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Samantha Cristoforetti’s first news conference after returning to Earth
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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
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
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins uses a hammer to get a drive tube into the ground to collect a pristine soil sample during a nighttime simulated moonwalk in the San Francisco Volcanic Field in Northern Arizona on May 16, 2024. Surviving and operating through the lunar night was identified as a top-ranked 2024 Civil Space Challenge, and tests such as these help NASA astronauts and engineers practice end-to-end lunar operations. NASA/Josh Valcarcel This spring, NASA published a document overviewing almost 200 technology areas requiring further development to meet future exploration, science, and other mission needs – and asked the aerospace community to rate their importance. The goal was to better integrate the community’s most pervasive technical challenges, or shortfalls, to help guide NASA’s space technology development and investments.
Today, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) released the 2024 Civil Space Shortfall Ranking document, integrating inputs from NASA mission directorates and centers, small and large industry organizations, government agencies, academia, and other interested individuals. STMD will use the inaugural list and annual updates as one of many factors to guide its technology development projects and investments.
“Identifying consensus among challenges across the aerospace industry will help us find solutions, together,” said NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free. “This is the groundwork for strengthening the nation’s technological capabilities to pave the way for new discoveries, economic opportunities, and scientific breakthroughs that benefit humanity.”
The integrated results show strong stakeholder agreement among the 30 most important shortfalls. At the top of the list is surviving and operating through the lunar night, when significant and sustained temperature drops make it difficult to run science experiments, rovers, habitats, and more. Solution technologies could include new power, thermal management, and motor systems. Second and third on the integrated list are the need for high-power energy generation on the Moon and Mars and high-performance spaceflight computing.
The inputs received are already igniting meaningful conversations to help us and our stakeholders make smarter decisions. We will refine the process and results annually to ensure we maintain a useful approach and tool that fosters resilience in our space technology endeavors.”
Michelle Munk
Acting Chief Architect for STMD
Highly rated capability areas in the top 20 included advanced habitation systems, autonomous systems and robotics, communications and navigation, power, avionics, and nuclear propulsion. Beyond the top quartile, stakeholder shortfall scores varied, likely aligning with their interests and expertise. With many shortfalls being interdependent, it emphasizes the need to make strategic investments across many areas to maintain U.S. leadership in space technology and drive economic growth.
STMD is evaluating its current technology development efforts against the integrated list to identify potential adjustments within its portfolio.
“This effort is an excellent example of our directorates working together to assess future architecture needs that will enable exploration and science for decades to come,” said Nujoud Merancy, deputy associate administrator for the Strategy and Architecture Office within NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate.
The 2024 results are based on 1,231 total responses, including 769 internal and 462 external responses. Twenty were consolidated responses, representing multiple individuals from the same organization. Once average shortfall scores were calculated for each organization, STMD grouped, totaled, and averaged scores for nine stakeholder groups and then applied pre-determined weights to each to create the overall ranking. In the document, NASA also published the ranked results for each stakeholder group based on the 2024 feedback.
The rankings are based on the numerical scores received and not responses to the open-ended questions. NASA anticipates the qualitative feedback will uncover additional insights and more.
NASA will host a webinar to overview the ranking process and results on July 26, 2024, at 2 p.m. EDT.
Register for the Stakeholder Webinar “Communicating our most pressing technology challenges is a great way to tap into the abilities across all communities to provide solutions to critical problems,” said Dr. Carolyn Mercer, chief technologist for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
To learn more about the inaugural civil space shortfall feedback opportunity and results as well as monitor future feedback opportunities, visit:
www.nasa.gov/civilspaceshortfalls
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By NASA
NASA Astronaut Eileen Collins, STS-93 commander, looks through a checklist on the space shuttle Columbia’s middeck in this July 1999 image. Collins was the first female shuttle commander.
Collins graduated in 1979 from Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance AFB, Oklahoma, where she was a T-38 instructor pilot until 1982. She continued her career as an instructor pilot of different aircraft until 1989. She was selected for the astronaut program while attending the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, California, which she graduated from in 1990. Collins became an astronaut in 1991 and over the course of four spaceflights, logged over 872 hours in space. She retired from NASA in May 2006.
Image credit: NASA
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