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By NASA
5 min read
NASA’s LEXI Will Provide X-Ray Vision of Earth’s Magnetosphere
A NASA X-ray imager is heading to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, where it will capture the first global images of the magnetic field that shields Earth from solar radiation.
The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager, or LEXI, instrument is one of 10 payloads aboard the next lunar delivery through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, set to launch from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than mid-January, with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Lander. The instrument will support NASA’s goal to understand how our home planet responds to space weather, the conditions in space driven by the Sun.
NASA’s next mission to the Moon will carry an instrument called LEXI (the Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager), which will provide the first-ever global view of the magnetic environment that shields Earth from solar radiation. This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14739.
Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Once the dust clears from its lunar landing, LEXI will power on, warm up, and direct its focus back toward Earth. For six days, it will collect images of the X-rays emanating from the edges of our planet’s vast magnetosphere. This comprehensive view could illustrate how this protective boundary responds to space weather and other cosmic forces, as well as how it can open to allow streams of charged solar particles in, creating aurora and potentially damaging infrastructure.
“We’re trying to get this big picture of Earth’s space environment,” said Brian Walsh, a space physicist at Boston University and LEXI’s principal investigator. “A lot of physics can be esoteric or difficult to follow without years of specific training, but this will be science that you can see.”
What LEXI will see is the low-energy X-rays that form when a stream of particles from the Sun, called the solar wind, slams into Earth’s magnetic field. This happens at the edge of the magnetosphere, called the magnetopause. Researchers have recently been able to detect these X-rays in a patchwork of observations from other satellites and instruments. From the vantage point of the Moon, however, the whole magnetopause will be in LEXI’s field of view.
In this visualization, the LEXI instrument is shown onboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, which will deliver 10 Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) payloads to the Moon. Firefly Aerospace The team back on Earth will be working around the clock to track how the magnetosphere expands, contracts, and changes shape in response to the strength of the solar wind.
“We expect to see the magnetosphere breathing out and breathing in, for the first time,” said Hyunju Connor, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the NASA lead for LEXI. “When the solar wind is very strong, the magnetosphere will shrink and push backward toward Earth, and then expand when the solar wind weakens.”
The LEXI instrument will also be poised to capture magnetic reconnection, which is when the magnetosphere’s field lines merge with those in the solar wind and release energetic particles that rain down on Earth’s poles. This could help researchers answer lingering questions about these events, including whether they happen at multiple sites simultaneously, whether they occur steadily or in bursts, and more.
These solar particles streaming into Earth’s atmosphere can cause brilliant auroras, but they can also damage satellites orbiting the planet or interfere with power grids on the ground.
“We want to understand how nature behaves,” Connor said, “and by understanding this we can help protect our infrastructure in space.”
The LEXI team packs the instrument at Boston University. Michael Spencer/Boston University The CLPS delivery won’t be LEXI’s first trip to space. A team at Goddard, including Walsh, built the instrument (then called STORM) to test technology to detect low-energy X-rays over a wide field of view. In 2012, STORM launched into space on a sounding rocket, collected X-ray images, and then fell back to Earth.
It ended up in a display case at Goddard, where it sat for a decade. When NASA put out a call for CLPS projects that could be done quickly and with a limited budget, Walsh thought of the instrument and the potential for what it could see from the lunar surface.
“We’d break the glass — not literally — but remove it, restore it, and refurbish it, and that would allow us to look back and get this global picture that we’ve never had before,” he said. Some old optics and other components were replaced, but the instrument was overall in good shape and is now ready to fly again. “There’s a lot of really rich science we can get from this.”
Under the CLPS model, NASA is investing in commercial delivery services to the Moon to enable industry growth and support long-term lunar exploration. As a primary customer for CLPS deliveries, NASA aims to be one of many customers on future flights. NASA Goddard is a lead science collaborator on LEXI. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the development of seven of the 10 CLPS payloads carried on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander, including LEXI.
Learn more about CLPS and Artemis at:
https://www.nasa.gov/clps
By Kate Ramsayer
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Jan 03, 2025 Editor Abbey Interrante Related Terms
Artemis Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Earth’s Magnetic Field Earth’s Moon Goddard Space Flight Center Heliophysics Heliophysics Division Magnetosphere Science & Research The Sun Explore More
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By Space Force
The activation of S4S was part of U.S. Space Force’s plan to normalize the presentation of space forces across combatant commands and most efficiently meet the challenges presented by the dynamic national security environment and the return to Great Power Competition.
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Regolith Adherence Characterization, or RAC, is one of 10 science and technology instruments flying on NASA’s next Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) flight as part of the Blue Ghost Misison-1. Developed by Aegis Aerospace of Webster, Texas, RAC is designed to study how lunar dust reacts to more than a dozen different types of material samples, located on the payload’s wheels. Photo courtesy Firefly Aerospace The Moon may look like barren rock, but it’s actually covered in a layer of gravel, pebbles, and dust collectively known as “lunar regolith.” During the Apollo Moon missions, astronauts learned firsthand that the fine, powdery dust – electromagnetically charged due to constant bombardment by solar and cosmic particles – is extremely abrasive and clings to everything: gloves, boots, vehicles, and mechanical equipment. What challenges does that dust pose to future Artemis-era missions to establish long-term outposts on the lunar surface?
That’s the task of an innovative science instrument called RAC-1 (Regolith Adherence Characterization), one of 10 NASA payloads flying aboard the next delivery for the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and set to be carried to the surface by Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost 1 lunar lander.
Developed by Aegis Aerospace of Webster, Texas, RAC will expose 15 sample materials – fabrics, paint coatings, optical systems, sensors, solar cells, and more – to the lunar environment to determine how tenaciously the lunar dust sticks to each one. The instrument will measure accumulation rates during landing and subsequent routine lander operations, aiding identification of those materials which best repel or shed dust. The data will help NASA and its industry partners more effectively test, upgrade, and protect spacecraft, spacesuits, habitats, and equipment in preparation for continued exploration of the Moon under the Artemis campaign.
“Lunar regolith is a sticky challenge for long-duration expeditions to the surface,” said Dennis Harris, who manages the RAC payload for NASA’s CLPS initiative at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “Dust gets into gears, sticks to spacesuits, and can block optical properties. RAC will help determine the best materials and fabrics with which to build, delivering more robust, durable hardware, products, and equipment.”
Under the CLPS model, NASA is investing in commercial delivery services to the Moon to enable industry growth and support long-term lunar exploration. As a primary customer for CLPS deliveries, NASA aims to be one of many customers on future flights. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the development of seven of the 10 CLPS payloads carried on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander.
Learn more about. CLPS and Artemis at:
https://www.nasa.gov/clps
Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
Alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
Alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
Corinne Beckinger
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
corinne.m.beckinger@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Dec 20, 2024 EditorBeth RidgewayContactCorinne M. Beckingercorinne.m.beckinger@nasa.govLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
When it comes to building spaceflight missions, the software is at least as important as the hardware. For computer engineer Nargess Memarsadeghi, having a hand in the programming is like getting to go along for the ride.
Name: Nargess Memarsadeghi
Title: Associate Branch Head, Software Systems Engineering Branch
Formal Job Classification: Supervisory Computer Engineer
Organization: Software Systems Engineering Branch, Software Engineering Division, Engineering Directorate (Code 581)
Nargess Memarsadeghi is the associate branch head of the Software Systems Engineering branch at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.Courtesy of Nargess Memarsadeghi What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard?
As associate branch head for the Software Systems Engineering Branch, I spend half of my time supporting the branch head on internal functions, different planning activities, and supervising our employees who are senior software systems engineers and often team leads themselves.
For the other half of my time, I work on a technical project. Currently, I am supporting the Human Landing Systems (HLS) project. I am a member of NASA HLS Software Insight Team working with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and Johnson Space Center in Houston, and industry partners SpaceX and Blue Origin to meet software requirements and milestones, and to ensure the Artemis campaign succeeds in taking astronauts to the Moon.
I enjoy learning about various NASA missions and being part of them either by supporting our branch employees who work on these missions or by being a project team member and making technical contributions directly.
Why did you become a software engineer?
I always loved math and sciences. Software engineering seemed like a good and practical way to apply math to different scientific and engineering applications.
What is your educational background?
I got my bachelor’s (2001), master’s (2004), and doctorate (2007) degrees in computer science from the University of Maryland at College Park.
How did you come to Goddard?
I joined Goddard in 2001 right after college. The university had a recruitment event at its career center. I signed up for an interview with NASA, which went well. I then got an invitation for an onsite interview, and then an offer to join Goddard as a computer engineer.
What is your supervisory style?
I have been supervising on average 10 employees. We have tag-ups every two weeks to learn about their work and see if they have any issues or need anything from management. We keep in constant communication which goes both ways. I have an open-door policy. I try to match an employee’s interests and expertise to their work. I am willing to hear their concerns and address them to the best of my ability or putting them in contact with those who can. I enjoy learning about their work and celebrating the achievements.
What are some of the most exciting projects and missions that the Software Systems Engineering Branch is involved with?
We provide end-to-end software systems engineering support to many high-impact missions, like the upcoming flagship astrophysics Roman Space Telescope mission. We support Roman’s software systems, as well as its testing and assembly with one of our software products, the Goddard Dynamic Simulator.
Our team also supports a variety of Earth science missions, such as the Joint Polar Satellite Systems (JPSS), GOES-R, and GOES-U, all of which NASA supports on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). We also develop and manage different ground segment software systems for different missions including PACE, TSIS-II, and others.
What are some of your career highlights so far?
One was being part of the James Webb Space Telescope team and working on stability testing of microshutters. Webb is a huge, multinational observatory making many scientific discoveries.
Another is being part of the Dawn mission’s satellite working group searching for moons of the asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres. I worked on this from prelaunch through launch and operations. We were some of the first to see the scientific images soon after being downlinked. It felt like going on a ride with the spacecraft itself.
I would add my more recent work on the Roman Space Telescope.
In general, I really enjoyed working on various missions during their different stages of their life cycle. I got to see the whole picture of how software is used for missions, from technology development to post-launch.
What advice do you give your graduate students and interns as a mentor?
I emphasize that they also need to work on their communication skills, leadership skills, and team building. I tell them to focus not just on their technical skills but also on their interpersonal skills both written and oral. NASA has a lot of collaborative projects and being able to effectively communicate across different levels is crucial for mission success.
Whom do you wish to thank?
I would like to thank my family for their support. I would also like to thank my past teachers and mentors who made a big difference in me and positively impacted my life.
What do you do to relax?
I like going for long walks, spending time with family and friends, and doing activities with my son including attending his piano recitals.
Who is your favorite author?
As a young reader, I enjoyed reading Jules Verne. I also enjoy reading poetry. My favorites are Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Persian poets Sohrab Sepehri and Saadi Shirazi.
What motto do you live by?
Be the change you want to see in the world.
By Elizabeth M. Jarrell
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
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Last Updated Dec 19, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
The Space Technology Payload Challenge invites individuals, teams, and organizations to submit applications for systems that advance technology to address one or more of NASA’s shortfalls. These shortfalls identify technology areas where further technology development is required to meet future exploration, science, and other mission needs. In addition, technologies to address these select shortfalls are also potentially well suited for a suborbital or hosted orbital flight demonstration to help mature the innovation. The expectation is that the technology will be tested at the end of the challenge aboard a suborbital vehicle, rocket-powered lander, high altitude balloon, aircraft following a reduced gravity profile (i.e., parabolic flight), or orbital vehicle that can host payloads. The shortfalls selected for this challenge are divided into two groups. The first group is derived from the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) civil space shortfall list. The second group is in partnership with NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) Division and is derived from the Commercially Enabled Rapid Space Science Initiative (CERISS) program needs.
Award: $4,500,000 in total prizes
Open Date: December 10, 2024
Close Date: March 4, 2025
For more information, visit: https://www.stpc.nasatechleap.org/
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