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By European Space Agency
Image: This striking high-resolution image offers an in-depth view of central Paris, allowing you to explore and zoom into the city’s most captivating areas in exceptional detail. View the full article
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By NASA
Crane operator Rebekah Tolatovicz, a shift mechanical technician lead for Artic Slope Regional Corporation at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, operates a 30-ton crane to lift the agency’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft out of the recently renovated altitude chamber to the Final Assembly and Systems Testing, or FAST, cell inside NASA Kennedy’s Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on April 27.
During her most recent lift July 10, Tolatovicz helped transfer Orion back to the FAST cell following vacuum chamber qualification testing in the altitude chamber earlier this month. This lift is one of around 250 annual lifts performed at NASA Kennedy by seven operator/directors and 14 crane operators on the ASRC Orion team.
“At the time of the spacecraft lift, I focus solely on what’s going on in the moment of the operation,” explains Tolatovicz. “Listening for the commands from the lift director, making sure everyone is safe, verifying the vehicle is clear, and ensuring the crane is moving correctly.”
All Orion crane operators are certified after classroom and on-the-job training focusing on areas such as rigging, weight and center of gravity, mastering crane controls, crane securing, assessing safety issues, and emergency procedures. Once certified, they progress through a series of the different lifts required for Orion spacecraft operations, from simple moves to the complex full spacecraft lift.
“It’s not until after the move is complete and the vehicle is secured that I have a moment to think about how awesome it is to be a part of history on the Orion Program and do what I get to do every day with a team of the most amazing people,” Tolatovicz said.
Photo credit: NASA/Amanda Stevenson
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Mechanical Engineer Jeff Pollack finalizes his design for the integration of the laser communications terminal into the PC-12 research aircraft.Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian NASA invites media to attend a real-time laser communications experiment at the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Researchers are testing a laser communications networking system that could enable the public to watch the first woman and first person of color walk on the Moon in HD during the Artemis missions.
The media availability begins at 11 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, July 30 (weather permitting) at the NASA Glenn aircraft hangar. Media will have the opportunity to see NASA’s Pilatus PC-12 aircraft take off and to film researchers on the ground as they communicate with the airborne team.
During these tests, researchers flying over Lake Erie will test communications between NASA Glenn and the aircraft using High-Rate Delay Tolerant Networking developed by Glenn. The data is transferred over laser communications links at a rate of 1.2 gigabits per second — faster than most home internet speeds.
Earlier this summer, the research team streamed 4K video to the International Space Station from an aircraft for the first time in history.
Media interested in attending should contact Jan Wittry at jan.m.wittry-1@nasa.gov by 2 p.m. EDT on Monday, July 29.
These experiments are part of NASA’s goal to stream very high-bandwidth video and other data from deep space, enabling future human missions beyond Earth orbit. In December, NASA streamed a video featuring a cat named Taters back to Earth from nearly 19 million miles away in deep space using NASA’s laser communications demonstration, marking a historic milestone.
About Laser Communications
Historically, missions have relied on the use of radio waves to exchange information to and from space. Now, NASA is embracing the power of laser communications, also known as optical communications, which uses infrared light rather than radio waves to transmit more data at once.
As NASA explores the lunar surface with advanced science instruments and captures high-definition data, researchers will need faster ways to send large amounts of information to Earth. Laser communications will accelerate the data transfer process and enable 10 to 100 times more data transmitted back to Earth than current radio frequency systems.
For more information on NASA, visit:
http://www.nasa.govnasa.gov
-end-
Jan Wittry
NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland
216-433-5466
jan.m.wittry-1@nasa.gov
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A graphic representation of a laser communications relay between the International Space Station, the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration spacecraft, and the Earth.Credit: NASA/Dave Ryan A team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions.
Historically, NASA has relied on radio waves to send information to and from space. Laser communications use infrared light to transmit 10 to 100 times more data faster than radio frequency systems.
From left to right, Kurt Blankenship, research aircraft pilot, Adam Wroblewski, instrument operator, and Shaun McKeehan, High-Rate Delay Tolerant Networking software developer, wait outside the PC-12 aircraft, preparing to take flight. Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna Working with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Glenn engineers temporarily installed a portable laser terminal on the belly of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. They then flew over Lake Erie sending data from the aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where scientists used infrared light signals to send the data.
The signals traveled 22,000 miles away from Earth to NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), an orbiting experimental platform. The LCRD then relayed the signals to the ILLUMA-T (Integrated LCRD LEO User Modem and Amplifier Terminal) payload mounted on the orbiting laboratory, which then sent data back to Earth. During the experiments, High-Rate Delay Tolerant Networking (HDTN), a new system developed at Glenn, helped the signal penetrate cloud coverage more effectively.
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4K video footage was routed from the PC-12 aircraft to an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, it was sent over an Earth-based network to NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The signals were then sent to NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration spacecraft and relayed to the ILLUMA-T payload on the International Space Station. Video Credit: NASA/Morgan Johnson “These experiments are a tremendous accomplishment,” said Dr. Daniel Raible, principal investigator for the HDTN project at Glenn. “We can now build upon the success of streaming 4K HD videos to and from the space station to provide future capabilities, like HD videoconferencing, for our Artemis astronauts, which will be important for crew health and activity coordination.”
Mechanical Engineer Jeff Pollack finalizes his design for the integration of the laser communications terminal into the PC-12 research aircraft.Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna After each flight test, the team continuously improved the functionality of their technology. Aeronautics testing of space technology often finds issues more effectively than ground testing, while remaining more cost-effective than space testing. Proving success in a simulated space environment is key to moving new technology from a laboratory into the production phase.
“Teams at Glenn ensure new ideas are not stuck in a lab, but actually flown in the relevant environment to ensure this technology can be matured to improve the lives of all of us,” said James Demers, chief of aircraft operations at Glenn.
The flights were part of an agency initiative to stream high-bandwidth video and other data from deep space, enabling future human missions beyond low Earth orbit. As NASA continues to develop advanced science instruments to capture high-definition data on the Moon and beyond, the agency’s Space Communications and Navigation, or SCaN, program embraces laser communications to send large amounts of information back to Earth.
The optical system temporarily installed on the belly of the PC-12 aircraft has proven to be a very reliable high-performance system to communicate with prototype flight instrumentation and evaluate emerging technologies to enhance high-bandwidth systems.Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna While the ILLUMA-T payload is no longer installed on the space station, researchers will continue to test 4K video streaming capabilities from the PC-12 aircraft through the remainder of July, with the goal of developing the technologies needed to stream humanity’s return to the lunar surface through Artemis.
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By NASA
5 Min Read Watch Carbon Dioxide Move Through Earth’s Atmosphere
Global CO2 ppm for January-March of 2020. This camera move orbits Earth from a distance. Credits:
NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio Earth (ESD) Earth Home Explore Climate Change Science in Action Multimedia Data For Researchers What we’re looking at:
This global map shows concentrations of carbon dioxide as the gas moved through Earth’s atmosphere from January through March 2020, driven by wind patterns and atmospheric circulation.
Because of the model’s high resolution, you can zoom in and see carbon dioxide emissions rising from power plants, fires, and cities, then spreading across continents and oceans.
Global CO2 ppm for January-March of 2020. This camera move orbits Earth from a distance. Download this visualization from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5196 Credits: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio “As policymakers and as scientists, we’re trying to account for where carbon comes from and how that impacts the planet,” said climate scientist Lesley Ott at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “You see here how everything is interconnected by these different weather patterns.”
You see here how everything is interconnected by these different weather patterns.
Lesley Ott
NASA Climate scientist
What are the sources of CO2?
Over China, the United States, and South Asia, the majority of emissions came from power plants, industrial facilities, and cars and trucks, Ott said. Meanwhile, in Africa and South America, emissions largely stemmed from fires, especially those related to land management, controlled agricultural burns and deforestation, along with the burning of oil and coal. Fires release carbon dioxide as they burn.
Why does the map look like it’s pulsing?
Global CO2 ppm for January-March of 2020. This camera move zooms in on the eastern United States. Download this visualization from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5196 Credits: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio There are two primary reasons for the pulsing: First, fires have a clear day-night cycle. They typically flare up during the day and die down at night.
Second, you’re seeing the absorption and release of carbon dioxide as trees and plants photosynthesize. Earth’s land and oceans absorb about 50% of carbon dioxide; these are natural carbon sinks. Plants take up carbon dioxide during the day as they photosynthesize and then release it at night through respiration. Notice that much of the pulsing occurred in regions with lots of trees, like mid- or high-latitude forests. And because the data were taken during the Southern Hemisphere summer, you see more pulsing in the tropics and South America, where it was the active growing season.
Some of the pulsing also comes from the planetary boundary layer — the lowest 3,000 feet (900 meters) of the atmosphere — which rises as the Earth’s surface is heated by sunlight during the day, then falls as it cools at night.
The data that drives it:
The map was created by NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio using a model called GEOS, short for the Goddard Earth Observing System. GEOS is a high-resolution weather model, powered by supercomputers, that is used to simulate what was happening in the atmosphere — including storm systems, cloud formations, and other natural events. GEOS pulls in billions of data points from ground observations and satellite instruments, such as the Terra satellite’s MODIS and the Suomi-NPP satellite’s VIIRS instruments. Its resolution is more than 100 times greater than a typical weather model.
Ott and other climate scientists wanted to know what GEOS would show if it was used to model the movement and density of carbon dioxide in the global atmosphere.
“We had this opportunity to say: can we tag along and see what really high-resolution CO2 looks like?” Ott said. “We had a feeling we were going to see plume structures and things that we’ve never been able to see when we do these coarser resolution simulations.”
Her instinct was right. “Just seeing how persistent the plumes were and the interaction of the plumes with weather systems, it was tremendous.”
Why it matters:
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio/ Katie Jepson We can’t tackle climate change without confronting the fact that we’re emitting massive amounts of CO2, and it’s warming the atmosphere, Ott said.
Carbon dioxide is a heat-trapping greenhouse gas and the primary reason for Earth’s rising temperatures. As CO2 builds in the atmosphere, it warms our planet. This is clear in the numbers. 2023 was the hottest year on record, according to scientists from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. Most of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred in the past decade.
All this carbon dioxide isn’t harmful to air quality. In fact, we need some carbon dioxide to keep the planet warm enough for life to exist. But when too much CO2 is pumped into the atmosphere, the Earth warms too much and too fast. That’s what has been happening for at least the past half century. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased from approximately 278 parts per million in 1750, the beginning of the industrial era, to 427 parts per million in May 2024.
Read More: Emissions from Fossil Fuels Continue to Rise
Human activities have “unequivocally caused warming,” according to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This warming is leading to all sorts of changes to our climate, including more intense storms, wildfires, heat waves, and rising sea levels.
Inside the SVS studio:
Carbon dioxide exists everywhere in the atmosphere, and the challenge for AJ Christensen, a senior visualization designer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, was to show the differences in density of this invisible gas.
“We didn’t want people to get the impression that there was no carbon dioxide in these sparser regions,” Christensen said. “But we also wanted to really highlight the dense regions because that’s the interesting feature of the data. We were trying to show that there’s a lot of density over New York and Beijing.”
Data visualizations help people understand how Earth’s systems work, and they can help scientists find patterns in massive datasets, Ott said.
“What’s happening is you’re stitching together this very complex array of models to make use of the different satellite data, and that’s helping us fill in this broad puzzle of all the processes that control carbon dioxide,” Ott said. “The hope is that if we understand greenhouse gases really well today, we’ll be able to build models that better predict them over the next decades or even centuries.”
For more information and data on greenhouse gases, visit the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center.
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Jenny Marder
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Last Updated Jul 23, 2024 Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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