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By NASA
The NASA Breath Diagnostics challenge tasks solvers to leverage their expertise to develop a classification model that can accurately discriminate between the breath of COVID-positive and COVID-negative individuals, using existing data. The ultimate goal is to improve the accuracy of the NASA E-Nose device as a potential clinical tool that would provide diagnostic results based on the molecular composition of human breath.
Award: $55,000 in total prizes
Open Date: July 5, 2024
Close Date: September 6, 2024
For more information, visit: https://bitgrit.net/competition/22
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By NASA
1 min read
NASA Science Activation Teams Present at National Rural STEM Summit
NASA Science Activation (SciAct) teams participated in the National Rural STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) Summit held June 4-7, 2024 in Tucson, Arizona. Hosted by Kalman Mannis of the Rural Activation and Innovation Network (Arizona Science Center) and the SciTech Institute, the summit fostered learning and sharing among organizations dedicated to creating partnerships and pathways for authentic STEM learning in rural communities.
Participants included:
Matt Cass and Randi Neff from SciAct’s Smoky Mountains STEM Collaborative, who presented “A sense of place: Crafting authentic experiences for rural STEM learners”; Tina Harte from NASA (Science Systems and Applications, Inc), who presented “Nature explorations with NASA”; Kalman Mannis from the SciAct STEM Ecosystems project and the Rural Activation and Innovation Network, who presented “Building leaders in STEM through coaching, connections, and camaraderie”; and members of the SciAct Rural Committee. SciAct STEM Ecosystems is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number 80NSSC210007 and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn
Randi Neff of the NASA SciAct-funded Smoky Mountains STEM Collaborative presents at the National Rural STEM Learning Summit. Arizona Science Center Share
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Last Updated Jul 05, 2024 Editor NASA Science Editorial Team Related Terms
Astrophysics Biological & Physical Sciences Earth Science Heliophysics Planetary Science Science Activation Science-enabling Technology Explore More
4 min read NASA’s Webb Captures Celestial Fireworks Around Forming Star
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By NASA
4 Min Read NASA’s Webb Captures Celestial Fireworks Around Forming Star
L1527, shown in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). The colors within this mid-infrared image reveal details about the central protostar’s behavior.
The cosmos seems to come alive with a crackling explosion of pyrotechnics in this new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Taken with Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), this fiery hourglass marks the scene of a very young object in the process of becoming a star. A central protostar grows in the neck of the hourglass, accumulating material from a thin protoplanetary disk, seen edge-on as a dark line.
The protostar, a relatively young object of about 100,000 years, is still surrounded by its parent molecular cloud, or large region of gas and dust. Webb’s previous observation of L1527, with NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), allowed us to peer into this region and revealed this molecular cloud and protostar in opaque, vibrant colors.
Image A: L1527 – Webb/MIRI
L1527, shown in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), is a molecular cloud that harbors a protostar. It resides about 460 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus. The more diffuse blue light and the filamentary structures in the image come from organic compounds known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), while the red at the center of this image is an energized, thick layer of gases and dust that surrounds the protostar. The region in between, which shows up in white, is a mixture of PAHs, ionized gas, and other molecules. This image includes filters representing 7.7 microns light as blue, 12.8 microns light as green, and 18 microns light as red.
Both NIRCam and MIRI show the effects of outflows, which are emitted in opposite directions along the protostar’s rotation axis as the object consumes gas and dust from the surrounding cloud. These outflows take the form of bow shocks to the surrounding molecular cloud, which appear as filamentary structures throughout. They are also responsible for carving the bright hourglass structure within the molecular cloud as they energize, or excite, the surrounding matter and cause the regions above and below it to glow. This creates an effect reminiscent of fireworks brightening a cloudy night sky. Unlike NIRCam, however, which mostly shows the light that is reflected off dust, MIRI provides a look into how these outflows affect the region’s thickest dust and gases.
The areas colored here in blue, which encompass most of the hourglass, show mostly carbonaceous molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The protostar itself and the dense blanket of dust and a mixture of gases that surround it are represented in red. (The sparkler-like red extensions are an artifact of the telescopes’s optics). In between, MIRI reveals a white region directly above and below the protostar, which doesn’t show as strongly in the NIRCam view. This region is a mixture of hydrocarbons, ionized neon, and thick dust, which shows that the protostar propels this matter quite far away from it as it messily consumes material from its disk.
As the protostar continues to age and release energetic jets, it’ll consume, destroy, and push away much of this molecular cloud, and many of the structures we see here will begin to fade. Eventually, once it finishes gathering mass, this impressive display will end, and the star itself will become more apparent, even to our visible-light telescopes.
The combination of analyses from both the near-infrared and mid-infrared views reveal the overall behavior of this system, including how the central protostar is affecting the surrounding region. Other stars in Taurus, the star-forming region where L1527 resides, are forming just like this, which could lead to other molecular clouds being disrupted and either preventing new stars from forming or catalyzing their development.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).
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).
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Media Contacts
Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov, Rob Gutro – rob.gutro@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Hanna Braun hbraun@stsci.edu Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Related Information
ARTICLE/IMAGE: Webb’s previous observation of L1527, with NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera)
VIDEO: Fly-through the star-forming Pillars of Creation
INTERACTIVE: Explore star formation via a multi-wavelength view of Herbig-Haro 46/47
POSTER: L1527 NIRCam poster
VIDEO: Science Snippets Video: Dust and the formation of Planetary Systems
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Last Updated Jul 02, 2024 Editor Stephen Sabia Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
Astrophysics James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Nebulae Protostars Science & Research Star-forming Nebulae Stars The Universe
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:03:00 On 20 June 2024 the first Ariane 6 rocket to launch into space went through its last full ‘wet dress rehearsal’ at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana – it provided an exciting sneak peek of what’s to come, stopping just a few seconds before engine ignition and of course, liftoff.
One of the first steps was to roll back the colossal 90-m tall Ariane 6 mobile gantry building 120 m away from the launch pad – the first moment the complete rocket stood free.
The first parts of Ariane 6 began arriving in French Guiana from continental Europe in February 2024 via the Canopée ‘spaceship’. In March, the main stage and upper stage were assembled, followed by the transfer of the two powerful P120C boosters in April.
In May, Ariane 6’s first passengers also arrived in Kourou – a varied selection of experiments, satellites, payload deployers and reentry demonstrations that represent thousands across Europe, from students to industry and experienced space actors NASA and ArianeGroup.
The payloads were integrated onto the ‘ballast’ at the end of May, and just a few days ago the ballast was fitted onto the top of the rocket and the fairing closed around it – the last time Ariane 6’s cargo would see light.
From Earth observation to technology demonstrations testing wildlife tracking, 3D printing in open space, open-source software and hardware and science missions looking for the most energetic explosions in the universe, the passengers on Ariane 6’s first flight are a testament to the rocket’s adaptability, complexity, and its role for the future – launching any mission, anywhere.
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