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By Space Force
In partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory, the United States Space Force is currently accepting proposals for USSF University Consortium/Space Strategic Technology Institute 4, focused on Advanced Remote Sensing.
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By NASA
On Nov. 6, 2024, NASA Night brought cosmic excitement to the Toyota Center, where Johnson Space Center employees joined 16,208 fans who interacted with NASA as they watched the Houston Rockets claim victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
Energy soared as International Space Station Program Manager Dana Weigel stepped up to take the first shot.
International Space Station Program Manager Dana Weigel takes the first shot on Nov. 6, 2024, as the Houston Rockets go up against the San Antonio Spurs at Toyota Center.NASA/Helen Arase Vargas The ceremonial first shot also gave back to the community, with Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta donating $1,000 to the Clutch City Foundation to support underserved youth through education, sports, and disaster relief.
Throughout the game, Johnson employees kept the crowd engaged with NASA trivia, creating a “launch countdown” energy that had fans cheering. The arena lit up as Adam Savage narrated a video showcasing the International Space Station’s groundbreaking contributions to science. From unlocking discoveries impossible on Earth to testing critical technologies for our return to the Moon, the orbiting laboratory plays a vital role in advancing medical and social breakthroughs that enhance life on our planet.
The Artemis II crew also appeared on the jumbotron, reminding everyone of NASA’s mission to establish a long-term presence on the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to inspire a new generation of explorers.
Dana Weigel, center, shows off a Rockets jersey on the court with Rockets mascot Clutch, left, and NASA mascot Cosmo.NASA/Helen Arase Vargas In the Sky Court area of the stadium concourse, Johnson volunteers held “mission control” with an interactive exhibit that drew fans in like a gravitational pull. From exploring a Space Launch System model and handling a spacesuit helmet and glove to touching a 3.4-billion-year-old Moon rock collected during Apollo 17, NASA’s booth offered attendees a glimpse into space exploration.
Visitors had the chance to ask questions and bring home mission pins, stickers, and hands-on activities, provided by the International Space Station Program and the Artemis campaign. Seventy-five “Lucky Row” fans also received bags filled with NASA outreach materials, courtesy of the Johnson Public Engagement team.
NASA’s Johnson Space Center volunteers connect with fans at the game through an interactive exhibit.NASA The Orion Flight Simulator, with its realistic switches and displays, provided an immersive experience that allowed fans to dock the Orion spacecraft to humanity’s first lunar space station, Gateway.
More than 600 fans eagerly lined up to experience NASA’s mobile exhibit trailer in the Toyota Center parking lot—drawing lines as long as those at the box office.
Fans engage with the Orion Flight Simulator at NASA’s booth. NASA/Helen Arase Vargas Fans also tested their skills with a crew assembly activity focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, simulating the challenges astronauts face in orbit. NASA’s inflatable mascot, Cosmo, joined the action on the court, posing for photos and adding galactic fun to events like the T-shirt giveaway.
The Houston Rockets mascot Clutch and NASA mascot Cosmo team up on the court at Toyota Center in Houston.NASA/Helen Arase Vargas NASA’s presence brought together the excitement of sports with the wonder of space exploration, inspiring fans to keep shooting for the stars.
View more images from the event below.
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By NASA
Linda Spuler, emergency manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, believes that everyone has a story. “Our stories highlight what we have in common, but they also make us each unique,” she said.
Spuler has worked at Johnson for over 32 years, spending most of her career in Center Operations. Her story has involved helping to coordinate emergency response teams at Johnson in preparation for natural disasters. “Since Johnson is situated on the coast, a good portion of my job revolves around planning for hurricanes,” she said.
Spuler has dealt with natural disasters at Johnson from Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 to Hurricane Beryl in 2024, but none had a greater personal impact than Hurricane Ike, which wrought havoc in Texas in September 2008. “Participating in the response to Hurricane Ike was a proud moment for me,” she said. “We worked from sunup to sundown restoring the center. Civil servants and contractors from various organizations came together, and for those two weeks, our differences didn’t matter.”
NASA’s Johnson Space Center Emergency Manager Linda Spuler, front, leads an emergency exercise for first responders. Image courtesy of Linda Spuler Spuler believes that NASA’s mission unites everyone – team members, astronauts, and support teams alike. “Remembering why we are all here energizes us and gets us excited about working for NASA,” she said.
Spuler’s journey at NASA began as a dream not originally her own. Her path was shaped by the aspirations of her mother, who was born on an Ojibwe (Chippewa) reservation in Ashland, Wisconsin.
“Although my grandmother lived in Chicago, she returned to the reservation to have her children. My mom is still a voting member of the Bad River Tribe,” said Spuler.
“My mom was studying aerospace engineering at the University of Chicago when she met my dad, a fun-loving electrical engineering major who traced his lineage back to Davy Crockett on his father’s side and Ireland on his mother’s,” said Spuler. “She chose to abandon aerospace to marry my dad, whose degree and love for space brought him to work at Johnson.”
Linda Spuler accepts the Thirty-Year Service Award from Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche to commemorate her service at NASA. NASA/David DeHoyos Spuler said her mother was very proud that her father worked for NASA. “She was very happy when I chose to work here, too,” she said. “She taught me the value and reward of working hard. My mom is proud of her heritage but she is cautious of sharing her story.”
Linda Spuler at an Easter egg hunt at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 1971. Image courtesy of Linda Spuler Spuler enjoys learning about Ojibwe culture from her mother. “Every Thanksgiving, we enjoy wild rice from the Bad River sent from the “aunties” that still live on the reservation,” Spuler shared. She also represents her culture and pride through her work, honoring the legacy of those who came before her and sharing the story of her mother, her father, and now herself.
Linda Spuler receives the 2019 Furlough Heroes Awards alongside her son, Logan. NASA/James Blair “I celebrate the unique story that makes me part Ojibwe, part Polish, part Texas revolutionary, part Irish, part English, and all me,” she said.
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By NASA
NASA researchers Guan Yang, Jeff Chen, and their team received the 2024 Innovator of The Year Award at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for their exemplary work on a lidar system enhanced with artificial intelligence and other technologies.
Engineer Jeffrey Chen tests a lidar prototype on the roof of Building 33 at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Chen and his team earned the center’s 2024 Innovator of the Year award for their work on CASALS, a lidar system enhanced with artificial intelligence and other technologies.NASA Like a laser-based version of sonar, lidar and its use in space exploration is not new. But the lidar system Yang and Chen’s team have developed — formally the Concurrent Artificially-intelligent Spectrometry and Adaptive Lidar System (CASALS) — can produce higher resolution data within a smaller space, significantly increasing efficiency compared to current models.
The true revolution in CASALS is a unique combination of related technologies, such as highly efficient laser and receiver designs, wavelength-based, non-mechanical beam steering, multispectral imaging, and the incorporation of artificial intelligence to allow the instrument to make its own decisions while in orbit, instead of waiting for direction from human controllers on the ground.
“Existing 3D-imaging lidars struggle to provide the 2-inch resolution needed by guidance, navigation and control technologies to ensure precise and safe landings essential for future robotic and human exploration missions,” team engineer Jeffrey Chen said in an earlier interview. “Such a system requires 3D hazard-detection lidar and a navigation doppler lidar, and no existing system can perform both functions.”
The CASALS lidar is being developed to study land and ice topography, coastline changes, and other Earth science topics. Future applications in solar system science beyond our planet are already in the works, including space navigation improvements and high-resolution lunar mapping for NASA’s Artemis campaign to return astronauts to the Moon.
An effective and compact lidar system like CASALS could also map rocky planets like Venus or Mars.
NASA leveraged contributions from external Small Business Innovation Research companies such as Axsun Technologies, Freedom Photonics, and Left Hand for laser and optical technology to help make CASALS a reality.
The Internal Research and Development (IRAD) Innovator of The Year award is presented by Goddard’s Office of the Chief Technologist to a person or team within the program with a notable contribution to cutting-edge technology. The CASALS team was presented their award at a technology poster session on Nov. 6, 2024, at NASA Goddard.
By Avery Truman
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Nov 15, 2024 EditorRob GarnerContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By NASA
5 Min Read Wearable Tech for Space Station Research
A wearable monitoring device is visible on the left wrist of NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps. Credits: NASA Science in Space Nov 2024
Many of us wear devices that count our steps, measure our heart rate, track sleep patterns, and more. This information can help us make healthy decisions – research shows the devices encourage people to move more, for example – and could flag possible problems, such as an irregular heartbeat.
Wearable monitors also have become common tools for research on human health, including studies on the International Space Station. Astronauts have worn special watches, headbands, vests, and other devices to help scientists examine sleep quality, effectiveness of exercise, heart health, and more.
Warm to the core
Spaceflight can affect body temperature regulation and daily rhythms due to factors such as the absence of convection (a natural process that transfers heat away from the body) and changes in the cardiovascular and metabolic systems.
A current investigation from ESA (European Space Agency), Thermo-Mini or T-Mini examines how the body regulates its core temperature during spaceflight. The study uses a non-invasive headband monitor that astronauts can wear for hours at a time. Data from the monitor allow researchers to determine the effect on body temperature from environmental and physiological factors such as room temperature and humidity, time of day, and physical stress. The same type of sensor already is used on Earth for research in clinical environments, such as improving incubators, and studies of how hotter environments affect human health.
Thermolab, an earlier ESA investigation, examined thermoregulatory and cardiovascular adaptations during rest and exercise in microgravity. Researchers found that core body temperature rises higher and faster during exercise in space than on Earth and that the increase was sustained during rest, a phenomenon that could affect the health of crew members on long-term spaceflight. The finding also raises questions about the thermoregulatory set point humans are assumed to have as well as our ability to adapt to climate change on Earth.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague wears the T-mini device while exercising.NASA To sleep, perchance to dream
Spaceflight is known to disrupt sleep-wake patterns. Actiwatch Spectrum, a device worn on the wrist, contains an accelerometer to measure motion and photodetectors to monitor ambient lighting. It is an upgrade of previous technology used on the space station to monitor the length and quality of crew member sleep. Data from earlier missions show that crew members slept significantly less during spaceflight than before and after. The Actiwatch Sleep-Long investigation used an earlier version of the device to examine how ambient light affects the sleep-wake cycle and found an association between sleep deficiency and changes during spaceflight in circadian patterns, or the body’s response to a normal 24-hour light and dark cycle. Follow up studies are testing lighting systems to address these effects and help astronauts maintain healthy circadian rhythms.
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams wears an Actiwatch as she conducts research.NASA Wearable Monitoring tested a lightweight vest with embedded sensors to monitor heart rate and breathing patterns during sleep and help determine whether changes in heart activity affect sleep quality. The technology offers a significant advantage by monitoring heart activity without waking the test subject and could help patients on Earth with sleep disorders. Researchers reported positive performance and good quality of recorded signals, suggesting that the vest can contribute to comprehensive monitoring of individual health on future spaceflight and in some settings on Earth as well.
These and other studies support development of countermeasures to improve sleep for crew members, helping to maintain alertness and lessen fatigue during missions.
(Not) waiting to exhale
Humans exhale carbon dioxide and too much of it can build up in closed environments, causing headaches, dizziness, and other symptoms. Spacecraft have systems to remove this substance from cabin air, but pockets of carbon dioxide can form and be difficult to detect and remove. Personal CO2 Monitor tested specially designed sensors attached to clothing to monitor the wearer’s immediate surroundings. Researchers reported that the devices functioned adequately as either crew-worn or static monitors, an important step toward using them to determine how carbon dioxide behaves in enclosed systems like spacecraft.
One of the wearable carbon dioxide monitors clipped to the wall near a crew sleeping compartment. Radiation in real time
EVARM, an investigation from CSA (Canadian Space Agency), used small wireless dosimeters carried in a pocket to measure radiation exposure during spacewalks. The data showed that this method is a feasible way to measure radiation exposure, which could help focus routine dosage monitoring where it is most needed. Any shielding and countermeasures developed also could help protect people who work in high-radiation areas on Earth.
ESA’s Active Dosimeter tested a radiation dosimeter worn by crew members to measure changes in their exposure over time based on the space station’s orbit and altitude, the solar cycle, and solar flares. Measurements from the device allowed researchers to analyze radiation dosage across an entire space mission.
ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet holds one of the mobile units for the Active Dosimeter study.NASA The Active Dosimeter also was among the instruments used to measure radiation on NASA’s Orion spacecraft during its 25.5-day uncrewed Artemis I mission around the Moon and back in 2022.
Another device tested on the space station and then on Artemis I, AstroRad Vest is designed to protect astronauts from solar particle events. Researchers used these and other radiation measuring devices to show that Orion’s design can protect its crew from potentially hazardous radiation levels during lunar missions.
The International Space Station serves as an important testbed for these technologies and many others being developed for future missions to the Moon and beyond.
Melissa Gaskill
International Space Station Research Communications Team
Johnson Space Center
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