Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
NASA Expedition 71 Astronauts to Conduct Research aboard Space Station
-
Similar Topics
-
By NASA
Team H.E.L.P.S. (High Efficiency Long-Range Power Solution) from The University of California, Santa Barbara won the $1 million grand prize in NASA’s Watts on the Moon Challenge. Their team developed a low-mass, high efficiency cable and featured energy storage batteries on both ends of their power transmission and energy storage system. Credit: NASA/GRC/Sara Lowthian-Hanna NASA has awarded a total of $1.5 million to two U.S. teams for their novel technology solutions addressing energy distribution, management, and storage as part of the agency’s Watts on the Moon Challenge. The innovations from this challenge aim to support NASA’s Artemis missions, which will establish long-term human presence on the Moon.
This two-phase competition has challenged U.S. innovators to develop breakthrough power transmission and energy storage technologies that could enable long-duration Moon missions to advance the nation’s lunar exploration goals. The final phase of the challenge concluded with a technology showcase and winners’ announcement ceremony Friday at Great Lakes Science Center, home of the visitor center for NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
“Congratulations to the finalist teams for developing impactful power solutions in support of NASA’s goal to sustain human presence on the Moon,” said Kim Krome-Sieja, acting program manager for NASA Centennial Challenges at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “These technologies seek to improve our ability to explore and make discoveries in space and could have implications for improving power systems on Earth.”
The winning teams are:
First prize ($1 million): H.E.L.P.S. (High Efficiency Long-Range Power Solution) of Santa Barbara, California Second prize ($500,000): Orbital Mining Corporation of Golden, Colorado Four teams were invited to refine their hardware and deliver full system prototypes in the final stage of the competition, and three finalist teams completed their technology solutions for demonstration and assessment at NASA Glenn. The technologies were the first power transmission and energy storage prototypes to be tested by NASA in a vacuum chamber mimicking the freezing temperature and absence of pressure found at the permanently shadowed regions of the Lunar South Pole. The simulation required the teams’ power systems to demonstrate operability over six hours of solar daylight and 18 hours of darkness with the user three kilometers (nearly two miles) away from the power source.
During this competition stage, judges scored the finalists’ solutions based on a Total Effective System Mass (TESM) calculation, which measures the effectiveness of the system relative to its size and weight – or mass – and the total energy provided by the power source. The highest-performing solution was identified based on having the lowest TESM value – imitating the challenges that space missions face when attempting to reduce mass while meeting the mission’s electrical power needs.
Team H.E.L.P.S. (High Efficiency Long-Range Power Solution) from University of California, Santa Barbara, won the grand prize for their hardware solution, which had the lowest mass and highest efficiency of all competitors. The technology also featured a special cable operating at 800 volts and an innovative use of energy storage batteries on both ends of the transmission system. They also employed a variable radiation shield to switch between conserving heat during cold periods and disposing of excess heat during high power modes. The final 48-hour test proved their system design effectively met the power transmission, energy storage, and thermal challenges in the final phase of competition.
Orbital Mining Corporation, a space technology startup, received the second prize for its hardware solution that also successfully completed the 48-hour testwith high performance. They employed a high-voltage converter system coupled with a low-mass cable and a lithium-ion battery.
“The energy solutions developed by the challenge teams are poised to address NASA’s space technology priorities,” said Amy Kaminski, program executive for Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “These solutions support NASA’s recently ranked civil space shortfalls, including in the top category of surviving and operating through the lunar night.”
During the technology showcase and winners’ announcement ceremony, NASA experts, media, and members of the public gathered to see the finalist teams’ technologies and hear perspectives from the teams’ participation in the challenge. After the winners were announced, event attendees were also welcome to meet NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen.
The Watts on the Moon Challenge is a NASA Centennial Challenge led by NASA Glenn. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center manages Centennial Challenges, which are part of the agency’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program in the Space Technology Mission Directorate. NASA contracted HeroX to support the administration of this challenge.
For more information on NASA’s Watts on the Moon Challenge, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/wattson
-end-
Jasmine Hopkins
Headquarters, Washington
321-432-4624
jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov
Lane Figueroa
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
Brian Newbacher
Glenn Research Center, Cleveland
216-469-9726
Brian.t.newbacher@nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Sep 20, 2024 LocationGlenn Research Center Related Terms
Science Mission Directorate View the full article
-
By Space Force
SPoC and DAF senior leaders came together to discuss exercising for Great Power Competition during a panel at Air, Space and Cyber Conference.
View the full article
-
By European Space Agency
On 18–19 September, Europe’s space industry from start-up companies to large system integrators gathered at ESA–ESTEC in the Netherlands for Industry Space Days 2024.
View the full article
-
By NASA
The Roscosmos Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft is pictured docked to the International Space Station’s Prichal module in this long-duration photograph as it orbited 258 miles above Nigeria.Credit: NASA NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko, will depart from the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft, and return to Earth.
Dyson, Chub, and Kononenko will undock from the orbiting laboratory’s Prichal module at 4:37 a.m. EDT Monday, Sept. 23, heading for a parachute-assisted landing at 8 a.m. (5 p.m. Kazakhstan time) on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan.
NASA’s live coverage of return and related activities will stream on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
A change of command ceremony also will stream on NASA platforms at 10:15 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 22. Kononenko will hand over station command to NASA astronaut Suni Williams for Expedition 72, which begins at the time of undocking.
Spanning 184 days in space, Dyson’s mission includes covering 2,944 orbits of the Earth and a journey of 78 million miles. The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft launched March 23, and arrived at the station March 25, with Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus. Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya were aboard the station for 12 days before returning home with NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara on April 6.
Kononenko and Chub, who launched with O’Hara to the station on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft last September, will return after 374 days in space and a trip of 158.6 million miles, spanning 5,984 orbits.
Dyson spent her fourth spaceflight aboard the station as an Expedition 70 and 71 flight engineer, and departs with Kononenko, completing his fifth flight into space and accruing an all-time record 1,111 days in orbit, and Chub, who completed his first spaceflight.
After returning to Earth, the three crew members will fly on a helicopter from the landing site to the recovery staging city of Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Dyson will board a NASA plane and return to Houston, while Kononenko and Chub will depart for a training base in Star City, Russia.
NASA’s coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
Sunday, Sept. 22
10:15 a.m. – Expedition 71/72 change of command ceremony begins on NASA+ and the agency’s website.
Monday, Sept. 23
12:45 a.m. – Hatch closing coverage begins on NASA+ and the agency’s website.
1:05 a.m. – Hatch closing
4 a.m. – Undocking coverage begins on NASA+ and the agency’s website.
4:37 a.m. – Undocking
6:45 a.m. – Coverage begins for deorbit burn, entry, and landing on NASA+ and the agency’s website.
7:05 a.m. – Deorbit burn
8 a.m. – Landing
For more than two decades, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge, and making research breakthroughs that are not possible on Earth. The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. As commercial companies focus on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low Earth orbit economy, NASA is focusing more resources on deep space missions to the Moon as part of Artemis in preparation for future human missions to Mars.
Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:
https://www.nasa.gov/station
-end-
Josh Finch / Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Sep 19, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
International Space Station (ISS) Astronauts Humans in Space ISS Research Johnson Space Center Tracy Caldwell Dyson View the full article
-
By NASA
Students participating in NASA’s Minority University Research AND Education Project (MUREP) Innovation and Tech Transfer Idea Competition on-site experience. Credit: Josh Valcarcel NASA is awarding $7.2 million to six minority-serving institutions to grow initiatives in engineering-related disciplines and fields for learners who have historically been underrepresented and underserved in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.
“NASA is excited to award funding to six minority-serving institutions, paving the way for greater diversity in engineering and STEM,” said Shahra Lambert, NASA senior advisor for engagement and equity, NASA’s Headquarters in Washington. “NASA is committed to fostering diversity and providing essential academic resources to empower the next generation of innovators.”
NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP), in partnership with the National Science Foundation’s Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) network, provides support to increase diversity in engineering. It offers academic resources to college students, aiming to have a long-term impact on the engineering field.
“With these awards, we are continuing to create pathways that increase access and opportunities in STEM for underrepresented and underserved groups,” said Keya Briscoe, MUREP manager. “NASA continues to invest in initiatives that are critical in driving innovation, fostering inclusion, and providing access to the STEM ecosystem for everyone.”
The awardees and their project titles are as follows:
Alabama A&M University Pathways to NASA: Empowering Underrepresented STEM Talent through Strategic Partnerships and Innovative Learning
Morgan State University – Baltimore Developing NASA Pathways to Broadening Participation in Space Exploration Technology
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Strengthening Opportunities in Aerospace Research and Education
University of Central Florida Hy-POWERED: Hydrogen-POWered Engineering Research and Education for Diversity
University of Colorado, Denver Seed, Support, and Cultivate: Innovative Strategies for Underrepresented Minorities in STEM Education
University of Houston Partnership for Inclusivity in Engineering Education and Research for Space
NASA administers the grants through its Office of STEM Engagement. These investments enhance the research, academic and technology capabilities of minority-serving institutions through multiyear cooperative agreements, while advancing NASA’s vision for a diverse and inclusive workforce.
To learn more about NASA STEM Engagement Funding Opportunities, visit:
https://go.nasa.gov/3AZedZ8
-end-
Abbey Donaldson
Headquarters, Washington
202-269-1600
Abbey.a.donaldson@nasa.gov
View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.