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By NASA
Credit: NASA NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro and acting Associate Administrator Vanessa Wyche will lead the agency’s delegation at the 40th Space Symposium, Monday, April 7 through Thursday, April 10, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Petro will join Space Foundation Chief Executive Officer Heather Pringle for a fireside chat to discuss NASA’s current priorities and partnerships at 12:15 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, April 8.
Additional NASA participation in the conference includes a one-on-one discussion with Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, and a lunar science and exploration panel featuring Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator, Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate.
A full agenda for this year’s Space Symposium is available online.
Conference attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about NASA’s missions and projects on a variety of topics during brief talks with subject matter experts in the agency’s exhibit space.
NASA will provide photos and updates about its participation in the Space Symposium from its @NASAExhibit account on X.
For more information about NASA, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov
-end-
Amber Jacobson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Apr 04, 2025 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Leadership Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Science Mission Directorate View the full article
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch tour the Arc Jet Facility at NASA’s Ames Research Center, learning more about the testing equipment’s capabilities to analyze thermal protection systems from George Raiche, thermophysics facilities branch chief at Ames.NASA/Donald Richey As NASA prepares to send astronauts to the Moon aboard the Orion spacecraft, research, testing, and development at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley has played a critical role.
Recently, Ames welcomed Artemis II astronauts Christina Koch and Victor Glover and Orion leaders Debbie Korth, deputy program manager, and Luis Saucedo, deputy crew and service module manager, to tour Ames facilities that support the Orion Program and celebrate the achievements of employees.
The group started their visit at the Arc Jet Complex, where researchers use extremely hot, high-speed gases to simulate the intense heat of atmospheric reentry before visiting the Sensors & Thermal Protection Systems Advanced Research Laboratories. The team works to develop sensors and flight instrumentation that measure heat shield response throughout a mission.
These systems were used to develop and test Orion’s thermal protection system to ensure the safety of astronauts during future missions. After the successful return of the Artemis I Orion spacecraft, Ames research was essential when analyzing unexpected charring loss on the heat shield.
Debbie Korth, Orion deputy program manager, presents awards to the Ames workforce at the Orion Circle of Excellence Awards Ceremony, while astronauts Christina Koch and Victor Glover look on.NASA/Donald Richey The visit culminated in an award ceremony to honor employees with outstanding performance and a legacy of service to the Orion Program. Thirty-two employees were honored for their individual or team contributions.
“The Ames workforce has played an important role in developing, testing, and validating the Orion spacecraft’s thermal protection system as well as supporting its software and guidance, navigation, and control,” said Eugene Tu, NASA Ames center director. “I’m pleased to see their contributions recognized and celebrated by program leadership and two of the astronauts whose safety and success were in mind when ensuring these systems are safe, reliable, and the highest quality possible.”
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Last Updated Apr 02, 2025 Related Terms
Ames Research Center Artemis Christina H. Koch Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate General Orion Program Victor J. Glover Explore More
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By NASA
NASA’s Stennis Space Center employees were recognized with Honoree Awards from NASA’s Space Flight Awareness Program during a March 10 ceremony in Orlando, Florida, for outstanding support of human spaceflight.
Stennis Space Center employee Melissa Wagner of Pass Christian, Mississippi, is presented with the NASA Space Flight Awareness Program Honoree Award during a March 10 ceremony. Wagner (second from left) receives the award from (left to right): NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, NASA Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Acting Associate Administrator Dr. Lori Glaze, and NASA Space Operations Mission Directorate Associate Administrator Kenneth Bowersox. NASA/Kennedy Space Center Melissa Wagner of Pass Christian, Mississippi, is a NASA contract specialist in the Office of Procurement at NASA Stennis. She received the honor for contributions to NASA’s Artemis campaign by identifying potential risks related to propulsion test efforts in support of the initiative, resulting in successful mitigation actions.
NASA’s Stennis Space Center employee Samone Wilson of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is presented with the NASA Space Flight Awareness Program Honoree Award during a March 10 ceremony. Wilson (second from left) receives the award from (left to right): NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, NASA Space Operations Mission Directorate Associate Administrator Kenneth Bowersox, and NASA Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Acting Associate Administrator Dr. Lori Glaze.NASA/Kennedy Space Center Samone Wilson of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is a NASA public affairs specialist in the Office of Communications at NASA Stennis. She received the honor for her work in telling others about NASA and NASA Stennis activities and missions.
Timothy Miller of Pearl River, Louisiana, is a senior drafter for Syncom Space Services at NASA Stennis. Although unable to attend the ceremony, he received the honor for contributions supporting flight systems integration, facility readiness, and cost reduction with his use of Creo Parametric modeling, a powerful 3D software.
Madison Monti of Kiln, Mississippi, is a security support specialist for Chenega Global Protection at NASA Stennis. Although unable to attend the ceremony, she received the honor for contributions supporting the badging office at NASA Stennis to ensure a consistent, efficient, and secure process.
NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, Space Operations Mission Directorate Associate Administrator Kenneth Bowersox, and Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Acting Associate Administrator Dr. Lori Glaze presented the awards.
Bresnik, assistant-to-the-chief of the Astronaut Office for Exploration, was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2004. He manages the development and testing of everything that will operate beyond low-Earth orbit on Artemis missions. Bresnik previously served as commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 53 and flight engineer for Expedition 52.
In recognition of flight program contributions, honorees toured NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and viewed the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft named Endurance in conjunction with the launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10.
The spacecraft carried NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscomos cosmonaut Kirill Pesko to the International Space Station on March 14 as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA’s Space Flight Awareness Program recognizes outstanding job performances and contributions by civil service and contract employees throughout the year and focuses on excellence in quality and safety in support of human spaceflight. The Honoree Award is one of the highest honors presented to employees for their dedication to quality work and flight safety. Recipients must have contributed beyond their normal work requirements toward achieving a particular human spaceflight program goal; contributed to a major cost savings; been instrumental in developing material that increases reliability, efficiency or performance; assisted in operational improvements; or been a key player in developing a beneficial process improvement.
For information about Silver Snoopy and other Space Flight Awareness awards, visit:
SFA Honoree Award – NASA
For information about NASA’s Stennis Space Center, visit:
Stennis Space Center – NASA
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
This ultra high-definition video featuring an orange tabby cat named Taters, was streamed from nearly 19 million miles away via laser by NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment, marking a historic milestone for space communications.Jet Propulsion Laboratory Since it began in 1958, NASA has been charged by law with spreading the word about its work to the widest extent practicable. From typewritten press releases to analog photos and film, the agency has effectively moved into social media and other online communications. NASA’s broad reach across digital platforms has been recognized by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), with 10 nominations across multiple categories for the academy’s 29th annual Webby Awards.
The 2025 Webby nominations demonstrate NASA's dedication to sharing the wonders of space through digital platforms. We believe in the power of digital storytelling to inspire the next generation of explorers.
Michelle R. Jones
Acting Associate Administrator for Communications
Public Voting Opportunities
Voting for the Webby People’s Voice Awards—chosen by the public—is open now through Thursday, April 17. Voting links for each category are listed below.
29th Annual Webby Award Nominees
AI, Immersive & Games
NASA’s Snap It! An Eclipse Photo Adventure
NASA
Kids and Family
Social
NASA Instagram
NASA
Education and Science
Matt Dominick’s X Account: A Visual Journey from Space
NASA, Leidos
Best Photography & Design
NASA’s 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Campaign
NASA
Events and Live streams
NASA’s Webb Telescope: Unfolding a Universe of Wonders
NASA Goddard
Education and Science
Video & Film
2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Through the Eyes of NASA
NASA, Leidos
Events and Live
NASA Streams Historic Cat Video From Deep Space
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Events and Live streams
Websites & Mobile Sites
NASA Website
NASA
Government & Associations
NASA+ Streaming Service
NASA
Television, Film & Streaming
NASA Newsletter
NASA
Business, News and Technology
About the Webby Awards
Established in 1996 during the web’s infancy, The Webbys is presented by the IADAS—a 3000+ member judging body. The Academy is comprised of Executive Members—leading Internet experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries, and creative celebrities—and associate members who are former Webby winners, nominees and other internet professionals.
The Webby Awards presents two honors in every category—the Webby Award and the Webby People’s Voice Award. Members of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) select the nominees for both awards in each category, as well as the winners of the Webby Awards. In the spirit of the open web, the Webby People’s Voice is chosen by the voting public, and garners millions of votes from all over the world.
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s SPHEREx, which will map millions of galaxies across the entire sky, captured one of its first exposures March 27. The observatory’s six detectors each captured one of these uncalibrated images, to which visible-light colors have been added to represent infrared wavelengths. SPHEREx’s complete field of view spans the top three images; the same area of the sky is also captured in the bottom three images. NASA/JPL-Caltech Processed with rainbow hues to represent a range of infrared wavelengths, the new pictures indicate the astrophysics space observatory is working as expected.
NASA’s SPHEREx (short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) has turned on its detectors for the first time in space. Initial images from the observatory, which launched March 11, confirm that all systems are working as expected.
Although the new images are uncalibrated and not yet ready to use for science, they give a tantalizing look at SPHEREx’s wide view of the sky. Each bright spot is a source of light, like a star or galaxy, and each image is expected to contain more than 100,000 detected sources.
There are six images in every SPHEREx exposure — one for each detector. The top three images show the same area of sky as the bottom three images. This is the observatory’s full field of view, a rectangular area about 20 times wider than the full Moon. When SPHEREx begins routine science operations in late April, it will take approximately 600 exposures every day.
Each image in this uncalibrated SPHEREx exposure contains about 100,000 light sources, including stars and galaxies. The two insets at right zoom in on sections of one image, showcasing the telescope’s ability to capture faint, distant galaxies. These sections are processed in grayscale rather than visible-light color for ease of viewing.NASA/JPL-Caltech “Our spacecraft has opened its eyes on the universe,” said Olivier Doré, SPHEREx project scientist at Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, both in Southern California. “It’s performing just as it was designed to.”
The SPHEREx observatory detects infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye. To make these first images, science team members assigned a visible color to every infrared wavelength captured by the observatory. Each of the six SPHEREx detectors has 17 unique wavelength bands, for a total of 102 hues in every six-image exposure.
Breaking down color this way can reveal the composition of an object or the distance to a galaxy. With that data, scientists can study topics ranging from the physics that governed the universe less than a second after its birth to the origins of water in our galaxy.
“This is the high point of spacecraft checkout; it’s the thing we wait for,” said Beth Fabinsky, SPHEREx deputy project manager at JPL. “There’s still work to do, but this is the big payoff. And wow! Just wow!”
During the past two weeks, scientists and engineers at JPL, which manages the mission for NASA, have executed a series of spacecraft checks that show all is well so far. In addition, SPHEREx’s detectors and other hardware have been cooling down to their final temperature of around minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit (about minus 210 degrees Celsius). This is necessary because heat can overwhelm the telescope’s ability to detect infrared light, which is sometimes called heat radiation. The new images also show that the telescope is focused correctly. Focusing is done entirely before launch and cannot be adjusted in space.
“Based on the images we are seeing, we can now say that the instrument team nailed it,” said Jamie Bock, SPHEREx’s principal investigator at Caltech and JPL.
How It Works
Where telescopes like NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes were designed to target small areas of space in detail, SPHEREx is a survey telescope and takes a broad view. Combining its results with those of targeted telescopes will give scientists a more robust understanding of our universe.
The observatory will map the entire celestial sky four times during its two-year prime mission. Using a technique called spectroscopy, SPHEREx will collect the light from hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies in more wavelengths any other all-sky survey telescope.
Track the real-time location of NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory using the agency’s 3D visualization tool, Eyes on the Solar System. When light enters SPHEREx’s telescope, it’s directed down two paths that each lead to a row of three detectors. The observatory’s detectors are like eyes, and set on top of them are color filters, which are like color-tinted glasses. While a standard color filter blocks all wavelengths but one, like yellow- or rose-tinted glasses, the SPHEREx filters are more like rainbow-tinted glasses: The wavelengths they block change gradually from the top of the filter to the bottom.
“I’m rendered speechless,” said Jim Fanson, SPHEREx project manager at JPL. “There was an incredible human effort to make this possible, and our engineering team did an amazing job getting us to this point.”
More About SPHEREx
The SPHEREx mission is managed by JPL for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace) built the telescope and the spacecraft bus. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data will be conducted by a team of scientists located at 10 institutions in the U.S., two in South Korea, and one in Taiwan. Caltech managed and integrated the instrument. Data will be processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech. The mission’s principal investigator is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment. The SPHEREx dataset will be publicly available at the NASA-IPAC Infrared Science Archive. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
For more about SPHEREx, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/spherex/
News Media Contact
Calla Cofield
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-808-2469
calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov
2025-045
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Last Updated Apr 01, 2025 Related Terms
SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer) Astrophysics Galaxies Origin & Evolution of the Universe The Search for Life The Universe Explore More
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