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CAPSTONE Launches to Test New Orbit for NASA’s Artemis Moon Missions


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    • By NASA
      Mat Bevill, the associate chief engineer for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) Program, stands in front of a four-segment solid rocket booster that powered the space shuttle at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA Significant events in history keep finding Mat Bevill. As the associate chief engineer for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) Program, Bevill assists the program chief engineer by interfacing with each of the element chief engineers and helping make critical decisions for the development and flight of the SLS mega rocket that will power NASA’s Artemis campaign. With the launch of Artemis II, the first crewed test flight of SLS and the Orion spacecraft, Bevill’s technical leadership and support for the SLS Chief Engineer’s Office will place him, once again, at a notable moment in time.
      “Think of me as the assistant coach. While the head coach is on the front line leading the team, I’m on the sidelines providing feedback and advising those efforts,” said Bevill. As a jack-of-all-trades, he enables progress in any way that he can, something he’s familiar with after 37 years with NASA. And, on Nov. 16, 2022, as the SLS rocket roared to life for the first time with the Artemis I test flight, Bevill couldn’t help but reflect on a lifetime of experiences and lessons that led to that moment.
      Bevill began his NASA career while he was still attending the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. During his sophomore year as a mechanical engineer student, he applied for the agency’s internship program at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
      Just a few months before Bevill began his journey with NASA, the Challenger accident occurred, taking the lives of all seven crewmembers in January 1986. Bevill joined the Solid Motor Branch at Marshall as teams across the agency worked to understand the cause of the accident. It was a fast-paced environment, and Bevill had to learn quickly about the solid rocket boosters.
      “It was a surreal experience, but I was privileged to work with those people. We were figuring out tough lessons together and working toward a common goal,” Bevill recalls.
      Those tough lessons provided Bevill with tremendous hands-on experience related to the solid rocket booster hardware that would not only shape his career, but, later, the SLS rocket. The five-segment solid rocket boosters that provide more than 75% of thrust for SLS to go to the Moon are based on the same four-segment design that powered 135 shuttle missions to low Earth orbit. His experience from his time with the shuttle led him to deputy chief engineer for the SLS Boosters Office.
      Just as for Artemis I, Bevill will be standing by and serving as the “assistant coach” for Artemis II as the SLS rocket, once again, takes flight and sends the first crewed Artemis mission around the Moon. “SLS has been the crowning jewel of my career, and I consider myself blessed to be a part of NASA’s history,” Bevill said.
      SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with the Orion spacecraft, advanced spacesuits and rovers, the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch.
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    • By NASA
      2 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      NASA will host media to view a milestone RS-25 engine test at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Wednesday, April 3, to certify full production of new engines to help power the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.
      As NASA explores the universe for the benefit of all, NASA Stennis is testing engines and systems that will help launch the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft on future deep space missions. The April 3 test will mark completion of a 12-test series to certify production of RS-25 engines by lead contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, to help power missions beginning with Artemis V.

      In addition to the engine hot fire on the Fred Haise Test Stand, media will have an opportunity to tour the Aerojet Rocketdyne Engine Assembly Facility onsite, to receive a briefing at the Thad Cochran Test Stand (B-2) about upcoming exploration upper stage testing, and to interview NASA officials and others.

      The RS-25 hot fire viewing is targeted for early- to mid-afternoon.
      Following the hot fire, media also will have a chance to gather onsite to view and participate in the NASA news conference announcing the company, or companies, selected to move forward in development of the lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) that will help Artemis astronauts explore more of the Moon’s surface on future missions. The news conference will be broadcast at 3 p.m. CDT from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
      Media members interested in attending should:
      Be a U.S. citizen. Contact Lacy Thompson at calvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov no later than 12 p.m. on Monday, April 1. Provide name as it appears on driver’s license. Identify state issuing the license. Provide a mobile contact number. Please note NASA’s media accreditation policy online.
      Media members must arrive from 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 3, at INFINITY Science Center, the official visitors center for NASA Stennis, and produce valid driver’s license for transport on site. INFINITY is located at 1 Discovery Circle in Pearlington, Mississippi. Long pants and closed-toe shoes are required attire.
      Facebook logo @NASASTENNIS @NASASTENNIS Instagram logo @NASASTENNIS Share
      Details
      Last Updated Mar 28, 2024 EditorNASA Stennis CommunicationsContactC. Lacy Thompsoncalvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov / (228) 688-3333LocationStennis Space Center Related Terms
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    • By NASA
      2 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      NASA will host media to view a milestone RS-25 engine test at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Wednesday, April 3, to certify full production of new engines to help power the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.
      As NASA explores the universe for the benefit of all, NASA Stennis is testing engines and systems that will help launch the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft on future deep space missions. The April 3 test will mark completion of a 12-test series to certify production of RS-25 engines by lead contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, to help power missions beginning with Artemis V.

      In addition to the engine hot fire on the Fred Haise Test Stand, media will have an opportunity to tour the Aerojet Rocketdyne Engine Assembly Facility onsite, to receive a briefing at the Thad Cochran Test Stand (B-2) about upcoming exploration upper stage testing, and to interview NASA officials and others.

      The RS-25 hot fire viewing is targeted for early- to mid-afternoon.
      Following the hot fire, media also will have a chance to gather onsite to view and participate in the NASA news conference announcing the company, or companies, selected to move forward in development of the lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) that will help Artemis astronauts explore more of the Moon’s surface on future missions. The news conference will be broadcast at 3 p.m. CDT from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
      Media members interested in attending should:
      Be a U.S. citizen. Contact Lacy Thompson at calvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov no later than 12 p.m. on Monday, April 1. Provide name as it appears on driver’s license. Identify state issuing the license. Provide a mobile contact number. Please note NASA’s media accreditation policy online.
      Media members must arrive from 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 3, at INFINITY Science Center, the official visitors center for NASA Stennis, and produce valid driver’s license for transport on site. INFINITY is located at 1 Discovery Circle in Pearlington, Mississippi. Long pants and closed-toe shoes are required attire.
      Facebook logo @NASASTENNIS @NASASTENNIS Instagram logo @NASASTENNIS Share
      Details
      Last Updated Mar 28, 2024 EditorNASA Stennis CommunicationsContactC. Lacy Thompsoncalvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov / (228) 688-3333LocationStennis Space Center Related Terms
      Stennis Space Center Explore More
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    • By NASA
      4 min read
      Three-Year Study of Young Stars with NASA’s Hubble Enters New Chapter
      In the largest and one of the most ambitious Hubble Space Telescope programs ever executed, a team of scientists and engineers collected information on almost 500 stars over a three-year period. This effort offers new insights into the stars’ formation, evolution, and impact on their surroundings. 
      This comprehensive survey, called ULLYSES (Ultraviolet Legacy Library of Young Stars as Essential Standards), was completed in December 2023, and provides a rich spectroscopic dataset obtained in ultraviolet light that astronomers will be mining for decades to come. Because ultraviolet light can only be observed from space, Hubble is the only active telescope that can accomplish this research. 
      The ULLYSES program studied two types of young stars: super-hot, massive, blue stars and cooler, redder, less massive stars than our Sun. The top panel is a Hubble Space Telescope image of a star-forming region containing massive, young, blue stars in 30 Doradus, the Tarantula Nebula. Located within the Large Magellanic Cloud, this is one of the regions observed by ULLYSES. The bottom panel shows an artist’s concept of a cooler, redder, young star that less massive than our Sun. This type of star is still gathering material from its surrounding, planet-forming disk. NASA, ESA, STScI, Francesco Paresce (INAF-IASF Bologna), Robert O’Connell (UVA), SOC-WFC3, ESO
      Download this image

      “I believe the ULLYSES project will be transformative, impacting overall astrophysics – from exoplanets, to the effects of massive stars on galaxy evolution, to understanding the earliest stages of the evolving universe,” said Julia Roman-Duval, Implementation Team Lead for ULLYSES at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland. “Aside from the specific goals of the program, the stellar data can also be used in fields of astrophysics in ways we can’t yet imagine.”
      The ULLYSES team studied 220 stars, then combined those observations with information from the Hubble archive on 275 additional stars. The program also included data from some of the world’s largest, most powerful ground-based telescopes and X-ray space telescopes. The ULLYSES dataset is made up of stellar spectra, which carry information about each star’s temperature, chemical composition, and rotation. 
      One type of stars studied under ULLYSES is super-hot, massive, blue stars. They are a million times brighter than the Sun and glow fiercely in ultraviolet light that can easily be detected by Hubble. Their spectra include key diagnostics of the speed of their powerful winds. The winds drive galaxy evolution and seed galaxies with the elements needed for life. Those elements are cooked up inside the stars’ nuclear fusion ovens and then injected into space as a star dies. ULLYSES targeted blue stars in nearby galaxies that are deficient in elements heavier than helium and hydrogen. This type of galaxy was common in the very early universe. “ULLYSES observations are a stepping stone to understanding those first stars and their winds in the universe, and how they impact the evolution of their young host galaxy,” said Roman-Duval.  
      The other star category in the ULLYSES program is young stars less massive than our Sun. Though cooler and redder than our Sun, in their formative years they unleash a torrent of high-energy radiation, including blasts of ultraviolet light and X-rays. Because they are still growing, they are gathering material from their surrounding planet-forming disks of dust and gas. The Hubble spectra include key diagnostics of the process by which they acquire their mass, including how much energy this process releases into the surrounding planet-forming disk and nearby environment. The blistering ultraviolet light from young stars affects the evolution of these disks as they form planets, as well as the chances of habitability for newborn planets. The target stars are located in nearby star-forming regions in our Milky Way galaxy.
      The ULLYSES concept was designed by a committee of experts with the goal of using Hubble to provide a legacy set of stellar observations. “ULLYSES was originally conceived as an observing program utilizing Hubble’s sensitive spectrographs. However, the program was tremendously enhanced by community-led coordinated and ancillary observations with other ground- and space-based observatories,” said Roman-Duval. “Such broad coverage allows astronomers to investigate the lives of stars in unprecedented detail and paint a more comprehensive picture of the properties of these stars and how they impact their environment.”
      To that end, STScI hosted a ULLYSES workshop March 11–14 to celebrate the beginning of a new era of research on young stars. The goal was to allow members of the astronomical community to collaborate on the data, so that they could gain momentum in the ongoing analyses, or kickstart new ideas for analysis. The workshop was one important step in exploiting this legacy spectral library to its fullest potential, fulfilling the promise of ULLYSES.
      The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, Colorado, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
      Media Contacts:
      Claire Andreoli
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
      claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
      Ann Jenkins / Ray Villard
      Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
      Science Contact:
      Julia Roman-Duval
      Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
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      Last Updated Mar 28, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Related Terms
      Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Missions Stars The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Hubble Space Telescope


      Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.


      Stars Stories



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      Universe


      View the full article
    • By NASA
      The ULLYSES program studied two types of young stars: super-hot, massive, blue stars and cooler, redder, less massive stars than our Sun. The top panel is a Hubble Space Telescope image of a star-forming region containing massive, young, blue stars in 30 Doradus, the Tarantula Nebula. Located within the Large Magellanic Cloud, this is one of the regions observed by ULLYSES. The bottom panel shows an artist’s concept of a cooler, redder, young star that less massive than our Sun. This type of star is still gathering material from its surrounding, planet-forming disk. NASA, ESA, STScI, Francesco Paresce (INAF-IASF Bologna), Robert O’Connell (UVA), SOC-WFC3, ESO View the full article
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