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By NASA
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy visited the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Dec. 8, 2021 for tours and briefings on Michoud’s role in the Artemis program and other capabilities that enrich many facets of the nation’s space exploration endeavors. Credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy will lead the agency’s delegation at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) from Monday, Oct. 14, to Thursday, Oct. 17, in Milan.
During the congress, NASA will discuss its Low Earth Orbit Microgravity Strategy, emphasizing the agency’s efforts to advance microgravity science, technology, and exploration. The agency also will highlight its commitment to space sustainability and several missions, including initiatives that support NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach and the Artemis Accords.
NASA will amplify the following talks happening at the congress through its YouTube Channel:
Monday, Oct. 147:45 a.m. EDT (1:45 p.m. CEST): One-to-One with Heads of Agencies featuring Nelson. 12:15 p.m. EDT (6:15 p.m. CEST): Host Plenary on Responsible and Sustainable Space Exploration for Moon to Mars featuring Melroy. Wednesday, Oct. 16 9 a.m. EDT (3 p.m. CEST): A New Era in Human Presence featuring Melroy. A full agenda for this year’s IAC is available online.
Members of the media registered for IAC will have three opportunities to meet with NASA leaders. To register, media must apply through the International Astronautical Federation website. Opportunities include:
Monday, Oct. 14 5:30 p.m. CEST (11:30 a.m. EDT): NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, Lisa Campbell, president, CSA (Canadian Space Agency), and Teodoro Valente, president, Italian Space Agency, to discuss the 3rd Annual Heads of Agency meeting of the Artemis Accords Signatories. Tuesday, Oct. 15 5 p.m. CEST (11 a.m. EDT): NASA Administrator Bill Nelson to discuss the agency’s international partnerships in the Artemis era. Wednesday, Oct. 16 5 p.m. CEST (11 a.m. EDT): NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and Robyn Gatens, director of the International Space Station and acting director of Commercial Spaceflight to discuss NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Microgravity Strategy In addition to the events outlined above, NASA will have an exhibit featuring the first sample of the asteroid Bennu to appear publicly in a non-museum setting, as well as information on the Artemis campaign, NASA’s future in low Earth orbit, and several upcoming science and technology missions. NASA also will host subject matter expert talks throughout the week at its exhibit.
NASA will provide photos and updates about its participation in the International Astronautical Congress from its @NASAExhibit account on X.
For more information about NASA participation at IAC, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-at-iac
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Amber Jacobson
Headquarters, Washington
240-298-1832
amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Oct 10, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
artemis accords Bill Nelson Pamela A. Melroy View the full article
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By NASA
As systems integration team lead for NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program (CLDP), Hector Chavez helps build a future where NASA and private industry work together to push the boundaries of space exploration.
With the rise of commercial providers in the space sector, Chavez’s team works to ensure that these companies can develop end-to-end systems to support NASA’s low Earth orbit operations—from transporting crew and cargo to operating mission centers. His team’s role is to assess how commercial providers are using their systems engineering processes to achieve program goals and objectives.
Official portrait of Hector Chavez. NASA/David DeHoyos With a background that spans both the National Nuclear Security Administration and NASA, Chavez brings knowledge and insight into working with interdisciplinary teams to create complex, reliable systems. He has collaborated across organizations, contracts, and government to ensure design and operational improvements were carried out safely and reliably.
“Systems integration brings different systems together to deliver capabilities that can’t be achieved alone,” said Chavez.
His previous role in NASA’s Safety and Mission Assurance office deepened his expertise in mitigating technical risks in human spaceflight by integrating engineering, health, and safety considerations into the development of space exploration vehicles.
Hector Chavez and the team prepare to lift and install a receiver telescope assembly for the Optical Development System, used to test the alignment and performance of the optical systems for NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 mission, in a clean room at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.NASA Now with CLDP, Chavez helps these companies navigate NASA’s design processes without stifling innovation. “Our challenge is to communicate what we’ve identified during technical reviews without prohibiting commercial partners from developing innovative solutions,” he said.
One recent success was the team’s development of two technical standards for docking systems and payload interfaces that will help ensure these systems’ compatibility with existing technologies. This work is essential in allowing commercial low Earth orbit systems to seamlessly integrate with NASA’s heritage designs, a key step toward realizing the agency’s vision for sustained commercial operations in space.
When asked about the biggest opportunities and challenges in his role, Chavez emphasizes the importance of early collaboration. By engaging with commercial partners at the early stages of the system development life cycle, NASA can provide feedback that shapes the future of commercial low Earth orbit architecture.
“We identify technical issues and lessons learned without dictating design solutions, allowing for innovation while ensuring safety and reliability,” explained Chavez.
Hector Chavez receives an award from the U.S. Department of Energy. Chavez’s approach to leadership and teamwork is rooted in his values of perseverance, integrity, and encouragement. These principles have helped guide the development of CLDP’s mission and vision statements, creating an environment that promotes collaboration and creativity.
He is passionate about building a team culture where people feel empowered to take responsible risks and explore solutions.
Hector Chavez receives a Silver Snoopy Award with his family at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA As NASA prepares for Artemis missions and the next generation of space explorers, Chavez offers advice to the Artemis Generation: “Never do it alone. Build a community and find common ground to share a vision.”
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
This image, taken from a data visualization, shows Arctic sea ice minimum extent on September 11, 2024. The yellow boundary shows the minimum extent averaged over the 30-year period from 1981 to 2010. Download high-resolution video and images from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio: https://svsdev.gsfc.nasa.gov/5382NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio/Trent L. Schindler Arctic sea ice retreated to near-historic lows in the Northern Hemisphere this summer, likely melting to its minimum extent for the year on Sept.11, 2024, according to researchers at NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The decline continues the decades-long trend of shrinking and thinning ice cover in the Arctic Ocean.
The amount of frozen seawater in the Arctic fluctuates during the year as the ice thaws and regrows between seasons. Scientists chart these swings to construct a picture of how the Arctic responds over time to rising air and sea temperatures and longer melting seasons. Over the past 46 years, satellites have observed persistent trends of more melting in the summer and less ice formation in winter.
This summer, Arctic sea ice decreased to a its minimum extent on September 11, 2024. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center this is the 7th lowest in the satellite record). The decline continues the long-term trend of shrinking ice cover in the Arctic Ocean.
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Tracking sea ice changes in real time has revealed wide-ranging impacts, from losses and changes in polar wildlife habitat to impacts on local communities in the Arctic and international trade routes.
This year, Arctic sea ice shrank to a minimal extent of 1.65 million square miles (4.28 million square kilometers). That’s about 750,000 square miles (1.94 million square kilometers) below the 1981 to 2010 end-of-summer average of 2.4 million square miles (6.22 million square kilometers). The difference in ice cover spans an area larger than the state of Alaska. Sea ice extent is defined as the total area of the ocean with at least 15% ice concentration.
Seventh-Lowest in Satellite Record
This year’s minimum remained above the all-time low of 1.31 million square miles (3.39 million square kilometers) set in September 2012. While sea ice coverage can fluctuate from year to year, it has trended downward since the start of the satellite record for ice in the late 1970s. Since then, the loss of sea ice has been about 30,000 square miles (77,800 square kilometers) per year, according to NSIDC.
Scientists currently measure sea ice extent using data from passive microwave sensors aboard satellites in the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, with additional historical data from the Nimbus-7 satellite, jointly operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Today, the overwhelming majority of ice in the Arctic Ocean is thinner, first-year ice, which is less able to survive the warmer months. There is far, far less ice that is three years or older now,
Nathan Kurtz
Chief, NASA's Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory
Sea ice is not only shrinking, it’s getting younger, noted Nathan Kurtz, lab chief of NASA’s Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“Today, the overwhelming majority of ice in the Arctic Ocean is thinner, first-year ice, which is less able to survive the warmer months. There is far, far less ice that is three years or older now,” Kurtz said.
Ice thickness measurements collected with spaceborne altimeters, including NASA’s ICESat and ICESat-2 satellites, have found that much of the oldest, thickest ice has already been lost. New research out of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California shows that in the central Arctic, away from the coasts, fall sea ice now hovers around 4.2 feet (1.3 meters) thick, down from a peak of 8.8 feet (2.7 meters) in 1980.
Another Meager Winter Around Antarctica
Sea ice in the southern polar regions of the planet was also low in 2024. Around Antarctica, scientists are tracking near record-low sea ice at a time when it should have been growing extensively during the Southern Hemisphere’s darkest and coldest months.
Ice around the continent is on track to be just over 6.6 million square miles (16.96 million square kilometers). The average maximum extent between 1981 and 2010 was 7.22 million square miles (18.71 million square kilometers).
The meager growth so far in 2024 prolongs a recent downward trend. Prior to 2014, sea ice in the Antarctic was increasing slightly by about 1% per decade. Following a spike in 2014, ice growth has fallen dramatically. Scientists are working to understand the cause of this reversal. The recurring loss hints at a long-term shift in conditions in the Southern Ocean, likely resulting from global climate change.
“While changes in sea ice have been dramatic in the Arctic over several decades, Antarctic sea ice was relatively stable. But that has changed,” said Walt Meier, a sea ice scientist at NSIDC. “It appears that global warming has come to the Southern Ocean.”
In both the Arctic and Antarctic, ice loss compounds ice loss. This is due to the fact that while bright sea ice reflects most of the Sun’s energy back to space, open ocean water absorbs 90% of it. With more of the ocean exposed to sunlight, water temperatures rise, further delaying sea ice growth. This cycle of reinforced warming is called ice-albedo feedback.
Overall, the loss of sea ice increases heat in the Arctic, where temperatures have risen about four times the global average, Kurtz said.
About the Author
Sally Younger
Senior Science Writer
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Last Updated Sep 24, 2024 LocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By NASA
A waxing gibbous moon rises over the Indian Ocean as the International Space Station orbited 266 miles above.Credit: NASA As NASA and its partners continue to conduct groundbreaking research aboard the International Space Station, the agency announced Monday it is seeking U.S. industry, academia, international partners, and other stakeholders’ feedback on newly developed goals and objectives that will help guide the next generation of human presence in low Earth orbit.
“From the very beginning, NASA’s flagship human spaceflight programs have built upon each other, expanding our knowledge and experience of humans living and working in space,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “As commercial industry is constructing new human-enabled platforms for low Earth orbit, NASA must answer the question: what should our goals and objectives be to advance our future science and exploration missions?”
NASA published draft high-level goals and objectives outlining 42 key points in six main areas: science, exploration-enabling research and technology development, commercial low Earth orbit infrastructure, operations, international cooperation, and workforce and engagement.
“Feedback is essential for shaping our long-term microgravity research and development activities,” said Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We are committed to refining our objectives with input from both within NASA and external partners, ensuring alignment with industry and international goals. After reviewing feedback, we will finalize our strategy later this year.”
The agency will conduct two invite-only workshops in September to discuss feedback on the draft goals and objectives. The first workshop is with international partners, and the second will engage U.S. industry and academic representatives.
NASA employees also are invited to provide input through internal agency channels. This approach reflects NASA’s commitment to harnessing diverse perspectives to navigate the rapidly evolving low Earth orbit environment.
“Organizations are increasingly recognizing the transformative benefits of space, with both governments and commercial activities leveraging the International Space Station as a testbed,” said Robyn Gatens, International Space Station director and acting director of commercial spaceflight at NASA Headquarters. “By developing a comprehensive strategy, NASA is looking to the next chapter of U.S. human space exploration to help shape the agency’s future in microgravity for the benefit of all.”
Stakeholders may submit comments by close of business on Friday, Sept. 27 to:
https://www.leomicrogravitystrategy.org/
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Amber Jacobson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov
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