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Learn Home Earth Educators Rendezvous… Earth Science Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Stories Science Activation Highlights Citizen Science 3 min read Earth Educators Rendezvous with Infiniscope and Tour It At the Earth Educator’s Rendezvous, held July 15-19, 2024, NASA’s Infiniscope project from Arizona State University hosted a two-day workshop aimed at empowering Earth educators with the tools to design and build virtual tours (VTs). This hands-on session provided participants with a unique opportunity to experience first-hand how to create immersive virtual tours using Tour It, a free virtual tour creator developed by the NASA Science Activation program’s Infiniscope team. The workshop focused on making the benefits of place-based education more accessible through digital means. One participant remarked, “I have learned more than I could imagine about teaching, communicating, how to be a student, and how to human.” The workshop encouraged participation in a Sunday pre-Rendezvous field trip titled “Crossing the Pennsylvania-New Jersey Fall Zone: from the Neoproterozoic and into the Cenozoic.” The Infiniscope team joined this field trip to gather media that workshop participants could use to create their own VTs. This media included 360-degree images, photos, resource documents, diagrams and video interviews with tour guides, Dr. Lily Pfeifer and Dr. Aaron Barth, both of Rowan University. Throughout the workshop, participants learned to capture media, design for place-based learning, and accommodate the diverse needs of their students, ultimately equipping them to create immersive virtual field experiences that enrich their educational practices. Reflecting on their experience, a participant shared, “I have been exposed to so many things such as the use of place-based learning, creating my own digital content, and publishing – which seemed daunting hitherto, but now, I feel comfortable.” When asked how they might use Tour It in their teaching, one educator responded, “Not only will I finish the work on the Sunday field trip and submit it to the [contributed content] of [Infiniscope], I will actually USE THIS IN MY K-12 classroom. Without a doubt, I have found an excellent way to get kids to experience the geology out there in a personal way that might just spur them to make a trip to see it in real life.” Additionally, another attendee remarked, “I feel much more prepared to make an effective virtual tour for my courses and other courses at my institution or in collaboration with others. I appreciate the acknowledgement that there are cultural aspects to locations that should be included and the rubric offers a framework to build balanced experiences.” The workshop highlighted the power and value of in-person field trips for educators in field sciences while addressing practical challenges, such as lack of transportation and funding. VTs, offering similar educational impacts, can be used more frequently and are not hindered by logistical constraints. Tour It, a user-friendly, NASA-funded tool, was introduced as a solution to the accessibility barriers of creating digital learning experiences. Unlike more complex VT tools, Tour It requires minimal training and operates within a web browser, allowing educators to upload 360° imagery and build comprehensive virtual tours complete with text, image, or video annotations, all VR-compatible. Experience an example of a VT created with Tour It during this workshop. The Infiniscope project is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AD79A and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn Dr. Lily Pfiefer scraping to reveal the KPg boundary in Edleman Fossil Park. Share Details Last Updated Aug 12, 2024 Editor NASA Science Editorial Team Related Terms Earth Science Opportunities For Educators to Get Involved Science Activation Explore More 2 min read Astro Campers SCoPE Out New Worlds Article 3 days ago 2 min read Celebrate Heliophysics Big Year: Free Monthly Webinars on the Sun Touches Everything Article 6 days ago 4 min read AstroViz: Iconic Pillars of Creation Star in NASA’s New 3D Visualization Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… Perseverance Rover This rover and its aerial sidekick were assigned to study the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient microbial… Parker Solar Probe On a mission to “touch the Sun,” NASA’s Parker Solar Probe became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona… Juno NASA’s Juno spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter in 2016, the first explorer to peer below the planet’s dense clouds to… View the full article

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 2 min read Sols 4268-4269: Admiring Kings Canyon A hole on the Red Planet drilled by NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity and nicknamed “Kings Canyon” produced a soil sample the mission team is studying. This image was taken by Mast Camera (Mastcam) onboard Curiosity on Sol 4263 — Martian day 4,263 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on Aug. 3, 2024 at 07:56:55 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Earth planning date: Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024 Curiosity is admiring our latest drill hole, “Kings Canyon.” Today’s plan is dedicated to continuing analysis of the drilled sample, including preconditioning for SAM evolved gas analysis (EGA) scheduled for the weekend. In planning today, the environmental (ENV), and the geology and mineralogy (GeoMin) theme groups planned two days of science observations. The ENV science group is making the most of Curiosity remaining stationary for a while and has planned two Mastcam Tau observations to measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere, as well as using Navcam for a total of three dust devil movies — one on the first sol, and two on the second sol. They are also observing clouds in the Martian atmosphere with Navcam suprahorizon and zenith movies. The GeoMin science group is enjoying the view too, extending Mastcam coverage of areas of interest including the Kings Canyon drill hole, and “Fairview Dome.” Looking further ahead, ChemCam planned a long distance RMI view of “Texoli butte,” to investigate the interesting sedimentology and stratigraphy here. To round off our plan, we are taking two ChemCam Laser Induced Bedrock Spectroscopy (LIBS) observations of a bright-toned rock named “Fourth Recess Lake” in an area of rocks that were previously crushed by the rover wheels known as “Sam Mack Meadow.” We are also taking a LIBS observation of the Kings Canyon drill hole. As we await the preliminary results on the analysis of the drill hole, we’ll be enjoying the view as these images downlink to Earth over the next few days. Written by Emma Harris, graduate student at The Natural History Museum, London Share Details Last Updated Aug 12, 2024 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 3 min read Sols 4266-4267: Happy ‘Landiversary,’ Curiosity Article 4 days ago 3 min read Sols 4263-4265: A Royal Birthday Celebration at Kings Canyon Article 7 days ago 2 min read Sols 4261-4262: Drill Sol 1…Take 2 Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four… View the full article

2 min read NASA Explores Industry, Partner Interest in Using VIPER Moon Rover NASA’s VIPER robotic Moon rover is seen here in a clean room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA/Helen Arase Vargas As part of its commitment to a robust, sustainable lunar exploration program for the benefit of all, NASA issued a Request for Information Friday to seek interest from American companies and institutions in conducting a mission using the agency’s VIPER Moon rover. VIPER, short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, was designed to map the location and concentration of potential off-planet resources, like ice, on the South Pole of Earth’s Moon. NASA announced July 17 its intent to discontinue VIPER, and to pursue alternative methods to verify the presence of frozen water at the lunar South Pole, but could contribute the VIPER rover as-is to an interested partner. From July 17 to Aug. 1, NASA accepted expressions of interest from the broader community in using the existing VIPER rover system. The Request for Information now seeks to learn more about how interested parties would use VIPER at minimal to no cost to the government. This Request for Information is open to U.S. organizations and industry. NASA will explore interest from the international community through separate channels. “NASA thanks everyone who provided expressions of interest in using VIPER and looks forward to learning more about how potential partners envision accomplishing NASA’s science and exploration goals with the rover,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We want to make the best use possible of the engineering, technology, and expertise that have been developed by this project to advance scientific knowledge of the Moon. Partnership opportunities on VIPER would allow us to do this without impacting our future cadence of commercial deliveries to the Moon, to continue lunar science and exploration for everyone’s benefit.” Future CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) deliveries to the lunar surface and instruments on NASA’s crewed missions will progress the agency’s assessment of volatiles across the South Pole region. The Request for Information is available online and will remain open for responses until 11:59 p.m. EDT Monday, Sep. 2. For more information about VIPER, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/viper Media contacts Alise Fisher / Erin Morton Headquarters, Washington 202-358-2546 / 202-805-9393 alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov / erin.morton@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Aug 09, 2024 Related Terms Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Earth’s Moon VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) Explore More 4 min read NASA, JAXA Bounce Laser Beam Between Moon’s Surface and Lunar Orbit Article 2 weeks ago 3 min read New Evidence Adds to Findings Hinting at Network of Caves on Moon An international team of scientists using data from NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) has discovered… Article 3 weeks ago 5 min read What’s Up: April 2024 Skywatching Tips from NASA Catch Mars and Saturn rising, and Jupiter hangs out with Comet 12P. Plus NASA has… Article 4 months ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

NASA astronaut Don Pettit during crew qualification exams at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.Credits: GCTC/Roscosmos NASA astronaut Don Pettit is available for limited interview opportunities beginning at 10 a.m. EDT, Friday, Aug. 16, to discuss his upcoming mission to the International Space Station in September. The virtual interviews will stream live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA+ through a variety of platforms including social media. Interested media must submit a request no later than 12 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 15, to the newsroom at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston at 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. Pettit will launch on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. The trio will spend approximately six months aboard the orbital laboratory before returning to Earth in the spring of 2025. During his time in orbit, Pettit will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare the crew for future space missions and provide benefits to people on Earth. Pettit will participate in several of the hundreds of experiments happening during his mission, including studying how spaceflight affects blood clotting, continuing tests of technology to produce human stem cells in space, and contributing his unique photography skills to the long-running Crew Earth Observations study of how Earth is changing over time. NASA selected Pettit as an astronaut in 1996. A veteran of three spaceflights, he has contributed to integral advancements in technology and demonstrations for human space exploration. He served as a science officer for Expedition 6 in 2003, operated the robotic arm for STS-126 space shuttle Endeavour in 2008, and served as a flight engineer for Expedition 30/31 in 2012. Pettit has logged 370 days in space and conducted two spacewalks totaling 13 hours and 17 minutes. A native from Silverton, Oregon, Pettit holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Oregon State University, Corvallis, and a doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arizona, Tucson. Prior to his career with NASA, Pettit worked as a staff scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. For more than two decades, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge, and making research breakthroughs that are not possible on Earth. The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. As commercial companies focus on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low Earth orbit economy, NASA is able to focus more of its resources on deep space missions to the Moon and Mars. Get breaking news, images and features from the space station on the station blog, Instagram, Facebook, and X. Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at: https://www.nasa.gov/station -end- Joshua Finch / Claire O’Shea Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov Courtney Beasley Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 courtney.m.beasley@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Aug 09, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsInternational Space Station (ISS)AstronautsDonald R. PettitHumans in SpaceISS ResearchJohnson Space CenterNASA Headquarters View the full article

Learn Home Astro Campers SCoPE Out New… Astrophysics Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Stories Science Activation Highlights Citizen Science 2 min read Astro Campers SCoPE Out New Worlds Teachers at Smokey Mountain Elementary School have collaborated with the NASA Science Activation (SciAct) program’s Smoky Mountains STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Collaborative (SMSC) and project coordinator, Randi Neff, to create a summer camp for students who are passionate about STEM topics. What started as a small summer camp has since evolved into Astro Camp, a two-week community program from the NASA Astro Camp Community Partners (part of the NASA SciAct program infrastructure) with many engaging student activities. Many students have enjoyed this camp from the beginning, and those who have participated annually have become increasingly interested in more challenging and robust activities to continue their learning adventures. With the help of SciAct’s NASA SCoPE (the NASA Science Mission Directorate Community of Practice for Education) team, Neff was able to connect teachers with a NASA Subject Matter Expert, Dr. Alissa Bans, to help draft new, challenging activities for the students who were ready to take them on in June 2024. Of course, new attendees and learners continued to excitedly engage in the foundational Astro Camp activities, as appropriate for their learning levels. Thanks to Dr. Bans and the ongoing collaboration of these three SciAct teams, returning campers took on new challenges identifying and observing goldilocks exoplanets and zones (habitable planets outside our solar system and zones where conditions might be just right – neither too hot nor too cold – for life) and exploring the various conditions that might support life on a planet. Having the opportunity to seek out and tackle more advanced STEM topics, learners developed critical thinking skills and found satisfaction in expanding their science identities. The Smoky Mountains STEM Collaborative, NASA SCoPE, and NASA Astro Camp Community Partners projects are supported by NASA as part of the Science Activation program portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn Dr. Alissa Bans, a NASA Subject Matter Expert with NASA SCoPE, leads an activity with a group of students during Astro Camp. Share Details Last Updated Aug 09, 2024 Editor NASA Science Editorial Team Related Terms Astrophysics Community Partners Opportunities For Students to Get Involved Planetary Science Science Activation Explore More 2 min read Hubble Spotlights a Supernova Article 3 hours ago 2 min read Celebrate Heliophysics Big Year: Free Monthly Webinars on the Sun Touches Everything Article 3 days ago 6 min read Quantum Scale Sensors used to Measure Planetary Scale Magnetic Fields Article 3 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… Perseverance Rover This rover and its aerial sidekick were assigned to study the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient microbial… Parker Solar Probe On a mission to “touch the Sun,” NASA’s Parker Solar Probe became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona… Juno NASA’s Juno spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter in 2016, the first explorer to peer below the planet’s dense clouds to… View the full article

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) By Jessica Barnett From Earth, one might be tempted to view the Sun as a unique celestial object like no other, as it’s the star our home planet orbits and the one our planet relies on most for heat and light. But if you took a step back and compared the Sun to the other stars NASA has studied over the years, how would it compare? Would it still be so unique? The Full-sun Ultraviolet Rocket SpecTrograph (FURST) aims to answer those questions when it launches aboard a Black Brant IX sounding rocket Aug. 11 at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. “When we talk about ‘Sun as a star’, we’re treating it like any other star in the night sky as opposed to the unique object we rely on for human life. It’s so exciting to study the Sun from that vantage point,” said Adam Kobelski, institutional principal investigator for FURST and a research astrophysicist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The Full-sun Ultraviolet Rocket SpecTrograph (FURST) undergoes testing at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in preparation for launch on Aug. 11. FURST will be launched aboard a Black Bryant IX sounding rocket and will observe the Sun in vacuum ultraviolet (VUV). The instrument was designed and built at Montana State University. NASA Marshall provided the camera, supplied avionics, and designed and built its calibration system. Credit: Montana State University FURST will obtain the first high-resolution spectra of the “Sun as a star” in vacuum ultraviolet (VUV), a light wavelength that is absorbed in Earth’s atmosphere meaning it can only be observed from space. Astronomers have studied other stars in the vacuum ultraviolet with orbiting telescopes, however these instruments are too sensitive to be pointed to the Sun. The recent advancements in high-resolution VUV spectroscopy now allow for the same observations of our own star, the Sun. “These are wavelengths that Hubble Space Telescope is really great at observing, so there is a decent amount of Hubble observations of stars in ultraviolet wavelengths, but we don’t have comparable observations of our star in this wavelength range,” said Kobelski. Marshall was the lead field center for the design, development, and construction of the Hubble Space Telescope. Because Hubble is too sensitive to point at Earth’s Sun, new instruments were needed to get a spectrum of the entire Sun that is of a similar quality to Hubble’s observations of other stars. Marshall built the camera, supplied avionics, and designed and built a new calibration system for the FURST mission. Montana State University (MSU), which leads the FURST mission in partnership with Marshall, built the optical system, which includes seven optics that will feed into the camera that will essentially create seven exposures, covering the entire ultraviolet wavelength range. Charles Kankelborg, a heliophysics professor at MSU and principal investigator for FURST, described the mission as a very close collaboration with wide-ranging implications. “Our mission will obtain the first far ultraviolent spectrum of the Sun as a star,” Kankelborg said. “This is a key piece of information that has been missing for decades. With it, we will place the Sun in context with other stars.” Kobelski echoed the sentiment. “How well do the observations and what we know about our Sun compare to our observations or what we know of other stars?” Kobelski said. “You’d expect that we know all this information about the Sun – it’s right there – but it turns out, we actually don’t. If we can get these same observations or same wavelengths as we’ve observed from these other sources, we can start to connect the dots and connect our Sun to other stars.” Montana State University alumnus Jake Davis, left, Professor Charles Kankelborg, and doctoral students Catharine “Cappy” Bunn and Suman Panda, pose at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, where they are preparing for the launch of the FURST rocket mission to observe the sun in far ultraviolet.Credit: Montana State University FURST will be the third launch led by Marshall for NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program within five months, making 2024 an active year for the program. Like the Hi-C Flare mission that launched in April, the sounding rocket will launch and open during flight to allow FURST to observe the Sun for approximately five minutes before closing and falling back to Earth’s surface. Marshall team members will be able to calibrate the instruments during launch and flight, as well as retrieve data during flight and soon after landing. Kobelski and Kankelborg each said they’re grateful for the opportunity to fill the gaps in our knowledge of Earth’s Sun. The launch will be livestreamed on Sunday, Aug. 11, with a launch window of 11:40 a.m.– 12:40 p.m. CDT. Tune in on NASA’s White Sands Test Facility Launch Channel. The FURST mission is led by Marshall in partnership with Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, with additional support from the NASA’s Sounding Rockets Office and the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research’s High Altitude Observatory. Launch support is provided at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico by NASA’s Johnson Space Center. NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program is managed by the agency’s Heliophysics Division. Lane Figueroa Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 256.544.0034 lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Aug 09, 2024 EditorBeth RidgewayLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related TermsMarshall Space Flight CenterSounding RocketsSounding Rockets ProgramWallops Flight Facility Explore More 4 min read NASA to Launch 8 Scientific Balloons From New Mexico Article 2 hours ago 4 min read This Rocks! NASA is Sending Student Science to Space Article 21 hours ago 23 min read The Marshall Star for August 7, 2024 Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program, in preparation for the agency’s Artemis II crewed mission to the Moon, begin installing the first of four emergency egress baskets on the mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. The baskets, similar to gondolas on ski lifts, are used in the case of a pad abort emergency to enable astronauts and other pad personnel a way to quickly escape away from the mobile launcher to the base of the pad and where waiting emergency transport vehicles will then drive them away.NASA/Isaac Watson Recently, teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center met with engineering teams at a central Florida amusement park to share knowledge on a new braking system NASA is using for its launch pad emergency egress system for Artemis missions. “We have a new magnetic braking system for the Artemis emergency egress system and NASA hasn’t used this technology on the ground infrastructure side before to support launches,” said Jesse Berdis, mobile launcher 1 deputy project manager for EGS. “I realized we have neighbors 50 miles from us in Orlando that are essentially the world experts on magnetic braking systems.” For Artemis, teams will use a track cable that connects the mobile launcher to the terminus site near the perimeter of NASA Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B, where four baskets, similar to gondola lifts, can ride down. This is where the magnetic braking system operates to help control the acceleration of the baskets in multiple weight and environmental conditions. At the pad terminus site, armored emergency response vehicles are stationed to take personnel safely away from the launch pad to a designated safe site at Kennedy. Many roller coaster manufacturers employ the use of an “eddy current braking system,” which involves using magnetics to help slow down a vehicle. Though the applications used on the roller coasters differ slightly from what the EGS teams are using for Artemis, the concept is the same, explained Amanda Arrieta, mobile launcher 1 senior element engineer. However, unlike roller coasters which are typically in use daily for multiple hours on end, the Artemis emergency egress system is there for emergency situations only. “We don’t plan to ever run our system unless we’re testing it or performing maintenance,” Berdis said. Regardless of this, teams at Kennedy have ensured the system is able to function for years to come to support future Artemis missions. “The maintenance crews [at the amusement park] were awesome because they showed us their nightly, monthly, and yearly inspections on what they were doing,” Berdis said. “That gave our operations teams a really good foundation and baseline knowledge of what to expect when they maintain and operate this system for the Artemis missions.” Some of the conversations and suggestions teams shared include adding an acceleration sensor in the emergency egress baskets during testing. The sensor will help detect how fast the baskets are going when they ride down. The emergency egress system is one of several new additions the EGS team is implementing to prepare for future crewed missions starting with Artemis II, and this system especially emphasizes the importance of safety. “We have a mission, and a part of that mission is in case of an emergency, which we don’t expect, is to protect our astronauts and supporting teams at the launch pad,” Berdis said. “We want our teams to be safe and, for any scenario we put them in, especially on the ground infrastructure side, it’s important for us to do our due diligence. That includes talking to other groups that are the experts in their field to ensure we have looked at all possibilities across the board to ensure our mission is a safe one for our teams.” During the Space Shuttle Program, teams used a similar system for the escape route astronauts and other personnel take in the event of an emergency during a launch countdown. However, instead of using a magnetic braking system for the baskets, teams used a mechanical braking system, which involved using a catch net and drag chain to slow and then halt the baskets sliding down the wire. For the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, SpaceX also uses a catch net and drag chain for its slidewire cable at NASA Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A pad and a deployable chute at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Boeing and United Launch Alliance also use a slidewire, but instead of baskets, the team deploys seats, like riding down a zip line, that ride down the slide wires at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Under NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will establish the foundation for long-term scientific exploration at the Moon, land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the lunar surface, and prepare for human expeditions to Mars for the benefit of all. 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Research astrophysicist Regina Caputo puzzles out how the universe works by studying the most extreme events in the cosmos. ​​Name: Regina Caputo Title: Research Astrophysicist Organization: Astroparticle Physics Laboratory (Code 661) Regina Caputo is a research astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. She focuses on technology development and support for gamma-ray telescopes.Photo credit: NASA/David Friedlander What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? I’m a research astrophysicist in the particle astrophysics lab at Goddard. I’m really interested in the most extreme events that happen in the universe, so I work on current gamma-ray missions and develop technology for future gamma-ray telescopes. The most exciting part of my work is trying to figure out how the universe works and how it got the way it is today. What is your educational background? In 2006, I got my bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from the Colorado School of Mines. Then, in 2011 I got my Ph.D. in particle physics from Stony Brook University. I’ve always been inclined to bridge the gap between science and engineering, so my undergraduate education was where I learned to build things, develop instruments, and analyze data. Then, through my Ph.D. program, I started trying to understand the fundamental building blocks of matter. Eventually, I found my way to astro-particle physics. Particles on the ground are cool, but particles in space are even cooler! What brought you to Goddard? I arrived at Goddard in 2017, and I think it was a natural confluence of building telescopes, doing high energy astrophysics, and working in a collaborative environment. What were the most exciting moments of your career? I am very fortunate because there have been a couple exciting moments. I was a student working on CERN’s Large Hadron Collider when the Higgs Boson was discovered, so that was really exciting. Then, after I had gotten into particle astrophysics, we discovered in 2017 that merging neutron stars created gravitational waves and gamma-ray bursts. Around the same time, we discovered an active galaxy that produced neutrinos with ultra-high-energy gamma-ray flares. This was like the birth of multi-messenger astrophysics, so it felt like a whole new era of discovery. I really felt like the universe was telling me something. How does your work involve different teams? I’m on a few different teams on different scales. On the science side, I’m a part of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) collaboration — an international group of scientists supporting Fermi, analyzing data, and doing science. I’m also a Swift Observatory project scientist. I support the mission by making sure it’s fulfilling its obligations to the public and various stakeholders. The technology development teams are the ones that I’m leading in preparation for a next-generation gamma-ray telescope. I have a group of postdocs, students, and other scientists — 10 or 15 people around the world. We are developing and characterizing silicon CMOS detectors, called AstroPix, to make sure that they meet our requirements, and think about the next steps to implement them in different experiments. The other team, called Compton-Pair Telescope (ComPair), built a prototype gamma-ray telescope that was launched as a balloon payload last summer. Right now, we’re working on the next generation of it. Regina Caputo at the August 2023 ComPair balloon launch in Fort Sumter, New Mexico. ComPair is a prototype gamma-ray telescope that can measure and detect gamma-rays.Photo courtesy of Regina Caputo What is challenging about your position? I think one of the most challenging things is communicating effectively with an international group of people. You have to be like an events coordinator to make sure people have the resources they need. What role do you serve for early career scientists? I think it’s really important that scientists think about the next generation of scientists and technically minded people. It’s really important to me to make sure that we are giving junior folks the field opportunities they need to achieve their goals. What science outreach do you do? I really enjoy science outreach, so I like to jump in whenever there’s an opportunity — like Black Hole Week, career days, or public talks. I like to be able to say, “Hey, you’re paying us to explore the universe — here’s what we found!” What goals do you have for the future? It would be so cool to see the detectors we develop to be in a next-generation gamma-ray telescope that flies and takes data. It’s a hard goal, but hey, I shoot for the stars. By Laine Havens NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Share Details Last Updated Aug 09, 2024 EditorMadison OlsonContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsPeople of GoddardAstrophysicsGoddard Space Flight CenterPeople of NASAThe Universe Explore More 7 min read Bindu Rani Explores Black Holes, Mothers Hard, Balances Life Article 3 days ago 6 min read Rebekah Hounsell: Tracking Cosmic Light to Untangle the Universe’s Darkest Mysteries Article 3 weeks ago 6 min read There Are No Imaginary Boundaries for Dr. Ariadna Farrés-Basiana Article 7 days ago View the full article

The International Space Station’s “window to the world” is pictured from the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module.NASA The cupola is a small module designed for the observation of operations outside the station such as robotic activities, the approach of vehicles, and spacewalks. Its six side windows and a direct nadir viewing window provide spectacular views of Earth and celestial objects. The windows are equipped with shutters to protect them from contamination and collisions with orbital debris or micrometeorites. The cupola house the robotic workstation that controls the Canadarm2. View the full article

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A scientific balloon is inflated for the Salter Test Flight before being released during NASA’s 2023 fall balloon campaign. The test flight returns for the 2024 campaign in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, carrying several smaller payloads.NASA/Andrew Hynous NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program has kicked off its annual fall balloon campaign at the agency’s balloon launch facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Eight balloon flights carrying scientific experiments and technology demonstrations are scheduled to launch from mid-August through mid-October. The flights will support 16 missions, including investigations in the fields of astrophysics, heliophysics, and atmospheric research. “The annual Fort Sumner campaign is the cornerstone of the NASA Balloon Program operations,” said Andrew Hamilton, acting chief of NASA’s Balloon Program Office. “Not only are we launching a large number of missions, but these flights set the foundation for follow-on missions from our long-duration launch facilities in Antarctica, New Zealand, and Sweden. The Fort Sumner campaign is also a strong focus for our student-based payloads and is an excellent training opportunity for our up-and-coming scientists and engineers.” Returning to the fall lineup is the EXCITE (Exoplanet Climate Infrared Telescope) mission led by Peter Nagler, principal investigator, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. EXCITE features an astronomical telescope developed to study the atmospheric properties of Jupiter-type exoplanets from near space. EXCITE’s launch was delayed during the 2023 campaign due to weather conditions. “The whole EXCITE team is looking forward to our upcoming field campaign and launch opportunity from Fort Sumner,” said Nagler. “We’re bringing a more capable instrument than we did last year and are excited to prove EXCITE from North America before we bring it to the Antarctic for our future long-duration science flight.” Some additional missions scheduled to launch include: Salter Test Flight: The test flight aims to verify system design and support several smaller payloads on the flight called piggyback missions. HASP 1.0 (High-Altitude Student Platform): This platform supports up to 12 student payloads and assists in training the next generation of aerospace scientists and engineers. It is designed to flight test compact satellites, prototypes, and other small payloads. HASP 2.0 (High-Altitude Student Platform 2): This engineering test flight of the upgraded gondola and systems for the HASP program aims to double the carrying capability of student payloads. DR-TES (mini-Dilution Refrigerator and a Transition Edge Sensor): This flight will test a cooling system and a gamma-ray detector in a near-space environment. TIM Test Flight (Terahertz Intensity Mapper): This experiment will study galaxy evolution and the history of cosmic star formation. THAI-SPICE (Testbed for High-Acuity Imaging ­­– ­­­Stable Photometry and Image-motion Compensation Experiment): The goal of this project is to build and demonstrate a fine-pointing system for stratospheric payloads with balloon-borne telescopes. TinMan (Thermalized Neutron Measurement Experiment): This hand-launch mission features a 60-pound payload designed to help better understand how thermal neutrons may affect aircraft electronics. An additional eight piggyback missions will ride along on flights to support science and technology development. Three of these piggyback missions are technology demonstrations led by the balloon program team at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Their common goal is to enhance the capabilities of NASA balloon missions. CASBa (Comprehensive Avionics System for Balloons) aims to upgrade the flight control systems for NASA balloon missions. DINGO (Dynamics INstrumentation for GOndolas) and SPARROW-5 (Sensor Package for Attitude, Rotation, and Relative Observable Winds – Five) are technology maturation projects designed to provide new sensing capabilities to NASA balloon missions. Zero-pressure balloons, used in this campaign, are in thermal equilibrium with their surroundings as they fly. They maintain a zero-pressure differential with ducts that allow gas to escape to prevent an increase in pressure from inside the balloons as they rise above Earth’s surface. This zero-pressure design makes the balloons very robust and well-suited for short, domestic flights, such as those in this campaign. The loss of lift gas during the day-to-night cycle affects the balloon’s altitude after repeated day-to-night cycles; however, this can be overcome by launching from the polar regions, such as Sweden or Antarctica, where the Sun does not set on the balloon in the summer. To follow the missions in the 2024 Fort Sumner fall campaign, visit NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility website for real-time updates of balloons’ altitudes and locations during flight. NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia manages the agency’s scientific balloon flight program with 10 to 15 flights each year from launch sites worldwide. Peraton, which operates NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Palestine, Texas, provides mission planning, engineering services, and field operations for NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program. The CSBF team has launched more than 1,700 scientific balloons over some 40 years of operations. NASA’s balloons are fabricated by Aerostar. The NASA Scientific Balloon Program is funded by the Science Mission Directorate’s Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. For more information on NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/scientificballoons By Olivia Littleton NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va. Share Details Last Updated Aug 09, 2024 EditorOlivia F. LittletonContactOlivia F. Littletonolivia.f.littleton@nasa.govLocationWallops Flight Facility Related TermsScientific BalloonsAstrophysicsGoddard Space Flight CenterWallops Flight Facility Explore More 7 min read NASA Balloons Head North of Arctic Circle for Long-Duration Flights Article 3 months ago 4 min read GUSTO Breaks NASA Scientific Balloon Record for Days in Flight Article 6 months ago 6 min read NASA Scientific Balloons Ready for Flights Over Antarctica Article 9 months ago View the full article

In this clip, engineers are testing the the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s Deployable Aperture Cover. This component is responsible for keeping light out of the telescope barrel. It will be deployed once in orbit using a soft material attached to support booms and remains in this position throughout the observatory’s lifetime. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center The “visor” for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope recently completed several environmental tests simulating the conditions it will experience during launch and in space. Called the Deployable Aperture Cover, this large sunshade is designed to keep unwanted light out of the telescope. This milestone marks the halfway point for the cover’s final sprint of testing, bringing it one step closer to integration with Roman’s other subsystems this fall. Designed and built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the Deployable Aperture Cover consists of two layers of reinforced thermal blankets, distinguishing it from previous hard aperture covers, like those on NASA’s Hubble. The sunshade will remain folded during launch and deploy after Roman is in space via three booms that spring upward when triggered electronically. “With a soft deployable like the Deployable Aperture Cover, it’s very difficult to model and precisely predict what it’s going to do — you just have to test it,” said Matthew Neuman, a Deployable Aperture Cover mechanical engineer at Goddard. “Passing this testing now really proves that this system works.” After a successful test deployment at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., clean room technicians inspect the Deployable Aperture Cover for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.NASA/Chris Gunn During its first major environmental test, the sunshade endured conditions simulating what it will experience in space. It was sealed inside NASA Goddard’s Space Environment Simulator — a massive chamber that can achieve extremely low pressure and a wide range of temperatures. Technicians placed the DAC near six heaters — a Sun simulator — and thermal simulators representing Roman’s Outer Barrel Assembly and Solar Array Sun Shield. Since these two components will eventually form a subsystem with the Deployable Aperture Cover, replicating their temperatures allows engineers to understand how heat will actually flow when Roman is in space. When in space, the sunshade is expected to operate at minus 67 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 55 degrees Celsius. However, recent testing cooled the cover to minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 70 degrees Celsius — ensuring that it will work even in unexpectedly cold conditions. Once chilled, technicians triggered its deployment, carefully monitoring through cameras and sensors onboard. Over the span of about a minute, the sunshade successfully deployed, proving its resilience in extreme space conditions. “This was probably the environmental test we were most nervous about,” said Brian Simpson, project design lead for the Deployable Aperture Cover at NASA Goddard. “If there’s any reason that the Deployable Aperture Cover would stall or not completely deploy, it would be because the material became frozen stiff or stuck to itself.” Brian Simpson, product design lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, adjusts sensors on the Deployable Aperture Cover for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The sensors will collect data on the DAC’s response to testing.NASA/Chris Gunn If the sunshade were to stall or partially deploy, it would obscure Roman’s view, severely limiting the mission’s science capabilities. After passing thermal vacuum testing, the sunshade underwent acoustic testing to simulate the launch’s intense noises, which can cause vibrations at higher frequencies than the shaking of the launch itself. During this test, the sunshade remained stowed, hanging inside one of Goddard’s acoustic chambers — a large room outfitted with two gigantic horns and hanging microphones to monitor sound levels. With the sunshade plastered in sensors, the acoustic test ramped up in noise level, eventually subjecting the cover to one full minute at 138 decibels — louder than a jet plane’s takeoff at close range! Technicians attentively monitored the sunshade’s response to the powerful acoustics and gathered valuable data, concluding that the test succeeded. Technicians prepare for acoustic testing at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. During testing, the Deployable Aperture Cover for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope was suspended in the air and exposed to 138 decibels for one full minute to simulate launch’s intense noise.NASA/Chris Gunn “For the better part of a year, we’ve been building the flight assembly,” Simpson said. “We’re finally getting to the exciting part where we get to test it. We’re confident that we’ll get through with no problem, but after each test we can’t help but breathe a collective sigh of relief!” Next, the Deployable Aperture Cover will undergo its two final phases of testing. These assessments will measure the sunshade’s natural frequency and response to the launch’s vibrations. Then, the Deployable Aperture Cover will integrate with the Outer Barrel Assembly and Solar Array Sun Shield this fall. For more information about the Roman Space Telescope, visit NASA’s website. To virtually tour an interactive version of the telescope, visit: https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/interactive The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems, Inc in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California. Download high-resolution video and images from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio By Laine Havens NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Media contact: Claire Andreoli claire.andreoli@nasa.gov NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 301-286-1940 Explore More 6 min read NASA’s Roman Mission Gets Cosmic ‘Sneak Peek’ From Supercomputers Article 2 months ago 3 min read NASA’s Roman Space Telescope’s ‘Eyes’ Pass First Vision Test Article 4 months ago 3 min read NASA Begins Integrating ‘Nervous System’ for Roman Space Telescope Article 12 months ago Share Details Last Updated Aug 09, 2024 EditorAshley BalzerContactAshley Balzerashley.m.balzer@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsNancy Grace Roman Space TelescopeGoddard Space Flight CenterScience-enabling TechnologySpace Communications Technology View the full article

2 min read Hubble Spotlights a Supernova This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the galaxy LEDA 857074. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J. Foley This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy LEDA 857074, located in the constellation Eridanus. LEDA 857074 is a barred spiral galaxy, with partially broken spiral arms. The image also captured a supernova, named SN 2022ADQZ, shining brightly on the right side of the galaxy’s bar. Several evolutionary paths can lead to a supernova explosion. One is the death of a supermassive star. When a supermassive star runs out of its hydrogen fuel, it begins a stage where it fuses the remaining elements to heavier and heavier ones. These final fusion reactions generate less and less outward force (radiation pressure) to balance the star’s gravitational tug inward. As heavier elements form in the star’s core, the core itself begins to fully collapse under its own gravity, and the star’s outer layers blast away in a supernova explosion. Depending on the star’s original mass, its core may collapse to nothing but neutrons, leaving behind a neutron star, or its gravity may be so great that it collapses to a black hole. Astronomers detected supernova SN 2022ADQZ with an automated survey in late 2022. This discovery led them to look at the supernova’s host galaxy, LEDA 857074, with Hubble in early 2023. Hubble’s sharp vision means that it can see supernovae that are billions of light years away and difficult for other telescopes to study. A supernova image from the ground usually blends in with the image of its host galaxy, but Hubble can distinguish a supernova’s light from its host galaxy’s, measuring the supernova directly. Astronomers detect thousands of supernovae annually, but the chance that they spot one in any particular galaxy of the millions that are cataloged is slim. Thanks to this supernova, LEDA 857074 joins the ranks of other celestial objects with its own Hubble image. Download Image Explore More Hubble’s Galaxies Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact: Claire Andreoli NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD claire.andreoli@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Aug 09, 2024 Related Terms Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Missions Science & Research Science Mission Directorate Supernovae The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Galaxies Hubble’s Galaxies Hubble News View the full article

This final image captured by NASA’s NEOWISE shows part of the Fornax constellation in the Southern Hemisphere. Processed by IPAC at Caltech, this is the mission’s 26,886,704th exposure. It was taken by the spacecraft just before 3 a.m. EDT on Aug. 1, when the mission’s survey ended.Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC/UCLA Engineers on NASA’s NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission commanded the spacecraft to turn its transmitter off for the last time Thursday. This concludes more than 10 years of its planetary defense mission to search for asteroids and comets, including those that could pose a threat to Earth. The final command was sent from the Earth Orbiting Missions Operation Center at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, with mission members past and present in attendance alongside officials from the agency’s headquarters in Washington. NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System then relayed the signal to NEOWISE, decommissioning the spacecraft. As NASA previously shared, the spacecraft’s science survey ended on July 31, and all remaining science data was downlinked from the spacecraft. “The NEOWISE mission has been an extraordinary success story as it helped us better understand our place in the universe by tracking asteroids and comets that could be hazardous for us on Earth,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. “While we are sad to see this brave mission come to an end, we are excited for the future scientific discoveries it has opened by setting the foundation for the next generation planetary defense telescope.” NASA ended the mission because NEOWISE will soon drop too low in its orbit around Earth to provide usable science data. An uptick in solar activity is heating the upper atmosphere, causing it to expand and create drag on the spacecraft, which does not have a propulsion system to keep it in orbit. Now decommissioned, NEOWISE is expected to safely burn up in our planet’s atmosphere in late 2024. During its operational lifetime, the infrared survey telescope exceeded scientific objectives for not one but two missions, starting with the WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission. Managed by JPL, WISE launched in December 2009 with a seven-month mission to scan the entire infrared sky. By July 2010, WISE had accomplished this with far greater sensitivity than previous surveys. A few months later, the telescope ran out of the coolant that kept heat produced by the spacecraft from interfering with its infrared observations. (Invisible to the human eye, infrared wavelengths are associated with heat.) NASA extended the mission under the name NEOWISE until February 2011 to complete a survey of the main belt asteroids, at which point the spacecraft was put into hibernation. Analysis of this data showed that although the lack of coolant meant the space telescope could no longer observe the faintest infrared objects in the universe, it could still make precise observations of asteroids and comets that generate a strong infrared signal from being heated by the Sun as they travel past our planet. NASA brought the telescope out of hibernation in 2013 under the Near-Earth Object Observations Program, a precursor for the agency’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, to continue the NEOWISE survey of asteroids and comets in the pursuit of planetary defense. “The NEOWISE mission has been instrumental in our quest to map the skies and understand the near-Earth environment. Its huge number of discoveries have expanded our knowledge of asteroids and comets, while also boosting our nation’s planetary defense,” said Laurie Leshin, director, NASA JPL. “As we bid farewell to NEOWISE, we also celebrate the team behind it for their impressive achievements.” By repeatedly observing the sky from low Earth orbit, NEOWISE created all-sky maps featuring 1.45 million infrared measurements of more than 44,000 solar system objects. Of the 3,000-plus near-Earth objects it detected, 215 were first spotted by NEOWISE. The mission also discovered 25 new comets, including the famed comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE that streaked across the night sky in the summer of 2020. In addition to leaving behind a trove of science data, the spacecraft has helped inform the development of NASA’s first infrared space telescope purpose-built for detecting near-Earth objects: NEO Surveyor. “The NEOWISE mission has provided a unique, long-duration data set of the infrared sky that will be used by scientists for decades to come,” said Amy Mainzer, principal investigator for both NEOWISE and NEO Surveyor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “But its additional legacy is that it has helped lay the groundwork for NASA’s next planetary defense infrared space telescope.” Also managed by JPL, NEO Surveyor will seek out some of the hardest-to-find near-Earth objects, such as dark asteroids and comets that don’t reflect much visible light, as well as objects that approach Earth from the direction of the Sun. The next-generation infrared space telescope will greatly enhance the capabilities of the international planetary defense community, which includes NASA-funded ground surveys. Construction of NEO Surveyor is already well under way, with a launch date set for no earlier than 2027. More Mission Information The NEOWISE and NEO Surveyor missions support the objectives of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office at the agency’s headquarters. The NASA Authorization Act of 2005 directed NASA to discover and characterize at least 90% of the near-Earth objects more than 460 feet (140 meters) across that come within 30 million miles (48 million kilometers) of our planet’s orbit. Objects of this size can cause significant regional damage, or worse, should they impact the Earth. NASA JPL manages and operates the NEOWISE mission for the agency’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office within the Science Mission Directorate. The Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, built the science instrument. BAE Systems of Boulder, Colorado, built the spacecraft. Science data processing, archiving, and distribution is done at IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena, California. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. To learn more about NEOWISE, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/neowise -end- Karen Fox / Alana Johnson Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov Ian J. O’Neill Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-2649 ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Aug 08, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsNEOWISEJet Propulsion LaboratoryNASA HeadquartersNEO Surveyor (Near-Earth Object Surveyor Space Telescope)Planetary Defense Coordination OfficePlanetary Science DivisionScience & ResearchScience Mission DirectorateWISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) View the full article

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s C-20A aircraft completed more than 150 hours of international science flights from May 20 to July 24 in support of an Earth science deployment series. The aircraft, owned and operated by NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, overcame several challenges throughout the missions.NASA/Carla Thomas Operating internationally over several countries this summer, NASA’S C-20A aircraft completed more than 150 hours of science flights across two months in support of Earth science research and overcame several challenges throughout its missions. Based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research in Edwards, California, the C-20A research aircraft has been modified to support the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar and SAR-fusion camera. The instruments, built and operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, collect data and images of Earth’s surface for use in understanding global ecosystems, natural hazards, and land surface changes. From May 20 to July 24, the team crossed the Atlantic and deployed to several locations in Africa, as well as Germany, for two campaigns. They included the Africa Synthetic Aperture Radar (AfriSAR) mission, in collaboration with the European Space Agency, and the Germany Bistatic Experiment, in collaboration with the German Aerospace Center. For the AfriSAR mission, researchers collected airborne data over African forests, savannas, and wetlands for use in studies of Earth’s ecosystems. Datasets collected over Germany will be used to develop land surface height maps. NASA team members pose in front of the C-20A aircraft while in Sao Tome, Africa, May 24, 2024. From left, Kirt Stallings, Joe Piotrowski Jr., Adam Vaccaro, Carrie Worth, Tim Miller, Otis Allen, Roger “Todd” Renfro, Edgar Aragon-Torres, Ryan Applegate, and Isac Mata.NASA The flight team successfully achieved its missions despite several challenges, including mechanical and technical issues with the aircraft. Despite the challenges, the team resolved issues quickly and worked to minimize impacts to the science schedule and objectives. “We prepared for the unexpected and we expected to be unprepared,” said Shawn Kern, NASA Armstrong’s director of safety and mission assurance and a C-20A pilot. “With that mindset, we were ready to adapt and change the plans as needed, and met challenges with a lot of resilience, a lot of innovation, and a lot of improvised solutions to get things done despite some significant roadblocks.” The team included aircraft mechanics, avionics technicians, quality assurance representatives, science leads and instrument operators, operation engineers, mission managers, and pilots. They were also supported by project management, safety, logistics, weather, and maintenance personnel at NASA Armstrong. NASA pilots Kirt “Skirt” Stallings and Carrie Worth fly the C-20A aircraft over Africa on July 9, 2024.NASA “It was really the teamwork, improvisation, and creativity that resolved these unexpected challenges that made the mission a success.” Kern added. Gathering scientific data in unique regions and conditions is necessary to understanding climate on the global scale. Data generated from these two airborne campaigns can be used to support the calibration and validation of data from future satellite-based missions like NISAR (NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar). “Airborne campaigns like these are essential for enabling space-based technology. There are often measurements and science that simply cannot be achieved from satellites alone, and so they require airborne data collection.” said Gerald Bawden, program scientist for studies of Earth’s surface and interior at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This deployment advanced both of these areas and was enabled by this team.” Share Details Last Updated Aug 08, 2024 EditorDede DiniusContactElena Aguirreelena.aguirre@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related TermsArmstrong Flight Research CenterAeronauticsEarthEarth ScienceEarth Science DivisionEarth's AtmosphereJet Propulsion LaboratoryNASA AircraftScience in the AirScience Mission Directorate Explore More 4 min read This Rocks! NASA is Sending Student Science to Space Article 2 hours ago 5 min read Here’s How Curiosity’s Sky Crane Changed the Way NASA Explores Mars Article 1 day ago 4 min read Tundra Vegetation to Grow Taller, Greener Through 2100, NASA Study Finds Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center Armstrong Programs & Projects Armstrong Technologies Armstrong Flight Research Center History View the full article

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A Terrier Improved Malemute sounding rocket carrying RockSat-X student developed experiments being raised on the launch rail on Wallops IslandNASA NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is scheduled to launch a sounding rocket carrying student-developed experiments for the RockSat-X mission on Tuesday, Aug. 13. The Terrier-Improved Malemute rocket is expected to reach an altitude of about 100 miles (162 kilometers) before descending by parachute into the Atlantic Ocean to be recovered. The launch window for the mission is 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. EDT, Aug. 13, with backup days of Aug. 14, 15, and 16. The Wallops Visitor Center’s launch viewing area will open at 5 a.m. for launch viewing. A livestream of the mission will begin 15 minutes before launch on the Wallops YouTube channel. Launch updates are also available via the Wallops Facebook page. The launch may be visible in the Chesapeake Bay region. The rocket will carry experiments developed by nine university and community college teams as part of NASA’s RockSat programs. “The RockSat program provides unique hands-on experiences for students in the development of scientific experiments and working in teams, so these students are ready to enter STEM careers,” said Dr. Joyce Winterton, Wallops senior advisor for education and leadership development. These circular areas show where and when people may see the rocket launch in the sky, depending on cloud cover. The different colored sections indicate the time (in seconds) after liftoff that the sounding rocket may be visible.NASA/Christian Billie RockSat-X 2024 Flight Projects The University of Alabama Huntsville is flying two primary experiments: Joint Union of Payload Information and Technology between Experiments and Rockets (JUPITER), a custom spacecraft bus-like system that connects experiment hardware with existing launch vehicle electronics. SwingSat will increase the technology readiness level of momentum exchange tether technology in the context of satellite constellation deployments. The University of Alberta will demonstrate instruments for characterizing plasma wave activity and electron microburst precipitation, specifically by resolving precipitating relativistic and sub-relativistic electrons. The project will be capable of measuring magnetic plasma wave oscillations, including chorus waves and ground-based Very Low Frequency transmitters. The outcome of this mission will improve the Technology Readiness Level. Clemson University’s experiment will measure electron density and temperature of the E region ionosphere, between 56- 93 miles (90-150 kilometers). The College of the Canyons experiment will deploy three capsules to gather data on greenhouse gases in the upper atmosphere to aid in the fight against climate change. The Community Colleges of Colorado, a collaboration of Arapahoe and Red Rocks Community Colleges, aims to evaluate how microgravity affects the mechanical properties of lunar regolith simulants sintered during suborbital flight. The mission will also create a cost-efficient star tracker using off-the-shelf materials and open-source software. Northwest Nazarene University is testing a space-rated robotic arm capable of tracking and capturing objects. The arm will deploy and catch three balls, then stow itself for reentry, and will also capture video footage of all the catch attempts. The University of Puerto Rico will collect environmental data of the atmosphere using humidity, temperature, and pressure sensors. Using an Ultra High Frequency antenna, telecommunications will use open-source protocols to beam down data to ground stations at Wallops. Uninterrupted Virtual Reality footage of flight will be used for STEM engagement. Virginia Tech’s experiment tests a space tether that provides a small CubeSat with power and a mechanical connection. West Virginia Space Collaboration, a collaboration of five West Virginia universities, will conduct nine independent experiments flying on the 2024 RockSat-X mission. Included are: Lower Ionosphere Electric Field Double Probes (LIEF), which will study plasma and electric field densities throughout the flight. A mycelium properties experiment that will study the mechanical properties of mycelium under space flight conditions. A flight dynamics module that will record data on rocket and space flight conditions. A Geiger counter to detect radiation density during flight. A heat study that will analyze heat dissipation during space flight and reentry. A study on the effect of spaceflight on microbes in soil during flight and reentry. Power generation using type K thermocouples. Spectrometric and photographic data of the Sun. Creation of a 3D model of flight using LiDAR tracking and flight data. A student participant integrating a RockSat-X experimentNASA/Berit Bland NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program is conducted at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility, which is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA’s Heliophysics Division manages the sounding rocket program for the agency. Share Details Last Updated Aug 08, 2024 EditorAmy BarraContactAmy Barraamy.l.barra@nasa.govLocationWallops Flight Facility Related TermsWallops Flight FacilityNASA Centers & FacilitiesSounding RocketsSounding Rockets Program Explore More 5 min read NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility to Launch Student Experiments Article 2 months ago 4 min read Double Header: NASA Sounding Rockets to Launch Student Experiments NASA's Wallops Flight Facility is scheduled to launch two sounding rockets carrying student developed experiments… Article 1 year ago 6 min read Students Rock’n with NASA on Suborbital Space Flight Article 2 years ago View the full article

Interior of the 20-foot diameter vacuum tank at the NASA Lewis Research Center’s Electric Propulsion Laboratory. The Electric Propulsion Laboratory, which began operation in 1961, contained two large vacuum tanks capable of simulating a space environment. The tanks were designed especially for testing ion and plasma thrusters and spacecraft. The larger 25-foot diameter tank included a 10-foot diameter test compartment to test electric thrusters with condensable propellants. The portals along the chamber floor lead to the massive exhauster equipment that pumped out the air to simulate the low pressures found in space. Lewis researchers had been studying different electric rocket propulsion methods since the mid-1950s. Harold Kaufman created the first successful ion engine, the electron bombardment ion engine, in the early 1960s. These engines used electric power to create and accelerate small particles of propellant material to high exhaust velocities. Electric engines have a very small thrust, but can operate for long periods of time. The ion engines are often clustered together to provide higher levels of thrust. NASA View the full article

A college team dressed in protective clean room suits prepares their robotic rover to compete in the final round of NASA’s annual Lunabotics competition on Thursday, May 16, 2024. Teams score points when their rover completes challenging tasks inside the Artemis Arena – a simulated lunar landscape inside The Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. (Credit: NASA) NASA invites teams from colleges, universities, as well as technical and vocational schools around the country to test their engineering skills in the 2025 Lunabotics Challenge. Applications open at 5 p.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 6. The competition is aimed at inspiring Artemis Generation students to explore science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for the benefit of humanity. Managed by NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, the Lunabotics Challenge asks teams to design and build an autonomous or telerobotic robot capable of navigating a simulated lunar surface and completing the assigned construction task. The robots will have to master the complexities of regolith, or lunar soil, simulants used to excavate and construct berm structures in a lunar environment, be capable of operating by remote control or through autonomous operations, and account for weight and size limitations. By participating in one of NASA’s Artemis Student Challenges, students have the opportunity to provide data on robotic excavator and builder design and operations, helping shape future missions at the Moon and ultimately Mars. NASA encourages creative construction techniques and evaluates student designs and data just like it does for its own prototypes, increasing the chances of finding smart solutions for the challenges the agency may encounter at the Moon under the Artemis campaign. Additionally, the competition will educate college students in the NASA systems engineering process, the agency’s methodical, multi-disciplinary approach for the design, realization, technical management, operations, and retirement of a system. The competition will close on Thursday, Sept. 12, and NASA will announce selected teams on Friday, Sept. 20. These teams will put their robots to the test during the University of Central Florida’s Lunabotics Qualification Challenge in May 2025, with the highest scoring teams invited to the culminating event at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida later that month. Lunabotics takes place annually, running since 2010, and is one of several Artemis Student Challenges reflecting the goals of the Artemis campaign, which seeks to land the first woman, first person of color, and first international astronaut on the Moon where NASA will establish a long-term presence and prepare for future science and exploration of Mars. More than 7,000 students have participated in Lunabotics with many former students now working at NASA, or within the aerospace industry. To learn more about LUNABOTICS, visit: https://go.nasa.gov/4dcsjVg –end– Abbey Donaldson Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 abbey.a.donaldson@nasa.gov Derrol Nail Kennedy Space Center, Florida 321-289-9513 derrol.j.nail@nasa.gov View the full article

“I didn’t always grow up knowing that I was going to be working for NASA. It was just the way my life unfolded, and I couldn’t be more grateful and lucky to have this opportunity to be here. I think hiking is what really got me into my passion for wanting to have this outdoors kind of career. I’ve always pursued environmental science and geology, and still at that point in time, I had no idea that I could apply that kind of science to outer space and work for NASA one day. “It wasn’t until I had these amazing mentors in front of me who were showing me, ‘Hey, what you’re doing, you can apply this to, for instance, Mars.’ And that’s what sparked my inspiration — [realizing] Mars had these ancient lakes and [wondering], ‘How can I use what I’m doing here on Earth to understand what was going on with those ancient lakes on Mars?’ “I’m kind of lucky. It’s less of a job and more of this exciting career opportunity where I get to go out into the field and even hike for a good portion of [my workday]. For instance, I just got back from Iceland where I was for 10 days. On these field trips, I’m in my comfort zone wearing a flannel and winter hat, backpacking with my rock hammer and shovel, hiking for a few hours to pick up samples, and then come back home to analyze them in the lab. I couldn’t have written a better story for me to continue doing the stuff that I enjoyed as a child and now to be doing it now for NASA is something I couldn’t have even dreamed of. “Hiking and being in the field is the fun part. But then I get to come back to the lab and compare it to what Martian rovers are doing. They’re our hikers, our pioneers, our explorers, our geologists who are collecting samples for us on other planets. It’s remarkable, often mind-blowing, to be able to work directly with our planetary geologists as well as the amazing people on the rover teams from around the globe to understand the surface of Mars and then eventually, compare it to what I see in the field here on Earth. “So, I’m still that young boy at heart with my backpack and flannel on and headed out into the field.” – Dr. Michael Thrope, Sedimentary and Planetary Geologist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Image Credit: Iceland Space Agency/Daniel Leeb Interviewer: NASA/Tahira Allen Check out some of our other Faces of NASA. View the full article

“The public perception of NASA has a lot to do with our technological successes and the discoveries that we’ve made, but none of that is possible without the people. “In the six or so years that I’ve worked at NASA, I’ve learned a lot of incredible stories — not just of the struggles that different spacecraft encounter on their journeys throughout the universe. There are so many problems that need to be solved and fixes that need to be made, but there are also so many stories of teams that had to work together to accomplish their goals. And a lot of time, these teams are working after hours, on weekends, working late nights and early mornings. These are people who have other problems in their lives that they have to solve, and they’re still showing up and making magic happen. “This is why [Aubrey Gemignani] and I started Faces of NASA: We wanted to make that connection. It’s not just rockets, astronauts, and telescopes. Hundreds of thousands of people come together to make these missions possible, and that’s the part that’s really interesting for me. “I like to hold a mirror to other people, and in every Faces of NASA interview, I try to hold a mirror up to what the person has accomplished to get them to be proud of it. For many of those people, it’s the first time they have to self-reflect. “That’s what’s really nice about [the Faces of NASA project]. Everyone who works here is just living day-to-day, so when they have an opportunity to stop for a moment and look back on how far they’ve come… it’s the best feeling for both of us. They’re like, ‘Wow, I’ve never really stopped to think about how much I’ve accomplished or how far I’ve come.’ And I get to share that moment with them. That’s my favorite part of Faces of NASA.” – Thalia Patrinos, Communications Strategist, PCI Productions, NASA Headquarters Image Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani Interviewer: NASA/Tahira Allen Check out some of our other Faces of NASA. View the full article

5 min read How NASA Citizen Science Fuels Future Exoplanet Research This artist’s concept shows the exoplanet K2-33b transiting its host star. Many citizen science projects at NASA invite the public to use transit data to make discoveries about exoplanets. NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s upcoming flagship astrophysics missions, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Habitable Worlds Observatory, will study planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. Over 5,000 exoplanets have been confirmed to date — and given that scientists estimate at least one exoplanet exists for every star in the sky, the hunt has just begun. Exoplanet discoveries from Roman and the Habitable Worlds Observatory may not be made only by professional researchers, but also by interested members of the public, known as citizen scientists. Exoplanet research has a long involvement with citizen science. NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission and now-retired Kepler mission, which are responsible for the vast majority of exoplanet discoveries to date, both made observations freely available to the public immediately after processing. This open science policy paved the way for the public to get involved with NASA’s exoplanet science. NASA’s Planet Hunters TESS project invites the public to classify exoplanet light curves from TESS online. Another project, Exoplanet Watch, allows citizen scientists to gather data about known exoplanets, submit their observations to NASA’s public data archive, and receive credit if their observation is used in a scientific paper. Participants don’t even need their own telescope — Exoplanet Watch also curates data from robotic telescopes for users to process. Artist’s concept of NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite). Data from TESS have been used in citizen science projects. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center “Anyone across the world who has access to a smartphone or a laptop can fully participate in a lot of these citizen science efforts to help us learn more about the cosmos,” said Rob Zellem, the project lead and project scientist for Exoplanet Watch and astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA’s citizen science projects have discovered several new planets from Kepler and TESS data. They have also helped scientists refine the best time to observe important targets, saving hours of precious observation time on current flagship missions like NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Roman and the Habitable Worlds Observatory provide even more possibilities for citizen science. Expected to launch by May 2027, Roman will discover exoplanets through direct imaging, transits, and gravitational microlensing. Following that, the Habitable Worlds Observatory will take direct images of stars in our solar neighborhood to find potentially habitable planets and study their atmospheres. The general public can get Roman data as quickly as I can as a scientist working on the mission. Rob Zellem Exoplanet Watch Project Lead and Project Scientist; Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Deputy Project Scientist for Communications Like Kepler and TESS before them, data from Roman and the Habitable Worlds Observatory will be available to both the scientific community and the public immediately after processing. With Roman’s surveys expected to deliver a terabyte of data to Earth every day — over 17 times as much as Webb — there is a huge opportunity for the public to help sift through the information. “The general public can get Roman data as quickly as I can as a scientist working on the mission,” said Zellem, who also serves as Roman’s deputy project scientist for communications at NASA Goddard. “It truly makes Roman a mission for everyone and anyone.” Although the Habitable Worlds Observatory’s full capabilities and instrumentation have yet to be finalized, the inclusion of citizen science is expected to continue. The team behind the mission is embracing a community-oriented planning approach by opening up working groups to volunteers who want to contribute. “It’s already setting the tone for open science with the Habitable Worlds Observatory,” said Megan Ansdell, the program scientist for the mission at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The process is as open as possible, and these working groups are open to anybody in the world who wants to join.” There are already over 1,000 community working group members participating, some of whom are citizen scientists. The Roman Coronagraph, photographed during testing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Southern California, is a technology demonstration designed to block starlight and allow scientists to see the faint light from planets outside our solar system. It represents one of multiple ways that Roman will contribute to exoplanet research. NASA/JPL-Caltech Future citizen science initiatives may be combined with cutting-edge tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) for greater efficacy. “AI can be exceptionally powerful in terms of classification and identifying anomalous things,” said Joshua Pepper, the deputy program scientist for the Habitable Worlds Observatory at NASA Headquarters. “But the evaluation of what those anomalous things are often requires human insight, intervention, and review, and I think that could be a really fantastic area for citizen scientists to participate.” Before Roman and the Habitable Worlds Observatory launch, exoplanet citizen scientists still have plenty of data to analyze from the Kepler and TESS satellites, but the contributions of the community will become even more important when data begin pouring in from the new missions. As Zellem said, “We’re in a golden age of exoplanet science right now.” NASA’s citizen science projects are collaborations between scientists and interested members of the public and do not require U.S. citizenship. Through these collaborations, volunteers (known as citizen scientists) have helped make thousands of important scientific discoveries. To get involved with a project, visit NASA’s Citizen Science page. By Lauren Leese Web Content Strategist for the Office of the Chief Science Data Officer Share Details Last Updated Aug 08, 2024 Related Terms Citizen Science Exoplanets Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Open Science Explore More 3 min read Meet NASA Interns Shaping Future of Open Science Article 2 weeks ago 6 min read NASA’s Webb Images Cold Exoplanet 12 Light-Years Away Article 2 weeks ago 2 min read Seed Funding Proposals Due November 19 This Year! Since 2020, NASA’s Citizen Science Seed Funding Program (CSSFP) has launched 24 new projects to… Article 2 weeks ago View the full article

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 3 min read Sols 4266-4267: Happy ‘Landiversary,’ Curiosity Earth planning date: Monday, Aug. 5, 2024 After the usual morning routine of doing some engineering housekeeping, Curiosity continues to take some remote science observations. We take a ChemCam LIBS observation and a Mastcam image of the “Peeler Lake” target, a dark, nodular target that appears to be more erosion-resistant than nearby rocks. By comparing Peeler Lake to “Kings Canyon” (which also has some nodules), the science team may be able to determine more about their relative compositions. ChemCam also takes RMI images of the Kings Canyon drill tailings. There is also a ChemCam RMI mosaic of Gediz Vallis and a Mastcam of the “Sky High Lake” target, which is a rock with a gray coating. The last thing in this science block is an image down the CheMin inlet before we deliver sample to the instrument. After a long nap, in the late afternoon we have the first part of a large Mastcam mosaic of “Milestone Peak” channel deposits and we add some more frames to our ongoing 360-degree panorama. This late afternoon lighting helps highlight layers and textures. We also have our normal DAN and REMS observations throughout the plan. After another nap, Curiosity wakes up to deliver sample to CheMin. We do this by pointing the drill bit over the open CheMin inlet and using a tiny bit of percussion and rotation to release some sample from the drill. We do this late in the afternoon to reduce the time between delivering the sample and starting the analysis (which has to happen in the cooler temperatures of nighttime) to minimize the degradation of the sample. After allowing CheMin to analyze the sample for most of the night, Curiosity wakes up and dumps out the sample to avoid it sticking too much inside the instrument. On the second sol of the plan, Curiosity is taking more remote-sensing observations. Navcam atmospheric dust observations kick off first. ChemCam then takes a LIBS observation of “Sky High Lake” followed by RMI images inside the drill hole (to take a look at the interior layers of the rock) and Gediz Vallis. Last in this morning block, there are Mastcam images of Sky High Lake and a post-dropoff image of the open CheMin inlet to look for any sample that may be stuck there. In the late afternoon, we finish up the Milestone Peak mosaic. Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Share Details Last Updated Aug 07, 2024 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 3 min read Sols 4263-4265: A Royal Birthday Celebration at Kings Canyon Article 2 days ago 2 min read Sols 4261-4262: Drill Sol 1…Take 2 Article 7 days ago 3 min read Sols 4259-4260: Kings Canyon Go Again! Article 1 week ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four… View the full article

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This artist’s concept shows how NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover was lowered to the planet’s surface using the sky crane maneuver.NASA / JPL-Caltech The rocket-powered descent stage that lowered NASA’s Curiosity onto the Martian surface is guided over the rover by technicians at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in September 2011, two months before the mission’s launch. NASA/Kim Shiflett Twelve years ago, NASA landed its six-wheeled science lab using a daring new technology that lowers the rover using a robotic jetpack. NASA’s Curiosity rover mission is celebrating a dozen years on the Red Planet, where the six-wheeled scientist continues to make big discoveries as it inches up the foothills of a Martian mountain. Just landing successfully on Mars is a feat, but the Curiosity mission went several steps further on Aug. 5, 2012, touching down with a bold new technique: the sky crane maneuver. A swooping robotic jetpack delivered Curiosity to its landing area and lowered it to the surface with nylon ropes, then cut the ropes and flew off to conduct a controlled crash landing safely out of range of the rover. Of course, all of this was out of view for Curiosity’s engineering team, which sat in mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, waiting for seven agonizing minutes before erupting in joy when they got the signal that the rover landed successfully. Encased in its aeroshell, NASA’s Curiosity rover descended through the Martian atmosphere on a parachute on Aug. 5, 2012. The scene was captured from far above by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona This was one of the first images sent back by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover after landing on Aug. 5, 2012. It was taken by the one of the hazard-avoidance camera on the rover’s left-rear side.NASA/JPL-Caltech The sky crane maneuver was born of necessity: Curiosity was too big and heavy to land as its predecessors had — encased in airbags that bounced across the Martian surface. The technique also added more precision, leading to a smaller landing ellipse. During the February 2021 landing of Perseverance, NASA’s newest Mars rover, the sky crane technology was even more precise: The addition of something called terrain relative navigation enabled the SUV-size rover to touch down safely in an ancient lake bed riddled with rocks and craters. Watch as NASA’s Perseverance rover lands on Mars in 2021 with the same sky crane maneuver Curiosity used in 2012. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Evolution of a Mars Landing JPL has been involved in NASA’s Mars landings since 1976, when the lab worked with the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on the two stationary Viking landers, which touched down using expensive, throttled descent engines. How We Land on Mars For the 1997 landing of the Mars Pathfinder mission, JPL proposed something new: As the lander dangled from a parachute, a cluster of giant airbags would inflate around it. Then three retrorockets halfway between the airbags and the parachute would bring the spacecraft to a halt above the surface, and the airbag-encased spacecraft would drop roughly 66 feet (20 meters) down to Mars, bouncing numerous times — sometimes as high as 50 feet (15 meters) — before coming to rest. The entry, descent, and landing team for NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover celebrates the spacecraft’s touchdown on Aug. 5, 2012. Al Chen, who was part of the team, is at right.Curiosity Landing Team Celebrates It worked so well that NASA used the same technique to land the Spirit and Opportunity rovers in 2004. But that time, there were only a few locations on Mars where engineers felt confident the spacecraft wouldn’t encounter a landscape feature that could puncture the airbags or send the bundle rolling uncontrollably downhill. “We barely found three places on Mars that we could safely consider,” said JPL’s Al Chen, who had critical roles on the entry, descent, and landing teams for both Curiosity and Perseverance. It also became clear that airbags simply weren’t feasible for a rover as big and heavy as Curiosity. If NASA wanted to land bigger spacecraft in more scientifically exciting locations, better technology was needed. Rover on a Rope In early 2000, engineers began playing with the concept of a “smart” landing system. New kinds of radars had become available to provide real-time velocity readings — information that could help spacecraft control their descent. A new type of engine could be used to nudge the spacecraft toward specific locations or even provide some lift, directing it away from a hazard. The sky crane maneuver was taking shape. JPL Fellow Rob Manning worked on the initial concept in February 2000, and he remembers the reception it got when people saw that it put the jetpack above the rover rather than below it. “People were confused by that,” he said. “They assumed propulsion would always be below you, like you see in old science fiction with a rocket touching down on a planet.” Manning and colleagues wanted to put as much distance as possible between the ground and those thrusters. Besides stirring up debris, a lander’s thrusters could dig a hole that a rover wouldn’t be able to drive out of. And while past missions had used a lander that housed the rovers and extended a ramp for them to roll down, putting thrusters above the rover meant its wheels could touch down directly on the surface, effectively acting as landing gear and saving the extra weight of bringing along a landing platform. But engineers were unsure how to suspend a large rover from ropes without it swinging uncontrollably. Looking at how the problem had been solved for huge cargo helicopters on Earth (called sky cranes), they realized Curiosity’s jetpack needed to be able to sense the swinging and control it. “All of that new technology gives you a fighting chance to get to the right place on the surface,” said Chen. Best of all, the concept could be repurposed for larger spacecraft — not only on Mars, but elsewhere in the solar system. “In the future, if you wanted a payload delivery service, you could easily use that architecture to lower to the surface of the Moon or elsewhere without ever touching the ground,” said Manning. More About the Mission Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more about Curiosity, visit: science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity News Media Contacts Andrew Good Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-393-2433 andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov Karen Fox / Alana Johnson NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov 2024-104 Share Details Last Updated Aug 07, 2024 Related TermsCuriosity (Rover)Jet Propulsion LaboratoryMarsMars Science Laboratory (MSL)Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) Explore More 2 min read Tech Today: Flipping NASA Tech and Sticking the Landing NASA tech adds gecko grip to phone accessory Article 1 day ago 6 min read Quantum Scale Sensors used to Measure Planetary Scale Magnetic Fields Magnetic fields are everywhere in our solar system. They originate from the Sun, planets, and… Article 1 day ago 4 min read AstroViz: Iconic Pillars of Creation Star in NASA’s New 3D Visualization NASA’s Universe of Learning – a partnership among the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Caltech/IPAC,… Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

23 Min Read The Marshall Star for August 7, 2024 NASA Additive Manufacturing Project Shapes Future for Agency, Industry Rocket Makers The widespread commercial adoption of additive manufacturing technologies, commonly known as 3D printing, is no surprise to design engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center whose research created stronger, lighter weight materials and new manufacturing processes to make rocket parts. NASA’s RAMPT (Rapid Analysis and Manufacturing Propulsion Technology) project is on the cutting edge of additive manufacturing – helping the agency and industry produce new alloys and additively manufactured parts, commonly referred to as 3D printing, according to Paul Gradl, the project’s co-principal investigator at Marshall. “Across NASA’s storied legacy of vehicle and hardware design, testing, and integration, our underlying strength is in our application of extremely durable and severe environment materials and innovative manufacturing for component design,” said Gradl. “We strive to fully understand the microstructure and properties of every material and how they will ultimately be used in components before we make them available to industry for flight applications.” The same principle applies to additive manufacturing, the meticulous process of building components and hardware one layer of material at a time. The graphic captures additive manufacturing technology milestones led by the RAMPT project. Using 3D-printed, liquid oxygen/hydrogen thrust chamber hardware at chamber pressures of up to 1,400 pounds per square inch, Marshall engineers have completed 12 hot-fire tests totaling a combined 330 seconds. The project also has delivered composite materials demonstrating a 40% weight savings over conventional bimetallic combustion chambers. NASA and its industry partners are working to make this cutting-edge technology accessible for a host of future NASA and commercial space missions. NASA/Pablo Garcia “The RAMPT project’s goal is to support commercial, technical readiness, enabling our industry partners to meet the challenges inherent in building new generations of safer, more cost-effective deep space exploration propulsion systems,” said John Fikes, RAMPT project manager. Since its inception, RAMPT has conducted 500 test-firings of 3D-printed injectors, nozzles, and chamber hardware totaling more than 16,000 seconds, using newly developed extreme-environment alloys, large-scale additive manufacturing processes, and advanced composite technology. The project has also started developing a full-scale version for the workhorse RS-25 engine – which experts say could reduce its costs by up to 70% and cut manufacturing time in half. As printed structures are getting bigger and more complex, a major area of interest is the additive manufacturing print scale. A decade ago, most 3D-printed parts were no bigger than a shoebox. Today, additive manufacturing researchers are helping the industry produce lighter, more robust, intricately designed rocket engine components 10-feet tall and eight-feet in diameter. “NASA, through public-private partnerships, is making these breakthroughs accessible to the commercial space industry to help them rapidly advance new flight technologies of their own,” Gradl said. “We’re solving technical challenges, creating new supply chains for parts and materials, and increasing the industry’s capacity to rapidly deliver reliable hardware that draws a busy commercial space infrastructure ever closer.” The RAMPT project does not just develop the end technology but the means to fully understand that technology, whatever the application. That means advancing cutting-edge simulation tools that can identify the viability of new alloys and composites at the microstructural level – assessing how they handle the fiery rigors of liftoff, the punishing cold of space, and the dynamic stresses associated with liftoffs, landings, and the long transits between. NASA’s strategy to encourage commercial and academic buy-in is to offer public-private partnership opportunities, wherein industry and academia contribute as much as 25% of project development costs, allowing them to reap the benefits. For example, NASA successfully delivered a refined version of an alloy, known as GRCop42, created at NASA’s Glenn Research Center nearly 40 years ago which helped commercial launch provider, Relativity Space, launch the first fully 3D-printed rocket in March 2023. “Our primary goal with these higher-performance alloys is to prove them in a rocket engine test-fire environment and then hand them off to enable commercial providers to build hardware, fly launch vehicles, and foster a thriving space infrastructure with real scientific, social, and economic rewards,” Gradl said. A key benefit of additive manufacturing hardware development is radically reducing the “design-fail-fix” cycle – when engineers develop new hardware, ground-test it to failure to determine the hardware’s design limits under all possible conditions and then tweak accordingly. That capability is increasingly important with the creation of new alloys and designs, new processing techniques, and the introduction of composite overwraps and other innovations. Shown during a hot-fire test at Marshall, this 2,000-pound-force coupled thrust chamber assembly features a NASA HR-1 alloy nozzle. Manufacturing the hardware requires the directed energy deposition process with composite-overwrap for structural support, reducing weight by 40%. Industry, academic, and government partners are working with RAMPT engineers at Marshall and other NASA field centers to advance this revolutionary technology. NASA The RAMPT project did just that, successfully advancing new additive manufacturing alloys and processes, integrating them with carbon-fiber composites to reduce weight by up to 40%, developing and validating new simulation tools – and making all this data available to industry through public-private partnerships. “We’re able to deliver prototypes in weeks instead of years, conduct dozens of scaled ground tests in a period that would feasibly permit just one or two such tests of conventionally manufactured hardware, and most importantly, deliver technology solutions that are safer, lighter, and less costly than traditional components,” Gradl said. Fikes added, “Ten years from now, we may be building rocket engines – or rockets themselves – out of entirely new materials, employing all-new processing and fabrication techniques. NASA is central to all of that.” The RAMPT project continues to progress and receive recognition from NASA and industry partners. On July 31, the RAMPT team was awarded NASA’s 2024 Invention of The Year award for its excellence and contributions to NASA and the commercial industry’s deep space exploration goals. Marshall leads RAMPT, with key support among engineers and technologists at NASA’s Glenn Research Center; Ames Research Center; Langley Research Center; and Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, plus contributions from other academic partners and industry contractors. RAMPT is funded by NASA’s Game Changing Development Program within the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. › Back to Top Artemis Mission Manager Mike Sarafin Speaker for Aug. 8 Mission Success Forum By Wayne Smith Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager and Mission Management Team chair, will be the guest speaker for the Mission Success is in Our Hands Shared Experiences Forum on Aug. 8 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The forum will take place in Activities Building 4316 and on Teams. The 11:30 a.m. event will be in Activities Building 4316 and Marshall team members are encouraged to attend. The forum is available to NASA employees and the public virtually via Teams. Mission Success is in Our Hands is a safety initiative collaboration between NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and Jacobs Engineering. The initiative’s goal to help team members make meaningful connections between their jobs and the safety and success of NASA and Marshall missions. The theme of the forum is “Artemis I Mission Challenges.” Sarafin will provide a frontline perspective on the role of the Mission Management Team and how it is governed. He will summarize key challenges encountered, suggest best practices for managing large diverse teams, discuss useful risk informed decision-making tools, and highlight lessons learned for consideration in future human lunar exploration missions. “As we continue to prepare for the next Artemis mission, this forum is a valuable opportunity to learn about challenges NASA faced to ensure mission success for Artemis I,” said Bill Hill, director of the Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate at Marshall. “I encourage Marshall team members to attend the forum in person to gain Mike’s insight on safety and mission success.” Sarafin is the Artemis mission manager for the Moon to Mars Program Office at NASA Headquarters. In this role, he leads the Mission Management Team for Artemis, providing oversight and responsibility for critical decisions across all flight phases (launch, in-space, and recovery), with support from team members and advisors with technical expertise in various areas. Prior to flight, he acted as a senior technical leader integrating mission requirements, planning, operations, and flight readiness leading to mission execution. With more than 30 years of human spaceflight experience, Sarafin began his career as a guidance, navigation, and mission controller working on the space shuttle. He became a NASA flight director supporting the space shuttle and the International Space Station. He also was the lead flight director for Orion’s first flight test in 2014. As part of the forum, Mission Success is in Our Hands will present the Golden Eagle Award to a Marshall team member. The award promotes awareness and appreciation for flight safety, as demonstrated through the connections between employees’ everyday work, the success of NASA and Marshall’s missions, and the safety of NASA astronauts. The award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to flight safety and mission assurance above and beyond their normal work requirements. Management or peers can nominate any team member for the award. Honorees are typically recognized at quarterly Shared Experiences forums. The next Shared Experiences Forum is scheduled for Sept. 5, featuring Dave Dykhoff, former vice president and general manager of the Jacobs Missile Defense Group and the NORAD Operations Group. Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications. › Back to Top Denise Smithers Named Marshall’s Center Executive Officer Denise Smithers has been named to the position of center executive officer as part of a six-month detail supporting the Office of the Center Director at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, effective Aug. 9. As center executive officer, Smithers will lead the overall office management and operations within the director’s office, integrate and coordinate center-wide actions, and serve as Marshall’s chief of staff. Denise Smithers has been named to the position of center executive officer as part of a six-month detail supporting the Office of the Center Director at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.NASA Smithers has been with Marshall for more than 30 years, holding various budget, strategic, and leadership positions. Since July 2020, Smithers has served as a supervisory budget analyst for the Mission Support Office, overseeing a team of analysts in managing budgets for institutional support offices. While working in the Budget, Integration, and Analysis Team in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), she developed strategic guidance, managed processes, and provided in-depth analyses for the annual Planning, Programming, Budget, and Execution process. She was also responsible for reporting on financial performances, assessing trends, addressing cost-cutting issues, identifying risks, and providing strategic budgetary decisions. Before joining OCFO, Smither’s previous roles included deputy director of the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity (ODEO) from 2019-2020, where she promoted education, awareness, and communication of diversity initiatives to Marshall’s workforce; lead budget analyst supporting the Chief Information Office from 2014-2019; external relations specialist from 2013-2014; technical assistant supporting the Office of the Center Director from 2011-2013; budget analyst from 2000-2013; and contract specialist from 1996-2000. Smithers started her tenure at Marshall at 18 as a summer intern. In addition to her job duties, she is active in many community civic organizations and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) at Marshall. She leads the OCFO Enterprise Diversity Equity Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) Culture, Branding, and Vision Team, and represents management on their focus team. She was appointed to the Marshall Culture Advisory Committee where she develops, implements, and accesses DEIA strategies and initiatives in collaboration with ODEO. Smithers also leads the Women’s ERG at Marshall and serves as the Blueprint to Reinforce Inclusivity and Diversity to Gain Equity (BRIDGE) Champion representative for OCFO. A native of Athens, Alabama, Smithers earned a Master of Business Administration from Alabama A&M University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She was awarded a Silver Snoopy in 2011, a Director’s Commendation in 2019, and the Agency DEIA Medal in 2023. › Back to Top Shooting Stars: Annual Perseid Meteor Shower to Peak Aug. 11-12 By Wayne Smith They may not attract as much attention as last month’s daylight fireball over New York City, but stargazers can still anticipate seeing some shooting stars with the upcoming Perseid meteor shower. Caused by Earth passing through trails of debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle, the shower has become famous over the centuries because of its consistent display of celestial fireworks. In this 30 second exposure, a meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower, Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021, in Spruce Knob, West Virginia. NASA/Bill Ingalls “The Perseids is the best annual meteor shower for the casual stargazer,” said Bill Cooke, who leads NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “Not only is the shower rich in bright meteors and fireballs – No. 1 in fact – it also peaks in mid-August when the weather is still warm and comfortable. This year, the Perseid maximum will occur on the night of Aug. 11 and pre-dawn hours of Aug. 12. You’ll start seeing meteors from the shower around 11 p.m. local time and the rates will increase until dawn. If you miss the night of the 11th, you will also be able to see quite a few on the night of the 12th between those times.” The best way to see the Perseids is to find the darkest possible sky and visit between midnight and dawn on the morning of Aug. 12. Allow about 45 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark. Lie on your back and look straight up. Avoid looking at cell phones or tablets because their bright screens ruin night vision and take your eyes off the sky. Perseid meteors travel at the blistering speed of 132,000 mph – or 500 times faster than the fastest car in the world. At that speed, even a smidgen of dust makes a vivid streak of light when it collides with Earth’s atmosphere. Peak temperatures can exceed 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit as they speed across the sky. The Perseids pose no danger to people on the ground as practically all burn up 60 miles above our planet. The first Perseid captured by NASA’s All Sky Meteor Camera Network was recorded at 9:48 p.m. EDT on July 23. The meteor – about as bright as the planet Jupiter, so not quite bright enough to be considered a fireball – was caused by a piece of Comet Swift-Tuttle about 5 millimeters in diameter entering the atmosphere over the Atlantic and burning up 66 miles above St. Cloud, Florida, just south of Orlando. NASA’s All Sky Meteor Camera Network captured its first Perseid at 8:48 p.m. CDT on July 23.NASA Rare Fireball in New York, New York Not Perseids It wasn’t part of the Perseids, but a rare daylight fireball streaked across the sky over New York City at 11:15 a.m. EDT on July 16. The event gained national attention and was reported in media outlets across the U.S. The fireball, defined as a meteor brighter than the planet Venus, is estimated to have soared over New York City before traversing a short path southwest and disintegrating about 31 miles above Mountainside, New Jersey. Cooke said the meteor was likely about 1 foot in diameter, which would have made the rock bright enough to see during the day. Seeing a meteor of this size is rarer than catching sight of the smaller particles a few millimeters in size typically seen in the night sky. “To see one in the daytime over a populated area like New York is fairly rare,” Cooke said during an interview with ABC 7 in New York. The Meteoroid Environments Office studies meteoroids in space so that NASA can protect our nation’s satellites, spacecraft and even astronauts aboard the International Space Station from these bits of tiny space debris. For more skywatching highlights in April, check out Jet Propulsion Lab’s What’s Up series. Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications. › Back to Top NASA Invites Public to Attend Deep Space Food Challenge Finale NASA invites the public to explore the nexus of space and food innovation at the agency’s Deep Space Food Challenge symposium and winners’ announcement at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center in Columbus, Ohio, on Aug. 16. In 2019, NASA and the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) started the Deep Space Food Challenge, a multi-year international effort to develop sustainable food systems for long-duration habitation in space including the Moon and Mars. Since Phase 1 of the challenge opened in 2021, more than 300 teams from 32 countries have developed innovative food system designs. On Aug. 16, NASA will announce the final Phase 3 winners and recognize the shared global effort. NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge directly supports the agency’s Moon to Mars initiatives.Credit: NASA NASA will award up to $1.5 million during the awards ceremony, totaling the prize purse for this three-year competition at $3 million. International teams also will be recognized for their achievements. “Advanced food systems also benefit life on Earth,” said Kim Krome-Sieja, acting program manager of NASA Centennial Challenges at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “Solutions from this challenge could enable new avenues for food production around the world, especially in extreme environments, resource-scarce regions, and in locations where disasters disrupt critical infrastructure.” The Methuselah Foundation, NASA’s partner in the Deep Space Food Challenge, is hosting the event in coordination with the Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and NASA Centennial Challenges. “Our Phase 2 winners’ event in Brooklyn, New York, was an incredible display of innovation, partnership, and collaboration across NASA, industry, and academia,” said Angela Herblet, challenge manager of the Deep Space Food Challenge and program analyst of NASA Centennial Challenges at Marshall. “I’m looking forward to celebrating these brilliant Phase 3 finalists and underscoring the giant leaps they’ve made toward creating sustainable, regenerative food production systems.” The event will feature a meet and greet with the Phase 3 finalists, symposium panels, and live demonstrations of the finalists’ food production technologies. Attendees also will have the opportunity to meet the crew of Ohio State students called “Simunauts,” who managed operations of the technologies during the eight-week demonstration and testing period. “The Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing team is excited to welcome media, stakeholders, and the public to our event in Columbus,” said Amy Kaminski, program executive for NASA’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing at NASA Headquarters. “These finalists have worked diligently for three years to develop their diverse, innovative food systems, and I’m excited to see how their technologies may impact NASA’s future deep space missions.” The awards ceremony also will livestream on Marshall Space Flight Center’s YouTube channel and NASA Prize’s Facebook page. As a NASA Centennial Challenge, the Deep Space Food Challenge is a coordinated effort between NASA and CSA for the benefit of all. Subject matter experts at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center support the competition. NASA’s Centennial Challenges are part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and managed at Marshall. The Methuselah Foundation, in partnership with NASA, oversees the competitors. For more information about the symposium, see the symposium website. Learn more about the Deep Space Food Challenge. › Back to Top Artemis Emergency Egress System Emphasizes Crew Safety Since NASA began sending astronauts to space, the agency has relied on emergency systems for personnel to safely leave the launch pad and escape the hazard in the unlikely event of an emergency during the launch countdown. Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program, in preparation for the agency’s Artemis II crewed mission to the Moon, conduct testing of four emergency egress baskets on the mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in July 2024. The baskets are used in the case of a pad abort emergency to allow astronauts and other pad personnel to escape quickly from the mobile launcher to the base of the pad to be driven to safety by emergency transport vehicles.NASA/Amanda Arrieta During the Mercury and Gemini programs, NASA used launch escape systems on spacecraft for the crew to safely evacuate if needed. Though these systems are still in use for spacecraft today, the emergency routes on the ground were updated starting with the Apollo missions to account for not only the crew, but all remaining personnel at the launch pad. During Apollo, personnel relied on a ground-based emergency egress system – or emergency exit route – to allow for a quick and safe departure. Though the system has varied over time and different launch pads use different escape systems, the overall goal has stayed the same – quickly leave the launch pad and head to safety. Beginning with Artemis II, the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program at Kennedy Space Center, will use a track cable which connects the mobile launcher to the perimeter area of the launch pad where four baskets, similar to gondolas at ski lifts, can ride down. Once down at the ground level, armored emergency response vehicles are stationed to take personnel safely away from the launch pad to one of the triage site locations at Kennedy. “We have four baskets that sit on the side of the mobile launcher tower at the same level as the crew access arm, the location where the crew enters the spacecraft,” said Amanda Arrieta, mobile launcher 1 senior element engineer for NASA’s EGS Program. “The intention is to provide another means of egress for the crew and the closeout crew in the event of an emergency. Each of these baskets will go down a wire. It’s a wire rope system that connects to the pad terminus, an area near the pad perimeter where the baskets will land after leaving the mobile launcher tower.” The Artemis system works like this: personnel will exit the Orion spacecraft or the white room (depending where teams are at the time of the emergency) inside the crew access arm of the mobile launcher. Located on the 274-foot-level, teams are approximately 375 feet above the ground. From there, they will head down the 1,335-foot-long cables inside the emergency egress baskets to the launch pad perimeter, or the pad terminus area. Each basket, which is similar in size to a small SUV, is designed to carry up to five people or a maximum weight of 1,500 pounds. Infographic shows the route astronauts and personnel would take during an emergency abort situation. Credit: NASA Once teams have left the terminus area and arrive at the triage site location, emergency response crews are there to evaluate and take care of any personnel. “When we send our crews to the pad during launch, their safety is always at the forefront of our minds. While it is very unlikely that we will need the emergency egress and pad abort systems, they are built and tested to ensure that if we do need them then they are ready to go,” said Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis launch director. “Our upcoming integrated ground systems training is about demonstrating the capability of the entire emergency egress response from the time an emergency condition is declared until we have the crews, both flight and ground, safely accounted for outside the hazardous area.” For the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, SpaceX uses a slidewire cable with baskets that ride down the cable at the Launch Complex 39A pad. At Space Launch Complex 40, meanwhile, the team uses a deployable chute for its emergency egress system. Boeing and United Launch Alliance also use a slidewire, but instead of baskets, the team deploys seats that ride down the slide wires, similar to riding down a zip line, at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Artemis II will be NASA’s first mission with crew aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft and will also introduce several new ground systems for the first time – including the emergency egress system. Though no NASA mission to date has needed to use its ground-based emergency egress system during launch countdown, those safety measures are still in place and maintained as a top priority for the agency. › Back to Top NASA Sends More Science to Space, More Strides for Future Exploration New experiments aboard NASA’s Northrop Grumman 21st cargo resupply mission aim to pioneer scientific discoveries in microgravity on the International Space Station. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft, filled with nearly 8,500 pounds of supplies, launched Aug. 4 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Biological and physical investigations aboard the spacecraft included experiments studying the impacts of microgravity on plants (grass), how packed bed reactors could improve water purification both in space and on Earth, and observations on new rounds of samples that will allow scientists to learn more about the characteristics of different materials as they change phases on the tiniest scales. Seedlings germinating for the APEX-09 C4 Space investigation. NASA Grass Growth & Bio-Regenerative Support The cultivation of plants is crucial for developing bio-regenerative life support systems in space. However, growing them in microgravity affects photosynthesis, the process by which plants generate oxygen and convert carbon dioxide into food for astronauts. The C4 Photosynthesis in Space Advanced Plant Experiment-09 investigation will study how two grasses (Brachypodium distachyon and Setaria viridis), with different approaches to photosynthesis, respond to microgravity and high carbon dioxide levels during the spaceflight. The insights gained from this research will pave the way for more effective integration of plants on Earth and in future space habitats. This experiment was originally scheduled to be aboard NASA’s SpaceX 30th cargo resupply mission but was moved to the NG-21 launch. Water Purification & Gravity The Packed Bed Reactor Experiment – Water Recovery Series aboard NG-21 will be operated on the space station and will study the hydrodynamics (pressure drop, flow regimes, and flow instability) of two-phase flow (nitrogen gas-water mixture) in microgravity in various types of filters and openings. These samples are important for fluid systems used in life support and water purification and recovery processes. Outcomes of this research will be used to develop design tools and correlations for pressure drop prediction across the various prototypes used in lunar and Martian missions and beyond. PBRE test Module hardware will be modified to accept the eight PBRE-WR Series test section inserts. NASA Removing Impurities in Melted Materials The Electrostatic Levitation Furnace–4 experiment led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), one of NASA’s space station international partners, includes 20 new test samples. Its goal is to continue establishing guidelines for measuring different thermophysical properties of various samples at temperatures greater than 2,000 degrees Celsius. Transforming raw materials from a liquid to solid form requires the use of a container, known as a crucible, which is used to both heat and hold the substance as it cools down and hardens. During this process, a chemical reaction occurs between the substance and the crucible, and impurities are released and absorbed in the plasma. The Electrostatic Levitation Furnace is the hardware that allows scientists to remove this contaminating part of the process by creating space between the liquid and container – levitating the sample while heated. Expedition 65 Commander Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) changes out a sample holder in the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) located inside JAXA’s Kibo laboratory module. The ELF can heat samples above 2000 degrees Celsius, using a semiconductor laser from four different directions, and can also measure the thermophysical properties (density, surface tension, and viscosity) of high temperature materials, which are very difficult to measure on the Earth. NASA More Materials Science: Getting to the Core The Electromagnetic Levitator, an ESA (European Space Agency) levitation facility, which is celebrating a decade aboard the International Space Station, enables scientists to conduct materials research on at least two elements, known as alloys, in a microgravity environment. By studying the core of the physics taking place, researchers can perform experiments to better understand the steps leading up to solidifying and changing phases. This knowledge could contribute to advancements in the manufacturing industry by providing scientists with more information to develop the latest and more reliable materials for activities like 3D printing. European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, Expedition 41 flight engineer, works with Electromagnetic Levitation hardware in the Columbus laboratory of the International Space Station. NASA NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division pioneers scientific discovery and enables exploration by using space environments to conduct investigations not possible on Earth. Studying biological and physical phenomenon under extreme conditions allows researchers to advance the fundamental scientific knowledge required to go farther and stay longer in space, while also benefitting life on Earth. The Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center provides engineering and mission operations support for the space station, the Commercial Crew Program, and Artemis missions, as well as science and technology demonstration missions. The Payload Operations Integration Center within HOSC operates, plans, and coordinates the science experiments onboard the space station 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. › Back to Top Share Details Last Updated Aug 07, 2024 Related TermsMarshall Space Flight Center Explore More 1 min read Disaster Response Coordination System (DRCS) Formally Launches Article 2 days ago 1 min read Coming in Hot – NASA’s Chandra Checks Habitability of Exoplanets Article 2 days ago 1 min read Marshall Disasters Team Support National Weather Service Offices During May Severe Weather Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

5 Min Read NASA Optical Navigation Tech Could Streamline Planetary Exploration Optical navigation technology could help astronauts and robots find their ways using data from cameras and other sensors. Credits: NASA As astronauts and rovers explore uncharted worlds, finding new ways of navigating these bodies is essential in the absence of traditional navigation systems like GPS. Optical navigation relying on data from cameras and other sensors can help spacecraft — and in some cases, astronauts themselves — find their way in areas that would be difficult to navigate with the naked eye. Three NASA researchers are pushing optical navigation tech further, by making cutting edge advancements in 3D environment modeling, navigation using photography, and deep learning image analysis. In a dim, barren landscape like the surface of the Moon, it can be easy to get lost. With few discernable landmarks to navigate with the naked eye, astronauts and rovers must rely on other means to plot a course. As NASA pursues its Moon to Mars missions, encompassing exploration of the lunar surface and the first steps on the Red Planet, finding novel and efficient ways of navigating these new terrains will be essential. That’s where optical navigation comes in — a technology that helps map out new areas using sensor data. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is a leading developer of optical navigation technology. For example, GIANT (the Goddard Image Analysis and Navigation Tool) helped guide the OSIRIS-REx mission to a safe sample collection at asteroid Bennu by generating 3D maps of the surface and calculating precise distances to targets. Now, three research teams at Goddard are pushing optical navigation technology even further. Virtual World Development Chris Gnam, an intern at NASA Goddard, leads development on a modeling engine called Vira that already renders large, 3D environments about 100 times faster than GIANT. These digital environments can be used to evaluate potential landing areas, simulate solar radiation, and more. While consumer-grade graphics engines, like those used for video game development, quickly render large environments, most cannot provide the detail necessary for scientific analysis. For scientists planning a planetary landing, every detail is critical. Vira can quickly and efficiently render an environment in great detail.NASA “Vira combines the speed and efficiency of consumer graphics modelers with the scientific accuracy of GIANT,” Gnam said. “This tool will allow scientists to quickly model complex environments like planetary surfaces.” The Vira modeling engine is being used to assist with the development of LuNaMaps (Lunar Navigation Maps). This project seeks to improve the quality of maps of the lunar South Pole region which are a key exploration target of NASA’s Artemis missions. Vira also uses ray tracing to model how light will behave in a simulated environment. While ray tracing is often used in video game development, Vira utilizes it to model solar radiation pressure, which refers to changes in momentum to a spacecraft caused by sunlight. Vira can accurately render indirect lighting, which is when an area is still lit up even though it is not directly facing a light source.NASA Find Your Way with a Photo Another team at Goddard is developing a tool to enable navigation based on images of the horizon. Andrew Liounis, an optical navigation product design lead, leads the team, working alongside NASA Interns Andrew Tennenbaum and Will Driessen, as well as Alvin Yew, the gas processing lead for NASA’s DAVINCI mission. An astronaut or rover using this algorithm could take one picture of the horizon, which the program would compare to a map of the explored area. The algorithm would then output the estimated location of where the photo was taken. Using one photo, the algorithm can output with accuracy around hundreds of feet. Current work is attempting to prove that using two or more pictures, the algorithm can pinpoint the location with accuracy around tens of feet. “We take the data points from the image and compare them to the data points on a map of the area,” Liounis explained. “It’s almost like how GPS uses triangulation, but instead of having multiple observers to triangulate one object, you have multiple observations from a single observer, so we’re figuring out where the lines of sight intersect.” This type of technology could be useful for lunar exploration, where it is difficult to rely on GPS signals for location determination. A Visual Perception Algorithm to Detect Craters To automate optical navigation and visual perception processes, Goddard intern Timothy Chase is developing a programming tool called GAVIN (Goddard AI Verification and Integration) Tool Suit. This tool helps build deep learning models, a type of machine learning algorithm that is trained to process inputs like a human brain. In addition to developing the tool itself, Chase and his team are building a deep learning algorithm using GAVIN that will identify craters in poorly lit areas, such as the Moon. “As we’re developing GAVIN, we want to test it out,” Chase explained. “This model that will identify craters in low-light bodies will not only help us learn how to improve GAVIN, but it will also prove useful for missions like Artemis, which will see astronauts exploring the Moon’s south pole region — a dark area with large craters — for the first time.” As NASA continues to explore previously uncharted areas of our solar system, technologies like these could help make planetary exploration at least a little bit simpler. Whether by developing detailed 3D maps of new worlds, navigating with photos, or building deep learning algorithms, the work of these teams could bring the ease of Earth navigation to new worlds. By Matthew Kaufman NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Share Details Last Updated Aug 07, 2024 EditorRob GarnerContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsGoddard TechnologyArtificial Intelligence (AI)Goddard Space Flight CenterTechnology Explore More 4 min read NASA Improves GIANT Optical Navigation Technology for Future Missions Goddard's GIANT optical navigation software helped guide the OSIRIS-REx mission to the Asteroid Bennu. Today… Article 10 months ago 4 min read Space Station Research Contributes to Navigation Systems for Moon Voyages Article 2 years ago 5 min read NASA, Industry Improve Lidars for Exploration, Science NASA engineers will test a suite of new laser technologies from an aircraft this summer… Article 5 months ago View the full article

Erosion, tectonic uplift, and a human-built dam have all helped shape the Upper Lake Powell area in Utah. This astronaut photograph was acquired on July 28, 2023, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a focal length of 1,150 millimeters. It is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the International Space Station National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. NASA View the full article