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By European Space Agency
In a world first, ESA and Telesat have successfully connected a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite to the ground using 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) technology in the Ka-band frequency range, marking a crucial step towards making space-based connections as simple as using a mobile phone.
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A crane lowers the steel reflector framework for Deep Space Station 23 into position Dec. 18 on a 65-foot-high (20-meter) platform above the antenna’s pedestal that will steer the reflector. Panels will be affixed to the structure create a curved surface to collect radio frequency signals.NASA/JPL-Caltech After the steel framework of the Deep Space Station 23 reflector dish was lowered into place on Dec. 18, a crew installed the quadripod, a four-legged support structure that will direct radio frequency signals from deep space that bounce off the main reflector into the antenna’s receiver.NASA/JPL-Caltech Deep Space Station 23’s 133-ton reflector dish was recently installed, marking a key step in strengthening NASA’s Deep Space Network.
NASA’s Deep Space Network, an array of giant radio antennas, allows agency missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from spacecraft venturing to the Moon and beyond. NASA is adding a new antenna, bringing the total to 15, to support increased demand for the world’s largest and most sensitive radio frequency telecommunication system.
Installation of the latest antenna took place on Dec. 18, when teams at NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California, installed the metal reflector framework for Deep Space Station 23, a multifrequency beam-waveguide antenna. When operational in 2026, Deep Space Station 23 will receive transmissions from missions such as Perseverance, Psyche, Europa Clipper, Voyager 1, and a growing fleet of future human and robotic spacecraft in deep space.
“This addition to the Deep Space Network represents a crucial communication upgrade for the agency,” said Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator of NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program. “The communications infrastructure has been in continuous operation since its creation in 1963, and with this upgrade we are ensuring NASA is ready to support the growing number of missions exploring the Moon, Mars, and beyond.”
This time-lapse video shows the entire day of construction activities for the Deep Space Station 23 antenna at the NASA Deep Space Network’s Goldstone Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California, on Dec. 18. NASA/JPL-Caltech Construction of the new antenna has been under way for more than four years, and during the installation, teams used a crawler crane to lower the 133-ton metal skeleton of the 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) parabolic reflector before it was bolted to a 65-foot-high (20-meter-high) alidade, a platform above the antenna’s pedestal that will steer the reflector during operations.
“One of the biggest challenges facing us during the lift was to ensure that 40 bolt-holes were perfectly aligned between the structure and alidade,” said Germaine Aziz, systems engineer, Deep Space Network Aperture Enhancement Program of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “This required a meticulous emphasis on alignment prior to the lift to guarantee everything went smoothly on the day.”
Following the main lift, engineers carried out a lighter lift to place a quadripod, a four-legged support structure weighing 16 1/2 tons, onto the center of the upward-facing reflector. The quadripod features a curved subreflector that will direct radio frequency signals from deep space that bounce off the main reflector into the antenna’s pedestal, where the antenna’s receivers are housed.
In the early morning of Dec. 18, a crane looms over the 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) steel framework for Deep Space Station 23 reflector dish, which will soon be lowered into position on the antenna’s base structure.NASA/JPL-Caltech Engineers will now work to fit panels onto the steel skeleton to create a curved surface to reflect radio frequency signals. Once complete, Deep Space Station 23 will be the fifth of six new beam-waveguide antennas to join the network, following Deep Space Station 53, which was added at the Deep Space Network’s Madrid complex in 2022.
“With the Deep Space Network, we are able to explore the Martian landscape with our rovers, see the James Webb Space Telescope’s stunning cosmic observations, and so much more,” said Laurie Leshin, director of JPL. “The network enables over 40 deep space missions, including the farthest human-made objects in the universe, Voyager 1 and 2. With upgrades like these, the network will continue to support humanity’s exploration of our solar system and beyond, enabling groundbreaking science and discovery far into the future.”
NASA’s Deep Space Network is managed by JPL, with the oversight of NASA’s SCaN Program. More than 100 NASA and non-NASA missions rely on the Deep Space Network and Near Space Network, including supporting astronauts aboard the International Space Station and future Artemis missions, monitoring Earth’s weather and the effects of climate change, supporting lunar exploration, and uncovering the solar system and beyond.
For more information about the Deep Space Network, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/communicating-with-missions/dsn
News Media Contact
Ian J. O’Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov
2024-179
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Last Updated Dec 20, 2024 Related Terms
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4 min read Lab Work Digs Into Gullies Seen on Giant Asteroid Vesta by NASA’s Dawn
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By NASA
Illustration of the main asteroid belt, orbiting the Sun between Mars and JupiterNASA NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope includes asteroids on its list of objects studied and secrets revealed.
A team led by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge repurposed Webb’s observations of a distant star to reveal a population of small asteroids — smaller than astronomers had ever detected orbiting the Sun in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
The 138 new asteroids range from the size of a bus to the size of a stadium — a size range in the main belt that has not been observable with ground-based telescopes. Knowing how many main belt asteroids are in different size ranges can tell us something about how asteroids have been changed over time by collisions. That process is related to how some of them have escaped the main belt over the solar system’s history, and even how meteorites end up on Earth.
“We now understand more about how small objects in the asteroid belt are formed and how many there could be,” said Tom Greene, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and co-author on the paper presenting the results. “Asteroids this size likely formed from collisions between larger ones in the main belt and are likely to drift towards the vicinity of Earth and the Sun.”
Insights from this research could inform the work of the Asteroid Threat Assessment Project at Ames. ATAP works across disciplines to support NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office by studying what would happen in the case of an Earth impact and modeling the associated risks.
“It’s exciting that Webb’s capabilities can be used to glean insights into asteroids,” said Jessie Dotson, an astrophysicist at Ames and member of ATAP. “Understanding the sizes, numbers, and evolutionary history of smaller main belt asteroids provides important background about the near-Earth asteroids we study for planetary defense.”
Illustration of the James Webb Space TelescopeNASA The team that made the asteroid detections, led by research scientist Artem Burdanov and professor of planetary science Julien de Wit, both of MIT, developed a method to analyze existing Webb images for the presence of asteroids that may have been inadvertently “caught on film” as they passed in front of the telescope. Using the new image processing technique, they studied more than 10,000 images of the star TRAPPIST-1, originally taken to search for atmospheres around planets orbiting the star, in the search for life beyond Earth.
Asteroids shine more brightly in infrared light, the wavelength Webb is tuned to detect, than in visible light, helping reveal the population of main belt asteroids that had gone unnoticed until now. NASA will also take advantage of that infrared glow with an upcoming mission, the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor. NEO Surveyor is the first space telescope specifically designed to hunt for near-Earth asteroids and comets that may be potential hazards to Earth.
The paper presenting this research, “Detections of decameter main-belt asteroids with JWST,” was published Dec. 9 in Nature.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
For news media:
Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the NASA Ames newsroom.
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By NASA
1 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft completed its first maximum afterburner test at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. This full-power test, during which the engine generates additional thrust, validates the additional power needed for meeting the testing conditions of the aircraft. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which aims to overcome a major barrier to supersonic flight over land by reducing the noise of sonic booms.Lockheed Martin Corporation/Garry Tice NASA completed the first maximum afterburner engine run test on its X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft on Dec. 12. The ground test, conducted at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, marks a significant milestone as the X-59 team progresses toward flight.
An afterburner is a component of some jet engines that generates additional thrust. Running the engine, an F414-GE-100, with afterburner will allow the X-59 to meet its supersonic speed requirements. The test demonstrated the engine’s ability to operate within temperature limits and with adequate airflow for flight. It also showed the engine’s ability to operate in sync with the aircraft’s other subsystems.
The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to solve one of the major barriers to supersonic flight over land by making sonic booms quieter. The X-59’s first flight is expected to occur in 2025.
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Last Updated Dec 20, 2024 EditorDede DiniusContactMatt Kamletmatthew.r.kamlet@nasa.gov Related Terms
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
When it comes to building spaceflight missions, the software is at least as important as the hardware. For computer engineer Nargess Memarsadeghi, having a hand in the programming is like getting to go along for the ride.
Name: Nargess Memarsadeghi
Title: Associate Branch Head, Software Systems Engineering Branch
Formal Job Classification: Supervisory Computer Engineer
Organization: Software Systems Engineering Branch, Software Engineering Division, Engineering Directorate (Code 581)
Nargess Memarsadeghi is the associate branch head of the Software Systems Engineering branch at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.Courtesy of Nargess Memarsadeghi What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard?
As associate branch head for the Software Systems Engineering Branch, I spend half of my time supporting the branch head on internal functions, different planning activities, and supervising our employees who are senior software systems engineers and often team leads themselves.
For the other half of my time, I work on a technical project. Currently, I am supporting the Human Landing Systems (HLS) project. I am a member of NASA HLS Software Insight Team working with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and Johnson Space Center in Houston, and industry partners SpaceX and Blue Origin to meet software requirements and milestones, and to ensure the Artemis campaign succeeds in taking astronauts to the Moon.
I enjoy learning about various NASA missions and being part of them either by supporting our branch employees who work on these missions or by being a project team member and making technical contributions directly.
Why did you become a software engineer?
I always loved math and sciences. Software engineering seemed like a good and practical way to apply math to different scientific and engineering applications.
What is your educational background?
I got my bachelor’s (2001), master’s (2004), and doctorate (2007) degrees in computer science from the University of Maryland at College Park.
How did you come to Goddard?
I joined Goddard in 2001 right after college. The university had a recruitment event at its career center. I signed up for an interview with NASA, which went well. I then got an invitation for an onsite interview, and then an offer to join Goddard as a computer engineer.
What is your supervisory style?
I have been supervising on average 10 employees. We have tag-ups every two weeks to learn about their work and see if they have any issues or need anything from management. We keep in constant communication which goes both ways. I have an open-door policy. I try to match an employee’s interests and expertise to their work. I am willing to hear their concerns and address them to the best of my ability or putting them in contact with those who can. I enjoy learning about their work and celebrating the achievements.
What are some of the most exciting projects and missions that the Software Systems Engineering Branch is involved with?
We provide end-to-end software systems engineering support to many high-impact missions, like the upcoming flagship astrophysics Roman Space Telescope mission. We support Roman’s software systems, as well as its testing and assembly with one of our software products, the Goddard Dynamic Simulator.
Our team also supports a variety of Earth science missions, such as the Joint Polar Satellite Systems (JPSS), GOES-R, and GOES-U, all of which NASA supports on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). We also develop and manage different ground segment software systems for different missions including PACE, TSIS-II, and others.
What are some of your career highlights so far?
One was being part of the James Webb Space Telescope team and working on stability testing of microshutters. Webb is a huge, multinational observatory making many scientific discoveries.
Another is being part of the Dawn mission’s satellite working group searching for moons of the asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres. I worked on this from prelaunch through launch and operations. We were some of the first to see the scientific images soon after being downlinked. It felt like going on a ride with the spacecraft itself.
I would add my more recent work on the Roman Space Telescope.
In general, I really enjoyed working on various missions during their different stages of their life cycle. I got to see the whole picture of how software is used for missions, from technology development to post-launch.
What advice do you give your graduate students and interns as a mentor?
I emphasize that they also need to work on their communication skills, leadership skills, and team building. I tell them to focus not just on their technical skills but also on their interpersonal skills both written and oral. NASA has a lot of collaborative projects and being able to effectively communicate across different levels is crucial for mission success.
Whom do you wish to thank?
I would like to thank my family for their support. I would also like to thank my past teachers and mentors who made a big difference in me and positively impacted my life.
What do you do to relax?
I like going for long walks, spending time with family and friends, and doing activities with my son including attending his piano recitals.
Who is your favorite author?
As a young reader, I enjoyed reading Jules Verne. I also enjoy reading poetry. My favorites are Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Persian poets Sohrab Sepehri and Saadi Shirazi.
What motto do you live by?
Be the change you want to see in the world.
By Elizabeth M. Jarrell
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
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Last Updated Dec 19, 2024 Related Terms
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