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    • By NASA
      NASA astronaut Don Pettit poses for a crew portrait at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.NASA During his fourth mission to the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Don Pettit will serve as a flight engineer and member of the Expedition 71/72 crew. After blasting off to space, Pettit will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare crew for future space missions.
      Pettit will launch on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft in September 2024, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. The trio will spend approximately six months aboard the orbital laboratory.
      NASA selected Pettit as an astronaut in 1996. A veteran of three spaceflights, he made integral advancements in technology and demonstrations for human exploration. He served as a science officer for Expedition 6 in 2003, operated the robotic arm for STS-126 space shuttle Endeavour in 2008, and served as a flight engineer for Expedition 30/31 in 2012. Pettit has logged 370 days in space and conducted two spacewalks totaling 13 hours and 17 minutes.
      The Expedition 6 crew launched on STS-113 space shuttle Endeavour expecting to return on STS-114 space shuttle Discovery after a two and a half month mission. Following the space shuttle Columbia accident that grounded the shuttle fleet, the crew returned on the Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft after five and a half months, landing in Kazakhstan. On his next 16-day mission, STS-126, Pettit helped expand the living quarters of the space station and installed a regenerative life support system to reclaim potable water from urine. During Expedition 30/31, Pettit also captured the first commercial cargo spacecraft, the SpaceX Dragon, using the robotic arm.
      A native from Silverton, Oregon, Pettit holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Oregon State University, Corvallis, and a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Arizona, Tucson. Prior to his career with NASA, Pettit worked as a staff scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
      For more than two decades, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs that are 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 is able to focus more of its resources on deep space missions to the Moon and Mars.
      Get breaking news, images and features from the space station on the station blog, Instagram, Facebook, and X.
      Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:
      https://www.nasa.gov/station
      -end-
      Julian Coltre / Claire O’Shea
      Headquarters, Washington
      202-358-1100
      julian.n.coltre@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
      Courtney Beasley
      Johnson Space Center, Houston
      281-483-5111
      courtney.m.beasley@nasa.gov
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      Last Updated Mar 27, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
      International Space Station (ISS) Humans in Space ISS Research Missions View the full article
    • By NASA
      4 min read
      Contribute to NASA Research on Eclipse Day – and Every Day
      NASA is celebrating the Sun during the Heliophysics Big Year, which extends through the end of 2024. You can get involved to help us learn more about our star and its influence on our planet. With exciting experiments happening during the total solar eclipse that will cross North America on April 8, to widespread investigations going on throughout the year, keep reading to find a project that’s right for you.
      The dark band that runs from Mexico into Texas and all the way to Maine and Maritime Canada shows the path of totality for the April 8, 2024, eclipse. This is the area where people on Earth can witness a total eclipse of the Sun. Outside of this path, observers may see a partial eclipse, with the amount of the Sun being blocked by the Moon decreasing with distance from the path.  NASA/Scientific Visualization Studio/Michala Garrison; Eclipse Calculations By Ernie Wright, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center What Is Citizen Science (Also Called Participatory Science)?
      NASA defines citizen science as “a form of open collaboration in which individuals or organizations participate in the scientific process in various ways” from collecting and analyzing data to making discoveries and solving problems. ”Citizen” here refers to citizens of planet Earth, and these projects are open to everyone, regardless of country of birth or legal citizenship status.
      NASA sponsors citizen science projects across all five areas of research that it pursues: Earth science, planetary science, astrophysics, biological and physical sciences, and heliophysics. And yes, there are a few projects that are focused on the April 8 solar eclipse!
      What You Can Do
      Depending which project you join, you might:
      Observe and record in pictures or words natural phenomena like clouds, animal noises, or a solar eclipse. Learn how to recognize or classify patterns in data or pictures of a comet or solar jet. Learn how to build and use scientific equipment like radio telescopes or ham radios. Your contribution may be a large or small piece of the picture, but what you do as part of a NASA citizen science project is essential to answering the research question or need that the project addresses. And while you’re contributing to science, you might also develop new skills and make friends. You can read about some project participants – and what motivates them – in these profiles.
      The Projects
      NASA citizen science projects related to the April 8, 2024, eclipse and solar science are presented in four groups below. You can see all NASA citizen science projects on this website.
      Use the tables below to find the project for you! A few notes:
      “Minimum time required” refers to how much time it would take you to get up to speed from the start. “Where” refers to where you need to be in order to participate. Are you an educator looking for ways to involve your formal or informal students in eclipse-related science? Check out this companion blog post for some tips for educators.
      Eclipse Projects That Need You on April 8!
      Quick-Start Projects That Require No Special Equipment
      Prerequisite knowledge Preparation/ Training Required equipment Challenge level Minimum time required Where Eclipse Soundscapes (Observer role) none online, minutes printable form easy minutes outside, in or near the path of totality GLOBE Observer: Eclipse Protocol none in app, minutes smartphone, air temperature thermometer easy minutes outside, in or near the path of totality SunSketcher none in app, minutes smartphone (download app in advance) easy minutes outside, in path of totality More Demanding Projects That Require Special Equipment
      Prerequisite knowledge Preparation/ Training Required equipment Challenge level Minimum time required Where Eclipse Soundscapes (Data Collector role) none online, minutes AudioMoth with micro-SD cards easy hours outside, in or near the path of totality Eclipse Megamovie 2024 how to use DSLR camera online, minutes DSLR camera and tracking mount moderate hours outside, in path of totality HamSCI familiarity with ham radios online, self-directed, hours web-connected device and/or ham radio moderate days inside Radio JOVE none online, self-directed, days to weeks web-connected device and/or radio telescope moderate weeks outside and/or online Citizen Continental-America Telescope Eclipse (CATE) 2024 none in person, days telescope, computer, cameras – provided to selected teams high (application period closed) days outside, in path of totality Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast (DEB) Initiative none online, hours telescope – provided to selected teams high (application period closed) days outside, in and off the path of totality Heliophysics Projects That You Can Do Anytime
      Quick-Start Projects, No Special Equipment Required
      Prerequisite knowledge Preparation/ Training Required equipment Challenge level Minimum time required Where HARP – Heliophysics Audified: Resonance in Plasmas none online, minutes web-connected device easy minutes online Solar Jet Hunter none online, minutes web-connected device easy minutes online More Demanding Projects That Require Special Equipment
      Prerequisite knowledge Preparation/ Training Required equipment Challenge level Minimum time required Where Aurorasaurus none online, minutes web-connected device, camera optional moderate hours outside, high latitudes Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast (DEB) Initiative none online, hours telescope – provided to selected teams moderate hours outside HamSCI familiarity with ham radios online, self-directed, hours web-connected device and/or ham radio moderate weeks indoors Radio JOVE familiarity with radio telescopes online, self-directed, hours web-connected device and/or radio telescope moderate weeks outside and/or online Spritacular none online, minutes web-connected device and/or camera moderate minutes outside and/or online Sungrazer Project none online, hours web-connected device high hours online Advanced Participation
      Many NASA citizen science projects start out with a straightforward, structured task, but that doesn’t have to be where your contributions end. Some projects offer webinars or host regular video conference calls where enthusiastic volunteers can learn about and participate in the work that comes after data collection or classification. Hundreds of volunteers have become involved in deep ways. Over 450 volunteers have even been recognized for their contributions by being named as co-authors of scientific papers, which are the formal way in which scientists announce new discoveries and ideas.
      By Sarah Kirn
      Citizen Science Strategist, NASA, at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute
      Share








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      Last Updated Mar 27, 2024 Related Terms
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    • By NASA
      NASA astronaut and backup Soyuz MS-25 Flight Engineer Don Pettit poses for a crew portrait at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.NASA During his fourth mission to the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Don Pettit will serve as a flight engineer and member of the Expedition 71/72 crew. After blasting off to space, Pettit will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare crew for future space missions.
      Pettit will launch on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft in September 2024, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. The trio will spend approximately six months aboard the orbital laboratory.
      NASA selected Pettit as an astronaut in 1996. A veteran of three spaceflights, he made integral advancements in technology and demonstrations for human exploration. He served as a science officer for Expedition 6 in 2003, operated the robotic arm for STS-126 space shuttle Endeavour in 2008, and served as a flight engineer for Expedition 30/31 in 2012. Pettit has logged 370 days in space and conducted two spacewalks totaling 13 hours and 17 minutes.
      The Expedition 6 crew launched on STS-113 space shuttle Endeavour expecting to return on STS-114 space shuttle Discovery after a two and a half month mission. Following the space shuttle Columbia accident that grounded the shuttle fleet, the crew returned on the Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft after five and a half months, landing in Kazakhstan. On his next 16-day mission, STS-126, Pettit helped expand the living quarters of the space station and installed a regenerative life support system to reclaim potable water from urine. During Expedition 30/31, Pettit also captured the first commercial cargo spacecraft, the SpaceX Dragon, using the robotic arm.
      A native from Silverton, Oregon, Pettit holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Oregon State University, Corvallis, and a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Arizona, Tucson. Prior to his career with NASA, Pettit worked as a staff scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
      For more than two decades, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs that are 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 is able to focus more of its resources on deep space missions to the Moon and Mars.
      Get breaking news, images and features from the space station on the station blog, Instagram, Facebook, and X.
      Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:
      https://www.nasa.gov/station
      -end-
      Julian Coltre / Claire O’Shea
      Headquarters, Washington
      202-358-1100
      julian.n.coltre@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
      Courtney Beasley
      Johnson Space Center, Houston
      281-483-5111
      courtney.m.beasley@nasa.gov
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      5 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      Europa Clipper is seen in the 25-Foot Space Simulator at JPL in February, before the start of thermal vacuum testing. A battery of tests ensures that the NASA spacecraft can withstand the extreme hot, cold, and airless environment of space. NASA/JPL-Caltech A gantlet of tests prepared the spacecraft for its challenging trip to the Jupiter system, where it will explore the icy moon Europa and its subsurface ocean.
      In less than six months, NASA is set to launch Europa Clipper on a 1.6-billion-mile (2.6-billion-kilometer) voyage to Jupiter’s ocean moon Europa. From the wild vibrations of the rocket ride to the intense heat and cold of space to the punishing radiation of Jupiter, it will be a journey of extremes. The spacecraft was recently put through a series of hard-core tests at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to ensure it’s up to the challenge.
      Called environmental testing, the battery of trials simulates the environment that the spacecraft will face, subjecting it to shaking, chilling, airlessness, electromagnetic fields, and more.
      NASA’s Europa Clipper is seen being lifted into the Space Simulator at JPL in February. Thermal vacuum testing, which lasted 16 days, ensures that the spacecraft will withstand the harsh conditions of space. NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s Europa Clipper is visible in the clean room of High Bay 1 within JPL’s Spacecraft Assembly Facility in January. The tent around the spacecraft was erected to support electromagnetic testing, which was part of a regimen of environmental tests. NASA/JPL-Caltech “These were the last big tests to find any flaws,” said JPL’s Jordan Evans, the mission’s project manager. “Our engineers executed a well-designed and challenging set of tests that put the system through its paces. What we found is that the spacecraft can handle the environments that it will see during and after launch. The system performed very well and operates as expected.”
      The Gantlet
      The most recent environmental test for Europa Clipper was also one of the most elaborate, requiring 16 days to complete. The spacecraft is the largest NASA has ever built for a planetary mission and one of the largest ever to squeeze into JPL’s historic 85-foot-tall, 25-foot-wide (26-meter-by-8-meter) thermal vacuum chamber (TVAC). Known as the 25-foot Space Simulator, the chamber creates a near-perfect vacuum inside to mimic the airless environment of space.
      At the same time, engineers subjected the hardware to the high temperatures it will experience on the side of Europa Clipper that faces the Sun while the spacecraft is close to Earth. Beams from powerful lamps at the base of the Space Simulator bounced off a massive mirror at its top to mimic the heat the spacecraft will endure.
      To simulate the journey away from the Sun, the lamps were dimmed and liquid nitrogen filled tubes in the chamber walls to chill them to temperatures replicating space. The team then gauged whether the spacecraft could warm itself, monitoring it with about 500 temperature sensors, each of which had been attached by hand.
      Watch as engineers and technicians move NASA’s Europa Clipper into the thermal vacuum chamber at JPL in February 2024.
      Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech TVAC marked the culmination of environmental testing, which included a regimen of tests to ensure the electrical and magnetic components that make up the spacecraft don’t interfere with one another.
      The orbiter also underwent vibration, shock, and acoustics testing. During vibration testing, the spacecraft was shaken repeatedly – up and down and side to side – the same way it will be jostled aboard the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket during liftoff. Shock testing involved pyrotechnics to mimic the explosive jolt the spacecraft will get when it separates from the rocket to fly its mission. Finally, acoustic testing ensured that Europa Clipper can withstand the noise of launch, when the rumbling of the rocket is so loud it can damage the spacecraft if it’s not sturdy enough.
      “There still is work to be done, but we’re on track for an on-time launch,” Evans said. “And the fact that this testing was so successful is a huge positive and helps us rest more easily.”
      Looking to Launch
      Later this spring, the spacecraft will be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There, teams of engineers and technicians will carry out final preparations with eyes on the clock. Europa Clipper’s launch period opens Oct. 10.
      After liftoff, the spacecraft will zip toward Mars, and in late February 2025, it will be close enough to use the Red Planet’s gravitational force for added momentum. From there, the solar-powered spacecraft will swing back toward Earth to get another slingshot boost – from our own planet’s gravitational field – in December 2026.
      Then it’s on to the outer solar system, where Europa Clipper is set to arrive at Jupiter in 2030. The spacecraft will orbit the gas giant while it flies by Europa 49 times, dipping as close as 16 miles (25 kilometers) from the moon’s surface to gather data with its powerful suite of science instruments. The information gathered will tell scientists more about the moon’s watery interior.
      More About the Mission
      Europa Clipper’s main science goal is to determine whether there are places below the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, that could support life. The mission’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.
      Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. APL designed the main spacecraft body in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.
      Find more information about Europa here:
      europa.nasa.gov
      News Media Contacts
      Gretchen McCartney
      Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
      818-393-6215
      gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov
      Karen Fox / Charles Blue
      NASA Headquarters, Washington
      301-286-6284 / 202-802-5345
      karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / charles.e.blue@nasa.gov
      2024-032
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      Last Updated Mar 27, 2024 Related Terms
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    • By NASA
      4 min read
      NASA Data Shows How Drought Changes Wildfire Recovery in the West
      California’s 2017 Thomas Fire (shown) was included in a new analysis of more than 1,500 wildland fires teasing out how drought and fire combine to affect western U.S. lands.USDA Forest Service/ Stuart Palley A new study using NASA satellite data reveals how drought affects the recovery of western ecosystems from fire, a result that could provide meaningful information for conservation efforts.
      The West has been witnessing a trend of increasing number and intensity of wildland fires. Historically a natural part of the region’s ecology, fires have been exacerbated by climate change—including more frequent and intense droughts—and past efforts to suppress fires, which can lead to the accumulation of combustible material like fallen branches and leaves. But quantifying how fire and drought jointly affect ecosystems has proven difficult.
      In the new study, researchers analyzed over 1,500 fires from 2014 to 2020 across the West, and also gathered data on drought conditions dating back to 1984. They found that droughts make it harder for grasslands and shrublands, such as those in Nevada and Utah, to recover after fires—even the less severe blazes. Forests, if not burned too badly, rebound better than grasslands and shrublands because some forest roots can tap into water deeper in the ground. The team reported its findings in the February 2024 issue of Nature Ecology & Environment.
      “Many of the West’s grasslands experience low-severity fires,” said Shahryar Ahmed, lead author of the study and a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “This study shows that even those blazes can trigger a slow recovery in these ecosystems if accompanied by a preceding drought.”
      If ecosystems don’t have enough time to bounce back before another drought or fire, that could lead to permanent changes in the types of plants growing there. That, in turn, can increase the risk of soil erosion and landslides, and alter the usual patterns of water running off into streams and lakes.
      “Once a fire is contained, that’s when the remediation efforts happen,” said Everett Hinkley, the national remote sensing program manager for the U.S. Forest Service, who wasn’t involved in the new research. “Understanding how a particular ecosystem and land cover type is going to respond after the fire informs what actions you need to take to restore the landscape.”
      Without such restoration, changes in land cover can cascade to potentially affect agriculture, tourism, and other community livelihoods. To track the recovery of the different ecosystems, the researchers examined changes in evapotranspiration (ET)—the transfer of water to the atmosphere through evaporation from soil and open water and transpiration from plants—before and after the fires. Monitoring evapotranspiration helped the team identify whether different ecosystems, such as forests and grasslands, completely recovered after a fire, or if the recovery was delayed or disrupted.
      That evapotranspiration data came from OpenET, a tool that calculates evapotranspiration at the scale of a quarter-acre across the western United States. It does so using models that harness publicly available data from the Landsat program, a partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, along with other NASA and NOAA satellites.
      “This study highlights the dominant control of drought on altering resilience of vegetation to fires in the West,” said Erin Urquhart, the water resources program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “With ongoing climate change, it is imperative that land managers, policymakers, and communities work together, informed by such research, to adapt to these changes, mitigating risks and ensuring the sustainable use of water and other natural resources.”
      The research also showed that forests, grasslands, and shrublands all struggle to recover from droughts that occur close in time with high-severity fires, which are becoming more common in the West. That can lead to potentially lasting changes not only in the plant communities but also in local and regional water dynamics.
      Severe fires damage plants to such an extent that evapotranspiration is greatly reduced in the following years, the researchers found. So instead of evaporating into the atmosphere, more water sinks into the ground as recharge or becomes runoff.
      Using a subset of nearly 800 fires from 2016 to 2018, the researchers calculated that across all the ecoregions in the study, an average of about 528 billion gallons (two cubic kilometers) of water was diverted as runoff or recharge during the first year after a fire. That’s equivalent to North Dakota’s annual water demand, or one quarter of Shasta Lake, California’s largest humanmade lake.
      When more water becomes runoff, it means less could be available for ecosystem recovery or agriculture. As Earth’s climate continues to warm, understanding these shifts is crucial for developing strategies to manage water resources more effectively and ensure water security for future generations.

      By: Emily DeMarco, NASA Earth Science Division
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      Last Updated Mar 27, 2024 EditorEmily DeMarcoContactEmily DeMarcoemily.p.demarco@nasa.gov Related Terms
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