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By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 2 min read
Sol 4370-4371: All About the Polygons
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on Nov. 20, 2024 — sol 4369, or Martian day 4,369 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 05:47:04 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024
We planned two very full sols today! The sol 4369 drive completed successfully, and the rover was in a stable enough position that we could unstow the arm — something we don’t take for granted in the exceedingly rocky terrain of the sulfate unit! Today the team decided to investigate several rocks in our workspace that are covered in cracks, or fractures, that form polygonal patterns. We are interested to better characterize the geometry of these cracks and to see if they are associated with any compositional differences from the rock. Both pieces of information will give us clues about how they formed. Did they form when stresses pushed on the rock in just the right manner to fracture it into polygonal shapes? Or do the cracks record the rock expanding and contracting, either due to massive changes in temperatures on the Martian surface, or minerals within the rock gaining and losing water? Or perhaps it is something different?
We selected two contact science targets to investigate in our attempt to answer these questions. The target named “Buttermilk” is one of the skinny raised ridges associated with these cracks. We will be placing APXS at three different places over this feature to try to characterize its chemistry. Our second contact science target, “Lee Vining,” gives us a nice 3D view into these cracks. Here, we will collect two MAHLI mosaics, one on each side of the rock that’s close to the rover, to characterize the geometry of the fractures. ChemCam will also get in on the action with a LIBS observation on a fracture fill named “Crater Crest,” as well as an observation on a dark-toned, platy rock called “Lost Arrow.” Mastcam will collect observations of several more polygonally fractured rocks further away from Curiosity in “The Dardanelles” series of mosaics. Some environmental science observations will round out the plan before our drive will take us about 25 meters further (about 82 feet) to the southwest.
Written by Abigail Fraeman, Planetary Geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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By NASA
Following eight months of intense research, design, and prototyping, six university teams presented their “Inflatable Systems for Lunar Operations” concepts to a panel of judges at NASA’s 2024 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge forum.
The challenge, funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and Office of STEM Engagement, seeks novel ideas from higher education on a new topic each year and supports the agency’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative in developing new approaches and innovative technologies to pave the way for successful exploration on the surface of the Moon. This year, teams were asked to develop low Size, Weight, and Power inflatable technologies, structures and systems that could benefit future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.
Taking top honors at this year’s forum receiving the Artemis Award was Northwestern University with National Aerospace Corporation & IMS Engineered Products, with their concept titled METALS: Metallic Expandable Technology for Artemis Lunar Structures. The Artemis Award is given to the team whose concept has the best potential to contribute to and be integrated into an Artemis mission.
The Northwestern University BIG Idea Challenge team developed METALS, an inflatable metal concept for long-term storage of cryogenic fluid on the Moon. The concept earned the Artemis Award, top honors in NASA’s 2024 BIG Idea Challenge.Credit: National Institute of Aerospace The Artemis Award is a generous recognition of the potential impact that our work can have. We hope it can be a critical part of the Artemis Program moving forward. We’re exceptionally grateful to have the opportunity to engage directly with NASA in research for the Artemis Program in such a direct way while we’re still students.”
Julian Rocher
Team co-lead for Northwestern University
METALS is an inflatable system for long term cryogenic fluid storage on the Moon. Stacked layers of sheet metal are welded along their aligned edges, stacked inside a rocket, and inflated once on the lunar surface. The manufacturing process is scalable, reliable, and simple. Notably, METALS boasts superior performance in the harsh lunar environment, including resistance against radiation, abrasion, micrometeorites, gas permeability, and temperature extremes.
Northwestern University team members pose with lunar inflatable prototypes from their METALS project in NASA’s 2024 BIG Idea Challenge. Credit: Northwestern University We learned to ask the right questions, and we learned to question what is the status quo and to go above and beyond and think outside the box. It’s a special mindset for everyone to have on this team… it’s what forces us to innovate.”
Trevor Abbott
Team co-lead for Northwestern University
Arizona State University took home the 2024 BIG Idea Challenge Systems Engineering prize for their project, AEGIS: Inflatable Lunar Landing Pad System. The AEGIS system is designed to deflect the exhaust gasses of lunar landers thereby reducing regolith disturbances generated during landing. The system is deployed on the lunar surface where it uses 6 anchors in its base to secure itself to the ground. Once inflated to its deployed size of 14 m in diameter, AEGIS provides a reusable precision landing zone for incoming landers.
Arizona State University earned the Systems Engineering prize for their BIG Idea Challenge project: AEGIS: Inflatable Lunar Landing Pad System. Arizona State University
This year’s forum was held in tandem with the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium’s (LSIC) Fall Meeting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where students had the opportunity to network with NASA and industry experts, attend LSIC panels and presentations, and participate in the technical poster session. The consortium provides a forum for NASA to communicate technological requirements, needs, and opportunities, and for the community to share with NASA existing capabilities and critical gaps.
We felt that hosting this year’s BIG Idea Forum in conjunction with the LSIC Fall Meeting would be an exciting opportunity for these incredibly talented students to network with today’s aerospace leaders in government, industry, and academia. Their innovative thinking and novel contributions are critical skills required for the successful development of the technologies that will drive exploration on the Moon and beyond.”
Niki Werkheiser
Director of Technology Maturation in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate
In February, teams submitted proposal packages, from which six finalists were selected for funding of up to $150,000 depending on each team’s prototype and budget. The finalists then worked for eight months designing, developing, and demonstrating their concepts. The 2024 BIG Idea program concluded at its annual forum, where teams presented their results and answered questions from judges. Experts from NASA, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and other aerospace companies evaluated the student concepts based on technical innovation, credibility, management, and the teams’ verification testing. In addition to the presentation, the teams provided a technical paper and poster detailing their proposed inflatable system for lunar operations.
Year after year, BIG Idea student teams spend countless hours working on tough engineering design challenges. Their dedication and ‘game-changing’ ideas never cease to amaze me. They all have bright futures ahead of them.”
David Moore
Program Director for NASA’s Game Changing Development program
Second-year mechanical engineering student Connor Owens, left, and electrical engineering graduate student Sarwan Shah run through how they’ll test the sheath-and-auger anchor for the axial vertical pull test of the base anchor in a former shower room in Sun Devil Hall. Image credit: Charlie Leight/ASU News The University of Maryland BIG Idea Challenge team’s Auxiliary Inflatable Wheels for Lunar Rover project in a testing environment University of Maryland Students from University of Michigan and a component of their Cargo-BEEP (Cargo Balancing Expandable Exploration Platform) projectUniversity of Michigan Northwestern University welders prepare to work on their 2024 BIG Idea Challenge prototype, a metal inflatable designed for deployment on the Moon.Northwestern University Brigham Young University’s Untethered and Modular Inflatable Robots for Lunar Operations projectBrigham Young University California Institute of Technology’s PILLARS: Plume-deployed Inflatable for Launch and Landing Abrasive Regolith Shielding projectCalifornia Institute of Technology The Inflatable Systems for Lunar Operations theme allowed teams to submit various technology concepts such as soft robotics, deployable infrastructure components, emergency shelters or other devices for extended extravehicular activities, pressurized tunnels and airlocks, and debris shields and dust protection systems. National Institute of Aerospace NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate sponsors the BIG Idea Challenge through a collaboration between its Game Changing Development program and the agency’s Office of STEM Engagement. It is managed by a partnership between the National Institute of Aerospace and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
Team presentations, technical papers, and digital posters are available on the BIG Idea website.
For full competition details, visit: https://bigidea.nianet.org/2024-challenge
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Game Changing Development projects aim to advance space technologies, focusing on advancing capabilities for going to and living in space.
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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
On Sept. 20, 2024, four students experienced the wonder of space exploration at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, taking part in an international competition that brought their work to life aboard the International Space Station.
Now in its fifth year, the Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC) continues to push the boundaries of robotics, bringing together the world’s brightest young minds for a real-world test of programming, problem-solving, and innovation.
The Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC) students tour the Gateway Habitation and Logistics Outpost module at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.NASA/Helen Arase Vargas The stakes reached new heights in this year’s competition, with 661 teams totaling 2,788 students from 35 countries and regions competing to program robots aboard the orbiting laboratory. Organized by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, the challenge provided a unique platform for students to test their skills on a global stage.
Meet Team Salcedo
Representing the U.S., Team Salcedo is composed of four talented students: Aaron Kantsevoy, Gabriel Ashkenazi, Justin Bonner, and Lucas Paschke. Each member brought a unique skill set and perspective, contributing to the team’s well-rounded approach to the challenge.
From left to right are Kibo-RPC students Gabriel Ashkenazi, Lucas Paschke, Aaron Kantsevoy, and Justin Bonner. NASA/Helen Arase Vargas The team was named in honor of Dr. Alvaro Salcedo, a robotics teacher and competitive robotics coach who had a significant impact on Kantsevoy and Bonner during high school. Dr. Salcedo played a crucial role in shaping their interests and aspirations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), inspiring them to pursue careers in these fields.
Kantsevoy, a computer science major at Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, led the team with three years of Kibo-RPC experience and a deep interest in robotics and space-based agriculture. Bonner, a second-year student at the University of Miami, is pursuing a triple major in computer science, artificial intelligence, and mathematics. Known for his quick problem-solving, he played a key role as a strategist and computer vision expert. Paschke, a first-time participant and computer science student at Georgia Tech, focused on intelligence systems and architecture, and brought fresh insights to the table. Ashkenazi, also studying computer science at Georgia Tech, specialized in computer vision and DevOps, adding depth to the team’s technical capabilities.
AstroBee Takes Flight
The 2024 competition tasked students with programming AstroBee, a free-flying robot aboard the station, to navigate a complex course while capturing images scattered across the orbital outpost. For Team Salcedo, the challenge reached its peak as their code was tested live on the space station.
The Kibo-RPC students watch their code direct Astrobee’s movements at Johnson Space Center with NASA Program Specialist Jamie Semple on Sept. 20, 2024.NASA/Helen Arase Vargas The robot executed its commands in real time, maneuvering through the designated course to demonstrate precision, speed, and adaptability in the microgravity environment. Watching AstroBee in action aboard the space station offered a rare glimpse of the direct impact of their programming skills and added a layer of excitement that pushed them to fine-tune their approach.
Overcoming Challenges in Real Time
Navigating AstroBee through the orbital outpost presented a set of unique challenges. The team had to ensure the robot could identify and target images scattered throughout the station with precision while minimizing the time spent between locations.
The Kibo-RPC students watch in real time as the free-flying robot Astrobee performs maneuvers aboard the International Space Station, executing tasks based on their input to test its capabilities. NASA/Helen Arase Vargas Using quaternions for smooth rotation in 3D space, they fine-tuned AstroBee’s movements to adjust camera angles and capture images from difficult positions without succumbing to the limitations of gimbal lock. Multithreading allowed the robot to simultaneously process images and move to the next target, optimizing the use of time in the fast-paced environment.
The Power of Teamwork and Mentorship
Working across different locations and time zones, Team Salcedo established a structured communication system to ensure seamless collaboration. Understanding each team member’s workflow and adjusting expectations accordingly helped them maintain efficiency, even when setbacks occurred.
Team Salcedo tour the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility with their NASA mentors (from top left to right) Education Coordinator Kaylie Mims, International Space Station Research Portfolio Manager Jorge Sotomayer, and Kibo-RPC Activity Manager Jamie Semple. NASA/Helen Arase Vargas Mentorship was crucial to their success, with the team crediting several advisors and educators for their guidance. Kantsevoy acknowledged his first STEM mentor, Casey Kleiman, who sparked his passion for robotics in middle school.
The team expressed gratitude to their Johnson mentors, including NASA Program Specialist Jamie Semple, Education Coordinator Kaylie Mims, and International Space Station Research Portfolio Manager Jorge Sotomayer, for guiding them through the program’s processes and providing support throughout the competition.
They also thanked NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement for offering the opportunity to present their project to Johnson employees.
“The challenge mirrors how the NASA workforce collaborates to achieve success in a highly technical environment. Team Salcedo has increased their knowledge and learned skills that they most likely would not have acquired individually,” said Semple. “As with all of our student design challenges, we hope this experience encourages the team to continue their work and studies to hopefully return to NASA in the future as full-time employees.”
Pushing the Boundaries of Innovation
The Kibo-RPC allowed Team Salcedo to experiment with new techniques, such as Slicing Aided Hyperinference—an approach that divides images into smaller tiles for more detailed analysis. Although this method showed promise in detecting smaller objects, it proved too time-consuming under the competition’s time constraints, teaching the students valuable lessons about prioritizing efficiency in engineering.
The Kibo-RPC students present their robotic programming challenge to the International Space Station Program. NASA/Bill Stafford For Team Salcedo, the programming challenge taught them the value of communication, the importance of learning from setbacks, and the rewards of perseverance. The thrill of seeing their code in action on the orbital outpost was a reminder of the limitless possibilities in robotics and space exploration.
Inspiring the Next Generation
With participants from diverse backgrounds coming together to compete on a global platform, the Kibo-RPC continues to be a proving ground for future innovators.
The challenge tested the technical abilities of students and fostered personal growth and collaboration, setting the stage for the next generation of robotics engineers and leaders.
The Kibo-RPC students and their mentors at the Mission Control Center. NASA/Helen Arase Vargas
As Team Salcedo looks ahead, they carry with them the skills, experiences, and inspiration needed to push the boundaries of human space exploration.
“With programs like Kibo-RPC, we are nurturing the next generation of explorers – the Artemis Generation,” said Sotomayer. “It’s not far-fetched to imagine that one of these students could eventually be walking on the Moon or Mars.”
The winners were announced virtually from Japan on Nov. 9, with Team Salcedo achieving sixth place.
Watch the international final round event here.
For more information on the Kibo Robot Programming Challenge, visit: https://jaxa.krpc.jp/
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By European Space Agency
The Space Resources Challenge was launched last week, an opportunity for innovators to pioneer the technologies that will help humankind live and work sustainably on the Moon.
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