Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
NASA, Australia Team Up for Artemis II Lunar Laser Communications Test
-
Similar Topics
-
By NASA
NASA For some people, a passion for space is something that might develop over time, but for Patrick Junen, the desire was there from the beginning. With a father and grandfather who both worked for NASA, space exploration is not just a dream; it remains a family legacy.
Now, as the stage assembly and structures subsystem manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the BOLE (Booster Obsolescence Life Extension) Program — an advanced solid rocket booster for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) heavy lift rocket — Junen is continuing that legacy.
“My grandfather worked on the Apollo & Space Shuttle Programs. Then my dad went on to work for the Space Shuttle and SLS Programs,” Junen says. “I guess you could say engineering is in my blood.”
In his role, he’s responsible for managing the Design, Development, Test, & Evaluation team for all unpressurized structural elements, such as the forward skirt, aft skirt, and the integration hardware that connects the boosters to the core stage. He also collaborates closely with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to coordinate any necessary modifications to ground facilities or the mobile launcher to support the new boosters.
Junen enjoys the technical challenges of his role and said he feels fortunate to be in a position of leadership — but it takes a team of talented individuals to build the next generation of boosters. As a former offensive lineman for the University of Mississippi, he knows firsthand the power of teamwork and the importance of effective communication in guiding a coordinated effort.
“I’ve always been drawn to team activities, and exploration is the ultimate team endeavor,” Junen says. “On the football field, it takes a strong team to be successful — and it’s really no different from what we’re doing as a team at NASA with our Northrop Grumman counterparts for the SLS rocket and Artemis missions.”
As a kid, Junen often accompanied his dad to Space Shuttle launches and was inspired by some of the talented engineers that developed Shuttle. Years later, he’s still seeing some of those same faces — but now they’re teammates, working together toward a greater mission.
“Growing up around Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, there was always this strong sense of family and dedication to the Misson. And that has always resonated with me,” Junen recalls.
This philosophy of connecting family to the mission is a tradition Junen now continues with his own children. One of his fondest NASA memories is watching the successful launch of Artemis I on Nov. 16, 2022. Although he couldn’t attend in person, Junen and his family made the most of the moment — watching the launch live beneath the Saturn V rocket at Huntsville’s U.S. Space & Rocket Center. With his dad beside him and his daughter on his shoulders, three generations stood beneath the rocket Junen’s grandfather helped build, as a new era of space exploration began.
In June, Junen witnessed the BOLE Demonstration Motor-1 perform a full-scale static test to demonstrate the ballistic performance for the evolved booster motor. This test isn’t just a technical milestone for Junen — it’s a continuation of a lifelong journey rooted in family and teamwork.
As NASA explores the Moon and prepares for the journey to Mars through Artemis, Junen is helping shape the next chapter of human spaceflight. And just like the generations before him, he’s not only building rockets — he’s building a legacy.
News Media Contact
Jonathan Deal
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov
View the full article
-
By NASA
6 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA Ames research scientist Kristina Pistone monitors instrument data while onboard the Twin Otter aircraft, flying over Monterey Bay during the October 2024 deployment of the AirSHARP campaign. NASA/Samuel Leblanc In autumn 2024, California’s Monterey Bay experienced an outsized phytoplankton bloom that attracted fish, dolphins, whales, seabirds, and – for a few weeks in October – scientists. A team from NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, with partners at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), and the Naval Postgraduate School, spent two weeks on the California coast gathering data on the atmosphere and the ocean to verify what satellites see from above. In spring 2025, the team returned to gather data under different environmental conditions.
Scientists call this process validation.
Setting up the Campaign
The PACE mission, which stands for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem, was launched in February 2024 and designed to transform our understanding of ocean and atmospheric environments. Specifically, the satellite will give scientists a finely detailed look at life near the ocean surface and the composition and abundance of aerosol particles in the atmosphere.
Whenever NASA launches a new satellite, it sends validation science teams around the world to confirm that the data from instruments in space match what traditional instruments can see at the surface. AirSHARP (Airborne aSsessment of Hyperspectral Aerosol optical depth and water-leaving Reflectance Product Performance for PACE) is one of these teams, specifically deployed to validate products from the satellite’s Ocean Color Instrument (OCI).
The OCI spectrometer works by measuring reflected sunlight. As sunlight bounces off of the ocean’s surface, it creates specific shades of color that researchers use to determine what is in the water column below. To validate the OCI data, research teams need to confirm that measurements directly at the surface match those from the satellite. They also need to understand how the atmosphere is changing the color of the ocean as the reflected light is traveling back to the satellite.
In October 2024 and May 2025, the AirSHARP team ran simultaneous airborne and seaborne campaigns. Going into the field during different seasons allows the team to collect data under different environmental conditions, validating as much of the instrument’s range as possible.
Over 13 days of flights on a Twin Otter aircraft, the NASA-led team used instruments called 4STAR-B (Spectrometer for sky-scanning sun Tracking Atmospheric Research B), and the C-AIR (Coastal Airborne In-situ Radiometer) to gather data from the air. At the same time, partners from UCSC used a host of matching instruments onboard the research vessel R/V Shana Rae to gather data from the water’s surface.
Ocean Color and Water Leaving Reflectance
The Ocean Color Instrument measures something called water leaving reflectance, which provides information on the microscopic composition of the water column, including water molecules, phytoplankton, and particulates like sand, inorganic materials, and even bubbles. Ocean color varies based on how these materials absorb and scatter sunlight. This is especially useful for determining the abundance and types of phytoplankton.
Photographs taken out the window of the Twin Otter aircraft during the October 2024 AirSHARP deployment showcase the variation in ocean color, which indicates different molecular composition of the water column beneath. The red color in several of these photos is due to a phytoplankton bloom – in this case a growth of red algae. NASA/Samuel Leblanc
The AirSHARP team used radiometers with matching technology – C-AIR from the air and C-OPS (Compact Optical Profiling System) from the water – to gather water leaving reflectance data.
“The C-AIR instrument is modified from an instrument that goes on research vessels and takes measurements of the water’s surface from very close range,” said NASA Ames research scientist Samuel LeBlanc. “The issue there is that you’re very local to one area at a time. What our team has done successfully is put it on an aircraft, which enables us to span the entire Monterey Bay.”
The larger PACE validation team will compare OCI measurements with observations made by the sensors much closer to the ocean to ensure that they match, and make adjustments when they don’t.
Aerosol Interference
One factor that can impact OCI data is the presence of manmade and natural aerosols, which interact with sunlight as it moves through the atmosphere. An aerosol refers to any solid or liquid suspended in the air, such as smoke from fires, salt from sea spray, particulates from fossil fuel emissions, desert dust, and pollen.
Imagine a 420 mile-long tube, with the PACE satellite at one end and the ocean at the other. Everything inside the tube is what scientists refer to as the atmospheric column, and it is full of tiny particulates that interact with sunlight. Scientists quantify this aerosol interaction with a measurement called aerosol optical depth.
“During AirSHARP, we were essentially measuring, at different wavelengths, how light is changed by the particles present in the atmosphere,” said NASA Ames research scientist Kristina Pistone. “The aerosol optical depth is a measure of light extinction, or how much light is either scattered away or absorbed by aerosol particulates.”
The team measured aerosol optical depth using the 4STAR-B spectrometer, which was engineered at NASA Ames and enables scientists to identify which aerosols are present and how they interact with sunlight.
Twin Otter Aircraft
AirSHARP principal investigator Liane Guild walks towards a Twin Otter aircraft owned and operated by the Naval Postgraduate School. The aircraft’s ability to perform complex, low-altitude flights made it the ideal platform to fly multiple instruments over Monterey Bay during the AirSHARP campaign. NASA/Samuel Leblanc
Flying these instruments required use of a Twin Otter plane, operated by the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). The Twin Otter is unique for its ability to perform extremely low-altitude flights, making passes down to 100 feet above the water in clear conditions.
“It’s an intense way to fly. At that low height, the pilots continually watch for and avoid birds, tall ships, and even wildlife like breaching whales,” said Anthony Bucholtz, director of the Airborne Research Facility at NPS.
With the phytoplankton bloom attracting so much wildlife in a bay already full of ships, this is no small feat. “The pilots keep a close eye on the radar, and fly by hand,” Bucholtz said, “all while following careful flight plans crisscrossing Monterey Bay and performing tight spirals over the Research Vessel Shana Rae.”
Campaign Data
Data gathered from the 2024 phase of this campaign is available on two data archive systems. Data from the 4STAR instrument is available in the PACE data archive and data from C-AIR is housed in the SeaBASS data archive.
Other data from the NASA PACE Validation Science Team is available through the PACE website: https://pace.oceansciences.org/pvstdoi.htm#
Samuel LeBlanc and Kristina Pistone are funded via the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI), which is a scientist-founded nonprofit focused on supporting Earth and space sciences.
About the Author
Milan Loiacono
Science Communication SpecialistMilan Loiacono is a science communication specialist for the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center.
Share
Details
Last Updated Jun 26, 2025 Related Terms
Ames Research Center's Science Directorate Ames Research Center Earth Earth Science Earth Science Division PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem) Science Mission Directorate Explore More
2 min read NASA Citizen Scientists Find New Eclipsing Binary Stars
When two stars orbit one another in such a way that one blocks the other’s…
Article 32 minutes ago 4 min read NASA-Assisted Scientists Get Bird’s-Eye View of Population Status
NASA satellite data and citizen science observations combine for new findings on bird populations.
Article 22 hours ago 2 min read Live or Fly a Plane in California? Help NASA Measure Ozone Pollution!
Ozone high in the stratosphere protects us from the Sun’s ultraviolet light. But ozone near…
Article 2 days ago View the full article
-
By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Since childhood, Derrick Bailey always had an early fascination with aeronautics. Military fighter jet pilots were his childhood heroes, and he dreamed of joining the aerospace industry. This passion was a springboard into his 17-year career at NASA, where Bailey plays an important role in enabling successful rocket launches.
Bailey is the Launch Vehicle Certification Manager in the Launch Services Program (LSP) within the Space Operations Mission Directorate. In this role, he helps NASA outline the agency’s risk classifications of new rockets from emerging and established space companies.
“Within my role, I formulate a series of technical and process assessments for NASA LSP’s technical team to understand how companies operate, how vehicles are designed and qualified, and how they perform in flight,” Bailey said.
Beyond technical proficiency and readiness, a successful rocket launch relies on establishing a strong foundational relationship between NASA and the commercial companies involved. Bailey and his team ensure effective communication with these companies to provide the guidance, data, and analysis necessary to support them in overcoming challenges.
“We work diligently to build trusting relationships with commercial companies and demonstrate the value in partnering with our team,” Bailey said.
Bailey credits a stroke of fate that landed him at the agency. During his senior year at Georgia Tech, where he was pursuing a degree in aerospace engineering, Bailey almost walked past the NASA tent at a career fair. However, he decided to grab a NASA sticker and strike up a conversation, which quickly turned into an impromptu interview. He walked away that day with a job offer to work on the now-retired Space Shuttle Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“I never imagined working at NASA,” Bailey said. “Looking back, it’s unbelievable that a chance encounter resulted in securing a job that has turned into an incredible career.”
Thinking about the future, Bailey is excited about new opportunities in the commercial space industry. Bailey sees NASA as a crucial advisor and mentor for commercial sector while using industry capabilities to provide more cost-effective access to space.
Derrick Bailey, launch vehicle certification manager for NASA’s Launch Services Program
“We are the enablers,” Bailey said of his role in the directorate. “It is our responsibility to provide the best opportunity for future explorers to begin their journey of discovery in deep space and beyond.”
Outside of work, Bailey enjoys spending time with his family, especially his two sons, who keep him busy with trips to the baseball diamond and homework sessions. Bailey also enjoys hands-on activities, like working on cars, off-road vehicles, and house projects – hobbies he picked up from his mechanically inclined father. Additionally, at the beginning of 2025, his wife accepted a program specialist position with LSP, an exciting development for the entire Bailey family.
“One of my wife’s major observations early on in my career was how much my colleagues genuinely care about one another and empower people to make decisions,” Bailey explained. “These are the things that make NASA the number one place to work in the government.”
NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate maintains a continuous human presence in space for the benefit of people on Earth. The programs within the directorate are the hub of NASA’s space exploration efforts, enabling Artemis, commercial space, science, and other agency missions through communication, launch services, research capabilities, and crew support.
To learn more about NASA’s Space Operation Mission Directorate, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/space-operations
Share
Details
Last Updated Jun 26, 2025 Related Terms
Space Operations Mission Directorate People of Space Operations Explore More
4 min read NASA to Gather In-Flight Imagery of Commercial Test Capsule Re-Entry
Article 1 week ago 4 min read Meet the Space Ops Team: Christine Braden
Article 1 month ago 4 min read NASA Enables SPHEREx Data Return Through Commercial Partnership
Article 2 months ago View the full article
-
By NASA
NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers conducts research operations inside the Destiny laboratory module’s Microgravity Science Glovebox aboard the International Space Station.Credit: NASA Students attending the U.S. Space and Rocket Center Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, will have the chance to hear NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station answer their prerecorded questions.
At 12:40 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, July 1, NASA astronauts Anne McClain, Jonny Kim, and Nichole Ayers will answer student questions. Ayers is a space camp alumna.
Watch the 20-minute Earth-to-space call on the NASA STEM YouTube Channel.
The U.S. Space and Rocket Center will host the downlink while celebrating the 65th anniversary of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. This event is open to the public.
Media interested in covering the event must RSVP by 5 p.m., Friday, June 27, to Pat Ammons at: 256-721-5429 or pat.ammons@spacecamp.com.
For nearly 25 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through SCaN’s (Space Communications and Navigation) Near Space Network.
Important research and technology investigations taking place aboard the space station benefit people on Earth and lay the groundwork for other agency missions. As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars; inspiring Golden Age explorers and ensuring the United States continues to lead in space exploration and discovery.
See videos of astronauts aboard the space station at:
https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
-end-
Gerelle Dodson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
gerelle.q.dodson@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Jun 25, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Humans in Space In-flight Education Downlinks International Space Station (ISS) Johnson Space Center Learning Resources NASA Headquarters View the full article
-
By NASA
6 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
With Voyager 2 in the background, John Casani holds a small U.S. flag that was sewn into the spacecraft’s thermal blankets before its 1977 launch. Then Voyager’s project manager, Casani was first to envision the mission’s Golden Record, which lies before him with its cover at right. NASA/JPL-Caltech During his work on several historic missions, Casani rose through a series of technical and management positions, making an indelible mark on the nation’s space program.
John R. Casani, a visionary engineer who served a central role in many of NASA’s historic deep space missions, died on Thursday, June 19, 2025, at the age of 92. He was preceded in death by his wife of 39 years, Lynn Casani, in 2008 and is survived by five sons and their families.
Casani started at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in 1956 and went on to work as an electronics engineer on some of the nation’s earliest spacecraft after NASA’s formation in 1958. Along with leading the design teams for both the Ranger and Mariner series of spacecraft, he held senior project positions on many of the Mariner missions to Mars and Venus, and was project manager for three trailblazing space missions: Voyager, Galileo, and Cassini.
His work helped advance NASA spacecraft in areas including mechanical technology, system design and integration, software, and deep space communications. No less demanding were the management challenges of these multifaceted missions, which led to innovations still in use today.
JPL’s John Casani receives the National Air & Space Museum’s Lifetime Achievement Award.Carolyn Russo/NASM, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution “John had a major influence on the development of spacecraft that visited almost every planet in our solar system, as well as the people who helped build them,” said JPL director Dave Gallagher. “He played an essential role in America’s first attempts to reach space and then the Moon, and he was just as crucial to the Voyager spacecraft that marked humanity’s first foray into interplanetary — and later, interstellar — space. That Voyager is still exploring after nearly 50 years is a testament to John’s remarkable engineering talent and his leadership that enabled others to push the boundaries of possibility.”
Born in Philadelphia in 1932, Casani studied electrical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. After a short stint at an Air Force research lab, he moved to California in 1956 and was hired to work at JPL, a division of Caltech, on the guidance system for the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency’s Jupiter-C and Sergeant missile programs.
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first human-made Earth satellite, alarming America and changing the trajectory of both JPL and Casani’s career. With the 1958 launch of Explorer 1, America’s first satellite, the lab transitioned to concentrating on robotic space explorers, and Casani segued from missiles to spacecraft.
One of his jobs as payload engineer on Pioneer 3 and 4, NASA’s first missions to the Moon, was to carry each of the 20-inch-long (51-cm-long) probes in a suitcase from JPL to the launch site at Cape Canaveral, Florida, where he installed them in the rocket’s nose cone.
At the dawn of the 1960s, Casani served as spacecraft systems engineer for the agency’s first two Ranger missions to the Moon, then joined the Mariner project in 1965, earning a reputation for being meticulous. Four years later, he was Mariner project manager.
Asked to share some of his wisdom in a 2009 NASA presentation, Casani said, “The thing that makes any of this work … is toughness. Toughness because this is a tough business, and it’s a very unforgiving business. You can do 1,000 things right, but if you don’t do everything right, it’ll come back and bite you.”
Casani’s next role: project manager for NASA’s high-profile flagship mission to the outer planets and beyond — Voyager. He not only led the mission from clean room to space, he was first to envision attaching a message representing humanity to any alien civilization that might encounter humanity’s first interstellar emissaries.
“I approached Carl Sagan,” he said in a 2007 radio interview, “and asked him if he could come up with something that would be appropriate that we could put on our spacecraft in a way of sending a message to whoever might receive it.” Sagan took up the challenge, and what resulted was the Golden Record, a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth.
Once Voyager 1 and 2 and their Golden Records launched in 1977, JPL wasted no time in pointing their “engineer’s engineer” toward Galileo, which would become the first mission to orbit a gas giant planet. As the mission’s initial project manager, Casani led the effort from inception to assembly. Along the way, he had to navigate several congressional attempts to end the project, necessitating multiple visits to Washington. The 1986 loss of Space Shuttle Challenger, from which Galileo was to launch atop a Centaur upper-stage booster, led to mission redesign efforts before its 1989 launch.
After 11 years leading Galileo, Casani became deputy assistant laboratory director for flight projects in 1988, received a promotion just over a year later and then, from 1990 to 1991, served as project manager of Cassini, NASA’s first flagship mission to orbit Saturn.
Casani became JPL’s first chief engineer in 1994, retiring in 1999 and serving on several nationally prominent committees, including leading the investigation boards of both the Mars Climate Orbiter and the Mars Polar Lander failures, and also leading the James Webb Space Telescope Independent Comprehensive Review Panel.
In early 2003, Casani returned to JPL to serve as project manager for NASA’s Project Prometheus, which would have been the nation’s first nuclear-powered, electric-propulsion spacecraft. In 2005, he became manager of the Institutional Special Projects Office at JPL, a position he held until retiring again in 2012.
“Throughout his career, John reflected the true spirit of JPL: bold, innovative, visionary, and welcoming,” said Charles Elachi, JPL’s director from 2001 to 2016. “He was an undisputed leader with an upbeat, fun attitude and left an indelible mark on the laboratory and NASA. I am proud to have called him a friend.”
Casani received many awards over his lifetime, including NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal, the Management Improvement Award from the President of the United States for the Mariner Venus Mercury mission, and the Air and Space Museum Trophy for Lifetime Achievement.
News Media Contacts
Matthew Segal / Veronica McGregor
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-8307 / 818-354-9452
matthew.j.segal@jpl.nasa.gov / veronica.c.mcgregor@jpl.nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Jun 25, 2025 Related Terms
Jet Propulsion Laboratory Explore More
6 min read NASA’s Perseverance Rover Scours Mars for Science
Article 2 hours ago 5 min read NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Starts Unpacking Boxwork Formations
Article 2 days ago 4 min read NASA Mars Orbiter Captures Volcano Peeking Above Morning Cloud Tops
Article 3 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics
Missions
Humans in Space
Climate Change
Solar System
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.