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By NASA
Credit: NASA NASA has awarded a contract to Intuitive Machines, LLC of Houston, to support the agency’s lunar relay systems as part of the Near Space Network, operated by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
This Subcategory 2.2 GEO to Cislunar Relay Services is a new firm-fixed-price, multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity task order contract. The contract has a base period of five years with an additional 5-year option period, with a maximum potential value of $4.82 billion. The base ordering period begins Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2029, with the option period potentially extending the contract through Sept. 30, 2034.
Lunar relays will play an essential role in NASA’s Artemis campaign to establish a long-term presence on the Moon. These relays will provide vital communication and navigation services for the exploration and scientific study of the Moon’s South Pole region. Without the extended coverage offered by lunar relays, landing opportunities at the Moon’s South Pole will be significantly limited due to the lack of direct communication between potential landing sites and ground stations on Earth.
The lunar relay award also includes services to support position, navigation, and timing capabilities, which are crucial for ensuring the safety of navigation on and around the lunar surface. Under the contract, Intuitive Machines also will enable NASA to provide communication and navigation services to customer missions in the near space region.
The initial task award will support the progressive validation of lunar relay capabilities/services for Artemis. NASA anticipates these lunar relay services will be used with human landing systems, the LTV (lunar terrain vehicle), and CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) flights.
As lunar relay services become fully operational, they will be integrated into the Near Space Network’s expanding portfolio, enhancing communications and navigation support for future lunar missions. By implementing these new capabilities reliance on NASA’s Deep Space Network will be reduced.
NASA’s goal is to provide users with communication and navigation services that are secure, reliable, and affordable, so that all NASA users receive the services required by their mission within their latency, accuracy, and availability requirements.
This is another step in NASA partnering with U.S. industry to build commercial space partners to support NASA missions, including NASA’s long-term Moon to Mars objectives for interoperable communications and navigation capabilities. This award is part of the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program and will be executed by the Near Space Network team at NASA Goddard.
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov
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Joshua Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov
Tiernan Doyle
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Sep 17, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Near Space Network Communicating and Navigating with Missions Goddard Space Flight Center Space Communications & Navigation Program Space Operations Mission Directorate View the full article
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By NASA
Credit: NASA NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has selected Lockheed Martin Corp. of Littleton, Colorado, to develop a lightning mapping instrument as part of NOAA’s Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) satellite program.
This cost-plus-award-fee contract is valued at approximately $297.1 million. It includes the development of two flight instruments as well as options for two additional units. The anticipated period of performance for this contract includes support for 10 years of on-orbit operations and five years of on-orbit storage, for a total of 15 years for each flight model. The work will take place at Lockheed Martin’s facilities in Sunnyvale, California, and Littleton, Colorado, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The GeoXO Lightning Mapper will detect, locate, and measure the intensity, duration, and extent of lightning flashes. The instrument will continue critical observations provided by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-R (GOES-R) Series Geostationary Lightning Mapper. Data from Lightning Mapper will be used to analyze severe storms, increase warning lead time for hazardous weather, and provide earlier indications of impending lightning strikes to the ground. The data will also be used for hurricane intensity prediction, wildfire detection and response, precipitation estimation, and to mitigate aviation hazards.
Forecasters need lightning information from geostationary orbit because the data are available where other sources are more limited, especially over oceans and in mountainous and rural areas. The data are also available more frequently than local radar and fill in radar coverage gaps.
The contract scope includes the tasks and deliverables necessary to design, analyze, develop, fabricate, integrate, test, verify, and evaluate the lightning mapper instrument in addition to supporting the launch; supplying and maintaining the instrument ground support equipment; and supporting mission operations at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Maryland.
The GeoXO Program is the follow-on to the GOES-R Series Program. The GeoXO satellite system will advance Earth observations from geostationary orbit. The mission will supply vital information to address major environmental challenges of the future in support of weather, ocean, and climate operations in the United States. The advanced capabilities from GeoXO will help address our changing planet and the evolving needs of the nation’s data users. Both NASA and NOAA are working to ensure these critical observations are in place by the early 2030s when the GOES-R Series nears the end of its operational lifetime.
Together, NOAA and NASA oversee the development, launch, testing, and operation of all the satellites in the GeoXO Program. NOAA funds and manages the program, operations, and data products. On behalf of NOAA, NASA and commercial partners develop and build the instruments and spacecraft and launch the satellites.
For more information on the GeoXO program, visit:
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/geoxo
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Liz Vlock
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov
Jeremy Eggers
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
757-824-2958
jeremy.l.eggers@nasa.gov
John Leslie
NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
202-527-3504
nesdis.pa@noaa.gov
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Last Updated Sep 17, 2024 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Goddard Space Flight Center GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) GOES-R Kennedy Space Center View the full article
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By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 2 min read
Sols 4307-4308: Bright Rocks Catch Our Eyes
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this image while exploring a rock-strewn channel of Gediz Vallis on the Red Planet. Mission scientists were particularly intrigued to investigate several bright-toned rocks (at the middle-right, bottom-right and bottom-center of the image), similar to rocks that Curiosity had encountered previously that were unexpectedly rich in sulfur. This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera aboard Curiosity on Sol 4306 — Martian day 4,306 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission — on Sept. 16, 2024 at 12:47:18 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Monday, Sept. 16, 2024
We made good progress through Gediz Vallis in the weekend drive, landing in a segment of the channel containing a mix of loose rubble and other channel-filling debris. Amongst the jumbled scene, though, particular objects of interest caught our eye: bright rocks. In past workspaces in Gediz Vallis, similar bright rocks have been associated with very high to almost pure sulfur contents. As all good geologists know, however, color is not diagnostic, so we cannot assume these are the same as sulfur-rich rocks we have encountered previously. The only way to know is to collect data, and that was a significant focus of today’s plan.
We planned multiple mosaics across the examples of bright rocks visible in the image above. Mastcam and ChemCam RMI will cover “Bright Dot Lake” and “Sheep Creek” both in the right midfield of the image. Mastcam imaged the example in the bottom right corner of the image at “Marble Falls,” and ChemCam LIBS targeted one of the small bright fragments along the bottom of the image at “Blanc Lake.” There was also a small bit of bright material in the workspace, but unfortunately, it was not reachable by APXS. APXS analyzed a spot near the bright material, at target “Frog Lake,” and MAHLI was able to tack on a few extra images around that target that should capture the bright material. MAHLI also imaged a vuggy target in the workspace at “Grasshopper Flat.” The wider context of the channel was also of interest for imaging, so we captured the full expanse of the channel with one Mastcam mosaic, and focused another on mounds distributed through the channel at target “Copper Creek.”
Even with all this rock imaging, we did not miss a beat with our environmental monitoring. We planned regular RAD, REMS, and DAN measurements, mid and late day atmospheric dust observations, a cloud movie, and dust devil imaging.
Our drive is planned to take us up onto one of the ridges in the channel. Will we find more bright rocks there? Or something new and unexpected that was delivered down Gediz Vallis by some past Martian flood or debris flow? Only the channel knows!
Written by Michelle Minitti, Planetary Geologist at Framework
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Last Updated Sep 17, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
The Sun rises above the Flight Research Building at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.Credit: NASA NASA‘s Watts on the Moon Challenge, designed to advance the nation’s lunar exploration goals under the Artemis campaign by challenging United States innovators to develop breakthrough power transmission and energy storage technologies that could enable long-duration Moon missions, concludes on Friday, Sept. 20, at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland.
“For astronauts to maintain a sustained presence on the Moon during Artemis missions, they will need continuous, reliable power,” said Kim Krome-Sieja, acting program manager, Centennial Challenges at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “NASA has done extensive work on power generation technologies. Now, we’re looking to advance these technologies for long-distance power transmission and energy storage solutions that can withstand the extreme cold of the lunar environment.”
The technologies developed through the Watts on the Moon Challenge were the first power transmission and energy storage prototypes to be tested by NASA in an environment that simulates the extreme cold and weak atmospheric pressure of the lunar surface, representing a first step to readying the technologies for future deployment on the Moon. Successful technologies from this challenge aim to inspire, for example, new approaches for helping batteries withstand cold temperatures and improving grid resiliency in remote locations on Earth that face harsh weather conditions.
Media and the public are invited to attend the grand finale technology showcase and awards ceremony for the $5 million, two-phase competition. U.S. and international media interested in covering the event should confirm their attendance with Lane Figueroa by 3 p.m. CDT Tuesday, Sept. 17, at: lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. Members of the public may register as an attendee by completing this form, also by Friday, Sept. 17.
During the final round of competition, finalist teams refined their hardware and delivered a full system prototype for testing in simulated lunar conditions at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The test simulated a challenging power system scenario where there are six hours of solar daylight, 18 hours of darkness, and the user is three kilometers from the power source.
“Watts on the Moon was a fantastic competition to judge because of its unique mission scenario,” said Amy Kaminski, program executive, Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing, Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Each team’s hardware was put to the test against difficult criteria and had to perform well within a lunar environment in our state-of-the-art thermal vacuum chambers at NASA Glenn.”
Each finalist team was scored based on Total Effective System Mass (TESM), which determines how the system works in relation to its mass. At the awards ceremony, NASA will award $1 million to the top team who achieves the lowest TESM score, meaning that during testing, that team’s system produced the most efficient output-to-mass ratio. The team with the second lowest mass will receive $500,000. The awards ceremony stream live on NASA Glenn’s YouTube channel and NASA Prize’s Facebook page.
The Watts on the Moon Challenge is a NASA Centennial Challenge led by NASA Glenn. NASA Marshall manages Centennial Challenges, which are part of the agency’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program in the Space Technology Mission Directorate. NASA has contracted HeroX to support the administration of this challenge.
For more information on NASA’s Watts on the Moon Challenge, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/wattson
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Jasmine Hopkins
Headquarters, Washington
321-432-4624
jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov
Lane Figueroa
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-932-1940
lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
Brian Newbacher
Glenn Research Center, Cleveland
216-460-9726
brian.t.newbacher@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Sep 13, 2024 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program Artemis Centennial Challenges Glenn Research Center Marshall Space Flight Center Space Technology Mission Directorate View the full article
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By NASA
4 Min Read NASA’s Artemis II Crew Uses Iceland Terrain for Lunar Training
Credits:
NASA/Trevor Graff/Robert Markowitz Black and gray sediment stretches as far as the eye can see. Boulders sit on top of ground devoid of vegetation. Humans appear almost miniature in scale against a swath of shadowy mountains. At first glance, it seems a perfect scene from an excursion on the Moon’s surface … except the people are in hiking gear, not spacesuits.
Iceland has served as a lunar stand-in for training NASA astronauts since the days of the Apollo missions, and this summer the Artemis II crew took its place in that long history. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, along with their backups, NASA astronaut Andre Douglas and CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons, joined geology experts for field training on the Nordic island.
NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch stands in the desolate landscape of Iceland during a geology field training course. NASA/Robert Markowitz NASA/Robert Markowitz “Apollo astronauts said Iceland was one of the most lunar-like training locations that they went to in their training,” said Cindy Evans, Artemis geology training lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “It has lunar-like planetary processes – in this case, volcanism. It has the landscape; it looks like the Moon. And it has the scale of features astronauts will both be observing and exploring on the Moon.”
Iceland’s geology, like the Moon’s, includes rocks called basalts and breccias. Basalts are dark, fine-grained, iron-rich rocks that form when volcanic magma cools and crystalizes quickly. In Iceland, basalt lavas form from volcanoes and deep fissures. On the Moon, basalts can form from both volcanoes and lava pooling in impact basins. Breccias are angular fragments of rock that are fused together to create new rocks. In Iceland, volcanic breccias are formed from explosive volcanic eruptions and on the Moon, impact breccias are formed from meteoroids impacting the lunar surface.
Apollo astronauts said Iceland was one of the most lunar-like training locations that they went to in their training.
Cindy Evans
Artemis Geology Training Lead
Along with exploring the geology of Iceland, the astronauts practiced navigation and expeditionary skills to prepare them for living and working together, and gave feedback to instructors, who used this as an opportunity to hone their instruction and identify sites for future Artemis crew training. They also put tools to the test, learning to use hammers, scoops, and chisels to collect rock samples.
Caption: The Artemis II crew, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and backup crew members NASA astronaut Andre Douglas and CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons trek across the Icelandic landscape during their field geology training. NASA/Robert Markowitz “The tools we used during the Apollo missions haven’t changed that much for what we’re planning for the Artemis missions,” said Trevor Graff, exploration geologist and the hardware and testing lead on the Artemis science team at NASA Johnson. “Traditionally, a geologist goes out with just standard tool sets of things like rock hammers and scoops or shovels to sample the world around them, both on the surface and subsurface.”
The Artemis tools have a bit of a twist from traditional terrestrial geology tools, though. Engineers must take into consideration limited mass availability during launch, how easy it is to use a tool while wearing pressurized gloves, and how to ensure the pristine nature of the lunar samples is preserved for study back on Earth.
There’s really transformational science that we can learn by getting boots back on the Moon, getting samples back, and being able to do field geology with trained astronauts on the surface.
Angela Garcia
Exploration Geologist and Artemis II Science Officer
Caption: Angela Garcia, Artemis II science officer and exploration geologist, demonstrates how to use a rock hammer and chisel to dislodge a rock sample from a large boulder during the Artemis II field geology training in Iceland. NASA/Robert Markowitz “There’s really transformational science that we can learn by getting boots back on the Moon, getting samples back, and being able to do field geology with trained astronauts on the surface,” said Angela Garcia, exploration geologist and an Artemis II science officer at NASA Johnson.
The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under Artemis and will pave the way to land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon on future missions. The crew will travel approximately 4,600 miles beyond the far side of the Moon. While the Artemis II astronauts will not land on the surface of the Moon, the geology fundamentals they develop during field training will be critical to meeting the science objectives of their mission.
These objectives include visually studying a list of surface features, such as craters, from orbit. Astronauts will snap photos of the features, and describe their color, reflectivity, and texture — details that can reveal their geologic history.
The Artemis II crew astronauts, their backups, and the geology training field team pose in a valley in Iceland’s Vatnajökull national park. From front left: Angela Garcia, Jacob Richardson, Cindy Evans, Jenni Gibbons, Jacki Mahaffey, back row from left: Jeremy Hansen, John Ramsey, Reid Wiseman, Ron Spencer, Scott Wray, Kelsey Young, Patrick Whelley, Christina Koch, Andre Douglas, Jacki Kagey, Victor Glover, Rick Rochelle (NOLS), Trevor Graff. “Having humans hold the camera during a lunar pass and describe what they’re seeing in language that scientists can understand is a boon for science,” said Kelsey Young, lunar science lead for Artemis II and Artemis II science officer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “In large part, that’s what we’re training astronauts to do when we take them to these Moon-like environments on Earth.”
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Last Updated Sep 13, 2024 Related Terms
Analog Field Testing Andre Douglas Apollo Artemis Astronauts Christina H. Koch Earth’s Moon G. Reid Wiseman Humans in Space Missions The Solar System Victor J. Glover Explore More
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