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By Space Force
Both Godfrey and Berg underscored the importance of international cooperation in space. Godfrey pointed to the Combined Space Operations initiatives, which brings together 10 nations.
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson smiles for a portrait in the vestibule between the Kibo laboratory module and the Harmony module aboard space station.NASA NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson is returning home after a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. While on orbit, Dyson conducted an array of experiments and technology demonstrations that contribute to advancements for humanity on Earth and the agency’s trajectory to the Moon and Mars.
Here is a look at some of the science Dyson conducted during her mission:
Heart-Shaped Bioprints
NASA NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson operates the BioFabrication Facility for the Redwire Cardiac Bioprinting Investigation, which 3D prints cardiovascular tissue samples. In microgravity, bio inks used for 3D printing are less likely to settle and retain their shape better than on Earth. Cardiovascular disease is currently the number one cause of death in the United States, and findings from this space station investigation could one day lead to 3D-printed organs such as hearts for patients awaiting transplants.
Wicking in Weightlessness
NASA NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson handles hardware for the Wicking in Gel-Coated Tubes (Gaucho Lung) experiment. This study uses a tube lined with various gel thicknesses to simulate the human respiratory system. A fluid mass known as a liquid plug is then observed as it either blocks or flows through the tube. Data regarding the movement and trailing of the liquid plug allows researchers to design better drug delivery methods to address respiratory ailments.
Programming for Future Missions
NASA NASA NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson runs student-designed software on the free-flying Astrobee robot. This technology demonstration is part of Zero Robotics, a worldwide competition that engages middle school students in writing computer code to address unique specifications. Winning participants get to run their software on an actual Astrobee aboard the space station. This educational opportunity helps inspire the next generation of technology innovators.
Robo-Extensions
NASA As we venture to the Moon and Mars, astronauts may rely more on robots to ensure safety and preserve resources. Through the Surface Avatar study, NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson controls a robot on Earth’s surface from a computer aboard station. This technology demonstration aims to toggle between manipulating multiple robots and “diving inside” a specific bot to control as an avatar. This two-way demonstration also evaluates how robot operators respond their robotic counterparts’ efficiency and general output. Applications for Earth use include exploration of inhospitable zones and search and rescue missions after disasters.
Capturing Earth’s Essence
NASA For Crew Earth Observations, astronauts take pictures of Earth from space for research purposes. NASA astronauts Suni Williams (left) and Tracy C. Dyson (right) contribute by aiming handheld cameras from the space station’s cupola to photograph our planet. Images help inform climate and environmental trends worldwide and provide real-time natural disaster assessments. More than four million photographs have been taken of Earth by astronauts from space.
Multi-faceted Crystallization Processor
NASA NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson holds a cassette for Pharmaceutical In-Space Laboratory – 04 (ADSEP-PIL-04), an experiment to crystallize the model proteins lysozyme and insulin. Up to three cassettes with samples can be processed simultaneously in the Advanced Space Experiment Processor (ADSEP), each at an independent temperature. Because lysozyme and insulin have well-documented crystal structures, they can be used to evaluate the hardware’s performance in space. Successful crystallization with ADSEP could lead to production and manufacturing of versatile crystals with pharmaceutical applications.
Cryo Care
NASA NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson and Matthew Dominick preserve research samples in freezers aboard the space station. Cryopreservation is essential for maintaining the integrity of samples for a variety of experiments, especially within the field of biology. The orbiting laboratory has multiple freezer options with varying subzero temperatures. Upon return, frozen samples are delivered back to their research teams for further analysis.
Welcoming New Science
NASA NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson is pictured between the Unity module and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft in preparation for depressurization and departure from the International Space Station. On long-duration missions, visiting vehicles provide necessities for crew daily living as well as new science experiments and supplies for ongoing research. This vehicle brought experiments to test water recovery technology, produce stem cells in microgravity, study the effects of spaceflight on microorganism DNA, and conduct science demonstrations for students.
Diana Garcia
International Space Station Research Communications Team
NASA’s Johnson Space Center
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Expedition 71
Expedition 71 began on April 5, 2024 and ends in September 2024. This crew will explore neuro-degenerative diseases and therapies,…
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By NASA
5 Min Read Reinventing the Clock: NASA’s New Tech for Space Timekeeping
The Optical Atomic Strontium Ion Clock is a higher-precision atomic clock that is small enough to fit on a spacecraft. Credits: NASA/Matthew Kaufman Here on Earth, it might not matter if your wristwatch runs a few seconds slow. But crucial spacecraft functions need accuracy down to one billionth of a second or less. Navigating with GPS, for example, relies on precise timing signals from satellites to pinpoint locations. Three teams at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, are at work to push timekeeping for space exploration to new levels of precision.
One team develops highly precise quantum clock synchronization techniques to aid essential spacecraft communication and navigation. Another Goddard team is working to employ the technique of clock synchronization in space-based platforms to enable telescopes to function as one enormous observatory. The third team is developing an atomic clock for spacecraft based on strontium, a metallic chemical element, to enable scientific observations not possible with current technology. The need for increasingly accurate timekeeping is why these teams at NASA Goddard, supported by the center’s Internal Research and Development program, hone clock precision and synchronization with innovative technologies like quantum and optical communications.
Syncing Up Across the Solar System
“Society requires clock synchronization for many crucial functions like power grid management, stock market openings, financial transactions, and much more,” said Alejandro Rodriguez Perez, a NASA Goddard researcher. “NASA uses clock synchronization to determine the position of spacecraft and set navigation parameters.”
If you line up two clocks and sync them together, you might expect that they will tick at the same rate forever. In reality, the more time passes, the more out of sync the clocks become, especially if those clocks are on spacecraft traveling at tens of thousands of miles per hour. Rodriguez Perez seeks to develop a new way of precisely synchronizing such clocks and keeping them synced using quantum technology.
Work on the quantum clock synchronization protocol takes place in this lab at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.NASA/Matthew Kaufman In quantum physics, two particles are entangled when they behave like a single object and occupy two states at once. For clocks, applying quantum protocols to entangled photons could allow for a precise and secure way to sync clocks across long distances.
The heart of the synchronization protocol is called spontaneous parametric down conversion, which is when one photon breaks apart and two new photons form. Two detectors will each analyze when the new photons appear, and the devices will apply mathematical functions to determine the offset in time between the two photons, thus synchronizing the clocks.
While clock synchronization is currently done using GPS, this protocol could make it possible to precisely synchronize clocks in places where GPS access is limited, like the Moon or deep space.
Syncing Clocks, Linking Telescopes to See More than Ever Before
When it comes to astronomy, the usual rule of thumb is the bigger the telescope, the better its imagery.
“If we could hypothetically have a telescope as big as Earth, we would have incredibly high-resolution images of space, but that’s obviously not practical,” said Guan Yang, an optical physicist at NASA Goddard. “What we can do, however, is have multiple telescopes in various locations and have each telescope record the signal with high time precision. Then we can stich their observations together and produce an ultra-high-res image.”
The idea of linking together the observations of a network of smaller telescopes to affect the power of a larger one is called very long baseline interferometry, or VLBI.
For VLBI to produce a whole greater than the sum of its parts, the telescopes need high-precision clocks. The telescopes record data alongside timestamps of when the data was recorded. High-powered computers assemble all the data together into one complete observation with greater detail than any one of the telescopes could achieve on its own. This technique is what allowed the Event Horizon Telescope’s network of observatories to produce the first image of a black hole at the center of our galaxy.
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) — a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration — was designed to capture images of a black hole. Although the telescopes making up the EHT are not physically connected, they are able to synchronize their recorded data with atomic clocks.EHT Collaboration Yang’s team is developing a clock technology that could be useful for missions looking to take the technique from Earth into space which could unlock many more discoveries.
An Optical Atomic Clock Built for Space Travel
Spacecraft navigation systems currently rely on onboard atomic clocks to obtain the most accurate time possible. Holly Leopardi, a physicist at NASA Goddard, is researching optical atomic clocks, a more precise type of atomic clock.
While optical atomic clocks exist in laboratory settings, Leopardi and her team seek to develop a spacecraft-ready version that will provide more precision.
The team works on OASIC, which stands for Optical Atomic Strontium Ion Clock. While current spacecraft utilize microwave frequencies, OASIC uses optical frequencies.
The Optical Atomic Strontium Ion Clock is a higher-precision atomic clock that is small enough to fit on a spacecraft.NASA/Matthew Kaufman “Optical frequencies oscillate much faster than microwave frequencies, so we can have a much finer resolution of counts and more precise timekeeping,” Leopardi said.
The OASIC technology is about 100 times more precise than the previous state-of-the-art in spacecraft atomic clocks. The enhanced accuracy could enable new types of science that were not previously possible.
“When you use these ultra-high precision clocks, you can start looking at the fundamental physics changes that occur in space,” Leopardi said, “and that can help us better understand the mechanisms of our universe.”
The timekeeping technologies unlocked by these teams, could enable new discoveries in our solar system and beyond.
More on cutting-edge technology development at NASA Goddard By Matthew Kaufman, with additional contributions from Avery Truman
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Sep 18, 2024 EditorRob GarnerContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Goddard Technology Communicating and Navigating with Missions Goddard Space Flight Center Technology View the full article
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By NASA
Earth Observer Earth Home Earth Observer Home Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News Calendars In Memoriam More Archives 4 min read
Celebrating the First Earth Day Event at NASA Headquarters
Photo. Young attendees pose in front of the NASA Worm at the Earth Day celebration at NASA HQ. Photo credit: NASA Introduction
Organized by the Science Mission Directorate’s Science Support Office (SSO), NASA hosted its 12th annual Earth Day Celebration event from April 18–19, 2024. For the first time ever, the two-day event was held at NASA Headquarters (HQ) in Washington, DC.
The in-person event, which was free and open to the public, featured the newly installed Earth Information Center (EIC) exhibit – see Photos 1–4. The event featured 17 hands-on activities offered in NASA HQ’s East Lobby as well as two adjacent outdoor tents. Event participants were given an activity passport called the “Passport to Fun” listing all the activities and encouraging attendees to visit the stations and interact with NASA staff – see Figure 1. After completing six or more activities, attendees were able to claim giveaway items, e.g., lenticulars, NASA bags, posters, and calendars.
Photos 1–3. Student attendees at the Earth Information Center (EIC) interactive exhibit. Photo credits: NASA Photos 1–3. Student attendees at the Earth Information Center (EIC) interactive exhibit. Photo credits: NASA Photos 1–3. Student attendees at the Earth Information Center (EIC) interactive exhibit. Photo credits: NASA
Photo 4. Mark Subbarao [GSFC—Scientific Visualization Studio Lead] engages attendees with NASA science in front of the EIC Hyperwall. Photo credit: NASA Figure 1. Earth Day Activity Passport. Figure credit: NASA Prior to the event, Trena Ferrell [GSFC—Earth Science Education and Public Outreach Lead] arranged for groups of students from several local schools to visit the NASA Earth Day event. This included over 300 students from DuVal High School, Morgan State University, Howard University, Prince George’s County Environmental Academy, Prince George’s County Virtual Academy, International Hispanic School, and homeschoolers. On April 19, all of the students who were present at that time gathered for a plenary in the Webb Auditorium. Ferrell welcomed the attendees and provided introductions to prepare them for a virtual presentation by former NASA astronaut Paul Richards, who interacted with attendees and answered questions for roughly 20 minutes.
After Richard’s presentation, the attendees heard from Karen St. Germain [NASA HQ—Director of NASA’s Earth Science Division], whose in-person remarks emphasized to the students the crucial albeit less publicized studies that NASA does of our home planet. Related to this year’s Earth Day theme, “Water Touches Everything,” she discussed the ability of NASA’s Earth observing satellites to track water in all its forms as it circulates throughout the Earth system. St. Germain then answered questions from the audience for 15 minutes – see Photos 5–8.
Photo 5.Trena Ferrell [GSFC—Earth Science Education and Public Outreach Lead] welcomed student attendees to the Earth Day event. Photo credit: NASA Photos 6–7. Former NASA astronaut Paul Richards takes audience questions at the NASA Earth Day event. Photo credit: NASA Photos 6–7. Former NASA astronaut Paul Richards takes audience questions at the NASA Earth Day event. Photo credit: NASA Photo 8. Karen St. Germain [NASA Headquarters—Director of NASA’s Earth Science Division] provided remarks and answered student questions in the Webb Auditorium. Photo credit: NASA
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson visited the event on April 19, accompanied by Karen St. Germain and several NASA staff members who guided him as he explored the activities offered – see Photos 9–10.
Photo 9. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson [center, rear] spent time circulating among the NASA Earth Day hands-on activities. Here, he visits the “Measuring Light the Landsat Way” activity station, where Mike Taylor [GSFC/Science Systems and Applications, Inc.—Landsat Outreach Team] [left] explains how Landsat utilizes the electromagnetic spectrum and spectral signatures to better understand Earth. Photo credit: NASA Photo 10. [Left to right] Faith McKie [Acting NASA Press Secretary], Bill Nelson, Karen St. Germain, and Tom Wagner [Associate Director for Earth Action in the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate] during the Earth Day media briefing. Photo credit: NASA
Throughout the two-day event, it is estimated that as many as 1500 public participants attended along with the 300 students already discussed. While SSO staff distributed 500 activity passports, many small groups and families shared a single passport. SSO staff estimates that the true number of participants may be close to 1500 – see Photos 11–19.
Photo 11. A young Earth Day participant interacts with Ellen Gray [NASA GSFC—Earth Science News Team]. Photo credit: NASA Photo 12. Jenny Mottar [NASA HQ—Art Director for the Science Mission Directorate] and Kevin Miller [GSFC—SSO Senior Graphic Designer] hand out “Water Touches Everything” NASA Earth Day posters to student attendees. Photo credit: NASA Photos 13. Ross Walter [GSFC—Data Visualizer and Animator, Landsat Outreach Team] engages with students at the “Viewing Earth From Above with Landsat” station. Photo credit: NASA Photos 14. Students explore the Chesapeake Bay as seen by Landsat 8 with a large, vinyl floor mat. Photo credit: NASA Photo 15. Students play a Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Jeopardy game at the “GEDI Knights Measure Forests from Space” table. Photo credit: NASA Photo 16. Student attendees make ultraviolet-bead bracelets and Helio Big Year buttons at the Heliophysics station. Photo credit: NASA Photo 17. Young attendees engage with Valerie Casasanto [GSFC—Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) Outreach Lead], who helps them work on a three-dimensional glacier puzzle at the “ICESat-2: Ice, Trees, and Earth Height, If You Please!” station. Photo credit: NASA Photo 18. Young attendees engage with the “Meteorite Map Challenge.” Photo credit: NASA Photo 19. Dorian Janney [GSFC—GPM Outreach Specialist] engages visitors at the “Connect the Drops” station, where visitors learn how and why measuring global precipitation helps us better understand our home planet. Photo credit: NASA
Conclusion
NASA’s first Earth Day Celebration at NASA Headquarters was quite successful. While attendance was lower than previous events held at the more heavily trafficked Union Station or the National Mall, there was a steady stream of people throughout the exhibit on both days. It was also a great opportunity to showcase the new EIC to the public. Earth Day is the largest event organized annually by the SSO. This event requires months of planning, cross-divisional coordination, and intensive design of the hands-on activities – all carried from conceptualization through numerous revisions to implementation by more than 100 individuals from across the agency. This combined effort of SSO staff and assisting organizations results in an event that brings together thousands of visitors from a broad spectrum of ages and backgrounds to enjoy NASA science. This event would not have been possible were it not for the incredible efforts and collaboration put forth by so many of NASA’s outreach professionals. The SSO is grateful for all who helped to make this year’s Earth Day event a success and looks forward to Earth Day 2025.
Dalia Kirshenblat
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Global Science & Technology, Inc. (GSFC/GST)
dalia.p.zelmankirshenblat@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Sep 17, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
This enormous piece of space hardware is NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s spacecraft bus, which will maneuver the observatory to its place in space and enable it to function while there. It is photographed here in the largest clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where engineers are inspecting it upon delivery. The bus rests atop an aluminum ring that will temporarily protect its underside. The two copper-colored flaps are Roman’s Lower Instrument Sun Shade –– deployable panels designed to help shield the observatory from sunlight.NASA/Chris Gunn The spacecraft bus that will deliver NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to its orbit and enable it to function once there is now complete after years of construction, installation, and testing.
Now that the spacecraft is assembled, engineers will begin working to integrate the observatory’s other major components, including the science instruments and the telescope itself.
“They call it a spacecraft bus for a reason — it gets the telescope to where it needs to be in space,” said Jackie Townsend, the Roman deputy project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “But it’s really more like an RV because it has a whole assortment of functions that enable Roman to accomplish its scientific goals while out there too.”
Those goals include surveying wide swaths of the universe to study things like: dark energy, a mysterious cosmic pressure thought to accelerate the universe’s expansion; dark matter, invisible matter seen only via its gravitational influence; and exoplanets, worlds beyond our solar system.
The mission’s science wouldn’t be possible without a spacecraft to transport the telescope, point the observatory toward different cosmic targets, provide power, communicate with Earth, control and store instrument data, and regulate Roman’s temperature. Nearly 50 miles of electrical cabling are laced throughout the assembly to enable different parts of the observatory to communicate with each other.
The spacecraft will also deploy several major elements that will be stowed for launch, including the solar panels, deployable aperture cover, lower instrument Sun shade, and high-gain antenna. It’s also responsible for collecting and beaming down data, which is no small task for a space observatory that will survey the cosmos like Roman will.
“Roman will send back 1.4 terabytes of data per day, compared to about 50 to 60 gigabytes from the James Webb Space Telescope and three gigabytes from the Hubble Space Telescope,” said Jason Hylan, the Roman observatory manager at NASA Goddard. “Webb’s daily downlink is roughly comparable to 13 hours of YouTube video at the highest quality while Roman’s would amount to about 2 weeks.”
This top-down view shows NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s spacecraft bus from another angle. It rests atop an aluminum ring that will not be part of the observatory and is surrounded by an enclosure used in testing to ensure electromagnetic interference will not affect the bus’s sensitive electronics. The bus is covered in gray bagging material to prevent contamination –– even tiny stray particles could affect its performance.NASA/Chris Gunn A Goddard Grand Slam
This milestone is the culmination of eight years of spacecraft design work, building, and testing by hundreds of people at Goddard.
“Goddard employees were the brains, designers, and executors. And they worked with vendors who supplied all the right parts,” Townsend said. “We leaned on generations of expertise in the spacecraft arena to work around cost and schedule challenges that arose from supply chain issues and the pandemic.”
One time- and money-saving technique the team came up with was building a spacecraft mockup, called the structural verification unit. That allowed them to do two things at once: complete strength testing on the mockup, designed specifically for that purpose, while also assembling the actual spacecraft.
The spacecraft’s clever layout also allowed the team to adapt to changing schedules. It’s designed to be modular, “more like Trivial Pursuit pie pieces than a nesting egg, where interior components are buried inside,” Townsend said. “That’s been a game-changer because you can’t always count on things arriving in the order you planned or working perfectly right away with no tweaks.” It also increased efficiency because people could work on different portions of the bus at the same time without interfering with each other.
The slightly asymmetrical and hexagonal spacecraft bus is about 13 feet (4 meters) wide by 6.5 feet (2 meters) tall and weighs in at 8,400 pounds (3,800 kilograms).
While it may look small in this photo, the spacecraft bus for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is 8 feet (2.5 meters) wide by 6.5 feet (2 meters) tall and weighs in at 8,400 pounds (3,800 kilograms). In this photo, it rests atop an aluminum ring that will not be part of the observatory. The bundles of wires on top are part of more than 50 miles of cabling laced throughout the assembly to enable different parts of the observatory to communicate with each other.NASA/Chris Gunn One reason it doesn’t weigh more is that some components have been partially hollowed out. If you could peel back some of the spacecraft’s panels, you’d find superthin metallic honeycomb sandwiched between two slim layers of metal. And many of the components, such as the antenna dish, are made of strong yet lightweight composite materials.
When the spacecraft bus was fully assembled, engineers conducted a comprehensive performance test. Prior to this, each component had been tested individually, but just like with a sports team, the whole unit has to perform well together.
“The spacecraft passed the test, and now we’re getting ready to install the payload –– Roman’s instruments and the telescope itself,” said Missie Vess, a spacecraft systems engineer for Roman at NASA Goddard. “Next year, we’ll test these systems together and begin integrating the final components of the observatory, including the deployable aperture cover, outer barrel assembly, and solar panels. Then we’ll finally have ourselves a complete observatory, on track for launch by May 2027.”
To virtually tour an interactive version of the telescope, visit:
https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/interactive
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems, Inc in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.
By Ashley Balzer
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-1940
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Last Updated Sep 17, 2024 EditorAshley BalzerContactAshley Balzerashley.m.balzer@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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