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By NASA
A test image of Earth taken by NASA’s Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-4’s onboard camera. The camera will capture images of the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna upon deployment.NASA NASA recently evaluated initial flight data and imagery from Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-4 (PTD-4), confirming proper checkout of the spacecraft’s systems including its on-board electronics as well as the payload’s support systems such as the small onboard camera. Shown above is a test image of Earth taken by the payload camera, shortly after PTD-4 reached orbit. This camera will continue photographing the technology demonstration during the mission.
Payload operations are now underway for the primary objective of the PTD-4 mission – the demonstration of a new power and communications technology for future spacecraft. The payload, a deployable solar array with an integrated antenna called the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna, or LISA-T, has initiated deployment of its central boom structure. The boom supports four solar power and communication arrays, also called petals. Releasing the central boom pushes the still-stowed petals nearly three feet (one meter) away from the spacecraft bus. The mission team currently is working through an initial challenge to get LISA-T’s central boom to fully extend before unfolding the petals and beginning its power generation and communication operations.
Small spacecraft on deep space missions require more electrical power than what is currently offered by existing technology. The four-petal solar array of LISA-T is a thin-film solar array that offers lower mass, lower stowed volume, and three times more power per mass and volume allocation than current solar arrays. The in-orbit technology demonstration includes deployment, operation, and environmental survivability of the thin-film solar array.
“The LISA-T experiment is an opportunity for NASA and the small spacecraft community to advance the packaging, deployment, and operation of thin-film, fully flexible solar and antenna arrays in space. The thin-film arrays will vastly improve power generation and communication capabilities throughout many different mission applications,” said Dr. John Carr, deputy center chief technologist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “These capabilities are critical for achieving higher value science alongside the exploration of deep space with small spacecraft.”
The Pathfinder Technology Demonstration series of missions leverages a commercial platform which serves to test innovative technologies to increase the capability of small spacecraft. Deploying LISA-T’s thin solar array in the harsh environment of space presents inherent challenges such as deploying large highly flexible non-metallic structures with high area to mass ratios. Performing experiments such as LISA-T on a smaller, lower-cost spacecraft allows NASA the opportunity to take manageable risk with high probability of great return. The LISA-T experiment aims to enable future deep space missions with the ability to acquire and communicate data through improved power generation and communication capabilities on the same integrated array.
The PTD-4 small spacecraft is hosting the in-orbit technology demonstration called LISA-T. The PTD-4 spacecraft deployed into low Earth orbit from SpaceX’s Transporter-11 rocket which launched from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Aug. 16. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama designed and built the LISA-T technology as well as LISA-T’s supporting avionics system. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program, based at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and led by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, funds and manages the PTD-4 mission as well as the overall Pathfinder Technology Demonstration mission series. Terran Orbital Corporation of Irvine, California, developed and built the PTD-4 spacecraft bus, named Triumph.
Learn more about NASA’s LISA-T technology:
NASA teams are testing a key technology demonstration known as LISA-T, short for the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna. It’s a super compact, stowable, thin-film solar array that when fully deployed in space, offers both a power generation and communication capability for small spacecraft. LISA-T’s orbital flight test is part of the Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator series of missions. To travel farther into deep space, small spacecraft require more electrical power than what is currently available through existing technology. LISA-T aims to answer that demand and would offer small spacecraft access to power without compromising mass or volume. Watch this video to learn more about the spacecraft, its deployment, and the possibilities from John Carr, deputy center chief technologist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. View the full article
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By NASA
NASA has selected four new crew members to participate in the final simulated mission to Mars in 2024 inside the agency’s Human Exploration Research Analog. From left are Kristen Magas, Anderson Wilder, Obaid Alsuwaidi, and Tiffany Snyder.Credit: C7M4 Crew NASA selected a crew of four research volunteers to participate in its last simulated mission to Mars in 2024 within a habitat at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Obaid Alsuwaidi, Kristen Magas, Tiffany Snyder, and Anderson Wilder will step into the 650-square-foot HERA (Human Exploration Research Analog) facility on Friday, Nov. 1. Once inside, the team will live and work like astronauts for 45 days. The crew will exit the facility on Monday, Dec. 16, after simulating their return to Earth. Jordan Hundley and Robert Wilson also were named as alternate crew members.
Scientists use HERA studies to examine how crew members adapt to isolation, confinement, and remote conditions before NASA sends astronauts on deep space missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The studies provide data about human health and performance in an enclosed environment over time with crews facing different challenges and tasks.
The four volunteers will carry out scientific research and operational tasks throughout their simulated mission, including raising shrimp, growing vegetables, and “walking” on the surface of Mars using virtual reality. They will also experience communication delays lasting up to five minutes as they “near” Mars, allowing researchers to see how crews may respond to the type of delays astronauts will encounter in deep space. Astronauts traveling to the Red Planet may encounter one-way communication delays lasting as long as 20 minutes.
As with the previous HERA missions, crew members will conduct 18 human health studies during the mission through NASA’s Human Research Program. Collectively, the work helps scientists understand how a spaceflight-like environment contributes to the physiological, behavioral, and psychological health of crew members. Insights gleaned from the studies will allow researchers to develop and test strategies aimed at helping astronauts overcome obstacles on deep space missions.
Primary Crew
Obaid Alsuwaidi
Obaid Alsuwaidi serves as captain engineer for the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Ministry of Defense. In this role, he provides guidance in civil and marine engineering and addresses challenges facing the organization. Previously, Alsuwaidi worked as a project manager for the defense ministry, helping to streamline productivity, establish high standards of professionalism, and build a team of experts to serve the UAE’s needs.
Alsuwaidi earned a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Western Sydney University in Australia, followed by a master’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from George Washington University in Washington.
In his free time, Alsuwaidi enjoys horseback riding, swimming, and running.
Kristen Magas
Kristen Magas is an educator and engineer, currently teaching at Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School in Franklin, Massachusetts. She also mentors students involved in a NASA design and prototyping program, helping them develop and fabricate products to improve life in space on both International Space Station and Artemis missions. Magas was a finalist for the 2025 Massachusetts State Teacher of the Year.
Magas received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She also holds a master’s degree in Vocational Education from Westfield State University in Massachusetts. She has worked as a community college professor as well as a design engineer in municipal water and wastewater treatment.
In her spare time, Magas enjoys coaching robotics and track and field, hiking, biking, and staying connected with her community. She has two children and resides in North Attleboro, Massachusetts with her husband of 25 years.
Tiffany Snyder
Tiffany Snyder is a supervisor for the Cybersecurity Mission Integration Office at NASA, helping to ensure agency missions are shielded against cybersecurity threats. She has more than 20 years of information technology and cybersecurity experience, working with the Air National Guard and as a special agent with the Defense Counterintelligence Security Agency. She joined NASA in 2018 as an IT specialist, and later served as the deputy chief information security officer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, providing cybersecurity oversight.
Snyder holds a bachelor’s degree in Earth Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a master’s degree in Digital Forensics from the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
In her spare time, she enjoys playing with her dogs — Artemis and Apollo, gardening, running, and visiting the beach with her family.
Anderson Wilder
Anderson Wilder is a Florida Institute of Technology graduate student working on his doctorate in Psychology. His research focuses on team resiliency and human-machine interactions. He also works in the campus’s neuroscience lab, investigating how spaceflight contributes to neurobehavioral changes in astronauts.
Wilder previously served as an executive officer and engineer for an analog mission at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. There, he performed studies related to crew social dynamics, plant growth, and geology.
Wilder received his bachelor’s degrees in Linguistics and in Psychology from Ohio State University in Columbus. He also holds master’s degrees in Space Studies from International Space University in Strasbourg, France, and in Aviation Human Factors from the Florida Institute of Technology. He is completing another master’s degree in Cognitive Experimental Psychology at Cleveland State University in Ohio.
Outside of school, Wilder works as a parabolic flight coach, teaching people how to fly in reduced gravity environments. He also enjoys chess, reading, video games, skydiving, and scuba diving. On a recent dive, he explored a submerged section of the Great Wall of China.
Alternate Crew
Jordan Hundley
Jordan Hundley is a senior consultant at a professional services firm, offering federal agencies technical and programmatic support. Prior to his current position, he focused on U.S. Department of Defense clients, performing model-based system engineering and serving as a subject matter expert for related operations.
Hundley was commissioned into the U.S. Air Force through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. While on active duty, he served as an intercontinental ballistic missile operations officer. He later joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Currently, he is a space operations officer with experience in space battle management and electromagnetic warfare.
Hundley earned a master’s degree in Engineering Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. He is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in Systems Engineering at the university.
Hundley holds a private pilot license and is a certified rescue diver. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking and camping, researching theology, and learning musical instruments.
Robert Wilson
Robert Wilson is a senior researcher and project manager at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. He leads work enhancing human-machine collaborations, developing human prediction models, and integrating that technology into virtual reality and robotic systems designed to operate in isolated, constrained, and extreme environments. His human-machine teaming expertise also extends into responsible artificial intelligence development. He recently participated in a United Nations Roundtable discussion about artificial intelligence in security and defense.
Wilson received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Purdue University in 2013 and 2015, respectively. He earned his doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2020.
Outside of work, Wilson is an avid outdoors enthusiast. He enjoys scuba diving, winter camping, backcountry skiing, and hiking through the woods or mountains throughout the year. At home, he also likes to tinker in computer networking and self-hosted systems.
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NASA’s Human Research Program pursues the best methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. Through science conducted in laboratories, ground-based analogs, commercial missions, and the International Space Station, the program scrutinizes how spaceflight affects human bodies and behaviors. Such research continues to drive NASA’s mission to innovate ways that keep astronauts healthy and mission-ready as human space exploration expands to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
For more information about human research at NASA, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/hrp
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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 European Space Agency
At the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Milan this week, ESA signed a contract for Element #1, the first phase of the HydRON Demonstration System. HydRON, which stands for High thRoughput Optical Network, is set to transform the way data-collecting satellites communicate, using laser technology that will allow satellites to connect with each other and ground networks much faster.
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