Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
-
Similar Topics
-
By NASA
The powerhouse of Gateway, NASA’s orbiting outpost around the Moon and a critical piece of infrastructure for Artemis, is in the midst of several electric propulsion system tests.
The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), being manufactured by Maxar Technologies, provides Gateway with power, high-rate communications, and propulsion for maneuvers around the Moon and to transit between different orbits. The PPE will be combined with the Habitation and Logistic Outpost (HALO) before the integrated spacecraft’s launch, targeted for late 2024 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. Together, these elements will serve as the hub for early Gateway crewed operations and various science and technology demonstrations as the full Gateway station is assembled around it in the coming years.
In this image, PPE engineers successfully tested the integration of Aerojet Rocketdyne’s thruster with Maxar’s power procession unit and Xenon Flow Controller.
Image Credit: NASA
View the full article
-
By NASA
This artist’s concept depicts one of the Carbon Mapper Coalition’s Tanager satellites, the first of which launched on Aug. 16. Tanager-1 will use imaging spectrometer technology developed at JPL to measure greenhouse gas point-source emissions.Planet Labs PBC Developed by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the imaging spectrometer will provide actionable data to help reduce emissions that contribute to global warming.
Tanager-1, the Carbon Mapper Coalition’s first satellite, which carries a state-of-the-art, NASA-designed greenhouse-gas-tracking instrument, is in Earth orbit after lifting off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:56 a.m. PDT Friday, Aug. 16. Ground controllers successfully established communications with Tanager-1 at 2:45 p.m. PDT the same day.
The satellite will use imaging spectrometer technology developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to measure methane and carbon dioxide point-source emissions, down to the level of individual facilities and equipment, on a global scale. Tanager-1 was developed as part of a philanthropically funded public-private coalition led by the nonprofit Carbon Mapper. Planet Labs PBC, which built Tanager-1, and JPL are both members of the Carbon Mapper Coalition and plan to launch a second Tanager satellite equipped with a JPL-built imaging spectrometer at a later date.
“The imaging spectrometer technology aboard Tanager-1 is the product of four decades of development at NASA JPL and truly in a class of its own,” said JPL Director Laurie Leshin. “The data that this public-private partnership provides on sources of greenhouse gas emissions will be precise and global, making it beneficial to everyone.”
Once in operation, the spacecraft will scan about 50,000 square miles (130,000 square kilometers) of Earth’s surface per day. Carbon Mapper scientists will analyze data from Tanager-1 to identify gas plumes with the unique spectral signatures of methane and carbon dioxide — and pinpoint their sources. Plume data will be publicly available online at the Carbon Mapper data portal.
Methane and carbon dioxide are the greenhouse gases that contribute most to climate change. About half of methane emissions worldwide result from human activities — primarily from the fossil fuel, agriculture, and waste management industries. Meanwhile, there is now 50% more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there was in 1750, an increase largely due to the extraction and burning of coal, oil, and gas.
“The Carbon Mapper Coalition is a prime example of how organizations from different sectors are uniting around a common goal of addressing climate change,” said Riley Duren, Carbon Mapper CEO. “By detecting, pinpointing, and quantifying super-emitters and making this data accessible to decision-makers, we can drive significant action around the world to cut emissions now.”
The imaging spectrometer aboard the satellite measures hundreds of wavelengths of light that are reflected by Earth’s surface. Different compounds in the planet’s atmosphere — including methane and carbon dioxide — absorb different wavelengths of light, leaving spectral “fingerprints” that the imaging spectrometer can identify. These infrared fingerprints can enable researchers to pinpoint and quantify strong greenhouse gas emissions, potentially accelerating mitigation efforts.
Tanager-1 is part of a broader effort to make methane and carbon dioxide data accessible and actionable. That effort includes using measurements provided by NASA’s EMIT (Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation), an imaging spectrometer developed by JPL and installed on the International Space Station.
More About Carbon Mapper
Carbon Mapper is a nonprofit organization focused on facilitating timely action to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Its mission is to fill gaps in the emerging global ecosystem of methane and carbon dioxide monitoring systems by delivering data at facility scale that is precise, timely, and accessible to empower science-based decision making and action. The organization is leading the development of the Carbon Mapper constellation of satellites supported by a public-private partnership composed of Planet Labs PBC, JPL, the California Air Resources Board, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and RMI, with funding from High Tide Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, and other philanthropic donors.
News Media Contacts
Andrew Wang / Jane J. Lee
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-379-6874 / 818-354-0307
andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov / jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov
Kelly Vaughn
Carbon Mapper, Pasadena, Calif.
970-401-0001
kelly@carbonmapper.org
2024-109
Share
Details
Last Updated Aug 16, 2024 Related Terms
Climate Change Earth Earth Science Greenhouse Gases Explore More
3 min read New TEMPO Cosmic Data Story Makes Air Quality Data Publicly Available
On May 30th, 2024, NASA and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian announced…
Article 3 days ago 3 min read Earth Educators Rendezvous with Infiniscope and Tour It
At the Earth Educator’s Rendezvous, held July 15-19, 2024, NASA’s Infiniscope project from Arizona State…
Article 4 days ago 3 min read NASA Aircraft Gathers 150 Hours of Data to Better Understand Earth
Article 1 week ago View the full article
-
By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Engineer Adam Gannon works on the development of Cognitive Engine-1 in the Cognitive Communications Lab at NASA’s Glenn Research Center.Credit: NASA Automated technology developed in Cleveland has launched to space aboard the Technology Education Satellite 11 mission. The flight test aims to confirm the precision and accuracy of this new technology developed at NASA’s Glenn Research Center.
The Cognitive Communications Project was founded by NASA in 2016 to develop autonomous space communications systems for the agency. Autonomous systems use technology that can react to its environment to implement updates during a mission, without needing any human interaction.
The project first collaborated with the Technology Education Satellite (TES) program at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley back in 2022 to launch the TES-13 CubeSat, which sent the first neuromorphic processor to space. A neuromorphic processor is a piece of technology built to act in ways that replicate how the human brain functions. Through TES-13, the cognitive team was able to test their advanced technology in space successfully for the first time.
Researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley assemble the Technology Education Satellite-11 CubeSat inside of a laboratory.Credit: NASA After the success of TES-13, the team compiled each of their unique capabilities into one end-to-end system, called Cognitive Engine 1, or CE-1. CE-1 is a space and ground software system that automates normal aspects of spacecraft communications, like service scheduling and planning reliable priority-based data transfers.
Cognitive technology launched to space for the second time on July 3 on TES-11 aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Noise of Summer mission. TES-11 was one of eight small satellites launched during the mission. It was created as a part of the Technology Education Satellite program at NASA Ames, which organizes collaborative projects and missions that pair college and university students with NASA researchers to evaluate how new technologies work on small satellites, known as CubeSats.
Image of various CubeSats deployed in space from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TES-11 is testing the components of CE-1 that allow satellites to independently schedule time with ground stations and download data without human interaction. Results from the TES-11 mission will be used by the Cognitive Communications team to finalize their CE-1 design, to ensure that the technology is ready to be adopted by future NASA missions.
The Cognitive Communications Project is funded by the Space Communications and Navigation program at NASA Headquarters in Washington and managed out of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
Return to Newsletter Explore More
1 min read Cleveland High School Students Land STEM Career Exploration Experience
Article 5 mins ago 1 min read NASA Lands at National Cherry Festival
Article 5 mins ago 1 min read Local Creators Learn About NASA’s Iconic Logo
Article 5 mins ago View the full article
-
By NASA
Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program, in preparation for the agency’s Artemis II crewed mission to the Moon, conduct testing of four emergency egress baskets on the mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in July 2024. The baskets are used in the case of a pad abort emergency to allow astronauts and other pad personnel to escape quickly from the mobile launcher to the base of the pad to be driven to safety by emergency transport vehicles.NASA/Amanda Arrieta Since NASA began sending astronauts to space, the agency has relied on emergency systems for personnel to safely leave the launch pad and escape the hazard in the unlikely event of an emergency during the launch countdown.
During the Mercury and Gemini programs, NASA used launch escape systems on spacecraft for the crew to safely evacuate if needed. Though these systems are still in use for spacecraft today, the emergency routes on the ground were updated starting with the Apollo missions to account for not only the crew, but all remaining personnel at the launch pad.
During Apollo, personnel relied on a ground-based emergency egress system – or emergency exit route – to allow for a quick and safe departure. Though the system has varied over time and different launch pads use different escape systems, the overall goal has stayed the same – quickly leave the launch pad and head to safety.
Beginning with Artemis II, the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will use a track cable which connects the mobile launcher to the perimeter area of the launch pad where four baskets, similar to gondolas at ski lifts, can ride down. Once down at the ground level, armored emergency response vehicles are stationed to take personnel safely away from the launch pad to one of the triage site locations at Kennedy.
“We have four baskets that sit on the side of the mobile launcher tower at the same level as the crew access arm, the location where the crew enters the spacecraft,” said Amanda Arrieta, mobile launcher 1 senior element engineer for NASA’s EGS Program. “The intention is to provide another means of egress for the crew and the closeout crew in the event of an emergency. Each of these baskets will go down a wire. It’s a wire rope system that connects to the pad terminus, an area near the pad perimeter where the baskets will land after leaving the mobile launcher tower.”
Infographic shows the route astronauts and personnel would take during an emergency abort situation. Credit: NASA The Artemis system works like this: personnel will exit the Orion spacecraft or the white room (depending where teams are at the time of the emergency) inside the crew access arm of the mobile launcher. Located on the 274-foot-level, teams are approximately 375 feet above the ground. From there, they will head down the 1,335-foot-long cables inside the emergency egress baskets to the launch pad perimeter, or the pad terminus area. Each basket, which is similar in size to a small SUV, is designed to carry up to five people or a maximum weight of 1,500 pounds.
Once teams have left the terminus area and arrive at the triage site location, emergency response crews are there to evaluate and take care of any personnel.
“When we send our crews to the pad during launch, their safety is always at the forefront of our minds. While it is very unlikely that we will need the emergency egress and pad abort systems, they are built and tested to ensure that if we do need them then they are ready to go,” said Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis launch director. “Our upcoming integrated ground systems training is about demonstrating the capability of the entire emergency egress response from the time an emergency condition is declared until we have the crews, both flight and ground, safely accounted for outside the hazardous area.”
For the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, SpaceX uses a slidewire cable with baskets that ride down the cable at the Launch Complex 39A pad. At Space Launch Complex 40, meanwhile, the team uses a deployable chute for its emergency egress system. Boeing and United Launch Alliance also use a slidewire, but instead of baskets, the team deploys seats that ride down the slide wires, similar to riding down a zip line, at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Artemis II will be NASA’s first mission with crew aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft and will also introduce several new ground systems for the first time – including the emergency egress system. Though no NASA mission to date has needed to use its ground-based emergency egress system during launch countdown, those safety measures are still in place and maintained as a top priority for the agency.
View the full article
-
By NASA
On 5/13/24, in alignment with the NASA Interagency Agreement with the US Department of State Advancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math in Bhutan through Increased Earth Observation Capacity, Aparna R. Phalke, Sarah Cox and Tony Kim (ST11) traveled to Thimphu, Bhutan, to represent the SERVIR SCO at the official launch on 5/17/24 of the “Farm Action Toolkit” service (https://crops.servirglobal.net/dashboard/) with the implementing partners from Bhutan Druk Holdings and Investments (DHI) Super Fablab, National Statistical Bureau (NSB), Department of Agriculture, National Center of Organic Agriculture, National Land Commission and GovTech Bhutan. The service was presented with meaningful opening remarks from Manish Rai (DHI), Andrea Goodman (U.S. Department of State), Sangay Dorji (Retired Head of the Environmental Office, Ministry of Economic Affairs) and Tony Kim . Also in attendance were Bhutan Foundation officials in addition to implementing partners. The “Farm Action Toolkit” co-developed by SERVIR and Bhutan’s implementing partners to support their mission on self-sufficiency for food and save operational costs. This service provides field-scale (30-m) crop area and yields related products and algorithms including 2002 to 2023 crop/non crop maps, rice area maps, maize area maps and rice yield estimations.
Following the launch of the Farm Action Toolkit service in Thimphu, Bhutan, a SERVIR SCO service team led by Aparna Phalke and Bhutan’s implementing partner team from DHI performed field surveys of agricultural fields across the Thimphu, Punakha and Paro area of Bhutan using GPS, and Helmet data collection with GoPro cameras and drones (5/23-25/24). The Helmet data collection with GoPro cameras tool method was replicated from SERVIR’s Applied Science Team PI Catherine Nakalemb’s project in SERVIR-West Africa. The team also interviewed individual farmers from areas covering rice cultivation with pest, disease and water related issues. The implementing partner and SERVIR SCO team also collected market analysis data consisting of fifty plus vendors and vendors cum farmers interviews on agricultural commodities and the supply chain (5/18-19/24). These field surveys will play a significant role in the operation and adoption of the Farm Action Toolkit service by implementing partners
In-person outreach events were conducted at the Royal Thimphu College and College of Natural Resources, Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) on 5/14/24 and 5/24/24, respectively. Over 100 students from each academic institution participated in the outreach events, which focused on NASA milestones and how to leverage Earth observations to address immediate environmental issues in Bhutan.
These activities are part of a NASA Interagency Agreement with the US Department of State – Advancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math in Bhutan through Increased Earth Observation Capacity – a collaboration that also includes NASA’s DEVELOP, ARSET, and GLOBE programs.
View the full article
-
-
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.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.