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By NASA
2 min read
NASA-Funded Study Examines Tidal Effects on Planet and Moon Interiors
NASA-supported scientists have developed a new method to compute how tides affect the interiors of planets and moons. Importantly, the new study looks at the effects of body tides on objects that don’t have a perfectly spherical interior structure, which is an assumption of most previous models.
The puzzling, fascinating surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa looms large in this newly-reprocessed color view, made from images taken by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. This is the color view of Europa from Galileo that shows the largest portion of the moon’s surface at the highest resolution. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute Body tides refer to the deformations experienced by celestial bodies when they gravitationally interact with other objects. Think of how the powerful gravity of Jupiter tugs on its moon Europa. Because Europa’s orbit isn’t circular, the crushing squeeze of Jupiter’s gravity on the moon varies as it travels along its orbit. When Europa is at its closest to Jupiter, the planet’s gravity is felt the most. The energy of this deformation is what heats up Europa’s interior, allowing an ocean of liquid water to exist beneath the moon’s icy surface.
“The same is true for Saturn’s moon Enceladus.” says co-author Alexander Berne of CalTech in Pasadena and an affiliate at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Enceladus has an ice shell that is expected to be much more non-spherically symmetric than that of Europa.”
The body tides experienced by celestial bodies can affect how the worlds evolve over time and, in cases like Europa and Enceladus, their potential habitability for life as we know it. The new study provides a means to more accurately estimate how tidal forces affect planetary interiors.
In this movie Europa is seen in a cutaway view through two cycles of its 3.5 day orbit about the giant planet Jupiter. Like Earth, Europa is thought to have an iron core, a rocky mantle and a surface ocean of salty water. Unlike on Earth, however, this ocean is deep enough to cover the whole moon, and being far from the sun, the ocean surface is globally frozen over. Europa’s orbit is eccentric, which means as it travels around Jupiter, large tides, raised by Jupiter, rise and fall. Jupiter’s position relative to Europa is also seen to librate, or wobble, with the same period. This tidal kneading causes frictional heating within Europa, much in the same way a paper clip bent back and forth can get hot to the touch, as illustrated by the red glow in the interior of Europa’s rocky mantle and in the lower, warmer part of its ice shell. This tidal heating is what keeps Europa’s ocean liquid and could prove critical to the survival of simple organisms within the ocean, if they exist. The giant planet Jupiter is now shown to be rotating from west to east, though more slowly than its actual rate. NASA/JPL-Caltech The paper also discusses how the results of the study could help scientists interpret observations made by missions to a variety of different worlds, ranging from Mercury to the Moon to the outer planets of our solar system.
The study, “A Spectral Method to Compute the Tides of Laterally Heterogeneous Bodies,” was published in The Planetary Science Journal.
For more information on NASA’s Astrobiology Program, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/astrobiology
-end-
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Nov 07, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA employees plant an Artemis Moon Tree at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Oct. 29 to celebrate NASA’s successful Artemis I mission as the agency prepares for a return around the Moon with astronauts on Artemis II. NASA/Danny Nowlin A tree-planting ceremony at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Oct. 29 celebrated NASA’s successful Artemis I mission as the agency prepares for a return around the Moon with astronauts on Artemis II.
“We already have a thriving Moon Tree from the Apollo years onsite,” NASA Stennis Director John Bailey said. “It is exciting to add trees for our new Artemis Generation as it continues the next great era of human space exploration.”
NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement Next Gen STEM Project partnered with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service to fly five species of tree seeds aboard the Orion spacecraft during the successful uncrewed Artemis I test flight in 2022 as part of a national STEM Engagement and conservation education initiative.
The Artemis Moon Tree species included sweetgums, loblolly pines, sycamores, Douglas-firs, and giant sequoias. The seeds from the first Artemis mission have been nurtured by the USDA into seedlings to be a source of inspiration for the Artemis Generation.
The Moon Tree education initiative is rooted in the legacy of Apollo 14 Moon Tree seeds flown in lunar orbit over 50 years ago by the late Stuart Roosa, a NASA astronaut and Mississippi Coast resident.
NASA Stennis and the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC), located at the site, planted companion trees during the Oct. 29 ceremony. Bailey and NSSC Executive Director Anita Harrell participated in a joint planting ceremony attended by a number of employees from each entity.
The American sweetgum trees are the second and third Moon Trees at the south Mississippi site. In 2004, ASTRO CAMP participants planted a sycamore Moon Tree to honor the 35th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the first lunar landing on July 20, 1969.
The road to space for both Apollo 14 and Artemis I went through Mississippi. Until 1970, NASA Stennis test fired first, and second stages of the Saturn V rockets used for Apollo.
NASA Stennis now tests all the RS-25 engines powering Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond. Prior to Artemis I, NASA Stennis tested the SLS (Space Launch System) core stage and its four RS-25 engines.
The Artemis Moon Trees have found new homes in over 150 communities and counting since last spring, and each of the 10 NASA centers also will plant one.
As the tree grows at NASA Stennis, so, too, does anticipation for the first crewed mission with Artemis II. Four astronauts will venture around the Moon on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration.
The flight will test NASA’s foundational human deep space exploration capabilities – the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft – for the first time with astronauts.
Explore More NASA Stennis Image Articles View the full article
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By NASA
5 min read
30 Years On, NASA’s Wind Is a Windfall for Studying our Neighborhood in Space
An artist’s concept of NASA’s Wind spacecraft outside of Earth’s magnetosphere. NASA Picture it: 1994. The first World Wide Web conference took place in Geneva, the first Chunnel train traveled under the English Channel, and just three years after the end of the Cold War, the first Russian instrument on a U.S. spacecraft launched into deep space from Cape Canaveral. The mission to study the solar wind, aptly named Wind, held promise for heliophysicists and astrophysicists around the world to investigate basic plasma processes in the solar wind barreling toward Earth —key information for helping us understand and potentially mitigate the space weather environment surrounding our home planet.
Thirty years later, Wind continues to deliver on that promise from about a million miles away at the first Earth-Sun Lagrange Point (L1). This location is gravitationally balanced between Earth and the Sun, providing excellent fuel economy that requires mere puffs of thrust to stay in place.
According to Lynn Wilson, who is the Wind project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, fuel is only one indicator of Wind’s life expectancy, however. “Based on fuel alone, Wind can continue flying until 2074,” he said. “On the other hand, its ability to return data hinges on the last surviving digital tape recorder onboard.”
An artist’s concept shows a closeup of the Wind spacecraft. NASA Wind launched with two digital tape recorders to record data from all the instruments on the spacecraft and provide reports on the spacecraft’s thermal conditions, orientation, and overall health. Each recorder has two tape decks, A and B, which Wilson affectionately refers to as “fancy eight-tracks.”
After six years of service, the first digital tape recorder failed in 2000 along with its two tape decks, forcing mission operators to switch to the second one. Tape Deck A on that one started showing signs of wear in 2016, so the mission operators now use Tape Deck B as the primary deck, with A as a backup.
“They built redundancy into the digital tape recorder system by building two of them, but you can never predict how technology will perform when it’s a million miles away, bathing in ionizing radiation,” said Wilson. “We’re fortunate that after 30 years, we still have two functioning tape decks.”
Wind launched on Nov. 1, 1994, on a Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA Bonus Science
When Wind launched on Nov. 1, 1994, nobody could have possibly predicted that exactly 30 years later, NASA would be kicking off “Bonus Science” month in the Heliophysics Big Year. Beyond the mission’s incredible track record of mesmerizing discoveries about the solar wind — some detailed on its 25th anniversary — Wind continues to deliver with bonus science abound.
Opportunity and Collaborative Discovery
Along its circuitous journey to L1, Wind dipped in and out of Earth’s magnetosphere more than 65 times, capturing the largest whistler wave — a low-frequency radio wave racing across Earth’s magnetic field — ever recorded in Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts. Wind also traveled ahead of and behind Earth — about 150 times our planet’s diameter in both directions, informing potential future missions that would operate in those areas with extreme exposure to the solar wind. It even took a side quest to the Moon, cruising through the lunar wake, a shadow devoid of solar wind on the far side of the Moon.
Later, from its permanent home at L1, Wind was among several corroborating spacecraft that helped confirm what scientists believe is the brightest gamma-ray burst to occur since the dawn of human civilization. The burst, GRB 221009A, was first detected by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in October 2022. Although not in its primary science objectives, Wind carries two bonus instruments designed to observe gamma-ray bursts that helped scientists confirm the burst’s origin in the Sagitta constellation.
Academic Inspiration
More than 7,200 research papers have been published using Wind data, and the mission has supported more than 100 graduate and post-graduate degrees.
Wilson was one of those degree candidates. When Wind launched, Wilson was in sixth grade, on the football, baseball, and wrestling teams, with spare time spent playing video games and reading science fiction. He had a knack for science and considered becoming a medical doctor or an engineer before committing to his love of physics, which ultimately led to his current position as Wind’s project scientist. While pursuing his doctorate, he worked with Adam Szabo who was the Wind project scientist at NASA Goddard at the time and used Wind data to study interplanetary collisionless shock waves. Szabo eventually hired Wilson to work on the Wind mission team at Goddard.
Also in sixth grade at the time, Joe Westlake, NASA Heliophysics division director,was into soccer and music, and was a voracious reader consumed with Tolkein’s stories about Middle Earth. Now he leads the NASA office that manages Wind.
“It’s amazing to think that Lynn Wilson and I were in middle school, and the original mission designers and scientists have long since retired,” said Westlake. “When a mission makes it to 30 years, you can’t help but be inspired by the role it has played not only in scientific discovery, but in the careers of multiple generations of scientists.”
By Erin Mahoney
NASA Headquarters, Washington
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Last Updated Nov 01, 2024 Related Terms
Goddard Space Flight Center Heliophysics Heliophysics Division Science & Research Solar Wind The Sun Wind Mission Explore More
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By NASA
8 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Artemis I Moon Tree seedlings continue to find new homes with schools, museums, libraries, universities, and community organizations across the contiguous United States. An open call to NASA’s Artifacts Module in Fall, 2023 welcomed over 1000 organization submissions, which were reviewed and ranked by a joint USDA Forest Service and NASA panel.
Final recipient selection and seedling assignments for each cycle are informed by rank and region, and subject to a limited inventory of trees germinated from each of the five species of seeds flown aboard Artemis I in 2022. Recipient selection and seedling distribution follows four cycles: Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, and Fall 2025.
Spring 2024 Artemis I Moon Tree Stewards
Alabama
Fairfield City Schools – Fairfield High Preparatory School Fairfield AL American Sweetgum
Meridianville Middle School Hazel Green AL Loblolly Pine
Pioneer Museum of Alabama Troy AL Loblolly Pine
Troy University Arboretum Troy AL Loblolly Pine
Arkansas
Baxter County Library Mountain Home AR American Sweetgum
Arizona
University of Arizona – Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) Tucson AZ American Sweetgum
California
Forestr.org Castro Valley CA Sequoia
Girl Scout Troop 7574 Dana Point CA Sequoia
Greenfield Union School District Greenfield CA Sequoia
Quest Science Center Livermore CA Sequoia
Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary School Lake Forest CA Sequoia
Colorado
United States Air Force Academy USAF Academy CO American Sweetgum
Connecticut
New Milford High School New Milford CT American Sweetgum
South School – New Canaan School District New Canaan CT Sycamore
Yale University Marsh Botanical Garden New Haven CT American Sweetgum
Washington, DC
United States Capitol
Washington, DC DC American Sweetgum
Florida
Agricultural Biotechnology Academy, West Florida High School of Advanced Technology, Escambia County School District Pensacola FL Loblolly Pine
Cornerstone Learning Community Tallahassee FL American Sweetgum
Dreamers Academy Sarasota FL American Sweetgum
Florida Forest Service Tallahassee FL Loblolly Pine
Florida Polytechnic University Lakeland FL American Sweetgum
Gulfside Community Partnership School Holiday FL Loblolly Pine
H.B. Plant High School Tampa FL American Sweetgum
Hobbs Middle School Milton FL American Sweetgum
Lawton Environmental Study Area (LESA), T.W. Lawton Elementary Oviedo FL American Sweetgum
Montverde Academy Montverde FL American Sweetgum
Museum of Archaeology, Paleontology & Science New Port Richey FL American Sweetgum
Museum of Science and Industry Tampa FL American Sweetgum
North Andrews Gardens Elementary Oakland Park FL American Sweetgum
Orange Park Elementary Orange Park FL American Sweetgum
Pine Crest School Fort Lauderdale FL American Sweetgum
Port Malabar Elementary School Palm Bay FL American Sweetgum
St. Peter Catholic School Deland FL Loblolly Pine
UF/IFAS Extension Clay County 4-H Green Cove Springs FL Loblolly Pine
University of West Florida Pensacola FL Loblolly Pine
West Navarre Intermediate School Navarre FL American Sweetgum
Georgia
Berrien Elementary School Nashville GA Loblolly Pine
East Georgia State College Swainsboro GA Loblolly Pine
Lilburn Elementary School Lilburn GA Loblolly Pine
Park Elementary School Hamilton GA Loblolly Pine
Sagamore Hills Elementary School Atlanta GA Loblolly Pine
United States Air Force Moody Air Force Base GA American Sweetgum
Iowa
Cedar Rapids Community School District, Metro High School Cedar Rapids IA Sycamore
Idaho
American Falls High School American Falls ID Sycamore
Illinois
Eagle Pointe Elementary School Plainfield IL Sycamore
Marion Community Unit #2 School District, Marion Junior High School Marion IL Sycamore
Monmouth College Monmouth IL American Sweetgum
Indiana
Franklin Community High School Franklin IN American Sweetgum
Hayes Arboretum Richmond IN American Sweetgum
Kansas
Tecumseh South Elementary School Tecumseh KS American Sweetgum
Kentucky
Christian County Middle School Hopkinsville KY American Sweetgum
FIND Outdoors Gladie Visitor Center, Red River Gorge Stanton KY American Sweetgum
Graves County High School Mayfield KY American Sweetgum
Martha Layne Collins High School Shelbyville KY American Sweetgum
Louisiana
Shreve Island Elementary, Caddo Parish Schools Shreveport LA American Sweetgum
YMCA of Bogalusa Bogalusa LA Loblolly Pine
Massachusetts
Bernardston Elementary School Bernardston MA American Sweetgum
Michigan
The Botanic Garden at Historic Barns Park Traverse City MI Sycamore
Minnesota
Forest Lake Area High School Forest Lake MN Sycamore
Missouri
Columbia Public Schools Elementary Gifted Program Columbia MO American Sweetgum
Trailridge Elementary Lee’s Summit MO American Sweetgum
Mississippi
Bayou Academy Cleveland MS American Sweetgum
Clinton Community Nature Center Clinton MS American Sweetgum
North Carolina
Cardinal Gibbons High School Raleigh NC American Sweetgum
FIND Outdoors Cradle of Forestry Pisgah National Forest NC American Sweetgum
Mars Hill University Mars Hill NC American Sweetgum
Montgomery County NC Extension Master Gardener Volunteers; The Gathering Garden Mount Gilead NC Loblolly Pine
North Carolina Executive Mansion – Governor’s Residence
Raleigh NC Loblolly Pine
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics – Morganton Morganton NC American Sweetgum
White Oak High School Jacksonville NC American Sweetgum
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics – Durham Durham NC Sycamore
Nebraska
Hastings College Hastings NE American Sweetgum
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln NE American Sweetgum
New Hampshire
Barnstead Elementary School Center Barnstead NH Sycamore
Nashua Community College Nashua NH Sycamore
New Jersey
Edelman Planetarium at Rowan University Glassboro NJ American Sweetgum
Information Age Learning Center Wall Township NJ American Sweetgum
New Mexico
New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum Las Cruces NM Loblolly Pine
New York
Baldwinsville Central School District Baldwinsville NY Sycamore
Bronx Community College Bronx NY Sycamore
Franklin Middle School, Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District Town of Tonawanda NY Sycamore
Pembroke Junior/Senior High School Corfu NY American Sweetgum
Rome City School District Rome NY Sequoia
State University of New York (SUNY) – New Paltz New Paltz NY American Sweetgum
Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum and Planetarium Centerport NY American Sweetgum
Ohio
Claymont High School Uhrichsville OH Sycamore
Coldwater Exempted Village Schools Coldwater OH American Sweetgum
Copley-Fairlawn Middle School, Copley-Fairlawn City Schools Copley OH Sycamore
Liberty-Benton High School Findlay OH Sycamore
Marshall STEMM Academy Toledo OH American Sweetgum
Portsmouth City Schools Portsmouth OH American Sweetgum
Pymatuning Valley High School Andover OH American Sweetgum
Wayne National Forest Nelsonville OH American Sweetgum
Oklahoma
Centennial Middle School Broken Arrow OK Loblolly Pine
Jenks Northwest Elementary School Tulsa OK American Sweetgum
Perkins Public Library: Thomas – Wilhite Memorial Library Perkins OK American Sweetgum
Oregon
Crow Middle School Eugene OR American Sweetgum
Friends of Myrtle Creek Library Myrtle Creek OR American Sweetgum
Lent Elementary School Portland OR American Sweetgum
Tamarack Elementary School Hillsboro OR American Sweetgum
Willamette Elementary School, McMinnville School District McMinnville OR American Sweetgum
Pennsylvania
Allegheny Observatory, University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh PA American Sweetgum
Montour High School McKees Rocks PA American Sweetgum
Penn State University, Penn State Erie – The Behrend College Erie PA American Sweetgum
Penn State University, Penn State Schuylkill University Park PA Sycamore
Perkiomen Valley Middle School East Collegeville PA American Sweetgum
The Reading Public Museum Reading PA Sycamore
Rhode Island
Tiverton Public Library Tiverton RI American Sweetgum
South Carolina
Academy for the Arts, Science, & Technology Myrtle Beach SC Loblolly Pine
Conway Elementary School Conway SC American Sweetgum
Manning Early Childhood Center, Clarendon School District Manning SC American Sweetgum
Spartanburg Community College Horticulture Program Spartanburg SC American Sweetgum
Tennessee
Great Smoky Mountain Council, Boy Scouts of America Knoxville TN American Sweetgum
Lipscomb Academy Nashville TN American Sweetgum
Pellissippi State Community College Knoxville TN Loblolly Pine
Sumner Academy Gallatin TN American Sweetgum
Texas
Atlanta Public Library Atlanta TX American Sweetgum
Beaumont Children’s Museum & Beaumont Botanical Gardens Beaumont TX Loblolly Pine
Bonham Pre-Kindergarten School San Marcos TX Loblolly Pine
Charles W. Young Junior High School Arlington TX Loblolly Pine
Clear Creek Intermediate, Clear Creek Independent School District (CCISD) League City TX American Sweetgum
Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden – Children’s Adventure Garden Dallas TX American Sweetgum
DeKalb Independent School District De Kalb TX Loblolly Pine
Doss Consolidated Common School District (CCSD) Doss TX American Sweetgum
Fort Worth Botanic Garden Fort Worth TX Loblolly Pine
Galveston County 4H Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Program (Houston Botanic Gardens) Houston TX American Sweetgum
Goliad Independent School District Goliad TX Loblolly Pine
Greens Prairie Elementary School College Station TX American Sweetgum
Groves Elementary School Humble TX Loblolly Pine
Kay Granger Elementary School Fort Worth TX Loblolly Pine
Leadership Big Bend, Nopalitos Park Alpine TX American Sweetgum
Science Hall Elementary School Kyle TX American Sweetgum
Scobee Education Center at San Antonio College San Antonio TX Loblolly Pine
Space Center Intermediate, Clear Creek Independent School District (CCISD) Houston TX Loblolly Pine
Texas A&M Forest Service Conroe TX American Sweetgum
Texas A&M University, Physics & Astronomy Department College Station TX American Sweetgum
University of Texas at Arlington Arlington TX American Sweetgum
Uplift Summit International Preparatory Middle School Arlington TX Loblolly Pine
Westside Elementary School Cedar Park TX Loblolly Pine
Zilker Botanical Garden Conservancy Austin TX Loblolly Pine
Utah
Southern Utah University STEM Center Cedar City UT American Sweetgum
Virginia
Essex County Museum Tappahannock VA American Sweetgum
Virginia Living Museum Newport News VA Loblolly Pine
Virginia Zoo Norfolk VA Loblolly Pine
Washington
Innovation Lab High School Bothell WA Sycamore
Orchard Prairie School District Spokane WA Sycamore
Richland School District Richland WA Sycamore
Upper Columbia Resource Conservation & Development Council Spokane Valley WA Sycamore
Yakima Area Arboretum Yakima WA Sycamore
Wisconsin
Dunn County Historical Society Menomonie WI Sycamore
Fall 2024 Artemis I Moon Tree Stewards
Distribution is underway through November 2024. This list will be updated once distribution is complete. Previously notified recipients who have not received a seedling may be deferred to a later cycle based on current ready-to-ship seedling inventory.
Spring 2025 Artemis I Moon Tree Stewards
Selection is in progress.
Fall 2025 Artemis I Moon Tree Stewards
Selection is in progress.
Explore Moon Trees Website View the full article
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