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NASA Asteroid Experts Create Hypothetical Impact Scenario for Exercise
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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
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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
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By NASA
The Goldstone Solar System Radar, part of NASA’s Deep Space Network, made these observations of the recently discovered 500-foot-wide (150-meter-wide) asteroid 2024 MK, which made its closest approach — within about 184,000 miles (295,000 kilometers) of Earth — on June 29.NASA/JPL-Caltech The Deep Space Network’s Goldstone planetary radar had a busy few days observing asteroids 2024 MK and 2011 UL21 as they safely passed Earth.
Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California recently tracked two asteroids as they flew by our planet. One turned out to have a little moon orbiting it, while the other had been discovered only 13 days before its closest approach to Earth. There was no risk of either near-Earth object impacting our planet, but the radar observations taken during these two close approaches will provide valuable practice for planetary defense, as well as information about their sizes, orbits, rotation, surface details, and clues as to their composition and formation.
Passing Earth on June 27 at a distance of 4.1 million miles (6.6 million kilometers), or about 17 times the distance between the Moon and Earth, the asteroid 2011 UL21 was discovered in 2011 by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey, in Tucson, Arizona. But this is the first time it has come close enough to Earth to be imaged by radar. While the nearly mile-wide (1.5-kilometer-wide) object is classified as being potentially hazardous, calculations of its future orbits show that it won’t pose a threat to our planet for the foreseeable future.
Because close approaches by asteroids the size of 2024 MK are relatively rare, JPL’s planetary radar team gathered as much information about the near-Earth object as possible. This mosaic shows the spinning asteroid in one-minute increments about 16 hours after its closest approach with Earth.NASA/JPL-Caltech Using the Deep Space Network’s 230-foot-wide (70-meter) Goldstone Solar System Radar, called Deep Space Station 14 (DSS-14), near Barstow, California, JPL scientists transmitted radio waves to the asteroid and received the reflected signals by the same antenna. In addition to determining the asteroid is roughly spherical, they discovered that it’s a binary system: A smaller asteroid, or moonlet, orbits it from a distance of about 1.9 miles (3 kilometers).
“It is thought that about two-thirds of asteroids of this size are binary systems, and their discovery is particularly important because we can use measurements of their relative positions to estimate their mutual orbits, masses, and densities, which provide key information about how they may have formed,” said Lance Benner, principal scientist at JPL who helped lead the observations.
These seven radar observations by the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone Solar System Radar shows the mile-wide asteroid 2011 UL21 during its June 27 close approach with Earth from about 4 million miles away. The asteroid and its small moon (a bright dot at the bottom of the image) are circled in white.NASA/JPL-Caltech Second Close Approach
Two days later, on June 29, the same team observed the asteroid 2024 MK pass our planet from a distance of only 184,000 miles (295,000 kilometers), or slightly more than three-quarters of the distance between the Moon and Earth. About 500 feet (150 meters) wide, this asteroid appears to be elongated and angular, with prominent flat and rounded regions. For these observations, the scientists also used DSS-14 to transmit radio waves to the object, but they used Goldstone’s 114-foot (34-meter) DSS-13 antenna to receive the signal that bounced off the asteroid and came back to Earth. The result of this “bistatic” radar observation is a detailed image of the asteroid’s surface, revealing concavities, ridges, and boulders about 30 feet (10 meters) wide.
Close approaches of near-Earth objects the size of 2024 MK are relatively rare, occurring about every couple of decades, on average, so the JPL team sought to gather as much data about the object as possible. “This was an extraordinary opportunity to investigate the physical properties and obtain detailed images of a near-Earth asteroid,” said Benner.
This sunset photo shows NASA’s Deep Space Station 14 (DSS-14), the 230-foot-wide (70-meter) antenna at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California.NASA/JPL-Caltech The asteroid 2024 MK was first reported on June 16 by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) at Sutherland Observing Station in South Africa. Its orbit was changed by Earth’s gravity as it passed by, reducing its 3.3-year orbital period around the Sun by about 24 days. Although it is classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid, calculations of its future motion show that it does not pose a threat to our planet for the foreseeable future.
The Goldstone Solar System Radar Group is supported by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations Program within the Planetary Defense Coordination Office at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. Managed by JPL, the Deep Space Network receives programmatic oversight from Space Communications and Navigation program office within the Space Operations Mission Directorate, also at NASA Headquarters.
More information about planetary radar and near-Earth objects can be found at:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroid-watch
News Media Contact
Ian J. O’Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov
2024-097
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Last Updated Jul 03, 2024 Related Terms
Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) Asteroids Deep Space Network Jet Propulsion Laboratory Planetary Defense Planetary Defense Coordination Office Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) Space Communications & Navigation Program Explore More
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By NASA
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Moving across a background of stars, the six red dots in this composite picture indicate the location of six sequential detections of the first near-Earth object discovered by NEOWISE after the spacecraft came out of hibernation in 2013: the asteroid 2013 YP139. The inset shows a zoomed-in view of one of the detections.NASA/JPL-Caltech Observed by NASA’s WISE mission, this image shows the entire sky seen in infrared light. Running through the center of the image and seen predominantly in cyan are the stars of the Milky Way. Green and red represent interstellar dust.NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA NASA’s near-Earth-object-hunting mission NEOWISE is nearing its conclusion. But its work will carry on with NASA’s next-generation infrared mission: NEO Surveyor.
After more than 14 successful years in space, NASA’s NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission will end on July 31. But while the mission draws to a close, another is taking shape, harnessing experience gained from NEOWISE: NASA’s NEO Surveyor (Near Earth Object Surveyor), the first purpose-built infrared space telescope dedicated to hunting hazardous near-Earth objects. Set for launch in late 2027, it’s a major step forward in the agency’s planetary defense strategy.
“After developing new techniques to find and characterize near-Earth objects hidden in vast quantities of its infrared survey data, NEOWISE has become key in helping us develop and operate NASA’s next-generation infrared space telescope. It is a precursor mission,” said Amy Mainzer, principal investigator of NEOWISE and NEO Surveyor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “NEO Surveyor will seek out the most difficult-to-find asteroids and comets that could cause significant damage to Earth if we don’t find them first.”
Seen here in a clean room at the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, the WISE mission’s telescope is worked on by engineers. Avionics hardware and solar panels would later be attached before the spacecraft’s launch on Dec. 14, 2009. SDL WISE Beginnings
NEOWISE’s end of mission is tied to the Sun. About every 11 years, our star experiences a cycle of increased activity that peaks during a period called solar maximum. Explosive events, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, become more frequent and heat our planet’s atmosphere, causing it to expand. Atmospheric gases, in turn, increase drag on satellites orbiting Earth, slowing them down. With the Sun currently ramping up to predicted maximum levels of activity, and with no propulsion system for NEOWISE to keep itself in orbit, the spacecraft will soon drop too low to be usable.
The infrared telescope is going out of commission having exceeded scientific objectives for not one, but two missions, beginning as WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer).
Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, WISE launched in December 2009 with a six-month missionto scan the entire infrared sky. By July 2010, WISE had achieved this with far greater sensitivity than previous surveys, and NASA extended the mission until 2011.
During this phase, WISE studied distant galaxies, outgassing comets, exploding white dwarf stars, and brown dwarfs. It identified tens of millions of actively feeding supermassive black holes. It also generated data on circumstellar disks — clouds of gas, dust, and rubble spinning around stars — that citizen scientists continue to mine through the Disk Detective project.
In addition, it excelled at finding main belt asteroids, as well as near-Earth objects, and discovered the first known Earth Trojan asteroid. What’s more, the mission provided a census of dark, faint near-Earth objects that are difficult for ground-based telescopes to detect, revealing that these objects constitute a sizeable fraction of the near-Earth object population.
Comet NEOWISE was discovered by its namesake mission on March 27, 2020, and became a dazzling celestial object visible in the Northern Hemisphere for several weeks that year. It was one of 25 comets discovered by the mission.SDL/Allison Bills Infrared Heritage
Invisible to the naked eye, infrared wavelengths are emitted by warm objects. To keep the heat generated by WISE itself from interfering with its infrared observations, the spacecraft relied on cryogenic coolant. By the time the coolant had run out, WISE had mapped the sky twice, and NASA put the spacecraft into hibernation in February 2011.
Soon after, Mainzer and her team proposed a new mission for the spacecraft: to search for, track, and characterize near-Earth objects that generate a strong infrared signal from their heating by the Sun.
“Without coolant, we had to find a way to cool the spacecraft down enough to measure infrared signals from asteroids,” said Joseph Masiero, NEOWISE deputy principal investigator and a scientist at IPAC, a research organization at Caltech in Pasadena, California. “By commanding the telescope to stare into deep space for several months, we determined it would radiate only enough heat to reach lower temperatures that would still allow us to acquire high-quality data.” NASA reactivated the mission in 2013 under the Near-Earth Object Observations Program, a precursor to the agency’s current planetary defense program, with the new name NEOWISE.
By repeatedly observing the sky from low Earth orbit, NEOWISE has made 1.45 million infrared measurements of over 44,000 solar system objects to date. That includes more than 3,000 NEOs, 215 of which the space telescope discovered. Twenty-five of those are comets, among them the famed comet NEOWISE that was visible in the night sky in the summer of 2020.
“The spacecraft has surpassed all expectations and provided vast amounts of data that the science community will use for decades to come,” said Joseph Hunt, NEOWISE project manager at JPL. “Scientists and engineers who worked on WISE and through NEOWISE also have built a knowledge base that will help inform future infrared survey missions.”
The space telescope will continue its survey until July 31. Then, on Aug. 8, mission controllers at JPL will send a command that puts NEOWISE into hibernation for the last time. Since its launch, NEOWISE’s orbit has been dropping closer to Earth. NEOWISE is expected to burn up in our planet’s atmosphere sometime between late 2024 and early 2025.
More About the Mission
NEOWISE and NEO Surveyor support the objectives of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The NASA Authorization Act of 2005 directed NASA to discover and characterize at least 90% of the near-Earth objects more than 140 meters (460 feet) across that come within 30 million miles (48 million kilometers) of our planet’s orbit. Objects of this size can cause significant regional damage, or worse, should they impact the Earth.
JPL manages and operates the NEOWISE mission for PDCO within the Science Mission Directorate. The Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, built the science instrument. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colorado, built the spacecraft. Science data processing, archiving, and distribution is done at IPAC at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
For more information about NEOWISE, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/neowise
NASA’s NEOWISE Celebrates 10 Years, Plans End of Mission Classroom Activity: How to Explore an Asteroid Mission: Near-Earth Object Surveyor Media Contacts
Ian J. O’Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Charles Blue
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-802-5345
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / charles.e.blue@nasa.gov
2024-094
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Last Updated Jul 01, 2024 Related Terms
NEOWISE Comets Jet Propulsion Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) NEO Surveyor (Near-Earth Object Surveyor Space Telescope) Planetary Defense Planetary Defense Coordination Office WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) Explore More
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