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Personnel from the MSFC Earth Science Branch and local partners participated in the Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS), and they are members of the IMPACTS team that recently won the prestigious Presidential Rank Group Achievement Award from NASA. IMPACTS was a highly successful NASA Earth Venture Suborbital airborne field campaign that examined why and how heavy snowfalls occur, as well as how NASA missions can better detect and measure these events. The suborbital mission had three flight campaigns in 2020, 2022, and 2023, and used the NASA ER-2 and P-3 aircraft. MSFC contributed the Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR) and the Lightning Instrument Package (LIP) to IMPACTS, and both instruments flew on the ER-2. MSFC Earth science and engineering civil servants that contributed to IMPACTS over the years include Timothy Lang, Chris Schultz, Mason Quick, Rich Blakeslee (Emeritus), Paul Meyer (Emeritus), Patrick Duran, Eric Cantrell, Max Vankeuren, Kurt Dietz, David Hyde, Tom Phillips, Patrick Fulda, and Mark James. MSFC partners for IMPACTS included University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH; Doug Huie, Jonathan Hicks, Julia Burton, Philip Alldredge, Dave Simmons, Sue O’Brien, Amanda Richter, Corey Amiot, Sebastian Harkema, Monte Bateman, Mike Stewart, Scott Podgorny, David Corredor, Dennis Buechler, Jeff Daskar, Dan Walker), Universities Space Research Association (USRA; Doug Mach), Jacobs (Mark Sloan, Lisa Gibby), and The Aerospace Corporation (Sayak Biswas). MSFC resource analyst support for IMPACTS was provided by Robyn Rudock, Jennifer Thovson, Jacob Guthrie,Chris Anthony, and Lisa Dorsett. View the full article

Michael Zanetti (ST13), Kyle Miller (EV42), and Chris Whetsel (ES52) conducted a technology demonstration and field work with the NASA JSC 5th Joint EVA Test Team (JETT-3) from 5/17-23/24, near SP Crater, Flagstaff, AZ. JETT5 tested full-up mission operations with communication to JSC-Houston, and included astronauts Kate Rubins and Andre Douglas testing ATLAS suits and 4-6 hr. planned traverses near SP-Crater – a former Apollo astronaut geology training site. The Kinematic Navigation and Cartography Knapsack (KNaCK) team members were invited to demonstrate GPS-denied navigation solutions using our person-mounted velocity-sensing LiDAR sensors that provide local position and a ground-track in addition to terrain mapping capabilities using terrain relative navigation and LiDAR SLAM algorithms. KNaCK tests were designed to provide a real-time ground-track to the Joint Augmented Reality (JointAR/JARVIS) heads-up display suit from NASA JSC. Our technology demo had Astronaut Kate Rubins in the JARVIS suit receiving real-time updates of her traverse path. KNaCK provided flawless positioning for 75% of the traverse, with ~2 m local accuracy compared to GPS. The remaining 25% of the run was impacted by algorithm issues in perfectly flat terrain (a rare issue, likely only on Earth, causing 3 restarts to reacquire an accurate ground-track). Overall, the KNaCK tech demo mission was a big success, with Kate Rubins noting Navigation accuracy reducing mental overhead and decreasing traverse time to sampling stations “Definitely giving me what I need. Pretty Cool!” View the full article

Muthukumaran Ramasubramanian, Slesa Adhikari, and Nish Pantha from IMPACT/ST11 organized hands-on workshops and a hackathon in collaboration with the Department of Computational Intelligence at SRMIST’s School of Computing in Chennai, India. These sessions were held as part of the IEEE GRSS-ESI TC (Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society – Earth Science Informatics Technical Committee) Remote Sensing Working Group (RSDS) outreach activities during 4/23-26/24. The team provided students with materials and resources on remote sensing data systems, large language models, and natural language processing for data discovery and visualization. Following the workshops, 15 teams competed in a hackathon using the provided course materials. The IMPACT team assessed the projects based on the students’ understanding and application of data systems, their creativity in developing end-to-end solutions, and the relevancy to the project’s goals. The top-performing teams received monetary awards sponsored by SRMIST and were also recognized with certificates. Mr. Ramasubramanian leads the Databases in Remote Sensing Working Group within the ESI TC under the leadership of Manil Maskey (ST11). View the full article

On 5/13/24, in alignment with the NASA Interagency Agreement with the US Department of State Advancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math in Bhutan through Increased Earth Observation Capacity, Aparna R. Phalke, Sarah Cox and Tony Kim (ST11) traveled to Thimphu, Bhutan, to represent the SERVIR SCO at the official launch on 5/17/24 of the “Farm Action Toolkit” service (https://crops.servirglobal.net/dashboard/) with the implementing partners from Bhutan Druk Holdings and Investments (DHI) Super Fablab, National Statistical Bureau (NSB), Department of Agriculture, National Center of Organic Agriculture, National Land Commission and GovTech Bhutan. The service was presented with meaningful opening remarks from Manish Rai (DHI), Andrea Goodman (U.S. Department of State), Sangay Dorji (Retired Head of the Environmental Office, Ministry of Economic Affairs) and Tony Kim . Also in attendance were Bhutan Foundation officials in addition to implementing partners. The “Farm Action Toolkit” co-developed by SERVIR and Bhutan’s implementing partners to support their mission on self-sufficiency for food and save operational costs. This service provides field-scale (30-m) crop area and yields related products and algorithms including 2002 to 2023 crop/non crop maps, rice area maps, maize area maps and rice yield estimations. Following the launch of the Farm Action Toolkit service in Thimphu, Bhutan, a SERVIR SCO service team led by Aparna Phalke and Bhutan’s implementing partner team from DHI performed field surveys of agricultural fields across the Thimphu, Punakha and Paro area of Bhutan using GPS, and Helmet data collection with GoPro cameras and drones (5/23-25/24). The Helmet data collection with GoPro cameras tool method was replicated from SERVIR’s Applied Science Team PI Catherine Nakalemb’s project in SERVIR-West Africa. The team also interviewed individual farmers from areas covering rice cultivation with pest, disease and water related issues. The implementing partner and SERVIR SCO team also collected market analysis data consisting of fifty plus vendors and vendors cum farmers interviews on agricultural commodities and the supply chain (5/18-19/24). These field surveys will play a significant role in the operation and adoption of the Farm Action Toolkit service by implementing partners In-person outreach events were conducted at the Royal Thimphu College and College of Natural Resources, Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) on 5/14/24 and 5/24/24, respectively. Over 100 students from each academic institution participated in the outreach events, which focused on NASA milestones and how to leverage Earth observations to address immediate environmental issues in Bhutan. These activities are part of a NASA Interagency Agreement with the US Department of State – Advancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math in Bhutan through Increased Earth Observation Capacity – a collaboration that also includes NASA’s DEVELOP, ARSET, and GLOBE programs. View the full article

Manil Maskey (ST11/IMPACT) represented NASA at a discussion on the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot program held on Capitol Hill. The event brought together key members of the House AI Caucus, including Representatives Anna Eshoo, Bill Foster, Haley Stevens, Jim Baird, and Sean Casten. In attendance were several congressional staffers and the director of the National Science Foundation. During the discussion, Dr. Maskey highlighted the AI initiatives of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and emphasized the potential benefits of the NAIRR to NASA’s activities. He also showcased the advancements in SMD’s AI foundation model developments. The event served as a platform for sharing insights and fostering collaboration between NASA, other agencies, and key legislative stakeholders on the future of AI research and its applications. View the full article

On 5/22/24, Chinmay Deval, the Water Security Lead at the SERVIR Science Coordination Office, moderated a virtual panel for the ResilienceLinks monthly webinar series. ResilienceLinks is the knowledge platform for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Center for Resilience. The theme for May focused on Water Data and Climate Resilience. The panel featured distinguished water experts from the SERVIR global network, including: Jamilatou Chaibou Begou from the Agrometeorology, Hydrology, and Meteorology Regional Center/SERVIR West Africa, Chinaporn Meechaiya from the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center/SERVIR Southeast Asia, Jim Nelson, Principal Investigator of the SERVIR Applied Sciences Team at Brigham Young University, and Angelica Gutierrez from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Throughout the webinar, panelists shared their expertise and insights on the use of water data to enhance climate resilience. They discussed real-world applications, challenges in data accessibility, and innovative solutions for integrating local knowledge and gender equity into climate adaptation strategies. The webinar was hosted by Peter Epanchin, Senior Climate Adaptation and Resilience Advisor at USAID’s Bureau for Resilience, Environment, and Food Security. View the full article

A collaboration between IMPACT and IBM has produced INDUS, a comprehensive suite of large language models (LLMs) tailored for the domains of Earth science, biological and physical sciences, heliophysics, planetary sciences, and astrophysics and trained using curated scientific corpora drawn from diverse data sources. Kaylin Bugbee (ST11), team lead of NASA’s Science Discovery Engine (SDE), spoke to the benefit INDUS offers to existing applications: “Large language models are rapidly changing the search experience. The Science Discovery Engine, a unified, insightful search interface for all of NASA’s open science data and information, has prototyped integrating INDUS into its search engine. Initial results have shown that INDUS improved the accuracy and relevancy of the returned results.” The INDUS models are openly available on Hugging Face. For the benefit of the scientific community, the team has released the developed models and will release the benchmark datasets that span named entity recognition for climate change, extractive QA for Earth science, and information retrieval for multiple domains. A paper on INDUS, “INDUS: Effective and Efficient Language Models for Scientific Applications,” is available at https://arxiv.org/pdf/2405.10725. View the full article

Alphonse Sterling (ST13) gave an invited seminar presentation to the Space Science group at UNH, on 4/26/24. Sterling, who obtained his PhD from UNH, also had round table discussions with some of the current UNH students interested in careers in space science. View the full article

Dennis Gallagher (ST13) provided a lecture to this summer’s 15 REU students titled “Inner Magnetospheric Physics”. Mehmet Yalim of UAH Space Science Department is managing the program this year. View the full article

Alphonse Sterling (ST13) gave a lecture on solar physics to at a one-day school on 5/5/24, in Krakow, Poland. The lecture was entitled “Introduction to the Solar Interior and Atmosphere,” and was just given prior to the start of IAU Symposium 388 on Solar and Stellar Coronal Mass Ejections. The audience included students and postdocs from various international locations who were attending the Symposium. View the full article

Phil Kaaret (ST12) is lead author on the paper which describes Chandra X-ray Observatory observations of the galaxy NGC 2366. Escape of Lyman continuum (LyC) emission from galaxies found in the early universe was essential for the reionization of the universe when the intergalactic medium (IGM) changed from being neutral gas to the ionized IGM that we observe today. Compact emission-line galaxies (LCGs) are the most abundant class of confirmed Lyman continuum (LyC) emitters and provide (relatively) nearby analogs of the galaxies found in the early universe. An optical integral field study of NGC 2366 revealed an outflow originating at a star cluster known as “knot B” that is thought to clear a channel via mechanical feedback that enables LyC escape. We observed NGC 2366 with the Chandra and detected X-ray emission from a point source coincident with the apex of the outflow at knot B. The pointlike nature and variability of the X-ray emission suggests accretion onto a compact object in an X-ray binary. The accretion could produce sufficient kinetic energy to power the outflow. Thus, outflows from X-ray binaries may be important in enabling LyC emission from galaxies. Read more at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.13192. Illustration of ChandraView the full article

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The 2025 RASC-AL Competition is seeking undergraduate and graduate teams to develop new concepts that leverage innovation to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars and beyond. Each team’s response should address novel and robust technologies, capabilities, and operational models that support expanding humanity’s ability to thrive beyond Earth. In this year’s RASC-AL Competition, teams and their faculty advisors are invited to design and propose innovative solutions with supporting original engineering and analysis in response to one of the following themes: Sustained Lunar Evolution – An Inspirational Moment, Advanced Science Missions and Technology Demonstrators for Human-Mars Precursor Campaign, and Small Lunar Servicing and Maintenance Robot.  RASC-AL is sponsored by the Moon to Mars Architecture Development Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) at NASA Headquarters, and by the Space Mission Analysis Branch (SMAB) within the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate (SACD) at NASA’s Langley Research Center. Forum & Award: Up to 14 finalist teams will be selected to receive a $6,500 award stipend to facilitate full participation in the RASC-AL Competition Forum, held in Cocoa Beach, FL in June 2025. The top two overall winning teams will be invited to present their design projects to industry experts at a major aerospace conference in 2025, such as AIAA ASCEND (additional travel stipends provided). Action Required: Student teams will submit a 7-9-page Proposal and 2-minute Video summarizing the team’s proposal concept. Deadline: Proposal and Video Submissions are due February 24, 2025. View the 2025 RASC-AL Competition Guidelines here. Frequency: Annual; Themes vary by year. Contact: RASCAL@nianet.org Read More View the full article

Alphonse Sterling (ST13) is co-author on a paper describing CMEs that appear to be initiated by a series of recurrent coronal jets. The paper is entitled: “Source Region and Launch Characteristics of Magnetic-arch-blowout Solar Coronal Mass Ejections Driven by Homologous Compact-flare Blowout Jets.” It is led by Binal Patel, a graduate student of Sterling’s colleague in India, Bhuwan Joshi; Ronald Moore of UAH is also a co-author. The paper will appear in ApJ shortly, and a preprint is available at https://arxiv.org/pdf/2405.03292. Pre-eruptive coronal magnetic field configurations of the source region obtained from the NLFFF extrapolations using HMI vector magnetograms before events I–IV. We show the flux rope in blue color in each panel. The source region consists of closed bipolar field lines (green), which constrain the underlying flux rope. The flux rope is formed between emerging negative flux (NE ) and positive polarity flux (P2) in the leading part of the AR. The red circles mark the southeastern footpoint location of the flux rope in each panel, which is rooted in the rapidly changing NE region. (a2)–(d2) The flux ropes are shown from side views before events I–IV. (a3)–(d3) An AIA 304 Å image before the respective event is plotted in the background of the flux ropes.View the full article

Phil Kaaret (ST12) gave a talk on “Particle acceleration and magnetic field geometry in the eastern jet of the microquasar SS 433” at the session on Black Holes on 6/12/24. At the end of his talk, Kaaret promoted the upcoming IXPE GO cycle 2 and the NICER/IXPE workshop that will be a hybrid meeting held 7/29-8/1/24 and the International X-ray POlarimetry Symposium being organized by USRA that will be held in Huntsville on 9/16-19/24. View the full article

Timothy Lang (ST11) is the Principal Investigator and Aaron Kaulfus (ST11) is a Co-Investigator (Co-I) on a proposal titled “Using CYGNSS with a suite of spaceborne remote sensing datasets to probe tropical maritime cold pool evolution from space”, which was recently selected for funding by NASA. CYGNSS stands for Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, and the proposal seeks to combine CYGNSS and other scatterometer measurements of ocean winds using machine learning to detect and track cold pools (i.e., gust front winds) from tropical maritime convection throughout their lifetimes. This work will enable a more process-oriented look at how convectively driven cold pools interact with convection and the local environment. Data from NASA precipitation sensors and NOAA geostationary observations will be included in the analysis as well. The project will last for three years, and it includes University of Alabama in Huntsville (Co-I George Priftis) as a local partner. View the full article

Timothy Lang (ST11) is a co-author on an article titled “Effective Visualization of Radar Data for Users Impacted by Color Vision Deficiency”, which was recently accepted for publication in Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The article is led by Zachary Sherman of Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), and it is an outgrowth of a long-standing collaboration on open science between ANL, MSFC, and other institutions that predates NASA Science Policy Directive (SPD) 41a and the Transform to Open Science (TOPS) campaign. Color Vision Deficiency (CVD) affects up to 8% of genetic males and 0.5% of genetic females, and traditional color maps used in radar meteorology and other Earth sciences often lack perceptual accuracy and clarity when viewed by those affected by CVD. The article reviews new color maps that convey useful and clear scientific information whether viewed by those with normal color perception or those with CVD. These color maps are available in open-source repositories like cmweather (https://github.com/openradar/cmweather) and pyart (http://arm-doe.github.io/pyart/). The article and the open-source CVD-friendly color maps are excellent examples of the greater inclusivity fostered when open science is practiced. Read the paper at: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/aop/BAMS-D-23-0056.1/BAMS-D-23-0056.1.xml. View the full article

Linda Krause and Heidi Haviland (ST13) along with Jeff Apple, Miguel Rodriguez-Otero (ES11), Kurt Dietz (ES52), and Gary Thornton (ES21) contributed to the Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations (PICASSO) proposal LVACCS that was selected for funding. Omar Leon (University of Michigan) is the instrument suite PI. Electric charge accumulates on the lunar rovers and landers from ambient plasma, ionizing radiation, suprathermal charged particles, dust, and surface regolith. LVACCS will measure both the positive and negative charge, acts to discharge negative charge buildup, and actively charges the vehicle to a known positive potential. This increases the accuracy and precision of related instruments including dust, plasma, and electric fields. LVACCS builds from heritage systems in geosynchronous orbit but with a much smaller size, weight, and power. LVACCS has two main components: a collimated photoelectron gun (CPEG, led by MSFC), and a spacecraft charge detector (led by the University of Michigan). Within the two years of the award, the instrument will mature from TRL 2 to 5. LVACCS solves the important and timely problem of charge build up at the lunar surface for future lander and rover missions. View the full article

On 5/24/24, Astronomy and Astrophysics published online “Pulsar-wind-nebula-powered Galactic center X-ray filament G0.13–0.11” by Eugene Churazov et al. On 5/30/24, Astrophysical Journal Letters published online “Discovery of a Shock-compressed Magnetic Field in the Northwestern Rim of the Young Supernova Remnant RX J1713.7–3946 with X-Ray Polarimetry” by Riccardo Ferrazzoli et al. View the full article

Manil Maskey (ST11/IMPACT) was an invited guest at the Taylor Geospatial Institute (TGI) GeoAI gathering. He presented on the Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS) based geospatial foundation model and the recent developments in weather and climate foundation model. Following the presentation, Maskey engaged in discussions that led to several agencies expressing interest in collaborating with IMPACT on these foundation models. TGI’s mission is to catalyze collaboration across our consortium, to connect partners in the broader geospatial ecosystem, and to align distinctive strengths, collective expertise, and shared resources to generate innovative research and solutions. View the full article

SatSummit brings together leaders in the satellite industry and global development experts for two days of presentations and discussions on using satellite data to address critical development challenges. Rahul Ramachandran (ST11/IMPACT) participated in a panel focused on large earth foundation models, offering an overview of AI foundation models and their potential for societal good. He detailed NASA’s approach to building these models and the agency’s overall strategy, underscoring their importance in advancing Earth science and global development initiatives. View the full article

Manil Maskey (ST11/IMPACT) was an invited panelist at the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) organized GEOINT Symposium Panel titled “Geo-GPT” for Real-Time Geospatial Discovery. The panel explored the convergence of foundational artificial intelligence models beyond large language models, unveiling the potential for groundbreaking conversational “GeoGPT” capabilities that enable real-time geospatial discovery. The discussion centered on the fusion of language processing, computer vision, and spatial reasoning to enable dynamic and interactive exploration for GEOINT planning and response missions. The panel highlighted how the integration of diverse AI models can enhance the richness and accuracy of geospatial conversational AI experiences. This allows seamless interactions between humans and machines, empowering users to intuitively engage with real-time maps, interrogate them, and receive insights through natural language dialogue. Maskey shared insights on the NASA Science Mission Directorate’s (SMD’s) activities in the development and use of large language models (LLMs) and foundation models. The USGIF is an educational foundation dedicated to promoting the geospatial intelligence tradecraft. It aims to develop a stronger GEOINT community by bringing together government, industry, academia, professional organizations, and individuals to address national security challenges through geospatial intelligence. The recording of the panel can be found here. – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHzsIe2Kfmo. View the full article

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder enacted a collaborative Space Act Agreement Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, to advance research and modeling in the critical field of space weather. NASA and LASP are longtime space science and exploration partners, and this formal agreement expands the depth and breadth of space weather activities for everyone’s benefit. Space weather refers to conditions in space — typically driven by the Sun’s activity — that can affect humans and technology. Space weather is responsible for the aurora, and intense events can harm spacecraft, astronauts, or even technology on Earth. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder enacted a collaborative Space Act Agreement to advance research and modeling in the critical field of space weather. Goddard Center Director Dr. Makenzie Lystrup (left) and LASP Director Dr. Daniel Baker signed the agreement Monday, Aug. 5, 2024.NASA/Bri Horton “Space weather touches all aspects of life, from our power grid to space-based assets that are susceptible to space weather events,” said Dr. Makenzie Lystrup, NASA Goddard director. “This agreement today formalizes a long-standing collaboration with LASP essential to expanding space weather applications that protect ground- and space-based assets, not to mention our astronauts preparing to explore deeper into space to the Moon and beyond.” LASP is at the forefront of solar, planetary, and space physics research, climate and space-weather monitoring, and the search for evidence of habitable worlds, all of which match perfectly with Goddard’s mission portfolio and leadership in heliophysics research. “We have had a long and highly productive partnership with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in all areas of space exploration,” said LASP Director Dr. Daniel Baker. “It is now an honor for LASP to collaborate with the world’s largest Earth and space science research organization to advance our nation’s space weather and heliophysics capabilities. This agreement offers new opportunities to learn from our overlapping space weather expertise and to leverage scientific research using small satellites.” The agreement calls for a more formal and robust framework to expand space weather work in several key areas, to include: Maturation and miniaturization of instruments for space weather research Incorporating space weather instrumentation and packages as hosted payloads on satellites Exploring joint work in “Space Weather Research to Operations” activities Addressing important aspects of space weather policy And, defining best practices for mission proposal development Goddard is NASA’s premiere spaceflight complex and home to the nation’s largest organization of scientists, engineers, and technologists who build spacecraft, instruments, and new technology to study Earth, the Sun, our solar system, and the universe. For more information on programs at Goddard, visit: www.nasa.gov/goddard By Jeremy Eggers NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va. Share Details Last Updated Aug 05, 2024 EditorRob GarnerContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsGoddard Space Flight Center Explore More 2 min read NASA Goddard, Maryland Sign Memo to Boost State’s Aerospace Sector Article 2 months ago 5 min read NASA’s MAVEN Observes the Disappearing Solar Wind Article 8 months ago 5 min read Four Decades and Counting: New NASA Instrument Continues Measuring Solar Energy Input to Earth Article 7 years ago View the full article

Rahul Ramachandran and Maskey (ST11/IMPACT) participated in IBM Think, where their IBM collaborators showcased two innovative AI applications for weather and climate modeling. The first application focuses on climate downscaling, enhancing the resolution of climate models for more accurate local predictions. The second application aims to optimize wind farm predictions, improving renewable energy forecasts. During the event, Ramachandran and Maskey were interviewed, highlighting the ongoing fruitful collaboration with IBM Research and its potential to advance climate science and renewable energy forecasting. View the full article

A proposal entitled, “TEMPO-EMIT synergy: Enhancing applications of GHG (greenhouse gas) and air pollutant observations over key emission sources,” was selected for funding through a NASA cross-mission product opportunity. The project, co-led by Aaron Naeger at SPoRT, will integrate the complementary air pollutant and GHG data from the NASA TEMPO and EMIT missions for designing a TEMPO-EMIT merged product concept, which aims to facilitate assessments of GHG and co-pollutant emissions from key source regions in the U.S. The focus of this project will be on the oil and gas operations in the Permian Basin where recent data have indicated strong nitrogen dioxide and methane emissions from the facilities. The National Park Service and air agencies have a high-level of interest in better understanding emissions from these facilities for improving air quality management in the region. View the full article

Analyses suggest that microgravity does not significantly alter fundamental biochemical pathways in kidney cells, including metabolism of vitamin D. This finding could help researchers develop strategies to protect crew health on future missions and improve treatment of kidney-related diseases on Earth. Kidney Cell examined the effects of microgravity and other factors of space travel on kidney health. Previous reports suggested that changes in kidney cell metabolism of vitamin D plays a role in bone loss in microgravity, and this paper recommends additional study to determine if this most recent finding is consistent with extended (>6 months) exposure to microgravity. NASA astronaut Christina Koch works inside the Life Sciences Glovebox on the International Space Station with the Kidney Cells experiment to examine how kidney health is affected by microgravity and other factors of space travel, including increased chemical exposure, water conservation, recycling, and altered dietary intake. NASA/Nick Hague From cosmic rays collected by AMS-02 (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer) between May 2011 and April 2021, researchers report precise measurements of the behavior of cosmic deuterons. These data provide important clues in the search for dark matter and understanding of the overall nature of the universe. AMS-02 is an alpha-magnetic spectrometer that looks for evidence of dark matter. To date, AMS-02 has collected more than 180 billion events of galactic cosmic rays. Hydrogen nuclei, the most abundant type of cosmic rays, consist of two stable isotopes, protons and deuterons, believed to have been generated by the Big Bang. Exterior view of the International Space Station during an extravehicular activity with a fisheye camera. Researchers identified multiple proteins in rodents that are associated with bone and muscle loss in microgravity. This finding helps researchers understand physiological adaptation to spaceflight. JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Medical Proteomics analyzed changes in protein expression in the blood, bone, and muscles of mice after spaceflight to identify specific proteins related to bone loss. Combined data from the space-flown mice, astronauts, and patients on Earth helps clarify the relationship between bone loss in microgravity and on the ground. View the full article