NASA

2 min read Hubble Captures a Suspected Galaxy Encounter This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image is of the spiral galaxy UGC 3912. NASA, ESA, and C. Kilpatrick (Northwestern University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) UGC 3912 is classified as a spiral galaxy … but you wouldn’t know it from this detailed NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. UGC 3912’s distorted shape is typically indicative of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy. When galaxies interact – either brush up against each other’s gravitational fields or even collide – their stars, dust, and gas can be pulled into new paths. UGC 3912 might have once been an organized-looking spiral, but it looks like it’s been smudged out of shape by a giant thumb. Fortunately, when galaxies interact, the individual stars and objects that orbit them remain whole even though their orbits can change so dramatically that the entire galaxy’s shape is altered. That’s because the distances between stars in galaxies are so vast that they don’t crash into one another, just continue serenely along their new orbits. Astronomers are studying UGC 3912 as part of an investigation into supernovae activity – when stars at least eight times larger than our Sun explode at the end of their lives. Hubble is examining one of the several types of supernovae, a hydrogen-rich phenomenon known as Type II. Though ample Type II supernovae have been observed, they exhibit enormous diversity in their brightness and spectroscopy and are not well understood. LEARN MORE: Hubble’s Cosmic Collisions Hubble Science: Galaxy Details and Mergers Hubble Science: Tracing the Growth of Galaxies Download this image Media Contact: Claire Andreoli NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD claire.andreoli@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Feb 01, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Missions Spiral Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Galaxies Stories Stars Stories James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… View the full article

2 min read February’s Night Sky Notes: Constant Companions: Circumpolar Constellations, Part I by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Winter in the northern hemisphere offers crisp, clear (and cold!) nights to stargazers, along with better views of several circumpolar constellations. What does circumpolar mean when referring to constellations? This word refers to constellations that surround the north and south celestial poles without ever falling below the horizon. Depending on your latitude, you will be able to see up to nine circumpolar constellations in the northern hemisphere. Today, we’ll focus on three that have gems within: Auriga, Cassiopeia, and Ursa Minor. These objects can all be spotted with a pair of binoculars or a small to medium-sized telescope. The counterclockwise circumpolar constellations Auriga, Cassiopeia, and Ursa Minor in the night sky, with four objects circled in yellow labeled: Pinwheel Cluster, Starfish Cluster, Owl Cluster, and Polaris. Credit: Stellarium Web The Pinwheel Cluster: Located near the edge of Auriga, this open star cluster is easy to spot with a pair of binoculars or small telescope. At just 25 million years old, it contains no red giant stars and looks similar to the Pleiades. To find this, draw a line between the stars Elnath in Taurus and Menkalinan in Auriga. You will also find the Starfish Cluster nearby. The Owl Cluster: Located in the ‘W’ or ‘M’ shaped constellation Cassiopeia, is the open star cluster known as the Owl Cluster. Sometimes referred to as the E.T. Cluster or Dragonfly Cluster, this group of stars never sets below the horizon and can be spotted with binoculars or a small telescope. A black and white image from the Hubble Telescope of the Polaris star system, showing three stars: Polaris A, Ab, and Polaris B. Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Evans (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), and H. Bond (STScI) Polaris: Did you know that Polaris is a triple star system? Look for the North Star on the edge of Ursa Minor, and with a medium-sized telescope, you should be able to separate two of the three stars. This star is also known as a Cepheid variable star, meaning that it varies in brightness, temperature and diameter. It’s the closest one of its kind to Earth, making it a great target for study and conceptual art. Artist’s Concept of Polaris System – Annotated Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Bacon (STScI) Up next, catch the King of the Planets before its gone for the season with our upcoming mid-month article on the Night Sky Network page through NASA’s website! View the full article

26 Min Read The Marshall Star for January 31, 2024 Marshall Commemorates NASA’s Day of Remembrance By Celine Smith Team members across NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center congregated Jan. 25 in the lobby of Building 4221 to observe NASA’s Day of Remembrance. Each January, the agency pauses to honor members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery, including the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. Bill Hill, left, director of Marshall’s Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate, observes Larry Leopard, Marshall associate director, technical, lighting a candle in honor of those lost at the Day of Remembrance ceremony.NASA/Krisdon A. Manecke The center’s ceremony included speeches from Larry Leopard, Marshall associate director, technical, and Bill Hill, director of Marshall’s Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate. Leopard spoke about his memories of Challenger and Columbia’s influence on his work ethic at Marshall. “With every failure and loss, it is up to those who remain to learn and grow from those who have gone on before us to prevent the same mistakes as we push on to new heights,” Leopard said. Hill emphasized the importance of how a strong safety culture at Marshall is vital to mission success. He also encouraged Marshall team members to attend center safety workshops and complete training to eliminate as much risk as possible on future missions. From left, Shannon Segovia, Marshall’s deputy director of communications, Hill, Leopard, and acting Center Director Joseph Pelfrey gather around the ceremonial wreath and candle. NASA/Krisdon A. Manecke “Seventeen of our brave astronauts paid the ultimate price for our failures,” Hill said. “Learning from our experience, we must become more humble, more dedicated to doing things right, more vigilant, questioning the process at every turn.” After their speeches, a candle was lit in memory of lives lost in the pursuit of exploration and discovery along with a moment of silence. “The accidents we’ve had in the past are reminders of how hard, dangerous, and risky space exploration is,” acting Center Director Joseph Pelfrey said afterward. “They serve as a reminder for us to be diligent at our jobs. As we bring younger generations into the workforce, we have to continue to teach them as well so that as a community we don’t repeat these mistakes.” Smith, a Media Fusion employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications. › Back to Top National Mentoring Month: Troubleshooting with NASA’s Aaron Comis and Brad Solomon By Jessica Barnett Mentorship is a valuable partnership that benefits both mentors and mentees. Like any relationship, it also comes with its fair share of challenges. Those challenges can include misaligned expectations, miscommunications, time constraints, lack of engagement, and burnout. Overcoming those challenges is possible, but it takes commitment, communication, and flexibility from both parties. Brad Solomon is the chief information officer in the Management of Information Technology office at Marshall Space Flight Center. Solomon signed up for the Systems Engineering Mentoring program to help younger members of NASA’s workforce as they navigate their lives and careers.NASA/Danielle Burle Those concepts are all too familiar to Brad Solomon and Aaron Comis, who were paired as mentor and mentee respectively. Solomon, who currently serves as chief information officer for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, said he signed up for the systems engineering mentoring program and was purposefully paired with Comis, a former Pathways intern from Johnson Space Center who now works as chief digital engineer at Goddard Space Flight Center. “We found we had more in common than we knew, as both of us were involved in the digital transformation initiative led by Jill Marlowe, and that our challenges at Marshall and Goddard in that effort were very common,” Solomon said. Aaron Comis serves as chief digital engineer in the Engineering and Technology Directorate at Goddard Space Flight Center. Comis said mentors have been a major influence throughout his career, from his days as an intern at Johnson Space Center through today.NASA Being at different NASA centers meant the potential for additional challenges, but it also provided additional perspective and opportunities for the pair during their mentorship journey. As NASA wraps up its celebration of this year’s Mentoring Month, Comis and Solomon sat down to offer their insight into how mentorship has influenced their lives and careers, as well as their tips for helping things go right and their advice for when things go wrong. Question: What does mentorship mean to you? Comis: To me, mentorship is a judgment-free relationship between peers that provides a safe space to discuss life with a focus on relating conversation back to a specific topic, whether it be professional, educational, personal, etc. We all eat, sleep, win, lose, and face challenges. The only constant is everything relating back to life. Solomon: As a mentor, it means inspiring and helping create the next generation of leaders who will carry on the NASA legacy. I was fortunate to be part of the construction of ISS (International Space Station) and the Space Shuttle Program support, but the days of major NASA programs at the heart of the NASA mission are largely over, given the growth of the commercial space sector. More than ever, we need an innovative workforce adept at modern engineering techniques. With over 700 new NASA employees at Marshall since the pandemic began, all of us should feel obligated to help launch their young careers. Question: What impact has mentorship had on you and your career? Comis: Mentors have played a huge, albeit unassuming, role throughout my career, as early as my time at Johnson Space Center as a Pathways intern. My mentors throughout the years have provided me with a safe space to ask questions that I wasn’t comfortable with asking publicly, supported me through hard times, and celebrated big wins with me. I honestly believe my career wouldn’t be as successful or fun without the many mentors who helped me along the way. Solomon: We all can look back at our careers and see the handful of leaders and conversations that changed the trajectory and propelled our careers. I had the privilege of being part of a Boeing program in the early 1990s that provided excellent leadership training and the opportunity to hear from aerospace leaders. Jonathan Pettus and Neil Rodgers instilled project management discipline and tireless work ethics in the implementation of NASA’s first enterprise financial management systems. Being part of an enterprise IT source evaluation board gave me opportunities to work with leaders like Byron Butler and Walt Melton, who taught me how to read and appreciate precision in contracting. Without mentors like these, I would not have been prepared for promotion opportunities when they were presented. Question: How do you handle potential conflicts or disagreements to ensure a constructive resolution? Comis: My role at Goddard is focused on change management, which can be a challenging role. If I come across potential conflicts or disagreements, I start with self-evaluation and attempt to take a step back from the situation. Did I communicate my intended message clearly and effectively? Was it possible that the intended message wasn’t understood? If the topic was the issue, not the communication, then it helps to have trusted mentors from all walks of life. This way, there is a better chance of achieving a constructive resolution in some form. Geographic separation – for example, being at different NASA centers – also helps with discussing certain sensitive topics, since this provides an additional layer of privacy and protection for everyone and ensures objective mentorship. Solomon: That’s such an important trait in an effective leader. First, never take any criticism or disagreement personally, even when it is delivered with animus. There are always reasons behind it, and it may not have anything to do with you. Second, set aside all emotion, and see the issue as a roadblock – first, to a successful personal relationship, then to the mission. You must address the lack of trust before you can solve the problem. Do not hesitate to insert humor and self-deprecation to reduce tension. That will make addressing trust and the issue at hand easier. Finally, always start a hard conversation by restating and affirming the validity of the other person’s position (seek first to understand). This way, you are at least on neutral ground to start the difficult conversation. Question: How would you suggest a mentor or mentee address differing expectations? Comis: Expectations are key to a successful mentorship and should be addressed during the very first mentor/mentee interaction, starting with, ‘Why do you want to be a mentor/mentee, and what do you hope to gain from this experience?’ This is something that I learned from my most recent formal mentorship experience that I intend on carrying forward with my future mentor/mentee relationships. Solomon: All mentor/mentee initial meetings should start with a statement of expectations from the mentee. As mentor, do not critique the statement. Treat it as the starting point for the conversation. Mentors should listen, affirm, then add to the expectation with additional potential directions in which the discussions can go. Save additional guidance for future meetings. Instead, get to know each other. Where is the mentee in their career? What are their aspirations? Why? What do they enjoy doing outside of work? At the end of the meeting, set the mentoring agenda for the next meeting. Question: What advice do you have for someone else who wants to find or be a mentor? Comis: Take the plunge! Becoming a mentor or mentee can be challenging, since it involves opening yourself up, whether by asking for help or offering help to someone else’s real and ongoing challenges, but it’s also hugely rewarding. Of course, it’s important to get to know someone before unloading your problems onto them, but at a certain point, there’s only one way to continue to establish the relationship, and that’s through trust. Ideally, have multiple mentors throughout your career, some local and some who intentionally are not local. This way, for more sensitive issues, you have an added layer of separation for peace of mind. I’d recommend everyone look for someone you already trust (for a potential mentor) or someone you see or know of who might be struggling and offer a helping hand (as a potential mentor for them). You never know how additional perspective might help you overcome challenges you weren’t even aware you had! Solomon: To the mentor: First, there is no wrong way to do this. Don’t worry about meeting an expectation. It’s best to just be yourself and be genuine. Be present in the discussions, not distracted. Reschedule if you have a scheduling conflict. It helps if there is an affinity between the mentor and mentee to begin with, so work needs to be done to effectively match the two. If you are not right for each other, terminate after the first session and take action to help find a better match. Take good notes. You might want to consider a separate notebook for the engagement, so you can look back on notes from the past session. Mentees are opening themselves to you, so be trustworthy. Remember the last conversation and bring it forward to the next one. Be willing to share about yourself as well. To the mentee: Be honest and open. You get out only what you are willing to invest. This means you will be out of your comfort zone. Don’t worry; it’s supposed to feel uncomfortable at times. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or raise uncomfortable questions, because everyone has been at your point and gone through similar experiences in their careers. Know that your time will come when you will be the mentor – perhaps sooner than you expect. Editor’s note: This is the third in a Marshall Star series during National Mentoring Month in January. Marshall team members can learn more about the benefits of mentoring on Inside Marshall. Barnett, a Media Fusion employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications. › Back to Top Marshall Team Supports Space Night with the Huntsville Havoc NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center joined the Huntsville Havoc for Space Night. The sold-out Jan. 26 game featured more than 4,900 fans for a themed hockey game designed to celebrate Huntsville’s robust aerospace community. Marshall team member Michael Allen shares details about the IXPE mission with fans Jan. 26 at the Huntsville Havoc’s Space Night.NASA/Taylor Goodwin Thousands of space and hockey fans enjoyed exhibits and outreach provided by Marshall team members from across the center, including the Centennial Challenges Program; IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer); Technology Demonstration Missions; and SLS (Space Launch System) Program. Huntsville Havoc mascot, Rukus, poses in front of NASA exhibits at Space Night.NASA/Taylor Goodwin Marshall team member Savannah Bullard shares details of the Centennial Challenges Program with Space Night attendees. NASA/Taylor Goodwin › Back to Top NASA Marks Halfway Point for Artemis Moon Rocket Engine Certification Series NASA completed the sixth of 12 scheduled RS-25 engine certification tests in a critical series for future flights of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket as engineers conducted a full-duration hot fire Jan. 27 at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The current series builds on previous hot fire testing conducted at NASA Stennis to help certify production of new RS-25 engines by lead contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3 Harris Technologies company. The new engines will help power NASA’s SLS rocket on future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond, beginning with Artemis V. NASA completed a full-duration, 500-second hot fire of an RS-25 certification engine Jan. 27, marking the halfway point in a critical test series to support future SLS (Space Launch System) missions to the Moon and beyond as NASA explores the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all.NASA/Danny Nowlin Operators fired the RS-25 engine on the Fred Haise Test Stand for almost eight-and-a-half minutes (500 seconds) – the same amount of time needed to help launch SLS – and at power levels ranging between 80% to 113%. New RS-25 engines will power up to the 111% level to provide additional thrust for launch of SLS. Testing up to the 113% power level provides a margin of operational safety. Now at the halfway point in the series, teams will install a new certification nozzle on the engine. Installation of the new nozzle will allow engineers to gather additional performance data from a second production unit. Following installation next month, testing will resume at Stennis with six additional hot fires scheduled through March. Having reached the halfway point in a 12-test RS-25 certification series, teams at NASA’s Stennis Space Center will install a second production nozzle on the engine to gather additional performance data during the remaining scheduled hot fires.Aerojet Rocketdyne For each Artemis mission, four RS-25 engines, along with a pair of solid rocket boosters, power the SLS to produce more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. Under NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will establish the foundation for long-term scientific exploration at the Moon, land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the lunar surface, and prepare for human expeditions to Mars for the benefit of all. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the SLS Program. › Back to Top Cygnus Lifts Off Atop SpaceX Rocket to Deliver Station Cargo A fresh supply of more than 8,200 pounds of scientific investigations and cargo is on its way to the International Space Station on a Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply spacecraft after launching on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 11:07 a.m. CST Jan. 30 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Cygnus cargo craft from Northrop Grumman launches atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Jan. 30. NASA TV Cygnus has successfully deployed its two solar arrays and is scheduled to arrive at the space station around 3:15 a.m. Feb. 1. NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and agency’s website will provide live coverage of the spacecraft’s approach and arrival beginning at 1:45 a.m. NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli will capture Cygnus using the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm, and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara will be acting as a backup. After capture, the spacecraft will be installed on the Unity module’s Earth-facing port. This is Northrop Grumman’s 20th contracted resupply mission for NASA. The Payload Operations Integration Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center operates, plans, and coordinates the science experiments onboard the space station 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog. › Back to Top NASA Space Tech Spinoffs Benefit Earth Medicine, Moon to Mars Tools As NASA innovates for the benefit of all, what the agency develops for exploration has the potential to evolve into other technologies with broader use here on Earth. Many of those examples are highlighted in NASA’s annual Spinoff book including dozens of NASA-enabled medical innovations, as well other advancements. Squishy Robotics’ Tensegrity Sensor Robots help first responders determine their approach to a disaster scene. Firefighters used the robots during a subway attack exercise at the 2021 Unmanned Tactical Application Conference to detect gas leaks and other hazards.Credits: FLYMOTION LLC. This year’s publication, NASA’s 2024 Spinoff, features several commercialized technologies using the agency’s research and development expertise to impact everyday lives, including: Spherical “squishy” robots capable of dropping into dangerous situations before first responders enter “Digital winglets” aircraft-routing technology that’s enabling increased fuel efficiency and smoother flights Lighter, more durable disc brake designs that produce less dust than traditional disc brakes Computer software to help businesses and communities cope with and recover from natural disasters like wildfires New 3D printing methods to additively manufacture rocket engines and other large aluminum parts “As we continue to push new frontiers and do the unimaginable, NASA’s scientists and engineers are constantly innovating and advancing technologies,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “A critical part of our mission is to quickly get those advances into the hands of companies and entrepreneurs who can use them to grow their businesses, open new markets, boost the economy, and raise the quality of life for everyone.” The medical innovations include the first wireless arthroscope – a small tube carrying a camera inserted into the body during surgery – to receive clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which benefited from NASA’s experience with spacesuits and satellite batteries. Technologies for diagnosing illnesses like the coronavirus, hepatitis, and cancer have also stemmed from NASA’s space exploration and science endeavors. Even certain types of toothpaste originated from the agency’s efforts to grow crystals for electronics. Additional 2024 Spinoff highlights include developments under NASA’s Artemis campaign, like a small, rugged video camera used to improve aircraft safety and a new method for detecting defects or damage in composite materials. Meanwhile, another Spinoff story details the latest benefits of fuel cell technology created more than 50 years ago for Apollo, which is now poised to support terrestrial power grids based on renewable energy. The book also features several technologies NASA has identified as promising future spinoffs and information on how to license agency tech. Since the 1970s, thousands of NASA technologies have found their way into many scientific and technical disciplines, impacting nearly every American industry. “As NASA’s longest continuously running program, we continue to increase the number of technologies we license year-over-year while streamlining the development path from the government to the commercial sector,” said Daniel Lockney, Technology Transfer program executive at NASA Headquarters. “These commercialization success stories continually prove the benefits of transitioning agency technologies into private hands, where the real impacts are made.” Spinoffs are part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and its Technology Transfer program. Tech Transfer is charged with finding broad, innovative applications for NASA-developed technology through partnerships and licensing agreements, ensuring agency investments benefit the nation and the world. Read the latest issue of Spinoff. › Back to Top Webb Depicts Staggering Structure in 19 Nearby Spiral Galaxies It’s oh-so-easy to be absolutely mesmerized by these spiral galaxies. Follow their clearly defined arms, which are brimming with stars, to their centers, where there may be old star clusters and – sometimes – active supermassive black holes. Only NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope can deliver highly detailed scenes of nearby galaxies in a combination of near- and mid-infrared light – and a set of these images was publicly released Jan. 29. These Webb images are part of a large, long-standing project, the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS, or PHANGS, program, which is supported by more than 150 astronomers worldwide. Before Webb took these images, PHANGS was already brimming with data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the Very Large Telescope’s Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. These included observations in ultraviolet, visible, and radio light. Webb’s near- and mid-infrared contributions have provided several new puzzle pieces. The James Webb Space Telescope observed 19 nearby face-on spiral galaxies in near- and mid-infrared light as part of its contributions to the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS, or PHANGS, program. PHANGS also includes images and data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the Very Large Telescope’s Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, which included observations taken in ultraviolet, visible, and radio light. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), PHANGS Team, Elizabeth Wheatley (STScI)) “Webb’s new images are extraordinary,” said Janice Lee, a project scientist for strategic initiatives at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. “They’re mind-blowing even for researchers who have studied these same galaxies for decades. Bubbles and filaments are resolved down to the smallest scales ever observed, and tell a story about the star formation cycle.” Excitement rapidly spread throughout the team as the Webb images flooded in. “I feel like our team lives in a constant state of being overwhelmed – in a positive way – by the amount of detail in these images,” added Thomas Williams, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) captured millions of stars in these images, which sparkle in blue tones. Some stars are spread throughout the spiral arms, but others are clumped tightly together in star clusters. Face-on spiral galaxy, NGC 628, is split diagonally in this image: The James Webb Space Telescope’s observations appear at top left, and the Hubble Space Telescope’s on bottom right. Webb and Hubble’s images show a striking contrast, an inverse of darkness and light. Why? Webb’s observations combine near- and mid-infrared light and Hubble’s showcase visible light. Dust absorbs ultraviolet and visible light, and then re-emits it in the infrared. In Webb’s images, we see dust glowing in infrared light. In Hubble’s images, dark regions are where starlight is absorbed by dust. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), and the PHANGS team The telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) data highlights glowing dust, showing us where it exists around and between stars. It also spotlights stars that haven’t yet fully formed – they are still encased in the gas and dust that feed their growth, like bright red seeds at the tips of dusty peaks. “These are where we can find the newest, most massive stars in the galaxies,” said Erik Rosolowsky, a professor of physics at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Something else that amazed astronomers? Webb’s images show large, spherical shells in the gas and dust. “These holes may have been created by one or more stars that exploded, carving out giant holes in the interstellar material,” explained Adam Leroy, a professor of astronomy at the Ohio State University in Columbus. Now, trace the spiral arms to find extended regions of gas that appear red and orange. “These structures tend to follow the same pattern in certain parts of the galaxies,” Rosolowsky added. “We think of these like waves, and their spacing tells us a lot about how a galaxy distributes its gas and dust.” Study of these structures will provide key insights about how galaxies build, maintain, and shut off star formation. Webb Telescope’s view face-on of spiral galaxy NGC 4254. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), and the PHANGS team Evidence shows that galaxies grow from inside out – star formation begins at galaxies’ cores and spreads along their arms, spiraling away from the center. The farther a star is from the galaxy’s core, the more likely it is to be younger. In contrast, the areas near the cores that look lit by a blue spotlight are populations of older stars. What about galaxy cores that are awash in pink-and-red diffraction spikes? “That’s a clear sign that there may be an active supermassive black hole,” said Eva Schinnerer, a staff scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany. “Or, the star clusters toward the center are so bright that they have saturated that area of the image.” There are many avenues of research that scientists can begin to pursue with the combined PHANGS data, but the unprecedented number of stars Webb resolved are a great place to begin. “Stars can live for billions or trillions of years,” Leroy said. “By precisely cataloging all types of stars, we can build a more reliable, holistic view of their life cycles.” In addition to immediately releasing these images, the PHANGS team has also released the largest catalog to date of roughly 100,000 star clusters. “The amount of analysis that can be done with these images is vastly larger than anything our team could possibly handle,” Rosolowsky emphasized. “We’re excited to support the community so all researchers can contribute.” See the full set of 19 images from both Webb and Hubble. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency. Several NASA centers contributed to the project, including NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. › Back to Top Poised for Science: NASA’s Europa Clipper Instruments are All Aboard With less than nine months remaining in the countdown to launch, NASA’s Europa Clipper mission has passed a major milestone: Its science instruments have been added to the massive spacecraft, which is being assembled at the agency’s JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory). Set to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in October, the spacecraft will head to Jupiter’s ice-encased moon Europa, where a salty ocean beneath the frozen surface may hold conditions suitable for life. Europa Clipper won’t be landing; rather, after arriving at the Jupiter system in 2030, the spacecraft will orbit Jupiter for four years, performing 49 flybys of Europa and using its powerful suite of nine science instruments to investigate the moon’s potential as a habitable environment. NASA’s Europa Clipper, with all of its instruments installed, is visible Jan. 19 in the clean room of High Bay 1 at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The tent around the spacecraft was erected to support electromagnetic testing.NASA/JPL-Caltech “The instruments work together hand in hand to answer our most pressing questions about Europa,” said JPL’s Robert Pappalardo, the mission’s project scientist. “We will learn what makes Europa tick, from its core and rocky interior to its ocean and ice shell to its very thin atmosphere and the surrounding space environment.” The hallmark of Europa Clipper’s science investigation is how all of the instruments will work in sync while collecting data to accomplish the mission’s science objectives. During each flyby, the fully array of instruments will gather measurements and images that will be layered together to paint the full picture of Europa. “The science is better if we obtain the observations at the same time,” Pappalardo said. “What we’re striving for is integration, so that at any point we are using all the instruments to study Europa at once and there is no need to have to trade off among them.” By studying the environment around Europa, scientists will learn more about the moon’s interior. The spacecraft carries a magnetometer to measure the magnetic field around the moon. That data will be key to understanding the ocean, because the field is created, or induced, by the electrical conductivity of the ocean’s saltwater as Europa moves through Jupiter’s strong magnetic field. Working in tandem with the magnetometer is an instrument that will analyze the plasma (charged particles) around Europa, which can distort magnetic fields. Together, they’ll ensure the most accurate measurements possible. What the mission discovers about Europa’s atmosphere will also lend insights into the moon’s surface and interior. While the atmosphere is faint, with only 100 billionth the pressure of Earth’s atmosphere, scientists expect that it holds a trove of clues about the moon. They have evidence from space- and ground-based telescopes that there may be plumes of water vapor venting from beneath the moon’s surface, and observations from past missions suggest that ice and dust particles are being ejected into space by micrometeorite impacts. Three instruments will help investigate the atmosphere and its associated particles: A mass spectrometer will analyze gases, a surface dust analyzer will examine dust, and a spectrograph will collect ultraviolet light to search for plumes and identify how the properties of the dynamic atmosphere change over time. Jupiter’s icy moon Europa holds a vast internal ocean that could have conditions suitable for life. NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will help scientists better understand the potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) All the while, Europa Clipper’s cameras will be taking wide- and narrow-angle pictures of the surface, providing the first high-resolution global map of Europa. Stereoscopic, color images will reveal any changes in the surface from geologic activity. A separate imager that measures temperatures will help scientists identify warmer regions where water or recent ice deposits may be near the surface. An imaging spectrometer will map the ices, salts, and organic molecules on the moon’s surface. The sophisticated set of imagers will also support the full instrument suite by collecting visuals that will provide context for the set of data collected. Of course, scientists also need a better understanding of the ice shell itself. Estimated to be about 10 to 15 miles thick, this outer casing may be geologically active, which could result in the fracture patterns that are visible at the surface. Using the radar instrument, the mission will study the ice shell, including searching for water within and beneath it. (The instrument’s electronics are now aboard the spacecraft, while its antennas will be mounted to the spacecraft’s solar arrays at Kennedy later this year.) Finally, there’s Europa’s interior structure. To learn more about it, scientists will measure the moon’s gravitational field at various points in its orbit around Jupiter. Observing how signals transmitted from the spacecraft are tugged on by Europa’s gravity can tell the team more about the moon’s interior. Scientists will use the spacecraft’s telecommunications equipment for this science investigation. With all nine instruments and the telecommunications system aboard the spacecraft, the mission team has begun testing the complete spacecraft for the first time. Once Europa Clipper is fully tested, the team will ship the craft to Kennedy in preparation for launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Europa Clipper’s main science goal is to determine whether there are places below Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, that could support life. The mission’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet. Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA’s JPL leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. APL designed the main spacecraft body in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission. › Back to Top Hubble Observes a Galactic Distortion The galaxy NGC 5427 shines in a new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. It’s part of the galaxy pair Arp 271, and its companion NGC 5426 is located below this galaxy and outside of this image’s frame. However, the effects of the pair’s gravitational attraction is visible in the galactic distortion and cosmic bridge of stars seen in the lower-right region of the image. The galaxy NGC 5427 shines in this new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image.NASA, ESA, and R. Foley (University of California – Santa Cruz); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America In 1785, British astronomer William Herschel discovered the pair, which is locked in an interaction that will last for tens of millions of years. Whether they will ultimately collide and merge is still uncertain, but their mutual gravitational attraction has already birthed many new stars. These young stars are visible in the faint bridge connecting the two galaxies, located at the bottom of the image. Such a bridge provides an avenue for the two galaxies to continue sharing the gas and dust that becomes new stars. The galaxy NGC 5427 shines in the large image from Hubble, with ground-based observations showing its companion galaxy NGC 5426. Together, this pair is known as Arp 271.NASA, ESA, and R. Foley (University of California – Santa Cruz); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America Scientists believe Arp 271 can serve as a blueprint for future interactions between our Milky Way Galaxy and our neighbor the Andromeda Galaxy, expected to happen in about 4 billion years. › Back to Top View the full article

4 min read Discovery Alert: A ‘Super-Earth’ in the Habitable Zone This illustration shows one way that planet TOI-715 b, a super-Earth in the habitable zone around its star, might appear to a nearby observer. NASA/JPL-Caltech The discovery: A “super-Earth” ripe for further investigation orbits a small, reddish star that is, by astronomical standards, fairly close to us – only 137 light-years away. The same system also might harbor a second, Earth-sized planet. Key facts: The bigger planet, dubbed TOI-715 b, is about one and a half times as wide as Earth, and orbits within the “conservative” habitable zone around its parent star. That’s the distance from the star that could give the planet the right temperature for liquid water to form on its surface. Several other factors would have to line up, of course, for surface water to be present, especially having a suitable atmosphere. But the conservative habitable zone – a narrower and potentially more robust definition than the broader “optimistic” habitable zone – puts it in prime position, at least by the rough measurements made so far. The smaller planet could be only slightly larger than Earth, and also might dwell just inside the conservative habitable zone. The Planet That Shouldn’t Be There Details: Astronomers are beginning to write a whole new chapter in our understanding of exoplanets – planets beyond our solar system. The newest spaceborne instruments, including those onboard NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, are designed not just to detect these distant worlds, but to reveal some of their characteristics. That includes the composition of their atmospheres, which could offer clues to the possible presence of life. The recently discovered super-Earth, TOI-715 b, might be making its appearance at just the right time. Its parent star is a red dwarf, smaller and cooler than our Sun; a number of such stars are known to host small, rocky worlds. At the moment, they’re the best bet for finding habitable planets. These planets make far closer orbits than those around stars like our Sun, but because red dwarfs are smaller and cooler, the planets can crowd closer and still be safely within the star’s habitable zone. The tighter orbits also mean those that cross the faces of their stars – that is, when viewed by our space telescopes – cross far more often. In the case of planet b, that’s once every 19 days, a “year” on this strange world. So these star-crossing (“transiting”) planets can be more easily detected and more frequently observed. That’s the case for TESS (the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), which found the new planet and has been adding to astronomers’ stockpile of habitable-zone exoplanets since its launch in 2018. Observing such transits for, say, an Earth-sized planet around a Sun-like star (and waiting for an Earth year, 365 days, to catch another transit) is beyond the capability of existing space telescopes. Planet TOI-175 b joins the list of habitable-zone planets that could be more closely scrutinized by the Webb telescope, perhaps even for signs of an atmosphere. Much will depend on the planet’s other properties, including how massive it is and whether it can be classed as a “water world” – making its atmosphere, if present, more prominent and far less difficult to detect than that of a more massive, denser and drier world, likely to hold its lower-profile atmosphere closer to the surface. Fun facts: If the possible second, Earth-sized planet in the system also is confirmed, it would become the smallest habitable-zone planet discovered by TESS so far. The discovery also exceeded early expectations for TESS by finding an Earth-sized world in the habitable zone. The discoverers: An international team of scientists led by Georgina Dransfield of the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, published a paper in January 2024 on their discovery, “A 1.55 R⊕ habitable-zone planet hosted by TOI-715, an M4 star near the ecliptic South Pole,” in the journal, “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.” An international array of facilities used to confirm the planet included Gemini-South, Las Cumbres Observatory telescopes, the ExTrA telescopes, the SPECULOOS network, and the TRAPPIST-south telescope. Share Details Last Updated Jan 31, 2024 Related Terms Exoplanets Goddard Space Flight Center James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Super-Earth Exoplanets TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) Explore More 1 min read Hubble Observes a Galactic Distortion Article 11 hours ago 5 min read How the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Is Different than the 2017 Eclipse Article 1 day ago 2 min read Hubble Spies a Spinning Spiral Article 1 day ago View the full article

NASA has selected five companies to provide environmental restoration and compliance services at NASA centers, facilities, and other agency assets. The awardees are: AECOM Technical Services, Inc., Orlando, Florida HydroGeoLogic, Inc., Reston, Virginia ISMS-Navarro LLC, Richland, Washington Jacobs Geosyntec A Joint Venture, Cape Canaveral, Florida Tetra Tech Inc., Pittsburgh The NASA Environmental Restoration and Compliance Contract is an indefinite- delivery/indefinite-quantity fixed price contract not to exceed $375 million. The performance period begins Wednesday and runs through Jan. 30, 2029. The array of work includes support for environmental compliance activities including technical consultation, environmental sampling and investigations of contaminants that may have been released to the environment, as well as human health and ecological risk assessments. The contract also supports sustainability, pollution prevention, recycling, remediation, and long-term management of affected air, soil, groundwater and surface water, audits and inspections, hazardous materials management, spill clean-up, and more. For more information about NASA and its programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/ -end- Roxana Bardan Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 roxana.bardan@nasa.gov Patti Bielling Kennedy Space Center, Florida 321-501-7575 patricia.a.bielling@nasa.gov View the full article

Official Crew-9 Crew Portraits with Zena Cardman, Nick Hague, Stephanie Wilson and Aleksandr GorbunovNASA As part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, four crew members are preparing to launch to the International Space Station and conduct a wide-ranging set of operational and research activities for the benefit of all. Launching aboard the Dragon spacecraft, NASA astronauts Commander Zena Cardman, Pilot Nick Hague, and Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov, will join Expedition 71 and 72 crew members no earlier than August. They will arrive to the space station for a short duration handover with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission This will be the first spaceflight for Cardman, who was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017. The Williamsburg, Virginia, native holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a master’s in Marine Sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At time of selection, she was a doctoral candidate in geosciences. Cardman’s research focused on geobiology and geochemical cycling in subsurface environments, from caves to deep sea sediments. Since completing initial training, Cardman has supported real-time station operations and development for lunar surface exploration. With a total of 203 days in space, this will be Hague’s third launch and second mission to the orbiting laboratory. During his first launch in 2018, Hague and his crewmate, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, experienced a rocket booster failure resulting in an in-flight launch abort. The Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft landed safely. Five months later, Hague launched aboard Soyuz MS-12 and served as a flight engineer aboard the space station during Expeditions 59 and 60. Hague and his crewmates participated in hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science, and Earth science. Hague conducted three spacewalks, to upgrade space station power systems and install a docking adapter for commercial spacecraft. As an active-duty colonel in the U.S. Space Force, Hague completed a developmental rotation at the Defense Department in Washington, where he served as the USSF director of test and evaluation from 2020 to 2022. In August 2022, Hague resumed duties at NASA working on the Boeing Starliner Program until this flight assignment. A veteran of three spaceflights, STS-121, STS-120, and STS-131, Wilson has spent 42 days in space aboard three separate space shuttle Discovery missions. Before her selection as a NASA astronaut in 1996, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas in Austin, and worked at Martin Marietta and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. During her first mission, STS-121 in November 2004, she and her crewmates spent 13 days in orbit. Wilson served as the robotic arm operator for spacecraft inspection, for the installation of the “Leonardo” Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, and for spacewalk support. In November 2006, Wilson and her STS-120 crewmates aboard Discovery delivered the Harmony module to the station and relocated a solar array. In May 2009, Wilson and her STS-131 crewmates completed another mission to resupply the station, delivering a new ammonia tank for the station cooling system, new crew sleeping quarters, a window observation facility, and a freezer for experiments. During her nearly 30 years with NASA, Wilson served as the integration branch chief for NASA’s Astronaut Office focusing on International Space Station systems and payload operations, and on a nine-month detail, served as the acting chief of NASA’s Program and Project Integration Office at the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. This will be Gorbunov’s first trip to space and the station. Born in Zheleznogorsk, Kursk region, Russia, he studied engineering with qualifications in spacecraft and upper stages from the Moscow Aviation Institute. Gorbunov graduated from the military department with a specialty in operation and repair of aircraft, helicopters, and aircraft engines. Before being selected as a cosmonaut in 2018, he worked as an engineer for Rocket Space Corporation Energia and supported cargo spacecraft launches from the Baikonur cosmodrome. This is the ninth rotational mission to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which works with the American aerospace industry to meet the goal of safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the orbital outpost on American-made rockets and spacecraft launching from American soil. For more than two decades, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. As commercial companies focus on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low Earth orbit economy, NASA’s Artemis campaign is underway at the Moon where the agency is preparing for future human exploration of Mars. Find more information on NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at: https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew -end- Joshua Finch Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov Courtney Beasley Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 courtney.m.beasley@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Jan 31, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsHumans in SpaceCommercial SpaceInternational Space Station (ISS)ISS ResearchMissions View the full article

SpaceX In this image from Jan. 30, 2024, an uncrewed Cygnus cargo spacecraft launches atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, starting its journey to the International Space Station. Launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Cygnus carries 8,200 pounds of science investigations and cargo to support dozens of research experiments. This is Northrop Grumman’s 20th cargo flight to the orbiting laboratory. Watch NASA+ for live coverage of Cygnus’s approach to the space station on Feb. 1, 2024, beginning at 2:45 a.m. EST. Image Credit: SpaceX View the full article

NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) observatory is inspected and processed on a spacecraft dolly in a high bay at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Dec. 4, 2023. NASA/Kim Shiflett NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for its upcoming mission to study how our oceans and atmosphere interact in a changing climate. Launch of the PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission is targeted for 1:33 a.m. EST, Tuesday, Feb. 6, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Once in orbit above Earth, PACE will shed light on the impact of tiny things – microscopic life in water and microscopic particles in the air. Live launch coverage will begin at 12:45 a.m., Feb. 6, on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website. Full coverage of this mission including prelaunch activities is as follows (all times Eastern): Sunday, Feb. 4 9:15 a.m. – NASA Social Panel livestream at NASA Kennedy. Watch live on YouTube, Facebook and X social media channels with the following NASA participants answering #AskNASA questions: Karen St. Germain, director, Earth Science Division Marjorie Haskell, PACE program executive Laura Lorenzoni, PACE program scientist Ivona Cetinic, PACE ocean scientist Juli Lander, PACE deputy project manager 11 a.m. – PACE Science Briefing on NASA+ with the following agency participants: Kate Calvin, chief scientist and senior climate advisor Karen St. Germain, director, Earth Science Division Jeremy Werdell, PACE project scientist Andy Sayer, atmospheric scientist, Sciences and Exploration Directorate Erin Urquhart, program manager, Water Resources Application Area Media may request the news conference dial-in number and passcode by contacting the Kennedy newsroom no later than 4 p.m., Friday, Feb. 2, at ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov. Members of the public also may ask questions, which may be answered in real time during the segment, by using #AskNASA on social media. On-site media may attend the briefing in person or via telephone. 12 p.m. – Immediately after the science briefing, the following NASA subject matter experts will be available for one-on-one media interviews at the Kennedy News Center on a first come, first-served basis. Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate Karen St. Germain, director, Earth Science Division Kate Calvin, chief scientist and senior climate advisor Jeremy Werdell, PACE project scientist Andy Sayer, atmospheric scientist, Sciences and Exploration Directorate Erin Urquhart, program manager, Water Resources Application Area Mark Voyton, PACE project manager Juli Lander, PACE deputy project manager Gary Davis, PACE mission systems engineer Monday, Feb. 5 8 a.m. – NASA EDGE will host the PACE rollout show. The rollout show will air live on NASA+, NASA TV, and YouTube. 9 a.m. – PACE Prelaunch News Conference on NASA+ and NASA TV with the following participants: NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free Karen St. Germain, director, Earth Science Division, NASA Tim Dunn, senior launch director, Launch Services Program, NASA Julianna Scheiman, director, Civil Satellite Missions, SpaceX Brian Cizek, launch weather officer, 45th Weather Squadron, U.S. Space Force Media may request the news conference dial-in number and passcode by contacting the Kennedy newsroom no later than 4 p.m., Friday, Feb. 2, at ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov. Members of the public also may ask questions by using #AskNASA on social media. On-site media may attend the briefing in person or via telephone. Tuesday, Feb. 6 12:45 a.m. – Technical feed begins on NASA TV media channel. 12:45 a.m. – Live launch coverage will begin on NASA+ and NASA TV public channel. For NASA TV downlink information, schedules, and links to streaming video, visit: https://nasa.gov/nasatv The deadline has passed for media accreditation for in-person coverage of this launch. The agency’s media accreditation policy is available online. More information about media accreditation is available by emailing: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. For all other questions, contact the newsroom at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 321-867-2468. NASA Website Launch Coverage Launch day coverage of NASA’s PACE mission will be available on the agency’s website. Coverage will include blog updates as well. Streaming video and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. Images of PACE’s processing and launch are available in this album. Follow mission coverage on the PACE launch blog at: https://blogs.nasa.gov/pace/ Audio Only Coverage Audio only of the news conferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240, or -7135. On launch day, “mission audio,” countdown activities without NASA TV launch commentary, will be carried on 321-867-7135. A “tech feed” of the launch without NASA TV commentary will be carried on the NASA TV media channel. Attend Launch Virtually Members of the public can register to attend the PACE launch virtually. NASA’s virtual guest program for this mission includes curated launch resources, notifications about related opportunities or changes, and a stamp for the NASA virtual guest passport following a successful launch. Watch, Engage Online Let people know you’re following NASA’s PACE mission. On Facebook, Instagram, and X, use the hashtag #KeepingPACE and #AskNASA. You also can stay connected by following and tagging these accounts: Facebook: NASA, NASAKennedy, NASAGoddard, NASAEarth, NASALSP Instagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAEarth X: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASASocial, @NASAGoddard, @NASAEarth, @NASA_LSP The PACE project is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The agency’s Launch Services Program, based at NASA Kennedy, is responsible for managing the launch service for the PACE mission. For more information about PACE, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/pace/ -end- Karen Fox NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 karen.c.fox@nasa.gov Jake Richmond Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 240-713-1618 jacob.a.richmond@nasa.gov Laura Aguiar Kennedy Space Center, Florida 321-593-6245 laura.aguiar@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Jan 31, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsMissionsEarthEarth Science View the full article

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Download Press Kit (PDF) Return to CLPS Homepage Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services Artemis Commercial Space Humans In Space View the full article

6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) JPL scientist Vanessa Bailey stands behind the Nancy Grace Roman Coronagraph , which has been undergoing testing at JPL. About the size of a baby grand piano, the Coronagraph is designed to block starlight and allow scientists to see the faint light from planets outside our solar system. A cutting-edge tool to view planets outside our solar system has passed two key tests ahead of its launch as part of the agency’s Roman Space Telescope by 2027. The Coronagraph Instrument on NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will demonstrate new technologies that could vastly increase the number of planets outside our solar system (exoplanets) that scientists can directly observe. Designed and built at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, it recently passed a series of critical tests ahead of launch. That includes tests to ensure the instrument’s electrical components don’t interfere with those on the rest of the observatory and vice versa. “This is such an important and nerve-wracking stage of building a spacecraft instrument, testing whether or not everything works as intended,” said Feng Zhao, deputy project manager for the Roman Coronagraph at JPL. “But we have an amazing team who built this thing, and it passed the electrical components tests with flying colors.” A coronagraph blocks light from a bright cosmic object, like a star, so that scientists can observe a nearby object that would otherwise be hidden by the glare. (Think of a car’s sun visor.) The light reflected or emitted by a planet carries information about the chemicals in the planet’s atmosphere and other potential signs of habitability, so coronagraphs will likely be a critical tool in the search for life beyond our solar system. But if scientists were trying to obtain images of an Earth-like planet in another solar system (same size, same distance from a star similar to our Sun), they wouldn’t be able to see the planet in the star’s glare, even with the best coronagraphs and most powerful telescopes operating today. The Roman Coronagraph was peppered with radio waves to test its response to stray electrical signals. The test was performed inside a chamber lined with foam padding that absorbs the radio waves to prevent them from bouncing off the walls. The Roman Coronagraph aims to change that paradigm. The innovations that have gone into the instrument should make it possible to see planets similar to Jupiter in size and distance from their star. The Coronagraph team expects these advances will help enable the leap to viewing more Earth-like planets with future observatories. As a technology demonstration, the Roman Coronagraph’s primary goal is to test technologies that have not been flown in space before. Specifically, it will test sophisticated light-blocking capabilities that are at least 10 times better than what’s currently available. Scientists expect to push its performance even further to observe challenging targets that could yield novel scientific discoveries. Making the Grade Even with the Coronagraph blocking a star’s light, a planet will still be exceptionally faint, and it might take a full month of observations to get a good picture of the distant world. To make these observations, the instrument’s camera detects individual photons, or single particles of light, making it far more sensitive than previous coronagraphs. That’s one reason the recent tests were crucial: The electrical currents that send power to the spacecraft’s components can produce faint electrical signals, mimicking light in the Coronagraph’s sensitive cameras – an effect known as electromagnetic interference. Meanwhile, signals from the Coronagraph could similarly disrupt Roman’s other instruments. The mission needs to ensure neither will happen when the telescope is operating in an isolated, electromagnetically quiet environment 1 million miles (about 1.5 million kilometers) from Earth. So a team of engineers put the fully assembled instrument in a special isolated, electromagnetically quiet chamber at JPL and turned it on to full power. They measured the instrument’s electromagnetic output to make sure it fell below the level required to operate aboard Roman. The team used injection clamps, transformers, and antennas to produce electrical disturbances and radio waves similar to what the rest of the telescope will generate. Then they measured the instrument’s performance, looking for excessive noise in the camera images and other unwanted responses from the optical mechanisms. “The electric fields we generate with the antennas are about the same strength as what’s generated by a computer screen,” said Clement Gaidon, the Roman Coronagraph electrical systems engineer at JPL. “That’s a pretty benign level, all things considered, but we have very sensitive hardware onboard. Overall, the instrument did a fantastic job navigating across the electromagnetic waves. And props to the team for wrapping this test campaign in record time!” A Wide Field of View The lessons learned from the Coronagraph technology demonstration will be separate from the Roman Space Telescope’s primary mission, which includes multiple science objectives. The mission’s principal tool, the Wide Field Instrument, is designed to generate some of the largest images of the universe ever taken from space. These images will enable Roman to conduct groundbreaking surveys of cosmic objects such as stars, planets, and galaxies, and study the large-scale distribution of matter in the universe. For example, by taking repeated images of the center of the Milky Way – like a multiyear time-lapse movie – the Wide Field Instrument will discover tens of thousands of new exoplanets. (This planet survey will be separate from the observations made by the Coronagraph). Roman will also make 3D maps of the cosmos to explore how galaxies have formed and why the universe’s expansion is speeding up, measuring the effects of what astronomers call “dark matter” and “dark energy.” With these wide-ranging capabilities, Roman will help answer questions about big and small features of our universe. More About the Mission The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by JPL and Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Melbourne, Florida; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California. The Roman Coronagraph Instrument was designed and is being built at JPL, which manages the instrument for NASA. Contributions were made by ESA (the European Space Agency), JAXA (the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency), the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales), and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany. Caltech, in Pasadena, California, manages JPL for NASA. The Roman Science Support Center at Caltech/IPAC partners with JPL on data management for the Coronagraph and generating the instrument’s commands. For more information about the Roman telescope, visit: https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/ News Media Contacts Calla Cofield Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 626-808-2469 calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov Claire Andreoli NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 301-286-1940 claire.andreoli@nasa.gov 2024-010 Share Details Last Updated Jan 31, 2024 Related TermsNancy Grace Roman Space TelescopeAstrobiologyAstrophysicsExoplanet ScienceGoddard Space Flight CenterJet Propulsion LaboratoryStudying ExoplanetsTechnologyThe Search for Life Explore More 2 min read Hubble Observes a Galactic Distortion The galaxy NGC 5427 shines in this new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. It’s part… Article 5 hours ago 3 min read NASA Search and Rescue Technology Saves Explorers, Enables Exploration Article 22 hours ago 6 min read How the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Is Different than the 2017 Eclipse On April 8, the Moon’s shadow will sweep across the United States, as millions will… Article 23 hours ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A concept image of NASA’s Fission Surface Power Project.Credit: NASA NASA is wrapping up the initial phase of its Fission Surface Power Project, which focused on developing concept designs for a small, electricity-generating nuclear fission reactor that could be used during a future demonstration on the Moon and to inform future designs for Mars. NASA awarded three $5 million contracts in 2022, tasking each commercial partner with developing an initial design that included the reactor; its power conversion, heat rejection, and power management and distribution systems; estimated costs; and a development schedule that could pave the way for powering a sustained human presence on the lunar surface for at least 10 years. “A demonstration of a nuclear power source on the Moon is required to show that it is a safe, clean, reliable option,” said Trudy Kortes, program director, Technology Demonstration Missions within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The lunar night is challenging from a technical perspective, so having a source of power such as this nuclear reactor, which operates independent of the Sun, is an enabling option for long-term exploration and science efforts on the Moon.” While solar power systems have limitations on the Moon, a nuclear reactor could be placed in permanently shadowed areas (where there may be water ice) or generate power continuously during lunar nights, which are 14-and-a-half Earth days long. NASA designed the requirements for this initial reactor to be open and flexible to maintain the commercial partners’ ability to bring creative approaches for technical review. “There was a healthy variety of approaches; they were all very unique from each other,” said Lindsay Kaldon, Fission Surface Power project manager at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “We didn’t give them a lot of requirements on purpose because we wanted them to think outside the box.” However, NASA did specify that the reactor should stay under six metric tons and be able to produce 40 kilowatts (kW) of electrical power, ensuring enough for demonstration purposes and additional power available for running lunar habitats, rovers, backup grids, or science experiments. In the U.S., 40 kW can, on average, provide electrical power for 33 households. NASA plans a sustained presence on the Moon and eventually Mars. Safe, efficient, reliable energy will be key to future robotic and human exploration.Credit: NASA NASA also set a goal that the reactor should be capable of operating for a decade without human intervention, which is key to its success. Safety, especially concerning radiation dose and shielding, is another key driver for the design. Beyond the set requirements, the partnerships envisioned how the reactor would be remotely powered on and controlled. They identified potential faults and considered different types of fuels and configurations. Having terrestrial nuclear companies paired with companies with expertise in space made for a wide range of ideas. NASA plans to extend the three Phase 1 contracts to gather more information before Phase 2, when industry will be solicited to design the final reactor to demonstrate on the Moon. This additional knowledge will help the agency set the Phase 2 requirements, Kaldon says. “We’re getting a lot of information from the three partners,” Kaldon said. “We’ll have to take some time to process it all and see what makes sense going into Phase 2 and levy the best out of Phase 1 to set requirements to design a lower-risk system moving forward.” Open solicitation for Phase 2 is planned for 2025. After Phase 2, the target date for delivering a reactor to the launch pad is in the early 2030s. On the Moon, the reactor will complete a one-year demonstration followed by nine operational years. If all goes well, the reactor design may be updated for potential use on Mars. Beyond gearing up for Phase 2, NASA recently awarded Rolls Royce North American Technologies, Brayton Energy, and General Electric contracts to develop Brayton power converters. Thermal power produced during nuclear fission must be converted to electricity before use. Brayton converters solve this by using differences in heat to rotate turbines within the converters. However, current Brayton converters waste a lot of heat, so NASA has challenged companies to make these engines more efficient. The Technology Demonstration Missions program manages Fission Surface Power under NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. Explore More 2 min read BioNutrients: A Five-Year Experiment in Space Nears Completion Article 21 hours ago 4 min read NASA Selects Winners of Third TechRise Student Challenge Article 7 days ago 3 min read NASA Glenn Established in Cleveland in 1941 Article 1 week ago View the full article

1 min read Hubble Observes a Galactic Distortion The galaxy NGC 5427 shines in this new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. NASA, ESA, and R. Foley (University of California – Santa Cruz); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) The galaxy NGC 5427 shines in this new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. It’s part of the galaxy pair Arp 271, and its companion NGC 5426 is located below this galaxy and outside of this image’s frame. However, the effects of the pair’s gravitational attraction is visible in the galactic distortion and cosmic bridge of stars seen in the lower-right region of the image. In 1785, British astronomer William Herschel discovered the pair, which is locked in an interaction that will last for tens of millions of years. Whether they will ultimately collide and merge is still uncertain, but their mutual gravitational attraction has already birthed many new stars. These young stars are visible in the faint bridge connecting the two galaxies, located at the bottom of the image. Such a bridge provides an avenue for the two galaxies to continue sharing the gas and dust that becomes new stars. Scientists believe Arp 271 can serve as a blueprint for future interactions between our Milky Way Galaxy and our neighbor the Andromeda Galaxy, expected to happen in about 4 billion years. The galaxy NGC 5427 shines in the large image from Hubble, with ground-based observations showing its companion galaxy NGC 5426. Together, this pair is known as Arp 271. Ground-based image: DECam Victor M. Blanco/CTIO; Hubble image: NASA, ESA, and R. Foley (University of California – Santa Cruz); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) LEARN MORE: Hubble’s Cosmic Collisions Hubble Science: Galaxy Details and Mergers Hubble Science: Tracing the Growth of Galaxies Download the featured image Download the inset image Media Contact: Claire Andreoli NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD claire.andreoli@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Jan 31, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Missions The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Galaxies Stories Stars Stories James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… View the full article

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Students who pursue careers in these areas, among many others, could contribute to transforming aviation by developing and deploying Advanced Air Mobility solutions to the challenges of 21st century flight.NASA / Lillian Gipson NASA Aeronautics has released a new STEM toolkit focusing on Advanced Air Mobility for educators and students of all ages. The toolkit, comprised of numerous educational activities, is a free resource for anyone who is interested in learning more about the Advanced Air Mobility mission’s goal of enabling the use of drones and other new aircraft in our skies. Students can engage with the principles of Advanced Air Mobility in a variety of ways – including hands-on activities on topics such as coding, math, energy, the environment, and more. It is one of three STEM toolkits focusing on NASA’s aeronautics research – the others being Sustainable Aviation and the Quesst mission. The Advanced Air Mobility STEM toolkit provides excellent, cross-curricular ways to learn about the scientific concepts behind drone flight… April Lanotte NASA Aeronautics STEM Lead “The Advanced Air Mobility STEM toolkit provides excellent, cross-curricular ways to learn about the scientific concepts behind drone flight without even needing to have a drone,” said April Lanotte, NASA Aeronautics’ lead for STEM integration. “The toolkit has something for people of all ages in all types of educational environments.” For example, one activity in the toolkit involves creating an art poster to explore and highlight original ideas for drone safety and the safe use of drones. Zach Roberts completes a pre-flight check of a drone during Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations, or STEReO, testing at the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team, or DART, training facility, NA303.NASA An activity named Robotic Search and Rescue has students interact with real-world uses for drones – in this case, emergency response operations. As part of the activity, a team of students create and test their own responses to challenges first responders may face. In another activity, students engage in cooperative game play to simulate a drone navigating around obstacles to deliver their lunch to school. The simulation engages students in computational thinking, problem solving, and real-world application of mathematics. What’s more, many of these activities are aligned with national standards to meet educational requirements in the classroom. The toolkit also includes levelled readers, videos, and e-books, and is updated regularly with new material. “It’s really a living toolkit. Advanced Air Mobility is a constantly evolving field, so we’re always adding new things to keep up with it,” said Lanotte. “Not just related to drones themselves, but also the infrastructure, coding, and other engineering challenges needed to support those vehicles in the future.” The Advanced Air Mobility toolkit, along with the rest of NASA Aeronautics’ comprehensive STEM resources, is available on the Aeronautics STEM webpage. About the AuthorJohn GouldAeronautics Research Misson Directorate Read More 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 Autonomous Flight Software Successfully Used in Air Taxi Stand-Ins Article 6 days ago 2 min read University High Wins L.A. Ocean Sciences Bowl at NASA’s JPL Article 1 week ago 4 min read Career Journey: Cooking Up a Job as a Space Food Scientist Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Aeronautics STEM Artemis Women in STEM Careers NASA History Share Details Last Updated Jan 31, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactJim Bankejim.banke@nasa.gov Related TermsAeronauticsAeronautics Research Mission DirectorateLearning Resources View the full article

NASA Science Live: Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Tribute & Legacy

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA has awarded a contract extension to TRAX International Corporation of Las Vegas for the Goddard Logistics and Technical Information II (GLTI II) services contract. GLTI II is a cost-plus, fixed-fee contract extension including technical performance incentive fees with a six-month base beginning Jan. 31, 2024, and three one-month options. The total potential award if all three options are exercised is about $46,760,000. The current contract, originally awarded in 2017 and extended in 2023, is valued at $419,869,000. Under this contract, TRAX will provide logistics support, technical information management and other services at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; Wallops Flight Facility and Langley Research Center in Virginia; and the agency’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C. For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/ Jeremy Eggers Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 757-824-2958 jeremy.l.eggers@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Jan 30, 2024 EditorRob GarnerContactJeremy EggersLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsGeneral View the full article

NASA science investigations and cargo aboard a Northrop Grumman resupply spacecraft are on the way to the International Space Station. Launch occurred at 12:07 p.m. EST Tuesday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Live coverage of the spacecraft’s arrival will begin at 2:45 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 1, on the NASA+ streaming service. Coverage also will air live on NASA Television and on the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. Cygnus is scheduled for capture at 4:20 a.m. by the Canadarm2 robotic arm, which will be operated by NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli with assistance from NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara. Installation coverage will resume at 5:45 a.m. Watch all events at: https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv Northrop Grumman’s 20th cargo flight to the space station is the ninth under its Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract with NASA. The Cygnus spacecraft carried more than 8,200 pounds of NASA science investigations and cargo. The resupply mission will support dozens of research experiments conducted during Expedition 70. Included among the investigations are: the first surgical robot on the space station an orbit re-entry platform that collects thermal protection systems data a 3D cartilage cell culture that maintains healthy cartilage in a lower gravity a metal 3D printer, an autonomous semiconductor manufacturing platform These are just a sample of the hundreds of investigations conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory in the areas of biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, and Earth and space science. Such research benefits humanity and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis campaign, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars. The Cygnus spacecraft will remain at the space station until July before it departs and disposes of several thousand pounds of debris through its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere where it will harmlessly burn up. The spacecraft is named the S.S. Patricia “Patty” Hilliard Robertson. Learn more about NASA’s commercial resupply mission at: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/nasas-northrop-grumman-crs-20/ -end- Josh Finch / Claire O’Shea Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov Sandra Jones Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov Share Details Last Updated Jan 30, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsCommercial SpaceCommercial ResupplyInternational Space Station (ISS)ISS ResearchJohnson Space CenterNASA HeadquartersNorthrop Grumman Commercial Resupply View the full article

5 min read NASA Celebrates First Decade of International Asteroid Warning Network On January 13-14, 2014, representatives from NASA and various global research organizations convened the first meeting of the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) steering committee. This group was charged with strengthening coordinated international response to a potentially hazardous near-Earth object (NEO). One decade, 17 meetings, and five global exercises later, IAWN continues to build collaboration among the global planetary defense community to help identify potential threats and safeguard Earth. Kelly Fast, NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations Program Manager and Coordinating Officer for the International Asteroid Warning Network speaks to the importance of international collaboration. Credit: NASA/Lindley Johnson A Reason for Action In the early morning of Feb. 15, 2013, in the frosty skies above the southern Ural region in Russia, a previously undetected asteroid approximately 60 feet (18 meters) in size slammed into Earth’s atmosphere. This relatively small piece of natural space debris lit up the morning sky as it disintegrated, briefly shining brighter than the Sun as it exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk with a force equivalent to about 440 kilotons of TNT – over 20 times greater than the energy released by the first atomic bomb blast in New Mexico. This spectacular and widely publicized event highlighted the very real but easily overlooked hazard posed by near-Earth objects (NEOs) – asteroids and comets with orbits that bring them into Earth’s vicinity – and reinforced the need for strong global coordination among the planetary-defense community. Representatives Forge Global Collaboration Coincidentally and fortuitously, it also occurred while the 50th session of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) Scientific and Technical Subcommittee was convened at the International Center in Vienna. The meteor metaphorically impacted the committee, which had already established a working group on NEOs to draft initial plans for an international response to potentially hazardous NEOs and was preparing to present its recommendations to the subcommittee. These plans, which were subsequently accepted by the UN General Assembly, called for the establishment of IAWN. In that document, IAWN was tasked with “developing a strategy using well-defined space-object detection and tracking procedures, and communication plans and protocols, to assist governments in the understanding and analysis of asteroid impact consequences for the planning of mitigation responses.” “Chelyabinsk was the ultimate call for action during the COPUOS meeting in Vienna and it was clearly on the minds of those of us who attended the first meeting of the International Asteroid Warning Network eleven months later,” said NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson. “Prior to this meeting, there already existed a vibrant but very informal international collaboration with NEO research,” said Kelly Fast, the Near-Earth Object Observations program manager for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office. “IAWN was the first formal effort to collaborate on an international scale for NEO observation, tracking and modeling relevant to planetary defense.” But what did the inaugural IAWN create that we didn’t have before? In a nutshell, IAWN forged a formal worldwide collaboration of asteroid observers and modelers to detect, track, and physically characterize NEOs. This vital information about impact threats is also made accessible by any nation and government on Earth through IAWN notifications to the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs, and through the world-wide individuals and participating organizations in IAWN and their open data practices. “In short, IAWN has been able to foster and advance the international collaboration that is critical to ensure the planetary defense community is communicating and operating using the same best practices and methods for finding, tracking, cataloging, and characterizing NEOs, and then informing the world about them,” said Johnson. Since its inception, IAWN has led several campaigns to help check the accuracy of the observations reported by asteroid observers. It also organized practice observing campaigns of a known non-hazardous NEO to simulate what would be needed in the event an object were on a collision course with Earth. NASA’s Role in Worldwide Network NASA’s involvement was essential to the formation of IAWN, and its current role involves coordinating IAWN, which includes convening the semi-annual meetings of the steering committee and signatories as well as leading the periodic campaigns to exercise the astronomical and modeling capabilities of the worldwide network. IAWN currently has 55 signatories from 25 countries, representing participation by space agencies, universities, private organizations, and independent astronomers. The Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) was also recommended by the UN and established with IAWN. SMPAG is the forum for the world’s space agencies to collaborate on technologies for mitigation techniques and recommend potential in-space deflection options based on information from IAWN concerning an identified impact threat. SMPAG is chaired by the European Space Agency. “It is safe to say that IAWN and SMPAG would not exist or have been endorsed by the UN if NASA had not actively worked for their establishment and support by the UN COPUOS member states,” concludes Johnson. “This is also why NASA stepped up to initiate the coordination of IAWN activities.” For more information about NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office: https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-defense -end- News Media Contact Charles Blue NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-802-5345 charles.e.blue@nasa.gov Facebook logo @NASA@Asteroid Watch @NASA@AsteroidWatch Instagram logo @NASA Linkedin logo @NASA Explore More 3 min read International Space Station Welcomes Trio of Experiments Focused on Enhancing Life Beyond Earth Article 1 hour ago 5 min read How the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Is Different than the 2017 Eclipse Article 3 hours ago 2 min read Hubble Spies a Spinning Spiral Article 8 hours ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Asteroids Planetary Science Our Solar System Asteroids, Comets & Meteors View the full article

3 min read International Space Station Welcomes Trio of Experiments Focused on Enhancing Life Beyond Earth NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division is sending three physical sciences and space biology experiments and equipment to the International Space Station aboard Northrop Grumman’s 20th commercial resupply services mission. These experiments aim to pioneer scientific discovery, enable sustainable deep space exploration, and support transformative engineering. The launch is scheduled to take place no earlier than Tuesday, January 30, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Using Microbes to Improve Plant Growth in Space Plants will play a crucial role in space exploration because they provide a source of fresh food for astronauts, revitalize habitat air, and help recycle resources. However, to use plants effectively for space exploration, it is important to understand how they grow under the harsh environments of space. Many microbes that are intimately associated with plants are known to improve the plant’s ability to tolerate environmental stresses on Earth. These beneficial microbes could also confer similar advantages to plants in space; however, we do not know how exposure to the space environment alters these associations. Plant-Microbe Interactions in Space (Advanced Plant Experiments in Space; APEX-10) tests whether the beneficial microbe Trichoderma harzianum increases stress resilience and improves seedling growth of tomato plants (Lycopersicum esculentum) when the two are grown together in microgravity on the International Space Station. If so, this knowledge could help increase plant productivity on Earth as well as in space. The principal investigator for APEX-10 is Dr. Simon Gilroy with the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dr. Simon Gilroy (left) and members of the APEX-10 team (Dr. Sarah Swanson, center and Dr. Arko Bashki) preparing their space experiments at the Kennedy Space Center. Dr. Gilroy is a Researcher and Professor in the Botany Department of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He works extensively with NASA on understanding how plants grow on the International Space Station and plans for using plants in life support on planetary bases. University of Wisconsin Understanding Microgravity-Associated Bone Loss Despite rigorous exercise, astronauts face a major health problem in space travel: significant bone loss. The Role of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Microgravity Induced Bone Loss – Part A (MABL-A) research assesses the effects of microgravity on bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), specifically their capacity to secrete bone-forming and bone-dissolving cytokines (small secreted proteins that affect other cells). MSCs are known to play a role in making and repairing skeletal tissues. Results could provide a better understanding of the basic molecular mechanisms of bone loss caused by spaceflight and normal aging on Earth. The principal investigator for MABL-A is Dr. Abba Zubair with the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Dr. Abba Chedi Zubair is a Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. Mayo Clinic Studying Bacterial Growth in Space Microbes, such as bacteria, cause numerous human diseases on Earth. It is possible that these same microbes could adversely affect the health of astronauts as they embark on future space missions. Therefore, a deeper understanding of how the spaceflight environment influences microbial growth could help develop strategies to counter their harmful effects. Biological Research in Canisters-25 (BRIC-25) studies how microgravity affects the Accessory Gene Regulator (Agr) quorum-sensing system of Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterial pathogen that infects almost every human tissue and organ. The Agr quorum-sensing system is a key communication tool used by bacteria to form biofilms, regulate physiology, and affect their ability to cause disease. By investigating the Agr system on the International Space Station, BRIC-25 researchers hope to uncover new insights into bacterial behavior in space. This knowledge could not only safeguard astronauts’ health, but also improve our understanding of bacterial adaptations on Earth. The principal investigator for BRIC-25 is Dr. Kelly Rice, with the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Dr. Kelly Rice is an associate professor in the University of Florida’s Department of Microbiology and Cell Science in the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. About BPS NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division pioneers scientific discovery and enables exploration by using space environments to conduct investigations not possible on Earth. Studying biological and physical phenomena under extreme conditions allows researchers to advance the fundamental scientific knowledge required to go farther and stay longer in space, while also benefitting life on Earth. Share Details Last Updated Jan 30, 2024 Related Terms Biological & Physical Sciences International Space Station (ISS) ISS Research Science & Research Space Biology Space Biology Program View the full article

This high exposure photograph revealed Earth’s atmospheric glow against the backdrop of a starry sky in this image taken from the International Space Station on Jan. 21, 2024. At the time, the orbital lab was 258 miles above the Pacific Ocean northeast of Papua New Guinea. The Nauka science module and Prichal docking module are visible at left. Since the space station became operational in November 2000, crew members have produced hundreds of thousands of images of the land, oceans, and atmosphere of Earth, and even of the Moon through Crew Earth Observations. Their photographs of Earth record how the planet changes over time due to human activity and natural events. Image Credit: NASA, ESA/Andreas Mogensen View the full article

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) In 2023, NASA-developed search and rescue technologies aided first responders in locating and saving 350 lives in the United States. Now, NASA is incorporating that same technology in astronaut missions. NASA’s Search and Rescue technologies enabled hundreds of lives saved in 2023.NASA/Dave Ryan NASA provides technical expertise to the international satellite-aided search and rescue effort known as Cospas-Sarsat. This technical expertise has enabled the development of multiple emergency location beacon types, which explorers can use when in need. Should an explorer become distressed or lost, they can activate the 406 MHz frequency beacon. The beacon sends a distress signal to a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite in space, which then relays the signal location to the Cospas-Sarsat network. With the precise position of the beacon, the network can alert first responders anywhere in the world and initiate the rescue. These beacons provide explorers with a sense of safety as they venture on land, air, and sea. There are three types of beacons available for users: personal locator beacons, used by hikers and other land explorers; emergency position indicating radio beacons, for boaters and sailors; and emergency locator transmitters for aircraft pilots. In 2023, 51 rescues were made for activated personal locator beacons; 255 for emergency position indicating radio beacons; and 44 for emergency locator transmitters, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NASA’s Search and Rescue office has a long legacy of Earth-based beacon development and is now applying that expertise to support NASA’s Artemis campaign. For Artemis I, beacons placed on the Orion spacecraft located the uncrewed capsule as it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after its 1.4-million-mile journey around the Moon and back. Going further, for Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed mission under Artemis, the agency is including second-generation beacons called ANGEL (Advanced Next-Generation Emergency Locators) on the astronauts’ life preservers and installing another location beacon onto the Orion spacecraft capsule. In the event NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen of CSA (Canadian Space Agency) may need to exit from Orion without the assistance of recovery personnel, NASA will be able to locate them immediately using the ANGEL beacon locations. In July 2023, as part of the at-sea recovery testing for Artemis missions, search and rescue team members were aboard the USS John P. Murtha to validate ANGEL and the newly developed SAINT (SAR Intelligent Terminal) application, which tracks the beacons’ locations in real-time. The team is now readying itself for the next at-sea test of Artemis recovery procedures in February. The Search and Rescue office is a part of the SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program office and is essential for NASA’s endeavors to the Moon and Mars. The office has a unique portfolio that advances NASA’s exploration capabilities while enabling the life-saving technology used by Earth-based adventurers. NOAA manages the U.S. network region for Cospas-Sarsat, which relies on flight and ground technologies originally developed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The SCaN program at NASA Headquarters in Washington provides strategic oversight to the Search and Rescue office. U.S. region rescue efforts are led by the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Air Force, and many other local rescue authorities. By Kendall Murphy NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Facebook logo @NASASCaN@NASAGoddard @NASASCaN@NASAGoddard Instagram logo @NASAGoddard Share Details Last Updated Jan 30, 2024 EditorKendall MurphyContactKendall MurphyLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsSpace Communications TechnologyGoddard Space Flight CenterSpace Communications & Navigation Program Explore More 3 min read NASA Search and Rescue: Saving Earth-based Explorers and Enabling Exploration Article 1 year ago 4 min read NASA Search and Rescue Team Prepares for Safe Return of Artemis II Crew When Artemis II NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, and Canadian Space… Article 6 months ago 4 min read NASA Tests Beacon for Safe Recovery of Astronauts on Artemis Missions Article 2 years ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Missions Humans in Space Climate Change Solar System View the full article

5 min read How is the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Different than the 2017 Eclipse? On April 8, the Moon’s shadow will sweep across the United States, as millions will view a total solar eclipse. For many, preparing for this event brings memories of the magnificent total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017. The total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017, was photographed from Madras, Oregon. The black circle in the middle is the Moon. Surrounding it are white streams of light belonging to the Sun’s outer atmosphere, called the corona. NASA/Aubrey Gemignani In 2017, an estimated 215 million U.S. adults (88% of U.S. adults) viewed the solar eclipse, either directly or electronically. They experienced the Moon pass in front of the Sun, blocking part or all of our closest star’s bright face. The eclipse in 2024 could be even more exciting due to differences in the path, timing, and scientific research. Wider, More Populated Path The path of totality – where viewers can see the Moon totally block the Sun, revealing the star’s outer atmosphere, called the corona – is much wider during the upcoming total solar eclipse than it was during the eclipse in 2017. As the Moon orbits Earth, its distance from our planet varies. During the 2017 total solar eclipse, the Moon was a little bit farther away from Earth than it will be during upcoming total solar eclipse, causing the path of that eclipse to be a little skinnier. In 2017, the path ranged from about 62 to 71 miles wide. During the April eclipse, the path over North America will range between 108 and 122 miles wide – meaning at any given moment, this eclipse covers more ground. The 2024 eclipse path will also pass over more cities and densely populated areas than the 2017 path did. This will make it easier for more people to see totality. An estimated 31.6 million people live in the path of totality this year, compared to 12 million in 2017. An additional 150 million people live within 200 miles of the path of totality. This map shows the path of the 2017 total solar eclipse, crossing from Oregon to South Carolina, and the 2024 total solar eclipse, crossing from Mexico into Texas, up to Maine, and exiting over Canada. To see a map showing which areas will experience the partial solar eclipse and which areas will experience the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, click the arrows. Ernest Wright/NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio This map illustrates the paths of the Moon’s shadow across the U.S. during the 2024 total solar eclipse. On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will cross North and Central America creating a path of totality. During a total solar eclipse, the Moon completely blocks the Sun while it passes between the Sun and Earth. The sky will darken as if it were dawn or dusk and those standing in the path of totality may see the Sun’s outer atmosphere (the corona) if weather permits. To see a map comparing the 2024 eclipse and the 2017 eclipse paths, click the arrows. NASA/Scientific Visualization Studio/Michala Garrison; Eclipse Calculations By Ernie Wright, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center You don’t need to live within the path of totality to see the eclipse – in April, 99% of people who reside in the United States will be able to see the partial or total eclipse from where they live. Every contiguous U.S. state, plus parts of Alaska and Hawaii, will experience at least a partial solar eclipse. Longer Time in Totality In April, totality will last longer than it did in 2017. Seven years ago, the longest period of totality was experienced near Carbondale, Illinois, at 2 minutes, 42 seconds. For the upcoming eclipse, totality will last up to 4 minutes, 28 seconds, in an area about 25 minutes northwest of Torreón, Mexico. As the eclipse enters Texas, totality will last about 4 minutes, 26 seconds at the center of the eclipse’s path. Durations longer than 4 minutes stretch as far north as Economy, Indiana. Even as the eclipse exits the U.S. and enters Canada, the eclipse will last up to 3 minutes, 21 seconds. During any total solar eclipse, totality lasts the longest near the center of the path, widthwise, and decreases toward the edge. But those seeking totality shouldn’t worry that they need to be exactly at the center. The time in totality falls off pretty slowly until you get close to the edge. Heightened Solar Activity NASA/ESA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) captured this video of a coronal mass ejection on March 13, 2023. NASA/Aubrey Gemignani Every 11 years or so, the Sun’s magnetic field flips, causing a cycle of increasing then decreasing solar activity. During solar minimum, there are fewer giant eruptions from the Sun, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections. But during solar maximum, the Sun becomes more active. In 2017, the Sun was nearing solar minimum. Viewers of the total eclipse could see the breathtaking corona – but since the Sun was quiet, streamers flowing into the solar atmosphere were restricted to just the equatorial regions of the star. The Sun is more magnetically symmetrical during solar minimum, causing this simpler appearance. During the 2024 eclipse, the Sun will be in or near solar maximum, when the magnetic field is more like a tangled hairball. Streamers will likely be visible throughout the corona. In addition to that, viewers will have a better chance to see prominences – which appear as bright, pink curls or loops coming off the Sun. With lucky timing, there could even be a chance to see a coronal mass ejection – a large eruption of solar material – during the eclipse. Expanded Scientific Research The third rocket launched on Oct. 14, 2023, during the annular solar eclipse leaves the launch pad. WSMR Army Photo During the total eclipse in 2024, NASA is funding several research initiatives that build on research done during the 2017 eclipse. The projects, which are led by researchers at different academic institutions, will study the Sun and its influence on Earth with a variety of instruments, including cameras aboard high-altitude research planes, ham radios, and more. In addition to those projects, instruments that were launched during the 2023 annular solar eclipse on three sounding rockets will again be launched during the upcoming total solar eclipse. Two spacecraft designed to study the Sun’s corona – NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA’s Solar Orbiter – have also launched since the 2017 solar eclipse. These missions will provide insights from the corona itself, while viewers on Earth see it with their own eyes, providing an exciting opportunity to combine and compare viewpoints. To learn more about the 2024 total solar eclipse and how you can safely watch it, visit NASA’s eclipse website. By Abbey Interrante NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Special thanks to Michael Zeiler for his calculations on the populations in the eclipse path. The 2017 total solar eclipse viewing analysis was conducted by Professor Jon D. Miller of the University of Michigan. This study was supported by a collaborative agreement between the University of Michigan and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (award NNX16AC66A). View the full article

NASA’s Europa Clipper, with all of its instruments installed, is visible in the clean room of High Bay 1 at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Jan. 19. The tent around the spacecraft was erected to support electromagnetic testing.NASA/JPL-Caltech The science performed by the complex suite of instruments recently added to the spacecraft will reveal whether Jupiter’s moon Europa has conditions that could support life. With less than nine months remaining in the countdown to launch, NASA’s Europa Clipper mission has passed a major milestone: Its science instruments have been added to the massive spacecraft, which is being assembled at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Set to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in October, the spacecraft will head to Jupiter’s ice-encased moon Europa, where a salty ocean beneath the frozen surface may hold conditions suitable for life. Europa Clipper won’t be landing; rather, after arriving at the Jupiter system in 2030, the spacecraft will orbit Jupiter for four years, performing 49 flybys of Europa and using its powerful suite of nine science instruments to investigate the moon’s potential as a habitable environment. “The instruments work together hand in hand to answer our most pressing questions about Europa,” said JPL’s Robert Pappalardo, the mission’s project scientist. “We will learn what makes Europa tick, from its core and rocky interior to its ocean and ice shell to its very thin atmosphere and the surrounding space environment.” The hallmark of Europa Clipper’s science investigation is how all of the instruments will work in sync while collecting data to accomplish the mission’s science objectives. During each flyby, the fully array of instruments will gather measurements and images that will be layered together to paint the full picture of Europa. Jupiter’s icy moon Europa holds a vast internal ocean that could have conditions suitable for life. NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will help scientists better understand the potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech “The science is better if we obtain the observations at the same time,” Pappalardo said. “What we’re striving for is integration, so that at any point we are using all the instruments to study Europa at once and there is no need to have to trade off among them.” From the Inside Out By studying the environment around Europa, scientists will learn more about the moon’s interior. The spacecraft carries a magnetometer to measure the magnetic field around the moon. That data will be key to understanding the ocean, because the field is created, or induced, by the electrical conductivity of the ocean’s saltwater as Europa moves through Jupiter’s strong magnetic field. Working in tandem with the magnetometer is an instrument that will analyze the plasma (charged particles) around Europa, which can distort magnetic fields. Together, they’ll ensure the most accurate measurements possible. What the mission discovers about Europa’s atmosphere will also lend insights into the moon’s surface and interior. While the atmosphere is faint, with only 100 billionth the pressure of Earth’s atmosphere, scientists expect that it holds a trove of clues about the moon. They have evidence from space- and ground-based telescopes that there may be plumes of water vapor venting from beneath the moon’s surface, and observations from past missions suggest that ice and dust particles are being ejected into space by micrometeorite impacts. Three instruments will help investigate the atmosphere and its associated particles: A mass spectrometer will analyze gases, a surface dust analyzer will examine dust, and a spectrograph will collect ultraviolet light to search for plumes and identify how the properties of the dynamic atmosphere change over time. All the while, Europa Clipper’s cameras will be taking wide- and narrow-angle pictures of the surface, providing the first high-resolution global map of Europa. Stereoscopic, color images will reveal any changes in the surface from geologic activity. A separate imager that measures temperatures will help scientists identify warmer regions where water or recent ice deposits may be near the surface. An imaging spectrometer will map the ices, salts, and organic molecules on the moon’s surface. The sophisticated set of imagers will also support the full instrument suite by collecting visuals that will provide context for the set of data collected. Of course, scientists also need a better understanding of the ice shell itself. Estimated to be about 10 to 15 miles (15 to 25 kilometers) thick, this outer casing may be geologically active, which could result in the fracture patterns that are visible at the surface. Using the radar instrument, the mission will study the ice shell, including searching for water within and beneath it. (The instrument’s electronics are now aboard the spacecraft, while its antennas will be mounted to the spacecraft’s solar arrays at Kennedy later this year.) Finally, there’s Europa’s interior structure. To learn more about it, scientists will measure the moon’s gravitational field at various points in its orbit around Jupiter. Observing how signals transmitted from the spacecraft are tugged on by Europa’s gravity can tell the team more about the moon’s interior. Scientists will use the spacecraft’s telecommunications equipment for this science investigation. With all nine instruments and the telecommunications system aboard the spacecraft, the mission team has begun testing the complete spacecraft for the first time. Once Europa Clipper is fully tested, the team will ship the craft to Kennedy in preparation for launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. More About the Mission Europa Clipper’s main science goal is to determine whether there are places below Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, that could support life. The mission’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet. Find more information about Europa here: europa.nasa.gov Watch live: Europa Clipper being built in the clean room News Media Contacts Gretchen McCartney Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-393-6215 gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov Karen Fox / Alana Johnson NASA Headquarters, Washington 301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501 karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov 2024-009 Share Details Last Updated Jan 30, 2024 Related TermsEuropa ClipperEuropaJet Propulsion LaboratoryJupiter Moons Explore More 5 min read NASA Collaborating on European-led Gravitational Wave Observatory in Space The first space-based observatory designed to detect gravitational waves has passed a major review and… Article 5 days ago 2 min read University High Wins L.A. Ocean Sciences Bowl at NASA’s JPL Article 1 week ago 5 min read 20 Years After Landing: How NASA’s Twin Rovers Changed Mars Science Article 2 weeks ago View the full article

Research scientists Sandra Vu, left, Natalie Ball, center, and Hiromi Kagawa, right, process BioNutrients production packs.NASA/Brandon Torres NASA’s bio-manufacturing experiment called BioNutrients is testing a way to use microorganisms to produce on-demand nutrients that will be critical for human health during future long-duration space missions. Launched to the International Space Station in 2019, the experiment assesses the stability and performance of a hand-held system – dubbed a production pack – to manufacture fresh vitamins and other nutrients in space over a five-year span. About once a year, scientists at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley processed a set of production packs on the same day astronauts run production packs on the space station. This helps the researchers compare the performance of production packs stored and activated in space to those on the ground, providing data on how the space environment affects nutrient production over the five-year timeline. Demonstrating that NASA can produce nutrients after at least five years in space provides confidence it will be capable of supporting crewed missions to Mars. In early January, researchers Natalie Ball, Hiromi Kagawa, and Sandra Vu processed the last of a planned series of BioNutrients production packs hours after JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa’s duplicate experiment onboard the orbiting laboratory. Samples from this in-space production are planned to return to Earth in February on Axiom Mission 3. BioNutrients was developed by NASA Ames. NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and its Game Changing Development program manage the project as part of the agency’s broader synthetic biology portfolio. View the full article

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) /wp-content/plugins/nasa-blocks/assets/images/media/media-example-01.jpgThis landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth.NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI This is the testing article page that links to the test landing page. View the full article

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) /wp-content/plugins/nasa-blocks/assets/images/media/media-example-01.jpgThis landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth.NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI This is a test page to create a system for easily pulling metrics. Add in a new link here for 2011. View the full article