NASA

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The four CubeSate spacecraft that make up the Starling swarm have demonstrated success in autonomous operations, completing all key mission objectives. After ten months in orbit, the Starling spacecraft swarm successfully demonstrated its primary mission’s key objectives, representing significant achievements in the capability of swarm configurations. Swarms of satellites may one day be used in deep space exploration. An autonomous network of spacecraft could self-navigate, manage scientific experiments, and execute maneuvers to respond to environmental changes without the burden of significant communications delays between the swarm and Earth. “The success of Starling’s initial mission represents a landmark achievement in the development of autonomous networks of small spacecraft,” said Roger Hunter, program manager for NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “The team has been very successful in achieving our objectives and adapting in the face of challenges.” Sharing the Work The Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA) experiment, flown onboard Starling, demonstrated the spacecraft swarm’s ability to optimize data collection across the swarm. The CubeSats analyzed Earth’s ionosphere by identifying interesting phenomena and reaching a consensus between each satellite on an approach for analysis. By sharing observational work across a swarm, each spacecraft can “share the load” and observe different data or work together to provide deeper analysis, reducing human workload, and keeping the spacecraft working without the need for new commands sent from the ground. The experiment’s success means Starling is the first swarm to autonomously distribute information and operations data between spacecraft to generate plans to work more efficiently, and the first demonstration of a fully distributed onboard reasoning system capable of reacting quickly to changes in scientific observations. Communicating Across the Swarm A swarm of spacecraft needs a network to communicate between each other. The Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) experiment automatically established a network in space, allowing the swarm to relay commands and transfer data between one another and the ground, as well as share information about other experiments cooperatively. The team successfully completed all the MANET experiment objectives, including demonstrating routing commands and data to one of the spacecraft having trouble with space to ground communications, a valuable benefit of a cooperative spacecraft swarm. “The success of MANET demonstrates the robustness of a swarm,” said Howard Cannon, Starling project manager at NASA Ames. “For example, when the radio went down on one swarm spacecraft, we ‘side-loaded’ the spacecraft from another direction, sending commands, software updates, and other vital information to the spacecraft from another swarm member.” Autonomous Swarm Navigation Navigating and operating in relation to one another and the planet is an important part of forming a swarm of spacecraft. Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment, or StarFOX, uses star trackers to recognize a fellow swarm member, other satellite, or space debris from the background field of stars, then estimate each spacecraft’s position and velocity. The experiment is the first-ever published demonstration of this type of swarm navigation, including the ability to track multiple members of a swarm simultaneously and the ability to share observations between the spacecraft, improving accuracy when determining each swarm member’s orbit. Near the end of mission operations, the swarm was maneuvered into a passive safety ellipse, and in this formation, the StarFOX team was able to achieve a groundbreaking milestone, demonstrating the ability to autonomously estimate the swarm’s orbits using only inter-satellite measurements from the spacecraft star trackers. Managing Swarm Maneuvers The ability to plan and execute maneuvers with minimal human intervention is an important part of developing larger satellite swarms. Managing the trajectories and maneuvers of hundreds or thousands of spacecraft autonomously saves time and reduces complexity. The Reconfiguration and Orbit Maintenance Experiments Onboard (ROMEO) system tests onboard maneuver planning and execution by estimating the spacecraft’s orbit and planning a maneuver to a new desired orbit. The experiment team has successfully demonstrated the system’s ability to determine and plan a change in orbit and is working to refine the system to reduce propellant use and demonstrate executing the maneuvers. The team will continue to adapt and develop the system throughout Starling’s mission extension. Swarming Together Now that Starling’s primary mission objectives are complete, the team will embark on a mission extension known as Starling 1.5, testing space traffic coordination in partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, which also has autonomous maneuvering capabilities. The project will explore how constellations operated by different users can share information through a ground hub to avoid potential collisions. “Starling’s partnership with SpaceX is the next step in operating large networks of spacecraft and understanding how two autonomously maneuvering systems can safely operate in proximity to each other. As the number of operational spacecraft increases each year, we must learn how to manage orbital traffic,” said Hunter. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program, based at Ames and within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), funds and manages the Starling mission. Blue Canyon Technologies designed and manufactured the spacecraft buses and is providing mission operations support. Rocket Lab USA, Inc. provided launch and integration services. Partners supporting Starling’s payload experiments have included Stanford University’s Space Rendezvous Lab in Stanford, California, York Space Systems (formerly Emergent Space Technologies) of Denver, Colorado, CesiumAstro of Austin, Texas, L3Harris Technologies, Inc., of Melbourne, Florida. Funding support for the DSA experiment was provided by NASA’s Game Changing Development program within STMD. Partners supporting Starling’s mission extension include SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, NASA’s Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) program, and the Department of Commerce. SpaceX manages the Starlink satellite constellation and the Collision Avoidance ground system. Share Details Last Updated May 29, 2024 Related TermsSpace Technology Mission DirectorateAmes Research CenterCubeSatsGame Changing Development ProgramGeneralSmall Satellite MissionsSmall Spacecraft Technology ProgramTech Demo Missions Explore More 2 min read Follow NASA’s Starling Swarm in Real Time Article 7 months ago 6 min read NASA’s Starling Mission Sending Swarm of Satellites into Orbit Article 11 months ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Ames Research Center Space Technology Mission Directorate Starling Game Changing Development View the full article

A new project provides special 3D “experiences” on Instagram using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes through augmented reality (AR), allowing users to travel virtually through objects in space. These new experiences of astronomical objects – including the debris fields of exploded stars – are being released to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of operations from Chandra, NASA’s flagship X-ray telescope. In recent years, Instagram experiences (previously referred to as filters) of NASA mission control, the International Space Station, and the Perseverance Rover on Mars have allowed participants to virtually explore what NASA does. This new set of Chandra Instagram filters joins this space-themed collection. These four images showcase the 2D captured views of the cosmic objects included in the new augmented reality 3D release. Presenting multiwavelength images of the Vela Pulsar, Tycho’s Supernova Remnant, Helix Nebula, and Cat’s Eye Nebula that include Chandra X-ray data as well as optical data in each, and for the Helix, additional infrared and ultraviolet data.Vela Pulsar: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, K. Arcand; Tycho’s Supernova Remnant: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: DSS; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk; Helix Nebula: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; UV: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSC; Optical: NASA/ STScI/M. Meixner, ESA/NRAO/T.A. Rector; Infrared:NASA/JPL-Caltech/K. Su; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk and K. Arcand; Cat’s Eye Nebula: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major, L. Frattare, K. Arcand “We are excited to bring data from the universe down to earth in this way,” said Kimberly Arcand, visualization and emerging technology scientist at the Chandra X-ray Center. “By enabling people to access cosmic data on their phones and through AR, it brings Chandra’s amazing discoveries literally right to your fingertips.” The new Instagram experiences are created from 3D models based on data collected by Chandra and other telescopes along with mathematical models. Traditionally, it has been very difficult to gather 3D data of objects in our galaxy due to their two-dimensional projection on the sky. New instruments and techniques, however, have helped allowed astronomers in recent years to construct more data-driven models of what these distant objects look like in three dimensions. These advancements in astronomy have paralleled the explosion of opportunities in virtual, extended, and augmented reality. Such technologies provide virtual digital experiences, which now extend beyond Earth and into the cosmos. This new set of Chandra Instagram experiences was made possible by a collaboration including NASA, the Smithsonian Institution, and students and researchers at Brown University. These Instagram experiences also include data sonifications of the celestial objects. Sonification is the process of translating data into sounds and notes so users can hear representations of the data, an accessibility project the Chandra team has led for the past four years. “These Chandra Instagram experiences are another way to share these cosmic data with the public,” said Arcand. “We are hoping this helps reach new audiences, especially those who like to get their information through social media.” The objects in the new Chandra Instagram experience collection include the Tycho supernova remnant, the Vela Pulsar, the Helix Nebula, the Cat’s Eye Nebula, and the Chandra spacecraft. The 3D models of the first three objects were done in conjunction with Sal Orlando, an astrophysicist at Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in Palmero. The Cat’s Eye Nebula was created with data from Ryan Clairmont, physics researcher and undergraduate at Stanford University. Arcand worked with Brown’s Tom Sgouros and his team, research assistant Alexander Dupuis and undergraduate Healey Koch, on the Chandra Instagram filters. The experiences include text that explains what users are looking at. The effects are free and available on Instagram on mobile devices for at least six months, and some will remain viewable in perpetuity on the Smithsonian’s Voyager 3D website. “There is a lot of rich and beautiful data associated with these models that Healey and I looked to bring in, which we did by creating the textures on the models as well as programming visual effects for displaying them in AR,” said Dupuis. Add links? 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. The Chandra X-ray Center is headquartered at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, which is part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. For more Chandra images, multimedia and related materials, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/chandra-x-ray-observatory/ News Media Contact Megan Watzke Chandra X-ray Center Cambridge, Mass. 617-496-7998 Jonathan Deal Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, Ala. 256-544-0034 View the full article

Earth Observer Earth and Climate Earth Observer Home Editor’s Corner Feature Articles News In Memoriams Science in the News More Meeting Summaries Archives 7 min read In Memoriam: Dr. Richard S. Stolarski [1941–2024] Photo. Dr. Richard (Rich) Stolarski in February, 1989 at the NASA Arctic Airborne Stratospheric Experiment (AASE-I) in Stavanger, Norway. Rich is seen here describing model results from the GSFC chemistry model. Photo credit: Paul Newman/NASA Renowned ozone scientist Dr. Richard “Rich” Stolarski died on February 22, 2024, at age 82 from the complications of prostate cancer. Rich was born at Fort Lewis, WA on November 22, 1941. After short stays in Kansas and Hawaii, Rich’s family settled in Tacoma, WA. He attended Stadium High School for three years and Wilson High School for his final year. He received his Bachelor of Science in physics and mathematics from the University of Puget Sound in 1963 and his Ph.D. from the University of Florida three years later in 1966 under Professor Alex Green. Rich was a University of Michigan post-doctoral fellow from 1967 – 1974 under Professor Andrew Nagy, where he met his colleague and friend Dr. Ralph Cicerone. Rich joined NASA in 1974 at the Manned Space Center (now the Johnson Space Center) as a research physicist in the Environmental Effects Projects Office. He moved to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in 1976 to join the fledgling Stratospheric Physics and Chemistry Branch. Rich was branch head (1979 – 1985) and a research scientist (1985 – 2010). He was the Program Scientist for the Atmospheric Effects of the Stratospheric Aircraft program at NASA headquarters from 1992 to 1995. From 2010 until his passing, Rich was a NASA Goddard Emeritus scientist and a Research Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. Rich’s atmospheric science career began during a period of great ferment. A proposed fleet of supersonic transport aircraft (SSTs) was being researched in the early 1970s, and scientists had proposed that nitrogen emissions from SST engines could deplete the Earth’s ozone layer. In 1974, Rich and Ralph Cicerone published their groundbreaking paper showing that reactive chlorine compounds derived from emissions by the NASA space shuttle could also deplete the ozone layer. Mario Molina and Sherry Rowland independently proposed that reactive chlorine could destroy ozone, and further hypothesized that human-produced chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) would be a source of reactive chlorine compounds. Molina and Rowland shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry for this work, and Stolarski and Cicerone were cited in the Royal Swedish Academy of Science’s press release for their contributions. Rich was awarded the United Nations Environmental Program’s Ozone Award in 1997, where “Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Richard S. Stolarski were the first to indicate the important role of chlorine monoxide in stratospheric ozone depletion.” The severe ozone decline over Antarctica discovered by British Antarctic Survey scientists in the 1980s was simultaneously shocking, disturbing, and exciting. In parallel, Dr. P. K. Bhartia and others were examining extremely low ozone values measured by the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) aboard NASA’s Nimbus–7 satellite. Rich and colleagues found that TOMS showed that this severe Antarctic ozone decline was continental in scale, publishing the first paper on satellite observations of this ozone depletion. This rapid ozone decline combined with the continental scale led to the coining of the name “Antarctic Ozone Hole” to describe the phenomenon. The ozone hole’s appearance did not directly lead to the finalizing of the “Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer” (now signed by every nation on Earth), but it likely influenced negotiations for the treaty and supported later strengthening of the protocol with amendments in 1990 and 1992. Subsequent work showing that chlorine-containing substances were causing the ozone hole led to a complete banning of CFCs in 2010. Rich’s work on the Antarctic ozone hole was cited in his 2007 NASA Goddard Scientific Research Award as “… one of the most important papers in atmospheric science in the second half of the twentieth century.” Rich also received NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal for his ozone hole research and was named a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1996. Rich continued his ozone layer research, contributing to the development of trend-quality data sets. In 1991 he published a seminal paper on ozone trends that showed the unambiguous decline of the ozone layer. In this paper he carefully removed “natural” ozone variations to reveal a steady downward ozone trend. Rich was recognized in 1991 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Ozone Protection Award for being “… a leader in the verification of ozone depletion from observational data.” Assessments of ozone depletion are written reports from scientists that provide the foundation for the international Montreal Protocol and Vienna Convention. While many “national” reports were written following Rich’s 1974 paper, there was no international consensus. In December 1980, Rich led an international-based scientific summary of the stratosphere and an assessment of human impact on the ozone layer. This was followed by the 1985 three-volume international report (Atmospheric Ozone: 1985) in which Rich helped write the introduction as well as provide model contributions, reviews, and edits of the report. Ozone 1985 was the scientific basis for the landmark Montreal Protocol. Rich contributed to assessments in 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 in several roles. Rich attended many of the Les Diableret meetings where the primary executive summaries for Montreal Protocol policy makers were written. Rich’s calm influence and careful science statements at those meetings helped produce clear and consistent messages for the nations of the world in their Montreal Protocol deliberations. Rich’s modeling contributions began with one dimensional models (height) in the 1970s, evolving to height – latitude models in the 1980s, and fully three-dimensional models late in his career. He was expert at identifying the processes that controlled the simulated ozone distribution and its response to natural and human-produced perturbations. Late in his career at NASA, Rich took on the challenge of leading NASA Goddard’s chemistry–climate modeling project. Rich applied his strengths to this project, making sure that it focused on the scientific questions of the day and examining how ozone changes impact the temperature and dynamics of the stratosphere and troposphere. In 2009, Rich was awarded the NASA Robert H. Goddard Award of Merit, in part for having “… pioneered a new initiative in the model of the coupling of chemistry and climate, utilizing the GMAO climate model, and involving a large number of Goddard and outside scientists.” In the 1990s the World Climate Research Program’s (WCRP) Stratospheric Processes effort was emerging, drawing together scientists from many nations to discuss our evolving understanding of the ozone layer. As an important contributor to conferences and summer schools organized by this WCRP effort, Rich could be found in the center of a crowd of early career scientists, discussing ozone, science, and life, thus fostering the next generation of leaders. He was elected a member of the International Ozone Commission (IO3C) in 1996, became the IO3C vice-president in 2008, and was elected as an “Honorary IO3C Member” in 2016. Papers, citations, and awards are performance measures that rarely fully capture the totality of a scientist’s contribution and clearly fail to capture the essence of a life. Rich had an extremely distinguished science career with 155 publications in refereed science journals and 63 additional publications in other reports and science documents. Rich was a quick thinker with a curiosity and a love of learning that never faded. He was particularly adept at the use of models and analysis to identify the processes that control the ozone distribution, the interplay between chemical reactions and transport, and applying his knowledge to understand the stratospheric response to anthropogenic changes in composition and climate. He was a selfless contributor and an excellent collaborator. He was a friend and mentor to many, and through his mentorship his legacy will continue. In addition to his scientific family, Rich is survived by his beloved wife of 59 years, Shirley Stolarski; daughter Susan Stolarski Datta and her husband Joy of Charleston, SC; son Steven Stolarski and his wife Vanessa of Purcellville, VA; three grandchildren, Kellen Datta, and Zachary and Maxwell Stolarski; brother Bob Stolarski and his wife Jean of Dewey, AZ; and brother-in-law Bob Jewett and his wife Janet of Loveland, CO. Acknowledgments: The Earth Observer staff wishes to thank Paul A. Newman [GSFC] and Anne Douglass [GSFC, emeritus] for writing this In Memoriam. View the full article

Earth Observer Earth and Climate Earth Observer Home Editor’s Corner Feature Articles News In Memoriams Science in the News More Meeting Summaries Archives 8 min read Summary of the Fifty-Second U.S.–Japan ASTER Science Team Meeting Michael Abrams, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, mjabrams@jpl.nasa.gov Yasushi Yamaguchi, Nagoya University/Japan Science and Technology Agency, yasushi@nagoya-u.jp Introduction The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Science Team (ST) organized a three-day workshop that took place September 11–13, 2023, at the offices of Japan Space Systems (JSS) in Tokyo. Over 40 people from Japan and the U.S. participated in the in-person meeting—some of whom are shown in the Photo below. U.S. participants included members from NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA’s Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LPDAAC), NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), University of Arizona (UA), Grace Consulting (GC), and University of Pittsburgh (Pitt). Japanese members included representatives from JSS, Ibaraki University (IU), Nagoya University (NU), University of Tokyo (UT), Geologic Survey of Japan (GSJ), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), University of Tsukuba (UTs), and Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan (RESTEC). The meeting objectives focused on discussing impacts of the 50% budget reductions to the Terra mission (including ASTER) that have been proposed in the NASA Budget for Fiscal Years (FY) 2024–26; revised spacecraft management protocols by the Flight Operations Team; data acquisition status; data calibration and validation; data distribution; status of Level-1 processing interruption; applications; and end-of-mission plans. After summarizing the opening plenary presentations, the remainder of this article provides highlights from meetings of the various ASTER working groups and the closing plenary session. Photo. Some of the attendees at the fifty-second ASTER STM. Photo credit: Mako Komoda, JSS Opening Plenary Session Yasushi Yamaguchi [NU] and Michael Abrams [JPL—ASTER ST Leaders from Japan and the U.S., respectively] welcomed participants and reviewed the agenda for the opening plenary and the schedule for the week’s working groups. Akira Tsuneto [AIST—Vice President], whose office is responsible for the ASTER project, presented a special welcome. As the former Director of Space Industry Office in the Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), he was responsible for making ASTER data free to all users. Michael Abrams [JPL] presented Jason Hendrickson’s [GSFC] slides on the operations status of NASA’s Terra platform—which has changed significantly since the last meeting. The Earth Science Mission Operations (ESMO) Flight Operations Team began implementing “Lights Out Operation,” reducing staff from 24/7 coverage and eliminating the night shift. These changes resulted in a small increase in data gaps and delayed anomaly response. In early 2023 Terra lost two of its 24 solar array shunts. Full power capability remains—however, there is only one spare shunt remaining. Those issues notwithstanding, Terra remains healthy after more than 23 years of operation. Chris Torbert [LPDAAC] presented ASTER product distribution statistics. The ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (DEM) continues to be the most ordered product. Torbert discussed the ASTER Preservation Content Specification for the end-of-mission archiving. There is a NASA document that describes the desired content of this archive. As described by the ST at the last meeting, most ASTER data products will be created as real files and placed in a searchable and orderable archive, accessed through NASA’s Earthdata tool, where mission preservation documents for other instruments (e.g., HIRDLS, ICESat/GLAS, TOMS) can be found. Michael Abrams [JPL] presented highlights of science results based on ASTER data—including the 2023 Earth Science Senior Review. Terra presented its report to NASA Headquarters, but as of this meeting, the response is still pending. However, as stated earlier, a three-year budget reduction of 50% is anticipated. Hitomi Inada [JSS] presented the status of the ASTER instrument. Although many of the monitored components [e.g., visible-near-infrared (VNIR) pointing motor] have exceeded their original useful life in orbit, they show no signs of decreases in performance. All temperature and current telemetry trends remain straight lines. Tetsushi Tachikawa [JSS] summarized the status of ASTER observations since the beginning of the mission. He reported that all of the global observation programs are functioning normally, acquiring data as planned. The change of the orbit repeat after the October 2022 constellation exit maneuver has been accommodated in the ASTER scheduler. Simon Hook [JPL] described the status of the multispectral thermal infrared (TIR) instrument on the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) as well as NASA’s future Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) mission, which is part of the planned Earth System Observatory. Applications Working Group The applications session offered a sample of the variety of applications that make use of data from ASTER, see examples below. Miyuki Muto [IU] shared her work to estimate the volume of waste in 19 landfills in 11 countries through analysis of ASTER DEM data over the past 20 years. Analysis of data from a site in India showed that the volume of waste increased four-fold over 20 years—see Figure 1. All the other monitored sites showed similar large increases in waste volume. Figure 1. Google Earth Image of landfill in India [top] and temporal changes in volume from 2001 to 2021 [bottom]. Figure credit: Miyuki Muto and Hideyuki Tonooka, IU Figure credit: Miyuki Muto and Hideyuki Tonooka, IU Michael Ramsey [Pitt] discussed detecting volcanic eruption precursors using the entire ASTER TIR archive for six selected volcanoes: Etna, Fuego, Kliuchevskoi, Lascar, Vulcano, and Popocatepetl—four of these are shown in Figure 2. He and his students developed statistical methods to detect both low- and high-temperature anomalies. The team performed a cluster analysis on four volcanoes. By calculating and plotting heat flux versus mean temperature-above-background versus maximum temperature-above-background, clusters for eruption styles can be identified—see Figure 2. These results offer potential applicability to other volcanoes. Figure 2. Three-dimensional plots show heat flux and temperature plots (further explained in the text) for hundreds of ASTER TIR scenes for four volcanoes, revealing differences related to eruptive styles. The lower cluster (blue) indicated fumarole and passive degassing; the medium cluster (red) correlated with domes and explosive and small lava flows; and the high clusters (green) correlated with large lava flows. Figure credit: Michael Ramsey/Pitt Calibration/Validation Working Group This working group monitors the radiometric performance of ASTER’s VNIR and TIR instruments. The team performs calibration and validation of these instruments by analysis of onboard calibration lamps or blackbody, as well as measurements of pseudo-invariant ground targets during field campaigns. No changes in instrument performance were found based on validation activities during the past year. The radiometric calibration coefficients will remain unchanged for the foreseeable future. Temperature–Emissivity Working Group The Temperature–Emissivity Working Group focuses on ASTER’s kinetic temperature and emissivity (T–E) products and their applications, including monitoring instrument performance and calibration. They also review the status of the nighttime TIR global map program. In situ measurement campaigns in Japan and the U.S. use lakes and dry lake beds for ground-based calibration campaigns. Recent campaign results indicate that the TIR instrument perform within required calibration limits—see Figure 3. The team also noted the successful completion of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)–ASTER 375-m (~1230-ft) near-real-time land-surface temperature algorithm using ASTER emissivity for corrections. Review of the thermal global mapping acquisition program indicated that it was proceeding as planned with no changes needed. Figure 3. ASTER and Landsat 8 and 9 data provide a way to compare the satellite-derived temperature and lake surface measured temperature. ASTER mean difference for all five bands is less than 0.5 °C (~0.9 °F). On the Y axis, BT stands for Brightness Temperature. Figure credit: Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan/Soushi Kato Figure credit: Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan/Soushi Kato Operations and Mission Planning Working Group The Operations and Mission Planning working group oversees and reviews the acquisition programs executed by the ASTER scheduler. The working group schedules ASTER data acquisitions daily to accommodate ASTER’s average 8% duty cycle. An automated program selects 600–700 daily scenes from the more than 3000 in the request archive. Tetsushi Tachikawa [JSS] reviewed the status of acquisition scheduling. Urgent observations receive the highest priority and can be scheduled close to acquisition time. Approximately 70 scenes are programmed per month—with over 95% acquisition success. By contrast, global mapping data acquisitions receive the lowest priority and fill in the scenes for the daily quota. The objective is for ASTER to acquire at least one cloud-free image for every place on Earth. Due to persistent cloud cover, success is typically ~85%. The group restarts the program after several years, with the next scheduled restart in October 2024. The thermal group submits aerial requirements to acquire global nighttime coverage with the thermal bands, which will continue as scheduled. There are also acquisition programs that focus on islands, volcanoes, glaciers, and cloudy areas. The global volcano image acquisition program will continue with no change to the observation parameters. Acquisition of images of islands and over cloudy areas will also continue in current form. The global glacier acquisition program will be modified to change the VNIR gain settings to optimize images over snow and ice. Chris Torbert [LPDAAC] reported that software fixes were ongoing for the (currently non-functional) expedited data processing at the LPDAAC. Closing Plenary Session Each working group chairperson summarized the presentations, discussions, and recommendations that occurred during each session. Consensus holds the ASTER instrument is operating normally, with no indications of any component failures. The backlog of unprocessed scenes resulting from the 2022 constellation exit maneuver impact on production software should clear by early October 2023. The closing highlighted the impact of the 50% budget reduction on the Flight Operation Team at GSFC with only a small increase in lost data (1–2%) due to the absence of operators to attempt immediate recovery. Conclusion The fifty-second ASTER ST Meeting successfully covered all of the critical issues introduced during the opening plenary session. Working groups updated instrument scheduling, instrument performance, archiving plans, and new applications. The plan is for the 2024 meeting to take place at the same venue in Tokyo. View the full article

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Images from the November 2023 flyby of asteroid Dinkinesh by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft show a trough on Dinkinesh where a large piece — about a quarter of the asteroid — suddenly shifted, a ridge, and a separate contact binary satellite (now known as Selam). Scientists say this complicated structure shows that Dinkinesh and Selam have significant internal strength and a complex, dynamic history. Panels a, b, and c each show stereographic image pairs of the asteroid Dinkinesh taken by the NASA Lucy Spacecraft’s L’LORRI Instrument in the minutes around closest approach on Nov. 1, 2023. The yellow and rose dots indicate the trough and ridge features, respectively. These images have been sharpened and processed to enhance contrast. Panel d shows a side view of Dinkinesh and its satellite Selam taken a few minutes after closest approach.NASA/GSFC/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL/NOIRLab “We want to understand the strengths of small bodies in our solar system because that’s critical for understanding how planets like Earth got here,” said Hal Levison, Lucy principal investigator at the Boulder, Colorado, branch of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “Basically, the planets formed when zillions of smaller objects orbiting the Sun, like asteroids, ran into each other. How objects behave when they hit each other, whether they break apart or stick together, has a lot to do with their strength and internal structure.” Levison is lead author of a paper on these observations published May 29 in Nature. On November 1, 2023, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew by the main-belt asteroid Dinkinesh. Now, the mission has released pictures from Lucy’s Long Range Reconnaissance Imager taken over a roughly three-hour period, providing the best views of the asteroid to date. During the flyby, Lucy discovered that Dinkinesh has a small moon, which the mission named “Selam,” a greeting in the Amharic language meaning “peace.” Lucy is the first mission designed to visit the Jupiter Trojans, two swarms of asteroids trapped in Jupiter’s orbit that may be “fossils” from the era of planet formation. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Download this video and more at: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14596/ Researchers think that Dinkinesh is revealing its internal structure by how it has responded to stress. Over millions of years rotating in the sunlight, the tiny forces coming from the thermal radiation emitted from the asteroid’s warm surface generated a small torque that caused Dinkinesh to gradually rotate faster, building up centrifugal stresses until part of the asteroid shifted into a more elongated shape. This event likely caused debris to enter into a close orbit, which became the raw material that produced the ridge and satellite. Stereo movie of asteroid Dinkinesh from NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flyby on Nov. 1, 2023.NASA/GSFC/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL/NOIRLab/Brian May/Claudia Manzoni If Dinkinesh were much weaker, more like a fluid pile of sand, its particles would have gradually moved toward the equator and flown off into orbit as it spun faster. However, the images suggest that it was able to hold together longer, more like a rock, with more strength than a fluid, eventually giving way under stress and fragmenting into large pieces. (Although the amount of strength needed to fragment a small asteroid like Dinkinesh is miniscule compared to most rocks on Earth.) “The trough suggests an abrupt failure, more an earthquake with a gradual buildup of stress and then a sudden release, instead of a slow process like a sand dune forming,” said Keith Noll of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, project scientist for Lucy and a co-author of the paper. “These features tell us that Dinkinesh has some strength, and they let us do a little historical reconstruction to see how this asteroid evolved,” said Levison. “It broke, things moved apart and formed a disk of material during that failure, some of which rained back onto the surface to make the ridge.” The researchers think some of the material in the disk formed the moon Selam, which is actually two objects touching each other, a configuration called a contact binary. Details of how this unusual moon formed remain mysterious. Stereo movie of Selam from NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flyby on Nov. 1, 2023.NASA/GSFC/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL/NOIRLab/Brian May/Claudia Manzoni Dinkinesh and its satellite are the first two of 11 asteroids that Lucy’s team plans to explore over its 12-year journey. After skimming the inner edge of the main asteroid belt, Lucy is now heading back toward Earth for a gravity assist in December 2024. That close flyby will propel the spacecraft back through the main asteroid belt, where it will observe asteroid Donaldjohanson in 2025, and then on to the first of the encounters with the Trojan asteroids that lead and trail Jupiter in its orbit of the Sun beginning in 2027. Lucy’s principal investigator is based out of the Boulder, Colorado, branch of Southwest Research Institute, headquartered in San Antonio. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and safety and mission assurance. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, built and operates the spacecraft. Lucy is the 13th mission in NASA’s Discovery Program. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Discovery Program for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. For more information about NASA’s Lucy mission, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/lucy Share Details Last Updated May 29, 2024 EditorWilliam SteigerwaldContactWilliam Steigerwaldwilliam.a.steigerwald@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsAsteroidsGeneralThe Solar System Explore More 1 min read What are the Trojan Asteroids? We Asked a NASA Scientist What are the Trojan asteroids? These mysterious space rocks have been gravitationally trapped in Jupiter’s… Article 2 years ago 3 min read Asteroid Fast Facts Article 10 years ago 13 min read NASA’s Lucy Mission: A Journey to the Young Solar System NASA’s Lucy spacecraft launched Oct. 16, 2021, on a 12-year journey to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. Article 3 years ago View the full article

Lee English Jr., left, and his son, Noah, follow in the footsteps of the late Lee English Sr. by working at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. English Sr., an engineer working for the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International Corporation in the 1970s, is credited with conducting the first seven engine tests for NASA’s new Space Shuttle Program, paving the way for RS-25 engine testing at NASA Stennis. The RS-25 engine, manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3 Harris Technologies company, is an evolved version of the space shuttle main engine.NASA/Danny Nowlin For Lee English Jr., the sound of a ringing phone probably sounds a lot like the roar of a rocket engine test at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. During the 1970s, when 9-year-old English Jr. picked up the ringing phone, someone from the south Mississippi test site might say, “Tell your dad we just dropped LOX.” The caller was referring to the liquid oxygen propellant used to help fuel a new space shuttle engine undergoing developmental testing at NASA Stennis. To the English family, NASA Stennis stands alongside cherished family heirlooms. It is a treasured place where one generation helped lead the way for ensuing ones to find career success. Both English Jr. and his son, Noah, have followed in Lee English Sr.’s footsteps to work at NASA Stennis. Eleven months after the Mississippi Test Operations became the National Space Technology Laboratories, the first static test-firing of the space shuttle main engine test on the A-1 Test Stand is conducted on May 19, 1975.NASA English Sr., an engineer working for the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International Corporation in the 1970s, moved his family to Mississippi from California when work was just beginning on how to test engines for NASA’s new Space Shuttle Program. He is remembered as a “key guy” who helped develop the testing blueprints. He had to be available for consultation at a moment’s notice since testing could happen at all hours, including at night. He also is credited with conducting the first seven space shuttle main engine tests at the Fred Haise Test Stand (formerly A-1 Test Stand). An image from 1975 shows the original space shuttle main engine test team standing at the base of the A-1 Test Stand, now known as the Fred Haise Test Stand. Lee English Sr., front right, is pictured holding a white hard hat.NASA “Every time we do something new, you don’t know what you don’t know,” said Maury Vander, chief of the NASA Stennis Test Operations Division. “These teams were taking the first steps toward getting an engine ready that was required to make the shuttle successful.” Initial hot fires were one second or less. “There was a lot to learn,” Vander said. “The new engine was extremely complicated, taking about 20 tests to achieve a duration of two seconds, then reaching a duration of 10 seconds on test number 42.” Now, a team of operators from NASA; Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3 Harris Technologies company; and Syncom Space Services (S3) routinely test RS-25 engines for 500 seconds. The evolved version of the space shuttle main engine, manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne, helps power NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond. From answering the telephone to answering the call to continue a legacy, English Jr., now 60, has worked in various roles for over three decades at NASA Stennis. As an instrumentation technician for S3, he now helps collect and process engine performance data during hot fires. “There’s a sense of pride when you see something you feel like your family has worked towards for lots and lots of years,” English Jr. said. “At the time, I’m sure when my dad and the team were doing their work, they never thought we would be using those same engines to try to go to Mars or even back to the Moon.” As English Jr. helps collect data on engine performance, his son, Noah, 28, works with S3 as a senior mechanical technician to support propellant transfer for engine testing. “This place is special and not only for my family,” Noah said. “This place is special for Mississippi. The jobs and opportunity here are a big part of Mississippi. It would be amazing in the future to have a child who works out here and have the legacy continue.” English Sr.’s last visit to NASA Stennis came more than seven years ago. He passed away in 2019 at the age of 88. “He was amazed at how efficient things had gotten over the years,” English Jr. recalled. The assessment is a tribute, not only to the groundbreaking work of the original test team but to countless others – like his son and grandson – who have followed and who work daily to ensure NASA Stennis is better than they found it for the benefit of all. Share Details Last Updated May 29, 2024 EditorNASA Stennis CommunicationsContactC. Lacy Thompsoncalvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov / (228) 688-3333LocationStennis Space Center Related TermsStennis Space Center Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Stennis About NASA Stennis Multi-User Test Complex NASA Stennis Front Door NASA Stennis Fact Sheets View the full article

2 min read Sols 4199-4201: Driving Through a Puzzle This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4197 (2024-05-27 11:31:12 UTC). Earth planning date: Tuesday, May 28, 2024 For the last several months, Curiosity has been steadily climbing through the bedrock layers of the upper sulfate unit. While each stop had its own collection of bedrock blocks tilting one way or another, you could imagine putting each scene back together into one coherent package of layers, undoing the work that erosion and time had wrought. In Curiosity’s current location, Gediz Vallis, the puzzle is not so neatly put back together. The valley floor is a jumble of different rock types, as is the ridge that fills the valley, and the rocks are like the pieces you find when you open up a puzzle: different colors and different shapes that as a whole yield a larger picture. Curiosity’s task in today’s plan was to start sorting through the puzzle pieces to continue constructing the larger picture, or geologic history, of Gediz Vallis. We found individual smooth white pieces at “Hidden Lakes” and “Reggae Pole,” a smooth gray piece at “Rixford Pass,” and a dark gray, rough piece at “Garnet Lake.” “Barrett Lakes” was made up of gray, pale orange, and white pieces, as was “Vennacher Needle,” although the latter appear to have a pattern in the distribution of the pieces. We also acquired numerous mosaics across the wider scene to grab a record of as many pieces as possible. Most notably, we imaged the next big piece we plan to visit in this plan’s drive, “Whitebark Pass.” It has the same variety of colors that Barrett Lakes and Vennacher Needle do, but the pieces are in more orderly proximity to one another, making it easier to figure out the bigger picture. We did not just spend time looking at complicated rock jumbles. We added observations of dust loading, dust devils, and clouds to capture the chaotic-in-its-own-way atmosphere. REMS, RAD, and DAN measurements occur regularly in the plan, and we dedicated imaging time to the orderly layers of the “Kukenan” butte – a Martian puzzle, albeit a slightly easier one to put together. Written by Michelle Minitti, Planetary Geologist at Framework Share Details Last Updated May 29, 2024 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 2 min read Sols 4195-4198: Feels Like Summer Article 1 day ago 4 min read Sols 4193-4194: Stay Overnight? No, Touch-and-Go! Article 7 days ago 2 min read Sols 1151-1152: Rocky Roads in the Margin Unit Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. It’s dry, rocky, and bitter cold. The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars… All Mars Resources Rover Basics Mars Exploration Science Goals View the full article

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The WirelessArray developed by Interdisciplinary Consulting Corporation (IC2), laid out here for a test flight at Langley Research Center, makes flight testing for drones quick and cost-effective.Credit: NASA Anyone who lives near an airport or is experiencing the emergence of a cicada brood can quickly identify the source of that ongoing noise. However, running tests to identify the noise created by a new drone or find pests in a field of crops requires a high-tech solution that maps sound. With help from NASA, Interdisciplinary Consulting Corporation (IC2) introduced a new Wireless Array to do just that – anywhere, anytime. Airplanes undergo noise testing and require certification, so they don’t exceed the Federal Aviation Administration’s noise limits. Each small, saucer-shaped base, called a node, is equipped with an embedded microphone that measures the air pressure changes created by overhead sounds. For a large vehicle like an airplane, hundreds of these sensors, or microphone array, are laid out in a pattern on a runway to monitor the underside of the plane as it flies over. Interested in making its flight tests more affordable, NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, supported the company with Small Business Innovation Research contracts and expert consulting. “Each node contains a small computer system able to acquire and store data in memory on an SD card. It also has a small web server that allows the end user to start acquisition, stop recording, download files, check on the battery health, and more,” said Chip Patterson, vice president of IC2. All it takes to operate an individual node or an extensive array is an off-the-shelf wireless access point and a standard laptop with IC2’s software application. The technology integrates into existing noise testing systems. The microphone can easily be swapped for various other sensor types, like an acoustic sensor, making it possible to monitor animal noises that indicate health and well-being. An infrasonic sensor could measure the noise from supersonic aircraft, identifying the direction and arrival of a sonic boom. This small, portable technology is finding its way into various projects and applications beyond aircraft testing. Working with an entomologist, IC2 will use acoustic data to listen for high-frequency insect sounds in agricultural settings. Discovering where insects feed on crops will allow farmers to intervene before they do too much damage while limiting pesticide use in those areas. With NASA’s help, IC2’s Wireless Array technology enables sound-based solutions in agriculture, aerospace, and beyond. Read More Share Details Last Updated May 29, 2024 Related TermsSpinoffsLangley Research CenterTechnology TransferTechnology Transfer & Spinoffs Explore More 2 min read Tech Today: From Spacesuits to Racing Suits Article 1 week ago 4 min read NASA’s X-59 Passes Milestone Toward Safe First Flight Article 2 weeks ago 2 min read Tech Today: A NASA-Inspired Bike Helmet with Aerodynamics of a Jet Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Technology Transfer & Spinoffs Aeronautics Langley Research Center SBIR/STTR News & Success Stories View the full article

6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) JPL engineers and technicians prepare NASA’s Farside Seismic Suite for testing in simulated lunar gravity, which is about one-sixth of Earth’s. The payload will gather the agency’s first seismic data from the Moon in nearly 50 years and take the first-ever seismic measurements from the far side.NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s Farside Seismic Suite undergoes work in a JPL clean room in March. The instrument’s two sensitive seismometers are packaged in a cube-within-a-cube structure with a battery, a computer, and electronics. The shiny blanket is an outer insulating layer; the single solar panel provides power.NASA/JPL-Caltech The technology behind the two seismometers that make up NASA’s Farside Seismic Suite was used to detect more than a thousand Red Planet quakes. The most sensitive instrument ever built to measure quakes and meteor strikes on other worlds is getting closer to its journey to the mysterious far side of the Moon. It’s one of two seismometers adapted for the lunar surface from instruments originally designed for NASA’s InSight Mars lander, which recorded more than 1,300 marsquakes before the mission’s conclusion in 2022. Part of a payload called Farside Seismic Suite (FSS) that was recently assembled at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the two seismometers are expected to arrive in 2026 at Schrödinger basin, a wide impact crater about 300 miles (500 kilometers) from the Moon’s South Pole. The self-sufficient, solar-powered suite has its own computer and communications equipment, plus the ability to protect itself from the extreme heat of lunar daytime and the frigid conditions of night. Lunar Seismic Firsts After being delivered to the surface by a lunar lander under NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, the suite will return the agency’s first seismic data from the Moon since the last Apollo program seismometers were in operation nearly 50 years ago. Not only that, but it will also provide the first-ever seismic measurements from the Moon’s far side. The Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure instrument (SEIS) aboard NASA’s Mars InSight is within the copper-colored hexagonal enclosure in this photo taken by a camera on the lander’s robotic arm on Dec. 4, 2018. The SEIS technology is being used on Farside Seismic Suite, bound for the Moon.NASA/JPL-Caltech Up to 30 times more sensitive than its Apollo predecessors, the suite will record the Moon’s seismic “background” vibration, which is driven by micrometeorites the size of small pebbles that pelt the surface. This will help NASA better understand the current impact environment as the agency prepares to send Artemis astronauts to explore the lunar surface. Planetary scientists are eager to see what FSS tells them about the Moon’s internal activity and structure. What they learn will offer insights into how the Moon — as well as rocky planets like Mars and Earth — formed and evolved. It will also answer a lingering question about moonquakes: Why did the Apollo instruments on the lunar near side detect little far-side seismic activity? One possible explanation is that something in the Moon’s deep structure essentially absorbs far-side quakes, making them harder for Apollo’s seismometers to have sensed. Another is that there are fewer quakes on the far side, which on the surface looks very different from the side that faces Earth. “FSS will offer answers to questions we’ve been asking about the Moon for decades,” said Mark Panning, the FSS principal investigator at JPL and project scientist for InSight. “We cannot wait to start getting this data back.” Mars-to-Moon Science Farside Seismic Suite’s two complementary instruments were adapted from InSight designs to perform in lunar gravity — less than half that of Mars, which, in turn, is about a third of Earth’s. They’re packaged together with a battery, the computer, and electronics inside a cube structure that’s surrounded by insulation and an outer protective cube. Perched atop the lander, the suite will gather data continuously for at least 4½ months, operating through the long, cold lunar nights. Seen here during assembly in November 2023, Farside Seismic Suite’s inner cube houses the NASA payload’s large battery (at rear) and its two seismometers. The gold, puck-shaped device holds the Short Period sensor, while the silver enclosure contains the Very Broadband seismometer. NASA/JPL-Caltech The Very Broadband seismometer, or VBB, is the most sensitive seismometer ever built for use in space exploration: It can detect ground motions smaller than the size of a single hydrogen atom. A fat cylinder about 5 inches (14 centimeters) in diameter, it measures up-and-down movement using a pendulum held in place by a spring. It was originally constructed as an emergency replacement instrument (a “flight spare”) for InSight by the French space agency, CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales). Philippe Lognonné of Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, the principal investigator for InSight’s seismometer, is an FSS co-investigator and VBB instrument lead. “We learned so much about Mars from this instrument, and now we are thrilled with the opportunity to turn that experience toward the mysteries of the Moon,” he said. The suite’s smaller seismometer, called the Short Period sensor, or SP, was built by Kinemetrics in Pasadena, California, in collaboration with the University of Oxford and Imperial College, London. The puck-shaped device measures motion in three directions using sensors etched into a trio of square silicon chips each about 1 inch (25 millimeters) wide. Assembled and Tested The FSS payload came together at JPL over the last year. In recent weeks, it survived rigorous environmental testing in vacuum and extreme temperatures that simulate space, along with severe shaking that mimics the rocket’s motion during launch. “The JPL team has been excited from the beginning that we’re going to the Moon with our French colleagues,” said JPL’s Ed Miller, FSS project manager and, like Panning and Lognonné, a veteran of the InSight mission. “We went to Mars together, and now we’ll be able to look up at the Moon and know we built something up there. It’ll make us so proud.” More About the Mission A division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL manages, designed, assembled, and tested Farside Seismic Suite. The French space agency, CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales), and IPGP (Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris) provided the suite’s Very Broadband seismometer with support from Université Paris Cité and the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). Imperial College, London and the University of Oxford collaborated to provide the Short Period sensor, managed by Kinemetrics in Pasadena. The University of Michigan provided the flight computer, power electronics, and associated software. A selection of NASA’s PRISM (Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon), FSS is funded by the Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office within the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center provides program management. FSS will land on the Moon as part of an upcoming lunar delivery under NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. More information about FSS is at: https://go.nasa.gov/FSS News Media Contact Melissa Pamer Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 626-314-4928 melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov 2024-074 Share Details Last Updated May 29, 2024 Related TermsEarth's MoonArtemisCommercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)Jet Propulsion LaboratoryLunar SciencePlanetary Geosciences & GeophysicsPlanetary ScienceScience Instruments Explore More 6 min read Ongoing Venus Volcanic Activity Discovered With NASA’s Magellan Data Article 2 days ago 4 min read What is 3D-MAT? Article 6 days ago 6 min read New Images From Euclid Mission Reveal Wide View of the Dark Universe Article 6 days ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

NASA Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, lunar module pilot for the Apollo 10 mission, exits the spacecraft during recovery operations on May 26, 1969. He and the other two crew members already in the raft, Thomas P. Stafford (left) and John W. Young, were brought to the prime recovery ship, USS Princeton after splashdown. The Apollo 10 mission was the first flight of a complete, crewed Apollo spacecraft to operate around the Moon. It encompassed all aspects of an actual crewed lunar landing, except the landing. See more photos from the Apollo 10 mission. Image Credit: NASA View the full article

Earth Observer Earth and Climate Earth Observer Home Editor’s Corner Feature Articles News In Memoriams Science in the News More Meeting Summaries Archives 13 min read Earth Science Information Partners Celebrate 25 Years of Collaboration Allison Mills, Earth Science Information Partners, allisonmills@esipfed.org Susan Shingledecker, Earth Science Information Partners, susanshingledecker@esipfed.org Photo 1. Photo of some of the in-person participants of the July 2023 ESIP Meeting. ESIP celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2023. Founded as a knowledge sharing space, the nonprofit has grown as a collaborative data hub. Photo credit: Homer Horowitz/ Homer Horowitz Photography Introduction In 2023, the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) community celebrated 25 years since the nonprofit’s founding. Serving as a home for Earth science data and computing professionals, ESIP has evolved alongside the tools and vast expansion of Earth science data available now. Building on the deep roots of collaboration that ground ESIP and honoring the 2023 Year of Open Science, the 2023 July ESIP Meeting’s theme focused on “Opening Doors to Open Science.” Open science is a collaborative culture enabled by technology that empowers the open sharing of data, information, and knowledge within the scientific community and the wider public to accelerate scientific research and understanding. This definition of open science comes from the 2021 article on the topic published in Earth and Space Science. (To learn more about how open science is being implemented within the context of NASA’s Earth Science Division – see Open Source Science: The NASA Earth Science Perspective, in the September–October 2021 issue of The Earth Observer [Volume 33, Issue 5, pp. 5–9, 11].) Participants from around the world gathered July 18–21, 2023, in Burlington, VT to explore this theme. One of the strengths of the ESIP community is how it brings people together from government agencies, academia, and industry to work toward common goals. Altogether, nearly 400 attendees from nearly as many institutions, spanning many technical domains and career stages, gathered for the 4-day meeting, which featured a hybrid format that allowed for both in-person participation and virtual access to all plenaries and breakout sessions. Some of the in-person attendees are shown in Photo 1. This article begins with a brief section on the history and purpose of ESIP followed by a summary of the highlights from each day of the July 2023 meeting. History and Purpose of ESIP ESIP was created in response to a National Research Council (NRC) review of the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). (To learn more about EOSDIS, see Earth Science Data Operations: Acquiring, Distributing, and Delivering NASA Data for the Benefit of Society, in the March–April 2017 issue of The Earth Observer [Volume 29, Issue 2, pp. 4–18].) As NASA’s first Earth Observing System (EOS) missions were launching or preparing to launch, the NRC called on NASA to develop a new, distributed structure that would be operated and managed by the Earth science community and would include observation and research, application, and education data. ESIP began with 24 NASA-funded partners, whose purpose was to experiment with and evolve methods to make Earth science data easy to preserve, locate, access, and use by a broad community encompassing research, education, and commercial interests. NASA adopted a deliberate and incremental approach in developing ESIP by starting with a limited set of prototype projects called ESIPs, representing both the research and applications development communities. These working prototype ESIP projects were joined by nine NASA distributed active archive centers (DAACs) to form the core of what was then known as the Federation of ESIPs and were responsible for creating its governing structures and the collaborative community it is today. Although it started as a federation of partners connected due to a NASA mandate, ESIP has grown into an organization of organizations — and its membership has increased exponentially and diversified significantly. Today, there are more than 170 partner organizations – with room to grow. ESIP holds twice-annual meetings, which have run nonstop since 1998, and all past meeting material is available online. (To see an example of topics discussed at an early ESIP Federation meeting, see Meeting of the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners in the September–October 2001 issue of The Earth Observer [Volume 13, Issue 5, pp. 19–20, 26].) ESIP also currently supports about 30 collaboration areas, which include 11 standing committees and numerous smaller clusters, or working groups. These committees and clusters conduct business both during and especially between meetings. ESIP also started the ESIP Lab, a microfunding initiative that supports learning objectives alongside technical skill-building. The establishment of an ESIP Community Fellows program has carved out a stronger foothold for early career professionals while the Awards, Endorsement, and programs offers knowledge sharing and recognition at all career stages. ESIP still brings people together to work on complex Earth science issues — an important task that has not changed in over 25 years — but clearly the world is not the same as it was in 1998 when ESIP was established. This holds true for the hardware, software, remote sensing tools, and computing resources that have changed along with the people and communities who use them. In recognition of this, ESIP has developed a new mission and vision statements, and a new list of core values. A key moment in the 2023 July ESIP meeting (reported on below) was the revelation of these new statements, which were then refined during the meeting and voted on by the Board on July 17, 2023 — see ESIP Vision, Mission, and Core Value Statements below. ESIP Vision and Mission Statements and Core Values Vision. We envision a world where data-driven solutions are a reality for all by making Earth science data actionable by all who need them anytime, anywhere. Mission. To empower innovative use and stewardship of Earth science data to solve our planet’s greatest challenges. Core Values. Integrity, inclusiveness, collaboration, openness, and curiosity. The new vision statement was intentionally worded to acknowledge how much power is at the fingertips of all data users. The new mission statement honors the depth of knowledge that is required to make data-driven decisions. Much like open science itself, there is a productive tension between wanting to make data as easy to use as possible while upholding the rigor of scientific standards. All ESIP collaborations are open to everyone, whether an individual’s home institution is an ESIP partner or not. Overview of the 2023 July ESIP Meeting The 2023 July ESIP Meeting showcased how the attitudes, behaviors, connections, engagement, and responses of people to the natural environment as well as to agricultural and food systems – known as human dimensions – inform the ways the community tackles technical challenges and how important it is to gather, work together, and find inspiration. Summary highlights from the meeting follow – organized by day. All the meeting sessions were recorded and are available publicly through the ESIP YouTube channel. The reader is referred to these recordings to learn more about the topics mentioned here. The 2023 July ESIP meeting brought together 366 attendees – including 120 first-time participants. Through 4 plenaries and 44 breakout sessions, more than 100 organizers and speakers addressed the latest updates in Earth science data. Through the lens of open science, the community considered both the impact of the past 25 years of ESIP as well as how to move forward into the next quarter century. Opening Doors – and Knocking Down Barriers – to Open Science Throughout its history, ESIP meetings have brought together the most innovative thinkers and leaders around Earth observation data, forming a community dedicated to making Earth observations more discoverable, accessible, and useful to researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and the public. Openness is simply how work is done in ESIP. Many participants are drawn to ESIP’s approach, because they find roadblocks to open collaboration and innovation elsewhere. While the ESIP community values the transparency and accountability that is fundamental to open science processes, ESIP participants also recognize the challenges in implementing those practices more broadly. The 2023 July meeting was an excellent example. The “Opening Doors to Open Science” theme provided a space for participants to talk honestly about the institutional inertia, lack of incentives, and unintended consequences that hinder the open science approach. Often, the barriers are specific to particular domains, organizations, or roles. The ESIP meeting content explored such challenges – and solutions – for researchers, agencies, repositories, data managers, software developers, curriculum designers, and many other groups. Daniel Segessenman [ESIP Community Fellow] explains his poster at the Research Showcase in Burlington, VT. Photo credit: Homer Horowitz DAY ONE Susan Shingledecker [ESIP—Executive Director] gave the opening remarks and rallied the audience with interactive activities codesigned with Charley Haley [Way Foragers Consulting]. As a collaborative space, ESIP often breaks the norm of lecture-and-listen modes. The discussion and audience-driven talking points helped the community frame the week’s explorations of open science in Earth science data and computing. Ken Casey [NOAA, National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI)—Deputy Chief of Data Stewardship and ESIP President 2021–2023] shared ESIP’s new mission, vision, and core values. Kari Jordan [The Carpentries—Chief Executive Officer (CEO)] addressed the importance of authentic diversity and inclusion as a key function of open science. While she laid out systemic issues and barriers, her presentation focused mostly on action and solutions. She advised the ESIP community to use the organization’s core values and mission to continue opening doors to communities that have been historically left out of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers, leadership, and tech development. The rest of the day was filled with rich, deep dives into many Earth science data and computing topics. Notable highlights include the hands-on, knowledge-sharing sessions led by the ESIP Cloud Computing Cluster, chaired by Aimee Barciauskas [Development Seed]. The sessions – from kerchunk tutorials to overviews of geospatial packages for the Python programming language, to lightning talks where speakers gave walkthroughs of tools used for cloud computing applications (e.g. GeoZarr, a geospatial extension to the Zarr specification for processing multidimensional arrays, or tensors, and storing and manipulating them on the cloud, and JupyterHub) – were often standing room only. In addition to exploring technical tools, another breakout session motif centered around discussions on engaging stakeholders. One session featured Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux [University of Vermont—State Climatologist], who spoke about climate preparedness for small communities, which was particularly relevant in light of the record-setting flooding that had taken place in Vermont just prior to the meeting. In another session, a team from NASA, including Grace Llewellyn [NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory—Software Engineer], Stephanie Schollaert Uz [NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)—Applied Sciences Manager], and Jennifer Wei [GSFC—Scientist] alongside their collaborators Robert Gradeck [University of Pittsburgh], Mukul Sonwalkar [George Mason University], and Michiaki Tatsubori [IBM Research– Tokyo—Senior Technical Staff Member and Manager], focused on broader collaborations for natural disaster response. Several other sessions focused on specific end users in data centers, repositories, and universities. DAY TWO The second day of ESIP’s in-person meetings was nicknamed “Workshop Wednesday.” The day began with the ESIP Lab Plenary, followed by longer, in-depth sessions, and capped with the crowd-favorite Research Showcase Poster and Demo Reception. Annie Burgess [ESIP—ESIP Lab Director] gave the opening remarks and welcomed Corine Farewell [University of Vermont Innovations] to share her perspective on open science and technology transfer. Many in the research community see the two at odds fundamentally – which the audience made clear during the question-and-answer session – but Farewell laid out how interactions between open science and technology transfer can open opportunities to tailor licensing and rollouts and to help ensure technology is shared and supported. Scott Reinhard [New York Times—Graphics Editor] took the stage and showed a room full of data managers, researchers, and program directors just how powerful their work can be with the right color choice and analytical filtering for an audience’s intuitive ease – see Figure. As a data visualization expert, Reinhard laid out his creative process for making award-winning news graphics, built with data from sources such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra and Aqua platforms, and from instruments on NASA–U.S. Geological Survey Landsat missions. His advice during the question-and-answer session was that “less is more.” He said sharing data with public audiences should be about meeting their needs with clarity and succinctness, which means removing ancillary data that is often included in more dense, scientific presentations. Figure. This graphic shows an example of work by Scott Reinhard [New York Times], who uses national and state geospatial data to create data visualizations for broad audiences. This map depicts the Dixie Fire in California in 2021 and is shown in a newsprint layout. Figure Credit: Scott Reinhard/New York Times The rest of the day continued with community-led breakout sessions that dove into additional tools like OPeNDAP, Amazon Web Service’s SageMaker, and open data resources in NASA’s Earth Science Division. The day also featured a special plated lunch with presentations from ESIP Award winners. Falkenberg Awardees Angelia Seyfferth [University of Delaware] and Raskin Scholar Alexis Garretson [Tufts University] each shared their domain specialties, Seyfferth focusing on arsenic uptake in crops and Garretson on the ecology of mouse genomes. In the afternoon, the ESIP Education Committee led the annual ESIP Teacher’s Workshop. The organizers brought together about a dozen instructors keen to learn more about Earth science data tools for use in their middle and high school classrooms. Every participant was given a solar eclipse kit, including eclipse glasses and lesson plans – see Photo 2. The evening concluded with the Research Showcase, which featured 47 posters and demonstrations. This is a particularly important event for early career meeting attendees, including the ESIP Community Fellows. Photo 2. The ESIP Teacher Workshop took participants outside to test the solar eclipse gear they will use in their classrooms. Photo credit: Homer Horowitz DAY THREE While there was no plenary to start the day, breakout sessions continued throughout the morning and late afternoon. Covering artificial intelligence (AI) tools for wildfires, the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030), and the Ocean Decade, these ESIP sessions spanned the interdisciplinary breadth of the community. While many attendees have different backgrounds and career paths, it is the technical challenges and opportunities that bring everyone together. A longer scheduled lunch break transitioned to the unconference, a space for on-the-fly and emergent discussions. Organizers pitched their mini-session ideas, the audience voted, then everyone split into discussion groups similar to organized coffee-break hallway chats. ESIP meeting feedback data shows that in-person attendees value time to integrate new knowledge and network; a short unconference has proven to be a productive way to encourage this. Another key networking opportunity was the FUNding Friday microfunding competition. On Thursday night, participants gathered at a local eatery to ideate, write, and even draw their projects, which would be pitched the next morning. DAY FOUR While short, the final day of the ESIP meeting proved to be lively. The morning started with the FUNding Friday pitches and voting followed by the closing plenary and Partner Assembly Business meeting. The day concluded with the final breakout sessions, which highlighted the human and social aspects of implementing open science in an Earth data context. From the process of public comments to AI and large-language models, the breakouts illustrated how entangled human challenges are with technical and environmental ones. Conclusion Celebrating the organization’s twenty-fifth anniversary at the 2023 July ESIP Meeting tapped into the community’s deep roots while highlighting how much the gathering has grown and evolved. Over the next 25 years, the Earth sciences and its technology will continue to expand – and so will the user base. To help make Earth science data and its tools accessible, ESIP is committed to making its meetings as open as possible. All ESIP meeting content is made freely available on the ESIP YouTube channel with no time limit. In general, the ESIP community is open to all people interested in making Earth science data accessible and actionable. The community gathers twice each year in January and July, but the ESIP Collaboration Areas host monthly gatherings throughout the year. Additionally, the ESIP Lab offers seed funding for pilot projects. Readers who wish to stay informed on the latest from ESIP, Earth science data community events, jobs, and resources are invited to subscribe to the weekly ESIP Update. The next ESIP meeting will take place in July 2024; watch the ESIP website and other social media for more details. View the full article

Artist’s concept of a previously proposed possible planet, HD 26965 b – often compared to the fictional “Vulcan” in the Star Trek universe. Credit: JPL-Caltech The discovery A planet thought to orbit the star 40 Eridani A – host to Mr. Spock’s fictional home planet, Vulcan, in the “Star Trek” universe – is really a kind of astronomical illusion caused by the pulses and jitters of the star itself, a new study shows. Key facts The possible detection of a planet orbiting a star that Star Trek made famous drew excitement and plenty of attention when it was announced in 2018. Only five years later, the planet appeared to be on shaky ground when other researchers questioned whether it was there at all. Now, precision measurements using a NASA-NSF instrument, installed a few years ago atop Kitt Peak in Arizona, seem to have returned the planet Vulcan even more definitively to the realm of science fiction. Details Two methods for detecting exoplanets – planets orbiting other stars – dominate all others in the continuing search for strange new worlds. The transit method, watching for the tiny dip in starlight as a planet crosses the face of its star, is responsible for the vast majority of detections. But the “radial velocity” method also has racked up a healthy share of exoplanet discoveries. This method is especially important for systems with planets that don’t, from Earth’s point of view, cross the faces of their stars. By tracking subtle shifts in starlight, scientists can measure “wobbles” in the star itself, as the gravity of an orbiting planet tugs it one way, then another. For very large planets, the radial velocity signal mostly leads to unambiguous planet detections. But not-so-large planets can be problematic. Even the scientists who made the original, possible detection of planet HD 26965 b – almost immediately compared to the fictional Vulcan – cautioned that it could turn out to be messy stellar jitters masquerading as a planet. They reported evidence of a “super-Earth” – larger than Earth, smaller than Neptune – in a 42-day orbit around a Sun-like star about 16 light-years away. The new analysis, using high-precision radial velocity measurements not yet available in 2018, confirms that caution about the possible discovery was justified. The bad news for Star Trek fans comes from an instrument known as NEID, a recent addition to the complex of telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory. NEID, like other radial velocity instruments, relies on the “Doppler” effect: shifts in the light spectrum of a star that reveal its wobbling motions. In this case, parsing out the supposed planet signal at various wavelengths of light, emitted from different levels of the star’s outer shell, or photosphere, revealed significant differences between individual wavelength measurements – their Doppler shifts – and the total signal when they were all combined. That means, in all likelihood, the planet signal is really the flickering of something on the star’s surface that coincides with a 42-day rotation – perhaps the roiling of hotter and cooler layers beneath the star’s surface, called convection, combined with stellar surface features such as spots and “plages,” which are bright, active regions. Both can alter a star’s radial velocity signals. While the new finding, at least for now, robs star 40 Eridani A of its possible planet Vulcan, the news isn’t all bad. The demonstration of such finely tuned radial velocity measurements holds out the promise of making sharper observational distinctions between actual planets and the shakes and rattles on surfaces of distant stars. Fun facts Even the destruction of Vulcan has been anticipated in the Star Trek universe. Vulcan was first identified as Spock’s home planet in the original 1960s television series. But in the 2009 film, “Star Trek,” a Romulan villain named Nero employs an artificial black hole to blow Spock’s home world out of existence. The discoverers A science team led by astronomer Abigail Burrows of Dartmouth College, and previously of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, published a paper describing the new result, “The death of Vulcan: NEID reveals the planet candidate orbiting HD 26965 is stellar activity,” in The Astronomical Journal in May 2024 (Note: HD 26965 is an alternate designation for the star, 40 Eridani A.) View the full article

2 min read Arizona Students Go on an Exoplanet Watch The instructor, teaching assistant, and students from the online exoplanet research course meeting synchronously via Zoom. From left to right and top to bottom: Suber Corley, Molly Simon (instructor), Kimberly Merriam, Bradley Hutson, Elizabeth Catogni, Heather Hewitt (teaching assistant), Steve Marquez-Perez, Fred Noguer, Matthew Rice, Ty Perry, Mike Antares, Zachary Ruybal, Chris Kight, Kellan Reagan. Credit: Image collected by Molly Simon Exoplanets, planets outside of our own solar system, hold the keys to finding extraterrestrial life and understanding the origin of our own world. Now online students at Arizona State University (ASU) in a new course called Exoplanet Research Experience have become exoplanet scientists by taking part in NASA’s Exoplanet Watch project. Fifteen students from ASU’s Astronomical and Planetary Sciences online degree program enroll in this course each year. These students analyze data on transits, events where the exoplanets block some of the light from their host stars. Each week, the class meets via Zoom to discuss progress, answer questions, and go over assignments. Students begin by completing a module from an online astrobiology course called Habitable Worlds, which is supported by NASA’s Infiniscope project. During the last 5 weeks of the course, students work to consolidate their work into a paper draft that is later submitted to a peer-reviewed journal with all of the students listed as co-authors. “I think [the class] changed the course of my life…” said one student. “Not just in my confidence, but just knowing that people in the field have my back…I have tremendous support from them.” “This course definitely helped kind of show what exactly scientists do and what the expectation is…especially for an online program, to have research opportunities is a great help…” another student said. After participating in the course, students have gone on to participate in other research experiences, write their own first-author papers, participate in internships, and present their research at national astronomy conferences. An assessment of student outcomes was recently published in the Physics Review Physics Education Research Journal. You don’t need to go to ASU to do real exoplanet research. Anyone can help collect and analyze exoplanet data through Exoplanet Watch, whether you own a telescope or just want to help analyze data. Visit the NASA Exoplanet Watch website to get started! Share Details Last Updated May 28, 2024 Related Terms Astrophysics Citizen Science Exoplanets The Universe Explore More 2 min read Hubble Captures a Bright Spiral in the Queen’s Hair Article 4 days ago 5 min read Galaxies Actively Forming in Early Universe Caught Feeding on Cold Gas Article 5 days ago 5 min read NASA’s TESS Finds Intriguing World Sized Between Earth, Venus Article 5 days ago View the full article

The Progress 85 cargo craft is seen shortly after undocking from International Space Station on Feb. 12 as it was orbiting 260 miles above the Pacific Ocean. NASA will provide live launch and docking coverage of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft carrying about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the Expedition 71 crew aboard the International Space Station. The unpiloted Progress 88 spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 5:43 a.m. EDT (2:43 p.m. Baikonur time) Thursday, May 30, on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Live launch coverage will begin at 5:15 a.m. on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. After a two-day in-orbit journey to the station, the spacecraft will automatically dock to the space-facing port of orbiting laboratory’s Poisk module at 7:47 a.m., Saturday, June 1. NASA coverage of rendezvous and docking will begin at 7 a.m. on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. The spacecraft will remain docked at the station for almost six months before departing in late November for a re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew. The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology, and human innovation that enables research not possible on Earth. For more than 23 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory, through which astronauts have learned to live and work in space for extended periods of time. The space station is a springboard for the development of a low Earth economy and NASA’s next great leaps in exploration, including missions to the Moon under Artemis and ultimately, human exploration of Mars. Learn more about the space station, its research, and crew, at: https://www.nasa.gov/station -end- Julian Coltre Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 julian.n.coltre@nasa.gov Sandra Jones Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov View the full article

4 min read NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX Unscathed After Searing Pass of Sun Mission engineers were confident NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification – Apophis Explorer) spacecraft could weather its closest ever pass of the Sun on Jan. 2, 2024. Their models had predicted that, despite traveling 25 million miles closer to the heat of the Sun than it was originally designed to, OSIRIS-APEX and its components would remain safe. The mission team confirmed that the spacecraft indeed had come out of the experience unscathed after downloading stored telemetry data in mid-March. The team also tested OSIRIS-APEX’s instruments in early April, once the spacecraft was far enough from the Sun to return to normal operations. Between December 2023 and March, OSIRIS-APEX was inactive, with only limited telemetry data available to the team on Earth. Both these images from a camera called StowCam aboard OSIRIS-APEX show the same view taken six months apart, before (left) and after (right) the Jan. 2, 2024, perihelion. Notably, there is no observable difference on spacecraft surfaces, a good indication that the higher temperatures faced during perihelion didn’t alter the spacecraft. Another insight gleaned from the identical view in the two images is that the camera’s performance was also not affected by perihelion. StowCam, a color imager, is one of three cameras comprising TAGCAMS (the Touch-and-Go Camera System), which is part of OSIRIS-APEX’s guidance, navigation, and control system. TAGCAMS was designed, built and tested by Malin Space Science Systems; Lockheed Martin integrated TAGCAMS to the OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft and operates TAGCAMS. The spacecraft’s clean bill of health was due to creative engineering. Engineers placed OSIRIS-APEX in a fixed orientation with respect to the Sun and repositioned one of its two solar arrays to shade the spacecraft’s most sensitive components during the pass. The spacecraft is in an elliptical orbit around the Sun that brings it to a point closest to the Sun, called a perihelion, about every nine months. To get on a path that will allow it to meet up with its new target Apophis in 2029, the spacecraft’s trajectory includes several perihelions that are closer to the Sun than the spacecraft’s components were originally designed to withstand. “It’s phenomenal how well our spacecraft configuration protected OSIRIS-APEX, so I’m really encouraged by this first close perihelion pass,” said Ron Mink, mission systems engineer for OSIRIS-APEX, based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Besides confirming that the January perihelion worked out according to predictions, engineers found surprises while testing spacecraft components. A couple of instruments came out better than expected after exposure to higher temperatures. A camera that helped map asteroid Bennu and will do the same at Apophis, saw a 70% reduction in “hot pixels” since April 13, 2023, the last time it was tested. Hot pixels, which are common in well-used cameras in space, show up as white spots in images when detectors accumulate exposure to high-energy radiation, mostly from our Sun. “We think the heat from the Sun reset the pixels through annealing,” said Amy Simon, OSIRIS-APEX project scientist, based at NASA Goddard. Annealing is a heat process that can restore function of instruments and is often done intentionally through built-in heaters on some spacecraft. Captured on Oct. 20, 2020, as NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected a sample from the surface of asteroid Bennu, this series of 82 images shows the SamCam imager’s field of view as the spacecraft approached and touched Bennu’s surface. OSIRIS-REx’s sampling head touched Bennu’s surface for approximately 6 seconds, after which the spacecraft performed a back-away burn. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona Another welcome surprise, said Simon, came from the spacecraft’s visible and near-infrared spectrometer. Before perihelion, the spectrometer, which mapped the surface composition of Bennu, and will do the same at Apophis, seemed to have a rock from Bennu stuck inside its calibration port. Scientist suspected that some sunlight was blocked from filtering through the instrument after the spacecraft, then called OSIRIS-REx, grabbed a sample from asteroid Bennu on Oct. 20, 2020. By picking up the sample and then firing its engines to back away from Bennu, the spacecraft stirred up dust and pebbles that clung to it. “But, with enough spacecraft maneuvers and engine burns after sample collection,” Simon said, the rock in the calibration port appears to have been dislodged. Scientists will check the spectrometer again when OSIRIS-APEX swings by Earth on Sept. 25, 2025, for a gravitational boost. OSIRIS-APEX is now operating normally as it continues its journey toward asteroid Apophis for a 2029 rendezvous. Its better-than-expected performance during the first close perihelion is welcome news. But engineers caution that it doesn’t mean it’s time to relax. OSIRIS-APEX needs to execute five more exceptionally close passes of the Sun — along with three Earth gravity assists — to get to its destination. It’s unclear how the cumulative effect of six perihelions at a closer distance than designed will impact the spacecraft and its components. The second OSIRIS-APEX perihelion is scheduled for Sept. 1, 2024. The spacecraft will be 46.5 million miles away from the Sun, which is roughly half the distance between Earth and the Sun, and well inside the orbit of Venus. Learn more about the OSIRIS-APEX mission to Apophis By Lonnie Shekhtman NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. View the full article

2 min read Sols 4195-4198: Feels Like Summer Navcam Right image of Fascination Turret to the north from sol 4193 NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Friday, May 24, 2024 The first sol of this weekend includes an extremely long, 6-hour DAN activity to measure the amount of hydrogen near the surface, in parallel with a standard midday remote science block including: ChemCam LIBS on a smooth, dark rock named “Shadow Lake,” an RMI 7-frame mosaic of the Gediz Vallis ridge base, and two small Mastcam mosaics to document the rock diversity in this area. Since we have so much power to play with, we’re actually staying awake until beginning a custom afternoon Mastcam imaging block to capture the low-sun-angle lighting on Kukenan butte and Milestone Peak ridge in front of us. Should be a butte-iful view. On the second sol, it’s time to stretch the old arm! After another standard midday block with more ChemCam and Mastcam remote sensing, the arm will get ready for a full evening of contact science on the workspace blocks we have reachable. There’s no DRT-able rocks here, so MAHLI has two dusty targets named “Second Lake” and “Josephine Lake,” the latter of which will include a 5-frame MAHLI mosaic on the dusty layers. APXS finishes off the evening with two integrations on both Josephine Lake and Second Lake. The third sol includes one last midday remote sensing block and an hour-long drive, which is proving tricky to plan. There’s sand, spikey rocks, float rocks, you name it we’re driving over it. If we make it all 38.41 meters, we’ll have crossed a major transition in the bedrock and gotten closer to the white stones to the west. I don’t camp much these days, but if I could go anywhere this holiday weekend it’d be where Curiosity is! Except, you know, the radioactive power source…A fourth sol is included this weekend since Curiosity is on a California holiday schedule, but we make it easy on ourselves by using it as a “REMS-only” sol where the only measurements come from REMS (our local Gale weather station). Enjoy the holiday, US-based earthlings! Written by Natalie Moore, Mission Operations Specialist at Malin Space Science Systems Share Details Last Updated May 28, 2024 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 4 min read Sols 4193-4194: Stay Overnight? No, Touch-and-Go! Article 6 days ago 2 min read Sols 1151-1152: Rocky Roads in the Margin Unit Article 6 days ago 2 min read Sols 4191-4192: Communication Article 6 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. It’s dry, rocky, and bitter cold. The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars… All Mars Resources Rover Basics Mars Exploration Science Goals View the full article

From May 29 to July 17, 2009, for the first time in its history, each of the five partner agencies participating in the International Space Station Program had a crew member living and working aboard the orbiting facility at the same time. The period also marked the beginning of six-person crew habitation, greatly increasing the time available for utilization. The addition of the international partner elements and life support systems to enable the larger crew size made this 49-day event possible. Although international partner crew members routinely live and work aboard the station, its crew size now expanded to seven, having all the partners represented at the same time remains a unique event in the space station’s history. Left: Plaque commemorating the signing of the 1988 Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) governing the International Space Station partnership. Middle: Signatories of the 1998 IGA visit the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, posing in front of the Unity Node 1 module being prepared for launch. Right: Joint NASA-Roscosmos crew of STS-88, the first space station assembly mission. The International Space Station as we know it came into existence in 1993 with the merging of Space Station Freedom, a partnership among the United States, Canada, Japan, and the European Space Agency (ESA), with Russia’s planned Mir-2 space station. In January 1998, representatives of these space agencies met at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and signed the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) that established the framework for use of the orbiting laboratory. The IGA stipulated the contributions of each agency to the program that entitled them commensurate utilization of the research facility as well as long-duration crew member flight opportunities, beginning when their elements had reached the station. Separate agreements covered the flights of International Partner astronauts on space shuttle assembly flights, usually to accompany elements from their agencies. In orbit construction of the space station began 11 months after the signing of the IGA. From the first assembly mission in December 1998 to March 2001, all components belonged to either NASA or Roscosmos, a fact reflected in the makeup of early space shuttle and expedition crews. The crew of the STS-88, the first space shuttle assembly mission, included five NASA astronauts and cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev representing Roscosmos. Left: STS-96 included Julie Payette, third from left, the first Canadian Space Agency astronaut to visit the space station. Middle: STS-92 included Koichi Wakata, right, the first astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to visit the space station. Right: The joint NASA-Roscosmos space station Expedition 1 crew. As early assembly continued, select space shuttle missions included International Partner crew members. The Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) first astronaut to visit the space station, Julie Payette, flew as one of the seven crew members on the second assembly flight, STS-96 in May-June 1999. The first astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to visit the station, Koichi Wakata, flew on the fifth assembly flight, STS-92 in October 2000. When the Expedition 1 crew arrived to begin permanent habitation of the space station in November 2000, the crew consisted of NASA astronaut William M. Shepherd, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Krikalev and Yuri P. Gidenzko. The next six expeditions maintained the two-and-one crew composition, alternating between expeditions, until the impacts from the Columbia accident reduced crew size to two until Expedition 13. During this time, NASA and Roscosmos each had one crew member on board. Left: STS-100 included Umberto Guidoni, center, the first European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut to visit the space station. Middle: Expedition 13 included Thomas A. Reiter, left, the first ESA astronaut to serve as a long-duration crew member on the space station. Right: STS-119 delivered Koichi Wakata, right, the first astronaut from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency to serve as a long-duration crewmember on the space station. The first ESA astronaut to visit the space station, Umberto Guidoni from Italy, served as a mission specialist on STS-100 in April 2001. The seven-member crew also included CSA’s Christopher A. Hadfield, who accompanied and helped install the Canadian Space Station Remote Manipulator System, and Yuri V. Lonchakov from Roscosmos, making the STS-100 crew the most internationally diverse shuttle assembly crew. Thomas A. Reiter from Germany arrived at the station aboard STS-121 in July 2006, joining Expedition 13 as ESA’s first long-duration resident crew member, and also returning the onboard crew size back to three. Wakata arrived at the station on STS-119 in March 2009 as JAXA’s first long-duration crew member, joining Expedition 19’s Lonchakov and E. Michael Fincke. Wakata’s arrival set in motion the steps leading to the unique occasion of having each of the five partners with a crew member living and working aboard the space station at the same time. Left: Expedition 19 crew of Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, left, NASA astronaut E. Michael Fincke, and Yuri V. Lonchakov of Roscosmos. Middle: Gennadi I. Padalka of Roscosmos, left, and NASA astronaut Michael M. Barratt of Expedition 19. Right: Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert B. Thirsk, left, Roman Y. Romanenko of Roscosmos, and European Space Agency astronaut Frank L. DeWinne of Expedition 20. Eleven days after Wakata’s arrival, Soyuz TMA-14 delivered replacement Expedition 19 crew members NASA astronaut Michael M. Barratt and Gennadi I. Padalka of Roscosmos. On May 29, ESA’s Frank L. DeWinne and CSA’s Robert B. Thirsk, along with Roman Y. Romanenko of Roscosmos arrived aboard Soyuz TMA-15, and all five space station partners had representatives on board. Their arrival began Expedition 20 and the first period of six-person crew residency. Left: Preflight crew photo of Expedition 20, the first six-person crew on the space station – Michael M. Barratt (NASA), Frank L. DeWinne (ESA), Robert B. Thirsk (CSA), Koichi Wakata (JAXA), Gennadi I. Padalka (Roscosmos), and Roman Y. Romanenko (Roscosmos). Middle: Inflight photo of the Expedition 20 crew. Right: The Expedition 20 crew members put their heads together. The period of full international representation proved brief, however, lasting just 49 days, and remains unique to this day. Wakata broke up the party on July 17 when he exchanged places with NASA astronaut Timothy L. Kopra who arrived aboard STS-127. Barratt and Padalka left on Oct. 11, replaced by another NASA-Roscosmos crew. Finally, Romanenko, DeWinne, and Thirsk left on Dec. 1, replaced after a brief gap by a crew consisting of a NASA astronaut, a JAXA astronaut, and a representative of Roscosmos. Explore More 18 min read 40 Years Ago: NASA Selects its 10th Group of Astronauts Article 5 days ago 21 min read 55 Years Ago: Two Months Until the Moon Landing Article 1 week ago 16 min read 15 Years Ago: STS-125, the Final Hubble Servicing Mission Article 2 weeks ago View the full article

While NASA promotes the availability of EAP counselors at each Center, there may be reasons when, during a mental health crisis, employees do not think about EAP or cannot remember how to access. Now, the Suicide and Crises Lifeline (https://988lifeline.org/) is available to anyone, anytime nationwide by calling or texting three numbers from your cell phone “988”. Please check out their link for more information about the Lifeline and additional mental health resources. For MAF Employee Assistance Program Office support contact Porter Pryor at porter.j.pryor@nasa.gov or call or text 228-363-4910. If you need support grieving a recent or past death of a friend or family member, consider joining the monthly Grief Support Group for SSC/NSSC/MAF/MSFC employees (via NASA Teams) by contacting Porter Pryor. Additional resources and education available through NASA Occupational Health’s Health4Life link: Mission: HEALTH / Health 4 Life – Home (sharepoint.com) View the full article

When you think about personal property, your home, clothes, and electronic devices probably come to mind. For NASA, personal property comprises government-owned government-held assets ranging from laptops to spacecraft and space station components. Managing the financial records for these assets is the responsibility of the Property Accounting Team, which includes Personal Property Accountant Britney Tang. Tang sits within the Accounting Services Office of Johnson Space Center’s Office of the Chief Financial Services Officer (OCFO). She works with her colleagues to determine which NASA-held assets must be tracked over time versus expensed, and to ensure those assets are reported appropriately on Johnson’s financial statements. Official portrait of Britney Tang.NASA/Josh Valcarcel While she has only held her civil servant position for a few months, Tang is no stranger to Johnson or the OCFO. She completed five rotations with NASA’s Pathways Program between 2021 and 2023, including two stints as a property accounting intern for her current office. “I jumped around a bit as an intern because I really wanted to have a full understanding of NASA’s whole business,” she said. “It made things click to see the entire process of how funds are being used and recorded throughout the agency.” Tang particularly enjoyed her rotations with the Property Accounting Team and feels lucky to rejoin them as a full-time employee. As an accounting major at the University of Houston’s C.T. Bauer College of Business, Tang planned to work for a public accounting firm or a private company when she graduated, until she stumbled upon a Pathways internship opportunity. “It was in a newsletter that my school put out, which I rarely opened, but one day I did, and I saw the call for applications,” she said. “I thought I might as well throw my hat into the ring and see where it got me.” Britney Tang tries on a spacesuit glove and attempts basic astronaut tasks, like latching and unlatching tethers, during Johnson Space Center’s Intern, Innovation, and Industry Day on July 13, 2023.Image courtesy of Britney Tang Tang believes her experience highlights an important opportunity for NASA to attract more diverse talent by reaching out to students enrolled in a wider variety of schools and academic fields. “When you think of NASA, you think of engineers and rockets. I think that’s why a lot of people in business specifically do not consider NASA as a career option, because they forget that we do need mission support operations to keep things running,” she said. “I’m really passionate about telling people about the opportunities at NASA, especially on the business side.” That passion prompted Tang to work with ASIA ERG to host a virtual event with the University of Houston’s Asian Business Student Association last year. At the time, she was participating in the group’s education and outreach and social cohorts as a Pathways intern. Tang developed a presentation for the event that provided overviews of Johnson’s business organizations, describing each organization’s work and related career opportunities for students. She also recruited several employees from those organizations to participate in the presentation and a brief panel discussion that followed. Britney Tang participates in a payload-capture simulation from a mockup of the International Space Station’s cupola during an intern tour of Johnson’s systems engineering simulators in March 2023. Image courtesy of Britney Tang Tang said that she has never felt like a minority on the teams she has been a part of, noting that her current team is almost entirely female and includes several people of color, but she knows this may not be every Johnson employee’s experience. During one intern orientation session, Tang observed that she was one of five or six women in a room of 30 people. “I did not like that feeling and I expressed that to the Pathways coordinators,” she said. “I think if people don’t see someone similar to them, or someone they can relate to, it’s harder for them to feel like they can apply.” A self-described foodie, Tang said that showing openness and acceptance of teammates’ ethnic foods is one way that every Johnson employee can promote cultural understanding and inclusivity. Asian American families often share stories about bringing Asian food to school for lunch as kids and getting teased by other students because it smelled different, she said, adding that she hopes the growing popularity of ethnic cuisines will help put an end to those experiences. Telling her fellow Pathways interns that she enjoys trying different foods around Houston helped her build connections with them, and many approached her with questions about where they should go and what they should try. “The easiest way to start a conversation is to talk about food, and food is very integral to a culture,” she said. View the full article

6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This computer-generated 3D model of Venus’ surface shows the volcano Sif Mons, which is exhibiting signs of ongoing activity. Using data from NASA’s Magellan mission, Italian researchers detected evidence of an eruption while the spacecraft orbited the planet in the early 1990s.NASA/JPL-Caltech An analysis of data from Magellan’s radar finds two volcanoes erupted in the early 1990s. This adds to the 2023 discovery of a different active volcano in Magellan data. Direct geological evidence of recent volcanic activity on Venus has been observed for a second time. Scientists in Italy analyzed archival data from NASA’s Magellan mission to reveal surface changes indicating the formation of new rock from lava flows linked to volcanoes that erupted while the spacecraft orbited the planet. Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Magellan mapped 98% of the planet’s surface from 1990 to 1992, and the images it generated remain the most detailed of Venus to date. “Using these maps as a guide, our results show that Venus may be far more volcanically active than previously thought,” said Davide Sulcanese of d’Annunzio University in Pescara, Italy, who led the study. “By analyzing the lava flows we observed in two locations on the planet, we have discovered that the volcanic activity on Venus could be comparable to that on Earth.” This latest discovery builds on the historic 2023 discovery of images from Magellan’s synthetic aperture radar that revealed changes to a vent associated with the volcano Maat Mons near Venus’ equator. The radar images proved to be the first direct evidence of a recent volcanic eruption on the planet. By comparing Magellan radar images over time, the authors of the 2023 study spotted changes caused by the outflow of molten rock from Venus’ subsurface filling the vent’s crater and spilling down the vent’s slopes. Scientists study active volcanoes to understand how a planet’s interior can shape its crust, drive its evolution, and affect its habitability. The discovery of recent volcanism on Venus provides a valuable insight to the planet’s history and why it took a different evolutionary path than Earth. Before starting its journey to Venus, NASA’s Magellan spacecraft was released while in Earth orbit by Space Shuttle Atlantis’ STS-30 mission. Captured in this May 4, 1989, photo, Magellan was the first planetary spacecraft to be launched from the shuttle.NASA Radar Backscatter For the new study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the researchers likewise focused on archival data from Magellan’s synthetic aperture radar. Radio waves sent by the radar traveled through Venus’ thick cloud cover, then bounced off the planet’s surface and back to the spacecraft. Called backscatter, these reflected radar signals carried information about the rocky surface material they encountered. The two locations studied were the volcano Sif Mons in Eistla Regio and the western part of Niobe Planitia, which is home to numerous volcanic features. By analyzing the backscatter data received from both locations in 1990 and again in 1992, the researchers found that radar signal strength increased along certain paths during the later orbits. These changes suggested the formation of new rock, most likely solidified lava from volcanic activity that occurred during that two-year period. But they also considered other possibilities, such as the presence of micro-dunes (formed from windblown sand) and atmospheric effects that could interfere with the radar signal. To help confirm new rock, the researchers analyzed Magellan’s altimetry (surface height) data to determine slope of the topography and locate obstacles that lava would flow around. “We interpret these signals as flows along slopes or volcanic plains that can deviate around obstacles such as shield volcanoes like a fluid,” said study co-author Marco Mastrogiuseppe of Sapienza University of Rome. “After ruling out other possibilities, we confirmed our best interpretation is that these are new lava flows.” Using flows on Earth as a comparison, the researchers estimate new rock that was emplaced in both locations to be between 10 and 66 feet (3 and 20 meters) deep, on average. They also estimate that the Sif Mons eruption produced about 12 square miles (30 square kilometers) of rock — enough to fill at least 36,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. The Niobe Planitia eruption produced about 17 square miles (45 square kilometers) of rock, which would fill 54,000 Olympic swimming pools. As a comparison, the 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa in Hawaii, Earth’s largest active volcano, produced a lava flow with enough material to fill 100,000 Olympic pools. “This exciting work provides another example of volcanic change on Venus from new lava flows that augments the vent change Dr. Robert Herrick and I reported last year,” said Scott Hensley, senior research scientist at JPL and co-author of the 2023 study. “This result, in tandem with the earlier discovery of present-day geologic activity, increases the excitement in the planetary science community for future missions to Venus.” Figuring Out Volcanoes Hensley is the project scientist for NASA’s upcoming VERITAS mission, and Mastrogiuseppe is a member of its science team. Short for Venus Emissivity, Radio science, InSAR, Topography, And Spectroscopy, VERITAS is slated to launch early next decade, using a state-of-the-art synthetic aperture radar to create 3D global maps and a near-infrared spectrometer to figure out what Venus’ surface is made of while also tracking volcanic activity. In addition, the spacecraft will measure the planet’s gravitational field to determine its internal structure. “These new discoveries of recent volcanic activity on Venus by our international colleagues provide compelling evidence of the kinds of regions we should target with VERITAS when it arrives at Venus,” said Suzanne Smrekar, a senior scientist at JPL and principal investigator for VERITAS. “Our spacecraft will have a suite of approaches for identifying surface changes that are far more comprehensive and higher resolution than Magellan images. Evidence for activity, even in the lower-resolution Magellan data, supercharges the potential to revolutionize our understanding of this enigmatic world.” More About the Mission NASA’s VERITAS mission was selected in 2021 under NASA’s Discovery Program. Mission partners include Lockheed Martin Space, the Italian Space Agency, the German Aerospace Center, and Centre National d’Études Spatiales in France. The Discovery Program is managed by the Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the Planetary Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. News Media Contacts Ian J. O’Neill Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-2649 ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov Karen Fox / Charles Blue NASA Headquarters 202-358-1600 / 202-802-5345 karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / charles.e.blue@nasa.gov Giuseppina Piccirilli Agenzia Spaziale Italiana +39 06 85 67 431 / 887 / 655 stampa@asi.it 2024-073 Share Details Last Updated May 27, 2024 Related TermsJet Propulsion LaboratoryMagellanPlanetary Geosciences & GeophysicsPlanetary SciencePlanetary Science DivisionVenusVERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography & Spectroscopy)Volcanoes Explore More 6 min read New Images From Euclid Mission Reveal Wide View of the Dark Universe Article 4 days ago 4 min read NASA’s Psyche Fires Up Its Sci-Fi-Worthy Thrusters Article 5 days ago 7 min read NASA Tool Gets Ready to Image Faraway Planets Article 6 days ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

Getting Ready to Image Faraway Planets on This Week @NASA – May 24, 2024

Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 1 at Māhia, New Zealand at 7:41 p.m. NZST May 25, 2024 (3:41 a.m. EDT) carrying a small satellite for NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission.Rocket Lab The first of a pair of climate satellites designed to study heat emissions at Earth’s poles for NASA is in orbit after lifting off atop Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand at 7:41 p.m. NZST (3:41 a.m. EDT) on Saturday. The agency’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission consists of two shoebox-size cube satellites, or CubeSats, that will measure the amount of heat Earth radiates into space from two of the coldest, most remote regions on the planet. Data from the PREFIRE mission will help researchers better predict how Earth’s ice, seas, and weather will change in a warming world. “NASA’s innovative PREFIRE mission will fill a gap in our understanding of the Earth system – providing our scientists a detailed picture of how Earth’s polar regions influence how much energy our planet absorbs and releases,” said Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division in Washington. “This will improve prediction of sea ice loss, ice sheet melt, and sea level rise, creating a better understanding of how our planet’s system will change in the coming years — crucial information to farmers tracking changes in weather and water, fishing fleets working in changing seas, and coastal communities building resilience.” Ground controllers successfully established communications with the CubeSat at 8:48 EDT. The second PREFIRE CubeSat will set off on its own Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 in the coming days. Following a 30-day checkout period during which engineers and scientists will make sure both CubeSats are working normally, the mission is expected to operate for 10 months. At the heart of the PREFIRE mission is Earth’s energy budget – the balance between incoming heat energy from the Sun and the outgoing heat given off by the planet. The difference between the two is what determines the planet’s temperature and climate. A lot of the heat radiated from the Arctic and Antarctica is emitted as far-infrared radiation, but there is currently no detailed measurement of this type of energy. The water vapor content of the atmosphere, along with the presence, structure, and composition of clouds, influences the amount of far-infrared radiation that escapes into space from Earth’s poles. Data collected from PREFIRE will give researchers information on where and when far-infrared energy radiates from the Arctic and Antarctic environments into space. “The PREFIRE CubeSats may be small, but they’re going to close a big gap in our knowledge about Earth’s energy budget,” said Laurie Leshin, director, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Their observations will help us understand the fundamentals of Earth’s heat balance, allowing us to better predict how our ice, seas, and weather will change in the face of global warming.” The mission’s CubeSats each carry an instrument called a thermal infrared spectrometer, which use specially shaped mirrors and sensors to measure infrared wavelengths. Miniaturizing the instruments to fit on CubeSats necessitated downsizing some parts while scaling up other components. “Our planet is changing quickly, and in places like the Arctic, in ways that people have never experienced before,” said Tristan L’Ecuyer, PREFIRE’s principal investigator, University of Wisconsin, Madison. “NASA’s PREFIRE will give us new measurements of the far-infrared wavelengths being emitted from Earth’s poles, which we can use to improve climate and weather models and help people around the world deal with the consequences of climate change.” NASA’s Launch Services Program, based out of the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in partnership with NASA’s Earth System Science Pathfinder Program is providing the launch service as part of the agency’s Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract. The PREFIRE mission was jointly developed by NASA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. NASA JPL manages the mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate and provided the spectrometers. Blue Canyon Technologies built the CubeSats and the University of Wisconsin-Madison will process the data the instruments collect. The launch services provider is Rocket Lab USA Inc. of Long Beach, California. To learn more about PREFIRE, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/prefire/ -end- Karen Fox / Elizabeth Vlock Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 / 202-358-1600 karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov Jane J. Lee / Andrew Wang Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-0307 / 626-379-6874 jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated May 25, 2024 EditorJennifer M. DoorenLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsPREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) View the full article

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Representatives of NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program (TACP) pose with students and faculty from the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando who are participating in the agency’s University Leadership Initiative (ULI). From left: Ramees Khaleel Rahman; John Cavolowsky, NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program director; Marc Heinrich; Andrew Provenza, NASA’s University Innovation deputy project manager for tchnology; Connor Wall; Lucas Cavalcante; Andrew Menendez; Jayanta Kapat, principal investigator of UCF’s ULI project; Claire-Phonie Silaire; Koushik Datta, NASA’s University Innovation project manager; Marcel Otto, UCF’s ULI project manager. Representatives of NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program (TACP) recently shared information about their work to develop innovation and advance aviation and space exploration with students at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Here are some images of the event showing NASA team members interacting with students and faculty during the April Town Hall. TACP at UCF Image Carousel Facebook logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Instagram logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Linkedin logo @NASA Explore More 4 min read Aviary: A New NASA Software Platform for Aircraft Modelling Article 1 week ago 3 min read NASA Licenses 3D-Printable Superalloy to Benefit US Economy Article 2 weeks ago 2 min read ULI Round 7 Awards Article 3 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Artemis University Innovation Project Aeronautics STEM Share Details Last Updated May 24, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactJim Bankejim.banke@nasa.gov Related TermsTransformative Aeronautics Concepts ProgramUniversity InnovationUniversity Leadership Initiative View the full article

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Composites Consortium team members gathered during May 2024 at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia for a technical review of all tasks in progress for the Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing project. NASA and its partners in the Advanced Composites Consortium gathered at the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, May 7-9. Team members from 20 organizations across the country recently discussed progress on all technology development tasks underway in NASA’s Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing (HiCAM) project. The project is competing manufacturing approaches that reduce labor, equipment, and tooling costs without compromising strength or safety. Results will help determine which technologies will have the greatest impact on the manufacturing rate and allow downselect for the demonstration phase of the project beginning this fall. The HiCAM project addresses an aviation industry need for more rapid production of composite aircraft to meet increasing global demand for lightweight transport aircraft. Facebook logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Instagram logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Linkedin logo @NASA Explore More 4 min read NASA, Industry to Start Designing More Sustainable Jet Engine Core Article 1 week ago 2 min read NASA Noise Prediction Tool Supports Users in Air Taxi Industry Article 2 months ago 4 min read NASA Instruments Will Listen for Supersonic X-59’s Quiet ‘Thump’ Article 3 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Advanced Air Vehicles Program Artemis Missions Aeronautics STEM Share Details Last Updated May 24, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactJim Bankejim.banke@nasa.gov Related TermsAdvanced Air Vehicles ProgramHi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing View the full article

Representatives from 24 of the Artemis Accords signatories met May 21-23, 2024, for a workshop hosted at the John H. Chapman Space Centre (CSA Headquarters) in Longueuil, Quebec.CSA (Canadian Space Agency) NASA participated in the second international face-to-face workshop this week among Artemis Accords signatories, which featured space officials from two dozen nations focused on advancing the principles for the safe, peaceful, and responsible exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond. This year’s workshop was hosted by CSA (Canadian Space Agency) at their headquarters in Montreal May 21-23. Since the Artemis Accords were created nearly four years ago, 39 countries have joined the United States in a voluntary commitment to engage in transparent and responsible behavior in space. The accords are meant to push humanity’s reach farther safely and sustainably into space than ever before and build on more than 23 years of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station. “The Artemis Accords represent a shared vision for humanity’s exploration of space —one that transcends borders and fosters unity in our quest to expand our understanding of the cosmos,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, who participated virtually to jointly kick-off the workshop with CSA President Lisa Campbell. “The days of going to space alone are long over. We are in a new age where nations globally go to space to both explore deeper and gain better understanding about our place in the universe.” During workshop, participants from 24 countries engaged in robust discussions and conducted a tabletop exercise centered on further defining and implementing key tenets, including considering views on non-interference, interoperability, and scientific data sharing among nations. “The Artemis Accords are an important part of humanity’s future in space and Canada is very much committed to these principles. As we explore beyond Earth, we must do so in ways that are safe and sustainable, for the benefit of humanity and future generations. It was an honour to welcome brilliant minds from around the world to discuss how to conduct present and future space exploration activities safely, sustainably, and transparently through the application of the Artemis Accords,” said Campbell. For example, during the workshop participants delved more deeply into topics such as non-interference and interoperability. These discussions build upon prior work such as an initial set of mission data parameters agreed to by the signatories last October. The data parameters identify necessary information about planned lunar surface missions including expected launch dates, the general nature of activities, and the landing location. Sharing such information will support safer lunar operations by ensuring signatories respective missions do not inadvertently interfere with each other. Transparency and communication are keys to peaceful exploration, and the Artemis Accords signatories are committed to sharing information about their activities and outcomes through the United Nations of Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) and other appropriate channels. The commitments undertaken under the Artemis Accords, and the significant efforts by the signatories to advance implementation of these principles, are essential to the success of the Artemis campaign for NASA and its partners, as well as for the success of the safe and sustainable exploration activities of the other Accords signatories. As the Artemis Accords workshop concluded May 23, participants reaffirmed their commitment to upholding the principles outlined in the Artemis Accords and to continue working collaboratively. The first workshop was hosted by Poland in 2023. Additional countries are expected to sign the Artemis Accords in the weeks and months ahead. Signatory principals will gather again for face-to-face discussions on the margins of the International Astronautical Congress in October. The United States and seven other nations were the first to sign the Artemis Accords in 2020, which identified an early set of principles that promote the beneficial use of space for all humanity, grounded in the Outer Space Treaty and other agreements including the Registration Convention, the Rescue and Return Agreement, as well as best practices and norms of responsible behavior that NASA and its partners have supported, including the public release of scientific data. For more information about the Artemis Accords, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords/ -end- Amber Jacobson / Jennifer Dooren Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov / jennifer.m.dooren@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated May 24, 2024 EditorJennifer M. DoorenLocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsOffice of International and Interagency Relations (OIIR) View the full article