NASA

7 Min Read Lagniappe Explore the December 2023 edition to learn about a major milestone NASA Stennis achieved, how two test conductors shared the stage on test day, along with the NASA Stennis Year-in-Review, and much more! Explore the December 2023 edition featuring: NASA Tests In-Flight Capability of Artemis Moon Rocket Engine NASA Delivers Inclusion Message to Annual Bayou Classic Participants Year-in-Review: NASA Stennis Celebrates 2023 Gator Speaks Gator Speaks When planning for the holiday season, it is critical to have one’s ducks in a row… or gators in a line. Among other things, having something to talk about when friends or family visit is crucial. The sentiment rings true whether you are a human, or a gator, and I have the perfect conversation activity this holiday season thanks to the final RS-25 engine test in November at NASA Stennis. The 650-second test is likely the longest of the 12-test series. It involved a technique known as gimbaling, where the engine is pivoted throughout the hot fire. When the four RS-25 engines gimbal during launch of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, gimbaling helps stabilize the rocket as it reaches orbit. To better understand how this works, think about hula hooping, which involves using body movements to twirl a plastic hoop that spins around one’s waist, neck, arm, or leg. Typically, younger folks participate in this activity, but I have learned you are never too old to give it a go. Maybe you cannot teach an old dog new tricks, but an old gator is another story. Ack! Much like gimbaling an RS-25 engine, hula hooping can involve technical motions, although it is more about freestyle movement. As one might expect, an RS-25 engine test has a detailed plan with a list of objectives. Test operators pivot the engine in precise motions, on a circular basis or back-and-forth in a sort of sawtooth manner. The focus is ensuring the engine can move as needed to direct and stabilize the rocket during flight. NASA is continuing the current RS-25 test series into 2024, which means more hot fires to come. I may bring my newly discovered hula hooping skills into the new year also. It will be perfect timing to shape up for a new, exciting year. I have practiced through and through, so I expect everyone to be very impressed. If nothing else, it will be about a great source of amusement and laughter. While I do not have footage of my hula hoop practice, I do have video of the engine gimbaling at NASA Stennis. When you watch it, imagine your favorite gator hula hooping. Happy holidays, all! NASA Stennis Top News NASA Tests In-Flight Capability of Artemis Moon Rocket Engine NASA conducted the third RS-25 engine hot fire in a critical 12-test certification series Nov. 29, demonstrating a key capability necessary for flight of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket during Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond. Read More About the Third RS-25 Engine Hot Fire NASA Delivers Inclusion Message to Annual Bayou Classic Participants NASA was on full display during the 50th Annual Bayou Classic Fan Fest activity in New Orleans on Nov. 25, hosting an informational booth and interacting with event participants to deliver a clear message – There’s Space for Everybody at NASA. Read More About Bayou Classic NASA Stennis Engineers Share the Stage on Test Day The last Wednesday in November proved to be a full-circle moment for two engineers at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Read More About NASA engineers Josh Greiner and Peyton Pinson NASA Stennis Continues Preparations for Future Artemis Testing Crews at NASA’s Stennis Space Center cleared a milestone Dec. 11, installing a key component in preparation for future Green Run testing of NASA’s new Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) vehicle for use on the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. Read More About Upgrades to the Thad Cochran Test Stand Year-in-Review: NASA Stennis Celebrates 2023 NASA’s Stennis Space Center celebrated accomplishments in a number of areas in 2023, including propulsion testing, commercial aerospace activities, community engagement, autonomous systems, strategic planning, and more. Look Back Center Activities Year-in-Review Snapshots: 2023 “Year that Was” NASA’s Stennis Space Center steadily moved forward in 2023, while positioning itself to go even further in 2024. Check out the “year that was” by looking at 23 snapshots from 2023. View 2023 Snapshots People Behind the Work at NASA Stennis NASA’s Stennis Space Center brings together people from all backgrounds to support NASA’s mission to explore the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all and inspire the world through discovery. Read About NASA Stennis Employees NASA in the News Breaking Records, Returning Asteroid Samples Among NASA’s Big 2023 New Course from NASA Helps Build Open, Inclusive Science Community – NASA NASA Continues Progress on Artemis III Rocket Adapter with Key Joint Installation – NASA 25 Years Ago: NASA, Partners Begin Space Station Assembly – NASA Artemis II Crew’s SLS Visit – NASA Employee Profile NASA budget analyst Anita Wilson is pictured at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where she supports commercial test projects, helping NASA inspire the world through discovery. NASA/Danny Nowlin Anita Wilson could not hold back the tears as she reflected on the journey from her earliest space memory to now working at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Read More About Anita Wilson Looking Back Jerry Hlass, the first manager and director at NASA Stennis, is accompanied by family during a visit to the south Mississippi NASA center on Nov. 22. NASA/Danny Nowlin Hlass Celebrates Birthday with Visit to NASA Stennis It was fitting that the first director of NASA’s Stennis Space Center chose to celebrate his 96th birthday by visiting the south Mississippi site with his family on Nov. 22. After all, Jerry Hlass had a lot to do with the “birth” of the modern propulsion test site. NASA built what was then called the Mississippi Test Facility in the early 1960s to test Saturn V rocket stages that would carry humans to the Moon for the first time. When the Apollo Program ended in the early 1970s, the future of the test site seemed bleak. Hlass was familiar with the south Mississippi facility. He had supervised facilities nationwide for NASA during the 1960s when the Mississippi site was under construction. In that capacity, Hlass made many trips to the site as he monitored the construction project. Now, the site was the focal point of Hlass’ master’s thesis, titled “Search for a Role for a Large Government Facility,” at George Washington University. At the time, NASA was seeking a location to test engines for its planned space shuttle vehicle, and Hlass saw it as a perfect use of the Mississippi Test Facility. When asked his opinion by the Site Evaluation Board, Hlass gave his case for the election of the Mississippi location for the test campaign. On March 1, 1971, the Mississippi Test Facility subsequently was selected for the sea-level testing of the rocket engines to power the space shuttle. Several years later, on Sept. 1, 1976, Hlass was named manager of the very same site, by then known as the National Space Technology Laboratories. Before Hlass accepted the assignment of taking over the reins of the NSTL in 1976, NASA Headquarters had considered withdrawing the NASA management team from the installation. The small NASA onsite management team was responsible for providing support services to about 18 federal and state agencies and providing technical support to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the space shuttle test program. The Earth Resources Laboratory (ERL) was at the site, but it answered to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, and the Space Shuttle Test Complex was under Marshall management. Hlass believed that NASA should be far more influential in the center’s management role. During his years as manager and director of the installation, Hlass was able to bring the ERL under site management and assume a much more direct and meaningful part in supporting the Space Shuttle Program. Through his efforts, Hlass gained the confidence of officials from NASA Headquarters and the respect of the Marshall test team and many other agencies in residence. As a result, the work accomplished by Hlass has been said to have resulted in the “reNASAfication” of the installation. Hlass retired as site leader in 1989. In honor of his leadership and significant contributions to NASA, the center unveiled a street sign designating Jerry Hlass Road onsite in 2015. Additional Resources Small Steps, Giant Leaps Podcast with Christine Powell Earth Now NASA+ Calliefirst – NASA Subscription Info Lagniappe is published monthly by the Office of Communications at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The NASA Stennis office may be contacted by at 228-688-3333 (phone); ssc-office-of-communications@mail.nasa.gov (email); or NASA OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS, Attn: LAGNIAPPE, Mail code IA00, Building 1111 Room 173, Stennis Space Center, MS 39529 (mail). The Lagniappe staff includes: Managing Editor Lacy Thompson, Editor Bo Black, and photographer Danny Nowlin. To subscribe to the monthly publication, please email the following to ssc-office-of-communications@mail.nasa.gov – name, location (city/state), email address. View the full article

3 Min Read Mighty MURI brings the heat to test new longwave infrared radiometer – Credits: Leonardo Diagnostic/Retrieval Systems PROJECT Multiband Uncooled Radiometer Instrument (MURI) SNAPSHOT NASA’s new Multiband Uncooled Radiometer Instrument (MURI) features a novel bolometer that detects infrared radiation without a cryogenic cooler, greatly reducing the cost and complexity of dispatching infrared radiometers into low-Earth orbit. First-light data from NASA’s new Multiband Uncooled Radiometer Instrument (MURI) shows its novel, uncooled microbolometer is operational, setting the stage for future space missions dedicated to observing Earth’s surface temperature with a cost-effective instrument. MURI, which was launched into low-Earth orbit in January 2023, is not NASA’s first space-based infrared radiometer, but it is one of NASA’s smallest. MURI flies through space at roughly seven kilometers per second as a hosted payload on Loft Orbital’s YAM5 platform. During its technology validation mission, MURI will demonstrate a state-of-the-art microbolometer thermal imager that functions without a cryogenic cooler. This unique technology could become the foundation of future science missions dedicated to observing phenomena like volcanic activity. Bolometers detect infrared radiation in the form of heat and do not require cryogenic operation. These components are extremely sensitive to changes in temperature. Traditional space-based thermal sensors rely on bulky cryogenic coolers to remain at a constant temperature of about -300 degrees Fahrenheit. Cryogenic coolers add a lot of mass to space instruments. For example, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), a space-based infrared radiometer serving aboard NASA’s Aqua and Terra satellites, weighs more than 500 pounds. By contrast, MURI only weighs only about 12 pounds. While its microbolometer still needs to be held at a constant temperature to maintain accuracy in space, that temperature can be room temperature. In airborne and laboratory tests, MURI achieved an absolute radiometric accuracy of around 1%, which is considered world-class for longwave infrared radiometers of any size, and first-light data suggests the instrument performs just as well within the rigors of space. As depicted in this image, MURI underwent flight testing over the California coast in 2022, prior to its launch in into low-Earth orbit in January 2023. Weighing just 12 pounds, MURI will be capable of gathering infrared data with high precision. Credit: Leonardo Diagnostic/Retrieval Systems MURI’s initial observations suggest the instrument can measure the Earth surface temperature at a sensitivity as low as 123 millikelvin, which is comparable to existing Landsat instruments. Creating an instrument so accurate and yet so compact required some innovative engineering. Philip Ely, Senior Director of Engineering at Leonardo Diagnostic/Retrieval Systems (DRS) and Principal Investigator for MURI, was especially concerned with image smear, a common issue with space-based remote sensors that collect high-resolution data. “Our approach to solving this problem was to mount the bolometer focal plane array on a piezo stage, and then move the stage at the same velocity as the image to effectively stabilize the image on the focal plane array,” said Ely. Through its Earth Science Technology Office, NASA worked with Leonardo DRS to transform MURI from an airborne instrument prototype to a spaceborne instrument in just 18 months. Partnering with private companies to develop and demonstrate space-based instruments helps NASA reduce the amount of time and resources necessary to produce cutting-edge science. Ely and his team presented a more detailed report describing MURI’s initial test results at the 2023 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) conference in Pasadena, CA. PROJECT LEAD Philip Ely, Director of Engineering, Leonardo DRS SPONSORING ORGANIZATION Earth Science Division’s In-Space Validation of Earth Science Technologies (InVEST) Program; ESD’s Instrument Incubation Program (IIP) Share Details Last Updated Dec 19, 2023 Related Terms Earth Science Science-enabling Technology Technology Highlights View the full article

2 min read Approval to Exceed GSA Lodging for LPSC 2024 This letter from SARA is to issue a waiver for NASA grantees attending LPSC 2024 allowing them to be reimbursed out of their grants for their actual lodging, although it’s expected to be above the approved GSA amount. This waiver does not supersede the travel policy of your institution if it is more restrictive. Note: I have specified grants (including cooperative agreements). This may also apply to those traveling on NASA contracts, but they should communicate with their contracting officers. The host hotel for the 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference on March 11–15, 2024, is The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. Hotel information for this conference may be found at https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2024/plan/. The GSA-allowed daily lodging expense for March 2024 for zip code 77380 (for The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center) is $122 per night. Many of the hotels may be significantly higher than the GSA allowed $122. Grantee travelers may need a waiver to cover lodging in excess of the GSA value, depending on the travel policy of your organization. This waiver does not supersede the travel policy of your institution if it is more restrictive. By the power vested in me by the NSSC to issue approval of the actual lodging costs for a conference in “bulk” instead of individual approvals, I hereby affirm that for the 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference NASA, SMD grants may be charged up to $256/night plus tax, consistent with the average actual cost of the conference hotel, even though this exceeds the $122 allotted for lodging by GSA for The Woodlands for March 2024. Share Details Last Updated Dec 18, 2023 Editor Andrew DOLLAR Related Terms For Researchers Grants & Opportunities Lunar Science Planetary Science Science Mission Directorate Explore More 3 min read Hubble Looks at a Late-type Galaxy Article 3 days ago 3 min read NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Returns to Science Operations Article 1 week ago 2 min read Hubble Captures a Cluster in the Cloud Article 1 week ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… Perseverance Rover This rover and its aerial sidekick were assigned to study the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient microbial… Parker Solar Probe On a mission to “touch the Sun,” NASA’s Parker Solar Probe became the first spacecraft to fly through the corona… Juno NASA’s Juno spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter in 2016, the first explorer to peer below the planet’s dense clouds to… View the full article

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) From left to right: Samone Wilson, Bradley Tyree, Gina Ladner, Louis Thompson.NASA Stennis From left to right: Kris Mobbs, Amy Langdale, Ken Griffey, and Paula Hensarling.NASA Stennis From left to right: Anita Wilson, Katrina Emery, Tom Lipski, and Van Ward.NASA Stennis NASA’s Stennis Space Center brings together people from all backgrounds to support NASA’s mission to explore the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all and inspire the world through discovery. NASA Stennis also supports the agency’s core values of safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, and inclusion – and in 2023, the south Mississippi site was recognized by Forbes Magazine as the Best Employer in Mississippi. However, one does not need to take the magazine’s word for it – NASA Stennis employees are quick to say the same. They say when you enjoy what you do, then you will never work a day in your life, and I believe that is true. I look forward to coming in every day because each day offers a new challenge, whether it’s building up a new system or meeting the ever-changing test requirements of the RS-25 or improving a system that has been installed for years by implementing a new technology and using existing alternate industry practices. Bradley Tyree NASA Stennis engineer Our focus is to ensure that we maintain a work environment where all employees feel welcomed, respected, connected, and engaged. I want to empower all employees to contribute their unique talents to ensure the success of NASA’s mission. Katrina Emery NASA Stennis Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity manager It is such an honor to share NASA’s story and the career possibilities with people from all walks of life, especially those that might not normally be exposed to such opportunities. It brings great joy to see their faces light up when they know that people just like them work for NASA. Representation truly matters. Samone wilson NASA Stennis public affairs specialist The center is not necessarily the infrastructure (test stands and buildings); it’s also the people, the community that makes things work and go. It is because of the community that is here that things go so well. Tom lipski NASA Stennis technical manager There are very exciting times ahead. Our agency and center are changing and adapting to our new commercial friends joining us in space. It requires us to change as well, and not all change is bad. I look to our future at NASA with optimism and to my opportunities with excitement and pride. Kris Mobbs NASA Stennis engineer As a member of the Office of Procurement at NASA Stennis, I have experienced a wonderfully inclusive workforce that always overcomes any obstacle to achieve the mission goals. It has been my experience that NASA Stennis seeks to ensure all individuals are valued for their ideas and unique perspectives. Amy Langdale NASA Stennis auditor The ability to flex into new paradigms and processes is more important to successful change than any other factor. These brilliant, diverse people at NASA Stennis are truly our greatest resource for the future. Ken Griffey Chief of staff for NASA Stennis Center Operations I knew working at NASA Stennis would be a great opportunity following my time as a college student intern, and it continues to exceed my expectations. Paula Hensarling Chief of NASA Stennis Mechanical Design Branch For 11 years in a row, NASA has been ranked as the Best Place to Work in the federal government, and it has been the thrill of my life to be part of NASA Office of STEM Engagement for more than seven years. I am grateful for all of the mentors and colleagues that have helped me along this amazing journey. Louis Thompson NASA Stennis education specialist The workplace culture at NASA Stennis is like working with family. Everyone knows each other and genuinely cares about one another. Whether you work for a contractor or are a civil servant, we treat everyone with respect. That is how we achieve cohesion in such a diverse workforce. Gina Ladner Deputy chief of NASA Stennis Facility Services Branch It is exciting, stimulating, utterly mind-blowing knowing years from now, we will be witnessing humans return to the Moon, then Mars, and maybe beyond. Just knowing I am part of a team of professionals enabling that historic feat is immeasurable. We are literally a part of something truly historic. Van Ward Chief of NASA Stennis Center Protective Services I just feel like (being hired by NASA), that’s my greatest achievement as far as my career goes. Anita Wilson NASA Stennis budget analyst Read More Share Details Last Updated Dec 18, 2023 EditorNASA Stennis CommunicationsContactC. Lacy Thompsoncalvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov / (228) 688-3333LocationStennis Space Center Related TermsStennis Space Center Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics About NASA Stennis Stennis People Profiles in Leadership NASA Stennis Media Resources View the full article

Members of the DSOC team react to the first high-definition streaming video to be sent via laser from deep space on Dec. 11 at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Sent by the DSOC transceiver aboard the Psyche spacecraft, nearly 19 million miles from Earth, the video features a cat named Taters.NASA/JPL-Caltech A computer screen in the mission support area shows Taters the cat in a still from the first high-definition streaming video to be sent via laser from deep space, as well as the incoming data stream delivering the frames from the video.NASA/JPL-Caltech The video, featuring a cat named Taters, was sent back from nearly 19 million miles away by NASA’s laser communications demonstration, marking a historic milestone. NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications experiment beamed an ultra-high definition streaming video on Dec. 11 from a record-setting 19 million miles away (31 million kilometers, or about 80 times the Earth-Moon distance). The milestone is part of a NASA technology demonstration aimed at streaming very high-bandwidth video and other data from deep space – enabling future human missions beyond Earth orbit. “This accomplishment underscores our commitment to advancing optical communications as a key element to meeting our future data transmission needs,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “Increasing our bandwidth is essential to achieving our future exploration and science goals, and we look forward to the continued advancement of this technology and the transformation of how we communicate during future interplanetary missions.” The demo transmitted the 15-second test video via a cutting-edge instrument called a flight laser transceiver. The video signal took 101 seconds to reach Earth, sent at the system’s maximum bit rate of 267 megabits per second (Mbps). Capable of sending and receiving near-infrared signals, the instrument beamed an encoded near-infrared laser to the Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, where it was downloaded. Each frame from the looping video was then sent “live” to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the video was played in real time. This 15-second clip shows the first ultra-high-definition video sent via laser from deep space, featuring a cat named Taters chasing a laser with test graphics overlayed. To see a “cheat sheet” explaining the components of the video, click here. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The laser communications demo, which launched with NASA’s Psyche mission on Oct. 13, is designed to transmit data from deep space at rates 10 to 100 times greater than the state-of-the-art radio frequency systems used by deep space missions today. As Psyche travels to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the technology demonstration will send high-data-rate signals as far out as the Red Planet’s greatest distance from Earth. In doing so, it paves the way for higher-data-rate communications capable of sending complex scientific information, high-definition imagery, and video in support of humanity’s next giant leap: sending humans to Mars. “One of the goals is to demonstrate the ability to transmit broadband video across millions of miles. Nothing on Psyche generates video data, so we usually send packets of randomly generated test data,” said Bill Klipstein, the tech demo’s project manager at JPL. “But to make this significant event more memorable, we decided to work with designers at JPL to create a fun video, which captures the essence of the demo as part of the Psyche mission.” Feline Frequency Uploaded before launch, the short ultra-high definition video features an orange tabby cat named Taters, the pet of a JPL employee, chasing a laser pointer, with overlayed graphics. The graphics illustrate several features from the tech demo, such as Psyche’s orbital path, Palomar’s telescope dome, and technical information about the laser and its data bit rate. Tater’s heart rate, color, and breed are also on display. Members of the JPL team pose after the first streamed ultra-HD video was received from deep space. Remote team members (including Taters the cat) appear on the meeting screen. Standing, from left, are: Dan Goods, Abi Biswas, Ryan Rogalin, Meera Srinivasan, Bill Klipstein, Oliver Lay, and Christine Chen.NASA/JPL-Caltech “Despite transmitting from millions of miles away, it was able to send the video faster than most broadband internet connections,” said Ryan Rogalin, the project’s receiver electronics lead at JPL. “In fact, after receiving the video at Palomar, it was sent to JPL over the internet, and that connection was slower than the signal coming from deep space. JPL’s DesignLab did an amazing job helping us showcase this technology – everyone loves Taters.” There’s also a historical link: Beginning in 1928, a small statue of the popular cartoon character Felix the Cat was featured in television test broadcast transmissions. Today, cat videos and memes are some of the most popular content online. Milestone After Milestone This latest milestone comes after “first light” was achieved on Nov. 14. Since then, the system has demonstrated faster data downlink speeds and increased pointing accuracy during its weekly checkouts. On the night of Dec. 4, the project demonstrated downlink bit rates of 62.5 Mbps, 100 Mbps, and 267 Mbps, which is comparable to broadband internet download speeds. The team was able to download a total of 1.3 terabits of data during that time. As a comparison, NASA’s Magellan mission to Venus downlinked 1.2 terabits during its entire mission from 1990 to 1994. Media reel for DSOC ultra-HD video transmission “When we achieved first light, we were excited, but also cautious. This is a new technology, and we are experimenting with how it works,” said Ken Andrews, project flight operations lead at JPL. “But now, with the help of our Psyche colleagues, we are getting used to working with the system and can lock onto the spacecraft and ground terminals for longer than we could previously. We are learning something new during each checkout.” More About the Mission The Deep Space Optical Communications demonstration is the latest in a series of optical communication demonstrations funded by the Technology Demonstration Missions (TDM) program under NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and supported by NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program within the agency’s Space Operations Mission Directorate. The Psyche mission is led by Arizona State University. JPL is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Psyche is the 14th mission selected as part of NASA’s Discovery Program under the Science Mission Directorate, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, managed the launch service. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis For more information about the laser communications demo, visit: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/dsoc News Media Contact Ian J. O’Neill Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-2649 ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov 2023-184 Share Details Last Updated Dec 18, 2023 Related TermsDeep Space Optical Communications (DSOC)Jet Propulsion LaboratoryPsyche MissionSpace Communications & Navigation ProgramSpace Operations Mission DirectorateSpace Technology Mission DirectorateTech Demo Missions Explore More 4 min read Armstrong Flight Research Center: A Year in Review Article 4 days ago 6 min read NASA’s NEOWISE Celebrates 10 Years, Plans End of Mission Article 5 days ago 4 min read NASA Provides Update on Venture-Class Launch Services Article 5 days ago View the full article

2 min read Cosmic Companionship Quest Marks Major Milestone Are we alone in the universe? About 30,000 volunteers want to know! These volunteers visited arewealone.earth to sift through a huge data set from the 100 meter Green Bank Telescope—inspecting it for signals that might indicate intelligent extraterrestrial life. As of this week, this giant team has made ONE MILLION inspections! “We are thrilled that our volunteers have accomplished so much in the short 10-month period since our launch,” said project PI Jean-Luc Margot. The Science and Communications team of the “Are we alone in the universe?” project. From left to right: Ella, Jay, Megan, Jeremy, Priscella, Jean-Luc. Not pictured: Liam. It’s a major milestone to be sure. But does that mean this search is over? Not even close. The Green Bank Telescope collects millions of signals per hour! So UCLA graduate student Megan Li is building on the volunteer-submitted data to design and train a machine learning application that will help tackle that enormous data rate. She will present her preliminary results at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society this January. If you’ve been helping out—thank you! And please come help some more! The 10th batch of UCLA SETI data has now been uploaded to the platform. Moreover, thanks to volunteer translators, the project is now available in French (translated by Louis Verhaeghe) and in Portuguese (translated by Fernando Nogal). “Are we alone in the universe?” was built by UCLA SETI on the Zooniverse platform with funding from The Planetary Society and the NASA Citizen Science Seed Funding Program. Facebook logo @DoNASAScience @DoNASAScience Share Details Last Updated Dec 18, 2023 Related Terms Astrophysics Citizen Science View the full article

NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona On Aug. 18, 2023, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured ridged lines carved onto Mars’ landscape by the gradual movement of ice. While surface ice deposits are mostly limited to Mars’ polar caps, these patterns appear in many non-polar Martian regions. As ice flows downhill, rock and soil are plucked from the surrounding landscape and ferried along the flowing ice surface and within the icy subsurface. While this process takes perhaps thousands of years or longer, it creates a network of linear patterns that reveal the history of ice flow. The MRO has been studying Mars since 2006. Its instruments zoom in for extreme close-up photography of the Martian surface, analyze minerals, look for subsurface water, trace how much dust and water are distributed in the atmosphere, and monitor daily global weather. These studies are identifying deposits of minerals that may have formed in water over long periods of time, looking for evidence of shorelines of ancient seas and lakes, and analyzing deposits placed in layers over time by flowing water. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona View the full article

3 min read NASA’s BurstCube Passes Milestones on Journey to Launch Scientists and engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, have completed testing for BurstCube, a shoebox-sized spacecraft designed to study the universe’s most powerful explosions. Members of the team have also delivered the satellite to their partner Nanoracks (part of Voyager Space) in Houston, Texas, where it will be packed for launch. The BurstCube satellite sits in its flight configuration in this photo. The shoebox-size spacecraft will launch aboard a resupply mission to the International Space Station, where it will be released into orbit and the solar panels on either side will deploy. Credit: NASA/Sophia Roberts “Even a satellite as tiny as BurstCube requires extensive verification before it can go to space,” said Goddard’s Lucia Tian, the mission’s science instrument lead. “We characterized its magnetic field, tested it at extreme temperatures, and recreated the shaking it will experience at launch – just to name a few assessments.” BurstCube will search the sky for short gamma-ray bursts, brief flashes of the highest-energy form of light. Dense stellar remnants called neutron stars create these bursts when they collide with other neutron stars or black holes. Small missions like BurstCube provide valuable opportunities for early career scientists and engineers to see all aspects of a project from start to finish. Jeremy Perkins BurstCube principal investigator Astronomers are interested in learning more about these collisions because they’re an important source of the universe’s heavy elements, like gold and platinum. BurstCube’s goal is to detect and locate bursts and alert other observatories to coordinate detailed follow-up studies. BurstCube will join a growing network of satellites and telescopes working together to witness changes in the universe as they unfold. The spacecraft is slated for takeoff in March 2024 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a resupply mission to the International Space Station. Interior components of the BurstCube satellite appear in this photograph. BurstCube, a shoebox-sized satellite that will study some of the universe’s most powerful explosions, was designed and built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The four circular detectors make up the mission’s gamma-ray detector. Credit: NASA/Jeanette Kazmierczak NASA engineer Kate Gasaway goes through a checklist ahead of BurstCube’s magnetic calibration testing at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Credit: NASA/Sophia Roberts NASA engineers Julie Cox, Seth Abramczyk, and Franklin Robinson work to adjust the BurstCube spacecraft ahead of thermal vacuum testing at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Credit: NASA/Sophia Roberts Engineers Benjamin Nold (NASA) and Justin Clavette (SSAI) prepare the BurstCube satellite for testing on a rooftop at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Credit: NASA/Sophia Roberts To ensure it can withstand the rattling it will experience at launch, the mission team transported BurstCube to Washington Laboratories in Frederick, Maryland, for vibration testing. Engineers strapped the satellite to a plate, which then vibrated at frequencies ranging from 20 to 20,000 hertz. Translated into sound, that spans bass to the upper limit of human hearing. BurstCube will use Earth’s magnetic field to orientate itself as it scans the sky. To do so, the mission team had to map the spacecraft’s own magnetic field using a special facility at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. “The magnetic calibration chamber generates a known magnetic field that cancels out Earth’s,” said Goddard engineer Kate Gasaway. “Our measurements of BurstCube’s field in the chamber will help us figure out where the satellite is pointing once in space, so we can locate gamma-ray bursts and tell other observatories where to look.” As BurstCube orbits, it will experience major temperature swings every 90 minutes as it passes in and out of daylight. The team evaluated how the spacecraft will operate in these new conditions using a thermal vacuum chamber at Goddard, where temperatures ranged from minus 4 to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 to 45 Celsius). In addition to these tests, the team ran many other assessments, like software and communications checks and ensuring the solar panels will open uninhibited after deployment from the space station. “Small missions like BurstCube provide valuable opportunities for early career scientists and engineers to see all aspects of a project from start to finish,” said Jeremy Perkins, BurstCube’s principal investigator at Goddard. “Now that we’ve completed testing, the team and BurstCube are gearing up for the next steps toward launch.” Download high-resolution video and images from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio. By Jeanette Kazmierczak NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Media Contact: Claire Andreoli claire.andreoli@nasa.gov NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Share Details Last Updated Dec 18, 2023 Related Terms Astrophysics Black Holes BurstCube CubeSats Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Gamma-Ray Bursts Neutron Stars Small Satellite Missions The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

4 Min Read NASA’s Webb Rings in Holidays With Ringed Planet Uranus A slice of the most recent Wide-field image of Uranus from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently trained its sights on unusual and enigmatic Uranus, an ice giant that spins on its side. Webb captured this dynamic world with rings, moons, storms, and other atmospheric features – including a seasonal polar cap. The image expands upon a two-color version released earlier this year, adding additional wavelength coverage for a more detailed look. With its exquisite sensitivity, Webb captured Uranus’ dim inner and outer rings, including the elusive Zeta ring – the extremely faint and diffuse ring closest to the planet. It also imaged many of the planet’s 27 known moons, even seeing some small moons within the rings. Image: Uranus and its rings This image of Uranus from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope exquisitely captures Uranus’s seasonal north polar cap and dim inner and outer rings. This Webb image also shows 9 of the planet’s 27 moons – clockwise starting at 2 o’clock, they are: Rosalind, Puck, Belinda, Desdemona, Cressida, Bianca, Portia, Juliet, and Perdita.NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI In visible wavelengths as seen by Voyager 2 in the 1980s, Uranus appeared as a placid, solid blue ball. In infrared wavelengths, Webb is revealing a strange and dynamic ice world filled with exciting atmospheric features. One of the most striking of these is the planet’s seasonal north polar cloud cap. Compared to the Webb image from earlier this year, some details of the cap are easier to see in these newer images. These include the bright, white, inner cap and the dark lane in the bottom of the polar cap, toward the lower latitudes. Several bright storms can also be seen near and below the southern border of the polar cap. The number of these storms, and how frequently and where they appear in Uranus’s atmosphere, might be due to a combination of seasonal and meteorological effects. The polar cap appears to become more prominent when the planet’s pole begins to point toward the Sun, as it approaches solstice and receives more sunlight. Uranus reaches its next solstice in 2028, and astronomers are eager to watch any possible changes in the structure of these features. Webb will help disentangle the seasonal and meteorological effects that influence Uranus’s storms, which is critical to help astronomers understand the planet’s complex atmosphere. Image: Uranus Wide-Field This wide-field image of Uranus from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the planet amid a smattering of distant background galaxies. This image also includes 14 of the planet’s 27 moons: Oberon, Titania, Umbriel, Juliet, Perdita, Rosalind, Puck, Belinda, Desdemona, Cressida, Ariel, Miranda, Bianca, and Portia.NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI Because Uranus spins on its side at a tilt of about 98 degrees, it has the most extreme seasons in the solar system. For nearly a quarter of each Uranian year, the Sun shines over one pole, plunging the other half of the planet into a dark, 21-year-long winter. With Webb’s unparalleled infrared resolution and sensitivity, astronomers now see Uranus and its unique features with groundbreaking new clarity. These details, especially of the close-in Zeta ring, will be invaluable to planning any future missions to Uranus. Uranus can also serve as a proxy for studying the nearly 2,000 similarly sized exoplanets that have been discovered in the last few decades. This “exoplanet in our backyard” can help astronomers understand how planets of this size work, what their meteorology is like, and how they formed. This can in turn help us understand our own solar system as a whole by placing it in a larger context. Image: Uranus’ Moons Labelled Annotated wide-field compass image of Uranus with some of its 27 moons and a few prominent stars (with characteristic diffraction spikes) labelled.NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI 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 Download full resolution images for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute. Right click the images in this article to open a larger version in a new tab/window. Media Contacts Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov, Rob Gutro– rob.gutro@nasa.gov NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, , Greenbelt, Md. Ann Jenkins- jenkins@stsci.edu, Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md. Related Information Uranus Uranus in a 3d Solar System Uranus Facts Uranus Moons Our Solar System More Webb News – https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/latestnews/ More Webb Images – https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/multimedia/images/ Webb Mission Page – https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/ Related For Kids Uranus How many moons does each planet have? Our Solar System What is the Webb Telescope? SpacePlace for Kids En Español Ciencia de la NASA NASA en español Space Place para niños 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… Uranus Planet Uranus Overview Uranus is very cold and windy. It is surrounded by faint rings and more than two dozen… Uranus Stories Our Solar System Overview Our planetary system is located in an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. We call it the… Share Details Last Updated Dec 18, 2023 EditorSteve SabiaContactLaura Betz Related TermsJames Webb Space Telescope (JWST)Goddard Space Flight CenterMissionsPlanetsThe Solar SystemUranusUranus Moons View the full article

6 min read NASA’s GUSTO Prepares to Map Space Between the Stars The GUSTO telescope hangs from the hangar crane during telescope pointing tests at the Long Duration Balloon Facility on the Ross Ice Shelf near the U.S. National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station, Antarctica, on Dec. 6, 2023. Mission specialists were calibrating the star cameras, used to determine the direction of pointing of the telescope. Credit: José Silva on behalf of the GUSTO Team On a vast ice sheet in Antarctica, scientists and engineers are preparing a NASA experiment called GUSTO to explore the universe on a balloon. GUSTO will launch from the Ross Ice Shelf, near the U.S. National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station research base, no earlier than Dec. 21. GUSTO, which stands for Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory, will peer into the space between stars called the interstellar medium. The balloon-borne telescope will help scientists make a 3D map of a large part of the Milky Way in extremely high-frequency radio waves. Examining a 100-square-degree area, GUSTO will explore the many phases of the interstellar medium and the abundances of key chemical elements in the galaxy. By studying the LMC and comparing it to the Milky Way, we’ll be able to understand how galaxies evolve from the early universe until now. Chris Walker GUSTO principal investigator In particular, GUSTO will scan the interstellar medium for carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen because they are critical for life on Earth. These elements can also help scientists disentangle the complex web of processes that sculpt the interstellar medium. While our galaxy brims with billions of stars, including our Sun, that are interesting in their own right, the space between them holds a wealth of clues about how stars and planets are born. The interstellar medium is where diffuse, cold gas and dust accumulate into gigantic cosmic structures called molecular clouds, which, under the right conditions, can collapse to form new stars. From the swirling disk of material around the young star, planets can form. GUSTO is unique in its ability to examine the first part of this process, “to understand how these clouds form in the first place,” Chris Walker, principal investigator of GUSTO at the University of Arizona, said. GUSTO is a collaboration between NASA, the University of Arizona, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON); as well as MIT, JPL, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and others. The GUSTO telescope is seen on Nov. 9, 2023, as Colombia Scientific Balloon Facility personnel assist the GUSTO team in flipping the observatory from a horizontal position to a vertical position. The photo was taken at the Long Duration Balloon Facility on the Ross Ice Shelf near the U.S. National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Credit: José Silva on behalf of the GUSTO Team Eventually, when massive stars die and explode as supernovae, massive shock waves ripple through molecular clouds, which can in turn lead to more stars being born, or simply destroy the clouds. GUSTO can also look at this end stage of the molecular clouds. GUSTO functions as a cosmic radio, equipped to “listen” for particular cosmic ingredients. That’s because it senses the high-frequency signals that atoms and molecules transmit. The “T” in GUSTO stands for “terahertz” – that’s about a thousand times higher than the frequencies that cellphones operate at. “We basically have this radio system that we built that we can turn the knob and tune to the frequency of those lines,” Walker said. “And if we hear something, we know it’s them. We know it’s those atoms and molecules.” As the telescope moves across the sky, scientists will use it to map the intensity and velocities of the signals from particular atoms and molecules at each position. “Then we can go back and connect the dots and create an image that looks like a photograph of what the emission looks like,” Walker said. Observations like these can’t be done for carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen from Earth-based telescopes because of the water vapor in our atmosphere absorbing the light from the atoms and molecules in question, interfering with measurements. On a balloon about 120,000 feet above the ground, GUSTO will fly above most of that water vapor. “For the type of science we do, it’s as good as being in space,” Walker said. The GUSTO telescope will also reveal the 3D structure of the Large Magellanic Cloud, or LMC, a dwarf galaxy near our Milky Way. The LMC resembles some of the galaxies of the early universe that NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is exploring. But since the LMC is much closer than the distant early galaxies, scientists can examine it in greater detail with GUSTO. “By studying the LMC and comparing it to the Milky Way, we’ll be able to understand how galaxies evolve from the early universe until now,” Walker explained. GUSTO is expected to fly for at least 55 days on a 39 million cubic-foot zero-pressure balloon, a type of balloon that can fly high for long periods of time in the Austral Summer over Antarctica and has the diameter of a football field as it floats. GUSTO team member José Silva, Ph.D. student at the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON), stands next to the Long Duration Balloon Facility sign on the Ross Ice Shelf, 8 miles from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station, Antarctica, on Nov. 9, 2023. Credit: Geoffrey Palo on behalf of the GUSTO Team Antarctica provides an ideal launch location for GUSTO. During the southern hemisphere’s summer, the continent gets constant sunlight, so a scientific balloon can be extra stable there. Plus, the atmospheric zone around the South Pole generates cold rotating air – creating a phenomenon called an anticyclone, which enables balloons to fly in circles without disturbance. “Missions will fly in circles around the South Pole for days or weeks at a time, which is really valuable to the science community,” said Andrew Hamilton, chief of the NASA Balloon Program Office at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. “The longer they have for observation, the more science they can get. GUSTO is the first balloon-borne experiment in NASA’s Explorer program. It has the same scientific reach as the program’s space-borne satellites, such as TESS (the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and IXPE (Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer). “With GUSTO, we’re really trying to trailblaze,” said Kieran Hegarty, Program Manager for GUSTO at APL. “We want to show that balloon investigations do return compelling science.” A total of twelve mission team members from University of Arizona and APL are on site in Antarctica performing the final checks before GUSTO’s launch. With seals and penguins nearby, Walker and colleagues are hard at work readying this experiment for its ultimate adventure in the sky. For Walker, GUSTO represents some 30 years of effort, the outgrowth of many experiments from Earth-based telescopes and other balloon efforts. “We all feel very fortunate and privileged to do a mission like this – to have the opportunity to put together the world’s most advanced terahertz instrument ever created, and then drag it halfway around the world and then launch it,” he said. “It’s a challenge, but we feel honored and humbled to be in the position to do it.” About the Mission In March 2017, NASA Astrophysics Division selected the Explorer Mission of Opportunity GUSTO (Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory) to measure emissions from the interstellar medium to help scientists determine the life cycle of interstellar gas by surveying a large region of our Milky Way galaxy and the Large Magellanic Cloud. The GUSTO mission is led by Principal Investigator Christopher Walker from the University of Arizona in Tucson. The team also includes the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, which provided the balloon platform to mount the instrumentation, known as the gondola, and the GUSTO project management. The University of Arizona provided the GUSTO telescope and the focal plane instrument, which incorporates detector technologies from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Arizona State University in Tempe, and SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research. Media Contacts Elizabeth Landau Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0845 elizabeth.r.landau@nasa.gov Alise Fisher Headquarters, Washington 202-358-2546 alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Dec 18, 2023 Related Terms Astrophysics Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Infrared Light Missions NASA Headquarters Origin & Evolution of the Universe Science & Research Scientific Balloons The Milky Way The Universe Wallops Flight Facility Explore More 3 min read Hubble Looks at a Late-type Galaxy Article 3 days ago 5 min read Seeing and Believing: 15 Years of Exoplanet Images Fifteen years ago, astronomers delivered what is now an iconic direct image of an exoplanet,… Article 6 days ago 3 min read NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Returns to Science Operations Article 1 week ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

In December 1973, Skylab 4 astronauts Gerald P. Carr, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue passed the one-month mark of the third and final mission aboard the Skylab space station. Launching on Nov. 16, they began a planned 56-day flight that mission managers fully expected to extend to 84 days. They continued the science program begun by the previous two Skylab crews, including biomedical studies on the effects of long-duration space flight on the human body, Earth observations using the Earth Resources Experiment Package (EREP), and solar observations with instruments mounted on the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM). To study newly discovered Comet Kohoutek, scientists added cometary observations to the crew’s already busy schedule, including adding a far ultraviolet camera to Skylab’s instrument suite. Left: Image of a massive solar flare taken by one of the Apollo Telescope Mount instruments. Middle: Earth Resources Experiment Package infrared photograph of Florida’s central Atlantic coast including NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Right: Gerald P. Carr monitors Edward G. Gibson during a lower body negative pressure test of his cardiovascular system. On Dec. 13, the mission’s 28th day, program officials assessed the astronauts’ performance and the status of the station and fully expected that they could complete the nominal 56-day mission and most likely the full 84 days. Despite being overworked and often behind the timeline, Carr, Gibson, and Pogue had already accomplished 84 hours of ATM solar observations, 12 EREP passes, 80 photographic and visual Earth observations, all of the scheduled medical experiments, as well as numerous other activities such as student experiments, and science demonstrations. The astronaut’s major concern centered around the timelining process that had not given them time to adjust to their new environment and did not consider their on-orbit daily routine. Despite the crew sending taped verbal messages to the ground asking for help in fixing these issues, the problem persisted. Skylab 4 Lead Flight Director Neil B. Hutchinson later admitted that the ground team learned many lessons about timelining long duration missions during the first few weeks of Skylab 4. Left: Soyuz 13 cosmonauts Pyotr I. Klimuk, left, and Valentin V. Lebedev during their mission. Middle: Model of Soyuz 13, showing the replacement of the forward docking system with the Orion-2 telescope inside its housing. Right: Preflight view of the Orion-2 instrument package. Image credits: courtesy of Roscosmos. On Dec. 18, Carr, Gibson, and Pogue received visitors in low Earth orbit. On their 33rd day aboard the Skylab space station, the Soviet Union launched Soyuz 13, with Pyotr I. Klimuk and Valentin V. Lebedev aboard. Although the event marked the first time in history that American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts orbited the Earth at the same time, the two crews neither met nor communicated with each other, traveling in very different orbits with different missions. The Soyuz 13 cosmonauts operated a scientific package called Orion-2, comprised of three ultraviolet spectrographs for stellar observations and an X-ray telescope to image the Sun. Soviet engineers modified the orbital compartment of the Soyuz, removing its docking apparatus to accommodate the Orion-2 instruments. On Dec. 26, the cosmonauts landed in Kazakhstan in the middle of a snowstorm. The success of Soyuz 13 gave the Soviets and their American counterparts confidence that the spacecraft, modified after the Soyuz 11 accident, would be safe for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), a joint mission agreed to in May 1972 and planned for July 1975. Left: Gerald P. Carr flying the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit. Middle: A far ultraviolet image of Comet Kohoutek. Right: William R. Pogue at the controls of the Apollo Telescope Mount. Carr, Gibson, and Pogue increased their focus on observing Comet Kohoutek as it neared perihelion, or its closest approach to the Sun, on Dec. 28. At that point, Skylab’s solar telescopes could observe the comet better than any ground-based instruments. In addition to dedicated observations during two spacewalks, the astronauts continued to monitor the comet well into January as it headed rapidly away from the Sun, to return in maybe 75,000 years. The astronauts continued their medical studies and Earth observations as well as tests inside the large dome of the workshop of the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit, a precursor of the Manned Maneuvering Unit used during the space shuttle program to retrieve satellites. Left: Skylab 4 astronauts Gerald P. Carr, left, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue build and decorate their makeshift Christmas tree. Middle: Carr, left, Gibson, and Pogue’s Christmas stockings. Right: Gibson, left, Carr, and Pogue open Christmas presents. For only the second time, American astronauts celebrated Christmas in space. On the first occasion five years earlier, Apollo 8 astronauts observed Christmas as the first crew to orbit the Moon. In the more spacious Skylab workshop, and with more time to prepare, Carr, Gibson, and Pogue built a makeshift Christmas tree by repurposing food cans, used colored decals as decorations, and topped it with a cardboard cutout in the shape of a comet. They hung stockings on the wall beneath the tree and sent holiday greetings to people on the ground. Skylab 4 astronaut Gerald P. Carr in three scenes from the mission’s second spacewalk, with tasks including changing film cassettes in the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM), repairing one of the ATM instruments, and observing Comet Kohoutek. The main task on Christmas Day involved the mission’s second spacewalk. Carr and Pogue spent 7 hours and 1 minute outside the space station, then a record for Earth orbital spacewalks. In addition to replacing film cartridges in the ATM, they repaired a stuck filter wheel on an ATM instrument, and used an ultraviolet camera to photograph Comet Kohoutek. Once back inside the station, they enjoyed a Christmas dinner complete with fruitcake, talked to their families, and opened presents from the astronauts’ wives that the ground crew at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida had hidden in lockers in the Command Module. Left: In the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Professor Luboš Kohoutek talks with the Skylab 4 crew. Middle: Astronauts Gerald P. Carr, left, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue during the videoconference with Professor Kohoutek. Right: Gibson during the third Skylab 4 spacewalk, exclusively dedicated to study Comet Kohoutek. On Dec. 28, the day the astronauts reached the halfway point of their 84-day mission, they held an 11-minute video conference with the comet’s discoverer, Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek during his visit to the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston. The next day, Carr and Gibson completed the mission’s third spacewalk lasting 3 hours 29 minutes and dedicated to observing and photographing the comet. Although the crew’s work schedule had improved over the previous few weeks, the astronauts still found it difficult to accomplish the timeline the planners laid out for them. To rectify the problem, Carr requested a dedicated space to ground voice conference so the issues could be aired and rectified. Following what Carr later called the first sensitivity session in space on Dec. 30, planners understood the astronauts’ constraints and the crew worked more effectively the second half of the mission. Capsule communicator Richard H. Truly mentioned that JSC Director Christopher C. Kraft and Flight Crew Operations Chief Donald K. “Deke” Slayton had listened to the conversation and agreed that the teams “made about a million bucks” during the 55-minute conversation. The lessons learned about scheduling activities for long-duration spaceflights proved useful to later programs such as Shuttle/Mir and the International Space Station. Left: Williams R. Pogue, left, and Gerald P. Carr place bags into the trash airlock. Middle: Edward G. Gibson floats into the large volume of the orbital workshop from airlock module. Right: Carr and Pogue demonstrate weightlessness. On Jan. 1, 1974, Carr, Gibson, and Pogue celebrated the coming of the new year, the first space crew to observe that holiday along with Thanksgiving and Christmas. An American astronaut would not repeat that for 23 years until John E. Blaha during his four-month stay aboard the Mir space station in 1996-7. On Jan. 10, Carr, Gibson, and Pogue enjoyed a day off, meaning planners only scheduled one third of their time, freeing them to pursue activities of their own choosing. On the ground, mission managers held the 56-day review of the mission and based on the crew’s health and the station’s condition declared the mission go for 84 days, although strictly speaking, managers and flight surgeons approved the mission’s extension one week at a time. For more insight into the Skylab 4 mission, read Carr’s, Gibson’s, and Pogue’s oral histories with the JSC History Office. To be continued … With special thanks to Ed Hengeveld for his expert contributions on Skylab imagery. Share Details Last Updated Dec 18, 2023 Related TermsNASA HistorySkylab Explore More 7 min read 120 Years Ago: The First Powered Flight at Kitty Hawk Article 4 days ago 3 min read Contributions of the DC-8 to Earth System Science at NASA: A Workshop Article 7 days ago 3 min read 25 Years Ago: NASA, Partners Begin Space Station Assembly Article 2 weeks ago View the full article

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA and Sierra Space are preparing for the first flight of the company’s Dream Chaser spacecraft to the International Space Station. Dream Chaser and its companion cargo module, called Shooting Star, arrived at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio, for environmental testing, scheduled to start in mid-December, ahead of its first flight, scheduled for the first half of 2024.Credit: Sierra Space/Shay Saldana More About Dream Chaser in Ohio Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Commercial Resupply International Space Station News Neil Armstrong Test Facility Mission to the International Space Station View the full article

Our Webb Space Telescope’s New Look at an Exploded Star on This Week @NASA – December 15, 2023

NASA Sparks Commercial Delivery Service to the Moon

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“When I mentor students, their academic [talents] are a given. They’re very bright. They’re very smart. But I mentor them to teach them what they don’t learn in school: how to work with other people, how to seek help, and how to mature from a student to a professional. “[I teach them that] when you fail, it’s OK. Admit what you did wrong, be honest about it, and talk through it. Don’t hide it. Don’t avoid it. We will deal with it together. “That takes a lot of courage and a lot of maturity, but I try to show them to grow from the challenge and move past it. Face it head on. That is one thing that I did not learn [growing up] and had to learn later in life. It takes a lot of courage to confront your fears and failures. Each and every time is really difficult, but you will feel really empowered. It’s a very significant step in your life if you can do that.” —Tra-My Justine Richardson, Research Physical Scientist, NASA’s Ames Research Center Image Credit: NASA / Brandon Torres Interviewer: NASA / Thalia Patrinos Check out some of our other Faces of NASA. View the full article

Library of Congress In this image from Dec. 17, 1903, Orville Wright makes the first powered, controlled flight on Earth as his brother Wilbur looks on. Orville Wright covered 120 feet in 12 seconds during the first flight of the day. The Wright brothers made four flights that day, each longer than the last. The aircraft, Flyer 1, was wrecked beyond repair after the fourth flight, but Orville took the wreckage home to Ohio and restored it. It went on display at the London Science Museum until 1948 when the Smithsonian Institution took ownership. The Wrights’ legacy has traveled beyond Earth; engineers attached a postage-stamp-sized piece of Flyer 1’s wing material to a cable underneath NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. As of Dec. 2, 2023, Ingenuity has traveled a total distance of 9.6 miles with a total flight time of 2 hours 1 minute 5 seconds. Its ground-breaking mission continues, paving the way for future aerial explorers of Mars. Explore this historic flight and its effect on aeronautics. Image Credit: Library of Congress View the full article

NASA and Sierra Space are making progress on the first flight of the company’s Dream Chaser spacecraft to the International Space Station. The uncrewed cargo spaceplane is planned to launch its demonstration mission in 2024 to the orbital complex as part of NASA’s commercial resupply services.Sierra Space NASA and Sierra Space are making progress on the first flight of the company’s Dream Chaser spacecraft to the International Space Station. The uncrewed cargo spaceplane is planned to launch its demonstration mission in 2024 to the orbital complex as part of NASA’s commercial resupply services. Dream Chaser and Shooting Star The Dream Chaser cargo system, manufactured by Sierra Space in Louisville, Colorado, consists of two major elements: the Dream Chaser spacecraft and the Shooting Star cargo module. As a lifting body spacecraft, Dream Chaser is designed to be reused up to 15 times, and is modified from the HL-20 spacecraft developed at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The spaceplane’s cargo module companion, Shooting Star, is designed to support delivery and disposal of pressurized and unpressurized cargo to and from the space station. The cargo module can be used only once and is disposed of prior to re-entry. The Dream Chaser system will launch with its wings folded inside a five-meter fairing aboard a ULA (United Launch Alliance) Vulcan Centaur rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The fairing panels will protect the spacecraft during ascent but are jettisoned once in orbit. Solar arrays mounted on the cargo module and wings of Dream Chaser are deployed during its autonomous rendezvous to the space station. In the event of a scrub, Dream Chaser is designed to be ready for launch in as little as 24 hours. Mission Overview During its first flight, Sierra Space will conduct in-orbit demonstrations to certify Dream Chaser for future missions. Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, and the Dream Chaser Mission Control Center in Louisville, Colorado, will monitor the flight. Sierra Space flight controllers will control the Dream Chaser spacecraft on the launch pad until the spacecraft is handed over to the Sierra Space ground operations team at NASA Kennedy following landing. Far-field demonstrations will be conducted outside the vicinity of the space station before the spacecraft enters the approach ellipsoid, a 2.5-by-1.25-by-1.25-mile (4-by-2-by-2-kilometer) invisible boundary around the orbiting laboratory. These demonstrations will be required before Dream Chaser can enter joint operations with the NASA team at the Mission Control Center in Houston. These include demonstrating attitude control, translational maneuvers, and abort capabilities. Near-field demonstrations, which must happen closer to the space station, include activating and using light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensors, responding to commands sent from the space station, retreating from the station when commanded, and holding its approach, first at 1,083 feet (330 meters), then 820 feet (250 meters), and finally, at 98 feet (30 meters) from the station. Following successful completion of the demonstrations, Dream Chaser will move towards the space station. As Dream Chaser approaches the orbiting laboratory, it will hold a final time approximately 38 feet (11.5 meters) from the space station, when a station crew member will use Canadarm2 robotic arm to grapple a fixture on the spacecraft’s cargo module before teams on the ground install the cargo module to an Earth-facing port on the Unity or Harmony module. On its first flight to the International Space Station, Dream Chaser is scheduled to deliver over 7,800 pounds of cargo. On future missions, Dream Chaser is being designed to stay attached to the station for up to 75 days and deliver as much as 11,500 pounds of cargo. Cargo can be loaded onto the spacecraft as late as 24 hours prior to launch. Dream Chaser can return over 3,500 pounds of cargo and experiment samples to Earth, while over 8,700 pounds of trash can be disposed of during reentry using its cargo module. Return to Earth Dream Chaser will remain at the space station for about 45 days before it is uninstalled using Canadarm2. The spacecraft can land as quickly as 11 to 15 hours after departure, and there are daily opportunities if weather criteria are met. Landing weather criteria for Dream Chaser generally require crosswinds at less than 17.2 miles per hour (15 knots), headwinds under 23 mph (20 knots), and tailwinds below 11.5 mph (10 knots). Thunderstorms, lightning, and rain within a 20-mile radius of the runway or 10 miles along the approach path are not acceptable conditions for landing. Detailed flight rules will guide controllers in determining whether landing opportunities are favorable. A combination of Dream Chaser’s 26 reaction control system thrusters will fire to commit the spacecraft to deorbit. Dream Chaser will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and glide to a runway landing at Kennedy’s Launch and Landing Facility in the style of NASA’s space shuttle, becoming the first spacecraft to land at the facility since the final space shuttle flight in 2011. Once Dream Chaser is powered down after landing, the Sierra Space ground operations team will transfer it to the Space System Processing Facility to perform necessary inspections, off-load remaining NASA cargo, and begin the process of preparing it for the next mission. Sierra Space, formerly Sierra Nevada Corporation, was selected in 2016 as NASA’s third commercial cargo resupply spacecraft to service the International Space Station For updates on NASA’s commercial resupply services, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/index.html View the full article

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) By Jessica Barnett For many at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, a love – be it for space, science, or something else – drew them to the career they’re in today. For geologist Jennifer Edmunson, there were multiple reasons. Her love for geology dates back to her childhood in Arizona, playing in the mud, fascinated by the green river rocks she would find and how they fit together. As she grew older, her love for astronomy led her to study the regolith and geology of the Moon and Mars in graduate school. Jennifer Edmunson, geologist and MMPACT project manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA That, in turn, led her to Marshall for her post-doctorate, where she studied how shock processes from meteorite impacts potentially affect scientists’ work to determine the age of rocks using different radioisotope systems. On her first day, she needed help from the center’s IT department, which is how she met Joel Miller, the man she now calls her husband. “I met him on April Fools’ Day, and he asked me out on Friday the 13th,” Edmunson recalled. “I knew I needed to get a stable job, so I got a job as the junior geologist on the simulant team here at Marshall. That was back in 2009.” Fourteen years later, they still work at Marshall. He’s now the center’s acting spectrum manager, and she manages the MMPACT (Moon-to-Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology) project. Through MMPACT, Marshall is working with commercial partners and academia to develop and test robotic technology that will one day use lunar soil and 3-D printing technology to build structures on the Moon. “It’s phenomenal to see the development of the different materials we’ve been working on,” Edmunson said. “We started with this whole array of materials, and now we’re like, ‘OK, what’s the best one for our proof of concept?’” NASA aims for a proof-of-concept mission to validate the technology and capability by the end of this decade. This mission would involve traveling to the Moon to create a representative element of a landing pad. Marshall geologist and MMPACT project manager Jennifer Edmunson, fourth from right, joined several other scientists for a trip to Stillwater, Montana, earlier this year. Stillwater is known to have rocks like those found on the Moon. MMPACT aims to build lunar infrastructure using the materials readily available on the Moon. This process, known as in-situ resource utilization, allows NASA engineers to use lunar regolith, fine-grained silicate minerals thought to be available in a layer between 10 to 70 feet deep on the lunar surface, to build different structures and infrastructure elements. However, regolith can’t be used like cement here on Earth, as it wouldn’t solidify in the low-pressure environment. So, Edmunson and her team are now looking at microwaves and laser technology to heat the regolith to create solid building materials. After successfully building a full-scale landing pad on the Moon, MMPACT will likely focus on a vertical structure, like a garage, habitat, or safe haven for astronauts. “The possibilities are endless,” she said. “There is so much potential for using different materials for different applications. There’s just a wealth of opportunity for anyone who wants to play in the field, really.” Edmunson hopes to get more lunar regolith first, as NASA is still working with samples from the Apollo missions and simulants based on those samples. She’s also looking forward to Artemis bringing back samples from different parts of the lunar surface because it will provide her team with a wider pool of regolith samples to analyze. “We want to learn more about different locations on the Moon,” she said. “We have to understand the differences and how that might affect our processes.” Knowing this will make it easier not just to build landing pads and habitats but to build roadways and the start of a lunar economy, Edmunson said. “I want there to be sufficient structures there to make things safe for crew, so if we want to build a hotel on the Moon, we could,” she said. “We could have tourists going there, mining districts pulling rare Earth elements from the Moon. We could do that and get a lot of resources that way. Some minerals are rare on Earth but abundant on the Moon. To study how those minerals could be used for building, scientists rely on simulants, like the synthetic anorthite pictured here. NASA “I want science to progress, things like building a radio telescope on the far side of the Moon. I want more information on more of the different sites around the Moon, so we can get a better understanding of how the Moon formed and the history of the Moon. We’ve only scratched the surface there.” There are parts of the Moon that can only be explored in detail by visiting in person, Edmunson explained, and she’s excited to be working at Marshall as that exploration is made possible. “It’s awesome to be part of this. Honestly, it’s the reason I get out of bed in the morning,” she said. “I was born in ’77, so I missed the Apollo lunar landings. I would love to see humans on the Moon in my lifetime, and on Mars would just be amazing.” Her advice is simple to anyone considering a career like hers: Just go for it. “A lot of it comes down to passion and tenacity,” she said. “If you really love what you do and you get to do it every day, you find more enjoyment in your career. I feel like I’m making a difference, and with surface construction at such an infant kind of stage right now, I feel like it’s a contribution that will last for a very long time.” Ramon J. Osorio Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 256-544-0034 ramon.j.osorio@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Dec 13, 2023 EditorBeth RidgewayLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related TermsMarshall Space Flight Center Explore More 16 min read The Marshall Star for December 13, 2023 Article 2 days ago 3 min read NASA Stennis Continues Preparations for Future Artemis Testing Article 2 days ago 5 min read NASA’s IXPE Marks Two Years of Groundbreaking X-ray Astronomy Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

In this aerial view, crews with Orion Marine Construction work to complete the westbound span of the Indian River Bridge, while daily traffic moves along the upgraded eastbound lanes of the bridge leading to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. The bridge crosses the Indian River Lagoon and connects Kennedy and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to the mainland via State Road 405/NASA Causeway in nearby Titusville. The new high-rise bridge serves as the primary entrance and exit to the space center for employees and visitors. “This is the first partnered infrastructure project of its kind at Kennedy – the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has historically designed and built the bridges serving the spaceport, and NASA operated and maintained them since the original construction of the spaceport about 60 years ago,” said Justin Ausanka, senior project manager, Experimental Facilities Development at Kennedy. “With this project, we are taking advantage of the expertise and experience of the Florida Department of Transportation to most efficiently build, operate, and maintain the future bridges as part of the state highway system. In turn, NASA can continue to focus on our core competencies and our vision of igniting space exploration and discovery for all.” The new bridge spans replace a pair of two-lane drawbridges built in the mid-1960s to support NASA’s Apollo program. The first of the two new spans opened to the public ahead of schedule on June 9, 2023. In development for well over a decade, the load capacity, width, and grade of the bridge were designed to support the largest future payloads and vehicles at the spaceport while simultaneously supporting increased public traffic to and from Kennedy. Photo credit: NASA/Jamie Peer View the full article

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) It was an abundant year of innovation, exploration, and inspiration for NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. NASA Armstrong continues to demonstrate America’s leadership in aeronautics, Earth and space science, and aerospace technology. Our researchers, engineers, and mission support teams continually seek to revolutionize aviation, add to mankind’s knowledge of the universe, and contribute to the understanding and protection of Earth. The video above shows many of our achievements, below are a few special moments. The X-59 achieved a major milestone when the supersonic research aircraft was moved from its construction site to the flight line for ground testing. At the same time, project teams were busy preparing for the aircraft’s first and subsequent flights, while also advancing shock wave photography, trained aircrew on upgraded life support systems, prepared to test updated ground microphone stations designed to measure the X-59’s quiet sonic thump, and began getting the aircraft painted in preparation for its unveiling. NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission continued to work with industry partners who are building innovative new aircraft like electric air taxis and drones. The team explored how these new designs may help travelers and cargo move between and in cities. At NASA Armstrong, we built a custom virtual-reality flight simulator to explore the air taxi ride experience. We also collected data needed to allow for new self-flying technology, to help make our communities more connected than ever before. Because wind affects all aircraft, our researchers measured wind at low altitudes to gather data needed to enhance air taxi safety. We tested atmospheric sensors that can monitor air quality and help uncrewed aircraft avoid dangerous wind shears. To improve fuel efficiency, our Experimental Fabrication branch built a scale model of a unique aircraft wing that will be used to gather data for future, larger versions of the design. In an effort to advance the use of alternative fuels in today’s planes we worked with aviation partners to study particle and gas emissions from passenger aircraft engines. With the conclusion of the X-57 Maxwell this year, research from the X-57 Maxwell provided aviation researchers with hundreds of lessons learned, as well as revolutionary developments in areas ranging from battery technology to cruise motor control design. Our crews flew above snowstorms to investigate how they form and flew over snow-covered regions to collect data on snowmelts and how they contribute to the water supply. We conducted low-altitude flights over major cities and marine areas to study non-vehicular sources of pollution – like personal care and home products – and their impact on air quality in North America. To advance fire and smoke models, we participated in a multi-agency effort to collect measurements of fuels, fire behavior, fire energy, meteorology, smoke, and fire effects. On the space front, we tested highly elastic strain sensors to help parachute designers construct better, more reliable parachutes to land rovers and equipment on Mars and enabled testing of an instrument designed to measure surface particles kicked up by a rocket-powered lander on the Moon or Mars. Armstrong advanced NASA’s commitment to engage, inspire, and attract future generations of explorers. Students saw their experiments soar as payloads from the NASA TechRise Challenge launched high into the sky. We celebrated the 15th anniversary of our summer internship program, offering undergraduate students hands-on experience during a real airborne science campaign. Our researchers, pilots, and mission support teams traveled the country, showcasing aviation-inspired technology and the latest in NASA aeronautics research, space exploration, science, and more. We hunted for lightning and collected data on radiation generated by thunderclouds to better predict when storms could turn severe and we paved the way to improve autonomous observation capabilities for small spacecraft flying over Earth, the Moon, or other worlds. Finally, we forged a new partnership to build, test, and fly an experimental aircraft aimed at lowering emissions. These are just some of Armstrong’s many innovative research efforts that support NASA’s mission to explore the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all. Share Details Last Updated Dec 14, 2023 EditorCody S. LydonContactSarah Mannsarah.mann@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related TermsArmstrong Flight Research CenterAeronauticsAir Traffic SolutionsDrones & YouEarth ScienceEarth's AtmosphereNASA AircraftScience Mission DirectorateSpace Technology Mission DirectorateSupersonic Flight Explore More 6 min read NASA’s NEOWISE Celebrates 10 Years, Plans End of Mission Article 1 day ago 6 min read 2023 in Review: Highlights from NASA in Silicon Valley Article 1 day ago 5 min read NASA: Some Icy Exoplanets May Have Habitable Oceans and Geysers Article 1 day ago View the full article

El cultivo de alimentos a bordo de la Estación Espacial Internacional es una de las muchas investigaciones que han alcanzado la madurez para las misiones de vuelos espaciales de larga duración a la Luna y Marte. El astronauta de la NASA Frank Rubio compartió recientemente una jugosa historia de dos tomates rebeldes, a los que había perdido el rastro accidentalmente mientras recogía la cosecha para el experimento Sistema de Prueba en Órbita de Raíces Expuestas (XROOTS, por sus siglas en inglés) que llevó a cabo durante su permanencia a bordo de la estación espacial en 2022. El experimento utiliza técnicas hidropónicas y aeropónicas para el cultivo de plantas sin utilización de tierra ni otros medios de cultivo, y podría proporcionar soluciones aptas para los sistemas de cultivo necesarios en las futuras misiones de exploración espacial. El astronauta de la NASA Frank Rubio es fotografiado realizando el manejo de fluidos y las inspecciones de cartuchos de semillas y plantas para el experimento XROOTS.NASA Mientras celebraban el 25.o aniversario de operaciones de la estación espacial, los tripulantes de la Expedición 70 revelaron que encontraron los tomates perdidos, comentando jocosamente que Rubio no se había comido los tomates como ellos sospechaban. A pesar de que había pasado casi un año desde su desaparición inicial, los tomates fueron hallados en una bolsa de plástico, deshidratados y ligeramente aplastados. Aparte de una ligera decoloración, no tenían crecimiento microbiano o fúngico visible. Durante su estadía de 371 días a bordo de la estación —una permanencia récord para astronautas de Estados Unidos—, Rubio también llevó a cabo otro “fructífero” experimento para el estudio VEG-05, el cual ayuda a abordar la necesidad de un sistema continuo de producción de alimentos frescos en el espacio. Este experimento utilizó la instalación “Veggie” de la estación espacial para cultivar tomates enanos, centrándose en el impacto de la calidad de la luz y los fertilizantes en la producción de las frutas, la seguridad alimentaria microbiana, su valor nutricional y la aceptabilidad de su sabor por parte de la tripulación. Dos tomates rebeldes han sido recuperados casi un año después de que el astronauta Frank Rubio les perdiera el rastro accidentalmente mientras los cosechaba para el experimento XROOTS.NASA Si bien las muestras de los tomates rebeldes encontrados en el experimento XROOTS no regresarán a la Tierra para su análisis, ya que fueron desechados, la investigación de vegetales a bordo de la estación espacial continúa con el experimento Hábitat de Plantas 03, el cual regresará a la Tierra durante el próximo amerizaje de la 29.a misión comercial de reabastecimiento de SpaceX. Hábitat de Plantas 03 es una de las primeras investigaciones multigeneracionales de plantas a bordo de la estación espacial que podría ayudar a los investigadores a evaluar si las adaptaciones genéticas en una generación de plantas cultivadas en el espacio pueden transferirse a la siguiente. Los resultados de este estudio ayudarían a identificar elementos genéticos que aumentarían la adaptabilidad de las plantas a los vuelos espaciales, proporcionando información sobre cómo cultivar generaciones repetidas de cosechas para proporcionar alimentos y otros servicios en futuras misiones espaciales. Los beneficios del cultivo de plantas en el espacio no se detienen ahí: los astronautas informan que el tiempo dedicado a la jardinería tiene beneficios psicológicos, lo que aumenta su calidad de vida en el espacio y levanta su moral. Las investigaciones a bordo de la estación espacial están permitiendo avances en la tecnología y el conocimiento científico necesarios para cultivar con éxito plantas en el espacio y ayudar a los humanos a ampliar los límites de los viajes espaciales. Este trabajo también contribuye con los esfuerzos para mejorar el cultivo de plantas para la alimentación y otros usos importantes en la Tierra. Lee más sobre las investigaciónes en las que trabajó Frank Rubio durante su misión de un año en la estación espacial: Ciencia destacada del año en el espacio del astronauta Frank Rubio – NASA Keep Exploring Discover More Topics Ciencia en la estación NASA en español Explora el universo y descubre tu planeta natal con nosotros, en tu idioma. Station Benefits for Humanity Space Station Research and Technology View the full article

Credits: NASA NASA has selected GE Aerospace of Cincinnati to work with the agency’s Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core (HyTEC) project, which is aiming to develop more fuel efficient engines for single-aisle aircraft. The HyTEC’s Phase 2 Integrated Core Technology Demonstration is a cost-sharing contract with a maximum value of approximately $68.1 million and a five-year performance period that begins Feb. 15. The contract is awarded with a 50% minimum GE Aerospace cost share during the contract period. Part of NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles program, HyTEC was established to accelerate the development of turbofan engine small core technologies. The first phase of the project focused on developing several key engine core technologies, including high-pressure compressors, high-pressure turbines, advanced materials, electric hybridization, and compact combustors, through subsystem or component tests. To meet the goal of HyTEC Phase 2, GE Aerospace will integrate these technologies into an engine core to perform a compact, high-power density core ground demonstration by the end of September 2028. HyTEC Phase 2 is a major demonstration within NASA’s Sustainable Flight National Partnership portfolio that will contribute to our nation’s goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. For information about NASA and other agency programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov -end- Roxana Bardan Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 roxana.bardan@nasa.gov Brian Newbacher Glenn Research Center, Cleveland 216-433-5644 brian.t.newbacher@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Dec 14, 2023 LocationNASA Headquarters View the full article

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) When constructed in the early 1940s, NASA Glenn Research Center’s Altitude Wind Tunnel was the nation’s only wind tunnel capable of studying full-scale aircraft engines under realistic flight conditions.NASA/William Bowles Global tensions were high in the fall of 1941 as U-boats harassed ships in the Atlantic and German forces pushed deep into the Soviet Union. There was a critical need for the United States to get the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)’s new engine laboratory (today, NASA’s Glenn Research Center) in operation as soon as possible. It was especially important to complete its Altitude Wind Tunnel (AWT), which could be used to improve the engine performance of high-altitude combat aircraft. NACA engineers were experts in wind tunnel design, but simulating 30,000-foot altitudes to test full-sized engines in the new facility posed several unique challenges. Perhaps the most daunting was chilling the millions of cubic feet of airflow in the tunnel to -47 degrees Fahrenheit. The NACA’s attempts to design adequate cooling coils for the unprecedented system proved ineffectual. To expedite the design process, the NACA convinced Willis Carrier, the nation’s premier refrigeration authority, to design the cooling system for the massive tunnel. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video A video clip from the documentary, “A Tunnel Through Time – The History of NASA's Altitude Wind Tunnel.” Watch the full version In October 1941, Vannevar Bush, a special liaison between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the scientific community, set up a meeting between NACA leaders and Carrier, who had invented the world’s first electrical air conditioning unit in 1902. Although Carrier felt that his company was too busy with other military-related projects to bid on the tunnel project, he agreed to meet with those directly involved with the effort on Nov. 6, 1941. The NACA team only discussed the system in broad terms but stressed the importance of the tunnel to national interests. In the end, Carrier agreed to perform some initial experiments and bid on the project. The NACA was so impressed by Carrier’s confidence and technical acumen that in early 1942 it planned to build a second tunnel, the Icing Research Tunnel, using the AWT’s proposed refrigeration system. An aerial view of NASA Glenn Research Center’s Altitude Wind Tunnel (AWT) complex and Refrigeration Building in 1945. The Icing Research Tunnel is visible to the right.Credit: NASA/Handy The Carrier Corporation officially began the project in March 1942 as the first tunnel’s foundations were laid in Cleveland. Carrier formed several teams to work on different aspects of the system and built a model of the AWT to test the concepts. They regularly worked 16-hour days to meet the design deadline. As one engineer stated, “Every assignment had to be done yesterday.” Several new tactics were employed to meet the unique demands of the effort. Engineers designed many of the compressor valves and pumps specifically for the project and decided to use Freon-12, which had never been used on such a large scale, as the refrigerant. The most significant challenge was fitting the required 8,000 square feet of cooling coils into the 2,000-square-foot tunnel section. The solution was to arrange the coils in an accordion-like fashion and add turning vanes across the back to maintain the airflow’s velocity and pressure. These compressors inside NASA Glenn Research Center’s Refrigeration Building were used to generate cold temperatures in the Altitude Wind Tunnel and Icing Research Tunnel.Credit: NASA The AWT’s cooling system was installed over the summer of 1943. Carrier and his team were present during the trial runs, and the tunnel began formal operation in February 1944. Its unique ability to test full-scale engines in simulated altitude conditions helped resolve engine cooling issues for the B-29 bomber during World War II and significantly advanced the development of the jet engine in the 1940s and 1950s. NASA converted the tunnel into a vacuum facility in 1963 and eventually shut it down in the 1970s. Technicians set up test hardware inside the test section of the Icing Research Tunnel in 1969.Credit: NASA The IRT, which came online in late summer 1944, creates freezing clouds to study ice buildup on aircraft components and test de-icing systems. Today, the IRT is the longest running – and among the largest –icing tunnel in the world. In 1987, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers named the IRT an International Historic Engineering Landmark and noted, “there was never a more difficult, more exacting, or more vital refrigerating system than the one designed and built by the Carrier Corporation for the wind tunnels in Cleveland.” Explore More 1 min read Prepare to Fly with a NASA Pilot Article 6 days ago 1 min read November Retirements Article 1 week ago 2 min read NASA, Moog Humming Along on Air Taxi Noise Tests Article 1 week ago View the full article

Two rogue tomatoes have been recovered nearly a year after astronaut Frank Rubio accidentally lost track of them while harvesting for the XROOTS experiment.NASA NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is photographed performing fluid management and seed cartridge/plant inspections for the XROOTS experiment. Growing food aboard the International Space Station is one of the many research investigations ripe for long duration spaceflight missions to the Moon and Mars. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio recently shared the saucy story of two rogue tomatoes, which he had accidentally lost track of while harvesting for the eXposed Root On-Orbit Test System (XROOTS) experiment he conducted aboard the space station in 2022. The experiment uses hydroponic and aeroponic techniques to grow plants without soil or other growth media and could provide suitable solutions for plant systems needed for future space exploration missions. While celebrating the space station’s 25th anniversary of operations, Expedition 70 crew members revealed they found the lost tomatoes, joking that Rubio did not eat the tomatoes as they suspected. Despite being nearly a year after the initial disappearance of the tomatoes, the fruit was found in a plastic bag dehydrated and slightly squished. Other than some discoloration, it had no visible microbial or fungal growth. During his U.S. record-breaking 371-day stay aboard station, Rubio also conducted another a-peeling experiment for the VEG-05 study, which helps address the need for a continuous fresh-food production system in space. This experiment used the space station’s Veggie facility to grow dwarf tomatoes focusing on the impact of light quality and fertilizer on fruit production, microbial food safety, nutritional value, and taste acceptability by the crew. While the rogue tomatoes found from the XROOTS experiment will not be returning to Earth for analysis as they were discarded, plant research aboard space station continues with Plant Habitat-03, returning to Earth during the upcoming splashdown of SpaceX’s 29th commercial resupply mission. Plant Habitat-03 is one of the first multi-generational plant studies aboard the space station which could help researchers assess whether genetic adaptations in one generation of plants grown in space can transfer to the next. Results from this study could help identify genetic elements that increase the adaptability of plants to spaceflight providing insight into how to grow repeated generations of crops to provide food and other services on future space missions. The benefits of growing plants in space don’t stop there, astronauts report there are psychological benefits to time spent gardening, increasing their quality of life in space, and boosting their morale. Research aboard the space station is advancing the technology and scientific knowledge needed to successfully grow plants in space and help humans push the boundaries of space travel. This work also helps efforts to improve plants grown for food and other important uses here on Earth. Read more about plant research on the space station: Station Science 101: Plant Research – NASA. View the full article