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The Marshall Star for October 18, 2023


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The Marshall Star for October 18, 2023

Students from Alabama A&M University near Huntsville, Alabama, pilot their vehicle through the obstacle course at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center during NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge event on April 22, 2023. Credits: NASA
Students from Alabama A&M University near Huntsville, Alabama, pilot their vehicle through the obstacle course at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center during NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge event on April 22, 2023. Credits: NASA
Credits: NASA

Marshall Managers Win Top Federal Award for DART Asteroid Deflection Mission

By Rick Smith

Brian Key and Scott Bellamy of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center accepted the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals, presented by Partnership for Public Service Oct. 17 during a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington.

The awards program for career federal employees, known as the Sammies, aims to highlight key accomplishments that benefit the nation, seeks to build trust in government, and inspire people to consider careers in public service.

Scott Bellamy, left, and Brian Key, right, stop for a photo moments after receiving the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals. Bellamy and Key accepted on behalf of the entire DART team during a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington on Oct. 17.
Scott Bellamy, left, and Brian Key, right, pictured moments after receiving the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals, known as the Sammies. Bellamy and Key accepted the prestigious awards on behalf of the entire DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) team during a ceremony on Oct. 17 at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington
Partnership for Public Service/Allison Shelley

Key and Bellamy led NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) team, which successfully altered the orbit of an asteroid in September 2022, providing the first-ever planetary defense test capable of protecting Earth from celestial threats.

As part of the PMPO (Planetary Missions Program Office) at Marshall, Key and Bellamy served as program manager and mission manager, respectively, for DART. For their work on the mission, the duo was honored in the Science, Technology, and Environment category of the Sammie awards.

“DART was a first-of-its-kind mission that marked a watershed moment for planetary defense. The DART team members are some of the very best of NASA, and we are so excited to see Brian Key and Scott Bellamy recognized for their contributions and leadership,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. “Brian, Scott, and the entire DART team have shaped the course of human space exploration, inspiring people around the world through innovation. Thanks to their dedication and hard work, NASA is better prepared to defend our home planet, and will be ready for whatever the universe throws at us.”

In his role on DART, Key maintained budget, staff, and schedule oversight for the mission and worked directly with DART spacecraft developers at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.

“I’m elated to see our team honored with this award, and hope it will bring more attention to the valuable work NASA does to protect our home world,” said Key, who as program manager oversees NASA’s science exploration portfolio spanning the Discovery Program, the New Horizons Program, and the Solar System Exploration Program, which covers the full range of large and small science missions exploring the solar system, planets, and other targets of interest.

Bellamy was tasked with keeping the team on track to launch and execute the mission – echoed Key’s praise for the entire DART team.

“We’re just the managers,” he said. “Our role has been to serve the team, keeping things moving forward as smoothly as possible to enable them to do the actual hands-on, pencil-to-hardware that brought this mission from concept to reality.”

That mission could not have gone more flawlessly, they agreed. Launched in November 2021, the DART spacecraft traveled to more than 6.8 million miles from Earth with one simple goal: to intentionally impact into Dimorphos, a 492-foot-diameter asteroid, at roughly 14,000 miles per hour, thus altering its orbit around its much larger parent asteroid, Didymos. DART’s collision with Dimorphos altered the asteroid’s roughly 12-hour orbit period around its parent by about a half-hour.

DART spacecraft.
An illustration of the DART spacecraft.
NASA

“I don’t even have the words to describe the release of emotion in the control room when we got confirmation that DART had impacted,” Bellamy said. “The whole team went from nail-biting suspense to unbelievable excitement in a matter of seconds.”

Neither Key, Bellamy, nor the Planetary Missions Program Office is resting on these newly acquired laurels.

Key continues to serve as program manager on NASA’s Juno mission, which since its arrival at Jupiter in 2016 has sought new clues about the gas giant’s evolution and role in the formation of our solar system. He’s also program manager for NASA’s Psyche mission, launched Oct. 13 to begin a six-year journey to study a metal-rich asteroid of the same name in solar orbit between Mars and Jupiter.

Bellamy, meanwhile, is mission manager for NASA’s Lucy mission, which over a 12-year period will tour the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and closely study seven Jovian asteroids. Launched in 2021, Lucy will be the first spacecraft ever to return to Earth from the outer solar system. Bellamy also leads development of NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which could launch in late 2024 to fly to Jupiter’s moon and conduct an intensive survey of the potentially life-sustaining seas beneath Europa’s icy surface.

As for future planetary defense activities, NASA and its partners will build on DART’s success. A follow-up mission by ESA (European Space Agency), called Hera, is scheduled to launch in 2024 to further assess DART’s impact on Dimorphos. NASA also is developing the NEO Surveyor mission, which is designed to accelerate the rate at which the agency can discovery potentially hazardous near-Earth objects, asteroids and comets which can come close to Earth and could pose an impact risk.

“Even small asteroids could do a tremendous amount of damage to a city or metropolitan area,” Key said. “We need to be more aware of the very real threat they pose and develop the means to avoid calamity.”

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory managed the DART mission for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office. The agency provided support for the mission from several centers, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, Johnson Space Center, Glenn Research Center, and Langley Research Center.

Created in 2002, the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals, named for the organization’s late founder, recognize excellence and leadership in the federal government. Presented annually by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, the awards honor public servants whose significant achievements help the nation innovate, engage globally, and deliver vital services to the public. Learn more about the awards.

Smith, a Manufacturing Technical Solutions employee, supports Marshall’s Office of Communications.

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Mission Success is in Our Hands to Showcase New Look at Oct. 19 Event

By Wayne Smith

An initiative highlighting mission success and the safety culture at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center will showcase a new look at its Oct. 19 event.

Mission Success is in Our Hands is a safety initiative collaboration between NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and Jacobs Engineering. As part of the final Shared Experiences Forum of the year, the Mission Success committee will display eight new testimonial banners featuring Marshall team members as part of its rebranding. The banners will be placed across the center.

Garrett Harencak, Jacobs Engineering vice president and president of Mission Support and Test Services LLC, will be the Mission Success is in Our Hands Shared Experiences Forum speaker Oct. 19. The forum is available to the public virtually through Teams.
Garrett Harencak, Jacobs Engineering vice president and president of Mission Support and Test Services LLC, will be the Mission Success is in Our Hands Shared Experiences Forum speaker Oct. 19. The forum is available to the public virtually through Teams.

Garrett Harencak, Jacobs Engineering vice president and president of Mission Support and Test Services LLC, will be the Mission Success is in Our Hands hybrid Shared Experiences Forum speaker from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 19. Marshall team members are encouraged to attend the meeting in Building 4203, Room 1201. Light refreshments will be served. The forum is available to NASA employees and the public virtually via Teams.

Harencak will share his experiences in working and leading nuclear safety, high hazard projects, and conducting operations in the nuclear and national security industries.

“The Mission Success is in Our Hands initiative brings awareness to our workforce of the importance of their individual contributions to the overall success of the NASA and Marshall missions,” said Bill Hill, director of the Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate at Marshall. “Through our banners, the Golden Eagle award, and the Shared Experience Forum, we highlight the risk environment in which we work and in which our launch vehicles and spacecraft operate. Many Shared Experiences Forum events bring in risk practitioners from other industries to provide a comparison and illuminate lessons learned that we could gain from in our everyday activities and missions.”

Hill said Marshall has a strong safety culture. The new banners feature team members expressing that message to the workforce and they will be featured with individual profiles in upcoming editions of the Marshall Star..

“The Mission Success is in Our Hands initiative is one of the few tools that we employ at Marshall to keep Safety and Mission Success in the forefront of everyone’s mind,” Hill said. “It is important that we keep people safe at work and allow all to go home at night healthy and safe. Our Incident and Injury Free workshops, which we are soon to begin in-person sessions, offer our employees the opportunity to learn how to identify risky or unsafe behaviors and situations, and how to have those critical conversations to mitigate or eliminate those behaviors among colleagues before an incident or injury occurs.”

Eight NASA Marshall Flight Center team members will be featured in new testimonial banners that will be placed around the center as part of the Mission Success is in Our Hands initiative The banners will feature, from left, Matthew Pruitt, Human Landing System schedule lead; Brandon Reeves, Integrated Avionics Test Facilities deputy manager; Dr. Greg Drayer, Jacobs/Aerodyne Modeling & Simulation technical fellow; Dr. Chelsi Cassilly, Jacobs Planetary Protection microbiologist; Jeramie Broadway, strategy lead; Dr. Baraka Truss, Avionics & Software Branch chief; Ashley Marlar, Jacobs Operations Support team lead; and Dr. Amit Patel, Jacobs Solid Rocket Motor design engineer.
Eight NASA Marshall Flight Center team members will be featured in new testimonial banners that will be placed around the center as part of the Mission Success is in Our Hands initiative The banners will feature, from left, Matthew Pruitt, Human Landing System schedule lead; Brandon Reeves, Integrated Avionics Test Facilities deputy manager; Dr. Greg Drayer, Jacobs/Aerodyne Modeling & Simulation technical fellow; Dr. Chelsi Cassilly, Jacobs Planetary Protection microbiologist; Jeramie Broadway, strategy lead; Dr. Baraka Truss, Avionics & Software Branch chief; Ashley Marlar, Jacobs Operations Support team lead; and Dr. Amit Patel, Jacobs Solid Rocket Motor design engineer.
NASA/Charles Beason

Jeff Haars, Jacobs vice president and program manager for Jacobs Space Exploration Group, said team members working on NASA missions must not lose sight of the hazards present in the workplace or the risks of crewed spaceflight.

“The Shared Experiences Forum is probably our most impactful initiative,” Haars said. “Leaders from across NASA and industry share their personal experiences around safety and mission success. The forum provides an opportunity for learning and applying lessons and best practices from personal experiences. Ultimately, our goal is to help team members keep safety and mission assurance in their day to day decision making.”

Since 2015, the Golden Eagle Award has been presented by Mission Success is in Our Hands. The award promotes awareness and appreciation for flight safety, as demonstrated through the connections between employees’ everyday work, the success of NASA and Marshall’s missions, and the safety of NASA astronauts. The award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to flight safety and mission assurance above and beyond their normal work requirements. Management or peers can nominate any team member for the award. Honorees are typically recognized at quarterly Shared Experiences forums.

Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.

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Alabama Doctors Praise ‘Unique’ NASA Panel on Aerospace Psychiatry

By Jessica Barnett

Medical professionals from across the U.S. gathered for a different kind of panel discussion during the annual Alabama Psychiatric Physicians Association’s Fall Conference held Oct. 12 at The Westin Huntsville.

The Alabama Psychiatric Physicians Association is a district branch of the American Psychiatric Association and the only association exclusively representing psychiatrists in the state of Alabama.

Ian Maddox, a systems engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, discussing future Artemis missions during a panel at the Alabama Psychiatric Physicians Association’s Fall Conference held Oct. 12 at The Westin Huntsville. Joining him onstage are Erin Hayward, an engineer on the Marshall Space Environmental Effects team, and Julie Mason, a space propulsion and thermal engineer working on NASA’s Space Launch System with Boeing.
Ian Maddox, a systems engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, discussing future Artemis missions during a panel at the Alabama Psychiatric Physicians Association’s Fall Conference held Oct. 12 at The Westin Huntsville. Joining him onstage are Erin Hayward, an engineer on the Marshall Space Environmental Effects team, and Julie Mason, a space propulsion and thermal engineer working on NASA’s Space Launch System with Boeing.
NASA/Christopher Blair

Psychiatrists were treated to a panel of NASA experts who shared insight from their work supporting human spaceflight research and habitation design for extended duration missions on the lunar and Martian surfaces. Panelists included Ian Maddox, a systems engineer supporting Artemis at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center; Erin Hayward, an engineer on the Marshall Space Environmental Effects team; and Julie Mason, a space propulsion and thermal engineer working on NASA’s Space Launch System with Boeing.

During the panel, Hayward and Mason shared their experiences serving as crew members in multiple NASA analog missions, including HERA (Human Exploration Research Analog) and Desert RATS. Both involve space habitat design, isolation, and confinement studies, as well as identifying if certain stressors could affect astronauts during off-world missions. Such stressors include changes to sleep patterns, food intake, gravity, exercise routines, and more.

Maddox explained that it’s part of NASA’s ongoing work to prepare for longer missions to the Moon and beyond. “Humanity has always explored, and NASA is really the organization responsible for making sure that continues to happen safely and peacefully,” he said.

Maddox, Hayward, and Mason share a laugh with the audience during the Q&A portion of their panel at the Alabama Psychiatric Physicians Association’s Fall Conference held Oct. 12 at The Westin Huntsville.
Maddox, Hayward, and Mason share a laugh with the audience during the Q&A portion of their panel at the Alabama Psychiatric Physicians Association’s Fall Conference held Oct. 12 at The Westin Huntsville.
NASA/Jessica Barnett

Audience members were particularly interested in the analog missions, with several taking part in the Q&A portion of the panel. Many thanked the experts for presenting such a unique and fascinating topic, while some expressed interest in hosting similar discussions at future conferences across the nation.

Panelists answered questions about the crew selection process, explaining NASA’s careful screening procedures for identifying candidates to serve together for weeks or months in confined spaces and with very limited access to the outside world. Hayward and Mason also answered questions about their day-to-day lives inside the habitats, from smells and privacy concerns to handling downtime, and how it felt returning to their families and jobs after their campaigns.

“It took me a while to turn my phone notifications back on, just to ease back into the world,” Mason said. “I learned to be present and have more gratitude for the little things, like getting to feel the humidity, especially after 45 days without weather.”

The three NASA panelists encouraged audience members to submit a research proposal or even consider applying to participate in a future analog.

Barnett, a Media Fusion employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.

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Dozens of Student Teams Worldwide to Compete in NASA Rover Challenge

NASA has selected 72 student teams to begin an engineering design challenge to build human-powered rovers that will compete next April at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, near the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2024, the Human Exploration Rover Challenge tasks high school, college, and university students to design, build, and test lightweight, human-powered rovers on an obstacle course simulating lunar and Martian terrain, all while completing mission-focused science tasks.

Students from Alabama A&M University near Huntsville, Alabama, pilot their vehicle through the obstacle course at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center during NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge event on April 22, 2023. Credits: NASA
Students from Alabama A&M University near Huntsville, Alabama, pilot their vehicle through the obstacle course at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center during NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge event on April 22, 2023. Credits: NASA
NASA

Participating teams represent 42 colleges and universities and 30 high schools from 24 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 13 other nations from around the world. NASA’s handbook has complete proposal guidelines and task challenges.

“Throughout this authentic learning challenge, NASA encourages students to improve their understanding of collaboration, inquiry, and problem-solving strategies,” said Vemitra Alexander, rover challenge activity lead, Office of STEM Engagement at NASA Marshall. “Improving these critical real-world skills will benefit our students throughout their academic and professional careers.”

Throughout the nine-month challenge, students will complete design and safety reviews to mirror the process used by NASA engineers and scientists. The agency also incorporates vehicle weight and size requirements encouraging students to consider lightweight construction materials and stowage efficiency to be replicate similar payload restrictions of NASA launch operations.

Teams earn points throughout the year by successfully completing design reviews and fabricating a rover capable of meeting all criteria while completing course obstacles and mission tasks. The teams with the highest number of points accumulated throughout the project year will win their respective divisions. The challenge will conclude with an event April 19 and April 20, 2024, at the U.S. Rocket and Space Center.

This competition is one of nine Artemis Student Challenges and reflects the goals of NASA’s Artemis program, which includes landing the first woman and first person of color on the Moon. It is managed by NASA’s Southeast Regional Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall. NASA uses challenges and competitions to further the agency’s goal of encouraging students to pursue degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

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NASA Prepares Artemis II Moon Rocket Core Stage for Final Assembly Phase

By Megan Carter

NASA and its partners have fully secured the four RS-25 engines onto the core stage of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for the Artemis II flight test. The core stage, and its engines, is the backbone of the SLS mega rocket that will power the flight test, the first crewed mission to the Moon under Artemis.

Engineers have begun final integration testing at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, in preparation for acceptance ahead of shipment of the stage to Kennedy Space Center in the coming months.

These photos and videos show how technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans installed the third and fourth RS-25 engines onto the core stage for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help power NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon.   Technicians added the first engine to the SLS core stage Sept. 11. The second engine was installed onto the stage Sept. 15 with the third and fourth engines following Sept. 19 and Sept. 20. Engineers consider the engines to be “soft” mated to the rocket stage. Technicians with NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company and the RS-25 engines lead contractor, along with Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, will now focus efforts on the complex tax of fully securing the engines to the stage and integrating the propulsion and electrical systems within the structure.   NASA is working to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with Orion and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.
These photos and videos show how technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans installed the third and fourth RS-25 engines onto the core stage for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help power NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon. Technicians added the first engine to the SLS core stage Sept. 11. The second engine was installed onto the stage Sept. 15 with the third and fourth engines following Sept. 19 and Sept. 20. Engineers consider the engines to be “soft” mated to the rocket stage. Technicians with NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company and the RS-25 engines lead contractor, along with Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, will now focus efforts on the complex tax of fully securing the engines to the stage and integrating the propulsion and electrical systems within the structure. NASA is working to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with Orion and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.
Credits: NASA

The 212-foot-tall core stage includes two massive liquid propellant tanks and four RS-25 engines at its base. For Artemis II, the core stage and its engines act as the powerhouse of the rocket, providing more than two million pounds of thrust for the first eight minutes of flight to send the crew of four astronauts inside NASA’s Orion spacecraft on an approximately 10-day mission around the Moon.

NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company and the RS-25 engines lead contractor, along with Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, secured the engines to the maze of propulsion and avionics systems within the core stage Oct. 6. In the coming weeks, engineers will perform testing on the entire stage and its avionics and electrical systems, which act as the “brains” of the rocket to help control it during flight.

Once testing of the stage is complete and the hardware passes its acceptance review, the core stage will be readied for shipping to Kennedy via the agency’s Pegasus barge, based at Michoud.

As teams prepare the core stage for Artemis II, rocket hardware is also under construction on our factory floor for Artemis III, IV, and V that will help send the future Artemis astronauts to the lunar South Pole.

The engines were first soft mated one by one onto the stage beginning in early September. The last RS-25 engine was structurally installed onto the stage Sept. 20. Installing the four engines is a multi-step, collaborative process for NASA, Boeing, and Aerojet Rocketdyne.

Following the initial structural connections of the individual engines, securing and outfitting all four engines to the stage is the lengthiest part of the engine assembly process and includes securing the thrust vector control actuators, ancillary interfaces, and remaining bolts before multiple tests and checkouts.

All major hardware elements for the SLS rocket that will launch Artemis II are either complete or in progress. The major components for the rocket’s two solid rocket boosters are at Kennedy. The rocket’s two adapters, produced at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, along with the rocket’s upper stage, currently at lead contractor United Launch Alliance’s facility in Florida near Kennedy, will be prepared for shipment in the spring. Marshall manages the SLS Program.

NASA is working to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with Orion and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.

Carter, a Media Fusion employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.

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NASA Conducts 1st Hot Fire of New RS-25 Certification Test Series

NASA conducted the first hot fire of a new RS-25 test series Oct. 17, beginning the final round of certification testing ahead of production of an updated set of the engines for the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. The engines will help power future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.

A full duration test of the RS-25 certification engine was conducted at NASA's Stennis Space Center on October 17, 2023.
NASA completed a full duration, 550-second hot fire of the RS-25 certification engine Oct. 17, beginning a critical test series to support future SLS (Space Launch System) missions to deep space as NASA explores the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all.
NASA / Danny Nowlin

Operators fired the RS-25 engine for more than nine minutes (550 seconds), longer than the 500 seconds engines must fire during an actual mission, on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. Operators also fired the engine up to the 111% power level needed during an SLS launch. The hot fire marked the first in a series of 12 tests scheduled to stretch into 2024. The tests are a key step for lead SLS engines contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, to produce engines that will help power the SLS rocket, beginning with Artemis V.

The test series will collect data on the performance of several new key engine components, including a nozzle, hydraulic actuators, flex ducts, and turbopumps. The components match design features of those used during the initial certification test series completed at the south Mississippi site in June. Aerojet Rocketdyne is using advanced manufacturing techniques, such as 3D printing, to reduce the cost and time needed to build the new engines. Four RS-25 engines help power SLS at launch, including on its Artemis missions to the Moon.

Through Artemis, NASA is returning humans, including the first woman and the first person of color, to the Moon to explore the lunar surface and prepare for flights to Mars. SLS is the only rocket capable of sending the agency’s Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.

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Psyche Launch Highlighted on ‘This Week at NASA’

NASA’s Psyche launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 13. The mission is featured in “This Week @ NASA,” a weekly video program broadcast on NASA-TV and posted online.

Psyche is on its way to a metal-rich asteroid of the same name. The mission could teach us more about how rocky planets like Earth formed.

Managed by the Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Psyche is the 14th planetary exploration mission in NASA’s Discovery program, which is also managed for the agency by Marshall. Read more about Marshall’s role in Psyche.

View this and previous episodes at “This Week @NASA” on NASA’s YouTube page.

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Lucy Spacecraft Continues Approach to Asteroid Dinkinesh

Since NASA’s Lucy spacecraft first imaged the asteroid Dinkinesh on Sept. 3, Lucy has traveled over 33 million miles and is now 4.7 million miles away from the small asteroid. However, as Dinkinesh continues on its orbit around the Sun, Lucy still has another almost 16 million miles to travel to its meet-up with the asteroid on Nov. 1.

This data visualization overlays some of the images taken by the Lucy spacecraft’s L’LORRI from Sept. 3 to Oct. 3 on the Lucy trajectory (red) and the orbit of the asteroid Dinkinesh (gold). These images were taken as part of the optical navigation program in advance of the encounter on Nov. 1. The stars indicate the locations at closest approach on Nov. 1. (NASA/SwRI/APL)

Over the last month, the spacecraft team has seen the target asteroid generally brightening as Lucy approaches it and has also seen a subtle brightness variation consistent with the previously observed 52.7-hour rotation period. Since Lucy first observed the asteroid on Sept. 3, the team has used images collected by the spacecraft’s high-resolution camera, L’LORRI, to refine their knowledge of the relative positions of the spacecraft and asteroid, optically navigating Lucy towards the encounter. Using this information, on Sept. 29 the spacecraft carried out a small trajectory correction maneuver, changing the spacecraft’s speed by just 6 cm/s (around 0.1 mph). This nudge is predicted to send the spacecraft on a path that will pass within 265 miles of the asteroid. In late October the team will have another opportunity to adjust the trajectory if necessary.             

On Oct. 6, the spacecraft passed behind the Sun as viewed from Earth, beginning a planned communications blackout. The spacecraft has continued to image the asteroid and will return these images to Earth once communications resume after the end of the solar conjunction period in mid-October.

Lucy’s principal investigator, Hal Levison, is based out of the Boulder, Colorado, branch of Southwest Research Institute, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and safety and mission assurance. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, built the spacecraft. Lucy is the 13th mission in NASA’s Discovery Program. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Discovery Program for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.

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Webb Detects Tiny Quartz Crystals in the Clouds of a Hot Gas Giant

Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have detected evidence for quartz nanocrystals in the high-altitude clouds of WASP-17 b, a hot Jupiter exoplanet 1,300 light-years from Earth. The detection, which was uniquely possible with MIRI (Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument), marks the first time that silica (SiO2) particles have been spotted in an exoplanet atmosphere.

“We were thrilled!” said David Grant, a researcher at the University of Bristol in the UK and first author on a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. “We knew from Hubble observations that there must be aerosols – tiny particles making up clouds or haze – in WASP-17 b’s atmosphere, but we didn’t expect them to be made of quartz.”

Illustration showing a portion of the disk of a cloudy planet set against the black background of space. About one-eighth of the planet is visible. It fills the lower right half of the frame, with the limb (the edge, or horizon) curving from the bottom left corner to the upper right corner. The planet is partially lit by a star that is off to the upper left, out of view. The planet is brightest along the limb (on the dayside), and grows dimmer toward the lower right corner (the nightside), becoming almost completely dark about halfway in. Wispy, light-tan-colored clouds are visible in the lit portion and there is a hazy blueish glow along the horizon. Several stars are sc attered in the background.
This artist concept shows what the exoplanet WASP-17 b could look like.
NASA, ESA, CSA, and R. Crawford (STScI)Science: Nikole Lewis (Cornell University), David Grant (University of Bristol), Hannah Wakeford (University of Bristol) Crawford (STScI)

Silicates (minerals rich in silicon and oxygen) make up the bulk of Earth and the Moon as well as other rocky objects in our solar system, and are extremely common across the galaxy. But the silicate grains previously detected in the atmospheres of exoplanets and brown dwarfs appear to be made of magnesium-rich silicates like olivine and pyroxene, not quartz alone – which is pure SiO2.

The result from this team, which also includes researchers from NASA’s Ames Research Center and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, puts a new spin on our understanding of how exoplanet clouds form and evolve. “We fully expected to see magnesium silicates,” said co-author Hannah Wakeford, also from the University of Bristol. “But what we’re seeing instead are likely the building blocks of those, the tiny ‘seed’ particles needed to form the larger silicate grains we detect in cooler exoplanets and brown dwarfs.”

With a volume more than seven times that of Jupiter and a mass less than one-half Jupiter, WASP-17 b is one of the largest and puffiest known exoplanets. This, along with its short orbital period of just 3.7 Earth-days, makes the planet ideal for transmission spectroscopy : a technique that involves measuring the filtering and scattering effects of a planet’s atmosphere on starlight.

Webb observed the WASP-17 system for nearly 10 hours, collecting more than 1,275 brightness measurements of 5- to 12-micron mid-infrared light as the planet crossed its star. By subtracting the brightness of individual wavelengths of light that reached the telescope when the planet was in front of the star from those of the star on its own, the team was able to calculate the amount of each wavelength blocked by the planet’s atmosphere.

What emerged was an unexpected “bump” at 8.6 microns, a feature that would not be expected if the clouds were made of magnesium silicates or other possible high temperature aerosols like aluminum oxide, but which makes perfect sense if they are made of quartz.

While these crystals are probably similar in shape to the pointy hexagonal prisms found in geodes and gem shops on Earth, each one is only about 10 nanometers across – one-millionth of one centimeter.

“Hubble data actually played a key role in constraining the size of these particles,” explained co-author Nikole Lewis of Cornell University, who leads the Webb GTO (Guaranteed Time Observation) program designed to help build a three-dimensional view of a hot Jupiter atmosphere. “We know there is silica from Webb’s MIRI data alone, but we needed the visible and near-infrared observations from Hubble for context, to figure out how large the crystals are.”

Unlike mineral particles found in clouds on Earth, the quartz crystals detected in the clouds of WASP-17 b are not swept up from a rocky surface. Instead, they originate in the atmosphere itself. “WASP-17 b is extremely hot – around 1,500 degrees Celsius (2,700°F) – and the pressure where they form high in the atmosphere is only about one-thousandth of what we experience on Earth’s surface,” explained Grant. “In these conditions, solid crystals can form directly from gas, without going through a liquid phase first.”

Understanding what the clouds are made of is crucial for understanding the planet as a whole. Hot Jupiters like WASP-17 b are made primarily of hydrogen and helium, with small amounts of other gases like water vapor (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). “If we only consider the oxygen that is in these gases, and neglect to include all of the oxygen locked up in minerals like quartz (SiO2), we will significantly underestimate the total abundance,” explained Wakeford. “These beautiful silica crystals tell us about the inventory of different materials and how they all come together to shape the environment of this planet.”

Exactly how much quartz there is, and how pervasive the clouds are, is hard to determine. “The clouds are likely present along the day/night transition (the terminator), which is the region that our observations probe,” said Grant. Given that the planet is tidally locked with a very hot day side and cooler night side, it is likely that the clouds circulate around the planet, but vaporize when they reach the hotter day side. “The winds could be moving these tiny glassy particles around at thousands of miles per hour.”

WASP-17 b is one of three planets targeted by the JWST-Telescope Scientist Team’s DREAMS (Deep Reconnaissance of Exoplanet Atmospheres using Multi-instrument Spectroscopy) investigations, which are designed to gather a comprehensive set of observations of one representative from each key class of exoplanets: a hot Jupiter, a warm Neptune, and a temperate rocky planet. The MIRI observations of hot Jupiter WASP-17 b were made as part of GTO program 1353.

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.

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      But when the doctor shared the results – he had off-the-charts levels of antibodies making him deathly allergic to shellfish – O’Malley realized he had more questions than answers. Like: Why is my immune system doing this? How is it working? Why is it reacting so severely and so suddenly (he’d enjoyed shrimp less than a year ago)? And why does the only treatment – an injection of epinephrine – have nothing to do with the immune system, when allergies appear to be an immune system problem? Years later, O’Malley would look to answer some of these questions while interning in the Space Biosciences Research Branch at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
      Bone cells NASA/Eduardo Almeida and Cassie Juran “Anaphylaxis is super deadly and the only treatment for it is epinephrine; and I remember thinking, ‘how is this the best we have?’ because epinephrine does not actually treat the immune system at all – it’s just adrenaline,” said O’Malley, who recently returned to his studies as a Ph.D. student of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville. “And there’s a thousand side effects, like heart attacks and stroke – I remember thinking ‘these are worse than the allergy!’”
      O’Malley’s curiosity and desire to better understand the mechanisms and connections between what triggers different immune system reactions combined with his interest in integrating datasets into biological insights inspired him to shift his major from computer science to biomedical engineering as an undergraduate student. With his recent allergy diagnosis and a lifelong connection to his aunt who worked at the UVA Heart and Vascular Center, O’Malley began to build a bridge between the immune system and heart health. By the time he was a senior in college, he had joined the Cardiac Systems Biology Lab, and had chosen to focus his capstone project on better understanding the role of neutrophils, a specific type of immune cell making up 50 to 70% of the immune system, that are involved in cardiac inflammation in high blood pressure and after heart attacks.
      “The immune system is involved in everything,” O’Malley says. “Anytime there’s an injury – a paper cut, a heart attack, you’re sick – the immune system is going to be the first to respond; and neutrophils are the first responders.”
      jA preflight image of beating cardiac spheroid composed of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (CMs), endothelial cells (ECs), and cardiac fibroblasts (CFs). These cells are incubated and put under the microscope in space as part of the Effect of Microgravity on Drug Responses Using Heart Organoids (Cardinal Heart 2.0) investigation.
      Image credit: courtesy of Drs. Joseph Wu, Dilip Thomas and Xu Cao, Stanford Cardiovascular Institute O’Malley’s work to determine what regulates the immune system’s interrelated responses – like how one cell could affect other cells or immune processes downstream – provided a unique opportunity for him to support multiple interdisciplinary NASA biological and physical sciences research projects during his 10-week internship at NASA Ames over the summer of 2024. O’Malley applied machine learning techniques to the large datasets the researchers were using from experiments and specimens collected over many years to help identify possible causes of inflammation seen in the heart, brain, and blood, as well as changes seen in bones, metabolism, the immune system, and more when humans or other model organisms are exposed to decreased gravity, social isolation, and increased radiation. These areas are of keen interest to NASA due to the risks to human health inherent in space exploration and the agency’s plans to send humans on long-duration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
      “It’s exciting that we just never know what’s going to happen, how the immune system is going to react until it’s already been activated or challenged in some way,” said O’Malley. “I’m particularly interested in the adaptive immune system because it’s always evolving to meet new challenges; whether it’s a pandemic-level virus, bacteria or something on a mission to Mars, our bodies are going to have some kind of adaptive immune response.”
      During his NASA internship, O’Malley applied a statistical analysis techniques to plot and make more sense of the massive amounts of life sciences data. From there, researchers could find out which proteins, out of hundreds, or attributes – like differences in sex – are related to which behaviors or outcomes. For example, through O’Malley’s analysis, researchers were able to better pinpoint the proteins involved in inflammation of the brain that may play a protective role in spatial memory and motor control during and after exposure to radiation – and how we might be able to prevent or mitigate those impacts during future space missions and even here on Earth.
      “I had this moment where I realized that since my internship supports NASA’s Human Research Program that means the work I’m doing directly applies to Artemis, which is sending the first woman and person of color to the Moon,” reflected O’Malley. “As someone who’s both black and white, representation is important to me. It’s inspiring to think there will be people like me on the Moon – and that I’m playing a role in making this happen.”
      When O’Malley wasn’t exploring the mysteries of the immune system for the benefit of all at NASA Ames, he taught himself how to ride a bike and started to surf in the nearby waters of the Pacific Ocean. O’Malley considers Palmyra, Virginia, his hometown and he enjoys playing sports – especially volleyball, water polo, and tennis – reading science fiction and giving guest lectures to local high school students hoping to spark their curiosity. 
      O’Malley’s vision for the future of biomedical engineering reflects his passion for innovation. “I believe that by harnessing the unique immune properties of other species, we can achieve groundbreaking advancements in limb regeneration, revolutionize cancer therapy, and develop potent antimicrobials that are considered science fiction today,” he said.

      Wildly Popular 21st Annual Chili Cook-Off and Car Show Held
      The Ames Exchange sponsored its 21st annual Chili Cook-Off on Oct. 30 behind Building 3. The theme for this year’s event was “Halloween Night,” which led to some really creative costumes. Attendees, both from Ames and the NASA Research Park, sampled chili and voted on their favorites. See below for photos of some of the spooky entries. A car and motorcycle show was also held in conjunction with the chili cook-off.
      The 21st Annual Chili Cook-off held Oct. 30 with Hanger One in the background.NASA photos by Don Richey The NASA Ames Fire Department won the Judge’s Choice award for best chili. The classic car collection at the recent Chili Cook-off. One of the collector’s cars at the Chili Cook-off. Classic bike collection at the Chili Cook-off. Employees Participate in the October Fun Run/Walk & Roll
      Runners begin the 2-mile Fun Run/Walk & Roll, sponsored by the Ames Fitness Center. The course covers a 2-mile stretch starting on Durand Road, runs up DeFrance Road to North Perimeter Road and back. The Ames Fitness Center is committed to fostering an inclusive community and encourages everyone, regardless of fitness level, experience, or capability, to participate in these events. Invite your colleagues and come join the fun at future Fun Run/Walk & Roll events! Contact Marco or Orion at the Fitness Center 650-604-5804 or visit https://q.arc.nasa.gov/content/fitness-center for more information about these events and other Fitness Center classes and programs.
      Runners begin the October 2-mile Fun Run/Walk & Roll, sponsored by the Ames Fitness Center. NASA photo by Don Richey Runners and organizers of the 2-mile Fun Run/Walk & Roll, sponsored by the Ames Fitness Center. Eric Yee front row left, David King, Nicholas Wogan, Sarah Nickerson, Jose Ignacio de Alvear Cardenas, Lara Lash, Bob Windhorst, Jon Hill, and Marco Santoyo front row right. Orion Spellman back row left, Marton Mester, Alejandro Serrano Borlaff, Evan Crowe, Jackson Donaldson, Jonathan Kaldani, Clayton Elder, and Collin Payne back row right.NASA photo by Don RIchey In Memoriam …

      Laura Lewis, Science Directorate Project Manager, Dies
      Laura Lewis passed away on Sept. 24 after a three-year fight against cancer.  Laura spent her entire 34-year career at NASA. She was a member of the Science Directorate at Ames. Laura launched her career at Kennedy Space Center. She then moved to Headquarters to work in the Space Life Sciences Office. She joined the Ames community in 1995.
      Laura Lewis Laura is survived by her husband and fellow Ames colleague, Bruce Yost, three children, and their three German Shepards.
      A passionate animal lover, Laura found ways throughout her life to care for and advocate for animals. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be sent to animal shelters or animal rescue organizations such as the San Jose Humane Society or Sunshine Canyon Dog Rescue.
      Laura was a valued member of the NASA community. We extend our condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues.

      Former Technology Partnerships Manager Robin Orans Passes Away

      Robin Orans Robin Orans passed away on Sept. 27.  She was the technology partnership manager at Ames for 27 years. Prior to that role, she served as the software release authority for the center. She retired from NASA in 2015.
      Throughout Robin’s career at Ames she received numerous awards including NASA Ames Total Award for pivotal efforts in organizing the Technical SUPPORT Paper Contest for Woman and serving as the Technical Committee Paper Contest Committee in 1992; NASA Ames 2001 Technical Support Honor Award; NASA Ames 2015 Administrative Professional Honor Award; and NASA Ames 2016 Exceptional Service Medal.
      We value the many years Robin dedicated to the NASA mission and send our condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues.

      Joseph (Jay) Skiles, Senior Research Scientist, Dies
      Dr. Joseph (Jay) W. Skiles III passed away at home on October 22. He had a long and varied career studying, teaching, and lecturing about environmental sciences. He received a B.S. in biology from the University of Redlands, an M.S. in Botany from the University of Idaho, and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of California, Irvine.
      Joseph (Jay) Skiles Jay worked with a number of organizations, including SETI, Johnson Controls, and NASA Ames. While at Ames, he sponsored and tutored select groups of students, lectured internationally, evaluated various projects from schools and agencies, and initiated and developed scientific investigative projects on his own. He has worked modeling the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on ecosystems and modeling perturbations of Arctic ecosystems. He studied terrestrial plant responses to increased ultraviolet radiation in the polar regions of Earth and the effects of low intensity microwave fields on vascular plants. He used supercomputers to do ecosystem modeling.
      While not at work, Jay volunteered with the Mountain View Police Department and played golf. He was active with the local Masonic lodge and was a pretty fair clarinetist. Jay was born in Bakersfield, California, to Rev. Joseph W. Skiles II and Genevieve Eola Moody Skiles. He is survived by his brother Stephen, his sister Elizabeth, and eight nieces and nephews.
      Private service arrangements are pending.

      View the full article
    • By NASA
      1 Min Read Oral History with Stephen G. Jurczyk, 1962 – 2023
      NASA Acting Administrator Stephen G. Jurczyk Credits: NASA Steve Jurczyk’s NASA career began in 1988 at Langley Research Center as an engineer in the Electronic Systems Branch. During his time at Langley, he served in other roles, including director of engineering and director of research and technology.  Jurczyk was named as director of Langley in 2014, then in 2015 he left Langley to serve as the associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.  He quickly rose to the rank of associate administrator in 2018, and in January 2021 was named the agency’s acting administrator
      Read more about Steve Jurczyk
      NASA Oral History, September 22, 1921 NASA Honors Steve Jurczyk The transcripts available on this site are created from audio-recorded oral history interviews. To preserve the integrity of the audio record, the transcripts are presented with limited revisions and thus reflect the candid conversational style of the oral history format. Brackets and ellipses indicate where the text has been annotated or edited for clarity. Any personal opinions expressed in the interviews should not be considered the official views or opinions of NASA, the NASA History Office, NASA historians, or staff members.
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      1 Min Read Oral History with Mary L. Cleave, 1947 – 2023
      61B-21-008 (26 Nov-1 Dec 1985) —The STS 61-B crew on the flight deck of the earth-orbiting Atlantis. Left to right, back row, are astronauts Jerry L. Ross, Brewster Shaw Jr., Mary L. Cleave, and Bryan D. O'Connor; and payload specialist Rodolfo Neri. Front row, left to right, payload specialist Charles D. Walker and astronaut Sherwood C. Spring. A veteran of two space flights, Dr. Cleave served as a mission specialist on STS-61B and STS-30.  She went on to join NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and worked in the Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes as the Project Manager for SeaWiFS, an ocean color sensor which is monitoring vegetation globally.  Dr. Cleave next served as Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Earth Science, NASA Headquarters, until her retirement in 2007.
      Read more about Dr. Mary L. Cleave
      NASA Oral History, March 5, 2002 NASA Biography NASA Remembers Trailblazing Astronaut, Scientist Mary Cleave In Memoriam: Mary Cleave The transcripts available on this site are created from audio-recorded oral history interviews. To preserve the integrity of the audio record, the transcripts are presented with limited revisions and thus reflect the candid conversational style of the oral history format. Brackets and ellipses indicate where the text has been annotated or edited for clarity. Any personal opinions expressed in the interviews should not be considered the official views or opinions of NASA, the NASA History Office, NASA historians, or staff members.
      View the full article
    • By European Space Agency
      Week in images: 28 October - 01 November 2024
      Discover our week through the lens
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      23 Min Read The Marshall Star for October 30, 2024
      Editor’s Note: Starting Nov. 4, the Office of Communications at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center will no longer publish the Marshall Star on nasa.gov. The last public issue will be Oct. 30. To continue reading Marshall news, visit nasa.gov/marshall.
      Marshall Team Members View Progress Toward Future Artemis Flights
      Blake Stewart, lead of the Thrust Vector Control Test Laboratory inside Building 4205 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, explains how his team tests the mechanisms that steer engine and booster nozzles of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket to a group of Marshall team members Oct. 24. The employees were some of the more than 500 team members who viewed progress toward future Artemis flights on bus tours offered by the SLS Program. Building 4205 is also home to the Propulsion Research and Development Laboratory that includes 26 world-class labs and support areas that help the agency’s ambitious goals for space exploration. The Software Integration Lab and the Software Integration Test Facility are among the labs inside supporting SLS that employees visited on the tour. (NASA/Sam Lott)
      A group of Marshall team members gather below the development test article for the universal stage adapter that will be used on the second variant of SLS, called Block 1B. The universal stage adapter is located inside one of the high bays in building 4619. The universal stage adapter will connect the Orion spacecraft to the SLS exploration upper stage. With the exploration upper stage, which will be powered by four RL10-C3 engines, SLS will be capable of lifting more than 105 metric tons (231,000 pounds) from Earth’s surface. This extra mass capability enables SLS to send multiple large payloads to the Moon on the same launch. (NASA/Sam Lott)
      Marshall team members view the Orion Stage Adapters for the Artemis II and Artemis III test flights inside Building 4708. The Orion Stage Adapter, built at Marshall, connects the rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage to the Orion spacecraft. The Orion Stage Adapter for Artemis II is complete and ready to be shipped to Kennedy Space Center. The Oct. 24 tours featured four stops that also included opportunities to see the Artemis III launch vehicle stage adapter, and the development test article for the SLS Block 1B universal stage adapter that will begin flying on Artemis IV. Additionally, programs and offices such as the Human Landing Systems Development Office and the Science and Technology Office hosted exhibits in the lobby of Building 4220, where employees gathered for the tours. (NASA/Jonathan Deal)
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      Center Commemorates National Disability Employment Awareness Month
      By Serena Whitfield
      In conjunction with National Disability Employment Awareness Month, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center held anagencywide virtual event hosted by the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity on Oct. 24.
      Marshall team members watched the Webex event in Building 4221.
      From left, Tora Henry, director of the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity at Marshall, Chip Dobbs, supply management specialist at Marshall, and Marshall Associate Director Roger Baird pause for a photo following the Oct. 24 virtual event the center hosted as part of National Disability Awareness Month. NASA/Serena Whitfield In alignment with the month’s national theme, “Access to Good Jobs for All,” the program highlighted the perspectives of people with disabilities in the workplace as they navigate the work lifecycle – from applying, to onboarding, career growth and advancement, and day-to-day engagements.
      The event began with Marshall Associate Director Roger Baird welcoming NASA team members.
      “NASA is dedicated to inclusive hiring practices and providing pathways for good jobs and career success for all employees, including workers with disabilities,” Baird said. “Some ways we do this is through targeted recruitment of qualified individuals with disabilities through accessible vacancy announcements, outreach to students with disabilities, and community partnerships.”
      NASA also utilizes Schedule A Authority, a non-competitive Direct Hiring Authority to hire people with disabilities without competition.
      Baird introduced event moderator Joyce Meier, logistics manager at Marshall, who welcomed panelists Casey Denham, Kathy Clark, Paul Spann, and Paul Sullivan, all NASA team members. The panelists from the disability community discussed their work lifecycles, lessons learned in the workplace, and shared a demonstration on colorblindness and its impact.
      Denham discussed some of the best practices for onboarding employees with neurodiversity, a term used to describe people whose brains develop or work differently than the typical brain.
      Marshall team members watch the agencywide virtual event commemorating National Disability Employment Awareness Month. NASA/Serena Whitfield Clark talked about what can be done to continue raising awareness and advocating for disability rights. She said NASA empowers its workforce with knowledge so they can be informed allies to team members with disabilities and foster a safe and inclusive working environment. 
      Spann gave insight into practical steps employers can take to accommodate candidates with deafness, and Sullivan spoke about some key considerations NASA managers should keep in mind to make the job application process more accessible to candidates with low vision.
      Guest speaker Chip Dobbs, supply management specialist at Marshall, talked about his personal experiences with being deaf. Dobbs has worked at NASA for 29 years and said he has never let his disability hold him back, but instead uses it as a gateway to inspire and connect with others.
      The event ended with closing remarks from Tora Henry, director of the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity at Marshall. The virtual event placed importance on planning for NASA’s future by promoting equality and addressing the barriers people with disabilities face in the workplace. 
      “As we celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month, keep in mind that NASA’s mission of exploring the unknown and pushing the boundaries of human potential requires the contributions of every mind, skill set, and perspective,” Baird said. “Our commitment to inclusivity ensures that no talent goes untapped, and no idea goes unheard because together, we’re not just reaching for the stars, we’re showing the world what’s possible when everyone has a seat at the table.”
      A recording of the event is available here. Learn more about NASA’s agencywide resources for individuals with disabilities as well as the agency’s Disability Employment Program.
      Whitfield is an intern supporting the Marshall Office of Communications.
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      Farley Davis Receives NASA’s Blue Marble Award
      By Wayne Smith
      Farley Davis, manager of the Environmental Engineering and Occupational Health Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, has received a 2024 Blue Marble Award from the agency.
      NASA’s Office of Strategic Infrastructure, Environmental Management Division presented the 2024 Blue Marble Awards on Oct. 8 at the agency’s Johnson Space Center. The Blue Marble Awards Program recognizes teams and individuals demonstrating exceptional environmental leadership in support of NASA’s missions and goals. In 2024, the awards included five categories: the Director’s Award, Environmental Quality, Excellence in Energy and Water Management, Excellence in Resilience or Climate Change Adaptation, and new this year: Excellence in Site Remediation. 
      Farley Davis, center, manager of the Environmental Engineering and Occupational Health Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, with his NASA Blue Marble Award. Joining him, from left, are Joel Carney, assistant administrator, Strategic Infrastructure; Denise Thaller, deputy assistant administrator, Strategic Infrastructure; Charlotte Betrand, director, Environmental Management; and June Malone, director, Office of Center Operations at Marshall. NASA Davis was recognized for “exceptional leadership and outstanding commitment above and beyond individual job responsibilities, to assist Marshall and the agency in enabling environmentally sound mission success.”
      “The award was unexpected, and I am very thankful to receive the Environmental Management Director’s Blue Marble Award,” said Davis, who has been at Marshall for 33 years. “Collectively, Marshall’s environmental engineering team has made this award possible with their diligent support for many years keeping the center’s environmental compliance at the forefront. I will cherish the award for the rest of my life.”
      June Malone, director of the Office of Center Operations at Marshall, credited Davis for his environmental leadership and mentoring team members.
      “Farley’s attitude of professionalism and personal responsibility for the development and implementation of well-grounded environmental programs has increased Marshall’s sustainability and prevented pollution,” Malone said. “His tireless leadership has resulted in compliance with federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations, and his creative solution-oriented approaches to environmental stewardship have restored contaminated areas.”
      Charlotte Bertrand, director of the Environmental Management Division at NASA Headquarters, said it was an honor to select Davis for the 2024 Blue Marble Director’s Award.
      “Farley’s incredibly distinguished career with NASA reflects the award’s intention to recognize exceptional leadership by an individual in assisting the agency in enabling environmentally sound mission success,” Bertrand said.
      Please see the awards program for additional information.
      Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.
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      Take 5 with Brooke Rhodes
      By Wayne Smith
      When human exploration of Mars becomes a reality and more than just the stuff of science fiction, Brooke Rhodes will be eager to investigate what astronauts discover on the Red Planet.
      From listening to her talk about her work as an engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, it’s easy to grasp her excitement about the future of human space exploration and NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture.
      Brooke Rhodes is currently on detail as the branch chief of the Avionics and Software Ground Systems Test Branch at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Working in the Instrument Development, Integration and Test Branch for the past seven years, she’s been responsible for the integration and testing of International Space Station payloads. NASA “I can’t wait for the Mars rovers to have some human company,” said Rhodes, who recently began a detail as the chief of Marshall’s Avionics and Software Ground Systems Test Branch. “I need to know if we can grow Mark Watney (of The Martian movie fame) quantities of potatoes up there. Everything we do to prepare to return humans to the Moon and establish a presence in deep space is building toward putting boots on Mars. It’s an honor and a privilege to be even a small part of it.”
      Rhodes also appreciates the responsibility she takes on in any form in NASA’s exploration missions to benefit humanity. After all, she has worked on hardware for the International Space Station and has had supporting roles for the Mars Ascent Vehicle and Artemis missions.
      “We at Marshall hold an incredible amount of responsibility: responsibility for the welfare of the crew on the space station, responsibility for the welfare of the crew on the Artemis missions, and even the welfare of humanity through the responsibility we have for science on the station and elsewhere,” said Rhodes, who is from Petal, Mississippi, and has worked at Marshall for seven years. “When your missions are as critical as ours, it’s nearly impossible to not be motivated.”
      Now, on to Mars.
      Question: What is your position and what are your primary responsibilities?
      Rhodes: I recently began the detail as the branch chief of the Avionics and Software Ground Systems Test Branch, ES53. Our branch is primarily responsible for the development of hardware-in-the-loop and software development facilities for the Artemis and MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle) missions. My home organization is ES61, the Instrument Development, Integration and Test Branch, where I’ve been responsible for the integration and testing of International Space Station payloads for the past several years.
      Rhodes with a box of sample cartridge assemblies (SCAs) headed for the International Space Station. Photo courtesy of Brooke Rhodes Question: What has been the proudest moment of your career and why?
      Rhodes: One really cool moment that sticks out was the first time I saw hardware I had been responsible for being used in space. I spent several years as the integration and test lead of the Materials Science Research Rack (MSRR) Sample Cartridge Assemblies (SCAs) and we shipped our first batch of SCAs to the space station in 2018. That shipment was the culmination of years of intense effort and teamwork, so to see them onboard and about to enable materials science was an incredible feeling. There was a moment in particular that felt a bit surreal: prior to our SCA shipment the crew discovered they were missing a couple of fasteners from the onboard furnace, so we had those shipped to us from Europe and I packed them into the SCA flight foam before they shipped to the launch site. The next time I saw those fasteners they were being held up to a camera by one of the crew members, asking if those were the ones they needed for the furnace. Putting fasteners into foam didn’t take much effort, but what it represented was much bigger: being a small part of an international effort to enable science off the Earth, for the Earth, was an incredible moment I’ll carry with me for the rest of my career.
      Question: Who or what inspired you to pursue an education/career that led you to NASA and Marshall?
      Rhodes: I had a couple of lightbulb moments my junior year of high school that eventually set me on my current career path. I very specifically recall sitting in my physics I class and learning how to calculate the planetary motion of Jupiter and thinking I had never learned about anything cooler. Even then, though, NASA didn’t really enter my thoughts. Growing up, working for NASA didn’t even occur to me as something people could actually do – being a “rocket scientist” was just an abstract concept people threw around to indicate something was difficult.
      That changed later when the same teacher who had been teaching us planetary motion took us on a field trip to Kennedy Space Center. The tour guide showing us around the Vehicle Assembly Building was a young employee who said he had majored in aerospace engineering at the University of Tennessee. That was the second lightbulb moment: here was a young person from the Southeast, just like me, who had done something tangible in order to work for NASA. That seemed easy enough, so I decided to major in aerospace engineering at Mississippi State and one day work for NASA. That turned out to not be easy, but definitely doable.
      While at Mississippi State, I was able to complete three NASA internships, one at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and two at Marshall. Eventually, I was hired on full-time at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, but wound up making my way back to Marshall, where I’ve been ever since. There’s no place on the planet better for enthusiasts of both aerospace engineering and football.
      NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold, a space station crew member for Expedition 56, holds up a fastener for the Materials Science Laboratory, which Rhodes packed for shipment to the orbiting laboratory in 2018. “Putting fasteners into foam didn’t take much effort, but what it represented was much bigger: being a small part of an international effort to enable science off the Earth, for the Earth, was an incredible moment I’ll carry with me for the rest of my career.” Photo courtesy of Brooke Rhodes Interestingly, my physics I teacher’s name was Mrs. Rhodes, and I used to joke with my classmates that I wanted to be Mrs. Rhodes when I grew up. I didn’t actually mean that literally, but then I married Matthew Rhodes and did, indeed, become Mrs. Rhodes.
      Question: What advice do you have for employees early in their NASA career or those in new leadership roles?
      Rhodes: Scary is good. If you aren’t stepping out of your comfort zone you probably aren’t growing, and if you’re experiencing imposter syndrome, you’re probably the right person for the job.
      Question: What do you enjoy doing with your time while away from work?
      Rhodes: While away from work I tend to invest too much of my mental wellbeing into football. To recover from the stresses of work and my football teams being terrible, I like to explore National Parks. The U.S. has some of the most diverse scenery anywhere in the world, and I love getting outside and exploring it.
      Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.
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      Planets Beware: NASA Unburies Danger Zones of Star Cluster
      Most stars form in collections, called clusters or associations, that include very massive stars. These giant stars send out large amounts of high-energy radiation, which can disrupt relatively fragile disks of dust and gas that are in the process of coalescing to form new planets.
      A team of astronomers used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, in combination with ultraviolet, optical, and infrared data, to show where some of the most treacherous places in a star cluster may be, where planets’ chances to form are diminished.
      In this new composite image, Chandra data (purple) shows the diffuse X-ray emission and young stars in Cygnus OB2, and infrared data from NASA’s now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope (red, green, blue, and cyan) reveals young stars and the cooler dust and gas throughout the region.X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Drake et al, IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Spitzer; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk The target of the observations was Cygnus OB2, which is the nearest large cluster of stars to our Sun – at a distance of about 4,600 light-years. The cluster contains hundreds of massive stars as well as thousands of lower-mass stars. The team used long Chandra observations pointing at different regions of Cygnus OB2, and the resulting set of images were then stitched together into one large image.
      The deep Chandra observations mapped out the diffuse X-ray glow in between the stars, and they also provided an inventory of the young stars in the cluster. This inventory was combined with others using optical and infrared data to create the best census of young stars in the cluster.
      In a new composite image, the Chandra data (purple) shows the diffuse X-ray emission and young stars in Cygnus OB2, and infrared data from NASA’s now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope (red, green, blue, and cyan) reveals young stars and the cooler dust and gas throughout the region.
      In these crowded stellar environments, copious amounts of high-energy radiation produced by stars and planets are present. Together, X-rays and intense ultraviolet light can have a devastating impact on planetary disks and systems in the process of forming.
      Planet-forming disks around stars naturally fade away over time. Some of the disk falls onto the star and some is heated up by X-ray and ultraviolet radiation from the star and evaporates in a wind. The latter process, known as “photoevaporation,” usually takes between five and 10 million years with average-sized stars before the disk disappears. If massive stars, which produce the most X-ray and ultraviolet radiation, are nearby, this process can be accelerated.
      The researchers using this data found clear evidence that planet-forming disks around stars indeed disappear much faster when they are close to massive stars producing a lot of high-energy radiation. The disks also disappear more quickly in regions where the stars are more closely packed together.
      For regions of Cygnus OB2 with less high-energy radiation and lower numbers of stars, the fraction of young stars with disks is about 40%. For regions with more high-energy radiation and higher numbers of stars, the fraction is about 18%. The strongest effect – meaning the worst place to be for a would-be planetary system – is within about 1.6 light-years of the most massive stars in the cluster.
      A separate study by the same team examined the properties of the diffuse X-ray emission in the cluster. They found that the higher-energy diffuse emission comes from areas where winds of gas blowing away from massive stars have collided with each other. This causes the gas to become hotter and produce X-rays. The less energetic emission probably comes from gas in the cluster colliding with gas surrounding the cluster.
      Two separate papers describing the Chandra data of Cygnus OB2 are available. The paper about the planetary danger zones, led by Mario Giuseppe Guarcello (National Institute for Astrophysics in Palermo, Italy), appeared in the November 2023 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, and is available here. The paper about the diffuse emission, led by Juan Facundo Albacete-Colombo (University of Rio Negro in Argentina) was published in the same issue of Astrophysical Journal Supplement, and is available here.
      NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
      NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) managed the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate until the mission was retired in January 2020. Science operations were conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech. Spacecraft operations were based at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive operated by IPAC at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
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      NASA Begins New Deployable Solar Array Tech Demo on Pathfinder Spacecraft
      NASA recently evaluated initial flight data and imagery from Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-4 (PTD-4), confirming proper checkout of the spacecraft’s systems including its on-board electronics as well as the payload’s support systems such as the small onboard camera. Shown is a test image of Earth taken by the payload camera, shortly after PTD-4 reached orbit. This camera will continue photographing the technology demonstration during the mission. 
      A test image of Earth taken by NASA’s Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-4’s onboard camera. The camera will capture images of the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna upon deployment.NASA Payload operations are now underway for the primary objective of the PTD-4 mission – the demonstration of a new power and communications technology for future spacecraft. The payload, a deployable solar array with an integrated antenna called the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna, or LISA-T, has initiated deployment of its central boom structure. The boom supports four solar power and communication arrays, also called petals. Releasing the central boom pushes the still-stowed petals nearly three feet away from the spacecraft bus. The mission team currently is working through an initial challenge to get LISA-T’s central boom to fully extend before unfolding the petals and beginning its power generation and communication operations.
      Small spacecraft on deep space missions require more electrical power than what is currently offered by existing technology. The four-petal solar array of LISA-T is a thin-film solar array that offers lower mass, lower stowed volume, and three times more power per mass and volume allocation than current solar arrays. The in-orbit technology demonstration includes deployment, operation, and environmental survivability of the thin-film solar array.  
      “The LISA-T experiment is an opportunity for NASA and the small spacecraft community to advance the packaging, deployment, and operation of thin-film, fully flexible solar and antenna arrays in space. The thin-film arrays will vastly improve power generation and communication capabilities throughout many different mission applications,” said John Carr, deputy center chief technologist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “These capabilities are critical for achieving higher value science alongside the exploration of deep space with small spacecraft.”
      NASA teams are testing a key technology demonstration known as LISA-T, short for the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna. It’s a super compact, stowable, thin-film solar array that when fully deployed in space, offers both a power generation and communication capability for small spacecraft. LISA-T’s orbital flight test is part of the Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator series of missions. (NASA) The Pathfinder Technology Demonstration series of missions leverages a commercial platform which serves to test innovative technologies to increase the capability of small spacecraft. Deploying LISA-T’s thin solar array in the harsh environment of space presents inherent challenges such as deploying large highly flexible non-metallic structures with high area to mass ratios. Performing experiments such as LISA-T on a smaller, lower-cost spacecraft allows NASA the opportunity to take manageable risk with high probability of great return. The LISA-T experiment aims to enable future deep space missions with the ability to acquire and communicate data through improved power generation and communication capabilities on the same integrated array.
      The PTD-4 small spacecraft is hosting the in-orbit technology demonstration called LISA-T. The PTD-4 spacecraft deployed into low Earth orbit from SpaceX’s Transporter-11 rocket, which launched from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Aug. 16. Marshall designed and built the LISA-T technology as well as LISA-T’s supporting avionics system. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program, based at NASA’s Ames Research Center and led by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, funds and manages the PTD-4 mission as well as the overall Pathfinder Technology Demonstration mission series. Terran Orbital Corporation of Irvine, California, developed and built the PTD-4 spacecraft bus, named Triumph.
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      NASA SPoRT’s Streamflow-AI Helps with Flood Preparedness in Texas
      By Paola Pinto
      For more than two decades, the NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT) within the NASA Earth Science Office at Marshall Space Flight Center has been at the forefront of developing and maintaining decision-making tools for meteorological predictions.
      This image represents the first instance of predictions getting into moderate flooding in Pine Island Bayou. At 14 feet (start of the moderate flooding category), Cooks Lake Road becomes unsafe for most vehicles. NASA Jonathan Brazzell, a service hydrologist at the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Lake Charles, Louisiana, highlighted a recent example of SPoRT’s impact while he was doing forecasting for Texas streams.
      Brazzell, who manages the South Texas and South Louisiana regions, emphasized the practical applications and significant impacts of the Machine Learning model developed by NASA SPoRT to predict future stream heights, known as the SPoRT Streamflow A.I. During a heavy rainfall event this past spring, he noted the challenge of forecasting flooding beyond 48 hours. SPoRT has worked closely with the NWS offices to develop a machine learning tool capable of predicting river flooding beyond two days and powered by the SPoRT Land Information System.
      “Previously, we relied on actual gauge information and risk assessments based on predicted precipitation,” Brazzell said. “Now, with this machine learning, we have a modeling tool that provides a much-needed predictive capability.”
      During forecasted periods of heavy precipitation from early to mid-May, Brazzell monitored potential flooding events and their magnitude using NASA SPoRT’s Streamflow-AI, which provided essential support to the Pine Island Bayou and Big Cow Creek communities in south Texas.
      Streamflow A.I. enabled local authorities to provide advance notice, allowing residents to prepare adequately for the event. Due to the benefit of three to seven-day flood stage predictions, the accurate forecasts helped county officials decide on road closures and evacuation advisories; community officials advised residents to gather a seven-day supply of necessities and relocate their vehicles, minimizing disruption and potential damage.
      Brazzell highlighted specific instances where the machine learning outputs were critical. For example, during the event that peaked around May 6, Streamflow A.I. accurately predicted the rise in stream height, allowing for timely road closures and advisories. These predictions were shared with county officials and were pivotal in their decision-making process.
      This image shows the water levels after rainfall and predicts a moderate stream height in Pine Island Bayou. NASA Brazzell shared that integrating SPoRT’s machine learning capabilities with their existing tools, such as flood risk mapping, proved invaluable. Although the machine learning outputs had been operational for almost two years after Hurricane Harvey, this season has provided their first significant applications in real-time scenarios due to persistent conditions of below-normal precipitation and ongoing drought.
      He also mentioned the broader applications of Streamflow A.I., including its potential use in other sites beyond those currently being monitored. He expressed interest in expanding the use of machine learning stream height outputs to additional locations, citing the successful application in current sites as a compelling reason for broader implementation.
      NASA SPoRT users’ experiences emphasize how crucial advanced prediction technologies are in hydrometeorology and emergency management operations. Based on Brazzell’s example, it is reasonable to say that the product’s ability to provide accurate, timely data greatly improves decision-making processes and ensures public safety. The partnership between NASA SPoRT and operational agencies like NOAA/NWS and county response teams demonstrates how research and operations can be seamlessly integrated into everyday practices, making a tangible difference in communities vulnerable to high-impact events.
      As the Streamflow A.I. product continues to evolve and expand its applications, it holds significant promise for improving disaster preparedness and response efforts across various regions that experience different types of flooding events.
      The Streamflow-AI product provides a 7-day river height or stage forecasts at select gauges across the south/eastern U.S. You can find the SPoRT training item on Streamflow-AI here.
      Pinto is a research associate at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, specializing in communications and user engagement for NASA SPoRT.
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      Agency Awards Custodial, Refuse Collection Contract
      NASA has selected All Native Synergies Company of Winnebego, Nebraska, to provide custodial and refuse collection services at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
      The Custodial and Refuse Collection Services III contract is a firm-fixed-price contract with an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity provision. Its maximum potential value is approximately $33.5 million. The performance period began Oct. 23 and will extend four and a half years, with a one-year base period, four one-year options, and a six-month extension.
      This critical service contract provides custodial and refuse collection services for all Marshall facilities. Work under the contract includes floor maintenance, including elevators; trash removal; cleaning drinking fountains and restrooms; sweeping, mopping, and cleaning building entrances and stairways.
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