics classes.

"Three-D art is a hobby of mine," Mills said. "In the future, I would like to pursue engineering and physics and freelance my artwork."

A panel of scientists, professional artists and educators from the U.S. and other nations judged student submissions. The judges based their reviews on three elements: the artist's statement - which described the student's inspiration; the artistic media they chose and why - showing creativity and artistic expression; and the validity of the created situation based on the moon's harsh conditions.

Jim Plaxco has judged the contest for three years and runs his own digital art gallery website called Artsnova. "What I found most rewarding about the experience was having the opportunity to review the art, think about its meaning, admire its quality and read the artist's words about their intent and inspiration," he said.

Mitchell Peterson of Sheridan College in Sheridan, Wyo., won the college division. He created a graphite and color pencil drawing accompanied by original music called "Beyond the Atmosphere." He also included a variety of voice and other sound bites in his music, including clips from the Apollo lunar missions and from the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life."

Brennan Barrington, a student at Licking Heights High School in Pataskala, Ohio, won the high school division. Barrington wrote a short story called "Helium 3" that was inspired by Jack London's story, "To Build a Fire." "It was tricky to get all the details of gravity, how the dust moves, and things that like, but I got it done," Barrington said.

The contest is sponsored by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and is managed by Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Va. More than 40 entries came from non-U.S. locations including Bermuda, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, Georgia, India, Italy, Pakistan, Poland, Slovakia, Thailand, United Kingdom and Venezuela.

The top cash award was $1,000 with smaller prizes for the top finisher in each category. Top non-U.S. students received an engraved plaque to acknowledge their achievement. The winning entries will be displayed digitally in NASA and museum locations across the country. Details about a new contest will be announced in September.

For gallery viewing of winning entries, visit: http://artcontest.cet.edu

For information about NASA research and exploration programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov

Source: NASA

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WASHINGTON, - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently released USDA's new annual report, Expenditures on Children by Families, which finds that a middle-income family with a child born in 2009 can expect to spend about $222,360 ($286,050 if inflation is factored in) for food, shelter, and other necessities to raise that child over the next 17 years.

This represents less than a 1 percent increase from 2008, the smallest increase this decade, which likely reflects the state of the economy. Expenses for child care, education, and health care saw the largest percentage increases related to child rearing from 2008, whereas expenses on transportation actually declined. This decline in transportation expenses on a child mitigated the increases in the other expenses.

This report, issued annually since 1960, is a valuable resource to courts and state governments in determining child support guidelines and foster care payments. For 2009, per child annual child-rearing expenses for a middle-income, two-parent family ranges from $11,650 to $13,530, depending on the age of the child.

The report by USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion notes that family income affects child rearing costs. A family earning less than $56,670 per year can expect to spend a total of $160,410 (in 2009 dollars) on a child from birth through high school. Parents with an income between $56,670 and $98,120 can expect to spend $222,360 and a family earning more than $98,120 can expect to spend $369,360. In 1960, a middle-income family could have expected to spend $25,230 ($182,860 in 2009 dollars) to raise a child through age 17.

Housing costs are the single largest expenditure on a child, averaging $70,020 or 31 percent of the total cost over 17 years. Child care and education (for those with the expense) and food were the next two largest expenses, accounting for 17 and 16 percent of the total expenditure. The estimates do not include the costs associated with pregnancy or the cost of a college education. In addition, some current-day costs, such as child care, were negligible in 1960.

The report notes geographic variations in the cost of raising a child, with expenses the highest for families living in the urban Northeast, followed by the urban West and urban Midwest. Families living in the urban South and rural areas have the lowest child-rearing expenses.

One bright spot is that expenses per child decrease as a family has more children. Families with three or more children spend 22 percent less per child than families with two children. As families have more children, the children can share a bedroom, clothing and toys can be handed down to younger children, food can be purchased in larger and more economical packages, and private schools or child care centers may offer sibling discounts.

The full report, Expenditures on Children by Families (2009), is available on the web at www.cnpp.usda.gov.

Source: USDA

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