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The curious incident of Swarm and sprites in the night-time
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By European Space Agency
Ever since aurora chasers discovered Steve, a mysterious ribbon of purple light in the night sky, scientists have wondered whether it might have a secret twin. Now, thanks to a photographer’s keen eye, and data from ESA’s Swarm satellites, we may have found it.
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By European Space Agency
The Sun erupted over the weekend, flinging electromagnetic radiation towards Earth, even illuminating skies with spectacular aurora borealis. For the first time, ESA’s unlikely space weather duo of SMOS and Swarm tracked the severe solar storm — which warped Earth’s magnetic field.
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By NASA
Credit: NASA NASA released Tuesday the first episode of a new six-part podcast series for first-time space explorers to learn about the Sun. Ahead of the total solar eclipse in April, NASA’s Sun + Eclipse Series will focus on the sphere full of swirling magnetic fields and explosions of hot gases.
New episodes will post every Tuesday through April 23. The first episode is available at:
Sun Series: The Sun, Our Star – NASA
On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. More than 32 million people will have the chance to witness, and a phenomenon the contiguous U.S. will not see again for 20 years.
The series will delve into the cultural connections and historical significance of solar studies. Listeners can prepare firsthand for the solar eclipse with insight from NASA experts along the path of totality. The series offers insight into research from NASA scientists, firsthand accounts from “eclipse chasers”, and how the agency protects astronauts and spacecraft during solar activity.
The series is part of NASA’s Curious Universe podcast. In each episode, hosts Padi Boyd and Jacob Pinter, bring listeners on science and space adventures. Explore the cosmos alongside astronauts, scientists, engineers, and other NASA experts in science, space exploration, and aeronautics.
NASA’s Sun + Eclipse Series is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Soundcloud. Curious Universe is written and produced by a team at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Discover more original NASA shows at:
https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts
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Melissa Howell
Headquarters, Washington
202-961-6602
melissa.e.howell@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Mar 19, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Podcasts Eclipses Goddard Space Flight Center NASA Headquarters View the full article
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By NASA
On Nov. 8, 2023, Max Holliday, middle, installs one of the four PY4 spacecraft into the dispenser supplied by Maverick Space Systems ahead of vibration testing. David Pignatelli, Maverick Space Systems, right, holds the dispenser steady as Watson Attai, left, documents the installation with a smart phone camera.Credits: NASA/Don Richey Preparations are underway for a new, small spacecraft technology demonstration that will test cost-efficient swarm capabilities – the ability for multiple spacecraft to communicate and perform coordinated actions. The PY4 mission’s four CubeSats are slated to launch Monday March 4, 2:05 p.m. PST to low Earth orbit aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-10 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Led by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and funded by NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program, PY4 seeks to demonstrate spacecraft-to-spacecraft ranging, in-orbit navigation, and coordinated simultaneous multi-point radiation measurements at low size, weight, power, and cost. It uses a unique avionics platform called PyCubed that integrates power, computing, communications, attitude determination, and orbit control functionalities into a single board system. The PyCubed system is also open-source, programmable entirely in the Python programming language and uses affordable commercial off-the-shelf components.
Four-CubeSat swarm of PyCubed-based spacecraft in the Small Spacecraft Technology lab. The goal of PY4 is to demonstrate spacecraft-to-spacecraft ranging, in-orbit relative navigation, and coordinated simultaneous multi-point radiation measurements.Credits: NASA/Don Richey Once in orbit at over 325 miles above Earth, the spacecraft will periodically measure their relative distances. These range measurements provide information about the spacecrafts’ positions relative to each other, and when combined with other sensor data, can be used to determine the configuration of the swarm. Advancing these capabilities could decrease the workload for operators on the ground while enabling multi-spacecraft missions at an accessible price point. The PY4 platform was previously used in demonstrations of the V-R3x technology, both in orbit and in a suborbital flight test on a commercial high-altitude balloon with NASA’s Flight Opportunities program. Those initial tests helped researchers evaluate PY4’s functionality ahead of this larger demonstration mission.
In addition to the PY4 demonstration, NASA is also testing critical swarming technologies via the agency’s ongoing Starling mission that launched in 2023. PY4 could dramatically reduce the cost of small spacecraft swarming capabilities and make demonstrating technologies like the autonomous navigation system tested via Starling more widely accessible by offering a flight-ready hardware and software platform.
In the top image, engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley insert the mission’s four spacecraft into their dispenser supplied by Maverick Space Systems of San Luis Obispo, California in preparation for vibration testing. Each of the one-and-a-half-unit (1.5U) CubeSats measure about 4 inches x 4 inches x 6.5 inches. The spacecraft were later transported to SpaceX for integration on the Falcon 9 rocket in preparation for launch.
On Nov. 8, 2023, Max Holliday, creator and maintainer of the PyCubed avionics platform, prepares one of the four PY4 spacecraft for installation into the dispenser supplied by Maverick Space Systems ahead of vibration testing.Credits: NASA/Don Richey PY4 is led by the Robotic Exploration Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University with funding from the Small Spacecraft Technology program at NASA’s Ames. The Small Spacecraft Technology program expands the ability to execute unique missions through rapid development and demonstration of capabilities for small spacecraft applicable to exploration, science and the commercial space sector. Engineers at NASA Ames supporting the Small Spacecraft Technology program aided the assembly, testing, and integration of the four PY4 spacecraft as well as their delivery to Maverick Space Systems – the PY4 mission’s launch integrator.
Author:
Chloe E. Tuck
For news media:
Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the Ames newsroom. View the full article
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