Jump to content

The Marshall Star for October 18, 2023


Recommended Posts

  • Publishers
Posted
24 Min Read

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.

› Back to Top

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.

› Back to Top

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.

› Back to Top

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.

› Back to Top

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.

› Back to Top

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.

› Back to Top

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.

› Back to Top

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.

› Back to Top

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.

› Back to Top

View the full article

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Similar Topics

    • By NASA
      X-ray: NASA/CXC/Technion/N. Keshet et al.; Illustration: NASA/CXC/SAO/M. Weiss People often think about archaeology happening deep in jungles or inside ancient pyramids. However, a team of astronomers has shown that they can use stars and the remains they leave behind to conduct a special kind of archaeology in space.
      Mining data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the team of astronomers studied the relics that one star left behind after it exploded. This “supernova archaeology” uncovered important clues about a star that self-destructed – probably more than a million years ago.
      Today, the system called GRO J1655-40 contains a black hole with nearly seven times the mass of the Sun and a star with about half as much mass. However, this was not always the case.
      Originally GRO J1655-40 had two shining stars. The more massive of the two stars, however, burned through all of its nuclear fuel and then exploded in what astronomers call a supernova. The debris from the destroyed star then rained onto the companion star in orbit around it, as shown in the artist’s concept.
      This artist’s impression shows the effects of the collapse and supernova explosion of a massive star. A black hole (right) was formed in the collapse and debris from the supernova explosion is raining down onto a companion star (left), polluting its atmosphere.CXC/SAO/M. Weiss With its outer layers expelled, including some striking its neighbor, the rest of the exploded star collapsed onto itself and formed the black hole that exists today. The separation between the black hole and its companion would have shrunk over time because of energy being lost from the system, mainly through the production of gravitational waves. When the separation became small enough, the black hole, with its strong gravitational pull, began pulling matter from its companion, wrenching back some of the material its exploded parent star originally deposited.
      While most of this material sank into the black hole, a small amount of it fell into a disk that orbits around the black hole. Through the effects of powerful magnetic fields and friction in the disk, material is being sent out into interstellar space in the form of powerful winds.
      This is where the X-ray archaeological hunt enters the story. Astronomers used Chandra to observe the GRO J1655-40 system in 2005 when it was particularly bright in X-rays. Chandra detected signatures of individual elements found in the black hole’s winds by getting detailed spectra – giving X-ray brightness at different wavelengths – embedded in the X-ray light. Some of these elements are highlighted in the spectrum shown in the inset.
      The team of astronomers digging through the Chandra data were able to reconstruct key physical characteristics of the star that exploded from the clues imprinted in the X-ray light by comparing the spectra with computer models of stars that explode as supernovae. They discovered that, based on the amounts of 18 different elements in the wind, the long-gone star destroyed in the supernova was about 25 times the mass of the Sun, and was much richer in elements heavier than helium in comparison with the Sun.
      This analysis paves the way for more supernova archaeology studies using other outbursts of double star systems.
      A paper describing these results titled “Supernova Archaeology with X-Ray Binary Winds: The Case of GRO J1655−40” was published in The Astrophysical Journal in May 2024. The authors of this study are Noa Keshet (Technion — Israel Institute of Technology), Ehud Behar (Technion), and Timothy Kallman (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center).
      NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, 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.
      Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
      Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here:
      https://www.nasa.gov/chandra
      https://chandra.si.edu
      Visual Description
      This release features an artist’s rendering of a supernova explosion, inset with a spectrum graph.
      The artist’s illustration features a star and a black hole in a system called GRO J1655-40. Here, the black hole is represented by a black sphere to our upper right of center. The star is represented by a bright yellow sphere to our lower left of center. In this illustration, the artist captures the immensely powerful supernova as a black hole is created from the collapse of a massive star, with an intense burst of blurred beams radiating from the black sphere. The blurred beams of red, orange, and yellow light show debris from the supernova streaking across the entire image in rippling waves. These beams rain debris on the bright yellow star.
      When astronomers used the Chandra X-ray Observatory to observe the system in 2005, they detected signatures of individual elements embedded in the X-ray light. Some of those elements are highlighted in the spectrum graph shown in the inset, positioned at our upper lefthand corner.
      The graph’s vertical axis, on our left, indicates X-ray brightness from 0.0 up to 0.7 in intensity units. The horizontal axis, at the bottom of the graph, indicates Wavelength from 6 to 12 in units of Angstroms. On the graph, a tight zigzagging line begins near the top of the vertical axis, and slopes down toward the far end of the horizontal axis. The sharp dips show wavelengths where the light has been absorbed by different elements, decreasing the X-ray brightness. Some of the elements causing these dips have been labeled, including Silicon, Magnesium, Iron, Nickel, Neon, and Cobalt.
      News Media Contact
      Megan Watzke
      Chandra X-ray Center
      Cambridge, Mass.
      617-496-7998
      mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu
      Lane Figueroa
      Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
      256-544-0034
      lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week features a sparkling spiral galaxy paired with a prominent star, both in the constellation Virgo. While the galaxy and the star appear to be close to one another, even overlapping, they’re actually a great distance apart.ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. J. Smartt, C. Kilpatrick This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a sparkling spiral galaxy paired with a prominent star, both in the constellation Virgo. While the galaxy and the star appear to be close to one another, even overlapping, they’re actually a great distance apart. The star, marked with four long diffraction spikes, is in our own galaxy. It’s just 7,109 light-years away from Earth. The galaxy, named NGC 4900, lies about 45 million light-years from Earth.
      This image combines data from two of Hubble’s instruments: the Advanced Camera for Surveys, installed in 2002 and still in operation today, and the older Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, which was in use from 1993 to 2009. The data used here were taken more than 20 years apart for two different observing programs — a real testament to Hubble’s long scientific lifetime!
      Both programs aimed to understand the demise of massive stars. In one, researchers studied the sites of past supernovae, aiming to estimate the masses of the stars that exploded and investigate how supernovae interact with their surroundings. They selected NGC 4900 for the study because it hosted a supernova named SN 1999br.
      In the other program, researchers laid the groundwork for studying future supernovae by collecting images of more than 150 nearby galaxies. When researchers detect a supernova in one of these galaxies, they can refer to these images, examining the star at the location of the supernova. Identifying a supernova progenitor star in pre-explosion images gives valuable information about how, when, and why supernovae occur.
      Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. J. Smartt, C. Kilpatrick
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      2 min read
      Hubble Sees a Spiral and a Star
      This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the face-on spiral galaxy NGC 4900. ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. J. Smartt, C. Kilpatrick
      Download this image

      This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a sparkling spiral galaxy paired with a prominent star, both in the constellation Virgo. While the galaxy and the star appear to be close to one another, even overlapping, they’re actually a great distance apart. The star, marked with four long diffraction spikes, is in our own galaxy. It’s just 7,109 light-years away from Earth. The galaxy, named NGC 4900, lies about 45 million light-years from Earth.
      This image combines data from two of Hubble’s instruments: the Advanced Camera for Surveys, installed in 2002 and still in operation today, and the older Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, which was in use from 1993 to 2009. The data used here were taken more than 20 years apart for two different observing programs — a real testament to Hubble’s long scientific lifetime!
      Both programs aimed to understand the demise of massive stars. In one, researchers studied the sites of past supernovae, aiming to estimate the masses of the stars that exploded and investigate how supernovae interact with their surroundings. They selected NGC 4900 for the study because it hosted a supernova named SN 1999br.
      In the other program, researchers laid the groundwork for studying future supernovae by collecting images of more than 150 nearby galaxies. When researchers detect a supernova in one of these galaxies, they can refer to these images, examining the star at the location of the supernova. Identifying a supernova progenitor star in pre-explosion images gives valuable information about how, when, and why supernovae occur.
      Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact:
      Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
      Share








      Details
      Last Updated Mar 13, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
      Hubble Space Telescope Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Spiral Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble
      Hubble Space Telescope


      Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.


      Hearing Hubble



      Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge



      Hubble’s Galaxies


      View the full article
    • By European Space Agency
      Image: Webb wows with incredible detail in star-forming system View the full article
    • By NASA
      Explore This Section Webb News Latest News Latest Images Blog (offsite) Awards X (offsite – login reqd) Instagram (offsite – login reqd) Facebook (offsite- login reqd) Youtube (offsite) Overview About Who is James Webb? Fact Sheet Impacts+Benefits FAQ Science Overview and Goals Early Universe Galaxies Over Time Star Lifecycle Other Worlds Observatory Overview Launch Orbit Mirrors Sunshield Instrument: NIRCam Instrument: MIRI Instrument: NIRSpec Instrument: FGS/NIRISS Optical Telescope Element Backplane Spacecraft Bus Instrument Module Multimedia About Webb Images Images Videos What is Webb Observing? 3d Webb in 3d Solar System Podcasts Webb Image Sonifications Team International Team People Of Webb More For the Media For Scientists For Educators For Fun/Learning 5 Min Read NASA Webb Wows With Incredible Detail in Actively Forming Star System
      Shimmering ejections emitted by two actively forming stars make up Lynds 483 (L483). High-resolution near-infrared light captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows incredible new detail and structure within these lobes. Credits:
      NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI High-resolution near-infrared light captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows extraordinary new detail and structure in Lynds 483 (L483). Two actively forming stars are responsible for the shimmering ejections of gas and dust that gleam in orange, blue, and purple in this representative color image.
      Over tens of thousands of years, the central protostars have periodically ejected some of the gas and dust, spewing it out as tight, fast jets and slightly slower outflows that “trip” across space. When more recent ejections hit older ones, the material can crumple and twirl based on the densities of what is colliding. Over time, chemical reactions within these ejections and the surrounding cloud have produced a range of molecules, like carbon monoxide, methanol, and several other organic compounds.
      Image A: Actively Forming Star System Lynds 483 (NIRCam Image)
      Shimmering ejections emitted by two actively forming stars make up Lynds 483 (L483). High-resolution near-infrared light captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows incredible new detail and structure within these lobes, including asymmetrical lines that appear to run into one another. L483 is 650 light-years away in the constellation Serpens. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI Dust-Encased Stars
      The two protostars responsible for this scene are at the center of the hourglass shape, in an opaque horizontal disk of cold gas and dust that fits within a single pixel. Much farther out, above and below the flattened disk where dust is thinner, the bright light from the stars shines through the gas and dust, forming large semi-transparent orange cones.
      It’s equally important to notice where the stars’ light is blocked — look for the exceptionally dark, wide V-shapes offset by 90 degrees from the orange cones. These areas may look like there is no material, but it’s actually where the surrounding dust is the densest, and little starlight penetrates it. If you look carefully at these areas, Webb’s sensitive NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) has picked up distant stars as muted orange pinpoints behind this dust. Where the view is free of obscuring dust, stars shine brightly in white and blue.
      Unraveling the Stars’ Ejections
      Some of the stars’ jets and outflows have wound up twisted or warped. To find examples, look toward the top right edge where there’s a prominent orange arc. This is a shock front, where the stars’ ejections were slowed by existing, denser material. 
      Now, look a little lower, where orange meets pink. Here, material looks like a tangled mess. These are new, incredibly fine details Webb has revealed, and will require detailed study to explain.
      Turn to the lower half. Here, the gas and dust appear thicker. Zoom in to find tiny light purple pillars. They point toward the central stars’ nonstop winds, and formed because the material within them is dense enough that it hasn’t yet been blown away. L483 is too large to fit in a single Webb snapshot, and this image was taken to fully capture the upper section and outflows, which is why the lower section is only partially shown. (See a larger view observed by NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope.)
      All the symmetries and asymmetries in these clouds may eventually be explained as researchers reconstruct the history of the stars’ ejections, in part by updating models to produce the same effects. Astronomers will also eventually calculate how much material the stars have expelled, which molecules were created when material smashed together, and how dense each area is.
      Millions of years from now, when the stars are finished forming, they may each be about the mass of our Sun. Their outflows will have cleared the area — sweeping away these semi-transparent ejections. All that may remain is a tiny disk of gas and dust where planets may eventually form.
      L483 is named for American astronomer Beverly T. Lynds, who published extensive catalogs of “dark” and “bright” nebulae in the early 1960s. She did this by carefully examining photographic plates (which preceded film) of the first Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, accurately recording each object’s coordinates and characteristics. These catalogs provided astronomers with detailed maps of dense dust clouds where stars form — critical resources for the astronomical community decades before the first digital files became available and access to the internet was widespread.
      The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe 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.
      Downloads
      Click any image to open a larger version.
      View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
      Media Contacts
      Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
      Claire Blome – cblome@stsci.edu
      Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
      Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
      Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
      Related Information
      More Webb News
      More Webb Images
      Webb Science Themes
      Webb Mission Page
      View more: Webb images of similar protostar outflows – HH 211 and HH 46/47
      Animation Video: “Exploring Star and Planet Formation”
      Explore the jets emitted by young stars in multiple wavelengths: ViewSpace Interactive
      Read more: Birth of Stars with Hubble observations
      Related For Kids
      What is the Webb Telescope?
      SpacePlace for Kids
      En Español
      Ciencia de la NASA
      NASA en español 
      Space Place para niños
      Keep Exploring Related Topics
      James Webb Space Telescope


      Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…


      Universe



      Stars



      Stars Stories


      Share








      Details
      Last Updated Mar 07, 2025 Editor Marty McCoy Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
      James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Astrophysics Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Goddard Space Flight Center Nebulae Protostars Science & Research Stars The Universe View the full article
  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...