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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) An artist’s concept of the X-66 aircraft Boeing will produce through NASA’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project. The aircraft, designed to prove the concept of more aerodynamic, fuel-efficient transonic truss-braced wings, is an example of the type of project model-based systems analysis and engineering will provide benefits to.Boeing As NASA continues cutting-edge aeronautics research, the agency also is taking steps to make sure the benefits from these diverse technologies are greater than the sum of their parts. To tackle that challenge, NASA is using Model-Based Systems Analysis and Engineering (MBSAE). This type of engineering digitally simulates how multiple technologies could best work together as a single, complex system. It is performed using advanced digital tools and computing programs. The goal: Optimize the next generation of 21st-century aviation technology. Model Benefits “MBSAE provides a way to envision how all these technologies, being developed separately, can all fit together in the end,” said Eric Hendricks, who leads MBSAE integration efforts for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. By using this form of digital engineering, NASA’s aeronautical innovators can have a better idea of how their research in one area (say, ultra-efficient airliners) could best benefit, and work in tandem, with another area (say, future airspace safety). Using detailed, customizable digital models, researchers can simulate these complex systems working together with a high degree of accuracy and then figure out how the greatest benefits could be achieved. “As we move toward these advanced systems, MBSAE can connect different disciplines and determine how to eke out the best performance,” Hendricks said. That process feeds back into the research itself, helping researchers to significantly improve aviation’s sustainability – amongst other goals. Zeroing In MBSAE does more than integrating complex systems, however. Each system, individually, can be optimized using MBSAE tools. “Before the technology is even fully developed, we can run highly accurate digital simulations that inform the research itself,” Hendricks said. “A digital flight test is a lot simpler and less costly than a real flight test.” For example, one of NASA’s new MBSAE tools, Aviary, includes the ability to consider gradients. That means Aviary can figure out how to more efficiently optimize a given technology. Say a researcher would like to know which type of battery is needed to power an airplane during a certain maneuver. The researcher inputs information about the airplane, the maneuver, and battery technologies into Aviary, then Aviary goes and runs digital flight tests and comes back with which type of battery worked best. Digital flights tests like this can be done for myriad other areas as well, ranging from an aircraft’s overall shape to the size of its engine core, its electrical systems, and beyond. Then, the digital flight tests can help figure out how to combine these systems in the most effective way. Digital Era Aeronautics Another way MBSAE can come in handy is the scale of these aviation transformations. With demand for single-aisle airliners expected to rise dramatically in the coming decades, measuring the emissions reductions from a certain wing design, for example, would not just extend to one aircraft, but also an entire fleet. “We’ll be able to take what we learn from our sustainable aviation projects and simulate the technology entering the fleet at certain points,” said Rich Wahls, NASA’s mission integration manager for the Sustainable Flight National Partnership at NASA Headquarters. “We can model the fleet itself to see how much more sustainable these technologies are across the board.” Ultimately, MBSAE also represents a new era in aeronautical innovation – both at NASA and in the aviation industry, with whom NASA is working closely to ensure its MBSAE efforts are cross compatible on an opensource platform. “The MBSAE team has lots of early-to-mid career folks,” Hendricks said. “It’s great to see the younger generation get involved and even take the lead, especially since these digital efforts can facilitate knowledge transfer as well.” About the AuthorJohn GouldAeronautics Research Mission DirectorateJohn Gould is a member of NASA Aeronautics' Strategic Communications team at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. He is dedicated to public service and NASA’s leading role in scientific exploration. Prior to working for NASA Aeronautics, he was a spaceflight historian and writer, having a lifelong passion for space and aviation. Facebook logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Instagram logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Linkedin logo @NASA Explore More 2 min read System-Wide Safety Project Description Article 4 days ago 1 min read System-Wide Safety Project Leadership Article 4 days ago 3 min read NASA Embraces Streaming Service to Reach, Inspire Artemis Generation Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Artemis Aeronautics STEM Explore NASA’s History Share Details Last Updated Aug 04, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactJim Bankejim.banke@nasa.gov Related TermsAeronauticsAeronautics Research Mission DirectorateFlight InnovationSustainable Flight National Partnership View the full article

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft for the company’s 21st commercial resupply services mission for NASA launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.Credit: NASA Following a successful launch of NASA’s Northrop Grumman 21st commercial resupply mission, new scientific experiments and cargo for the agency are bound for the International Space Station. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft, carrying more than 8,200 pounds of supplies to the orbiting laboratory, lifted off at 11:02 a.m. EDT Sunday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Shortly after launch, the spacecraft missed its first burn due to a late entry to burn sequencing. Known as the targeted altitude burn, or TB1, it was rescheduled, but aborted shortly after the engine ignited due to a slightly low initial pressure state. There is no indication the engine itself has any problem at this time. Cygnus is at a safe altitude and completed the deployment of its two solar arrays at 2:21 p.m. Northrop Grumman engineers are working a new burn and trajectory plan and aim to achieve the spacecraft’s original capture time on station. If all remains on track, live coverage of the spacecraft’s arrival will begin at 1:30 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 6, on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick will capture Cygnus using the station’s robotic arm at approximately 3:10 a.m., and NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps is backup. The resupply mission will support dozens of research experiments conducted during Expedition 71. Included among the investigations are: Test articles to evaluate liquid and gas flow through porous media found in space station life support systems A balloon, penny, and hexnut for a new STEMonstration on centripetal force Microorganisms known as Rotifers to examine the effects of spaceflight on DNA repair mechanisms A bioreactor to demonstrate the production of many high-quality blood and immune stem cells These are just a sample of the hundreds of investigations conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory in the areas of biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, and Earth and space science. Such research benefits humanity and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis campaign, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars. NASA’s arrival and in-flight event coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations): Tuesday, Aug. 6 1:30 a.m. – Arrival coverage begins on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. 3:10 a.m. – Capture of Cygnus with the space station’s robotic arm. 4:30 a.m. – Cygnus installation coverage begins on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. All times are estimates and could be adjusted based on operations after launch. Follow the space station blog for the most up-to-date operations information. The company’s 21st mission to the space station for NASA is the 10th under its Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract. Cygnus will remain at the orbiting laboratory until January before it departs and disposes of several thousand pounds of trash through its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere where it will harmlessly burn up. The spacecraft is named the S.S. Francis R. “Dick” Scobee after the former NASA astronaut. Learn more about NASA’s commercial resupply mission at: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/nasas-northrop-grumman-crs-21/ -end- Claire O’Shea / Josh Finch Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov Stephanie Plucinsky / Steven Siceloff Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 321-876-2468 stephanie.n.plucinsky@nasa.gov / steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov Sandra Jones Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Aug 04, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsInternational Space Station (ISS)Commercial ResupplyISS ResearchJohnson Space CenterKennedy Space CenterNorthrop Grumman Commercial Resupply View the full article

NASA/Kim Shiflett Teams transport NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) core stage into the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 24, 2024. Tugboats and towing vessels moved the Pegasus barge and 212-foot-long core stage 900-miles to the Florida spaceport from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where it was manufactured and assembled. In the coming months, teams will integrate the rocket core stage atop the mobile launcher with the additional Artemis II flight hardware, including the twin solid rocket boosters, launch vehicle stage adapter, and the Orion spacecraft. The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman, as well as CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back. Follow the next steps in this journey on NASA’s Artemis blog. Text credit: Jason Costa Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett View the full article

Lee esta entrevista en español aquí Dr. Ariadna Farrés-Basiana would look up at the sky and marvel at the immensity of space when she was younger. Now, the bounds are limitless as she helps NASA explore the expansive universe by computing the trajectories and maneuvers to get a spacecraft into space. Name: Dr. Ariadna Farrés-Basiana Title: Astrodynamics and solar radiation pressure specialist, Formal Job Classification: Scientific collaborator Organization Navigation and Mission Design Branch (Code 595) Dr. Ariadna Farrés-Basiana is an astrodynamics and solar radiation pressure specialist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.Photo courtesy of Ariadna Farrés-Basiana What is your role at Goddard? What do you focus on? I am part of the flight dynamics team. We are the ones in charge of computing the trajectories, maneuvers, amongst other things to get a spacecraft into space to its final destination. I am currently working on two main projects: the Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) mission, which is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) mission that will monitor space weather, and NASA’s Roman Space Telescope. I participate in both missions as part of the flight dynamics team. I am in charge of calculating the transfer trajectory, which would be the path through space that these missions must follow to go from Earth to Lagrange points L1 and L2. These are places in space where gravitational forces balance each other and a spacecraft doesn’t need to spend as much fuel to maintain its orbit. In addition to that, I work on station-keeping strategies, which are the routine maneuvers that we must do to keep our telescope in orbit. What was your path to NASA? My Ph.D. focused on solar sails, which is a way of navigating through space using the force of light emitted by the Sun as if it were wind that drives the sails of the spacecraft. I always thought that my contribution to NASA would be as a researcher or as a professor at a university. I had always dreamed of joining NASA, but I never thought it was possible. At the time, I was trying to find a position as a tenured professor at the University of Barcelona. While I was waiting, a professor of mine who had collaborated with people at NASA back in the ’90s called his former colleagues and told them that he had a Ph.D. student who was looking for a summer internship; then he asked if I could intern with them for a few months. And they said yes. I came to Goddard one summer as an intern and it was amazing. In the end I didn’t get the position as a tenured professor in Spain, and when I told my colleagues that I didn’t have a job, they asked me if I wanted to come and finish the research project I had started here, and after that I continued to extend my internship. In May 2017, I joined Goddard for the second time, this time as a full-time employee. What would have been only seven months of internship ended up being seven years that I have been here. What made you interested in mathematics and specialize in it? When it came time to choose what I wanted to major in, I was deciding between two majors: aerospace engineering, because I’ve always had space on my mind, or mathematics because I really enjoyed it. I chose mathematics, mainly because I could stay in my country. About 20 to 25 years ago, research in aerospace was not a thing in Spain; specializing in space engineering would have meant moving from my hometown and going to Madrid, which is where the only university I knew I could do that was. So, I ended up choosing math and decided it would be cool to learn more about it. You mentioned that you were interested in space since you were a child. What fascinated you about the sky? I remember looking at the sky, looking at the Moon and wondering what’s out there. My dad was also into science, and he would explain things regarding space. He had a friend that had a telescope and from time to time, we’d go observe it which was fascinating. There was something about the immensity of space and the fact that we don’t know much about it that interested me. How do you feel about getting to work on two different telescopes, having been inspired by telescopes when you were younger? It is very gratifying to know that my work will help these telescopes go to space and operate from there. Finding solutions for this makes me very proud of what I do. I feel like all the knowledge I have is being applied to something physical, practical, that will be in space and that will help other scientists make great discoveries. What story or tradition from your hometown makes you smile when you think about it? The most beautiful day is the Sant Jordi festival, it is a precious day. It’s the day of the book and the rose. It’s not a holiday, but everyone is looking for an excuse, any time of the day to go out and buy a book and a rose for their loved ones. The atmosphere is beautiful during those days. Also, my brother’s name is Jordi, so it’s a special day because we all celebrate it together. “My dad was also into science, and he would explain things regarding space,” said Ariadna. “He had a friend that had a telescope and from time to time, we’d go observe it which was fascinating. There was something about the immensity of space and the fact that we don’t know much about it that interested me.”Photo courtesy of Ariadna Farrés-Basiana Are you involved in other activities outside of your work at NASA? I am part of the Hypatia project. It encourages scientific vocations among girls who are potentially interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. We do analog missions in the Utah desert, which simulates day-to-day life on Mars. Who has not dreamed of going to space, or has simply wondered what a trip to Mars or life on Mars would be like? With these simulations we help bring these dreams closer to students. What I like most about this initiative is being able to go to schools to explain our experiences to them. It is important to show different women who do research. This helps change the ideology of many who imagine that to be a scientist you must be a man with glasses and a white coat. There are few women in the space field. Many times, you have the feeling that you have to prove that you are worth more, show that you are there because you deserve it. It’s nice to be involved in projects like Hypatia, because I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about gender in STEM disciplines. It is my contribution so that the next generations are not so afraid to try to pursue a STEM career. Where do you see yourself in the next five years? I see myself here at NASA, working on different missions, perhaps taking on a role with a little more leadership or more responsibility. By Alexa Figueroa NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, 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 02, 2024 EditorMadison OlsonContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsPeople of GoddardGoddard Space Flight CenterNASA en españolPeople of NASA Explore More 10 min read Kan Yang: Translating Science Ideas into Engineering Concepts Article 2 months ago 6 min read Rebekah Hounsell: Tracking Cosmic Light to Untangle the Universe’s Darkest Mysteries Article 2 weeks ago 7 min read Bente Eegholm: Ensuring Space Telescopes Have Stellar Vision Article 1 month ago   View the full article

Each Aug. 4, Coast Guard Day commemorates the founding on Aug. 4, 1790, of the U.S. Coast Guard as the Revenue-Marine by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Although considered an internal event for active duty and reserve Coast Guard members, we take the opportunity of Coast Guard Day to honor the astronauts who began their careers in the Coast Guard. To date, NASA has selected three astronauts who served in the Coast Guard: Bruce E. Melnick in 1987, Daniel C. Burbank in 1996, and Andre Douglas in 2021. While Melnick and Burbank have retired from NASA, the decades long relationship between the agency and the Coast Guard carries on with Douglas. Left: Coast Guard Day banner. Image credit: courtesy Veteran.com. Right: Official emblem of the U.S. Coast Guard. Image credit: courtesy U.S. Coast Guard. Under the guidance of Treasury Secretary Hamilton, the U.S. Congress authorized the establishment of the Revenue-Marine on Aug. 4, 1790. The bill also authorized the building of a fleet of 10 Revenue Service ships known as cutters, used to enforce tariff laws established by Congress. By the 1860s, the organization’s name had changed to the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service. On Jan. 28, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law an act of Congress that merged the Revenue Cutter Service with the U.S. Life Saving Service, naming the new organization the U.S. Coast Guard, dedicated to saving lives at sea and enforcing the nation’s maritime laws. After 177 years in the Treasury Department, the Coast Guard transferred to the newly formed Department of Transportation on April 1, 1967, and then to the Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003. Bruce E. Melnick Left: Official astronaut portrait of Bruce E. Melnick, Class of 1987. Middle: Melnick aboard space shuttle Discovery during the STS-41 mission that deployed the Ulysses solar polar probe. Right: Melnick on the flight deck of Endeavour during its first flight, STS-49. Melnick, a native of Florida, earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering with honors from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1972. During his 20-year career with the U.S. Coast Guard, Melnick’s assignments included serving as operations officer and chief test pilot at the Coast Guard Aircraft Program Office in Grand Prairie, Texas. During his Coast Guard service, Melnick received numerous awards, including two Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medals, two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Secretary of Transportation Heroism Award. In 1992, he received the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Distinguished Alumni Award. He logged over 5,000 flight hours.. NASA selected Melnick in June 1987 as the first astronaut from the Coast Guard. He completed his training in August 1988, and flew as a mission specialist on Discovery’s STS-41 mission in October 1990. During the four-day flight, he and his crewmates deployed the Ulysses spacecraft to study the Sun’s polar regions. On his second and final spaceflight in May 1992, he served as the flight engineer on STS-49, the first flight of Endeavour. During that mission, the astronauts rescued and repaired the Intelsat VI satellite. He logged more than 300 hours in space. Melnick retired from the U.S. Coast Guard and NASA in July 1992. Daniel C. Burbank Left: Official astronaut portrait of Daniel C. Burbank, Class of 1996. Middle left: Burbank installs the Elektron oxygen generation unit in the Zvezda Service Module during STS-106. Middle right: Burbank performs a spacewalk during STS-115. Right: Burbank conducts a pulmonary function study while exercising on the bicycle ergometer in the Destiny module during Expedition 30. Connecticut-born and Massachusetts native, Burbank received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and his commission from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in May 1985. After attending naval flight training in Pensacola, Florida, he was assigned to Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina. In July 1992, Burbank transferred to Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, Massachusetts, followed by his assignment in May 1995 to Coast Guard Air Station Sitka, Alaska. Burbank logged over 4,000 flight hours, primarily in Coast Guard helicopters, and flew more than 2,000 missions, including over 300 search and rescue missions. NASA selected Burbank as an astronaut in the class of 1996. During his first spaceflight, the 12-day STS-106 International Space Station assembly mission in September 2000, Burbank and his crewmates prepared the station for the arrival of its first expedition crew. They delivered more than three tons of supplies and installed batteries, power converters, oxygen generation equipment, and a treadmill. He flew his second spaceflight aboard Atlantis in September 2006 on the 12-day STS-115 space station assembly mission. The astronauts delivered and installed the P3/P4 truss and solar arrays, and Burbank took part in one the three spacewalks of the mission, spending 7 hours 11 minutes outside. He flew his third and final mission between November 2011 and April 2012 as a member of Expeditions 29 and 30, serving as Commander of Expedition 30. During the 165-day flight, Burbank and his crewmates participated in nearly 200 experiments and completed 23 major hardware upgrades to the station. During his three missions, Burbank accumulated more than 188 days in space. He retired from NASA in June 2018. Andre Douglas Left: Official astronaut portrait of Andre Douglas, Class of 2021. Middle: Douglas collects soil samples during simulated moonwalks in Northern Arizona in May 2024. Right: Artemis II backup astronaut Douglas tries on his lunar spacesuit in July 2024. Image credit: Courtesy Andre Douglas. Douglas, a Virginia native and 2008 U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduate, served as an active-duty Coast Guard officer from 2008 to 2015. He earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and in naval architecture and marine engineering from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a doctorate in systems engineering from George Washington University. NASA selected Douglas as an astronaut candidate in December 2021, and he completed his training on March 5, 2024. On March 19, the U.S. Coast Guard swore-in Douglas as a commander in the Coast Guard Reserve during a commissioning ceremony in Washington, D.C. On July 3, 2024, NASA named Douglas as a backup crew member for the Artemis II mission to circle the Moon. Explore More 20 min read MESSENGER – From Setbacks to Success Article 2 hours ago 5 min read 60 Years Ago: Ranger 7 Photographs the Moon Article 4 days ago 9 min read 25 Years Ago: STS-93, Launch of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Article 1 week ago View the full article

The Cabeus supercomputer at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Facility at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley NASA/Michelle Moyer Under a new agreement, NASA will host supercomputing resources for the University of California, Berkeley, at the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The agreement is part of an expanding partnership between Ames and UC Berkeley and will support the development of novel computing algorithms and software for a wide variety of scientific and technology areas. Per the three-year Reimbursable Space Act Agreement, the UC Berkeley supercomputer and storage systems will be hosted at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Facility – the agency’s premiere supercomputing center. UC Berkeley researchers will benefit from NASA’s capability in optimizing modern computing codes. NASA will gain from exchanging with the university best practices in operating and maintaining high-performance computing systems. The newest addition to the UC Berkeley “Savio” supercomputer will be housed within a NASA data center and will consist of 192 dual Intel Ice Lake Xeon processor nodes, 32 NVIDIA graphics processor unit accelerated nodes, and 1.3 petabytes of high-performance flash storage. The agreement complements the joint venture announced in October 2023 between UC Berkeley and developer SKS Partners to build the proposed Berkeley Space Center at NASA Research Park, located at Ames. The project is envisioned as a 36-acre discovery and innovation hub to include educational spaces, labs, offices, student housing, and a new conference center. “Supporting UC Berkeley in various aspects of supercomputing operations adds an important component to our existing collaboration and opens up exciting possibilities for gaining new knowledge in aeronautical and space sciences, materials sciences, and information science and technologies,” said Rupak Biswas, director, Exploration Technology at NASA Ames. For more than four decades, the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility has provided leadership in NASA high-end computing technologies and services for agency missions and projects in aeronautics research, launch vehicle analysis, entry systems technologies, Earth and planetary science, astrophysics, and heliophysics. Learn more about Ames’ world-class supercomputing capabilities and services, here. Author: Jill Dunbar, NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division, NASA’s Ames Research Center Share Details Last Updated Aug 02, 2024 Related TermsGeneralAmes Research CenterAmes Research Center's Science DirectorateHigh-Tech ComputingNASA Centers & FacilitiesTechnology View the full article

20 Min Read MESSENGER – From Setbacks to Success This view of Mercury was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER's primary mission. Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington The excerpts below are taken from Discovery Program oral history interviews conducted in 2009 by Dr. Susan Niebur and tell the story of the hurdles the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) mission team faced with the technical requirements of visiting Mercury, budget challenges, and schedule impacts —all while keeping their mission goals in mind on the way to launch. The MESSENGER mission followed a long road from conception to launch with multiple detours and obstacles along the way. First conceived by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) after NASA’s 1996 Discovery Program Announcement of Opportunity, the mission to Mercury proposal, if accepted, would be the first spacecraft to visit the planet since Mariner 10’s flybys in 1974. A critical step for APL was finding the right principal investigator (PI) to lead the mission. Read the Discovery Program oral histories “These projects are so huge” Andrew F. Cheng, MESSENGER Co-Investigator “There’s not that many people out there, especially in the early days when the PI [principal investigator-led] mission paradigm itself was just getting set up. You didn’t want to screw up. You didn’t want to have a problem. …Scientific qualifications are necessary, but that’s not even the biggest part of it. It’s knowing something about missions and seeing how they work with engineers and also how they handle Headquarters and how they handle the program management. It’s a whole variety of things. “Number one is the cachet to help you win the mission. And then there’s the consideration, ‘Okay, what if we win and we’re actually stuck with this guy? All right, he better be able to work with the engineers, better know how to listen, better realize that, yes, you’re in charge, but you’re not really.’ PIs don’t know everything and they have to know how to delegate. These projects are so huge…they can’t get their fingers into everything.” Read Andrew Cheng's oral history “This sounded like fun” Sean Solomon, MESSENGER Principal Investigator “APL decided that they thought they could do a Mercury orbiter mission. They were doing NEAR [Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous] at the time. They had ambitions to do more things in solar system exploration. “I got a call from John Appleby, who was the head of development for the APL space department at the time. He said, ‘We are looking to put together a team of scientists for a Discovery proposal, a Mercury orbiter. Would you be interested?’ “I said sure. …This sounded like fun. I hadn’t given a great deal of thought to Mercury for almost 20 years, then. This is spring of 1996. But it was something I had wanted to do for 20 years. It was a chance. …The next thing I knew I got a call from Tom Krimigis, …and he said, “Can you come out to APL?” I had never been to APL. So I drove out there and I was late because I didn’t know how bad the beltway traffic would be. I came into this room with 10 people waiting for me, and the gist of it was, they asked me, ‘Would you like to be PI? You already said you would be on the science team for the mission, how about being PI?’… “I was naïve in a lot of ways. I didn’t appreciate all of the aspects of the things I would have to know. For instance, when we wrote that first proposal. The first time we wrote it, it got accepted [and moved] to the second round [of competition]. I put a lot of effort into the science rationale, which was the first 25 pages of the proposal. But I had to accept that the engineering team really knew what they were doing. I wasn’t in a position to critically evaluate the confidence with which they had solutions to particular technical challenges. I didn’t know that much then about risk management. I didn’t know how to ask all of the questions that I learned how to ask about. Nor did I know how to evaluate project managers, the first time around. “At the time of our site visit [a requirement during the second round], we had a development path for the solar arrays, which was worked out, but in the questions and answers it was clear we didn’t have a sufficient contingency plan. If any of the testing proved that our assumptions were not appropriate…we didn’t have a deep plan for what to do next. And so we were really sharply dinged on the solar arrays, which have to face the Sun. We hadn’t done enough testing to be absolutely confident to the level of being able to persuade a legitimately skeptical review panel that we had the right solution. “The other place we got hammered was that the budget did not come together. This was the project manager’s fault. It didn’t come together in a way that could be shared with the team, including the PI, before the site visit. The budget was so late that he didn’t put all the numbers together until the night before the presentation, and some of that information that had gone out to the site review team didn’t add up. …And there was nobody there who could help him because nobody had seen it. It had been put together so last minute….I wasn’t sufficiently skeptical in the areas where I was ignorant. So I certainly bear a lot of responsibility [for not being chosen].” Read Sean Solomon's oral history These two large solar panels gave the MESSENGER spacecraft its power.NASA After that first disappointment, the MESSENGER team regrouped and proposed again in 1998 after some changes to the team and after addressing significant problems that were identified in the first proposal. The second proposal was accepted for development on July 7, 1999. “Somebody who knew about risk” Sean Solomon, MESSENGER Principal Investigator “We had a meeting and agreed that we would re-propose. I said I want a new project manager…we had to have a rapport, someone who could work well with his own engineers. Somebody whose budgets I believed. Somebody who knew about risk. Somebody who had had some experience. They said, ‘We think we have somebody for you. We would like you to meet Max Peterson.’ Max and I hit it off. So he became the proposal manager and the project manager for the second proposal. “We had to solve the solar array problem. And APL did that by doing the testing. They developed a testing protocol. They put the resources in. They figured out how to do the test at NASA Glenn [Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio]. So by the time we wrote our second proposal, and particularly by the time of the second site study, we could say, ‘Not only do we have a solution for the solar arrays, here are all the tests that validate our models.’ “So, the first time we proposed we were low risk in round one and high risk after the site visit, high risk being the solar arrays and not having a good project manager. But we were low risk both times the second time through.” Read Sean Solomon's oral history Two separate Mars missions lost their spacecraft to failures in 1999 — the Mars Climate Orbiter in September and the Mars Polar Lander in December. As a result, NASA set up the NASA Integrated Action Team [NIAT] to study these failures and make recommendations going forward for all small missions, including the Discovery missions. For the newly selected MESSENGER mission, this imposed a significant effect on the planned budget and timeline because of the added mandates for risk avoidance. “Reviews upon reviews upon reviews” Tom Krimigis, APL Space Department head “Well, needless to say, we felt sort of punished, even though we were innocent. Some of that also was very disappointing because we did have several of these reviews, and they pointed out certain things that needed to be done. But they were imposed on the system, and at the same time not paid for, and also not relaxing the schedule in any way, because we had a specific deadline to launch and so on. So, these were mandates. And that’s part of the problem with the reviews upon reviews upon reviews, that there is no incentive for the review teams to somehow be mindful of the schedule and the cost. “I complained to Headquarters at one time that we had a third of the staff acting on the recommendations from the previous review; another third preparing for the next review; and the final third was actually doing work. I mean, it was really horrendous.” Read Tom Krimigis' oral history In the high bay clean room at the Astrotech Space Operations processing facilities near Kennedy Space Center, workers prepared to attach an overhead crane to NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft. The spacecraft was moved to a work stand where employees of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, builders of the spacecraft, performed an initial state-of-health check.NASA “Keep marching forward” Ralph McNutt, MESSENGER Project Scientist “I think what did happen was then the NIAT report came out, and it was like we were told, ‘Well, things are going to happen differently.’ “And of course, we were in the middle of trying to get this thing pulled together when all of this was going on. Quite frankly, I think looking back on it, it’s not that we didn’t take it seriously, it’s just that if you’re going to keep your budget down, you’ve got a certain number of people. And unfortunately there are only 24 hours in the day and occasionally it’s probably good to sleep during some of those. “So we had [asked for] an original amount of money, which we got, which was, looking back on it, way too small considering what was going to be coming down the pike at us. And as all of this started coming together about what the implications really were. ‘Wait a minute. We’re not going to make it.’ And we got into a bit more hardball with some of the powers that be at that point. “We didn’t get nearly all of what we’d asked for. And we said, ‘Well, we’re not going to give up. We’re going to keep marching forward.’ And we did have to go back and ask for more money. Sean ended up giving presentations to four of the different NASA advisory subcommittees down at NASA Headquarters. “All the committees agreed that it should go forward. There were some other people down at NASA Headquarters that weren’t very happy with that assessment. …I think everybody was frustrated. It wasn’t like we felt like we were coming up roses. …I don’t know that it was so much a feeling of vindication as the feeling that we had managed to evade the executioner’s blade.” Read Ralph McNutt's oral history Artist impression of NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft in orbit at Mercury. As the mission development continued, delivery delays from subcontractors presented another schedule and cost impact. And the cost reviews at NASA Headquarters were causing more worry for the team. “Not a standard review” David Grant, MESSENGER Project Manager “My first meeting was called a Risk Retirement Review. It was covered by an independent assessment team that had been following the program for some time. I went to the review and I began to sense that there were some serious problems going on in the program. The review was not a standard review. It was requested by Colleen Hartman, and I believe her title at the time was Director for the Division of Planetary Science. “And so we get into the details and it was clear from the start that there was a very big struggle to try to keep the program cost under the [budget] cap. It was a very big concern about that. “There were problems. We had problems with the IMU [Inertial Measurement Unit]. It was very late and Northrup Grumman was having a heck of a time with it. Also, just as I came in the door, they had announced that one of the solar array substrates had cracked in testing. What were they going to do about that $100,000 rebuild? We had an autonomy system to protect the spacecraft that was stuck. It was a very comprehensive system, trying to do everything. Everywhere I looked there were cost and schedule problems. “Now you have to understand, MESSENGER is a very tough mission. You have to keep your eye on the spacecraft weight, on the propulsion, and on the thermal. An awful lot of technology. The guys that were working the job were very good people, but it was a very tough job. So, I really wasn’t surprised to see that there were problems. I mean this is a program with an awful lot of technology development. An awful lot. And we were having problems. So, we had the review and came out of it with some recommendations. But it was clear to me, very clear, that we had blown the cost cap. This was something that my own management did not want to hear, but there was no way that we could complete the work and stay under the program cap.” Read David Grant's oral history The delays and cost mounted, but the team still worked toward their March 2004 launch date. The stress of the situation affected work schedules and team morale, and the mission leadership had to find ways to keep people motivated and moving forward. “We wanted to get to Mercury sooner” Sean Solomon, MESSENGER Principal Investigator “We were projecting delays at that point in key subsystem deliveries that came to pass. One of the most painful was the spacecraft structure. That was subcontracted to an outfit called Composite Optics in California, because APL had never done a structure made out of composites. But we did it to keep the dry mass of the spacecraft down. Composite Optics is a fine company, but they’re a small company, and the mission that they had to finish before us was MER [Mars Exploration Rover]. MER was four months late on the delivery of their spacecraft, the bus that flew the MER to Mars. And there was nothing we could do. “So that set our integration and test schedule four months in arrears from the beginning. Because the spacecraft structure had to go to the propulsion system guys, who integrated it. And then those guys delivered an integrated propulsion system and structure to APL. So that put us deeper in the hole. “But there were other things going on at the time. We were really sweating the inertial measurement unit. There was a company that built these things outside of Santa Barbara in Goleta, California. They were bought by Northrup Grumman. And Northrup Grumman decided to close the Goleta plant, and they tried to get people who knew how to do this to move down to Woodland Hills. Well, nobody who lives in Santa Barbara wants to live in LA. So none of them moved. So they had to reproduce the expertise to build these very complicated gyros. All new people. “They missed every deadline…. But there were other technical issues, and they were all eating away at our schedule. Still, we were working toward a schedule that would have had us go in our first launch window, which was March of 2004. There was another window in May of 2004. There was a third, less desirable window in August of 2004. So we had three windows, by good fortune, in 2004. “We particularly didn’t want to have the August launch, because that was the energetically least favorable launch. The March and May launches involved cruise times of 5 years. The August launch, which is the one we eventually used, was a 6 ½-year cruise. And so not only would we get to the planet much later, but there would be a big Phase E cost increase. So we didn’t want to go there. We wanted to get to Mercury sooner. So, in the winter of 2003 we were still aiming for the March 2004 launch. ” Read Sean Solomon's oral history At the Astrotech Space Operations processing facilities, an overhead crane lowered NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft onto a work stand. There employees of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, builders of the spacecraft, performed an initial state-of-health check. Then processing for launch began, including checkout of the power systems, communications systems and control systems. NASA “Things kept coming up” David Grant, MESSENGER Project Manager “You need to have the subsystems delivered in a certain order. Well, first of all, many were being delivered late. We were shooting for a March launch. So, we made the subsystems move their delivery dates in. That took more money to get that done. “For electrical integration and test, I had an 18-person team working double shifts, sometimes triple shift, sometimes seven days a week. There’s an impact. The thing you have to be careful about is burn out…. But we get through that summer. Now we were on schedule for launch in March of 2004. “Well, things kept coming up. …So, around that time I met with Tom Krimigis and department management and I just told them that in my view we were not going to make the March launch date. I thought that the schedule reserve that we had was insufficient for where we were in the program. Still had nine months to go, more or less, and we didn’t have enough schedule reserve. It was diminishing, and, in my view, I thought we should notify our sponsor that we were going to recommend a schedule slip. “So, we said, move the launch out to May of ’04. Well, there was a cost associated with that. It’s a couple more months of development time. It’ll also impact down at the Cape [Canaveral, Florida]. They were getting ready for the March launch. Now it’s May. Okay, the launch day was going to be different but they have to keep the team together and that affects everything. “We got into the final stages of development. We completed integration and test and then the environmental tests over at Goddard and we had our pre-ship review here and everybody in creation was at it. We went through the pre-ship review and we go by the numbers. I present, the system engineer presents, the subsystem people present, autonomy people got up and spoke and said we’ve completed testing. We’re very confident of where we are, we’re good to go, and ready to launch in May 2004. Now you could have cut the tension with a knife in the room — very high tension David G. Grant MESSENGER Project Manager “Now you could have cut the tension with a knife in the room – very high tension. So, the reviewers had a private room they all went into and voted. They came out and they say, ‘Okay, Dave, we’re going to ship.’ So we got the team going and they packed the whole thing up, and we shipped it all to the Cape. “But something was wrong. Management was not at ease. We were not at ease…. Not everybody was comfortable and I could sense that. “We shipped it and then the first weekend it was there and I got a call Sunday night from Mike Griffin [the new head of the APL Space Department] and he says that NASA was concerned about autonomy. ‘Well, there’s concern that we haven’t done enough testing of the autonomy system. They want you to do more testing in several areas.’ “I said, ‘Well if NASA wants us to do the testing, we’ll do the testing. But they have to understand the consequences.’ If we go from May to August there’s a development cost…. We have an Earth flyby, two Venus flybys and three Mercury flybys before we get into orbit. Also, five major propulsive burns. That’s a lot more difficult trajectory than the May launch was. It’s a much higher risk trajectory. Also, the cost impact could be as much as $30 million. “In addition, the margins on the spacecraft, the power margin, the thermal margin, were much tighter with this new mission. So, I said, ‘NASA has to recognize that the risk is from launch to orbit. And you have to take everything into account. So you can keep that spacecraft here and do another few weeks of testing and go with Flight 2, or you can go with Flight 1 as approved at the pre-ship review. NASA’s got to decide if the additional testing is worth it. It’s a much higher risk mission at a much higher cost. But if NASA wants to do it, we’ll salute and we’ll do it.’ So Mike said, ‘It’s non-negotiable.’ “ Read David Grant's oral history The launch window in August 2004 finally arrived, but the Florida weather made the long road a little more perilous. On the second launch attempt, August 3, 2004, MESSENGER began it’s long journey to Mercury. “Everything was go” Sean Solomon, MESSENGER Principal Investigator “We launched on the second day of an almost 3-week window. Vestiges of a tropical storm had stopped us the day before. The day didn’t satisfy the constraints on clouds, but we came very close. We came within a few minutes of liftoff. We were out there at night, watching. And then the next night everything was go. Which was good, because another storm came through a day or two later that turned into a hurricane.” Read Sean Solomon's oral history President Barack Obama congratulates MESSENGER Principal Investigator, director of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Sean Solomon, after awarding him the National Medal of Science, the nation’s top scientific honor, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington.NASA/Bill Ingalls After a successful launch, the team had to do come catching up on mission and science planning because of the delays in launch and the effect of those delays on the mission itself. “An excellent spacecraft” David Grant, MESSENGER Project Manager “So right after we launched, we had to do the whole mission planning all over again, analysis that we had done before launch. Ordinarily you’d have it all packaged up good to go. All the science planning had to be done again. All the mission design had to be done again. And. in the meantime, we had to learn how to fly the spacecraft, which involves a level of trial and error. “Initially, the spacecraft was difficult to operate. We didn’t know where the center of the gravity was. So when we did little thruster burns, for trajectory correction, there were errors, and they were significant enough that they had to be corrected. We had to learn how to deal with that. We had plume impingement—that wasn’t anticipated prior to launch. We had to deal with that. And in the meantime, there are literally thousands of different parameters onboard. Were they all right? No, there were a few that needed adjustment. Some were approximations. “The first time we tried something, it didn’t work exactly the way we had hoped it would, so we had to go back and correct it. Each of these events were characterized as anomalies; they had to be corrected. And we spent a lot of time doing that. The shakedown cruise for MESSENGER was much more difficult than I thought it was going to be. “Well, a lot of new technology, and the first time out flying. It’s like anything complex and new. But the engineering team stayed with it. They ran every problem to ground. They understood the reasons for the anomaly and fixed it. They were very thorough and diligent. And finally, one day, we all realized all the problems were pretty much fixed and that MESSENGER was an excellent spacecraft.” Read David Grant's oral history The MESSENGER spacecraft atop a Boeing Delta II rocket lifts off on time at 2:15:56 a.m. EDT, from Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) was on its way for a 7-year, 4.9-billion-mile journey to the planet Mercury.NASA Read more Discovery Program oral histories Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA NASA Oral Histories NASA History NASA’s Discovery Program Discovery and New Frontiers Oral Histories View the full article

NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge directly supports the agency’s Moon to Mars initiatives.Credit: NASA NASA invites the media and 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 Friday, 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 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 in Huntsville, Alabama. “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.” Media also may request attendance for activities on Thursday, Aug. 15, including private tours, networking, knowledge sharing, and culinary experiences. Interested media need to RSVP by 3 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 12, to Lane Figueroa at lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov. 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 NASA 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 in Washington, D.C. “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 in Houston and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida 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 NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The Methuselah Foundation, in partnership with NASA, oversees the competitors. For more information about the symposium, see the symposium website. To learn more about the Deep Space Food Challenge, visit: nasa.gov/spacefoodchallenge -end- Jasmine Hopkins Headquarters, Washington 321-432-4624 jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov Lane Figueroa Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 256-932-1940 lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Aug 02, 2024 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsPrizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing ProgramEarth's MoonMarsMarshall Space Flight CenterPrizes, Challenges & Crowdsourcing NewsSpace Technology Mission Directorate View the full article

5 min read NASA Scientists on Why We Might Not Spot Solar Panel Technosignatures One of NASA’s key priorities is understanding the potential for life elsewhere in the universe. NASA has not found any credible evidence of extraterrestrial life — but NASA is exploring the solar system and beyond to help us answer fundamental questions, including whether we are alone in the universe. For those who study the potential for life beyond Earth, one of the questions has long been trying to determine the likelihood of microbial life versus complex life versus a civilization so advanced that we can spot signs of it, called technosignatures, from here at home. Studying the answers to questions like that can help guide suggestions on new telescopes or missions to emphasize the most likely places and ways to look for life. Now a recent paper published May 24 in the Astrophysical Journal postulates that if advanced extraterrestrial civilizations exist, one reason they might be hard to detect with telescopes from our vantage point is because their energy requirements may be relatively modest. If their culture, technology, and population size do not need vast amounts of power, they would not be required to build enormous stellar-energy harvesting structures that could be detected by current or proposed telescopes. Such structures, based on our own Earthly experience, might be solar panel arrays that cover a significant portion of their planet’s surface or orbiting megastructures to harness most of their parent star’s energy—both of which we might be able to spot from our own solar system. Conceptual image of an exoplanet with an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. Structures on the right are orbiting solar panel arrays that harvest light from the parent star and convert it into electricity that is then beamed to the surface via microwaves. The exoplanet on the left illustrates other potential technosignatures: city lights (glowing circular structures) on the night side and multi-colored clouds on the day side that represent various forms of pollution, such as nitrogen dioxide gas from burning fossil fuels or chlorofluorocarbons used in refrigeration. NASA/Jay Freidlander “We found that even if our current population of about 8 billion stabilizes at 30 billion with a high standard of living, and we only use solar energy for power, we still use way less energy than that provided by all the sunlight illuminating our planet,” said Ravi Kopparapu of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, lead author of the paper. The study has implications for the Fermi paradox, postulated by physicist Enrico Fermi, which asks the question that since our galaxy is ancient and vast, and interstellar travel is difficult but possible, why hasn’t an alien civilization spread across the galaxy by now? “The implication is that civilizations may not feel compelled to expand all over the galaxy because they may achieve sustainable population and energy-usage levels even if they choose a very high standard of living,” said Kopparapu. “They may expand within their own stellar system, or even within nearby star systems, but a galaxy-spanning civilizations may not exist.” Additionally, our own technological expertise may not yet be able to predict what more advanced civilizations could do. “Large-scale stellar-energy harvesting structures may especially be obsolete when considering technological advances,” adds Vincent Kofman, a co-author of the paper at NASA Goddard and American University, Washington, D.C. “Surely a society that can place enormous structures in space would be able to access nuclear fusion or other space-efficient methods of generating power.” The researchers used computer models and NASA satellite data to simulate an Earth-like planet with varying levels of silicon solar panel coverage. The team then modeled an advanced telescope like the proposed NASA Habitable Worlds Observatory to see if it could detect solar panels on the planet about 30 light-years away, which is relatively nearby in a galaxy that spans over 100,000 light-years. They found that it would require several hundreds of hours of observing time with that type of telescope to detect signatures from solar panels covering about 23% of the land area on an Earth-like exoplanet. However, the requirement for 30 billion humans at a high-living standard was only about 8.9% solar-panel coverage. Extraterrestrial civilizations with advanced technology could be discovered by their technosignatures – observational manifestations of extraterrestrial technology that could be detected or inferred through astronomical searches. For decades, scientists have been using radio telescopes to look for potential extraterrestrial radio transmissions. More recently, astronomers have proposed using a telescope like the Habitable Worlds Observatory to look for other kinds of technosignatures, such as chemical “fingerprints” in exoplanet atmospheres or specific characteristics in the light reflected by an exoplanet that might announce the presence of vast silicon solar arrays. The new study assumes that extraterrestrials would build solar panels out of silicon because it’s relatively abundant compared to other elements used in solar power, such as germanium, gallium, or arsenic. Also, silicon is good at converting the light emitted by Sun-like stars into electricity and it’s cost-effective to mine and manufacture into solar cells. The researchers also assume that a hypothetical extraterrestrial civilization would rely exclusively on solar energy. However, if other sources of energy are used, such as nuclear fusion, it would reduce the silicon technosignature, making the civilization even harder to detect. The study further assumes that the civilization’s population stabilizes at some point. If this doesn’t happen for whatever reason, perhaps they will be driven to expand ever-father into deep space. Finally, it’s impossible to know if an advanced civilization may be using something we haven’t imagined yet that requires immense amounts of power. Share Details Last Updated Aug 02, 2024 Editor wasteigerwald Contact wasteigerwald william.a.steigerwald@nasa.gov Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Astrobiology Goddard Space Flight Center The Search for Life The Universe Explore More 8 min read Searching for Signs of Intelligent Life: Technosignatures Signs of life beyond Earth could take forms that are clearly artificial – radio or… Article 1 year ago View the full article

“When I was around 16 or 17, I came across this book by Arthur C. Clarke called Space Odyssey 2001. That was actually the first science fiction book that I’ve ever read. I was just so captured by what he had written because the things that he wrote about weren’t [happening] in the far-off future, but in the year 2001. In the book, he talks about a lot about space stations, and space shuttles that go up to the space station, and vehicles that go to the Moon or the Moon base, and all that. I mean, these are terms that you hear now all the time, right? And Arthur C. Clarke actually envisioned it at that time. So that was interesting to me. I hoped that someday I could work on something like that. “In terms of my education, I was actually going to go into the space engineering, but then someone advised me that mechanical engineering would give me a broader background. So I followed the advice, and it was the right thing to do. I ended up learning a lot of things, not just mechanical engineering but also a lot about electrical engineering and systems engineering at the same time. “…Then an opportunity came with NASA. It was at that time that they started talking about the space station. Ronald Reagan at that time was the President, and he proposed this initiative to develop the space station. At that time, he called the space station ‘Freedom.’ “I thought, ‘Wow, what an exciting concept; it would be great if I could work on that.’ “And of course, one thing led to another, and [I ended up working on the International Space Station.] So you never know what you’re going to end up doing. “I believe in synchronicity sometimes. The things that you do, one way or another, lead to your final destination. Some invisible forces push you in that direction. When you look back, you realize that everything fits together.” — Douglas Wong, Systems Engineer, ISS CRS Visiting Vehicle Safety & Mission Assurance Integration Focal, NASA’s Johnson Space Center Image Credit: NASA/Bill Stafford Interviewer: NASA/Thalia Patrinos Check out some of our other Faces of NASA. View the full article

2 min read Hubble Spies a Diminutive Galaxy This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the dwarf elliptical galaxy named IC 3430. This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the subtle glow of the galaxy named IC 3430, located 45 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. This dwarf elliptical galaxy is part of the Virgo cluster, a rich collection of galaxies both large and small, many of which are very similar in type to this diminutive galaxy. Like its larger elliptical cousins, IC 3430 has a smooth, oval shape lacking any recognizable features like arms or bars, and is missing much of the gas needed to form many new stars. Interestingly, IC 3430 does feature a core of hot, massive blue stars —an uncommon sight in elliptical galaxies — that indicates recent star-forming activity. Astronomers think that pressure from the galaxy ploughing through gas within the Virgo cluster ignited what gas IC 3430 had in its core to form the newer stars. Dwarf galaxies are really just galaxies with fewer stars, usually less than a billion, but that is often enough for them to reproduce, in miniature, the same forms as larger galaxies. There are dwarf elliptical galaxies like IC 3430, dwarf irregular galaxies, dwarf spheroidal galaxies, and even dwarf spiral galaxies! Download this 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 02, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Elliptical Galaxies Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Missions Science Mission Directorate 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. Galaxy Details and Mergers Tracing the Growth of Galaxies Hubble’s Galaxies View the full article

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 members (pictured from left to right) NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers, Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, NASA astronaut Anne McClain, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya OnishiCredit: NASA As part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission, four crew members are preparing to launch for a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Commander Anne McClain and Pilot Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov will join astronauts at the orbiting laboratory no earlier than February 2025. The flight is the 10th crew rotation with SpaceX to the station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. While aboard, the international crew will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future missions and benefit people on Earth. Selected by NASA as an astronaut in 2013, this will be McClain’s second spaceflight. A colonel in the U.S. Army, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and holds master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering, International Security, and Strategic Studies. The Spokane, Washington, native was an instructor pilot in the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland. McClain has more than 2,300 flight hours in 24 rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, including more than 800 in combat, and was a member of the U.S. Women’s National Rugby Team. On her first spaceflight, McClain spent 204 days as a flight engineer during Expeditions 58 and 59 and was the lead on two spacewalks, totaling 13 hours and 8 minutes. Since then, she has served in various roles, including branch chief and space station assistant to the chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office. Ayers is a major in the U.S. Air Force and the first member of NASA’s 2021 astronaut class named to a crew. The Colorado native graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a minor in Russian, where she was a member of the academy’s varsity volleyball team. She later earned a master’s in Computational and Applied Mathematics from Rice University in Houston. Ayers served as an instructor pilot and mission commander in the T-38 ADAIR and F-22 Raptor, leading multinational and multiservice missions worldwide. She has more than 1,400 total flight hours, including more than 200 in combat. With 113 days in space, this mission also will mark Onishi’s second trip to the space station. After being selected by JAXA in 2009, he flew as a flight engineer for Expeditions 48 and 49 became the first Japanese astronaut to robotically capture the Cygnus spacecraft. He also constructed a new experimental environment aboard Kibo, the station’s Japanese experiment module. Since his spaceflight, Onishi became certified as a JAXA flight director, leading the team responsible for operating Kibo from JAXA Mission Control in Tsukuba, Japan. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Tokyo and was a pilot for All Nippon Airways, flying more than 3,700 flight hours in the Boeing 767. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission also will be Peskov’s first spaceflight. Before his selection as a cosmonaut in 2018, he earned a degree in Engineering from the Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation School and was a co-pilot on the Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft for airlines Nordwind and Ikar. Assigned as a test-cosmonaut in 2020, he has additional experience in skydiving, zero-gravity training, scuba diving, and wilderness survival. For more than two decades, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies, making research breakthroughs 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’s Artemis campaign is underway at the Moon, where the agency is preparing for future human exploration of Mars. Find more information on NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at: https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew -end- Joshua Finch / Claire O’Shea Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov Raegan Scharfetter Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-910-4989 raegan.r.scharfetter@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Aug 01, 2024 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsCommercial CrewAnne C. McClainAstronautsHumans in SpaceInternational Space Station (ISS)ISS ResearchNichole Ayers View the full article

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA has officially announced the 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition.Credit: National Institute of Aerospace NASA has officially announced the 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition, an initiative to fuel innovation for aerospace systems concepts, analogs, and technology prototyping through university engagement. RASC-AL, one of NASA’s longest-running student competitions, solicits concepts from the next generation of engineers and scientists to explore the future of deep space exploration. RASC-AL is seeking proposals from the university community to develop new concepts that leverage innovation to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars and beyond. This year’s themes range from developing large-scale lunar surface architectures enabling long-term, off-world habitation, to designing new systems that address objective characteristics and needs and leverage human-scale exploration infrastructure for new science paradigms. Through RASC-AL, teams and their faculty advisors will design innovative solutions with supporting original engineering and analysis in response to one of the following four themes: Sustained Lunar Evolution – An Inspirational Moment Advanced Science Missions and Technology Demonstrators for Human-Mars Precursor Campaign Small Lunar Servicing and Maintenance Robot “The RASC-AL competition is a wellspring for groundbreaking ideas,” said Dan Mazanek, Assistant Branch Head for the Exploration Space Mission Analysis Branch (SMAB) at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “It fosters creativity and pushes the boundaries of what is possible in space exploration. We are looking for innovative solutions that can advance our capabilities beyond Earth’s orbit and pave the way for sustainable lunar exploration and beyond.” Interested undergraduate and graduate university student teams and their faculty advisors should submit a Notice of Intent by October 16, 2024, and submit proposals and videos by February 24, 2025. Based on review of the team proposal and video submissions in March, up to 14 teams will be selected to advance to the final phase of the competition – presenting their concepts to a panel of NASA and industry judges in a competitive design review at the 2025 RASC-AL Forum in Cocoa Beach, Florida next June. In addition to their research, teams are also highly encouraged to develop a prototype of part or all of their concept to demonstrate its key functions. Each finalist team will receive a $6,500 stipend to facilitate their full participation in the 2025 RASC-AL Competition, and the top two overall teams will be awarded with additional travel stipends to present their concept at an aerospace conference later in 2025. Dr. Christopher Jones, Chief Technologist for the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate (SACD) at NASA Langley, emphasized RASC-AL’s distinctive fusion of educational value with real-world experience. “RASC-AL provides students with a unique opportunity to engage directly with NASA’s vision for space exploration. Participants not only gain hands-on experience in developing aerospace concepts but also contribute fresh perspectives that the Agency can take as inspiration for future missions and technologies.” The call for proposals is now open, with proposal submissions due by February 24, 2025. Interested student teams are encouraged to visit the official RASC-AL competition website for detailed guidelines and eligibility requirements. RASC-AL is sponsored by the Strategy and Architecture Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and by SMAB within SACD at NASA Langley. It is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace. For more information about the RASC-AL competition, including eligibility, complete themes, and submission guidelines, visit: http://rascal.nianet.org Explore More 5 min read NASA Additive Manufacturing Project Shapes Future for Agency, Industry Rocket Makers Article 3 hours ago 2 min read Earth to Gateway: Electric Field Tests Enhance Lunar Communication Learn how engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center are using electric field testing to optimize… Article 3 days ago 5 min read NASA Returns to Arctic Studying Summer Sea Ice Melt Article 6 days ago Share Details Last Updated Aug 01, 2024 Related TermsLangley Research CenterExploration Systems Development Mission Directorate View the full article

NASA/Michala Garrison, USGS Landsat 9’s Operational Land Imager-2 captured this image of the open pits and ponds of Telfer Mine and the surrounding rust-colored soil on Dec. 15, 2023. The soils have a reddish tint from the iron oxides that have accumulated from millions of years of weathering. This part of Western Australia is known for being rich in natural resources, including petroleum, iron ore, copper, and certain precious metals. Beneath the soils, veins of gold and silver run through sedimentary rocks, such as quartz sandstone and siltstone, that formed about 600 million years ago, when much of Australia was under water. Text credit: Emily Cassidy Image credit: NASA/Michala Garrison, USGS View the full article

5 Min Read NASA Additive Manufacturing Project Shapes Future for Agency, Industry Rocket Makers Additively manufactured rocket engine hardware coupled with advanced composites allows for precision features, such as multi-material coolant channels developed by the Rapid Analysis and Manufacturing Propulsion Technology team at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama Credits: NASA 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 in Huntsville, Alabama 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 NASA 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. Tyler Gibson, left, and Allison Clark, RAMPT engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, inspect an additively manufactured composite overwrap thrust chamber assembly. Conventional rocket hardware may require more than 1,000 or more individually joined parts. Additive manufacturing permits engineers to print these channels in novel alloys as a single piece with multiple alloys, dramatically reducing manufacturing time. NASA/Danielle Burleson “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 Glenn 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 above, during a hot-fire test at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, 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 This 2,000-pound-force coupled thrust chamber assembly features a NASA HR-1 alloy nozzle directly deposited onto the additive manufacturing combustion chamber using the directed energy deposition process and composite-overwrapped for structural support, reducing weight by 40%. It was hot-fire tested at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Industry, academic, and government partners are working with RAMPT engineers at Marshall and other NASA field centers to advance this revolutionary technology. NASA/Danielle Burleson 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. NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, leads RAMPT, with key support among engineers and technologists at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland; Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California; Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia; 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. Learn more at: https://www.nasa.gov/rapid-analysis-and-manufacturing-propulsion-technology Ramon J. Osorio Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 256-544-0034 ramon.j.osorio@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Aug 01, 2024 LocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related TermsMarshall Space Flight CenterGame Changing Development ProgramGlenn Research CenterLangley Research CenterOffice of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS)Space Technology Mission Directorate Explore More 21 min read The Marshall Star for July 31, 2024 Article 19 hours ago 3 min read 2024 Software of the Year Co-Winner – Orbital Debris Engineering Model (ORDEM) Article 20 hours ago 4 min read 2024 Software of the Year Award Co-Winner -Prognostics Python Packages (ProgPy) Article 20 hours ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

2 min read August’s Night Sky Notes: Seeing Double by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific During the summer months, we tend to miss the views of Saturn, Jupiter and other heavenly bodies. But it can be a great time to look for other items, like globular star clusters such as Messier 13, open star clusters such as the Coma Star Cluster (Melotte 111), but also double stars! Mid-August night sky constellations with the following multiple star systems highlighted: the Double Double in Lyra, Albireo in Cygnus, Polaris in Ursa Minor, Mizar and Alcor in Ursa Major. Credit: Stellarium Web What Are Double Stars? If you have seen any movies or read any books that refer to having two suns in the sky, that would be a double star system. These star systems typically come in two types – binary and optical doubles. Binary stars are two stars that are gravitationally bound and orbit each other, and optical double stars only appear to be close together when viewed from Earth, but in reality, are extremely far apart from another, and are not affected by each other’s gravity. With a small telescope, in moderately light polluted skies, summer offers great views of these stellar groupings from the Northern Hemisphere: Double Double: also known by its technical name, Epsilon Lyrae, this multiple star system appears as one star with naked eye observing. But with a small telescope, it can be split into ‘two’ stars. A large telescope reveals Epsilon Lyrae’s secret – what looks like a single star is actually a quadruple star system! Albireo: a gorgeous double star set – one blue, one yellow – in the constellation Cygnus. Polaris: while technically a multiple star system, our North Star can easily be separated from one star to two with a modest telescope. Mizar and Alcor: located in the handle of the Big Dipper, this pair can be seen with the naked eye. This schematic shows the configuration of the sextuple star system TYC 7037-89-1. The inner quadruple is composed of two binaries, A and C, which orbit each other every four years or so. An outer binary, B, orbits the quadruple roughly every 2,000 years. All three pairs are eclipsing binaries. The orbits shown are not to scale.NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Aside from looking incredible in a telescope or binoculars, double stars help astronomers learn about measuring the mass of stars, and about stellar evolution. Some stars orbit each other a little too closely, and things can become disastrous, but overall, these celestial bodies make for excellent targets and are simple crowd pleasers. Up next, learn about the Summer Triangle’s hidden treasures on our mid-month article on the Night Sky Network page. 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 4261-4262: Drill Sol 1…Take 2 This image was taken by Right Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4258 — Martian day 4,258 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on July 29, 2024, at 03:26:02 UTC. Earth planning date: Wednesday, July 31, 2024 As Cat mentioned on Monday, today’s plan is a second attempt at our Drill Sol 1 activities. We’ve shifted the target on Kings Canyon a little bit, but the activities remain the same — a preload test to ensure that we’re able to safely drill here, and contact science to get a preview of what composition we might be dealing with in this target. Around these pre-drilling activities, we still had some time left over for more typical science activities. Power wasn’t as much of a concern as it will become as the drill campaign progresses, but we did have to do some rearranging due to timing constraints. There are some activities that need to go at particular times, whether that be for lighting, heating, or to coincide with other observations. If you put enough of these together, there can be a lot of swapping back and forth and moving things around to get the perfect position for everything. It’s a bit like choreographing a big dance — activities have to come in at just the right time so they don’t step on anyone’s toes, and all the pieces come together to make a cohesive whole. In this metaphorical dance, our first movement is a short solo from ChemCam — just before the preload test we were able to squeeze in LIBS (laser spectroscopy) on a darker area of bedrock called “Blacksmith Peak.” The rest of the company joins ChemCam on the second sol. Mastcam comes in first to check out “Sam Mack Meadow,” an area of crushed material, followed by a quartet of environmental activities — a suprahorizon cloud movie, a tau and line-of-sight to see how dusty the atmosphere is, and a dust devil movie. It’s then back over to ChemCam, with LIBS on Kings Canyon and a long-distance observation of the yardang unit. Mastcam brings the dance to a close with their own documentation of Kings Canyon. For an encore, Mastcam makes one last appearance later that evening to do a sky survey. Written by Alex Innanen, atmospheric scientist at York University Share Details Last Updated Aug 01, 2024 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 3 min read Sols 4259-4260: Kings Canyon Go Again! Article 2 days ago 3 min read Sols 4257-4258: A Little Nudge on Kings Canyon Article 3 days ago 2 min read Sols 4255-4256: Just Passing Through Article 3 days 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 Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A new era of aviation is here, and NASA’s System-Wide Safety (SWS) project is developing innovative data solutions to assure safe, rapid, and repeatable access to a transformed National Airspace System (NAS). SWS was created in 2018 and is part of NASA Aeronautics’ Airspace Operations and Safety Program. SWS evaluates how the aerospace industry and aircraft modernization impacts safety by using technology to address future operational and design risks. SWS Goals To explore, discover, and understand the impact on safety of growing complexity introduced by modernization aimed at improving the efficiency of flight, the access to airspace, and the expansion of services provided by air vehicles To develop and demonstrate innovative solutions that enable this modernization and the aviation transformation envisioned for global airspace system through proactive mitigation of risks in accordance with target levels of safety To transform the NAS, SWS employs high-risk research and development to understand how the modernization of industry and aircraft can affect overall safety. SWS is developing and demonstrating innovative solutions within several key research areas, referred to as technical challenges. Current Technical Challenges (TCs) TC-2: In-Flight Safety Predictions for Emerging Operations TC-4: Complex Autonomous Systems Assurance TC-5: Safety Demonstrator Series for Operational In-Time Aviation Safety Management System TC-6: In-Time Aviation Safety Management System SWS is developing the concept and requirements for an assured In-Time Aviation Safety Management System to achieve the goals described above. It is an integrated set of services, functions, and capabilities to address operational risks and hazards of a transformed NAS. SWS catalyzes the discovery of the unknown and paves the path forward for aviation safety in the future airspace. Back to main System-Wide Safety project page. Facebook logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Instagram logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Linkedin logo @NASA Explore More 3 min read System-Wide Safety Collaborations Article 2 months ago 1 min read NASA Langley Participates in Drone Responders Conference Article 4 months ago 4 min read Advice from NASA Mentors to Students Starting Their Careers Article 7 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Artemis Aeronautics STEM Explore NASA’s History Share Details Last Updated Jul 31, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactKaitlyn Foxkaitlyn.d.fox@nasa.gov Related TermsSystem-Wide Safety View the full article

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) System-Wide Safety (SWS) project leaders are listed here. Project Manager Dr. Kyle Ellis Deputy Project Manager Summer Brandt Associate Project Manager Dr. Wendy Okolo Associate Project Manager Michael Vincent Project Scientist Dr. Paul Miner Senior Technical Advisor for Aviation Safety Dr. Lance Prinzel Senior Technical Advisor for Autonomy Dr. Joseph Coughlan Senior Technical Advisor for Assurance Dr. Natasha Neogi Safety Liaison Dr. Misty Davies Back to main System-Wide Safety project page. Facebook logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Instagram logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Linkedin logo @NASA Explore More 2 min read System-Wide Safety Project Description Article 34 mins ago 3 min read System-Wide Safety Collaborations Article 2 months ago 1 min read NASA Langley Participates in Drone Responders Conference Article 4 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Artemis Aeronautics STEM Explore NASA’s History Share Details Last Updated Jul 31, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactKaitlyn Foxkaitlyn.d.fox@nasa.gov Related TermsSystem-Wide Safety View the full article

Note: Please note that this is an “archived project” and is no longer updated. This article is meant for historical purposes only. The Composite Cryogenic Propellant Tank project will develop and ground demonstrate large-scale composite cryogenic propellant tanks applicable to heavy-lift launch vehicles, propellant depots, and future lander systems. The primary objective of the Composite Cryotank Technologies and Demonstration (CCTD) project is to mature the technology readiness of composite cryogenic propellant tanks at diameters that are suitable for future heavy lift vehicles and other in-space applications. The concept being developed and demonstrated by this project involves advanced materials (composites), structural concepts (joints, splices, fasteners, etc.), and manufacturing techniques. For this project, an out-of-autoclave manufacturing approach is being developed. The Boeing Company will: design and manufacture a 2.4-meter diameter and a 5.5-meter tanks based on expected loads from the larger SLS tank using an out-of-autoclave procedure; validate the performance of the tanks composite material systems in a relevant environment (e.g., structural integrity, permeability, microcracking); validate the durability of the tanks composite materials under cyclic thermal-mechanical loads; validate the predicted performance of critical joints and design details under representative mechanical and thermal loads; and validate the manufacturing techniques used to create a structural cryotanks. If successful, the manufacturing of large, high-performance composite structures can be accomplished throughout industry without the need of an autoclave, thus improving competition and potentially further reducing the cost to manufacture very large composite components. Success in this project could lead to rocket propellant tanks that are more than 30 percent lighter and 25 percent cheaper to fabricate compared with current state-of-the-art metallic tanks. Such advancements offer less cost for payload delivery to orbit and the potential of enabling advanced human and robotic space exploration missions. Share Details Last Updated Jul 31, 2024 LocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related TermsGame Changing Development ProgramSpace Technology Mission Directorate Explore More 2 min read Tech Today: Space Age Swimsuit Reduces Drag, Breaks Records SpeedoUSA worked with Langley Research Center to design a swimsuit with reduced surface drag. Article 6 days ago 3 min read NASA Streams First 4K Video from Aircraft to Space Station, Back Article 1 week ago 3 min read NASA Releases First Integrated Ranking of Civil Space Challenges Article 1 week ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Game Changing Development Space Technology Mission Directorate NASA’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative NASA Marshall Kicks Off Game Changing Composite Cryotank Testing View the full article

21 Min Read The Marshall Star for July 31, 2024 SLS Core Stage Rolls Inside Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket core stage for the Artemis II mission is inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center. Tugboats and towing vessels moved the barge and core stage 900-miles to the Florida spaceport from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, where it was manufactured and assembled. After completing its journey from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility aboard the Pegasus barge, teams with Exploration Ground Systems transport the agency’s powerful SLS (Space Launch System) core stage to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building on July 23.NASA/Isaac Watson Team members with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program safely transferred the 212-foot-tall core stage from the agency’s Pegasus barge, which arrived at NASA Kennedy’s Complex 39 turn basin wharf on July 23, onto the self-propelled module transporter, which is used to move large elements of hardware. It was then rolled to the Vehicle Assembly Building transfer aisle where teams will process it until it is ready for rocket stacking operations. In the coming months, teams will integrate the rocket core stage atop the mobile launcher with the additional Artemis II flight hardware, including the twin solid rocket boosters, launch vehicle stage adapter, and the Orion spacecraft. The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman, as well as CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back. › Back to Top Take 5 with Chris Calfee By Wayne Smith Ask Chris Calfee about his favorite memory from his 38-year career at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and you’ll discover it’s a difficult question to answer. That’s because there have been many memories. Chris Calfee is the SLS Spacecraft Payload Integration and Evolution element manager. NASA/Charles Beason Calfee was the integrator for the upper stage spacecraft for the Marshall-led Chandra X-Ray Observatory, which marked its 25th launch anniversary July 23. He’s worked with Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART), a technology mission aimed at demonstrating that a spacecraft could independently rendezvous with an orbiting satellite without human intervention. Calfee was the booster manager for the Ares I-X test flight, which he points to as another career highlight. And then there’s his favorite memory – working with NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and watching the 2022 Artemis I launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. “I’ve been fortunate in my career to have the opportunities I’ve had with NASA,” said Calfee, the SLS Spacecraft Payload Integration and Evolution (SPIE) element manager. “Seeing the Chandra mission fly and the success it has had is awesome. Being able to work DART from cradle to grave, including its flight, was unforgettable. But I’d have to say being able to represent the SLS SPIE Element Office at Kennedy’s Launch Control Center and seeing Artemis I light up the night sky is the proudest moment.” As the SLS Spacecraft/Payload Integration and Evolution element manager, Calfee’s responsibilities include overseeing the development and delivering key adapter hardware for SLS rockets that will power the first crewed Artemis missions and first flight of SLS in its evolved Block 1B configuration. The hardware includes the launch vehicle stage adapter, interim cryogenic propulsion stage, and the Orion stage adapter – and the universal stage adapter for SLS Block 1B. The SPIE Element Office serves a key role in the successful execution of the SLS mission, both for the initial launch capability as well as the evolution of subsequent rocket configurations. NASA moved a step closer to the Artemis II launch with the July shipment of the SLS core stage to Kennedy from the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility. Calfee and his team have the adapters complete for Artemis II and will soon ship them to Kennedy for launch preparations. As work advances toward Artemis II, Calfee looks back on the Artemis I launch as a “surreal experience.” But he put his celebration on hold as he watched the initial moments of the flight. “The pressure was on the SPIE hardware to finish the job for SLS as we tracked the successful booster burn and separation, and then the core stage’s excellent performance,” said Calfee, who is from Newport, Tennessee, and a graduate of the University of Tennessee. “The interim cryogenic propulsion (ICPS) stage 20-minute burn was approximately one and a half hours after launch, followed by Orion spacecraft separation from the ICPS and Orion stage adapter, the most critical event of the mission from my perspective. It was another huge relief to see the ICPS burn and the Orion separation event go flawlessly.” Calfee pauses for a photo in front of the SLS rocket ahead of the Artemis I launch in 2022. NASA/Courtesy of Chris Calfee Memorable indeed. Question: Looking ahead to Artemis II and the Artemis campaign, what excites you most about the future of human space exploration and your team’s role it? Calfee: For me personally, it is exciting just to be a part of the future of human space flight and having the opportunity to influence that future. With respect to the SPIE team, it’s a similar feeling. Having the opportunity to lead a team that has such a significant role and responsibility in our future is an awesome experience. Question: Who or what drives/motivates you? Calfee: The opportunity to make a difference, be a part of history, and lead and mentor our future leaders. Question: Who or what inspired you to pursue an education/career that led you to NASA and Marshall? Calfee: My parents were my inspiration and provided me the opportunity to pursue my education. Although I followed the space program as a kid, specifically the Apollo program and Moon landings, I never dreamed that I would actually have the opportunity to work for NASA. I found my way to NASA via an on-campus interview job fair, was invited to Marshall for a follow-up interview, and it became an easy decision when an offer was made. Question: What advice do you have for employees early in their NASA career or those in new leadership roles? Calfee: For those early in their career, keep an open mind and be willing to take on new challenges. Diversify the resume. For those in new leadership roles, never get complacent. The moment you think you have it all figured out, something will surprise and humble you. I love the quote, “Get comfortable being uncomfortable,” because I guarantee as a leader, you will experience many uncomfortable moments. Question: What do you enjoy doing with your time while away from work? Calfee: Spending time with my grandkids. I also enjoy homebrewing and wine making, and I probably spend too much time following and watching college sports. Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications. › Back to Top Stars, Stripes, and STEM: Q&A with Former NASA Intern, Miss America Team members at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center recently sat down with reigning Miss America, Madison Marsh. In addition to her crown, Marsh is a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force and a former intern who contributed to astrophysics research at Marshall. Watch to learn more about her experience studying gamma-ray bursts and hear what advice she has for anyone interested in a STEM career. (NASA) › Back to Top Thomas Brown Named Marshall’s Chief Engineer, Manager of Engineering Office Thomas Brown has been named center chief engineer and manager of the Chief Engineering Office within the Engineering Directorate at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, effective July 28. Thomas Brown has been named center chief engineer and manager of the Chief Engineering Office within the Engineering Directorate at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.NASA In his role, Brown will be responsible for assuring the technical excellence and success of all Marshall-assigned spacecraft, propulsion, science payload, life support, and mission systems. He will provide expert technical leadership in planning, directing, and executing research, technology, ground and flight systems design and development, production, integration, and sustaining engineering for the Space Launch System Program, Human Landing System Program, the Human Exploration Development and Operations Office, and the Science and Technology Office. Brown previously served as director of the Propulsion Systems Department of the Engineering Directorate, since 2020. In this role, he managed a $68 million annual budget and oversaw a workforce responsible for new and ongoing design and development activities for the propulsion components and systems at Marshall and other NASA centers. As the capability lead for In-Space Transportation Systems from 2018-2020, Brown led the Systems Capability Leadership Team of system-specific subject matter experts from across the agency for the in-space transportation system’s disciplines, which support NASA’s robotic and human exploration missions. From 2014 to 2018, he was the NASA Technical Fellow for Propulsion and the NASA Propulsion Capability Lead, the agency’s most senior propulsion subject matter expert. Between 2005 and 2014, Brown served as chief of two divisions within the Propulsion Systems Department, as well as technical advisor to the director of the Propulsion Systems Department at Marshall, where he assisted in internal technology investment planning and served in agency and cross-government level assignments. In 2007, he completed a one-year developmental assignment at Glenn Research Center as acting deputy manager of the Advanced Capabilities Project Office. Brown began his NASA career at Marshall in 1999 as an aerospace engineer in the Space Transportation Directorate, performing propulsion systems analysis and integration. Initially working design, analysis, and integration of the X-34 Main Propulsion System and the Fastrac/MC-1 rocket engine, Brown’s activities quickly expanded into a broad range of propulsion technology development efforts. He served as chief engineer for several of these efforts during both the Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Program and the Next Generation Launch Technology Program. Specific projects included the Main Propulsion and Auxiliary Propulsion Systems Technology Project and the ISTAR, Rocket Based Combined Cycle technology project. Brown received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, before earning his master’s and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University. He holds a U.S. patent and has published more than 30 refereed journal publications, book sections, and conference proceedings related to fundamental combustion, advanced measurement techniques, propulsion technology, and propulsion systems analysis and integration. › Back to Top Marshall Deputy Director Rae Ann Meyer Honored During Huntsville City Football Club Space Night NASA Marshall Deputy Director Rae Ann Meyer waves to a crowd of more than 4,000 fans at the Wicks Family Field at Joe Davis Stadium in Huntsville on July 27 during halftime of the soccer match between Huntsville City Football Club and Atlanta United 2. Meyer was honored as the “Hero of the Match,” recognizing her leadership and accomplishments in 35 years of service to the agency. (NASA/Taylor Goodwin) Representatives from 10 Marshall programs and projects staffed booths and exhibits at the stadium throughout the match, sharing details of their respective work to thousands of guests. (NASA/Taylor Goodwin) Marshall’s exhibit footprint began outside of the stadium, welcoming soccer and space fans to the stadium with inflatables and educational materials. (NASA/Taylor Goodwin) › Back to Top NASA Supports Burst Test for Orbital Reef Commercial Space Station An element of a NASA-funded commercial space station, Orbital Reef, under development by Blue Origin and Sierra Space, recently completed a full-scale ultimate burst pressure test as part of the agency’s efforts for new destinations in low Earth orbit. This milestone is part of a NASA Space Act Agreement awarded to Blue Origin in 2021. Orbital Reef includes elements provided by Sierra Space, including the LIFE (Large Integrated Flexible Environment) habitat structure. Sierra Space’s LIFE habitat following a full-scale ultimate burst pressure test at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.Sierra Space Teams conducted the burst test on Sierra Space’s LIFE habitat structure using testing capabilities at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The inflatable habitat is fabricated from high-strength webbings and fabric that form a solid structure once pressurized. The multiple layers of soft goods materials that make up the shell are compactly stowed in a payload fairing and inflated when ready for use, enabling the habitat to launch on a single rocket. “This is an exciting test by Sierra Space for Orbital Reef, showing industry’s commitment and capability to develop innovative technologies and solutions for future commercial destinations,” said Angela Hart, manager of NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program at the agency’s Johnson Space Center. “Every successful development milestone by our partners is one more step to achieving our goal of enabling commercial low Earth orbit destinations and expanding the low Earth orbit marketplace.” The pressurization to failure during the test demonstrated the habitat’s capabilities and provided the companies with critical data supporting NASA’s inflatable softgoods certification guidelines, which recommend a progression of tests to evaluate these materials in relevant operational environments and understand the failure modes. Demonstrating the habitat’s ability to meet the recommended factor of safety through full-scale ultimate burst pressure testing is one of the primary structural requirements on a soft goods article, such as Sierra Space’s LIFE habitat, seeking flight certification. Prior to this recent test, Sierra Space conducted its first full-scale ultimate burst pressure test on the LIFE habitat at Marshall in December 2023. Additionally, Sierra Space previously completed subscale tests, first at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and then at Marshall as part of ongoing development and testing of inflatable habitation architecture. NASA supports the design and development of multiple commercial space stations, including Orbital Reef, through funded and unfunded agreements. The current design and development phase will be followed by the procurement of services from one or more companies. NASA’s goal is to achieve a strong economy in low Earth orbit where the agency can purchase services as one of many customers to meet its science and research objectives in microgravity. NASA’s commercial strategy for low Earth orbit will provide the government with reliable and safe services at a lower cost, enabling the agency to focus on Artemis missions to the Moon in preparation for Mars while also continuing to use low Earth orbit as a training and proving ground for those deep space missions. Learn more about NASA’s commercial space strategy. › Back to Top DART Mission Sheds New Light on Target Binary Asteroid System In studying data collected from NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission, which in 2022 sent a spacecraft to intentionally collide with the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, the mission’s science team has discovered new information on the origins of the target binary asteroid system and why the DART spacecraft was so effective in shifting Dimorphos’ orbit. In five recently published papers in Nature Communications, the team explored the geology of the binary asteroid system, comprising moonlet Dimorphos and parent asteroid Didymos, to characterize its origin and evolution and constrain its physical characteristics. The various geological features observed on Didymos helped researchers tell the story of Didymos’ origins. The asteroid’s triangular ridge (first panel from left), and the so-called smooth region, and its likely older, rougher “highland” region (second panel from left) can be explained through a combination of slope processes controlled by elevation (third panel from left). The fourth panel shows the effects of spin-up disruption that Didymos likely underwent to form Dimorphos. Johns Hopkins APL/Olivier Barnouin “These findings give us new insights into the ways that asteroids can change over time,” said Thomas Statler, lead scientist for Solar System Small Bodies at NASA Headquarters. “This is important not just for understanding the near-Earth objects that are the focus of planetary defense, but also for our ability to read the history of our Solar System from these remnants of planet formation. This is just part of the wealth of new knowledge we’ve gained from DART.” Olivier Barnouin and Ronald-Louis Ballouz of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, led a paper that analyzed the geology of both asteroids and drew conclusions about their surface materials and interior properties. From images captured by DART and its accompanying LICIACube cubesat – contributed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the team observed the smaller asteroid Dimorphos’ topography, which featured boulders of varying sizes. In comparison, the larger asteroid Didymos was smoother at lower elevations, though rocky at higher elevations, with more craters than Dimorphos. The authors inferred that Dimorphos likely spun off from Didymos in a large mass shedding event. There are natural processes that can accelerate the spins of small asteroids, and there is growing evidence that these processes may be responsible for re-shaping these bodies or even forcing material to be spun off their surfaces. Analysis suggested that both Didymos and Dimorphos have weak surface characteristics, which led the team to posit that Didymos has a surface age 40–130 times older than Dimorphos, with the former estimated to be 12.5 million years and the latter less than 300,000 years old. The low surface strength of Dimorphos likely contributed to DART’s significant impact on its orbit. “The images and data that DART collected at the Didymos system provided a unique opportunity for a close-up geological look of a near-Earth asteroid binary system,” said Barnouin. “From these images alone, we were able to infer a great deal of information on geophysical properties of both Didymos and Dimorphos and expand our understanding on the formation of these two asteroids. We also better understand why DART was so effective in moving Dimorphos.” To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Based on the internal and surface properties described in Barnouin et al. (2024), this video demonstrates how the spin-up of asteroid Didymos could have led to the growth of its equatorial ridge and the formation of the smaller asteroid Dimorphos, seen orbiting the former near the end of the clip. Particles are colored according to their speeds, with the scale shown at the top, along with the continually changing spin period of Didymos.University of Michigan/Yun Zhang and Johns Hopkins APL/Olivier Barnouin Maurizio Pajola, of the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in Rome, and co-authors led a paper comparing the shapes and sizes of the various boulders and their distribution patterns on the two asteroids’ surfaces. They determined the physical characteristics of Dimorphos indicate it formed in stages, likely of material inherited from its parent asteroid Didymos. That conclusion reinforces the prevailing theory that some binary asteroid systems arise from shed remnants of a larger primary asteroid accumulating into a new asteroid moonlet. Alice Lucchetti, also of INAF, and colleagues found that thermal fatigue – the gradual weakening and cracking of a material caused by heat – could rapidly break up boulders on the surface of Dimorphos, generating surface lines and altering the physical characteristics of this type of asteroid more quickly than previously thought. The DART mission was likely the first observation of such a phenomenon on this type of asteroid. Supervised by researcher Naomi Murdoch of ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse, France, and colleagues, a paper led by students Jeanne Bigot and Pauline Lombardo determined Didymos’ bearing capacity – the surface’s ability to support applied loads – to be at least 1,000 times lower than that of dry sand on Earth or lunar soil. This is considered an important parameter for understanding and predicting the response of a surface, including for the purposes of displacing an asteroid. Colas Robin, also of ISAE-SUPAERO, and co-authors analyzed the surface boulders on Dimorphos, comparing them with those on other rubble pile asteroids, including Itokawa, Ryugu, and Bennu. The researchers found the boulders shared similar characteristics, suggesting all these types of asteroids formed and evolved in a similar fashion. The team also noted that the elongated nature of the boulders around the DART impact site implies that they were likely formed through impact processing. These latest findings form a more robust overview of the origins of the Didymos system and add to the understanding of how such planetary bodies were formed. As ESA’s (European Space Agency) Hera mission prepares to revisit DART’s collision site in 2026 to further analyze the aftermath of the first-ever planetary defense test, this research provides a series of tests for what Hera will find and contributes to current and future exploration missions while bolstering planetary defense capabilities. Johns Hopkins APL managed the DART mission for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office as a project of the agency’s Planetary Missions Program Office, which is at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA provided support for the mission from several centers, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, Johnson Space Center, Glenn Research Center, and Langley Research Center. › Back to Top Fermi Finds New Feature in Brightest Gamma-Ray Burst Yet Seen In October 2022, astronomers were stunned by what was quickly dubbed the BOAT — the brightest-of-all-time gamma-ray burst (GRB). Now an international science team reports that data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveals a feature never seen before. “A few minutes after the BOAT erupted, Fermi’s Gamma-ray Burst Monitor recorded an unusual energy peak that caught our attention,” said lead researcher Maria Edvige Ravasio at Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands, and affiliated with Brera Observatory, part of INAF (the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics) in Merate, Italy. “When I first saw that signal, it gave me goosebumps. Our analysis since then shows it to be the first high-confidence emission line ever seen in 50 years of studying GRBs.” A jet of particles moving at nearly light speed emerges from a massive star in this artist’s concept. The star’s core ran out of fuel and collapsed into a black hole. Some of the matter swirling toward the black hole was redirected into dual jets firing in opposite directions. We see a gamma-ray burst when one of these jets happens to point directly at Earth. NASA A paper about the discovery appears in the July 26 edition of the journal Science. When matter interacts with light, the energy can be absorbed and reemitted in characteristic ways. These interactions can brighten or dim particular colors (or energies), producing key features visible when the light is spread out, rainbow-like, in a spectrum. These features can reveal a wealth of information, such as the chemical elements involved in the interaction. At higher energies, spectral features can uncover specific particle processes, such as matter and antimatter annihilating to produce gamma rays. “While some previous studies have reported possible evidence for absorption and emission features in other GRBs, subsequent scrutiny revealed that all of these could just be statistical fluctuations. What we see in the BOAT is different,” said coauthor Om Sharan Salafia at INAF-Brera Observatory in Milan, Italy. “We’ve determined that the odds this feature is just a noise fluctuation are less than one chance in half a billion.” GRBs are the most powerful explosions in the cosmos and emit copious amounts of gamma rays, the highest-energy form of light. The most common type occurs when the core of a massive star exhausts its fuel, collapses, and forms a rapidly spinning black hole. Matter falling into the black hole powers oppositely directed particle jets that blast through the star’s outer layers at nearly the speed of light. We detect GRBs when one of these jets points almost directly toward Earth. The BOAT, formally known as GRB 221009A, erupted Oct. 9, 2022, and promptly saturated most of the gamma-ray detectors in orbit, including those on Fermi. This prevented them from measuring the most intense part of the blast. Reconstructed observations, coupled with statistical arguments, suggest the BOAT, if part of the same population as previously detected GRBs, was likely the brightest burst to appear in Earth’s skies in 10,000 years. The brightest gamma-ray burst yet recorded gave scientists a new high-energy feature to study. Learn what NASA’s Fermi mission saw, and what this feature may be telling us about the burst’s light-speed jets. (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center) The putative emission line appears almost 5 minutes after the burst was detected and well after it had dimmed enough to end saturation effects for Fermi. The line persisted for at least 40 seconds, and the emission reached a peak energy of about 12 MeV (million electron volts). For comparison, the energy of visible light ranges from 2 to 3 electron volts. So what produced this spectral feature? The team thinks the most likely source is the annihilation of electrons and their antimatter counterparts, positrons. “When an electron and a positron collide, they annihilate, producing a pair of gamma rays with an energy of 0.511 MeV,” said coauthor Gor Oganesyan at Gran Sasso Science Institute and Gran Sasso National Laboratory in L’Aquila, Italy. “Because we’re looking into the jet, where matter is moving at near light speed, this emission becomes greatly blueshifted and pushed toward much higher energies.” If this interpretation is correct, to produce an emission line peaking at 12 MeV, the annihilating particles had to have been moving toward us at about 99.9% the speed of light. “After decades of studying these incredible cosmic explosions, we still don’t understand the details of how these jets work,” noted Elizabeth Hays, the Fermi project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “Finding clues like this remarkable emission line will help scientists investigate this extreme environment more deeply.” The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership managed by Goddard. Fermi was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is responsible for one of the instruments on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope – the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor, or GBM. The GBM studies gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe, as well as other flashes of gamma rays. The GBM sees these bursts across the entire sky, and scientists are using its observations to learn more about the universe. › Back to Top View the full article

On July 19, 2024, NASA officially named Johnson Space Center’s building 12 the “Dorothy Vaughan Center in Honor of the Women of Apollo.” A portrait of Dorothy Vaughan is now the central feature at the entrance of the newly named building. This portrait was hand-painted by Eliza Hoffman, an accomplished artist who is also a recent graduate from Clear Creek Independent School District. Recent Clear Creek Independent School District graduate and artist Eliza Hoffman hand-painted a portrait of Dorothy Vaughan in honor of the Women of Apollo. The handcrafted portrait of Vaughan took about a month to complete. The photo the Vaughan family wanted to use for the ceremony was black and white, so Hoffman had to brainstorm how to bring the photo to life in living color. This led her to search for colorized versions of the reference photo on the internet to guide her in the painting process. She revealed that she first learned of Vaughan from the movie “Hidden Figures,” which she was inspired to watch after reading the book “Women in Space” throughout her childhood. When privately revealing the artwork to the Vaughan family, Hoffman felt their emotion and joy. She reflected, “I am honored to have the family of such a great woman be so moved by my painting. It is a memory that I will always remember.” NASA’s Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche greets artist Eliza Hoffman at the surprise unveiling of Dorothy Vaughan’s painted portrait in the main hallway of the Dorothy Vaughan Center in Honor of the Women of Apollo.NASA/David DeHoyos Hoffman shared that “One of the great things about making art is that it communicates information about the subject and its emotion to the audience. In this case, I was given the chance to create a portrait which will help inform people for years to come about Dorothy Vaughan’s life and legacy.” At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, it was noted to Hoffman that her portrait will now become a part of Johnson’s history. Through Hoffman’s research on Vaughan, she noticed that Vaughan was not only a person beloved by many but also a woman that walked with humility and gentleness, which she hopes viewers see in her painting. View the full article

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA Johnson Space Center: ORDEM represents the state of the art in orbital debris models intended for engineering analysis. It is a data-driven model, relying on large quantities of radar, optical, in situ, and laboratory measurement data. When released, it was the first software code to include a model for different orbital debris material densities, population models from low Earth orbit (LEO) all the way to Geosynchronous orbit (GEO), and uncertainties in each debris population. ORDEM allows users to compute the orbital debris flux on any satellite in Earth orbit. This allows satellite designers to mitigate possible orbital debris damage to a spacecraft and its instruments using shielding and design choices, thereby extending the useful life of the mission and its experiments. The model also has a mode that simulates debris telescope/radar observations from the ground. Both it and the spacecraft flux mode can be used to design experiments to measure the meteoroid and orbital debris environments. ORDEM is used heavily in the hypervelocity protection community, those that design, build, and test shielding for spacecraft and rocket upper stages. The fidelity of the ORDEM model allows for the optimization of shielding to balance mission success criteria, risk posture, and cost considerations. As both government and civilian actors continue to exploit the space environment for security, science, and the economy, it is important that we track the debris risks in increasingly crowded orbits, in order to minimize damage to these space assets to make sure these missions continue to operate safely. ORDEM is NASA’s primary tool for computing and mitigating these risks. ORDEM is used by NASA, the Department of Defense, and other U.S. government agencies, directly or indirectly (via the Debris Assessment Software, MSC-26690-1) to evaluate collision risk for large trackable objects, as well as other mission-ending risks associated with small debris (such as tank ruptures or wiring cuts). In addition to the use as an engineering tool, ORDEM has been used by NASA and other missions in the conceptual design phase to analyze the frequency of orbital debris impacts on potential in situ sensors that could detect debris too small to be detected from ground-based assets. Commercial and academic users of ORDEM include Boeing, SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, the University of Colorado, California Polytechnic State University, among many others. These end users, similar to the government users discussed above, use the software to (1) directly determine potential hazards to spaceflight resulting from flying through the debris environment, and (2) research how the debris environment varies over time to better understand what behaviors may be able to mitigate the growth of the environment. The quality and quantity of data available to the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO) for the building, verification, and validation of the ORDEM model is greater than for any other entity that performs similar research. Many of the models used by other research and engineering organizations are derived from the models that ODPO has published after developing them for use in ORDEM.   ORDEM Team Alyssa Manis Andrew B, Vavrin Brent A. Buckalew Christopher L. Ostrom Heather Cowardin Jer-chyi Liou John H, Seago John Nicolaus Opiela Mark J. Matney, Ph.D. Matthew Horstman Phillip D. Anz-Meador, Ph.D. Quanette Juarez Paula H. Krisko, Ph.D. Yu-Lin Xu, Ph.D. Share Details Last Updated Jul 31, 2024 EditorBill Keeter Related TermsOffice of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS) View the full article

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA Ames Research Center: ProgPy is an open-source Python package supporting research and development of prognostics, health management, and predictive maintenance tools. Prognostics is the science of prediction, and the field of Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) aims at estimating the current physical health of a system (e.g., motor, battery, etc.) and predicting how the system will degrade with use. The results of prognostics are used across industries to prevent failure, preserve safety, and reduce maintenance costs. Prognostics, and prediction in general, is a very difficult and complex undertaking. Accurate prediction requires a model of the performance and degradation of complex systems as a function of time and use, estimation and management of uncertainty, representation of system use profiles, and ability to represent impact of neighboring systems and the environment. Any small discrepancy between the model and the actual system is compounded repeatedly, resulting in a large variation in the resulting prediction. For this reason, prognostics requires complex and capable algorithms, models, and software systems. The ProgPy architecture can be thought of as three innovations: the Prognostic Models, the Prognostic Engine, Prognostic Support Tools. The first part of the ProgPy innovation is the Prognostic Models. The model describes the prognostic behavior of the specific system of interest. ProgPy’s architecture includes a spectrum of modeling methodologies, ranging from physics-based models to entirely data-driven or hybrid techniques. Most users develop their own physics-based model, train one of the ProgPy data-driven models (e.g., Neural-Network models), or some hybrid of the two. A set of mature models for systems like batteries, electric motors, pumps, and valves are distributed in ProgPy. For these parameterized models, users tune the model to their specific system using the model tuning tools. The Prognostics Engine and Support Tools are built on top of these models, meaning a user that creates a new model will immediately be able to take advantage of the other features of ProgPy. The Prognostic Engine is the most important part of ProgPy and forms the backbone of the software. The Prognostics Engine uses a Prognostics Model to perform the key functions of prognostics and health state estimation. The value in this design is that the Prognostics Engine can use any ProgPy model, whether it be a model distributed with ProgPy or a custom model created by users, to perform health state estimation and prognostics in a configurable way. The components of the Prognostics Engine are extendable, allowing users to implement their own state estimation or prediction algorithm for use with ProgPy models or use one distributed with ProgPy. Given the Prognostics Engine and a model, users can start performing prognostics for their application. This flexible and extendable framework for performing prognostics is truly novel and enables the widespread impact of ProgPy in the prognostic community. The Prognostic Support Tools are a set of features that aid with the development, tuning, benchmarking, evaluation, and visualization of prognostic models and Prognostics Engine results (i.e., predictions). Like the Prognostic Engine, the support tools work equally with models distributed with ProgPy or custom models created by users. A user creating a model immediately has access to a wide array of tools to help them with their task. Detailed documentation, examples, and tutorials of all these features are available to help users learn and use the software tools. These three innovations of ProgPy implement architectures and widely used prognostics and health management functionality, supporting both researchers and practitioners. ProgPy combines technologies from across NASA projects and mission directorates, and external partners into a single package to support NASA missions and U.S. industries. Its innovative framework makes it applicable to a wide range of applications, providing enhanced capabilities not available in other, more limited, state-of-the-art software packages. ProgPy offers unique features and a breadth and depth of unmatched capabilities when compared to other software in the field. It is novel in that it equips users with the tools necessary to do prognostics in their applications as-is, eliminating the need to adapt their use case to comply with the software available. This feature of ProgPy is an improvement upon the current state-of-the-art, as other prognostics software are often developed for specific use cases or based on a singular modeling method (Dadfarina and Drozdov, 2013; Davidson-Pilon, 2022; Schreiber, 2017). ProgPy’s unique approach opens a world of possibilities for researchers, practitioners, and developers in the field of prognostics and health management, as well as NASA missions and U.S. industries. ProgPy Team: Adam J Sweet, Aditya Tummala, Chetan Shrikant Kulkarni Christopher Allen Teubert Jason Watkins Kateyn Jarvis Griffith Matteo Corbetta Matthew John Daigle Miryam Stautkalns Portia Banerjee  Share Details Last Updated Jul 31, 2024 EditorBill Keeter Related TermsOffice of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS) View the full article

On the eve of the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston commemorated the unsung heroes who helped make humanity’s first steps on the Moon possible. To celebrate their enduring legacy, Johnson named one of its central buildings the “Dorothy Vaughan Center in Honor of the Women of Apollo” on July 19, 2024, during a ceremony recognizing the early pioneers who laid the groundwork for the Artemis Generation. NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston named one of its central building the “Dorothy Vaughan Center in Honor of the Women of Apollo.” NASA/David DeHoyos Dorothy Vaughan, a mathematician and NASA’s first Black manager, played a crucial role in this historic achievement. As the head of the West Area Computing Unit at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, from 1949 to 1958, she led her team in mastering new computer programming languages, helping to pave the way for the agency’s current diverse workforce and leadership. The program included remarks from Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche, NASA astronaut Christina Koch, and Deputy Associate Administrator Casey Swails. Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche gives opening remarks at the building naming ceremony on July 19, 2024. NASA/Robert Markowitz “Dorothy Vaughan, alongside all of our Women of Apollo, represents the best of NASA’s past, and their legacies serve as the inspiration and foundation for our future,” said Wyche. “As we prepare to take our next giant leap, the Women of Apollo will take each step with us.” NASA leadership joined for the special occasion, including Associate Administrator Jim Free, Acting Associate Administrator for Space Technology Mission Directorate and Langley Director Clayton Turner, Director of NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi John Bailey, and former Johnson Director Mike Coats. Also in attendance were Reps. Lizzie Fletcher and Sylvia Garcia, and representatives from the offices of Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. John Cornyn, and Rep. Brian Babin. NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Jeanette J. Epps, and Tracy C. Dyson celebrated the historic moment with a special message from the International Space Station. “We have accomplished our dreams of space exploration thanks to the many NASA women that paved the way for diversity, inclusion, and excellence,” said Epps. “Building on the efforts of our space exploration pioneers, we continue to work for the benefit of humanity,” said Dyson. “NASA’s success is only possible because of the tenacity and expertise of individuals like Dorothy Vaughan whose legacy of brilliance continues to inspire us today.” Texas Southern University’s Dr. Thomas F. Freeman Debate Team delivers a speech during the building naming event. NASA/Robert Markowitz The program also featured the reading of a poem by Dr. Vivian Ayers Allen, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated poet, cultural activist, and former NASA editor and typist. The poem, titled “Hawk,” was published just 11 weeks before humankind’s first venture into space with Sputnik I as an allegory where space flight symbolizes freedom. Allen’s daughter, Phylicia Rashad, recited the poem ahead of the presentation by Texas Southern University’s Dr. Thomas F. Freeman Debate Team. The Women of Apollo stand behind the “Women in Human Spaceflight” panelists. From left: Sandy Johnson, CEO of Barrios Technology; Andrea Mosie, manager and senior sample processor for NASA’s Lunar Materials Repository Laboratory; NASA astronaut Christina Hammock Koch; Dr. Shirley Price, former NASA equal opportunity specialist; Lara Kearney, manager of NASA’s Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program; and panel moderator Debbie Korth, deputy manager of the Orion Program. NASA/Robert Markowitz The ceremony also included a “Women in Human Spaceflight” panel discussion with some of the impactful Women of Apollo and current trailblazers in human spaceflight. The panelists inspired the crowd with their collective experiences of breaking barriers and making monumental contributions to space exploration. Debbie Korth, deputy manager of the Orion Program, moderated the event with panelists Lara Kearney, manager of NASA’s Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program; Sandy Johnson, CEO of Barrios Technology; NASA astronaut Christina Hammock Koch; Andrea Mosie, manager and senior sample processor for NASA’s Lunar Materials Repository Laboratory; and Dr. Shirley Price, former NASA equal opportunity specialist. “I learned that as long as I am being myself, I can make a difference,” said Price. “Dorothy Vaughan helped me make that difference because she paved the way for me, and I am here to pave the way forward for more to follow.” Koch reflected on the future, saying, “I am looking forward to us being driven by our values of inclusivity, making sure that we are going for all and by all in a non-hidden way and that we are calling out the amazing contributions of every single person that has a dream.” Dorothy Vaughan’s granddaughter Heather Vaughan-Batten cuts the ribbon to officially name building 12 the Dorothy Vaughan Center in Honor of the Women of Apollo. NASA/David DeHoyos Heather Vaughan-Batten, Vaughan’s granddaughter, marked the official naming of the building with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Vaughan’s family reacts to the surprise unveiling of Dorothy Vaughan’s painted portrait, created by artist Eliza Hoffman. NASA/David DeHoyos The event concluded with a surprise unveiling of a painting of Vaughan to her family. The portrait, created by Eliza Hoffman, an artist and student from Clear Creek Independent High School, now illuminates the main hallway of the Dorothy Vaughan Center in honor of the Women of Apollo. More than 30 portraits of women who made notable contributions to NASA during the Apollo era now line the building’s main hallway. Watch the building dedication ceremony, ribbon-cutting, and portrait unveiling below. View the full article