NASA

5 min read Voyager 1 Team Accomplishes Tricky Thruster Swap A model of NASA’s Voyager spacecraft. The twin Voyagers have been flying since 1977 and are exploring the outer regions of our solar system. NASA/JPL-Caltech The spacecraft uses its thrusters to stay pointed at Earth, but after 47 years in space some of the fuel tubes have become clogged. Engineers working on NASA’s Voyager 1 probe have successfully mitigated an issue with the spacecraft’s thrusters, which keep the distant explorer pointed at Earth so that it can receive commands, send engineering data, and provide the unique science data it is gathering. After 47 years, a fuel tube inside the thrusters has become clogged with silicon dioxide, a byproduct that appears with age from a rubber diaphragm in the spacecraft’s fuel tank. The clogging reduces how efficiently the thrusters can generate force. After weeks of careful planning, the team switched the spacecraft to a different set of thrusters. The thrusters are fueled by liquid hydrazine, which is turned into gases and released in tens-of-milliseconds-long puffs to gently tilt the spacecraft’s antenna toward Earth. If the clogged thruster were healthy it would need to conduct about 40 of these short pulses per day. Both Voyager probes feature three sets, or branches, of thrusters: two sets of attitude propulsion thrusters and one set of trajectory correction maneuver thrusters. During the mission’s planetary flybys, both types of thrusters were used for different purposes. But as Voyager 1 travels on an unchanging path out of the solar system, its thruster needs are simpler, and either thruster branch can be used to point the spacecraft at Earth. In 2002 the mission’s engineering team, based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, noticed some fuel tubes in the attitude propulsion thruster branch being used for pointing were clogging, so the team switched to the second branch. When that branch showed signs of clogging in 2018, the team switched to the trajectory correction maneuver thrusters and have been using that branch since then. Now those trajectory correction thruster tubes are even more clogged than the original branches were when the team swapped them in 2018. The clogged tubes are located inside the thrusters and direct fuel to the catalyst beds, where it is turned into gases. (These are different than the fuel tubes that send hydrazine to the thrusters.) Where the tube opening was originally only 0.01 inches (0.25 millimeters) in diameter, the clogging has reduced it to 0.0015 inches (0.035 mm), or about half the width of a human hair. As a result, the team needed to switch back to one of the attitude propulsion thruster branches. Warming Up the Thrusters Switching to different thrusters would have been a relatively simple operation for the mission in 1980 or even 2002. But the spacecraft’s age has introduced new challenges, primarily related to power supply and temperature. The mission has turned off all non-essential onboard systems, including some heaters, on both spacecraft to conserve their gradually shrinking electrical power supply, which is generated by decaying plutonium. While those steps have worked to reduce power, they have also led to the spacecraft growing colder, an effect compounded by the loss of other non-essential systems that produced heat. Consequently, the attitude propulsion thruster branches have grown cold, and turning them on in that state could damage them, making the thrusters unusable. The team determined that the best option would be to warm the thrusters before the switch by turning on what had been deemed non-essential heaters. However, as with so many challenges the Voyager team has faced, this presented a puzzle: The spacecraft’s power supply is so low that turning on non-essential heaters would require the mission to turn off something else to provide the heaters adequate electricity, and everything that’s currently operating is considered essential. Studying the issue, they ruled out turning off one of the still-operating science instruments for a limited time because there’s a risk that the instrument would not come back online. After additional study and planning, the engineering team determined they could safely turn off one of the spacecraft’s main heaters for up to an hour, freeing up enough power to turn on the thruster heaters. It worked. On Aug. 27, they confirmed that the needed thruster branch was back in action, helping point Voyager 1 toward Earth. “All the decisions we will have to make going forward are going to require a lot more analysis and caution than they once did,” said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager’s project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory which manages Voyager for NASA. The spacecraft are exploring interstellar space, the region outside the bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun, where no other spacecraft are likely to visit for a long time. The mission science team is working to keep the Voyagers going for as long as possible, so they can continue to reveal what the interstellar environment is like. News Media Contact Calla Cofield Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 626-808-2469 calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 10, 2024 Related Terms Heliophysics Heliosphere The Solar System The Sun Voyager 1 Voyager 2 Voyager Program Explore More 6 min read NASA’s Hubble, MAVEN Help Solve the Mystery of Mars’ Escaping Water Article 5 days ago 2 min read Leveraging Teacher Leaders to Share the Joy of NASA Heliophysics Article 6 days ago 6 min read What’s Up: September 2024 Skywatching Tips from NASA A partial lunar eclipse makes the full supermoon on Sept. 17th extra super. Also, chances… Article 1 week ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

Linette Boisvert turned a childhood love of snow into a career as a sea ice scientist studying climate change. Name: Linette Boisvert Title: Assistant Lab Chief, Cryospheric Sciences Branch, and Deputy Project Scientist for the Aqua Satellite Formal Job Classification: Sea Ice Scientist Organization: Cryospheric Science Branch, Science Directorate (Code 615) “When it snowed, school was cancelled so I loved winter weather, and I was fascinated how weather could impact our daily lives,” said Linette. “One of my undergraduate classes had a guest lecturer talk about the Arctic and that is when decided that I wanted to become an Arctic scientist.”Photo credit: NASA/Kyle Krabill What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? As a sea ice scientist, I study interactions between the sea ice and the atmosphere. I’m interested in how the changing sea ice conditions and loss of Arctic ice are affecting the atmospheric conditions in the Artic. Why did you become a sea ice scientist? What is your educational background? I grew up in Maryland. When it snowed, school was cancelled so I loved winter weather, and I was fascinated how weather could impact our daily lives. One of my undergraduate classes had a guest lecturer talk about the Arctic and that is when decided that I wanted to become an Arctic scientist. This also coincided with the Arctic sea ice minimum in 2007, at the time, a record low. In 2008, I got a B.S. in environmental science with a minor in math from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). I received my master’s and, in 2013, got a Ph.D. in atmospheric and oceanic sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park. How did you come to Goddard? My doctorate advisor worked at Goddard. In 2009, he brought me into Goddard’s lab to do my Ph.D. research. I became a post-doctorate in 2013, an assistant research scientist in 2016 (employed by UMD/ESSIC) and, in 2018, a civil servant. Dr. Linette Boisvert is a sea ice scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Photo credit: NASA/Jeremy Harbeck What is the most interesting field work you do as the assistant lab chief of Goddard’s Cryospheric Sciences Branch? From 2018 to 2020, I was the deputy project scientist for NASA’s largest and longest running airborne campaign, Operation IceBridge. This involved flying aircraft with scientific instruments over both land ice and sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic. Every spring, we would set up a base camp in a U.S. Air Force base in Greenland and fly over parts of the sea ice over Greenland and the Arctic, and in the fall we would base out of places like Punta Arenas, Chile, and Hobart, Australia, to fly over the Antarctic. We would fly low, at 1,500 feet above the surface. It is very, very cool to see the ice firsthand. It is so pretty, so vast, and complex. We would spend 12 hours a day on a plane just surveying the ice. Being based out of Greenland is very remote. Everything is white. Everything looks like it is closer than it is. You do not have a point of reference for any perspective. It is very quiet. There is no background ambient noise. You do not hear bugs, birds, or cars, just quiet. Our team was about 20 people. Other people live at the base. The campaigns lasted six to eight weeks. I was there about three to four weeks each time. Many of the group had been doing these campaigns for a decade. I felt like I had joined a family. In the evenings, we would often cook dinner together and play games. On days we could not fly, we would go on adventures together like visiting a glacier or hiking. We saw musk ox, Arctic fox, Arctic hares, and seals. How did it feel to become the deputy project scientist for the Aqua satellite, which provided most of the data you used for your doctorate and publications? In January 2023, I became the deputy project scientist for the Aqua satellite, which launched in 2002. Aqua measures the Earth’s atmospheric temperature, humidity, and trace gases. Most of my doctorate and publications used data from Aqua to look at how the sea ice loss in the Arctic is allowing for excess heat and moisture from the ocean to move into the atmosphere resulting in a warmer and wetter Arctic. I am honored. I feel like I have come full circle. The team welcomed me into the mission and taught me a lot of things. I am grateful to be working with such a brilliant, hardworking team. Who is your science hero? My father encouraged me to get a doctorate in science. My father has a doctorate in computer science and math. He works at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. I wanted to be like him when I was growing up. I came close, working at NASA, another part of the federal government. My mother, a French pastry chef, always kept me well fed. “We would fly low, at 1,500 feet above the surface,” said Linette. “It is very, very cool to see the ice firsthand. It is so pretty, so vast, and complex. We would spend 12 hours a day on a plane just surveying the ice.”Photo credit: NASA/John Sonntag My father is very proud of me. He thinks I am more of a superstar than he was at my age, but I do not believe it. My mother is also proud and continues to keep me well fed. Who is your Goddard mentor? Claire Parkinson, now an emeritus, was the project scientist for Aqua since its inception. When she retired, she encouraged me to apply for the deputy position. She had confidence in me which gave me the confidence to apply for the position. She is still always available to answer any questions. I am very thankful that she has been there for me throughout my career. What advice do you give to those you mentor? I recently began advising young scientists; one undergraduate student, two graduate students, and one post-doctoral scientist. We meet weekly as a group and have one-on-one meetings when appropriate. They share their progress on their work. Sometimes we practice presentations they are about to give. It is sometimes hard starting out to think that you are smart because Goddard is full of so many smart people. I tell them that they are just as capable when it comes to their research topic. I tell them that they fit in well with the Goddard community. I want to create a comfortable, respectful, and inclusive environment so that they remain in science. What do you do for fun? I enjoy running and paddle boarding with my dog Remi, my long-haired dachshund. I enjoy reading. I love to travel and be around friends and family. But I do not enjoy cooking, so I do not bake French pastries like my mom. Where do you see yourself in five years? I hope to continue doing research including field work. It would be great if some of my students finished their studies and joined my lab. I hope that I am still making people proud of me. What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words. Hard-working. Smart. Inquisitive. Adventurous. Kind. Happy. By Elizabeth M. Jarrell NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Share Details Last Updated Sep 10, 2024 EditorMadison OlsonContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsPeople of GoddardEarthGoddard Space Flight CenterIce & GlaciersPeople of NASA Explore More 7 min read Kyle Helson Finds EXCITE-ment in Exoplanet Exploration Article 3 hours ago 5 min read Zachary Morse Hikes Hilltops, Caves Lava Tubes to Ready Moon Missions Article 1 week ago 5 min read Aaron Vigil Helps Give SASS to Roman Space Telescope Article 2 weeks ago View the full article

On Sept. 10, 2009, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched its first cargo delivery spacecraft, the H-II Transfer Vehicle-1 (HTV-1), to the International Space Station. The HTV cargo vehicles, also called Kounotori, meaning white stork in Japanese, not only maintained the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo but also resupplied the space station in general with pressurized and unpressurized cargo and payloads. Following its rendezvous with the space station, Expedition 20 astronauts grappled and berthed HTV-1 on Sept. 17, and spent the next month transferring its 9,900 pounds of internal and external cargo to the space station and filling the HTV-1 with trash and unneeded equipment. They released the craft on Oct. 30 and ground controllers commanded it to a destructive reentry on Nov. 1. Left and middle: Two views of the HTV-1 Kounotori cargo spacecraft during prelaunch processing at the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. Right: Schematic illustration showing the HTV’s major components. Image credits: courtesy JAXA. The HTV formed part of a fleet of cargo vehicles that at the time included NASA’s space shuttle until its retirement in 2011, Roscosmos’ Progress, and the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle that flew five missions between 2008 and 2015. The SpaceX Cargo Dragon and Orbital (later Northrup Grumman) Cygnus commercial cargo vehicles supplemented the fleet starting in 2012 and 2013, respectively. The HTV weighed 23,000 pounds empty and could carry up to 13,000 pounds of cargo, although on this first flight carried only 9,900 pounds. The vehicle included both a pressurized and an unpressurized logistics carrier. Following its rendezvous with the space station, it approached to within 33 feet, at which point astronauts grappled it with the station’s robotic arm and berthed it to the Harmony Node 2 module’s Earth facing port. Space station managers added two flights to the originally planned seven, with the last HTV flying in 2020. An upgraded HTV-X vehicle will soon make its debut to carry cargo to the space station, incorporating the lessons learned from the nine-mission HTV program. Left: Technicians place HTV-1 inside its launch protective shroud at the Tanegashima Space Center. Middle left: Workers truck the HTV-1 to Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Middle right: The HTV-1 atop its H-II rolls out of the VAB on its way to the launch pad. Right: The HTV-1 mission patch. Image credits: courtesy JAXA. Prelaunch processing of HTV-1 took place at the Tanegashima Space Center, where engineers inspected and assembled the spacecraft’s components. Workers installed the internal cargo into the pressurized logistics carrier and external payloads onto the External Pallet that they installed into the unpressurized logistics carrier. HTV-1 carried two external payloads, the Japanese Superconducting submillimeter-wave Limb Emission Sounder (SMILES) and the U.S. Hyperspectral Imager for Coastal Ocean (HICO)-Remote Atmospheric and Ionospheric detection System (RAIDS) Experiment Payload (HREP). On Aug. 23, 2009, workers encapsulated the assembled HTV into its payload shroud and a week later moved it into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), where they mounted it atop the H-IIB rocket. Rollout from the VAB to the pad took place on the day of launch. Liftoff of HTV-1 from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. Image credit: courtesy JAXA. Left: The launch control center at the Tanegahsima Space Center in Japan. Middle: The mission control room at the Tsukuba Space Center in Japan. Image credits: courtesy JAXA. Right: The HTV-1 control team in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. On Sept. 10 – Sept. 11 Japan time – HTV-1 lifted off its pad at Tanegashima on the maiden flight of the H-IIB rocket. Controllers in Tanegashima’s launch control center monitored the flight until HTV-1 separated from the booster’s second stage. At that point, HTV-1 automatically activated its systems and established communications with NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. Control of the flight shifted to the mission control room at the Tsukuba Space Center outside Tokyo. Controllers in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston also monitored the mission’s progress. Left: HTV-1 approaches the space station. Middle: NASA astronaut Nicole P. Stott grapples HTV-1 with the station’s robotic arm and prepares to berth it to the Node 2 module. Right: European Space Agency astronaut Frank DeWinne, left, Stott, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk in the Destiny module following the robotic operations to capture and berth HTV-1. Following several days of systems checks, HTV-1 approached the space station on Sept. 17. Members of Expedition 20 monitored its approach, as it stopped within 33 feet of the orbiting laboratory. Using the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm, Expedition 20 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Nicole P. Stott grappled HTV-1. Fellow crew member Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk berthed the vehicle on the Harmony Node 2 module’s Earth-facing port. The following day, the Expedition 20 crew opened the hatch to HTV-1 to begin the cargo transfers. Left: Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk inside HTV-1. Middle: NASA astronaut Nicole P. Stott transferring cargo from HTV-1 to the space station. Right: Stott in HTV-1 after completion of much of the cargo transfer. Over the next several weeks, the Expedition 20 and 21 crews transferred more than 7,900 pounds of cargo from the pressurized logistics carrier to the space station. The items included food, science experiments, robotic arm and other hardware for the Kibo module, crew supplies including clothing, toiletries, and personal items, fluorescent lights, and other supplies. They then loaded the module with trash and unneeded equipment, altogether weighing 3,580 pounds. Left: The space station’s robotic arm grapples the Exposed Pallet (EP) to transfer it to the Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility (JEM-EF). Right: Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk and NASA astronaut Nicole P. Stott operate the station’s robotic arm to temporarily transfer the EP and its payloads to the JEM-EF. Left: The Japanese robotic arm grapples one of the payloads from the Exposed Pallet (EP) to transfer it to the Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility (JEM-EF). Right: European Space Agency astronaut Frank DeWinne, left, and NASA astronaut Nicole P. Stott operate the Japanese robotic arm from inside the JEM. Working as a team, NASA astronauts Stott and Michael R. Barratt along with Thirsk and ESA astronaut Frank DeWinne performed the transfer of the external payloads. On Sept. 23, using the station’s robotic arm, they grappled the Exposed Pallet (EP) and removed it from HTV-1’s unpressurized logistics carrier, handing it off to the Japanese remote manipulator system arm that temporarily stowed it on the JEM’s Exposed Facility (JEM-EF). The next day, using the Japanese arm, DeWinne and Stott transferred the SMILES and HREP experiments to their designated locations on the JEM-EF. On Sept. 25, they grappled the now empty EP and placed it back into HTV-1’s unpressurized logistics carrier. Left: Astronauts transfer the empty Exposed Pallet back to HTV-1. Middle: NASA astronaut Nicole P. Stott poses in front of the now-closed hatch to HTV-1. Right: European Space Agency astronaut Frank DeWinne, left, and Stott operate the station’s robotic arm to grapple HTV-1 for release. Left: The space station’s robotic arm grapples HTV-1 in preparation for its unberthing. Middle: The station’s robotic arm has unberthed HTV-1 in preparation for its release. Right: The arm has released HTV-1 and it begins its separation from the space station. Following completion of all the transfers, Expedition 21 astronauts aboard the space station closed the hatch to HTV-1 on Oct. 29. The next day, Stott and DeWinne grappled the vehicle and unberthed it from Node 2. While passing over the Pacific Ocean, they released HTV-1 and it began its departure maneuvers from the station. On Nov. 1, the flight control team in Tsukuba sent commands to HTV-1 to execute three deorbit burns. The vehicle reentered the Earth’s atmosphere, burning up off the coast of New Zealand, having completed the highly successful 52-day first HTV resupply mission. Eight more HTV missions followed, all successful, with HTV-9 completing its mission in August 2020. Explore More 9 min read 30 Years Ago: STS-64 Astronauts Test a Spacewalk Rescue Aid Article 2 hours ago 5 min read NASA Tunnel Generates Decades of Icy Aircraft Safety Data Article 5 days ago 8 min read 40 Years Ago: STS-41D – First Flight of Space Shuttle Discovery Article 7 days ago View the full article

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 3 min read Sols 4300-4301: Rippled Pages NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity prepares for a thorough examination of the unusual, dark “Tungsten Hills” rocks in front of it, studying these rugged boulders covered in paper-thin sedimentary layers, some of which contain intriguing ripple structures that may have formed in running water or windblown sand. This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera aboard Curiosity on Sol 4298 — Martian day 4,298 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on Sept. 8, 2024, at 06:35:57 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Monday, Sept. 9, 2024 With today’s plan, Curiosity completes its most southerly planned exploration of the Gediz Vallis channel. From here, our rover will head north and climb out of the channel to explore terrain to the west. Our planned drive to the “Tungsten Hills” rocks, named for a famous mining district near Bishop, California, completed successfully over the weekend, placing a pile of unusual dark rocks within our workspace. Curiosity is currently in the “Bishop” quadrangle on our map, so all targets in this area of Mount Sharp are named after places in the Sierra Nevada and Owens Valley of California. On sols 4300-4301, Curiosity will perform a thorough examination of these rugged boulders, which are covered in paper-thin sedimentary layers like the pages of a book (see image). Some layers have intriguing ripple structures that may have formed in running water or windblown sand. These features are the prime targets for contact science and remote observation at this location. On Sol 4300, Curiosity will obtain ChemCam laser spectra and Mastcam imagery on a part of the closest plate-like rock called “Bonita Flat,” after a high valley above the southern Kern River canyon in Sequoia National Forest. ChemCam will also obtain telescopic views of a section of the Gediz Vallis channel banks with its RMI camera. Mastcam will take a mosaic of the upper reaches of the channel, then turn its cameras on the interesting bedrock of “Coffeepot Canyon,” honoring a ravine along the precipitous East Fork of the Kaweah River canyon in Sequoia National Park, unfortunately now engulfed in a huge wildfire. The first science block ends with atmospheric observations, including a dust-devil movie, supra-horizon cloud imaging, and Mastcam measurement of dust in the air across the crater. Curiosity will then use its arm to brush the dust from the closest block in an area dubbed “Pond Lily Lake,” for a petite meadow lake atop the canyon wall of the San Joaquin River, downstream of Devil’s Postpile National Monument. This cleared spot will then be imaged by MAHLI and Mastcam, and its composition will be measured by APXS spectroscopy. MAHLI will perform an intricate “dog’s eye” maneuver to obtain detailed images of ripples in “Window Cliffs,” named after sheer walls above the spectacular fault-controlled Kern River canyon west of 14,505-foot Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the lower 48 states. MAHLI wraps up a very full day of work by imaging the scalloped edge of the largest nearby block, dubbed “Boneyard Meadow” for a wetland in the western Sierra foothills where many sheep sadly perished due to a late spring snowstorm in 1877. Early on sol 4301, Curiosity will use Mastcam to thoroughly document the Tungsten Hills in pre-sunrise morning light. Later in the day, a second science block starts with ChemCam spectroscopy and Mastcam imagery of “Castle Domes,” honoring the granite domes of Castle Valley, acclaimed as some of the most beautiful mountain scenery in Kings Canyon National Park. ChemCam RMI will perform telescopic observations of the channel floor. Mastcam will look for possible sulfur rocks at the base of the Tungsten Hills blocks in a target named “Hummingbird Lake,” for an alpine lake at 10,000 feet between Bloody and Lundy Canyons near Mono Lake. This science block of the plan ends with Navcam deck monitoring, dust measurement, and a large dust-devil survey. Curiosity will then drive north, taking a MARDI “sidewalk” video of the terrain under the rover during the drive. Written by Deborah Padgett, OPGS Task Lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Share Details Last Updated Sep 10, 2024 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 2 min read Sols 4297-4299: This Way to Tungsten Hills Article 12 hours ago 2 min read Persevering Through the Storm It’s dust-storm season on Mars! Over the past couple of weeks, as we ascended the… Article 5 days ago 2 min read Sols 4295-4296: A Martian Moon and Planet Earth Article 5 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four… View the full article

On Sept. 9, 1994, space shuttle Discovery took to the skies on its 19th trip into space. During their 11-day mission, the STS-64 crew of Commander Richard “Dick” N. Richards, Pilot L. Blaine Hammond, and Mission Specialists Jerry M. Linenger, Susan J. Helms, Carl J. Meade, and Mark C. Lee demonstrated many of the space shuttle’s capabilities. They used a laser instrument to observe the Earth’s atmosphere, deployed and retrieved a science satellite, and used the shuttle’s robotic arm for a variety of tasks, including studying the orbiter itself. During a spacewalk, Lee and Meade tested a new device to rescue astronauts who found themselves detached from the vehicle. Astronauts today use the device routinely for spacewalks from the International Space Station. Left: The STS-64 crew patch. Middle: Official photo of the STS-64 crew of L. Blaine Hammond, front row left, Richard “Dick” N. Richards, and Susan J. Helms; Mark C. Lee, back row left, Jerry M. Linenger, and Carl J. Meade. Right: The patch for the Lidar In-space Technology Experiment. In November 1993, NASA announced the five-person all-veteran STS-64 crew. Richards, selected as an astronaut in 1980, had made three previous spaceflights, STS-28, STS-41, and STS-50. Lee, a member of the astronaut class of 1984, had two flights to his credit, STS-30 and STS-47, as did Meade, selected in 1985 and a veteran of STS-38 and STS-50. Each making their second trip into space, Hammond, selected in 1984 had flown on STS-39, and Helms, from the class of 1990 had flown on STS-54. In February 1994, NASA added first time space flyer Linenger to the crew, partly to make him eligible for a flight to Mir. He holds the distinction as the first member of his astronaut class of 1992 to fly in space. Left: Workers tow Discovery from the Orbiter Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Middle: Space shuttle Discovery arrives at Launch Pad 39B, left, with space shuttle Endeavour still on Launch Pad 39A. Right: The STS-64 crew exits crew quarters at KSC on their way to the launch. Discovery returned to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida following its previous flight, the STS-60 mission, in February 1994. Workers in KSC’s Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) removed the previous payload and began to service the orbiter. On May 26, workers moved Discovery into the Vehicle Assembly Building for temporary storage to make room in the OPF for Atlantis, just returned from Palmdale, California, where it underwent modifications to enable extended duration flights and dockings with space stations. Discovery returned to the OPF for payload installation in July, and rolled back to the VAB on Aug. 11 for mating with its external tank and solid rocket boosters. Discovery rolled out to Launch Pad 39B on Aug. 19, with its sister ship Endeavour still on Launch Pad 39A following the previous day’s launch abort. The six-person crew traveled to KSC to participate in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, essentially a dress rehearsal for the launch countdown, on Aug. 24. Liftoff of Discovery on the STS-64 mission. On Sept. 9, 1994, after a more than two-hour delay caused by inclement weather, Discovery thundered into the sky to begin the STS-64 mission. Eight and a half minutes later, the orbiter and its crew reached space, and with a firing of the shuttle’s Orbiter Maneuvering System (OMS) engines they entered a 160-mile orbit inclined 57 degrees to the equator, ideal for Earth and atmospheric observations. The crew opened the payload bay doors, deploying the shuttle’s radiators, and removed their bulky launch and entry suits, stowing them for the remainder of the flight. They began to convert their vehicle into a science platform. Left: LIDAR (light detection and ranging) In-space Technology Experiment (LITE) telescope in Discovery’s payload bay. Middle: Schematic of LITE data acquisition. Right: Image created from LITE data of clouds over southeast Asia. One of the primary payloads on STS-64, the LIDAR (light detection and ranging) In-space Technology Experiment (LITE), mounted in Discovery’s forward payload bay, made the first use of a laser to study Earth’s atmosphere, cloud cover, and airborne dust from space. Lee, with help from Richards and Meade, activated LITE, built at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on the flight’s first day. The experiment operated for 53 hours during the mission, gathering 43 hours of high-rate data shared with 65 groups in 20 countries. Left: View of the shuttle’s Remote Manipulator System, or robotic arm, holding the 33-foot long Shuttle Plume Impingement Flight Experiment (SPIFEX). Middle: Closeup view of SPIFEX. Right: A video camera view of Discovery from SPIFEX. The Shuttle Plume Impingement Flight Experiment (SPIFEX), built at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, consisted of a package of instruments positioned on the end of a 33-foot boom, to characterize the behavior of the shuttle’s Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters. On the flight’s second day, Helms used the shuttle’s Remote Manipulator System (RMS), or robotic arm, to pick up SPIFEX. Over the course of the mission, she, Lee, and Hammond took turns operating the arm to obtain 100 test points during various thruster firings. A video camera on SPIFEX returned images of Discovery from several unusual angles. Left: Astronaut Susan J. Helms lifts the Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy-201 (SPARTAN-201) out of Discovery’s payload bay prior to its release. Middle: Discovery approaches SPARTAN during the rendezvous. Right: Astronaut Susan J. Helms operating the Shuttle’s Remote Manipulator System prepares to grapple SPARTAN. On the mission’s fifth day, Helms used the RMS to lift the Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy-201 (SPARTAN-201) satellite out of the payload bay and released it. Two and a half minutes later, SPARTAN activated itself, and Richards maneuvered Discovery away from the satellite so it could begin its science mission. On flight day seven, Discovery began its rendezvous with SPARTAN, and Hammond flew the shuttle close enough for Helms to grapple it with the arm and place it back in the payload bay. During its two-day free flight, SPARTAN’s two telescopes studied the acceleration and velocity of the solar wind and measured aspects of the Sun’s corona or outer atmosphere. Left: Patch for the Simplified Aid for EVA (Extravehicular Activity) Rescue (SAFER). Middle: Astronauts Mark C. Lee, left, and Carl J. Meade during the 15-minute prebreathe prior to their spacewalk. Right: Lee, left, tests the SAFER while Meade works on other tasks in the payload bay. On flight day seven, in preparation for the following day’s spacewalk, the astronauts lowered the pressure in the shuttle from 14.7 pounds per square inch (psi) to 10.2 psi to reduce the likelihood of the spacewalkers, Lee and Meade, from developing decompression sickness, also known as the bends. As an added measure, the two spent 15 minutes breathing pure oxygen before donning their spacesuits and exiting the shuttle’s airlock. Left: Astronaut Mark C. Lee tests the Simplified Aid for EVA (Extravehicular Activity) Rescue (SAFER) during an untethered spacewalk. Middle: Astronaut Carl J. Meade tests the SAFER during an untethered spacewalk. Right: Meade, left, tests the ability of the SAFER to stop his spinning as Lee looks on. The main tasks of the spacewalk involved testing the Simplified Aid for EVA (Extravehicular Activity) Rescue (SAFER), a device designed at JSC that attaches to the spacesuit’s Portable Life Support System backpack. The SAFER contains nitrogen jets that an astronaut can use, should he or she become untethered, to fly back to the vehicle, either the space shuttle or the space station. The two put the SAFER through a series of tests, including a familiarization, a system engineering evaluation, a crew rescue evaluation, and a precision flight evaluation. During the tests, Lee and Meade remained untethered from the shuttle, the first untethered spacewalk since STS-51A in November 1984. Lee and Meade successfully completed all the tests and gave the SAFER high marks. Astronauts conducting spacewalks from the space station use the SAFER as a standard safety device. Following the 6-hour 51-minute spacewalk, the astronauts raised the shuttle’s atmosphere back to 14.7 psi. A selection of STS-64 crew Earth observation photographs. Left: Mt. St. Helens in Washington State. Middle left: Cleveland, Ohio. Middle right: Rabaul Volcano, Papua New Guinea. Right: Banks Peninsula, New Zealand. Like on all space missions, the STS-64 astronauts spent their spare time looking out the window. They took numerous photographs of the Earth, their high inclination orbit allowing them views of parts of the planet not seen during typical shuttle missions. Left: The Solid Surface Combustion Experiment middeck payload. Middle: Jerry M. Linenger gets in a workout while also evaluating the treadmill. Right: Inflight photograph of the STS-64 crew. In addition to their primary tasks, the STS-64 crew also conducted a series of middeck experiments and tested hardware for future use on the space shuttle and space station. Left: Commander Richard “Dick” Richards suited up for reentry. Middle: Pilot L. Blaine Hammond, left, and Mission Specialists Carl J. Meade and Susan J. Helms prepare for reentry. Right: Hammond fully suited for entry and landing. Mission managers had extended the original flight duration by one day for additional data collection for the various payloads. On the planned reentry day, Sept. 19, bad weather at KSC forced the crew to spend an additional day in space. The next day, continuing inclement weather caused them to wave off the first two landing attempts at KSC and diverted to Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) in California. Left: Richard Richards brings Discovery home at California’s Edwards Air Force Base. Middle: Workers at Edwards safe Discovery after its return from STS-64. Right: Discovery takes off from Edwards atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for the ferry flight to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On Sept. 20, they closed Discovery’s payload bay doors, donned their launch and entry suits, and strapped themselves into their seats for entry and landing. They fired Discover’s OMS engines to drop them out of orbit. Richards piloted Discovery to a smooth landing at Edwards, ending the 10-day 22-hour 50-minute flight. The crew had orbited the Earth 176 times. Workers at Edwards safed the vehicle and placed it atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for the ferry flight back to KSC. The duo left Edwards on Sept. 26, and after an overnight stop at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, arrived at KSC the next day. Workers there began preparing Discovery for its next flight, the STS-63 Mir rendezvous mission, in February 1995. Enjoy the crew narrate a video about the STS-64 mission. Read Richards’ recollections of the mission in his oral history with the JSC History Office. Explore More 5 min read NASA Tunnel Generates Decades of Icy Aircraft Safety Data Article 5 days ago 8 min read 40 Years Ago: STS-41D – First Flight of Space Shuttle Discovery Article 7 days ago 6 min read 235 Years Ago: Herschel Discovers Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Article 2 weeks ago View the full article

Almost a decade ago, then-grad student Kyle Helson contributed to early paperwork for NASA’s EXCITE mission. As a scientist at Goddard, Helson helped make this balloon-based telescope a reality: EXCITE launched successfully on Aug. 31. Name: Kyle Helson Title: Assistant Research Scientist Organization: Observational Cosmology Lab (Code 665), via UMBC and the GESTAR II cooperative agreement with NASA Goddard Dr. Kyle Helson is an assistant research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Photo credit: Dr. Amy Bender How did you know you wanted to work at NASA Goddard? When I was finishing my physics Ph.D. at Brown University in 2016, I was talking to Ed Wollack and Dave Chuss at Goddard about the NASA postdoc program, and they suggested I apply. Luckily, I got the postdoc fellowship to come here to Goddard to work on cosmic microwave background detector testing and other related research. I don’t think I would have realized or been interested in coming here had I not had that NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship when I was in grad school and gotten the opportunity to spend some time here and work with Ed and Dave. What is the name of your team that you’re working with right now? One of the projects I work on is the Exoplanet Climate Infrared TELescope (EXCITE). EXCITE is a scientific balloon-borne telescope that is designed to measure the spectra of hot, Jupiter-like exoplanet atmospheres in near-infrared light. Related: NASA’s EXCITE Mission Prepared for Scientific Balloon Flight What is your role for that? I do a little bit of everything. During grad school, I worked on the first few iterations of the proposal for EXCITE back in 2015 and 2016. Over the past few years here at Goddard, I’ve been responsible for parts of a lot of the different subsystems like the cryogenic receiver, the gondola, the electronics, and integration and testing of the whole payload. Last year, we went to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, for an engineering flight. Unfortunately, we were not able to fly for weather reasons. We went back last month, and I was again part of the field deployment team. We take the whole instrument, break it down, carefully ship it all out to New Mexico, put it back together, test it, and get it ready for a flight. Kyle Helson (far right) and part of the EXCITE team stand in front of EXCITE Fort Sumner, New Mexico in Oct. 2023. EXCITE successfully launched on Aug. 31, 2024. Photo credit: Annalies Kleyheeg What is most interesting to you about your role here at Goddard? What I like about working on a project like EXCITE is that we get to kind of do a little bit of everything. We’ve been able to see the experiment from concept and design to actually getting built, tested and hopefully flown and then subsequent data analysis after the flight. What I think is really fun is being able be with an experiment for the entire life cycle. How do you help support Goddard’s mission? We’re studying exoplanets, which definitely fits within the scientific mission of Goddard. We’re also a collaboration between Goddard other academic institutions, like Arizona State, like Brown University, Cornell, and several other places, and so we’re also members of the larger scientific research community beyond NASA. We also have a number of graduate students working on EXCITE. Ballooning is a good platform for training students and young researchers to learn how to build and design instruments, do data analysis, etc. One of the missions of NASA and Goddard is to train early career scientists like graduate students and post docs, and balloons provide a good platform for that as well. Balloon missions like EXCITE also provide a good platform for technology advancement and demonstration in preparation for future satellite missions. How did you know cosmology was what you wanted to pursue? When I was a kid, I loved space. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. I even went to space camp. The first time I ever got to see physics was a middle-school science class. That was the first time we ever learned physics or astronomy that was deeper than just identifying planets or constellations. We started to learn how we could use math to measure or predict experiments. When I was in college, I remember talking to my undergraduate academic adviser, Glenn Starkman, and talking about what research I might like to do over the summer between sophomore and junior year of college. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do or what I was interested in, and he suggested I talk to some of the professors doing astrophysics and cosmology research and see if they had space for me in their lab. I ended up finding a great opportunity working in a research lab in college — so it was working in the physics department in Case Western. That’s where I first started learning about computer-aided design (CAD), and designing things in CAD, and that’s where I first learned how things get made in a machine shop, like on a mill, or a lathe. These skills have come in handy ever since, because I do a lot of design work in the lab. And I was lucky growing up that my dad was really hands-on and liked to fix things and build things and he taught me a lot of those skills as well. “When I was a kid, I loved space,” said Kyle Helson. “I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. I even went to space camp.”Photo courtesy of Kyle Helson Who has influenced you in your life? My dad had a big influence. I think all the different people I’ve had the opportunity to learn from and work with who have been mentors along the way. My research advisers, professor John Ruhl in college, professor Greg Tucker in grad school, and Dr. Ed Wollack as a postdoc have all been very influential. Additionally, I have had the opportunity to work with a lot of very good post docs and research scientists during my career, Dr. Asad Aboobaker, Dr. Britt Reichborn-Kjennerud, Dr. Michele Limon, among others. Throughout a career, there are tons of other people on the way from whom you pick up little things here and there that stick with you. You look back and you realize five years later you still do this one thing a certain way because someone helped you and taught you this skill or technique. Where is a place you’d like to travel to? Since I was lucky enough to go to Antarctica in graduate school, I figured that is the hardest continent to travel to, so now I have a mission to go to every continent. I’ve been to North America, I’ve been to South America, I’ve been to Asia, Europe, and Australia and New Zealand, but I’ve never been to Africa. Kyle Helson (second from left) races the keirin at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center in Breinigsville, PA. Photo Credit Dr. Vishrut Garg What are your hobbies, or what do you enjoy doing? I’m a competitive track cyclist. I started racing bikes in collegiate racing as a grad student at Brown. Many summers I’ve spent many weekends driving and flying all over the U.S. to race in the biggest track cycling events in the country. What would be your three-word-memoir? Curious, compassionate, cat-dad. By Tayler Gilmore NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage. Share Details Last Updated Sep 10, 2024 EditorMadison OlsonContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsPeople of GoddardGoddard Space Flight CenterScientific BalloonsWallops Flight Facility Explore More 5 min read Zachary Morse Hikes Hilltops, Caves Lava Tubes to Ready Moon Missions Article 7 days ago 5 min read Aaron Vigil Helps Give SASS to Roman Space Telescope Article 2 weeks ago 7 min read Tyler Parsotan Takes a Long Look at the Transient Universe with NASA’s Swift Article 3 weeks ago View the full article

The four-person crew of the Polaris Dawn mission pictured wearing their SpaceX extravehicular activity suits.Credit: SpaceX NASA researchers will soon benefit from a suite of experiments flying aboard a new fully-commercial human spaceflight mission, strengthening future agency science as we venture to the Moon, Mars and beyond. The experiments are flying as part of the Polaris Dawn mission which launched aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket earlier today. The four-person Polaris Dawn crew of Jared Isaacman, Scott “Kidd” Poteet, Sarah Gillis, and Anna Menon will conduct science during the mission including essential health and human performance research for NASA’s Human Research Program. The research will help NASA scientists better understand how exposure to space conditions affects the human body. The crew will test new medical approaches and technology on telemedicine capabilities, gather data on space motion sickness, and better characterize flight-associated injury risks. “Each mission, whether the crew is comprised of commercial or NASA astronauts, provides a key opportunity to expand our knowledge about how spaceflight affects human health,” said Jancy McPhee, associate chief scientist for human research at NASA. “Information gathered from Polaris Dawn will give us critical insights to help NASA plan for deeper space travel to the Moon and Mars.” The crew will test drive, a commercial device that can collect and integrate measurements of health, including blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, and temperature. The technology also provides ultrasound imaging and larynx and throat-focused video camera capabilities, and includes an experimental telemedicine feature that could help diagnose crew members in near-real time. To test this technology during the mission, crew members will compare vital sign collection from the device with data gathered from standard periodic health status exams. The technology’s telemedicine feature, which relies on SpaceX’s Starlink communications system to connect with doctors and specialists on Earth, will also be tested during a simulation. During the test, the device will attempt to offer an appropriate diagnosis based on crew inputs and available documentation. “Crew members will need to be more self-reliant during lengthy missions, and we hope that telemedicine can provide crews with assistance,” said McPhee. Another research project aims to better understand and prevent the motion sickness symptoms that many astronauts experience in space. Participating crew members will describe their motion sickness symptoms, what interventions they tried to alleviate their symptoms, and whether any approaches helped. A separate NASA-based research project will survey crew members after their mission to see whether they experienced any injuries or discomfort during re-entry to Earth. “Our team will take the crew’s survey data and combine it with information gathered from sensors on the spacecraft. This will allow us to link crews’ reported experiences and health outcomes with the spacecraft’s dynamics and landing loads,” said Preston Greenhalgh, an injury biomechanist at NASA who is leading this work. Crew members also will participate in a variety of other health studies on behalf of the NASA-funded TRISH (Translational Research Institute for Health), a consortium with various academic institutions. As part of that work, the Polaris Dawn mission will set a new baseline for collecting standard health data on commercial spaceflights, creating a complement to the datasets routinely collected from NASA astronauts and missions. Polaris Dawn crew members participating in these TRISH studies will provide data about how spaceflight affects mental and physical health through a rigorous set of medical tests and scans completed before, after, and during the mission. The work will include assessments of behavior, sleep, bone density, eye health, cognitive function, and other factors, as well as analysis of blood, urine, and respiration. “We’re so grateful to the crew members who volunteer to be part of NASA’s work. The insights that we gain from each study may trigger breakthroughs that will help ensure future mission success,” said McPhee. ____ NASA’s Human Research Program pursues the best methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. Through science conducted in laboratories, ground-based analogs, commercial missions, and the International Space Station, the program scrutinizes how spaceflight affects human bodies and behaviors. Such research continues to drive NASA’s mission to innovate ways that keep astronauts healthy and mission-ready as space exploration expands to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Explore More 3 min read NASA Astronaut Don Pettit’s Science of Opportunity on Space Station Article 6 days ago 3 min read NASA, Boeing Optimizing Vehicle Assembly Building High Bay for Future SLS Stage Production Article 2 weeks ago 4 min read NASA Seeks Input for Astrobee Free-flying Space Robots Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Living in Space Artemis Human Research Program Space Station Research and Technology View the full article

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 2 min read Sols 4297-4299: This Way to Tungsten Hills This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera aboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4296 — Martian day 4,296 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on Sept. 6, 2024, at 06:47:03 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 6, 2024 Contact science in our immediate workspace includes a joint effort by MAHLI and APXS to characterize a gray rock with two targets named “Big Baldy” and “Big Bird Lake.” ChemCam focused its Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument on a rock with a reddish coating, “Purple Creek,” and a light-toned rock, “Garlic Meadow,” to determine their chemical composition. ChemCam included a long distance RMI image of the yardang unit that caps Mount Sharp as well as a standard post-drive AEGIS activity, which allows autonomous target selection for upcoming geochemical spectrometry. The Mastcam team assembled several beautiful mosaics to document Curiosity’s surroundings. One mosaic will extend the imaging of the current workspace and is planned at dusk to take advantage of the diffuse lighting. Two separate mosaics, one of which is in stereo, will characterize the floor of the depression in front of Tungsten Hills to investigate the exposed light rocks and document depositional processes. Finally, a stereo mosaic will image Tungsten Hills and the surrounding terrain in advance of our approach over the weekend. With the weekend plan in place the science team will now patiently wait for data to be returned and for planning to resume on Monday! Curiosity completed an impressive 60-meter drive (about 197 feet) across the channel floor within Gediz Vallis and parked along the edge of a shallow linear depression. Just about 20 meters (66 feet) away, an intriguing dark, textured rock named “Tungsten Hills” is the destination for our weekend drive and our contact science on Monday. Today I served as the “Keeper of the Plan” for the Geology theme group and worked with the science team to compile a variety of contact science and targeted science in this three-sol plan. Written by Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Share Details Last Updated Sep 10, 2024 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 2 min read Persevering Through the Storm It’s dust-storm season on Mars! Over the past couple of weeks, as we ascended the… Article 4 days ago 2 min read Sols 4295-4296: A Martian Moon and Planet Earth Article 4 days ago 2 min read Sol 4294: Return to McDonald Pass Article 5 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited… All Mars Resources Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,… Rover Basics Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a… Mars Exploration: Science Goals The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four… View the full article

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Artist David Bowen works on “tele-present wind,” featuring grass stalks that move in response to Martian wind data previously collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover mission. Behind him sits JPL data systems architect Rishi Verma.NASA/JPL-Caltech Works in ‘Blended Worlds: Experiments in Interplanetary Imagination,’ an exhibit in Glendale, California, help shrink the universe into something tangible. The universe is vast and filled with countless worlds, but a new exhibit at the Brand Library & Art Center in Glendale, California, aims to shrink time and space. For “Blended Worlds: Experiments in Interplanetary Imagination,” artists collaborated with scientists and engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to create cross-disciplinary works that help illuminate the universe by bringing art and science together. On view from Sept. 21, 2024, to Jan. 4, 2025, the exhibition is part of “PST ART: Art & Science Collide,” an event presented by the Getty and involving more than 70 exhibitions from museums and institutions across Southern California exploring the intersection of art and science. “The magic of art is that it enhances our experiences and interactions with the world — and in this case, our universe,” said Dr. Laurie Leshin, director of JPL in Southern California. “We’re honored to work with great artists to bring the wonders of space to our community through this exhibition, which invites us all to be part of a grand journey of exploration and discovery.” The 126 grass stalks of “tele-present wind” are attached to mechanical tilting devices that move in response to Martian wind data.NASA/JPL-Caltech David Bowen’s installation “tele-present wind” features grass stalks attached to tilting mechanical devices that move in response to Martian wind data previously collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover mission. Helping make the effort possible were Rishi Verma, a data systems architect at JPL, and José Antonio Rodríguez-Manfredi, the principal investigator of the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) system on Perseverance. For “Seismic Percussion,” artist Moon Ribas creates an interplanetary drum score by translating seismic data from Earth, the Moon, and Mars. For Mars data, JPL’s Verma worked with Nobuaki Fuji of the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, who collaborated on NASA’s now-retired InSight lander. Ceri Nunn, a JPL planetary scientist, assisted with moonquake data. Also featured is a handwritten version of U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa,” the poem she dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which is targeting an October launch and will make multiple flybys of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. The poem has been etched onto a metal plate on the spacecraft and will ride with the orbiter on its long journey. Additional works allow visitors to experience Earth’s wonders through scents, use sound to convey the vast distances between our planet and those beyond our solar system, and blend heartbeats and other Earthly sounds with sonified data from Europa’s magnetic field. “We were looking to create imaginative opportunities for people to connect with each other as they connect with the awe-inspiring science being conducted today,” said David Delgado, a cultural strategist and the project lead at JPL. “I know this experience has really opened the eyes of everyone collaborating on the project, and we hope it does the same for people who come to see ‘Blended Worlds.’” As part of PST ART, a number of public programs and community events will also accompany the “Blended Worlds” gallery exhibition, including “Blended Worlds: An Evening of Art, Theater, and Science” hosted by Reggie Watts at the Alex Theatre in Glendale on Oct. 5, and “Earth Data: The Musical,” an original musical developed by Theater Arts at Caltech exploring the challenges of climate research and science as a human pursuit at Caltech’s Ramo Auditorium Nov. 1 to 3. Artists’ collaborations with JPL and the display of their works at Glendale’s Brand Library were made possible by the generous support of the Glendale Arts and Culture Commission and the Glendale Library, Arts & Culture Trust. More About JPL A division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL began in 1936 and ultimately built and helped launch America’s first satellite, Explorer 1, in 1958. By the end of that year, Congress established NASA and JPL became a part of the agency. Since then, JPL has managed such historic missions as Voyager, Galileo, Cassini, the Mars Exploration Rover program, the Perseverance Mars rover, and many more. More About Glendale Library, Arts & Culture Founded in 1907, the Glendale Library, Arts & Culture Department includes eight neighborhood libraries including the Brand Library & Art Center, a regional visual arts and music library and performance venue housed in the historic 1904 mansion of Glendale pioneer Leslie C. Brand, and the Central Library, a 93,000-square-foot center for individuals and groups to convene, collaborate, and create. The department also serves as the chief liaison to the Glendale Arts and Culture Commission which works to continually transform Glendale into an ever-evolving arts destination. Glendale Library Arts & Culture is supported in part through the efforts of the Glendale Library Arts & Culture Trust (GLACT). For more information visit GlendaleLAC.org, or contact Library, Arts & Culture at 818-548-2021 or via email at LibraryInfo@GlendaleCA.gov. Follow on Instagram, Facebook, and X at @MyGlendaleLAC. For more information about PST ART: Art & Science Collide, visit: pst.art News Media Contact Matthew Segal / Melissa Pamer Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-8307 / 626-314-4928 matthew.j.segal@jpl.nasa.gov / melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov 2024-120 Share Details Last Updated Sep 09, 2024 Related TermsJet Propulsion Laboratory Explore More 5 min read NASA JPL Developing Underwater Robots to Venture Deep Below Polar Ice Article 2 weeks ago 6 min read Work Is Under Way on NASA’s Next-Generation Asteroid Hunter Article 2 weeks ago 5 min read NASA’s Europa Clipper Gets Set of Super-Size Solar Arrays Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams prepare orbital hardware for installation inside the International Space Station.Credit: NASA Media are invited to hear from NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams during an Earth to space call at 2:15 p.m. EDT, Friday, Sept. 13. The pair will participate in a news conference aboard the International Space Station in low Earth orbit. Coverage of the event will stream on NASA+, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media. Media interested in participating must contact the newsroom at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston no later than 5 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 12, at 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. To ask questions, media must dial into the news conference no later than 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is online. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5 for its first crewed flight, arriving at the space station on June 6. Following the agency’s decision to return Starliner uncrewed, the duo will remain on the space station as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew and return home in February 2025 aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission. For more information about space station research and operations, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/station -end- Josh Finch / Claire O’Shea Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov Courtney Beasley Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 courtney.m.beasley@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 09, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsInternational Space Station (ISS)Commercial CrewCommercial SpaceHumans in SpaceISS ResearchJohnson Space CenterNASA Headquarters View the full article

NASA Astronaut Don Pettit Soyuz MS-26 Launch

The NASA Ames Fire Department will conduct emergency response fire training on the west ramp of the Moffett Federal Airfield between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. PDT Tuesday, Sept. 10 through Saturday, Sept. 14. The media and the public are advised that sirens may be audible and smoke plumes and flames may be visible from U.S. Highway 101 during this time. However, officials generally expect little to no smoke. The session will include a live burn created by a propane-fueled aircraft fire simulator at the field. The drill is intended to prepare Ames fire responders and Ames Emergency Operations Center staff for real-life fire emergencies. For more information about NASA’s Ames Research Center, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/ames -end- Rachel Hoover Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley 650-604-4789 rachel.hoover@nasa.gov View the full article

The dome-shaped Brandburg Massif, near the Atlantic coast of central Namibia, containing Brandberg Mountain, the African nation’s highest peak and ancient rock paintings going back at least 2,000 years, is pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 261 miles above. Image Credit: NASA View the full article

“It’s 2 a.m. in the morning on a Sunday. You have your headset in your hand. You’re about to walk into Mission Control. And you understand — in the darkness, the crickets chirping, the lights shining on the building — you understand where you’re going and what you’re a part of. “This is the building where we heard astronauts say, ‘Houston, we’ve had a problem.’ Where we heard, ‘the Eagle has landed.’ And the people on the ground supporting those historic missions were in this building — and now I get to be a part of that. “There is just this undying sense of wonder every time I walk into this building. Not to say that there isn’t an undying sense of wonder at many of the other buildings at Johnson [Space Center]. But with this building in particular, having that ownership and that responsibility as I walk in — that will never go away. It’s wonderful.” —Gary Jordan, Public Affairs Manager, NASA’s Johnson Space Center Image Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz Interviewer: NASA/Thalia Patrinos Check out some of our other Faces of NASA. View the full article

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The public is invited to celebrate International Observe the Moon Night on Saturday, Sept. 14, from 6 to 9 p.m. EDT at NASA Goddard’s Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. International Observe the Moon Night is a time to come together with fellow Moon enthusiasts and curious people around the world. The public is invited to learn about lunar science and exploration, take part in celestial observations, and honor cultural and personal connections to the Moon. Save the date! International Observe the Moon Night is September 14, 2024!NASA During the Goddard event, attendees will be able to participate in a variety of interactive hands-on activities. There will also be a photo booth, Moon-themed presentations, and lunar and astronomical observing with telescopes. This free event is open to the public and will occur rain or shine. International Observe the Moon Night occurs annually in September or October, when the Moon is around first quarter – a great phase for evening observing. Last year, almost a million people participated in 123 countries and all 7 continents. This year, NASA is celebrating 15 years of the program! International Observe the Moon Night is sponsored by NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) mission and the Solar System Exploration Division of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, with support from many partners. LRO is managed by Goddard for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. No registration is needed. To participate in International Observe the Moon Night from wherever you may be, tune into our NASA+ broadcast or watch live streams of the Moon from telescopes around the world on our Live Streams page on Sept. 14: https://moon.nasa.gov/observe-the-moon-night/participate/live-streams/. For directions to the Goddard Visitor Center, go to: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/visitor/directions/index.html To learn more about the program, visit: https://moon.nasa.gov/observe-the-moon-night For more information about LRO, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/lro Share Details Last Updated Sep 09, 2024 EditorWilliam SteigerwaldContactNancy N. Jonesnancy.n.jones@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsEarth's MoonLunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Explore More 2 min read Artemis IV: Gateway Gadget Fuels Deep Space Dining Learn about the handy device NASA is developing to help astronauts rehydrate their meals aboard… Article 4 days ago 2 min read Gateway: Energizing Exploration Discover the cutting-edge technology powering Gateway, humanity's first lunar space station. Article 3 weeks ago 4 min read Super Blue Moons: Your Questions Answered The Moon of August 30-31, 2023, is a full moon, a supermoon, and a blue… Article 3 weeks ago View the full article

NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System is seen orbiting Earth in this 13-second exposure photograph, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024, from Arlington, Virginia. The mission team confirmed the spacecraft’s unique composite boom system unfurled its reflective sail on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, accomplishing a critical milestone in the agency’s demonstration of next-generation solar sail technology that will allow small spacecraft to “sail on sunlight.” Just as a sailboat is powered by wind in a sail, a spacecraft can use the pressure of sunlight on a solar sail for propulsion. This technology demonstration serves as a pathfinder for future missions powered by solar sail technology.NASA/Bill Ingalls Now that its reflective sail has deployed fully open in orbit, the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System can be seen in the night sky from many locations across the world! Stargazers can join NASA’s #SpotTheSail campaign by using the NASA app on mobile platforms to find out when the spacecraft will be visible at their location. The app, which is free to use and available on iOS and Android, provides a location-specific schedule of upcoming sighting opportunities. A built-in augmented reality tool points users to the location of the spacecraft in real time. Can you spot the solar sail? Share your viewing experience online using the hashtag #SpotTheSail for a chance to be featured on NASA’s website and social media channels. Here’s how to use the sighting prediction tool: Install and open the NASA app on an iOS or Android device. Tap on the “Featured” tab on the bottom navigation bar. Tap on the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System mission from the Featured Missions at the top of the screen. Tap on the “Sightings” tab on the bottom navigation bar. A list of all the upcoming sightings for your location will be displayed. If you are using an iOS device, you can tap on the “Sky View” link for an augmented reality guide to help you locate the spacecraft’s real-time location during the visible pass. NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System is testing new technologies in low Earth orbit, including a composite boom system that supports a four-piece sail. Not to be confused with solar panels, solar sails allow small spacecraft to “sail on sunlight,” eliminating the need for rocket fuel or other conventional propellants. This propulsion technology can enable low-cost deep space missions to increase access to space. For ongoing mission updates, follow us on social media: X: @NASAAmes, @NASA Facebook: NASA Ames, NASA Instagram: @NASAAmes, @NASA NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley manages the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System project and designed and built the onboard camera diagnostic system. NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, designed and built the deployable composite booms and solar sail system. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program office based at NASA Ames and led by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) in Washington, funds and manages the mission. NASA STMD’s Game Changing Development program developed the deployable composite boom technology. Rocket Lab USA, Inc of Long Beach, California, provided launch services. NanoAvionics provided the spacecraft bus. View the full article

NASA’s Artemis campaign is a series of lunar missions to further explore the lunar landscape to prepare for future missions to Mars. The Artemis missions will send humans to land on the moon and explore the lunar south pole. This will be NASA’s first human lunar landing since the Apollo missions over 50 years ago. The Artemis missions will be landing at the lunar south pole; this area is of interest because the permanently shadowed regions that exist there may be traps for water ice which could be accessed to support future missions to Mars. One area of interest is Shackleton Crater, measuring 13 miles (21 km) in diameter and 2.6 miles (4.2 km) deep. The crater has steep sides and continuous shadows cause the floor of the crater to be below 90 K and may have water ice trapped beneath the surface. To support these missions, NASA is seeking two solutions: one low-tech and one high-tech. While both solutions are related to navigation, they are independent challenges and solutions. For Challenge 1, NASA is seeking an orienteering aid that will help the astronauts navigate on traverses away from the lunar lander and return back. While there were similar devices available to the Apollo astronauts, NASA is looking for new and unique solutions. Among other considerations, devices must be accurate, easy to use, able to be used on the moon’s surface by an astronaut wearing pressurized gloves. If your solution is one of the best, you could be eligible for a share of the $15,000 prize purse. For Challenge 2, NASA is looking for assistance in getting to and mapping the bottom of Shackleton Crater. The design must work in the extreme conditions of the lunar south pole and Shackleton Crater, map the crater, characterize and quantify what is in the crater, and send the data back to be used for future missions. If you can solve this challenge by describing your design concept in detail, you could be eligible for a share of the $30,000 prize purse. Award: $50,000 in total prizes Open Date: September 4, 2024 Close Date: November 25, 2024 For more information, visit: https://www.freelancer.com/contest/Find-Me-on-the-Moon-NASA-Lunar-Navigation-Challenge-2442541/details View the full article

Hubble Space Telescope Home NASA’s Hubble, Chandra… Missions Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts E-books Lithographs Fact Sheets Glossary Posters Hubble on the NASA App More Online Activities 5 min read NASA’s Hubble, Chandra Find Supermassive Black Hole Duo This is an artist’s depiction of a pair of active black holes at the heart of two merging galaxies. They are both surrounded by an accretion disk of hot gas. Some of the material is ejected along the spin axis of each black hole. Confined by powerful magnetic fields, the jets blaze across space at nearly the speed of light as devastating beams of energy. NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI) Download this artist’s depiction Like two Sumo wrestlers squaring off, the closest confirmed pair of supermassive black holes have been observed in tight proximity. These are located approximately 300 light-years apart and were detected using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. These black holes, buried deep within a pair of colliding galaxies, are fueled by infalling gas and dust, causing them to shine brightly as active galactic nuclei (AGN). This AGN pair is the closest one detected in the local universe using multiwavelength (visible and X-ray light) observations. While several dozen “dual” black holes have been found before, their separations are typically much greater than what was discovered in the gas-rich galaxy MCG-03-34-64. Astronomers using radio telescopes have observed one pair of binary black holes in even closer proximity than in MCG-03-34-64, but without confirmation in other wavelengths. AGN binaries like this were likely more common in the early universe when galaxy mergers were more frequent. This discovery provides a unique close-up look at a nearby example, located about 800 million light-years away. A Hubble Space Telescope visible-light image of the galaxy MCG-03-34-064. Hubble’s sharp view reveals three distinct bright spots embedded in a white ellipse at the galaxy’s center (expanded in an inset image at upper right). Two of these bright spots are the source of strong X-ray emission, a telltale sign that they are supermassive black holes. The black holes shine brightly because they are converting infalling matter into energy, and blaze across space as active galactic nuclei. Their separation is about 300 light-years. The third spot is a blob of bright gas. The blue streak pointing to the 5 o’clock position may be a jet fired from one of the black holes. The black hole pair is a result of a merger between two galaxies that will eventually collide. NASA, ESA, Anna Trindade Falcão (CfA); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) Download this image The discovery was serendipitous. Hubble’s high-resolution imaging revealed three optical diffraction spikes nested inside the host galaxy, indicating a large concentration of glowing oxygen gas within a very small area. “We were not expecting to see something like this,” said Anna Trindade Falcão of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, lead author of the paper published today in The Astrophysical Journal. “This view is not a common occurrence in the nearby universe, and told us there’s something else going on inside the galaxy.” Diffraction spikes are imaging artifacts caused when light from a very small region in space bends around the mirror inside telescopes. Falcão’s team then examined the same galaxy in X-rays light using the Chandra observatory to drill into what’s going on. “When we looked at MCG-03-34-64 in the X-ray band, we saw two separated, powerful sources of high-energy emission coincident with the bright optical points of light seen with Hubble. We put these pieces together and concluded that we were likely looking at two closely spaced supermassive black holes,” said Falcão. In a surprise finding, astronomers, using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that the jet from a supermassive black hole at the core of M87, a huge galaxy 54 million light years away, seems to cause stars to erupt along its trajectory. The stars, called novae, are not caught inside the jet, but in a dangerous area near it. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; Lead Producer: Paul Morris To support their interpretation, the researchers used archival radio data from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array near Socorro, New Mexico. The energetic black hole duo also emits powerful radio waves. “When you see bright light in optical, X-rays, and radio wavelengths, a lot of things can be ruled out, leaving the conclusion these can only be explained as close black holes. When you put all the pieces together it gives you the picture of the AGN duo,” said Falcão. The third source of bright light seen by Hubble is of unknown origin, and more data is needed to understand it. That might be gas that is shocked by energy from a jet of ultra high-speed plasma fired from one of the black holes, like a stream of water from a garden hose blasting into a pile of sand. “We wouldn’t be able to see all of these intricacies without Hubble’s amazing resolution,” said Falcão. The two supermassive black holes were once at the core of their respective host galaxies. A merger between the galaxies brought the black holes into close proximity. They will continue to spiral closer together until they eventually merge — in perhaps 100 million years — rattling the fabric of space and time as gravitational waves. The National Science Foundation’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has detected gravitational waves from dozens of mergers between stellar-mass black holes. But the longer wavelengths resulting from a supermassive black hole merger are beyond LIGO’s capabilities. The next-generation gravitational wave detector, called the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, will consist of three detectors in space, separated by millions of miles, to capture these longer wavelength gravitational waves from deep space. ESA (European Space Agency) is leading this mission, partnering with NASA and other participating institutions, with a planned launch in the mid-2030s. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science from Cambridge, Massachusetts and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts. Northrop Grumman Space Technologies in Redondo Beach, California was the prime contractor for the spacecraft. The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, Colorado, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA. Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contacts: Claire Andreoli NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD claire.andreoli@nasa.gov Ray Villard Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD Science Contact: Anna Trindade Falcão Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA Share Details Last Updated Sep 09, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Active Galaxies Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Chandra X-Ray Observatory Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Marshall Space Flight Center Missions Spiral Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Galaxy Details and Mergers Monster Black Holes Are Everywhere Hubble’s Galaxies View the full article

4 min read NASA Science for Your Classroom: Opportunities for Educators The summer season for educators can be a time of rest and rejuvenation, but it can also offer opportunities for professional learning with new colleagues beyond your own school. The following programs from NASA’s Science Activation Program offer end-of-summer/early-fall curricular resources and connections with other educators that can help you bring new science ideas and activities into your instructional practice. Celebrating the Moon & Moon Rocks with NASA – A Webinar for Educators Join us, as the world awaits this year’s International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN on September 14, 2024), for this free NASA Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) interactive webinar focusing on the Moon, Moon rocks, Apollo and future Artemis Missions! This session will be geared towards educators and their students (targeting grades 5-9 but other grade levels, college students, and individual educators are welcome to participate). Participants will interact with Dr. Juliane Gross, Artemis Curation Lead at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. The presentation will last approximately 45 minutes followed by an optional 15-30 minutes of Q&A. If you can’t participate live, feel free to register to receive an archived recording of the presentation. When: September 11 at 1:00 – 2:15 p.m. EDT Learn more and register Infusing Space Rock Content and More into Learning Environments Join NASA Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science for an interactive webinar focusing on hands-on and digital Earth and Space Science resources appropriate for both formal and informal learning settings. This session, geared towards educators who work with grades 3 through HS or general audiences at public events, will prepare you to engage learners with content associated with Moon rocks, meteorites, samples from asteroids and more! Presentation will last approximately 50 minutes followed by an optional 10+ minutes of Q&A. Those who register below will receive an archived recording of the presentation. When: September 17 at 8 p.m. EDT Register now Spark Curiosity with Infiniscope’s Free Resources! Infiniscope is a NASA-funded project focused on sparking curiosity, fostering exploration, and delivering digital content and tools that transform the learning experience. NGSS-Designed digital learning experiences are just the beginning. Whether you want classroom-ready content or the tools and support to build your own, we’ve got you covered. If you’re a middle school or highschool educator, join the webinars below and discover the incredible FREE resources waiting for you at Infiniscope.org. In this guided tour, you’ll learn how to: search for classroom-ready content on the website, find educator resources and detailed lesson information, enroll students in lessons and collections, sign up for future training events, access the virtual field trip creator, and get more information on our adaptive lesson builder. Learn more about Infiniscope. Intro to Infiniscope Registration – September 17 at 4 p.m. EDT Intro to Infiniscope Registration – October 22 at 6 p.m. EDT Take Your Learners Anywhere with Tour It! With Tour It, Infiniscope’s free virtual field trip creator, you can make place-based learning accessible to all your learners, boosting engagement and learning outcomes while enabling them to build personal connections. Tour It is your gateway to creating captivating virtual field trips! As a member of the Infiniscope teaching network, you’ll have exclusive access to this amazing tool that brings immersive learning experiences to life. Whether you’re a seasoned educator or just starting your journey, Tour It empowers you to craft engaging and interactive virtual tours that inspire learners and enable them to build personal connections to a place. Learn more about Tour it. Exploring Place-Based Learning Registration – September 17 at 4 p.m. EDT Planning Your Virtual Field Trip Registration – October 22 at 6 p.m. EDT Heliophysics Webinars for Educators: Physics in an Astronomy Context NASA’s Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) have put together a free, monthly, virtual workshop series for teachers of astrophysics taught in the context of introductory and upper division physics and astronomy courses. While these workshops are intended for secondary- and tertiary-level teachers who teach in formal classroom contexts, other educators are also welcome if the content covered is appropriate to your teaching context. These virtual gatherings of 25-50 teachers occur one Saturday per month and provide an astrophysics mini-lecture, a small group engagement with the core activity, and discussion time to connect with like-minded educators. Dates and Topics: September, 21, 2024 – Coronal Mass Ejection Science October 12, 2024 – Planetary Magnetism Science November 9, 2024 – Auroral Currents December 7, 2024 – Star Spectra Science Time: 1 – 2:30 p.m. EDT Register here We hope these resources will help prepare you for a wonderful year of amazing science learning… and beyond! Share Details Last Updated Sep 09, 2024 Related Terms Learning Resources Science Activation Explore More 2 min read NASA Summer Camp Inspires Future Climate Leaders Article 3 days ago 2 min read Leveraging Teacher Leaders to Share the Joy of NASA Heliophysics Article 5 days ago 2 min read NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative Member Co-Authors Award-Winning Paper in Insects Article 6 days ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

NASA and Boeing welcomed Starliner back to Earth following the uncrewed spacecraft’s successful landing at 10:01 p.m. MDT Sept. 6, 2024, at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Credit: NASA NASA and Boeing safely returned the uncrewed Starliner spacecraft following its landing at 10:01 p.m. MDT Sept. 6 at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, concluding a three-month flight test to the International Space Station. “I am extremely proud of the work our collective team put into this entire flight test, and we are pleased to see Starliner’s safe return,” said Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Even though it was necessary to return the spacecraft uncrewed, NASA and Boeing learned an incredible amount about Starliner in the most extreme environment possible. NASA looks forward to our continued work with the Boeing team to proceed toward certification of Starliner for crew rotation missions to the space station.” The flight on June 5 was the first time astronauts launched aboard the Starliner. It was the third orbital flight of the spacecraft, and its second return from the orbiting laboratory. Starliner now will ship to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for inspection and processing. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program requires a spacecraft to fly a crewed test flight to prove the system is ready for regular flights to and from the orbiting laboratory. Following Starliner’s return, the agency will review all mission-related data. “We are excited to have Starliner home safely. This was an important test flight for NASA in setting us up for future missions on the Starliner system,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “There was a lot of valuable learning that will enable our long-term success. I want to commend the entire team for their hard work and dedication over the past three months.” NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched on June 5 aboard Starliner for the agency’s Boeing Crewed Flight Test from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. On June 6, as Starliner approached the space station, NASA and Boeing identified helium leaks and experienced issues with the spacecraft’s reaction control thrusters. Following weeks of in-space and ground testing, technical interchange meetings, and agency reviews, NASA made the decision to prioritize safety and return Starliner without its crew. Wilmore and Williams will continue their work aboard station as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew, returning in February 2025 with the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission. The crew flight test is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station and low Earth orbit. This already is providing additional research time and has increased the opportunity for discovery aboard humanity’s microgravity testbed, including helping NASA prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars. Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Crew program at: https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew -end- Joshua Finch / Jimi Russell Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov Leah Cheshier Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 leah.d.cheshier@nasa.gov Steve Siceloff / Danielle Sempsrott / Stephanie Plucinsky Kennedy Space Center, Florida 321-867-2468 steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov / danielle.c.sempsrott@nasa.gov / stephanie.n.plucinsky@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 07, 2024 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsCommercial CrewInternational Space Station (ISS)ISS Research View the full article

Externships with NASA Headquarters Office of the General Counsel NASA’s Office of the General Counsel (OGC) periodically has externships for highly qualified law students. OGC offers unpaid, part-time and full-time externships during the law school academic year (for law school credit). These externships are intended to expose law students to the rewards of Federal service and to facilitate their professional growth. Externships may be performed either in person or remotely (depending on NASA COVID-19 safety protocols). OGC is divided into four practice groups: Commercial and Intellectual Property; General Law; Contracts and Acquisition Integrity; and International and Space Law. Detailed, descriptive information about each practice group is located on OGC’s main page. NASA OGC will be soliciting applications for Summer 2025 shortly. Qualifications You must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident and enrolled (full-time or part-time) in a U.S. law school that is ABA-accredited, in either a J.D. or LL.M program. In addition, you must have at least a 3.0 GPA. Application Process To apply for an academic semester internship (part-time or full-time) for law school credit: Please apply by email to: hq-ogcintern@mail.nasa.gov. With your email, please include solely the following materials in a single PDF: A one-page cover letter explaining: (1) to which of the OGC practice groups you are applying; (2) your interest in the position; and (3) your qualifications for the position; and A resume of no more than two pages. Due to the volume of applications received, applicants will receive a general acknowledgement that their resume has been received and will be contacted personally only if selected for an interview. We are not accepting applications for the Externship Program at this time. NASA OGC will be soliciting applications for Summer 2025 shortly. View the full article

Credit: NASA NASA has selected eight companies for a new award to help acquire Earth observation data and provide related services for the agency. The Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition Program On-Ramp1 Multiple Award contract is a firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple-award contract with a maximum value of $476 million, cumulatively amongst all the selected contractors, and a performance period through Nov. 15, 2028. The selectees are: BlackSky Geospatial Solutions, Inc. in Herndon, Virginia ICEYE US Inc. in Irvine, California MDA Geospatial Service Inc. in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada Pixxel Space Technologies, Inc in El Segundo, California Planet Labs Federal, Inc. in Arlington, Virginia Satellogic Federal, LLC in Davidson, North Carolina Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc. in Huntsville, Alabama The Tomorrow Companies Inc. in Boston Under the contract, the recipients will be responsible for acquiring observation data from commercial sources that support NASA’s Earth science research and application activities that help improve life on the planet. The goal of the awards is to give NASA a cost-effective way to augment or complement the Earth observations acquired by the agency and other U.S. government and international agencies for the benefit of all. For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov -end- Tiernan Doyle Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 06, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsSmallSats ProgramEarthEarth ObservatoryNASA HeadquartersPlanetary Science DivisionScience Mission Directorate View the full article

NASA research mathematician Katherine Johnson is photographed at her desk at NASA Langley Research Center with a globe, or “Celestial Training Device,” in 1962. Credit: NASA / Langley Research Center NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will represent the agency during a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at 3 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Sept. 18, recognizing the women who contributed to the space race, including the NASA mathematicians who helped land the first astronauts on the Moon under the agency’s Apollo Program. Hosted by House Speaker Mike Johnson, the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony will take place inside Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Nelson is expected to be among the speakers. The event will stream live on the speaker’s YouTube channel. The agency will share a direct link on this advisory in advance of the event. Media without current congressional credentials on the Hill interested in participating in the event must RSVP by Sept. 13, to Abby Ronson at: abby.ronson@mail.house.gov. Medal Information Introduced by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson on Feb. 27, 2019, H.R.1396 – Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act – was signed into law later that year. Awards will include: Congressional Gold Medal to Katherine Johnson, in recognition of her service to the United States as a mathematician Congressional Gold Medal to Dr. Christine Darden, for her service to the United States as an aeronautical engineer Congressional Gold Medals in commemoration of the lives of Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, in recognition of their service to the United States during the space race Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of all the women who served as computers, mathematicians, and engineers at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and NASA between the 1930s and the 1970s. For more information about NASA missions, visit: https://www.nasa.gov -end- Meira Bernstein / Cheryl Warner Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 meira.b.bernstein@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov View the full article

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The HASP 1.0 (High-Altitude Student Platform) scientific balloon mission launched Sept. 4, 2024, during NASA’s fall balloon campaign in Fort Sumner, N.M.NASA/Erin Reed NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program’s fifth balloon mission of the 2024 fall campaign took flight Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, from the agency’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The HASP 1.0 (High-Altitude Student Platform) mission remained in flight over 11 hours before it safely touched down. Recovery is underway. HASP is a partnership among the Louisiana Space Grant Consortium, the Astrophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, and the agency’s Balloon Program Office and Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility. The HASP platform supports up to 12 student-built payloads and is designed to flight test compact satellites, prototypes, and other small experiments. Since 2006, HASP has engaged more than 1,600 undergraduate and graduate students involved in the missions. Teams participating in the 2024 HASP 1.0 flight included: University of North Florida and University of North Dakota; Arizona State University; Louisiana State University; University of Colorado Boulder; College of the Canyons; Fort Lewis College; Capitol Technical College; University of Arizona; Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería (Peru); and McMaster University (Canada). A new, larger version of the High-Altitude Student Platform (HASP 2.0) had its engineering test flight a few days prior. HASP 2.0 will be able to accommodate twice as many student experiments as HASP 1.0 once operational in the next year. The remaining three balloon flights scheduled for the 2024 Fort Sumner fall campaign await next launch opportunities. To follow the missions, visit NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility website for real-time updates on balloons altitudes and GPS locations during flight. For more information on NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/scientificballoons Share Details Last Updated Sep 06, 2024 EditorOlivia F. LittletonContactOlivia F. Littletonolivia.f.littleton@nasa.gov Related TermsLearning ResourcesScientific BalloonsWallops Flight Facility View the full article

The Roscosmos Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station with (pictured left to right) NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner.Credit: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center NASA astronaut Don Pettit will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft, accompanied by cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, to the International Space Station where they will join the Expedition 71 crew in advancing scientific research. Pettit, Ovchinin, and Vagner will lift off at 12:23 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Sept. 11 (9:23 p.m. Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Coverage will stream on NASA+, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms including social media. After a two-orbit, three-hour trajectory to the station, the spacecraft will automatically dock at 3:33 p.m. at the orbiting laboratory’s Rassvet module. Shortly after, hatches will open between the spacecraft and the station. Once aboard, the trio will join NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson, Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Butch Wilmore, and Suni Williams, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, and Oleg Kononenko. NASA’s coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations): 11:15 a.m. – Launch coverage begins on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. 12:23 p.m. – Launch 2:30 p.m. – Rendezvous and docking coverage begins on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. 3:33 p.m. – Docking 5:30 p.m. – Hatch opening and welcome remarks coverage begins on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. 5:50 p.m. – Hatch opening The trio will spend approximately six months aboard the orbital laboratory as Expedition 71 and 72 crew members before returning to Earth in the spring of 2025. This will be the fourth spaceflight for Pettit and Ovchinin, and the second for Vagner. For more than two decades, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge, and making research breakthroughs that are not possible on Earth. The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. As commercial companies focus on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low Earth orbit economy, NASA is focusing more resources on deep space missions to the Moon as part of Artemis in preparation for future human missions to Mars. Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at: https://www.nasa.gov/station -end- Joshua Finch / Claire O’Shea Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov Sandra Jones Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Sep 06, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsInternational Space Station (ISS)AstronautsDonald R. PettitHumans in SpaceISS ResearchJohnson Space Center View the full article