NASA

NASA 2024: Onward and Upward

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) OTPS shares an annual letter from the Agency Chief Technologist (ACT), updates on various studies in the technology domain within OTPS, overviews of the center chief technologists, and vignettes of various technology projects across the agency. Read the full report, A Year in Review 2023 from NASA’s Agency Chief Technologist. Share Details Last Updated Dec 27, 2023 EditorBill Keeter Related TermsOffice of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS) View the full article

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy, shares highlights from the office in 2023, including key accomplishments and collaborations that support the NASA mission. Read the full report, NASA’s OTPS: A Year in Review 2023 Share Details Last Updated Dec 27, 2023 EditorBill Keeter Related TermsOffice of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS) View the full article

Research on the International Space Station is helping scientists to understand how fire spreads and behaves in different environments and learn how to prevent and extinguish fires in space. Combustion investigations contribute to the safety of crew members, equipment, and spacecraft by guiding selection of spacecraft cabin materials, improving understanding of fire growth, and identifying optimal fire suppression techniques. This research also contributes to fire safety on Earth and some studies improve our understanding of combustion for uses such as producing electricity and powering vehicles on the ground. Microgravity dramatically influences flames and provides a unique environment for studying combustion. For example, on Earth, hot gases from a flame rise and gravity pulls cooler, denser air to the bottom of a flame, creating the classic shape and flickering effect. In microgravity, this flow doesn’t occur and on the space station, low-momentum flames tend to be rounded or even spherical. By removing the effects of buoyancy, microgravity provides researchers a better understanding of specific flame behaviors. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins works on the space station’s Combustion Integrated Rack.NASA The Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR), developed and operated by NASA’s Glenn Research Center, provides a secure and safe environment for a wide range of combustion experiments. Different chamber inserts that enable a variety of investigations include the Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus, which supported FLame Extinguishment Experiments (FLEX), the Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME) insert, and the Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction – Growth and Extinction Limit (SoFIE) chamber. FLEX, which analyzed the effectiveness of fire suppressants, led to the discovery of a type of cool flame, where the fuel continued “burning” under certain conditions after extinction of the visible flame. Typical flames produce carbon dioxide and water, but cool flames produce carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. Learning more about the behavior of these chemically different flames could lead to the development of more-efficient, less-polluting vehicles. Cool flames produced on Earth quickly flicker out. Since they burn longer in microgravity, scientists have the opportunity to study them. FLEX-2 looked at how quickly fuel droplets burn, the conditions required for soot to form, and how mixtures of liquid fuels evaporate before burning. Results could help make future spacecraft safer and increase fuel efficiency for engines using liquid fuel on Earth. ACME is a set of six independent studies using the CIR to examine fuel efficiency and pollutant production in combustion on Earth. The series also looked at improving spacecraft fire prevention through a better understanding of materials flammability. One ACME investigation, Flame Design, studied the quantity of soot produced under different flame conditions. Soot, the carbon residue left when carbon-containing material does not fully burn, causes environmental and health issues but is desirable for some purposes. Results could enable the design of flames with more or less soot, depending on the specific need, and may help create more efficient and less polluting designs for burning fuel. ACME’s Burning Rate Emulator (BRE) simulated the flammability of solid and liquid materials by burning gaseous fuels under specific conditions. Analysis of 59 BRE burn tests provided data on heat flow, flame size, effects of fuel mixture flow, and other important parameters.1 Results could improve the fundamental understanding of materials flammability and assess whether existing methods for testing flammability are effective in microgravity. Image of a flame burning one of the BASS tests on extinguishing burning fuels.NASA Burning and Suppression of Solids (BASS) was one of the first investigations to examine how to extinguish fuels burning in microgravity. Putting out fires in space must consider flame geometry, characteristics of the materials, and methods used to extinguish it, because methods used on the ground could be ineffective or even make the flame worse. BASS-II examined the characteristics of a variety of fuel samples to see whether materials burn as well in microgravity as in normal gravity, given the right conditions. Several papers have reported results from BASS-II, with findings including the differences between flame spread and fuel regression and comparison of flame spread rates.2,3 ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti works on the SoFIE-GEL investigation of materials flammability.NASA SoFIE-GEL analyzes how the temperature of a fuel affects material flammability. Researchers report that experiment observations agree with trends predicted by the models. This investigation, the first in a series, tested various fuels including flat sheets, thick slabs, cylinders, and spheres. Saffire is a series of experiments conducted aboard uncrewed Cygnus cargo spacecraft after they depart the station, which makes it possible to test larger fires without putting crew members at risk. Results on flame spread in microgravity can be used to establish the rate of heat release in a spacecraft4 and show that reducing pressure slows down that spread.5 A sample of fabric burns inside an uncrewed Cygnus cargo spacecraft for the Saffire-IV experiment. NASA Confined Combustion, sponsored by the ISS National Lab, examines flame spread in confined spaces of different shapes. Confinement affects fire characteristics and hazards. Researchers report specifics on interactions between a flame and its surrounding walls and the fate of the flame, such as growth or extinction.6 These results provide guidance for the design of structures, fire safety codes, and response in space and on Earth. Other results suggest that confinement can increase or decrease solid fuel flammability depending on conditions.7 FLARE, an investigation sponsored by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), also tests the flammability of materials in microgravity. Results could significantly improve fire safety on future missions. JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa sets up hardware for the FLARE investigation. NASA Flame studies help keep crews in space safe. This research also could lead to more efficient combustion that reduces pollutants and produces more efficient flames for uses on Earth such as heating and transportation. Search this database of scientific experiments to learn more about those mentioned above. Citations Dehghani, P., Sunderland, P.B., Quintiere, J.G., deRis. J.L. Burning in microgravity: Experimental results and analysis. Combustion and Flame. Vol 228, June 2021, pp 315-330 Huang X, Link S, Rodriguez A, Thomsen M, Olson SL, Ferkul PV, Fernandez-Pello AC. Transition from opposed flame spread to fuel regression and blow off: Effect of flow, atmosphere, and microgravity. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute. 2019 37(3): 4117-4126. DOI: 10.1016/j.proci.2018.06.022. Bhattacharjee S, Laue M, Carmignani L, Ferkul PV, Olson SL. Opposed-flow flame spread: A comparison of microgravity and normal gravity experiments to establish the thermal regime. Fire Safety Journal. 2016 January; pp 79111-118. DOI: 10.1016/j.firesaf.2015.11.011 Urban DL, Ferkul PV, Olson SL, Ruff GA, Easton JW, Tien JS, Liao YT, Li C, Fernandez-Pello AC, Torero JL, Legros G, Eigenbrod C, Smirnov N, Fujita O, Rouvreau S, Toth B, Jomaas G. Flame spread: Effects of microgravity and scale. Combustion and Flame. Vol 199 January 2019; pp 199168-182. DOI: 10.1016/j.combustflame.2018.10.012. Thomsen M, Fernandez-Pello AC, Urban DL, Ruff GA, Olson SL. Upward flame spread over a thin composite fabric: The effect of pressure and microgravity. 48th International Conference on Environmental Systems, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 2018 July 8; p ICES-2018-23111 Li Y, Liao YT, Ferkul PV, Johnston MC, Bunnell CT. Experimental study of concurrent-flow flame spread over thin solids in confined space in microgravity. Combustion and Flame. Vol 227, May 2021; pp 22739-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.combustflame.2020.12.042 Li Y, Liao YT, Ferkul PV, Johnston MC, Bunnell CT. Confined combustion of polymeric solid materials in microgravity. Combustion and Flame. Vik 234 Dec 2021; pp 234111637. DOI: 10.1016/j.combustflame.2021.111637. Keep Exploring Discover More Topics Latest News from Space Station Research Station Benefits for Humanity ISS National Laboratory International Space Station Overview View the full article

Rollout of the X-59 Quesst Supersonic Plane (Official NASA Broadcast)

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI The ice giant Uranus and its rings steal the show in this Dec. 18, 2023, image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope captured new images of Uranus, revealing detailed features of the planet’s rings and seasonal north polar cap, as well as bright storms near and below the southern border of the cap. This Webb image also shows 14 of the planet’s 27 moons: Oberon, Titania, Umbriel, Juliet, Perdita, Rosalind, Puck, Belinda, Desdemona, Cressida, Ariel, Miranda, Bianca, and Portia. Webb’s extreme sensitivity also picks up a smattering of background galaxies—most appear as orange smudges, and there are two larger, fuzzy white galaxies to the right of the planet in this field of view. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI View the full article

Ultra-High-Definition Video Beamed From Deep Space on This Week @NASA – December 22, 2023

The radio antennas of the NASA’s Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex are located near the Australian capital. It’s one of three Deep Space Network complexes around the world that keep the agency in contact with over 40 space missions. The DSN marks its 60th anniversary in December 2023.NASA/JPL-Caltech A single radio antenna dish stands alone at the Deep Space Network’s Canberra complex in this photo from 1969, six years after the DSN was founded. Canberra now consists of three 34-meter (112-foot) antennas and one 70-meter (230-foot) antenna.NASA/JPL-Caltech The agency’s DSN provides critical communications and navigation services to dozens of space missions, and it’s being modernized to support dozens more. NASA’s Deep Space Network marks its 60th year on Dec. 24. In continuous operations since 1963, the DSN is what makes it possible for NASA to communicate with spacecraft at or beyond the Moon. The dazzling galactic images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, the cutting-edge science data being sent back from Mars by the Perseverance rover, and the historic images sent from the far side of the Moon by Artemis I – they all reached Earth via the network’s giant radio dish antennas. During 2024, these and other historic contributions from the past 60 years will be celebrated by NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program, which manages and directs the ground-based facilities and services that the DSN provides. More than 40 missions depend on the network, which is expected to support twice that number in the coming years. That’s why NASA is looking to the future by expanding and modernizing this critical global infrastructure with new dishes, new technologies, and new approaches. “The DSN is the heart of NASA – it has the vital job of keeping the data flowing between Earth and space,” said Philip Baldwin, acting director of the network services division for SCaN at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “But to support our growing portfolio of robotic missions, and now the human Artemis missions to the Moon, we need to push forward with the next phase of DSN modernization.” Meeting Added Demands Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for SCaN, the DSN allows missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from faraway spacecraft. To ensure those spacecraft can always connect with Earth, the DSN’s 14 antennas are divided between three complexes spaced equally around the world – in Goldstone, California; Canberra, Australia; and Madrid, Spain. The Deep Space Network is much more than a deep space messaging service. Learn more about how the DSN carries out radio and gravity science experiments throughout the solar system. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech To make sure the network can maximize coverage between so many missions, schedulers work with DSN team members to secure network support for critical operations. For more efficiency, NASA has also changed how the network is operated: With a protocol called “Follow the Sun,” each complex takes turns running the entire network during their day shift and then hands off control to the next complex at the end of the day in that region – essentially, a global relay race that takes place every 24 hours. The cost savings, in turn, help fund DSN enhancements. At the same time, NASA has been busy making improvements to increase capacity, from upgrading and adding dishes to developing new technologies that will help support more spacecraft and dramatically increase the amount of data that can be delivered. One such technology is laser, or optical, communications, which could enable more data to be packed into transmissions. “Laser communications could transform how NASA communicates with faraway space missions,” said Amy Smith, deputy project manager for the DSN at JPL. After successfully testing the technique in Earth orbit and out to the Moon, NASA is currently using the DSOC (Deep Space Optical Communications) technology demonstration to test laser communications from ever-greater distances. Riding aboard the agency’s Psyche mission, DSOC has already sent video via laser to Earth from 19 million miles (31 million kilometers) away and aims to prove that high-bandwidth data can be sent from as far away as Mars. “NASA is proving that laser communication is viable, so now we are looking at ways to build optical terminals inside the existing radio antennas,” said Smith. “These hybrid antennas will be able to still transmit and receive radio frequencies but will also support optical frequencies.” See the missions the DSN is communicating with now Technological Heritage New technology is something that NASA and the DSN have embraced from their inception. The network’s roots extend to 1958, when JPL was contracted by the U.S. Army to deploy portable radio tracking stations to receive telemetry of the first successful U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, which JPL built. A few days after Explorer 1’s launch, but before the creation of NASA later that year, JPL was tasked with figuring out what would be needed to create an unprecedented telecommunications network to support future deep space missions, beginning with the early Pioneer missions. After NASA formed in 1958, JPL’s ground stations were named Deep Space Information Facilities, and they operated largely independently from one another until 1963. That’s when the DSN was officially founded and the ground stations were connected to JPL’s new network control center, which was nearing completion. Called the Space Flight Operations Facility, that building remains the “Center of the Universe” through which data from the DSN’s three global complexes flows. “We have six decades driving technological innovation, supporting hundreds of missions that have made countless discoveries about our planet and the universe it inhabits,” said Bradford Arnold, deputy director for the Interplanetary Network at JPL. “Our amazing workforce that continues to drive that innovation today forms a steadfast foundation upon which we can build the next 60 years of space exploration and scientific advancement.” For more information about the DSN, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/communicating-with-missions/dsn/ News Media Contact Ian J. O’Neill Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-2649 ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov 2023-187 Share Details Last Updated Dec 22, 2023 Related TermsDeep Space NetworkJet Propulsion LaboratoryNASA HistorySpace Communications & Navigation Program Explore More 6 min read Meet the Infrared Telescopes That Paved the Way for NASA’s Webb Article 3 hours ago 13 min read Celebrating the Holiday Season in Space Article 3 hours ago 6 min read An Apollo 8 Christmas Dinner Surprise: Turkey and Gravy Make Space History Article 6 hours ago View the full article

NASA In this image from Dec. 8, 2017, four reindeer walk past the Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses, or BARREL, payload on the launch pad at Esrange Space Center near Kiruna, Sweden. BARREL primarily measured X-rays in Earth’s atmosphere near the North and South Poles. These X-rays are caused by electrons that rain down, or precipitate, into the atmosphere from the giant swaths of radiation that surround Earth, called the Van Allen Belts. Understanding this radiation and its interaction with Earth’s atmosphere helps us to learn about planetary radiation belts, and to better protect satellites that orbit Earth. The primary BARREL mission ended when scientists sent their last balloon over Sweden on Aug. 30, 2016. Recovered BARREL payloads were launched as targets of opportunities on three additional flights. In addition to X-ray instruments, several of the BARREL balloons also carried instruments built by undergraduate students to measure the total electron content of Earth’s ionosphere, as well as the low-frequency electromagnetic waves that help to scatter electrons into Earth’s atmosphere. See more photos from the BARREL mission. Image Credit: NASA View the full article

NASA Logo.NASA As space missions and technologies grow increasingly interconnected, NASA has released the first iteration of its Space Security Best Practices Guide to bolster mission cybersecurity efforts for both public sector and private sector space activities. The guide represents a significant milestone in NASA’s commitment to ensuring the longevity and resilience of its space missions and will serve as a resource for enhancing their security and reliability. Additionally, the Space Security Best Practices Guide was designed to benefit users beyond NASA – international partners, industry, and others working in the expanding fields of space exploration and development. The guide is designed to provide security guidance for missions, programs, or projects of any size. “At NASA, we recognize the importance of protecting our space missions from potential threats and vulnerabilities” said Misty Finical, deputy principal advisor for Enterprise Protection at NASA. “This guide represents a collective effort to establish a set of principles that will enable us to identify and mitigate risks and ensure continued success of our missions, both in Earth’s orbit and beyond.” In terms of both information systems and operational technologies, space systems are becoming more integrated and interconnected. These developments carry benefits – NASA and other organizations have unprecedented new possibilities for working, communicating, and gathering data in space. But new, complex systems can also have vulnerabilities. Through its new guide, NASA aims to provide best practices for adapting to these new challenges and implementing safety and security measures. The guide reflects NASAs continued commitment to helping develop clear cybersecurity principles for its space systems, encapsulated in its Space System Protection Standard. The agency developed the handbook to further support the goals of Space Policy Directive 5, Cybersecurity Principles for Space Systems. NASA will collect feedback from the space community to integrate into future versions of the guide. View the full article

Scientists have been studying the universe with infrared space telescopes for 40 years, including these NASA missions, from left: the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), launched in 1983; the Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003; and the James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2021.NASA/JPL-Caltech The Webb telescope has opened a new window onto the universe, but it builds on missions going back 40 years, including Spitzer and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite. On Dec. 25, NASA will celebrate the two-year launch anniversary of the James Webb Space Telescope – the largest and most powerful space observatory in history. The clarity of its images has inspired the world, and scientists are just beginning to explore the scientific bounty it is returning. Webb’s success builds on four decades of space telescopes that also detect infrared light (which is invisible to the naked eye) – in particular the work of two retired NASA telescopes with big anniversaries this past year: January marked the 40th year since the launch of the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), while August marked the 20th launch anniversary of the Spitzer Space Telescope. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope builds on four decades of work by space telescopes that also detect infrared light, in particular two other retired NASA telescopes: the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and the Spitzer Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech This heritage shines through in NASA’s images of Rho Ophiuchi, one of the closest star-forming regions to Earth. IRAS was the first infrared telescope ever launched into Earth orbit, above the atmosphere that blocks most infrared wavelengths. Rho Ophiuchi’s thick clouds of gas and dust block visible light, but IRAS’ infrared vision made it the first observatory to be able to pierce those layers to reveal newborn stars nestled deep inside. Twenty years later, Spitzer’s multiple infrared detectors helped astronomers assign more specific ages to many of the stars in the region, providing insights about how young stars throughout the universe evolve. Webb’s even more detailed infrared view shows jets bursting from young stars, as well as disks of material around them – the makings of future planetary systems. Clouds of gas and dust in space – like Rho Ophiuchi, shown here – mostly radiate infrared light, which human eyes can’t detect. IRAS, the first infrared telescope in Earth orbit, imaged the region in 1983 and revealed previously hidden features, including newly forming stars nestled deep inside the dust.NASA/JPL-Caltech Rho Ophiuchi was also imaged by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Spitzer had a wider field of view and better resolution than its predecessors, providing this more detailed image of the region as well as more information about star formation.NASA/JPL-Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed Rho Ophiuchi like never before, showing new features of the star-forming region to astronomers in this stunning 2023 image. Webb builds on the legacy of infrared telescopes like IRAS and Spitzer.NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (STScI) Another example is Fomalhaut, a star surrounded by a disk of debris similar to our asteroid belt. Forty years ago, the disk was one of IRAS’ major discoveries because it also strongly suggested the presence of at least one planet, at a time when no planets had yet been found outside the solar system. Subsequent observations by Spitzer showed the disk had two sections – a cold, outer region and a warm, inner region – and revealed more evidence of the presence of planets. Many other telescopes, including NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, have since studied Fomalhaut, and earlier this year, images from Webb gave scientists their clearest view of the disk structure yet. It revealed two previously unseen rings of rock and gas in the inner disk. Combining the work of generations of telescopes is bringing the story of Fomalhaut into sharp relief. Visionary Infrared Astronomy Survey When IRAS launched in 1983, scientists weren’t sure what the mission would reveal. They couldn’t predict that infrared would eventually be used in almost every area of astronomy, including studies of the evolution of galaxies, the life cycle of stars, the source of pervasive cosmic dust, the atmospheres of exoplanets, the movements of asteroids and other near-Earth objects, and even the nature of one of the biggest cosmological mysteries in history, dark energy. IRAS set the stage for the European-led Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and the Herschel Space Observatory; the Japanese-led AKARI satellite; NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), and the agency’s airborne SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy), as well as many balloon-lofted observatories. “Infrared light is essential for understanding where we came from and how we got here, on both the biggest and smallest astrophysical scales,” said Michael Werner, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Werner, who specializes in infrared observations, served as project scientist for Spitzer. “We use infrared to look back in space and time, to help us understand how the modern universe came to be. And infrared enables us to study the formation and evolution of stars and planets, which tells us about the history of our own solar system.” On to Spitzer If IRAS was a pathfinding mission, Spitzer was designed to dive deep into the infrared universe. Many of Webb’s planetary targets in its first year had already been studied with Spitzer, which pursued a broad range of science goals, thanks to its wide field of view and relatively high resolution. During its 16-year mission, Spitzer uncovered new wonders from the edge of the universe (including some of the most distant galaxies ever observed at the time) to our own solar system (such as a new ring around Saturn). Researchers were also surprised to find that the telescope was a perfect tool for studying exoplanets (planets beyond our solar system), something they hadn’t expected when building it. “With any telescope, you’re not just taking data for the sake of it; you’re asking a particular question or a series of questions,” said Sean Carey, a former manager for the Spitzer Science Center at IPAC, a data and science processing center at Caltech. “The questions we’re able to ask with Webb are much more complex and varied because of the knowledge we acquired with telescopes like Spitzer and IRAS.” For example, Carey said, “We studied exoplanets with Spitzer and Hubble, and we figured out what you can do with an infrared telescope in that field, what types of planets are most interesting, and what you can learn about them. So when Webb launched, we jumped into exoplanet studies right from the get-go.” Webb, too, is paving the way for future infrared missions. NASA’s upcoming SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission as well as the agency’s next flagship observatory, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, will continue to explore the universe in infrared. More About the Missions IRAS was a joint project of NASA, the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programmes, and the United Kingdom’s Science and Engineering Research Council. The mission was managed for NASA by JPL. Caltech in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA. For more information about IRAS, visit: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/infrared-astronomical-satellite-iras JPL managed the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington until the mission was retired in January 2020. Science operations were conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech. Spacecraft operations were based at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive operated by IPAC at Caltech. For more information about Spitzer, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/spitzer The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). For more information about Webb, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/webb News Media Contact Calla Cofield Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 626-808-2469 calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov 2023-186 Share Details Last Updated Dec 22, 2023 Related TermsThe UniverseAstrophysicsAstrophysics DivisionElectromagnetic SpectrumExoplanet ScienceGalaxiesHerschel Space ObservatoryInfrared Space Observatory (ISO)James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)Jet Propulsion LaboratoryNancy Grace Roman Space TelescopeNebulaeSOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) / 747-SPSPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer)Spitzer Space TelescopeStarsWISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) Explore More 6 min read A Look Through Time with NASA’s Lead Photographer for the James Webb Space Telescope Nearly two years ago in the early morning hours of Dec. 25, NASA’s James Webb… Article 2 hours ago 5 min read As the Arctic Warms, Its Waters Are Emitting Carbon Article 23 hours ago 5 min read NASA’s Fermi Mission Creates 14-Year Time-Lapse of the Gamma-Ray Sky The cosmos comes alive in an all-sky time-lapse movie made from 14 years of data… Article 2 days ago View the full article

The Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year holidays are joyful events typically spent with family and friends. Astronauts and cosmonauts who find themselves in space during the holidays have found their own unique way to celebrate the occasions. In the early years of the space program, holidays spent in space occurred infrequently, most notably the flight of Apollo 8 around the Moon during Christmas 1968, making them more memorable. As missions became longer and more frequent, holidays in space became more common occasions. For the past 23 years, holidays spent aboard the International Space Station have become annual, if not entirely routine, events. Left: The famous Earthrise photograph, taken by the Apollo 8 crew in lunar orbit. Right: Video of the Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, and William A. Anders reading from The Book of Genesis. As the first crew to spend Christmas in space, Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, and William A. Anders, celebrated the holiday while circling the Moon in December 1968, the first humans to leave Earth orbit. They immortalized the event on Christmas Eve by taking turns reading the opening verses from the Bible’s Book of Genesis as they broadcast scenes of the Moon gliding by below. An estimated one billion people in 64 countries tuned in to their Christmas Eve broadcast. As they left lunar orbit, Lovell radioed back to Earth, where Christmas Eve had already turned to Christmas Day, “Please be informed there is a Santa Claus!” Left: Skylab 4 astronauts Gerald P. Carr, left, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue trim their homemade Christmas tree in December 1973. Right: Carr, Gibson, and Pogue hung their stockings aboard Skylab. During their 84-day record-setting mission aboard the Skylab space station in 1973 and 1974, Skylab 4 astronauts Gerald P. Carr, William R. Pogue, and Edward G. Gibson celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s in space – the first crew to spend Thanksgiving and New Year’s in orbit. They built a homemade Christmas tree from leftover food containers, used colored decals as decorations, and topped it with a cardboard cutout in the shape of a comet. Carr and Pogue spent seven hours on a Christmas Day spacewalk to change out film canisters and observe the passing Comet Kohoutek. Once back inside the station, they enjoyed a Christmas dinner complete with fruitcake, talked to their families, and opened presents. They even had orbital visitors of sorts, as Soviet cosmonauts Pyotr I. Klimuk and Valentin V. Lebedev orbited the planet aboard Soyuz 13 between Dec. 18 and 26, marking the first time that astronauts and cosmonauts were in space at the same time. Different orbits precluded any direct contact between the two crews. Aboard Salyut-6, Georgi M. Grechko, left, and Yuri V. Romanenko, toast to celebrate the new year in space, the first Russian cosmonauts to do so. Image credits: Courtesy of Roscosmos. In the more secular Soviet era, the New Year’s holiday had more significance than the Jan. 7 observance of Orthodox Christmas. The first cosmonauts to ring in a new year in orbit were Yuri V. Romanenko and Georgi M. Grechko, during their record-setting 96-day mission in 1977 and 1978, aboard the Salyut-6 space station. They toasted the new year during a TV broadcast with the ground. The exact nature of the beverage consumed for the occasion has not been passed down to posterity. Left: STS-61 mission specialist Jeffrey A. Hoffman with a dreidel during Hanukkah in December 1993. Right: Video of Hoffman describing how he celebrated Hanukkah aboard space shuttle Endeavour. The eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, celebrates the recapture of Jerusalem and rededication of the Second Temple in 164 B.C.E. It occurs in the month of Kislev in the Hebrew lunar calendar, which can fall between late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. NASA astronaut Jeffrey A. Hoffman celebrated the first Hanukkah in space during the STS-61 Hubble Space Telescope first servicing mission in 1993. Hanukkah that year began on the evening of Dec. 9, after Hoffman completed his third spacewalk of the mission. He celebrated with a traveling menorah, unlit of course, and by spinning a dreidel. The STS-103 crew show off their Santa hats on the flight deck of space shuttle Discovery in 1999. The crew of another Hubble Space Telescope repair mission, STS-103, celebrated the first space shuttle Christmas in 1999 aboard Discovery. For Christmas dinner, Curtis L. Brown, Scott J. Kelly, Steven L. Smith, Jean-François A. Clervoy of the European Space Agency (ESA), John M. Grunsfeld, C. Michael Foale, and Claude Nicollier of ESA enjoyed duck foie gras on Mexican tortillas, cassoulet, and salted pork with lentils. Smith and Grunsfeld completed repairs on the telescope during a Christmas Eve spacewalk. Left: Roscosmos cosmonaut and Mir Expedition 17 flight engineer Elena V. Kondakova with a bottle of champagne to celebrate New Year’s Eve 1994. Right: Video of Kondakova demonstrating the behavior of champagne in weightlessness aboard Mir. Image credits: Courtesy of Roscosmos. Between 1987 and 1998, 12 Mir expedition crews spent their holidays aboard the ever-expanding orbital outpost. Two of the crews included NASA astronauts, John E. Blaha and David A. Wolf, aboard the Russian space station as part of the Shuttle-Mir Program. Left: Video of Mir Expedition 22 flight engineer and NASA astronaut John E. Blaha’s 1996 Christmas message from Mir. Right: Mir Expedition 24 flight engineer and NASA astronaut David A. Wolf with his menorah and dreidel to celebrate Hanukkah in 1997. The last two New Year’s Eve messages from Mir. Left: Mir 24 crew of Pavel V. Vinogradov, left, NASA astronaut David A. Wolf, and Anatoli Y. Solovyev in 1997. Right: Mir 26 crew of Sergei V. Avdeyev, left, and Gennadi I. Padalka in 1998. It was the third time Avdeyev rang in the new year in space. Image credits: Courtesy of Roscosmos. The arrival of Expedition 1 crew members William M. Shepherd of NASA and Yuri P. Gidzenko and Sergei K. Krikalev of Roscosmos aboard the International Space Station on Nov. 2, 2000, marked the beginning of a permanent human presence in space. The first to celebrate Christmas and ring in the new year aboard the fledgling orbiting laboratory, they began a tradition of reading a goodwill message to people back on Earth. Shepherd honored a naval tradition of writing a poem as the first entry of the new year in the ship’s log. Left: Video of Expedition 1 crew members Yuri P. Gidzenko of Roscosmos, left, NASA astronaut William M. Shepherd, and Sergei K. Krikalev of Roscosmos reading their Christmas message in December 2000 – this marked Krikalev’s third holiday season spent in orbit, the first two spent aboard Mir in 1988 and 1991. Right: The space station as it appeared in December 2000. Expedition 1 commander NASA astronaut William M. Shepherd’s poem, written for the New Year’s Day 2001 entry in the space station’s log, in keeping with naval tradition. Left: A brief video selection of how some expedition crews celebrated Christmas aboard the space station. Right: From 2019, the Christmas message from the Expedition 61 crew members. Enjoy the following selection of photographs and videos of international crews as they celebrated Hanukkah and Christmas, and rang in the new year over the past 22 years aboard the space station. Left: The Expedition 4 crew of Daniel W. Bursch of NASA, left, Yuri I. Onufriyenko of Roscosmos, and Carl E. Walz of NASA poses for its Christmas photo in 2001. Middle: NASA astronaut C. Michael Foale, left, and Aleksandr Y. Kaleri of Roscosmos of Expedition 8 celebrate Christmas in 2003. Right: The Expedition 10 crew of Salizhan S. Sharipov of Roscosmos, left, and NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao festooned for New Year’s Eve 2004. Left: Valeri I. Tokarev of Roscosmos, left, and NASA astronaut William S. McArthur of Expedition 12 pose with Christmas stockings in 2005. Middle: The Expedition 14 crew of Mikhail V. Tyurin of Roscosmos, left, and NASA astronauts Michael E. Lopez-Alegria and Sunita L. Williams pose wearing Santa hats for Christmas 2006. Right: The Expedition 16 crew of Yuri I. Malenchenko of Roscosmos, left, and NASA astronauts Peggy A. Whitson and Daniel M. Tani, with Christmas stockings and presents in 2007. Left: The Expedition 18 crew of E. Michael Fincke, left, and Sandra H. Magnus of NASA, and Yuri V. Lonchakov of Roscosmos enjoys its Christmas dinner in 2008. Middle: The five-member Expedition 22 crew of Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, left, Maksim V. Surayev and Oleg V. Kotov of Roscosmos, and Timothy J. Creamer and Jeffrey N. Williams of NASA around the Christmas dinner table in 2009. Right: The Expedition 26 crew of Oleg I. Skripochka of Roscosmos, left, Paolo A. Nespoli of the European Space Agency, Dmitri Y. Kondratyev of Roscosmos, Catherine G. “Cady” Coleman of NASA, Aleksandr Y. Kaleri of Roscosmos, and NASA’s Scott J. Kelly celebrates New Year’s Eve 2010. This marked Kaleri’s third holiday season spent in space. Left: The Expedition 30 crew of NASA astronaut Donald R. Pettit, left, Anatoli A. Ivanishin and Oleg D. Kononenko of Roscosmos, André Kuipers of the European Space Agency, NASA’s Daniel C. Burbank, and Anton N. Shkaplerov of Roscosmos pose for their Christmas photo in 2011. Middle: Christmas 2012 photograph of Expedition 34 crew members of NASA astronaut Thomas H. Marshburn, left, Roman Y. Romanenko, Oleg V. Novitski, and Yevgeni I. Tarelkin of Roscosmos, Kevin A. Ford of NASA, and Chris A. Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency. Right: For Christmas in 2013, the Expedition 42 crew left milk and cookies for Santa and hung their stockings using the Joint Airlock as a makeshift chimney. Left: Expedition 50 crew members Sergei N. Ryzhikov of Roscosmos, left, R. Shane Kimbrough of NASA, Andrei I. Borisenko and Oleg V. Novitski of Roscosmos, Peggy A. Whitson of NASA, and Thomas G. Pesquet of the European Space Agency celebrate New Year’s Eve in style in 2016. Middle: Expedition 54 crew member Mark T. Vande Hei of NASA strikes a pose as an Elf on the Shelf for Christmas 2017. Right: The Expedition 58 crew of David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency, left, Anne C. McClain of NASA, and Oleg D. Kononenko of Roscosmos inspect their Christmas stockings for presents in 2018. Three scenes from the 2019 holiday season aboard the space station. Left: Expedition 61 flight engineer Jessica U. Meir of NASA shows off her Hanukkah-themed socks in the Cupola. Middle: Expedition 61 crew members Andrew R. Morgan, left, and Christina H. Koch of NASA, Luca S. Parmitano of the European Space Agency, and Meir share their Christmas messages. Right: Expedition 61 crew members Koch, left, Morgan, Oleg I. Skripochka of Roscosmos, Meir, Aleksandr A. Skvortsov of Roscosmos, and Parmitano ring in the new year with harmonicas. Three scenes from the 2020 holiday season aboard the space station. Left: Expedition 64 NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, left, Michael S. Hopkins, Kathleen H. Rubins, and Victor J. Glover and Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) record Christmas greetings. Middle: Walker, left, Hopkins, Rubins, Glover, and Noguchi use an inflatable Earth globe as a substitute for the Times Square New Year’s Eve ball “drop” aboard the space station. Right: Expedition 64 crew members Sergei V. Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos, left, Hopkins, Walker, Sergei N. Ryzhikov of Roscosmos, Glover, Rubins, and Noguchi welcome in 2021 aboard the space station. Left: During Expedition 66 in 2021, NASA astronauts Mark T. Vande Hei, left, Raja J. Chari, Kayla S. Barron, and Thomas H. Marshburn, and Matthias J. Maurer of the European Space Agency in a still from a video in which they share their thoughts about the holiday season. Right: Barron showing off the presents she wrapped for her six crewmates. “It is a privilege to have the perspective of seeing so many countries,” said Expedition 66 Commander NASA astronaut Thomas H. Marshburn in a video sharing his thoughts about spending the New Year in space. “We can go from one side [of Earth] to another in just a few minutes and it truly gives us a feeling of unification for all human beings around the world.” “We get to see the sunrise many times a day, so thinking about the fact that people are waking up to a New Year each time we see that sunrise is pretty cool,” added NASA astronaut Raja J. Chari. In a social media post, ESA astronaut Matthias J. Maurer wrote about their New Year’s Eve dinner, and included a time lapse video of the festive meal. Left: Expedition 68 crew members Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, left, and NASA astronauts Francisco C. “Frank” Rubio, Josh A. Cassada, and Nicole A. Mann record a holiday greeting from the space station. Right: Expedition 68 crew members wear holiday garb. In 2022, Expedition 68 crew members NASA astronauts Nicole A. Mann, Josh A. Cassada, and Francisco C. “Frank” Rubio, and JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata recorded a holiday message for everyone on the ground. They shared some of their personal traditions for the holidays and provided a glimpse of how they spend the holidays aboard the space station. Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli’s felt menorah and dreidel that she used to celebrate Hanukkah. Expedition 70 flight engineer NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli’s husband and two little girls made a felt menorah for her to celebrate Hanukkah during her mission. Since astronauts can’t light real candles aboard the space station, Moghbeli pinned felt “lights” for each night of the eight-day holiday. A dreidel spun in weightlessness will continue spinning until it comes in contact with another object, but can’t land on any of its four faces. Left: To celebrate New Year’s Day 2022, Shenzhou 13 astronauts Ye Guangfu, left, Zhai Zhigang, and Wang Yaping aboard the China Space Station Tiangong hold a live video call. Right: Wang, left, Zhai, and Ye celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Tiger aboard Tiangong. On Jan. 1, 2022, for the first time Chinese astronauts celebrated a New Year in space. The Shenzhou 13 crew of Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, and Ye Guangfu arrived aboard the China Space Station Tiangong on Oct. 15, 2021, for a six-month mission. On New Year’s Day 2022, they hosted a live video call and interacted with college students at venues in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Macao. For the Feb. 1 start of the Chinese New Year of the Tiger, they decorated the space station and sent best wishes to people on the ground for a happy and prosperous new year. In January 2023, Shenzhou 15 astronauts Fei Junlong, left, Deng Qingming, and Zhang Lu send New Year’s greetings to Earth from the Tiangong China Space Station. We hope you enjoyed these stories, photographs, and videos from holiday celebrations in space. This year, a record-tying 10 people from five nations will celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year while serving aboard two space stations – the International Space Station and the Tiangong China Space Station. We wish them all and everyone here on Earth the very best during the holiday season and hope that 2024 will indeed be a Happy New Year! View the full article

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) At the end of a long-haul road trip, it might be time to kick up your feet and rest awhile – especially if it was a seven-year, 4 billion-mile journey to bring Earth a sample of asteroid Bennu. But OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer), the NASA mission that accomplished this feat in September, is already well on its way (with a new name) to explore a new destination. When OSIRIS-REx left Bennu in May 2021 with a sample aboard, its instruments were in great condition, and it still had a quarter of its fuel left. So instead of shutting down the spacecraft after it delivered the sample, the team proposed to dispatch it on a bonus mission to asteroid Apophis, with an expected arrival in April 2029. NASA agreed, and OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Apophis Explorer) was born. A Rare Opportunity at Apophis After considering several destinations (including Venus and various comets), NASA chose to send the spacecraft to Apophis, an “S-type” asteroid made of silicate materials and nickel-iron – a fair bit different than the carbon-rich, “C-type” Bennu. The intrigue of Apophis is its exceptionally close approach of our planet on April 13, 2029. Although Apophis will not hit Earth during this encounter or in the foreseeable future, the pass in 2029 will bring the asteroid within 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) of the surface – closer than some satellites, and close enough that it could be visible to the naked eye in the Eastern Hemisphere. Scientists estimate that asteroids of Apophis’ size, about 367 yards across (about 340 meters), come this close to Earth only once every 7,500 years. These images of asteroid Apophis were recorded in March 2021 by radio antennas at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone complex in California and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. The asteroid was 10.6 million miles (17 million kilometers) away, and each pixel has a resolution of 127 feet (38.75 meters).Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech and NSF/AUI/GBO “OSIRIS-APEX will study Apophis immediately after such a pass, allowing us to see how its surface changes by interacting with Earth’s gravity,” said Amy Simon, the mission’s project scientist based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Apophis’ close encounter with Earth will change the asteroid’s orbit and the length of its 30.6-hour day. The encounter also may cause quakes and landslides on the asteroid’s surface that could churn up material and uncover what lies beneath. “The close approach is a great natural experiment,” said Dani Mendoza DellaGiustina, principal investigator for OSIRIS-APEX at the University of Arizona in Tucson. “We know that tidal forces and the accumulation of rubble pile material are foundational processes that could play a role in planet formation. They could inform how we got from debris in the early solar system to full-blown planets.” Apophis represents more than just the opportunity to learn more about how solar systems and planets form: As it happens, most of the known potentially hazardous asteroids (those whose orbits come within 4.6 million miles of Earth) are also S-types. What the team learns about Apophis can inform planetary defense research, a top priority for NASA. OSIRIS-APEX: Travel Itinerary By April 2, 2029 – around two weeks before Apophis’ close encounter with Earth – OSIRIS-APEX’s cameras will begin taking images of the asteroid as the spacecraft catches up to it. Apophis will also be closely observed by Earth-based telescopes during this time. But in the hours after the close encounter, Apophis will appear too near the Sun in the sky to be observed by ground-based optical telescopes. This means any changes triggered by the close encounter will be best detected by the spacecraft. This animation depicts the orbital trajectory of asteroid 99942 Apophis as it zooms safely past Earth on April 13, 2029. Earth’s gravity will slightly deflect the trajectory as the 1,100-foot-wide (340-meter-wide) near-Earth object comes within 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) of our planet’s surface. The motion has been sped up 2,000 times. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech OSIRIS-APEX will arrive at the asteroid on April 13, 2029, and operate in its proximity for about the next 18 months. In addition to studying changes to Apophis caused by its Earth encounter, the spacecraft will conduct many of the same investigations OSIRIS-REx did at Bennu, including using its instrument suite of imagers, spectrometers, and a laser altimeter to closely map the surface and analyze its chemical makeup. As an encore, OSIRIS-APEX will reprise one of OSIRIS-REx’s most impressive acts (minus sample collection), dipping within 16 feet of the asteroid’s surface and firing its thrusters downward. This maneuver will stir up surface rocks and dust to give scientists a peek at the material that lies below. Although the rendezvous with Apophis is more than five years away, the next milestone on its journey is the first of six close Sun passes. Those near approaches, along with three gravity assists from Earth, will put OSIRIS-APEX on course to reach Apophis in April 2029. What OSIRIS-APEX will discover about Apophis remains to be seen, but if the mission’s previous incarnation is any indication, surprising science lies ahead. “We learned a lot at Bennu, but now we’re armed with even more questions for our next target,” Simon said. — NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-APEX. Dani Mendoza DellaGiustina of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator. The university leads the science team and the mission’s science observation planning and data processing. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, built the spacecraft and provides flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace are responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft. International partnerships on this mission include the spacecraft’s laser altimeter instrument from CSA (the Canadian Space Agency) and science collaboration with JAXA’s (the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Hayabusa2 mission. OSIRIS-APEX (previously named OSIRIS-REx) is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. By Lonnie Shekhtman and Rob Garner NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Facebook logo @NASASolarSystem@NASAGoddard @NASASolarSystem@NASAGoddard Instagram logo @NASASolarSystem@NASAGoddard Share Details Last Updated Dec 22, 2023 EditorRob GarnerContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsOSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Apophis Explorer)AsteroidsGoddard Space Flight CenterThe Solar System View the full article

2 Min Read A Look Through Time with NASA’s Lead Photographer for the James Webb Space Telescope This self portrait of Chris Gunn, standing in front of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope from inside the Goddard Space Flight Center cleanroom, was captured November 10, 2016. Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn Nearly two years ago in the early morning hours of Dec. 25, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope successfully took flight from the jungle-encircled ELA-3 launch complex at Europe’s Spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana. Following a successful deployment in space, and the precise alignment of the telescope’s mirrors and instruments, Webb began science operations nearly six months after liftoff. As the two-year anniversary of the launch aboard ESA’s (European Space Agency) Ariane 5 rocket approaches, Webb’s lead photographer Chris Gunn has remastered a selection of his favorite images from his career, including one previously unreleased image. The opportunity to be the visual spokesperson for a mission of this magnitude was the experience of a lifetime Chris GUNN NASA/GSFC Lead Photographer for Webb Telescope Since the fall of 2009, Gunn has routinely worked through holidays and weekends, and has spent much of these years on the road, ensuring that the Webb telescope’s progress is visually chronicled and shared with the world. As the various parts and components of Webb began to be assembled and tested throughout the country, Gunn and his camera followed along, capturing the historic development of NASA’s premier space telescope. Though Gunn’s images display the complex nature of the telescope aesthetically, these images also serve as critical engineering bookmarks that the team routinely relied on to document that Webb’s construction was sound before launch.  Following the launch of Webb, Gunn is now chronicling NASA’s next flagship space telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. All images below, credit NASA/Chris Gunn. On Nov. 6, 2012, engineers and technicians inspected one of the first of Webb’s 18 hexagonal mirrors to arrive at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA/Chris Gunn Inside a clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, on the afternoon of April 25, 2016, the James Webb Space Telescope primary mirrors were uncovered in preparation for installation of its scientific instruments. NASA/Chris Gunn Traveling alongside Webb as it grew and evolved, and to be able to add my signature to each photograph captured, was of course an honor, but also an immense challenge. With each image, I wanted to express the awe that I felt seeing Webb integrated right before my eyes, knowing what it was destined to shed new light on the mysteries of the cosmos. CHRIS GUNN NASA/GSFC Lead Photographer for Webb Telescope NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is shown with one of its two “wings” folded. Each wing holds three of its primary mirror segments. During this operation in the clean room at NASA Goddard, the telescope was also rotated in preparation for the folding back of the other wing. When Webb launched, both wings were stowed in this position, which enabled the mirror to fit into the launch vehicle. This image was captured July 17, 2016. NASA/Chris Gunn Dressed in a clean room suit, NASA photographer Desiree Stover shines a light on the Space Environment Simulator’s integration frame inside the thermal vacuum chamber at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. This image was captured Aug. 29, 2013. On May 19, 2016, inside a massive clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Webb’s Integrated Science Instrument Module was lowered into the Optical Telescope Element. Taken on Nov. 16, 2016, inside NASA Goddard’s largest clean room Webb’s Optical Telescope Element and Integrated Science Instrument Module – together called “OTIS” – are shrouded with a “clean tent” as the team prepared for Webb’s first vibration testing, which took place just outside the clean room. To capture Webb in its true beauty, I employed the use of specialized lighting rigs, often setting up lights early before the start of work. Johnson Space Center’s Chamber A was an especially tough subject to shoot once Webb was inside. It required remote lights that had to be adjusted perfectly before I boarded a boom lift to make the photograph from seven stories up. It was all worth it, everyone’s hard work – just look at how well our starship is performing Chris Gunn NASA/GSFC Lead Photographer for Webb Telescope On June 20, 2017, Webb’s Optical Telescope Element and science instruments were loaded into the historic thermal vacuum testing facility known as “Chamber A” at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. On Sept. 16, 2021, Webb was ready to be shipped to the launch site in French Guiana. Before Webb could be lifted into its shipping container, engineers and technicians at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California, performed this first horizontal tilt of the fully assembled observatory. This never-before-seen image shows engineers and technicians disassembling ground hardware after completing one of the final lifts of the Webb observatory, before being placed atop ESA’s (European Space Agency) Ariane 5 rocket in French Guiana. This image was taken Nov. 11, 2021. “Liftoff – from a tropical rainforest to the edge of time itself, James Webb begins a voyage back to the birth of the universe.” Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket launched with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope aboard, Dec. 25, 2021, from the ELA-3 Launch Zone of Europe’s Spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency. Downloads Right click the images in this article to open a version in a new tab/window that can be zoomed or saved. Media Contacts Thaddeus Cesari Thaddeus.cesari@nasa.gov, Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov, Rob Gutro– rob.gutro@nasa.gov NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, , Greenbelt, Md. Related Information Webb Observatory More Webb News More Webb Images Webb Mission Page Keep Exploring Related Topics James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… Stars Galaxies Exoplanets Share Details Last Updated Dec 22, 2023 Editor Stephen Sabia Related Terms Astrophysics Goddard Space Flight Center James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Missions Science & Research View the full article

6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) On Christmas Day in 1968, the three-man Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders found a surprise in their food locker: a specially packed Christmas dinner wrapped in foil and decorated with red and green ribbons. Something as simple as a “home-cooked meal,” or as close as NASA could get for a spaceflight at the time, greatly improved the crew’s morale and appetite. More importantly, the meal marked a turning point in space food history. The prime crew of the Apollo 8 lunar orbit mission pose for a portrait next to the Apollo Mission Simulator at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Left to right, they are James A. Lovell Jr., command module pilot; William A. Anders, lunar module pilot; and Frank Borman, commander.NASA On their way to the Moon, the Apollo 8 crew was not very hungry. Food scientist Malcolm Smith later documented just how little the crew ate. Borman ate the least of the three, eating only 881 calories on day two, which concerned flight surgeon Chuck Berry. Most of the food, Borman later explained, was “unappetizing.” The crew ate few of the compressed, bite-sized items, and when they rehydrated their meals, the food took on the flavor of their wrappings instead of the actual food in the container. “If that doesn’t sound like a rousing endorsement, it isn’t,” he told viewers watching the Apollo 8 crew in space ahead of their surprise meal. As Anders demonstrated to the television audience how the astronauts prepared a meal and ate in space, Borman announced his wish, that folks back on Earth would “have better Christmas dinners” than the one the flight crew would be consuming that day.1 If that doesn’t sound like a rousing endorsement, it isn’t. Frank Borman Apollo 8 Astronaut Over the 1960s, there were many complaints about the food from astronauts and others working at the Manned Spacecraft Center (now NASA’s Johnson Space Center). After evaluating the food that the Apollo 8 crew would be consuming onboard their upcoming flight, Apollo 9 astronaut Jim McDivitt penciled a note to the food lab about his in-flight preferences. Using the back of the Apollo 8 crew menu, he directed them to decrease the number of compressed bite-sized items “to a bare minimum” and to include more meat and potato items. “I get awfully hungry,” he wrote, “and I’m afraid I’m going to starve to death on that menu.”2 In 1969, Rita Rapp, a physiologist who led the Apollo Food System team, asked Donald Arabian, head of the Mission Evaluation Room, to evaluate a four-day food supply used for the Apollo missions. Arabian identified himself as someone who “would eat almost anything. … you might say [I am] somewhat of a human garbage can.” But even he found the food lacked the flavor, aroma, appearance, texture, and taste he was accustomed to. At the end of his four-day assessment he concluded that “the pleasures of eating were lost to the point where interest in eating was essentially curtailed.”3 Food used on the Gemini-Titan IV flight. Packages include beef sandwich cubes, strawberry cereal cubes, dehydrated peaches, and dehydrated beef and gravy. A water gun on the Gemini spacecraft is used to reconstitute the dehydrated food and scissors are used to open the packaging.NASA Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman concurred with Arabian’s assessment of the Apollo food. The one item Borman enjoyed? It was the contents of the Christmas meal wrapped in ribbons: turkey and gravy. The Christmas dinner was so delicious that the crew contacted Houston to inform them of their good fortune. “It appears that we did a great injustice to the food people,” Lovell told capsule communicator (CAPCOM) Mike Collins. “Just after our TV show, Santa Claus brought us a TV dinner each; it was delicious. Turkey and gravy, cranberry sauce, grape punch; [it was] outstanding.” In response, Collins expressed delight in hearing the good news but shared that the flight control team was not as lucky. Instead, they were “eating cold coffee and baloney sandwiches.”4 The Apollo 8 Christmas menu included dehydrated grape drink, cranberry-applesauce, and coffee, as well as a wetpack containing turkey and gravy.U.S. Natick Soldier Systems Center Photographic Collection The Apollo 8 meal was a “breakthrough.” Until that mission, the food choices for Apollo crews were limited to freeze dried foods that required water to be added before they could be consumed, and ready-to-eat compressed foods formed into cubes. Most space food was highly processed. On this mission NASA introduced the “wetpack”: a thermostabilized package of turkey and gravy that retained its normal water content and could be eaten with a spoon. Astronauts had consumed thermostabilized pureed food on the Project Mercury missions in the early 1960s, but never chunks of meat like turkey. For the Project Gemini and Apollo 7 spaceflights, astronauts used their fingers to pop bite-sized cubes of food into their mouths and zero-G feeder tubes to consume rehydrated food. The inclusion of the wetpack for the Apollo 8 crew was years in the making. The U.S. Army Natick Labs in Massachusetts developed the packaging, and the U.S. Air Force conducted numerous parabolic flights to test eating from the package with a spoon.5 Smith called the meal a real “morale booster.” He noted several reasons for its appeal: the new packaging allowed the astronauts to see and smell the turkey and gravy; the meat’s texture and flavor were not altered by adding water from the spacecraft or the rehydration process; and finally, the crew did not have to go through the process of adding water, kneading the package, and then waiting to consume their meal. Smith concluded that the Christmas dinner demonstrated “the importance of the methods of presentation and serving of food.” Eating from a spoon instead of the zero-G feeder improved the inflight feeding experience, mimicking the way people eat on Earth: using utensils, not squirting pureed food out of a pouch into their mouths. Using a spoon also simplified eating and meal preparation. NASA added more wetpacks onboard Apollo 9, and the crew experimented eating other foods, including a rehydrated meal item, with the spoon.6 Malcolm Smith demonstrates eating space food.NASA Food was one of the few creature comforts the crew had on the Apollo 8 flight, and this meal demonstrated the psychological importance of being able to smell, taste, and see the turkey prior to consuming their meal, something that was lacking in the first four days of the flight. Seeing appetizing food triggers hunger and encourages eating. In other words, if food looks and smells good, then it must taste good. Little things like this improvement to the Apollo Food System made a huge difference to the crews who simply wanted some of the same eating experiences in orbit and on the Moon that they enjoyed on Earth. Footnotes [1] Apollo 8 Mission Commentary, Dec. 25, 1968, p. 543, https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/mission_trans/AS08_PAO.PDF; Apollo 8 Technical Debriefing, Jan. 2, 1969, 078-15, Apollo Series, University of Houston-Clear Lake, Houston, Texas (hereafter UHCL); Malcolm C. Smith to Director of Medical Research and Operations, “Nutrient consumption on Apollo VII and VIII,” Jan. 13, 1969, Rita Rapp Papers, Box 1, UHCL. [2] Jim McDivitt food evaluation form, n.d., Box 17, Rapp Papers, UHCL. [3] Donald Arabian to Rapp, “Evaluation of four-day food supply,” May 8, 1969, Box 17, Rapp Papers, UHCL. [4] Apollo 8 Mission Commentary, Dec. 25, 1968, p. 545. [5] Malcolm Smith, “The Apollo Food Program,” in Aerospace Food Technology, NASA SP-202 (Washington, DC: 1970), pp. 5–8; Whirlpool Corporation, “Space Food Systems: Mercury through Apollo,” Dec. 1970, Box 9, Rapp Papers, UHCL. [6] Smith, “The Apollo Food Program,” pp. 7–8; Smith to the Record, “Christmas Dinner for Apollo VIII,” Jan. 10, 1969, Box 1, Rapp Papers, UHCL; Smith et al, “Apollo Food Technology,” in Biomedical Results of Apollo, NASA SP-368 (Washington, DC: NASA, 1975), p. 456. About the AuthorJennifer Ross-NazzalNASA Human Spaceflight HistorianJennifer Ross-Nazzal is the NASA Human Spaceflight Historian. She is the author of Winning the West for Women: The Life of Suffragist Emma Smith DeVoe and Making Space for Women: Stories from Trailblazing Women of NASA's Johnson Space Center. Share Details Last Updated Dec 21, 2023 EditorMichele Ostovar Related TermsNASA HistoryApollo 8Frank BormanHumans in Space Explore More 12 min read Space Station 20th: Food on ISS Article 3 years ago 4 min read Apollo 8: Christmas at the Moon Article 4 years ago 4 min read To the Moon and Back: Apollo 8 and the Future of Lunar Exploration Article 5 years ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA NASA History Humans In Space The Apollo Program Johnson Space Center History View the full article

2 min read Hubble Sights a Galaxy with ‘Forbidden’ Light This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features a bright spiral galaxy known as MCG-01-24-014, which is located about 275 million light-years from Earth.ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Kilpatrick This whirling image features a bright spiral galaxy known as MCG-01-24-014, which is located about 275 million light-years from Earth. In addition to being a well-defined spiral galaxy, MCG-01-24-014 has an extremely energetic core known as an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and is categorized as a Type-2 Seyfert galaxy. Seyfert galaxies, along with quasars, host one of the most common subclasses of AGN. While the precise categorization of AGNs is nuanced, Seyfert galaxies tend to be relatively nearby and their central AGN does not outshine its host, while quasars are very distant AGNs with incredible luminosities that outshine their host galaxies. There are further subclasses of both Seyfert galaxies and quasars. In the case of Seyfert galaxies, the predominant subcategories are Type-1 and Type-2. Astronomers distinguish them by their spectra, the pattern that results when light is split into its constituent wavelengths. The spectral lines that Type-2 Seyfert galaxies emit are associated with specific ‘forbidden’ emission lines. To understand why emitted light from a galaxy could be forbidden, it helps to understand why spectra exist in the first place. Spectra look the way they do because certain atoms and molecules absorb and emit light at very specific wavelengths. The reason for this is quantum physics: electrons (the tiny particles that orbit the nuclei of atoms and molecules) can only exist at very specific energies, and therefore electrons can only lose or gain very specific amounts of energy. These very specific amounts of energy correspond to the wavelengths of light that are absorbed or emitted. Forbidden emission lines should not exist according to certain rules of quantum physics. But quantum physics is complex, and some of the rules used to predict it were formulated under laboratory conditions here on Earth. Under those rules, this emission is ‘forbidden’ – so improbable that it’s disregarded. But in space, in the midst of an incredibly energetic galactic core, those assumptions don’t hold anymore, and the ‘forbidden’ light gets a chance to shine out toward us. Text credit: European Space Agency Media Contact: Media Contact: Claire Andreoli NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD claire.andreoli@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Dec 22, 2023 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Related Terms AstrophysicsAstrophysics DivisionGalaxiesGoddard Space Flight CenterHubble Space TelescopeMissionsScience Mission DirectorateThe 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. Galaxies Stories Stars Stories James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… View the full article

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) An Alta-8 small Unmanned Aircraft System testbed vehicle flies above NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Flying beyond visual line of sight from observers on the ground required special approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA.NASA / Bowman Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia recently flew multiple drones beyond visual line of sight with no visual observer. The drones successfully flew around obstacles and each other during takeoff, along a planned route, and upon landing, all autonomously without a pilot controlling the flight. This test marks an important step towards advancing self-flying capabilities for air taxis. “Flying the vehicles beyond visual line of sight, where neither the vehicle nor the airspace is monitored using direct human observation, demonstrates years of research into automation and safety systems, and required specific approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA to complete,” said Lou Glaab, branch head for the aeronautics systems engineering branch at NASA Langley. It is safer and more cost effective to test self-flying technology meant for larger, passenger carrying air taxis on smaller drones to observe how they avoid each other and other obstacles. NASA also is testing elements of automation technology using helicopters. These stand-in aircraft help NASA mature the autonomy well before self-flying air taxis are integrated into the skies. “When you have multiple vehicles, all coming and going from a vertiport that is located adjacent to an airport or deep within a community, we have to ensure the automation technologies of these vehicles are capable of safely handling a high volume of air traffic in a busy area,” said Glaab. Building upon past tests, the team successfully performed multiple flights using purchased ALTA 8 Uncrewed Aircraft Systems, also known as drones, with no visual observer and flew the drones beyond visual line of sight, referred to as “NOVO-BVLOS” flights. The software loaded onto the small drones performed airspace communications, flight path management, avoidance with other vehicles, and more skills needed to operate in a busy airspace. This is imperative for what is envisioned with Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), where drones and air taxis will be operating at the same time on a routine basis. The flight tests were observed from NASA Langley’s Remote Operations for Autonomous Missions control center while the drones took off and landed at the City Environment for Testing Autonomous Integrated Navigation test range. NASA researchers monitor the flight of an autonomous vehicle from the Remote Operations for Autonomous Missions UAS Operations Center at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. the center facilitates “beyond visual line of sight” flight operations of small uncrewed aircraft system vehicles, also known as drones.NASA / David Bowman NASA will transfer the new technology created during this project to the public to ensure industry manufacturers can access the software while designing their vehicles. “NASA’s ability to transfer these technologies will significantly benefit the industry,” said Jake Schaefer, flight operations lead for the project. “By conducting flight tests within the national airspace, in close proximity to airports and an urban environment, we are table to test technologies and procedures in a controlled but relevant environment for future AAM vehicles.” One of these technologies was ICAROURS, which stands for NASA’s Integrated Configurable Architecture for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems. This software provides an autonomous detect-and-avoid function and is part of the overall system to maintain “well clear” from other air traffic. Another technology used was NASA’s Safe2Ditch system, which allows the vehicle to observe the ground below and make an autonomous decision on the safest place to land in the event of an in-flight emergency. NASA’s AAM mission has multiple projects contributing to various research areas. This project, called the High Density Vertiplex, was specifically focused on testing and evaluating where these future vehicles will take off and land at high frequency, called vertiports, or vertiplexes, for multiple vertiports near each other, and the technology advancements needed to make this successful. Facebook logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Instagram logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Linkedin logo @NASA Explore More 3 min read NASA, Joby Pave the Way for Air Taxis in Busy Airports Article 1 day ago 2 min read NASA to Co-Host Stability and Control Prediction Workshop Article 2 days ago 4 min read Armstrong Flight Research Center: A Year in Review Article 1 week ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Aeronautics Science Missions Artemis Explore NASA’s History Share Details Last Updated Dec 21, 2023 EditorJim BankeContactDavid Meadedavidlee.t.meade@nasa.govLocationLangley Research Center Related TermsAeronauticsAdvanced Air MobilityAeronautics Research Mission DirectorateDrones & YouLangley Research Center View the full article

SpaceX NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Doug “Wheels” Wheelock participated in a recent test of a sub-scale mockup elevator for SpaceX’s Starship human landing system that will be used for NASA’s Artemis III and IV missions to the Moon. The Starship human landing system will carry two astronauts from the Orion spacecraft in lunar orbit to the surface, serve as a habitat for crew members’ approximately one week stay on the Moon, and transfer them from the surface back to Orion. The elevator will transport equipment and crew between Starship’s habitable area, located near the top of the lander, and the lunar surface, as they exit for moonwalks. The test allowed the astronauts to interact with a flight-like design of the elevator system, serving as both a functional demonstration of the hardware and providing the chance to receive valuable feedback from a crew perspective. Built at SpaceX’s facility in Hawthorne, California, the elevator mockup has a full-scale basket section with functioning mechanical assemblies and crew interfaces for testing. During the demonstration, NASA astronauts wore spacesuits that simulate the suit size and mobility constraints that crew will face on the Moon. For Artemis III, the crew will wear new advanced spacesuits being developed by Axiom Space. The suited crew provided feedback on elevator controls, such as gate latches, ramp deployment interfaces for moving into and out of the elevator basket, available space for cargo, and dynamic operations while the basket moved along a vertical rail system. NASA is working to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon under Artemis to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before and prepare to send humans to Mars for the benefit of all. The human landing system is a critical piece of deep space exploration architecture, along with the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, advanced spacesuits and rovers, and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon. Read more about Artemis: https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/artemis News Media Contact Jenalane Rowe Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, Ala. 256-544-0034 View the full article

NASA / Bill Ingalls Artemis II crew members (from left) CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman pose for a group photograph after their meetings with U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House on Dec. 14, 2023. The crew will travel aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft on a 10-day mission around the Moon, testing spacecraft systems for the first time with astronauts for long-term exploration and scientific discovery. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls View the full article

Sediment from Canada’s Mackenzie River empties into the Beaufort Sea in milky swirls in this 2017 satellite image. Scientists are studying how river discharge drives carbon dioxide emissions in this part of the Arctic Ocean.NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen using Landsat data from USGS Runoff from one of North America’s largest rivers is driving intense carbon dioxide emissions in the Arctic Ocean. When it comes to influencing climate change, the world’s smallest ocean punches above its weight. It’s been estimated that the cold waters of the Arctic absorb as much as 180 million metric tons of carbon per year – more than three times what New York City emits annually – making it one of Earth’s critical carbon sinks. But recent findings show that thawing permafrost and carbon-rich runoff from Canada’s Mackenzie River trigger part of the Arctic Ocean to release more carbon dioxide (CO2) than it absorbs. The study, published earlier this year, explores how scientists are using state-of-the-art computer modeling to study rivers such as the Mackenzie, which flows into a region of the Arctic Ocean called the Beaufort Sea. Like many parts of the Arctic, the Mackenzie River and its delta have faced significantly warmer temperatures in recent years across all seasons, leading to more melting and thawing of waterways and landscapes. In this marshy corner of Canada’s Northwest Territories, the continent’s second largest river system ends a thousand-mile journey that begins near Alberta. Along the way, the river acts as a conveyor belt for mineral nutrients as well as organic and inorganic matter. That material drains into the Beaufort Sea as a soup of dissolved carbon and sediment. Some of the carbon is eventually released, or outgassed, into the atmosphere by natural processes. Scientists have thought of the southeastern Beaufort Sea as a weak-to-moderate CO2 sink, meaning it absorbs more of the greenhouse gas than it releases. But there has been great uncertainty due to a lack of data from the remote region. To fill that void, the study team adapted a global ocean biogeochemical model called ECCO-Darwin, which was developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. The model assimilates nearly all available ocean observations collected for more than two decades by sea- and satellite-based instruments (sea level observations from the Jason-series altimeters, for example, and ocean-bottom pressure from the GRACE and GRACE Follow-On missions). Like a conveyer belt of carbon, the Mackenzie River, seen here in 2007 from NASA’s Terra satellite, drains an area of almost 700,000 square miles (1.8 million square kilometers) on its journey north to the Arctic Ocean. Some of the carbon originates from thawing permafrost and peatlands.NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team The scientists used the model to simulate the discharge of fresh water and the elements and compounds it carries – including carbon, nitrogen, and silica – across nearly 20 years (from 2000 to 2019). The researchers, from France, the U.S., and Canada, found that the river discharge was triggering such intense outgassing in the southeastern Beaufort Sea that it tipped the carbon balance, leading to a net CO2 release of 0.13 million metric tons per year – roughly equivalent to the annual emissions from 28,000 gasoline-powered cars. The release of CO2 into the atmosphere varied between seasons, being more pronounced in warmer months, when river discharge was high and there was less sea ice to cover and trap the gas. Ground Zero for Climate Change Scientists have for decades studied how carbon cycles between the open ocean and atmosphere, a process called air-sea CO2 flux. However, the observational record is sparse along the coastal fringes of the Arctic, where the terrain, sea ice, and long polar nights can make long-term monitoring and experiments challenging. “With our model, we are trying to explore the real contribution of the coastal peripheries and rivers to the Arctic carbon cycle,” said lead author Clément Bertin, a scientist at Littoral Environnement et Sociétés in France. Such insights are critical because about half of the area of the Arctic Ocean is composed of coastal waters, where land meets sea in a complex embrace. And while the study focused on a particular corner of the Arctic Ocean, it can help tell a larger story of environmental change unfolding in the region. Since the 1970s, the Arctic has warmed at least three times faster than anywhere else on Earth, transforming its waters and ecosystems, the scientists said. Some of these changes promote more CO2 outgassing in the region, while others lead to more CO2 being absorbed. For example, with Arctic lands thawing and more snow and ice melting, rivers are flowing more briskly and flushing more organic matter from permafrost and peatlands into the ocean. On the other hand, microscopic phytoplankton floating near the ocean surface are increasingly taking advantage of shrinking sea ice to bloom in the newfound open water and sunlight. These plantlike marine organisms capture and draw down atmospheric CO2during photosynthesis. The ECCO-Darwin model is being used to study these blooms and the ties between ice and life in the Arctic. Scientists are tracking these large and seemingly small changes in the Arctic and beyond because our ocean waters remain a critical buffer against a changing climate, sequestering as much as 48% of the carbon produced by burning fossil fuels. News Media Contacts Andrew Wang / Jane J. Lee Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 626-379-6874 / 818-354-0307 andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov / jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov Written by Sally Younger 2023-185 Share Details Last Updated Dec 21, 2023 Related TermsClimate ChangeCarbon CycleEarthGreenhouse GasesJet Propulsion LaboratoryOceans Explore More 5 min read NASA’s Tech Demo Streams First Video From Deep Space via Laser Article 3 days ago 4 min read Armstrong Flight Research Center: A Year in Review Article 7 days ago 6 min read NASA’s NEOWISE Celebrates 10 Years, Plans End of Mission Article 1 week ago View the full article

The mobile launcher, carried by the crawler-transporter 2, rolls out from its park site location to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in August 2023 for testing ahead of the agency’s Artemis II mission.NASA/Ben Smegelsky Another jam-packed year is in store for NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the momentum of a busy 2023 is carried forward into the new year. On the horizon are missions to the Moon, more crew and cargo flights to the International Space Station, and several upgrade projects across the spaceport. NASA’s first CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative mission with Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander is set to begin work in 2024 after lifting off on the inaugural launch of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. These missions will help the agency develop capabilities needed to explore the Moon under Artemis ahead of sending astronauts to the lunar surface. Another CLPS mission, set for launch early in the year aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, will send the Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander to a landing site at the Moon’s South Pole region. The mission will carry NASA payloads focusing on plume-surface interactions, space weather/lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communication and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in November 2023 on the company’s 29th commercial resupply services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. SpaceX Development toward Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed test flight of its lunar-focused Artemis program continues across Kennedy. SLS (Space Launch System) hardware, including twin solid rocket boosters and a 212-foot-tall core stage for the Artemis II mission, will begin stacking and integration inside the Vehicle Assembly Building in the coming months, after which teams will begin a series of testing prior to launch. Processing also is underway on the core stage for Artemis III. The Artemis II Orion crew and service modules will continue prelaunch processing inside Kennedy’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building alongside the crew modules for Artemis III and Artemis IV– NASA’s initial missions to land the next humans on the lunar surface. The Starliner team works to finalize the mate of the crew module and new service module for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test that will take NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams to and from the International Space Station.Boeing/John Grant NASA and its commercial partners, Boeing and SpaceX, have three Commercial Crew Program missions set to fly from Florida’s Space Coast, setting up another busy year of traffic for the International Space Station in 2024. Teams are readying for the short-duration Crew Flight Test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner no earlier than April. Meanwhile, NASA and SpaceX will continue crew rotation missions to the orbiting laboratory with Crew-8 expected no earlier than mid-February and Crew-9 to follow in mid-August. Other crewed missions to the space station include SpaceX and Axiom Space’s short-duration Axiom Mission 3 and Axiom Mission 4 private astronaut missions. SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn, the second private short-duration orbital flight will also lift off from Kennedy with four individuals that plan to attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk. Along with crewed flights, three of the agency’s Commercial Resupply Services missions hosted on SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus, and the debut flight of Sierra Space’s cargo spaceplane, Dream Chaser, are slated to fly from Kennedy next year to deliver thousands of pounds of supplies, equipment, and science investigations to the orbiting laboratory. The four SpaceX Crew-8 crew members (from left) Alexander Grebenkin from Roscosmos, and Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps, all NASA astronauts, are pictured training inside a Dragon mockup crew vehicle at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. SpaceX NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy has several science and CubeSat missions manifested to fly on commercial rockets next year. They represent a mix of some of the agency’s most complex robotic and scientific missions, as well as smaller cost-efficient missions, and missions sponsored by NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. The first of three primary missions is NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft that will launch early next year on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. PACE’s science goals include extending ocean color, atmospheric aerosol, and cloud data records for Earth system and climate studies. GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-U) is slated to launch in April on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the fourth and final satellite in NOAA’s GOES-R Series of advanced geostationary weather-observing satellites. Scheduled for an October launch on a Falcon Heavy, the agency’s Europa Clipper mission will investigate Jupiter’s moon Europa to determine if it has conditions suitable to support life. Among the small spacecraft and CubeSat missions slated to launch in 2024 are two dedicated launches on Rocket Lab’s Electron for PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Infrared Experiment), which aims to give researchers a more accurate picture of the energy entering and leaving Earth. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket will host NASA’s EscaPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission that will send two spacecraft to study solar wind energy and momentum through Mars’ unique hybrid magnetosphere. Technicians process the NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) observatory on a spacecraft dolly in a high bay at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.NASA/Kim Shiflett While next year’s expected cadence of nearly 100 launches from Florida’s Space Coast is likely to mirror 2023’s record-setting pace, something else to look out for will be upgrade and sustainability efforts around the spaceport. The Indian River Bridge construction project, which opened the first of two spans in June of 2023, and the solar site 6 project of the Utility Energy Services Contract, are expected to wrap up and become fully operational next year. Restoration and beautification efforts across Kennedy also include the consideration of several sites for development into natural wildflower prairies. In the spring, Spaceport Integration’s sustainability team will work on “Project Arbor at the Spaceport.” It will focus on planting Florida native trees and one seedling from the Artemis Moon Tree project along the Fitness Trail near Operations Support Building II to provide shade, benefit wildlife, and help improve air quality. A historical marker sponsored by NASA and the Florida Department of State will be installed in early 2024 at the site of Kennedy’s original Headquarters Building making it the first to be located within Kennedy’s secure area. As 2023 draws to a close, Kennedy Space Center is gearing up to support more groundbreaking missions that will expand human knowledge of Earth and our solar system while protecting the local ecosystem and natural resources. View the full article

2 Min Read Going the Extra 500 miles for Alaskan River Ice Fresh Eyes on Ice science team from the University of Alaska Fairbanks stop in the Alaska Native village of Shageluk on a community and citizen science journey of 550 mile by snow mobile. Credits: Photo by Amanda Byrd, UAF Teachers and students in remote Alaskan villages have become vital NASA climate researchers. These special volunteers are so important that last year, climate scientists took an epic 550 mile snowmobile journey to collaborate with them! You can learn all about it in a new video from the Fresh Eyes on Ice project. The researchers stopped at several remote Alaskan villages, where teachers and students at the local schools already understood why this work was so crucial. When you drive over ice-covered rivers every day—as many Alaskan residents do—tracking ice thickness is no joke. Neither is climate change. “We knew that climate change was happening around us.” explains Joyanne Hamilton, a teacher whose students worked with the team. “Our elders here in Shageluk were talking about changes that were happening….the data they’re gathering is ultimately important to the tribe.” The new video features Hamilton, her students, and Fresh Eyes on Ice researchers Dr. Chris Arp, Allen Bondurant and Sarah Clement. It follows their journey along the Innoko, Kukokwim and Yukon Rivers and the Iditarod Sled Dog Trail. Fresh Eyes on Ice science team from the University of Alaska Fairbanks stop in the Alaska Native village of Shageluk on a community and citizen science journey of 550 mile by snow mobile. Photo by Amanda Byrd, UAF Do you live in Alaska or elsewhere in North America where ice forms? All you need to help out is a smartphone and NASA’s GLOBE Observer Landcover app. Your photos will be used in near-real time by river forecasters to help predict spring ice jam flooding, and by scientists to understand how ice timing and extent is changing. Join Fresh Eyes on Ice here! Facebook logo @DoNASAScience @DoNASAScience Share Details Last Updated Dec 21, 2023 Related Terms Citizen Science Earth Science View the full article

2 min read Scientists and Students Discuss the Future of Space Research at ASGSR Annual Conference Dr. Lisa Carnell, NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences’ (BPS) Division Director, presenting keynote remarks with Dr. Bonnie Dunbar at the 2023 American Space and Gravitational Research Conference (ASGSR). The American Society for Gravitational and Space Research’s (ASGSR) annual meeting brought together over 850 scientists, engineers, educators, and students from around the world to share their latest findings on microgravity research and discuss the future of space exploration. ASGSR stands at the forefront for fostering groundbreaking research and highlighting the cutting-edge science happening now using microgravity, low-gravity, radiation, and other space-based stressors. The meeting, held in Washington, D.C., November 14-18, 2023, featured a variety of general and technical sessions, student fireside chats, and working sessions exploring the conference’s theme: The Future of Space Exploration: Challenges and Opportunities. Dr. Lisa Carnell, NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences’ (BPS) Division Director, opened the conference with her keynote presentation on the state of BPS. Carnell shared that if the U.S. wants to maintain science leadership, with the intent to go farther and stay longer in space, we must continue to pioneer transformative science at the frontiers of biology and physical sciences. Carnell encouraged attendees to look ahead for ways to support the technologies and infrastructure that will be needed to carry out this science. Former astronaut Dr. Bonnie Dunbar echoed Carnell’s remarks as she expressed the need for adequate funding of this scientific and space-based research as a critical path needed for sustainable exploration. Dunbar challenged the group to build upon the pioneering work of BPS to inspire the next generation of space scientists, engineers, and astronauts. ASGSR hosted over 300 presentations where speakers and participants shared their latest findings and discussed the future of space exploration, a few highlighted topics follow: The development of new technologies to enable sustainable space exploration The effects of gravity on biological systems The need to support the commercial space industry to ensure the continuation of research and success of the commercial space economy The growing importance of international collaboration in space research The potential of space exploration to benefit life on Earth The search for new knowledge about the universe The use of space-based research to address global challenges such as climate change and food security Next year’s ASGSR conference will be held in Puerto Rico, December 3-7, 2024. Share Details Last Updated Dec 21, 2023 Related Terms Biological & Physical Sciences Physical Sciences Science & Research Space Biology View the full article

3 min read NASA’s Hubble Watches ‘Spoke Season’ on Saturn This NASA Hubble Space Telescope photo of Saturn reveals the planet’s cloud bands and a phenomenon called ring spokes. NASA, ESA, STScI, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC) This photo of Saturn was taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope on October 22, 2023, when the ringed planet was approximately 850 million miles from Earth. Hubble’s ultra-sharp vision reveals a phenomenon called ring spokes. Saturn’s spokes are transient features that rotate along with the rings. Their ghostly appearance only persists for two or three rotations around Saturn. During active periods, freshly-formed spokes continuously add to the pattern. In 1981, NASA’s Voyager 2 first photographed the ring spokes. NASA’s Cassini orbiter also saw the spokes during its 13-year-long mission that ended in 2017. Hubble continues observing Saturn annually as the spokes come and go. This cycle has been captured by Hubble’s Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program that began nearly a decade ago to annually monitor weather changes on all four gas-giant outer planets. Hubble’s crisp images show that the frequency of spoke apparitions is seasonally driven, first appearing in OPAL data in 2021 but only on the morning (left) side of the rings. Long-term monitoring show that both the number and contrast of the spokes vary with Saturn’s seasons. Saturn is tilted on its axis like Earth and has seasons lasting approximately seven years. “We are heading towards Saturn equinox, when we’d expect maximum spoke activity, with higher frequency and darker spokes appearing over the next few years,” said the OPAL program lead scientist, Amy Simon of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. This year, these ephemeral structures appear on both sides of the planet simultaneously as they spin around the giant world. Although they look small compared with Saturn, their length and width can stretch longer than Earth’s diameter! “The leading theory is that spokes are tied to Saturn’s powerful magnetic field, with some sort of solar interaction with the magnetic field that gives you the spokes,” said Simon. When it’s near the equinox on Saturn, the planet and its rings are less tilted away from the Sun. In this configuration, the solar wind may more strongly batter Saturn’s immense magnetic field, enhancing spoke formation. Planetary scientists think that electrostatic forces generated from this interaction levitate dust or ice above the ring to form the spokes, though after several decades no theory perfectly predicts the spokes. Continued Hubble observations may eventually help solve the mystery. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video This Hubble Space Telescope time-lapse series of Saturn images (taken on October 22, 2023) resolves a phenomenon called ring spokes appearing on both sides of the planet simultaneously as they spin around the giant world. The video zooms into one set of spokes on the morning (left) side of the rings. The spokes are transient features that rotate along the ring plane. The spokes may be a product of electrostatic forces generated by the interaction of the planet’s magnetic field with the solar wind. This interaction levitates dust or ice above the ring to form the spokes. Credit: NASA, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC); Animation: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble and Webb science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in Washington, D.C. Media Contacts: Claire Andreoli NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD claire.andreoli@nasa.gov Ray Villard Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD Science Contact: Amy Simon NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD Share Details Last Updated Dec 21, 2023 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Related Terms Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Missions Planets Rings of Saturn Saturn The Solar System 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. Saturn Stories Saturn: Facts Cassini Saturn-Orbiter View the full article

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA Pathways Intern Raquel Cervantes Espinosa is pictured at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near the Fred Haise Test Stand, where she worked throughout the fall semester supporting RS-25 engine testing. Cervantes Espinosa will return to NASA Stennis in the summer following the spring semester at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. NASA/Danny Nowlin A first-generation student from North Carolina will return to school in January feeling more motivated and better connected to her future thanks to time invested as a NASA Pathways Intern at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Raquel Cervantes Espinosa, the first member of her family to attend college and a rising junior at Duke University, applied to the internship at NASA Stennis because of opportunities the site presented, such as working with large rocket engines. She admits to initially being nervous, having never traveled to Mississippi or the Gulf Coast area. The electrical engineering major says she was welcomed with open arms. She grew fond of the diverse and highly skilled workforce that showed how her studies apply to working with NASA, which makes leaving after the fall semester bittersweet. “It feels like NASA is really investing in me as an individual, and the people that I work with make it feel that way, too,” Cervantes Espinosa said. “I feel valued here and feel like I can grow with my career and degree studies in terms of what I want to do in the future. I really enjoyed my time at NASA Stennis during the fall and look forward to returning in the summer.” During the fall semester, Cervantes Espinosa worked with test stand camera systems, including those in support of NASA’s certification test series of the RS-25 engine. The series will lead to production of updated engines that will help power future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond on the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. “Raquel had a great first semester as a Pathways Intern learning about various electrical and mechanical systems,” said David Carver, deputy branch chief of the Electrical Operations Branch at NASA Stennis. “Her shining accomplishment for the semester was the new test operations video system that she helped design and bring online. The system will provide test engineers with new insight into the operation and health of critical propulsion systems. I look forward to seeing what she accomplishes in the future.” The thermal visual cameras set up by Cervantes Espinosa at the Fred Haise Test Stand, where RS-25 hot fires take place, help ensure safe operations by allowing engineers to monitor key areas of the test stand, such as the liquid oxygen stalls and hydrogen systems. The cameras can also identify potential gas leaks not seen with the naked eye. Additionally, Cervantes Espinosa had the opportunity to analyze data and work on instruments that are used on the RS-25 engine. “A lot of the experience I’m getting from working at NASA Stennis, a lot of the stuff I’m learning now, is really shaping how I see engineering differently than I used to,” she said. The Duke student says one key takeaway from the fall semester was learning beyond electrical engineering and understanding how her physics minor can be applied in the aerospace industry – an industry she now wants to join following graduation. On pace to graduate in 2026, Cervantes Espinosa said it can be challenging at times in unfamiliar territory, whether as an intern at NASA Stennis or as a first-generation engineering student. “I would encourage other first-generation students to keep your head up and keep going,” Cervantes Espinosa said. “It sounds very cliché, but I think it’s really accurate for people like me and a lot of my friends who are first-generation students in engineering and beginning to immerse ourselves into the workforce and see what we need to do. Keep your head up, keep going, and really take advantage of such opportunities because they are out there, and people want the best for you and want to invest in you. You just have to go and seize the opportunity.” The NASA Pathways Intern Program opens in the spring and fall each year with job postings on USAJobs.gov. The application windows open two times each year – typically around February and September. For information about the NASA Pathways program, visit: NASA Careers: Pathways – NASA Social Media Stay connected with the mission on social media, and let people know you’re following it on X, Facebook, and Instagram using the hashtags #NASAStennis #Pathways #Artemis. Follow and tag these accounts: Facebook logo @NASAStennis @NASAStennis Instagram logo @NASAStennis Share Details Last Updated Dec 21, 2023 EditorNASA Stennis CommunicationsContactC. Lacy Thompsoncalvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov / (228) 688-3333LocationStennis Space Center Related TermsStennis Space Center Explore More 7 min read Lagniappe Article 2 days ago 1 min read People Behind the Work at NASA Stennis Article 3 days ago 3 min read NASA Stennis Continues Preparations for Future Artemis Testing Article 1 week ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics About NASA Stennis NASA Careers: Pathways Pathways Informational Video Playlist Employers and Careers at NASA Stennis View the full article