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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Clean air is essential for healthy living, but according to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost 99% of the global population breathes air exceeding their guideline limits of air pollution. “Air quality is a measure of how much stuff is in the air, which includes particulates and gaseous pollutants,” said Kristina Pistone, a research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center. Pistone’s research covers both atmospheric and climate areas, with a focus on the effect of atmospheric particles on climate and clouds. “It’s important to understand air quality because it affects your health and how well you can live your life and go about your day,” Pistone said. We sat down with Pistone to learn more about air quality and how it can have a noticeable impact on human health and the environment.
What makes up air quality?
There are six main air pollutants regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States: particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides, ozone, sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide, and lead. These pollutants come from from natural sources, such as the particulate matter that rises into the atmosphere from fires and desert dust, or from human activity, such as the ozone generated from sunlight reacting to vehicle emissions.
Satellite image showing wildfire smoke drifting down from Canada into the American Midwest, captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on June 09, 2015. NASA/Jeff Schmaltz
What is the importance of air quality?
Air quality influences health and quality of life. “Just like we need to ingest water, we need to breathe air,” Pistone said. “We have come to expect clean water because we understand that we need it to live and be healthy, and we should expect the same from our air.”
Poor air quality has been tied to cardiovascular and respiratory effects in humans. Short-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), for example, can cause respiratory symptoms like coughing and wheezing, and long-term exposure increases the risk of developing respiratory diseases such as asthma or respiratory infections. Exposure to ozone can aggravate the lungs and damage the airways. Exposure to PM2.5 (particulates 2.5 micrometers or smaller) causes lung irritation and has been linked to heart and lung diseases.
In addition to its impacts on human health, poor air quality can damage the environment, polluting bodies of water through acidification and eutrophication. These processes kill plants, deplete soil nutrients, and harm animals.
Measuring Air Quality: the Air Quality Index (AQI)
Air quality is similar to the weather; it can change quickly, even within a matter of hours. To measure and report on air quality, the EPA uses the United States Air Quality Index (AQI). The AQI is calculated by measuring each of the six primary air pollutants on a scale from “Good” to “Hazardous,” to produce a combined AQI numeric value 0-500.
“Usually when we’re talking about air quality, we’re saying that there are things in the atmosphere that we know are not good for humans to be breathing all the time,” Pistone said. “So to have good air quality, you need to be below a certain threshold of pollution.” Localities around the world use different thresholds for “good” air quality, which is often dependent on which pollutants their system measures. In the EPA’s system, an AQI value of 50 or lower is considered good, while 51-100 is considered moderate. An AQI value between 100 and 150 is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups, and higher values are unhealthy to everyone; a health alert is issued when the AQI reaches 200. Any value over 300 is considered hazardous, and is frequently associated with particulate pollution from wildfires.
NASA Air Quality Research and Data Products
Air quality sensors are a valuable resource for capturing air quality data on a local level.
In 2022, the Trace Gas GRoup (TGGR) at NASA Ames Research Center deployed Inexpensive Network Sensor Technology for Exploring Pollution, or INSTEP: a new network of low-cost air quality sensors that measures a variety of pollutants. These sensors are capturing air quality data in certain areas in California, Colorado, and Mongolia, and have proven advantageous for monitoring air quality during California’s fire season.
The 2024 Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality (ASIA-AQ) mission integrated sensor data from aircraft, satellites, and ground-based platforms to evaluate air quality over several countries in Asia. The data captured from multiple instruments on these flights, such as the Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) from NASA Ames Atmospheric Science Branch, are used to refine air quality models to forecast and assess air quality conditions.
Agency-wide, NASA has a range of Earth-observing satellites and other technology to capture and report air quality data. In 2023, NASA launched the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) mission, which measures air quality and pollution over North America. NASA’s Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for Earth Observations (LANCE) tool provides air quality forecasters with measurements compiled from a multitude of NASA instruments, within three hours of its observation.
Nitrogen dioxide levels over the D.C./Philadelphia/New York City region measured by TEMPO.NASA/Scientific Visualization Studio
Air Quality Resources to Learn More
In addition to the EPA’s website, which houses air-quality related sources, the EPA also has a platform called AirNow, which reports the local AQI across the United States and allows users to check air quality levels in their area. Pistone also recommends looking at Purple Air’s real-time map, which displays PM data taken from a crowd-sourced network of low-cost sensors and translates those measurements to estimate AQI. For those concerned about air quality, Pistone recommends checking out https://cleanaircrew.org/ for resources on indoor air quality, breathing safely with wildfire smoke, and even building your own box fan filter.
To learn more about air quality research applications, see NASA’s Applied Sciences Program’s Health & Air Quality program area, which details the use of Earth observations to assess and address air quality concerns at local, regional, and national levels. Additionally, the NASA Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team (HAQAST) helps connect NASA data and tools with stakeholders to better share and understand the effects of air quality on human health.
Written by Katera Lee, NASA Ames Research Center
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Last Updated Oct 18, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
3 min read
NASA Selects Two Teams to Advance Life Sciences Research in Space
NASA announced two awards Thursday to establish scientific consortia – multi-institutional coalitions to conduct ground-based studies that help address the agency’s goals of maintaining a sustained human presence in space. These consortia will focus on biological systems research in the areas of animal and human models, plants, and microbiology. When fully implemented, the awards for these consortia will total about $5 million.
Space biology efforts at NASA use the unique environment of space to conduct experiments impossible to do on Earth. Such research not only supports the health and welfare of astronauts, but results in breakthroughs on diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders to help protect humanity down on the ground.
The awards for the two consortia are for the following areas:
Studying space biosphere. The Biology in Space: Establishing Networks for DUrable & REsilient Systems consortium involves a collaborative effort between human/animal, plant, and microbial biologists to ensure an integrated view of the space flight biosphere by enhancing data acquisition, modeling, and testing. It will include participation of more than thirty scientists and professionals working together from at least three institutions. Led by Kristi Morgansen at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. Converting human waste into materials for in-space biomanufacturing. The Integrative Anaerobic Digestion and Phototrophic Biosystem for Sustainable Space Habitats and Life Supports consortium will develop an anaerobic digestion process that converts human waste into organic acids and materials that can be used for downstream biomanufacturing applications in space. It will include eight scientists from six different institutions in three different states, including Delaware and Florida. The consortium is led by Yinjie Tang at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Proposals for these consortia were submitted in response to ROSES 2024 Program Element E.11 Consortium in Biological Sciences for a consortium with biological sciences expertise to carry out research investigations and conduct activities that address NASA’s established interests in space life sciences.
NASA’s Space Biology Program within the agency’s Biological and Physical Sciences division conducts research across a wide spectrum of biological organization and model systems to probe underlying mechanisms by which organisms acclimate to stressors encountered during space exploration (including microgravity, ionizing radiation, and elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide). This research informs how biological systems regulate and sustain growth, metabolism, reproduction, and development in space and how they repair damage and protect themselves from infection and disease.
For more information about NASA’s fundamental space-based research, visit https://science.nasa.gov/biological-physical
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Last Updated Oct 17, 2024 Contact NASA Science Editorial Team Location NASA Headquarters Related Terms
Biological & Physical Sciences For Researchers Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) Science & Research View the full article
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By NASA
Environmentalist and former Vice President Al Gore visited NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Oct. 16, 2024, to commemorate the upcoming 10th anniversary of the DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) mission.
“The image of our Earth from space is the single most compelling iconic image that any of us have ever seen,” Gore said at a panel discussion for employees. “Now we have, thanks to DSCOVR, 50,000 ‘Blue Marble’ photographs … To date there are more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications that are based on the unique science gathered at the L1 point by DSCOVR. For all of the scientists who are here and those on the teams that are represented here, I want to say congratulations and thank you.”
To commemorate the upcoming 10th anniversary of the DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) mission, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., hosted environmentalist and former Vice President Al Gore, shown here addressing a crowd in the Building 3 Harry J. Goett Auditorium, on Oct. 16, 2024.NASA/Travis Wohlrab Following opening remarks from Gore, Goddard scientists participated in a panel discussion entitled “Remote Sensing and the Future of Earth Observations. From left to right: Dalia Kirschbaum, director, NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Division; Miguel Román, deputy director, atmospheres, NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Division; Lesley Ott, project scientist, U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center; John Bolten, chief, NASA Goddard Hydrological Sciences Laboratory.NASA/Travis Wohlrab Gore shakes hands with Kirschbaum following the panel discussion. Goddard Center Director Makenzie Lystrup stands between the two.NASA/Katy Comber Gore visits the overlook for the NASA Goddard clean room where the Roman Space Telescope is being assembled. Julie McEnery, Roman senior project scientist, stands at right.NASA/Katy Comber Christa Peters-Lidard, NASA Goddard’s Sciences and Exploration Directorate director (left), speaks with Gore in the lobby of Building 32, where the former vice president viewed the control room of NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission.NASA/Katy Comber Following Gore’s talk on climate monitoring, Goddard scientists participated in a panel discussion, “Remote Sensing and the Future of Earth Observations,” which explored the latest advancements in technology that allow for the monitoring of the atmosphere from space and showcased how Goddard’s research drives the future of Earth science.
Gore’s visit also entailed a meeting with the DSCOVR science team, a view into the clean room where Goddard is assembling the Roman Space Telescope, and a stop at the control center for PACE: NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem mission.
Launched Feb. 11, 2015, DSCOVR is a space weather station that monitors changes in the solar wind, providing space weather alerts and forecasts for geomagnetic storms that could disrupt power grids, satellites, telecommunications, aviation and GPS.
DSCOVR is a joint mission among NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Air Force. The project originally was called Triana, a mission conceived of by Gore in 1998 during his vice presidency.
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Last Updated Oct 17, 2024 EditorRob GarnerContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Goddard Space Flight Center Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) View the full article
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s C-130 Hercules is prepared for departure from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on October 15, 2024, for a cargo transport mission to India. The C-130 is supporting the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission.NASA/Madison Griffin NASA’s globetrotting C-130 Hercules team is carrying out a cargo transport mission to Bengaluru, India, in support of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission.
The C-130 departed from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, Tuesday, Oct. 15, to embark on the multi-leg, multi-day journey. The flight path will take the aircraft coast to coast within the United States, across the Pacific Ocean with planned island stops, and finally to its destination in India. The goal: safely deliver NISAR’s radar antennae reflector, one of NASA’s contributions to the mission, for integration on the spacecraft. NISAR is a joint mission between NASA and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation).
The cargo transport mission will encompass approximately 24,500 nautical miles and nearly 80 hours of flight time for the C-130 and crew. The flight plan includes strategic stops and rest days to service the aircraft and reduce crew fatigue from long-haul segments of the flight and multiple time zone changes.
The flight crew inspects the aircraft prior to departure from NASA Wallops.NASA/Madison Griffin The C-130’s cargo compartment has plenty of space to hold the more than 2,800-pound payload containing the radar antennae reflector once retrieved from California.NASA/Madison Griffin The first stop for the C-130 was March Air Reserve Base located in Riverside County, California, to retrieve the radar antennae reflector from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Additional stops during the mission include Hickman Air Force Base, Hawaii; Andersen Air Force Base, Guam; Clark Air Base, Philippines; and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Airport in Bengaluru, India.
This is the C-130 and crew’s third cargo transport to India in support of the NISAR mission, with prior flights in July 2023 and March 2024.
For more information, visit nasa.gov/wallops.
By Olivia Littleton
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.
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Last Updated Oct 17, 2024 EditorOlivia F. LittletonContactOlivia F. Littletonolivia.f.littleton@nasa.gov Related Terms
Aeronautics NASA Aircraft Wallops Flight Facility View the full article
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
New findings using data from NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) mission offer unprecedented insight into the shape and nature of a structure important to black holes called a corona.
A corona is a shifting plasma region that is part of the flow of matter onto a black hole, about which scientists have only a theoretical understanding. The new results reveal the corona’s shape for the first time, and may aid scientists’ understanding of the corona’s role in feeding and sustaining black holes.
This illustration of material swirling around a black hole highlights a particular feature, called the “corona,” that shines brightly in X-ray light. In this depiction, the corona can be seen as a purple haze floating above the underlying accretion disk, and extending slightly inside of its inner edge. The material within the inner accretion disk is incredibly hot and would glow with a blinding blue-white light, but here has been reduced in brightness to make the corona stand out with better contrast. Its purple color is purely illustrative, standing in for the X-ray glow that would not be obvious in visible light. The warp in the disk is a realistic representation of how the black hole’s immense gravity acts like an optical lens, distorting our view of the flat disk that encircles it. NASA/Caltech-IPAC/Robert Hurt Many black holes, so named because not even light can escape their titanic gravity, are surrounded by accretion disks, debris-cluttered whirlpools of gas. Some black holes also have relativistic jets – ultra-powerful outbursts of matter hurled into space at high speed by black holes that are actively eating material in their surroundings.
Less well known, perhaps, is that snacking black holes, much like Earth’s Sun and other stars, also possess a superheated corona. While the Sun’s corona, which is the star’s outermost atmosphere, burns at roughly 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of a black hole corona is estimated at billions of degrees.
Astrophysicists previously identified coronae among stellar-mass black holes – those formed by a star’s collapse – and supermassive black holes such as the one at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy.
“Scientists have long speculated on the makeup and geometry of the corona,” said Lynne Saade, a postdoctoral researcher at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and lead author of the new findings. “Is it a sphere above and below the black hole, or an atmosphere generated by the accretion disk, or perhaps plasma located at the base of the jets?”
Enter IXPE, which specializes in X-ray polarization, the characteristic of light that helps map the shape and structure of even the most powerful energy sources, illuminating their inner workings even when the objects are too small, bright, or distant to see directly. Just as we can safely observe the Sun’s corona during a total solar eclipse, IXPE provides the means to clearly study the black hole’s accretion geometry, or the shape and structure of its accretion disk and related structures, including the corona.
“X-ray polarization provides a new way to examine black hole accretion geometry,” Saade said. “If the accretion geometry of black holes is similar regardless of mass, we expect the same to be true of their polarization properties.”
IXPE demonstrated that, among all black holes for which coronal properties could be directly measured via polarization, the corona was found to be extended in the same direction as the accretion disk – providing, for the first time, clues to the corona’s shape and clear evidence of its relationship to the accretion disk. The results rule out the possibility that the corona is shaped like a lamppost hovering over the disk.
The research team studied data from IXPE’s observations of 12 black holes, among them Cygnus X-1 and Cygnus X-3, stellar-mass binary black hole systems about 7,000 and 37,000 light-years from Earth, respectively, and LMC X-1 and LMC X-3, stellar-mass black holes in the Large Magellanic Cloud more than 165,000 light-years away. IXPE also observed a number of supermassive black holes, including the one at the center of the Circinus galaxy, 13 million light-years from Earth, and those in galaxies NGC 1068 and NGC 4151, 47 million light-years away and nearly 62 million light-years away, respectively.
Stellar mass black holes typically have a mass roughly 10 to 30 times that of Earth’s Sun, whereas supermassive black holes may have a mass that is millions to tens of billions of times larger. Despite these vast differences in scale, IXPE data suggests both types of black holes create accretion disks of similar geometry.
That’s surprising, said Marshall astrophysicist Philip Kaaret, principal investigator for the IXPE mission, because the way the two types are fed is completely different.
“Stellar-mass black holes rip mass from their companion stars, whereas supermassive black holes devour everything around them,” he said. “Yet the accretion mechanism functions much the same way.”
That’s an exciting prospect, Saade said, because it suggests that studies of stellar-mass black holes – typically much closer to Earth than their much more massive cousins – can help shed new light on properties of supermassive black holes as well.
The team next hopes to make additional examinations of both types.
Saade anticipates there’s much more to glean from X-ray studies of these behemoths. “IXPE has provided the first opportunity in a long time for X-ray astronomy to reveal the underlying processes of accretion and unlock new findings about black holes,” she said.
The complete findings are available in the latest issue of The Astrophysical Journal.
More about IXPE
IXPE, which continues to provide unprecedented data enabling groundbreaking discoveries about celestial objects across the universe, is a joint NASA and Italian Space Agency mission with partners and science collaborators in 12 countries. IXPE is led by Marshall. Ball Aerospace, headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, manages spacecraft operations together with the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder.
Learn more about IXPE’s ongoing mission here:
https://www.nasa.gov/ixpe
Elizabeth Landau
NASA Headquarters
elizabeth.r.landau@nasa.gov
202-358-0845
Lane Figueroa
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
256-544-0034
lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Oct 17, 2024 EditorBeth RidgewayLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) Marshall Space Flight Center Explore More
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