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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A scientific balloon is inflated during NASA’s 2023 Antarctic campaign in McMurdo, Antarctica. NASA/Scott Battaion NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program has returned to Antarctica’s icy expanse to kick off the annual Antarctic Long-Duration Balloon Campaign, where two balloon flights will carry a total of nine missions to near space. Launch operations will begin mid-December from the agency’s Long Duration Balloon camp located near the U.S. National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station on the Ross Ice Shelf.
“Antarctica is our cornerstone location for long-duration balloon missions, and we always look forward to heading back to ‘the ice,’” said Andrew Hamilton, acting chief of NASA’s Balloon Program Office at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. “It’s a tremendous effort to stage a campaign like this in such a remote location, and we are grateful for the support provided to us by the U.S. National Science Foundation, New Zealand, and the U.S. Air Force.”
This year’s Antarctic campaign includes investigations in astrophysics, space biology, heliospheric research, and upper atmospheric research, along with technology demonstrations. The campaign’s two primary missions include:
GAPS (General Anti-Particle Spectrometer), led by Columbia University in New York, is an experiment to detect anti-matter particles produced by dark matter interactions. The anti-particles stemming from these interactions in our galaxy can only be observed from a suborbital platform or in space, since Earth’s atmosphere shields us from the cosmic radiation. GAPS aims to provide an unprecedented level of sensitivity to certain classes of anti-particles, allowing the exploration of a currently unexplored energy regime of the elusive dark matter. Salter Test Flight Universal, led by NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, will test and validate long-duration balloon and subsystems, while supporting several piggyback missions on the flight. Piggyback missions, or smaller payloads, riding along with the Salter Test Flight Universal mission include:
MARSBOx (Microbes in Atmosphere for Radiation, Survival, and Biological Outcomes Experiments), led by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, will expose melanized fungus, called Aspergillus niger, to the stratosphere’s extreme radiation and temperature fluctuations, low atmospheric pressure, and absence of water — conditions much like the surface of Mars. Knowledge of how this fungus adapts to protect itself in this harsh environment could lead to the development of treatments to protect astronauts from high radiation exposure. EMIDSS-6 (Experimental Module for Iterative Design of Satellite Subsystems 6), led by National Polytechnical Institute − Mexico, is a technological platform with experimental design and operational validation of instrumentation that will collect and store data from the stratospheric environment to contribute to the study of climate change. SPARROW-6 (Sensor Package for Attitude, Rotation, and Relative Observable Winds – 6), led by NASA’s Balloon Program Office at NASA Wallops, will demonstrate relative wind measurements using an ultrasonic anemometer designed for the balloon float environment. WALRUSS (Wallops Atmospheric Light Radiation and Ultraviolet Spectrum Sensor), led by the Balloon Program Office at NASA Wallops, is a technology demonstration of a sensor package capable of measuring the total ultraviolet wavelength spectrum and ozone concentration. INDIGO (INterim Dynamics Instrumentation for Gondolas), led by the Balloon Program Office at NASA Wallops, is a data recorder meant to measure the shock, rotation, and attitude of the gondola during the launch, float, and landing phases of flight. Data will be used to improve understanding of the dynamics of flight and to inform the design of future components and hardware. The remaining two piggyback missions are led by finalists of NASA’s FLOATing DRAGON (Formulate, Lift, Observe, And Testing; Data Recovery And Guided On-board Node) Balloon Challenge, sponsored by the Balloon Program Office at NASA Wallops and managed by the National Institute of Aerospace. The challenge was created for student teams to design, build, and fly an autonomous aerial vehicle, deployed from a gondola during a high-altitude balloon flight. The teams’ student-built data vaults will be safely dropped from around 120,000 feet with the capability to target a specific landing point on the ground to manage risk. The missions participating in the Antarctic campaign are Purdue University’s Purdue DRAGONfly, and University of Notre Dame’s IRIS v3.
NASA’s zero-pressure balloons, used in the Antarctic campaign, are made of a thin plastic film and are capable of lifting up to 8,000 pounds of payload and equipment to altitudes above 99.8% of Earth’s atmosphere. Zero-pressure balloons, which typically have a shorter flight duration from the loss of gas during the day-to-night cycle, can support long-duration missions in polar regions during summer. The constant daylight of Antarctica’s austral summer and stable stratospheric wind conditions allow the balloon missions to remain in near space for days to weeks, gathering large amounts of scientific data as they circle the continent.
NASA’s Long Duration Balloon camp is located about eight miles from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station on Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf. NASA/Scott Battaion NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia manages the agency’s scientific balloon flight program with 10 to 15 flights each year from launch sites worldwide. Peraton, which operates NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, provides mission planning, engineering services, and field operations for NASA’s scientific balloon program. The Columbia team has launched more than 1,700 scientific balloons over some 40 years of operations. NASA’s balloons are fabricated by Aerostar. The NASA Scientific Balloon Program is funded by the NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate Astrophysics Division. NASA balloon launch operations from Antarctica receive logistical support from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs, which oversees the U.S. Antarctic Program.
For mission tracking, click here. For more information on NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/scientificballoons.
By Olivia Littleton
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.
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Last Updated Dec 10, 2024 EditorOlivia F. LittletonContactOlivia F. Littletonolivia.f.littleton@nasa.govLocationWallops Flight Facility Related Terms
Scientific Balloons Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Goddard Space Flight Center Wallops Flight Facility Explore More
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By European Space Agency
Image: The icy landscape of Ross Island in Antarctica is featured in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image from 3 February 2024, during the austral summer. View the full article
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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 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 4 min read
Sols 4331-4333: Today’s Rover ABC – Aurora, Backwards Driving, and Chemistry, with a Side of Images
This image shows just how variable and interesting the terrain is in the area that NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is currently investigating. Curiosity captured this long-distance Remote Micro Imager (RMI) image using the Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) aboard the rover on sol 4329 — Martian day 4,329 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on Oct. 10, 2024 at 02:30:12 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL Earth planning date: Friday, Oct. 11, 2024
This blogger is in the United Kingdom, just north of London, where we yesterday had beautiful night skies with a red aurora that was even visible with the unaided eye, and looked stunning on photographs. That reminded me of the solar storm that made it all the way to Mars earlier this year. Here is my colleague Deborah’s blog about it: “Aurora Watch on Mars.” And, of course, that was a great opportunity to do atmospheric science and prepare for future crewed missions, to assess radiation that future astronauts might encounter. You can read about it in the article, “NASA Watches Mars Light Up During Epic Solar Storm.” But now, back from shiny red night skies north of London, and auroras on Mars six months ago, to today’s planning!
Power — always a negotiation! Today, I was the Science Operations Working Group chair, the one who has to watch for the more technical side of things, such as the question if all the activities will fit into the plan. Today there were many imaging ideas to capture the stunning landscape in detail with Mastcam and very close close-ups with the long-distance imaging capability of ChemCam (RMI). Overall, we have two long-distance RMIs in the plan to capture the details of the ridge we are investigating. You can see in the accompanying image an example from last sol of just how many stunning details we can see. I so want to go and pick up that smooth white-ish looking rock to find out if it is just the light that makes it so bright, or if the surface is different from the underside… but that’s just me, a mineralogist by training, used to wandering around a field site! Do you notice the different patterns — textures as we call them in geology — on the rocks to the left of that white-ish rock and the right of it? So much stunning detail, and we are getting two more RMI observations of 10 frames each in today’s plan! In addition there are more than 80 Mastcam frames planned. Lots of images to learn from!
Chemistry is also featuring in the plan. The rover is stable on its wheels, which means we can get the arm out and do an APXS measurement on the target “Midnight Lake,” which MAHLI also images. The LIBS investigations are seconding the APXS investigation on Midnight Lake, and add another target to the plan, “Pyramidal Pinnacle.” On the third sol there is an AEGIS, the LIBS measurement where the rover picks its own target before we here on Earth even see where it is! Power was especially tight today, because the CheMin team does some housekeeping, in particular looking at empty cells in preparation for the next drill. The atmosphere team adds many investigations to look out for dust devils and the dustiness of the atmosphere, and APXS measures the argon content of the atmosphere. This is a measure for the seasonal changes of the atmosphere, as argon is an inert gas that does not react with other components of the atmosphere. It is only controlled by the temperature in various places of the planet — mainly the poles. DAN continues to monitor water in the subsurface, and RAD — prominently featured during the solar storm I was talking about earlier — continues to collect data on the radiation environment.
Let’s close with a fun fact from planning today: During one of the meetings, the rover drivers were asked, “Are you driving backwards again?” … and the answer was yes! The reason: We need to make sure that in this rugged terrain, with its many interesting walls (interesting for the geologists!), the antenna can still see Earth when we want to send the plan. So the drive on sol 4332 is all backwards. I am glad we have hazard cameras on the front and the back of the vehicle!
Written by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University
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Last Updated Oct 13, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
Illustration of NASA’s BioSentinel spacecraft as it enters a heliocentric orbit. BioSentinel collected data during the May 2024 geomagnetic storm that hit Earth to learn more about the impacts of radiation in deep space.NASA/Daniel Rutter In May 2024, a geomagnetic storm hit Earth, sending auroras across the planet’s skies in a once-in-a-generation light display. These dazzling sights are possible because of the interaction of coronal mass ejections – explosions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun – with Earth’s magnetic field, which protects us from the radiation the Sun spits out during turbulent storms.
But what might happen to humans beyond the safety of Earth’s protection? This question is essential as NASA plans to send humans to the Moon and on to Mars. During the May storm, the small spacecraft BioSentinel was collecting data to learn more about the impacts of radiation in deep space.
“We wanted to take advantage of the unique stage of the solar cycle we’re in – the solar maximum, when the Sun is at its most active – so that we can continue to monitor the space radiation environment,” said Sergio Santa Maria, principal investigator for BioSentinel’s spaceflight mission at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “These data are relevant not just to the heliophysics community but also to understand the radiation environment for future crewed missions into deep space.”
BioSentinel – a small satellite about the size of a cereal box – is currently over 30 million miles from Earth, orbiting the Sun, where it weathered May’s coronal mass ejection without protection from a planetary magnetic field. Preliminary analysis of the data collected indicates that even though this was an extreme geomagnetic storm, that is, a storm that disturbs Earth’s magnetic field, it was considered just a moderate solar radiation storm, meaning it did not produce a great increase in hazardous solar particles. Therefore, such a storm did not pose any major issue to terrestrial lifeforms, even if they were unprotected as BioSentinel was. These measurements provide useful information for scientists trying to understand how solar radiation storms move through space and where their effects – and potential impacts on life beyond Earth – are most intense.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare on May 11, 2024. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares.NASA/SDO The original mission of BioSentinel was to study samples of yeast in deep space. Though these yeast samples are no longer alive, BioSentinel has adapted and continues to be a novel platform for studying the potential impacts of deep space conditions on life beyond the protection of Earth’s atmosphere and magnetosphere. The spacecraft’s biosensor instrument collects data about the radiation in deep space. Over a year and a half after its launch in Nov. 2022, BioSentinel retreats farther away from Earth, providing data of increasing value to scientists.
“Even though the biological part of the BioSentinel mission was completed a few months after launch, we believe that there is significant scientific value in continuing with the mission,” said Santa Maria. “The fact that the CubeSat continues to operate and that we can communicate with it, highlights the potential use of the spacecraft and many of its subsystems and components for future long-term missions beyond low Earth orbit.”
When we see auroras in the sky, they can serve as a stunning reminder of all the forces we cannot see that govern our cosmic neighborhood. As NASA and its partners seek to understand more about space environments, platforms like BioSentinel are essential to learn more about the risks of surviving beyond Earth’s sphere of protection.
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Last Updated Sep 26, 2024 Related Terms
General Ames Research Center Ames Research Center's Science Directorate Ames Space Biosciences CubeSats NASA Centers & Facilities Science & Research Small Satellite Missions View the full article
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By USH
The Department of Defense has appointed a new director to lead the AARO (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office), which is responsible for investigating UFOs and UAPs. The choice of Dr. Jon T. Kosloski, a former NSA scientist, is notable. According to USAF whistleblower Dan Sherman, the NSA has been involved in tracking UFO and non-human intelligence (NHI) activity for decades. Additionally, there are claims that the NSA manages interstellar trade operations from a base in Antarctica.
Kosloski replaces Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the inaugural director of AARO, who faced criticism during his tenure. Many believed Kirkpatrick did little to support whistleblowers, hindering efforts to reveal critical information about UFOs and related phenomena.
One of the intriguing aspects of this story is the alleged NSA connection to Antarctica.
Eric Hecker a Raytheon contractor who worked at the Ice Cube Neutrino observatory at Antarctica from 2010-2011 said that this observatory constructed at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica is a huge air traffic control power station that monitors all interstellar craft that be operated by humans as well as non-humans.
The observatory is not the only station that tracks interstellar craft, reports from whistleblowers over the years have hinted at the presence of a vast underground military complex in the area. Allegedly, the NSA operates an office there, which also is involved in monitoring interstellar activity, possibly utilizing the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory's facilities. In addition, this office is reportedly engaged in interstellar trade. According to Navy whistleblowers, the office is managed from the NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland, specifically on the sixth floor.
It may sound fantastical, but the NSA has been tracking UFO activity since its inception in 1952. The agency is believed to have developed capabilities to detect UFOs anywhere on Earth but keep quiet about it.
Now, as we look to the future, institutions that shape national security believe the U.S. needs to prepare the public for disclosure, as humanity's future may lie in space. Advanced propulsion systems, including anti-gravity and torsion field technologies, are being developed to construct fleets of spacecraft that can keep pace with extraterrestrial civilizations.
Furthermore, there is a large spaceport in Alabama, near the caverns around Huntsville, where pilots from around 30 nations are reportedly being trained to fly interstellar craft under supervision of a group of extraterrestrials known as the Nordics. It is said that this underground facility already houses hundreds of these craft.
Despite the ongoing UFO cover-up, with Dr. Kosloski now leading AARO, there is hope that in particular the NSA’s involvement in these operations will become more transparent and that further revelations may follow.
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