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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Dwarf planet Ceres is shown in these enhanced-color renderings that use images from NASA’s Dawn mission. New thermal and chemicals models that rely on the mission’s data indicate Ceres may have long ago had conditions suitable for life.NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA The dwarf planet is cold now, but new research paints a picture of Ceres hosting a deep, long-lived energy source that may have maintained habitable conditions in the past.
New NASA research has found that Ceres may have had a lasting source of chemical energy: the right types of molecules needed to fuel some microbial metabolisms. Although there is no evidence that microorganisms ever existed on Ceres, the finding supports theories that this intriguing dwarf planet, which is the largest body in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, may have once had conditions suitable to support single-celled lifeforms.
Science data from NASA’s Dawn mission, which ended in 2018, previously showed that the bright, reflective regions on Ceres’ surface are mostly made of salts left over from liquid that percolated up from underground. Later analysis in 2020 found that the source of this liquid was an enormous reservoir of brine, or salty water, below the surface. In other research, the Dawn mission also revealed evidence that Ceres has organic material in the form of carbon molecules — essential, though not sufficient on its own, to support microbial cells.
The presence of water and carbon molecules are two critical pieces of the habitability puzzle on Ceres. The new findings offer the third: a long-lasting source of chemical energy in Ceres’ ancient past that could have made it possible for microorganisms to survive. This result does not mean that Ceres had life, but rather, that there likely was “food” available should life have ever arisen on Ceres.
This illustration depicts the interior of dwarf planet Ceres, including the transfer of water and gases from the rocky core to a reservoir of salty water. Carbon dioxide and methane are among the molecules carrying chemical energy beneath Ceres’ surface.NASA/JPL-Caltech In the study, published in Science Advances on Aug. 20, the authors built thermal and chemical models mimicking the temperature and composition of Ceres’ interior over time. They found that 2.5 billion years or so ago, Ceres’ subsurface ocean may have had a steady supply of hot water containing dissolved gases traveling up from metamorphosed rocks in the rocky core. The heat came from the decay of radioactive elements within the dwarf planet’s rocky interior that occurred when Ceres was young — an internal process thought to be common in our solar system.
“On Earth, when hot water from deep underground mixes with the ocean, the result is often a buffet for microbes — a feast of chemical energy. So it could have big implications if we could determine whether Ceres’ ocean had an influx of hydrothermal fluid in the past,” said Sam Courville, lead author of the study. Now based at Arizona State University in Tempe, he led the research while working as an intern at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which also managed the Dawn mission.
Catching Chill
The Ceres we know today is unlikely to be habitable. It is cooler, with more ice and less water than in the past. There is currently insufficient heat from radioactive decay within Ceres to keep the water from freezing, and what liquid remains has become a concentrated brine.
The period when Ceres would most likely have been habitable was between a half-billion and 2 billion years after it formed (or about 2.5 billion to 4 billion years ago), when its rocky core reached its peak temperature. That’s when warm fluids would have been introduced into Ceres’ underground water.
The dwarf planet also doesn’t have the benefit of present-day internal heating generated by the push and pull of orbiting a large planet, like Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa do. So Ceres’ greatest potential for habitability-fueling energy was in the past.
This result has implications for water-rich objects throughout the outer solar system, too. Many of the other icy moons and dwarf planets that are of similar size to Ceres (about 585 miles, or 940 kilometers, in diameter) and don’t have significant internal heating from the gravitational pull of planets could have also had a period of habitability in their past.
More About Dawn
A division of Caltech in Pasadena, JPL managed Dawn’s mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn was a project of the directorate’s Discovery Program, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. JPL was responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Northrop Grumman in Dulles, Virginia, designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Italian Space Agency and Italian National Astrophysical Institute were international partners on the mission team.
For a complete list of mission participants, visit:
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/dawn/overview/
News Media Contacts
Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-287-4115
gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
2025-108
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Last Updated Aug 20, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA test pilot Nils Larson walks around an F-15B research aircraft for a rehearsal flight supporting the agency’s Quesst mission at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The flight was part of a full-scale dress rehearsal for Phase 2 of the mission, which will eventually measure quiet sonic thumps generated by the X-59. The flight series helped NASA teams refine procedures and practice data collection ahead of future X-59 flights.NASA/Christopher LC Clark In a stretch of California’s Mojave Desert, NASA conducted a full-scale “dress rehearsal” to prepare how it will measure the noise generated by the X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft.
The team behind the successful test flight series operates under NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology project. Beginning June 3 and concluding this week, researchers conducted a dry run for Phase 2 of NASA’s Quesst mission, when it will capture audio of the sonic thumps the X-59 will produce, rather than loud sonic booms associated with supersonic flight.
“The dress rehearsal was critical for us,” said Larry Cliatt, sub-project manager for the Quesst acoustic validation phase, who is based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. “It gave us the opportunity to run through every aspect of our operation, from flight planning to data collection. In between those activities, we practiced aircraft operations, setting up the Ground Recording Systems, meteorological data collecting, and refining control room procedures. We were able to fine-tune our timelines, improve communication across teams, and ensure that when we perform these test with the X-59 aircraft, everything will run smoothly.”
A NASA TG-14 glider aircraft is prepared for flight at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, in support of the agency’s Quesst mission. The aircraft is equipped with onboard microphones to capture sonic boom noise generated during rehearsal flights, helping researchers measure the acoustic signature of supersonic aircraft closer to the ground.NASA/Jim Ross During the tests, at NASA Armstrong, an F-15B aircraft served as a stand-in for the X-59, flying faster than the speed of sound and making multiple passes over the Mojave sands. While it flew, researchers captured acoustic data using a linear array of ground recording systems spaced across miles of open desert, recorded weather readings, and measured the shock waves it generated.
For a supersonic aircraft like the F-15B, shock waves typically result in loud sonic booms, but the X-59 is designed to diffuse them in a way that will dramatically limit noise.
NASA’s Quesst mission aims to enable quiet supersonic flight over land using data from the X-59. The experimental aircraft will begin making its first flights this year – the first phase of Quesst.
A NASA intern sets up ground recording system (GRS) units in California’s Mojave Desert during a Phase 2 rehearsal of the agency’s Quesst mission. The GRS units were placed across miles of desert terrain to capture the acoustic signature of supersonic aircraft during rehearsal flights and in preparation for the start of the actual tests.NASA/Christopher LC Clark But even before it takes to the air, the mission began its preparations for Phase 2 with the dry run, which focused on practicing under realistic test conditions and identifying issues before the official campaign begins, not collecting data from the F-15B.
Through Quesst’s development of the X-59, NASA will deliver design tools and technology for quiet supersonic airliners that will achieve the high speeds desired by commercial operators without disturbing people on the ground. NASA will also validate design tools through ground and flight testing, providing aircraft manufacturers the ability to explore new quiet supersonic concepts and have confidence that their resulting designs will meet requirements for quiet flight.
Most importantly, Quesst will gather data to understand community response to sounds generated during flight – key knowledge for a quiet supersonic future.
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Last Updated Jul 24, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactNicolas Cholulanicolas.h.cholula@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
Armstrong Flight Research Center Advanced Air Vehicles Program Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Ames Research Center Commercial Supersonic Technology Glenn Research Center Langley Research Center Low Boom Flight Demonstrator Quesst (X-59) Supersonic Flight Explore More
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By NASA
Ozone high in the stratosphere protects us from the Sun’s ultraviolet light. But ozone near the ground is a pollutant that harms people and plants. The San Joaquin Valley has some of the most polluted air in the country, and NASA scientists with the new Ozone Where We Live (OWWL) project are working to measure ozone and other pollutants there. They need your help!
Do you live or work in Bakersfield, CA? Sign up to host an ozone sensor! It’s like a big lunch box that you place in your yard, but it’s not packed with tuna and crackers. It’s filled with sensors that measure temperature and humidity and sniff out dangerous gases like methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and of course, ozone.
Can you fly a plane? Going to the San Joaquin Valley? Sign up to take an ozone sensor on your next flight! You can help measure ozone levels in layers of the atmosphere that are hard for satellites to investigate. Scientists will combine the data you take with data from NASA’s TEMPO satellite to improve air quality models and measurements within the region. Find out more here or email: Emma.l.yates@nasa.gov
Join the Ozone Where We Live (OWWL) project and help NASA scientists protect the people of the San Joaquin Valley! Credit: Emma Yates Share
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Last Updated Jun 24, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA/Jacob Shaw A NASA system designed to measure temperature and strain on high-speed vehicles is set to make its first flights at hypersonic speeds – greater than Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound – when mounted to two research rockets launching this summer.
Technicians in the Environmental Laboratory at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, used machines called shakers to perform vibration tests on the technology, known as a Fiber Optic Sensing System (FOSS), on March 26. The tests confirmed the FOSS could operate while withstanding the shaking forces of a rocket launch. Initial laboratory and flight tests in 2024 went well, leading to the recently tested system’s use on the U.S. Department of Defense coordinated research rockets to measure critical temperature safety data.
Hypersonic sensing systems are crucial for advancing hypersonics, a potentially game-changing field in aeronautics. Capitalizing on decades of research, NASA is working to address critical challenges in hypersonic engine technology through its Advanced Air Vehicles Program.
Using FOSS, NASA will gather data on the strain placed on vehicles during flight, as well as temperature information, which helps engineers understand the condition of a rocket or aircraft. The FOSS system collects data using a fiber about the thickness of a human hair that collects data along its length, replacing heavier and bulkier traditional wire harnesses and sensors.
Jonathan Lopez and Allen Parker confer on the hypersonic Fiber Optic Sensor System at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on February 13, 2025. The system measures strain and temperature, critical safety data for hypersonic vehicles that travel five time the speed of sound.NASA/Steve Freeman “There is no reliable technology with multiple sensors on a single fiber in the hypersonic environment,” said Patrick Chan, FOSS project manager at Armstrong. “The FOSS system is a paradigm shift for hypersonic research, because it can measure temperature and strain.”
For decades, NASA Armstrong worked to develop and improve the system, leading to hypersonic FOSS, which originated in 2020. Craig Stephens, the Hypersonic Technology Project associate project manager at NASA Armstrong, anticipated a need for systems and sensors to measure temperature and strain on hypersonic vehicles.
“I challenged the FOSS team to develop a durable data collection system that had reduced size, weight, and power requirements,” Stephens said. “If we obtain multiple readings from one FOSS fiber, that means we are reducing the number of wires in a vehicle, effectively saving weight and space.”
The research work has continually made the system smaller and lighter. While a space-rated FOSS used in 2022 to collect temperature data during a NASA mission in low Earth orbit was roughly the size of a toaster, the hypersonic FOSS unit is about the size of two sticks of butter.
Jonathan Lopez and Nathan Rick prepare the hypersonic Fiber Optic Sensing System for vibration tests in the Environmental Laboratory at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Testing on a machine called a shaker proved that the system could withstand the severe vibration it will endure in hypersonic flight, or travel at five times the speed of sound.NASA/Jim Ross Successful Partnerships
To help advance hypersonic FOSS to test flights, NASA Armstrong Technology Transfer Office lead Ben Tomlinson orchestrated a partnership. NASA, the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School in Edwards, California, and the U.S. Air Force’s 586th Flight Test Squadron at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, agreed to a six-flight series in 2024.
The test pilot school selected an experiment comparing FOSS and traditional sensors, looking at the data the different systems produced.
The hypersonic FOSS was integrated into a beam fixed onto one end of a pod. It had weight on the other end of the beam so that it could move as the aircraft maneuvered into position for the tests. The pod fit under a T-38 aircraft that collected strain data as the aircraft flew.
“The successful T-38 flights increased the FOSS technology readiness,” Tomlinson said. “However, a test at hypersonic speed will make FOSS more attractive for a United States business to commercialize.”
April Torres, from left, Cryss Punteney, and Karen Estes watch as data flows from the hypersonic Fiber Optic Sensing System at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Testing on a machine called a shaker proved that the system could withstand the severe vibration it will endure in hypersonic flight, or travel at five times the speed of sound.NASA/Jim Ross New Opportunities
After the experiment with the Air Force, NASA’s hypersonic technology team looked for other opportunities to advance the miniaturized version of the system. That interest led to the upcoming research rocket tests in coordination with the Department of Defense.
“We have high confidence in the system, and we look forward to flying it in hypersonic flight and at altitude,” Chan said.
A hypersonic Fiber Optic Sensing System, developed at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, is ready for a test flight on a T-38 at the U.S. Air Force 586th Flight Test Squadron at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. NASA Armstrong, the flight test squadron, and the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School in Edwards, California, partnered for the test. From left are Earl Adams, Chathu Kuruppu, Colby Ferrigno, Allen Parker, Patrick Chan, Anthony Peralta, Ben Tomlinson, Jonathan Lopez, David Brown, Lt. Col. Sean Siddiqui, Capt. Nathaniel Raquet, Master Sgt. Charles Shepard, and Greg Talbot.U.S. Air Force/Devin Lopez Share
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Last Updated Jun 18, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactJay Levinejay.levine-1@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
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By NASA
1 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
ECF 2024 Quadchart McGuirk.pdf
Christopher McGuirk
Colorado School of Mines
This project will investigate and develop improved storage methods for the fuels needed to generate electrical power in places where sunlight is not available. The effort will focus on particularly tailored materials called Metal Oxide Frameworks, or MOFs, that can be used to store methane and oxygen. The methane and oxygen can be reacted in a solid oxide fuel cell to generate electricity, and storing them in a MOF could potentially result in significant mass and cost savings over traditional storage tanks which also require active pressure and thermal regulation. The team will use a number of computational and experimental tools to develop a MOF structure suitable for this application.
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Last Updated Apr 18, 2025 EditorLoura Hall Related Terms
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