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By NASA
Hubble Space Telescope Home Hubble Examines a Spiral Star… Missions Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubble Astronauts News Hubble News Hubble News Archive Social Media Media Resources Multimedia Multimedia Images Videos Sonifications Podcasts E-books Lithographs Fact Sheets Glossary Posters Hubble on the NASA App More Online Activities 2 min read
Hubble Examines a Spiral Star Factory
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy NGC 5668. ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Kilpatrick This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo named NGC 5668. It is relatively near to us at 90 million light-years from Earth and quite accessible for astronomers to study with both space- and ground-based telescopes. At first glance, it doesn’t seem like a remarkable galaxy. It is around 90,000 light-years across, similar in size and mass to our own Milky Way galaxy, and its nearly face-on orientation shows open spiral arms made of cloudy, irregular patches.
One noticeable difference between the Milky Way galaxy and NGC 5668 is that this galaxy is forming new stars 60% more quickly. Astronomers have identified two main drivers of star formation in NGC 5668. Firstly, this high-quality Hubble view reveals a bar at the galaxy’s center, though it might look more like a slight oval shape than a real bar. The bar appears to have affected the galaxy’s star formation rate, as central bars do in many spiral galaxies. Secondly, astronomers tracked high-velocity clouds of hydrogen gas moving vertically between the disk of the galaxy and the spherical, faint halo which surrounds it. These movements may be the result of strong stellar winds from hot, massive stars, that would contribute gas to new star-forming regions.
The enhanced star formation rate in NGC 5668 comes with a corresponding abundance of supernova explosions. Astronomers have spotted three in the galaxy, in 1952, 1954, and 2004. In this image, Hubble examined the surroundings of the Type II SN 2004G, seeking to study the kinds of stars that end their lives as this kind of supernova.
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Last Updated Sep 12, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Missions Spiral Galaxies The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble
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By NASA
22 Min Read The Marshall Star for September 11, 2024
Starship Super Heavy Breezes Through Wind Tunnel Testing
NASA and its industry partners continue to make progress toward Artemis III and beyond, the first crewed lunar landing missions under the agency’s Artemis campaign. SpaceX, the commercial Human Landing System (HLS) provider for Artemis III and Artemis IV, recently tested a 1.2% scale model of the Super Heavy rocket, or booster, in the transonic Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel at NASA’s Ames Research Center. The Super Heavy rocket will launch the Starship human landing system to the Moon as part of Artemis.
A 1.2% scale model of the Super Heavy rocket that will launch the Starship human landing system to the Moon for future crewed Artemis missions was recently tested at NASA’s Ames Research Center’s transonic wind tunnel, providing valuable information on vehicle stability when re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.NASA During the tests, the wind tunnel forced an air stream at the Super Heavy scale model at high speeds, mimicking the air resistance and flow the booster experiences during flight. The wind tunnel subjected the Super Heavy model, affixed with pressure-measuring sensors, to wind speeds ranging from Mach .7, or about 537 miles per hour, to Mach 1.4, or about 1,074 miles per hour. Mach 1 is the speed that sound waves travel, or 761 miles per hour, at sea level.
Engineers then measured how Super Heavy model responded to the simulated flight conditions, observing its stability, aerodynamic performance, and more. Engineers used the data to update flight software for flight 3 of Super Heavy and Starship and to refine the exterior design of future versions of the booster. The testing lasted about two weeks and took place earlier in 2024.
Four grid fins on the Super Heavy rocket help stabilize and control the rocket as it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere after launching Starship to a lunar trajectory. Engineers tested the effects of various aerodynamic conditions on several grid fin configurations during wind tunnel testing.NASA After Super Heavy completes its ascent and separation from Starship HLS on its journey to the Moon, SpaceX plans to have the booster return to the launch site for catch and reuse. The Starship HLS will continue on a trajectory to the Moon.
To get to the Moon for the Artemis missions, astronauts will launch in NASA’s Orion spacecraft aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center. Once in lunar orbit, Orion will dock with the Starship HLS or with Gateway. Once the spacecraft are docked, the astronauts will move from Orion or Gateway to the Starship HLS, which will bring them to the surface of the Moon. After surface activities are complete, Starship will return the astronauts to Orion or Gateway waiting in lunar orbit. The astronauts will transfer to Orion for the return trip to Earth.
Wind tunnel testing at Ames helped engineers better understand the aerodynamic forces the SpaceX Super Heavy rocket, with its 33 Raptor engines, experiences during various stages of flight. As a result of the testing, engineers updated flight control algorithms and modified the exterior design of the rocket.NASA With Artemis, NASA will explore more of the Moon than ever before, learn how to live and work away from home, and prepare for future human exploration of the Red Planet. NASA’s SLS, exploration ground systems, and Orion spacecraft, along with the human landing system, next-generation spacesuits, Gateway lunar space station, and future rovers are NASA’s foundation for deep space exploration.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the HLS and SLS programs.
For more information about Artemis, visit here.
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NASA, Boeing Welcome Starliner Spacecraft to Earth, Close Mission
NASA and Boeing safely returned the uncrewed Starliner spacecraft following its landing at 9:01 p.m. CDT Sept. 6 at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, concluding a three-month flight test to the International Space Station.
“I am extremely proud of the work our collective team put into this entire flight test, and we are pleased to see Starliner’s safe return,” said Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. “Even though it was necessary to return the spacecraft uncrewed, NASA and Boeing learned an incredible amount about Starliner in the most extreme environment possible. NASA looks forward to our continued work with the Boeing team to proceed toward certification of Starliner for crew rotation missions to the space station.”
NASA and Boeing welcomed Starliner back to Earth following the uncrewed spacecraft’s successful landing at 9:01 p.m. CDT Sept. 6 at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. NASA The flight on June 5 was the first time astronauts launched aboard the Starliner. It was the third orbital flight of the spacecraft, and its second return from the orbiting laboratory. Starliner now will ship to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for inspection and processing.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program requires a spacecraft to fly a crewed test flight to prove the system is ready for regular flights to and from the orbiting laboratory. Following Starliner’s return, the agency will review all mission-related data.
“We are excited to have Starliner home safely. This was an important test flight for NASA in setting us up for future missions on the Starliner system,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “There was a lot of valuable learning that will enable our long-term success. I want to commend the entire team for their hard work and dedication over the past three months.”
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched June 5 aboard Starliner for the agency’s Boeing Crewed Flight Test from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. On June 6, as Starliner approached the space station, NASA and Boeing identified helium leaks and experienced issues with the spacecraft’s reaction control thrusters. Following weeks of in-space and ground testing, technical interchange meetings, and agency reviews, NASA made the decision to prioritize safety and return Starliner without its crew. Wilmore and Williams will continue their work aboard station as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew, returning in February 2025 with the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission.
The crew flight test is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station and low Earth orbit. This already is providing additional research time and has increased the opportunity for discovery aboard humanity’s microgravity testbed, including helping NASA prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
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Artemis IV: Gateway Gadget Fuels Deep Space Dining
NASA engineers are working hard to ensure no astronaut goes hungry on the Artemis IV mission.
A prototype of the Mini Potable Water Dispenser, currently in development at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, is displayed alongside various food pouches during a demonstration at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.NASA/David DeHoyos When international teams of astronauts live on Gateway, humanity’s first space station to orbit the Moon, they’ll need innovative gadgets like the Mini Potable Water Dispenser. Vaguely resembling a toy water soaker, it manually dispenses water for hygiene bags, to rehydrate food, or simply to drink. It is designed to be compact, lightweight, portable and manual, making it ideal for Gateway’s relatively small size and remote location compared to the International Space Station closer to Earth.
Matt Rowell, left, an engineer at Marshall, demonstrates the Mini Portable Water Dispenser to NASA food scientists during a testing session.NASA/David DeHoyos The team at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center leading the development of the dispenser understands that when it comes to deep space cuisine, the food astronauts eat is so much more than just fuel to keep them alive.
“Food doesn’t just provide body nourishment but also soul nourishment,” said Shaun Glasgow, project manager at Marshall. “So ultimately this device will help provide that little piece of soul nourishment. After a long day, the crew can float back and enjoy some pasta or scrambled eggs, a small sense of normalcy in a place far from home.”
Shaun Glasgow, right, project manager at Marshall, demonstrates the Mini Potable Water Dispenser.NASA/David DeHoyos As NASA continues to innovate and push the boundaries of deep space exploration, devices like the compact, lightweight dispenser demonstrate a blend of practicality and ingenuity that will help humanity chart its path to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
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NASA to host International Observe the Moon Night 2024
The public is invited to join fellow sky-watchers Sept. 14 for International Observe the Moon Night – a worldwide public event encouraging observation, appreciation, and understanding of the Moon and its connection to NASA exploration and discovery. This celebration of the Moon has been held annually since 2010, and this year NASA’s Planetary Missions Program Office will host an event at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville. The Planetary Missions Program Office is located at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
International Observe the Moon Night is Sept. 14.NASA The free event will be from 5:30 to 8 p.m. CDT at the Davidson Center at the rocket center. Attractions will include hands-on STEM activities, telescope viewing from the Von Braun Astronomical Society, music, face painting, a photo booth, a science trivia show, and much more.
Headline entertainment will be provided by the Science Wizard, David Hagerman. The Science Wizard has appeared on national television and will perform two different science-based stage shows at the event.
NASA’s Planetary Missions Program Office will host an event as part of International Observe the Moon Night at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville on Sept. 14. NASA It’s the perfect time to universally celebrate the Moon as excitement grows about NASA returning to our nearest celestial neighbor with the Artemis missions. Artemis will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, using innovative technologies to explore areas of the lunar surface that have never been discovered before.
Learn more and find other events here. Happy International Observe the Moon Night!
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New Hardware for Future Artemis Moon Missions Arrives at Kennedy
From across the Atlantic Ocean and through the Gulf of Mexico, two ships converged, delivering key spacecraft and rocket components of NASA’s Artemis campaign to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center.
On Sept. 3, ESA (European Space Agency) marked a milestone in the Artemis III mission as its European-built service module for NASA’s Orion spacecraft completed a transatlantic journey from Bremen, Germany, to Port Canaveral, Florida, where technicians moved it to nearby Kennedy. Transported aboard the Canopée cargo ship, the European Service Module – assembled by Airbus with components from 10 European countries and the U.S. – provides propulsion, thermal control, electrical power, and water and oxygen for its crews.
On the left, the Canopée transport carrier containing the European Service Module for NASA’s Artemis III mission arrives at Port Canaveral in Florida on Sept. 3 before completing the last leg of its journey to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center’s Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout via truck. On the right, NASA’s Pegasus barge, carrying several pieces of hardware for Artemis II, III, and IV arrives at Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39 turn basin wharf Sept. 5.NASA “Seeing multi-mission hardware arrive at the same time demonstrates the progress we are making on our Artemis missions,” said Amit Kshatriya, deputy associate administrator, Moon to Mars Program, at NASA Headquarters. “We are going to the Moon together with our industry and international partners and we are manufacturing, assembling, building, and integrating elements for Artemis flights.”
NASA’s Pegasus barge, the agency’s waterway workhorse for transporting large hardware by sea, ferried multi-mission hardware for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, the Artemis II launch vehicle stage adapter, the “boat-tail” of the core stage for Artemis III, the core stage engine section for Artemis IV, along with ground support equipment needed to move and assemble the large components. The barge pulled into NASA Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39B Turn Basin on Sept. 5.
The spacecraft factory inside Kennedy’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building is set to buzz with additional activity in the coming months. With the Artemis II Orion crew and service modules stacked together and undergoing testing, and engineers outfitting the Artemis III and IV crew modules, engineers soon will connect the newly arrived European Service Module to the crew module adapter, which houses electronic equipment for communications, power, and control, and includes an umbilical connector that bridges the electrical, data, and fluid systems between the crew and service modules.
The SLS rocket’s cone-shaped launch vehicle stage adapter connects the core stage to the upper stage and protects the rocket’s flight computers, avionics, and electrical devices in the upper stage system during launch and ascent. The adapter will be taken to Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building in preparation for Artemis II rocket stacking operations.
The boat-tail, which will be used during the assembly of the SLS core stage for Artemis III, is a fairing-like structure that protects the bottom end of the core stage and RS-25 engines. This hardware, picked up at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, will join the Artemis III core stage engine section housed in the spaceport’s Space Systems Processing Facility.
The Artemis IV SLS core stage engine section arrived from Michoud and also will transfer to the center’s processing facility ahead of final assembly.
Pegasus also transported the launch vehicle stage adapter for Artemis II, which was moved onto the barge at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on Aug. 21.
Under the Artemis campaign, NASA will land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the lunar surface, establishing long-term exploration for scientific discovery and preparing for human missions to Mars. The agency’s SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, and supporting ground systems, along with the human landing system, next-generation spacesuits and rovers, and Gateway, serve as NASA’s foundation for deep space exploration.
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Hubble, Chandra Find Supermassive Black Hole Duo
Like two Sumo wrestlers squaring off, the closest confirmed pair of supermassive black holes have been observed in tight proximity. These are located approximately 300 light-years apart and were detected using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. These black holes, buried deep within a pair of colliding galaxies, are fueled by infalling gas and dust, causing them to shine brightly as active galactic nuclei (AGN).
This is an artist’s depiction of a pair of active black holes at the heart of two merging galaxies. They are both surrounded by an accretion disk of hot gas. Some of the material is ejected along the spin axis of each black hole. Confined by powerful magnetic fields, the jets blaze across space at nearly the speed of light as devastating beams of energy.NASA This AGN pair is the closest one detected in the local universe using multiwavelength (visible and X-ray light) observations. While several dozen “dual” black holes have been found before, their separations are typically much greater than what was discovered in the gas-rich galaxy MCG-03-34-64. Astronomers using radio telescopes have observed one pair of binary black holes in even closer proximity than in MCG-03-34-64, but without confirmation in other wavelengths.
AGN binaries like this were likely more common in the early universe when galaxy mergers were more frequent. This discovery provides a unique close-up look at a nearby example, located about 800 million light-years away.
The discovery was serendipitous. Hubble’s high-resolution imaging revealed three optical diffraction spikes nested inside the host galaxy, indicating a large concentration of glowing oxygen gas within a very small area. “We were not expecting to see something like this,” said Anna Trindade Falcão of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, lead author of the paper published Sept. 9 in The Astrophysical Journal. “This view is not a common occurrence in the nearby universe, and told us there’s something else going on inside the galaxy.”
Diffraction spikes are imaging artifacts caused when light from a very small region in space bends around the mirror inside telescopes.
A Hubble Space Telescope visible-light image of the galaxy MCG-03-34-064. Hubble’s sharp view reveals three distinct bright spots embedded in a white ellipse at the galaxy’s center (expanded in an inset image at upper right). Two of these bright spots are the source of strong X-ray emission, a telltale sign that they are supermassive black holes. The black holes shine brightly because they are converting infalling matter into energy, and blaze across space as active galactic nuclei. Their separation is about 300 light-years. The third spot is a blob of bright gas. The blue streak pointing to the 5 o’clock position may be a jet fired from one of the black holes. The black hole pair is a result of a merger between two galaxies that will eventually collide. NASA, ESA, Anna Trindade Falcão (CfA); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) Falcão’s team then examined the same galaxy in X-rays light using the Chandra observatory to drill into what’s going on. “When we looked at MCG-03-34-64 in the X-ray band, we saw two separated, powerful sources of high-energy emission coincident with the bright optical points of light seen with Hubble. We put these pieces together and concluded that we were likely looking at two closely spaced supermassive black holes,” Falcão said.
To support their interpretation, the researchers used archival radio data from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array near Socorro, New Mexico. The energetic black hole duo also emits powerful radio waves. “When you see bright light in optical, X-rays, and radio wavelengths, a lot of things can be ruled out, leaving the conclusion these can only be explained as close black holes. When you put all the pieces together it gives you the picture of the AGN duo,” said Falcão.
The third source of bright light seen by Hubble is of unknown origin, and more data is needed to understand it. That might be gas that is shocked by energy from a jet of ultra high-speed plasma fired from one of the black holes, like a stream of water from a garden hose blasting into a pile of sand.
“We wouldn’t be able to see all of these intricacies without Hubble’s amazing resolution,” Falcão said.
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that the jet from a supermassive black hole at the core of M87, a huge galaxy 54 million light years away, seems to cause stars to erupt along its trajectory. The stars, called novae, are not caught inside the jet, but in a dangerous area near it. (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; lead producer: Paul Morris) The two supermassive black holes were once at the core of their respective host galaxies. A merger between the galaxies brought the black holes into close proximity. They will continue to spiral closer together until they eventually merge – in perhaps 100 million years – rattling the fabric of space and time as gravitational waves.
The National Science Foundation’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has detected gravitational waves from dozens of mergers between stellar-mass black holes. But the longer wavelengths resulting from a supermassive black hole merger are beyond LIGO’s capabilities. The next-generation gravitational wave detector, called the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, will consist of three detectors in space, separated by millions of miles, to capture these longer wavelength gravitational waves from deep space. ESA (European Space Agency) is leading this mission, partnering with NASA and other participating institutions, with a planned launch in the mid-2030s.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science from Cambridge, Massachusetts and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts. Northrop Grumman Space Technologies in Redondo Beach, California was the prime contractor for the spacecraft.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, Colorado, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
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Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse! Stargazers Won’t See Ghosts but Supergiant Star for Spooky Season
Stargazers seeking familiar points of interest in the night sky are likely to point out Betelgeuse, the red supergiant star sometimes identified as “the shoulder of Orion.” Even some 400-600 light-years distant, it’s typically one of the brightest stars visible in the night sky, and the brightest of all in the infrared spectrum.
Fewer space enthusiasts may know that Betelgeuse’s nickname may have been mistranslated from the Arabic phrase Ibṭ al-Jauzā’ in the 13th century. Depending on the nuances of pronunciation, Betelgeuse actually might be “the armpit of Orion.”
Betelgeuse is part of the Orion constellation. NASA What may come as a surprise is that the star that inspired the naming of a ghostly movie menace is doing some hurtling of its own. Betelgeuse is actually a runaway star in the process of bidding a big galactic adios to its birthplace – the hot star association that includes Orion’s Belt – and speeding away at approximately 18.6 miles per second.
That’s an awesome prospect, said Dr. Debra Wallace, deputy branch chief of Astrophysics at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Betelgeuse is a pulsating star with an uncertain distance of roughly 548 light-years and changing luminosity. We estimate its radius is approximately 724 times larger than our Sun. If it sat at the center of our solar system, it would swallow the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Its bow shock – the “wave” generated by its passage through the interstellar medium – is roughly four light-years across.
What cosmic force caused Betelgeuse to go on the interstellar lam from its point of origin?
“Typically, stars don’t become runaways without receiving a big kick,” Wallace said. “What’s most likely is that the competing gravity of other nearby stars ejected it outward or something else blew up in its proximity. There was a change in the dynamic interactions of the star grouping, and Betelgeuse was sent packing.”
Betelgeuse is only 10 million years old, but already in the twilight of its life. Given that our own small star is nearly 5 billion years, roughly halfway through its own estimated lifespan, why is Betelgeuse expected to be here today and gone tomorrow – give or take 100,000 years?
“Think about setting a fire in your back yard,” Wallace said. “The more fuel you throw on it, the faster and hotter it burns. It’s visually impressive – but gone in a flash.”
That’s because stars ignite a powerful chain of nuclear fusion reactions to counter their own intense gravity, which is always striving to collapse the star in on itself. For supergiants such as Betelgeuse, that delicate balance requires it to burn extremely hot and bright – but that also means it consumes its fuel supply far faster than our own modest young star.
Wallace said Betelgeuse likely started its life at least 20 times the mass of Earth’s Sun. It’s been visible to us for millennia. Ancient Chinese astronomers would have identified it as a yellow star which has since evolved to the right, per the Hertzsprung-Russell stellar evolution diagram and a 2022 study of the star’s color evolution. When the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy saw Betelgeuse some 300 years after the earliest Chinese observations, it had gone orange. Today, the star has taken on a fierce red color that makes it easy to find in the night sky.
This four-panel illustration reveals how the southern region of the red supergiant Betelgeuse suddenly may have become fainter for several months in late 2019 and early 2020. In the first two panels, as seen in ultraviolet light by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, a bright, hot blob of plasma is ejected from a convection cell on the star’s surface. In panel three, the expelled gas rapidly expands outward, cooling to form an enormous cloud of obscuring dust grains. The final panel reveals the huge dust cloud blocking the light from a quarter of Betelgeuse’s surface, as seen from Earth. “Betelgeuse likely will burn for another 100,000 years or so, depending on its mass loss rate, then could end up a blue supergiant – like Rigel, the star that serves as Orion’s right knee – before it explodes,” Wallace said. That supernova event, she noted, will release as much energy in a split-second as our Sun generates in its entire lifetime, though Betelgeuse is far too distant to have any effect on our solar system.
Which isn’t to say the red supergiant doesn’t have any surprises left. In October 2019, Betelgeuse abruptly darkened, as much as half of its luminosity draining away in an event astronomers dubbed “the Great Dimming.”
Researchers began speculating about an early supernova, but by early 2020, Betelgeuse had brightened once more. Studies using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope suggested a slightly less explosive cause. An upwelling of a large convection cell on Betelgeuse – perhaps in honor of its flatulent namesake – had expelled a titanic outburst of superhot plasma, yielding a dust cloud that dramatically blocked the star’s light for months.
“We’re still figuring out the mechanisms which cause massive star evolution, and the advent of new telescopes has been tremendously helpful,” Wallace said. “We’ve only realized in the last 20 or 30 years that most massive stars are products of binary evolution.”
Was Betelgeuse part of a binary star system, and did its demise – or a cataclysmic split – turn it into a runaway? Is it possible it’s still there, having merged with or still locked in a fatal dance with its fugitive partner? New studies suggest those may be possibilities, though Wallace notes that further intensive study is needed.
Will Betelgeuse ultimately go out with a bang or a whimper? Time will tell. But don’t write off the red giant just yet.
Stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere seeking to spot Betelgeuse should scan the southwestern sky. Those south of the equator should look in the northwestern sky. Find a line of three bright stars clustered together, representing Orion’s belt. Two brighter stars just to the north mark Orion’s shoulders; the very bright left one is Betelgeuse.
Learn more about Betelgeuse here.
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NASA’s Mini BurstCube Mission Detects Mega Blast
The shoebox-sized BurstCube satellite has observed its first gamma-ray burst, the most powerful kind of explosion in the universe, according to a recent analysis of observations collected over the last several months.
“We’re excited to collect science data,” said Sean Semper, BurstCube’s lead engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “It’s an important milestone for the team and for the many early career engineers and scientists that have been part of the mission.”
BurstCube, trailed by another CubeSat named SNOOPI (Signals of Opportunity P-band Investigation), emerges from the International Space Station on April 18. NASA/Matthew Dominick The event, called GRB 240629A, occurred June 29 in the southern constellation Microscopium. The team announced the discovery in a GCN (General Coordinates Network) circular on Aug. 29.
BurstCube deployed into orbit April 18 from the International Space Station, following a March 21 launch. The mission was designed to detect, locate, and study short gamma-ray bursts, brief flashes of high-energy light created when superdense objects like neutron stars collide. These collisions also produce heavy elements like gold and iodine, an essential ingredient for life as we know it.
BurstCube is the first CubeSat to use NASA’s TDRS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite) system, a constellation of specialized communications spacecraft. Data relayed by TDRS (pronounced “tee-driss”) help coordinate rapid follow-up measurements by other observatories in space and on the ground through NASA’s GCN. BurstCube also regularly beams data back to Earth using the Direct to Earth system – both it and TDRS are part of NASA’s Near Space Network.
After BurstCube deployed from the space station, the team discovered that one of the two solar panels failed to fully extend. It obscures the view of the mission’s star tracker, which hinders orienting the spacecraft in a way that minimizes drag. The team originally hoped to operate BurstCube for 12-18 months, but now estimates the increased drag will cause the satellite to re-enter the atmosphere in September.
“I’m proud of how the team responded to the situation and is making the best use of the time we have in orbit,” said Jeremy Perkins, BurstCube’s principal investigator at Goddard. “Small missions like BurstCube not only provide an opportunity to do great science and test new technologies, like our mission’s gamma-ray detector, but also important learning opportunities for the up-and-coming members of the astrophysics community.”
BurstCube is led by Goddard. It’s funded by the Science Mission Directorate’s Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. The BurstCube collaboration includes: the University of Alabama in Huntsville; the University of Maryland, College Park; the Universities Space Research Association in Washington; the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington; and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
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By NASA
23 Min Read The Marshall Star for September 4, 2024
Rocket Hardware for Future Artemis Flights Moved to Barge for Delivery to Kennedy
NASA is making strides with the Artemis campaign as key components for the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket continue to make their way to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Teams with NASA and Boeing loaded the core stage boat-tail for Artemis III and the core stage engine section for Artemis IV onto the agency’s Pegasus barge at Michoud Assembly Facility on Aug. 28.
The core stage engine section of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for Artemis IV is loaded onto the agency’s Pegasus barge at Michoud Assembly Facility on Aug. 28. The core stage hardware will be moved Kennedy’s Space Systems Processing Facility for outfitting.NASA/Justin Robert The core stage hardware joins the launch vehicle stage adapter for Artemis II, which was moved onto the barge at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on Aug. 21. Pegasus will ferry the multi-mission rocket hardware more than 900 miles to the Space Coast of Florida. Teams with the NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program will prepare the launch vehicle stage adapter for Artemis II stacking operations inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, while the core stage hardware will be moved to Kennedy’s Space Systems Processing Facility for outfitting. Beginning with Artemis III, core stages will undergo final assembly at Kennedy.
The launch vehicle stage adapter is essential for connecting the rocket’s core stage to the upper stage. It also shields sensitive avionics and electrical components in the rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage from the intense vibrations and noise of launch.
The boat-tail and engine section are crucial for the rocket’s functionality. The boat-tail extends from the engine section, fitting snugly to protect the rocket’s engines during launch. The engine section itself houses more than 500 sensors, 18 miles of cables, and key systems for fuel management and engine control, all packed into the bottom of the towering 212-foot core stage.
NASA is working to land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with the Orion spacecraft, supporting ground systems, advanced spacesuits and rovers, 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 launch.
Marshall manages the SLS Program and Michoud.
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25 Years Strong: NASA’s Student Launch Competition Accepting 2025 Proposals
By Wayne Smith
NASA’s Student Launch competition kicks off its 25th year with the release of the 2025 handbook, detailing how teams can submit proposals by Sept. 11 for the event scheduled next spring near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
Student Launch is an annual competition challenging middle school, high school, and college students to design, build, test, and launch a high-powered amateur rocket with a scientific or engineering payload. After a team is selected, they must meet documentation milestones and undergo detailed reviews throughout the school year.
NASA’s Student Launch, a STEM competition, officially kicks off its 25th anniversary with the 2025 handbook.NASA Each year, NASA updates the university payload challenge to reflect current scientific and exploration missions. For the 2025 season, the payload challenge will again take inspiration from the Artemis missions, which seek to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon.
As Student Launch celebrates its 25th anniversary, the payload challenge will include “reports” from STEMnauts, non-living objects representing astronauts. The 2024 challenge tasked teams with safely deploying a lander mid-air for a group of four STEMnauts using metrics to support a survivable landing. The lander had to be deployed without a parachute and had a minimum weight limit of five pounds.
“This year, we’re shifting the focus to communications for the payload challenge,” said John Eckhart, technical coordinator for Student Launch at Marshall. “The STEMnaut ‘crew’ must relay real-time data to the student team’s mission control. This helps connect Student Launch with the Artemis missions when NASA lands astronauts on the Moon.”
Thousands of students participated in the 2024 Student Launch competition – making up 70 teams representing 24 states and Puerto Rico. Teams launched their rockets to an altitude between 4,000 and 6,000 feet, while attempting to make a successful landing and executing the payload mission. The University of Notre Dame was the overall winner of the 2024 event, which culminated with a launch day open to the public.
Student Launch began in 2000 when former Marshall Director Art Stephenson started a student rocket competition at the center. It started with just two universities in Huntsville competing – Alabama A&M University and the University of Alabama in Huntsville – but has continued to soar. Since its inception, thousands of students have participated in the agency’s STEM competition, with many going on to a career with NASA.
“This remarkable journey, spanning a quarter of a century, has been a testament to the dedication, ingenuity, and passion of countless students, educators, and mentors who have contributed to the program’s success,” Eckhart said. “NASA Student Launch has been at the forefront of experiential education, providing students from middle school through university with unparalleled opportunities to engage in real-world engineering and scientific research. The program’s core mission – to inspire and cultivate the next generation of aerospace professionals and space explorers – has not only been met but exceeded in ways we could have only dreamed of.”
To encourage students to pursue degrees and careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), Marshall’s Office of STEM Engagement hosts Student Launch, providing them with real-world experiences. Student Launch is one of NASA’s nine Artemis Student Challenges – a variety of activities that expose students to the knowledge and technology required to achieve the goals of Artemis.
In addition to the NASA Office of STEM Engagement’s Next Generation STEM project, NASA Space Operations Mission Directorate, Northrup Grumman, National Space Club Huntsville, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Association of Rocketry, Relativity Space and Bastion Technologies provide funding and leadership for the competition.
“These bright students rise to a nine-month challenge for Student Launch that tests their skills in engineering, design, and teamwork,” said Kevin McGhaw, director of NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement Southeast Region. “They are the Artemis Generation, the future scientists, engineers, and innovators who will lead us into the future of space exploration.”
Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.
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NASA Expands Human Exploration Rover Challenge to Middle Schools
By Wayne Smith
Following a 2024 competition that garnered international attention, NASA is expanding its Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) to include a remote control division and inviting middle school students to participate.
The 31st annual competition is scheduled for April 11-12, 2025, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. HERC is managed by NASA’s Southeast Regional Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall. The HERC 2025 Handbook has been released, with guidelines for the new remote control (RC) division – ROVR (Remote-Operated Vehicular Research) – and detailing updates for the human-powered division.
The cover of the HERC 2025 handbook, which is now available online.NASA “Our RC division significantly lowers the barrier to entry for schools who don’t have access to manufacturing facilities, have less funding, or who are motivated to compete but don’t have the technical mentorship required to design and manufacture a safe human-powered rover,” said Chris Joren, HERC technical coordinator. “We are also opening up HERC to middle school students for the first time. The RC division is inherently safer and less physically intensive, so we invite middle school teams and organizations to submit a proposal to be a part of HERC 2025.”
Another change for 2025 is the removal of task sites on the course for the human-powered rover division, allowing teams to focus on their rover’s design. Recognized as NASA’s leading international student challenge, the 2025 challenge aims to put competitors in the mindset of the Artemis campaign as they pitch an engineering design for a lunar terrain vehicle – they are astronauts piloting a vehicle, exploring the lunar surface while overcoming various obstacles.
“The HERC team wanted to put together a challenge that allows students to gain 21st century skills, workforce readiness skills, and skills that are transferable,” said Vemitra Alexander, HERC activity lead. “The students have opportunities to learn and apply the engineering design process model, gain public speaking skills, participate in community outreach, and learn the art of collaborating with their peers. I am very excited about HERC’s growth and the impact it has on the students we serve nationally and internationally.”
Students interested in designing, developing, building, and testing rovers for Moon and Mars exploration are invited to submit their proposals to NASA through Sept. 19.
More than 1,000 students with 72 teams from around the world participated in the 2024 challenge as HERC celebrated its 30th anniversary as a NASA competition. Participating teams represented 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.
“We saw a massive jump in recognition, not only from within the agency as NASA Chief Technologist A.C. Charania attended the event, but with several of our international teams meeting dignitaries and ambassadors from their home countries to cheer them on,” Joren said. “The most impressive thing will always be the dedication and resilience of the students and their mentors. No matter what gets thrown at these students, they still roll up to the start line singing songs and waving flags.”
HERC is one of NASA’s eight Artemis Student Challenges reflecting the goals of the Artemis campaign, which seeks to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon while establishing a long-term presence for science and exploration. NASA uses such challenges to encourage students to pursue degrees and careers in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Since its inception in 1994, more than 15,000 students have participated in HERC – with many former students now working at NASA, or within the aerospace industry.
Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.
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New NASA Sonifications Listen to the Universe’s Past
A quarter of a century ago, NASA released the “first light” images from the agency’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. This introduction to the world of Chandra’s high-resolution X-ray imaging capabilities included an unprecedented view of Cassiopeia A, the remains of an exploded star located about 11,000 light-years from Earth. Over the years, Chandra’s views of Cassiopeia A have become some of the telescope’s best-known images.
To mark the anniversary of this milestone, new sonifications of three images – including Cassiopeia A (Cas A) – are being released. Sonification is a process that translates astronomical data into sound, similar to how digital data are more routinely turned into images. This translation process preserves the science of the data from its original digital state but provides an alternative pathway to experiencing the data.
Sonifications of three images have been released to mark the 25th anniversary of Chandra’s “First Light” image. For Cassiopeia A, which was one of the first objects observed by Chandra, X-ray data from Chandra and infrared data from Webb have been translated into sounds, along with some Hubble data. The second image in the sonification trio, 30 Doradus, also contains Chandra and Webb data. NGC 6872 contains data from Chandra as well as an optical image from Hubble. Each of these datasets have been mapped to notes and sounds based on properties observed by these telescopes.NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida) This sonification of Cas A features data from Chandra as well as NASA’s James Webb, Hubble, and retired Spitzer space telescopes. The scan starts at the neutron star at the center of the remnant, marked by a triangle sound, and moves outward. Astronomers first saw this neutron star when Chandra’s inaugural observations were released 25 years ago this week. Chandra’s X-rays also reveal debris from the exploded star that is expanding outward into space. The brighter parts of the image are conveyed through louder volume and higher pitched sounds. X-ray data from Chandra are mapped to modified piano sounds, while infrared data from Webb and Spitzer, which detect warmed dust embedded in the hot gas, have been assigned to various string and brass instruments. Stars that Hubble detects are played with crotales, or small cymbals.
Another new sonification features the spectacular cosmic vista of 30 Doradus, one of the largest and brightest regions of star formation close to the Milky Way. This sonification again combines X-rays from Chandra with infrared data from Webb. As the scan moves from left to right across the image, the volume heard again corresponds to the brightness seen. Light toward the top of the image is mapped to higher pitched notes. X-rays from Chandra, which reveal gas that has been superheated by shock waves generated by the winds from massive stars, are heard as airy synthesizer sounds. Meanwhile, Webb’s infrared data show cooler gas that provides the raw ingredients for future stars. These data are mapped to a range of sounds including soft, low musical pitches (red regions), a wind-like sound (white regions), piano-like synthesizer notes indicating very bright stars, and a rain-stick sound for stars in a central cluster.
The final member of this new sonification triumvirate is NGC 6872, a large spiral galaxy that has two elongated arms stretching to the upper right and lower left, which is seen in an optical light view from Hubble. Just to the upper left of NGC 6872 appears another smaller spiral galaxy. These two galaxies, each of which likely has a supermassive black hole at the center, are being drawn toward one another. As the scan sweeps clockwise from 12 o’clock, the brightness controls the volume and light farther from the center of the image is mapped to higher-pitched notes. Chandra’s X-rays, represented in sound by a wind-like sound, show multimillion-degree gas that permeates the galaxies. Compact X-ray sources from background galaxies create bird-like chirps. In the Hubble data, the core of NGC 6872 is heard as a dark low drone, and the blue spiral arms (indicating active star formation) are audible as brighter, more highly pitched tones. The background galaxies are played as a soft pluck sound while the bright foreground star is accompanied by a crash cymbal.
More information about the NASA sonification project through Chandra, which is made in partnership with NASA’s Universe of Learning, can be found here. The collaboration was driven by visualization scientist Kimberly Arcand (CXC), astrophysicist Matt Russo, and musician Andrew Santaguida, (both of the SYSTEM Sounds project), along with consultant Christine Malec.
NASA’s Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Chandra, managed for NASA by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in partnership with the CXC, is one of NASA’s Great Observatories, along with the Hubble Space Telescope and the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope and Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. It was first proposed to NASA in 1976 by Riccardo Giacconi, recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize for Physics based on his contributions to X-ray astronomy, and Harvey Tananbaum, who would later become the first director of the Chandra X-ray Center. Chandra was named in honor of the late Nobel laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his work explaining the structure and evolution of stars.
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Europa Clipper Gets Set of Super-Size Solar Arrays
NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft recently got outfitted with a set of enormous solar arrays at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center. Each measuring about 46½ feet long and about 13½ feet high, the arrays are the biggest NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission. They must be large so they can soak up as much sunlight as possible during the spacecraft’s investigation of Jupiter’s moon Europa, which is five times farther from the Sun than Earth is.
NASA’s Europa Clipper is seen Aug. 21 at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center. Engineers and technicians deployed and tested the giant solar arrays to be sure they will operate in flight.NASA/Frank Michaux The arrays have been folded up and secured against the spacecraft’s main body for launch, but when they’re deployed in space, Europa Clipper will span more than 100 feet – a few feet longer than a professional basketball court. The “wings,” as the engineers call them, are so big that they could only be opened one at a time in the clean room of Kennedy’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where teams are readying the spacecraft for its launch period, which opens Oct. 10.
Meanwhile, engineers continue to assess tests conducted on the radiation hardiness of transistors on the spacecraft. Longevity is key, because the spacecraft will journey more than five years to arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030. As it orbits the gas giant, the probe will fly by Europa multiple times, using a suite of science instruments to find out whether the ocean underneath its ice shell has conditions that could support life.
Powering those flybys in a region of the solar system that receives only 3% to 4% of the sunlight Earth gets, each solar array is composed of five panels. Designed and built at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, and Airbus in Leiden, Netherlands, they are much more sensitive than the type of solar arrays used on homes, and the highly efficient spacecraft will make the most of the power they generate.
NASA’s Europa Clipper is seen in a clean room at Kennedy Space Center after engineers and technicians tested and stowed the spacecraft’s giant solar arrays.NASA/Frank Michaux At Jupiter, Europa Clipper’s arrays will together provide roughly 700 watts of electricity, about what a small microwave oven or a coffee maker needs to operate. On the spacecraft, batteries will store the power to run all of the electronics, a full payload of science instruments, communications equipment, the computer, and an entire propulsion system that includes 24 engines.
While doing all of that, the arrays must operate in extreme cold. The hardware’s temperature will plunge to minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit when in Jupiter’s shadow. To ensure that the panels can operate in those extremes, engineers tested them in a specialized cryogenic chamber at Liège Space Center in Belgium.
“The spacecraft is cozy. It has heaters and an active thermal loop, which keep it in a much more normal temperature range,” said APL’s Taejoo Lee, the solar array product delivery manager. “But the solar arrays are exposed to the vacuum of space without any heaters. They’re completely passive, so whatever the environment is, those are the temperatures they get.”
About 90 minutes after launch, the arrays will unfurl from their folded position over the course of about 40 minutes. About two weeks later, six antennas affixed to the arrays will also deploy to their full size. The antennas belong to the radar instrument, which will search for water within and beneath the moon’s thick ice shell, and they are enormous, unfolding to a length of 57.7 feet, perpendicular to the arrays.
“At the beginning of the project, we really thought it would be nearly impossible to develop a solar array strong enough to hold these gigantic antennas,” Lee said. “It was difficult, but the team brought a lot of creativity to the challenge, and we figured it out.”
Europa Clipper’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with APL for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. APL designed the main spacecraft body in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.
NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, manages the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy.
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Work is Underway on NASA’s Next-Generation Asteroid Hunter
NASA’s new asteroid-hunting spacecraft is taking shape at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Called NEO Surveyor (Near-Earth Object Surveyor), this cutting-edge infrared space telescope will seek out the hardest-to-find asteroids and comets that might pose a hazard to our planet. In fact, it is the agency’s first space telescope designed specifically for planetary defense.
Targeting launch in late 2027, the spacecraft will travel a million miles to a region of gravitational stability – called the L1 Lagrange point – between Earth and the Sun. From there, its large sunshade will block the glare and heat of sunlight, allowing the mission to discover and track near-Earth objects as they approach Earth from the direction of the Sun, which is difficult for other observatories to do. The space telescope also may reveal asteroids called Earth Trojans, which lead and trail our planet’s orbit and are difficult to see from the ground or from Earth orbit.
A mirror that was later installed inside NASA’s Near-Earth Object Surveyor shows a reflection of principal optical engineer Brian Monacelli during an inspection of the mirror’s surface at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on July 17.NASA/JPL-Caltech NEO Surveyor relies on cutting-edge detectors that observe two bands of infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye. Near-Earth objects, no matter how dark, glow brightly in infrared as the Sun heats them. Because of this, the telescope will be able to find dark asteroids and comets, which don’t reflect much visible light. It also will measure those objects, a challenging task for visible-light telescopes that have a hard time distinguishing between small, highly reflective objects and large, dark ones.
“NEO Surveyor is optimized to help us to do one specific thing: enable humanity to find the most hazardous asteroids and comets far enough in advance so we can do something about them,” said Amy Mainzer, survey director for NEO Surveyor and a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “We aim to build a spacecraft that can find, track, and characterize the objects with the greatest chance of hitting Earth. In the process, we will learn a lot about their origins and evolution.”
The spacecraft’s only instrument is its telescope. About the size of a washer-and-dryer set, the telescope’s blocky aluminum body, called the optical bench, was built in a JPL clean room. Known as a three-mirror anastigmat telescope, it will rely on curved mirrors to focus light onto its infrared detectors in such a way that minimizes optical aberrations.
“We have been carefully managing the fabrication of the spacecraft’s telescope mirrors, all of which were received in the JPL clean room by July,” said Brian Monacelli, principal optical engineer at JPL. “Its mirrors were shaped and polished from solid aluminum using a diamond-turning machine. Each exceeds the mission’s performance requirements.”
Monacelli inspected the mirror surfaces for debris and damage, then JPL’s team of optomechanical technicians and engineers attached the mirrors to the telescope’s optical bench in August. Next, they will measure the telescope’s performance and align its mirrors.
Complementing the mirror assembly are the telescope’s mercury-cadmium-telluride detectors, which are similar to the detectors used by NASA’s recently retired NEOWISE (short for Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission. An advantage of these detectors is that they don’t necessarily require cryogenic coolers or cryogens to lower their operational temperatures in order to detect infrared wavelengths. Cryocoolers and cryogens can limit the lifespan of a spacecraft. NEO Surveyor will instead keep its cool by using its large sunshade to block sunlight from heating the telescope and by occupying an orbit beyond that of the Moon, minimizing heating from Earth.
A technician operates articulating equipment to rotate NEO Surveyor’s aluminum optical bench – part of the spacecraft’s telescope – in a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.NASA/JPL-Caltech The telescope will eventually be installed inside the spacecraft’s instrument enclosure, which is being assembled in JPL’s historic High Bay 1 clean room where NASA missions such as Voyager, Cassini, and Perseverance were constructed. Fabricated from dark composite material that allows heat to escape, the enclosure will help keep the telescope cool and prevent its own heat from obscuring observations.
Once it is completed in coming weeks, the enclosure will be tested to make sure it can withstand the rigors of space exploration. Then it will be mounted on the back of the sunshade and atop the electronic systems that will power and control the spacecraft.
“The entire team has been working hard for a long time to get to this point, and we are excited to see the hardware coming together with contributions from our institutional and industrial collaborators from across the country,” said Tom Hoffman, NEO Surveyor’s project manager at JPL. “From the panels and cables for the instrument enclosure to the detectors and mirrors for the telescope — as well as components to build the spacecraft — hardware is being fabricated, delivered, and assembled to build this incredible observatory.”
Assembly of NEO Surveyor can be viewed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, via JPL’s live cam.
The NEO Surveyor mission marks a major step for NASA toward reaching its U.S. Congress-mandated goal to discover and characterize at least 90% of the near-Earth objects more than 460 feet across that come within 30 million miles of our planet’s orbit. Objects of this size can cause significant regional damage, or worse, should they impact the Earth.
The mission is tasked by NASA’s Planetary Science Division within the Science Mission Directorate; program oversight is provided by the Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which was established in 2016 to manage the agency’s ongoing efforts in planetary defense. NASA’s Planetary Missions Program Office at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center provides program management for NEO Surveyor.
The project is being developed by JPL and is led by survey director Amy Mainzer at UCLA. Established aerospace and engineering companies have been contracted to build the spacecraft and its instrumentation, including BAE Systems, Space Dynamics Laboratory, and Teledyne. The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder will support operations, and IPAC-Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for processing survey data and producing the mission’s data products. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
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NASA Sets Coverage for Starliner Return to Earth
NASA will provide live coverage of the upcoming activities for Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft departure from the International Space Station and return to Earth. The uncrewed spacecraft will depart from the orbiting laboratory for a landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.
Starliner is scheduled to autonomously undock from the space station at approximately 5:04 p.m. CDT Sept. 6, to begin the journey home, weather conditions permitting. NASA and Boeing are targeting approximately 11:03 p.m. Sept. 6 for the landing and conclusion of the flight test.
The American flag pictured inside the window of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft at the International Space Station.Credit: NASA NASA’s live coverage of return and related activities will stream on NASA+, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA programming through a variety of platforms including social media.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5 for its first crewed flight, arriving at the space station on June 6. As Starliner approached the orbiting laboratory, NASA and Boeing identified helium leaks and experienced issues with the spacecraft reaction control thrusters. For the safety of the astronauts, NASA announced on Aug. 24 that Starliner will return to Earth from the station without a crew. Wilmore and Williams will remain aboard the station and return home in February 2025 aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission.
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