Jump to content
Join the Alien Search, login or register FREE on Aliens and Space Forum
Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site

55 Years Ago: Seven Months Before the Moon Landing

NASA

By NASA
in NASA

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Publishers
NASA Mentor

NASA

Posted
  • Publishers
Posted

December 1968 ended a year more turbulent than most. For the American space program, however, it brought the Moon landing one giant step closer. The successful first lunar orbital flight by Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, and William A. Anders proved the space worthiness of the Apollo Command and Service Modules (CSM) at lunar distances and demonstrated navigation beyond low Earth orbit. Preparations continued for the next two missions – Apollo 9 to test the Lunar Module (LM) in Earth orbit in February or March 1969, and Apollo 10 to repeat the test in lunar orbit in May. If those missions proved successful, NASA hoped to achieve the first Moon landing by the summer of 1969.

Apollo 8 astronauts James A. Lovell, left, Frank Borman, and William A. Anders during the preflight crew press conference At the White House, Apollo 7 astronauts R. Walter Cunningham, left, Donn F. Eisele, and Walter M. Schirra, Apollo 8 astronauts Anders, Lovell, and Borman, standing at right, watch aviation pioneer Charles A. Lindberg sign a commemorative document, as First Lady “Lady Bird” Johnson, President Lyndon B. Johnson, former NASA Administrator James E. Webb, and Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey look on During the countdown demonstration test, Borman, standing left, Lovell, and Anders pose with their backups Neil A. Armstrong, kneeling left, Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, and Fred W. Haise
Left: Apollo 8 astronauts James A. Lovell, left, Frank Borman, and William A. Anders during the preflight crew press conference. Middle: At the White House, Apollo 7 astronauts R. Walter Cunningham, left, Donn F. Eisele, and Walter M. Schirra, Apollo 8 astronauts Anders, Lovell, and Borman, standing at right, watch aviation pioneer Charles A. Lindberg sign a commemorative document, as First Lady “Lady Bird” Johnson, President Lyndon B. Johnson, former NASA Administrator James E. Webb, and Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey look on. Right: During the countdown demonstration test, Borman, standing left, Lovell, and Anders pose with their backups Neil A. Armstrong, kneeling left, Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, and Fred W. Haise.

On Dec. 2, Borman, Lovell, and Anders held their preflight press conference at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Borman summed up the crew’s readiness, “I think we can say we’re ready two weeks before” the flight. President Lyndon B. Johnson invited Apollo 7 astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Donn F. Eisele, and R. Walter Cunningham to a state dinner at the White House on Dec. 9, 1968. He also invited Apollo 8 astronauts Borman, Lovell, and Anders, just 12 days from their historic launch to the Moon, as well as aviation pioneer Charles A. Lindberg to sign a commemorative document to hang in the White House Treaty Room. Two days later, Borman, Lovell, and Anders and their backups Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, and Fred W. Haise participated in the countdown demonstration test at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.

The Apollo 8 launch vehicle at Launch Pad 39A during the countdown demonstration test Apollo 8 crew of William A. Anders, left, Frank Borman, and James A. Lovell at the Command Module simulator at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Lovell, left, Borman, and Anders enjoy some pre-holiday cheer on the eve of their launch to the Moon
Left: The Apollo 8 launch vehicle at Launch Pad 39A during the countdown demonstration test. Middle: Apollo 8 crew of William A. Anders, left, Frank Borman, and James A. Lovell at the Command Module simulator at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Right: Lovell, left, Borman, and Anders enjoy some pre-holiday cheer on the eve of their launch to the Moon.

Engineers at KSC’s Launch Complex 39 completed the Apollo 8 Countdown Demonstration Test (CDDT) between Dec. 5 and 11, consisting of “wet” and “dry” phases. In the first wet phase, they simulated the entire countdown including the loading of propellant in the rocket’s three stages, down to T minus 8.9 seconds, the time when the first stage’s five F-1 engines ignite. For safety reasons, the crew did not participate in the wet countdown. At the end of the wet phase on Dec. 10, workers drained the fuel from the rocket and recycled the countdown. The next day, the countdown again proceeded to the point of first stage ignition, but for this dry phase the astronauts suited up and strapped into the capsule as they would on launch day. The CDDT also tied in the Mission Control Center (MCC) at MSC, and the Manned Space Flight Network, a series of tracking stations around the world used to monitor the mission. With the CDDT completed, the countdown for Apollo 8 began on Dec. 15.

Liftoff of Apollo 8 A rapidly receding Earth shortly after Trans-Lunar Injection The spent S-IVB third stage with the Lunar Module (LM) Test Article-B (LTA-B) visible where a LM would normally reside
Left: Liftoff of Apollo 8. Middle: A rapidly receding Earth shortly after Trans-Lunar Injection. Right: The spent S-IVB third stage with the Lunar Module (LM) Test Article-B (LTA-B) visible where a LM would normally reside.

On Dec. 21, 1968, at precisely 7:51 a.m. EST, at Launch Pad 39A the five engines of the Saturn V’s first stage came to life, powering up to their full 7.5 million pounds of thrust. The brilliance of the flame rivaled the sunrise. At the top of the rocket, strapped inside their Command Module (CM), Borman, Lovell, and Anders experienced firsthand the power of a Saturn V launch. As soon as the rocket cleared the launch tower, control of the mission transferred from the Launch Control Center at Launch Complex 39 to MCC at MSC. From there, three teams of controllers, led by Lead Flight Director Clifford E. Charlesworth and Flight Directors Glynn S. Lunney and Milton L. Windler, working in eight-hour shifts, monitored the mission until splashdown. During the launch and early phases of the flight, Michael Collins served as the capsule communicator, or capcom, the astronaut in MCC who spoke directly with the crew. Within 11 and a half minutes, the three stages of the Saturn V placed Apollo 8 into Earth orbit. For the next 90 minutes, MCC and the astronauts thoroughly checked out the spacecraft’s systems, and capcom Collins informed the crew, “You are go for TLI,” or Trans-Lunar Injection, a less than dramatic way of saying “You’re off to the Moon!” Those words committed the mission to break the bonds of Earth’s gravity and set a course for the Moon. Near the end of the second revolution around the Earth, the rocket’s third stage engine fired for a second time, for more than five minutes, increasing Apollo 8’s speed from 17,400 miles per hour to 24,226 miles per hour, enough to overcome Earth’s gravity and send it on a Moonward trajectory. Soon after the burn ended, the astronauts separated their spacecraft from the spent stage and began their three-day cruise to the Moon.

The famous Earthrise photograph from Apollo 8
The famous Earthrise photograph from Apollo 8.

During the journey, Borman, Lovell, and Anders passed through the Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts and crossed into the Moon’s gravitational sphere of influence. About 69 hours after launch, Apollo 8 passed the leading edge of the Moon and disappeared behind it, all communications with Earth cut off. While behind the Moon, the astronauts performed the Lunar Orbit Insertion maneuver, but for a few anxious minutes, only they knew that their spacecraft’s engine had performed as expected. As they emerged on the Moon’s other side precisely at the predicted time, MCC confirmed that Apollo 8 had achieved lunar orbit. The astronauts began to describe the Moon as no other humans had seen it before.

The Tsiolkovski Crater on the Moon’s farside, seen directly by human eyes for the first time during Apollo 8 Apollo 8 shortly after splashdown, with the astronauts in the life raft awaiting pick up by the recovery helicopter Apollo 8 astronauts arrive on the prime recovery ship U.S.S. Yorktown
Left: The Tsiolkovski Crater on the Moon’s farside, seen directly by human eyes for the first time during Apollo 8. Middle: Apollo 8 shortly after splashdown, with the astronauts in the life raft awaiting pick up by the recovery helicopter. Right: Apollo 8 astronauts arrive on the prime recovery ship U.S.S. Yorktown.

For the next 20 hours, they orbited the Moon 10 times. On their ninth revolution, knowing that Christmas Eve had turned to Christmas Day, Borman, Lovell, and Anders read from The Bible’s Book of Genesis and wished everyone on “the good Earth” a Merry Christmas. On their final revolution, they disappeared behind the Moon one last time and fired their spacecraft’s engine to propel them out of lunar orbit to head back toward Earth. Once they reestablished contact at the predicted time, Lovell proclaimed, “Please be informed there is a Santa Claus,” his way of saying that the engine burned as expected. The astronauts spent the next three days coasting back toward Earth, ending their historic six-day mission with a predawn splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Teams from the prime recovery ship U.S.S. Yorktown (CV-10) recovered them from the water and brought them aboard the carrier.

Apollo 8 astronauts (wearing leis) William A. Anders, left, James A. Lovell, and Frank Borman listen to Hawaii Governor John A. Burns during their brief stopover at Hickam Air Force Base (AFB) in Honolulu Anders, left, Borman, and Lovell give short speeches to the crowd gathered to welcome them home at Ellington AFB in Houston The Apollo 8 Command Module on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago
Left: Apollo 8 astronauts (wearing leis) William A. Anders, left, James A. Lovell, and Frank Borman listen to Hawaii Governor John A. Burns during their brief stopover at Hickam Air Force Base (AFB) in Honolulu. Middle: Anders, left, Borman, and Lovell give short speeches to the crowd gathered to welcome them home at Ellington AFB in Houston. Right: The Apollo 8 Command Module on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Image credit: courtesy Museum of Science and Industry.

From the Yorktown, Borman, Lovell, and Anders flew to Hickam Air Force Base (AFB) in Honolulu. Following a brief welcome ceremony hosted by Hawaii Governor John A. Burns, their boarded a transport jet bound for Texas. Upon their arrival back in Houston on Dec. 29, more than 2,000 people greeted them at Ellington AFB despite the pre-dawn chill. Meanwhile, after the Yorktown arrived in Honolulu on Dec. 29, workers removed the CM to begin safing its systems. They flew it to Long Beach, California, and from there trucked it to its manufacturer, the North American Rockwell Space Division in Downey, California, where it arrived on Jan. 1, 1969, for a thorough postflight inspection. Since 1971, the Apollo 8 CM has been on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. TIME magazine named Borman, Lovell, and Anders Men of the Year for 1968. Apollo 8 brought the Moon landing one giant step closer.

Apollo 9 astronauts James A. McDivitt, left, David R. Scott, and Russell L. Schweickart pose in front of the Apollo 8 Saturn V during its terminal countdown demonstration test at Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Apollo 9 astronauts James A. McDivitt, left, David R. Scott, and Russell L. Schweickart pose in front of the Apollo 8 Saturn V during its terminal countdown demonstration test at Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Due to delays in its development, the LM remained one component of the lunar mission architecture that Apollo 8 did not test. The task of conducting the first crewed evaluation of the LM fell to Apollo 9, scheduled for late February 1969. As the prime crew for the 10-day Earth orbital mission, NASA assigned James A. McDivitt, David R. Scott, and Russell L. Schweickart, with Charles “Pete” Conrad, Richard F. Gordon, and Alan L. Bean as their backups. McDivitt and Schweickart planned to enter the LM while Scott remained in the CM. Before the two spacecraft undocked, Schweickart planned to conduct a roughly 2-hour spacewalk, using prepositioned handholds to translate from the LM to the CM, where Scott awaited him in the open hatch. The dual spacewalk served to demonstrate a backup transfer capability should a problem arise with the internal transfer tunnel. The spacewalk would also serve as the only in-space test of the new Apollo A7L spacesuit before the Moon landing. Following the spacewalk, McDivitt and Schweickart planned to undock the LM and conduct an independent flight up to a distance of 100 miles, and test both the descent and ascent stage engines, before rejoining Scott in the CM.

Apollo 9 prime and backup astronauts test the new Apollo A7L spacesuit in the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory at the Manned Spacecraft Center, now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. David R. Scott Apollo 9 prime and backup astronauts test the new Apollo A7L spacesuit in the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory at the Manned Spacecraft Center, now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Russell L. Schweickart Apollo 9 prime and backup astronauts test the new Apollo A7L spacesuit in the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory at the Manned Spacecraft Center, now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Alan L. Bean
Apollo 9 prime and backup astronauts test the new Apollo A7L spacesuit in the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory at the Manned Spacecraft Center, now NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. David R. Scott, left, Russell L. Schweickart, and Alan L. Bean.

International Latex Corporation (ILC) of Dover, Delaware, developed two versions of the Apollo A7L space suit for NASA – one for use exclusively inside the spacecraft, such as during launch, and the other that astronauts can also use during spacewalks, using the Portable Life Support System (PLSS) backpack. Both types of the suit could operate under vacuum conditions, but crew members wearing the inside version remained attached to the spacecraft via hoses that provided life support such as oxygen. The external version’s PLSS provided the required oxygen and communications during spacewalks outside the vehicle, for example on the lunar surface. For Apollo 9, McDivitt and Schweickart wore the external versions (even though McDivitt did not plan to do a spacewalk) while Scott wore the internal version. McDivitt, Scott, Schweickart, and Bean tested their A7L spacesuits with the PLSS under vacuum conditions in Chamber A of the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory at MSC.

The assembled Apollo 9 spacecraft arrives from the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building, and shares space in the transfer aisle with the recently arrived Apollo 10 first stage Workers hoist the Apollo 9 spacecraft in preparation for stacking onto the Saturn V rocket, with the Lunar Module’s landing gear visible Workers stack the Apollo 9 spacecraft onto its Saturn V rocket
In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Left: The assembled Apollo 9 spacecraft arrives from the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building, and shares space in the transfer aisle with the recently arrived Apollo 10 first stage. Middle: Workers hoist the Apollo 9 spacecraft in preparation for stacking onto the Saturn V rocket, with the Lunar Module’s landing gear visible. Right: Workers stack the Apollo 9 spacecraft onto its Saturn V rocket.

On Nov. 30, workers in KSC’s Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB) installed the Apollo 9 LM in its Spacecraft LM Adapter (SLA) and then stacked the CSM on top. They transferred the assembled spacecraft to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) three days later where engineers stacked it atop its Saturn V rocket in High Bay 3. Rollout to Launch Pad 39A occurred in early January 1969. 

Workers ready the Apollo 10 S-IC first stage for stacking onto the Mobile Launcher in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida Workers stack the Apollo 10 S-II second stage The S-IVB third stage for Apollo 10 arrives at KSC
Left: Workers ready the Apollo 10 S-IC first stage for stacking onto the Mobile Launcher in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Middle: Workers stack the Apollo 10 S-II second stage. Right: The S-IVB third stage for Apollo 10 arrives at KSC.

Preparations continued for Apollo 10, the mission planned for May 1969 to test all the spacecraft components in lunar orbit as a possible dress rehearsal for the Moon landing. The Apollo 10 prime crew consisted of Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, and Eugene A. Cernan, the first all-veteran three-person crew, with L. Gordon Cooper, Donn F. Eisele, and Edgar D. Mitchell assigned as their backups. Stafford and Cernan planned to undock their LM and fly it to within nine miles of the lunar surface before rejoining Young in the CM. At KSC, in the VAB’s High Bay 2, by Dec. 7 workers had stacked the first two stages of the Apollo 10 Saturn V. The third stage arrived at KSC on Dec. 10 and workers stacked it atop the rocket on Dec. 29.

Simulated docking test between the Apollo 10 Lunar Module (LM), top, and Command Module Simulated docking test between the Apollo 10 Lunar Module (LM), top, and Command Module Joining the LM’s ascent stage to the descent stage
Apollo 9 spacecraft testing in the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Left and middle: Simulated docking test between the Apollo 10 Lunar Module (LM), top, and Command Module. Right: Joining the LM’s ascent stage to the descent stage.

In the nearby MSOB, engineers performed a docking test of the Apollo 10 CSM and LM on Dec. 11. Following the test, workers mated the LM’s ascent and descent stages in a vacuum chamber in preparation for altitude tests in January 1969. In parallel, engineers conducted altitude tests with the CM, with prime and backup crews participating.

Chief test pilot Joseph S. “Joe” Algranti ejects from the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle-1 (LLTV-1) with seconds to spare The LLTV-1 explodes as it crashes to the ground Algranti floats safely to the ground under his parachute
Left: Chief test pilot Joseph S. “Joe” Algranti ejects from the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle-1 (LLTV-1) with seconds to spare. Middle: The LLTV-1 explodes as it crashes to the ground. Right: Algranti floats safely to the ground under his parachute.

Apollo commanders used the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) to simulate flying the LM, especially the final 200 feet of the descent. Following Armstrong’s May 6, 1968, crash in an earlier version of the training aircraft, NASA grounded the fleet until engineers could take corrective action. Flights with LLTV-1 resumed at Ellington on Oct. 3, 1968, with MSC chief test pilot Joseph S. “Joe” Algranti at the controls. During the next two months, Algranti and fellow MSC pilot H.E. “Bud” Ream completed 14 test flights with LLTV-1 to check out the vehicle. Ream also piloted LLTV-2’s first two flights beginning Dec. 5. During LLTV-1’s 15th flight on Dec. 8, the final certification flight before resuming astronaut training, Algranti took the vehicle to 680 feet altitude and began a lunar landing simulation run. The vehicle began to oscillate in all three axes, which Algranti tried to control. But unexpected wind gusts exceeded the craft’s aerodynamic control limits and it began a sudden descent. At 100 feet altitude, and with less than a second to spare, Algranti ejected and safely parachuted to the ground with only minor bruises, but LLTV-1 crashed and burned beyond repair.

At Houston’s Ellington Air Force Base, workers prepare the LLTV-3 for packing into the Super Guppy cargo plane Workers at Ellington load the LLTV-3 into the Super Guppy for shipping to NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, for wind tunnel tests
Left: At Houston’s Ellington Air Force Base, workers prepare the LLTV-3 for packing into the Super Guppy cargo plane. Right: Workers at Ellington load the LLTV-3 into the Super Guppy for shipping to NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, for wind tunnel tests.

Once again, NASA grounded the LLTVs and MSC Director Robert R. Gilruth set up an investigation board, chaired by NASA astronaut Walter M. Schirra. To better understand the vehicle’s aerodynamic characteristics, in late December NASA shipped LLTV-3 to the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, where engineers tested it in the wind tunnel. Findings from the board and from the Langley tests indicated that a gust of wind that overwhelmed the vehicle’s control limits caused the LLTV-1 crash, unrelated to Armstrong’s accident. Recommendations included increasing the level of thrust in the craft’s thrusters by 50 percent to provide an additional margin of safety. 

News from around the world in December 1968:

Dec. 6 – The Rolling Stones release their album “Beggars Banquet.”

Dec. 7 – The United States launches the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory-2 space telescope.

Dec. 11 – President-elect Richard M. Nixon introduces his 12 Cabinet nominees.

Dec. 11 – The film “Oliver!” opens in the U.S.

Dec. 16 – Musical-fantasy film “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” premieres in London and two days later in New York City.

Dec. 16 – Led Zeppelin’s concert debut in Denver, as opener for Vanilla Fudge.

Dec. 30 – Frank Sinatra first records “My Way.”

Share

Details

Last Updated
Dec 19, 2023

Related Terms

Explore More

skylab-4-launch-34-pogue-and-carr-at-ere
8 min read

50 Years Ago: Skylab 4 Astronauts Push Past the One-Month Mark

Article 2 days ago
first-powered-flight-1-wright-brothers-f
7 min read

120 Years Ago: The First Powered Flight at Kitty Hawk

Article 6 days ago
EC00-0050-001~large.jpg?w=1920&h=1530&fi
3 min read

Contributions of the DC-8 to Earth System Science at NASA: A Workshop

Article 1 week ago

View the full article

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Similar Topics

    • NASA
      Aura at 20 Years
      By NASA
      Earth Observer Earth Home Earth Observer Home Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News Calendars In Memoriam More Archives 14 min read
      Aura at 20 Years
      Introduction
      In the 1990s and early 2000s, an international team of engineers and scientists designed an integrated observatory for atmospheric composition – a bold endeavor to provide unprecedented detail that was essential to understanding how Earth’s ozone (O3) layer and air quality respond to changes in atmospheric composition caused by human activities and natural phenomena. This work addressed a key NASA Earth science objective. Originally referred to as Earth Observing System (EOS)–CHEM (later renamed Aura,) the mission would become the third EOS Flagship mission, joining EOS-AM 1 (Terra) launched in 1999 and EOS-PM 1 (Aqua), launched in 2002. The Aura spacecraft – see Figure 1 – is similar in design to Terra and identical to Aqua. Aura and its four instruments were launched on July 15, 2004 from Vandenberg Air Force Base (now Space Force Base) in California – see Photo.
      Figure 1. An artist’s representation of the Aura satellite in orbit around the Earth. Image credit: NASA Photo.  A photo of the nighttime launch of Aura on July 15, 2004. Image credit: NASA In 2014 The Earth Observer published an article called  “Aura Celebrates Ten Years in Orbit,” [Nov–Dec 2014, 26:6, pp. 4–18] which details the history of Aura and the first decade of science resulting from its data. Therefore, the current article will focus on the science and applications enabled by Aura data in the last decade. It also examines Aura’s future and the legacies of the spacecraft’s instruments. Readers interested in more information on Aura and the scientific research and applications enabled by its data can visit the Aura website.
      Recent Science Achievements from Aura’s Instrument (in alphabetical order)
      High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder
      The capabilities of the High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) were compromised at launch and operations ceased in March 2008 due to an image chopper stall. Nevertheless, the HIRDLS team was able to produce a three-year dataset notable for high vertical resolution profiles of greater than 1 km (0.62 mi) for temperature and O3 in the upper troposphere to the mesosphere. Though limited, the HIRDLS dataset demonstrated the incredible potential of the instrument for atmospheric research. So much so, that scientists are now in the study phase for a new instrument, part of the proposed Stratosphere Troposphere Response using Infrared Vertically-Resolved Light Explorer (STRIVE) mission, which would have similar capabilities as HIRDLS with advancements in spectral and spatial imaging. (STRIVE is one of four missions currently undergoing one-year concept studies, as part of NASA’s Earth System Explorer Program, which was established in the 2017 Earth Science Decadal Survey. Two winning proposals will be chosen in 2025 for full development and launch in 2030 or 2032.)
      Microwave Limb Sounder
      The Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) was developed to study: 1) the evolution and recovery of the stratospheric O3 layer; 2) the role of the stratosphere, notably stratospheric humidity, in climate feedback processes; and 3) the behavior of air pollutants in the upper troposphere. MLS measures vertical profiles from the upper troposphere at ~10 km altitude (6.2 mi) to the mesosphere at ~90 km (56 mi) of 16 trace gases, temperature, geopotential height, and cloud ice. Its unique measurement suite has made it the “go-to” instrument for most data-driven studies of middle atmosphere composition over the last two decades.
      Data collection during the past decade has highlighted the ability of the stratosphere to exhibit surprising and/or envelope-redefining behavior, (Envelope-redefining is a term that is used to refer to an event that greatly exceeded previous observed ranges of this event.) MLS observations have been crucial for the discovery and diagnoses of these extreme events. For example, in 2019, a stratospheric sudden warming over the southern polar cap in September – rare in the Antarctic – curtailed chemical processing, leading to an anomalously weak O3 hole. As another example, prolonged hot and dry conditions in Australia during the subsequent 2019–2020 southern summer promoted the catastrophic “Australian New Year” (ANY) fires. MLS observations showed that fire-driven pyrocumulonimbus convection lofted plumes of polluted air into the stratosphere to a degree never seen during the Aura mission.
      Apart from those individual plumes, smoke pervaded the southern lower stratosphere, leading to unprecedented perturbations in southern midlatitude lower stratospheric composition, with chlorine (Cl) shifting from its main reservoir species, hydrochloric acid (HCl), into the O3-destroying form, hypochlorite (ClO). Peak anomalies in chlorine species occurred in mid-2020 – months after the fires. State-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry models in which wildfire smoke has properties similar to those of sulfate (SO4) aerosols were unable to reproduce the observed chemical redistribution. New model simulations assuming that HCl dissolves more readily in smoke than in SO4 particles under typical midlatitude stratospheric conditions better match the MLS observations.
      As extraordinary as these events were, their impacts on the stratosphere were spectacularly eclipsed by the impact of the January 2022 eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai  (Hunga) volcano in the Pacific Ocean. The Hunga eruption lofted about 150 Tg of water vapor into the stratosphere – with initial injections reaching into the mesosphere. The eruption almost instantaneously increased total stratospheric water vapor by about 10%. MLS was the only sensor able to track the plume in the first weeks following the eruption. The Hunga humidity enhancement resulted in an envelope-redefining, low-temperature anomaly in the stratosphere, in turn inducing changes in stratospheric circulation. Repartitioning of southern midlatitude Cl also occurred, though to a lesser degree than following the ANY fires and in a manner broadly consistent with known chemical mechanisms. The Hunga water vapor enhancement has not substantially declined in the 2.5 years since the eruption, and studies indicate that it will likely endure for several more years.
      Impacts of the Hunga humidity on polar O3 loss have also been investigated. The timing and location of the eruption were such that the plume reached high southern latitudes only after the 2022 Antarctic winter vortex had developed. Since the strong winds at the vortex edge present a transport barrier, polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) formation and O3 hole evolution were largely unaffected. When the vortex broke down at the end of the 2022 Antarctic winter, moist air flooded the southern polar region, increasing humidity in the region. Cold, moist conditions led to unusually early and vertically extensive PSC formation and Cl activation, but chemical processing ran to completion by mid-July, as typically occurs in southern winter. The cumulative chemical O3 losses ended up being unremarkable throughout the lower stratosphere. The Hunga plume was also largely excluded from the 2022–2023 Arctic vortex. The 2023–2024 Arctic O3 loss season was characterized by conditions that were dynamically disturbed and not persistently cold, and springtime O3 was near or above average. The extraordinary stratospheric hydration from Hunga has so far had minimal impact on chemical processing and O3 loss in the polar vortices in either hemisphere – see Figure 2.
      Figure 2. The evolution of MLS water vapor anomalies (deviations from the baseline 2005–2021 climatology) from January 2019 through December 2023 as a function of equivalent latitude at 700 K potential temperature in the middle stratosphere at ~27 km altitude (17 mi). Black contours mark the approximate edge of the polar vortex. The green triangle marks the time of the main Hunga eruption at latitude 20.54°S on January 15, 2022. Figure credit: Updated and adapted from a 2023 paper in Geophysical Research Letters With the end of Aura and MLS, the future for stratospheric limb sounding observations is unclear. While stratospheric O3 and aerosol will continue to be measured on a daily, near-global basis by the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) Limb Profiler (OMPS-LP) instruments on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) and Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-2, -3, and -4) satellites, there are no confirmed plans for daily, near-global observations of either long-lived trace gases or halogenated species – both of which are needed to diagnose observed changes in O3. The only other sensor making such measurements, the Canadian Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE–FTS), is itself older than MLS and, as a solar occultation instrument, measures only 30 profiles-per-day, taking around a month to cover all latitudes. Similarly, no other sensor is set to provide daily, near-global measurements of stratospheric water vapor until the launch of the Canadian High-altitude Aerosols, Water vapour and Clouds (HAWC) mission in the early 2030s. Some potential new mission concepts are under consideration by both NASA and ESA, but they are subject to competition. Even if both instruments are ultimately selected, gaps in the records of many species measured by MLS are inevitable. The MLS PI is leading an effort to develop new technologies that would allow an instrument that could restart MLS measurements to be built in a far smaller mass/power footprint (e.g., 60 kg, 90 W vs. 500 kg, 500 W for Aura MLS), and technologies exist for yet-smaller MLS-like instruments that could assume the legacy of the highly impactful MLS record at low cost in future decades.
      Ozone Monitoring Instrument
      The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) continues the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) record for total O3 and other atmospheric parameters related to O3 chemistry and climate. It employs hyperspectral imaging in a push-broom mode to observe solar backscatter radiation in the visible and ultraviolet.
      OMI is a Dutch–Finnish contribution to the Aura mission, and its remarkable stability and revolutionary two-dimensional (2D) detector (spatial in one dimension and spectral in the other) has produced a two-decade record of science- and trend-quality datasets of atmospheric column observations. OMI continues the long-term record of total column O3 measurements begun in 1979, and its observations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), formaldehyde (CH2O), and absorbing aerosols provided exceptional spatial resolution for study of anthropogenic and natural trends and variations of these pollutants around the world. Its radiometric and spectral stability has made it a valuable contributor for solar spectral irradiance measurements to complement dedicated solar instruments on other satellites. The many achievements made possible with OMI are documented in a review article.
      OMI’s multidecade data records have revolutionized the ability to monitor air quality changes around the world, even at the sub-urban level. In particular, OMI NO2 data have been transformative. Recently, these data were used to track changes in air pollution associated with efforts to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2. OMI’s long, stable data record allowed for changes in pollution levels in 2020 – at the height of global lockdowns – to be put into historical perspective, especially within the envelope of typical year-to-year variations associated with meteorological variability. Many research studies assessed the impact of the pandemic lockdowns on air pollution, supporting novel uses of OMI data for socioeconomic-related research. For example, OMI NO2 data were shown to serve as an environmental indicator to evaluate the effectiveness of lockdown measures and as a significant predictor for the deceleration of COVID-19 spread. OMI NO2 data were also used as a proxy for the economic impact of the pandemic as NO2 is emitted during fossil fuel combustion, which is another proxy for economic activity since most global economies are driven by fossil fuels – see Animation.
      To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that
      supports HTML5 video
      Animation. OMI data show changes in average levels of NO2 from March 20 to May 20 for each year from 2015 to 2023 over the northeast U.S. Levels in 2020 were ~30%  lower relative to previous years because of efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19. OMI data indicate similar reductions in NO2 in cities across the globe in early 2020 and a gradual recovery in pollutant emissions in late 2020 into 2023. Additional images for other world cities and regions are available through the NASA Science Visualization Studio website and the Air Quality Observations from Space website. Animation credit: NASA Science Visualization Studio OMI’s datasets are being continued by successor 2D detector array instruments, such as the previously mentioned Copernicus Sentinel-5P TROPOMI mission, the Republic of Korea’s Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS), and NASA’s Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO). All of these missions have enhanced spatial resolution relative to OMI, but have benefited from the innovative retrieval algorithms pioneered by OMI’s retrieval teams.
      Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer
      The Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) provided vertically-resolved distributions of a number of tropospheric constituents, e.g., O3, methane (CH4), and various volatile organic compounds. The instrument was decommissioned in 2018 due to signs of aging associated with a failing Interferometer Control System motor encoder bearing. Nevertheless, TES measurements led to a number of key results regarding changes in atmospheric composition that were published over the past 10 years.
      Measurements from TES, OMI, and MLS showed that transport of O3 and its precursors from East Asia offset about 43% of the decline expected in O3 over the western U.S., based on emission reductions observed there over the period 2005–2010. TES megacity measurements revealed that the frequency of high-O3 days is particularly pronounced in South Asian megacities, which typically lack ground-based pollution monitoring networks. TES water vapor and semi-heavy water measurements indicated that water transpired from Amazonian vegetation becomes a significant moisture source for the atmosphere, during the transition from dry to wet season. The increasing water vapor provides the fuel needed to start the next rainy season. Measurements of CH4 from TES and carbon monoxide (CO) from Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) on Terra showed that CH4 emissions from fires declined at twice the rate expected from changes in burned area from 2004–2014. This finding helped to balance the CH4 budget for this period, because it offset some of the large increases in fossil fuel and wetland emissions. Through direct measurement of the O3 greenhouse gas effect, TES instantaneous radiative kernels revealed the impact of hydrological controls on the O3 radiative forcing and were used to show substantial radiative bias in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chemistry–climate models. The TES team pioneered the retrieval of a number of species, such as peroxyacetyl nitrate, carbonyl sulfide, and ethylene.
      The spirit of TES lives on through the NASA TRopospheric Ozone and its Precursors from Earth System Sounding (TROPESS) project, which generates data products of O3 and other atmospheric constituents by processing data from multiple satellites through a common retrieval algorithm and ground data system. TROPESS builds upon the success of TES and is considered a bridge to allow the development of a continuous record of O3 and other trace gas species as a follow-on to TES.
      Future of Aura
      In April 2023, Aura’s mission operations team performed the last series of maneuvers to maintain its position in the A-Train constellation of satellites. Since then, Aura has begun drifting. As of July 2024, Aura has descended ~5 km (3 mi) in altitude from ~700 km (435 mi) and its equator crossing time has increased by ~9 min from ~1:44 PM local time. This amount of drift is small, and the Aura MLS and OMI retrieval teams are ensuring the science- and trend-quality of the datasets.
      As Aura continues to drift, the amount of sunlight reaching its solar panels will slowly decrease and will no longer be able to generate sufficient power to operate the spacecraft and instruments by mid-2026. At this point, the amount of local time drift will still be relatively small – less than one hour – so the retrieval teams will be able to ensure quality for most data products until this time.
      In the remaining years, Aura’s aging but remarkably stable instruments will continue to add to the unprecedented two decades of science- and trend-quality data of numerous key tropospheric and stratospheric constituents. Aura data will be key for monitoring the evolution of the Hunga volcanic plume and understanding its continued impact on the chemistry and dynamics of the stratosphere. Observations from MLS and OMI will also be used to evaluate data from new and upcoming instruments (e.g., ESA’s Atmospheric Limb Tracker for Investigation of Upcoming Stratosphere (Altius); NASA’s TEMPO, Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE), and Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-2 (TSIS-2) missions, or at least used to help minimize the gaps between data collections.
      Aura’s Scientific Legacy
      The Aura mission has been nothing short of transformative for atmospheric research and applied sciences. The multidecade, stable datasets have furthered process-based understanding of the chemistry and dynamics of atmospheric trace gases, especially those critical for understanding the causes of trends and variations in Earth’s protective ozone layer.  
      The two decades that Aura has flown have been marked by profound atmospheric changes and numerous serendipitous events, both natural and man-made. The data from Aura’s instruments have given scientists and applied scientists an unparalleled view – including at the sub-urban scale – of air pollution around the world, clearly showing the influence of rapid industrialization, environmental regulations designed to improve air quality, seasonal agricultural burning, catastrophic wildfires, and even a global pandemic, on the air we breathe. The Aura observational record spans the period that includes the decline of O3-destroying substances, and Aura data illustrate the beginnings of the recovery of the Antarctic O3 hole, a result of unparalleled international cooperation to reduce these substances.
      Aura’s datasets have given a generation of scientists the most comprehensive global view to date of critical gases in Earth’s atmosphere and the chemical and dynamic processes that shape their concentrations. Many, but not all, of these datasets are being/will be continued by successor instruments that have benefited from the novel technologies incorporated into the design of Aura’s instruments as well as the innovative retrieval algorithms pioneered by Aura’s retrieval teams.
      Acknowledgements
      The author wishes to acknowledge the decades of hard work of the many hundreds of people who have contributed to the success of the international Aura mission. There are too many to acknowledge here and I’m sure that many names from the early days are lost to time. I would like to offer special thanks to those scientists who, back in the 1980s, first dreamed of the mission that would become Aura.
      Bryan Duncan
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
      bryan.n.duncan@nasa.gov
      Share








      Details
      Last Updated Sep 16, 2024 Related Terms
      Earth Science View the full article
    • NASA
      55 Years Ago: Space Task Group Proposes Post-Apollo Plan to President Nixon
      By NASA
      The Apollo 11 mission in July 1969 completed the goal set by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth before the end of the decade. At the time, NASA planned nine more Apollo Moon landing missions of increasing complexity and an Earth orbiting experimental space station. No firm human space flight plans existed once these missions ended in the mid-1970s. After taking office in 1969, President Richard M. Nixon chartered a Space Task Group (STG) to formulate plans for the nation’s space program for the coming decades. The STG’s proposals proved overly ambitious and costly to the fiscally conservative President who chose to take no action on them.

      Left: President John F. Kennedy addresses a Joint Session of Congress in May 1961. Middle: President Kennedy addresses a crowd at Rice University in Houston in September 1962. Right: President Lyndon B. Johnson addresses a crowd during a March 1968 visit to the Manned Spacecraft Center, now NASA’s Johnson Space Center, in Houston.
      On May 25, 1961, before a Joint Session of Congress, President John F. Kennedy committed the United States to the goal, before the decade was out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. President Kennedy reaffirmed the commitment during an address at Rice University in Houston in September 1962. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, who played a leading role in establishing NASA in 1958, under Kennedy served as the Chair of the National Aeronautics and Space Council. Johnson worked with his colleagues in Congress to ensure adequate funding for the next several years to provide NASA with the needed resources to meet that goal.
      Following Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963, now President Johnson continued his strong support to ensure that his predecessor’s goal of a Moon landing could be achieved by the stipulated deadline. But with increasing competition for scarce federal resources from the conflict in southeast Asia and from domestic programs, Johnson showed less interest in any space endeavors to follow the Apollo Moon landings. NASA’s annual budget peaked in 1966 and began a steady decline three years before the agency met Kennedy’s goal. From a budgetary standpoint, the prospects of a vibrant, post-Apollo space program didn’t look all that rosy, the triumphs of the Apollo missions of 1968 and 1969 notwithstanding.

      Left: On March 5, 1969, President Richard M. Nixon, left, introduces Thomas O. Paine as the NASA Administrator nominee, as Vice President Spiro T. Agnew looks on. Middle: Proposed lunar landing sites through Apollo 20, per August 1969 NASA planning. Right: An illustration of the Apollo Applications Program experimental space station that later evolved into Skylab.
      Less than a month after assuming the Presidency in January 1969, Richard M. Nixon appointed a Space Task Group (STG), led by Vice President Spiro T. Agnew as the Chair of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, to report back to him on options for the American space program in the post-Apollo years. Members of the STG included NASA Acting Administrator Thomas O. Paine (confirmed by the Senate as administrator on March 20), the Secretary of Defense, and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology. At the time, the only approved human space flight programs included lunar landing missions through Apollo 20 and three long-duration missions to an experimental space station based on Apollo technology that evolved into Skylab.
      Beyond a general vague consensus that the United States human space flight program should continue, no approved projects existed once these missions ended by about 1975. With NASA’s intense focus on achieving the Moon landing within President Kennedy’s time frame, long-term planning for what might follow the Apollo Program garnered little attention. During a Jan. 27, 1969, meeting at NASA chaired by Acting Administrator Paine, a general consensus emerged that the next step after the Moon landing should involve the development of a 12-person earth-orbiting space station by 1975, followed by an even larger outpost capable of housing up to 100 people “with a multiplicity of capabilities.” In June, with the goal of the Moon landing almost at hand, NASA’s internal planning added the development of a space shuttle by 1977 to support the space station, the development of a lunar base by 1976, and the highly ambitious idea that the U.S. should prepare for a human mission to Mars as early as the 1980s. NASA presented these proposals to the STG for consideration in early July in a report titled “America’s Next Decades in Space.”

      Left: President Richard M. Nixon, right, greets the Apollo 11 astronauts aboard the U.S.S. Hornet after their return from the Moon. Middle: The cover page of the Space Task Group (STG) Report to President Nixon. Right: Meeting in the White House to present the STG Report to President Nixon. Image credit: courtesy Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.
      Still bathing in the afterglow of the successful Moon landing, the STG presented its 29-page report “The Post-Apollo Space Program:  Directions for the Future” to President Nixon on Sep. 15, 1969, during a meeting at the White House. In its Conclusions and Recommendations section, the report noted that the United States should pursue a balanced robotic and human space program but emphasized the importance of the latter, with a long-term goal of a human mission to Mars before the end of the 20th century. The report proposed that NASA develop new systems and technologies that emphasized commonality, reusability, and economy in its future programs. To accomplish these overall objectives, the report presented three options:

      Option I – this option required more than a doubling of NASA’s budget by 1980 to enable a human Mars mission in the 1980s, establishment of a lunar orbiting space station, a 50-person Earth orbiting space station, and a lunar base. The option required a decision by 1971 on development of an Earth-to-orbit transportation system to support the space station. The option maintained a strong robotic scientific and exploration program.

      Option II – this option maintained NASA’s budget at then current levels for a few years, then anticipated a gradual increase to support the parallel development of both an earth orbiting space station and an Earth-to-orbit transportation system, but deferred a Mars mission to about 1986. The option maintained a strong robotic scientific and exploration program, but smaller than in Option I.

      Option III – essentially the same as Option II but deferred indefinitely the human Mars mission.
      In separate letters, both Agnew and Paine recommended to President Nixon to choose Option II. 

      Left: Illustration of a possible space shuttle, circa 1969. Middle: Illustration of a possible 12-person space station, circa 1969. Right: An August 1969 proposed mission scenario for a human mission to Mars.
      The White House released the report to the public at a press conference on Sep. 17 with Vice President Agnew and Administrator Paine in attendance. Although he publicly supported a strong human spaceflight program, enjoyed the positive press he received when photographed with Apollo astronauts, and initially sounded positive about the STG options, President Nixon ultimately chose not to act on the report’s recommendations.  Nixon considered these plans too grandiose and far too expensive and relegated NASA to one America’s domestic programs without the special status it enjoyed during the 1960s. Even some of the already planned remaining Moon landing missions fell victim to the budgetary axe.
      On Jan. 4, 1970, NASA had to cancel Apollo 20 since the Skylab program needed its Saturn V rocket to launch the orbital workshop. In 1968, then NASA Administrator James E. Webb had turned off the Saturn V assembly line and none remained beyond the original 15 built under contract. In September 1970, reductions in NASA’s budget forced the cancellation of two more Apollo missions, and  in 1971 President Nixon considered cancelling two more. He reversed himself and they flew as Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 in 1972, the final Apollo Moon landing missions.

      Left: NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher, left, and President Richard M. Nixon announce the approval to proceed with space shuttle development in 1972. Middle: First launch of the space shuttle in 1981. Right: In 1984, President Ronald W. Reagan directs NASA to build a space station.
      More than two years after the STG submitted its report, in January 1972 President Nixon directed NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher to develop the Space Transportation System, the formal name for the space shuttle, the only element of the recommendations to survive the budgetary challenges.  NASA anticipated the first orbital flight of the program in 1979, with the actual first flight occurring two years later. Twelve years elapsed after Nixon’s shuttle decision when President Ronald W. Reagan approved the development of a space station, the second major component of the STG recommendation.  14 years later, the first element of that program reached orbit. In those intervening years, NASA had redesigned the original American space station, leading to the development of a multinational orbiting laboratory called the International Space Station. Humans have inhabited the space station continuously for the past quarter century, conducting world class and cutting edge scientific and engineering research. Work on the space station helps enable future programs, returning humans to the Moon and later sending them on to Mars and other destinations.

      The International Space Station as it appeared in 2021.
      Explore More
      7 min read 15 Years Ago: Japan launches HTV-1, its First Resupply Mission to the Space Station
      Article 6 days ago 9 min read 30 Years Ago: STS-64 Astronauts Test a Spacewalk Rescue Aid
      Article 6 days ago 5 min read NASA Tunnel Generates Decades of Icy Aircraft Safety Data
      Article 2 weeks ago View the full article
    • NASA
      Sols 4304-4006: 12 Years, 42 Drill Holes, and Now… 1 Million ChemCam Shots!
      By NASA
      Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 5 min read
      Sols 4304-4006: 12 Years, 42 Drill Holes, and Now… 1 Million ChemCam Shots!
      In celebration of ChemCam’s milestone, here is a stunning image from its remote micro imager, showing details in the landscape far away. This image was taken by Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4302 — Martian day 4,302 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on Sept. 12, 2024, at 09:20:51 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 13, 2024
      Today, I need to talk about ChemCam, our laser and imaging instrument on the top of Curiosity’s mast. It one of the instruments in the “head” that gives Curiosity that cute look as if it were looking around tilting its head down to the rocks at the rover’s wheels. On Monday, 19th August the ChemCam team at CNES in France planned the 1 millionth shot and Curiosity executed it on the target Royce Lake on sol 4281 on Mars. Even as an Earth scientist used to really big numbers, this is a huge number that took me a while to fully comprehend. 1 000 000 shots! Congratulations, ChemCam, our champion for getting chemistry from a distance – and high-resolution images, too. If you are now curious how Curiosity’s ChemCam instrument works, here is the NASA fact sheet. And, of course, the team is celebrating, which is expressed by those two press releases, one from CNES in France and one from Los Alamos National Laboratory, the two institutions who collaborated to develop and build ChemCam and are now running the instrument for over 12 years! And the PI, Dr Nina Lanza from Los Alamos informs me that the first milestone – 10000 shots was reached as early as Sol 42, which was the sol the DAN instrument used its active mode for the first time. But before I am getting melancholic, let’s talk about today’s plan!
      The drive ended fairly high up in the terrain, and that means we see a lot of the interesting features in the channel and generally around us. So, we are on a spot a human hiker would probably put the backpack down, take the water bottle out and sit down with a snack to enjoy the view from a nice high point in the landscape. Well, no such pleasures for Curiosity – and I am pretty sure sugar, which we humans love so much, wouldn’t be appreciated by rover gears anyway. So, let’s just take in the views! And that keeps Mastcam busy taking full advantage of our current vantage point. We have a terrain with lots of variety in front of us, blocks, boulders, flatter areas and the walls are layered, beautiful geology. Overall there are 11 Mastcam observations in the plan adding up to just about 100 individual frames, not counting those taken in the context of atmospheric observations, which are of course also in the plan. The biggest mosaics are on the targets “Western Deposit,” “Balloon Dome,” and “Coral Meadow.” Some smaller documentation images are on the targets “Wales Lake,” “Gnat Meadow,” and “Pig Chute.”
      ChemCam didn’t have long to dwell on its milestone, as it’s busy again today. Of course, it will join Mastcam in taking advantage of our vantage point, taking three remote micro imager images on the landscape around us. LIBS chemistry investigations are targeting “Wales Lake,” “Gnat Meadow,” and “Pig Chute.” APXS is investigating two targets, “College Rock” and “Wales Lake,” which will also come with MAHLI documentation. With all those investigations together, we’ll be able to document the chemistry of many targets around us. There is such a rich variety of dark and light toned rocks, and with so much variety everywhere, it’s hard to choose and the team is excited about the three targeted sols … and planning over 4 hours of science over the weekend!
      The next drive is planned to go to an area where there is a step in the landscape. Geologists love those steps as they give insights into the layers below the immediate surface. If you have read the word ‘outcrop’ here, then that’s what that means: access to below the surface. But there are also other interesting features in the area, hence we will certainly have an interesting workspace to look at! But getting there will not be easy as the terrain is very complex, so we cannot do it in just one drive. I think there is a rule of thumb here: the more excited the geo-team gets, the more skills our drivers need. Geologists just love rocks, but of course, no one likes driving offroad in a really rocky terrain – no roads on Mars. And right now, our excellent engineers have an extra complication to think about: they need to take extra care where and how to park so Curiosity can actually communicate with Earth. Why? Well, we are in a canyon, and those of you liking to hike, know what canyons mean for cell phone signals… yes, there isn’t much coverage, and that’s the same for Curiosity’s antenna. This new NASA video has more information and insights into the planning room, too! So, we’ll drive halfway to where we want to be but I am sure there will be interesting targets in the new workspace, the area is just so, so complex, fascinating and rich!
      And that’s after Mars for you, after 12 years, 42 drill holes, and now 1 Million ChemCam shots. Go Curiosity go!!!
      Written by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University
      Share








      Details
      Last Updated Sep 13, 2024 Related Terms
      Blogs Explore More
      3 min read Sols 4302-4303: West Side of Upper Gediz Vallis, From Tungsten Hills to the Next Rocky Waypoint


      Article


      4 hours ago
      2 min read Margin’ up the Crater Rim!


      Article


      3 days ago
      3 min read Sols 4300-4301: Rippled Pages


      Article


      3 days ago
      Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Mars


      Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…


      All Mars Resources


      Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…


      Rover Basics


      Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…


      Mars Exploration: Science Goals


      The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…

      View the full article
    • NASA
      Waxing Gibbous Moon over Minnesota
      By NASA
      NASA, ESA/Matthias Maurer An astronaut aboard the International Space Station snapped this picture of the Moon as the station orbited 265 miles above the U.S. state of Minnesota on Dec. 17, 2021.
      Astronauts aboard the orbital lab take images using handheld digital cameras, usually through windows in the station’s cupola, for Crew Earth Observations. Crew members have produced hundreds of thousands of images of the Moon and Earth’s land, oceans, and atmosphere.
      On Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, International Observe the Moon Night, everyone on Earth is invited to learn about lunar science, participate in celestial observations, and honor cultural and personal connection to the Moon. Find an event to join in the celebration.
      Image credit: NASA, ESA/Matthias Maurer
      View the full article
    • NASA
      Europa Clipper: NASA’s Mission to Jupiter's Ocean Moon (Mission Trailer)
      By NASA
      Europa Clipper: NASA’s Mission to Jupiter's Ocean Moon (Mission Trailer)

  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...