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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Jacquelyn Shuman visually assesses a prescribed fire at Ft. Stewart in Georgia, working with partner organizations as part of the Department of Defense Ft. Stewart 2024 Fire Research Campaign. USFS/Linda Chappell Jacquelyn Shuman, FireSense Project Scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, originally wanted to be a veterinarian. By the time she got to college, Shuman had switched interests to biology, which became a job teaching middle and high school science. Teaching pivoted to finance for a year, before Shuman returned to the science world to pursue a PhD.
It was in a forest ecology class taught by her future PhD advisor, Herman “Hank” Shugart, that she first discovered a passion for ecosystems and dynamic vegetation that led her into the world of fire science, and eventually to NASA Ames.
While Shuman’s path into the world of fire science was not a direct one, she views her diverse experiences as the key to finding a fulfilling career. “Do a lot of different things and try a lot of different things, and if one thing isn’t connecting with you, then do something different,” Shuman said.
Diving into the World of Fire
Shuman’s PhD program focused on boreal forest dynamics across Russia, examining how the forest changes in response to climate change and wildfire. During her research, she worked mainly with scientists from Russia, Canada, and the US through the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI), where Shugart served as the NEESPI Chief Scientist. “The experience of having a highly supportive mentor, being a part of the NEESPI community, and working alongside other inspiring female scientists from across the globe helped me to stay motivated within my own research,” Shuman said.
After completing her PhD, Shuman wanted to become involved in collaborative science with a global impact, which led her to the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). There, she spent seven years working as a project scientist on the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment NGEE-Tropics) on a dynamic vegetation model project called FATES (Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator). As part of the FATES team, Shuman used computer modeling to test vegetation structure and function in tropical and boreal forests after wildfires, and was the lead developer for updating the fire portion of the model.
This figure shows fire characteristics from an Earth system model that uses vegetation structure and interactive fire. The FATES model captures the fire intensity associated with burned land and grass growth in the Southern Hemisphere. Shuman et al. 2024 GMD Fire has also played a powerful role in Shuman’s personal life. In 2021, the Marshall Fire destroyed neighborhoods near her hometown of Boulder, Colorado, causing over $513 million of damage and securing its place as the state’s most destructive wildfire. Despite this, Shuman is determined to not live in fear. “Fire is part of our lives, it’s a part of the Earth system, and it’s something we can plan for. We can live more sustainably with fires.” The way to live safely in a fire-inclusive ecosystem, according to Shuman, is to develop ways to accurately track and forecast wildfires and smoke, and to respond to them efficiently: efforts the fire community is continuously working on improving.
The Fire Science Community
Collaboration is a critical element of wildland fire management. Fire science is a field that involves practitioners such as firefighters and land managers, but also researchers such as modelers and forecasters; the most effective efforts, according to Shuman, come when this community works together. “People in fire science might be out in the field and carrying a drip torch and marching along in the hilltops and the grasslands or be behind a computer and analyzing remote sensing data,” Shuman said. “We need both pieces.”
Protecting communities from wildfire impacts is one of the most fulfilling aspects of Shuman’s career, and a goal that unites this community. “Fire research poses tough questions, but the people who are thinking about this are the people who are acting on it,” Shuman said. “They are saying, ‘What can we do? How can we think about this? What information do we need? What are the questions?’ It’s a special community to be a part of.”
Looking to the Future of Fire
Currently at NASA Ames Research Center, Shuman is the Project Scientist for FireSense: a project focused on delivering NASA science and technology to practitioners and operational agencies. Shuman acts as the lead for the project office, identifying and implementing tools and strategies. Shuman still does ecosystem modeling work, including implementing vegetation models that forecast the impact of fire, but also spends time traveling to active fires across the country so she can help partners implement NASA tools and strategies in real time.
FireSense Project Scientist Jacquelyn Shuman stands with Roger Ottmar (United States Forest Service), surveying potential future locations for prescribed burns in Fishlake National Forest. NASA Ames/Milan Loiacono
“Right now, many different communities are all recognizing that we can partner to identify the best path forward,” Shuman said. “We have an opportunity to use everyone’s strengths and unique perspectives. It can be a devastating thing for a community and an ecosystem when a fire happens. Everyone is interested in using all this collective knowledge to do more, together.”
Written by Molly Medin, NASA Ames Research Center
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Last Updated Oct 17, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
On flight day 13, Orion reached its maximum distance from Earth during the Artemis I mission when it was 268,563 miles away from our home planet. Orion has now traveled farther than any other spacecraft built for humans.Credit: NASA NASA’s Orion spacecraft is designed to keep astronauts safe in deep space, protecting them from the unforgiving environment far from Earth. During the uncrewed Artemis I mission, researchers from NASA, along with several collaborators, flew payloads onboard Orion to measure potential radiation exposure to astronauts.
Radiation measurements were taken inside Orion by 5,600 passive sensors and 34 active radiation detectors during its 25.5-day mission around the Moon and back, which provided important data on exposure within the Earth’s Van Allen radiation belt. These detailed findings were published in a recent scientific article through a collaborative effort by NASA’s Space Radiation Analysis Group, the DLR (German Space Center), and ESA (European Space Agency). The measurements show that while radiation exposure can vary depending on location within Orion, the spacecraft can protect its crew from potentially hazardous radiation levels during lunar missions.
Space radiation could pose major risks to long-duration human space flights, and the findings from the Artemis I mission represent a crucial step toward future human exploration beyond low Earth orbit, to the Moon, and eventually to Mars.
NASA’s HERA (Hybrid Electronic Radiation Assessor) and Crew Active Dosimeter, which were tested previously on the International Space Station, and ESA’s Active Dosimeter, were among the instruments used to measure radiation inside Orion. HERA’s radiation sensor can warn crew members need to take shelter in the case of a radiation event, such as a solar flare. The Crew Active Dosimeter can collect real-time radiation dose data for astronauts and transmit it back to Earth for monitoring. Radiation measurements were conducted in various areas of the spacecraft, each offering different levels of shielding.
This high-resolution image captures the inside of the Orion crew module on flight day one of the Artemis I mission. At left is Commander Moonikin Campos, a purposeful passenger equipped with sensors to collect data that will help scientists and engineers understand the deep-space environment for future Artemis missions. Credit: NASA In addition, the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment, a collaboration between NASA and DLR, involved radiation sensors placed on and inside two life-sized manikin torsos to simulate the impact of radiation on human tissue. These manikins enabled measurements of radiation doses on various body parts, providing valuable insight into how radiation may affect astronauts traveling to deep space.
Two manikins are installed in the passenger seats inside the Artemis I Orion crew module atop the Space Launch System rocket in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 8, 2022. As part of the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment (MARE) investigation, the two female manikins – Helga and Zohar – are equipped with radiation detectors, while Zohar also wears a radiation protection vest, to determine the radiation risk on its way to the Moon. Credit: NASA
Researchers found that Orion’s design can protect its crew from potentially hazardous radiation levels during lunar missions. Though the spacecraft’s radiation shielding is effective, the range of exposure can greatly vary based on spacecraft orientation in specific environments. When Orion altered its orientation during an engine burn of the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, radiation levels dropped nearly in half due to the highly directional nature of the radiation in the Van Allen belt.
“These radiation measurements show that we have an effective strategy for managing radiation risks in the Orion spacecraft. However, key challenges remain, especially for long-duration spaceflights and the protection of astronauts on spacewalks,” said Stuart George, NASA’s lead author on the paper.
NASA’s long-term efforts and research in mitigating space radiation risks are ongoing, as radiation measurements on future missions will depend heavily on spacecraft shielding, trajectory, and solar activity. The same radiation measurement hardware flown on Artemis I will support the first crewed Artemis mission around the Moon, Artemis II, to better understand the radiation exposure seen inside Orion and ensure astronaut safety to the Moon and beyond.
For more information on NASA’s Artemis campaign, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/artemis
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Astronaut Kayla Barron looks at chile peppers growing in the Advanced Plant Habitat aboard the International Space Station. Determining the best ways to water plants in space resulted in the development of a new electrostatic spray nozzle, now licensed to industry.Credit: NASA Whether protecting crops from diseases and pests or sanitizing contaminated surfaces, the ability to spray protective chemicals over important resources is key to several industries. Electrostatic Spraying Systems Inc. (ESS) of Watkinsville, Georgia, manufactures electrostatic sprayers and equipment that make this possible. By licensing NASA electrostatic technology, originally made to water plants in space, ESS’s improved spray nozzles efficiently use basic laws of electricity to achieve complete coverage on targeted surfaces.
ESS traces its origins to research done at the University of Georgia in the 1970s and ’80s. An electrostatic sprayer works by inducing an electric charge onto atomized droplets. Much like an inflated balloon sticking to a wall when it’s gained a charge of static electricity, the droplets then stick to targeted surfaces.
NASA’s interest in this technology originated with astronauts’ need for an easy way to support plant-growth experiments in space. On the International Space Station, watering plants without the help of gravity isn’t as easy as using a garden hose on Earth. In the future, using a system like an electrostatic sprayer on the space station or other orbiting destination could help the water droplets stick to the plants with uniform coverage. However, most spraying systems require large sources of water and air to properly aerosolize fluids.
An ESS mister nozzle undergoes testing at Kennedy Space Center. The design was improved through collaboration between the company and NASA.Credit: NASA As both air and water are precious resources in space, NASA needed an easier way to make these incredibly small droplets. Charles Buhler and Jerry Wang of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida led the efforts to develop this capability, with Edward Law of the University of Georgia as a consulting expert. Eventually, the NASA team developed a new design by learning from existing technology called a mister nozzle. The benefit of a mister is that even though the interior volume of the nozzle is small, the pressure inside never builds up, which makes it perfect for enclosed small spaces like the space station.
As the sprayer industry is a tight-knit group, technology transfer professionals at NASA reached out to the companies that could use a nozzle like this on Earth. Electrostatic Spraying Systems responded and later licensed the sprayer design from the agency and incorporated it into the company’s Maxcharge product lines.
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Last Updated Oct 07, 2024 Related Terms
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FireSage
San José State University (SJSU) and NASA Ames Research Center are offering the FireSage Program; a premier summer internship opportunity designed to equip students with expertise in fire ecology and remote sensing technologies. This 10-week internship program offers a paid opportunity to work on-site at NASA Ames Earth Science Division and SJSU’s Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center (WIRC) Geofly Lab and FireEcology Lab. Here, interns will be introduced to cutting-edge technologies and methodologies for wildfire research and management and benefit from a comprehensive learning environment including a one-on-one setting with NASA Scientists and SJSU Faculty.
Learn More About the FireSage Internship
Fire & Air
Ames Research Center and California State University, Stanislaus (CSUStan) are partnering together to offer the Fire & Air program: a yearlong internship for CSUStan undergraduates, with opportunities to work with both NASA Subject Matter Experts and CSUStan MSI Mentors. The program focuses on two main research areas: atmospheric effects and causes of wildfires, and the study of aerosols in biomass burning.
Learn More About the Fire and Air Internship
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Last Updated Sep 17, 2024 Related Terms
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