Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
NASA Administrator Honors Life of Apollo Astronaut Frank Borman
-
Similar Topics
-
By NASA
Faces of NASA features Ames Research Center Pilot David Zahn
In November 2023, “Faces of NASA” featured an aeronautics pilot from NASA Ames Research Center. Learn more about David Zahn and his story at https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasa-research-pilot-david-zahn/.
David Zahn pilots the ownship aircraft in the VMS’s R-Cab during the AVA-1h simulation in the VMS at NASA Ames Research Center.NASA / Dominic HartView the full article
-
By NASA
5 Min Read NASA’s Psyche Delivers First Images and Other Data
This mosaic was made from “first light” images acquired Dec. 4 by both of the cameras on NASA’s Psyche spacecraft. The star field lies in the constellation Pisces. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU The mission team has celebrated several successes since its launch from Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 13. The latest is the operation of the spacecraft’s cameras.
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is on a roll. In the eight weeks since it left Earth on Oct. 13, the orbiter has performed one successful operation after another, powering on scientific instruments, streaming data toward home, and setting a deep-space record with its electric thrusters. The latest achievement: On Monday, Dec. 4, the mission turned on Psyche’s twin cameras and retrieved the first images – a milestone called “first light.”
View the full images here Already 16 million miles (26 million kilometers) from Earth, the spacecraft will arrive at its destination – the asteroid Psyche in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter – in 2029. The team wanted to test all of the science instruments early in the long journey to make sure they are working as intended, and to ensure there would be plenty of time to calibrate and adjust them as needed. The imager instrument, which consists of a pair of identical cameras, captured a total of 68 images, all within a star field in the constellation Pisces. The imager team is using the data to verify proper commanding, telemetry analysis, and calibration of the images.
Psyche’s “first light” images make up this mosaic showing a starfield in the constellation Pisces. A version of the mosaic annotated with the names of the stars shown is at bottom.NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU “These initial images are only a curtain-opener,” said Arizona State University’s Jim Bell, the Psyche imager instrument lead. “For the team that designed and operates this sophisticated instrument, first light is a thrill. We start checking out the cameras with star images like these, then in 2026 we’ll take test images of Mars during the spacecraft’s flyby. And finally, in 2029 we’ll get our most exciting images yet – of our target asteroid Psyche. We look forward to sharing all of these visuals with the public.”
The imager takes pictures through multiple color filters, all of which were tested in these initial observations. With the filters, the team will use photographs in wavelengths of light both visible and invisible to the human eye to help determine the composition of the metal-rich asteroid Psyche. The imager team will also use the data to create 3D maps of the asteroid to better understand its geology, which will give clues about Psyche’s history.
Solar Surprise
Earlier in the mission, in late October, the team powered on the magnetometer, which will provide crucial data to help determine how the asteroid formed. Evidence that the asteroid once had a magnetic field would be a strong indication that the body is a partial core of a planetesimal, a building block of an early planet. The information could help us better understand how our own planet formed.
See the Psyche spacecraft in 3D on NASA's Eyes on the Solar System Shortly after being powered on, the magnetometer gave scientists an unexpected gift: It detected a solar eruption, a common occurrence called a coronal mass ejection, where the Sun expels large quantities of magnetized plasma. Since then, the team has seen several of these events and will continue to monitor space weather as the spacecraft travels to the asteroid.
The good news is twofold. Data collected so far confirms that the magnetometer can precisely detect very small magnetic fields. It also confirms that the spacecraft is magnetically “quiet.” The electrical currents powering a probe of this size and complexity have the potential to generate magnetic fields that could interfere with science detections. Because Earth has its own powerful magnetic field, scientists obtained a much better measurement of the spacecraft magnetic field once it was in space.
In the Zone
On Nov. 8, amid all the work with the science instruments, the team fired up two of the four electric propulsion thrusters, setting a record: the first-ever use of Hall-effect thrusters in deep space. Until now, they’d been used only on spacecraft going as far as lunar orbit. By expelling charged atoms, or ions, of xenon gas, the ultra-efficient thrusters will propel the spacecraft to the asteroid (a 2.2-billion-mile, or 3.6-billion-kilometer journey) and help it maneuver in orbit.
Less than a week later, on Nov. 14, the technology demonstration built into the spacecraft, an experiment called Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC), set its own record. DSOC achieved first light by sending and receiving optical data from far beyond the Moon. The instrument beamed a near-infrared laser encoded with test data from nearly 10 million miles (16 million kilometers) away – the farthest-ever demonstration of optical communications.
The Psyche team has also successfully powered on the gamma-ray detecting component of its third science instrument, the gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer. Next, the instrument’s neutron-detecting sensors will be turned on the week of Dec. 11. Together those capabilities will help the team determine the chemical elements that make up the asteroid’s surface material.
More About the Mission
Arizona State University (ASU) leads the Psyche mission. A division of Caltech in Pasadena, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. ASU leads the operations of the imager instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego on the design, fabrication, and testing of the cameras.
JPL manages DSOC for the Technology Demonstration Missions program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and the Space Communications and Navigation program within the Space Operations Mission Directorate.
Psyche is the 14th mission selected as part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, managed the launch service.
For more information about NASA’s Psyche mission go to:
http://www.nasa.gov/psyche
News Media Contacts
Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-287-4115
gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov
2023-077
Share
Details
Last Updated Dec 05, 2023 Related Terms
Psyche Mission Asteroids Jet Propulsion Laboratory Psyche Asteroid The Solar System Explore More
4 min read December’s Night Sky Notes: A Flame in the Sky – the Orion Nebula
It’s that time of year again: winter! Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the cold, crisp…
Article 4 days ago 4 min read NASA Orbiter Snaps Stunning Views of Mars Horizon
Article 1 week ago 3 min read NASA’s Dragonfly to Proceed with Final Mission Design Work
NASA’s Dragonfly mission has been authorized to proceed with work on final mission design and…
Article 1 week ago View the full article
-
By NASA
A pair of precision-orbiting small satellites will attempt to capture the first views ever of small-scale features near the surface of the Sun that scientists believe drive the heating and acceleration of solar wind.
Heliophysicist Dr. Doug Rabin at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said photon sieves, a technology that can focus extreme ultraviolet light, should be able to resolve features 10 to 50 times smaller than what can be seen today with the Solar Dynamics Observatory’s EUV imager.
Photon sieves like this are cut from a single wafer of silicon or niobium to focus extreme ultraviolet light – a difficult wavelength to capture.NASA / Christopher Gunn To be most effective, however, they must be wide, super-thin, and etched with precise holes to refract light. Working in Goddard’s Detector Development Laboratory, Goddard engineer Kevin Denis developed new ways to create wider and thinner membranes from wafers of silicon and niobium. Each advancement so far has required additional steps to protect the resulting sieves, such as leaving a honeycomb of thicker material to support the membrane and prevent tearing.
“It’s a sheer physical challenge to construct sieves with such precision,” said Goddard Heliophysicist Dr. Doug Rabin. “Their smallest features are a 2-microns across with a 2-micron gap between perforations, that’s about the size of most bacteria.”
New photon sieves consist of a honeycomb structure supporting a super-thin membrane cut to focus extreme-ultraviolet light. In this sieve, the largest gaps and holes can be seen in the center hexagon, but the rest quickly become too small for the human eye to detect.NASA / Christopher Gunn Etched with from the center with ever smaller rings of holes, sieves are built to refract light similarly to Fresnel lenses used in lighthouses. Extreme ultraviolet light passing through this sieve is bent gradually inward to a distant camera. Thin membranes matter for solar science because these sieves transmit more light than thicker materials, Denis said.
He and fellow engineer Kelly Johnson successfully produced a 3-inch (8-cm) diameter silicon sieve, a mere 100 nanometers thick. Now they are experimenting with niobium membranes which can further improve light-gathering efficiency because they transmit up to seven times more light than silicon. They have successfully etched a 5-inch (13 cm) diameter niobium sieve just 200 nanometers thick.
Denis takes inspiration from working closely with scientists to overcome barriers to advancing their field, he said. “They have done a great job using the sieves in near-term science applications while we push the technology for larger and more capable missions.”
Kevin DenisNASA / Christopher Gunn Photon sieves cut from materials as thick as 25 microns are already part of the technology demonstration VISORS – Virtual Super Optics Reconfigurable Swarm – CubeSat mission, expected to launch in 2024. VISORS consists of one compact satellite about the size of a briefcase outfitted with sieves to refract light onto a receiver on a second satellite 130 feet (40 m) away. Maintaining these spacecraft’s high-precision orbit and developing a sunshade are the focus of other Goddard IRAD project.
VISOR’s success could pave the way for a larger future mission, with spacecraft separation measured in kilometers, employing the greater resolution of Denis’s thinner sieves once they are ready for spaceflight.
Another larger photon sieve will be used to calibrate the MUSE – Multi-slit Solar Explorer – spectrometer expected to launch in 2027.
Denis’s work was highlighted in Physics Today, a publication of the American Institute for Physics, and has resulted with two patents already with a third submitted. Goddard Chief Technologist Peter Hughes awarded Denis the FY23 IRAD Innovator of the Year Award during the program’s annual poster session held Nov. 15.
While he continues to push the limits of engineering, Denis said he is looking forward to the MUSE and VISORS launches. “It’s a great motivation to see how they are going to be used for new science even as we continue to improve.”
By Karl B. Hille
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Share
Details
Last Updated Dec 05, 2023 Related Terms
Technology Goddard Space Flight Center People of Goddard Explore More
3 min read NASA Audio Specialist Named in Forbes 30 Under 30 List of Innovators
Article 23 hours ago 8 min read Hubble Celebrates 30th Anniversary of Servicing Mission 1
In the pre-dawn hours on Dec. 2, 1993, the space shuttle Endeavour launched from Kennedy…
Article 4 days ago 3 min read Hubble Views a Double Cluster of Glowing Galaxies
This Hubble image features a massive cluster of brightly glowing galaxies, first identified as Abell 3192.…
Article 4 days ago View the full article
-
By NASA
(Nov. 8, 2021) — The International Space Station is pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly around of the orbiting lab that took place following its undocking from the Harmony module’s space-facing port on Nov. 8, 2021.NASA/SpaceX NASA is celebrating the 25th anniversary of International Space Station operations during a live conversation with crew aboard the microgravity laboratory for the benefit of humanity. During a space-to-Earth call at 12:25 p.m. EST Wednesday, Dec. 6, the Expedition 70 crew will speak with NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana and Joel Montalbano, space station program manager.
Watch on the NASA+ streaming service at no cost on demand. The discussion also will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.
On Dec. 6, 1998, the first two elements of the orbital outpost, Unity and Zarya, were attached by crew members of space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-88 mission. Cabana was the commander of the mission and the first American to enter the space station.
Through this global endeavor, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station for more than 23 years, testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth. It has been visited by 273 people from 21 countries.
More than 3,300 research and educational investigations have been conducted on station from 108 countries and areas. Many of these research and technology investigations benefit people on Earth, and many lay the groundwork for future commercial destinations in low Earth orbit and exploration farther into the solar system. Together with Artemis missions to the Moon, these proving grounds will help prepare NASA for future human exploration of Mars.
Learn more about the International Space Station at:
https://www.nasa.gov/station
-end-
Josh Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Dec 05, 2023 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Humans in Space International Space Station (ISS) View the full article
-
By NASA
7 Min Read Digging Deeper to Find Life on Ocean Worlds
Conceptual image of a cryobot breaching into the ocean of Europa and searching for signs of life. Credits:
NASA/JPL-Caltech SNAPSHOT
In February 2023, researchers from around the country gathered at a NASA-sponsored workshop to discuss the latest developments and a roadmap for a cryobot mission concept to drill through the icy crusts of Europa and Enceladus and search for life.
“Follow the water” has been the mantra of the astrobiology community in search of alien life in the universe. Water is a fundamental building block of all terrestrial life as we know it and—as discovered by various space missions—water is abundant throughout the solar system, and perhaps, the universe. Ancient eroded features on Mars show clear evidence of a wet history, and the ongoing quest of the Perseverance rover aims to uncover clues as to whether or not Mars once hosted a population of microbes. However, there is only so much we can learn from the fossil record. To truly understand the nature of possible alien life, we must directly investigate the source—the liquid water.
Enter “Ocean Worlds.” Over the past two decades, scientists have discovered that a vast number of icy moons orbit the outer giant planets in our solar system. Many of these moons show strong evidence for harboring global oceans beneath their icy crusts. In fact, these moons likely have far more liquid water than all of Earth’s oceans combined, and some may even have the right conditions to foster life. Two moons, in particular, have captured the imaginations of astrobiologists due to their amenable conditions for life and their relative ease of interrogation: Jupiter’s moon, Europa and Saturn’s moon, Enceladus. Both show strong evidence of a global subsurface ocean beneath a kilometers-thick water-ice crust—but how can we access this liquid water?
Various concepts for ocean access have been investigated over the past decades, ranging from robots that descend through crevasses to drills of varying types. One concept that has emerged as a leading candidate is the cryobot. A cryobot is a self-contained cylindrical probe that uses heat to melt the ice beneath it. The melted water then flows around the probe before refreezing behind it. Thermal ice drilling is so simple and effective that it has become a common tool for studying terrestrial glaciers and ice sheets. But how can we translate this technology to a system that can penetrate planetary icy crusts, which are colder, thicker, and more uncertain?
This dilemma has been a core focus of researchers—many of whom are supported by NASA’s Scientific Exploration Subsurface Access Mechanism for Europa (SESAME) and Concepts for Ocean worlds Life Detection Technology (COLDTech) programs—for the past several years. In February 2023, NASA’s Planetary Exploration Science Technology Office (PESTO) convened a workshop at the California Institute of Technology, which brought together nearly 40 top researchers from diverse fields and institutions around the country to discuss progress in maturing this technology and to assess the challenges that remain. Recent studies have made significant progress in refining our understanding of the ice shell environment, detailing a mission architecture, and maturing critical subsystems and technologies. In particular, workshop participants identified four key subsystems that drive the roadmap for developing a flight-ready architecture: the power, thermal, mobility, and communication subsystems.
Conceptual image of the Cryobot mission profile. A lander deploys a nuclear-powered probe, which melts through the ice shell to access the ocean below. A tether and wireless transceivers are deployed behind the probe during its descent for communication. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech First, the heart of a cryobot is a nuclear power system that generates the sustained heat required to melt through kilometers of ice. Various nuclear power systems that could suit a cryobot system have been identified, including the familiar Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) that have powered many deep-space missions, and fission reactors that may be developed in the coming years. Two key constraints that drive the power system design are: (1) sufficient total power and density to facilitate efficient melting (about 10 kW), and (2) integration within a structural vessel to protect the power system from the high pressures of the deep ocean. These challenges are both solvable and have some historical precedent: NASA’s Cassini mission had a 14 kW thermal power system, and several Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) were deployed to the bottom of the ocean in the 1960s and 1970s as power sources for navigation beacons, which operated in comparable pressures to the Europan ocean. However, a cryobot power system will require a concerted effort and close collaboration with the Department of Energy throughout the maturation of the mission concept.
Second, a thermal management system is required to manage the heat produced by the onboard nuclear power system, maintain safe internal temperatures, and distribute heat to the environment for efficient performance. This system requires two independent pumped fluid circuits: one that circulates an internal working fluid through channels embedded in the skin and another that circulates melted ice water with the surounding environment. Some of these technologies have been demonstrated at reduced and full scale, but more work is needed to validate performance at the range of ice conditions expected in the outer solar system.
In addition, the icy shells of Europa and Enceladus will contain impurities such as dust and salt, which, when sufficiently concentrated, may require auxilliary systems to penetrate. A combination of “water jetting” and mechanical cutting has been demonstrated to be effective at clearing debris ranging from fine particulate to solid blocks of salt from beneath the probe. Some impurities such as larger rocks, voids, or water bodies may remain impenetrable, requiring the cryobot to incorporate a downward-looking mapping sensor and steering mechanism—both of which have been demonstrated in terrestrial prototypes, though not yet in an integrated system. High-priority future work includes a more rigorous and probabilistic definition of the icy environments to quantify the likelihood of potential mobility hazards, and an integrated demonstration of hazard mitigation systems on a flight-like cryobot system. Europa Clipper will also provide key observations to constrain the prevalence and characteristics of hazards for a cryobot.
Finally, a cryobot mission requires a robust and redundant communication link through the ice shell to enable the lander to relay data to an orbiting relay asset or directly to Earth. Fiber optic cables are the industry standard for communicating with terrestrial melt probes and deep-sea vehicles, but require careful validation for deployment through ice shells, which are active. The movement of ice in these shells could break the cable. A team led by Dr. Kate Craft at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory has been investigating the propensity of tethers embedded in ice to break during ice-shear events, as well as methods to mitigate such breakage. While preliminary results from this study are highly encouraging, other teams are exploring wireless techniques for communicating through the ice, including radio frequency, acoustic, and magnetic transceivers. These communication systems must be integrated onto the aft end of the probe and depoyed during its descent. Current projects funded under the NASA COLDTech program are taking the first steps toward addressing key risks for the communications system. Future work must validate performance across a broader range of conditions and demonstrate integration on a cryobot.
While the power, thermal, mobility, and communication subsystems took center stage, workshop participants also discussed other key systems and technologies that will require maturation to enable a cryobot mission. These topics include an integrated instrument suite with accommodations for liquid sampling and outward-facing apertures, planetary protection and sterilization strategies, materials selection for corrosion mitigation, ice-anchoring mechanisms, and autonomy. However, none of these technologies were identified as major risks or challenges in the cryobot mission concept roadmap.
Overall, the consensus finding of workshop participants was that this mission concept remains feasible, scientifically compelling, and the most plausible near-term way to directly search for life in situ on an ocean world. Continued support would allow scientists and engineers to make even further progress toward readying cryobots for future mission opportunities. The potential for the direct detection of life on another world seems more possible than ever.
This research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004).
PROJECT LEAD
Dr. Benjamin Hockman, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION
NASA’s Planetary Exploration Science Technology Office (PESTO)
Share
Details
Last Updated Dec 05, 2023 Related Terms
Planetary Science Science-enabling Technology Technology Highlights View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.